“Receiving the Spirit of Adoption” by Mark Jobe

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

Well, I want to continue our series on the Holy Spirit, a series called Empowered.

And this weekend I want to speak on the subject of receiving the spirit of adoption.

Receiving the spirit of adoption.

I want to tell you just a little bit about my story first.

I was born to a 15-year-old mother.

She actually turned 15 one month before my birth.

My dad left before I was born.

My grandparents raised me most of the early years of my life.

When I was three years old, my mother remarried, and I had a stepdad, and um he did his best.

He was a truck driver.

He was gone a lot.

My mother in those days worked in a factory.

She was gone.

So babysitters raised me as well.

At the age of five, they set me down to tell me that I was being adopted.

Now it was my biological mother, but I didn't know that this man was my stepdad.

My original name was David Taylor, long story.

My name today is Mark Job, another story.

But they told me that day that I was being adopted and they explained it to me.

And I could I can remember the joy on their face, you know, as they were excited about this process they'd been walking through.

But I didn't take it as a positive.

All I could think about was, where's my dad?

Where's my real father?

Why didn't he stay?

Why didn't he want me?

Why did why, why, why?

And my heart picked up on rejection.

My little five-year-old heart, I believe that day took on an orphan spirit.

An orphan spirit.

An orphan spirit will lie to you about your worth, your identity, and your future.

An orphan spirit will lie to you and try to rob you from your destiny.

And that's the process that started in my life at the age of five.

I've got a question for you.

Have you been lied to?

Has an orphan spirit plagued you?

Have you even thought about it?

In 2 Samuel chapter 4 is a story of a young man who became an orphan.

2 Samuel 4 · chapter mention

Now, defined, orphan-defined is this someone who's lost one or both parents and cannot take care of themselves.

So this young man became an orphan.

The story here, I believe the story in 2 Samuel 4, 4 will help us understand the nature of an orphan spirit and how to break free.

Let me read it to you.

2 Samuel chapter 4, verse 4.

2 Samuel 4:4

Excuse me, the Bible says Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame in his feet.

He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel.

And his nurse, her name was Zeba, she took him up and she fled, the Bible says, and it happened as she made haste to flee that he fell and became lame.

His name was Mephibosheth.

So not only did he become an orphan, not only did he lose his dad, he lost his grandfather.

I mean, I was so grateful that even though I had lost my dad, I still had a grandfather.

My grandfather had helped me through so many different seasons of my life.

But Mephibosheth lost his grandfather as well.

And it was customary during that time that if a king was killed, then the next king in line would come and kill all of the family members of the previous king to keep them, to keep them from being to keep an uprising from happening in the land.

And so Mephibosheth basically ran and he hid.

He lost his family, he lost his identity, he lost his influence, his inheritance, he lost his home, he lost his security, he lost everything familiar and stable in his life.

I mean, put yourself there for just a moment emotionally.

Five years old on the run.

I can't imagine.

He lost his ability to run and play like other kids.

He lost his ability to take care of himself.

He was forced to live in an obscure land by the name of Lodabar.

Lodabar.

Let me tell you what Lodabar means.

Very interesting.

It's a dry, barren, forgotten place.

Somewhere in western Oklahoma.

I'm kidding.

The name Lodabar means no pasture.

It means no word.

It means a place of limitation and a place of insignificance.

No pasture, that means no provision, no grain, no way to take care of yourself.

It means no word, which means he lost his promise.

He lost his provision.

It's also a place of insignificance.

He lost his prominence.

Everything that you need to prosper.

He lost his hope for a future or change.

That's what an orphan spirit will do to you.

If you believe the lie, then here's what you'll believe: you'll believe you have no purpose, you have no future, and you have no power to change it.

I'm telling you, some of you have operated under an orphan spirit for a long time.

I think you'll spot the areas where you've been attacked and influenced as I get a little deeper into this.

