Our Father, Our Choice

[0:00] I'm going to preach a Father's Day message on Father's Day. Although it may be a little different than you might expect. Our Father has put upon us that we would be called the sons of God.

[0:35] Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be.

[0:47] But we know that when he shall appear. Say the second coming. The second coming when he comes in the clouds. We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

[0:59] How many are looking forward to that day? And every man that hath this hope in him. Do you have that hope in you? In him purifieth himself. So if we have that hope in us, we should be purifying ourselves.

[1:12] Purifieth himself even as he is pure. Even as Jesus is pure. Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the law. For sin is the transgression of the law.

[1:24] And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins. God was manifested to take away our sins. And in him is no sin. Jesus did not sin.

[1:36] Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth has not seen him, neither known him. That's biblical terms for we don't have a proper relationship with him.

[1:47] We don't have an intimate relationship with him. Verse 7. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

[2:01] So don't be deceived by yourself or anybody else. That if you do, if you do not sin, then you have righteousness.

[2:13] He that doeth righteousness is righteous. Plain and simple. Even as he is righteous. Even as Jesus was righteous. Verse 8. He that committeth sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the beginning.

[2:26] For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. He wants to destroy and undo that. Remember, I preached on restoration. He wants to restore. Amen.

[2:37] Verse 9. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Who's been born again? By the repentance, baptism in Jesus' name and filling the Holy Ghost.

[2:48] Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Verse 10. In this, the children of God are manifest.

[3:01] So it's in that that the children of God are manifest. It's that salvation experience. The born again experience. In that the children of God are manifest. That means brought to light, appear.

[3:11] And the children of the devil. So the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God. Neither he that loveth not his brother.

[3:24] So we're talking about children of God and children of the devil. In this. And so I'm going to preach from this thought. Our father. Our choice.

[3:35] And so help me pray over this message today. Lord Jesus. God help me deliver this message today to this congregation. God help them receive and understand it today God.

[3:47] Lord let it be wisdom to us. God let it be a light into our path. Let it be a light into our feet. God lead us and direct us through your word today. Help us understand it.

[3:58] Give us understanding and wisdom with it. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Sometimes I wonder what goes through people's minds. I just sit there and just wonder.

[4:10] What are they thinking about? What consumes people's thoughts? What really has the loudest voice or the largest space within people's minds?

[4:23] And you know it should be God. It should be the things of God. Amen. In general but I don't think in general that people are really fully honest with others.

[4:34] In general call me a skeptic. Call me a cynical. Call me whatever. You know trust is hard to earn with me sometimes.

[4:45] I just not really given freely. But in general I just don't think people are fully honest with others or with themselves. And I don't think most people have really an accurate evaluation of themselves.

[5:00] Or if they do they ignore the data that shows that they should do something different. You know it just seems that people don't really care sometimes. And you know at work when I first started working at Morningstar several years ago.

[5:15] I was part of a team of a few colleagues that was tasked with going to a facility and interviewing everybody at that facility to find out who should continue to work there or not.

[5:27] Our job was to figure out who needed to be who needed to leave the company. Who was good. Who wasn't. And the owner put us up to this task. Very abnormal.

[5:38] Not a normal thing that we do in our company. But it was so bad at this facility that he wanted to clean house. And so he made a team and sent us in there. And one of the first things that we did was that we interviewed people.

[5:50] We brought everyone in individually. And we gave them the same interview. And we would ask them questions. And we gave them opportunity to rate themselves in different areas and aspects of their job.

[6:03] And then to also rate each individual. Their names were listed. All the other colleagues in the facility. And they took the time to rate them and score them. That was part of what we did. Not all of what we did.

[6:14] But part of what we did. We interviewed everybody. And without fail, across the board, they gave themselves 9 out of 10. 10 out of 10. And they weren't so generous with everybody else.

[6:27] And so I kind of learned something in that experience. People tend to think of themselves better than who or what they really are. And however, the same can be true that some people tend to think of themselves worse than they are low self-esteem or what have you.

[6:45] But we just don't generally have a clear, accurate self-assessment. It's been my own experience regarding myself. Many times in life, I've been shocked or stunned to hear the type of feedback that I've received from others.

[7:01] From my wife, maybe from my kids, from my coworkers, from others. That I'm kind of surprised. I'm taken aback that I didn't realize that about myself.

