Children of God

Scriptures, this Lord's Day come from the book of Hosea and Paul's letter to the church in Rome, will begin with a couple of verses from Hosea chapter 1. Just two verses 10 and 11.

Yeah, at the number of people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured or numbered and the place where it was said to them. You are not my people. It shall be said to them. Children of the Living. God. The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together and they shall appoint for themselves one head, and they shall possess take possession of the land for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

and from Romans chapter 8, verses 12 and following,

So then, brothers and sisters, we are dead. Or is mount to the flash to live according to the flesh for if you live. According to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death, the Deeds of the body, you will live for all who are led by the spirit of God are children of God for you, did not receive a spirit of Slavery to fall back into fear. But you have received the spirit of adoption when we cry Abba Father. It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit, that we are children of God. And if children than heirs Heirs of God and Joint heirs with Christ, if in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. If Earth, Earth hear the word of the Lord. May the words of my mouth, the meditation of all our heart beat. Acceptable in your fight. This day. Oh Lord. Our Rock and Our Redeemer, all men.

One of the hats, I wear is a teacher teach at a couple of our seminaries online. And once you manatees in one's philosophy, philosophy is a great class because you never figure out the answers. You just always kind of thinking about, in philosophy. Our students are dealing with these huge questions that really nobody is ever quite figured out the exact answer for in all these Millennia. Just kind of like, who am I? Where am I going? What? What's my purpose now? These are huge. Huge questions of identity and direction in trajectory and so many different people have tried to put their input in their stamps on those things over the years. And it's just fun to teach that class because it gets people thinking, and out of their comfort zone and maybe doing a little bit more introspection. In our scriptures today, we start learning a little bit about our identity and we started with with when I was sharing at the Children's message. So, if you want to go to sleep, you built basically got the gist of it already.

We are part of God's family. And is this tug-of-war that Paul is going back and forth with talking about the, the pool, The Flash, and the pull of the spirit. There is this between two worlds, kinds of things that we have us a foot in the Earthly temporal world and we're always battling this thing called the flesh, but we are not obliged bail because we're in price to buy into that whole Lock Stock & Barrel. Because now, we are purchased with a price, we are given a new life in the spirit. Now, it doesn't mean everything's perfect. Always means we're still struggling and we are living in a betwixt-and-between point where we're already, but not yet kind of thing. And that's what we need to realize because Really if we don't know who we are, if we don't know where we're going, then it creates a difficulty in our life that can lead to anger and depression and mental illness and just crazy things on one extreme, but then on another just can lead you into the doldrums of ho-hum another day. I'm still here. Why?

You remember a great Theologian? I talked about some time ago Carl Bart. Well, Carl Bart. I found a young picture of young Bart and this isn't in his his theological Treatise. This was just An Occurrence in his family. Life that gave him about this pool of the Flesh and just how we are really often slave to it. He had a child maybe about 3 years old and then they had another child and they brought the younger child out in the bassinet to meet the older child. The older child look down at the precious sleeping baby and all the sudden without warning slap that baby upside the head. Call Bardo was like, is original sin. That is what it means to be grabbed by the place. There's no reason to this little kid, but that little three-year-old was like, there's an interloper in my space. I need Power Ranger position in all those things that we call the deadly sins. They're already there three year old and now, we are being tugged by the flesh often. Sometimes there's mud in the middle. You get drags. Paul is trying to encourage us to understand, is that we are no longer bound and obliged to follow and live a life fully in the flesh. But we have been transformed, transformed into people who are of the spirit. We are bought with a price. We are adopted by God. We are one to work anyone. But now we are someone, we were Buy Rite part of the family but now by confirmation we are, we did not deserve it. We didn't do anything about it to get it. But God gave it to us. If you have a story of adoption in your life and in your family, you'll understand this at a deeper level than most of us are coming from one place. Perhaps not even knowing where that place was. I'm being brought not by any Merit of your own or any choice of your own, but because there was some great love that pulled you into a life that was more significant than what you would have had hitherto for. Amazing. Tony campolo talks about this idea of significance in a book called who switched the price tags and composure, as a sociologist who also happens to be a Baptist Minister. And in this book, he talks about our search for significance in how an American culture. We have muddied the water because we are unsure, what a spiritual thing is. And what a material thing is. In Jesus day. It was pretty clear. This is one in, this is the other but we have very much confused, the whole matter because we're so smart. I think about it think of our Madison Avenue, folks. They have they have made it a business to confuse us about what is valuable and worthy and what has claims upon us. And what does it mean? They have studied geology. They know what makes us tick. They know what drives us. Those forces that make us go this way or that way, so they don't have to necessarily advertise their products. They just have to get at what makes us tick and then put their little brand on there and then our brain just know I want to be with you. I want to be like that. So I'm going to buy this you know, how I am. Picture of grassy Hill in Italy. Picture People children, young men and women of all Races colors in Creed singing, We want Harmony, we want peace, we want love.

