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Sonship | Rachel Ann

Acts Kota Kemuning

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  1. You're listening to a message to go from AX Church.

  2. We hope this message will light up your day.

  3. Title today's message is sonship. We're still on this journey

  4. of discipleship right disciple first this year, and I want

  5. to talk a bit about sonship. So let me share

  6. a testimony about our son, quite fresh from the oven

  7. last last last week, two weeks already, time flies. We

  8. know that most of you know that our CPC passa Daniel,

  9. his dad passed on, went home to be with the Lord.

  10. And so we were there at his the dad's week

  11. and at the end of the service, you know, we

  12. were going around to pay our last respects and here

  13. my son, he's turning six, Elias, my daughter is turning nine, Shena.

  14. So Elius comes up to me with his I don't

  15. know if you saw him just now. He's holding that cat. Yeah,

  16. Chi chow. He was coming to me with his cat,

  17. and he wanted to follow me, you know, to pay

  18. us respects. So I carried him. We went around and

  19. he saw he saw uncle in the casket, and on

  20. the way home as a child, as you would expect,

  21. started asking questions, you know, asking questions about about death.

  22. About life after death. But it led to talking about,

  23. you know, how to get to heaven, how to be

  24. with Jesus. And you know, they gave both my kids,

  25. gave some Sunday school answers and how to get to

  26. heaven or read your Bible, pray every day, those kind

  27. of answers, which is its true, but there's something very

  28. important right at the beginning, you know, first, so I

  29. kind of prompted them a little bit and we ended up,

  30. you know, talking about, yeah, you need to first believe

  31. in Jesus, which they said they did believe that he

  32. died for since they said, yes, they believe, you know,

  33. believe that they can be saved if they believe in him.

  34. But they had to first receive Jesus into their hearts.

  35. And so I asked, you know, do you want to

  36. receive Jesus and invite Jesus into your heart now? Because

  37. have you done it before? He said no, So even

  38. if maybe they pay it in exkis and all that,

  39. but sometimes he's just saying words. So when I asked,

  40. have you invited Jesus into your heart yet? No? Do

  41. you want to do so now? Yes? And so I

  42. had the privilege to lead my son in the salvation prayer.

  43. He followed loud and clear. We're on the way home,

  44. driving at night. But yeah, all going to God. Even

  45. through it's beautiful, it's beautiful, how even through death we

  46. see that there's new life, that's birth. Even through those

  47. said you know, situations and circumstances, someone else may find life.

  48. And I know he will continue to receive again and again.

  49. Our kids, you know, may pray at one point and

  50. they will need remind us and they will need to

  51. acknowledge Jesus again and again. But it's a start. It's

  52. a start. That's the first time he's on his own

  53. said yes I want to and not just like follow

  54. teachers or following ex kids. So yeah, all going to God. Hallelujah.

  55. So I talk about sonship, Okay, the gods where they

  56. says that we're no longer slaves your sons. So why

  57. don't you throw me some answers on what are the

  58. traits of a son or a daughter? Cay and I

  59. say son, I mean child? What are some traits? You

  60. can go to Nick's lightning apart from that one answer,

  61. but what are the traits of a child? Cute? True? Yeah,

  62. then nineteen. But yeah, what are the traits? Look alike?

  63. Very good? Who's that there? Yes? Yeah, look alike? Right,

  64. you look, I don't look like a mom or a

  65. dead or mixture or maybe like grandparents, but there will

  66. be some resemblance. What else hect like the parents? Yeah,

  67. maybe not completely, but there their behaviors, right, and you

  68. realize why it is so stubborn A oh yeah, there's

  69. me right, But there are different traits and behaviors that

  70. our children have that actually it does come from us.

  71. Anything else, who are honest? You wonder where did my

  72. children do say that? Oh? Suddenly learn a new word

  73. that you realize actually you said it last week and

  74. your kid heard you. Somethings they speak like us, right,

  75. they use I mean, they mimic, especially the younger they are.

  76. They just going to pick up any word they thought

  77. it was cool, the cool word my mom said, or

  78. a big word that my parents said. I don't know

  79. what it means, but I'm going to say anyway, they

  80. start speaking like us. Right, And we're gonna talk a

  81. little bit about DNA because at the end of the day,

  82. that's what our children, at least our biological children have.

