Father's Day. So you heard, oh, it's up there, the dad bod. So apparently, there's a generational disconnect with the terminology dad bod. So let me just ask a question.
Who knows what the term dad bod means? Like, all right. So all right, so. For those of you who want to ask Pastor Seth, in all truthfulness, I did not have that picture in my PowerPoint when it arrived this morning.
But there is a guy here that just in case you didn't know what a dad bod is, he wanted to give you a visual representation of that. But let me just reach you from Wikipedia, dad bod. Dad bod, it's a shortened form of dad body. It's a slang term referring to a body shape found in most middle-aged men.
I didn't know you were middle-aged. Are you middle-aged? It says the phrase has been adopted in American culture to describe the physique of a man who was once athletic. But gained a noticeable amount of body fat.
I didn't script this. Around the waist, as he aged, leaving him to having the appearance of a beer belly. So dad bod's are a lot of middle-aged men today. They're still somewhat in shape, but they developed.
They got the tire around the middle. So I thought, what a better day. It was more of a joke a few weeks ago. I said, wouldn't it be great to preach a message called dad bod?
And then I kind of shelved it. And then Thursday morning, the Lord kind of gave me the points of the message. So who am I to argue with God? So today's message will be called the dad bod.
But here's what I want to. We got guests for the fathers here today. I want to thank Eevee for getting these together. I get this as a beer mug, but we're just going to call it a milkshake mug.
It says dad bod, question mark. I prefer father figure. Dad bod, what? I prefer father figure.
And really this resonates with today's message, because it's Father's Day. We obviously, we think of the heavenly Father, the gift of Jesus, all that takes place because of that. But I really want to look at Father's Day today on us being children and us being sons of God, and that we actually reflect and represent our Father. So dad bod, I prefer father figure.
I want you to know this isn't for men only. This is men and women that I want you to be a father figure. I want you to be a figure that when somebody looks at, they can look at your life and they see the Father in heaven. That it looks so much like Jesus, that they don't know anything else.
They don't realize it's you. It's not really the context of today's message. Paul uses a term in Romans 8, and we'll eventually get there. So the main text today will be Romans 8 versus 12 through 17.
And last week, Pastor Seth talked about the bridge, and Jesus being the way. And I want to pick up on that. I had a much better Sunday than you guys did last week. I was laying on the beach in Bermuda watching the service.
What better place to watch City Reason than from the beach? Relook? Yes, we could. So yeah, it was really good.
But what a great job he did. But talk about Jesus being the bridge, bringing the way. And so I really want to pick up on that today. And in Romans 8, Paul talks about this thing called sonship that we receive the adoption as sons.
And he's writing to a Roman culture. And in Rome, their adoption was a big deal. And it wasn't adoption like we think about today. It wasn't like that there was a little kid, and he didn't have parents, or the mom didn't want the baby, or that there were some orphans in another country, and they were adopting little kids.
Typically adoption in Roman culture, the time Paul wrote this, it pertained to older boys and even adult men. It was that when a dad had in the States, and he's going to turn it over, he has to turn everything he owns, and everything he manages, he turns over to his heir, or what we might call his heir, a parent. And if his son was a moron, or his son was incompetent, or he just felt like the kid was not qualified, his natural born son, or maybe if he didn't have a child, he didn't have a son. They would go through a legal adoption.
And he would select a man out of culture. It could even be older than him. He didn't even need to be younger. But he'd select a man out of culture and go through the legal process of adoption.
And this was a big deal, because when you did this, it was irreversible. Like once this thing proceeded through the court system, it could not be reversed. The son that gets adopted, he gets all of his debts canceled. He gets a new name.
He inherits the name now of his adopted father. And he gets all the rights and benefits of a son that's a legal son bestowed on him. Does this sound familiar? So when Paul talks about adoption, and he's writing to this church in Rome, this is the backdrop.
They understand this principle. See, what happens a lot of times, I was thinking about this, is we're adopted sons of the father, that he adopts us. The word adoption in the Greek, it literally means to place as a son. He takes someone who's not naturally his son.
