You are invited to move beyond a dead form of Christianity and embrace a life of supernatural obedience. Prioritize gathering with your local church community, knowing that your unity is essential for the world to see God's love. Start living out the Great Commission today by leading others to Jesus in your area of influence.
My name is David John Phillips, and I get to be the pastor of this church, and I have a crush on the worship leader. She's my wife.
Don't start "church rumors".
Courtney said don't start church rumors. We pray that you encounter the love of Jesus, the power and the presence of God in a very real way. And that when you walk away, whether this is your first time or you've been coming here for 7 years, 6 years, 6 and a half years since we started, that you walk away with a deeper understanding of his love for you and choosing greater levels of surrender, because it's in that that you will experience more of the fruit of that relationship in your life. Amen? Amen.
Baby, would you pray for the message and just and pray for for them as well?
Oh, God, it's such a privilege to be here in your house with your people, your beautiful bride. Thank you that that we get to participate in your work on the earth. Who are we that you're even mindful of us, but because of that sweet blood that you shed, you provided a way for us to become pure and clean and holy before you, Lord. Thank you so much. Lord, I pray that the word that goes out today, it pierces hearts, Lord.
I pray that it cuts through hardened shells, Lord, to the heart of flesh, Lord. Lord, I pray that people are are empowered, that people are equipped and empowered to move forward in their relationship with you, and in their relationship with the body, Lord. We love you, thank you for all that you are, all that you've done, and who you've created us to be. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Okay. So, I'm excited to get started in the message, and before I do, I have an update for you guys, something I haven't updated you in or about in quite a bit. There's been some major movement in something that we're involved in, and I want you to be able to rejoice with me.
When I heard about these things, I couldn't take the smile off my face. I called a few people just telling them what God was doing. Was a big deal. Many of you know, maybe many of you don't, that we pioneered a work in Pakistan in November October, November 2019. God opened some amazing supernatural doors, and it started with 1 man who said, yes, Lord, and invited us to come and preach the gospel in an unreached area of of the nation to his family members and friends.
Things began to multiply, and we started doing discipleship and a specific way of discipleship that multiplies if people are all in, and they were all in, and it multiplied. And so we had gotten to about a 178 villages by 2023, which is amazing. And we had we had trained up about 1000 people who we thought were ready to lead and multiply groups. And so in 2023, we did a crusade. It's it's a big Jesus festival, if you will, where we invited 1000 villages to come.
We sent our leaders to the villages, and they proclaimed what God was doing, miracles, healing, deliverances, God moving in powerful ways, and sharing testimonies of what he's done in their life and their family's life, and said on this day, when the bus comes, get on the bus. And from those 1000 villages, 47,000 people came to the "Jesus Festival". For many of you, that's old news. You already know that. We we we test we were there.
You know, we we preach the gospel. Over 20,000 people responded to the gospel, and it wasn't just a, you know, I'm adding Jesus to my list of gods that I believe. When they raised their hand that they wanted to surrender their life to Jesus, we said, no, you have to take all the other gods off the shelf and make Jesus your only Lord. And then we said, if that's what you're saying, then respond. And and over 20,000 people did.
We had people on the buses getting names and numbers of people who had responded, and so over the next year and a half, 2 years, almost 2 years now, we sent 11 people that we had trained up from the original batch of believers as evangelists to go to those thousand villages with volunteers and others that they were training, spend about a month in each 1. So they would spend time in 1 village, like 1 day, 1 day a week or every other week, setting up groups. They'd invite all of the believers that came to the to the crusade and made a decision to follow Jesus. Then those believers would invite their friends and family, they'd preach the gospel again, and then they would train them on how to make disciples. We, by the end of 2024, I just got the report, we went back to every village that came to that crusade in March 2223.
It gets better. In every village, by the time that our leaders left that village, the month of being there so some, you know, they left the village in May 2023, and there's been multiplication since. Some, they just left the village. By the time we left each of those thousand villages, there was between 30 and 50 believers, so a little baby church, and 10 to 12 budding leaders who were leading groups already and committed to go and multiply. And Pakistan.
