Are You a Part of the Family of God?

And if you would take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter three. Mark chapter three Alright. Think we have all of em out now Amen. Mark chapter three we're going to begin reading in verse 20 in just a moment. This is see what month are we in?

See, end of April. My my year culminates, you might say, for me at Thanksgiving. We all look forward to different things that happen throughout the year. As a kid, my year culminated with Christmas and every kid loves Christmas and you just can't wait for Christmas. You start counting down till Christmas.

I start counting down to Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is not just Thanksgiving holiday for me. It is family reunion time for me and our family reunion is at my parent's house and has been since I was about four years old. My grandmother and grandfather moved next door to my parents and my grandfather passed away the next year and my grandmother moved in with my parents for a few years and then into a nursing home in the area. She had rheumatoid arthritis and was in in very bad shape but everybody, all of my mom's side of the family would come to our house beginning when I was about four years old for Thanksgiving and they still do that.

Now, we have about four generations meeting for Thanksgiving at my parents' house and we we have a good time of fellowship. Most of my relatives are are Christians. On my mom's side anyway and they also play instruments and sing. So, we have guitars and banjos and and piano and trombone now and trumpet and anyway, all kinds of stuff and we we spend Thursday evening and we spend Friday evening playing and singing gospel songs and and the like and it's a wonderful time and I look forward to it. I think I've only missed it three times or maybe four since I was four years old.

Family is a wonderful thing and I am I'm glad that though my my immediate family, I I have one brother is is relatively small. We're we're very close and not everybody enjoys that. The way we do but we're going to talk about family this morning and regardless of of how how wonderful family relatives can be here as in our our our biological family. There is an even more wonderful family that God wants you to be a part of and that Christ is going to remind us of here in the passage this morning. Mark chapter three verse 20 and the multitude cometh together again so that they could not so much as eat bread and when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him for they said, he is beside himself.

Now, the him, the he is talking about here is Jesus and this crowd gathered around him in this house so much that there wasn't room to serve food or anything the like. If you would turn over to verse 31, there came then his brethren and his mother and standing without sent unto him calling him and the multitude sat about him, they said unto him, behold thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee and he answered them saying, who is my mother or my brethren? And he looked round about on them which sat about him and said, behold, my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same as my brother and my sister and mother. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Lord, thank you again for this day. Lord, we remember those who can't be with us for whatever reason today. We thank particularly brother Ed, Googer. We pray Lord that you would watch over him there in the hospital and that these blood clots would completely dissolve and that he might be able to go home and Lord that it might not return. We thank you Lord for bringing him through so much in the last couple of months.

We pray Lord that you would restore his health and be with miss Lorraine. We we pray Lord for others that are not here with us today either. We pray Lord for those of us that were able to come. Lord, that we would take this opportunity to praise you, to honor you, to to worship and focus on you and your word today. Lord, that not only would you be magnified and exalted but Lord that we might be drawn closer to you.

That the words your word would not return void. Lord would do a mighty work in our heart today and we pray Lord if there's one here that's never trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and savior of their life. We pray that they might do that even today in Jesus name. Amen. Wanna mention the setting here in Mark chapter three.

Christ was speaking as we mentioned to a packed house. He had returned back to Galilee to the area of Capernaum not far from Nazareth where he was raised. Capernaum was on the Sea Of Galilee. It had become his home away from home up in that northern part of Israel and as he ministered there, he more the crowds became greater and greater and larger and larger that followed him from place to place. In this particular case, probably in the city of Capernaum, he was in a home there and the home was bursting at the seams.

People had had crammed themselves in there to try to hear what Jesus was teaching maybe to be healed, to see what he was doing, and so there was not enough room for them to get food in and they had been there for a quite a long time. This practice was repeated by Jesus day after day following his return to Galilee. So, this was somewhat regular occurrence now and it concerned his family, his mothers, and his brothers who showed up at this time to take hold of him or to take custody of him for his own good or or so they thought. He's stuck in the middle of this house. He's he's talking and talking.

Evidently, in their mind, he wasn't taking care of himself and so they were concerned about him. So, so they showed up and as they could not get into the house for the crowd, they stood outside calling for him. Others heard and told him what was happening. They said, your mother and your brother and they're they're outside calling for you. They wanted Jesus to get the message.

