January 22, 2023 / Real Church/ A Real Church Adopts People

Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest

questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search

and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Metter, lead pastor

of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth for the life

we're searching for. You know, one of the great opportunities we have is to walk through our

vision and what we believe is the most important thing that we are to be called to and what we are

to pursue as a Church of Jesus Christ. And today we're looking at a real church adopts people. Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, beginning in verse 37. Let's stand together as we read God's word together.

In Acts chapter 2, beginning in verse 37, we find the response to Peter's message at Pentecost. Peter

Acts 2 · chapter mention

is full of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is coming down upon all the people in Acts chapter

Acts 2 · chapter mention

2 and Peter gets up and preach an amazing message. And in that message, the people have an opportunity

to respond to it. And here's what it says in verse 37. Now, when they had heard this, they were

pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do?

And Peter said to them, repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the

forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promises for you

and your children and all who are far off, as many as the Lord God will call to himself. And with many

other words, he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them saying, be saved from this perverse

generation. So then those that had received his word were baptized. And that day there were about

3,000 souls added. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to

fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer, four different things. Everyone kept

feeling a sense of awe and many wonders and signs were taking place with the apostles. And all those

who were believing were together and had all things in common. And they began selling their

property and possessions and were sharing them with all as anyone might have need. Day by day,

in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with

gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was

adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. That's a great text of Scripture

about a great thing happening in the New Testament church. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father,

thank you so much for this day and the opportunity we have to worship you. Father, we never want to

take it for granted that this opportunity you extend us. We have that freedom. We rejoice that

we can do that today. Thank you for the word that tells us so much about the New Testament church

and about how we are to be the church today in the same way. I pray that you'll illuminate this

text by the power of your Holy Spirit for each one of us. In Jesus' name we pray. All God's people

said amen. Well, I just want to update you on that alarm system. The fire department just gave us the

all clear, the all clear. So somebody else say amen. I mean, that's a great thing to know, right?

Amen. Appreciate our fire department responding so quickly and appreciate the fact that we

have this alarm system that helps us when we need to. Well, this New Testament church was something

because just as the gospel was preached and the Holy Spirit came upon the people, what an incredible

moment it was for them to realize we all have something in common that we didn't have common

before, the Holy Spirit. It was in that moment that the church began to be the church. It really began

to fulfill the call that Christ had on them. And just as God had adopted those new believers to be

his sons and daughters and brothers and sisters, then that New Testament church was starting to

adopt other people coming into the church. Years ago I watched a video of a young girl, a teenage

girl, who had learned that she was going to be adopted by her foster parents. This was the girl

that was in and out of the foster care system for years and had several foster parents, but no one

had said, we want to step up and adopt this young lady to be our child as long as she's alive. And

on this particular video I watched, the parents surprised her by giving her an envelope and asking

her to open the envelope. And inside of that envelope were adoption papers. And you can see

as she read the adoption papers, she realized everything that was happening right there, that

these were going to be her parents for the rest of her life and that she was going to belong to

them and they were going to belong to her. And you could just see as she watched this document in

front of her and this video unfolded, that all of a sudden she was what every adoptive child wants,

and that is to be noticed, to be loved, to be cared for, to be committed to. Adoption is a

beautiful process by the way, it really is. And we have a number of families that have actually

done that and it's just incredible to watch what God does to that. Well, the New Testament church

is really about adopting people who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as well as those

who already have. And that's what this text really helps us do, it helps us know how that works.

We've been using the diagram or the graph, the R-E-A-L words, real people, real life, real hope,

real life, but we've also been looking at these four words, relate, engage, adopt, and lead. We

looked at how the important thing about the church was they focused on relationships and most

important relationship we have is that vertical relationship that we have with God, loving God

with our whole hearts, but then we also love others as ourselves, that's the horizontal side

of that. Last week we looked at the idea and the importance of reaching out and engaging those that

are far from God in order to help them know who Christ is, building that bridge so that they too

can hear the good news of the gospel. But once they hear that, the word adopt comes into play

because it's at that point that people begin to realize I've been adopted by God to be a son or

a daughter of God and I also need a family, a church family, where I can call those around me

my brothers and sisters in Christ. Because you know that if you're a believer in Jesus Christ,

you are first of all a son or a daughter of God. That's what the scripture says. And if you are a

believer in Jesus Christ, you also have brothers and sisters around you who also believe in Christ.

