I Am A Child Of God - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. By the way, even on an earthly plane, how do you get along with your siblings?

Not always so easy is it? But he said with us, we need to love one another. In fact, 50 times in the New Testament, God gives us a one another commandment.

50 times! He says all the way through the New Testament, we need to subject ourselves to one another, comfort one another, care for one another, forgive one another, edify one another, encourage one another, exhort one another, admonish one another. You need to do that, because you're all in the same family, you're all children. Notice what he says its effect is, by this all men will know that you're my disciples, if you really love one another. Thanks for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt.

Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church, located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now, as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. I mean, if you ever just wake up in the day and say, you know, I'm a child of God. That's who I am. I'm not just a believer in God, I'm a child of God.

Notice the next verse. And if children, heirs also. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.

Wow. You're a child of God. In Philippians chapter four, it says this, my God will supply all that you need according to his riches in Christ Jesus.

That's for now. God says, look, you're my child. I'll give you everything you need to succeed now in life. You'll be able to cope with being a sinner living in a fallen world. I give it all to you.

But even better than that. He said, you know what I'm going to give you eventually? Everything. Everything that I create is yours. See, what does Jesus Christ inherit?

Everything. He inherits everything. And you're his child. He says, and you inherit everything.

Wow. I'm amazed how we get all wound up about our inheritance on the earthly plane. You know, and by the way, no matter what you inherit, it's only temporary because you're not taking it with you. You know, and then somebody else gets to grab it and everyone's real excited about that. How could you not be excited that in the end you inherit everything? Everything that there is, he said, is yours. You're a joint heir with Jesus Christ.

It's an amazing thing when you think about it. He said, look, how come you're not more joyful? I don't understand, he said.

I just don't get it. You have freedom from sin. You're no longer a slave to sin. He said, you're joint heirs with Christ. You've been adopted as sons. He said, these are all tremendously wonderful things for you.

And there's more. This is hard for us sometimes. Of all the good things God gives you, he said, there's something else I'm going to give you as my children. Each other. You're all family now. In that way, we're all siblings. We're all children of God. He said, yeah, isn't that great? I'm going to give you all these other people.

They're yours. You're part of that family. There's no such thing as a Christian who's an only child.

We have a big family. He said, that's extremely important. Go with me to John chapter 13. John chapter 13, the night before Christ is crucified. He wants to leave one lasting impression to the disciples. So you think the night he was crucified, he'd tell them, do you have any idea what I'm going to face tomorrow? Do you have any idea what it means to become sin on the cross and be separated from God?

Do you have any idea of the depth that I'm going to have to pay when I hang on the cross? He never talks to them about that. They get up there and they're so preoccupied talking about themselves. He takes the form of the lowest servant. He washes their feet. And he says, I'm leaving you an example to follow.

You see, that's an example. And then he says this in verse 34. He says, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you love one another. By this, he said, all men will know that you're my disciples if you have love for one another.

Well. Over a dozen times in the New Testament, he says, you need to love one another. That's extremely important. You have to love one another. On an earthly plane, we always know that. By the way, even on an earthly plane, how do you get along with your siblings?

Not always so easy, is it? But he said with us, we need to love one another. In fact, 50 times in the New Testament, God gives us a one another commandment. Fifty times, he says all the way through the New Testament, we need to subject ourselves to one another, comfort one another, care for one another, forgive one another, edify one another, encourage one another, exhort one another, admonish one another.

You need to do that. Because you're all in the same family. You're all children. Notice what he says. Its effect is by this, all men will know that you're my disciples. If you really love one another. Let's be honest.

How are we doing with this? How many people have you run into are unbelievers that say, I don't believe what you're saying, but I know something about Christians. Gosh, do they love each other. Anyone ever told you that? Why? Why hasn't someone told you that? Because we don't. It's just that simple. We don't love one another.

Now, we'll say we do if it's on a test, but we're not going to do it in life. Jesus is this is the best pre evangelism you can have. You're going to love each other the way I loved you. And we have the capacity to because we're in 12 by the Spirit of God. It should be natural for us.

But it's not necessarily that way. We have the same destiny. Go with me to First Peter, Chapter one, verse three. First Peter, Chapter one and verse three. Peter writes this. He said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the dead. That verse is amazing.

God caused us to be born again into his family. And it's to a living hope. And I say this over and over, but when you see the word hope in the New Testament, the Greek word doesn't mean what we think.

Let's cross our fingers and hope the saints win. That's not what it means. It's a future certitude. It's it's an absolute certainty in the future.

The second coming of Christ is called the blessed hope of the church. It's not like, oh, I hope he comes back. It means he's coming back and he says, you and I have a living hope in our future.

How do I know that's true? He said, because I raised Jesus from the dead. You see, that's because I raised him from the dead. And then he goes on and says this to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled. It will not fade away. It's reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

Wow. There's our inheritance. Notice what he says about this, our inheritance. He said our inheritance is imperishable. It's undefiled.

