Our Responsibility to Meet Together

I appreciate Jared filling in for Keith while he is out. And I thought about something while I was worshiping. It's nice to have so many folks in the life of our church who can serve and who do serve. We are really, really, really blessed with the amount of people who can teach, teach children, teach our teenagers, teach small group. The amount of men we have who can preach God's word, I will be out next Sunday. And I know that the pulpit will be filled very well. And I'm thankful that when Keith's out, we've got faithful people who can serve and lead us. And I'm just bragging on you.

Well, if you would take your Bible, turn back to Hebrews chapter 10. I did say that we'll be in verses 24 and 25. I will really focus on verse 25, but I will go ahead and tell you, I'm going to be topical in certain portions of the message. That means I'll read different scripture, I'll note different scripture. You can write those down, but if you try to follow me, you're gonna get lost. Sometimes I'll say take notes, and sometimes I'll say just put your pen aside and follow me. I would rather you put your pen aside and follow me this morning so that you can track all along through the message.

And if you need my notes, those scripture references, I'll be glad to give that information to you. Now last week we finished up verses 19 to 25 in what I called the privileges and responsibilities of the new life. If you've not gotten those two messages, I strongly encourage you to do so. All of this really does go together. But we saw that this new life in Christ under the new covenant provides us with certain advantages. I call them privileges. The author gave us three here in verses 19 to 21. The privilege of boldly entering into the presence of God.

The privilege of the new blood slain living way opened up to us through the bodily sacrifice of Christ on the cross. The privilege of possessing Jesus as our high priest who rose over us and rules over his church. And we saw that this new life in Christ automatically brings us to certain responsibilities. Really, these responsibilities are commanded to all who are in Christ Jesus. The author gave us three in verses 22 to 25. Our responsibility to draw near to God. Our responsibility to hold tightly to the faith and our hope in Christ Jesus. And our responsibilities to one another in the church.

Now notice I said responsibilities plural more than one. Although last week I treated verses 24 to 25 as one responsibility. But if we pay attention to what we see here in these verses, verse 24 to 25, we can clearly see that as believers we have one great responsibility to one another in the church. But we are to do certain things that come under this great responsibility. We can say it like this, this great responsibility to one another is lived out in many different ways. Well that leads me to explain a little more what I wanna do in the message this morning.

Although we did finish up verses 19 to 25 last week, I wanna take something that we see here in verse 25 a little further. Verse 25, the author was calling those in this original congregation now not to neglect meeting together as was the habit of some in this original congregation. And I wanna zero in on this meeting together, this neglecting to meet together, and I wanna examine to see if we are meeting together as we should. But I wanna start off by asking and answering a question that we've looked at before. The last time we asked this question was back in March of 2023. Now that question is why do we worship on Sunday?

And I wanna answer that question by first looking at what the New Testament church did, second, what the New Testament teaching says about why we worship on Sunday, and on top of that I wanna ask another question, why do we meet at other times? Like Wednesday nights, like our spring revival and renewal meeting. And other times, sometimes we do meet on a Sunday night in a setting like this, a worship service together. And then I will bring us all the way back around to this verse, verse 25, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some. I like the New American, it says not forsaking our own assembling together.

So that first question, why do we worship on Sunday? Why do we worship on Sunday? Number one, I want us to see when the New Testament church worshiped. When the New Testament church worshiped. Now the day when New Testament believers worship can be difficult to see at first, we really have to pay attention because after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which was the birth of the church really, the church really just took off. We are seeing that at our study on Wednesday nights. And we certainly will when we get to that third round of persecution very soon.

But the growth of the church in the New Testament happened really, really fast. And the growth spiral of the New Testament church got broader and broader there in the book of Acts. And we see it get broader as we get into those other New Testament books. But I wanna point out three things. What day certain major events took place in the New Testament when the church began to meet as seen in the New Testament and the unique name for Sunday that took a hold as is seen in certain New Testament scriptures. So first notice what day certain major events took place in the New Testament.

