 Hey man, Ephesians chapter 1, so that's just a great verse or chapter in the Bible, especially you know regarding soul winning and eternal security, great, a lot of good stuff in Ephesians chapter 1. We're going to focus in on verse number 5 where the Bible says, having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he had made us accepted in the beloved. So we'll look at that in a few minutes. That's the verse we're going to focus on, it's the verse of the week. But you know, let me just start off, I'll give you kind of an introduction into the sermon this morning, but you know, how many times have you heard the saying, the phrase, you know, it's not fair, you know, it's just not fair. Kids will say it, you know, you see a lot of adults say things like it's not fair that that happened that way, it's not fair that you know, if you had good parents growing up, you know, you had good parents that would basically kick you in the pants and say, you know what, life isn't fair. And you know, I can't tell you how many times my parents, my mom and my dad told me that, that just life isn't fair, so get over, you know, yourself. But here's the thing, and just as introduction before we get into the Bible on this morning, life may not seem fair to you in many different areas of your life, and a lot of, look, a lot of people feel this way today. People think, you know, it's just not fair that I'm, this is the situation I'm in, and other people are in a different situation. You know, so much so that even today it defines the lives of some people. It defines the lives of some people saying, you know, it's just not fair. You know, it fuels, it so much defines the lives of so many people, it actually fuels political philosophies, this idea that it's not fair. You know, the political philosophies of socialism and communism, they are, they are fed by this idea that people have that life isn't fair, that the lot that they've been given is not good enough, that other people have a better deal. You know, it's, it's born out of this idea, these political philosophies, communism is born out of this idea that the government needs to step in and even things out for everybody. You know, from an economic standpoint, anyway, you know, but it's a truth. Is it not a truth that other people, some people in life just think of economics? Is it a truth that some people start out better off than other people? That's just a truth. That's just reality. Some people start off with maybe more money that they inherited or whatever, and maybe people start off with more education than other people. They have more opportunity for training than other people have. But look, you know, so people come up with this philosophy of let's get the government to force, you know, an even playing field across, you know, the country or whatever, across the population. All right? So that's, that's where this comes from, this idea just, it feeds off this idea that people are resentful, that, you know, the lot that they've been given is not quote-unquote fair, okay? And I say, look, I say that, you know, life is not fair. I say that kind of tongue-in-cheek, because it's really not that it's not fair. It's that it just doesn't seem fair to you, is what, you know, we're gonna get to here. Okay? Look, this is man's philosophy, what I've just listed for you in the first few minutes here. This is man's philosophy. And look, it's, it misses the root cause of inequity completely. Because man has misunderstood this. You know, unequity, you know, unequal results. It's not, look, it's not a racial issue. It's not a racial issue turned to Acts 17, verse 26. A lot of people are pushing this idea that this inequality and all this is a racial thing. It's a racial issue. So let's look at what the Bible says about this. Go to Acts chapter 17 and look at verse number 26. Look at Acts chapter 17 and verse 26. Let's look at what the Bible says about, you know, race or what the Bible would call, you know, the Bible's word for race is nations. There's many different nationalities. The Bible says, you know, we've misdefined race, this idea, this word race, we've misdefined it in our modern language. The Bible calls it nations. Okay, people are from different nations. Look at verse 26 of Acts 17, if you will. The Bible says, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitations. This here is defining, really, we've, we use that a lot to define that, look, we're all of one blood. There is no race. It's the human race. That's what the Bible teaches. Okay, that's the truth. People want to come up all these different races. What they're talking about is nations. And it actually defines that right here, where it says, you know, God has defined the boundaries of certain nations. It's the same thing we're studying in Joshua. The people went into the Promised Land and within certain areas there were different nations. There were not different races. There were different nations. Okay, now, what does the Bible say about these nations? So we're all of one blood. We're all, you know, there's different nations. One blood, one race. Go to Matthew chapter 28 and look at verse 19. The problem is not a racial problem. And it's really not even an economic problem either. It's not an economic issue either. The Bible will actually tell us what the problem is. What is the problem with all these unequal results that we're seeing everywhere? What is the problem? Go to Matthew chapter 28. Look at verse 19. Are you there in Matthew chapter 28? Look at verse 19. Look what Jesus says here. He says, so now we know what nations are, right? We know what nations are in the Bible. They're all these different peoples living in different places on different boundaries on the earth, different nations. That's what the Bible would call, you