WEBVTT 00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:05.240 Well, good morning, church. I'm not John. Some 00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:06.799 of you are like, what? I thought he was back. 00:00:07.400 --> 00:00:10.119 He is back, but listen, we are a team here, and 00:00:10.119 --> 00:00:14.119 it is never about one person on this stage. It 00:00:14.119 --> 00:00:17.100 is about one person. His name is Jesus. And so 00:00:17.100 --> 00:00:19.780 it's not about the person that's up here. Yeah. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:24.199 It is about a team, and we actually have a plethora 00:00:24.199 --> 00:00:26.199 of communicators that are able to communicate 00:00:26.199 --> 00:00:29.219 God's word, and some of them even use the word 00:00:29.219 --> 00:00:31.920 plethora on stage. Okay, so, you know, you're 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:35.340 in good hands. But, hey, you guys are looking 00:00:35.340 --> 00:00:37.280 good today. Turn to the person next to you and 00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:40.320 say, you're looking good today. Okay, now turn 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:42.640 to the other person and say, sorry, you're my 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:48.060 second choice, but you're looking good too. Good, 00:00:48.219 --> 00:00:51.670 good, good, good. Oh man, I just want to welcome 00:00:51.670 --> 00:00:55.130 you guys today, welcome you into the church, 00:00:55.170 --> 00:00:57.810 into God's house so we can open God's word. I 00:00:57.810 --> 00:01:00.850 want to welcome those of you online, out in Baghdad 00:01:00.850 --> 00:01:02.990 and Paulding. I want to welcome, special shout 00:01:02.990 --> 00:01:05.450 out to Gavin and Brody watching in the Bay Area 00:01:05.450 --> 00:01:08.129 in California right now. Yeah, give it up for 00:01:08.129 --> 00:01:13.209 them. Anyone in here tired of the book of Galatians 00:01:13.209 --> 00:01:15.989 yet? Good, good. I'm glad you said no, because 00:01:15.989 --> 00:01:18.689 we're in week six and we got more weeks to come. 00:01:18.709 --> 00:01:21.310 And man, I love this. And I can just imagine 00:01:21.310 --> 00:01:25.109 as this letter was going to the church in Galatia, 00:01:25.129 --> 00:01:27.090 right, there was multiple churches in there. 00:01:27.129 --> 00:01:29.870 We think in the 21st century, the American church 00:01:29.870 --> 00:01:32.609 invented multi -site. Nope. There was multiple 00:01:32.609 --> 00:01:34.650 churches in Galatia, and what they would do is 00:01:34.650 --> 00:01:36.870 they would have this letter that Paul wrote be 00:01:36.870 --> 00:01:38.989 read to the church, and they would hear this 00:01:38.989 --> 00:01:41.129 letter. And I can imagine them, as their eyes 00:01:41.129 --> 00:01:42.969 are getting wider and wider, listening to what 00:01:42.969 --> 00:01:44.950 Paul has to say. Like, did he just say that about 00:01:44.950 --> 00:01:48.810 us? And that's where they are listening to the 00:01:48.810 --> 00:01:50.790 words that Paul has here. And we're going to 00:01:50.790 --> 00:01:53.650 pick up in chapter 3, verse 26. It says this. 00:01:54.569 --> 00:01:58.890 So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God 00:01:58.890 --> 00:02:02.079 through faith. For all of you who are baptized 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:04.760 into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. 00:02:05.079 --> 00:02:08.400 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:12.340 nor free, nor is there male and female, for you 00:02:12.340 --> 00:02:15.680 are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:18.759 Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs 00:02:18.759 --> 00:02:22.599 according to the promise. There is one Christ 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:27.199 and we are one in Christ. I had the opportunity 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:30.099 to go to the Dominican Republic and to go with 00:02:30.099 --> 00:02:31.680 a group from Heights, and it was an absolutely 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:33.979 incredible trip. It was amazing as we got to 00:02:33.979 --> 00:02:37.539 serve people, as we got to just talk about God, 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:40.159 and we got to pray for people, and just so much 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:42.960 to talk about there. And we learned so many things, 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:45.000 but one of the lessons that I learned, probably 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:47.800 the clearest of the lessons, is I learned that 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:50.159 my high school Spanish class failed me, okay? 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:53.219 I'm just saying, like, I had no clue what anyone 00:02:53.219 --> 00:02:55.580 was saying the whole time. I'm like, huh? I know 00:02:55.580 --> 00:02:57.919 like 10 Spanish words. I know taco, burrito, 00:02:58.099 --> 00:03:02.539 carne, pollo. There's a theme here. Some of you 00:03:02.539 --> 00:03:04.120 are like, bro, you need to chill and hit the 00:03:04.120 --> 00:03:07.099 gym. I know, okay, I'm saying, I know. But man, 00:03:07.159 --> 00:03:08.219 I couldn't understand what they were saying. 00:03:08.379 --> 00:03:10.020 And for a lot of the Dominicans, they didn't 00:03:10.020 --> 00:03:11.620 speak English. And so there was kind of this 00:03:11.620 --> 00:03:13.800 language barrier. We had some translators and 00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:15.159 we were able to do that. But I mean, I remember 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:17.919 we went to this church service. And as we're 00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:19.599 at this church service, they're worshiping and 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:21.719 they're singing and they're singing in Spanish 00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:23.900 because that is their language, but they sing 00:03:23.900 --> 00:03:26.740 songs that we know. And so we're there and we 00:03:26.740 --> 00:03:29.039 were singing in English and they were singing 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:30.919 in Spanish. And I'm just looking at this room 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:33.280 and I'm seeing this happen. And I just think, 00:03:33.340 --> 00:03:35.719 man, this is a picture of heaven. All right, 00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:37.379 all different tongues, all different nations 00:03:37.379 --> 00:03:40.960 praising the same God. Coming together and we 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:42.780 have so many differences, but we're praising 00:03:42.780 --> 00:03:46.879 the same God. We have one spirit, we have one 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:49.120 God, and we have so much in common. But what 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:51.639 happens is that sometimes we have a problem of 00:03:51.639 --> 00:03:53.879 focusing on the differences instead of the similarities. 