OUR Father

Ephesians 1:3–6 NKJV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

adoption n. — huiothesian — a legal proceeding that creates a parent-child relation between persons not related by blood; with the adopted child being entitled to all privileges belonging to a natural child (including the right to inherit).

Adoption is an amazing process because you’re taking someone who maybe feels rejected or unwanted and changing their situation in life. Allowing them to be raised in a home that accepts them, even makes them heirs!

God wants to expand His family! He wants a house full of kids!

It’s important to understand that we were slaves of sin! We walked according to the world and to the prince of the power of the air. THAT’S when God adopted us.

We’re not just receiving “salvation.” We’re receiving “the adoption.”

He’s erasing our condition of being unwanted. He’s erasing the conditional love we’re used to and offering us unconditional love.

The QUINTESSENTIAL salvation passage is actually written in the context of adoption!

Ephesians 2:1–9 NKJV

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

This passage is AFTER Ephesians 1!

It’s written from the understanding that we were CHILDREN of the world! Children of disodience! God didn’t just save us, He took us out of an abusive house and said, “Why don’t you come live with me and let me spoil you.”

How God wants us to think of ourselves:

His Adopted Children

How God wants us to think of Him:

As a Good Father

Galatians 4:4–7 NKJV

4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Romans 8:14–17 NKJV

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 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.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.