The fatherhood of God is, in this message, the most important revelation in the whole Bible: Jesus came not only to forgive sins or take us to heaven, but to bring us to the Father as sons and daughters who share His inheritance. Moving on from a series on becoming worshipers, the speaker shows how the revelation of fatherhood turns praise into worship, drives out fear and teaches every child of God to live as an heir.
Below you will find the full video, a structured summary, the Scriptures behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a table on the three roles of a father, a timestamped outline and practical steps.
Sermon at a Glance
This message was posted by NTC Ministries on February 21, 2023. The speaker is not named in the recording, so this summary refers to him as the speaker. He explains that the previous week was a transitional message after a series on becoming worshipers, and that he is now opening a new theme. He does not know how many sessions it will take, he says, but he wants to talk about the fatherhood of God.
It runs from Moses through Ephesians 3 and John 17 to Job, ending with prayer for healing and the filling of the Holy Spirit.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Not named in the recording |
| Series | Standalone message opening a theme on fatherhood |
| Main texts | Ephesians 3:14–19; John 14:6–7; John 17; Job 1, 19 and 42 |
| Key theme | The revelation of fatherhood: redemption brings every child of God to the Father |
| Length | About 68 minutes |
Beyond Praise: Knowing the Ways of God
The speaker begins with what the worship series taught. Praise thanks the Lord for what He has done and how He is working in our lives. Worship goes beyond that: it honors God for who He is. Many churches call the upbeat songs praise and worship, but the two are not the same.
Moses is his picture of the difference. In the wilderness, Moses pitched his tent far outside a camp of more than a million people and called it the tent of meeting, where he met with God (Exodus 33:7–11). Anyone could have gone, but the people stood in their tent doors and watched. Some people, the speaker says, treat worship the same way, standing around watching others do what they should be doing.
The result was a difference in knowledge. God made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel (Psalm 103:7). Israel knew that God provided quail, water and manna, but kept asking for more. Moses just wanted God Himself, which is the heart of the fatherhood of God, and he received everything God did as well. Spending time with God changed his character, which is why Scripture calls Moses the most humble man on the face of the earth (Numbers 12:3).
God is humble, the speaker teaches. He spoke everything else into being, but He formed man with His hands from clay and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). Jesus was born to be King, yet He was laid in a feeding trough, washed His disciples’ feet and rode into Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt. Because He humbled Himself to death on a cross, God gave Him the name above every name (Philippians 2:8–11).
Worship, he says, is us humbling ourselves before Him, like a dog licking the back of its master’s hand and lying at his feet. He is worthy; we are not, and He has a place, a mission and a plan for each child of God.
From Bondslave to Son
The speaker then reviews the bondslave from the previous week’s teaching. Under the law, a Hebrew who could no longer support himself could give himself to a wealthy landowner, who paid off his debts. After six years of work, the seventh year set him free, owing nothing. But if the servant said, I love my master and I want to stay, he was taken publicly to the doorpost, his ear was pierced, and he served for life (Exodus 21:5–6).
That, he says, is an element of adoption, but God goes beyond it. When we give our lives to Jesus Christ, He does the greatest miracle He has ever done. He takes a person born in corruption and puts His Spirit in. He removes our stony hearts and gives us hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), soft enough to be molded and fashioned by Him.
This is the new creation in Christ, someone who never existed before. God does not stop at taking us in as servants. He gives us His very nature, so that every child of God becomes part of His own household. A bondslave serves a master, but a son belongs to a father.
That difference, the speaker explains, is why the revelation of fatherhood matters so much. Without it, he says, we think we are not good enough and wonder whether God’s gifts are really meant for us. A child of God who knows the Father stops asking that question.
The Fatherhood of God: The Theme of the Whole Bible
There is nothing more important in the Bible, the speaker says, than the revelation of fatherhood. It is the theme of the whole Bible. In His very first message, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus refers to the Father in heaven 17 times. In what is recorded of His three and a half years of ministry, he counts 167 references to the Father, even though the world could not contain the books if everything were written (John 21:25). Declaring the fatherhood of God was the purpose He came.
He quotes David Blankenhorn’s 1996 book Fatherless America, which said that tonight 40 percent of American children will go to sleep in a house where their fathers do not live, and calls fatherlessness the most harmful demographic trend of this generation.
Then he reads Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:13–15: for this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Paul endured beatings and a night and a day in the deep (2 Corinthians 11:24–25) for this cause. The word for family, the speaker explains, is the Greek patria, from pater, father. Reading from the Phillips translation, he puts it this way: “of whom every fatherhood in heaven and earth is named.” Everything God created is meant to live under a fatherhood.
