Series: The Justified
Message: One Man
Preacher: Tom Eickmann
Reflection: Mark Witas
Live Wonder: Jessyka Albert
Live Adventure: Jessyka Albert
Live Purpose: Kyle Smith
Editor: Becky De Oliveira

Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.

Read: Romans 5:12-21 in the New International Version (NIV). Note 1–3 insights or questions. 

Reflect: Until I was five weeks old, I was a foster child in the state of California. My dad told me that he and my mom bought me at the baby store. My mom more gently told me that I was adopted. This didn’t take much figuring out for most people because my dad is 5’8” with a dark complexion and my mom was 5’3” on her toes. I’m 6’6” and don’t look a thing like them.

All my friends looked like their moms and dads. They inherited their parents' looks, personality traits, propensities toward allergies and illnesses. I was all on my own—until...

Two weeks before my 29th birthday, I received a phone call from my birth mother. That was the beginning of an incredible journey of meeting my birth parents and all my relatives on my mom’s side of the family.

Everyone who spends any length of time with my birth mother and I can’t believe how much alike we are. We both have a quick wit and love to serve others. We are both a little irreverent when it comes to humor and we feel deeply for those who suffer. I’m truly my mother’s son.

As it turns out, I am who I am because I inherited a ton of stuff, good and bad, from my family on both my birth mother and birth father’s side.

My eating preferences, my tendency to like being around people vs. being alone, my joy of standing in front of people and teaching (my grandfather was a teacher) and my cynical side (birth father) all have roots in my family bloodline. I am largely who I am because of my family bloodline. The dark sides of my personality (that I try and cover up so nobody can see) come from my bloodline also.

And I learned how to do life and become who I’ve become because of the parents who adopted me. They gave me everything I needed to become the person I am today.

We have all inherited something from the first man, Adam. We’ve inherited a tendency to choose sin. We’ve inherited a faulty view of God. We’ve inherited a breach in our relationship and understanding of God. Adam and Eve are our birth parents.

Thank God we’ve been adopted into a new family. We are now sons and daughters of God and can become everything our adopted Father wants us to be. We’ve been rescued from the things we’ve inherited and placed in heavenly places. Adam’s sin has no hold on us.

Recalibrate: What’s a family trait that you’ve inherited that you are glad about? What’s one you’d like to overcome?

Respond: Thank God for all the good things you’ve been given through your family line and bless Him for adopting you into His family.

Research: Read Romans 8:15, 23, Romans 9:4, Galatians 4:5 and Ephesians 1:5.

Remember: “As one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men” (Romans 5:18, ESV).

Mark Witas is the lead pastor at Pacific Union College Church in Angwin, CA. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Mark has served as a youth pastor, Bible teacher, college and academy chaplain, and lead pastor in the United States and Canada for the last 33 years. He has also authored four books: Born Chosen, Live Out Loud, Portals, and Just Jesus.

Spend some time making a bubble graph with your child of all the people they are connected with: family, friends, daycare staff, school teachers, church acquaintances, etc. Think about how God has created a strong “family” around your child, even though these people are not all related to one another. Take a moment to pray over each and every person on your bubble graph

Earlier this week, we talked about how Adam and Eve are our great, great, great, great, great, great—times a lot more greats—great grandparents. We are a part of God’s family tree. He calls us His sons and daughters! With the help of a parent, make a family tree. Don’t forget to put God at the top of the tree. If you need some fun ideas for creative trees, have a parent help you search on Pinterest!

Do you have any traits or features from your parents that you wish you didn’t have? My whole family struggles with anxiety. I inherited this wonderful trait and it has been a battle my whole life. Earlier this week, we looked at how we inherited a sinful nature from Adam and Eve. Sin is a battle we all deal with. It's something we all have to fight and wrestle with. But praise Jesus! You don't have to overcome this nasty family trait alone. When Jesus came to this earth, died on the cross, and rose back to life, He showed us He had something better for us to inherit. Do you know what it is? Eternal life. No matter what struggles you have inherited, how hard your life is, and how much junk you need to overcome, if you accept Jesus your slate will be wiped clean in the life to come. In heaven there will be no pain, sadness, struggles, or sin. That means all the things you have wrong with you and in your family tree will be made new and perfect. Now that is something to hope for!