Untitled Sermon (3)

Children of God

A. How’s it going guys, for those of you that don’t know me, I am Hector also. I am Hector’s eldest son. I Used to work here not that long ago, but this summer I took a job in Hawaii working at a summer camp. And at this summer camp, some things changed for me. The nature of the had gave me a lot of time to be in the word and I experienced God’s love in a way that I just hadn’t before. Like, I loved the Lord before, but I am in love with the lord. And my dad invited me to come and share a little something with you guys, so Im gonna read a text and pray for us and share with you guys how its allowed me to see Jesus more.

Romans 8:14–17 NLT

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 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.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 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 suffering.

Romans 8:14=17

Who are led by the Spirit?

New Living Translation Chapter 8

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

15 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.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 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 suffering.

Prayer

Illustration: So when I was working this summer, we did this thing where during our break, we would go get smoothies, and then go walk around the little beach town down the road from the camp. Well one particular day, we went and got our smoothies, and went to an ukulele shop just to look around. when we were leaving, one of my friends was like “hold my stuff, i’m gonna jump over this railing” so she hands me her smoothie and her phone and she just vaults over this railing. Now me being the man that i am, i was like alright bet, im up next. so with two smoothies and two phones in one hand, and 250 pounds hanging from my bones, I plant one hand on the top rail, swing my right leg up and jump with my left. Alright, jump is a little dramatic. Cuz my left foot couldnt have gotten more than 4 inches off the ground. My right leg barely clears it, my left shin slams into the lower rung. And my torso had too much momentum for me stop so I just topple over this railing, and you know what I learned something. This has nothing to do with the sermon but i learned something in the few seconds it took me to reach the ground. Nobody can flail as much, and in as short a time window, as me. I dont think such a person exists, like I lost track of my limbs trying to find something to hold onto. So after lying on the ground for a while, hoping to wake up from this terrible dream, I get up and get back in the van as my friends try to keep there laughter in. and theyre doing a terrible job by the way. Its that thing where theyre not laughing but theyre just kind of squeaking? you know what i mean. Well what followed was the most quite and with drawn 48 hours of my life. Normally, someone like misspeaks or says something kind of goofy and i just start cracking jokes. but for the next two days I had nothing! Let me rephrase, I had a lot, im steady thinking up jokes all the time, but i was terrified to try to contribute anything because in the back of my mind, i was like theyre gonna bring it up. If i try to say anything theyre are gonna bring up this terrible thing that just happened. And you know what, I think sometimes, thats what our relationship with God looks like I think sometimes, we walk with God kind of timid, kind of afraid, worried that if we engage with Him, hes just gonna be like, what are you doing, you remember last week? Do you remember what i saw you doing? But thats so not God. In verse 15 Paul says “So you have not recieved a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you have recieved God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children...” You don’t have to be afraid, or shaky around God. Some times i think we confuse the idea of being an adopted child with the idea of being a step child. Feeling more like God puts up with us or tolerates us. Like if when we accepted Jesus, God was like “welp, guess ill just deal with it and throw him a bone here and there”. But thats not what the bible says. It says we were adopted. Do you know what that means? It means you were chosen. It means he looked at you when you were at your lowest point in life and said “that one, i want that one.” says “Even before he made the world, God loved us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 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 brought him great pleasure.” It doesn’t say God was okay with with you being brought to him through jesus, God’s attitude towards the thought of you being reconciled to him was not meh. It says it brought him GREAT JOY. that word great in the greek is the same word used in Matthew when jesus is baptized by John and a voice from heaven says, “This is my dearly loved son, who brings me great joy.” Are you with me, do you see where im going. The same level of happiness that Christ brought to God the father, that same magnitude of pleasure is what God feels when another one of his children is brought back to him through Jesus. Now the verse finishes, “Now we call him, “Abba, Father”