God is My Good Father and Daddy: Pater and Abba

Sharing good news of great joy to all people,

Elation Church. Week number eight in our series

that I've entitled, Hello, My Name is God. Everybody

say that with me. Hello, my name is God. I mean,

we all have been to those events where they give

you one of these name tags that look like this,

right? It's a little name tag and you got to

write your name on it. But we're going to be

talking about... We're going to start out by

talking about what names are about. Okay? Just

so we can get our head wrapped around everything

involved in a name. So what is in a name? First

of all, names signify identity. Everybody say

identity. Identity. Now, I've got this story

that the people who have been here in this series,

they already know it, but a lot of you haven't

been here for this series. You know, when I wanted

to play junior high football, anybody play sports?

Any sports player? When I wanted to play junior

high football in the state of South Carolina,

I had to produce a state birth certificate. Okay?

Even though I'd gone through school all the way

from kindergarten on, I had to have a birth certificate.

So we didn't have one, so we ordered it from

the state, and when it came in, I found out that

my name was not the name I had been going by

my whole life. Because I kid you not, you can't

make this stuff up. My South Carolina birth certificate

had no name Forrest on it when it came in. No

name Forrest. So that's why I answered anything.

Because my real name is no name. I didn't find

out until I was like 11, 12 years old. I mean,

that was my official name in the state of South

Carolina. It was No Name Forrest. So I missed

out on the first three weeks of my junior high

football career. And finally got my name changed

on my birth certificate to the name I'd been

going by. See, my parents didn't name me before

we left the hospital. So it just slipped through

the cracks. So my real name now is Jeffrey Dean

Forrest. I guess my real name is no name for

us, but my name is Jeffrey Dean Forrest. My South

Carolina birth certificate has an asterisk on

it signifying that my name has been changed from

my birth name. Go figure. But I'm Jeffrey Dean

Forrest. Most people call me Dean. Most people

call me Dean. I have another identity name that

I want to share with you. And that is that I

am a Christian. And that's just as much my identity

as my given name or my birth certificate name.

Christian is my identity. It's not just a tagged

on description. It's who I am. So names signify

identity. Names also signify relationship. Everybody

say relationship. I've got a lot of names. A

lot of names. My mom, because I was the youngest

of four, always, her entire life and my entire

life, she called me baby. Even when she was introducing

me to someone when I was 50 years old. In my

50s, she would say, this is my baby. Sometimes

she would forget to put Dean on it after that.

She would say, this is my baby. I would say Dean

if she didn't say Dean because I didn't want

everybody to call me baby. My dad never called

me baby. He just called me son. So that's one

of my relationship names. In 1984, I became a

husband. I've been married 40 years. But my wife

doesn't call me husband. She doesn't say, oh,

husband, could you take out the trash? No. Most

of the time. Everybody say most of the time.

Most of the time she calls me honey. Unless I've

aggravated her or irritated her, and then she

doesn't call me honey. Look at the person beside

you and say smile. This is the comedy portion

of the program here, so at least smile. I became

a father in January of 92. That's my son, Jeffrey.

So that's one of my names. One of my relationship

names is I'm a father. But he's never called

me father because we don't live in the UK. Oh,

father, could I have $20? No, he just calls me

dad. He started out calling me daddy, but then

as he got older, you know, we dropped the D -Y,

so he just calls me dad. So I've got other names.

I'm an uncle. I'm a great uncle. I'm a nephew.

I'm a cousin. All of those are relationship names.

Everybody say relationship. Then there are also

names that signify people's activity. Everybody

say activity. What a person does. Has anyone

ever had a business card made at work? And it

would have what you do on the business card.

You know what I'm talking about? So names signify

activity as well. I've got a lot of those names.

I was a student for a very long time. when i

was in high school i was a cook for quincy's

family steakhouse they're now out of business

but it's not my fault they were in business long

after i left i've been a salesman at multiple

businesses i've been a sound man i actually paid

to run sound at events i was a custodian at disney

for a little while when we got here i was also

a trainer and a coordinator there my wife and

i After work, after a real job, we picked up

a job cleaning offices, and we'd go clean offices

three days a week after we got off of our real

job. So we were janitors there. I had my own

screen printing business for a while, screen

printing T -shirts and all that's involved in

that. I was an A &R director for Mark V Records.

