Hebrews 10 Pastor John Franklin

First off, I'd like to thank those three young men. They acted before about five minutes before service and then we got here in a race.

And I want to thank each and every one of them for actually being willing to come up here and do something that may seem simple, but can be very intimidating.

They did. They all did a wonderful job. And so you guys don't know how heartfelt I want to thank you all for that.

Amen. There's times you'll see that one of us is out.

If you want to feel it, by all means, come and say, let me breathe the word of God. Because that's what we're here for, right?

We have obligations to God. He saved us. Not because of anything we do, but because He loves us.

For no other reason that He loved us. Because I know my history. I know my past.

I know I'm not redeemable, but my Redeemer lives. We're going to be in Hebrews chapter 10 today.

You guys, bear with me. I'm having trouble enunciating today. I don't know why, but I am.

So just kind of bear with me. We're going to be in Hebrews chapter 10. This is a topic that seems kind of odd and ironic for me to do it today.

Because invariably what happens when Pastor Jeff and Pastor Sarah are gone, our numbers drop.

But God, we have an obligation to Him. We do. Hebrews chapter 10.

I'm going to start reading in verse 19. It says, 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 priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, without heart -sprinkled pain from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure hearts.

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope, without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as a habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Let's pray. Father, right now I just ask for the words to say that are on my heart.

Father, right now I ask for the people to hear, not the words that come from my mouth, but what is truly on my heart from You.

Father, I just ask that You be with us. Father, I ask that You just comfort us.

Father, guide us and direct us. All we do in Your name. Guys, we have an obligation to you.

We do. I have a rather large family.

I have four brothers and four sisters. Many of you already knew that. There's some of you.

If you only did not understand the first time I was taking Melanie to introduce her to my family, how you can love a brother but not necessarily like him.

Right? Melanie's an only child. It was kind of culture shock for her.

It still kind of is, I think, when she comes to visit. But guys, we have an obligation to our family.

Jesus paid the price. Jesus brought us together. Jesus made us one family in God. And I have some brothers that no matter how bad they've been, all

I had to do was pick them up.

And one of the hardest days of my life was when I told my brother, I'll be there as soon as you're ready for help. But until then,

I can't let you know where my family lives. I can't let you know how to get in touch with them.

Because I have to protect my family and my family. Right? I'm going to focus in on verse 23 through 25.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful.

And 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 encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.

You see, guys, because when times get hard, when things get tough, all you have is family. When everybody else walks away, what's truly left is family.

And when you neglect that family, it's amazing how you don't have that support when you need it.

I remember telling my sister of my father's death.

We'd gotten together as a family to kind of reminisce and send him off.

We didn't actually have a funeral. And my sister was so upset because there were four of us that were really, really close.

And she felt like an outsider. And I explained to her.

I tried to explain to her that when I graduated high school, my parents moved up to Wisconsin to be closer to my grandmother.

And my younger sister moved up with her. She wasn't there with the family. The four of us who were left in Arkansas made a conscious effort to assemble together.

We made a conscious effort to build each other up. We made a conscious effort to support one another through our struggles and trials.

And as a result, we got stronger as a group. And she didn't understand why we had that support when she didn't.

It was simply because she was absent for no other reason than she was absent.

Because then, even when they moved closer and we would invite them to dinner, they wouldn't come. I have a brother that's the same way.

We invite them every family function we get, every time we get together. Oh, I got to work.

But this is six months from now. You see,

Christ has made the ultimate sacrifice for us, Christ. He did. He died on the cross. He took our shame, our guilt, and all that on Him so that we can have fellowship together.

And with Him. And we choose not to.

It was by conscious choice that my family members excluded themselves. And by default, excluded them from the benefits of having that close -knit family.

So let's look at these verses again. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering.

Hold fast to that confession. Why are you here? Truly, why do you come through these doors?

It's true. Psalms tells us to enter His courts with thanksgiving, to enter His courts with praise. Right? But many of us come here very dejected and sad.

And there's no prayerful worship coming in when you're entering these doors.

So why are you here? Hold fast to the confession of your faith.

He saved me from where I was. And He wants me to be more like Him.

So I am going to go through trials, and James tells us to rejoice in those trials. Right? Fast.

So why are you truly here? You're not here for you, Christian. You're here for Him. The assembly is to worship

Him. It doesn't matter what's music like. By the way, I love that first song we sang.

