Thank you for listening to this message from
Lifehouse Church. Love it, love it, love it.
It's amazing. God's so good. I never cease to
be amazed what God allows me to be a part of
and never take it for granted in what God's doing
in lives and what he's doing in hearts and what
he's doing in you. And how many felt God's presence
this morning during worship? Man, I don't know
if you were sensing what I was sensing up here,
but God's move is amazing. Don't ever take that
for granted. Anytime God's stirring like that,
just jump in, worship him, and let God move in
your own heart and your own spirit. Amen? That's
true. Well, one of the great things that I love
about pastoring is that sometimes I get the opportunity
to sit and talk with people in ways that kind
of move past the surface. Sometimes I get time
with individuals where we kind of talk about
the deep things of life. We get beyond the normal
chit -chat that we all do about the weather and
sports and wherever else is going on in the news.
And I get opportunity and I get to hear the stories
that they tell. I learn a little bit about their
history. I get a little peek into their experiences
that they've had in life. Sometimes I hear about
their hopes and I hear about their dreams. And
I learn a little bit about their family roots.
You know, a little bit about their family of
origin, where they come from. How'd they grow
up? What does that look like? And the more I
learn, the more I've come to realize that there's
a deep, deep impact that goes along with our
experiences, our history, but in particular,
our families. There's deep influence there. Our
family or lack of family really impacts our lives
in a big way. Our experiences, our stories, or
lack of, honestly, move upon us deeply within
our spirit, even down to our DNA. What is genetically
threaded through our being? I can confidently
say that it is the family DNA that I share with
my parents that has shifted some of my life experiences.
And let me tell you just a little bit what I
mean by that. Here's one of the ways. Because
I have shared DNA with my parents, my dad and
my mom, I will never play professional basketball.
Why did you laugh? Come on. It's not going to
happen, right? The NBA is not going to be contacting
me and say, Kip, we really want you to come and
play for us. Not going to happen. I'm a little
height challenged, right? I've always wanted
to be six foot. Never quite made it there. Didn't
even get close, actually. All right? It's not
happening now. It's not ever going to happen.
I can wish I may. I can wish I might. I can wish
on a star tonight. It's not going to happen.
Because of the DNA. And some of you laughed,
but they're not calling you either. All right?
My family, right, or lack thereof, impacts my
life. My father, my mother, my siblings, if you
have siblings. And I've listened to people. who
come from homes that might have great family
dynamics, and I hear how it impacts their life.
I've listened to families that have terrible
families, right? Their mom and dad are awful,
and it deeply impacts them. And I've talked to
people who can't, they have no family roots at
all. And how, you know, that aspect changes their
life, the absence. But whatever your experiences
with your parents on this earth, good, bad, absent,
or some kind of crazy mix of all of it, right,
that impacts our lives. If you're sitting with
your parent or listening with your parents, say
amen quickly. Say it right now. I mean, come
on, say it. If your family impacts you, say it
amen. Don't look at anybody. Negative or positive,
right? But I've got something interesting for
you today. I've got some interesting news. Whatever
impact your earthly parent has had on your life,
it's minimal in comparison to the impact of a
spiritual parent. And I know you're not like,
what? It's true. Whatever impact our earthly
parent has on our lives, It's minimal in comparison
to our impact of our spiritual parent. Some of
you may not believe that yet, and I hope by the
end of the day you will as we go through Scripture.
I love my parents. I had a great childhood. Both
my parents are Christians, they're believers,
they're followers of Jesus, and they've had impact
on my life. But it is my Heavenly Father that
has the impact, the eternal, the internal. All
of that comes from my Heavenly Father. I love
my wife. I love my children. I love my grandchildren.
They love me. right? But it is the heavenly father.
I have only have this much impact on their lives.
I've only got some eternal aspect of that in
a very small manner. It is my spiritual parent.
It is your spiritual parent that will impact
your eternity. And Jesus was very clarifying
in a discussion that he had in John chapter eight.
