.jpg)
The Rock Family Worship Center
Taking The Church Outside The Walls
The Rock Family Worship Center
Who's Your Daddy
"Who's your daddy" isn't just a casual saying but a profound question about our origin, identity, and security that comes through our understanding of fatherhood. The word "father" evokes different feelings for everyone—some positive and some painful—and these experiences often shape how we perceive our Heavenly Father.
• Jesus came to reveal the Father we've always had but never truly seen
• Most people don't reject God but the distorted version they've been given
• The prodigal son story reveals a Father who welcomes without conditions
• Religion often focuses on behavior while God focuses on relationship
• Our story began in God before the foundation of the world, not with sin
• The finished work isn't about convincing God to accept us but awakening to His acceptance
• The cross didn't bring God closer to us; it opened our eyes to see Him
• Fear, shame, and performance-based living do not come from our true Father
You are not striving for love, you live in it. You are not trying to belong—you already do, and you will always be held by Him.
The title may get you a little bit, but you know who's your daddy. You know we often take that quote and we use it as a joke a lot of times, especially guys, do you know? But we use that quote a lot of times as a joke. But really, I'm asking this question today because there's a little bit, if you go a little bit deeper in it, to this who's your daddy? There's more in there, there's more underneath it, there's more in there, there's more underneath it, there's something deeper, there's a question. It's a question really about origin, about identity, about security, because that's all things that comes through our daddy, our father, our origin, where we come from, who we are, comes through there. The identity of who we are flows through the Father, the security in most homes the Father was the security in that home. I know that's not the case for everybody, but for the most part that's always. We see the Father as security. So I'm looking at this question not as a joke this morning, but as something of saying let's go a little bit deeper than what we usually go. So I'm going to ask you, I'm going to start off with three questions here that I just want you to think about. You can write them down and think about them later or whatever, but I really want you to focus on these questions. Who really defines you? You ain't going to answer right now, but just think about it. Who really defines you? You ain't going to answer right now, but just think about it. Who really defines you? An important question that we should ask ourselves Whose voice has shaped your story? Whatever story you have, whatever testimony that you can stand up here and give, whatever has got you through a tough moment in life or something tragic happens and you've been able to make it through it, whose voice has shaped your story and what kind of Father is God to you? Because everybody's answer, I believe, would be a little bit different on that. Just like if I ask you about your earthly father, whether he's still here or whether he's moved on, but if I said who was your earthly father or who is your earthly father, tell me about him, everybody's answer would be a little bit different because everybody's experienced something a little bit different. So today, obviously, we know it's Father's Day, so happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there.
Speaker 1:But when you say that, when you say Father, not everyone hears that word. That hears, that word is going to have good feelings about it. Everybody does not have good feelings when they hear that word. For some it brings up pain, for others it brings up distance and for many it brings up confusion, because we talk about what our Father should be. But maybe somebody looks back and says I didn't experience that. I didn't have, and I guarantee you, as small as this group is, there's people in here who are on both ends of the spectrum, just with this small group right here. Or somebody who had a loving, found love and trust and security in a father, and somebody else who says I had none of that. I don't really know what that means. I never experienced it. Jesus came to settle this and that was the good thing about it. Jesus came to settle that confusion once and for all.
Speaker 1:But I want to talk to you today about the Father that religion sometimes hides from you. The Father that religion sometimes will not let you get a glimpse of Because we put all these other things on Him. But there's a Father there that I think you need to hear about and we talk about Him a lot in this church, but you need to really understand who he was and who he is, and one of the best verses to start with is Matthew 11, verse 27. Look what it says here All things have been delivered to me by my Father. That's Jesus. All things have been delivered to me by my Father and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
Speaker 1:This verse can be very simple or it can be very confusing. When you read it just outright, you're like wait a minute, what did I say? I've got to go back and read that again Because it can be a little bit confusing. But I want to challenge you and I'm not going to go deep into it today, I don't have time. But I want to challenge you to take this verse right here and really dig down. If this is the only verse you go into this week, take this verse and really just break it down and see what you get out of it You're not and see what you get out of it. You ain't going to turn nothing into me, just on your own time, see what you get out of this verse. All things have been delivered to me by the Father and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except through the Son. There's some powerful stuff in there, but you need to see that. You don't need to let me tell it to you. Sometimes it needs to be coming through revelation that you receive when you're reading it, that allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you through a verse.
