 Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 and 25. The writer writes, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Now as we've been going through chapter 10, remember with me that the writer has been pointing out that Jesus Christ is what we would call a perfect sacrifice and with that one sacrifice of himself, he completely satisfies his father's requirements and in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, he won our salvation. Now the Jewish law and sacrifices in other words are completely satisfied in him. The old system is abolished because it is now being replaced by Jesus's perfect offering and as a result of that, our consciences are now cleansed by God's Holy Spirit and the blood of Jesus Christ and God is now writing his will on our hearts and God makes it very clear that he no longer calls to mind our sins. Remember how he says in verse 17 here in chapter 10, there's sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more and so God no longer calls to mind our sins. That reminds me of Micah chapter 7, 18 and 19 where the prophet says who is a God like you who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance. You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us. You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. The phrase the depth of the sea is another picture of being forgotten completely buried forever and that's what happens when you commit your heart to Christ is your sin is completely dealt with and God doesn't remember, doesn't bring it up any longer and that is much better than the Old Testament sacrificial system which in the offering is a reminder. Jesus one time for all time lays his life down for us and as a result of that, our consciences are cleansed from dead works. God writes his law upon the tablet of our heart and we have a right standing before him. We have a confidence now he says to enter into the presence of God through Jesus Christ and we can draw near with a true heart with a sincere heart because our commitment to God is genuine. We have a relationship with him and that gives us your assurance before him. Our lives are now being lived out in practical holiness and the Holy Spirit is now working within us and so as a result of that, we hold fast. We hold fast our confession because holding on to our hope until the end is a demonstration that we really have been born again. It is an evidence of genuine conversion. That's why Jesus in John 831 said, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. And so as a result of coming to Christ through that perfect sacrifice and having him write his law on the tablets of our hearts, we now have a conscience that is cleansed and a great relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and since that is true, we have an application. How do we live out a life that has a conscience that is cleansed and that has God's law written on the tablets of our hearts? What is it supposed to look like? Well, he tells us in verse 24 and that's what we're gonna be looking at tonight verses 24 and 25. He says to us, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. Coming to Christ and having a clean conscience is revealed when we have concern for other people because what happens is when we are saved, we are automatically brought into a new family and this family is a family of God. It's the church of Jesus Christ and it's not just the church that is meeting in this location, it's the church everywhere, the church universal. And when you get saved, you're brought into a new family and as a family member, you have obligations and you have privileges. And so when we got saved, we are brought into a family, a family that is supposed to have an earmark. Now every family has an earmark. Every family has something that identifies it. There's something that identifies you. It's a birthmark or it's a family trait. I don't know why I'm gonna tell you this, might as well. I just remembered it. Forgive me if you don't think it's funny. I thought it was funny, so I'm gonna share it with you. My son, David, when he was in high school. David was doing some research for one of his classes. And he said to me, Dad, do we have a family crest? And I said, well, yes, we do, son. And he got really excited because he didn't know that we did. So I said, oh, yes, of course we have a family crest. He says, really? I said, yes. He said, oh, great, Dad, can you tell me what it is? I said, sure. I said, it's a shield. And then it's a bowl of beans with two tortillas. I don't know why I just told you that. It just came to mind. And I guess because I'm thinking of something that identifies your family. But we have something within our family, the family of God, that is supposed to be the identifying mark. What is it, guys? What is it that is supposed to identify you as a person who's born again? You all know, what is it? You can say it. What is it? It's love. It's love. Isn't that what Jesus Christ taught us? He said, a new commandment, give I unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all men know you are my disciples if you have love one for another. What is the birthmark of a believer? The love of God. The love of the spirit of God in the life of that believer. So the family has something. The family has love. And that love that we have for one another is the mark that we do belong to each other because that is a family love. Now, can a family bicker? Absolutely. Can we have some problems? You better believe it. Do we have a weird uncle or aunt somewhere? Yeah, we sure do. Are you the weird uncle or aunt? I