In the sermon 'Our Father which art in Heaven' by Steve Hopkins, the focus is on understanding the significance of addressing God as 'Father' within the Lord's Prayer. Pastor Hopkins explains that while Jesus is the only Son of God by nature, believers are adopted into God's family through faith in Jesus Christ. The sermon highlights the importance of modeling family relationships after Christ and the Church, emphasizing respectful communication and the necessity of resolving discussions with authority and submission. Pastor Hopkins also underscores the value of private prayer, as Jesus instructs, promising open rewards for those who engage in it. The concept of God's fatherhood is explored, debunking the idea of a universal fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man, instead affirming that only those in Christ are children of God and brothers in faith. The need for a family table for communal worship is also stressed, urging families to engage in regular, meaningful interactions centered around scripture and prayer.

Thanks for joining us this week at Barnet Bible Church. Pastor Hopkins will be delivering the second part in his series on the Lord's Prayer. His sermon is entitled, Our Father, Richard in Heaven. Good morning once again. Getting started a little bit earlier, a few minutes earlier than usual, praise God.

I always like to see that. It means I get to go a little bit longer. If you would turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 6. We're taking a break from our verse-by-verse exposition of Romans to look at the Lord's Prayer, because we've been talking about prayer lately. And isn't it interesting that I just really woke up to this yesterday that the title of the message today is, on Father's Day, is Our Father Who Art in Heaven, Our Father Which Art in heaven on Father's Day.

But before we launch into Matthew chapter 6 verses 5 through 9, once again first a couple of pre-message messages, which has become a little bit of a tradition here. First, there was a question that came up after my message last week from one of the members as to clarification about husbands and wives arguing or getting into arguments. And the concern was that there might be some couples or maybe wives who might hear and come away thinking that they're not permitted to discuss things with their husbands. And just in case anyone comes away ever with the thinking that marriages are not supposed to be full of discussion, of course they are. Marriages need to be full of discussion, but void of arguments breaking out.

Void of arguments breaking out. I can't imagine a marriage where there is not continual conversation between husbands and wives. And remember, the model is always Christ in His church. The model is always Christ in His church. Husbands, put yourself in the place of Christ.

Wives, put yourselves in the place of the church. I had a big long thing here and I was going to go into some examples and scenarios, but I'm not going to do that. I think it's best just to say, put yourself in the position of Christ in the church. And when you have situations in your marriage, always put yourself in the position of Christ in the church. That's the way that you work through situations.

You know, every single situation can be worked out when you're modeling Christ, husband, and when you are modeling the church, wife, every single situation will be worked out. And the same thing goes with discussions and when discussions are ended, because you know, unless there is an end to a discussion, they're perpetual. And you can't have a perpetual discussion on any particular situation, whether it's a financial situation or a question of how to raise the children or how to discipline the children or whatever it has to be. There has to be an end somewhere. There has to be resolution.

And how does resolution come? Well, it comes with authority. And eventually the authority has to say, okay, this is the end of the discussion. This is the end to discussion. And then, of course, there has to be submission in situations like that.

That's the same with children. You children, at some point in time, You know, when there is a situation where you're discussing something with your parents, and maybe you're in disagreement with your parents, and then they say, you know what, here's the end of the discussion. We've discussed this, I've heard your points, I've heard your concerns back and forth, and now this is the end of the discussion, and this is what Mom says, this is what I've decided. Then you have to say, you know what, that's the end of it. That's the end of it.

To go on would be to argue with your mother, to be to engage in an argument. And that wouldn't be right. There has to be an end to it at some point in time, and God puts in our lives, He puts authority in our lives. Same thing on the job site, you know. You've got a boss, right?

All the guys are saying, well, we want to do this, we want to do that, and they're discussing things back and forth. The boss says, okay, let's hear everybody's points. And everybody gives their points, everybody gives their situation, what they think they should do. And after a while he says, okay, here's the end of it. I've heard everybody's objections, I've heard everybody's, you know, arguments, I've heard everything, but here's the end of it and this is what we're going to do.

This is what we're going to do. This is what we're going to do. And then he ends it. He says this is the end of it, okay? To go on would be to engage in an argument then rather than to give their arguments.

So there has to be an end to it. There has to be resolution at some point in time. Okay, second, Well, let me just say this. Some children, and we've done a lot of counseling over the years, some children, you know, have good memories of their parents discussing things respectfully with each other. And they'll tell you, you know, it was a model for them and an example for them going into their marriages, this is how this is to be done.