Speaker 1:I've said many times and I believe this. I'm just kind of getting a few things out here to kind of lay a foundation for you. But I believe that most people don't reject God. I've said this before. They reject the version of God that they've been given. I believe that even with atheists who says there is no God, I believe that with agnostics who says there is a God, I just don't know who he is there's something bigger out there, but I'm not quite sure who that is and I believe that would even non-Christians or what we would call non-believers. I believe that they don't reject God Himself, but they reject the version that they've been taught and the version of God that's been given to them.
Speaker 1:Because think about what version a lot of people have received. They've received the one who was always disappointed in them, always looking down on them, the one who always kept score when you've done something good, check mark when you've done something bad X. So he was a God who was always looking for you to mess up and looking for you to slip up some way. And they were also given a God who was an if type of God. I'll love you if. I'll love you if you come to church like you're supposed to. I'll love you if you do the right things. I'll love you if you get away from doing that thing. All these if stuff.
Speaker 1:God is not a God of if love. He is a God that loves unconditionally, and I always say that. But I think there's so much power in that to understand what it means unconditional love. Because sometimes when somebody gives me a picture of the Father and they talk about who he is and then they talk about what he's going to do if I don't pray a prayer, my first thought is that's not unconditional. Unconditional means he loves me without condition. He loves me in spite of my problems, in spite of what I've done in my life. He loves me regardless. That's unconditional love. Listen, if I love you only because you're nice to me or only because you give me things, that's not true love.
Speaker 1:I remember I preached a sermon one time and I think about this so often too, as a little kid. If you've got kids or grandkids, you know I don't want that hug that somebody's got to make somebody give me. I don't want somebody. When Cooper gets older I don't want his mom and daddy have to make him go hug Pop Pop. I hope he sees me and naturally just wants to come up and give me a hug, not because he's forced to, and I think we've tried to force so much stuff in religion that we've lost the concept and the understanding of unconditional love. It's without condition, without condition. See, jesus didn't come to introduce us to someone new. He come to reveal the Father that we've always had but never truly seen it, because we were blinded so much by this idea of a God that we've been told and been preached that he was. I don't have to tell you. I could ask most of you right now, and it would be amazing to hear some of your stories about your idea of the Father.
Speaker 1:When you think about God, what do you picture? Our mind, whether you realize it or not, you may not even realize it, but your mind automatically starts creating pictures called our imagination. Our mind will automatically. Why? Because image comes from that imagination. Our mind will automatically. Why? Because image comes from that word imagination. Our mind starts creating images when we hear something. Sometimes we don't realize it because it's subconsciously. But when you hear the word Father, god, what image A lot of people picture? A man sitting on a throne with a long white beard. What is it that you picture? What have you always seen in your mind when you think about God? Because everybody in here would probably be a little bit different.
Speaker 1:The way we experience an earthly father, some of those things that we go through and some of those things that we've had to deal with, will carry those feelings over into the relationship of how we see the heavenly father. Some people don't believe he's a God of love because they've never experienced love from an earthly father. They've never experienced caring from an earthly father, so never experienced caring from an earthly father. So how can he care about me? They never experienced comfort and security from an earthly father, so how can he comfort me and how can he be security to me? And it translates over from earthly to the spiritual father. I'm saying all this because I just want you to, I want your mind to kind of start going there and say how do I see you? Forget what anybody else thinks, forget what I think. How do you individually see the father? We should think about him because it's Father's Day. It's not just and that's what I want to say we want to celebrate our earthly fathers as well, but we also want to celebrate our Heavenly Father, not just a day that we can just go out and hang out and do things with our earthly father, but can we get a glimpse of the spiritual one as well?
