Part of the Family | Todd Jones

Well, good morning, church. I'm not John. Some

of you are like, what? I thought he was back.

He is back, but listen, we are a team here, and

it is never about one person on this stage. It

is about one person. His name is Jesus. And so

it's not about the person that's up here. Yeah.

It is about a team, and we actually have a plethora

of communicators that are able to communicate

God's word, and some of them even use the word

plethora on stage. Okay, so, you know, you're

in good hands. But, hey, you guys are looking

good today. Turn to the person next to you and

say, you're looking good today. Okay, now turn

to the other person and say, sorry, you're my

second choice, but you're looking good too. Good,

good, good, good. Oh man, I just want to welcome

you guys today, welcome you into the church,

into God's house so we can open God's word. I

want to welcome those of you online, out in Baghdad

and Paulding. I want to welcome, special shout

out to Gavin and Brody watching in the Bay Area

in California right now. Yeah, give it up for

them. Anyone in here tired of the book of Galatians

yet? Good, good. I'm glad you said no, because

we're in week six and we got more weeks to come.

And man, I love this. And I can just imagine

as this letter was going to the church in Galatia,

right, there was multiple churches in there.

We think in the 21st century, the American church

invented multi -site. Nope. There was multiple

churches in Galatia, and what they would do is

they would have this letter that Paul wrote be

read to the church, and they would hear this

letter. And I can imagine them, as their eyes

are getting wider and wider, listening to what

Paul has to say. Like, did he just say that about

us? And that's where they are listening to the

words that Paul has here. And we're going to

pick up in chapter 3, verse 26. It says this.

So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God

through faith. For all of you who are baptized

into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave

nor free, nor is there male and female, for you

are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to

Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs

according to the promise. There is one Christ

and we are one in Christ. I had the opportunity

to go to the Dominican Republic and to go with

a group from Heights, and it was an absolutely

incredible trip. It was amazing as we got to

serve people, as we got to just talk about God,

and we got to pray for people, and just so much

to talk about there. And we learned so many things,

but one of the lessons that I learned, probably

the clearest of the lessons, is I learned that

my high school Spanish class failed me, okay?

I'm just saying, like, I had no clue what anyone

was saying the whole time. I'm like, huh? I know

like 10 Spanish words. I know taco, burrito,

carne, pollo. There's a theme here. Some of you

are like, bro, you need to chill and hit the

gym. I know, okay, I'm saying, I know. But man,

I couldn't understand what they were saying.

And for a lot of the Dominicans, they didn't

speak English. And so there was kind of this

language barrier. We had some translators and

we were able to do that. But I mean, I remember

we went to this church service. And as we're

at this church service, they're worshiping and

they're singing and they're singing in Spanish

because that is their language, but they sing

songs that we know. And so we're there and we

were singing in English and they were singing

in Spanish. And I'm just looking at this room

and I'm seeing this happen. And I just think,

man, this is a picture of heaven. All right,

all different tongues, all different nations

praising the same God. Coming together and we

have so many differences, but we're praising

the same God. We have one spirit, we have one

God, and we have so much in common. But what

happens is that sometimes we have a problem of

focusing on the differences instead of the similarities.

And we have this thing called prejudices that

come up in our life that is a human problem that

we deal with. And it's not just a problem that

we deal with nowadays, because Paul is writing

directly to it here. And what he's saying is

you guys are focusing on the differences instead

of focusing on the similarities. And he uses

things like Jew versus Gentile. He's speaking

against racism. He uses things like slave versus

free. He's speaking against classism. He says

male and female. He's speaking against sexism.

And what he's saying is when you focus on differences,

all you see is differences. But when you focus

on the right things, you see the right things.

I moved to Arizona about four years ago. And

when I moved here, I was like, man, it is really

hot. I don't know if I can handle this. It's

so hot in Arizona. And there's a stock line that

everyone says, say, yeah, it's hot, but it's

a dry heat. Yeah, no, it's a hot heat, bro. Like,

I don't know what you're talking about. You can

throw that word around. It's a dry heat. This

is dry. No, it's hot, right? It's a hot heat,

that's for sure. Dry heat, you kidding me? Then

I went to the Dominican Republic for 10 days.

