September 19, 2021 | Dr. Jack Graham | Good Good Father | Romans 8:12-17 | Sunday Service

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] great i know people are still coming in we're starting just a little bit early today because we have one of our our best opportunities and ministries and that is with our newborns and youngest babes who are being dedicated to the lord today by their parents it's really a parent-child dedication so it's an opportunity for our parents to bring their little ones here and offer them in service to the lord so rhonda britton who is our minister with pre-school children is going to lead us in this wonderful time of parent-child dedication it is such a joy to be here doing this with all of these families this morning first we have austin and christina butts and they are dedicating charlotte gayle next we have eric and brianna cannon and they are dedicating river wayne [Applause] andrew and sophia emery are dedicating shayna alyssa scott and christina giordano are dedicating finley elizabeth [Applause] lee and shelby hirsch are dedicating parker catherine [Applause] samuel and marina and contaminate are dedicating ryan akil samuel [Applause] alex and yamarai katsamba are dedicating alex angels caleb and cassie moore are dedicating ava kate cipano and barbara neuford are dedicating janie allen [Applause] solomon and jessica patilla are dedicating luke nehemiah ryan and shay strasberger are dedicating brecken lee adam and ali swope are dedicating mclean elizabeth [Applause] dylan and courtney townsend are dedicating jackson blake [Applause] and ryan and kate white are dedicating stella grace can you give all of them a hand we're so excited well this is always a wonderful opportunity for us to embrace these and to pray for our families we're so grateful for the children's ministry of prestonwood and we're here as a church family for you and so glad that you are starting early by bringing your children and uh bringing yourselves uh into this place and among this people of god as i as i view it there are three primary responsibilities things that we owe our children and as i stated earlier this is really your dedication parents i mean you can tell your children about that about it and show them the photos but this is for you in the sense that we owe our children first and foremost our example our example not do as i say first but say but but do what show what i do and live the life that god has called you to live in front of your children and that you would experience christ in your own life and that you would be able to have this to share with your children the right example as the apostle paul said that follow me as i follow christ that you would be able to say to your children as we follow jesus mom and dad that you can follow us and meet jesus and it's our prayer that by your example and by your teaching and training and your witness that your children will come to know jesus early on in their life where they'll have an entire lifetime to live for him the best time a child can come to christ as soon as they hear the gospel and understand they need the lord so god bless your children and their example we also owe them training teaching and training bring up your children the bible says in the nurture and the admonition of the lord and that simply means that as parents we are to teach them god's word and to train them in discipleship as a parent you are a disciple maker and the disciple is your child and it's your responsibility again the church will be with you and others will help and assist you got wonderful grandparents many of your lives that are going to assist in that and grandparents that's a great opportunity for you to invest in your grandchildren but mom and dad this is on you to teach your children well and train them up to know and love and follow jesus so make that a commitment your example your training of teaching and then i left it last not because it's least but because it's so important i want to emphasize it pray for your children there's there's no greater thing that you can do for a child than to pray for that child no doubt you prayed for the child to get here to be here you asked god to give you a child and now god answered the prayer and you have this beautiful babe and child in your arms and now the prayers are on for the rest of that child's life all of us who are parents adult parents with adult children we never stop praying for our children do we no we always pray and you will as well but as you are praying for them pray about their future pray about their prayers pray about even i know deb and i prayed about the persons that our children would marry and god gave us great answers to that prayer and so start praying now be on your knees and not only pray for your child but one last thing pray over your child pray over them and with them i can tell you a lot of times i went in our children's bedrooms while they were asleep and just prayed over them prayed god's word and god's promises over their lives and we've seen god fulfill those promises in so many ways so your example and your teaching and your training and your prayers so let's pray right now thank you lord for these beautiful little ones you said let the little children come to me for as such is the kingdom of heaven bless these babes and lord these parents moms and dads who are saying on this day lord we dedicate ourselves our family our children to you watch over them protect them help them to grow like jesus grew up in wisdom and stature and in favor with god and man and may each one of these parents be strong in their faith strong in their family and strong as a parent doing your will in jesus name amen and amen all right church let's give them another hand and say welcome you know you know today we have uh our great choir the worship choir in the loft they're always great seeing them i was up with them yesterday we've already started on the gift of christmas and had a great