Rick Warren - You’re Not Alone… You’re Part of God’s Family (Part 2)

The Bible says that to be a follower of Christ

means to be a member of his family and a

member of his body. Following Jesus is far more than

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

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

are to belong in the family of God, which is

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

So we believe, then we belong, and then we become

all that God wants for us to be in the

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

Romans chapter 12, verse 5. Let's read it aloud together.

Romans 12:5

In Christ, we who are many form one body, and

each member belongs to all the others. Now, circle the

word belong. The Bible says that if you're a follower

of Jesus, you don't just belong to God. You don't

just belong to Jesus. You belong to me and I

belong to you and we belong to each other and

you belong to every other believer. You're in the family now.

You're in God's family. Now it's interesting that in the Bible,

two of the descriptions of the church are the church

is a body and the church is a family. The

church is the body of Christ and the church is

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

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

we use for membership actually comes from the Bible. And

the word membership has far more to do with life

than simply like wear a hat or secret signal or

say the password or handshake. Membership means far more than

just put your name on a roll. It means you're

vitally connected. The Bible says your hand is a member

of your body. If it's disconnected, it shrivels and die.

The Bible says your ears are members of your body.

They're members. If you cut off your ears, they're worthless.

They have no value at all if they're detached from

the body. If you cut off your legs, your knees,

your feet, they are members of your body. If you

cut it off, a disconnected foot is worthless. It has

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

die spiritually if you're not connected to the body of Christ.

And in the same way, you're a part of a family.

And the Bible says that we have family responsibilities to

each other. In fact, look at the next verse there

on your outline. The Bible says in Galatians chapter six,

let us do good to all people, especially those those

who belong in the family of believers. Now notice it

says we're to do good to everybody. You can't mistreat anybody.

You can't hate anybody. You can't show disrespect for anybody,

not to be a follower of Jesus. The Bible says

as a follower of Jesus, I am commanded to love everyone,

to respect everyone, and to be kind and loving to

all people, regardless of who they are, what they believe,

their lifestyle, what they do to me, I am to

return love for them. So let us do good to

all people. But he says, especially those who belong to

the family of believers. Now again, circle the word belong.

In both cases, you belong. You belong as a member

of the body of Christ and you belong as a

member of the family of God. Now this is a

very different understanding of a church than most people have.

If you ask most people what do you think of

when you say church, they think of a building, a building.

Or they think of it as an event. And church

is something you see on a corner or church is

something you go to to attend. The Bible says that's

not a church at all. Church is neither an event

nor a building. Church is a relationship. It is a family.

It is the family of God. In fact, it's going

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

outlast everything on earth. The Bible says God created the

entire world because he wanted, and the universe, because he

wanted a family. You cannot be what God wants you

to be. You cannot follow Jesus. You cannot follow Jesus

without being connected to his family. And the Bible calls

this membership, being a member. In fact, If you say, well,

I believe in Jesus, but I don't belong, then there's

a word for you. You're a spiritual orphan. You don't

have a family. You are a spiritual orphan. Now, our

model for our small groups are the small groups of

the book of Acts. Let me read this to you.

In Acts chapter two, it tells us the story of

the first day of the church and what happened afterwards.

Verse 41, it says, those who accepted Peter's message, this

is on the day of Pentecost, accepted his message, were baptized.

And about 3,000 were added that day to the church.

Imagine baptizing 3,000 people in one day. That's pretty good.

Then it says, then they devoted themselves to the apostles'

teaching and to the fellowship and to the breaking of

bread and to prayer. And everyone was filled with awe.

And many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

And all the believers shared everything together and had everything

in common. They'd even sell their possessions and good and

give to anyone when he had a need. And every

day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

And they also broke bread in their homes and ate

together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying

the favor of all the people. And as a result,

it says the Lord added to their number daily. The

church grew every day. The people who were being saved. Now,

if you're not in a group right now, these seven

things I'm gonna give you just real quickly as we

close are what you're missing in a small group. If

you're in a group, I want you to use these

seven signs of a healthy group to evaluate your own group. Okay,

here's what they did. Number one, they studied the Bible.

