Worship Together

You know, I have had a lot of conversations with people over my 33 years in pastoral ministry, and I'm sure it comes as no surprise to you that many of those conversations are exactly the same year after year. Sometimes I hear the same story just told from a different person's specific circumstance. You can imagine after a bunch of years in ministry that that would be the case. But, you know, one of the stories that I've heard more times than I can count, it's this one. It's the story of someone who was vitally connected to the body of believers in our church, and then weren't for a significant period of time, and life did not get better for them. It got worse. Now they didn't think that it got worse initially. For a long time they didn't think it got worse. They disconnected a bit from the church, and they thought that they had more freedom, or that they got more rest or so they thought, or that they had more time with their family or so they thought. But in a moment of clarity, in a moment of realizing how superficial and temporary it was to just chase everything for themselves and their own desires, when they had a moment of realizing that their soul felt hollowed out and felt empty, they realized that they wanted to come back, and they wanted to be among the church. I've heard that story a lot of times. And, by the way, I commend those of you who've walked this journey and who have made it back to the local body of believers. I applaud you. I'm grateful for that. But at the same time, I also want to use your stories as a cautionary tale for all of us, because in the New Testament there's not really a category for something that we term now: an unchurched Christian. There's really not a category for that in the New Testament. We've had to make that language up as a concession and as a modern category. But that's not the overarching testimony of the church of the New Testament. In fact, so much so that the writer of the book of Hebrews where we're going to be looking and studying today, we'll be in Hebrews 10 in just a moment. That's kind of toward the back end of your New Testament if you're new to the Bible. So much so that the writer of the book of Hebrews who was speaking to his audience, which were kind of struggling Hebrew Christians, that's why they called it Hebrews, because these were struggling Hebrew Christians who were mostly in Rome but actually scattered in a bunch of different places. This writer believed that they needed to be together, so much so for worship that even in the midst of persecution he wrote to them and said, "You better not stop doing this." In fact, here's what he wrote in Hebrews chapter 10 beginning in verse 24, he says, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on "toward love and good deeds, "not giving up meeting together." Some of your translations say, "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together." "As some are maybe in the habit of doing, "but encouraging one another, "and all the more as you see the day approaching." So we know that persecution was happening in the early church, and we know it in the book of Hebrews because the author of the book of Hebrews actually talked about the idea of persecution even in chapter 10. Just a few verses later here's what it says. It says, "Remember those earlier days "after you'd received the light "when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering, "sometimes you were publicly "exposed to insult and persecution. "At other times you stood side by side "with those who are so treated." In other words, the writer is saying, "Hey, I know that you've experienced persecution, "but what I'm writing to you to say is "I don't want you to give up meeting together "even in the midst of your persecution." So if the early Christians were told not to give up meeting together for worship, even when they were faced with persecution, let me ask this question. How well do you think our excuses for being more absent than present in the worship gathering are going to go over? Do you think that those are going to hold up? And no I'm not exaggerating about being more absent than present because that's actually based on research that's happened in the North American church. The Rainer Research Group said that the fastest growing segment of church attenders are the once-a-monthers. That's the fastest growing segment of church attenders: once-a-monthers. Now if persecution was causing some of those believers in the early church to maybe reconsider whether or not they should gather together with the body of Christ and worship together, and yet the writer of Hebrews said, "Even in the midst of persecution, "don't give up assembling together. "Don't give up worshiping together." If that was the case for them, what's the case for us? What exactly is the holdup for us not worshiping together? Because