1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000 I'm gonna invite you, if you can join me in the Word of God. 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:14,000 Last Sunday started a series based on the book of Romans chapter 8 called God for us. 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:18,000 And we're going to continue today in verse 14. 4 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,000 If you weren't here last Sunday or maybe you need a refresher, 5 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:28,000 please go back and watch the rebroadcast or the podcast so that you can catch that message. 6 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:35,000 We are digging through, excavating some gems within this chapter. 7 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:47,000 Biblical gems, truth gems for us because this chapter is regarded as by many scholars to be the greatest chapter in the Bible. 8 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:52,000 And you might be convinced of that too when you read it yourself. 9 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:57,000 It's all of our homework. I invite you, I encourage you to read, to study. 10 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:02,000 Take a verse a day or take a few verses a day in your prayer time, your time of meditation. 11 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:08,000 And read through this beautiful chapter of Romans 8. Amen. And you will be blessed. 12 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:14,000 All I can do in these next few weeks is just highlight a few things for you that God has been speaking to me. Amen. 13 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,000 But all of us need to study and let's learn from God's Word. 14 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,000 It reads this way in verse 14. 15 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:28,000 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. 16 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:33,000 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, 17 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:40,000 but you receive the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out of a father. 18 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:50,000 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. 19 00:01:50,000 --> 00:02:01,000 And if children, then heirs. Everyone say heirs. Heirs of God and joined heirs with Christ. 20 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:09,000 If indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. 21 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:15,000 With the help of God's Spirit, I want to preach today on this thought, airborne. 22 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:24,000 Why don't we pray once again? Father, I thank you for your Spirit that's here for moving beautifully, powerfully among your people. 23 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:29,000 Father, for surely your presence has filled this place. 24 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:38,000 And God, as we prepare to hear the Word of the Lord, I ask that you would anoint my fragile lips of clay, God, imperfect and flawed. 25 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,000 Yet you've chosen them to deliver your Word. 26 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:48,000 So be glorified today through me and anoint the hearing of all in this place or those that are watching, 27 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:55,000 that they might receive the Word with gladness and understanding and that all of us would be changed in Jesus' name. 28 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:00,000 Because some would say, amen. You may be seated in God's presence. 29 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:08,000 One of the greatest moments of my life was becoming a father. Amen. 30 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:24,000 There are no words to express the joy that came over me when I first held my children in my arms. 31 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:30,000 As some of you know, there is no other feeling like it in the world. 32 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:34,000 Can I get an amen from somebody out there? Amen. 33 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:40,000 No other feeling. You feel grateful, don't you, in that moment? You feel grateful. You feel blessed. 34 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,000 You feel proud. 35 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:51,000 And I was proud even though they were babies and hadn't done anything yet. 36 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:57,000 Just being my child was enough to be proud. 37 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:08,000 Knowing that my blood, my DNA, that a piece of me was in them was enough to make me smile. 38 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:15,000 Hadn't accomplished anything yet. Hadn't brought home a report card yet. Hadn't hit home run yet. 39 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:20,000 And yet I was proud. Why? Because they were mine. 40 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:24,000 And that's all it took. That's all it took. 41 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:32,000 And maybe that was the sentiment at the Jordan River when Jesus was baptized. 42 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:36,000 Because when he came out of the water, he heard a voice from heaven. 43 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:46,000 And that voice said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. 44 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:51,000 This is an interesting statement from heaven when Jesus was baptized. 45 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:59,000 Because at this point in Jesus' life, he hadn't really started his ministry yet. 46 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:04,000 Hadn't taught one sermon. Hadn't healed one sick person. 47 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:14,000 There wasn't much on his resume. And yet he heard a voice saying, I am well pleased in you. 48 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:23,000 And it was that delight, that pleasure, that joy, that smile from heaven that I think resonates. 49 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:30,000 And every family, as I mentioned, parents today, you could identify with that. 50 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:38,000 And I think that something similar happens when we are born again in water and of spirit. 