don't know. Am I? Maybe. Maybe, the one that makes you embarrassed, it shows up in the wedding and you kind of say, well, that's the other side of the family. That's not mine. I mean, we all. But how do we deal with these people that are in our family that are probably a little bit different, more different than others? We love them. We love them because they're ours. We love them because they belong to us. We love them because we're family. That's how it works. And in the church, that's how it's supposed to work, too. The Bible says in Romans chapter 12, verse 5, we, being many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. We belong. We belong together. And because we do, because we do belong together, we have a responsibility. I want you to see it today, verse 24. He says, let us consider one another. That word, consider, may we keep watch on one another. May we observe each other. Maybe, may we fix our eyes or mind upon someone else. When we consider, we are simply watching out for somebody else. As a parent, as a husband, and as a son, I began to learn how to watch out for family members as a brother to sisters and a brother. I began to learn how to do that by being in a family. I had two little sisters. I still do, though they're not little sisters anymore. They're old and ugly. No, you've met them. I look nothing like them. Um, 52 years old and 50 years old, cranky old bags. But when they were little girls, my brother and I kept an eye on them. We didn't like anybody picking on them. We didn't like anybody hurting them. We were the typical big brothers. So much so that when my sister Madeline started dating the man that she eventually married, my brother-in-law, Pat, Madeline brought him into the house on her first date and promptly brought him into the den where I was in order that he could pass mustard with me. And he sat across from me, and I began to grill him like a big brother will do. And I asked him questions about himself. I asked him questions about his walk with the Lord. I asked him some serious questions because I wanted to see who this guy is who's asking my little sister out. We do that, don't we? Don't we watch over one another? When you're the little sister, you might not like that. I mean, leave me alone. I want to live my own life. Get off my back. I've got my right to make my own decisions, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But any little sister who has a big brother who loves her is going to have a big brother who's going to be involved one way or another. That's what family does. We get involved in each other's lives. Sometimes you like it, sometimes you don't, but it's the sign of a family, isn't it? We care for one another. As a man with an older mom and an older dad now, my mom, my papa went home to be with the Lord a few years ago. When I'm with my mom, I keep my eye on her. I help her to get into the car. I'll take care of her. Why? Because I'm considering her. Because I'm protecting her, because I'm loving her. I'm watching over her. That's what you do. As a husband, when I'm with my wife Marie, I keep my eye on her to make sure she's okay that she doesn't get hurt or hurt herself in some way or I watch to see if anybody bothers her. I do that because I love her. I consider her. I watch over her. I have my four kids. Did that all of their life? Do it to this day? And I have a grandson, Josiah, that I keep my eye on constantly. Even walk it on the campus. We'll be walking here on the campus and you'll be wanting to cross the drive or something and I'll say to him, now wait a minute, you stand on that curb son. You don't go until you look both ways. Is there a car on your, over here? No papa, is there a car over here? No papa. Okay, what can we do now? We can walk across the street. Now why don't I do that because I love them? Isn't that what families do? Isn't that how we're supposed to be? We watch over one another. That's what the body of Christ is like, isn't it? It's supposed to be. It's supposed to be a family. It's supposed to be a group of people. This group of people that actually cares about the other people, this side over here is supposed to care about this side over here and everybody in between is supposed to care for those. That's just the way it is. We're supposed to love each other because that's the mark of a believer. We consider one another. We watch each other. We watch each other's back if you will. We love one another. We love one another so much that sometimes we're even involved in each other's lives. And what we do is we encourage each other and we're supposed to be encouraging each other to live a godly life. You see, that's what he's speaking about in verse 24 when he says, let us consider one another. There's a reason to do that in order to stir up love and good works. So we watch over each other with a purpose and that is to provoke. To provoke one another to something good. We have a desire to encourage each other that those words stir up means to provoke. It speaks of sharpening or stimulating. It speaks of inciting. We have family influence and we use our influence in such a way as we provoke people to live for Jesus Christ. Because Christian faith and Christian fellowship actually grows healthy in a loving atmosphere. And so in the atmosphere of love we begin to demonstrate the depth of our commitment to one another. My Josiah, using him again as an illustration because I learned lessons just by watching his beautiful young life and all. My family is a very, we kiss each other. We're that family that before we leave you'll see everybody