[7:13] Not to say that they're right or wrong. But I just didn't realize that about myself. And so I've been surprised that way. And it has also been my observations that others, from our casual interactions or the people in my life, and a casual to professional level, they often are surprised or shocked, even offended at times, by the feedback that they receive.

[7:35] They're caught off guard. And so I've come to the conclusion that we struggle to have this accurate assessment of ourselves. And even of others.

[7:45] We like to think of ourselves in a certain way when we're not really exactly that way. I attended a workshop last week at work with the title of that workshop being Unlock the Power Behind Personality Assessments.

[8:02] We talked about personality assessments. And these assessments ask a series of questions about your own personality and the preferences. And then based on the answers, they provide you some results.

[8:15] And the funny thing is about these assessments is you're self-reporting all the questions you're answering yourself. You're giving the test the answers.

[8:26] And then the test basically gives you back the answers of what you gave the test. And then you're surprised and shocked at how accurate it is. Wow, that's amazing. It nailed me.

[8:36] It got me just right. But you're the one that gave it all the data on your own assumptions about yourself. And all it did was give you back what does anybody else see an issue with that? And some of them are good and some of them not so good and whatever.

[8:51] But our self-assessment is often inaccurate is what I'm trying to say. And I would say that we often are biased in how we assess others and our own opinions come into play.

[9:06] You know, there's biases and opinions. And so we can chalk someone up wrong, you know, and we can definitely be wrong about ourselves. And you may be able to get by in life that way.

[9:17] You know, you might be able to get by in life and most things with this misunderstanding of who you are really. Because the world promotes a big gray area.

[9:29] It's okay. There's a big gray area. There's not really a black and white. There's not a right or wrong. It's just this big gray area. Nothing is absolute. There's no right or wrong. It's all gray.

[9:39] But when it comes to the word of God, when it comes to the salvation, and it comes to living for God, and it comes to what God expects of us, we can't live in a gray area.

[9:50] There's not a gray area. We need to be sure. And we need to be accurate. We need to have a clear understanding and a proper assessment of where we are in our walk with God. Because it means the difference between eternity, one place or the other.

[10:05] Amen. And so it's really important that we do what we need to do. And we understand what we need to understand and take the measures that we need to take in this life that we would have an accurate understanding of where we are with God.

[10:19] And, of course, the word of God gives us the instructions on how to live. And there's no gray area in the Bible. It's very black and white. Amen. And in the word of God, you're going to find that you can choose how to live.

[10:33] We do have, we're free agents. We can choose how we want to live. God is not using force to make us. And the Bible says, and we sang about it today, that there is coming a day that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord.

[10:49] So, but right now, in the time that we live, we have a choice. There will come a day when the choice is no more and we will have to face the consequences of our decisions.

[10:59] But right now, we do have the freedom and there's two options to choose from. There's not a multitude of options. There's two options. There's either light or there's darkness.

[11:11] Amen. We can serve light or darkness. There's truth or deception. There's keeping God's commandments or not. Keeping God's commandments. It's that simple. There's loving God or loving the world.

[11:25] And so, in 1 John, we can read about that. We will. We're going to spend some time in 1 John. So, you can have your Bibles ready for that. But it's either or.

[11:36] It's either or. And you're either a child of God or you're a child of the devil. And with that comes love or fear. You're going to live in a state of love or fear of life.

[11:51] And you're going to live with life or death. You know, depending on if you're a child of God or a child of the devil. So, it is the worldview that presents to you the idea that morals are relative to the given situations that come in life.

[12:08] Or someone's own perspective. That everyone's views should be validated. I don't believe everybody's views should be validated. Your opinion doesn't really matter about as far as salvation goes and about the things that are eternal.

[12:23] Your opinion doesn't matter. And my opinion doesn't matter. It's what this book says that matters. And so, I might not validate your belief outside of this book. And you shouldn't validate mine.

[12:34] But the world believes that there are no real core ethical principles. It's just all gray area and depends on whatever individual beliefs are. But God gives us his word in the Bible.

[12:47] And in this Bible, God presents moral and ethical absolutes. Meaning that there is a right and there is a wrong. And there is such a thing as sin.

[12:58] What happened to sin? What happened to sin? There's no more sin? Like, we're not allowed to talk about sin anymore. Because, again, no absolutes.

