Are You Part of the Family? - DJ Dickerson - 3/29/26

There is something powerful

about family.

Family is where you belong.

Family is where you are known.

Family is where you are expected.

And family is where you are missed when

you are absent.

If someone

were looking for you physically,

they would likely know where to find you

with your family.

That is where we naturally gravitate.

That's where we feel connected.

That's where we feel at home.

Spiritually speaking,

that should be true of us as well.

Brother Kyle Hill selected wonderful

songs to go handinhand with a lesson

that I'm giving this morning from God's

word.

Because if someone were looking for us

spiritually,

they would know exactly where to find

us.

They should say

they're with a family.

They're with the family of God. They're

with their spiritual family.

But sometimes that's not the case

because some attend but are not

connected.

Some visit but are not invested. Some

associate but are not committed.

And there is a difference between

attending something and belonging to

something. Do you agree with that?

Because you attend an event,

but you belong to a family. See, I don't

just attend at the house. I belong to

the family.

One will show up to an event.

You live life

with a family. You leave an event.

You stay connected to a family.

So, we're asking a question this

morning. Are you part of the family?

More than just attendance?

Because sometimes people treat the

church like an event instead of a

family.

Maybe it's convenient that I'm here or I

come when nothing else is scheduled or I

come when I feel like it.

But you don't treat family that way.

You don't tell your spouse, "I'll see

you when I can." Right? Use that line.

Let's see how that works. Y'all let me

know how it turns out.

You don't tell your children, "I'll show

up once or twice a month."

That just don't sound right, does it?

Children, we we don't tell our parents,

"I'll come around if nothing else is

going on."

See, that's not family. And we

understand that on that physical side of

it, we we understand. We grasp that

concept because God did not call us to

attend the family,

right?

He called us to commit to the family.

I want to give you a few things to

consider. God's holy and divine word. As

I always like to say, prove all things

according to God's word, not DJs.

Some things to kind of walk through when

we're talking about this question. Are

you part of the family?

I want us to start by well let's go to

Jesus. Jesus identified himself with his

father's family. You ever notice that?

It's very beautiful. I want you to go to

Luke chapter 2. Start start us off this

Luke 2 · chapter mention

morning in the Bible. Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

There's quite a bit going on there in

that chapter.

But Jesus gives us a powerful example.

And I want us to read verses 41 down

through verse 52. Again,

beginning in verse

41 down to verse 52. Let's read. His

parents went to Jerusalem every year at

the feast of the Passover. And when he

was 12 years old, they went up to

Jerusalem according to the custom of the

feast. When they had finished the days,

as they returned, the boy Jesus lingered

behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and his

mother did not know it. But supposing

him to have been in the company, they

went a day's journey and sought him

among their relatives and acquaintances.

So when they did not find him, they

returned to Jerusalem seeking him. Now

so it was a that after three days they

found him in the temple sitting in the

midst of the teachers both listening to

them and asking them questions. And all

who heard him were astonished at his

understanding and answers. So when they

saw him they were amazed. And his mother

said to him, "Son, why have you done

this to us? Look, your father and I have

sought you anxiously." And he said to

them, "Why did you seek me? Did you not

know that I must be about my father's

business?

But they did not understand the

statement which he spoke to them. Then

he went down with them and came to

Nazareth and was subject to them. But

his mother kept all these things in her

heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and

stature and favor with God and men.

I This one always is perplexing

sometimes to me when you think about it.

Uh 12 years old. This is Jesus at 12

years old. His parents go to Jerus. They

went to Jerusalem. When they left,

where's Jesus?

They lost him.

Jesus remained behind.

And after three days of searching, three

days, man, we go one hour looking for

our kid, you know, because they're

hiding because they ain't cleaning their

room. They're somewherees, right? After

three days of searching, they found him

in the temple.

Now, of course, what's the natural thing

a mother's going to ask?

Why have you done this to us? Right? I

can get the tone inflection going. And

Jesus' response was something something

very interesting, wasn't it? Did you not

know that I must be about my father's

business?

It's verse 49. Now, see, something's

interesting. Jesus assumed something uh

because he's saying, "Hey, if you're

looking for me,

you would know where I should be.

I will be my father. I will be where his

father's work was taking place."