You can get ready to flip there as he's talking
to some Jews about who their father is. In a
sense, Jesus is in a conversation with a group
of Jews, and he's asking them this question,
and I'm paraphrasing, of course. Jesus was asking
them, who's your daddy? Who's your daddy? Turn
to somebody beside you right now. You can have
a little fun with this. Say, who's your daddy?
Come on. Who's your daddy? Because in John chapter
8, Jesus asked this question. Who's your daddy?
While you're turning, I'm going to pray over
us hearing God's word. Father, we thank you for
this day. Lord, we know that your word is blessed.
We know that your word is truth. We know that
your word is light. So Lord, as we get ready
to dive into your word, Lord, we pray that you
will prepare our hearts, prepare our ears, God,
right on the flesh of our hearts so that we might
know and God hide your word in our hearts, Lord,
that we might not sin against you. We give you
praise and we give you glory in Jesus' name.
Everybody say it together. Amen. Amen. Well,
let me give you a little background before we
jump into this portion of Scripture. In John
chapter 8, just a little earlier in this chapter,
Pharisees bring a woman that they catch in the
act of adultery before Jesus. And they do this
not only to condemn the woman, but they actually
have an ulterior motive in this. Jesus is speaking
in a public square out in the temple, out in
the outer court, and they bring this woman who
was caught in adultery. They throw her before
Jesus, and what they're expecting him to do is
to say, stoner. And they're not there because
they're righteous. They're not. there dragging
this woman into the public square because they
want to see justice done according to the mosaic
law of the time. They're doing this because they're
plotting against Jesus. The underlying reason
is they're scheming a scenario of some kind where
they can get Jesus to trip up and do the wrong
thing or say the wrong thing in a public sector.
They want to make sure that they're trying to
get Jesus to really kind of trip up in his speech
and in his actions so that the public will cry
out and actually condemn Jesus to death. They
want him to die. The Pharisees and multiple...
portions of these Jews, they want to see Jesus
out of the picture. They don't believe in him.
They don't believe he's the son of God. They
believe he's a false prophet and they want him
out of the way, but they don't want the, they
don't want the evil pointing back to them. They
want somebody to take him out for him. And when
Jesus confronts the ones who actually go to stone
this woman, those who are going to be willing
to throw the stones and kill this woman who was
caught in adultery, he starts to get down in
the sand or in the dirt, and he starts to write
something out. The Word of God doesn't tell us
what it is, but I think it was their sins. Because
they froze in place, and one by one, they walk
away, and they leave this woman. And Jesus, of
course, compassionately says, woman, where are
these accusers of yours? And she said, they're
gone. And I'm, again, paraphrasing. And Jesus
told her, go and sin no more. And she leaves.
They had a plan. They had a scheme. And it's
following this that they engage in a public discussion
or debate in an effort to discredit Jesus. Plan
A failed, so they go to plan B, and they just
begin to engage with Jesus in front of a crowd
of mixed believers, some who believed and some
didn't. And this turns into a conversation slash
confrontation. Did you ever have one of those?
Did you ever have a conversation slash confrontation?
That's kind of what this turns into with the
Pharisees and the Jews. And Jesus begins to have
this discussion with them about who's your daddy?
Who's your daddy? Who's your spiritual father?
John 8 31 says this, then Jesus said to those
Jews who believed him, if you abide in my word
and you are my disciples indeed, and you shall
know the truth and the truth shall make you free.
They answered him, we are Abraham's descendants
and have never been in bondage to anyone. How
can you say you will be made free? Jesus answered
them, Moses, surely I say to you, whoever commits
sin is a slave to sin. Now I can stop and preach
there for a while. Actually, I can preach the
rest of the morning, but that's not where we're
going this morning. And a slave does not abide
in the house forever, but his son abides forever.
