We Are Family | Todd Jones

Man, so good to be with you guys today. Good

to just be able to open God's word, get to hang

out today. I want to welcome everyone online

that are watching, our online fam that's joining

us from everywhere you can imagine. They're here

joining us, and we get to be one family worshiping

God together. Super excited about that. Hey,

have you ever had something important to say,

but not a lot of time to say it? Anyone here

know what I'm talking about? Like, you're like,

man, I got really important things to say. I

just don't have a lot of time. to say it, right?

Usually this happens for me when I'm in line

at the grocery store and I call my wife and I'm

like, hey, did I get everything that you asked

me to get? And she's like, well, let me tell

you about my day. And I'm like, I don't got time.

Like I'm getting close. I have a limited amount

of time in order to tell you the things that

I need to tell you. I think that was Jesus's

entire ministry. He had three years to tell us

the most important information that this world

will ever hear. He had only three years to pack

in the most important information that we will

ever hear. And he lived this story of his life.

And in these three years we have recorded in

the Bible, we can read about his life. We can

read about his birth, a little bit of his raising,

but his ministry primarily in the book of Matthew,

Mark, Luke, and John. And we see that, but we

see everything that Jesus said was important.

But when you get down to the end of what someone

says, the last words, The last things that they're

gonna say, usually that's the most important.

All right, I'm gonna let you in on a secret here.

The secret is when John and I prepare a message,

we usually put the thing that we want you to

remember the most at the very end. We're like,

man, okay, all of it's great, but listen, this

is what I want you to hear the most. These are

the last words. These are the important ones.

All right, now that's not permission for you

to check out. All right, some of you are like,

all right, I can check back in in 25 minutes,

right? Or if John's preaching, 35 minutes, I

can check back in. I'm not saying that. All of

it's good stuff. All of it's good stuff. But

man, usually the last words are the most important

ones. These are what I want you to remember.

I do that with my kids. When my older ones are

watching my younger ones and I go, okay, I'm

going to leave the house. I give them instructions,

but I got to know these are the last words you

need to know. These are the last words. Okay,

the food on the counter, that's what you are

going to eat. Do not open the door for anyone.

I don't care who they are. Okay, keep the two

-year -old locked in the cage. Ready, bye. Boom,

right? Listen, I don't lock a two -year -old

in the cage that much, okay? I'm just saying,

I'm just saying. No, I don't at all. Don't write

me an email. I don't at all. But usually the

last words are the important ones, man. This

is what I want you to know. See, Jesus, he has

a few last words that he says when he's in the

end of his life. When he's on a cross, he says

some things that, man, when you know you don't

have a lot of time, those things are really,

really important. What you say carries weight.

And so we're gonna look over the next couple

of weeks leading up to Easter at Jesus's last

words. We're gonna look at what he said and what

we can learn as we look at just the end of his

life, right? The end of Jesus's life here and

how he handles those last couple of hours of

his life. So before we hop into God's word, would

you pray with me? God, thank you so much that

we are here today. God, I pray that you would

use me, speak through my words to our hearts.

I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So Jesus is

falsely convicted. Jesus is on trial and he's

falsely convicted and he's sentenced to death,

death on a cross. And so Jesus finds himself

in this place where he is headed to a cross and

he is nailed to a cross and he is hung on a cross.

And there's different types of people around

this area that are looking because Jesus, as

he's nailed to this cross, he's at this place

called Golgotha, which means the place of the

skull. And I think when we think of this place

where Jesus was crucified, where the cross is,

we think of the artist's rendition of this, where

there's kind of a mountain and three crosses

on top of this mountain. But when I was in Israel

a couple of years ago, I was able to see the

place they call the place of the skull, Golgotha.

And really what it was, was this giant rock that

resembled a skull. And they would crucify people

below this rock on ground level. In fact, it

was right in front of this road, this main road,

this main thoroughfare that people would go on.

And the reason that the Romans did this is because

they wanted people that were walking by to see

the people that were crucifying and say, oh man,

if that's the punishment, I'm not doing that.

