Abba
FREE | Week 5 — Galatians 4:1–11 | Preached November 1, 2026
Adapted from the sermon by Pastor Daniel Kolson | Dwell New Life City
You can live in a house for years and still feel like you have to earn your place at the table. A hard week can make prayer feel like an appointment with a disappointed supervisor. Galatians 4 speaks to that experience by telling the story of how God brings us into His family.
God sent His Son
Paul asks us to picture an heir who is still a child. The inheritance is his, but for a time his life is ordered by guardians and managers. Then Paul points to the moment when God acted. At the appointed time, He sent His Son, born of a woman and born under the law, to redeem those under the law so that we might receive adoption.
Redemption brings people out of bondage. Adoption brings them home. Paul makes the outcome explicit. In Christ, the believer is a child and an heir through God. The words apply to women and men alike. The standing Paul has in mind is a full share in the family inheritance.
It helps to slow down over the order of Paul’s sentences. God sends His Son while people are still in need of redemption. Adoption is something they receive because He acted. The family status comes from the Father’s initiative. A child learning to trust Him has room to be young, to ask questions, and to grow. Those things take place inside the relationship God has given.
The picture of the heir also gives us a way to notice what we expect from God. A hired worker may wonder whether a mistake has put their position in danger. A child can bring a mistake to a good father and learn what to do next. Even an honest conversation about disobedience happens differently when there is a place for truth, correction, and continued belonging. Paul wants the Galatians to see themselves inside that kind of relationship.
God sent the Spirit of His Son
The Father gives us more than a new standing on paper. He sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” The same address appears on Jesus’ lips in Gethsemane in Mark 14:36. There, Jesus brings His anguish to the Father and entrusts Himself to Him. The prayer gives us a picture of what belonging makes possible when life is painful.
Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane makes space for anguish and trust in the same conversation. He names what He desires and yields Himself to the Father. That is a helpful picture when we assume a faithful prayer has to sound composed. We can tell God we are afraid of what comes next. We can ask Him for what we hope will happen. We can also entrust ourselves to Him one decision at a time. The Spirit helps us address the Father even when we have little more to say.
Romans 8:15–16 connects the cry of Abba to the Spirit’s witness that we are God’s children. This gives us a language for the days when our feelings lag behind what we know. We can come with a very small prayer and let Scripture shape the words. Over time, the practice of returning to the Father can make that relationship more familiar than the old habit of keeping our distance.
For some people, the word father carries memories of absence, anger, or rejection. It can take time for the heart to trust what the mind has learned. Jesus gives us somewhere to look. In Him we see the Father who draws near and receives us. A short, honest prayer can be a beginning. Father, help me know what it means to be Your child today.
It may help to begin with a scene from Jesus’ life. Watch how He responds to people who approach Him with need. He can speak truth plainly and still draw near. Let what you see in Jesus give content to the word Father. Over time, the picture of God supplied by old disappointments can begin to give way to the Father Jesus actually reveals.
The temptation to go back
In Galatians 4:8–11, Paul is troubled that people who have come to know God are returning to patterns of slavery. His wording slows us down. They know God, or rather, they are known by God. His knowledge of them is more foundational than their success in understanding Him. Yet familiar systems offer the comfort of something measurable. We know how to count what we’ve done. Trusting a Father calls for a different kind of dependence.
The urge to return to familiar patterns can show up as independence. You can be very active in church and still feel responsible for carrying your life alone. Dependence may look surprisingly practical. It might mean asking someone to pray with you, telling the Father the part of the story you usually skip, or making one decision with room to listen before you act. Each of those choices gives the relationship somewhere to take shape.
Pay attention to the difference between service offered freely and service driven by a fear of losing your place. You may do the same outward task in either case. One posture leaves room for joy, rest, and honesty about what you can carry. The other leaves you wondering how much more is required. When Paul calls us heirs, he gives us a place to stand while we learn to serve from love.
Reflect and Respond
Consider where you act as if there is still an audition for your place in God’s family. It may be the pressure to say yes to every request, the fear of coming to God after you fail, or the insistence on carrying everything alone. Read Galatians 4:4–7 and bring that one pressure to the Father. Ask the Spirit to help you take your next step as someone who already belongs.
