Creflo Dollar - The Power of Sonship
Until you learn your sonship, you're not gonna be trusted with certain responsibilities. God's not gonna put responsibility in a hand of a person who doesn't understand that he's a son and you still operating as a servant. Moses was a faithful servant. Servants operate under the law. Jesus was a faithful Son, hallelujah. Jesus was a faithful Son bought in the covenant of grace. We believe in Jesus, which makes us a son. So, the Son of God became the Son of Man when he took a body on, only so that the son of men could become the sons of God. Y'all don't understand what I'm saying. Y'all don't know some of the...
So, "Give him dominion. Give him authority over the fish of the sea. Give him dominion and authority over the fowl of the air. Give him dominion and authority over the cattle, the right to command over all of the earth, the right to command over all of the earth, the right to command over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth," which means the right to command every creep. 27, 27: "So God created man," how? No, somebody else's image. In the image of a statue. "God created man in his," what? "He created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him".
Now watch this now. I need you to understand this throughout the rest of this series. When I say "him" or when I say "sonship," I am not talking about male only. See, when I say "servant," it's not male only. So, when I use the phrase "sonship," it's not male only. It's female. And I'm saying this because I don't wanna have to be conscious throughout the series that every time I say "son," you know, "son of God," I gotta say, "a daughter of God," because that I think has been messed up to where we're thinking, you know, it's gender inequality. He made them. He called the specie of male and female, "man," one with the womb and one without one. Or when you see the female specie, it's, "Whoa, man". Either way, it's the specie of man.
And he created him male and female. Male and female, made in his image. Male and female, made in his likeness. Male and female having the authority. Ain't no way in the world is it ever gonna be right to say only a man has the authority to cast out a devil. Honey, I don't know what you've been looking at, but there's some women around here who have gotten ahold of their authority and they'll cast the devil out of you in a moment. There's no way God ever put it to one gender and ignored the other. Every authority, every dominion that God has made available to the specie of man, he has made it available to the female man just as much as the male man, which means the female man can operate in any anointing, or call, or gifting that God has made available to the specie. And he created them in his image, in his likeness, and gave them authority, and gave them dominion, and gave them control. Gave them control. Gave them control. Turn to your neighbor and say, "You're in control".
Well, now, Brother Dollar, God is in control. How many of you have heard that? God! See, there it is. The absence of knowledge will cause darkness to prevail. So now, the absence of the knowledge that you have been given control is what's allowing darkness to prevail. And you're being whipped because you have the control, and the dominion, and the authority, and you don't know it and you don't use it, so one who doesn't have dominion and authority takes advantage of your ignorance, and darkness prevails because you who have the dominion and authority won't do nothing and won't save nothing because you think, "Oh well, I see the problem, but God is in control". And God says, "Yes, but for a 6,000-year lease, I've given you control. You can control the earth. You can control".
See, if God was in control, then God would be responsible for all this mess that's going on in our world today. You don't believe that do you? God would be responsible for every war. You can go all the way back to the Revolutionary War. God would be responsible for all of that. Why is all that stuff happening in the earth? Why are all these crazy things happening in the earth? You look at society today, you look at entitlement today, you look at all these things that are going on, and oh, it's either God or the devil. And what you don't understand is that when God moved you in on the planet, he gave you the key. And you won't lock up nothing and you won't unlock nothing. You just sit back and let darkness prevails. It prevails because you won't accept and receive, "I have authority". No, you won't.
You sit up there and listen to the newsman talk about a tornado coming straight to your house and you go hide. Never even dawned on you to go on the front porch and announce to that creation, "Listen here, I don't know if you got the memo, but I have been given dominion and authority in the name of Jesus. So now in Jesus's name, I command you right now to cease right now in your movement. Not a bit of my house will be destroyed, in the name of Jesus". You ain't thought about doing that, why? 'Cause you don't recognize who you are. You won't believe it. You won't receive who you are, so you operate as a mere man, a mere mortal, a mere human who's been given the authority of God, made in the likeness of God, made in the image of God, but because you got an afro that just can't be true.
I cannot go to heaven, and look at my Father in the face, and know that what he gave me as his son, I didn't receive it 'cause I didn't really believe or ever believed that I had a right to sonship. I mean, I heard him say it. Yeah, we are children of God. Children operate by the law. Sons operate by grace. A child, even though he might be an heir, do you understand, until he leaves the law and get into the grace of God, he's only an heir apparent? But the day you got born again, you became an heir that day.
