Family of God

There we go! Title, Family of God. Does that... you feel at home with that? You do? Good! I'm glad that you do. Well, you should. If not, you're illegitimate, as the Scriptures say. And I didn't want to pull up, assign anybody that title, but that's what the God says He wants you to be. I don't remember ever... I don't watch the TV... I wasn't watching the TV show when it was on Friday nights, because I don't watch television on Friday night, but they had a show on for 14 years called Blue Bloods. Anybody ever watch that show? Tom Selleck fans? Yes, Tom Selleck. It was a police story, basically. So I've seen a few on reruns. And they had a family tradition on there. They just said it took two and a half days of filming just for the small section, and it was such an important part because they had a family tradition of on Sunday they would meet after church for dinner. They would eat together. And it was always so important that the whole family came together and ate. It was their tradition. One rule they had, put down the phones. Everybody was to communicate. And so it was a better part of their show because it did show the dynamics of a family. And that's what I want to talk about today, because God loves a family. He loves his family and wants his family to get bigger. And as we hear 24 hours from today, the world in the United States anyway will celebrate Mother's Day, which I think is very appropriate. I'm glad we can set aside Mother's Day to honor because it is God who created motherhood. And it was his model that he gave. And without you mothers, the world would get really small, really fast. And it is a blessing, as God said, to have children. So with that, I'm trying to get away from as I study my sermons and look at things, I realize I say so too many times. Now you will notice every time I say so. Therefore, I am using therefore instead of so. So I can break my speaking habit whenever I watch my own messages.

Watch your own messages and correct your speaking. Even after 25 years of giving sermons, I still try to improve. Soop up! Therefore, God defines a family in the Bible. What is a family? A definition that I found from the Bible or for Bible-believing people. I will give this definition. It's foundational institution of society ordained by God. Foundational institution of society ordained by God. Let's go, if you will, to four scriptures. Matthew 5. Let's see this thing that God refers to. Matthew 5 verse 9, as you know, is what? The Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5 verse 9, I'll be reading from the New King James Version. It says, blessed are the peacemakers. Is that you? Do you make peace? I see somebody shaking their head no. No other knows, just one. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called what? Sons of God. Sons of God. That legitimacy that we have is that we try to be peacemakers. We have to be peacemakers not only with people in the world where we can, but also it comes into the family. Because otherwise, the family is distorted, whether it's your church family or it's your regular family. It's your blood family, because not everybody in their blood families get along. I didn't see anybody going, no, not mine. Because there's always someone there that you have to show grace to. And why do we show grace? Because God shows us grace when we sometimes mess up the family. Let's go to John. Look at John, the Gospel of John. John 1 and verse 12. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become, wow, children of God. We're his children. And as we head towards Pentecost, as Andre told us, we should be thinking about that.

To them he gave the right to become children of God. To those who believe on his name. And we do. We do. So we get to be part of that family of God. He says it! We can't just say, adopt me, God, because he's already done that.

That is a beautiful thing. And I think of that TV show. Blue Bloods, as they sit around the table and they're able to share what's going on in their lives and their hopes and their dreams and their problems. Don't we do that with God? Very much so. Hopefully it isn't just, gotta get problems, help me, help me! But it's our dreams. It's our blessings that we have. He likes to hear. He likes to sit in. As my father used to do when we had family get togethers at the farm and he would bring all my nephews and nieces and the whole family together. And I'd just watch my father just watch everybody. He would sometimes have a chair and he would just watch this. And he loved it, you could tell. Because this is his children and they were the games they played and the laughing and the jokes and the eating of food. And it was a family affair. It's something I look forward to when I go back to Tennessee to start that tradition because it was a tradition, right? Mary, we would have all the family together and come out onto the farm. But this is what God gets to do every Sabbath because his family all gets together. It should be a family tradition of ours. And he gets to be way above us and watch everything because he said we're two or more of who? Who? My people. My family. I'll be there. He's here. He's here. He's omnipresent. He can be anywhere he wants to be. But that is the beautiful thing about the family of God. Sometimes we forget but he knew everything was going to come to fruition. Everything was going to be able to be exactly as he and the Word promised billions of years ago after Christ died for us. And he knew on Pentecost. Oh, man, they're going to come together. And the Holy Spirit is going to be finally given in mass. And it will start the tradition of having a bigger family called the Church of God. He's excited about it and we should be excited about it. Pentecost. We have an afternoon service here, right?

