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Are You A Spiritual Orphan? (With Pastor Austin Young) · The Extra Mile Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think a religious mindset is keeping us from a relationship mindset.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's the rule-based mentality that's keeping us from a grace-based relationship.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus introducing and hammering this conversation and Paul doubling down five different times he talks about this idea that we are adopted.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: He's trying to communicate to this group of people, yeah, I know you know God, but you need to know him in a much more personal way.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: He is our Father.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, welcome everybody back to the Extra Mile Podcast.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Sitting here back.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta say my favorite.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: And you just uh just a gift to me to keep this conversation flowing, man.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Pastor Austin Young, welcome back to the table.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's good to be back.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we uh we finished the series this past weekend, this conversation, relocation, salvation.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: And to me, this was probably here's what was really odd.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was probably personally my favorite message out of the out of all the five messages we we communicated.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about moving from light to or from darkness to light, from unbelief to faith, moving from death to life.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And this past week had a conversation on moving from being orphans to sons and daughters.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: And here's what struck me out of the gate was how many people came up to me.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: To me, this was a familiar conversation.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: I've been a pastor, I've been reading the Bible for many years, but I had so many people come up to me, and people text me, people send me uh DMs that how much this message meant to them that they never realized they were adopted by God.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: I uh so what was very familiar to me seemed very foreign to a lot of people.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Was this I mean, you're a pastor, but was this a newer, newer conversation for you?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think not really.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like I think I I had known that and understood it.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think what I um what I enjoyed about it was I don't know that I've heard many messages on it.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's one of those things you just like kind of throw in as like, he's our father.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: We're now his children.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know that I've ever heard like a you know, a 40-minute message on being adopted by God and and becoming his son and daughter.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that was helpful.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I also just I always want to look at it with like I had really great parents and a great dad.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so I look at it and I'm like, but what things from my dad am I projecting on God, the good and the bad?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think that's always helpful to kind of rehash that a little bit because I think it's easy to think that people with um less than great fathers project that onto God.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm like, even when you had a good dad, like you project things onto God that still aren't true of him, even if they're true of a good earthly father.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I think that was helpful too.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I've I've it's been familiar, but I don't know that it's always just kind of been like a throwaway add-on, I think, when you're listing all the things that God is, He's the father, and you're like, okay.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think uh man, I think that's really uh perceptive.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it's easy to throw in the titles altogether.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, looking back, that's probably the first time I preached a message on adoption and him being our heavenly father, maybe ever.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe that's why it's a new information.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: But again, the this idea, and we'll dig into it today on this podcast, but what does it mean that we're orphans and what does it mean that we're adopted are such you know powerful pictures that God paints about our relationship with him.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: But the reason I wanted to have this conversation today for those who are listening to the podcast and even those who are here for the message is again, part of the purpose of the Bible is God's revelation.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's God revealing who he is.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: How do we know what God is like?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: How do we know he's not like Allah?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: How do we know he's not like, you know, how do we know he's personal and not far away?
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's because he's revealed himself in the Bible.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so I have in front of me, I have a pretty extensive library, and I have in front of me, if you're able to watch this, if not, you're just listening.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: I have two books in front of me out of my library.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: One is about 300 pages, and one is about 350 pages, and they are entitled Every Name of God in the Bible and all the divine names and titles in the Bible.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so, someone, an author, two different authors, has gone through the Bible extensively and taken every title, every name of who is God generally, who is the Father, who is the Holy Spirit, like who is Jesus, and hundreds of pages of titles, and all of them are meaningful.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: The reason God's given us these names is so we know who he is, what he's like, what his nature is, what his character is, what his ability is.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: But when it all comes down, if you could only pick one, and you you can't narrow God down like this, but the one that I think is the most meaningful is he's our father.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is the one who, I mean, he is the living word, he understands, he knows, he is the old testament, and he comes along and highlights this one title to let us know as modern day people, hey, God is powerful and God is um he is imminent, which means he's close, but man, he's so big, he's he's outside of time and space.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: But the one thing we need to dial into is that he is our heavenly father.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, I think if you've grown, I think if you raised in a religious home, um, I think if you grow up with a lot of rules, we see God as a lot of different things, and it's hard to see him as our heavenly father.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um, I'm you know, give us give a little bit, what was your upbringing?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Was it easy for you to see God as a heavenly father, or is that something that took some time to get used to?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I I think it was good for me.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm one of those, like I look back and I remember by the time I was a teenager, I like I would be annoyed by how much my dad said, I love you.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: And like I didn't know that that wasn't normal.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like he I always knew he loved me, I always knew he was proud of me.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like, no matter what, like there was never um like I needed to perform at a certain level to feel like I earned his love or his respect, you know.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: So like I never had that angle, which I think a lot of people, even great dads, I think I have that, and I didn't have that.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I was fine with like, yeah, I know God just loves me because he's my dad.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like I understood that part.