Hebrews 10:25

The title of today's sermon is Hebrews 10.25. Hebrews 10.25 is a title. I'd like to reference history here for just a moment. Many of you, most of you, hopefully all of you, know what the book of Hebrews is all about. For one thing, it's easy to know you don't have to be genius IQ to figure out who the book is written to. It's written to the Hebrews, the Jews, so written to Christian Hebrews, Christian Jews. Most of you know that Hebrews 11 is called the what chapter? Faith chapter. Thank you, one sum. The faith chapter. It gives us incredible stories of the heroes of faith down through the history of the Bible. It's inspiring to read their stories and what they went through. And then it morphs into chapter 12 as it talks about us and those. Welcome. Nice to have you. We were expecting you. Now I can start again. Good to have you. Greg, right? Oh, very good. Nice to have you. I got a call for you. Yes, nice to have you here with us today. They're from New Jersey. Delaware. Why do I think New Jersey? You attend church in New Jersey? Oh, okay. You might know these people here somewhere. Yes, well, it's good to have you. I know this weather feels good to you. So let's talk about as we morph in from chapter 11 of Hebrews to chapter 12. And the first verse talk about how we are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses as it references back to chapter 11. And then it then morphs into telling more about the church and coming to the church as it says, we come to Mount Zion and we're not at the foot of Mount Sinai. But then he's talking about we come before Mount Zion, which is heavenly Jerusalem. And he says then that to innumerable company of angels, the General Assembly. So we don't just come here with this room, but because it is holy time put together by a holy God given to a now holy people, it is a holy day. And that we are blessed to be here as the angels. You can read it for yourself in chapter 12. The angels come together for this General Assembly, a festival of angels, a festal gathering, as the Greek tells us, as the church of the firstborn. So there's very rich words in chapter 12. It's really great reading in chapter 11 and chapter 12, but there seems to be a disconnect in there because it's like these inspiring verses. But you go back to chapter 10 and there's a verse there that does not really make sense in the context because of to whom the book is written. It's written to Jewish Christians. The Hebrews. What's interesting is that the Jews in biblical times, they would come together on the Sabbath. I mean, it was so important to them to gather and to be together sharing this time of worship was so important to them that they would not miss it for anything.

And now it had echoed down that one of the reasons that the nation of Judah went into captivity was their breaking of God's Sabbath in the Holy Days and worshiping other gods. And so it seems kind of strange, since it was so important that not only did they gather together, but one of the first things that God wanted them to do was build walls and build the synagogue back in biblical times. And so here people would... this was a holy site. It was so important for them to come together to worship on that day, to gather a symbol and a synagogue to worship. Then, I have a question. If it's ingrained in them, if it was so important to them, if it was a holy time and they considered a holy place, then why? Hebrews 10 and verse 25. Why Hebrews 10 and verse 25? Let's go there. Hebrews 10 and verse 25. It says in the New King James Version, "...not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching." So many believe, most believe, scholars believe that the Hebrew Book of Hebrews is written by Paul. Why would Paul then be telling the Hebrew Christians they needed to come to services, a symbol for services? It didn't, to me, really make sense. As I read this and go through this, study the book of Hebrews, did the Hebrews in the New Testament church in apostolic times, did they then just become lax and decide, yeah, that's for you Gentiles.

No. No. Obviously, there's a reason were there some who were thinking that the Holy Day is not that holy. Don't know. Ask your question.

Could this possibly be written for us? Could it be written for us because it says, verse 25, and so much more as you see the day approaching. What day? What's he talking about? Well, the day is capitalized, right? It's the day of the Lord. It's the end time. So much more.

We're almost 2,000 years after this time.

You think we're closer to it than they are? Much. Much. Could this be for us? That's why. Root this sermon as I thought about it, and hopefully it will be more of an interactive sermon. So if I ask you something, you say it, I may just repeat it just so the people online can hear that because I think nobody can answer the questions I have here today better than you. Nobody. Better than you. Because I've known you here as your pastor for 10 years. I know most of you very well, and I appreciate not only your dedication but your wisdom. But one thing that you cannot top is experience. Experience. Right, Andy? Nothing makes you learn how to be a pastor more than being a pastor. Right, Jeff? The more you learn. There's surprises around the corners. Right, David? They are. There's just different things we run into. So I have two questions today. Two questions for this congregation so that we can look at things and have an understanding of some things. So my first question is, what, using this scripture as a background, what are some reasons for not attending Sabbath services?

