The 5 Habits of a Christian Life: Make Church Your Home

Our message this morning is entitled, Making Church Your Home. We’re continuing our series, Five Habits of the Christian Life, How to Build a Devotional Life with God. And it’s interesting, when you hear the word habit, most of the time I think in our current English culture, the way we use that word is we think of bad habits, right? So when we think of habits, we think of, oh, that’s a bad habit that I need to break. What we’re really talking about as we look at different habits in the Christian life is there are habits that can be good for you. And we want to help you, we want to direct you to build up habits in your life that can put some structure in your life so that God can do good things in your life. And so this morning, one of those habits is making the church your family, making the church your home. And so let’s just read from Hebrews 10, verse 25. I’m reading from the NIV, verse 25, 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. Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, we’re so thankful for the word of God and we pray today that your word would sink deeply into our hearts, that it would take root, that it would begin to grow, that it would produce fruit. Holy Spirit, I pray that you would just impress upon us today that we’re not here in church just for us, but we’re here in church for others. Lord, you’ve put together the body of Christ as a team to go out and to serve others. So Lord, I pray that we would get up every Sunday morning and we would come and be a part of the church. The church is more than a place. The church is more than a meeting time, but the church is a vital part of what you’re doing in the world today. And Lord, impress upon us that you want us to be a part of the church. You want us to make the church our family, our home. Do it in our lives today, we pray. In Jesus name, amen. The Lord bless you. The Lord bless you as you’re seated this morning. Well, we know from the book of Acts that in the first century, the early believers, they were devoted to the fellowship. Acts chapter 2, verse 42 says, and they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and the prayers. So the temple had lost significance, and we’re going to talk about that this morning. The new believers, they didn’t feel any longer a requirement or a need to go to the temple and to offer sacrifices. And our passage is going to deal with that this morning. And yet the early church was still focused on fellowshipping together, getting together, being the church, being the lighthouse in a dark world. And so I want us to think this morning about the church. What is the church? There’s many benefits to the church. The church is a place where Jesus matters, amen. When we come together as believers Sunday after Sunday, when we come together in small groups or Bible studies, what are we saying to the world around us? What are we saying to our kids and to our grandkids and to anyone who knows you? You’re saying Jesus matters in my life. I’ve told this story before, but I want to share it again. I remember when we were missionaries in Kiev, Ukraine years ago, and our two oldest kids were five years old and two years old. And especially in the winter, it gets very cold there. And it would have been very easy for us as a young family to just say, you know what? It’s cold out there. And when we go to that church, we can’t even understand the language yet. So I don’t know that we’re going to get out a lot out of, maybe we should just have a Bible study at home. I’m so thankful today that all my kids love to go to church. They’re grown up, they’re out doing their thing, but they love to be in church. And I believe in part that was because they saw a family when they were younger that believed in being around other believers and being in church as a habit. Even when you don’t feel like it, even when it’s inconvenient, even when it’s cold outside or you’ve got a lot going on in your life, when you get together with other believers together to come to worship and to glorify God, what are you saying to everyone who knows you? Jesus matters in my life. He matters in my life. Another benefit of church is just the spiritual growth and accountability that can take place when you’re around Christian people. The Bible says iron sharpens iron. And I can tell you over 35 years of regularly being in full-time ministry, and that means being in church, being around Christian people, Christian people will help you grow. Christian people aren’t perfect. Christian people don’t have it all together. The church is not a perfect place. You’ve heard the old joke, you know, if you find a perfect church, what? Don’t join it because you’ll ruin it. Right? You know, so there’s no perfect churches. Christians aren’t perfect people. Christians are broken people who have come to realize that Jesus is the answer to my brokenness. And so Christian people go through anxiety and have fears and doubts, just like unbelievers, just like just like your average person in Columbia today. But a believer, a follower of Jesus Christ is someone who has come to realize Jesus makes the difference. Jesus matters in my life. And because I have Jesus in my life, I gather with other Jesus followers and I grow spiritually and they hold me accountable to grow. One of the other benefits of the church is relationships with real people. You know, we’re living in a world of social media. And I try