The word translated "adoption" is a word that means an adult son. It's not adoption like in the natural, you adopting somebody else with another parent's DNA. When God adopted you, he created in you that exact DNA. I can't look at God and know you gave me, in a sense, the throne, the right to command, and I continued to act like a servant. Servants sweat to try to get the approval of their father. Sons already have it, and with no sweat they just do what they know the father do. God will never break his covenant. He will never break his promise, his new covenant with you. You will always be a son in the house of God and you'll always be loved by God in his house, no matter what.
My children will be my children, I don't care what they do, and they will be forever loved. But you allow the religion to tell you that what you did was enough to cause God to break his promise, and stop loving you, and to no longer consider you a son of his house. So, you keep going back and forth with who you are. I'm a son one day. Oh, I've been thrown out. Stop. I am a son. Forever to be that. Whatever stupid thing you can do in your sonship, God'll be right there and do just like a father, help you out a little bit.
Ask Abraham, God know how to give you a little let alone. Are y'all getting where I'm going? You're going to go to another place. You're gonna dare look at a circumstance, and instead of letting it master you, you'll remind yourself, "Wait a minute, you don't control me. I control you". You'll look at sickness and disease and say, "Hold on a minute. Uh-uh, I'm not ready to go yet". Now, in the name of Jesus... Now, I'm gonna teach on that in this series too because slipping over is one of the easiest things that can happen. Sometimes people slip over don't even know they slipped over. I personally know this.
Eighteen years ago I was in a car accident in Sacramento, California. When the car hit me, I said, "Let me keep my eyes open so I can see how this works". Just in case this is the last one, I wanna see the whole process. The car hit. It went airborne. I kept my eyes open. While my eyes were open, these angels came cross my eyes. Their clothes and their skin is the same. It's light. And they can across my eyes. When the angels came across my eyes, I didn't close it. There's a picture of it right there. I didn't know they still had that picture, but that's the car that hit us.
If you have the one of the vehicle that we were in, show that. See, that's the vehicle we were in right there. My eyes were wide open, but I couldn't see what was in front of me. What was in front of me shifted. I'm now looking at a group of people coming towards me, but they were out of focus. I was coming towards them. They were coming towards me. Just when I thought I was recognizing some of them, a voice said, "No! Too much unfinished business". Everything looked reversed in front of me now, I'm upside down seeing the car. What happened? What happened?
So before you want to get mad at God when a loved one went home to be with the Lord, you don't know what they saw. When my grandmom, you remember Big Mama? When Big Mama went home to be with the Lord, Big Mama was laying there, and she turned to her left and she said, "Ooh, that's so pretty". She started verbalizing what she saw. Scared my Uncle. He ran out the room. "That's so pretty. Oh, look at him". And she was gone. She was gone. That's a temptation. And God knew I couldn't wait to see the focus come in, 'cause what I saw, I might have slipped on over there. You understand what I'm saying? But now that I'm here and I've kinda seen a glimpse of where I'm going.
Somebody said, "How you know you're gonna go there"? I'm a son. I'm a forever a son. I'm forever a son, not by what I do and not even by my performance. I am forever a son. Get that, I'm a son. I'm gonna always be a son in his house. I don't have to re-earn my sonship to stay in this house. He will not evict me. My performance doesn't make me a son. He's given me the power. The word there means right and privilege to become son. But now, before I see my father face-to-face, I wanna make sure that I operate above the natural and that I operate in my likeness, and in my image, and in my dominion, and in my authority.
And when stuff happen, I pause, selah, and I think, "What's the Word say"? And then I respond in agreement with what that Word says and I walk in authority of the believer. And when you walk in the authority of the believer, you are not talking to God about your problem. You are talking to your problem about what God has already done. "Well, I thought you was gonna finish the sermon on how to get free from hurt". God is saying that until the truth of your divinity dawns on you and you walk in it, you can't be in control. You will be subjected to the same limitations as other mortals.
Understanding your divine nature is the way to the release of the supernatural, and this will give you the confidence you need to operate like God in the affairs of this life. So, understanding your sonship is the key to operating in the supernatural. You see, we live in a kingdom of choices, not chances. Choices, not chances. Your lot in life is determined by your choice, and I choose to live as he's created me in my divine nature and not my physical body in nature.
