Ross Tenneson

Sam Choi

Intro

History of the church

Next week will be a year as a church (June 16th). And as a leadership team, we thought it would be fitting to take a week off from our series in Hosea and have a kind of “state of the union” address. Now, we’re not the united states. And I’m no president. But as one of the pastors, I want to give a big picture view of where we’re at and where I believe God is taking us.

Bringing a team together (70 no’s, first going to be in Roseville, majority of attendees from first interest meeting). We even had one of our founding pastors step down two weeks before we launched.

But God carried us along.

We ent from 19 founding members to now 40. A we have become more a more like the family. With many members testifying that they have never been more loved and cared for.

Established some forms to facilitate functions.

Went from 1 Mc to 2 to 4.

We have seen many who are far from God engaged and some are now following Jesus.

I’m so grateful to be one of your pastors. I am so grateful for you.

Yet there are a handful of members who are just drowning. They are struggling. And we all have are own struggles and seasons. I believe we are caring for many members well but not all members. We can do better. And we must do better, for the glory of God.

New Challenges = New Opportunities

Overall, as a whole, we’re doing okay. We’re all still walking in a fallen world and have hard days and season, but for the most part, we are caring for one another, growing in Christ, and reaching others.

But I believe God has more for us.

As you know, part of our mission is to reach those far from God.

And thus, we are now making membership a little more accessible and baptism more immediate.

This is and will result in more growth to our family and more people being reached.

Let’s worry about our depth and let God take care of our breadth

Better before we get bigger

Instead of reacting to these potential challenges, let’s prepare. Let’s show God that we are full of faith in him to do great things.

I’ve once heard an illustration that went like this:

“Two farmers desperately needed rain, so the prayed to God for it. Afterwards, one waited at home but the other, got his fields ready.”

Now which farmer really trusted God to provide the rain?

I believe God is going to give us some rain.

But we’re not ready yet.

I want everyone to imagine one person in your life right now who lives around here who you desperately want to follow Jesus.

Please think of them.

Now, imagine that person comes to Christ tonight.

Over night, our church would then double. But it would double with brand spanking new, baby Christians. Full of immaturity. Full of struggles. Full of wrong ideas about God, themselves, and others.

Could our church handle discipling all those people?

I want to be able to grab any new believer and find one of you who’s been with us for some time and be able to hand them off to you.

We must prepare for the harvest

But first and foremost, we must be following Jesus ourselves. We must be the kind of vibrant community that the world cannot deny and new believers and outsiders find compelling.

“I want us all to re-commit ourselves to following Jesus and helping others do the same.”

›    Our Text will help us do that...

I need this passage. Disciple-making is a lifestyle that you can drift out of. 

Text

1. Jesus gives a specific mission and example in this passage to the 12 apostles. However, the principals are just as relevant for us today.

2. We’re going to go deep into chapter 10 too but we won’t cover every verse. We’re going to mostly go in order.

›    Before we look at how to follow Jesus and help others do the same, we want to look at the one whom we are following.

What did He do and what was he like? 

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.

So Jesus is preaching.

What is his message?

The gospel of the kingdom.

What is the gospel of the kingdom?

Is that different from just the gospel? Yes and no.

Well the first part is gospel which means good news.

What is the good news?

Throughout his ministry in Matthew Jesus brings restoration and hope to major issues that were afflicting people. 

Bible Project Graphic

A leper, a non-Jew, a sick mother, power over the brokenness of nature, authority over demons (who no one had a legit answer for) by expelling them from tormented and outcasted people, heals a paralyzed man, brings a dead girl back to life, brings site to blind men, and gives voice to a mute man.

So the kingdom of heaven is invading earth and Jesus is giving a glimpse of what his reign will look like when he returns and makes everything right. Because in Heaven, all is well. The curse has no power. All is whole.

So this is the good news of the kingdom. Jesus brings all this.

And later on Jesus and his disciples progressively reveal what is required for us to enter into this kingdom. And that is the death of a sinless man on behalf of sinful people so that they can be reconciled to God. And thus, being adopted and able to live with him forever.

So Jesus is proclaiming this good news and demonstrating it. Should not be divorced.