time did we uh at the gift of christmas uh start up and add it in to our great choir our our students today our student choir and you know i'm i i'm looking at uh i'm looking at some of these students that are now teenagers and i i actually dedicated them and their parents to in a service just like this not too long ago that's one of the thrills about being a pastor somewhere for a long time you get to see this from life to life children to child children and so we're really glad these students are here and with our worship choir are you ready to worship this morning are you ready to give it your best all right let's stand up then and this choir is going to rock it i want us to do this can we start this we're going to continue to celebrate this morning come on let's sing this out together we're going to worship him this morning i'm always saying i can't count and i can't count the times i've called your name some broken night and you showed up and patched me up like you do every [Music] there ain't no way you'll ever let me down come on we sing together good god all right [Applause] [Music] without your mercy so i keep praising your name at the top of my lawn tell me is he good he's good tell me for is is good god almighty you say your love goes on forever that your mercy never stops so why would i assume you'd be somebody that you're like the sun in the morning i know you're gonna be there every day so what on earth could make me be afraid [Music] [Applause] cause i [Music] is praise him in the morning praise him in the noon time praise him when the sun goes down they love them in the morning love them in the noon time i love them and the sun goes down good god all right i hope you'll find me [Music] so i keep praising your name at the top is [Music] [Applause] with jesus in the lord and jesus in the new time jesus when the sun goes down jesus in the morning jesus in the noon time jesus when the sun goes down amen [Music] that's why we gather right we worship the almighty god we lift his name high we make him famous this thing there has never been [Music] there has never been [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] love so true [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] how great is your love for us [Music] amen good morning preston wood welcome to church how are you doing we're so glad that you're here it is good to be here there is nowhere better for you to be than where you are right here right now we are excited excited to hear what god's gonna say to us this morning we're excited to to breathe uh our words back to him through prayer and through worship but most importantly we're just excited to experience him and hang out with him and be with him this morning if you're a guest welcome we're so glad you're here you're a part of our family today we do want to get to know you a little bit so right after our service outside these doors you'll see a table with a sign that says guest central we want you to stop there and whoever's behind that table just tell them hey it's my first time we want to get to know you a little bit but we also have a gift for you just for hanging out with us this morning we're back in our essential gospel series this morning our pastor is walking us through the book of romans and we are excited to hear from our dear friend sheila walsh here in just a little bit her new book it's always a blessing to have her here and like pastor said earlier of course every single weekend we're joined by our incredible adult choir and orchestra but today is special because we get to hang out with our students on either side as well it's always a special day whenever we get to worship with him so let's continue in worship as we make god our focus as we lift his name high we worship the king of kings and the lord of [Music] lords we were waiting without hope without light till from heaven you came running there was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the law and prophets to a virgin came the word from a throne of endless glory to a cradle in the dirt praise the father praise the son praise the spirit three in one god of glory man [Music] of kings to reveal the kingdom coming and [Music] to redeem the whole creation you did not despise the cross for even in your suffering you saw to the other side knowing this was our salvation jesus we sing christ the father praise the father praise the son praise the spirit [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] till that stone was moved for good for the lamb had conquered death and the dead rose from their toes and the angel stood for the souls of all who come to the father are restored and the church of christ was born this gospel truth shall not faith the love of jesus christ [Applause] [Music] god of glory [Music] [Applause] [Music] praise forever [Applause] [Applause] [Music] praise forever [Applause] [Music] praise forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh thank you please be seated wonderful worship this morning and again so glad that you're here and welcome to all of you who are online and sheila walsh we're really glad that you are here uh sheila is well known to presta wood she and barry are active members here along with their son christian who's actually in graduate school now and so that's a great family and you got a couple of dogs that you love as well and uh it's great to have sheila here because really she's everywhere in the name of christ all over certainly america and canada and around the world as a communicator a bible teacher and author and uh sheila we consider you of course a kind of emissary a missionary for us as you're going speaking to groups everywhere churches and we're so thankful for you and grateful for your life and your testimony she's the author of multiple books selling over five million uh copies uh she is the co-host on life today with james and betty robinson a 100 million up to 100 million viewers on that so what a life but it hasn't