Truth Talk Live

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This is kind of a great thing and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind.

And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. So what's wrong with these statements? Everyone's a child of God. We're all a part of the family of God. We're all children of God.

You're born a Christian. What about those statements, and what is a family member of God? What does it take to be in the family of God? I'm Stu Epperson, and this is Truth Talk Live, the Wednesday in the Word edition, where we dive deeper into the Word together. We take your questions, and today we're going to look at the ultimate family man, the one who created the institution of the family. It looks like he's dissing his family. They're on the outside trying to connect with him, really trying to do an intervention. He's on the inside, and he completely redefines family.

And you say, wait a second, Stu. I thought the left, and I thought the anti-God, anti-Bible, gender-neutral nuts out there were redefining family. Well, Jesus redefined family 2,000 plus years ago in Mark chapter 3, 31 through 35, but stay with me and I'll explain more, and we're taking your calls all hour long on Truth Talk Live. Stu Epperson here, and Dr. Duane Carson, host of Date the Word, Man of God, mentor to me. He was there this morning as we mixed it up. Dario, Dr. Carson, what a great topic, and you're doing a Bible verse to get the family of God, the people connected to the family of God, every day for their birthday, right? Absolutely. Date the Word.

Today is 1-17, January the 17th. So we go with Mark 1-17, where Jesus says, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And I love that verse because while he said follow me, that's a life changer. He said, I will make you fishers of men. He took these men who had been doing something for earthly success and gave them now something to do for eternal significance. Their lives are going to be radically changed by deciding to follow him. One verse that changes everything for a person. Have you decided to follow Jesus? Yes, Date the Word. We do a verse every day, and if you want to know your birthday verse, you can call in right now. If you can go to the website, datetheword.com, we have a whole section called Birthday Verses, and you can see what verses match your date. Wow. And we're also going to give your spiritual birthday as well, which is huge.

Yes, which is more important than really the physical. And I want to talk about spiritual DNA. Who led you to Christ? Who led them to Christ? Who led them to Christ? Who was the praying grandma in your great-great-grandpa's life who prayed for him to be saved, and now you're here? What is your spiritual DNA, your spiritual background, your spiritual heritage? Dr. Duane Carson is with me on this special Wednesday in the Word edition of Truth Talk Live.

Read the Scriptures, Doc, Mark 3, 31-35. Read them out loud for everyone in your best radio voice. Everyone listen to this passage. We're going to break it down this whole hour. Go ahead.

All right, Stu. We're going to start at verse 20 because that gives some context. I'm in Mark 3 and verse 20. Then the multitude came together so that they could not so much as eat bread. But when his own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of him, for they said he is out of his mind.

Verse 31. Then his brothers and his mother came and standing outside, they sent him sent to him, calling him, and a multitude was sitting around him. And they said to him, Look, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. But he answered to them, saying, Who is my mother or my brothers? And he looked all around in a circle at those who said about him and said, Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever, verse 35, Stu, for whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and my mother.

Oh, wow. So who is your mother? Who are your brothers? Who are your sisters in Christ? Spiritual family. Is everyone a child of God? Is everyone in the family of God? So it's heavy, and Jesus takes it another notch up, and you know, the Jews had a high regard. The Hebrew culture had a high regard for family.

I mean, family first was their motto. And here, Jesus Christ, the rabbi, his family's on the outside trying to get to him. He's on the inside of this packed house.

The crowds have been swelling. He's accumulated all these followers, right? All these, you know, this little season of ministry. He's just launched his earthly teaching ministry and healing. He's exercising demons. His family's outside dropping names, and he says, Who is my family?

Right there on the inside. So we're going to deal with, who is his true family? Who is the earthly family of Jesus? We'll talk about those folks. And they're important people. They're very important people.

What's so important about God's will? We'll ask these questions this hour. And how were you born into the family of God? Now, there's a great spiritual picture of adoption here. We're going to get into that too, Dr. Carson. All hour long. Toll free, you can phone in at 866-34-TRUTH.

Toll free, 866-348-7884. How does someone enter the family of Almighty God? What about that old thing, you know, blood is thicker than water?