It will not fade away. So what's going to change that? He said nothing. Nothing can change it. He said this is imperishable. It's undefiled. You can't defile it.

No one can defile. It's mine. He said it's reserved in heaven for you. You got reservations.

And so do I. How does that affect you and the reason you're a child of God? You're part of God's family now.

You see, it makes such a difference. Jesus knew. He knew we were afraid of death. He knew we struggled with dying. In John 14, he said, Let not your heart be troubled. I don't want you to worry about this. He said, You need to believe in God.

You need to trust me. And then he tells us this. He said it and my father's house are many dwelling places.

He said, If that weren't true, I'd have told you. He said, I'm going to go and prepare a place for you. And so that where I am, you may be also.

And then I'll come and I'll receive you to myself. Wow. Do you think about that? That's a reminder I have to have for myself.

I've said this over the years. I love the thought that right now in heaven. I don't know what the metaphor is, but let's just say there's a door there.

And on the door, it says, Bill, what now? That's mine. And it's there.

It's reserved in heaven for me. Said, I've got it right here for you. That should have an effect on us. You see, that should have an effect on us. You say, well, wait, baby, am I sure that's going to happen? He said, who are protected by the power of God. That reservation that I have and you have is protected by the power of God. Nothing can change that. Nothing ever will change that.

He said, it'll all be revealed at the last time. Notice in verse six, then he says this in this, you greatly rejoice. Greatly rejoice. That should be our M.O. You see, that should be when people think about you and me.

What should they think about? Golly, are they joyful people? It's amazing how joyful they are. And why wouldn't we?

We're children of God. You see, why don't we have that joy? And you greatly rejoice.

And notice the next part. Let me paraphrase. In this, you greatly rejoice, even when your life stinks today. That's what it says.

More. It says, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials. You see, life can give me a lot of various trials, but it shouldn't be able to steal my joy. You see, and it's all because I'm a child of God. I'm not just a believer in Christ. I'm a child of God. And so are you.

Wow. There's only one way to be a child of God. You have to put your faith and trust in Christ and you're born again into the family of God.

And that's Jesus words, not mine. It should be a great joy to us to be a child of God. We're free from the slavery or sin. We're adopted into God's family. We cry out, Papa, Daddy to God. We have each other to love.

And there's one more thing. You and I have this tremendous privilege of enlarging our family. We can enlarge the family. God's chosen us to enlarge the family. He said, how big a family you want? I want a big family.

I want a lot of kids. It's up to you to see if you want to do this. That's our job. That's a responsibility we have because we're children of God. Go with me to the book of Acts, chapter one. Jesus is about ready to ascend.

It's a big moment. And once again, the disciples disappoint. They're a lot like us. The biggest concern that disciples have when Jesus is going to send is prophecy. I just love prophecy, don't you? I just love prophecy. That's what they want to know. They want to know about prophecy.

Wow. So they say to him in verse six, so when they had come together, they were asked him, said, Lord, is it this time that you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Are you going to be the messianic king out of the David's line and set up a kingdom over the whole world? We'll get big jobs. It's going to be great. Is this it? Is this when is it going to happen? He never says anything, but I wonder how disappointing that must be for him.

He said, it's not for you to know the times or epochs which the father is affixed by his own authority. Look, I'm coming back. That should be enough. Don't start talking about before we get all we still get all wind up in it. I was asked not that long ago, you know, are we closer than ever?

Someone sent me a text. Are we closer than ever to the rapture of the church? Yes. Yeah, we're closer than we were last week.

You know, last month, last year. We're closer than ever. Notice we have an interest in this. He says this, though, but you will receive power dunamis from dynamite. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.

Look, I want you to enlarge the family. You're going to be witnesses. So you're going to be a witness. What does a witness do? They testify, right?

Now, what's a test? How should a witness testify? They should say what they saw and say what they heard. That's what a witness does. Tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.

Right? You just testify. There's no pressure in it, no hard thing in it.

I don't have to try to think of something. All I have to do is tell the truth. That's what a witness is. That's what you and I are.

He said, yeah, that's the way I want this to work. Now, what's interesting about that is, is that Christians often will say, well, I'm not very I don't like to enlarge a family. They don't say it that way.

But here's why. I don't know what to say. I don't understand what happened to the dinosaurs. Were they on the ark or not?

You know, I don't understand astrophysics. He hasn't asked you to. He's asked you to be a witness. In other words, all you have to do is tell someone what Jesus Christ did to you. All you have all you have to do is say, this is how I became a Christian. I'll testify to that. And then the rest is up to God. That's all that it takes on our part.

He said, that's all I want from you. You just give a witness. You just make a testify. And it's amazing how often we say, no, I don't want to do that. And you've got to wonder, like, wow, if we're if we're the vehicle by which God is trying to save the people in this world. Do you realize what's at stake for these people not coming to church?

