Spiritual Paroxysms - [Hebrews 10:24-25]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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the pastor from the Reformed Church in America was given 500 bucks and told to go plant a church.

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First thing you do if you want to go plant a church is you need, besides people, you need a building.

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So he could not find a building to rent. Well this didn't stop this young man named

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Robert and so he rented out the Orange County Drive -In Theater in California and he had a great idea.

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He'd have a church service in the Drive -In Movie Theater and he would stand on the top of the snack bar and preach sermons.

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You could hang the little speaker on your window and you would be given hymnals and Robert Shuler started off in 1955 that very way before he came up with the

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Hour of Power and the Crystal Cathedral. It was marketed early on with that church.

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It said quote where even the handicapped, hard of hearing, aged, and infirm can come and see and hear the entire service without leaving their family car.

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One parishioner said smoke and be in church at the same time at the drive -in during the daytime?

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What a trip! Fast forward 20 years.

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I remember with my mother and two siblings. Dad stayed at home. We went to the

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Yankton, South Dakota Drive -In on Broadway Street for church services on Sunday and the pastor would stand on top of the snack bar and he would preach and we would sit in the car eating our egg

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McMuffins in our pajamas for Sunday morning service at the Lutheran Church Yankton Drive -In.

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There were a couple downfalls though. Here was one. The singing was awful because it was just the

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Abendroth singing and not one of us except mom could sing. The other downside was it's hard it's hard to serve other people.

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The one another's fellowship, encouragement, it's hard to do in the car.

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So I'd like you to take your Bibles this morning to turn to Hebrews chapter 10 as we're gonna look at this very idea why it's so important to be around other church people in light of who

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Jesus is. Christianity as some call it is communal. We need one another. We have to be around the body so that we can encourage people.

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Some days we are the ones needing the encouragement. The Bible says in Hebrews 10 24 let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but in encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

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The writer of Hebrews knows something and he knows that if you want to stimulate people to action if you want them to do something if you want them to obey the laws and commands of a holy

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God of a creator God he doesn't just say get busy obeying he frames things and he he puts together this great picture about how great the

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Lord is so you would want to respond with gratitude. He'll say the issue isn't obedience to get into the faith the issue is since the

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Lord Jesus obeyed and since he's he's graced you then if somebody would love you like that wouldn't you want to respond with I'd like to obey him not to earn my standing but because of my standing and that's what the book of Hebrews does.

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It really follows the pattern that Romans would follow that many theologians would say it talks about our guilt it talks about grace and it talks about then the response is gratitude.

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Jesus by sovereign ordination by divine decree yielded his own personal obedience to the father by becoming the high priest who offered himself as a sacrifice and who prays for his people.

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This was by his own precious blood. One man was asked this question what is the new covenant and here's how it's answered the gracious free immutable promise of God made unto all his elect fallen in Adam to give them to Jesus Christ and in him mercy pardon grace and glory and so if anybody would do that for you and of course

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Christians that's what the Lord has done for you you want to respond properly you want to obey you want to do what the

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Lord says and so we come to Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19 and following with this hinge verse that begins with therefore since Jesus is the great high priest so what when

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I was in seminary they always ask the question where's the so what these truths are important these truths are are are uh uh vital for us but what does it matter and so we move from how we think about Christ to what we do since we're now in Christ and by the way as we learned two weeks ago and by and thanks for to Steve who filled in for me last

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Sunday when I was in Canada by the way uh I I think Dunkin Donuts is is overrated and so is

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Tim Horton sorry uh coffee the the writer is approaching uh his

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Jewish audience in a Jewish way so it shouldn't surprise us that when we come to 10 19 and following now it sounds

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Jewish and so he's going to want people to respond he's talking to Jews he'll talk to them in a very

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Jewish way and we'll see how simple that is once we understand where he's coming from so into review since Jesus is this great high priest since he's forgiven

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Christians how do you respond here's the response number one believe we looked at that last time in verses 19 through 22 since he has done this great high priestly work well what should we do believe therefore brothers since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh and since we have a great high priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water the way we probably talk would be well since Jesus is so great and he died on the cross and he was raised you should repent you should believe you should trust in the

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Lord you should say I can't save myself and I'm going to rely on the Lord Jesus with faith and that's true here though it's very