He probably couldn't hear them calling from outside the house because of of all the people that were there. So, they were passing the message along and which leads to the response that we read in verses 32 at the end of chapter three verses 31 to 35 here. The concern of his family though somewhat laudable maybe was misplaced. Jesus had not come to do the will of Mary and Joseph or his brothers or his friends or the religious leaders. He had come to do the will of his father in heaven which he made abundantly clear on several occasions.

And this thing decided not to work all of a sudden. Alright. Okay. Hold on a second. I need this because I've got several verses to look at this morning.

There we go. Alright. Okay. John five thirty. Jesus said, I can of mine own self do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not mine own will but the will of the father which has sent me.

When Jesus submitted his will to the will of the father in heaven as described in Philippians two. He came, he took on the form of a servant, he became obedient, obedient to the will and commands of the father even unto the death of the cross. So, Jesus said, I have come not to do my own will but the will of father who hath sent me. In Luke chapter two, Jesus's parents took him with them to Jerusalem. He was around the age of 12 years old and as they were returning, all of a sudden, they realized Jesus was not with the caravan.

So, they they hurried back to Jerusalem to find him and they searched and they searched for him and finally, they found him in the temple talking with the religious leaders there and debating and and answering questions concerning the scripture and his parents said, what are you doing? And Jesus said, well, did you not know I would be about my father's business? Why does this surprise you? Why didn't you come here first to look? Would, you know, wouldn't you know that I would be about my my father's business?

Yes, Jesus was the biological son of Mary and the legal though not biological son of Joseph. He did obey his parents. He was an obedient son who honored them. However, he came to do the will of his father in heaven. Yes, to them, his ways probably seemed a little unorthodox.

He at times seemed to place the work of the ministry above his own personal needs. It is understandable that his mother and others might be concerned about his health and well-being though it would seem his mother at least should have known better because she readily knew who he was but she was still his what? She was still his mom. Any of you ever had a mom? What are moms like?

Well, sometimes they're concerned about us. When they think we are maybe not doing what we ought to do if they think we're not taking care of ourselves. If so forth and so on, God gave moms a special compassion and concern for their children and so Jesus was Jesus mom was acting like a what She was acting like a mom and she was concerned about his her son who seemed to not be taking care of himself and so her and others came and being concerned about him but when they came knocking, Jesus did not immediately jump to calm their fears and concerns. Not out of spite or contempt for them particularly for his mother but he wanted to take the opportunity to drive home a point to those sitting there a point that they needed to grasp and his family for that matter also. The need to be part of a more important family.

His eternal family. That is more important than being part of his biological family. That is important and vital lesson that everyone sitting in that room needed to hear. That is something that everyone in that room could be a part of and that's something that everyone in this room can be a part of and that's something everyone outside the walls of this room can be a part of. The eternal family of God.

For many in this life, marriage and family relationships trump everything else and while God intended for family relations to be beautiful, meaningful, lasting, and important, there are other relationships which are likewise important and some which are even more important. And those are spiritual relationships. Who did Jesus refer to as being family to him that day? It wasn't the mother and the brothers outside the walls. It was the people sitting around him.

Particularly, his disciples. In Matthew twelve forty nine, it says, and he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, behold my mother and my brethren. As he stood there in the midst of all these people, he stretched out and he kind of motioned toward his disciples that were there and he said, behold, my mother and my brother. Now, wasn't saying that one of them was his mother. What he was saying was these are part of my what?

My family. These are my closest relations. Not the people standing outside who don't understand to some extent what's going on and his brothers in particular did not understand. They were not believers until after his resurrection. Can you imagine growing up in a home with older sibling who A is perfect and B who claims to be the Messiah.

They struggled with that. Praise the Lord after his resurrection. At least two of them became two of his most ardent supporters. James and Jude who also wrote books in the Bible. But he motioned to his disciples and possibly potentially to others sitting around.

Galileans from various walks of life who had come and stayed and likely gone without food for a time to be with him. People who believed in him, his person, and his work. People, at least 12 of which had left everything to follow him. These were the ones to whom he referred when he says, behold my what? My mothers and my behold my family.

