Community

That I've been thinking about for some time. It's come up in many conversations that I've had with, oh, existing church members and newer church members. And it's something that you probably, well, maybe have noticed as well. And I want this just going to be a heart to heart because when I speak today, I'm speaking as much to myself as the audience here. And I'm holding myself accountable for some of the things I'm going to be talking about. And I don't want you to think I'm talking at you, I'm talking with you, and I'm giving you some food for thought that I want you to take home and think about.

Think about. You know, if we were going to ask the question, what is God looking for from us? You know, we would answer, He wants our whole, oh, let me say too, looking back at the campers here, welcome back to our campers. I hope everything went well back in Georgia. It's good to have you all back with us here this this week. And, and, well, I'll get to that in a minute. But, you know, if we were going to ask, what does God look, what does God look for from us?

You know, we would say that, you know, He's looking for our whole heart, mind, and soul. He wants us to be totally dedicated to Him, totally committed to Him. And as we do that, we know we yield to His Holy Spirit. We allow Him to transform us into who He wants us to be. It changes the way we think. It changes the way we act. It changes the way we react. We become more like Jesus Christ.

He would want us to learn His ways, His truth. He would want His church, the church that Jesus Christ started, to preach the gospel, as He said, to the whole world and the churches of God, not just the United Church of God, but the church of God does preach the gospel to the world today. And it's the only church in the world that preaches the entire truth of the Bible, the entire gospel, that recognizes God's plan for mankind, that recognizes the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the resurrections from the dead, and the kingdom of God that He wants to bring to earth and that He wants you and I to be part of.

You know, we pray. We pray in our prayers, you know, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, on earth as it is in heaven. And maybe we just say those words, you know, and they don't mean a whole lot to us, but if we break those words apart, you know, as we are living our lives, His kingdom, His kingdom and His will should be part of our lives now. When people look at us, they should be beginning to see what His kingdom and His will is.

So we could talk about all those things and we could say that's what God wants from us. But you know when Jesus Christ said what the identifying factor of His church would be, of course it was going to keep the Sabbath day, of course it was going to keep the Holy Days, of course it was going to do all the things that are commanded in the Bible because people that love God do the things that He says. But He didn't say that's going to be the identifying factor. It certainly would be one of them, but when He was, you know, in His final words really, if you will, to the disciples back in John 13, in verse 35, He said what the signifying or what the single thing that people should look at the church, His church that He began, and this would be what they see.

Let's look at John 13, pick it up in verse 34. He says a new commandment as He's talking to His disciples after that last Passover of His on earth, He says a new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

By this will all men know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Now when we think about that, we've heard that verse hundreds of times, but Jesus Christ said when someone walks into our midst, what they will see is the love you have for one another. Yes, you'll be keeping the Sabbath day, yes, you'll be keeping the Holy Days, yes, you'll be doing all those things, but what they will see if you are doing my will is that love that you have for one another.

And so what's been on my mind for a while, and I've mentioned it to some of you here, is community. Is community. Are we as a church the community that God would have us be?

Are we the close-bound family that he wants us to be? You know, when God talks about us, he says we're children of his. He sees us as his family. He sees us as those who will be born into his kingdom. He sees us as the bride of Christ, family, together and collectively as family.

And when he called us out of this world and he opened our minds to the truth, the truth that sanctifies, that sets us apart from the rest of the world, and that sets us apart from the rest of our physical families that we love, that don't have the truth, that don't know the truth, that can't know the truth at this time because God hasn't allowed them to know that, it sets us apart and he created us. That's you and me here in Orlando as a family. And then the larger family around the world of those who believe. Let's go back to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2, a well-known verse. 1 Peter 2 and verse 9. Peter writes, to the church, to the body of Christ, to the church of God, you, you are a chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You are a people. Jesus Christ calls us, and he called his disciples when he walked with them for three and a half years on earth, he called them his brothers. Even more close than his physical brothers. These are my brothers and sisters. These are the ones who keep the will of my father and do the will of my father. You know, we use the word brethren. We call each other brother. We call each other sister. We are family. But if someone walks into our midst, do they say, that's a real family. Look at the love they have for one another. It's like every time they get together, it's a family reunion. They enjoy being with one another. They enjoy the company with one another. They desire to be one another, and they know each other so well through the things that they talk about. Not just how was your week, just not how was your job this week, just what, you know, how did things go? And a pat on the back as they go on the way, but they know each other and they've come to love each other by the kinship and the time that they spent with each other as they were led by the Holy Spirit. You know, Jesus Christ, if we return back to John 17, we'll do a loader in the sermon, you'll remember in his prayer, again, his final words to his disciples four times in John 17 in his prayer before he was arrested and crucified, he said, my will is that they, your people, that you give me, Father, that they will be one as you and I are one, as Jesus Christ and God are one. That's my will for them, that they would be one, one family, united, harmonious, close, close-knit, a close, happy family.

And so I look at my life and I look around and I think, are we? Are we fulfilling what God's will for us is in that, in that arena? Yes, we preach the truth. Yes, we know the truth. Yes, we do all those things we should do. Are we doing and are we living and are we becoming what God's will for us is in that vein? You know, when Jesus said, you know, my will is that they will become one, as he and the Father are one. It puts the onus on me and it puts the onus on you to make that happen.

