12/11/11 - Gift of Salvation PT4 - Pastor Tony Ashmore

Pastor Tony Ashmore continues the series "Unwrapping the Gift of Salvation" with "Adopted"  in this Sunday morning celebration.

Adopted
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, December 11, 2011

www.mylifegatechurch.com

Listen now: Download today's podcast


Sermon Notes:

Interview with Melissa James, Pastor Tony's adopted daughter

Ephesians 1:4-5
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Ephesians 1:4-5 (NLT)
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4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

Psalm 103:13
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Psalm 103:13 (NLT)
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The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.

Esther
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Esther was adopted. Mordecai was her adoptive father. (Esther 2:7) He came to her with the plan to destroy his people. She had a choice, ignore it, run from it, or do something about it. She chose to honor her father and do what he would have done, but could not (it required a woman). She was born for such a time as this. We are God's adopted children. He has revealed satan's plan to destroy people. We have a choice, ignore it and by doing so actually join in satan's destructive schemes, run from it, again becoming an accomplice to destruction, or do something about it. God, who would do it, cannot because He keeps His word and He has limited Himself to accomplishing things on earth through mankind (dominion over all the works of His hands, "You limit the Holy One of Israel"). We honor our Father when we do what He would do.

Moses
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Moses was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. (Acts 7:21) Positioned with influence. His adoption gave him a platform. He was uniquely qualified to represent God to Pharaoh. We are uniquely qualified to represent God to those with whom we have influence. The things that led to his adoption, his adoption itself, became tools in the hands of God to deliver a nation and lead them to God.

Our adoption
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Our adoption by God was His plan, His desire. We are His as much as Jesus is His, and He makes no difference between us and Jesus. We are born, not of the will or action of man, but by a choice of God.

John 1:12-13
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John 1:12-13 (NLT)
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12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

So What?
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* Take His name, accept His love, He has made you His child, make Him your Father.

* Quit identifying with the birth parents (this world and its systems) that seek only to control, use, misuse, abuse and manipulate you. Even when they seek to woo you with seeming good things, you have a new identity. You have Father who has given everything to make you His, and takes pleasure in giving you the Kingdom. Find out who He says you are. He knows you better than anyone. Find your identity in Christ--our savior, and the salvation gift He so graciously gives.

Ask yourself 3 questions when making choices:
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* What's the Big Picture? What will be the end result of this choice in my life and the life of those around me?

* What does God think about this?

* What would Jesus want to be done?

Conclusion
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One of the things I always wondered during the times Melissa had “abandoned” us, was why were we the bad guys? We had opened our lives, our hearts, to her, giving her all we knew to give to be good parents, including the discipline and boundaries that would protect her. But, if we look at the way we abandon God, who has done nothing but good to us, it becomes clear—we must withdraw from God, and the things of God, to draw nearer to unrighteousness. Because of His light, His goodness, His nature in us, we must remove ourselves from Him if we want to pursue darkness. Sin cannot enter His presence, so we must leave His presence to enter sin. He never compromises His standards, never lessens His glory, but He never leaves, never forsakes, never abandons. It is we who do that to Him, the One who adopted us, gave us His name, His blood, His nature, His Kingdom. The One who gave us real life, eternal life.