Mark Broabent
*We can get pretty bad advice
*We do not have to go to church to be a Christian. Is that right?
*Does the Bible teach us this?
*We may hear Christianity is important but Church is not their priority
*Romans 8:14-16: For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba,Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
*All of us are God's creation, not God's children
*Some of us do not want to come in to become God's children
*We might think that if we are good enough, we will strengthen our relationship with him but won't it stir up pride in us. That is slavery
*We should be free from slavery and become God's children
*The story of the Prodigal Son
-The youngest son asking the father for the inheritance, wishing that the father would be dead
-After wasting all the money, the youngest son claims that he is not worthy to go back as His son but a hired servant.
-His father thinks otherwise
*God is not interested in us being His slaves but His children
*The Bible was translated but in this verse, they kept the word "son" - because the sons in the oldern times has the right to have inheritance and would carry the name
*Now God says EVERYONE would get His inheritance
*The danger is that we can learn all sorts of theology and might be influenced by that
*So what is the church?
*It is not an event, institution or a building
*It is not something we do there but something we ARE
*We are made up of God's adopted children
*We either belong or do not belong to God
1. It means going to a church service does not make you a Christian
2 ways to be a person's child-by marriage
-by adoption
*No one is committed 100% except through marriage
*In a marriage, two people are to be united together in life
*It is the same. To become a Christian, we must unite ourselves in Christ to become part of God's family
2. It is unthinkable that Christians would not be part of a church community
*A lot of people say they can see podcast, worship through cds, read books without coming to church*It is quiet ridiculous if the church is a part of us and were not going to church
*We come to church because we want to gather together, have fun and that is what families do
3. We do not come to church with our score cards
*We might be innovative but like the CEO of Apple, we cannot beat cancer*We do shop for churches but that is not the right thing to do
*We need to forgive and be forgiven, welcomed and be welcomed and you can only do that if we come to church
*We are invited to be in God's family, do life together and let others say that it is the life they want to live.
**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**
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