He's given us His Spirit. That's the tool we need. It binds us together. We are of like mind. We have common interests. We have common goals. We have all those things. The onus is on us to make it happen because we can have God's Holy Spirit and go through life and, you know, think we're doing just fine. If we sit at home by ourselves, if we just listen to a webcast, if we just listen to a sermon every now and then, that isn't all of what God's will for His people were. That's not all of it. That's not all of it. Jesus Christ said it and God the Father would support what He says. It's our job to become as one, using what God has and following what His will for us is.

And you know what? God is going to hold us accountable one day. You know, we've talked about accountability not too long ago. That's one of the things God's going to hold us accountable for.

Did you become one with your brothers and sisters? Did your church where you were, what did you do to become one with them? What did you do that you became a family and learn the things in that family that you could learn only in that family? You know, coincidentally, someone sent me something from a UCG Facebook page this week and I've been working on this sermon and I looked at some of the comments that were on there and I just had the chuckle to myself how God works that, you know, some things come right at the right time.

And I'm not going to quote from that. I'm going to quote from a little bit from it here for a minute, but I went online because, you know, well, the Church of God preaches truth. We preach the truth of the Bible. And there are people who look online as they are beginning to understand the Sabbath and the truth of God and realizing that what they've been taught in their local church isn't what God says is the truth. And they look online and they find this congregation or the congregation in Jacksonville or wherever they are in the world.

And they think that's the church I'm going to, that's the church I want to go to, that's the church I want to listen to because they believe the same things I do, they preach and teach the same things I do. And it's not easy to walk into a new church the first time. And sometimes, you know, it takes a while for someone to muster up the, you know, the guts, I guess, to come in because it's an unknown quantity.

You know, it's great that we have the webcast so people can look in and see we're kind of a normal group of people, but it's hard for them to come in. Now that's different. That's different than the world. The world, you know, the world's churches, people want to belong. They want to hear, and I've heard it from some people that I've talked to that are newer to the congregations and over the years, and even some that go here now, you know, they want to belong.

They want to feel part of the family. And in the world, that seems to be more important than the words that are preached. So I looked online and I wanted to see what some of them were saying about this community, you know, what the feeling that they had of belonging because Jesus Christ said, this is how you'll know. This is how you'll know. The love that they have for one another. Here's what one young man wrote. He was looking, he had moved to a new area, and he wanted to go find a church so he could be long, belong.

And so he asked around, and he found this church, or someone told him, oh, this is a friendly church. You'll fit right in there and whatever. So he went there, and this is what he wrote in his blog about his experience with that church. Afterwards, after the whatever was that they did was over, he says, everyone started moving and talking and shaking hands and laughing. But they didn't come in my direction. I sat there like a lump as people walked past me to the coffee kiosk in the back. One older lady smiled briefly at me and then hurried on.

I felt crushed. Sometimes I wonder if the sense of community in many churches has fallen into the same trap that so many other things have. Well, let me pause there, because you know what?

I know exactly what that young man felt. You probably, well, maybe many of you know exactly what he felt. Maybe it wasn't in a church setting. Maybe it was in church where you stood there all by yourself and you think, wow, if someone would just come over and talk to me, or maybe it was in a business setting, you just kind of feel all alone and you just feel you just feel so conspicuous and you feel crushed.

I'm just not that important. They just aren't that interested in me. That's how he felt. And he goes on, and he says this, he says, sometimes I wonder if the sense of community in many churches has fallen into the same trap that so many other things have.

We talk more about it. We talk more about it more than we actually practice it. Sermons, Bible studies, books, podcasts, tweets, Facebook rants, they've addressed community at some point. Home groups sit around and talk to each other about how great their community is when they may have someone sitting on the sofa right next to them who feels wildly disconnected from anyone else.

We love the idea of community. Everyone engaged and involved and connected, but how many people show up like I did to the back of that church longing for someone to reach out to them, shake their hand, and have more than a two-second congregation?

Isn't that a sad statement? Isn't that a sad thing? And you know what? He didn't write it about a church of God, but I would say there's probably several that could write that same thing about not specifically Orlando or not specifically about Jacksonville, but about the churches of God they've been in. I go there and it's kind of like I'm just there. No one pays any attention to me.

No one's talked to me. No one seems interested in me. Yet, Christ said, by this will people know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. I think something's missing.

I think something's missing as I listen to new people, as I listen to some older people, as I listen over the years and over the last several months, the people from all walks. Something's missing. We have the truth. We know the truth. Do we have the sense of community and oneness that God wanted? And as I said, I'm talking to myself more than you. This is food for thought.

It's not accusatory. It's not anything. But I want us to think about it because God said, this is who my people will be. This is what they'll be like.

You know, I look around sometimes after services in Jacksonville and in Orlando. And I'll be talking to someone and I'll see someone standing by themselves over there. And I feel so bad because I think would someone just go up and talk to that person? Would they just go up and talk to them and make them feel like they belong? That we care about them? And not just let them stand there. We don't just go to our own little groups, the same people we talk to every week, and just do that.

We are here to look out for one another in more ways than one. We are here to be there for each other. We are here to be family. And not all of us have exactly the same personality. Not all of us have exactly the same strengths or weaknesses. But you know what? We have to become what God wants us to become. You know, when we have a standard of what God's church should look like, we have that example in the Bible. Let's go back to Acts 2. As you're turning to Acts 2, I'm going to read you just a snippet from one of the things that someone said in one of the Church of God Facebook things.

And he's one who hops from church to church a little bit. And so his point of view is, when I go to this group this, and when I go to this group this, and blah, blah, blah, he has an observation of some of the larger Church of God groups, and he said this. He says, and when I go to that congregation, and he makes a universal statement here, the couples keep to themselves, and there's no socializing outside of a 20-minute coffee and snacks after services.

