Heir

How's everybody today?

Are we good?

Man, well, happy August.

Thank you so much for uh for being here today.

If it's your very first time, welcome to His Hands.

We are thrilled to have you with us.

Uh, this is who we are in a really short statement.

We are a family of people who love God, we love each other, and we exist to love people to Jesus.

That is why we are here.

We want everyone in this community to get a taste of God's love so that we can receive it, we can grow in it, we can give it away to other people who need to experience the same.

And uh and we're just thrilled to have you with us today.

If you ever want information about what's going on here, you can always go to the info desk and check out our website, and in a few weeks we'll have a newcomer Q ⁇ A where you can stay after for 10, 15 minutes tops and ask, grill me with whatever questions you have, and I'll just do my best.

But uh, but we are so gosh, all of us, it's so good to be together.

What Matt said a few minutes ago was right, that this is an amazing, amazing group of people to spend time with every single week.

I've got a couple quick announcements before we jump into the message this morning.

Number one, home groups kick back off on August 16th, which is really exciting.

And uh, if if you want to get to know people here, if this is your church, your home, but you don't feel very connected, you need to be part of a home group.

Uh, we have groups for men, for women, for married couples, we have groups that meet practically every night of the week.

You have a group that's close to you, you have a group that works with your schedule, and we just want to know each other, we want to be connected.

And so, groups start the week of the 16th, and then uh we'll have signups next Sunday at the Connect Desk in the main lobby if you would like to get more info about a group that you can be part of.

The the parking lot's gonna look a little bit different next Sunday.

I want to talk about that for a second.

It'll look the same uh in terms of the fact that it's concrete and there will be cars.

That's the same.

Uh but next Sunday, for the very first time ever, we're gonna have a parking team at each service.

And I know you're excited about that, like I am, because as Americans, we love to be told what to do.

It's one of our favorite things, right?

Especially in places where we're familiar and we kind of feel like I know what's going on here.

It's it's it's a joy.

Um but in reality, this is really exciting, that we as a church have grown so much in the last year that we actually need a parking team.

We need to make sure that every single spot is open for anyone that comes.

It didn't used to be like that.

It's exciting that that that's the way it is because that's important.

That when someone comes for the first time, as some of us may have today, it's not a free-for-all.

It's not this, ah, where am I gonna find a spot?

Where do I go?

But but that it's organized, it'll make it go a lot faster on the out time as we're all leaving, it's gonna be a really good thing.

I know some of us are gonna have a hard time with it because those of us who have been here for for a while, nine, ten years, there's a spot in the parking lot, and I know what you think.

You think that's that's your spot, right?

And and if that's if that's you, I'm sure some of us might even be willing to raise our hands and say, no, no, I I have a spot, okay?

I want to show you something.

This is a picture of one of our parking spots.

Uh that that's definitely one of my two or three favorites here at the church.

I love that spot so much.

It's uh, you know, those faded white lines really give it that used feel.

I know that it's been used put to good purpose.

Here's another one.

This is a this is the beauty, this is easily top five parking spots at his hands.

Um I just feel like this this spot has a story to tell for some reason.

There's life has been lived there.

Uh, one more, one more I'll show you.

That that one.

Somebody's looking at one of those going, that's mine, that's my spot.

I recognize it.

I park there all the time.

You know, in reality, obviously, we know it's just it's concrete, it's paint.

Uh, but it is really important because every single open space represents a family.

It represents someone that needs to experience God's love and us being willing to uh to make sure it's organized that every spot is open.

It's important.

I'm gonna thank all of you in advance for being so wonderfully kind and gracious to our parking team next week and all the smiling.

And as you're driving by, as they point you to a spot and you pass yours, just wave at it and cry and you know, and and if, and this is a big thing, if they just this would be God, right?

You would know God is real even more than you know now, if they direct you to your spot.

It could happen.

Hold out hope, because it could happen.

But uh, but but thank you again for thank you for making this a church worth inviting people to.

Thank you for that, because all of you do that, and it's exciting when we get a chance to do whatever we can to make room for more.

It really is.

