Family: His blood runs thicker than water

What is a church? Where people gather Sunday mornings? A building? A POST OFFICE? The church is not the place that we go to but a people who are sent out by God to the nations and to the neighborhoods. To help us walk this out at Restore we have Dgroups, a family on mission together to show and tell Jesus to one another and to a specific target group. Sunday we kicked off a 4 part series on Gospel Identities, knowing the cry of the Bible for Christians is not do to become, but be who you are. We are children of God who treat each other as family. The Son left home so we could be brought home as the beloved children of God. God didn’t love us for our performance but only by his grace are we considered his legitimate children; we are the children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. God the Father is very present and not absent, redemptive and not transactional, constructive and not abusive, and eternally stable and not unpredictable. Out of this love for us, God wants to pour out his love through us to others. The church is not an organization but a family. If we’re going to love the world well we need to love each other better. Therefore, within our eternal family, we commit to walking in sacrifice, not selfishness. What specific ways do you need you need to sacrifice for this family? We are also to forgive, not brew bitterness in our hearts. What do you need to forgive and/or ask forgiveness of? Lastly, we are to have diversity in unity not uniformity. What do you need to take the initiative with to build a relationship within this family? Blood runs thicker than water, and Jesus’ blood runs thicker than any other blood, for all who have the blood of the Lamb are family forever. You can listen to this first message of the series on gospel identities by Pastor Mike HERE!