Paradigm Shift // Living as a Child of God // Guest Speaker John Harris

You know, when I was coming up in ministry, I was probably.

I started preaching ministry when I was 15.

And one of the things that my dad, who was my pastor as well as my dad, told me he says, over time, a church takes on the personality of its pastor.

If the pastor is stingy, the church is going to be stingy.

If the pastor is distant, the church is going to be stingy.

If the pastor is distant, the church is going to be distant.

If the pastor is loving, the church is going to be loving, and so hats off to you guys for your love and support of Pastor Nate and for your leadership of this church.

Like he said, pastoring is not easy.

That's why I don't do it, and so I'm kidding kind of, and so I'm kidding kind of.

So I have a ministry online, and one of the things that we're doing there is just trying to help people even online as well as you all here just learn to grow in Christ, to grow in Christ, to know Christ and to make him known, as you would say here at First Christian.

I've been looking forward to being a part of this series that you all have been in called Paradigm Shift and looking at how the perspectives that we have as children of God is going to be different than what's out in the world, and how do we stand firm in that?

How do we live out our faith as children of light in a world that is filled with darkness?

And what does that look like Now?

Fortunately for you and me, there are a lot of things about that dynamic that have not changed in several thousands of years.

It's new to us because we're new on the scene, but this has been a problem for several thousands of years.

And so in the world of the Bible, you see Jesus bringing the kingdom of God.

You see him passing the torch to the Bible.

You see Jesus bringing the kingdom of God.

You see him passing the torch to the apostles and the apostles passing it on to other church leaders to help their church advance and grow so that the gospel will continue to spread and more and more people will know who Jesus Christ is.

And so one of those apostles, the apostle Paul, wrote a letter to a church in Galatia, and that's the letter that you all have been in for several weeks, and I'm looking forward to sharing part two.

When I say part two, I mean sharing again.

We share that at 9 am.

But I want you to know that the letter to the Galatians is not just to one particular congregation, like some of Paul's other letters.

Like Paul's letter to Timothy was to Timothy one individual.

The letter to Titus was to Titus one individual.

His letter to the Colossians was to one church in the city of Colossae.

His letter to the Thessalonians is to one church in Thessalonica, same with Corinth.

But his letter to the Galatians is not the same.

Galatia was a region, not a city, and so it's modern-day Turkey.

So you can imagine the size of Turkey.

There are a bunch of churches all throughout Galatia.

So Paul's letter to the Galatians was taken and read out loud and it was traveled around to different churches to read what Paul was saying.

And here's the reason why it's because the threat to the Galatian churches was a very, very real one, and even one today that the church faces in a lot of ways.

And so I'm sure at this point in this series because I'm talking about chapter four you've heard a little bit about some of the background there.

So I'll just kind of do a little cliff note of the cliff notes version of that.

But Paul had shared the gospel in Galatia, and these churches popped up there, but they were still young churches, which means they're still young believers, very prone to being influenced, and so the message of the gospel of Jesus is that our faith in Jesus Christ by itself is what makes us righteous in the eyes of God.

It's what clears us, so to speak, or justifies us, is one of the biblical terms, but justification means to be declared not guilty.

Not guilty of what?

All the sins that we have committed against God, against each other, those sins make us unholy and unrighteous.

So when you have a holy and righteous God who has created us for relationship with him, but that relationship gets broken because of sin right Adam and Eve right Because of sin then God sends Jesus Christ so we can come back to God and be restored in relationship with him, the way we were intentionally created and designed to do, and so that's why Paul tells the Ephesians that we are created in Jesus Christ, which means to be recreated in Jesus Christ, to be new creatures.

This is a whole new life we have in Christ, with God, and so the problem, though, is that, as Paul was sharing, this message to Gentiles who are non-Jews had nothing to do with the Old Testament and the Old Covenant, but there were other Jews who were abiding by the Old Testament and the Old Covenant, where God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, and so on and so forth.

