Pastor Earl McClellan // What Lies Beneath // Part 3: The Cure

i am so so fired up about today again everyone uh who is in the room at our white rock campus we love you so much uh this room keeps being full so we are praying through a whole another service option another service time so that we can keep on providing uh more space and but you all keep tricking me i never know i never know it's like are people coming they not coming got a delta variant are they coming are they not coming what's happening so i'm just trying to make sure i'm trying to see but for week after week after week we keep needing uh overflow so uh at some point in time we're going to open up another service and then more services and then i'm praying for another building that's what i'm actually praying for i pray for just more space so we can invite all of our friends in and keep on growing uh together we got friends all over that are are with us okay so it's not just like in the room anymore now we've got you know reagan and candace that are in tennessee and we've got kyle and chandler that are in california everyone who's a part of their neighborhood gathering and just i got an email from somebody in nigeria his name is emmanuel and he's like hey i want to start a neighborhood gathering here in nigeria so we've got folks all over that are saying i want to be a part of this family just want you to know you're incredibly loved and excited about today we've got north dallas as well matter of fact one of our assistant campus pastors at north dallas her name is redate amazing woman just had her birthday this past week so happy birthday to your date we're so so proud of you uh but we're going to jump into god's word today we're going to grow today we're going to develop today and i pray that after we are done all of us are pushed forward in our walk with god i've been saying uh this same phrase over and over uh for the last two weeks now this is the third week i'm going to say it as we're in part three of this series called what lies beneath what lies beneath and uh we we've been saying this every week we've been saying this what you can't see stabilizes or sabotages what you can see what you can't see stabilizes or sabotages what you can see our our oldest son parker he's uh 16 and he wants a car he wants a brand new car well we're not getting them a brand new car okay uh if your parents did that for you great uh though we might be able to get him one um we're not doing it i said parker you're gonna have to save up your money and we'll pay half that's what we'll do we'll pay half uh for your car up to a certain number so it's not like if you get 20 000 we're not throwing in 20 000. you got to go to college still so so he is now looking at cars that he sent me i mean he sent me some hoopties i mean they are just these are terrible automobiles they are so bad and i'm thinking perfect this is exactly what i want you driving i don't want anybody looking at you thinking you're a baller i want you i want that car to be making crazy noises when you pull up to places to humble yourself so he's sending me car i mean they've got a 178 000 miles on it it's just it's wild but he was going oh i like this one i like this when i go really man it's not about what's on the outside it's really about what's underneath that hood you got you got to find out not only the mileage but the maintenance how was this engine taken care of and i just want us all to remember it's not just about what we can see it's just stuff that we can't see there's stuff underneath the hood that will really determine whether or not we're able to go the distance we're able to start when we need to start and and go where we need to go and i just want us to be a church family that's not just so enamored by the outside that we forget to deal with and work on and develop the inside so yeah if you want to do botox go ahead and do botox got no problem with that at all if you want to get some plastic surgery i don't care dude i don't think there's anything in the bible that says you can't do that but at the end of the day let us not be so preoccupied by the exterior that we ignore the interior and the stuff that is behind the scenes so we've looked at righteousness we looked at how we are called by god we and uh we're cleansed by god and approved by god in a right standing with god we looked at how we're citizens of heaven and today i want you to go to romans chapter 8 verse number 14. romans chapter 8 verses 14 through 15 it says for those who are led by the spirit of god are the children of god the spirit you receive does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again rather the spirit you receive brought about your adoption to sonship and by him we cry abba father the spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are god's children the title of today is the cure uh the cure i uh sent a text message out to someone in our church family that we love so very much uh you don't have to put her picture up yet uh those of you who are in other parts of the world or at another campus you've never had the opportunity to meet her maybe even at white rock you haven't had the chance uh to meet her but but brandi uh and al leyva are two of the best people in our church family we love them so much and they've got this adorable little baby too anderson i mean the kid is so so cute thankful that you guys keep on having pretty babies and when we do baby dedications we got the prettiest babies because you know there are ugly babies we can all just agree okay every one of them matter to god but there are some kids that got to grow into their beauty but um in the late or the early or late 70s um brandy's parents uh were were wanting to be pregnant and they found themselves walking through a couple of miscarriages um if you have never gone through anything like that it is very it can be very very traumatic uh you have life on the inside of you and then the life is no longer no longer there um different couples and and and women will will deal with that in different ways some might want to have a little memorial some want to have a moment at home by themselves others might have just some prayer time there's a bunch of different ways people deal with it but miscarriages aren't aren't a small