The resurrection of Jesus took place on the first day of the week and that Sunday. We see this in Matthew 28 verses one to six. Listen to the verse. Now after the Sabbath toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. Behold, there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning in his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid "for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

"He is not here for he has risen and he said, "Come and see the place where he lay." And we also see the very same themes in Luke 24 verses one to three. But also notice the two post resurrection appearances of Jesus to his disciples. Those events took place on the first day of the week and that is Sunday. John 20 verse 19 reads, "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, "the doors being locked where the disciples were "for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them "and said to them, 'Peace be with you.'" John 20 verses 20 to 24, we see that Thomas was not with the disciples when Jesus had revealed himself to them.

Remember, Thomas was the one that said he would not believe that Jesus had risen unless he could put his fingers in the nail holes. John 20 verse 26 says, "Eight days later, "his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with him. "Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood "among them and said, 'Peace be with you.'" I like that particular story because it helps me see that our Lord is patient with those who doubt.

And then also, "The outpouring of the Holy Spirit "at Pentecost happened on the first day of the week "and again, that was on a Sunday." Acts two verse one reads, "When the day of Pentecost arrived, they," that's the church, "were all together in one place "and scholars think that was the upper room. "And if you do the work on the Jewish calendar, "you will see that this was the first day of the week "and that was Sunday." So it's easy to see that the two most important events after the cross happened on the first day of the week and the first day of the week, Sunday.

Resurrection of Jesus, which proved that he had provided for salvation and the outpouring of the Spirit, which was and is the birth of the church. Both of those events took place on the first day of the week, that was and is Sunday. But the second thing I want us to see, notice when the church began to meet for worship. One example of the church is seen at Troas. Acts 20 verse seven reads, "On the first day of the week," what day of the week is that? Sunday, on the first day of the week when we gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with him intending to depart on the next day and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

Now, don't complain if I preach 45 minutes. If I was apostolic, I would preach till midnight. Here we see the church gathered for two very important things. First, they were eating together. Second, they had gathered for instruction from God's word and we see that Paul instructed them well into the night and these things took place on the first day of the week, that's Sunday. Our next example is the church at Corinth. First Corinthians 16, one and two says, "Now concerning the collection for the saints." That's an offering, money. As I directed the churches in Galatia, so you also are to do on the first day of every week.

Notice that, the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as he may prosper so that there will be no collecting when I come. Here we see Paul giving the church and churches instructions on how to take up a collection. And notice he says, "On the first day of every week." This outright says that the church at Corinth will mount on the first day of the week every week and that was Sunday. And if we do some language study here on this subject, we find something very interesting. And all four gospels, there is an unusual way of expressing the first day of the week for the resurrection of Jesus.

In the original, it literally reads, "The number one of the Sabbath." Language scholars tell us that this is very bold language. This simple word for first is seen over 150 times in the New Testament, but this unusual wording is found in the gospels and only pertaining to the resurrection, except for two other places in the New Testament, Acts 20 verse seven in 1 Corinthians 16, too. So the determination here is that resurrection day and the first day of the week when the church met together for worship were distinguished as a unique and special day by this emphasis given from this unusual wording.

So it's easy to see that the New Testament Christians, both Jew and Gentile now, they began to worship on the first day of the week, which was and is Sunday. Resurrection day was seen as the completion of God's redemptive work and it was and is. It was and is a day of victory, celebration and worship. So it was natural that the church would meet on this first day of the week. And on top of that now, the Holy Spirit was poured out and given on Pentecost, which was the first day of the week. And that was a day of victory. That certainly was a day of celebration and worship as well, because that was the day when the church was actually born.

And resurrection day and the first day of the week, which is when the church met, those days were clearly distinguished as unique and special days because of this unique way those days were called. Resurrection day and Sunday worship was the number one of the Sabbath. But then third, notice that a unique name or title for Sunday seems to have taken a hold by the time we get to the book of Revelation. We know what was taking place in the book of Revelation. John wrote this book, the Apostle John. John the Apostle was in exile on the island of Patmos and God began to unfold for him these great visions, this book.