  83. Our DNA right, cannot run from that. It is that.

  84. And I asked her this this morning we had evening.

  85. Who here study? I don't know bio or s. You

  86. know what DNA stands for? I answer, Deity, Joshua know

  87. how to pronounce that word? Oh knows the oxy ribo

  88. nuclei as it? Okay, very good. Thank You need a

  89. students to say that these words are too big ready

  90. for me. So that's what DNA is, right. It's a

  91. molecule that carries a genetic information or genetic code for

  92. basically building our bodies are building who we are. Okay,

  93. it develops who we are. Every every living being, every

  94. organism has this, has this DNA right, and it looks

  95. like that those who have forgotten your bio. Look, it's

  96. a double helicks. It's like a twisted letter, and it's

  97. found in the nucleus of ourselves. Okay, now, can you

  98. just imagine that DNA is like a super secret instruction

  99. book that tells your body how to build everything, right

  100. from the color your eyes, the color of your hair,

  101. how your brain works. When I discovered why our daughter,

  102. our first born, was always crying when she was younger,

  103. always overstimulated and overwhelmed. It was because she is highly sensitive,

  104. and it's apparently an innate trait of twenty percent of population.

  105. So in ten in ten people also say hundred people

  106. that doing d Yeah, that are highly sensitive and it

  107. is how it is innate. So it's in the DNA,

  108. and it's how your brain works and processes things slightly

  109. different from an average person. Maybe some of you may relate. Yeah,

  110. I think differently from everyone else. I think I process

  111. more deeply, more sensitive to subtle things. You pay attention

  112. to little little things. Yeah, that's that's my my daughter.

  113. But DNA, you can't change. It is going to be

  114. there for the rest of your life. Yes, she will

  115. learn to code better with different things, with changes, with

  116. you know, blocking out certain things when you're younger, it's

  117. like taking everything. You see more, you hear more than

  118. other people, you feel more than other people, but you

  119. learn the code. But it's it's still in the DNA.

  120. It cannot change that, right, and it makes you uniquely,

  121. you uniquely me our DNA. And even as when we

  122. look that's that's in the physical, but in a spiritual

  123. is in it the same right we have also a

  124. DNA a different a different DNA a spiritual DNA. Yeah,

  125. praise God where it comes from. And we'll talk through

  126. that a little bit, a little bit more. But yeah,

  127. it is the secret code that makes us, makes us

  128. who we are. You know we are. We are different

  129. from the world. Amen, man, So I'm made it easy

  130. for us to remember. I try to do this with me,

  131. trying to think of like words to make it easy

  132. to remember. But since you're talking about sonship and DNA,

  133. so my my appoints to you today will be DNA. Okay, DNA.

  134. So let's start with the first one. D We're gonna

  135. read a verse verse. I don't need to turn their XTV.

  136. Let's get to flip your bibles. Can I see your bibles?

  137. Yay?

  138. Last summer waving their phones. It's okay, can't get as

  139. long as you're a Bible there. But we encourage me.

  140. We like people to have a physical Bible so we

  141. can turn the pages. Nothing like flipping people. Okay. Hebrews

  142. Chapter twelve, verse five, two six. If you're there, can

  143. give me an amen? All right, And it says, and

  144. you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as

  145. to sons my son, do not despise the chastening of

  146. the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him.

  147. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every

  148. son whom he receives. I think I put it on

  149. NIV so XTV. You can go to the next slide XV. Yeah,

  150. go to the verse the verse God, Yes, that's right,

  151. and IV. So he says, And have you completely forgotten

  152. the word of encouragement that addresses you as a father

  153. addresses his son. It says, my son, do not make

  154. light of the Lord's discipline. That's the d there. Do

  155. not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not

  156. lose heart when he rebukes you. Because the Lord disciplines

  157. the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts

  158. as his son. How many of us there like discipline? Nobody? Okay?

  159. How many here are parents? How many of you will

  160. never correct your child? Never, just let them do whatever

  161. and trust nature to take its cost, and they will

  162. one day learn what to do. No, one day get

  163. it right. When you're young, just just let them just

  164. close what eye? Sometimes you feel like that, love, because

  165. it's so tiring to correct them, right, but I think

  166. there's no parent here that doesn't correct your child. Those

  167. are not parents. I mean you have parents still living

  168. under your parents, some still living or yes, some no

  169. longer because you are not parents, still getting And how

  170. many of you have never been disciplined, never been corrected?