They get a front row seat to look at the punishment

for if they mess up, if they do anything against

what the Roman empire wants them to do. And so

that's where this place was. So there's onlookers

that are in this place as Jesus is hanging on

this cross. There's different groups of onlookers,

right? You have the soldiers who are crucifying

Jesus. And at this point, what they're doing

is they're dividing up his clothes and they're

casting lots to say, who gets the free clothes?

This guy's not gonna need them. He's about to

die. So who gets free clothes? So they're dividing

their clothes there. All right, you have a part

of the crowd out there that's watching and they're

looking. And these are the ones that are cheering

on because they're like, man, kill this guy.

We want him to be crucified. And you have this

other part of the crowd that's there that's maybe

just onlookers. They're walking past and they're

looking. They're like, I wonder what's going

on here. Doesn't look like a good day for that

guy. They don't know what's going on, but they're

kind of just seeing what's happening. And then

you have a small group of Jesus's supporters

because most of them had scattered. You know,

Peter, he's off denying Jesus somewhere. Thomas

is probably off doubting somewhere. I don't know

what he's doing. Come on, that's a church joke

right there. Doubting Thomas? You all need to

read your Bible more. But there's a small group

of actual supporters that are still there for

Jesus. And as Jesus is on the cross, he addresses

them in John chapter 19, verse 25. He says this,

John 19:25

near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his

mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Colopus, and

Mary Magdalene. He's looking at his little tiny

group of supporters, and these are the ones that

are still there for him. These are the ones that

are still there in the midst of him being crucified

on this cross. And he says something here that

is completely unexpected, completely unexpected.

Like Jesus is in a terrible situation. He's in

the ultimate tough situation. There is not one

of us in here that can relate to what Jesus was

going through because none of us have been crucified

before. Jesus is crucified. He's on a cross.

He's about to die. He's beaten, not just with

physical pain, but with the spiritual pain of

taking the sin of the world on him. And he's

on this cross. He says something completely unexpected.

See, when I'm in a tough situation, I say exactly

what's expected, right? Like I stub my toe and

I'm not like, oh, praise Jesus right now, right?

Like I say what's expected in that moment, right?

Like if I'm driving and someone cuts me off,

I'm not like, oh, but just blessings on your

family right now, right? Like that's not me.

I say what's expected, right? I usually wave

at them with one finger. You know what I'm saying?

Like, I don't do that. I don't do that. But some

of you do. And listen to me. You need to take

that height sticker off the back of your car.

Some of you driving with that height sticker

and I'm like, yo, chill. Right, in those moments,

I say what's expected, right? If I'm in the backyard

and I'm playing cornhole and someone beats me,

oh, come on, that's not happening. Come on, you

know that. You know that's not happening. But

I say what's expected in those tough situations,

in those moments. Jesus here is in the ultimate

tough situation. And what he says is not expected.

What he says is this in verse 26. When Jesus

saw his mother there and the disciple whom he

loved standing nearby, he said to her, woman,

here is your son. And to the disciple, here is

your mother. If you're taking notes today, write

this down. Jesus is still caring for and focusing

on others. Jesus is still caring for and focusing

on others in the middle of this situation. Listen,

he's worried about his mom. He's like, mom, what's

gonna happen to you when I'm gone? Because Mary,

who's married to Joseph, we know the Christmas

story, Joseph passes away, she's a widow now.

And in that culture, you have to have someone

to take care of you or you don't have shelter,

you don't have food, you don't have a life. You

need somebody to take care of you. And he knows

the husband's gone, Joseph's gone. Jesus as the

oldest son is the one taking care of his mother.