Speaker 1:Look in John 14 and 9. I want you to read this verse with me Because, again I said a while ago, jesus did not come to offer or to introduce us to somebody new. He came to reveal the Father that we've always had, but maybe we've never truly seen. John 14, 9,. Jesus said to them have I been with you so long and yet you have not known Me? Could you imagine Jesus walking up to you and saying this to you I've been walking with you for so long, I've been here with you, but yet you never truly knew me. He's talking to Philip there. He who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say show us the Father. I hope you kind of catching on to where I'm going with this right here. You don't know the Father without knowing Jesus. You can say you do. You can get that mental picture of that old man sitting on a throne with a long white beard and a staff in his hand or whatever it is you picture. That used to be what I pictured An old white man sitting there, he got a big staff, just gold all around him, angels all around Kind of what I pictured when I was small. But he's saying right here that if you want to know the Father you've got to know him Because he is one with the Father. So he's saying to Philip how can you say this about? Show us the Father. I've been with you the whole time, you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
Speaker 1:We talked briefly a few weeks ago about Luke 15, about the story of the prodigal son. We're not going to go back over that story. We've been there many times. But there's a couple of things I want to pull out of that just to show you. The story is that the youngest son leaves. He gets his inheritance and he leaves and he goes off and he blows it all Having fun doing what he wants to do. He just blows it all. Then he's scared to come back home because he just don't know he to do. He just blows it all and then he's scared to come back home because he just don't know he's not, he don't feel welcome, he don't feel worthy anymore to be a son because of what he went through, because of what, what he experienced. So he's coming back home and he's saying I'm just going to go back and say I'm not worthy to be a son. Will you take me back as a servant? Because he feels like his identity has changed. He feels like he's no better than the servant that is there at his house.
Speaker 1:But here's the thing he welcomed a son back home and the older son was angry. Think about both sons. Now he welcomes him back, the older son who had been there, who had stayed there, who had stayed there, who had worked the field, who had done everything the father wanted to do, who was probably running the place. He gets mad because he's like wait a minute, you've never done this for me, you never threw me a party, you never had a party and give me the fat. You know the calf All the things he'd done for the younger son. So anger comes in there now, jealousy comes in there now.
Speaker 1:See, and Jesus, while telling this story because this is a parable he paints a picture of a father. That might offend the religious mindset. Now listen to me on that. It really might offend the religious mindset. Now listen to me on that. It really might offend religious people. Because he paints a picture of a father here that, without asking any question, he ran to the rebellious son and received him in. He took him back in and he restored him without punishment, without repayment, without asking for anything in return. He said welcome home, son, grabbed him up and did everything for him. That can be a little bit offensive to the religious, because you've got to get some things straight, you've got to apologize, you've got to repent, you've got to change the way you think, you've got to do all this stuff and then we'll welcome you back. A true father says you was always the son. Might have been a little bit crazy at times, but you were still my son.
Speaker 1:See, when we read this story here, we often focus on the son's behavior. I do too. I preach about it all the time. I preach about what the son done, all the stuff that the son got into instead of really focusing on the father's goodness. Just a little mindset shift get off the behavior and get into the goodness of the Father.
Speaker 1:Even now, when we look at people, what's the first thing we focus on their behavior, especially if we know them pretty well and we know they've been through some stuff. And then they get saved. We see them go up to an altar sometime and we see them praying with the pastor or whatever. And then what do we do, man? We start watching. It's kind of like God. Just all of a sudden this guy gets saved and God has appointed me the Savior detective and I got to watch that guy for the next couple weeks because I got to see if he does anything wrong.
Speaker 1:Christians are like that. We watch because we want to see if somebody messes up and does something they ain't supposed to do. Do they break a rule? Do they go back to that old lifestyle that they should have walked away from when they knelt at the altar? So we kind of become the one the spy. It's like we're spying for God. He can't see everything anyway, but we feel like that he's appointed us and anointed us to be a Christian spy and we play right along with it.
Speaker 1:You know, sometimes we even try to make it sound really good too. Well, you know, I've been a Christian a long time. If I call out something that I see Barry do, that's just my responsibility as a good Christian. I'm trying to help Barry. So we kind of make excuses and we try to make it sound good. When we call out people's junk, we see them do something wrong and we try to act like we're being helpful. I'm saying this because the father he don't say I don't know what kind of conversation they might have had later on, but it never says in the Bible that they sat down and the father said I want you to tell me exactly what you got into. I want you to tell me exactly what you got into. I want you to tell me where that money went to.
Speaker 1:The Bible don't talk about that story. I don't believe that that happened. I believe the father received him and said everything that happened before this is gone, we're not even going to talk about it. We're not even going to worry about it. Welcome home, son. The prodigal son didn't come home to a father who looked at him and said you've got to earn your way back. That's sort of what the Christian would do. We see somebody get saved. We see somebody slip and fall, as we call it. They backslid and we look and we say they've got to earn their way back. Prodigal son's father didn't do that. He never said you've got to earn your way back. Prodigal son came home to discover he never lost what he had. No matter what he did, he never lost what he had.
