And I'm kind of enjoying this euphoric moment.
And then all of a sudden I hear,
and Angela comes running to me,
and it goes from like this slow mo euphoric moment
where I'm like, man, this is such a privilege
to like times two speed.
Like, oh no, this is such a responsibility.
In like 30 seconds, this wave of responsibility
like overwhelm me.
And now I'm doing triage on this girl.
I got to discipline the boy.
The other boys got homework, and Gabby's like,
hey, so what do you think?
And I'm like, you know, I wasn't paying attention, sorry.
And you know, I have, here I am with one leg,
and I have like two legs worth of responsibility
all of a sudden, and I'm like, oh no.
Have you guys ever been there?
Maybe not literally, hopefully you guys have
both your legs, but metaphorically, you know.
Ben Parker, he said, with great power
comes great responsibility, and I think it would be
equally fair to say that with great privilege
comes great responsibility.
If you were to have a kid, or get a dog, or buy a car,
all of those things are an amazing privilege to have them,
but they all carry a ton of responsibility.
And when you get saved, it's a privilege.
You didn't earn it, but you're not saved just to,
it's not get saved and chill.
You're saved to work out your salvation, to walk in faith,
and to do that with the assembly, with the church.
And the Bible teaches that being part of the assembly,
or the gathering of worship, is both a privilege
and a responsibility.
And to understand this privilege and responsibility
of gathering together for worship,
we have to understand first what worship is.
Warren Wearsby says, or said that worship is
a believer's response of all that he is, mind, emotion,
will and body, to all that God is, and says and does.
And so, in other words, worship is a celebration
of God's worthiness using all your faculties.
And when we gather together, that's what we're here to do,
to celebrate Christ in our service to God,
and in our service to each other in various ways.
And many of us don't always treat it that way though.
Oftentimes we swing between these two extremes
where we come into church, like we own the place,
kind of forgetting that it's a gift
that we're even able to be part of the body.
And then others, they come in and they drag themselves in,
like it's a chore, like there's something better
that we could be doing.
And in both of those ways, you're missing out
on that privilege, but God's word says
that there's a better way to do it.
Just like that moment when my family,
with my family where it showed me the greatest privileges
in life carried the weightiest responsibilities,
the gathering of worship is no different.
The gathering of worship is arguably
the greatest privilege and responsibility that we have,
and every believer should treat it that way
because of these three calls to worship
that we're gonna look at in Hebrews tonight.
But before we do that, we're gonna be in Hebrews 10.
Let's pray and then we'll get started.
Thank you Lord for allowing us to come together
and to worship you, to come together
with brothers and sisters in Christ
and to be able to come right into your presence.
And we're gonna pray in a little while
for people that we know and the things
that are going on in life,
and we're just blessed to even have that opportunity tonight.
And I just pray that we would keep that
at the forefront of our mind as we're here tonight.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
So we're in Hebrews 10.
The book of Hebrews is written to a Jewish audience
facing persecution, Jewish Christians facing persecution,
and they're tempted to abandon the Christian gatherings
and return to Judaism because of these persecutions.
And the author of Hebrews is writing to them,
basically encouraging them to keep the faith.
We were in Hebrews for a while and Pastor Ben taught us
that we should keep the faith because Jesus is greater.
And that's what the point of Hebrews was pointing at
is to this Jewish audience, hey, Jesus is greater
than the law, than the sacrifices,
and then everything that was in the Jewish system.
Nothing in the Old Covenant could compare
to what Christ was providing them in the New Covenant.
And so we've been in Leviticus in Sunday school
for those who are in Sunday school.
Over the past few weeks we've been reading
about God establishing that Old Covenant system.
And he's giving the Jewish people the laws
that told them God's expectations.
And we know it's a perfect law
and so it requires perfect obedience.
They couldn't keep the law, right?
We can't keep the law.
No one can keep the law because we all sin.
And sin separates people from God's presence.
And so God, being the loving God that he is,
wanting people to be in his presence,
created for Israel the system to deal with their sins.
God provided the tabernacle to dwell with his people.
He provided the system of atonement, right?
The sacrificial system for his people
so that he could dwell with his people.
But for the priest, for this to happen,
the priest had to follow all of these extensive instructions
without fail and they had to make continual sacrifices
for the people.
And I thought a good analogy for sin was kind of like a home.
There's no amount of cleaning
that can keep our homes clean forever, right?
You might clean your home one day,
but there's no amount of cleaning
that's gonna keep your home forever.
