Seek Other Believers as Your Family?

Good Morning!  Yesterday was Sunday, I hope you made it to church despite the time change!

One of the points from the Sermon yesterday, was Seek Other Believers As Your Family.

I like that.  I found two amazing believers and they took me in as a brother and helped me when I was new in my journey, as I still really am, and are continuing to help and we learn from each other.

Family is vital.  Whether it be physical or spiritual family, you need family.  To support you, for you to support, to love.  But something jumped out of that point just now.  I have a spiritual family, a lot of us do. Helpful loving brothers and sisters of God.  But what about the non-believers?  Should we not take them in too?  Chances are they don't have a spiritual family, and for all we know they may have no family at all.

Nobody that loves and cares for them and nurtures them and keeps their head up.  Love your Neighbor as Yourself.  What if that Neighbor isn't a believer?  Now I'm not saying take someone off the street in as your close spiritual family member, but I am saying to make an effort to shine some light in their day.

Because they might be happy, but they might not have Joy.  One pan of brownies on a rainy day is all it takes to show a person God.

The new Neighbors across the street? Take them a meal.  Not just to welcome them to the neighborhood, but to let them know you're there and are gonna be there, for it all.  Make a relationship and show God through it.  Invite the family to church, go out for coffee.  Create bridges.

I'm blessed to have a new friend that was dragged to church one day by Jules, and now loves to come with or without Jules.  She found a comfortable, loving, caring, friendly environment and she's learning about God.  She goes to Jules' small group on Wednesday night where they have a question box, for God Questions.  She asks a lot.  And she's asking good questions!  Questions others are afraid to ask.

How could you not invite her into your family?  She's not some raging serial killer, she's a real person that just hasn't found Jesus like we have.  So make it your duty to search with her.  Help her find God's unconditional love.  One of my friends was talking one day about a friend who wasn't allowed to come to church because her parents said she was too bad a person, God wouldn't take her in.

That broke my heart.  Like, I got teary when I heard that.  God doesn't care what you've done!

God will always and forever love you, no matter what.

One day soon I'm gonna talk to my friend about going to get coffee, and learning more about each other.  You don't have to say "let's go get coffee and talk about God" to the new neighbor, because you can bet there's a good chance that's gonna make them feel pretty uncomfortable.  Go get coffee to learn about each other first.

We're at the point where she's asking me questions in the middle of Robert talking on Wednesdays, just about God in general.  Not always about the lesson, but about Christianity and all that.

Answer her.  Don't point at the speaker and say listen, talk to her.  Step out of the room and give her an answer.  Because that question might be very important to her.  It may be simple as day to answer, but she doesn't know that.  She doesn't have everything figured out, and she wants to know.  Respect that and nurture her. Don't turn her away to a speaker that makes no sense to her, answer her.

A lot of people like her don't have parents that can answer those questions.  Her family may love and care for her, but she needs a spiritual family to do the same.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is, Go and make a family of believers.

That's not the same as making believers your family.

Go And Make a Family Of Believers.  Seek people that are seeking people like you, there's plenty out there.  You might sit down the pew from someone lie that every week and not know it.

Seeking other believers as family is just as important, but remember to make a family of believers.

Start a family, and nurture that family like a father or mother.  Care for them, grow them, grow with them.  Good chance they'll ask questions that you may not know the answer to, at which point you ask your pastor, they answer that question and boom you've just answered a question you've had for a while too.  It's a thing, you learn from them just as they learn from you.  Your family of new believers, or your new believer sister or brother will teach you.  Indirectly probably, but it'll happen.

So go invite the new neighbors to coffee, make them a meal.  Do something to build a bridge and eventually show them God.

Seek other believers as your family, while making a family of believers.

Jesus made Disciples out of people, showed them God and His love.  Do the same.