If you have your Bible today, I hope that you do. If you would, I would love to invite you to go to Hebrews chapter number 10. Hebrews chapter number 10 here today. And last week, we began a brand new series entitled, I am a church member.
I am a church member. And this series is really all about what it means to be a church member, what it looks like to be an active church member. And over the series, we're going to look, like we kicked this off last week, we looked at the purpose of the church from the very beginning. Acts chapter number two, when the church was founded upon, what can we learn from that? And it really started out as a movement that Jesus was sent by God to reveal God and to ultimately reconcile the world back to him. That's all that they knew in the early church and every disciple, that's every follower of Jesus. That would be, if you lived in that day, that would be those who claim to be Christians, right? They all collectively took upon that movement that they get to be a part of.
And that's what they were built and founded upon. And the good news is this, is that every single one of you are invited to participate and to be a part of the movement called the church. And so beyond the mission of the church, we are going to look over these few weeks about what it looks like to be an active member of a church and how you can be deeply committed or connected to the mission and vision of the church. Our mission here, the way we say it, we got Jesus.
That is the scoreboard, if you would, of why, of what we're aiming for. That's how we determine as a church if we're being successful or not at the mission. By how many people we can say that are changed and have experienced new life in Christ and those that are taking steps in their faith journey as they move forward. That's discipleship. That's how we look at our church and how we look at it being successful, if you would. I love that, you know, we're growing on Sunday.
That's important. And I think that's an important number that we try to track as a church. But more importantly than that, we need to be looking at the scoreboard, which is people saved and people disciple. That's the reason why we exist as a local church. And this week we are going to talk. So we're going to look at, you know, this mission and how you can be deeply involved in this mission over the next few weeks. And so today we're going to talk a little bit about something and you're here and I'm grateful for this, is being at church.
The assembly, if you would, of Sunday morning. And I want to answer this question for you today and I'm hoping in the few moments that we have that what the scripture says in Hebrews 10 will answer this for you. But this question, does my church attendance matter?
Does me being at church matter? Now, let me say this. I get that today. It's funny.
The Lord has a sense of humor that, you know, this was the plan all along that we would be preaching from this. And I've been studying this over the last couple of weeks. And as I look at this, I'm thinking, man, what a day to talk about the importance of being at church and half our congregation is, you know, at home because of the icy weather and things like that. If that's you and you are watching online, I don't want you to feel bad about that here today. Relax.
Okay. And so we're not talking specifically about that. Also, there are people that watch each and every week that are what we would call physically unable to attend the weekly gathering, maybe for some physical condition or, or possibly they're a shut in at home and they cannot physically get get out.
They would be kind of exempt from this as well. I'm really talking to the rest of us who are able to be here and and why did why is it important for us to gather here on Sunday? This question can be can I be because I hear this a lot of times even not just our church but out and about when you talk to people and you share the good news of Jesus.
Here's what I've often heard is, is things like this. Oh, yeah, I'm religious. I love God, but I don't really care for the whole church thing.
And it begs the question of can you do that? Can I be an active follower of Jesus and not be deeply connected to his, his church? I understand the concerns of why people don't feel like church is important. But here's what I want you to know because Hebrews 10 talks directly about this. So what I'm going to share with you today, it's not just because there's a pastor that just wants wants me to be here and he's guilting me and to be in here and things like that. I want you to know that the scripture talks a lot about this. This right here, this assembly and the importance of why we should gather and here's to Hebrews chapter 10. In a nutshell, as we look at this passage, here's what I want you to know what the writer of the book of Hebrews is saying is that you cannot say that you deeply love God and not love his church at the same time.
Let that sink in for just a moment. You cannot say man, I deeply love God, but not his church. And here's why, is because the two of them work together.
They're together. And so that's the point why I'm always leery when I talk to somebody that says I'm religious, but not really a church goer. And I'm thinking that doesn't work because this right here is, is God's family. This is, this is the family of God. And so when you say that you're religious, but you don't really do the whole church thing.
Here's kind of what you're saying. So my, my last name is Evans. And so I'm in Evans. It'd be like me saying, man, I deeply love my family. I love my family as, as much as any of you love, love your family, but I'm never going to go to Thanksgiving and Christmas and family vacation. I'm just never going to see them. I'm never going to participate with them. I'm never going to hang out with them. I'm never going to be around them, but I love them. You would quickly say, I don't, I don't think you do, right? I don't think you, I don't think you really love your family if you don't want to be around them.