But here's what I want to say to you: an orphan spirit will cause you to live in fear, run from your calling, and hide from the king.

We've all been there.

Many of us have been there, some of us are there right now.

So, how do you know if you're under the influence of an orphan spirit?

Let me give you a couple of examples.

If you feel like no matter how successful you become, it's never enough.

You're battling an orphan spirit.

If your self-worth is connected to how well you perform, performance living, orphan spirit.

No matter how much affirmation someone gives you, you still don't feel validated.

Orphan spirit.

In the hierarchy of your world, you justify stepping on others to get to the top.

Orphan spirit.

Titles matter to you because you feel less than orphan spirit.

No matter how many times your family or your spouse tells you they love you, you still feel unloved.

Orphan spirit.

Every famous person you meet is another notch in your belt, and you name drop to feel more significant.

Ouch.

Orphan spirit.

And the last one's this when you read the promises of God in the Word, a voice says to you, that does not apply to you.

Orphan spirit.

I just want to say to you, you do not have to live under the control of an orphan spirit for the rest of your life.

It's time to call out the lie.

It's time to recognize it and say, no more.

I'm not allowing this in my life anymore.

It's time to reverse the curse.

But some of us, the struggle that we face, it didn't originate with us.

It came down through our bloodline.

Let me say it this way: you're fighting battles your mother never finished.

You're breaking chains your father passed down.

You're destroying patterns and defeating devils that have been passed down for generations.

It's hard, it's heavy.

But you're the interruption to it all.

It stops with you.

You're the pivotal generation for your family tree.

It has to stop somewhere.

No more, your heart says.

Generations after you will be different because you paid the price.

Now let me say it this way.

Generations after you'll be different because you prayed the price.

It's worth it.

Listen to me, dads.

What you pour into your children, you don't just get it back, you get it back multiplied.

You pour in anger, you get it back multiplied.

You pour in legalism, you get it back multiplied.

But you pour in compassion and understanding, and you take the time to really get down on their level, whatever age they are, and meet them there heart to heart, you get that back multiplied.

Father's Day becomes glorious, not like, oh no, they're coming back again.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can break the curses.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can destroy the chains.

We all carry wounds from our childhood.

You know what bothers me though is we cannot use those wounds as excuses for our current behavior.

I'm 63 years old.

I can't keep going back and saying, When I was a little boy, I can't do that.

But I'll tell you what I have watched, I've watched the hand of God all of these years heal the areas of my heart and free me from the mindset of an orphan spirit.

I just want to know is there a man and a woman in this place today that'll stand up and draw a line in the sand and say, No more, it stops now.

I refuse to be controlled by an orphan spirit any longer.

It's time to declare this.

The enemy cannot have my family.

And the enemy cannot have my life.

Even what we've walked through as a church, I've had people say, Did it damage your faith?

No, it increased my faith because I stood up and I said, I will not allow this to destroy my family.

Not just my biological family, but my church family.

It's time to declare the enemy cannot have my family.

I have a purpose, I have a future, I have power to change it, and I love this.

I have a place at the table.

Let me go on to explain what I mean.

Back to the story of Mephibosheth.

Years after he fled for his life, King David remembered that he'd made a promise to his dad, Mephibosheth's dad, Jonathan, that he would take care of his family.

Well, now that Jonathan was gone, and the orphan Mephibosheth had fled to Lodabar, David had no idea where he was.

But several years later, he remembered his promise to Jonathan.

So he said, Is there not any of the offspring of Jonathan that I can bless, that I can show loving kindness to?

And someone knew the story and said, Yes, there's one.

His name is Mephibosheth, and he's crippled, and he lives in the land of Lodabar, and King David called him to come to the palace.

Now remember what I said to you earlier.

If Mephibosheth and the clan knew the history, and they did, if they could only imagine that the only reason the king was calling him to the castle was to kill the very last offspring relative of Jonathan and King Saul.