What are some questions? What are the reasons? Because there are legitimate reasons. I've had some. Right? You know, Barry, I think you were going to go through it. And then there's some what? I've heard less legitimate reasons. And you know where in my 40, wow, what is it, 45 years of keeping the Sabbath? I've had both. I've had both. And a lot of people have. Right? So I'm going to give you two and then we're going to open it up because I want this to be part of what we do as we discuss this. As we look, not just a minister standing up here going, you keep the Sabbath. No, because there's two big questions here that we want to answer. And one of the legitimate reasons that I was given, because I get phone calls all the time. People asking and telling me, wow, we'd like to come. Well, we're really involved, but there's certain reasons. And one of those reasons is cha-ching. Money. Money. Money is a reason because there are people who, what? They don't fix income. There are some people who can't even afford the gas to come. One person I talked to here in South Florida is 125 miles away.

And they're older and they have a a fixed income and it's just not in the budget.

It's one of the reasons I'm thankful for the webcast that we do. They do not have any money left at the end of the month. There's not. And one person, one time, I actually talked to them and they called me and all they had was enough money to get here. They didn't have enough money for gas to go back home. And I said, if you get there, I'll get you the money to come back home. And they did!

And they came every week for a while after until they moved.

Is that a legitimate reason? I think so. I think so. Then I want to give you another reason. The second reason, if you'll put my slide forward, Polly. Polly! Do you know who Polly is? Polly was my dog, Mary's dog. She much marries as she was mine. Picture taking a Polly back in Tennessee when the grass was green. Definitely wasn't this time of the year. Polly was our dog and Polly just... Polly was an Epicurean dog. You know what Epicureans were? Just wanted a good time all the time. She wasn't a dedicated dog. As soon as we'd leave and drive to work, she had right after us and run down the road where some other dogs were. Out in the country, we did that. But I bring Polly's picture up just because there was a person one time that said they couldn't come to services because of their dog. They had to take care of their dog.

And that was important. And I understood because is there a legitimate reason to stay home with your dog? Okay, they said their dog was sick. And if a dog's sick and if you've... Any of you have ever had a dog and they get sick? Yes, you have had a dog. Savannah? Yes, and that dog got sick and it was dying.

I've known people who stayed with their dog the last few hours. You've had that dog for 10 or 12 years. Sorry, I can see that. My own eyes. But this person's dog was sick for a year and a half.

I won't say what he just said for the dog lovers. In other words, they may not let you back in Florida.

But where is the balance there? I mean, where is the importance that I think we can see?

Anybody else? A legitimate. Let's do legitimate first. Legitimate. Anybody here? Wait. Health. Yes, like you're sick. Well, if you're sick, we really don't want you coming in here, do we? To share your sickness with everybody is very legitimate. Wouldn't everybody say that health is a good one? Yes, sir. Mr. Brown? Well, yeah, that's pretty obvious. Oh, but you bring up a good point, though. What about going to a funeral? What if Mary? Would I go to hers? I guess I could come and speak here and then go and do her funeral in the afternoon if she dies. Right. I probably wouldn't do it on the Sabbath. Unless there's a good ballgame on Sunday, then I'd have to move it. But if it's a relative, say, your parents, and they're not in the church, and they have an amazing high-filling situation. Yes. Well, yeah, like a mother or father. Yes, sir.

They had an accident. You were the only person that had known what you were relying on.

Yes, a major accident, which would be called, what, oxen the ditch? Yes, and those happened, don't they? And sure enough, it happens. Sometimes you may not get a call all week, but you'll get one Saturday morning or whatever. And should we help? Yes. Very good, legitimate reason. Any others?

Someone said to me one time, I'm too old. I'm really too old to come. Is that a little legitimate? No.

