Simple Assurance | Hebrews 10:19–25

You're listening to the Bridgetown Church Podcast with

Pastor Casey Kendall, where our vision is Jesus, our mission is

people, and our cause is love. Thanks for tuning in.

Let's dive in. Hebrews chapter 10, starting in

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

verse 19 says, Therefore, brothers, since we have

confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by

the new and living way that he opened for us through the

curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great

priest over the House of God, let us draw near with a true

heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled

clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure

water. Let us hold fast the confession

of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good

works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of

some, but encouraging one another.

And all the more, as you see the day drawing near, you may be

seated. Let's pray.

Father, I thank you for Your word.

I thank you that we get to come together, that we get to gather

together and read the very words that you have breathed.

Lord, may you prepare our hearts.

May you stir the soil of our hearts that we may be able to

receive the truth of God's Word. We thank you, Lord, for this

opportunity. Now I pray that you would help

us to stay focused, that you would help us to have a hear to

ear or a hear, a ear to hear and a heart to listen.

Lord, we love you. We thank you for all you've

given us in your precious and holy name, Amen.

So there's something that I wanted to share with you guys

today out of Hebrews chapter 10, something that's kind of been on

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

my heart for the last about a year and a half.

For those of you that know, many of you know, but for those that

you don't know, I've been overseeing the multiply

communities, which is our church's home groups that we do

throughout the week. I've been overseeing them for

about a year and a half, going on two years now.

And my wife and I have actually led the young adult study out of

our home. And when my wife and I, we

started the young adult study, one of our hearts desires was to

get people, including the young adults, back into reading the

Scripture. We chose this book called the

Immerse Bible, which is the exact translation of the Bible.

But what the Bible does is it takes out all the the titles,

the chapter delineations, the verse delineations, and it

basically reads like a traditional book, right?

So you open it up and there's No title headings, there's no verse

chapters, anything like that. It's just the text and the whole

premise of it is just in its title, the Immerse Bible.

The goal of it is to spend time in God's Word.

Last year with the young adults, we read the entire New Testament

together and it we read the entire New Testament over 8

weeks. It was quite a bit of reading

and it was challenging for us, for me as well as the young

adults as we sat down and we read God's Word throughout the

week and then we met on a weekly basis to discuss it and some

really amazing conversation happened, some really good

questions and challenges that we were faced with.

But one of the really neat things and the empowering things

that I loved about reading God's Word in this light was seeing

the Bible from kind of a different point of view.

And what I mean by that is oftentimes when we come to

church, we go to maybe a home Bible study, we often look at

whatever we are reading and studying through a macro or a

micro lens, right? We often isolate a certain

scripture or a certain text, which is totally fine.

There's nothing wrong with that, right?

But we often isolate these individual stories or sections

of the Bible and we study it and we discuss it, and Pastor Casey

shares about it and gives his wisdom and insight that he has

received from the Lord. But what often can happen is we

as the body, we tend to forget the bigger picture, right?

And we forget to view these isolated scripture texts and

these stories through the lens of the main overarching theme of

the Bible. And So what was really cool is

reading the Old Testament, or, I'm sorry, reading the New

Testament. And then the following session

that we did, we spent eight weeks reading through the 1st 5

books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and

Deuteronomy. And what was really awesome in

the conversation that we had that was really amazing was seen

after we had read the New Testament, which at times felt

like drinking through a fire hose, right?

Which was just a little bit, sometimes a lot to take in in a

short amount of time. But then seeing the young adults

read the Old Testament and seeing how everything in the Old

Testament was pointing towards the New Testament.

And often times as we study God's Word and we meet here on

church, we miss that we missed that correlation, that

everything as we're going through Samuel, right as Casey

has been taking us through the book of Samuel, that we have to

approach it from a vision, a lens, that wide angle lens as

well. We cannot forget that what we

are reading in the Old Testament is pointing towards the New

Testament. That's such an important aspect

as we study God's Word. And so I want to share with you

as, as Casey spoke with us last week, the title of his message

was Forming the Future, right? It was an encouragement to us,

right? As we enter into the new year.

It's January, it's January what, 4th today, right?