Well, I'm telling you right now, well, on Monday

we got off the plane. It was 110 degrees in Phoenix

and it was refreshing. I was like, this is wonderful.

Like we were just drenched the whole time we

were there and sweat the whole time. It was like

you jumped in a pool with your clothes on, but

you weren't in a pool. As you walk up to someone

and you're like, how are you doing? What is that?

Like we're just sweating the whole time, man.

It was hot. And as we were out serving, we would

go and we were delivering food to people and

we were praying for people and we were running

camps for kids and we were doing all this amazing

ministry. And it was incredible how we would

get to the end of the day and we'd sweat the

whole time. But man, as we were focused on doing

all these other things, we didn't realize that

it was hot at all. When you focus on the right

things, you see the right things. But then there

were some times where we would just get together

as a group and go, man, look how sweaty you are.

Look how sweaty I am. And it's really hot here.

And we start focusing on the temperature. We

start focusing on how hot it is. And we forgot

that we were even there to serve because all

we saw was the heat that we were in. When you

focus on the wrong things, when you focus on

the differences, you see differences. But when

you focus on the right thing, you see the right

thing. It says in Philippians 4, verse 8. Finally,

Philippians 4:8

brothers and sisters, whatever's true, whatever's

noble, whatever's right, whatever's pure, whatever's

lovely, whatever's admirable, if anything is

excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.

That's what you focus on. Listen, we don't have

a racism, classism, or sexism problem. We have

a focus problem. And when we focus on the differences,

all we see is differences. But when we focus

on the right thing, we see the right things.

The right thing is focusing on Jesus. Jesus is

our common ground. Jesus is the common ground

that we have with everybody to circle around.

It doesn't matter if they are in the same class

as you. It doesn't matter if they're male or

female. It doesn't matter what race or religion

they even are. Jesus is the common ground that

we can bring people to. If they believe in Jesus,

there's a common ground. That's what we bring

people to. And we have to understand that that

is what we come to. And what it says here on

how to do it is clothe yourself with Christ.

Clothe yourself. With Christ. My youngest daughter

right now, she's three, and she is in the dress

herself phase. All right, parents, you know what

I'm talking about. All right, she'll come out

of her room and she's like, I'm ready to go.

And she's wearing like a bathing suit with cowgirl

boots and snow gloves. And I'm like, you ain't

ready to go, kid. You know what I'm saying? Like,

we're not leaving the house like that. She's

like, no, I'm ready. I'm good. And I'm like,

why are you wearing that? She's like, I don't

know. I'm like, but you're the one who put it

on. It didn't happen by accident, right? You

don't just accidentally put some on. None of

you left the house today and were like, would

you look at that? I got clothes on. There is

intentionality for you to clothe yourself, which

by the way, I'm very happy about. I'm glad you

made a great choice today by putting clothes

on to come to church, okay? Just saying, good

choice. But it didn't happen by accident. There's

intentionality to clothe yourself. But I think

a lot of times, while we will spend time clothing

ourself here, we won't clothe ourself with Jesus.

And Paul's saying, if you're gonna move forward

in understanding what matters and focusing on

the right thing, you have to clothe yourself

with Jesus, which takes intentionality. It takes

you to go, okay, I'm intentionally clothing myself

with him. And Paul's saying, you gotta get this.

This is so important because we are family. And

what Paul says next is going, this is important

because we are this family and there's some implications

for being a part of this family. He says this,

it goes in Galatians chapter four. Four, verse

one, we made it to chapter four. Say, whoop,

whoop. Some of you weren't excited that we made

it to chapter four. Come on, that's a big deal.

