Our Adoption Story

I just wanna say that. Even though the idea of this sermon topic was between God and me, what you're getting today are pieces of every elder here at Cornerstone. so they have poured into me and I in turn will be pouring into you guys, from their heart and from the heart of God. So let's go ahead and pray real quick.

Father, I just want to give myself to you. Lord, I need to decrease. And you need to increase. In this moment right now today.

As as you use me as the mouthpiece to deliver your word. To your people who you love. So Lord, please use me now. I give myself to you in the name of Jesus and for His glory.

Amen. So the title of of our sermon is our adoption story. Our adoption story. So if I were to ask you this morning.

What is the highest privilege that the gospel offers? What would your answer be? Some might say justification, some might say sins forgiven, some might say. Eternal life in heaven with God.

And some would even say fellowship. That's a great. privilege that we have. And these will all be really, really good answers.

but if you ask JII Packer what he thinks the highest privilege of the gospel is, he would say that it is our adoption as children of God. In his book Knowing God. Packer says, and I quote, justification is the primary blessing of the gospel because it meets our primary spiritual need. But adoption is higher.

Because of the richer relationship with God that it involves. To be right with God is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God as our Father is even greater. End quote. For this reason, JI Packer describes adoption as the highest privilege that the gospel offers, and I agree with him.

Most of you have seen videos on the internet of foster children that are about to be adopted into a foster family. There's nothing more moving than these kinds of videos that capture the emotion of these moments, right? One YouTube host says, the Internet is full of feel-good videos that restore your faith in humanity. But is there anything more heartwarming than watching children find that they finally have forever homes after living lives of uncertainty?

I think not, he says. Notice how this YouTube host uses the word uncertainty. To describe the lives of these children before they find a forever home. There are, here are a few synonyms of the word uncertainty.

Skepticism Anxiety Confusion Mistrust, suspicion. Imagine being a child growing up like that, facing that every day. And actually I would bet that some of you in this audience have grown up with this with similar uncertainty. Earthly adoption is a picture of a greater adoption that the Bible says God bestows on all of those who believe in his son Jesus.

This adoption amounts to a transformation that brings about security and belonging and hope in the life of that person that's being adopted. Paul David Tripp brings earthly and spiritual adoption together in this beautiful poem entitled Adoption. The poem goes like this. She was little, fragile, needy.

Utterly dependent. At the airport that morning, a dear sweet lady handed her to us. She looked up, bright but unknowing. Little grasp of the cataclysmic drama of love of this amazing moment.

I looked down with my eyes filled with tears, hands trembling as I held her close. There could not have been more love in my heart. She was ours we were hers. Family forever.

She didn't earn her way in. She couldn't discern her way out. Our love would be far from perfect, but she was adopted. Our home, her home, our lives, her life.

Our name, her name, what was done in that moment would not be undone. So much beauty packed in one moment. God holds me close, his hand untrembling. I look up, often unknowing the height, the depth, the breadth of his perfectly fatherly love.

Family forever, so much beauty in one sacrificial life that made it possible. I did not earn my way in. I cannot earn discern my way out. I am now known by his name.

What was decided before time began would never be undone. Grace Makes the King of kings my father and his savior son my brother forever. Now what I just read toward the end of this poem is your story, if you are a Christian. If you have been, if you have believed in Jesus, you should be blessed beyond words that you have been adopted by God into his family.

And you should want to study this topic in a quest to understand your own adoption in Christ. And if you study what the scripture teaches on the subject of adoption in Christ, you would discover that our adoption in Christ comes in 3 stages. So what I want us to to do with the time that we have together this morning is to look at these 3 stages of our adoption as sons of God that help us to understand why our adoption is one of the highest privileges of the gospel. And here's stage one.

Before the foundation of the world, God presented us, God predestined us, I'm sorry, to adoption as sons. Point number 1, before the foundation of the world, God predestined us to adoption as sons. So if you guys have your Bible with you, turn to Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians one. Where we find a very similar passage that is rich with encouraging truth, and you can also find this text on the back of your sermon notes page as well.

So beginning in verse 3, Paul exclaims, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will. To the praise of the glory of His grace which He freely bestowed on us in the beloved.

