 The title of my sermon is Experiencing the Father's Heart. And all of us, we know the love of God. We all are familiar with pretty much every script for the talks about God's love, right? For God's to love the world, he what? He gave his only begotten son. We understand the sacrifice, we understand the love, we understand that God is a father. But I wanna read this quote to you that I just think beautifully articulates something that is not often recognized in our Christian walk. And it's by J.I. Packer. He says this, if you wanna judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child and having God as his father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship, his prayers, his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well. I just wanna stop there for a moment and say, if in your Christian walk, looking and hearing about the father, it's kind of like something you skimpast. If it's something that is just, oh yeah, I know God is our father, I would challenge you to think about your relationship with God. Because if you are not so overly aware of the fact that you're God's child, then you're missing a major part of your Christian walk. You're missing a major part of the reality of your relationship with God. Everything that we do, everything that is distinctly Christian in nature comes from the fact that we are the children of God, amen? Everything in the Christian faith is based off this, and I know this can seem like an elementary topic in a church setting. It can seem like this is basic Christianity, but if you don't get this, then you don't understand anything about Christianity. You know how you can know something so well? I mean, you can know it to death and for all purposes, be completely ignorant of it. You can know something so well and yet know nothing about it. It's possible to know so well that God loves you, to know the scripture that says, you know, God is love, know the scripture that says, you know, obviously John 3.16, for God to love the world, he gave his only begotten son. It's possible to know that you are bought by the blood of the Lamb, that you are a new creation in Christ and yet completely miss it. Because it's more than just head knowledge, it's heart knowledge. And for many Christians, the reality is this, their theology of God the Father is way better than their actual experience of Him. Their theology is like perfect theology that God is the Father and I understand all the things that the Father does, but in the reality of my life, I don't actually have a real experiential relationship with the Father. This happens so much. And I can't tell you how many, even mature Christians, Christian leaders who are walking around with an orphan spirit because they have not got the revelation of who the Father is. And not just who the Father is to somebody else, but who the Father is to them. And this is important to realize because God the Father frames the whole family of God. When you don't see the Father correctly, you'll begin to see the Son incorrectly. You'll begin to see the Holy Spirit incorrectly. When you don't have an understanding and not just head knowledge, but I mean true revelation in your heart of God the Father and that you are the child of God, then what happens is you begin to see Jesus as a get out of jail free card. You begin to see the Holy Spirit as a means to a goal. You begin to put Holy Spirit as an object, as a win because you're not realizing there's a relational aspect to the God that you serve because you don't realize that everything in Christianity is a relationship. Everything stems from the fact that you are God's creation and he formed you in your mother's womb and you are a child of God. And before you even knew him, he was pursuing you and searching you out. If this revelation does not become so rooted in you, it will affect the way that you go about your Christian walk. And I know so many leaders who are walking around with orphan spirits because they haven't had this real revelation. They've skimmed past this part and it's wreaking havoc in their families, wreaking havoc in their marriages, their ministries, your friendships, constantly being on edge back and forth. And it's so important for us to grasp this thing. You can totally know something and totally not know something at the same time. And so I wanna talk about some of the things that would hinder us from experiencing God the Father because how many of you guys know it's not often our theology of God that makes it difficult. It's usually our, it's our lens that we view God. It's usually us because usually we understand I know God is perfect, I know God is love, I know that God is good and I know that he wants to protect me and take care of me. But usually there's hang ups on the inside that stop us from really being able to experience that in our lives through experiencing the truth that we believe in our actual lives. And so I wanna talk about those things that hindrances to experiencing the Father. And I'm gonna say a lot of F words today. The first one is the being flippant with the Father. And another word for flippant is being unserious, having a disrespectful attitude. And probably one of the best descriptions of this would be in Luke 15. We all know the story of the prodigal son, right? The story goes as such is that as he gave, as he went to the Father and said, give me my inheritance that's due to me. And he took that inheritance and then just basically squandered it, went into the, his do his own thing, you know, living it up, living in the world, only after the fact did he realize actually how good he had it in his Father's house. It's possible to be flippant with the Father, to take unseriously what God has done. And most of us, we start there and before we even get saved, most of us don't realize until we realize that we need God in our lives. Most of us don't realize that it was God the Father that was putting breath in our lungs. Most of us don't realize before salvation that it was God that was protecting us every single time that the enemy, but we didn't even know at the time was the enemy, all the bad things that were happening in life. God is the one that protected us from attacks. And it was the Father who was protecting us the whole time. It was God protecting us the whole time. Before our relationship