thing for most people and um and they had a couple of miscarriages and decided hey you know what uh and this was not popular back in the day we're gonna go this adoption route and they start down the road of adoption and they end up uh getting being connected with two kids that are in cambodia they actually name these two children and they cannot wait to bring these beautiful babies from cambodia over here uh to the states and then the war breaks out in cambodia and those two children to this day they actually never heard from them and have no idea where they are so mom and dad are still uh living and walking through a lot of pain a lot of heaviness a lot of difficulty a lot of god why god where are you you ever had those prayers you ever have those times you're like lord i'm i'm trying to do what i think you want me to do i feel called to be a parent and and you're it seems like i'm getting roadblock after roadblock problem after problem issue after issue because even when you're trying to do the right thing doesn't mean bad things don't happen so they they continue down the journey and a friend of theirs shows up one day and says hey we've i'm a lawyer and i i i know of a a little girl in in dallas uh who who is uh half latina and half uh white and she is wanting to be uh is uh her parents have made the bold courage decision to to find a forever home for her and and uh brandy's mom and dad were like yes i'll we'll jump on this and they came and they they beautifully brought this i mean this beautiful girl uh into their family and they were still wanting some more children so eight years later uh it took a while uh but the same uh lawyer comes to them and says hey uh it's south korea there's a number of children that are are being placed in in this pool if you will to be adopted but the waiting list is really really long and but but brandy now brandi's mom and dad are like yes we'll do it sign us up and they they jump on the waiting list but then the lawyer says hey just so you know we can get you to the front of the line and here's the here's the words he used it might make you feel a little bit uh made me cringe some this is brandy telling me the story but the lawyer said i can get you to the top of the line if you're okay taking a defective child man never label a child defective uh this is brandy that they ended up being connected with she was put in this pool she said for a few reasons one she was from a she's from a a fishing village her skin was darker so kind of she was not as appealing to to those in south korea and to uh some folks in the states she was put in an orphanage had seizures and had walked through so many different things and coming to find out the parents are like we don't care she ain't defective to us she's our daughter so they they bring her on over and raise her and they take it to the doctor in the beginning and and the doctor says because brandi was crying a ton a ton a ton a ton of time she's crying all the time just crying crying crying they take it to the doctor they find out that she actually has lost uh she's legally deaf the doctor says hey there's some things we can do and they say no no you know we're we're not going to do those things we're just going to pray actually that's what we're going to do we're going to pray and they started praying and praying and went back uh not too long later and the doctor said i don't know what happened his eyes are this huge i'm like your daughter can now hear i don't know what happened it was a miracle that took place in brandy's life but this this child that was uh that was labeled defective uh this is what brandy said i i love this she says she goes they my parents told me all the time that you know yes i i was adopted and they told me you're chosen you're chosen you're chosen but she goes like begin to grow up i realized they didn't take me in as their own i've always been their own let me show you this picture of of of brandy and now do i have that picture am i sure do i have that picture i asked my wife okay good there here's brandy and al uh leva that are behind me and they're little baby anderson i told you they're absolutely adorable but this family this beautiful young woman was adopted maybe you are or you have a friend or a loved one that's been adopted and today we're going to unwrap a passage of scripture that i think is going to be very very important to our identity is going to help push us forward and i think solve a lot of the the identity problems that we might be having a lot of the anxiety that we might be dealing with if you go again to romans chapter eight we're going to break down verse number 15. uh as as you're looking at it you can put the verse on the screen once again romans chapter 8 of verse number 15 says the spirit you receive does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again rather the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship or daughtership and by him we cry abba father i i need you to write this down if you're taking notes this is very very important the spirit of god doesn't make you slaves the spirit of god makes you sons and daughters the spirit of god doesn't make you slaves the spirit of god makes you sons and daughters as a matter of fact the bible here says he did not he did not give you a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear how many of you i i know we got a bunch of teenagers in the room and then i'm sure a bunch uh watching online we're trying to be very very uh wise with how we raise up our next generation of leaders okay cause they're gonna be running things in a little while we'll all be working for them before we know it right so be nice be nice to these these young people uh the reality is some of us were raised in churches where you were taught that god is so mad at you he's about to kill you at any moment if you screw up if you mess up there's a lightning bolt with your name on it and god can find you no matter where you are he'll kill you slowly there's some crazy stuff that was out there even when uh when i was growing up they would say things uh like if you're in the movie theater and jesus comes back he's leaving you behind on earth because you are in a movie theater there are things like if a woman was caught wearing pants or makeup i