So what I want to do is focus, is focus on this passage, what Paul says at the beginning of verse 5, where he states that he predestined us to adoption as sons.

That word predestined, speaks of an activity on the father's part. In eternity pass, he made a decision in advance that he would adopt us as his children. He decided in advance that he would actively pursue us until this adoption would be accomplished. And notice who Paul says God predestined.

He says he predestined us. He predestined us. A fact which points us back to verse 4 where Paul says that God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. Who is us whom God has chosen?

It's those who are in Christ. Which means that if you're a believer in Jesus, you should feel how personal this is. God chose you to be adopted as his child. He didn't predestine you for wrath, but for salvation.

And not just for salvation, but for actual adoption into his family as his child. We can often forget this reality of our adoption and our moments of discouragement. But Paul is reminding us of this truth so that we would remember who we are and remember who our father is. In one of his books, Paul Tripp talks about how we Christians can sometimes suffer from identity amnesia.

Identity amnesia, we forget who we are and who our father is. To solve this problem, we should come often to passages like Ephesians chapter 1 verses 4 and 5 and preach the gospel of our adoption to ourselves and remind ourselves over and over again who we are as a result of the predetermination of God. Before the foundation of the world to adopt us as his children. The truth that Paul states here in Ephesians shows that we did not choose God.

Paul is teaching us that God chose us first before we were even born and our choice of him is actually a byproduct of the fact that he first chose us and predestined us to adoption as his children. Sadly, some people have a lowly view of adoption. They think of an adopted child as second rate. Or as not really yours.

Alexander Sanger, the grandson of Margaret Sanger, who pioneered Planned Parenthood, once said, and I quote, adoption is a cruel hoax. But God loves adoption. And we who know Jesus are sitting in this auditorium today because of God's decision to adopt us as his children. There may be a few of you sitting here today that have that are not yet adopted into his family, and I wanna let that that can change.

You might be interested to know that the term adoption as sons, 3 words here in verse 5, is actually one word in the Greek and it's actually in the singular, which means that God had you individually in mind. When God predetermined to adopt us, he fixed his gaze upon us one person at a time. He wanted you. When Kelly and I adopted our first two children, Sam and Hannah, we were privileged to be in the hospital while their birth moms were delivering.

We were there when they came into the world and we fell in love with them immediately. It was love at first sight. We were not there when our youngest Micah was born. He was 14 days old when we met him.

I remember walking into a Coco's restaurant to meet him and his birth mom. And he was in this car seat and his birth mom lifted the blanket so I could see him. That was like my first reveal. My heart leaped out of my chest at the sight of him.

It was love at first sight all over again. Well, that is what our what our father thinks of us at every single adoption moment, love at first sight, not because we were lovely. But simply because God is that loving. Actually, what Paul is teaching us here in verse 5 is that it was love before first sight, before we were even born.

That's awesome. Every act of spiritual adoption is a singular momentous event, and I believe God, the almighty creator of the universe, is filled with joyful emotion every time he adopts a new child into his family. We know this because Jesus tells us that there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels over every sinner who repents, rejoicing. That's amazing love, you guys.

It would probably be helpful to point out the language that Paul uses here in this passage is lifted from the practice of adoptions in the Roman world of his day. Which was actually different from today in the Roman society, an estate owner would adopt a young man of working ability. The estate owner would know from experience that this young man's moral integrity and work ethic made this young man a worthwhile investment. The father to be would then go to court and legally adopt this hardworking young man and make him a full heiror into the estate as a naturally born son would be.

When that young man would reach adulthood, he would come into the fullness of his inheritance with full rights and privileges as an adult son of his father. But, and this is amazing you guys, when our heavenly Father adopts us, he does so based on his unmerited favor. It is not as in first century Rome. For our good work ethic.

We were bankrupt and in spiritual poverty with nothing of our own to offer God. This means that God is the hero of our adoption. Now look back at verse 5 and notice something Paul says here about our adoption. He tells us that he he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself.