So when Mephibosheth got to the palace, he knelt before the king and asked for mercy.

But instead, he got loving kindness.

Instead, he got grace and he got mercy and he got his inheritance given back to him.

As a matter of fact, King David said, Everything that your grandfather Saul owned, I give it back to you.

And then he went on to say, and all of your servants that went with you will now work the land, and you will have plenty for the rest of your life.

It's a story of redemption.

I mean, can we not see our name written in that story?

Everything the enemies ever stole from us.

God wants to restore it back.

But I love the last part.

He gave him a seat at the table.

Look at it with me in 2 Samuel chapter 9, verse 11.

2 Samuel 9:11

It says, So Mephibosheth ate at David's table like one of the king's sons.

Did you hear that?

Mephibosheth had a young son named Mekah, which that just stood out to me because not only was King David about to bless Mephibosheth, he was going to bless the generations after him.

So not only is there a place at the table for you, but the blessing of God on your life is going to impact your children and your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren.

It says, and all the members of Zebra's household were servants of Mephibosheth.

And it says, and he lived in Jerusalem.

I thought, how interesting.

God moved him from a desk, a desert place to the city of peace.

Come on, somebody.

And it says, because he will he always ate at the king's table.

And I thought, look at this little addendum.

Because he always ate at the king's table, but he was lame in both feet.

He always ate at the king's table, but he was lame at both feet.

You see, the Father's not waiting for you to get everything right.

He's not waiting for you to get everything healed.

He accepts you just like you are.

Even if you're still crippled, there's a seat for you at the table.

Are you hearing me today?

Some of us are like, I won't go into God's presence and worship because I'm a sinner.

I'm not totally right with God.

I've got things I need to work on.

Some of you have held back and not given your heart to Jesus because you thought you got to clean up your act.

No, you don't understand.

You come to Jesus like you are, he cleans up your act.

He's the only one that can break the spirit of an orphan off of us.

The story of Mephibosheth is a redemption story.

His sense of family was restored, his sense of inheritance was restored, his security was restored, his future was restored.

It reminds me a lot of what happens when you play a country song backwards.

You get your house back, you get your dog back, you get your best friend Jack back, you get your truck back, you get your wife back, you get everything the enemy stole from you back.

That's redemption.

God's got a plan.

That's why the enemy fights so hard.

Here's what I believe.

What King David did for Mephibosheth, King Jesus wants to do for you.

Yes.

Which brings me to number three.

Would you believe me if I told you?

He said, Why'd you why'd you say that?

Let me tell you why.

Would you believe me if I told you you were chosen, you were adopted, you were accepted, and you were loved?

Would you believe me if I told you that you have a new father, a new family, an inheritance and a future, and a seat at the table?

Would you believe me if I told you?

I struggled with believing those things.

But would you believe me if I told you?

I went to school, to Bible college with a guy named Rick.

Rick's dad was a raging alcoholic, violent.

Rick's mother divorced his dad, and Rick and his two brothers were moved to a boy's home.

And mom said to them, one day, things will get better, and I'll come get you.

But every night they'd cry themselves to sleep.

Rick was the oldest, so he would comfort his two little brothers and he'd say, Mama promised one day it's gonna get better.

And one day it did.

Mom remarried.

She sent a car to pick them up from the boys' home.

It happened to be a limo.

When they saw it, they thought, hmm, things may be getting better.

The limo drove them to Memphis, Tennessee, and up a driveway to a house called Graceland.

Their mother had married Vernon Presley.

There was a guy standing in the front yard.

Their big brother now was Elvis.

And I thought, what a story.

Would you believe me if I told you?

But you have a better story than that.

Grace picked you up.

The Father adopted you.

He gave you an inheritance.

You have a mansion in heaven waiting on you.

And your big brother is not the king of rock and roll.

Your big brother's the king of kings and the lord of lords.

I'm telling you, you got a better story.

Would you believe me if I told you?

