The God and His Family Series consists of 16 episodes. In the New Testament, one of the most common descriptions of God and his people is that of a family. This series is designed to talk about that relationship in detail.
Jesus introduced the concept that God is three spirits in one – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. From that terminology, God is a family.
Jesus and the New Testament writers often use family terms to describe the relationship between God and his people. They draw on relationships such as: father, children, sons and daughters, and adopted sons and daughters. These relationships not only imbue privileges, but also confer responsibilities.
It’s hard to see in English but Jesus sometimes refers to God as his Father and sometimes as “Daddy.” Part of the Good News of Jesus is that God can also be our Father and Daddy.
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John 3:1 starts the story of Nicodemus coming to see Jesus. Nicodemus says that Jesus is a teacher who has come from God.” Jesus begins a discourse making it plain that he has a different relationship with God and is not just a teacher or prophet who has come from God. Jesus replies, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again…no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.”
Throughout his teachings, Jesus obliquely refers to himself as the Son of God, and often spoke of God as “my Father.” Jesus’s implication that he had an intimate child-father relationship with God was grounds for blasphemy according to the religious leaders.
It appears the early Christians viewed the process of entering the family of God as including the steps of believing in Jesus as the Son of God, repenting, being baptized, and receiving the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, Peter told the potential new believers, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)