If a child's missing, the first place

the parents should check his home. I

don't know how many times I've been on

searches before and and the parents are

just like, "We lost our kid." And you

know, they're they're out somewhere and

so I just go in the house. You know

where I find them? Under the bed.

There they are. Right. We already

dispatch helicopters and everything.

There he is.

But why is it? Because that's where they

belong. They belong at home, right?

But Jesus saying, "You should have known

where I would be. I'm with my father."

Now, when I look at that, I say that's

commitment. That's commitment. Friends,

when you look and study the life of

Jesus, you know what you conclude?

You conclude that Jesus life revolved

around his father. His priority centered

around his father. His presence

reflected his father. But also notice

something else. I want you to go to

Matthew chapter 12. Back up to Matthew,

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

the book of Matthew. in Matthew chapter

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

12 that there's another layer here that

we find. It's not just Jesus is, you

know, even at the age of 12 that he is

about his father's business. But even

Matthew chapter 12, there's something he

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

mentions here later on in life. He says

in verse 48 through 50, but he answered

and said to the one who told him, "Who

is my mother and who are my brothers?"

And he, Jesus, stretched out his hand

toward his disciples and said, "Here are

my mother and my brothers.

For whoever does the will of my father

in heaven is my brother and sister and

mother.

You know what Jesus does here? He makes

this really even clearer because what he

does in this moment Matthew 12:48-50 is

Matthew 12:48–50

he redefined family.

Family is not just physical. He's saying

family is spiritual. The family of God

becomes the true family. And if the

church is truly our family, then that

means the family of God must become our

priority.

Isn't that what he's saying? The family

of God must become our priority.

You see, many people love the idea of

church family. You know, many people

love the idea of church family, but

never truly commit to it. I like the

people.

I like fellowship we got going on.

kind of occasional thing I got here will

you?

But friends, commitment is deeper. I

want to show you something else. Mark

Mark 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. Look at Mark chapter 1 16-20.

Mark 1 · chapter mention

Look at that.

And as he walked by the Sea of Galilee,

he saw Simon Andrew's brother casting a

net into the sea, for they were

fishermen. Then Jesus said to them,

"Follow me, and I will make you become

fishers of men." They immediately left

their nets and followed him. When he had

gone a little farther from there, he saw

James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his

brother, who also were in the boat

mending their nets. Immediately he

called them, and they left their father,

Zebedee, in the boat with their the

hired servants, and went after who did

they go after?

Jesus.

They went after him, Jesus.

See, Jesus called fishermen and said,

"Follow me."

And immediately they left their nets,

their boats, their work. They followed

him. And what's the word that we connect

to that naturally I connect the word

commitment to that?

Imagine someone saying, "I want to be a

part of your family." Imagine that for a

moment. But they never spend time with

you. They never talk with you. They

never help you. They never encourage

you. And they never show up. Now, let me

ask you, do they want to be a part of

your family? We know the answer to that

is no, they don't.

They like the idea of it. You would say

they like us, but they're not committed.

And that's the difference between

attendance and commitment. Look at Mark

Mark 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10. Let me give you this. Mark

Mark 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10. This is pretty interesting.

In verses 29 and 30. 29 and 30 of Mark

Mark 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10. So Jesus answered and said,

"Assuredly I say to you, there is no one

who has left house or brothers or

sisters or father or mother or wife or

children or lands for my sake in the

gospels who shall not receive a hundfold

now in this time houses and brothers and

sisters and mothers and children and

lands with persecutions and in the ages

in the age to come eternal life."

Jesus is saying those who leave houses,

brothers, sisters, parents and lands for

his sake will receive 100fold. You ever

think, well, what in the world is he

talking about?

I grab right out of there. He's saying

you gain a new family.

You gain brothers, sisters, mothers,

children. Because what's he saying? The

church becomes your family. What does

that mean? You care for one another. You

support each other. You encourage each

other. You help each other. You

prioritize each other. Friends, that's

commitment, isn't it?

See, we can make these connections all

day long with physical family. We can we

can this is this is easy for us.

But Jesus is making the connection

spiritually speaking of what family is.

Let me give you another sign of of of

true family. And this when someone's

missing, you know what that is? It's

noticed

that commitment means you are missed

when absent.