51 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:48,000 When we take upon the name of God in our lives and we are brought into the family of God. 52 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:56,000 At baptism, we are adopted by God and he becomes our heavenly father. 53 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:03,000 And from that point on, our status changes and it changes everything. 54 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:09,000 From that point on, we become sons and daughters of God. 55 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:16,000 Heirs of God. And joint heirs with Jesus Christ. 56 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:23,000 And this concept of becoming an heir of God, becoming a son of God, 57 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:29,000 is one that is, I want you to know, woven all throughout Scripture. 58 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:38,000 From the very beginning, we see this concept of sonship, being an heir or child of God. 59 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:48,000 From God creating Adam in his image to the Lord calling Israel, the nation of Israel, his firstborn son. 60 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:54,000 And then of course to the church who is adopted into the family of God. 61 00:06:54,000 --> 00:07:02,000 I want you to see that the Bible, if anything, is one great love story about the father of creation, 62 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:06,000 wanting to become father in relation. 63 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:13,000 That God Almighty has always had it in his mind to build himself a family. 64 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:15,000 Somebody say, amen today. 65 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:24,000 This is what God wants. And this is exactly the centerpiece of Paul's message in Romans chapter eight. 66 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,000 This concept of being heirs of God. 67 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:35,000 It is the glue that holds all the precepts and promises together in the Christian life. 68 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:39,000 And once you unlock that understanding, 69 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:50,000 once you have a personal revelation of you being an heir of God or the concept of being a child of God, 70 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:59,000 that is the gateway, that is the beginning to understanding all that is available to us in the Christian life. 71 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:08,000 If you can grasp that today, if you can see that today in your mind's eye, in your spiritual eye, 72 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:18,000 if you can see yourself the way God sees you, it will absolutely revolutionize the way you read Scripture. 73 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:22,000 It will revolutionize the way you live out your life. 74 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:29,000 It will change every aspect of your life right down to the very details of your life. 75 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:36,000 And so what we are looking at today, what we are studying through Romans chapter eight, 76 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:45,000 is really a life altering theological concept about God and how he wants to work through us. 77 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:53,000 It will free us, as I preached about last Sunday, from living under the burden of condemnation 78 00:08:53,000 --> 00:09:00,000 from the law of sin and death and the law of depravity. 79 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:06,000 It will enable us to live a godly life, a holy life. 80 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:10,000 It will enable us to walk by the Spirit. 81 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:16,000 And virtually everything there is to know and experience about Christian living 82 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:22,000 can be wrapped up in this concept of being an heir of God. 83 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:29,000 And so what I would like to do this afternoon is to point out several blessings of being an heir of God. 84 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:36,000 Several blessings of being one of his sons and daughters and what that represents 85 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:40,000 and what that means for us as we seek to do his will. 86 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:43,000 How many of you want to do the will of God in your life? 87 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:45,000 Can you say amen today? 88 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,000 I want to do his will. 89 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:51,000 It's one thing to want it, but you've got to understand where you are. 90 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:55,000 You've got to understand where you are in God's view. 91 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:57,000 And so there are several blessings. 92 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:02,000 I hope to get through all of them today, but we'll begin with the first blessing of being an heir of God. 93 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:08,000 And that is identification or identity. 94 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:12,000 Identity. Paul writes in verse 15, as we get into this, he says, 95 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:19,000 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, 96 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:25,000 but you received the spirit of adoption. 97 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:32,000 And here Paul begins to explain to the church, to the believer, this concept. 98 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:40,000 He he conveys this message about the fact that our identity or our status has been changed. 99 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:53,000 These words convey a change of identity from a slave of sin to a son or from an orphan to a child, an heir of God. 100 00:10:53,000 --> 00:11:05,000 This right here captures the whole essence of what it means to be a believer, what it means to be a Christian, what it means to walk with God. 101 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:11,000 This captures the essence of of why God came to Earth in the first place. 102 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:20,000 It captures the primary purpose for God coming and why the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. 