with God usually starts, we become, we were usually pretty flippant, pretty unserious, lack respect there until we have that moment of realizing, man, I need a Father in my life. And so if you're here this morning and you're that person, I just want you to think for a moment, maybe you're here today and you're going through life and you realize, you know what? You're right, I need, I need a Father in my life. I need to become more serious. That's usually the first level, but I wanna talk about another level within our behavior that can happen. And that is being familiar with the Father, familiar. And I wanna read a verse to you. It's John 14, eight through nine. John 14, eight through nine says this, Philip said, Lord show us the Father and that will be enough for us. Jesus answered, don't you know me, Philip? Even after I have been among you for such a long time, anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say show us the Father? For those of you who don't know, Philip was a disciple of Jesus. He was within the close people and close quarters to Jesus. And he asked him this question, hey, if you just show us the Father, that'll be enough for us. And Jesus was like, what do you mean? Don't you realize you've been around me this whole time and you haven't come to understand that I carry the essence of the Father inside of me? It's possible in your Christian walk to be around God and to not know Him. The reality is this, being close to God in proximity doesn't mean that you're close to Him in intimacy. Proximity doesn't equal intimacy. You can be in church, you can be a Christian. The funny part is this, is Philip was a disciple of Jesus. Jesus had given him power to cast out demons, to heal the sick, he was hearing the messages that Jesus was preaching and he still didn't grasp the understanding that Jesus had the essence of the Father inside of him. He wasn't grasping the reality of the Father. It's possible in our relationship with God to be going around and doing all these things in ministry and totally miss the fact that God is our Father, to not have a revelation of the Father in our life. You know, sometimes we don't realize it and I think this is kind of where Philip was at. Sometimes you become so familiar with what God is doing. You can be in a place like this, see miracle signs and wonders and become familiar with what's happening here. And that familiarity is the very thing that will kill your fire. That familiarity with what God is doing because you became so familiar with his acts that you missed out what the acts were pointing to. You missed out on the reality that the Spirit of the Lord is here and that you are seeing God the Father, you see the power of the Holy Spirit, you're seeing God at work, but not realizing what that means for you and this revelation stops at seeing other people experiencing God. I wanna ask you the question, when's the last time that you felt intimate with God? Think about that for a moment. When's the last time that you felt intimate with God? Have you been seeing other people experiencing God? But you yourself are somehow just missing it. It might be familiarity that's hindering you from pressing in. And I wanna encourage you and I wanna say to somebody this morning, if you're feeling familiar, rekindle the fire in your heart. Rekindle your fascination with God. Rekindle within your heart to realize that I am not just seeing things happen here. This is not just ordinary, but this is supernatural. And I'm serving a supernatural God. And the fact that it's supernatural is even just not the next, the amazing part. The fact is that this all comes back to the relationship that I have with God because all of it means something for me in my relationship with Him. It's important for us to not become familiar in His presence, otherwise we can lose the fire in our heart of intimacy. The third type of behavior that can develop in our lives and hinder us from really experiencing a closeness to the Father is forfitting. Forfitting sonship for servanthood. And I wanna bring up the story of, come back to the story of the prodigal son. Most people don't realize that the prodigal son is actually talking about two estranged sons. All of us are familiar with the fact that the prodigal, he became a stranger because he left and he did his thing, right? But many don't realize that the older brother is also just as estranged. Let me point it out to you. Let me point it out to you. Luke 15, 29 through 31. But he answered his father. This is the older brother speaking. Look, all of these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. You gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate, you've never even given me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill a fat and calf for him. And the father says this, my son, you're always with me and everything I have is yours. That's interesting to me because how is it that the older brother is sitting here? He's living in the father's house and he is jealous of his younger brother who was living in the world. He's jealous of the one moment that there's a celebration going on for his brother. And what's interesting because it dawned on me, he's in the house of God, but he's never experienced the embrace of God. It's possible to be in God's house and never experienced his embrace simply because listen to what he said, listen to what he said, all these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. It's interesting that the older brother was concerned about what he was doing for God. He was concerned about disciplines and duties over the relationship. And how does the father respond? The father doesn't really comfort him. The father just says, you've been around me this whole time. Everything I have is yours. In other words, what's going on? Like, we should celebrate, your brother was dead but now he's alive. And you're sitting here playing a game of who gets what? Because the reality is, is the brother did not have the revelation that even though he was in close proximity, again, being in proximity, but he did not have the revelation that he was the son, not a servant. He was focused on talking about all the things he did to please his father. And all of this never actually got him close to God. What's interesting is this. Intimacy doesn't come through service. It