And if you look at this, if you know Jesus had

brothers, and so the question a lot of times

is, well, what about his brothers? Why would

Jesus choose this disciple here for his mom to

take care of his mom when it would just be the

duty of the brothers to step in here? And we

know from scripture, Jesus's brothers were named

James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. But here's the

thing, they didn't believe in him. They didn't

believe. It says in John chapter seven, verse

five, for even his own brothers, did not believe

in him. And side note, I think this is one of

the most incredible things about the resurrection

that proves its validity, that proves its truth,

is that Jesus' brothers did not believe in him

before the resurrection. He said, hey, I'm gonna

die and I'm gonna raise again. And his brothers

are like, listen, you crazy, bro. That's not

happening. I don't believe that. They weren't

even there. They weren't even present. Jesus

couldn't even pass them on to his brothers. He

had to pick a disciple here because his brothers

weren't even there. But then after the resurrection,

you can look in your Bible. One of Jesus's brothers

wrote a book called James. It's in the Bible.

And he believed. Jesus's brothers then believed

after his resurrection. Listen, if your brother

told you he was gonna die and raise again, you'd

do the same thing they did. We don't believe

that unless he actually did it. Unless you see

him afterwards and you go, wow, this is true.

I believe this. But at the time of the crucifixion,

Jesus is on this cross and he's going, listen,

my mom's got nowhere to go. And Jesus, man, listen,

he had every right to be selfish in this moment.

If anyone has a right to be selfish, it's Jesus

in this moment. I can imagine none of us would

judge Jesus if in this moment you were to go,

listen, I did nothing wrong to be hanging on

this cross right now. Like, mom, this is my time

to hurt. Mom, this is my time. Like, hey, mom,

I know, but listen, don't you realize what I'm

going through right now? Jesus had all the right

to do that, but he did not do that. Instead,

he was focused on others. See, we go through

victim mentality when we go through tough situations,

though. In our life, when things get hard, we

become the victim of it. Man, why is this happening

to me? The world's just out to get me. Everything's

hard. Everything's tough. It's all about me.

All right, this is me. When I go through tough

situations, I get in the spiral. This victim

mentality spiral. I'm like, man, I'm stressed

about the bills that I have to pay. I don't know

if I can do it. This is getting hard. And then

I go, but I can't work anymore than I already

am because work's really busy right now and work's

so hard I can't even do it. And I have so many

kids and I gotta take them here and there and

everywhere and life's so hard. And I get in this

spiral, right? And I turn into this monster.

Man, I'm so grateful for a wife that knows how

to pull me out of the spiral that I'm in. She

gets a tranquilizer and she shoots me and she

puts me on the ground and she goes, listen, I

need to speak some truth into you because you've

turned into a monster. And she goes, listen,

your problem is this, is you're only focused

on you instead of looking up and looking out

and seeing about that there's plenty of other

things around you. When we get in tough situations,

sometimes we only focus on us instead of seeing

the world around us, instead of seeing other

people. All right, what Jesus does is Jesus shows

us how to be others focused even in our pain.

All right, even in our pain, he shows us how

to be others focused. He says, listen, it's not

about you. We should have the same mindset that

he had. Paul writes about this in Philippians

2. He says, listen, this is the mindset you should

have. He said, make my joy complete by being

like -minded, having the same love, being one

in spirit and one of mind. Do nothing out of

selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in

humility, value others above yourself. Not looking

to your own interests, but each of you to the

interests of others. being others focused. See,

I think if we were to be people that took after

Jesus and in the middle of our pain, in the middle

of our struggle, we didn't just look at ourself,

but instead we looked up at others, we'd find

a way to get through what we're going through.

It would start changing our mindset so that we

could make it through what we're going through

when it's not all about us anymore, but it's

about other people. Jesus shows us here. Jesus

shows us how to be others focused. He says this,

he looks at the disciple in verse 27 and to the

disciple, he said, here's your mother. And it

says this, from that time on, this disciple took

her into his home. From that time on, he took

her into his home. All right, number two is this,

Jesus shows us what family truly looks like.

Jesus shows us what family truly looks like.

Listen, we talk about it all the time in here.

We say, hey, you're a family. Heights is a family.

Welcome to the family. We're glad you're a part

of the family. We talk about family all the time.

And for some of you, you're like, listen, I grew

up with a family that was whack. My family was

cray -cray. They were nuts. Your family was like

an episode of Jerry Springer. You know what I'm

saying? You weren't raised. You escaped. You

got out of there. I escaped. I'm done. I'm gone.