You may have never heard of Mark V Records. You

wouldn't have heard of them unless you were into

southern gospel music. So I was the A &R director

at Mark V Records. I actually got a business

card one day when I was at Mark V Sandcastle

Recording Studios. I got a business card one

day that said I was the vice president of Heart

Look Records. We had three record companies,

Mark V, Heart Look, and Evidence. I became the

vice president, but I didn't get a raise. I just

got a business card. I got a vice president title.

I've also been the vice president of State. and

national organizations the music director of

state and national organizations i've been an

event planner i was just talking about planning

an event in indianapolis with the family here

from indiana but i planned events and rented

space all over the united states for events been

a crusade director our ministry we were on the

road for over 20 years and i was a crusade director

we had 31 area -wide crusades and I was the crusade

director at two or three of them. J .T., who's

sitting back there in the back waving at everybody,

his dad was the festival director and crusade

director at all the other ones. I've been the

president of state and national organizations,

president of a nonprofit corporation, been the

worship leader at some events. Me and my family

led worship, and my claim to fame there is I...

We were the worship leaders at the Ryman Auditorium

in Nashville one time, which is a historic place

for those of you who've never heard of the Ryman.

Look at the person beside you and say that and

about $20 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

All right. Let's see. I've been a conference

director. We had a youth conference called the

Big God Conference where as many as 1 ,900 students

came over New Year's to a conference that we

did. I was an evangelist, like I said, on the

road for 20 years, a chaplain for nine years

at Lakewood Camper Resort. Some people call me

preacher. Some people call me pastor. You can

call me anything. Look at the person beside you

and say, that's a lot of names. Now, if you've

never met me before, you just found out a lot

about me, didn't you? Probably more than you

wanted to know. You found out my abilities and

things that I've done. Because names signify

identity, relationship, and activity. I've shared

with you over 29 names, but I'm just one person.

And this series is about the names of God. And

I want you to realize that even though God has

given us a lot of names, so that we can know

who He is, His identity, we can know His... what

kind of relationship he wants to be in with us,

and we can know his activity, what he wants to

do in our lives by knowing his names. This verse

is very important in the study. Psalm 910 says

this, and those who know your name, everybody

say God's name, those who know your name will

put their trust, See, when we find out who God

is, how he has revealed himself to us, then we

can put our trust in him. That Hebrew word that's

translated trust here in English can also be

translated confidence. So when we know his name,

we can put our trust, we can put our confidence

in him based on who he is, his person. Somebody

smile or say amen or something. Okay. So when

we know Him, we can put our trust and confidence

in Him. And then it says this, For you, Lord,

have not forsaken those who seek you. So when

we seek God based on who He is and who He has

revealed Himself as, then we can be confident

that He's not going to turn His back on us. He's

not going to say, well, you know, I do that for

some people, but I'm not going to do it for you.

I'm going to forsake you, even though I haven't

forsook some other people based on who I am.

No. He has not forsaken those who seek Him. Now,

sometimes we seek Him not knowing that that's

who He is or what He wants to do, and then we

find out that, That seeking is not fulfilled

because God's never made that promise. God's

never identified himself to do that. Are you

with me? It's not just our imagination. It's

based on who he is. And when we seek him based

on who he is, then we know that he's not going

to forsake us. Somebody smile. That ought to

make you smile. Right there. That ought to make

you smile. Hello, my name is God. Today we're

going to focus in on two names of God that are

very close to being the same, but a little bit

different. They have to do with relationship.

Everybody say relationship. Relationship. So,

the first name is this. Jesus said in Matthew

6, 9, talking to His disciples, He said, Pray

like this. Our Father in Heaven. Everybody say,

Our Father. Our Father. Now, that word is the

Greek word... Wait a minute. Sometimes I put

the wrong... I put the accent on the wrong syllable.

But you don't speak Greek anyway, probably. But

I believe it's pater. Pater. You'd look at it

and say patter, but it's pater. I don't know

if I'm pronouncing it right or not. I'm just

trying. Pater. Father. Now, the New Testament

brings greater emphasis and deeper revelation

on God being our Father than in the Old Testament.