  171. I hope not here. I mean some of us may

  172. have come from backgrounds where maybe your parents weren't there,

  173. so you just never got corrected. But you probably got

  174. disciplined by teacher, maybe someone else, another adult, right, But

  175. you know it's as humans also we we always it's

  176. natural for us to correct the younger, those who do

  177. not know better, who are still learning. But sometimes, as

  178. human parents, we can do it out of anger. So

  179. I can see myself out. We're just so, why you

  180. doing that? Why did you get it?

  181. Right?

  182. And we can discipline out of anger. But oh God,

  183. a heavenly father, he disciplines out of love. Right, It's

  184. not out of anger, it's out of love. He rebuilds,

  185. he corrects, and it's always for a profit. I maybe

  186. we read down the if you're still there, he reached

  187. up to twelve. If we read down verse seven onwards,

  188. it says, if you're in deal chastening. God deals with

  189. you as with sons. For what son is there whom

  190. my father does not chasten. He chasten just means trained.

  191. But if you are without chastening, of which all have

  192. become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Or

  193. I don't want to be that. Furthermore, we have had

  194. human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect.

  195. Show me not much more. Readily be in subjection to

  196. the father of spirits and live for they. Indeed, for

  197. a few days chasing us it seemed best to them.

  198. But he for our profit, not his profit, or for

  199. our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.

  200. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present,

  201. but painful. Nevertheless, afterwards, it yields the peaceable fruit of

  202. righteousness to those who have been trained by it. So

  203. it's to train us. And at the end they want

  204. this God want. He wants to transform our character. He

  205. wants us to yield fruit off righteousness. Right, isn't that

  206. what we want? I mean, I think it's all. It's

  207. what all of us want. But sometimes we don't like

  208. the journey to get there. We don't like the pain right,

  209. the discomfort to get there, but he wants us at

  210. the other day to share in his holiness. Amen. You know,

  211. some verds might be going through continuous and again I

  212. say this, I say this carefully because I don't want

  213. us to to confuse discipline and sometimes just the breaking

  214. that us Canna spoke about. You know that that one

  215. is not so much discipline and rebuke that was that

  216. The one is just you know, shaping us and allowing

  217. a new anointing to flow that was pasted this message.

  218. But if we are continually going through like repeated, repeated hardships,

  219. you know, because it could come. This thing could come

  220. in various forms. It go come in in our health,

  221. you know our health is impacted. It go come in

  222. in emotion, emotional hardship. It could be different challenges, financial,

  223. you know, different different things we could go through. But

  224. if we are continually seeing that and there's no breakthrough

  225. for a long time, I wonder if we need to

  226. ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Is there something Lord

  227. that you're trying to discipline me? Is there something that

  228. I need to change? Is there something I need to

  229. let go off? Is the pride I need to let

  230. go off, right? Is their unforgiveness? Is there something I

  231. need to repent from? I think at the end of

  232. the day. And sometimes we don't need to ask that

  233. question because we don't really want to change. We are

  234. creatures of comfort, right, But I see I see that

  235. sometimes I do questions, you know, when I see friends,

  236. some of my friends that I've known for years, you know,

  237. from college days, to see them like go through the

  238. same cycle of hardships and challenges continually, like from campus

  239. into working, adulthood, into dating, into marriage, into having kids,

  240. and it's still there, like it's just never ending. And

  241. I sometimes wonder why, why, God, why are they Why

  242. can't they get out of this? You know, what is

  243. that cycle about? And and it did without reading this

  244. and doing this study as also thinking about that, is it?

  245. Is it?

  246. God is actually trying to discipline, but we don't get it,

  247. so we don't learn, So we don't learn, so we

  248. keep repeating the same problem. And God's you know, He's

  249. constantly disciplining, but we don't recognize that is a correction,

  250. That is a chastening, is a training, yeah, and its

  251. chasing training is like a think of it as a gym.

  252. If we go to the gym, not comfortable. Albert would understand.

  253. He comes home with like all kinds of He comes

  254. back right and he can't even sit down and Leaeve

  255. they got his shoes they cannot get up, or he

  256. gets something and he gets a crap. He's in pain

  257. every day. But it is that is the chasing is

  258. a training too, Yeah, to get what he's he's he's

  259. after a world championship. But us don't know. My husband Albert,

  260. he is into powerliftings. So he's competed a couple of

  261. times and he now holds the record Malaysian record for

  262. his age and wait category. So he's gonna represent Malaysia

  263. if it's God's hallelu Yeah. If we get raised funds,

  264. thank you Jesus, get raised funds to go. Yeah yeah,

  265. But it's like that training, right is painful, is uncomfortable,

  266. but it makes us better, stronger than we were before.