Uh, one more thing I want to say a big thank you to everyone who's helping out financially.

If you're here for the first time, we we don't pass a plate, uh, we don't tell you what to give, we don't tell you you have to give a certain percentage or anything like that.

But we are generous people.

And when we're generous, when we give, amazing things happen.

Amazing things happen.

Our approach is really simple.

Pray, ask God, ask God to show you a percentage that you can give every month, a percentage that you can give.

And then commit to that, give that at the back four columns in the room or online, however that works.

And then watch what God does.

Watch what He does with your generosity.

As a church this year, we've given over$73,000 away to this community.

It's really awesome.

And I'm I'm blown away by that.

We've given over 10% of what's come in back to the community this year, more than 10% back.

We do that through through several different ministries that are local that we're not attached to other than we just want to support them.

One of those is Papa's Pantry.

It's a local food pantry.

They gave away 75,000 pounds of food last year to people in this community that were struggling.

And we get stories from them from time to time.

We got a story a few weeks ago of a young woman who needed their help, needed their help to have to have food.

And this young woman is a single mother, but she's a single mother because her sister gave birth to a child and then passed away due to complications.

And she was not expecting to be a mom.

It was her sister that was that was pregnant, but she became the mother.

She took that child in, and she's doing everything she can, but she needs help.

And Papa's Pantry provided that help, and Papa's Pantry provided that help in large part because, as a church, you and your generosity, you're supporting them.

We've given uh close to$20,000 to Papa's Pantry this year.

And so I want to thank you for that.

Yeah, absolutely.

I want to thank you for that.

I just want to encourage you to keep it up because that's what happens.

That's what happens when we give.

God is so good.

Let's pray that we're gonna we're gonna jump into this new series that we're starting today.

Jesus, thank you so much for your love.

Thank you for all that you do for us.

Thank you for being our God.

You love us so much that you came for us and and you call us your people.

And Lord, I pray that you would show us who we really are today, that you would open our eyes and our hearts to the life that we can have as we live life connected to you.

And we pray all this in your name.

Amen.

Well, I want to start with a question.

Um, has anyone ever had an experience in life where you got treated more importantly than you normally get treated?

Have you ever had an experience in life where maybe you even got to sort of live out a fantasy, you got to step into a world that you normally cannot afford or you would not normally be part of, and you got to see what it would feel like to live life at a different at a different level, perhaps, in some way.

Maybe it's wealth, maybe it's accomplishment or something like that.

I've had a few experiences like that, and I'll just be honest, they're a lot of fun.

But for example, um, I have this young guy that goes here that I'm friends with, and he's into basketball.

I'm really into basketball, but he's one of the few people I've ever met that is maybe more into basketball than I am, and that's hard to for me to find.

And so I wanted to do something, I knew he would be blessed by this, a chance to go to a game or just do something together and talk and get to know each other better and watch some basketball.

And so I have a friend that works for a company, and I know that his company has VIP passes to the Atlanta Hawks.

They'll use those to entertain clients from time to time.

And I called him up and I said, Man, if you ever have a set of tickets that come available, I want to take this guy, it'll bless him.

He could really use this and just let me know.

And so one day he calls me, he said, Justin, I've got two VIP passes, but you gotta use them tonight.

It's for the game tonight.

They don't come open very often, but if you want them, they're yours.

You just gotta do it now.

And so I changed my schedule around.

I called this guy, and we went to the game, and it was it was amazing.

I don't know if anyone here has ever been a VIP.

Applebee's is about as close to VIP as I normally get.

But uh, but oh my goodness, this was incredible.

First off, I got a VIP parking pass.

And I didn't even know this was a thing, but if if you're a VIP, you don't have to park in the normal parking garage.

You get your own section, you get to bypass a lot of the traffic, it's faster.

And if you want to have some fun, watch what happens.

Watch the reaction you get from a parking attendant if you drive my car with a VIP parking pass on the front.

I mean, I'm sure, I'm sure that guy's used to seeing some nice cars, and when I pulled in and in my car that is not impressive, but it has character, right?