Father is used as a name for God only 15 times

in the Old Testament. But it occurs, get this,

at least 245 times in the New Testament. God

being your father. Now, when you say God is a

father, that messes some people up. Because their

only understanding of a father is based on their

earthly father. And that's the only concept that

they have. And when you compare our heavenly

father with our earthly father, you know what?

Some earthly fathers are absent. Some earthly

fathers are abusive. Some earthly fathers are

neglecting. In a room this size, there are people

who have experienced earthly fathers that this

would be a good description of. That they were

absent, abusive, or neglecting. I'm not going

to make you raise your hand. Alright? But some

of you know exactly what I'm talking about. And

I want to tell you this, even if you had a great

father, You know, even the best earthly father

is still limited. They're limited in ability

and their resources. There's a limit. But when

we look at God being our father, you know what?

Nothing is too big for him. Nothing is too hard

for him. Nothing is beyond. His ability. Hello,

somebody. I need to put a mirror up here so you

can see your faces. I mean, you need to smile

at least every once in a while. Because the kingdom

of God is about righteousness, peace, and joy

in the Holy Spirit. So if you've got joy in the

Holy Spirit like we were singing about, it's

good to remind your face that every once in a

while. We have joy. But even the best earthly

followers are limited, but God is limitless.

He's a good father. He's a good father. And a

good father always loves. A good father always

leads. A good father always provides. And a good

father always protects. Those are some signs

of a good father. And God is a good father. Jesus

preached on this parable. I don't know, even

since Christmas and another series, I brought

this parable up, but that's okay. I believe we

can look at the same text every week for at least

two or three months and not exhaust it. Because

the Word of God is living and powerful and effective.

I need an amen right there. Amen. Alright. Let's

take a look at this familiar story. Don't tune

out on me because you're familiar with it. Luke

Luke 15:11–24

15, verses 11 through 24. A certain man had two

sons. And the younger of them said to his father...

Now, I'm going to go ahead and bring this out.

I believe this parable has more to do with God

than it does with the sons. Most of the time

when we look at this parable, we just focus on

the sons. And we're going to talk about the sons

because the sons represent us. It represents

our two misaligned relationships with God. Let's

put it that way. So it represents how messed

up we can be. But most importantly, it represents

God, our Father. Certain men had two sons. A

younger of them said to his father, Father, give

me the portion. of goods that falls to me. Give

me my inheritance. So he divided to them his

livelihood. Not many days after, the younger

son gathered all together, journeyed to a far

country, and there wasted his possessions with

prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there

arose a severe famine in that land. And he began

to be in want. Then he went and joined himself

to a citizen of that country, and he sent him

into his fields to feed pigs, swine. And he would

gladly have filled his stomach with the pods

that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

Has anyone ever been around pigs? We had some

pigs when I was growing up. and we had a slop

bucket. Has anybody ever had pigs in a slop bucket?

You take all your leftover food and all the parts

of the vegetables, really, that you don't want

to eat, and you throw them in a slop bucket under

the sink. I don't know if the slop bucket ever

got washed, but I can still smell it. And that's

been over 50 years ago. I can still smell it.

But we had a slop bucket, and then when that

slop bucket would fill up, we'd take it out to

the pigs and throw it in the pig pen, and pigs

will eat anything. They will eat anything. So

this boy was taking care of pigs, and he was

so hungry, he wanted to eat out of the slop bucket.

Somebody say, yuck. He would have gladly eaten

what the pigs ate. But he couldn't even eat that,

so he was very hungry. But when he came to himself,

he said, how many of my brothers, I'm sorry,

how many of my father's hired servants have bread

enough and to spare? And I perish with hunger.

I will arise and go to my father, and I will

say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven

and before you, and I am no longer worthy to

be called your son. Make me like one of your

hired servants. And he arose and came to his

father. But when he was still a great way off,

his father saw him and had compassion. Everybody

say compassion. And ran. Everybody say ran. And

ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. So when

the father saw the son coming over the horizon,

I can't help but think that he probably looked

out over that horizon every day that his son

was gone. Because his love for his son was so

great. He was saying, is today the day? Is today

the day? And my son's going to come home? What

great love. And the son said to him, Father,

I have... He did his rehearsed speech. Father,

I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.

