Rick Warren - You're Not Alone Youre Part of Gods Family (Part 2)

The Bible says that to be a follower of Christ

means to be a member of his family and a

member of his body. Following Jesus is far more than

just believing. It's not enough just to believe in Jesus.

The Bible says, we're not just believers. We're belongers. We

are to belong in the family of God, which is

called the Church. And once we belong, then we become

so we believe, then we belong, and then we become

all that God wants for us to be in the

first place. Now, the Bible says this, there on your outline, Romans,

Chapter twelve, verse five. Let's read it aloud together. In Christ,

we who are many, form one body, and each member

belongs to all the others. Now circle the word belong.

The Bible says that if you're a follower of Jesus,

you don't just belong to God. You don't just belong

to Jesus. You belong to me, and I belong to you,

and we belong to each other, and you belong to

every other believer. You're in the family. Now, You're in

God's family. Now. It's interesting that in the Bible, two

of the descriptions of the church are the church is

a body and the church is a family. The church

is the body of Christ, and the Church is the

family of God. And in both of those cases, membership

means something. In fact, the word English word member that

we use for membership actually comes from the Bible, and

the word membership has far more to do with life

than simply like a you know, wear a hat or

secret signal, or say the past word or handshake. Membership

means far more than you just put your name on

a role. It means you're vitally connected. The Bible says

your hand is a member of your body. If it's disconnected,

it shrivels and died. The Bible says your ears are

members of your body. If you cut off your ears,

they're worthless. They have no value at all if they're

detached from the body. If you cut off your legs,

your knees, your feet, they are members of your body.

And if you cut it off, a disconnected foot is worthless.

It has no value. It shrivels and die. You will

shrivel and die spiritually if you're not connected to the

body of Christ. And in the same way, you're a

part of a family, and the Bible says that we

have family responsibilities to each other. In fact, look at

the next verse. They're on your outline. The Bible says

in Galatians chapter six, let us do good to all people,

especially those who belong in the family of believers. Now,

notice it says we're to do good to everybody. You

can't mistreat anybody, you can't hate anybody, you can't show

disrespect for anybody. Not going to be a follower of Jesus.

The Bible says, it's the follower of Jesus. I am

commanded to love everyone, to respect everyone, and to be

kind and loving to all people, regardless of who they are,

what they believe, their lifestyle, what they do to me,

I am to return love for them. So let us

do good to all people. But he says, especially those

who belong to the family a believer in us. Again

circle the word belong. In both cases, you belong. You

belong as a member of the body of Christ, and

you belong as a member of the family of God. Now,

this is a very different understanding of a church than

most people have. If you ask most people what do

you think of when you say church? They think of

a building a building, or they think of it as

an event, and church is something you see on a corner,

or church is something you go to to attend. The

Bible says that's not a church at all. Church is

neither an event nor a building. Church is a relationship.

It is a family. It is the family of God.

In fact, it's going to outlast your physical family. In fact,

it's going to outlast everything on earth. The Bible says

God created the entire world because he wanted in the universe,

because he wanted a family. You cannot be what God

wants you to be. You cannot follow Jesus. You cannot

follow Jesus without being connected to his family. And the

Bible calls this membership being a member. In fact, if

you say, well, I believe in Jesus, but I don't belong,

then there's a word for you, your spiritual orphan. You

don't have a family, you are a spiritual orphan. Now,

our model for our small groups is are the small

groups of the Book of Acts. Let me read this

to you. In Acts, chapter two, it tells us the

story of the first day of the Church and what

happened afterwards. Verse forty one, it says, those who accepted

Peter's message. This is on the day of Pentecost, accepted

his message, were baptized, and about three thousand were added

that day to the church. Imagine baptizing three thousand people

in one day. That's pretty good. Then, it says, then

they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, and to the fellowship,

and to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. And

everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous

signs were done by the apostles, and all the believers

shared everything together and had everything in common. They'd even

sell their possessions and good and give to anyone when

they had a need. And every day they continued to

meet together in the temple courts, and they also broke

bread in their homes and ate together with glad and

sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all

the people. And as a result, it says, the Lord

added to their number daily. The church grew every day

the people who were being saved. Now, if you're not

in a group right now, these seven things I'm going

to give you just real quickly as we close, are

what you're missing. If you're in a group, I want

you to use these seven signs of a healthy group

to evaluate your own group. Okay, here's what they did.

Number one, they studied the Bible. That's the first sign

of a healthy group. They studied the Bible together. In

verse forty two, it says they devoted themselves to the

apostles teaching. Now, what is the apostles teaching? It's this,

It's the Bible. The New Testament was written by the apostles. Paul, John, Peter, Mark, James.

