Alright, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews 10, we're going to be focused on verses 24 and 25 this morning, but we want to read it in the context that we were at. Remember, we were at the end of the inclusio, this kind of meant to be an exclamation mark of the text that we were in, starting from chapter 4.

Remember, an inclusio is something that starts with the same phrase and ends with the same phrase, and so it was meant to be taken as a unit, and so we're at the end of that, and so we're going to be looking at verse 19. I'm going to read from 19 to 25, but focused on 24 and 25.

Okay? Again, reading out of the NASB, "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil, that is his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold fast a confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another in all the more as you see the day drawing near." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask for your guidance, we ask for your Holy Spirit to open our ears, help us to understand and apply the very things that you have for us.

May this time be pleasing in your sight, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Alright, so as I mentioned, that this is the end part of the inclusio where he, it was meant to be taken as an exclamation mark of all the things that he's been saying about what Jesus has done.

And this is at the backbone, this is at the core of what you and I profess to believe. And so we are not to take this lightly, we are to take it seriously because of what it leads to. So the point of all that he's been saying, the author has been saying, is not simply, "Do you understand who Jesus is?" That wasn't his ultimate goal.

His ultimate goal is, "If you understand who he is, then how will you live?" And his primary concern wasn't a lack of Christology, even though that was the root cause of them drifting. His primary concern was people were beginning to drift out of the church and go back and revert back to their old life.

And he recognized the reason why is because maybe they forgot who Jesus is, or they needed to be reminded the supremacy of Christ, that he is above everything that they're being tempted to drift back to. And so that's why he took all this time going over details of who Jesus is, that he's greater than the angels, greater than Moses, greater than the prophets, greater than the sacrificial system.

He himself is the sacrifice. He himself is the high priest. And as a result of that, he says, there's three imperatives. And these imperatives are not unique to this text. In fact, every imperative in the New Testament will fall into these three categories, drawing near to God, persevering, and reaching out to others.

And the way that I phrased it last week was reach up, reach in, and reach out. So every imperative, every doctrine of Christ, every doctrine of the gospel leads to one of these applications, that we are to draw near to God, to persevere in our faith, and to reach out to other people.

So last week, we looked at drawing near to God and to persevere, to hold fast to our confession, right? And so, and it needs to be in that order. Because if we draw strength from reaching out to other people, and that's our primary reason why we do what we do, eventually, you're going to get burnt out.

If your primary feeding and energy is coming from serving other people, eventually, when people disappoint you, you will also burn out as well. That's not where we're supposed to get our sustenance. That's the application of the sustenance that we get from Christ. And so the first order of things that God teaches us always is to draw near to Christ.

Where are you with Christ? Not just theologically, right? Not just do you have the right answers, but are you walking with Christ? Are you communion with Christ? Can you say that you are in love with Christ? Is, is having intimate communion with Christ your primary pursuit in life? And secondly, if that's the case, are you persevering?

Are you swerving? Are you being distracted by the things that are going on around you? Are you running to other people for sustenance? Is Christ your center? And are you not swerving? Are you persevering in that? And only those people who are being fed and strengthened in Christ, we can be led to the third application, which is to reach out.

And this is so important because it gets to the core of why we gather, why we're sitting in the hot sun doing what we're doing. Because especially right now, you know, the churches are debating one another back and forth online and even among pastors, maybe even among your friends.

Why are you going, why are you, why is your church gathering together? Now, why can't we just stay online? What's the big deal? Why is your church so worried about this? And there's a back and forth going on between the churches that are open with the churches that aren't open as to if this is necessary or not necessary.

And so all the more why this text is so important for us this morning, because it has, it has direct application of what's happening. So I want to jump in this morning, as he says to let us draw near to Christ, let us hold fast to our confession. And then third and finally, let us consider, let us consider how to stimulate one another toward love and good deeds.

