In this empowering episode, Cherri Campbell delves deep into the concept of sonship as illustrated through the parable of the two sons in Luke 15. Often perceived merely as a story of repentance, we explore its broader implications, focusing on the rights, privileges, and inheritance that come with being a child of God. By examining the problems faced by the younger and older sons, as well as the father’s unique predicament, we uncover the profound message of identity and relationship with God.
Welcome to Victorious Faith. We believe you will be blessed, encouraged, and receive fresh faith to begin your day as you listen to today’s message with international missionary and Bible teacher, Cherri Campbell.
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Good morning. Praise the Lord. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Welcome to Victorious Faith. I’m Cherri Campbell. This morning, I’m going to begin sharing with you another message that I preached in one of our Victorious Faith services called Sonship, Your Rights, Privileges, and Inheritance. So join me now in our live service for the beginning of this message, Sonship, Your Rights, Privileges, and Inheritance. Let’s open our Bible to Luke 15, and we are going to read a very familiar parable of the two sons. And the message tonight is about sonship, sonship. So let’s go to Luke 15, Luke 15. And we’re going to start reading in verse 11 and read down to verse 32. Jesus continued, There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth. In wild living after he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare? And here I am, starving to death. He recognized his father’s servants were better fed than him. I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired men or your servants. So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. Your brother has come, he replied, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound. The older brother became angry and refused to go in, so his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, “‘Look, all these years I’ve been slating for you and never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes, comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him.’ My son, the father said, you are always with me and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. Now, this is a powerful, powerful parable. And there’s a lot more to it than I think a lot of traditionally the teaching has been. A lot of the teaching has mostly focused on the younger son. And we know that he represents people who are away from the father. people who are not walking with God. They’ve rebelled, gone into the world, into sin. And that’s where we usually hear most sermons based on this parable. But actually, this parable is about two sons, because I really see the emphasis in is about sonship, about sonship. And so, first of all, let us go ahead and look at the younger son. And I want us to point out that each one of these three in this parable had a problem. The younger son had a problem. The older son had a problem. Guess what? The father also had a problem. He also had a problem. And of course, the father in the parable represents our father, God, our father in heaven. So first of all, we see the younger son and he, of course, had left his father. And when he ran out of money, he was willing to go home just to be a servant. Just to be a servant. Take me into your house as a servant. I’m not even asking to be a son. Because you saw even the servants are well fed in father’s house. Amen? Let’s go down and look at the older son and let’s identify his problem before we talk about what the father’s problem was. Because yes, even though the father represents God, he had a problem. But the older son, let’s look at the older son. The older son also had a problem. Have you ever wondered why in verse 26, he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on? Why does a servant have more information than a son? Why does a servant know things that are going on? And the son is basically, you could say, in the dark. Clueless. See, he had a problem that even though he had stayed with the father, he was also thinking, talking, and acting like a servant. Mm-hmm. or a slave and we see him even confess that in verse 29 it says he answered his father look all these years I’ve been what slaving for you one translation what’s another translation serving I’ve been serving you I’ve been slaving for you well where did we find him He was out in the field, out in the field, slaving for the father. And so now we get to the father’s problem. Now, the father’s problem was a sad problem. Everybody say, oh, oh, the father’s problem was a sad problem because he had two sons. But in reality, he had no sons. No sons because both of his sons were acting like slaves. One son had ran off. And when he came back, he said, make me a servant. And can’t you hear the father’s voice crying out as the father runs to this younger son and embraces him and kisses him. And he called his servants. and said, put a robe on him, a ring on him, and sandals. That means he already had servants. But he didn’t have a son. Acting like a son. Living like a son. Dwelling in the house like a son. And he’s crying out to his son, like, if you were to say it like this, I don’t need another servant. What I want is a son. I’m not going to make you another servant. I’ve got housefuls of servants. But I’m looking for a son. I want a son. Now, representing Father, God, who are God’s servants? The angels. That’s the problem. that Christians have identified themselves more with being a servant of God than a son of God. Most Christians, most Christians identify themselves more as a servant of God rather than a son of God. You say, well, don’t we serve? Well, of course we serve. For the perfect example, look at Jesus. The perfect example of a son is he knew he was the son of God. In John 13, when he’s going to wash the disciples feet, put the towel around his waist. I think it’s so beautiful because it says just before that he knew where he had come from and he knew where he was going. He knew he had come from heaven and And he knew he was going back to heaven to be exalted. And therefore he humbled himself and he washed the disciples feet, put a towel around his waist. So he knew he was the son of God, but he was also there to do whatever the father commanded. And he said, I came to do my father’s will. The works I do are not my own. So he is our example. And yet he never lost his identity as a son. He never lost that. He never lost his identity as a son. I am the son of the Most High. And he recognized it, and therefore he was able to walk every day in that position with power and authority and dominion in the earth and receiving everything he needed from his father. He was not poor. Well, we could talk about that another time. It’s a false teaching that Jesus was poor. Otherwise, his heavenly father did not provide for him while he knew how to use his faith. He knew how to use his faith. And just to remind you of this, when he was a child in Bethlehem and the Magi came from the east, they brought their treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And unlike the traditional pictures of a little box, I don’t know where you get that idea of a little gift box. That’s not the way they did things. You have to think about when the Queen of Sheba went to visit Solomon. When the Queen of Sheba went to visit Solomon, did she go to visit a king and bring a little gift box? No, she brought camels loaded and caravans loaded with gifts for the king because your gift represents actually your own wealth of your kingdom and it represents your honor. And so it was the biggest gift. Well, these magi knew by revelation that this was the son of God. They would not bring a little gift box from Kohl’s. That wasn’t it. No, they would have also been loaded down. And we taught this in our Christmas message a couple years ago. The title is Truth or Tradition, the truth about the Christmas story. And how did these magi really come? They came in a caravan. What you just heard was the beginning of a message that I preached in one of our Victorious Faith services called Sonship, Your Rights, Privileges, and Inheritance. And we will continue this message again tomorrow. So join me again tomorrow. And remember, God loves you. You are blessed and highly favored by the Lord.
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We’re glad you joined us today for Victorious Faith with Cherri Campbell. We invite you to visit our website at victoriousfaith.co, where you can listen to the Victorious Faith radio broadcast, find biblical study helps, contact Cherri, and make donations. You can also write to us at P.O. Box 509, East Lake, Colorado, 80614. Victorious Faith is a God and Partners supported ministry. As you sow seed and partner with this ministry, we believe God with you for the full harvest of victory you need in your life. Please join us again Monday through Friday at the same time to begin your day with fresh faith. And remember, faith is the victory that overcomes the world.
