Becoming a Growing Faith Family in Christ

The people that are walking through the doors of our church, the one who's coming today, maybe somebody came today for the very first time, That person might be your new best friend, person that you do life with. You're in their wedding with them. You're raising your kids together. We have to be thinking, how can we invite more people into our family? And if we are not thinking that way, we will not accomplish the mission of saturating Spartanburg, The Carolinas, and the world with the gospel. It has to be deep within us. [01:01:50] (32 seconds)  #InviteMoreToFamily

Do for others what you wish would be done for you. Like, the way you get there is not simply just hoping that somebody will invite you to do something. You've been coming to First Baptist for a while, this is your home. This is your family. I encourage you to be the kind of person that invites people over for lunch that says, hey. You can be a part of this family. Come to my life group. Come to my family. Come to the student ministry with me. Come be a part of what god is doing here. Why? Because people matter. [01:01:21] (26 seconds)  #BeTheInviter

You see, families that don't replicate become extinct. Family trees that don't add children to them will eventually dry up and no longer be a family tree. That's the reality of the world. And you see this happening in churches all across America and in Europe. We see churches losing the vision to really reach people, and because of it, they end up closing their doors. [00:55:14] (28 seconds)  #ReplicateToSurvive

Now I know you might be going, I wish I could have that. That'd be awesome to have that. How can I have that? Well, you can't flip a switch and have that kind of community. You have to choose it. You have to be connected. And I I just wanna put this out there for you. If you're not part of a local body of believers, choose to be in one. Whether it's this one or a different church, choose to be a part of a local body of believers. Why? Because you need people in your corner, and you have to invest your life with them. You have to be connected to them deeply. [00:51:09] (29 seconds)  #ChooseCommunity

Jesus told his disciples, this is how you pray. Say, our father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name when he teaches them to pray. There's this idea he's putting in front of them that god isn't just somebody who's distant, who's saying, hey. You gotta keep the rules or I'm gonna hit you with a bullet of lightning. No. I'm I'm saying come close to me because I want to be in a relationship with you. [00:39:58] (22 seconds)  #GodWantsRelationship

So you can't have the idea of the church without an idea of movement of wanting to reach people, which is important because what I see over and over again is that churches wrestle with attention. How much time do we spend on insiders versus outsiders? How much time do we spend time on the people who are here versus the ones who are not yet here? And let me just tell it to you as clearly as I can. It's really important to focus on the people who are in your room, but it's also really important to focus on the people who are not here yet. [00:54:43] (31 seconds)  #ReachBeyondTheRoom

From that point on after church, I went over to the Schafer's house. Why? Because they had become family to me. I still call them sometimes. I'm like, hey, I'm wrestling through something. I'll call Larry up. I'll be like, hey, man. Help me think through this thing. Why? Because they became family to me, and you can do that for somebody else. I know there's some of us in this room who are thinking like, wouldn't that be cool if somebody did that for me? Guess what? [01:01:00] (21 seconds)  #BecomeFamilyForOthers

And then, God, I know that there's so many who've been running from God. You've been you've been hearing God just press in on you right now, and you're feeling the presence of God on your heart right now, and you can't explain it. God's doing that. You've been running for the last several weeks and you've just been chasing other things. But every time you come to church, feel the conviction that you know you're not following Jesus, but you want to. If that's you today, I invite you to give your life to Jesus by simply just saying, Jesus, I'm in. [01:06:28] (28 seconds)  #TurnBackToGod

Jesus, I trust you. I want to do your will, the will of the father, not mine. I'm gonna come to you. I'm surrendering everything I have because you're worth it. If that's you, do it right now. Just tell him, Jesus, I wanna follow you. I'm in. [01:06:56] (20 seconds)  #JesusImIn

And so you find this idea of God adopting his people into his family throughout the bible. You can find it in first John chapter three verse one where the apostle John writes. He says, see what great love the father has given us that we should be called God's children, and we are. God is loving. He desires a relationship. He's drawing us in, but it's something that you have to choose to do. [00:41:18] (25 seconds)  #CalledGodsChildren