What is the Doctrine of Adoption?

• Definition: Adoption is the act of God whereby he makes us members of his family thus granting us all the rights, privileges and responsibilities therein.
• This foundational doctrine has received scant attention in contemporary preaching and teaching, yet it is the way God has chosen to incorporate us into his family.
• Adoption encompasses the doctrines of:
  o justification, whereby we get legal standing before God
  o sanctification, whereby we age made righteous by God
  o regeneration, whereby we are given new spiritual life by God
• God has chosen, by his unsearchable love, to select individual persons to be incorporated into his family, this is the doctrine of adoption.
• Scripture refers to this process some five times, using the term for adoption more frequently than the more popular term “born again”.
  

NT Adoption scriptures

- Romans 8:14-17, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘ABBA, Father’. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God and if children heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” (See also Romans 8:23, 9:4)

- Ephesians 1:3-8a, “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 should 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.”

- Galatians 4:4-7, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a women, born under the Law, so that he might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘ABBA, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”

Results of being adopted by God

• We have the privilege of calling God “Father” and of being called his children.
• We have the security that God deliberately chose us and included us, not based upon anything we bring to the deal, but by his unsearchable love!
• We have become members of a family with all the joys and blessings of being included. Scripture consistently uses familial terms to describe our relationships in this new Kingdom. We are brothers and sisters, God is our Father, Jesus our older brother.
• We have the indwelling Holy Spirit who bears witness that we are, indeed, children of God and leads us in life.
• As his children we are given many, many good gifts.
• We receive discipline from God, as any beloved child does.

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As God was gracious to us in adopting us as children of God, we desire to be an imitator of Him and likewise seek children for adoption.  We are pursuing an international adoption in Ukraine simply because we have grown fond of its people & their heritage (without ever visiting) & we want to take advantage of this opportunity to bring God's word to its people.

INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION IS A MISSION! 

PLEASE PRAY FOR US!

We mailed our dossier to our facilitator in Ukraine on January 26, 2007. This small step signifies the beginning of our journey of following God's will in the adoption process.