I mean it's God's family. And when Jesus built the church, he built the church to be exactly what

every believer needs in their lives. Acts chapter two shows us what they needed and how he built the

church to meet that need and how today the church ought to still be what Jesus built it to be those

years ago. So we're going to look at this text today from the perspective of all these new believers

coming in as brand new believers in Christ and how the church responded to them. So there are three

things that come to our attention right away when we get to this text. First of all, we see that

people need to belong. People need to belong. I need to belong, you need to belong, people need

to belong. I need to belong to something and someone who is greater than them in the sense

of resources, in the sense of wisdom, in the sense of having someone that can help them through life.

And in verse 44 you see that unfolding there. It says, and all those who believed were together

had all things in common. I'm going to break that down in a couple of ways because the Bible tells

us that we are adopted by God and consequently, first of all, you belong to God. As a believer in

Christ, you belong to God. I want you to repeat the phrase, I belong to God. Say it with me, would

you? I belong to God. There are times in your life where you feel like nobody has claimed you, nobody

has come alongside you, nobody has helped you, but you need to know that you belong to God. As a person

that's come to faith in Christ, he has made it very, very plain. He welcomes you into the kingdom of

God by his grace and by his forgiveness. It's phenomenal. In Romans chapter 8, the idea of

Romans 8 · chapter mention

adoption is very clearly spelled out. Paul is writing to the church at Rome and he says this

about those folks who had put their faith in Christ. He said, for you have not received a

spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by

which we cry out, Abba, Father. Abba is the most intimate word for father that you can find in that

language. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God and if

children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that

we may also be glorified with him. And in that mix that took place that day at Pentecost, they

were people of all kinds of backgrounds. A mix of people in Rome where Paul wrote this letter to the

Romans, all kinds of people. It didn't matter if you were Jews or Roman or Galatians or Ephesians

or from the city of Thessalonica or Ethiopians, it didn't matter. God was welcoming them all into

his family and he adopted them spiritually. And Paul uses this amazing illustration of adoption

to the Romans. Roman adoption was unique from any other kind of adoption. Ellen Matty wrote in her

book on adoption through history about the Roman adoption. When a child became born biologically,

the parents actually had the option of disowning the child for a variety of reasons, but not an

adoptee. In Rome, adopting a child meant number one, the child was freely chosen by the parents

and desired by the parents. Then number two, that child would be a permanent part of the family.

Parents could not disown a child they had adopted. An adopted child received a new identity. Any prior

commitments, responsibilities and debts were completely erased. They had new rights, new

responsibilities that were taken on. And in ancient times, the concept of inheritance began

at life, not death. Being adopted meant that someone was already an heir to their father and a joint

heirs in all the possessions and fully united in the present with all the family members that they

were adopted into. Now Paul uses that picture to help us realize that what we have in Jesus Christ

is full privilege with God. Fully adopted by God the Father, fully heirs of God and joint heirs

with Christ. And basically it means that everything we have in life from Christ is everything we can

have from Christ. He gives it all to us because we are his sons and daughters. And the idea of

spiritual adoption is so powerful it essentially doubles up on the meaning of God's fatherhood over

us. Spiritual adoption should remind you that you're fully known, completely loved and have a new

identity in Jesus Christ. It should say to you that you've been noticed by God, loved by God,

cared by God and committed to by God. You're heirs of God and joint heirs with all the brothers and

sisters in Christ including Jesus Christ. And God is extending his arms to all of us that have said

yes to Jesus Christ and have embraced us fully. You are heirs of God, sons and daughters of God.

What a concept, what a powerful picture. And Paul used that illustration to help us know that that's

a permanent status with God. He will not disown you, he will not cut you free, he will not ignore you,

he will not forget you. You are the children of God. You can say Abba Father. And the very idea

that we have this means that we can also extend that same kind of fellowship to others who have

come to faith in Jesus Christ. Just think of it. All the resources that Jesus has are ours in Christ

because we're sons and daughters of God. All the power that Jesus has we have, all the inheritance

that Jesus has, we have all the forgiveness that he promises, we have all the acceptance, all the

favor we have. God has his eye on you, he knows you and he fully extends to you that idea, that

promise that you have everything he has. And my wife and I have a family of children and I've caught