know, that's what we would modern people would call race today. But look at Matthew chapter 28 and verse 19. Look what Jesus says. If you have a red letter Bible, these words are red. Jesus says, go ye therefore and teach all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. And then look at verse number 20. Teaching them to observe all things. Whatsoever I've commanded you, and woe, I am with you all way, even unto the end of the world. So Jesus says here, go ye therefore and teach all nations. And the first verse that we just read, he's talking about preaching the gospel. He's talking about preaching the gospel to all nations of the world, to every single boundary of people in the world. He's saying, go out and preach this gospel to everybody. And then in verse number 20, he says, also teach them to observe all things. Teach them, he's like, don't just teach them the gospel. He's like, teach them the gospel, get them baptized, all nations. And then he says, and then go teach them everything that I told you. Amen. So I mean, look, the problem with unequal results among nations, amongst people, and amongst individuals is not racial, it's not economic, it is generational. That's the problem. Some people, look, some people, let's just keep, let's stay on this secular idea of economics and then we'll get to the main point of the sermon. But here, some people were raised to succeed. That's just the bottom line, some were not. Now we have entire sections of our population in this country as we celebrate our freedoms in this country. We have entire sections of our population simply raised to focus on how unfair things are for them and their life. Instead of being raised to work, instead of being raised to be diligent, instead of being raised to learn how to succeed. Look, I am telling you, I am telling you that if you want to, you can succeed in this country today. With all of our problems, with all of our issues that we talk about week in and week out here, you can still succeed here. That's why, but look, here's this inequity. Here's this inequity that we see and some people are just focused on that inequity, but as we're here on July 4th, 2021, let me read for you what was written July 4th, 1776. The Bible. The Declaration of Independence says this. It says, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the guarantee of happiness. That's not what it says. It says, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This country, with all its issues, it was never founded to guarantee equal results to every person living here. That to secure these rights, I'll read for you a few more sentences here, that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That's us, by the way, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it. And to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness, their what, their pursuit of that happiness. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You are not guaranteed happiness. You are not guaranteed success. And it is not the government's job, it was never the intent to have the government's job guarantee equal results for everyone. It was never that way. It was never the original intent of this country anyway. Maybe it's the intent of other countries. But to guarantee equal results in short, life is not fair. Or a better way to say it, like I said, it just may not seem fair to you. That's the way this country was founded to be. And I'm gonna go show you this morning how it actually is fair. I'm gonna show you how it actually is fair. You may not like it, but it is fair. Look, the Bible is like that in all kinds of different ways. You may not like what it says, but that's the truth. So you may not like everything that's preached from the Bible, but that's the truth if it's from the Bible. So I gave you a secular example this morning, money, wealth, economics. Let's talk about spirituality. Let's talk about your spiritual blessings. What's our biggest spiritual blessing in our lives? It's our salvation. It's the fact that we as sinners have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and just like that have received that free gift of eternal life and we are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. Ephesians chapter one says, there's nothing we could ever do where God would take that away from us. There's nothing that could ever take a saved person and make that person unsaved. That's quite a blessing. That's quite a blessing. Turn to Exodus chapter 34. But let me ask you something. Does it seem to us sometimes that this spiritual blessing is as easily accessible to some as it is to others? What I'm talking about this morning is the proverbial question of that child. What about that child in Africa? What about that child in Africa who never had the opportunity to be raised in a Christian home? What about that? What about that? I'm gonna answer that for you this morning. And I'm gonna show you how that is not God's fault. That situation is that way. Look at Exodus chapter 34 and look at verse number six. Exodus chapter 34 and look at verse number six. The Bible says, and the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious and long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. Just underline those words right there. Gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth. And then look at verse seven. Keeping mercy for thousands. You know, the Lord is extremely merciful. With all the harshness that you read about in the Old Testament especially, look, that's just justice is what that is. But the Lord is merciful. It says keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. And then, and that by no means, that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation. Look, what the Bible is saying here, the Bible is not saying that the