From Earthly Fathers to Our Heavenly Father

Devotional

Day 1: Scars at the Mongolian Grill

Jesus watched fishermen mend nets and fathers hand bread to hungry children. He saw how human love – flawed yet persistent – becomes our first language for divine love. Like Addie refusing all Mongolian grills after one bad meal, we project broken trust from earthly fathers onto God. A slammed door, an empty graduation seat, or silent phone calls become lenses distorting the Father’s face. [26:31]

God isn’t bound by human failure. He’s the Father who ran down the road to embrace the prodigal, who stayed up all night listening to David’s anguished psalms. Your story matters, but His story rewrites yours. Even good earthly fathers are shadows; He’s the substance.

When disappointment whispers “God is absent,” whose voice do you hear? Grab a pen. List three traits you associate with God. Now circle any that mirror your earthly father’s flaws. How might these shadows block His true light?

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
(Luke 11:11-13, NIV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to highlight one lie about the Father you’ve believed due to earthly wounds.
Challenge: Write “My Father is…” at the top of a page. Fill it with truths from Psalm 103:8-14.

Day 2: Snakes, Scorpions, and Substitute Gifts

Disciples flinched when Jesus held the scorpion. “You’d never trick your child like this,” He said, crushing the venomous lie that God toys with us. The Instacart worker gave beets instead of horseradish, but God never substitutes harm for good. His “no” isn’t cruelty – it’s the hand pulling ours from vipers we mistake for toys. [36:21]

Earthly fathers operate with limited vision. God sees the rattlesnake hidden under your requested rock. His denials protect; His delays prepare. Every withheld gift makes space for the Holy Spirit – the ultimate gift that outshines signed baseballs and engraved bats.

You’ve prayed for relief, relationships, breakthroughs. What if God’s silence isn’t neglect but surgery? Tonight, reread a prayer journal entry where God said “no.” How might His refusal have shielded or shaped you?

“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
(Luke 11:13, NIV)

Prayer: Thank God for three specific “nos” or “not yets” in your life.
Challenge: Text a friend: “What’s one thing you’re glad God didn’t give you?” Discuss responses.

Day 3: The Spirit in the Boardroom

Freddie gripped the garden snake, clueless about fangs. We do the same – begging God for serpents, then blaming Him when they bite. The Holy Spirit isn’t a mystical force but the Father’s living presence saying, “Drop that. Here’s better.” He transforms boardroom tensions into holy ground when we whisper, “Your turn, Spirit.” [46:00]

Jesus promised the Spirit to those who ask. Not a consolation prize but the ultimate gift – God Himself moving into your morning commute, parenting fails, and marital spats. The Spirit doesn’t just advise; He resurrects dead places.

What situation feels impossible today? Before stepping in, pause. Literally say aloud: “Spirit, take the lead.” Then watch. Did a harsh word stay unspoken? Did patience replace panic?

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.”
(John 14:16-17, NIV)

Prayer: Confess one area you’ve relied on self-effort instead of the Spirit.
Challenge: Set a phone alarm labeled “Spirit Lead” at 2:00 PM. Pause 60 seconds to surrender your next hour.

Day 4: Ten Years of Silent Phones

The prodigal’s brother scowled while music played inside. For ten years, Brett refused calls, letting his bio dad’s failure define fatherhood. Then communion wine revealed the truth: God’s forgiveness outruns our grudges. Reconciliation isn’t excusing abuse but freeing ourselves from poison. [59:04]

Earthly fathers wound; the Heavenly Father bandages. He models how to love the unlovable – not with naive trust but Christ-empowered courage. Forgiving doesn’t mean forgetting. It means handing the gavel to God.

Who owes you an apology you’ll never receive? Write their name. Now write: “I release [name] to You, Judge. I keep Your approval.” Burn or tear the paper. What weight lifts?

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
(Ephesians 4:32, NIV)

Prayer: Name one person you’ve judged by an earthly father’s standard. Ask God to see them through His eyes.
Challenge: Delete one old text/email that fuels bitterness. Don’t reread – trash it.

Day 5: Dad Jokes and Divine Priorities

Teenagers giggled describing dads who farted during sermons or forgot pickup times. But Jesus described a Father who counts hairs, stores tears, and throws parties for rebels coming home. Our parenting – whether through DNA or discipleship – paints God’s portrait for the next generation. [54:11]

Kids don’t need perfect parents. They need parents who point to the Perfect Father. Every “I’m sorry,” every knee-prayer with toddlers, every kept promise whispers, “God is better than this.”