That one of the clearest signs really is

this.

You ever notice when someone's missing

in your house because they're gone

somewhere or something.

You see an empty chair

where they once sat.

You notice silence

where someone usually speaks.

You notice that someone who normally

sits there is gone.

Because you know what families do?

Families notice absence, do they not?

Now, when I'm out of town,

my family notices my absence for a lot

of reasons. I may talk a little bit.

I may

When one child does not show up for

dinner, the family asks, "Where are

they?"

Right? It's like hering cats at our

house. You get two, then another one's

disappeared.

Then you get the other one in there,

it's like, "Well, we're missing the

other one."

We say, "Where are they?"

When someone's missing from a gathering,

you know, someone calls, they check on

them

because family members are this, they're

known, they're loved, they're missed,

they're sought.

Is that not what we see in Acts chapter

Acts 2 · chapter mention

2? Those people right there, they were

from all different places

backgrounds, all sorts. Remember, they

heard that first gospel sermon, the day

of Pentecost, and they said, "Man and

brother, what shall we do?" And then

said, "Repent, be baptized. Everyone in

the name of Jesus Christ sins, you shall

receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

What did they do? Look at verse 41. Then

those who gladly received his word were

baptized. And that day about 3,000 souls

were added to them, and they continued

steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and

fellowship and the breaking of bread and

in prayers. Then fear came upon every

soul, and many wonders and signs were

done through the apostles. Now all who

believed were together and had all

things in common, and sold their

possessions and goods, and divided them

among all as anyone had need. So

continuing daily with one accord in the

temple and breaking bread from house to

house, they ate their food with gladness

and simplicity of heart, praising God

and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to the church daily

those who were being saved.

They continued steadfastly in the

apostles doctrine of fellowship. All who

believed were together. Y'all notice

that they ate together, they prayed

together, they encouraged each other,

they shared with each other. What what I

say that's not Sunday only Christianity,

is it? That's not that

because the early church I believe was

we see in our study in the book of Acts

and our in our adult Bible classes, they

were Monday Christians. They were

Tuesday Christians. They're Wednesday. I

could go through the rest of the week,

but you get it. They were everyday

Christians.

They did not just sit in pews together.

And our idea, you know, the way we we

have it here, I mean, they met in

houses, right? They met. But that that

is that's family. They shared a life

together. You know why that was

important? Because they had persecution.

And we just read about what were they

doing? They were praying. They were

constant in prayer. They were united

together.

That's family.

That's what family is.

And committed families not only notice

absence,

they also help people belong.

That's important. Commitment means being

connected.

I want you to go to Acts chapter nine.

You know, this is one we were just

studying in in our uh recent adult Bible

class again, book of Acts. Acts chapter

Acts 9 · chapter mention

9. I want you to look at verses 26 down

through verse 28. See what you grab out

of that. Okay?

And when Saul, now remember Saul,

persecutor of the church. And Saul, when

Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to

join the disciples, but they were all

afraid of him and did not believe that

he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him

and brought him to the apostles and he

declared to them how he had seen the

Lord on the road and that he had spoken

to him and how he had preached boldly at

Damascus in the name of Jesus. So he was

with him at Jerusalem coming in and

going out.

Now when Saul, he was baptized, was

added to the church. What does that

mean? You're added to the family,

family of God. Is that what we've been

talking about?

And so in Acts nine, Saul being

converted, he tried to join the

disciples. And again, we've talked about

this in our Bible class because yeah, he

wanted to be a part of the family.

Well, they were hesitant. Again, we talk

about this. Wouldn't we all be hesitant?

But Barnabas took him and brought him to

the apostles.

Barnabas helped him belong. Y'all see

that?

Some people want to be part of the

family, but they need help connecting.

Let me ask you this. I think we could

probably we could probably all relate to

this.

Have you ever walked into a room where

everyone knows each other

and you just feel out of place?

I have been I have been to things like

that. Now it don't take me long.

I'll be a part of your group.

You just give me a minute.

You feel out of place. You hesitate.

That's what we do. And sometimes you

might stand on the edge because you're

like, I don't know what do I do with

this.

Well, Barnabas helped Saul along.

