Well, good morning, church. I'm not John. Some
of you are like, what? I thought he was back.
He is back, but listen, we are a team here, and
it is never about one person on this stage. It
is about one person. His name is Jesus. And so
it's not about the person that's up here. Yeah.
It is about a team, and we actually have a plethora
of communicators that are able to communicate
God's word, and some of them even use the word
plethora on stage. Okay, so, you know, you're
in good hands. But, hey, you guys are looking
good today. Turn to the person next to you and
say, you're looking good today. Okay, now turn
to the other person and say, sorry, you're my
second choice, but you're looking good too. Good,
good, good, good. Oh man, I just want to welcome
you guys today, welcome you into the church,
into God's house so we can open God's word. I
want to welcome those of you online, out in Baghdad
and Paulding. I want to welcome, special shout
out to Gavin and Brody watching in the Bay Area
in California right now. Yeah, give it up for
them. Anyone in here tired of the book of Galatians
yet? Good, good. I'm glad you said no, because
we're in week six and we got more weeks to come.
And man, I love this. And I can just imagine
as this letter was going to the church in Galatia,
right, there was multiple churches in there.
We think in the 21st century, the American church
invented multi -site. Nope. There was multiple
churches in Galatia, and what they would do is
they would have this letter that Paul wrote be
read to the church, and they would hear this
letter. And I can imagine them, as their eyes
are getting wider and wider, listening to what
Paul has to say. Like, did he just say that about
us? And that's where they are listening to the
words that Paul has here. And we're going to
pick up in chapter 3, verse 26. It says this.
So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God
through faith. For all of you who are baptized
into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave
nor free, nor is there male and female, for you
are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to
Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs
according to the promise. There is one Christ
and we are one in Christ. I had the opportunity
to go to the Dominican Republic and to go with
a group from Heights, and it was an absolutely
incredible trip. It was amazing as we got to
serve people, as we got to just talk about God,
and we got to pray for people, and just so much
to talk about there. And we learned so many things,
but one of the lessons that I learned, probably
the clearest of the lessons, is I learned that
my high school Spanish class failed me, okay?
I'm just saying, like, I had no clue what anyone
was saying the whole time. I'm like, huh? I know
like 10 Spanish words. I know taco, burrito,
carne, pollo. There's a theme here. Some of you
are like, bro, you need to chill and hit the
gym. I know, okay, I'm saying, I know. But man,
I couldn't understand what they were saying.
And for a lot of the Dominicans, they didn't
speak English. And so there was kind of this
language barrier. We had some translators and
we were able to do that. But I mean, I remember
we went to this church service. And as we're
at this church service, they're worshiping and
they're singing and they're singing in Spanish
because that is their language, but they sing
songs that we know. And so we're there and we
were singing in English and they were singing
in Spanish. And I'm just looking at this room
and I'm seeing this happen. And I just think,
man, this is a picture of heaven. All right,
all different tongues, all different nations
praising the same God. Coming together and we
have so many differences, but we're praising
the same God. We have one spirit, we have one
God, and we have so much in common. But what
happens is that sometimes we have a problem of
focusing on the differences instead of the similarities.
And we have this thing called prejudices that
come up in our life that is a human problem that
we deal with. And it's not just a problem that
we deal with nowadays, because Paul is writing
directly to it here. And what he's saying is
you guys are focusing on the differences instead
of focusing on the similarities. And he uses
things like Jew versus Gentile. He's speaking
against racism. He uses things like slave versus
free. He's speaking against classism. He says
male and female. He's speaking against sexism.
And what he's saying is when you focus on differences,
all you see is differences. But when you focus
on the right things, you see the right things.
I moved to Arizona about four years ago. And
when I moved here, I was like, man, it is really
hot. I don't know if I can handle this. It's
so hot in Arizona. And there's a stock line that
everyone says, say, yeah, it's hot, but it's
a dry heat. Yeah, no, it's a hot heat, bro. Like,
I don't know what you're talking about. You can
throw that word around. It's a dry heat. This
is dry. No, it's hot, right? It's a hot heat,
that's for sure. Dry heat, you kidding me? Then
I went to the Dominican Republic for 10 days.