  267. You know. And when I think about his discipline and

  268. so is are we maturing as believers or are we

  269. still throwing tenttrums like a two year old like a

  270. three year old? Right, things happen to us and we're

  271. like God doesn't love me anymore, or doesn't love me

  272. at all? Lost that lost my friend better? Why his

  273. life or her life looks so good? Why why am

  274. I going through all this? God doesn't love me, He's

  275. not fair, life is unfair or even it's but God's

  276. his fault. It is her fault. It's my parents fault.

  277. They didn't teach me this. It's my teacher's fault. It's

  278. my leader's fault, didn't give me the right advice, it's

  279. my pastor's fault. We can very easily, you know, point

  280. a finger and try to think of what why did

  281. I make this mistake? And God's displining me, But it's

  282. not my fault. But we need to be be very

  283. careful and really really go to the Father and ask,

  284. you know what, what is it? What is it in

  285. me that your targeting that you want me to change?

  286. And when I wrote this, I just wanna say wives, wives,

  287. hear me out. The Holy Spirit recently reminded me, you know,

  288. when we meet our creator, when we meet our heavenly

  289. Father at the end of this life, we cannot say,

  290. is my husband's fault or it's he didn't lead, he

  291. didn't leave me well enough, he didn't leave my family

  292. well enough because not nice women. We had the expectation,

  293. like God, you make him the hat of the family.

  294. Make him lead, you know, make him say sorry first,

  295. make him do the right thing first, so that I

  296. won't live in this uh frustration and anger, you know.

  297. And I and I think with Adam and Eve. So

  298. this morning we were doing devotion. Teachers exist teachers. We

  299. meet in the morning and we do devotion and pray

  300. and uh eron. Teacher Aaron was leading in the devotion,

  301. so he brought us the passage about Adam and Eve.

  302. And we all know the story, right, if took the fruit,

  303. gave the fruit to Adam. But when God asks you

  304. know what happened is she made me do it? And

  305. this made me do it. There's always that pointing your finger.

  306. But the day when we meet God, right, there's no

  307. more husband, wife, father, mother, dott nothing, It's just us.

  308. We are a child of God and we are accountable

  309. to him and we can only answer for ourselves. So

  310. so last week, after this, last week, your last last week,

  311. last week, time is like, yeah, I cannot lose track

  312. of time, but I remember it was after homes homes

  313. some man of you at homes last year, yes, this

  314. week and then the week before, two weeks before, and

  315. we talked about warmth, right, warmth. It was about relationships.

  316. There's one part about you know, just it will be difficult.

  317. You always have people that will step on your toes

  318. in church, et cetera. But you're just really forgiveness let go.

  319. And so at that session, no, both of us were

  320. leading of course our homes, and we talked about, yeah,

  321. as we get older, it's easier, it's sort of easier

  322. to let things go. You know, people don't get on

  323. your nerves as much when you're younger, like feisty and

  324. like ah, I'm wanting done my way, you know. And

  325. then as you get older, just like chill those are

  326. a bit older, not your hat, you're you're usually more

  327. chilled as you get older. And then and right after

  328. that homes the very next day, what happens, husband and

  329. wife have disagreement now right, and my fault, my fault,

  330. and and for three days, okay, so Saturday, Sunday, Monday,

  331. no talking including Sunday, no Sunday leading in chesh or

  332. I wasn't a good day, I wasn't preaching, or I

  333. wasn't teaching did worship. Ah ha, you know problem. You

  334. are only me my problem, but so the whole time,

  335. right and and this is my problem from the time

  336. before I got married. I really know that I'm the

  337. kind that I avoid confrontation, so I'm silent. If I'm

  338. not happy or something, I'm silent. I don't want to

  339. talk about it. Usually I can just let it go.

  340. Most times I can just let it go. Sometimes it

  341. stays there longer. But but yeah, so silent, silent treatment

  342. to someone, be silent. And the whole time God is

  343. reminding me. Of course we're miserable those few days, right,

  344. kids are so miserable extra can key. They don't say anything,

  345. but I think they can sense it. And then God

  346. was reminding me. Someone preparing this, I mean, this message

  347. was already brewing. And God, it's like you think that

  348. your kid laugh he did wrong for us. He says

  349. sorry first, I don't want to say sorry he's fat.