Oh, our story's so much better.

Ephesians 1, verse 4 makes it very clear.

Ephesians 1:4

It says, He chose us in him before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ Himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us accepted in the beloved.

It's all right there.

He chose us, he adopted us, he accepted us, and he loved us.

It's all right there.

One passage he said, you know, if you can't get it, get it right here.

It's all right here.

It's not too good to be true.

It's all right here.

You know, when we found out that um Pastor Daniel and Pastor Tammy, when they were announced as our senior pastors, Sandy turned to me and she said, I feel like we just got adopted.

We have new parents.

Somebody wants us.

I mean, I I kind of felt like Annie, you know, in the movie when Daddy Warbucks, you know, adopted and everybody started dancing.

We get Annie, we get Annie, you know.

I know that sounds silly, but listen.

You need to know you're chosen, you need to know you're accepted.

You need to know that God has you in his heart even right now.

You need to know that you're beloved of God.

You need to know he's got a plan for your future.

It is not hopelessness.

You are chosen, adopted, accepted, and loved.

Here's another passage, Romans 8:15.

Romans 8:15

Listen to this.

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again.

You could put in there, you did not receive an orphan spirit again, because that's what it does.

It puts you in bondage.

You did not receive it again to fear, but you receive the spirit of adoption.

Now, here's something I want you to catch.

It says, when you receive the spirit of adoption, it goes on to say, by whom we cry out, Abba Father.

Here's what happens.

You'll hear people talking about God, and they'll say, He's like the big man upstairs, or oh yeah, I believe in God, and then they'll cuss for a few minutes.

Oh yeah, I believe in God.

You know, you've been around folks like that.

All they're telling you is, I don't know him personally.

Because if they knew him personally, they would talk about him with much more love and adoration and respect.

They just would.

Now, I'm not I'm not criticizing or judging them.

I'm just saying it's a fact.

Because here's the flip side of the coin.

When you receive the spirit of adoption, there's a love for God that happens.

It shifts inside of you.

All of a sudden, worship makes sense.

All of a sudden, a relationship with God the Father makes sense.

Abba Father means daddy God.

All of a sudden, he's no longer a stepdad, he's no longer distant to you.

Something happens inside of your heart.

The spirit of adoption captures you.

Then it says, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we're children of God.

We know we're family now.

And if children then heirs, we know we have an inheritance.

You do have a new father, you do have a new family, you do have an inheritance, and you do have a future, and you do have a seat at the table.

Would you believe me if I told you?

I know now that adoption's good.

I didn't as a child.

In my 20s, I saw my biological father for the very first time.

Sandy and I were with a friend, we were playing putt-putt, and I heard them talking, and he said something to her, and she said out loud, Well, why don't you ask him?

And I heard that, and I said, Ask me what?

He said, Did you ever did you ever think about meeting your father, seeing your father?

Did you ever have a desire to see your biological father?

And I said, I thought about it a few times.

Why do you ask?

He said, Because there he is across the putt-putt course playing putt-putt with his wife and two kids.

I thought I was fine until I saw him.

And something inside of me lit up, and I just I knew I needed to meet him.

I wanted to meet him.

I had to figure this out.

So I made an appointment.

I found out that he was vice president of a bank in Waco, Texas.

So I made an appointment with his assistant, and uh when I got there, he wasn't there.

So she put me in his office, and I'm sitting by the door, the desk is there, the door's here.

I'm sitting in a chair facing the desk, and he comes walking in, and he he really doesn't notice me a whole lot.

He just says, How you doing, young man?

And he walks on around and he sits down and he looks up and he says, How may I help you?

And he recognized me.

And I said, I came to get my inheritance.

I didn't say that.

Okay.

I wish I would have.

No.

I said, Man, I don't want anything.

I just wanted to meet you.

He said, I've wanted to meet you for a long time.

And we sat and talked about life.

He told me his version of what happened.

It matched my mom's.