very hard not to be reactionary on social media. And I would encourage you to not be reactionary on social media, because honestly, you never know what’s really going on and you don’t know the full context. So no matter if you overreact or you react too soon, it’s almost for sure you’re going to get it wrong because you’re not going to know the whole story. Sometimes it’s still nearly impossible not to want to react. This weekend, I saw a social media post that came from apparently and I have not vetted this. I’ve not gone and done my own research, but apparently there was a social post that came from President Trump’s Truth Social that if what was posted is what was posted. Now, I’ve heard that, well, it wasn’t meant to be posted. It was done by a staffer, but still it was disgusting. It was ugly. It was beneath our president. And I have to confess, I jumped on there and reacted. And my first part was not funny, exclamation mark, exclamation mark, exclamation mark. There’s just some things that aren’t funny. And then I learned a little bit more about, well, what was really going on. But one of the things I love about the church is it’s real people with real relationships. And it’s so different in our social media world. You don’t really know what the media is telling you. Is it true? Is it not true? Is it AI generated? Can I just give you a warning about social media? There is more and more AI generated stuff that then you or I pass on and we think, oh, that’s and it’s not real. It’s fake. I remember after the new Pope became Pope, somebody without his real live video, just put his picture on a screen and then audioed something as if he was a Protestant evangelical Bible believing spirit filled pastor. It wasn’t him. And yet I had family members who were sharing it with me because they were so excited that the Pope believed these things. And by the way, gorillas don’t wrestle with lions. Come on. Has anybody else seen that on social media? That was way off the message. I’m so thankful for the church because the church keeps us grounded. We’re here today as real people with real problems. And we have real relationships with each other’s everything else, friends, you better be careful. It could be fake. I love the church because Jesus matters. That’s what we’re saying when we come together. I love the church because it helps me grow spiritually. There’s real relationships. The church also gives me the opportunity to partner in the kingdom of God. You know, someone might say, well, because of Jesus, I can just I can just walk with God all by myself. Well, I guess that’s not what the Bible tells you to do. But the reality is, I’m not in the church just for me. I’m in the church for those who have not yet heard about Jesus. And so one of the great benefits of the local church is we get to be on mission with Jesus. We get to partner in the kingdom of God, we get to be a part of what God is doing through Jesus to bring the kingdom of heaven to the kingdom of earth. That’s the purpose and the benefit of the church. And right along with that, what a joy to have bigger purpose in our lives. That’s what my relationship with the Lord brings me. That’s what the church brings to me. That’s what this fellowship, these relationships brings to my life. My life isn’t just about me. How lonely, how boring life would be if life was just about me. But life is I’ve got a bigger story that I’m living in. It’s the story of Jesus, the story of the church, the story of the people of God. That’s what brings us together. So church, I want to encourage you. Christian, I want to encourage you. Don’t live life for yourself. Join up with the church. Join up with the fellowship of the church, the relationships of the church, the message of the church, the mission of the church. That’s what will give you great purpose, great significance, great meaning in your life today. What is the church? Well, I was there and forgot to share on it. You’ve already read it three times. What is the church? I’ll find it. Just give me a second. There’s so many great metaphors in the New Testament. If you want to think about what the church is, well, the church is the temple of God. The church is the bride of Christ. The church is the family of God, the people of God, the household of faith. There’s wonderful metaphors about the church, but these three really stand out to me. Jesus said, my house will be called a house of prayer. What is the church? The church is a place of calling upon the name of the Lord. The church is a group of people that are calling on the name of the Lord. We are a group of people that believe in prayer, talking with God, asking God to meet our needs, trusting God, going to God, even when I’m doubting, I’m going to praise you. Even when my flesh is failing me, I’m going to look to the Lord. We are a house of prayer. We’re also a hospital. We’re a hospital for the sick. As I mentioned before, we’re not a place of all perfect people, or we’ve all got it together. As you were saying, Dennis, we’re growing, we’re learning, we’re saying, Lord, it doesn’t matter if I’m 22 years old or 72 years old, I want to learn how to walk with you. I want to learn how to pray. I want to learn how to trust you. I want to learn how you want to work in my life. We’re a hospital for those who are sick. I’m praying this year in our church that we’ll see multiple people delivered from alcohol and from drugs and from marijuana and from pornography. Friends, we