If God Is Your Father - Episode 4i by Pastor Mildred Kingsley-Okonkwo: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Do a Personal Paternity Test

With all the paternity fraud going on in the world today, it is time to do a personal paternity test. The question being asked in this message is: If God is your father, what traits should be evident in your life?

Many people assume that because they prayed the sinner's prayer — "Dear Jesus, come into my heart" — they are automatically saved. But saying a prayer does not necessarily mean that God is your father. Until you begin to exhibit His nature, until people can look at you and say you resemble God, there is a gap to be closed. You may be His servant, you may be His minister, you may even be His friend — but you are not yet a child. And there are certain things that only children receive.

God Already Knows His Own

God does not need a paternity test. 2 Timothy 2:19 says the Lord knows those who are His. He is not mocked by the fact that you arrive at church before everyone else. God sees the heart. The heart of the matter is always the matter of the heart.

God is not moved by activity — not by how much Scripture you know, how much offering you give, how faithfully you pay your tithes. He knows His children because He sees right into their hearts and reads their character.

So this message is not for God's benefit — it is for yours. You need to know whether you are truly a child of God.

Jesus Did Not Come to Give You a Religion

Jesus did not die so you could feel Christian on a form. He died to give you a relationship with God — to teach you that God wants to be far more than your Lord and Master. God wants to be your Father. That is the whole point of everything Jesus came to do.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, the very first word He gave them was "Our Father." Matthew 7:21 makes it clear that not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven — only those who do the will of the Father.

Matthew 7:22–23 describes people who prophesied, cast out demons, and did many wonders in Jesus's name. These are the things that impress human beings. They do not impress God. If your focus is on what you are doing for God rather than the relationship you have with God, you have missed it entirely. Jesus will say to such people: "I never knew you."

Knowing the correct password — saying "Master, Master" — will not get you anywhere. What is required is serious obedience: doing what the Father wills.

How You Can Know You Are a Child of God

1. The Holy Spirit Is Your Birth Certificate

Your children were not part of the conception process — they simply arrived. They did not know what happened. But when they want to prove to the government or to any authority who their parents are, they produce their birth certificate. In the same way, as a child of God, God gave you a birth certificate: the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 4:6–7 — Because you are His sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, the Spirit who calls out "Abba, Father." You are no longer a slave but God's child, and since you are His child, God has made you also an heir.

Romans 8:15–16 — You did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the Spirit of adoption by whom you cry out "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

The Spirit of God constantly reminds you — even in your lowest moments, even when you feel like your prayers are not being heard — that you are a child of God. That inner witness is not "something" telling you. It is Someone — the Holy Spirit.

2. The Fruit of the Spirit Is Evidence of the Holy Spirit Inside You

If you plant a tree, you may not know what kind of tree it is until fruit appears. It is the mango that tells you it is a mango tree. In the same way, you know the Holy Spirit lives in someone by the fruit that comes from their life.

Galatians 5:19–21 describes what a life without the Spirit of God looks like:

• Jealousy and envy
• Rage and anger
• Selfish ambition and strife
• Causing division and pulling people into factions
• Coveting what belongs to others — including other people's spouses
• Drunkenness and wild living

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Those who continue practicing these things will not receive what God has prepared for those who belong to His kingdom.

Galatians 5:22–23 — But when the Spirit of God lives inside you, He brings gifts into your life the same way fruit appears in an orchard:

• Affection for other people — If you do not love people, the Spirit of God is not inside you.
• Exuberance about life — If you are not excited about being alive, the Spirit of God is not inside you.
• Serenity — peace that surpasses understanding.
• A willingness to stick with things — perseverance and long-suffering. The Spirit makes you willing to see something through to the end.
• A sense of compassion in the heart
• A conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people — This is what makes a child of God dress, speak, and carry themselves differently. It is not legalism — it is love. If eating meat causes your brother to sin, you do not eat it. You consider how your choices affect others around you.

There is a difference between saying you are a Christian and actually having the nature of Christ. God is not mocked.

3. You Have a Desire to Have a Relationship with Your Father

A true child of God desires to hear from God. People do not have to beg you to read your Bible. If God is your Father, you want to talk to Him. You want to hear what He has to say.

John 10:27 — "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them." The voice of a stranger they will not hear. But how will you recognise His voice if you never open this Word? Someone sat down and wrote you love letters. Open them.

A Family Reunion Is Coming

1 Thessalonians 4:16–18 — The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God. The dead in Christ will rise first. Then those who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

That day is like the visiting day in boarding school. No matter how wicked the seniors were, on visiting day you sat in your parents' car and ate everything in sight. A day is coming when your big brother is coming back to take you where there will be no more sorrow, no sickness, no tears, no death.

But it is a family reunion. Parents do not take home every child they see crying by the roadside — only their own. Jesus is coming back for family members only.