Well, what about the blood of Jesus? So we get into some things here, Doc, and we get into... And here's a great question, a great question I want to get people thinking about. How is it that I can be closer to you, sitting across the table from you here in the studio, the Truth Talk Live studios, how can I be closer to you, and you and I aren't even blood relatives, how can I be closer to you in Christ, and how can two human beings be more intimate and more close than actual blood relatives? Who you may never see, you may not even have a close bond to. I couldn't help but think, when you said that this morning, how much my life was changed by fellow Christian brothers and sisters, and became so close, that closer than a physical brother. And that's something, and then we'll get into... Christian family.

Yeah, what is it, who are you discipling? Who are you a father to spiritually? Who are you a mother to spiritually? Who are your spiritual children? Who are you being discipled by? If a church isn't discipling, what's the church doing? So we're going to challenge, and we're going to talk and encourage toll-free 866-344-TRUTH-HOUSE someone born in the family of God.

We'll unpack this passage. Who are Jesus' earthly family? How would you like to have grown up as a half-brother of Jesus in the home of Jesus?

Have you ever had a perfect older brother? Well, James and Simon, these guys did. We'll talk about that more coming up on Truth Talk Live! The Wednesday on the Word edition. 866-344-TRUTH.

Hang on. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live! I'm Stu Everson, and a big warm greeting to our Truth Talk weekend listeners. We take the best of this daily show, and we put it on the weekend, our Truth Talk weekend.

That's heard on over 200 affiliates nationwide. We are honored to talk to you, and we're inviting, we're recruiting people to be in the family. Right, Doc?

Yes. It's the only family that's open, and we're inviting people to join the family of God. And I opened the show with these statements. What's wrong with these statements?

They're all false, by the way. We're all God's children. Everyone's a member of God's family. Nope. We're all born Christians.

No. Yeah, and so, but what's fascinating is, here, Jesus, the ultimate family man, is kind of dissing his family. Mark chapter 3, 31-35, they're on the outside. They had to send word through this massive crowd, this house and Capernaum, likely, chock full of all these people. And Jesus says, hey, look around. This is my family.

Now, the fascinating thing is, Doc Carson, Dr. Dwayne Carson with Date the Word, is here with us. The fascinating thing about that is, the people he pointed to were zealots, tax collectors. Those two hated each other. Yep. These rough fishermen.

Yes. Some of these guys may not have had much of an education. None of them probably went to seminary school, or any of that stuff. And likely, they would have just torn each other up, you know? But they were one, and they were a part of Christ's family.

And he says this statement that must have been repulsive to the religious elite. These are my family. And they're like, what about these name-droppers outside? You know, I thought family got backstage passes. You know, if I'm Shaquille O'Neal's cousin, I'm going to drop that name all over the place.

I'm going to be at every game, in every box. It won't take long on social media for me to mention the fact that I'm related to this dude. Imagine being the half-brother of Jesus. Imagine being way outside trying to get in, and all these guys walking in with leprosy walked out healed. They said, yeah, my half-brother healed you.

Hey, you're welcome. You know, that's my half-brother. I worked with him in carpentry. You know? Mom and Dad used to say to me, why can't you be like your older brother?

What a statement. You know, what a challenge for his brothers is. He did.

He did grow up perfect. And they didn't believe. And that's part of it. As he's knowing, my family members right now have not decided to follow me to believe. Those who do my will, that's who my brothers are.

That's who my sisters are. So he takes it to a whole other level. A whole different level. Jesus Christ, the creator of the family, redefines family, but really he doesn't. But he talks about this spiritual body, the body of Christ. The body of Christ.

And if you take away any form of this program today, you are going to want to get to church the second the doors open. You're going to want to get involved. You're going to want to be discipling people. We're going to ask you, who's your spiritual father, your spiritual mother? Who are your spiritual children? Who are you discipling? Who's discipling you? And that is your family.

That is the power. What's your story? Who led you to Christ?

Who is your great-great-great-great-grandparent in Christ? We want to hear from you. We want to hear that story at toll-free 866-348-7884.

I'll say it slower. 866-344-TRUTH. Dr. Dwayne Carson is alongside me today, who's a member of Wednesday in the Word. It's our Wednesday in the Word edition of Truth Talk Live. Every day we come to you with this show, Pop Culture Current Events in Theology. Today we're drilling deep into a passage of Scripture, Mark 3, verses 20 through 35. The family of Jesus. And then Jesus decides and tells us and defines what the real family of Christ is. And contrary to the false dogma of Catholicism, his mother and his half, his stepdad, Joseph, had kids.