Now, I know people say, oh, we're all God's children. That's not true. You become a child of God when you accept Jesus as your savior. As many as received him, to them gave either the right or the power to become children of God.
So I get people who want to say, oh, we're all God's kids. You become a child of God when you receive Jesus, and something happens in your life, and when it happens, God places you as a son in his family. And so I want to talk to you today about this thing, just about sonship a little bit. And so I want to look at him being a father, but from as our position as a son.
So think about sometimes if when you're made a son, let's just think from a natural standpoint, back in the Remen culture. When they were made a son, all the rights, and all the benefits and all the privileges were bestowed as if they were a natural born son. What comes with rights? Nobody wants to say it.
Everybody wants rights, but nobody wants the responsibility. And what happens a lot of times when we have rights here, but our responsibilities are here, the gap between the two becomes entitlement. And so everybody wants the right as a son, but not everybody wants to live up to the responsibility that Jesus has called us to. And it's not a responsibility.
Remember Jesus says, come to me, all you who labor and have you laid in, I'll give you a rest. He says, my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. So when Jesus calls you to a higher level of responsibility, it's not to burden you. It's because he has something greater in store for you.
It's because he wants to burst something in you, and he wants to develop you. And so that's really the context of today's message. It says in John chapter 14, this is kind of where Pastor Seth left off last week, so I'll pick up there. Jesus says this, he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father but by me. Earlier in that chapter, Jesus says, you believe in God, believe also in me. He says, let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house or what?
Many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. He doesn't say in my Father's house will be many mansions. He says in my Father's house are many mansions. So when we think that Jesus somehow when he resurrected, and he's up in heaven with a hammer and a saw, and nails making a house, that's not what he's doing.
So he was actually saying, he says, in my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you, behold, I go to prepare a place, the word place is tapas in Greek, it means opportunity. There's many mansions already in the house. Behold, I go to prepare an opportunity for you. And if I go, I'll come again, that where I am, not where I will be, where I am, there you may be also.
Later in the chapter, Jesus tells us where he is, he's in the Father, he says, Bill of Dunche, I'm in the Father and the Father's in me. So what Jesus is saying, and then we're like, well, that's talking about the Second Coming, it's actually only talking about three days later that he's gonna come again because later in John 14, verse 29, he says, he says, I tell you these things now so that when they happen, you'll believe. If he was talking about the rapture of the Second Coming, guess what, it's too late to do. It's too late to believe then.
He's telling them now, so when it happens three days later and he comes back and remember when he sees Mary, when he resurrects Mary, Magdalene says, he says, don't touch me for I've not yet, ascended to the Father, go tell your brother, and I'm going to my Father and their Father. And then he comes back and John 14, he eventually goes to verse 18, he says, he says, I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. So he says, there's a house for you, but you don't have a way to get there. I'm going to die on the cross, I'm gonna be buried in my resurrect, I'm gonna go to heaven, I'm gonna apply my blood in the mercy seat and heaven, then I'm gonna come back so that where I am, you can be there too.
I'm gonna make a way so that you can get to the Father. See, Jesus came to make a way so that you can have a connection with his dad. But you think about this, that when we think about God, do you realize that God could never have been revealed as Father, unless there was a son? All through the Old Testament, God reveals himself out, as creator, God reveals himself as the Almighty, God reveals himself as Jehovah Jaira, God reveals himself as, it's like all those things, all those names of God that we use, but it takes a son to reveal the Father.
And up until Jesus came and Jesus begins to live on the earth, nobody understood the concept of God as a Father. They knew God as creator, they knew God as a judge, they knew God as Almighty, they got as omnipotent, God as eternal, but Jesus comes on the scene to reveal him as Father, and that's different. Jesus says to Philip, Philip says, well, we don't know where you're going, how we know the way Jesus says I'm way to prison life, nobody comes to the Father by me, and then he goes, Philip, if you had known me, you would have what? Known the Father.
And he says, if you have seen me, you've seen the Father. How could Jesus make that statement to Philip, saying if you have seen me, then you've seen him? Because nobody's ever seen God. Nobody's ever seen him, but Jesus makes this a day, the statement says, if you've seen me, you've seen him.