So, things are gonna get a little weird around here. The Bible called us peculiar people. Well, what makes you a peculiar person? You ain't acting like everybody else. Something happen to you, you respond totally different on a whole 'nother system than everybody else. It blows people mind. Somebody said, "Pastor Dollar, what do you do when you lack something in the ministry, in your church? What do you do"? Give. "What"? Yeah, yeah, yeah, when I'm in need, I sow a seed. That's what I do. "I don't care what your think about prosperity". That's what I do, that's what I've been doing for almost 40 years. I ain't gonna stop now. "What do you do when the doctor pronounces the sickness or something on you"? I rebel against what he said and I say what God says.
Let me show you something, folks. You already know how to operate, or you already know how to activate the supernatural. I've already taught you things, you're just not recognizing it. You know how people, they know spots of truth but they don't know how to accurately apply it in its context? Real quick before my time's up. I sat back there thinking about this. I said, "This isn't really deep". You already know how to activate the supernatural. The issue is, will you do it? And I'm telling you, if you question your identity, question whether or not you're approved, question whether you're accepted, you're not going to activate it because you're gonna begin to operate in the law, and work hard to try to perform, and use your efforts to try to earn those things that come and are satisfied through sonship.
For example, number one, speaking God's Word activates the supernatural. This isn't hard. Speaking God's Words: do you know what happens when you start calling things that be not as though they were? Normal mortals in the natural, they don't do that. Stuff happens or don't happen and they just kinda sit back. But when you activate the supernatural and you receive who you are, then you understand that when I speak God's Word, I am activating supernatural things. Do you speak God's Word? If you wanna turn it on, speak God's Word. We keep saying what we have when we can have what we say. We keep calling things that be instead of calling things that be not as though they were. You activate the supernatural when you speak God's Word. You know that. Just use that. What I'm giving you right now, eight steps to activate the supernatural. Things you know.
Number two, faith in the finished works of Jesus activates the supernatural. Faith in the finished works of Jesus activates the supernatural. It is the mindset that says, "I already have something, so I am not going to try to get God to do what he's already done. I have faith that that's finished". Doctor says, "You are sick". Somebody says, "You are broke". You say, "No, I've already got that done. It was done 2,000 years ago on the cross". You say, "Oh, I gotta get God to forgive me for my sins so I need to go home and lay in the floor for two hours so he can forgive me". No, no, no, no, no. Here's how you activate the supernatural, "I'm already forgiven". You know how powerful that is? A divine supernatural being carrying himself, not out of panic and desperation, but out of confidence and faith. It's already done.
Number three, praying in the spirit activates the supernatural. Oh, let me go and say it like I wanna say it. Praying in tongues, activates the supernatural. But you keep letting religious folks who don't even pray in the Holy Ghost tell you it don't exist, and look at them.
Go to Hebrews chapter 3, verses 5 through 6. Tonight, I'm gonna continue what we talked about yesterday: "The Supernatural Power of Sonship". "The Supernatural Power of Sonship". I began yesterday's sermon with this statement that in the absence of knowledge, darkness will prevail. It is what you don't know that will give darkness an opportunity to win over your life. It is what you don't understand that will give darkness the opportunity to win over your life. So when you approach situations this year, don't blame God or the devil. Just go to God and say, "Lord, obviously, there's some things I don't understand. Give me understanding".
The Bible says: "In all your getting, get," what? "Understanding". So whatever's not working in your life, it's not God's fault. It's your knowledge that is inadequate. Whatever's not working in your life is not God's fault; it's your knowledge that is inadequate. Could it possibly be that the reason why something's not working is because there's something you don't know? And if you could understand what you don't understand at the time, then maybe there are some things that will really break out in your life but the reason is always gonna be something you don't know. You don't know everything. So it could be that there's something you don't know.
How many of you know God has the knowledge that you need to overcome in those situations? And so what you see in your physical self is not the real you. It's only a covering. We talked about yesterday that the real you is a spirit. Say out loud, "I am a spirit being. I possess a soul. I live in a physical body". You are divine in nature. You are a supernatural being. You are not just a mere human. You are a supernatural being. You're not just a Clark Kent; you are a Superman. And God is saying that until the truth of your divine nature, until the truth of your divinity dawns on you, you will walk as a person that can't be in control of the situations in life.
The reason why stuff happens and you don't know what's going on is 'cause you don't know who you are. You don't know who you are and because you don't know who you are, you won't release the authority that you have 'cause you don't know who you are. I'll give you an excellent illustration. This morning I was up doing some things and I reached out and my whole back just went out of place. And I thought about what I say to you. And the first thing I said was, "I am a supernatural being and I operate above the natural realm. There's a system that I operate in and by his stripes I am healed. So I summon the power from my spirit to get on my physical body and I rise above the physical pain and I command healing from my spirit to invade my body and with his stripes I am healed".
