This past Sunday was Family Day for MDT Church.

Isaiah 9:6. Genesis 1:1. God had been an architect and designed the world. He had been a scientist and created the sun and moon. He was a doctor and made the heartbeat of the deer and the antelope. He had been an engineer, making the world turn at the right speed and right angle. He had been King with His throne. He had been Master and the angels served and worshipped Him. He had been a judge, casting the fallen angels out of Heaven. He had been an artist, painting the blue sky and green grass.

Before man was created, this God that I have just described did not know what it felt like to be a father.

Genesis 2:7. I cannot tell you the love and compassion and love I had for my sons when they were first laid in my arms. Adam was God’s son. One day the enemy showed up. He knew God loved righteousness and hated sin, and since God was so big and strong, he couldn’t hurt God.

The enemy watched God and saw how He acted around the birds and the trees and all His creation. God liked all the creation, but when He got around His son, Adam, His heart grew softer. The devil said, “I’ve found what God loves the most.” Did you know that your weakness is what you love the most? The enemy can’t fight you with something that means nothing to you.

So, the enemy plotted to take what God hates (sin and unrighteousness) and get it inside what God loves (His children). That way if God was going to save what He loves, then He would have to save what He hates. And if God destroyed what He hates, then He would have to destroy what He loves.

So, the enemy got Eve and Adam to eat the fruit God said ‘no’ to. God stepped back and the judge inside of Him said, “They sinned. Let them die.” The creator inside said, “Your creation has failed. Let them die.” The engineer said, “They are no good for your eternal plan. Let them die.” But as God stood there, the creator and the judge and all the rest sat down. The Father stood up.

You and I would be in Hell now if the Father part of God hadn’t stood up.

God said that the day Adam ate of the tree, he would die. He couldn’t go back on His word. But He made a way out for Adam in the sacrifice of a little lamb and later, He would make a sacrifice of Himself, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He would take our sins and give us His righteousness, giving us a way out of eternal death, and giving us the opportunity to spend eternity with Him. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. Adam was protected by his father.

The Father never forgets His children.

Joseph was sold by his brothers. His brothers gave their father Joseph’s bloody coat and his father mourned for him. He refused to be comforted. There are people who have been hurt by church folk and wounded by their church families, and they left. People may have forgotten them, but God will never forget them no matter how long they’ve been gone. God still loves them and wishes that they would come back to Him. When God was on the cross, we were on His mind. He has never and will never give up on us.

David was a man after God’s own heart. David had a son named Absalom, and he broke David’s heart multiple times.

David had a daughter named Tamar who was taken advantage of by her half-brother, Amnon. When Absalom heard of this, hate rose up in his heart against his own brother. Soon, he killed Amnon for what he did to Tamar. David not only had a daughter whose life had been wounded by her brother, but he now had a son who had killed his own brother.

David had to banish Absalom from the land. 2 Samuel 13:38-39.

David realized that he wasn’t going to get Amnon back, and longed to see his other son. Soon, David brings his son back to the kingdom, but not back into David’s presence. Absalom would be sort of like someone who got back in church, but never got right with God. There’s a big difference between coming back to church and coming back to God.

Absalom started burning fields. Fields in the Bible represent souls. Absalom was destroying souls and yet his father loved him. You’d think that after all the love David had given him that Absalom would soften and support his dad. But his number one objective, instead of loving his father, was to take his father’s throne.

Absalom started stealing the hearts of the people of Israel. 2 Samuel 15:4-6.

Still, through all of this, David kept on loving his son. Now, that Absalom had the hearts of the people, all he had to do was raise up and kill his father to get what he wanted. 2 Samuel 15:14. Psalms 3 is a psalm David wrote when fleeing from Absalom.

Soon, David starts winning the battle against Absalom’s army. One day as his men are going out to fight, he told them that when they came to Absalom to deal gently with him for David’s sake. When David’s men looked at Absalom, they saw the man that burned David’s fields, tried to take his throne, and tried to kill David.

The king and the judge in David sat down, and the father stood up. All David saw was his son.

God was looking for a man after His own heart.

David wasn’t a perfect man. He had sinned and, in some ways, he was more wicked than Saul. But when David’s kids messed up, sinned, and hurt him, he still loved them. That’s the heart of a father.

2,000 years ago, Jesus didn’t die for Anthony Wynn the Preacher. He died for Anthony Wynn the Mess. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!

You haven’t gone too far. You haven’t messed up too many times. If the devil tells you God doesn’t love you, then you need to know that is a lie. Despite knowing the worst about you, God loves you the most. That is the Father’s heart.

2 Samuel 18:33. David didn’t care that his son had messed up, he would have died for him. This is a beautiful picture of Calvary. “I don’t care if you spit on me or discredit me, I’d die for you! You’re my child and I love you!”

God is not mad at you. He hasn’t forgotten you. He hasn’t thrown you away. He cares about you. You are His child, and He loves you!

Don’t beat yourself up for what you have done. If you’ve asked for God’s forgiveness, then what you have done is under the blood. It’s like it never happened. You can’t keep living in yesterday. By the grace of God, you can get up and move forward.

The Father always has and always will love you!

–Pastor Anthony Wynn