Orphans, Slaves And Sons

So turning your Bible right now to uh Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

I'm gonna continue the series this morning.

How many of you have enjoyed this sermon series on Overwhelmed by Grace?

Man, this is really good stuff.

Uh this is what this, if you're new to Gateway, what you're about to hear from Pastor Robert is is is one of his life messages.

I think giving and generosity is certainly one of Pastor Robert's life messages, but grace is a close second.

And it was at New Life under Pastor Robert's leadership where I discovered grace.

This is where I became overwhelmed by grace as a as a member.

My family attended here when I worked here, which is a good thing.

And um, this is where I discovered, in my personal walk with God, this is where I discovered grace, right here at Gateway.

And Pastor Robert and I have had a lot of time together at some long lunches and on trips and just sitting around talking.

It was just talking to him, praying, and discovering things that he knew about grace is where I caught this.

And so this morning I'm gonna share with you uh some real personal things.

I'm gonna get really personal with you this morning because grace is personal.

And when you catch it, it'll change your life.

Let me just say this to you up front.

You will never live a free life unless you learn grace.

You never can be free from sin, free from the bondages of this world until you discover grace, until you're overwhelmed by grace.

And in Luke chapter 15, there's a young man who is on a journey of his own to discover grace.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

So I'm gonna ask you two questions today.

I want you to write these two questions down because Luke chapter 15 is gonna answer these two questions.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

If you're paying attention today, Luke chapter 15, the story of the prodigal son, will answer two very important questions that all of us in this room must answer for ourselves.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Here's question number one: What is really true about God?

Now let me just say this some of you believe rumors about God.

I'm not talking about the rumors that you believe about God.

What is it that you know to be true about God on your own?

Not what your parents think, not what some pastor tells you to think about God.

What is it that you know to be true about God?

That's a big question.

If you can't answer that question, you will never be overwhelmed by grace.

But if you can answer that question, you can be overwhelmed by grace.

Here's the second question.

This is a very important question as well.

What is true about you?

What's really true about you?

In other words, how does God see you?

How do you see God?

What's true about God is important.

You need to know the truth about God, and you need to know the truth about who you are, about yourself.

Who are you?

Who are you?

I'm not asking your name, I'm not asking you where you live, I'm talking about what's in your core.

What's inside here?

Who are you?

If I if I could open up the window of your soul, what would I see?

What would come back at me?

All right?

Now I'm gonna I want to have some conversation.

I'm only I only have about 25 minutes today, so I'd love to have some interaction because this talk this morning is fresh to me.

It's fresh revelation to me, and I'd love to have some interaction with you.

So if you're a Twitter follower, I'm on Twitter, I want to hear some feedback, all right?

You can find me at Pastor Brady, one word.

All right?

Any Twitterers in here?

All right, I'd like a few tweets today, alright?

So, Pastor Brady, one word.

Follow me there because I'd like to hear some feedback as you process these two questions in the next few days.

I'd like to hear what you're thinking because it helps me understand what's going on.

All right, so Luke chapter 15, let me set the story up for you.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

This young man, there's two brothers in the house and a dad.

We don't hear of a mom, so it's possible that this is a single dad who's raising two grown boys.

Both of them are probably 18 to 23, 24 years old, so they're they're they're grown.

And the youngest of the son comes to his dad, and basically what he says to his dad is this Dad, you're not dying soon enough.

You're you're taking way too good care of yourself.

And uh you're pretty rich, and I kind of need the money.

So would you either get busy dying or get busy giving me my money?

Now, I don't you think this is extremely arrogant.

This is an arrogant young man, a selfish young man who's living only for himself, with no regard to his dad.

He says, Give me what is mine.

Now he did get a share of the firstborn son in this culture, got a double portion, whatever was left, went to the secondborn son and thereafter.

So that he did have some money coming to him.

And so he says to his dad, give me what is mine.

Now, here's a second part of this that most people don't catch about this story.

Not only was he selfish and arrogant to ask for money before his dad's death, he was gonna leave his dad.

Now, in this culture, it was the responsibility of the children to make sure that their elderly parents were taken care of in their old age.

So he was saying, Dad, I want what is mine, and I'm gonna leave here and I'm gonna let someone else take care of you.

I don't care if you live or die after I leave.

I'm not gonna be around to help you, Dad.

Let me ask you a question.

How many of you have committed a big sin?