And check me out right now. Why'd you say that now? You understand what I'm saying? A lot of situations you won't be in control in because you don't know who you are and you don't know what you have. You keep just settling. "Well, I'm just a mere person. I'm just a mere human being". So I believe that understanding your divine nature is the way to release the supernatural. This is gonna be a year where you're gonna see the supernatural increase. You're gonna have questions about things that happen because when it's supernatural that means it's above the natural. It's not limited to, you know, just what people are used to in the natural. You're gonna see things that operate this year above the natural and God wants to use you.
So what's the key to me, as a Christian, operating in the supernatural? It is, I believe with all my heart, understanding sonship is the key to operating in the supernatural, because we live in a kingdom of choices, not chances. Where we live today is a kingdom of choices. Kingdom of choices, choices. And the first choice you're gonna have to make is you're gonna have to choose to be a supernatural being or you're gonna have to choose to be a mere man. We talked about eight things that you do, I think, to initiate the supernatural. Sonship is the key. Understanding who you are is the key.
Now, when I use "sonship" I'm talking about men and women. My wife brought this to my attention. The word "man" in Genesis is plural in its original language. It's not single; it's plural. It's not just talking about the male man; it's talking about the male and female man. It was never singular in the first place. Using the word "man" wasn't talking about just the male man but it's talking about the female man. It's plural in its uses. But understanding your sonship. Sonship. This is not a word that says, you know, sonship, so it's just for men. No, this has no gender to it. This is something that you inherit.
Now, the idea of being a son versus being a servant. In our relationship with the Lord, it's all over the New Testament when Paul wrote. And I wanna start off tonight in Hebrews chapter 3, verses 5 through 6. Hebrews chapter 3, verses 5 through 6. If you're there, say, "Amen". All right, now watch this. "And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after". Verse 6: "But Christ was faithful as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end".
Now, this is so important. Moses was a servant and those who were under the law were servants. Now, for most of the church world, you'll tell people, "I'm a servant of God". Moses was a servant and the law came from Moses and those who are under the law, those who are under performance-based Christianity, those who are under self-effort Christianity, you're servants. But Christ, the Bible says, is the Son and those who are in Christ are sons of God. So never again say, "I'm a servant," 'cause he's trying to get you to accept your sonship.
How many of you are in Christ? You're sons and daughters of God. You're not a servant. Every church I know in America will tell you you're a servant of God and he's, like, "Yeah, let's take it up some". Those who were under the law are servants. You're under grace. I said those who were under the law are servants. You're under grace. You have to know your identity. There's no need of you going to God and say, "God, what do you want me to do"? Because God's gonna come back and ask you, "Who are you"? And when God asks you who you are, don't say, "I'm a servant". When God asks you who you are, say, "I'm a son". Say, "I'm a daughter". You've got to receive your sonship.
You see, once we understand the meaning of sonship, we will walk in the love and the authority of our Father because once you receive your sonship you're gonna love like your Father and you're gonna walk in the authority like your Father. But as long as you think you are a servant, you're gonna try to work and perform to try to earn something that's already yours as a son or daughter in God. Are you listening to me? Once you understand the meaning of sonship and his mission and his vision and his heart, it will become your very own. But before we can truly function as a family in the body of Christ, those horizontal relationships, before we can function in relationships where I'm talking about in the church where we can respect one another, where we can honor one another, where we can submit to one another, and where we can love one another.
See, that brings the question: how come church folk can't get along? In the church, mo' gossip, mo' strife, more mad at, more divorces, more fornication, more weed, more everything in the church. Well, what's the problem? We don't understand the vertical relationship. We don't understand the vertical love relationship, that spiritual sonship that we have with our heavenly Father. And because we see ourselves as servants and not as sons, we have a problem with these horizontal relationships.
See, if you see yourself as in your sonship, when you see yourself as a son or a daughter of the Most High God, then in your horizontal relationships, you're not searching for your identity, you're not searching for approval, you're not searching for affection. You got that from God. And once you know you got it from God, then you can honor people on the horizontal. You can submit to people in the... you can respect people in the... 'cause I'm not trying to get, I don't need nothin' from you that I hadn't gotten from my Father. But if you hadn't settled that vertical relationship between you and God, then you'll try to find it in other people. You'll try to find your identity in somebody else. And then you're gonna be searching for somebody else's approval.