  350. But we we don't realize we are like those kids.

  351. We are viture. We are you know, like little children.

  352. Who does it first? Who's wrong? But God just says

  353. my word says forgive, My word says be humble, be

  354. the first to speak up and make it right. And

  355. even if wives, even though yes, our expectation is husbands,

  356. please lead the way, sometimes God is speaking those then

  357. we are too answer to Godla right, we just have

  358. to stie take that first step anyway. So yes, just reminder,

  359. I mean not saying these onr husband's same same thing.

  360. At the at the end of our lives. We cannot

  361. blame my wife or so I cannot tell God my

  362. wife my wife pulled me down. Cannot Our faith is

  363. our own, it's personal, it's just us and God. Amen. Amen,

  364. all right. So that is my first d on discipline.

  365. It's difficult, difficult, but as sons and daughters of God,

  366. we will go through it, and I pray that we

  367. will recognize it, recognize it and then learn and sometimes

  368. just suck it. Suck it up and just learn from

  369. it and do the right thing and mature. Yeah, okay,

  370. let's go to the next point. We're going to read

  371. another verse now from Luke, a passage from Luke to Luke. Look,

  372. chapter six, can we turn there? This is another difficult one,

  373. difficult one to do and obey, Okay you there's amen,

  374. almost there six Verse thirty five to thirty six. All right,

  375. and he says we can read, read along with me,

  376. all right, verse thirty five, thirty six. But love your enemies,

  377. do good and learn, hoping for nothing in return, and

  378. your reward will be great. And you will be sons

  379. of the Most High, for He is kind to the

  380. unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your father

  381. also is merciful. I mean, out of many things. This

  382. caught my eye because it explicitly says that you will

  383. be sons of the most High when you love your enemies.

  384. Ah Hi, yeah, yea so difficult. I mean God is

  385. kind to even the ungrateful and evil. As we say, right,

  386. it rains on the both the good and the evil.

  387. Good or so we ASO suffer the evil. Also they

  388. still prosper. Why no, But more than anything, I when

  389. I think about this verse and all love your enemies,

  390. I think about Jesus. Right. You don't need to turn there.

  391. But in Louke twenty three, verse thirty four, Jesus say

  392. his father forgive them, forgive them, for they know not

  393. what they do. And these are the very people that

  394. he loved, he cared for, he healed them, he taught them,

  395. and they were all, you know, just a few days

  396. before that, he they were worshiping him, right, putting palm

  397. leaves and putting their clothes and saying, all hell son

  398. of David. And they were, you know, they were just

  399. celebrating him. And then when they found out he he's

  400. not going to overthrow the Roman Empire, cross if I am.

  401. You know, it just changed one hundred eighty degrees. It's

  402. now you think about it, it's so bizarre. But but

  403. that's what happened. And I think that's sometimes that happens

  404. to us as well. Right, we think when God is

  405. blessing us, we want They were like, oh, worship you Lord,

  406. and then when things turn ugly, like nope, God, you

  407. don't love me, and retrotrums. But yeah, but I think

  408. about Jesus and he he said forgive them, even when

  409. they were torturing him, they were shaming him. He was

  410. in so much pain. And I'm thinking, you know, he

  411. can say I forgive them, and we somethimes can say God,

  412. I forgive that person that's hurting me. But to say God,

  413. you so forgive them this next level because what I

  414. really want to say is God, I forgive them. So

  415. my conscious clear, my heart clear. But got you hold

  416. that person accountable. You be my you take revenge for me.

  417. You know sometimes we can have those thoughts at the

  418. back of my mind. But to actually say, you know, Father,

  419. you forgive them as well. They don't know, they don't

  420. know better, I think that's really next level. You know,

  421. most of us, or some of us, maybe all of

  422. us are I don't think. I don't think anyone has

  423. never experienced it, unless maybe you're quite young, but all

  424. of us have experienced before that one person that's just

  425. on our backs, the one person that just wants to

  426. see us fail. Can we love them, let's they want

  427. to step back? Can we forgive them? Let's forgive them first,

  428. not asking to go all out and like buy gives

  429. and take them out for dinner, and you know, might

  430. just be awkward or seem like you're trying to get

  431. something out of them. But maybe we need to start

  432. off by just praying for that person, or treat the

  433. person with respect, even though it doesn't feel like they

  434. deserve it. I think most importantly, see them through the

  435. eyes of Jesus. If we only you know, see through

  436. Jesus eyes, he sees he sees all these people and

  437. us sometimes as lost sheep. You know, we don't they

  438. don't know better, they don't have someone to follow show

  439. them the right way. But it may be even harder

  440. to forgive believers for me, I think, because we think

  441. that they should know better, they should know it. I mean,

  442. forgive them for they don't know what they do. They

  443. should know. But we can't assume. We can't assume you

  444. would think that the Jews also knew knew it and

  445. wouldn't have treated Jesus that way because everything was prophesied already.

