2. Last week: Humankind is a family
Gen 5:1 When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created NIV
Gen 9:18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth. NIV

3. Humanity is a brotherhood
Every person craves a sense of belonging
No one “right” race
Every race is to be valued
Every race sins
Every race has uniquenesses
The gospel needs to be contextualized to meet the uniquenesses
Even in your uniqueness, you belong

6. What I am about to say may cause some of you to tune out.
It may seem narrow
It may seem exclusionary
I ask you, hang in there til the end of the message
I ask you to trust me.
Keep open ears
Keep an open heart

7. 1. God's design for the family
Mom, dad, children,
Gen 2:24...a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Gen 1:22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”
Gen 1:28 8 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth
Gen 9:7 (After flood) As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”

8. 2. Families are rarely perfect
Brokenness happens
Jacob and his 12 sons
Moses in a basket
Mary and Joseph
Mt 13: 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” NIV
Brokennes happens
Divorce comes
Pregnancy before marriage happens
Death of a spouse
Never had a spouse and wanted one (for those who enjoy your singleness I am not presurring you)
The Bible is full of stories of broken and sort of mended families
This does not change the ideal; but it means that God doesn't require the ideal to work
Consider Joseph- Read TExt
He knew the rumors that would come from the “People of God” if he married a pregnant woman. It wasn't his. He was going on her word and a dream. So he married her.
This opened him up to innumerable criticisms of his family.
But he had to do what he felt was right, in the midst of the imperfection of his ideal.

9. Mt 1:18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

10. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

11. 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”(which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

12. 3. Healthy families are welcoming and inclusive
Moses was adopted into a loving family
Where he didn't feel he fit
Knew something different
Jesus belonged in the family though Joseph was not his father

13. Luke 2: 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished
Luke 2: 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
Joseph was searching and was anxious just like Mary
Kindly saying “Joseph, you are not my real dad”

14. 3. Healthy families are welcoming and inclusive
It is hard work to welcome someone into your family
It is work that is worth it
Many of us had friends who's home life wasn't great
Throughout my life tried to welcome
Dinner with us
Evenings at the house with us
Holidays with us
Weary, tedious,
Take the long look

15. So what? God has a plan for the family. A good plan
The plan to keep us healthy and happy, safe and secure
If your family has brokenness... relax
RX: Prayer and the Bible-
Include God
Who can you include that needs loved?

16. So what? If your family doesn't fit the stereotype... relax
God can still work in your family
If you have been grafted into a family... relax