People stick around for 15-20 minutes, they go home. They might say, hi, they may shake a hand, but there's really no bonding. There's really no fellowshiping. There's really no getting to know each other. It's just, here's what we do. And he says, this is what, in my opinion, is alienating brethren from one another. That's his opinion. But you know, we talk about it from time to time in the home office as we watch church attendance numbers and what are they, what is it? We have all these people who write in, we have all these names we add, but church attendance just doesn't go up across the nation.

Could it be? Because we're not doing the whole will of God, but just part of it.

Well, let's look at Acts 2. You know Acts 2, this is the disciples, the Holy Spirit came to those that were gathered there on the day of Pentecost. And after that, the apostles went out and they preached with boldness the Word of God. And as you recall, as we get down to verse 41 in Acts 2, it says, those who gladly received the Word were baptized, and that day about 3,000 souls were added to the church. That's a lot of growth in one day. And in verse 42, it gives a picture of what the church back then was like. And in that verse, verse 42, we find five elements that God puts in one little verse of what we will see in a minute is a church that He is pleased with. Verse 42, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers. Five things. They continued steadfastly. Let's stop there for a moment.

They continued steadfastly. They kept doing the same things that they were called to. Let me tell you the Greek word that's translated, continued steadfastly there. It comes from the Greek word prosciterio. And what it means is that they were constantly diligent and attending assiduously to all the exercises. Hmm. They were constantly diligent. And they were attending assiduously to all the exercises. It wasn't just a, here I am, whatever. There was a diligence in their continuing steadfastly. Diligence in the doctrine that they were learning. A diligence in their fellowshiping. A diligence in their breaking of bread with one another. A diligence in their prayers. They were attending to every need. They were doing on all levels what God wanted them to do.

So they continued steadfastly. They were diligent in all the aspects of a church.

The church that Christ started. And one of those things we see is apostles' doctrine. Well, you know, we've had, we talked about doctrine in the home Bible studies this last winter. You know what doctrine is? It comes from the Bible. The Church of God teaches doctrine. What we believe and what we teach is straight from the Bible. Okay? That's what they did. But then it says in fellowship.

Another one was a fellowship. Doctrine is important. Fellowship is important in the Church of God, or the Church that Jesus Christ started. It's important. Let me read you what the definition of fellowship is. You know, sometimes fellowship can be one of those words we throw around. It's just like, you know, the word believe, and we can think of believe. And then we look in the Bible about what the stoyo is. That's translated believe, and it's far different than what we might just think of. Fellowship is this, according to Webster's dictionary. The first definition of it means companionship, a company or associate. But here's the second definition of fellowship.

It's a community of interest, activity, or experience. That is, a unified body of people of equal rank sharing common interests, goals, and characteristics.

A unified body of people of equal rank sharing common interests, goals, and characteristics.

Well, that defines us, doesn't it? We all have common interests here. We all have the thing that binds us together more than anything else. We have the truth of God. We have the Holy Spirit. If that doesn't bind us together, you know, people say, we don't have anything in common. We have something in common, the most important thing in common with everyone else that's here today. And anyone else you'll meet in the Church of God, anyone at the Feast of Tabernacles, there is a basis, there is a common interest, there are common goals, there are common characteristics we should all be. We know what God wants us to become and what we should be growing toward. That church, the New Testament church, they were growing in that. They were continuing steadfastly. They were diligent in their fellowship and what they were doing and what they were learning. Fellowship is an important key point in church membership in the Church of God. It also says, breaking of bread. Notice fellowship and breaking of bread. Not fellowship equals breaking of bread. Fellowship and breaking of bread. They shared meals together. So here, locally, we have a potluck once a month. We share a meal together. I know several of you will invite people over to your homes to share a meal together. That's a good thing to do. We should be doing that.

The church used to do much more of that than it does these days. But there are things that we can do that we should do. The church back then did that. And they continued steadfastly in prayer, looking to God and asking God for direction, praying to God for each other, looking at the names that were having trials, sometimes health trials, sometimes other trials, because they knew each other and they knew the things that people were going through and they prayed diligently for those people. Not just, please bless so and so. They were concerned and they know that God can help in every situation that we have. And sometimes what has to happen first is some of our mindset has to change in order for God to get through and solve some of the problems that we have. And we can pray for that as well, that we will all understand what God's will is and not confuse that with our will or our ideas. But they continued steadfastly in those areas. Somehow I got off of Acts. Let me get back to Acts 2 here. And as God looked at that church, we see that what they were doing, verse 44, says, all who believed were together. They had all things in common. They had all things in common. They were brothers. They were sisters. They were family just like you and your children or your parents or your grandparents or your cousins or whatever it is. They were family in every sense of the word. Verse 46, so continuing daily, not weekly, continuing daily, they didn't only see each other just on the Sabbath or think that their relationship with each other was just confined to one day of the week. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, a physical temple then, a spiritual temple God is building now, and breaking bread from house to house.

They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart. It was simple. They just enjoyed being with one another. They didn't have to worry about the heirs. They didn't have to worry about how fancy the meal was and all the pieces of silverware at exactly the same place. The house was so spectacular that anyone would just be awed by it. They just wanted to be together. And they ate their food in simplicity, in simplicity, and gladness because they were just happy to be one together with one another. As it goes on, verse 47, praising God and having favor with all the people. When people looked at that church, what a nice group of people! Look how bound they are.