I know it's not persecution. Persecution is not the reason that we are not gathering together. Nobody here is facing persecution for showing up today and being a part of the assembly in worship. And so what is it? It could be infirmity for some people, right? They're difficult, their mobility's limited, and they watch us online, and thank God. If you're watching in that regard, I'm glad. That's wonderful. Stay as connected as you can in that regard, because maybe you're just not able to get out. And I understand that. And maybe some would say, "Well, you know, I've experienced some church hurt "in my past, and as a result of some church hurt, "I'm not really connected with church." Stop it. I'm not saying church hurt isn't real. It is. Some people have been in spiritually abusive church environments, and they've been hurt. Now by the way, when we talk about church hurt, we only talk about people in the church. We don't ever talk about pastors who experience church hurt, because they do all the time, and we still show up. But I mean, let's be honest, right? That's not going to be an excuse that's going to hold up for the writer of Hebrews. I mean, you go out to a restaurant, and you have a bad meal, you don't stop eating. You just go to another restaurant, right? So that's not going to hold up. Some people maybe are trying to navigate a new work schedule and as a result they haven't gotten a hold of it yet and all that stuff. I get it. There's a number of things. But I would venture to guess, that for the majority of people that don't attend regularly, they do some, maybe they're once-a-monthers, or maybe they're whatever, you know, they do some, but I would assume it's for one of the following three reasons. Here's the first one. Because they think that they can engage in a self-directed spirituality. Let me explain what I'm talking about here. We have an overwhelming amount of technology that's on demand available for us all the time. We can listen to a message anytime we want to, wherever we want to. We can listen to Christian podcasts whenever we want to wherever we are. We can curate our music and listen to just the things that we want to listen to whenever we want to and wherever we are. And basically in our minds we can start to think, "Well, listen, I can on demand everything for myself, "so why do I really need to show up among "the people of God in corporate worship?" Let me tell you what's going on in your head. What you are wanting is a life that is free from spiritual accountability and a life that is left to yourself to somehow self-form. And I want to tell you something. It's a really bad idea. And the reason it's a bad idea is not just because I've said it's a bad idea, even though I did just say it's a bad idea, but there's been plenty of people before me who've said it. In fact, one of the early church fathers whose name was Basil, not the stuff you put on pizza, but the Basil from Caesarea. He ended up being the Bishop of Caesarea. Listen to this, he was a monk, and he said this was a bad idea, like self-directed spirituality, just you and, "You know, it's me and Jesus, "and I've just got my stuff and I can just do that." He said it was a bad idea. He wrote something called The Long Rules, The Longer Rules, and The Short Rules. So a lot of rules. But those rules were about how to live in a monastic life. And listen to what Basil wrote. This was about 370 or so AD. Early church father, he said, "So it is in the case of the solitary life, "what is of use to us and what is wanting," or what we need, "We cannot provide for ourselves. "For God who created the world "has so ordered all things "that we are dependent upon each other as it is written "that we may join ourselves to one another. "But in addition to this, "reverence to the love of Christ "does not permit each one to have regard "only to his own affairs. "For love, he says, seeks not her own. "The solitary life has only one goal. "The service of its own interests. "That clearly is opposed to the law of love, "which the apostle fulfilled when he did not "in his eyes seek his own advantage "but the advantage of many, that they might be saved. "Further, no one in solitude recognizes his own defects "since he has no one to correct him, "and in gentleness and mercy, "direct him on his way." Strong words from Basil of Caesarea. Self-directed spirituality is one of the reasons sometimes people don't choose to worship together. Let me give you a second reason. Spiritual laziness. Now listen, I'm not trying to be harsh here. I'm not even trying to guilt you. I'm just representing what the writer of Hebrews said earlier in the book of Hebrews, because that's where he's talking about this gathering together and worshiping together. Earlier in the book of Hebrews 6:12, he says, "We don't want you to become..." What's the word there?

- Lazy.

