Message Date: August 1, 2021
Bible
Shamelessness: “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Mathew 6:9-15 NKJV
- Our FIRST PRIORITY is to know the father:
- Who He is
- What He can do
- What His interests are
- ALL of these are revealed through His WORD. If you want to know the Father, go to the Word!!!
- If satan can distort your views of The Father, He will destroy the very foundation upon which your faith stands.
- “Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.'” John 8:42-45 NKJV
- The World does not know the Father (they are clueless)
- “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.” John 1:10 NKJV
- Jesus said the world doesn’t know the Father.
- “Then they said to Him, ‘Where is Your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.’” John 8:19 NKJV
- Because Jesus did know the Father, HIS COMPASSION FOR US WAS DIFFERENT.
- “O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.” John 17:25 NKJV
- Because the world does not know the Father, their thoughts, actions, and words are different than ours and against ours.
- Boldness is always a result of knowledge!
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- “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being priest for Me;
Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.” Hosea 4:6 NKJV
- “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
- If you know the Father and your relationship with Him…
- You treat people differently.
- “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7 NKJV
- You respond to problems differently.
- “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 NKJV
- You respond to God’s promises and instructions differently.
- “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:25-34 NKJV
- This is the Lord’s Prayer passage in Matthew, the parallel passage to shamelessness like we talked about last week…only in this passage He mentions RIGHTEOUSNESS.
- “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:25-34 NKJV
- You treat people differently.
- Righteousness: who WE ARE in relationship to Him. Literally, “right standing.”
- It’s a standing, not a state.
- It’s a position, not a condition.
- The ability to stand in the presence of the Father without a sense of shame, guilt, or inferiority, as if sin never existed
- Justified or declared righteous
- A good position with God
- Approved by God
- Acceptable to God
- “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20 NKJV
- It’s not about how good you are.
- “But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.” Isaiah 64:6 NKJV- You can’t be good enough.
- “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5: 20-21 NKJV
- HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33 NKJV
He has given you a good position. He wants to take care of you. He wants to meet your needs. He wants you to trust Him. He paid the price for you to be in a good relationship with Him.