comes through surrender. Your service to God doesn't actually bring you intimacy with God. Your surrender to him and the reality of who he is is what brings intimacy. Service to God will constantly cause you in this cycle of feeling like you're not getting enough and you're constantly going from place to place. Either you are the pinnacle of religiosity or you're literally gonna be falling into sin every weekend because you can't hold up to your own standards. I wanna read to you Galatians 5.4. You have become estranged from Christ. You who attempt to be justified by the law and you have fallen from grace. It's interesting that Paul was saying to the Galatians that those of you who are trying to be justified by the law which is to works to receive salvation, you actually have become estranged with Christ. You've fallen away from grace. In other translations, it says that you've made the work of Christ of no effect. Whoa, think about that. The moment that you try to do things out of your own ability, you are basically saying to God that Christ shouldn't have effect in my life. You are trying to get to God without the grace of God. It's important that you realize and that we all realize that we're a son of God, not a servant. We get to serve in his house but we are first a son. We are first a daughter of the most high God. You can be in his house, because servants are in the house as well. But if you're in the house and you're constantly focused on what you're doing, you'll never get to experience who he is. You'll never get to experience that embrace of the father. The fourth F is being fearful of the father. And this is another hindrance. And we all are familiar with this one. It's the old ball and chain of guilt and shame. You know, when Adam and Eve, when they recognized their nakedness through their sin, they immediately became fearful of God. This is what happens sometimes in our lives and we can find ourselves in guilt and shame. And I'm not gonna go too deep in this because I think we're all very familiar that guilt and shame are lies of the enemy. But it's important for us to recognize this. If you wanna overcome guilt and shame, let me give you the remedy to overcome guilt and shame and remove fear. Romans 8.15 says this, for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba Father, amen. When you recognize that you didn't receive a spirit of fear, you don't have to be afraid of your father, but you've actually received a spirit of adoption. The answer to overcome fear is to recognize that you are adopted. In other words, that you're a son or you're a daughter. Because what happens when you realize that you're a son or a daughter, you begin to realize you're loved. And what does 1st John 4.18 say? It says this, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. It's possible to be in the house of the Lord and not be made perfect in love. Simply because you are rejecting the reality of your sonship or your daughtership. You can be in the house of the Lord and totally miss out because you're forfeiting what God has given for something lesser. It can sometimes feel like the opposite. I need to work for the Lord in order for him to love me, but that's not how it works. When you begin to recognize and have the framework, the revelation, because really these words that I'm saying this morning, they can be just words, but when you have the revelation that God is your father, something shifts in the way that you act. I don't have to do to become something before my father. I am, therefore I do. Out of the place that I am a son, I can do all the things that Christ asked me of me. I'm not created just for good works. I'm created for love. I'm created for love. I'm created for relationship with the Father. And out of that place, out of the place of being created for love and understanding my identity, Christ, I can go forth and do the good works that Christ has told me to do. And I can do them effectively because I'm not going and trying to get approval of man. I'm not trying to get approval from God from it because I've already received acceptance and out of a place of fulfillment, out of a place of being full, I can live, move and have my being within the Lord and do all that He's called me to do. But if I choose to forfeit that, then that's just a decision to make. You can be like the older brother and be in the house and totally miss out on it. And it's not because God's not good. And it's not because He doesn't love you. And it's because of not choosing to let go of this need to prove yourself. So sometimes when we find ourselves, we can either be in these different categories that I was just talking about. I wanna talk about the keys to open your heart to intimacy. The keys to open your heart to intimacy. And the first thing is this, be aware of your need for intimacy with God. Sometimes we don't realize that we need intimacy with the Father. We don't think that we need much intimacy with God, at least on a deep level. And I wanna read to you Romans 8, 19, it says this. For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God. Creation, even creation, I should say, is waiting for you to have a revelation of who you are in God. Creation is waiting for us to realize as believers that we're not just servants in God's house, but we are sons and daughter of the most high God. Creation is groaning. The reality is this, is that the creation was put under curse when Adam was put under curse. And they're subject to that same curse until the time that Jesus comes back because we're waiting for the sons of God to have revelation. In other words, to recognize who they are, to usher in the kingdom of heaven. When you understand who you are, it gives reason to the what, the why, the who, I'm sorry, the what, the why, the where, and the how. Everything in life, because oftentimes we're asking God, what do you want me to do? And if we would just ask the question, who have you made me to be? Something would shift. You wouldn't be constantly asking, what, what, what, what, what? Because when you know who, you know what. When you know that you're a son of God, all of the things that the Bible talks about, you begin to recognize, well, this is the promise and these are the things that God has called me to do. And I don't need someone to tell me constantly what to