This was the family that was most dear to Christ. Are those disciples that are with him every day. Learning from him, listening to him, following him. What did he mean by family? Well, he didn't mean the physical ancestral family.

But a different one. I've seen advertisements. May have seen them lately for this ancestry.com. Is that what's called Ancestry. You can you can send in your your DNA and they will tell you what what your and who your ancestors were, your this percentage of that and you're that percentage of this and and anybody done that?

Anybody done that? Alright, miss Judy has. Ask her sometime. She's got some interesting DNA in her background. And it it's kind of fun to do that and maybe to know that kind of stuff.

However, when it comes down to it, it's not all that important. What? Family, what country, what group we belong to or came from. What important is what group we belong to now? What family we belong to now.

We speak of he spoke of a relationship with superseded earthly, and biological bonds, a spiritual family, an eternal family. Ties that were more beloved and important to him than the physical bonds of his own family. Spiritual bonds which bound others to him. And also to one another. Now, do you think Jesus had a high regard for his family?

Particularly for his mother? I believe he did. A matter of fact, later on, when he's hanging on the cross, his mother comes up to the cross with the disciple John. And he speaks very tenderly to his mother and he asked John, if John will take care of her will be to her a son to take care of his mother Jesus was very respectful and compassion towards his mom had a very high regard for family as the scriptures do but listen to some things that Jesus had to say about family in in reference to or compared to this spiritual family. Luke fourteen twenty six, Jesus said, if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Now, at first, you read that and go, wow. There's a word up there that kind of catches your attention. What word is it? Hate. Hate, that's an awful, strong word.

That just doesn't seem to go along with what everything else Jesus is saying concerning family or scripture? Let's see another one. Mark ten thirty five, for I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a man's foe shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Very similar, doesn't use the word hate here but he says that I have come to set at variance to divide homes, divide homes, and you have to make a choice.

Matthew nineteen twenty nine and everyone that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father, mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life. Jesus again talking to his disciples says, anyone who has left everything including family for me shall receive a hundredfold that which they have lost. What is Jesus saying? Well, two things. First of all, Jesus is saying this, in certain situations, you might have to what?

You might have to choose. Is it going to be pleasing my family? Or am I going to choose to please God? You may have to make a choice. Now, in my particular situation, I came from a Christian home.

I was brought up in church. My parents are Christians. My brother is a Christian. We have similar values and and goals in life. It's it's a wonderful thing when we're able to get together at Thanksgiving with family.

It's a it's a joyful celebration because most of us know the Lord and we share a common bond in Christ not just a biological bond as family. But you know something not everybody comes from that situation. There are people all around this world that grow up in cultures where they literally have to choose do I choose Christ or do I choose family and family at times will make it very difficult for them to choose Christ. In some cultures, if you are saved and baptized as a Christian, your family has a funeral. They they buy a coffin.

They have a service. They bury it and to them, you are now what? You are now dead and that's how they treat you. Can you imagine how difficult that would be? In my youth group, when I was a youth pastor, I had some kids that came.

They were children of migrant workers in the area there where the church was and their families were very devout Catholic. And their parents didn't mind them coming to church. But when they got saved and they wanted to get what? Baptized. Now, that was a problem.

They had to make a choice. Because see, to get baptized into a baptist church meant to break ties with the Catholic church and to many Catholics, that is like breaking ties with your what? With your family. With your family. In Muslim cultures, you can not only be pronounced dead, you can be actually killed.

By your own what? By your own family for denouncing Islam and trusting Christ. So, you see, when Christ speaks here, maybe in our culture, it's a bit hard to understand but in them of their cultures and even in cultures today, it isn't difficult to see at all. You have to make a choice and for some people, that choice is very difficult. Which family?

God's family or earthly family? Which one is most important? Hopefully, the answer to that is God's family. Obviously, the scriptures speak clearly about the importance of family in regards to marriage, honoring parents, nurturing children, and taking care of your own household. Jesus does not mean to minimize the importance of family but to introduce to us a new relationship and tie which supersedes all the others.