Let's blow it out.

Let's bring some food. Let's make this something to remember. Make this a joyous occasion. I'll work it out with the hotel. They can charge me later. But bring in food. I want us to have such a wonderful time as we celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit. So I'm looking forward to it. So I'm adding that. Definitely not in my notes. Well, let's go to Galatians. Galatians 3. Galatians 3. And verse 26. For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. That's what that's the blood. It's the blood. Are as much similar as we can through faith in Jesus Christ.

Do you feel that way? Do you feel that way? I hope you do. Because God wants you to. We want to have a church of love. We want to have a church of caring and being involved with each other so that God knows we're His children. And we pray as the prayer list is being put together by Bill. I appreciate him doing that. So we can stay, therefore, we can stay on top of that. I will correct myself eventually. Turn to Romans 8. Verse 16. The Spirit itself, himself, but itself, bears witness with our spirit that we are the what? Children of God. And what does it say in 14? For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Sons of God. I don't think it can be made any clearer that we are the sons and daughters of God. We are His special, special people. I could give you 40 scriptures all in a row, but then you would be going, why didn't you stay in Cincinnati? I looked on AI, and AI tells us five core values of a family that I found to be interesting. Five core values. The first, anybody want to guess the first one? Love. Love. Very good. Very good. Let's see if you can get the second one.

Time. No, it's not on there, but that's AI's problem. Respect. Respect. Number two. Very good. Anybody want to give a guess on three? Just guess. Honesty. Honesty. Wow. Did you see my notes? No, you looked AI. Anybody care for the fourth? No, but that's a good one. Yeah, it's kind of hard to be a family if you don't communicate. My family got big talkers and sometimes long talkers. Anybody want to guess another guess? Discipline. No, but my father knew that with a leather belt. Responsibility is what AI says. And then the final one, number five, is empathy or kindness. Those are the five, so I'll go through that. Love, respect, honesty, responsibility, and empathy is what all the computers in the world put together and said this is what it is.

So let us learn by lessons preserved in the Word of God. Any of you who heard my sermon this morning knows, don't know that you would, but those who did know the very first scripture I turned to was, and it's the only one I really turned to was 2 Timothy 3, verse 16. Sometimes I think we forget as a family of God.

I used to could call this off the top of my head until I read too many translations of it because I always knew the New King James and then I have the New Living Translation and then I jump in and now I forget what each one says. So I'll read it. It says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. What does that mean? God breathes. Exactly. That's what it means. God breathed these words. This is thought. These are His words. All scripture is given by inspiration of God or God breathed as profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instructions in righteousness so that the man or woman of God will be what? Thoroughly equipped for every good work as the family of God. So being we are thinking about tomorrow, hopefully you will, spend time with your family. Right, Jeff? I'm sure you will. Spend time with your daughter and your wife and all of you perhaps will or get a phone call as I will be calling my mother. She must be in the hospital, but hopefully she will be able to take my call. Questions I have for you today. You might say the best of because this is all about the family of God and everyone we will talk about now is part of your family even though they may have lived 5,000 years ago. Could be 6,000 years ago. And since all scripture is God breathed, He wants us to not only treasure it but use it, make it a part of our life and be able to share this wonderful, powerful word not only as a family of God but to help those who will be in the future part of the family of God. And I think at that time when that happens we will be as excited to see people. Eyes are open and they want to join the family of God as God is when we decided we wanted to be part of the family of God. You imagine that day, Bill? Clive? We're going to be working. There are going to be a lot of baptisms, right? There will be a lot of baptisms. Yes, and the disciples thought they got away with three thousand in one day. Well, we'll have hundreds of thousands in a day, I think. Well, that's everybody gets it. And how excited we will be. It's a beautiful thing. So I'd like you to tell me in your opinion, in your opinion which means what? There's no wrong answer. It's your opinion. It's your opinion. But I want to hear because we're family. I remember when you sit around the dinner table, my parents' house, and my younger brother and sister when they were this big, why they bring up such stupid stuff. I'm going, what in the world? Why do we have to listen to this? But my parents would just be sitting there going, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and God does that with us. Why? Because of such love. And you see the growth. They knew eventually that those young kids would grow up.

