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NASB | Hebrews 10:25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Hebrews 10:25 not forsaking our meeting together [as believers for worship and instruction], as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more [faithfully] as you see the day [of Christ's return] approaching. |
Subject: "and so much the more" Heb. 10:25 Part 1 |
Bible Note: Part 4: The same is true, for those of us who profess faith in Christ, when we are at work. A co-worker will tell a dirty joke, and we will laugh with them instead of speaking to them through the love of Christ. I’m as guilty of this as any one else, and I constantly call out to the Lord asking for strength to stand for the truth, and not to hide from it. I see professing believers who will go to the strip clubs with their buddies, Christian women who will gossip. I see Christian teenagers fall into sexual temptation because they don’t know how to stand up for purity. All of this is partly due to the falling away of fellowshipping with other believers. All of this is because we fail to go to our brothers and sisters in Christ in prayer, and praise. We are afraid that we will be rejected by those of a like mind because of the sins we have fallen tempted to. God knows even I have struggled with that. Not only are there times we fail to go to fellow believers, but also there are times, when we push each other away. We get so tied up in what we are doing, that we don’t see our bothers and sisters in need. We as believers are not asking the question, “What Would Jesus Do?” Today Pastor Scot was speaking on Gen. 5 as I mentioned at the very beginning of this message. It was a wonderful sermon, especially when he got to the part where it speaks about Enoch, who walked with God. Back about eight years ago I also preached on Enoch. Fortunately I still have this sermon, as I was wise enough to save it. Mind you it is not near as good as it sounded eight years ago, nor as good as the message I heard today, but it gave me some information I had come across when I wrote it. “Who was Enoch?” The Enoch I’m speaking of was the great-great-great-great grandson of Adam, through the line of Seth. (There is another Enoch in the line of Cain; this is not the Enoch who walked with God). The name Enoch means “consecrated”. It appears that Enoch’s father, Jared, had wanted Enoch set aside for a particular purpose. As Enoch grew he began to walk with God, in fact Gen. 5:22 says Enoch walked with God 300 years after he begat Methuselah. Now the name Methuselah can be translated “at his death, judgment” which could possibly, and most likely mean that Enoch walked with God even before he begat Methuselah. (If one adds up the dates, the year of the flood would have been the year of the death of Methuselah because Methuselah was born exactly 969 years before the flood.) There is some background information on Enoch, now let’s move on to some of the points of applications that Pastor Scot made, that I believe falls in line with our joining in fellowship, and in exhorting one another. He first asked the question; “What does it mean to walk with God?” The two points he made with this are as follows. 1. We need to move in the same direction as God. 2. We need to be in agreement with God. As I look at these two points I wonder how this is done. Very simply, as we join together in fellowship and in exhortation we encourage and strengthen each other in following the plan that Christ has for us. Prov. 27:17 states: “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” Pastor Scot then went on to ask another question. “What are non-believers looking for in the life of a Christian? He gave three answers to this one, and they are as follows. 1. They are looking for evidence of a changed life. 2. They are looking for consistency. 3. They are looking for people who show the compassion of Jesus. This also goes into the context of joining together in fellowship with each other. As we join together we can encourage our brothers and sisters through prayer. James 5:16 states: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Fellowship with others of a like mind has been God’s intention all along. When God created Adam and Eve, they were of a like mind, and they walked together in the cool of the day. Enoch walked with God all of the days of his life, and because of this he did not see death. Noah and his family, alone, were found righteous in the days of the flood. In Gen. 6:9 the phrase walked with God is again used in regards to Noah. In the Old Testament fellowship was stressed as well. They had a tabernacle so that they could gather together and worship God, then they had a temple. All throughout scripture we see how important fellowship is to God. As one reads the Book of Acts one again sees how important it was to the 1st. century believers to gather together continuously for fellowship and worship. |