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Hebrews 10:19-25 - The Major Church Misconception Nearly Every Christian Believes · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Well, hello and good morning friends and faithful listeners,
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  Speaker 1: and thank you so much for tuning in to the
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  Speaker 1: Bible Explain podcast on this lovely Thursday morning. So today's
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  Speaker 1: episode may ruffle a few feathers because I think it's
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  Speaker 1: something that a lot of people are somewhat guilty of,
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  Speaker 1: myself included. I used to do this actually before I
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  Speaker 1: had my transformation in Christ, and I learned from it.
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  Speaker 1: So this is something that I think is very important,
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  Speaker 1: but it could be a somewhat hard to swallow pill
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  Speaker 1: for some of you faithful listeners. So the topic we're
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  Speaker 1: going to be talking about today is church and how
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  Speaker 1: church is just not done the right way and unfortunately
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  Speaker 1: a lot of us normal church going Christians often contribute
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  Speaker 1: to this problem that is causing church to not be
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  Speaker 1: nearly as effective as it possibly could be. So we're
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  Speaker 1: going to talk about that right after a quick word
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  Speaker 1: from a sponsor. Okay, faith for listeners, let's go ahead
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  Speaker 1: and turn in our bibles to Hebrews chapter ten nineteen
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  Speaker 1: through twenty five. This is a short little portion we'll
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  Speaker 1: be talking about today, but certainly a lot of content
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  Speaker 1: in it. So grab your bible out of the version
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  Speaker 1: that you prefer, and also your delicious hot beverage, preferably coffee.
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  Speaker 1: I've got my coffee right here. I've been going back
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  Speaker 1: to black. I'm back in black because I really enjoy
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  Speaker 1: the taste of black coffee. I kind of got out
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  Speaker 1: of it for a while because of my stomach problems,
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  Speaker 1: But now that I have been feeling a lot better,
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  Speaker 1: I'm trying black coffee again and it is growing on
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  Speaker 1: me all over again. So contact me and tell me
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  Speaker 1: what is your favorite color of coffee. I'd love to
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  Speaker 1: hear about that. And if you're not a coffee drinker,
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  Speaker 1: if you are a crazy tea drinker, then tell me
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  Speaker 1: what is your favorite cup of tea to brew. Right
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  Speaker 1: before you listen to the Bible Explain podcast, let's go
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  Speaker 1: ahead and read our Bibles for today and get into
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  Speaker 1: this portion again. This is Hebrews ten nineteen through twenty five.
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  Speaker 1: Let's give reverence to the reading of God's word, having therefore,
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  Speaker 1: brothers boldness to enter into the Holy Place by the
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  Speaker 1: blood of Jesus, by the way which He dedicated for
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  Speaker 1: us a new and living way through the veil, that
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  Speaker 1: is to say, his flesh, and having a great priest
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  Speaker 1: over God's house. Let's draw near with a true heart
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  Speaker 1: and fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
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  Speaker 1: evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water.
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  Speaker 1: Let's hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering,
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  Speaker 1: for he who promised is faithful. Let's consider how to
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  Speaker 1: provoke one another to love and good works, not forsaking
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  Speaker 1: our own assembling together as the custom of some is,
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  Speaker 1: but exhorting one another, and so much more. As you
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  Speaker 1: see the day approaching, not gonna lie. When I am
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  Speaker 1: doing these podcast episodes, sometimes I struggle to find good
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  Speaker 1: breaking points because, if you think about it, the Bible
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  Speaker 1: was written cohesively. We only put verse numbers and chapter
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  Speaker 1: breakdowns in it for ourselves, many hundreds of years after
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  Speaker 1: the Bible was actually written and compiled together into one
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  Speaker 1: cohesive text. But unfortunately on the podcast, I just cannot
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  Speaker 1: talk for hours and hours and hours as much as
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  Speaker 1: I would like to, So I have to find a
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  Speaker 1: chapter breakdown verse nineteen. Even though it starts a brand
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  Speaker 1: new paragraph, it is still covering the same theme that
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  Speaker 1: we talked about on Tuesday, that theme being that Jesus
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  Speaker 1: is the only thing that saves us. There is no
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  Speaker 1: religiosity that we can do that saves us. The Old
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  Speaker 1: Testament laws cannot save us. Even the animal sacrifices that
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  Speaker 1: the people would do in the Old Testament days, those
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  Speaker 1: things cannot save us. There's only one thing that truly
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  Speaker 1: takes our sins completely away, and that of course is Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: So now that Jesus has fully taken our sins away,
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  Speaker 1: not just covered over them like the animal sacrifices would
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  Speaker 1: do in the Old Testament days, but have fully taken
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  Speaker 1: it away, it says in verse nineteen, we can now
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  Speaker 1: have boldness to enter into the Holy Place by the
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  Speaker 1: blood of Jesus. And one thing I want you to
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  Speaker 1: notice about this verse is that it's a command. It's
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  Speaker 1: not really an encouragement or something that we should do,
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  Speaker 1: but it's a command. It says, having therefore, brothers, boldness
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  Speaker 1: to enter into the Holy Place by the blood of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Jumping to verse twenty two, draw near with a true
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  Speaker 1: heart and fullness of faith. So that is a command.