103 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:28,000 Simply put, simply put, God became one of us to make us one of his. 104 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:35,000 Hallelujah. I want to say that again. God became one of us to make us one of his. 105 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:45,000 One other scholar said that the son of God became as the son of man so that the sons of men might become the sons of God. 106 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:57,000 It was always in God's plan, in his plan of redemption to come to the world, to redeem us and reinstate us back into his family. 107 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:02,000 He became like us so that we might become like him. 108 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,000 Otherwise, there would be no other way for us to become like him. 109 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:10,000 No other way for us to be a part of his glorious family. 110 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:16,000 No other way for us to belong to that heavenly host. 111 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,000 So he came. How many of you are glad he came down? Amen. 112 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:24,000 He came down, tabernacled himself among us. 113 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:30,000 He came like us. He sat among us. He dwelt among us. He ate with us. 114 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:33,000 He slept with us. He was with us. 115 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:42,000 And then he died on a cross for our sins to redeem us that we might become the heirs of God. 116 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:52,000 What I have come today to implant in your spirit and to encourage you with is that we are not just anybody. 117 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:59,000 Hallelujah. We are not just a religious gathering of people from all walks of life. 118 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:04,000 Now that might be the case. We are not simply a social club. 119 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:10,000 We are not a group of people who had nothing else better to do on Sunday but to come to church. 120 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:14,000 We are not simply here out of duty and discipline. 121 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:19,000 We are here because we belong to a body. We belong to a family. 122 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:25,000 God has brought us who are far off, near by the blood of the Lamb. 123 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:30,000 And now we are sons and daughters of all mighty God. Clap your hands. 124 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:36,000 And why don't we give God some praise today? 125 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:42,000 Since sin entered the world, there are only two types of spirits I want you to understand. 126 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:49,000 Only two types of spirits that can dominate or govern or better yet define our lives. 127 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:57,000 Two types of spirits. There is the spirit of adoption or the spirit of bondage. 128 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,000 And these are different. These are very different. 129 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:06,000 The spirit of bondage is the orphan spirit or the orphan identity. 130 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:11,000 But the spirit of adoption is the son or daughter identity. 131 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:14,000 It's the adoption identity. 132 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:22,000 And I want you to understand that there are only these two options when it comes to the way we live our life. 133 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:29,000 The way that we perceive God and the way that we apply His word in our life. 134 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,000 There are only these two options. 135 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:38,000 He only gave us the option of the spirit of bondage and the spirit of adoption. 136 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:41,000 And the spirit of bondage is that orphan spirit. 137 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:48,000 I'd like to draw some parallels for you between how is one an orphan and one a son. 138 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:53,000 Orphans tend to see God as a harsh ruler. 139 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:57,000 And the reason is because they don't have a relationship with Him. 140 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:08,000 And so in their minds, God is simply but an authoritarian figure who is ruler and who enacts discipline or judgment. 141 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:12,000 And that's their primary perception of who God is. 142 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:17,000 He is simply a harsh ruler or a dictator. 143 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:24,000 But sons or daughters will see Him as a loving father. 144 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:30,000 And this is the mode. This is what informs their life day to day. 145 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:36,000 Is that they don't deny the fact that God is a judge and that God is a ruler. 146 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:46,000 But their primary way of engaging God or what motivates their life is that He is a loving father. 147 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:54,000 Hallelujah. Orphans are independent minded and afraid to admit their need. 148 00:15:54,000 --> 00:16:01,000 Whereas sons are interdependent and willing to acknowledge need. 149 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:02,000 Hallelujah. 150 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:17,000 I want you to see this contrast. Orphans, the orphan spirit is mostly motivated by fear, by compulsion or purely a sense of duty. 151 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:26,000 Whereas a son is motivated by love and gratitude or a sense of delight. 152 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:34,000 Now, both orphans hear me out today, both orphans and sons may produce similar results in their life. 153 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:39,000 But their motivations are as far apart as the North Pole from the South. 154 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:49,000 Because these two individuals, while they might produce similar results in their life, are living under completely different constructs. 