It's because in John chapter five verse 19, Jesus says this, he says, I only do what I see the Father doing. He says in John 1249, I only say what the Father tells me to say and speak. In John five verse 30, he says this, he says, I only come to do the will of the Father who sent me. So that everything Jesus did, everything that he said, everything that he did was the perfect representation of who God the Father is.
I like Bill Johnson, if you guys know that, he passed through Bethel Church in Reading California, got to be there a few weeks ago, but he has one of the best statements I love. He says, Jesus is perfect theology. Theology is just nothing more than the study of God, but he said, Jesus is perfect theology, which means this, if I want to know more about God, look to Jesus. If I wonder what God's will is, look at Jesus.
If I wonder what God thinks about things, what did Jesus do and what did he say? Because he perfectly reveals the Father. It says in Hebrews chapter one verse three, it says this, it says that Jesus is the radiance of his glory, speaking of the Father, and he is the exact representation. Now the New King James says, express image.
It says he's the express image. It's the thought of taking, what would it be called? A thing that you hit and it drives a mark into a piece of metal, whatever that's called. A punch, some kind of a punch, yeah.
Like hitting a punch and what's on the punch goes into the metal, it said that Jesus, that the Greek word is character. Guess what word we get, character. Jesus is the express image, the perfect imprint, the exact representation of the nature of the Father. That everything he did, everything he said perfectly, was a perfect imprint.
It wasn't off just a little bit. It was the exact expression of the Father. Now I want you to bear that in mind, because here's where it plays into us today. Colossians 1.15 says this, it says that Jesus is the image, that's the Greek word icon.
Anybody want to guess what English word we get from? It's actually icon, but guess what we get from it? Icon, you guys are watching American Idol? Icon's like things that are like stand out.
It says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the first born what, over all of creation. Anybody dispute that Jesus is the image of God? Because I'll go back and retell you. All right, you deal with that.
Do you believe Jesus is the image of God? Okay, look at Romans chapter eight, what Paul says here. He says, whom he foreknew, he's speaking of us, whom he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might become the first born of many brethren. And then it goes on to say, whom he foreknew, he called, and whom he called, he justified, and whom he justified, he glorified.
And so just in that verse 29, look at this, whom he foreknew. So people say, well, God, so what's foreknowledge? Four knowledge is that God, let's say this is eternity past, right? And eternity past, God, because he's omniscient, knew that one day, Edie would accept him as her savior.
He knew that, because he knows all things. And because he knew that, some people say that God predestines certain people to get saved. I don't believe that, that doesn't line up with scripture, because if he predestined certain people to be saved, guess what he did to the others. They got predestined to not get saved.
He doesn't do that. It's anybody that wants to accept Jesus can, but regardless, he still knows, because he knows all things. It says, who knew, what did he predestined you that were gonna get saved to be? He predestined you to be conformed to the image of his son.
And his son is the image of what? He was the father. And Jesus perfectly revealed the father. It says so that he might become the first born of many brethren.
So Jesus, as the first born from the dead, the day he resurrected, he becomes the pattern for us. It wasn't just a pattern for him. He became the first born of many brethren. So this is an invitation for you to step into what he is.
So you think about this, God, in eternity past, knew that in 1977, I would accept Jesus as my savior. He knew that. And because he knew that, he predestined me to decide beforehand that when it talks about God, it means a decision he made in eternity past. In eternity past, God decided that I would be destined today to be conformed to the image of Jesus.
I don't think you realize what a big deal that is. Let me put it in different terms to you. If God makes a decision, is that like pretty solid? All right, let's say that in eternity past, God destined you to be a billionaire.
A couple people saying, I received it. No, let's just say that he made a decision that you'd be a billionaire, and then you opened up second Curtis 3-7 and read it, and it said, Curtis will be a billionaire. Now, if God decided that in eternity past, and it was written in God's word, and you made a thousand dollars, would you be satisfied? If you made a hundred thousand dollars, would you settle?
Why? See, it's that, on steroids, it's bigger than that. That God destined you to be like Jesus. And what happens is we get to this place in our Christian life where we level off at a grand.