That was you. And so for you, this is really

good news because you need a family. You're going,

man, the family I was raised with, they're crazy.

But this is the family. That's great news. See,

others of you, you were raised in a family that

was amazing. It was awesome. And so you know

what it's like. So this is good news for you

too, because you're like, man, I know what it's

like to have a good family. And if this is the

family, that's amazing. This is incredible. We

get to be the family here. And Jesus said this,

this idea that we are family here is not one

that we came up with. Jesus said it. In fact,

Jesus was teaching one time. And as he was teaching,

someone came up and they said, hey, your mom

and your brothers and your sisters, they're outside.

And Jesus says this in Mark 3, verse 33. He said,

Mark 3:33

who are my mother and brothers? He asked. And

he looked at those seated in a circle around

him. He looked at the church around him. He looked

at the people of God that were right in front

of him as he was teaching, just like we're sitting

here today. And he says this. He said, here are

my mother and my brothers. Whoever does God's

will is my brother and sister and mothers. That's

who it is. All right, whoever does God's will,

that's my brother, that's my sister. All right,

you ever been to an old Baptist church before?

That's all they call you? Hello, brother. Greetings

in the name of the Lord, brother. You're like,

oh, sweet. Everyone's brother, everyone's sister.

That's who we are. God says, listen, if you do

the will of God the Father, you're my brother,

you're my sister. We are a family. We are the

family of God. Do you know what family does,

though? Family sticks together. Because sometimes

what we do as people, we go, okay, but here's

the deal. Church is fine. That's what I do. Family,

that's something else. And we like to separate

those two. We wanna keep those. We go, I got

it on my own. The church is great. It's something

that I go to, but I don't need a family. I got

this on my own. And you don't understand the

need that you have for this family. There's no

such thing as being a lone wolf. They don't exist

because wolves travels in packs. They understand

why they need to be in a pack. We need to understand

why we need to be in the family of God. There's

a need for you to be in the family of God. See,

I think part of the reason why we don't embrace

this idea of family is because church a lot of

times is a checklist, not a lifestyle. And when

church is a checklist, it's just something that

you do to check off your list. I did it, I showed

up, I was there, but it's not a lifestyle. Then

you separate the act of going to church with

being a part of the family of God. If we're gonna

be a part of what God has called us to, we need

to be a part of the family of God. So what does

the family of God do? The family provides for

each other's needs. Mary was in a place where

she needed some stuff. She needed food, she needed

shelter. What John was doing, taking her in was

saying, hey, listen, I'm gonna provide for your

needs. The family of God provides for our needs.

I remember when my wife was pregnant with our

first kid that ended up being two, we had twins.

And man, she was so sick. She was throwing up

nine to 12 times a day. It was wild. I'd be sitting

on the couch watching TV and this commercial,

the most beautiful hamburger you've ever seen

in your life came on. I mean, it was gorgeous.

I'm like, man, I'm getting so hungry right now.

And she just gets up and runs to the bathroom.

And I'm like, what are you doing? I would sit

close to her, like closest in 10 to 12 feet from

her. And she'd go, listen, you stink really bad.

I'm like, I just took a shower. She's like, I

know, it smells horrible. I'm like, I love you

too. Thank you. That's awesome. Right, everything

made her sick. I couldn't eat because the house

apparently would stink, right? And so I would

be like in the bathroom eating cereal. Like I

lived on that for like a month. I was like squatting

in my own house. I was just eating cereal in

the bathroom. That's how I lived. Like this isn't

normal. All right, people in the church got wind

of this and they were like, man, he might die

of starvation. And so they started showing up

and they would bring me food and they would set

the plate out on the front porch. And I would

go outside and sit on the front porch and eat

it like an animal, right? Right under my front

porch. But listen, I had a need and the church

said, we're gonna step into that need. I lived

in the San Francisco Bay Area in California.

And if you don't know, in the Bay Area, you have

to make $10 million a year in order to live there.