That is the family of God. That is being rightly related to Christ and to one another in Christ as God's children. John three verse three, Jesus answered and said, unto him, that's Nicodemus, verily, verily or truly, truly I say unto thee, except the man be born again, he cannot see what? The kingdom of God. He said to Nicodemus, you're a Jew.

That's great. You're a religious leader. That's great but it's not going to get you where? It's not going to get you into heaven. It's not going to get you into his kingdom.

You must be born again. You must be born of the spirit into whose family? Into God's family. Spiritual family, an eternal family. It's the only way to heaven.

John one twelve, but as many as received him, that is Jesus, to them gave you power to become the sons or the children of God, even to them that what? Believe on his name. You can become a child of God. If you will receive the son of God as your savior and believe on his name and you must. Romans eight verses fourteen and fifteen speak of this family again for as many are as led by the spirit of God, born again by the spirit through faith into God's family.

They are the one. They are the sons of God. You can't become part of God's family any other way but through faith in Christ and the regenerating power of the holy spirit. For you have not received the spirit of God again under fear but we have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Abba, dear father, Abba Father. That is a very personal name a little child would call to mommy or daddy God is our father.

He's our dad We have a a bond of relationship with him As Christians that exceeds all others and it's very personal and very dear. In Hebrew, in Ephesians one five and six, it says, having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, For the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. We know Christ as savior today. We've been accepted into the what? Into the family of God, into those beloved of God through the blood of Jesus Christ, his son.

God's family an eternal family a spiritual family a bond that goes beyond any physical any biological any familial bond on earth bond that is vital and necessary if we are to see heaven someday. How is one identified as a member of this family? It's not through ancestrywhatever.com. It's it's not by having your name on the roles of a church. How are these people identified?

Well, in Mark chapter three, Jesus said, in verse 35, for whosoever shall do the will of God, the same as my brother and my sister and my mother. He said, whosoever will do the will of God, he is my relative. He is my brother, my sister. In Matthew seven twenty one, Jesus said, not everyone that say it unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven. How does he identify those who are part of his family, those who do his what?

Who do his will. In John ten twenty seven and twenty eight, he said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they what? And they follow me. Jesus said, I know my sheep. My sheep hear my voice and they follow me.

What does that mean? They do my will. They they obey. They follow my my commands. They follow and trust in me like sheep follow a what?

Like sheep follow a shepherd. Jesus's followers follow him. Jesus's family follows him. They do his will. As he was in that room that day, and and his family, his earthly family was out there calling to him.

He he motioned toward his disciples and he said, these are my, these are my family. Those are the ones who he referred to that day. Who were these 12 people or possibly more included in that as well. Who were these people? Where these people were people who believed in him.

These were those who had sacrificed and surrendered to to follow him and literally they did. They followed him from place to place day by day. They sat at his feet. They learned. They were trained.

They were taught. They were his they were his family. They were his what? They were his sheep. They followed him and he recognized them as that family but that family is much broader than just these 12 men or or possibly others there that day.

That family includes all of those who will choose to follow him. All of those who are his sheep. All of those who will do God's what? Who will do God's will? Who are those people?

Well, what is God's will? Well, first of all, look to the scriptures and see this. What is God's will? God's will is that you repent and get saved. Second Peter three nine, Lord is not sight concern his promises.

Some men count slackness but as long suffering to us, we're not willing that any should perish but that all should come to what? Repentance. What is God's will? His will is that you repent. God's will is that you recognize that you are a sinner.

Lost and on your way to an eternity without him in hell and to repent and to turn to him. It's the only way of salvation. Acts three nineteen, repent you therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out with the times refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Times of refreshing come from the present. That's what God gives to his family but in order to have that, you must what?

You must repent. You must recognize, acknowledge and turn from your way, the world's way to the way which is who Jesus Christ In Acts seventeen thirty one in the times of this ign ignorance, God winked at but now God commanded all men everywhere to what? To repent. Remember, there were two men in the temple. One prayed to God, looked up to heaven and said, God, I'm so thankful that I'm not like him.

He was the Pharisee. He was the religious leader. This other man to whom the Pharisee pointed was a tax collector, a publican, a sinner, hated an outcast of his people, considered an outcast by them of God. He got down on his knees. He he got down with his face to the ground.

