"MY DAD CAN WHIP YOUR DAD!"
Written and preached by David P. Nolte

1 JOHN 4:1-6

1. Isn't It Great To Know We Can Have God As Our Father?
1. While all are God's creatures, some are God's children and some are not. I know, there is a belief that "everybody is a child of God." You can believe that or you can believe the Bible. As for me, it's the Bible.
2. Here's the Bible teaching:
1. Some are children of the devil:
1. Those who love to do evil and who hate truth belong to the devil. Jesus said to those, "For you are the children of your father the Devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning and has always hated the truth. There is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44 (NLT).
2. Those who refuse to listen to God are the devil's children. Jesus said, "Anyone whose Father is God listens gladly to the words of God. Since you don't, it proves you aren't God's children." John 8:47 (NLT).
3. Those who try to turn others away from the Christian faith are children of the devil: Paul spoke to the magician, "You son of the Devil, full of every sort of trickery and villainy, enemy of all that is good, will you never stop perverting the true ways of the Lord?" Acts 13:10 (NLT).
4. Those who do not obey God's commands and who do not love other Christians are children of the devil: John wrote, "So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the Devil. Anyone who does not obey God's commands and does not love other Christians does not belong to God." 1 John 3:10 (NLT).
2. Some are children of God:
1. Those who receive Jesus Christ by faith are God's children. "But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan - this rebirth comes from God." John 1:12-13 (NLT).
2. Those who are peace makers are God's children: Jesus said, "God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God." Matthew 5:9 (NLT).
3. Those who have faith in Christ are God's children, for Paul wrote, "So you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have been made like Him." Galatians 3:26 (NLT).
4. Those who follow God's Spirit are children of God. Paul wrote, "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!'" Romans 8:14-15 (NASB).
3. A thug was going to whale on a skinny little fellow who had offended him. The man boldly said, "Your father will have to get permission from my Father, first!" The thug said, "What's my old man got to do with this?" The man said, "Your father is the devil. My Father is God. You can't harm me unless my Father permits it." The thug was so abashed, he turned and walked away. If God is our Father, we are King's Kids and can live with confidence, boldness, assurance, faith, hope, and victory.
4. Certain tribesmen in what was the Congo regarded one particular idol as their spiritual father. The image was kept hidden in a deep pit. The natives were afraid to see the idol. They said, "If we look on the face of our 'father,' we will die." It is so good to know that when we look into the face of our Father as He is made known in Jesus, we do not die but live! The Lord, powerful in battle and mighty to deliver, is not cruel, but tender, compassionate, and forgiving! Isn't it great to know we can have God as our Father?

2. Isn't It Great To Know That Nothing Can Defeat Our Father?
1. The spirit of antichrist that was in the world in John's day is still in the world in our day. He appears in many guises: False religions, persecution, immorality, disobedience. In the final analysis that spirit of antichrist is the spirit of Satan.
   
2. But though that spirit is mighty, he is not almighty. He, the Spirit, that is in the Christian is greater than he, the spirit of antichrist, Satan, that is in the world.
3. No circumstance can defeat our Father; no force of evil can defeat our Father; no enemy can defeat our Father. To all these we can defiantly say, "My Father can whip your father!" Listen to this:
1. God asked Abraham, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" Genesis 18:14 (NLT).
2. "Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 'Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?'" Jeremiah 32:26-27 (NASB).
3. Jesus said, "With God everything is possible." Matthew 19:26 (NLT).
4. We read, "Riches and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and it is at your discretion that people are made great and given strength." 1 Chronicles 29:12 (NLT).
5. And Jesus said, "He is more powerful than anyone else." John 10:29 (NLT).
4. A little boy was standing on a street corner in Eugene. He was crying his eyes out. A friend of mine stopped to see what was wrong. The little boy opened his arms and stuck to his chest was a toy truck. What had happened was that his shirt button got stuck in the toy truck's window and he couldn't get loose. What was difficult for him, was easy for my friend who in a second released the boy from his bondage. Things that overcome, overwhelm and overpower us are not able to stop our Father. Nothing is too difficult for Him. Isn't it great to know that nothing can defeat our Father?

3. Isn't It Great To Know That Our Father Shares The Victory With Us?
1. You know how it is:
1. When one member of a team scores the winning point, the whole team wins! The fans feel that sense of victory, too. When you watch the Dallas Cowboys beat up on the San Francisco 49'ers you shout, "We won!" You, a spectator, actually only share the joy of victory.
2. But when God wins, and He always does, His children actually participate in the victory, too.
3. Many times we read of some military battle won by some Bible hero, but the text says, "The Lord gave the victory." So the warrior shared in the victory that God had actually won.
2. Here's how Paul put it:
1. "What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since God did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won't God, Who gave us Christ, also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? Will God? No! He is the One Who has given us right standing with Himself. Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for He is the One Who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? (Even the Scriptures say, 'For Your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.') No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, Who loved us." Romans 8:31-37 (NLT).
2. "But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 15:54-58 (NASB).
3. I know a fellow who always reads the end of the story so he knows the outcome. There is a song that heralds the triumph we share. The chorus says, "We win! We win! I read the back of the book and we win!" That's more than a song - it's a fact.
4. We have perhaps seen the typical villain in an old melodrama who ties a young maiden to the train tracks. He twists his mustache, rubs his hands together, anticipates his dastardly deed, and at just the critical moment, in rides the dashing hero dispatching the villain and freeing the young maiden. "Curses! Foiled again!" says the villain. "My hero!" says the young maiden. "It was nothing, Ma'am" says the humble hero. But it was something. The villain was beaten. The hero won the day - and so did the young maiden. The villain was routed, the girl saved, and they lived happily ever after. When Satan thinks he has you right where he wants you, when he seems about to gain a final conquest, our Father steps in. Satan slinks sadly away, our Father wins - and so do we! Isn't it great to know that our Father shares the victory with us?

David wrote, "O LORD, I have so many enemies; so many are against me. So many are saying, 'God will never rescue him!' But You, O LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head high. I cried out to the LORD, and He answered me from His holy mountain." Psalms 3:2-4 (NLT). David continues, "I am not afraid of ten thousand enemies who surround me on every side. Arise, O LORD! Rescue me, my God! Slap all my enemies in the face! Shatter the teeth of the wicked! Victory comes from You, O LORD. May Your blessings rest on Your people." Psalms 3:6-8 (NLT). Though all hell array itself against you - single-handedly Jesus can deliver you. He can deliver you from your failures, sins, fears, despair, and sorrows. He has won - so we win too. We can say to the evils of this world, "My Father can whip your father any day - in fact, He's already done it!" And now, you can only experience that victory through surrender. Those who yield to Jesus gain the victory that overcomes the world. Surrender your goals, possessions, will, attitudes, failures, and your life to Him, and you win!

Story of Idol from SermonCentral.com / Thug from "Chic" publications