Wouldn't you agree? No, if you love your family, what, what happens is real result. You want to be around them. You want to, you want to spend time with them. Well, what we find here in Hebrews 10 is the writer saying, this is that you cannot say that you love God and not his family.
They're together. And so if you truly love God, here's what I'm going to tell you. The result of that is you're going to want to be deeply invested in the family of God.
You're going to want to be deeply as invested into the family of God. He talks about it here in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19. It says this having therefore brethren boldness or, or confidence to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. The reason why you can go into the presence of God is only by the blood of Jesus is what he's saying. And then he goes on in verse 20 by a new and living way which he has consecrated for us or opened up for you. In other words, that access to God, that access to him was closed until Jesus shed his blood for you. And so when it says that he consecrated a way for you, this new and living way, that means that he opened it up.
He made a way for you, the Gentiles to access him through the veil. That is to say his, his flesh and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. So I want to give you from, from these verses, a few things that I think I hope will show you why it is important. And, and hopefully some of you that maybe are, are loosely connected to, uh, to the church that it would really kind of encourage you to kind of go deeper and to take a next step into a local church because of the importance, not because of what I'm saying, but because of what he's trying to say here. And here's the reasons first church. And when we talk about church, we are talking today, not just about the movement.
That's the big, uh, movement that we all get to be a part of. I'm talking about why is Sunday matter? Why does it matter if I am here or not?
Is it important for me? And here's why, why I think it's important. Number one is this church Sunday morning. It is a gathering for the family of God. It's a gathering for the family of God. Now you have to understand the background and the theme of the book of Hebrews to fully grasp what the writer means here in chapter number 10. So I want to give you kind of a cliff note version of Hebrews and why, because it'll help us understand what he's trying to say here in Hebrews chapter 10.
My Bible fellowship, we went through this. So for some of you should remember some of these things. And so, but the theme of the book of Hebrews is this, it's that Jesus is better. That's the whole theme of the book.
Very simple. And just a few words, Jesus is better. You say, what's he trying to do from the very beginning? We don't know who wrote the book of Hebrews. It's up for debate. And so, but from the very beginning of the book, he is constantly trying to convince us and convince in that day, the Jewish people that Jesus is better. You say better than, than what? Well, if you read the book of Hebrews, chapter number one talks about this, that he is better than angels because the Jewish people, they revered angels and they looked at scripture and all this kind of stuff.
And, and angels were just like on a pedestal. And so he's saying, Jesus is better than that. He goes on to say, Jesus is better than the prophets of old. He goes on to say, Jesus is better than the high priest. Jesus is better than the old Testament patriarch.
Some of those, you know, people that they just revered like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And his whole point is to prove that Jesus is better than all those things. He goes as far deep as to say that Jesus is a better sacrifice than the old Testament sacrificial system. And so he's really challenging all these Jewish ideologies if you would. And he's saying that Jesus is the better thing that you are searching for. But in chapter number 10, he kind of changes gears a little bit and he's still going along with the same theme.
And here's what he's trying to tell. You can read the entire chapter and see this, that through the blood of Jesus, Jesus has now created and built a better family, a better family. So he's talking directly about the Israelites and he's saying this is that now because of the blood of Jesus, Jesus has created a better family.
That's the, that's the church. In other words, what he's saying to the Jewish people is now because of the blood of Jesus, he's made a way for all of us to now come into a relationship with God and ultimately become a part of the family of God. And so what the writer is saying is this, is that before Jesus, if you wanted to know the one true God, remember that holy God that we just sang about, right? If you want to know him, the only way is for you to become Jewish or to be born into a Jewish family.
And that's the only way that you could know him. But now through the blood of Jesus, we all have access to him and we have a relationship with him. And now because of the blood of Jesus, we all are a part of the family of God.
Do you remember that song? I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God. Listen, we should all testify to that because now we get to be a part of the family. If you're thankful for that, can you say amen this morning? Listen, we're a part of the family of God. Isn't that good news?
I'm excited about that. I hope that you are as well. And when you think about the family of God, here's what you have to understand is that Sunday, you have to think of it this way. Think of church on Sunday as a family reunion.