›    We now get to see a glimpse of Jesus’ heart.

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus sees and he feels!

Don’t skip over that. Jesus has emotion. He feels. And he feels it in his gut when he sees his people suffer.

Why does he feel this way?

The people were harassed and helpless. This was the case spiritually and physically.

They were at the mercy of demonic forces, wrong teaching from their spiritual shepherds, and a culture that did not value what God does. And ultimately this would lead to eternal separation from God.

But also, physically as a result of the cursed and fallen world that included disease, handicaps, and death.

They were also, “sheep without a shepherd.”

If you know anything about sheep, sheep are dumb. They need direction. They need provision. They’re helpless without a good shepherd.

Shifting the metaphor from flock to field, Jesus now envisions a vast crop of ripe field in need of harvesters

37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;

Harvest = The distressed people

Imagine a humongous field full of ripe fruit, just ready to be picked but you’re just alone and you can only gather so much before they spoil.

So what should you do when you are moved with compassion when you see loads of people who are harassed and helpless without a shepherd? You, v. 38.

38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

We pray? Why don’t we go? 

I think Jesus is helping us remember that at the end of the day, God is the one who owns the whole field, every person. Everything rises and falls on him. No matter how hard we work, no matter what we do, or how clever we can be, it’s all dependent on him.

Who will go?

As his disciples pray that prayer, the answer comes back quickly: you are to be the answer to your own prayer.

It is hard to care and pray for something without eventually getting physically involved.

You can’t involve your heart without involving your hands eventually too.

So step one, if you’re not in the game making disciples, you ought to sincerely pray.

And if you keep praying, you may find yourself going.

What you pray for, your heart moves towards. And what your heart moves towards, you ultimately act on.

What will they do?

 Look at the second part of the verse. Notice what happens. They receive authority over demons and also to heal. 

Does that sound familiar?

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.

So disciples are empowered to do what Jesus did.

So we see what he did and then do what he did.

Fundamental to being a disciple of Jesus is imitating him.

›    We also see this in v. 25,

25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.

Disciples should be like their teacher.

Servants should be like their master.

We are both disciples and servants of Jesus.

›    And one of the key passages on discipleship, v. 38,

38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

At the most basic level, being a disciple of Jesus is someone who is dying to themself and following Jesus: his life and his ways.

How will they do what he did?

18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

The authority they have is connected to the Spirit they have been given. Just like Jesus.

They have the Spirit in part, but shortly they will be filled with the Spirit.

Who do you have in you?

The Spirit!

If you think this way, I’m not good enough or something like that, you are revealing that you think disciple-making and the way of Jesus is something you can produce.

It’s something that flows through you and doesn’t come from you.

›    We have a spirit that is empowering us and we also have a father that cares for us,

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Giving yourself to Jesus’ mission will never be without the Father’s provision.

“God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supplies.” - Hudson Taylor

What will it cost to follow Christ?

21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

If we’re not having daily moments where we are dying to our own reign and desires, something is off.

I once asked, one of the most christ-like, if not the most Christ-like person I know, how he became so much like Christ. Now, this is a very simple answer, and there is certainly more to the Christian life, but his advice was profound.

Everyday, when you feel like you feel like God asks you to do something that you don’t want to do, do it. At first, it’s very painful. And you hate it. But you keep obeying, and eventually it becomes part of your character and thus, natural. You do this for a lifetime and you will find yourself increasingly more like Jesus.

What’s the Reward?

39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

You lose your life for Christ, you find it.

The paradox

The Christian life is full of loss but it is ultimately gain.

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

Simplifying Discipleship at APC

I feel like discipleship can feel so daunting and overwhelming for many of us.

*Please note that I am not meaning the “making” of a disciple, like evangelism and conversion. But the process of helping disciples mature.

3 Simple Ways we can all disciple

1. Reading and applying the Bible with others

2. Being a Christian around others

Much of the way we are is not what we’ve been taught but what has been caught. Most of us have not taken a class on how we should  relate to others or how to manage or not manage our money. Or how we parent. But we absorb what we’ve been around. The culture of our family, our friends, and environment shape us deeply.