Speaker 1:Now let's look at you as we reflect on this story. You were not just born and then, when you was a little kid, your mom and daddy sent you off to Sunday school. I can remember that they used to put us on the Sunday school bus and mom and daddy didn't go to church then. But you better believe we was on that bus going to Sunday school Because you want your kids to learn. Maybe I don't know it, but I'm going to send them to somebody that can teach them that. So everybody kind of went to Sunday school and then, as you got older, you attended church, youth group church, all that In hopes.
Speaker 1:There's a purpose behind that. There's a reason that we do this. We have a hope that one day that you would meet the Father. Think about that just a minute. All this stuff that we do to our kids send them to Sunday school, send them to youth group, keep them in church In hopes that they will one day meet the Father. Can I tell you you were born from the Father's heart. I understand what we mean when we say meet the Father, when we truly come into the understanding of it and we get saved. But we push it like we don of it and we get saved, but we push it like we don't even know who he is. The Father's always been there with us. We were born from His heart. Acts 17 and 28 says we are His offspring. Ephesians 1 and 4 says he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. So we may be meeting somebody, but it's not the first time, because we are already His.
Speaker 1:According to the Scripture, your story didn't begin in the garden, with sin, and that's where the story begins at. With a lot of them, we think back and we go back through the story of Adam and Eve and the fall of man. Why? Because they represented humanity, they represented all of mankind. And we look and we say, well, he fell, he sinned, he fell. Therefore, everyone fell and therefore, so we think that our story began at the fall.
Speaker 1:I can't tell you how many people I've heard say we are born into sin. We are born with a sin nature, right, I mean we've heard that. And where does that come from? How can you look at a precious baby that's just born? I don't believe anybody in this room has ever looked at a newborn child and the first thing you thought was, oh look, how sinful he looks. But that's what we are taught I'm being funny, but I'm being truthful. That's what we are taught that we originated from that place of sin. Therefore, we're born with that sin nature. I've never looked at a child and said that, even some of them, little, mean kids that I deal with in kindergarten up there, who are kicking and spitting and hitting and calling me everything but a child of God, I don't know. I didn't even know they knew the words. I still don't look at those little kids and think, little devil, they're still kids, they're still good kids who are lost and they got some issues.
Speaker 1:So our story did not begin in the garden, it began in Him. So our story did not begin in the garden, it began in Him. We got to go back to these verses Acts 17 and 28. We are His offspring Ephesians 1 and 4. He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. Your story began in Him before the foundation of the world. Your story began in Him.
Speaker 1:When I realized that my whole concept changed. I look at Bible verses totally different because I know where I come from now, I know where I originated from, I know where my start began at. You know, a lot of people go out and do and I want to do it too and they go out and do the DNA test. Why? Because they want to figure out where they come from. And a lot of times where they think they come from is not where they originated from. Ain't that right, ronnie? But anyway, we'll move on. We're not always coming from where we think we come from, but it makes a difference why?
Speaker 1:If somebody thinks they come from a certain family lineage, then they may act a certain way to try to portray that lineage. If we think we come from the sin and that's our origination, it's from Adam and Eve and from sin then I'll look at myself as something negative, something that has to be cleaned, something that has to be just right before the Father will accept me. Come on, this is, it changes our mindset. But if I look at myself and I say I didn't originate from sin, I originated from the Father because he chose me before the foundation of the world. I am His offspring, which means I originated, I started from Him. See, when I say that and I mean that and I believe that then I look at myself and no matter what I go through in life, I always go back to my starting place and my starting place is in Him. I didn't meet Him with an altar.
Speaker 1:I was riding from Hazard's the other day, I had dropped Tucker off and I was coming back and I looked at the and I've told this story sometimes there was a light pole right where I used to live at, right by Cynthia's house. Out there, that's where I met. I say I met God, the way people phrase it. That's where I met God at, sitting on my four-wheeler. I won't go into the story, but I remember sitting on my four-wheeler right there by that light pole. I remember it Exactly what. I remember the conversation that I had with him. That's where I woke up at. That's not where I met him. He knew me from the very beginning, before the foundations of the world. I had an enlightening moment. I had an open my eyes moment and I don't know. It was 99, 2000,. I don't remember when it was, it was a while ago. But I didn't meet him right there at that light pole. He always knew me, I was always in him because I originated from him.
Speaker 1:And just like somebody, let's say, they become an agnostic and they say, well, I'm just not sure, it don't change what you originated from, it don't matter how far that child goes off, he's still your son, she's still your daughter. Don't matter what happens, don't matter about all the trash and junk that happens in between, they cannot change the fact that they were here today because of me and because of you. We don't have to go into detail on that. You understand what I'm saying. But they originated from you and we originated from the Father. I hope you see the parallel of the natural and the spiritual here.
