Every Christian is a son or a daughter of God, every person who's been born again is a son or daughter of God, but we don't always think like a son or a daughter of God. We often think like a slave. We think like a servant. And I'm not talking about being a servant. Everyone should be a servant because we're grateful for what God's done in our life. I want to serve because I love what I love what Jesus has done. I'm thankful for his love in my life, his goodness in my life. And it is I'm more than happy to serve because I'm so blessed to be a part of his family and to be a part of his kingdom. But I don't. But I don't serve so that God will be pleased with me. I don't serve so that I can get something from God. I don't serve so that I can be promoted. I serve because I'm thankful and I'm and I love him. I love him. Therefore I serve him. But there are people who can serve without loving. But you can't love without serving. If you love, you'll eventually serve. And it reminds me and I'll show you where I'm going with this in a moment, because we have a faulty mentality. Remember, when you have a wrong concept of God and a wrong concept of yourself, three things will happen. When you have a wrong concept of God, you will you will not be able to trust God. You will not expect good from God every day and you will not introduce others to him, because if you have a wrong concept of him, if you just think he's the sovereign lord, the great king, the great God, if you see him theologically as this this great entity, but you don't understand that he is your father. He is above father, daddy, father. When you don't know him as your heavenly father, you won't want to introduce people to him when you don't know him as your heavenly father. You won't trust him when you don't know him as your heavenly father, you won't expect good from him. Remember Jesus said he said you earthly fathers are evil. You guys are screwed up and yet you still know how to give good gifts to your children. And then he says, how much more will your heavenly father give? What is good to anyone who asks of him? If we as earthly fathers who fail at times and make mistakes and we have imperfections, yet we are generous with our children, he says, how much more is God generous with anyone who asks? That's how good God is. And if you if you know God like that, if you see God for who he really is, you're going to want other people to to know him. You're going to you're going to wake up every day expecting something good to happen in your life. When you have a father who is abused you, you're going to wake up in fear. But when you have a father who has loved you and a father who has blessed you, you're going to wake up with peace, with satisfaction, with joy, with expectation. And that's what God wants you to wake up with every day, expecting your heavenly father to take care of you. That's why he said the way to pray when they said, How do we pray, Lord? And Jesus said, pray this way, our father, our father, which art in heaven. He didn't say our Lord, although he is Lord, he didn't say our God, although he is God, he didn't say our our king, although he is king, he said our father, because he wanted to introduce people to realize the thing you need to start your day with the thing you need to start your prayer with. The thing you need to start your thinking with is knowing that he is your father and not us, not a not inferior to how Jesus sees him as father, but just as Jesus has him as his father. So you have him is your father. That's why Jesus said pray our father. He was saying the same way that he's my father. He's your father. Just as much. Not a little bit less. Not a lot less. Just as much. He is your heavenly father. Can anybody say amen to that? And we need to start thinking like sons and daughters. Now, it's important that we understand the distinction of what I'm talking about. I'm talking about today the mentality of a slave versus the mentality of a servant. Now, when I say a slave, I want to tread lightly in using that word because I don't mean any disrespect to our brothers and sisters who had relatives, who were slaves, who who have who were abused and mistreated and enslaved in any way. It was an evil blight on this nation and an evil plague upon the world. And I'm not referring to that. That is a topic that we should talk about some time and break down the walls and and deal with racism and deal with how, you know, Jesus equalizes everybody and Jesus doesn't see color and and what a what a church it's great to be a part of when there's people from every race and every tribe and every tongue and every kindred in every color. It's amazing. It's beautiful. You guys are the most beautiful people in the world, man. You don't look. You don't look. You don't look your best until you're with people that are different than you, until you're serving and worshiping God with people that are different than you. It's great when we can come together and bring all these cultures together. But that's another topic for another day. When I talk about a mentality of a slave or a servant versus the mentality of a son. What I'm referring to is, is that a slave or a servant? A person can be saved but feel like they're obligated to serve God. A person can be born again and feel like they're obligated to pray, obligated to give, obligated to serve. But when we discover the love of the father, when we discover the love of God, we want to serve and serving begins. Serving becomes a joy because it's an overflow of love. Now, do you remember when when when Jacob got married, he he he fell in love with Rachel and he went to Rachel's father, who was Leyburn in Genesis, and he asked him for his daughter. And Leyburn said, serve me and work for me for seven years and then I'll give you my daughter, Rachel. You know what happened? He served him for seven years and he gave him his daughter. But it was his daughter, Leah, not Rachel. And and he said, you know what? Sorry I made a mistake. He didn't make a mistake. He actually deceived Jacob. Right. Leyburn deceived Jacob. He said, sorry, I made a mistake. But I'll tell you what I'll give you now that you have Leah, I'll give you. Because he wanted Leah to get married, too. He said, I'll give you Rachel also if you serve me for another seven years. And the Bible says he served for seven more years and it went by as if it was a day because he loved her so much. Look at what it says. Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love, because of the love, because of the love. Why did he serve? Because of the it's an open book tests right there. Well, why did he serve? Because of the because of the love. He didn't serve because he was because he had a serving mentality. He didn't serve because he had to he didn't serve because he was obligated. He didn't serve because he felt guilty. He didn't serve because somebody put a guilt trip on him. Like, you really need to serve and be a strong Christian. He served because of the love that he had for her. And it seemed like just a few days, you know, if you get him, we don't want people to come to the church and serve in the church. We want people to come to the church and find the love of God in the church. And once you find the love of God, serving will come naturally to you. Serving will be easy to you. And you could serve for years and it'll feel like just a few days. And then there are other people who might serve for a few days and it feels like they've been. Oh, man, I got to I got to stop serving. It's so hard. That's because you left your first. I don't want to get into that or is anybody with me. Because if you stay in love, if you stay in love with God, if you stay in love with God or be easy for you to serve, it comes naturally and you could serve for seven years, would be like a few days. But without love, you'll serve for a few days and you'll feel like torture. It'll feel like I've been doing this for years. Yeah, you've been doing it for like five minutes and it feels like years when it's not coming out of love. And that's why the focus of this church is the love of God, the goodness of God, the grace of God. That's what this church is about. Because once you taste and see that he is good, it will transform your life. It'll lead you to repentance. It'll cause you to have hope, he said. David said, unless I believed I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, I would have given up. I would have fainted. I would have quit unless I believed I would see the goodness of God. He knew that he was going to see God's goodness show up, and that's what prevented him from quitting and from giving up. We don't we don't endure because we're so strong. That's not enough. The people who endure are not the stronger you know, the this only the strong survive. That's a worldly, humanistic view of the world. It's not it's not only the strong survive. The people that endure are the people that believe they're going to see they're going to see the goodness of God. I know today, man, hell might break loose against me today, but somehow, someway, I'm going to see the goodness of God show up in my life somehow. Psalm twenty seven, verse thirteen tells us that David said I would have given up and he had he had Saul trying to kill him. His his the king. He had Saul trying to kill him. He had his son Absalom trying to kill him. He had all his men trying to kill him. He had he was surrounded by people that wanted to kill him. And those were his friends and this was his family. Come on. Are you with me? And he said, man, I would have given up in this. I believed I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living. My point is, is that a right concept of God will lead you to write. Living a wrong concept of God will lead you to wrong living and a wrong concept of God will lead you to discouragement and giving up and quitting, I don't want to serve a God who is demanding my servitude. I want to serve a God who loves me as a son. And who loves you as a son or daughter? That's the kind of God you're going to end up wanting to serve, get good news today. That's the kind of God we got. That's who he is, a man. That's who he is. And so I lay that foundation for you so that you understand where we're going with this, that the mind set of a servant versus a son is found in Hebrews Chapter 13 verse or Hebrews Chapter three, verse five. Listen to what it says. Hebrews Chapter three, verse five. Now, Moses was faithful in all of God's house as a servant. Moses was faithful in God's house as a servant. But verse six says Jesus was faithful in God's house. As a son, Moses was faithful as a servant. Jesus was faithful as a son. In verse six, could you go there? Jesus was faithful as a son, Christ as a son over his house, Moses as a servant of God's house. So notice the distinction. He's drawing the distinction between the law and the grace of God, the law of God and the grace of God. The law of God makes you serve him. The grace of God makes you the son of him. And God wants us to see him as our father and relate to him as sons and daughters. And it's a mentality. It's a mindset. It's not just it's not just a theology. It's a way of thinking. Most of us would say, glory to God, I'm a son or daughter of God. Sometimes we'll even confess that and declare that I'm a child of God, I'm a son or daughter of God. And you're you confessing that and you declaring that doesn't make it true. It's already true. You confessing it and declaring it is good. But usually we're saying something because we're combating a way of thinking that is contrary to what we're saying. And what we have to realize is being a son and having a son ship or a daughter ship mentality is not just a thought, it's a way of thinking. And if you understand the definition of a mindset, the difference between a thought and a mindset, a thought is just one singular thought. But