[13:08] And God's word is rooted in God's unchanging character and his unchanging commands. God doesn't change. Malachi 3 and 6. For I am the Lord, I change not. Amen.

[13:18] Amen. From the first book, Genesis, to the book of Revelation, nothing's... God's not going to change. What he says is what it's going to be. In Matthew 24, 35, Jesus said, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.

[13:33] The heavens and the earth are going to pass away before this word of God passes away. Once it's spoken by God, it is law. That's what it is. And God's not wrong. Amen. God's nature is unchanging.

[13:45] God's word is unchanging. And there are moral absolutes. There are moral truths. There are divine principles that will endure forever and ever and ever and ever.

[13:57] And the world's fluid, ever-changing morals and standards are going to pass away. And that's just the bottom line. That's what's going to happen. And the only thing that is going to matter in the end is who's daddy.

[14:11] Who's your daddy? All that's going to matter in the end is who's your daddy. Whose rules did you live by? Whose house did you live in?

[14:24] Our father, our choice. The Apostle John is an amazing study if you've studied the Apostle John. God used the Apostle John.

[14:35] And we hear about Peter. We hear about Paul. We hear about all these. And rightfully so. But God views John pretty amazingly. Amen.

[14:47] John wrote the book of John. Where we find the great truth of John 3 and 5. You know?

[14:57] We have to be born again of the water and the Spirit to see or enter in the kingdom of God. We get that great truth from there. He wrote 1 John, 2 John, 3 John. And he wrote the book of Revelation.

[15:08] And it's shown through biblical scholars that John was the last apostle alive. He's the one that lasted the longest.

[15:19] All the other ones were persecuted and killed. But John was not. There was a time when Peter asked Jesus, what's going to be John's fate? Because Jesus had just disclosed that Peter would be crucified.

[15:34] And that was going to be how would you like to have that prophecy spoken over you? And Peter wanted to know, what about John? What's going to happen to John? And Jesus said, if I leave John until I return, what's that to you?

[15:49] And the Bible says a lot of them took that John would never die. Although that's not what Jesus said. And there's actually people out there that believe that John never died.

[16:00] And was actually, you know, transfigured out of here. Which there's no scripture for that. But people do believe that. But John's interesting. He had the last words.

[16:11] He had the last words. God used him to pen God's last words to us. Okay. All the books that John wrote were the last books that were written.

[16:22] The books in your Bible are not in chronological order. The Gospels and then the Epistles, I guess, are in chronological order. But what I'm trying to say is the book of John comes.

[16:32] It goes Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. But John was probably written after Revelation. Even though Revelation is in the back of your Bible. And so, but it was all, he was the last one left and he's the one writing these books.

[16:45] John was used as the last words of our father to his children is what I'm trying to say. It was John that was going to outlive all the other apostles and write those final scriptures.

[16:57] And I think that I can relate to God as a father in a sense. Because, and God used John through the Holy Ghost.

[17:09] In the book of 1 John, God speaks to us and uses the phrase, my little children, seven times, for example. And so, it's almost like this fatherly thing from God to his children. And I think I can relate to God in that, as a father.

[17:23] If you're a father, I think you can relate to God. And what I mean by that is, if I knew I was going to be going away for a while. And I needed my kids to do a certain thing or get to a certain place before I return.

[17:35] That would be for their benefit. I'd have some final words and some final expectations made clear. And that's exactly what God uses John for. And so, and unless you're a father, maybe you can't really relate to this.

[17:48] But I'm going to try to explain it so that you can. As a father, you raise your kids intentionally. Or at least you should. You raise your kids with purpose. You raise your kids intentionally.

[18:00] I raised my kids intentionally. I raised Trevin and Taylor intentionally. There were certain things that I tried to program into my kids. Certain things that I wanted them to grow up understanding and believing.

[18:13] And a certain way of life that I wanted them to live. And I don't care what the world says about that. The world likes to teach to each their own.

[18:23] And I personally cannot stand all the storylines in Disney where they're like rejecting their parents' way of life to search out their own side quest somewhere.

[18:36] Or rejecting the life of royalty to marry a peasant. Because that was romantic. You know. And just forsaking the kingdom and forsaking everything the father and mother has tried to achieve or accomplish and pass on.

[18:51] And they're like, I don't believe in that. And that's not biblical either. Amen. It's really not. The world's message is your parents, you know. Maybe they started a successful business.