Look how at one they are. Look how happy they are. I would want to be part of that group. That's where I would want to belong. God was pleased with that church. Look what happened in verse 47.

And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

In that environment, in that church where all five of those elements were going on, God was pleased to add those who he was calling. In that environment, because he knew when they walked into that environment, yes, they were going to know the truth. Yes, they were going to be taught the truth. Yes, they were going to be doing all those things that we do. And they were going to be part of a family. A family that engaged them, that included them, that made them feel welcome, and that made them feel part of it. And a family that would encourage the growth of them from then until the day they die. Because that's what families do. They work to make people better, to improve them, to help them along.

Well, fellowship. All these things were a priority for that church back then.

Several of those things, a few of those things that we read about, they're a priority for us today.

A few of them, maybe not so much of a priority. Again, I'm speaking to myself.

Maybe not so much of a priority. Maybe we're not doing everything that God wants us to do. Maybe we're fooling ourselves and thinking that because we do part of what God's will is, we're doing all. There's more to just knowing the truth. There's more to just preaching the truth. There's just more to doing the things. There's the concept of a body that Jesus Christ placed you and me in, and a family that he is creating. A family that one day will be part of his family. A family that he compares to marriage. As close as husband is to wife, that's how God would like his church to be to him and to each other. Are we there? Are we even going close to that? Or are we falling further and further behind in some of those areas? Well, the word fellowship, if I can take it another step further, comes from the Greek word koinonia. K-O-I-N-O-N-I-A. Or you should remember, from the Greek word koinonia, here's what Vincent's word studies of the Bible defines koinonia. When you see fellowship, when you see communion in 1 Corinthians 11, when you see communicate sometimes, and you look up, you see these are derivations of this word koinonia that's splattered throughout the New Testament. It says it's a relation between individuals which involves a common interest and a mutual active participation in that interest and in each other. An active, an active participation in that common interest and in each other.

Again, that puts the onus on me. That puts the onus on you. That puts the onus on us to make that happen. It goes on to say it can also signify cooperation in the widest sense, participation in sympathy, suffering, and labor.

On the back of your announcement bulletin, you'll see some points that I listed in my next section of my sermon. I'm going to go through some of those points as we ask the question, you know, what can you learn in the Church of God? What does God want us to learn in His Church? Why a body?

Why is it even important to go to church? Isn't God just happy if we just keep the Sabbath day at home? If we just relax? If we just read the Bible? If we put a CD on? Isn't that enough?

The answer is no. The mark of the Church of God includes fellowship. It includes being part of a body. There is no—when you read through the Bible—there is no, there is no individual—well, there's individuality. There's no isolated people. There's nothing. There's a part of a body that God expects and wants His people to become part of, to grow into a family, to grow into a family as well as grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And so, you know, we can take a concept like number one on your list there. We're Galatians—let's turn to Galatians 6.

Galatians 6.

And verse 2 says, bear one another's burdens. We've all heard that, right? Bear one another's burdens.

Well, when we pray for each other's burdens, we're bearing one another's burdens. We have to know each other to know what each other's burdens are, right? We can't know them just by osmosis. We have to kind of talk. We have to be engaged. We have to kind of get to know each other. Kind of have to share what our things are because we're family. Just like your children might share what their concerns are with school or whatever it is, or your parents might share what their concerns are, family does that. Not to complain, not just to be negative, but because we do those. We share those things and we help each other through that. Bear one another's burdens. Where can you do that and learn that anywhere except in the Church of God?

Can't learn it at home because, you know what, we're very good at bearing our children's burdens.

We're very good at bearing our parents' burdens and our siblings' burdens. It just comes natural with family. When they have a problem, we have a problem, and we empathize with them and everything.

Where do we do that with a larger group of people? Because God isn't calling us and hasn't called us just to be there for our immediate family, but for each other. We're family. And He says, bear one another's brethren. Where can you do that unless you're part, an active part, of the body of God? Well, if you have a clue, tell me. I think there's one place that that can happen. Notice what it says in the conclusion of verse 2 there. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Though it's Christ's law, love your neighbor as yourself. You can't fulfill that law if you don't know what other's burdens are. You can't fulfill that law if you're not familiar with your brethren or if you just talk to the same two or three people each week.

We've got over 100 people here. There's a lot of opportunity to get to know a lot of people.

Big family.

Well, before we go farther in that, let's go back and look at Psalm 133.

I'd be remuniced not to quote this Psalm here.

Psalm 133 talks about how pleased God is when He sees us being what He wants us to be. Psalm 33, verse 1, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

How nice that is to see them sharing with one another, spending time with one another, loving one another, enjoying the time with one another, not looking to see where they're going next and how quickly they can get out, but how much they enjoy being with one another.

And then He goes on and He talks about these things that were so precious back in those days that God compares it to that. It's like a precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It's like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

In a church that is doing what God wants, He will bless it. When we do what God wants, all of His will, His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, His will on earth as it is in heaven.

You know, Jesus Christ, when He was on earth, He walked every single day with those disciples for three and a half years. He was with them all the time. He just didn't see them for a couple hours on the Sabbath. He's talked with them all the time. They had a relationship, an ongoing relationship. They would ask questions. He would answer them. There would be someone would step out of line. They would make a comment. He would correct them gently. They didn't run away. They didn't get mad. They didn't say, I'm not going to be here anymore, and blah, blah, blah. You know what the human reaction would be? They learned. They grew. They became a body. And they had to learn some things even through Christ's sacrifice. But when they received the Holy Spirit, they were able to go out and be the body and the family that God wanted them to be. And He added to them daily.