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:56.960 And we have this thing called prejudices that 00:03:56.960 --> 00:03:59.699 come up in our life that is a human problem that 00:03:59.699 --> 00:04:01.439 we deal with. And it's not just a problem that 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:04.139 we deal with nowadays, because Paul is writing 00:04:04.139 --> 00:04:06.719 directly to it here. And what he's saying is 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:08.300 you guys are focusing on the differences instead 00:04:08.300 --> 00:04:11.430 of focusing on the similarities. And he uses 00:04:11.430 --> 00:04:13.729 things like Jew versus Gentile. He's speaking 00:04:13.729 --> 00:04:17.069 against racism. He uses things like slave versus 00:04:17.069 --> 00:04:20.509 free. He's speaking against classism. He says 00:04:20.509 --> 00:04:23.629 male and female. He's speaking against sexism. 00:04:23.910 --> 00:04:26.709 And what he's saying is when you focus on differences, 00:04:26.769 --> 00:04:29.930 all you see is differences. But when you focus 00:04:29.930 --> 00:04:33.449 on the right things, you see the right things. 00:04:34.740 --> 00:04:37.519 I moved to Arizona about four years ago. And 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:39.879 when I moved here, I was like, man, it is really 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:42.699 hot. I don't know if I can handle this. It's 00:04:42.699 --> 00:04:45.259 so hot in Arizona. And there's a stock line that 00:04:45.259 --> 00:04:47.279 everyone says, say, yeah, it's hot, but it's 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:51.060 a dry heat. Yeah, no, it's a hot heat, bro. Like, 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:52.920 I don't know what you're talking about. You can 00:04:52.920 --> 00:04:54.500 throw that word around. It's a dry heat. This 00:04:54.500 --> 00:04:57.379 is dry. No, it's hot, right? It's a hot heat, 00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:02.350 that's for sure. Dry heat, you kidding me? Then 00:05:02.350 --> 00:05:04.050 I went to the Dominican Republic for 10 days. 00:05:06.329 --> 00:05:08.470 Well, I'm telling you right now, well, on Monday 00:05:08.470 --> 00:05:11.129 we got off the plane. It was 110 degrees in Phoenix 00:05:11.129 --> 00:05:14.290 and it was refreshing. I was like, this is wonderful. 00:05:16.050 --> 00:05:17.870 Like we were just drenched the whole time we 00:05:17.870 --> 00:05:19.649 were there and sweat the whole time. It was like 00:05:19.649 --> 00:05:21.410 you jumped in a pool with your clothes on, but 00:05:21.410 --> 00:05:24.089 you weren't in a pool. As you walk up to someone 00:05:24.089 --> 00:05:25.889 and you're like, how are you doing? What is that? 00:05:26.129 --> 00:05:28.889 Like we're just sweating the whole time, man. 00:05:29.259 --> 00:05:31.959 It was hot. And as we were out serving, we would 00:05:31.959 --> 00:05:33.560 go and we were delivering food to people and 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:35.920 we were praying for people and we were running 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:38.540 camps for kids and we were doing all this amazing 00:05:38.540 --> 00:05:40.879 ministry. And it was incredible how we would 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:43.120 get to the end of the day and we'd sweat the 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:45.720 whole time. But man, as we were focused on doing 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:47.279 all these other things, we didn't realize that 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:50.519 it was hot at all. When you focus on the right 00:05:50.519 --> 00:05:53.120 things, you see the right things. But then there 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:54.740 were some times where we would just get together 00:05:54.740 --> 00:05:56.920 as a group and go, man, look how sweaty you are. 00:05:56.939 --> 00:05:58.720 Look how sweaty I am. And it's really hot here. 00:06:00.019 --> 00:06:02.019 And we start focusing on the temperature. We 00:06:02.019 --> 00:06:04.139 start focusing on how hot it is. And we forgot 00:06:04.139 --> 00:06:05.579 that we were even there to serve because all 00:06:05.579 --> 00:06:08.319 we saw was the heat that we were in. When you 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:10.459 focus on the wrong things, when you focus on 00:06:10.459 --> 00:06:13.040 the differences, you see differences. But when 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:15.040 you focus on the right thing, you see the right 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:18.550 thing. It says in Philippians 4, verse 8. Finally, 00:06:18.550 --> 00:06:22.209 brothers and sisters, whatever's true, whatever's 00:06:22.209 --> 00:06:26.329 noble, whatever's right, whatever's pure, whatever's 00:06:26.329 --> 00:06:28.350 lovely, whatever's admirable, if anything is 00:06:28.350 --> 00:06:30.990 excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. 00:06:31.129 --> 00:06:33.589 That's what you focus on. Listen, we don't have 00:06:33.589 --> 00:06:35.870 a racism, classism, or sexism problem. We have 00:06:35.870 --> 00:06:39.170 a focus problem. And when we focus on the differences, 00:06:39.189 --> 00:06:41.769 all we see is differences. But when we focus 00:06:41.769 --> 00:06:44.509 on the right thing, we see the right things. 00:06:44.529 --> 00:06:47.430 The right thing is focusing on Jesus. Jesus is 00:06:47.430 --> 00:06:50.310 our common ground. Jesus is the common ground 00:06:50.310 --> 00:06:52.329 that we have with everybody to circle around. 00:06:52.389 --> 00:06:54.170 It doesn't matter if they are in the same class 00:06:54.170 --> 00:06:55.870 as you. It doesn't matter if they're male or 00:06:55.870 --> 00:06:57.569 female. It doesn't matter what race or religion 00:06:57.569 --> 00:07:00.389 they even are. Jesus is the common ground that 00:07:00.389 --> 00:07:02.870 we can bring people to. If they believe in Jesus, 00:07:02.970 --> 00:07:05.149 there's a common ground. That's what we bring 00:07:05.149 --> 00:07:08.490 people to. And we have to understand that that 00:07:08.490 --> 00:07:10.550 is what we come to. And what it says here on 00:07:10.550 --> 00:07:13.410 how to do it is clothe yourself with Christ. 00:07:14.689 --> 00:07:18.430 Clothe yourself. With Christ. My youngest daughter 00:07:18.430 --> 00:07:20.649 right now, she's three, and she is in the dress 00:07:20.649 --> 00:07:23.569 herself phase. All right, parents, you know what 00:07:23.569 --> 00:07:25.209 I'm talking about. All right, she'll come out 00:07:25.209 --> 00:07:26.610 of her room and she's like, I'm ready to go. 00:07:26.949 --> 00:07:29.189 And she's wearing like a bathing suit with cowgirl 00:07:29.189 --> 00:07:32.589 boots and snow gloves. And I'm like, you ain't 00:07:32.589 --> 00:07:34.350 ready to go, kid. You know what I'm saying? Like, 00:07:34.430 --> 00:07:37.230 we're not leaving the house like that. She's 00:07:37.230 --> 00:07:38.550 like, no, I'm ready. I'm good. And I'm like, 00:07:38.550 --> 00:07:40.129 why are you wearing that? She's like, I don't 00:07:40.129 --> 00:07:43.329 know. I'm like, but you're the one who put it 00:07:43.329 --> 00:07:46.970 on. It didn't happen by accident, right? You 00:07:46.970 --> 00:07:48.490 don't just accidentally put some on. None of 00:07:48.490 --> 00:07:50.069 you left the house today and were like, would 00:07:50.069 --> 00:07:53.769 you look at that? I got clothes on. There is 00:07:53.769 --> 00:07:56.389 intentionality for you to clothe yourself, which 00:07:56.389 --> 00:07:58.529 by the way, I'm very happy about. I'm glad you 00:07:58.529 --> 00:08:00.209 made a great choice today by putting clothes 00:08:00.209 --> 00:08:03.149 on to come to church, okay? Just saying, good 00:08:03.149 --> 00:08:06.110 choice. But it didn't happen by accident. There's 00:08:06.110 --> 00:08:07.970 intentionality to clothe yourself. But I think 00:08:07.970 --> 00:08:09.990 a lot of times, while we will spend time clothing 00:08:09.990 --> 00:08:11.810 ourself here, we won't clothe ourself with Jesus. 