Well, I'm telling you right now, well, on Monday
we got off the plane. It was 110 degrees in Phoenix
and it was refreshing. I was like, this is wonderful.
Like we were just drenched the whole time we
were there and sweat the whole time. It was like
you jumped in a pool with your clothes on, but
you weren't in a pool. As you walk up to someone
and you're like, how are you doing? What is that?
Like we're just sweating the whole time, man.
It was hot. And as we were out serving, we would
go and we were delivering food to people and
we were praying for people and we were running
camps for kids and we were doing all this amazing
ministry. And it was incredible how we would
get to the end of the day and we'd sweat the
whole time. But man, as we were focused on doing
all these other things, we didn't realize that
it was hot at all. When you focus on the right
things, you see the right things. But then there
were some times where we would just get together
as a group and go, man, look how sweaty you are.
Look how sweaty I am. And it's really hot here.
And we start focusing on the temperature. We
start focusing on how hot it is. And we forgot
that we were even there to serve because all
we saw was the heat that we were in. When you
focus on the wrong things, when you focus on
the differences, you see differences. But when
you focus on the right thing, you see the right
thing. It says in Philippians 4, verse 8. Finally,
brothers and sisters, whatever's true, whatever's
noble, whatever's right, whatever's pure, whatever's
lovely, whatever's admirable, if anything is
excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.
That's what you focus on. Listen, we don't have
a racism, classism, or sexism problem. We have
a focus problem. And when we focus on the differences,
all we see is differences. But when we focus
on the right thing, we see the right things.
The right thing is focusing on Jesus. Jesus is
our common ground. Jesus is the common ground
that we have with everybody to circle around.
It doesn't matter if they are in the same class
as you. It doesn't matter if they're male or
female. It doesn't matter what race or religion
they even are. Jesus is the common ground that
we can bring people to. If they believe in Jesus,
there's a common ground. That's what we bring
people to. And we have to understand that that
is what we come to. And what it says here on
how to do it is clothe yourself with Christ.
Clothe yourself. With Christ. My youngest daughter
right now, she's three, and she is in the dress
herself phase. All right, parents, you know what
I'm talking about. All right, she'll come out
of her room and she's like, I'm ready to go.
And she's wearing like a bathing suit with cowgirl
boots and snow gloves. And I'm like, you ain't
ready to go, kid. You know what I'm saying? Like,
we're not leaving the house like that. She's
like, no, I'm ready. I'm good. And I'm like,
why are you wearing that? She's like, I don't
know. I'm like, but you're the one who put it
on. It didn't happen by accident, right? You
don't just accidentally put some on. None of
you left the house today and were like, would
you look at that? I got clothes on. There is
intentionality for you to clothe yourself, which
by the way, I'm very happy about. I'm glad you
made a great choice today by putting clothes
on to come to church, okay? Just saying, good
choice. But it didn't happen by accident. There's
intentionality to clothe yourself. But I think
a lot of times, while we will spend time clothing
ourself here, we won't clothe ourself with Jesus.
And Paul's saying, if you're gonna move forward
in understanding what matters and focusing on
the right thing, you have to clothe yourself
with Jesus, which takes intentionality. It takes
you to go, okay, I'm intentionally clothing myself
with him. And Paul's saying, you gotta get this.
This is so important because we are family. And
what Paul says next is going, this is important
because we are this family and there's some implications
for being a part of this family. He says this,
it goes in Galatians chapter four. Four, verse
one, we made it to chapter four. Say, whoop,
whoop. Some of you weren't excited that we made
it to chapter four. Come on, that's a big deal.