I'd like you to raise your hand. Because I look at an example, the best of.

In your opinion, in the Bible, the best family unit. Overall, the best family unit. You have, that means the father, the mother, the children. What's the best example? Oh, there we go. Yes, ma'am. Who? Abraham. Noah. Who said Noah? You said Noah. That's the one I had down. Noah, because if his kids were not any good, they wouldn't have been on the boat. He'd have been standing there going, no, no, no, no, no, no. You go play with the other animals. And you don't like rain anyway. So, yes. So, very good example. Abraham, he really cared for his family, didn't he? Joseph. Who? Joseph. Which Joseph? Mary's Joseph. True. Jacob. Well, he sure had some problem children, didn't he? But they were close, otherwise they'd laugh. Somebody said, who? Job? Well, his family didn't last long until the end, but he did have twice as many. He was growing his twice. Who? Anybody else? Joshua. That's some good examples. Joshua. Yeah, we don't hear anything bad about Joshua's kids. I'm sure he had some. Good. How about the best father figure? And leave, let's leave Joseph out, because we know Mary's Joseph was chosen by God. So, he had to be the best. But give me someone else. In your opinion, the best father.

Who? God. Well, yeah. You cheaters. I mean, you can always throw God in and everything. What's the answer to this? God. You can never trump God or Jesus. I don't have a name. You don't have a name? Okay. No, but figuratively, Jesus present to us a father. He didn't give us a name. He had two sons. Oh, at the prodigal son? My father was treat those two sons. Two sons. The prodigal son? Yes. In Luke? Yes. I can't say Noah again, because he was such a great father. He set an example, and he was a righteous preacher. Okay, she says Noah again. Carol Lynn, would you put up Abraham? Yeah, I was going to. Okay, good. Because Abraham, think about it. He didn't want to get rid of his other, his first son. He really cared. This was a man who really cared, didn't he? He loved him. And he loved God so much, he was willing to sacrifice his second son, because he knew he had such trust in his father that he said, me and the boy will go yonder, and we will save him, and we will come back. So he knew God could resurrect, even though there hadn't been a resurrection yet. But that's why he's called father faithful. And look what he did. He's an incredible example, Abraham. He had some issues, but don't we all? It shows he's human. But I think you would love to have grown up in that time with Abraham as your father.

Did he teach his son? Yes. We know he did. He taught Isaac, didn't he? Taught him all about God. And look, even when his wife died, he was over 120, 30 years old, and he had more sons, seven sons that we know of by Ketera. And they all became princes, prince, as the Bible tells us. So I think we can learn those lessons, but I have an interesting question.

Why were Cain, or why was Cain and Abel so different? We're talking about family here. Anybody have an opinion on that? Why were they so different? Because that's the first big disruption in the family that's in the Bible. Anybody have any thoughts? And? Yes, it is believed by many theologians that they were twins. King was the older. Jealousy? Yes, Barbara?

You mean Cain? Yes.

Showed favoritism? Any of you mothers ever show favoritism? Or will admit it? Huh? Oh, wait, wait, wait. So I admit it. You're not going to say it, but you'll raise their hand and be like this. Because there usually is a favorite child because they don't give you any trouble, problems. And I didn't ask your father, but I didn't want to. It's a good thing he's not here. I could ask your favorite. It's your favorite. It changes. Well, that's true.

Is she speaking truth? Some say, yeah, and some say, uh-huh. All part of this unique thing called family. Now, Barbara, you said that Cain and Abel jealous of each other. I don't find that in the Bible. I find one son jealous. Did you see much with Abel? You said that, so I know you know the Bible. Why would you say that? Well, because, I mean, I just feel that when I read it, because, you know, Cain wanted to do his own thing, his own offering, and he wanted to... it was like they were both told what kind of offering to give. And maybe he saw Abel as being a good boy. Yeah, I think so. You know. And so there might have been a little bit, and Abel knew, because he's called righteous Abel somewhere else. And Cain didn't seem to care until, until God wanted to cast him out of the family. Did he not? And he didn't want to go. So obviously there was still a tie there. Because he said, oh no, this is too tough on me. And then we all enjoy being part of a family, especially a family of God. And that's why we hurt when someone leaves, because they no longer want to be in the family of God. Let's go down to another best. Oh, this is a good one. This is a good one. This may be debatable. You can't use my wife. Okay? The best mother. You can't use my wife's name. No. She was like, huh? Do you know something? I don't know. Best mother in the Bible. I am, I am intrigued. I am interested to in what you will say, because I have thought on this during my thousand-mile journey back home here. So I'd like somebody raise their hand and tell me, in your opinion, the best mother. If that's God, tell him, put it on hold just a minute. I'm getting to it. Okay. Yes, Barbara. Best mother.