Again, Barnabas, we know he was called

the son of encouragement. Love that.

Well, committed families, you know what

they do? They reach out. They include.

They encourage. They connect.

Connect. I've used that word a couple

times. I want to I want to share

something uh else with you on this.

There's a difference between something

being gathered

and something being assembled.

Scripture repeatedly emphasizes the

disciples.

They didn't merely show up, they

assembled. Do you ever notice that?

Assembled is the word.

uh Acts 20:7 it talks about you know how

Acts 20:7

they even came together.

Well the phrase came together carries an

idea of purposeful unity.

It was not accidental. It's not random.

I'm it just so happens I'm here this

morning stand in the pull pit. No that's

not an accident. Okay. It's not random.

It was not simply a crowd in a same

room. It was an assembled body. And I

want you to to kind of zoom in on this

for just a moment of what Saul was

wanting to do when he said, "I want to

be connected to you as a family.

I'm a fellow disciple of Christ

and you are."

and the importance that Jesus emphasized

of being a part of the family

as an assembled body. Now, we often use

the words gathered and assembled

interchangeably,

but actually they're not the same. I

know, you know, you start breaking down

words and stuff, that's what you're

going to find because I will submit to

you that a group can be gathered without

ever being assembled. Do you know what

the difference in that? Well, I'm going

to tell you what those are if you don't

know what that is already.

I'm going to use the example of buying

something that says assembly required.

You ever bought something said assembly

required? When my wife brings something

says assembly required, I'm like, I will

have about a couple hours of figuring

this out. She's going to read the

instructions eventually for me because

I'm not going to do that. But, uh, but

when you open the box,

all the parts are there.

The pieces are gathered together. Now,

get this in your mind. All the pieces

are gathered together.

And a lot of times what you'll buy,

you'll see the screws are in one bag.

The boards are stacked neatly. Maybe not

so neatly sometimes. The instructions

are included. At least you hope. Um,

everything needed is present. Y'all see

where I'm going with this?

But let me tell you something. Although

the screws are in the bag here and you

got the boards over here stacked up and

you got the instructions and and other

little things, nothing functions yet.

Nothing functions.

The parts are gathered, but they are not

assembled. Y'all see

until the pieces are intentionally

connected, aligned and working together,

the product cannot serve its intended

purpose.

Is that what we find in our study this

morning? Spiritually speaking, is that

what Jesus was emphasizing?

Because friends, we can gather in the

same building. We can do that. We can

sit in the same pews. We can sing the

same songs. We can hear the same sermon

and still not be truly assembled.

And the meaning that I'm giving you,

it's more than physical presence. It

means connected in purpose. We're united

in heart and we're functioning together

as one body. Is that that song right

before the lesson? We are what? Two or

three or 560? know one we are one.

The New Testament as we have noted

really consistently emphasizes this

idea. You know a lot of times you see

that scripture in Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

Let us consider one another in order to

stir up love and good works not

forsaking the assembling

of ourselves together.

There's emphasis that's placed on that

for a reason. And the writer does not

merely say gathering. The idea is

intentional connection.

That goes even beyond even here

in this building. It is believers

that have come together so that

something meaningful happens. That we

are equipped

to encourage, to strengthen, to stir up

one another, to function together.

Because a pile of parts does not build a

table.

A stack of lumber does not become

furniture.

Pieces in a box do not serve their

intended purpose. They must be

assembled. And the church is not meant

to be a box full of disconnected pieces.

We are designed to be assembled by God.

Paul put this so beautifully in

Ephesians 4 and verse 16. from whom the

whole body joined and knit together by

what every joint supplies. You know what

he goes on to say? Causes growth of the

body.

Because friends, what Saul was wanting

was to be assembled.

He want to be assembled.

He wanted to feel that love.

to be connected

because when the church is assembled the

way God desires, every member matters.

Every part supplies something. Every

connection strengthens the whole and the

body functions as God intended. But when

we only gather, we may be present, but

we're not connected. We may attend, but

we're not going to contribute. We may

sit together, but we will not function

together. See, there's a difference

distinctly in the scriptures.

God never intended for his people to be

merely gathered spectators.

He designed us to be an assembled body

every day as family.