always been easy has it and that's why you wrote for all of us a book called holding on when you want to let go clinging to hope when life is falling apart so i know all of your books are you know are personal and and but what was your passion on this one sheila honestly i think this is probably the most personal book i have written um i've told before that in 1992 i was hospitalized for clinical depression but i was really i was doing well in that path but then when covert hit i found myself spiraling again and i found myself waking up with such a heaviness each morning wondering lord what is going on so i began to ask the holy spirit how do i live in these days i knew how to live when life was normal but how do we live in the midst of this and i remember ruth graham billy's wife who was kind of my spiritual mentor saying to me once when you're researching or you're writing go as far back as you can in the faith and so i found this guy called athanasius in the 4th century who said whereas most of scripture speaks to us the psalms speak for us they give us a language of lament it gives the language of praise so i've begun this habit which i do every day now i go out onto the little balcony of our town home and i read three psalms out loud it is so good for your ears to hear what your eyes are reading and it's like a declaration of what we believe to be true no matter how we feel i i believe in in declaration and proclamation obviously i'm a preacher but on a personal level several weeks ago in our roman series i talked about making that declaration who you are in christ and reading these psalms out loud and declaring them as all the scripture is so very powerful also writing the words of scripture uh as you're journaling and if you don't know what to journal journal the scripture write the scriptures down i know our friend david jeremiah right now is encouraging as he does for people to write the scripture and then maybe read it out loud as well but it is so very important because as you discussed in this book there are a lot of lies out there lies that we tell ourselves lies that satan tells us and this book is so very helpful because it counteracts the lies and and how did you do this how what what are the lies and and how do we how do we defeat the lies and satan himself when he attacks us i really wanted to write a guidebook of hope you know to kind of send a tidal wave of hope in people's direction because it's not just depression everyone has some kind of struggle whether it's loneliness or anxiety and so i i really wanted to encourage people to re-wallpaper your mind with the word of god and you know sometimes you have to scrape what's on the walls off and then re-paper so descriptive yeah and i think there's just something about and then when i started putting on the full armor of god and i discovered that that little word for the sword of the spirit um it really is referring to phrases from the word of god they don't it's not the word logos it's the word rhema so find those verses in scripture with which you combat the lies of the enemy because god's word is alive yes i'm going to be talking about that in the message today and i'm also going to be talking about abba father because we are the children of god and we we run to our father who is our abba our daddy and it's such a great passage of scripture in romans 8 and sheila i know just your relationship with your father the death of your father you've spoken openly about this and yet you have a heavenly father who has sustained you as i have a heavenly father all these years yeah and i think that's one of the most beautiful things so personal and intimate and i had to fight hard to see god that way my father committed suicide when i was five and because that was such a shame back in those days my dad was buried in an unmarked grave and we left town and our family never talked about it again we went on as if nothing had happened and so all the years i've wondered where was my father buried but i didn't ever want to ask my mom or my sister because it was kind of a thing we don't talk about this but a couple years ago my sister was staying with me and she said to me one evening is there anything i could ever do for you which is not the kind of question she would ask and i hesitated for a moment i said francis could you help me find where our dad is buried and she said sheila i know where he's buried i have the papers so we were able to put a stone up in his honor knowing he's at home with the lord but acknowledging that this there's no shame in mental illness and so one of the things i love is when jesus was in the greatest pain of his life on that night when he was betrayed he cried out abba father he processed his pain and the presence of the lord so often when we're in pain or we're falling and we feel we've messed up god is the god of the messer upper and you can process your pain in his presence and you're going to hear it that's right you're going to hear it in just the moment he's a chain breaker he's the waymaker and just in closing sheila help us understand what to you what is hope this book is is filled with with hope tell us about that what is hope i just want you to know that god holds all the missing pieces of your story he's still writing your story and even when you look at the book of job which is so hard and then the last chapter job gets everything restored we don't always get everything restored but god always writes the last chapter he does and he takes our suffering and he redeems it and he restores us and the light in the message today you're going to be talking about we're going to be talking about this sonship that we are the sons and daughters of god but that does include suffering and god processes pain and suffering in our lives god has children that he loves and loves intimately and he has no children without pain and suffering but he is our abba father to hold us near and dear to him and sheila writes about