00:08:12.900 --> 00:08:14.939 And Paul's saying, if you're gonna move forward 00:08:14.939 --> 00:08:17.759 in understanding what matters and focusing on 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:19.439 the right thing, you have to clothe yourself 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:22.459 with Jesus, which takes intentionality. It takes 00:08:22.459 --> 00:08:25.220 you to go, okay, I'm intentionally clothing myself 00:08:25.220 --> 00:08:27.860 with him. And Paul's saying, you gotta get this. 00:08:27.879 --> 00:08:31.100 This is so important because we are family. And 00:08:31.100 --> 00:08:32.919 what Paul says next is going, this is important 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:37.240 because we are this family and there's some implications 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:39.919 for being a part of this family. He says this, 00:08:39.980 --> 00:08:43.289 it goes in Galatians chapter four. Four, verse 00:08:43.289 --> 00:08:45.090 one, we made it to chapter four. Say, whoop, 00:08:45.090 --> 00:08:47.889 whoop. Some of you weren't excited that we made 00:08:47.889 --> 00:08:50.629 it to chapter four. Come on, that's a big deal. 00:08:51.169 --> 00:08:54.710 He says this, he says, I am saying, what I'm 00:08:54.710 --> 00:08:57.669 saying here is that as long as an heir is underage, 00:08:57.830 --> 00:09:00.490 he is no different from a slave. Although he 00:09:00.490 --> 00:09:03.230 owns the whole estate, the heir is subject to 00:09:03.230 --> 00:09:05.669 guardians and trustees until the time is set 00:09:05.669 --> 00:09:08.309 by his father. He's saying you might own this, 00:09:08.309 --> 00:09:10.929 right? You might have this as your inheritance, 00:09:10.990 --> 00:09:14.029 but until you reach, you come of age, it doesn't 00:09:14.029 --> 00:09:15.470 matter. And what Paul is doing is he's setting 00:09:15.470 --> 00:09:17.690 up this next analogy. He's saying you have to 00:09:17.690 --> 00:09:19.710 understand this, and let me tell you what that 00:09:19.710 --> 00:09:23.490 means. Verse three, so also, he's gonna compare 00:09:23.490 --> 00:09:26.750 it. So also, when we were under age, we were 00:09:26.750 --> 00:09:29.210 in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces 00:09:29.210 --> 00:09:31.700 of the world. We followed the world. But when 00:09:31.700 --> 00:09:34.039 the set time had fully come, God sent his son, 00:09:34.179 --> 00:09:37.039 born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:39.679 those under the law, that we might receive adoption 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:43.460 to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent 00:09:43.460 --> 00:09:47.259 the spirit of his son into our hearts, the spirit 00:09:47.259 --> 00:09:50.360 who calls out, Abba, Father. So you are no longer 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:53.940 a slave, but God's child. And since you are God's 00:09:53.940 --> 00:09:58.940 child, God has made you also an heir. that you 00:09:58.940 --> 00:10:03.960 have been adopted into God's family. Growing 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:06.159 up, my aunt and uncle, they were unable to have 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:09.320 kids and they spent years trying to have kids 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:10.820 and they couldn't. And I remember every night. 00:10:11.529 --> 00:10:13.570 I would pray and just pray, God, please give 00:10:13.570 --> 00:10:15.990 them a baby. Give them a kid. And it was a struggle 00:10:15.990 --> 00:10:18.230 for them for years and years. And my aunt, because 00:10:18.230 --> 00:10:19.950 it was such a struggle for her, she had such 00:10:19.950 --> 00:10:22.789 a heart for the pro -life movement. And so she 00:10:22.789 --> 00:10:25.429 was always working with people and trying to 00:10:25.429 --> 00:10:27.889 help saying, listen, I can't have a baby. Please 00:10:27.889 --> 00:10:31.929 save this baby. And she would go in front of 00:10:31.929 --> 00:10:33.750 abortion clinics. And as women were walking in, 00:10:33.830 --> 00:10:35.409 she would stop them and she would talk to them. 00:10:35.450 --> 00:10:37.570 And she'd say, hey, if you continue through with 00:10:37.570 --> 00:10:39.830 this pregnancy, I will take your baby and I will 00:10:39.830 --> 00:10:43.600 adopt it. And I have four cousins that were saved. 00:10:43.720 --> 00:10:46.720 I have four cousins named Paul and Vida. Vida, 00:10:46.779 --> 00:10:52.840 which means life in Spanish. And Jack and Lucy. 00:10:52.919 --> 00:10:55.080 And man, it's incredible to see them. And as 00:10:55.080 --> 00:10:57.320 we sit around as a family, when we sit with them, 00:10:57.340 --> 00:10:58.960 we look at them and they're a part of our family. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:01.539 They're not just like, oh, well, you get to sit 00:11:01.539 --> 00:11:03.120 off to the side. No, they're a part of our family. 00:11:03.700 --> 00:11:05.639 But even more than that, man, they were destined 00:11:05.639 --> 00:11:09.700 for death. They were literally on a course for 00:11:09.700 --> 00:11:11.639 death until someone stepped in and said, no, 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:13.240 I will save you and I will adopt you to be a 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:15.700 part of my family. And that is you and my story 00:11:15.700 --> 00:11:18.059 because you were on a course for death until 00:11:18.059 --> 00:11:20.639 Jesus stepped in and said, I want to adopt you 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:23.580 to be a part of my family. I want to bring you 00:11:23.580 --> 00:11:27.539 into my family. And that's what this is. You 00:11:27.539 --> 00:11:29.960 are no longer a slave, but you are an adopted 00:11:29.960 --> 00:11:33.600 child. You were no longer a slave, you were an 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:36.320 adopted child. And this idea, what it says here, 00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:39.039 it says it's adopted to sonship. And this is 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:42.320 a concept that in this world that these people 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:43.799 were reading this letter would have understood, 00:11:43.899 --> 00:11:45.940 but for us, when we think of adoption, we think 00:11:45.940 --> 00:11:49.379 this idea of sonship, we think of it as just 00:11:49.379 --> 00:11:51.299 a relational status, but this was actually a 00:11:51.299 --> 00:11:54.200 legal status. And when we think of adoption, 00:11:54.279 --> 00:11:56.120 a lot of times we think of babies, we think of 00:11:56.120 --> 00:11:58.720 children, but this was actually a grown adult 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:01.179 that would be adopted into sonship. And if you 00:12:01.179 --> 00:12:02.879 know anything about adults, what happens to adults 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:05.279 is we accrue some debt, right? We build up some 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:08.419 debt. We're good at that. And so what this adoption 00:12:08.419 --> 00:12:11.059 into sonship meant is it meant that old debts 00:12:11.059 --> 00:12:14.139 were canceled and a new identity was received. 