a mindset is a way of thinking. It's not a thought. A mindset is a way of thinking that transcends all other or takes precedence over all other thoughts and all other facts. Are you here in this? A mindset is a way of thinking that takes precedence over all other thoughts and all other facts. It is a mindset. And it's one thing to understand the theology that you are a son or a daughter of God. It's another thing to have that mindset that your son or daughter of God, because when you are when you understood, when you have that mindset, then no matter what comes against you, you know, God's going to provide because he's your father. You know, you can go to him because he's your father. A mindset is greater than a fact. So you might have come today and it may be a fact that you didn't feel good today. It may be a fact that you're not feeling your best today. But but you need to have the mindset of Romans eight thirty seven that you're more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ that loves you. So now when you have the mindset that you're more than a conqueror, the facts may be that you don't feel so good and that you don't feel like you're on top of the world. But you. But that's that may be a fact. That may be how you really feel. But when you have the mindset that, wait, I'm more than a conqueror, that mindset permeates your life and it takes precedence over all of the facts. So no matter how low you feel, you have the mindset that I'm the head and not the tail. You have the mindset that I'm above only not beneath. You have the mindset that I'm more than a conqueror. You have the mindset that I'm blessed coming in and blessed going to see that mindset. That mindset is like the thermostat, the the the temperature in the room today. The temperature at your house is like the thermometer. It tells you what it tells you what the temperature is, the temperature. The thermometer tells you the temperature, but the thermostat sets the temperature where you want it to be. And it may feel like it may it may be a fact that it is eighty six degrees in your house. That may be a fact. That's what the thermostat that's what the thermometer says. But you set the thermostat at seventy two. It may be a fact that it's eighty two, but you set the thermostat at seventy two and every that's a mind set. The thermostat is the mindset and what happens is everything in the atmosphere though it may be eighty two right now everything in the atmosphere is going to eventually catch up to seventy two. Why. Because that's where you set the thermostat and if you go set the thermostat at seventy two and then you're like three seconds later like my wife does, it's not cold enough. So she sets it even colder and it's like. Sixty five degrees and she's like, man, it's still so hot in here. Yes, because it takes time for a thermostat to cause all the mechanics in the house to catch up or create the atmosphere of what you're trying to create. And we have to realize that's what a mindset is, a mindset is. It may be a fact that life stinks right now. But my mindset is I'm blessed coming in and I'm blessed going out and something good is going to happen in my life, I've set my mind on that and guess what? Everything in my life is going to rise to that temperature because that's where I set the thermostat at. That's a mindset. Am I right? You're still today. OK, so now OK, now you have the foundation of the mind set your foundation of a servant versus the sun. In fact, let me give you some other thoughts about a servant versus a son, because as a son, sons receive a father's correction. But servants, a son receives fathers correction as an expression of the father's love. But a servant. Receives correction as rejection a servant feels when somebody corrects them. Well, if you're serving in you're let's say you're cleaning the bathroom or let's say you're serving in the children's ministry. Let's say you're serving at your job wherever you work. And and and you have the mentality that you're just an employee, but you don't have a mindset of an owner. Even when you're not the owner of the company. You should have the mindset like you're an owner of the company because you know what you're going to do. You're you're atmosphere and your life and your job and your position and your salary is going to eventually rise to the level of your mindset. So if you have the mindset that you're the owner, guess what's going to happen. You're eventually going to be the owner, if not of that company, some other company. But what we do is we have the mindset of an employee. We have the mindset that this is my job, this is my area. But somebody some other areas struggling or suffering. And you're like, but this is my area and we need your help over here. Well, that's not my job, man. You know, that's not your job because that's not your mentality. But a son says there's something that needs to be done. Why don't I do it? The servant says, that's not my part. That's not my job. But when you feel like you're the owner, you take care of it, like you really own something. But when you just when you just how many know when you rent a car, you probably are not as concerned about a few nicks and scratches that you scrape up against that. You're not as concerned as if you were the owner of that car. You're like, that's Hertz's problem, right? That's Avis problem. That's not my problem. But when you're an owner of something, you feel way more like taking care of it. You feel like taking care of it, not because you have to or obligated to, but because you have a sense of value, because it's yours. And we have to understand this mentality. A son has the mentality of. In a storm, a sun bales' water out of the boat. A servant bails out of the boat. You see the difference, the son state, the boat might be sinking, boat might be collecting water, but the sun is going to bail the water out. A servant's going to bail out. And this is the