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think for me, that was not hard, but I still think I see God as like the disciplinarian a little bit.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like he like, I'm like talking to Jesus, and if Jesus or the Holy Spirit sees me acting up, he's like, I'm gonna tell the father, and you're like, no, don't tell dad.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like I still have that, which is like that healthy fear of a good earthly father.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: You start to project that on a God, and then he he he moves from being like a loving father to an enforcer, and then you want to make Jesus the loving bro, and the Holy Spirit like the friend and the helper, but you're like, God the father is the one who's gonna bring the hammer down.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I just if I need to be distant from God, I need to be distant from the father until I get my stuff in order.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like trying to, I think that's how it could get skewed, even with me having like a good upbringing in a in a healthy relationship with my dad for that part.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: I had the the benefit as well, man, of having an amazing dad.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he was present, he was, you know, man, consistent in my life, was always a teacher, was always helpful.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now he aired, I think, some on the side of grace.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: There were things I was doing as not a Christian, which he wasn't either, that he gave me probably some leeway on, probably gave me some rope that ended up hanging myself.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, so I made this made this point that a lot of times people have good dads and there are bad dads.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: There are absent dads, there are abusive dads.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: And no matter who your dad is, good or bad, absent or present, we do tend to impose the failures of our earthly father onto our heavenly father, whether, again, whether he's distanced, we think God is distant, or hey, my dad was kind of gracious and let me get away with things.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: So, hey, you know, I mean, God's that's what dads do, dads give grace.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day, you know, let's I think we just need to talk about um why did God reveal himself as heavenly father?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like what was his point?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the point is because it starts with us being orphans.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we talked about this idea that all the way back in the garden, God created Adam.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says in Luke 3:38 that he is he was a son of God.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't have an earthly father, or uh he didn't have an earthly father, he had a heavenly father.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: So he was a son of God.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: But he lost that title, he lost that position.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: He not just only lost his position, he lost his place in the garden, he lost his people and ultimately lost his purpose.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: And sin does the same thing to us.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, man, it it is hard to talk about sin because I think most people either see it as like really sin's not a big deal, or we put it in such a category that there's no solution to it.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: And really, it's in this middle ground that we find scripture, it is a big deal.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Sin does kill, it does separate, it does put us in darkness, but there is a solution.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, so I don't know.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh being an orphan, I don't think is a title that you know I typically would think of myself as, but that's how the Bible describes us.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: We're orphans because of because of our sin.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um in uh Matthew chapter 6, verse 9, this is how Jesus teaches us to pray.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it's in the Sermon on the Mount where 15 times he identifies God as our Heavenly Father, but he says, Hey, when you pray, pray this way, our Father in heaven.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't share this Sunday, but when he says our, I don't think he's talking about all everybody that's listening because we're not, he's not everybody's heavenly father until you receive the adoption.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think what he's saying is our, I think he's saying between you and I.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have a relationship with God the Father the way I do, you can have that same connection, our Father who's in heaven.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: So to think like, man, yeah, Jesus is connected to the Father, but us, man, we're we're worms.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: We're like, I don't know, have you ever seen it that way when Jesus capitalizes on the you know the O-U-R-Y, I think I've always thought of it in the more classic way of you're like, yeah, he's everyone's father, which is true in the context of how Jesus is using it.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't know that I've ever thought about it specifically as that of like, um I do think naturally I'm just like, well, yeah, he's Jesus' father, like they're in perfect relationship.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I'm like more of the the step kid in that, in that way of like I I think of the adoption as that sometimes.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like, well, I'm not like his favorite, like, but we're all adopted at the same level as Jesus was as a son.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, yeah, I don't think I normally think of it that way though.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think his heartbeat is at the end of the day, is intimacy.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to see, again, especially if you were raised in a in a really strict home or in a really strict religion.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we tend to be very rule-oriented again, feel like we have to please God, we have to measure up, we have to work for his attention.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I think what Jesus is saying is um, hey, he loves you and really in spite of you.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, again, not that he doesn't call us so holiness because he does, but again, it's the same way if you go all the way back to the Old Testament, God is not really introduced in the book of Exodus as Father.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: But basically, God brings the nation of Israel out of Egypt, takes Moses out, gives them the law, and basically it's God saying, Listen, I love you, I'm your God, whether you're ready to be my people or not.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I just want you to know you belong to me and I'm your God.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now I want you to, I want you to live as if I really I'm really your God.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the same way in the New Testament, like he is our Father.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: We just need to get our mind around that and really believe that there is that level of relationship and intimacy and access, and he really is our provider and protector.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think a religious mindset is keeping us from a relationship mindset.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's the rule-based mentality that's keeping us from a grace-based relationship.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus introducing and hammering this conversation and Paul doubling down five different times, he talks about this idea that we are adopted.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: He's trying to communicate to this group of people, yeah, I know you know God, but you need to know him in a much more personal way.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: He is our father.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you know, I I don't know.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: I I I know there's a lot of people that I talk to on a regular basis, and I think some of their challenges in their walk with God, having the freedom God wants, is they have a hard time really seeing this and hearing this.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: What do you what do you think the holdback is?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: You think it's training or do you think it's mindset?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think holds people back from living this?