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  Speaker 1: We now can boldly enter the Holy Place. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: not the holy place of the earthly Temple, but the
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  Speaker 1: holy Place of the Heavenly Temple. For a few reasons,
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  Speaker 1: remember in the Old Testament laws, which it's been quite
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  Speaker 1: a few years since I talked about Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
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  Speaker 1: But remember how the priests had to be ceremonially clean
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  Speaker 1: before they could enter the Holy Place. They had to
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  Speaker 1: go through a whole ritual to make themselves ceremonially clean,
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  Speaker 1: because not even all priests could enter the most holy place.
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  Speaker 1: You had to be ceremonially clean, and the priests would
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  Speaker 1: achieve that through a few things. They would avoid things
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  Speaker 1: that made them ceremonially unclean. They would take baths because
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  Speaker 1: that was part of becoming ceremonially clean, but also have
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  Speaker 1: to wash their hands and their feet in these little
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  Speaker 1: buckets of water before they entered the Holy Place. And
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  Speaker 1: on top of that, they also had to make the
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  Speaker 1: animal sacrifices for themselves. So it was a whole process
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  Speaker 1: that they had to go through in order to actually
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  Speaker 1: be able to enter the Holy Place. But now Jesus
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  Speaker 1: has done all of that for us. It actually says
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  Speaker 1: right here, we've had our hearts sprinkled from an evil
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  Speaker 1: conscience and have had our body washed with pure water.
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  Speaker 1: So the priests had to go through the physical aspect
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  Speaker 1: of all of that stuff, but through Jesus we now
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  Speaker 1: go through the spiritual aspect of all of that. So
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  Speaker 1: we have been made ceremonially clean through the sacrifice of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: And that of course makes us a nation of priests,
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  Speaker 1: which I believe that has talked about in the books
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  Speaker 1: of First Peter and also the Books of Revelation, that
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  Speaker 1: anybody who leaves in Jesus becomes a royal priesthood, So
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  Speaker 1: not just an ordinary priesthood, but a royal one as well.
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  Speaker 1: We get to share in the glory of Jesus. So
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  Speaker 1: that is how we are able to enter into the
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  Speaker 1: heavenly holy place, is because we believe in the High Priest,
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  Speaker 1: the one who took away all the sins and fulfilled
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  Speaker 1: the Old Testament laws. That's what Jesus said when he
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  Speaker 1: came to earth. He said, I have come to fulfill
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  Speaker 1: the Old Testament laws. And he really did do that.
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  Speaker 1: From everything from the animal sacrifices to the feast to
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  Speaker 1: days to even the priesthood, Jesus has fulfilled it, and
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  Speaker 1: in fulfilling it has made the Old Testament laws obsolete.