myself at times watching one of my kids when they were younger especially and they were in the house

and I would just watch them and they might have been doing some innocent game, they might have

been watching TV, they might have been playing in the yard, it's happened a number of times. Well I

haven't really been talking to them, I haven't really been trying to consciously say anything or

teach them anything, I've just looked at them and just watched them. And when I watch them my heart

just warms up, it just warms up on the inside out. And it warms up on the inside out because that's

my child. Now there are times when I don't feel that warmth when they disobey but they are no less

my child when they disobey. You know how that works, don't you? They're always in my favor and I would

do anything for them because they are my kids. I would do anything for them, give them anything,

lay down my life for them because they are my children. And I want you to take that idea that

you may have experienced and know what I'm talking about and transpose that to what God thinks when

He sees you, when He knows you, when He commits Himself to you. Listen we are in really good shape.

If we've come to faith in Jesus and we're sons and daughters of God, we're in a really really good

place spiritually speaking because God has given us all the favor, we belong to God. But the

scripture also teaches us that we belong to God's people. In Acts chapter 2, they were together.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

They had all things in common. The one thing that held them all together was this common faith that

they had in Jesus Christ but they were a part of the family from that day on. And when you're part

of the family, you're really part of the family in the body of Christ. They were loving each other,

they were sharing things with each other as though they had been born into the same family and they

made room for everybody else that came to faith in Jesus as well. Just read the book of Acts. Acts

Acts 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10, you get to a place where Peter is called to go preach the gospel to Cornelius who

is a Roman centurion and that day in time that was a tough preaching gig. I mean after all the

Romans really did oppose the Jews in so many things and it was Roman soldiers and Roman rulers

that ultimately put Jesus Christ to death. So we're talking about a very hostile environment and yet

Peter is called by the Holy Spirit to go preach the gospel to this man named Cornelius and it was a

frightening mission but he went. And as he went, preached the gospel and amazing results took place.

In Acts chapter 10 verse 34 and 35, Peter says this, I most certainly understand now that God is

Acts 10:34

not one to show partiality but in every nation the men who fear him and that's what is right are

welcome to him. So he preaches and Cornelius is saved, he comes to Christ. He and his family not

only are saved but they're baptized and so now Peter has to go back to this New Testament church

where all this began in Acts chapter 2 and tell them about the story because not everyone is friendly

Acts 2 · chapter mention

towards Roman centurions at that time. So he comes back and he says here's what happened and then the

Holy Spirit fell upon Cornelius and they had the same experience as we had at Pentecost. They have

the same Holy Spirit, they trust the same Jesus. And so that Jerusalem council that heard all this

made this statement, well then they said God has granted the Gentiles also repentance that leads to

life. In other words God is welcoming them, we must welcome them and we're going to acknowledge

them as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. You say well what is it about the Gentiles that's so

important? Well what's important is unless you're a born Jew you are a Gentile. You and I are the

Gentiles in this story and God has accepted us fully as his people through Jesus Christ and as

a result of that we also belong not only to God but to God's people or the Church of Jesus Christ.

Nothing else matters but your faith in Jesus Christ and your willingness to follow him. Most of us

this day and time our families are pretty diverse. They have all kinds of different perspectives,

all kinds of different political alignments, all kinds of different ideas. I know our family does

and sometimes when we get together at Thanksgiving we have wonderful times when we laugh a lot,

then times when we might cry a little bit, then times when we argue with each other and then times

when we just have a good time all the way around. All kinds of things but one thing that is always

unchanging and that is this family is our family and we have a lot in common and we're gonna make

sure that that is what holds us together more than anything else. Well the church is like that. All

kinds of people in the church but one thing holds us together and that is our common faith in Jesus

Christ as Lord and Savior and our adherence, our desire to follow him wholeheartedly. You know the

church is a group of people that are very different from very different places and that's true. This

church is true every single church I'm aware of. So a church ought to roll out the welcome mat to

people who are coming to faith in Jesus and don't put a lot of preconditions on them, just love them

and let the Holy Spirit work in their heart in a huge way. So we fight not to prejudge. We do not

put new believers and new church members to preference test before extending them the family

love of brothers and sisters in Christ. We're not called to make everybody look the same. We're not

called to make everybody from the same background. We are all called to disciple all people towards

Christ. The person that comes to faith in Jesus, they need to hear the message that the New Testament

church was giving them. You have a place here. You're part of this family. You belong. You've

fed. You have the Holy Spirit in your life. You're wanted. You're needed. You are heirs of God and

joint heirs with all of us. You know, one of the greatest things I can challenge you to do today

as a church in the midst of a very diverse culture is to make room for people who come to Christ.