And in case you're wondering, I did not make

$10 million a year. I mean, if I'm honest, there

was weeks where I truly didn't know if I was

gonna be able to feed my kids. I didn't know

if we were gonna have food. And there was a man

in the church named Roland and he would knock

on the door. He'd say, hey, I got a box of groceries

and some gift cards to Safeway. See, what the

church does is they show up for needs. About

a year ago, I was speaking a message in here.

I was talking to you guys and I was telling you

about my ghetto car. And I was telling you about

this thing. It's missing a hubcap. It's got a

list of things that's wrong with it. I mean,

I was only telling you that because I was trying

to get you to laugh about it. I never do that.

I try never to make you laugh. But with that

one, I was trying to. man, so many people came

up to me and they said, hey, I wanna buy you

tires. I wanna help you. I'm like, that's not

why I said that. They said, I know, but I heard

of a need and I'm here to help. All right, that's

what the church does. They step in. My wife is

a leader in our youth ministry. She leads a group

of girls and she was texting with her girls the

other day, just saying, hey, how are you guys

doing? Checking in on them. They were all checking

in on her. And she said, my back really hurts.

I just threw my back out. And that night, one

of her students, a high school student, with

their own money, shows up and said, hey, we brought

you dinner. I bought you dinner. I'm going to

show up and give it to you. See, that's what

the family does. The family provides for each

other's needs. The family shows up and said,

listen, I see a need. I'm going to provide for

it. And listen, Heights has incredible ministries.

We have a ministry. Our local ministry feeds

people and takes care of people and gives to

the needs of the people in our community and

in our church. And that's amazing. But I'm not

talking about the ministry that the church provides

because the church is not a ministry. The church

is people. It's you. It's you looking over and

saying, man, there's a need in the person that

is next to me. There's a need around me. Family

steps in for the needs of the people around them,

not point them to a ministry so someone else

can do it. But then it's my job to step up and

to say, hey, listen, we provide for each other's

needs. Family is also there for each other. Family's

there for each other. Man, Mary, her son, her

only son, her miracle baby. conceived by the

Holy Spirit, who never did anything wrong, raised

his entire life, is now on a cross in front of

her, nailed and beaten and bloody and bruised

to a cross. And she watched her only son die.

I can only imagine the amount of emotional support

that Mary needed. John didn't just take care

of her physically and go, okay, yeah, yeah, I

got you with a meal. I got you a bed over in

the corner. You're good. No, he was there for

her. What he was signing up for was saying, hey,

I'm here for emotional support. I'm here to help

you. We are there for each other. There's a lady

in our church who I really care about. She's

a friend of mine. And this week is the anniversary

of her mother's passing. And she also found out

that her mentor passed away this week as well.

And man, she's just, I know she was going through

a lot and she was just heavy on my heart. And

I reached out to her and I just said, hey, how

are you doing? How are you doing? I wanna be

there for you. And she calls me and we were talking

and. I said, how's your day been? She said, well,

I was talking to some people from our church.

She's talking to them and she's telling me about

the conversation she had with them that were

there for her, that were there to talk to her.

And then I continued to talk to her and she said,

hey, I have to go. I said, well, where are you

going? She said, I have to go meet up with someone

else who's reached out to me and is here for

me as well. So that's what the family does. The

family is there for each other. They walk alongside.

They're there when we go through difficult times.

It is absolutely inevitable. In fact, Jesus said

it, listen, in this world, you will have trouble.

You're gonna go through it. But we have a family

to walk alongside of us in it. That's why when

we talk about life groups, we talk about it so

much. And some of you just let it go in one ear

and right out the other. But life groups are

so critical because that's who you do life with.

That's who you walk alongside of you when things

get hard. That's who walks you through when you

have the death of a loved one. That's who walks

you through when you have an illness. That's

who walks you through when a divorce happens.

That's who walks you through when things get

really hard. We have people in our life to come

alongside. And that's what the family does. That's

what the family does. And the family does not

mean a pastor. Because a lot of times we think,

okay, if the church is going to show up for me,

if we're really a family, then I need a pastor

to show up. I was talking to someone the other

day and they're going, man, I'm going through

this and the church just didn't show up for me.

