How we respond when others are blessed is a true reflection of our own capacity to receive from God. The elder brother in the story of the prodigal son has disdain for his wasteful younger kin. How you see yourself will ultimately define your ability to fulfill Gods calling on your life. The story of the prodigal son, reveals which son you relate to on a personal level. Our identity and conscience, must be realigned with how God sees us. In this final broadcast, we get to the heart of the matter and the importance of seeing yourself as child of God…
Here is a complete transcript of the podcast…(below)
Welcome, friend, to the third and final part of our session, From Servanthood to Sonship. And, you know, don’t take me out of context, okay, in this message. We’re supposed to be servants, certainly, right? Jesus came to serve, not to be served. But what I’m trying to communicate here is that favor is not something you have to work for when you’re in Christ Jesus. The time of favor is now. In fact, Luke 4:19 says that, “the time of the Lord’s favor has come”, right? He gave his discourse of, you know, I’m gonna recover the sight of the blind. It’s the acceptable year of the Lord. Heal the brokenhearted. Preach deliverance to the captives, etc. But right at the end, in the New Living Translation, it says the year of the Lord’s favor has come. It was effectively the Jubilee. It’s Jubilee time for you. We don’t have to earn favor and earn goodness from the Father. It’s given to us. And I would ask you, you know, which one of these sons do you relate to? The younger son, the prodigal one who went off and wasted his inheritance, or the brother, the elder brother who stayed at home and did all the right things but didn’t really know the goodness of his father, didn’t really know the extent of his unconditional love. So join me now, live in session, and I’ll see you on the other side.
Luke 6:36-37, “Be therefore merciful as your father is merciful. Judge not and you shall not be judged.Condemn not and you shall not be condemned. Forgive and you shall be forgiven.” If you don’t forgive, will you be forgiven? No, no you won’t. In fact, it says you’ll be handed over to the tormentors in a separate passage. And I believe the tormentors are a typology of the demonic realm, and you will encounter greater oppression and opposition in your life if you harbor all these issues, all right? This is what the Word teaches. So, are you the servant girl? She looks kind of bummed out. Or are you the son or the princess? Okay, put yourself in this position if you’re female, without the beard. Are you a servant or a son? Which one are you? Are you working for God, believing for scraps and crumbs or wages? Is the father viewing your performance and he pays you based on your performance? Is that you? Do you have a servant mindset? Or do you have the mindset of a son who is taken care of by the Heavenly Father in every aspect of his life, and he only needs to ask for help at any moment, amen? That’s what we want to be. He doesn’t work for his inheritance because it’s already given. And most of all, the son values relationship. That’s important to the father, is our relationship with him. How do you see yourself? The kit-kit, pussy-pussy is looking at the lion in the mirror.
We’re looking at this. The Lord is looking back to us saying, son, daughter, you are the righteousness of God. You’ve been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son. That’s how I see you. But you must see yourself the same way. And when you do, there’s power in that, amen? There is. There’s power in seeing ourselves as God sees us. I don’t know why I wrote that, but which of you relates to which son? I’m not gonna do a show of hands, that’s a little awkward. You and the Lord can figure that out, amen? Thank you, pastor, that was weird. But each one of us can relate to one son more than another. Some of us were just out there obeying no rules and just ran away and went into the world and got hurt. And some of us were just goody-two-shoes and we did everything right and then we had this judgmental spirit about us. All right? So let the Lord show you which one you can relate to. But neither of the sons understood the father’s love. They didn’t really grasp the vast depth of the father’s love because the first son couldn’t believe that his father was like, wow, I’m home and I’m not getting spanked.
I mean, are you kidding me? I should be stoned for this and now you’re bringing out the fatted calf and putting the ring on, you know? I’m gonna go back to Vegas one more time, amen? No, that’s abusing the grace of God, right? Don’t want to do that. The other son was like, wow, who is this guy? He comes back, you’re not gonna, you know, discipline this guy? No, because all the while everything that I have is your son. That’s the truth. We need to grasp it. We don’t do good works to please our father. We do it because we love the father. We love the father. Yes, it is pleasing to him to do good things and to do what he asks, but it’s because we care for him. It’s not like a rule book just for grins, right? If you told your parents, you know, I’m doing everything you’re telling me because I know I’m gonna get good stuff on Saturday, they’re gonna be like, that’s weird.
I want you to be doing it because you love me, right? So we are already kings, priests, friends of God, sons and daughters of our heavenly father because of what he did, not what we have done, see? If we can focus on what he did, that’s where the power is. It’s like I said before, who are you? Well, I’m an engineer, I’m a dentist, I’m a nurse. Again, it’s gravitating towards what you do. So who are you, John? Who are you? Is the right answer. Is the right answer. Case closed. Game over. I’m the redeemed of the Lord. I’ve been translated out of the kingdom of darkness. All of my needs are met, right? I’m justified, glorified, sanctified, right? Yes, you have a name. Your name is whatever. Whatever your name is. But your identity is in Christ Jesus. Therefore, when God looks at Jesus, he looks at you the same way. Powerful, guys.
