The Message with Pastor Chris | 08/02/2026

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We're going to be a mark Chapter three, verse thirty
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one through thirty five. This morning, we'll be there in
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a few moments. Speak, Old Lord, you ready for that today,
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for Lord to speak to your hearts and to your minds,
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to your thoughts versus his thoughts, to shed his light
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upon us. You don't have an outline, no power point
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this morning, had all this dental work done this weekend.
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Focusing has been a real hard thing to do. So
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we're back to, as Bill said, old fashioned service. We
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often are misunderstood in life, aren't. We try to get
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our point across, try to get people to understand what
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we're trying to say. And as believers seeking to serve
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the Lord, we are even more so at times misunderstood
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by those around us. Sometimes we're even opposed by well
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intentioned people. I found that in becoming a Christian and
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sharing with my family that they opposed some of that.
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They didn't understand it. Such was the case with Jesus.
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His ministry had stirred up indignation. The religious establishment didn't
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like him. His radical thoughts were in the things that
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he was doing, the healings or the sick, the casting
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out demons, even the feeding the five thousand, and as
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much as that was good, boy, it went against the
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things that they wanted in their establishment. Traditions of the
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elders were being flouded by Jesus and he was encountering
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opposition there. So he goes back to his home base
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and Copernium Hospitality has offered him there. And it is
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at Copernium that his family then comes, concerned about his
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welfare and not understanding his ministry, his mother's brother and sisters.
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So they come and they're going to take him away
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because he is boy just coming against everybody, and to
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come against the religious establishment at that time certainly was
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not something considered very wise. So they think Jesus has
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lost his mind, lost his senses, and his family is
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standing against him. Remember that the average Jew respected religious establishment.
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For Jesus to do that would cause great concern, so
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no doubt they were motivated for their love for him,
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and this must have been difficult then for Jesus. Boy,
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here's my family, those that boy, they know me, and
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certainly his mother had all the promises, she knew that
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God had spoke to her. But still at this point,
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this is thirty years later, and it goes against everything
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that they have been believing at this time. He could
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deal with the impure motives of the scribes and pharisees.
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That's one thing, to deal with them and come against
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their traditions. But here his own family. I remember how
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difficult that was for me when my mother wrote me
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letters and saying that, boy, where me and my family
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are like two ships passing in the night. A Barry
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Manilow song, And she sent me the words to the song.
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She wanted me to get the point that she thought
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I was out of my senses and had truly lost
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my mind as well. And in that we find real pressure,
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not made up pressure. This is real pressure that Jesus
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is facing and is handling of that pressure. I believe
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startled everyone everyone around him, including his family, and in
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doing so he has taught us a valuable truth concerning
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the fellowship of the believers in the Body of Christ.
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Following Jesus is not a guarantee. Boy, It certainly is
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not a guarantee that you're going to be loved and
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understood by the world around you. Boy, I have been
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misunderstood over and over in my family. You talk about
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love and a boy saying, but you're doing everything that
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is so unlike the way we were raised and the
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beliefs that we had. Sometimes our families just can't understand us.
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And boy, they don't grasp that full out commitment of
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Jesus Christ. How can you do that? You've been raised
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in the church all your life, you boy, you've gone
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to church and you've been raised in a parochial school.
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How can you now go against all those things? That's
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exactly what Jesus was dealing with in this passage. A
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new reality is being presented to us, a new reality
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about family. What is family and what is the spiritual family?
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You know, we still try to figure that out even today.
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There's an undeniable truth that every believer is a part
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of God's forever family. Think about that forever family. I mean,
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this is just not just for this moment in time.
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It's not for as long as I have a legal
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document that says we are a husband and wife and
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the body of Christ, we are forever a family. And
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we need to grasp the implications of that because certainly, boy,
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we have misunderstood that point over and over again. As
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we hold this portion of God's word before us, I
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want us to consider two important ideas which, in light
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of God's truth, I hope will shine forth. First the
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church as family man, understanding the church's family, and then
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understanding the family as church boy, because my family we
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are a church as well. So with that, let's stand
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and will read some few verses in God's Word Mark
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chapter three, verse thirty one through thirty five. And his
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mother and his brothers arrived and standing outside, they sent
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word to him and called him, and a multitude was
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sitting around him, and they said to him, behold your mother.
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Your brothers are outside looking for you. And answering them,
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he said, who are my mother and my brothers? And
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looking about those who were sitting around him, he said,
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behold my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the
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will of God, he is my brother and sister and
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mother our father. We asked that you would open up
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our hearts and minds, Lord to understand this concept of
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believers as family, and then the family is the church
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as well. Lord, speak to us by your spirit. Lord,
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will hide my words and myself behind the Crosslord my stumblings. Lord,
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and I asked that you would make your word clear
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in Jesus's name. Amen, God, say with all the sores
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in my mouth, it's still kind of rather difficult to
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talk this morning, So bear with it if you want
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to outline Roman nomar number one, and an outline would
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be the church's family verse thirty three. The second part
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of it says, who are my mother and my brothers?
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I'm sure that when Jesus spoke those words, he got
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everybody's attention. I'm sure, boy, the people outside that could
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hear him. You know, Jesus must have had a large voice, because, boy,
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you know, speaking the five thousand, we want microphones and
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everything today and he didn't have those things. So boy,
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his words were going out and I'm sure they would
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have heard that. And then the crowd knew that his
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mother and brothers and other family whoever was there, they
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knew they were out at the edge of the crowd
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because word had come into him that they were there.
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They were seeking to have some time to talk to him.
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They knew that the parents, that parents, that the mother
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and them that were there had come to take Jesus away.
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It was clear at this moment. And they also knew
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that Jesus did not act in ways that were easily predictable.
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He didn't always do what the crowd thought should be done,
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or that the Pharisees might would say he had said
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radical things before, and boy, what he's about to say
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is again radical. What would he say? I'm sure that
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these words came forth from Jesus' lip. I'm sure a
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murmuring of the crowd took place. Now what's he talking about?
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They're out here and he's asking the question, who are they?
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Who are my mother? Who are my brother? I'm sure
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there would have been that hush, and then they would
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be Jesus's view of the family Verse thirty four and
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thirty five, and looking about on those who were sitting
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around him, said, behold my mother and my brothers, For
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whoever does the will of God, he is my brother,
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and my mother my sister. Jesus looked around at these
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disciples that it were following him, and you know, we
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got to remember they weren't high society. They weren't the
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most educated people that were there. They weren't from the
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religious establishment, and some would suggest that they were probably
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a rather motley crew, didn't have the best clothes or
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anything on. Boy, and those the religious people standing around
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in their fineries would be there and you look at
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Matthew and he's the former tax collector, boy, an outsider
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of Jewish society, and Jesus had incorporated him, had drawn
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him in. Think about what he is saying about these
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people being family to him. It would have been a
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radical statement. You have Simon, the Zealot belonged to a
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religious political party who wanted to underdo Rome and get
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rid of them. And they weren't known as real nice people.