I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But

the father, notice that he didn't even acknowledge

what his son said. Because that was his son.

He loved his son. I mean, If I was writing this

story, I'd say, well, you know what? I told you

you were going to mess up. I told you you were

doing the wrong thing. I told you that this wasn't

going to work out too good. So tell me how miserable

you've been. Right? Even a good earthly father

would probably, you know, call out a little bit.

I mean, I think I'm a pretty good dad, but I

would probably call him out a little bit. I know

you're in church, and you would say you would

never do that because you're in church. But if

you weren't in church, just think about this

story. If you were not in church, how would you

respond to a child that ran away and wasted all

of his inheritance and came back smelling like

pigs? And remember, this is a Jewish family,

and you know what they think about pigs, right?

But the father said to his servants, didn't even

acknowledge what his son said. His father said

to his servants, bring out the best robe. He

didn't say go get the hose pipe and a brush and

wash him down. He said go get the... Come on,

somebody. Bring out the best robe. That robe,

the one, you know which one I'm talking about.

Put it on him. Put a ring on his hand. Sandals

on his feet. Bring the fatted calf here and kill

it. And let's eat and be merry. For this my son

was dead and is alive again. He was lost and

is found. And they began to be merry. This is

a picture of God. And God is a loving father.

God is a running father. I talk to people all

the time and they're like, I've messed up and

God's mad at me. Have you ever felt that way

before? Come on, let's be honest. You know, I've

messed up again and God has to be disappointed

in me because I've let him down again. God has

to be mad at me. God's out to get me now. A lot

of times when... When bad things happen because

we live in a fallen world and it rains on the

just and the unjust, a lot of times we say, oh,

that's God getting me. It's God getting me back

because of what I've done. But that's not God.

God's a loving Father. God's a running Father.

He's just waiting on you to turn to Him. He's

waiting on you to come to your senses. And He's

going to run to you just like this parable Jesus

said. He wants us to know who the Father is.

And religion will tell you that the Father is

mean. He's out to get you. He's putting all this

bad stuff on you to teach you something because

you did that wrong thing. That's what religion

will tell you. But Jesus in this story is saying,

no, the Father... will run to you, hug you. He

won't even listen to that talk about your unworthiness.

Because you've been made worthy not based on

your ability to perform, but you've been made

worthy by what Jesus did on the cross. If we

can only be in right relationship. With our Father.

James 4 .8 says, draw near to God and He'll draw

near to you. You turn to God, He'll run to you.

That's what the Bible says and teaches. God is

a restoring Father. He's a restoring Father.

By calling for that robe, you know, His Son said,

I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. The

father didn't even acknowledge that. He said,

go get the robe. And when you study in the language,

it's like he's talking about a specific robe.

He's talking about a family robe. He's talking

about a son's robe, that robe. You know the one

I'm talking about. That's all included in this

language. And here's what he did. He didn't wash

him up. He smelled like pigs. It was nasty, dirty.

But when he came back home, the father put that

robe on him. And that robe covered all the filth

and dirt, all of his mistakes. When you're in

Christ and when you come to Christ, you're clothed

in the righteousness of Christ. That's what you're

robed in. That's what the Bible tells us. I'm

not just making this up. He covers us with a

robe of righteousness. And the garments of salvation

is what the verse says. And the robe of righteousness.

And in the ring. He put a ring on his finger.

He was immediately restored to the authority

that he had walked away from. Immediately restored.

He didn't have to grovel and work his way up.

No, he's immediately restored. Put shoes on his

feet. How many of you like to wear shoes, especially

in the hot sun in Florida with asphalt? Aren't

you glad you have on shoes on hot days when the

asphalt is 120 degrees? Shoes made his walk.

He didn't have asphalt, but he had rocks and

dirt and all that. Shoes made his walk and his

work easier. Let's everybody say this with me.

God is a good father, a loving father, a running

father, a restoring father. That's who He is.