Ain't that awesome? Well, church, you're you're a part of things that are so much bigger than yourself than myself. We're part of a global body of Christ, and and we play in a significant role because God invited us to. The role that God's invited you to play in his kingdom is significant because he put his spirit in you. And when you treat the little things that he invites you to do day in and day out as significant and say, yes, Lord, then he knows he can entrust you with bigger things.
Amen? And, man, so so treat everything as big because if the God of the universe asks you to do it, you're yes, Lord. On the other side of obedience is the Supernatural. On the other side of obedience is the supernatural. And you're created and called to live a supernatural life because you have a relationship with a supernatural God.
And if your form of Christianity before coming here today and hearing this does not produce supernatural results, maybe you've been doing it wrong. Maybe you've been doing it wrong. Because I'm telling you, God is a God of the impossible. And when you were born again, when you gave your life to Jesus, when you surrendered your life to Jesus as Lord, that's not a 1 time thing. That's a commitment to saying, yes, Lord, and continuing to pursue him with your yes, Lord.
Continuing, falling forward into his arms as a loving father when you mess up, asking him to help you in areas where you struggle, but not making excuses as if, oh, I'm forgiven. I can go do what I want. That means you don't understand his goodness. No. Pushing forward in his goodness step by step, and as you do, not only do you look more like him, but your life reflects more of his goodness, his kindness, and his power, and you're more able through his power to change the world around you, and God has called you to disciple nations.
God the great commission is not the great suggestion. And the great commission, he commissioned you to disciple nations, and that starts with the world that you're in now. The area of influence he's placed you in, he put the Holy Spirit in you to change you so much that it influences and disciples your world at your job, in your family, in your home, your church, everywhere that you go, should leave awake. And and as you're walking, there should be a wake of people saying, I saw Jesus when I saw that person. Seeing their life made me think of Jesus.
That's Christianity. And this church, if you continue to come here, will continually pull, push, encourage, invite you into living that lifestyle. And if you if you if you're just visiting and you go to a church that does that, praise the Lord. Keep going there. If they don't, come here.
I'm serious. Time's too short to be in a "dead church" that's gonna reproduce dead stuff in your life and make it all about you. It's not about you. It's about Jesus. And when you go all in for Jesus, he fixes the stuff about you that doesn't look like him and gives you everything you need to live out every everything that that he's called you to.
Amen? Amen. You guys okay? Yes. That was unplanned.
There's a lot of things that sometimes are unplanned. We're doing a series called Back to the Basics. It's important because if you've been born again, then you're commissioned by God to lead others to Jesus, which makes you a leader. So you need to live a life that's worth following, and learn to live a life that's worth following. And you don't do that by your own effort, you do that by putting your eyes on Jesus, and He transforms you into that.
So to the extent that you have your eyes on Jesus in every circumstance, the extent you're walking with Him in relationship, that's the extent that you're gonna live a life that's worth following, because your life is gonna be reflecting what you're focused on, and who you're focused on. Amen? So this church is always going to take your eyes off of yourself, and just put your forehead back up, so that you see Him. Right? When you come in, you're all focused down on everything that's going on, your circumstances.
My role, our role as leadership body, our role as a team, is to just take your head, push it right back up to Jesus so that you can walk out and start reflecting who you're focused on. Amen? Okay? All right. So part of that is we have these, for the back to the basics, we've created, question real quick because I'm I'm I wanna I wanna know if it's okay.
Is it is it a little loud for you, are you guys good? Good? Yeah. Okay. Alright.
Perfect. If if if I raise my voice a little bit, just, you know, for them, but praise the Lord, they're good to go right now. And those of you that knew, I don't raise my voice because I'm mad at you, just get passionate. I'm a passionate person because God has transformed me from the inside out. Alright.