Other children, you know, you counsel with them and they've got bad memories. They've got bad memories of going to bed listening to their parents arguing, You know, listening to their parents arguing and how they fell asleep with a knot in their stomach, you know, and maybe felt sick. And then the next day it started all over again. So, you know, remember also that there's children, and there's children many times, not always, but there's children many times that are involved, and you're teaching them. You're teaching them how they are to operate and function in their future marriages, and just teach them, you know, the right way.

Model for them Christ and His church. How many remember a message that I did many years ago on companions? Anybody remember? It was on companions. One person remembers?

Okay, it was based on Proverbs 13, 20. It was on companions, and the reference was, he who walks with wise men will be wise, but a companion of fools will be destroyed. And it was directed at parents, and it was an admonition and encouragement to parents, watch out who you raise your children under the influence of, who you let your children be the friends of. Because you know, you need to stop for a moment sometimes and say, and we have a lot of younger parents now and they're raising up children, you're going to start having to make these decisions, who do I want my children to be around? Who do I want them to be like?

And you have to look out there and say, OK, I'm letting them hang out with so-and-so, fellowship with these people or those people or what have you. And it can even be relatives. They say blood's thicker than water or whatever. Blood relatives doesn't mean that you have to allow. We had to cut off a lot of blood relatives because they were destructive influences on our children.

We had to just cut it off. And I remember at one point in time, many, many, many years ago, Sandra and I sitting there in the house and saying, you know what, we don't have any friends. We had to cut off so many relations once we were trying to live more biblically and separate for the sake of our children, you know, that we didn't want this destructive influences in the lives of our children. We realized, wow, we don't have any friends anymore. You know, for our children, we had to pull them away because the companions of fools will be destroyed.

And we had a lot of foolish friends that were going in the way that we didn't want to see them go. They were bringing them into movies that were destructive. They were bringing them into music that was destructive. If you see them taking your children in a direction in a way with influences that you don't want to see them go Or if you look at these companions, do you say this is the model? This is the way I want my child to turn out Okay, this is the way I want my child to turn out well then let them hang out with them This is exactly what I want my child to be like.

Then let them hang out with them. But if you say, that's not what I want my child to turn out like, then pull them away from them. Pull away from those influences. Pull them away from those influences because you know what? A companion of fools is going to be destroyed.

But if they walk with wise men, they're going to be wise. Find wise men for your children to walk with. You know, the fellowship meal at the church that goes on for a couple hours, that's a good place. But watch out, you know, watch out who they're hanging out with. It really, really matters.

It really, really matters. Number three. So I usually only do a couple, but really impressed upon to bring out this one also. The family table, the family table. How many have ever heard the term the family table?

Okay. The family table. We're getting away from it in America. We've gotten way far away from it in America. Please don't let the family table get lost in the hustle and bustle of your busy life.

Even those who believe in the family table can get away from it, okay? And the family table may be the family living room, you know, or what have you. I'm not talking about it has to be a table, but a set time in the evening or maybe in the morning for your family where you gather together and all the family is together and you're looking at each other eye to eye and maybe you lay out the Bible and you read a passage of scripture together. It may be your family worship time, but you eat together, you commune together, you relax together, you talk together, you know. It's American traditional, but more importantly it's also a pattern in Scripture.

We see suppers throughout the Old Testament. In the New Testament we see Jesus, you know, preparing meals for people and, you know, He prepares a supper for the 5, 000 in Mark 6. Another time in Matthew 15, He prepares a supper for the 4, 000. In Luke 24, Jesus appears to the disciples after that walk, you know, to the village of Emmaus during supper. And it says, he came to pass, he sat down to meet with them, and he took bread, and he broke it with them.

And that was a time where he vanished out of their sight. But he's always sitting down with meals, and he's looking at them eye to eye, and there's conversation that is taking place. And of course, most importantly, the Lord's table, the Lord's table, the Last Supper, the Last Supper was also the First Communion table. And that was the supper where you read that they were reclining around the table. They're sitting around, they're reclining on the table, and they're talking with each other.

These things are important. They're engaging in conversation and they're eating together. Don't let these things be lost. We need to return to scheduled daily times where the family meets together to eat together and talk together and read, you know, a passage of Scripture together. How many remember the old Johnny Cash song, The Family Bible?

Remember that? That was a nostalgic song. That was a lamentation. That song was a lamentation. It was lamenting that they had begun to get away from that.