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They were zealous and boy, they were out to make
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a move. And then there was the fishermen, uneducated or
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hardly educated according to the religious establishment that was there.
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And indeed, to make a statement like that must have
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shook everybody to the core of what do I believe
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about family? And I think that's where we're at. What
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do we believe about family today? And how do we
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treat one another in this family relationship that he's talking about.
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Looking at them, behold my mother and brothers. He's saying,
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this is my family. So I would say, you're my family.
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You see, Yeah, I hardly know you. You see, that's
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where we wind up then having some difficulties. Well you
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don't really know me. How can you call me brother?
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How can you call me sister, and he says, it
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is those that are seeking the will of God. And
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as we seek the will of God, as we have
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asked Christ to be our Lord and savior, we have
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changed the dynamics of our family relationships. Those who follow him.
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Is what Jesus is saying. His present presents to them
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a brand new view of family. And that's the point
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that we must grasp today. What is this view of family?
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Those who follow the Lord are part of that. B
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would be becoming family, be on an outline, becoming family.
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I remember when I first came into the family of God,
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when I joined that fellowship of Believers where I've been saved, well,
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I found that many people called me brother. And that's
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like really weird. You No, I don't have any brother
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first off, and you're calling me brother, brother Christ, and
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brother this, and brother that. It was like, where are
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they coming from? I really had a hard time grasping
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that because it was new. And as I thought about that,
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and as I asked people questions, you know, it gave
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me a sense of belonging. And those of you know
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my life story, I never had a sense of belonging.
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You know, people talk about, yeah, I wondered if I
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was adopted. I didn't only wonder if I was adopted boy.
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When nobody was around, I would dig through my parents' papers.
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I knew I had to be adopted. I looked different
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than most I'm taller than everybody in my family. They
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don't surely don't like me very much. I was positive
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I was adopted, and that's God's truth. I would look
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around for papers to see if I was. And here
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in this Body of Christ in Papilion, Nebraska, they're calling
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me brother man. It was a whole new life for me,
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the first time I ever really felt truly accepted. Lord
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Ogilvy passed, or first Presbyterian in Hollywood, tell us of
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coming to church one morning. He's going up the stairs
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and there's a woman that's going down and he says,
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how's my sister today? She looked at him, she said,
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how should I know how your sister is? I didn't
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even know you had a sister, and you're my sister.
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And it was a new thing for her. What you
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know understanding this relationship. Sometimes I think, to our chagrin,
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we forget about the fellowship in the Body of Christ,
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being family. We forget we get so used to doing
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our own things and going our own way that we
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forget that we are indeed part of a family, God's
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forever family. I love the phrase. I wish I could
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say I coined it, but I didn't. But I think
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it's a great phrase. If you're outlining Roman numeral number
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two would be the disciples introduction to God's family. It
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was new to them. They had not heard of such
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a thing. And when Jesus looked around the room and
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his eyes settled on them and he says, here are
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my brothers, my sister, my mother, it must have been
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a total shock to them. He is elevating this relationship.
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Before he were friends. Now he's elevating it. He's changing
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it once again into a familiar relationship. It's a new concept,
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and I think it's a concept that we either need
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to re emphasize or reintroduce into the Body of Christ,
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into the Church, because it seems that we have lost
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the awareness of the fantastic truth that it is. I
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have to say, I don't lose sight of that. When
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I sign your cards and I sign it in Christ's love,
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Chris Boy, that's because I understand it's not this cheap
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love that I have and we'll see it later. It's
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his love, because you know, our love is sometimes kind
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of not the best, and we love we want to love,
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of course, you know, we love Hamburgers and everything else.
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Hamberger never love you back. And as a family, we
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are to love one another back. We're to care how
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are you doing, and be serious in interacting with one another.
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It's changing the dynamics. Jesus calls up the image of
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loyalty boy, he calls up the image of caring of
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a commitment. And sometimes because we don't come from a
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good family background, we struggle with that. It was a
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struggle for me because I didn't have that kind of
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relationship at home. And so here you're talking about this,
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and you know, truthfully, I thought they were all whacked out. Man.
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I thought, you know, I must be the only straight
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person here. These people are flat out weird because it
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was so different. But the more they said, I remember
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trying to get that word out, Hey, sister, how you doing?
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That's too weird. I am not going there. And then
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Baptists down south they do that all the time. But
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this Baptist in the Midwest, he is not going to
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do that. And then I found myself doing that saying brother,
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and I found that as I said it, I understood
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more of the meaning, more the caring behind that that
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little bity phrase. Jesus is changing that He's talking about
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a different type of loyalty that we should have towards
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one another in the body of Christ, an acceptance. You know,
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we should be of people that when new people come, boy,
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we talk to them, we encourage them. We want them
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to be a part of what God has made us
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a part of. And if God's not made you a
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part of a family, then you're missing it. And what
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do you have to give away? So we need to
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understand this whole concept, and certainly the church in America
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needs to grasp it. A and the Roman number number
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two would be from the beginning, the church as family
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was God's that was his intention. In the very onset.
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He intended that people should live this way. With the
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joining of Adam Andita's family at creation, God intended that
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we should enjoy relationships as people, and where it should
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be enjoyed more than in the church. So in the
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churches having seizure disorders and we're fighting with one another,
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and boy, we have church splits and the world looks
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and he say, well, that's a real brother family relationship there.
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They look at it with a sneer. Somehow we must
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interject true love. We must change this concept that the
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world has. That's not what God intended. In the beginning.
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Man rebelled against God, and now he is not only
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a strange from God. Think about this. We become as
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strange from other people as well. The effect of the
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fall has been a keenly self consciousness. We are self aware. Boy,
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I am aware of my little world what I need.
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And Adam and Eve became aware and they were ashamed. Boy,
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we're going through some genesis on Sunday nights. We've been
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looking at our purpose and our image, and last week
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we started looking at that dark side of this human nature. Boy,
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when their eyes were opened up, Yeah, they had the
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knowledge of good and evil. They seen their imperfections, They
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seen their nakedness, and they were ashamed. They were ashamed
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of how they looked, and that not only were trying
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to hide from God, they were trying to hide from
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each other. And since then we have tried to hide
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things from one another instead of having this open relationship,
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this building one another up. Relationship. We get into this
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hiding who we are because of our self consciousness. We
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seek more today for self preservation. Listen to the TV,
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read the papers in that and you hear self preservation
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all the time. Self gratification boy, the oscars are tonight,
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talk about a time of self gratification, boy, and flaunting
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trying to get attention. Look at all the bling. You know,
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when a first phrase that came out, I thought, what
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in the world is bling? You're bling bling? Man? I'm
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thinking that's baby talk, isn't it. I don't know what
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in the world it is. I finally finally figured it out.
