This month has been all about being in God's family. You need to be in God's family. You need the love and support and encouragement, the life, the community, all of those benefits that come with being in God's family.

Remember, Jesus is the only way. Your confession of Jesus as Lord is all you have to do in order to be saved. “Jesus, I confess you as Lord, I believe you died and rose again, I repent of my sin, save me.” God honors our heartfelt confession. If you mean it he does, too.

Last week we talked about what it looks like to be a member of God's family, and so much of that revolves around the word growth. God wants us to grow, and so we have two options:
- We can either ignore the call, after which God will use circumstances in our lives to bring growth to pass,
- Or we can embrace that growth through discipleship and development so that we can become everything God created us to be.

God's desire is you grow, but it's your choice whether you do it or not.

So much of our time this month has been spent on our relationship with God and minimally about our relationship with God's people. Whenever God spoke the mission statement to us, there was something very interesting in it. The first part of it says, "we want to help people have authentic relationships with God and his people." What is interesting is that most people don't really have an issue with God, they have an issue with God’s people. God's people aren't always the easiest to work with. Sometimes, even with good intentions, they do things that are hurtful.

It is fascinating how quickly people are willing to drop the church family. Something goes wrong, a word was spoken, and offensive situation happens, and just like that, the relationship is over.

I want to let you in on a little secret about church: Church people are just as messed up as people in your family are. And listen to me closely: every single person has something. None of us are immune from doing, saying, or even thinking things that are offensive. Some of us just have bad luck that what we think shows on our face.

Let me give a little caveat here: That does not mean that God wants you to just stick your hand into a meat grinder. Something that every person needs to embrace is this really incredible word called boundary. I say all the time here: You don't have to tell everybody, but you need to tell somebody.
The truth is, not everybody can handle what you might need to say, not everybody can handle what's happened in your life, not everybody can handle the struggle that you're facing right now. That doesn’t necessarily mean cut people off, but it does mean that healthy boundaries are good for us.

So how do you determine when a boundary needs to happen?
You don't do this just because somebody annoys you. If that were the case, we wouldn't talk to anyone because every single person in your life annoys you at some point.

So here's a good rule of thumb:
- When there is a repeating issue with a person with no effort on their part to correct it,
- When there is hurt caused from malevolence rather than ignorance,
- When there is no change after multiple attempts to address the issue,
- When the other party simply refuses to reconcile.

Biblical proof of this: Matthew 18:15-17
15 “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. 16 But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. 17 If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.

Moral of the story:be gracious on one side and correctable on the other.

Galatians 6:1-2
1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. 2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

Last week I said: “Family helps each other out.” Even when there is a problem between two church family members, you should always be reaching for mercy more than justice, forgiveness more than vengeance.
At some point even you are going to say or do something that hurts someone.

By the way, the cost of admission for relationships is the risk of getting hurt. We’ve all been hurt by people, yet we still have relationships. Our goal should be to be a part of the solution, not the problem.

This message today is not about making sure you are nice to each other, which would be good. “It’s always nice to be nice and always mean to be mean.” Al Simonson

But I did want to address the biggest issue people tend to have with church. Be nice. Care about each other. Love one another. Help each other. Forgive each other. Squash issues. Be humble. Be correctable. Be family. And don’t judge. If you judge, you’ve simply forgotten how far God’s brought you.

The reason I am harping on these is because if you don’t do that list I just mentioned, it is going to stop, among many others, these 5 things God wants his family, the church, to do.

Give cheerfully | Serve wholeheartedly | Share unashamedly | Water liberally | Love unconditionally

As a part of the Freedom Church Family, we

1. Give cheerfully
Luke 6:38
Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.
“I knew it. The preacher was going to talk about money.”
I didn't say the word money, and neither does this verse.
But it could mean money, as it could mean a million other things.

What's interesting is that if you get frustrated the moment someone talks about financial giving in the church, can I lovingly suggest that you allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you about an obvious hurt in you, and that you would be correctable? We are bending over backwards to try to be as transparent as possible with the finances at this church.

Right now we have about 66% of the people at our church giving something. We have 100% of people here benefiting from at least something. Even if you were dragged here, here at least able to get a free doughnut. ACs and comfy chairs don’t pay for themselves. You are currently benefitting from someone’s financial generosity.