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Jewish language that he's he's using the backdrop remember from the day of atonement where the high priest would probably be afraid to walk into the holy of holies and now because of the blood of Christ Jesus and his his atoning work you can enter into the holy of holies by faith you can simply trust and he uses these priestly concepts does he not draw near enter it's just a synonym for faith just to have knowledge of something to give a scent to it and then trust it's picturesque it's wonderful Calvin said there is great weight almost in every word so we must remember that there is here to be understood a contrast the truth a reality as seen in Christ the abolition of ancient types that is to say we want to stay away from the holiness of God when we have sin but since our sin has been dealt with then we can come to the holy father and he uses all kinds of terminology here you can see the word blood the

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Jews would know that would be sacrificial substitutionary in place of veil you can't go into the holy of holies but now of course the veil has been ripped priest we talk about that a lot sprinkled consecrated blood washed and therefore if you're not a believer the call is to believe to enter to draw near to repent and trust in Christ Jesus very

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Jewish way of thinking Charles Simeon explained his coming to Christ in a similar Jewish way as I was reading

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Bishop Wilson on the Lord's Supper I met with an expression to this effect that the Jews knew what they did when they transferred their sin to the head of their offering the thought came into my mind what may

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I transfer all my guilt to another has God provided an offering for me that I may lay my sins on his head then

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God willing I will not bear them on my own soul one moment longer accordingly by faith

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I sought to lay my sins on the sacred head of Jesus well the response to Jesus is believe number two we started to look at last time found in verse 23 is if you are a believer then what keep believing and he uses language that the

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Jew would understand to be that very thing verse 23 believe and now keep believing let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful he wants them not to let go remember what's happening there's persecution maybe

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I should go the other way there's trouble there's trials matter of fact even in chapter 10 what's going on with some of these people it might make you think second thoughts about Jesus verse 32 struggle sufferings verse 33 reproach affliction verse 34 prison plundering of property if those things happen to you you might think you know what when

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I was a Jew before I was a Christian none of these things happen now I'm trusting Christ trouble and he says you know what it's worth the trouble and you could even be thinking now you know what there's trouble in my life and I've lost a loved one

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I've got cancer there's relationships that are that are hurting this that and the other and you're like well my life was easier before I was a

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Christian and you know what maybe it was but your eternal life won't be easier you're honoring the

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Lord Jesus has to be now so keep believing don't go back I like the language here do you see it hold fast this is a synonym for faith keep white knuckling keep believing keep adhering to keep committing to well what would the opposite be defection apostasy turning your back saying you know what

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I grew up with that and that was good when I was a kid that was good for my mom and dad and it's good for society it's good for the moral fabric but I'm not going to do that because I've got other things

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I want to do and and I've got other people I want to date and see and be with and everything else no keep holding on the opposite of this is defection the opposite of this is shirking your responsibility and going

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AWOL to hold fast the word hold fast means to hold down to be have so much intensity to grab it that you're just kind of almost like hunched over just I'm gonna not let go of this and what are you supposed to hold on to what's the text say the text says in verse 23 hold fast the confession of her hope and of course the writer in Hebrews meant you're supposed to hold fast the

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London Baptist 1689 confession right that's our confession he says hold fast the confession okay you

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Presbyterians it's a Westminster confession no no what's the confession the confession by the way confession means to say the same thing

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Christians all confess they all say the same thing what's that same thing what's found in chapters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 and 10 what we've confessed in chapters 1 through 10 about Jesus the high priest about Jesus making atonement how

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Jesus adds the second person the trinity adds human nature so that he might be our representative and then die on the cross and be raised from the dead that confession in 1 through 10 say

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I believe that hold fast to it then say the same thing that this writer says that the word of God says that the

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Lord says and that other people in this body say he talked about in chapter 3 verse 1

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Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession chapter 4 it sounds just like chapter 10

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Jesus the son of God since he's passed through the heavens let us hold fast our confession because the only other option in this binary nature of things it's either you believe or you don't believe it's either you follow or you go

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AWOL regardless of your circumstances that's why I think he uses here because of their circumstances and of course many of yours hold fast the confession of our hope

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I probably call it the hold fast the confession of our faith it's a confession of our faith but here because there's so much trouble so many trials so many things going on in life it's the confession of our hope living in light of there's something more than now if you survey people today across the the world what are you hoping in I think they're just generically hoping for things to what to get better that next year will be a little bit better this hope has an object so no matter what your circumstances are he says the confession of our hope hold on to that your hardest boss said the