John says in chapter one, verse 10, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. So it seems that John was and is giving the first day, Sunday, a new name, the Lord's day. Now, what is my point here? I want us to see that the church, that we see in the New Testament did two things. First, they began to worship on the first day of the week, that's Sunday, they began to worship on resurrection day, for that's when their Lord arose. They began to worship on what we could call Holy Spirit day, for that's when the Holy Spirit was poured out and the church was born.

Second, they even distinguished resurrection day or the day they met for worship as a unique day by the way they described it or named it. It became the number one day of the Sabbath or the number one after the Jewish Sabbath. And third, at the end of the book of Revelation, Sunday just became the Lord's day. And look church, I've said this before and I don't think I have heated my instruction very well. I think it's best if we call Sunday the Lord's day. It's not Saturday, it's not Saturday 2.0, it is the Lord's day, it is the Lord's day. So why do we worship on Sunday? Let's continue. Number two, the New Testament teaching.

We'll go one step further here and we will look at the New Testament teaching here. As we have seen, the New Testament strongly implies and I believe and exemplifies that the church is to meet on the first day of the week, that's Sunday, Sunday the first, after the Old Sabbath, it's the Lord's day. And in the New Testament, it is obvious that we see the seventh day give way to the first day as the Old Covenant faded into obscurity and the New Covenant was revealed in Christ. We've been seeing that in our study through the book of Hebrews. And we see the church assembled on the first day all throughout the New Testament.

So it is obviously implied, exemplified, and expected that we meet on the first day even though it is not commanded that the church is to meet the first day in the scripture. But the New Testament church certainly modeled that the church is to meet for worship on this first day. And for the most part, the church throughout church history has testified this to be true. And an honest reading of church history really shows us this fact. Now in the New Testament, there are specific instructions concerning the day of worship. But these instructions are up against keeping the Old Covenant Sabbath in the church. And let me repeat that.

In the New Testament, there are instructions concerning the day of worship, but these specific instructions or commands are against keeping the Old Covenant Sabbath in the church. And this is what was happening. In many of the New Testament churches, there were false teachers who infiltrated the churches and they were teaching that a person was saved by grace through faith, but they added something to grace. They taught that a believer must keep the Old Testament law as well to be a Christian. Simply, they were mixing salvation by grace through faith and Judaism. They were mixing salvation by grace through faith with law keeping.

Now let me pause here. Folks, anytime someone comes along and adds anything to grace, they are a legalist and they are stepping away from, diverting from biblical Christianity. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ and Christ alone, period paragraph. Anything added to that is cultish. Now at this point, there are three portions of scripture I want us to look into. First is Romans chapter 14. I won't read all of the chapter. We have this situation where Paul was addressing the church in Rome. Within the church at Rome, there were mature Jewish and Gentile Christians and there were immature Jewish and Gentile Christians as well.

And basically this is what was happening. Some Jewish Christians were holding on to the old covenant dietary law, Sabbath days and even sacrifices there in the temple. Paul called them weaker Christians and they did not, and he did not strongly condemn them, but he definitely called them weaker brothers. So Paul called these brothers weaker Christians. His was not an open condemnation, but it wasn't an affirmation either. Most importantly, he called all the church to accept it's in love. Get that. He did not rebuke the weaker Christians, nor did he exalt the stronger.

He called all in this church to be accepting of one another and to love one another, weak and strong alike. But then second, we have this Galatian situation or the situation in the Galatian church. Look at Galatians or listen to Galatians 4, 9 to 11. Paul says, "But now that you have come to know God "or rather to be known by God," these were Christians now, professing Christians, "How can you turn back again "to the weak and worthless elementary principles "of this world? "Who slaves you want to be once more?

"You observe days, months, and seasons, in years." Verse 11, "I am afraid that I have labored over you in vain." Within the Galatian church, there were a group of false teachers called the Gnostics who had infiltrated the church, and the Gnostics were calling these Christians back to keeping parts of the Mosaic law. The Gnostic teaching and the Gnostic teachers called them to keep certain Jewish Sabbath days, months, and years. And here, Paul strongly condemned this practice. In verse 9, he says they were going back to weak and worthless elementary things. Paul says they were going back to being slaves all over again.