The Jews were God's chosen people who were abided by the Old Testament law and the Old Testament Covenant, and the problem, though, is that there was a particular relationship that the Old Testament or Old Covenant had as relates to the New Covenant.

In the Old Testament, there was distance between God and people, as a matter of fact, over and over.

You see people dying because of their sin, because they touched something that was holy, because provision had not been made for them to be holy.

You see God saying Moses, come on up here, I want to talk to you, but tell the people don't touch this mountain or they're going to die because my holiness is going to jack them up because they are sinful.

So, in the Old Testament, you see God giving the law.

He's giving rules to govern behavior, to show people how to be in relationship with him.

There were rules or boundaries for the relationship, to show people how to be in relationship with a holy God.

That was the law.

Those were the principles in the Old Testament.

There was about 613 of them.

None of us could obey all the laws was about 613 of them.

None of us could obey all the laws, but the laws were there to kind of show us how to behave without internal change on the inside.

Now, why is that important?

Because, as we get into this passage in Galatians, chapter 4, we need to understand some of this backdrop.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

We need to understand some of this backdrop Now.

Here's what changes, though, with the gospel of Jesus.

When Jesus Christ came, as a matter of fact, we just had communion right, one of the things that Jesus said when he first instituted the Last Supper.

He says this is the new covenant in my blood.

In the Old Testament, there was a blood of sheep and goats and things like that, and they had to keep on doing it.

But now the New Testament, jesus Christ is the perfect lamb.

He has died for our sins and there's no more other lamb after him.

So this is a new covenant, the new relationship that God's going to have now between God and man through faith in Christ.

So everyone who puts their faith in Christ, who believes that his blood shed on the cross washes our sin, that God chooses to use the blood of Jesus to wash away our sin, make us clean, make us holy.

When you put your faith in that plan, that's what causes you to be saved Faith in Christ for righteousness to be considered right, regardless of our past, regardless of our mistakes and even regardless of our guilt and shame and regret about it.

We are cleansed by the blood of Jesus, by putting our faith in him.

So that is a new covenant.

Well, if that's the new covenant, what was old?

This other one where it was all based on the law?

See, now our relation with God is not based on how us keeping the law.

It's based on our faith in Christ, and our faith in Christ alone.

So that was the message that Paul was preaching to the Gentiles, the non-Jews.

Well, those who had a Jewish background, who had grown up with the law, were saying hey, guys, listen, the gospel and all that's great.

Jesus is cool, but you still need to obey the law in order to be considered right.

So Paul's like no, no, no, no.

As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago I think it was he was sitting over here earlier.

I forgot his name, edgar.

Yeah, I was talking about foolish Galatians Like how did you get tripped up on that Right.

It's all by faith.

So here's what ends up happening.

In chapter 4, paul uses a specific imagery to highlight inheritance and adoption, these two main themes inheritance and adoption, these two main themes, inheritance and adoption.

But one of the things I want you to know before we read this particular passage is this You're going to see the word child here, right?

Child in this context is not the same way we call ourselves a child of God.

Paul is speaking to their cultural understanding and the cultural norms that a child is, the young, a child that is immature, that is underage.

And when the father dies that child, the inheritance passes on to the child, but the child is too immature and doesn't have access to the inheritance.

The child will own the inheritance but doesn't have access to the inheritance Until that child reaches an age decided by the father.

That child has trustees or guardians to make sure that they don't spend their inheritance on Jelly Belly and Chick-fil-A, like that's the whole purpose.

The child's not mature enough to handle it.

So the father in his wisdom says I'm not giving you everything I work for just for you to blow it at age six, like if I go off the scene and you're six, you are not messing up my stuff.

So there's going to be people in place to watch over you and the inheritance and when you get old enough, mature, then you will be declared a son, because son is about maturity.

So now let's look at this passage.

Now I say that as long as the heir is a child, he differs in no way from a slave, though he is the owner of everything.