What’s one habit your earthly father had (good or bad) you’ve unconsciously replicated? Tomorrow, replace it with one action reflecting Matthew 7:11.

“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”
(Psalm 103:13, NIV)

Prayer: Ask God to reveal one way your parenting/mentoring misrepresents Him.
Challenge: Tell a child/mentee: “Let me show you what God’s love looks like.” Follow through this week.

Sermon Summary

Luke 11 speaks like a straight line through the fog: if broken, selfish parents still give good gifts, the Father who is perfect will not bait-and-switch his children. Jesus leans on wild hyperbole to make it land. Fish for a snake? Egg for a scorpion? Of course not. The text settles prayer into the character of God, not into the record of any earthly dad. The Father’s answer might be yes, no, or wait, but none of those come from indifference. They come from omniscient love. So when a heart carries an absent-dad story and God says no, the text refuses the old translation, He’s aloof. Jesus insists the Father is good and knows what is best.

A stack of real-life pictures keeps pressing the point. A Mongolian grill memory becomes a parable about overgeneralizing from one bad meal. Instacart horror swaps show what “out of bounds” looks like, which sharpens Jesus’s absurd example. And Freddie holding a snake before asking if it’s poisonous names how prayer often works: children grab first and ask later. The Father sometimes says, put it down, not to shame, but to save.

Then Jesus names the gift above every gift. The Father does not merely drop better groceries on the doorstep. He gives the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not a hall monitor with a clipboard. The Spirit is God’s own presence, indwelling, guiding, reordering loves, and leading into the life the Father dreamed up. That gift lands in ordinary rooms: a dreaded meeting, a house with cranky toddlers, a tense marriage, a stoplight beside a cardboard sign. Where self would run the script, the Spirit can take the lead, change the way people are seen, and put words in a mouth that build rather than burn.

Earthly father stories still reach for the steering wheel. A critical dad can smuggle a cold-shoulder god into the imagination. A high-capacity dad can train a heart not to ask, since “he’s busy with big things.” A tracking, tally-keeping dad can make presence feel like surveillance, not care. So the call is to unpack the father story with the Lord, and, if needed, with a counselor, and let Scripture redraw the portrait. Finally, fatherhood on the ground becomes a living parable. No dad will be the ceiling of God’s character, only the floor. But grace, wise discipline, forgiveness, and affection can raise that floor. A hard story of estrangement and later reconciliation shows what happens when the Father’s forgiveness replaces an inherited script of unforgiveness. When the Father becomes the reference point, prayer changes, parenting changes, even old wounds start to heal.

Key Takeaways

1. Earthly fathers color God-images Deep grooves from dad stories often script how God is imagined, even when Scripture says otherwise. A heart formed by absence may pre-load God as distant, and a heart trained by busyness may assume God has no time for small things. Naming and unpacking that story with the Lord makes space for the true Father to step forward. [26:31]
2. God’s no and wait are love In Luke 11 the Father’s answers rest in perfect knowledge, not stinginess. A no can be rescue from a snake that looked like a fish, and a wait can be training for a better gift. Prayer lives when trust shifts from outcomes to the Giver’s character. [38:46]
3. The Holy Spirit is the best gift Jesus does not promise nicer circumstances first, but the presence who remakes a person from the inside out. The Spirit reframes rooms, reorders desires, and routes wisdom into moments that would otherwise run on frustration or fear. No autograph or accolade compares. [41:16]
4. Ask the Spirit in ordinary moments Meetings, parenting, marriage, street corners at red lights become places of guidance when the Spirit is invited to lead. The simple prayer take over can turn reactivity into discernment and grind into grace. Small obediences stack into a new way of seeing people. [47:20]
5. Dads set the floor, not the ceiling A father will never outshine God, but he can raise the baseline his kids use to imagine the Father. Consistent grace, steady discipline for the child’s good, and visible love for their mom preach louder than speeches. Today’s habits write tomorrow’s testimony. [54:32]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[25:20] - Mongolian grill and a bad swap
[26:31] - How earthly dads shape God-pictures
[27:21] - Absent father and missed milestones
[29:27] - Even great dads are still cloudy
[33:59] - Instacart substitutions set up Jesus’s point
[36:02] - Fish for a snake, egg for a scorpion
[36:51] - If selfish parents give good, how much more
[38:07] - When the Father says no or wait
[39:50] - Freddie’s snake and learning to trust
[44:45] - The Holy Spirit given and indwelling
[46:58] - Inviting the Spirit into everyday moments
[50:31] - Unpacking the father story and counseling
[53:54] - Dads, be that dad now
[58:32] - Communion moment and conviction
[60:07] - Reconciliation and a changed script
[63:36] - Invitation to say yes to Jesus
[67:05] - Amen