You say you're a family, but the church didn't

show up. And I said, well, did this person show

up? And they said, yeah. What about this person?

Yeah. What about this person? Yeah. But a pastor

didn't. Listen, I'm going to tell you right now,

if you're going through something, you don't

want me to show up. You don't. I love teaching

God's word. I believe it's a gift that I have

to be able to teach God's word. I don't know

what to do when I sit down with somebody who's

going through a difficult time. I don't know

what to say, right? I turn into Ricky Bobby.

I'm like, I don't know what to do with my hands

right now. I'm just getting weird, getting awkward.

I don't know what to do. You don't want me. But

the family, that's who you want. The family of

God does not mean a pastor. It means all of us.

But here's the thing. A lot of times people get

upset with heights because we didn't show up

when we didn't know what happened. It's a two

-way street. If you don't let us know what's

going on and you don't let us know the needs

that you have, then we can't show up for you.

If you never let anyone in, if you're not in

life with anyone, if you're not continuing to

walk in the family, but you've distanced yourself

from the family, we won't know what's going on.

It's not because we don't like you. It's not

because we're like, oh, it's that person that

needs something. We're not helping. That's because

we don't know. You have to let us know what's

going on. We are not mind readers. There's not

a single person at Heights that is a mind reader.

You have to let us know what's going on. See,

the church is as big or as small as you make

it. I hear this all the time, and I understand

people have different preferences when it comes

to size of church, but I hear it all the time.

This is just too big. I can't get connected here.

And I need you to know that the church is as

big or as small as you make it. And I've worked

on staff. I've been a pastor on staff of a church

of 80 people. and a church of 7 ,000 people.

And I'll tell you this, you can slip in and slip

out of a church of 80 people and be just as anonymous

and no one will know who you are if you're not

involved. And you can also be a part of a church

of 7 ,000 people and you can be as connected

as possible. The church is as big or as small

as you make it. Are you in a life group? Are

you on a serve team? Do you just slip in and

slip out and say, I hope no one talks to me?

Or are you involved? Are you getting to know

people? Because the church was created to be

a family. That's what we are. We are a family.

When we say we're a family, that means families

are here for each other. Next is this. Families

challenge each other spiritually. Family challenges

you spiritually to be better. It's calling you

out and calling you up in love. See, some of

you, this is your favorite part. Calling you

out, calling you up. I can do that. But it's

not in love, and that's not a family. That's

not what families do. It's in love saying, hey,

I want the best for you. The reason I'm saying,

hey, there's more for you. The reason I'm saying

that there's standards in the way that you act

needs to be this way is because I want what's

best for you. All right, family doesn't mean

just doing what you want. I think a lot of times

people weaponize this statement of we are family.

I hear it often, people go, well, heights set

of their family, but families don't. And then

what they want is to do exactly what I want.

And what they say is you didn't do what I wanted,

therefore. You're not doing family. Families

don't do what you want. Families want what's

best for you. I think the contrast that we see

in this is that Jesus is on a cross and what

is happening is the soldiers are dividing the

clothes up and going, I want this, I want that.

I want what I can get in this moment when the

contract is the other side of it, the family

of God that's concerned about each other's wellbeing.

It's not about what they can get. It's about,

man, how do I care for one another? How do I

get what's best for you? I want what's best.

For you. I'd say probably the number one way

that I'm challenged spiritually, that I grow

spiritually is just reading the word of God.

The word of God challenges me spiritually. It

challenges me to be better. I read it and I go,

man, God's calling me to more. But a very close

second is the family of God. It's the people

in my life that I do life with. It's the people

like Pastor Bob and like Pastor Ben, like Pastor

Jordan that I get to do life with and say, hey

man, I think there's more for you. And there's

been so many times where I've been in a conversation

with Pastor Ben and him and I are just challenging

each other to be the best that we can be when

it comes to our spiritual life. The family of

God challenges us spiritually and moves us closer.

See, God created this idea of family. Now, listen,

I don't want anyone in here to hear me wrong.