kissing each other. We just do that. We hug each other a lot. And when we're together, I will kiss my kids. I kiss every one of them all the time. And so Josiah is in infinite arms and from the time he's just a tiny baby and his mama brings him over and he's visiting with mama and papa when he is doing that then he calls grandma mama. So Marie will bend over and give him a kiss in his face and kisses mama and then Corinne brings him to me and I'll hold him in my arms and I'll kiss him in all over his little face and I hand it back to his mama and I'll take my daughter and I'll kiss her in the mouth and that's just the way we are. And he's been watching that since he was born. As a matter of fact, my daughter gave to me one of the more touching Christmas gifts that I could get. It was a picture that she actually took of me holding Josiah for the first time in the hospital the day he was born. And I didn't know that she had taken a picture of me holding him and I'm kissing him in his face. And that is a very moving and touching picture to me because I have pictures everywhere of Josiah. We have candles and incense burning before St. Josiah all over the house. And anyway, but I have so many pictures of us kissing him and holding him that now, I mean, it's just an automatic thing. He's three years old and so what do I say? I'll say, I'll say, Si, come and give Papa a kiss. Kiss Papa, bye-bye. And that's the first thing he does and then I'll pick him up and I'll give him a big kiss. That's just a family, he's learned that. That's a family trait, affection, love, holding each other. That's what a church does too. We love each other and we're supposed to provoke each other or to incite one another because we teach each other how to do that. You see, when I first got saved, I have a friend whose name is George who was used by the Lord when I got saved and I've told you this before, but George is one of these very warm guys, a very loving guy and he wasn't before he got saved but after he got saved he began to be very expressive and he would hug me whenever he saw me and I wasn't a Christian yet. And he would walk up to me and he'd say, David, how are you? And he'd give me a big old hug and I'm from a macho background. You may not know that because I cry in front of you now but I didn't like that. And he'd walk up to me, oh, how are you? And I'd get this like, you know, what are you doing? But something inside actually responded positively like, it's okay to be cared for. It's all right for another guy to hug you because I was from this background, if man doesn't hug another man, this is your dad, but normally your dad doesn't hug you, your dad just hits you in the head and that's his affection and that's okay. And so when I started seeing Christians who actually would hug and show affection, I have to tell you it was in one way, it was very attractive in another way, very threatening. And when we would be seated together and we used to go to Bible study at Calvary Costa Mesa, the little chapel there, then we would come back to the house and we'd have a prayer meeting and we'd sit in a circle and we would pray and worship the Lord. And when we prayed, they would hold hands. I have to tell you, I had a bad time with that. I didn't like a man holding my hand. I just didn't like it. I didn't like them holding on and I can still remember thinking this is kind of odd so I would squeeze their hands real tight so they wouldn't get any weird ideas about me. You know, it turns out they like strong men, but just kidding, I shouldn't have said that. But it was very difficult and so the Lord brought George into my life in that very important time of just being saved to be someone who provoked me, to love because he was warm, he was self assured, he didn't have any problems with his masculinity. You know, he was a man's man, but he was also able to show affection to men as well as women. So that's what we're to do. And so God used him in my life to teach me that it's okay to put your arm around another guy, to teach me that you could put your arms in hunger guy, to even allow on occasion, right occasion, I've had men who love me like a father or a brother who will kiss me on the side of the face or on the cheek. And there was a time when you don't do that to men, you don't kiss men, what are you doing? But the Lord has taught me that's affection and the showing that they love you and all of that has worked out in my life to change the way I think. And that all comes from the scriptures. It all comes from watching Jesus in the life of Christ, picking up babies, weeping over friends who have died. And he's a man's man, a complete man's man. And it taught me something about him. What does the church do? We consider one another. We provoke one another. We sharpen one another. We incite one another to love into good works. We have influence over each other and we use it. We use it for good. We provoke one another. We encourage other people to love and to love one another. That's the way it works. And the way we do it is we love God ourselves first and foremost, and then we simply love them. We stimulate their love. And the way we stimulate or provoke their love is we simply just love them. We actually feel for one another. We attentively and diligently consider each other's trials, their difficulties, their weaknesses. And we bear them along with them because families do that. We don't bail out on one another. We don't turn our backs on each other. We don't gossip about one another. We don't tear each other down. We love each other. We encourage