can’t on one side of our mouth say, Oh Lord, I want a move of God in the church. I want renewal and revival. And yet we’re living lives that are far, far, far beneath where God wants us to be. We can’t walk in addiction and expect to experience God’s blessings and favor and righteousness in our lives. We’ve got to be willing to let go and let God do what God wants to do in our life. He wants to put your feet on higher ground. And so in just a church our size, we have people here this morning, you’re fighting, you’re struggling, you’re battling with an addiction or with an emotional crisis of anxiety and fear. God can loose you from that in Jesus name. But you have to be willing to let him. You have to be willing to approach God with faith. God is good. He is faithful. He always keeps his promises. And if you will let him, he will set you free. But if you’re feeling distant from God today, if you’re wondering if God is there or if he’ll show up, it could just be because you’re not letting go of something that’s got a hold of you. We’re a hospital for the sick. That’s what the church is. We’re also a lighthouse of truth. I really believe this. I believe there’s no hope without truth. There’s false hope. The Bible talks about that in many places when people cry out, oh, peace, peace for Jerusalem, when there is no peace. And so there’s false hope, but there’s no true lifelong, lasting, eternal hope without building your life on truth with a capital T. That’s why we need God’s word in our lives. Because everything else is deception. I think that was already said this morning. Everything else is deception. We need to make sure we know the God of the Bible and we know the words of God that are in the Bible. We need to dig into God’s word. And that’s how, as a church, we become a lighthouse in a dark world. Because we’re able to deliver and share the word of God, the anointed and inspired word of God. Here’s what I believe. Where there is no prayer, there is no presence. Where there is no love for broken people, there is no healing. Where there is no truth, there is no hope. Lord, help us to be a church of prayer. Help us to be a church of love. Help us to be a church of truth. I want to share this morning from Hebrews chapter 10. That was just to get us going, okay? I didn’t follow those notes at all. You would think I got confused, but I think the Lord was just helping me. I want to share some truths from Hebrews chapter 10, and I want us to start in verse 19. The first truth is our confidence in the church, in the body of Christ, in your walk with the Lord as a believer. Our confidence comes from Christ Jesus. Look with me at verses 19 and 20. Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way open for us through the curtain that is his body. Now, I love this therefore. We don’t really know for sure who wrote Hebrews. Sometimes I think it’s Paul, by the way, the grammatical structure flows. In some places it looks very similar to Paul’s writing. There’s other times when I read, I think, no, this has got to be James, the half brother of Jesus. Because I go over to the book of James in places like James chapter four, and it’s like, wow, these are some really similar thoughts. In any case, I love this therefore. Because what the author of Hebrews is doing here is he’s directing us back to the entire chapter 10, or at least verse 18. Now, I’m not going to read all 18 verses, but in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews was written to remind those who had come to Jesus Christ that Jesus was the greatest high priest ever, that he was superior to the prophets. He was greater than the angels, that he was the fulfillment of everything God was doing in the Old Testament. Now we have it in Jesus Christ. And the number one way Jesus is superior is that when Jesus died for the whole world on the cross, when Jesus went to the cross and shed his blood, the Bible says without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. And this morning, we didn’t come to a temple to offer blood sacrifices, did we? That’s because of Jesus. That’s because of the new covenant. You see, what makes Jesus really great in the book of Hebrews and here in chapter 10, verse 18, and I’ll read in a moment, what makes Jesus really great in your life, in my life, and in our church this morning, is that when Jesus shed his blood on the cross, when he died, he died once and for all. And so now we don’t come to a temple every Saturday or every Sunday and try to make atonement for our sins, friend, my sins are covered. My guilt has been done away with, I’m forgiven, I’m walking in joy, I’m walking in peace. And when the enemy or life comes against me and says, oh, no, no, no, no, no, you’ve still got some guilt, you’ve got some problems, you’re not living up to what God wants you to be and what you should be, or you’re struggling with a lot of worry this week, Tom. And when the enemy comes against me, you know what I do? I just say, no, no, no, I’m in Jesus, I’m in Christ Jesus. And when the father looks at me, he doesn’t see my sin, he doesn’t see my shortcomings, he doesn’t see where I’m faltering or messing up. The father sees the gift, the grace of God, the gift of Jesus in my life. And as long as I’m in Jesus, everything’s good. Everything’s good. You see, our confidence comes from Christ. I love Hebrews chapter four, I’m going to turn and read that. Well, wait, I was going to read verse 18. I preached it, but I didn’t read it. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 18. Look at what the author says as he writes this verse 18. And where these laws have been forgiven, or where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. Now I want to just mention why that’s so important. Imagine you grew up as a Jewish boy or Jewish girl going to the temple your whole life, and then you’ve heard about Jesus the Messiah, and he taught wonderful things, and he worked amazing miracles, and then he died on a cross, and it’s reported that he rose from the dead, and you believe that. What about the temple? Well, are we going to the temple this week? Well, maybe there’s not even any reason to get together. I mean, Jesus has done it all, and I don’t need to go to the temple anymore because there’s nothing for me to do there. I don’t have to offer doves or bulls or goats. No blood sacrifice is needed any longer. Jesus paid the price. I’m walking in a new covenant now, so maybe I don’t even need to gather with other believers. We’ll come back to that. We’ll come back to that. But you can see, in the first century, if you were a Jewish person who came to Christ, and now there was no reason to make sacrifices in the temple. And I think God, through history, made that pretty clear in AD 70 when he allowed the Romans to come in and to sack Jerusalem and to destroy the temple. You see, there was no longer a temple that they could go sacrifice at. Let me read from Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 14 through 16. Hebrews 4, 14 through 16. Therefore, since we have a great high priest. You see, that’s the message of the book of Hebrews, the whole book. Since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to emphasize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet he did not sin. I’m so thankful for Jesus. When I’m going through a temptation, when I’m going through a trial, the Bible reminds me here that Jesus knows what I’m going through. He knows what it feels like to be human. He knows what it feels like to have doubts and not be sure, God, what are you doing in my life? God, are you even there? Verse 16, let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Verse 16 mentions the throne of grace. When you think about a throne, a king sitting in a big, beautiful room with a big throne and everyone’s bowing to the king, I don’t think about grace. I think about, wow, I better stand too and I better do what’s right so that I don’t lose my life. Most of the time when we think about a throne, we think of a throne of judgment, a throne of judgment. And so here Hebrews is telling us that God’s throne is a throne of grace. It’s not a throne of judgment. You see, any time you turn to the Lord and you face the Lord, what you’re going to experience is grace. You’re going to experience love. When the Holy Spirit convicts you and you, in obedience to that conviction, says, yes, Lord, I repent. I want that out of my life. I want to be pleasing to you, whatever it is, you’re going to experience God’s grace. Here’s the sad truth. For anyone who rejects that work of the Holy Spirit in their life, that throne remains a throne of judgment. And then there’s condemnation and there’s guilt. And so if the Holy Spirit speaks to you about an area of your life, when the Holy Spirit speaks to me about an area of my life, I want to be quick to obey. I want to be quick to hear the voice of God and say, yes, Lord, I agree because I want to walk to the throne of grace, not the throne of judgment, amen? And so this week, when God is dealing with you in areas of your life, God wants you to experience grace. God wants you to experience freedom. But in order for you to experience that, you have to run to his grace. You have to run in obedience to what God is trying to accomplish in your life. Hebrews chapter 10 is telling us that because of Jesus, we can come boldly into the throne room of grace. We have a direct access to God. It’s not like in the Old Testament where only the high priest could go into the holy place where the Ark of the Covenant was once a year and they would tie a rope around his leg in case he had sin in his life and God would strike him down. And now because of Jesus, we can come into God’s presence anytime, anywhere, any place. Wow. What a gift. What grace God has given us. Our passage goes on in verse 21 to remind us that we have a great priest. Verse 21, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, I love that phrase house of God because it reminds me of the church. The church is the people of God. The church is the house of God. We see that theme running throughout scripture. God always wanted to have a people. He in the Old Testament, you can find passage after passage where God was saying, I will be your God and you will be my people. And that continues into the ministry and the work of Jesus and the church. Jesus said in Matthew 16, 18, I will build my church. And the Greek word there is not synagogue. It’s not. I will build my synagogue. Jesus had something completely different in mind. I will, I will bring together my followers and they will shake the world. I will bring together those who have come to realize that I am the fulfillment of all the promises in the Old Testament and they will be the church. They will be the called out ones to come together, to gather together, to pray together, to serve together and light will go out into the dark world because of the church. That’s what Hebrews is talking about. And