He says this, he says, I am saying, what I'm
saying here is that as long as an heir is underage,
he is no different from a slave. Although he
owns the whole estate, the heir is subject to
guardians and trustees until the time is set
by his father. He's saying you might own this,
right? You might have this as your inheritance,
but until you reach, you come of age, it doesn't
matter. And what Paul is doing is he's setting
up this next analogy. He's saying you have to
understand this, and let me tell you what that
means. Verse three, so also, he's gonna compare
it. So also, when we were under age, we were
in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces
of the world. We followed the world. But when
the set time had fully come, God sent his son,
born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem
those under the law, that we might receive adoption
to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent
the spirit of his son into our hearts, the spirit
who calls out, Abba, Father. So you are no longer
a slave, but God's child. And since you are God's
child, God has made you also an heir. that you
have been adopted into God's family. Growing
up, my aunt and uncle, they were unable to have
kids and they spent years trying to have kids
and they couldn't. And I remember every night.
I would pray and just pray, God, please give
them a baby. Give them a kid. And it was a struggle
for them for years and years. And my aunt, because
it was such a struggle for her, she had such
a heart for the pro -life movement. And so she
was always working with people and trying to
help saying, listen, I can't have a baby. Please
save this baby. And she would go in front of
abortion clinics. And as women were walking in,
she would stop them and she would talk to them.
And she'd say, hey, if you continue through with
this pregnancy, I will take your baby and I will
adopt it. And I have four cousins that were saved.
I have four cousins named Paul and Vida. Vida,
which means life in Spanish. And Jack and Lucy.
And man, it's incredible to see them. And as
we sit around as a family, when we sit with them,
we look at them and they're a part of our family.
They're not just like, oh, well, you get to sit
off to the side. No, they're a part of our family.
But even more than that, man, they were destined
for death. They were literally on a course for
death until someone stepped in and said, no,
I will save you and I will adopt you to be a
part of my family. And that is you and my story
because you were on a course for death until
Jesus stepped in and said, I want to adopt you
to be a part of my family. I want to bring you
into my family. And that's what this is. You
are no longer a slave, but you are an adopted
child. You were no longer a slave, you were an
adopted child. And this idea, what it says here,
it says it's adopted to sonship. And this is
a concept that in this world that these people
were reading this letter would have understood,
but for us, when we think of adoption, we think
this idea of sonship, we think of it as just
a relational status, but this was actually a
legal status. And when we think of adoption,
a lot of times we think of babies, we think of
children, but this was actually a grown adult
that would be adopted into sonship. And if you
know anything about adults, what happens to adults
is we accrue some debt, right? We build up some
debt. We're good at that. And so what this adoption
into sonship meant is it meant that old debts
were canceled and a new identity was received.
You were given full rights as a part of this
family, full rights and inheritance, full rights
in everything, and your old debts were canceled
so that you could receive a new identity. Listen,
your old debts have been canceled. You've been
adopted to sonship. Your old burdens, your old
pain, the old brokenness, the old things that
you went and you did that built up a barrier
between you and God have been canceled so that
you could be given full standing rights as a
son or daughter of God. That is what it means.
That's what he's saying here is he's understanding
this. And I think in the church world, sometimes
we don't understand the true impact of this because
we get this one thing wrong. And I'm gonna say
this statement that maybe... make you go, wait
a sec, is that true? But I'm gonna explain it.
Not everyone is a child of God. And we like to
say, well, everyone's a child of God. God created
everyone, he loves everyone, and that is true.
He created everyone, he loves everyone. But not
everyone is a child of God. In fact, before Jesus,
you were an enemy of God with an invitation to
sonship. You were an enemy with an invitation
to sonship. And listen, that's not cruel to say
that, that's even more beautiful. Because you
and I and everyone was an enemy of God. but was
given an invitation to sonship. And that's incredible.
That's incredible. It brings a lot more light
to when Jesus was walking around teaching and
Jesus said things like, love your enemies. Because
when we hear that, we're like, oh, I'll just
do something nice for my enemy. What he's really
saying is go to your enemy and say, hey, I wanna
adopt you into my family. So we're like, I'm
not doing that. But guess what? That's what Jesus
did with you because you were his enemy. And
he extended an invitation to sonship and say,
no, I want you to be a part of my family. I want
you to bring you into this and I want you to
understand what it means to be a part of my family.
And Paul continues saying, this is what it means.