Makes some noises, does some things.

I I got I got this this really obvious double take, and then he the he had this long, drawn-out look that was both confusion and suspicion mixed together.

And he just looked at my car like go that way.

And I had the pass, I was shown it, it was it was awesome.

Parked the car, then we went to the seats.

We had courtside seats.

I mean, we were on the court, there was no one in between us and the players.

If we wanted to mess with the game and trip a guy, we could have done it.

It was incredible.

And this what this was the coolest part to me was the fact that when we sat down in our seats, this person came to us and they said, Hey, can we get you anything?

I mean, I've been to a lot of sporting events, I've been to a lot of games, and that's not something that's ever happened to me before.

But this person says, Hey, can we get you anything?

Would you like something to eat or something to drink?

See, apparently, if you're a VIP, you don't ever have to leave your seat.

You just sit there and you say, I'd like some nachos or I'd like something to drink, and they go and they give it to you, and and it's free.

You don't, you don't have to pay.

I'm sure you more than make up for it with the cost of the passes, but but I didn't really know how it worked, so I was trying to, you know how you do this if you're ever in these situations, you pretend like this is normal life for you, right?

You're like, yeah, of course I knew that the food was comped.

I used to having all kinds of things comped for me.

Um But we're sitting there, and and it was as incredible of an experience as it was.

I have to be honest, I felt like I felt like an imposter most of the time.

I had this sense of nervousness that at any moment someone was gonna go, you don't belong here, why are you sitting here?

And I'd have to explain the situation.

Like, I know normally you're right, I don't belong here, but I got a friend, and he had the tickets, these are legit tickets.

I just I felt like a fish out of water.

I was trying to fit in with all the people around me, but they were all not watching the game.

They were on their phones checking, I don't know, investments or something like that.

Because to them, the VIP courtside seats, that's just Tuesday.

Right?

To me, it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

It was incredible.

There was one moment that I had to get up out of my seat and make a phone call, and I was nervous for my friend who's a little bit younger than me, and I said, Hey, um, while I'm gone, if someone questions you, if someone comes and asks you what you're doing here, I this is what I want you to say.

Just look at the person and with disdain and annoyance in your voice, say, Do you have any idea who my father is?

Right?

If you if you just say those words, I am 95% sure they will leave you alone for the rest of the night.

You'll have better service than if you hadn't said that.

It was an amazing experience because it's it's fun to be to be treated like you're important, right?

It's fun to feel important.

So many things in this world are sold to us and marketed to us just to make us feel more important, right?

That's why there are gold cards.

That's why there are platinum cards, that's why there are membership programs at stores that have exclusive offers.

You know, when they tell you, oh, sign up for this, you'll get an exclusive offer.

And their idea of the word exclusive means that you and millions of other people will have this offer.

It's not exactly the meaning of exclusive, but it feels nice to hear, oh, I get something exclusive.

We love to feel more important, we love to feel more valuable, more accomplished, whatever that is.

It's like it's like we have something inside of us as people that knows or believes that we're meant for more.

That there's more out there that we could have, and there's a there's a different life that maybe we're not living right now, but we feel like we should have it, we feel like there is more, and we need to figure out how to have the more that's missing in our lives.

We know that we're we're meant for more.

We believe that.

We search for that.

You could say it this way that our world is full of people who do not know who they are, they they don't know exactly who they're meant to be, they just know that they're not that person yet.

And so they're searching.

And we all search.

We're searching for who we really are, for who we were created to be, for who we're meant to be.

The title of this series that we're starting today is Who Do You Think You Are?

That's an important question to answer.

It's one that we may not hear that often.

When we do hear it, it's usually in a in an accusatory way, like, who do you think you are?

For me, it's a very personal question.

It's personal from experience.

When I was in college, I was flying from Atlanta to Kansas City.

And whenever I fly on airplanes, I have a routine, especially if I'm flying by myself.

It doesn't happen very often, but but it used to happen a lot more.

And when I would fly, I just want to read a magazine, I want to read a book, I don't want to talk to anybody.