it’s talking about, we have a great priest over the house of God. And before I get to the third truth, I want to just underline that the, the, the Christian message is a message about what God has already done, not what you can do. And I think for us as Pentecostals, that’s really, really important. I’m so glad to be a Pentecostal, a charismatic Bible believing spirit filled. I’m so thankful to have that emphasis on, I need to pray, I need to press in, I need to get close to God. And that’s what, as we continue to read the passages, that’s what we’re going to say is because we have a great high priest and because we have confidence to enter the holy place, let’s draw near to God. But I just want to underscore, if you’re ever in a place in your Christianity where you’re struggling, maybe you’re not seeing answers to your prayers. It’s what I call running while I rest. You’ve heard me say that before. You’ve also heard me joke about my lazy boy at home. I call the grace of God. So if you ever call me and you can say, pastor, what are you up to? Oh, I’m just at home resting in the grace of God. It’s supposed to be funny. Some of you got it. Here’s what I’m trying to say. Everything you do for the Lord is flowing out of what God has already done. The Christian message and what makes Christianity great and what makes Christianity different than all the religions of the world, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Shintoism, all these other philosophies, what makes Christianity great is Christianity celebrates what God’s already done for you, not what you can do for him. That’s the Christian faith. And as a Pentecostal, sometimes I need to remember that, that yes, I need to engage and I need to get going by faith with God. I need to run for the Lord, 1 Corinthians 9, 24 through 27. But as I’m doing that, it’s all coming out of what God has already done for me. It’s not as if I can earn my way into God’s favor. It’s not as if I can pray hard enough so that God becomes like there’s a formula that God’s just going to, I’m going to be like a puppet master, move God around. Friends, that’s heresy. That’s not biblical truth. That’s close to witchcraft in the Old Testament where God said, you’re not supposed to treat me like that. And so when I’m praying, when I’m seeking God, when I’m trying to, with my human effort, try to please the Lord and glorify God, it’s all, I’ve got to remember this, it’s all because of what God has already done in my life. It’s the grace of God. I couldn’t do anything without the grace of God in my life. And so if you’re a Christian here this morning and you’re just a little wore out, you’re just a little exhausted, I want to encourage you rest in the grace of God because everything you have in your Christianity comes from what Jesus has already done for you. He died on the cross so your sins could be forgiven. He rose from the dead so that you could live a new life, that you can have freedom from sin and freedom from addiction, that your relationships could be restored. We have a great high priest. He understands what you’re going through. Just lean this, this Sunday and this week, just lean into the grace of God a little bit, will you? I want to encourage you to rest in God. Rest in his grace. Hebrews talks about that actually later in some later chapters. He tells us that we still have this rest. We still have this Sabbath rest. Where does our Sabbath rest come from? Is it just because, well, the Sabbath day was one of the 10 commandments so we’re supposed to try to rest? No, your rest comes from Jesus because of what he accomplished before Jesus, you couldn’t even approach God. You couldn’t have a relationship with God. You couldn’t even enter the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest could do that and only consecrated priest could enter the holy place. The rest of us, we couldn’t even come near God. Hebrews tells us we have great confidence to approach God. We can approach God with boldness in the name of Jesus. And we have a great priest, Jesus. And so the writer goes on and says, let us draw near to God. So how can I draw near to God? Resting in the grace of God. How can I draw near to God? I do it based on what Jesus is doing in my life. Are you in Christ today? Have you by faith received the grace of God into your life? Are you walking in the grace of God? That’s how you experience true life. That’s how you experience an overabundance, a overflowing presence of God in your life is by resting in the grace of God. Look with me at verse 22. Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings. Having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. And you can see kind of the temple language. It makes you think of sacrifices in the temple. But what the author of Hebrews is telling us, now all of this is happening as you walk with Jesus. That you don’t, no longer do you have to go and make atonement for your sin. Jesus has done that. He says, because Jesus has done that, let’s draw near to God. One of the great benefits of the church is it helps you and helps me draw near to God. I mean, that’s what we’re doing here this morning. Amen. We’ve come here this morning, not just to listen to someone give a 40 or 50 minute speech, 30 minutes. I don’t even know how long I talk. Time is it? Right? But we’ve come because we want to draw near to God. We want to get closer to God. We want to hear the voice of God. We want God to show up in our lives. And