Make room for them in your ongoing weekly life outside this worship center. Make room for them

in your small groups. Make room for them in your interactions. Make room for them in your home.

Have them over. Make room for them in your conversations. Are you welcoming the spiritual

family that God sends us? We're desiring to build an invite culture because we want people to know,

we invite them to hear the gospel and then we invite them to respond to Jesus Christ and then

we invite them to the relationships that will help them grow more and more like Christ. Well,

that means that you have to have your arm wide open and embrace them in Christ. You know,

some of the people that have taught me the most about life are people that are not like me,

they that look like me, they didn't come from the same background as me, but they have taught me a

lot about Christ because I've got to know them and I've got to know their walk with God. The New

Testament church was built so that we can work, welcome other people and walk together in the

kingdom. So first of all, you need to see people need to belong. Secondly, people need to be

together. They need to be together. In chapter two verses 44 through 46, we have this passage that

we're going to put on the screen, put the whole passage up there and there's some highlights to

those words that I want you to see today. Here's what the text says, it says, all those who believed

were together and they had all things in common and began selling their property and possessions

and were sharing with them with all as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one

mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house they were taking their meals together with

gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. Now keep your

eyes on the screen for just a moment. As you look at those three verses, look at all the things that

I've highlighted that are together. They believed together. They actually shared space together.

They were in their same room. There were things there as a reference to everything in life,

not just possessions. So they really shared life together. And then later on it says they

shared their possession together. So they did actually share the tangible things that they

had with anyone else that had need. Day by day continue with one mind. They shared a mindset

together, the mindset that Christ had called them to. And they were breaking bread from house to

house. So they were sharing communion. That's a breaking bread phrase there. And they did that

from home to home. So they actually shared their home with each other as they had communion. And

then they took meals together. They were actually eating food beyond the communion meal together.

And they had gladness they shared together. And they had sincerity of heart, worshiping together.

And then at the end they had favor together. The church had favor in a culture that couldn't get

along with each other, but the church was able to do that and demonstrated great favor that the

rest of the world looked at them and said, what must be going on that they love each other the way

they love each other? Now you say, pastor, you're talking about ideals, aren't you? Because we don't

really do that as well as they did, do we? Well, at times we do. But we're all too inspired to that.

That's our calling. And it's our calling because it's the need that every person has. People need

to be together with other people. Whenever I think of people movements around the globe,

I see commonalities to this, but they don't completely fulfill what the church was doing.

In military life, for example, you leave civilian life and there's a brand new culture. And the idea

of no man left behind is drilled into your mind. We're not going to leave anybody behind on the

battlefield. We're going to be in this together. Special interest groups, they get together and

they do things based on common interests. There may be nothing else holding them together,

nothing else they have in common except this one interest that they have. But they do get together

like that. In gang life, in inner cities, people merge over mutual protections. I've got your back,

one says to another. But the church does all these things and more because we have this

spiritual kinship of a relationship with God through Jesus, then we have all kinds of resources

that we can share with each other. Every new believer leaves an old life to begin a new life

and needs to be a part of a family of God. In the church, when we come to Christ, we leave a life

that's purely secular and we embrace spiritual life. We're in the world, but we're not of the

world anymore. We're of the Lord and we're part of that family. That's why it's so important for us

to know that the church is able to love one another. Now there were four things that this New Testament

church did so well. In verse 42 it says what these are. They were continually devoting themselves to

the apostles teaching and the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Notice those

four things. Those four things are essential in the life of the New Testament church. Teaching,

adoption begins and has as its goal the teaching of the Word of God because we just can't survive

without the truth of God's Word. I mean Jesus says I'll give you the truth and the truth shall

set you free. He said I am the way, the life, and the truth. No one comes to the Father except

through me. So the truth is extremely important and teaching of the Word of God is a really,

really big deal because that's how we mature. We grow more like Christ because we learn more

about Christ. We learn more about how to follow Him and how to allow the Holy Spirit to lead in

our lives. Let me just say that in our teaching here at our church there is teaching in the big