So back to the basics. Every message, there is notes that go along with it, and there's also a video that I made in my office for you that goes maybe a little bit more in-depth, some of the stuff that I couldn't cover in the message. And there's not just notes, but there's a self assessment. Because there's a lot of people that hear things, and it's good, and they say, yeah, I agree with that. That's awesome, but there's no application in their life.
I know that you are a church, you are a people that care more about putting it into practice than just saying amen on a Sunday. You care more about putting it into practice than just coming in and writing it on the list and saying, well, I went to church today because you're leaders. That's who you are. If you don't believe that, you're not living that, I'm gonna speak to you like you are that because that's the way that God sees you if Jesus is your Lord. I'm gonna keep saying it until you believe it and start living it out.
Amen? So my encouragement to everyone in our church is to go to realchurch.us, everyone. I press the leaders, the elders, the deacons, the staff in, I press them into this because the best leaders are the best followers, and the church, the members, I'm inviting you to it, Okay? To to incorporate this into your your your habit this week, you go to realchurch.us, click on sermons, back to the basics. Okay?
And there's each of those lessons. Please take the time to stay on track. This is lesson 3 today. Go this week, substitute your Bible study for 1 or 2 days, because I know you're in your word every day, because it's your bread. You can't live without it.
I know it. Because you're a leader in Christ. Right? Amen? Amen.
All right. So go there, watch the video, take notes on it. You know? And then maybe the next day, go through the notes yourself. Do the assessment.
When you fill out the assessment, for the duration of this series, I am covenanting with you to read your assessment, to pray through your assessment, and to respond to you. I've got a lot of emails coming every day, but it's good because it's important. Leaders don't get bored with the basics because the basics of the gospel are not shallow. They're eternally deep. And so when you put world class effort into the basics, world class intensity, then you build a foundation in your life that will never be shaken, and it will overflow.
A leader also knows the basics so well that they overflow every time others around them need them. Right? They're instant in season and out of season. That means you're always, always going back and learning new tools and new things to give out what you've been given, because Christianity is not a personal religion, it's a personal relationship that overflows publicly because you can't help it. You're so captured by Jesus.
Amen? Amen? Amen. Alright. Praise the Lord.
I'm getting hot in this jacket, so now give me a second. Now, I'm excited. I will not get to every verse that's in the lesson that's online. So you want it in-depth, please go online. Video's about 30 minutes because God gave me a little something extra to give to you today.
Hebrews chapter let's start chapter 4 verse 2. For good news came to us just as to them, But the message they heard did not benefit them because they were not united by faith with those who listened. NIV says they were not united with faith with those who believed. So there's 2 types of people in this verse, but each type of person heard. Each type of person heard the message, but 1 group of people it was of no benefit to, and the other group of people, it benefited greatly.
1 had *faith* and obedience, 1 didn't. And in Matthew-21, Jesus is telling a parable to people, and when Jesus tells parables, it's it's kingdom truths that matter for us. In the parable, he tells about the 2 sons that a father sent into the vineyard. He tells the first 1, hey, want you to go into the vineyard, and the first 1 says, I'm not doing it. But then later, the son goes into the vineyard, probably to work the vineyard for his father.
The second son, the father says, hey, I want you to go in the vineyard. He goes, yes, dad. I'll go for you. And then later, he doesn't go. Which 1, which of the 2 sons was the 1 that did the will of the father?
The first 1. The 1 that said, I ain't doing it. Now, take that in your head and listen to this. Hebrews-3, we're gonna go to the context of Hebrews-4. This is all pre message.
Okay? But it's preparing you for something. *Hebrews-3:7*, therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, it's the Holy Spirit, God speaking, today, if you hear his voice, "do not harden your hearts" as in rebellion, in the rebellion. On the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years, therefore, was provoked with that generation and said, they always go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways as I sworn my wrath.
They shall not enter my rest. Verse 12, take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, everybody say evil, *unbelieving*, everybody say unbelieving, leading you to fall away from the living God. So, he equates an unbelieving heart with an evil heart. Okay? Which leads to falling away.