- Lazy. You see where I'm getting my points? "But to imitate those who through faith "and patience inherit what has been promised." How can you imitate someone you're not around? You can't. You can't imitate somebody that you're not around. Spiritual laziness leads to spiritual immaturity and even spiritual backsliding, and it is the wrong trajectory for your soul. It's why you should be here as opposed to not being here. Let me tell you a third reason though, that we fail to gather for worship. It's misplaced priorities. If I've heard this once, I've heard this a million times. "Pastor Sunday is the only day "for family time in our house." Let me first say that I appreciate the inclination to make an investment of time in your spouse and in your kids. I appreciate that. But here's the question I would ask you. What exactly are you investing in them? Because I mean, let's just get honest. You take your family to a Bills game and you call it family time, but you can't take them to church and call it family time? I'm confused. I'm confused exactly what it is that you're investing in them. Is there a better family time than seeing your family come to know and love Christ? Is there? I don't think there is. And, by the way, when you say family time, what family are you referring to? You're referring to your biological family at the expense of your eternal family. And what better thing is there than your biological family coming to be in the eternal family of God and learning to love the church like Jesus does? Now I'm not sure, by the way, that any of these justifications that people use to not show up in the gathering for worship, I don't think any of them would change the writer of Hebrews' mind. In fact, I know they wouldn't. So why is the gathering of believers for worship so important to the writer of Hebrews and why should it be so important to us? Here's why. Because gathering to worship together encourages us all in the Lord. Gathering to worship together encourages us all in the Lord. I'm going to show you that that's true. This isn't just like a cool little statement I'm showing for the sermon or whatever. Like I'm going to show you that this is true, not only from our text in verses 24 and 25 that we're looking at, but the surrounding text in chapter 10. And in some other portions of the book of Hebrews, I'm going to show it to you. In fact, let's look at, when I say gathering to worship together encourages us all in the Lord, look at those two verses I showed you a minute ago, and, "Let us consider how we may," what? "Spur one another on toward love and good deeds, "not giving up meeting together "as some are in the habit of doing, "but encouraging one another "and all the more as you see the day approaching." You see, embedded in the context of what the writer of Hebrews is saying, is he's saying there is encouragement. There is spurring one another on that happens when we don't give up on meeting together, when we don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Because when we gather for worship, we're encouraged on a number of different fronts. Let me tell you the first one. When we gather for worship, we're encouraged to hold to the hope we profess. We are just encouraged to hold to the hope we profess. I'm not just pulling that out of nowhere. The verse right before verse 24 and 25 is verse 23, and here's what it says. "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess. "For he who promised is faithful." Now listen, there's a few different ways that we can do this. For instance, when we show up as the body of Christ together and we interact with one another, which by the way if you're not, if you're just showing up as a spectator with your, you know, your coffee and your whatever. And by the way, fine if you need coffee. You're addicted, but stop it. Whatever, it's fine. If whatever you're doing there, like you got your little snack and your little coffee like you're at the movies. Like, this is a spectator sport. It's not a spectator sport. You're supposed to be involved in this. This isn't show up, and watch Jerry Byrne. This is you engaging in the body of Christ, you together worshiping the Lord, you encouraging one another, you speaking life into one another. So if you don't even talk to the people around you, you're missing something here. Because when we speak with one another and we talk about how God's Word is coming to bear on our hearts and how the Spirit of God is changing our lives, here's what we're doing. We are showing a living example of holding to the hope that we profess. You know how else we can do that? By getting to know the Hope Giver even more deeply through his Word. Listen, that's why when we gather for worship, we spend time with an open Bible letting God's self revelation form how we view him and how we're filled with hope. And we can see this hope. Hopefully, we can see this hope lived out in the people that are around us, and it helps spur us on, encourage us, to hold to the hope that we profess. We say these things, but do we hold onto those tightly? And hopefully you also see it in the spiritual leaders who are teaching the Word. I'd be remiss if I didn't remind you that the book of Hebrews also says in Hebrews 13:7, "Remember your leaders who spoke the Word of God to you. "Consider the outcome of their way of life "and imitate their faith." You can't do that if you're not around them. It's one thing to listen to a sermon podcast, by the way. There's value in it. I'm not suggesting there's not value in it. There is, because there's value in the Word, right? The Word speaks, but let me tell you what speaks louder. The Word lived out in a life. That's what speaks even louder. It's only when we're in person in a worshiping community that