 Good morning, Calvary Chapel of the Chino Valley. It is great to be with you again today and coming with great expectation and anticipation for what God would want to do in our lives today. Where the word of God declares that the word will not return void and will accomplish the work that it was sent out to accomplish. So I know that the word of God is alive and has the power to change our lives. Aren't you thankful that God doesn't save you to leave you the way that you are but to save you to make you into the person he's created you to be? And so if you have your Bibles, would you turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10? Hebrews chapter 10 and I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to share with you once again. I love this church and I have to just say I love you guys. You guys are so special and in my own heart and this church and I love most of all of you. I love your pastor. Pastor David and Marie have such a special place in my wife's hearts and we've looked to for so long and we're discipled by for so long long before we ever even knew them. Watching what God was doing through them as they would lead this church and to learn from them and to glean from them from watching the far off. Listening to a sure foundation radio and listening to the teachings growing up my entire life and so it really is an honor and a privilege to be here with you guys today that I don't take for granted or lightly and I'm just so thankful for the 40 years of ministry that Pastor David and Marie have had leading in the Chino Valley and we're so thankful for them and looking forward to what God's gonna continue to do through them but today I wanna share with you from Hebrews chapter 10. I hope you're ready to receive what God wants to give to you today and if you're physically able would you stand to your feet giving reverence and respect and honor to God's word as we read God's word together. It's Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24. It says and 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 more as you see the day approaching. I wanna talk to you today a little bit about why it's important for us to go to church and if it's so important for us to go to church then how we should come to church and so I wanna share a message with you that I'm entitling the greatest get together and you may be seated and let's pray and ask God to bless this time that we have to study his word together. Lord thank you so much for your word. Lord that guides us and directs us. Thank you for your spirit that reveals the troops from your word. And Lord we ask that once again today that you would prepare our hearts to receive what you would wanna speak to us today. We're so thankful God that we have this place that we can come to and not be a part of a pep rally but be a part of a Bible study that we can truly learn your word and learn who it is that you are and in light of that who it is that you would have us to be. And so God we pray that you reveal yourself from the pages of your word to us. God we wanna hear from you and that's why we are here. So speak to us now we pray in Jesus name. Amen. There is no other place I'd rather be on this side of eternity than to be in God's presence with God's people like we're doing presently. It's great to be at church. And I think we saw how much we needed church through the previous year when we were able to meet together as a church and coming out of last year realizing how important it is for us to be in church. It's great to be at church but it's not always easy getting to church. With a show of hands how many of you have ever had a hard time getting to church on a Sunday? Great everybody. For all of us we've all come to a point in our lives where there's been a Sunday or two or many where it seems like all hell quite literally breaks loose to stop us from getting together and gathering together to worship God and to study his words. It can appear that it would be easier to orchestrate the storming of the beaches of Normandy than it would be to gather your family get them in the car and get to church on time. And for me with young children we've experienced that a lot as of recent. Throughout the years of our kids they're a little bit older now but I mean for us on a weekly my wife and I, Morgan and I we have this joke where we say to each other when all hell breaks loose and spiritual warfare starts to take place we say it must be Sunday. And if it's not happening on a Sunday which is rare it seems as it only ever happens on Sunday mornings. But if it happens on another day we would say something like I can't believe this is happening it's not even Sunday. Because there are forces at work through the enemy wanting to keep you away from the place where you will be built up and encouraged and established in your faith. And if you have young children then you know this to be true how hard it is to get your family out the door. And so you try to get up early to get yourself ready for church and if you're a mom you get up extra early to get yourself ready so that when your kids wake up you can get them ready. I mean if you're single right now you don't know what I'm talking about you just get up and get yourself ready like you wanna go to church I'm gonna go to church. But when you're a parent you have to get yourself ready just so that you can be ready in time by like seven a.m. so that you can get your kids ready which is an entirely different thing and now having to get your kids ready for us on our Sunday morning it's usually like okay we gotta go to church now it's time to leave let's go get in the car. Where's your shoe? I put both your shoes on I double knotted them where is your other shoe? I don't know where my shoe is what do you mean you don't know what you need to go find your shoe where are your clothes? I'm not wearing those clothes to church yes you are your mom put those clothes on you you're wearing those clothes to church that's my daughter no I don't like that outfit I wanna wear something different no you need to okay that's fine