Like one of the top ten?

Come on, raise your hand.

I'm not talking about those little sins.

I'm talking the ones that really make God mad.

I mean, the big one.

Come on, all you sinners, raise your hands with me.

I've I've committed one of the top ten, all right?

This is one of the top ten.

This would make my top ten list.

This is a bad thing.

This young man's making, this is a this is the game changer.

This is a deal breaker.

Let's pick it up now.

So he takes his money, spends it all, ends up in a pig pen of all the non-kosher places a young Jewish boy could find himself, he is in a pig pen feeding pigs.

Verse 17, this is very encouraging to parents of teenagers.

When he came to his senses, come on.

That was worth coming to church for right there.

Yes! All right, when he came, when he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death?

I know what I'll do.

I got a plan.

This guy had not had a really good plan up to this point, so here's his plan.

I'm gonna set out and go back to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of your hired men.

And so he got up, went to his father, but while he was still a long way off, notice that the dad is probably looking for his son to come home.

Because his dad saw him on the horizon a long way off.

And he said, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him.

He ran to his son, his arrogant, self-centered, stinky, big-smelling son.

And he threw his arms around him and kissed him.

And the son said to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you.

I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

Now listen, there's a wrestling match.

If you've committed one of the top ten, and I saw a lot of hands go up, and I'm counting on you being honest with me this morning, but if you've feel like you've committed a big sin, this is a wrestling match you're having in your heart probably this morning.

I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

And I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is you're right.

The good news is Jesus paid for it, so you are.

That's the good news.

That's the simplicity of the gospel.

Alright, let's keep reading because it gets better.

It says, but the father said to his servants, almost ignoring the son, the father says, didn't even respond back to him, never even addressed what he had just said.

He said he turns, he said to his servants, Quick, bring the best robe and put it on and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

Bring the fattened calf and kill it.

And you guys are from Texas.

I mean, a barbecue's about to break out here.

It's a good day.

He said, let's have a feast and celebrate.

For this son of mine was dead and he's alive again.

He was lost and is found.

And they begin to celebrate.

Now here's the issue, okay?

Here's the big issue.

I'm talking to you this morning about orphans, slaves, and sons.

It's an issue.

This title on the screen, overwhelmed by grace, that sounds like a noble idea.

It sounds like something we would all want.

I don't think anybody in the room this morning was saying, I don't want to be overwhelmed by grace.

I'd like to be overwhelmed by the law.

I want to be overwhelmed by judgment.

No, we all want to be overwhelmed by grace, but listen, you'll never be overwhelmed by grace.

I was never overwhelmed by grace until I got these two questions answered in my heart.

The question is about our identity.

Who are you?

What are you living like this morning?

Because this son, he chose to be an orphan.

By walking away from his dad's house, he chose to be an orphan.

He knew it.

He had done something so vile and so corrupt that his dad had the right to disown him by cultural standards and by biblical standards.

His dad had the right to disown him.

So he knew as he was walking back home, I am an orphan by my own choice.

Now, some of you have been orphaned not by your own choice.

I'm talking about spiritually or naturally.

Both these things tie in.

But this guy made a choice of his own to be an orphan, and he said to himself, the best thing I can hope for, the only thing I think I can really hope for if I do really good things is maybe, maybe, maybe I could be a slave.

But I'm certainly not ever going to be a son again.

Maybe if I go, you know, come to uh Gateway on Sunday.

And if I go to a prayer meeting, that counts as two things.

Because those are really hard to go to.

And I'm so I go to, if that counts as two.

So if I go to a small group, that's gotta count for something because it's in the middle of the week and there's good stuff on TV.

And so I if I do that, if I do those things, if I can do these things, maybe I could be a slave.

And so this morning, I want you to know something.

The biggest threat to you you receive in this overwhelming grace is your identity.

Because you can sit here and listen for the next several weeks to the talks that Pastor Robert's gonna bring, and they're great.

I've heard a lot of the material is spectacular, but you'll sit here in those chairs, sit here in these rooms, and listen to these talks and listen to other people get excited about it, but if you don't know who you are, if you're living like an orphan or if you're living like a slave, you'll never catch grace.

So this morning I want to help you get your identity right so that the next few weeks can change your life.

So let me talk to you about the first group.

This first group is the group of orphans.

And churches are full of orphans.

Our culture is full of orphans.