So Paul clearly condemned those who were seeking to go back into keeping certain parts of the Mosaic law. Those days would have been the Old Covenant Jewish Sabbath days. But one more situation. The Colossians situation of the Colossian church. Listen to Colossians 2, 16 to 17. Paul says, "Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you "in question of food and drink, "or with regard to a festival, or a new moon, or a Sabbath. "These are a shadow of the things to come, "but the substance belongs to Christ." Simply within the Colossian church, they were a group.

Judging certain believers because they were not keeping the Jewish law, specifically the dietary regulations, those Jewish festivals, and the Sabbath days. And here, Paul condemned their judgment. He called them to Christ and reminded them that all things in the law were a mere shadow of what was to come, a substance of what was to come, and that wasn't his Christ. And this needs repeating. Paul condemned this teaching, which called these Christians to come back to these Jewish dietary regulations, back to the festivals, back to these Sabbath days, and he called them back to Christ.

He reminded them that all things in the law were a mere shadow of what was to come, and that wasn't his Christ. Again, we've learned of these things in Hebrews. So Paul clearly condemned those who expected the Colossian Christians to keep the Jewish Sabbath, which was the Sabbath day, and he called them back to Christ. Now quickly, big picture, an overview of what we've seen here in the New Testament. I've covered a lot of ground. Nowhere in the New Testament are Christians commanded to keep the Old Covenant Sabbath, or any Old Covenant regulations. That needs repeating.

The New Testament does not command Christians to keep the Old Covenant Sabbath, or any of the Old Covenant regulations. We have learned in Hebrews, specifically chapter eight, verse 13, that the Old Covenant is obsolete. The Old Covenant was and is fulfilled in the New Covenant, and that was and is Christ. If we go on into Acts chapter 15 at the Great Jerusalem Council, we'll get there soon.

On Wednesday nights, church leaders met to work out some of the first theological problems there in the fledgling church, and in the judgments that they handed down, they never imposed worshiping on the Old Covenant Sabbath for the new Gentile believers who are coming into the church. And holding on to any Old Covenant regulations was condemned in Romans 14, Galatians four, and Colossians two, let me repeat that. Holding on to any of the Old Covenant regulations was clearly and strongly condemned. In Romans 14, Galatians four, and Colossians two.

So in their example, the New Testament church met on Sunday the first day, and by implication, expectation, and teaching, the New Testament teaches us that the church today should meet on Sunday the first day. And I'll be honest with you, I don't see how anybody can argue with this. Now what's my point? For some of you, this is new information. This is an education. And for some of you, you're saying, "Pastor, slow down, that's a lot for me to get. "Again, I'll help you, I can give you my notes "to help you there." But for many of us, this is a reminder of things we know.

Simply by example, implication, and expectation, the New Testament teaches us that the church today should meet on Sunday for worship, and Sunday is the Lord's day, it is the Lord's day. Now at this point, I want to make a few comments, and I wanna make some application here for us today. What should be our position? What should be our position with all of these things? First position, I'm gonna give you three. You could add to this probably. We must be gracious, accepting, and loving towards others, even when we may live out our Christian life a little different than the other. Let me say that again.

The life of the church, we must be gracious, and accepting, and loving towards one another, even when a brother or a sister or a family may live out the Christian life a little bit different. In Romans chapter 14, we learn that those who have liberty in an area of life, and those who have conviction in that same area must walk hand in hand. Romans 14 teaches us that we must accept, love, and support one another, even in the areas of conviction where we may differ, and to judge and despise one another is a sin. I'll give you two examples real quick. I will often mention this one.