He wouldn't lift up his head to heaven and he cried out to God, be merciful to me a what? A sinner and Jesus asked the people he was talking to today. Who do you think went home justified? The Pharisee that looked up to him and said, I thank you. I'm not like the rest of them or the guy that sprawled out, humbled himself before God and say, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.

Well, the answer was obvious. It was the one that cried out to God, be merciful to me a sinner. What did that guy do? He did this. He what?

He repented. He repented Lord, I'm a sinner I'm lost Save me. He repented If you want to be part of God's family you must what? You must repent. You must repent.

I was having a Bible study with a young man in our church and he had a friend come one time and he was curious about about the gospel and about things and so we sat and talked about it. So, he said to me, so, all I've gotta do is is say this prayer and call out to God and and I could go on doing whatever I want, partying, and having fun and that doesn't matter. And I said to him, no. No. You have to what?

You have to choose Which do you want? Do you want the party and pleasure and and all of that or do you want Christ You have to choose Now, sadly, we who have chosen Christ still struggle with the flesh. One day, we're going to shed this flesh. We're going to stand before him in heaven and then we'll be what? Then, we'll be perfect.

But when I chose Christ, I knew what I was choosing I was choosing him to be my savior. I was choosing him to be my Lord and I desperately needed him because if I died in my sin, I knew where I was going. You must repent Along with repentance you must also believe First John five one, who so believe that Jesus is Christ is born of God Everyone that loveth him that beget loveth him also that is begotten of him. Back to the first part, whoso believeth that Jesus is the Christ is what? Born of God.

How you born into God's family? You must believe in who? You must believe in Jesus. You must believe that he is the son of God who came and died on the cross for your sins, rose again from the dead, and offers to you the gift of everlasting life. That he will give to all those who trust in him.

Him. Without a faith, it is impossible to please him. Without faith, it is impossible to be saved. For the just shall live by what? By faith.

You must John one twelve again but as many as received him that is Jesus to them gave you power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. Acts sixteen thirty one The Philippian jailer asked Paul, what must I do to be saved? Paul said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy household. What is God's will? This is God's will.

He says, Jesus said, that he is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. What is God's will? God's will is that you be saved and the only way for you to be saved is to put in your faith and trust alone in who? In Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior.

To save you from your sin and to give you everlasting life. That's God's only way. You can't get there through getting dunked in a baptismal. You can't get there through joining a church role. You can't get there by keeping the works of the church.

You can't get there. By being faithful to any other religion. You can only get there through Jesus Christ. And Jesus alone. That is the way one becomes a part of God's one, a part of God's family.

Resulting in obedience and growing faith. First John five two, for by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and what? Keep his commandments. How is our faith and our new found position in Christ as part of his family revealed in our life through our what? Through our obedience, okay?

By following the Lord, by doing his what? By doing his will. You see. It isn't the way we get saved but it is the evidence that we want. Are saved.

That we are saved. Ephesians two eight nine, for by grace are you saved through faith and that none of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Verse 10, for we are his workmanship create created in Christ unto what? Good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven.

Hebrews chapter 11, by faith Abraham, by faith Moses, by faith Isaac, By faith Sarah. By faith Rahab. By faith we can go on. In each case it says by faith Abraham did something. He left the Ur of the Chaldees to go to Canaan.

He took his only son to sacrifice him as God commanded him to do. Moses left the palace of Pharaoh. Rahab hid the spies. Saving faith is followed by befitting obedience in the life of God's children The works is not the cause but it is the what It is the result and the evidence of being part of whose family. Of being part of God's family.

And I want to close this morning with this briefly. You know something? There are a lot of privileges Lot of privileges that we have. Just going to mention a few in closing and being part of God's family. We sang that chorus.

I'm so glad. I'm a what? I'm a part of the family of God. Galatians four six and because you are the sons of God, God has sent for the spirit of his son into your hearts crying one. Abba father.