If you were listening, if you had your ear right now down to popular culture, if you were listening to the cries of this generation, here's what they're saying.

I need a dad.

Would somebody please be my dad?

Right now, sociologists are saying that the decade between 20 and 30, that 10-year period of window, that that 10-year decade is uh is called the lost decade.

The sociologists are saying throughout America right now, 20-somethings are giving up on life, they have no idea where they're going.

They can't commit to any career, they can't commit to any relationship more than a few weeks or months, and they they can't commit to the idea of anything.

They don't believe in anything, they don't trust anything, they don't see anything that's positive.

And so, this, by the way, this is why when the audacity of hope, that generation rose up in this last election because somebody said hope to them.

This generation is orphaned.

And and they need somebody to believe in them.

I have 10-year-old Abram and eight-year-old Callie.

She's already outgrowing him, you know.

So 10-year-old Abram, eight-year-old Callie.

They're both adopted.

We got them both at birth.

We brought them home from the hospital from single moms that asked us to take their babies, and it was a miracle, and it's a long story, it's a great story.

And now I look at Abram and Callie, and listen, dads, all the dads look at me.

It's not your job to tell your kids who they are.

It's our job to look into the eyes of our kids and to identify the way God made them.

They were knit together in their mother's womb.

It's God who gave them spiritual gifts.

We're not supposed to shape them into our image.

We're supposed to shape them into the image that God made them.

Fathers are supposed to look into their kids' eyes and say, Abram, Callie, I see the greatness that God put in you.

I call it out of you now.

Come on, Abram, I see that engineering mind that God gave you.

I see this passion for science and math.

I see it.

It's not who I am, but it's how God made you.

Come on, Abram, do the great thing that God called you to do.

Hey, Callie, I see this passion for prayer and worship and leadership that's in you.

God put it in you, and I'm calling it out of you.

That great thing that you think you see in yourself, I believe it.

I see it.

I agree.

See, this is the orphan generation.

All the orphans in the room today, you wish somebody, some man, some dad, some authority figure would look you in the eye and say, Yeah, I see it too.

I see it.

I believe it.

Yes, come on, come on, step up, step up to your destiny, step up to your calling.

Orphans, though, don't ever believe they belong.

This guy knew.

He was hoping maybe somewhere, sometime in the distance, my dad will let me back in the family as a slave.

But orphans believe there's no place for me.

Orphans will not commit.

Orphans will attend here, but they won't commit here.

They don't have the capacity to commit because they've been so wounded.

They don't trust authority.

They don't trust people like me.

They don't trust pastors, they don't trust men in authority, they've been hurt too bad, and they will not get close to any of us.

Here's an orphan.

An orphan will say, Hello, but this is close as you're getting to me.

Orphans say, I'm not gonna let you so close to me that it would hurt me.

You're not gonna get this close to me.

Orphans are everywhere.

And orphans can never be overwhelmed by grace because they don't believe that dad really has grace for them.

They don't trust that word grace.

That word grace, it might you might as well be talking about nuclear physics to them.

They have no idea what you're talking about.

They've never seen grace, they never had anybody give them grace.

They've had to fight and scratch and claw for any place they've ever had on the earth.

They've had to earn it on their own.

No one's ever believed in them, no one's ever given them a spot, and now you're talking about grace.

It's not, what are you talking about?

Orphans.

Here's the second group, and this is the most, I think, the biggest group in the local church.

Slaves.

Just good old-fashioned slaves.

People who, you see, when I talk to orphans, they can't tell me where they're going, who they are, what they're doing.

They don't, they don't know.

They're just wandering through life.

They they don't really care if they end up anywhere, they're just looking for great experiences.

Slaves, though, slaves are the most committed group of people because slaves believe that their position in the family depends upon their performance, what they do.

Slaves believe if I work really hard, dad will pay attention to me.

I'm gonna get on a, here's what slaves do.

It's like little mice on a treadmill.

Running, running fast, fast, fast, faster, so that God, when you look, look over here, God, hey, put the spotlight on me.

Look how hard I'm working, look what I'm doing.

I can pick up a slave just like that.

I talk to church people, good church people, but they live, they're living like slaves.

Because their whole identity is wrapped up in what they do, where they've gone, who they've talked to, what they do, the things they're doing for God.

Listen, I think we're supposed to do things for God.

I'm doing something for God.

I've got an assignment.

I'm working really hard to build the kingdom of God.

