John 8: 39 (NKJV)
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Transcript of John 8: 39 (NKJV)
John 8:39 (NKJV)
39 They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.”Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.
JOHN 8:39
When God ChoosesA Father
When God Chooses A Father
Today is Father’s Day and we certainly are thankful for all of our fathers
It’s not easy being a father, just as it’s not easy being a mother
We certainly can wonder sometimes if we are making the right decisions and being the best father we can be
When God Chooses A Father
Thankfully God’s word provides us with examples of good fathers
The most pressing question is perhaps, “What kind of father does God want me to be?”
If God was to hand pick a father, what would he look like?
When God Chooses A Father
In the OT, God chose a man to be the “father of many nations” (Gen. 17:4-5)
That man was who the Israelites later would refer to as “father Abraham”
Seeing the kind of man Abraham was will show us what God is looking for in a father…
When God Chooses A Father
1. Abraham was obedient to God• Many in today’s world downplay the
importance of being obedient to God• Many will follow God’s will to the
point where it stops being convenient for them
• It was never easy or convenient for Abraham to obey God
When God Chooses A Father
1. Abraham was obedient to God• God told Abraham to leave his home
and his father’s house to a foreign land (Gen. 12:1-4)
• God told Abraham to sacrifice the only son he had, through which the promise was to come (Gen. 22)
When God Chooses A Father
1. Abraham was obedient to God• God is still looking for obedience
today (Matt. 7:21; Heb. 5:9)• What a great example we set for our
children when we are obedient to our Father
• Remember, even Christ obeyed (Phil. 2:8)
When God Chooses A Father
2. Abraham was full of faith• Another reason that God chose
Abraham was because of the great faith he possessed
• When God promised to make a great nation from Abraham, even though he had no offspring, Abraham believed God (Gen. 15:1-6)
When God Chooses A Father
2. Abraham was full of faith• Paul speaks of the faith of Abraham
in Romans 4:3, 9, 20• Who could forget Hebrews 11 and
Faith’s Hall of Fame?• Abraham’s faith is spoken of in
verses 8-10 and 17-19
When God Chooses A Father
3. Abraham was a good provider• As fathers, we want to do our best to
provide for our families• God had certainly blessed Abraham,
just as He blesses all of us (Gen. 24:35)
• As a result, Abraham gave all he had to his son Isaac (Gen. 25:5)
When God Chooses A Father
3. Abraham was a good provider• Abraham also had sons with his
concubines as well• The Bible also tells us that Abraham
gave gifts to them also (Gen. 25:6)• Abraham saw it as an important
thing to take care of his family
When God Chooses A Father
4. Abraham was a peacemaker• God desires for you and I to be
peacemakers (Matt. 5:9; Rom. 12:18)• Abraham desired peace when he
could have allowed war (Gen. 13:5-9)• This also teaches us that Abraham
was a selfless man, putting others before himself
When God Chooses A Father
5. Abraham was courageous• Abraham was a man of courage as
well• When Lot was captured it was
Abraham who went to rescue Lot and his family (Gen. 14)
• This is the kind of love and bravery we must show as good fathers
When God Chooses A Father
6. Abraham was a friend of God• I’m not sure there is anything better
you can say about a man than to say he is a “friend of God”
• The Bible calls Abraham God’s friend forever (II Chron. 20:7)
• It again refers to him as the friend of God in James 2:23
When God Chooses A Father
7. Abraham was a good father• Certainly it makes sense for God to
choose a man who seemed to know how to be a good father
• Genesis 18:19• He saw to it that his household
followed after the ways of God