So it's, it's the new year, right?

Happy new Year as you walk in the door, right?

I've probably heard that 100 times in the last couple of

days, right? Happy new year.

And Pastor Casey shared with us as we are moving into the new

year of forming that future. And so piggybacking off of that,

as we form the future, as we go forward into the new year, I

want to discuss what that foundation upon which we stand

as we form our future. We form the future standing on a

simple foundation. What is the foundation that we

stand on as we go? Jesus Christ, that is the

foundation of everything that we are doing moving forward.

And so the title of my message is simple Assurance.

Why is this so important? Why is this so important?

The whole Bible points to Christ and we often miss the evidence

that is enveloping throughout the throughout every story,

text, chapter that we read and study.

We often read and receive the Word of God in broken up

sections, chapters, verses, and stories causing it to be easy

for us to miss the whole picture.

If Christ is the overarching theme, then we must approach our

reading and study with Christ at the center.

The same intentionality must bleed into the rest of our

lives, in our relationships, work, school, and even ministry.

That has to be the foundation and the book of Hebrews

addresses that here in chapter 10.

So let's dive into the text. There's three halves that I want

to point out that we see in this section of Scripture in Hebrews

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10, there's three halves.

And what I want to point out about the haves is this is a

present tense. This is not a you had or you

will have. This is you have when you accept

Christ into your life when you accept accept Christ's work on

the cross. You have these three things.

The first thing in verse 19 and 20.

Therefore, brothers, since we have a confidence to enter the

holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way

that he opened through for us through the curtain, that is

through his flesh number one, the first habit is we have a

fulfilling sacrifice. We have a fulfilling sacrifice,

but first we need to address the therefore, as we often say, what

do we say when we see a therefore, what is it therefore,

right? So the author of Hebrews is

pointing to something previously in his letter, he is pointing

back to something and saying pay attention to this.

Because of this, now this, what came before this text is what we

need to draw our attention to. The author of Hebrews is

addressing the Jewish Christians at the time because there was a

drifting from the New Covenant back into the Old covenant.

The author is addressing this problem by pointing God's people

back to the work of Christ on the cross.

So we have to remember this is in the New Testament, right?

This is coming after Christ's death and resurrection, right?

And now it calling into that life under the new covenant.

For thousands of years God's people lived under this old

covenant and it was becoming a problem because they were

drifting back into that. The author is hoping is hoping

to enlighten God's people to the truth that Christ's work on the

cross was final. There was no longer a need to

live under that old covenant, but now a need and a necessity

to live under the new covenant. The Old covenant was never meant

to be the answer due to the human element.

It was never going to be perfect or final because it was reliant

upon human intentionality and action.

For those of you that have read the Old Testament, specifically

the first five books of the Bible, if any of you have ever

read through the book of Leviticus is not the easiest to

read and that's OK. But it's a it's a basically a

book of rules about the old covenant, right?

There was a need for God's people for their sins to be

covered, right? Just like we have the same need

today. But there was no Jesus at that

time. There was no final fulfillment.

There's no final fulfilling sacrifice at that time.

So the people of Israel were required through the priestly

hood, through the Levitical priests, to give sacrifices,

sacrifice animals, and the washing of their blood in the

temple is what covered their sin.

But the problem with it, I shouldn't say the problem with

it, but the the issue was, is that it relied upon human

action, right? And by nature we are sinful, we

are imperfect, we are inconsistent, we slip away, we

get comfortable, right? And we saw, we see all through

the Old Testament, even the New Testament, and we see it in our

own lives. It's natural for us.

It's our sinful nature. We are not perfect, and so

therefore this old covenant that required perfection was never

perfect. We saw all through the Old

Testament that in our nature there is a consistent tendency

to fail, which ultimately would lead down a dark path.

It was a vicious cycle of sin, sacrifice and separation, Sin,

sacrifice, separation. The author is we're reminding

God's people that we no longer have to live in this Hebrews

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10 so so earlier in this chapter it says for since the

law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the

true form of these realities, it can never by the same sacrifices

that are continually offered every year make perfect those

who draw near. So it's saying the old covenant

was a shadow. When we think about shadows,

shadows will cast an imagery of what is of the object that is

there, right? So the old covenant was a casted

shadow of what was to come. You could see the outline, you

can see the shape, but it wasn't, it's not the final

thing, right? If I look at my shadow on the

ground, it, it gives the shape, it gives the idea of what's

there, but it doesn't give the full picture, right?