Our church staff salaries are 36% lower than the national average. We are not a church trying to take your money. If you were in covenant relationship with God, though, you would realize it's not your money to begin with.

Deuteronomy 8:18
Remember, the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth
Not only that, we are commanded to tithe.

Malachi 3:10-11
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! 11 Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease.[a] Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

Tithe is tenth in Gen 14, Gen 28, Lev 27, and Mal 3.

“That’s the Old Testament. It isn’t the same in the New Testament.”
Acts 4:32
All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had.

“Well that ain’t Jesus and I only do what he says.” I got you fam: Matthew 23:23
What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

I have to answer to God if we mismanage it, but you have to answer to God if you refuse it. I love you too much not to tell you the whole counsel of God.

Look, I'm not trying to bust on you here about financial giving, but we are called to be cheerful givers.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

I know you've heard that financial covenant with God stirs his blessing, but did you know cheerful giving stirs his love?

What I want you to see is that one of the identifiers of God's family is that they cheerfully give. They cheerfully give their finances, their time, their resources, their experience, their faith, their encouragement. Uncheerful giving robs joy, both yours, and the person who is the recipient. Nobody wants to receive a gift from a disgruntled giver. But whenever you give whatever God asks you to give, and you do it with the heart that is simply excited to be able to do it, it not only does it bless the Kingdom, it blesses the church family, and it moves God's heart. It's that simple.

What is God asking you to give?

2. Serve wholeheartedly
1 Peter 4:10
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace

And since we are specifically talking about being all in the Freedom family: Galatians 5:13
For you were called to freedom. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Believe it or not, the biggest fear with people when it comes to serving is not that they are afraid they are going to get stuck in the kids ministry. Which, by the way, what a blessing and honor it is to serve in ministry where each week God is using you to help little kids discover who Jesus is for themselves.

The biggest fear is actually connected to the amount of time that it might take. Here at Freedom, we offer multiple services, in part, so that people have the opportunity to attend a service and serve during a service. You might hear us say, "Sit one, Serve one." We don't want you to just come and serve. We want you to be fed. And we don't want you to just come and be fed. We want you to serve.

If time spent is the concern for you, could I lovingly direct you back to the first point to be a cheerful giver?

You’ll never be more a child of God than when you’re saved. But you'll never be more like Jesus than when you serve.

Mark 10:45
Jesus didn’t come to be served, but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for many.

How is God asking you to serve?

3. Share unashamedly
As I mentioned this, you might automatically connect it back to the idea of giving and the first century church and sharing everything the had. That's great, but not exactly what I mean by this point.

What I mean is this and let me use this as an example in Revelation 12:11
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Who is him? Revelation 12:10
10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

When I mean sharing, I mean your testimony, what God has done in your life. And the reason I'm saying that is because it is incredibly important that you share what God has done in you, because you are, no doubt, going to run into people in this very congregation who have lived similar experiences, and who are still struggling beneath the weight of those experiences being put on them by the devil.

Your testimony has the power to destroy the work of the devil. So that Freedom Family member who is sitting four seats down from you that is still broken by what happened in their past, who is still hearing the accuser whispering in their ear, who is still feeling the pain of those events, they sit in suffering while you sit in freedom.

You wanna know what the Freedom Family does, what it means to be all in? It means being sure that your testimony and your freedom doesn't just stay with you, but that God uses your testimony to bring freedom into their life as well.

But noticed the admonishment is not to just share but share unashamedly. Shame is one of the most common and successful tools the enemy uses against us. We look at our past, our sin, our struggle, and we feel shame over it. We tell ourselves, "keep it quiet because if you tell it, they'll know it, and they'll think differently of you because of it.”

How do we overcome? The blood of the lamb, the Word of our testimony, and there is one more thing: "They loved not their lives even unto death.” This could mean martyrdom. Even unto physical death. But it could be a different type of martyrdom. It could be martyrdom where you lay down your concern about what people might think. It could be martyrdom where you stop worrying about how people are going to look at you.

Call me crazy, but if there's anything in my past, whether I did it or someone did it to me, if anything in my past can help you get freedom today, then use me Lord. Here am I, send me. Here am I, I'll tell you anything you wanna know. You know why? Because when I'm in a family, their welfare is just as important as mine. Their freedom is just as important as mine. Their ability to tell their testimony is just as important as mine.