That was what, back in the 1970s maybe? 60s or 70s? They were getting away from it, but the lyrics capture how it was once in America. We need to recapture it and not let it go again, and I'll read you the lyrics. It says, there's a family Bible on the table.

It's pages worn and hard to read, but the family Bible on the table will ever be my key to memory. So he's lamenting here, and at the same time he's remembering how it used to be when he was a child. At the end of day, when work was over, here we go, there was a set time where the family gathered together, and when the evening meal was done, they all gathered together for an evening meal. Dad would read to us from the family Bible and we'd count our many blessings one by one. I can see us sitting around the table when from the family Bible Dad would read, and I can hear my mother softly singing, Rock of Ages, Rock of Ages, cleft for me.

So it was family worship time. They read, they ate, they read from the Bible, and they sang. It's family worship. That was understood as normal, regular American life. Now this old world of ours, it goes on, it says it's filled with trouble.

What, in the 1960s and 70s you think it was full of trouble? What about now? Now this old world also better would be if we found more Bibles on the tables than mothers singing rock of ages cleft for me. And look where we are today. Okay.

So, set a time for the family table. Require all the family members to be there. Let it be a time for communing together, for discussion, for reclining, for relaxing, for relaxation, for resting in the Word of God. And with that, stand with me for the reading of the Word of the Lord, Matthew chapter 6, and we'll be reading verses 5 through 9 together aloud. Read with me verses 5 through 9.

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet. And when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy father, which is in secret, and thy father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. But when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking be not ye therefore likened to them for your father knoweth what things ye have need of before you ask him after this manner therefore pray ye our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name let's pray father we once again commit this time to you.

We ask, Lord, that you would use this time for your glory, that you would open up our understanding to see wonderful things in your word, that you would do a magnificent work in the lives of every one of us, God. For we ask it in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus, amen. Let's be seated. So in our last session, which was our first session on the Lord's Prayer, I said that I wanted to come at this from a different angle this morning, not from the angle of, hey, I'm your pastor and I really want you to have a prayer life, but from the angle or standpoint of Jesus saying, when you pray, when you pray, because we just read these verses, verse 5, 6, 7, when you pray, Jesus says, when you pray, when you pray, when you pray, when you pray, And I made the point that Jesus isn't making a suggestion. How many remember that?

Jesus isn't making a suggestion here to His disciples. He's not saying, listen brothers, if you pray, if you pray, but when you pray. When you pray. Again, Jesus is assuming a prayer life. How many got that last week?

Jesus is assuming you've got a prayer life, too. Jesus is assuming, amongst His followers, you've got a prayer life. And then we looked at how, before Jesus tells his disciples how to pray, he first taught them how not to pray. Don't pray like the heathen. Look, brothers, don't pray like the heathen.

Don't pray to be seen by men. Don't pray to be seen by others. Prayer is not a thing between you and others. Prayer is between you and God. Don't pray, for instance, when you're praying in public, in the corporate prayer time for the church, for the ears of those who are praying with you, but pray for God's ears.

Pray to God. Pray for His hearing. And then we looked at how Jesus says, don't use the Lord's Prayer for any type of recitation. Don't just memorize it and then kind of go through it, our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, and earth as it is in heaven." And then just say it, you know, like people do, you know, we'll hear people that will just recite the prayer, right, over and over again, like mindlessly, like they don't even know what they're saying, just a mindless recitation, almost like it's magic. Like if I just say these words over and over again, God's going to be pleased because He hears me saying these over and over again.

So what? You memorize the Lord's Prayer. Big deal. And you should memorize the Lord's Prayer because you need to be able to know the words so you know the model for the prayer that God has said, here's the elements that you need to be praying. And you need to understand what these words mean, but you need to take the elements of this And then pray those elements with understanding, okay?

But don't use it as a recitation. Repeating the words of the Lord's Prayer, thinking that God is impressed with that, is something that they heathen do. It's not what Christians do. The Christians are to pray with understanding. And when we pray the words of the Lord's Prayer, we're to pray them with understanding as words, as a model for prayer, in a manner in which we are to pray, with each petition in the Lord's Prayer being understood as an element of prayer that is acceptable to God and that is pleasing to Him and that is beneficial also for us.

And then we looked at how Jesus dealt specifically with private prayer. And I said there is something in the text here that is overlooked by Christians to a great degree in our time and it's this, that there is a reward for private prayer. Did I drive that home or did I drive that home last week? There is a reward for private prayer. I've got to reiterate it here.