God's spirit lives where? In us. Now, we take that for granted but my friend, that is not a small thing. That's an incredible thing. In the Old Testament, Israel Remember Israel, the 12 tribes God had them build a tabernacle That tabernacle went in the middle of the camp and when they were encamped, the glory of God would come and rest over the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies and God dwelt among his people.

Isn't that an incredible thing? That God came and dwelt among his people in such a way but you know something as great as that is what we have is so much greater. Because God doesn't dwell in a building made with hands and there isn't a veil that is between us but God lives inside of your heart and mind. He seals us until the day of redemption. He is there to convict us, to comfort us.

He's called the comforter to guide us, to teach us, to help us. And he'll never leave us nor forsake us. Isn't that a wonderful privilege? Being part of the family of God. How about forgiveness of sin?

Be there, repent you therefore and be converted that your sins be what? That your sins be blotted out. What does that mean? That means this, when you receive Christ as Lord and savior of your life, that record of your sins in heaven, it was what? It was all wiped away.

The sins you did yesterday, the sins you do today, and the sins you'll do tomorrow. They are all under the blood of who? Christ. Jesus Christ. And they have been blotted out and we will not be judged on them.

Again, they have been washed away We won't stand at that great white throne judgment Books won't be open and we'll be we won't be judged by the things in them because our name is written in what? In the lamb's book of life, we are part of his family. And he has forgiven them all. What a wonderful thing. We have eternal life.

My sheep hear my, we read this earlier. We didn't read the whole verse. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall what? Never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Jesus gives to his children eternal life and they shall never perish. That means, when I put my head on my pillow at night, if I die, where am I going to wake up? I'm going to wake up in heaven. Not because of me. Because my advocate sits at the right hand of the father.

And he intercedes for me. And he paid the price for me. And he has made me part of his eternal family. First John five thirteen and fourteen, these things have I read unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name son of God and this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. You know something?

As part of God's family, God says, if you ask me, if you call unto me, I will what? I will answer thee. I will answer thee. What a wonderful privilege of being part of God's family. You know, if you have an earthly mom or dad and you're growing up as a kid and you call out to your mom and dad, you have this confidence that they will hear you and come running especially if you're in trouble but you know something, they might not hear us or they might not be able to help us but there is a god in heaven who does and he can help us.

And as his child, we can call. He will answer. He hears us. And then finally, this morning, being part of God's family means that we have a bigger family. That we're a part of too.

All of those who know Christ. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ, and these things write we unto you that your joy might be full. John's writing this letter to this group of people that they might be full of joy having received Christ as savior knowing that they have this bond with Christ but they also have this bond with one another in Christ Jesus. It is such a joy. I, you can travel the other side of the country or the other side of the world and you can sit down with a Christian you've never met before.

You have almost nothing in common except for who? Jesus Christ and there is a bond that's there. There's a bond, a fellowship that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ and what a joy that is. What a joy it is to gather together with Christians. What a joy it is to pray for one another, call on each other, to check on each other, to help each other.

What a privilege we have been given. A privilege which too many take for granted. In Hebrews ten twenty four and twenty five, the writer writes and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and the good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. You know, our church family should be important to us. God has given us one another.

And sometimes, we take that for granted and sometimes we come and we sit in a pew on Sunday and we go home and we don't talk to each other. We don't pray for each other and how sad that is. What a privilege. What a awesome privilege we have. To support each other.

And the fact is we need each other. God's given you to me and me to you. And it's a joy to be part of this family God's family and if you're here this morning and you don't know what I'm talking about then you're really missing out because there is a a joy that's like no other being part of God's family and you can become part of that today Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for your word. Thank you Lord for the message.

That Jesus is driving home here today of the importance of our eternal family, God's family. Lord, we thank you for Jesus Christ, our savior. We pray Lord if there be one here that's never trusted you. Lord, they come as we give this hymn of invitation. We might show them how to be saved today.

And for us who do know you as savior, Lord, we thank you for for accepting us into the beloved. Lord, for for giving us all these wonderful and precious promises that are in Christ Jesus. Lord, we thank you for our our church family For the family of God that surrounds us and Lord, I pray that we would be encourage and helpers and prayer warriors for one another What a joy it is to be part of this family Lord, may we become more aware and grateful for it each and every day In Jesus name, amen.