Now let's look at the other son. Meanwhile, the

older son was in the fields working. When he

returned home, he heard music and dancing in

the house. And he asked one of the servants,

What's going on? Your brother is back. He was

told, and your father has killed the fattened

calf. We are celebrating because of his safe

return. Let's be happy. The older brother was

not happy. He was angry. He wouldn't go in. He

refused to go into the party. His father came

out and begged him, son, come in. Come inside.

Come to the party. But he replied, all these

years, I've slaved for you. And you've never

once refused to do a single thing. Wait a minute.

I've never once refused to do a single thing

you told me to do. And in all that time, you

never gave me even one young goat for a party

with my friends, to feast with my friends. You

didn't even give me a goat. Now you done killed

the fatted calf and he ran off and wasted everything.

I've been serving you. I've slaved for you. All

these years since he's been gone. Yet when this

son of yours, notice he didn't say when my brother

comes home. When this son of yours comes back

after squandering your money on prostitutes,

you celebrate by killing the fattened calf. His

father said to him, listen. Look, dear son, you

have always stayed by me and everything I have

is yours. He didn't just give it to him. It was

already his. Hello? Everything I have is yours.

Neither son. was in a good relationship with

their good father. They were both not in the

type of relationship that their father wanted

to have with them. That's why it's important

for us to know who God is and what kind of father

He is. Because He wants us to be in the right

kind of relationship with Him. But based on what

they each believed about their father, neither

one of them were in the right relationship. The

first son, he thought it would be better to live

independent of his good father, to take what

he could from his good father, and then run off

and be in relationship not with his father or

the things his father was concerned about, but

to be in relationship with the world. He took

all he could and then ran out on his own. And

that's how a lot of people are with God. They

want to take all they can, but then they want

to live independent of God. They might even come

to church on Sunday morning, but... They live

independent of God on Sunday evening and Monday

and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

They live their lives independent of God. Look

to the person beside you and say, he's preaching

a little hard. Just pulling your toes just a

little bit. But that's son number one. Living

independent of his good father. Son number two.

He had been with his father. He had never left

his father. He was there all the time. He slaved.

But in that position, in wrong relationship,

everybody say wrong relationship, he lived below

the privileges of his good father. His father

said, look, everything I've got is yours. Why

are you complaining? Because I've never given

you anything. I've already given you everything

you need. But you've never taken hold of it.

And a lot of people live that way. Don't they?

Oh, they're serious about the things of God,

serious about coming to church, all that kind

of stuff. And they've been slaving for God for

a long time. I mean, they're working, they're

volunteering, they're doing all they can. But

then they're like... You'd never do anything

for me. You know, I see you blessing these other

people, but you'd never do anything for me. Can

you see it? Both in a wrong relationship. In

a wrong relationship with a good father. Both

of them were. Romans 8, 15. So you have not received

a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead,

you received God's spirit, listen, when he adopted

you as his own children. And now we call him

Abba, Father. This is the other name that we're

looking at today. Abba. God wants us to know.

That he is our Abba. Abba means dearest father.

We can look at it like a child calling out daddy

to God. Now, that verse says that we've been

adopted. Is anyone in Christ today? If you're

in Christ, it means that you've been adopted

into the family of God. Now, adoption is the

legal act of permanently placing a child with

a parent or parents other than their birth parents.

It's just a definition of adoption. And this

is what we need to understand. Adoption was not

prescribed in Jewish law. I mean, we look at

the Old Testament and you read through Leviticus

and you don't see any rules for adoption in the

Old Testament. surrounding the law. It wasn't

really practiced by the Israelites. In fact,

the term adoption does not occur in the entire

Old Testament. Now, you might say, now wait a

minute. What about Moses? What about Esther?

Well, those didn't happen in Jewish culture.

They took place in foreign societies in Egypt

and in Persia. So, here's what we have to understand.

Because when we look at the Word of God, we need

to see how the original hearers heard it and

how it was written. We don't just take it into

our own modern day understanding all of the time.

We need to see how it worked. And what would

have been Paul's understanding? Paul's understanding

of adoption would not be from, him being a scholar

of the Old Testament, the law and the prophets.

