Deuteronomy 6:4-8, Psalm 103:8-14, John 14:8-10
November 30, 2025
preached by Pastor Doug Cooper
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“Advent is a time of waiting, of expectation, of silence.”

~ Dorothy Day (1897-1980), American writer and social activist

“The [Christian] message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity – hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory – because at the Father’s will, Jesus became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross.”

“If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.”

~ J.I. Packer (1926-present), English-born Canadian theologian

“As you consider the Father’s heart for you, remember that he is the Father of mercies. He is not cautious in his tenderness toward you.”

~ Dane Ortlund (1978-present), American pastor and writer

“It is a sweet compound of faith that knows God to be my Father, love that loves Him as my Father, joy that rejoices in Him as my Father, fear that trembles to disobey Him because he is my Father, and a confident affection and trustfulness that relies upon Him, and casts itself wholly upon Him, because it knows by the infallible witness of the Holy Spirit, that Jehovah, the God of earth and heaven, is the Father of my heart.”

~ Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), renowned English pastor

“The first and most obvious reason we call (God) ‘Father’ is because that is what He wants to be called. The first person of the Trinity has many names – Almighty One, Creator, Most High, Holy Holy Holy, the Rock, the Great I Am. But when Jesus came to tear away the veil so we could look directly into the heart of God, He revealed God as ‘Father.’ Jesus used the word ‘Father’ more than any other description or name for God. And He taught us to address God in the same way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven…’ ‘Father’ is God’s self-revealed designation.

~ Mary Kassian, contemporary author, speaker, and professor

Sermon Passage

Deuteronomy 6:4-8, Psalm 103:8-14, John 14:8-10 (ESV)

Deuteronomy 6

⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Psalms 103

⁸ The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. ⁹ He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. ¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. ¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; ¹² as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. ¹³ As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. ¹⁴ For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

John 14

⁸ Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.