Therefore, if a son makes you free, you shall
be free indeed. Then verse 37 starts to get into
a family talk. I know that you are Abraham's
descendants, but you seek to kill me because
my word has no place in you. I speak what I have
seen with my father. This is Jesus speaking,
the family talk, right? And you do what you have
seen with your father. They answered and said
to him, Abraham's our father. Jesus said to them,
if you were Abraham's children, you would do
the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill
me, a man who has told you the truth, which I
heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You
do the deeds of your father. They said to him,
we were not born of fornication. We have one
father, God. And Jesus said to them, if God were
your father, you would love me. For I proceeded
forth and came from God. Nor have I come of myself,
but he sent me. Why do you not understand my
speech? Because you are not able to listen to
my word. you are of your father, the devil. The
desires of your father, you want to do. He was
a murderer from the beginning and does not stand
in truth because there is no truth in him. When
he speaks, he's talking about the devil. He speaks
from his own resources. He speaks a lie, right?
He speaks from his own resources for he is a
liar and the father of it. But because I tell
you the truth, you do not believe me. Which of
you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth,
why do you not believe me? he who is of God hears
God, therefore you do not hear because you are
not of God. Then the Jews answered and said to
him, do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan
and have a demon? Jesus confronts this crowd
of remaining Jews and Pharisees and he shifts
the conversation to family talk. He says, let's
talk about spiritual fathers because spiritual
fathers matter. Let's talk about spiritual fathers
because spiritual fathers set the agenda of life.
Let's talk about spiritual fathers because it
has everything to do with how you're thinking,
how you're acting, the motives that are behind
what you're doing right now, your spiritual DNA.
Let's talk about fathers because I clearly see,
this is Jesus saying, I clearly see that you
have a different father than I do. I don't...
I don't think the crowd that was there that day
was fully picking up what Jesus was laying down.
Do you know what I'm talking about? Do you ever
forget talking and somebody's not picking up
what you're laying down? I don't think they were
fully getting it because Jesus was talking about
spiritual fathers and the crowd, they kept going
back and talking about their physical roots in
Abraham, Father Abraham. Abraham was the first
man that God chose to start the nation of Israel.
So they're looking back to a forefather. They're
talking about their history. They're talking
about, you know, things that they're leaning
on. And Jesus begins to set them straight on
how important it is to know who your spiritual
father really is. Jesus said to some of these,
the devil is your father. Now, how many know
if you want to get a conversation stirred up
in a hurry, that's a great way to do it? If you
don't believe me, go try it this afternoon. Walk
up to somebody and say, you know, I think your
father's the devil. You're going to engage in
a conversation. I'm quite certain of it, right?
And that's what Jesus did. He just confronted
him straight up. He just called him out. Jesus
never backed down from a fight or an argument
or a conversation in public or in private in
any kind of way. And he was not afraid to call
these Pharisees out. And he just said, you're
missing it. You don't understand who your father
is. And I'm here to tell you this morning, and
I don't want to get lost in the confrontation
or the conversation because there's a spiritual
principle. here. It's my spiritual father and
not my earthly father that gives me my true identity
in life. It's true. It's my spiritual father
and not my earthly father that gives me my true
identity in life. It's my spiritual father who
can set the course for my life. It's my spiritual
father who can determine my eternal identity,
right? He codes my spiritual DNA. He passes down
his traits to me, and they come down, just much
like it happens in a physical sense. It determines
so much of my present. It changes so much of
my past, and it absolutely sets my future. It's
my spiritual father. And it might be your physical
father's DNA that causes you to look like you
look, maybe to sound like you look, or to wear
the size of clothes that you wear. But this is
the good news. It is your spiritual father that
sets your spiritual DNA forever. I get a little
excited when I talk about this because I'm thinking
I just might be six foot when I get to heaven.
Right? Hey, my father's a big God. And if I carry
some of his DNA, it just might happen that I'm
over six foot when I get to heaven. I don't know.
I'll find out when he gets there, right? But
it is Jehovah that sets my course for life. It
is my heavenly father. If Jesus is your savior,
if Jesus is your spiritual brother, the word
of God says he is joint heirs with us. We are
joint heirs with him. That's what the Bible says.