Verse eight, he says, formerly, when you did
not know God, when you were an enemy of God,
you were slaves to those who by nature are not
gods. You were slaves to the things of this earth.
But now, now that you know God or rather are
known by God, I mean, come on, I love that. That's
a mic drop moment right there. You think you
know God? No, God knows you, right? He says,
so then how is it that you are turning back to
those weak and miserable forces? Why are you
going back to the same things? Do you wish to
be enslaved by them all over again? He's like,
you're observing these special days and months
and seasons and years. You're going back to it.
All right, what he's telling them is something
that we need to listen to. Don't go back to your
old ways. Live into the promise of who God has
called you to be. Don't go back to the old ways.
Don't go back to your old brokenness. Don't go
back to those old same things. Live into what
God has called you to be. One of the things on
the trip that we got to take that was such a
blessing for us is that we got to break some
of the habits that we formed here in the US that
a lot of times we don't even know are happening,
but are really unhealthy habits. I don't think
we realize how tied we are to our devices, specifically
our phones. And as we went on this trip, we made
it very clear to our group, hey, listen, we are
here to do ministry and we are here to be present.
And for 10 days on this trip, we weren't glued
to our phones. We weren't scrolling for no reason.
We were present. We were doing ministry. We were
having conversations. We were relational. All
these things were happening. It was just incredible
because we weren't stuck to the thing that was
tying us down before. And we got to break those
and it was amazing. But as we got back on the
plane and as we started heading home, we were
in the airport and I look around, man. And I
see some of our people, including myself, just
scrolling mindlessly, just doom scrolling for
no reason, man. What am I doing? Why am I doing
this? I'm going exactly back to the old ways.
And I think a lot of us in our life, we do that
exact same thing. Yes, I follow you, Jesus, and
I'm going, but then all of a sudden we go right
back to our old ways. We go right back to the
same issues, the same things. We go back to the
old patterns of our living. And we try to get
life from something that was never supposed to
give you life. instead of realizing that we have
life in Christ. Don't go back to being a slave.
Live into the promise who God has called you
to be. Sometimes we're telling ourself the wrong
messages. You need to start telling yourself
who you're becoming, not who you were. Don't
tell yourself who you were. Don't even tell yourself
about your shortcomings now. Speak life and tell
yourself who you're becoming. Tell yourself your
identity you have in Christ. What if we spoke
life to not only ourself, but the people around
us instead of telling people where they are,
tell them who they're becoming. This is who you're
becoming in Christ. Focus on their potential
and their God -given identity, not their past
brokenness, not their current failures. What
Paul says here is he say, don't go back to your
old ways. And then he says this in that verse
10 is he said, you are observing special days
and months and seasons and years. And I think
there's two, that he could mean here. We don't
know specifically, but there's two theories of
what Paul means when he talks about these months
and seasons and years that they are observing.
And I think we can learn from both theories.
The first theory is this, is that Paul's saying,
hey, don't go back to your old ways. You're observing
all these things. He's saying you're observing
these holidays and you're doing these things
as obligation to try to prove your worth to God
instead of realizing that you already have it.
You're trying to be more Jewish than you are
a follower of Jesus. And he's saying, you don't
need to go back to that. Why are you doing that?
Don't do those things. You've left that. And
I think we can learn from that because a lot
of us, we go right back to those things and Jesus
is going, no, no, no, hey, I already freed you
from that. I already freed you from that and
you're going right back to something that you
were doing before that you don't need to do.
There's something else. But I think the other
thing that Paul could have meant here as he was
writing this is he was saying, hey, don't go
back to your old ways. You observe these seasons,
these months, and these years. And you have to
understand that the point of observing these
seasons and months and years were for remembering
what God had done. It was things like Passover,
to remember what God had done in Egypt where
he passed over and he let them escape from slavery
and brought them into freedom. And they set aside
time in their life to remember what God had done
in the past. And he's going, hey, if you set
aside time to remember this, you've been through
this, you've done this, and why are you going
back to your old ways? Because you remember what
God has freed you from. I think sometimes we
need to remember what God has freed us from.