We level off at a hundred grand. We might even level off at a million, but God has destined us to the image of Jesus, which is infinite. See, sass said it like this last week, that too many people go around justifying your actual behavior instead of stepping into the sanctification that Jesus calls you to. Like that, we settle.
Whether it's a certain level of sanctification or a certain level of access, of being a partaker or a divine nature, a certain level of being conformed, his image like, I'm good. At this point, that's just the way I am. When you say that's just the way I am, if it's anything that the way Jesus is, you've settled. You've settled for less than your destiny.
Because God has destined you for greatness to the degree that it's just like Jesus. So if Jesus was the perfect representation of the Father, that he was his image, and I'm made in the image of Jesus, then guess what I should also should be a representation of the Father. Jesus perfectly represented the Father. I've been destined to be conformed to the image of Jesus.
And if Jesus was a representation of the Father, then my life should exhibit the Father. Like people should look at me and see Jesus. And when they see Jesus, it should point them to the Father. See, this isn't a thing about some legalistic thing.
Well, you've got to live a certain way, because that's what the Bible says. It's bigger than that. See, there's people that are on an orphan planet that need a Father. There's people that have no idea what the Father thinks about them.
The way you act, the way you think, the way you speak, the way you live your life actually should be a representation of who he is and how he thinks and how he loves, and how he responds to people. And so the three points of the day is, I get that having a dad bod, we're talking about increase, right? Well, if you've got a dad bod, you've had a little increase in your life. Well, here's what I want for you today.
I want everybody to have a dad bod. I want everybody to be a father figure. I want everybody's life to represent the Father. And these three areas, BOD, dad bod, is that your behavior looks like the Father.
That your outlook on life, you see things like the Father sees it, and that your dialogue, the way you actually talk to the Father, changes. Like all these things about being a son should change the way you live life. So let's get into it. That's just kind of like the opener.
We won't take a lot of time on each of these. So Romans 8 verses 12 through 17 say this. It says, therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you'll die, but if by the Spirit you put to death, the deeds of the body you will live.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God, for you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God, and if children than heirs, heirs of God join heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with him that we also may be glorified together. All right, point number one, your behavior, your behavior.
So I talked about this a little last week. You know what? If you have been saved, if you've been made new, if you have the Holy Spirit living in you, I should be able to tell something about your life. Like you should act differently.
There should be a difference in your behavior. Go to this. This is going to be verses 12 through 14. Next slide.
It says we are debtors. That word debtors means we have an obligation. Remember I talked about rights and responsibilities? We have an obligation.
We have a responsibility not to the flesh. Like you don't have a responsibility to the flesh to live after the flesh. What does it mean to live after the flesh? Earlier in Romans eight Paul says, as he says, those who live after the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh.
Those that live after or according to the Spirit set their mind on the things of the Spirit. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. That's earlier in chapter eight. So when Paul talks about that living after the flesh is death, he's not talking figuratively.
And what he's talking about, because he's talking to believers, he's talking when you live your life after the flesh, which is setting your mind to the things of the flesh, which is setting your mind to the things of the world, he says you're going to experience the effects of sin in your life, which are death. It doesn't mean you're going to die. It doesn't mean you're going to spiritually die. It means you're going to have some effects in your life that are the result of sin.
And that's what's called death. And so that he says we have a responsibility where where debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. Or if you live according to the flesh, you'll die. But if you live by the spirit, let me just put the death, the deeds.
Living by the spirit puts to death the deeds, the actions, the activities of the body. If you want to stop sinning, if you want to stop living a certain way, if you want to get rid of something that's been holding you back, you don't need to focus on it. You need to live in the spirit. See, when you live in and by the spirit, you're going to see when we look at all three of these things, the Holy Spirit's activity in every one of these.
When you live in and by the spirit, you literally put to death the things that your body wants to do. See, too often we go about it the other way. Well, you need to get this light and just write your life and then the Holy Spirit's activity will increase. No.
By the fact that you're walking in the spirit, those things will naturally, supernaturally drop. They actually die. See, we spend too much time trying to kill the flesh. What all we need to do is walk in the spirit.