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I got blinging on my ear right now, you know what?
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And so it's who can out bling the other person.
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It's all about self gratification. It's not about building one
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another up. And then you'll listen to tomorrow on the
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news and somebody's gonna who was the best dress and
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who is the worst dressed? You know, it's like, I
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really care who is the most stressed. Yeah, you give
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that person an award. But we don't want to do
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that in our world because it's not about building one
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another up. It's really about shooting holes into one another.
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B on the Roman numer number two would be ge.
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Jesus came to change all that. He came to change it.
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And does anybody think we have a need for change? Boy,
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just read the paper, look at the TV show man.
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We have a great need for change, look at ourselves.
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Because of his finished work on Calvary's Cross, we now
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enter into a new relationship. Man, if you don't know
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Jesus as your Lord and savior today, you're going to
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be missing that. And if you're looking around and you say, yeah,
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but what are those Christians? I did that. I remember
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the family that lived next door to me and them
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sharing with me, and I thought, man, oh man, if
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they want me to have that kind of Jesus, I
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don't want it because they were some of the most
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unhappiest people I'd ever met. And critical. They're always criticizing folks.
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If that's our attitude, we got to turn that over
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to the Lord. We need to get rid of our gossiping, criticalness.
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We need to get rid of this self gratification, and
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we need to begin building one another up. Because the
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world's looking for something different. I was looking for something different,
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and when it came, it scared me. At first, I
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didn't know how to deal with this. Thank God that
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boy he broke through, and people continued to love me
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as weird as I was in them days. Man, I
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was pretty out there on a limb. Man, I was
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right there with Shirley McLean, you know, and all kinds
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of weird belief isms. But they loved me to the
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Lord never told me. I had to take the things
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out of me that never told me. Man, why don't
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you cover up your feet with them tattoos? And why
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don't you put some real clothes on? And why don't
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you wear shoes? Because I didn't do those things, you know.
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I mean I wanted to be different. Everybody's trying to
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be different by looking the same, you know, it's kind
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of weird. And we could be different by being who
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we are in Christ. So if you don't know him, boy,
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I would ask you to just listen and open up
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your heart, because the Holy sits trying to talk to us.
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We've been granted right members, full membership into God's family,
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and I hope we begin to understand what that means,
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because it means we surrender our will to His will,
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We surrender ourselves. We choose to do that we're not
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being forced to That's the incredible part about this. My
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dad boy beat me into submission, into obedience, and I
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fought that, and finally I just kind of gave up
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and said, I won't play by your rules anymore. I
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won't play And that was worse. But God's going to
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try to force you into this. He's going to love
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you into it. He's going to help you to see
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that trying to go your own way is just what
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the world's doing. And you're fighting upstream all the time.
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Doesn't mean life's going to be a bull of cherries either,
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you know, peaches and cream and all fine things doesn't
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mean that. And there's struggles in Christian life. There's a challenges,
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and there's conviction because the Holy Spirit convicts boy. But
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you know, every time I find him convicting me, I
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find he's doing it for my good. He's not doing
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it to hurt me. He's trying to show me where
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my life is out of balance, where things aren't working,
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and how I can then get in line so life
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will begin to work. The Family of God is a
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fellowship of those who are open to the will of
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God and therefore are open to one another my favorite
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biblical phrase in Christ. In Christ. But it's got to
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be in Christ. You see, if we're not open to
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doing the will of God, we will not be close
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to one another. If I drew a pyramid, and if
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I had an overhead today, I would have done this,
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and you have God on the top, and you have
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I do this in marriage relationships, but you could do
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it at all. So you have a husband here and
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a wife there. And as they draw away from God,
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the pyramid extends out, they draw further away from one another,
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they draw close to God. What you find is that
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bottom part of the triangle is getting smaller and smaller,
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and they're drawing closer together with one another. That's a
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truth that works in family as well. It's a truth
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that works in friendships. If I have friends that aren't believers, boy,
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I find that I'm drawing further away from them. But
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if my friends are believers, man, I find that we
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are drawing closer together. We have ability to share a
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prairie quest, who have you shared your life struggles with?
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If we haven't, that means we don't trust very well.
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Means we're having trust issues. And the Lord would work
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on that in our lives, and so you'll keep bringing
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us back to that point Jesus and pulling us together said,
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this is my commandment that you love one another John thirteen,
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thirty four if you turn there, since it's not up
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on the overhead John thirteen. So service is going to
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go longer today because you got to look up the scripture.
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It's always good to rationalize going along. John thirteen, thirty
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four and thirty five. A new commandment I give you
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that you love one another. It's a commandment. Man. If
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we're struggling our love relationships with each other in the
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body of Christ, we need to kneel before the cross.
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We need to be asking for forgiveness because we are
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missing what he's saying. You love one another even as
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I have loved you, that you also love one another.
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By this Now, don't you think about this, by this statement,
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by what, by this family love, by the love that
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we should have in our families. And you know, when
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our families don't have that and we become Christians, it's
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a hard thing to begin to grasp. And the Lord continues, Man,
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I've been walking this walk now for thirty three years,
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and he's continuing to teach me about this love relationship
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because it was so foreign. By this, all men will
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know that you are my disciples if you have love
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for one another. And so when the family the body
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is arguing and we're having and I think it looks
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like a seizure disorder. I mean, you know, to me,
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that's so descriptive of what it looks like. We're seizing
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out here because we're not loving one another. And we
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need to get back to caring enough to be honest enough,
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and for us to be caring enough to be open
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enough when people tell us that we're we're struggling in
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our walk. You know, we know it, don't we And
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then when so many points it out, we don't want
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to hear it. And I got some of you that
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don't give me a break. He just kind of right
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on my case and tell me, you know what, I'm glad,
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and I've said that I opened myself up for that.
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I hope myself up to be transparent. So when I
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should personal experiences is because I can share about me
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and not have to worry about what I'm saying. You know, well,
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I guess I do. You might not like me, you
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better like me. I'm your brother God is at work
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in us to produce the nature of His family in
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us corporately. So if we don't have a good view
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of family, let's look what Jesus is saying about how
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a family should interact with one another. As we see
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in John fifteen thirty or thirteen thirty five, it's by this,
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by this, by this love that the world will know.