And that was what the old covenant was.

And that's what the author of Hebrews is saying is that it was

an imagery of what was to come, that the final fulfilling

sacrifice was coming. And in Hebrews chapter 10, verse

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

three, it says, but in these sacrifices there is a reminder

of sins every year. And so the author is saying that

there is this shadow. And the the problem is that it

required this human element that reminded of sin every year.

There's a whole list of different rituals and sacrifices

that were required by the people each and every year.

And it was a reminder. So there was this constant

reminder as they fell back into sin and came back and then fell

back into sin and then came back.

There was this reminder of sin because there was no perfect

forgiveness at that time. And so we see right before our

text in Hebrews chapter 1017 through 18, it says.

Then he adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless

deeds no more. Where there is forgiveness of

these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Christ's work on the cross tore back the veil.

The washing of blood covered and washed away our sins that caused

separation. Christ's sacrifice on the cross

now gives us the boldness and the confidence to enter into the

Most Holy place with Him. The veil in the temple, if you

can visualize with me, was 60 feet tall by 30 feet wide and

four inches thick is the dimensions of the veil.

The veil was a visualization of Christ.

And why is that? Because beyond the veil was what

it was the most Holy of Holies. It was the place where the high

priest, the Levitical high priest, would enter in and

provide sacrifices to cover the sins of the people.

And that's where God would rest, right?

In the Old Testament we see the the representation of Christ,

which was the cloud during the day and the fire by night would

sit in the most Holy of Holies. And so the high priest had to go

through this veil into the holy of Holy place.

But when Christ died on the cross, what happened?

It says that the veil was torn from top to bottom, a pretty

significant happening for a veil that was 4 inches thick by 60

feet tall and 30 feet wide, right?

And so through Christ's brokenness on the cross, we see

that same imagery in the veil, the the tearing, the breaking of

the veil which now allows us to enter in.

So through Christ, through his brokenness, we can enter in.

That is the fulfilling sacrifice.

And we see in verse 20, it says by the new and living way that

He opened for us through the curtain, a new living way, a

refreshing way. For thousands of years they were

bonded by this old covenant and through Christ's work on the

cross. Now there is this new covenant.

There is a forgiving of our sins.

There is a boldness now that we can enter in to the Holy of

Holies. Which brings me to my

second-half. Our second-half in verse 21, it

says, and we have a great high priest over the House of God.

So #2 we have a great high priest.

So number one, we have a fulfilling sacrifice #2 we have

a great high priest. Christ now stands in our place

on the altar because Christ fulfilled what we could not.

Christ fulfilled what we could not.

And we saw it all through the Old Testament.

As I have said over and over again, there was a human element

that allowed the people to not fulfill what we were supposed to

fulfill, what we were called to fulfill.

But through God sending His Son to live that perfect life, to do

what we could not, He now stands in our place.

It was made clear through all the Old Testament that we would

never fully fulfill what was required.

It was a constant battle with the sins of our flesh which

continually grasp and clawed at our souls.

In the Old Covenant, the Levi's were called to serve as priests

for God's people. This was a calling and work that

demanded a lot. Serving as a priest in the Old

Covenant was a high calling but riddled with fear.

The Levitical priests were given a list of rules and specific

processes that were to be followed.

Due to the nature of these responsibilities, there was no

room for error. One mistake would cost them

their life. And we see it, we see priests

that made mistakes that did not follow these commands and these

instructions in that were given in the book of Leviticus and

they were killed on the spot. They actually, it, it says in

the Bible that they actually had to tie a rope to these guys with

bells on it. So the bells stopped moving.

They knew they were dead and they would pull them out, right?

Because they couldn't enter into the holy of holy place because

the high priest had to cleanse themselves perfectly to enter in

through the veil. So they knew if they stepped

into there that they were going to be killed too.