00:12:14.500 --> 00:12:17.799 You were given full rights as a part of this 00:12:17.799 --> 00:12:20.360 family, full rights and inheritance, full rights 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:22.340 in everything, and your old debts were canceled 00:12:22.340 --> 00:12:26.100 so that you could receive a new identity. Listen, 00:12:26.220 --> 00:12:28.860 your old debts have been canceled. You've been 00:12:28.860 --> 00:12:32.000 adopted to sonship. Your old burdens, your old 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:33.820 pain, the old brokenness, the old things that 00:12:33.820 --> 00:12:36.740 you went and you did that built up a barrier 00:12:36.740 --> 00:12:39.259 between you and God have been canceled so that 00:12:39.259 --> 00:12:42.340 you could be given full standing rights as a 00:12:42.340 --> 00:12:45.759 son or daughter of God. That is what it means. 00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:47.720 That's what he's saying here is he's understanding 00:12:47.720 --> 00:12:49.779 this. And I think in the church world, sometimes 00:12:49.779 --> 00:12:52.179 we don't understand the true impact of this because 00:12:52.179 --> 00:12:54.340 we get this one thing wrong. And I'm gonna say 00:12:54.340 --> 00:12:56.629 this statement that maybe... make you go, wait 00:12:56.629 --> 00:12:58.389 a sec, is that true? But I'm gonna explain it. 00:12:58.610 --> 00:13:02.110 Not everyone is a child of God. And we like to 00:13:02.110 --> 00:13:04.669 say, well, everyone's a child of God. God created 00:13:04.669 --> 00:13:06.149 everyone, he loves everyone, and that is true. 00:13:06.210 --> 00:13:08.149 He created everyone, he loves everyone. But not 00:13:08.149 --> 00:13:10.309 everyone is a child of God. In fact, before Jesus, 00:13:10.490 --> 00:13:13.850 you were an enemy of God with an invitation to 00:13:13.850 --> 00:13:16.990 sonship. You were an enemy with an invitation 00:13:16.990 --> 00:13:19.029 to sonship. And listen, that's not cruel to say 00:13:19.029 --> 00:13:21.490 that, that's even more beautiful. Because you 00:13:21.490 --> 00:13:24.980 and I and everyone was an enemy of God. but was 00:13:24.980 --> 00:13:29.259 given an invitation to sonship. And that's incredible. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:31.740 That's incredible. It brings a lot more light 00:13:31.740 --> 00:13:33.620 to when Jesus was walking around teaching and 00:13:33.620 --> 00:13:36.620 Jesus said things like, love your enemies. Because 00:13:36.620 --> 00:13:37.960 when we hear that, we're like, oh, I'll just 00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:40.460 do something nice for my enemy. What he's really 00:13:40.460 --> 00:13:42.039 saying is go to your enemy and say, hey, I wanna 00:13:42.039 --> 00:13:45.320 adopt you into my family. So we're like, I'm 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:46.639 not doing that. But guess what? That's what Jesus 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:50.929 did with you because you were his enemy. And 00:13:50.929 --> 00:13:52.929 he extended an invitation to sonship and say, 00:13:52.990 --> 00:13:55.710 no, I want you to be a part of my family. I want 00:13:55.710 --> 00:13:57.350 you to bring you into this and I want you to 00:13:57.350 --> 00:13:59.250 understand what it means to be a part of my family. 00:13:59.289 --> 00:14:01.330 And Paul continues saying, this is what it means. 00:14:02.210 --> 00:14:04.809 Verse eight, he says, formerly, when you did 00:14:04.809 --> 00:14:06.649 not know God, when you were an enemy of God, 00:14:06.730 --> 00:14:08.950 you were slaves to those who by nature are not 00:14:08.950 --> 00:14:11.269 gods. You were slaves to the things of this earth. 00:14:12.230 --> 00:14:15.269 But now, now that you know God or rather are 00:14:15.269 --> 00:14:18.210 known by God, I mean, come on, I love that. That's 00:14:18.210 --> 00:14:19.750 a mic drop moment right there. You think you 00:14:19.750 --> 00:14:22.830 know God? No, God knows you, right? He says, 00:14:22.929 --> 00:14:25.610 so then how is it that you are turning back to 00:14:25.610 --> 00:14:27.970 those weak and miserable forces? Why are you 00:14:27.970 --> 00:14:30.289 going back to the same things? Do you wish to 00:14:30.289 --> 00:14:33.629 be enslaved by them all over again? He's like, 00:14:33.649 --> 00:14:35.509 you're observing these special days and months 00:14:35.509 --> 00:14:37.649 and seasons and years. You're going back to it. 00:14:38.029 --> 00:14:39.789 All right, what he's telling them is something 00:14:39.789 --> 00:14:42.210 that we need to listen to. Don't go back to your 00:14:42.210 --> 00:14:44.889 old ways. Live into the promise of who God has 00:14:44.889 --> 00:14:47.970 called you to be. Don't go back to the old ways. 00:14:48.009 --> 00:14:49.509 Don't go back to your old brokenness. Don't go 00:14:49.509 --> 00:14:52.409 back to those old same things. Live into what 00:14:52.409 --> 00:14:55.509 God has called you to be. One of the things on 00:14:55.509 --> 00:14:58.769 the trip that we got to take that was such a 00:14:58.769 --> 00:15:01.009 blessing for us is that we got to break some 00:15:01.009 --> 00:15:04.389 of the habits that we formed here in the US that 00:15:04.389 --> 00:15:06.470 a lot of times we don't even know are happening, 00:15:06.549 --> 00:15:08.789 but are really unhealthy habits. I don't think 00:15:08.789 --> 00:15:11.990 we realize how tied we are to our devices, specifically 00:15:11.990 --> 00:15:15.429 our phones. And as we went on this trip, we made 00:15:15.429 --> 00:15:16.950 it very clear to our group, hey, listen, we are 00:15:16.950 --> 00:15:19.309 here to do ministry and we are here to be present. 00:15:20.009 --> 00:15:22.889 And for 10 days on this trip, we weren't glued 00:15:22.889 --> 00:15:26.029 to our phones. We weren't scrolling for no reason. 00:15:26.389 --> 00:15:28.389 We were present. We were doing ministry. We were 00:15:28.389 --> 00:15:30.450 having conversations. We were relational. All 00:15:30.450 --> 00:15:31.830 these things were happening. It was just incredible 00:15:31.830 --> 00:15:33.850 because we weren't stuck to the thing that was 00:15:33.850 --> 00:15:37.389 tying us down before. And we got to break those 00:15:37.389 --> 00:15:38.970 and it was amazing. But as we got back on the 00:15:38.970 --> 00:15:40.470 plane and as we started heading home, we were 00:15:40.470 --> 00:15:43.940 in the airport and I look around, man. And I 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:47.000 see some of our people, including myself, just 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:50.139 scrolling mindlessly, just doom scrolling for 00:15:50.139 --> 00:15:52.039 no reason, man. What am I doing? Why am I doing 00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:55.879 this? I'm going exactly back to the old ways. 00:15:55.940 --> 00:15:57.799 And I think a lot of us in our life, we do that 00:15:57.799 --> 00:16:00.860 exact same thing. Yes, I follow you, Jesus, and 00:16:00.860 --> 00:16:02.299 I'm going, but then all of a sudden we go right 00:16:02.299 --> 00:16:04.360 back to our old ways. We go right back to the 00:16:04.360 --> 00:16:06.720 same issues, the same things. We go back to the 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:08.899 old patterns of our living. And we try to get 00:16:08.899 --> 00:16:10.659 life from something that was never supposed to 00:16:10.659 --> 00:16:13.870 give you life. instead of realizing that we have 00:16:13.870 --> 00:16:16.769 life in Christ. Don't go back to being a slave. 