Those of us that travel a lot, you you know what I'm talking about.

That's what you want to do.

You just want to be in your zone, do your thing, get on the plane, get off the plane.

But every once in a while, you will be seated next to someone who refuses to let you have that experience.

On this one particular day, I got sat next to this guy, and I knew it.

I knew it as soon as I walked up to him.

Because he was smiling and he was expressing joy, emotions you just do not express on an airplane.

And he locked eyes with me right away when I sat down and he introduced himself, and I knew I said, All right, here we go.

This is how this is gonna be.

You know?

Just pay no attention to the book in my hand.

Obviously, I just want to get to know you for an hour and a half.

And and he starts asking me questions.

He starts asking me questions, and at this point, it's past the point of no return.

You can't escape on an airplane, it's practically a prison, right?

You're there.

And so he asked me these questions, but they're not the questions you're supposed to ask a complete stranger.

It wasn't, are you visiting family?

What do you do for a living?

He he starts by saying this, by asking this.

He said, hey man, he said, man, a lot.

Hey man, uh like who are you?

And I was just thrown off guard a little bit, wasn't expecting that question.

I was like, oh, okay, wow.

Um I uh, well, I'm I'm Justin, and and then he cuts me off.

And he says, No, man, that's your name.

I want to know who you are.

And I'm I'm kind of looking around, like, are other people seeing this?

Is this a is there a camera?

What is happening?

This is not so I've been on a lot of airlines, I've never had this happen to me before.

And so I start to try to answer it again.

I said, okay, well, um, I I I work at this, I work at this company and I'm studying, and he goes, No, no, that's what you do, man.

I want to know who you are.

And it was like that for an hour and a half.

And by the end of this flight, by the end of this flight, I wanted, oh, I wanted to punch this guy so bad, but it wasn't, it wasn't so much because of him.

I mean, he was a little annoying, the man thing got tired after a while, but it was because I could not answer the question.

And at first I thought it was it was his problem that he wouldn't accept my answers, but then eventually I started to realize he's right.

Every answer I'm giving, it's not really who I am, it's some some descriptive thing about me, but it's not the core of who I am as a person.

And I got onto that airplane thinking I knew who I was, and I land and I'm having an identity crisis, right?

I'm like, I don't know who I am anymore.

Man, like I don't know what to do.

I was so nervous.

I've never seen that guy again.

Um if you ever fly in an airplane and this guy starts and says, hey man, who are you?

You got my guy, all right?

And by the time we're done today, I have an answer for you that I want you to give to him just to see what he says.

Who do we think we are?

It's a very, very important question.

Because who we think we are, it determines so much.

If we have a knowledge of who we are and a security in who we are, it'll change the goals that we set for ourselves.

It'll change the expectations we have for our life.

Someone who knows who they are, who who knows their importance, who knows their value, will just naturally surround themselves with better people, will set higher goals.

That person will strive for a greater quality of life.

That person will not tolerate certain things in their life that they might tolerate if they if they don't feel like they are as valuable as they actually are.

Who we think we are affects everything.

I have a beautiful daughter that's that's 18 months old, and already I know that no boy will ever deserve her.

I know that.

But I'm preparing myself for the inevitability of boys in dating in the future, and what I'm gonna do in that whole process, the rules that I'm gonna set, the scare tactics that I'm going to employ.

Because I'm nervous about that.

I mean, what if a boy wants to take advantage of her in some way or make her feel like like she's less than she is, or what if?

I mean, there's all these what if scenarios, and I want to protect her, and so I gotta figure out what to do.

I'm not gonna do something crazy like follow her on her dates, because she has an older brother, and I'll just have him do that.

Way more efficient for me, and it's delegation, it's good.

That'll be his allowance.

Just follow the boys and scare them.

That's all his allowance is gonna be from.

There's so many things I could do to protect her, or I could just do what my father-in-law did with Megan.

I could teach her who she is.

I could help her have a confidence and a security in her value so that she has standards that are every bit as high as mine, maybe even higher.

