Pastor Scott Hogle
October 31, 2021 - W2144

The GOOD, GOOD Father

Home, Where Life Begins & Love Never Ends  

Pastor Scott Hogle

October 30 & 31, 2021

Aloha and welcome, New Hope Oahu, and a special welcome to those online!  For those of you that I'm meeting for the first time, my name is Pastor Scott Hogle.  I have an exciting message for you about The Good, Good Father. Frankly, if you don't understand the Father's heart, you'll misunderstand what He is saying and doing in your life.  

So, I'm excited to focus on the heart of Father God to learn the importance of understanding His love and reading the Bible--which is His love letter to us!  Charles Spurgeon said, "Even when we can't trace God's hand in our life, we can always trust His heart." Jesus is the express image (the exact likeness) of the Father.  

John 14:7 NKJV Jesus said: "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 

ALL is Forgiven, Come Home!

Mistake Makers: Sons and daughters who are on the run from God--at some point in our life, we may all have felt like leaving home! 

Adam is the first. He disobeys God and hides; after God finds him, Adam says he hid because he was naked and afraid.  God asks Adam, "Who told you that you were naked?"  They have a conversation.  And God covers his shame with the skin of an animal--that's the heart of the Father, He covers his son's shame. Adam knows Him as God is my covering!  

Moses was called to deliver Israel from the Philistines, but he takes matters into his own hands and kills an Egyptian and delays the deliverance of Israel for almost 40 years!  But God gave him another chance, so to Moses he is a God of second chances! 

Jonah was told by God to go to Nineveh and preach a message of repentance to them.  The Ninevites had been brutal to Jonah's people; he knew that if he went to Nineveh, they would repent, and God would forgive them--Jonah didn't want that! So, he goes in the opposite direction and a whale swallows him!  Jonah knows God as merciful and forgiving!

Hagar means a server of slave woman. She had done all that Sarah had asked of her, but Sarah was brutal and unkind to her. Hagar knew she was not wanted and runs away with her son. God found her by a tree and said, "Hagar, from where have you come, and where are you going?" She explained her perception of the situation, and she wasn't wrong, but God told her to go back and submit to Sarah; He would make her son a great nation.  To Hagar, God is a God of promise!  

If you're on the run from God today, how is God talking to you?  His children have run away from Him many times; He understands you and is waiting for your return! Believe it or not, God decided to forgive you even before you sinned, or even before He created the world! 

I want to focus on the heart of Father God because if you don't understand His heart, you'll misunderstand what He is saying and doing in your life. Below are five pictures of the Father's love:  

Picture #1: The Father chose to forgive all our sins including past, present, and future before the foundation of the world was laid.  

Before the Father framed the world, through His foreknowledge He knew that we would make mistakes so made a way to remove our shame and guilt through the Blood of Jesus Christ.

Our story begins with someone taking responsibility for being the Chief Reconciliation Officer (CRO) in his home.  Is there someone you need to forgive and let off the hook, someone you're hoping for forgiveness?  In God's heart, being reconciled is more important than being right! 

Dads, you're the CRO in your home because God appointed and anointed you to be that person--you're the high priest of your home.  It doesn't mean that you're always right.  It doesn't mean that you're always wrong. But it does mean that reconciliation is so important to God that He's put you in charge of it!  So, if somebody is hurt in your home or if there's a break in relationship, you're in charge! It's up to you to set the tone.  There's a very interesting story in Luke 15 about a prodigal son who leaves home:

"¹¹There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So, he divided his property between them. 

For the son to say to this wealthy father give me my inheritance, he is basically saying, "I wish you were dead" because that's when an inheritance is paid out.  Have you ever heard these harmful words: "I wish you were never born," "I wish you weren't my mom or dad?"  We don't know what happened with the father, but we do know that he released his son. 

Picture #2: The Father's way doesn't force His love.  He releases the rebellious child once they become unreachable or unteachable, to learn on their own.   

If you're in a relationship and you realize somebody is unteachable or unreachable, sometimes you must let them go! This is what the Father does.  I believe that He tries to reason with us, but there comes a point when the Father says, "Okay, go ahead."  

Isaiah 1:17-18 NIV says: "¹⁷Learn to do right; seek justice.  ¹⁸Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord."

The Father sent Jesus to teach us how the kingdom of heaven works; but we must learn the Father's love ourselves and reply in different situations as there's a right and a wrong way.  The father releases the rebellious son when his mind is made up and he becomes unreachable!  

