What Does It Mean For God To Be Your Father As A Christian?

she has some daddy issues. Let me tell you the insight. If that lady or that girl has daddy issues, where do you think she got them from? Her daddy. Because her daddy had issues. Amen. And so we all have issues. Amen. Let me give you some things I hope we can cover today. You know, your daddy or your mama, they may have given you conditional love, but I can tell you, your heavenly Father loves you unconditionally. So many times you try to get your acceptance and approval from what your mother or daddy say to you, but what you need to get your acceptance and approval of what your Heavenly Father has to say to you. Some people think they were not chosen, but God wants you to know that He chose you and appointed you. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father might be performance-based. But with our Heavenly Father, it's relational-based. You might have a daddy issue because your earthly father has abandoned you. But your Heavenly Father will never abandon you. In fact, the Psalmist said in 27:10, says, Even if my father and my mother desert me, said, God himself will take you up.

James Greer: [00:01:42] So what I want you to know is I don't want you to be fooled by your feelings. And so you can't operate off your feelings. I want you to start learning to operate off your facts. And I want you to know today, when you leave today, I want you to know more than anything else, you got a father in heaven if you can access him through Jesus Christ, who will love you and always be there for you. Amen. There's two things everybody needs in life. You need them in relationships. You need them in everything. And we don't want you to be fooled by the wrong two things. Every man, woman, boy and girl needs two things. They need to be needed, and they need approval. And when you don't get the approval and the needs met in the right place, you're fooled by getting them in the wrong place. Number one, where are you trying to get your needs and approval from? We know that we need to get them from God, but there's many people that either they don't know God or they don't know how to get their needs met from God. See, there's a lot of people that know about God, but they don't know God. See, there's people that might know your father, but he's not your father. And that's a real concern about church. There's a lot of people saying, Man, I know about God, but you don't really know God.

James Greer: [00:02:57] See, when you really know God, he's your father. He's the one that takes care of you. He's the one that you get your approval by. He's the one that meets your needs. So we don't want you to just know about God. We want you to know God. Amen. Many people have what we call daddy issues. Because they had a daddy with issues. And it doesn't matter if it's a man or a woman or a boy or a girl. Many times because of those daddy issues that we have, if we're not careful, we have issues with God, and we don't even know it. See, because you can't really access God unless you have Jesus. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Wrong approvals lead to trying to get your needs met in the wrong way. This is so important. In Galatians, it tells you how people try to get their needs met in the wrong way and how they get wrong approval. So they're going the wrong way. In Galatians 5:19, it says the wrong things, in other words, it's saying when you're trying to get your needs met in the wrong places by the wrong things, it's basically saying these things happen. By the time you read Galatians 5, you know if you're getting your needs met in the right way or the wrong way. You know if you're looking to the wrong place or the right place.

James Greer: [00:04:25] You know if you're looking to the world or you're looking to Jesus. Because the wrong place to look is there's sinful, selfish does things that are clear. Being sexually unfaithful. Not being pure. Taking part in sexual sins. Say, man, I just got a need that can't be fulfilled, and I'm trying to get it met. Worshiping gods. Doing witchcraft. Let's stop here for a minute. Y'all ready? Are y'all ready? There you go. It's always yes or amen. Are y'all ready? See, when you think witchcraft, y'all think about some kind of black magic and some kind of sacrifice of animals. Did y'all know really when you say witchcraft here, it's the word pharmaceuticals or pharmacy, it's where we get our word drugs. Do y'all think we have a drug problem or what? Amen. And it says one of the main reasons we have such a drug problem is because people are trying to get their needs met in the wrong way by the wrong person at the wrong time, and only God can meet those needs. Amen. Everybody says we got a political problem. It's not a Democrat or a Republican or a president. It's a person. And the only person that can change the world is Jesus Christ, not them. It's witchcraft.

James Greer: [00:05:46] Hating, making trouble, being jealous. I want you to love your mate and whoever you're having a relationship with and them to love you. But listen, they can't do for you what only Jesus can do. And the reason that you're jealous is you're trying to get somebody else to meet a need that only Jesus can do for you. Being angry. Selfish. Making people angry with others. See, all this comes from trying to get your needs met in the wrong way by the wrong people. And God doesn't want that. Sometimes people are just so unhappy. They don't even realize why they're so happy. Causing division among people, feeling angry, being drunk. It didn't say having a drink. Not that you shouldn't. That's up to you. It's saying being drunk and that's a drunkard. Having wild and wasteful parties and doing other things like this. I warn you now, as I warned you before. This is real important. Those who do these things will not inherit what? God's kingdom. Now, when I say God's kingdom, there's all kinds of people thinking different things about God's kingdom. Some people think when I say God's kingdom, if you do these things, you won't go to heaven. And there are some people that do those things won't go to heaven. There are some people doing those things that are going to go to heaven. Now, they might be living like hell, but they're going to go to heaven.

