WEBVTT 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:09.519 Everything in our lives flows for who we believe we are. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:26.399 You know, a few weeks, a few weeks ago, Derek talked out of uh, he focused primarily on Ephesians 1.5, and he uh he asked the question, think about God, and then think about what God's face looks like when he looks at you. 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:35.119 And he said, if it's not a smile, then you still probably have some kind of orphan mindset. 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:43.119 And we, you know, sometimes we we don't realize that we're thinking like an orphan when it comes to God. 00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:52.560 We've got this idea of God that's based on our earthly father and what our earthly father did well or what he didn't do well. 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:57.359 Um, and so I want to build on what Eric spoke about. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:01.920 He was speaking primarily in Ephesians 1.5, and I want to go to 1.4. 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:06.480 So, and don't worry, this isn't long. 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:11.359 Um, think about good fathers here on earth. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:20.239 Even if you you don't have children, I think most people here probably do, but even if you don't, we all had a biological father and possibly an adoptive father. 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:25.120 And so we can at least understand the concept of whether they were good fathers or not. 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:29.359 And there's no father who does it all right here on earth. 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:43.120 And even if our father was screwed up, we, you know, we now do our bet the best we can because we want our son to grow up to be a good man and a good father, or our daughter to grow up to be a good woman and a good mother. 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:46.400 You know, that's what we want. 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:50.560 But we have a lot to do just to live life. 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:56.879 I mean, you know, how do I have this time to focus on what I'm supposed to learn so I can be a good parent and all that? 00:01:56.879 --> 00:01:58.000 I mean, think about it. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:15.120 We take care of our ourselves, our families, and our kids, and then there's a then there's our jobs, and then there's the stuff that we like to do at church, and then there's the stuff that we feel like we should do at church, and then we're supposed to read our Bible and pray, and if we're lucky, we get a little bit of free time. 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:17.280 We live very busy lives. 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:18.560 Yes, true. 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:27.599 Within most of all the tasks and obligations and busyness, we don't really have a whole lot of time to think about what it means to be a son of God. 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:34.639 And yet, God, the Father, is our model for the fathers that we're to be. 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:46.479 Whether that means we're fathering our own children, or whether it means that we're mentoring other young men, or if it just means that we're understanding who our father is. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:58.800 So we can we can agree that we are a son of God, that we've been adopted by God, but in the middle of this busy life, what big difference does a son mean when we've got all this other stuff to do? 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:05.680 I mean, if you think about it, Ephesians 1.3 says, God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:12.800 So that's all nice and spiritual, and we can be that, and we can agree that being a child of God is a spiritual blessing. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:20.560 That takes care of the future, so we don't go to hell and we go to heaven, but what in the world is it gonna do us for right now, in the here and now? 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:25.520 So I want you to take that thought and put a pen in it because we're gonna come back to that. 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:32.479 Now, what I want to talk about this morning is the source of our sonship. 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:45.039 And I know that we're, you know, I know we are sons in Christ because he died the death that we deserve, because our sin, because of our sin, and he rose from the dead, giving eternal life to all who will repent and abide in him. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:47.680 I mean, we hear that all the time in church. 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:49.120 That's the gospel. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:56.479 That's not the source of your sonship, that's the method by which we become sons. 00:03:56.479 --> 00:04:02.719 The way it happens is that Jesus gave us life, and we can become sons of God if we repent and follow Jesus. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:04.080 That's the method. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:11.599 Ephesians 1 said 1:3, it says that we have received all spiritual blessings in Christ in the heavenlies. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:17.920 Now, this isn't a literal translation, but here is what those things entail: all spiritual blessings. 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:23.360 That's all we can we can interpret that one way to mean all the rights and privileges. 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:30.560 In Christ, the method by which we become a son, and in the heavenlies, this is not about the afterlife. 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:33.439 The heavenly refers to a spiritual realm. 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:37.759 It exists right alongside the physical realm here, right now. 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:50.000 So when Paul says God has blessed us in the heavenlies in Christ, he means that all the blessings we receive are rooted in our union with Christ and drawn from his exalted position. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:56.000 Now that's still not where I want to focus today, but it's the backdrop of what we need to understand. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:58.399 Without Christ, we are spiritually dead. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:00.319 We are dead in the heavenly realm. 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:06.399 And in Christ, we're made alive, not only just alive, but also sons of God. 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:09.360 And as a son, we're blessed with all spiritual blessings. 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:13.920 In other words, we're granted all the rights and privileges of being a son. 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:21.360 A son gets his identity, his sonship, from his father. 