we can see the lives of one another, and we can see the lives of those who preach the Word. And then we can emulate faith of those who are modeling it, as imperfectly as that may be by all of us. This is where leaders and preachers can incarnate their faith. Great messages can be accessed anywhere. In this day and age, you can access great messages anywhere, anytime. By the way, you can just as easily also access really bad messages anywhere, anytime. But the standard for leaders is not just great messages. It's a life of faith and obedience that's doing dead-level best to live what they say they're professing, to hold fast to it. I say to young pastors sometimes when I'm talking with them, "You've got great content but no power." You've learned how to be a communicator, but you haven't lived enough life in Jesus to really demonstrate the power and the life of God in Christ. You see, we don't want our lives, by the way, we put out, you know, little things on Instagram and on Facebook, and we throw this verse out and that verse out, but our lives don't look anything like that. That's not where we need to be. We need to be in a place where our lives are mimicking our messages, and we're helping one another hold to the hope that we profess. That can only be experienced in the gathered worshiping community. It's something that helps us hold to the hope we profess. But let me tell you a second truth here. When we gather for worship, we're not only encouraged to hold to the hope we profess, we're offering God our praise. In fact, in that same chapter of Hebrews 13, here's what the writer says, "Through Jesus, "therefore, let us continually offer to God "a sacrifice of praise, "the fruit of lips that openly profess his name." Listen, do you know why we praise God when we're together? It's a simple reason. He's worthy of it. That's the simplest reason possible. He's worthy of it. No one else is worthy of the praise that we offer to God, of the worship that we give to God. No one else is worthy of that, just him. So when we gather, we give him a sacrifice of praise from our lips because he's worthy. But listen, do you know that even though that is the primary motivation, because God is worthy and we are needy, and so we are just offering up to God our praise and our worship as we sing, as we get around the Word of God, all of those things. But do you know what else happens in that moment? We impact the lives of people that are around us. When we are actively worshiping God, we are impacting the lives of people that are all around us. In fact, when Paul wrote to the Colossians, here's what he said. He said this in Colossians three, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, "since as members of one body you were called to peace. "And be thankful. "Let the message of Christ dwell among you," plural, "dwell among you richly as you teach "and admonish one another with all wisdom "through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, "singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, "do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus." You see, what we don't realize is that we can actually impact others as we offer God our praise through our testimony and through our songs. I can't tell you the amount of times, friends, that I have walked into a worship service on a Sunday morning, spent, emotionally exhausted, heavy hearted, maybe even discouraged in some way, only to walk in here and see my brothers and sisters pouring out their praise to God. And do you know what happens for me? It's like a fresh wind in my life. It's like a shot of encouragement. It's like a faith enhancer to me. Sometimes when I'm sitting, standing, whichever I'm doing, standing down there and we're singing, sometimes I'm singing praises to the Lord, but then I just look around, and I see men and women who are absolutely pouring out their praise before the Lord. And do you know what's happened? I have been instructed by God watching you worship. I've been admonished. I've been challenged. I've been given perspective. I've been taught. It's deep in my belief that God is who he says he is, and that who we're singing about, and that the love of Jesus is as wide, and long, and high, and deep as he promised us. Never underestimate the power of your praise to God on other people. Never underestimate the power of your words of encouragement when you're seated next to somebody or you're running into them in the atrium. Never underestimate the power of your worship on other people. Men, let me say something to you. Every man in this place, look at me. Every man in this place, look at me. Your wives and your children watch you. Let them see a man who loves and worships God. Let them see a man, who not only is unafraid to sing his praises before the Lord, but also a man who's not afraid to open the Word of God, and let God speak to him and to own that, because your family's watching. Ladies, I can tell you this as well. I know some of the stories of some of your lives, and I have watched you in the midst of all kinds of difficulties just give God glory and praise the Lord, and it's challenged my own faith. Don't underestimate the power of worshiping together, not only because of it blessing the Lord, but because of what it can do to everybody else that's around you. When we gather together for worship, we're encouraged not only to hold to the hope we profess and offer God our praise, but also to practice the one-another's. You know what I'm talking about when I say that, right? This is what verse 25 literally says, "Not giving up meeting together "as some are in the habit of doing, "but encouraging one another." And here's an interesting thought. The writer of Hebrews says that when we gather together, part of