We share the same father. That influences the
lens that I see all of life through. If I understand
it, my spiritual father shapes how I act and
what I engage in. It is my spiritual father who
will influence where I go, what I do, how I say
something, what my motivations are, what I want
and what I desire. It's true. My spiritual father
will determine my citizenship. Am I going to
be in the kingdom of heaven, in the kingdom of
God, in the kingdom of light, or am I going to
be in the kingdom of darkness, in the kingdom
of hell? It sets it, my present, my future, my
identity is deeply impacted by my spiritual father.
And Jesus was talking spiritual fathers with
that crowd that day. That's what the discussion
went back and forth with. Jesus was challenging
some of them that day. Because some of them were
saying one thing. They were saying that God was
their father, but their actions didn't show that
at all. It didn't reveal it at all. It was completely
different. Their actions revealed that they were
children of the devil. They were ready to murder.
They were ready to lie. Their motivation was
to set Jesus up to destroy him, and he called
them out. Our actions will reveal who our true
spiritual father is, our true identity. And you
got to understand something about identity. Identity
comes from our spiritual parent. My spiritual
parent impacts what I believe and what I speak.
What I do, how I do it, how I choose to see,
what I choose to see, what I choose to listen
to, what I desire. Identity shapes all of life.
It shapes all of life. Sure, outside influences.
Impact my decisions, right? Things around us,
we know that. Environment, sometimes the people
influence my decisions, influence my actions,
might even influence some things that I think.
But nothing impacts your life more than your
identity. It's how you identify that will impact
every decision that you make in life. There are
some outside forces that can influence you. Your
identity will be the filter that you look through.
How many know what a camera filter is? When they
put a filter on a camera and it changes how you
see things. It changes how the camera picks up
an image. When they put a filter on that camera,
your identity does that for you. How you identify,
who you identify in will be the lens that you
see all of light through. It changes how you're
going to respond to what's taking place in life.
Identity changes everything in your thinking.
It changes everything in your movements. It changes
everything in your relationships. It really does.
Who's your daddy? Who's your daddy? It's one
of the most impactful questions you will ever
ask yourself. Who's my daddy? On a spiritual
level, who's my daddy? Because my father shapes
who I am, shapes what I do, what I think, what
I stand for. My theology, my education, my experience,
my geographical location, my ethnicity, my physical
DNA is not going to impact my life near as much
as my identity does. It really doesn't. This
is why. This is why you can take a boy who grew
up out in the country, right? Out in the sticks
somewhere on a farm. wore jeans and a flannel
shirt all his life, farmed maybe cattle or sheep
or something along those lines. That's why you
can take a boy who spends the first 20 years
of his life, and all he's ever known, his identity's
been farming, and one day he decides, you know
what, I want to be a businessman. I want to work
on Wall Street. He goes to school. He gets an
education of some kind. It goes along with what
he wants to go do, and he goes and buys himself
a suit, and he shows up at Wall Street on the
floor. of Wall Street and he's doing what he
felt like he wanted to do and what his identity
should be and what he, come on, right? And how
many of you know you're not gonna walk in there
and say, you know, that guy right there in that
suit, he must've been a farmer one time. Unless
he's wearing a flannel suit, I don't know, right?
You're not gonna do it. He's gonna talk and walk
with the identity that he's tied into and what
he believes. No matter if his dad's still wearing
flannel and jeans out on the farm and taking
care of the animals. Our spiritual father will
genetically code me. I will pick up a spiritual
DNA from my father. Whoever my father is spiritually,
I'm going to take that on. Jesus said it in John
8, 38. He said, I speak what I have seen with
my father, and you do what you have seen with
your father. Anytime Jesus was questioned, read
God's word and where Jesus responds. He's constantly
referring back to his father. He was constantly
saying, I'm here to do the father's will. I'm
here to perform what the father has showed me.