See, walking in the spirit is what kills the flesh. You're not that strong. See, when I think I can do it, I'm actually elevating myself above the power of the Holy Spirit. It's only him working through my life that actually takes care of that stuff.
It says if you by the spirit put to death the deeds of the body will live as many as led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. So here's a telltale. Do you want to know if somebody's a child of God? Are they being led by the Spirit?
So that, I mean, if you're a child of God, it says you'll be led by the Spirit of God. Now does everybody get led at the same degree? No, because you may choose not to follow the Lord and want, like some people follow the Lord real well in one area, but then another like, I don't want to follow the Lord there. Like you kind of like play a buffet, Holy Spirit.
A little of this, a little of this, I don't want any broccoli. So no, so if you're a child of God, you will be led by the Holy Spirit. See Paul says to the Galatian church, he says this in Galatians 5, 16. He says, I say to you walk in or after the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, they are contrary. I think the translation I used there said, they are in opposition one to another. Here's a fallacy a lot of believers think, they think when you get saved, you won't have old desires anymore. This verse says opposite of that.
It says walk in the Spirit, talking to Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit, walk in the Spirit and you won't fulfill the desires of the flesh. It doesn't say you won't have them. See there's a difference between not having them and not fulfilling them. So when you walk in the Spirit, it doesn't mean they automatically go away.
It means you won't follow them because you're following him. What did Jesus say? An man can only serve one master. You either love the one and hate the other, cling to the one and get rid of the other.
Like you can't go two ways at the same time. So if I'm following the Holy Spirit, I'm not going to be following my flesh. If I'm following my flesh, I'm dragging the Holy Spirit along with me. And he's along for the ride.
He says if you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are these. Verse 19. It says, there are evidence, sexual immorality and purity and decent behavior.
I'm not going to talk about, I think everybody knows what these are, right? I dollar you witchcraft, hostility, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, faction, envy, drunkenness, browsing and things like these of which I form, you just have I form, you know those are practices that came about here at King God. Verse 22. Now the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithless, generous self, fruit of the Spirit.
So if I'm following the Spirit, the flesh falls and fruit comes out of my life. If I'm dragging the Holy Spirit, as I follow the flesh, the works of the flesh are going to be evident in my life. Which direction is going to reveal the Father to somebody? If I'm walking this way and all those bad things are evident in my life, do you think people are going to see the Father in that?
No, but when they see love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, kindness, faithless, they're going to see the fruit of the Spirit, which is going to point to Jesus, which is going to point to the Father. So there's going to be a difference in your life. See, don't ever think just because you're filled with the Holy Spirit and you're following the leading of the Spirit, you're not going to have issues. That's a fallacy.
Even Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, led by the Spirit was tempted to the devil. Think about this, Jesus comes out of the water, but John baptized and says the Holy Spirit descended on him in Bali for like a dove. And then it says this in John 14. I'm sorry, yeah, next slide.
It says in Luke four, I mean, it says Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was what? Led by the Spirit. He's filled with the Spirit. He's led by the Spirit, where into the wilderness to be tempted by God.
No, tempted by the devil. And you know that story, right? The devil tempts, he's there 40 days, he's fasting the enemy, tempts him, he's successful. And then when he comes out on the other side, what's it say?
Then he returned in the power. See, God never leads you into the wilderness for failure. Like if he leads you into the wilderness, it's to give you victory in an area of your life that he wants to put it in the face of the enemy. Like he brought Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit.
John says that Jesus had the Spirit without measure. Then he brings him full of the Holy Spirit to a place of temptation, not the God-champany, but the devil did so that God could release a victory in Jesus' life over the enemy. And he comes out on the other side victorious, full of the power of the Holy Spirit. That's your example.
He was in the image of God. He was the first born among many brethren. That wasn't just for him. It was for you.
It was for you. So as you come out of those situations, people are gonna like, my God, how did you do that? Let me tell you about my dad. Let me tell you about my dad.
Let me tell you about my partner. It's gonna give you an opportunity to share the gospel. Next, outlook. So your behavior should be different.