children are gonna be punished by God for the sins of their father. What the Bible here is saying is that the iniquity of the fathers will be passed down to the third and fourth generations. That is what God is saying here. God's giving us a warning here. God is not saying I'm gonna punish your children and your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren for your sins. No, your iniquity will be passed to them. It will become their sins and they'll be punished for those. That's what God is giving us. God is being merciful by warning here. The problem with unequal results and that tribe in South America is that they're suffering from generational issues. Generationally, generations ago, they've walked away from the Lord and every generation is suffering. Look, it wasn't God's fault. It wasn't God's fault that all those nations in the Promised Land turned from him. It was not God's fault. Think of the people, go turn to Genesis chapter 15. Turn to Genesis chapter 15. I mean, just think of these entire societies that have just completely left the Lord and what they've become. Look at Genesis chapter 15 in verse number 16. God is prophesying here on what's gonna happen, coming in the future to Abraham. Look what he says in Genesis 15, 16. But in the fourth generation, they shall come hither again. He prophesies how Abraham's people are gonna be taken to Egypt and then they're gonna come into this Promised Land and he says in the fourth generation, they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. When he's talking to Abraham about this promised land that he is going to inherit, he says, look, the people that are there, their iniquity is not yet full yet. But hundreds of years later, that iniquity is full and that's when the Israelites go into the Promised Land to take over the whole place. It's interesting that he says the fourth generation here too. I mean, we obviously don't know when that is where he's measuring from there, but the point is when a society or a people turn away from God, it seems that God doesn't intervene like I'm gonna show you for at least a few generations. Either way, it's not his fault. Either way, it's not his fault. So you say some people didn't have Christian parents. The child in an unbelieving home, in Fresno, you know, he certainly doesn't have the same chance or the same odds as we would think to ourselves as the child that was raised in a Christian home with two Christian parents and raised coming to church who gets saved when he's seven or eight years old. And look, but it's true from a human perspective. It's true. But what I wanna show you this morning is God's mercy and how God, even in those cases, God intervenes. God intervenes. Man, man in all these different nations down to the individual raising his children, man will just turn away from God and he will just hate the Lord. And I wanna show you this morning how God is merciful and even in those cases, he intervenes. And the Bible tells us, turn to Jeremiah chapter three. The Bible tells us that God intervenes in a few different ways. And we're part of this, by the way. Turn to Jeremiah chapter three. So the first point this morning is that even in these cases where people have willingly walked away from the Lord, that was their choice, not his. God intervenes. Look at Jeremiah chapter three. Look at verse number 11. So here we have a child who's raised in a non-Christian home. He's never even heard of God. Look, I am finding more and more people out there soul winning today that have never heard of Jesus. It used to be, I bet you, I wasn't soul winning 30 years ago, but I bet you it would be difficult to find somebody who had not heard of Jesus decades ago in this country. You're seeing it all the time now. They don't know. They don't know. We'll talk about that more tonight, but you can't take for granted what you think people know because it's shocking what people don't know. Look at Jeremiah chapter three, verse 11. Are you there? And the Lord said unto me, the backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. So of course the northern kingdom of Israel, they were much more wicked than Judah. And they got judged first, the northern kingdom of Israel. I mean, even Israel, God's own people, the northern kingdom, they fell away. They fell away. Look at Jeremiah chapter three in verse number 12. Go and proclaim these words to the north and say, return thou backsliding Israel, sayeth the Lord. And I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful, sayeth the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever. That kind of matches what we just read in Exodus chapter 34, that God is merciful and his anger won't last forever. Look at verse 13. Only acknowledge, now God is telling them what they need to do. Only acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God and a scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree and ye have not obeyed my voice, sayeth the Lord. Turn, oh backsliding children, sayeth the Lord, for I am married unto you and I will take you of one of a city and two of a family and I will bring you to Zion. Look at verse 15. And I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. So this is one way that God intervenes, right? Here we have a backsliding nation. God acknowledges that they've turned away. God acknowledges that they've done the wrong thing. Look, even if your parents, if you're in this room today and you're like, you know what, I didn't have a Christian home. I didn't have a Christian family and your parents or your grandparents or whatever generation it happened, God, you know, they didn't lead you. They didn't lead you down the right road. Look, sin still becomes your responsibility. And God here gives them a hand. And God gives you the same hand. You