Welcome to Big Valley Grace Community Church. If if you’re a kid or student and you’re in the room, make some noise. Let me know where you are. In fact, uh absolutely. [screaming and groaning] Yeah. Well, there’s there’s one. Hey, hey, you’re going to scare the the new people in front of you. All right. Uh I want to talk to to just the kids. If you’re a kid, stand up and wave at me if you’re a kid because I want to know where the kids are.

Okay. Oh, wow. Whoa. There’s like kids everywhere. Okay. Awesome. All right. Hey, very good. Okay. Well, well, kids, here’s what I would say, kids. Okay. Hang with me. All right. Hang with me at We’re going to get into God’s word. We’re going to look at God’s word together at the end. Um, we’re going to do something fun with the kids to end the service. Okay? So, hang with us. We’re really glad to have kids and students.

We’re we’re glad it’s family weekend. We’re thankful for everyone who’s been baptized this weekend and all the family and loved ones who were here. And if it’s your first time, we want you to know we’re really glad you’re here. Warm welcome from everyone at Big Valley Grace to you if it’s your first time. My name is Joel. I’d love to meet you. I will be standing right here at the end of the gathering.

I would love to put a name and a face together and personally welcome you to Big Valley Grace. So, we’re really glad that you’re here. Welcome. We’re continuing in a series in the book of Acts. So, if you have a Bible, you can turn to Acts chapter 15. We’ll be looking at verses 7-19. If you need a Bible, we want to give you one today. And the way we can do that is we have a prayer room right over here.

After the gathering, if you need prayer, come to the prayer room and our team will be ready to pray with you. But we also have Bibles in there. It’ll be at no cost to you. We want to make sure that everyone has a copy of God’s word. Before we get into our text, I want to share a little bit about my life to kind of help get us towards where we’re going in the scriptures today.

So, as a child, I grew up two blocks that direction in the neighborhood. And I loved growing up in the neighborhood, two blocks that direction. I had a lot of fun. I played every day out in the neighborhood. I played on the street. I played in the park. Uh, I ran around. I skateboarded. I rollerblade. I rode my bike. I played with friends. Most of the time I did what I was supposed to be doing right over there about two blocks that direction.

But in my childhood, there was a sound that I would hear and it was such a distinct sound and it really made a huge difference in my life as a young person. And it was when I would be out in the neighborhood playing, I would hear the sound of my father’s whistle. He has a whistle that goes for miles. It goes through buildings, through walls. It penetrates steel. It goes right into the hearts and minds of children.

And he would whistle and we could hear it wherever we were in the neighborhood right over there. He would whistle and we I knew exactly what it meant when I heard my father’s whistle. Come home now. All right. So, we would get on our bike, we’d put our rollerblades on, we’d get on our skateboard, we’d stop playing hockey, we’d start running home because we knew if we heard dad’s whistle, it meant come home now.

My mom would call us a little differently. She had a different method she used. My mom preferred to use names. And in the speed of calling out to us as kids, sometimes she would end up going through a list of names. Alan, Garrett, Todd, Buffy. Buffy was the dog. The dog would make it before it got to jeweler. There is not an at the end of my name. But I knew if I heard an at the end of my name, mom was calling.

And sometimes it would be Joel Christopher. Uh oh. Middle name just got introduced. If my middle name was said, I knew mom means business. Mom means business. And as a kid, there’s this amazing thing that happened that my father would call out or my mother would call out. And what happened in my heart and mind as I heard my father and mother call to me. I’m sure we can relate to what it is to be called.

To be called, to be called by name. Just having someone hear the voice of someone and what happens in our heart and mind when caller ID shows up and someone’s calling us on the phone and we see who it is and what happens in us. When we receive a text message from someone and it catches our attention. Well, the text we’re going to look at today is about being called in Acts 15 7-19.

It says this. And after there had been much debate, and if you want to know what the debate was about, I did a message on the first half of this two weeks ago. Okay? So, you can go and you can watch it if you feel like there’s something you need to get caught up on. It’s available on our website. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.

And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us.” And he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus just as they will.” And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. And after they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me.

Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for his name. And with this, the words of the prophets agree. Just as it is written, after this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen. I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord and that all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.

Therefore, my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God. Let me pray. Father God, Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for the clear message of scripture. Thank you for this passage. Thank you for your call. The way that you call to us consistently over and over. You call to us. And God, would your word do a great work in us today as we recognize God Almighty is calling us.