I know that doing good works is important.

That's a whole different talk.

It's true that we're supposed to do good works.

You and I have an assignment.

We have spiritual gifts that, when breathed on by the Holy Spirit, can be powerful agents of change on the earth.

I believe that completely.

But it's not who I am.

I am pastor of New Life Church, I'm husband to Pam, father to Abram McCallie.

That's what I do.

Those are my titles, it's not who I am.

Are you following me this morning?

God does need us to do things, but He's not impressed as much with what we're doing as who we're becoming.

Let me ask you a question, all right?

Because this is a big idea.

Do you think that the only reason, many of us believe the only reason Jesus came to the earth and died on the cross and was resurrected after three days was to control our behavior.

Slaves concentrate so much on behavior.

It's they're so behavior-focused.

They, all right, Jesus came to make us be good.

Is that it?

Is it is this all the gospel means to us?

Is behavior modification?

Listen, I I I by the way, I am far, I think good behavior is better than bad behavior.

I just want you to know that.

I am pro good behavior.

And I want my kids to be good.

I want them to behave.

But I'm more concerned about the inside out than I am the outside in.

I'm more concerned about heart transformation than I am about robotic perfect children.

I actually expect my kids to mess up.

But I what I see in them, I'm seeing past their behavior to what's happening inside their heart.

I want Abram and Callie to be sons and daughters, not perfect little people.

Jesus did not come to the earth to simply control our behavior.

He came to the earth for something much bigger than that.

He came to adopt us, make us his own.

You see, Abram and Callie, I remember that when we adopted Abram, we went to the courtroom.

If you ever adopted a baby, this is a big deal, you know.

You get to the judge, the final thing.

And I remember the judge, we had a little Abram in a baby stroller.

We took him in, there's family and friends there, and set him down.

And the judge looked at his deal and goes, Abram Neil Boyd, who wants to be his parents?

Stern, West Texas judge.

I went.

I do.

I'll take him.

He said, Congratulations and good luck.

Pow.

That's what he did.

That was it.

That was a ceremony.

Well, thank you very much.

That was very memorable.

All right, here's what I got.

Here's what I got when we left the courtroom that day.

An official birth certificate that said Abram Neil Boyd.

Ten and a half years later, his name is Abram Neil Boyd.

Let me ask you a question: Is parenting a type and shadow of God's relationship to us, you think?

You think God set up the family unit, mom, dad, children, to somehow give us insight into God's relationship to us.

Do you think that God set up the idea of marriage to show us heaven and our relationship with Him for eternity?

The bride, the bridegroom?

I think so.

I think families are a type and shadow of our relationship with God.

He is our dad, our father.

We're the children, we're the sheep of his pasture, and we're also his bride.

So marriage and parenting are types and shadows of God's relationship with us.

Alright, in ten and a half years, Abram had some good days and bad days.

On the good days, his name is Abram Neil Boyd, son of Brady.

On the bad days, he belongs to Pam.

Alright, what if every time Abram had a really bad day?

I'm about to really mess up your hair theologically, okay?

What about on Abram's really bad day?

Do you think his birth certificate ever changed?

What if I had to go back every time?

I'm talking about Abram had a bad day at school.

Thanks, Abram.

We gotta go back before the judge and get this thing done all over again.

As far as I'm concerned, I can't think of anything that would make me want to take his name, my name, off his birth certificate.

Come on, parents.

There's been some days you wanted to, I know.

Some of you have had some train wrecked stories.

I know, I've heard them, the horror stories.

And maybe you were headed down to the courthouse.

But something in your heart said, I'm not pleased with their behavior.

I'm not happy with the choices they're making.

And it's grieving my heart to see what they're doing.

But I suspect their last name is Bill Boyd.

I'm gonna believe God one more time.

See, slaves, slaves are always living like, man, if I stop performing and stop behaving and stop doing, God's gonna turn his attention somewhere else.

Listen, you'll never be overwhelmed by grace if you're living like a slave.

You'll never enjoy the land that your dad owns if you're living like slaves.

I grew up living like a slave, working hard outwork, everybody in my children.

Church, my first church I was on staff.

I worked, worked, worked, worked.

And then I became a son.

And let me tell you about this sonship.

I want you to turn to Galatians chapter 4 because this is a huge idea.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

You see, the law has a purpose even today.

The law shows us that we need Jesus.