He says this, he says, I am saying, what I'm

saying here is that as long as an heir is underage,

he is no different from a slave. Although he

owns the whole estate, the heir is subject to

guardians and trustees until the time is set

by his father. He's saying you might own this,

right? You might have this as your inheritance,

but until you reach, you come of age, it doesn't

matter. And what Paul is doing is he's setting

up this next analogy. He's saying you have to

understand this, and let me tell you what that

means. Verse three, so also, he's gonna compare

it. So also, when we were under age, we were

in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces

of the world. We followed the world. But when

the set time had fully come, God sent his son,

born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem

those under the law, that we might receive adoption

to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent

the spirit of his son into our hearts, the spirit

who calls out, Abba, Father. So you are no longer

a slave, but God's child. And since you are God's

child, God has made you also an heir. that you

have been adopted into God's family. Growing

up, my aunt and uncle, they were unable to have

kids and they spent years trying to have kids

and they couldn't. And I remember every night.

I would pray and just pray, God, please give

them a baby. Give them a kid. And it was a struggle

for them for years and years. And my aunt, because

it was such a struggle for her, she had such

a heart for the pro -life movement. And so she

was always working with people and trying to

help saying, listen, I can't have a baby. Please

save this baby. And she would go in front of

abortion clinics. And as women were walking in,

she would stop them and she would talk to them.

And she'd say, hey, if you continue through with

this pregnancy, I will take your baby and I will

adopt it. And I have four cousins that were saved.

I have four cousins named Paul and Vida. Vida,

which means life in Spanish. And Jack and Lucy.

And man, it's incredible to see them. And as

we sit around as a family, when we sit with them,

we look at them and they're a part of our family.

They're not just like, oh, well, you get to sit

off to the side. No, they're a part of our family.

But even more than that, man, they were destined

for death. They were literally on a course for

death until someone stepped in and said, no,

I will save you and I will adopt you to be a

part of my family. And that is you and my story

because you were on a course for death until

Jesus stepped in and said, I want to adopt you

to be a part of my family. I want to bring you

into my family. And that's what this is. You

are no longer a slave, but you are an adopted

child. You were no longer a slave, you were an

adopted child. And this idea, what it says here,

it says it's adopted to sonship. And this is

a concept that in this world that these people

were reading this letter would have understood,

but for us, when we think of adoption, we think

this idea of sonship, we think of it as just

a relational status, but this was actually a

legal status. And when we think of adoption,

a lot of times we think of babies, we think of

children, but this was actually a grown adult

that would be adopted into sonship. And if you

know anything about adults, what happens to adults

is we accrue some debt, right? We build up some

debt. We're good at that. And so what this adoption

into sonship meant is it meant that old debts

were canceled and a new identity was received.

You were given full rights as a part of this

family, full rights and inheritance, full rights

in everything, and your old debts were canceled

so that you could receive a new identity. Listen,

your old debts have been canceled. You've been

adopted to sonship. Your old burdens, your old

pain, the old brokenness, the old things that

you went and you did that built up a barrier

between you and God have been canceled so that

you could be given full standing rights as a

son or daughter of God. That is what it means.

That's what he's saying here is he's understanding

this. And I think in the church world, sometimes

we don't understand the true impact of this because

we get this one thing wrong. And I'm gonna say

this statement that maybe... make you go, wait

a sec, is that true? But I'm gonna explain it.

Not everyone is a child of God. And we like to

say, well, everyone's a child of God. God created

everyone, he loves everyone, and that is true.

He created everyone, he loves everyone. But not

everyone is a child of God. In fact, before Jesus,

you were an enemy of God with an invitation to

sonship. You were an enemy with an invitation

to sonship. And listen, that's not cruel to say

that, that's even more beautiful. Because you

and I and everyone was an enemy of God. but was

given an invitation to sonship. And that's incredible.

That's incredible. It brings a lot more light

to when Jesus was walking around teaching and

Jesus said things like, love your enemies. Because

when we hear that, we're like, oh, I'll just

do something nice for my enemy. What he's really

saying is go to your enemy and say, hey, I wanna

adopt you into my family. So we're like, I'm

not doing that. But guess what? That's what Jesus

did with you because you were his enemy. And

he extended an invitation to sonship and say,

no, I want you to be a part of my family. I want

you to bring you into this and I want you to

understand what it means to be a part of my family.

And Paul continues saying, this is what it means.