The first thing I want to look at is to let us consider, to consider carefully contemplate, to deliberately think about, you know, in Hebrews chapter 3, 1, the letter started by challenging us to consider Jesus. Partakers of heavenly calling consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession.

Right? So let's, let's take our minds of all of our distractions and think about who Jesus is. And that's how the letter started. And so now at the end of this inclusio, this doctrinal part of the, of the Bible, of the book of Hebrews, now he says, now that we have considered Christ, let us consider carefully how to stimulate other people.

Let us consider how we are going to provoke and stimulate other people. Now, this is so important because again, you and I live in a generation where we just don't think. We don't have time or space to think, you know, and sometimes I think maybe I'm just getting old, but you know, I go to coffee shops and I just can't hear myself.

You know, the music is blasted, you know, you're in the car and then the car is blasting, you're by yourself and the phone is on. So there's very little time to actually sit down and contemplate. You're almost constantly being told what to think and what to feel. And that we may not be doing that deliberately, but our society around us, it created an environment where we don't sit and contemplate and think through deep things.

We just go from one thought, one entertainment, one show, one clip, just one blog, you know, one, and we just go from one to another. The very first thing we are told to do, he says, to consider carefully, to think through, contemplate. You know, as sinners who've been saved by the grace of God, our natural inclination is to be self-centered.

What about me? What is God doing for me? What are they doing for me? Are they reaching out to me? When we are me-centered, it naturally leads to ingratitude. It naturally leads to ingratitude. It naturally leads to discontent because other sinners don't live up to your desires because they're also sinners, because they're also thinking the same thing, because they're also self-centered.

So if you have a room filled with self-centered people, if you're sitting next to a self-centered person, that person is probably thinking the exact same thing that you're thinking. Why is that guy not reaching out to me? Why does that guy not care about me? So our natural inclination when we are self-centered is to think about how everything around them affects me.

And we naturally become judgmental if that's the case. In Matthew 7, verse 3, it says, "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" Why do you look at the speck that is in your own eye?

Look meaning that you're examining other people to see what's wrong with them, and you're so gracious to yourself, but so critical toward other people. That's usually the result of being self-centered. Galatians 6, "Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself." In other words, examine yourself carefully so that you too will not be tempted.

Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8, 12, "Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again so that I will not cause my brother to stumble." In other words, he says, "I have the freedom. I can eat this meat. I can eat that food." He says, "But his life isn't about just himself." A self-centered person always stops with, "I'm okay with it.

I have the freedom. Don't judge me." But Apostle Paul says, "I have the freedom." But he says, "But if my actions cause someone else to stumble, his life standard is not himself. It's about how his life is lived for the sake of other people." Now again, in 1 Corinthians 9, 22-23, "To the weak I became weak that I might not, I might win the weak.

I have become all things to all men so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel so that I may become a fellow partaker of it." Even though he was free, he's the one who teaches us about the freedom that we have in Christ.

He's the one who argues against the Judaizers who's saying that you have to do this on the Sabbath and you, you have to do this and you have to do that. And he says, "If you want to compare credentials of who's the greatest legalist," he says, "I can outdo all of you." So he's the one who teaches us about the freedom in Christ and yet he says he does, he does all things for the sake of other people.

The first and foremost thing that we are called to do, if there is any affection in Christ, if we've been affected by the gospel in any way, he says first and foremost, what does he say in Philippians chapter 2? Right? "Do nothing out of selfishness, of self-centeredness. Consider others better than yourselves," he says.

And so that we may live our lives not in us-centered but in other-centered. Again in Romans 12, 15, after 11 chapters of teaching us about the intricate details of the gospel, the application that we saw, remember when we're going through Romans chapter 12, 15, it says, "Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep." See the problem with a self-centered life is we don't even know who's rejoicing.

We don't know who's weeping. Other than our immediate friends, other than the few people that we've allowed into our circle, we can't weep with those people because we just, we've never cared beyond our, our, our little bubble. So we don't know who's rejoicing. And then it's like, oh, when we see it online, it's like, oh, how come I'm not invited to that?

