Have you ever experienced a spiritual awakening in your life as a Christian?
I was in Columbus, Ohio, spending some time with a pastor over there named Rod Parsley. I was standing in the World Harvest Bible College lobby when I heard, as clear as day, “My people are a family.” My response? “Yeah, yeah, I got it. Now I’m trying to pay attention here.” I heard it again. “My people are a family.” “Yeah, I know. I get it. I understand. Now let me get back to this.” One more time, “My people are a family.” That was it. “OK, I’m listening. What are you trying to tell me? I mean, really, God. I got it. I understand that if we are all children of yours, then we are all in your family. What am I missing here?”
Turns out I was missing a lot. Starting with the fact that many may or may not like it. We are NOT all God’s children. We are all God’s creation. However, there is only one way to become a child of God. That is Jesus. That is the Spirit of Adoption. The Holy Spirit. If you are not adopted into the family of God, you are NOT His child.
Look at this in Romans 8
"For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Romans 8:13
Once you become adopted into the family, you then receive many more brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers. You are adopted into a very large family. The Family of God. Look what Jesus says here.
"Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” Mark 10:28–31
We read this story in Luke. Jesus was teaching, and there were so many people there that no one else could get in.
"Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” Luke 8:19-21
We are a family. Let’s look at a family. You sleep with, wake with, talk with, and spend time with your family. You share your day’s events and seek to help those in need of comfort, encouragement, or celebration together. Is God’s family really one hour a week, maybe, if you feel like going to Church?
If you have a need or a challenge in your life, you can always turn to your family. Your mom or dad can help you. Your older siblings may have already been through what you are facing. They can help you. When you are sad, they try to comfort you. When they are sad, you comfort them. If you are the oldest, you may be the one that others look up to. Again, God’s family? One hour a week, maybe, if you feel like going to Church?
First, a building is a building. The church is the people. You can have a church service in the middle of a field. You can have a church service in the middle of the street. The church that the Word talks about is always the people. A family.
Just like your earthly family, in God’s family, you have babies. Those that just heard the truth and have allowed the truth to set them free. They know next to nothing and are in need of being fed, taught, ETC. You have teenagers. Those that are more knowledgeable, yet are not yet ready to go out on their own. They can certainly help in the raising of the young. Then you have the moms and dads. Those who have grown up, put away childish things, and are in a position to teach, encourage, love, and guide in the way both the children and teenagers should go. These are the elders of the church. Of course, you have the earthly father, who is the head of the church. The Pastor. The one who should be guiding the rest of the family. The one who is responsible for communicating whatsoever God himself tells him.
Look at what Jesus instructed John and Mary while on the cross.
“but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.”
John and Mary had no relationship before Jesus. John was a fisherman, and Mary was a teenage mother married to a Carpenter. Now, many wonders whatever happened to Joseph, Jesus’s “earthly father,” which he really never was. The last time we see him mentioned in the Bible is when Jesus was 12. The general consensus is simply that he died sometime between Jesus being 12 and the start of his ministry at age 30. This makes sense since Jesus appointed John to take care of His mother Mary, and it would have also been Joseph’s responsibility to take Jesus’s body after the crucifixion. However, since the Bible does not tell us for certain that he died, or how or when, we can not really know for certain.
We should be looking at our church family, even more so, as important as our earthly family. Your church family is far larger than your earthly family. I can honestly say I was surprised at the words that came out of my mouth once when someone asked if I was actually related to someone. I said, without hesitation, “Not by blood, but by love.”
Our church family IS by love and blood. The blood of Jesus. We need to love one another as He loved us. We must rely on one another and love one another. Support one another and always see our church family as the family we are.
Peter
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One day I began reading the Holy Bible. As I read, I realized that my spirit was gently awakened within me, and my eyes and ears were opened up just a fraction.
At this moment on I listen and exercise my senses.I have been doing this ever since
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At a moment of extreme frustration, as I walked up the stairs I cried out to the Lord, “Just HOW am I supposed to serve You?” To my surprise, a two-word answer popped into my mind, with a Scripture passage attached:
- The answer: With joy.
- The scripture: Deu 28:47 Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
Deu 28:48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
Now THAT was a stark set of alternatives! By nature, I’m the lout with a pout on his snout. Yet, since God had commanded me to serve Him “with joy,” I began to do so out of sheer, white-knuckled obedience. It got easier after a while, and this joy of the Lord has carried me through many trials, many of them my own fault. But, when God plotted out the details of my life, He took my own stupidity into account.
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