each other. We provoke each other. Now that makes us different. That makes us different than any other organization, any other group on the face of the earth. Because the church is a volunteer group that gathers together and loves one another and even has love for strangers. You can be in a variety of organizations and it just doesn't require that you love one another. You can be in a fraternity. You could be in a sorority. You could be in an athletic team. You can be a member of a lodge. You can be in a union. And there's no requirement that you love one another. You can be in any of those things in a variety of others. And the requirement isn't that you love one another. You have certain requirements to be part of that organization. But loving each other certainly isn't one of the requirements. But it's different in the church, guys. It's different in the church. The church is intended to love one another. You can climb on a train. You can get on a plane. You can get into a bus. And you can have a group of people around you from 30 people to 300 people. You're all going in the same direction. You're all landing in the same location. But you don't necessarily have to get along. You simply need to leave each other alone enough so you can make it to your destination. It's not the way it is with the church. The church isn't an organization like that. We actually get involved in each other's lives. We care for each other. We love each other. We provoke one another. We're examples of godliness to each other. And when one of our brothers is carrying a burden or a sister's carrying a burden, we love them enough to sometimes have to talk to them about that. Sometimes if they're dealing with a sin, we might even invest our life a bit into theirs, letting them know we care for them. We love them. And we want to be there to bear that burden alongside of you. That's what the church is. That's how it works. And sometimes when the church gets together in some church congregations, that really isn't emphasized. That kind of reality doesn't necessarily find expression. I think that every church has a certain kind of a way of doing things, a certain thing that identifies itself. In this fellowship, I try to keep us in the very basic, which is to love God and love each other, to be close to each other, to be willing to be involved in somebody else's life, and also to be willing to allow somebody to be involved in mine. When you get your Bible concordances, you can buy concordances. There are various concordances that you can buy. You can buy a strong's concordance. You can buy the crudence concordance. You can buy a variety of concordances that give to you words that are in Scripture. And you can look them up in these concordances. And when you look up the words one another, which you can do, you're going to discover, especially just taking time to do that in the New Testament, that there are so many Scriptures that talk about what is called body life. There are so many Scriptures that relate to how you are to be with one another. I could give you many. I'll give you just a few, just to show you the point I'm making here when it comes to being involved. Because the mark of a believer is to love, provoke one another, and to have a body, a church, a family. That's why Jesus already quoted John 1334 when he said, love one another. That's why in John 15, 17, Jesus said, again, love one another. That's why Romans 13, 8 says, oh no, one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 1 Peter 1, 22 says, you have purified your souls and obeying the truth of the Spirit and sincere love for the brethren. Love one another fervently with a pure heart. 1 John 3, 11 says, this is a message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. And 1 John 4, 11 says, beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. You see it over and over and over in Scripture. Love one another, care for one another, bear one another's burdens, pray for one another, exhort one another, encourage one another. That's what we do. That's what the church does. That's what is needed today. I was channel surfing, looking for a good station to fall asleep watching. And today, and I don't know what channel it was, because I was just doing this thing here. And they had Woodstock, ancient history, Woodstock. And I watched it for a moment and they had Richie Havens. And I remember Richie Havens very well. Some of you wouldn't even know who he is. He was a folk singer and very talented guy. And I remember him well because a girl friend of mine, the day before I went into the military, took me to a concert and she took me to see Richie Havens. So I'll never forgotten that. Well, Richie played at the Woodstock Festival and I watched it for just maybe five minutes, no more than that. And I saw all these hippies and I saw, my mind just, you know, it's easy to travel back. It takes a while now, but you get back there. And as I was watching, I was remembering that took place when I was 20 years old. And that concert, that several day concert and all of that. And I saw these hippies and I remembered, that's what I was. And I remembered, you can do this. I began to remember how I felt during that time. And I changed the channel, but not before I said to the Lord, I said, oh God, you're so good. You're so good. You saved me because that was me. Empty, lost, alone. That was me. And for just a moment, as I saw these kids, I remembered looking just like that, being just like, thinking like that. And then I thought, look at you have done over the last 36 years, how you have transformed