And even if we have taken classes, they’re not nearly as influencing as our culture.

We all have culture that’s why we need to get around each other.

I want to share how some of you have discipled me with you just being a Christian around me. This list in not exhaustive.

•    Discipled by Justin’s gratitude

•    Joel’s generosity

•    Charlottes care even in hardships

•    Tk’s care for teens

•    Joanna’s parenting

•    Theo’s boldness in evangelism

•    Mark Harrigan’s intercession

•    The Pavyluk’s servant hearts

•    The Wilson’s hospitality

Note that one of these are pastors right now.

Not one of these people have given me a class

I probably know more Greek and Hebrew. And have taken more theology classes.

And yet, I’ve been deeply inspired and helped by their examples.

To be able to do this, requires proximity and time. Thus, we need to continue to grow on how to do-life together so that we may influence one another by our examples.

This is why we say, “Following Jesus in everyday life.” We believe

3. Help others do the basics

1.  Ask basic questions

2.  Pray for basic realities

3.  Encourage the basics

3 G’s are the scope

Now who do we do this with?

Even a small church like ours can be overwhelming. There’s need everywhere and all of us are struggling to find more time. No one is like, I have so much time I don’t know what to with it.

•    DNA

•    MC

Conclusion

Let’s keep the main thing the main thing.

We can’t miss this

We cannot be a church that doesn’t follow Jesus and helps others do the same.

The Call for Everyone to Disciple

Are you completely committed to following Jesus?

You wouldn’t believe how many people I meet who call themselves Christians but have no intention of following Jesus.

That’s like being a restaurant that doesn’t serve food or a fisher who doesn’t fish.

Or a vegan that doesn’t eat veggies.

It doesn’t make any sense.

Christians are committed to increasingly become like Jesus and follow him in every-way.

Are you committed to making disciples?

If not, when? Would you be surprised if you weren’t doing this 6 months from now? How about 1 year? 3 years? 10 years?

This is the mission of the church. This isn’t some fringe calling for the few. IF we miss out on this, we miss out on why we’re here!

Recommit to the mission

-Repent if you’ve neglected disciple-making

-Pray for this next week for more laborers

-Commit to the simple ways of making disciples.

 “Let us all to re-commit ourselves to following Jesus and helping others do the same.”

Christological conclusion and Invitation

We get to follow Jesus because Jesus first came after us.

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Invitation

I shared about the Gospel of the Kingdom earlier in the message.

One day, Jesus is going to make all things right. And you will either be with him or against him on that day.

If you’re not following Jesus, you can today. Jesus is the only way for you to be forgiven of your sins and reconciled to God.

But Jesus cannot be your savior if he’s not your Lord. You must follow him if you want to be with him in Heaven.

You can have that if you want, come talk with us more.

What If

Bring you back to the question I asked in the beginning.

What if we did become a church that could handle an influx of new believers?

This will only happen if every member was enjoying, belonging, and joining.

Everyone was enjoying Jesus (Daily face-to-face time with our father)

Increasingly becoming more like Jesus day after day.

Loving one another like a family, because we are, in such a way that the world takes notice

Increasingly using our gifts to where we are primed to plant more churches

Every member was joining in the mission of making disciples by playing their own role.

Ross Tenneson

Pastor Ross preached on Acts 2:36-41 how baptism symbolizes God's work in our lives. 

Sam Choi

Since we planted the church, we were especially cautious about filling up our membership with a bunch of people who were lukewarm Christians who just didn’t like thee church they were at. Most church plants in the Twin Cities grow primarily with Christians who just like our church more. One way we fought against this potential problem was to create a more challenging membership pathway. So the pathway was created with Christians in mind. As a result, those who get through, are typically really “in.” This has created a very strong culture and generally mature founding group.

And yet, part of our mission statement is, “Our mission is to follow Jesus in everyday life, while helping others do the sam, especially those far from God.”

We’ve made it hard for these people to become members, too hard. We’ve also made it hard for them to be baptized.