So Lord, help us. Help us respond to you. And I pray this in Jesus name. And all God’s family said, amen. In this passage, verses 7 through 11, I’ve already taught on, so I’m going to pick it up in verse 12 to do the teaching today. But in verse 15, there’s a phrase. And the phrase is, “The prophets agree.” And what that means is in the Bible, there’s an Old Testament and a New Testament.

Well, the Old Testament’s this part over here. And what it’s saying is that the message of all of the prophets of God in the Old Testament, they all agree. All of the message is consistent. The scriptures are in alignment. The word of God is consistent that God calls out to the nations that the nations might recognize him as God and come to him to see him as Lord and Savior for their life.

I want to present it in this phrase and then we’re going to use this phrase and we’re going to unpack it with this passage. And this is the phrase, God opens the door and lovingly calls his children home. God opens the door and lovingly calls his children home. In fact, I need all the kids who want to help me to help me in this moment. So, any kids in the room, just go ahead and stand up where you are and you’re going to help me.

We’re going to we’re going to do these hand motions and we’re going to say this together. Any kids who want to help me right now, go ahead and stand up where you are. Okay, kids. Here we go. God opens the door and lovingly calls his children home. Okay, we’re going to do it one more time, kids. Here we go. God opens the door and lovingly calls his children home. Hey, great job, kids.

You did a great job. Okay, you can have a seat. Awesome. So, if this is the call that God sends out, then what’s the problem? What’s the obstacle? What’s getting in the way of receiving the invitation as God calls out? Well, I’m going to give it to you in one word, and that word is noise. We live in a very noisy culture, a very noisy world where there’s so much noise that we can miss the call.

There’s so much noise that we can miss the invitation because there’s so much sight, sound, and smell that’s getting our attention away from paying attention to the Lord. The noise in our culture can cause us to miss it. In verse 12, it says, “And all the assembly fell silent.” It is very rare in our culture that our culture falls silent. But the reason that in this text it says everyone who was there fell silent is because Peter’s testimony of what God is doing was so strong that it pierced all of them in their heart and in their mind.

God’s word and the Holy Spirit of God, it broke through all the noise and it caused all of them to be silent, to stop talking and to listen, to listen to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. God is the one who does all of the work. We get to just give witness to what God has done. We get to share testimony to what God has done.

And the more we talk about what God is doing and the more we share and give credit to what God is doing, the more people will be willing to listen. They all fell silent and they listened to Barnabas’s Paul as they related with signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. One chapter prior, we’ve already taught on Acts 14, but in Acts 14 27, it gives a description of what God had done. It says when they arrived in Antioch and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

I don’t know what image comes to your mind when you think about God. Have you ever had the image of God where God is opening a door? Because this passage says that God opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. You might be here today and you’re asking big questions. You might be asking the question, “Is God even real?” You may have experienced tragedy in your life that has you asking that question.

There may be hardship that you have experienced that has you wondering about the existence of God. Is God even real? The pain that you have walked through has been so overwhelming that it has you questioning is God real? And you may have said something like this. You know, if I only had a sign, if I only had a sign to prove that God is real. Well, there is a sign and it’s come in the form of an invitation.

And the scriptures are really clear describing that God has given you a sign. And the sign is an open door. that God has opened a door of faith so that you might be able to place your trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Number one, God opens the door of faith in Jesus for us. God opens the door of faith in Jesus for us. Big picture, what are we looking at?

We’re looking at God opens the door and lovingly calls his children home. And number one is God opens the door of faith in Jesus for us. And what’s amazing is that as God does this, he addresses a core need that all of us have because every one of us has the core need to believe to believe in something bigger than us to believe in someone bigger than us. And God addresses our core need when he opens the door of faith in Jesus for us.

God is always the one who initiates divine revelation. He’s always the one who starts the conversation. Our role is to receive and to welcome what he is offering as God opens the door of faith in Jesus for each of us. In verse 13, we continue on in our text. It says, “After they had finished speaking, Barnabas and Paul, now James is going to speak up. James is the brother of Jesus and he’s now the leader in the church of Jerusalem at this time.” And James replied, “Brothers, listen to me.

Simeon and it’s calling Simon Peter Simeon in this. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for his name. Have you ever considered that God looks out at humanity and says, “I want that group of people for myself. I want that group of people for my name. I’m going to take this group of people and I’m going to call them my own.” And with the words of the prophets, they agree just as it is written.