So is this it was this riddling of fear because that human

element, right? But the amazing thing is that

Christ came and He fulfilled that so that we no longer have

to live in fear. Fear was bestowed upon them as

they were to represent God's people in the temple and the

holy place because there was a necessity to cover the sins of

God's people. The problem with the Old

Covenant was the human factor. The representation and covering

of God's people was reliant upon human adherence to a strict set

of rules and procedures. We saw that the Old Covenant

served a purpose, but was never the hopeful promise.

It served a purpose for those people to have their sins

covered. But it was never the end.

It was never the hopeful promise.

When the veil was torn, everything changed.

Christ was and is and always will be enough.

All that is required is that we receive the gift of the gospel.

That is it. He's already approved of you.

He's already approved of us through His Son, because now

everything that God sees is through the perfect sacrifice of

his son, the washing of his blood on the cross.

We even we remember the thief on the cross.

Such a great story, such a powerful, impactful story if you

look at it through the right perspective that the thief on

the cross who was dying a true death, a rightful death for the

sins that he had committed next to a man who was perfect, who

was dying for other people's sins.

In that moment, he recognized what was happening and he says,

Remember Me and what does God say?

What does Jesus say on the cross?

He says today you will be with me in paradise.

The thief on the cross didn't serve in ministry.

The thief on the Cross didn't go St. witnessing and and convert

souls through evangelism. The thief on the cross didn't

serve in hospitality or kids ministry or the the ushering.

He didn't serve in worship on the stage.

But where do we find him? We find him in the presence of

God. That is the hope of the gospel,

that as long as you accept what has been given that covering of

our sins through the blood of Christ, that is it.

And that is the approach that we have to have in ministry.

The approach we have to have in ministry as Christians here in

this church has to be on a foundation of Jesus Christ and

Christ alone. If we approach ministry with

that same mentality and attitude that everything that we see,

every person that comes through that door, every treat that gets

put on that table, every kid that comes into children's

ministry going out and St. witnessing or handing out Flyers

or decorating the church for Christmas, that if everything

that we do is from a foundation and a launching point of Jesus

Christ, then it's going to be fruitful and going to grow.

And I don't necessarily mean in numbers.

I don't necessarily mean in numbers, though that is a fruit

of of ministry under that vision, but it's going to grow

as we grow wide. I pray that we grow deep as a

church, and we cannot do that. We cannot do that without the

foundation of Jesus Christ. And so now we enter into

boldness, not with the spirit of fear.

Christ came as the perfect sacrificial lamb, and now he

stands in our place as our perfect priest, our perfect high

priest, that whatever we do in this life, whatever sin that we

commit or mistake that we make or trial that we face, that

Christ is sending in our place. Which brings me to my third

have, third and final have, which is in verse 22.

It says let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of

faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience

and our bodies washed with water.

I want to take a note to the to the first sentence that we draw

near with a true heart in full assurance.

So #3 we have a full assurance of faith, a full assurance of

faith. You have a full assurance of

faith. Not come to me.

I will teach you. You need to serve in ministry.

No, no, no, when you accept Christ into your life and you

accept the gift of His Son on the cross and rising again, you

have the full assurance of faith.

I love what Hebrews chapter 4 verse 14 through 16 says.

Hebrews 4:14–16

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through

the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.

Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest

who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but now who in

every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin, let

us draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy

and find grace to help in a time of need.

That is the full assurance of faith.

There's finality in Christ's work, and so therefore there's

finality in our hope and faith in Him.

It's final. There's finality in it.

The assurance we have is unwavering.

There's no earning it. There's no if you do this, then

you will get this. We have a full assurance that

when we accept it, that we are his.

Despite its unwavering nature, though, it is grown and lived

out through enduring discipline and steadfast work.

And what do I mean by that? Our full assurance is something

that we have and is given and guaranteed to us, but it is

worked out in our life through enduring discipline and

steadfast work. We see the truth brought forth

later in the book of Hebrews. We see this truth of that full

assurance being lived out. Hebrews Chapter 11 is widely

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

regarded as the hall of faith testimonies.

