The Fatherhood of God #1

Fatherhood of God Overview

In this foundational message from NTC Ministries, the preacher opens a new series on the Fatherhood of God, establishing it as the most important revelation in all of Scripture. Drawing from the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus declares the Father in Heaven seventeen times, and from his three-and-a-half-year ministry where he references the Father 167 times, the message makes clear that the entire purpose of redemption is to bring believers into an intimate relationship with God as Father. Key passages from John 14, Ephesians 2, Ephesians 3, and the book of Job anchor the teaching, while the contrast between Israel knowing only the acts of God and Moses knowing the ways of God illustrates the difference between religious duty and genuine intimacy. The sermon confronts the crisis of fatherlessness in modern culture and shows how it distorts our understanding of God. Believers are called not to live as orphans, as Derek Prince warned, but as sons and daughters who are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, recipients of righteousness, peace, healing, and every good gift from a Father whose pleasure it is to give them the kingdom.

Fatherhood of God Outline

• 00:00 – Transitioning from Worship to Fatherhood: The preacher bridges the previous series on becoming worshipers to this new series, using Moses as the picture of a man who pursued God’s presence rather than merely his acts, contrasting Israel standing at tent doors with Moses pitching his tent of meeting.
• 08:30 – The Humility of God Revealed in Creation and Christ: God’s humility is traced from creation, where he kneeled to breathe life into man, through Jesus born in a barn, washing disciples’ feet, and riding a donkey into Jerusalem, culminating in the exaltation described in Philippians 2.
• 17:00 – The Bond Slave and the Greater Miracle of Adoption: The ancient Hebrew bond slave covenant is explained as a picture of belonging, but God goes further by removing the old spirit, giving a new heart, and bringing believers into his own household as sons and daughters, not merely servants.
• 26:00 – The Crisis of Fatherlessness and the Revelation That Answers It: Statistics from David Blankenhorn’s Fatherless America are introduced to show the social devastation caused by absent fathers, establishing why the revelation of God as Father is the most urgent spiritual and cultural need of this generation.
• 35:30 – Jesus Came to Bring Us to the Father: John 14:6-7 and Ephesians 2:18-19 are expounded to show that Jesus is the way, truth, and life specifically as pathways to the Father, and that all believers are now fellow citizens in the household of God, no longer strangers or foreigners.
• 44:00 – Living as Heirs, Not Orphans: Derek Prince’s warning that one can be a child of God yet live like an orphan is applied practically. The gift of righteousness from Romans 5, the Holy Spirit, and all kingdom gifts are presented as the inheritance of every believer who understands their identity.
• 52:00 – The Father Functions as Priest, Prophet, and King: Job 1:5, Job 19:25-27, and Job 42:12-15 reveal three dimensions of fatherhood. As priest, the father sacrifices and intercedes. As prophet, he declares God’s promises. As king, he distributes inheritance equally to sons and daughters alike.
• 01:02:00 – Invitation to Know the Father and Receive His Provision: The message closes with a call to salvation and a prayer for healing, loneliness, sleep, and physical needs, anchored in the testimony of a baby’s inoperable brain tumor shrinking after prayer, demonstrating the Father’s willingness to act for his family.

Scripture References

Psalm 104, Philippians 2:8-11, Ephesians 2:18-19, Ephesians 3:13-19, John 14:6-7, John 17:1, John 17:6, John 17:26, John 20:17, Revelation 14:1, Revelation 22:3-4, Romans 5:17, Romans 8, Job 1:5, Job 19:25-27, Job 42:12-15, Luke 12:32

Key Takeaways

• The central purpose of Jesus coming to Earth was not merely to forgive sins but to bring every believer into an intimate, personal relationship with God as Father.
• You can be a genuine child of God and yet live like an orphan, defeated and in lack, simply because you have not received the revelation of God’s fatherhood.
• Israel knew the acts of God and constantly demanded more from him, but Moses knew the ways of God and pursued him personally, receiving everything as a result.
• Every believer is a joint heir with Jesus Christ, meaning they receive not a portion but everything that belongs to Christ, given freely by a Father whose good pleasure it is to bless his family.
• God functions toward his children as priest, prophet, and king, interceding for them, declaring his promises over them, and distributing his inheritance without regard to human cultural distinctions.
• The fatherhood of God is the answer to the epidemic of fatherlessness, because a true revelation of who God is as Father removes fear, builds expectation, and opens heaven over a believer’s life.
• Worship at its deepest level is not about what God does for us but about who he is, and it transforms us the way time with the Father transformed Moses into the most humble man on Earth.