say, oh, there's no one to lead me. Well, your parents simply led you astray. Your grandparents simply led you astray, you know, or led you nowhere. But here's the thing. God says, I'll send a man. He says, in this case, he says, I'll send men. He says, I'll send these pastors in this case. Turn to Ephesians chapter four. Look, he says the same thing in the New Testament. He says, I'll send you pastors to lead you. He's like, all you have to do is decide if you're gonna get right, and then I will send pastors to lead you in all the ways of my heart. God says, look at Ephesians chapter four. It's the same for us. Look at verse 11. You say, you know, my parents, they weren't Christians. They still aren't. Maybe I didn't have parents. My grandparents turned away from the Lord. My great-grandparents turned away from the Lord. Doesn't matter. Because you still have God intervening in your life, right here. And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and teachers. Why? For the perfecting of the saints. For the work of the ministry. For the edifying of the body of Christ. Look, God has sent pastors. God has sent evangelists to every nation. We talked about this yesterday. Look, God, I mean, even that child in Africa, even that child in South America, you know, look, God has sent prophets there. God has sent missionaries there, evangelists there. For hundreds of years, we can look back, see that he's been sending them there. Look, sometimes these people even killed the evangelists and the pastors and the prophets that were sent there. There's a very famous story from the 1950s, about five missionaries that went to Ecuador to share the gospel with, and we talked about this a little bit yesterday, but I believe that evangelism 50 years ago was a lot more solid on the gospel than evangelism is today around the world. Think of what you're seeing with the gospel and just the churches in this area. How many churches in Fresno have the right gospel? You wouldn't want to do the percentage on that one. These missionaries, they went to this tribe that was known for violence in the 1950s, and these five missionaries, they were reaching out, they were trying to get the gospel of Jesus Christ to these savage people. And these five missionaries ended up being murdered by this tribe. They were all killed. They were all killed. And it became a very famous story. There's a book written on it. One of these missionaries, his name was Nate St. His wife and children, after he was killed, his wife and children, they went and they continued the evangelism of this tribe. And it turned out, they dedicated their lives to these people in Ecuador. And it turned out that Nate's own son was baptized by one of the converts that had now Christians, now converted Christians that murdered his dad. I mean, look, God has sent these people. God is sending these people. God has sent pastors. And the future, look, the future of this people was completely changed. There's all kinds of stories like this, folks. There's all kinds of stories of men and women and their families who have gone and just dedicated their entire lives to bringing the gospel to the darkest corners of the world. And that is what God is talking about in Jeremiah chapter three that we just read. He's saying, look, I will send these people to you and they will show you what my heart is. So God intervenes. He intervenes how? He intervenes even in situations where things might not be fair. And people might have generational issues that they're dealing with where generations ago their family turned from the Lord, God sends people. God sends people in those cases. Turn to Romans chapter eight. Here's another way God intervenes. And here's one other thing that God does for us as well. God, he has this spirit. He has this spirit that the Bible says. He has this spirit of adoption, the Bible says. Regardless, look, regardless of how you were raised or where you came from, look at Romans chapter eight, look at verse 15. Romans chapter eight, look at verse 15. Regardless of where you were brought up, whether it was a Christian home, a Muslim home, Jewish home, whatever. If you're saved today, look at Romans eight, 15. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received what? We've received the spirit of adoption. Whereby we cry Abba, Father. Look, God has adopted us. God has adopted us. We have, you know, we are benefiting from God, his God the Father's spirit of adoption. Turn to Ephesians chapter one where we started this morning. Turn to Ephesians chapter one where we started this morning. Look at Ephesians one in verse number three. The Bible says, blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us onto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. So we've been adopted by God and Jesus Christ was like the adoption agent. It was through him that we're adopted by God the Father. So God has literally adopted us into his family. Look at Hebrews chapter 12. Look at verse number seven. It says he adopts us and he raises us. Notice how God in Hebrews chapter 12 here, he doesn't just adopt us and then just walk away. Look at verse seven of Hebrews chapter 12. The Bible says if he endured chastening. So I'm saved and I'm being chastened by God. He says if he endured chastening, God dealeth with you as sons. Well, he adopted you. For what son is he whom the Father chastened is not? I mean, what kind of son would, look, if you don't chasten your children, the Bible here is saying you're not a good Father. Well, God's a good Father. So he's gonna chasten his children, which is us through adoption. But now if you just go and you're just living a sinful life and nothing's ever happening to you. Look, this is the life of an unsaved person. Verse number eight. But if you be without chastisement, where