Scripture reading today is from the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 19-25. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. This is the word of the Lord. Amen. You may be seated. Let's pray together. Father, we ask your blessing now in the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Speak to us through your Spirit, and we'll thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. One of my favorite illustrations is an illustration about football, all right? One of the greatest coaches that ever lived, a guy by the name of Vince Lombardi. He coached a team called the Green Bay Packers. And on the day of the first Super Bowl, Vince Lombardi came in and looked at his men, and he had a garbage sack. And back in those days, they didn't have plastic. And he says, gentlemen, he says, inside of this bag, I have the secret of success. And everybody perked up and looked to say, wow, what has he got? And he opened up the bag and he pulled out a football. And then he gave them the basics. This is what we do with the football. This is how we defend it, etc., etc. You know, oftentimes we get away from the basics, don't we? When I was selling automobiles, one of the things I was taught early was, is that you never sell price, you only sell value. If you try to sell price, you'll lose the sale. And I began to sell value, and I began to sell a bunch of cars. And one day a friend of mine, who was my deacon, I was a student, He came in and he wanted to buy a Buick, no, a Century. And I figured, hey, this guy knows me. I'm just going to talk to him about the deal and get it all squared away. And I told him how much the car was going to cost. I stripped it down to 500 under invoice because I knew we were going to get the kickback. And he didn't buy the car that day, but he went to a Chevrolet dealership and bought a Celebrity. which was the same car but not quite as nice. And would you know he paid more money for it? That taught me a lesson, all right? Even with people you know, always take care of the basics. Well, today we're in church, all right? And what's the basics when it comes to church? So what I thought I would do is just spend three weeks and finish out the month of August looking at some of the basics of the local church. And today we're going to look at the idea of meeting together. Lord willing, next week we're going to look at the idea of what does it mean to be a body. And then, Lord willing, on the last Sunday of the month, we're going to look at the idea of what does it mean to serve one another. Alright? So, that's the basics of the local church. So let me start this morning with a question that I think is a very good question. And it's this. What does God intend to happen when we come together for our Sunday morning worship service? You ever thought about that? What does God intend to happen when we come together this morning for His worship service? Now, the Bible teaches that we are to regularly and consistently gather together, right? Not to neglect this is what the passage we read said. Not to be lax in this. Maybe I could put it this way. Not to be cavalier. It's a command, alright? It's an imperative. We must come together as brothers and sisters in Christ. But the question is, is why? Why is God so pointed, so emphatic about this? Meeting together. Well, the answer is, is because it's absolutely necessary for our life and our health and for our own spiritual growth. There are things that He intends to happen here this morning. God wants something to happen. Now, if you're kind of cavalier, if you're kind of casual about the gathering of the church Sunday by Sunday, if you have kind of a, well, I'll be there when I can attitude, or someone who got to the place where they say, you know what, I'm not really feeling obligated. If it's pretty easy for you to justify missing this gathering, you're not getting something that God speaks directly about. You're missing something, alright? And what you're missing is, is the clear teaching of the Word of God. And more importantly, you're missing something that God is doing, that God is giving. You see, God intends good for you, He intends good for us. And when God gives a command, He's not doing this to make us miserable. Have you ever thought about that? Alright, God gives a command, and the reason He gives this command is, is He wants us to be miserable. No, when God gives us a command, what is it? It's always ultimately for what? Our good, isn't it? And ultimately for His glory. So God just doesn't arbitrarily come along and say, you know what? On Sunday, I want you guys to be in the house of God. I know it's going to be miserable, but you can live with it, all right? No. He wants to do us good, all right? God wants to give us joy as we learn from Him. You see, left to ourselves, we always get it wrong, don't we? And that's the truth when it comes to the Bible. Listen, God is the creator, sustainer of the universe. He made us, all right? And he made us for himself. And when we do the things that he asked us to do, we're the happiest people on earth. So God, for our good, for our joy, for our life, gives us fatherly instruction. And here is the imperative. Do not neglect to meet together as a church. Now let me mention another danger. That's being here physically, but not being engaged. There is more than one way to neglect the gathering together, right? Remember, God has something He intends to happen. It's also very likely to just let this gathering become routine. Where we're here, but we're not really here. We come together, we're not ready, we're not prepared. Listen, there's something that God intends to happen this morning as we gather together to worship. It's also very likely to just get caught into the moment. So why are we here? Why are we gathering? Well, that's what I want to answer this morning from today's text. And I want to point out three things. But as I point out these three things, let me just say from the get-go that there are really more than three things, but they're just three things here in the text that I want us to see. And what are they? Well, first of all, we speak to God. Secondly, we hear from God. And then lastly, we impart, alright, that's wrong in your bulletin, we impart God's grace to each other. So let's look at these three things. We speak to God. God intends for this to happen when we gather together. Look back at our text, if you would. Let's start reading in verse 19. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us draw near, he says. Now what are we to do? We're to speak our worship to him We're to speak our gratitude to Him. We are to speak our praise to Him. We are to bless God with our words. Now we have to be very careful here. Because speaking to God in worship is something that we're not independently capable of doing, are we? Remember, apart from what God has done for us, we would have nothing to say. Without him, our mouths would be full of anything but praise, wouldn't it? If the grace of God through Christ had not ministered to us, what would we have to say? Our attitude about the Lord's table and the Lord's day and anything of the Lord's would be just the opposite of what it is today, wouldn't it? But God has spoken to us through Christ. He has changed our heart and we have this new desire and love for God. In fact, let's look again at the text and listen to what it says. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, Let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Now listen, if the seed of the gospel has been planted into your heart, or if I could put it this way, if the seed of the gospel has been planted into your garden, that seed will start to sprout. and all of a sudden you will become a glad-hearted witness, right? Nobody, folks, sings like people who understand the gospel, do they? One of our songs here at this church is that wonderful grace of Jesus. I've noticed that over the years. We sing that probably better than any song. And that's a great song, isn't it? And it's a great message. But the reason we sing it the way we sing it is because we believe in that wonderful grace of Jesus. because it's taken us from sinner to saint through the imputed righteousness of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The psalmist says, come before the Lord with singing. In fact, it's a chance for all of us to do something at the same time to say the same thing. And can I put it another way? It's a time for us, for all of us, to sing on the same sheet of the music. And so we come together to praise God, to say the same thing. We come together to praise Jesus Christ. Listen to a couple of these passages of scripture that I've written down here. Notice with me Psalm chapter 47 in verse 6. He says, sing praises to God, sing praises. Sing praises to our King, sing praises. Psalm 146, 1 and 2. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God while I have a being. Psalm 95, verse 1. O come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Psalm 98, verse 1. O sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things. His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him. And isn't it interesting that when we get into the New Testament, what do we see? We see the Apostle Paul telling us to do the same thing, don't we? Listen to what he says in Colossians 3. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And then James tells us something similar. James chapter 5 says, Is anyone of you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh. And since we have this great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Don't you just love the strength of that verse? He, through His flesh, became the veil between us and the Holy God. And you remember what happened after Jesus died on the cross? He cried out, It is finished. What happened to the veil in the temple? It was torn in two and now we had access to God, didn't we? And He did that, it says, through His flesh. Let us, as a congregation, speak to our God. Let our worship be God-centered, God-focused, God-aimed. Let me ask you a question. Are you coming on Sunday morning ready to speak to God? Do you have anything to say to Him? Maybe words of confession? or supplication, or gratitude, or praise. Are you eagerly participating in Sunday worship? David said, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go in to the house of the Lord. God intends for us to do this when we come together. We hear from God. Again, God intends for this to happen. Look down with me at your text in verse 23. He says there, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Let me ask you this question. What is this confession? Let us hold fast this confession without wavering." What is he talking about there? Well, he's talking about our belief in the Word that has been spoken, right? Don't you just love the Bible and the way it works itself out from the very beginning to the very end? Biblical theology, right? It's one story about God loving mankind, sending His Son so we could have a communion with And from the very beginning in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, right after man's fall, what does God do? He promises there's going to be a seed, doesn't He? And that seed would be coming to be the Redeemer to take care of our sins, to take care of our needs. And then the Old Testament begins to unfold who that's going to be, right? You get to Genesis 12, you got Abraham, and he promises Abraham and you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. And then Abraham finally gets that son, Isaac. And then Isaac has Jacob, and Jacob becomes Israel, and he has his 12 sons. And then when Israel or Judah is dying, what does he do? He picks one out named Judah, who is going to be the one who is going to be the Redeemer, right? He does all that. And then he begins to continually unfold the Old Testament. And he begins to tell us not only will the Redeemer be the seed of a woman, but he was going to be God himself, right? And we get to Isaiah, and what does he call him? He