We Are Children Of God

Real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. The Lord has called you his child, his child, radical, biblical doctrine, rarely if at all found in the Old Testament. God speaks and says, you're my child. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. God says, I know you're everything. I know your DNA before it was ever put together. I'm God. That shouldn't surprise any of this because when Mr. Mercedes and Mr. Benz got together, you know, before Mercedes Benz came off the assembly line, they sat down first and they drew it down on a piece of paper. Did you know that? Those things were all crafted first on a piece of paper that was capturing what was in the minds of the men, the designers. It went from an invisible world onto paper and then out of the assembly plant, are you with me? The same is true about you. God thought of you. He had you in mind. And he crafted you. Where did he do the crafting in the assembly plant? Who is that? Your mother. So be nice. It's always funny and I look, I used to be guilty of that. I don't do that anymore, but kids mowed off to their mothers. Do you realize that's not a good thing to do because you actually came from her. There used to be a comedian I won't mention his name. He used to say this. He said, listen, your mom and I, we brought you into this world and it is certain we can take you out. Well nobody can say that better than God. But he knows. And in your book, they were all written. The days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. God knows you. He knows your name and he knows the days of your life. Also, this Galatians 115. But when it pleased God, Paul said, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace. Why am I alive? I don't even know what I'm alive for. Because God has a plan. If that's your question, then you need to find out what God's plan is because you clearly don't know what it is. I'm depressed. Get in line. It happens to all of us. But the Christian needs to repent of it and get back with God again. You got to leave it with God. And the people who decide to leave it with God, they live strong, fruitful lives by the Lord through the Lord because they've placed it with the Lord. And we need to remember that. So I'm going to read this right now because I wanted to come out right under the fact that God calls you by name. We should revel in that. And here it is. There are those who, I believe, mean well, but in their concern regarding spiritual experiences. Because, you know, forgot to say, I know you by name. Don't you think that's pretty personal? Should you have a reaction to that? Well, listen. There are those who are concerned about spiritual experiences or encounters with God. They, I believe that they have completely and thoroughly thrown the baby out with the bath water so to speak. I appreciate their concern, but frankly, the lack of faith to trust in God with His church and with His people is what we're seeing. Christianity by design is a family and that demands and even requires that the follower of Christ experience Christ in the most personal way. Church, did you hear what I'm saying? There's a big deal right now today that people are saying, what's up? No, you should not have any, you should be basically a theologian. You should study the Bible, just study the Bible. And when you're done, you'll have all this knowledge and then you go to work and you've got all this knowledge. I'm all for that. Plus the conclusion. I believe that if you study the Bible, that you're going to bump into God. You're going to find Him in the midst of His pages. And you're going to find out that He says things like this before you ever born. I knew you. How should that affect you? You should say, well, that's pretty awesome. It's God who says, I called you forth from your mother's womb. Well, that means you must have a purpose. It's all good. Think of this. How can that true be true and it is true, but how can it not affect you? People will say, in theological circles, experiences are bad. Are you kidding me? There are some bad experiences that are not based upon the Bible, stay away from them. But when Moses encounters God at the burning bush, do you think Moses came down to the mountain and wrote a 10 volume set on how to converse with God when He's in a bush? It had to have affected Him. It changed the course of His life. And Christian, I want to challenge you today. Don't pull back from God wanting to affect your life. I don't agree with those who say experiences are wrong. If you put your relationship based on the experience, that's wrong. Your relationship with God is based on faith in Christ because it's what He's done. But after that, when God turns you and says, this is why I did it, Jack, because I love you. What are you supposed to say to that? Yes, sir! No, I think more theologically accurate would be the Hebrew word. No, it's a joke. It's not Hebrew. I'm just saying it. You should say, wow, have we grown up so much that we cannot embrace an experience with God? It's so long it's biblically based. When Jesus was walking on water in the midst of a storm, Peter was so touched by that. Peter said, Lord, if that's you, bid me to come to you, which is a radical thing. Peter says, remember, all the guys were in the boat freaking out because they said, it's a ghost. You know, read it later. Jesus is walking on the water in the midst of a storm in the midnight of the Gatholee and they thought they were going to die because they said, it's a ghost. The Jews believe that just before you pass, you start to see spirits. So the disciples are saying, that's it, we're going down. Peter is the only one we beat up on Peter. We make fun of him all the time. God bless Peter. Peter says, which I agree to is, I want to get away from these guys. We're all going to die. I don't need to hear them. You know, Peter says, Lord, if it's you, invite me to walk on the water with you. So what a brilliant request. Number one, Peter knows only Jesus would do something so radical. And Jesus must have extended his hand or says, come and Peter steps out and he's walking on the water to Jesus. And it was amazing. It was amazing until the Bible says, Peter then looked away. He, remember, he had the wheel in his hand so to speak and he's driving to Jesus, walking on the water and he turns and his sorrows. And the Bible says he starts to sink and it's the shortest prayer in the Bible, by the way. Lord help. And the Bible says immediately, God rescued him. But friends, listen, Acts 4, verse 31, how can you dare read this and say that you can't experience this God who has made things so personal, even calling you by name when Acts 4.31 says, and when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken. And they're all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the Word of God with boldness. Why? Because they were affected by what was going on. They experienced God. And I'm forward the experiences of God so much as they are rooted and grounded in the Bible. Now look, when people are running around