what we're doing is we're spurring one another on. We're actually encouraging one another. And I've said this before. You can't practice the one-another's of scripture without any others. So living in this idea of isolation just doesn't work. See, scripture itself tells us to love one another, to serve one another, to bear one another's burdens, to forgive one another, to encourage one another, to spur one another on, to help one another fight and confess sin, to honor one another, to be hospitable to one another, to build one another up all of those are in the scripture, They're all admonitions to us, and they cannot be done without any others. They can't be done in isolation. In fact, the reason that isolation is a bad thing is because scripture tells us, not just because Basil from Caesarea told us it was bad, but he probably got it from Proverbs 18:1. Here's what it says. "Whoever isolates himself "or herself seeks their own desire. "He breaks out against all sound judgment." It's just not who we are meant to be. Jesus made his church in a very specific way, dependent on each part if the whole body is supposed to function properly. Let me ask you this question. Are you showing up for the body? Are you doing your part in the body of Christ? If you just show up as a spectator, you're not. It's better than nothing, but it's not what God's design is for you that you just show up, and you listen to some songs, and then you hear a guy speak, and then you just go home. And you don't interact with anybody. You don't run the Word of God around with anybody. You don't do any of that stuff. You're not really practicing the community that John talked to us about a couple of weeks ago. You're not practicing the love that was just talked about last week. Let me tell you a fourth encouragement here. When we gather for worship, we're encouraged to be God's meeting place. Let me see if I can help us to see this, all right? It's in verse number 25, to be God's meeting place. Here's what he says. The writer of Hebrews says, "Don't give up meeting together." Now that's a compound word in Greek. The first part of it us "epi", which means on or upon something like that. That's the word there. And then it's a word that you might recognize "synagogue" in Greek. It's where we get the word synagogue, right? Like when we talk about the Jews who spend time in a synagogue or we see that written. "Epi-synagogue" is the word there for meeting together. What's that actually talking about? Well, it is talking about an actual physical place to gather, but we know that the Apostle Paul also told us that Christ's people who come to the gathering place are also themselves a gathering place. Well, it is talking about an actual physical place to gather. But we know that the Apostle Paul also told us that Christ's people who come to the gathering place are also themselves a gathering place. That we are actually a gathering place. Just in Ephesians chapter two, by the way, when Paul was writing, he actually referred to the church as a bride, a building, a body, and then he uses this framework: a temple. And he's not just talking about us individually. He's talking about us as a group of people. Listen to what Ephesians 2:21-22, "In Jesus, the whole building is joined together "and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. "And in Jesus, you too are being built together "to become a dwelling in which God lives "by his Spirit." Listen to this. When we gather together for worship, we are being built as a dwelling where God resides. It's an awe-inspiring thought to contemplate this idea, because yes, listen on the individual level, God dwells in each of us by his Spirit. If we have been regenerated by Christ, if we have turned from sin and put faith in Jesus, and we've been made new, we've been born from above, then yes, the Spirit of God dwells in us. And that means wherever we go, God goes, because the Spirit of God lives inside of us. That's a beautiful and glorious truth, but there is something unique about the gathered people of God who form a dwelling for the Spirit of God among us. In fact, it's the kind of thing that when an unbeliever or somebody who's just inquiring about the things of God, when they come into the midst of that, something can change for them, even more so than when we connect with people individually. Something can happen in that setting. In fact, Paul referenced that when he wrote to the church at Corinth. Listen to what he said in First Corinthians 14. He said, "If an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in "while everyone is prophesying, "they are convicted of sin "and are brought under judgment by all "as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. "So they will fall down and worship God exclaiming, 'God is really among you!'" Can you imagine that? The people of God gathered together are proclaiming the greatness of God through his Word, through singing about how great God is, through images like the Lord's Supper, through images like baptism, and unbelievers or inquirers come into that mix, and say, "God is really among you." The gathered people as God's dwelling place serves as a powerful witness, but it also serves as a powerful missionary force. And maybe you didn't realize that. We can simply do more together than we can by ourselves. Shockingly, I was watching a baseball game recently. I know stunned everyone into silence. I was watching my son's team play, and I was watching it on livestream. And they were in Davenport, Iowa, and they were playing against the Quad Cities River Bandits, which is one of the farm teams of the Kansas City Royals, okay? It was a nice stadium. I was telling Edie, I was like, "This is a nice stadium that they're playing in." There was