fine just go get yourself dressed we gotta go to church at the same time oh the dog the dog breaks into the pantry eating all the food with my youngest son who's four we walked into the kitchen my son is sitting there with the jar of cookies open the cookies all over the floor as soon as I walk into the kitchen both my son and the dog look up at me look at each other and then start eating as fast as they can shoving cookies in their face and you see every Sunday morning it seems like everything that could go wrong does go wrong and then loading the car I went out to load the car on Sunday morning I walked out to load the car and my car was gone so I went into the house and said Morgan did you move my car somewhere she goes no she walks out we both walk out and realize my car had been stolen on a Sunday morning so I grabbed my phone I called 911 and I'm like babe I'm just gonna have to take your car and go you'll have to stay to help fill out the police report I'm talking to 911 I need to report a stolen vehicle and then I remembered I have an app on my phone that can track my car they're gonna get it so I pull up the app and I'm tracking exactly where the car is at and I tell the police I said you better meet me here quick because I'm going there and when you tell them you're going there they get there even faster so I'm like I'm going there I'm gonna go bust these guys if I need backup so if you wanna roll in that's fine but I'm going now and so they're like well sir please I'm zooming in to find out exactly where it's at and right when I zoom in I realize it's at the baseball field that I left my car at the day before at my son's baseball game I left the game I got in the car with my wife and we drove home and never realized I left my car there yesterday and I said you know what never mind they're like what do you mean never mind are you gonna go I said yeah I'm gonna go get my car but it wasn't stolen I just left it somewhere yesterday they said okay sir thank you it's Sunday and every Sunday there's always something to keep us whether it's the busyness of life or the responsibilities at home or the extra projects that we have to get done or just the spiritual warfare that breaks out to keep us away I say all hell breaks loose on Sunday and I mean that quite literally because the enemy and forces are at work to try to keep us away from getting together from gathering together as a church to worship and to study God's word and that's why God through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to the author of Hebrews would encourage the church of that day with the same message that we need to be encouraged with today chapter 10 verse 24 and 25 it says let us consider one another that's the motive to what is about to be shared with consideration for others and that's what the Christian life is meant to be Jesus said if any man wants to come after me if any person desires to follow me let him deny himself self-denial and self-sacrifice and follow after me the Christian life is one that's not focused on self but on others before self and the motive to what we're about to be told is in consideration for other people in considering one another in order to stir up love and good works not forsaking the assemblies of ourselves together as is the manner of some but exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching the day it's a capital D it's a specific day it's talking about the day of the Lord where the Lord will return for his church and take us home with what's going on in our country today and across the world in society I can say emphatically that we are nearing and getting closer than ever before to that day with what's taking place and transpiring that things are escalating so quickly and set up into place culturally where you can see that society is ready and willing to receive what the Bible says will take place in the end times and if that be true as we see the day approaching more rapidly than ever before how important it is for us to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together I love how the new living translation captures this verse listen to this Hebrews 10 24 says let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works and let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do but encourage one another especially now that the day of his return is drawing near even in the early church there was a tendency for people to pull away from the gathering together of the saints the assembling together in that day well if you went to church or you gathered together to worship in Bible study well you could be arrested thrown in prison tortured fed to lions in the Colosseum dipped in wax and lit as a candle in Nero's garden and be burnt to death just to name a few of the things that they would do to you if they found out you were a Christian you could say that it was very deadly to go to church in that time it might be dangerous to their health to go to church but Paul would say if a man gains the world and loses his soul what is it profit a man we don't live for what's best for us physically we live for what's best for us spiritually but it's interesting as it relates to physical health several scientific studies following over 150,000 people over a 16 year span of time found that it's also incredibly healthy for people to go to church all things like lower blood pressure better sleep quality and as far as health goes it actually causes someone to be healthier physically but as it relates to our health we don't make decisions what God calls us to do based upon that we make decisions on what is right before God and what God calls us to do there would be people that would be forsaking the assembly of themselves together but the warning or the exhortation and the encouragement is not to for two reasons I want to share with you today if a Christian begins to forsake the assembly of themselves together two things will happen in our lives there will be number one write this down decreased productivity decreased productivity what will be produced from our lives the fruit