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think I think there's definitely a part of it just from the culture in biblical times to the culture now, what family is?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: And what family is in America, and what family is even still in Eastern, you know, instead of the Western world, in the Eastern world or in other cultures, I think family takes a bigger priority.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Where I think part of the Americanization of Christianity and the family is kind of like so individualistic that there's not as much reliance on family, there's not as much priority on family.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's and so I think that's part of it, is it almost doesn't have the same depth of meaning because even people with a great family, like you know, I I live 10 hours from my dad and I see him a few times a year, and we talk a few every few months, like, but I love him and we have like we're good.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like things are bad, but we're just not super close.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: We have our own lives, and I think that's I think that can be a part of it.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Is even good families, I don't think it's as holistic of a life view as they had then, where like your family was everything and you stayed with your family, you lived in the same house as your family.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's a part of it too, is we don't understand how in-depth this fatherhood is.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Where like I could call my dad any second, he would drive 10 hours to help me, but I'm like, I could figure it out where it's like we have that same thing with God is like I know God would help me, but like I got it.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'll call on him if I really need him.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but like, you know, he's my dad, I know he's there for me, but like he doesn't want to be a part of everything I do.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: He's got his own, he's got his own life, and he's like not really.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: He's busy trying to run the universe.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: He knows, you know, it's uh one of the things we didn't talk about this past weekend, but is in this aspect who God is that um you know, the Bible says whom God loves, he he disciplines, he chastens.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: And part of being a father is discipline.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is where, again, man, I feel like we either live on one side or the other, either we live that like, yeah, God, he's a man, he's a disciplinary and he's he's mad at me.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Or no, man, God's my heavenly father.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're tight, we have a great relationship.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: And God is a good father, which means he's both, he's present, he is loving, but he's gonna discipline.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for me, and I know this especially as a young father, I tended to discipline out of anger, not out of instruction.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I would tend to, my kids would get a unhealthy or negative response from me, not out of, hey, I want you to, I want you to learn how to be a better, you know, sister to your, you know, whatever.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: It was like I was tired of hearing them scream.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: And God isn't up there losing his patience, he really sees potential in us as his children, filled with his spirit, and is trying to get us to move past the things that are holding us back.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, so God being a disciplinarian sounds like this monster in heaven that's just waiting to, you know, take out a heavenly paddle and beat us.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And really he's trying to strive to get more out of us.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, um, what do you what do you think people tend to see?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think people tend to see the gracious God or probably the disciplinarian?
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: It I think it just depends.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think if you're raised in church and if you're raised in a more conservative uh tradition of the church, you're seeing him as disciplinarian.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: You're seeing him as he's gonna bring the hammer, he's gonna bring the correction, and you're lucky Jesus, you know, stood in between you.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then I think if you're maybe newer to the faith or newer to Christianity, or you grew up in a more progressive uh household, you probably have more of the view of like, dude, God just loves me.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: He's just glad that like I'm trying and I'm having a good time.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that backwards?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you would think so.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: If we're if we're teaching the Bible right, you think it would be the other way around that you think people who are not who don't know God, who don't have a relationship with God, you think they would come into church thinking he's the disciplinarian.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: But if we figure out, no, he's he's also this, he's also our heavenly father, but we would become familiar with that and walk in that.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't it weird the people who are more church-based, people who are church more often tend to think of God in a more negative light?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I I don't have the stats to prove that, but I bet it's that way.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: I I would say my guess is because we are more aware of the depravity and the depth of our own sin.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it's harder to picture like I wouldn't love someone like me a lot of the time.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: So why would he?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Where like people who don't have a great understanding of maybe sin, they're like, Well, like the world says this is cool, so obviously God still loves me.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: He's cool with it.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because if he's a God of love, like he loves everything I do.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but we're more like, no, we see how broken and desperate we are.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: So how does he have the patience?
