Ryan Rippey. Ryan is from California and he's been here for the last week teaching at Munster
Bible College, Biblical Spirituality, so helping us in our relationship with God and our communion
with Him. So a really practical study and course. And so, yeah, we encourage you to come out
tonight and Ryan will be preaching it in just a moment. So Ryan, just tell us a little bit
very briefly about your own family back home in California. Sure. So my wife's name is Jennifer.
I have five children from 24 years old down to 13, three boys and two girls. And we grew up,
born and raised there in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. And were you raised in a Christian
home yourself? How did you come to faith in Christ? We started going to a Christian home when I was
eight years old. So we, prior to that, we were not going to church. And the summer camp, youth camp,
that our church held the following summer when I was nine years old, a dear, sweet woman named Luella
Ross shared the gospel with me. And Romans 10, 9, and gave my life to Christ and never been the same.
Wonderful. And when you're back home, what do you do? What's your kind of bread and butter day-to-day
life and work? It's kind of crazy. So I work multiple jobs. We started a church on April 17th,
Trinity Church of Benicia, the city we live in. So I'm a church planter. And that's been going about
seven weeks. So that keeps me busy. I also have the privilege of leading a Bible college and seminary
there in the Bay Area that trains pastors, the Cornerstone Bible College and Seminary. And then I
work for an engineering company doing project management stuff. So...
And you're a dad and a husband.
And a dad and a husband, yeah.
My word. You're doing well. And he's been teaching all week. And we look forward to him
speaking today and this evening. So I'm just going to pray briefly for you and then hand over to you
to speak so you can stay here with us. Father, thank you for Ryan. Thank you for his ministry
to us over the week. And we thank you now for him being here today. Father, we pray for his church
in California as they meet a little bit later on today that they would be encouraged, built up in
their faith, and that they would go on in their walk with you. We pray for Ryan that you will give him
strength and energy, but above all that you would be working through him this morning by your spirit,
that his words would be your words, building us up in our faith. So we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Thank you, my friend.
Well, good morning. I bring greetings from California. And it was nice to get some rain. It was sunny all
week and it felt like back home. So I actually am enjoying the rain today. So we're going to be in
Luke chapter 11, verses 5 to 13. And I'll begin by reading the passage. Do you all stand up when you
read the scripture at the beginning of the sermon? Not normally. I see Ralph shaking his head no over
there. Okay, well, then I won't make you stand up. It's what we do typically, but when in Ireland,
no, no, it's okay. Let's look at Luke. I'll be reading out of the English Standard Version,
because that's the version my wife bought me with the large print as I've been getting older. So
starting in verse 5, he said to them, which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight
and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and I
have nothing to set before him. And he will answer from within, do not bother me. The door is shut.
My children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, though he will
not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence, he will rise
and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will
find, knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks
finds and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish,
will instead of a fish give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 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? So I've titled the message this morning,
coming to the father in prayer. And when we pray, there's sometimes misunderstandings
that we bring as we come to prayer. For example, is effective prayer the same thing as persistent
prayer? Perhaps we see Elijah in first Kings pray seven times for rain, and it's not until he prayed
the seventh time that the rain came. And so we think we have to pray the same thing over and over and over
again until we get an answer. Is genuine persistence asking the same thing until it's eventually
granted? Or perhaps does effective prayer require that we be emotionally urgent, that we have fervor?
Or even does repetitious prayer plus emotion put together equal an unstoppable force where God is
just forced to answer our prayers? Well, this morning, I want you to see from this passage that
persistence in prayer really is speaking about a life of continual prayer to the father, rather than
simply repeating the same things over and over again. At the beginning, we didn't read it yet, but the
Lord's prayer shows a model for the proper prayer. And the parables and teaching that follow that we're
going to be looking at this morning shows the power of prayer to accomplish results. And I want to show
you a profound reality here from this chapter. The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray,
and instead of giving them a method, he reminds them of who their father in heaven is. In other words,
instead of giving them a method of this is the steps you pray that God will answer the prayer,
he says, let me introduce you to my father in heaven. And so that's what we're going to see here.