I know that Megan had higher standards for herself than even her dad did, because years into us dating, she told me the story of how her father had actually, a year and a half before we started dating, said, Hey, what about that Justin kid?

And she said, No.

It's alright.

Eventually I passed whatever tests you have to pass and then keep passing for the rest of your life, because that's how marriage works, right?

So Megan's standards were actually higher than than her dad's because Megan had security in who she was.

And she would not tolerate, she wouldn't put up with someone treating her in a way that her dad wouldn't be happy with.

Knowing who we are, it changes everything.

It simplifies everything.

And so for the next for the next month and a half, the next two months, we're gonna explore who we are.

Some of this stuff may not sound extremely practical.

It's deeply personal, but it's the most practical thing we can talk about in our lives.

Knowing who we are informs every single decision that we make in life.

Every single decision.

So this is so incredibly practical.

The simple truth is we can never become the people we're meant to be if we do not know who we are.

We can never discover who we're destined to be if we don't uncover who we were created to be.

And the only person who can tell you who you are created to be is God.

Because He's the one that made you.

The only way to know who we're meant to be is to know who God created us to be, and we're gonna spend a couple of months looking at who God says we are.

Because we rarely just look within ourselves to discover who we are.

Our culture doesn't help that much.

Our culture says two things to us that are completely opposite.

Our culture says, hey, just be yourself.

But then it says, hey, find yourself.

I can't do both at the same time.

How can I be myself if I haven't found myself?

If I don't know who I am, how can I find myself?

It's confusing.

But if we allow God to be the one that informs who we are, if we allow God to be the one that tells us who we are, I promise you this: we will be that more that we long to be.

Because God always tells us the truth.

And the truth is that according to God, we are so much more than we think we are.

I mean, search scripture.

You'll find story after story of someone living their life, minding their own business, just doing their thing, and God shows up and he changes everything.

He messes with it.

And he always tells them who they really are.

He says, Hey, I know you think you're this, but you're actually this.

And you'll never see one situation where the person, here's God, tell them who they really are, and say, God, I think you're sort of underselling me.

God, I mean, I'm not being picky, but I think you have vastly underestimated my potential.

That never happens in the Bible.

What always happens is the person going, uh, I don't think you know who I am, because the things you're telling me that I could be or that you created me to be, they're way beyond my abilities.

God, you you have overestimated who I am.

They have an argument with God.

You always lose those arguments, but they have an argument with God.

I mean, look at Moses.

If you know the story of Moses, he's a shepherd, and he's not even a good shepherd.

He's not, because the reason he finds the burning bush, if you read that story in Exodus, is because he has lost a sheep.

He is failing at his job as a shepherd, and while he's failing at his job, God says, hey, I'm gonna have you lead millions of people out of captivity.

And he's like, uh, I'm just trying to find a sheep.

That's all I'm doing.

You've got the wrong guy.

That's a common story in scripture.

God has a higher opinion of you than you have of yourself.

There is no one that believes in you.

There is no one that hopes for you like God does.

And if we would just be people who allowed God to be the one that answers that question, who do you think you are?

God, who do you say I am?

That is how we discover who we're meant to be.

I want to start this journey with a story that Jesus tells in Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

I get jealous of Jesus because I love to tell stories, and Jesus is by far the best storyteller in history.

He tells this story that becomes very famous.

It's known as the story of the prodigal son.

You may have read it, you may have heard it, you may be very familiar with it.

Jesus did not call it that.

That's not the title that Jesus gave to this story.

It's a title that just sort of emerged out of history, and it's actually kind of a misleading title.

Because there's not one son in the story, there's two.

Both play a very important role.

The word prodigal means wasteful.

It means someone who throws something away, someone who wastes what they have.

And it's easy to see why the story got the title that it got, but the truth is it's actually the story of two wasteful sons.

And these aren't just your garden variety sons either.

Their father is a very important man, he's very wealthy.

They're actually heirs to his kingdom, to his world.

So this story would be better if it was called the prodigal heirs.

It starts in Luke chapter 15, verse 11.

Luke 15:11

This is what it says.

Jesus told them this story: a man had two sons.

