Framed, Forgiven, and Fathered

Morning 3CI like a boss. So for those of you that were

here last week, what an awesome message we received from Taryn.

I was extremely inspired by it, but it also sent me into a

slight panic because as he put up that first verse, Romans 814,

verse 16, I leaned over to Candice and I said, that's the

verse that I'm preaching on. So I was listening.

I was like, Taryn, this is amazing, but please don't say

anything that I've prepared to say.

All right? But I think that's good.

I think sometimes God just wants us to slow down and instead of

jumping from one thing to the next, just spend some time in

what he's sharing with us just so we can get stuck in and, and

process and let it really sink in.

So let's open to Romans 814 verse 16 for those who are led

by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

And the spirit you receive does not make you slaves so that you

live in fear again. Rather, the Spirit you received

brought about your adoption to sonship.

And by him we cry, ABBA, Father, the Spirit himself testifies

with our spirit that we are God's children.

And today I want to talk about three things, relationship,

grace and adoption, and how through those three things we

allow God to take in His rightful place as our Father.

We take in our rightful place as sons and daughters and we

experience his full grace in our life.

And I want to share a bit of my story with you and my past of

the relationship I've walked with God and the grace I've

experienced and my adoption into sonship.

Now they say to to really hit home with, oh, let's say this,

let's start with my past. Well, the past 16 years, outside

of being involved with the church, I've helped people

improve their quality of life through fitness training,

nutrition, race recovery, stress management, and all of that.

And they say to really emphasize a point in a story, we have to

to make personal connections. We have to use vicarious

experiences, testimonials, all the success stories of others.

So I want to tell you about one of my biggest success stories to

date. And I want you to enjoy the

sheer shock on her face as I asked Lynette Emery to stand up

really quick. Where's Lynette?

See, I wasn't going to put on the spot, but Lynette knows how

much I dislike Crocs. And yesterday she rocked up at

my house and she gifted both my daughters a pair of Crocs, which

they love. So here we are.

No, stay standing. Stay standing.

So for those of you that don't know Lynette Emery, she's an

amazing human being. She's a very close friend to

ours. She's one of the most giving

people that we know. She's an amazing mother to two

awesome boys, Logan and Jayden. She's an amazing wife to Kevin

sitting next to her. And she's an extremely

successful businesswoman. And a few years ago she

approached me to help her with fitness training and she said,

she said she had a goal, that she wanted to run her first 5K.

And there's really nothing bad we can say about her except that

she owns a pair of Crocs, right? And I just have to say this,

because of her busy schedule, we had to really tailor program to

her needs. We had to get up at 3:00 AM, go

over to her house and train. And no, never has anybody ever

got injured or died on my watch. But that first day of training,

there was more prayer than coaching going on, all right?

And I also didn't enjoy the 3:00 AM wake ups.

Like I was rebuking my alarm more than the devil in those

couple of months, but we did it together, right?

There's something powerful in showing up for somebody when

they're going through something tough and sharing that shoulder

to shoulder. And over time, the neck change,

not because of what we did, but how we did it.

We did it together. I didn't just send her a workout

and say, hey, there it is. Wake up at 3:00 AM, do the

workout, let me know how it goes.

I'll check in with you on a later stage.

I got up with her and I was there because I've been through

similar situations and people have been there for me during

those times. And I'm I've stumbled when I've

tried to take on something on my own.

And I know the power of doing something together.

And through walking together, we were able to find and unlock the

potential that was already inside of her and we were able

to bring it to light. And her transformation wasn't a

result of an individual effort on my side or her side.

It was a team effort. Both of us got up early, both of

us sacrificed time and we walked the road together and look what

we achieved. How's that?

Not only, yes, you can say, not only did she run her first five

KS, if you know her now she's running half marathons and

marathons. She's training for the Tin Man,

eventually Iron Man. She does boxing, jiu jitsu,

CrossFit, she's part of a running club, she does mountain

biking. She's unstoppable.