And we begin with the parable in verse five. The householder represents the father in the parable.
The friend asking for help is a picture of the one praying. And there's two important elements that
when we come to this parable, we need to have the correct understanding about. The first
is this word in verse eight, when he says, I tell you, though, he will not get up and give him
anything because of his friend, yet because of his impudence, or you might have in your translation
persistence. We need to look at the meaning of that word in the Greek and idea. Is it persistence or is
it shamelessness? Is it persistence or impudence? Because those are not synonyms. And so why do we have
English translations that give us two very different words? And then second, we need to see the identity
of the one to whom this persistence or shamelessness applies. And so we have before us here this morning,
starting in verse five, which of you has a friend? We'll go to him at midnight and say to him,
friend, lend me three loaves. So the going at midnight, asking the friend there in verse five is
the householder. And in verse six, six setting before him, I have nothing to set before him.
This is the traveler who's coming to ask. And in verse seven, we'll answer from within. That person is the
householder. Don't bother me. And he will not get up in verse eight. That's the householder to give the
traveler, the petitioner, anything because of his impudence, he will rise. And so we wonder who's the
one being shameless or impudent. But then when we get to the end of verse eight, he will rise the
householder and give the petitioner whatever he needs. Well, if you have an NIV or an ESV, like I do,
you will have the word shamelessness or impudence. If you have a new American standard or a new King
James or a Holman Christian standard Bible, you would have the word persistence. And if we go to a
Greek dictionary, lexicon, we will see that it defines it as people who have no proper sense of
shame and willingly engage in improper conduct. So synonyms of this word in English are immodesty,
impudence, shamelessness, rashness, insolence, recklessness, wantonness, crudeness. So how in the
world did we get the translation persistence? Where is this coming from? And this is in the King James
and the New King James, so it has a long history. And it came in short through the Latin. The Bible
was translated by Jerome in the fifth century into Latin. And the original word improvitatum was
wickedness or impudence. But eventually, over time, it was replaced by a very near sounding word
importunitatum or importunity or persistence. And in Jewish culture, this idea of hospitality was
highly valued. A midnight visitor coming to this person to ask for bread, he wouldn't have been
considered shameless or impudent in the culture. It would have been a very common occurrence. They didn't
have grocery stores to go down and get bread if someone showed up at an unexpected hour. So why in
the world would Jesus use this of the petitioner? He begins the parable with which of you in verse 5.
It's a question that lasts three verses. And it's actually expecting a negative response. Which of you
would have this happen that you would go ask your neighbor for bread and he would say, I can't get out of
bed. And my children are in bed with me and there's no way. And they would answer, no one. So the character,
this householder, his outrageous, exaggerated behavior, they're not offered as realistic responses,
but as dramatic components of a ridiculous story. Jesus is giving a classic example of tongue-in-cheek.
And the story is not meant to be comparison, but contrast. In other words, the sleeping householder
is not like God the Father. He's precisely unlike God. And if the householder fails to respond out of
friendship alone, which is outrageous and impossible, how much more may God the Father be counted on
to respond promptly out of unfailing love and devotion? In fact, that's what verse 13 says.
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? Do you see what's going on here?
In at least in American culture, we misunderstood this parable for decades. And we saw that it,
we thought it was persistence in prayer. Like what we have to do is keep praying and praying and praying.
And God the Father in heaven is kind of like earthly fathers. When you take your kids to the store and
they just nag you until you cave in and you buy the candy that's at the cash register.
Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy. Okay, fine, I'll give in. Fine, you have the candy.