my life. But there was a time when I could have been slid right into that picture frame and you'd have seen me there along with the rest, exactly like them, loaded or drunk or whatever it was, just as lost as they. But God, because of his grace and his mercy, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, gave a message of salvation, forgiveness, and brought me into a real family because the hippie generation was a group of young people looking for a family, looking for something authentic, looking for something real. And at that time we were saying we're looking for love. And I found it. I found it in Jesus Christ. I found everything that I needed in him. And so that community became a family. And those people that at one time I disdain, that I looked at as being odd and weird, became family members. And so you become a person who is actually in love with God and you're in love with Jesus Christ and you begin to love others. And love is revealed, it's revealed by a life. It's revealed by action. So what we do is we begin to stir up loving good works. We have some guys in our fellowship who have been going to various places on their own. It isn't something like we brought them together and said we are commissioning and anointing you to go out and do these. No, they're doing it on their own because God grabbed hold of their hearts. And they've been going to parks in a park in particular. And while they've been in this particular park, they bring food and they feed the homeless in this one park. And they saw recently when it was so cold that some of them were sleeping under bushes. You know what they did? They went out and got some sleeping bags. And they went to this park and started giving sleeping bags to people. And there were people who were actually hiding underneath bushes when they saw them who came out from underneath those bushes and got a sleeping bag. That's what God has called us to do. I was talking to somebody today who said he was standing in line at a supermarket. There was an older woman standing in front of him and she bought groceries and as she was trying to pay for her groceries, she discovered that she didn't have enough money to pay for them. And there she is standing in front of people with not enough money to feed herself. And so this young man who was talking to me today said and so pastor, he said, I just paid for her groceries. He said, is that okay to do? I said, is that okay to do? I said, I'll be going to the store tonight. I'll meet you. No. I said, is that okay to do? I said, that's what we're supposed to do. He says, well, she looked at me and it was kind of like I was kind of weird and she was kind of like thinking, what are you doing? I said, what you were doing is going to be rewarded by God. What you're doing is what believers do because the Bible tells us if I see somebody in need and I harden my heart to him, well, how can the love of God abide in me? We're to love more than just in word and in tongue but in indeed and in truth. That's what John says in first John 3. That's how it works. That's what we do. That's what Christians used to be known for. Do you know that? In the beginning of the history of the church, there was a certain pagan historian who was writing concerning the church and he said, those Christians are weird because they show affection for strangers and they love each other. And the Romans thought the Christian church was an odd group of people because they actually showed affection. And he said, and they call each other brother and sister though they're not from the same parents. What an odd group of people. That was the early church. And if you'd have asked somebody in the first century, what is a Christian like? What is it that Christians are known for? You might find this interesting. They would have said, because the pagans wrote this, they would have said, this is a group of people that loves one another. That's what they'd have said about the church. This is a group of people that will love one another and they believe in someone named Jesus, whom we slew, yet they claim is still alive. That's basically a quote from one of the writers. Jesus who died, they affirm is alive. And they love one another. Now that was the early church. But today, if you go on a talk show on any secular station and the question would be asked to somebody who was there on a panel, what is a Christian? Do you think the first thing they would say is, oh boy, they love one another? No, the pagans have an entirely different concept of the church because the church has become combative in the last days and not loving. We become argumentative in the last days, but not loving. And we have to come back to loving. We have to come back to loving one another. We have to become that group of people that when somebody who isn't a Christian walks in to the walls of a church like this, a church building like this, that they can say there's something different about this group of people here and I'm gonna find out what it is. Yesterday I was speaking to a fellow in our church. He introduced himself to me and he said, you know, I've been coming to the church for a year but I've never said hello to you. And he gave me his name and I said, it's nice to meet you. He said, let me tell you something. He said, I came for six months and when you would say, if anybody needs to get right with the Lord, he said, you would say, raise your hand. He said, for the first six months when I was coming to this church, he said, I thought to myself, man, are you corny? I mean, that's the word he used. Man, are you