00:16:16.850 --> 00:16:18.309 Live into the promise who God has called you 00:16:18.309 --> 00:16:20.850 to be. Sometimes we're telling ourself the wrong 00:16:20.850 --> 00:16:22.610 messages. You need to start telling yourself 00:16:22.610 --> 00:16:25.830 who you're becoming, not who you were. Don't 00:16:25.830 --> 00:16:27.570 tell yourself who you were. Don't even tell yourself 00:16:27.570 --> 00:16:31.149 about your shortcomings now. Speak life and tell 00:16:31.149 --> 00:16:33.049 yourself who you're becoming. Tell yourself your 00:16:33.049 --> 00:16:36.600 identity you have in Christ. What if we spoke 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:38.460 life to not only ourself, but the people around 00:16:38.460 --> 00:16:40.600 us instead of telling people where they are, 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:43.620 tell them who they're becoming. This is who you're 00:16:43.620 --> 00:16:47.039 becoming in Christ. Focus on their potential 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:50.440 and their God -given identity, not their past 00:16:50.440 --> 00:16:54.320 brokenness, not their current failures. What 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:56.320 Paul says here is he say, don't go back to your 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:59.340 old ways. And then he says this in that verse 00:16:59.340 --> 00:17:01.340 10 is he said, you are observing special days 00:17:01.340 --> 00:17:04.599 and months and seasons and years. And I think 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:07.420 there's two, that he could mean here. We don't 00:17:07.420 --> 00:17:08.940 know specifically, but there's two theories of 00:17:08.940 --> 00:17:12.019 what Paul means when he talks about these months 00:17:12.019 --> 00:17:14.299 and seasons and years that they are observing. 00:17:14.660 --> 00:17:16.299 And I think we can learn from both theories. 00:17:16.380 --> 00:17:17.839 The first theory is this, is that Paul's saying, 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:19.740 hey, don't go back to your old ways. You're observing 00:17:19.740 --> 00:17:22.039 all these things. He's saying you're observing 00:17:22.039 --> 00:17:24.000 these holidays and you're doing these things 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:26.160 as obligation to try to prove your worth to God 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:28.559 instead of realizing that you already have it. 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:32.619 You're trying to be more Jewish than you are 00:17:32.619 --> 00:17:35.329 a follower of Jesus. And he's saying, you don't 00:17:35.329 --> 00:17:37.210 need to go back to that. Why are you doing that? 00:17:37.569 --> 00:17:39.230 Don't do those things. You've left that. And 00:17:39.230 --> 00:17:41.029 I think we can learn from that because a lot 00:17:41.029 --> 00:17:43.910 of us, we go right back to those things and Jesus 00:17:43.910 --> 00:17:45.569 is going, no, no, no, hey, I already freed you 00:17:45.569 --> 00:17:48.710 from that. I already freed you from that and 00:17:48.710 --> 00:17:50.109 you're going right back to something that you 00:17:50.109 --> 00:17:51.950 were doing before that you don't need to do. 00:17:52.609 --> 00:17:55.150 There's something else. But I think the other 00:17:55.150 --> 00:17:56.589 thing that Paul could have meant here as he was 00:17:56.589 --> 00:17:58.410 writing this is he was saying, hey, don't go 00:17:58.410 --> 00:18:00.210 back to your old ways. You observe these seasons, 00:18:00.269 --> 00:18:02.339 these months, and these years. And you have to 00:18:02.339 --> 00:18:04.079 understand that the point of observing these 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:06.019 seasons and months and years were for remembering 00:18:06.019 --> 00:18:09.700 what God had done. It was things like Passover, 00:18:09.819 --> 00:18:12.200 to remember what God had done in Egypt where 00:18:12.200 --> 00:18:15.619 he passed over and he let them escape from slavery 00:18:15.619 --> 00:18:18.400 and brought them into freedom. And they set aside 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:21.119 time in their life to remember what God had done 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:23.930 in the past. And he's going, hey, if you set 00:18:23.930 --> 00:18:26.109 aside time to remember this, you've been through 00:18:26.109 --> 00:18:27.349 this, you've done this, and why are you going 00:18:27.349 --> 00:18:28.690 back to your old ways? Because you remember what 00:18:28.690 --> 00:18:30.630 God has freed you from. I think sometimes we 00:18:30.630 --> 00:18:31.910 need to remember what God has freed us from. 00:18:32.650 --> 00:18:34.210 Sometimes we go back and you need to understand 00:18:34.210 --> 00:18:36.150 that the God that freed you in the past can free 00:18:36.150 --> 00:18:39.390 you in the future. The same God that did things 00:18:39.390 --> 00:18:42.650 in your past can do things in your future. But 00:18:42.650 --> 00:18:44.289 we get caught up in this thing of going, oh, 00:18:44.450 --> 00:18:46.250 this trial that I'm facing is just really hard 00:18:46.250 --> 00:18:47.769 right now. I don't know how I'm gonna get through 00:18:47.769 --> 00:18:49.730 it when God's going, hey, I already got you through 00:18:49.730 --> 00:18:51.880 it. And if I got you through it before, I can 00:18:51.880 --> 00:18:54.720 get you through it again. I get caught in this 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:57.700 trap all the time. I get caught in this trap 00:18:57.700 --> 00:18:59.619 when it comes to my finances of being like, man, 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:01.799 I don't know, this is a really tough spot. I 00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:04.079 don't know how I'm gonna get through this. And 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:06.240 God has to remind me, listen, every single time 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:07.880 you've been in this situation before, I've got 00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:10.980 you through it. You've never gone hungry. Your 00:19:10.980 --> 00:19:13.660 kids have never gone hungry. I've always provided 00:19:13.660 --> 00:19:15.480 and it comes in so many different ways. I can't 00:19:15.480 --> 00:19:19.279 even begin to tell you the just insane ways that 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:22.059 God has provided throughout our life. But every 00:19:22.059 --> 00:19:23.980 time I encounter a new situation, I go, I don't 00:19:23.980 --> 00:19:25.920 know, I don't know. And I forget to remember 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:28.420 what God has done for me in the past. Every time 00:19:28.420 --> 00:19:29.920 you face a temptation, you go, I don't know how 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:31.319 I'm gonna get through this temptation. The same 00:19:31.319 --> 00:19:33.119 God that brought you through the last one can 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:35.400 bring you through the next one. And we have to 00:19:35.400 --> 00:19:38.440 remind ourself because when we remind ourself 00:19:38.440 --> 00:19:41.099 what God has done, it keeps us from going back 00:19:41.099 --> 00:19:44.210 to where we were. And what he's telling him here 00:19:44.210 --> 00:19:45.609 is he's saying, hey, this is really important. 