The running father, the walking son and the working son!

The Running Father
Wayne Duncan

Who you think God is, is the most important thing about you.
Our view of God will determine how we live as Christians.
How you view God?

God wants us to see Him as a loving father. He wants us to feel like well loved Children.

He does not want us to see Him as master.
He does not want us to be obedient slaves.
He wants us to be free loved children.

Galatians 4:1
4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

We are redeemed from the law, and God no longer relates to us through obedience to the law. Now He relates to us as a loving father. Under the law we were rejected for disobedience to the law. Now under Christ we are accecpted even though we are dissobediant to the law.
It’s this acceptance that emboldens and empowers us to live the life we never could under slavery.
Slaves work for approval.
Children have approval.
Slaves have a master.
Children have a loving father.

But Wayne “God is the Sovereign Lord Almighty, not just our Daddy”.
That’s true...consider Jesus words.
Jesus taught on prayer. What did he say?
“our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name”
First it’s our father, then it’s Lord Almighty.
That’s what makes the fact that He is our father so amazing, our Father is the Lord almighty.
He does not want us to relate through His majesty, but through His love as a father. It’s an invitation to intimacy and love.
What motivates a slave?
Fear and reward.
What motivates a son? Love.
What motivates a master? Desire for better performance.
What motivates a father. Love!
A desire to provide, care, help..love.

Delivery from law and slavery to son ship and love, is the journey back to Love.
Under law God resisted us.
Under grace, Father runs to us!

Luke 15
Jesus told them this story: "A man had two sons. 12The younger son told his father, 'I want my share of your estate now, instead of waiting until you die.' So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. 13"A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and took a trip to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money on wild living. 14About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15He persuaded a local farmer to hire him to feed his pigs. 16The boy became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. 17"When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, 'At home even the hired men have food enough to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger! 18I will go home to my father and say, "Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired man."' 20"So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21His son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. ' 22"But his father said to the servants, 'Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger, and sandals for his feet. 23And kill the calf we have been fattening in the pen. We must celebrate with a feast, 24for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.' So the party began. 25"Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27'Your brother is back,' he was told, 'and your father has killed the calf we were fattening and has prepared a great feast. We are celebrating because of his safe return.' 28"The older brother was angry and wouldn't go in. His father came out and begged him, 29but he replied, 'All these years I've worked hard for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the finest calf we have.' 31"His father said to him, 'Look, dear son, you and I are very close, and everything I have is yours. 32We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!'"

This teaches us many things.
2 sons one working and one walking..
One working for what he already has, one walking away from what he already has.
Are you a worker or a walker?
You don’t have to work or walk!
Did the son ever loose His son ship?
Did the father ever reject the son?
Our father in Heaven never moves away from us!
We move away from Him, and every time we return, we find Him running to us!
Two sons...
One working for the love..one squandering his love...as for the father...always loving!

God wants us to know that everything He has is ours.
He wants us to be secure in His love.
We need never doubt His love or fear rejection.
We don’t need to work for His love. We don’t earn our love. He does not want us to elate to Him as a master..we are not slaves, we are sons.

God is so committed to this that He has assigned the Holy Spirit the special ministry to minister this truth to us.
Rom 8
14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family-- calling him "Father, dear Father." 16For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children. 17And since we are his children, we will share his treasures-- for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too.
The Holy Spirit tells us that we are Sons.
The Holy Spirit gets all the most important tasks in man.
The calling to salvation.
The regeneration.
The reassurance that we are sons!

Let’s open our hearts to the Father, receive the ministry of the spirit, and let Him lead us to a life of freedom from slavery, into love acceptance and security.