Fatherhood of God, Part 5: Knowing the Father, Not Just His Acts

The fatherhood of God is about knowing who God is, not only what He does for us. In this fifth message of the series, the pastor teaches that Israel knew God’s acts while Moses knew His ways, and that Jesus came above all to reveal the Father. Through John 5:37–47 and 2 Corinthians 3, he shows that Bible knowledge without a living experience with God leaves a veil over the heart.

This message continues from Fatherhood of God, Part 4: From Knowing His Acts to Becoming a New Creation. Below you will find the full video, a summary of each point, the Scripture behind it (NKJV on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline and practical steps for drawing near to your heavenly Father.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was preached at NTC Ministries and posted on March 22, 2023. It runs about 67 minutes and ends in a time of worship. The pastor explains that a series he began months earlier on becoming worshipers grew into this series on the fatherhood of God, because praise and worship lead us to know the Father Himself.

He opens with a word on prayer. Begging God over and over, he says, is not prayer in faith. Jesus said that when you pray, believe that you receive, and you will have it (Mark 11:24). If you truly believe you have received, you simply praise Him for it.

Knowing His Acts or His Ways

The pastor sets up the contrast that runs through the sermon. Israel constantly had needs, cried out to God and saw Him supply them, but they only knew His acts. Moses pitched a tent of meeting outside the camp (Exodus 33:7–11). Anyone could go there, the pastor notes, yet Moses was the one who went, and because of that he knew God’s ways.

Worship, he says, is knowing who God is, not just what He does. We grow in it as we keep praising Him and wanting His presence, until we want His presence more than anything He could do for us. We can be confident He will not withhold anything, because the Father knows what we need before we ask (Matthew 6:8). But meeting needs is not the goal; knowing Him is.

That was the focus of Jesus’ whole ministry. He came to reveal the Father. He said that whoever has seen Him has seen the Father (John 14:9), and that He only did what He saw the Father do (John 5:19). Jesus healed, delivered and fed people, but He wanted them to have an experience with God. As the pastor puts it, we need the heart of God, not just the hand of God.

The Fatherhood of God in Heaven and Earth

The foundational text for the series is Ephesians 3:13–15: Paul bows his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. The pastor explains that the word translated family is the Greek patria, from the word for father, and that it is a word for fatherhood. The Phillips translation renders it “the whole fatherhood in heaven and earth.”

Western culture, he says, has largely lost that understanding. Family can mean almost anything, but fatherhood speaks of responsibility and function, and it is what draws people together. It is the reason the church comes together more and more as the day approaches (Hebrews 10:25). Every week should be a family reunion with our Father.

To show how Jesus came, the pastor describes an apostle in the Roman world. Rome sent someone to a region with an offer: surrender instead of being crushed, and everything Rome has becomes yours, from military protection to paved roads and schools. Regions that embraced Rome became like a little Rome, hence the saying about doing as the Romans do.

Jesus came as apostle, priest and king, all to show people the Father, not to condemn the world but to save it (John 3:17). Yield your life to God, the pastor says, and He has a better plan than Rome: He is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord our healer.

The disciples never asked what an apostle or a church was (Matthew 16:18); they knew both words from Rome, where a church meant families called out to teach others citizenship. In the same way, we are born again of incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1:23), and the Jerusalem above is the mother of us all (Galatians 4:26). So, he says, when in heaven, do as the heavenly. Believers cannot give their lives to Jesus and keep living like the world.

From “Me Nuts, Papa” to Maturity

The pastor shares a story about his first granddaughter, Bethany Rose, who lived with him and his wife for a couple of years. When she was a little over a year old, he cracked peanuts for her at Christmas. From then on, her favorite phrase was “me nuts, Papa,” because she could not yet say peanuts.

That is fine for a baby, he says, and it is fine with God that we start as children. But the Father wants us to grow up, to understand His family, His system and who He is. Israel only ever came to know the acts of God; Moses knew His ways. Some parents only hand their children things instead of raising them, and that is not a real relationship. God is not that way. He wants us to know Him, which means experiences with Him, not just gifts from Him.

There are times we need healing, he acknowledges, but God wants us to want Him more than what He does. That is why James tells us to draw near to God, and He will draw near to us (James 4:8). The table below follows the contrast the pastor draws between the two ways of relating to God.