And there are so many people in the church that have a new addiction called approval addiction. And you're searching for approval on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But if you get your sonship right and you know that God approves of you, then you don't need to come down and try to get approval from other people because once you have your approval from God, you don't need to try to earn somebody else's approval. And by the way, if what you are doing, if you are sincere about what you're doing, you know, there are people that are doing great things all over the world and you'll never hear from them. You'll never hear about them. But so many people do things to try to get people's approval. But if you do what you do and you are sincere about what you do, then you will never need somebody's approval.
"Pastor, I don't understand. I wanna know how you make it. People around the world, there's the bad things they say about you". I'll tell you how: I don't need their approval. People that dog you out, they're simply afraid of you. So ain't no use with both of y'all being scared. You gotta get to a point where you don't need somebody's approval because you have the approval of your heavenly Father. And when you get the approval of your heavenly Father, and you know who you are in Christ Jesus, then you can honor people and respect people and submit to people and love people because while you're comparing yourself with somebody else, you stressing yourself out trying to be the cheap imitation of the horizontal.
Some people didn't even come to church tonight 'cause they couldn't find nothin' to wear. We are no longer under the old covenant system. How many of you believe that? We have been set free from the old covenant system where we are dependent on a priest to represent us before God. Neither do you need a prophet to speak for God to us. We have our own personal relationship as a son and a daughter with our God, with our Father. With our Father. I can hear from him. I don't need a prophet up in my face all the time. That was in the old covenant when they couldn't hear. But in this new covenant, my sheep hear my voice.
So what's the prophet for? He's for confirmation. In other words, God can talk to me. He puts it in my mailbox first and then the prophet can come and confirm that that was in my mailbox. The prophet's ministry is for confirmation, edification, and comfort. If the prophet telling you something first, that the Holy Ghost then tell you, you might need to hold up a little bit. You gotta be careful 'cause some of you got some manipulative people in the world today that try to use spiritual gifts and try to manipulate folks. They come up to you, talking about the Lord said for you to write me a $1,000 check. Here's the response: "Well, he ain't told me that yet".
In the new covenant of grace, the first thing we need to know as sons of God is that our Father will never ever break his covenant with us. We will forever be sons and daughters in the house of our God. We will forever be sons and daughters who are loved by God. Please understand something. In this new covenant, God has promised in this sonship and you being a daughter and a son of God, he's promised, "I will never kick you out of my house. And I will never not love you". But the church tells you, "I don't know about that. It depends on how you perform". But God says, "Uh-uh, it is not based on your performance. I have a covenant with you to be your God and to be your Father. I have a covenant with you. You are my son. You know who you are, and although you may act a little shaky sometime, you still my child. You are my son, you are my daughters. You are forever loved in my house," and God has committed his self to that.
So don't you let no preacher, don't you let no church, don't you let no religion tell you, God's mad at you and the reason why that didn't happen is because you're no longer in his presence. He don't consider you no son or daughter anymore. That is a lie straight from the pit of hell. I am a son when I am up. I am a son when I am down. I am a son when I'm doing good. I am a son when I'm doing something stupid. I am a son of the Almighty God now, hence forth, and forevermore. You have to receive that. 'Cause if you don't receive that, you'll start questioning and doubting your identity when it comes to operating and initiating the supernatural.
When it comes to activating the supernatural, you'll look at yourself and say, "Well, maybe God don't really love me no more". Or "Maybe I'm no longer part of the family anymore". Uh-uh, he will never ever, ever, ever change his mind about that covenant. Now, let's get into this. Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 and verse 19. Once we know that, once we know God's commitment towards us as sons and daughters, once we understand that, we'll walk as sons and daughters and find it easy to serve one another in humility.
Now, how powerful is this sonship? Verse 19, let's read it out loud together, ready? Read: "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation". Look at that in the Amplified. "The earnest expectation of all creation is waiting for the manifestation of the men of God or the sons of God". Or that's what we think. We think it's just the man of God they're waiting for. It's the sons of God. Now, listen to this: "For even the whole creation (all nature) waits expectantly, longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known waits for the revealing, and the disclosing of their sonship".