that will be produced from our lives will be greatly reduced and we will no longer be producing the fruit we ought to be in our lives for example Jesus when he was walking to Jerusalem it says that he was hungry and so he saw a fig tree that had leaves a far off and so he walked to that fig tree to get figs from the fig tree but on closer inspection Jesus found that this fig tree had no figs it was producing no fruits and so Jesus cursed that fig tree and that fig tree withered up from the roots and died now Jesus didn't curse the fig tree because he was hangry you know hangry it's like what you get when you are hungry you get angry Jesus wasn't hangry that's why he cursed it no Jesus cursed it we know from Matthew chapter 21 tells us why this tree was unproductive and why it was cursed because in verse 19 of Matthew 21 it says Jesus seen a lone fig tree by the road Jesus saw that this fig tree was alone you see fig trees cannot produce fruit in isolation but a fig tree has to be in association with other fig trees in order to bear fruit because of something that's called cross pollination and in order for a fig tree to bear fruit it has to be cross pollinated to be surrounded with other fig trees and the more fig trees it's surrounded by the more fruit it's going to produce uses this story as an illustration to the believer who find themselves in isolation with no association with other believers and it's a powerful picture to show us that if we find ourselves in isolation no longer in association with other believers no longer surrounded by our brothers and sisters in Christ it's going to cause us to no longer have any fruit, spiritual fruit in our life the fruit of the spirit is love and joy and peace patience, kindness gentleness, faithfulness self control and those things will go missing in our lives the evidence is of God living within us that's what the fruit is the fruit of the spirit the evidence is of God within us will no longer be seen because there's no cross pollination you see as believers come together for the purpose of meeting with Jesus we call it at the feet of the cross in communion and in bible study there is something that takes place where what Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 says that we are stirred up in love and in good works that's the evidences of our faith james says faith without works is dead and so when we come together we are cross pollinated if you will that when we gather together and surround ourselves with other believers that we have come together at the cross there is more fruit produced from our lives but if we pull away our lives will no longer be producing what it should be Jesus cursed that tree because it was by itself knowing that it would never produce fruit because of where it was planted that's why it's so important to be planted and put your roots down in a community of believers in a church that actually teaches the bible that's why I love this church so much because no matter what study you come to no matter what day it is you know that you are going to be taught the bible God's holy word and so if you pull away there is going to be a decreased productivity number two the second thing a Christian will experience they forsake the assembly of themselves together there is not only decreased productivity but you will experience number two increased instability Asaph who was an Old Testament Psalmist he wrote in Psalm 73 verse 2 he says as for me I almost lost my footing my feet were slipping and I was almost gone for I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness now what Asaph is recounting is the time in his life where he was what we would call in today backsliding he had no foundation to stand upon his feet were slipping the reason why he had a hard time with looking at people who were wicked people and see them prosper you ever wonder why that happens like lord they are over there cheating in their company they are underhanded business dealers and they seem like they are blessed they are growing financially and God here I am in my business trying to honor you trying to do the right thing and here I am struggling God why are they blessed and I am not and Asaph was dealing with that question and it says in verse 16 Asaph says so I tried to understand why the wicked prosper what a difficult task it is and try to understand there are things that I just don't understand why this is happening I don't understand how this could happen but then in verse 17 he says then I went into your sanctuary oh God and I finally understood when you come into church your perspective is refocused Asaph was sliding unstable hurting until he came into the sanctuary until he gathered in the congregation and then when he was there it was then his perspective was clear again he goes on to say in verse 21 I realized that my heart was bitter and that I was all torn up inside I realized the problem was within myself I was so foolish and ignorant I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you verse 24 he says you guide me with your counsel leading me to a glorious destiny my health may fail verse 26 and my spirit may grow weak but God remains the strength of my heart he is mine forever when I come into the sanctuary when I gather congregationally my perspective was changed and things that I didn't understand I then understood in a clear perspective but before he did he was unstable on sinking sand shifty ground but it wasn't until he came in where he was solidified on that solid foundation once again if we find ourselves like ASAF if we find ourselves like these that Hebrews talks about forsaking the assembly of ourselves together we'll find in our lives decreased productivity and increased instability now I have to say going to church it doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to in and out makes you a double double although you are what you eat but not to that extent but in my life personally I have never once in the 17 years of pastoral ministry in my entire life never once have seen any person excel in their relationship with God