When I was studying this, it hit me like a ton of bricks. We love family times. I love time with my family.
I love it. And so we just spent some time in Florida with our family and I just love being together. I don't know what your family experience is, but for me, I look forward to it.
I long for it. I miss them when they're not around and I love time with our family. And so as I was studying this, it's like Jesus is better because he's created a better family, a family that he's invited you to be a part of, right? The family of God.
What an honor. And so we get to be a part of this family. And here's what's interesting to me is that every Sunday, and we're going to talk about the gathering here in a moment, every Sunday we get like a family reunion time together.
And some of us just don't consider that a priority. It's like you saying that you love your family, like I said earlier, and you're not going to spend time with them. How many of you get together with your kind of extended family, not like your immediate spouse kids, but the rest of the family on Thanksgiving? How many of you have something like a Thanksgiving lunch or something and things like that? And we do as well. I mean, we go to Florida usually for Thanksgiving. And so we're down there and we get together and our family is somewhat big.
So a lot of the houses down there, we can't really handle them. And so we normally rent a space at the church. There's a few of you who do that here as well.
So I feel you, I understand that. And so we do that down in Jacksonville. And so we're all together and we have this big Thanksgiving menu.
Now it's 1035 in the morning. I hope I'm not going to make you hungry when we start talking about Thanksgiving. But lunch is coming. So it's okay.
Just don't spend the rest of your time googling what's open today and where you're going to lunch. All right. So, but here's the thing.
We all get together for Thanksgiving. And here's what I'll tell you. Many of you church members, you know this about me. I'm somewhat of a picky eater. How many of you knew that before I said it? Okay.
A lot of you, you get it. And so I'll just be honest with you. When I was in college, in seminary, they told us preacher boys, they said, listen, when you become a preacher, like people just feel like they need to make you food all the time. And so they told us serious, true story.
They said in seminary, they said, you're going to occasionally get something that's not your favorite and you're not going to care for it and that kind of thing. And so they always told me at Trinity, they said, if that ever happens and then you're like, Oh, tell them thank you and everything. Cause you never want to be rude. And then when they come back to you and say, how was it?
All you have to do. And it's not lying is say it didn't last long. And so, and, and because they don't know if that meant, man, he loved it so much. He ate it so fast or I just threw it in the trash.
Who knows? And so, but they told me to say that. So if I ever say that to you, I'm sorry. Now I've kind of, I've ratted myself out. You're like, Oh no. And so, but I'm a picky eater.
And so I just always have been. And so when I go to Thanksgiving, I like it, you know, but it's not my favorite. Here's what my plate looks like. I love meat. And so I'm going to load up on Turkey and ham and like, you know, a side like Mac and cheese and deviled eggs or something.
That's about the extent pretty much. If you want to know what my plate looks like, just go to the kid's table at your house. And that's pretty much what my plate will probably look like. And so, but that's kind of my thing. You lose me at Thanksgiving when it comes to like, I don't know, green bean casserole. Okay. That's just not my thing.
And so all these different things that, that they make at this, but we have it all and it's all there. And, but here's what I want you to know. The reason why I'm telling you this is this, is that if I went strictly to Thanksgiving with my family based off of the menu that is offered, there's going to be sometimes I'm just going to say, man, I'm not feeling it. Like I just said, nah, it's okay. I'm just going to do my own thing. I'm going to sit this one out. But you know, what's, what's interesting is I'm not missing Thanksgiving. It's not my favorite meal in the world, but I'm not missing it.
And here's why. It's because when I go be a part of my family, here's what I want you to understand. I'm not there for the menu. I'm not there for what they have to offer me. I'm not there just to see, you know, what I can get out of this Thanksgiving lunch. No, you know why I'm there? It's because the people that are there. I'm there because this is my family.
I'm there because I love the people that are my family and I love to be around them. And I'm not just looking at it for the menu that they have to offer me. And here's what I want you to know is that's honestly in 2025, that's how a lot of people view church. They're like, Hey, I'll go to this church.
Let's see what they have to offer me. If everything's not perfect, we're not going back. If nobody talks to me, I'm going to be mad. I'm going to leave the church if nobody calls me. And what happens a lot of times is we're treating church like a menu list of things to decide if it's worth our time or not. And let me tell you this, what the writer of the book of Hebrews is saying is this, is that Jesus came shed his blood for you and for me so that we could be a part of the family. And every single Sunday, the gathering, the assembling of ourselves together, we get to be together on Sunday. And he's saying this, this is like family reunion.