She was not, A, impeccable, and B, immaculate or whatever, she had children. And they're recorded in Mark 6, in John 7, and all throughout the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 15. Acts 1. Acts 1. But they were not all in Christ.

They were not his spiritual family. Imagine growing up a half-brother of Jesus, a bunkmate of Jesus, in his family, but spending eternity in hell. And there you are that close to the Savior. Kind of reminds me of the Bible Belt. I grew up in that.

I grew up very religious but lost. You're very close to church, you're very close to the things of God, hearing the hymns of God, hearing the Scriptures, but you're far from God, far from heaven. It's in your head, not your heart, right? That's it.

18 inches from the head to the heart. I have him in my head. I understand who he is, but I've got to have him in my heart.

I've got to accept him. I've got to be, here's the word, born again. I love this verse from Ephesians 2, verse 19. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of a household of God. That means you're members of the family of God. I once was lost, but now I'm found. I was outside of the family.

Now I'm in the family. We want to hear your story. Call us in and tell us how you became part of the family of God. Who led you to Christ? We want to hear their name.

You don't have to give their full name. But who led you to Christ? Who led them to Christ? Who mentored you in Christ? Who's discipling you in Christ? Who have you led to Christ? How did your spiritual family get started? Did you have a spiritual birth date, or do you have a significant date where the Lord did something in your heart?

Maybe he was at a church service, maybe he was at a camp. Call us and give us that testimony. Maybe you have a question. Maybe you have an issue with some of the things we're saying. We'd love to have a conversation with you about it. Some people have a hard time with this fact that not everyone is a child of God. And that's a true statement, though, because you have to be born again to be called a son of God.

Does going to church make you a Christian? Call us at 866-34-TRUTH. 866-348-7884. Doc, hit us with the next question real quick. These are the questions for Wednesday in the Word we're going through, and we'll just work our way through them. Who is his true family? Who is his true family? So this gets a little bit... Hit the question before that, because we want to explain a little bit.

We talked about it some. Who was the earthly family of Jesus? So he does have a father, Joseph. Half-father or step-father. Step-father, because he's born of the Holy Spirit. We don't think Joseph lived much longer as Jesus started his ministry.

So he's not in the scene anymore. But he's got a mother, he's got brothers, he's got sisters. Those names are given in Scripture. He has family that he's now responsible for, because at the cross he wants to make sure he takes care of his mother. So he's got an earthly family. But there comes this point where, more importantly, will be the spiritual family.

That's where his disciples come in, and that's where followers come in who say, I believe you are the Messiah. And even his mom had to make that decision. His brothers had to decide. James, you brought up this morning, he didn't believe until after the resurrection. Big brother showed up and said, hi James, I'm alive again. Wouldn't that have been an awesome scene to see?

What a scene. In fact, his mother Mary, Mary the mother of Jesus, knew, because she said it in the Magnificat. She said, I praise God, my Savior. She knew that the one she gave birth to, she would have to be reborn by. That he would have to give new birth to her. That he would have to die to save her.

Of course, she saw it happen. She was at his birth, and then she was at his death, and then his resurrection. And the fascinating thing is, she experienced a new birth, because of the birth, the physical birth, all that.

Some deep stuff here. Yes, because then on the day of Pentecost, he comes back into her. Oh wow, yeah, the Holy Spirit.

You ever think about that? That's right, yeah, the Spirit. Jesus dwelt again in her heart. You see, the Catholics overdo Mary, but Protestants underdo her. I mean, what a godly woman, and what a brilliant testimony of a godly woman.

But she needed a Savior just like we did. We've got Tiffany on the line. Other folks are phoning in at toll-free, 866-34-TRUTH, on this Wednesday in the Word edition of Truth Talk Live. Don't touch that dial. We'll be right back.

This is the Truth Network. Are you a member of the family of God? How do you become a member of the family of God? I hope you'll stay tuned. We're going to talk about that.