Not so long ago, Cities church, our sending church, re-thought the way they approached baptism, especially in regards to children. And a few months ago, Dale Gruber (a pastoral candidate) made a strong biblical case to the leadership team that we were not being faithful to the biblical pattern of baptism.

Since then, we’ve been praying, researching, and dialoguing regularly. So this short talk is to give you and idea of where we’re heading as a church regarding baptism and membership and why. It won’t answer everything, but will be a good intro.*

Ross Tenneson

Pastor Ross preaches on Hosea 1:8 - 2:1. 

Abandoned to Adopted

Exegetical MP:

Although Israel's sin will lead to the end of God's covenant relationship with her, yet one day, God will make his people gloriously numerous, they will enjoy a renewed covenant, and God will reverse his terrible judgments.

Sermon MP:

God made us his children for whom he reverses the terrible curses of sin.

Sticky:

Being outside of the family of God is ultimately fatal; being in the family of God brings life.

Sermon

Me (connection)

I have had moments where I have heard of Christians obeying God in ridiculously hard circumstances and I’ve thought, “I could do that ” (like a Christian in prison who is mistreated and told to renounce Jesus). Yet, I notice, it does not take me long to fall apart in the day to day of following God (sometimes even over minor inconveniences like bad traffic). Sometimes in larger things and often in smaller, the curse that is on this world weighs on me and shows me how weak I am.

You (tension)

Something usually comes up most days that reminds us how broken the world is. This past week, I have had to adapt to life with an injured finger that does not work how it usually does. Now the question I want to ask this evening is, how will God address our brokenness and the brokenness of the world and how does it fit into his plan? And if you are a skeptic today, I will address what God has to say about the brokenness you have experienced. It will take till closer to the end of the sermon to get to our answer, but I just wanted you to know where we are going.'

We (exposition)

We are picking up from last week when Pastor Sam preached on verses 2-7. If you remember, Israel’s disobedience got to the point that mere words wouldn’t work anymore— so he used a human picture. God had Hosea take a wife who he knew would be unfaithful to him because God told him. His marriage to his unfaithful wife was an image of Israel’s unfaithfulness to Yahweh their God. In addition, they had two children. God commanded Hosea to name his children “Jezreel” and “No Mercy.” These names were walking billboards that judgement was coming against Israel for her unfaithfulness.

Then, Gomer conceives yet again and bears a third child. What would this child’s name be? Would it predict mercy or judgement?

Hos 1:8-9 says,

8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

God said the child’s name would be “Not my people” and the reasoning couldn’t be worse. God says, “because you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

Like getting in a bad car accident, and then finding out someone was seriously hurt, things have gone from bad to worse. The name of this child signaled the worst possible outcome: Israel had sinned so badly and repeatedly that her family relationship with God was about to be over.

Listen to Leviticus 26:11-12,

11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.

Israel could once have said, “God is mine and I belong to God!” Well, not anymore; their disobedience had brought that to an end. This would be like being adopted into a loving family from off the streets and despite endless love, acceptance, and support, being so rebellious that you get thrown out of that house. It is nothing less than a tragedy. After hundreds and hundreds of years of God faithfully loving Israel, it’s over. (The worst judgement of all that Israel faced was losing their relationship with God).

Okay, what does this mean for Israel? It means a lot of terrible judgments like other nations attacking and doing great harm to them. Yet, there is one consequence that is particularly important for us to understand. When they fell from their position of receiving undeserved love from God, they fell to the position of all of the other nations, called gentiles. Gentiles are people groups who did not share a special relationship with God, and therefore, they are under the judgement of God because of their sin. What does this have to do with any of us in this room? Well, that’s us— we are the gentiles. Why is it that the Gentiles be under the judgment of God? The Bible teaches that when our first ancestor Adam disobeyed God, we all inherited his guilt and sin nature.

Romans 5:12 says,

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Do we not all struggle with selfishness no matter how hard we seem to try? Doesn’t our anger repeatedly lead us to say and do things we shouldn’t? Do we not lust and treat other people like objects rather than people? Sure, this world has many good things and I’m sure you’ve done some nice things for others. Yet, there is (I think you can agree with me) a baseline brokenness to ourselves and the world— in other words, people and the environment is not what it is supposed to be: there is this suffering and death we can’t seem to get away from. Isn’t the fact that we grow old and die the greatest confirmation of this? Friends, by birth we are outside of the family of God, and under the judgement of God. And Israel’s fall into judgement in these verses, is like a billboard altering us to our own separation from God since the place they fell to is no worse than where we already are.