Just like that box marked assembly

required. The pieces are all there, but

purpose only comes when they're actually

joined together. Isn't that what Saul

wanted? What did he come to do? To join

the disciples.

That's what he wanted.

The church is strongest not when we

simply gather but when we are truly

assembled friends.

And what Jesus makes clear

that belonging to the family requires

full commitment. That means you're all

in.

There is perhaps no passage that's more

clearly defines true commitment. I think

Luke chapter 9 57-62.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

In Luke chapter 9 verse 57 down through

Luke 9:57

verse 62. I want you to read with me.

Now it happened as they journeyed on the

road that someone said to him, "Lord, I

will follow you wherever you go." And

Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and

birds of the air have nests, but the son

of man has nowhere to lay his head."

Then he said to another, "Follow me."

But he said, "Lord, let me first go and

bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let

the dead bury their own dead, but you go

and preach the kingdom of God." And

another also said, "Lord, I will follow

you, but let me first go and bid them

farewell who are at my house." But Jesus

said to him, "No one having put his hand

to the plow and looking back is fit for

the kingdom of God."

Now, when you read this text,

Jesus encounters three individuals and

each one reveals something about what it

really means to follow Jesus. Verse 57,

the scripture says, "As they were going

along the road, someone said to

him,"Lord, I will follow you wherever

you go."

Now, at first, that sounds like exactly

what we want to hear. Oh, I like that.

At first, it sounds, "Lord, I'm all in.

Lord, I'm ready. Lord, I will go

wherever you go." Oh, but Jesus responds

in a way that may surprise us.

What does he say in verse 58? Foxes have

holes and birds of the air have nests,

but the son of man has nowhere to lay

his head.

What is Jesus doing when he says that?

Is he trying to discourage the man?

Well, no. He's not discouraging the man.

He is taking this moment to define what

true commitment is.

I I like sometimes I look at that from

the standpoint of Ruth, right?

And I use this this terminology. I will

go wherever you go. I will lodge where

you lodge. Your God will be my God. You

know that kind of that kind of language.

That's commitment, isn't it? Ruth's

committed to Naomi. They were committed

to go to be with her mother-in-law

to help her.

What Jesus is saying before you say I

will follow you need to understand what

following costs is what he's saying

because he's saying following me

following me is not comfortable

following me is not going to be

convenient and following me is not built

around your schedule

like well hold on a second is that what

he's saying in those verses you're

mighty right he is

he's saying you surren surrendered to

him. And friends, it's easy to commit to

something when you don't know the cost

of it.

It's easy to say, "I'll go wherever you

go until wherever cost you something."

And Jesus is making it clear commitment

is not emotional excitement. That's the

problem. Our society is all about

emotionalism. Emotional excitement. I'm

going to do No, that's not what that.

It's intentional surrender. And in verse

59, Jesus turns to another man. You know

what he says? Jesus, follow me. But the

man said, "Lord, let me first go and

bury my father." Now, at first glance,

that sounds reasonable, you know, and

and that sounds reasonable.

Sounds respectful, sounds responsible,

it sounds like a valid excuse. But Jesus

responds, "Let the dead bury their own

dead, but you go and preach the kingdom

of God." Now, this is one of the

strongest statements Jesus makes. I'm

going to tell you, it's one of the He is

not minimizing family responsibilities.

What he's emphasizing though is

spiritual priority

because the issue is not burial. The

issue is let me first.

Now let's put it this way. Lord I will

follow you

but first. See it sounds different when

you say it that way doesn't it? I will

do but first.

See we like that when our kids tell us

that right? I want you to go clean your

room. I will do that. But first, I want

to play a game.

Parents, how do we deal with that?

That game's a priority.

Go ahead. You do. You do. You do you.

That's not how that goes. We know that.

Okay.

But see, that's that but first thing.

Lord, I will commit. But first, Lord,

I'll be involved. first.

See, that's not that's not what Jesus is

teaching us that true commitment that

don't put him second.

He's saying, "Let me see if I can pencil

you in somewhere."

Friends, he's not part of our schedule.

He's He's part of our life.

He's center of our lives.

If someone tells you, "You're important

to me, but not right now.

You got to tell that to your spouse,

too. Okay? It's not going to work out

very well, either.