shall be called Emmanuel, God with us. And then we come to Matthew chapter 1, and how does the writer of the New Testament start? He starts with the promise from the Old Testament and that Jesus is who? The son of Abraham, son of David. He's the promised Messiah. And then we read the Gospels and we see he comes and he lives this glorious, perfect life and then he dies so he could forgive us of our sins. Folks, that's the blessed truth that we hold. That's our confession of faith. God has done all of this for us. That's the truth that we confess. You know, we kind of moved our worship style a little differently, and the one thing I really miss is doing the Apostles' Creed. Now, we modified it just a little, but that's what we believe, that's what we confess. God has all of that. So the writer of Hebrews then tells us to hold on to this, to make sure that we keep it firm on our grip. And the way this happens is a continual speaking and receiving of the truth. Truth that is preserved here in this book we call the Bible. And folks, we know we need the truth, right? 2 Timothy 3 says that we become Christians through the Word. What else? It tells us that we become mature through the Word. And so we love the word. We love to hear the word of God preached and proclaimed and made much of. This book is our spiritual food. Remember, God says man does not live by bread alone. Now, remember, you were made for God, right? So then what do we live by? By every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. You ever been in a place where there's no preaching? I remember when I was in boot camp, all right? We depended on the chaplains. And you know that not all the chaplains are evangelical, right? Now, they always had a Protestant service. They always had a Catholic service. And I'd always go to the Protestant, but the Protestant, that's a big box, isn't it? And I remember one of those boot camp days, the hardest days of my life, thinking, hey, I'm going to get an hour and 15 minutes off, and I'm going to go to an air-conditioned chapel. It's hot there in Southern California. And listen to God's Word. You know, every third Sunday we got a good message. The other two guys, not so much. But you ever gone back when you were hungry for the Word of God and you didn't receive it? That's a long day. When they talked about Jesus, but they never really explained who He was and what He came to do and how He can change your life. And I grew up in another Protestant tradition. And you know what? I used to hear the gospel all the time. But never once did the pastor ever say, you need to repent of your sin and put your faith and trust in Jesus to have eternal life. I'd come back from that place and think to myself, will anybody feed my soul? You see, folks, God's program is the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, isn't it? And this is where it's done. In fact, listen to what Paul says to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 13. He says, Timothy, until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. What does Paul say? He says, devote yourself to this. This is what has to happen. And that's why we do what we do on Sunday morning. We always read the text. Because that's what scripture tells us to do. And then explain what the text means. Now why does Paul say this? Because he understands what happens when this book is preached publicly. It changes lives. Think of all the things that happened to the Apostle Paul. He would come into a town, right? And he'd start with the Jews, and he'd go into the synagogue, and he would say, Christ is the promised Messiah. And some of them would believe, but then some would get upset and push him aside. And then what'd he do? He'd turn to the Gentiles, right? And then what did he do? He preached this book. And God's Spirit, through the Word, changed lives. and people got saved and churches were started. Paul understood that the public preaching of the Word of God is the most important thing in the world. Listen to how J.I. Packard puts it. I'm going to quote him. He says, quote, Preaching mediates not only God's authority, but also His presence and His power. Preaching affects an encounter not simply with truth, but with God Himself. And I, folks, know this to be true because I know that God uses His Word like a hammer sometimes hitting my stony heart. And I know that God uses His Word like a sword piercing my inner being. And then sometimes God uses His Word like rain to nourish and refresh myself. You know one of the great passages of scripture that talks about the Word of God is found in Isaiah chapter 55. Would you turn there with me for a second? Listen to what it says starting in verse ten for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth making it bring forth and sprout giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty but I will accomplish that what I purpose and I will succeed in the things for which I sin. Now I used to stop reading there, but let's keep reading. For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Now listen. Instead of the thorn shall come the cypress, and instead of the briar shall come the myrtle, and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign. that shall not be cut off." So what happens when the Word of God goes forth? It takes the thorns and makes them into cypresses. It takes the briars and makes them into myrtles. Folks, there are things that God wants to be done here. He speaks to us through the teaching and preaching of the Word of God. So let me ask you this question. Do you eagerly come to benefit from what he has for us some people would say help me take my eyes off my circumstances so i can look to you folks listen come every sunday anticipating god is going to speak so come with humility and with faith believing that god's word will not that it will change and then listen Spend some time getting right with God before you come. God intends to speak to us Sunday by Sunday as we gather together. We speak to Him. He speaks to us. And