[19:03] You see these storylines all the time. A successful business owner. Rich and successful. And wants to pass on to their son. This, you know, their kingdom, so to speak.

[19:14] And the son doesn't want it. He wants to go and be like an artist or something or whatever, you know. And it's just not. That's a worldly view. It's a worldly idea.

[19:26] It's the world's message. And it's not really a biblical message. Because, see, our father is building a kingdom. And he has certain purposes. And he has a mission.

[19:38] And he's passed on that same mission to us. And so that's a more biblical type of message. And it's in the plots of those books and movies all the time. And I just don't like it.

[19:49] You know, it just doesn't jive well with me. Makes for a great romantic storyline. But, you know, it's just entertainment at that point. But the general idea of the world is don't be bound to anything.

[20:02] Not even your father's upbringing. You know, it's fine to reject your parents. And I don't like that. And God doesn't like it when the world does that and teaches that to his children either.

[20:14] And so I think I can relate as a father. But God gives us instructions and warnings throughout his word. And we can adhere to them or we can reject them. It's that simple.

[20:24] Just like our children have that option. I'm ahead of you quite a bit, Mario. Carlos, listen to your dad.

[20:38] Don't reject his teachings. And if he's made mistakes, forgive him because we're human. Fathers make mistakes. Amen. We're not the heavenly father who's perfect, right?

[20:48] But look past the mistakes, Carlos, and see what things your dad's trying to instill within you. And hopefully there are things that can be found in here.

[20:59] And especially as of late, your dad's been consistent and faithful to these things. And he's growing and learning in this. And so don't fault them for starting late.

[21:11] It's never too late to turn to God. Amen. And I thank God every day, Mario, that you've made the decision. And Carlos, look to your dad. He's leading you on the right path. But God gives us these instructions through her.

[21:22] But God uses John and his word. And God gives us these what I call either ors. Okay? So I'm going to move on. I'm going to start moving pretty quickly here. 1 John 1.

[21:33] Let's all turn to 1 John because we're going to be there a little bit. 1 John 1, verse 5 through 7. 1 John 1.

[22:09] 1 John 1, verse 6 through 7. 1 John 1, verse 6 through 7. 1 John 1, verse 6 through 7. 1 John 1, verse 6 through 7. 1 John 1, verse 6 through 7. 1 John 1, verse 6 through 7. 1 John 1, verse 6 through 7. 1 John 1, verse 6 through 7. 1 John 1, verse 6 through 7. 1 John 1, verse 6 through 7. 1 John 1, verse 6 through 7. 1 John 1, verse 6 through 7.

[22:19] 1 John 1, verse 6 through 7 through 7. all that and walked that your whole life. You're either going to be walking in light or walking in darkness. It's an either or. You can't do both at the same time. And if you say that you have fellowship with God, which we just read, that God is life. We say that we have fellowship with God, with light, but we're walking in darkness. The truth is not in us.

[22:41] The Bible clearly says that we're a liar. And if you walk in the light, the blood of Jesus cleanses you from all sins. So that's the positive side of that.

[22:53] So is it possible that we're lying to ourselves? We need to assess this. Is it possible our self-assessments aren't accurate? We like to think that we're, we have a relationship with God and that we're walking in light. But are we really? Or are we still walking in darkness? Have we left darkness completely?

[23:14] And yes, it is possible. And so our Father warns us about that. But many lie to themselves and have themselves fooled thinking that they're fine.

[23:24] 1 John 1, verse 8 through 10. So the very next couple scriptures here. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

[23:37] Who's John writing to, first of all? Is he writing to unsaved people? No, he's writing to, this is a general epistle of John to the churches.

[23:50] These are people that have already gone, repented, been baptized in Jesus' name, received the gift of the Holy Ghost. So if we say, he's talking to us, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

[24:01] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

[24:13] I don't want to make God a liar. I'm not here to make God a liar. I'm not going to say, no, I'm good. My salvation is secure. And we need to have confidence in our salvation. I'm not saying that we need to be worried about that.

[24:25] But we need to make sure that it's more than just we made a mistake. It's more than just we fall every once in a while, which we will because we're not perfect. That's what he's saying. Don't say that you're not a sinner because you're still going to make mistakes.

[24:38] But if it's habitual mistakes, that it's still a habit, you haven't broken the habit, or you're still consistently doing something that you know that you shouldn't do, that's not a mistake.