Wait, paul, why are you bringing up slaves?

Well, first of all, slave here is not the way we would probably imagine slavery because of our American history In this time.

If I owed you some money, I might work at your house to work it off.

But I'm not being beat with whips, I'm not being raped, none of that stuff.

This is a different kind of dynamic.

The point that Paul is trying to make here is that that slave, although that slave is in the house with the Lord or Master, that slave has no access to the inheritance because it's not part of the family.

So Paul is saying when a child is immature, they are like a slave in that there's no access to the inheritance, although the child owns it.

We tracking, we good.

Okay, we got to make that clear, because we say slave and folks go kutkinte and everything else.

It's like it's not.

This is not that.

Instead, he is under guardians and trustees until the time set by his father, the time set by his father, the time set by his father.

So the father determines the age of maturity where the son will have access to the inheritance when the father dies.

Now, side note, you can see this is kind of a big deal, which is also why it's a big deal when jesus tells the parable of the father with two sons and the son says give me my stuff.

You see how, out of pocket, that is Right.

Give me my stuff, I ain't dead yet, I don't care if you're dead yet, I want my stuff right now.

So culturally, people go what?

Yeah, it was a big deal.

So guardians and trustees until a time set by the father, which could be different for different kids.

The point is, the father sets the appointed time for the maturity to go from a child to a son.

Now let's continue.

Verse 3 says this in the same way.

We also by the fact that he says in the same way you know he's taking an illustration and now he's going to give you the meaning of it.

Now it's going from the historical facts to now, the symbolism of what Paul is trying to point to.

In the same way, we also, when we were children, were in slavery under the elements of the world slavery under the elements of the world Slavery.

Now he's talking about a bondage to the things you used to be a part of and some of those spiritual dynamics.

Now, remember, paul's talking to the Galatians.

These were non-Jews.

These were people who used to worship other gods and goddesses, if you remember, like Greek mythology, roman mythology, all this other stuff, all the religious practices that went with that, all the temples that they used to worship, all the different ways of thinking.

And Paul is saying that we were enslaved to these other elements of the world before Christ.

Right, when we were children.

We're in slavery to those things.

Right, when we were children, we're in slavery to those things Now.

Verse 4, when the time came to completion.

When the time Now, another translation says when the fullness of time was come.

Right, this verse here is oftentimes read around Christmas time when the fullness of time was come, god sent forth his son, right, made of a woman, born of the law.

This is this passage, right here when the time came to completion, god sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, so that we might receive what Adoption as sons, adoption as sons when the time was come.

You see how Paul uses this whole child, son thing, time appointed by the Father.

Now he's talking about a time that God, the Father, appointed a particular time for Jesus to come.

Okay, this whole idea here, emphasizing inheritance and emphasizing adoption, paul uses what he knows as cultural norms to point to the spiritual dynamic of our change in our status as children of God, the change in our status as children of God.

Okay, now let's begin to unpack this a bit more.

Begin to unpack this a bit more.

One of the things I want you to see here is, as we compare the child and son, let's go ahead and put that slide up.

The first one Remember the child is immature, the child is underage when Christ comes.

Now we move from this underage, immature no access to the inheritance to a son that's now adult and mature.

We move from having a guardian.

The guardian, as Paul says in another passage, is actually the law.

The law was the one that tried to tell us how to behave with God, how to act and the boundaries to behave with God, how to act and the boundaries.

The problem was that the law tried to change our behavior from the outside in, because God was not able to be inside of us, because we were not yet holy.

So the law tried to do this, don't do that, do this, don't do that, do this, don't do that.

So the law was external, but the law was temporary in what it would try to do to help us in our relationship with God.

Now the law was like our quote-unquote guardian.

Now, because of Jesus, instead of focusing on the law and our relationship with God, now we have what?

The Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit.

Now, instead of like a slave, not having any access to our inheritance, now we have the full access as a son.