So here in Ephesians 1:5, Paul is proclaiming this truth that this adoption of us happened through the agency of Jesus Christ. This means that apart from the person and work of Christ at the cross, our adoption would have never happened. As this passage reminds us here, God is the adopter, but Jesus is the great facilitator through whom God accomplishes his adoption of us. He made a way for us to be adopted by dying on the cross for our sins so that we can experience the forgiveness of sins through Him and brought into a relationship with God.

And notice one final thing that Paul says in verse 5. He tells us that God predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself. Literally this reads into himself so God didn't just adopt us for a distant relationship with himself. He adopted us as his children in order to bring us into Himself in other words into his embrace.

His plan from eternity past was for us to have a relationship with him, a very close and intimate relationship with him. Now, obviously God did not just resolve to adopt us and then fail to act on his resolve. He actually did what he resolved to do, and this brings us to the second stage of our adoption as sons of God. Point number 2, at the moment of our conversion, God adopted us and made us His children.

At the moment of our conversion, God adopted us and made us his children. Using adoption lingo, the day of our conversion is God's gotcha date. The date that he makes you his in time space history. Do you, do you remember your gotcha date?

Do you remember your circumstances when God rescued you from wrath? Do you remember? So let's turn over to Galatians chapter 4, where we find another passage where Paul speaks to us about our adoption in Christ. Or you can find this text also on the back of your sermon notes page.

In Galatians chapter 4 verses 4 and 6. Paul says, but when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that He might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. There's a lot that we could learn here in these verses about, about the timing of our adoption because in verse 6 Paul says to his Christian readers, because you are present tense sons, his language there tells them and us that we became adopted sons of God the moment we were saved and redeemed from under the curse of the law.

And think about how involved the journey was that led to our adoption.

Some of you who have adopted children know how long and drawn out the process can be. But think about how long the time frame was for God to adopt us. In the first place, we have seen that he resolved to adopt us before the foundation of the world. Then he created the world and Adam and Eve, and then they fell into sin.

But in Genesis 3:15, God promised that the seed of the woman would triumph over the serpent and crush his head. And then 2000 years later, God calls out Abraham, and then preserved him and Isaac and Jacob, and then Judah, through whom the Messiah would come. A descendant of Judah was David, who had many close calls on his life. Yet God preserved him and allowed his lineage to continue through the centuries all the way to the moment when Christ was born.

That's the fullness of time mentioned in verse 4. And then after Jesus was crucified and raised and ascended, God saw to it that the gospel went from person to person to person, down through the centuries until one day, some 2000 years later, the gospel reached you. And you believed, and in that moment, your adoption became an official reality. Think about how long and involved the process of adopting you was and think about how happy the heart of God must have been.

When your gotcha date finally arrived. But the news is even better than this we learn in this passage, in Galatians that God doesn't just adopt us as his sons, but he also sends his spirit to help us adjust to the new normal that is now ours as adopted sons of God. In Galatians chapter 4 verses 6 and 7, Paul says, Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of a son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God.

God knew that we, that he needed to do to do more than just adopt us. He knew that we would need help adjusting to this adoption, so he sent His Spirit who would help us to adjust to life as sons and daughters of God. Even in the realm of human adoption, it often takes time for children to adjust to the new normal. In his book entitled Adopted for Life, Russell Moore says, and I quote, when Maria and I returned to Russia to pick up our new sons, we found that their transition from orphanage to family was more difficult than we had supposed.

We walked out into the sunlight, and to the terror of the two boys, they had never seen the sun. And they had never felt the wind. They never heard the sound of a car door slamming or felt like they were being carried along a road at 100 miles an hour. This was all new to them.

I noticed that they were shaking and reaching back to the orphanage in the distance. Suddenly it wasn't a stranger asking, are they brothers? They seem to be asking it nonverbally but emphatically about themselves. I whispered to Sergei, now Timothy, that place is a pit.

If you only knew what was waiting for you, a home with a mommy and a daddy who love you, grandparents and great grandparents and cousins and playmates, and McDonald's Happy Meals. But all they knew was the orphanage. It was squalid, but they had no other reference point. It was home.

End quote. And that's the way we often are, reaching back to the spiritual orphanage from which we came. Where Russell Moore says his two boys were doing. And we need God's spirit to help us think the way Paul talks in Philippians 3:12 when he says, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.