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  Speaker 1: That's what Hebrews chapter eight, verse thirteen says in that
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  Speaker 1: he says, a new covenant. He has made the first obsolete,
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  Speaker 1: but that which is becoming obsolete and grows aged is
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  Speaker 1: near to vanishing away. And Jesus, of course did all
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  Speaker 1: of this by fulfilling the Old Testament laws. And the
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  Speaker 1: author of Hebrews is going into like every single detail
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  Speaker 1: practically of the Old Testament loss to explain how Jesus
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  Speaker 1: actually did fulfill it and made it into something so
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  Speaker 1: much better when he created the New Covenant. For all
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  Speaker 1: of us. The Old Testament is becoming obsolete, but the
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  Speaker 1: New Testament shows a much better and more heavenly picture
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  Speaker 1: of how things are basically supposed to be. So because
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  Speaker 1: of this, going back to Hebrews Chapter ten, it says,
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  Speaker 1: we have to enter boldly, we have to draw near
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  Speaker 1: with a true heart, in fullness of faith. And we
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  Speaker 1: also have to hold fast to the confession of our
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  Speaker 1: hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. So
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  Speaker 1: there are three commands in this short little bit that
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  Speaker 1: I just read for you guys, and all three have
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  Speaker 1: to do with courageous faith, being bold and not wavering
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  Speaker 1: when something bad comes our way, which moves us into
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  Speaker 1: verses twenty four and twenty five, Let's consider how to
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  Speaker 1: provoke one another to love and good work, not forsaking
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  Speaker 1: our own assembling together, as the custom of some is,
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  Speaker 1: but exhorting one another, and so much the more as
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  Speaker 1: you see the day approaching. One of the ways that
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  Speaker 1: we can have bold and courageous faith in Jesus is
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  Speaker 1: by meeting together with other Christians. Now, most people who
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  Speaker 1: read this believe that it's talking about attending church, but
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  Speaker 1: actually it doesn't specifically say church. It says assembling together.
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  Speaker 1: So this does not necessarily mean that you have to
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  Speaker 1: go to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. And
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  Speaker 1: if you're not attending church three to five times a week,
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  Speaker 1: then you are sinning and not doing this command. That
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  Speaker 1: is not what this means at all. It means don't
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  Speaker 1: forsake the assembling together. Let's look at what that word
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  Speaker 1: forsake means in Greek. The word is in Catalepo, I believe,
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  Speaker 1: and it says to forsake, to leave, to abandon, or dessert.
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  Speaker 1: We are not to abandon meeting together, whether that means church,
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  Speaker 1: whether that means by studies or fellowshipping with other Christians.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, the author actually says, as you see the
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  Speaker 1: day approaching, meet with each other more and more. What
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  Speaker 1: does that mean that the day is approaching? Well, that's
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  Speaker 1: talking about all of the prophecy that Jesus stated in
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  Speaker 1: Matthew twenty four and the prophecy in Revelation. And as
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  Speaker 1: you guys know, it gets difficult. It is not good stuff.
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  Speaker 1: It talks about how the persecution of Christians is going
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  Speaker 1: to ramp up before Jesus comes again. It talks about
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  Speaker 1: how the world is going to go through all this turmoil.
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  Speaker 1: There's going to be wars and famine and disease and
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  Speaker 1: issues and tornadoes and earthquakes. All this crazy stuff is
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  Speaker 1: going to happen before Jesus returns, which is also called
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  Speaker 1: the Day. So as we see the day or Jesus's
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  Speaker 1: return approaching nearer and nearer, because we see prophecy happening
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  Speaker 1: before our very eyes, and all this stuff is like
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  Speaker 1: ramping up, we're actually supposed to meet with our fellow
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  Speaker 1: Christians more and more and more, even if diseases are
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  Speaker 1: taking place, even if earthquakes and famines and wars are happening.
