Adopted, Sealed, and Flourishing: Finding Identity in Christ

When Jesus rescues you and you find Jesus, you have not found the copilot of your life. You have not found the one who takes the wheel when the road gets too difficult. You have not found the one who carries you on the beach when your little legs get too tired. You found the source of your life. Your life source. That's who Jesus is. You found the one that without him you can do nothing. [00:51:04] (28 seconds)  #LifeSourceJesus

But here's the beauty of the gospel. Here's the beauty of what Jesus has done in stamping us and sealing us with his holy spirit. Safety is not a place. Safety is a person. And that person indwells you and goes with you. You have the safety with you. God's spirit. And so you and I can go. We can charge. We can go boldly into a lost and hurting and broken and sinful world and beat back the gates of hell. [00:42:29] (26 seconds)  #SafetyIsAPerson

And so we ask the question. We have the question. Who are we? Are we enough? And Jesus answers it and says, no. No way. You're not enough. You're a dead stick. You're a wanderer. You're alone and failing. But Jesus also says this, if you've put your faith in him, you're now connected to not just the best life source, but the only true life source in the universe. Now, you have a family. [00:55:25] (27 seconds)  #NotEnoughButConnected

We are sons and daughters. God didn't just forgive us. He brought us all the way home into his home as his kids. See many Christians view God as the judge who forgave them and who is now putting up with them. But God himself tells us that he's the father who brings us into his family and we can't lose that. [00:28:23] (23 seconds)  #SonsAndDaughters

The story of the bible, the story of God's love for us is that we didn't earn it or deserve it, but God chose to love us and move toward us. There's an intimacy in adoption. Adoption is an incredibly intimate act. It is not love from far away. It is love that goes near and brings near. God did not feel love for you from a distance. He moved toward you. He came near you. That's why Jesus says here, I am coming to you. [00:26:52] (33 seconds)  #AdoptedAndApproached

There's the pain of commitment and there's the pain of regret. There's the pain of commitment of saying, man, I'm gonna charge forward and I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna schedule it. I'm gonna schedule my time in prayer. And I'm gonna get up early and be in the word. And I'm gonna figure out how to gather on Sunday no matter what and not miss it for anything. There's the pain of commitment, which is painful. But then there's the pain of regret. [00:54:34] (19 seconds)  #PainOfCommitmentVsRegret

Jesus looks at you and if you ask the question, Jesus, am I enough? Here's his answer. Without me, you can do nothing. Nothing. Like, he says without me, you're a dead stick. That's what Jesus is saying. Now that now that can be really offensive. That can be like, no. Man, I feel like, no. I'm like, there's something deep in no, I can do something right. And Jesus says, no. [00:49:54] (24 seconds)  #WithoutJesusNothing

We've become children of God with all the rights and privileges of being God's kids. That's not just a change in status like a promotion or something. It's a total transformation of who we are. We were powerless. God gives us his power. We were sin sinful, God gives us forgiveness and restores us. We were spiritually orphaned, God gives us a home and himself as a father. And it all happened because he moved toward us. [00:26:06] (31 seconds)  #TransformedChildrenOfGod