  446. They had all got the Torah and all the prophecies

  447. of Isaiah, et cetera. But they still missed it. They

  448. still missed it. So we can't, you know, I think

  449. we can't assume that everyone a fellow believer, would know better.

  450. We just got a yeah, see them through Jesus, isa

  451. I've got a I shared a story as well this

  452. morning about my workplace when some some some of you

  453. know a bit of background. Uh, two three years back,

  454. my workplace was really a toxic environment. We had these

  455. two leaders that were making it very very uncomfortable and

  456. very ugly. But there were three of them. Three of

  457. them that made a lot of our lives difficult, and

  458. especially mine, and long story shorts of you. I shared

  459. the testimony, but two of them were removed right our

  460. director and CEO and everyone came down and two of

  461. them were asked to leave the business, but one remain

  462. and ask at that time was Rachel, you need to

  463. step up and they need to work closely with this,

  464. with this other guy to bring you know, Malaysia back

  465. to where it needs to be. My first thought is like,

  466. oh my goodness, this guy has been making my life

  467. difficult and I've been like so annoyed and just angry

  468. at it. You know, how he's how whatever he's been

  469. doing or has been saying, how he conducts himself, et cetera.

  470. But and and actually, in my position, I probably could

  471. have just said no, I want this guy out so

  472. and they would they would sort of have to listen

  473. to me because they put him in charge. Then my decision.

  474. But I didn't, and I yeah, I just I just

  475. rested in the Lord and surrendered to him and say, God,

  476. if you, if this is what you're allowed to happen,

  477. if I have to work with this person, help me

  478. to do it well, Help me to just build build

  479. a good working relationship with him. So yeah, what I did.

  480. Of course, it started off awkward, like okay, and I

  481. do have one on ones and you know, start talking

  482. to his person before these like can't see I dole

  483. eye and don't agree with anything he does. But now

  484. we sat down and and again as he shot, just

  485. over a couple of months, we built a very good

  486. working relationship. I had other people who were still asking me,

  487. can I trust? Can I trust this person? I say,

  488. now I can. I can because I I even through

  489. through prayer. Getting it takes a lot of prayer and

  490. asking God help me help me see past you know,

  491. whatever happened, and see past the outward outward countenance or

  492. how because this person can can look quite he don't

  493. think he you know, a bit a big cocky, a

  494. bit proud, a bit too sure of himself. But God

  495. allowed me to see past that and see who he

  496. really was, and we really built a good, working, professional,

  497. working relationship even until the time that he left. You know,

  498. it was a good there's a trust in rebuilding the

  499. team after all that had happened, all the toxicity. Okay,

  500. but yeah, so not I know, not all stories were

  501. end that way. Okay, some won't. But on our part,

  502. can we, you know, just love our enemies, not with

  503. our own love, because it's we can't do it on

  504. our own human definitely possible. But with God, all things

  505. are possible. And that's what he calls us. We'll be

  506. sons of the Most High. Amen, a man. So the

  507. N is for YEA actually think that a bit enemies? Okay,

  508. sounds like n Let's go to my third point. A.

  509. Let's turn to Romans. Let's go to Romans chapter eight,

  510. fourteen to seventeen. And I think we're reading NKJV as

  511. well as NLT just to get some of those keywords are.