Your outlook, your perspective, your attitude, the way that you see life. We talk a lot about seeing things from about heavenly perspective, seeing things from the right hand of the Father, you're seated in Christ. We talk about it all the time. This is just a different angle.
I told Seth the other day, I'm like, I only preached one message. It's just like, got like 100 different coats of pain. Basically, my message never changes. Next slide.
The Spirit himself, we're gonna skip to the end of the passage. The Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God, and if children then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. Let me unpack this, because this is big. The Spirit himself, this is where I do not like the KJB.
You know why? It says the Spirit itself. David. He's not an it.
The Holy Spirit's not an it. He's he. He's a person. And so the New King James got it right, the old one didn't.
It says the Spirit himself bears witness, get this, not to my Spirit, with my Spirit. It's the word that means joint testimony. It means to corroborate another story. If you've ever been taken to court, and they pull the witness up, and they question him, and he sits down, and they bring another witness up, and they question him or her.
And he says, does that story corroborate the first story? This is what's going on with the Holy Spirit. See, he's not witnessing to me, he's witnessing with me, which means that if he is the Spirit of truth, guess what he only tells? The truth.
And if he's telling the truth, and his story agrees with my Spirit, guess what story my born-again Spirit's telling? You were sure about him. You're not sure about you. All right, let me try it again.
The Spirit of truth can only tell what? The truth. If his story corroborates my born-again Spirit, then what story is my born-again Spirit telling? The truth, because truth has to equal truth.
See, he's bearing witness. Jesus says this. He says, by the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established. So here's what's going on.
You've been made new on the inside. The new you is just like Jesus. You're as righteous right now as you will be in a billion years. And you're born-again Spirit's actually testifying that you're the child of God.
The Holy Spirit comes along and says, I confirm that. I corroborate that story. I'm a joint witness. That's true.
And now I've got the witness of two witnesses, and that word's now established. If it's established, then why aren't you walking in it? See what happens is we have the established word here. When you leave here today, you're going to be like, I'm a child of God.
And then you're going to encounter something, and you're going to fall in your face. Because here's what happens. I say he's the Spirit of truth. Truth is the highest realm of reality.
It's the highest realm. Facts are a lesser realm of reality. Truth is the highest realm. See, facts aren't necessarily wrong.
They're just facts. They're a lesser reality. When Moses sent the children of Israel into the promise land, God said to Moses, he says, I want you to send 12 spies. I want you to one for every tribe.
I want you to send them into the land, to spy out the land that I am giving you. What was the word? I am giving you. They sent their spies out.
We know the story. Ten came back with a bad report. Joshua and Caleb Good report. But what did they do?
They came back from the promise land. They went into the promise land with the truth. They came back with the facts. What did they come back with?
They went with the word. The truth said, I want you to go to the land I'm giving you. They came back. Oh my gosh.
Those johns are big. We're like grasshoppers in their sight. The cities are fortified. The people are strong.
Oh my gosh, the men are anochtors. They left with the truth. They came back with the facts. They went from the highest realm of reality but settled for something less.
And see, that's what happens in our lives. We have our born-again spirit saying, I'm a child of God. We have the Holy Spirit saying, you're a child of God. We have a joint testimony.
It should be established. But then we walk out and settle for a lesser reality called facts. They said, the Holy Spirit bears witness with my spirit that I am what? A child of God.
Look at Paul's logic here. If you're a child, then you're what? An heir. If you're an heir, let's see.
If I'm a child and I'm an heir, Jesus was his son and Jesus was what? An heir. And if Jesus is a son, it's an heir. And I'm a son that's an heir.
I'm joint heirs with Jesus. Which means everything that Jesus has, I have. Everything that Jesus is, I am. That's not blasphemy.
That's not arrogance. That's that I'm confident in the price that He paid and what He put in me. It says this in Hebrews 1. It says that God in times past spoke to the fathers through the prophets.
In the last days has spoke to us through His Son, through whom He made the world, whom He appointed, say, an heir of all things. Jesus literally inherited everything. And I'm a joint heir. You're a joint heir and the Holy Spirit corroborates it.
Like you're a joint heir with Jesus. So how does that change my perspective? When things don't go right in my life, when I don't have the money to pay a bill, I'm an heir. I'm an heir.