that so beautifully in this book she's going to be by the bookstore in the atrium area right after this service and i hope you'll go by and get a copy of this book and let's pray sheila it releases on tuesday so we're getting an advanced opportunity let's pray sheila that so many people more who are hurting who feel helpless and even hopeless will get this message of hope in their lives thank you pastor god bless you thank you [Applause] uh we are now turning the corner to fall aren't we in fact this week is the fall equinox and equinox and this i think it's rolling in wednesday cooler temperatures to come with it so that would be great and and with that fall before we say goodbye to summer i want to thank you preston wood for your generosity over these summer months we began with our summer giving plan and it really wasn't a plan just kind of kept everyone on notice that in summer we're doing a lot of things and the generosity is needed your tithes your offerings so we started on memorial day weekend and right through labor day weekend and i want to show you what happened we had a goal of 10 million 750 000 and the actual that you gave 11 million 567 652 that's almost eight percent above the goal so uh i just love you for this and i know god loves a cheerful giver and for your cheerfulness and your commitment and your determination uh to be a part of what god is doing here to serve the lord with your giving of your time and of course your gifts and service to the lord your spiritual gifts and service and then financially that you're supporting us at this level so i just encourage you all of us to be tithers and beyond the tithe to give sacrificially right behind us here north side of our campus the joe perry sports ministry uh park and and sports sportscenter is going up and uh it's it's incredible maybe you want to take a drive around it when you can we're going to have some of the finest uh uh experience playing field one of the best playing fields in all of dallas for our kids i was up here yesterday as well had about three or four grandkids kids playing soccer and the kids were everywhere parents were everywhere it's such a wonderful thing so supporting the joe perry project and and that project and all that we do whether it's powerpoint whether it is our pregnancy center they're doing such a great great job and you are always supportive of these attendant ministries to the ministry of the church but this budget giving that's the engine that keeps everything going so thank you for doing that before we continue to worship and the message from god's word just watch the screen for a little heads up and remind her about the fall 2021 has been a year of redemption acts 3 19 tells us that when we turn to the lord we will be sent times of refreshment we have seen this firsthand at prestonwood as god continues to renew our mission and ministry but we are not done yet through your generous giving our ministries and ministry partners continue to grow the kingdom of god in person or online more and more people are hearing the gospel and beginning their relationship with christ but we are not done yet we are still reaching still moving still working the year is not finished and neither are we life group bible studies are still thriving with more and more new groups added men's and women's ministries are still creating community kids ministry and prestonwood students are still writing their stories our midweek connection service still reaches an online audience of thousands and christmas is still coming we ask that you continue to pray bold prayers as the year draws to a close we encourage you to give generously so that we may finish strong you can give through our website the prestonwood app at our on-campus giving kiosks our mailing address or by simply texting the word give to 7478 the harvest is plentiful and we here at prestonwood are the laborers there is still much to do and we are not done yet [Music] if you've been walking the same old road for miles and miles if you'd be hearing the same old voice tell the same one lies [Music] if you're trying to feel the same old hoes inside there's a better life there's a better life if you've got pain he's a pain taker if you feel lost he's away maker if you need freedom a saving he's a prison shaking savior if you've got [Music] we've all searched [Music] [Music] there's a better life [Music] [Music] [Music] breaker [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] somebody testifies [Music] testified [Music] he's [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you [Music] he's [Music] [Applause] all right take your bibles and turn with me to the eighth chapter of romans the great eighth the eighth chapter of romans this is our essential gospel series in times like these we need to know the good news of jesus christ and how he can change everything the change breaker the chain breaker the way maker he's all that we need and the title of this message today from romans chapter 8 verses 14 through 17 is good good father i read recently that 67 percent of professing christians people who say i'm born again so-called evangelical christians 67 said that the holy spirit is not a real living being so between 60 and 70 many who are church goers church members are saying that the holy spirit is a symbol a symbol of god's power or maybe a symbol of god's presence or perhaps a symbol of uh of his influence and it if you will a force in people's lives nothing could be more counter to the scriptures than that idea because god is father god his son and god is holy spirit he is the great three in one and the holy spirit is god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit it certainly must grieve the spirit of god to be neglected or to be misunderstood or misrepresented it certainly must quench the holy spirit to suggest in any way that he is not real that he is not present that he is not alive here's a quote from a great theologian religion is