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: Because I don't have patience with my kids, so why would he have patience with me?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: So you're saying we're not just getting a clear picture of God, we're getting a clearer picture of ourselves.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think us being I think the more clearly I see myself, the harder it is to love myself and the harder it is to believe God would love me.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: Where like if I think I'm awesome, I'm like, well, of course God loves me.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm awesome.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: But if you don't see that, and that's the progress progression Paul goes through, man.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: He starts off, man, celebrating, man, you know, who he is and his credentials.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: And by the time he gets to the end of his life, he's like, Man, I'm the chief of sinners.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like the longer he served God, the more he became aware of his own depravity.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, man, that's uh I think that's a great perspective.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so again, we this idea of we are we're orphans, and what orphans us is our sin.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sin always separates us from a holy God.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so the way the Bible describes that is we're orphans, we're spiritual orphans.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And uh since it's a spiritual issue and not a construct, not a social construct, then it's a spiritual solution.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: We can't fix ourselves, we can't change ourselves, we can't do enough working out in the gym, we can't do enough self-help, we can't do enough counseling, like a spiritual solution needs to be given, and it it's given in scripture.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the book of Ephesians tells us, Galatians tells us, Romans tells us that the solution to being a spiritual orphan is this adoption that comes through Christ.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that Paul is he's is doing when he's writing, he's writing with this Roman mindset and he understands the culture he's living in.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: And adoption isn't something just in our society, it was something very um very consistent in the culture that he was a part of in the Roman culture.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: But at that time there was something different.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I said this Sunday that those who were in the Roman Empire, they typically would adopt out of compulsion, not out of compassion.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we tend to see someone in need and we want to help them so we invite them into our home and they become part of our family.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: They had resources, lands, titles, et cetera, and they didn't have a son, so they would adopt somebody to pass on the family name, to pass on the heritage, etc.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And what you find out is God doesn't need us.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't, he's like, he's not like, man, who do I leave all this to?
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: He already has a perfect son in Jesus.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need another son, he doesn't need another daughter, he already has a perfect son in the second person of the Godhead, Jesus Christ.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: However, so he does this out of this great love and compassion.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, I don't need you, I'm choosing you anyways.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so what's so crazy is is is this cycle.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: We tend to see God as a father, then we see him as a disciplinary, which makes us back off instead of like he knew I again, it's not an excuse for our struggle, but God knew my struggles be before he chose me.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: He chose me in spite of me.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: And uh man, I wish everybody watching this would know that again, Jesus came to reveal the Father.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: He said, if you see me, you've seen the Father.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: And he wants you to know, yes, God has a standard for your life.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, God wants us to be holy as he's holy, but it starts with the relationship that he provides a way for you and I to come into a relationship with him, that we become sons and daughters, we are adopted into his family, and he is our heavenly father.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, man, allowing a healthy understanding of what it means to be a heavenly father, to allow that to filter into our prayer life, that we don't have to wait till we're destitute to cry out for help, like the smallest thing, like he's there.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, man, my my hope is that this will bleed into the hearts of every person.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you're religious, man, that you allow a new revelation of God to impact your heart and your mind.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, any takeaways, man?
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: I I gotta I got something I want to close with, but what was any any takeaways that you have that you want to talk about?