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:25.920 When a boy is born, he instantly becomes a son of his father. 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:28.240 The identity of the father is passed to the son. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:32.720 He's given the last name of the father, indicating the family to which he belongs. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:40.560 As a son grows up from infant to man, the son has all the rights and privileges that are given to him as a member of the family. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:46.720 All those rights and privileges come because of the identity the father has given him. 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:51.600 Now, on this earth, some fathers don't want sons. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:54.720 They're completely self-centered and just want to have sex. 00:05:54.720 --> 00:06:02.800 They don't want to have a child, and they may go as far as rejecting their responsibility as a father and therefore reject their child. 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:04.879 Those are bad fathers. 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:07.199 But it's not that like that with God. 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:10.399 And that's what I that's where I'm getting to today. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:18.560 You know, the New Testament was originally written mostly in Greek, and anytime you translate one language into another, it doesn't always bring over all the meaning. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:24.079 And so we're going to look at the meaning of some words from the original Greek in Ephesians 1.4. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:28.639 And I want to tell you, every one of you can do this. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:33.920 This is not something that it there's a site called Bible Hub, and it will give you all this information, okay? 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:40.639 So um, but what I want to do is I just want to walk through Ephesians 1.4, just that one verse. 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:48.879 So that verse says, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. 00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:53.040 Now, even as he chose, he is referring to the Father. 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:54.399 Just keep that in mind. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:05.360 The very first word, which in English we it's a phrase, just as or even as, that's one word Greek, in Greek, and when I it's uh kathos. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:12.480 And when I learned that word, it just really kind of flipped this whole passage on because it's called a comparative conjunction. 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:14.319 And yes, I just learned that. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:24.639 But a comparative conjuncture, what it does is it connects two ideas by showing how one reflects the other. 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:28.720 So it connects what's said before with what's said after. 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:34.319 So that little phrase, just as, here's what Paul's Paul's saying. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:36.959 You know all those spiritual blessings I just mentioned? 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:38.079 Let's talk about them. 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:40.720 The first one is, and he goes on to talk. 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:42.240 So that's what just as is. 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:46.079 He's saying, here's the first of all those spiritual blessings that we've got. 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:50.560 And so then he the first blessing is Father chose. 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:52.480 He chose. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:53.439 Okay? 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:55.439 Why is that a blessing? 00:07:55.439 --> 00:08:00.160 Well, there's something that the English doesn't bring about, but the Greek does. 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:02.240 And like I said, this is all in Bible Hub. 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:06.399 Um, it's a completed, first off, the tense means it's a completed action. 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:08.959 He chose, it's a done deal, it's it's finished. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:11.040 Second, it's a statement of fact. 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:13.759 But third is the big thing. 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:16.399 It's uh it's called middle voice. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:18.879 God did it himself. 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:23.920 When it came to choosing, God didn't look over and say, hey Gabriel, take care of this for me. 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:26.000 God chose himself. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:30.399 He didn't outsource it, he did it himself. 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:34.399 It was intentional, he was personally involved. 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:44.960 When you start thinking about you're chosen, you weren't just chosen by accident or randomly, or God says, okay, flip the flip the bingo cage and let's pull out a ball and see who gets it this time. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:47.679 God chose you specifically. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:50.799 And then the next word is us. 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:52.159 So he chose us. 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:53.679 And that's not complicated. 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:55.519 In Greek, it means us. 00:08:55.519 --> 00:09:01.840 The next the the next the next phrase is in him. 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:04.879 Paul's talking about in Christ. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:08.000 It refers to our position, our union with Christ. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:13.759 God didn't choose people randomly or independently, he chose people who would be united with his son. 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:18.720 That phrase in him or in Christ, and it's all through Ephesians. 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:26.080 It identifies the realm or category of people God chose, those who are or would be united with Christ. 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:29.919 So now let's put all this together so far, and we're gonna build this as we go. 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:31.759 You know all those spiritual blessings? 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:32.720 Let's talk about them. 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:39.039 The first one is that God himself chose us as those who would be united with Christ. 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:40.639 That's pretty good. 