When God is pleased, He blesses. He blesses the people, and He blesses the church. But we have to do it all. And it doesn't happen. It doesn't happen without effort. It's not something that's going to be natural. It's not going to evolve itself. We have to make a conscious effort. We have to make a conscious effort. For some of us, it's easy. They have the outgoing personalities. They can easily converse with everyone else. They're happy. They're joyous. It's wonderful to have those people.

Not every single one of us is that way. But every single one of us is part of a family, and every single one of us need to feel part of the body, and we need to be working in that body. And we need to be making the effort to become part of that body in the way God said. Again, I'm talking to myself, not to all of us. There really is no place else on earth that you can get the training, that I can get the training of what we need to be in the kingdom. I was saying, you know, we pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth. You know, Christ was in a community the whole time he was on earth. You look at the kingdom in heaven, what is it like? We don't have one angel off to himself praising God, and then someone else joins in. We have a whole company of angels when we read through Revelation. They're singing, and then the 24 elders praise God. They're all together, they're all united, they're all one big family, they're all in concert, they're all in accord.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and there is joy, and there is unity, and there is peace, and there is harmony that we can't even imagine in heaven. God wants the same things for you and me, and there's only way to get it, and there's only one place to get it on this earth if we're going to be ready for when Jesus Christ returns, and we are going to teach that to other people. Well, what are some of these things? What are these some of these things? Let's spend some time on what are the things that God wants us to learn that we can't really learn except in His church, in the body He puts us into. We talked about bearing with one another. Let's talk about forgiving. Can we learn to forgive on our own? Easy to forgive my kids. Easy to forgive my family members. We can do that all day long. That can be quite another thing to forgive someone we don't know as well. But Jesus Christ said that God will forgive our trespasses as we forgive others. And as it talks about our relationship with one another, one of the things it says is, forgive one another. Understand that none of us are perfect. Not every one of us is going to say the perfect word in the correct situation every single time. We might have bad days and we might say something. We might cast a glance that we don't mean. And we might offend someone. You know what? God says, forgive. He forgave us far greater things than anyone is going to do to us in the body. But He says, you forgive. And when we forgive, and when we get past the little petty things that come our way, the little petty things that might divide us, the little things that happened that someone might even imagine. It didn't even really happen. And when we practice what God says in the Bible, we forgive. Where else are you going to learn what that is? In the body that teaches the truth of God. You have to be part of the body. You have to know people. If you isolate yourself, if you don't talk to anyone, you don't have anything to forgive. Others might have something to ask you or to forgive you for that you don't want to be part.

But you can't learn those things unless you're part of the body. How about serving? How about serving? Easy to serve my kids. Easy to serve my family members. That's just part of what families do. God says serve one another. Jesus Christ serves all day long.

Great to do those things. We need to do those things. We need to be mindful of our family members and serve them. But not to the exclusion of the Church of God. There's opportunities to serve. We don't learn anything if we don't ever serve people in church. There's humility that we learn during that time. There's responsibility that we learn during that time. There's accountability that we learn during that time. Back in Hebrews 13, and we learn to make it a habit, a habit to serve and to have that in our minds, that that is what God has called us to and to be like Him and like Jesus Christ is. Back in Hebrews 13, there's a lot of Christian traits in the book of Hebrews that we can go through and look at. But here's one. Verse 1, very simple, very simple, let brotherly love continue. Let brotherly love continue. Don't forget to entertain strangers for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. So maybe God someday will say, you know, here's an opportunity to serve. I want to see what's in your heart. Do you have you develop that?

Are you willing to serve anyone? Is that part of you? Jesus Christ was willing to serve everyone by giving His life. Are we willing? Are we learning that? Where are you going to learn that?

If you're not in a body, if you're not in the church, where are you going to learn to serve in the way that Jesus Christ would want us to serve?

How about encouraging each other? Now, we all need encouragement from time to time.

We all get down. We all have bad days. Maybe things happen to us that can cost, cast a, put us into a downer or whatever. We all need encouragement. Sometimes things go bad and we just, you know, want to give up. We need to be able to encourage each other. We don't even know if someone needs encouraging. If we don't even know them, if we just see them, now sometimes, just by watching people's actions. And we think, you know, you're not acting. And we wouldn't tell them that. You're not acting the way you're used to. There's something different about you. You know what? We can encourage them. That only happens if you know each other. You know, if your wife and your husband is acting different, you know, for a day or two, you think, what's wrong? And you might encourage him or her. You might encourage your children. God says, do that in a family, too.

You know, a couple of chapters back in Hebrews 10, a verse that we talk about that I think is a key verse in the Bible, you know, one of the many. In Hebrews 10, verse 24, it says, let us, that's you and me, let us consider one another, that's you and me, let me consider all of you, let all of us consider each other, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. Let's be the inspiration that everyone else needs. Let's be the people that God wants us to be. Let's be the spark plug in each other's lives. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. You know, we use that often in Sabbath and it's certainly talking about Sabbath. I mean, God commands Sabbath observance, right? There's no doubt. You look at Leviticus 23, it's a commanded assembly.