There is a reward for getting alone with God in private prayer. How many started? Don't raise your hand. Don't raise your hand. But how many started getting alone with God in private prayer this week and took that to heart?

There's a reward for it. And then don't raise your hand again, but how many saw the reward for it? I'm going to tell you what, there is a reward for private prayer. You will see God act when you engage in private prayer. When you get alone with God, Jesus instructs his disciples to pray to their father in a secluded place And he assures them that their Father who takes note of what they're doing and hears what they are praying outside of the hearing of others will reward them openly.

And I said if you're taking notes last week, please write down these words. God shall reward you openly. He will. There's no getting around it. You're not going to get around it.

You're not going to escape the fact that God is going to reward you openly. He is going to reward you openly if you get alone with Him in prayer. The Bible tells you. We have God's promise on it, but of course the opposite is also true. If you don't, He won't.

You don't, He won't. You don't get alone with God in prayer, He won't reward you openly. Don't expect things to change in your life, don't expect things to change in your marriage, don't expect things to change in your workplace, don't expect things to change in the world if you are getting with God alone in prayer. Imagine the things that could change in your life, in your marriage, in your family, in the world, with the advancement of the gospel if people would just get alone, if God's people would just get alone with Him in prayer. But do expect things to change in your life, your marriage, your family, your workplace and in all the world if you are getting alone with God in prayer.

You have God's promise on it. And I asked the congregation last week, how is your prayer life? How is your private prayer life? Do you want to see God reward you openly? Do you want to see God answer your prayers and pray?

And pray to him in secret. Get alone with God. Get alone with God. Get on your knees. Get alone with God in a private place and believe, believe that God keeps his promises.

Believe him. Believe what God says. Believe that God keeps his promises. And then that brings us to verse 9 this morning. Verse 9.

After this manner therefore pray ye our Father which art in heaven, our Father. And I want to ask you a question. Have you noticed that the Old Testament saints never addressed God as Father? You don't see them addressing God as father. You don't see the prophets of old addressing God as father.

Jesus starts doing that in the New Testament. And it's kind of scandalous, isn't it? Jesus appears and again and again He calls God His Father. And It works up the Jewish leaders it works them up God is Jesus father, right? Jesus is the only begotten of the Father.

Jesus is the only begotten nature born of the same nature, Son of God. Jesus is the only begotten, He is the only eternally begotten of the Father. He is co-equal. He is co-eternal with the Father. He is of the same nature as the Father and the Holy Spirit.

He is of the same essence, is another way of putting it, as the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is of the same essence, is another way of putting it, as the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is of the same substance, is the way the ancients put it, consubstantial, of the same substance as the Father and the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 10 and verse 30, after repeatedly, and this really got them angry, really got the Jews angry, in John chapter 10 and verse 30, after repeatedly, over and over again referring to God as his father Jesus tells the Jews I and my father are one Remember that I and my father are one and remember what the response of the Jews was How many remember what their response was? They picked up rocks to crush his head.

They picked up stones to stone him. They wanted Jesus under a pile of rocks. They knew what he was saying. They knew what Jesus was getting at here. They picked up stones to stone him They knew what his claim was he was claiming that God was his father and that he was the son of God God the son That's what the claim was and they got it They got the picture and they picked up rocks to try to crush Him.

Now I want to emphasize something here. Again, Jesus is the only Son of God by nature. He is of the same nature as the Father and the Holy Spirit. We're not. He is the only eternally begotten of the Father, of the same nature as God, but we are not.

Everybody understand that? Okay, we're getting into deep doctrine of the nature of God and the Holy Trinity. Everybody got that? You've got to get this before we can go on. Jesus is one with the Father.

Jesus is of the same substance or nature with the Father. And though he invites us to call God our Father, we of course are not. We are not of the same nature as God. We're not God. Jesus is God.

Okay? He's of the same nature, of the same substance, of the same essence as God. God is one nature, one substance, but three in person. One in nature, one in substance, one in essence, but three in person. That's the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

Okay, so Jesus is of the same nature as the Father. He is the eternally begotten Son of God. There was never a time when Jesus was not. He has always been the Son of God. The eternally begotten Son of God.

He has always been the Son of God. He didn't become the Son of God when he was born of the Virgin Mary. He's always been the eternally begotten Son of God. Okay? But we are not naturally sons or children of God.