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Christian is a man who lives with his heavenly destiny ever in full view his outlook is not bounded by the present life in the present world he sees that which is and that which is to come in their true proportions and in their proper perspective the center of gravity of his consciousness lies not in the present but in the future hope not possession is that which gives tone and color to his life his is the frame of mind of the air who knows himself entitled to large treasures upon which he will enter at a definite point in time that's encouraging because when you're going through all the troubles and trials there's something more in the future something's coming it's just not this life on earth how can

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I withstand persecutions today by holding fast the confession of our hope and the bible teaches right there in verse 23 without wavering without leaning without doubting you're going to see in just a moment why this is so important to be around other

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Christians because sometimes we do and we need to be around strong Christians and sometimes those stronger Christians are weak they need to be around other strong Christians double -minded men no double -minded women no keep your eyes on the one who is never double -minded the for he who promised is most of time faithful every other day faithful here the text says he's faithful first Thessalonians 5 the faithfulness of God faithful is he that called you who will also do it what if i'm putting all my eggs in the future basket of hope while i'm getting persecuted now but it doesn't pan out the bible says he's faithful he's true he'll never leave you nor forsake you he's reliable it's impossible hebrews 6 for god to lie so dear christian if you're going through troubles now keep believing trials now keep believing there's a confession of your hope sometimes people say this well you know what i i'm not really believing now but i believed when i walked the aisle 10 years ago i believe when i was a little kid i signed a card i went up front i went to billy graham i did this i i raised my hand the pastor said every head bowed every eye closed no one looking around i see that hand and so you know and i got baptized when i was 16 and 17 and all that stuff but i i i just i just don't believe anymore the present tense of this including in the first chapter uh first uh first john is are you believing now i'm not trying to be mean or rude but i don't care that you accepted jesus in your heart when you were 10 are you believing right now because lots of things happen it's like well all right um 10 year old comes up to me here at bbc it's happened a lot pastor i believe i believe that jesus died for me i'm sinful and he was raised from the dead and what do i say prove it no you didn't i know your parents you're a chip off the old block no that wasn't in my notes there sorry what i'm gonna do good job way to go and what am i always gonna say every single time you know me by now keep believing keep believing because we don't say you know what i used to believe but then i i i went through puberty and got a car and met a man or a woman whenever i meet somebody and they're like well you know i just don't know if the bible is true anymore i grew up with it but i don't think it's true anymore i always ask the same question what's her name what's his name because you can't try to believe what's in the book and do what you do and have it balance out so there's trouble there's trials but there's this great hope coming so the response to this jesus who did this out of mercy and love as pastor steve prayed is to believe and to keep believing are you believing now first john 3 this is the commandment that we believe in the name of the son jesus christ what's the commandment that you must obey to believe if i could use that language everyone who believes that jesus is the christ has been born of god first john 5 1 in light of jesus what do you do you believe you keep believing and now in verses 24 and 25 you serve believers you love believers you believe you keep believing and you serve believers verse 24 and 25 and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and to good works not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near he the writer still is trying to motivate based on a platform of who god is remember moralism says do this the gospel says because this has been done for you do this that's the right way to think about it in light of the gospel here since jesus has done all this for you and since he's not on earth anymore if he were on earth you'd be thinking you know what jesus did all this for me i'll do whatever you want i'll serve you i'll you know you just tell me what to do and i'll do it but since he's risen he's exalted he's in heaven he'll come back one day since he's not here he has a bride he has a people and he wants us to serve them and the life of jesus is simply giving himself and so we think to ourselves why am i around other christians and maybe some of you are thinking this way i know most of you aren't i'm here at church to get um no one today was nice to me nobody said anything to me except can you please move your coffee nobody i mean people you know i just that the church is not very loving and they didn't have me over and they didn't do this and they didn't do that and i just come to church and nobody's here serving me well i i i wish we would serve you but that shouldn't be your attitude the attitude should be i'm coming to serve i'm coming to give the lord did this for me even though i was worse than lot even though i was worth worse than lot's daughters i'm worse than the people at sodom i know how self -righteous and how sinful i am and god said i love you i've forgiven you you're reconciled i i've had my son bear the wrath that you deserve and you go now what do you want me to do here's what god says then love other people and you go it's a lot easier to love jesus than some of these people here i know i'm looking at all your faces you only see one and you're saying the same thing in singular as i'm saying in plural this this is not because if we do this enough if we're we're good enough at this god will say enter into my heaven but since we're in how do you respond so let me respond