Formed For God's Family Series

In the film Cast Away, Tom Hanks plays a workaholic, Chuck Noland, a FedEx systems engineer whose personal and professional life are ruled by the clock.

He gets stranded alone on a desert island after his plane crashes.

Now, he’s away from his loved ones and he’s had to learn to survive with a few washed up FedEx packages. In one package is a volleyball. He gives the volleyball a name, “Wilson.” Wilson becomes his companion. In one scene, he becomes angry with Wilson and throws him away. But he soon has a change of heart. Let’s take a look…

(Play the clip now.)

A hard-driving workaholic finally sees his need for relationship. He’s desperate for it. We were wired by God for community. Are you desperate yet? God may just engineer circumstances in your life to show you just how much you need it. The good news for followers of Christ is that He has relationships ready for us. We are…

Formed for God’s Family

Don’t forget to fill out your registration forms provided in the back of the seats in front of you if you aren’t registered to vote. Every election is important. But this election is pivotal. Our nation is at a crossroad. Every follower of Christ needs to let his or her voice be heard now. These are the last days to register to vote. Fill out the form with black ink. Put them in the offering basket and we will turn these in tomorrow – which is a week before the deadline to insure that you will be registered.

Welcome again to 40 days of purpose. We’re off to a great start. Over 1,300 people are reading the Purpose Driven Life and are in groups. We’ve sought to answer the question “What on earth am I here for?”

And last week, we learned that we were planned for God’s pleasure.

Next week, we’ll see that we were created to be like Christ. So, keep up with your reading and small group and weekend service attendance. God is at work!

Today, we’ll be seeing how we are formed for God’s family. God is building a family for Himself that is going to last for all eternity. The God of the universe thinks you are so special that He chose you to be in His family. When you become a believer, you become a belonger. You can say, “God, thank You that I belong to You! I’m Your child!”

His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.

Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)

How do I make sure I am in God’s family?

As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.

John 1:12 (NASB)

Circle the word “become.” Think about the implications of that word. We aren’t automatically children of God. We have to “become” children of God.

We were formed for God’s family. That was God’s original intent – that we be together with Him. But sin entered the world. And the Bible says that we are all now born into this world separated from God because of our sin. The Bible says that apart from Christ, we are God’s enemies, not His children. That’s the bad news. But there is good news. Jesus came into this world and died on the cross to pay for our sin. When we receive Him and believe in His name, the separation from God is over. And we become children of God.

Question: when did you “become” a child of God? You can’t say “I’ve always been one.” So, you might be asking, “How do I become a child of God? I want to be sure.”

Two words. “Receive” and “believe.”

To get into God’s family, you must believe that you are sinner who needs forgiveness, that you need to turn from your sin, and that Jesus died on the cross for your sin and rose again.

You must receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.

A right response to Jesus – believing and receiving – is what brings us into God’s family. If you aren’t sure about your relationship to Jesus, then take a look at your worship guide and read the prayer on the inside – at the bottom, right-hand side of the page. If that prayer expresses the desire of your heart, pray it today!

Now, once I’m in the family, how am I supposed to act?

Love one another.

God wants His children to learn to get along with each other. If you are a parent, I know that you want your kids to get along with each other. God does, too. He wants it so much that He says that loving each other is the second most important purpose for our lives.