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Now look at John seventeen, and I'm gonna read it
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out of a home and Christian standard, John seventeen, Verse
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twenty through twenty four. This passage might well be called
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the charter for the church. The charter, boy, something that's
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set down, and you know, the magna carta. Here's how
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you're going to go live. Here's how you do that.
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We have laws that tell us how we should live. Well,
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here's Jesus's charter for the church. I pray not only
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for these boy, we know he's extended it through time,
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but also for those who will believe, who believe in
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me through their message. So this is for everybody that
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we share the message with as well. Verse twenty one.
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John seventeen. May they all be one, as you Father
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are in me and I in you. May they also
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be one in us, so that the world may believe
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you sent me. I have given them the glory you
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have given me. May they be one as we are one.
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You know this is an awful lot of being one.
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Here Jesus is repeating it over and over, making a
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point that hopefully we'll hear it. I am in them
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and you are in me. May they be made completely one,
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so the world may know you have sent me and
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have loved them as you have loved me. Father, I
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desire those you have given me to be with me
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where I am. Then they will see my glory which
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you have given me because you loved me before the
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world's foundation. Incredible thoughts that the Lord's trying to get
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us to understand. One perceptive preacher said, Jesus was crucified
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so that our individualistic and separatist aloofness might die and
473
00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:29.359
be crucified and be resurrected in the unity, resurrected into
474
00:29:29.359 --> 00:29:33.200
a oneness. And that's what we've been called into. It's
475
00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:36.079
not that we might try to be said. You are
476
00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:38.799
to be one, you are to be in unity with
477
00:29:38.839 --> 00:29:42.960
one another. In his book Life Without Limits, Lloyd Ogilvie
478
00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:46.359
writes the church is not a channel of inspiration for
479
00:29:46.599 --> 00:29:52.480
uninvolved observers, but a family of involved participants. Our language
480
00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:56.759
betrays us. We say we go to church, we give
481
00:29:56.839 --> 00:30:00.759
to the church, support the cause of the church. We
482
00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:06.359
attend church, not so we are the church. But a
483
00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:09.720
strange thing has happened over the years of history. The
484
00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:14.240
church is now a program presentation which we can attend.
485
00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:24.279
Listen to this. Today many have become sermon tasters, music appreciators,
486
00:30:24.880 --> 00:30:30.480
Bible students, devotees of spiritual leaders without commitment to a family.
487
00:30:31.240 --> 00:30:35.039
It's possible, actually to assume that we can have Christ
488
00:30:35.079 --> 00:30:38.839
without the family of faith. But that's realizing only half
489
00:30:38.920 --> 00:30:42.799
of the reason for which Christ came. Man, We're not
490
00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:47.680
to be just sermon tasters. As much as I love music,
491
00:30:48.039 --> 00:30:53.400
not just to be music appreciators. Man, And certainly I
492
00:30:53.400 --> 00:30:56.960
don't want you to be a devotee to me. And
493
00:30:57.000 --> 00:30:59.839
that doesn't make any sense at all. Now, I'm not
494
00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:03.319
the head of this church. Jesus Christ is the head
495
00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:05.640
of the church. Man. I'm an under shepherd. I'm not
496
00:31:05.720 --> 00:31:09.200
the shepherd. He's the good shepherd. And every pastor that
497
00:31:09.279 --> 00:31:12.279
comes after that is an under shepherd. To say that
498
00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:15.720
I shepherd the church, man, I my pastor, but I
499
00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:18.279
am in the same place you are, and I am
500
00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:20.680
a part of the family. I'm a worshiper and I
501
00:31:20.720 --> 00:31:23.920
want to worship together. I love Sunday mornings. I love
502
00:31:23.960 --> 00:31:27.039
when we get together and sing praises to God. Man,
503
00:31:27.279 --> 00:31:31.000
it's really tough when you know John's family here and Gloria,
504
00:31:31.039 --> 00:31:33.200
and we looked around and we wait for other people
505
00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:35.559
to come and bills here, and we look at for
506
00:31:35.599 --> 00:31:38.079
other people and it's like, well, I guess just us
507
00:31:38.079 --> 00:31:40.640
are going to worship today, boy, And then you start
508
00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:43.119
coming in, and then the voices start carrying out, and
509
00:31:43.160 --> 00:31:46.680
you know what, it really becomes a glorious thing. Man,
510
00:31:46.799 --> 00:31:50.480
Let his name be praised. The church should be a
511
00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:55.119
fellowship of people, loving and caring for one another, bound
512
00:31:55.160 --> 00:32:01.319
together by this relationship in Christ, bound with you in Christ.
513
00:32:01.640 --> 00:32:03.519
Outside of Christ, I want to do my own thing.
514
00:32:04.200 --> 00:32:06.680
I'm gonna go hither and the on and do whatever
515
00:32:06.759 --> 00:32:09.039
I want to do. But boy, in Christ, I am
516
00:32:09.079 --> 00:32:13.279
bound together to walk with you and to walk with Him.
517
00:32:13.720 --> 00:32:17.480
And we stimulate one another. That's Hebrews ten twenty three
518
00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:20.799
through twenty five, stimulating one another the loving good works,
519
00:32:21.039 --> 00:32:23.279
and that stimulating I like the King James spur one
520
00:32:23.279 --> 00:32:25.519
another on. And I've said it before. Go to a
521
00:32:25.599 --> 00:32:29.279
rodeo and watch them saddle bronck riders and them bull
522
00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:32.160
riders spur them animals on. Man, you know what I
523
00:32:32.200 --> 00:32:34.319
tell you, don't. I don't think that animal will says,
524
00:32:34.319 --> 00:32:36.279
oh this is cool? Yeah, would you get that spot
525
00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:39.880
over there? Oh? Yeah? Who that feels good? I don't
526
00:32:39.880 --> 00:32:42.759
think so. I'm thinking that animals jumping around and acting
527
00:32:42.799 --> 00:32:46.000
half crazy. He wants this idiot off his back. That's
528
00:32:46.039 --> 00:32:49.480
spurring him on, and we're to spur one another on.
529
00:32:49.599 --> 00:32:52.160
That tells me I'm not always going to like it.
530
00:32:52.839 --> 00:32:55.759
I'm not always going to like it. Doesn't mean I
531
00:32:55.759 --> 00:32:58.960
don't need it. Praise God. If I need it, tell
532
00:32:59.000 --> 00:33:04.680
me and what my statement is, I go pray about it,
533
00:33:06.119 --> 00:33:08.319
because you know what, God won't give me a break. Man.