year after year after year after year apart from being connected in roots down in the local church I've never once seen someone come back saying you know what I stopped going to church five years ago and I'm doing better in my relationship with God than I ever have I've never once seen it but I will tell you what I've seen over and over and over again I've seen people say you know what I'm not going to go to church every week I'm not going to go home I got this project get a jump start on my work week I got this honey do list you know the honey do list it's what your wife gives you honey do this and honey do that honey do that and so I got to get the stuff done and so you know what I got some other things to do so I'm not going to make it quite consistently and then every other week it comes to a point where I've sat across the table from many people that said I don't know how I got here and I have to tell them what I do because you pulled away from what God's word told you to be a part of and years go by and you find yourself completely in a different place in a place that you never thought you would ever be because you simply didn't do what God's word said for you to do it's so important to be a part of the church it is the greatest get together because when we gather together we will see an increased stability and an increased productivity in our lives we'll see fruit being produced and so many good things coming from our lives so going to church is so important and so you might say well if going to church is so important then nothing's going to stop me from going to church well listen beware if the enemy can't keep you from this place he will do everything in his power to keep you from being able to receive in this place where all sorts of spiritual warfare takes place so that by the time you get to church you're not in the attitude or in the right heart and mind to receive what God wants to speak to you oh you've had it happen before you get in the car you're driving to church and it's amazing the kids had both their shoes on and they stayed dressed it's a miracle and there was no pancake mix poured out on anybody and the dog didn't do anything wrong and it's a great morning and you're driving to church and all of a sudden you look out of your mirror and you see there's someone tailing you kind of swerving back and forth trying to get your attention you're going plenty fast on the freeway to get to church because you're probably a little bit late so you're driving pretty fast maybe an ungodly speed and this guy is still tailing you and so you feel the blood pressure start to rise your face to get a little flushed the anger and the knuckles gripping the wheel like this guy doesn't get off of me I'm gonna break chuck him so he's swerving you for a little bit and as you're getting angry inside he finally swerves around you guns at past you honks his horn at you and gives you the universal sign that he doesn't think you're a good driver and it's not the one way sign just let me tell you and so he honks at you you honk back at him and then your wife the next he goes what's your problem why are you acting this way my problem is his problem my problem you know if you could just get ready for church on time and maybe get your makeup done a little earlier we wouldn't always be so late oh no you didn't and then the emotion starts to come up and then anger starts to rise and you're now pulling into the church parking lot and there's this very well dressed friendly smile on his face man standing in the parking lot waving at you welcome to church and you're about to kill somebody and you pull in and you see him oh hey bro God bless you too we are not done talking about this get out of the car you're still upset about it talking about it underneath your breath you walk into church there's some more nice people to like you feel welcome coming into Calvary Chapel Gino Valley you know what I'm sick and tired hey brother so great oh God bless you too it's great to be in church yeah we laugh because well it's happened to all of us where the enemy will do whatever he can and so then you sit in church and all you're thinking about the entire time you're in church is what you're gonna say as soon as you get out of church and into the car and we miss out on what God wanted to do within our own lives because we didn't come with an attitude ready to receive what God wanted to speak to us today why does the enemy want to keep you from church and if he can't keep you from church keep you in an attitude to receive at church because if you are a born again believing Christian then the enemy knows he's lost control of your soul and so the enemy wants to neutralize you and do whatever he can at this point in your life to keep you from impacting other people's lives okay you might be going to heaven but I'm gonna keep you from impacting anybody else's lives to get them there too and to do that the enemy wants to keep you from the very place that the enemy knows will cause you to grow to be strengthened to be established in a place where you can encourage others to do the same and that's why it's so important that we be a people that consistently, regularly assemble together do you know if you're a part of Calvary Chapel of the Chino Valley you will spend between 150 to 550 hours in church every year the average person spends about 300 hours a year in church and if we're putting such a huge investment of time into going to church every year with our lives then we should make sure that how we go to church is the way we should go to church why we should go to church well it's important because if I don't there's gonna be an increase in instability decrease in productivity so then Pastor Brennan how do I go to church well the Bible talks a lot about how we ought to come to church I want to give you a couple things first and foremost number one how we ought to come to church with an attitude of expectation James chapter 1 verse 6 teaches that when you ask you must believe and not doubt because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind that person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord when we come into the presence of the Lord we ought to come with an attitude of expectation expecting God to show up expecting God to speak for his word does not return void and God promises where two or more are gathered for the purpose of meeting with him he will be with them the Bible declares that Jesus inhabits the praises of his people and that when we worship Jesus actually comes into our midst and joins in with that worship I'm so thankful that this is a church that Jesus goes to you know some churches you wonder I don't know Jesus would even go to that church but aren't you thankful church that you go to a church that Jesus would love going to that Jesus promises to meet you at every single week and so we ought to come with an attitude of expectation because if you don't think you're going to get anything let me tell you you're not if we have the attitude where we say oh you know I've I've studied that before I've heard that before what does this pastor have to teach me I don't think you can get anything out of this let me tell you you won't you won't get anything sitting back thinking you won't you won't but if we come with expectation saying God I know that you're here God I know that you want to minister to me God I know that you want to speak to me God I know that you want to give me today what I need to receive this day to get me through this week God I'm ready to receive from you we will be the ones that will receive what God wants to speak Habakkuk chapter 2 we see Habakkuk go to the watchtower and he says in Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 1 there I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint Habakkuk was going through some difficulties and said I need to hear from the Lord I need to get a word from the Lord and so he says I'm going to go in the very next verse it says that God shows up and tells Habakkuk to write these things down but how could Habakkuk write those things down unless he came prepared and expectant that God was going to speak to him Habakkuk came with parchment and pen in hand believing that the Lord was going to show up and when he spoke I want to make sure I write that down I want to hold onto that we ought to come in such a way that we will speak that that will be the person that will be receiving from God an attitude of expectation number 2 we need to come with initiative of preparation we need to take the initiative of preparation Matthew 11 verse 11 Jesus referred to John the Baptist as the greatest man who had ever lived Jesus said I tell you the truth of all who have ever lived none is greater than John the Baptist why was John the Baptist considered the greatest man out of everyone throughout the Bible throughout history who ever lived because John the Baptist had a very special ministry J the B his job was preparing the way for the Messiah he would often say I come to prepare the way that was his message he was paving the pathway for the Messiah to walk in and he understood that he was preparing people's hearts to receive Jesus it's so important that we prepare our own hearts and our own lives for what Jesus would want to do in our lives how does that look practically well with preparation you know what passage of Scripture you know the chapter of the verse Wednesday night Bible studies Sunday morning messages you know where you're going to be read it ahead of time study it ahead of time come ready to study God's word to learn God's word to grow in God's word come excited because you're prepared also before you even leave the driveway grab your spouse's hands or if you have kids grab your kids hands and say before we even pull out of the house let's pray and let's prepare our hearts for what God would want to do today then you're prepared for what might ever come your way you're prepared for when that guy starts tailing you and you go oh must be Sunday and when he flies around you and honks at you you're able to say hey one way brother you're able to say hey that's not going to affect me nice try Satan you're not going to steal the joy that God has put in my heart today I'm going to church because I'm prepared for what might ever come my way I'm ready you're prepared it's the initiative of preparation you've prepared your heart for what God would want to speak to you and then when you come to church you come with pen and paper and hand because you're prepared and expectant you're ready to receive an attitude of expectation preparation and third and finally an action of participation Jesus tells us that when we gather together that he is in our midst Matthew 18 24 where two or three are gathered together in my name I am in the midst of them Jesus is here and when you come to church you are actually coming into the presence of God and a wise person a wise man a wise woman when they come into God's presence a wise person will come bearing gifts just like those wise men did in the east when they traveled to visit and come into God's presence in a place called Bethlehem when Jesus was the babe of Bethlehem that very first Christmas why were they wise men well they came bearing gifts listen God has given each of you spiritual gifts for the purpose of encouraging and uplifting one another to build each other up to share with people and when you share those gifts with others you're actually sharing those gifts with Jesus how's that it's Matthew 25 verse 40 assuredly I say to you in as much as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren you did it to me before service even begins ask God who is it here that I can minister to who is it here God that I can pray for who is it here that I can encourage maybe there's someone here today that thinks you know what I'm not gonna come back I'm giving up on God I'm giving up on life and maybe there's someone here today that would be sitting right next to you that God would prompt in your heart to say hey you know what I'm really happy that you're here maybe exercising a spiritual gift of encouragement whatever it might