  512. And when there some still turning, give you ten seconds.

  513. Romans chapter eight, verse fourteen to seveneen. All right, ready,

  514. verse fourteen. For as many as are led by the

  515. Spirit of God, these are signs of God. For you

  516. did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear,

  517. but you receive the spirit of adoption, by whom we

  518. cry out ah bah. Father. The Spirit himself bears witness

  519. with our spirit that we are children of God. And

  520. if children, then heirs heirs of God and joined heirs

  521. with Christ. If indeed we suffer with him, then we

  522. may also be glorified together. Amen, And can we read

  523. the NLT version next light, For all who are led

  524. by the spirit of God are children of God. So

  525. you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead,

  526. you receive God's spirit when he adopted you as his

  527. own children. Now we call him Abah Father, for his

  528. spirit joints with our spirit to affirm that we are

  529. God's children. And since we are his children, we are

  530. his heirs. In fact, together with Christ, we are heirs

  531. of God's glory. But if we are to share his glory,

  532. we must also share his suffering. Amen. I pray that

  533. we are all led by the spirit. Those who are

  534. led by the spirit are sons of God. Pray we're

  535. not led by our own desires, our ones, by wordy,

  536. comfort worthy possessions. And definitely, I pray that none of

  537. us are led by fear. It's very easy to be

  538. led by fear all the decisions that we make. But

  539. God's what he says, and hope we receive it. We

  540. receive God's spirit. Might say it's not a spirit of fear,

  541. but the spirit of God. And through that spirit he

  542. adopted us as his own, his very own children, and

  543. now we call him our our father. You know, if

  544. we think about aphans and the life that they will live,

  545. if they just were never taken into a home and

  546. adopted as someone's own, very own children, life would be

  547. so different. And for us spiritually is like that as well.

  548. Right if we if God never took us in, we'll

  549. be we'll be offans, we'll be lost, we'll be you know,

  550. we'll be out in the streets. But he took us

  551. in has his very own to be brothers and sisters

  552. of Christ. You know, Christ was that first son, and

  553. now we are the other children. And Jesus, even Jesus,

  554. he led the way he called you know, it was

  555. in the garden of gast Samone Jesus called the Heavenly

  556. Father Abbah Abba Father, and now we also we can

  557. call him Abba as well. And it's not just you know,

  558. it's it's a term of intimacy, intimacy. It's not just

  559. calling God God, you know, who's so far away, God Almighty.

  560. It's not even just father. Father. Sounds very formal, right,

  561. but in today's terms, it will be like calling daddy, daddy, daddy,

  562. God or Papa you know, or whatever enduring name that

  563. you call your dads. That's what Abbah is, you know.

  564. The Hebrews used to call it ABBA's intimate. It's personal. Yeah.

  565. And for those of us who maybe didn't have a

  566. very good relationship with our dads or you know, a

  567. very intimate one, I just pray that the Holy Spirit

  568. minister to you today, because our heavenly Father and our

  569. Bah Father is different, and I pray you all will

  570. experience that whether or not your earthly father, you know,

  571. what's the same or was the reflection of our other father.

  572. I pray that you will experience he's who he really is,

  573. how good our Aurba father is. Amen. Okay, if I

  574. moved down to verse twenty nine. Still in Romans eight,

  575. verse twenty nine says for whom he founded you, he

  576. also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, right,

  577. his son who's his son, Jesus, that he might be

  578. the first born among many brethren. So Jesus was the firstborn,

  579. first child. And then the rest of us were adopted

  580. into God's family. And now we are all those brothers

  581. and sisters who are the rest of the children and

  582. he chose us. You know, it says he chose us

  583. to become like his son, to be the image of

  584. his son. And it doesn't happen overnight. Right, the last

  585. time I spoke, I spoke about the journey of discipleship.

  586. I think that was my title. It's a journey to

  587. become more and more like Jesus, to start to look

  588. like the Sun. And it comes from imitating, comes from learning,

  589. comes from studying.

  590. You know.

  591. It's yeah, we we just have you know why. Some

  592. have be asking me, why why do we need discipleship,

  593. But it's it's really this, this whole year, that is

  594. our focus. You know. We want we want everyone to

  595. just learn to imitate, to be trained to look more

  596. like the Son, to look more like Jesus. That's as simple,

  597. there's the simplest explanation I think we can give on discipleship.

  598. It's just to look more and more like Jesus, because

  599. that's what God has called us to be, to be

  600. in the image of his son. Right, and if we

  601. turn to a similar verse that talks about adoption, it

  602. turned with me to Galatiansy. For those who finally had

  603. to flip your bibles, just remember go eat popcorn. Then

  604. remember galicious Ephesians Philippines collisions. Okay, ge pc go eat popcorn? Okay,

  605. Galicians Chapter for one, verse one to seven. I can't

  606. remember who taught me that. Maybe in Sunday Schoolersson or youth?