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:43.120 God's intentional about you, Nick. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:46.080 He's intentional about you, Bruce, and each one of us. 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:50.320 It's not, okay, they screwed up, let's get let's get them fixed, let's bring. 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:52.000 No, he chose you, Scott. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:53.360 He chose you, Randy. 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:55.039 It's an individual thing. 00:09:55.039 --> 00:09:58.639 He chose you to be united with Christ. 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:02.480 And then the next phrase says, before the foundation of the world. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:07.360 Well, the word foundation comes from two words, which I found kind of funny. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:09.120 It means a throwing down. 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:12.639 And you say, how do you get foundation from a throwing down? 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:14.639 Well, it also means a laying down. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:20.799 And it's the act of laying down a foundation or describes something at the beginning of its process. 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:25.759 The word for world actually means this world that we live in. 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:30.240 So taking that and adding it on, you know those spiritual blessings? 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:32.720 You all are going to get so tired of hearing this before the end. 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:34.320 You know those spiritual blessings? 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:35.440 Let's talk about them. 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:45.840 The first one is that before he even started planning the creation process of the world, God himself chose us as those who would be united with Christ. 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:48.480 Are you all starting to see how this is building? 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:49.360 Yeah. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:54.960 So I know, like I said, I know it's a little redundant, but it's it's really important that we get this. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:11:00.159 So then this is the next phrase in Greek, which is different than it reads in English. 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:02.080 It's the same words, but it reads different. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:07.600 To be us holy and blameless, which sounds a little weird in English. 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:10.320 To be is is an infinitive. 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:18.960 And so Greek infinitives, when they come after verbs like choosing or appointing, they indicate purpose. 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:24.080 And so the next phrase is a purpose statement. 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:29.840 So the purpose of God choosing us to be united in Christ. 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:36.480 Well, God chose us when He started before the planning of the planning of the creation of the world. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:36.879 Why? 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:39.519 For us to be holy and blameless. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:45.279 And whole, you know, those two words, holy and blameless, they sound a little redundant, kind of like the same thing. 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:49.039 Um and uh, but let's look at the meaning of those two. 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:54.639 Holy means to be set apart or consecrated, devoted to God. 00:11:54.639 --> 00:12:00.960 Now, moral pure, we know normally when we think holy, we think morally pure, you know, sins done away with. 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:02.559 And that's an aspect of it. 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:07.360 But actually, what holiness is speaking about, it starts with belonging. 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:17.279 It is being set apart for relationship with God and for and for God's use in relation to it. 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:22.720 So holiness is about being set apart, being dedicated to God. 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:32.720 You know, rem if you remember in the temple in the Bible, you know, they had different implements in the temple, and they were considered to be holy. 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:40.399 Well, you know, we don't speak of those implements as being sinless, but they are set apart for a specific purpose. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:42.080 They are set apart for God. 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:44.240 That's what holiness is. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:50.399 So when we say I want to be holy, what we're really saying is I want to be set apart for God. 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:53.919 Now, the word blameless is about moral purity. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:58.240 It comes from two words, blemished and not. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:12:59.759 Not blemished. 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:01.120 That's what blameless means. 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:02.720 Without fault, spotless. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:08.559 In the Old Testament, that was the word for the sacrificial sacrificial animals that were a suitable offering for God. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:16.080 In the New Testament, it takes on the meaning of moral purity and integrity, being untainted by sin or accusation. 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:24.000 So blameless is not about being set apart, it's about being pure and undefiled within that relationship to which we are set apart. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:28.000 So now let's look at everything put together again. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:30.240 You know all those spiritual blessings? 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:31.440 Let's talk about them. 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:52.639 The first one is that before God even started planning, the started the planning and creation process of the world, he himself chose us as those who would be united with Christ for this purpose, for us to be completely set apart and so completely pure that we can't even be accused of doing anything wrong. 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:56.399 And then here comes the kicker. 00:13:56.399 --> 00:13:57.840 This is the big thing. 00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:00.879 This next little phrase is a big thing. 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:03.360 And for me, it makes the verse. 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:05.279 It's the phrase before him. 