Yes. Of course, I look at the examples of too old, and I remember our health problems, and many of you remember Humberto Mejica here, and Melita. And she one time just got out of the hospital. She'd been sick, as could be, and he had cancer, and he was going through his death. So, as soon as she got out of the hospital, they didn't even address it, they just came. Because they said, this is where my family is. I mean, so you have that type, and then you have others who wouldn't necessarily do that. Yes, ma'am. Sometimes you look too much into the city and the weather. Oh, Chris, where were you on that one? I just knew it'd be Chris. He keeps us updated on the hurricane seasons, thankfully. Yes, I mean, here in South Florida, weather is an issue. In ten years, have we ever canceled services because of hurricanes? Did we? I don't remember us doing it. One time we did. Okay, I couldn't remember. But, if they're warning, and guess what, we're in South Florida, and if you're anywhere near Miami or Fort Lauderdale, your roads get flooded. Flooding kills more people than the hurricane itself, most of the time. So, would you say weather? I would have to agree with Elisa. Weather, you know, should you get out in a storm? Should you get out if your roads are flooded? No. No. So, I think it's a very legitimate reason. A type of profession. Okay, elaborate. Neil? I'm certain that a hospital would be that 1% skilled person, and you wouldn't take their estate, and you know that they'd call you on Saturday, then short. Would that be considered an ox and a ditch? Yes. Merci. Yes, Merci. You may have a different name. As a matter of fact, they kept talking about an ox and a ditch, but then every week it falls in the ditch, falls in the ditch, and they said you either need to sell the ox or shoot him. So, yes, but you know. So, there are legitimate reasons for forsaking the assembly. How about less legitimate ones? Being too tired. Have you ever been tired and not wanting to go to services? No? Never? I've been tired and not wanted to go, and I had to speak. Right? Some people are tired, exhausted. Yes, Savannah?

You were tired, but you came anyway. It's good.

I'd say that probably happened, where it's now that there's a webcast. People are, and it is for people. So, we originally started because of COVID. We were, and Jeff put it together because we could help people in the Caribbean who could watch, because some of the, some of our services in the Caribbean are still not being carried on. I mean, we've got churches still closed. They've been closed for a year, almost two years, and so we wanted to give them a service to watch. And we are there, and if you are sick and can't go, we want to make sure. We have Gus and Vera who are watching today. They're on the island Dominica by themselves, and so this is a service to them also, and it makes them, because they are a part of our family in the Caribbean, and so forth here. Any other?

Oh, very good, Neil. Relatives. I've heard that one over the years, that I can't come because relatives are coming into town, and I don't get to see them but once a year, like the markers. They just show up, you know? Is that? I mean, how do you guys handle that with relatives?

They got to come with you.

Well, I have heard all kinds of things from relatives. Some people say, well, I really can't. Some people say, you know, you've probably heard those excuses too, well, I can't be there. Less legitimate.

I got one one time that I didn't get until I was down here, and I, somebody, someone had called me, and I said, well, I invited them, of course, to come to services here. And they said, it's just too hot.

It's just too hot for me to get out. I said, we have air conditioning. It's too hot for me to get out because I don't have air conditioning in my car.

I had another one that said, I wish, I wish that your services, they weren't in the afternoon. And I said, our services are not in the afternoon.

And he said, well, that might work then.

Because I gotta be home to watch the ballgame. Legitimate. I hear that less legitimate. I've heard a lot.

Any others that you guys might come up with? How about a wedding? Wedding? You ever attended a wedding? On a date?

I've there actually ministers in the United Church of God who perform weddings on the Sabbath.

Yes, I don't. Anyone asked me, I will not perform a wedding on the Sabbath. It's a personal decision. I just know when I got married, the last thing I was on that day, if I'd have had it on Saturday, I sure wouldn't have been thinking about God. It was on some blonde I was finally going to get to go to bed with.

Oh, sorry. She gave me that look. I was being honest. Not lying. I was 24 years old, 25 years old. But here's the thing.

I have gone to weddings that were about sunset, and the majority of them were afterwards. But for someone, I mean, the focus is on a wedding is on whom? Bright in the groom. Bright in the groom. I still think the Sabbath should be, the focus should be on him. God. But see, these are decisions that people with God's Holy Spirit have to make. And I don't make, thou shall not. A lot of people call me and say, well, can I do this on the Sabbath? What do I say? What does the Bible say? Well, it doesn't say. Then what does that little voice tell you? What does that Spirit guide you to do when you compare that to reading the Word? So we have legitimate and less legitimate answers.

But one of those is, that I've got, is I'm not coming to any hotel.

I'm not. No, that's not for me. Now, many of you know we've been looking for a building, and we'll continue to look for a building. And I want to, we'd love to have a building. We'd love to have a church. And the administration says, look for a building. So we are here in Vero Beach. You might love to have a thing with our name on it and so forth like that. But, brethren, there's a lot worse places than this to meet.

I've been through the Caribbean. Many of you have been in South America, various places.

I'd like to now go to the second question, and that is reasons. What are some reasons for attending Sabbath services? You see this picture here? That was a church, a united church, yeah.