And there's no amount of animal sacrifice
that was gonna keep the souls of the people of Israel
clean forever.
And the people quickly learned
that they had this great privilege
of having the creator of the universe on their side,
but that came with this great responsibility.
And then what Hebrews is telling us,
or what Hebrews has told us kind of up into this point is
that the old covenant, while holy and while good,
was never meant to be the final answer.
God had always intended to establish something greater,
to send someone greater.
And that person was Christ,
who was gonna usher in the new covenant through his own blood.
And in the new covenant, God didn't only provide
the system for atonement, he provided the sacrifice as well.
The Bible says that Christ fulfilled the law
when he sacrificed himself on the cross for the world.
In Hebrews 10, 14, it says,
for by one offering he hath perfected forever
for them that are sanctified.
And so that meant no more yearly atonement was needed,
no more animal sacrifices required.
And I asked my Sunday school classes on Sunday,
could you imagine if there was a way
to keep your house clean forever?
That would be amazing.
There's not, but especially if you have three kids.
But that's kind of what Christ did for our souls.
Believers are justified in Christ,
their souls are clean in the eyes of the Lord.
And in this new reality, God's law is written
on believers' hearts, and God's presence no longer resides
in tents built with hands,
or in a temple built with hands, but in his followers.
And through the spirit, we're sanctified,
we're set apart for service, for God's service,
and for service to his people.
And this is kind of like the sanctification process,
more like a cleaning process,
where believers become more like Christ,
as the Holy Spirit changes them from the inside out.
But we're clean, we're justified,
and we're being clean in no way.
But what that means today is that now believers,
every believer is a priest before God.
And this is what we would have been reading in Hebrews
if we were following through.
And that means that you can know God
and love God personally and intimately today.
And that's a privilege,
to have direct access to God is such a privilege.
But that privilege, it comes with responsibility.
And you can be in his presence right now,
you can worship him right now.
And that means that you should,
and as a matter of fact, we're called to,
and that's what we're gonna be looking at tonight,
with this new covenant firmly established.
The writer of Hebrews gives us three specific calls
that show us why we ought to embrace
both the privilege and responsibility
of this gathering of worship.
And so the first call we're gonna look at
is in Hebrews 10 verses 19 through 22,
and it's let us draw near.
So Hebrews 10 verse 19 is where we're gonna pick up.
It says, having therefore brethren boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus
by a new and living way,
which he had consecrated for us through the veil,
that is to say his flesh.
And having a high priest over the house of God,
let us draw near with a true heart,
or with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience
and our bodies washed with pure water.
And so here's kind of the point in a summary.
If you know Christ, you can have boldness
as you enter into his holy presence
and by the blood of Jesus.
In Sunday school, we read about Nadab and Abayu
and how they entered in and they offered strange sacrifice.
They offered worship to God that he didn't ordain
and they were consumed by fire.
And then in the next chapters, God instructed Aaron,
the high priest, that he couldn't come in at any time
that he wanted or else he would die like his sons.
And so this made the high priest approach to God
a kind of solemn and fearful process.
They could only enter after this eight day
cleansing ceremony and multiple sacrifices.
And when they would enter, they would enter with,
people say that they would enter with ropes tied
around their waist so that if they were to die,
people could pull them out of God's presence.
But that's the old way to approach God.
There's a new and living way, the Hebrew says.
And it's consecrated for us through Christ,
through his sacrifice on the cross.
When his body was torn on our behalf,
then he died and he rose and he opened up
this new and living way.
And verse 21 kind of reiterates all of that
by pointing out that Jesus took on that priest
or that role as high priest and he also took on
that role as mediator or as sacrifice, sorry.
And because we all, because we know Christ,
it says let us draw near.
So we're gonna read again verse 21 and 22.
It says, in having a high priest over the house of God,
let us draw near with true hearts and full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience
and our bodies washed with pure water.
If you know Christ, you can draw near to God
with boldness and you should.
That's our responsibility because we have this incredible
access to God through Christ.
It's our responsibility to exercise that access.
Think about it, if you had a direct line to the president,
wouldn't you use it?
If you had ultimate access to the greatest doctor
in the world, wouldn't you get a consultation from him
at least?
How much more should we access or exercise this access
that we have to the creator of the universe?
And our access to God is far better than we could have
to someone like the president or to someone like the greatest
doctor in the world because our access to God is like that
of a father to his child through Christ,
that's who God is to us, he's our father.
And that relationship of a father to a child
is a special one.
If one of you guys came up to me and you laid your head
on my chest, I would be like, what are you guys doing?