We are not by nature children of God. We are by nature children of wrath. Does everyone understand that? We are by nature children of wrath. Turn with me to the book of Ephesians chapter 2.

To Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 3. We are not by nature children of God. Jesus is the only son of God by nature. We are by nature children of wrath. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 3 says, Among whom also we all had our conversation, that's our behavior in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath.

By nature. That's our nature. Our nature inherited from our first parents and passed down to us by ordinary generation. Parents from parents from parents from parents until we go all the way back to Adam and Eve our first parents We are by nature children of wrath. We are not the natural sons of God We are the sons and daughters of God not by nature, but by what who knows?

By adoption We're the sons and daughters of God by Adoption, okay. Our sonship is by adoption Not by nature and our adoption was one for us Our adoption was one force just like our justification was one force by who? By Jesus. Our adoption was one force by Jesus. Look at Galatians chapter 4.

Let's turn to Galatians chapter 4 beginning with verse 4 for our proof text. Our adoption was won for us by Jesus, Galatians 4 beginning with verse 4. But when the fullness of time was come, God, that's God the Father, sent forth His Son, see He is already a son, God sent forth His Son, He's already a son before he was sent. Got it? See?

Okay? Made of a woman, now, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons and Because your sons okay once adopted God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba father Now we can call him father now we can call God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ We can call him father also and he invites us to call him father our father which art in heaven because your sons sons of the adoption who have received the adoption because Jesus Christ came into the world and Won for us our adoption God has sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts crying Abba father Wherefore we are no more servants, but sons and if sons heirs of God through Christ. We deserved what? We deserved wrath. Why?

We were children of wrath. But God sent his son to redeem us and he did. He redeemed us that we might receive the adoption of sons at the same moment that we were justified in the sight of God by the justification that was won for us by Jesus Christ and what He did for us in His life, in perfect obedience, in His death, in atoning for our sins, in making satisfaction for our sins by His suffering and death. He also purchased for us and won for us our adoption. We deserve wrath as children of wrath, that God sent His Son to redeem us, that we might receive the adoption of sons and all the benefits of the children of God all the benefits of the children of God heirs now of all the things that God has for his children and because we are now children of the adoption Because of what Jesus did for us in his life and in his death We now can call God our father.

Amen We can now call God our father God our father We can now pray our father our father which art in heaven And we now know we know that God is our Father. He is our Father and we are His children. What a blessing. Here we are on Father's Day, on Father's Day, And we have this reality that Jesus invites us to call His Father, of whom He is the eternally begotten Son of the Father, we can call His Father our Father. What a blessing.

What a blessing. Now, we know that the Father loves the Son. Throughout the Scriptures, we are told that the Father loves the Son. The Son loves the Father. There is this relationship between the Father and Son, an eternal relationship between the Father and the Son.

That the Father loves the Son, and we're also told that the Father loves all those who are in His Son. We have that relationship as well. John 3.35 says, the Father loves the Son. The Father loveth the Son. John 5.20, The Father loveth the Son.

John 520, the Father loveth the Son. John 1724, Jesus says of the Father, you loved me before the foundation of the world. John 1017, Jesus says the Father loveth me. John 1723, He says that the world may know that thou, speaking of the Father, sent me and has loved them, that's every one of us who are in Christ Jesus by faith, even as thou has loved me. He loves us even as He loves His Son.

Isn't that a comforting thing to know? And we can call Him Father, because guess what? He is our Father if we're in His Son. He is our Father. He is our Father in heaven.

What a wonderful message to fall to us on Father's Day. Now the world, the world would have us to believe that everyone is in the same boat. The world says God, God is the universal father of us all. Anyone ever heard that doctrine? It's a doctrine of humanism, but there are many professing Christians who promote that doctrine and they'll look at you like you are the devil himself if you say anything contrary to it.

Oh he's the universal father of us all isn't it wonderful that every one of us on earth are all brothers we're all brothers and God is the father of us all lie straight from the pit of hell. Sorry. The other one I really hate is when you turn on the news, evening news, and they say people of faith, you know, the Muslims and the whatever, the Buddhists and the Christians, they're all people of faith. Sorry, we're not people of faith. We're not all people of faith.

There's only one faith, right? One spirit, one baptism, there's only one. The rest are false religions and false gods, and they will all perish. But the world says God is the universal father of all, and all men are brothers. But it's a humanistic teaching.