Haiti. You got it. This was when we first started the first year before we got the sanctuary built over there. And we met in a room. Mary was there, I think, this time. I mean, in fact, you took the pictures. The room was almost as long as this one, but it was only from here to here. It was only about 10, 12. Oh, you know where it is down in his room. Oh, that's where you taught your classes there. Yes. Here was the first time I went, which was about six months after the church started. And this was a room. They had it. And we had about 45 people in that room. Now imagine half of this room and putting 45, 50 people in that room.

There wasn't air conditioning then. And seats were, there were two rows. That's all we could get in there with a two-foot walkway in the middle. And you know, they were so happy to be there. Children everywhere. Brother, they had a reason to attend services. Yes, they didn't use the excuse that it's too far. Many of them walked miles to get to services. And their desire was to have a church that they could call their own. It's what we have now. Now our sanctuary is, what, three times bigger than this room, four times bigger than this room that we can have. But I'd like to, now, like to have you tell me what are some reasons for attending Sabbath services? I hope you have some. Andy?

Place where we live, hopefully, by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We share this. Charmaine? Thank you for attending this today. I'm glad you could stay here for the next time. Okay, so, 10. One of the reasons is God tells us to, in His Word. Right? Ladies first. Yes. To worship God. What do you mean worship God?

Yes. I mean, talks about worshiping God.

That has to be something that we want to do. I'll get you next, unless that was yours, William. You were next. No? Who else? Oh, yes, sir, Neil. So, could I put that into words? You like your iron sharpened. Is that a good reason? It says iron that iron sharpens iron. Yes, sir. Fellowship. Fellowship. Why do you think that's important, Maurice?

Because we can... yes, uplift one another because we sometimes get beat up during the six days, don't we? And there's one thing about it. We call it a sanctuary there. I think I could call it a sanctuary here because you're safe here. You're safe here. We have people who encourage us. I'm encouraged by you, and I'm supposed to be the encourager. And that's one of the reasons I have to go because I'm paid to be here. But I came to the Sabbath services before I was paid. I also have to drive her. But I make a light of that. But we all get something from it.

If you really worship, come and worship, as Willis said, and fellowship and know that that person beside you, if you, like we talked about earlier, if you broke down, you had some problem, who would you call? The church. People who are your family. So, family first. Barry?

It is. Very good point, Barry.

That we're able to work together as a team, which means what? It doesn't mean we're always going to agree with each other. We're all going to have stuff, but we're all working for a common goal, just like a team. Maurice, and then I'll go to William. Salt and Light. It helps us sometimes. I do. I come in here, and I've not had a very enlightened week. I've not been a very good example of salt, but I come in here, and I get a chance to see salt and light. And you help, as the old saying is, you help make me a better person. And hopefully we all do that. William Brown? This is a synergy, then. You're talking basically a synergy of people pulled together from different walks of life. It is called a melting pot here in South Florida, because we are just different races, different ethnic groups, different walks of life. But we all come in here and have one common goal. To seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And we all agree on that, don't we? And if there's any way we can help each other, I've seen such incredible giving in this body since I've been here of people that would go and help. And didn't even know anything about it. I'm always here to try to help, but people call other people and they're there to help. They're here to pick up. We're here as ministers, but we see other people ministering every week, helping others. And without that, we would know each other. Without this common bond of the Holy Spirit and us gathering together, we would know it. We could walk on the street and just not even know each other. But we are stronger as a group. We're stronger as a family, because we have a common goal, and we have one thing that should be, and I hope it is, and I have heard people say, we have one thing that's in common. We have a love of God, and we love Him, and we love each other. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have what? Love one to another, and that's what I hope we can be. I hope we will continue, and that's one of the reasons I brought this sermon forward, because I wanted people, because there's people who listen in the Caribbean who can't meet every week. They can't. They're the only ones on the island, and they would love to be able to come together with people of like mind and the same goal in life and in the future, but they can't. There's other people who join us every week or most weeks on the webcast, and I think of some widows that gather out west, and they come and they watch us. They watch us because they feel at home with us. Not only what in our Bible studies that we sometimes webcast, but also the services. They get to know people. We do a Zoom afterwards, anybody who wants to talk, and I think of Jill Abraham, who joins us every week out in New Mexico, I think, or Arizona, New Mexico. We're blessed. And me, I'm devil-y blessed now because I have not only this one, but the one in Vero Beach. My family just got bigger, and I love it. I love that. But it's personal to me, and not because I get paid to do it. Because if I didn't get paid, I'd still be here. Because you don't leave your family. Because they'll always be there for you. When everyone else walks away, they'll still be there. Anybody else? Yes, Annie?