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think um I think for me, I'm always, you know, I have a five-year-old and a seven-year-old, so I'm always thinking about what kind of a father I'm being to them and all of that.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think that that's helped me too, is like I think um looking at who God is and figuring out if I can emulate that kind of being a father of like I know that when he brings conviction and correction, it's through kindness, kind of like what you were saying.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like, often my mine is because I reached the end of my rope, not because I desperately wanted more for my daughters.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: It was because I couldn't handle anymore.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so it's like God doesn't get to a point where he's like, I just can't take it, I've gotta stop him.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: But he's more like, man, I love you so much.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I what you're doing is not what's best for you.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think I kind of take away taking what I know to be true about God and figuring out if I can apply that to my own parenting and try and allow my experience of God as father to make me a better experience of a father to my kids.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I when you talk about God being a disciplinarian because he is again whom God loves, he chastises our disciplines, but it's not really the discipline that changes us.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: According to scripture, it's his it's his kindness that leads us to repentance.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's not our fear of retribution, it's our man, God is in spite of my depravity, in spite of man, God should have stopped love.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: God should have never, I mean, man, Pastor Austin maybe should be adopted, but me, I could never be adopted in God.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not good enough.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: But no, it's his kindness, it is his consistent, continual, pervasive love that that leads us to this.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I I want to respond to God's love for me and like kind of want to love him back.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the way we love God best is by being the people he's created and called us to be.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the things I didn't.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't get a chance to share on Sunday is again in everything that God calls us to do, man, He always sets the standard.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: And uh part of my leadership as a pastor and as a person is I try to, when I when I call people to to live a certain lifestyle or live it a certain life or, you know, serve people like I want to lead the way.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like I don't want to ask people to do what I'm not doing.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: And the thing I love about this is God calls his people in the Old Testament.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: The primary thing that his people are judged for in the Old Testament, and you read this a lot in the minor prophets, is they they just think, man, we're God's people, man, they just abuse people around them.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: They forget people around them.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: They at the end of the day, they don't love.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: And there's four categories of people in the Old Testament that because of the way God's people, the nation of Israel, dealt with them, they received the strictest judgment.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it was these four categories: widows, orphans, the poor, and immigrants.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Widows, orphans, the poor, and immigrants.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you read this over and over again in the Old Testament, and you move into the New Testament.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: So God's saying, Hey, I need you to, I need you to deal justly.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: I need you to, I need you to help.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: I need you to love the poor, the immigrant.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, here's what I need you to do.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: And you step in the New Testament, and that's exactly what God does.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't have a we didn't have a bridegroom, and God married us.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's the covenant.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: We became the bride of Christ.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: So God's not just calling us to do it, He's doing it Himself.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Being immigrants, the Bible says, man, we're now citizens of heaven.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: So man, we were outcasts.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't belong in God's house, but no, he made us citizens of heaven.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 9 says that that God, though he was rich, he became poor for our sakes, that through his poverty we might become rich.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so again, God took on our poverty, our brokenness, and made us wealthy, spiritually wealthy, rich.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then obviously what we're talking about is he took us and he made us, even though we were orphans, he's adopted us into his household.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so I love this idea of God, man, always raising the standard and he meets it first.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Raising the standard, he meets it first.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so I would just encourage, man, all of us listening to this, to allow his love to make you more loving, allow his grace to make you more gracious, allow his provision and protection to make you more of a provider and a protector of those in your life.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: And the goal isn't just to be like, wow, I have a heavenly father.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's to change the way we live and the way we interact with our heavenly father.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: So um I'll let you have a closing thought, man.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: No, I think, I mean, I think that's a super helpful takeaway is God is setting the standard.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: He's setting the way of like this is how we're meant to live.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: We're meant to live in this way, and I'm going to make a way for you to be able to live that way.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to set the example of what it looks like.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to meet you in it.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to empower you to do it.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I just think that that's so hopeful to know that he's like, no, I'm in it with you.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: He's not the God calling down and being like, still not good enough, still not good enough.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like, he's like, no, no, no, I'll come down, I'll humble myself, I'll do all the things I've asked you to do so you can see it, and I'll do it as a human so that I know what you've experienced.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's that type of relational that sets it apart from from any other religion or God that offers a flourishing way of life as there's no one else that stepped in and did it first and did it with you and then offers to keep doing it with you.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: He still knows us and still loves us.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, listen, man, I uh again, everybody watching this, we are orphaned because of our sins.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: We have the opportunity to be adopted into God's family through faith and what Jesus Christ did for us.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you're watching this and you've not yet been adopted, I just would encourage you to cry out.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says, once we become children of God, we have that relationship where we can call him Abba Father.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: So you can pray to him in many different ways.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Again, these books, you can use every title and name in here, and God will respond.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're in a desperate place, in a difficult place, if you need God to show up, man, he commands us and calls us to call him Abba Father, our daddy, which might seem very foreign to you, but God wants you to get comfortable with him being close to you.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm thankful that we have a heavenly father, and I'm thankful, man, that we have this revelation of who he is and want it to be life transforming.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, hey, thanks everybody for joining us for the X Mile Podcast.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next week.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Pastor Austin.