If Sam and Joanna had named their newborn “not my people” instead of “hope,” apart from Jesus Christ, we all could pass that child around and she could have been a reminder of who we are on our own. Here is one point I want us to try to remember:

Being outside of the family of God is ultimately fatal; being in the family of God brings life from God.

Do you feel your need for God?

Do you know that you have to be in his family?

I won’t sugar coat it: verse 9 is a devastating word. In fact, it is so devastating it leaves the Israelites and us without any solution we can work out on our own. What can you do when you are out of God’s family and deserve to be out of his family? nothing. (Think about it, there’s nothing you can do to join someone else’s family on your own— especially the family of a king).

Our utter helplessness makes the next few words so crucial. What will God do? What will God say? Is it over or is there actually hope?

Let’s take a look at verse 10,

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”

Without any warning, God’s mercy breaks into this text in the face of his judgement. We are talking about an amazing God aren't we? Truly, he is holy and punishes sin. Yet, there is a deep love in his heart, as deep as the ocean, that moves him to show love when we deserve wrath. Last week Sam brought up a verse from

Exodus 34. In this verse, God even says of himself that “he will by no means clear the guilty.” Yet, first, before he mentions his justice, he says he is, “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

According to verse 10, how it it that God shows mercy? He says to Israel, “although your sin has caused me to punish you by removing you from my family, yet a day is coming where I will adopt you into my family and it will be bigger and better than ever!”

And, God’s desire to show over-the-top love is not a impulsive decision he makes. It has always been his purpose and he even promises he would do this hundreds of years prior to even Hosea. He says in Gen 22:17,

17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,

That’s the same language Hosea uses in verse 10,

10  Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered.

This is why the promises of God are so precious to those who believe in Jesus: God keeps his promises not to show us judgement but love instead when we believe in Jesus.

Okay, how does the restoration of God’s family happen and what does it have to do with us? One day, several hundred years later, the Israelites actually return to their homeland from exile like God promised. They build a temple and have a period of peace. Yet, they can tell something is wrong: the immensity of God’s promises have not come to pass (their country is small, their numbers are small, their temple is small) and the presence of God is not among them like it used to be. It leaves them asking, “God, when are you fully going to fulfill your promises?”

Generations later, Jesus of Nazareth was born. He lived faithfully as God’s son like no one before him, not Adam or any Israelite. He alone deserved a seat at God’s dinner table. And he had the ocean of love in his heart his father did. He gave himself over to mistreatment— to the treatment we deserved. He died taking the mistreatment of his people in their place. And he died as if he was one of the “not-my-people” the whole of the human race had become. Jesus said this in Mark 15:34,

34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Yet, Jesus rose back to life. He became “the-not-my-people” in his death and rose again to make those who believe in him “children of the living God!” Now, the family includes not mostly just Israelites, but all kinds of people from everywhere. That’s why we call our church “All Peoples Church” because that’s how broad the family of God has become. Everyone, no matter who you are, who surrenders to Jesus and believes in him as savior joins that family! Nothing can keep you out if you are with Jesus.

Do you think you are too strange or too different to belong here? Have you felt rejected by Christians before? Jesus will not permit anyone or anything to deny you if you come to him. He has a place at his dinner table for you (and therefore, we will do our best to welcome you. We may not be perfect, but we commit to trying).

When the Apostle Paul quotes this text in Romans 9:23-26, he makes the point that the family of God has expanded to include all different peoples,

24 And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

25 Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea,

“Those who were not my people, I will now call my people. And I will love those whom I did not love before.”[a]

26 And,

“Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

I said earlier, “Being outside of the family of God is ultimately fatal; being in the family of God brings life from God.”

I have good news for you today. Jesus has made a way for you to come into the family. If you are not a part yet, then please, friend, surrender and believe today, and then come and be baptized. And are you today already seated there? Then, let us feel feel fresh gratitude.