James Greer: [00:07:18] See, that's not what I think the Kingdom of God really means here. I think what the Kingdom of God means here is like in Romans 14:17, and it talks about, for the Kingdom of God, it's not what you eat and it's not what you drink. The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Kingdom of God is having a right relationship with God and other people that brings a peace and joy that can only come by the Holy Spirit. When you have the right fellowship with other people, the right fellowship with God, you can have a peace and joy that comes from him. You can only have that when you're right through Jesus Christ. And yet, on the other hand, I want you to know when you're getting your acceptance, when you're getting your needs met, when you're getting your approval from God, you'll know it. Because the fruit of the spirit says it's love and joy and peace and kindness and goodness and faith, gentleness, self-control. There is no law that says these things are wrong. If you want to know the truth, I could just stop right here and I could tell you if you're getting your needs met from the right place or the wrong place. If you're getting your needs met from the right place, if you have God as your father and you access him through Jesus Christ, who is your savior, you got love and joy and peace.

James Greer: [00:08:39] If you're trying to get your needs met from the wrong person or the wrong places, you struggle with immorality and jealousy and anger and rage. See? So you really know where you're trying to get your needs met. It's real simple. All you got to do is be honest with yourself. And if you want to change that, you can change it today. Because I could tell you how to access God the Father in heaven that will meet every need in your life. Important insight. You have a God in heaven who looks down as your father and wants you to know that you're needed and you're approved. This is real important. How you see God is how you receive from God. How you see God is how you receive from God. See, we're going to talk about five types of fathers and how you see God is how you receive God and how you see God is how you reveal God to other people. So how you see God is how you receive and how you reveal. So it's really important that you learn to see God the right way because you want to receive from God the right way. Amen. We want to see him and relate to him as a father, the right kind of father, which is in heaven.

James Greer: [00:10:01] Because I'm going to talk about five types of earthly fathers. There are five types of fathers. First, there's the tragedy father or dad. And you can't really help that. Maybe lost your dad growing up and nothing you can really do. But you can be sure of one thing. You've got a father in heaven. He'll never leave you. And there's no tragedy that can ever take him. For y'all that don't have a father, I want you to know there's a verse in Psalm 68:5 that says, he will be a father to the fatherless. So whether you have a father that you lost by tragedy or you have a father that's never in the home, the Bible has a special verse for you. God said, Let me be a father to you. He said he'll be a father to you. He'll never guide you the wrong way. He'll always be there for you. And he'll be the best father that you've ever had. So if you don't have a father, start letting your father in heaven be your dad. So there's the tragedy dad. There's the terrible dad. I think it's one of the worst. That's the dad that abuses you or did abuse you. And when you needed somebody to trust you the most when you were growing up, instead of trusting, he got abused. And because you were abused growing up, now you often overreact at things and you withdraw and you can't let down your guard.

James Greer: [00:11:38] And sometimes you don't even know why you're acting the way that you act. And you've never worked through it, and you've never let your Heavenly Father take care of your past, where you can have a great present and where you can have a wonderful future. But you've got a dad in heaven who will never abuse you. He'll always love you. You'll always have his approval. But many of you have had that. And many of you brought that abusiveness into your marriage. Many of men and women both don't know why you're responding sometimes the way that you are, and today's the day that your Heavenly Father wants you to begin to deal with your past where you can have a better present. And he wants you to have a wonderful, wonderful future. Because you finally come to the point, God, that you have to say, man, God, I can't control my past and I can't control what somebody else did to me. But, God, I know that you told me that you want me to have an abundant life. And starting today, I'm going to forgive my past. I'm going to let you see what the right kind of father is. I'm going to let you love me and I'm going to have a wonderful future.