I do what the father does. I do what the father
says. Jesus was saying it all the time. He was
carrying the DNA of his father. He spoke. His
identity was in that. It will be evident who
my father is spiritually. Who's your daddy, church?
Who's your daddy? And here's what's so big about
the idea of a spiritual father. I default, say
default. I default. I default to my spiritual
daddy because it's not what I do, but who I am.
I don't have to try to be something. It's who
I am. One of the unique things about living here
in Carlisle is that it's a very diverse area.
And I tell people this all the time. There's
so many different walks of life around here that
you see. Sometimes you can go this way, right,
and you'll run into Amish, and you go this way,
you run into the city. And here in Carlisle,
there's kind of a mix of all kinds because the
military's here. And we know the war college
is here, and they train officers over there.
And I don't know if you've ever ran into somebody
from the war college, but it doesn't take me
about two minutes to understand who I'm talking
to. They don't have to tell me they came from
the war college. I know their soldiers. I know
their officers. The more they talk, it just comes
out, right? It's who they are. It's not just
what they do. It's who they are. It identifies
them. There's an identity that's at you. And
here's the thing following Christ. If you're
trying to follow a list of rules, right? If you're
just trying to follow the Bible, exactly what
the Bible says, and we should. But if that's
all you got and you're not, your spiritual father
is not Father God and Jesus is not your Savior,
it's going to get hard to do because you'll default
back to something else other than God himself.
It's who your father is. When you pick up an
identity, your spiritual father will set your
default. Do you know what a default is? You can
think of it as kind of like a computer. You reset
to what a default is. If your computer gets messed
up, if it gets jammed up, if it stalls out and
it won't work anymore or it starts to crash,
you do a hard reset in a computer. It goes back
to the default settings. And it'll run according
to them. And that's what the default is. Our
default becomes evident when we get jammed up,
stalled out, or start to crash. Who your father
is will get evident very quick. What you rely
on, the one that you rely on, will start to appear
very quickly. And it'll become very clear. The
one that I depend on becomes so evident. The
one that I lean on for wisdom and guidance and
direction and power, right? Some of those Pharisees
in that crowd that day who wanted to kill Jesus,
their default was not Father God. They were talking
it. They even teach it. They were experts in
the law of God, but their default was saying
something completely different. And Jesus saw
it. Who's your daddy? Worship team, if you'd
come. If you'd come. One of my favorite parables
in the Bible is the parable of the seed and the
sower. And this parable is about a farmer who
goes out and throws seed into different kind
of soil conditions. And there's a lot of revelation
in this particular passage, and we're not going
to have time to break it all down. But I want
to read you quickly this parable, and then I
want to give you an explanation of just one part
of it. It says this, A sower went out to sow,
and he sowed some seeds, and they fell by the
wayside. That's the path. That's the hard ground.
And the birds came and devoured them. Some fell
on the seeds. Some of the seeds fell on stony
places where they did not have much earth, and
they immediately sprang up because they had no
depth of earth. But when the sun was up and they
were scorched, and because they had no root,
they withered away. And some fell among thorns,
and the thorns sprang up and choked them out.
Others fell on good ground and yielded a crop,
some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. He who
has to hear is to hear. Let him hear. Jesus tells
his parable to his disciples. They don't know
what it means. They're like, Jesus, what are
you talking about, right? He's talking about
farmers and seeds going out planting seed on
all these different soil conditions. What are
you talking about? And they went to Jesus and
Jesus said, well, let me explain what I'm talking
about. And I'm going to give you just part of
that explanation. In Matthew 13, 18, he says,
therefore, hear the parable of the sower. When
anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does
not understand it, then the wicked one comes
and snatches away what was sown in his heart.