mean you were like the worst of the worst of the i almost said another word i was like no i can't say this in church [Laughter] man thank you god i want to say thank you for the filter that you just put over my mouth right there cause i would have i can't be that real in church right there were people that would just talk bad about tear down there is there's been some crazy things throughout the day and so many folks so many people it's no wonder they're not interested in following god because they don't like god and they don't think god likes them so people can try to tell you be holy be holy be holy be holy and you and i are like okay i'll be holy but i'm only trying to be holy not out of love i'm trying to be holy so i don't get hurt by god and that won't sustain you it will not keep you strong in your walk with god you will not be able to have a life-giving relationship how can you have a life-giving relationship with someone that you are afraid is going to kill you at any moment now i'm all i know god's all-powerful i know he's sovereign i'm not diminishing one ounce of his power i know who god is but i also i don't just know his power i also know his heart and i see here in scripture that the spirit does not make you a slave again to fear and if you're a follower of jesus and you are living in fear then you are not doing it right you're not doing it right you don't know the god that i know you're not walking how he would want you to walk you're not reading the scriptures properly if you think when you mess up you have to run from god then you're not reading it right if you think that every time you mess up god is not for you you're not reading the bible right if you're if you think ever god is waiting for you to screw up so that he can try to take something from you you're not reading it right the reality is the god of heaven is more for you than you could ever possibly imagine and the spirit you and i receive does not make us a slave again to fear so if you're living in fear you're not living in the place that god set up for you you're living in a place that you set up for yourself or that the enemy set up for you but i can promise you right now god did not set up that spot for you that is not the home or the apartment that he set aside for you the place that he set aside for you is a place called adoption to sonship or daughtership let me keep on going here let's keep on breaking this down for just a second there's a movie from way back in the day called the count of monte cristo this is an old movie oh movie anybody know this and this is an old movie and and i i like this movie uh but the guy the count of monte cristo he actually lived in prison for a very long time he lived in prison for so long and had to sleep on the floor in prison but he gets out of prison and comes and comes into all this money and he comes into all this money i mean he is ridiculously rich he's warren buffett jeff bezos kind of rich he just he has gold upon gold upon gold upon goat gold grill gold earrings gold necklace gold toes he's got gold everywhere but and he's living in a palace but when they come in to find him he's not sleeping on the bed he's actually sleeping on the floor because even though he had all that money he still saw himself as the prisoner he was still comfortable sleeping on the floor because he spent all those years sleeping on the floor but now he's coming to a new position but he has not made the full adjustment and i think there's so many of us that have come into a new position in our relationship with god we've become sons and daughters but we're still living like prisoners still thinking like prisoners still sleeping like prisons no wonder you're sleeping around all the time you don't even understand the worth and value that jesus christ put on you at the cross i guess i would sleep around too if i didn't know i was worth the very blood of jesus christ but since now i know what i'm worth it helps me live the way that god wants me to live [Applause] um there's this let me put up that put my greek word the greek word up for adoption here okay this is this is a greek word for adoption it's uh oh i just lost my notes god does god help me help me out here because i don't want to mess this up uh you say it like this uh healthy is how you say this word he or the see it's it's two words joined together one word means son the other word means to place this is the word for adoption saying i'm i'm taking a son and i'm putting him or i'm taking a daughter and i'm putting him or her in it in a place like and once i put you in a place that means you're not somewhere else this is i'm not trying to be too too deep here okay but if i'm right here i'm in a spot i'm in a place but if i move to here i'm no longer there i'm in a new place and i need us to understand that this is what christ did for every one of us this is what the spirit of god has done on the inside of us he has put you you were in a place yes you were in a place of loss you were in a place of brokenness you were in a place of sin you were in a place of being disconnected from god you're in a place where actually you are an enemy of god that that's where you and i were apart from jesus christ but when we say jesus i put my faith and my trust in you god picked you up from that place and he puts you in a whole nother place you are no longer where you used to be you're now in another spot and you might be thinking like you used to think but that's why you have to be transformed by the renewing of your mind that's why you got to stay in church and stay in community and stay in worship and keep on giving and keep on loving and keep on serving and doing the things that god has called us to do so that your mind can be changed because spiritually you're in a new spot paul here is using a legal term he's acquainted with roman law and he's using language that speaks to the legal process of adoption by which the chosen heir became entitled to all the property and civil status of the family he was being adopted into this my friends cannot be revoked it can't be taken away once the papers are signed it's done once the judge drops the gavel it's done once the ceremony happens it's done you might be able to get divorced from a husband or a wife but you cannot you