That's the first sign of a healthy group. They studied

the Bible together. In verse 42, it says, they devoted

themselves to the apostles' teaching. Now, what is the apostles' teaching?

It's this. It's the Bible. The New Testament was written

by the apostles. Paul, John, Peter, Mark, James, these were

apostles that wrote the New Testament. And obviously they didn't

have the Bible at that time. It wasn't found into

a book, but they were studying what we study today. Now,

evidently what the apostles were teaching on the weekends at

the temple courts, they were reviewing during the week in

the house to house. Second thing they did, it says

they fellowshiped and they ate together. In their small groups,

in the house to house, they fellowshiped and ate together.

In verse 42, it says, they devoted themselves to the fellowship. Now,

I've already talked about this, why it's important for us

to build relationships. But there's only one way you're going

to build fellowship, and that is through frequency. If your

group only meets every other week, if you miss it

one time, it means you haven't seen them for a month.

You can't have fellowship like that. You have to meet

every week. If you only meet every other week, if

you miss a week, that's a month you go without

that small group fellowship. So we need to have frequency

in our fellowship. And then notice it says in verse 46,

they ate together with glad and sincere hearts. Aren't you

glad that's a part of small groups? All right, food

is a tool of fellowship. Amen, amen. How many of

you have grown closer to other people through fellowship meals?

Can I see your hands? All right. How many have

grown fatter through fellowship meals? It's interesting. If you study

the ministry of Jesus, you'll find that almost every time

Jesus taught, they were either walking or eating. Walking or eating. Why?

Because when people are walking or when people are eating,

they're relaxed, right? And that way, communication can get through.

Their barriers aren't up. They're not defensive. In fact, a

lot of Jesus' major teaching, he taught while they were

eating dinner. That's a good thing. Okay? So I'm going

to give you a requirement from your pastor. You must

eat at your small group. I know that'll really be

hard for some of you. But it says they ate

with glad and sincere hearts. So you be happy when

you eat. And you eat it sincerely. Because that's what

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

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

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

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

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

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

in the homes. Not a single time in the Bible

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

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

there were no church buildings for the first 300 years

of the church. For 300 years, there were no church buildings.

They either used a synagogue if they were Jewish, or

they met in homes or just out under a park.

There were no church buildings. I've been in the oldest

standing church building. still standing which is in Syria it's

about 310 AD that's one of the oldest examples of

a church actually built so the idea of having communion

in the morning by the way it was called the

Lord's Supper not the Lord's breakfast Why? Because it was

done in the evening. It wasn't done as a morning mass.

And if you go to 1 Corinthians 11, and we

try to do everything here by the Bible, in 1

Corinthians 11, it tells us that one of the purposes

of communion is to promote openness to God and openness

to each other. That's why it's called communion. Openness to

God and openness to each other. You cannot be open

to other people in a crowd of 3,000 people. You

just can't do it because you don't know them. You

can't be open with people you don't know. That's why

communion is best served in a small group fellowship where

you know the people and you can share the struggles,

the prayers, the needs, the hurts, the encouragements that we

all need in that sense of openness. They shared communion.

Number four, they prayed for each other. In the small groups,

it says they devoted themselves to prayer. Now, I don't

have to tell you about the power of group prayer.

I have heard story after story after story after story

of small groups praying for people in crisis and seeing

amazing things happen and miracles and all kinds of things.

But you know as well as I do that when

you're stressed out, it helps to have other people praying

for you when you can't pray for yourself. Sometimes you

go through a tough time, you don't even know what

to pray. You just go, I'm so stressed out, I'm

so tired, I'm so broken, I'm so grieving, I can't

even pray. That's when you need people to pray for you.

You need people to believe God for you. You need

people to have faith for you, to pull you through

that tough time. Because there are times in your life

you're a blubbering mess. And you don't even know what

to pray. You're so depressed. You're so discouraged. You're so angry.

You're so mad. You're so worried. You don't even know

what to pray. And that's why we need each other.

To pray for each other. And when you're going through

a tough time, you should never have to carry your

major burdens by yourself. We were meant to help each other.

The Bible says it's not good for man to be alone.