of all our partakers, then you're bastards and not sons. So yes, you wanna continue in sin after you get saved. You know, that's the difference in your life right there is now the chastisement of God is coming on your life. So God literally adopts us as sons and daughters as his children and then he raises us in the right way. So the application here folks is this. God has sent pastors, he's sent evangelists, he's sent missionaries all over the world to intervene in these cases where generations ago people have left him. He also has adopted us and you know, we've benefited of this blessing through the spirit of adoption. The application is this. He needs us to have the same spirit of adoption. Go back to Matthew chapter 28. Go back to Matthew chapter 28. I mean, God has sent pastors, missionaries and evangelists. You know, as we go out and we preach the gospel, we are missionaries to the lost and dying world even in our local city. Look at Matthew chapter 28. Look at verse 18. And Jesus spake unto them saying, all power is given to me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. And verse number 20 is where this comes in the spirit of adoption. It says teaching them to observe all things. What's whoever I've commanded you and woe, I am with you all the way even to the end of the world, amen. Look, what about those? Look, what about those who don't have the same chance as you? God depends on you to go out and give them that chance. God depends on us to go out and preach the gospel and give this same spirit of adoption from God to them and then teach them to observe all things so they can break this generational cycle. But the generational cycle is it runs deep. It runs deep. That's why you'll go out and you'll get 15 people saved and you'll see zero in church. Because the generational cycle is hard to break but that's what Jesus is talking about in verse number 20. So it's teach them to observe. That means to do all things. Look, you are the tool that God uses to even the playing field. You are, I mean, think about this, think about this. You are, as you go out soul winning at two o'clock today, you are God's mercy realized. Look, that's a big responsibility. That's a big responsibility that we are to go out and we are God's mercy. We are God's mercy. We will meet these people of the third and fourth generation who are wrapped up in unbelief and other sin and we will give them the gospel and we will get them saved. But then we have to break that generational cycle. And I believe that there's people out there. I believe there's a lot of people out there that want that cycle broken. Especially as they get saved in that conscience, that Holy Spirit begins working in them and that Holy Spirit is in them and it's being grieved day in and day out. We've got to get these people in church. We've got to get these people baptized. We've got to get these people to observe all things and then they will break. Look, that's where the works matter. That's where the works matter. Works aren't going to save that individual but the works matter to break that generational curse if you will. Here's another way that this curse can be or this cycle can be broken. And this is kind of the inspiration for the sermon. We found out some friends of ours this last week are actually adopting another child. Look, there are people out there. There are Christian parents out there. Their ministry is adopting kids. And praise God for these people. Because you know what? There are kids out there, thousands of kids out there. I remember, we did foster care many, many years ago. And I remember just going through the list. There's actual lists of kids that have nobody. Thousands of children where nobody wants them. That's a reality. In every state across this country, that is a reality. And you know what, by the way, that is a side effect of embracing perversion and evil. You think that, oh, it's no big deal. Everything's right. No, everything's not right. Everything's not right. And the more we embrace perversion and the more we embrace evil in this country, you know what? The more kids that will suffer and the more kids that will be on those lists. Because the children always get the worst end of it. Every time. Adoption is one of the most noble things that a Christian could do with his life. Is grabbing one of those children and saying, you know what? I will have the spirit of adoption on this child. I mean, it's just a, I told my wife. I told my wife, we heard, I mean, the story. I mean, it was, we heard the story of this child that's gonna be adopted. And we're just like, I'm just like, because this man was thinking about maybe, he is a friend of mine. I'm not gonna mention who it was. But he's thinking about, you know, going into the ministry maybe a while back. And I told my wife, I was like, this is their ministry. Not everybody has to stand up and be a pastor. But you grab some kid and you give them a chance to not only be saved, but to break that generational curse that they're under. Where they were thrown away by somebody and you're gonna raise them to be saved and have the Holy Spirit and raise children that are saved. I mean, that is one of the most noble ministries I can think of ever. One of the best ways you could possibly spend your life. It's not just about soul winning. There are other things. Yes, that gets people to the adoption of God. But look, we have got to get people out of these generational cycles. We have to get them out of this spiritual inequity that they've been dealt in their lives. To get them out of this third and fourth generation cycle. But look, there must be a change. Go back to Jeremiah chapter three. But there must be a change in their lives. We must, you know, implore them to come and to take those steps and to observe