These were apostles that wrote the New Testament. And obviously

they didn't have the Bible at that time. It wasn't

found into a book. But they were studying what we

study today now. Evidently, what the apostles were teaching on

the weekends at the temple courts, they were reviewing during

the week in the house to house. Second thing they did.

It says they fellowshiped and they ate together in their

small groups in the house house. They fellowshiped and ate together.

In verse forty two, it says they devoted themselves to

the fellowship. Now, I've already talked about this why it's

important for us to build relationships, but There's only one

way you're going to build fellowship, and that is through frequency.

If your group only meets every other week, if you

miss it one time, it means you haven't seen him

for a month. You can't have fellowship like that. You

have to meet every week. If you only meet every

other week, if you miss a week, that's a month

you go without that small group fellowship. So we need

to have frequency in our fellowship. And then notice it

says in verse forty six, they ate together with glad,

and sincere hearts, aren't you glad? That's a part of

small groups, all right. Food is a tool of fellowship. Amen, Amen,

How many of you have grown closer to other people

through fellowship meals? Got to see your hands? All right?

How many have grown fatter through fellowship meals? It's interesting

if you study the ministry of Jesus, you'll find that

almost every time Jesus taught, they were either walking or eating.

Walking or eating. Why because when people are walking or

when people are eating, they're relaxed, and that way communication

can get through. Their barriers aren't up there, they're not defensive.

In fact, a lot of Jesus' major teaching he taught

while they were eating dinner. That's a good thing. Okay.

So I'm going to give you a requirement from your pastor.

You must eat at your small group. I know that'll

really be hard for some of you. But it says

they ate with glad and sincere hearts. Be happy when

you eat, and you eat it sincerely, because that's what

they did in the New Testament. And they fellowshiped around food.

Number three, they shared communion. They shared communion together in

their homes. They took the Lord's supper. It says they

devoted themselves to the breaking of bread. That's talking about communion.

It's talking about the Lord's Supper. In the New Testament,

they took the Lord's supper in homes. They broke bread

in the homes. Not a single time in the Bible

did they have Mass in the morning at worship. Not once.

I don't know if you noticed this, know this, but

there were no church buildings for the first three hundred

years of the church. For three hundred years there were

no church buildings. They either used a synagogue if they

were Jewish, or they met in homes or just out

under a park. There were no church buildings. I've been

in the oldest standing church build and still standing, which

is in Syria. It's about three ten AD. That's one

of the oldest examples of a church actually built. So

the idea of having communion in the morning, by the way,

it was called the Lord's supper, not the Lord's breakfast.

Why because it was done in the evening. It wasn't

done as a morning a mess. And if you go

to First Corinthians eleven, and we try to do everything

here by the Bible. In First Corinthians eleven, it tells

us that one of the purposes of communion is to

promote openness to God and openness to each other. That's

why it's called communion, openness to God and openness to

each other. You cannot be open to other people in

a crowd of three thousand people. You just can't do

it because you don't know them. You can't be open

with people you don't know. That's why communion is best

served in a small group fellowship where you know the

people and you can share the struggles, the prayers, the needs,

the hurts, the encouragements that we all need. In that

sense of openness, they shared communion Number four. They prayed

for each other in the small groups, it says they

devoted themselves to prayer. Now, I don't have to tell

you about the power of group prayer. I have heard

story after story after story after story of small groups

praying for people in crisis and seeing amazing things happen,

in miracles and all kinds of things. But you know

as well as I do, that when you're stressed out,

it helps to have other people praying for you when

you can't pray for yourself. Sometimes you go through a

tough time you don't even know what to pray. God,

I'm so stressed out, I'm so tired, I'm so broken,

I'm so grieving. I can't even pray. That's when you

need people to pray for you. You need people to

believe God for you. You need people to have faith

for you to pull you through that time. Because there

are times in your life you're a blubbering mess and

you don't even know what to pray. You're so depressed,

you're so discouraged, you're so angry, you're so mad, you're

so worried. You don't even know what to pray. And

that's why we need each other to pray for each other.

And when you're going through a tough time, you should

never have to carry your major burdens by yourself. We

were meant to help each other. The Bible says it's

not good for men to be alone. God hates loneliness.