Luke 15:14-20 NIV says: ¹³ Not long after that, the younger son got...all he had and set off for a distant country and squandered his wealth in wild living." ¹⁴ After he had spent everything...and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ ...and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him...to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. ¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him."

To give you an idea of how desperate this son was, to the Jews, pigs are unclean, and they would never do this! But he hired himself out because what the pigs were eating looked pretty good!  When enough pain had gone by, he came to his senses and said I will go back to my Father and say to him, "Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you and I'm no longer worthy to be your son.  Make me like one of your hired servants. " This is a great story of repentance! 

Is there anybody unreachable in your life?  Are you the unreachable one?  If so, know that God is reaching out to you.  You need to know that God is not angry at you no matter what you've done. He doesn't want to punish you.  Pastor Wayne says, "We're not punished for our sins but by them." I believe that God is saying, "Stop!" as He knows that you're about to get self?inflicted wounds if you get into a wrong relationship; make a wrong investment; quit your job when you're not supposed to, and the Father is saying, "Stop!" He's trying to spare you the pain.  

Picture #3: The Father's love always leaves the door open for your return, but He does not short circuit the road that leads to repentance while coming to your senses. 

Romans 2:4 NKJV says: "Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" 

God suffers while you're gone.  It's the kindness of His heart and His longsuffering that lead us to repentance.  If you've ever had a child that you've been worried about, you know what that's like because you suffer.  

The story of the prodigal son is really a story about The Good, Good Father.  While the son is still a long way off his father sees him and is filled with compassion! He had been looking and waiting for his return every day since he left!  This is the heart of the Father.  He yearns for your return.  Once he is home, He takes the best robe and puts it on the son (the one that squandered his inheritance)!  The robe is a sign of royalty; the ring is a sign of authority. He puts sandals on his feet. The kid was desperate, he didn't even have shoes when he came home!

Picture #4: The Father Yearns for Your Return to Fellowship with Him so He Can Restore and Reinstate Your Status of Royalty

When you come home, he doesn't just forgive you, He restores you. The father yearns for your return.  He yearns for the spirit that's inside of you.  He yearns for that relationship.  It's why he sent his Son to provide a way for you to come home!  

James 4:5 ISV says: "...do you think the Scripture means nothing when it says that the Spirit that God caused to live in us jealously yearns for us?^"

Everyone is not always happy when you return.  Have you ever felt resentment in the air?  The older brother is upset, angry, and refuses to go into the house.  The Father pleads with him, "Please, don't be upset.  Rejoice with me.  Please, understand what's going on here.  Your brother was gone.  We thought we'd never see him again.  He's now home.  Please come back in, be reconciled."  The older brother is upset because the Father was so merciful and good to somebody else--that's the heart of the Father!

Picture #5: The Father's Greatest Gift to His Children Is His Presence 

About a block and a half from where I live, I saw a person that I knew well walking fast down the street, very angry. I stopped and asked, "Hey, you want a ride?" He was angry and kept walking.  I said, "Get in the car, let me take you the last block. I have something to talk to you about."  He gets in my car, and I asked, "Where you going?  It seems like something is wrong?"  He said, "Scott, I'm going home.  My stepdad has beat up my mother, and I've got to go take care of that!" He's angry!  I said, "Oh, okay."  We talked for a minute, and I said, "Let me pray for you and your mom real quick, if I can."  He said, "Okay."  

Whether you're acting as a son or a daughter or a parent, the best thing to do is to get into the presence of God!  I took him home.  He told me months later, "Thank you for praying with me that day.  I was on my way to kill my stepfather!"

The Father sent His Son Jesus into the world to pay the penalty of our sins because sin had separated us from the Father, and the Father then sent the Holy Spirit to live inside us forever! Each of us has the potential to be the prodigal son, the prodigal daughter, the father, or the older son.  Who are you today?  Who is God talking to you about today?  Jesus says the Father's good pleasure is to give you the kingdom--just come home!  

STUDY QUESTIONS:

1. When does the Father release the rebellious child?

2. The Father's way doesn't ___________ His love.  He __________ the rebellious child once they become unreachable or unteachable.   

3. The Father ________ for your return to ___________ with Him so He can restore and reinstate your ______ of Royalty.

4. What is the Father's greatest gift to His children?