SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY: SONS & DAUGHTERS | FROM UNDER TO OVER
Based on the message by Pastor Chad Everett
OVERVIEW
What are you living under that Jesus has called you to live over?
In Spiritual Authority: Sons & Daughters | From Under to Over, Pastor Chad teaches from Galatians 4:1–7 about an heir who already has an inheritance but, while still a child, lives no differently from a slave.
You can belong to Jesus and still have areas of your life controlled by things that should not be controlling you. What you want, what you see, your emotions, pride, fear, other people’s opinions, or the need to handle everything yourself can have more influence over you than you realize.
God wants you to grow.
Part of growing is allowing God to use other people in your life. You need people who can tell you the truth, give you wisdom, correct you, and provide guardrails. Receiving that kind of input requires humility.
You also need to recognize what you were never meant to live under. Chad points to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. These show up when what you want becomes more important than what God wants, what you see begins controlling what you desire, or you depend on yourself instead of God.
But the fullness of time has already come. Jesus came. He paid the price to redeem you from bondage and make adoption as a son or daughter available to you.
You do not have to earn your identity or wait until someday to begin living in freedom. You have to receive what Jesus has already done and believe what God says over what you feel.
“Where we’re under, we got to come over.”
HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE
Read → Respond → Reflect → Pray → Live It
Read each passage carefully and pay attention to what Scripture actually says.
Respond from the Bible. Let God’s Word establish truth instead of your feelings, friends, social media, culture, experiences, or assumptions.
Reflect honestly. Think about your relationships, reactions, choices, habits, influences, and the things that have power over you.
Pray about what the Holy Spirit reveals, then live it. Do not stop at recognizing something needs to change. Take a step toward freedom.
SECTION 1 — GROW UP INTO THE FREEDOM JESUS HAS FOR YOU
FOCUS
You can have the identity of an heir and still live like a slave. God wants you to mature so your everyday life begins to reflect what Jesus has already made available to you.
Growing up spiritually is not condemnation. It is an invitation into greater freedom.
READ
Galatians 4:1–7; 1 John 4:4
RESPOND
- According to Galatians 4:1, how does an heir who remains a child compare with a slave?
- What does Galatians 4:1 say is already true about the heir?
- According to Galatians 4:4–5, why did God send His Son?
- According to Galatians 4:7, what are believers no longer, and what have they become?
- According to 1 John 4:4, what is true about the One who is in you compared with the one who is in the world?
REFLECT
- Where is there a gap between what you say you believe about Jesus and the way you actually live?
- Think about what happens when you are disappointed, left out, embarrassed, corrected, or do not get what you want. What do your reactions reveal about what has power over you?
- Is there something in your life you have excused as “just who I am” that God may actually want to free you from?
PRAY
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you an area where you have settled for living under something instead of growing into the freedom Jesus has for you.
LIVE IT
When an old reaction or pattern shows up this week, do not automatically give in to it. Stop and ask, “Does this match who God says I am as His son or daughter?”
READ MORE
1 Corinthians 3:1–3
SECTION 2 — LET GOD USE PEOPLE TO HELP YOU MATURE
FOCUS
God uses people to help us grow. Guardians and stewards can provide wisdom, correction, accountability, and guardrails while we are maturing.
The question is not only whether you have people like that in your life. It is whether you are humble enough to listen when they tell you something you do not want to hear.
READ
Galatians 4:1–2; 1 Peter 5:6
RESPOND
- According to Galatians 4:1, how does Paul describe the heir while he is still a child?
- According to Galatians 4:2, who is the child placed under?
- How long does Galatians 4:2 say the heir remains under guardians and stewards?
- According to 1 Peter 5:6, under whose mighty hand are we instructed to humble ourselves?
- What does 1 Peter 5:6 say God will do “in due time”?
REFLECT
- Who in your life can tell you that you are wrong without you immediately becoming defensive, angry, or shutting them out?
- When a parent, leader, teacher, coach, or mature believer gives you a boundary you do not like, is your first thought about what you can learn or how you can get around it?
- Have you ever wanted more freedom, responsibility, influence, or independence than the people responsible for you thought you were ready for? How did you respond?
- What might your response to correction reveal about your humility?
“Our level of maturity is directly connected to our level of humility.”
PRAY
Ask God to show you where pride makes it difficult for you to receive correction, wisdom, or guardrails from the people He has placed in your life.
LIVE IT
Choose one trusted person who helps you grow. Instead of waiting for correction, ask them one honest question: “Is there an area where you think I need to grow?”
Then listen without defending yourself.
READ MORE
Galatians 4:1–2
SECTION 3 — STOP LIVING UNDER THE ELEMENTS OF THE WORLD
FOCUS
Not everything that influences you should have authority over you.
Chad describes the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life as choosing what you want over what God wants, allowing what you see to control your desires and beliefs, and relying on yourself instead of God.
READ
Galatians 4:3; 1 John 2:15–17; Genesis 3:1–7
RESPOND
- According to Galatians 4:3, what were we in bondage under?