Searching the Scriptures but Missing Jesus

The central passage is John 5:37–47. Jesus tells the religious leaders that they have never heard the Father’s voice or seen His form, and that they do not have His word abiding in them. They search the Scriptures because they think they have eternal life in them, but these Scriptures testify of Jesus, and they are not willing to come to Him that they may have life.

The pastor notes that the Jewish leaders had committed much of the Scriptures to memory. They had the vocabulary and the knowledge, but no relationship. Jesus was telling them there was something greater than what they were doing. In the pastor’s words, “The majority of our life with God isn’t taught, it’s caught.” Knowing that Jesus is Savior is good knowledge, but without a relationship, he jokes, it will only get you a cup of coffee.

As a teacher, he admits, he loves chapter and verse, while others are motivated by mercy, giving or serving. Every motivation has value, but with God we must know Him, not just about Him. People can quote Scripture and still not be saved, because their hearts are not open.

That is why Jesus told Nicodemus that unless a person is born again, he cannot even see the kingdom of God (John 3:3–6). Nicodemus tried to understand it with his intellect, which, the pastor says, is what religion does best. People can go to seminary and come out knowing God no better than when they went in. An experience with God goes beyond the intellect: I was blind, now I see; I was bitter, now I have joy.

The religious leaders had God’s word in their memory but not abiding in them; it never took root. The pastor connects this to the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3–8), where seed falls on the path, on stony ground and among thorns. We need tilled ground in our hearts, and Hosea calls us to break up the fallow ground (Hosea 10:12).

He also warns against the opposite extreme: all experience and no word leaves us unstable, for God’s word is a lamp to our feet (Psalm 119:105). Jesus joined both: if you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask what you desire and it will be done (John 15:7). Abiding in Him is the experience; His words abiding in us is the knowledge.

Revelation, Intimacy and the Will of God

Here the pastor gives a simple sequence that ties the becoming worshipers series to the fatherhood of God. The table lays it out as he teaches it.

He illustrates with Matthew 16:13–18. When Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus said flesh and blood had not revealed this to him, but His Father in heaven. The pastor teaches that Peter himself is not the foundation of the church; this revelation is. The true church is made up of those who have had a living experience with God.

In that place of intimacy, he says, you cannot unknow what God has shown you. His earthly parents brought his body into the world, but God fathered who he is inside. That is knowing God as Father.

Back in John 5, Jesus says that if they had believed Moses, they would have believed Him. The whole old covenant, the pastor says, was about Jesus and relationship. Even the Ten Commandments are relational: the first four concern God, the last six one another.

He then reads Acts 17:28: in Him we live and move and have our being. And 2 Corinthians 5:17–18: if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, and all things are of God. From Him, through Him and to Him are all things (Romans 11:36). We grow, the pastor says, from one experience with God to another, experiencing His love, goodness and presence.

When Moses asked to see God’s face, God said no one could see it and live (Exodus 33:18–23). The pastor applies this spiritually: when we truly see Him, the things in our soul that hinder relationship with Him have to die. Just as some things hinder a marriage, some things hinder our walk with God. All things are lawful, Paul says, but not all things are helpful (1 Corinthians 6:12).

A life full of God overflows. The pastor tells of Smith Wigglesworth boarding a German train car full of priests and nuns, who fell on their faces under conviction, and of a church member who felt the Lord lift his delivery vehicle back onto the road in a Dakota storm. You cannot keep quiet after that; that is testifying.

The Veil Removed and the Treasure Within

Jesus said everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds (Matthew 7:7–8). The pastor says this is not only about needing things from God but about wanting God Himself. If Jesus is head of the church and Lord of his life and family, he wants to experience that, and that, he says, is fatherhood.

He reads 2 Corinthians 3:13–18. When Moses came down from the mountain, his face shone (Exodus 34:29–35), and Israel, who wanted only the hand of God, asked him to cover it. Paul says that veil still lies on hearts when the old covenant is read, but when anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, and with unveiled faces we are being transformed from glory to glory.

The pastor applies this to family members who do not want to hear about God’s goodness. He loves them dearly, but there is a veil over their hearts. Still, never stop telling others what God has done. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket (Matthew 5:15). Jesus said that if His people kept silent, the stones would cry out (Luke 19:40), and the pastor insists no rock is going to take his place.

Then he reads 2 Corinthians 4:6–7: the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the excellence of the power may be of God.

The word treasure, he explains, is the Greek thesauros, root of our word thesaurus, which his old dictionaries define as a storehouse of treasure and a book of words on every subject. Every believer carries that storehouse: all that God has and can do, deposited within. The more we experience Him, the more what hinders us falls away, and the more life flows out to others.