cannot separate that which has been adopted you can't go back on it look it up yourself look up the roman laws of the day go back go all the way back you will find out when a slave was adopted into the family the rights were so secure for that slave their identity was changed forever this is the word the apostle paul uses but some of us still have a slave mentality instead of a child mentality a slave mentality says this slave says i'm here for what i do not who i am but a child mentality says i'm here for who i am not what i do so you're going to ask yourself the question do you think god loves you because of what you do or because of who you are and if you think he loves you because of what you do i'm telling you that's a slave mentality you're not thinking like a child and your your tank will run out you won't have the fire you need you won't have the strength you need you're just you're one either problem or promotion away from falling away let a problem come you're like well god must not be for me look at god with all i'm doing for you and look what you did did to me i'm done or a promotion comes something gets good in your life the guy you've been praying for the girl you've been praying for the job you've been praying for the school you've been praying for the opportunity you've been praying for the loan you've been praying for whatever it is it comes into your life and you're able to elevate and push your life forward and you say you know what i can do i can do it all by myself you're either our problem or promotion away if you think your relationship with god is based on what you do and not who you are okay slave mentality is my connection to god is my performance but a child mentality is my connection is my position i've been amazed at how um it can almost feel disrespectful how my kids are at times but it's not it's just they're my kids like you know kids you you have no privacy you're in the bathroom just trying to go go to the bathroom just come on parents you know i'm talking about you it's like just just give me a moment father's just so you know if you ever want to get a little break take your phone go into the john and just sit and just go i'm on my i'm in the bathroom but you have your phone you can get a good 15 minutes in there you don't even have to be going to the bathroom that's a little dad hack for you you need a little break but there's been plenty of times i've been in the bathroom and my kids it's a very vulnerable place to be we've all i mean you're uh dad can i have some ice cream so we're gonna do this right now what's gonna keep you want to keep this conversation go you don't see that there's something going on right here that i'd like to have done in private that they just keep on talking keep on talking keep on talking keep on talking because they understand they understand i'm a child that's my father you come into places bold when you understand that's my father you just you walk into spaces and you're like i'm supposed to be here because that's my father i i can ask for this because that's my father i just need us to understand that you have been adopted you've been brought in to the family it's legal it's done it's finished it can't be changed and you and i are can now walk in and say god i love you i need this oh god i love you i would like this and and jesus is not upset at you and i asking him for things but also understand that jesus is not also uh intimidated to ask you for things because you're his so i i'll be willing to ask my kids to do some things we might not be willing to ask you to do you know maybe it's the middle of the night i'm like hey give me some water you know just because i need some because i've been providing for you all this all this time wake my kids up out of a dead sleep asking make me some microwave popcorn why wouldn't i and i've seen times when my kids are like fine dad fine if they got food they got they got clothes they have a roof over their head they i mean go down the line right i gotta go down my all this stuff they have i asked just for a water and this is us with god he's providing every single thing that we need the breath in your lungs is from him the strength you have in your body is from him he's like tithe that's old testament lord let me become real theological real quick like oh i know the bible now i know the bible i need you to forgive hey just just share with them the same grace that i gave you i gotta go all the way downstairs to get that guy i gotta go all the way downstairs to get that talking adoption here i got another verse for you let me go to this verse ephesians ephesians chapter 1 ephesians chapter 1 verses 4 and 5 for he chose us in him before the creation of the world oh this is beautiful to be holy and blameless in his sight in love everybody say in love in love in love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through jesus christ in accordance with his pleasure and will i don't know where all the stuff got so twisted i also put it in the new living translation because i liked it's a little bit more everyday language and it says even before he made the world god loved us and chose 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 gave him great pleasure is this the god that you're following is this the one that you see from scripture because for some of us i'm getting to paint a picture for the first time for others of us i'm needing to dismantle some lies that you've had built up for years i'm needing to to get rid of some some distortion that you have believed for whatever reason uh you've probably heard the story of of the prodigal son if you haven't it's a great story it's found in luke chapter 15 jesus is sharing some parables he talks about a lost sheep he goes from a lost coin then he talks about a lost son that's not just actually one lost son there's actually two lost sons uh in that passage of scripture but one of the sons that we've heard about was the son that says hey dad give me all my inheritance he runs away he goes to vegas he spends everything that he has and one day he comes to his senses and he's like okay i'm coming home this is like robert downey jr this is kanye right there their eyes open it's like oh my goodness i've been acting crazy i'm coming home and the father sees the