That's amazing, right? I'm not trying to advertise my

services, but if you look on the floor under your chair, you'll

find my business card. So what made the difference

wasn't just the training, it was the togetherness.

It was the relationship we had during that time.

And just like that with any transformation in life, that

doesn't happen in isolation, at least not any transformation

that's worthwhile, the life changing.

And I read a great quote that says isolation often breeds

destruction, but relationship breeds transformation.

And that's what Romans 8 is saying about the Holy Spirit.

God didn't just save you and give you a plan to check in with

you every once and again. He saved you to walk with you

and to guide you and to adopt you.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children

of God. The Spirit you receive does not

make you slaves so that you live in fear again.

Rather the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to

sonship. And by Him we cry, ABBA, Father,

we are LED, we have received, and we are adopted.

We are not alone. In John 131416 it says, and I

will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be

with you forever. This is Jesus speaking as a part

of His farewell to His disciples before His crucifixion.

And the Greek word for helper there is paracletos or

paracletos and para means alongside or beside and claytos

is called or summoned. So paracletos helper literally

means one called alongside. This refers to the Holy Spirit

translated as comforter, counselor, advocate, or helper,

who comes alongside us to guide us and strengthen us and to walk

with us forever, to dwell with us.

Relationship with the Holy Spirit is the engine of

transformation. 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18 says, and we all are

2 Corinthians 3:18

being transformed in His image by the Spirit.

Real growth comes from walking with the Spirit, not just

obeying rules. If we remember Romans 8 verse 2,

Romans 8:2

it says we were set free from the law of sin and death.

So it's not about the law, it's about the relationship.

Psalm 23, verse 4. Even though I walk through the

Psalms 23:4

darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

So you can be led by guilt, shame, perfectionism, fear, or

hustle, but if you are led by the Holy Spirit, you're a son

and you're a daughter and you're in an unbreakable relationship.

And the sooner we realize that we allow God to take in His

rightful place as our Father, we take in our rightful place as

his sons and daughters, and we experience his glory and his

love. And that got me thinking about

relationships in this church. I think even in our small groups

we can isolate each other ourselves.

Every now and again we come to church, some of us 5/10/15 years

in this church, we come with our group of four or five people.

We come in, we greet the four or five that we know, we sit for

the service, and then we go home.

And the other 2900, we just live past such opportunities for

relationship and for God to move, right.

You took two, you take 2 strangers, one from Cape Town,

one from Pretoria. You set them walking across the

street from each other in New Zealand, both working, wearing

Springbok jerseys. They see each other and they're

like hey, hey, hey. And they click and they have a,

an instant relationship because they are part of the same team.

We are part of the same team, right?

We mustn't miss out on these opportunities.

You over there with a red shirt, Can you stand for me really

quick? And then there, do you guys know

each other? Never met?

OK, so after the service, you take your group that you come

with. You take your group that you've

come with, you go have a cup of coffee, I'll buy your coffees

and never know. Maybe you have a common

interest. Maybe you know someone who knows

someone that knows each other. Maybe you end up praying for

each other and God starts to work and said, you don't have to

do that, but everybody's going to be watching you now.

All right, so that was the past 16 years where I've been

involved in the fitness industry industry.

If we take a step back and we look at my past before that,

this is where things get a little bit interesting.

I have two certificates each representing big moments in my

life, and God used both of those certificates to get me to where

I am today. One certificate is the type that

hangs proudly in the living room, that's framed, that's got

the gold trimmings on. And when people walk into your

house and they see it, they go, oh, wow, that's amazing.

But the other certificate, that one is for a draw, a very deep,

deep draw that gets stored in the darkest place of your house.

The first certificate is this one.

That is my LLB law degree, and when people hear that I have a

law degree, they're always very impressed.

Oh wow, you have a law degree? Not that because it's a law

degree, just because it's me you have a law degree.

So they impressed with that. What?

But what people don't realize is that the degree teaches me how

to interpret the law, but not how to escape condemnation.