to this section with with an outline there are three great theologians church history says that start with a anselm augustine and aquinas the three a's you ever said we're the three great a's of theologians anselm gustin and aquinas but i'm going to give you three a's that recognize the supremacy of jesus the high priest if you're a christian here's your kind of way to respond the three a's and they're agitate attend and applaud we've got we know once in a while i'm a baptist right is that okay sherm bob is that okay did you name this church bethlehem bible church baptist church you inherited it did you did you not yeah okay do you ever think about changing the name so you didn't ever think about changing the name never did okay then i won't tell you what i'm thinking hey we can redeem it because bethlehem means house of bread and remember jan hus in prague was the pastor of bethlehem chapel so there you go the three responses agitate attend and applaud number one agitate and i know what you're thinking this is going to be an easy one amen verse 24 and let us consider how to stimulate agitate this is where we get the word paroxysm one another to love and good deeds so the first thing he says is i i want you to help foster other people to do things for other christians but it's going to take a few things here's what it takes first of all to consider the same word he used about considering jesus in hebrews 3 1 consider this great high priest think about it don't just have a fleeting thought don't just kind of alt tab through life no but stop and stare and think and say you know what i'm going to put my gadgets and gizmos and everything else away i'm going to sit at the lake and i'm going to think you know here's who jesus is and here's what he's done for me and how i can praise him it's the same word here for consider to direct your mind to focus your mind on how can i get people to provoke one another to agitate one another in a positive sense to stimulate one another to love and good deeds the esv says how to stir up one another to love and good deeds to think about it this is the same word consider that our lord jesus used when he thought about when he when he taught us to think about the lilies of the field consider the lilies how they grow they neither toil nor spin yet i tell you even solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these but if god so closed the grass which is alive in the field today and tomorrow was thrown into the oven how much more will he clothe you oh you of little faith and do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink nor be worried go outside and just think about those lilies and he makes this very personal he's talking to the congregation let us i could say it this way let you this is what you're supposed to do christian how can i figure out ways to incite in a good sense people to love one another this is a community some churches are called grace community i had a daughter when she was little she wanted to know what church we're going to go to and she would say daddy are we going to be going to grace community it's a community of people focused around the grace of god and we too while it might not be in our name that's what we're supposed to do the royal law is love one another the royal law is love your neighbor as yourself that's the second great law and this is essentially that and it comes as i said before from the word paroxysm now paroxysm could be this violent attack or or this kind of sudden emotion it just means to sharpen beyond make something super sharp that's the positive aspect to it and probably what was happening here in context with hebrews the jews weren't thinking this was too good and they probably were thinking you know what it's hard for me to be around other people because the church now is not just jewish there's gentiles there's unclean people there and i don't like that it's going to be we want to just be by ourselves we want we don't want these new people coming in we want to be you know just with the charter members those people all these new people coming in and they don't dress like we do they don't act like we do i mean i could i could extend it to our church and say the new people that come in and they've got tattoos on their neck and they've got this kind of hipster pants on and they got this that and the other no no no we're the old school people we don't like these new people we no way we don't have anybody around here that peevish do we oh peevish that's what calvin called it peevish the jews were puffed up with we have abraham as our father now these other people around we don't want to be around those people sounds awful we don't want that especially in light of jesus died for them jesus loved them if you as one writer said if you love jesus you'll love the the church and you stimulate one another to what's the text say love and good deeds that could be as simple as let me talk to you about who jesus is let me remind you who this jesus is i know you're struggling i know you're you're going through a sickness and maybe a lot of you know you're tired and it's the chemo and it's just that and the other and your your faith is is maybe faltering for a second let me just come alongside of you and say i'm not even i don't even have to do anything for you i'm just going to remind you who the savior is who said i will never leave you nor forsake you and sharpen them to stimulate one another to love and good deeds some people say you know what the church should all be about deeds not creeds but we do the deeds because the creed of christ because of who jesus is in hebrews we're able to do that to talk to other people about the lord jesus dear friends this is why going to montana and living off grid to be away from everybody isn't right this is why the attraction some have to the amish where we're just going to go in our cloister and be there isn't right this is why the monastery isolation of just being around nobody is not right wesley even said the bible knows nothing of a solitary religion we need each other when i'm strong i help somebody who's weak when i'm weak somebody who's strong helps me it's just like a good marriage some non -conformist congregations had a church covenant and the members had to sign this statement when they joined the church we engage to watch over one another in love that's right this is not