Why did Jesus, and how could Jesus, put a priority on publicans and sinners in a ragtag bunch of healed lepers inside this house than his own family on the outside? Mark chapter 3, 31-35, in the Wednesday in the Word edition of Truth Talk Live. I'm Stu Everson, our special guest with us, Dr. Duane Carson, who's the host of, the founder of DateTheWord.com, where you can find out of your birthday and how it corresponds with a date in history.

Pretty brilliant that he does that. And your spiritual birthday, too. And I'm going to share this with you from our friends at Vintastic, our underwriting partners, this segment of Truth Talk Live. Doc, there you go, buddy.

You're going to need that energy. They offer a brand new Le Blue and Mighty Muscadine to the same folks. Jerry and his team, the same sponsor and underwriting partner of Truth Talk Live for years, have come up with a beverage. They offer this beverage. No calories, no sugar, no artificial sweeteners, no carbs, and lots of antioxidants just to encourage everyone. Their message is encouraging people to live healthy.

And so their new little drink, we'll have to take a picture and put it up, is called Vintastic. And so more information can be found at MightyMuscadine.com. And they're offering a promo code, TRUTH, for our listeners out there. If you want to try some for yourself, your family, and we want to thank them for helping us do this program, helping us make a difference. And we want to thank all of you for listening. We want to go right to the phone lines.

Our toll-free number nationwide is 866-348-7884. How did you join the family of God? What's your testimony? Who led you to Christ? And what is important about spiritual families, so much so that you can be closer to someone.

You're not a blood relative. They may be from a different continent than you, but they love you deeply and you love them deeply because of this bond in Christ. How do you explain that, and how do we frame that in modernity today, where everyone's like, well, everyone's a Christian. Well, I was born in the Bible Belt. That makes me a Christian. Well, I go to church, that makes me a Christian. Not so fast. Going to McDonald's doesn't make you a Happy Meal, right, Dr. Carson?

That's exactly true. So let's get Tiffany in here. She has a comment. Let's bring her on the line. Tiffany, thanks for calling Truth Talk Live. We've got a line open at 866-344-TRUTH. Tiffany, you're on the air.

Hi, Stu. I'm not really sure what all you want me to say. That was quite a few questions that you kind of rolled off just a few seconds ago. But I think the main question is, how does someone get into the family of Christ, and how are you connected to someone who you may never have known, maybe on another side of the world, but you are closer to them than you are someone in your blood family? Yes, you've said it very well. Yes. Okay, so my answer to the question I heard you ask initially is, does going to church make you a Christian?

Obviously, it does not. But what I will say is, having grown up in church for years, and not getting converted until I was an adult, a lot of what I heard in church that I really wasn't paying attention to at the time, I didn't know that God was providentially sowing things into my spirit. So when I eventually heard the gospel properly preached, everything just clicked. And so from there, I have met people from all over the world, and we know each other by our fruits. We know people are Christians by their love. And so it's inexplicable to a person who has yet to be converted, but for a converted person, the love of Christ, we all can share that we know we were in darkness. We were on our way to an eternal punishment and experiencing God's eternal wrath, and we've been rescued from that. So that's a joy that we all just share.

And so those are just my comments. I love it. What a testament. Hey, Tiffany, it's crazy you said that.

Something just hit me. I was in a New Age bookstore in Hollywood. I was in Bible college in California, and I'm sharing the gospel with this bookstore owner, and he is far out New Age, atheist, everything. And these other guys came in and joined right in with me. And thank God they did, because I was like a freshman, and I was taking Bible classes and all that. These guys were amazing. And they just jumped right in, and we bonded.

I'd never met these guys before. They were in a different denomination. They were definitely believers, right? And we went outside that bookstore, and we just prayed together. It was just powerful. And I saw, a year later, one of those dudes in the Charlotte airport, randomly.

Just like that. 3,000 miles away. He saw me, I saw him, and he gave me the biggest bear hug. I'm like, I didn't grow up with this guy.

I don't know this guy from Adam. But we're brothers in Jesus. We're going to spend eternity together. And just like Tiffany said, that resonates. What a beautiful picture of the power of God bringing together.

But he's calling us to be the body. Tiffany, you blessed me. Thank you for calling in. Yes, sir, thank you. Wow. Yes, ma'am.

And we'll take some more calls now. We've got Joey on line 2, 866-34, truth is the number. How did you become a part of the family of God? And what's your story?