Holy Day's commanded assembly. Feast of Tabernacles, eight days, he says, you get out of your house and you be with each other. Eight days, that's how important it is to me. I want you together for eight days. I want you learning how to be with one another, encouraging each other, becoming a family, doing those things during that time. So important, they said, you leave everything behind, you go to the feast. And at the feast, you may not just talk with just the people you know, but you might have the opportunity to kind of look at other people. You might see someone standing over by themselves and say, I need to go talk to that person. He's got the same interests that I do. He's got the same goals that I do. He's part of the family. And we have an opportunity to practice these things and encourage each other. You know, when we do the things that we're commanded to do, are we profitable servants? We're good servants when we keep the Sabbath day and we keep the holy days and we do the things God says. Are we profitable servants? In every church, I mean here in Jacksonville, the churches that I other churches I know, we have Bible studies on a regular basis.

We have potlucks every month. We have home Bible studies during the course of the year. We have some social activities that go on. You know, it doesn't say in verse 25, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together at Sabbath services. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. Don't take it lightly. Take the opportunity to be with each other.

Take the opportunity to bond. And that sometimes happens outside of Sabbath services. It's impossible to get to know everyone at Sabbath services. Take advantage of those opportunities.

Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhort, encourage one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.

Isn't that interesting, that last part of that verse? And so much the more as you see the day approaching. Let me ask a question.

Could it be that in the end time our love is growing cold?

Let's go back to Matthew 24. Matthew 24.

The Olivet prophecy. And in it Jesus Christ describes all these things that are going to happen before His return and leading up to His return. In verse 12 of Matthew 24, He says this, Because lawlessness will abound, we live in an age that is becoming more and more lawless.

If you could look around the world and the country we live in today and say somehow that it isn't becoming lawless, even generations and millennia old standards that are being thrown out and cast out and the things that are tossed around don't even sound like normal things anymore. Because lawlessness abounds, we're going to throw every rule out. We're going to make our own rule. Because lawlessness will abound, it's the age we live in, the love of many will grow cold.

Now we look at this verse and we say, you know, the love of many, that's the love of the truth.

That's the love of the truth. And that certainly can and will happen. We get caught up in our everyday concerns. Our businesses are really taking off. Our self-interests, our distractions, are so much that we don't have time for fellowship. We don't have time for each other. We have time for Sabbath services, barely. But we have all these other things in an age of lawlessness, when things are going well. The love of many will grow cold, and if we don't watch it, the love of the truth can disappear. And so, as we see the day approaching of Jesus Christ's return, we may see more and more people who just give up. It's just not that important to them anymore.

The word translated love there in verse 12 is agape. It's a personal love. It's the first fruit of the Holy Spirit. Could it be that Christ is also saying, the love that people have for each other in the church will grow cold? That they won't be the same people they were. There won't be the same bonds that they had 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. Because in an age of lawlessness, and Satan is loose, he will do anything and create any distraction to keep us from one another in doing the things that God would have us do. Many of you have been around for 20, 30, 40, 50 years. I grew up in the church, basically, and I'll tell you as I think back on life, and even 20, 30 years ago, it's different. It's different today. When I was a teenager in the church, teens knew each other pretty well. There were big churches back then, lots of people. But my friends were not my friends in high school. They were friends in church. Those are the people I bonded with because there were common interests, there were common goals, and there was that. It was just a natural thing back then. Young people, young adults, they got together, they talked with one another, they became one. Older people, they became one. When you went to Sabbath services, everyone was there every week, and if they weren't there, you knew they were sick or out of town or something, and that was rare. And it was a family. Everyone wanted to be there.

I asked myself, is it the same today? Is it the same today, or somehow have things gotten watered down? We still come to Sabbath services, maybe. But is there that same excitement of being together on the Sabbath that there was then? Is there a family the way it was then? You know, we were, during, as I was growing up, it seemed like every week we were having someone over to our house or we were going over to someone's house, and it wasn't just two hours of Sabbath services and then home and whatever. It was always something else, and there were activities in the church, and we went to all of them, and you, many of you, went to all of them as well.

The church knew each other. Somewhere along the line, they got off track and lost the love of truth, you know, and decided they wanted their own way back in those days, as then...

Well, I think we have a ways to go. I don't think we want Christ to say of us, the love of many, the agape of many, grew cold. Hey, Rick, you're concerned for the brethren grew cold. You just got tired. You just got tired of being with them. You just didn't find any excitement anymore. You were pretty excited about social media, and you were pretty excited about the other things, distractions in your life, and you have plenty of time for those, but somewhere along the line, just being with church people just didn't have the priority that it should have had. And building those bonds that God wants us to build.

We can't learn to encourage each other. That was my point I had in that one, but we can't learn a lot if we forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

Now, let's go on. Let's look at another one. Empathy. You know, we have opportunities.

As we... this goes along with bearing one another's burdens. We develop empathy, easy to have empathy with our fellow family, with our immediate family. We feel bad when something happens to our kids.

We feel bad when something happens to our kids. We feel bad when they get sick. We wish we could replace us with them, or replace them with us, or they're suffering with ours.

Do we have that same feeling with people at church when we hear what they're going through?

Do we really empathize? Do we just... do we do that?

Can we understand what iron sharpens iron means?

Outside of a body. Let's go back to Proverbs 27.

Proverbs 27.

Verse 17.

Proverbs 27 verse 17.

As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.

It's good to talk about the Bible.

Sometimes when I go out and visit some of you, or even after Sabbath service, if you talk about the Bible, I feel good.

And there's this give and take, and I can tell you're into the Bible, and you're listening, and you're looking at the things.