Speaker 1:I've said many times you're not a sinner trying to be a son, you are a son who forgot who you were. So we're not trying to become something, and that has been the mission of the church. That's been the evangelistic mission Is to go out and find all these prodigals that are out there in the mud, that are lost, that are drugged out, that are just alcoholics, that don't know who they are, that are living this sinful, ungodly life and we're to go in there as their Savior and bring them out. And it sounds good and it feels good when you do it. Let's be real about that. It feels good to go and help somebody and be there for somebody.
Speaker 1:I think we just make the job more difficult sometimes because what if we just told them come back? You know how confusing that would be to some people, instead of giving them this whole lecture that we give them on who God is and how you need to be saved so you won't burn in hell and heaven's waiting for you and you better do it now because the rapture could happen tomorrow. I mean all these things we tell them fear-based. What if we just said come home? I mean, if you walk up to somebody who is lost I'm talking about just drugged out of their head they don't just do it for fun, to party. They do it because it has to be done every day to survive. They have to have that next hit just to get up in the morning.
Speaker 1:Could you imagine walking up to somebody like that and just saying put your hands and say come home. You might have to fix more bed in your house for a little while, because they may take that literal, but on the spiritual side of it, what we're talking about is come back to who you are. Here's the problem. They come back to who you are. Here's the problem. They don't know who they are. So what's the good news? Let's give it to them. Let's give them the good news. Let's tell them that God called you before the foundation of the world. He chose you before the foundation of the world, and when you got addicted to this drug that you own, he didn't release you and say you're no longer a son. He said that He'll never leave you. He'll never forsake you, even in the midst of your addiction. He's got His arms wrapped around you and I just want to bring you back to the understanding of who you already are. I'm not trying to create anything new. We're just trying to bring you back and get your eyes open to who you are.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine somebody hearing that from you? Instead of the rapture might happen tomorrow and you better be ready, because then there's going to be this. You know all this stuff Crazy. We're going to talk about some of that later on. I keep teasing you with that, but I'm being honest. We're going to talk about, we're going to talk about the rapture, we're going to talk about the hell, we're going to talk about all that. I'm putting some stuff together on it, but I want to feel like I know what I'm saying when I say it and I can stand behind what I'm saying. Sometimes I might say something and then I go back and study and say whoa, whoa, whoa and I start changing my mindset a little bit. I want to have a firm foundation on what I say about it. Okay, okay, and I do.
Speaker 1:When it comes to the finished work, because I believe what we need to do is we need to tell people who they are, not who the world calls them, not what situations have caused them to look like Not an addict, not a nobody, not a nobody, not a failure, but who God believes that they are. So the finished work is not about convincing God to accept you. It's about awakening you to the truth that he already has. I don't know why that's such a difficult message, but it is, and there's people Christians that will fight you over that message by simply just telling somebody God has loved you, he's always loved you, he chose you and he's never left you. I mean, you're messing up some. You know some religious territory there that a lot of people don't like to hear that Because they want you to suffer. They want you to know that you've got to go through some hell to get to heaven and you've really got to make this bold declaration You've got to live it, you've got to stand behind it, you've got to never mess up again. And the fact is the one telling you that messes up every day. We just realize it. You know, honest enough to say it. We all slip sometimes, we all fall sometimes. We're not perfect and he loves me anyway. I kind of.
Speaker 1:When I think about that, I think about my years of umpiring. I remember games where it would just be parents are so parents are horrible. And I remember games where it would just be parents are so parents are horrible. And I remember it just get so bad or the coach would run out. You know, and I remember only one time normally I keep my cool. One time I had a coach run out. He said you are sorry. And here he went and the only thing I turned to him and said you know what I still get paid. I turned and walked off because I was still getting paid for that game. I didn't get what he thought, even if I was bad. Guess what? I'm still getting paid the same amount that I was. If you thought I was good, it didn't change anything.
Speaker 1:His opinion didn't matter. Number one he was wrong anyway, but that's a side note. It don't matter what somebody's been through. Can't we just tell them that God loves you anyway? He's always loved you, he chose you. He's never left you, he's never forsaken you. He's always been there with His arms wrapped around you, even when you didn't feel Him, even when you didn't feel him, even when you didn't see him. He's not just your father, he's the father of all. He's not just your father, he's the father of all.