Have you ever traced your spiritual ancestry? Well, that's fun. Doc has a—you've got a story about your great-grandparent. But let's get Joey to jump in. Joey, you're on the air. Hey, Joey? Hello? Hey, welcome. Yes, Stu, this is Kelly Hartman. Hey, Kelly, great. Thanks for calling in. God bless you.

What's cooking? Good, good. I thought you was talking to Joey for a minute. Yeah, I wanted to give a testimony, Stu.

Yes, sir. Yeah, I was saved in Flint, Michigan on September 13, 1984. Oh, wow. Yeah, Jesus decided not to walk on by my house. He decided to stop on in. Amen.

Wow. What a story, man. As he looked at me as I lie there on my couch, he said, Get up and go down to your mother's house. And I went down there, and you'd never believe there was a preacher there going door to door, knocking on doors, telling people about Jesus. And he shook my hand. He said, Young man, if you have five minutes, and I shook that preacher's hand, I didn't know any better. And he said, Where do you live? I said, Right around the corner. And we went back to my house, and that preacher took me through the Romans road.

As it is written, there is none right snow now worn. He got me over Romans 10, 9, and 10. He said, If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God rose Jesus from the dead, you shall be saved.

And Stu, he looked at me and said, I'll never forget these words. He said, If you mean business with God, he said, Get down on your hands and knees. And I fell to my knees, and I prayed the sinner's prayer, and I came up off my knees, a brand new man, old things had passed away, and all things had become new. Boy, I love that testimony. Praise the Lord, man. And Stu, that preacher, he said, Can we step out on the front porch?

And I mean literally, the sky was blue and the grass was greener. He looked at me and says, I've been looking for a young man that would help me plant a church. And I says, Man, you know what?

I can help you look. And you'd never believe it, Stu. God hand-picked me to help that pastor, and he planted a church in my house, and I was the first convert to that church plant. Now Doc, did you hear that? Right there is called spiritual multiplication.

In the biblical Christianity, there is no spiritual birth control. We are to be spreading the gospel and multiplying, and that preacher, through the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit, God used him to invite you into the family of God, and then you went out, and you were a part of that, and you're a part of that today, and it sounds like you're actively discipling and being discipled right now, Joey. There's a Joey out there discipling someone right now, even as we speak.

My middle name is Joseph, but that's okay, you can call me Joey. Listen, the world behind me, the cross before me, I have never turned back ever since that day. September 13th, that preacher gave me a gospel tract that he had written out himself, and he had written that date on there that he led me to Jesus, and he led my mom to Jesus, he led my aunt to Jesus, he led a lot of my family to Jesus, he led a lot of my neighborhood to Jesus, and yes sir, Pastor Felton Schultz led a lot, Midwest Baptist Church. And someone led Pastor Schultz to Jesus. Someone prayed, some grandma prayed for him.

He was out at the saloon, raising all kinds of problems. Someone was on their knees praying for him. I mean, you know, the spiritual genealogy is rich. Hey, Kelly, God bless you. Thank you so much for calling in. God bless you for what you do, and God bless you and continue to bless you, amen. All right, wow, what a blessing, what a ministry. We're going to go to another caller, 866-34-TRUTH, if you want to share your family of God story, if you want to comment on all that we're talking about today, this passage where Jesus prioritizes spiritual family over actual physical bloodline family, how can that be?

What is it so critical about God's will? He says, this is my family, those that are centered around, anchored in God's will, we'd love to hear from you at 866-34-TRUTH. Hello to all of our friends in the upstate of South Carolina listening to the new 96.9 FM, brand new Affiliate of Truth talk live, brand new great Christian teaching and talk station there, all of our friends listening there, Jerome included, and let's go to Timothy. Oh, Timothy, you're there, but man, we've got to take a break, can you hang on with us? Hang on with us, Timothy, we'll come back to you first, and more callers at 866-34-TRUTH. The centrality of God's will that brings together God's family, how do you become a Christian, how do you enter the family of God?

That's the big question that's got to be answered. We're getting right to that after this on Truth Talk Live. This is the Truth Network.