be in your life but when you do that to people you do it for the Lord God who is it here that I can serve it's taking the action of participation that this year a study came out on why people leave church that is forsaking the assembly of themselves together as is the manner of some the research was eye-opening it found that people who leave churches exclusively have an entitlement mentality not the serving mentality people that leave churches exclusively are people who look at church as what can I get from this church what can this church give to me but people who stay in church have the attitude of what can I give to this ministry it's interesting because when when someone goes to church what I can get out of it what can I get, what can I get will there always come a point in your life when the church will fail you because the church is led by imperfect people but God will never fail you God will always be there for you and God is the only one that can fulfill you and so we often look to the church to be our God and the church is never meant to be our God God is meant to be our God and when we realize that God is all that we need well then the church becomes so much more satisfied and fulfilling because I'm already fully filled in my relationship with the Lord and everything in addition to that is the icing on the cake you know people say well you know I just think I'm not going to go to that church anymore I'm not really being fed people say let me just tell you this even if you have the most luxurious five course spiritual meal from the pulpit on Sunday morning and that's all you ever take in you're going to be spiritually malnourished just like if you only eat one day a week you're going to die eventually I don't care how big that meal is I don't care how full you fill on Sunday night because you ate your heart out because you had a steak and you had potatoes and everything else but if you only eat once a week you're going to die and so too we need to consume God's word throughout the week that's why it's so important to be in God's word daily devotionally that's why it's so great to have a church like this that has something going on almost every single day of the week and Bible study midweek Wednesday nights gathering together because you know what once is just not enough I need a double dip this week I want to get more I want to receive more I want to grow more that our hearts would burn for the Lord that our prayer ought to be Lord help me to hunger for you Lord give me an insatiable hunger for your word that no matter how much I take in I can't ever get enough because if we don't we'll find ourselves like people do well that church has nothing left to give me that other church over there I like that they do this and then we go to that church over there and then eventually that church doesn't meet that need because well now I'm in a different situation they're not meeting that need and so now I'm going to go over to this church over here and we'll find ourselves perpetually going from one church to another to another to another to another back to the same one to another to another to another hopping around because we never put our roots down because we're always looking what I can get instead of the purpose of the church what I can give Ephesians chapter 3 says that the church, the ecclesia that is the assembling of the saints together and people say well I can do church on my own I just going to do church in my room I'll just do church by myself do you know the word church is ecclesia which means the assembling of the saints together now the church as the body of Christ yeah that's all over the world that's separated and that's different you're part of the church, the body of Christ but you are not a part of the church ecclesia because you aren't assembling yourselves together and then you separate from that and all sorts of difficulty and problems comes around in your life needlessly because you never put your roots down and had the others mentality let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some but so much more as we see the day approaching we need to participate how do we participate well we can participate in worship limitations 341 says let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens we can participate in singing oh come let us sing to the Lord let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation Psalms 95 verse 1 come before his presence with singing Psalms 100 verse 2 we can participate in clapping our hands oh clap your hands all you people shout unto God with the voice of triumph Psalms 47 verse 1 we can participate by lifting our hands in worship lift up your hands in the sanctuary the Lord Psalms 134 verse 2 do you know when we worship the Lord the word worship means worship it means giving God worth when we come to participate in worship it's giving God worth and a lot of times people have a problem with worship because oh well I didn't really like that they didn't play my favorite song I need my song they didn't play my song that really gets me going you're so blessed at this church to have some of the best worship of any church led into the throne room every single service but even if you had the worst isn't God's worth still enough for us to respond in worship like God if there's no music if there's just a bunch of people singing God you are worth it enough for me to give worship to you let me just say this when we come to church what's it saying to God when we come to give God worth and I know the difficulties of getting to church on time but what's it saying to God when we hang out in the lobby and talking when worship is happening I think it's so special when we are in the sanctuary and we are ready from the time that the first court is played or the first word is sung that we're ready to give God worth to say God you are worth it God I want to give you worth God I want to give you worship I don't ever want to have the attitude oh it's just the worship plane but God I want to be there not only what I can get from being fed but God I want to give to