“We have not been given the spirit of bondage to fear, but we have been given the spirit of adoption, which allows you to cry, 'Abba, Father.'”
Bishop Smith preached on the importance of the soul, calling believers to a serious, intentional faith rooted in prayer, obedience, and stewardship. Using Jesus' confrontation with Peter and His agony in Gethsemane as the centerpiece, he warned about Satan's deception and spiritual forces, urged consistent giving and service, invited participation in church events and leadership, and closed with an urgent call to salvation and a personal Gethsemane experience of prayer and surrender.
“His Spirit testifying in your spirit that we are the children of God; because he has adopted us we cry 'Abba.'”
Elder Jonathan Banks teaches on the 'unstoppable kingdom' of God, using the Lord's Prayer as a framework to explain kinship with God, kingdom authority, and practical kingdom living. He emphasizes God's immutability—creator, provider, sustainer, perfecter—and the secret that believers are included as joint heirs and co-workers in God's redeeming plan.
“You have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
Pastor Sam Gibson teaches from Romans 8 that rejection is inevitable for Christians, but God uses it to form us. The solution to being shaped by rejection or enslaved by the need for human recognition is the Spirit of adoption—receiving identity, status, and inheritance in Christ so we can respond to rejection from the place of being beloved. He contrasts the imposter/orphan self (performance, people-pleasing, needing recognition) with the beloved/adopted self (secure, free to risk, rooted in the Father's love) and issues practical invitations to receive healing and be reborn into that reality.
“Most people operate in life through what the book of Romans calls in chapter 8 the spirit of slavery...you have not received the orphan spirit that spirit of slavery...but the spirit of adoption and by him by the spirit we cry Abba, Father.”
Jon Tyson preaches from Galatians 5:1, 13–15 that Christ calls believers to a gospel freedom that frees from condemnation and legalism and frees us to become who God made us to be — a freedom expressed by humble service to others and lived out by walking in the Spirit within Christian community.