Lemuel's mother, as it says. Lemuel, which they believe is either friend of Solomon or it was Solomon's pseudo name and so forth. Yes, Proverbs 31 woman. Any of you ever fit that entire bill? I don't see anybody raising their hand, because that's pretty tough. It's pretty tough. Okay, so give me a name. Naomi. Okay. Bitterness. Isn't that what her name means? Bitter? Or it did. Why do you say Naomi? Who says Naomi?

Ah, come to her. Was that her mother? No. Did she become her mother? Yes. Mother-in-law. Yes. Right, that's what's believed in Naomi. Not to be personal, just in case somebody's listening that you might want to know. But how many of you always get along with your mother-in-law? See one. She has to, because... Okay. Did anybody not get along with your mother-in-law? That wants to admit it.

I don't know that Sharon wants to look back, but... No. Yes. Yes, you didn't. Barbara, you didn't like Stan's mother?

Hannah. Ah, very good. I was hoping Hannah, would she not rank up there as one of the best mothers? Yes. She put God first, but she was willing to give up her son, her only son. Kind of sounds familiar there, doesn't it? This woman was willing to give up her first born. What did God reward her with? More children. More children. I like that one. Hannah. Hannah. Anybody else? You have to have an opinion. Maybe you don't have an opinion.

Oh, Lois and Eunice. Is that right? I think I'm right on that. Rahab. Rahab, obviously. But Timothy followed in those footsteps. So we see some pretty good examples of mothers. Elizabeth. Who? Moses? Jacobed. Jacobed. Oh, Elizabeth. John the Baptist. Oh, very good. Yes, I didn't have that one on my list. But obviously she had to, because just like first cousin he was going to have, he had to pave the way. And he had to have the right teachings. Born in the right family, wasn't he? All right, very good. I have to look at my watch. Can't use Mary. Mary's name's been axed. Okay, this entire Bible. We've come up with six or seven good, good examples of mothers. Bible. Are there any others before I move on? Maybe Sarah. Sarah? Yes, but she was such a loving mother. She didn't want to see her son bullied, tortured. Another mother, the one that said instead of Solomon, cut the baby out, she wrote a good baby out. Very good, Clyde. Yes, everybody remember that story? You know, there were two prostitutes, but one of them really cared. He knew who cared because she was willing to give it up then to see her child die. Incredible examples. Because why? This is the inspired word of God. This is God-breathed to help us to teach us not only about you mothers, but also it helps us to understand the mind of God and why He made mothers. And how important it was that we get to read these examples. And isn't it amazing because they've always said the book of Acts never ended. It's a one. It makes you wonder in the kingdom whether it will be, the rest of it will be written about the last 2,000 years. How many mothers will be mentioned in that if it is true?

Very good. I had also down Ruth. Nobody mentioned Ruth. Did anybody mention Ruth? Why would I say Ruth? Oh, the lineage of Jesus. Yes, yes. David's great-grandmother. And it's interesting that you would bring up Naomi. Who said Naomi? Was that you, Jean? Because you can see when the baby is born, she kind of let Naomi raise the child from what Scripture says. So she had so much trust in her mother-in-law. What an example to us as we look forward for you. You get to read these examples as you become a mother. And see those examples of people who did right and people who did wrong as you bring this child into life. It's inspiring and should be for us. And it's inspiring for us not to put pressure on you or anything because, hey, we all get to be part of that baby's family. And it's exciting because that's the first time we've had it here in Vero Beach. You know? And so, really first time? Yes, we have any babies born in Vero Beach. Haven't since I've been here. Have we?

Oh, a long time ago. Yeah, I think that baby's driving by now.

But do you see the family? How important it is? Because we get to live vicariously through this mother here and see the beauty. And it's kind of like that old saying, I've never seen an ugly baby. Well, I said that to someone that I saw an ugly baby. And they were going, how dare you? I said, yeah, I saw it the other day. There was this baby guana in my yard. Oh, telling you the truth. It was the one that didn't get frozen.