corny? What a corny guy. If you need to get right with God, raise your hand. He said, and I just came for six months listening to you and you'd say, if you need to get right with the Lord, raise your hand, let me pray for you. And he said, and I would sit there and I would sit there and I would sit there. But he told me this. He says, but you wanna know something? He said, six months ago, I gave my heart to Jesus Christ and my life for the last six months is being radically changed by the love of God. He says, and I wanna tell you something. This was unsolicited. He says, I wanna tell you something. He said, the first time I walked into this building here, the first time I walked in, he said, I said to myself, there's something different about these people here. There is something different about this place. He said, and I couldn't put my finger on that, but I could sense it. These people are different. There's something different about them. And for six months, I mocked you. For six months, I would laugh when you say, if you need to get right with God, raise your hand. He said, and finally I realized that's not something you laugh at. That's something you're serious about. He said, and I came forward at an invitation and my life has been radically transformed. Now, what is it that got him? Is it the church grounds? Is it the parking lot? Is it the band? What is it that got him? You know what got him? The word of God and the love of Christ in you guys. You don't know the impact you have on people's lives. You really don't. You don't understand, and maybe that's good, but you don't understand the degree of impact your life has in the simple things that you do. Provoke one another to love and good works. Now, when you were a kid, you provoked one another, I'm sure. If you'd taken a vacation and you're in the back seat with a brother or sister and you started poking them, you were provoking them. You would push them. And then what did your dad say? Stop provoking one another or I'll kill you. That's the second phrase he'd use. Stop, I'm gonna turn the car around. Stop provoking each other. What were we doing? We were inciting each other. I can incite someone to irritation. I can incite somebody to become angry at me to be so anger that they could even hate me or I can provoke them to love. Not only can I provoke them to love, but I can provoke them to good works because that's what we're supposed to do. God wants to work in our life and he wants to do something different and new. So what do we do? Consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. That our life might be filled with doing things for him. Continuing verse 25, not forsaken the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorted one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. Now when he says not forsaken the assembling of ourselves together as a manner of some is, some of the Hebrews were voluntarily abandoning fellowship. And when you voluntarily abandon fellowship, you will become sick. We have been created by God for fellowship because if there's one thing that I think is very dangerous, it's being by yourself too long, being by yourself too much. It's interesting to note that when people who are in prison are given a very severe punishment, they normally lock them up to be by themselves. They'll put them in a room and they'll be in that room for 20 out of 24 hours. And it can drive you crazy because you're by yourself because you have no other companionship. Now sometimes you think to yourself, you say, I wouldn't mind if I had solitary confinement once in a while, get me out of the house, get me away from these kids, get me away from this marriage or this job. Down time is good. Yeah, it's good for us to get away sometimes to be by ourselves, but not always, not to be always by yourself. That is not a good thing. Remember with me that in Genesis, when the Lord is speaking concerning the thing that is not good, remember what he said. He said it is not good. The first time anything is not good. It is not good that the man should be alone. We haven't been created to be by ourselves all the time. And when we are, when we push people away out of our lives, we become extremely unhealthy. I was reading something that I thought was valuable enough to quote. This individual, this writer said, when you live on your own for a long time, your personality changes because you go so much into yourself, you lose the ability to be social, to understand what is and isn't normal behavior. There's an entire world inside yourself. And if you let yourself, you can go so deep inside it, you'll forget the way to the surface. Other people keep our souls alive just like food and water does with our body. We need to have companionship. I heard about a long distance truck driver who was driving from Seattle all the way across country. And he's by himself for hours at a time just driving. And so he created in his own mind traveling companions. And he was talking about how he was driving on this long, long stretch. And he said, I had a conversation with Abraham Lincoln. And he said, you know, he's a very witty man. He's very intelligent and he's a great listener. And I thought, what an interesting way to put it. There's an imaginary guy next to him. He's a great listener. If you don't have friends, you will make them up. You will create them for yourself. Our children, those of us who are parents, our kids would have their little imaginary friends when they didn't have somebody over. And what would they do? They'd have tea with them. They'd serve them. They had