[24:50] That's a decision. No matter how hard it is to walk away from that, it's still a decision. Okay? And so if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and the truth is not in us. It's another either or or without any gray area.

[25:03] Either we're deceiving ourselves and think that we're not sinners or we're truthful and confess our sins to God and seek his forgiveness and cleansing. And I say this is something that should be done probably every day.

[25:17] Maybe it's just me, but I make mistakes probably every day if we're honest, that's something that displeases God. If days, weeks, and months go by and you haven't repented, instead the Bible says you're trying to make God a liar and the truth is not in you.

[25:32] So the bottom line is, there's no gray area. It's either or when it comes to God. And so let's look at the next one. 1 John 2, verse 3 to 6.

[25:46] And hereby we do know that we know him. So this is how we know that we know him. If we keep his commandments, he that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.

[26:02] But whosoever keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected. So if you can keep this word, if you can follow what it teaches, if you can follow what's taught over this pulpit, what you learn in your devotions to God when you read his word, you know you shouldn't do that.

[26:21] And so you stop doing it. If you can do that, then the love of God is perfected in you. Hereby know that we are in him. Verse 6.

[26:31] He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk, even as he walked. So we should be walking as Christ walked, which remember Christ was sinless. So we can't deceive ourselves.

[26:44] Jesus said, not everyone, this is Matthew 7 and 21 through 23. Jesus said, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven.

[26:57] Verse 22. Many. Verse 22 says, many. I have it bolded and underlined. Many will say to me in that day. What day are we talking about? That future day.

[27:08] Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name, cast out devils. And in thy name, done many wonderful works. Who's he talking about?

[27:20] That's people, the name of Jesus. That's us. People in our fellowship. How many other major churches out there do you know that are all about Jesus name?

[27:31] Jesus name. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name, cast out devils. And I named done many wonderful works. And then will I, this is Jesus speaking to them.

[27:43] And then I will profess unto them. I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work iniquity. What a blow. What a blow that would be to have to take at the end.

[27:54] And there's going to be a lot of people. Many, the Bible says that come to Jesus thinking that they're his children, thinking that they did well, that they did enough to get by, thinking that they, you know, I followed in enough of this.

[28:06] I knew I wasn't fully committed, but I think I did enough to make it. And they're going to, and they deceived themselves and they made themselves liars. They were trying to make God a liar, but God's word is true.

[28:17] God's not a liar, but they're going to hear Jesus say, depart from me. They're going to hear Jesus say, depart from me because they were workers of iniquity. They walked in darkness. You can't do both.

[28:28] It's either or, or we have to be fully committed. First John chapter two, verse 15, 16, love, not the world.

[28:40] Neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world. All, all that is in the world. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the father, but is of the world.

[28:58] It's father's day. We're talking about fathers. We're talking about the father. We're talking about heavenly father. Do you love your heavenly father on father's day? Amen. I do. If you love the things of the world, you don't.

[29:11] The Bible says, if you're attracted to the things of the world, you don't love God. The Bible says you can't. It's impossible.

[29:22] It's an either or, or it's one of these, another, either of or things. Either you do or you don't. You, you love to feed your flesh. You know what it likes, you know, with your, through your eyes and things that you see and look and feel and entertain yourselves and fill yourselves with all this entertainment and all this stuff that's worldly.

[29:45] And you know, it probably doesn't please God. Then the Bible says that you don't love God. Your love is actually for the world. I know how much my kids love me by the way they keep my teachings.

[30:01] I know how much my kids love me by when I tell them something, they listen. I know how much my kids love me by the quality time that they want to have with me instead of other things.

[30:16] Right? That's how I would know my kids love me. I know how much my kids love me by the fact that they have, when they have an opportunity to be a part of what I'm doing in the kingdom of God.

[30:27] Thank you, Taylor. What I'm trying to achieve, they help me advance that over the trivial things of the world. And so God is the same way. We can, as fathers, we can relate in that sense.

[30:41] Amen. He has a mission. Our father, our choice. We really do have a choice. My kids, when they, when they're born, they didn't have a choice. They didn't have a choice who they were given to. God decided that, right?

[30:52] God gave us our children and the children didn't have a choice. We didn't really get to choose you either, by the way.

[31:04] We chose to have children. So here we are. But now we do have choices.