Oh, we're not in their circle. And we're not able to weep with other people because we don't know what's going on in their lives because we've lived in our little bubble, because we've lived in a self-centered life. You can't practice church online. You can't practice church online because you will never know what's going on in people's lives.

If your whole Christian life is about you listening to a sermon and dropping off your offering, if that's your whole idea of Christianity, yes, you can do that online. But what the church is called to do to consider how to stimulate one another on toward love and good deeds, you can't do that from a distance because you don't know what's going on in people's lives.

So first and foremost, the imperative that he calls us to do is to think and contemplate who are in need, who, who needs to be encouraged, who needs to be provoked. Church was never meant to be practiced from a distance. So the first thing he says, let us consider carefully contemplate deliberately.

What are we to do to consider stimulate one another on toward love and good deeds? You know, this word for stimulate in Greek is a very strong word. In fact, the closest word to English would be to provoke, to provoke. When we think of provoke, at least the way we use it in our language is, is usually negative, right?

Somebody is always doing irritating things and you get provoked, right? If you have younger siblings at home, right? Your older siblings, you know, say your younger siblings, you'll say, oh, he does and she, what she does provokes me, right? In other words, if you're provoked to anger, maybe you have road rage, somebody cuts you off and you just instantaneously you're provoked.

So when somebody is provoked, it's not calculated. It just happens. Someone else's behavior, someone, what someone else is doing causes a very intense, strong emotions to come out. That's the word provoke when it is used in a negative way. Here's it's used in a positive sense to provoke that our behavior, what we say and do causes another person to be provoked to love almost involuntarily.

If you've ever been around people like that, who they're just life is just constantly in serving other people. You just automatically become more serving. You understand? Do you know what I'm talking about? Right? I would say like as a group of people, and this may not be true of every single mother, but as a group of people, I think moms generally are just serving is embedded into their lives because that's what, that's what they just do.

I don't know if you've ever been at a dinner party with a bunch of moms, biggest feast ever, right? Because that's, they just do that. They just, it's just embedded. They don't have to think twice. They get together. They're almost fighting each other to do dishes. They're fighting each other to clean up.

You know, that don't happen in most crowds. When the dads are gathered together, we're usually just tired. You know, when moms are together, they're like fighting each other to serve. And there are people, there's groups of people, there are people that if you're around them, you just naturally are provoked by their actions to be more serving, to be more generous, to be more giving.

That's the idea that he has here to provoke. Now, I could say that every Sunday, my desire is to provoke you with my words and there is a place for that. And I think it's very important because the word of God, when we hear it, it provokes us to action.

But for most of us, you know, the provoking happens through action. Usually action begets other action. You know, our church is run by volunteers, right? And so things are not done professionally. It's not done professionally because people are not getting paid to do that. Now, we have the finances to hire maybe five or six more full-time staff, maybe five or six part-time staff, and we can get a full-time janitor, we can get a full-time, you know, like whatever.

And we have the finances that we could do that. But part of the reason why we don't do that is because we want to give the opportunity for the church to serve. And so as long as it is being run by volunteers, there's different levels of maturity. There are some people who will volunteer and they are very faithful.

If they get on a task, you know it's going to be get done. It's going to be, it's going to be done excellently and they're going to keep doing it until they aren't doing it anymore. And then there's a lot of people who are well-intending. They're the first ones to volunteer, but they're also the first ones to flake, you know?

And it's frustrating because certain things don't get done the way we want it to get done. But whenever you work with volunteers, that comes with the territory. So we can make it look very professional by hiring full-time staff and pay them to get it done. And we can come to church and enjoy the fruit of the labors of people who've been paid to do it.