This is important what we're talking about. Turn to your neighbor and say, "The wait is over". All creation's waiting on what you're getting ready to have confidence in. Creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. Now, I'm sure you're wondering, "Okay, well, how do I move into this sonship"? Go to Saint John chapter 1 and 12. Saint John chapter 1 and 12. This is going to just bless you tonight. Saint John 1 and 12. If you're there, say, "Amen". All right, let's read this out loud together, ready? Read: "But as many as has received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed on his name," or his authority. All right, now, watch this now. "But as many as received him, to them gave he power".
Now what does this word "power" mean? Gave him the privilege and the right to become the sons of God. He gave them the privilege, the right, to become the sons of God. Who has the privilege and the right to become the sons of God? Those who have received him, those who believed him. Simple question tonight. How many of you believe in Jesus? That's one question. Second question: how many of you have received him? You now have the privilege. You now have the privilege and the right to enter into your sonship. So by faith, say this out loud: "In Jesus's name I accept this right, I accept this privilege, to enter into my sonship". Are you with me?
Now listen to me carefully now. Until you mature into your sonship, you're excluded from handling certain responsibilities. There are certain responsibilities you will not be included on if you're still immature child. Servants don't have this privilege; only sons and daughters. You understand that? Let me show you something now. Now, I'm getting ready, oh my God, I'm getting ready to step on every religious bone that Grandmom and them ever showed you. Look at Galatians chapter 3, verse 27 through 29. Responsibilities you'll be excluded from: still acting like a servant when you have the privilege to be a son. Privilege to enter into your sonship.
Now watch this. If you're there, say, "Amen". "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ". 28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ". Next verse: "And if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise". So he said you're heirs. Now that you're in Christ, those of you who just identified, "I've received Christ". Now that you're in Christ, you're heirs. Turn to your neighbor and say, "Hello, heir".
Now we need to make a distinction between what kind of heir are you? Sunday, I closed with this: there's a difference between an heir versus an heir apparent. An heir inherits right now. Somebody shout, "Right now". An heir inherits right now. An heir apparent will inherit one day. One day he will inherit, but not right now. He's an heir apparent. One day he will inherit but when the Scripture refers to us being heirs, he's not talking about us inheriting one day. The day you accept, now, let's go to Galatians 4 through 1. Read a little bit more. Galatians 4 through 1.
Alright, Galatians 4:1. Now watch this. Now, this is important. "Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child," so it's gonna be important for us to understand what makes an heir a child, "he differeth nothing from a servant," so an heir that's a child is on the same level as a servant. Though he be Lord of all, he's a child. Next verse, verse 2. He says, "But he is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father". Verse 3: "Even so we, when we were children", now he's talking to Jewish people, "When we were children, we were in bondage under the elements of the world".
He just said something. He said something the whole body of Christ miss for years. Listen to this. The word child in this verse of Scripture in the Greek it's translated unable to inherit. He's a baby infant. He's a minor. He's unable to inherit, but a mature son is ready to inherit. He's a full mature son. So in Galatians 4, verse 1 and 2, he's talking about the children of Israel when they were under the law; and under the law, they were infants not ready to inherit. Under the law, they were infants that were not ready to inherit until the time appointed by the Father when Jesus would come to bring all of us into sonship, bring all of us into full mature sons ready to inherit.
So what he is saying right here, go to the Amplified. I want to read 1 through 3 in the Amplified. I'm getting ready to say this. This is so radical because, you know, what makes you a child. Look at what he says here. In verse 1 he says, "Now what I mean is that as long as an inheritor, an heir is a child and under age, he does not different from a slave, although he's the master of all the estate; but he is under guardians and administrators or trustees until the date fixed by his father". 3: "So we, Jewish Christians, also when we were minors were kept like slaves under the rules of the Hebrew ritual and subject to the elementary teachings of a system of external observations and regulations".
What did he just describe? The Law of Moses. Here we go. The law is for children, grace is for sons. What made them children? When they were under the law. When you operate under the Law of Moses, when you try to perform to try to get God to do something for you, when all of what you're trying to get to happen is based on your self-effort and not based on Jesus, you can't be trusted with certain responsibilities because you're operating by the law and you're a child under the law, an infant, a minor, no better than a servant because you're under the law; but God appointed a time for Jesus to come, and when Jesus came, he came to deliver us from the law.
Come on, go back to the King James, Amplified, Kings James, Galatians we left off 4. "But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son," what? "Made of a woman, made under the law". Now, why was Jesus made under the law? Next verse, verse 5, "To redeem them that were under the law". The word redeem means to deliver, to pay the ransom from those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. So Jesus came to deliver out of childness or childhood or babyhood by getting you out of the law and making available to you sonship, and he calls it the adoption of sons.