what happens when god has left the building that great theologian is bono i don't know about a theologian but he got that right religion is what happens when the holy spirit the presence of god has left the building and that's why so many christians are defeated and so many churches are dying no presence no life no leadership and power of the holy spirit so romans chapter 8 this blessed chapter one of the great chapters some say the greatest chapter in all the bible if you could compare them this eighth chapter of romans is all about this life in the spirit in the spirit and the presence of god we've seen that this presence of jesus is alive in us that we are walking in the spirit that his spirit is with us always verse 14 says for all who are led by the spirit of god are sons of god for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry abba father the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of god and if children then heirs heirs of god and fellow heirs with christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified in him yes pain is always a part of the process of walking in the spirit and being led by the spirit of god right in the heart of this passage are these words that we now cry abba father that's the title he's a good good father i guess i could have entitled it good god almighty the holy spirit the fact that we are led by the spirit who assures us of our salvation that we are a part of the forever family of god that we are the sons and daughters the children of god who has adopted us into his family forever the fact is you have the holy spirit if you have christ in your life he said as many as are led by the spirit these are the children of god he earlier said in romans chapter 8 paul that is that if anyone has not the spirit he is none of his so if you do not have the holy spirit in your life you do not belong to god you have the holy spirit if you are a christian if you are a believer a follower in jesus and of course the question that we raised the last time that we were together is this does the holy spirit have you you have the holy spirit he is present in your life but the question is is he persuasive is he powerful in your life i know that christ is in me because his spirit testifies to the reality and the security of his love and his grace in my life now just to review quickly in chapter eight we discovered that because of the work of the holy spirit in christ in this salvation we are no longer condemned by sin we are now no longer condemned no sin no shame no longer living under the condemnation of the law are of life and the beatdowns of life without god we are no longer in condemnation by sin and we are no longer therefore controlled by sin as we've walked our way through romans 8 we've discovered that we are no longer to be dominated we don't have to live in the old life that that the flesh who stays which stays with us is overcome by by the spirit of god as we yield to the spirit as we feed the presence of the spirit in our lives so we are no longer controlled we are no longer condemned and what we're going to see today is therefore we no longer continue in sin because we are led by the spirit the holy spirit is real and he is relevant to your life today and every day if you are a follower of jesus so the first thing that i want to show you in this text is that we are led by the spirit that's 14 verse 14. as many as are led by the spirit of god these are the children of god because we are his children therefore we live by his leading now the primary focus here of being led of the spirit is not the general direction of our lives certainly that's included in the work and ministry of the spirit in us but primarily this is talking about what he's been saying earlier in that we are now being sanctified we are no longer continuing in sin now we are being led by the spirit we are not led around by the flesh we are now led by the spirit he leads us and i want to mention five ways very quickly because we don't have that much time but you may want to write these down because these are five ways that we are led by the spirit as the children of god number one connecting us the spirit of god connects us to god his spirit the spirit of christ enables us to know god to have a personal relationship with christ himself it was the apostle paul who said it is no longer i but christ who lives in me so we have this relationship with god because of this work and witness of the holy spirit within us the holy spirit leads us by connecting us in just a few moments i'm going to be giving an open invitation for you to receive christ as your savior the holy spirit is already moving and already leading someone shared christ with you you've been reading the scriptures you've been searching god this uh searching for the meaning of life and and the holy spirit has been moving and working and maybe even striving with you and his purpose is to connect you with god and you're going to have that opportunity to make that connection because the holy spirit is moving in your life connecting us secondly perfecting us the holy spirit leads us by perfecting us philippians 1 6 says he who began the good work in you will perfect it we'll perform it until the day of jesus christ that's the that's the idea of maturing perfecting us making us more and more like jesus as i was saying the whole point of the sanctification or romans chapter 8 is the sanctifying work of the holy spirit in our lives so he is perfecting us maturing us making us more like jesus more christ-like more god-like this is the work of the holy spirit this is not our work i can't but he can thirdly the holy spirit leads us not only by connecting us and perfecting us but by protecting us and what i mean by that is the holy spirit guides us and guards us his living presence around us protects us from evil and the evil one we are confident that he is keeping us and protecting us and that there is this security of our faith in