We can choose to educate our children different than a brother or a sister or a family across the sanctuary. You have your convictions, I have my convictions. We follow the Lord in our convictions, but we do not look down, we do not judge, we do not condemn, we look across the sanctuary, and we celebrate that brothers and sisters educate their children the way the Lord leads. Now when it comes to what we do on Sunday, we're gonna get to this, a brother may have liberty, whereas a brother may have conviction, but again, we do not condemn one another. Second position, we must be New Testament biblical.

Now I'm not advocating disconnecting from the old. Let me explain. The old covenant pointed to Christ. The old covenant is full of types, shadows, and promises that pointed to Christ. He is here, so we do not adhere to the old covenant. Hebrews 8.13 says that the old covenant is obsolete, and that is because it was fulfilled in Christ. We've been learning that thoroughly in Hebrews. Of course there are parts of the Old Testament that we certainly do adhere to and obey. Scholars use a term for the 10 commandments called the moral law.

I don't have a problem with that term, and the moral law was definitely binding on all peoples, except we would say that the fourth commandment is not binding anymore. But we must see that the New Testament condemns keeping any parts of the old covenant regulations. They simply don't apply to us. Third position, we must see Sunday as the Lord's day. I think it is important, even what we call it again. I've been a hypocrite. I have reverted back to calling it Sunday. Sunday was never called the Sabbath or the Christian Sabbath in the New Testament.

Sunday, the first day of the week, was called the first day of or after the Sabbath, and it was clearly called the Lord's day by the time we get to the book of Revelation. Now at this point I want to transition. I want to list some possible errors or traps or sins that we can make here. I will give us five. You could add to this. The first error is not setting aside Sunday as the Lord's day. These are those who do whatever they want because they just see Sunday as another Saturday. They just see Sunday as a day for golf. They see Sunday as a day for tennis.

They see Sunday as a day for fishing, hunting, whatever, work around the house, camping. It's just another Saturday. Well, that's an error, and that is a trap that we can fall into, and that can lead to a whole host of sins. Again, Sunday is the Lord's day. Number two, the error of setting aside part of the day is the Lord's day. I saw this happen to a friend of mine, the pastor's a larger church or pastor at a larger church. He ran into this mindset in the life of his church. They were in the process of canceling the early service because of space issues. They had an early and a later service.

They were in the process of combining those services. And there was a group in the church that came to him and said, "We wanna keep the early service because that gives us the rest of the day to do what we wanna do." And what that's reflective of is this, just treating the day, the Lord's day, as a Saturday, and even treating part of the day as a Saturday. And I believe that's an error, that's a trap. That is a sin because the Lord's day is the Lord's day. And then number three, the error of carrying what I call a Trump card to be used against the Lord's day when you need it.

Now, I'm not talking about President Trump or getting into politics. I don't know if you play cards. When my wife goes home to see her mother, one of the things they do is run to the card table. They love to play cards. She's pretty vicious. I'm talking about my mother-in-law. But you know, if a two is a Trump card, well, it trumps everything, even an ace. You get the picture. What I'm aiming at is this. There are some who always have things that just seem to come up, and it's a Trump card against the Lord's day. Family needs come up, that trumps the Lord's day. Sometimes work can come up, that trumps the Lord's day.

You know, hobbies can come up, that trumps the Lord's day. I remember I used to go to church years ago with a guy who said, "Opening day of deer season "always trump the Lord's day." Well, it's not opening day. Sunday is the Lord's day. And that mindset, that practice, that can lead us to a whole host of sins now. Then number four, the error of the proverbial ox in the ditch. I've used this one before. This is a reference to Luke 14.5, where under the Old Covenant now, it was lawful to work. It was lawful to work to get an ox that had fallen into the ditch or into a well.

And that work on the Sabbath was permissible because it was good to get the animal out of the ditch out of danger because of its value. But notice there are some who always seem to get an ox in the ditch on Sunday. I knew a man years ago, he worked in construction and things like that. He always got an ox in the ditch on Sunday. He always had an ox in the ditch on the Lord's day. And look, I finally figured it out. His ox was always in the ditch on Sunday because he wasn't faithful on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I made the comment one time, sometimes the ox that we have that keeps getting in the ditch, we need to shoot it.