[31:15] As adults, they have choices to choose. Our children can keep us as their parents or not. They can keep me as their father or not. And you might say, well, you know, you always be their father, no matter what.

[31:28] No, I don't agree with that statement. I don't agree with that statement. I, I'll always have, be their procreator. I can, I'm always the one. I'll always be the one that had a hand in there coming into existence, but that's not what makes me a father.

[31:43] Amen. There's, there's a lot of deadbeats out there that have children that aren't fathers. Okay. And, and being a father is a role and it's a responsibility. And I can, I can cease being a father by, by either two ways.

[31:58] One, I choose not to be a father. And I walk away or my children choose, not to let me be their father. And at that point, if either of those two things happen, I'm no longer their father.

[32:13] Being a father is, it's a role and responsibility that I can choose to fulfill or not. Being a father is a role and responsibility that my kids can accept of me or reject of me. If either occurred, then I'm no longer their father.

[32:28] And if I, as a father, give my child an instruction or a correction, and the biblical terms is called chastising. If I chastise my child and they receive it and are corrected, then I fulfilled my role as a father and my child accepted my role as a father.

[32:46] And therefore, I am their father and they are my child. But if I correct my child and they reject my correction, am I their father? Are they my child?

[32:58] God says no. Hebrews 12 and 7. Hebrews 12 and 7 says, If ye endure chastising, God dealeth with you as with sons.

[33:11] For what son is he whom the father chastiseth not? Chastiseth not. Verse 8. But if ye be without chastisement, wherefore all are partakers, then ye are bastards and not sons.

[33:28] So what does that mean? It means if you accept God's chastisement. Chastisement means discipline. It means, you know, we might not like everything we read in here.

[33:41] We might not like what is being asked of us. But if we accept it, and we're obedient to it, if you listen to his word, if you're obedient to his word, God deals with us as a son. Because we've accepted him as our father.

[33:54] But if you reject his word and his correction for our lives, and you're not obedient to it, you lose out on that divine sonship. That divine sonship.

[34:05] We're rejecting him as our fathers. Our father, our choice. 1 John 3 and 7 through 10, we read it in the beginning. Little children, let no man deceive you, that he doeth righteousness, and is righteous, even as he is righteous.

[34:19] He that commiteth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

[34:34] Verse 10, And this, the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not the righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

[34:45] This is God, our heavenly father, speaking to us, in some of his last recorded words, through the apostle, that lived the longest, letting us know that we are going to have to choose our father.

[35:00] We're going to have to choose our father. The new birth experience is what initially makes you his child, but it is the daily role you give him in your life, that makes him your father or not.

[35:12] Are we giving God his duly role? Oh, it's one thing. We can be born again. We can go through that experience, and that would be like, Taylor gave birth to Miles, and he's at the hospital, and he'd be like, okay, you're born now.

[35:29] See ya, and leaves. You know? Or if we would have done that to our kids, that's not. He's born again. When you're born again, that's just the beginning.

[35:39] You're a baby, but you still need to be raised, right? And by a father. Amen. And so, are we letting him have the role that he wants in our lives?

[35:53] And so, we have to make a choice every day who we want as a father, and we have to understand it's an either-or situation. It's another either-or situation.

[36:04] There are two choices. When we reject one, by default, we get the other. We can't say, well, we don't want God, and we reject the devil as well. I'm just going to be who I want to be. You know?

[36:15] I don't want to believe none of that. Or whatever. If you reject it, by default, you have this other father, which we know is the devil, the scripture says. There's only two choices.

[36:27] If we reject righteousness and the commandments in the word of God, then we reject God as our father, and by default, we are the children of the devil. John 8 and 44, ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father, ye will do.

[36:41] He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. True sons and daughters can endure that chastisement and that correction, knowing that the discipline is for their good.

[37:01] The teaching is for their good. They might not like it. It's like taking medicine. It doesn't taste good, right? But it's for my good. It brings us to live in righteousness.

[37:12] Hebrews 12 and 11. Now note, this is picking up where we were talking about chastisement in Hebrews chapter 12. In verse 11, it says, now no chastity for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous.

[37:27] Nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. So, now, it says, if we don't have chastising, if we don't have discipline, in the present, that's a joyful thing.

[37:44] It's a joyful thing in the present. We think it's joyous, but grievous. All right. So, we have to choose a father.