Speaker 1:And I wanted to read this verse here, specifically Ephesians 4 and 6. Because I want you to see something right here. This is a very, very important verse when we're talking about the finished work of Christ and inclusion. And if you don't know what I'm saying when I'm saying using those words inclusion and finish ask me Seriously. Ask me, because you've got to understand it. If you don't, then anything I'm saying don't make sense to you, but this verse right here, ephesians 4 and 6, look what it says One, god and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in and through all and in. Now I went through here. There's 16 words in that verse and four of them is all. So a quarter of the words in the verse is all.
Speaker 1:I don't know how you can make this any simpler. You know, some people say I don't want this and I don't want that. Just preach Scripture. Brother, okay, okay, and God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. That girl out there selling herself she's part of the all Alcoholic, part of the all Addict drug addict, part of the all Addict drug addict, part of the all Agnostic, part of the all, that worst one that you think about, part of the all man.
Speaker 1:This verse destroys religion. It breaks down religious walls. If Jesus is the exact image of the Father and that's what the Word says, he's the exact image. It don't say he looks a little bit like Him, it says he is the exact image of the Father Then what that shows me is God does not divide, he includes, he includes. That's why we teach and we talk about inclusion, that people's included in this process.
Speaker 1:So the cross wasn't an exchange. Jesus didn't go to the cross for me. I'm included, I'm part of it, I'm part of the process. It was a revelation, not an exchange. It wasn't Jesus and this is going to sound crazy. So listen to how I say this it wasn't Jesus saving us from God.
Speaker 1:And some people say what do you mean saving us from God? Why? Because apparently we're going to be judged one day and we're going to stand on that day. Where we get there and we're going to stand before Him in judgment, he's going to look at you and say, well done, my good and faithful servant. Or he's going to turn over here and say depart from me, you worker of iniquity, for I never knew you, and banish you into hell forever. That's Bible, right? I mean, I'm not paraphrasing that. That's what the Word says. I might have missed a little bit, but I think I quoted that pretty accurately. That's what it says.
Speaker 1:It's either this or this, your choice. So if you look at it like that, and God is going to be the one who judges me, and if I've done wrong and I've done bad and I'm not born again and he's going to say depart from me, you worker of iniquity, for I never knew you. And he's going to say depart from me, you, worker of iniquity, for I never knew you, and you're going to be cast off into hell. Then that's God doing that to me, right? God's the one that's saying go. So if you look at it like that, jesus is saving us from God. That's where that phrase comes from. Jesus is saving us from God. That's where that phrase comes from Jesus saving us from God. Because God's got this thing that if I'm not born again and I don't have an understanding of Him, then what is he going to do? He's going to cast me away.
Speaker 1:I struggle with that, and when I preach on hell, you'll see why I struggle with that. Because that's not the type of God I worship. I worship a God that you know what it says in Ephesians one God and Father of all, who is over all, who is through all, who is in all. That's the type of God I worship. I worship a God who says I chose you before the foundation of the world. I loved you so much that I created you in the image and the likeness of myself. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I will always be there for you. That's the God I worship and that's two different gods that we're looking at there. That's two different perceptions. That's two different perceptions of God.
Speaker 1:So it really comes down to what are we going to believe? What are we going to choose? How are we going to choose to see the Father? So can I go back here? Who's your daddy? Which one of them is your daddy? Okay, no one is born a stranger to the Father. 2 Corinthians, 5 and 19 says but God in Christ was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. We read that verse all the time. You know that verse by heart by now. Reconciling, reconciling, reconciling what does that mean? That's another word I've told you to look up Because I want you to understand it. He's saving people, he's pulling people back in, he's fixing what was wrong. He's reconciling the world to himself. So nobody's born a stranger to the Father. Some are just still asleep to their identity.
Speaker 1:The finished work removed the lie, not the distance. I talked often about this and I'm getting ready to close here but I talked often about the distance between God. Sometimes we teach that there's a separation between us and the Father. There's not a separation. It's according to how you choose to see the Father. If I see the Father in one way, then I say that when I sin, then I'm separated from Him. But if I believe in inclusion, which means I'm one in him and he's one in me and we are joined together as one, how can there be any separation? Especially when he says I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you, either he told the truth or he told a lie. And he says I'm not a man and I can lie. So I mean I'm using Scripture to back up Scripture. So I'm just saying there's two ways that we can look at it, just like there's two ways to look at your earthly father. There's two ways. Which one do you want to be your daddy?