their little friends there. Why? Because we have been created for fellowship. It isn't a good thing to be alone. A child left himself for his shame to his mother. When we're left to ourself, we go too deeply into ourselves. And before you know it, there's nobody else who can get to us. And that's a bad thing. That's a bad thing. I need real people around me. One of the things that I get concerned about is the church getting too caught up with having so much video and DVD that people cease going to church and they just get the video. Or they cease having relationship with people. They just watch it on the internet instead of getting in the car and driving to a church service. We have hundreds of people who every week, for one reason or another, cannot make it to church. And sometimes it's just because they can't. My mom, who is not in the best of health, will watch us on the internet. And all she watches and she'll talk to me. I talk to her every week and she'll share with me. Oh, I listen to the Sunday service or Wednesday night or what are you gonna be teaching Sunday night? And my mom is unable to always be in church because of health. And so, no, that's permissible and it's understandable. But when you are healthy, when you are physically capable of being involved, but you voluntarily pull yourself out, that's not a healthy thing at all. You need each other. Somebody said it in a graphic way. He said, I need to have living people around me. Not images on a screen. Living people around me. People who, when I touch them, you can actually feel their skin. People who, when they speak to you, you can know when they brush their teeth. People, I need them around me, all of us do, don't we? Am I talking to myself? Do we need other people? Absolutely, absolutely. I need you, you need me. And like Barney says, we're a happy family. I mean, that's the way it works. And so, I'm not to voluntarily pull out a fellowship. And I've had people say to me, oh, the church hurt me. I was so hurt at the church. And I said, get in line, get in line. You were hurt by people. I mean, the church is filled with sinners still, and they can still do bad and mean things to you. You're kidding me. I thought they were all just so perfect. You mean they're not, and you got hurt feelings? Get in line. Every person in this room who's been a Christian for a while has been disappointed in another believer. If you haven't, you will be, because life is filled with disappointment. It's how you deal with it that matters. Where's the grace? Where's the love? Where's the forgiveness? Where's the understanding? Where's turning the other cheek? Where's all of that come in to a body, into a church, into a family? That's true. You can have a fight with an aunt or an uncle or a brother or a sister, and you can get quiet and not want to talk to them. But doesn't that destroy the fabric of the family eventually? You go to a family, get together, and you've got a problem with your brother. You haven't talked to him for a while, and there he walks in, and he's got that attitude, and you see him, and you're thinking, man, I'm still mad at you. You're such a jerk. Doesn't that destroy the family? Doesn't a mature person take the opportunity to walk up and say, listen, we've had a disagreement? I want you to know I'm sorry for my part in it? We're family. Let's love each other. Isn't that what mature people do? Absolutely. And I'm sorry I hurt you. You know what? I can honestly say I didn't mean to, and I'm sorry that I did. But man, for the sake of the family, let's forgive each other. That's what the church does, guys. But you know, unfortunately, what happens today is the church is on wheels, and so I get hurt feelings here. I'll just run down to some other church and take my broken heart there and tell everybody else how badly I was treated in this church that I just came out of and I sow seeds of discord and dissension and undermine at work where God could have brought a healing. I resist that. No, we're not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner some is, but we're to continue exhorting one another. We're not to give up on each other, especially in light of Jesus' soon return. You see, we're constantly bombarded by the world, and so one of the most foolish things we can do is withdraw from fellowship in the Word of God because as we're waiting for the return of Christ, we ought to be serving Him actively. You see, during the writing of Hebrews, we need to remember that the first generation of believers was passed in a way. That left a new generation, a generation that was growing up and encountering growing hostility and resistance to the gospel. We know that the book of Hebrews was written prior to the destruction of the Jewish temple, but it wouldn't be too long until that temple would be destroyed. And when the temple is destroyed, it's gonna cause believers to be shaken. And on top of that, increased persecution was causing some to be shaken in their faith already. And so we say, and you need to remain firm in your trust of the Lord. Now, Jesus, when He was speaking in Matthew chapter 13, gave a parable of the sower and seed. And in Matthew chapter 13, verse five, that verse speaks of a sower who sows seed and it's on what is called stony places. And then later on, Jesus speaks about that. And he says in verse 20 and 21 in Matthew 13, he who received the seed on stony places is the one who hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he hasn't written himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the Word, immediately he stumbles. And