- According to 1 John 2:15, what are believers told not to love?
- What three things does 1 John 2:16 identify as being “of the world”?
- According to 1 John 2:17, what is passing away, and who abides forever?
- According to Genesis 3:6, what did Eve see about the tree before she took its fruit and ate?
REFLECT
- What has the strongest influence on what you want right now? God’s Word, your friends, your feed, trends, relationships, appearance, success, attention, or something else?
- Where are you most tempted to think, “I know what God says, but I want this”?
- What do you see online or around you that creates comparison, discontentment, temptation, or the feeling that you need something to be happy or valuable?
- Where are you living with an “I’ve got this” attitude instead of depending on God?
- What would “Not my will, but Yours” actually cost you in one of those areas?
PRAY
Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anything you have allowed to control your desires, thinking, choices, or identity.
LIVE IT
Identify one influence that regularly pulls you toward what you want instead of what God wants. Put a real boundary around it this week, then use that space to turn your attention toward God.
READ MORE
Luke 22:42
SECTION 4 — JESUS HAS ALREADY TAKEN YOU FROM UNDER TO OVER
FOCUS
“The fullness of time” means God’s appointed time for Jesus to come and accomplish redemption. That time has already come.
Jesus paid the price for your freedom with His own blood. Freedom is not something you have to convince Jesus to provide. The question is whether you will believe and receive what He has already done.
READ
Galatians 4:4–5; Genesis 3:15; Matthew 5:17; 1 Peter 1:18–19; Romans 8:2
RESPOND
- According to Galatians 4:4, what happened when the fullness of the time had come?
- According to Galatians 4:5, why did Jesus come?
- According to Genesis 3:15, what did God say would happen between the serpent and the woman’s Seed?
- According to Matthew 5:17, did Jesus come to destroy the Law and the Prophets or fulfill them?
- According to 1 Peter 1:18–19, what did not redeem us, and what did?
- According to Romans 8:2, what has made us free from the law of sin and death?
REFLECT
- Is there an area where you keep asking God to do something Jesus has already provided freedom from?
- Which has more authority in your life when they disagree: what God says or what you feel?
- Have you allowed a struggle to become part of your identity? For example, “I’m just anxious,” “I’m always angry,” “I’ll never change,” or “This is just who I am.”
- If you truly believed Jesus had already paid the price for your freedom, how might you approach that struggle differently?
“God’s wanting to take us from a place of being under to a place of over.”
PRAY
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you are still thinking and living like someone in bondage instead of believing what Jesus has already accomplished.
LIVE IT
Write down one statement your feelings regularly tell you. Beside it, write what God says is true. When the feeling returns this week, choose to agree with God’s Word instead.
READ MORE
Genesis 3:15; Matthew 5:17
SECTION 5 — RECEIVE YOUR IDENTITY AND LIVE AS A SON OR DAUGHTER
FOCUS
You do not become God’s son or daughter because you finally feel worthy enough. Jesus came so that you could receive adoption.
Because you are His, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your heart crying, “Abba, Father.” Your relationship with God begins with receiving what Jesus has done, not trying to earn it.
READ
Galatians 4:4–7; Luke 10:19
RESPOND
- According to Galatians 4:5, what can we receive because Jesus redeemed us?
- According to Galatians 4:6, whom has God sent into our hearts?
- What does the Spirit cry out according to Galatians 4:6?
- According to Galatians 4:7, what are we no longer, and what have we become?
- According to Luke 10:19, what authority did Jesus say He had given His followers?
REFLECT
- When you mess up, what is your first instinct: run toward your Father or hide from Him?
- What makes you feel valuable right now? Grades, sports, appearance, relationships, attention, followers, accomplishments, being liked, or belonging to God?
- When you feel rejected, insecure, ashamed, afraid, or not good enough, do those feelings get to decide who you are?
- Chad said, “You know what your inheritance is? It’s Him.” If God Himself is your inheritance, what are you chasing to give you something you already have in Him?
“Believe over feeling. Faith over feeling.”
PRAY
Talk to God as your Father. Tell Him where your feelings have been louder than His truth. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you receive and believe what God says about who you are.
LIVE IT
Choose one moment this week when your feelings tell you something different from what God says. Stop and say the truth out loud: “I am God’s son/daughter. I have a Father. I choose faith over feeling.”
READ MORE
Luke 10:19
FINAL ENCOURAGEMENT — FROM UNDER TO OVER
Where are you still under?
Maybe it is what people think about you. Maybe it is what you want, what you see, fear, pride, comparison, a relationship, your emotions, or the pressure to prove yourself.
Do not just identify it and move on.
Jesus has already come. He has already paid the price. You have been invited to receive your place as a son or daughter and grow into the freedom He has made available to you.
Let God use His Word, His Spirit, and people who will tell you the truth to help you mature.
“Where we’re under, we got to come over.”
What is one place in your life where it is time to come over?