And the younger son told his father, I want my share of your estate now before you die.

In other words, he's saying, I wish you were dead, and I just had your money.

That's what he, I mean, literally, it's what he's saying.

I don't want to wait till you die, just give it to me now.

So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

A few days later, this younger son packed all his belongings and he moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.

About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.

He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into the fields to feed the pigs.

Now the young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him, but no one gave him anything.

When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, At home, even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger.

I will go to my father and say, Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I'm no longer worthy of being called your son.

Please take me on as a hired servant.

So he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, his son saw him coming, or his father saw him coming, rather, filled with love and compassion, because that's God.

He ran to his son, he embraced him and he kissed him.

His son said to him, Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I'm no longer worthy of being called your son.

But his father said to his servants, Quick, bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him.

Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet, and kill the calf that we've been fattening.

We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead, he's now returned to life, he was lost, but now he's found.

And so the party began.

It's a great day.

Unless you're the calf.

His father said to the servants, Quick, bring the finest robe in the house.

I already read that part.

Eye pads.

Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working.

When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house.

And he asked one of the servants what was going on.

Your brother is back, he was told, and your father has killed the fattened calf.

We are celebrating because of a safe return.

We're having a party.

Come on.

The older brother was very angry and he would not go in.

His father came and he begged him.

He's begging his son to come into a party.

But he replied, All these years I have slavery for you, and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to.

And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends.

Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf.

His father said to him, Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me.

Everything I have is yours.

We had to celebrate this happy day, for your brother was dead, and he's come back to life, he was lost, but now he's found.

It's easy to see why we call this the prodigal son.

This younger son comes back, he's wasted everything he had.

His only hope is that instead of being a son, he can be a hired servant.

That's what he's hoping for.

But the second son, the older son, he is every bit as prodigal, he is every bit as wasteful.

Because even though he's not coming back after ruining everything, after losing everything, hoping to maybe just be accepted as a hired servant, he is living his life as if he is one of the hired servants.

And that's what he says.

If we go back to verse 28, the older brother was angry, he wouldn't go in.

His father came and begged him.

But here's what he says, right?

All these years I have slaved for you.

I've never once refused to do a single thing you told me.

And then later we see his father's response in verse 31.

His father says, Look, dear son, you've always stayed by me.

Everything I have is yours.

In other words, his father's saying, I didn't tell you to live like you're one of my hired servants.

You chose that.

You've chosen to treat yourself as if you're not my son, as if you're just one of the workers.

But everything I have is yours, and the entire time you've been alive.

You could have had whatever you wanted.

If you wanted a party, all you had to do was say the word, and the party would have been yours.

But you have chosen to live life like an employee instead of an heir.

Both sons made the exact same decision.

Both decided to forsake their relationship with their father.

One chose to go off and have wild living.

But this other son, he he wasted who he was by choosing to live like an employee when he was an heir.

I don't know what you would say if that person that I sat next to on the airplane asked you the question, who do you think you are?

I doubt many of us would just naturally off the cuff go, Oh, I'm I'm an heir.

It's kind of a big deal.

I'm an heir, right?

Because that sounds so self-important.

I'm an heir, I mean, really, come on.

Who would say that?

But if you ask God who you are, if you said, hey God, tell me who am I?

Who am I really?

God would say to you, Oh, oh, you're you're an heir.

You are an heir in my kingdom.

I relate so much to the older brother because I I tend to live my life like I'm a worker for God and I'm a servant of God, and that's that's great, it's commendable.

But God had servants long before Jesus came, and Jesus came to change everything.

It is so easy as a follower of God to be an heir living like a servant.

And it's needless.

Because God would say, No, no, you're my heir.

In fact, it's it's clear in scripture.

In Ephesians chapter 1, Paul wrote, even before he made the world, God loved us and he chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.

This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

So God chose to adopt us into his family through Jesus.

Now, when we hear that, it may not make complete sense.

How do we get adopted into the family of God by way of Jesus?

But to the original audience that Paul is writing to, it would have made complete sense, it would have been so clear.