Sometimes we go back and you need to understand
that the God that freed you in the past can free
you in the future. The same God that did things
in your past can do things in your future. But
we get caught up in this thing of going, oh,
this trial that I'm facing is just really hard
right now. I don't know how I'm gonna get through
it when God's going, hey, I already got you through
it. And if I got you through it before, I can
get you through it again. I get caught in this
trap all the time. I get caught in this trap
when it comes to my finances of being like, man,
I don't know, this is a really tough spot. I
don't know how I'm gonna get through this. And
God has to remind me, listen, every single time
you've been in this situation before, I've got
you through it. You've never gone hungry. Your
kids have never gone hungry. I've always provided
and it comes in so many different ways. I can't
even begin to tell you the just insane ways that
God has provided throughout our life. But every
time I encounter a new situation, I go, I don't
know, I don't know. And I forget to remember
what God has done for me in the past. Every time
you face a temptation, you go, I don't know how
I'm gonna get through this temptation. The same
God that brought you through the last one can
bring you through the next one. And we have to
remind ourself because when we remind ourself
what God has done, it keeps us from going back
to where we were. And what he's telling him here
is he's saying, hey, this is really important.
This is important for you to understand this
because I don't want you to go back to who you
were before. And then Paul continues in this
chapter, verse 11 through 31, which I'm not gonna
read to you, but I'm gonna tell you what he says.
He gives him an example of what this is like.
And he gives him the example from Abraham, where
Abraham was promised from God that he would have
many, many heirs. He would be the father of many
nations. And Abraham goes, there's a problem
with that because I don't have one kid. And he
goes, no, I'm promising you there's gonna be
one. And so as Abraham's walking through this,
his wife Sarah's going out, why don't you just
sleep with my slave and then you can have a kid.
And so he did and he forced his will instead
of trusting God's will, but God still came through
and him and Sarah ended up having a kid. So now
he has two kids. One is a slave and one is free.
And Paul uses this as an example in this letter
to the Galatians to say the difference between
a slave and a free. And he's saying, you don't
live like a slave, live free. And for that context,
they would understand this and that would really
land for them as an example of what this means.
But I think a better example for our context
is the idea of someone who's in foster care.
I may be somebody who grew up in foster care
and has bounced from house to house, just following
the right rules so that they can get by. Never
belonging, never having a place where they actually
belong, but just going from one place to the
next and going as long as I make it through,
that's okay. And I got to follow the right rules
so that I make it through. And then maybe this
person who's bounced around finds himself in
their teenage years and then they get adopted
into a house, into a place where they don't have
to follow the rules to be liked, to be loved,
to make it through, but they've actually been
given a true identity. They've been given a place
in the family and they go, no, no, I belong here.
This is who I am because I'm not just stopping
by, but I actually belong and I have an identity.
And this is not about rules and freedom. It's
about identity. It's about living as a son and
living as a son means operating from belonging,
not striving for acceptance. All right, it's
a difference between, oh, I obey so I will be
loved and I am loved so I will obey. It's understanding
who we are in Jesus' church. If you're taking
notes, write this down. When you know you're
part of God's family, you live like you're part
of God's family. When you know where your identity
is, when you know you're a part of God's family,
it changes the way that you live your life. It
changes what you do in your life because when
you're a part of God's family and you know it,
you live like it. What does that look like? Versus
this is you grasp your identity. You grasp your
identity. That means that you have confidence
in God's love. I stopped trying to earn God's
approval. You're not trying to earn God's approval.
You're trying to live from a place of acceptance.
This is one of the things that I struggle with
the most. If I'm honest, it's been a struggle
my entire life. And my parents did a wonderful
job when I was a kid of telling me that I was
loved no matter what. But there was something
wired inside of me that I felt like if I performed,
then I could gain acceptance. I could gain love.