And there's never a question that anyone can ever ask that I'm going to be upset about.

Jesus Christ didn't get upset at the disciples. You look at some of the questions they asked.

It's just a learning experience.

As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.

If we never discuss the things we believe, how do we make sure we're all in the same accord?

You know, we do Bible studies now, and we try to make them interactive.

Just so if you want, if you have a question, you're welcome to ask the question.

No one should be sitting and judging and saying, oh, you should know that already.

No, we're all at different levels, and there's nothing wrong with asking a question.

And everyone helping each other understand that we go back to the Bible, and what we're learning is the Bible.

This is the final word.

We might have opinions here and opinions there, but when we reason together from the Bible, we come to the same conclusion every time.

If we never take the opportunity, we're not going to learn what iron sharpens iron.

We're not going to become sharper as time goes on.

Are we going to learn to resolve conflicts?

You know what some people in the world, their idea of resolving a conflict is?

I don't like you what you said. I'm going somewhere else.

Well, that'll resolve a conflict, but does it really resolve a conflict?

They may not be in your face anymore, and you may not have to see them anywhere.

Is that what the Bible says, a resolved conflict? Is that what God would say?

Is that what his kingdom in heaven, that he wants to be on earth?

Is that the way he would do things? You don't like what I say? Go run somewhere else.

No! You do it Matthew 18. You're not going to find that often in the workplace.

You're not going to find that in other churches. It should happen in the Church of God.

We should be practicing the way of resolving conflicts because, you know what? In the millennium, when there are people on earth who are learning the things that we should be learning now, we will be teaching that. And as we have conflicts and they will come, there's nothing wrong with them.

Not one of us is perfect. Not one of us is going to do everything exactly right. Not one of us is ever going to have exactly the right thing. There will be conflicts. We have to learn how to deal with them the way that God said to deal with them. Now, we have to be humble enough to accept what those things are and to do it the way that he said. Can we ever learn to be strong for someone else? Does it make any sense? I mean, sometimes, you know, our families, our immediate families, we can drive strength from them when we have an issue or whatever. What about when someone's persecuted? What about between now and the time of Jesus Christ returns? And we might have some issues. Certainly, Jesus Christ strengthens us. His Holy Spirit strengthens us, and I don't mean to minimize that at all, but we can be strong for each other. That strength that we gain from each other can help us through the things that God wants us to. Will that strength be there if we don't even know each other well enough? Will the prayers be there if we don't even know each other well enough? Let's look at Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 4. Ecclesiastes 4, verse 12.

Solomon, in his wisdom given by God, he says, though one may be overpowered by another. You know, there may be times when we are confronted something and think, man, I can't face that.

I can't face that situation. I can't face that person. That is daunting. Though one may be overpowered by another. Certainly with the strength of God we can do it. Though one may be overpowered by the other, two can withstand him. If you'll come and stand by my side, then I think I'll grade the strength from God, certainly. But you being there with me and beside me will help.

And a three-fold cord is not quickly broken. We can be that for each other. We should be that for each other. It doesn't happen on its own. It takes effort. It takes time. It takes commitment.

Can we learn to be impartial to one another? Can we learn not to be a respecter of persons?

You know, you listen to the news and you listen to the things that are going on. It's like kind of strange what's going on out there and whatever with the things you hear.

Jesus Christ was not a respecter of persons. In the Church of God, whatever church it is, whether it's Orlando, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, wherever you go, there are people of all walks, there are people of all backgrounds, there are people of all the ethnicities, there are all people of different economic statuses. Christ said, you treat and you love them all exactly the same, just the way he loved you and me.

Takes effort. Takes time. Takes commitment. Takes God's Spirit. And in a church body, we can learn to do that. Can't do that if we're not part of a body.

How about learning to admonish each other? Let's look at Colossians 3. Colossians 3, 16.

That's a word people don't want to hear, but here in Colossians 3, 16, interesting in my Bible, the heading is putting on the new man, subtitle is family relationships. But what Paul is talking about is the Church of God. Colossians 3, 16, he says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching which the Church of God does and admonishing one another.

Do you know what admonishing is? Demonishing is cautioning people, warning people, reproving gently. He doesn't say that admonishing, you know, maybe once in your lifetime, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms using the Bible and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts of the Lord. Giving and admonishment, gently, not using a hammer, not having the attitude, how can you not know this? Why aren't you doing that? But understanding each other and understanding each other's personalities that we come and understanding and bearing with one another and loving one another and helping each other with all the things that we need to help each other with and not sitting in judgment and saying, you should know better than that and you shouldn't have done that and you shouldn't have done that. Admonishing gently from the Bible. Giving admonishment is certainly something, but receiving it is another thing, isn't it? Sometimes we can bristle if someone wants to admonish us, and the natural human reaction is, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. That shouldn't be among the people of God.

In the kingdom, in the millennium, there will be admonishing that goes on. Romans 15 verse 14, taking correction is a necessary element of our lives. If we never are corrected by God and what we read or anyone else, then we have to ask ourselves, is God really working with us or are we working? Are we doing what God wants us to do and living the life we need to live?

Can we really live in peace with one another? I mean true peace. True peace and true unity, not the definition is, I'm at peace with you if you agree with everything I say. That's a pretty easy definition, right? As long as you agree with me, we're at peace. But if you have a different opinion, then we're not at peace. That's, you know, maybe the peace of the world. It's not the peace of God. We work through those issues. We come together as one as we find that. Can we learn to live that way in the world? Could we learn the spiritual gifts that God gives us if we were just all by ourselves? If we were just all at home reading the Bible, listening to CDs, whatever, would we learn the spiritual gifts? Would we ever know what God had in mind for us or what He's given us?