Excuse me, testimonies of human people called by God to live a

life set apart from the rest of the world.

They are there for us to look to.

So in Hebrews Chapter 11, if you haven't already read it, I would

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

encourage you to read it. It's a full list of very short

stories or paragraphs about the people through the Old Testament

living out their faith. Imperfect people living out

their faith, living out that calling in their life.

Though they sin, though they fail, they were recognized and

they're there for us to look to. As they lived out their faith,

so should we also. The author then charges us with

direction in the next chapter. So here we have in chapter 10,

right? We have a reminder of stepping

out of that old covenant into the new covenant, that assurance

of faith that we have. And then in Chapter 11 there's

the Hall of Faith, which is examples that we can look to.

And then in chapter 12, there's a charge that I think we all

know and all need to be reminded of Hebrews chapter 12, verse one

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

and two. Therefore, since we are

surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside

every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us

run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to

Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy

set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and

is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

I want to take note of the word endurance in light of what we're

reading about, about the full assurance of our faith.

In two chapters later, he says run the race with endurance.

A full assurance of faith does not.

As I like to say to my kids, life is not always rainbows and

unicorns. There's not a promise that with

a full assurance of faith, things are going to be great and

fantastic. Rather, he says, run the race

with endurance. The very word endurance incites

that there will be challenges ahead.

There will be challenges ahead, there will be difficulty, there

will be trials, there will be brokenness, but this is the

charge that we are to run the race with endurance.

The full assurance of our faith has practical implications for

our life, which comes at a cost of discipline and endurance.

However, that is not the defining characteristic.

The full assurance of our faith, yes, is worked out and it has

grown through endurance and discipline, but that's not the

defining characteristic it fosters.

Rather, the full assurance. It fosters a promise of peace

and hopeful confidence, enabling us as Christians to live boldly

and serve God faithfully. This full assurance, it let me

read that again. It fosters a promise of peace

and hopeful confidence, enabling us as Christians to live boldly

and serve God faithfully despite the endurance and discipline

that we have to walk through. That is the full assurance of

Christ. When we come to know Christ, a

renewing and redemptive work begins in our life.

Allowing Christ to work in and through us as His child by no

means is an easy task. In fact, we are promised

difficulty and trials. However, the hope we have is the

assurance of our faith that God has promised and sustains us.

In this assurance is imprinted upon our hearts for us to know

that while we are walking through the valley of the shadow

of death, we can fear no evil, for our God is with us.

We can lean on our promised assurance and know that it will

not return void. That is the promise.

That is the full assurance of faith that despite what you are

going through, whether it's issues at work, whether it's

relationships, whether it's an illness, whatever it might be,

that the full assurance that God has promised you is that despite

what you are going through, I am working it out through you in

endurance and discipline. But bet you He's going to be

there and it's not going to return void.

It is not going to return void. It's like having really good

insurance. I don't know if any of you have

ever experienced insurance, whatever it might be.

There's a billion different insurances out there, right?

I've been on the flip side of both.

I've had good insurance and I've had bad insurance.

It's kind of like having really good insurance because insurance

doesn't promise that nothing will happen, but really good

insurance promises peace and presence in the time of need.

When we have that assurance, that good insurance from God,

right? We know that whatever we're

going through that when we pick up the phone, he's going to be

there and he is providing that continual peace because we

haven't invested in him, right. Having good insurance costs.

It costs, it costs to walk with the Lord, It does.

It's difficult, it's hard. We are promised that it will be

hard, but he says I am walking with you and I will not return

void. But despite this difficulty, the

book of James reminds us that despite the stress and

difficulty of this calling on our life, that we can still find

joy. James, 1/2 through 4, says count

it all. Joy, my brothers, when you meet

trials of various kinds for you, know that the testing of your

faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its

full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in

nothing. We find joy when we allow God's

foundational, God's foundation of truth and hopeful promises to

stir our vision that our lives are dictated by the truth we

have rather than the emotions that we feel.

That is joy. We are going to feel emotion.

We're going to feel fear. We're going to feel stressed.