Get away from me, right?
But if Jason or Angela or Anthony came up to me
and they laid their head on my chest,
I'm gonna embrace them, give them a kiss,
say, hey, what's going on?
That's a completely different thing.
And it's not because I don't love you guys,
it's just different.
It's just different.
The access that they have to me is so much better.
And that's the kind of access that we have to God.
So let us draw near it.
So Christ made it possible for us to commune with God
right here, right now.
And this is not the same kind of confidence
that they had in the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament, every year,
the high priest would sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat
for the sins of the people.
But the author of Hebrews says that Christ sprinkled
the blood, or it says in verse 22,
that Christ's blood has been sprinkled on our hearts,
or has sprinkled our hearts, sorry,
from an evil conscience, meaning that our sins are forgiven.
And then it says that we're washed with pure water,
kind of like that eight day cleansing ceremony
that the priest went through,
which made them fit for service to God and to Israel.
The author saying that in Christ we're justified,
we're made righteous in God's eyes,
our sins are forgiven for good,
and we're positionally clean before God.
And we're sanctified, we're set apart for God's service,
and for the service of his people.
So in light of that, draw near, worship your God.
And so do you have a place where you can meet with God
regularly, not just a physical place,
but like a dedicated time and place where you can draw near?
You need that.
You need to draw near regularly.
It's important, and you can do that
through prayer, fasting, reading.
But the priests, they weren't only drawing near to God,
to serve God, they were also drawing near
to God in service of the people.
And it's as important as our individual relationship
with God is, and that we can have,
and it's a privilege to have that.
This faith that we have is not an individual faith.
In Ephesians 5, it tells us that God is gonna present
himself a glorious church.
That's the idea of the Ecclesia,
the assembly of believers.
And if you read those verses in Hebrews again,
you're gonna notice that there's an emphasis
on the group of believers.
So it says, having therefore brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiness,
the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way which he had consecrated for us
through the veil that is to say his flesh
and having a high priest over the house of God,
let us draw near with the true heart
and full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscious
and our bodies washed with pure water.
Christ died for the body, right?
He died for individuals, but he died for the body.
And God has given us this place in these people
to gather together in worship.
And that's an incredible privilege.
The gathering of worship is an incredible privilege.
We can draw near to God together.
And so here's a challenging question.
Are you doing that?
Are you drawing near to God?
Because the privilege of access,
it demands that response.
If Christ tore the veil for us to enter,
if he made us clean so we can approach,
if he gave us bold access to the Father,
then drawing near, it shouldn't just be an option.
We should draw near because drawing near,
or we should be drawing near to our heavenly Father.
And this is something that the high priest
could only dream of, or that the Old Testament,
Israel could only dream of.
They entered one man a year with fear and trembling.
When God saves us, he saves us into his family of believers.
And that's, and we can enter into the holiest right now.
And that's why, and he saved us into his body.
And that's why the author of Hebrews moves
immediately from drawing near to considering one another.
And we're gonna see that in the next verses.
The second call to worship is consider one another.
And so we're gonna pick up in verse 23 through 25.
Verse 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering, for he is faithful that promised.
And let us consider one another to provoke one another,
to love and to good works,
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another,
and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
Says, let us hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering.
What's he saying there?
He's saying that all of that stuff
that we just established about Jesus in Hebrews,
all that stuff that we believe about Christ,
we should be holding firm to that.
So let me ask you guys a simple question.
Is it always easy to hold fast to your faith?
Of course it's not.
And that's why it says, without wavering,
the natural temptation that we all face is to waver.
It's to doubt God or to doubt ourselves,
especially when we're facing opposition,
like the early church, these early Jewish people were facing.
The Bible says though that God is faithful,
and so we can trust him.
We can trust in his word.
And even though this is not always,
or because this is not always easy, rather,
Hebrews 24 says, let us consider one another
let us consider one another.
God is faithful to us and we can be faithful to him
by being faithful to one another.
Finish this verse for me.
It says, by this shall all men know
that you're my disciples.
If you love one another, right?
That's John 13, 35.
In the gathering of worship,
we're called to draw near to God,
but we're also called to consider one another,
to love one another, to think of our brothers,
to figure them into our line of thought.
And do things based on that, right?
Act based on that.
When we think about the struggle of faith,
it's easy to think that we're like alone in this,
but you're not alone.
We all struggle with the same internal battle.
We all deal with the flesh versus the spirit.
