{"id":83,"date":"2020-03-25T21:15:06","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T21:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/?p=83"},"modified":"2020-03-30T17:39:43","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T16:39:43","slug":"our-father-in-lukes-gospel-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/our-father-in-lukes-gospel-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Father, in Luke’s Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some\nthoughts on \u201cOur Father\u201d in Luke\u2019s Gospel.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

March\n2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blog\n1: Our Father Introduced <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have paused in our service for\nthe Lord at Lancaster Hall, and it feels strange. One thing doesn\u2019t change\nthough: whatever the future holds, we can take the opportunity in the meantime\nto find comfort in God\u2019s Word. Please turn in your bible to the beginning of\nLuke Chapter 11. In verse 1, the disciples had just been watching and listening\nto the Lord Jesus praying to His Father. They were attracted by what they saw\nand heard, as well they might be: God the Son and God the Father were having a\nconversation! So they asked \u201cLord, teach us to pray\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, He told them to address\nGod this way: \u201cOur Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name\u201d. They should\nremember who they were talking to, and they should reverence Him. Yet he was\ntheir father, <\/em>the head of their\nfamily who gave them an authority, warmth, intimacy, care, and many other\nthings that even the finest earthly father could not possibly attain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some\nof us have had good or even wonderful fathers in childhood, who we loved and\nrespected. Others, (and especially some of the children who come to the Hall),\nhave had absent, uncaring, or worse fathers. Some of the children will even\nhave to be taught what a good father is like. Are you a father, or a\nfather-figure in the assembly? A mother or mother-figure? Those children will\nsee you being a Christian father\/mother-figure; and if there is no-one in their\nlife like that they will wish you were theirs. Look out for such children and\nsee if you can thoughtfully carry out that role for them up to a certain level.\nIt will need discretion, but the first requirement is to pray for such a child.\nLater in life they may well say: \u201cyou were a mum\/dad to me\u201d, or they may never\nrealise that through your prayers that was exactly what you were. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To know God as our Father in\nheaven is a gift beyond price that the Lord gave to His disciples, and to all\nbelievers. Ponder the Lord\u2019s words in John 17 as He prays a \u201cHigh-priestly\u201d\nprayer to the Father: His love for the disciples at such an hour is very moving,\nand if we ever doubted His personal love for us, here is the proof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reading the following few\nchapters from 12 onwards, it\u2019s helpful to notice whether at a particular time\nthe Lord is talking to: the Pharisees, the crowds, an individual questioner, or\nthe disciples. What He says will depend on who he is talking to at the time. If\nto the disciples, he will return to the theme of The Father, <\/strong>building on their new-found close relationship with Him. <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Chapter\n12, He teaches how the children can conquer fears and anxieties by knowing our\nFather\u2019s conscious individual care for each of us \u2013 even providing for every\npossible detail of our needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 On that firm foundation, He gives promises for\nthe future: it is wonderful beyond imagination. Children of such a Father have\nan inheritance waiting for them, and it isn\u2019t here in this poor old world! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next,\nthe Father gives His children opportunities for service. But He is so unlike\nany human master, as we shall discover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\nteaching the parables of the Kingdom, largely to the hostile Pharisees, in\nChapter 15 the Lord returns to the much-loved theme of The Father. What enemy\nshould not have his heart melted by the picture of a loving father welcoming\nhis returning repentant son? But they had no need to repent! Every Christian instead\ncan take this reassurance for themselves: there is nothing bad enough in my\nlife to keep me from the arms of God my Father if I come back to Him for\nforgiveness!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I hope to begin to examine these themes in the\nnext blog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some thoughts on \u201cOur Father\u201d in Luke\u2019s Gospel. March 2020 Blog 1: Our Father Introduced We have paused in our service for the Lord at…<\/p>\n

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