He told me about his new family and his two daughters.

You know what I found out through it all?

He moved his new family to the little town that I grew up in so he could watch me grow up from a distance.

He never told me he was there.

He came to every one of my football games, stood on the sidelines, and watched me play.

Even when we won the state championship, he was there.

And you know what that said to me?

It said to me, even though he made a lot of mistakes, he still loved me deep inside.

And when I heard that he did that, it settled something in me.

It began to break that rejection apart inside me.

I knew God had loved me.

I knew God loved me, but I didn't know if my father loved me.

Just a few months later, I received a phone call.

Found out that my my father, his name was Sonny.

I found out that he had a cerebral hemorrhage, and they said, We don't think he's gonna make it.

And if you want to see him alive, you need to get up to the hospital.

So I got to the hospital, and you have to understand that his daughters were there, and one of them recognized me from school.

And the mom had stepmom had already said, Don't tell him who you are.

So when I walked in, she said, Mark Job, what are you doing here?

And immediately I said, Well, I'm a pastor.

I heard your dad's sick.

I came to pray for him.

She went, Oh.

I could see the family behind her going, you know, that was good job.

So they asked me to step outside.

They said, Uh, your grandmother wants to talk to you, and we need to warn you.

She's from Czechoslovakia, and she's very high strung, and she's believed for years that you were not her grandson, but you look just like your dad.

And they went on.

They said, We don't know if she's gonna slap you, hug you.

We don't know.

So I waited outside for her to come out and she, little bitty lady, she started walking toward me, and she's looking up at me, and I'm looking down at her, and sure enough, here came her right hand.

But instead of a slap, she did this.

The first thing I said I wasn't gonna cry.

The first thing she said to me was, You are Sonny's boy.

She recognized me again.

The Lord knew I needed some things, I needed to hear some things to heal.

That helped me heal to a new level.

I spent the next several nights in my father's hospital room.

He was in a coma.

And after the family would go home, I would just sit there and talk to him.

And a nurse slipped in one night and she said, Young man, I don't know who you are, but every time you talk, his heart monitor responds.

I don't know, but I think he might be able to hear you.

So I took it from the Lord.

I gave him the plan of salvation.

I told him I forgave him.

I made peace with him.

It's so strange to be looking at a man that you look like, but you don't know him.

I didn't, I never spent time with him, but I made peace with him.

The next day he passed away.

I preached his funeral.

I told all of his golfing buddies, I said, I envy you.

I always wanted to play golf with my father.

I'm telling you, God was healing my heart piece at a time.

I was working out in my yard one day and I got a phone call from an uncle I didn't know.

He said, Hey, uh Granny Taylor passed away.

And uh I have some papers that you need to sign.

And I was like, what do you mean?

He said, She wrote you into her will.

Just another level of healing.

I was accepted, I did have an inheritance.

I love how detailed God is.

He loves you just like that.

Ended up going, this is the last part of the story.

I'll tell you, I ended up going to her funeral.

Sandy and I walked in and people were seated.

It was the viewing time.

I walked just down the aisle and went down to the casket to pay my last respects.

Then I went into the family room, they had the service, and after the service at the graveside, a man walked up to me and said, You don't know me.

I was your dad's best friend in high school.

I know your story.

And he said, Today when you came walking in, he said, I turned to my wife and I said, Look at that.

That Sonny's boy, I can tell by the way he walks.

And the Lord healed one more layer.

I've been told my whole life I look like my mother.

That'll help a young man grow up, won't it?

Thank God I walk like my daddy.

Here's why I told that story.

I believed a lie most of my life.

The orphan spirit plagued me, and God had to break it off of me little by little, by little by little.

But I'm gonna tell you something.

The Father wants to break it off of us.

He wants us to walk in the reality of adoption.

Just like he took extreme measures to heal my heart, I believe he wants to heal yours.

You've been called by the king.

You have an inheritance waiting on you.

