is GOD everybody’s father? yes and no…

here is a good question that you might have.  is GOD everybody’s father?  is everybody a child of GOD?  the answer is yes and no.   yes, everyone was created by GOD but not everybody is connected to GOD.  there’s a lot more to being a father than just creating a kid.  there are millions of kids in this world who have never known their father.  millions!  it takes more than birthing to be a dad.  it takes more than creating.  it takes connection. 

yes, everyone in the world is created by GOD but no, everyone in the world is not connected to their FATHER, to their heavenly FATHER who made them.  GOD wants them to be connected in HIS family. 

how do i get connected to GOD as father?  that’s why GOD sent HIS SON JESUS CHRIST to earth, to make the connection.  JESUS said, I am the way and the truth and the life.  no one comes to the FATHER except through ME. if you really knew ME you would know my FATHER as well.

there’s only one way to get to know the FATHER – through JESUS CHRIST who GOD sent to earth to make the connection.  that’s why HE sent HIM to earth, so we could get to know HIM.  you wouldn’t even know GOD was your father if JESUS CHRIST hadn’t come to earth.  you wouldn’t even know it.  HE sent JESUS to earth to make the connection.

we are children of GOD through faith in JESUS CHRIST.  it is through faith.  how do you become a child of GOD?  there is only one way.  through faith in HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST.  there’s not a single verse in the bible that says you get connected to the FATHER GOD through religion.  HE doesn’t want a religion.  HE wants a relationship.  HE wants you to know HIM as FATHER and you know the FATHER through the SON.  through faith in JESUS CHRIST. 

just a thought from the front porch…

connecting or disconnecting…

i was a youth pastor in el paso, texas and i got a letter from my dad who had held a series of meetings in the church where margaret ann fletcher was a teenager. he said, bill you need to see margaret. she has really grown up.

back when i was a teenager my dad pastored the church that the fletchers went to and margaret was 5 or 6 at the time and she was my buddy. she would sit on my lap in church when i was sitting with my girl friends. she was my real buddy.

my dad left that church and we lost contact and here he was saying after 12 years, bill you need to see margaret. she has really grown up.

well in the summer of 1974 we connected back up and on november 9 of that year i permanently connected with her and she became margaret ann williams. after my connection with GOD this connection with margaret ann fletcher is the most vital connection in my life.

we all want to be connected to those we love. but it’s very easy to get disconnected from them. so what causes us to disconnect from people that we love – parents, children, brothers and sisters, husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, close friends. how do we get disconnected? how does a relationship go bad?

i want for us to use as a case study for this the first couple. i'm not talking about obama and michelle. i'm talking about adam and eve.

now you would think that if anybody should have had a perfect relationship it should have been adam and eve. consider this: they had a perfect climate controlled paradise. they had no bills to cause financial worries. they had no job to keep adam late at work. they had no physical defects to get in the way of their romance. they had no television programs to distract them. they had no clothes to choose from so there was never any indecision of “what am i going to wear?” no bad memories or scars from previous relationships. that’s a big one! no one else to compare to. no children to interrupt them and no in-laws to offer advice.

and you’d figure with all that that is a perfect recipe for romance. but the fact is when adam and eve disobeyed GOD sin entered their relationship and it brought a new element. the moment adam and eve disobeyed GOD, fear entered their relationship. and they immediately started blaming each other, they immediately started struggling for control and they immediately started hiding their feelings. and we do the exact same things in our relationships today.

just a thought from the front porch