IMPERISHABLE:FINDING THE THINGS THAT MATTER MOST: ETERNAL FATHER

We continue our series Imperishable: Finding the Things that Matter Most with sermon Eternal Father. This Sunday is Father’s Day and it is a good time to honor our earthly fathers and their contributions to our lives. It is also a good time to consider this eternal Father. Our problem is that our heavenly Father is shrouded in mystery, because “God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, God’s ways are not our ways.” (Isaiah 55:8) The only way we can understand God is through God’s self-revelation in scripture. This week we turn to Isaiah 64:4-12, because the prophet Isaiah is wondering why God doesn’t make things clearer and more obvious. All of us have this question, especially during difficult times. As Isaiah confronts this question, he comes to some important realizations that help us in our lives. He captures a vision of the God who is absolutely and complete holy, yet who is also our Father. Isiah’s vision helps us to understand God’s power even in difficult times. As you read Isaiah 64:4-12, pray that you will find the strength and joy of your heavenly Father! Isaiah 64:4-12: Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. 5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? 6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. 7 No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins. 8 Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. 9 Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people. 10 Your sacred cities have become a wasteland; even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation. 11 Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins. 12 After all this, LORD, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure? (NIV)