We're going to feel anxiety. We're going to feel angry and

upset and sad. We're going to feel happy and

glad, but true joy that is found in Christ is dictated by the

truth of God's Word. And if we allow this to dictate

our vision for those issues that we are facing or whatever we are

encountering, that is when we find joy.

Joy does not mean happiness. Joy does not mean happiness.

Happiness is an emotion, right? So we have to allow the joy to

come through the truth and the foundation of God's Word.

So 4 things I want to draw our attention to with our full

assurance. With full assurance, One we

commune regularly and intimately in our relationship with God #2

we are grounded in unwavering truth #3 we abide in His perfect

love despite our failures. And #4 we are sustained with

spiritual resilience from the working of the Holy Spirit in

our lives. And we'll repeat those #1 we

commune regularly and intimately in our relationship with God #2

we are grounded in unwavering truth.

The truth does not change #3 We abide in His perfect love

despite our failures. His love is always there, that

agape love is always there. Number four, we are sustained

with spiritual resilience, that bending but not breaking from

the working of the Holy Spirit that is given to us when we step

into a walk with Christ. And so in light of this text, in

light of the three halves, that we have a fulfilling sacrifice,

a great high priest, and a full assurance of faith, the next

section of text calls us to action.

There are three let us actions that I would encourage you to

take note of #1 verse 22. Let us draw near with a true

heart. The first let us number one, let

us draw near. This is one of the defining

characteristics of our walk with Christ.

As a Christian, Christ desires to know us and desires for us to

know Him. Draw near.

It's that bending down to to draw up the water.

It's to pull the rope right? It's to draw near.

It's an act of physical approach.

Moving closer. Christ has already approved of

us. He stands in our place.

The only thing standing in our way is us.

The only thing standing in our way is us and what we bring with

us. God is calling us to draw near.

I love what 1 commentary wrote in my studies.

It says there ought to be no wavering in regards to these

superlative realities. Rather, each new covenant

worshipper, which is US, each new covenant worshipper, should

approach God in the conscious enjoyment of freedom from guilt

and with a sense of personal holiness that Christ's sacrifice

makes possible. There ought to be no wavering in

regards to these superlative realities.

Rather, each New Covenant worshipper should approach God

in the conscious enjoyment of freedom from guilt and with a

sense of the personal holiness that Christ's sacrifice makes

possible. What is hindering you from

drawing near? I ask you today, what is

hindering you from drawing near? You can only answer that

question. You have to evaluate what's in

your heart. What are you allowing to stand

in your way of drawing near? A church that is not actively

drawing near is missing the mark of ministry.

A church that is not actively drawing near is a church that is

missing the mark of ministry. Ministry is founded upon

individual relationships with Christ that blossom and grow and

spread. That is the foundation of truth.

Not the lights on the stage, not the sound, not the food in the

back table, not the smiling faces that come through the

door. Although those things are

important, the foundation of it is drawing near to Him.

Number two of the let us verse 23.

It says, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without

wavering. For he who promised is faithful

#2 let us hold fast. To our hope, let us hold fast.

That very phrase incites this, this graspy nature, like a kid

that's clinging to their mom or their dad, right?

Holding fast. They know what they have, they

know where they're comfortable, and they're holding on to it,

right? We need to do that same thing.

We need to hold fast in light of what we have been given.

In light of what we have been given, let us cling to the Lord.

We hold fast and hope because God is faithful, as it says at

the end of this verse. Let us hold fast the confession

of hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

We hold fast because he is a good God.

We are to hold tightly to this hope it has been given by God

for us in our time of need #3 In verse 24 and 25 it says, And let

us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but

encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day

drawing near. This verse for those that are

multiply community leaders. I gave you guys a sheet about

multiply community leaders and this verse is on the top of it,

the very heading of the Multiply Community Group flyer for the

leaders who are leading a group. This is the verse.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good

works, and not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit

of some, but encouraging one another.

And all the more, as you see the day drawing near.

Well, guess what, the day is drawing near, the day is drawing

near. And this is a call to action.

We draw near to Christ and cling to Him, and therefore we gather

together. Consider in this verse let us

consider incites intentionality on how we stir one another up.

This is not mindless engagement of social activity.

This is an intentionality of gathering and growing together.