The law shows us we need a savior, and then we find grace.

We're saved by grace.

We're saved not by works, lest any man should boast, but the law is what revealed our sinfulness to us.

The law shows us that we'll never be good enough.

We can never fulfill the law, and then suddenly we find grace.

And this is what Paul is talking about when he's writing here in verse 1.

It says, What I'm saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he's no different from a slave.

Although he owns the whole estate.

Here's the fascinating thing.

While you were your worst, while you were committing one of those ten, God's looked ahead and said, This guy's gonna, this man, this woman, they own the whole estate.

They just don't know it yet.

He's subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.

So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world, but when the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law.

And here's a great, here's a great promise this morning, all right?

That we might receive the full rights of sons.

Because you are sons.

God sent the Spirit of His Father into our hearts.

The Holy Spirit came into our lives at salvation and gave us the ability to say, Abba.

It says the Spirit who calls out Abba Father.

Abba is simply a Hebrew word.

It says dad.

Abba.

You go to a Hebrew home today, you go to Israel today, you go to a Hebrew home, they go, Abba, hey, Abba, can I go outside?

Abba, Abba, Dad, Father.

Now I'm talking, I'm not talking about being disrespectful.

I'm not talking about not fearing God.

I'm not talking about uh seeing God as anything but holy.

He is holy, he is to be feared, he is to be respected, and there's an awe about him, but here's the mystery of the gospel that is so profound and yet so simple.

This fearful, powerful, mysterious God says, here's what I'd like to be called.

Abba.

It's one of his names.

It's his communication to us, it's his spirit that's in us that gives us the ability now to come to a holy, dreadful God and say, God, Abba.

And so you're no longer a slave.

Isn't that good news?

But a son.

And since you're a son, God has made you an heir.

Now here's the difference between sons, slaves, and orphans, right?

Sons and daughters, they get to enjoy the land that dad owns.

They do have assignments, they have things they are supposed to do, but they get to enjoy the land that dad owns.

They get to enjoy time with dad, and they don't ever feel guilty for not being busy as long as they get to spend time with dad.

And sons and daughters, if dad is not giving them a lot of attention, it's okay with them.

Because they know their behavior doesn't change their position.

Their performance doesn't determine their position.

Abraham Calais have chores.

Abraham and Cali have assignments.

Every Saturday morning I give them five dollars if they do their assignments.

But I don't think they wake up on Saturday morning.

Sometimes they wake up wondering if they're gonna get the five bucks, that's for sure.

But they never wake up Saturday morning wondering if they are a boy or not.

That's done.

They're stuck with it.

They're sentenced to boydom and can't get out of it.

Alright, so Abram and Callie are adopted, as you know, and we had not, when we moved to Colorado Springs, it was a big media event because I took over for a famous pastor in a famous church, and the big media event, front page of all the papers for several days, and one of the stories was a huge thing on me, and and they say in the story uh Brady and Pam have adopted two kids.

Well, I I didn't want that to be leaked out because we had not told Abram McCallie they were adopted, but somehow I got into the media, and we so we were forced to sit down with Abraham and Cali before we really wanted to and talk to them about the details of their birth.

But it was fine, it was good, it ended up being God, it was a good timing.

So we sat down and we told Abram McCalley they were adopted, and it was a special night around our house that night.

And they were they didn't ask a lot of questions, but they were just really, you know, they it was something that you could tell it shook them a little bit, but they were okay.

They wrestled with it and asked some questions, and we prayed together and it was fine.

And and so I told them, hey, mom and dad will answer any question.

There's nothing we're hiding from you.

If you want to know any details, mom and dad want to tell you every single thing if you if you want to know.

Well, they they didn't really have a lot of questions because they're so young.

When I was as they get older, they'll ask more questions.

But so a couple of maybe a week or so later, I'm praying for Abram and I'm praying for him, you know, and he's in his bed.

I said, Amen, kissed him, I'm walking out of the room.

And Abram says, Dad, I went, Yeah, yeah, Abram.

Said, uh, thank you for adopting me.

I'm like, you know.

You know, I was wanting to go watch Sports Center.

Now I'm all tore up inside.

And I said, Well, Abram, uh you're welcome.

Why are you asked that?

Is there something going on in your heart?

Is there something you want to talk about?

He goes, No, I've just been thinking that if you had not adopted me, we wouldn't be buddies.

I'm like, oh man, man, what do you do now?