And I don't know who's dealing with what in here tonight,
but it could be sin, doubt, temptation, fear, pride, pain.
We're all dealing with something, right?
And so we need to consider one another.
That way, we do draw near.
That way, we do hold fast.
If you're gathering and you're only thinking about yourself
or maybe you're only thinking about your immediate family,
then you're doing it wrong.
We have a responsibility to steward the relationships
that we have to consider each other.
And the author of Hebrews makes it clear that
this is a very important part of our life.
It's clear that this is more than just a quick prayer.
He says, to provoke each other to love and good works.
And when I think of provoke just off the top of my head,
I usually think of a bad thing.
Yeah, you don't want to provoke me to wrath or something, right?
Is that what the hawk says?
That's like the Bible version of, that's the KJV hawk.
But anyway, provoking, it often has a negative connotation.
What it means is to stimulate or to prod or to push.
And so you can see why it kind of has a negative connotation.
But it can look like encouragement or disagreement.
The idea is to move forward.
It can look like, great job, keep it up.
Here's a good next step for you to take.
Or it can look like, dude, what are you doing?
Stop, don't do that, right?
It can look like either.
And everything in between.
And the author of Hebrews doubles down on this idea
in the next statement when he says,
exhorting one another and so much the more
as you see the day approaching.
That idea of exhorting is a lot like provoking.
It's encouraging or teaching.
And the author says that we should be doing this
more and more frequently, not less frequently.
We should be more committed to the fellowship
and to fellowshiping with God's people
and to the assembly of ourselves together.
As we see the day of the Lord approaching
and it's fast approaching.
Every day that passes is one day closer.
In all signs, we did a lesson a few months ago
where we were talking about the signs
and all the signs are pointing to the idea
that it could be any day.
But all we know for sure is that we're 2,000 years closer
than they were when Hebrews was written.
And they were talking as if it was gonna be tomorrow, right?
And so Jesus is coming back.
And so considering that, considering the fact
that Jesus could be coming back any day,
we need to be considering one another.
We all wanna be found faithful when Christ comes back.
The idea is you look out for me, I'll look out for you.
And let's endure, let us endure,
let us stay faithful to God's mission.
Because when Christ comes back, I wanna be found so doing,
you wanna be found so doing,
we all wanna be found faithful to His mission.
And so that's a responsibility on one end.
But it's also a great privilege because I know that personally,
and I'm sure there's testimonies of this all around the room,
that I'm thankful for people who took an interest in me,
who helped me out, who checked on me and gave me advice.
People even gave me counsel when I didn't want it,
because I needed it and it kept me on the right path.
You're never gonna get that experience,
you're never gonna get to experience that great privilege
if you're forsaking the assembling of yourselves together.
If we're gonna hold fast to this profession of the faith,
we need each other.
And I think a good analogy for that
could be like a teen all nighter.
I've never been to a teen all nighter, personally,
but Gabby went last year.
And this year, she, Val, and told me that I will be going.
And so I imagine the way that it goes is like the adults,
they give the framework and they oversee everything,
and then the kids are just having a great time, right?
But as that's going on, one adult looks to his right,
and Gentry's sleeping.
And so you have to go over there and you go,
hey, are you okay?
Are you good?
Wake up, wake up.
If it doesn't happen right away, get up.
I would never, I would never.
But you're yelling at them, hey, get up,
we got things to do.
We got these kids about to kill themselves over here.
And then in our passes, and the same guy
who was doing all of that like,
exhorting is head down on the table,
and the guy who was getting woken up earlier comes over
and he's like, wake up, here's an energy drink.
The hour's fast approaching.
It's 12, we only got six more hours, you know?
And like I said, I'm not speaking from experience,
but I imagine that's kind of what an overnighter
is gonna be like when I do it.
But in that, we're gonna need accountability.
We're gonna probably need some provocation,
maybe some exhortation to some level.
We're gonna need each other to make it through the night.
And I think our walk of faith is no different.
God calls us to consider one another
in this gathering of worship.
And we're gonna see what the ultimate purpose
of this mutual encouragement and mutual support is
in Hebrews 13.
And so we're gonna turn ahead in Hebrews 13.
But in Hebrews 13, we're gonna see that we're considering
each other so that we can fulfill our highest calling.
The calling of offering ourselves as a living sacrifice
of praise to God.
And so that's in Hebrews 13.
And the call is, let us offer sacrifice.
And so Hebrews 13 verse 12 is where we're gonna pick up.
Says, wherefore Jesus also,
that he might sanctify the people with his own blood,
suffered without the gate.