00:19:45.970 --> 00:19:47.809 This is important for you to understand this 00:19:47.809 --> 00:19:49.390 because I don't want you to go back to who you 00:19:49.390 --> 00:19:52.609 were before. And then Paul continues in this 00:19:52.609 --> 00:19:55.450 chapter, verse 11 through 31, which I'm not gonna 00:19:55.450 --> 00:19:57.049 read to you, but I'm gonna tell you what he says. 00:19:57.130 --> 00:19:58.829 He gives him an example of what this is like. 00:19:59.230 --> 00:20:02.609 And he gives him the example from Abraham, where 00:20:02.609 --> 00:20:05.809 Abraham was promised from God that he would have 00:20:05.809 --> 00:20:08.210 many, many heirs. He would be the father of many 00:20:08.210 --> 00:20:10.549 nations. And Abraham goes, there's a problem 00:20:10.549 --> 00:20:13.150 with that because I don't have one kid. And he 00:20:13.150 --> 00:20:14.390 goes, no, I'm promising you there's gonna be 00:20:14.390 --> 00:20:17.029 one. And so as Abraham's walking through this, 00:20:17.069 --> 00:20:18.849 his wife Sarah's going out, why don't you just 00:20:18.849 --> 00:20:20.690 sleep with my slave and then you can have a kid. 00:20:20.809 --> 00:20:22.750 And so he did and he forced his will instead 00:20:22.750 --> 00:20:24.970 of trusting God's will, but God still came through 00:20:24.970 --> 00:20:27.049 and him and Sarah ended up having a kid. So now 00:20:27.049 --> 00:20:29.990 he has two kids. One is a slave and one is free. 00:20:30.490 --> 00:20:32.950 And Paul uses this as an example in this letter 00:20:32.950 --> 00:20:35.430 to the Galatians to say the difference between 00:20:35.430 --> 00:20:37.250 a slave and a free. And he's saying, you don't 00:20:37.250 --> 00:20:40.259 live like a slave, live free. And for that context, 00:20:40.339 --> 00:20:42.099 they would understand this and that would really 00:20:42.099 --> 00:20:44.539 land for them as an example of what this means. 00:20:44.619 --> 00:20:46.559 But I think a better example for our context 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:48.940 is the idea of someone who's in foster care. 00:20:49.700 --> 00:20:51.660 I may be somebody who grew up in foster care 00:20:51.660 --> 00:20:54.299 and has bounced from house to house, just following 00:20:54.299 --> 00:20:57.240 the right rules so that they can get by. Never 00:20:57.240 --> 00:20:59.119 belonging, never having a place where they actually 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:00.880 belong, but just going from one place to the 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:02.400 next and going as long as I make it through, 00:21:02.460 --> 00:21:03.980 that's okay. And I got to follow the right rules 00:21:03.980 --> 00:21:06.890 so that I make it through. And then maybe this 00:21:06.890 --> 00:21:08.670 person who's bounced around finds himself in 00:21:08.670 --> 00:21:10.109 their teenage years and then they get adopted 00:21:10.109 --> 00:21:13.009 into a house, into a place where they don't have 00:21:13.009 --> 00:21:14.769 to follow the rules to be liked, to be loved, 00:21:14.849 --> 00:21:16.230 to make it through, but they've actually been 00:21:16.230 --> 00:21:18.990 given a true identity. They've been given a place 00:21:18.990 --> 00:21:21.130 in the family and they go, no, no, I belong here. 00:21:21.130 --> 00:21:23.569 This is who I am because I'm not just stopping 00:21:23.569 --> 00:21:26.750 by, but I actually belong and I have an identity. 00:21:27.269 --> 00:21:29.490 And this is not about rules and freedom. It's 00:21:29.490 --> 00:21:33.069 about identity. It's about living as a son and 00:21:33.069 --> 00:21:35.630 living as a son means operating from belonging, 00:21:35.809 --> 00:21:39.509 not striving for acceptance. All right, it's 00:21:39.509 --> 00:21:42.930 a difference between, oh, I obey so I will be 00:21:42.930 --> 00:21:48.490 loved and I am loved so I will obey. It's understanding 00:21:48.490 --> 00:21:51.390 who we are in Jesus' church. If you're taking 00:21:51.390 --> 00:21:53.690 notes, write this down. When you know you're 00:21:53.690 --> 00:21:57.369 part of God's family, you live like you're part 00:21:57.369 --> 00:22:01.079 of God's family. When you know where your identity 00:22:01.079 --> 00:22:02.460 is, when you know you're a part of God's family, 00:22:02.700 --> 00:22:04.980 it changes the way that you live your life. It 00:22:04.980 --> 00:22:06.940 changes what you do in your life because when 00:22:06.940 --> 00:22:08.500 you're a part of God's family and you know it, 00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:13.019 you live like it. What does that look like? Versus 00:22:13.019 --> 00:22:17.700 this is you grasp your identity. You grasp your 00:22:17.700 --> 00:22:21.519 identity. That means that you have confidence 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:24.960 in God's love. I stopped trying to earn God's 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:27.000 approval. You're not trying to earn God's approval. 00:22:27.099 --> 00:22:29.799 You're trying to live from a place of acceptance. 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:33.519 This is one of the things that I struggle with 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:36.000 the most. If I'm honest, it's been a struggle 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:38.420 my entire life. And my parents did a wonderful 00:22:38.420 --> 00:22:40.519 job when I was a kid of telling me that I was 00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:42.500 loved no matter what. But there was something 00:22:42.500 --> 00:22:45.579 wired inside of me that I felt like if I performed, 00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:48.140 then I could gain acceptance. I could gain love. 00:22:49.180 --> 00:22:51.900 And growing up, it was... Through sports, it 00:22:51.900 --> 00:22:53.200 was through baseball for me. And if I was good 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:54.480 enough at baseball, then I would be accepted 00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:57.400 by the people around me. If I could prove that 00:22:57.400 --> 00:22:59.240 I was good enough with what I did, then people 00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:00.640 would love me. People would see me the right 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:03.240 way. Then I would have acceptance. And it carried 00:23:03.240 --> 00:23:05.240 over to when I got into ministry. And as I got 00:23:05.240 --> 00:23:07.039 into ministry, I found myself in places where 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:08.980 I would be speaking to large crowds and it would 00:23:08.980 --> 00:23:10.779 be incredible. And I'd get off stage and I would 00:23:10.779 --> 00:23:13.720 go, I need a bigger stage. It wasn't enough because 00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:15.420 I'm trying to prove my worth to not just the 00:23:15.420 --> 00:23:16.920 people around me, but I'm trying to prove my 00:23:16.920 --> 00:23:19.160 worth to God. God, if I'm just good enough for 00:23:19.160 --> 00:23:21.220 you, then you'll accept me. And I would go speak 00:23:21.220 --> 00:23:22.759 at a conference and it would be incredible. And 00:23:22.759 --> 00:23:24.039 as soon as I'd get done, I'd go, well, I need 00:23:24.039 --> 00:23:26.000 to get booked at a bigger conference. And I would 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:27.359 write something on the internet and it would 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:29.059 go out and a lot of people would view it. And 00:23:29.059 --> 00:23:31.200 it felt really good until I realized it's not 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:32.960 enough and I need some more people to view it. 00:23:32.980 --> 00:23:34.519 And I need to write the next thing and I need 00:23:34.519 --> 00:23:36.259 to do more because that's where I'm gonna get 00:23:36.259 --> 00:23:37.619 my acceptance and that's where I'm gonna get 00:23:37.619 --> 00:23:39.279 my love. And I was trying to earn the acceptance 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:41.039 of not only people, but I was trying to earn 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:43.140 the acceptance of God because I did not understand 00:23:43.140 --> 00:23:47.710 where my identity came from. Listen, your identity 00:23:47.710 --> 00:23:51.009 is in Jesus. You have to grasp your identity 00:23:51.009 --> 00:23:53.250 if you know that you are adopted into God's family. 