Why on earth would you ever miss it if you have the opportunity to come? That's the point. And that's what he's trying to, trying to say. And you see this, look at verse number 25, it'll be up on the screen. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
Here's what I want you to understand. There's a great word there, the assembling, if you would, the assembling of ourselves. The assembly is really a congregation, but this word specifically is actually where we get the word synagogue. That's kind of where it came from.
And so you get the same idea. So it's a place. It is a place.
And so when it says that we should not forsake this, think of it this way, you should not forsake or neglect the place. But then when you think of what is an assembly and you do kind of a word study, there's another word there that's being used and it's where we would get the word like a congregation. A congregation. So if assembly, if that word is really speaking to, you know, the place that we meet, a congregation is who meets in the place.
Who meets in the place. This is the congregation or let's call it what we've been saying. It's the family. It's the family.
It's the family of God. And so what you see here when you look at this word, the assembling of ourselves and not neglecting that or forsaking that is this. It's talking about a community of people in which our lives should intersect with one another. That's what a congregation is. In other words, what he's saying when you look at a congregation, it's really talking about how with us our lives intersect. In other words, you're not going to be in isolation. You should be in community and a relationship.
That's what this assembly is. That's what a congregation is. Our lives should intersect. That means that we should eat together. We should study together. We should learn together. We should pray together. And ultimately what he's saying is this, is that we should gather together.
We should gather together. You see, that's why you being here, you say, does my church attendance matter? Can I love God and not his church at the same time?
The answer is no. It's because this is the family of God. Why on earth would you forsake the reunion that we get to enjoy each and every Sunday? It's like Thanksgiving for us. Only without the turkey, right? Maybe we should have turkey every week and some of us will come, right? And so I got an amen.
I feel you, man. Let's do that. So we got our first volunteer to make the turkey and smoke the turkey every year or every week. But listen, think about it. It's this. That's what it's like. It's like you missing out on this, on the Thanksgiving, the gathering together each and every week.
You see, that's the point. Church, it's about gathering as the family of God and for the purpose of worshiping him. But secondly, we see here in verse 25 is this, is that church is about one-anothering one another. Like you get that thing here from verse number 25, church is about one-anothering one another. It kind of segues from the word congregation. Remember, congregation, if you look that up, it's really where our lives kind of intersect with one another. And so now he's going to talk about the importance of this one another.
If you look throughout, especially the apostle Paul, when you look throughout his writings and his letters about the church, he can look to any of his writings directly to the church. And here's what he's going to talk about. He's going to use this phrase one another a lot, right? Love one another and all these different things. And there's just a ton of different things that we should see here. And what I want you to see here is that in verse 25, he talks about this idea of one another. And I want to talk about that because this is another reason why this is important for you and church should be a priority, this family reunion, this family gathering that we get to be a part of each and every week.
It's this, it's because the one another, think of it this way, like mutuality. In other words, we have a mutual relationship with one another. In other words, think of it this way, church is more, and this is where we go wrong, church is more than just coming here and sitting on a seat and being taught and leave. But a lot of us, that's kind of what church is.
That's the extent. We come here, we sit in a seat or a pew and we sit there and we are taught and then we leave and that is it. We don't serve, we don't do anything extra. We just come and that's all that we do. And here's what I think he's trying to get at is that when we think of this one another idea, this mutual relationship that you should have in the local church, I think we got to say that church is more than just coming and being served. It's more than just coming and being served. We all have a family member and you don't have to point them out, but at those big meals that you do, you always got that one that just doesn't do a whole lot.
I'm not going to say who ours is. But the truth is everybody has that and what the point is when he's talking about this assembly, this family reunion that we get to enjoy each and every week, he's talking about this mutual relationship that we have and here's what I want you to know. It's where all of us collectively are doing our part. We are one anothering one another. We're using our gifts to go in.
And here's the thing, to understand this, you got to notice the progression. In verses 19 really through verse 23, the writer is talking about entrance and access into the presence of God. If you remember in the Old Testament and if you've been a part of our church for the last year and a half or so, we've talked about this. In the Old Testament, you could not, as a Jew, you couldn't just go into the presence of God. What you had to do was rely on the priest, the high priest and once a year he'd go into the Holy of Holies and he would have access, once a year on the Day of Atonement, he'd have access into the presence of God. And he would go in there on behalf of all of Israel.