It's moving in it. Is it a new world order? Jesus Christ. Come today? What is going on here now? What is it? Do you remember?

Is Coca-Cola? So a sugary carbonated, soft drink with no food value is going to solve all the world's problems. These we all want, love, we want. I want Harmony. We want honey, bees and apple trees. With that is ideal thing that we all want. So they just put their bottle up there. Like, okay. Well, maybe I can't have all that but I'm sure get a Coke. And I'm contributing to the world order of peace and unity.

A spiritual value of Love through a material object of Coca-Cola.

It's an amazing. It's an amazing thing. It's a trick. That's what the devil does to us. He pulled us like this tug-of-war pulling us toward the flash, pulling us away from our true identity and trying to have us buy into the Y.

That are contrary to what God wants us to know about ourselves and what God wants to know about ourselves, as we belong to God's family. We are part. And parcel of the family of God. It's easy to get pulled into those. That lower nature stuff. I get that just leaves on a mission trip and you know, other than working a whole lot. I've been going through some old movies. I want to watch the same movies a lot. If I do that, I like to see who really likes, you know, African Queen, If you don't you got to watch it Hepburn and in Bogart, oh my God, great movie. So she's a missionary sister. He's the boat driver. He's crashed. She's sophisticated. They're driving down the river. I won't tell the whole story. But you know, what is Katharine Hepburn day, she gets the case of June and pours it all out. Oh, the world has come to an end and Charlie all that. He's like ma'am, you know, it's a man. Just has to have a little drink every now and then it's just human nature and in her prim and proper British voice. Katherine says, Sarah says Mr. Allnutt nature is what we are put on this Earth to overcome. Yeah, we are to rise above. We are not to be pulled down to those base, Tendencies of who we are where to rise above its, what Paul is talking about, remember who you are? You are a child of God, you are part of God's family. You have been adopted into this body. You don't deserve it. You didn't earn it. There's nothing you can do to get it. Just loved you this much that he chose you to be part of his family. And God brings us into that family. And this is what I know. Some of you really are rocket. Scientists. We live in the trailer. We live in the Space Coast. I mean, some of you guys are brilliant, but this is not rocket science. We try to make the scriptures so complex and yes, okay, you know, we have to say, well I didn't go to Seminary. I don't know. Hebrew and Greek, then I can't know. God. That's a bunch of hogwash. You are children of God, your children of God, by means of adoption. So now you're adopted into a family. Just think about what it means to be family. And I know there's dysfunctional families and sometimes family don't work, but more families do then. Don't think about what it means to be a child in a family. You are part of the family. You're on the same time. You want something to happen. We're going to Disney World next summer. Can I watch the car? How can I help get the bag out of the way backwards about threw up all the time. How many? Rest areas? I mean, everybody participate. We're going camping. Great. What are you getting? I'm going to take care of the fishing gear and I'm going to get that. Okay, I'll get the tent. I'll get the groceries, mommy play, the mini started out of that. We all participate in the goal of the family of going to Camping, or going to Disney World. Is that so hard to understand? Why do we make participation in God's family? So much different.

We're part of God's family. We simply are ones who are on the same side. We do the things that God's family is supposed to do. We are participants in the family activities of God. And what are the family activities and got? Well, there's this book called the bottle and it's going to tell us a lot of those, you're studying. That's what we do. It's not that hard. What's hard is we're getting pulled by these voices of the flesh thing. You can't do that. That's more complicated than that. You're just showing. So you're not worthy. You don't have training. You're old. You're young. You don't have the education. You're a broken person. That is a lie.