James Greer: [00:12:49] So you've got the tragic father. You've got the terrible dad. You've got the tender dad. Everybody says, I want the tender dad. He's a sweet dad. He's a loving dad. Everything goes for dad. The problem with the tender dad, he's usually a passive dad. And he's tender and he's sweet but he's passive. And he'll never teach you how to be the man or the woman that you'd ever be. He'll never teach you to be the leader that you need to be. He never develops you like you need. But boy, he's sweet and he's tender. Now let me say God can be tender, but he is not passive. He wants to teach you to lead. He wants to teach you to be a teacher. He wants you to develop and he wants you. But most of all, he wants to teach you who you are. He created you. He wants to lead you to the point that you come, that you really understand, and that you believe that you're created to be fearfully and wonderfully made, and that you accept the way that you look. You accept your intellectual ability, you accept your shape, you accept your color, you accept everything about yourself because God the Father made you that way. Amen. And then there's the tough dad. Tough dad. He was hard. You trying to please him, but he was always performance oriented.

James Greer: [00:14:05] If you really did good, amen. I mean. And you didn't do so good, huh? Well, if you made really good grades, you're the man. If you didn't, you didn't get. See, when you got a God, a father in heaven, I want you to know, it's not performance-based. It's relational-based. In fact, in Matthew 3:16, this is Jesus before he ever started his earthly ministry. When he had been baptized, Jesus, he came up immediately. Now you can't come up unless you went down, by the way. He came up immediately from the water and behold, the heavens were open to him. And guess what it said. And he saw a spirit of God descending like a dove, alighting upon him. You know what he said after that? He said this. And suddenly heard a voice saying, This is my beloved son, who I am well pleased. Jesus hadn't even done anything yet. He hadn't even started his ministry yet. What he was telling you and he was telling me, he said, this is my beloved son that I have a relationship with and I'm pleased with him. Not because of his performance. Because he's my son. That's what he's telling you and he's telling me. Because when we get saved through Jesus Christ, we become his sons and daughters. That's what 2 Corinthians 6:18 says. I want to be a father to you.

James Greer: [00:15:46] This is God. He wants to be a father to you. And you shall be my sons and daughters, sayeth the Lord Almighty. Isn't that something? Just imagine today God in heaven speaking down to me and you. He said, My son was baptized and I told him I was so pleased with him. Because my son sacrificed for you and me and he died on the cross, lived a sinless life, shed his blood and was raised on the third day, when you accept him as your savior, God says, Now I'm going to be your father. You're going to be my sons and you're going to be my daughters, says the Lord Almighty. When you read the Lord Almighty here, he was talking about the one that's in total control. He was talking about the one that was all the angels in heaven were in charge of. He was talking about the one, when David killed Goliath, He told Goliath, You come with me as spears and sword. I come to you in the name of God Almighty. You not only got a dad, you got the Lord God Almighty on your side. I read this week that religion says when you mess up, say, Daddy's going to kill me. The gospel says, When I mess up, I'm going to call my daddy. Big difference. Big difference. You can have a terrific dad, but there was no perfect dad because we've all messed up.

James Greer: [00:17:24] In closing, I'm going to remind you of a few things. God the Father is not a reflection of the earthly father. He's the perfection of earthly father. Not the reflection, but the perfection. One of the most important things you can remember, everything, everything you ever long for from your earthly father, you can have from your heavenly Father. Your needs, acceptance, those things you long for, those things you look for can be found in your Heavenly Father. When you read God's Word and you hear God, think about your daddy. Thinking about a father that loves you, accepts you, approves of you, and wants you. You can remember something about your father in heaven. See, I don't know what your earthly father was like. Maybe you've done things wrong and he didn't want you back or didn't accept you, but you've got a Heavenly Father. No matter how good or how bad, how far you've gone, He always welcomes you home. See, when I grew up, I didn't think I had that kind of God. I didn't think I had that kind of father in heaven. I thought he only wanted me when I was good and I wasn't good too much. So he didn't want me too much. But you know the story about the prodigal son, right? He took his father's inheritance and spent it all up.

James Greer: [00:18:42] But, you know. So he returned, prodigal son, he returned when he had spent all his inheritance. He was eating in the pigpen. He returned home to his father. Let me tell you something. When the prodigal son was at his worst, who did he want to go see? His father. See, I hear people say when I get my life all straightened up, then I'm going to go see my father. That's crazy. You're never going to get your life straightened up if you're all messed up and you got a problem. Guess you need to go see. You need to go see your daddy, your father in heaven. Amen. And he wanted to go see his father. See, people say, hey, well, it's my fault. Well, it was the prodigal's fault. He wanted to go see his father. While he was still far off, long ways off, his father saw him. He was filled with love and compassion. The father ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.