sun from a long way off and he runs to the sun then it gives his son like a ring and a robe and new sandals throws a party for the sun the whole thing is fantastic and wonderful now when that son left the house he did not stop being a son i'm going to say it like this you can walk away from intimacy but you cannot walk away from identity you can walk away from intimacy you can say god i don't want to be close anymore i want to go my own way i want to sleep around i want to drink as much as i want to drink i want to talk however i want to talk i don't want you to be in charge of my life i don't want it and you can walk away and you'll find yourself in a pig pen at some point in time and when you come to your senses and maybe it's today you will realize that you do not have to become a son or a daughter again you were a son and a daughter the entire time that you were doing your own thing i want to put it this way you cannot lose this relationship with god your behavior did not bring it your behavior cannot lose it this came through jesus christ that's how you were adopted i i got my one last verse and i'm all done here okay uh you've never some of us have never heard of this passive scripture it's in the bible though i'm not making it up it's a book called hosea and in hosea i'm going to read it to you okay because god asked this prophet to do something crazy when the lord began to speak through hosea the lord said to him go marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the lord so he married gomer she conceived the son go with me to hosea chapter 3 verse number 1 the lord said to me go show your love to your wife again though she is loved by another man and isn't adulterous love her as the lord loves the israelites though they turn to other gods this prophet was asked by god to go find a woman who was on the proverbial corner selling her body and was told marry her he marries her a chapter or two later she's out again in the streets selling her body and the lord says go find her again and bring her back she's your wife she has gone to do her own thing she has turned her back on you but you're still her husband and she's still your wife [Music] and this god is saying is a picture of you and i going our own way doing our own thing and god says i love you again i'll come after you again i'll find you again and even though you might be running around from man to man or man or woman to woman or woman or thing the thing the thing or problem the problem the problem or anxiety to anxiety to anxiety you're still mine and i'll come after you as many times as i need to come after you because your identity has never changed this is the gospel of jesus christ this is why you and i are secure in him this is why you and i can live lives of faith and humility and kindness and strength and be the leaders that god has called us to be [Music] i think this is a cure for a lot of the problems that might be in our heads i'm just praying that we north online in this room anywhere around the world would believe this by faith i'm praying that you would not think this is just some good stuff that a preacher thought up i'm praying that your heart would come alive that this is the truth of the gospel of jesus christ and it's for every single one of us if you're anywhere in this room around the world by your heads for just a moment if you would not mind i want you to bow your head i just want you to pause for a second and if you would say right now your heart is not in god's hands he is not first in your life something else someone else is maybe there was a time you were following god but you slipped away you've gone another direction or maybe you've never even heard this message before and i'm talking right now and you're like this is for me i don't want to be on my own path i want to be on his path so if that's you you've never given your heart and your life to christ or at one point in time you did and you slipped away and today you're ready to give your heart to jesus i'm going to ask you do something simple but something bold i literally on the count of three i want you to throw your hand in the air and say yes that's me ready one two three just throw your hand in the air you're saying yes that's me i want to give my heart i want to give my life to jesus christ we got friends all over right now saying i don't want to go my own way i want to go his way this is an awesome moment sons and daughters coming home i'm going to ask everyone to do me a favor put your hand over your heart if you would not mind and i'm going to ask you to repeat this prayer out loud after me say dear jesus i ask you to forgive me of all my sins i admit i've made mistakes and today i give you my heart i give you my life give me the power to live for you in jesus name amen and amen can we lift our heads up clap our hands with enthusiasm and excitement man we celebrate all that god is doing amen amen hey if you just gave your heart and life to jesus christ i want to encourage you go ahead and please let us know you can text jesus first one word to 97 000 we would love to follow up with you and give you some very practical next steps to push you forward in your walk with christ yeah and if you text that number your next step is growth track and if you've been on the mission and on the journey with us for a while you still haven't gone through growth check this is your next step as well we want you to tune in on wednesdays at 8pm we have a seat just for you we're waiting for you now church we talked about this earlier but generosity is actually something that we celebrate and so i do want to challenge you hey if you haven't joined with us in giving go ahead and join with us there are four different ways that you can give you can give online we have our qr code that we'll put on the screen you can give through the app and you can also text to give but no matter which way you choose to give honestly there are lives being impacted because of your generosity so thank you so much thank you so much and family we love you so so much yeah we love y'all the best week ever god bless see you soon

Channel: Shoreline City Church

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Length: 39min 5sec (2345 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 15 2021