He who receives seed by the wayside. So he was,
Jesus was telling him, listen, if the seed or
the word, right, of the kingdom falls on hard
ground and that's your heart, that's your condition,
the enemy is just going to come and take it and
he's going to run with it. He's just going to
take it away from you and you won't have any
kind of understanding. But listen to what he
says about the next one. But he who received
the seed on the stony places, this is he who
hears the word and immediately receives it with
joy. And he has no root in himself, but only
endures for a while. For when tribulation or
persecution arises because of the word, immediately
he stumbles. Jesus says the seed that falls on
the stony ground is somebody where the seed falls
into their heart and it grows up very quickly,
but they have no root in themselves. This is
the person who hears the word of the kingdom
and it sounds good to them. They're like, man,
this is good stuff, right? This is good wisdom.
I like the vibe of what I'm feeling right now.
They hear the word of God and they're like, I
kind of like the vibe. I got a good vibe. I got
good feels in what's taking place in church,
right? But they're not really rooted in, they're
not really buying into the idea that Jesus is
savior and that their father is their heavenly
father. They're not identifying with Christ.
They just like what they're hearing. They just
like some of what's there, maybe only some of
it. I'll grab just the pieces I like and the
part I want, right? I'll grab the theology that
makes me feel right, and I won't take anything
that challenges me. And they've got no family
roots. And the Word of God says when they start
getting some persecution and some tribulation
because of Jesus, because of following Jesus,
how many know it's not always easy to follow
Jesus? Right? It's not always easy to follow
God. When that begins to happen, they wither
away and die. There's no root. Who's your daddy?
The people that Jesus was talking to, they're
like, oh, Abraham. Abraham, a man, right? My
history. I got all this pride in my history and
who I am. Or themselves. Or the default was evil.
The devil. Who's your daddy? It matters. I'm
going to ask if you'd stand this morning. This
is so incredibly important because here's what
the enemy will do with you. I spend about this
much time, and it's not a hard conversation to
have somebody to lead them to Jesus. I spend
an abundant amount of time helping people understand
and identify in Christ. identify that they are
sons and daughters of God, that you have a heavenly
father. Because the moment you begin to step
into who you are and your identity in Christ
and that you have a heavenly father, it becomes
your default for everything. Whether trouble
comes or whether good times come, whether it's
easy or whether it's hard, all that, you will
default to your father. You will default to your
savior. And at that point, you don't got to go,
I got to hurry up and find a list of rules. It's
written in your heart. You want to follow God.
Paul talks about this all through the New Testament,
right? It gets inscribed in your spirit because
you're identifying in Christ. You're identifying
with your heavenly father. You are a son or a
daughter of the most high. Some of you need to
claim that. When the enemy comes and tries to
beat you half to death, right, he starts bringing
things into your mind and into your heart, you
need to stop him and say, oh, you don't understand,
devil. You don't understand. You don't understand
whose I am. You don't understand who my father
is. You don't understand the spiritual DNA that
I carry. You don't understand the authority that
comes along with that. You don't understand,
devil, but I'm going to tell you. That changes
everything. He can't mess with you the same way
anymore. I'm going to read one portion of Scripture,
and we're going to pray. In 2 Corinthians 6,
14, it says, Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.
I used to preach this all the time as a youth
pastor, by the way. For what fellowship has righteousness
with lawlessness? And what communion has light
with darkness? And what accord does Christ have
with Belial? Or what part has a believer with
an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple
of God with idols? For you are the temple of
the living God, and God has said, I dwell in
them and I walk among them and I will be their
God and they shall be my people. Therefore, come
out from among them and be separate, says the
Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will
receive you. I will be a father to you and you
shall be my sons and my daughters, says the Lord
Almighty. Therefore, having these promises, beloved,
let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the
fear of God. Come on. Who's your daddy? Yeah,
come on. Who's your daddy? If he's your daddy,
man, man. I don't know about you, but if I get
into a fight with somebody, I want the biggest
guy I can find behind me. I don't look for somebody
lower than me. I look for somebody that's way
bigger than me. I'm like, come on, going along.
Who's your daddy? Who's your daddy? Amen. Bow
your heads right now if you would. Bow your heads.
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