Yes?

Well, I know I throw you off sometimes, and I do that intentionally. Because I think it is a story. And I write a new sermon every week. I don't use my old sermons. I write a new one for this every week in Vero Beach.

And I ask God to show me what they want. And I also ask you guys, what do you want to hear? What do you need? And I think that's so important that not only do you listen to the men from up here, but we listen to you. And we feed his, what do you say, feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Barry? What Annie said? I just remember something that it seems like God has a message prepared for e-commodation. And for some reason, I don't know what it is, but you find that the sermonette ties into the sermon.

And the two speakers that we know, which each other speak on, I've seen it happen so many times. Right. And that tells me that God is directly involved in inspiring this sermon and un- sermonette, but the e-commodation means that he's probably accepted the means of the sermon. Yeah, I find that there is a difference. Yeah, well, thank you, Barry. Yeah, I find that some people will come up and go, and they're talking to me, aren't you?

I said, no. No, but glad it worked. Or, this is something that they needed. The Spirit is guiding. And that's what we have to do. Guide me, as I said this morning, speak through me. Speak through my mouth. Well, let's... Yes, sir? Great. We talked a lot about being ambassadors of God's kingdom to the world, but I think we also need to come to services to represent God's kingdom to one another and to create a little bit of what it's going to be like here in the week of experience.

True. Good point. Thank you, Greg. You did learn something up north, didn't you? I can't talk about Yankees. I can't talk about Yankees anymore. But, yes, it's amazing. It's what bonds us all together. When you read the same book and you live out of the same book, nothing really surprises us. Because we're all working toward the same goal. Let me wrap this up. I'd like to have some comparable scriptures or some other reference scriptures, because by the mouth of two or three witnesses is a matter established. So this is not the only scripture in Hebrews 10.25, but I'd like, if you will, to go with me to Matthew 18.

Matthew 18. In verse 20, and I'll read from the New King James Version, he says, for where? And you can read this in the context, you can even just look at it for what it is. For where? Two or three are gathered together in my name.

I am there in the midst of them. Do we believe that? I'm glad you do. Because we ask whoever said the opening prayer, David, ask for God to be here. And I pray that God will be here. And so where two or more gathered together, just like when we have an outing, when we get together at Bruce's house and have a meal, or we come together at Maurice's house and have a leader meeting or whatever, we feel like it's just not us doing our own thing. But he's there with us. And I think there are, as the old saying goes, there's strength in numbers.

And when it comes to God, he doesn't need a whole lot to make things happen as he did with Gideon. Incredible story of Gideon when somebody says, well, your church is pretty small. Well, so is Gideon's army. Except they didn't start out small. I mean, they didn't start out small at all.

They had all tens of thousands. No, no, no. Get rid of those. Get rid of those. Get rid of those. We are like an army for God today. Onward Christian soldiers, who we talk about, God doesn't need a big army, not when he's in the midst of them. Let's go to another Scripture. Acts 2. Go to Acts 2. Many of you know this Scripture, Acts 2. And verse 1, it says, He's not talking about the hondocord car. They were all in one accord, which means they were here. Right? In one place. And you can read in chapter 2, the miracle took place that day.

Wouldn't you have hated to have a reason not to come that day? But here the Holy Spirit was given. And mass has never been done before.

It's amazing. It says, in one place. They knew where to go. That room up above. Christ spoke to thousands, and yet there were only 120 that day. So let's go back as we wrap this up. Another reason. Let's go back to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10. Let's go to verse 24 this time. It says, And let us consider one another in order to do what?

In order to stir up love.

Do we consider one another? I think you do, because I've seen everybody just love each other in this congregation. I've seen willing to do things. But we're here every week to stir it up. Stir up that love. And for one thing, to know. To know that we're not in this thing alone. And that you have people here who would do anything for you. Just like a family. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. We need to do some good works. And there's plenty that needs to be done in this really sick world that we call South Florida. They need to see some good works. And then, it says, Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is a manner of some, and thankfully he didn't say most, but exhorting one another. Exhorting one another. That means to encourage, to spur on.

And it's funny because I looked up the Greek of exhorting, and it meant to beseech, to pray. It was a reference of praying for others. Exhorting, praying for one another.

And to get people fired up. For the love of God. But exhorting one another, and so much more, as you see the day approaching. And that's what we're supposed to be. We're supposed to be looking for that day. That day is approaching.

And if we go into the Kingdom, which I hope we do, let's go into the Kingdom together as our family. One family, our family, God's family.