so persecution does occur. I mean, you come forward at an invitation or you raise your hand and you get right with the Lord and all's well in the world. And then you tell somebody and they reject you. They get upset at you. They don't like what you've done. I remember a woman many years ago now whose son got saved here in the church, a teenager. And she was upset and she called the church and she was mad and she vented. And she said, I just wanna know what kind of group of people you are over there. She said, my son has become a Christian. And this is what she said, this is a quote. She said, I could handle him when he was on drugs, but I can't handle him as a believer. They do that. They get upset. They may say things about you. And all you're trying to do is love them and your life is being changed and you're caring about them. And some people, when they go through persecution, when they go through some trial because of that, immediately they wanna fall away. So he's saying, no, you remain firm because you're gonna be encountering things and of all times when these things are even at the door and this problem is coming, you should be hanging on to each other rather than forsaking one another. The day is approaching, he says. The return of Jesus is imminent. Believers have to be prepared. You see, the return of Jesus Christ is intended to provoke us to love and good works because we're awaiting him. You know, I have met people who can quote different passages from Daniel, Ezekiel, from Revelation, Matthew 24 and 25, various passages that relate to the rapture or last days and they're really good with the information, but they're not really good with loving people. Information needs to produce transformation or it's useless. Just because I may know something doesn't really matter because it's not just what I know, it's who I know. When I have a relationship with Christ, that transforms me. And so the information I'm able to give is given in love. And so when you know that the Lord Jesus Christ is returning, well, it's supposed to provoke us to love and to good works. And that means my life is transformed. Titus in chapter two, verse 11-13 reads, 11 through 13, the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. So we deny certain things, ungodliness and worldly lust, and we embrace certain things, living soberly, righteously and godly. All along looking forward to Jesus' return, that anticipation that he's gonna keep his promise and come back for us. When you're in love with him, and you just keep waiting, oh Lord come soon, come quickly Lord Jesus. Not so that I can get out of here. You know, there are some women that I've known in the past who got married, not because they were in love with the young man they married, but to get out of the house. They got married not because they wanted to be with that young man for the rest of their life. They just couldn't stand living in the home that they were living in. So for them, their wedding day wasn't that exciting because the guy waiting to be their husband was just a guy to them that was helping them get out. Then there are others who are really in love with this young man that they're gonna marry. I mean, this is in their mind at that time, they don't know him that well. This is the best thing that they're ever gonna have happen in their life. And so they put on their beautiful gown, they walk up the center aisle, their eyes are locked onto the eyes of that groom, and that groom is there looking back at her, and it's one of those incredibly special moments that I as a pastor have been able to officiate many times where you see them looking at each other because I'll tell that groom, I'll say listen, when those doors open and that beautiful bride comes walking and by the way, I'll tell them, I always tell them, I was just with your bride and she's got a most beautiful gown on and is she ever gorgeous? And man, how did you rate? So I'll say when the doors open up and everybody stands and the music plays, I'll say I want you to look at her, keep your eyes on her because as you're looking at her, that's gonna stay in your heart for the rest of your life. I carry one picture of my wife, Marie, in my wallet, one picture of her. Actually, there's a couple, but one that's very special and I've had forever. And it's a picture that was taken of her when she walked out and it was my first sighting of my girl who became my wife that day. That's the one I carry in my wallet. And I take her with me wherever I go in my wallet. And there are times when I just open up my pictures and I look at that picture of that beautiful young woman who graced me by saying, yes, I'll marry you. And you wanna know something? The love I had for her and half for her has changed my life. And the love that she has for me, her husband, has changed her life because there was that anticipation that we would be joined together and produce a family. And when a young woman loves that young man, she prepares herself. Well, the bride is prepared itself to meet Jesus, the husband. How then should I live? What kind of life ought I to be living right now, guys? Denying ungodliness, denying the things that would be sickening to him and sadden him and embracing the things that would make me ready for him, that's how it works. So I don't wanna forsake the assembling of myself with other believers. I wanna provoke you and provoke my friends and be provoked by my friends to love and good works because the day is approaching. And so we watch, we pray, and we wait, but we wait together in unity as the body of Christ.