155 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:57,000 One is motivated by fear. One is motivated by just purely not wanting to mess up. 156 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:02,000 One is motivated by just not wanting to go to hell, perhaps. 157 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:08,000 One is motivated by what the consequences would be if I don't do this. 158 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:17,000 One is motivated by compulsion or I have to do this or I have to be obedient with this or I have to go there. 159 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:22,000 I have to give. But the other is motivated by love. 160 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:26,000 And instead of saying I have to, they say I want to. 161 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:34,000 Hallelujah. I want to do this. It is within my love that I want to do. 162 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:45,000 I serve the Lord not because I have to. I serve Him because I'm so grateful for what He has done in my life. 163 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:50,000 Now, of course, the Bible says, let everything that has breath praise the Lord. 164 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:54,000 So I've got good news for you today, or bad news, depending on how you want to look at it. 165 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,000 You're commanded to praise God whether you want to or not. Amen. 166 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:02,000 Because the Bible says, praise Him. It's not a suggestion, it's a command. 167 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:08,000 But I've got good news for you. There's another level of command or another level of praise that you can belong to. 168 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:13,000 It's that I don't praise Him because I have to. I praise Him because I want to. 169 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:19,000 I praise Him because I'm grateful. I praise Him because of who He is in my life. 170 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:23,000 Hallelujah somebody. 171 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:30,000 Orphans are bound, but sons and daughters are found. 172 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:38,000 Which are you today? Maybe parts of your life resemble a son while other parts resemble an orphan. 173 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:41,000 Either way, hear the words of the Lord today. 174 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:49,000 Jesus said, I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. 175 00:18:49,000 --> 00:19:00,000 Whether you feel like a complete spiritual orphan today, or whether there are simply parts of your life that are more orphan-like than they are son or daughter-like, 176 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:04,000 I want you to know that the Spirit of God said, I've come for you today. 177 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:12,000 It is not the will of God that you remain in that orphan spirit of bondage mentality, 178 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:23,000 but it's the will of God that you get up on His lap like a child and come unto Him and experience the loving arms of the loving Father. 179 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:27,000 How many of you want to know Him like a father today? Hallelujah. 180 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:32,000 How many of you are encouraged? He said, I will not leave you as orphans. 181 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:37,000 That's why I came to the world to make you an heir of God. 182 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:46,000 Clap your hands. Let's just thank God today that He didn't leave me as an orphan. 183 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,000 But He calls me His son. 184 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:56,000 And this brings me to the second blessing of being an heir of God, which is the blessing of intimacy. 185 00:19:56,000 --> 00:20:02,000 Now you can't have this intimacy without the identity. 186 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:05,000 And so these blessings today are in sequential order. 187 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:10,000 I want you to understand that. These are not randomly in order. These are in sequence. 188 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,000 We want to have intimacy, but you need to get the identity. 189 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:18,000 You can't get true intimacy with God until you've first been born again, filled with the Spirit. 190 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,000 And then that now changes your status as a son. 191 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:24,000 Now you can enter into this phase of intimacy. 192 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:31,000 He writes in verse 15, but you receive the spirit of adoption. 193 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:44,000 By whom we cry out, Abba, father, becoming heirs of God grants us this special access to His presence. 194 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:48,000 We now are permitted. 195 00:20:48,000 --> 00:21:05,000 We now are enabled to enter into a holy space, a sacred space, a space where God dwells so that we might know Him in intimate fashion, 196 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:11,000 that He might be our Father and we His children. 197 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:15,000 And this is first indicated by the words, we cry out. 198 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:21,000 Some, someone say cry out. We can cry out. God can hear. 199 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:27,000 I want you to understand that, that when you are a true child of God, God has ears. 200 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:33,000 I don't even know God has ears. You know, I don't know if they look like these ears, but, but He's got ears because He's a spirit being, 201 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:38,000 but He's got ears that He can hear. God can hear the cry. 202 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:49,000 And in order for God to hear or for anybody to hear, they must be within proximity to hear that call or that cry. 203 00:21:49,000 --> 00:22:02,000 And so this idea that we can cry out to God, that we can call Him and He hears us, provides great comfort and consolation to me, 204 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:12,000 that every time I call on Him, I know that there is someone, Jesus, who is listening to my prayer. 