you not only other people because you are worthy of our praise and lifting hands you might say well pastor lift the hands I know that's not my thing you know we don't do that here I'm kind of a macho guy lift hands in church yeah but the same macho guys that won't lift their hands in church will go to a football game take off their shirt with the muffin top paint their bodies stick their tongues out of their face and go on national TV you'll do that for men running around in white tights but you won't lift your hands for God when nothing stopped God from lifting his hands on the cross for you lifting our hands in worship is just the universal sign of surrender anywhere in the world you go to and someone puts a gun in your back hands go up or depend on who you are you might put the gun in someone's back I don't know no judgment here but hands go up because it's a sign of surrender and so too we lift our hands to the Lord and surrendering all to him because he is worthy of it we participate in prayer there's so many amazing things to participate in prayer in before service there's men of prayer 7 a.m. every Sunday morning men not only that but during service to pray everything in that God is speaking to you here's a key to get more out of Bible study pray it in every word that spoke in God what would you want me to do with this God how would this impact my life God what would you want to do in my situation through what's being shared how can this change my life and when you pray it in you'll receive it in a greater way and if you still feel like you're not receiving anything well then pray for me so I'll do better pray for your pastors who are speaking pray for them while they're preaching to you and I guarantee you'll have a greater heart to gain so much more out of Bible study so pray before service pray during service pray after service there's one on one prayer the leaders of the church gather in front of the stage every single service to pray for you you know Paul the apostle he took every opportunity to ask for prayer whenever he would write a letter to a church he would always stop somewhere in the letter you can start looking for it and say I pray for you but also please pray for me here's what I'm going through because he understood the power of prayer I think if we understood the power of prayer in a greater way nothing would stop us from getting prayer so participate in prayer there I was so blessed I went on Calvary Chino Valley's website to see the things that were going on for prayer there's almost something every single day for prayer do you know right now there's people in a room men gathered in a room who are praying for you and praying for me in intercessory prayer during every single service that takes place here at Calvary Chapel with the Chino Valley how amazing is that there's only that but there's women's intercessory prayer Monday mornings at 9 there's compassion ministry prayer every Thursday mornings at 10 there's night of prayer the last Friday of every single month not only that there's prayer cards that you can be prayed throughout the week there's the prayer wall in the hallway in the foyer in the back where there's an amazing prayer wall where you can write your prayer request and stick them in the wall and pray for them and every person who walks by can also pray for that prayer request because that is exactly what it is that is so cool that is so awesome because prayer is so powerful and we ought to participate in prayer I'm out of time but there's so many other things that we need to participate in we need to participate in serving Acts chapter 3 when Peter and John were on their way to the temple for afternoon worship there was a lame man at the gate called beautiful and they took time to minister to the individual when they were on their way to minister to the masses and we can never be too busy where we forget to minister to serve with our lives after all this is called church service not church sitting if we said if you're gonna are you gonna go to church sitting today that's all you'd be expected to do but this is a place to serve for the equipping of the saints for the ministry Ephesians chapter 3 says that's the purpose of church you think of the minister as the one that does the ministry but not so the bible says Ephesians chapter 3 that the purpose of church is to be equipped with the necessary tools to go out and to do ministry to go minister to go serve people with your lives to participate in giving Matthew 6 21 says for where your treasure is there your heart will be also giving our ties and our offerings to make a difference eternally will cause our hearts to long war for eternity will become more kingdom minded and kingdom hearted when we give towards the kingdom and you'll find yourself having more of a heart for the house simply because you give towards it in a way that God would call you to participate in bible study participate in the invitation pray for those who don't know Jesus every time an invitation is given like josh was he was doing the battle against the amalekites who is the type of the enemy moses went to the hill to pray as long as moses' hands were lifted and his prayers were offered the battle was won there's so many amazing things that we can participate in why go to church because it's so important for the spiritual life how to go to church will go to church with an attitude of expectation with the initiative of preparation and an action of participation and this for you will become the greatest get together you've ever been a part of church won't just be church but church will be something that you'll find that you can't live without because practically speaking spiritually we can't Jesus established the church on the confession that Jesus Christ is the messiah he said on that confession I will build my church and the Lord has been building it ever since let's go to church in a way that we've never gone to church before in an attitude to give to serve to participate and worship in prayer let's be the church and let's see what God will do amen