God hates loneliness. Whether you ever get married or not,

you need a spiritual family. which provides the one another's

the comfort and praying for each other. Number five, the

fifth thing they did as a mark of a healthy

small group is they helped each other in practical ways.

And so we judge ourselves in this way. They helped

each other in practical ways. It says they gave to

anyone as he had a need. And that's what small

groups are supposed to do. You need to borrow a lawnmower? Here,

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

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

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

help making it through a tough time? Let me bring

some meals over while your wife is sick or your

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

Now what I'm just telling you about, friends, is the

exact opposite of the American way. The American way is

to centralize care. The Christian way is to decentralize it

and make it as personal and grassroots as possible. Whenever

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

is let's organize it and let's get a central control and,

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

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

a food pantry and wait for people to come and

get the food. And let's start a this and wait

for people to come and get it to the centralized place. Now,

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

because a lot of people are too embarrassed to go

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

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

You need a meal, we'll get you a meal. You

need help, we'll help you out. You need a ride

to the airport, we'll get you a ride to the airport.

And it is a decentralized and more personal through the

small groups. That's why, because they are the natural organization

of the body. Hi, this is Rick, and thanks for

joining me today. You know, this month on Daily Hope,

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

book called The Purpose of Christmas. I wrote this book

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

love for you by explaining the three purposes of Christmas

that were announced by the angel at the birth of Jesus.

The angel announced a time of celebration, I bring you

good news of great joy, salvation, for unto you is

born this day in the city of David, a Savior

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

goodwill toward men. Daily Hope is a 100% listener-supported ministry,

so if you can help us continue to spread the

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

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

this book, The Purpose of Christmas, as our special thank

you for your gift of support to Daily Hope Ministries.

The American way is to centralize care. The Christian way

is to decentralize it and make it as personal and

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

did as a small group is they worshiped together. They

worshiped together. In fact, the Bible says that as they

met in their house-to-house homes, It says they praised God

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

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

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

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

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

tell you the number of times when at the end

of the day, I was so tired and so worn

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

problems and dealing with with people in real need that

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

don't want to go to small group. I was just

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

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

I would make that commitment and I would show up

even no matter how tired I was. And while we

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

was renewed. My emotions were restored. My tank was refilled.

My love was reinvigorated. When I left, I was going, man,

I'm sure glad I went. Because before, I was a

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

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

things on my agenda. I've got too much to do tomorrow,

et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But I go to

small group, and it is in worship. We get emotionally recharged,

and it is in fellowship. We get spiritually strengthened. And

it is in looking at the word of God we

get rejuvenated. And it is all the things that a

small group is designed to do. It's for your benefit.

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

a fire going. You got a coal in that fire.

It's all hot. You take the coal off, set it

by itself. It grows cold. And the only way that

coal is going to get hot is get it back

in the fire. And the fire is the small group.

And that will keep you going. Number seven. The seventh

thing they did in a small group. is they invited

others to church. They told people about Jesus. They brought

people to Christ. They were an outreach group. Every one

of the small groups in the New Testament time in

the church at Jerusalem were focused on outreach, on helping

reach people who didn't know the Lord yet. And they

helped each other bring people to Christ. And the Bible

says this, every day, the number in their group continued

to grow as the Lord added those who were being saved. Now,

circle the word every day. Notice the church is growing

not just on the weekends, it's growing every day. Why?

Because the groups are meeting every day. Now, the proof

of a healthy, mature small group. How do you know

when your small group is mature? You start having babies. No.

The proof of physical maturity is the ability to reproduce.

When you go through puberty and you can have a

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

The proof of spiritual maturity in your small group is

your small group gives birth to other small groups. You

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

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

together a year or two years, maybe even longer, and

you can divide it up into two or three groups. Say,

we're going to start three new groups out of our

small group. Why? Because people need the Lord. And you

can divide it up that way. And, you know, if you're,

by the way, if your group has more than 10 people,

you're pregnant. Okay? You're pregnant. Why? Because you get more

than about eight people in a small group, it's no

longer a small group. because more than eight people studies

have shown somebody stops talking and they become a little

wallflower and the larger group gets the more two or

three people dominate the group. That's not what we want.