Whether you ever get married or not. You need a

spiritual family which provides the one another's the comfort and

praying for each other. Number five. The fifth thing they

did as a mark of a healthy small group is

they helped each other in practical ways, and so we

judge ourselves in this way. They helped each other in

practical ways. It says they gave to anyone as he

had a need, and that's what small groups are supposed

to do. You need to borrow a lone lawnmower, here,

borrow my lawnmower. You need a babysitter, Let me help

babysit for you. You need a job reference, Let me

write a recommendation for you. Whatever you need. You need

help making it through a tough time. Let me bring

some meals over while your wife is sick, or your

husband is sick, or whatever. It's the body helping each other. Now,

what I'm just telling you about friends is the exact

opposite of the American way. The American way is to

centralize care. The Christian way is to decentralize it and

make it as personal and grassroots as possible. Whenever Americans

have a crisis like in Haiti, our typical reaction is,

let's organize it, and let's get a central control. And

for instance, let's start a soup kitchen and wait for

people to come and get the soup. And let's start

a food pantry and wait for people to come and

get the food. And let's start of this and for

people to come and get it to the centralized fight. Now,

that's better than nothing, but it's not the best way

because a lot of people are too embarrassed to go

to the central location. It's much better to have a

small group take care of the people in that small group.

You need a meal, will get your meal. You need help,

will help you out. You need a ride to the airport,

We'll get your ride to the airport. And it is

decentralized and more personal through the small groups. That's why,

because they are the natural organization of the body. Hi,

this is Rick, and thanks for joining me today. You

know this month on Daily Hope, we're offering to send

you a special copy of my book called The Purpose

of Christmas. I wrote this book to help you come

to a deeper understanding of God's love for you by

explaining the three purposes of Christmas that we're announced by

the Angel at the birth of Jesus. The Angel announced

the time of celebration. I bring you good news of

great joy, salvation for unto you is born this day

in the City of David, a savior who is Christ

the Lord, and reconciliation, Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.

Daily Hope is a one hundred percent listener supported ministry.

So if you can help us continue to spread the

good news through this broadcast, I'd appreciate any gift that

you can send. I'll send you the hardback edition of

this book, The Purpose of Christmas does our special thank

you for your gift to support the Daily Hope ministry.

The American way is to centralize care. The Christian way

is to decentralize it and make it as personal and

grassroots as possible. Number six, The sixth thing that they

did a small group is they worshiped together. They worshiped together.

In fact, the Bible says that as they met in

their house to house homes. It says they praised God

and they enjoyed favor of all the people. You know,

I'll be honest with you, I can't tell you the

number of times the group I've been in right now,

as I think I told you, I've been in at

five or six years, this current small group. I can't

tell you the number of times when at the end

of the day I was so tired and so worn

out from work and so tired of listening to people's

problems and dealing with people in real need, that I

just go. I don't have anything in me. I don't

want to go to a small group. I was just

too tired to go. But I go. You know, I've

made a commitment and I'm going to go. And so

I would make that commitment and I would show up,

even no matter how tired I was. While we were

at a small group, through the worship time, my heart

was renewed, my emotions were restored, my tank was refilled,

my love was reinvigorated. When I left, I was going. Man,

I'm sure glad I went, because before I was a

basket case. I've seen too many people I've dealt with

too many problems I've got, I'm too tired, I got

too many things on my agenda, got too much to

do tomorrow, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But I

go to a small group, and it is in worship

we get emotionally recharged. And it is in fellowship we

get spiritually strengthened. And it is in looking at the

Word of God we get rejuvenated. And it is all

the things that a small group's designed to do. It's

for your benefit. It's for your benefit to keep you going.

You got a fire going, You got a coal in

that fire, it's all hot. You take the coal off

set of by itself, it grows cold. And the only

way that coal is going to get hot is get

it back in the fire. And the fire is the

small group, and that will keep you going. Number seven.

The seventh thing they did in a small group is

they invited others to church. They told people about Jesus,

they brought people to Christ. They were an outreach group.

Every one of the small groups in the New Testament

time in the Church of Jerusalem, we're focused on outreach,

on helping reach people who didn't know the Lord yet,

and they helped each other bring people to Christ, and

the Bible says this every day. The number in their

group continued to grow as the Lord added those who

were being saved. Now circle the word every day. Notice

the church is growing, not just on weekends, it's growing

every day. Why because the groups are meeting every day. Now,

the proof of a healthy small group, how do you

know when your small group is mature? You start having babies.

The proof of physical maturity is the ability to reproduce.

When you go through puberty and you can have a

baby as a man or a woman, you're now mature.

The proof of spiritual maturity in your small group is

your small group is birth to other small groups, you

have baby small groups. Now, there's a couple of ways

you can do this. You can take your group that's

been together a year or two year, maybe even longer,

and you can divide it up and to two or

three groups. Say we're going to start three new groups

out of our small group. Why because people need the

Lord and you can. You can divide it up that way,

and you know if you're by the way, if your

group has more than ten people, you're pregnant. Okay, you're pregnant.

