Infinite Fellowship Ministries

Maturity – The Import Of Sonship: Sermon By Minister Innocent Kinara

And the little boy grew and became strong in spirit; and he was in the deserts (wilderness) until the day of his appearing to Israel [the commencement of his public ministry]. 

Luke 1:80 (AMPC)

And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace (favor and spiritual blessing) of God was upon Him. 

Luke 2:40 (AMPC)

He Who descended is the [very] same as He Who also has ascended high above all the heavens, that He [His presence] might fill all things (the whole universe, from the lowest to the highest). And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers. His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church), [that it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him. So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead. 

Ephesians 4:10-14 (AMPC)

Death is not an an event. It’s an ongoing reality.

It is not guaranteed that because you got saved you will so remain. There is a daily process of sanctification that you have to stick to. 

There is a difference between an informed mind and a renewed mind. There is a difference between a child and a son even though both are born again.

Being a child and a son is not about age but about maturity. You can be a child or a son at any age.

Jesus at 12 years of age understood who His Father was. The difference between a child and a son has a lot to do with the relationship one has with the Father. The difference between a child and a son is their relationship with God.

Fatherhood is a spiritual principle. You can perceive and understand certain things that God has spoken about you and even walk in them but there is still a need for you to submit under spiritual authority.

What is your relationship with your spiritual cover in relation to your calling? Don’t fall into the trap of getting a fraction of revelation and then turn away from spiritual authority in your life. 

Nobody calls themselves, consecrates themselves and sets themselves apart. Someone else has to do that for you. 

What’s your relationship to the Holy Spirit? You cannot walk in faith without the Holy Spirit. Not even good intentions will suffice because it’s possible to walk in error with good intentions. It takes the Holy Spirit to lead us aright.

Being a son is not about how long you’ve been saved, it’s about how transformed you are. You can be in the school of God but fail to graduate.

Sonship is not about accumulation of spiritual truths in your mind that never result in your transformation.

Children come from the father but sons are begotten.

Children are with the father but don’t understand his vision. Sons have understood the vision of the father and are involved in implementing it. The prodigal son and his brother were biological children of their father but they had both missed out on his vision and heart.

When the prodigal son asked for inheritance, the father divided the inheritance into two and gave him his share. Yet the older brother still complained of not having been given anything by the father.

Sonship is about being able to capture the heart of the Father. Inheritance is for sons because it is they who have the heart of the Father. 

It’s not enough for you to come from the Father. You need to capture the heart of the Father. 

Only sons can be entrusted with certain things because children will squander and a misappropriate things.

Being a biological son of Abraham does not make you a son of God neither does being born again. 

But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name. 

John 1:12 (AMPC)

Now what I mean is that as long as the inheritor (heir) is a child and under age, he does not differ from a slave, although he is the master of all the estate; but he is under guardians and administrators or trustees until the date fixed by his father. So we [Jewish Christians] also, when we were minors, were kept like slaves under [the rules of the Hebrew ritual and subject to] the elementary teachings of a system of external observations and regulations. But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to [the regulations of] the Law, to purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to atone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God’s sons]. And because you [really] are [His] sons, God has sent the [Holy] Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba (Father)! Father! Therefore, you are no longer a slave (bond servant) but a son; and if a son, then [it follows that you are] an heir [c]by the aid of God, through Christ.

 Galatians 4:1-7 (AMPC)

But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? 

Galatians 4:9 (NKJV)

My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you. 

Galatians 4:19 (NKJV)

From Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ (the Messiah) called to be an apostle, (a special messenger) set apart to [preach] the Gospel (good news) of and from God, which He promised in advance [long ago] through His prophets in the sacred Scriptures— [The Gospel] regarding His Son, Who as to the flesh (His human nature) was descended from David, and [as to His divine nature] according to the Spirit of holiness was openly designated the Son of God in power [in a striking, triumphant and miraculous manner] by His resurrection from the dead, even Jesus Christ our Lord (the Messiah, the Anointed One). 

