Pollster George Barna reports that the top priority of adults in America is their families. God put that desire, the desire to be part of a healthy family, in the hearts of every person. Regardless of whether the family you grew up in was healthy or not, God created you first and foremost to be part of His family. NIV 1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! Being part of God’s family and relating the rest of God’s family is one of the five purposes that God has for your life, the purpose of community or fellowship.
Today, we begin a new message series entitled “Become Part of the Family.” In this series, I’ll be talking about two aspects of God’s family. This is confusing to a lot of people, so I’m going to address it right from the start to help you understand. The first aspect of God’s family is the universal family of God. The universal family of God is made up of every believer in the world, those who have lived before, those who are alive now and the ones who will become believers in the future. One day the we’ll all be together with God in eternity forever. When I attended college, I led a small group Bible study. The name we chose for ourselves was the “Forever Family Fellowship.” Someday in heaven, I will meet some of the people from that Forever Family fellowship of many years ago. The universal family of God is forever.
The second aspect of God’s family is the local family of God. The local family of God is believers who are united together in a local church. They are united both by their commitment to Jesus Christ and by their commitment to one another in the church. Some local churches are small, less than thirty people, and you can get to know everybody pretty well. That’s what Life Church was like when we started out. Others are average size like Life Church right now, around 100 people. It’s actually hard to get to know 100 people well, but you can get to know a dozen people in a Life Group well. Other churches are very large. The largest church in the world is Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul Korea with a current membership of over 800,000. The people build relationships in that church in the largest system of small groups in the world.
Every person needs to be a part of both the universal and local families of God. It’s God’s plan for you and your family. It’s the only way you’ll be successful in life. Today, I am going to talk about the universal family of God. My message is entitled “What God’s family Is About” If you’re not a believer, you’ll learn how to become part of God’s family. If you’re a believer, you’ll learn how to see yourself and live as a member of God’s family. The more you do, the more successful you’ll be in life fulfilling God’s purpose.
To hear more about this topic, listen to my April 23, 2006 message entitled What God’s Family Is About
Bravo Pastor Dan! Excellent presentation that I’ll save for my adult kids who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.