00:23:53.829 --> 00:23:55.890 Then you live like you're a part of God's family 00:23:55.890 --> 00:23:58.150 by understanding your identity. It's not out 00:23:58.150 --> 00:24:03.009 of obligation. It's out of belonging. You belong 00:24:03.009 --> 00:24:05.750 to his family. You don't need to earn acceptance. 00:24:07.150 --> 00:24:09.089 You've been given acceptance into God's family. 00:24:10.509 --> 00:24:13.690 Next is this. We know you're part of God's family. 00:24:13.750 --> 00:24:15.069 You live like you're a part of God's family. 00:24:15.130 --> 00:24:19.269 And that means you know your inheritance. You 00:24:19.269 --> 00:24:22.069 know your inheritance. As a part of God's family, 00:24:22.170 --> 00:24:25.509 you are an heir. You have an inheritance in him. 00:24:26.190 --> 00:24:28.890 And that means that you're able to invest in 00:24:28.890 --> 00:24:30.650 eternal things. You act like you're a part of 00:24:30.650 --> 00:24:32.910 God's kingdom. When you understand your inheritance, 00:24:33.009 --> 00:24:35.210 that means that you are building into God's kingdom. 00:24:35.450 --> 00:24:37.589 That means that you are serving in God's kingdom. 00:24:37.849 --> 00:24:39.930 That means that you are giving to God's kingdom. 00:24:40.410 --> 00:24:42.930 That means that you are loving just absolutely 00:24:42.930 --> 00:24:47.069 generously because of God's kingdom. And one 00:24:47.069 --> 00:24:49.410 of the things that we got to do in the Dominican, 00:24:49.509 --> 00:24:52.869 as soon as we landed in the Dominican, we went 00:24:52.869 --> 00:24:55.529 to the church and we started packing up some 00:24:55.529 --> 00:24:58.509 groceries. We packed up some groceries and we 00:24:58.509 --> 00:25:00.769 went to deliver them to homes. And we deliver 00:25:00.769 --> 00:25:02.490 them to homes and we would pray for people. And 00:25:02.490 --> 00:25:05.170 we went to the first home that we went to to 00:25:05.170 --> 00:25:08.849 deliver groceries. An elderly lady, she was probably 00:25:08.849 --> 00:25:12.529 87 or 88 years old. And we got to her house. 00:25:12.789 --> 00:25:16.309 And for us in the US, we think of a house and 00:25:16.309 --> 00:25:18.390 it's totally different. I mean, it's just a concrete 00:25:18.390 --> 00:25:21.289 slab with some plywood walls and you can really 00:25:21.289 --> 00:25:23.170 see through those cracks in the walls to where 00:25:23.170 --> 00:25:25.329 you can see through the whole house. She invited 00:25:25.329 --> 00:25:27.509 us in, we went in her house and everything was 00:25:27.509 --> 00:25:29.809 dirty, just a coating of dirt over everything. 00:25:30.549 --> 00:25:33.450 And as we're in this home, we're watching this 00:25:33.450 --> 00:25:35.420 and we're delivering her this food. Literally, 00:25:35.420 --> 00:25:37.539 this might be the only source of food that she's 00:25:37.539 --> 00:25:39.720 going to get is us delivering this to her. And 00:25:39.720 --> 00:25:42.240 we found out she was a believer. And so we prayed 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:44.240 for her. We prayed for her family. We prayed 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:46.680 for her neighborhood. And then we went on and 00:25:46.680 --> 00:25:48.380 we delivered to the next house and the next house. 00:25:48.420 --> 00:25:50.240 And over and over, we saw these stories of this, 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:52.940 being able to just bless these families and to 00:25:52.940 --> 00:25:55.539 pray with these families. And later that evening, 00:25:55.579 --> 00:25:58.000 we go to church and they have church like every 00:25:58.000 --> 00:25:59.319 night in the Dominican, right? That's how they 00:25:59.319 --> 00:26:01.950 roll. It's awesome. And we get there, and as 00:26:01.950 --> 00:26:03.589 we get to this church, man, I'm preaching at 00:26:03.589 --> 00:26:06.150 that church that night, and I just gotta tell 00:26:06.150 --> 00:26:08.329 you, I love you guys, but man, a Dominican audience, 00:26:08.670 --> 00:26:11.650 they were like hollering and amening and screaming, 00:26:11.809 --> 00:26:14.009 right? Like, I'm telling you, in heaven, there's 00:26:14.009 --> 00:26:16.609 gonna be like the Dominican section, and then 00:26:16.609 --> 00:26:18.450 there's gonna be the Heights Church. We're gonna 00:26:18.450 --> 00:26:20.309 be on like hole number eight doing our golf clap, 00:26:20.450 --> 00:26:24.450 right? Like, that's us, right? But I gotta say, 00:26:24.490 --> 00:26:26.970 you guys do think I'm funnier than they do, and 00:26:26.970 --> 00:26:29.130 I appreciate that. I like that a lot, okay? I'm 00:26:29.130 --> 00:26:31.599 okay with that. But man, I got done preaching 00:26:31.599 --> 00:26:34.099 and I'm standing there and worship is happening 00:26:34.099 --> 00:26:36.700 and they do offering a little bit different, 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:38.319 right? In the US, we go, hey, there's some ways 00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:39.940 on the screen that you can give. There's joy 00:26:39.940 --> 00:26:42.779 boxes in the back. Some churches you've maybe 00:26:42.779 --> 00:26:44.460 have been to, they'll pass around a bucket. And 00:26:44.460 --> 00:26:47.039 what they do here is they bring out this box. 00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:48.839 I can kind of only describe it as a treasure 00:26:48.839 --> 00:26:51.259 box. And they set it on the stage and they open 00:26:51.259 --> 00:26:54.220 it up and people during worship will come forward 00:26:54.220 --> 00:26:56.519 and they will place things in the box. They'll 00:26:56.519 --> 00:26:58.359 place their offering, what they're gonna give. 00:27:00.029 --> 00:27:01.849 As I'm worshiping, I'm standing there. I got 00:27:01.849 --> 00:27:05.410 done preaching and I see kind of a wobbly walk 00:27:05.410 --> 00:27:09.269 next to me. I look over and it's this 87, 88 00:27:09.269 --> 00:27:12.089 year old grandma. It's walking up to the front. 00:27:13.410 --> 00:27:16.109 And I'm thinking to myself, man, she needs this 00:27:16.109 --> 00:27:20.529 money more than just giving it. She's the one 00:27:20.529 --> 00:27:22.930 that can actually benefit from this. And then 00:27:22.930 --> 00:27:24.309 I thought, man, what she's giving is probably 00:27:24.309 --> 00:27:27.210 nothing. She literally gave everything she had. 00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:31.259 She placed it in the box and she turned around 00:27:31.259 --> 00:27:36.519 and the look of joy on this woman's face is one 00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:38.440 that I only hope to experience sometime in my 00:27:38.440 --> 00:27:43.140 life. And she walks back to her seat and as she's 00:27:43.140 --> 00:27:44.940 walking back to her seat, man, she's dancing. 00:27:45.700 --> 00:27:47.700 We called her gritty grandma. She's doing the 00:27:47.700 --> 00:27:49.200 gritty back to her seat. We're like, there goes 00:27:49.200 --> 00:27:52.039 the gritty grandma. And she's giving hugs to 00:27:52.039 --> 00:27:53.680 all of our, all of our students are going over 00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:55.400 and giving her hugs as she goes back to her seat. 00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:56.940 But here's the thing, man, I looked at her and 00:27:56.940 --> 00:28:00.500 I said, she knows her inheritance in Christ. 