barking and goofing off and going nuts, falling forward, falling backward, saying, oh, look at the gold dust. If you have enough faith, you can see gold dust falling from the sky. Really? Really? I don't think so. But if your experience is one that originates in God, you're in a safe place. But don't conjure things up. That's the work of the flesh. Hebrews 4, verse 16 says, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. That's a great verse, huh? Second Corinthians 3, verse 12 says, therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech. Why? Because we're in God's family. And he knows our name. Now I want to stress right now, if you don't have that confidence, I want to ask you, don't say it out loud, but I want to ask you, why do you not have that confidence? Number one, it may be, again, that you are thinking that your relationship with God is bound up in your church membership and thus that produces no confidence or some deed or some acts of yours produces no confidence. Maybe you're not a Christian, and of course you're insecure about this. You have no confidence. But if you're a born-again believer and you don't have confidence in what God has said, why is that the case? Dear friend, listen. You need to shed. You need to get away from the things that are pulling you down in your life and keeping you sequestered as it were from spiritual growth. Are you guys listening? Yes, it's not that. Videly important. So before we move on to this issue about the new name, Revelation chapter 2, verse 17, Jesus is speaking. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat and I will give him a white stone and on the stone, a new name which no one knows except him who receives it. That's a promise to the church and to the believer. You're going to have a new name. Revelation 312, he who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God and he will or he shall go out no more. I will write on him. Amazing. I will write on him. The name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from my God and I will write on him my new name. The town, the city that Jesus wrote that to in the book of Revelation, it had pagan practices and pagan rights and rituals and that worship system of that city was known for people to be tattooed with the name of the God or gods that they were devoted to by their parents. So on the back of somebody's neck or on the back of their body there would be the stamp or the tattoo of Zeus. Isn't it remarkable? Isn't it amazing? Jesus says, I will redeem you and all by the way, up until now you've been owned by Zeus. Guess what? I'm going to write my name on you. Don't tell me that you hear that and you can't experience the goodness of God. I love it. Lord, write whatever you want on me. And then finally, verse 16, say it means the Lord has called you his child, his child, radical, biblical doctrine, rarely if at all found in the Old Testament. God speaks and says, you're my child to an individual. It says there in verse 16 that we are children of God. We do not appreciate this church. I promise you, we do not appreciate this as we ought. We are called here in the Bible, children of God, belonging. You know why people join gangs? I didn't know this. People join gangs. I'm reading a book right now. I don't know why. I was talking to a TSA agent at the airport. She started talking about security training measures and what they go through. And I was fascinated and she said, you've got to get this book. So I got it. I almost done with it. And it's all about a lot of it has to do with belonging. I didn't know this about a gang. You know, there's all kinds of gangs, by the way. And I didn't know this. I thought, you know, gangs, you know, low cars and tattoos everywhere of hats a certain way and signs. You know, like right now I could be right now. I could be giving some gang sign that I'm not aware of. I don't know what I just said. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why all these codes? Why all these things? They're, listen, they are iconic communications. They called it iconic communications of belonging. I didn't know this, but graffiti is literally the stamping of regions of turf that's owned by a certain gang. Why do they do this? Because you strip away everything from al-Qaeda, ISIS, gangs, things like that. Listen, even in some cases in the positive sense, a judge may see that a young man is airing and he's not going the right direction and he's parentless. And the judge can order this young man. You will sign up for the US military. Pick a branch, but that's what I am ordering for you. You need what is he saying? You need a family. And there's a connection. People are in gangs because of a need for a family. And here's the beautiful thing about God. It doesn't matter where you're at in the universe. You can be right now in and out of a gang or in and out of prison. God says, I want you and my family. I want to give you a new name. You're my child. And I believe in the 21st century today that's the great healing for America is for people to wake up and realize God wants you and his family. And Paul says it as a matter of fact that we are the children of God. This is your Bible people, children of God. The word in Greek is technon. It means young male or young female child, son or daughter. In this case, the offspring of God. By the way, the word implies this, a child of God, but in a mature state. Interesting. It's going to fun. You know, if you have a child, that your child is your child, but if you have a last will and testament or a living trust, if you were to die today, your child might be eight years old, but your child has all the powers and the benefits of an adult. Are you hearing me? You did that by writing to them in your last will and testament in the Bible. It's called the New Testament, which is the writings as it were of God as to who you are and what you inherit, remarkable. Listen, there's something that is known as autological and it means this. For the believer, because God is our father, we know like our father knows. What does that mean? It means the Holy Spirit will tell us things that would otherwise not be known, but God. Because God is our father, we speak like our father speaks. How does that happen? The more you read the Bible, the more you talk Bible. That doesn't mean you walk up to people and say, how art thou? Won't thou come with me? Yonder. No, not King James, but you'll speak in your tongue how God would speak. Isn't that awesome? How does that happen? The power of the living Word of God. Because God is our father, we act like our father acts. Wow. Because God is our father, we see like our father sees, we see things. I don't mean we see things floating around, we see things, we can see behind things. The battles that were in, the issues that were in, no matter what it might be. We look at the powers behind what's causing the immediate now. Because God is our father, we live like our father lives. We live with the eternal perspective. This Jack Hibbs podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.