Remember, this here is not just about gender, it's about maturity.

Okay, paul is kind of playing off of the, the difference between underage and mature, no access to the inheritance and access to the inheritance and the to the inheritance, and the main difference being when the father said it was time.

So now for us, when the father said it was time, we're shifting from the Old Testament, focusing on the law and our relationship with God, to the New Testament because of Christ.

Now there's the spirit of God.

But I want you to see what else.

I want you to see what else, instead of this slavery or this bondage, there is freedom.

I didn't put that on the slide, but there's freedom.

So pretend like there's another bullet right there, from slave to freedom.

So in the sonship, there, there's maturity, there's a Holy Spirit on the inside of you.

There's access to the inheritance.

We don't just own it, we actually have access to it.

Paul says we have access to every spiritual blessing which is ours in Christ Jesus.

And then there is the freedom that Paul talks about a little bit later in Galatians.

You know, stand firm in the freedom wherewith Christ has made you free.

Free from what?

Free from the bondage and the law.

Now there's grace.

Now, if I miss a Sunday, god does not hate me If something profane slipped out of your mouth that doesn't throw it, doesn't eliminate the cross of Calvary.

There is grace for our sins.

So our relationship with God is not based on how good you are.

It's based on what Christ has done for you and your faith in him.

We're still going to mess up.

We're still going to make mistakes.

We're still going to sin.

We're still going to blow it, but our security is found in the fact that we are in Christ, that God sent Jesus Christ, who went to the cross, who shed his blood for us.

Now, nor for him to be the sacrifice for us to die for our sins.

He had to abide by the same laws that we could not abide by.

So he was born of a woman, born under the same law.

He perfected it and it became a sacrifice for those of us who couldn't live up to it.

That's why it's significant for him to have been born under the law, to come as a human being To live perfectly, so he could be a sacrifice for other human beings and be the lamb.

And so when you and I look at this Jesus guy and go, you know what.

And so when you and I look at this Jesus guy and go, you know what?

I believe that one day I will stand before God and have to give an account for all of my sins, every thought, word, action that was out of alignment with his holiness.

But I also believe that he sent Jesus Christ to die for me.

So if I put my faith in Christ, then I am clothed with the perfect life of Jesus Christ, the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, so that when I stand before him, he sees Christ's perfection, not my mistakes.

That's why it's called good news, in case you're wondering, that's why it's called good news, and the wonderful thing about it is that that truth is firm for all eternity.

No matter how I feel about my mistakes, even when I feel guilt, I'm still forgiven.

Even when I feel regret, I am still forgiven.

And there's nothing that takes me out of my position in christ.

Whether I feel up or down, feel feel good or bad, I am eternally secure because of my position in Jesus Christ.

That is the power of why Jesus came.

And so what is this actually called?

How do we step into those benefits?

Well, he says right here in verse 5.

He did all this to redeem those of us under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.

As sons Now, because Paul knows about the culture in Galatia, he knows how to unpack what adoption means to them, how to unpack what adoption means to them.

But in addition to this, I'm going to read a couple more verses and then I want to bring alongside a passage Paul wrote to the Romans where he says there's something similar, and then we'll go a little bit deeper into it.

If you're ready to go deeper, just say deeper, deeper, all right, all right, so, so, uh, he says you, he did all of that so that we might receive.

Now, if you receive something because of what he did, notice something God sent his son.

His son was born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law.

So far, we're talking about everything that Jesus did, things that God did and Jesus did.

God sent his son.

His son was born of a woman.

His son was born under the law.

His son redeemed us under the law so that we might receive.

You see that he did this so we could receive.

This is not you working for this.

This is somebody working for you.

God sent his son His son was born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem us from under the law so that we might receive as a gift the adoption as not children, bam, sons Full inheritance, his spirit.

You see that.

So, and because you are sons, now, paul impacts it because you are sons now, this is this.

Here is a gender inclusive term.