like carnival rides outside of left field. I was like, "That's super cool, Davenport, Iowa." And then there was a massive river running behind right field and center field. And I was trying to guess what river that is, because, you know, it's Davenport, Iowa. I assumed only corn. Only corn in that place, right? And I was like that's a big river. It's not a little river, too. It's a big river. And you know what I found out? It was the Mississippi River. Stunned out of my mind. I've been on the Mississippi River in New Orleans. I've been on the Mississippi River. I didn't think it was in Davenport, Iowa, but it was. So, of course, I looked into it a bit, you know. And I was like, that's interesting. And I was super impressed with the size and the scope and the length of the Mississippi River. I learned 92% of our nation's agricultural exports travel on that river to some kind of port. Not that you were looking for that kind of level of information, but here's what caught my eye. Here's what caught my eye. There are more than 250 rivers or streams that flow into the Mississippi River. Think about that 250 smaller rivers run into the Mississippi River because those rivers couldn't possibly do what the mighty Mississippi River does, but when they come together, it makes for a massive river. And, by the way, I didn't even realize the Mississippi River was the second longest river in the United States. And I'm like, "What are you talking about? "This comes like from Mississippi "all the way down there to up past Iowa." I was like, "That's a long river." The Missouri River's longer than the Mississippi. And do you know what I found out about that? The Missouri and the Mississippi River also come together, and they form what now makes up the fourth longest river system on Earth. See, when God's people are together learning God's Word together, praising God together, encouraging one another, we can be a people of one mind and one heart to join God on his redemptive mission in the world. So we're not only a powerful witness when we are together, we're also a powerful missionary force that's being sent out from this place together. Let me give you a last idea here in the text about what we're encouraged to do. When we gather for worship, we're encouraged to look forward to, and I've got it in kind of quotes there, "the Day." We're looking forward to the day. Listen to what verse 25 says again. We've read it a couple of times. "Not giving up meeting together, "as some are in the habit of doing, "but encouraging one another, "and all the more as you see the day approaching." What is the day that's being referenced here? It is the day of the Lord. It is the day when Jesus Christ will return as judge and bringer of new creation. You see, when we gather for worship, friends, we need to do that in light of a coming day, a day when Jesus is going to return as judge of all the Earth, and he is going to return as the one who is worthy of all of our praise. And what we do when we gather to worship together, we are foreshadowing that day. It's almost like we're taking a slight little glimpse behind the curtain, and we're seeing that day unfold. In fact, we can look behind the curtain, because we have a book in our Bible called Revelation that actually lets us into behind that curtain. And in Revelation seven, it says this, "After this I looked, and there before me "was a great multitude that no one could count "from every nation, tribe, people, and language, "standing before the throne and before the Lamb. "And they were wearing white robes "and were holding palm branches in their hands. "And they cried out in a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God 'who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.' "And all the angels were standing around the throne "and around the elders and the four living creatures. "And they fell down on their faces before the throne. "And they worshiped God saying, 'Amen! 'Praise and glory and wisdom 'and thanks and honor and power 'and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen!" This is what we are foreshadowing when we gather together as we worship God. But understand this not only is the Book of Revelation couched in a book that chronicles the judgment of God, but so too the book of Hebrews talks about the judgment of God. So that means that this coming day is a day of accounting. The coming day when Jesus returns as the one who brings new creation, but also who comes as the judge of all the world. So listen, when we gather together, what we're actually doing is helping hold each other accountable to live holy in light of the one who's coming. We're helping each other resist sin and walk in victory. We're helping each other not get discouraged, but to persevere in the Spirit because Jesus is coming. The day is on its way. You see all these truths that we're talking about, about what we're encouraged to do, all these truths remind us that gathering to worship together encourages us all in the Lord. And so I'd be remiss if at the end of a message where I talk about us gathering and worshiping together, if we didn't take an opportunity to worship more together, and we're going to do that Our worship folks are coming out in just a minute, and we're going to sing in a moment with our whole hearts about the wonderful beauty of who Jesus is. But as we're getting ready to do that, I want to say something to you. To all of you who show up for your brothers and sisters in Christ who show up in this body, who serve the Lord faithfully, who encourage each other in the body of Christ, not just by your Sunday attendance, but by the life you're leading, the engagement you have in serving the body of Christ and being involved in community and all those things, I want