But exhort 1 another, verse 13, every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Sin deceives you, where you begin hardening your heart, meaning stepping into an unbelieving heart that God calls an evil heart and causes people to fall away without even realizing it because they're deceived. They think this sin or this thing, they've made excuses so much that it becomes their normal, oh, and this is good. This is okay. It's not a bad thing.
Okay? Evil, unbelieving leads to falling away because you've been deceived by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold to our original confidence firm to the end. **Faith always finishes**. *1 John-2*, it says, those that went out from us, they were never with us, because if they were with us, they would have stayed.
I'm not just talking about staying at real church. I'm talking about staying walking with Jesus. Faith always finishes. If you give up, it's and and you and you completely walk away, it's showing that you never really believed in the first place. Because if because if you really believed in the first place, you would have stayed no matter the hardship.
You might have fallen sometimes, but you fall forward, and you get up, and you keep walking. *Faith* finishes. When you've been changed, you've been changed, and you can't get away from it. You might walk away from a while, but you're always being pulled back because your nature's been changed. Okay.
Verse 15, as it is said, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not those who left Egypt by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for 40 years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient. So *unbelieving* is connected with evil, with a hardened heart, and with disobedience. Hear, but not believe enough to obey. The first son or the second son. Yes?
Heard it, said, yeah, I'm good, but didn't obey. Okay. So we see that they were able to enter they were not able to enter or unable to enter because of their unbelief. Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear, lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. That is my fear, that some of you would say, yes, Lord, with your mouth, but in your heart of hearts, in your life, it doesn't line up with that in the long run.
And some of you would say, amen, and seem good to go. But when things get hard, the stuff in life chokes you out because you didn't have a strong foundation. Yes? Yes, sir. Amen.
Okay. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them. They were not united by faith with those who listened or NIV, those who believed. For we who have believed entered that rest. So disobedience are those who heard, those who didn't believe, they were hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, and they were disobedient.
Then you have those who heard, and they believed, and they obeyed, and they walked in the rest of God. Amen? Amen. So as you read the word today, God's given me a word for you. If you see it, and it lines up with scripture, my challenge to you is to hear and believe it so much that you obey.
Amen. Because here's the deal. A lot of people don't understand this. But most most I know most of you do. I believe you do.
Obedience to God requires **life adjustment**. You don't just incorporate what God says into your life as an extra, as an add on, you'll never you'll never finish the race. That just means you're incorporating it because you it was convenient for you for a season. When you've been transformed, you're born again, you he's become the lord of your life. Not just the Lord of a season, He's the Lord of your life.
Yes? You're willing to, when He says, I want you to do this thing, you trust that it's best for you. It might be hard to your flesh, you might fight, you might fall sometimes, but eventually, you make the life adjustment to implement what he said, because he's leading you toward the kingdom lifestyle that's gonna help you to fulfill every good purpose he has for you. Amen. Obedience requires life adjustment.
Counting the cost. You you must know that following Jesus requires life adjustment. It's not just adding him in. It's denying yourself. That's the life adjustment.
Denying yourself, picking up your cross, following him. You don't understand everything that means in the beginning, but he's transforming you step by step. And I'm telling you, as your pastor, when you've really been transformed, life gets so much easier when you learn this lesson. Because it is stressful to try to be 2 different people. To live in a way that is not who you are will rip you apart, and when you've given your life to Jesus, if you keep trying to live in the old way that is not who you are now, it will rip you apart.
Better to learn now and make the life adjustments necessary. Amen? Amen. Alright, so let's dive in to part 3. Don't worry, I'm not gonna get to all the verses.
But you needed to hear this because what I'm about to tell you, and what I'm about to lead you in is basics for the kingdom of God, but it's forgotten in the American church. And so the American church, to live like a kingdom church, must make major life adjustments to be able to walk and to live like God says. Are you ready? Yeah. Are you sure?
Yeah. Alright. The title of this message is Together We. It's part of our core values. It's 1 of the things that we say around here all the time.