Speaker 1:Here's a thought what if, when life gets hard or tragedy strikes in your life, that we don't have to run to an altar and tell God all about it and beg Him to just put His arms around me and hold me? Because we do that, I've done that. Sometimes I run and say God, I don't feel you. This has happened and this has went on and this is what I feel, god, I just need to feel your arms wrapped around me. What if we didn't need to do that? What if our mindset shifted so much that we just realized that he never let go in the first place and that we've been in His arms all along? We just didn't realize it. The cross didn't bring us closer God closer to us. It opened our eyes to the God who was always there. It didn't open God up to us. It opened us up to God. It opened our eyes and awakened us to the Father.
Speaker 1:I'm going to close right here, but don't leave me yet. I want you to hear this. This is important. Right here, I always like to say, I always like to bring something into the end that kind of ties everything together, and this is important. As we get ready to close, I want you to think about this who's been raising you? Talk about being born now, that's one thing, but who's been raising you? Who's been bringing you up? If fear is raising you, that's not your father. If shame is shaping who you are, that's not your father. If performance and striving is what's driving your life, that's not your father. So again, who's your daddy?
Speaker 1:Let the finished work of Christ, what he done on the cross, answer that for you. He's the one who formed you in love. He never left you in darkness. He calls you His, even when you don't feel like it. You were born from the Father's heart. You are His offspring. You are not striving for love, you live in it. You live from it. You're not trying to belong, you already do. You are not alone. You never have been, and you will always be held by Him. Well, how do you know that? Because he says he will never leave you. I mean, and it really does.
Speaker 1:I know people think I'm kind of being arrogant when I say this, but I just mean it. Either the Word means what it says or it's a lie and we need to stop preaching. Either he's there in me, I'm one with Him because he chose me, and he's in me and I'm in Him and He'll never leave me or that's a lie. I choose to believe it. That does not give me a license to just go out and do whatever I want to believe it. That does not give me a license to just go out and do whatever I want to do. But if I go out and flip up, guess what he's not saying? It's going to take about a week vacation to see if you can get things straight and I'll be back. He's still there. He's still to take about a week vacation and see if you can get things straight, and I'll be back. He's still there. He's still got his arms around you. You just need to wake up to it. We need to realize that he is with us. He's your father and he's good. He's good. You can stand. I see some of y'all fanning in here. I was Feels good right here. That air is blowing right here on the pool pit.
Speaker 1:We designed the building like this, not a traditional Father's Day message, I don't think. But we have to get an understanding of who the true Father is, and it's so weird. Maybe somebody needs to hear this. I said a while ago that sometimes what we experience in the relationship with a natural Father dictates our relationship with the spiritual Father. It kind of shapes it. But when we come to an understanding of who he really is and we change our relationship with the heavenly Father, it will shift our relationship with the natural Father. It works in tandem like that. I could tell you a story, but it's talking in my head, but I don't know. I don't have the information to tell it, so I won't. But this is getting to a place of understanding truly who he is. It's challenging. Some of these verses are challenging because we've always heard them spoke a different way and I'm not trying to tell you. I'm going to keep saying this, I'm not trying to tell you to believe it, because I said it. Go study them out.
Speaker 1:I choose when I read the verses. I choose to look at the verses that show God is love and not show Him as a dictator, a man with vengeance and anger. I choose to see Him as what he said he was and he says I am love. So if we're looking at verses outside of that prism of love, then there may be a misinterpretation on it. Don't mean you're not smart, it just means I'm looking through it through the wrong prism. I had a lot looking in that broken mirror. You're going to see a distortion. I don't care how good you think you look, you're going to see a distortion if it's broken. That's kind of the way we look at Scripture, sometimes through broken glasses.
Speaker 1:We have the opportunity to change it. We have the opportunity to see it differently and we have the opportunity and the obligation, I believe, to present it to people the right way, as a loving father, as a good father, as one who's always been there, will always be there, has never abandoned us, has never abandoned us, has never left us and loves us, even through your hell, even through what you put yourself through, he still loves you anyway, just like the prodigal son. When he'd come home, daddy didn't make him do something to earn his way back. He didn't say earn your spot, your brother's done took over your spot. You have to go to his. No, he said this is who you were, this is who you always been. Now come back and take back over. That was it. Get back in your place. That's a good father.