then thirdly, we impart God's grace to each other. Now, folks, listen. I'm a great believer in preaching I just talked about it right in the faithful preaching of God's Word but listen I have no illusion that preaching is enough there needs to be a mutual ministry a ministry in which we all participate look with me back in our text at verses twenty four and twenty five It says there, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Now what is this encouraging one another? It's not just saying something nice. Although that's good. This is actually depositing something, imparting something into someone else. And what is that? Well, listen. What it is, is it's God's grace. Good things from God for us, like strength, comfort, courage, hope, motivation to love and motivation to good deeds. But they come from God. And they're His grace given to us to give to others. Now you say, where do you get that? Well, take your scriptures and look with me for a second at 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 10. Listen to what that says. As each one has received a gift, Use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace. Good stewards of God's grace. So what God wants us to do when we gather together is deliver God's grace, something that you got from God, of God, to others. And notice Peter says, as each one has received a gift. So that means then if you're here and you know Christ as Savior, you have the spiritual gift of something, right? So take that gift that God has given you and imparted in somebody else's life to help them to change and to grow and become everything that God wants them to be. Good stewards of God's grace. Now listen, a steward is just somebody giving something out what God's already given them, right? It doesn't belong to you. So take what God has given you, and then to pass it to others. Peter says, as each one has received a gift. Now, just to get a little better picture of that, I'm just going to ask you to take your Bibles and just turn with me to one more passage before we're done this morning. Look with me, if you would, starting in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Listen to what it starts says there for just as the body is one and has many members In all the members of the body though many are one body. So it is with Christ For in one spirit. We were all baptized into one body Jews or Greeks slaves are free and we're all made to drink of one spirit For the body does not consist of one member but of many If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smelling? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose. If we were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. Nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weak are indispensable. And those parts of the body that are less honorable, we bestow greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty. with our presentable parts do not require, but God has composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it. That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. So you see what he's saying there? We all have a part in the body. God has given us grace to deliver, to impart to each other. And whatever that is, that's what we do. Now we've never, at New Covenant Church, spent a lot of time trying to figure out what your spiritual gift is. And there's nothing wrong with that. But normally I just think, look, what do you like to do? Then do that in the service of others. And when you gather together and you impart what God's done in your life to others, it builds them up. and it helps them to want to move on and go for Christ. So each week, every Sunday, what a great opportunity this provides for a whole network of us imparting God's grace to each other, as we share with one another, as we talk to one another, as we listen to one another. And sometimes, something as simple as a word of welcome, a warm, kind hello, In fact, doesn't the Bible tell us that we're to greet one another with a Holy Christ? So look for opportunities, right? The Spirit of God wants to be active in this room even after this service. So here's the question. Am I coming expecting God to be arranging some conversation where I can take the gifts that God has given me, His grace, and impart it to others? looking for an opportunity to impart grace to someone else. So there are three things God intends to happen here on Sunday. We speak to God. We hear from God. And listen, as we think about that, pray for me during the week that God will give me power and understanding of the Scriptures. And then thirdly, we impart God's grace to each other. There's something God here that God has for us. And so, folks, listen, don't miss out on it. Make Sunday morning a priority for yourself and for your family. Anticipate its coming and don't waste another Sunday. You say, Pastor, that's basic. I know it is. But I also know that when we get away from the basics, we get away from what the blessing that God wants to give us. God wants to do something every Sunday in our midst. He wants us to speak to Him. He wants to speak to us. And then He wants us to take the grace gift that He's given us and impart to others around us. Take advantage of it, all right? Remember, God doesn't give us an imperative to make us sad, to make us miserable. He gives us an imperative so we'll be glad and rejoice in what he's doing in our lives. Let's pray together, shall we? Father, thank you for your time today and your word. Thank you, Father, for the Lord's ministry to us as our high priest. We're thankful, our Father, for this church and the opportunity that we have together today to come and meet together and then every Sunday after that. Father, we just ask that as a church that we would not forget the importance and we would not, like the scripture says, neglect to come together. But Father, that we would make this Lord's Day, this gathering together, as a higher priority as you make it. And Father, for that we'll give you the thanks and praise in Jesus' name. Amen.