We stir up in love, which in the text this is he is referring to

that agape love we which is that unconditional love that God

shows us. We stir up in love and good

works, yet we must never neglect gathering.

We must never neglect it. God's word is telling us that we

must gather. Now this isn't a hopeful pitch

to to join multiply communities like make the big, make the

groups bigger. That's not what I'm saying.

Although is it? It is a part of it.

But I encourage you that if church is your one gathering and

one Christ centered activity or conversation that you have

throughout the week, then something is wrong in your

priorities. Something's wrong.

If this is the only time that you gather and meet and discuss

and talk about God's Word together and encourage one

another, and it's going to it looks differently across the

board, then there's something wrong with our priorities

because all through the book of Acts, we see the church in its

in its. In its birth, in its early

inception, the very foundation of of the Christian Church was

born out of gathering. We don't look at the book of

Acts and see all kinds of church services that were happening,

though they did happen, but they were gathering in homes, they

were gathering to give, they were gathering to worship, they

were gathering to pray. And in one of the stories in the

book of Acts, the very how shook from the the prayer that was

happening. We must not neglect gathering an

intentionality with each other. The redeeming work of require of

Christ requires a response from us.

We must go in faith. We must grow and abide daily.

We must bestow grace upon others.

We must give generously. And they will know us by our

fruit. They will know us by our fruit.

They will know this church by the fruit of this church.

Very, very few people remember what the the the speaker and the

pastor shared on any given Sunday.

But what they remember is, is the fruit of the church that is

bestowed and bled out from your walks with the Lord.

You're drawing near to the Lord and your intentionality to

gather and to and to grow. Recently, I, my wife and I had

the opportunity to go to Africa approximately 2 1/2 years ago.

I know that the church supported us and they prayed for us and

sent us off. We didn't unfortunately, have an

opportunity to really like share a whole lot about the trip.

So if you ever want to know about the trip, please come and

ask me. But we went out and we we went

on a medical mission. My wife came to me.

She had an opportunity through a kind of a mutual friend.

And she said, hey, I think this would be a really awesome

opportunity. I've always wanted to do this

and I would love to go with you. And I was like, let's do it.

And so I'm going to put my wife on on blast a little bit because

she volunteered me to, to be up here.

So this is payback. I'm just kidding.

But I'm going to put my wife on blast a little bit.

I want to bring up a photo of my wife.

There's my wife. There's a reason why.

There's a reason why I bring up this photo.

OK, and I have another photo, but there's a reason why I bring

up this photo. It's a little misleading and

maybe a little bit deceptive on on why I'm showing you this

photo. When I look at this photo,

knowing the, the the the back story and and what had happened

that day, I see my wife answering the call in her life.

I see her taking a leap of faith and going.

This was at the very end of the day after we had worked for

about 12 hours in in this tiny little village treating several

100 people, I believe several 100 people that came through the

the clinic that we were operating and establishing.

They got evaluation from doctors.

They had their vitals and their all their, some of their blood

work checked. They got tested for malaria.

They got their blood sugar checked.

They got Ivs from me and Sabrina.

And then they went through a pharmacy that we set up and they

got malaria medication and they got high blood pressure

medication and all sorts of things.

But this is probably one of my favorite pictures from the trip.

I know it's kind of a little bit of a funny trip, but I see my

wife who is just exhausted after giving and sacrificing for the

Lord's calling on her life because the next picture is

really what was going on. And we see the joy in her face,

this little baby, as you can see, we started an IV in his

hand because he was malnourished.

How old was he? Like a year old?

He was like a year old, but he looked like like a like a three

month old. We started an IV on him and I

snapped this picture as she blew up a glove and was giving it to

him. And just the joy that you see on

this baby's face and the joy in my wife.

And so I'm putting her on blast a little bit.

And if any of you know my wife, she doesn't like that very much.

So forgive me, but this is what it looks like to go.

This is what I when I see these pictures, I see someone who is

being called and sent and answers the call.

Now with that, everybody's calling is going to we can, we

can perfect everybody's calling. Everybody's calling is going to

look different. Everybody's calling is going to

look different. I don't put that up to say if

you're not on Africa missions trips, you are not doing it

right. OK.