The law tells you when you are guilty but cannot save you from

guilt. And the courtroom of heaven

doesn't care how many distinctions you graduated with.

It just cares about are you a son or are you a stranger?

And God doesn't graduate sons and daughters, He adopts them.

You don't need a qualification. You can know every theological

doctrine, quote all the scripture, but still miss the

Father's voice. By the way, have you ever seen a

lawyer try to pray? We always quote President, dear

Lord in the matter between Peter versus denial.

We don't. God doesn't need a legal

argument. He wants a child who cries out.

ABBA Father, I can see on everyone's faces you thinking

the same thing. OK, get on with it.

What's the other certificate? But before I tell you about that

one, we just have to get one thing straight.

There are some things in my life that I'm not proud of, but I

don't care what you think because only God can judge me,

right? Not proud, don't care, Only God

can judge. So the other certificate is this

one that is a certificate of completion for an alcohol safety

school I had to attend when I got arrested for drunk driving.

Didn't walk on stage for this one.

There was no cap and gown, no ceremony, no photos.

Just a walk of shame. And I'll save you the mystery.

I'll I'll give you the short version of how that happened.

I was at a friend's house one afternoon and we were being lazy

and useless, enjoying way too many adult beverages.

And about 11:30 that night we get a call from his brother

saying hey, the clubs are pumping, we have to get through

there. So we jump in my car, go down

the streets and there's a quiet St. in Hatfield.

Very quiet, no cars on the road. So I decide to skip a red robot

and out of nowhere blue and red lights behind me.

So being the model citizen that I am, I put my car into second

gear and I try and race away. Didn't get very far, went

straight past Brooklyn police station and I get caught.

I get arrested, I get sent to community court.

I get that. Which I had to attend in three

hours of community service. Right?

Not proud, don't care. Only God can judge.

So this one doesn't hang on my wall.

It's stuffed in a drawer. But it taught me something that

a classroom never could, and that's that I need grace.

People love the law degree. They post about it, they share

it on social media, they frame it, they celebrate it.

But the alcohol safety certificate, that's not for

sharing on Instagram or social media, That's for the shadows.

The one gets you applause, the other one gets you stares and

whispers. But those, both of them tell my

story. Beautiful.

One says I studied justice, the other one said I survived

judgement. One says I know the law, the

other proves that I needed grace.

Romans 8 opens worth. Therefore there is now no

condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

See, God doesn't frame what the world frames.

He redeems what the world hides. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of

my degree, I worked hard for it. But that one, that's the one I

bled for. That one cost me humiliation.

Finds fear a good chunk of pride.

But guess which one made me depend on Jesus more?

God took the thing I wanted to forget and He used it to teach

me who I am. What story does your past tell?

What certificate defines you and are you allowing the spirit to

rewrite it? So which certificate tells the

truth about me, Law or grace? After my arrest, I went to

community court, got given the alcohol safety school, 300 hours

community service and you would have think I learned my lesson,

right? Hey, let's maybe make a change.

But no, during my 300 hours of community service, I still kept

partying, I still went out. I even skipped some of my

community service sessions day before I had to go back to

court. I even paid off my parole

officer just to sign off on it. Not proud, don't care, only God

can judge. I continued this behaviour

because even though I received my punishment, the law couldn't

change me. Romans 8, three verse 4 says

because the law was powerless, so God did what the law could

not do. Eventually I stopped partying,

not because I feared punishment, because I experienced grace.

Fear changes your behavior, but grace changes your desires.

So as somebody who studied law, here's what I know.

Law can judge, but it cannot save.

Law can declare guilt, but it cannot declare grace.

And that's why God stepped in with something greater, not just

legal justice, but some Divine Mercy, because at that moment

that I messed up, that's also the moment that I woke up and I

realized I had to change. And I wanted to transform this

desire. I had to get to know God into

real life application. I wanted to start living it out.

And this is where God's grace and mercy started working in me.