00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:04.339 This woman understands that she's a part of God's 00:28:04.339 --> 00:28:09.559 family. She understands that she has an inheritance 00:28:09.559 --> 00:28:11.619 in him. And so she's going, I want to build into 00:28:11.619 --> 00:28:14.079 the kingdom. I wanna serve the kingdom. I wanna 00:28:14.079 --> 00:28:16.119 give to the kingdom. I wanna live generously. 00:28:16.140 --> 00:28:18.700 Church, what if we understood our inheritance 00:28:18.700 --> 00:28:21.440 enough to say it's not about me, it's about building 00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:23.359 into the kingdom because I'm a part of the family. 00:28:24.220 --> 00:28:26.299 Because I'm a part of the family, I will live 00:28:26.299 --> 00:28:29.619 like I'm a part of the family. What does that 00:28:29.619 --> 00:28:33.759 mean? Next is this, it means you embrace your 00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:39.819 responsibility. See, sonship, adopted into sonship. 00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:43.740 It includes privilege. It includes so much of 00:28:43.740 --> 00:28:48.180 an inheritance, but it's also a calling. There's 00:28:48.180 --> 00:28:51.680 a responsibility because you represent the family. 00:28:52.559 --> 00:28:57.180 You represent the family. It's your job to bring 00:28:57.180 --> 00:28:59.700 the family name honor with how you live, with 00:28:59.700 --> 00:29:02.920 how you love, with how you lead. With the places 00:29:02.920 --> 00:29:04.700 that you find yourself in, are you bringing the 00:29:04.700 --> 00:29:07.019 family name honor? Are the people that are around 00:29:07.019 --> 00:29:09.460 you, would they go, man, I know you and I see 00:29:09.460 --> 00:29:11.380 you. And because I know you and I see you, I 00:29:11.380 --> 00:29:13.259 wanna be a part of whatever it is that you're 00:29:13.259 --> 00:29:15.559 doing. Because Jesus is definitely seen through 00:29:15.559 --> 00:29:18.420 you. Are you bringing the family name honor or 00:29:18.420 --> 00:29:20.960 are the people you around? Would they go, man, 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:22.579 if that's what it means to be a follower of Jesus, 00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:26.839 then I want nothing to do with it. How are you 00:29:26.839 --> 00:29:30.759 representing the family name? Are you embracing 00:29:30.759 --> 00:29:32.480 your responsibility? Because when you understand 00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:34.180 that you're a part of the family, you live like 00:29:34.180 --> 00:29:36.279 you're a part of the family. And that means embracing 00:29:36.279 --> 00:29:41.359 your responsibility. See, families have resemblance. 00:29:43.259 --> 00:29:45.660 Let me ask you, for those of you in here who 00:29:45.660 --> 00:29:48.279 call yourself a follower of Jesus, do you resemble 00:29:48.279 --> 00:29:51.480 your father? Are you becoming more like your 00:29:51.480 --> 00:29:58.140 heavenly father? Do you resemble him? Do you 00:29:58.140 --> 00:30:00.140 live in a way where you're becoming more like 00:30:00.140 --> 00:30:01.759 him and when someone looks at you, you resemble 00:30:01.759 --> 00:30:05.200 him? For those of you in here who walked in today 00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:08.660 and you don't know Jesus, I want you to know 00:30:08.660 --> 00:30:10.259 that you are loved, but I need you to know that 00:30:10.259 --> 00:30:12.079 you are also an enemy of God, but you have an 00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:16.200 invitation to sonship. And the invitation is 00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:19.079 this. The invitation is that Jesus came to this 00:30:19.079 --> 00:30:22.039 earth and he lived the life that you and I cannot 00:30:22.039 --> 00:30:24.970 live. He lived the perfect life. Therefore, he 00:30:24.970 --> 00:30:27.630 became worthy to be the sacrifice for our sins 00:30:27.630 --> 00:30:29.569 because it needed a perfect sacrifice. And so 00:30:29.569 --> 00:30:32.390 Jesus went to a cross to be the perfect sacrifice, 00:30:32.509 --> 00:30:35.230 to stand in your place so that you could have 00:30:35.230 --> 00:30:37.549 a relationship with God, so that you could be 00:30:37.549 --> 00:30:41.369 adopted into the family. And my prayer for you 00:30:41.369 --> 00:30:43.150 today, if you came in and you have not accepted 00:30:43.150 --> 00:30:46.349 the invitation into sonship, My prayer for you 00:30:46.349 --> 00:30:48.730 today is that you would give your trust to God, 00:30:48.750 --> 00:30:50.289 that you would say, I put my faith and trust 00:30:50.289 --> 00:30:52.349 in you and I believe what you did for me on that 00:30:52.349 --> 00:30:54.170 cross. And I believe that you rose from the grave 00:30:54.170 --> 00:30:55.990 and that you conquered sin and death so that 00:30:55.990 --> 00:30:58.910 I could become a part of the family. And for 00:30:58.910 --> 00:31:00.950 those of us in here who've done that, man, we've 00:31:00.950 --> 00:31:05.670 put our faith in Jesus. You have been adopted 00:31:05.670 --> 00:31:09.150 into God's family. And when you understand that 00:31:09.150 --> 00:31:13.109 you're a part of God's family, you live like 00:31:13.109 --> 00:31:16.730 you're a part of God's family. Let's pray. God, 00:31:16.809 --> 00:31:20.670 thank you. God, thank you that we are a part 00:31:20.670 --> 00:31:27.470 of your family. God, thank you that you would 00:31:27.470 --> 00:31:33.650 allow someone like me into the family, that you 00:31:33.650 --> 00:31:38.049 would cancel my debts, that you would give me 00:31:38.049 --> 00:31:44.730 full rights as the son of the king. God, I pray 00:31:44.730 --> 00:31:49.450 for all of us in here. That we would allow that 00:31:49.450 --> 00:31:51.950 to sink in and understand what that means. That 00:31:51.950 --> 00:31:54.269 we would live in a way that's not going back 00:31:54.269 --> 00:31:56.809 to our slave ways, back to our old ways, God, 00:31:56.890 --> 00:31:58.910 but that we would be living in the freedom that 00:31:58.910 --> 00:32:00.529 you have for us. God, that you would help us 00:32:00.529 --> 00:32:03.049 to speak life into ourself of who we are becoming 00:32:03.049 --> 00:32:04.950 in you because of our identity that is found 00:32:04.950 --> 00:32:07.049 in you, God. That we would embrace the responsibility 00:32:07.049 --> 00:32:10.349 of being a part of this family. God, I know the 00:32:10.349 --> 00:32:11.970 heaviness of this message. I know the heaviness 00:32:11.970 --> 00:32:15.230 of what this means. But God, truly this is a 00:32:15.230 --> 00:32:17.630 cause for celebration as we get to praise you 00:32:17.630 --> 00:32:19.170 and we get to celebrate, God, that you have brought 00:32:19.170 --> 00:32:21.390 us into your family, that you've accepted us. 00:32:21.410 --> 00:32:23.730 God, I pray specifically for people in here right 00:32:23.730 --> 00:32:25.910 now that need to come into the family, that need 00:32:25.910 --> 00:32:27.529 to accept the invitation, God, that you would 00:32:27.529 --> 00:32:29.349 put on their heart that they would become a part 00:32:29.349 --> 00:32:32.490 of the family today. That as one family right 00:32:32.490 --> 00:32:35.069 now, we would praise you, God, that we would 00:32:35.069 --> 00:32:37.029 sing to you, that we would give you the glory 00:32:37.029 --> 00:32:38.710 and praise that you deserve because you allowed 00:32:38.710 --> 00:32:41.549 us to be a part of this, that you loved us through 00:32:41.549 --> 00:32:48.299 our mess. God, thank you. God, we praise you. 00:32:49.059 --> 00:32:52.559 God, we worship you. We pray all of this in Jesus' 00:32:52.660 --> 00:32:54.079 name. Amen.