Nothing ridiculous like that. This is a destiny difference. This is whether they spend all eternity as children of God with God or they pay all eternity in hell as separated from God. That's what's at stake here. And all God asks you and I do is just witness. Just give your testimony.

Let the rest up to me. And by the way, let me show you how it works. Acts chapter one, verse 15. He said at this time, Peter stood up in the midst of the brother and gathering about one hundred and twenty persons who were together in the room. So the church starts with one hundred twenty. That's the way it started. Fortunately for them, they didn't say, you know, I like this. It's I like a small church.

I like one hundred twenty. Let's not leave the room. And we all get to go to heaven. Now it changes. Look at chapter two and verse forty one. Peter preaches and it says, so then those who received his word were baptized and that day were added about three thousand souls. Three thousand people came to Christ on that day.

Look at chapter four and verse four. Verse four says, but many of those who had heard the message believed in the number of men came to be about five thousand. So that's probably ten to fifteen thousand people came to Christ. Now we're up to ten to fifteen thousand.

He's not done. Look at chapter five and verse fourteen. Luke writes this, he says, and all the more believers in the Lord, he said, and all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women were constantly being added to their number. He didn't even give a number. He's good at numbers. We said there's so many.

I can't count them. Multitudes are coming to Christ. The family's enlarging. And the family's always kept enlarging. And the reason that you're here is somebody wanted to enlarge the family. And they were faithful witness to Christ, and that's how you and I became believers in that particular way.

It's also something interesting. All you have to do is talk about what you see or do. Look at chapter four again in verse nineteen. Peter and John are told that they've got to stop that witnessing for Christ. The Jewish leaders say there's no more of that.

You can't we don't allow you to do this. So they say in verse 19, Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge. Got to love that. OK, what should we do? God's told us to do one thing and you've told us to do something else. Which one should we do?

What do you think? And then I say this, for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and what we have heard. We can't stop being witnesses.

How can I stop? I know what I saw. I know what I've heard. I'm going to tell people what I saw and what I heard.

I'm going to let people know my experience. You see, that's the point. What a great privilege we have. You don't have to be an expert apologetics. There are plenty of those out there.

Some people they're very helpful to. You just have to tell someone what Christ has done in your life. And by the way, when you tell someone what Christ has done in your life, no one can even refute that. Someone can't say, no, no, he didn't do that in your life. No, he did that in my life. Now, you can choose not to believe it, but you can't refute what happened in my life. You're giving your own experience. So what a privilege we have of enlarging the family of God.

So I kind of end here right where I started. How is it that people like us suffer low self-esteem? How can that be? Often it's our past. You say, well, yeah, you've got to know what I did in the past.

I know Christ died for all your sins. A lot of times my heritage. I mean, you've got to understand the family I came from. I never knew my mother. I never knew my father. Some of us will say, you don't understand that I had a parent that was abusive.

Now you have one that's loving. You see, you used to be a child of someone else, but now you're a child of God. And you know what we end up doing?

We let somebody in our past who defines us in a particular way, usually for the prejudice, and we use that as our self-image. You know, my dad always told me I'd be no good. And that's what I want to believe. But God's telling you you're a child of his.

You're a joint heir of everything that exists. God's telling you. It's like, I don't know if I can believe that. I'd like to believe what my abusive parent said.

You see, that has an enormous effect on us of who we listen to and what we're doing. When you came to Christ, you became a child of God, part of the family. When you put your faith in Christ, Jesus said, you're born again into my family. He saved you by his spirit and by his word. And he feeds you his word consistently to help you spiritually grow. And then there should be great joy of being a child of God. My sins are forgiven. I'm free from the slavery of sin in my life. I'm forever adopted into God's family. I'm a joint heir with Jesus Christ. God says, I'll give you everything you need now and even more in the future.

I'll give you everything. And now we have the privilege of enlarging the family. That's our privilege. And all he wants us to do is to witness. Just testify what we've seen and what we've heard in our own lives. That's all he says you have to do. He'll do the rest.

See, we hope in this series as we go on, we start believing this. I am who he says I am. And he says, I'm a child of God.

Let's pray. Father, it's amazing how we struggle with this identity, what we call self-esteem. And yet, Father, you must understand our struggle because over and over and over again throughout the Bible, especially in the New Testament, you keep telling us who we are in Christ.

You tell us over and over again to make us feel secure and make us feel significant. We've given we're given a new identity. And one aspect of that identity is we are now a child of God. Father, I pray that when we wake up in the morning, maybe we start our day that way and just say to you, I am your child. Papa, I am your child. And we understand who we are.

Instead of always letting other people define us. Father, I thank you for this great privilege of enlarging the family. I pray that all of us will feel the joy of just simply being a witness for what God has done in our lives. That's all you've asked. And you'll do the rest. And I pray that we are faithful to the task.

Thank you, Father, that I can call you Father because I'm your child. In Jesus' name, amen. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.