Although I encourage you to, if that's the Lord's calling,

that's awesome. But because that was, that was a

very, very difficult, very difficult trip.

Everybody's calling is going to look different, but the message

is the same. The message is the same, though

the calling may be different. The real question is, will you

answer it in light of what we have read in Hebrews chapter 10

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

of stepping out of that old covenant, receiving Christ in

our life, that full assurance of faith, What are you going to do

with it? We're not like the thief on the

cross. We're here, we're alive.

We have some time, that is the goodness of the gospel, that

despite our works we are still forgiven and we still enter into

eternity with Christ because we have accepted Him.

But now we have time in response to that good message.

What are you going to do with it?

I have some thoughts. First one, we need to stop

looking for a reason because we already have it.

We need to stop looking for a reason because we have it.

We have a reason to answer the call in our life #2 we need to

stop making excuses for our lack of boldness.

Stop making excuses for our lack of boldness.

God has called us into the holy of Holies with all boldness.

Understand some people are more social than others and boldness

will look different for everybody.

But we need to stop making excuses for our lack of boldness

#3 the calling has already been placed on our life, it's up to

you to answer it. God has already sent us and

equipped us for the journey. Not everyone's calling will look

the same, but the message is the same.

And so as we kind of close out and enter into a time of

worship, I have a couple things that I, I, I just, I want to

challenge us with a couple things that I want to challenge

us as we close out this time and enter a time of worship.

I know I mentioned this first one before earlier, but if

church on Sunday is your only regular Christ centered

activity, your priorities are not where they should be.

That's going to look different for everybody.

I'm not saying you have to be a part of a multiplied community

and you have to go to another church on Wednesday nights, but

if that's the only time that Christ is at the center of your

time, there's something wrong. There's something wrong and you

need to re evaluate your priorities #2 often.

God's moving and actions is made evident not when we ask for it,

but when we step forward into it.

Even if it's unknown. God's moving and action is made

evident not when we ask for it, but when we step forward into

it. God is asking you to move.

God is asking you to answer the call.

God is asking you to draw near and to cling to him.

But often times we, we step back because, oh, you know, I'm, I'm

waiting on the Speaking of the Lord.

And yes, there is a time to wait.

There is a time to wait, but it is made evident when we step

into it and say, Lord, here I am.

Send me as cry. As Pastor Casey shared with us

last week #3 unanswered questions and unsolved problems

does not always mean wait. Unanswered questions and

unsolved problems does not always mean wait.

Often times we allow some roadblocks for us to stay

stagnant. That's part of our full

assurance of faith is stepping into those things and allowing

God to work in full assurance that He is walking with us.

And the last one, God has called us into boldness, not just

confirmation. We often wait for God to make

the MU, make the move, and make excuses in the meantime.

God has called us into boldness, not just confirmation.

We often wait for God to make the move and make excuses in the

meantime. What excuses are you making?

What are you bringing to the table that is hindering you from

stepping forward? So as we enter into a time of

worship, I challenge you with those questions.

These are hard questions. These are questions that aren't

answered right this moment, all the time.

These are questions that are worked out in our full assurance

of faith as we simply just step forward.

As we say to the Lord, I know what you have done.

I know that I have full assurance that your son came and

died on the cross for my sins. And now I am responding to that.

I am stepping forward and I'm saying here I am, Lord, send me,

whether that's to Africa or Cambodia or here to the, to the

foothills, to Glendora, whatever it might be.

Maybe it's in the ministry. Maybe you've been feeling like I

need to, I need to, I need to do something.

I want to help. I want to be a part of

something. But well, you know, we got, you

know, kids sports and we got this and I'm tired and I didn't

like I, I get it. I get it financially.

I don't, I don't have the money to go on those trips or do these

certain things God says in his words, challenge me, test me.

All I ask is that you step forward.

All I ask is that you respond to the hope that I have given you.

We hope you enjoyed this message and we'd love for you to join us

in person every Sunday at 10:30 AM.

For more information and updates, visit

wearebridgetown.com. Thanks for tuning in and we'll

see you next week.