That treasure can shape your future, he says; God will show you the path. So he prays without preconceived ideas: Lord, do whatever You want to do, however You want to do it.

He closes with the story behind Matt Redman’s song “The Heart of Worship.” A guest speaker told the pastor of Redman’s church that the team knew how to sing a song but had not worshiped God. When the pastor confronted the team, most walked out angry. Redman stayed, wept, and wrote the song. Nobody hears about those who walked off, the pastor notes, but Redman has ministered around the world, because the treasure in him came up when he simply wanted God.

Drawing Near to the Father This Week

The message ends with the church standing in worship. Here are practical steps drawn from this teaching on the fatherhood of God:

• Praise instead of begging. When you pray, believe you have received, and thank God for the answer.
• Make a tent of meeting. Like Moses, set aside a place and time simply to be with God, not to ask for things.
• Read for relationship. As you study Scripture, ask the Holy Spirit to show you Jesus and the Father, not just facts.
• Remove what hinders. Name one habit that is lawful but not helpful to your walk with God, and lay it down.
• Testify of His goodness. Tell someone what God has done, even if they do not seem ready to hear it.
• Come to church as family. Treat each gathering as a family reunion with your heavenly Father.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 From becoming worshipers to the fatherhood of God
• 1:05 Israel knew God’s acts; Moses knew His ways
• 2:17 Jesus came to reveal the Father
• 3:25 Ephesians 3:13–15 and the word patria
• 5:46 What an apostle meant in the Roman world
• 9:16 Jesus came to free us from sin
• 11:54 Apostle and church: words the disciples knew
• 13:09 When in heaven, do as the heavenly
• 14:23 Bethany Rose: “me nuts, Papa”
• 17:56 Draw near to God: James 4:8
• 19:13 John 5:37–47 read in full
• 22:27 Our life with God is caught, not just taught
• 26:40 Nicodemus and being born again
• 29:13 His word abiding in you and the sower
• 32:56 The fruit of worship is revelation
• 34:08 Revelation, intimacy and the will of God
• 39:52 The Ten Commandments are about relationship
• 41:15 Acts 17:28 and 2 Corinthians 5:17
• 44:11 Smith Wigglesworth and the train car
• 47:51 2 Corinthians 3: the veil taken away
• 52:47 Do not hide your light
• 54:21 2 Corinthians 4:6–7: treasure in earthen vessels
• 1:02:02 Matt Redman and the heart of worship
• 1:06:39 Closing prayer and worship

Fatherhood of God Series

This message is part of a teaching series at NTC Ministries. Start from the beginning or go back to the previous message:

• First message: Fatherhood of God: Knowing Who He Is, Not Only What He Does
• Previous: Fatherhood of God, Part 4: From Knowing His Acts to Becoming a New Creation
• You are here: Fatherhood of God, Part 5: Knowing the Father, Not Just His Acts

Frequently Asked Questions

Is studying the Bible less important than experiencing God?

No. The pastor warns against both extremes. Knowledge without relationship left the religious leaders unable to recognize Jesus. But all experience and no word leaves a believer unstable, because God’s word is a lamp to our feet. Jesus joined the two in John 15:7: abide in Him, and let His words abide in you. Study is meant to lead you into relationship with the Father.

What should I do when family members do not want to hear about God?

The pastor shares that some of his own relatives feel this way. He says they are not bad people; there is a veil over their hearts, and they look at things intellectually. His counsel is to keep loving them and never stop telling of the goodness of God. A lamp is meant to be put on a stand, and only turning to the Lord removes the veil.

Why does the speaker call this part five of the series?

He explains that he began a series called Becoming Worshipers months earlier, and that teaching grew into this series on the fatherhood of God. He counts this message as the fifth part. The link between the two is his sequence: worship produces revelation, revelation produces intimacy, and intimacy births the will of God in our lives.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Ephesians 3:13–15 — the whole family in heaven and earth
• John 5:37–47 — you search the Scriptures
• Exodus 33:7–11 — Moses and the tent of meeting
• John 14:9 — he who has seen Me has seen the Father
• James 4:8 — draw near to God
• Matthew 16:13–18 — revealed by My Father in heaven
• 2 Corinthians 3:13–18 — the veil taken away
• 2 Corinthians 4:6–7 — treasure in earthen vessels
• Acts 17:28 — in Him we live and move

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

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