And he'd go in there on behalf of all of them. And so in the Old Testament, here's what I want you to know for you, is that you couldn't access or think of it this way in verse 22, you could not draw near. You could not draw near to God.
There was no way because you would have had to be a high priest in order to do that. And so what you see in verses 19 through 23 is this idea of access and now because of the blood of Jesus, the sacrifice of Jesus, that means every single one of us can go into the presence of God whenever we want. Like that means that your job when you're frustrated or news comes to your desk that isn't good, you can immediately go into the presence of God, he's always with you. And that's the access that we have but in verses 24 and 25, and I learned this a couple of years ago and I hope that you can see this because this is so good once you get it, is this. The question is how do we experience access? So if you look at the progression, verses 19 through 23, talking about, okay now you got access. And then in verses 20 and 25 he talks about how we experience that access.
And you say what does that mean? Here's what I'll tell you, is that when he talks about the church, it's this, you experience access through relationships. Now yes, you have access into the presence of God all the time and so that means you can go to him in prayer to him all the time. But here's what the one anothering one another really means is this, is that you experience access, in other words you experience God through relationships.
You say what exactly are you saying? You got to think of it like this, you, if you're a follower of Jesus, you have access right? If that's you, you are a Jesus carrier to everybody around you.
That's what the one anothering one another really means. It means that you every single week and especially on like Sunday, that you carry Jesus because now you have access right? That means that you should look for opportunities to carry Jesus and to be used by him to actually engage in some way that will help and benefit somebody else in the church. That's what he's talking about when he's talking about this really progression here in Hebrews chapter number 10. Because you have access, now as a result of that access, you have the presence of God with you forever. Amen?
Isn't that good news right? And now because of that, we need to take what we've experienced and we need to allow God, the presence of God in us, we need to allow him to use us to minister to other people in the local church. That's why the assembly is so important for you. It's because of this, somebody in this place today needs something from you. God has blessed you and God has shown you something and here's the point, when you are one anothering one another, here's what that means, is that you come into this place, not just to be served, but now you come into this place and you're looking, hey God's taught me all these things this week through his presence, now I'm supposed to dump all of that on somebody. You find somebody that needs something that Jesus taught you this week and you go to them and you allow the spirit of God to move through you and to carry him to somebody else. That's why it's important because here's what I'm going to say, if you don't make this a priority, somebody is missing out on what Jesus wants to use you to do in them. That's the point.
And that's why it's important for us to be here. I don't want somebody to miss out on something that Jesus wants to do through me in somebody else. So you say, what does that look like? I mean, how do I know that? Well, he actually gives us a clear outline of how we practice this.
Practicing this is more than just sitting in a seat every Sunday. He mentions really three words. The first one is found in verse number 24 and we see it. It's the word consider. So he tells us, let us consider one another.
Talking about this assembly, consider one another. What does that really mean? This means, and listen to this church, this means that you are thinking about someone that possibly is not as far in their journey with God as you are.
Right? You're thinking about this. And by the way, a healthy church, what we're talking about the church, I think it's important we said, a healthy church is going to have people at all ends of the spectrum of their spiritual journey. And here's what I mean is that you're not going to have, you know, I get it that some of you, you're wanting to go as deep as possible as you possibly can.
You want church to be like seminary class, right? I know what that feels like. I get it. And so, because sometimes that's how I feel because I've been able to study. That's what I do for my life. And so I'm in it all the time. So yeah, sometimes I want to go really, really deep. And there's some of you that that's what you want.
You're challenging me every week, pastor, go deeper, go deeper, go deeper. And we can and we should and there's a place for all of that. But we should have some of you that that's what you're looking for. Then we should have some of you in the middle that kind of you're like, man, I don't I'm not there.
But I'm also not a babe in Christ. And so I kind of just, you know, what we're doing is good, kind of a balance of both. And that's where you are. And listen, a healthy church is going to have the real deep people, it's going to have those in the middle, and then a real healthy church is going to have some that are beginning their journey.