[37:57] Now, here's the tricky part in life, and this is really my point. We can have a false reality of our current relationship with God. And so, that's the thing that we really have to learn how to be aware of.

[38:08] We can have an inaccurate self-assessment. if, you know, and it's very possible that we can be incorrect about our relationship with God. If we think there's some gray area, if we think there's some wiggle room with this, and we can do just enough to get by and still live a certain way or not be fully committed, then we may be deceived, and God gives us this choice.

[38:30] but, God is very, very, very either or. Amen. In His Word. And so, this is very unorthodox unorthodoxed, but, hey, it's me.

[38:45] I want to provide you with a statement from your choice of two fathers today. I have a statement prepared from God to give you, and I have a statement prepared from the devil to give you.

[38:56] And I'm going to read these statements to you, and I want you to choose today. First, statement from God. Jesus said in Matthew 11, 28, and 30, come unto me, all ye that are labor, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

[39:14] Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest under your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. That's a statement from God.

[39:28] Okay, now I want to give you a statement from the devil, what he would like to tell you. Come unto me, all you that are disgruntled, and I will spread on the sympathy.

[39:39] I'll agree with you, you're so mistreated, and everyone's against you. Come to me, and at my altar, you can feel free to fall and fail with no regrets.

[39:53] I'll let you give into temptation, you can enjoy indulging yourself in lust, guilt-free. Come to me, and I will feed your soul with fears, and let anxiety be the biggest part of your life, and I'll feed your ego with jealousy, bitterness, and spite.

[40:08] Come to me, and I will excuse you from cross-bearing. I'll excuse you from caring about the lost souls around you. You can just focus on yourself.

[40:21] So, and to that, I'll just quote from Joshua. If it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord.

[40:34] Amen. Our Father, our choice, let's all stand. There is a lot of similarities between our earthly father-child relationship as there is with our heavenly father-child relationship, but there's one real difference in for the time being, and it's just for now.

[40:49] It's not always going to be this way, but for now, there is a real difference in that the earthly father-child relationship, that role, the father can reject being a father.

[41:00] The child can reject letting them be their father. Amen. The child can completely reject that. In other words, Trevin and Taylor could be perfect children, do everything that they're taught to do, and have no fault of their own, and I could, as their earthly father, reject that role and walk away, and a human father can choose, for no valid reason, to just not be their father, but our heavenly father.

[41:28] God is different. Our heavenly father is different than that. He'll never leave us nor forsake us. Amen. He's never going to leave us nor forsake us. God is not that way. If we confess our sins, the Bible says he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[41:46] Right now, our heavenly father persists. He's persistent in seeking reconciliation with the people in this world, with us. Amen. It's a ministry of reconciliation.

[41:57] That's his whole purpose right now, is to restore and to reconcile us to him. He's actively engaged in this mission, even if we have, to this point, totally rejected him.

[42:09] If to this point we have totally rejected him, if we have been unfaithful to him, if we have not fully committed to him, we can still be reconciled to God.

[42:20] He is still waiting with open arms to receive us. He's never going to walk away. He's not going to be a deadbeat dad. He's a father to the fatherless if we will choose him today. Amen. If we will commit to him.

[42:31] And so even if so, our heavenly father right now in this moment is actively right now reaching for us, wanting to reconcile with us, wanting us back as his child, wanting, desiring for us to let him have his role as your father in your life.

[42:50] Amen. Isaiah 64 and 8 says, But now, O Lord, thou are our father. We are the clay and thou are the potter and we all are the work of thy hand.

[43:02] Amen. Who wants to be the clay in the potter's hand and let God work his, what he wants in our lives and be the author of our faith and finisher of our faith? Amen. Amen.

[43:13] I want to be the clay in God's hands. I want him to mold me into what he wants me to be. I'm not going to reject what my father, my heavenly father wants. Amen. In 1 John 3, once we read it, behold, what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God.

[43:31] I want to be called the son of God. Amen. Amen. So I choose, I choose a heavenly father. I choose a heavenly father today. And so before we leave here today, let's find a place to pray and let's just make sure, let's try to make a good assessment today.

[43:50] Let's just walk circumspectfully. Let's look at our lives. Let's look at our commitments. And so you know what? On this Father's Day, I want something tangible. I can look back to Father's Day 2025 and say, I made a decision that day that I'm not going to try to walk in darkness and in light because I have to have either or.

[44:08] I'm going to make a decision. Amen.