christ because this is the work of the holy spirit i can't hold on but he holds on to me the perfecting work and the protecting work in coming weeks we're going to be talking about the eternal security of the believer in christ he who began this work in you will perfect it he will perform it and he's going to be protecting you and keeping you all the way fourthly correcting us correcting us it is the holy spirit who may prod as you're reading the scripture and provoke you to see your own sin and to confess it and to turn from it it is the work of the holy spirit to to show you purity of life and holiness of life and therefore correcting us is in one sense like coaching us you know a good coach never berates his players or her players but a good coach is correcting in the white right way i i can remember many times when i was playing sports that that a good coach a a really good coach shows you the way to make the play not just what you didn't do wrong and so he's correcting us he's coaching us and the holy spirit right now may be moving in your life because there are areas of your life that are weak or wounded or willfully disobedience to god and the holy spirit is convicting you of that and calling you to repentance correcting as many as are led by the spirit of god these are the children of god and then of course directing us directing us the scripture says in the book of proverbs you will show me the path of life in your presence his fullness of joy at your right hand are pleasures forevermore and god in his presence by his spirit is directing us to know and to do his will so the holy spirit is speaking the question is are you listening now there are two primary ways that god speaks to us as believers objectively god speaks to us through his word inspired by the holy spirit so when you are reading the scriptures and meditating upon god's word this is the spirit of god speaking to you but the holy spirit also not only leads us objectively this is inspiration and revelation from god but he leads us subjectively inwardly internally and that's called illumination got it say got it good i don't have to say it again god has revealed himself he does it in creation he does it in nature the wonders of what he has made and is making you see it in the birth of a child the beauty of new life so many ways god reveals himself naturally but then god has revealed himself perfectly in jesus christ jesus said you have seen me you have seen the father he is the living word of god god showed up in the person of christ and the word was with us god was with us that's jesus so that's revelation and then inspiration is god has preserved his word has protected his word he has uh he has prompted us to know and love his word and therefore this is inspiration but is possible are you with me it's possible to hear the word of god even right now to hear it preached and to read the word of god it's words the living word of god it's possible to read it to hear it even to know it at some level and yet not hear the spirit speaking in god's word what did jesus say to the churches in revelation he that hath ears to hear listen to what the spirit says so always when you're opening god's word ask god to open your heart to what the spirit is saying and the spirit is speaking and the holy spirit speaks internally now what god says internally by his spirit will always square with scripture but there are many things that god may show us to do that the spirit may lead us to do where there's no verse and number on it who am i to marry should i take that job or not i should i walk across the street and share christ with my neighbor well that's actually verse and number we're all told to be witnesses but there are many examples i i could give you where we don't know what to do and there and there's no verse but but what we have are principles in god's words and precepts in god's words and promises in god's word and these principles are used by the holy spirit to give us wisdom to know and do god's will in our lives the questions that i get most often as a pastor over all these years is something about what should i do next what should i do now where should i go who should i marry what's god's will for my life well god the holy spirit will leave you to know and do his will assuming that you want to do it don't expect god to show you his will and then you debate or decide whether you're going to do it or not if you sincerely say not my will but your will be done o god then the spirit of god will show you when the obvious answer is going to be yes when the inclination is yes i'm not saying they're not struggles at times and and at times we wrestle with things to get through it to make sure and to know but the fact is if you will listen the holy spirit is speaking to you remember this is a believer's benefit the spirit of god is in you and he's not silent he often speaks with a still small voice with a whisper with a nudge with a prompting you'll hear a voice as the psalmist said behind you saying this is the way walk in it i can testify that through the years that the lord has led me all the way i didn't always understand the path but by god's grace he enabled me to take the path and when i got off track he got me back on because the holy spirit has promised to lead us all the way to glory but you know what needs to happen you have to be willing to turn off your technology to shut off the noise and the screens and the racket and find a quiet place and give god time to speak to you because i assure you he will speak to you if you're listening i have a wonderful friend by the name of bob bodine bob is is uh a he is a head of a great search firm and uh but he's written books and wonderful christian he's written a book uh we've talked about it in the past bob has been here to talk about the two chairs and bob uh advises christians to to get a chair one for you and one for jesus and to have a conversation every day as the priority the first thing