Or we can do it the biblical way. Okay, now you know what I'm talking about. Okay? We come to church and God has called each one of us to serve, to serve voluntarily as an act of worship. And so because there's different levels of maturity, different levels of discipline, some things get done excellently, some things are done poorly.

But the purpose of the reason why we do that is because God has called the church to build the church. Just because we have finances, it's not a good idea just so that we can make it look better. See, our church is filled with people who are volunteering as an act of worship.

And so the calling is let us consider, think carefully how our lives and our behavior and our speech can provoke other people toward love and good deeds. So when you're surrounded by people who are serving, like it's naturally, naturally it provokes other people to serve. And that's what we desire in the church, right?

Not to make you feel guilty about serving, but to provoke you to serve, to want to serve. So when new people come to church and they see a church filled with people volunteering, coming to church early to set up, to clean afterwards, and they might be thinking, "Oh, how come the other church that I was at, they hired all these people to get this done and it's done so well." And then they might sit here and just kind of like enjoy, you know, everything's running so well, but just enjoy the church.

So we are called to live in such a way that others are to be provoked. Every morning, if you show up here early, as early as 6.30, 7 o'clock in the morning, probably 6.30 or earlier than that, there's a group of people here who comes every Sunday who sets up the AV.

Our prayer team comes earlier than everybody else every single week and they practice for hours, right? And then there's people who come, set up the chairs, they sanitize, you know, these tents would look much better if we hired people to do it, right? But we had professional pastors who did it, so it doesn't look as nice, right?

But we have people in the church and part of the reasoning behind that is because we want to provoke people. You know, I was thinking about this this week and the biggest and the latest example that I could think about is our brother and sister, Rachel and Andy Wong, you know, when they volunteered as soon as we went online, you know, they started contemplating and thinking like how can they provoke a church, how can they encourage a church?

And remember, they came up with the idea of service fair and they asked if it was okay. So this was not started by the church leaders, it was not our idea, they had an idea, like we're online, let's make the most of it and they asked if they can do it.

Of course you can do it, you know, we're not going to stop you, you're going to make money for the church and for the causes. Not thinking anything's going to come out of this, you know, especially me. I don't know about other pastors and leaders, I was very skeptical.

I was encouraged by what they wanted to do, but I was very skeptical. Like people are afraid to come out of their house, who's going to volunteer to serve and who's going to ask, you know, these disease infected people to come to their house? That's what I was thinking, right?

At least at the beginning, right? Well, I mean, obviously you guys know what happened, it started and then you had all these people in the church volunteering, you know, gourmet meals, piano lessons to take pictures, boat rides, dental services, eye care, you know, free sunglasses and all these things and then, you know, off-road camping and raised over $10,000, you know, in the church.

And all the while just volunteering, you know, not initiated by the church or church leaders and the church got involved and we raised more money than we've done in any other activity. We can have like three seasons of softball tournaments and not raise that money, right? And I was thinking, "Wow, that was easy.

We should just let them run it." And it was just, again, it's because a couple just thought that, "How can we, how can we provoke the church?" And our whole church was affected by it, right? And even now when I think about it, man, that was, that was not, it wasn't just a good idea, but the fact that, you know, the couple decided like, "Oh, they want to make the most of the situation that we're in," while everybody else may be thinking, "What are we going to do?" And maybe we were thinking that.

And as a result, the whole church was provoked. We raised money for good causes, you know, people were volunteering, they're paying for four $500 meals, crazy, right? Going off-road and spending three days with people you don't know, you know, and then building relationships. We were all provoked. You know, see, you can't do that from a distance.

You can't do that simply online. The church gathers together. Even when we were offline, they were working toward, "How do we do this? How do we provoke each other on toward loving good deeds?" And that's what he was saying, that we ought to contemplate and think and to consider and to apply, "How can we build a church where just being a part of the church provokes other people to love and to commit their lives to good works?" He says to do this, "Not forsaking our own assembling together." The reason why he's saying that is because that's what was happening in the early church.