As Paul says in Galatians, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. According to Paul's words here, the Spirit is being sent on a very specific mission that's into our hearts. Teaching us how to cry out from the heart, Abba, Father. This is just one of many truths that set Christianity apart from all other religions, and that's relationship.

We get to have an organic relationship with the creator of the universe. We get to relate to him as children with a father, and we get to call him Abba Father. The word Abba Is the Hebrew and Aramaic word that is close in meaning to our word papa or dad? It conveys no disrespect, but it does reflect endearment and comfortableness combined with security and confidence.

And Paul is saying here that God has given us His spirit to help us to call God Abba, free to come running to him and pour out our hearts to Him whenever we are sad or hurting or happy and joyful, or we just want to enjoy being with him. Notice what Paul says in verse 7, when he declares to his Christian readers. Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God.

In this passage, Paul is teaching that we who have believed in Jesus are no longer slaves under the bondage of the law. But are now sons of God, and we should relate to God as such. And by the way, it's taken me decades as a Christian to get my mind out of a works-based relationship with God and into a healthy, healthy relationship with my Abba. So think about how you relate to God as a Christian.

Do you relate to him as a slave who simply has to do what he commands? Do you cower in fear before God whenever you mess up? Do you see yourself as merely God's slave who has work to do for God, or do you embrace the reality of your adoption and truly see yourself as a child, as a child of God who has the freedom to relate to God as your Abba Father? God has given us a spirit to help us relate to him with confidence and security as sons of God.

And by the way, I feel like I have to address this before we move on. Up to this point, it seems as though the Bible is exclusively masculine with regard to adoption. Everything has been sons, sons, sons, right? But this doesn't mean that you sisters are excluded.

Check this out. In 2 Corinthians 6:18, the apostle Paul speaks to the Corinthian believers and quotes from the Old Testament where God prophetically speaks to his people, and he says, I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. Such language by Paul confirms that God made the women he saves his daughters, but what we are learning this morning is that even God's daughters have all the rights and privileges of sonship. So, sisters in Christ, your inheritance as a child of God will be no less than those of your brothers in Christ.

So to review, we've seen that God predestined us to adoption in eternity past, and we have also seen that at the moment of conversion, we become sons and daughters of God. Which brings us into so many blessings that we enjoy in the here and now. But it may surprise you to learn that our adoption is actually not yet completed. That brings us to the 3rd and final stage of our adoption as sons of God.

God completes our adoption in glory. Point number 3, God completes our adoption in glory. Turning in your Bible to Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8, where we find a passage where Paul talks about this future phase of our adoption. Or you can find this passage on the back of your Sherman notes.

In Romans 8:22, Paul talks about how creation groans and suffers the pangs of childbirth until now and then in verses 23 and 24 he says, and not only this, but we also ourselves having the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body, for in hope we have been saved. So notice what Paul says in verse 23 when he says that we believers are waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons. It may surprise you to read that because Paul has just taught us in Galatians that we are already adopted as sons.

So what is Paul talking about here?

Have we been adopted already, or is our adoption, our adoption something that lies in the future? The answer is yes. In Spanish, Simon. If Paul were here, he would tell us that we've all been adopted into the family of God at the moment of our conversion, and he would also tell us that there are many privileges of this adoption that we enjoy right now.

But he would also tell us that there is a final stage of our adoption that has still not yet happened. And look at verse 23 where he tells us what this is. He says that we are waiting eagerly for our adoption of sons, the redemption of our body. So Paul is talking about that moment when our earthly bodies are delivered completely from the ravages of disease and death and even decomposition, even after death, and we are given fully glorified bodies at the resurrection of the dead.

In the mind of Paul, that's the moment that we truly reach the adulthood phase of our adoption. That's the moment when all that God wants to accomplish in our adoption is fully completed. One commentator says what a glorious day that will be when all the restraints due to man's sin will have been removed, leaving us sharing in the glorious liberties of the children of God. So notice in verse 23 how Paul describes us believers as those who have the first fruits of the spirit.

This language indicates that there is more to come, and one of those things to come is what Paul calls the redemption of our body. In fact, This future redemption of our body is so awesome that Paul looks at all that we have now, and he simply calls it the first fruits of the spirit. To appreciate Paul's point, think with me for a moment. What we already have been given currently is so amazing, right?