Because adoption was a big deal in the Roman Empire, and there was a very specific way that you went through the adoption process.

And if you wanted to adopt someone from another family, they would have this ritual, this ceremony, there would be witnesses there, it was official.

And it was all set up like a transaction.

And so the adopting father would offer a price to the biological father for the child to go from that family to his family.

And if the biological father agreed to the price, if he said, Hey, I accept the offering, I accept the price, it is sufficient for this transaction, then the child would be adopted and the adoption would be official.

You were adopted into a family through the price that was paid.

And so when Paul says that we are adopted into the family of God through Jesus, he's saying Jesus paid a price so that we could be adopted into the family of God, that Jesus, his life, his sacrifice was the price that he paid, that God looked at and said, Yes, that is more than acceptable.

And now we have been adopted into the family of God.

If you are the son or the daughter of God, what does that make you?

That makes you royalty.

We don't tend to think of ourselves that way, but God describes us that way in Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Paul wrote, So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.

Instead, you received God's spirit when he adopted you as his own children.

Now we call him Abba Father.

For his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children.

And since we are his children, we are his heirs.

In fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory.

But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his sufferings.

Being an heir isn't always easy.

There are hardships, but we are co-heirs with Jesus.

I know we've talked about this verse before.

It's powerful.

To me, it's just powerful, the idea of being co-with Jesus, co-heirs with Jesus.

Because if someone walked up to you off the street and said, hey, I want to share with you the goals for my life, it's my goal that by the time my life is done, that my name is mentioned in the same breath as Jesus.

I want people to say, oh yeah, when it comes to the pinnacle of human life, I look at I look at Mother Teresa, I look at Jesus and Scott Wilson.

If your name is Scott Wilson, I just made that up, so I'm really sorry, but maybe.

I don't know.

I don't think I know of Scott Wilson.

But if someone said, no, no, I want to be viewed as equal with Jesus.

I think I can do that.

I think I can live a life where people will say, oh yeah, Jesus and that guy, ah, it's hard to choose which one.

Right?

That person is either nuts or they're the most arrogant human being in the world.

Because the the thought of being co-with Jesus, even if someone doesn't believe Jesus is God, that person's gonna look and say, You're nuts, you're crazy.

But that's what the scripture says.

The scripture says that when we are adopted into the family of God, that God himself elevates us to a status that is co-with Jesus.

We are co-heirs with Jesus.

We will share in Jesus' glory.

We have no stake, we have no claim for the glory of Jesus.

We didn't live his life, we haven't earned that.

He did that, but we share in his glory because we're adopted into the family, and that makes us co-heirs with Jesus.

That is, that is almost too good to be true.

It is too good to be true, but it's what God says.

That is who you are.

That is who you are in God's eyes.

Whenever people talk about accepting Jesus, maybe you're here and you've heard people talk about accepting Jesus in many different ways, born again, get saved, convert, whatever.

The way that we tend to describe that is so minuscule.

You know, the good news that we talk about is that we're all sinners.

That's good news.

We're good, it's good news, right?

You're a sinner, you've messed up, but God is a God of his word, and so if you just say, hey, Jesus, I accept you, he'll forgive you, and then you'll go to heaven when you die.

Who's in, right?

And hey, heaven's awesome.

Heaven is a good thing to look forward to.

We have heaven, by the way, because when we accept Jesus, we have his life.

Like Matt talked about, his life becomes part of us, and his life is a life you just can't kill.

He proved that.

But that is not the offer that God is making.

The offer that God gives to us, the offer that he extends to all of us when we accept Jesus is for the life we have now.

And he says, look, if you will, if you'll accept my son, if you'll accept the price that my son has paid for you to be in my family, you will be adopted as my very own son or my very own daughter.

That will make you a co-heir with Jesus.

You will share in his glory.

I will elevate you in my eyes to a status that you could never hope to achieve.

I will elevate you to a status that Jesus could only achieve.

So if you'll accept me, I'll take you from being who you are, and I'll make you in my eyes the same as Jesus.

My son, my daughter, my child, the co-heir of my kingdom.

That is who God says you are.