what the author of Hebrews is saying is, look at what God in Jesus Christ has already done for you. He has cleared the road. You have direct access to God. And based on that, he says, go ahead and draw near to God. And that makes me think of James chapter four, verse eight, verse seven, submit yourselves then to God, resist the devil, he will flee from you. And then verse eight, come near or your version might say, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts. You double minded. It’s true. If you’re going to come near to God, something’s going to have to change in your heart and often in your mind. God will change you when you draw near to him, you won’t remain the same. Now don’t wait to change because it’s God who changes you. It’s the grace of God that will change you. You can’t change yourself. I can’t just work harder to be a better person that won’t last. I’m actually pretty good at it for a couple of days. Have you ever tried to do some self-improvement and you go along and for a week or two, it’s like, yeah, doing good. And then something happens, some circumstance shows up and you really just disappoint yourself. You’re like, Oh, I can’t believe I just did that or said that or acted that way. And it’s just a reminder that we need God’s help for true change in our lives. We can’t change ourselves. We can’t earn our way into God’s good graces. It’s all based on what God is doing in your life. Will you invite God to do this in your life? As you’re drawing near to him, will you say, Lord, help me to wash my hands and purify my heart. Lord, this is something you do, but will you do it in me? I’m ready, Lord. I want to draw near to God. Let me read it again. Verse 22. Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart. That’s such a powerful message that runs all through scripture. God will not receive an insincere heart. God does care about your motives. Those are the things other people can’t see. You can be misunderstood, but not by God. God knows your heart. And when we draw near to God, he wants us to do that with a sincere heart and with full assurance. So what does faith do? Hebrews chapter 11, verse one, faith gives us an assurance and a confidence of even though we don’t see God, he’s invisible. He’s eternal. He’s supernatural. We can’t see him, but faith gives us an assurance and a confidence. So Hebrews tells us, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with full assurance that faith brings. And then God sprinkles our hearts. He’s the one just, and it’s, it’s temple imagery, right? It’s this idea of what the priest used to do. They would bring in the sacrifices and the priest would sacrifice and, and make blood offering to God, but sometimes sprinkle on a person, an anointing, whether it’s oil or blood or other things. And it was this idea of God’s presence in their life. But now it, God is doing this in our hearts more metaphorically, right? More spiritually. It’s not maybe physically happening in a temple, but the Holy Spirit is sprinkling your heart with his presence. And it cleanses us from a guilty conscience. I don’t know who might be living in guilt today. You’re not living in sin, but you just still hear that voice. I just pray that God would just free you of that. In Jesus name, God doesn’t want us living in guilt or shame. Romans eight, one, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who in Christ Jesus. If you put it under the blood, it’s over, it’s forgotten. God doesn’t even remember what that person did to you. God doesn’t even remember what you did to that other person or how you messed up your own life in that season of your life. If you’ve put it under the blood of Jesus, it’s forgiven and it’s forgotten friends. That’s the joy of being a Christian and walking with the Lord. Amen. God doesn’t keep a record of our wrongs. We’re free. We’re forgiven. And so let’s draw near to God. And then I love this next let us, it’s let us hold on to hope. Verse 23, let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful. Let us hold unswervingly again. It’s this idea of having just a really firm grip, a very firm grip on, on the hope that you have in your life. What’s the hope it’s, it’s, it’s the hope in the resurrection of Jesus. It’s the hope that yes, and also the confidence that yes, my sins are forgiven. I have direct access to God. I’m walking with God through Jesus Christ and I have the hope of heaven one day and I have the hope of a bodily resurrection that when I, when I die, I won’t be dead forever. Hallelujah. I’m going to live forever because of Jesus, because of Jesus. And he says, let us hold onto that hope unswervingly. So it’s like you’ve got a life grip on it. I was going to say death grip, but I like life grip better. You’ve got a life grip on that hope that God has put in your heart and friends that’ll fuel every day. Because eternal hopes will fuel your daily life. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful. I think my favorite attribute of God is probably his goodness. I just see God’s goodness all over scripture, all over creation. But if there was a second or a third, it would be his faithfulness. God is faithful. He’s a promise maker. He’s a promise keeper. God comes through and he doesn’t keep track of time the way we do. A lot of times in my own life, if I can just share, I want, I pray and I want God to come through today or tomorrow. But then you go back into scripture and I’m afraid we’ve taught many of the stories either wrong or we’ve left a lot of the good parts of the stories out. You know, last Sunday we talked about Joseph and how he kept his attitude right. When you think about how long it took for Joseph’s story to come about, God had given him some dreams and probably unwisely he shared it with his brothers or at least the way he shared it. So they ended up putting him in a pit, selling him as a slave. He ends up in Potiphar’s house. You know the story. But what would have happened if Joseph would have had a short term outlook? Friend, God has the long term that he’s looking at in your life. So when you go to God in prayer, you may say, God, you’re not answering God. I don’t see you showing up. He’s at work. He’s at work. That’s what the Bible tells us. He’s at work. And the stories of the Bible remind us that God often takes the long road, not the short term approach. I was blessed by our missionary that came this Wednesday. We had a missionary who has served for 30 years in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. And he was sharing his testimony of how he was either just in high school or just coming out of high school. He was drinking beer, smoking marijuana, got invited to church and got saved. And with four months, he had heard from the Lord not only about his ovation, but also about his calling. He felt a call to ministry. Many people in that church, he said, were like, yeah, right. Here’s what I caught that was very interesting. He said it took 31 years before he actually was able to get to the mission field, which was he knew his calling. He had to go get education, then he had a family, then he decided to go be an RN so he’d have money to take care of his family. Friends, it took 31 years. And then Phil and Kim, they have served in that area of the world for over 30 years as missionaries. But it took 31 years for God to get them to that place. Please don’t take the short term view of what God is doing in your life. When you pray, just keep on praying. Keep on trusting and along the way, live with hope that you profess because God’s not done. God’s at work, even especially on those days when you don’t feel like he’s working. He’s working. Hebrews tells us, hold on to the hope that you profess. And then number five, and I love this one about the church, verse 24, and let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Now for some of you this morning, that’s not hard at all. You love stirring other people up. You just come by it naturally. But this is spiritual, right? So you might want to pray about it. You might want to ask the Lord how you should walk in wisdom to spur each other on and to stir them up. But that’s what the Greek means. You’re like stimulating other people to get going with Jesus. And so verse 24, and let us consider, and all of this is based on what Jesus has done. Because Jesus has died on the cross and rose from the dead, because you don’t any longer have to just go to the temple to do your religious duty. Now you get to walk in freedom and in joy and in hope and as a Christian, and Hebrews is saying, and because you get that, why don’t we get together and why don’t we draw near to God and why don’t we stir one another up towards good works and love? And it’s all wrapped up in this sixth truth, let us not give up meeting together. Look at verse 25, let us not give 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. And so here’s our word habit. Even in the New Testament, even in the first century, some believers, followers of Jesus were developing bad habits. And one of the bad habit was, not really that big a deal if I’m around other Christian people, because I don’t need to go to the temple. I don’t need to do any religious duty. I’ve given my life to Jesus. I’m a follower of Jesus Christ. His grace has covered my sin. I’m free. So maybe I don’t need to be around other believers. And Hebrews is writing us and writing the first century believers say, no, no, no. You need to get together with other believers so that you can draw near to God so that you can stir each other up. Right. That’s what we’re doing when we come together as the body of Christ. And as the church, we get to be on mission with Jesus. We get to know God and help other people grow in God. And we get to share hope as we share Jesus with people in the congregation and in our homes and in the community. I want to invite the worship team to come. The title of the message this morning was. Make make the church your home. I remember a time when we pastored overseas, an international church where I think this was so much easier for believers because often they were in that city, which was three and a half million people. And maybe they didn’t know the language. And so all they knew was English. And they were away from home and they were lonely. And so when they would come to the English speaking church called ICA, International Christian Assembly, it just was so much easier for them to make. The church feel like home. I don’t know if you’ve ever been away from home, but you know how you kind of go through that feeling you’re away from home and you start to miss things you never knew you missed. Like I remember being a missionary and and I didn’t even know I liked Pizza Hut. Go through a week or two and just start to desire some Pizza Hut pizza. Like one of those buffets with salad bar and some really good stuff. And I didn’t even know I like pizza that, you know, Pizza Hut pizza that much. That’s what