See, around this time where that happened, I pretty much dropped

out of university. I went to Tux for about 3-4

years. I changed my degree every single

year because I was I didn't know what I wanted to study or do

with my life. I started skipping classes, I

started skipping exams, I went on partying.

And then this happens, right? Say it with me.

Not proud, don't care. Only God can judge me.

So I decided to get my life straight eventually.

And during that time, a friend of mine organized the job at a

law firm basically as a glorified messenger just to earn

some cash. And while I was working there, I

really enjoy history. I noticed that there's a lot of

history in law and that sparked my interest.

So I thought I'd pretty much studied everything else.

Why not give law a go? You know?

So I, I entered registered for law through Unisa, got into my

studies. Eventually I went on to bigger

and better firms. I did my articles, I went to law

school, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

So at the time of this DUI, not only was I spiritually lost, but

my health also took a toll. So then at one point in my life,

God sent this thing across my path called CrossFit.

And if you don't like CrossFit, that's OK, just means you don't

understand it. I'll be happy to educate if you

are willing to receive. But I developed a passion for

this to where I eventually walked into my boss's office in

the law firm and I said hey I'm going to just leave law and I'm

going to open a CrossFit gym. And with a smile I believe this

is God's grace. He said to me, I saw this

coming, go and do it and if it doesn't work out your office

will be waiting for you if you want to come back.

So with no business experience whatsoever, I started a gym.

Two years later this beautiful lady walked through the doors

and something inside of me knew that she was.

The 1-2 years after that we got married and 10 years later

through an amazing and ever growing relationship with the

Holy Spirit, we are now surrounded by this great

community God has put us in. So I went from there to there to

year and if that's not God's grace I don't know what is.

That's not the original, but I held on to that certificate for

years and years and years. I only recently got rid of it

and I never understood why I I wanted to hold on to this.

But today I know why. It's to tell you that I know

some of us are still carrying certificates of shame.

We walk into rooms feeling like people can see our alcohol

safety certificates. Maybe yours is divorce,

abortion, bankruptcy, addiction. But God doesn't leave us in

shame. He uses it.

What I've realized is that my alcohol safety school

certificate does not disqualify my law degree.

Actually, it qualifies my calling.

Your worst moment does not disqualify your adoption.

It can lead you to it. And I believe because of that

certificate, God gave me a gift and that is that I can, I can

talk and connect with any person from any background, with any

judgement. Ask my wife.

I can sit around the table with anybody without judging saved,

unsaved, goth, punk, gay, straight, married, divorced,

black, white, someone that went to boys eye.

But jokes aside, I can do that because I know what it feels

like to be judged on mistakes. And I never, ever want to put

that on to somebody else because that might be the very thing

that keeps them from experiencing God's grace or that

keeps them from starting a relationship with the Holy

Spirit. Your past certificate of shame.

It's not your prison anymore. It's your platform.

The Spirit leads you into identity.

You are not saved by regret. You are saved by relationship.

I can stand here not just because I understand law, but

I've experienced grace not just because I passed exams, but

because I survived mistakes. And Jesus didn't die for my law

degree, He died for the certificate I wanted to hide.

He didn't save the polished version of me.

He saved the broken, the shamed red eye version of me sitting in

the back of the courtroom thinking, what have I done?

What certificate are you hiding? What moment of shame are you

afraid people will discover? Because God already knows and

he's not embarrassed. He's ready to use it.

One day I'll stand before God and I'll lay down these two

certificates and he won't care. He won't ask.

Let me see your Lord agree. He's going to look for the sign

that says, the sign of the Spirit that says this one is

mine. He won't say well done, graduate

of law is going to say well done, graduate, well done.

My son, graduate of grace. Romans 8 doesn't just say we are

free, We are not just forgiven, we are family and therefore

there is no condemnation. It says we are adopted.

We are adopted, not abandoned. And that adoption language is

intimate that speaks of belonging.

Galatians 4 verse 6 says because you are sons.