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:12.720 The primary, and this whole verse, think about this verse, the primary thought of this verse begins and ends with God. 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:16.559 It starts with God chose and it ends before him. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:21.919 There's another couple of words that we'll talk about in a second, but it essentially ends with the words before him. 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:27.200 Everything begins and ends with God, and we're the beneficiaries in the middle. 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:32.320 The Greek word for before, you know, it said before before the foundation of the world, and now we have before him. 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:36.720 Before is two totally Greek words, two different Greek words there. 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:45.840 The Greek word before in this phrase, before him, is is I'm going to butcher this and opion. 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:50.639 So um, and it's a combination of three different ideas. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:56.799 The first word is kata, which means down or according to or or in relation to. 00:14:56.799 --> 00:15:00.879 The second word is in, which literally means in. 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:05.120 And the third word is op, which means face or eye. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:17.039 When you put them all through when you put all three of these thoughts together in this one Greek word, it means in the face or in front of the eyes. 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:22.960 So we were chosen so that we could literally be in the in front of the face of God. 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:28.320 Only a good father wants his son in his face. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:31.440 That's what he wants. 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:40.720 So picture a father who lifts his baby boy right up in front of his face so that he can he can kiss and snuggle his little his little boy and toss him up into the air. 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:52.639 Think of a father who, when his young boy has fallen down and is crying, his eight-year-old, and he gets right down in front of the eight-year-old and says, Hey, look at me, look at me. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:54.000 You're okay. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:59.919 And in that moment, the boy realizes that a skin knee is not the end of the world. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:12.320 Think about the father who grabs the shoulders of his son, who is now a young man, and he squares him up and he looks him right in the right in the eyes, and they're looking at one another, and he says, I'm proud of you, son. 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:13.840 I love you, son. 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:16.559 That's our father. 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:19.120 That's being in the face of God. 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:22.080 He wants us in his presence. 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:26.639 He wants to hang out with us because he loves us and he likes us. 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:30.879 So often we think of ourselves as not likable, and that's not true. 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:32.639 God likes us. 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:36.879 And we're not just invited into his presence. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:38.080 We were chosen for it. 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:43.679 We were chosen to live our lives right now in front of God, completely in his presence. 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:46.240 And that's all the time. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:50.159 That's not just in our devotions at the beginning of the day. 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:56.159 That's as we go to the bathroom, that's as we take a shower, that's as as we eat our breakfast, that's as we go to work. 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:59.519 If we're retired, it's as we go do our other stuff. 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:04.720 Um, at every moment of every day, God says, Hey, I want you to live in my presence. 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:06.799 So let's look at what we have now. 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:09.359 You know all those things, all those spiritual blessings? 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:10.720 Well, let's talk about them. 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:37.200 The first one is that before he even started planning and creating the processes of the world, God himself chose us as those who would be united with Christ for this purpose, for us to be completely set apart and so completely pure that we can't even be accused of any wrongdoing, so that we can be continually be in his face, always in his presence. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:43.519 And then comes this these last two little words at the end of the verse, in love. 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:58.559 Now, theologians sometimes wrestle with this phrase, and whether it goes with verse 4 or verse 5, because we have we have it broken down into verses, but in actuality, verses one, uh what is it, 1 through 14 are all one long run-on sentence that Paul did. 00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:03.920 And so the theologians wrestle with, okay, does in love go with the next verse or does it go with this verse? 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:05.279 Well, you know what? 00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:10.160 It doesn't matter, because it brings the same meaning regardless of which verse you put it in. 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:12.640 Why did God choose us to be in his presence? 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:13.839 That's verse 4. 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:17.119 Why did God predestine us to be to be adopted as sons? 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:18.720 That's verse five. 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:22.240 Because he has loved us before the foundation of the world. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:28.160 This message is for every single one of us. 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:36.240 This is God calling to us and saying, I choose you for more than you can ask, think, or imagine, because I choose you to be with me. 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:38.880 You're chosen by the Most High God. 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:40.960 You're chosen to be united with Christ. 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:43.920 You're chosen to be devoted to God as set apart for him. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:51.839 You're chosen to be so morally pure that no one can find anything to accuse you of, and you are chosen to be in to live in God's presence. 