A0335_Assemble Together
Date: 5th September 2007 (Wednesday PM) Ref: A0335
Place: Kambah P.S.
Title: Assemble Together
Text: & Hebrews 10:25
Illust: Next week is the NSW conference. It will be a great time of preaching, conviction, enlargement & fellowship. So this evening I thought I would just highlight why it is we have 3 services per week and also conferences.
I. Pull of the World
A. Tentacles of the World
i. This evening we live in the world, even though we are supposed to not be partakers of it and it’s attractions, it’s lusts, it’s cares and concerns
John 17:14-16 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (NKJV)
We need to have a right perspective; the world and the things of the world are energised by the ruler of the world. Jesus made it very clear who the ruler of the world is:
John 14:30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. (NKJV)
ii. Satan is the rightful ruler of the world, this is his dominion, that is why as Christians if we try to make peace, friendship, appeasement with the world we lose. A sober warning how the tentacles of the world can pull us in and render us barren.
Mark 4:19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (NKJV)
If barren need to honestly evaluate am I living in and of the world rather than the Kingdom. Relying on your own strength, agenda’s and plans. Compromising with the world
iii. The world is seductive, we are constantly bombarded with the messages of the world, get, have, enjoy, be, do, pursue happiness at all costs – Need to constantly guard against it’s influences in your life.
B. In but Not of
i. While we may remain here in this world, we have not been taken out, we must remember that we are not to be of the world. -
ii. Our citizenship is in heaven and we are to be seeking the Kingdom of God to be real in our own lives
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. (NKJV)
iii. A call to be making the K.oG real in the lives of other too: We are to go out into the world, yes but a clear mandate to bring to them the message of the gospel
Body. Mark 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. (NKJV)
II. Not Forsaking the Assembly
A. Last Days
i. We must avoid the siren song of the world and it’s deadly pull on our hearts, this is where our text comes in & Text - and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. – what day?
ii. Firmly believe this is a call that the closer we get to the end of days, the return of Jesus Christ, that things are going to get worse & worse. & 2 Tim 3:1-5
iii. More & more the church will compromise with the world & lose its ability to be salt & light.
Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. (NKJV)
This is because the pull of the world becomes stronger and more deceptive as we approach the last days.
B. Exhort
i. Clear call, responsibility on each & every one of us. & Text ~ but exhorting one another
Exhort one another
3870 [parakaleo /par·ak·al·eh·o/] v ~ 2 to address, speak to, (call to, call upon), which may be done in the way of exhortation, entreaty, comfort, instruction, etc. 2a to admonish, exhort. 2b to beg, entreat, beseech. 2b1 to strive to appease by entreaty. 2c to console, to encourage and strengthen by consolation, to comfort. 2d to encourage, strengthen. 2e exhorting and comforting and encouraging. 2f to instruct, teach.
ii. Goes against the grain of our Australian natural, do what you want to, no hassle, no pressure, no compulsion. – Our text says that we are to have some passion when encouraging one another to be in church.
iii. This is why we have 3 services per week. Speaking to someone the other day, they go to church once per week. – Think of how easy that would be? – BUT how do you stay out of the subtle grip of the world.
Assembling together, hearing the preaching of the word, encouraging and being encouraged helps you to stay unsullied from the world, and if you do slip up, get convicted & can repent.
III. Conference Enlargement
A. Supernatural
i. On-top of our 3 services, we have regular conferences. A NSW conference in September and the Australian Fellowship conference in Perth every March. Both are an intensive time with 17 sermons over 4 days & 5 nights. – Awesome opportunity to be exposed to some of the best preaching that you will hear anywhere.
ii. Supernatural experience. ~ something about the dynamic of conference that when we all link together with one accord, God moves in the conference, calling couples to ministry, revealing destiny, purpose and possibility to individuals.
iii. This years NSW conference theme is enlargement. A time to be enlarged, to have a larger vision than just what you see here. To catch a revelation of just what God can and will do.
B. Labourers for the Harvest
i. The climax of the conference is always the Thursday and Friday night services. – The harvest field is priority.
John 4:35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! (NKJV)
Luke 10:2 Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. (NKJV)
ii. Thursday night International Night. Labourers are planted overseas & we focus on the labourers we have overseas, on the Macedonian call of the nations
Acts 16:9-10 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. (NKJV)
iii. Friday night is church planting into the cities & suburbs of this nation as we continue to take ground for Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. Couples planted out to pioneer churches ~ many will have received a call that this was God’s purpose for them at some previous conference.
Let us not neglect the gathering together and exhort one another.