Let us go forth therefore,
unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach,
for we have no continuing city,
but seek one to come.
By him therefore, let us offer the sacrifice
of praise continually.
That is, the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks to his name.
So without going too deep into what he's saying there,
the author of Hebrews is basically saying,
because Jesus established this new and living way,
we should go to him.
Let us worship him.
As opposed to the old Jewish system and the old,
or maybe our old way of sin, we should go to Christ.
And the phrase outside of the camp is pointing to the fact
that the Jewish believers would have had to been going
outside of their Jewish traditions,
outside of the sacrificial system to their Messiah.
And it also points to the idea
that Jesus was crucified outside of the temple,
outside of Israel.
But in so doing, as we go to Christ,
we put our faith in Jesus,
they would bear his reproach.
Jesus was rejected by his own people,
and the Hebrews who were gonna be leaving behind
the Jewish traditions and the systems,
they were also gonna be rejected like Jesus.
And this was common among Jewish believers.
But bearing reproach, it's not unique to Jewish believers.
It was common at that time, definitely,
for the Jewish believers.
But Jesus tells us in John 15 that there's potential
for every believer to bear some reproach for his name.
And John 15, verse 18 and 19, it says,
if the world hate you, you know that it hated me
before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love his own.
But because you're not of this world,
but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hated you.
And so if you follow Christ, there's a good chance
you're gonna bear some reproach.
But Matthew 5, it tells us that we shouldn't see
the world's opposition, the reproach,
the reviling as a burden.
We should see it as a blessing.
When we're receiving reproach and persecution,
we can rejoice, we can be glad,
because we know that this world is not our own.
Philippians 3.20, it says, for our conversation,
or our citizenship is in heaven.
From Wenz, also we look for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so what the author of Hebrews is pointing out is
by saying we have no continuing city here.
He's saying, hey, we have everlasting life awaiting us.
And then we get into where we're gonna see our last call
that we're gonna talk about in verse 15.
He says, by him therefore, let us offer
sacrifice of praise to God continually.
That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to him.
The author of Hebrews is telling us that because of Christ,
we should praise God continually.
And the New Testament believers, as New Testament believers,
we're not under the law,
but we should still be offering God sacrifice.
And a sacrifice is giving something of value
to someone else.
And so we should be giving something of value to God.
The Jewish believers that he's talking to,
they no longer had to give sacrifices
in terms of animals and grain.
They had to give sacrifices of their lips.
That's what God was asking them for.
And let me just say, if we're gathering,
as we gather for worship,
we should be singing praise to God.
God is good and we should be considering how much
of a privilege that is.
The fruit of our lips, it says,
our praise is regarded as the fruit of our lips.
And when we praise God, it may not please the person
beside you.
I know it doesn't always please the person beside me,
but it pleases God.
And it's regarded as fruit.
And the fruit of a tree reveals the nature of the tree.
And so the fruit of our lips,
it reveals the character of the source.
In other words, out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaks.
And so when we're talking about this gathering of worship
and praising God in this manner,
of course it pleases God because it shows
that we're devoted to Him.
And we have this privilege of knowing God through Christ.
We have this responsibility to give Him praise continually.
Christ died for our sins.
And so singing praise to God is the least that we could do.
But Romans 12, it takes a little bit further.
It takes it a step further and it says that
because of Christ's mercy,
we ought to give our lives unto God as a living sacrifice.
Meaning that we should be giving up the things of the flesh.
We should be adopting the things of the spirit.
And for a lot of the people who were hearing that at the time,
it meant giving their lives as martyrs
and people over the years have done that.
But if you keep reading Romans 12,
you'll see that our living sacrifice,
including our praise, isn't just for ourselves.
Our praise isn't meant to just stay in these walls.
Our praise is meant to go out.
And we see that every week when we come for a Sunday service,
what do they say at the end?
You're not dismissed, you're sent.
You're sent to proclaim to the world the goodness of God,
the privilege that it is to know Him
and that they desperately need Him.
And our sacrifice of praise to God
is for the good of the body.
It's for honor to God.
And it's also for the work of the ministry.
And so that kind of brings all three of these calls together
to form this beautiful picture
of what the gathering of worship actually should look like.
When we come together, we should draw near to God in worship.
We should consider one another in fellowship
and we should offer sacrifices of praise
and service to the Lord.
None of these three calls are the end all be all though.
These three calls are to prepare us
and to keep us on mission,
to prepare us for the mission and to keep us on mission
because Christ made it possible.