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  Speaker 1: And why is that? Because meeting with other Christians is
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  Speaker 1: encouraging it is a way to encourage them, and it
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  Speaker 1: is a way to be encouraged. There is nothing more
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  Speaker 1: discouraging than isolation or feeling like you're in the minority,
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  Speaker 1: or people don't agree with you, or nobody takes your side,
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  Speaker 1: or that you're the only one who actually follows Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: There is something so discouraging about that. So that's why
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  Speaker 1: we are supposed to meet with other Christians to know
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  Speaker 1: first and foremost that we're not alone, that we have friends,
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  Speaker 1: that we have companions and other members of the Body
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  Speaker 1: of Christ that we can rely on, and also people
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  Speaker 1: that can encourage us to keep ongoing when things get
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  Speaker 1: very difficult. And I don't know if I've told you
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  Speaker 1: guys this story before, but it's something that is very
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  Speaker 1: important to me personally. When COVID first happened, I didn't
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  Speaker 1: even start the podcast yet. I was still working at
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  Speaker 1: the school, and I remember sitting down with some of
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  Speaker 1: the teachers that were there, and of course COVID was
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  Speaker 1: on everybody's minds because they're like, is the school going
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  Speaker 1: to get shut down? What's going to happen here? We
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  Speaker 1: don't really know. And this was like at the middle
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  Speaker 1: of February when people started getting really nervous about all
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  Speaker 1: of this, and I remember saying that I didn't want
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  Speaker 1: the churches to shut down, and man, the teachers jumped
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  Speaker 1: down my throat and lectured me for probably a solid
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  Speaker 1: three minutes about how wrong I was, and how the
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  Speaker 1: churches needed to shut down, and how I was endangering
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  Speaker 1: people by having that kind of belief, and how if
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  Speaker 1: the churches stayed open, They're going to kill people and
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  Speaker 1: make people so sick. And I I'm telling you, I
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  Speaker 1: didn't feel very Christian in that moment because I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to punch people in the face. I had to get
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  Speaker 1: up and leave because I'm like, no, I'm not going
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  Speaker 1: to sit here and listen to this, sit here and
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  Speaker 1: listen that the churches should be shut down. And you
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  Speaker 1: can see I get very passionate about this. So that
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  Speaker 1: very day I went home and I prayed to God.
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  Speaker 1: I'm like, God, I am going to go to church
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  Speaker 1: every single Sunday if you let me. If I am
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  Speaker 1: able to go to church, I am going to go
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  Speaker 1: to church. Well anyway, four weeks later, I got laid
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  Speaker 1: off from the school, which was like the happiest day
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  Speaker 1: of my life, and my pastor this is what's so
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  Speaker 1: crazy about this. My pastor called me and he said, hey, Jen,
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  Speaker 1: you know, we're looking for somebody that could potentially work
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  Speaker 1: as a second in command to our worship leader. And
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  Speaker 1: we know that you do music and that you're pretty
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  Speaker 1: good at it, and would you be willing to be
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  Speaker 1: the second in command? And this was right before the
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  Speaker 1: church has got shut down for COVID, and I said, yes, absolutely,
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  Speaker 1: I'm very much interested in doing that. And let me
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  Speaker 1: tell you, because I started working as the worship leader assistant,
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  Speaker 1: I was at church every single Sunday. God answered my prayer.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody else was at church. The churches did, in fact
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  Speaker 1: get shut down, and it was really sickening to me.
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  Speaker 1: I was very unhappy about it. But I was at
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  Speaker 1: church every single Sunday doing the music, helping out, like
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  Speaker 1: taking videos and everything for I think the Facebook page
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  Speaker 1: at the time. I was at church every single Sunday.
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  Speaker 1: During the COVID lockdowns, I did not get sick with COVID.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I'm generally a very fearful person, and I
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  Speaker 1: think that COVID thing was kind of an anomaly for
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  Speaker 1: me because I am the biggest germophobe you will ever
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  Speaker 1: meet in your entire life. And I am not joking
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  Speaker 1: when I say that. So there is something very abnormal
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  Speaker 1: of me not being afraid of a sickness that was
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  Speaker 1: going around, very abnormal. So I'm not saying that I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to be perfect in the future. If persecution comes
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  Speaker 1: our way, or if the government tries to shut down
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  Speaker 1: the churches again, or there's another disease going around, I'm
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  Speaker 1: not saying I'm going to be perfect. But I do
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  Speaker 1: know that what this says right here in Hebrews chapter
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  Speaker 1: ten is that we are to meet together. The churches
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  Speaker 1: are not supposed to shut down. We are actually supposed
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  Speaker 1: to get more and more bold as these crazy things
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  Speaker 1: in our world progress. And here's why. When we believe
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  Speaker 1: in Jesus, we become a child of the Father, and
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  Speaker 1: we get adopted into something so much greater than ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what Romans twelve three through five has to say
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  Speaker 1: about church with our fellow believers. For I say, through
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  Speaker 1: the grace that is given to me, to everyone who
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  Speaker 1: is among you, not to think of yourself more highly
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  Speaker 1: than you ought to think, but to think reasonably, as
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  Speaker 1: God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith
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  Speaker 1: for even as we have many members in one body,
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  Speaker 1: and all the members don't have the same function. So
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  Speaker 1: we who are many are the body of Christ and
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  Speaker 1: individually members of one another. So not only do we
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  Speaker 1: get adopted into God's family, but we actually become members
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  Speaker 1: of Christ's body. And for those of you who are
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  Speaker 1: new to Christianity, that might sound very, very bizarre to you.