Number five, the trap of extreme rules on the Lord's day. Some of you need this more than you know. Listen close. See, the wrong question here is this, what shouldn't I do on the Lord's day? That's the wrong question. The right question is this, what should I do on the Lord's day? I ran across this years ago from John Piper. He captures this well. He says we want a swirl of God activity on the Lord's day. I agree. We should be busy with a flurry of God activity on the Lord's day. Now let me give you our position and I'll move on. What should our position be at Grace Life Church concerning Sunday, the Lord's day?

Based on what we see in the scriptures, especially the New Testament, Sunday is the Lord's day, it is the day of worship, it is the day of meeting together as the church at different times for singing, for prayer, for reading scripture, for teaching and for studying the scripture together. Again, I quote John Piper, it should be a swirl of God activity and it should be a rest from labor. That's why sometimes we don't have Sunday nights to give you some rest. But our second question, and I'll be much shorter here, why do we meet other times during the week? Have you ever thought about that? We have a Wednesday night service.

We always have had a spring revival and renewal meeting. That goes from a Sunday to a Wednesday night. Just this week I was listening to one of the men praying. We were praying together and he was quoting in prayer some things that Pastor Derrick Melton preached when he was here this spring. It blessed my heart. We have special events for ladies and men. This past fall we had a conference for our ladies. I'm thankful that Brother Jeff Noblett from Grace Life of the Shoals and Miss Pam came down and Miss Pam led our ladies. This fall we'll have a weekend for our men. We have children's classes on Sunday nights, Wednesday nights.

We even have special events like VBS. We have Wednesday night Bible study for our teenagers, things like summer camp. But a question, why do we meet at other times like this other than Sunday? Well I wanna answer that question in two ways. First, there is no command in the scripture that tells us we are to meet together other than Sunday. Second, if we do all we clearly see believers in a church doing in the scripture, then we are compelled to meet more than just Sunday. Look at our verses in Hebrews 24 to 25.

I promised that we would get there and let us consider that means to carefully observe and look at one another, how to stir up, provoke, agitate one another to love. That would be love towards God and love from one another and good works, not neglecting. The New American says forsaking to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. All the more as you see the day drawing near. Now here we are back to that great responsibility that we have to one another. We have seen the many things that we are to do in this responsibility and if we pay attention we see the positive in verse 24 and at the end of verse 25.

Listen to those positive responsibilities. Now this time I'm gonna read it in a paraphrase. This is the Bible scholar Kenneth Woost's paraphrase. Listen to what Kenneth Woost says and let us constantly be giving careful attention to one another for the purpose of stimulating one another to divine and self sacrificial love and good works exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day drawing near. Now I have a series of questions here. Be honest, you're in church, don't lie. Can we constantly be giving careful attention to one another if we only see one another on Sunday morning?

Can we carefully pay attention to one another for the purpose of stimulating and provoking one another to a greater love for God and one another and to do good works in the church only by seeing one another on Sunday? Can we encourage one another as we see the day of judgment drawing near if we only see one another on Sundays? Some of you need to ponder those questions. I will add to this by showing you a few of the one another statements. So y'all familiar with the one another statements and teachings that are found in the New Testament? In the New Testament there are over 50 one another statements that I believe helps us here.

I have a list that I have been praying over, meditating over just in my own personal prayer life and study time. I will mention just a few. In John 13 verses 34 to 35, three times Jesus calls his disciples to love one another. In John 15, 12 and verse 17 he says again, love one another. In Romans 12, 10 Paul calls us to love one another with brotherly love and affection. And in Romans 15, 14 he calls us to instruct or teach one another. In Galatians 6, 2 Paul calls us to bear or to carry one another's burdens. In Ephesians 4, 2 he calls us to with patience, bear with one another in love.