Why because you get more than about eight people in

a small group, it's no longer a small group. Because

more than eight people, studies have shown somebody stops talking

and they become a little wallflower, and the larger group

gets the more two or three people dominate the group.

And that's not what we want. We want everybody participating

in small groups. Small is better. Best sized group is

maybe six people, maybe eight people. You don't really have

to have a big group six or eight people. That way,

I can't have relationships with forty two people, but I

have them with six. I'm have them with four, I

have them maybe with eight. But you know, if you've

got more than that, you need to consider dividing your

group and multiplying and having a baby. Or you can

send out your best, just like the church at Antioch

did where they took Paul and Barnabas said, you guys

go out and start in new groups. You go out

and start new churches, things like that. Let me close

by praying for you, Would you bow your heads, Father,

and I pray for my flock, and I pray it'll

be an easier year for them, for those Lord who

are trying to climb out of debt. May they find

financial freedom this year. For those of them who are

trying to make ends meet and they're struggling because they're

out of work right now, Lord, would you provide a job.

Would you open the doors that they could get full

employment again quickly? Father? For those who are trying to

climb out of a health crisis, those who are facing difficulty,

May this year be a year of health for them.

May they find new strength, new vigor. May they be

stronger than any year in the past. Father. For those

in our church family who are struggling with relational problems

and been through conflict. There's some here who are separated

from their husband or their wife, or there's some who

are in the middle of a divorce, some who've lost

a loved one, some who are having major crisis in

their home. Would you bring peace in their heart and

harmony in their relationships? Bless them with changes of heart

and mind, that there would be reconciliation and love and

new future and new hope. Lord. For those who've always

had that dream, may this be the year that they

scale everest. May this be the year that they reach

their peak, that they go after the height. May this

be the year that they take that chance and start

the climb. But I pray in all of this that

we won't do it alone, but that every person in

our church family will be a part of a temple

court and a house to house, be a part of

large group worship and small group fellowship. And we pray

this in Jesus' name. Amen. Friends, if you're having trouble

staying consistent in your Bible study and quiet, one thing

you can do is have the Daily Hope devotional and

podcast emailed to you every single day. Did you know

that now each devotional, each daily devotional gives you a

Bible verse and both a written and an audio teaching

about that verse. Now I mention this because that's exactly

what one of my listeners has done. Marla wrote me,

and she says that getting Daily Hope devotionals have helped

deepen her relationship with the Lord and helped her be

more consistent. Marla writes this, Hello, Pastor Rick, I've been

a Christian all my life, but I felt lost for

the past few years. But a friend of mine told

me about your Daily Hope emails, and I've been getting

them for about a month now. I read them every morning,

and my meditation and prayer practices have become more regular

and definitely more meaningful. My relationship to God has grown

because of you and the Daily Hope ministry. I now

listen to your podcast every day on my way to

or from work, and I love it. They have really

helped me as a mother, as a wife, as a boss,

and as a friend. So I'm going to share them

with my oldest daughter, who's nineteen. She's trying to find

friends and find her way in college. So thank you,

thank you, thank you well, thank you, Marla, thank you

for writing. I'm so encouraged to hear how God uses

Daily Hope to change lives and help people just like

you grow closer to Him. You know, I think it's

great that you are sharing your Daily Hope podcast with

your daughter, and I would invite all of our listeners

to do this. I have no doubt that she is

going to learn to lean on the Lord, and as

she does that, she'll develop biblical discernment that means knowing

which way to go and who to relate to, and

it's going to help her find her way in college.

Now you'll find the Daily Hope podcast on my website

dot com. All of these podcasts are free, and the

reason we're able to do that is because the generous

gifts from listeners like you. So those of you who

are supporting us financially a million thanks. You're making a difference.

You're changing lives. Your gifts are causing people to come

into the Kingdom, grow in Christ, and become all God

intended for them to be. HI. This is Rick, and

thanks for joining me today. This month on Daily Hope,

we're offering to send you a special copy of my

book called The Purpose of Christmas. I wrote this book

to help you come to a deeper understanding of God's

love for you by explaining the three purposes of Christmas

that we're announced by the Angel At the birth of Jesus.

The Angel announced the time of celebrate. I bring you

good news of great joy, salvation for unto you is

born this day in the City of David, a savior

who is Christ the Lord, and reconciliation, Peace on earth,

goodwill toward men. Daily Hope is one hundred percent listeners

supported ministry. So if you can help us continue to

spread the good news through this broadcast, I'd appreciate any

gift that you can send. I'll send you the hard

back edition of this book. The Purpose of Christmas does

our special Thank you for your gift to support to

Daily Hope Ministry.