I've never heard it before, by the way. Sorry, I decided not to say it before I forgot. But God, it doesn't matter whether you like the music or you don't like the music.

It doesn't matter if you like the preacher or you don't. If the Word of God is being read, I can get Owen to come up here and read the

Word of God. And Christian, if you have the Holy Spirit in you, you should get some blessing from the reading of the Word. It doesn't matter who does it.

I can remember we had this old retired pastor. None of us, he never actually told us what church he used to pastor.

But he would come up here. And at the time, it was my job to make sure the Winston Heights were covered.

And we would often let, if someone had something to say and share, we would let them speak on Wednesday nights.

And I can remember him coming up to me and asking me, Brother John, because I was a deacon at that time, Who are we, who's teaching tonight?

And it was actually one of our youth that was going to be speaking. And he said, oh,

I'm going to go home. And I remember looking at that man, this is the last time

I think I actually saw him. I don't think that was the last time he came, but I think this was the last time

I actually saw him. You called yourself a pastor. And this was a youth who felt like he was being called to the ministry.

And getting up here to share the Word of God and rather than support him and pray for him, you're going to leave? Christian, how many times did we do that?

We find out who's going to be teaching today. And that determines whether or not we decide to come and show up in God's house.

Christian, you're not here to get entertained. You're here to learn more, right?

You're here to worship God. You're here to praise

His name. He died so that we can do this.

Let's look at that verse 24. And let us consider how to stir up one another. Stir up.

Some translations say provoke or to promote. That means to instigate.

That means to make it happen. Right? We are here today to stir up one another.

We're here to give and make each other do something.

Right? And just hope to love in good words. You know, the

Greeks had four different words for love. But the one here is agape. That's a sacrificial love.

That's an unconditional love. That's a love that does not matter what they did in their past.

It doesn't matter what they do in their future. You're supposed to love them anyway. Jesus says in John 13, 34, a new commandment

I give to you. John 13, 34 and 35. A new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you.

How many of you can say that about the person you're sitting next to? That you're willing to lay down your life for them.

You also are to love one another. By all this, people will know you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

How many of you, when you walk out into that world, everybody knows that. You say that you're a Christian. You are a Christian because of the love you have for each other.

That's the standard Jesus gave us. With how much we're supposed to love each other. You can't love somebody if you never spend time with somebody.

You can have some familiar feelings to them. That's the problem with the English language. We have one word for love.

I have a love, or I have, because he wasn't part.

He was part of my family, but he wasn't part of my family. You know what I mean? Got everybody in here that claims to be a

Christian, or the title of Christian. They are part of your family. And we're supposed to not only love them, we're supposed to love each other, right?

We're supposed to love our neighbor. You should love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength.

Second edition, you should love your neighbor as yourself. How many of you love your neighbor as if they were you?

You're supposed to love your family, husband, love your wife, and Christ love the church, right? You're supposed to love your enemies.

Luke 6, 27, but I say to you here, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who abuse you.

We're supposed to be... The purpose of this gathering is to make each other love each other more.

Who are you making love more? Who are you showing love to? Because the way you teach somebody to love is to show them love.

The way you teach somebody to do something is to emulate it, and we're supposed to stir each other up for love and good works.

Melanie, what are you doing today to serve God's people? I mean, he's hurt because my wife is going to be mad at me for something anyway, right?

What are you doing today to serve somebody other than yourself? Good works.

Ephesians says, God prepared the good works ahead of time that you should want. He already knows what you're supposed to do.

And if you don't, you're not going to figure it out sitting at home. Titus 3a says,

Sustaining is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things that you believe in God and be careful to devote themselves to good works.

These things are excellent and profitable for people. We're supposed to be devoting ourselves to good works.

What are good works, right? Putting somebody else in front of you.

That's a good one. Not so everybody can say, oh, we had a good job, but so they can prosper.

Guys, it just sat into my heart when I come here and I see people that never want to do anything to support the family.

And I'm not talking financially. I'm talking about the little things. They come here for me. How can you serve me?

How can you make my life better? What are you doing for somebody else?

Scripture tells us not to think more highly of ourselves than we should, right? What makes you so special that you think you need to be the one that is to be served?

Because I know what I've done in my past, and I don't deserve to be served. And it said in verse 23 that we should spend time considering how to do these things.

That means it's a proactive plan that when we get together, how am I going to help

Shane do love and good works? How am I going to help Artie do love and good works?