we do the deeds to stay in we do the deeds to get in this is since we're in we do the deeds works are simply evidence they're not the ground the ground of your salvation is christ's work you can't get to heaven unless you're perfect jesus perfectly obeys the law you stand in his stead he's your vicar he's your representative but since you are saved and you have been regenerated and you have been made a new creature in christ jesus he's holy he asks us to live in a holy way and here's one of the first things that this writer says to live a holy way to live a godly way a christ -like way is to serve other people good deeds some say are the root of salvation no they're the fruit of it right you say well sometimes i don't serve other people with a perfect attitude can i be direct you never serve anybody else with a perfect attitude it's okay serve anyway god the son because of his work all your works are accepted in the beloved to our statement of faith says believers are accepted through christ and thus their good works are also accepted in him this acceptance does not mean our good works are completely blameless and irreproachable in god's sight instead god views them in his son and so he is pleased to accept and reward that which that which is sincere even though it is accompanied by many weaknesses and imperfections if i who's far from holy compared to god could could treat my kids in such a way where the you know my my eight -year -old son was out in the backyard and he was helping me mow with his kind of fake mower and he wasn't really doing it very well and he was looking at the neighbors and doing this that and the other i still could say thank you for helping if a mom could have a child and a five -year -old daughter help with cookies and the kids putting in too much baking soda and not enough chocolate chips for dad's liking and all these other things the mom could still say i accept that a good job way to go if we do that and we're sinful what about the father who says you know what i know your works are far from perfect they're not sincere they've got a sin hangover but because of who jesus is i not only accept you i accept what you do who wouldn't accept what somebody does but they'll accept them if you accept them you'll accept what they do and they're done because we want to express our gratitude because we want to show we're thankful we want to show that yes in fact christians do this we're created in christ jesus for good works right that we may walk in them of course we're doing it dependent on the holy spirit and even jesus said apart from me you can do nothing paul said in first corinthians 15 grace toward me did not prove in vain but i labored even more than all of them yet not i but the grace of god with me lord help me to serve other people and love them maybe you need to go through the directory and just pray and think maybe you need to come to church service early to just look around who could i go encourage maybe you need to read the bulletin to see if there's a ministry exists that that you could serve in a cookie ministry the junior church ministry nursery chairs i would have luke come with me early i needed to get here early and he'd come and he'd go outside and shovel rest home ministry moving ministry it takes some time would you would you think this week about it how can i think of ways to stir up others to love and good deeds and how could i do them not only agitate but also attend the thought continues three a's that recognize the supremacy of jesus agitate and now attend verse 25 not forsaking our own assembly together as is the habit of some some people just don't show up it's the lord's day and they're like you know what i don't want to go i don't want to come i got other things to do and maybe it's the jews who are thinking you know what we don't want to show up and maybe that's not our day to do things it's not the sabbath it's not saturday it's now sunday whatever the reason is the church doesn't know anything about solo christians well i'm gonna do church today the internet church of course there are times when you're out of town or you're sick or something like that that's not the point one of the things we try to do with our kids when they were growing up is we were out of town for instance or overseas or something i never wanted my kids to say are we going to church today dad i always wanted to ask this question instead well where are we going and sometimes we weren't going many places there'd be about eight of us huddled around two other families and the kids this is by the way a present tense don't do it don't ever do it if you're doing it i guess most of you aren't disobeying this command today so good don't go awol i don't like these people at church i've been burned and and my pride i know is going to get in my way but when people come to me and say i just can't attend anymore i've been burned at this church well friends a i'm sure you've burned other people right and b i've been burned more than anybody else i'm here because i'm great no but because the text says get together with other sinful christians who have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb and sing phrases to the sun that's all i don't want to go awol say yeah but the kids have games every sunday i got interviewed a while ago a long long time ago before i was on the radio they interviewed a larger church in the area and me about sports on sundays the other pastor said sports on sundays are so bad it's so awful so this is so that and i agree with them but i had to be avendroth contrarian of course and i just said well it's about time our kids have something to say no to for christ because in their world they never have to say no for jesus' sake to anything no i just can't do that and i'm not saying there's a one off i'm not trying to give you any rules i'm just saying if you're gone every day for sports because your world revolves around sports it's not revolving around the lord's day that's all the text says does it not don't forsake the assembly don't go awol don't act like you're at some kind of drive -in church it's the lord's day it's the day jesus rose from the dead it's the day he ascended into heaven we get together and we say you know what it's not about me today well i don't really like the music well i didn't ask you a b it's like i stood at the door one time somebody said i