It's a humanist teaching. But it's the prevailing doctrine of the New Age. It is the prevailing doctrine of the Age, the New Age. The universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man, but it's not the teaching of scripture. When I preach on the streets, as I did this last Wednesday, I brought this fact out and I bring it out almost every time I preach because the ignorance on this particular topic prevails everywhere.

So it's really good to bring out in the streets, and I brought it out this past Wednesday. God is not the Father of all men. God is not your Father if you are not a child of God through faith in his son Jesus Christ. Jesus told the Jewish leaders in John chapter 8 verse 42, if God were your father, you would love me. If you don't love Jesus, God is not your father.

You don't love Jesus, God ain't your father, okay? You don't love Jesus, God ain't your father. Jesus said, for I proceeded forth and came from God As the eternally begotten Son of God to finish it out and of course They didn't love Jesus God's son because God was not their father There is no universal fatherhood of God. It's a humanistic fiction. Jesus went on to say, why do you not understand my speech?

Jesus asked them, even because you cannot hear my word. Which goes back to what Eric was speaking on earlier. You can't hear my word, why? Because you can't hear my word. You can't hear my word because the Holy Spirit has never regenerated your heart.

You've never been changed from the inside out You never been made a new creature in Christ Jesus. You can't hear my word People dead and trespasses and sins can't hit dead people can't hear. I Only can't get that through our heads The dead can't hear Dead people can't hear You ever talk to a dead person? They can't hear. Unless Jesus says come forth, then they hear.

Lazarus, I.E. They weren't born again. They didn't have ears to hear. That's what Jesus said, when they don't have ears to hear, they don't have eyes to see. If you're dead, it trespasses in sin.

But then Jesus laid it on them again. There is no universal fatherhood of God. Verse 44, the same text in John chapter 8, you are of your father the devil. They quoted it last week. You are of your father the devil.

Well, if there's a universal fatherhood of God, then he wouldn't be telling them they're of their father the devil, right? Because their father is God too, no? Flies in the face of that doctrine. You are of your father the devil. How do you know?

Because you do the lust of your father. And the lust of your father you will do. That's how you're identified. You keep on doing the same things over and over again, identifying that you are of your father, the devil. The lust of your father, you will do.

You will do. You'll keep doing it. Why? Because he's your father. You act according to your father, like father like son.

Like father like son. You have another father and his name is Satan, evidenced by the fact that you do his lusts and not my works. That's what Jesus told him. In the same way, all men are not brothers. In the movie The Hiding Place, anybody watch The Hiding Place?

You ever seen The Hiding Place? Go watch The Hiding Place. It's one of my favorite movies. It's in my top three movies of all time. It's Cory Ten Boom, it's in Holland when the Nazis move in.

Corrie Ten Boom is confronted by a Nazi officer who assures her that all of the violence and all the atrocities that the Nazis are committing will come to an end when, quote, order is restored, and then all men will live together as brothers in our Reich." To which Corey responds, quote, men live together in brotherhood only in the kingdom of our Lord, period. And she was right. That's the only place that men live together in a brotherhood is in the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and in no place else Not politically No, not racially. There is no political brotherhood that sustains. There is no racial brotherhood that sustains, certainly not a universal brotherhood of man.

Only in the kingdom of our Lord is there a brotherhood where we are one universal family adopted by our Father in heaven, Right? Redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ in time and united by the Holy Spirit who indwells every one of his people. End story. If you remember as we close of God's family by the grace of God through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, this afternoon, you can cry, Abba, Father. You can cry, Abba, Father.

He's your Father. You can call God your Father. You are invited by Jesus to pray, our Father who art in heaven, because you're a child of God. You're invited to pray, our Father who art in heaven, and I hope you do. You're a child of the adoption, and the infinite, unfathomable, unchangeable love of God is resting upon you, is resting on you.

His much-loved child, Receive his love and call on the Father in the name of his Son Jesus in prayer. Pray to him. Pray to the Father in the name of the Son. You're invited to do so, and you're invited to do so by Jesus. Let's pray.

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Amen. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Amen. Behold, what manner of love the Father has poured out upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.

Oh Lord, how wonderful it is. Our Father, how great is your love for us, your children. Oh help us to to know more of your love as children of the adoption and help us God to love you more in return for that great love wherewith you have loved us and given your son to suffer and to die for us. Oh that you would help us God to love you our father with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our strength, with all our minds. For we do ask it in the name of your only begotten son, our Lord Jesus.

Amen.