But it's not because the mom really wants to give the candy. She's just wore out. But that's not what
this parable is saying about God the Father. We don't have to twist His arm. We don't have to wear Him
down with our continual prayers. He's our Father in heaven. And Jesus is saying to His disciples,
let me tell you a bit about our Father. And He tells this ridiculous story about a householder that
wouldn't exist in their culture. Or if it did, they would be the talk of the town because the
hospitality was so important to them. The Father not only hears our prayers the first time
and responds freely, but also our coming to Him is never shameless. There's no such thing as bad
timing with God. There's no such thing. So then moving on to verse 9, Jesus, after He tells this
parable and He says, this is who your Father in heaven is precisely unlike this householder
or unlike human fathers, He gives a command to pray. I tell you, ask and it will be given
you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you for everyone who asks receives
and the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks it will be opened. And so what's He
getting at here? Well, in verse 9, what He's saying is, if your Father in heaven is precisely
unlike this householder, you can ask with confidence knowing that your Father will give. The simplicity
of the prayer is really profound. He doesn't give them a long-winded prayer that that's going
to be what grants the prayer. He doesn't give them a formula, a method. He says, ask. Ask and
it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. We simply
need to ask, seek and knock. And Jesus, He says that when we ask and seek and knock, we're going
to receive an answer. Why? Because we have the heart of the Father. Turn over to Matthew
chapter 6, verse 25. You know this passage well. It's in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus
says, therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what
you will drink, nor about your body. What you will put on is not life more than food and
the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather
into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Then listen to what He says. Are you not of
more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to a span of life?
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither
toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the
oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, don't be anxious, saying,
what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after these
things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient is the day for its own trouble. We have the heart of
the Father. Our heavenly Father knows what we need before we ask Him. We don't need to have fancy, repetitive
prayers, and we can be certain of the Father's response. Well, there's a misunderstanding, a misconception
about prayer coming out of, for example, John 14, 14. And in John 14, 14, Jesus tells us that we need to ask in
Jesus' name. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. And the misunderstanding is that there's a secret,
special way to repeat Jesus' name before success is eventually given from God in heaven. In fact, as we were
growing up, we couldn't even, the food wouldn't be blessed unless we said in Jesus' name before we said
amen. And it's become the sort of, this is how we hang up the phone. We have to say in Jesus' name, or the
prayer might not even be over. But that's not what Jesus is getting at here. He's saying confessing
Jesus' name is equivalent to submitting to His Lordship. So asking in Jesus' name, particularly in
John's Gospel, John's Gospel, involves praying according to the character of His one and only Son.
We're asking in line with what Jesus wants and desires. Well, back to Luke chapter 11, and in verse 10,
he repeats what he said in verse 9, but in a slightly different way. The verse is more than simply a
restatement of verse 9. It places the commands in further promises. For everyone who asks, receives.
And the one who seeks, finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be open. The Father's response is
guaranteed. Your needs will be met. Your search will lead to solutions. This is incredibly important,
right? Jesus is teaching His disciples, let me introduce you to your Father in Heaven. When you
come to Him, you will find answers. You will have your prayers met. You will receive what you're asking
for. Or something we're going to see here later in verse 13, something better than what you were asking
for. And when we move on to verse 11, we see the certainty of the Father's response in these examples.
And it's almost as if Jesus, when He says, ask, or whoever asks, receives. And the one who seeks, finds. And the one
who knocks, it will be opened. He's looking in the eyes of His disciples, as it were, and He sees the doubt.
You say that, but I'm not sure, Jesus. I'm not sure that's really true. Have you felt that way as a Christian?
That sometimes when you pray, it almost feels like the prayers don't even make it to God. They just bounce off the
ceiling and come back down. Or do you get the feeling sometimes that when you pray, that you're just not
important enough for God to hear you? That there's other people more important that God listens to them.
After all, He seems to answer their prayers, and your prayers don't ever seem to be answered.
So Jesus, He gives these examples in verses 11-13 to talk about the certainty of the Father's response.
Verse 11,
What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish, give him a serpent?
Once again, outrageous behavior, right?