Verse eight, he says, formerly, when you did

not know God, when you were an enemy of God,

you were slaves to those who by nature are not

gods. You were slaves to the things of this earth.

But now, now that you know God or rather are

known by God, I mean, come on, I love that. That's

a mic drop moment right there. You think you

know God? No, God knows you, right? He says,

so then how is it that you are turning back to

those weak and miserable forces? Why are you

going back to the same things? Do you wish to

be enslaved by them all over again? He's like,

you're observing these special days and months

and seasons and years. You're going back to it.

All right, what he's telling them is something

that we need to listen to. Don't go back to your

old ways. Live into the promise of who God has

called you to be. Don't go back to the old ways.

Don't go back to your old brokenness. Don't go

back to those old same things. Live into what

God has called you to be. One of the things on

the trip that we got to take that was such a

blessing for us is that we got to break some

of the habits that we formed here in the US that

a lot of times we don't even know are happening,

but are really unhealthy habits. I don't think

we realize how tied we are to our devices, specifically

our phones. And as we went on this trip, we made

it very clear to our group, hey, listen, we are

here to do ministry and we are here to be present.

And for 10 days on this trip, we weren't glued

to our phones. We weren't scrolling for no reason.

We were present. We were doing ministry. We were

having conversations. We were relational. All

these things were happening. It was just incredible

because we weren't stuck to the thing that was

tying us down before. And we got to break those

and it was amazing. But as we got back on the

plane and as we started heading home, we were

in the airport and I look around, man. And I

see some of our people, including myself, just

scrolling mindlessly, just doom scrolling for

no reason, man. What am I doing? Why am I doing

this? I'm going exactly back to the old ways.

And I think a lot of us in our life, we do that

exact same thing. Yes, I follow you, Jesus, and

I'm going, but then all of a sudden we go right

back to our old ways. We go right back to the

same issues, the same things. We go back to the

old patterns of our living. And we try to get

life from something that was never supposed to

give you life. instead of realizing that we have

life in Christ. Don't go back to being a slave.

Live into the promise who God has called you

to be. Sometimes we're telling ourself the wrong

messages. You need to start telling yourself

who you're becoming, not who you were. Don't

tell yourself who you were. Don't even tell yourself

about your shortcomings now. Speak life and tell

yourself who you're becoming. Tell yourself your

identity you have in Christ. What if we spoke

life to not only ourself, but the people around

us instead of telling people where they are,

tell them who they're becoming. This is who you're

becoming in Christ. Focus on their potential

and their God -given identity, not their past

brokenness, not their current failures. What

Paul says here is he say, don't go back to your

old ways. And then he says this in that verse

10 is he said, you are observing special days

and months and seasons and years. And I think

there's two, that he could mean here. We don't

know specifically, but there's two theories of

what Paul means when he talks about these months

and seasons and years that they are observing.

And I think we can learn from both theories.

The first theory is this, is that Paul's saying,

hey, don't go back to your old ways. You're observing

all these things. He's saying you're observing

these holidays and you're doing these things

as obligation to try to prove your worth to God

instead of realizing that you already have it.

You're trying to be more Jewish than you are

a follower of Jesus. And he's saying, you don't

need to go back to that. Why are you doing that?

Don't do those things. You've left that. And

I think we can learn from that because a lot

of us, we go right back to those things and Jesus

is going, no, no, no, hey, I already freed you

from that. I already freed you from that and

you're going right back to something that you

were doing before that you don't need to do.

There's something else. But I think the other

thing that Paul could have meant here as he was

writing this is he was saying, hey, don't go

back to your old ways. You observe these seasons,

these months, and these years. And you have to

understand that the point of observing these

seasons and months and years were for remembering

what God had done. It was things like Passover,

to remember what God had done in Egypt where

he passed over and he let them escape from slavery

and brought them into freedom. And they set aside

time in their life to remember what God had done

in the past. And he's going, hey, if you set

aside time to remember this, you've been through

this, you've done this, and why are you going

back to your old ways? Because you remember what

God has freed you from. I think sometimes we

need to remember what God has freed us from.