I did not say that family is perfect. Families

make bad decisions. I'm telling you right now,

families make bad decisions. Pastor Jordan and

I decided that this month we were going to grow

mustaches. And some of you right now are like,

oh, I noticed that thing is glorious. That's

all I can stare at this whole message. You didn't

even know I was giving a message. You were just

looking at the stash the whole time. Listen,

it's amazing. Pastor Jordan and I, we look like

Mario and Luigi walking around here. He's Luigi,

I'm Mario. You know what I'm saying? Man, it's

glorious, but here's the deal. It's a bad decision.

It's a bad decision, not because it looks bad.

You know it doesn't look bad. You're seeing it.

You got eyeballs. It's a bad decision because

I'm at a point right now where the mustache is

eating more of my food than I am. You know what

I'm saying? Yesterday, I had a bagel with cream

cheese. I ate the bagel. The mustache ate the

cream cheese. I was like, what is going on here?

All right, in the middle of the night, I wake

up. It's in my mouth. I'm like flossing my teeth

with mustache hair. It's awful. It's terrible.

I go to kiss my kids and they run from me. They're

like, you get that caterpillar away from me right

now. Right? Listen, those of you who rock mustaches

permanently, mad props to you. You are a better

man than me. It's a bad decision. We make bad

decisions. Listen, and not just on silly things.

When it comes to church, we make bad decisions.

Your leadership of this church is going to make

bad decisions. We will let you down. You know

why? Because we are messed up humans. The church

is made up of humans and humans are messed up

and we will let you down. We will make bad decisions.

The family will make bad decisions. We will make

decisions that you will go, man, I didn't like

that. I disagreed with that. That bothered me.

That was hard for me. We will make bad decisions.

That's going to happen. The family doesn't mean

perfect, but it means perseverant. It doesn't

mean perfect, but it means perseverant. Listen,

don't jump ship when we make a decision that

you don't like. I'm out of here. I'm out of here.

That's not what family does. Family does not

mean perfect. It means perseverance. And we're

going to move forward in this. And that means

we're not going to jump ship. We're not just

going to leave every time we disappoint you.

Because we will. Listen, if we haven't disappointed

you yet, you haven't been here long enough. Just

wait. It's coming. I was talking to somebody

who's been at Heights for over 20 years. really

long time. And they were saying people who've

left often come to them and say, why are you

still there? Haven't they disappointed you? Haven't

they let you down? Haven't they made bad decisions?

And she's like, oh yeah, they've made a lot.

They made a lot. They go, why are you still there?

She said, because they're family. And family

doesn't just jump ship because it's not about

perfection. It's about perseverance. Jesus said,

listen, you're a family. He shows us what true

family is. Man, but there's something else I

want you to notice here. There's something I

want you to notice. Some of you might've picked

up on this, but as you're looking at this passage,

it says this, when Jesus saw his mother there

and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby,

he said to her, woman, Jesus, you just call your

mom a woman? Really, bro? Are you serious, right?

Some of the moms in here, your blood pressure's

rising. You're like, oh man, if one of my kids

called me that, like the disrespect, Jesus, woman.

Right? Some of you who have a mom in here, you're

getting scared. You're about to go run and hide

under a bed right now because she's coming with

a belt. You know what I'm saying? You talk to

your mama like that? Jesus, why are you talking

about your mama like that? He calls her woman.

And in the culture, you have to understand that

wasn't a term, it wasn't disrespectful what Jesus

was saying. But we do see him, Jesus, do this

another time in scripture. Right? They're at

this wedding and it is the beginning of Jesus's

public ministry and Jesus hadn't done anything

yet to show. His divinity. He hasn't showed his

miracle power. He hasn't showed any of that.

And they're at this wedding. And this is what

it says in John chapter two, verse three. When

the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him,

they have no more wine. Woman, why do you involve

me? Jesus replied. My hour has not yet come.