man we got to realize. That's how we need to see ourselves as sons, as daughters were in God's house. This is God's house. God is our father. You should care about this church as much as I care about this church. Why? Because it's God's house. It's not my house. Because I'm the pastor. It's not my house because I quote unquote started it. God started. And I can tell you, I can prove to you why God started it, because when I started it, I was an idiot. When I started it, I didn't know anything. When I started, I was mean. I was angry. I was nasty. When I started it, I was I was rough when I started it. I just knew a few things. When I started, I hardly knew anything. So it has to have been God that this church still exists today, in spite of my weaknesses, in spite of my shortcomings. It had to be God. It had to be God. You might say, well, you're still mean. All right. That's that's another topic for another day. But the point is, it had to be God because whatever is born of God overcomes. It overcomes because that's what's in its nature to overcome, because it's made by God, therefore it overcomes its church is made by God. You ought to love it like I love it. You ought to give to it like I give to it. I don't give to it because I'm the pastor. I give to it because I love God's house. I don't serve here because I'm the pastor. I see here because it's God's house. I don't I don't I don't forgive you because I'm the pastor. I forgive you because you're a child of God. You're a son or daughter of God. And you deserve the same forgiveness that I deserve. And I received it by grace. And you receive it by grace. You still with me here today? It's a mindset I want you to see the scripture, Galatians four, verse four and five. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. There's something beautiful about being adopted. There's something beautiful about being adopted. And you know what it is? It's that if you were adopted, that means you weren't just you weren't just conceived because two people had fun in the back side of a Chevy in nineteen sixty five. Come on. Who's with me here on this? You weren't just concede because two people had sex, although there's nothing wrong with being conceived because two people had sex and in fact, most of us are here today because our parents had sex, most of us we don't know where some of you came from, but most of us. But the point is, is that you're not here because God just accidentally gave birth to you. You're not here because God just has to put up with you. You're here today because God chose you. You're adopted as a son or a daughter of God because God chose you. He saw all these kids and he said, I want this one. I want this one. He chose you before the foundation of the world, which is another topic for another day. But it reminds me of the little girl, the Korean girl that was born through a guy in the Korean War, a soldier from the United States had had this girlfriend in Korea. And it was way back in the time when children in Korea that were not purebred Koreans were looked on and frowned upon. And so this child was born through this woman and the soldier, and she was mistreated. Her mother was so ashamed that she she just gave her away to into the street. She sent her along into the left her in the streets to fend for herself because she was so ashamed that she had a child that wasn't 100 percent Korean. Now, Korean people are, I'm sure, are not like this, but at that time, that's how society perceived them. And so this little girl ended up eventually in an orphanage. She's nine years old. She's in an orphanage, and they would call her to Chi in Korean, which means little devil. They would call her a little devil because she was mixed. And so she's in this orphanage as a nine year old. And they heard she heard that there was an American man and woman, American father, mother coming to adopt someone from that orphanage. And usually they would adopt the little babies. And so, you know, what she did is nine year old, she had lice in her hair. She just had all sorts. She was she was very feeble. She she weighed about sixty or seventy pounds. She was just scrawny. She was you know, she was just in a very bad condition. And and the American comes over and when he she hears that he's coming over to adopt a child, she doesn't think it's going to be her. Instead, she grooms all the little baby boys and all the baby girls. And she does their hair and she makes she gives them a bath and she takes care of them. And when the man comes and the woman comes to the orphanage, he looks around at all the children and tears start flowing down his eyes. And she she tells the story and she says how she she saw this man and she saw his eyes full of tears and she saw his big hands. And she thought I knew if he could just take all of these children, he would if he could, he would take all of them. He was so full of love and so full of kindness. And he looks at all the children in the orphanage and his eyes land on her. This little girl in the worst condition that life could give her, and he looks at her and he points at her and he says, I want this child. This child is for me. I want this child. This child is for me. And you understand the penetration of love. That must have gripped her heart at that moment when she realized she wasn't born to this man or woman, but she was chosen by this man or woman adopted as a child of this American man and this American woman. And her life was changed forever. And you know what? God looks at us in our skin. He looks at us with all the sin in our heart, all the mistakes and shortcomings of our lives. And he looks at us and he fixes his eyes upon us and he says, I want this child. This child is for me. God looks at you and says, I want you not because of how you look, not because of how you act, not because of how you behave. But he chose you before the foundation of the world, before you looked like anything. He chose