In Ephesians 5, 19 Paul calls us to address one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual psalms. In Ephesians 5, 21 he calls us to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. And again, Paul calls us to bear with one another. In Colossians 3, 13 and Colossians 3, 16, Paul calls us to teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. And in James 5, 16, James calls us to confess our sins one to another. In Peter 4, 9 and 10, the apostle Peter calls us to demonstrate hospitality to one another without complaint and to serve one another. And in 1 John chapter three and four, and in 2 John, John calls us to love one another six times.

In Luke Church, that's just a few. There are many, many more of these one another statements that help us here. So my same question is before now, be honest, can we live out these great one another's, if we only meet on Sunday? I don't believe so. So what should be our position here? At Grace Life, concerning Wednesday night and other times that we meet. Again, I cannot point to a verse that tells us we are commanded to meet during the midweek or at special events.

But when we see the biblical responsibilities that we as believers and the church have to one another, I say our midweek service and all of these other times are definitely, definitely needed. Now I'm gonna borrow John Piper's quote here and add to it. Piper says our lives should be a swirl of God activity. Here's my addition. Our Sunday should be a swirl of God's activity. And our church calendar should be a swirl of God activity. Let me say something. You pick up a church calendar, it's not full of junk. Everything we do has purpose. We do not meet just to me. Now last, and this will be short and this will serve as our conclusion.

And here's where I really do want you to pay attention. Let's go back to our verses one more time. But I'm really focusing on verse 25. If you go to sleep, sleep on verse 24, but wake up on verse 25. Just kidding, don't go to sleep. And let us consider, think about, contemplate, how to stir up, provoke, agitate one another to love and to good works. Not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some. Now here we learn last week that this neglecting, the new American says not forsaking. This literally means to leave behind, to let down, even to abandon. And there was a real problem in this real, original congregation.

Some were truly letting down, some were leaving behind, some were even abandoning the church by their neglecting to meet together. And the question I have for Grace Life Church is this. Pastor to congregation now, and I desperately need the Holy Spirit of God to ask this and apply this and to answer this question for you and for us. Here goes. Are we in any way letting down, leaving behind, even abandoning one another by neglecting to meet together as we should? I'm gonna be a little more personal here.

Are you in any way letting down, leaving behind, even abandoning one another, brothers and sisters, by neglecting to meet together as you should? And look church, we are spiritually bound to this commandment and standard. Let me repeat that. We are spiritually bound to this commandment and standard. We are to carefully consider one another so as to start up one another, even to provoke one another, to love God more and to love one another more and to good works in the church. And we are spiritually bound, let me say that again.

We are spiritually bound to be faithful to meet together, not to neglect one another, but encouraging one another as the family of God all the more, as the days grow more and more sinful and the day of our Lord's return comes closer and closer. And get this now. Here's the key to it all. We are faithful with this great responsibility, not out of duty, out of love. Let me repeat that. The key to it all is this. We are faithful to this great responsibility, not out of duty, but out of love.

When I came to faith in Christ on February the 9th of 1989, the first Sunday after I grabbed a Bible that a girl in high school gave me, and I walked into the doors of Highland Baptist Church, and I hadn't been to church in years. Nobody had to twist my arm to go to Sunday school. I walked right into the door of that Sunday school class. I went right into the worship service. And I'm telling you, I never miss a beat. I didn't know Job from Job. I barely knew the New Testament from the old.

If my pastor said we were gonna have a prayer meeting, if my pastor said we were gonna have a work day, if my pastor said we were gonna have a revival service, if he asked me to serve, I was there. I was there, and I didn't do it out of duty. It took a little while for me to figure it out, but when I walked into the door of that church, I thought, I love these people. I love these people. I couldn't get enough. And I served, and I attended, and I took notes, and I went to Sunday school, and there was some times it was hard to go to Sunday school now, 'cause the teachers weren't quite so good.

I did all of that stuff, not out of duty, but out of love. And I've been saved a long time, and I've been serving in ministry a long time, and I still do all that I do, not out of duty, out of love. So what's the title of our message this morning? This is all about our responsibility to meet together. Our responsibility to meet together. Let's pray. We'll commit these things to the Lord.