Together we love boldly, communicate transparently, and create with excellence. All of our core values are wrapped in together we. Why? Because we are the body of Christ. We have another saying, we say alone, you're ineffective and unproductive, but together, we're the body of Christ.
Because we're created to do life together. When you're separated from the body, you're separated If you're intentionally separated from the body out of disobedience and rebellion, you're separating yourself from the head. Jesus is the head. How can you be connected to the head and not connected to the rest of the body? You can't.
People are deceived. The deceitfulness of sin has hardened their heart, saying, I don't like organized religion, "I don't need the church". Do you not know that in Ephesians it says, God has chosen the church to reveal his manifold wisdom? So if you separate yourself from the church, you're separating yourself from the manifold wisdom of God, and participating in that in the world. I don't wanna do that.
You know? Alright. Let's let's look together at some scriptures. Like, how important the question is, how important is meeting together with Christians? How important is it to be healthily connected with other believers?
Well, I'd say very important, but I need to show you in scripture. If you if you don't see it in scripture, don't believe me. Amen? Now, 1 of the things you need to know about the Bible is a lot of times when something is first introduced, like that is the standard. Now we go from glory to glory in the Bible, right, and in our Christian life, as we grow in him, we're supposed to add to based on the leading of the Holy Spirit, and look more and more like Jesus.
So the first thing is the standard, and then we continue all the more as we see the day approaching. Okay? So let me show you the standard. We find ourself in the book of Acts-2. The Holy Spirit was just poured out.
Jesus spoke to his disciples, and he said, you know, before you do anything, wait, and you will receive power when the Holy *Spirit* falls upon you, which we'll be talking about next week, by the way, and you will be my witnesses to the ends of all the earth, Judea, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of all the earth. Okay? So these guys went from being scared silly when Jesus was crucified, they ran. 1 dude even ran out of his clothes. It literally says that in scripture.
I'm serious. Can you imagine being so scared that you're run it so fast, run out of your clothes, and you keep going? *Lord*, cleanse their minds. Yeah. You need to belt the truth to hold him close-up.
Okay. So *Acts-2* happens, of the 500 people Jesus appeared to, a 120 were really all in. They gathered in the upper room, and they were praying and waiting just like Jesus said. They were being obedient to what they heard, and the Holy Spirit was poured out in power. And Peter, denied Jesus 3 times, Peter, who was scared, was transformed in that moment and had the power to be a witness, and he stood up, and he began to preach to the city of Jerusalem.
And this is what happened in *Acts-2* verse oh, I'm still in Hebrews. I need to I need to go to Acts. *Acts-2:40*, it says, and with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying, "save yourselves from this crooked generation". So those who received his word were baptized. First, when you give your life to Jesus, out of the abundance of the heart, you confess with your mouth.
That's a step of obedience. It's a physical step of obedience that shows that there was a heart change. It's important. Spanish Bible says, confess openly. Okay?
It's a big deal. But then there's another physical step, baptism. Baptism is important, and it's demonstrating, like, when Jesus was baptized, he said, do this, John just baptized me, to fulfill all righteousness. So when you're born again, there's a change on the inside that happens, and that change will always be demonstrated by acts of obedience. The change is first, but the overflow of the change is acts of obedience.
So there is lifestyle obedience that demonstrates the change that happened on the inside. *Baptism* is 1 of those things. Baptism is a physical step that completes righteousness. Obedience shows that you have been made righteous in Christ. Amen?
Amen. So when you're being baptized, it's that physical step. So what did they do first when they believed and received? They were baptized. If you haven't been water baptized since you surrendered your life to Jesus, and you've been making excuses day in and day out, hear, believe, and obey.
Don't let the deceitfulness of sin rob you from fulfilling all righteousness. Amen? Amen. Okay. Here we go.
The next sentence, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Oh, sorry, I skipped. There we go, 41. So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. So Peter, spilled with the power of the Holy Spirit, goes from being fearful to being bold and preaching in the face of persecution, and 3,000 people were saved on the first day of the church.