534
00:33:08.359 --> 00:33:10.680
I start praying about things I don't even have to pray,
535
00:33:10.720 --> 00:33:13.680
and God's on me, helping me to understand where I'm
536
00:33:13.680 --> 00:33:16.039
off base, what I've done, what I need to do.
537
00:33:16.839 --> 00:33:19.119
I thank Him for that, and I thank Him for you,
538
00:33:20.039 --> 00:33:23.319
and I give you permission to spur me on. I
539
00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:25.880
might not like it, but man, if I need it,
540
00:33:25.960 --> 00:33:29.200
spur me and then let's pray together that we walked
541
00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:33.119
away he wants. Quincy takes it very literal, and I
542
00:33:33.200 --> 00:33:36.599
praise God for that. You should, and we should. Our
543
00:33:36.640 --> 00:33:40.559
commitment to Christ must be lived out in our commitment
544
00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:44.079
in the ideal church, the local church. Man. I mean,
545
00:33:44.119 --> 00:33:47.079
you know, it's good to support other ministries, but we'll
546
00:33:47.119 --> 00:33:50.079
just supporting the local church so that we can go
547
00:33:50.119 --> 00:33:53.920
out and do the ministries. He's called. I love Billy Graham,
548
00:33:54.319 --> 00:33:56.279
And Billy Graham says, you know what, I'll never reach
549
00:33:56.319 --> 00:33:59.440
the world for Jesus Christ. Well, we'll reach the world
550
00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:02.519
for Jesus Christ. And he says this about Dawson Traupman,
551
00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:06.599
who is no longer with us. Started the Navigators. Is discipleship.
552
00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:11.159
You reach three people for Christ, and those three people
553
00:34:11.159 --> 00:34:14.559
go out and they disciple three people for Christ. And
554
00:34:14.599 --> 00:34:16.519
Billy Grant says, you know, in ten years, we could
555
00:34:16.559 --> 00:34:21.280
reach the world. So if the world's not reached, the
556
00:34:21.320 --> 00:34:24.360
body's not functioning the way we need to be functioning.
557
00:34:25.159 --> 00:34:26.880
And I wish y'all would get out there because I
558
00:34:26.880 --> 00:34:30.000
don't want any more surgeries. There's a whole lot of
559
00:34:30.039 --> 00:34:32.239
medical professionals that need to hear the word of God,
560
00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:37.079
and just a few of us can't do that. Christ
561
00:34:37.119 --> 00:34:41.239
said that his real family was not just his natural family,
562
00:34:41.880 --> 00:34:46.440
but spiritual family. He was not degrading and downgrading his
563
00:34:46.760 --> 00:34:51.239
biological as far as we understand. You know, Joseph was
564
00:34:51.280 --> 00:34:54.679
not his father. The Holy Spirit overshadowed. I understand that.
565
00:34:55.360 --> 00:34:59.719
But they are his half brothers, sisters. Mary is his mother.
566
00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:03.679
He's not degrading them, he's not downgrading them. But what
567
00:35:03.719 --> 00:35:07.880
he is doing is elevating us into this family relationship,
568
00:35:08.199 --> 00:35:10.280
and we need to see it as being elevated into
569
00:35:10.320 --> 00:35:14.199
a relationship with Almighty God. It's not something to be
570
00:35:14.280 --> 00:35:17.239
ashamed of. Man, when you don't let people know you're
571
00:35:17.239 --> 00:35:19.960
a believer, you act like you're ashamed of it. What
572
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:23.400
are we saying about the family? You know? I was
573
00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:26.400
ashamed when I was a kid because my dad was
574
00:35:26.440 --> 00:35:30.159
always drunk, always drinking, and one night he chased me.
575
00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:32.719
I jumped over the fence in the neighbor's yard. He
576
00:35:32.840 --> 00:35:35.840
fell over the fence and people were laughing. I didn't
577
00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:37.039
think it was funny at all. I knew if he
578
00:35:37.039 --> 00:35:39.800
had told me to kill me. I jumped over another one.
579
00:35:39.920 --> 00:35:43.280
He fell over that one and it was almost horrible
580
00:35:43.280 --> 00:35:47.679
thing I ever experienced in my life because my dad
581
00:35:47.800 --> 00:35:50.119
was drunk out of his mind and he was making
582
00:35:50.119 --> 00:35:53.039
a fool. I was embarrassed. Took a long time for
583
00:35:53.079 --> 00:35:55.559
me to come to love my dad. You know what,
584
00:35:55.599 --> 00:35:57.760
I don't want to ever be ashamed of you as
585
00:35:57.800 --> 00:36:00.800
the body of Christ Man. I care for you, I
586
00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:04.119
love you, and I want the best for you. And
587
00:36:04.199 --> 00:36:07.000
sometimes the best means that we have to be honest
588
00:36:07.079 --> 00:36:08.880
with one another and say, you know what, you're missing
589
00:36:08.960 --> 00:36:11.159
the boat and I don't want you to miss it.
590
00:36:12.159 --> 00:36:15.360
And then the third point, the family is church. By
591
00:36:15.480 --> 00:36:18.599
using the illustration of family life to typify the church,
592
00:36:19.119 --> 00:36:22.639
Jesus also sets the tone for our relationships with our
593
00:36:22.760 --> 00:36:26.199
natural family. Boy, and that's something that's really in bad
594
00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:31.079
shape today. Everybody talks about the family deteriorating and falling apart.
595
00:36:31.280 --> 00:36:33.880
It's not only the past ten years or even the
596
00:36:33.880 --> 00:36:36.719
past twenty years. The man the family has been falling
597
00:36:36.760 --> 00:36:43.519
apart for a long time, a long time. Our family
598
00:36:43.639 --> 00:36:47.440
should be like the church. It should be a miniature church.
599
00:36:49.559 --> 00:36:52.480
You see from the experience of church as a family
600
00:36:52.519 --> 00:36:54.960
of believers in Christ, then we see how we ought
601
00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:58.320
to be relating to one another. Our families ought to
602
00:36:58.360 --> 00:37:00.840
be reflective of the love of God. That's what the
603
00:37:00.880 --> 00:37:04.360
world needs to see. And if our family is reflecting
604
00:37:04.400 --> 00:37:08.280
that love out, man, the world's attracted to it. Young
605
00:37:08.360 --> 00:37:12.320
kids are attracted to families that are doing well, where
606
00:37:12.320 --> 00:37:14.800
they see love being carried out, where where they know
607
00:37:14.840 --> 00:37:18.199
that they're cared for. You know, any crazy then all
608
00:37:18.239 --> 00:37:19.880
of a sudden you find more kids wanting to hang
609
00:37:19.920 --> 00:37:24.079
out around your family, wanting to be there. People had
610
00:37:24.119 --> 00:37:26.039
down and Burley would always say, oh, there goes another
611
00:37:26.039 --> 00:37:30.480
one of Chris's kids. And man, because I love the kids,
612
00:37:31.519 --> 00:37:32.840
I know what it's like to grow up in a
613
00:37:32.920 --> 00:37:37.079
dysfunctional family. And so if the families were having problems, man,
614
00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:38.760
I wanted to love them. I didn't want to replace
615
00:37:38.800 --> 00:37:41.719
their parents. I wanted to come alongside. And that's what
616
00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:46.039
children's ministry and youth ministry should be doing. We don't replace.