It's not just coming out of nowhere. Part of the reason, part of the ramification of people drifting was that they were beginning to neglect their assembly because that's usually what happens when people are not doing well spiritually. One of the first things that you see is that they don't gather.

They feel guilty, they feel shame, or they're disgruntled, and one of the first thing that is is they don't see the importance of the gathering. So some people were just beginning to drift. And again, that's the reason why this is written, is to get them back to church, to get them to gather together.

But the other reason why is because the persecution was intense. Maybe for the first time, there were physical consequences for their gathering. And that's the reason why he keeps saying, "All the more as you see the day drawing near." He didn't say, "Oh, let's gather together as long as it's safe.

Let's not drift as long as everything is good." He said, "All the more, all the more as it becomes dangerous, all the more as the world becomes more hostile to the Christian faith." He says, "All the more not forsaking our own assembling together." The church, 1 Timothy 3.15 says, "It is the household of God." It was never meant to be done from a distance, through letters, through online.

Now obviously there are periods of life where we have gone through, where we may temporarily not be able to gather together. Maybe there's some young parents who have children, or sometimes you're sick, or you may be out of town. But he says, "Not forsaking our own assembling together as it is the habit of some." Meaning, they don't see the high value of the gathering of the church.

So every time it becomes inconvenient, every time there's a little bit of danger, every time there's even a little bit of cost, first thing that they forsake is the assembling together. Let's make this very clear. When the church first shut down, secular government said, "We're going to keep what is essential open, and non-essentials shut down." We, from the very get-go, we were very cautious about abiding by that, because a secular world cannot tell the church what is essential.

Of course it's not essential to them. They don't believe in God. They reject the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They don't have the hope of eternity in Jesus. So for them, living and eating and surviving is, and whatever causes that, is essential. Everything else is not essential, because they think of religion as a security blanket.

And you don't need that. You can have the security blanket at home. You can hear comforting words on the internet. You don't have to be gathered together. That's a perspective coming from a non-Christian world. My concern is, again I'm not saying that all churches have done this for this reason.

My concern is, Christians have too easily accepted the standards of what is essential and non-essential from the secular world. Let me make this very clear. The church is essential, because the very nature of the word "Ekklesia" means the physical gathering of people who are called out. So when a Jew in the early church heard even the very term "church," they understood that as a physical gathering, because that's the meaning of the word.

Assembly of people who are called out. It's an assembly, not simply a meeting. But the physical assembly, "Ekklesia." Church was never meant to be done in a distance. In fact, the church is so important in 1 Corinthians 3, 16 and 17. Apostle Paul says, "Do you not know that you are a temple of God?" You know the "you" here is in plural, not singular.

There's another part in Corinthians where he uses the singular, but here in 1 Corinthians 3, it is "you" is in plural, meaning the assembly. "Ekklesia" are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you. If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy and that is what you are.

It is the church that Jesus came to die for. It is the church that God called us to serve. We cannot practice Christian life outside of the assembly of the local church. Jesus says, "I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." Where do you practice lordship?

In the church. Where do you practice the ordinances that God deems so important that some people not participating in an honorable way were actually falling asleep, meaning that they were disciplined directly from the Holy Spirit. Some were actually falling sick and dying because they weren't practicing the ordinances in a way that honors God.

Where do you practice ordinances outside of the physical assembly of the church? How do you practice your spiritual gifts? You don't practice that in your living room. You don't know if you're a good singer or not by yourself singing in the closet. You don't know what your spiritual gifts is, whether it's in teaching or serving or administration.

You don't know any of that. You find that out in the assembly of the church. You cannot practice obedience to the scriptures outside of the physical assembly of the church. How do you provoke one another on toward love and good deeds from a distance? How do you keep each other accountable when you don't know how they're doing?

You don't know they're suffering. How do you rejoice with them when you don't know what they're rejoicing over? How do you weep with them when you don't know what they're suffering? How do you have union with Christ if the church, the physical assembly of the church, is the body of Christ and He is the head of the church?