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Luke 11:11-13 (ESV)
11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Observation Questions

What examples does Jesus use to contrast earthly fathers with the Heavenly Father?
How does the sermon describe the difference between earthly fathers’ limitations and God’s perfection? [29:27]
What specific gift does Jesus emphasize as the ultimate expression of the Father’s love?

Interpretation Questions

Why might Jesus use such extreme contrasts (like a snake instead of a fish) to make His point about prayer?
How does the story of Freddie holding a snake [39:50] illustrate the tension between human desires and God’s wisdom?
What does it mean that the Holy Spirit “reorders loves” and “reframes rooms” in everyday life? [47:20]

Application Questions

What is one area where your view of God might be influenced by your earthly father’s flaws (e.g., distance, busyness, criticism)? How could Scripture correct that image? [26:31]
When have you experienced a “no” or “wait” from God that later revealed His protection or better plan? How did that shape your trust in Him?
Identify a mundane moment this week (e.g., a meeting, parenting challenge, commute). How could you intentionally invite the Holy Spirit to lead your words or perspective in that moment? [46:58]
If you’re a parent, what habit or attitude could you practice this week to model God’s grace, discipline, or affection to your children? [54:32]
Is there a relationship or old wound where you’ve carried unforgiveness like the speaker’s estranged father? [59:24] What step could you take to align your response with God’s forgiveness?
How might counseling or a trusted believer help you unpack your “father story” and its impact on your faith? [51:03]

Sermon Clips

41s

“Do you do you realize, and I'm speaking to myself, I'm speaking to myself, that your kids right now are developing an idea of who God the father is based off of you. We've been talking about earthly fathers, we've been thinking about our own, but some of us are dads and some of us are creating some poor pictures for our kids of who God is. You will never be more than the floor of who God is, right? You're not gonna be the ceiling. Your kids are gonna be like, you know the more I get to know God, dad I think you're actually doing a better job. That's never gonna happen. Never gonna happen.”

48s

“Your dad may not be great, but your heavenly father is the greatest. And he wants a relationship with you, loves you, wants eternity with you, and wants to walk life here with you. That's why he gave believers his spirit. I don't know why you turned it down. If you want a relationship with Jesus, if you want to know God the father, here's the cool thing, it's not about a seminary class, it's not about church attendance, it's not about if you give this much to the Lord he's gonna bless you. All you gotta do is say yes. It's a work free job description on the outset. You're gonna work afterwards because you love him.”

39s

“and we said, hey, tell me why your dad is the best dad ever. And what if they said, my dad's the most grace filled person I know. My dad I've watched my dad forgive people and he walks in forgiveness, and I don't understand how he forgives people like he forgives people. My dad is the most loving dad I've ever known. He's a disciplinarian sure because he wants what's best for me, but every time he disciplines me I always know it's for my best. Man, my dad, you should see the way he treats my mom, Treats her like she is a princess or the way the bible says it, my my dad loves my mom like Jesus loves his church.”

42s

“And so here's here's what we know. That God, if he if he gives you an answer that is different than you asked, if god gives you a no when you ask, or god gives you a wait when you ask, that wait or that no is not even coming from an earthly father who would like to give it to you, it's coming from a heavenly father who knows what's best for you. And if he gives you a no or a wait, it's not because he's a father that's holding out on you, doesn't want you to experience life because he's mean or because he's punishing you, It's because he knows in his all lovingness that that is what's best for you.”

Ask a question about this sermon

City Church Georgetown This sermon · AI assistant

How do earthly fathers shape view of God?

How should Christians interpret God's nos and waits?

How does the Holy Spirit enable daily decisions?

From Earthly Fathers to Our Heavenly Father

Devotional

Day 1: Scars at the Mongolian Grill

Day 2: Snakes, Scorpions, and Substitute Gifts

Day 3: The Spirit in the Boardroom

Day 4: Ten Years of Silent Phones

Day 5: Dad Jokes and Divine Priorities

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

From Earthly Fathers to Our Heavenly Father

Share