I’m talking about. We would see people who are away from home and they would come into the church and they just love the relationships of the church. You know, in America today we have so many options. We can come to church, we can watch it online. We can be a part of a Bible study or we can study the 10 Bibles that I have on my own shelf at home, right? We have so many options. But church, I want to encourage you and not just you, but can you encourage someone else this week with me? Can we encourage one another to be a part of the family of God, to really make the church your home, to make these relationships here and the ones that God wants to bring into the church, your relationships, to where you’re really getting to know people, pray for people, help people, love people. You know, there’s like 59 one another’s in the New Testament. Do you know what I mean by that? Love one another. Kiss, greet each other with, I almost said kiss one another, I didn’t mean that. But there’s a passage, it’s like three times in the New Testament it says, greet each other with a holy kiss. Now our culture’s a little different, James, so don’t try it, okay? But we’re supposed to love one another. We’re supposed to honor one another above ourselves. 59 different times in the New Testament, it’s about one another. So I can’t go out of this place and say, well, I’m a Christian, I’m just gonna live my Christian life by myself. No, God wants me to be in relationship with one another. And so I’m calling us today to be a part of the church, to engage in the church, to engage in the relationships of the church, whether that’s youth group or young adults or legacy group or a ministry of the church. I wanna call you to engagement. Here’s what I’m learning. In the American church today, attendance is dead. It’s no longer about attendance. Now we can, we can do all kinds of flashy special things and we might get 10 more people in the chairs. But what really matters is your engagement, not attendance. Because when you’re growing as a disciple, when you’re serving the Lord in the church, when you’re finding your gifts, your spiritual gifts, and you’re beginning to find purpose and meaning in your walk with the Lord, that’s when the church is healthy and that’s when the church is growing. Attendance is dead. You know, I’m hearing talks about there’s a revival here, there’s a revival there. I wanna believe it, but church attendance over the nation is not up. And if there was true revival in America today, and I’m praying it’ll come, there wouldn’t be empty seats in church. It’d all be full. People would be crying, coming in here crying, being in the altar, right? And I sometimes talk to God without crying. I’m not saying crying’s the only way you can talk with God. But if there was revival, we would see people pouring into the church. It’s not about attendance. And by the way, I’m glad you’re here today. Praise God. I think we should be faithful in our attendance. But it’s about engagement. It’s about how are you engaging with the Lord? How are you engaging with His church? Are you serving? Are you leading? Are you helping someone else? Are you participating in a Bible study? So this morning, here is the call. I’m calling each and every one of us as believers to engage in the church of Jesus Christ, this local church. Are you engaged in your church, or are you just showing up every once in a while? I wanna encourage you just to take a small step towards engagement. Find a place to serve. Find a Bible study to get involved in. And what will happen is you’ll start to grow. You’ll start to grow. Thank you, Lord. Will you stand with me this morning? I’m so grateful for the church. I could preach a whole year of sermons on the benefits of the church. I love the church. The church has made such a difference in my life, and I know in your life as well. I wanna see His church built up. I wanna see His church healthy and growing. Let’s engage in the church. The worship team’s gonna lead us in a song. If you wanna step forward, just spend time in prayer, I encourage you to do that. God bless you. Hi, I’m Pastor Tom Ragsdale. I’m Pastor Elvis Benes. And we’re from Columbia First Assembly. We are a church that’s on mission with Jesus. Our vision is simple. We wanna make Jesus famous in your heart and in our community. Absolutely. Thank you so much for connecting with us online. We would also love to connect with you in person. We are located at 1100 North 7th Street, right in the heart of Columbia, Missouri, right across the street from Hickman High School. So if you’re in the central Missouri area and you’re looking for a home church, come hang out with us. If you’re just connecting online and you’re nowhere near us, then please connect with us in the comments. If you have a prayer request, if you have a question, if you’re wondering anything about the Lord or Christianity, please let us know, and we would be happy to engage with you in the comments. We believe God’s doing something special at our church, and we want you to be a part of it. We’re an anti-generational church. We have people from all different backgrounds. We’re a church of the Word. We’re a church of the Spirit. We believe Jesus can transform your life. That’s why we’re on mission with Him, and we wanna help you know God. We wanna help you grow in God, and we wanna share hope in our community. So connect with us, and we wanna connect with you. Awesome. Have a wonderful and a blessed day.