What’s Next, Papa? | Tim Sheets

For the past several weeks, I have been teaching about the Holy Spirit and the life-changing benefits He brings to believers. His blessings go far beyond spiritual language alone. They are the benefits that flow when we are filled, refilled, and continually pursue the Holy Spirit, just as the early church did in the Book of Acts. They were repeatedly filled with His presence and power.

Last week, I spoke about the Holy Spirit as our divine Mentor. If you have not heard that message, it is available online at no cost. I used many scriptures then, and I will do the same today, because I want to build a strong biblical foundation for the incredible help and promises the Holy Spirit brings into our lives.

Some of these truths have not been taught as clearly as they should have been. Yet the benefits are extraordinary. They are essential for abundant living, and every believer should desire them. These truths are not controversial. They are found in Scripture. My goal is to bring them back to the forefront where they belong.

The Holy Spirit is the wisest being on earth. He is an equal member of the Godhead. His ministry is revealed through His omniscience, meaning He knows all things. He is omnipresent, meaning He is present everywhere at once. He can be with you, with me, and with countless others at the same time. He is also omnipotent, the most powerful being on the planet.

Jesus described the Holy Spirit as His other self. He said the Holy Spirit would come to be with us and to live within us. He would be our Teacher, our Guide, and the One who leads us if we choose to follow Him.

Jesus did not present the filling of the Holy Spirit as optional. He commanded His followers to receive it. He made it clear that we cannot become all we were created to be, nor function as the true church, without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. He is our Helper, the One who comes alongside us to support, strengthen, counsel, and mentor us.

That means the baptism of the Holy Spirit is vitally important.

Last Sunday, I specifically taught on how the Holy Spirit aligns us with our destiny. Every person ever born has a God-given destiny. There are divine purposes and plans written for your life before you were ever born. God placed potential inside of you that you can choose to pursue.

The Holy Spirit, as a member of the Godhead, comes to help bring that potential to life. He connects us to God’s plans for our future. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would even reveal things to come. He helps us walk into possibilities we did not know were available.

Today, I want to build further on that truth and show another dimension of our identity and destiny that many believers have never fully understood.

Romans 8:27 in the Passion Translation says that God, who searches the heart, fully understands the desires of the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit intercedes passionately for God’s people in perfect harmony with God’s will and our destiny.

The Holy Spirit prays in agreement with God’s plan for your life. He leads, guides, and teaches in perfect alignment with your divine purpose.

In John 14:16, Jesus said:

“I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth.”

The word “another” means one of the same kind. Jesus was saying, “My other self is coming to you.” Just as Jesus helped, comforted, and guided His disciples, the Holy Spirit now does the same for us.

He is with us always. He lives in us. Jesus said, “I will not leave you as orphans.”

That truth leads us into something powerful.

Galatians 4:4–7 teaches that through Christ, we have received full legal adoption as God’s children. Because we are His children, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, causing us to cry out, “Abba, Father.”

We are no longer slaves. We are sons and daughters of God. And because we belong to Him, we have access to everything our Father has made available to us.

The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Adoption. He teaches us how to live in freedom and how to function as fully accepted children of God.

Ephesians 1:5 declares that God decided in advance to adopt us into His family through Jesus Christ. This was His desire, and it gave Him great pleasure.

Think about that. God wanted you. He chose you. He welcomed you into His family with joy.

Now let us go deeper into what it means to be heirs of God.

Romans 8:15–17 says we have not received a spirit of fear or bondage, but the Spirit of Adoption. The Holy Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if we are children, then we are heirs heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

This truth can seem almost too wonderful to believe, but it is true.

The word adoption carries the idea of a loving and voluntary choice. No one forced God to adopt us. No one pressured Him. He chose to do it because His heart desired us.

God’s love moved Him to make room for you in His family.

That changes everything.

God is not looking for ways to reject you. He is not searching for reasons to condemn you. Through Christ, the chains of guilt, fear, and rejection have been broken.

Romans 8:1 says there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

God did not want slaves. He wanted free sons and daughters.

You are not part of God’s family because He felt sorry for you. You are there because His heart made room for you. He chose you as His own beloved child.

This is another priceless benefit of the Holy Spirit living within us. He teaches us our true identity.

Who else could reveal something this great except a member of the Godhead?

The Holy Spirit shows us who we are in Christ. He teaches us how to live as sons and daughters of the King. He helps us walk in supernatural realities while living in a natural world.

He reveals more and more of what belongs to us as heirs.

Romans 8:17 says:

“If children, then heirs heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.”

An heir is someone who is legally entitled to receive an inheritance. Scripture says we are rightful recipients of what God has made available through Christ.

We are heirs of the Creator of the universe.

That truth stretches the human mind, yet it remains true.

As joint heirs with Christ, we share in what He has secured for us. His privileges become our privileges. His access becomes our access. His victory becomes our victory.

The JB Phillips translation says:

“If we are His children, then we are God’s heirs, and all that Christ inherits will belong to us as well.”

Pause and think about that.

The Passion Translation of Romans 8 says mature children of God are those who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit. We did not receive a spirit of religious duty that leads us back into fear or the feeling of never being good enough.

Instead, we received the Spirit of full acceptance.

The Holy Spirit folds us into the family of God. He removes the orphan mindset. He causes our hearts to cry out with love, “Beloved Father.”

The Holy Spirit makes the Fatherhood of God real to us.

He whispers deep within our hearts:

You are God’s beloved child.
You are chosen.
You are accepted.
You belong to Him.

Because we are His true children, we qualify to share in His treasures. We inherit what He has and who He is making us to become in Christ.

These truths are profound. They cannot be fully grasped by natural reasoning alone. We need the Spirit of Wisdom, Revelation, and Understanding to make them real to us.

That is why we must pursue the Holy Spirit.

He is the Spirit of Truth. He teaches us our inheritance. He reveals our identity. He leads us into our destiny.

The Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote some of the most powerful truths in all of Scripture in Romans chapter 8. Many scholars consider it one of the greatest chapters in the Bible because it contains life-changing revelations about freedom, sonship, inheritance, and victory.

And those promises are not distant ideas.

They are for you today.