617
00:37:46.159 --> 00:37:50.360
We come alongside to try to encourage them on in
618
00:37:50.400 --> 00:37:52.679
their Christian walk, and when they're not, we look for
619
00:37:52.760 --> 00:37:56.480
ways to break in and not to be ashamed of Christ.
620
00:37:56.639 --> 00:37:58.360
That's why I have my tie on today. I'm not
621
00:37:58.400 --> 00:38:00.280
a channel. I didn't even think about it that when
622
00:38:00.320 --> 00:38:03.320
I picked this out today last night I should say,
623
00:38:03.519 --> 00:38:06.679
but not to be ashamed. Man, I want you to
624
00:38:06.719 --> 00:38:10.079
know there's a better way. The world's looking for a
625
00:38:10.119 --> 00:38:12.360
better way, and if we don't reach them, they're going
626
00:38:12.400 --> 00:38:15.840
to be turned. Why do people turning to Islam? I've
627
00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:20.000
asked that question of people of Americans that are turning
628
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:26.480
to Islam? Why because it's discipline? Isn't that something we
629
00:38:26.599 --> 00:38:29.519
think people don't want discipline and they're turning to one
630
00:38:29.559 --> 00:38:33.599
of the most savagely disciplined religions out there, and they're
631
00:38:33.639 --> 00:38:37.119
turning to that because they want discipline in their lives. Man,
632
00:38:37.199 --> 00:38:39.639
I think we need to be turning to Christ, who
633
00:38:39.679 --> 00:38:42.840
wants to discipline us, but in a family of love,
634
00:38:43.880 --> 00:38:47.280
and we need to be expressions of that to the
635
00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:50.519
world as we draw close to Him as individuals. We
636
00:38:50.519 --> 00:38:53.400
will draw close to one another in our families, and
637
00:38:53.440 --> 00:38:55.760
if we're not, then we have to get before the
638
00:38:55.840 --> 00:38:58.920
cross and say, Lord, what am I missing here? What
639
00:38:59.000 --> 00:39:01.480
am I missing? You know, when I talked to my
640
00:39:01.519 --> 00:39:03.199
nephew y, I say, that's one of the things that
641
00:39:03.599 --> 00:39:09.039
we talked about. He's been so hurt in relationships that
642
00:39:09.119 --> 00:39:13.880
he don't understand relationships. So he's super critical. He got
643
00:39:13.880 --> 00:39:20.000
married two weeks ago, they're already separating. That's what I said,
644
00:39:20.280 --> 00:39:24.840
He said, whoa man breaks my heart? And if you
645
00:39:24.920 --> 00:39:26.920
heard me talking about it today, if he listens in
646
00:39:27.719 --> 00:39:30.880
it goes on the website and sees the sermon, you
647
00:39:30.880 --> 00:39:34.079
know what, that's okay. Because when I was getting ready
648
00:39:34.119 --> 00:39:35.880
to hang up, I said, Jeffrey, I love you, man.
649
00:39:37.320 --> 00:39:40.880
And he's my nephew's son, and so we haven't seen
650
00:39:40.920 --> 00:39:43.320
a lot of each other, but they know that I care,
651
00:39:43.400 --> 00:39:46.679
and I wanted him to know that, because folks, if
652
00:39:46.719 --> 00:39:50.760
we don't, we're going to miss it. R. Kent Hughes
653
00:39:50.840 --> 00:39:54.519
talks about the deteriorating family, and listen to what he says,
654
00:39:54.519 --> 00:39:57.079
what we have tried to do to change some of that,
655
00:39:57.480 --> 00:40:01.559
and how we've gone too far. In a valent effort
656
00:40:01.679 --> 00:40:06.119
to stem the tide of deteriorating families, many Christians and
657
00:40:06.199 --> 00:40:10.559
non Christians alike have made the family everything. Every moment
658
00:40:10.599 --> 00:40:14.679
of every day, every involvement, every commitment, every engagement is
659
00:40:14.760 --> 00:40:17.800
measured and judged by the question, how will it benefit
660
00:40:17.920 --> 00:40:23.079
my family. While this is generally commendable, it can degenerate
661
00:40:23.199 --> 00:40:29.400
into family narcissism. Family self love, the four walls of
662
00:40:29.440 --> 00:40:32.599
the home become a temple, and only within those walls
663
00:40:32.599 --> 00:40:38.239
are any sacrifices made. Thus we commit domestic idolatry. And
664
00:40:38.320 --> 00:40:41.679
it's an immense tragedy. Man, we don't think about that.
665
00:40:41.800 --> 00:40:44.239
How we could go? I love tw hunt and he
666
00:40:44.280 --> 00:40:48.199
would say, puritanical. Man, we get so far that we
667
00:40:48.280 --> 00:40:51.519
become so locked in that if people don't you know,
668
00:40:51.559 --> 00:40:54.320
we're very narrow and if they don't fit in that category,
669
00:40:54.599 --> 00:40:56.800
then we oust them. Well, that's kind of what we're
670
00:40:56.840 --> 00:41:00.519
doing in the family, he says. The tragedy is this.
671
00:41:01.159 --> 00:41:05.599
Every earthly loyalty, if it is made central, becomes idolatry,
672
00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:10.239
and all idolatries eventually destroy their worshippers. The truth is
673
00:41:10.679 --> 00:41:13.880
many of the psychological problems in our families can be
674
00:41:13.960 --> 00:41:19.239
traced to parents whose affections bind rather than release and liberate.
675
00:41:20.159 --> 00:41:28.000
According avoiding the permissive destruction which is ravaging our society,
676
00:41:28.440 --> 00:41:33.760
some parents perpetrate a possessive destruction, which is equally devastrating.