James Greer: [00:19:49] Isn't that something? That's the kind of daddy you have. That's the kind of father you have. You got a father that's waiting on you. You're not waiting on him. I don't care what you're going through. You're not waiting on the father. Father's waiting on you. I don't care what you've done. He's still waiting on you. You might be in the pigpen, and he's saying, Hey, I'm waiting on you. You might not be in the pigpen, but you need to be loved and accepted and approved. He's waiting on you. The son said to the father, I've sinned against both heaven and you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Can I tell you all something? None of us are worthy to be called God's son. We don't get to be God's son because we're worthy. We don't get to be God's son because we're good enough. We get to be God's son out of the relationship we get to have with God through Jesus Christ. We're worthy to God because of what Jesus did, not what we did. But his father said to the servants, Quick, bring the finest robe to the house and put it on him. Give him the ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. For the son of mine was dead.

James Greer: [00:21:12] Now he as returned to life. He was lost. And now he's found. Let the party begin. You know what I say? Journey Church, let the party begin. It's time to let the party begin. If you would, stand up just a minute. Bow your head and close your eyes. I love it that the father said, I want the party to begin. See, the party begins when you accept Jesus Christ as your savior and you access the Father and he becomes your father. Some of y'all say, Hey, I don't want God to become my father. And the Bible said in John 14:6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and life. No man comes to the Father except by me. Jesus Christ paid the price where God can be your father. Everything you've ever longed for in your earthly father, your heavenly Father can now meet that need. So some of y'all are here. You're not here to buy fire insurance. Maybe you've already bought the fire insurance. You're here to invite God into your heart as your Lord and your Savior. You want God to be your father who can meet every sin, every need and acceptance in your life. You want God to be your father for forgiveness and acceptance where there's no more condemnation in your life. And you want God to be that Father. While your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed, and you want to accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior, I'm going to simply count to three. And when I do, just raise your hand and I've got a packet for you. One. Two, three. Just keep your hands up. Amen. Raise your hand. Keep your hand up. Amen. Raise your hand. You want God to be your father, just raise your hand. Amen. Amen. He's a good, good father, isn't he? He's a good, good father.

James Greer: [00:23:21] All right, Look up here just a minute. Let's pray this together. Are you ready? Now, the ones that got the packet, if you'll fill it out while we're, and then hand it back in in a minute. Say, Father, I know I've sinned. I want you to forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart. Be my Lord and Savior of my life. I believe Jesus died on the cross and rose on the third day for my sins. In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's hear it for God. Now Romans 10:13 said, Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And that's what you did. Now, as we get ready to have an invitation for every single person, you might be here, like the prodigal son, and you need to return home. And I want you to know that God the Father is waiting on you. You might want to come to the altar and pray with somebody and pray for somebody. You might not be like the prodigal, but you sure need love and acceptance. You need the compassion of the father. You might not have been receiving from God because you've been looking at him as an earthly father, and now you need to have your spiritual eyes open where you can begin to receive. Because you what you see, you can begin to share because you know a new God. He's one like your father. You might need to come get baptized. You know why? Because you see it pleases your father. You see that when Jesus was baptized, it was like the death, burial and resurrection. He went down, so he had to come up. And like the rest of the five or 6 or 7, we're going to get baptized. Maybe you were baptized at a young age and maybe you didn't really know.

James Greer: [00:25:08] But now you know, and today you want to say, Hey, I want to follow through in baptism. Maybe you want to come and join the church. It's still not too late to make sure that you want God to be your father. So the ones that got the packet, if you'll fill them out and give them back to the ushers. The rest of you, if you'll bow your heads. Father, you're sure a great, great God. We thank you for what you're doing. I pray we never take it for granted. God, I pray for those that need to make decisions for God to be their Father, that they would do that. Those that need to return home. Some of them have gone way far from God. I pray that they could see the Father like the prodigal, that the father's waiting on them. For those that maybe got abused at a young age or during life and today you want a new start because you got a father that's going to be with you and he loves you and he's going to protect you and he's going to guide you from this day forward. For those that have not seen God through the right eyes so they have not been receiving from God what they really need to receive, the truth that they want to start receiving from God in a new way. They want to start being able to reveal God in a different way, where those want to follow through in baptism, where they want to join the church. God, I pray that you'd have your will and your way. I pray it in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.


Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.