family of God

God Loves Gatherings

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” – Matthew 18:20 Yesterday, we talked about the amazing truth that Jesus chooses to make His home in us, His followers. Thus, when two or more of us gather together, we experience His presence and see new facets of His love through others. In fact, as I write this, I can’t help but remember the wonderful get-togethers at my Grandpa and Grandma Schuller’s house as I was growing up. Though ours was a big family and we didn’t all see each other often, when we gathered at Christmas and Easter, there was a wonderful sense of warmth and worship (my Grandma even had an organ built in the dining room so we could sing together at meals). I dealt with a lot coming from a divorced household and going back and forth between two parents, but

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Sons and Daughters of God

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” – 1 John 3:1 If we know Jesus, we’ve been adopted into the family of God and nothing can take that from us. I once heard a story about a young girl who was in the foster care system. She was constantly being bounced from house to house, because any time she did something wrong or got out of hand, she’d be sent back and placed with a different family. After enduring great instability for so long, she finally found her forever home, and her new parents made it clear that no matter what she did, she was not just a well-behaved guest — she was their daughter. They assured her that even if she behaved poorly, though she might be reprimanded, she would not be

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If Not For Grace, It Would Be Garbage

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ…” – Philippians 3:7,8 Yesterday, we talked about the Apostle Paul and his life as a religious “superstar” prior to meeting Jesus. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews — a stellar Pharisee — and his accomplishments in the realm of Judaism were huge. He sought to keep the whole letter of the law and held everyone else to the same standard of perfection. Unfortunately, though his intentions were to do right by God, his religiosity caused him to become legalistic and hardened. But everything changed the day he was introduced to Christ. On a trip to Damascus to persecute followers

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