When we are physically separated, how do we proclaim to have union with Christ if we are away? See, the church was never meant to be practiced from a distance. If our understanding of a church is just simply attending and listening to online sermons, then yes, you can practice that.

But the biblical understanding of church that is described briefly here, again this is not comprehensive, cannot be practiced outside of the physical assembly. And that's why he says, not forsaking. Consider how to stimulate, provoke one another, untoward love, loving good deeds, not forsaking the assembly as it is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.

To encourage, to call, to exhort, to beseech with strong force. There is a priority of urgency for the church to gather, especially now because he says all the more, all the more, because the church is meant to be a light, right? He says what good is light, right? If it loses the light, what good is the salt if it loses its flavor?

All then to be thrown to the ground and to be trampled. If God calls us to be a light, when is the light the most needed? Not in the middle of the day, right? You don't turn on the campfire in the middle of the day. You don't turn on lights in the middle of the day.

You turn on the light at night. The darker the world becomes, the more it necessitates the church to be brighter. And that's why he says all the more, all the more why the church needs to gather, all the more why the assembly of the church is essential. Because our very nature requires us to be a greater light, to come together, to provoke one another, to draw near to God, to persevere in our faith, so that this world who is lost, thinking that if they can just change the president, if they can change the politics, if they can change the economy, if they can get rid and get some vaccine, that everything will be good.

And you and I know that that's not the case. They can fix all the problems in the world and at the end all have still sinned and fall short of the glory of God. While the world is searching in darkness, looking for answers, the church needs to be the light.

That's why he says all the more. As it is getting dark, the church needs to gather. First Thessalonians 5, 2-7, "For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While they are saying, 'Peace and safety,' then destruction will come upon them, suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape." He says that the characteristics of people who are going to be caught off guard by the second coming of Christ are people who are primary goal in life is to seek peace and safety.

Peace and safety. Everything that we do is so that we can have some peace and that we can have some safety. We put some money away in the bank so that we can have some safety. We avoid certain things. We don't do certain things. We prioritize all of it based upon peace and safety.

He says while people are pursuing and saying peace and safety, destruction will come and they will be caught off guard like a thief. A thief is something that is unwanted that's breaking into your house. So in other words, people are not going to want Jesus to come. When we're living a life that is self-centered and all we are doing is pursuing our own happiness, we don't want Jesus to come.

Because He's breaking into my pursuit. If He comes tomorrow and everything that we're pursuing today, we have to scratch. That already tells us that we're pursuing the wrong things. We're going the wrong direction. He says, but in verse 4, "You brethren are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief, for you are all sons of light and sons of day.

We are not of the night nor of darkness, so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and let us be sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night and those who get drunk get drunk at night." He says, in other words, let us wake up all the more as we see the day drawing near.

As the world is running toward one direction, we run toward the other, because we want to be a greater light. I don't know about you, but because of what's going on, the opportunity to share the share the gospel with the non-christian has multiplied. Because everybody is thinking, they may not be searching for God, but they're searching.

You know, yesterday they had the gospel night and I know we had it online, so it was easier for people to come. But I also think that a lot of people showed up because of what's going on. They're looking for answers. What's going on? Even though they may not know that they're searching for Christ, they're searching for something, because they realize that the world that they trusted is falling apart.

So, they're looking for something. So, if the church is asleep and we're just like the rest of the world, concerned about peace and safety, then we're going to lose the opportunity to be a light in this world. When people are asking, where, why is this happening? Why is this happening?

What is going on? That we would be sober and alert to be able to point to scriptures and say, Jesus said this is going to happen. Jesus said, he predicted and point to the passages and be able to share with them that this is what Jesus said is going to happen.

And to be able to share the gospel. We are not like those in the dark who are asleep and just living day to day like the rest of the world. Living for the weekend, go to church, work, live for the weekend. The next thing you know, a year, a decade, and a life passes by and that's all we've done.