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:54.559 And all this happens because we're in Christ. 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:55.680 We can't do it. 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:57.200 He already did. 00:18:57.200 --> 00:19:01.440 It's not dependent on anything that we can or can't do now. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:06.400 God not only chose us, but he did all the work to make it happen. 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:12.400 So the very next verse, verse 5, sums up this whole choosing thing. 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:19.519 Because you were chosen, you are predestined to be adopted as sons with all the rights and privileges that come with being part of the household of God. 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:21.759 That's the Durfee translation. 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:25.119 And it's all according to the purpose of his will. 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:26.799 He wants it that way. 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:32.000 The source of sonship is God Almighty, the maker of universe. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:33.119 Are you getting this? 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:47.920 The source of sonship, your sonship, is that the Most High God, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega, and the beginning of the end, you're completely and utterly a son in the kingdom of God because God wants you and chooses you. 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:51.279 He wants you. 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:53.920 So what do we do with all this? 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:58.160 How does being a son help us in the here and now? 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:03.519 Being son changes everything about our perspective in life and how we live it. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:09.519 We live like sons who belong. 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:14.079 God didn't choose us so that we could one day make it make it to heaven. 00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:19.839 He chose us so that he so that here and now we would live as his sons in his presence. 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:28.160 If God chose you before the foundation of the world to live in his presence, then stop living like you're on the outside looking in. 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:38.799 When you wake up tomorrow before the noise of the day, remind yourself the first thing true about you today is not your to-do list, it's not your job title, and it's not your mistakes. 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:42.720 It's that you're his son chosen to stand right in his face. 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:46.960 As you go through your day, live from that place. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:54.000 Maybe your father didn't show you what a good father's like, but you can talk to God as the father that you've always needed. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:59.039 He's patient, he's kind, he's never too busy, he's never disappointed. 00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:03.920 You don't have to earn his approval, you don't, you know, you don't have to fear his anger. 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:09.519 You can come to him honestly and trust that he loves you just because you're his son. 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:26.000 That means when you've messed up, there's a comedian uh by the name of Paul Poundstone that I saw her routine years ago, and she said, I had problems with my cat climbing up climbing up the bookshelf. 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:37.279 And so I went and I got a water bottle and I filled it with water, and the next time the cat ran up the shelf, I squirted it with the water bottle, and the cat ran to me for protection. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:40.319 Do you realize the irony of that? 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:41.200 You know what? 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:45.839 When we sin, it's under the blood, and we run to God for protection. 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:46.960 We run to God. 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:51.599 When you got, if you if you've got a sin that you're dealing with, run to God. 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:54.160 He's the only one who can remedy it. 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:59.039 You can try to hide it, you can feel shame, you can feel guilt, or you can run to God. 00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:01.200 That's the kind of father he is. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:05.039 And he is going to say, okay, you're forgiven. 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:07.200 Go and sin no more. 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:09.759 But hey, let me go with you to help you. 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:11.680 That's our that's our father. 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:18.799 You know, every every day you get to walk through your day carrying your father's name. 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:27.920 When people meet us, they should get a glimpse of the Father, his patience, his courage, his mercy, or whatever the situation calls for. 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:32.880 Everywhere we go, we represent the Father who lifted up his arms and said, This one's mine. 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:43.359 And when temptation or shame whispers and says, You don't belong, because you screwed up, you look up and say, My Father chose me. 00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:44.559 I'm set apart. 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:45.599 I am holy. 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:47.279 I am blameless. 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:49.599 And here's the here's another thing. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:51.200 We don't do this alone. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:53.119 God's given us each other. 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:55.039 Brothers, fellow sons. 00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:57.119 We can walk this thing out together. 00:22:57.119 --> 00:23:07.839 In Matthew 4:17, Jesus began ministry, but he began his ministry by preaching repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:11.519 Being a son means living in that kingdom. 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:14.799 And we are in that kingdom because our father chose us. 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:18.079 We can live in that kingdom right here and right now. 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:21.759 So let's start living like sons together. 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:26.319 Chosen, loved, and standing, standing face to face with our Father.