Sometimes we go back and you need to understand

that the God that freed you in the past can free

you in the future. The same God that did things

in your past can do things in your future. But

we get caught up in this thing of going, oh,

this trial that I'm facing is just really hard

right now. I don't know how I'm gonna get through

it when God's going, hey, I already got you through

it. And if I got you through it before, I can

get you through it again. I get caught in this

trap all the time. I get caught in this trap

when it comes to my finances of being like, man,

I don't know, this is a really tough spot. I

don't know how I'm gonna get through this. And

God has to remind me, listen, every single time

you've been in this situation before, I've got

you through it. You've never gone hungry. Your

kids have never gone hungry. I've always provided

and it comes in so many different ways. I can't

even begin to tell you the just insane ways that

God has provided throughout our life. But every

time I encounter a new situation, I go, I don't

know, I don't know. And I forget to remember

what God has done for me in the past. Every time

you face a temptation, you go, I don't know how

I'm gonna get through this temptation. The same

God that brought you through the last one can

bring you through the next one. And we have to

remind ourself because when we remind ourself

what God has done, it keeps us from going back

to where we were. And what he's telling him here

is he's saying, hey, this is really important.

This is important for you to understand this

because I don't want you to go back to who you

were before. And then Paul continues in this

chapter, verse 11 through 31, which I'm not gonna

read to you, but I'm gonna tell you what he says.

He gives him an example of what this is like.

And he gives him the example from Abraham, where

Abraham was promised from God that he would have

many, many heirs. He would be the father of many

nations. And Abraham goes, there's a problem

with that because I don't have one kid. And he

goes, no, I'm promising you there's gonna be

one. And so as Abraham's walking through this,

his wife Sarah's going out, why don't you just

sleep with my slave and then you can have a kid.

And so he did and he forced his will instead

of trusting God's will, but God still came through

and him and Sarah ended up having a kid. So now

he has two kids. One is a slave and one is free.

And Paul uses this as an example in this letter

to the Galatians to say the difference between

a slave and a free. And he's saying, you don't

live like a slave, live free. And for that context,

they would understand this and that would really

land for them as an example of what this means.

But I think a better example for our context

is the idea of someone who's in foster care.

I may be somebody who grew up in foster care

and has bounced from house to house, just following

the right rules so that they can get by. Never

belonging, never having a place where they actually

belong, but just going from one place to the

next and going as long as I make it through,

that's okay. And I got to follow the right rules

so that I make it through. And then maybe this

person who's bounced around finds himself in

their teenage years and then they get adopted

into a house, into a place where they don't have

to follow the rules to be liked, to be loved,

to make it through, but they've actually been

given a true identity. They've been given a place

in the family and they go, no, no, I belong here.

This is who I am because I'm not just stopping

by, but I actually belong and I have an identity.

And this is not about rules and freedom. It's

about identity. It's about living as a son and

living as a son means operating from belonging,

not striving for acceptance. All right, it's

a difference between, oh, I obey so I will be

loved and I am loved so I will obey. It's understanding

who we are in Jesus' church. If you're taking

notes, write this down. When you know you're

part of God's family, you live like you're part

of God's family. When you know where your identity

is, when you know you're a part of God's family,

it changes the way that you live your life. It

changes what you do in your life because when

you're a part of God's family and you know it,

you live like it. What does that look like? Versus

this is you grasp your identity. You grasp your

identity. That means that you have confidence

in God's love. I stopped trying to earn God's

approval. You're not trying to earn God's approval.

You're trying to live from a place of acceptance.

This is one of the things that I struggle with

the most. If I'm honest, it's been a struggle

my entire life. And my parents did a wonderful

job when I was a kid of telling me that I was

loved no matter what. But there was something

wired inside of me that I felt like if I performed,

then I could gain acceptance. I could gain love.