This is daughters and sons.

Right, it's about maturity more than gender.

Okay, because you are now, these mature children, been been made mature children.

God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying abba, father.

Now, abba is like a hebrew word that means a term of endearment, just like saying papa or dad or daddy, ab father.

So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then God has made you an heir.

See, we're back to that word heir.

Now let's go back to verse one, because you see how Paul is trying to explain this.

Verse one, chapter four.

Now I say that as long as the heir is a child.

So he talks about heir in verse 1.

He goes through the whole circle, comes back to verse 7.

So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then God has made you an heir.

So let's go deeper into what this looks like.

I want to, as we look at what Paul just said.

There you have the spirit of his son.

You can cry Abba, father, you're no longer a slave, now you're an heir, spirit of his son.

You can cry, abba, father, you're no longer a slave, now you're an heir.

Look at what he says to the Roman church.

Now let's go to Paul's letter to the Romans, romans, chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.

Instead, you receive God's Spirit when he what as his own, what Now?

Because you're his children, we can call him Abba Father, for his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children.

Notice, I want you to see something Both in Galatians and Romans, paul says that the Abba Father calling God Daddy, father, comes through the presence of the Spirit.

The Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit inside of you is what prompts you to say God is my Father and, as a matter of fact, part of his job description in verse 16,.

For the Spirit joins with your spirit to affirm that we are God's children.

The Spirit of God reminds you over and over and over you're His child, you're His child, but I feel so bad about what I did.

I understand, I saw it, I was there, but you're His child, you're His child, you're His child.

The Spirit bears witness, with our spirit, to affirm and reaffirm our childhood of God.

You're his child when you're afraid, you're his child when you're confident.

You're his child when you're on the mountain, you're his child.

In the valley, you're his child.

When you're filled with anxiety, you're his child.

When you feel on top of the world, you're his child.

When you're up and you're his child.

When you're down, you're his child.

When you feel good and you're his child when you feel bad of God affirms with our spirit that we are the children of God and nothing can ever change that.

Jesus said the father has given me sheep and then no one can pluck them out of my hand no one.

Because in verse 17 and since we are his children, we, we are his heirs.

See, heirs is about what Inheritance?

Because we're in the family.

There's an inheritance, but we didn't get into the family.

The same way, jesus is in the family.

That just doesn't quite make sense.

It seems unfair.

Paul, what do you think about that?

Well, in fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory.

But if we are to share his glory, we must also share in his suffering.

Together with Christ, we're heirs.

How is it possible that you and me, with our stuff, I mean, how are we like on the same air level with Jesus?

Well, here's what Paul knows about the Roman culture, and in Galatia.

They're also influenced by the Roman culture Because, if you remember, roman Empire was pretty significant, inspired the Roman culture.

If you remember, the Roman Empire was pretty significant In Roman adoption.

Adoption was very, very normal in Rome in the first in the whole Roman Empire, actually in the first 200 years of the Roman Empire, adoption was very, very common.

As a matter of fact just kind of a side note, how many of you saw or heard about the movie the Sound of Freedom that came out early this year about human trafficking and stuff?

All right.

So the sequel to Sound of Freedom is called Sound of Hope, and Sound of Hope is about foster care and adoption.

That's coming out in July and so when it came to the Roman culture, when somebody was adopted from family A to family B, all of the rights and privileges they had in family A were completely lost.

Family A were completely lost and all of the rights and privileges that come with family B are now fully theirs.

Here's why that's significant Because when you are adopted into this new family, according to Roman culture and customs and tradition, you were fully a child in that family, as if you were blood.

So you were in the lineage just like everybody else.

So an adopted child had the inheritance of their father's estate, just like the father's biological children.

And the biological children couldn't be like, oh you just adopted, you know that whole concept.

They couldn't even be teased about it because it was such a solidified fact and truth and legal listen, legal right.

They became as much a part of the family as the biological children.