  607. All right, anyone there?

  608. Yeah?

  609. Cool? What's one says? Now? I say that the air,

  610. as long as he is a child, does not differ

  611. at all from a slave, though he is master of all,

  612. but it's under guardians and stewarts until the time appointed

  613. by the Father. Even so, we, when we were children,

  614. were in bondage under the elements of the world. But

  615. when the fullness of the time had come, got sent

  616. forth his son, born off a woman born under the law,

  617. to redeem those who were under the law. That's us

  618. right that we might receive the adoption as sons. And

  619. because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit

  620. of his son into your hearts, crying out ah bah, Father,

  621. Therefore you are no longer slaved. Someone say amen, But

  622. a son, and if a son, then an heir of

  623. God through Christ. Friends, I don't know how much you

  624. comprehend of death, that we are and one way no

  625. longer slave. And we are son. God causes his children,

  626. and we are an heir of God. God's whole inheritance.

  627. Everything that belongs to him is ours. That's what he's saying, right,

  628. and it's through Christ. But it's interesting how this passage

  629. points us back to as long as the heir is

  630. a child, he's no different than a slave. Why because

  631. and and understood this because I'm recently like trying to

  632. complete right think my will, you know, been procrastinating for

  633. so long, but right thing, I will. And so if

  634. your child is a minor, I think you call it minor.

  635. If we were to pass away early and our kids

  636. are still kids, would the would they get the full inheritance?

  637. No?

  638. Right, they would first need to be under guardians. We

  639. need to appoint guardians to take care of them, and

  640. then when they're older, then they will get the inheritance.

  641. And so I understood, like, wow, yeah, even in our

  642. spiritual life, if we are still kids, not talking about

  643. childlike faith, that this is like means your childish immature.

  644. We're still not mature believers. Then we don't get to

  645. enjoy the fullness or the entirety of of the inheritance.

  646. You know, it's yeah, it's always parallels with with this

  647. life and our spiritual life. And so you know, God's

  648. glory why we talk about his inheritance is glory, his

  649. his power, his influence, his victory because ultimately we know

  650. we inherit eternal life. But while we're on earth, this

  651. is all these things that God wants us to already

  652. own and inherit. But we need to mature, right, We

  653. still need to mature to receive that fullness because as

  654. a child, we cannot we can't handle it. If we're

  655. still taking milk, we can't handle it, you know, we

  656. can't take one, can't get that inheritance. So yeah, Church,

  657. then turn to someone and say grow up. Turns to

  658. another friends saying that's mature in our faith. Amen? Amen? Yeah, Church,

  659. God just says so much for us. Not let's not

  660. just do do Church have no power? You know, day

  661. in day out our lives and continue struggling with things. No, God,

  662. God wants us to take hold, take hold of what

  663. He's promised us. I mean, she's drawing to an end. Really,

  664. you're gonna turn to one more? One more passage in

  665. John John chapter eight, The Apostle, John chapter eight, verse

  666. thirty four to thirty six. Yeah, are we there? And

  667. Jesus unswer them most assuredly. I say to you, whoever

  668. commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave

  669. does not abide in the house forever, but a son

  670. abides forever. Therefore, the Son makes you free. You shall

  671. be free. Indeed, Amen, I declare that for all of

  672. us we are free. Indeed, we are no longer slaves. Amen,

  673. And we abide. You know, I caught this again because

  674. I'm a right a abide. So it stood out to me.

  675. The Son abides in the house forever. We are those sons,

  676. We are those children. We abiding in God's house. Abiding

  677. means to dwell, to remain, to continue on. And how

  678. many els feel she feel like we are abiding in

  679. God's house. Yes, we will have an eternal home in

  680. heaven one day. Our father's house has many mentions, Amen,

  681. many mentions for us. But even while on earth, this

  682. is God's house, this is our Father's house. And even

  683. Jesus as a child, he he told his parents, right,

  684. why are you looking for me? Of course I would

  685. be in my Father's house. Even then he wanted, he

  686. always wanted to be in God's house. In those day

  687. is the temple we have our church. How many of

  688. us are really planted here? Our roots go deep. It's

  689. not just okay, it's a weekend thing. It's a routine,

  690. you know, just a checklist. No, it's can our roots

  691. really go deep in the Father's house? And I pray

  692. to all of us you know, from us, so our

  693. next generation will continue to really just dwell in God's house.

  694. This is where our roots, you knows, our roots go deep,

  695. and then we bear much fruit. And who is the

  696. fruit for? For those outside outside the four walls right

  697. for them to enjoy the fruit, because we also enjoy

  698. each other's fruitfulness in Christ. But those that don't know Him,

  699. they want to We want them to taste and see,

  700. taste and see that our God is good.

  701. We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

  702. information on our church, please visit acts Church do RG.

  703. We are all also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're

  704. believing that this week is going to be a good week,

  705. a hit for you. God bless