{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Christ Covenant Church","title":"God's Family Versus Human Family","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":5579,"description":"Just as children bear the image of their family, God created us as image-bearers to be a part of His family. He also created human families with this goal in mind: we would teach our human families to join - and be supremely loyal to, God’s family -i.e., to embrace “the blood of the covenant [family as] stronger than the water of the womb”. The wonderful gift of family is therefore a deep and divinely constructed part of our DNA. It is what gives us identity and purpose. And it is central to God’s Creation and Christian mandate: we conquer for Christ and His kingdom only as a united family (Mat 28:18-20 w/Phi 1:27-30). Satan and sin have however taken this wonderful gift and perverted it: pitting human families against the family of God (e.g., Gen 11:1-9 = the Tower of Babel: the human families of Noah’s evil son Ham, stand against God and His family, Noah’s righteous son Shem and his descendants including Abraham [11:10-23] who was not only alive at the time of the Tower, but Jewish tradition records him as living at Noah’s house for 39 years and leaving to spread the truth about God after its destruction; Rev 20:7-9 = Satan will unite the human families of earth against the family of God, Rev 20:7-9). \n \nWhat (then) we need to know (beyond this) so that we do not end in eternity w/ the wrong family:\n1. Jesus knew His ministry would cause division in human families b/c it would involve calling people back to loyalty to God’s family over their human families (Mat 10:34-37) “Me” = My family (Mat 10:40; Joh 13:34-35). (Luk 1:16-17) “turn the hearts of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God” = “turn the hearts back to the children” (or “restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers” – Mal 4:6). The patriarchs are the “fathers” (e.g., Abraham). In this way the Jews would be “a people prepared for the Lord” – i.e., worthy to receive salvation from Jesus/Messiah. What was the heart of “father” Abraham? He...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/UXGjftzm8Yw--IISwUKe6A6-CX1YtARptisfLmFJFoI/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS81Zjc4/MmNmNTMxZjNmOTgw/YjA1NWRhYmMxMTNl/YmE1Zi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}