You've been invited to the palace, the family of God.

You have a seat at the king's table.

Now it's time to bow your knees before the king and surrender your heart and receive the spirit of adoption.

Would you bow your heads with me for just a moment?

I want to talk to you heart to heart for a minute.

The message tonight was shorter on purpose because what I want to do right now is give you a few minutes for the Lord to connect with you.

I believe he said to me, We're gonna have an adoption ceremony today.

The King wants to adopt you.

There are primarily two groups of people I want to pray for right here.

Here they are.

First of all, those of you, and I'm speaking to those of you at the campus as well, those of you who've never bowed your knees before the King.

You've never declared Jesus as your Lord, and you've never received the spirit of adoption.

The whole concept of being in the family of God's foreign to you.

You feel like a distant outsider.

Those of you at the prison campuses right now, God's speaking to you.

Have you ever really bowed your knees?

I remember a time before I knew the Lord, I mocked Christians.

I didn't get it.

But as soon as Jesus came into my heart and the spirit of adoption, which is the Holy Spirit, moved inside of me, everything changed.

So the first group is those of you who've never bowed your knees before the King and declared Jesus as your Lord and received the spirit of adoption.

I want to help you in just a moment.

The second group, those of you who've been lied to most of your life, you think you know Jesus, but an orphan spirit has robbed you from your relationship with God.

You know there's more, but you don't know how to get there.

You still feel like you don't belong.

And here's what I believe the Spirit of God showed me this week.

If we will bow our knee or bow our heart and declare Jesus as Lord, make him priority, he will break the orphan spirit off of our life.

And here's how I want to do this.

I want to know who I'm praying for.

I want to know who needs to declare Jesus Lord.

I want to know who it is that needs to bow your knee, bow your heart to the Lord.

I want to know who is it that you need the orphan spirit broken off of you.

I want to know whom I'm praying for and who I'm praying with.

If that's you, whether you're here at South Lake or whether you're there at one of the campuses, maybe one of the prison campuses, I'm gonna ask you to stand.

Because what you're saying is, I'm not let I'm not I'm not allowing this orphan spirit to control me any longer.

I'm calling out the lie.

You're saying, Father, I'm bringing my life to you.

I'm asking you to forgive me, I'm asking you to cleanse me, I'm asking you to adopt me.

If that's you, stand up.

I see one, two, three.

I'm gonna pray for you and I'm gonna pray with you.

Four, five.

If you're there at the campuses, I want to ask you to stand so the pastor and the pastoral team can see who they need to pray for and help.

We want to help you with next steps.

We want to help you.

What do you do from here?

We want to help you.

Anyone else before we pray?

I see one in the back, another in the back, anyone in the balcony?

I see two, three.

Anyone else?

Two over here to my right.

Some of you have prayed to receive the Lord before, but it's always been confusing to you.

The Lord wants to break through the confusion tonight and settle it.

Some of you have never prayed, you've never bowed your knee before the Lord, and the most incredible miracle is gonna happen inside of your heart right now.

The spirit of an orphan is gonna be removed, and he's going to put the spirit of adoption in your heart.

Anyone else before we pray?

Anyone else?

Just stand up quickly.

I'm gonna ask the rest of you in the congregation, would you extend your hands out toward these?

And we're gonna pray this prayer out loud together.

Because all we're gonna pray is let Jesus be Lord and the orphan spirit be gone along that line.

Every one of us needs to pray that.

So right now, I want you to repeat this after me to the Lord.

I want you to say, Heavenly Father, I want to be adopted.

I want to know I belong to you.

I declare right now that the orphan spirit has no more control over my life.

I turn my heart toward you, and I declare, Jesus Christ, you are my Lord, you're my Savior, and I receive the spirit of adoption.

And Father God, I declare that I want you to adopt me.

I want to be part of your family, I want the bondage broken in my life.

I want to be full of your spirit in Jesus' name.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.