There was no distinction.

That's how clear the adoption was.

That's how powerful the adoption was.

In addition to that, if I owed anyone money, like say, I'm in this family and I owe Pastor Nate $500,000.

Right, you're like well, how did you get in any business?

Say I owe him $500,000.

When I get adopted, every aspect of my old life is gone, including that debt gone, including that debt.

If Nate wants his money, he better get it before the adoption is official, because in my new family I'm a completely new person.

My old life is completely gone, including my debts.

They're now canceled.

So not only am I leaving my debt behind, but I'm gaining an inheritance.

This is a sweet deal In Roman adoption, all your debts were canceled because all of your old life was completely over.

New inheritance, just as much an heir as all the biological children.

It's the same.

There was no distinction Father's estate, all debts, canceled.

Roman adoption was such a common thing that if you think about some of you who are history buffs, if you remember emperor Augustus Tiberius Caesar, you see his name written in scripture as it relates to when Jesus was born, emperor Nero, marcus Aurelius.

All of them were adopted and became emperor.

Why?

Because adoption is adoption Full rights and privileges and lineage and inheritance and authority, adoption.

So when Paul is reading this to the Romans, writing to the Romans, he says they know exactly what adoption means.

Now, with that view of adoption, let's read it again.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.

Instead, you receive notice what you're receiving all things you're receiving new family receiving.

You receive God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children, his own children.

There are no stepchildren in the family of God.

Now we call him Abba, father, for his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm we are God's children and since we are his children, we are his heirs.

And if we are heirs of God, that means that we are joint heirs, right Together with Christ.

We are heirs of God's glory.

Now you see how that makes sense.

We're in this thing, so it's not like Jesus is the biological son and we're just the adopted one.

No, jesus is spiritually one with God.

He's the son of God and we are brought into this so much sonship, sons and daughters of God, that we share Christ's inheritance as an heir of God.

I'm glad one person is excited about that.

I'm just going to preach over here for the rest of it.

Here's what's crazy.

Here's what's crazy Because right now you're like wait a minute, wait, wait, wait.

But I still remember what I did last summer.

Pastor John, what you talking about, like, I still like it's not, it's not rap, I just mm.

This is hard.

Anyway, be honest, is this hard to grasp, right here?

Right, it's hard.

Listen, here's why I want you to make a shift.

I don't want you to grasp it here, because this absolutely doesn't make sense.

You know why it doesn't make sense Because this ain't how you would do it.

I want you to grasp it here.

I want you to receive it here.

Receive it here.

Receive it here.

You're his.

You're his, as a matter of fact, even one of Jesus's own prayer requests in John, chapter 17,.

John 17 · chapter mention

He said, father, I pray that they know that you love them as much as you love me.

What that's impossible, because my love people love me based on what I do.

He's the only person who doesn't See our love.

Our relationship is based on how we act.

No, no, no, not with him.

Jesus is praying.

I pray that they know that you love them as much as you love me.

I'm praying that they know what being adopted by you really means.

The old life is gone.

The old debt is gone.

The inheritance that you didn't deserve is passed on to you.

You are an heir with Christ, an heir of God.

I'm praying that they know.

Now you might go, what this is like.

Crazy, I know it's crazy, but it's true.

This is crazy, true.

Okay, I'll let you get out.

If you just want to say it out loud, like this is crazy, just go ahead and say it.

Just go ahead and say it out loud, let's go ahead.

It's crazy, I know, I know it's crazy, it's crazy.

That's why Francis Chan wrote a book called Crazy Love Because it's crazy, but it's powerful and it's eternal and it's true, and it's true and it's transformative.

And so, when we look at this, I want you to see some of the other things here, because of how adoption worked.

Poor people didn't adopt rich people.

You don't have somebody with everything going, you know what.

I just want to forget it all and just, I want to be broke Right, that's not a good offer.

Like we have nothing, we want to adopt you.