Every day we're here live at this time, I'm Stu Everson, this is Truth Talk Live, truthnetwork.com, all kinds of information there. A free app you can download just to listen to 24 hours of encouragement in whatever market you're in, just listen, be encouraged, be blessed to programs like this, and inviting you to join, we're going to have a family reunion forever in heaven, inviting you to join the family of God, Jesus Christ lays it down in Mark 3 as to who his real family was. These are my brothers, these are my sisters, and this is my mother, and he points to those people, this ragtag bunch of followers he had accumulated over these first three chapters of the Gospel of Mark, leprosy healed, paralyzed folks, folks he cast exercise demons from, and disciples that he called, that would have otherwise hated each other. Imagine people that have come together that otherwise would never be together.

You have Samaritans and Jews who ethnically would have killed each other, but under Christ they are one, and this is a powerful picture of the body of Christ. This is an important compulsion, Dr. Carson, our special guest for Date the Word, datetheword.com, thank you for being with us, to get a part of a local church, and be discipling that church, and find someone that's been in the race a little longer than you, get them to disciple you, right Doc? Who are your spiritual mothers, who are your spiritual fathers, who are your spiritual brothers, who are your spiritual children that you're discipling?

Starting your home, of course, and then fanning out from there, right? And part of being that family, it's more than friendship, you get to have fellowship. And now you're going to support one another, and as you look at the Bible, you're going to find all these things to do for one another. Serving one another.

Because as brothers and sisters, we have each other's back, we're going to help each other through this race. I love it. We're going to jump to Timothy, thanks for holding on. He's from Charlotte, North Carolina, listening to the new 105.7 FM Truth Network station in Charlotte, AM962, and 98.5 at the lake. Timothy, you're on the air on Truth Talk Live. Welcome, jump on in.

Yeah, thanks so much. I'll use the most abused statement in faith-related conversations. I'll try to be brief. Other than that, so I'll answer the first question, was how do we become the family of God? It's all those who believed in him. He gave the right to become children of God. I love it, John 1-12. We're not children of God until we believe and call on the name of Jesus.

Yeah, that's so good. We earn the right to come in. And then I'll address one thing, especially for me, Jesus said it himself, that a prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown. And I was thinking about it as I was waiting, and it's almost like the relationships that we're born into are obligatory, but the relationships that we acquire after we join the family of God, we have those relationships out of response to the goodness and love and grace of God that we want to share with one another. And I was in the military, I was in the Marine Corps for ten years, and deploying all around the world, I can tell you this, that there are no strangers in Christ.

Isn't that something? People from all over the world and even in the service all over the country, we come together and we're tighter. People supported me, invited me into their families, invited me into their homes while I'm away from my own family. They treated me like members of their family. And you never met them before.

I mean, these are foreigners. Never met them. You know, I was on a missions trip in Darfur, Sudan, the middle of nowhere, and I have never been loved more deeply. These people literally looked at me and wept. And I was just there sharing the Gospel. And they thought I was like some great person that I'm not.

They only knew the real stew. I had a Bible study with some men in the upstairs of a small chapel in Italy. And one of the guys that led the study, I saw him in public at an unrelated location. And the joy that filled my heart from just seeing his face, because he really knows me. I shared things in that group with him that are my testimony, and he shared his. And Bonhoeffer said that we cannot truly know each other, lest limited to how we know Christ. And the limit of how much we know Christ, that's how we can know each other, is through our relationship with Christ. And Paul, it's splattered all through the New Testament, having joy when you greet one another, how much joy he gets whenever he thinks about fellow believers. I think it's our own family, it's out of obligation, we have such a history with them, but our brothers and sisters in Christ, it comes with the stipulation of grace, it comes with the understanding that we're flawed, and that we love each other despite our flaws, and because God loves us.

That's a good word. You know, what's more deeper than a blood relative is a blood-washed, blood-bought relative in Jesus. And Timothy, you've said it better, and God bless you for your service to our country, man. We love our Marines, man.

We're a lot safer with guys like you around. God bless you, man. And we're brothers in Christ! And that's something. So God bless you, thanks for calling in.

Wow, what a testimony. Rock Sands on the line, and she'll be our last caller, because we're going to do a nice little wrap-up, put a bow on this thing, on Truth Talk Live. I'm Stu Everson, this is our special Wednesday in the Word edition. Rock Sands, you are on the air, thanks for phoning in. God bless you. Oh, thank you.