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  Speaker 1: In the most general terms, that just means that the
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  Speaker 1: church is part of something greater. Here's what it says
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  Speaker 1: in Colossians chapter one, seventeen and eighteen. Jesus is before
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  Speaker 1: all things, and in him all things are held together.
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  Speaker 1: He is the head of the body, the assembly, who
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  Speaker 1: is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in
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  Speaker 1: all things he might have the pre eminence. So, in
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  Speaker 1: other words, Jesus is the head of the church. The
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  Speaker 1: body is the church, okay, and each individual person is
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  Speaker 1: considered to be a member of the church body, if
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  Speaker 1: that makes sense. That's why if you go to church,
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  Speaker 1: you'll often hear that we are the church body. That's
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  Speaker 1: what this is referring to. We are part of something greater,
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  Speaker 1: and we're all connected as well, which is what one
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  Speaker 1: Corinthians twelve twelve through fourteen says, for as the body
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  Speaker 1: is one and has many members, and all the members
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  Speaker 1: of the body being many, are one body, so also
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  Speaker 1: is Christ. For in one spece, we were all baptized
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  Speaker 1: into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond are free,
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  Speaker 1: and we are all given to drink into one spirit.
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  Speaker 1: For the body is not one member, but many. And
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  Speaker 1: then Paul who wrote that, goes on to say in
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  Speaker 1: verses fifteen through twenty six that each individual member of
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  Speaker 1: this body or of this church has a different function,
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  Speaker 1: you know, a different gift that they can use in
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  Speaker 1: order to serve other people. So because we are part
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  Speaker 1: of this cohesive body, it's actually not good for us
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  Speaker 1: personally to abandon meeting together with other Christians. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you can think about it in the terms of our
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  Speaker 1: own bodies. You know, if something gets disconnected from our body,
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  Speaker 1: let's say a digit of our finger, then that digital
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  Speaker 1: finger fails to thrive. We actually thrive when we're with
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  Speaker 1: the collective body of Christ for many reasons. Because we
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  Speaker 1: can encourage each other. That's the big one. Most people
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  Speaker 1: go to church to get fed themselves, to listen to
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  Speaker 1: the sermon, to hear the music, and then to go home.
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  Speaker 1: It's almost like they're checking off a spiritual box throughout
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  Speaker 1: the week. And that is something that I used to
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  Speaker 1: do about ten years ago. I would just check the
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  Speaker 1: boxes off of my spirituality. I'd be like, Okay, God,
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  Speaker 1: I showed up for church, I'm good for the week.
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  Speaker 1: But that is not the right way to do church.
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  Speaker 1: It includes fellowship, it includes exhortation is what scripture says,
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  Speaker 1: and that's just a fancy word to say encouragement, encouraging
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  Speaker 1: other people. So that would be praying for others if
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  Speaker 1: you hear that there's a problem. That might mean visiting
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  Speaker 1: people who are sick or in the hospital, bringing them
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  Speaker 1: a meal, writing them a card, just giving people encouragement,
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  Speaker 1: telling them that you are praying for them. And honestly,
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  Speaker 1: even just your presence a smiling face, even if you're
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  Speaker 1: not specifically sitting down to pray with somebody or writing
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  Speaker 1: out cards. If you smile and just show up and
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  Speaker 1: help out, that's another way that you can encourage other people.