I would like to entice you to join this family (or remain content if you are in it) by describing one of its benefits. Listen to verses 1:11-2:1,

11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Israel’s Unfaithfulness Punished

2  Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”

Verse 11 speaks of the bigger and better family that God will create— one from every people group. What does Hosea say next?

“And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.”

What was the name of Gomer’s first child whose name was symbolic of Israel’s judgement?

4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

Now, Jezreel no longer is symbolic of curse, but of blessing. It is the Hebrew word for “he sows” and the sentence directly before “and they shall go up from the land” could mean “they will spring up from the land” as if they were plants that were now flourishing.

The names of the next two children of judgement were “no mercy” and “not my people.” Yet, what does verse 2:1 say? They will say to one another,

2  Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”

One scholar says, “the name of each child is transformed from a sign of judgment to a sign of grace.” I said before:

“Being outside of the family of God is ultimately fatal; being in the family of God brings life.”  (Hubbard, D. A. (1989). Hosea: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 24, p. 76). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)

The life God brings addresses the specific curses you have suffered by overcoming them and reversing them entirely. When God restores someone through Jesus, he ultimately brings them to a better state than if they had not fallen at all. It is an better to receive the restoration of God than to be perfect and never need it.

(This process takes place gradually. There are some of the benefits now and ultimate blessings will come forever when Jesus returns).

Have you tasted fatherlessness or abuse? God’s good fathering now and forever will surpass, now even more for you, anything you missed out on.

Have you wasted your life in addiction, selfishness, or another sin? God’s forgiving grace, now even more for you, will give you purposeful joy.

Have you felt alone, rejected, or betrayed? The closeness of Christ will be to you even closer than it would have otherwise been if you were never apart from him.

However anyone here is feeling the fallenness of our world and selves today, what will help most is the reverse our Father brings to the curse for anyone in his family. Only he can remove even the curses that cause us the most misery.

All of this brought to mind a quote from the character Sam in the book Return on the King. He thought he and his best friend were going to survive and that his friends were alive and their common enemy was defeated (when he worried if this would be the case). Upon learning these things he says, “Is everything sad going to come untrue?” The answer, for those in the family of God, is “yes, one day it will.”

Have you guys ever seen those videos where soldiers come home from war and offer a surprise visit? I once saw a story about a soldier who came home from war to surprise his daughter in elementary school. When she sees him walk into the classroom, she completely comes apart. She runs to him, hugs him, refuses to let go, and sobs. There’s a principle here: when something is restored to you it is sweeter than if it was never lost. The only thing greater than always begin a part of God’s family is to go from “not-my-people” to “son of the living God”!

You (application)

How should this message change how we live today? I want to start with those who are already believers. Let us not lose heart in hardship and suffering. Let us not believe Satan’s lie that God does not love us because life becomes harder than we hoped or expected. A child of God can experience joy in the midst of sorrow: now because we enjoy sorrow, but because we believe God is going to turn our sorrow into even higher joys when he makes all things right. If you struggle, like myself, to believe this in day to day hardship, please memorize these two verses with me this next week.

2 Cor 4:16-17

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

I am afraid that there are unbelievers here today who consider themselves too far from God for him to restore. Yet, could anyone be beyond the reach of someone who sacrificed his perfect life and rose from the dead? Please, don’t fear that you have fallen too far for God to help you, only fear refusing his help.

And if you come from a broken family that let you down, this new family you can be apart of is one part of God’s plan to restore you.

We (imagination)

Now I want to address our community: Paul tells us to encourage one another with the good news that Jesus is coming back. What if we became a place that spoke more of the return of Christ than we complained about how messed up everything is? Can you imagine what that would do to our spirits? Our church would be the most hopeful place in the whole world.

Jesus (glorification)

I want to end by reminding us that Jesus was the child of the living God— the only one who obeyed as he should. Then, he suffered as an orphan so that we could receive adoption. No one is good enough to receive this adoption. But the good news is that since Jesus was, so we don’t have to be! Let’s pray together.

Sam Choi