And growing up, it was... Through sports, it
was through baseball for me. And if I was good
enough at baseball, then I would be accepted
by the people around me. If I could prove that
I was good enough with what I did, then people
would love me. People would see me the right
way. Then I would have acceptance. And it carried
over to when I got into ministry. And as I got
into ministry, I found myself in places where
I would be speaking to large crowds and it would
be incredible. And I'd get off stage and I would
go, I need a bigger stage. It wasn't enough because
I'm trying to prove my worth to not just the
people around me, but I'm trying to prove my
worth to God. God, if I'm just good enough for
you, then you'll accept me. And I would go speak
at a conference and it would be incredible. And
as soon as I'd get done, I'd go, well, I need
to get booked at a bigger conference. And I would
write something on the internet and it would
go out and a lot of people would view it. And
it felt really good until I realized it's not
enough and I need some more people to view it.
And I need to write the next thing and I need
to do more because that's where I'm gonna get
my acceptance and that's where I'm gonna get
my love. And I was trying to earn the acceptance
of not only people, but I was trying to earn
the acceptance of God because I did not understand
where my identity came from. Listen, your identity
is in Jesus. You have to grasp your identity
if you know that you are adopted into God's family.
Then you live like you're a part of God's family
by understanding your identity. It's not out
of obligation. It's out of belonging. You belong
to his family. You don't need to earn acceptance.
You've been given acceptance into God's family.
Next is this. We know you're part of God's family.
You live like you're a part of God's family.
And that means you know your inheritance. You
know your inheritance. As a part of God's family,
you are an heir. You have an inheritance in him.
And that means that you're able to invest in
eternal things. You act like you're a part of
God's kingdom. When you understand your inheritance,
that means that you are building into God's kingdom.
That means that you are serving in God's kingdom.
That means that you are giving to God's kingdom.
That means that you are loving just absolutely
generously because of God's kingdom. And one
of the things that we got to do in the Dominican,
as soon as we landed in the Dominican, we went
to the church and we started packing up some
groceries. We packed up some groceries and we
went to deliver them to homes. And we deliver
them to homes and we would pray for people. And
we went to the first home that we went to to
deliver groceries. An elderly lady, she was probably
87 or 88 years old. And we got to her house.
And for us in the US, we think of a house and
it's totally different. I mean, it's just a concrete
slab with some plywood walls and you can really
see through those cracks in the walls to where
you can see through the whole house. She invited
us in, we went in her house and everything was
dirty, just a coating of dirt over everything.
And as we're in this home, we're watching this
and we're delivering her this food. Literally,
this might be the only source of food that she's
going to get is us delivering this to her. And
we found out she was a believer. And so we prayed
for her. We prayed for her family. We prayed
for her neighborhood. And then we went on and
we delivered to the next house and the next house.
And over and over, we saw these stories of this,
being able to just bless these families and to
pray with these families. And later that evening,
we go to church and they have church like every
night in the Dominican, right? That's how they
roll. It's awesome. And we get there, and as
we get to this church, man, I'm preaching at
that church that night, and I just gotta tell
you, I love you guys, but man, a Dominican audience,
they were like hollering and amening and screaming,
right? Like, I'm telling you, in heaven, there's
gonna be like the Dominican section, and then
there's gonna be the Heights Church. We're gonna
be on like hole number eight doing our golf clap,
right? Like, that's us, right? But I gotta say,
you guys do think I'm funnier than they do, and
I appreciate that. I like that a lot, okay? I'm
okay with that. But man, I got done preaching
and I'm standing there and worship is happening
and they do offering a little bit different,
right? In the US, we go, hey, there's some ways
on the screen that you can give. There's joy
boxes in the back. Some churches you've maybe
have been to, they'll pass around a bucket. And
what they do here is they bring out this box.
I can kind of only describe it as a treasure
box. And they set it on the stage and they open
it up and people during worship will come forward
and they will place things in the box. They'll
place their offering, what they're gonna give.
As I'm worshiping, I'm standing there. I got
done preaching and I see kind of a wobbly walk
next to me. I look over and it's this 87, 88
year old grandma. It's walking up to the front.
And I'm thinking to myself, man, she needs this
money more than just giving it. She's the one
that can actually benefit from this. And then
I thought, man, what she's giving is probably
nothing. She literally gave everything she had.