all things. Look at Jeremiah chapter three. And now look at verse 16. So God, there was these people that had turned away, that had turned on God. And now God, he said, I'll send you pastors. He said, I'll send you pastors. He was like, what are we gonna know? How are we gonna know what to do? We've turned away from God. We don't know anything. I'll send you pastors. He'll teach you what to do. These pastors, they will show you the way. They will show you where I want my heart to, where I want you to go. God says. And then look at verse 16. And it shall come to pass. When ye be multiplied and increased in the land in those days, sayeth the Lord, that they shall say no more, the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Neither shall it come to mind. Neither shall they remember it. Neither shall they visit it. Neither shall that be done anymore. And at that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord and the nations shall be gathered unto it to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. Neither shall they walk any more. Neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. These people, they get right. They get their actions right. Remember, he's talking about a nation here. A nation turning back towards the Lord because nations are judged by their works and they're judged on this earth. He's talking about, he sent them pastors. They got right. They turned back to the Lord and they walked away from their evil heart and they started following what God's heart wanted them to do. Now, here, if this would have happened, that generational cycle would have been on a different path. God was telling them, this is what your future could be. We know this obviously wasn't the future of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This wasn't what they chose to do but this could have been, what happened? This could have been, if they would have done this, this could have been the future of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. But just like that, just like verse 16 and verse 17, God can pull those generations back. Pull people back that abandoned him 100 years ago and he does it through the spirit of adoption. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter four. Look, he needs us to carry this out, folks. That's kind of the whole point of this morning sermon. He needs us to carry this out. Those pastors were somebody. Those evangelists are somebody. These missionaries in the 1950s, they were somebody, they were people that let go of their life and said, this is my life and we're gonna adopt these people of this tribe. We're literally gonna adopt this child that nobody wants. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter four and verse 14. Look at what Paul says. Look what Paul says about the people that he has gotten saved. Look how he speaks about these people. Look at verse 14. I write not these things to shame you. Look, he's ripping some face on these people. He says, I write these things. Look, I don't tell you these things because I'm just trying to embarrass you. He says, I'm telling you these things because as my beloved sons, I warn you. He's like, I love you as children is what he says. For though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, you have not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel. He's saying, look, you got all these people teaching you the Bible, but I'm the one that got you saved. I'm the one that preached the gospel to you. He's like, in that sense, I have the spirit of adoption towards you and I am your spiritual father in that case. That's what Paul is saying. How many spiritual children do you have? How many children do you have where the baby is born and you're just like, all right, good. You don't walk away from your children. There needs to be effort put forth to raise spiritual children. This is why we do follow-ups. This is why we follow up with people that got saved and we try to talk to them about coming to church and observing all things. This is why you should be doing this. This is about being a blessing to others around you, helping your brothers and sisters. How about this one? Supporting your pastor that God has sent. You're evangelists that God has sent. Look, we're out here, you know, we're out here. These pastors are out here. They're out here leveling the field. That's what they're trying to do. They're trying to knock down some of this spiritual iniquity. And I don't know how much one man can do in his life where there needs to be more, by the way. There needs to be pastors. That's the one thing that I see, by the way, that is stopping more churches is that there's just no pastors to lead the churches. I mean, it's through this, look, it's through this spirit of adoption that God levels the playing field. Generation after generation, God adopts, adopts, adopts. We need to adopt that same spirit. We need to just not think about just going out and just got one saved, got another one, got, you know, think about numbers. You need to think about these people as your adopted children. And think about, you know, verse number 20, teaching these people to observe all things and break this cycle. Because look, folks, let's bring it back to the beginning. It is fair. It is fair. Because it's not, you think, heaven and hell, it's fair. It's fair, because we all deserve hell. It's more than fair. Because the people that do end up saved by believing on Jesus Christ, they deserve hell. It's more than fair. I deserve hell. I deserve hell, you all deserve hell. It's more than fair. God's given out this free gift. He needs us to help level this field out there because not everybody was raised the same way. But that's where we come in. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. You're heavenly Father.