If you're accomplishing the mission of reaching as many people as possible, then here's what I'm going to tell you about. Don't be shocked. And this goes to the church people that have been here a long time. Don't be shocked when somebody comes in and they join our church and they don't know as much as those on that side. Because that's a good thing.
We should celebrate that. And so we should have people all over over the spectrum. So what he's saying here that with the word consider is this. Those of you that are over here, not in a judgmental way, but here's what you must do.
Consider those on this side, and really try to help them take a step. Here's what this is. It's really discipleship. It's discipleship. It's some that, you know, you've been saved a long time, you've grown, you're now you can handle more of the meat of God's Word, like Paul talks about, and you're there, you're firmly there, and you're living it out, right?
And you're living out. It's like, hey, how can I, this is what he means by consider. How can I take everything I've learned and help somebody else? A couple of years ago, we did a series on discipleship. It's called disciple.
Be one, make one. And here's what I love about that. I had a conversation with two people this past week. They approached me and they said for the last couple of years, they have still gone through that discipleship program and they have grown so much. And now they're at a point where helping their disciples go out and do that with somebody else. That makes me as a pastor so, so excited because that's really the mission of the church. It's to make disciples, to make disciples of all people. And so here's what I want you to know is that for some of you, if you've been a churchgoer for like 30 plus years, now I don't know what your spiritual life is like, but for some of you, you need to start considering somebody of how you can help them take a step in their faith. But you can't do that if you're not firmly here and a part of what is happening here. In other words, the word consider, you now are taking the mission of making disciples, the mission of our church, and you now are going to take that upon yourself to help somebody else to become a disciple. In other words, you want to help people progress in that journey.
That's what it means to consider. That's practicing the one another, one another. So the second word that he mentions is this. We must provoke, verse 24. We must provoke. The word provoke, some translations might even say spur, right? And so a spur is on a horse. If you think about it like a horse and it helps direct, right? It helps direct somebody or it directs a horse in the direction it wants to go. And here's what I want you to understand is that a lot of times a spur, if you want that horse to go where you want to go, it kind of inflicts a little bit of pain so that they'll go in the direction that you want them to go, right? And that's what it's there for. It causes some pain to get them to obey.
If you really look at the word, the word can carry on this idea to irritate, if you would. Now, don't look at somebody and say you're really good at that, okay? But the point is that it really has this idea of to confront. To confront. And in other words, when you're provoking somebody, and by the way, you don't do this in a judgmental way. Because we're really good about doing that.
Hey, you really need to do this list of stuff and then you'll be where I'm at. That's judgmental and perhaps if that's the way you handle it and the posture, you're way more, I don't care how long you've been in church, you're probably in this boat, way more than that boat if that's the direction that you take. No, what it means is this, it means to provoke. It's when you become good at providing loving accountability for those who are spiritually immature. In other words, you can take this, and by the way, this is discipleship at its finest. It's when you take somebody and you really love them and you provoke them to do good and good works and in love, right? You're provoking them to take a step in their life. And by the way, we all need people like that in our life.
I have a couple people that do that with me. Say, Pastor, you're the pastor. You probably don't need that.
Man, I need it as much as anybody else. Because I sin just like everybody else. If I'm prideful, I hope somebody has the authority that I've given them to my wife to come and call me out on it. Or if I'm being a little judgmental or ugly, and I know I never do those things, but in case that was to show up, right? That's a joke. I hope somebody would come to me and lovingly help me because I need somebody speaking into me, provoking me, confronting me about the sin in my life. That's why, you know, back in the day, we used to call this like accountability partners, right? You need somebody in your life to say, man, I've been saved a long time.
You still need it. You need somebody in your life that's helping you, that's encouraging you along those lines to provoke you or spurring you in love and good works. Then the third thing is verse 25. He says to exhort one another.
Right? This is almost the opposite of provoke. Provoke is, I mean, I got to confront them about things that are tough. And by the way, here's what I'll tell you, is this, and this is true about provoking and then I'll get to exhort, is a mark, I really firmly believe this, a mark of spiritual maturity in your life is how well you take criticism about something you're involved in.
If you find yourself where anybody that calls you out on something and you immediately get defensive and you put up the walls and you say, well, what about you? If that's you, here's what I'm going to tell you. I'm just going to be honest with you. You're not in this boat the way you think you are.
