He Is Greater

The congregation met on a lovely Sunday morning in mid-August, the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost and the second Sunday after Pastor Brad's vacation. Your faithful blogger, not being present was unable to take notes today. I did, however, receive a good report on the service.

Pastor Shannon veered from his series of messages based on Romans to remind us of some important thoughts related to how we respond to disappointments and the injustices we see in our world and sometimes in our own lives. It was a message from the heart, based on Psalm 77 which begins:

1 I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. 2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted.

He cited David's honesty and frustration. And also noted that from our vantage point we are unable to see what God is doing upstream.

At the beginning of the service Brad handed out a sheet of paper that later in the service we were instructed to read. Compiled by Barry Adams, it is subtitled, The Cry of a Father's Heart from Genesis to Revelation.

FATHER'S LOVE LETTER
Compiled by Barry Adams

My Child:
You may not know me, but I know everything about you – Psalm 139.1
I know when you sit down and when you rise up – 139.2
I am familiar with your ways – Psalm 139.3
Even the very hears on your head are numbered – Matthew 10.29-30
For you were made in My image – Genesis 1.27
In me you live and move and have your being – Acts 17.28
For you are My offspring – Acts 17.28
I knew you even before you were conceived – Jeremiah 1.4-5
I chose you when I planned creation – Ephesians 1.11-12
You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in My book – Psalm 139.15-16
I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live Acts 17.26
You are fearfully and wonderfully made – Psalm 139.14
I knit you together in your mother's womb – Psalm 139.13
And brought you forth on the day you were born –Psalm 71.6
I have been misrepresented by those who don't know Me – John 8.41-44
I am not distant and angry, but I am the complete expression of love – I John 4.16
And it is my desire to lavish my love on you – I John 3.1
Simply because you are My child and I am your Father – I John 3.1
I offer you more than your earthly father ever could – Matthew 7:11
For I am the perfect Father – Matthew 5.48
Every good gift that you receive comes from My hand – James 1.17
For I am your provider and I meet all your needs – Matthew 6.31-33
My plan for your future has always been filled with hope – Jeremiah 29.11
Because I love you with an everlasting love – Jeremiah 31.3
My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore – Psalm 139.17-18
And I rejoice over you with singing – Zephaniah 3:17
I will never stop doing good to you – Jeremiah 32.40
For you are My treasured possession – Exodus 19.5
I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul – Jeremiah 32.41
And I want to show you great and marvelous things – Jeremiah 33.3
If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me – Deuteronomy 4.29
Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart – Psalm 37.4
For it is I who gave you those desires – Philippians 2.13
I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine – Ephesians 3.20
For I am your greatest encourager – 2 Thessalonians 2.16-17
I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles – 2 Corinthians 1.3-4
When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you – Psalm 34.18
As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart – Isaiah 40.11
One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes – Revelation 21.3-4
I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my Son, Jesus – John 17.23
For in Jesus, My love for you is revealed – John 17.26
He is the exact representation of My being – Hebrews 1.3
He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you – Romans 8.31
And to tell you that I am not counting your sins – 2Corinthians 5.18-19
Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled – 2Corinthians5.18-19
His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you – 1John 4.10
I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love – Romans 8.38-39
If you receive the gift of my Son Jesus, you receive Me – 1John 2.23
And nothing will ever separate you from my love again – Romans 8.38-39
Come home and I'll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen – Luke 15.7
I have always been Father, and will always be Father – Ephesians 3.14-15
My question is – will you be My child? – John1.12-13
I am waiting for you – Luke 15.11-32

Love, Your Dad, Almighty God