The fatherhood of God is where we receive everything. Believers are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). Joint heirs does not mean the inheritance gets divided up; everyone who gives their life to Jesus gets everything. The Father enjoys seeing His children prosper and grow, just as a good father does.
Yet, the speaker quotes Derek Prince, “you can be a child of God and yet live like an orphan.” The revelation of fatherhood opens heaven: others may ride over you, but He brings you out to a place of rich fulfillment (Psalm 66:12).
Once, while teaching a college class in Israel, he asked some women at another religion’s temple whether God would answer their prayers, and they said they did not know. Without the revelation of fatherhood, he says, there is no expectation. But Jesus said, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
Jesus Brings Us to the Father
The purpose of redemption, the speaker teaches, is to bring us to the Father. He notes the apparent puzzle that God said no man can see His face and live (Exodus 33:20), yet calls us to seek His face (Psalm 27:8). His answer is that the parts of us shaped by the earth’s curse die off as we come before Him. A slave could not look into an owner’s face, but a father looks right into his children’s faces. His grandchildren, as toddlers, would pull his face close to whisper into it.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6–7). The speaker reads it as the way to the Father, the truth about the Father and the life of the Father. Jesus is not our destination; He is the way to the fatherhood of God. Through Him, Jews and Gentiles both have access by one Spirit to the Father and are members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:17–19).
The Father’s household runs on gifts. God gave Adam everything; when Adam gave it away, God gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16). We are saved by grace through faith, the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8), and those who receive the gift of righteousness reign in life (Romans 5:17). A child of God is not as good as God, the speaker says, but is as right as He is. Without the revelation of fatherhood, we feel too undeserving to receive it.
The climax of the revelation of fatherhood is to know the Father intimately. In John 17, Jesus begins, “Father, the hour has come” (John 17:1), says He has manifested the Father’s name (John 17:6), and promises to keep declaring it so that the Father’s love may be in us (John 17:26). That is why a leper could hear Jesus say He was willing to heal him (Mark 1:40–41). After the resurrection, Jesus told Mary Magdalene, “I am ascending to My Father and your Father” (John 20:17).
Even the picture of heaven carries the fatherhood of God. The speaker reads of the Lamb on Mount Zion with those who have His Father’s name written on their foreheads (Revelation 14:1), and of God’s servants who see His face with His name on their foreheads (Revelation 22:3–4).
No Fear in the Father’s House
Many in Jesus’ day, the speaker observes, only wanted freedom from Roman rule. They would praise a deliverer but never entered into worship, while the Magi came from the East to worship Him (Matthew 2:2). Jesus laid the axe to the root of the tree (Matthew 3:10). He said whoever had seen Him had seen the Father (John 14:9), and that He did only what He saw the Father do (John 5:19). That intimacy is what every child of God is meant to know.
The fatherhood of God lifts believers above fear. Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). The speaker likens world events to a movie that has nothing to do with you. People without the Father lie awake over the news; those who know Him rest, because He protects, guides and rules. As Romans 8:32 says, if God did not spare His own Son, how will He not with Him freely give us all things?
He returns to Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14–19: that believers would be strengthened by the Spirit, rooted and grounded in love, able to know the breadth, length, depth and height of the love of Christ, and filled with all the fullness of God. Church is not just hearing about God, he says, but a spiritual impartation of the revelation of fatherhood. God has given us a Spirit by which we cry out “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15).
Moses understood this while Israel complained. God still met their needs, telling Moses to speak to the rock so that water would flow (Numbers 20:8–11). Adam had no needs until he believed God was withholding something; then came thorns and thistles (Genesis 3:17–18). That, the speaker says, is someone who does not understand the fatherhood of God. Jesus, the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), took the curse, and whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13).
Priest, Prophet and King: A Father Like Job
A child often gets his first impression of God from his father, the speaker notes, and some had a terrible dad. That need not keep you from God, because Jesus shows us the Father. As each child of God comes to know the Father, they can pass the revelation of fatherhood on to their children and disciples. He teaches that a father functions in three ways, as priest, prophet and king, and that he finds all three in the life of Job.
| Role | One word for it | Job’s example | What it shows about the Father |
|---|---|---|---|
| Priest | Sacrifice | Rose early to offer sacrifices for each of his children | God did not withhold His only Son; blessing is available |
| Prophet | Promise | “I know that my Redeemer lives” | The Father declares promises that cannot be revoked |
| King | Inheritance | Gave his daughters an inheritance among their brothers | The Father gives His inheritance to the whole family |
As priest, Job sanctified his children and offered burnt offerings for every one of them (Job 1:5). The speaker sees some error in Job’s approach, but the principle is a father laying down his life in daily intercession. As prophet, Job declared, “For I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:25–27), a promise God would keep even after death.