I’m just preaching the next slide, basically. He said, you’re my son. He was saying this to me. Wear your gown of salvation and robe of righteousness. Stop focusing on what you do, but instead focus on what you’re wearing. Your identity is who you are because of what he did and the robe of righteousness and gown of salvation that is now on you because of what he did. If your focus is what he did, you’re gonna find it so much easier to receive from God. If your focus is what you’re doing, you’re gonna find it’s tough because it’s all about what I did or did not do and my entire receiving funnel is based on my works. That’s not gonna work. Amen? So, who are you now? Are you a new creature? Cheryl, are you delivered out of the power of darkness? Laura, are you led by the Spirit of God? Are you getting all your needs met? So, what you’ve heard this evening is crucial doctrine of fatherhood. Some people still think they’re orphans. Now and again, they’re taken care of, but you’ve been adopted into Christ Jesus and you are taken care of because you are a son and daughter.
Amen? How many are convinced they’re not a son or daughter? You see, I’m testing the boundaries tonight. If you’re not convinced, then you won’t receive all. How do you convince yourself? By getting into this and by saying it out of your own mouth. I am redeemed of the Lord Jesus and all of my needs are met and I am a child of God. I am a friend of God, right? You believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth. That’s how you activate in the kingdom of God, but if you’re not convinced, get into what he said about you. It’s your own personal love letter to you. In the kingdom of God is not what we do, but what Christ does in and through us that brings joy to the heart of the Father and us. No man is going to glorify in his sight, because when we stand there at judgment, we’re going to say, Lord, look at what you did through me.
That’s a good answer. Not, wow, I’m kind of a big deal and I really helped you out, God. No. Well, thank you for your assistance, young man. If our focus becomes what he did instead of what we do, then we will be less judgmental towards others and gain appreciation of our Heavenly Father’s grace toward everyone. There’s another parable, right, where the guys arrived early in the day and then they agreed to terms. By the end of the day, I’ll pay you this, and some guys turned up real late and they got paid the same. That’s not fair. It is fair that, firstly, the terms that were agreed to at the beginning of the day, which is fair, but it’s God’s grace and he decides, amen, what he wants to do with that grace. We don’t own it, right? In a nutshell, the younger son embraced the spirit of the world and became captive to his own lustful desires while the elder son embraced the spirit of religion and became captive to his own pride and self-righteousness. So become captive to the Spirit of God, amen? Be bound to the world, to religion, or Christ. It’s our choice. So let me ask you, friend, which one of the two sons do you relate to? You know, the truth is everybody has been the prodigal son. We’ve all been lost in sins and trespasses. We’ve all been as low as we can in the world, okay? And then Jesus reached down and dragged us out of the mire and introduced us to our Heavenly Father and, oh, he was gracious.
He accepted us with open arms. There was no offense, okay? We’ve all been the prodigal son if we have been dead in trespasses and then born again into life, amen? But the truth is, as we mature in Christ, there’s a danger that we could become the elder son, the one who is a little bit judgmental and critical and kind of does everything right and feels like he’s earning the grace of God instead of understanding that it is a gift to us and that receiving from God does not operate through a workspace system, but it operates by faith. And many ministers fall prey to this thinking, you know, I’m working for God, therefore, you know, he needs to do this and that because I’m doing this and that. But the kingdom moves by faith. You know, if God was moved by need, then all the needs would be met, but they’re not. There’s people starving around the world, in the third world nations in particular. Even within America, there’s homeless people who die every year. There’s lots of needs for coats and warm clothing in wintry months. It is by faith our needs are met. And that is why it is important to ask, to seek, and find, and to knock, because we still need to operate within the precepts laid down by the Father in his own kingdom. Amen? I absolutely love the story of the prodigal son because it shows the extent of the love of the father. When the younger one returned, he was thinking in his head, I’m gonna get a servant job, my father’s gonna be mad at me, you know, after five years I may win back his favor.
But no, the father was so glad to see the son. He cared about relationship. That’s what it was about, okay? And our Heavenly Father cares about relationship with you. And friend, you know, you may be going to church and you may be reading the Bible and you may be doing all the things right, but you’re not actually engaging with your Heavenly Father in his word and seeking to hear his voice, all right? This is crucial, friend. You know, it’s whether or not we can put aside that orphan spirit and embrace that spirit of adoption that cries out, Abba, Father. I heard an old story, the term for that in some of the, I think it was the Polynesian countries, a missionary went out there, I’m trying to remember the name of the country, but they called that loving father the ‘Jaji Baba.’ And that’s who he is. He’s your loving father and we have to see that. We’re only gonna see it through Scripture and spending time with him. We’re not gonna learn of his love necessarily through the world or through the school of hard knocks, all right? So, you know, ask the Lord in your quiet time. Lord, which son do I relate to the most? And he can show you. Just let the Lord touch your heart, friend. Let him dust off the dry bits and allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you and just enjoy that wonderful relationship with your Heavenly Father, amen?
https://carljosephministries.com/podcast/book-of-psalms-introduction/
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_EWlN75DF0w
Title: From Servanthood to Sonship: Part 3 (LIVE)
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