you before the foundation of the world, before you did anything good, before you did anything bad. And he knew everything you were going to ever do, good or bad. And he saw through the annals of time, he saw all that you have done and he saw all that you ever will do. He knows what your tomorrow is going to be like. He knows what your life is going to be like ten years from now, 20 years from now. He knows all the mistakes are going to make in the meantime. And yet he still chose you before the foundation of the world. That is love. That is commitment. That is what it means, that he's adopted us. That is what it means that he's made of sons and daughters of God. Amen. You're a son or daughter of God, and you have to have that mentality. You've got to set the thermostat at son or daughter God. You've got to set the thermostat of beloved son of God, beloved daughter of God, set that thermostat there. And no matter what the devil throws at you, no matter what hell throws at you, no matter what people throw at you, you have set that thermostat. And I am a beloved child of God. And I'm not going to win. I'm not going to change it. I'm not going to move it back. I'm going to wait for everything in my life to rise to the level of the temperature that I set the thermostat at. And I tell you this, if you will adopt that mindset today, I guarantee you your life will get better and better every day. The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn. It grows brighter and brighter and brighter and brighter until the full day. Jesus, the King of Heaven, wants sons and daughters, not servants. Religion produces servants, but relationship produces sons and daughters of God. Sons and daughters of the King. See, serving is a privilege. Religious people see it as an obligation. Sons and daughters see serving as a privilege. Religious people see it as an obligation. Jesus came that we might receive the full rights of sons and daughters, the full adoption as sons. That means everything that God has belongs to us. You say, yeah, but if we're sons and daughters of God, don't we have to wait till our father dies before we get his stuff? Yeah, and guess what? He died through Jesus two thousand years ago. So that you so that the inheritance could go to you, so the inheritance could fall to you. Jesus loves you that much. God loves you that much. Right. He loves us that much. Keep in mind. The price Jesus paid. For us. Was not to make us worthy. It was not to make us worthy. Jesus did not die for us to make us worthy. Jesus died for us to prove our worth. Jesus did not die for you to give you worth, Jesus died for you to prove your worth, he said, you know what, you're worth so much I'm willing to die for you. God said you are worth so much to me that I will pay the highest ransom even if I don't get you. I am paying the highest ransom for you. God took the risk that you might not receive Jesus as Savior and Lord. You might not get born again. You might not get saved. But he was willing to pay the highest ransom for you anyway. He was willing to pay the highest price for you anyway. Why? Because he sees you as having worth and value to him. You don't get value when you get saved. You got saved because he valued you so much. He sees you with so much value that he died for you to prove your worth, not to give you worth. You already have worth in God's eyes. That's why he would give everything he had just to have a chance at having. You just have a chance. You just have it. You say, oh no, I'm just an unworthy yes, we were all sinners and we were all fallen short of the glory of God. But. But you are not unworthy. He he died for you because you have worth and you have value, not because you don't you wouldn't pay the ultimate price for something that didn't have value to you. You didn't have worth you wouldn't buy something that wasn't worth what you were paying for it. He paid for you with his own blood because that's how much you're worth to him. That ought to make you feel good today. That ought to make you feel like you're on top of the world. That ought to make you feel like you can walk through life confident, confidently, not cocky, not arrogant, but confident. That he loves you that much, values you that much, and when you realize how much he values you, you'll start valuing yourself and that's when you become the best version of yourself. All right, let's continue. We're going somewhere with this. Watch this now. So I want you to go over with me to I want you to go over with me to Luke Chapter 15, because we started there last week and we talked about a father having two sons, but we really only focused on one of the sons. Want to focus on the other son now. But remember about the son. Remember about the younger son who took the inheritance and remember what happened. A certain man had two sons versus 12, and the younger son said, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. So he divided them, his livelihood and the son left. His father distanced himself to a far country. And what happened when he went to a farm country there? He wasted his possessions with prodigal living. Remember, as soon as the son distanced himself from the father, he squandered and wasted what he had. The downward spiral began. That's when his choices changed. That's when his decisions became poor. That's when the quality of his life got worse, even though he had his father's possessions. The thing that was missing was he didn't have his father's presence. And the father's presence is always greater than the father's possessions. The father's presence is always greater than the father's things. He thought by leaving his father with his father's things that he would find freedom. The older son thought by serving his father, he would find freedom. The younger son thought by distancing, distancing himself from his father, he would find freedom. Both of them were wrong because both of them were operating from a