Now remember, when something happens first, in the Bible, it sets a precedent. So, let's wonder, like, what did those new believers do? What does the Bible say was the first thing they did? Well, let's look, very next next verse. Verse 42.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship. What does it mean to be devoted? Like, it means when you're devoted, your life revolves around what you're devoted to. It's not just an add on that I'll see, you know, I'll see if I feel like it when I'm, you know, when Sunday comes or when it's time to go hang out with some believers. I'll see if I feel like it.
Does that sound like somebody's devoted? No. No, if you'll be honest with yourself and not make excuses in your mind as I'm speaking. Being devoted is reorienting your life because you understand the importance of that thing that you're devoted to. Oh, you're devoted to things.
What are you devoted to? What do you spend a lot of the day thinking about? What do you go to when you're stressed? What's the first thing you go to when you're stressed? What's the first thing you go to when you wanna have fun and other things?
Those are probably the things that you're devoted to, and my encouragement to you is to realign and reorient your life to be devoted to what scripture says to be devoted to. And I would the the first thing the new believers did is they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the "breaking of bread" and to prayers. The breaking of bread, yes, they ate together, but most theologians would say the breaking of bread was communion. Not only when did they get together, but they got together and they talked about what Jesus did for them. They got together and they remembered that the body was broken so that we could be whole in Him.
They got together and they remembered that Jesus' blood was shed so we could walk with a clean conscience confidently into the presence of God. They were exhorting and encouraging 1 another forward in relationship with Jesus Christ. And they devoted themselves to prayer. Devoted. Whatever it takes to learn, to reorient my life as if this is 1 of the most important things.
We're gonna talk about prayer in lesson 6, but prayer is vital, because prayer is your relationship with God. When I'm reading the word, I'm in prayer, because prayer is communication. I'm listening to him, I'm learning to hear his voice. Day in and day out, right now, I'm in prayer as I'm speaking, because my spirit is open to hear His voice, because I've learned to do that by taking time to get alone with Him, and to pray corporately with my brothers and sisters. It's important.
Corporate prayer is a big deal because it challenges you outside of what you're normal, and you learn from others in unity. On Friday nights, we have something called the boiler room. Friday night takes a sacrifice. I'm not saying, I'm not trying to guilt you into coming at all, but I'm saying pray about it, and and make it a priority to come sometimes, because the beauty of the boiler room is we're it's corporate prayer. We're learning to pray together.
Look, I still remember where I learned to pray, and there was 2 main places where I learned to pray. My dad, when I was in fourth, fifth, sixth grade, brought me, he was a pastor of a church, he brought me to the altar 8 a at 8AM on Sunday mornings, where the men of the church were gathered around the altar praying for revival. And I remember getting on my knees and listening to these men pour out 1 x 1 their heart to God, and the Holy Spirit was moving in power, and here I am a 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 year old kid, and before long, a couple months of that, I'm joining in and praying as if I'm 1 of the men because it's contagious. You wanna learn to pray? Come to the boiler room.
It will be contagious in your life, and it will overflow into your personal life. Not just the boiler room, Sunday mornings. Now at 08:15. 08:15. Back there, they're praying for you.
You guys have have been prayed for today. Not just Friday night, but Sunday mornings. Praying for service. Reorient your life to become a part of corporate prayer, not so others can see you praying, but so brothers and sisters can challenge you and encourage you and teach you to pray, and then incorporate that into your daily life as just reorient your life so that it's your normal to walk a lifestyle of prayer. Does that mean that you're always like, you know, 20 fourseven on your knees?
No, you would never get anything done. There might be some time like that, but you're always in communication with the Father by the Holy Spirit. If you don't know what that's like, get around some people that do, which means be in fellowship with people that know Jesus and are living for Jesus more than you are. You'll catch it. Amen.
Amen? Amen. You guys okay? Alright. So the question is how important is meeting together with other Christians?