Now, this word adoption is not defined like we use it in our society where you have a different blood adopting somebody else with a different blood. The word adoption in the Greek means adult son placing, adult son placing. Not adoption as taking someone else's child with the DNA different from the adoptive parents, but we are actually born of God as new creations with God's very own DNA. So he delivered you out of the law, meaning out of the law you're no longer children, and delivered you into the adoption of sons; and the same DNA this son, Jesus, has, you are now in him and you are now a full-grown, same DNA as Jesus and God able to inherit the promises rat now, R-A-T.
Verse 6, "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying, 'Abba, Father.'" So here's what confirms what has happened to you when you are adopted. When you receive your sonship, the Holy Ghost begins to speak out of your heart: Say, "Daddy". He's no longer just God, he is your daddy. Servants called him Jehovah. Servants called him God. You call him Daddy. Cry out, "Daddy". You can have a different expectation when you hear somebody say daddy instead of master. Servants sweat to serve, perform, and work hard to try to get the approval of their master. Sons and daughters wake up in the morning with no sweat, knowing that he will do what he promised 'cause that's my daddy. Servants lay hands hoping and praying something might happen, but sons lay hand with the assurance that; "When I lay hands on the sick, they shall recover. This is a promise from my daddy".
So until you receive your sonship, they'll always be the struggle of, "Do I have a right to do this or to execute this authority or to operate this particular way because I'm just not quite sure if I have been accepted"? Look at Romans chapter 8, verses 4 through 16, Romans chapter 8, verse 4 through 16. I'm telling you this year, if you walk in your sonship, the devil better pack his bags and he better hurry up and get out because he will no longer be dealing with a servant who has the sweat to get something happen. That sweat is performing to try to get it happen.
How many days do you have to fast before you can see power? How many days do you have to pray? How many hours you got to pray? See, we've been performing trying to earn God's goodness. And as a son you don't work to get God's goodness; as a son, his goodness is what's supposed to be yours through relationship. But if the church has tried to convince you over and over again, "No, no, no, you're not that close to God. You're just a servant of the Lord. You're a servant". "Who are you"? "I'm a servant of the Most High God. I never gave up. No, I am a son of God. I am a son. I am a son with the exact duplicate, as Jesus is, so am"...
What you saw on the earth when Jesus was here was a son walking around, and the Son of God became the Son of Man, when he took a body on, he became the Son of Man. Why did he become the Son of Man? So he can take the sons of men and show them how to be the sons of God, and he's done all of that and you're still walking around like Jethro and them just like a servant. You ain't a servant no more. Servanthood is over with. It is now time to enter into your sonship. The entire creation is waiting on you to declare that: "I am just like Jesus. I am a son of God, a joint heir with Christ, a joint heir with Christ. I speak to mountains and they're removed. When I pray, I get answers. When things need to happen, I don't beg God. I just rest and watch it come to pass. I can speak in tongues and pray in the Spirit and he'll give birth to something that I needed to know".
Don't go around talking about what you don't know. Just know as a son, it's in there somewhere. As a son, you know when I pray in the Holy Ghost, he'll give light to that dark place as a son. See, you got to know that. If you don't come to the place of understanding who you are, your identity, then there are going to be certain responsibilities that you will not be included in on because you have not accepted your sonship. You're still around playing church trying to be a servant, servant.
Look what he says in verse 14, Romans 8:14. You know this one. "For as many as are," what? "Led by the Spirit of God, they are Sons of God". 'Cause sons of God are led by the Spirit of God, servants of God are led by the Ten Commandments. Servants of God are going around talking about, "Well, is it wrong to have wine"? Sons of God ask the Holy Ghost. Aren't you tired of sweating like a servant when sons go to bed with air condition? Look at verse 16. "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirits, that we are children of God," specifically sons because this New Testament is all about the Holy Spirit.
See, we're going around trying to find some more rules to live by. Rule keeping didn't work. We now have the Spirit who authored the rules and he said, "Instead of me giving you more tablets, I'm going to give you myself and I'm going to come in and I'm going to lead and guide you, and I'm going to take away your old want-tos and give you new want-tos," and you'll stay up at night trying to figure out why is it that I don't want to do what I used to want to do because the Holy Ghost is doing a work on the inside of you. But some of you are here tonight would have not normally been here tonight, but the Holy Ghost is doing a work on the inside of you. Some of you would have been at a club somewhere getting ready to get your bottle out and do what you need to do.