Think with me. We have peace with God, relationship with God, abundance of grace, hope, justification, freedom from condemnation, salvation from wrath. We have been reconciled to God, set free from sin, raised into newness of life, no longer slaves to sin, dead to sin, alive to God, eternal life, indwelling spirit, led by the spirit, sons of God, heirs of God, everything works for good, even our failures. Do that God has ordained everything to bow to his gospel purposes?

Amazing. We overwhelmingly conquer. We now experience this union with God and not even death can separate us from his great love for us. These are all present blessings in the gospel that we're experiencing right now today at this moment.

And we would be inclined to call the blessings that I've just listed as the full package, right? It's really, really good. But what Paul calls them? He simply calls them first fruits.

Meaning that there is something more glorious to come that will make our our present blessing pale in comparison. And this future blessing will come to us when we we experience the redemption of our bodies, when our bodies are resurrected and glo and glorified with Christ in heaven. So what's so great about the redemption of our bodies that would make Paul speak this way? Well, imagine this, no aging.

It's good. No wrinkles No bags under our eyes. And no decay. But more importantly, not even the presence of sin within our members or even the capacity to be tempted to sin, none of that there.

But the blessing of the redemption of our body is even greater than this. In Exodus 33:20, Yahweh said to Moses. You cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live. But our glorified bodies will have glorified eyeballs that are able to behold the face of God and live.

Right, we won't die on the spot. With our glorified bodies, we will be able to experience the sights and sounds and tastes of heaven in a way that our present bodies could never do. And we will be able to radiate the glory of God in ways that we can't even begin to do now. This is the blessing of having a fully glorified body in the age to come.

You can now see why Paul is eagerly waiting for the redemption of our body. When our bodies are fully redeemed, the promise of First John 3:2 will be fully realized, where John says, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared as what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is. That's our promised future, guys.

But for now, we groan and we groan and we groan. And this is all so great and glorious. That Paul says we ourselves grown within ourselves for this final stage of our adoption as sons which involves the redemption of our body. This means that our present groaning is a positive thing.

One commentator says, this groaning that Paul speaks of makes reference to a woman that's about to give birth to a child. To be sure, such groaning indicates suffering, but it also implies hope. As John Calvin reminds us, these groans are birth pangs, not death pangs. End quote.

In other words, we groan with hope. For the Christian, our groaning will one day turn into singing with redeemed bodies and perfect singing voices. No more mafia voice for me guys. And no, no lip syncing for me in heaven when I sing with all of you guys.

Johnny Ericson Tata is now a quadriplegic. But she says that she looks forward to receiving her glorified body so that she can voluntarily kneel before her King in heaven. The famous hymn writer Fanny Crosby was born blind. But she was once quoted as saying, If I had a choice.

I would still choose to remain blind. For when I die, the first face I will ever see will be the face of my blessed savior, man. Whatever it is that you eagerly wait for, just know that your groaning will one day be more than satisfied. It is then that all sorrow will be removed.

There will be no more death. No more sorrow, no more pain or crying, only eternal joy in the presence of our Father forever. There's a story that I've read about a young man who grew up with all odds against him. He, he grew up with no father, and his, his mother was a cancer survivor.

No one wanted to hire a cancer survivor back then. There was just too much liability. If there was a broken street lamp, a broken window, a dead bird who was the victim of a wrist rocket, or a house fire, or a fire even in a storm drain, people needed to look no further than this kid to find what the cause was. He drank his first quart of beer when he was 6 years old.

To celebrate his older brother's return from the Vietnam War. As a result, his older brother found him sprawled out on top of a neighbor's car after midnight. The odds of this young man living, living a life of drugs and crime were upwards of 75%. His mom intuitively knew these facts, so she got him involved in youth baseball and football to help keep him out of trouble.

She modeled biblical love. And he responded by resenting her hospitality to older teens who were dealt a rougher life. His mom fell victim to cancer and died halfway through his freshman year of high school. Even though his brother was his legal guardian up to the age of 18, nothing truly replaces the nurturing of parents.