I gotta thank you for your show. Great, great, honest word. Thank you. But we're talking about family, right?

Yes. I am 59. The Lord saved me when I was 18. In California, a gang member, 18th Street, and worst of the moment, suicidal, and didn't know the Lord. I had never heard about Jesus. And pick up the Bible, that's the first time I spoke to the Lord. I said, Father, I said, Lord, I know I find the answer here, I just don't understand it.

And this screen, like a big TV screen, appears on the wall, and this voice, now don't ask me if that voice was audible or in my heart, but I hear the voice that says to me, on that screen, there's this house, and the voice tells me, go to that house and you will find help. Go to the house, it was half a block away from mine, and Sister Carmen lived there, and the pastor right behind her, her house, she tells me, let's wait for the pastor, and Pastor and Sister Carmen come to my house, and they speak to me about Jesus, they tell me why he died, how much he loved me, and that was how the Lord saved me. They became my family, and I became a street preacher, right?

Down in California. And so I moved around, got married, both my husband and I in the Navy, so we traveled a little bit, and we stayed here in North Carolina. Kept in touch a little bit, and so I'm going back to California this last year in May, and I want to go see Pastor Rosa, which is the one that brought me to Christ. And so we get together, you know, we get a hold of each other, and go to California, and I go to the little church, you know, where I was born, and I was taken care of, they were great people, very humble, and so I go into the congregation, you know, this past year, and I tell you, that's family.

That's family. Look at that, she's reunited with the one that brought her to Christ, and she's brought all these people to Christ. Roxanne, thanks for sharing that.

Wow, we got goose chills, goose bumps in the studio right near Dr. Carson. I mean, you had a great grandma, same thing for you, just like Pastor Rosa was for our sweet color Roxanne there. What a testimony.

What a testimony. Think about the reunion she had there in California, what it's going to be like when we're in heaven, and everybody is now together, and everybody's rehashing, telling their story about how they came to know the Lord. You know, we're asking the question, how do you become part of a family of God? And as Roxanne said, you've got to be born again. And Jesus died for us.

We can't do anything. We go to him, we believe in his death, his burial, his resurrection, and in doing so with that, we become born again, we become, oh watch this one, you brought it out this morning, adopt it. How do you get into the family of God? Adoption is a great picture of the Gospel, isn't it?

It's such a beautiful picture. I talked to a friend this morning who said I was adopted. I called these people mom and daddy, they picked me out, I could have been dead somewhere, and they adopted me. And then he said, I got saved later, they led me to Christ, and he says I was twice adopted. Twice adopted. Now another buddy of mine, Joe, who I actually helped bring this guy to the Lord in high school, he got up and shared his testimony, talking about how spiritually mature beyond me, he got up and would share, he would say this, I was born a Christian the second time.

The second time. So you must be born again to enter the kingdom of God, and if you've never been born again, call upon the name of the Lord. He's one prayer away, Dr. Carson. Ephesians 2, 8, for by grace you are saved through faith, not of yourself. The great picture that Adrian Rogers gave was that grace is God's hand reaching down to you, but faith is now your hand reaching up.

Just trusting, fully relying on him and his work. Jesus paid it all, he shed his blood so we could be bought, purchased, ransomed, redeemed by the blood of the lamb, and brought into his family. When we think about children that have been adopted, there's two special moments. There's going to be the moment for the child to say to that new parent, Father.

And for the father to now hear his child, call him Father. And that's what happens when we get saved. When we get saved, the Spirit of God comes into us and causes us to cry out, Abba, Father. That's what happened with me when I got saved.

Dr. Bailey Smith was a preacher. And when I realized I had never been born again, just religious, and I called on the Lord to save me, the first thing I said when I got off of my knees was, Father, the Spirit of God had come into me. And a person can be born again right now if they'll call on the Lord, and they will know him no longer as God, but as Father. And they'll be members of the family of God, the eternal family, a bond that lasts forever. Will you do that?

Will you call upon the name of the Lord today? Wow. Check out his word. Read it for yourself. Truthnetwork.com.

It's got a lot more information. Thanks for being with us today. Thank you, Doc Carson. Thank you, Stu. What a blessing. This program powered by the Truth Network.