slave mentality, a servant mentality. They were just servants in the father's house rather than realizing they were sons in the father's house. Are you catching this? Now, that's the difference, you see both of these boys are the same. Their thinking is exactly the same. The way they're the way their actions play out is different. But the thinking is the same. Both of them saw themselves in bondage and the younger son thought, I'm going to move away from my father with his stuff. And that's when I'm going to find freedom and that's what I'm going to find. Blessing the older son thought I'm going to serve my father all these years. I'm going to be a servant. I'm going to be like his other servants and he's finally going to approve of me. He's finally going to bless me. And he thought that the way to experience freedom was by being a servant and a slave. And the younger son thought it was it would be by breaking free from his father's enslavement. But really, enslavement is in the mind. Imprisonment is in your thoughts. Paul and Silas were in prison, but prison wasn't in them. Joseph was sold as a slave to Potter, but Joseph was not a slave on the inside. Joseph was free on the inside, though. He was a slave on the outside. And it was his mentality that caused him to prosper. And what was his mentality? God is with me. Genesis thirty nine verse two says for the Lord was with Joseph. So he became a successful man. The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a prosperous man. The Lord was with him and Joseph prospered and was successful in the house of his master at the Egyptian and all of Joseph's life. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was born as the as the favorite of his child. He was born as he was given a robe of of many colors, a coat of many colors. He was put as the boss over all of his older brothers. He was he was given wealth and riches and position and power and money and and and and favoritism from his father. And God never called him a successful man until he was stripped of all those things. And why only after being stripped of all of his things, being stripped of his father's robe, being stripped of his relationship with his with his family, being stripped of his position, being stripped of his power. Only after being stripped of all of it does God for the first time call him a successful, prosperous man. And what did he have that made him a successful man? The Lord was with him. God's presence is always greater than God's possessions. God's presence is always greater than God's possessions. And guess what? He God is with you and God lives in you and God and you live in him. And and his presence will never leave. You will never forsake you. Why? Because you're a son or daughter of God. This is what this passage is all about, folks, that Jesus is letting us in on the fact that what happened to to this son is he lost his sense of identity. And when you lose your sense of identity, you lose your destiny. You miss out on your destiny and the way to fulfill God's destiny for your life. And I bet if we did an interview, if we did a poll here, a survey and said how many people here and those of you that are watching, how many want to fulfill God's destiny for your life, how many would raise your hand? You want to fulfill God's destiny for you. But you know what? What's what's the matter with the rest of you? How many want. OK, let's try to get how many want fulfilled God's destiny for your life. God's purpose for us. I thought it was everybody. Right. Some of you still like, OK, it's OK. I know in your heart your hand is up. But. If I said to you, do you know that you don't have to do anything? To try to fulfill God's destiny for your life, you have to know something, though, you know, you have to know you have to know who you are. You have to know that you are a son or daughter of God, because identity always leads to destiny. If you have a false identity, it will lead you to a false destiny. If you have an inferior identity, it will lead you to an inferior destiny. If you have an identity in Christ and you know that your son or daughter of God, it will lead to a destiny in Christ that God has envisioned for you before the foundation of the world. So what we need to focus on is our identity, knowing who we are and who are we. We're sons and daughters of God. Who were these boys? They were sons of this father, but they didn't know it. You're born again. But you may you may theologically say, yeah, I'm a child of God, I'm a son or daughter God. But you don't have that mindset. You don't you're not setting the thermostat at that at that temperature. I am a son or daughter of God. I'm a joint air with Jesus Christ. What is a joint air that means that you are you have as equal of a right to his possessions as Jesus himself does. So when Jesus stands up and calms the storm, guess what? You're a joint air with Jesus. You have the same power to calm the storm. When Jesus touches the sick with his hands and heals the sick, you are a joint air. You have the same power in the same authority as Jesus. When Jesus takes five loaves and two fish, gives thanks to it and then distributes it, you have the same authority and the same power as a joint air of Jesus Christ. Take your time to take your offering. Thank God for it. Give it to him. And you know what will happen. It'll multiply back to you with twelve baskets left over just like it. Multiply back to Jesus. You're a joint air. You're a joint air with Jesus Christ. I'm a joint air. You're a joint air. That means we are joined equally to our twin brother Jesus. You know you're a twin. Jesus is your twin brother. I know you look at yourself and go, man, I don't look like him, I don't look like him. But once you begin to understand that's your identity, you're as much you look inside as much like him as he does to the father. You look just like Jesus. I know that's hard to grasp. When you've been brainwashed