do. I know who I am. And out of that place of knowing who I am, I go and I do the things that my father has asked. And the second key to open up our heart to intimacy is to embrace your responsibility for intimacy. Embrace your responsibility for intimacy. Sometimes when we can hear about the father's love and we talk about all these things and what can happen is we go, okay, well, I'm praying, but I'm not experiencing this. I'm not, this love that you're talking about, I don't feel it. And then we kind of just whatever and we kind of brush it off and we move forward. But I wanna tell you that intimacy is made available to you, but it doesn't mean that it's made automatic. And what I mean by that is that at the day of your salvation, when you became a Christian, intimacy with God was made available. Meaning that you can come to the father and have a relationship with him, but just like any intimate relationship, these things have to be developed in order to grow in a deeper revelation of your relationship with God, with the father, you have to give time into it. You have to spend time with the Lord. It's not automatic in your life. It's not automatic. I wanna put up a picture right now, if we can. The picture of JFK, let me see. This is a picture of JFK, President JFK, and his son who's underneath his desk, just playing and messing around. And I think this is a really good imagery of the dynamic of our relationship with God. JFK, it's been said of JFK that one of the rules that he had in the Oval Office is that his son or his children could interrupt him at any time. Imagine this, the President of the United States, a very busy man, his children could interrupt him at any time. His children had access to him at any time, even when he's busy, and they think this is such a good representation of the relationship that we have with God, is that you have access to the father any time you want. There is not anything too big or too small that the father is not aware of, that the father wants to be involved in, that the father wants to know about, to be with you. You have access, free access to him, regardless of what barriers you may feel there are. There is free access, and the responsibility for us as a believer is to just take advantage of the access that we have. If you truly had an understanding that you were a son or a daughter, we would be taking access every day. If you're struggling in your prayer life, if you're struggling in a place of trying to have intimacy with God, I would wonder about what your revelation of God is, because it's easy to go and pray, it's easy to come to the Lord when you realize the kind of access that you have to him, and that you're not a burden, that you're not getting in the way, you're not an interruption, but you have free access, and you understand who your father is, it's easy to come into his presence. And so it's important for us to take responsibility for our intimacy with God. Again, don't be familiar, don't be in proximity and miss out on intimacy, simply because you didn't come to him in the right mentality. Number three, the third key to opening our heart to intimacy is this, redefine your self image before God. Romans 12, two says this, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is good and acceptable in the perfect will of God. Proverbs 23, seven says this, for as he thinks in his heart, so he is, and we all understand that our thought life has power over our physical day to day, right? We all understand that what we think can play a huge role in what we act and do and see. There's a reality that we need to come to in our mind is that when you have the, when you're seeing the father through the wrong lens, it plays a domino effect in the kind of intimacy that you can have with him. Let me put it this way. And if you can follow me on this, if I think that he thinks I'm no good, then I will think less of myself than what he actually thinks of me. And if I think less of what he thinks of me, then I will think that intimacy is not available for me. I know that was a lot of things, but let me put it more simply like this. A wife who thinks that she's a girlfriend will never feel secure in their relationship, no matter how much the husband is proving his love to her. And that's the same thing for us. Until we understand that we're sons or we're daughters, until you understand that you are the bride of Christ, till you have this revelation, you'll never feel secure in God's love. Never truly secure because there are always this little lie in the back of your mind that like, yeah, but it will kind of go this way and it might be conditional today. What if things change? But when you begin to redefine your self image before the Lord and there's power in understanding your identity before the Lord, because it has this chain reaction, it has this domino effect on how you live your life before the Lord and the kind of intimacy with you can have with the Lord. It's not because God is not loving, it's not that God is not attentive, but if you think that he's not attentive, then you will come to him as such and you'll say, oh, well, I tried praying and it didn't work. Oh, well, I tried connecting with my father and it didn't work. I tried talking to Jesus and I'm just, it's like I'm in a blank wall. But when you begin to realign your thoughts according to what the word says, something will shift. So you'll begin to see from a different perspective. And so it's so important, these three keys, become aware of your need for intimacy. The other thing, embrace your responsibility for intimacy and redefine your self image before the Lord. Hey, thanks for watching this video. If you enjoyed this content and this was a blessing to you, would you help us and hit thumbs up so that it could help more people to discover this video. It cost you nothing, but it can go a long way to help with the algorithm. As well as if you're not subscribed to our channel, hit subscribe, click on the bell so that you can be reminded each time that we upload videos. Thank you so much for being a part of this community. If you're interested in learning more about Hungry Gen, our internship, our conferences, deliverance and so many other things, go to HungryGen.com for more information. And as always, remember, better is not good enough, the best is yet to come.