Right now, the church has been shut down, at least generally. A lot of the churches have been shut down since March. And I've already shared this with you. They said that half of the millennials, that's millennials or whoever's 40 and younger, at least that's how they categorize it. Half of the people who are regularly attending church have already dropped out.

And those are the people who have just physically, completely dropped out. That's not considering the people who are drifting away from Christ, just on and off, maybe online. It has had a huge effect in the church. Now, we can say God is sovereign and he's using that to prune the church and maybe at the end of it, the true, true Christians are going to remain.

Maybe we could say that. And in God's sovereign plan, he is completely in control. But God has called the church to be responsible for the souls that he has given us in this generation. He told us to go make disciples, right? To baptize them, name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And he commanded the church to do this. So to see half of the young people who have already gone. And in the last two decades, the greatest concern that every church planter, every church leader had was that we were losing this young generation. You know, our church was kind of an anomaly because we have a large gathering of young people.

You know, when I talk to my pastor friends in Orange County, in the Southern Baptist, 95% of the churches are slowly decaying and dying. Average age is 75 and older. And so the young generation is, is being lost. We work so hard and we're not, I'm not just talking about us.

Our, my, our generation of pastors have worked so hard to reach the young generation and just in an instant, half of them are gone. And for the church to sit back and say, everything is good. It is a tragedy that you and I need to stay sober. All the more, all the more as the churches are struggling, all the more as the world is lost, all the more as the politicians are fighting each other, the church needs to be the light.

This is why we need to gather, that we need to consider carefully how we may live our lives to provoke each other on toward loving good deeds, not forsaking our assembling together as it is the habit of some. So I want to conclude with, with this, with homework. And so the homework is to first consider carefully, right?

You know, typically we have a circle of friends that we're comfortable with and, and whoever's not in that circle of friends, we, we're oblivious and we're okay with that for the most part, right? Because I practice love with those people. I practice accountability with those people. And you know what I noticed was when our church started to grow beyond 200, I saw an attitude change in the church that was very disturbing to me, where people were beginning to ask me like, at what point are we going to stop growing?

Meaning like, maybe if we just kept on sending people out, the church will stop growing. And part of the reason was there was a concern that the church wasn't like the way it was before, you know, come over to my house and have dinner, we can have fellowship, we all knew each other, and everybody knew what was going on, but it became harder after about 200.

And I know I, again not everybody, but I know why some people were asking that, because fellowship became more difficult. And so they just wanted a small group of friends and 200 was, it was maximum. Ideally it would be 100, right? But 200 is maximum, but beyond that it almost felt like people were starting to say, you know, I have enough people in my life, and so all the new people you guys deal with, and then we're just going to insulate ourselves, and then, you know, our circle of influence and friends just stop with that group.

So when people ask me like, hey, Pastor Peter, how big do you want our church to be? I say, I used to say six billion, right? And then now I say seven billion, because God called us to the world, right? God called us to make disciples of all the nations, so there is no number.

So if God sends a thousand people, we are responsible for those thousand people. God sends a hundred thousand people, we're responsible to do our best for the hundred thousand people, because we are called to be the light. Now again, obviously our relationship isn't going to be the same with a hundred thousand people, obviously, but if we start to have this mentality that I have enough friends, and outside of that little bubble that I have, that I don't really care about anybody else, that is not a biblical attitude, right?

God called the church to gather together, to consider carefully, and so outside of your bubble, the homework is, are there people in your life that maybe you haven't talked to in a while, you don't know where they are spiritually? Maybe there's some people that you don't know at all, and you see them every single Sunday, you've been at the church five, six, seven years, and you've never even said hello to them, because you're like, they're not part of your little circle.