by religion, telling you you're so small, you're so inferior, you're such a sinner, but in Christ you're just like him first. John, for 17, says, as he is, so are we in this world and in this life. And look at this look at the older son for a moment because. The younger son loses everything because he separated from his father. It's better to be with the father than to have all his stuff and be on your own. It's better to be with the father than to have all his stuff without him. His presence is greater and the older son was living in the father's house, but not as didn't understand his son's ship, and so he wasn't enjoying his father's house. I wonder how many of us today are missing out on the joy that comes from being in the father's house. I wonder how many Christians today don't go to church because they don't find joy in the house. I wonder how many Christians today don't serve God because they don't they haven't found the joy in serving him. I wonder how many Christians today are not really walking with God because they don't think it's enjoyment. They think it's bondage. I know so many Christians and I was one of them for many years, a Christian who served God out of bondage and obligation and out of duty and out of performing rather than serving him out of love because of the joy of my salvation. Remember what David prayed for? The first thing he prayed for was not give me back the kingdom. Give me back my wealth. God, give me back this God. Give me back that. Give me back my power. Give me back my position. Know his first prayer was give me back my joy. Let the joy of your salvation be restored to me. Restored to be oh God, the joy of our salvation. Jesus said, yes, I know you have authority over the demons, but he said, Don't rejoice that you have authority over the demons. Rejoice that your names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Once you realize you're a son or daughter of God, it will produce joy. When you realize you didn't earn it, you can deserve it. You didn't work for it. It will produce joy. When you feel like you got to earn it. You've got to keep it. You got to you've got to preserve it and you've got to protect it. Then there is you lose all your joy. You know, when you first buy a car, you're so excited. Now, come on. How many? How many I've ever bought a car. You buy a car and you're like, man, you're so excited, you're looking at that car, so beautiful. They got that wax all over it and it looks just perfect, right. But oh, man, as soon as you drive off the lot, you're now it's like, oh, this thing looks so good. I can't, man. I want to bump into it. I can't get it dirty. I don't want a Burger King wrappers in the back of the thing like my last. Come on. How do I know what I'm talking about? And I know Portilla rappers don't know. Now now you're now you're driving that car in bondage rather than looking at it, hoping for freedom and hoping it will bring you joy. It's you're in bondage because you're trying to protect it, trying to make it so great, trying to make sure nobody nicks it or touches it or bumps into it. And instead of parking at the closest spot, you park like a mile away from somewhere because you don't want any car touching it. Right. You don't want anybody banging into it. And sure enough, somebody else is parked right there after you and they bang into your car because they're trying to do the same thing because we're being so protective rather than just enjoying God, enjoying your relationship with him. So back in Proverbs or excuse me, Luke, 15, let's just let's tie this together back and Luke 15. It's such a beautiful passage that this boy is Rob. The older son is robbed of all the joy. And here's why he's in the father's house, but he doesn't have any joy. Look at Luke. Fifteen, twenty nine. Here's the first reason, because the son said, look, all these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. You never gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. Notice how this son thinks he thinks like a slave. I've been slaving for you. I've been obedient to you, and you've never had a party for me. He's got a mentality, a slavery mentality. He doesn't have the mentality of a son. A son realizes, hey, I'm in the father's house. My friends can come over any time and we can have a party. Hey, Dad, is it all right if I invite some friends over? Let's celebrate the love that you have. Let's celebrate how blessed we are. Let's celebrate how good you are. He could have done that any time. And the father would have been like, thumbs up, man. Let's do a boy. But he was so. His mentality was a slave mentality, he based his relationship with God on his performance, that was his mindset. Notice, his mindset was to perform, to earn God's favor, to perform, to earn his father's blessing, to perform, to earn the party. You don't look. You don't. When our kids are young, when our kids are three years old, you have a party for him. You have a party for him because you love him. He's absolutely at his worst time in his life at two and three years old. They call it the terrible twos, tantrums and all that stuff at two or three years old. But guess what you do? You still throw a party for him. Why? Because he's your child and you love that kid. And yes, sometimes you want to just like him, but you love that kid. The fight, we have to have a mentality that we're like kids to the father, he wants to celebrate us. The Bible says he rejoices over us with singing. He rejoices over us with joy. Come on. Help me now. The first problem the first thing that robbed this man of his joy is that he he related to God, he based his relationship on his father based on his performance, rather than that he was a son. The second thing that happened was in verse twenty six, look at the knive in verse twenty six, Luke fifteen, twenty six. So he called one of the service. When he found out there was a party going on, he called one of the servants