No, it didn't come from that. It came from Roman

law and culture. So here's a couple of things

we need to understand about adoption and Roman

culture. Adopted children had equal rights with

biological children, and adopted children had

full inheritance rights. You could not adopt

a child and give your inheritance to your naturally

born children and exclude the adopted child.

That was part of the adoption. It was a legal

transaction. They had equal rights with the natural

born children. And they had full inheritance

rights. Also, this is even more important. An

adopted child's past was erased. All previous

debt was canceled. They were regarded as a new

person. I mean, even if they're 12 years old,

it's like they had no life before that point.

Every debt canceled. A past, anything they did

in their past was completely erased. Any bad

thing that they did. They were regarded as a

new person with a new name and a brand new life.

Somebody ought to get excited. What did I just

read? You have not received a spirit that makes

you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's

spirit when He adopted you. So when you came

into a relationship with Christ, you know what?

Your past was completely erased. Any debt you

have was canceled. You're regarded as a new person

with a new name and a brand new life. You have

equal rights. Guess what? The Bible says Jesus

is our joint heir. I've got a question. What

do you think is available to Jesus? I've got

two everythings over here on the front row. I

think they're getting what I'm saying here. What's

available to Jesus? What's available? Everything

that you are confident is available to Jesus

is available to you if you're in Christ. If we

could only get a hold of this and apply it to

our everyday lives, in our relationship with

our good Father, if we could get it. Here's some

more verses for you. Galatians 4, 4 -7. But when

the right time came, God sent His Son, born of

a woman, subject to the law. God sent Him to

buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law

so that He could adopt us. As his very own children.

Somebody say hallelujah. Thank you Jesus. Amen.

And because we are his children. God has sent

the spirit of his son into our hearts. Prompting

us to call out daddy. Abba. Father. Now you're

no longer a slave. But God's own child. And since

you're His child, God has made you His heir.

If we could only grab a hold of this, I think

it would change the way we live on Monday and

Friday and every other day. If we could only

get a hold of this, through faith in Christ,

I have been adopted by a good Father. He indwells

me by His Spirit, drawing me into an intimate

relationship and prompting me to call out to

Him, to cry out to Him, Daddy, and I possess

and have access to all the resources of heaven.

That's what those verses say that I just read.

Would you be bold enough to say this with me?

Would you be bold enough to believe what the

Bible says? Let's say it. Through faith in Christ,

I have been adopted by a good father. He indwells

me by his spirit, drawing me into an intimate

relationship and prompting me to call him daddy.

I possess and have access to all the resources

of heaven. That's his name. That's who he is.

It's the relationship he wants to have with us.

And those who know your name, when you know him

as a good father, when you know him as daddy,

you can put your trust in him. You can put your

confidence in him. And know that he's not going

to turn his back on you. When you seek him, when

you seek him as your good father, when you seek

him as your daddy, you know he will not forsake

you. When we confidently trust in and know God

as our dearest good father, daddy, we can live

in close fellowship with him and enjoy the blessings

of his inheritance. We need to embrace who God

is. I wish I could come up with specific applications

for each person and each age group in this room.

But we see who He is, what kind of relationship

He wants to be in with us. And we need to believe

it. And we need to begin acting like it's true.

Just act like it's true. I mean, how many kids,

when they find themselves in trouble, run to

daddy? Huh? I remember running to daddy when

I felt challenged. Has anybody ever felt challenged

in life? Has anybody ever felt pressured? Anybody?

When we turn to Him, He'll run to us. Here's

the problem. We turn to everything else before

we wind up last resort turning to God. Really?

Can anybody say, yep, that's me? A lot of times,

that's me. You know, we don't want to raise our

hands because we're in church and we want everybody

around us to think how spiritual we are. But

I'm talking about in life. Do we wait to go to

God as a last resort? Or do we say, wow, this

thing that I'm facing, I know my God is big enough

to take care of it, so I'm going to run to Him

first. I'm going to run to Him first. Because

He's my good Father. He's going to protect me.

He's going to provide for me. He's going to love

me. He's going to restore me. He's a good God.

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