You know where you are, you're probably way over here. Because I'm telling you a mark of spiritual maturity is to have somebody that speaks into your life and says, hey, you probably shouldn't be involved in that. You probably shouldn't be thinking that way.
You probably shouldn't respond that way. And a mark of spiritual maturity is receiving that as helpful to you. And so it's important that we have people that provoke, but then he says to exhort. That's to encourage. It carries on the idea of placing yourself in someone else's shoes. Some of you are great at this.
And these are some of our favorite people in the world. Because it's like when you're going through a tough time, you go to them and you're so good about this. And this is what it means to carry Jesus, right?
You're a Jesus carrier. So when you want another other people, here's what I'm going to tell you, is that when you want another them, you're going to go to them and you're going to consider them. You're going to try to disciple them. You're going to exhort them. You might provoke them.
You might have relationships where you have to do that. And then you're going to encourage and exhort as much as possible. That's why the assembly is important for you. Because if you're not here, you're not able to do those things. Because somebody that showed up today needs what Jesus wants to use you to accomplish in their life.
That's the importance. And then number three, and finally, church reminds us of the power of the gospel. Church reminds us of the power of the gospel. You see, verses 19 through 23 is all about access.
And here's what I want you to know. The way that you gain access to this type of family is only through trusting in the blood of Jesus. If you're in here today and you've never been saved, you're not a Christian here today, then you're not a part of the family of God. You might attend family reunions. And from time to time at our family reunions, we have somebody that invited somebody.
They're not a part of our family, but they're kind of looking in, right? And that might be where you're at here today, that you're just attending this family reunion today. And let me tell you this, is that being here today, it reminds us of the power that the gospel holds in and of itself. And here's what I mean by that.
When we look at this, here's what I'll tell you. We're only here, every single one of you, you are only here by the grace of God. And that's true of every single one of us.
We're only here because of the grace of Jesus. In other words, no one can say, I deserve to be here. Nobody can say that I deserve to be here. There are no ranks, if you would, in this community.
There are no ranks or special treatment. And here's why. It's because every single one of us, we are all equal. We are all equal and only here because of what Jesus has done for us. And so here's what that means for us, because I've been in an old Baptist church my whole life, and so here we have some of that. Here's what I want you to know. Longevity in a church is very important, but I'll tell you this, longevity doesn't make you more important.
Longevity is important. I love it. I love when I hear it, man, I've been in this church for 30, 40 years.
That's amazing. It's so important, but it does not mean that you're more important. And what I've seen in churches a lot of times is, man, we're led by people, man, I've been here so long. I have a stake in this church.
My family out back, they built, okay, I'm getting a little far. But the point is, we do, we have that, right? A lot of times we think, well, they've been here a long time, and so they have more stake and more stock and more respect, more whatever you want to call it. And sometimes we have that in our church, like we're ranking people by the length of time that we're here. Let me tell you this, that is not church.
Every time we gather, here's what this is a reminder of, every time we walk in, I don't care if you've been here 50 years, I don't care if you've been here five weeks, here's what I'm going to tell you, is this, there are no ranks in this community. We are only here, every single one of us, the person that was here 50 years, and the person that's been here five weeks, we all are only here because of the glorious, precious blood of Jesus Christ, and we all have come in here the exact same way. And every time we gather, here's the point, it reminds us of, wow, look at the power of the gospel in here. Here's what I want you to know, if you're part of our church, I don't care what your background is.
I don't care how bad of a sinner you are, because here's what I'll tell you, it took as much grace to save me as a church kid as it did a drunk or a drug addict. So it does not matter, once we are in the family of God, there's no ranks, and every time we're gathered together, it reminds us of, wow, look around you today, look at the power of the gospel, because if it wasn't for the glorious good news of the gospel, here's what I'll tell you, none of us would be in this place today. It's only by the power of the gospel that we stand here or sit here today. And here's what he's saying, Hebrews 10, he's saying this, only the gospel can really build this type of family. Only the gospel can bring people with different backgrounds together. Only the gospel can bring people from different stages of life, different things, and here we are together. It's only the gospel can take a bunch of outsiders and misfits and broken people and bring us together as a family unit called the local church.
Only the gospel can do something like that. So if we go back to our earlier question, does your church attendance matter? Like, is it important for me to make this assembly a priority? Of course it does.