You know, He says that all the pieces that we need in a church are there. He provides the gifts that we need for a church, the body, to function properly. And you've seen it, and I've been a pastor for the last seven, eight years. I've seen it. When we have a need, it's like, whoa, someone knows how to do that. God took care of it. It's just a matter of identifying that and who can do that and who is that talent for. But it's all there. What we need in Orlando is here. Sometimes we have to uncover it, and you become aware of a gift that you don't even be aware of that you would never know if you weren't part of a body. But not if we're just by ourselves, not if we don't participate, not if we're actively participating in the body. Can we learn to comfort one another?

You know, in 1 Corinthians, it says, God comforts us that we learn how to comfort one another. Now, we can wrap all this up in whatever. Really, by asking one final question, you can add many of those things. You can go to the Bible and say, this is what God wants us to be, and where are you going to learn it? Where are you going to learn it in a body that also teaches the truth, the only body that teaches the truth of the Bible? You could ask, where are you going to learn agape except in the Church of God? You know, agape is an active, active choice.

God gives us the Holy Spirit. One of the fruits of the Spirit is agape, but we have to do it.

We have to make the choice to be concerned with one another. We have to make the choice to get to know each other. We have to make the choice to do something when we see the needs of others. We have to make the choice when we see someone that we're going to go out and we're going to get to know them. We're going to talk to them. We're going to fix this. We're going to bond together, and we're going to make this happen. You know, if we don't have agape, if we don't have agape, Paul is pretty clear what we have. Let's go back to the agape chapter, 1 Corinthians 13.

Remember when Paul wrote this book of Corinthians? To the church at Corinth. He didn't write it to one individual. He wrote it to the church at Corinth. And you know, he did a lot of admonishing in the book of Corinthians, and to their credit, they listened to every single thing he said. They did it all. And it worked. When we do things God's way, it works. And to the church in 1 Corinthians 13, he says this in verse 1, a clinging symbol.

Those should be stirring words. What is God saying to me? What is he saying to you?

If we don't do those things, if we don't develop the trait that Jesus Christ said in his dying words he wanted us to develop, we have nothing. John 17. John 17, the chapter where Jesus Christ prays before he's arrested. And in this chapter, as I mentioned, for four times, he said, my will is that they, the people that you give me, God, the people that you call, that receive that call, that repent, that are baptized, become part of the body, and my will is that they will become one just as you and I are become one, as it is in heaven, so it should be on earth with them.

Verse 22. The glory which you gave me, Christ says, I've given them, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them, you in me, that they may be perfect in one, not individually, not off to themselves, in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me, and that you have loved them as you have loved me. If the world doesn't see the love of God in his body, where are they ever going to see it? If they don't see that in you and me, individually and as a body, where are they ever going to see it? We have a responsibility. God is going to hold us accountable. He's going to look at me one day and say, what did you do? You might have done all these things, but you didn't do that. You let it slide. All these things we learn by being a church, by being part of his body, by letting him direct us, and by letting his Holy Spirit direct us.

Let me take a few minutes. Let me take a few minutes here in conclusion. Let's talk about some of the obstacles to community. What are some of the obstacles to community? What holds us back from becoming the community that God wants us to? The first one we can talk about is distractions.

We all have distractions. We all have busy lives. We have other things going on in our lives.

Sometimes those things take precedence over everything else. I've got to do this. I can't do that. Whatever. The brethren have to take a back seat. I've got to do this. I've got to run home for this. I want to do this. Whatever it is, it's a distraction. We talked about distractions not too long ago. We have to manage those distractions and not let Satan take away what our priorities need to be. That's one. Clicks. C-L-I-Q-U-E-S. That can be an obstacle to community, can't it? You know, years ago when I was growing up, we often had sermons on clicks.

C-L-I-Q-U-E-S. It's great to have friends. Jesus Christ had friends. There were some of those disciples that he was closer to than others, but he included them all. But if we have Clicks, if we hang around the same people all the time, that's what we talk to. Every potluck we sit at the same table with the same people, and we don't get to know other people or consciously go over to another table and talk with someone, then we're the ones who are causing the community not to develop.

And you know what? I hear that from people. When I listen closely to what they're saying and whatever I hear, things like that. We can hold ourselves back, right? We're community.

We're community. We should be community. You know, we can sit on this side of the room and never talk to anyone on that side of the room, right? We can do that because that's what we do. We sit in the same place every week, and that's okay. That's okay. But some of us don't have the personality that we just feel good about going up and talking to someone else, right? Not, I don't know if good is the word. Maybe we haven't developed the ability to do that. It's where we look at one another. You know, you've got to forget ourselves some time. We don't have to have the most profound thing when we go up and talk to someone. We just need to go up and talk. Just need to go up and spend some time with them, even for 30 seconds. And we, as the ones who are maybe receiving on that side, we can't be like, I don't have time for you. I need to run home. I got to do this and whatever. And give the impression we just don't care. Because you know, if we don't care, what would we say if God told us, I just don't care? We have a responsibility to each other. We have a responsibility to become one. Got to make the time. Got to make the effort, as I said. And you have to participate in the church activities. You have to be there if that's what you want. And you have to make the most of it. And when you do it, you will begin to see the growth and we will all begin to see the difference.