Jesus says everything the Father has is mine. The Holy Spirit, John 16, the Holy Spirit will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Like Jesus already has a solution for every problem. He has an answer for every question you'll ever face.
Like everything He has, you have. See, it's not like you're poor trying to get rich. It's not like you're sick trying to get healed. You're not stuck trying to get free.
Because if He inherited everything from the Father, is God stuck? I don't think God's in bondage. I don't think God's struggling. I don't think God's sick.
Everything the Father is, He gives to the Son. Everything the Son has a partaker and a share and an heir, a joint participant. Here's what's great. We have a joint testimony declaring that we're joint heirs.
The Holy Spirit is a joint testimony that I'm a joint heir. Like what can take that away? Does that change the way that you see things? So when you see something that's a fact, I want you to declare a higher truth.
Say this, I am an heir. I'm an heir. Get it in your mouth. Get it in your mouth when you see it.
I'm an heir. I don't know how it's going to work out, but I'm a joint heir with Jesus. The Father has given him all things. I am an heir with Him.
Say, I love that my dad, my dad just, I heard this kind of stuff growing up. So I get them the credit, but we'd have something go wrong in our house. The repair man would come over and you know, you know how when they're a repair man, he's standing there like, boy, and you think, you like, oh, this is going to cost me. You know, and they're like, well, I don't know.
My dad would be like, well, you don't know, my father would do it. I would say this all the time. He goes, you don't know my father would do it. And their repair man's like, well, who's your dad?
Oh, oh, you don't know my dad? Oh, no. Let me tell you about my dad because my dad is very wealthy and my dad is very powerful. And my dad has the ability to do whatever he needs to do to get it done in my life.
You're like, your dad, like a mafia boss? Or like, and then you see them get there, they go from this, oh, you know, I'm going to stick a tee and all of a sudden, they're like, well, who's your dad? And then my dad would go in and share the gospel with Jesus with them and say, let me tell you about my heavenly Father. Here's how much he loves me.
Here's what he did for me. Here's what he'll do for you. It's like it lets you see problems as opportunities to share the gospel because you're in air, because there's no issue in life that he hasn't already thought about and provided for it. But see, when I settle for the truth, I'm sorry for the facts of the Promised Land, instead of the truth of what God said, I come back and wander for 40 years and die and learn.
But he said that when you set your mind on the things of the flesh, death is a result. Like the effects of sin are evident in life. But you set your mind on the things above, not on things of the earth. All right, last one.
Dialogue. What's dialogue? Conversation. You guys prayed dialogue or monologue?
I think it'll offer a lot of people prayers of monologue. Like it's you telling God I need this and I need that. See prayer was meant to be a dialogue. It says that you talk.
And then God talks back. And then you talk and then God talks. And he might talk some more, but it's a conversation. The fact that I am a child of God, the fact that I've been adopted into the family actually changes the way that I talk to God.
Jere, as somebody to pray, and you get this, oh, thou righteous Father. We come into thy presence. Humble servants of the most high God. Boy, that really points to a father, doesn't it?
See, having a dad changes the way I talk to him. It says in verse 15, it says this. It says you did not receive the spirit of bondage. Again, to fear you received the spirit of adoption by who we cry out.
This isn't like, oh, there you go. This is like a shout. This is when Jesus, the same word Jesus is coming in on a week before his crucifixion. And they got the poem branches and the way they're going, Hosanna in the highest.
It says they cried out Hosanna. And then the sticky old Pharisee said, shut your disciples up. And Jesus uses the same word and says, if they are silenced, then the rocks will cry out. It's a shout.
It's the same word that describes Jesus on the Feast of Tabernacles the last day. It said that he stood and cried with a loud voice. If anybody thirst, let him come to me and drink. For out of your innermost being will flow.
Rivers of living water. This he spoke of the spirit. John says, it's not just boo-hoo cry. It's a cry of joy.
It said, I'm not coming to my dad, my father, in fear. I'm not coming scared of what he's gonna think of me or how he looks at me. Because he sees me the same way he sees Jesus. He sees me in the spirit.
