Encourage one another
Better together • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
Junior Church Dismissed
Well, one month down!
I don’t know about you but January didn’t go by as fast as I had expected it.
I’m looking forward to 2020 and everything God is going to do.
I’m still giving God glory for our turn out at Cafe Real! That was amazing. I saw the owner last week and was very grateful for what we did. Such a great story behind that shop.
Nonetheless now we are on to February and a few different things happening this month. Next week, don’t forget we have our Family night where we will present our deacons who will serve the next two years. Thomas will bring the devotion that night and during his devotion and the business side of things, we will have someone downstairs doing face painting and monitoring kids 2nd grade and younger.
I love those family nights. They are really a great way for us to enjoy each other, have some fun, take care of some business if needed, and be reminded of how great it is to be apart of the Liberty family.
Today I’m starting a new series called Better Together. Throughout scripture there are number of times we find admonishes as to how we are to act with and toward “one another” that results in us being better together.
I believe God intended for us to not live a life of solitude but to live life with one another. And when we live how God intends for us to live we will find that it is better for us. Which leads us to our series, better together.
We are better as individuals together. We are better as a group together. Let’s face it…you can’t have a group unless people are together. We are better Christians together.
To we are going to look at at Paul’s admonish for us to exhort or encourage one another in Hebrews.
Open your bible’s to .
How many of you have heard of David Glasheen?
On Oct 19, 1987 Black Monday happened. The stock market crashed and David lost 13 million dollars. That was most of his fortune.
His house was repossessed and his wife left soon after.
So what’s a guy to do?
Live on a deserted island in Australia of course.
Soon after losing it all in 87 Daniel moved Restoration island and has lived there ever since…in fact, he lives there to this day.
Alone on an island....I’m sure some of us here have thought about how great that solitude would be huh?
And you know, if you are just living for yourself and nothing or no one else then yea…go…enjoy and waste your life away as a castaway.
BUT…if you are man or woman that desires purpose…if you are someone who has others depend on you, if you are someone who wants to live a life for Christ…this is not an option for you.
We are called to live for others and doing so requires us to come together for various reasons.
In our text today we are going to see a few different things that I believe are important to us and I have an announcement I’ll be working into the message that I hope you’ll be excited about.
As I preach today I’d like to ask you to consider something. Would you consider 2 things. Consider the impact other believers have on your life and the impact you have on others.
Follow along as I read
19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
21 And having an high priest over the house of God;
22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
PRAY
Notice first how the author spoke of how we Enter His Presence
I. We Enter His Presence
I. We Enter His Presence
He wrote “having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.”
This is a very important statement. One that we as 21st century Christians can miss because we might not understand or we take for granted.
A Hebrew who knew the Old Testament would see it as enabling them to enter into His Presence through Christ.
A. Through Christ
A. Through Christ
Thomas and Dan would you come up and help me. These gentlemen agreed to read through a little script for us as I’m acting out what is being seen.
I want you to put yourself in the place of Dan. This Moabite…this gentile…this person like you and I…that comes upon the tabernacle or temple and has a desire to worship and be in the presence of God.
This is what would have been in the minds of the people that recieved this epistle...
Here we go.
Pastor to congregation: To picture what this means, imagine a Moabite of old gazing down upon the tents and Tabernacle of Israel from some lofty mountain height. Attracted by what he sees, he descends to the plain and makes his way toward the sacred enclosure surrounding the Tabernacle. It is a high wall of dazzling linen, which reaches over his head. He walks around it until he comes to the gate, where he sees a man.
Moabite (Dan): May I go in there?
Israelite (Thomas): Who are you?
Moabite: I am a man from Moab
Israelite: Well, I’m very sorry, but you cannot go in there. It’s not for you. The law of Moses has barred the Moabite from any part in the worship of Israel until his tenth generation.”
Moabite: What would I have to do to go in there?
Israelite: You would have to be born again. You would have to be born an Israelite. You would need tone born of the tribe of Judah, perhaps, or of the tribe of Benjamin or Dan.