room which is in a worship service which is what you're experiencing now and then there is teaching

in a small group which we call our connection groups or connection classes. You know the primary

difference between the two is this. In a connection group you have teaching that's going on that may

be a little bit more specific to where you are in your life, your age group, your marital status,

whatever else it may be, and you have a chance to interact and you have a chance to ask questions,

you have a chance to give input. It's really important that we have that because that kind

of conversation is what allows us to grow more and more like Christ. Teaching is incredibly

important and if you're not in a small group we want you to be in one because that's where a lot

of the great things take place. Sharing is the second word. Cornenea describes the sharing of

things. They were sharing everything that they had and doing life together. It's kind of like family

time together in the kingdom of God. Thirdly they were eating. They were actually eating. Now I would

not put this point on the board. I would not make this the main point unless it was actually there

but it's actually there. These people in the New Testament church were eating together. Have you

ever heard of a Baptist potluck? Well that was basically what was going on. Where everybody brought

food and they broke bread together not only in the communion sense but also eating a meal together.

You know what happens when you eat a meal together? Somebody is cooking, somebody is sharing,

somebody is cleaning up, somebody is serving. Conversation takes place around the table.

Everybody contributes in some way with the meal and the New Testament church was actually doing

that not because they were hungry but because they needed each other. When we eat together we do what

families do. So I want to encourage you to eat together. Then the last word is the word praying.

Praying because once you get to know people and you're burdened by what they're going through in

life we begin to sympathize and empathize. And when you realize the only way that some problems

can be solved is if God intervenes into their lives. That's what you're called to do. Pray that God

would intervene into their lives. Let me just be personal, be real with you. Some of the biggest moments

of my personal growth have been in the small group not the big room. I've heard lots of great messages

in the big room and I am motivated and moved by those great messages for preachers that I've heard

over the years that my greatest moments of growth have been in the small room. A small room where

we've had spiritual conversations or I've been confronted or encouraged in some way. That's what

we want you to have in the body of Christ. I call that the body life where we pray for each other,

where we are committed to each other. I still remember the faces and names of some of the people

that were in my preschool department when I was a preschooler and that was a long time ago. I still

know who they are. I still remember their faces and names. Obviously most of them are with the

Lord today but wow what a memory that is. And I remember in junior high having teachers that would

teach me what God's Word said who would position me and encourage me to grow. And I certainly

remember in college people pouring into my life and mentoring me and all these things are what the

body of Christ does so that we can grow more and more like Jesus Christ. So be in worship but also

be in community and small group. And let me just be really honest with you. Everybody in the room

needs to know who their people are because when hard times come you need to know who your people

are. And you need to pick the right people. When I'm talking with people, counseling with them,

who are in calamity, relationships are falling apart, their life seems to have gotten off track,

I always ask this question when I'm counseling them, who are you talking to? Who are you listening

to? And often what they tell me is I'm listening to someone that's gone through the same thing I'm

going through and then I ask them are they believers? Do they adhere to the scripture? Are they giving

you counsel from the Bible? And if their answer is no, I say you're listening to the wrong people.

You have to be listening to people that do believe the same things that you believe in the Word of

God. You have to be listening to people that do believe in the power of Jesus Christ. You have to

listen to people who believe in the inheritance we have and the power of the Holy Spirit in our

life. You listen to those people. Those are your people. And in a world where everybody wants you

to be friendly with you if you just believe what they believe, you're already friends with Jesus.

You've already got that locked up. Stay with his people. So the New Testament church was actually

practicing that and all the things that they did. And then lastly, people need to be valued. People

need to belong. People need to be together. But people need to be valued. Look at verse 47,

and the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. Sometimes I'm asked

by people about church and about church membership. And they say, is it really important for us to be

a member of a church? I mean, after all, aren't we part of the invisible church, the universal

church when we come to faith in Jesus? And I say, yes, you're part of the invisible church of Jesus

Christ. You're part of the worldwide church of Jesus Christ. But who knows that you've committed

them and they to you? Where is your church home? Where is your church family? When you look at this

verse, you'll see that they knew who was part of their congregation. They knew who was hurting.