See, and in both instances, Jesus is about to

do something that only the Lord of the universe

can do. In both instances, he's about to do something

that only the Lord of the universe can do. Nobody

in the history of the world has turned water

into wine and nobody will since. It's not gonna

happen again. He's doing something only the Lord

of the universe can do. And then again, we see

him on a cross, dying to purchase and redeem

humanity with his blood, something that only

the Lord of the universe can do. And so in this

moment, what Jesus is doing is he's going, hey,

mom, hey, mom, recognize what's about to happen.

And he switches. He switches from speaking to

her as a son to speaking to her as Lord. And

in this moment, what Jesus shows us is that his

departing words to her, his departing words to

humanity, his last words, man, this is what I

want you to get. Jesus says to her this, mom,

these are not words of love for a mother, but

rather a symbol of the love and provision of

my redemption. for the weak and the vulnerable

whom I'm purchasing with my blood. Last is this,

write this down. Jesus's care and compassion

is for your soul. That's why Jesus went to a

cross. His care and compassion is for your soul.

Jesus went to a cross because he said, listen,

I loved you enough that I'm willing to go to

a cross. And it's not just about providing for

your physical needs. It's not just for you to

show up to church on a Sunday and check it off

your list. It's because I am. purchasing your

soul. Can we just talk about adoption for a moment?

Listen, I have five kids and they're wonderful

and they're beautiful and I didn't choose any

of them. It's just what I got. But when you adopt

someone, you choose them. You pay the price for

them. You go through a process for them. And

when you've gone through the process, when you've

paid the price, when you've chosen them, you

get a legal document, you get a piece of paper.

And on that piece of paper, they have your name.

They get your name, which means that they have

access to everything that you have access to.

Which means that they have an inheritance and

a right to everything that is yours. It is theirs

because they've been bought. They've been purchased.

They've been brought into your family. Listen,

Jesus adopted you. Jesus went to a cross and

Jesus said, listen, I'm purchasing you. I'm paying

the price. I'm going through the process and

I'm willing to give you my name and give you.

to everything that I have, to stand on the name

of Jesus and the grace that is only found in

Jesus. Because on the cross, what he did is he

wrote an invitation, an invitation for adoption.

He wrote an invitation for adoption. And he said,

listen, this is a free invitation to you, to

me, to everyone. And he's saying, come to my

family. My care is for your soul. The call is

to run to his family. Man, I wonder who in here

today needs to make some decisions this morning.

I wonder who in here today needs to accept the

invitation for adoption and say, listen, I know

that Jesus died on the cross for me. I know that

he gave his life for me to purchase me with his

blood. I'm tired of doing it on my own. I wanna

take the invitation and step in to his family.

I wonder who in here today needs to start living

like they're a part of the family. And maybe

you've already accepted that invitation, but

you've pushed church away and you need to start

living like you're a part of the family. All

right, next week, we're gonna have life group

signups. We're gonna have opportunity for you

to sign up for Growth Track. And we talk about

life groups, we talk about Growth Track, we talk

about that all the time. But for some of you

in here today, your step is to pray about what

it would look like for you to sign up and say,

God, is this what you want? Do you want me to

take this step to join, to get to know more about

the church, to get to know more about living

in community and being with people and going

through life with them and allowing people in

so that I'm not just a participant of, but I'm

someone who's actually a part of what's going

on in this church. Listen, you are loved by God,

a God who sent his son so that you could be a

part of the family. Let's pray. God, thank you

so much for the invitation to adoption. Thank

you, God, that when you went to the cross, you

were extending an invitation. God, I pray for

the people in here today that need to accept

that invitation. I pray for the people in here

today, God, that need to say, listen, I am done

trying to do it on my own. I want to accept you.

God, I pray for those of us in here that have

been avoiding family, but know that we need to

come to the family. That need to change church

from a checklist to a lifestyle. God, I pray

for those in here today. that need to take the

step of joining a life group, that need to take

the step of living out the faith within the family.

But ultimately, God, we just praise you. We thank

you. We thank you for who you are. We thank you

for what you have blessed us with, what you have

given us. We thank you for the invitation to

be a part of the family. We pray this in Jesus'

name. Amen.