What testimony in you needs to be shared?

4. Water liberally
Proverbs 11:25
The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself.

I can honestly keep this one short because it is self-explanatory. It falls right in the same vein as
Luke 6:31
Do to others as you would have them do unto you.

If you want to be watered, then water in the same way you want to be watered.
If you want to be encouraged, encourage somebody.
If you want to be prayed for, pray for somebody.
If you want to be blessed, blessed somebody.
If you wanna be loved, love somebody.

And that goes both ways.
If you wanna be mistreated, mistreat somebody.
If you want to be offended, offend somebody.
If you want somebody mad at you, get mad at them.

You see sowing and reaping is not just a giving principle. It is a growing principle. It is a return principal. If you are not happy with your ROI, you might want to check what you've been sowing.

But here at Freedom, people are the priority, unity is the pursuit, generosity is a privilege. Here at Freedom, we go over and above, we don't just pour a drop, we pour a waterfall.

In this Freedom Family, we want to be known for watering liberally, that means encouraging over and above, giving over and above, loving over and above, praying over and above, blessing over and above.
Hopefully you get it.

How have you been watering and how can you water more liberally?

5. Love unconditionally
John 13:34-35
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

The only reason I am all in God's family is because he loved me. The same is true for you. He didn't love me for what I had to offer, the things I did, or even the potential he saw on me. He just loved me for me. And he loves just you for you.

In the same way, to be all in the Freedom Family means that we love each other. And I don't mean that kind of love that we only give if the person is doing what we want them to do. That's conditional love. That's actually not love. Love by definition is unconditional.

If there's anything I want people to think when they hear the name Freedom Church it's, "Goodness y'all, they really do love people. "

And let me go ahead and let the cat out of the bag here: At some point we are going to say or do something that rubs you the wrong way. But you're probably gonna say or do something something that rubs us the wrong way.

But love is covenant. Love says, “I’m not going to leave just because of a frustration.” Love says, "I am too committed to give up that easily.”

There's a scene in Frozen 2 where Anna is trying to apologize because, in spite of all the things Christoph has done for her, she feels bad that it seems she has shunned him in her effort to try to save her sister.
He responds to her, "It's OK. My love is not fragile.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

You know, it's gonna be real hard to love somebody in your church family if you are jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It's going to be difficult if you demand your own way and are irritable. It's not gonna be easy if you have a list of all the ways they've done wrong. So let me just encourage you that if there's somebody here in our church family that you have those feelings toward, take this week and deal with it. I've already read Matthew 18 that shows you how. But as a member of God's family and a member of the Freedom Family, you are required by God to go to that person and do whatever it takes to reconcile. That might mean they need to change. It might mean you need to.

How can you love your church family more?

Give cheerfully, Serve wholeheartedly, Share unashamedly, Water liberally, Love unconditionally

These are five things we want the Freedom Church family to be known for.

I don't know where you are when it comes to these. I'm sure every single person has areas to grow in at least one.

So then, how do we respond today? I think the best response happens in one of three ways:

You’ve come to the realization in this moment that whether you are or are not in the Freedom Family, you know you're not in God's family. You know right now in this moment, you need to confess Jesus Christ as Lord. If that's you, it's simple: Just confess, "Jesus I confess you as Lord. I believe you died and rose again. I repent of my sins. Save me.”

Maybe you're here and you realize that it's hard for you to do one of these five because you have something against someone here. More than I want a problem resolved, I want you walking in total freedom, and you can't walk in freedom if you're holding a grudge. In someway shape or form this week, take the time to resolve it. Start by asking the Holy Spirit to either give you the grace you need, or the ability to endure correction.

Maybe you are here and you realize that while you're in God's family and you don't have a problem with anybody, you've not been a cheerful giver, or a faithful server, you've not shared your testimony and you've not watered anyone. I'm calling you off the bench and into the game. God is too. Let's ask the Holy Spirit to help us commit to being obedient, to give cheerfully, to serve, to water, to share.

Whatever step you need to take in response, let's ask the Holy Spirit to help us. Let's pray.