Moabite: I wish I had been born an Israelite of one of the tribes of Israel
((Priest offering Sacrifice and cleansing at bronze laver))
Moabite: What’s in there? Inside the main building I mean?
Israelite: Oh, that’s the Tabernacle itself. Inside there is a room containing a lamp stand, a table, and an altar of gold. The man you saw is a priest. He will trim the lamp, eat of the bread upon the table, and burn incense to the living God upon the golden altar.
Script.
Moabite: Ah, I wish I were an Israelite so that I could do that. I should love to worship God in that holy place and help to trim the lamp, to offer Him som incense, and to eat at that table.
Israelite: Oh, no, even Ic Ould not do that. To worship in the holy place one must not only be born of an Israewlite, one must be born of the tribe of Levi and of the family of Aaron.
Moabite: (Sigh) I wish, that I had been born of Israel of the Tribe of Levi of the Family of Aaron. (looks at tabernacle door) What’s in there?
Israelite: There is a veil. It is a beautiful veil, I’m told, which divides the Tabernacle in two. Beyond the veil is what we call ‘the most Holy Place’, ‘the Holy of Holies.’
Moabite: What’s in the Holy of Holies?
Israelite: There’s a sacred chest in there called the Ark of the Covenant, it contains certain holy memorials of our past. Its top is made of gold, and we call that the mercy seat because God sits there between the golden cherubim. You see that pillar of cloud hovering over the Tabernacle? That’s the Shekinah glory cloud. It comes to rest on the mercy seat.
Moabite: Oh, if only I were a priest! I should love to go into the Holy of Holies and there gaze upon God and worship Him there in the beauty of holiness.
Israelite: Oh NO! You couldn’t do that even if you were a priest! To enter into the Most Holy Place you would have to be the high priest of Israel. Only he can go in there.
Moabite: Oh, if only I had born an Israelite, of the tribe of Levi of the family of Aaron. If only I had been born the high priest! I would go in there, into the holy of Holies. I would go in there every day. I would go in three times a day. I would worship continually in the Holy of Holies.
Israelite: (Shaking head in negative directions) Oh No! You couldn’t do that. Even the high priest of Israel can go in there only once a year and then only after the most elaborate of preparations, and even then only for a little while.”
Moabite: (Saddened with head down walks away)
Give them a round of applause.
That is what you and I would have heard if we even thought of being in the presence of God.
The author of hebrews writes now and says no more. Now you can boldly enter into the presence of God through the blood of Christ.
This was different to any Hebrew that knew the Old Testament. They would know they could enter through Christ. They would also understand this as enabling them to enter through Change.
B. Through Change
B. Through Change
Mal
6 For I am the Lord, I change not; Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
The Lord changes not....but wait....isn’t this a change...
yes it is. Notice that the Lord does not change but it is apparent through scripture that the methods by which we engage and interact with him did.
From the, I believe, personal walking with Adam to the conversing with Abraham, to the dreams of Jacob, to the burning bush of Moses and the tablets of law for the nation of Israel God changed the method he communed with man. Now we have the boldness to enter through the blood of Christ.
What can we take from this.
The message never changes but the methods always do.
Who God is, What the Purpose of the church is, hasn’t changed and shouldn’t change. But the way in which we interact with God and accomplish His mission has and should.
The author describes this as a “new way”...
There is an old joke about Baptists of which I are one so I can so this...
How many Baptists does it take to change a light bulb? Change…why change? We don’t change anything...
And for the better part of a half century…that’s been the case.
Don’t think that because things are changing things are getting more liberal or worse. God designed his creation to change...
In New England this is more apparent than just about anywhere I’ve lived. We have 4 seasons here. God designed nature to change 4 times in a year.
Trees still produce oxygen, snow still melts, ice is still slippery, plants still bloom, grass still grows, but things change...
As long as the change doesn’t lead us to unbiblical practices or ideals it should be welcomed. What if I don’t like the change? That’s ok. I’m sure some Hebrews didn’t like this change. It’s ok to not like change…it’s not ok to have a critical spirit about change that doesn’t go against the Bible.
Your roles in life have changed. Your position in life has changed. Change is apart of everything and nowadays it comes faster than ever before.