After this, I will return and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen. I will rebuild its ruins. I will restore it that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes things known from old. This is quoting a prophet. The prophet is Amos. It’s out of chapter 9 11 and 12. And it is a reflection of every prophet agrees.

Every one of them gave the same message and that is God is calling people. He’s looking out at humanity and he’s taking people for himself and he’s calling them that they might have his name. You know, names are interesting. Names are interesting. Raise your hand if you have a name. Now, keep your hand up. We’re not done. This is a group participation moment. Now, keep your hand up if you gave yourself that name.

Isn’t that fascinating? Now, there happens to actually be a few in my family that actually participated in their name because we have adopted children into our home and some of them were at the age to where they understood that they were going to be receiving a name and they got to have participation in choosing their name. But names are interesting because the majority of us, we have a name and we did not give ourselves our name. In fact, our names are actually a reflection of somebody else.

Let me share with you a story. My parents were in the service last hour, so we’ll have to ask them if anything I’m about to say is true, cuz I wasn’t there for it. So, my two older brothers, my parents were teaching them the books of the Bible. And as they were learning the books of the Bible and the order of the books of the Bible, they got to a place where they found themselves stuck in not being able to remember one of the books of the Bible.

And so my parents thought, we need to do something to help them remember the book of the Bible that is Joel. We need a helper. Well, along came a little helper. And this little helper is going to help my older brothers now remember what the next book of the Bible is that they couldn’t remember. And so I end up being named Joel. Do you know what the name Joel means? It means declarer of God.

Isn’t that interesting? I guess my parents named me correctly. I didn’t choose my name. Now I’ve learned to live with it. I’ve accepted it. I haven’t tried to change my name to be something else. But what the passage of scripture that we just read says is God looks at people says,”I want those people to be mine. I’m going to call them and I’m going to call him by my name.” He’s going to give us his name.

In Romans chapter 9 25 and 26, it says, “As indeed he says in Hosea,” so he looked at Amos already. Now Hosea again the prophets agree. Now we’re looking at another prophet named Hosea. Those who were not my people, I will call my people. And her who was not beloved, I will call beloved. And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there will be called sons of the living God.

This is the business that God does. God takes people who are not his people and changes them to be my people. God takes people who are not beloved and changes them to be people who are beloved by God. God takes people who are in desperate need of a family and he calls them sons [snorts] of the living God. Children of God. This is our God. This is the God that we worship.

This is the God that we follow. You may feel like you don’t have a people. And God says, “I want you to be my people. You may feel like you are not loved.” And God says, “You will be my beloved and you may not have the experience of being a part of a family.” And God says, “You’re going to be children of the living God.” One of the great messages of the Bible is that God chooses to adopt us.

I have parents. They raised me two blocks that way. But it didn’t mean that I still did not need to be adopted by my heavenly father. You may not have parents. You may not have a relationship with your parents. We all have a common need to be adopted by our heavenly father. You might be here today and you might be thinking, “Does God even care about me? Does God even know who I am?

Is God even paying attention to my life?” You may be you may be experiencing so much isolation and abandonment right now that you’re wondering if anyone cares about you. And I want you to know, you’re exactly who God is talking about when he says,”I will take people who are called not my people and I will make them my people. And I will take people who are not beloved and I will call them beloved. And I will take people who are not a part of a family and I will call them sons of the living God.” And that is all made possible because of Jesus Christ.

Number two, God lovingly calls his children. He lovingly calls us his children. And as God lovingly calls us his children, he addresses a key need that we all have. You and I have a same core need and it is we need to be loved. We need to be loved. You need to be loved and I need to be loved. And God addresses our core need when he lovingly calls us his children.

Remember big picture, God opens the door and lovingly calls his children home. Number two is God lovingly calls us his children. God is always the one who initiates the love relationship. We never start the love relationship with God. The scriptures say that we love because he first loved us. So we are really just responding to the love of God. We’re we’re reciprocating the love of God. He loves us first and we just love him back with the love he gave us and we love other people with the love that he gave us.

In Acts 15:e in our text, the leadership of the church, James in in Jerusalem, he’s now going to make a judgment regarding this issue that they’re having. And he says,”Therefore, my judgment is this, that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God.” And then it goes on to list some very, very specific things for the circumstance that they were in. But what I want to focus on here is that phrase, turn to God. What we had is we had two groups of people that were wildly diverse.