All right, let me finish this up here. That's what go through because I need to talk about the best children. The best children, not necessarily best parents, the best children, and not just all the children were great because you got Adam, you got Cain and Abel, right? You got Jacob's kids, which, you know, you had 11 bad and one good or 10 bad and one and two good. Okay, tell them, okay, so I'm asking you that question in your view.

Whoa, it got quiet. Joseph. Joseph? We don't know much about his sons. Even Manasseh. Remember that? So they had to be something and they were not children. They were, well, they were his children, but they were almost 20 or 20 years old when they had that done. So it's a pretty good example. Anybody else? I think Jonathan Sals. Jonathan Sals. Yes.

But Michael wasn't exactly your great sibling. I think David would have to say that, right? Yes. Give me someone else. I'm waiting for two names. Moses' children? We really don't know about Moses' children.

They had to get circumcised or die. Noah's children? Who? Noah's? Well, we know Shem turned out to be righteous, Shem, but the other two didn't really fare very well. Okay, but this is good because we're able to look at families not so well. Can we not say that all families are a little dysfunctional? Yes. All. Your wife's not here. You want to say that again?

What about Jeremiah? We don't know that he had any kids.

He would have been. That's true. Very good. Sure. I hadn't thought about that one. Siblings. The best siblings in the Bible. Like if you had to have the ultimate children in the Bible. The best! Okay. As. Josiah. David. Daniel. You're getting close. David was a good child. Yes. Can't say his brothers were that great, but. Joshua. Yeah, but he didn't even have a mother. He was a son of none. But. But. Won't want. My wife is going, won't want. Take the New Testament. Give me the two best siblings in the New Testament. Think. Think. Think. Say what? John who? The one that wrote the book of John. Ah, James and John. Exactly. And James and John. You remember the father, Zebedee and the mother. Come on, come on, come on. Salome.

Ah, so you had Zebedee and you had Salome. So, we know, Father. She loved her boys so much that she did what?

How about promoting these two boys? They're your relatives. You know, when your aunt says something, you typically, you know, say something. You do something for them. But imagine having two sons, because that's all we know they had. And one turn, and both became known as the sons of thunder. One was the first martyred, and the other was the last to die. Of the disciples. Incredible. All right, let's have to look at my time, and I didn't know when you started, when you ended, when I started. But I'd like to ask this question as we think about families here, and we think about the coming kingdom of God that we are going to be responsible for. The Bible says it. We'll be teachers, leaders, and priests, kings, priests, to a world that has never really known Christ, to a decimated and fractured world. And we have to teach them about family and the family structure. So I ask you today, do you have a Sabbath practice you do in your house as a family that you will teach in the coming kingdom of God?

Now I have blank faces. Okay, Barbara, and then do what? Pray together on the Sabbath. It's a part of it. I was going to say, you were going to say, and all of you are in the church. Odds are that wouldn't happen. Is that part of it? No, pretty good example. Yep, yep, true. Jeff, in the back.

The preparation day. Yes.

Good. A Sabbath meal. Okay, you both said it at the same time. A Sabbath meal. Is it different? Yes. What makes it different? More food. Sorry. She's Jamaican is all about the food in case you're watching that. It's special and always together. Kind of like the Blue Bloods thing, where they all get together, so they never wait. So families in town, they got to go to Jonathan and Lillian for Sabbath dinner. Even those who don't believe in the Sabbath, they know where Sabbath dinner is. Okay. Oh yeah?

Yeah, that's beautiful. Yes, same.

What it meant of all the situations, challenges that you had in the past six days, because the seventh day, that's what God says. Come together, let us reason and see what is and what ought not to be. I, very good point. It gives us a point to know that you speak because you care, and that other people care what you went through that week. I think God the same way. It's interesting you say that, and I'll go right to Bill, because a young man that I really like, he's, I think you're gonna, I think you're gonna hear more from him in the future. Sal's a mino. I don't know if any of you know Sal. Sal sent me something last night because we're exchanging emails. He'll watch what I do, and he comments on that, and I really like him. I think he has a lot of potential. But he brought up about the preparation day. He threw me one last night, about 10 30, when I was going to sleep. Threw me one, and he goes, besides the mention in the New Testament, where else is a preparation day mentioned in the Old Testament?