Watch the sermon
https://dwellnlc.org/media/jkp8vq6/sunday-service-11-01-2026-free-week-5-abba-free-week-5-abba
Browse the FREE sermon series
https://dwellnlc.org/media/series/bsjhwnf/free-the-letter-to-the-galatians
Adapted from the sermon by Pastor Daniel Kolson | Dwell New Life City
You can live in a house for years and still feel like you have to earn your place at the table. A hard week can make prayer feel like an appointment with a disappointed supervisor. Galatians 4 speaks to that experience by telling the story of how God brings us into His family.
God sent His Son
Paul asks us to picture an heir who is still a child. The inheritance is his, but for a time his life is ordered by guardians and managers. Then Paul points to the moment when God acted. At the appointed time, He sent His Son, born of a woman and born under the law, to redeem those under the law so that we might receive adoption.
Redemption brings people out of bondage. Adoption brings them home. Paul makes the outcome explicit. In Christ, the believer is a child and an heir through God. The words apply to women and men alike. The standing Paul has in mind is a full share in the family inheritance.
It helps to slow down over the order of Paul’s sentences. God sends His Son while people are still in need of redemption. Adoption is something they receive because He acted. The family status comes from the Father’s initiative. A child learning to trust Him has room to be young, to ask questions, and to grow. Those things take place inside the relationship God has given.
The picture of the heir also gives us a way to notice what we expect from God. A hired worker may wonder whether a mistake has put their position in danger. A child can bring a mistake to a good father and learn what to do next. Even an honest conversation about disobedience happens differently when there is a place for truth, correction, and continued belonging. Paul wants the Galatians to see themselves inside that kind of relationship.
God sent the Spirit of His Son
The Father gives us more than a new standing on paper. He sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” The same address appears on Jesus’ lips in Gethsemane in Mark 14:36. There, Jesus brings His anguish to the Father and entrusts Himself to Him. The prayer gives us a picture of what belonging makes possible when life is painful.
Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane makes space for anguish and trust in the same conversation. He names what He desires and yields Himself to the Father. That is a helpful picture when we assume a faithful prayer has to sound composed. We can tell God we are afraid of what comes next. We can ask Him for what we hope will happen. We can also entrust ourselves to Him one decision at a time. The Spirit helps us address the Father even when we have little more to say.
Romans 8:15–16 connects the cry of Abba to the Spirit’s witness that we are God’s children. This gives us a language for the days when our feelings lag behind what we know. We can come with a very small prayer and let Scripture shape the words. Over time, the practice of returning to the Father can make that relationship more familiar than the old habit of keeping our distance.
For some people, the word father carries memories of absence, anger, or rejection. It can take time for the heart to trust what the mind has learned. Jesus gives us somewhere to look. In Him we see the Father who draws near and receives us. A short, honest prayer can be a beginning. Father, help me know what it means to be Your child today.
It may help to begin with a scene from Jesus’ life. Watch how He responds to people who approach Him with need. He can speak truth plainly and still draw near. Let what you see in Jesus give content to the word Father. Over time, the picture of God supplied by old disappointments can begin to give way to the Father Jesus actually reveals.
The temptation to go back
In Galatians 4:8–11, Paul is troubled that people who have come to know God are returning to patterns of slavery. His wording slows us down. They know God, or rather, they are known by God. His knowledge of them is more foundational than their success in understanding Him. Yet familiar systems offer the comfort of something measurable. We know how to count what we’ve done. Trusting a Father calls for a different kind of dependence.
The urge to return to familiar patterns can show up as independence. You can be very active in church and still feel responsible for carrying your life alone. Dependence may look surprisingly practical. It might mean asking someone to pray with you, telling the Father the part of the story you usually skip, or making one decision with room to listen before you act. Each of those choices gives the relationship somewhere to take shape.
Pay attention to the difference between service offered freely and service driven by a fear of losing your place. You may do the same outward task in either case. One posture leaves room for joy, rest, and honesty about what you can carry. The other leaves you wondering how much more is required. When Paul calls us heirs, he gives us a place to stand while we learn to serve from love.
Reflect and Respond
Consider where you act as if there is still an audition for your place in God’s family. It may be the pressure to say yes to every request, the fear of coming to God after you fail, or the insistence on carrying everything alone. Read Galatians 4:4–7 and bring that one pressure to the Father. Ask the Spirit to help you take your next step as someone who already belongs.
Watch the sermon
https://dwellnlc.org/media/jkp8vq6/sunday-service-11-01-2026-free-week-5-abba-free-week-5-abba
Browse the FREE sermon series
https://dwellnlc.org/media/series/bsjhwnf/free-the-letter-to-the-galatians
Posted in FREE — Galatians
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