If he asks for an egg, you'll give him a scorpion.
Cruel answers to legitimate requests.
And Jesus is appealing to them, thinking that no human parent would be so cruel.
That's not even funny. There's nothing humorous about that.
That is dangerous and potentially deadly, that your child would be asking for food,
and you give them a venomous creature.
Now on the flip side, if even in our foolishness we ask for something dangerous,
like a snake or a scorpion,
the Father gives us what's best, not what we ask for.
He gives us what we need.
In fact, turn over a few chapters to Luke 18.
There's another parable on prayer in the Gospel of Luke,
the parable of the widow.
Luke 18, verse 1,
he tells them a parable to the effect
that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
And he said,
In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man,
and there was a widow in that city
who kept coming to him and saying,
Give me justice against my adversary.
For a while he refused,
but afterward he said to himself,
Though I neither fear God nor respect man,
yet because this widow keeps bothering me,
I will give her justice,
so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.
And the Lord said,
Hear what the unrighteous judge says,
and will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night?
Will he delay long over them?
So, if you were reading the Gospel of Luke,
and you had the wrong word persistence in your English translation,
and you get to Luke 18,
you might be tempted to think this parable is one where the judge is the father,
and the widow is us,
and we just have to be persistent until we wear God down.
But again,
Jesus isn't telling this parable to say,
The judge is like the Father in heaven.
In fact, we have real clear indicators he's not.
Verse 2,
He neither feared God nor respected man.
Again, in verse 4,
same thing.
And then in verse 6,
Jesus says he's an unrighteous judge.
Unrighteous judge.
So, again, it's by way of contrast,
Jesus is teaching that the reason people are kept waiting
is not because we need to get God's attention,
or because he's uninterested,
but that he's determined as heavenly judge that we need to wait.
So, it's not repetitious prayer in Luke 18,
it's patient prayer.
So, continual prayer,
talking to our Father in heaven,
telling Him what we need,
is this idea of patiently waiting upon Him for the answer.
We'll turn back to Luke 11 again.
And we see in verse 13,
If then you 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?
So, the Father, we saw,
He gives what's best.
He doesn't give a snake instead of a fish,
or a scorpion instead of an egg,
but what is the good gifts of God that He gives us in verse 13?
He gives us the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.
And Jesus says,
If you being evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
and He perhaps is thinking of Jeremiah 17,
9,
that the heart is deceitful above all else,
but even parents who don't know the Lord Jesus,
they know how to give good gifts to their children,
this evidence of common grace.
And what Jesus is stressing is,
the goodness is contrary to their character,
but God, who is perfectly good,
and perfectly just,
and perfectly righteous,
and a Father in Heaven who loves us,
how much more will He give us good things?
Well, what is the good thing that the Father has in mind
for His children?
The good thing is the Holy Spirit.
The Father gives what's best.
He gives Himself in the third person of the Trinity.
And Jesus, when He's coming in the Gospel of Luke,
He's coming to bring in a new covenant,
which is when the Holy Spirit will be given.
And so basically, Jesus is saying,
when you talk to your Father in Heaven,
because of the new covenant,
you have a new relationship with Him.
He's now your Father.
Back to verse 1.
Jesus was praying in a certain place in Luke 11,
and when He finished,
one of His disciples said to Him,
Lord, teach us to pray as John taught His disciples.
And He said to them,
when you pray, say,
Father, hallowed be Your name,
Your kingdom come,
give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us,
and lead us not into temptation.
Now, the most striking part of that prayer to His disciples
would have been the first word,
Father.
The Jewish people,
prior to the coming of Jesus,
would not have prayed to God as Father.
In fact, as we see this new covenant coming in,
we see that the New Testament name
for the first person of the Trinity
becomes Father.
It's the name Jesus used of God
when He prayed to Him,
when He spoke to Him.
For example, in the garden,
He says,
Father, let this cup pass from Me,
but not My will,
but Yours be done.
