{"id":10346,"date":"2023-02-28T13:45:41","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T19:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theclarion.org\/?p=10346"},"modified":"2023-02-28T13:45:41","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T19:45:41","slug":"thoughts-from-the-bible-106","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/?p=10346","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts from The Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>God\u2019s church: A sense of identity<\/strong><br \/>\nMany people today understand the need of having a sense of identity and a feeling of belonging. Most folks I know desire to know more about who they came from. As never before, people are seeking their DNA records desiring to know what can be determined about their backgrounds.<!--more--> Parallel to this is a growing interest in studying family trees hoping to pinpoint their family history: family names, places of birth, ancestral homes, positions and occupations, burial sites, and all other relevant information. Family reunions, it seems, are popular again. Distant relatives converge upon a chosen locale, and kinsmen talk and visit among themselves about their various connections. Impressions are deepened about the past. All of this gives us a greater feeling of belonging. It strengthens our ties, and it increases family loyalty.<\/p>\n<p>Today, I want to stress the wonderful benefits and blessings that God has provided for us in the family relationship He calls the church. If we are members of the Lord\u2019s church, the Bible underscores that we\u2019re part of His family! To belong to the Lords\u2019 church is to belong to the greatest institution in all the world! The Apostle Paul describes this in Eph 3:14-16 \u201cFor this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If we have been begotten by the word of truth and \u201cborn anew,\u201d the Bible teaches that we are God\u2019s spiritual sons and daughters. 1 Peter 1:22-23 (KJV) 22 \u201cSeeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.\u201d 1 John 3:1 \u201cBehold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As such, We\u2019re part of a grand family: Hebrews 12:22-23 (KJV) 22 \u201cBut ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This being so, we have something in common with First Century Christians. We have \u201cthe like precious faith.\u201d 2 Pet. 1:1 \u201c1Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:\u201d And Friends, this is our link with all the redeemed of all the ages \u2013 our link with Pentecost, and with Jerusalem, and with Ephesus \u2013 The Like-Precious Faith!!<\/p>\n<p>We are members of the church we read of in the New Testament. Christ is our founder and only head (Matt. 16:18; Eph 1:22-23). He adds all His saved ones to that one body. Our relationship to each other in that family is that of brothers and sisters. Born of water and spirit, we are united by the blood of Jesus that flows through our fellowship. We are a brotherhood. I may not know who all of God\u2019s children are, but He most certainly does. I can know that we all have to come to Him in accord with His Will. Galatians 3:26-27 (KJV) 26 \u201cFor ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The author can be reached for comments at 256.574.2489.<\/p>\n<p>-Terry Broome<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>God\u2019s church: A sense of identity Many people today understand the need of having a sense of identity and a feeling of belonging. Most folks I know desire to know more about who they came from. As never before, people are seeking their DNA records desiring to know what can be determined about their backgrounds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tho"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10347,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10346\/revisions\/10347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}