As the Children of God we have many privileges.  The privilege of being freed from the
bondage of sin, the privilege and freedom to have our prayers heard, the privilege to serve
the Lord our God.  Ephesians 1:3-8 (NASV), “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.  In Him we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches
of His grace which He lavished on us.  In all wisdom and insight.”

We have the privilege of having our sins forgiven.  Jesus died on the cross for our sins and
as we accept Him as our Lord and Savior placing our trust in what He has done for us we
are saved.  We just repent of our sins and ask Him to save us and He does.  Ephesians
2:8,9  He saves us based on what Jesus has already done and not on the basis of what we
do.  Our salvation hinges on Jesus and not ourselves.  This is why our salvation is an
eternal one.  John 3:16 says everlasting.  Everlasting lasts forever.  We are secure in
Christ.  No one can snatch us out of God’s hand.

Not only do we have the privilege of having our sins forgiven, we have the privilege of
being adopted into the family of God.  Wow now that is awesome!  We now belong to
God, we are His children.  Wonderful!  Since, we are the family of God, why don’t we act
like it?  As Christians we are to love one another.  We need to show Christ to this world
and one of the ways we do it is through showing God’s love.  We have the privilege of
being able to show Christ to others.  You know that you may be the only light that
someone sees.  Each message I preach may be the last message that someone hears or it
may be my last chance to shine for Christ.  Each day may be our last or someone we come
in contacts with last.  We need to make the most of every moment.  We need to shine for
Christ.  We need to show His love.  We have the privilege of shining for Christ.  We are
His children.

Children either bring glory or shame to their parents.  Imagine the parents of some of our
great leaders, scientists, preachers.  The parents and grandparents of Charles Haddon
Spurgeon are thought of as being good parents and grandparents because of Charles
Spurgeon.  Charles Spurgeon not only brought glory to God, but to those who raised him
as well.  The family of a murderer is brought shame to by the actions of their kid.  Now in
the family of God, we can either by our actions bring glory to our Heavenly Father or we
can bring Him shame.  Which are you doing?  Is God glorified in your actions or are you
bringing shame to the cause of Christ?

As God’s children we have the privilege of serving Him.  Proverbs 1:32 (NASV) “For the
waywardness of the naive shall kill them, And the complacency of fools shall destroy
them.”  If we become complacent in our Christian walk we will be destroyed.
Complacency kills.  If you want to put out a fire, you take away the heat.  Water puts out
a fire.  Complacency quenches the Holy Spirit.   Warming a bench freezes the heart and
puts out the flame for God.  Becoming complacent in the work of God will kill a church
quicker than anything.  A church full of benchwarmers is a church where the Lord will not
bless.  God rewards us for diligent service, not for warming a bench.  Hebrews 11:6
(NASV) “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must
believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”  God rewards us for
seeking Him.  Seeking involves doing something.  Complacency kills, but service gets
rewarded.  As Christians we have the privilege of serving God.  He in turn rewards us for
doing what we are supposed to.

As kids, when we cleaned our room, did the dishes and our homework, our parents
rewarded us with privileges and sometimes an allowance.  God rewards His children too.
He gives us so many blessings if we just serve Him.  As we are obedient to God, He gives
us the desires of our heart.  Psalms 37:4,5 (NASV) “Delight yourself in the Lord; And He
will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him,
and He will do it.”  As we delight in God, He gives us our hearts desires.  When we
surrender to Him, notice who lives the Christian life...He does!!!  He lives in and through
us!  All God asks is that we surrender to Him and let Him have control.  He rewards us for
doing what we are supposed to be doing.  Cool.  We have the privilege of being rewarded
by God for serving Him.  Doing what God commands of us shows that we really love
Him.  Warming a bench shows our lack of love for God.  John 14:31 “but so that the
world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.  Get
up, let us go from here.”  As Christians we need to get up off of the pew and do exactly as
God has commanded of us and go from here.  We need to go out into this community and
be light houses for Christ!  If we really love God, we will be obedient to His
commandments.  We will love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourself.  We will
die to sin and live unto God.  We will give up ourself and let God have control.

As we get busy and do jobs at church and serve God, we have the privilege of seeing
things happen.  When we attend prayer meeting and pray.  We have the privilege of
talking to God and petition Him.  He answers prayer.  We have the privilege of seeing
souls come to know the Lord.  We have the privilege of having our prayers answered too.
John 15:16,17 (NASV) “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed to you
that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you
ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.  This I command you, that you love
one another.”  Notice the powerful promise “that whatever you ask of the Father in My
name He may give to you.”  We have the privilege of having our prayers answered.
Privileges have conditions.  When we get a driver’s license we have the privilege to drive,
but that privilege has conditions.  We have to pass a written test and a driving test to get
the privilege and then obey the driving laws in order to keep the license.  In order to have
the privilege to drive we must obey the rules of the road.  In order to have the privilege of
answered prayer, we must obey God’s rules.  Read John 15 sometime, it has so much
powerful things in it.  Apart from God we can do nothing.  But with God we have
wonderful promises.  If you want to go from leading a defeated Christian life to an
empowered one, then just surrender to God and obey Him!  Get off the bench and serve
Him!

We have many more privileges as the children of God.  Know how you can find out what
they are?  By reading the Word of God and applying it.  There are two reasons I will close
here.  One for the sake of brevity and two for the fact that as you search the Scriptures
yourself, the promises and privileges become more real.  I leave you with this.  Quench
not the Holy Spirit, by which you are sealed unto the day of redemption.  Serve God!