So my challenge to you this morning, to consider, to think carefully, to consider how you're going to provoke, so find out what's going on in other people's life, give them a call, text them, you know, whether they respond or not, to find out what are the needs, who, who should you be rejoicing with, who should you be weeping with, to find out who needs encouragement, who is drifting, who's doing well, consider who, and then think carefully about what, how can I provoke them, right?

Now, whenever we make application, and you make it too broad, you usually end up not doing it, right? You hear a sermon about prayer, saying, I'm going to be a prayer warrior, right? And then you wake up next morning, you're tired, you have to go to work, and then you come back, you're tired, then you go through the same routine, always the back of your mind, I'm going to be a prayer warrior, but tomorrow, right?

And then it just kind of passes by, say, I'm going to be a better Christian. Well, what does that mean? So whenever we make application, and you make this broad stroke of application, it never gets done. So my challenge to you is to consider carefully, find out what's going on, maybe make a list of people that maybe you need, even just to find out what's going on, and then to make an application, how are you going to provoke them, right?

Maybe what you what you may consider doing may not be as like, largely impactful as what was what we did, you know, with the service fair. But even small things, you know, I get provoked every single week, when I drive up here, you know, I usually get to church about 730, or 715.

And it's already set up, the AV team is going, there's people here practicing, you know, and there's guys doing parking, you know, and setting up chairs and doing all this, every Sunday, I come to church, and I get provoked. You know, I get provoked, because there's people serving, you don't have to do grand things, you don't have to be up in the front, doing grand things to provoke people, you know, just your simple act of service, of being unselfish and serving other people, considering others better than yourself, right?

What can you do individually to encourage those people? And what can you do collectively, or individually as a church? Now, I already said, we need people to volunteer for chair set up, for the, you know, for the scanners, and to various things, and, you know, I get so encouraged when I see young families strapped with their babies, you know, out in the hot sun, serving, and, you know, doing parking, because I know how much work that is, just even, just even have the kid near you, right?

Just so encouraging to see, you know, how can I provoke somebody on toward love and good deeds? So that's our homework. So next week, when you come, I'm going to check to see if you're, if you've done your homework, okay? So today, sit down, and to contemplate, to think, make a list, and then to apply these things.

Imagine what the church will be like when the church is filled with people coming to provoke one another toward love and good deeds. Instead of a church filled with people asking themselves, what about me? Imagine how miserable of a place a church would be, when every person that comes to church is irritated with the person sitting next to them, because they didn't get enough attention.

What a miserable church that would be. But again, on the other hand, what a powerful witness we would be, if the church gathered together, unlike the rest of the world, because of what Christ has done, because of of the motivation and the work that Christ is doing in us, that every person that comes to church is contemplating and thinking, how can I be of service?

Imagine the impact that we would have in this world, like the kind of light that God called us to be. So again, as an application, I hope, again, and it doesn't have to be big, it doesn't have to be grand, and no one needs to know about it, but again, my encouragement is to make that challenge to yourself, and do something small or big, that we may build up this church.

You don't have to be here, you don't need a title, you don't need to join some service team, even just something small. How can I, in the unique way that God has gifted you, build up the church? All the more, right now, right? All the more. If there is any time that I can remember that I've been a Christian, where the world needs to hear the clear presentation of the gospel, it is today.

Because they are lost, right? Instead of falling into despair, let's look to Christ, the author and the perfecter of our faith. Okay, let's pray. Gracious and loving Father, we pray that your word, that you've implanted in our hearts and in our minds, will not return until it has accomplished the purpose that you have ordained it, help us truly to be a church that draw nears to you, that hold fast the confession that we have made, and that we may carefully consider how to provoke one another on toward love and good deeds.

That we would not forsake the assembly of our brothers and sisters, Lord God, in the church, as it may have become a habit of some, but all the more as we see the day drawing near, as the world becomes darker, I pray, Lord God, that you would help us as a church to become brighter.

May Christ, in his name, in his gospel, in his glory, be magnified through this. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.