And as Jesus goes to the cross,
as He's crucified in our place
for our sins,
and He's buried,
and He rises again,
conquering sin in the grave,
and seated at the right hand of the Father,
now interceding for us,
and ruling and reigning
with the greatest authority,
now by faith in Christ,
we are united to Him
so that we become children of God,
Galatians 4 says,
Romans 8,
and the Spirit stirs up family affections
in our hearts.
Romans 5, 5,
the love of God has been shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
And in Romans 8 and in Galatians 4,
what does the Spirit teach us to cry?
Abba, Father.
And we can now approach our Father in Heaven,
and we can draw near to Him,
Hebrews 4 says,
and we can find grace and mercy
to help in our time of need.
And what the Father has given us
is He's given us His Son
to be our Savior,
and He's given us the Spirit
to indwell us and be the seal,
the down payment and pledge,
Ephesians 1 says,
of our inheritance.
That all of the Father's promises
are yes and amen in His Son.
He's going to make good on it.
He's not going to abandon us.
He's not going to forsake us.
He's poured out His Spirit.
And so He's with us always.
And He's going to be faithful
to complete what He started in us.
And He prepared good works
that we would advance,
walk in them.
And so the good thing in Luke 11
that the Father is giving
is the Holy Spirit.
So praying to God, our Father,
is a means by which the Father gives
whatever He has decided
is most necessary.
And Luke knows that the Holy Spirit
is the gift par excellence,
making all others pale in comparison.
The Father is pictured
as an ideal parent
who hears every child's request
the first time
and promises to respond
at the right moment
in the best possible way.
Isn't this remarkable?
The disciples wanted to learn
how to pray
like John taught his disciples to pray.
And Jesus says,
let me do something else.
Let me introduce you
to the character of My Father in Heaven
who's not like earthly fathers,
who will never disappoint you,
who will never fail you.
He's going to give you
what is best.
And so what Jesus is teaching
His disciples
is just ask.
You are always heard
because you are always loved.
And that, dear friends,
that will get you up
in the morning tomorrow
and draw near to God.
That will get you up this week
with whatever you have to face,
whatever trials,
whatever burdens,
whatever temptations of sin,
to know that your Father in Heaven
loves you.
And if you doubt it,
look to the cross.
Because God gave His best for you
when you were at your worst.
He gave His Son.
And this is why Paul says
in Romans 8,
if He did not spare His Son,
how will He not with Him
freely give us all things?
James says,
the Father is the Father of lights.
Every good and perfect gift
comes down from Him
in whom there is no variation
or shifting shadow.
So you know what that means?
The Father in Heaven
who has been faithful to you
so far in your life
because He never changes,
He will remain faithful
for all eternity.
And even today,
you can draw near to Him.
You have His heart.
He's proven it
because He gave His Son for you.
And if you believed in the Son,
you have the heart of God.
You have His life.
You have the Holy Spirit.
This is why
name it and claim it
type of praying
is just materialism
made spiritual.
It's also why it's heretical
because it tries to say
basically that
we control God.
We pray
and if we have enough faith
and we claim it
and we have enough faith
then God is obligated
to give us what we ask for.
And if you don't get
what you ask for,
then your faith
is not strong enough
or big enough
or great enough.
But that's not
what's going on here.
The Father's given you
His Son
and He's given you
His Spirit.
And He says with Him
He's given you
everything else.
And so it's not about
some vending machine
in the sky
that you put in
the right amount of change
and you get
exactly what you wanted.
It's our Father in Heaven
with whom we have relationship,
with whom we draw near.
The Father doesn't give us
anything and everything
that we ask for.
He gives us
what He knows
is best.
I mean,
think about this
in the life of Jesus.
As Jesus knelt
in the garden
and poured out
His cries to the Father
and said,
Abba Father,
all things are possible
for Thee.
Remove this cup from Me,
yet not what I will,
but what You will.