Like, shoot, you must be crazy.

I'm not.

No, poor people didn't adopt rich people.

It's the rich people who adopted the poor people.

I'll give you a minute, it's the rich, right?

He who was rich for our sake became poor.

So let me share with you a couple other passages here.

John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

In John chapter 1, we see this dynamic again, where other apostles are talking about this same dynamic.

John 1 · chapter mention

John chapter 1, verse 12.

John 1:12

Apostles are talking about this same dynamic.

John chapter 1, verse 12, but to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born watch this not of natural descent, not biological right, not of the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God.

John 1:12

This was God's plan, god's will.

We are born because God's plan.

All right.

Second Corinthians 6, verse 17 through 18.

2 Corinthians 6:17–18

Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord.

Do not touch any unclean thing and I will welcome you and I will be a father to you and you will be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord.

Now, that's actually an Old Testament passage that Paul writes, that he quotes as he's writing to the Corinthians.

And then let's close on this last verse here in 1 John, chapter 3.

1 John 3 · chapter mention

And when we read it, you're going to see why.

1 John, chapter 3, beginning at verse 1.

1 John 3 · chapter mention

John says this see how very much our father loves us, for he calls us as his children, and that is what we are.

But the people who belong to this world don't recognize that we are God's children because they don't know God.

Dear friends, we are already God's children.

Dear friends, we are already god's children.

Dear friends, we are already god's children.

Dear friends, we are already god's children.

But, paul, what john wants you to know is that there is more coming, but at hat.

But he has not yet shown us what we will be like when christ appears.

But we know, we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.

So what?

Everything that God has done through Christ has accomplished something for us.

We have received the adoption as his sons and daughters, his, his children with full access, as sons and daughters, full access as those who are mature, full access to him and his throne and his presence and his riches and his inheritance and his help in a time of trouble.

Full access to God.

We have received his spirit.

And here's the thing the world will not recognize what's really going on with us because they don't know God.

Don't expect them to respect you as believers, as children of light, do not expect darkness to respect you.

Don't expect darkness to agree with you.

They're not supposed to.

But we are here as representatives of Jesus and the heart of God, the Father, to let them know that in the world full of darkness there is light.

In a world full of chaos and despair, there there is hope and his name is Jesus.

But as representatives of his family, you can't get caught up in what they're talking about.

Don't drift to the left and don't drift to the right.

They're supposed to be drifting towards us, not us drifting towards them.

You stand firm in the Spirit of God that he's given you.

You stand firm in the grace that you've received.

You stand firm in the grace that you've received.

You stand firm in the eternal life that you've received.

I don't care what their principles are, how they run, redefine stuff, hello, we're not going for that.

How they have different values for power and control and money, we're not going for that.

We have received an adoption as God's children.

There is a kingdom that is now ours.

It is now and later, just like the candy, it's now and later.

Come on, somebody, somebody, remember some now and laters.

What he's saying is that we're children now, but it's not even all of it yet.

There's still more for us later.

So, no matter how dark and things get in the world, do not lose hope, do not despair.

We're here for a a temporary time, but what God has done in us through Christ, it is eternal.

So keep your fire burning, keep connecting, keep praying and supporting each other, keep sharing the gospel so that we can populate heaven.

But in one day, when we continue, one day the trumpet is going to sound and the dead in Christ are going to be raised from the dead and we who will reign will be meeting him up in the air to be with him forever, where there's no more death and no more sickness, and no more sorrow and no more politics, hello somebody, and no more Facebook feeds and news.

No, we will be seeing him face to face.

Like we sang today you are holy forever.

You are holy, holy, holy forever.

That is what it means Just a snippet, to be adopted as his children.

We've got something to shout about.

We've got something to be excited about.

Don't let this world get you down.

We are in Christ and our sins have been forgiven.

We are forever and eternally God's children, and nothing will change that.

Pastor Nate, why don't you come on up before I say something?