Let us draw near to God.
Let us consider one another.
Let us offer sacrifice.
And I think by way of application,
all three of these calls, they could be changed to,
we should, because of what Christ did for us,
we should draw near to God.
We should consider one another
and we should offer sacrifice to God.
Why?
Because that's what Christ died for us to do
so that we could serve God and we could serve his people
as pictured by the Old Testament priesthood,
but in an even greater way.
And so how do we do that today?
The main way that God, I think,
ordains for us to do that is in this gathering of worship.
The author of Hebrews says,
don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together.
We should be gathering and provoking each other to good
and supporting each other when life gets hard.
And I think the more that you're around Godly people
and Godly influences, the easier that's gonna be
to live out your mission,
to live out your calling in the Lord.
And I feel like maybe I'm preaching to the choir
being a Wednesday night,
but we need to take every opportunity that we have
to gather and to be around each other for God's glory,
for the good of others, and for our own good.
I don't know what you guys are,
and you don't know what I'm assembling myself to
throughout the rest of the week,
but I can almost guarantee that if you're not assembling
yourself with the brethren throughout the rest of the week,
that whatever it is you're assembling with
or whoever it is, is to some degree or another,
pulling you away.
But when we assemble with each other,
the hope and the goal is that we would be pushing each other
forward towards godliness,
that we would be pushing each other forward
in worship of God.
And here at Trinity, we have a whole host of opportunities
where you can live that out,
where you can live out these three callings.
We can draw near together in our worship service
and Sunday morning services here tonight at Sunday school.
We can consider one another through the discipleship groups,
through the Seven Steps of Joy,
other discipleship programs that we have,
or even more practical opportunities
where you can just get a meal with somebody after church
or get coffee with somebody,
or if you have shared interests,
you can meet with them and you can consider one another.
Or even tonight as we go into prayer,
we're gonna be lifting each other up in prayer
and people in our church that need prayer
and we can consider them as we're talking in the pews.
We can offer sacrifice of praise to God through praise,
through worship when we come together and we sing.
You could even join the choir.
I don't know if you guys know that,
but that's an opportunity.
We can do that through weekly outreach ministries.
We go out every Tuesday and Saturday
and we talk to people about Jesus.
That's an opportunity for you to come
and to gather with brethren and to live out your mission,
the mission that God gave you.
You could do that through serving kids ministry
or even helping out in your Sunday school class.
And that's just to name a few.
Those are just like the ones that I thought of
that were really clear and obvious,
but there's others as well.
And these things, they shouldn't just be programs
on our calendar.
Lots of us in here we serve.
They shouldn't just be programs on our calendar.
They're opportunities for us to live out our calling.
And so tonight I challenge you to embrace both the privilege
and the responsibility that comes with gathering together
in worship by taking advantage of those opportunities.
If you're treating worship casually,
then remember that Christ paid for your access to him.
So draw on the air.
If you're worshiping alone or if you're worshiping selfishly,
remember to consider one another.
And if your praise is just confined to the building,
then remember that you're called to offer sacrifice,
offer ourselves as a sacrifice
by declaring his word to the world
and declaring that privilege to the world.
And so when you truly understand both the privilege
and the responsibility of worship,
it changes everything of how you gather together
when you come in here and how you serve
and also just how you live.
Just like at home, if I were to forget the privilege
that it is to be the father of my home,
I would quickly become burdened by the task.
Or if I were to forget the responsibility that I have,
then I would fail to serve my family the way that I ought to.
But remember, when you understand both,
it's a beautiful thing and it helps you
to live out your calling.
And so let me ask you,
what will you do with this privilege?
Christ died for you to give.
Will you draw near tonight?
Will you look around and consider one another?
Will you offer a sacrifice of praise to him?
Let's pray and then we're gonna go into
an extended time of prayer where we're gonna lift up
some of our brothers and sisters in Christ
where we can consider them tonight.
Lord, thank you for your word.
Thank you for your example.
Thank you for the book of Hebrews
that tells us just how much greater you are
than the Old Testament law
and how you're fulfilling the law on our behalf
is such a blessing.
And I just pray that we could keep that privilege in mind,
that we could keep our access to you in mind as we live.
And we could remember that it's not simply a privilege
for us to have, but it's also a responsibility for us
to live out and to walk faithfully with you.
We love you and we wanna do your will.
And I just pray that you would prick our hearts
in any way tonight that we are not.
And as we lift up people in prayer tonight,
I pray that you would be with us
and keep our minds and our hearts pure.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.