The incredible thing
is that the Father's will
to send the Son
to the cross
and crush the Son
and have Him drink
the cup of wrath
on our behalf,
it wasn't from
a stern lawgiver
threatening vengeance,
it wasn't an impersonal
force of faith
from whom there's
no alternative.
The Father that Jesus
addresses in the garden
is one that He's known
all His life.
One He's found to be
bountiful in His provision,
reliable in His promises,
utterly faithful in His love,
and so Jesus can obey
the will that sends Him
to the cross
with hope and expectation
because it's the will
of Abba
whose love has been proved
and now it can be trusted
so fully
and Jesus obeyed it
so completely.
And He says,
Father,
into Your hands
I commit My Spirit.
Even as He's hanging
on the cross,
He's entrusting Himself
to His Father
in Heaven.
Dear Christian,
you have boldness
to enter the throne room
because you have
the heart of the King.
Hebrews 4,
with boldness
we approach the throne of grace
to find grace and mercy
to help in our time of need.
Because of who we are
to the Father in Christ
by the Spirit,
we can have confident access
to His very presence
right now.
We don't have to go
to Jerusalem anymore.
He's dwelling in us.
He's here with us.
In fact,
if people want to meet God,
where do they go now
in the New Covenant?
They come to the church.
They come to us.
This is the hope
of our witness
and our mission.
The Spirit
in the New Covenant
enables us
to draw near to the Father
through a new and living way
found in the Son,
Hebrews 10 tells us.
And the author of Hebrews,
when he talks about
confidence and boldness,
this is in stark contrast
to the Old Covenant,
the tabernacle,
the temple,
where there was
clean and unclean regulations.
There were a priesthood.
There was sacrifices.
There was festivals.
Only certain days.
Sabbaths.
Now,
in the New Covenant,
there's great confidence
because our High Priest,
the Lord Jesus,
went before us
and He left the way open.
The doors open any time.
And the Spirit
has washed our hearts clean.
And it's why
we can draw near.
The Father
has drawn near
to us through His Son
and made us
to be a new temple.
The place where
His glory dwells.
And He invites us
to draw near to Him
as a perfect Father.
Oh, beloved,
you can come
to the Father
and your coming
is never shameful.
It's never inconvenient.
It's never the wrong timing.
Just ask.
You are always heard
because you're always loved.
Father,
thank You for this Word
this morning.
Thank You for this teaching
from our Savior.
This is at the heart
of what it means
to be a Christian
is that we have
communion with You.
We can draw near to You
and have relationship
and fellowship with You.
And Father,
this wasn't
only the plan of Jesus.
This was Your plan
from before the foundation
of the world.
You so loved the world,
You gave a Son.
You are the One
who in love
predestined us to adoption.
You are the One
who set this plan
into motion
and gave us Your Son
and poured out Your Spirit.
I pray for my brothers
and sisters here
that if they've been believing
the lies of the devil,
that You're against them
or that You don't want
to hear them
or that it is an inconvenience
or that they're not
important enough
or they don't have enough faith
or they haven't asked
enough times yet,
Father,
that You would dispel
all of those misunderstandings,
all of those wrong ways
of thinking,
that You would remind them
through the Gospel
of who You are,
of Your heart
towards them.
You know everything
they need
before they even ask.
And they can come
and they can ask
because
they're in Christ
and they have the Spirit
and You always hear them.
And You don't always
give them what they ask.
You don't always
give me what I want.
But Father,
You've always given me
what I needed.
You've always given me
better than what I asked.
You're able to do
exceedingly abundantly
above all I can ask
or think.
Oh, bless
Caragalline Baptist Church,
Father.
May You bear much fruit
through them
and in them.
May they say
many come to Christ.
Would You send revival here
to this Cork Harbor area?
Would You save
their loved ones,
their family members,
their co-workers?
May these believers
be so filled
with Your love
that they would
confidently come to You
and not shrink away,
but that they would
know that You are
their Father in Heaven.
I pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.