That's simple eyes. You are part of the family and is part of the family. You are. Are you belong? You get to participate in the trip to Disney World or the camping trip, or, or whatever it is. And in this case, it's the kingdom of God. Its manifestations here, and in its full manifestation at the Paris area. And when we meet Christ face-to-face, we are part of that family. What? Part of the family of God in that direction. I'm no better than anybody else that side of complaining. Or, or not thinking I'm worthy of doing something. I remember when I was at King University, real good friend of mine, Dan Christ. We were working with some challenges, you know, churches and universities, man. What's the matter with these things? What crazy organizations aren't always choosing? And, and universities. It's crazy. There was a huge thing in this universe day. I was complaining to Dan. It was a private conversation. Where is complaining?

On my shoulder. Niece's friend for Rise. Above, may rise, above. Your eyes, rise above, and that's what this life of the spirit is calling us to. We are no longer obliged to live a life of the flesh. We make it now, but we have the power by God's infusion of Holy Spirit in our life to choose a different course. And we can choose the course of rising above and being part of the life of the spirit, which makes us adopted Sons and Daughters of God, part of that family, and part of participation in the kingdom of God.

You may remember and put your hand on your heart if you want to our glorious founder, John Calvin. Isn't he? He looks real happy to me. Well, you're all happy because he came up. I love Calvin. Theology better.

I don't remember this from the sermon cuz it's a downer but total depravity. Total depravity human beings are hopeless. There is not one good thing within us. Aside from God being in us, working through us. We got nothing. Thanks, John.

But what are you saying is with apple. We are pulled like that fruit like that tug-of-war with pulled toward the Flesh and we don't have the power to resist it. We will be drawn into that Darkness. But with Christ with God Spirit, we are free to be people of the white ones who come this other direction. We are people of the spirit and live lies filled with the spirit. Wow, that's children. Children of God.

We move on in this text and priced says a word and Aramaic then use their make a whole lot. But he does in this text. He says because we are these children. We can say, Abba Father, ABBA is the term for father and it can be an endearing term in a lot written about that. My grandpa name. I mean, I know you do GG over there has got one. I got a name. Mama. Papa papa. Papa. My mom's Mama Jean. My aunt is Mimi Ali is CC, you know, I was certain they were trying to figure out a family name for me. So they don't see. See this is easy, Cecily CC, that'll be easy, but I'm not being given away. I'm CC. So I'm big daddy. Did you know I found out today? Who knew y'all? Do not raise your hand, please? Do not raise your hand, but I found out from one of my boy troyboi. There's a strip club in Orlando called Big Daddy's.

They were having a brunch at the house, has to use the house and said they're telling all their friends, all their Millennial friends about this. Or like, just come over to Big Daddy's and they're like,

I don't know. That's my dad Grandpa name. All right, by the ideas that endearing they not fun name that that thing that connects you to your family or to the loved ones there. Abba, Father, because we are children of God, we can call God, our parents are loving father. Baba, rccr Mimi are Papa and Mama Jean Whatever It Is, God wants us to be that close to himself so that we can really understand that were part part of his family.

I want to stay close with something. It's not rocket science. Again. It something I said at the children sermon. I want us to just go out of here, remembering this phrase and want to repeat it with me. Like I did the children. Can you say I am? A child of God. I am a child of God. Who are you?

You're a child of God. What what if, what if the rug gets pulled out from under you? Who are you? I'm a Child of God. What if a loved one gets a diagnosis that you don't aren't happy with. It may even be serious. Who are you? I'm a child about. What if your 401k lost 40% in the last 10 months. Who are you? I'm a Child of God. What if you lose your job for you? I'm at 1. If somebody breaks you and says, bad things about you. Who are you? I'm a Child of God. What if everything that, you know disappears? Who are you? I am a child of God post. We are in a spiritual battle these days and the evil. One wants to draw us into the darkness. And that is the Chief wire, the prince of lies and Satan will tell you and try to convince you of everything that you are not. And when those voices come, when you feel that way, I want you to remember to tell that liar. Simply that one thing. I am a child of God, who are you? Don't ever forget that God has you in the palm of his hand.