And growing up, it was... Through sports, it

was through baseball for me. And if I was good

enough at baseball, then I would be accepted

by the people around me. If I could prove that

I was good enough with what I did, then people

would love me. People would see me the right

way. Then I would have acceptance. And it carried

over to when I got into ministry. And as I got

into ministry, I found myself in places where

I would be speaking to large crowds and it would

be incredible. And I'd get off stage and I would

go, I need a bigger stage. It wasn't enough because

I'm trying to prove my worth to not just the

people around me, but I'm trying to prove my

worth to God. God, if I'm just good enough for

you, then you'll accept me. And I would go speak

at a conference and it would be incredible. And

as soon as I'd get done, I'd go, well, I need

to get booked at a bigger conference. And I would

write something on the internet and it would

go out and a lot of people would view it. And

it felt really good until I realized it's not

enough and I need some more people to view it.

And I need to write the next thing and I need

to do more because that's where I'm gonna get

my acceptance and that's where I'm gonna get

my love. And I was trying to earn the acceptance

of not only people, but I was trying to earn

the acceptance of God because I did not understand

where my identity came from. Listen, your identity

is in Jesus. You have to grasp your identity

if you know that you are adopted into God's family.

Then you live like you're a part of God's family

by understanding your identity. It's not out

of obligation. It's out of belonging. You belong

to his family. You don't need to earn acceptance.

You've been given acceptance into God's family.

Next is this. We know you're part of God's family.

You live like you're a part of God's family.

And that means you know your inheritance. You

know your inheritance. As a part of God's family,

you are an heir. You have an inheritance in him.

And that means that you're able to invest in

eternal things. You act like you're a part of

God's kingdom. When you understand your inheritance,

that means that you are building into God's kingdom.

That means that you are serving in God's kingdom.

That means that you are giving to God's kingdom.

That means that you are loving just absolutely

generously because of God's kingdom. And one

of the things that we got to do in the Dominican,

as soon as we landed in the Dominican, we went

to the church and we started packing up some

groceries. We packed up some groceries and we

went to deliver them to homes. And we deliver

them to homes and we would pray for people. And

we went to the first home that we went to to

deliver groceries. An elderly lady, she was probably

87 or 88 years old. And we got to her house.

And for us in the US, we think of a house and

it's totally different. I mean, it's just a concrete

slab with some plywood walls and you can really

see through those cracks in the walls to where

you can see through the whole house. She invited

us in, we went in her house and everything was

dirty, just a coating of dirt over everything.

And as we're in this home, we're watching this

and we're delivering her this food. Literally,

this might be the only source of food that she's

going to get is us delivering this to her. And

we found out she was a believer. And so we prayed

for her. We prayed for her family. We prayed

for her neighborhood. And then we went on and

we delivered to the next house and the next house.

And over and over, we saw these stories of this,

being able to just bless these families and to

pray with these families. And later that evening,

we go to church and they have church like every

night in the Dominican, right? That's how they

roll. It's awesome. And we get there, and as

we get to this church, man, I'm preaching at

that church that night, and I just gotta tell

you, I love you guys, but man, a Dominican audience,

they were like hollering and amening and screaming,

right? Like, I'm telling you, in heaven, there's

gonna be like the Dominican section, and then

there's gonna be the Heights Church. We're gonna

be on like hole number eight doing our golf clap,

right? Like, that's us, right? But I gotta say,

you guys do think I'm funnier than they do, and

I appreciate that. I like that a lot, okay? I'm

okay with that. But man, I got done preaching

and I'm standing there and worship is happening

and they do offering a little bit different,

right? In the US, we go, hey, there's some ways

on the screen that you can give. There's joy

boxes in the back. Some churches you've maybe

have been to, they'll pass around a bucket. And

what they do here is they bring out this box.

I can kind of only describe it as a treasure

box. And they set it on the stage and they open

it up and people during worship will come forward

and they will place things in the box. They'll

place their offering, what they're gonna give.

As I'm worshiping, I'm standing there. I got

done preaching and I see kind of a wobbly walk

next to me. I look over and it's this 87, 88

year old grandma. It's walking up to the front.

And I'm thinking to myself, man, she needs this

money more than just giving it. She's the one

that can actually benefit from this. And then

I thought, man, what she's giving is probably

nothing. She literally gave everything she had.

