We had a wonderful weekend celebrating my youngest daughter's birthday. Mike and I were with her, our older daughter and their friends. We had so much fun just being with friends, laughing and even dancing. I love being with my family! I love making memories with them! We had a lot to celebrate and I think we all felt that!
I am so blessed to have another family, a much bigger family, at my church. I also have an even bigger church family and that is all of you! You have all been so good to us through your cards, calls, texts, emails, food and visits and most importantly, your prayers! We felt them! Thank you all so much! I think about the first church. Can you imagine the excitement to quickly have a community where the people could rely on each other and called each other brothers and sisters!
In the Bible, Ruth married into Naomi’s family and pledged to stay with Naomi and join her people and worship God. Later Ruth was widowed and she eventually married Boaz, who took Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi, into his household. God restored hope to this family through extended family members who showed His love to one another. Ruth 1: 16, “But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God’”. Thank you, all, for being my people and showing His love!
My pastor talked about, first, we should help people feel they belong to church. If you are an orphan and you are adopted you take on that family’s name. In our church family, our name is Christian, because we are adopted by Christ. Ephesians 1: 5, “he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-” Now we are a part of the whole family of God. Hebrews 2: 11, “Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” Together we can show the gospel of Jesus Christ in a way we cannot do by ourselves.
“Church is not a place. It’s a body - a family with blood ties through Jesus Christ.”
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