Romans 1:1-4 (AMPC)

There is a difference being a child of God and having the power to become a son of God. 

Being born again gives you the power to be a son of God but it does not automatically make you a son. Sonship is about maturity.

Sons are not tossed around by every wind of doctrine.

The Galatians were still children based on the way they were living their life. Is sonship truly evident in your life? If you are truly a son, why are certain things still present in your life? If you are a son, why are you tossed around by every wind of doctrine?

You become a son by adoption and by declaration of the Spirit of God with power. You can call yourself a son but if God doesn’t see you as such then you are fooling yourself. 

Can God look at your life and call you His son?

While he was still speaking, behold, a shining cloud [composed of light] overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is My Son, My Beloved, with Whom I am [and have always been] delighted. Listen to Him! 

Matthew 17:5 (AMPC)

So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh. For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father! 

The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God. And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory. [But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us! For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].

 Romans 8:12-19 (AMPC)

It is through suffering that we get sanctified and consecrated through a process that results in our sonship. 

The Spirit of God bears testimony that we are born again. Yet what creation awaits is the manifestation of sons not children.

We are not all the same just because we are born again. That’s religion. The Kingdom of God has both children and sons.

 When you become born again, the Spirit must purge you of worldliness and consecrate you into sonship. 

Some people haven’t begun the process that leads into sonship because they haven’t had someone to lead them the right way (spiritual father). Others defaulted when they were led into a wilderness meant to process them. 

A spiritual father is not the same as a pastor. There is a shortage of fathers not pastors.

There is no sonship without fatherhood. Sonship is a dimension where it’s not about your will but the father’s will.

A wilderness is a process where God takes you through to ensure you do not lose your way along the way. The wilderness is the process between you and your destiny. A wilderness can come at any point in your walk. The wilderness is necessary for sonship.

When you humble yourself and kill your flesh, it becomes easy for you to pass the test when God checks your heart.

The reason the Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness is that they kept failing the tests God would bring their way. They murmured and complained revealing that faith was yet to be birthed in them. They constantly forgot who God was and what He had done for them. Only two people from that generation passed the test. 

When you are in the wilderness focus on God and not on circumstances. Allow the flesh to die and walk by faith.

God created human beings but He only gets sons from the resurrection of Christ which enables us to be born again and be consecrated into sonship. Sons are not created, they are begotten.

Sons and children pray differently. There are prayers only children make.

I have given and delivered to them Your word (message) and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world [do not belong to the world], just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one. 

John 17:14-15 (AMPC)

Jesus prayed for us as a Son who knew the will of the Father for us. Sons know the heart and mind of the Father, which guides how they pray and what they pray for.

Do you have the understanding of the Father’s heart concerning the things you are praying for? Are there prayers you are making without understanding? You can still pray amiss despite how sincere you are.

The apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith (that trust and confidence that spring from our belief in God). And the Lord answered, If you had faith (trust and confidence in God) even [so small] like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, Be pulled up by the roots, and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you. 

Luke 17:5-6 (AMPC)

God does not give faith. He has provided a way for us to get faith i.e. by hearing His word. Developing faith is your business based on what you’ve heard.

It is only the gift of faith that God gives. The ordinary faith required for the Christian walk must be cultivated within you by you. 

Children have knowledge while sons have wisdom and understanding. A child can have an informed mind with knowledge but a son has a renewed mind caused by the revelation they have received. 

Sons know the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is information; wisdom is the correct application of knowledge. 

Sons know when to pray for knowledge and when to pray for wisdom. They will not pray for knowledge when they already possess it. They will not pray for wisdom when they don’t have knowledge to begin with. 

There are those who know the Scripture and those who have an understanding of it because they have the Spirit of God.

Applicability of Scripture in your life is what brings about transformation not mere knowledge of it. As you interact with Scripture and Rhema, is there an inward adjustment that leads to outward manifestation?