They knew who was being neglected. They were able to find who they were. The Lord was adding to their

number day by day, those who were being saved. And by the time Acts six rolls around, they knew who

the Grecian widows were, who the Hebrew widows were, and who was neglecting whom in the deli

serving the food and they could fix that problem. So people know that you need to be valued and the

church needs to value people by knowing them. So that's the important thing. You know, when I am

asked the question, what did the disciples really teach during those times in Acts chapter two,

the apostles teaching? I mean, much of the New Testament hadn't been written and recorded yet.

So what did they teach? And quite simply, they taught the words of Jesus. They taught what Jesus

taught them. Most of you are familiar with Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15 is a series of parables

Luke 15 · chapter mention Luke 15 · chapter mention

where Jesus talks about the lost. He talks about the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son. They're

a very famous set of parables. And the one thing these all have in common is they were lost and

they needed to be found. It was clear that it was up to the person during the seeking to find them

and Jesus makes it pretty plain, pay attention to those and pursue those that wander, pursue those

that are lost. And I can imagine that these New Testament apostles were teaching all those brand

new believers what Jesus taught them, basically saying as Jesus said to leave the 99 and find the

one, we're going to do the same thing. We're going to find those that fall in the cracks. We're going

to find those that need us and we're going to minister them in every possible way. New Testament

church needs to be able to do that. You need to look around you and see who's missing and find them

and encourage them. You need to look around you and see those that have accountants that's down

instead of up and have a conversation with them. Maybe somebody you haven't heard from for a while,

give them a call. Say hey, kind of missing you. Is there anything I can do to encourage you? Anything

I can do to get you back involved? The reason we would do that is because we value people. It's

easy to get off track and it's easy to be caught up in the confusion of the world just as it was in

that day in time but oh it's so important for the church to be a family. If one of my kids doesn't

show up for an appointed event, I go looking for them and I always have and I always will as long

as they're alive. In the same way sons and daughters, brothers and sisters need to look for those that

may be wandering. What is true of a lost sheep or a wandering saint is true of a person who seems to

be forgotten. They need to be lovingly pursued. Reach out, find people that need to be pursued.

I would say we're definitely in a season where it's easy to hide. Definitely in a season where

it's easy to lose touch. So are you determined to reach out and touch base with people you've

lost contact with? Who do you need to reach out to? Because what it says is we care. You're my

brother, you're my sister in Christ. We're all sons and daughters of God. We have this church

that God has called us to. So Jesus builds the church and we're it and we are built so that we

can help people who need to belong, help people who need to be together, and help people who need

to be valued. Let me just say that if you're just coming into the church or you've just come to

faith in Christ, you're loved, you're valued, you're cared for. We commit ourselves to you to help you

in your spiritual walk just as we do to everyone. Do you understand that the church is here to adopt

each other just as God has adopted us? You know today I have a set of invitations I want to give

you. I know that it may be true today that there are those in the building that have never really

considered the fact that they, when they come to faith in Christ, can be adopted by God. You become

a son or daughter of God when you put your faith in Jesus. And I invite you to have that kind of a

conversation at our decision station in just a moment. Those decision stations are at the back

of our rooms and they're still there even though we've had construction going on and there will be

people manning those stations. Stop by and say I have some questions about my relationship with

God. I want to make sure that I have truly put my faith in Him, that I'm truly an adopted son and

or daughter of God. My second invitation to you today if you're a guest is to come to our guest

reception room just outside the center exit doors across the hallway there because I'd like to tell

you about our church. I can tell you in about five to ten minutes about our church more than you've

learned by simply attending from week to week. I'd love to answer any questions you have. Thirdly,

I invite you to pick up an invite card and bring somebody back with you next week. We always have

room for new people. We always have room for people who need to hear the gospel, who need to

have a church home and we want you to be the invitee to bring them back with you. Would you

stand with me as we have a closing word of prayer? And as you stand let me just thank you for

persevering through the service today and kind of wading through the alarm systems and everything

else. Sometimes things just happen. I'm very grateful that everything's been taken care of.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father in Jesus name. So grateful for this congregation. So

grateful for the promises that you make to us as God the Father. Thank you Father that those who

have placed faith in Jesus can call you Abba, Father. And Lord know that we are adopted by you.

Father I thank you so much for the body of Christ, the fact that we have brothers and

sisters around us that we're truly committed to and they are truly committed to us. Today help us

make the decisions that we need to make to allow us to be in perfect relationship with you through

Jesus. Thank you again for all you've done, all you will do. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.