677
00:41:33.920 --> 00:41:38.000
Devastating Jesus warned about this when he said, anyone who
678
00:41:38.039 --> 00:41:40.840
loves his father or mother more than me is not
679
00:41:40.960 --> 00:41:43.559
worthy of me, And anyone who loves his son or
680
00:41:43.639 --> 00:41:47.440
daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Well
681
00:41:47.440 --> 00:41:49.599
we can what can we do? Then? We have to
682
00:41:49.639 --> 00:41:52.840
ask to preserve the family, and the answer begins by
683
00:41:52.920 --> 00:41:58.079
putting Jesus's head of the family. By putting him as
684
00:41:58.079 --> 00:42:01.719
the head, I want to does this boy lead our
685
00:42:01.760 --> 00:42:05.760
family closer to the Cross? We come closer to God.
686
00:42:06.159 --> 00:42:10.360
Our families become closer together, not in a dysfunctional but
687
00:42:10.440 --> 00:42:17.320
in a functional way. None of us here and here
688
00:42:17.400 --> 00:42:20.880
is why I write in Christ Love Chris. None of
689
00:42:20.960 --> 00:42:25.880
us that are married can love our spouses with the
690
00:42:25.920 --> 00:42:28.280
greatest love in the world unless it's with Christ's love.
691
00:42:29.199 --> 00:42:31.239
How do we love our family unless we love it
692
00:42:31.280 --> 00:42:34.679
in Christ? Boy? We can only do that because He
693
00:42:34.800 --> 00:42:38.039
first loved us. And so I write in Christ's Love
694
00:42:38.559 --> 00:42:42.840
Chris pastor Chris to Gloria. I write in Christ Love Chris.
695
00:42:43.280 --> 00:42:46.800
To Amanda, I write in Christ Love Dad. I don't
696
00:42:46.800 --> 00:42:49.599
just say love Dad. And I just wrote her a
697
00:42:49.679 --> 00:42:51.679
card this week. She just got it and called me up.
698
00:42:51.719 --> 00:42:54.280
That was really cool, you know. I wanted to just
699
00:42:54.320 --> 00:42:56.679
send her an encouragement card. So I also gave her
700
00:42:56.719 --> 00:43:00.880
a Starbucks and her and Glenn went out for Starbucks
701
00:43:00.920 --> 00:43:06.280
the other day. That was cool. Dad paved the way
702
00:43:05.840 --> 00:43:08.760
and I signed it in Christ's Love. I think Amanda
703
00:43:08.760 --> 00:43:12.039
would be shocked if I ever just wrote love Dad.
704
00:43:13.000 --> 00:43:15.800
I think she would think something was missing. And if
705
00:43:15.880 --> 00:43:18.119
you get a card from me and it doesn't say
706
00:43:18.159 --> 00:43:21.639
in Christ's Love Chris or Pastor Chris, I think you
707
00:43:21.679 --> 00:43:26.480
would think something was missing. That WHOA, What's happened to him?
708
00:43:26.480 --> 00:43:30.199
Why didn't he say in Christ's Love is Pastor struggling
709
00:43:30.599 --> 00:43:32.960
his pastor not walking with the Lord? I think you
710
00:43:32.960 --> 00:43:35.639
would question that, and I would want you to, because
711
00:43:35.960 --> 00:43:39.400
I write that to remind me that it's His love
712
00:43:39.519 --> 00:43:42.840
is a pure love. His love is an acceptance, love
713
00:43:43.159 --> 00:43:46.559
beyond anything that I can ever accept in him. I
714
00:43:46.599 --> 00:43:49.840
can accept you as you are, and then we try
715
00:43:49.880 --> 00:43:52.679
to grow together. You know. It's like when I worked
716
00:43:52.719 --> 00:43:54.960
in a behavior disordered classroom and I had these little
717
00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.639
rugrats running around and I'm pretty tall fella, and so
718
00:43:59.719 --> 00:44:02.000
you got these little kids in They're trying to look
719
00:44:02.079 --> 00:44:04.199
up at you, and you're trying to tell them what
720
00:44:04.239 --> 00:44:06.159
to do, and it's like, man, they're scared half to
721
00:44:06.199 --> 00:44:09.239
death most of the time. So I'd get down on
722
00:44:09.280 --> 00:44:13.280
the floor, I kneel down. I'd get to their level.
723
00:44:13.599 --> 00:44:15.400
And the point is you get down where they're at,
724
00:44:15.440 --> 00:44:16.960
and you can lift them up to where they need
725
00:44:17.000 --> 00:44:19.159
to be. That's what we should be doing in the
726
00:44:19.199 --> 00:44:22.079
body of Christ, getting to where people are at and
727
00:44:22.119 --> 00:44:25.199
then bringing them into Christ. Not acting the way they're
728
00:44:25.239 --> 00:44:28.679
acting necessarily, because that could be wrong, that could be
729
00:44:28.719 --> 00:44:32.559
totally missing God. But to go to where they're at
730
00:44:32.840 --> 00:44:35.719
so that we can teach them about this walk that's
731
00:44:35.840 --> 00:44:39.719
loving them and that's caring for them. That's I think
732
00:44:39.760 --> 00:44:43.719
where we need to be. Augustina Hippo. Some know them
733
00:44:43.719 --> 00:44:47.639
as Saint Augustine. I realize that we're all saints, so
734
00:44:48.360 --> 00:44:52.039
I just call him Augustina Hippo. He finally came to
735
00:44:52.119 --> 00:44:56.480
faith in answer to his mother Monica's prayers, and as
736
00:44:56.519 --> 00:44:59.480
he and his mother were standing at the window in Ostasia,
737
00:45:00.079 --> 00:45:04.320
he realizing that they were now more family than they
738
00:45:04.400 --> 00:45:07.880
had ever been before, and he writes that we had
739
00:45:07.920 --> 00:45:13.400
now become kindred. Man, what an incredible thought. Man, this
740
00:45:13.480 --> 00:45:16.000
is his mom. But they had become closer. You know,
741
00:45:16.039 --> 00:45:18.920
I only had a day with my dad after except
742
00:45:18.960 --> 00:45:22.920
to Christ. But morely, in that day period, that twenty
743
00:45:22.920 --> 00:45:26.159
four hour timeframe, man I was closer to my dad
744
00:45:26.199 --> 00:45:30.199
than ever before, ever before, because my dad was a
745
00:45:30.280 --> 00:45:33.840
Christian now and he was going to be in heaven.
746
00:45:33.920 --> 00:45:38.679
My nephew and I, Jeffrey's father, jeff Man, we are.