And it says that with the spirit, we have the spirit of adoption by which we cry out Abba. It's the most intimate. Hebrew kids would say, Papa, Daddy. That it was this intimate relationship between a little child and their father.
It exhibited the childlike trust that a kid puts in there. Like, I wasn't the best dad. I always like to take advantage of my kids when they were little. If kids believe whatever you tell them, right?
And so like, don't be that kind of dad. I used to take advantage of the kids, trust their parents. It's like Abba, dad. See, if you came to my house, if you came to my house and we're all sitting around the table, right?
Let me tell you the story first. I don't have time. I'll just tell you a quick story. You can read it.
Second Samuel, chapter nine. It's about King David after Saul and Jonathan dies. King David calls Saul serving his name Ziba. And he said, is there anyone left of a house of Saul that I may show kindness to them because of my covenant with Jonathan?
Not because they earned it, not because they deserved it, not because they're my natural born kids, but because of a covenant I made with somebody that I love. And Ziba said, there's one person left. His name is Phibishev. He said he's lame in the legs because when he was five years old, when Saul and Jonathan got killed in battle, his nurse takes him out of the house, she falls, he becomes crippled for life.
And David says, bring him here. And he says, they bring him in. And of course, Phibishev says, he says, what would you have to do with a dead dog like me? And David says, I'm going to show you kindness because of the covenant I have with your dad.
And he said, you're going to sit at my table and eat every day like one of the king's sons. And it says, for the rest of his life, he ate at the king's table like one of the king's sons. That's the imitation the father has for you. To sit at his table and eat like a son, like a daughter.
See if you came to my house and we were sitting around at the dinner table, which we like to do, and I see my number two back there, my second born child. Hi babe. I'm going to pick on you today. I always do.
So let's just say you come join my family, we're sitting at the table and Caroline, she wants some, she like, what are those potatoes we make a Thanksgiving? Or no, what's she doing? Oh, mac and cheese. Caroline's favorite is like this triple cheese mac and cheese.
So let's just say you're sitting at her table. And all of a sudden Caroline, she's got an empty spot on her plate and she's got it for the mac and cheese. And the mac and cheese just happens to be by me. And she gets up and she comes down and she says, oh, thou father's bread.
You are the holiest of dads. There's no papa father on the earth like you. Could you find somewhere in the darkest, deepest recesses of your heart to release to me? Some mac and cheese.
You're a humble daughter, please. What's wrong with that? But we do it all the time. You've been invited to the table.
You've been invited to eat as a son. Quit eating like a beggar. See, we know this stuff, but then we practice it something else. God says start acting like a son and quit acting like an orphan.
See like, if my daughter did that in my house, you would be thinking, man, he must be beating the crap out of her. I'd probably be under investigation. You'd wonder about her, but you'd be checking me out. Because there's something wrong with the relationship.
What does she do? Hey, dad, pass that mac and cheese. God, I might joke around with her a little bit, you know? But she's asking to be polite, but there's never a question of whether I'm gonna give it to her or not.
There's no question. Why? Because she's an heir. She's already my blood.
See, you're joint heirs with Jesus. You don't need to beg God. He's already done it. Like, you already are an heir.
So it changes the dialogue. It changes the way I talk. You know, like when I was younger, which was a long time ago, now, I had an office that was out on the main floor of our showroom. And it was kind of funny.
Like our youngest daughter, Lauren, Krista, would bring her in. And I always have like, you know, what we call an open door policy. So you could walk in my office at any time. But regardless, people would walk by.
I always knew what they wanted to come in. Because they were like, you know, is he in a good mood? Like, do we sell any cars today? Maybe today's not today.
And they're walking by the door. They're pacing. But then Kristin shows up with Lauren. And Lauren just goes, Daddy.
There's no wandering if I'm in a good mood. There's no like, it's just Daddy. Me and my everybody else is out. What's going on there?
See, too often we're pacing the throne. Like an employee or a servant. And the father invites you like a daughter, Daddy. Come boldly to the throne of grace.
And you can find help and need for help in the time of need. Let's pray. Math throat's done. I'm done.