September 15, 2013 Swift Church Keith Cardwell Ephesians 1:1-9 Galatians 4:4-7 New Beginnings with God God is a God of new beginnings. No matter our past. The past is dead. We have a wonderful future because of the love of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus. We can be and are new people, a new creation. Hear how the Gospel enables us to find our true identity and self-worth. Because God is a God of New beginnings we have a new identity. In Galatians, Paul reminds us that Jesus was sent on a mission - He came into the slave market of our world and purchased us and freed us that we might receive adoption as children! You are a child of God. You are brothers and sisters with Christ. We have the same name, the same inheritance, and the same rights as Jesus! We all yearn for a sense of identity, but often try to find it in our career, possessions, or the approval of others. When people all around us are having identity crises; when they are trying to find out who they are; when others desperately try to discover their inner selves or try to build a sense of self-worth on their achievements—we can be free from that. We can be secure in the knowledge that we are children of God the Father, in equal standing with Jesus! Because God is a God of new beginnings we have new influence. We have been set free to experience our standing with Christ because God has sent His Spirit. Notice - the Spirit is given to us - we don’t need to ask for Him or do anything to receive Him - He is given to us! He comes as a gift - He’s part of the inheritance package, part of the salvation life! God not only sent Himself to us, GOD SENT HIMSELF INTO US! Think about it. In the new beginnings we have with God through Christ, God Himself is in us! The omnipotent God is in us! The unchanging, ever faithful God is in us! We are a new creation because of God through Christ and with Christ and the Holy Spirit of God who lives in us. New beginnings with God means we have new inheritance. We have been given the full rights of a natural born, mature heir. The Roman father had the discretion to determine when a son was “of age” to become the legal heir to his estate. Until that time the son had no more access to the inheritance than a slave. So Paul says God chose the time when Jesus came and gave us our inheritance. He paid the price; through no merit of our own we have the full rights of natural born sons and daughters. One morning, a family was eating breakfast in a little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet, family meal. While they were waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished-looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests. The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, “I hope he doesn’t come over here.” But sure enough, the man did come over to their table. “Howdy! Where are you folks from?” he asked in a friendly voice. “Oklahoma,” they answered. “Well, great to have you here in Tennessee,” the stranger said. “What do you do for a living?” “I teach at a seminary,” he replied. “Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I’ve got a really good story for you.” And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with the couple. The professor groaned and thought to himself, “Great, just what I need—another preacher story!” The man started, “See that mountain over there? Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question. ‘Hey boy, who’s your daddy?’ He would hide at recess and lunchtime from other students. He would avoid going into stores because that question hurt him so much. When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. He would always go in late and slip out early to avoid hearing the question, ‘Who’s your daddy?’ But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast, he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about the boy, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, ‘son, who’s your daddy?’ “The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the church looking at him. Now everyone would finally know the answer to the question, ‘Who’s your daddy?’ “The new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the following to the scared little boy. ‘Wait a minute!’ he said. ‘I know who you are. I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God.’ “With that, he patted the boy on his shoulder and said, ‘Boy, you’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.’ The boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same again. Whenever anybody asked him, ‘Who’s your Daddy?’ he’d just tell them, ‘I’m a child of God.’ ” The distinguished gentlemen got up from the table and said, “Isn’t this a great story?” The professor responded that it really was a great story! As the man turned to leave, he said, “You know, if that new preacher hadn’t told me that I was one of God’s children, I probably would never have amounted to anything!” And he walked away. The seminary professor and his wife were stunned. He called the waitress over and asked her, “Do you know that man who just left that was sitting at our table?” The waitress grinned and said, “Of course. Everybody here knows him. That’s Ben Hooper. He’s the former governor of Tennessee!” Through the work of Christ you are adopted into the family of God. With that comes a new beginning. A new beginning with God. You have a new identity –you are children of God. You have new influence through presence--God is in you. ‘You’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.’
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 17:18:55 +0000
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