So this young man turned to marijuana and alcohol. He had an endless supply of beer because a family member worked for a beer distributor. And he also had access to homegrown marijuana plants. This story has a sad ending written all over it.

There's a quote that I've become very fond of over the last decade or so. It reads, Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet. And that is definitely true in my life. Yep, that young man whose story I've been telling you about was me.

Most of you only know the Mario Limon AD. And I share my BC story to give us hope, to give you hope. Because one month before I turned 21, God showed me in my God showed me my sin and the power of Jesus and enabled me to call on the name of the Lord for salvation. It was on that day that God said, I got you.

And that's why this topic of adoption means so much to me and why I feel so blessed to get to speak on this topic with you guys today. Galatians chapter 4. Verses 4 through 6 reads, but when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son so that we might so that He might redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

As we conclude this morning, let me give you a few encouragements. First of all, look up to your Heavenly Father and cry Abba Father, as often as you like. I don't know what a week or year or life that you've had, but God purposed for you to be here today. With so much dysfunction and brokenness in our world, a growing number of people don't even know what it's like to grow up in an intact family and have parents that love them and care for them.

Sometimes church is like a triage in a hospital emergency room. One broken person after another drags himself through the doors of a church for a moment of refuge. Like me, the odds against you don't really matter as long as the Creator of heaven and earth is on your side. The psalmist says, I will lift up my eyes to the hills.

Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. If you are a believer in Jesus, run to your Father and cry Abba Father, any time, any place. Come to your Father in everything, in your moments of joy, unload your every joy on Him.

In your moments of sorrow, unload all your sorrows on Him. In your moments of conviction over sin, come confessing your sin to Him like a child would their father, knowing that he loves you and he will never cast you aside. And even when you don't have the words to say, don't worry, the spirit knows exactly what to say in that moment, and he intercedes for you while you simply enjoy being in the presence of your father. A second point of application is to love your adopted brothers and sisters whom God has adopted not simply into relationship with him but also into relationship with you.

They are part of your gospel inheritance in Christ. So adopt your brothers and sisters in Christ, adopt them into your heart. As I look around at some faces in here. I know some of that hard adoption has already been going on.

Make your brothers and sisters feel wanted and let them know that they belong in the family of God, even if they're a little bit different than you. Yet another possible application is to adopt a child yourself. There are several families here at Cornerstone who have done this. Adopting a child is not the only way.

But it is one powerful way to mirror what God has done for you. It's also one way to practice what James calls pure and undefiled religion, showing care for orphans. At the very least, pray for families who have adopted children as they deal with unique challenges that come with adoption. Russell Moore says that adopting children is a great way of engaging in spiritual warfare.

When we adopt children, we enter the battleground of the unseen war between God and Satan, and we provide weapons for that battle. In Psalm 1274-5, the psalmist says, Like arrows in the hands of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. So whether you adopt your children or have your children through childbirth, raise your children to be sharp arrows in the cause for Christ.

Last, and maybe most important, know that when God adopts us, we can say that I belong. And that I am loved. Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we should be called the children of God. So if you are here this morning and you've never entered a relationship with God as your father, just know that Jesus has made it possible for you to become a child of God by dying on the cross for your sins.

Believe in Jesus and call upon his name. If you do that, God has a promise for you in John 1:12 where he says, But as many as received Him, as many as received Him, to them, he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. Let's pray, you guys. Lord, thank you so much for your word.

And the life that it gives. To us. Even when we were. Infants sitting on the side of the road laying there in our own blood, you come and you rescue.

Thank you for your great love for us. Thank you for doing all that you did to adopt us as your children. Creating Adam and Eve, and then some 6000 years later. We get to hear the gospel and believe.

What an amazing plan you have, Lord. I also want to lift up all the moms and dads here at Cornerstone. As they raise their children to be arrows for the cause of Christ, Lord, may you send us running to your word often, daily, frequently. To get shelter From you, Lord.

Help us to memorize your promises that are for us. And Lord, we thank you again for the community that you've put us in here at Cornerstone. We have people that we could run to left and right. for advice and counsel as we raise our children together, for your glory.

Lord, thank you for adoption. If there was no such thing as adoption. Where would we be? So Lord, thank you for your blood and your provision.

We thank you in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.