to say to you, thank you. Truly, thank you. Thanks for showing up for the body. But if that hasn't been you, you've may be ticked a box, and said, "You know what, I show up most Sundays, "or I show up a decent number of Sundays. "And you're like, Jerry, did you really choose to preach "this message on one of the last Sundays of summer "where people are going on vacation "and they're trying to get their time in "before they come back for school "and all that kind of stuff. "And you chose the only rainy day we've had "this month where people decided to stay home "because it's raining or whatever." Because that would be one of the excuses that the writer of Hebrews would say, "You know what? "Persecution, you know, yeah, "you still need to meet together. "But if it's drizzling, "you should stay home, "because you don't have anything like umbrellas." It's just crazy. So if this hasn't been you, it can be. It can be. What you need to do is agree with God that this is what God wants. God wants you to actually be a functioning part of the body that gathers to worship. That when you're missing, we're weaker. We're weaker. It's one less person that we see praising the Lord that might make our faith rise up. It's one less person in the atrium that may have a word of encouragement for us. We're weaker when you're not around. So bring that before the Lord and ask him to empower you to find your place to contribute to the body. Serve, give, pray, encourage, or maybe you don't feel like yet you're a part of the family, not just of The Chapel family, but the family of God. You can be. Jesus' arms are spread wide open, inviting you into a family that only he can bring you into where you can know him because of his death for our sin and because of his resurrection.  That's a powerful name. There's only one name under Heaven by which people can be saved, and that is the name of Jesus Christ. There's only one name that can deliver us from sin. There's only one name that can heal us. There's only one name that can free us from the chains of whatever ******* we've been held in. That's Jesus. And when we come together as his dwelling place and let him work among us and through us and in us and with us, this is the power that he puts on display in his people for the sake of those that are around us. And maybe you're here and you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus. I want you to know that there is a welcome into the family, but it only comes through Jesus. You can only be reconciled to the Father by the Son in the power of the Spirit. This is not your own willpower, not your own ability to do this. The scripture says that, "As many as received Jesus to them, "he gave the right to become children of God "to those who believed on his name." And there'll be men and women that'll be down front when we dismiss in just a moment. And if you're someone who needs to surrender your life to Jesus, to turn from sin and self and put your faith and trust in him, one of these men or women that are down front would love to take a moment and just pray with you by faith to put your trust in Christ. Or maybe you realize that some of the arenas that I talked about here in the Word of God, maybe you're just like, "I'm not living into those things. "I'm not living up to those things." Maybe you just need to come and pray with somebody. Take one of these men or women by the hand and just say, "I need you to pray with me because God is speaking to me "about maybe how I need to be a part of the body of Christ." You know, too often in the body of Christ, people have a parasitic relationship with it. They suck from it, but they contribute nothing. That's not what Jesus has designed his people for. He's designed us all to be people who are contributing to the body of Christ. Yes, there are times when some people are weak, or they are struggling and we need to help carry them along during that season, but they're not intended to stay there forever. They're intended to grow in strength and in faith. And so maybe that's an area you need prayer for. Come and take one of these folks by the hand. Take some time to pray. And some of you may be thinking, "You know what, I needed this message for myself, "but I also know some people who needed it." And you never start with just, "I wish so and so heard this." You always start with, "God, what do you want to say to me?" But maybe there's somebody, and you're like, "Jerry, you preached this on one of the last "Sundays of summer and people are on vacation, "and it's rainy and blah, blah, blah." Share it with them. You've got the technology. Share it with them. Help them in that process. And better yet, sit with them. Talk with them. I don't know what God wants to do, but whatever it is, would you respond, and let him do what he wants to do? Father, I put the lives of your people into your hands. They're yours. They're not mine. They never will be. They're yours, Lord Jesus. Do with them and in them and through them what your great desire is for them. I pray for those who maybe have never put their faith and trust in you that they'd realize there is no more important eternal question than settling that. There's nothing that they will leave here to do that will be more important than that. So, Father, I pray that you would help them to take that step. For those that maybe need to step out and just take some time to pray. I pray that you would give them the humility and the grace to do that. Whatever it is you want to do, Holy Spirit, do it in our lives. Help us to just be people of yes, "Yes, Lord, do among us what you want. "Yes, Lord, I want to do what you want. "Yes, Lord, form me into the image of your Son." Be glorified among us. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.