Jesus is not asking to be one of many

priorities. He's calling us to make him

the priority.

Now, my house, they understand that

meaning where they're not first. God's

first and then they come along. They

understand that. That's that's our

that's our rule of our house

that God has be number one.

He's the most important and then they

follow suit in his plan.

Verse 61. Other man says, "Lord, I will

follow you, but let me first go and bid

farewell to those who are at my house."

Sounds harmless.

It's just a quick goodbye.

Not in the South. is not

trying to tie up loose ends. Just one

last moment. But what Jesus responds,

"No one having put his hand to the plow

and looking back is fit for the kingdom

of God." I want you to picture that for

a moment. A man is plowing a field, but

instead of looking forward, he keeps

looking back. What happens?

The rows become crooked, the work

becomes uneven, and the progress becomes

ineffective. Jesus paints that picture

perfectly for us. Do you know why that

is? Because the focus has been divided.

Jesus is teaching a powerful truth. You

cannot move forward spiritually while

constantly looking back. You cannot be

committed while still holding on to what

you left behind.

Lot's wife

maybe a good example there.

You cannot be allin while your heart is

still somewhere else.

So when you bring all of this together

in in in these really three encounters,

Jesus reveals three obstacles to

commitment. Y'all ready?

Comfort is number one.

I'll follow you as long as it's easy.

Number two, priority. I'll follow, but

after I handle other things. Number

three, divided focus. I'll follow, but

I'm still holding on to my old life. And

Jesus answers all three the same way.

And what was it? Commitment means you're

all in.

It's like a man standing at the edge of

a river saying, "I'm ready to jump in."

But one foot is still on the bank. Uh

you're not ready.

Might lean forward a little bit. You're

just never fully committed

cuz he's not in the water and he's not

fully on land either.

somewhere in between.

Well, brethren, that's where many

Christians live. Not fully committed,

not fully surrendered, and not fully

engaged. But Jesus did not call us to

stand on the edge.

He called us to be allin.

And what commitment means is no

conditions, no delays, no divided

loyalties. It means I'm allin with

Christ. And do you know what goes with

Christ? It's not just him, it's his

family.

Did Jesus make that clear earlier in the

lesson? Yes, he did.

Because you can't be a true Christian, a

true disciple, a follower of Christ

without being member of the Lord's

church, his body for Jesus and his

church. You know, they go together.

You have to be part of the family.

In our scripture in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12 that brother Aiden Mosley

read for us, let me give you verses 25-

27. But there should be no schism in the

body, but that the member should have

the same care for another. And if one

member suffers, all the members suffer

with it. Or if one member is honored,

all the members rejoice with it. Now you

are the body of Christ and members

individually. Friends, let me share with

this truth with you. Just as you cannot

be half married, you can't be a

part-time parent. You can't be

occasionally a family member. And you

cannot be half committed to God's

family. It doesn't work that way.

Because that's not the way God defined

family,

physical or spiritual.

Friends, we hear a lot of words said we

are the family of God.

You ever say that we're the family of

God? But what I wanted us to consider in

this lesson is although we may claim it

with words, I'm asking does our actions

support such a claim? Are we actually

part of the family?

I want my children to know that they

have us a physical family,

but they also have a spiritual family. I

want them to understand that

because there's meaning and significance

behind it. Not because dad says it to be

so, but because that's the way God

designed life. That's the way he

designed the church. You know,

we have to be careful that our words

match our actions.

It's important

because again who we influence

because we can use words we're part of

the family of God. You know people know

that you know because you tell them I'm

I'm part of the family of God. I'm a

member of the Lord's church.

Well, there's a story that's told about

a man. He'd been a member of the Lord's

church for years. He lived a quiet life.

His neighbor his neighbor had watched

him over time. And the neighbor knew he

was a Christian. He knew where he

worshiped. He knew he believed in God.

And one Sunday morning, the neighbor

finally decided he was going to go to

worship where his neighbor went. He and

he's had been thinking about it for a

long time because, you know, he's got

this family of God over here that he

talks about from time to time. Well, he

had questions. He was searching. No,

he's ready.

Before getting ready, he walked outside

and he saw his neighbor, the Christian,

and he's out well just mowing the grass.