How am I going to help Melanie do love and good works? We need to be considering this when we're not here.

So when we get here, we're ready to do it. Because that world does not like you.

No matter how much they claim to. They want you to return to your old filth, your own vomit.

Because that's where they're still stuck. Galatians 5 .13

says, For you are called to freedom, brothers, not only to use your freedom. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for flesh, but to through love serve one another.

How can you serve somebody if you never spend time with that person? How can you encourage somebody if you never take the time to invest in them?

Because your words mean nothing. If I've never spent a moment with you, but I get a phone call from you or a message on Facebook, oh

I'm grateful. What does that mean to me? I don't know you. Invest time and faith.

Don't be a taker from the house of God. It tells us to put other people above ourselves.

Philippians 2 .3 and 4 says, Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourself.

Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. Don't just focus on yourself.

You guys, I had a hard time doing that myself. I didn't. We all have those days that I want it to be about me.

And some days we even need it to be about me, don't we? But that should be the rare occasion.

Because I said last time I was up here, If you're having trouble and you're worrying about you so much, the best way to quit worrying about you and get yourself out of your funk is to start worrying about somebody else.

Start trying to fix their problems instead of yours. Start lifting them up instead of you trying to pull yourself up.

Because it's a whole lot easier to pull somebody else up off the ground than just pick yourself up sometimes.

If you're stuck in the muck and the mire, it's a whole lot easier for somebody else to reach down and pull you out of it.

Than for you to pull yourself out. So quit focusing on yourself and focus on your family.

And you can only do that by getting to know each other. By spending time with each other.

That's why those mission trips are so valuable. It's not because of all the thousands of dollars of work that we did. It's because you get to learn each other as a family.

That's why I was telling somebody while we were there, I actually hated the new place we were staying.

Because the place we would stay in Bahama, you had a little tiny room that four or five of you were staying in.

So it made sense to get out of the room. And by default sit on the patio area.

And by default you had everybody on the patio so you got to talk and you got to know each other so much better. Whereas here you had apartments.

And everybody stayed in their apartment. And very rarely would you see people outside. Talking. But I can't know

Seth if I spend no time with Seth. Or his needs and his desires and his struggles.

If I spend no time with him. Which is why the altar of Hebrews says not to neglect the assembly.

Guys, I know there's some days, we kind of joke about it. Because, oh it's raining so I'm going to stay home.

Oh it's sunshine now, I'm going to go to the lake instead of going to... We come up with so many different reasons not to come here in assembly.

And some of them say, I'm going to go to the ministry. Instead of coming to the

Bible study. To worship God. And say,

I'm going to go here and we're going to go do this activity. We're going to go do this fun thing.

And guys there is value in that. But the purpose of the assembly is to worship

God together as a family. Come here and then after go.

Spend time together, focus on God. And then go focus on...

We come here for instruction. Sunday morning worship was never intended for the non -believer.

It was intended for God's people to assemble to worship Him. If a non -believer came in, great, but we're going to worship

God. It's after worship that we're supposed to go and be witnesses.

Because in return... Many of you already know this about me.

I'm a very introverted person. I really don't like talking to other people a lot. It tires me physically, mentally.

I get exhausted. I remember some days at Hamilton when

I was preaching out there. I would be so tired by the end of the day. And I didn't do anything to talk to people.

But you know what's amazing? When I truly get together with God's people to worship. I may be physically tired.

But there's a joy that's in that I can't explain. Because I don't like people. So why am

I happy when I'm around people? Logically, it doesn't make sense.

It's a real funny moment at work. I would be walking through the hospital. And everybody would go, Where's your favorite nursing crew?

When I was supervising them on the floor. My answer to them was, I hate everybody the same. And if you think about it, it's true.

I love all of you. So I hate you all the same. It tires me to interact.

But, the benefit I get from it. I'm so happy for them.

And Melissa. But that's because I know that I walk over to my mom.

I get recharged by being here. I get recharged by doing my family a favor.

I only want to be here once a month. Once a quarter. I'm not going to feel that connection.

It's going to be more a chore to come. Than a joy. Because of myself,

I want to sit at home by myself. I am so happy my daughter grew up in this family.

So much so that when we moved out to Mississippi, she still wanted to come here. Because this was her family. That's why we allowed her to continue to come here.