Very. Amen. Let's let's go to another verse that's quoted a lot, and I think people just kinda, like, hear it, and they're like, I know it says that. Don't be those who hear and say, I know, like the sun, but don't put it into practice. Because Hebrews calls it unbelief and evil.
That's not who you are. You're those who hear, and if you know it's God, you know it's his word, you believe it so much you put it into practice because your sons and daughters are the most high God. And if if I've called you out where you are, all you gotta do as a son or daughter is recognize, *Lord* Jesus, he's right. I have been doing that. And that's not who you are, so it's not who you made me to be.
*Lord, I fall forward into your arms. Help me. Teach me how to reorient my life for obedience*. Amen. Amen?
Amen. It feels like the air is not on. Are you guys hot? That's 1 of the things about being in school, sometimes the air don't work. Usually, at 99% of the time, does.
But this doesn't say meet together only when the air is working. That means that means I gotta give up my comfort to say, yes, Lord. Wow. At least it's not summer. No.
They'll fix it for us by the 11:00. Okay. In Jesus' name. Okay. *Hebrews-10* verse let's go to 23.
It says, let us "hold fast" the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. So if he's faithful and he's my father, then I have the nature to be faithful. All I gotta do is put my eyes on him and learn from my father. K? 24.
And let us consider that means put thought into it. Why? Because we're meeting with 1 another in the body. Look, I'm gonna say this a lot in this series. Real church is a **leadership development crucible**.
Crucible is where you put metals, it heats it up, gets the purities to the top, scrapes off so it can be more pure and more easily worked in the hands of the master for the purposes it was created for. Real church is a leadership development crucible, and the crucible, the heat, is relationships. Heidi said that's why it's hot. Think about all of the fruit of the spirit, all of the gifts of the spirit, except for 1. They're all made, and really, there is provision for it to be in this way as well.
They're all made for the context of relationships. They're all shown in the context of relationships. If you're a loner, then you're not able to really reproduce the fruit of the spirit. You're not able to demonstrate it. We're created to be healthily connected to the body because it's in our healthy connection to the body that we reflect Jesus more clearly.
And if we're refusing to be connected to the body, we're refusing to to reflect Jesus. We're refusing to for the challenge and the test to show that we've really been transformed. Alright. Consider. Let us consider.
I'm gonna put thought into it. I'm gonna put time into it. How to stir 1 another up to love and good works. I'm only gonna do that if I know you, and I'm only gonna know you if I've spent the time, readjusted my life to be in a place where I can know you. Not neglecting meeting together, as is the habit of some.
Some have gotten in the habit of not meeting together, of disobeying God in this area. A habit means you took an action, and that action became your normal. A lot of people since COVID, they got in the habit of not meeting together, and they never came back. This is an encouragement from Scripture, and really a challenge. Hey, break that habit and create a better habit that's in line with Scripture so you can experience more of the fruit of God in your life and be challenged.
You are created to be in relationship with 1 another, and there's so much in you that this body, if this is your local church that God's called you to, needs, and without you, we won't be all God's created us to be. So anybody who willfully disconnects from the body that God's called them to connect to is being selfish. They're making it all about them. And when you healthily connect, there's things in those relationships that you need to be all God's called you to be. But it takes the crucible of relationships.
It takes leaning into the hard thing. Amen? Amen. Okay, let's keep going. As is the habit of some, but I'll read the verse again.
Not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging 1 another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. That capital d in day is talking about the end times. Right? So we saw how it started. It started with believers devoting themselves to the apostles teaching, to the fellowship of believers, to the breaking of bread or communion, to to prayer.
And then it says, encouraging 1 another, considering how you can, all the more as you see the day approaching. But pastor, I'm so busy. I've got so many things going on. Maybe your life's out of order. But but as the day goes on, you know, it's it there's more things to do, not less.
That's right. And, you might be putting priorities in the wrong place. Because, it doesn't say, when it gets busy, less and less as the day draws near. It doesn't say, as you grow older, you know, you have more responsibilities, so it's okay less and less as the day draws near? It actually says as time goes on, as we get closer to the end times, we should meet together all the more.