205 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:24,000 Amen, somebody. Every time that I call upon Him, I have the assurance, hallelujah, that He's picking up the phone on the other line. 206 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:34,000 Oh my God, I get excited about this. No wonder Jesus taught us in His model prayer to pray our Father, which art in heaven. 207 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:45,000 Because when we approach God in prayer, in our time of need, or just to converse with Him, or just to worship Him, we are to come to Him. 208 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:50,000 If He wanted us to come to Him as a ruler, He would have said, our ruler. 209 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:56,000 If He wanted us to come to Him as a healer, then He would have said, say, my healer. 210 00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:03,000 But God said, primarily, when you come to me, I want you to approach me as our Father. 211 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:13,000 And what that tells me is that we have a benevolent God. We have a loving God. We have a God who wants to be known. 212 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:28,000 He says, draw nigh to me, and I'll draw nigh to you. I come to tell somebody today that we have a gracious, good, ever-loving Father that invites us into His presence, 213 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:35,000 that we might know Him in a deeper, more profound way than we ever have before. 214 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:46,000 And this concept of Him being our Father is some, for many of us, perhaps elementary. But I need you to understand that there are levels to this. 215 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:54,000 Because if you look at one of my favorite parables, which I've referenced not too long ago, last week of the prodigal, a son, 216 00:23:54,000 --> 00:24:00,000 don't forget that there were two sons in the house. But one had a son spirit, and the other had an orphan spirit. 217 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:06,000 We can be in the same house. We can all claim to have the same Father. 218 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:15,000 But not everyone in the same house claiming to have the same Father is enjoying the same degree of intimacy with Him. 219 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:23,000 But God doesn't want you to stay far from Him. Some of you are only one repented prayer away from getting closer to God. 220 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:28,000 Some of you are only one submitted act away from getting closer to the Father. 221 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:35,000 Man, I'm running out of time. Some of you are only one worship away from getting into access into His presence. 222 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:45,000 But when you do, you can say, Abba, Father. That word Abba is significant. It is special. It is personal to you. 223 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:53,000 And to me, the word Abba means Papa or Dad. Some scholars say it means Daddy. 224 00:24:53,000 --> 00:25:06,000 When you come to Him, He's not just this hard figure, this distant and stoic figure who doesn't show any affection or emotion. 225 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:17,000 But He is, He's Dad. He's not just Father, because one can be a father and not necessarily be a dad. Oh, hallelujah. 226 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:26,000 One can father a child, but it doesn't make them a dad. But I've come to tell you, we don't just have a father. 227 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:38,000 We've got a daddy. And anytime we need something and anytime we want to talk to Him, we can just get on our knees and say, Dad, here I am again. 228 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:49,000 I need you now, Dad. I love you, Father. How many of you are thankful today to have a father in heaven like that? 229 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:55,000 That's the kind of father He is. And you know, it does something to God when you approach Him this way. 230 00:25:55,000 --> 00:26:02,000 It does something to God. Some people think, oh, I don't think I can change His mind. You absolutely can change things. 231 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:10,000 Absolutely. I'll give you the perfect example. You know, whenever my daughter comes to me and she, oh, man, it's like she knows the passcode to my heart. 232 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:19,000 Let me tell you. And as she tells me, Daddy, oh, my goodness, my heart begins to melt. She can have anything she wants. 233 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:27,000 She can, oh, my Lord, I am in trouble when she says, Daddy. I just like, oh, my Lord, I feel so powerless. 234 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:36,000 And you know, and it's hard to tell her no, because she comes and she says, Daddy, just hearing those words, do I got to witness something? 235 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:44,000 Maybe some of you know what I'm talking about. It's like, oh, there you go saying, Daddy, what do you want? 236 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:49,000 And she says, Daddy, I just can't resist. I can't resist. 237 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:57,000 You know, and then she shows me the Amazon link and I'm like, ah. 238 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:04,000 See, now, back in the days, they were taking the toys to rest. Now they bring in the Amazon link. 239 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:11,000 I said, OK. I said, I see what you're trying to do to me. But you know what happens? Most times I fall for it. 240 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:18,000 I fall for it. And there's a part of me that says, you know what? Just by the way you approach me, I might bless you in advance. 241 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:28,000 It's not even your birthday yet. And I might bless you anyways, simply because the way that you love the affection, the respect that you show me, 242 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:32,000 the fact that you came to me tells me you know that I can give it to you. 243 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:44,000 Oh, my Lord. Hallelujah. Where did Jesus say you have not because you asked now what things has God been waiting for you to ask for that you simply haven't asked? 