There was a group of people that were Jewish, who were of Hebrew descent, and there were a people group called Gentiles, which means they were not Jewish. So, Gentiles is like everyone else, okay? And the Jews were coming to faith in Jesus Christ. And the Gentiles were coming to faith in Jesus Christ. And guess what? The way they lived their everyday lives were not compatible. Imagine that. The way they lived in their cultures were not compatible.

And they were really having a hard time trying to figure out how do people from these different people groups follow Jesus together. And it comes to the church leadership saying look this is the judgment. Don’t trouble those who turn to God. Let me put it this way. Don’t mess up what God is doing in someone else’s life. Don’t become an obstacle for someone else who is turning to God. Let me explain to you how you and I are the same.

You and I are the same because both of our stories are very complex. You and I are the same because you and I have both sinned. You and I are the same because you and I both know what it is to ruin a relationship. You and I are the same because you and I have made mistakes. In fact, we’re pretty good at making them. And you and I are the same because we both have the need to repent of our sin and to turn to God.

And it’s the judgment of the early church to say as people are repenting of their sin and turning to God, don’t trip them up as they do it. Because their stories are complex just like yours and their background has a bunch of baggage in it and a bunch of situations that are hard to deal with. And as people are repenting and they’re turning to God, don’t trouble them. Allow people to repent and allow people to come to God.

We’ve looked at an image already of God in the scriptures of God opening a door. Well, here’s another one in Romans 10:21. But of Israel, he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and a contrary people.” When you think of God, what image comes to your mind? Because this passage says, “All day long, God’s been standing there. He’s been waiting patiently. He’s been having his hands out.

He’s been extending his hands out all day long. Often we totally forget that we are a disobedient and contrary people. The path that we find ourselves in right now is in direct relationship to our sin and our failure. It’s not because of God. God’s been standing here all day long with his hands held out waiting for us to come to him. You may be here today and you’re asking some big questions.

You may say, you know, where’s God in all of this? In everything that’s happening, where’s God? You may be struggling right right now to withdraw that you would move away from people. You would move away from God. Allow the scriptures to show you an image of God. All day long, I’ve held out my hands. All day long, I’ve held out my hands. Number three is God patiently waits with open arms to welcome us home.

Remember, big picture, what are we looking at? We’re looking at God opens the door and lovingly calls his children home. And number three is God patiently waits with open arms to welcome us home. And guess what? This addresses a core need that we all have. You and I have the same core need. And God addresses it as he patiently waits with open arms to welcome us home. And that core need is we all desperately need to belong.

Every one of us needs to belong. We need to belong to someone else. We need to belong to a family. We need to have a spot at the table. And God patiently waits with open arms to welcome us home. Now, you may have experienced some things that are really difficult. You may have experienced being rejected by your parents. You may have experienced being rejected by your family. You may have experienced being in rebellion to your parents or being in rebellion to your family.

I mean, if any of us have lived for very long, we’re probably all in that category, aren’t we? That we have lived in some way in rebellion to our family. You may have experienced feeling like there is no hope for you to return home. There’s no hope for you to return to your parents. There’s no hope to you to return to your family. there’s no hope. You may experience that feeling like there is no hope.

Well, Jesus shared a parable, a story. And this story is for all of us who have been rejected by our parents, experienced rebellion, or have been so devastated like there’s no hope to return home. This parable, this story is out of Luke 15 11. This is what Jesus says. As I read this story to you, I want to challenge you to find yourself in the story. Find yourself in one of the characters of this story and allow this story to speak to you where you are right now.

Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons and the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that’s coming to me.” And so he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and he took a journey into a far country. And there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.

So he went and he hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. and he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate and no one gave him anything. That is describing some like crazy level of hunger that you want to eat what the pigs are eating. That that’s some serious hunger. But when he came to himself, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger?

I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, “Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and before you. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” And he arose and he came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. When you think of God, what’s the image that you have in your mind?

Because in this parable, it shows the father seeing the son, waiting for the son, having compassion for the child who’s returning, running to the child, embracing the child, kissing the child, welcoming the child home. And the son said to him, “Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and before you. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.” In other words, we’re throwing Thanksgiving. We’re throwing Thanksgiving feast.

Why? For this son of mine was dead. He was not actually dead. He was living like he was dead. This son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to celebrate. This is a picture of a father who has perfect love. This is a picture of a father who has perfect grace. What is the image of God that comes to your mind when you think of him?

