Feeding the Lambs - God's Children
Children of God
"Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure."
-the Apostle John
1 John 3:1-3
[12th message of the New Believer Series]
We will continue where we left off from the preceding message -- so as new believers, we now have the right to be called children of God.
[Note: if you have not been studying with us, at least since the beginning of this series, our recommendation is always to start at the beginning of each series. Because, the messages are progressive and the assumption is that we already know certain things which are essential, moving foward. Yes, like prerequisite classes in school, it would be a little hard to take on Calculus when we've skipped Algebra, Trigonometry, Geometry or Precalculus.]
New Believer's Series First Measage
God's Children
The gist of this 12th message centers on new believers being called Children of God.
The Apostle John wrote in his book:
"The true light that shines
on everyone was coming into the world.
The Word (Jesus Christ) was in the world, but no one knew him, though God had made the world with his Word.
He came into his own world,
but his own nation did not welcome him.
Yet some people (new believers) accepted him and put their faith in him.
So he gave them the right to be the children of God.
They were not God’s children
by nature or because of any human desires. God himself was the one who made them his children.
The Word (Jesus) became a human being and lived here with us.
We (John and the early believers) saw his true glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.
From him all the kindness and all the truth of God have come down to us."
Exclusive
According to the good news of the Kingdom of God, only those who believe in Christ have the right to be called children of God. So those who have not accepted Christ though created by God, are still not rightfully called God's children but instead the children of this world.
They are still the children of a fallen world. They belong to this world. They are the children of the powers who influence and control the world we live in.
God's Children
The gist of this 12th message centers on new believers being called Children of God.
The Apostle John wrote in his book:
"The true light that shines
on everyone was coming into the world.
The Word (Jesus Christ) was in the world, but no one knew him, though God had made the world with his Word.
He came into his own world,
but his own nation did not welcome him.
Yet some people (new believers) accepted him and put their faith in him.
So he gave them the right to be the children of God.
They were not God’s children
by nature or because of any human desires. God himself was the one who made them his children.
The Word (Jesus) became a human being and lived here with us.
We (John and the early believers) saw his true glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.
From him all the kindness and all the truth of God have come down to us."
Exclusive
According to the good news of the Kingdom of God, only those who believe in Christ have the right to be called children of God. So those who have not accepted Christ though created by God, are still not rightfully called God's children but instead the children of this world.
They are still the children of a fallen world. They belong to this world. They are the children of the powers who influence and control the world we live in.
They are the offspring, the spawn of a sinful world, a world without hope.
They do not have real peace. They do not have true joy. They do not have the love of Christ. And they do not know the Truth, much less the Way.
Their hearts are hardened, their minds closed, they may have ears but they refuse to hear and they may have eyes but refuse to see. They do not have the light. And they live in darkness.
Light
And like the Apostle Paul, we need an experience -- to be blinded by the Light* who ironically what was needed to make him "see" who Christ really is.
Jesus is the light of the world. He came into our world to allow us to see, hear and experience God's love, mercy and grace.
Like Paul, even though we may know Christ, when we first believed in Him was when the scales fell off our eyes. And it was when our hardened hearts became hearts of flesh, where God wrote His law and His covenant. And when our names got written on the palms of God's hands.
We Have Fallen Short/Missed the Mark
We cannot keep God's commandments (yes even if we try our hardest, we will still not be able to and all our trying, foolish pride and showing other people how righteous and virtuous we seem to be, we know deep down we cannot keep God's law every single moment. For we will fall short and miss the bullseye).
God knows and so He made a way for His Word to be written in our hearts. This was the only way for us to receive eternal life -- for God to receive us back home with Him, those of us who He adopted into His family when we believed in His Only Begotten Son, Jesus of Nazareth. Yes, Jesus is the Way (the only way).
Christ Jesus is the light. New believers have found this light. They received Him and followed.
They do not have real peace. They do not have true joy. They do not have the love of Christ. And they do not know the Truth, much less the Way.
Their hearts are hardened, their minds closed, they may have ears but they refuse to hear and they may have eyes but refuse to see. They do not have the light. And they live in darkness.
Light
And like the Apostle Paul, we need an experience -- to be blinded by the Light* who ironically what was needed to make him "see" who Christ really is.
Jesus is the light of the world. He came into our world to allow us to see, hear and experience God's love, mercy and grace.
Like Paul, even though we may know Christ, when we first believed in Him was when the scales fell off our eyes. And it was when our hardened hearts became hearts of flesh, where God wrote His law and His covenant. And when our names got written on the palms of God's hands.
We Have Fallen Short/Missed the Mark
We cannot keep God's commandments (yes even if we try our hardest, we will still not be able to and all our trying, foolish pride and showing other people how righteous and virtuous we seem to be, we know deep down we cannot keep God's law every single moment. For we will fall short and miss the bullseye).
God knows and so He made a way for His Word to be written in our hearts. This was the only way for us to receive eternal life -- for God to receive us back home with Him, those of us who He adopted into His family when we believed in His Only Begotten Son, Jesus of Nazareth. Yes, Jesus is the Way (the only way).
Christ Jesus is the light. New believers have found this light. They received Him and followed.
Through the centuries, this light has been shining in this dark world through God's children who have received the light of life. The invitation to receive Christ is not just for those who have received, it is for everyone. Hence everyone can be called children of God, once they too decide to step out of their darkness and follow the light (and find their way back home).
*How Paul become a believer was recorded in Acts 9:1-19, and his testimony is recorded in Acts 22:6-21 and Acts 26:12-18.
*How Paul become a believer was recorded in Acts 9:1-19, and his testimony is recorded in Acts 22:6-21 and Acts 26:12-18.
The Gospel of John
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