She placed it in the box and she turned around
and the look of joy on this woman's face is one
that I only hope to experience sometime in my
life. And she walks back to her seat and as she's
walking back to her seat, man, she's dancing.
We called her gritty grandma. She's doing the
gritty back to her seat. We're like, there goes
the gritty grandma. And she's giving hugs to
all of our, all of our students are going over
and giving her hugs as she goes back to her seat.
But here's the thing, man, I looked at her and
I said, she knows her inheritance in Christ.
This woman understands that she's a part of God's
family. She understands that she has an inheritance
in him. And so she's going, I want to build into
the kingdom. I wanna serve the kingdom. I wanna
give to the kingdom. I wanna live generously.
Church, what if we understood our inheritance
enough to say it's not about me, it's about building
into the kingdom because I'm a part of the family.
Because I'm a part of the family, I will live
like I'm a part of the family. What does that
mean? Next is this, it means you embrace your
responsibility. See, sonship, adopted into sonship.
It includes privilege. It includes so much of
an inheritance, but it's also a calling. There's
a responsibility because you represent the family.
You represent the family. It's your job to bring
the family name honor with how you live, with
how you love, with how you lead. With the places
that you find yourself in, are you bringing the
family name honor? Are the people that are around
you, would they go, man, I know you and I see
you. And because I know you and I see you, I
wanna be a part of whatever it is that you're
doing. Because Jesus is definitely seen through
you. Are you bringing the family name honor or
are the people you around? Would they go, man,
if that's what it means to be a follower of Jesus,
then I want nothing to do with it. How are you
representing the family name? Are you embracing
your responsibility? Because when you understand
that you're a part of the family, you live like
you're a part of the family. And that means embracing
your responsibility. See, families have resemblance.
Let me ask you, for those of you in here who
call yourself a follower of Jesus, do you resemble
your father? Are you becoming more like your
heavenly father? Do you resemble him? Do you
live in a way where you're becoming more like
him and when someone looks at you, you resemble
him? For those of you in here who walked in today
and you don't know Jesus, I want you to know
that you are loved, but I need you to know that
you are also an enemy of God, but you have an
invitation to sonship. And the invitation is
this. The invitation is that Jesus came to this
earth and he lived the life that you and I cannot
live. He lived the perfect life. Therefore, he
became worthy to be the sacrifice for our sins
because it needed a perfect sacrifice. And so
Jesus went to a cross to be the perfect sacrifice,
to stand in your place so that you could have
a relationship with God, so that you could be
adopted into the family. And my prayer for you
today, if you came in and you have not accepted
the invitation into sonship, My prayer for you
today is that you would give your trust to God,
that you would say, I put my faith and trust
in you and I believe what you did for me on that
cross. And I believe that you rose from the grave
and that you conquered sin and death so that
I could become a part of the family. And for
those of us in here who've done that, man, we've
put our faith in Jesus. You have been adopted
into God's family. And when you understand that
you're a part of God's family, you live like
you're a part of God's family. Let's pray. God,
thank you. God, thank you that we are a part
of your family. God, thank you that you would
allow someone like me into the family, that you
would cancel my debts, that you would give me
full rights as the son of the king. God, I pray
for all of us in here. That we would allow that
to sink in and understand what that means. That
we would live in a way that's not going back
to our slave ways, back to our old ways, God,
but that we would be living in the freedom that
you have for us. God, that you would help us
to speak life into ourself of who we are becoming
in you because of our identity that is found
in you, God. That we would embrace the responsibility
of being a part of this family. God, I know the
heaviness of this message. I know the heaviness
of what this means. But God, truly this is a
cause for celebration as we get to praise you
and we get to celebrate, God, that you have brought
us into your family, that you've accepted us.
God, I pray specifically for people in here right
now that need to come into the family, that need
to accept the invitation, God, that you would
put on their heart that they would become a part
of the family today. That as one family right
now, we would praise you, God, that we would
sing to you, that we would give you the glory
and praise that you deserve because you allowed
us to be a part of this, that you loved us through
our mess. God, thank you. God, we praise you.
God, we worship you. We pray all of this in Jesus'
name. Amen.