God doesn’t change. His desire for us to be in his presence hasn’t changed. And, when we can enter His Presence, we can express our faith.
II. We Express Our Faith
II. We Express Our Faith
There are three statements we are about to examine that begin with the words “Let Us”.
The author wasn’t writing to just an individual. He was writing to a group and he told the group “You all…or Ya’ll” do these things together. Because you are better together than apart.
22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us draw near…draw near to what? to who? To God.
Let us draw near to God with a true heart full of faith.
In we see three things that are mentioned in our passage in Hebrews
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
Faith, hope, and love. These can be referred to as the three great Christian virtues. The first shows us our resposniblity that is Godward
A. Toward God
A. Toward God
v. 22 Let us draw near to God.
As we saw we no longer have to go through elaborate rituals to draw near to God. We have direct access through Christ.
We don’t have to go to a specific place to be near God. We don’t have a tabernacle, a temple, or a sanctuary where God resides and we can only enjoy His presence there.
We can draw near to God anywhere through Christ.
Jesus taught this to the woman at the well
19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
Jesus said “this mountain, Jerusalem, it doesn’t matter where you are. True worshippers, true believers will not be restricted to a geographical location, they will worship God in Spirit and in truth.
We sang that little Chorus today “sanctuary.”
Lord prepare me To be a sanctuary Pure and holy Tried and true And with thanksgiving I'll be a living Sanctuary, oh for You
Lord prepare me To be a sanctuary Pure and holy Tried and true And with thanksgiving I'll be a living Sanctuary, oh for You
A living Sanctuary. Now, I know many call this room here a sanctuary…I’m not going to tell you not you but let’s be careful not to misidentify places that can lead us to inappropriate attachments to things that aren’t that important.
So let’s ask the question…what is a sanctuary?
By definition the greek word for sanctuary means this
hagion hag'-ee-on a sacred thing (that is, spot): - holiest (of all), holy place, sanctuary.
hagion hag'-ee-on a sacred thing (that is, spot): - holiest (of all), holy place, sanctuary.
hag'-ee-on
hag'-ee-on
a sacred thing (that is, spot): - holiest (of all), holy place, sanctuary.
a sacred thing (that is, spot): - holiest (of all), holy place, sanctuary.
So let me ask you something....Is this room the only place that can be a sanctuary for believers?
What about 40 years ago when this church was planted and met in a gymnasium for 10 years?
Could we call that Gymnasium a sanctuary? Yes…why?
Notice the definition…a sacred thing, holiest, holy place...
Going back to the tabernacle and temple those terms were used to describe the place where the Spirit of God resided.
Where does the spirit of God reside now?
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
So what is the real sanctuary, the resting place of the spirit of God now that we can enter His presences through the Blood of Christ and in a new way?
We are…You are…I am..
What was it Jesus said about his presence being with us?
20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
So this room could be called a sanctuary when Christians are gathered in it. That room over there could be called a sanctuary…your home could be a sanctuary…my home…the broom closet…Starbucks…Cafe Real…Burger King…Say Amen if your tracking with me?
Let US draw near to God through the blood of Christ, by salvation, in a new and living way.
We express our faith by drawing near to God together
Our Responsibility to God is to draw near to Him through salvation with others.
We have a responsibility toward others.
B. Toward Ourselves
B. Toward Ourselves
V 23 “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith.” Now, funny story about that word faith there. In just about every other place where that Greek Word is in scripture it’s translated hope. But why faith here?
First you need to know that biblical faith and hope are the same thing. We say things like “Man I hope I get to do this....” Because we don’t know for sure if it will happen but we are hopeful about it.
Well…biblically speaking, the context the word hope is used there is one a more sure hope. It’s an expecting hope. It would change the meaning of that statement “I hope I get to...” mean that “I’m expecting to” make sense? good.
The author wrote Let us hold fast the profession of our hope.”
He’s writing to Hebrews that were under pressure to go back to the Old ways of doing things. He’s writing to them to say “Hey…be strong in the faith you have in Christ.” Don’t go back.
You are a new Creature in Christ. Old things are passed away, ALL things have become new. Don’t go back. Go forward by faith in Christ.