We want everybody participating. In small groups, small is better.

Best size group is maybe six people, maybe eight people.

You don't really have to have a big group. Six

or eight people. That way, I can't have relationships with

42 people. But I can have them with six. I

can have them with four. I can have them maybe

with eight. But, you know, if you've got more than that,

you need to consider dividing your group and multiplying and

having a baby. Or you can send out your best...

just like the church at Antioch did, where they took

Paul and Barnabas and said, you guys go out and

start new groups. You go out and start new churches,

things like that. Let me close by praying for you.

Would you bow your heads? Father, I pray for my flock,

and I pray it'll be an easier year for them.

For those, Lord, who are trying to climb out of debt,

may they find financial freedom this year. For those who

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

they're out of work right now, Lord, would you provide

a job? Would you open the doors that they could

get full employment again quickly? Father, for those who are

trying to climb out of a health crisis, those who

are facing difficulty, may this year be a year of

health for them. May they find new strength, new vigor.

May they be stronger than any year in the past. Father,

for those in our church family who are struggling with

relational problems and been through conflict, there's some here who

are separated from their husband or their wife, or there's

some who are in the middle of a divorce, some

who've lost a loved one, some who are having major

crisis in their home. Would you bring peace in their

heart and harmony in their relationships? Bless them with changes

of heart and mind that there would be reconciliation and

love and new future and new hope. Lord, for those

who've always had that dream, may this be the year

that they scale Everest. May this be the year that

they reach their peak, that they go after the height.

May this be the year that they take that chance

and start the climb. But I pray in all of

this that we won't do it alone, but that every

person in our church family will Be a part of

a temple court and a house to house. Be a

part of large group worship and small group fellowship. And

we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Friends, if you're

having trouble staying consistent in your Bible study and quiet time,

One thing you can do is have the Daily Hope

devotional and podcast emailed to you every single day. Did

you know that? Now each devotional, each daily devotional, gives

you a Bible verse and both a written and an

audio teaching about that verse. Now I mention this because

that's exactly what one of my listeners has done. Marla

wrote me and she says that getting Daily Hope devotionals

have helped deepen her relationship with the Lord and and

helped her be more consistent. Marla writes this, Hello, Pastor Rick.

I've been a Christian all my life, but I felt

lost for the past few years. But a friend of

mine told me about your Daily Hope emails, and I've

been getting them for about a month now. I read

them every morning, and my meditation and prayer practices have

become more regular and definitely more meaningful. My relationship to

God has grown because of you and the Daily Hope ministry.

I now listen to your podcast every day on my

way to or from work, and I love it. They

have really helped me as a mother, as a wife,

as a boss, and as a friend. So I'm going

to share them with my oldest daughter who's 19. She's

trying to find friends and find her way in college.

So thank you, thank you, thank you. Well, thank you, Marla.

Thank you for writing. I'm so encouraged to hear how

God uses Daily Hope to change lives to help people

just like you grow closer to him. You know, I

think it's great that you are sharing your Daily Hope

podcast with your daughter. And I want to invite all

of our listeners to do this. I have no doubt

that she is going to learn to lean on the Lord.

And as she does that, she'll develop biblical discernment. That

means knowing which way to go and who to relate to.

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

You'll find the Daily Hope podcast on my website, dailyhopetv.com.

All of these podcasts are free. And the reason we're

able to do that is because the generous gifts from

listeners like you. So those of you who are supporting

us financially, a million thanks. You're making a difference. You're

changing lives. Your gifts are causing people to come into

the kingdom, grow in Christ, and become all God intended

for them to be. Hi, this is Rick, and thanks

for joining me today. You know, this month on Daily Hope,

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

book called The Purpose of Christmas. I wrote this book

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

love for you, by explaining the three purposes of Christmas

that were announced by the angel at the birth of Jesus.

The angel announced a time of celebration, I bring you

good news of great joy, salvation, for unto you is

born this day in the city of David a Savior

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

goodwill toward men. Daily Hope is a 100% listener-supported ministry,

so if you can help us continue to spread the

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

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

this book, The Purpose of Christmas, as our special thank

you for your gift of support to Daily Hope Ministries.

Thank you.