244 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:53,000 I don't know what God's gonna say. He's gonna tell me no. How do you know this might not be the day that God said, I dare you if you would just call me your father 245 00:27:53,000 --> 00:28:03,000 and say this is what I need from you. How do you know that today might not be the day that God says, all right, I'm ready to bless you. 246 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:09,000 Oh, hallelujah. I'm almost done here. Come on up, brother, because this is the heart of God. 247 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:17,000 Let me tell you something. Do you know that God wants to bless you? Whoo, man. I'm gonna say it again, because I got like a make four amens when I said that. 248 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:27,000 Let me say it again, because let me tell you, if you don't want your blessing, honey, I'll take it. Okay. I said God wants to bless you. Whoo, much better. 249 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:35,000 And do you know that God has more than one way to bless you? You think it's all fine? It's not just money, my brother. There are some things that money can't buy. 250 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:48,000 Oh, my Lord. There's other things. There are so many ways in which God can bless, fulfill your life, and he simply wants us to come to him with that type of innocence. 251 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:57,000 And I'm going to bring this. I'm going to share with you. There were several more. Maybe I'll come back to this message again. 252 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:06,000 Maybe we'll continue it in a couple of weeks, but there's just this one point about the blessing of being a child of God. 253 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:14,000 I want to miss. So take me to point number four, which is inheritance. Inheritance. 254 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:20,000 Because after all, I entitled this message airborne. 255 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:40,000 There's a there's something about being an heir of God that makes you the lawful, rightful recipient of all that God has to offer you as his child. 256 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:52,000 Notice for 17 and if children. If you are truly a child of God, I've got to correct a misnomer that people have in the world today when they say, oh, everybody, we're all children of God. 257 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:56,000 Some people say that about the world. Well, the whole world, you know, we're just all God's children. 258 00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:02,000 That's not what the verse says. There's certain criteria that has to be met to be a child of God. 259 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:18,000 But if you are a child and if children. Then errors, errors of God and joint errors with Christ. 260 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:33,000 I was thinking about the situation in life where a man who may have an inheritance to pass on to his children. 261 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:50,000 There comes a point when that man dies that his last will and testament is read to his successors or the inheritors. 262 00:30:50,000 --> 00:31:06,000 That that that last will and testament that inheritance is not activated until the predecessor dies. 263 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,000 Once that person dies. 264 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,000 And the last will and testament is read. 265 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:21,000 Then it is activated. Someone has to die for the inheritance to be enforced. 266 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:30,000 Well, let me tell you, two thousand years ago, there is a man by the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. 267 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:40,000 Went up on that hill called Calvary and shed his blood and died for us. 268 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:45,000 Amen. He died for us. Somebody say, man. 269 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:50,000 And he rose again on the third day. He didn't stay dead, but he died. 270 00:31:50,000 --> 00:32:00,000 And when Jesus died, the Bible says when he was on the cross that the veil in the temple. 271 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:09,000 What separated the outer court from the Holies of Holies, which is where the presence of God dwell. 272 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:16,000 This veil was rent or rent from the top to the bottom. 273 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:22,000 The doors were opened. The veil was torn. 274 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:33,000 And from that point on, there was this inheritance that was made available to God's children. 275 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:39,000 Christ's last will and testament is available to us. 276 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:46,000 Christ's testament is right here. It's called the New Testament. 277 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:53,000 And his will can be found in his testament. My God, hallelujah. 278 00:32:53,000 --> 00:33:01,000 I want to know the will of God. You can discover the will of God for your life in the testament. 279 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:08,000 My Lord. And the testament is where all the terms and the conditions are spelled out. 280 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:13,000 Everything is there ready and available. Read Ephesians. 281 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:20,000 It says every spiritual blessing is for us, his children. 282 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:25,000 I want you to understand that God has an inheritance of blessing. 283 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:29,000 God has a life that he's called all of us to live. 284 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:32,000 And there are things that God wants to do in our life. 285 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:35,000 But here's the thing about inheritance. 286 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:43,000 The inheritance, just because it belongs to you, doesn't mean you get it on day one. 287 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:54,000 Because if a child does not demonstrate the maturity and does not demonstrate the ability to handle the full inheritance, 288 00:33:54,000 --> 00:34:04,000 many times the trust will stipulate not until they reach this certain age can they get access to their inheritance, 289 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:11,000 not until they maybe get this part of their life in order can they access their inheritance. 290 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:16,000 And all they may get is just little doses of what belongs to them. 291 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:21,000 What I've come to tell somebody here right now is that there are treasures in heaven. 