Because this was her family. How can

I serve somebody, if I'm not here with them? How can

I help you if I spend enough time with them? From the pulpit, from the teachers, from the

Word of God. Because we're supposed to be getting sanctified, right? And if I don't have the discipline to show up here, when someone's going to tell me what the

Word of God says, and how to interpret it, how am I going to have that discipline at home by myself? Oh, I can worship

God anywhere you can, but you don't. You choose to leave your

Bible on the shelf. Because one day turns into two, which turns into ten, which turns into a year, which turns into a day.

But the easy part, because even for someone like me, crowds, some days it physically hurts to come to a crowd.

But family's not a crowd. Family is comfort.

Family is safety. Family is security. Family is... I don't have to worry about what I say anymore.

Because the world hates what's coming from my mouth. I can praise God in spirit, and in truth.

And I don't have to fear what I say. That might offend. And have the joy of just shouting praises to God.

Because everybody in here should be praising Him today. We're here to encourage one another.

Guys, I'm getting close to being done. I'm not going to be long today. If you'd be encouraging one another, then that can only be done when we're together.

As I said earlier, if I've never spent time with you, physically, a text message means nothing.

But we're not the best. 1

Thessalonians 5, 11 says, Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Build each other up. How do

I know Mercedes struggled? How can I encourage Mercedes if I haven't invested time with Mercedes?

How do I know this person has been passionate for a week? If I've never been here, they know that they've been passionate for a week.

What's going on in their lives? That has caused them to be absent. If you're here today and you're not a believer, okay, you're going to go out the door.

But if you're a child of God, something should be drawing you back here. That light, just like the insects are drawn to that light, there's something to be drawn to the light of God.

And you only find the light of God on this side of heaven through God's people. You're never going to find it out there in the world because it's dark out there.

But if he says, I hate you out there, how can

I be true to what Galatians telling me to do and to restore that brother who's caught in the wrongdoing?

Pray for me for him. How do you know what to pray for Pastor Jeffrey if you're not here?

How do we know how to pray for you if you're not here? We have obligations to the family, to the church, and to God.

And it says, all the more as the day draws near. And if you study scripture even a little bit, you should be able to see the signs of the day of drawing near.

They are calling evil good and good evil. Everywhere. There are countries already that are putting people in prison because I won't call a man a woman for simply saying he is he and not she.

They're putting people in prison. You alone stand back.

And I understand everybody here. But I'm here, Pastor. I'm here. What do you want from me?

Invest. Don't just show up. Mercy.

Consider how to provoke them to love and good works. Hold fast to that initial conversion.

Remember that joy of your salvation. Because as it gets darker, you're going to need the light.

Guaranteed one day we will not be able to stand out on the corner and say Jesus is

God. Unless we have caveats. And mistruth.

I truly believe there's going to be false prophets who are claiming, oh, that smile. Jesus loves you.

But they're not going to tell you that he doesn't love you the way you are. He wants to change you to be like him.

He loves you in spite of the filth of your heart. Christian, where are you today?

Are you one of those who only show up when it's convenient? Are you the one who said,

I don't need to go to Bible study? I don't need to invest time.

I don't need to help. Oh, there's another block party this week. I'm not going to come back that night. I'll come in the other night, but I'm not going to come that night.

Or are you the person who said, oh, you know what? I can go. I can be at home for six o 'clock instead of coming to Bible study.

I'll tell you from a teacher standpoint, when you've prepared your portrait card into a message or a sermon or a lesson and no one shows, it's disheartening.

Because God's people should be hungry for his work. And I'm not saying you have to be here every time the doors open.

You should be making a conscious effort that this should be what I want. And if it's not, you need to reevaluate what you're saying.

If this is more of a social portrait, or let me see what I can get from everybody else, you need to recheck your priorities.

If that's the case, stay home. And let those who want to worship the truth come together and worship the truth.

Because I'd rather be here with two or three that want to praise God than a stadium full of people who just want to show off.

As musicians come forward, I want everybody to think about where they stand today.

Think about, how much am I investing in my family in this year? How much am

I truly forsaking the assembling just simply for convenience? Or how much am

I serving one another? How much am I seeking God's work? If there's room for improvement, how am

I going to ask for it? This invitation time, this time we get together, it's amazing how many people just start talking about what they're going to do after, rather than how they can serve one another.

Don't use this today to figure out where you're going to go eat lunch. Don't use this today to figure out what you're going to do this afternoon. Use this time to truly focus on the needs of your family.

Pray with somebody. Pray for somebody. Whatever it is you need, you come as God leads.