In the Old Testament.

Because of the manna. Right. And why is that, Madam Bill? Because he told them to do what on the day before? Which is preparation for the Sabbath. Which is, and that tradition was carried on because it was mentioned in the New Testament. Yes, Bill, what did you have? Well, I wanted to say something. It doesn't relate to our biblical thing. It was Christmas, when we did Christmas, back in the day when all of us did. I didn't. Oh, no, go ahead.

I was a little kid, and my brother is a sister. One thing that dad insisted. Dad would get up because it was a holiday, not working that day, obviously. And he went through his breakfast routine, and he made us wait. When we came down to open up the gifts, eventually we were allowed to get into the stockings, but no gift stickers. Everything had to wait, wait, wait until he came down. Once he came down and sat on the couch, all together. Okay, now we can start Christmas. Okay? Well, that always stuck in my mind.

The deep respect. For your father. And for the tradition. For the tradition, like Stan said, you're together to make sure you're together first before you do this special thing. So whether it's a Sabbath meal or a feast gathering, what we do in our world, in our Christian world, we're going to keep doing things of God. Let that same principle. On the Holy Days. Yes. That's why I really want Pentecost to be big. Big. Big. Oh, oh, excuse me. Let me do our present. Huge. Huge. Yes. And these are the things that I think we will be teaching, because the whole world will know of God. And we're going to be one of the reasons they do.

And so that's very, very important. And I'm going to have to wrap this up, because we have our Sabbath tradition on most times that we get back. Mary has this nice meal, sometimes a candle, and everything else. If we're not traveling or just getting back from traveling, and it makes me go. And I try on Friday night not to do church work, because that I would do normally during the... I look over my sermon, my one little card, and I look over it, and I think on it, and then I get some prayer time in, and then that's kind of ours.

But it's like, because I can never have the Sabbath off. I got the Sabbath off one time a year. That was a GCE. I'm very seldom do I get it off. But we have, and I can never hardly ever take Sunday off, because I'm preparing for my sermons and my messages, and everybody has a phone call. Everybody's off, so I will give phone calls and answer emails and answer phone calls. And Monday's my office day. So, therefore, we have our Wednesday.

It's our family tradition. Mary and I will stop. She'll stop working. It's my day off. And my one day off that I take, and I enjoy it, and I get my prayer and study done early in the morning, I do whatever. I work around the house, or go play golf, or go, you know, do useless things.

But it... Give your hair cut? Give my hair cut. Yes, she does come over and cut my hair. So if you complain about my hair, see that woman back there. But it allows us, we have those traditions that at four o'clock, or five o'clock, we go, and we have a nice dinner out.

And it's date night. Is it a tradition? It's a Bible? Say, no. But it's what we want to do, even though we have this small family of two. I bring that to you because as I wrap this up, I found an interesting article. And the question was, do you unplug on the Sabbath? And I really had to think about it.

Because where is my mind? I look and see if anybody's, I have a prayer request, I have various things that way. But this was interesting. According to the latest poll, 64% of Americans have smartphones. How many people have a smartphone? I have a smartphone. That's three quarters of you. Not everybody five. Somebody back there. I have my flip phone. Don't you bother my flip phone? You know my dad does. Oh, I know your dad does. Yes!

So 64% of Americans have smartphones. 67% of those constantly check for messages without notifications. I'm talking, thinking about the Sabbath. Are we too connected? Yes. And then 44% of America keep the cell phone right by their bed. Nope. And it says, nope, I don't. And 46% of Americans say, get this, this is the world we will work with. 46% of Americans say they cannot imagine living life without a cell phone.

46% almost half of Americans say they could not. They can't imagine.

Now, our youngest couple here can't imagine. Do you remember there was time when there wasn't a cell phone? I know. It was my second. You remember that part? Because you're younger than I am. Do you remember when there was no cell phone? You were a baby or something?

My dad. What about the ancient world where people read books only? Yes. Yes. Remember when there was no... You got me there, Ann.

Yes, I lived in black and white. But until I moved out, then my family got a colored TV. I think that's because of me. So true. I bring this up today because we have an incredible potential ahead of us. And it matters what we are learning and understanding and sharing today with each other as a family of God. And there's no better title than family of God. There's no better name to have. And the only one even close to that name is Smith.