It’s one thing to know what God has said about you but another to know what to do with it and how to administrate it.

Some Rhema needs to be sealed for a season. It is not to be shared with everyone until an appointed time.

Special knowledge is more useful than general knowledge but ultimately wisdom is paramount. The prophecies about Christ contained very detailed information about Him. But in the end, many in His time were still unable to perceive Him.

Children burn with zeal without knowledge but sons understand mandate. Sons know when to manifest power.

Jesus knew when and where to perform miracles. He understood His assignment for that time and season. He rarely healed Gentiles because it was not His mandate at the time. It was primarily for they who were to come after Him. 

Children are excited by giftings, talents and natural abilities but sons understand the difference between performance and works of faith. 

Sons understand that just because God uses you does not mean He approves of everything about you. Sons are cautious about how they walk because they are not children who think that manifestation of gifts equates to divine approval. 

God can use anything for His purpose e.g. He used a donkey to speak to a prophet.

Any imperfection in us as sons can be sorted out in the place of relationship with the Father. 

People who do works in the name of Christ without relationship don’t understand the difference between the gift and relationship. It is important to ask God to search your heart daily.

Sons understand times and seasons. Only sons discerned who Christ was when He was born and during His time on earth. It took wisdom and understanding to relate the prophecies about Him with the man before them. 

Sonship is the ability to join the dots; to connect what is going on in your life and the world around you with what God is saying and doing.

Sons are supposed to provide solutions for the world. Are you seeking God to get divine ideas? Are you staying in the presence of God until you begin to birth divine things? 

Divine things require more than human excellence. They need the DNA of the Spirit of God in order to accomplish divine purpose e.g. The way you do business can minister to people. 

As a believer, don’t kid yourself that you can do what non-believers do and give God the glory. 

Children love to compare themselves with others. They love the affirmations of men and try to please everyone. Sons understand their identity and mission e.g. David wanted to build the temple of God but submitted to the will of the Father for Solomon to be the one to do so. 

Sons can look at where they are in relation to where God wants them to be and be content with themselves so long as they are in the will of God.

Each son is sent to a specific people who they are configured for. Don’t covet what another has yet you don’t have the capacity to handle it.

What do you know about the Father’s heart concerning yourself, the church and the world around you? Do you have a divine understanding about it? Do you have the wisdom you need to apply to this knowledge and understanding?

The Bible says that wisdom is the principle thing. All the knowledge in the world means nothing without wisdom. God freely gives wisdom to anyone who asks for it.

Sonship is not a destination. It is a continuum where no part is distinguishable from the adjacent part. It is the sequel of being transposed into new quanta/dimensions of Christ. It is preceded by a magnitude of growth. 

Addendum by Bishop Gobanga:

Sons can only hear what is resident in the heart of God not men or circumstances. It’s impossible to hear what is in God’s heart without the word of God which inducts you into His prophetic purpose contained in His heart.

Your faith is not built just by reading the Scriptures. You need the voice of God either through Scripture or Rhema.

The mind can only understand. We perceive with our heart. The heart perceives the purpose of God revealed through the mind. 

Understanding and perception are two different things. Many understand the things of God but lack perception about it. Perception is what brings about transformation. 

Perception goes beyond understanding. It results in change of character and attitudes.

The heart converts the truth of God into life. You can be full of knowledge that puffs up your pride. But if your heart is aligned to God, it is able to love the truth of God disclosed to the mind and convert it into purpose/life. 

You can only capture faith by the voice of God that reveals the heart of God. Go beyond hearing the voice of man in a sermon or in Scripture and hear the voice of God behind it. 

Until you understand what is in the heart of God, you will be faithless.

Any good preaching must come from Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Faith focuses on what is in the heart and mind of God and nothing else. 

People struggle to obey God because their hearts haven’t captured His purpose for them. 

The heart of man connects to the heart of God through the mind.