don't like that tie of yours i thought it was a joke they were serious my flesh said mentally i don't like the way your husband dresses either but i didn't see how this works i'm at the front of the sinful line where we say but yeah we're gonna lay all this aside and say but jesus is the object not anything else not anyone else we've all got those skeletons we're all deep down wicked we're all lots on the inside because if we weren't we don't need jesus to die we'll just get better when you go on vacation make sure you take your kids to worship short of snow emergencies or health or something worship corporately dads especially i want you to be excited about coming to worship jesus in front of your kids i want you to lead that way because i know you can you know you've seen the statistics if mom's excited and dad's not the kids aren't if dad's excited and the mom isn't the kids still are i mean moms i want you to be excited but if the dad's leading the dad's leading with singing the dad's leading with let's get there early to serve the dad's like you know what i can't wait to go and learn about who jesus is can't wait to go praise can't wait to go and serve we're gonna go we're gonna do something exciting uh serve and then afterwards like on sunday nights at grace we used to go get the you know um ice cream cones back in those days they were 29 cents i don't know what happened to bruce bolivar's pricing but they were 29 cents friends iron sharpens iron as one man sharpens another now somebody said you know what i'm going to take reasons why i don't go to church and transpose them onto why i don't like to eat i don't eat anymore because i was forced to eat as a child i don't eat anymore because people who eat all the time are hypocrites they're not really hungry i don't eat anymore because there's so different so many different kinds of food i can't decide what to eat i used to eat but i got bored and stopped i only eat on special occasions like christmas and easter none of my friends will eat with me i'll start eating when i get older i don't really have time to eat i don't believe that eating does anybody any good restaurants and grocery stores are only after your money should have took the offering after the sermon today when dad's lead marvelous things happen and finally number three agitate attend and applaud this is all a recognition of who jesus is fleshed out not to him because he's not on earth but to his bride because she is verse 25 but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near remember the context these people are tempted to go back these people are tempted to say my life was easier when i wasn't a christian so we come alongside and the word encourage is the same word that's used of the holy spirit to come alongside to bear burdens to say i understand don't lose heart this word was used in military history for a regiment that's lost heart and the general comes in to give the pep talk this text isn't just for elders this text isn't just for deacons this text isn't just for pastors spurgeon said it's not the work of the minister alone to exhort but the brothers and the sisters too should exhort and encourage one another seek to stir each other up in the faith and fear of god and this word encouragement is a imperative it's an ongoing imperative and by the way there are some people here at the church that excel in encouragement and i just thought of one man and one woman that if you say i don't really know how to how to do this but in terms of encouragement one more with her words and one man more with his actions if you don't know how to encourage ladies you need to go find eileen strong i could pick 50 ladies here but you ought to go find eileen strong and say abendroff thinks you're the best encourager and i've told her that face to face is she here oh i guess she's forsaking the assembly but when she's here i'm just kidding eileen strong is the encourager if i thought my mom was the encourager eileen strong if you're discouraged ladies you go talk to eileen strong well my husband and i aren't getting along this that and the other maybe you don't need counseling maybe you need to go visit a lady like eileen for encouragement eileen strong she typifies this and you know what that tells me she understands who jesus is as high priest she gets it when you're not encouraging when you're like i only need encouragement i mean some people i know they're just like the encouragement amoebas that's all they want encouragement encouragement encouragement and i want to give it even in spite sometimes i don't but how about you people that have no encouragement why don't you go give some encouragement that'd good that's what the text says yeah man if you want to find somebody who was an encourager especially yes with his words but more with his actions you have to go talk to fred tebow that's who you ought to talk to faithful servant around here stirring people up fred looked at me like what me and i talked to sherman the other day about this too their bodies are broken down and they wish they could go serve more right both of you but they've done their service around the church and now what they could do is they could encourage you people like that go find fred and say raise your hand fred go find fred go do something around his yard and say by the way i need you to help encourage me how do you encourage people how do you love people even though they might not be lovely how do you love other people at church and by the way fred used to be an elder here and he got stung plenty of times too as elders do and pastors do where people don't like him and he was burned and what fred's still here worshiping how long do we go about this do we have to do this forever seems like a long time to do it well the lord is going to come back one day isn't he and then we'll be done and all the more the end of verse 25 as you see the day drawing near you're not going to have to do it forever jesus is coming back and so contrary to the bumper sticker jesus is coming back look busy how about jesus is coming back so be busy his soon return should make us live holy lives because we don't want to be doing something inappropriate when he comes back it's not going to unsave us but the day of the lord this this last day this day of reckoning should motivate us now some people think well this day drawing near was in 70 a .d