We have a responsibility to ourselves to live out the faith that we have and not go back or turn our backs on Christ.
We have a responsiblity to collectively, together, draw close to God, to live out our faith, and then we have a responsiblity toward Others.
C. Toward Others
C. Toward Others
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
We are to consider one another.
To be considerate of the needs of one another, to be considerate of the place a person is in their walk of faith, to be considerate of one another to provoke, to encourage them, to challenge them by our lives and words, to love and good works.
Faith towards God, Hope within ourselves, and love towards others.
How? How do we accomplish this as a church? as a group of Christians? How do we do these things?
We must engage our Community
III. We Engage our Community
III. We Engage our Community
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
the author says first…Assemble the church
A. Assemble the Church
A. Assemble the Church
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together…This verse has been a proof text for the reason why we should gather together on Sundays. I think it’s a great reason too I also believe their are other biblical reasons we should gather on Sundays.
However when we read this verse literally and in context we find that it is not about just meeting on Sundays. If we read this text and all we do is use it to defend only meeting on Sundays we are not properly extrapulating the truth from it.
Please note that the author said “…so much more...”
Gathering once is great but getting together more is better.
There was a time when pastors would say “three to thrive” Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night.
I believe the principle behind the statement is true. The more you time you spend with others around the Word of God, the better.
Now, we don’t have Sunday night Service and maybe you don’t feel you can relate to the Wednesday evening service…That’s ok. Because I want to be a Pastor that preaches something and provides a means for you to do it.
Beginning the first week of March we are going to be adding to our currently scheduled programming. We are going to be starting growth groups that will meet throughout the week. We are starting with only a few.
This set of groups will last until the week before Memorial Day. During the time we are operating like this I will be constantly reviewing the program and see if it is something we will continue.
These groups can and will meet outside of the walls of this building. Some will be here due to ease of use however, I want to encourage the leaders to get outside of this building when possible. Because as we saw, the holy place of God is us ourselves and not a geographical location.
We will start sign ups for the groups next week where I will introduce the leaders and the studies they will be doing.
You see, assembling as a church isn’t just about Sunday mornings…it’s about Christians getting together anytime and to be doing SO MUCH MORE as the day approaches.
We Assemble the church and then we exhort the church.
B. Exhort the Church
B. Exhort the Church
We encourage, we provoke, we build up to be more for Christ together than individually.
Through these groups we will be able to develop close relationships with one another that will allow us to build up each other and and encourage one another to get engaged in the community we live in so that we can show the love of Christ and be the hands and feet of Jesus.
The more we get together, the more we develop our lives and relationships around the Word of God and Work of God the more we can do together to impact our community for Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We are better together only when we are together in the name of Christ.
It’s not just those that have chosen to believe in Christ that should be strengthened by being around believers. Any person whether they are professing faith in Christ or not should be encouraged, strengthend, and built up when around people that love Jesus.
You could be here today and hadn’t heard anything like I’ve said about how we are better together. You hadn’t heard about the direct access we have to God. Not through a church, not through another man, not through a pastor, only through Jesus Christ.
When you have direct access to God through Jesus Christ, your life will change.
The way to get that direct access is to put your faith in Jesus christ.
Are you here and need to put your faith in Him?
The Bible says in
that God loves you so much He sent Jesus to die for your sins. In that same verse Jesus said that whosoever believes on him will not perish but have everlasting life.
It’s that simple. Believe on Jesus…have a relationship with Him.
Do you believe this morning? If you made the decision to trust in Jesus this morning I want to invite you to confirm that with prayer. The words of the prayer mean nothing if you don’t believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God who died for your sins and was raised from the dead.
If you want to make the decision to trust Jesus as your savior this morning please pray after me
“Dear Jesus, I know I’m a sinner, I believe you came to die on the cross and rose from the dead. I put my faith right now in you and ask you to come into my life and change me from the inside out. Amen.”
Christians, have you considered the impact you could have on others?
Would you make a committment to take the next step of faith to get involved in groups and serving?
Would you allow yourself to be blessed by being together with Christians more than once a week?
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