Fatherhood of God Notes

Moses and the Two Kinds of Believers

The contrast between Israel and Moses in the wilderness is one of the sermon’s sharpest illustrations. The Israelites stood at their tent doors and watched Moses go to the tent of meeting. They knew God’s acts, the quail, the manna, the water from the rock, but they only wanted more of what he could do. Moses wanted God himself. Psalm 104 records that Israel knew the acts of God while Moses knew his ways. This distinction defines two categories of Christians: those who relate to God through what he provides, and those who pursue him for who he is. The fruit of Moses’s intimacy was a character transformation so complete that he became the most humble man on Earth.

Why Fatherlessness Distorts Our View of God

The sermon draws on David Blankenhorn’s 1996 book Fatherless America to establish that fatherlessness is the most harmful demographic trend of this generation. Before the age of eighteen, more than half of American children will spend a significant portion of their childhood without their fathers. This matters spiritually because a child’s first impression of God is formed through his or her earthly father. When that picture is absent, abusive, or distorted, it creates a ceiling on a person’s expectation of God. The preacher is clear that a difficult father does not define who God is, but it will take a conscious revelation of the Father’s true nature to break through those limitations.

Joint Heirs Receive Everything, Not a Share

The teaching on being joint heirs with Christ is presented with careful precision. A joint heir does not receive a divided portion of the estate while others take the rest. Every joint heir receives the full inheritance. This means every person who gives their life to Jesus Christ receives everything that Christ received from the Father. The gifts arrive in a sequence: grace and faith to believe, then righteousness as a gift detailed in Romans 5:17, then the Holy Spirit, who in turn gives spiritual gifts. The entire kingdom operates on this logic of giving, beginning with God who gave his only Son, and flowing outward to every believer without measure.

The Ancient Bond Slave and Modern Adoption

To explain what it means to belong to God, the preacher describes the Hebrew bond slave covenant. A man unable to care for himself could give himself to a wealthy estate owner who would pay all his debts. After six years of service, the seventh year brought freedom. But if the servant loved his master and chose to stay, his ear was pierced at the city gate with the master’s signet ring, publicly declaring permanent belonging. This is a picture of what happens when a believer gives their life to Christ, but God goes further. He does not merely accept service. He removes the old spirit, implants his own, replaces the stony heart with one of flesh, and brings the person fully into his household as a son or daughter.

Job as Pattern of Priestly, Prophetic, and Kingly Fatherhood

The book of Job reveals the three functions of fatherhood that God himself embodies. As priest, Job rose early to offer burnt offerings for each of his children, interceding on their behalf continually. As prophet, he declared in Job 19:25-27 that even if worms devoured his body, he would see God in his flesh, a confession of resurrection centuries before the cross. As king, Job 42 records that after his restoration he gave his daughters an equal inheritance alongside his sons, breaking with the cultural norm that excluded women from inheritance. This final act showed that God’s kingdom does not distribute blessing based on gender, status, or performance, but to all who belong to the family.

Fear Not: The Father’s Pleasure Is to Give

One of the most liberating declarations in the sermon comes from Luke 12:32, where Jesus says it is the Father’s good pleasure to give his children the kingdom. This is not reluctant provision. It is the delight of a Father who created everything for his family. The preacher places this against the backdrop of a chaotic world, political reversals, war threats, and cultural confusion, and argues that none of it should produce fear in a believer who knows their Father. Romans 8 reinforces this: if the Father did not withhold his own Son, he will freely give all things. The revelation of fatherhood is therefore not a comfort for quiet moments but a fortress in the middle of a shaking world.

Frequently Asked Questions