of your day the first part of your day not giving god the leftovers when we fall exhausted at night it's good to pray at night before we go to sleep but start your day and he does this visual he literally sits in a chair and with an open chair representing the spirit of christ he listens to god all informed by scripture all influenced of course by the word of god squaring up with scripture but when we talk to god like this he's no longer distant bob advises you to ask when people are in trouble to to ask yourself these questions does god know your situation does he what you're going through does god know your situation does he yes he does second question is is it too hard for god is your situation too hard for god and then thirdly does god have a plan and a purpose for your life so when you ask and answer those questions based upon scripture the answer is yes yes yes bob has written a book called the power of who it's about connection and networking and all the rest but the greatest who is the holy who the holy spirit who leads us [Music] when we listen he prompts he nudges he influences he engages he leads us from deep within knowing and doing the will of god is your desire if you love him and want to obey him the psalmist said i delight to do your will on god oh god you were made on purpose and for a purpose so it's important to listen to god and let god lead you it's important that you don't get ahead of god god sometimes directs us with delays and sometimes denials and other times detours and even dead ends but stay in step with the spirit walk in the spirit mark batterson said this nothing slows us down like getting ahead of god i like that nothing slows us down ask moses who spent 40 years on the backside of the desert because he got ahead of god the bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the lord this is psalm 37 23-24 the steps of a good man are ordered by the lord a righteous man or woman god is orchestrating and organizing and ordering our steps so stay in step with him knowing that if you fall down or slip up that he's going to pick you up at times even carry you but his spirit is leading you always always always secondly we are liberated by the spirit we are liberated by the spirit and that's the scripture which we just read which says verse 15 i'm reading this now in the new living so that you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves instead you receive god's spirit when he adopted you as his own children now we call him abba father you are now liberated set free because the spirit is not the spirit of fear but the spirit of love and power and the sound mind as the scripture says and therefore because we have life and we are liberated from our past we are liberated and pray in the presence from the power and the clutches of sin and satan we are no longer slaves we are sons and daughters of god this is one of the most brilliant and beautiful scriptures in all of the word of god no longer slaves god is father and you have been elevated and lifted to this status of being an adopted child of god we're told in the scriptures that we are born again unto this living hope jesus said you must be born again so one picture of our becoming a child of god a child of the father is that we are born again like infants getting a brand new life but here adoption is different it takes a different turn a different twist if you will because adoption is speaking of an adult child here it is speaking of a fully adopted child f.f bruce said this of the great bible scholar the term adoption may smack somewhat of artificiality in our ears but in the first century a.d an adopted son was a son deliberately chosen by his adoptive father to perpetuate his name and inherit his estate he was no wit inferior in status to a son born in the ordinary course of nature and might well enjoy the father's affection more fully and reproduce the father's character more worthily so look at it this way it is in our adoptions as sons and daughters of god that our god becomes a filial a father to us strengthening us as his children that he is no longer distant or far away one of the problems that people have today maybe you walked in here with this problem is that god seems far away this might be a result of the last months in your life god seems distant where are you god where is god in the darkness when we can't see him the invisible invincible internal work of the spirit is to bring god up close and personal to you so that we cry out abba father which is aramaic abba for daddy it's a diminutive for father abba if if you travel in the middle east today you will hear children chasing their daddies saying abba abba abba it's the word jesus taught his disciples to use when they prayed and all of us in the model prayer our abba father hallowed be your name it was on the lips of jesus in the garden and the great struggle and suffering presenting himself willingly to the cross when he said abba father if there be any way let this cup pass from me so the same watch this connection communion that jesus himself has with the father in prayer he gives to us as a blessing as the benefit of knowing him and calling him abba father sometimes a child runs to a parent with tears abba abba abba but here the inclination for me is to say this is a bold declaration this is a bold declaration abba abba abba because we can come boldly to the throne of grace boldly into the presence of god and in closing he says this that we are assured of this by the spirit for verses 16 and 17 says the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of god look i know that i know that i know that i know that the spirit of god the spirit of jesus is in my life i know that i'm saved do you know this you know it if the spirit of god is living in you because the spirit of god is testifying in your spirit that you are the child of god you know it some people think you could have salvation and not even know it well that means you could