As king, a father distributes inheritance, and only to the family: are you a child of God? A prince who fails is still the prince. We are on a promise basis, not a performance basis. In Job 42:12–15, God blessed Job’s latter end more than his beginning, and Job gave his three daughters an inheritance among their brothers, which was unheard of culturally.
The speaker draws a direct application. Some Christians think women are on a lower level, but not to God. He pours out His Spirit on all flesh, and sons and daughters prophesy (Joel 2:28–29). He also notes that Job was not perfect: fear opened a door, and whoever breaks through a hedge may be bitten by a serpent (Ecclesiastes 10:8). God still blessed him, which is the fatherhood of God at work.
Living as a Child of the Father
The speaker invites anyone who has only known about Jesus to give their life to Him publicly, because now is the accepted time (2 Corinthians 6:2). Jesus said that what you hear in secret, proclaim on the housetops (Matthew 10:27). These steps come from the message:
- Move from praise to worship. Thank God for what He does, then spend time with Him simply for who He is, like Moses in the tent of meeting.
- Stop living like an orphan. As a child of God you are an heir with Christ; expect your Father to be good to you.
- Seek His face. Let the parts of your life that do you no good die off as you come close to Him.
- Refuse fear. Remember that the Father who gave His Son will freely give you all things.
- Be a priest, prophet and king at home. Pray for your family daily, declare God’s promises and treat each child as an heir.
- Confess Him openly. Tell someone, I am a child of God, and Jesus is my Lord.
He closes with two testimonies. He reports that doctors in Canada later told a young couple their baby’s brain tumors were no longer cancerous and had shrunk. On a flight to Japan, he sensed the Lord show him that the man beside him was running from his family; the man gave his life to Jesus and announced it to the whole plane. The more intimate a child of God is with the Father, he says, the more His fatherly care flows out to others.
Timestamped Outline
- 0:00 From praise to worship
- 1:11 Moses and the tent of meeting
- 5:37 The bondslave and the doorpost
- 7:43 Beyond adoption: a new creation
- 9:13 Nothing more important than fatherhood
- 10:34 Fatherless America
- 12:03 Ephesians 3: every fatherhood named
- 18:48 The Father’s good pleasure
- 22:29 John 14: the way to the Father
- 24:51 The household of God and its gifts
- 28:26 John 17: knowing the Father
- 34:06 The Father’s name in Revelation
- 37:44 Perfect love casts out fear
- 40:15 Ephesians 3:14–19
- 45:36 A father as priest, prophet and king
- 53:49 Job the king: daughters inherit
- 57:28 Invitation to the family of God
- 1:02:17 Prayer for needs and healing
- 1:03:26 A man on a flight to Japan
Frequently Asked Questions
What if my earthly father was not a good picture of God?
The speaker acknowledges that a child usually gets a first impression of God from his father, and that some people had a poor or even terrible dad. That does not have to keep you from God. Jesus said He is the one who shows us the Father: what He says and does is the Father. When you call out to Him for peace and He brings it, the revelation of fatherhood begins and you see who the Father really is.
Does my performance decide whether God blesses me?
No. The speaker says believers are not on a performance basis but on a promise basis, a covenant. He compares it to a prince who makes mistakes: he is still the prince, and he will still inherit the throne. Correction from a good father is never about withholding, he says, but about learning and growing. Inheritance is not taken away because of performance, because every child of God is an heir with Christ. That is the fatherhood of God.
Why does the speaker want people to confess Christ publicly?
He notes that some people live for the devil openly with no shame, then want to follow the Lord secretly. Jesus told His followers to shout from the housetops what they heard in secret. If you want the life the Father intended for every child of God, he says, you will be bold and declare that Jesus Christ is your Lord. His story of the man on the flight to Japan, who announced his salvation to the whole plane, illustrates the point.
Scripture References
All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:
- Ephesians 3:14–19 — every fatherhood named; filled with God’s fullness
- Exodus 33:7–11 — Moses and the tent of meeting
- Psalm 103:7 — His ways to Moses, His acts to Israel
- Romans 8:17 — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ
- Luke 12:32 — the Father’s good pleasure to give the kingdom
- John 14:6–7 — the way to the Father
- John 17:1, John 17:6 and John 17:26 — Jesus declares the Father’s name
- Romans 8:32 — He will freely give us all things
- Job 42:12–15 — Job’s daughters receive an inheritance
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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