Galatians 4:6

God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who

calls out ABBA Father. And yet some of us love like

spiritual orphans because we think if we don't pray hard

enough, we don't fast long enough, or we don't serve hard

enough, that we are disqualified.

But your identity isn't tied to your performance.

It's secured in your adoption. So tear up that certificate of

shame and let the Holy Spirit hand you your adoption papers.

John one, verse 2 says to all who received him, he gave the

right to become children of God. We don't apply to be God's

children. We're adopted by the Spirit.

It's not based on performance or distinctions or merit.

It's based on Grace. Our two daughters, Mackenzie and

Harper, they did nothing to become our daughters.

They didn't have to perform. They didn't have to qualify or

write tests or exams. They are our daughters.

But nothing but nothing will ever disqualify them from being

our daughters or being loved by us.

Nothing. And that's the same with us and

God. If we are children, then we are

heirs. Heirs of God and Co heirs with

Christ. Remember that term?

Co heirs we are LED, there's a relationship we have received

that's grace and we are God's children.

We are adopted. The spirit you receive does not

make you slaves so that you live in fear again, Jonah 2 verse one

says from inside the fish Jonah prayed.

So sometimes you meet God in the belly of your bad decisions like

I did. I walked into that alcohol

safety class with my head down, but I came out of that situation

with a heart over situation, but with a heart open to the reality

that I am not my past. I found a lot of confirmation in

preparing for today's message. A couple of weeks ago, Rory had

this beautiful illustration where he brought James up and

Clinton Rob and he walked down this aisle with him and that

walking together. That was the confirmation of

relationship. Then Andy came and he preached

to us and he told us about his journey to America.

They've never been there, but God gifted them a car and a job

and a community to slot into with their church.

And that's God's grace. And then as I was preparing for

this two or three weeks ago, I got gifted a book anonymously by

a couple in this church. Now, if you know anything about

me, I really love reading. So this is a very special gift,

Anonymous. Just like to thank Johan and

Yvonne, and as I was preparing, it's a daily devotional, I

opened up and this was the message It said God doesn't

desire your perfection, He desires your humility.

Your invitation to know him isn't predicted on your work.

That's predicated on his. You don't have to wait to

approach God until you're you clean up your life, master

obedience or memorize enough scripture.

Those aren't God's terms. God's terms say that his Son was

enough. You can come now through the

blood and the finished work of Jesus, come through his death,

come through his burial, come through his resurrection and

find the gift of eternal life and a relationship with the

Almighty God. And then down there says,

navigating the shame of your past and the guilt of your

present can be a long road, but you do not need to walk that

road alone. Come to him and let him show you

mercy. And then this morning I opened

on today's devotional and it wasn't today's date, but the

opposite page caught my eye and it says Co heirs of Christ.

And it says, if you are feeling lonely or like you don't belong

where you're at, rest assured that God sent His Son so that

you can have life and belong to a new family, that you could

become a child in His Kingdom, fully adopted, fully new, fully

alive in Him. How do you become part of the

family of God? You must simply confess that you

have fallen short of God's best and accept the forgiveness the

Father offers through the cross. When you do, the Spirit of God

enters you and everything begins to shift in accordance with His

perfect love. This new birth firmly grafts you

into God's family tree as a child and as a Co heir with

Jesus. Let that new reality settle into

your soul. Today God offers you a place in

a new spiritual family. He invites you to call on him as

your Father, A father who overflows in his love for you,

one who hangs on your every word, One who delights to meet

your every need. So even as you faithfully wait

and pray that God would restore relationships here on earth,

trust that you already belong in the family of God.

If you need confirmation today, then this is it.

If you're sitting in shame with a certificate like that and

those feelings of shame are accusing you like an inner

courtroom, then yeah, this. The Spirit is crying out in you,

ABBA Father, the Spirit inside you is speaking a deeper truth.

You are God's child, fully accepted and fully loved.

The Spirit overrides your inner courtroom of accusation with a

testimony of adoption, and all you have to do is receive it.

Thank you.