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  Speaker 1: And speaking of the second and we're supposed to go
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  Speaker 1: to church is to help again. If you continue reading
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  Speaker 1: in one Corinthians twelve, that's exactly what it talks about
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  Speaker 1: each church member has a role a gift that they
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: can use to help serve other people, and that you
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: might be like Jen, that sounds no fun. I do
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: not want to waste my time serving at the church
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: or donating my time or my money. I don't want
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: to do any of that. Well, I can't understand that,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: because again, I used to be that way. I used
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: to be like, nope, I am not doing anything at
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: the church. I hate doing it. It is nothing but misery.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Until I went through my transformation in twenty nineteen and
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: I was convicted to start helping out at the church.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: And guess what, I loved it. I loved it. It
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: was so fun. It's actually kind of addictive in a
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: sense to serve at the church. And my husband went
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: through that same transformation. He's always been more of a
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: servant than I've been. But you can see how much
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: he enjoys helping out at the church. He loves it,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: and I can see that on the faces of other
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: people that are there as well. There's something very cathartic,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: I guess about helping out and serving and feeling like
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: you're doing something that actually helps or benefits other people.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: There really is something very very special about it, and
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: those of you who volunteer can understand that feeling. And
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: the last reason we go to church, which should honestly
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: be the first reason, is to worship God. We go
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: to church to worship with other believers. You know, we
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: can worship God by ourselves. You can turn some worship
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: music on right now after this podcast is over. You
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: can open up your Bible and start reading, and those
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: are acts of worship. You can start praying by yourself,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: great acts of worship. But there's something different about assembling
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: together to worship God collectively. And this was a command
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: that God gave the people in the Old Testament as well.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: They were commanded to come together to worship Him as
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: a collective whole. Something different about worshiping God with like
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: minded people. And in turn, it's not just going to
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: encourage the people around you when you show up and
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: you are worshiping, it's going to encourage yourself as well. So, honestly,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: going to church to be fed personally is not the
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: best motivation because you're always going to be disappointed by
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: something that the church does. Instead, you should reframe the
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: reason you're going to church to say, I am going
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: to worship God, and I am going for other people.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: Those are the two reasons I am going to church.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: And just see, like I'm telling you, I believe this
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: without a shadow of a doubt. See how your heart
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: changes when you reframe the reason for going to church.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: It will change. You are going to have such a
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: nicer time at church. It's going to be truly beneficial
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: for you. If you're going just to be fed, you
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: are missing out on the main reason for church because
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: you can get fed at home. Quite honestly, you can
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: do a Bible study with your family and be fed
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: that way. You can do a personal Bible study. You
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: can listen to this podcast or some worship music that
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: you really like, and those things will feed you. Going
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: to church is something more than you personally being fed.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: So reframe your thinking on this. I'm telling you it's
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: really going to help because it helped me personally, and
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: I know other people where it helped them as well.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: So let's do church the way that church is supposed
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: to be done, unified together as the Body of Christ.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: Not to conclude, I've been talking about church a lot,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: but it does say right here, do not forsake the
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: assembling together. So that doesn't necessarily mean like a church service.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: But the reason I keep talking about church is because
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: it's probably the easiest way to fellowship with other Christians,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: because it's like a place that everybody just goes every
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: single week, So it's the easiest way. But there are
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: times when you can't attend church. So if for some
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: reason you are unable to attend church, either because the
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: government is getting in and shutting churches down, or because
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: your spouse is really against it, or you cannot find
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: a biblical church in your area under any circumstance possible,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: then it's still important for you to find ways that
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: you can fellowship with other like minded Christians. Maybe you
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: find a Bible study that is being hosted at a
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: local college or somebody's home. Maybe, if you're a lady,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: you attend to a one off event a paint and
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: sip Bible night. Maybe you go to your local Christian
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: coffee shop and you start befriending some of the people there.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: There are many unique ways that you can make sure
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: you are not forsaking the assembly together, And I would
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: argue that the word assembly means an in person assembly,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: so not so much something online. I would definitely recommend
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: that you find something physical that you can go to,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: or maybe you start inviting people to your own home
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: and fellowshipping that way. There are many avenues you can
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: take to start actually speaking with other like mind did Christians.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: But again you have to reframe it. You have to say,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: I'm not so much doing this for myself and what
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: I can gain from it, even though there will be
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: benefits for you if you do this, but you have
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: to reframe it as I want to help other individuals,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: and I do that by encouraging them. So you can
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: pray to God, God, how can I be the most
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: effective right now? I am not able to attend church?
