Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Daily Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

27 October 2024

Reading From Luke 14-15

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

 –Luke 15:8-10

     Jesus tells us several parables in this section of the Gospel According to Luke that have to do with a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost child.  Two of these stories deal with things that are lost outside the house, but the story about the coin has to do with something lost inside.  When we think of lost people, our minds have a tendency to think of those who do not attend church.  The parable of the lost coin calls attention to the fact that there are people who are lost within our churches.      

     Sometimes people are insulated from spiritual light and growth perhaps by pride, hurt, anger or distraction.  There are all kinds of ways that people fools themselves into believing that they’re spiritually ok.  A common problem is the belief that if my spouse or parents or grandparents are strong spiritually, that I’ll just tag along with them into Heaven.  The trouble with this is that salvation is a matter between the individual and Almighty God. 

     God doesn’t have grandchildren.  He has only sons and daughters.  We must reach out in love and honesty to those in our churches to build healthy friendships with them.  By doing this, we will get to know the fruit of their lives and how we can help each other know God.

“Lord, give us Your wisdom and compassion in order to minister to those who are lost in the house.  Show us the difference between the church house and the House of the Lord. Only those who are truly born again belong to the House of the Lord, the Eternal Family of God.  Reveal Yourself to us in a genuine, powerful and life-changing way.  Amen.”

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

–Psalm 23:6

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

–Matthew 7:21-23

And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by people, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 

–I Peter 2:4-6

So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

 –Ephesians 2:19-21