292 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:25,000 There is an inheritance. There are blessings available. 293 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:32,000 There are miracles. There are promises available to all of us here today in some form or fashion. 294 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:37,000 But you may not get everything that God has for you on day one. 295 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:45,000 You may have to work on your maturity so that you're ready for whatever blessing God has for your life. 296 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,000 Oh, I need somebody to help me here today. 297 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:52,000 You may not be ready for everything that God wants to do. 298 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:56,000 You may not be in a place mentally and spiritually. 299 00:34:56,000 --> 00:35:05,000 You might not. I know you think you're ready, but in God's estimation, you may not be ready for everything that he wants to do. 300 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:12,000 So what I need to do today and what we need to do today is say, God, help me to walk in your will, 301 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:22,000 because the only way I get access to my inheritance in you is if I'm walking in the will, which is outlined in the testament. 302 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:28,000 Oh, I need somebody to stand on their feet today as we give God the glory and the thanks. 303 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:34,000 I don't know about you, my friend, but I want what God has for me. 304 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:37,000 Is there somebody here today that believes the same? 305 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:41,000 I said, is there somebody here today that believes the same? 306 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:43,000 Anybody here waiting on a promise from God? 307 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,000 Come on, let me hear you right now. 308 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,000 Come on. I said, let me hear you right now. 309 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:51,000 Is there anybody in this place that's waiting on a promise from God? 310 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:55,000 I'm waiting on God to move. I'm waiting on God to work. 311 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:57,000 I'm waiting on my answer to come. 312 00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,000 This is what I know. 313 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:10,000 If I walk in his will and I stay in his word, my heavenly father will bless me as an heir of God. 314 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:15,000 Oh, hallelujah. Our God is so good. 315 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,000 He is so blessed. 316 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:20,000 He owns the cattle on a farm. 317 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:23,000 I wish I had some help here today. Help me out, musicians. 318 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:25,000 I said, our God is so good. 319 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:27,000 Come on, put me up right now. 320 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:32,000 I said, has he been good to you? 321 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:37,000 Oh, I said, has he been good to you? 322 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:42,000 I don't know what kind of God you serve, but I know this. 323 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:51,000 My God has been good to me, but I also know that the best is still yet to come. 324 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:54,000 My God, my God, my God. 325 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,000 Oh, I need to help somebody right now. 326 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,000 I need to help somebody right now. 327 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:07,000 I know that God's got more in store for me than what I'm experiencing today. 328 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:21,000 I have not seen, ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things that the Lord has prepared for his church. 329 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:25,000 I don't know about you, but I'm waiting on greater revival. 330 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:29,000 I don't know about you, but I'm waiting on greater miracles. 331 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:38,000 I don't know about you, but I'm waiting for the salvation of my family, for the restoration of my family. 332 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:44,000 I don't know about you, but I'm still waiting on God to do some things in my life. 333 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:50,000 And there is no devil in hell. 334 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:56,000 I feel the Holy Ghost in this place today. 335 00:37:56,000 --> 00:38:06,000 There is no devil in hell that can defraud you, that can take what belongs to you as an heir of God. 336 00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:14,000 What's yours is yours, but you've got to get some faith in your spirit today. 337 00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:24,000 You've got to believe with all of your heart and claim that which belongs to you. 338 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:29,000 Oh, I guess I'm not talking to anybody that needs a miracle in your life. 339 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:33,000 I guess I'm not talking to anybody who wants more of what God has. 340 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:38,000 I don't know about you, but I'm ready for what God has for me. 341 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:40,000 I'm ready to step into it. 342 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:42,000 I'm ready for it. 343 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:48,000 I dare somebody right now, give God some glory, give God some praise. 344 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:51,000 Lift up your voices, lift up your hands. 345 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,000 Hallelujah! 346 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,000 Come on and praise Him. 347 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,000 Come on, somebody praise Him. 348 00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:12,000 Oh, hallelujah!