Of course it does. And what the writer's saying is this, don't neglect it. Don't neglect this family reunion that we get to be a part of. Don't neglect your obligation to one another, those around you. Don't just come in here and slip in and slip out. Because that's not the church. No, remember every time you walk through those doors, here's what you need to be doing. Wow, I've had access to God all week and now I get to come into this, our family reunion, and now I get to take what God has shown me and God's done in my heart all week and I get to take that to people in here. That's why I love to see you walking around talking to people because here's what, as a pastor, when I see that, here's what I'm thinking. Man, there's a lot of Jesus carriers in this place and they are going to one another and they're encouraging and exhorting and considering and provoking and all this kind of stuff. All these spiritual things that we're supposed to do as a church, all those things are happening when we show up on mission for God every single week.
And so that's the point. Okay, pastor, I get it. What's my next step? Well, for some of you, if you've been a part of our church and this is where you would have membership, if you would, for some of you, you're like, man, your next step is just to go deeper.
What can you do to go deeper? Okay, if you're just sitting and you're not serving or participating in some of these things, hey, that would be your next step. I'm going to dive into a Bible fellowship, which we're going to talk about next week.
I'm going to dive into a serve team, which we're also going to talk about in a couple of weeks. But for some of you, you need to make this a priority. If you neglect this, like, hey, I just come every now and then or something. Listen, there's so many people who need what Jesus has done in you. You need to be sharing it with them because you're a Jesus carrier. Don't neglect it. Don't forsake it.
Make this a priority because you need it. And then for some of you, you know what you need? If you've been attending, you're like, man, I don't really need to be a part of the local church.
I'm good where I'm at and things like that. Your next step is this. We have Starting Point coming up at the end of the month. That's what we call membership class where you can take, if you've been attending here for any length of time, I love Starting Point because Starting Point for me, we've had people that have been in Starting Point. It's like their second Sunday.
And then we've had people that are like, man, I've been here 10 years. I love it. I love it all. But here's what I want you to know. It doesn't matter the length of time you've been coming, but for you, your next step, if you're not a part of a church and you're not a active member of a local church, your next step would be, hey, I need to go to Starting Point.
I need to go all in on a family so that I can be a part of what God is doing in this local family. And your next step today is Starting Point. And here's what I want you to know. We don't always do this, but we want to make it as easy as possible for you. If you're like, how in the world do I sign up today? I want to be a part of that. I need to go talk to somebody.
Do you need to point me in the direction? We're gonna make it real easy for you today. On your way out today, out in the Welcome Center, we have a iPad. We can get you signed up today for that. If that's where you are today, you've been attending our church and you're not a member and you're like, man, I need to go and I need to do this.
I need to attend this. That's my next step. Then what I want you to do on your way out, go to our Welcome Center and we're going to have a volunteer out there. They're going to help you sign up today. It is easy. It is free. You get a free dinner out of it, which is awesome.
And it's free childcare and all that. And all that is is we want our family. Union Grove is like a family.
We want this reunion not to be limited to just us. Our doors to this family are open wide and we welcome you into this family. Can we bow our heads for prayer today? What an honor it is for us to be a part of a family. Listen, I don't know where you're at here today, but I'm just going to invite you to stand and perhaps maybe you've been your family as we can all stand together.
Heads bowed, hearts lifted in prayer. Perhaps you've kind of neglected a little bit this family, maybe just forsaken it, just kind of not making it a priority kind of every now and then. Or perhaps you come every week, but you're not an active, engaged member. You're kind of like, man, I just show up. I sit, I leave.
I don't really talk to a whole lot of people. Listen, you're a Jesus carrier. Come get involved. Take a step. Jump all in with us because God wants to do something in you for somebody else here in this place. I'm going to pray and if God speaks to you, listen, I don't know where you're at today, but listen, I want to allow you to take the next step.
I want you to maybe pray at an altar or perhaps you need to just pray right there at your seat and wherever God's done in your heart. I just want you to take a step and do business with God. Father blessing this invitation time. What an honor it is for us to be here by the blood of Jesus. That's the only reason why we're here. And God, every single one of us, we've come into this family the exact same way by your precious blood that was shed on the cross of Calvary for us. God, I pray that all of us would go deep into this family because it's an honor that we get to be a part of it to begin with. Help your people to take this next step, whatever that may be, for it's in your name we pray. Amen.