Now, I'm not saying you're not going to do that after we dismiss, we just glad to have you here for the beginning for the prelude. But I'm telling you under this new covenant, there's some new wine. Praise God. And if you drink of this new wine, you'll never thirst again. Praise the Lord. And it's by the Holy Ghost. I'm not going to tell you no more rules. I'm not going to give you no more rules. We're not going to sit and tell you what's right or wrong. I'm telling you there's a Holy Spirit that wants to live on the inside of you, that wants to lead and guide you. You are now sons. You depend on the Holy Spirit.
That's why everybody is so confused right now. "Well, how come God listen"? Why did God let that happen? Who God did that? Who did that? Why did God do that? And I don't think I want to go to church no more because I'm confused and I don't know why God did what he did and I don't understand nothing". Because you're supposed to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Quit trying to figure the Bible out and get in the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost will show you what you need to know. He'll show you every Scripture. He'll show you the job you need to go to. He'll show you who you need to marry and who you need to let go of. He will show you, hallelujah, things to come. He is your guide. He is your unseen partner. He has been given to sons. Servants don't have this privileged, sons do. Hallelujah.
The spirit of sonship brings with it a sense that we are right with God, but the spirit of a slave brings with it the sense that we need to perform to earn the right to be in God's presence. I'm a son. I'm right with God. Even when I'm wrong, I'm right with God. See, my children are going to be my children. I don't care what they do. They're still going to be my children. It ain't like they can divorce me and go find another daddy. They can go get a pretend daddy, but he never going to be the real one. The only DNA that they can claim as their DNA is this DNA.
Somebody say, "Well, they're crazy". Yeah, but they crazy tell belong to me. Quit looking for reasons to get rid of them and just stay in there and act like a son and say, "Lord, Lord, I need you right now. I don't know what to do. I made some mistakes. I don't know how to correct them, but you are my Father. Now in the name of Jesus, I declare over my children, because I am a son, that my children are taught of the Lord and great is the peace of my children. My children want to praise God. My children love to praise God. They will do what you've called them to do and they shall not fail in doing it.
Now I'm the redeemed of the Lord and whatever I say is so". That's what you do because you are sons of God. Under the law, God was judge. Under grace, God is father. As sons, we don't need to fear judgment from God. Man, before I knew about grace, every time the earth shook I thought judgment day was coming. Every time lightning hit, "Oh-oh, here we go". I don't need to fear that. Somebody say, "What happens to sons after the end of all this"? It's a party time.
I used to think they had a real reel in heaven and at the end of time, we're going to get in line and God is going to say, "Next". And then they are going to call me next and they're going to play the reel of real and all creation is going to see all my dirty and God was just going to sit up there, me and God got talking about that one time. I said, "Well, Lord, what is that"? He said, "Well, it's in the sea". I said, "What do you mean it's in the sea"? He said, "Don't you remember when you got born again I told you I was going to take your sins and cast them as far as the east is from the west and cast them in the sea of forgetfulness and I'm not going to remember no more"?
There ain't any reel of reals in heaven with all your dirty laundry. All your dirty laundry was put on the body of Jesus Christ. Amen. This is not a relationship based on fear, but it's in the privilege and the freedom to call him daddy. I shared with you yesterday morning, our sonship comes from three things: our sense of identity, our sense of acceptance, and our sense of approval. That's what happens when you receive your sonship. Identity, I know who I am; acceptance, he's received me as his son; approval, he approves of me.
Now these three bring a true sense of belonging. These are basic human needs that every human needs to have, and if you don't get it in God, you spend all your life trying to find it in somebody and sometimes you find it in the wrong person. "How come I keep marrying the same thug-like person"? Because of your low self-esteem. Your low self-esteem still drawing that same old sorry Negro that don't want to do nothing but lay around and drink your milk because, I mean, he get it for free.
So why is he going to marry a cow that he can milk for free? Moo. But the day you start caring enough about yourself because you now have your approval in God and your identity in God, you're not just going to take in a little curly haired something that come your way. You're going to now value yourself enough to know that I value myself more than to let you come into my life and mess me up, stress me out, and make me miserable. "I'm a diamond, baby. You better get a shovel and start digging. I'm not just rocks on top of the surface. I'm a Rolls Royce. You don't get to test-drive me, baby. You don't get to test-drive me. You want this, you got to work for it. You got to you wait for it. You got to do the right thing for it. You ain't getting". Just stop while I'm ahead.