It should be higher priority, not less of a priority as the day draws near. You hear me? Amen? I heard a lot of amens. Which son are you?
I say that as your pastor because I love you. Amen? Amen. Okay. Alright.
So, Why is this so important? I'm gonna take you to 1 of my favorite scriptures. *John-17*, Jesus is praying, and he starts the chapter by praying for the disciples. First, prays for himself, and then he prays for disciples, and then he prays for those who would would believe. So he's praying in the scripture that I'm gonna read, he's praying for you and me.
2000 years ago, he's on his knees in the "Garden Of Gethsemane" before he's going to the cross, and he's thinking and praying about us, And here's what he prays. *John-17:20*. Jesus himself says, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, That they may all be 1 just as you, father, are in me, and I in you. That they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. Our unity, our being 1 is vital because Jesus said in his prayer that it's the most effective form of evangelism.
The most effective form of the world knowing that the father loved it so much that he sent his 1 and only son, that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have eternal life. The most effective form of that is us being 1, just as the Father and Jesus are 1. Not only that, we're invited into that relationship as sons and daughters of God. You and me, I and you, and us and them. Amen?
Amen. Let's keep reading. The glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be 1, even as we are 1. I in them, and you in me, there it is, we're invited into that love relationship, *unity* with God, because he puts himself in us, but then because you have that same Holy Spirit in you, and I do in me, unity together. And the more that we obey the *Holy Spirit* with believing hearts, putting into practice what we hear, the more we demonstrate that unity, and that unity causes the world to what?
Verse 23, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you have loved me. The world gets a revelation of the love of the Father when the church is unified. Amen. Amen. If if unity is the most effective form of evangelism, then disunity is the most effective form of causing the world to not know Jesus.
So wouldn't you think that priority number 1 for Satan is to cause divisions in the body of Christ? Is to cause you to say, I don't like that church because, you know, I don't like those people, they hurt me. Satan's just getting you to focus on yourself, so that you and your selfishness cause division in the body of Christ, and prevent the world around you from knowing Jesus. That's how important unity is in the body of Christ. That's how important reorienting your life to make meeting together a priority is.
You guys okay? Let me show you just a couple more things and we'll we'll call it quits. We'll call it a day, and you guys can go see the see the rest on realchurch.us, back to the basics, lesson 3. But if you didn't do lesson 1 or 2, please do it. I love I love getting to read them and and pray for you guys.
*Ephesians-4*. Watch this. Verse 4, There is 1 body and 1 Spirit, just as you were called to 1 hope that belongs to your call. 1 Lord, 1 faith, and 1 baptism. 1 God and Father of us all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.
Okay. There's 1 truth, 1 spirit, his name is Jesus. And as it's not a separate set of truths for the Baptists, for the Presbyterian, for the Catholic, for the non denominational, you know, there's 1 truth, his name is Jesus, and as we all grow in our understanding of the truth, then the denominations fall away, and we unify and look more like Jesus. I don't care if you have Baptist behind your name, that doesn't matter, but are we unified in Christ? Are we walking together in unity and able to do ministry together because we're walking more and more in step with the Holy Spirit in our lives?
Amen? So man, I don't wanna let my preferences that are not biblical or not the main thing cause disunity in the body. I wanna say, Lord God, let me see you more clearly. I don't wanna talk bad about other churches. I wanna build up the bride and the body of Christ because it's vital.
*Ephesians-4*, last verses, 15 and 16. Rather speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow and "builds itself up" in love. So the body, this local body, the church, the body of Pinellas Pinellas County, the church, will grow and mature, all the healthy churches, as each part is working properly. You are a part of the body of Christ if Jesus is your Lord. Man, we want you to get healthy and whole and living out every good purpose that He has for you, so you can be working properly and the church can be more effective at reaching this county and the world for Jesus.
Amen? Amen.