You know, what do you say?

I don't have anything profound to say.

It's like, so I went back over, Abram.

I'm so glad I adopted you too.

And I'm we're always gonna be buddies.

And I prayed over him one more time, and I walk out of the room and I'm in the hallway, you know, makeup's running, you know.

Thinking, I said, Lord, what's going on?

Is there something, you know, I want to be alert as a dad.

I want to be a father that's alert to what's going on in my home.

Is there something that I need to know about in Abram's heart that I need to be aware of?

And here's what I heard the Lord say.

He said, Brady, all you need to know is that Abram really likes being your son.

And because of that, because he's learning to be a son, he's gonna be a good dad.

See, none of us can learn to be fathers unless we first learn to be sons.

You can't learn to be a mother unless you first learn to enjoy being a daughter.

That's part of the process.

And I was so grateful.

And then I said, Lord, I was standing in the hallway, I said, Can I tell you something, Lord?

I thank you for adopting me.

I said, Lord, if you had not adopted me, we wouldn't be buddies.

See, this is the revelation, this is a very simple message today.

But the mysteries of the gospel are wrapped up in simple ideas.

The profound mysteries of heaven are all wrapped up in simple ideas.

And here's a simple idea that you've got to catch today if you want to be overwhelmed by grace.

If you want to live a free life, and you want to be overwhelmed by grace, you have to get these questions right.

What is true about God?

Is he Abba to you?

What's true about you?

Are you an orphan?

Wandering through life, wondering where you fit?

Are you a slave where your whole identity is wrapped up in what you're doing?

What you're doing for God instead of who you're becoming in God?

Or have you discovered that you're a son and a daughter?

And now you get to enjoy all the land that dad owns.

Now you're set up nicely to be overwhelmed by grace.

Can I pray for you this morning?

You bow your heads with me just for a moment.

I'm gonna ask you a really personal question today.

And I've been very transparent with you about things that are happening at my home and in my heart.

And the reason I'm transparent is to the degree that I am, I want you to feel the permission to be transparent back.

Church should be a place.

This gathering this morning should be the place where we can be very sincere, very candid, very honest.

Let's take off our church mask today because slaves wear masks.

Sons and daughters get to go without masks.

I want to ask you a question.

I want all the orphans in the room to listen to my voice this morning.

All the orphans, I want you to hear me.

You belong here.

You belong here.

There's a place for you here.

We want you here.

God has put a purpose on your heart, a call on your heart.

You belong.

You don't have to wander through life anymore.

This is a good place.

It's not about an organization, it's not about Gateway Church, it's not about the organization of Gateway Church, it's about the family of God.

You belong here in this family.

I want you to settle that in your heart.

He's calling you, he's giving you an invitation today to come out of the orphanage.

Come be in a family.

Now, Gateway, here's a big challenge for us.

Would you be willing to welcome some orphans into your family today?

Come on, Gateway.

I'm talking to the core of Gateway today.

I'm talking about those of you who are know this is your place.

Would you welcome some orphans here today?

Welcome.

I want to talk to all you slaves.

It's okay to take a day off.

It's okay to take a break.

It's okay to rest.

It's okay to be completely lazy one day every week.

Don't get so wrapped up in what you're doing that you stop becoming like him because you're doing so much for him.

Let the change happen from the inside out.

You're never going to change by doing a lot of good things.

You change from the inside out.

Let that happen today.

Let that process start today that you spend the vast amount of your time concentrating on the core of your heart instead of what you're doing for God.

And listen, what you start doing for God after that will actually be more effective if you let the change happen from the inside out.

You'll be more effective than you've ever been for God in your life if you'll live from the inside out.

So I want to pray for you this morning.

Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, we pray right now that all of us, including myself, all of us in this room, would start the journey this morning to being sons and daughters.

Lord, we say no.

We declare this morning that we are no orphans.

You did not leave us as orphans.

That's why you sent the Holy Spirit.

Lord, this morning, I pray right now for the slaves that we would put off our slavery and embrace you as dad, as sons, as heirs to everything that you have.

And let us begin today enjoying the land that the Father owns instead of working and ignoring and missing out on the land that you own.

Thank you today that you adopted us, Lord.

Thank you that you made us friends of God when we were a long way off.

You ran to us, embraced us, and made us your own.

In Jesus' holy name.

Amen.

God bless you.

It's great to be back.