Stepping into Sonship: Our Identity In Light of God Our Father
SPEAK FROM SONSHIP / MINISTER IN LOVE

Passionate about Identity
Restoration of Identity

– God is Father

  • Jesus had the perfect relationship with the Father
    -Stoning – “the Father and I are one” John 10:30
  • God’s names – shed light on His Nature (Father – 15 OT/ 245 NT)
    -Majesty vs. Intimacy
  • Abba – familiarity and affection (The garden/the Lord’s prayer)
  • Wrong view of God – Wrong view of ourselves
  • Not viewing God as Father results in living like an orphan fatherless

– Orphan Spirit

  • Too many people living out of a place of an orphan spirit
  • orphan – sense of abandonment, loneliness, insecurity, not able to comprehend God’s love
  • Not seeing God as Father (task master) – Seeing God as Father but relating to Him in the same way as earthly father
  • Orphan spirit broken with a sense of the Father’s love for them in Christ
  • “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.” – John 14:18

– Understanding Adoption

  • To no longer be an orphan we have to be adopted. Too many people living as orphans in the church
  • Adoption – a central theme of the Gospel
  • Read Romans 8:12-17
  • Context – Writing to the Romans – No Jewish Adoption Law
  • Roman Law allows a man to create an heir from outside his family
  • adoptee got a new identity. His old obligations and debts were wiped out, and new obligations were assumed. From the standpoint of the family religion, the adoptee became the same person as the adopter. (THIS IS THE GOSPEL)
  • Matter of inheritance (modern law vs joint heirs)
    -Roman law, all children (natural or adopted) of the family held their property jointly with the head of the house.
  • Sons vs. Children (two Greek words. These two words are “teknon” and “huios.” Though both are translated as “son,”)
  • There is a big difference regarding the inheritance between a child and a son

– Child of God

  • Teknon – The Greeks normally used this word to speak of one who is a descendant by birth. It is in most instances translated as “children,”
  • v. 16-17 – We are children of God and therefore we are heirs and we have an inheritance.

– Son of God

  • v. 14 “for all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God”
  • The Greek word son here is huios (a mature son), and the adoption of sons refers to the ceremony called “placing of sons.” At maturity, a son would be given charge over much of his father’s business. A son is so full of his Father’s spirit, so careful for his Father’s interests, and so driven for his Father’s glory that he can be trusted to do nothing else.
  • Take the sons to the town square, lay hands on them and declare “This is my son in whom I am well pleased”
  • Stepping into a greater level of authority and calling
  • Jesus being baptized

– Live from a place of Identity

  • Praise be to God that we are His children, but lets not stop there. Lets become sons.
  • Let’s walk in the fullness of our inheritance
  • We can not strive or muster up becoming a son. It is only by the grace of God. But we are encouraged to press on to maturity (Hebrews 6:1) to think as mature men (1 corinthians 14:20 and we are to grow up in all aspects into Him (Ephesians 4:15)
    -When our identity is restored, when we start living from that place, it completely changes how we walk out our daily lives.
  • We walk in the security of the Father, not striving to please man
  • We will start to see others differently. We will start to see them in light of their identity in Christ. And if a person isn’t living in that identity it will give us a new love to see that person step into the fullness of that identity.