Well, neighbor walked over and said, "I

thought you went to worship with your

church family." The man replied, "I do,

but I decided to stay home today and cut

my grass. I'll go next time.

Well, the evening rolled around.

Neighbor neighbor didn't go.

He had something else to do.

I I thought you were part of the family

of God.

I just can't. I'm tired. I can't do

that.

You know what the neighbor said?

He said something powerful. He says,

"Well, if it's not important enough for

you to be there,

then I guess it's not important enough

for me to go."

Now, what influence do you think that

that guy had on his neighbor?

See, I can claim one thing, but do

another.

And that man never went.

Now, again, you think about who you're

teaching. your neighbor, your

co-workers, your children, your

grandchildren, and the list go on. Your

friends, what do they see in your life?

Are you part of the family? Do they know

where you are this morning?

We've told people before, I said, "Well,

we're going to meet at 10 o'clock on

Sunday morning." And I just told them,

Ken says, "We ain't going to be there."

Well, you're you're part of the team.

You got to be here. No, we're not part

of that team. We're part of the family

of God. And that's where we're going to

be.

One decision, one moment of misplaced

priority, opportunities are lost. And

brethren, we don't always realize who's

watching. We don't always realize who's

considering coming. We don't always

realize who is measuring the importance

of God and his family by our actions. We

don't realize the impact that it has.

And we wonder why the nation is in such

a mess.

We wonder why we have the problems that

we do today. Because things have changed

since I've been growing up

because people have been treating God

and his family as optional.

They treated his word as optional.

And others begin to think, well, it must

not be essential here.

Friends, when we treat worship and we we

treat such things associated with God as

secondary, others begin to believe it

must not be important.

When we choose everything else over the

family, others conclude that family must

not really matter

because again, God and family, they go

together.

But again the truth is as we have seen

in this lesson our commitment speaks

louder than our words. And when we are

committed to the family of God we show

this matters. This is important. This is

where I belong. You are my people.

You are my people and I love you.

The church is not something we just

attend.

It is a family we are committed to.

So the question this morning is simple.

I'm asking are you part of the family? I

want you to notice why I used that that

language. I did not say are you on the

role. I know what that means, right?

Are you in the church directory? I

didn't ask that. Okay.

I didn't ask are you on the duty roster?

Didn't ask that one either.

I didn't ask do you attend? Sometimes

I'm asking are you part of the family?

I'm asking are you committed to the

family? And as we have seen very

clearly, I believe in this lesson that

means you are present. You're involved.

You're invested. You're connected. And

you prioritize the family. And when

someone looks for you, they're going to

know where you are.

You're with a family.

Well, friends, perhaps this morning

someone is not yet part of God's family.

But you believe that Jesus Christ is the

son of living God. You believe that with

all your heart

and you're ready to repent of your sins.

You're ready to confess his name and

you're ready to be baptized forgiveness

of sins. Friends, that's what they did

in Acts chapter 2. And they were

Acts 2 · chapter mention

baptized about 3,000 souls on the day of

Pentecost after that gospel sermon. They

were baptized for the remission of their

sins. And what happened? And the Lord

added to the church daily. Those who are

being saved,

they were added to the family.

When you obey the gospel, you are added

to the family.

If you need to do that this morning, we

would love for you to be part of our

family.

A family that's growing,

striving to do what's right in the sight

of God, our father.

But maybe you're already a disciple of

Christ and you have not truly committed,

maybe been distant, maybe inconsistent,

maybe maybe you haven't prioritized the

family. Well, this morning you can

change that. You can do it. Jesus calls

you to change it

because the church is not a place that

we go. It's a family we belong to. And

when we are committed to the family, we

no longer ask, "Do I have to be there?"

Instead, we ask, "How could I not? How

could I not be with my hand?

If you need to obey the gospel message,

if you need prayers on your behalf, if

you need to recommmit your life,

friends, the opportunity is before us to

be exactly what God called us to be, to

be one in him, just as Jesus prayed in

John 17. How sweet, how heavenly,

behold, how good and how pleasant it is

for brethren to dwell together in unity.

Psalm 133 and verse one. You're subject

to invitation. Call whatever your

spiritual name. want you go and we scan

and sing the soft has been selected.