You are an heir.

We are all heirs, but do we live like that?

I mean, just to be honest, I don't really know how to live like an heir.

Wasn't trained in that as a child.

But I would imagine that if you were an heir, if you had grown up as an heir to some great fortune, you would probably have pretty high expectations for your life.

You'd expect some big things to happen.

You wouldn't be surprised when blessings come your way.

When a situation would present itself, when a problem would present itself in your life that seems kind of like a big deal, you might feel like you have the resources at your disposal to take care of that problem.

You wouldn't just say, Oh, this is my lot in life.

You would say, Oh no, we're gonna take care of this.

Because you're an heir.

You've got some access.

You've got access to some powerful people.

So you can dream big, you can hope big, you can expect big if you're an heir because you know the king.

Talking about our prayer lives in Hebrews chapter 4, the Bible says, Let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

There we will receive his mercy and we'll find the grace to help us when we need it most.

We approach God's throne boldly, not because of what we've done.

Could never approach God boldly on that merit, but we approach God boldly because of who we are, because of who he says we are.

And to the children of the king, the throne is just a chair that their daddy is sitting in.

You are, according to God, an heir.

And if you're looking for something practical to take with you today, that means you should expect some incredible things in your life.

Because you know that God, the king of this universe, is for you.

That means that your standards for your life should be elevated.

Because you are important, you are incredible.

You have the God of this universe who has said to you, You're my child, I've adopted you into my family, I'm your dad, I'm your father.

Come to me with anything, and I will help you.

I will give you what you need.

That is for all of us.

Look back to that story of the prodigal sons, the prodigal heirs.

Which one would you rather be?

That's a hard, that's a hard choice.

I mean, one of them is kind of a jerk.

Tells his dad, I wish you were dead.

He goes off, he makes a bunch of mistakes, and he's like, Oh, I've made a bunch of mistakes, and he comes back and he's hoping for the best, but who knows?

That's gotta be awkward.

And then you've got the other one that, yeah, he's not enjoying life, he's not getting the most out of the fact that he's the son of the master, but yeah, he works hard, he's faithful, he's loyal.

Makes sense to desire to be more like him, right?

Than the younger one, but but if I can just be honest, if I have to pick one of the two, I'd I'd rather be the one at the party.

I'd rather be the one that's enjoying the benefits of being the son of the father.

I mean, the younger son grabbed hold of his his inheritance, he grabbed hold of what belonged to him because of who he was, and he wasted it.

But the older son, he refused to take hold of it at all.

Do not waste what God longs to give you.

You are his child, you are his son.

I look back to that question that I asked my friend, told my friend to use if someone asked him who he was.

Who do you?

Do you have any idea who my father is?

Do you have any idea who your father is?

Do you know who you are?

Do you not realize how important that makes you?

I'm not saying that today when you're in the drive-thru you should honk the horn and yell out, excuse me, I'm an heir.

But it does mean that you should believe like an heir.

That you should believe for the best in your life, that you should hope like an heir, that you should expect.

Like an heir.

Because that is who you are.

Never forget who your father is.

And never forget who you are.

Amen indeed.

Let's pray.

Jesus, thank you so much for uh for paying the price to bring us into your family, for paying the price with your sacrifice to provide our adoption.

Being adopted means that we're chosen.

You chose us.

You knew us, and you chose us.

God, if there is one person in this room that has never realized who they really are in your eyes.

It's either choosing to live like the younger son afraid of approaching you for fear of the mistakes they've made in the past, or maybe even living like the older son in this story for trying so hard, striving so hard to please you, and trying to earn something that already belongs to them.

God, no matter who we are, that I pray that you would just remind us, you would show us, you would open our eyes to who we are in your eyes.

We are your children, we are your sons, we are your daughters, we are your heirs, and that changes everything.

God, as we continue exploring who we are this fall, I pray that you would open our eyes.

That you would remind us daily that we are so much more than we tend to believe that we are.

Thank you, Jesus, for all that you do for us.

Thank you for all that you are.

Bless us.

We ask all this in your name.

Amen.