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: How can I truly minister with other Christians? And if
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: it is just beyond your ability, like you cannot find
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: a single other person to fellowship with, and maybe you
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: are sick and you can't get away, and I know
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: that that does happen to people, and I feel for
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: you in that situation, then I would recommend if this
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: is something that God is really laying on your heart,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: that you want to fellowship with other Christians, I would
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: recommend praying and asking God to bring someone in your life.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: And I believe that if your heart truly wants to
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: follow this command, that God will in fact bring somebody
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: that you can fellowship with and help and have community with.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Because don't forget this is a command, this is not
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: a suggestion. The author of Hebrews says, do not forsake
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: the assembly together. Okay, faith listeners. Before I end today's episode,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: here is one last word from a sponsor. I have
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: a final story i'd like to share with you guys
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: before we go today. I have this really bad habit actually,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: of falling asleep on my chair and not going up
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: to bed. And I never sleep well on my chair.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: You know. It's always like I'm hearing everything that's going
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: on in the background because the TV's on, the lights
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: are on, and so I'm only like partially sleeping. And
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: I ended up last night sleeping on my chair till
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: about four in the morning, and because I was so
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: groggy and so tired, I woke up and I didn't
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: really want to go to bed yet, so I scrolled
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: Facebook for a few minutes and the first thing that
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: I read was the most irritating post that I ever saw,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: and I was going to comment on it, but thank god,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: I did not because it was four in the morning
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: and I was not thinking correctly, And it was from
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: this forum that I follow this like Christian forum, and
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: the post said something along the lines of I finally
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: found a church that doesn't play that terrible contemporary Christian music.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: But I've been going to this church for a while
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: and I found out that all the people there are Calvinists,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: and I don't know what to do any advice And
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, I've got some advice for you, But
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: thankfully I didn't type it out. I'll just talk about
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: it here on the podcast now that it's not four
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: in the morning and I'm thinking more clearly. Whoever wrote
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: that post was thinking about church very selfishly. What can
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: I gain from church? Not how can I benefit other
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: people from church? And you can see how miserable this
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: poor person was because they were church shopping all over
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: the place and couldn't find a church because they didn't
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: like the worship music at the other churches, and now
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: they don't like the people at this new church. This
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: is what happens when you're going to church only to
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: fulfill yourself, only for selfish reasons. You will not find
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: a church that perfectly fits your specifications, but you can
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: imagine if that person stopped thinking about church is something
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: that they could benefit from and thinking about how can
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: I benefit other people with my presence here? How can
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: I encourage these people? How can I pray for them?
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: I say that story not to throw anybody under the bus.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: I don't even know who this person was, but to
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: encourage everybody listening that church can be something so much
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: better than what we're making it if we just go
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: to church thinking of other people before ourselves, maybe newer
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Christians that come to the church that don't know anything
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: about the Bible yet. How can we feed these individuals
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: instead of what can I gain. I'm telling you the
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: church will be better off for it, and so will you,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners. I hope you take this message to heart,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: and if you did, share it on your social media
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: platforms and tell people that the Bible Explain podcast exists.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: All right, everybody, I hope you all have a fantastic
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: and wonderful rest of your Thursday. Don't forget tomorrow is
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: only for the members, for the faithful members. If you
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: would like to upgrade from being a faithful listener to
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: a faithful member, then you can click the link in
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: the description that says Kofi, and then you will gain
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: a private link that will give you access to the
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Bible Explained on Fridays, which is just like this podcast,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: excepted as private. And we are going through the Book
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: of Psalms together and we've been having some fantastic discussions
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: over on the Book of Psalms. We had a discussion
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: recently about origins, like if something has pagan origins, should
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: we as Christians not do it today like Christmas or
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: something like that. We also had a discussion just last
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: week about whether or not the Jewish people today are
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: considered to be God's people. That was a great topic
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: and we have other fantastic topics like that over on
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: the Bible Explained on Fridays. So if you want to
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: be able to listen to eighty plus episodes of the
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: Bible Explained on Fridays, then you got to become a
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: faithful member. But okay, faithful listeners, if I don't see
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: you tomorrow, faithful member, I will see all of you
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: guys on Monday. Have a wonderful weekend, happy listening, and
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: God bless. I just want to take a second to
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact, if you
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: go to lifeaudio dot com you will find dozens of
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.