and asked him what's going on. He said, man, what's going on. Look when you have to ask the servant what's going on, come on, help me know when you have to ask the servant what's going on, that means you've distance yourself from the father. It means. It means that. Well, you you simply end up having to ask this question. Six. We don't need to ask. It's not. Come on, sing it. Anybody know this? When you have to ask with Marvin Gaye what's going on, you know, you have distance yourself from your father, too many people are asking what's going on? Why is the party happening? I'm not enjoying it. I must have purchased I must have pushed by rather than just purchased rather than OK. There you go. Too many of us are watching the party. And hearing other people celebrating and we're asking what's going on, yeah, what's going on, mother, mother, come on now. Are you hearing this? We got to stop finding out what's going on. We got to stop asking what's going on and jump in this celebration and stop getting listen, we got to stop. We got to stop relating to God based on second hand information. We got to stop asking everybody else what's going on. And we got to start going to God to the throne of his grace and he'll tell you what's going on. We got to start going to the father and asking him for whatever it is you need, man. I mean, mercy and grace. In my time of need, Father, I'm here to celebrate. I want to celebrate. Thank you for what you've done for me. I am here to rejoice. I'm here to thank you. I'm here to praise you for all that you've already done. It's time to step into the celebration rather than just asking why everybody else is celebrating and you're not why everybody else is getting blessed and you're not step into this thing and realize you are son and daughter of God. And you have every right to celebrate. You have every right to healing. You have every right to blessing. You have every right to have everything that Jesus paid for you to have because your son or daughter of God, you're not a slave. But this son saw himself as a slave and he relied on second hand information and he had to ask the question, what's going on? Why did he have to ask that question? Because. When you decide you're going to get your information from other servants rather than from the father himself, then you're missing the point of having a relationship with God. You don't have to go around and ask everybody their opinion. We don't have to live on second hand information. We don't have to base our information about ourselves based on what other people say about us or what other people think about us. We can go right to the father to find out what he thinks about us. He thinks you're great. He thinks you're amazing. He made you his son or daughter, and that's worth celebrating and that's worth rejoicing over. And that's knowing that you're going to spend eternity with him and you have every right to access everything that he paid for you to have. Where are you getting your
information from, from other servants or directly from your father? Jesus said in John 15 11 S. When you base what you believe on what other people say, then you will not have joy in your life. But when you base what you believe on what Jesus says, you'll have joy in your life, you know. I know that, John, 15 11 Jesus said something amazing. He said in John, 15, 11. Watch this. He said, the things I have spoken to these things I have spoken to you so that my joy may remain in you and your joy may be for these things. I have spoken to you that your joy may be made for. In other words, he's saying if you base your beliefs on what other people speak to you, you will not have joy. But if you base your beliefs on what Jesus says to you, you'll have joy and your joy will be full. We've got to stop getting second information even when I preach to you. I I encourage you to go search the scriptures and see if the things I'm saying are true, search for yourself, because once you see it like I see it, you're going to have the same excitement and passion that I have, not because it's your personality, because it's not mine, but it's because these things he's spoken to us so that we would have fullness of joy. And the reason we're not full of joy is because we're not full of his words were full of a bunch of other people's words. We are full of their bull. Stuff and we need to start filling up on God stuff and then, you know what happens. Amen. You know what happens in in verse twenty eight, it says. And he became angry in Luke. Fifteen, twenty eight, he became angry and he refused to go in. He became angry, it says in Luke fifteen twenty eight. Why was he angry? Because whenever you relate to God as a slave, it's going to produce anger and resentment. Man, I've served you all these and I haven't gotten anything for it. Well, you shouldn't be serving God to get something. You should receive it because he loves you and he's your father and he's made available to you every blessing in heavenly places. And you have access to go to those heavenly places and bring them down by asking God for him, by his mercy and by his grace. You have every right to go to him and ask him for whatever you need. Come on. Can anybody say amen? You'll get angry when you think heaven. I served long enough to get something from God that'll make you angry, that'll make you resentful. You don't have to do that. And then he and then you know what his problem was? He didn't he didn't understand that everything that his father had belonged to him. Look at verse thirty. I think it's verse thirty one. And the father says, look, son, he still calls him a son. The father still refers to him as son, even though he sees himself as a slave. The father sees him as a son. He says, Son, you're always with me. And all that I have is yours. So he didn't have that mentality. You need to leave here with the mentality that all of that your father has is yours. Amen. Let's stand together.