She placed it in the box and she turned around

and the look of joy on this woman's face is one

that I only hope to experience sometime in my

life. And she walks back to her seat and as she's

walking back to her seat, man, she's dancing.

We called her gritty grandma. She's doing the

gritty back to her seat. We're like, there goes

the gritty grandma. And she's giving hugs to

all of our, all of our students are going over

and giving her hugs as she goes back to her seat.

But here's the thing, man, I looked at her and

I said, she knows her inheritance in Christ.

This woman understands that she's a part of God's

family. She understands that she has an inheritance

in him. And so she's going, I want to build into

the kingdom. I wanna serve the kingdom. I wanna

give to the kingdom. I wanna live generously.

Church, what if we understood our inheritance

enough to say it's not about me, it's about building

into the kingdom because I'm a part of the family.

Because I'm a part of the family, I will live

like I'm a part of the family. What does that

mean? Next is this, it means you embrace your

responsibility. See, sonship, adopted into sonship.

It includes privilege. It includes so much of

an inheritance, but it's also a calling. There's

a responsibility because you represent the family.

You represent the family. It's your job to bring

the family name honor with how you live, with

how you love, with how you lead. With the places

that you find yourself in, are you bringing the

family name honor? Are the people that are around

you, would they go, man, I know you and I see

you. And because I know you and I see you, I

wanna be a part of whatever it is that you're

doing. Because Jesus is definitely seen through

you. Are you bringing the family name honor or

are the people you around? Would they go, man,

if that's what it means to be a follower of Jesus,

then I want nothing to do with it. How are you

representing the family name? Are you embracing

your responsibility? Because when you understand

that you're a part of the family, you live like

you're a part of the family. And that means embracing

your responsibility. See, families have resemblance.

Let me ask you, for those of you in here who

call yourself a follower of Jesus, do you resemble

your father? Are you becoming more like your

heavenly father? Do you resemble him? Do you

live in a way where you're becoming more like

him and when someone looks at you, you resemble

him? For those of you in here who walked in today

and you don't know Jesus, I want you to know

that you are loved, but I need you to know that

you are also an enemy of God, but you have an

invitation to sonship. And the invitation is

this. The invitation is that Jesus came to this

earth and he lived the life that you and I cannot

live. He lived the perfect life. Therefore, he

became worthy to be the sacrifice for our sins

because it needed a perfect sacrifice. And so

Jesus went to a cross to be the perfect sacrifice,

to stand in your place so that you could have

a relationship with God, so that you could be

adopted into the family. And my prayer for you

today, if you came in and you have not accepted

the invitation into sonship, My prayer for you

today is that you would give your trust to God,

that you would say, I put my faith and trust

in you and I believe what you did for me on that

cross. And I believe that you rose from the grave

and that you conquered sin and death so that

I could become a part of the family. And for

those of us in here who've done that, man, we've

put our faith in Jesus. You have been adopted

into God's family. And when you understand that

you're a part of God's family, you live like

you're a part of God's family. Let's pray. God,

thank you. God, thank you that we are a part

of your family. God, thank you that you would

allow someone like me into the family, that you

would cancel my debts, that you would give me

full rights as the son of the king. God, I pray

for all of us in here. That we would allow that

to sink in and understand what that means. That

we would live in a way that's not going back

to our slave ways, back to our old ways, God,

but that we would be living in the freedom that

you have for us. God, that you would help us

to speak life into ourself of who we are becoming

in you because of our identity that is found

in you, God. That we would embrace the responsibility

of being a part of this family. God, I know the

heaviness of this message. I know the heaviness

of what this means. But God, truly this is a

cause for celebration as we get to praise you

and we get to celebrate, God, that you have brought

us into your family, that you've accepted us.

God, I pray specifically for people in here right

now that need to come into the family, that need

to accept the invitation, God, that you would

put on their heart that they would become a part

of the family today. That as one family right

now, we would praise you, God, that we would

sing to you, that we would give you the glory

and praise that you deserve because you allowed

us to be a part of this, that you loved us through

our mess. God, thank you. God, we praise you.

God, we worship you. We pray all of this in Jesus'

name. Amen.