lose it and never miss it right no you know it and you are assured for heaven as if you were already there because the word of god says that his spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are heirs heirs of the father and joint heirs we share this sonship with jesus now does it get any better than that does it get any better than knowing that our future is secure because our father has given us the inheritance of his son and then sonship we are enriched by this we are elevated by this the spirit lifts us in this so in that sense we are led by the spirit and we are liberated by the spirit and we are lifted by the spirit into the very presence of god because we know we know that we are a child of the king we are a child of god and because you are a child of god live like it love like it give your life to follow him you're abba father if you notice that that secularists people who don't know our god never call god father they may say oh god but we call him father because we know him and we know he loves us that's who he is and that's who i am a child of god would you bow your heads with me in prayer every head bowed in every eye closed i know we'll want to be praying for this one who's become ill in the service but would you just please help me focus right now on what the spirit is saying in this service what he is saying to you you know not everyone is a child of god the bible spoke of those whose father was the devil religion doesn't make you a child of god going to church doesn't make you a child of god god is your father through jesus christ as many as received him jesus said to them gave you the right to be called the children of god so have you received christ are you a child of god if not pray this prayer right now lord jesus i invite you to come into my life father abba i ask you to forgive me of my sin and to change my heart and make me your child would you just pray that watching on your screen somewhere right here in this room the spirit of god is at work in your life witnessing to to to this what the holy spirit is saying to you right now is that preacher is telling you the truth the holy spirit is saying that preacher is right you need jesus in your life so would you say lord jesus come into my life make me your child forgive all my sins i don't want to live in sin and shame any longer i want to live as a son no longer enslaved but a child of god and if you pray that prayer thank him for hearing you because the spirit of god is making the connection right now and you can know that what you're doing is for real and forever because this isn't this isn't the work of man this is the work of god in your life and then pray that you would have the courage by god's strength and help by the spirit's power to live the christian life as long as you live until he comes for you in just a moment we're going to give a public invitation as we always do and i'm going to invite you to come forward and openly profess your faith in christ the ministers of our church are going to be here on the lower level right up here front with me and then up in the balcony on the landing there and we're here to receive you just say i i prayed that prayer i'm inviting christ into my life today you may not you certainly don't have all the answers and we don't have all the answers but we'll take an open bible and answer any questions that you might have you can walk out of here for sure knowing and here's here's the thing if you don't know that you've settled this if you don't know for certain that you have eternal life if you don't know if you don't have this blessed assurance in your life this certainty that if you were to die today that you would go to heaven settle that today come forward let us help you with that decision let us help you with your doubt so that you can know that you know that christ is in your life and that you're on your way to be with him one day some of you need baptism believers baptism why don't you come forward today led by the spirit to obey him in believer's baptism some of you have been praying about your church home lord help me know and do your will regarding my church membership and my church commitment it's amazing to me that some people today don't have the idea that church commitment's not important you know it's important the spirit of god is showing you how important it is for you to be an active accountable member of a local church and if god is leading you to be a part of preston would come today lead the way the spirit of god has spoken to you leading you prompting you nudging you to make this decision for christ and your family or just you today so lord we give you this time of decision may your holy spirit move in every life drawing unto yourself all who are believing and receiving and responding and obeying for we pray in jesus name amen thank you for joining us for worship at prestonwood as you heard earlier if you made a decision for christ please text jesus to 74788 we would love to connect with you and give you these great resources to help you grow in your faith one is a new believer's bible with helpful notes to help you study god's word the other is a book by pastor jack graham on the next steps to take as you pursue this new life in christ as we close i'd like to thank you for your faithful giving to support prestonwood and the work god is doing through our ministries if you would like to give text word give to 747 7478 or visit prestonwood.org give it's been a joy worshiping with you and we look forward to seeing you again soon

Channel: Prestonwood Baptist Church

Views: 327

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: YouTube, Prestonwood, Baptist, Church, Non-Profit, Ministry, Ministries, Jack Graham, Jack, Graham, PowerPoint, PPT, PowerPoint with Jack Graham, Dallas, Texas, Jesus, Christ, Bible, PBC, USA, America, Media, TV, Daystar, TBN

Id: ePVp0dx13_0

Length: 73min 18sec (4398 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 21 2021