Church family, we do not need to be ashamed of our heavenly father. We do not need to be ashamed of anything our heavenly father thinks about. We do not need to be ashamed of anything our heavenly father says out loud. We don’t need to be ashamed of anything our heavenly father takes in action. We don’t ever need to be ashamed of how our heavenly father waits patiently with arms open, loving the lost all the way home.

We don’t ever need to be ashamed of our heavenly father. God opens the door and he lovingly calls his children home. God opens the door and he lovingly calls his children home. This is our God who we worship. This is our God who we follow. This is our God who is our savior. This is our God who forgives us. This is our God who redeems our life. This is our God who takes us from total devastation and renews us and makes us new in him.

This is the God that we worship. How awesome is our God. How awesome is our heavenly father. Now, we want to end our service in a pretty cool way. And so, I’m going to give an invitation to the kids. And kids, if you want to participate in this, you’re welcome to. If you don’t feel comfortable, you don’t have to do it. But when I was growing up in church, in this church, I always wanted to do something and no one ever allowed me to do it.

I, as a kid, always wanted to come up onto this stage and be able to talk just like all the big people were doing. And no one ever let me do it. So, I want to invite any kids who want to come up onto the stage. We’re going to say this out loud together. We’re going to do the hand motions out loud. Anybody, any of the kids who want to come, you come up on the stage right now.

Okay? You join me. Any kids who want to come up on the stage, you join me. I’ll wait for you to come. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the balconies or in Oh. Oh, we got a lot. Oh. Oh. [applause] Oh, we got Oh, they’re like they’re like coming out of everywhere. All right. This is awesome. Come on up. Okay. Outnumbered. All right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right here. Perfect. Yeah. Perfect.

Right up here. Yeah. This is great. Yep. Yep. Awesome. Hey, we got Yep. We’re wait. Oh. Oh, there’s more. Hey, we got you. Come on, guys. We got you. Oh, yeah. Oh, this is great. Oh, yeah. Good job, everybody. Okay. Oh. Oh, well, hi. Yes, I’m excited, too. Okay. Oh, there’s Oh, there’s still more coming. Where Where were they all hiding? Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. So, here’s what we’re going to do.

We’re going to learn the hand motions first. Okay. So, let’s learn the hand motions. Okay. So, the hand motions are God opens the door and lovingly calls his children home. Okay. So, now we’re going to say this and we’re going to we’re going to practice. Okay. We’re going to we’re going to say this and we’re going to do the hand motions. Okay. Ready? Let’s do it together. God opens the door and lovingly calls his children home.

Okay, now we’re practice one more time. Okay, here we go. God opens the door and lovingly calls his children home. Okay, now we’re going to show the big kids what we learned. Okay, I’m going to get out of the way. Okay, I’m going to stand behind you. Okay, here we go. You guys ready? Here we go. God opens the door and lovingly calls his children home. Should we have the big kids say it with us?

Let’s have them too. Okay, you it’s your you got to say it with us now. Okay, here we go. God opens the door and lovingly calls his children home. Hey, can you give it up for these kids? All right. Hey, don’t go anywhere. Don’t go anywhere. Stay here. Stay here. Stay here. Stay here. Okay. Stay here. All right. Hey, kids. Would it be okay? Would it be okay if we prayed for you?

Can we do that? Okay. And when I get done praying, don’t leave. Okay. Let’s pray for the kids. Can we do that? Father God, thanks for the children. Thanks for There’s a ton of kids in our church. Lord, thank you for these children. God, thank you that you’re reaching the next generation. God, thanks that kids and students are learning to love the Lord with all of their heart, mind, soul, and strength.

And God, we pray blessing over this is the future of the church. It’s right here. And God, we pray blessing over these kids. Would you raise them up to be strong men and strong women who will follow Jesus Christ? And we pray blessing over them in the name of Jesus. And all God’s family said, “Amen.” Now, now kids. Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. One thing. Okay. One thing at the beginning of church, I told a story about my dad’s whistle.

Okay. Now, we’re going to see if any of you know how to whistle. So, if you know how to whistle, just start whistling. All right. Here we go. Okay. Anyone else who wants to whistle, go ahead. This is your moment. Just start whistling. There it is. There it is. All right. Hey, let’s give it up for the kids. Okay, be very careful. Use the stairs. Use the stairs. Okay, be very careful.

Use the stairs. Hey, that’s some church. That’s some church. Church family, we love you and we look forward to seeing you again real soon. If you need prayer, our team’s going to be ready to pray with you. If you’re new, I’d love to meet you. Happy Thanksgiving and we will see you again real soon. We love you, church family.