747
00:45:39.039 --> 00:45:42.679
I've always been really close. I half raised him. But man,
748
00:45:42.719 --> 00:45:45.920
when he became a Christian, first thing he did, he
749
00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:48.199
became a Christian. On the way going to promise keepers
750
00:45:48.199 --> 00:45:51.480
at a stoplight and he called me up from the
751
00:45:51.519 --> 00:45:56.400
stoplight said, hey, you see, I am He's fifty two
752
00:45:56.480 --> 00:45:58.920
years old. You call me you see you don't call
753
00:45:58.920 --> 00:46:01.760
me uncle no more? You see a short for uncle Chris.
754
00:46:02.760 --> 00:46:05.320
He say, hey, you see, I want you to know
755
00:46:05.360 --> 00:46:08.079
that I'm a part of the family. I just asked
756
00:46:08.159 --> 00:46:11.639
Jesus to be my savior. Man, he doesn't do everything
757
00:46:11.639 --> 00:46:13.880
that I would like him to be doing. But you
758
00:46:13.920 --> 00:46:15.440
know what, he's walking with the Lord and we have
759
00:46:15.519 --> 00:46:20.119
a new relationship, a different relationship, And that's what the
760
00:46:20.159 --> 00:46:22.880
Lord would have for you and I today. So where
761
00:46:22.960 --> 00:46:27.239
are you? Where are you in your love relationship with Jesus?
762
00:46:27.960 --> 00:46:31.360
And where are you and your family relationships? Are we
763
00:46:31.920 --> 00:46:36.480
looking like what Jesus is talking about loving one another?
764
00:46:37.519 --> 00:46:40.039
If we're missing it, if we've hurt one another. You
765
00:46:40.079 --> 00:46:43.400
know what we need to ask for forgiveness, Jesus says.
766
00:46:43.440 --> 00:46:47.280
You know, man, if you're offering at the altar, you're
767
00:46:47.320 --> 00:46:49.760
making an offering and you find that you have aught
768
00:46:50.119 --> 00:46:52.480
King James. If you find you have an issue with
769
00:46:52.519 --> 00:46:55.800
a brother or a sister in Christ, leave your offering there,
770
00:46:56.280 --> 00:46:59.159
go and take care of that issue, and then come
771
00:46:59.199 --> 00:47:02.079
back together worship the Lord, then you are giving him
772
00:47:02.320 --> 00:47:07.880
what Paul writes in Romans twelve an acceptable sacrifice, because
773
00:47:07.920 --> 00:47:12.400
anything that is not pure. If if we're in issues
774
00:47:12.440 --> 00:47:15.119
with other people, how in the world does he accept
775
00:47:15.159 --> 00:47:17.880
that as pure worship. I think we need to go
776
00:47:17.960 --> 00:47:21.639
back and look, man, do I have anger? Is there issues?
777
00:47:22.000 --> 00:47:24.440
And if there are, we do everything that we can
778
00:47:24.519 --> 00:47:27.320
to resolve it. You know what, people might not accept it.
779
00:47:27.639 --> 00:47:30.239
I've asked people to forgive me in my life, and
780
00:47:30.760 --> 00:47:34.519
why they've been unforgiving. I can't change that. What I'm
781
00:47:34.519 --> 00:47:38.000
accountable to is that I've forgiven them, and then we
782
00:47:38.039 --> 00:47:40.559
move on and you try to love them in the Lord.
783
00:47:41.760 --> 00:47:45.639
Is there a joyous sense of family in the body
784
00:47:45.639 --> 00:47:48.679
of Christ here? Now? If not, let's change it, let's
785
00:47:48.719 --> 00:47:51.960
get it right. Is there a joyous sense in our homes.
786
00:47:52.239 --> 00:47:55.960
If not, man, what can we do to change it?
787
00:47:56.039 --> 00:47:59.119
Not what the other person needs to change. So I
788
00:47:59.159 --> 00:48:01.239
tried to tell my f I says, not what this
789
00:48:01.320 --> 00:48:04.000
other person needs to change is what do you need
790
00:48:04.039 --> 00:48:07.119
to work on? Because you can't work on anybody else
791
00:48:08.039 --> 00:48:11.880
can work on you. And sometimes our hearts are going
792
00:48:11.960 --> 00:48:16.159
to break for those we love, and that just means
793
00:48:16.159 --> 00:48:18.519
that we care an awful lot. And so even that
794
00:48:18.639 --> 00:48:20.320
I turn over to the Lord. I say, Lord, if
795
00:48:20.360 --> 00:48:22.960
that's what it takes my heart to be broken, if
796
00:48:22.960 --> 00:48:26.039
it reminds me to continue to pray, then Lord, break
797
00:48:26.119 --> 00:48:28.360
my heart a little bit more. There's a whole lot
798
00:48:28.400 --> 00:48:31.159
of lost people out there that need Christians, that have
799
00:48:31.159 --> 00:48:38.559
broken hearts. Over as we close, maybe you stand in
800
00:48:38.559 --> 00:48:41.119
the need of prayer. I love that song. It's not
801
00:48:41.199 --> 00:48:43.440
my brother, not my sister, not my mother. Lord, it's
802
00:48:43.519 --> 00:48:46.400
me standing in the need of prayer. Maybe you're standing
803
00:48:46.400 --> 00:48:49.760
in the need of prayer today. I'm gonna say, come down,
804
00:48:50.800 --> 00:48:54.440
kneel before the Lord, humble yourself before him, and pray
805
00:48:54.519 --> 00:48:57.239
for those Don't be ashamed to do that. Don't think
806
00:48:57.280 --> 00:49:01.320
what is other people going to think? Just let us
807
00:49:02.480 --> 00:49:05.760
get right and let us pray right, and let us
808
00:49:05.800 --> 00:49:08.400
do what we can do. So I'd ask that you
809
00:49:08.559 --> 00:49:11.079
do that, that you get before the Lord and you
810
00:49:11.159 --> 00:49:13.760
lift yourself if that's where the need is. If it's
811
00:49:13.760 --> 00:49:16.400
with others, you lift them before the throne. And if
812
00:49:16.440 --> 00:49:20.840
you have your family's perfect who praise God. If this
813
00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:24.599
church is perfect, praise God, then pray for some lost people.
814
00:49:25.519 --> 00:49:29.840
But if it's not perfect, man, let's start there at
815
00:49:29.880 --> 00:49:33.840
our own Jerusalem, our own homes, and then let's pray outward.
816
00:49:34.280 --> 00:49:37.559
So I would invite that I'm going to pray because
817
00:49:37.599 --> 00:49:40.039
I have people I need to pray for, and I
818
00:49:40.199 --> 00:49:41.599
just asked that you do that. If you want me
819
00:49:41.639 --> 00:49:44.000
to pray with you, come and kneel beside me, and
820
00:49:44.039 --> 00:49:51.719
I'd be glad to do that. Let's pray