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At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
Hey, thanks so much for listening to Sandals Church. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. We hope you enjoy this message. Hi guys and welcome to Sandals Church. Man, we're in this series called Essentials. Well, we're looking at not just important things in the scriptures, but the things that are essential. And so many times churches get confused between what's important in Scripture and what's essential in Scripture. And so let me say this, everything in Scripture is important, but we want to understand and interpret the important through the essentials. If we get off on these things, we're going to be totally off on everything. And so today we're going to talk about why I need to go to church, why you need to go to church. So many Christians have confused this issue today. Well, meaning God fearing Christians, people that call themselves disciples would tell you to your face. of a local church. Many Christians haven't been to church since COVID. So it's one of the essentials. It's one of the things that we need to know. So number one on your outlines, and I want you to write this down, and this is gonna spark some discussion in your community groups, if you're watching online, I just want you to pray about what does this sermon mean for you? Because some of you can't gather with us on the weekends. So what does this look like? Number one, gathering with fellow Christians is essential to my faith. It's an essential. OK, we're going to start with Jesus. Some of you've heard this first before, but you've never actually thought about what he's saying. So remember, Jesus, he's pretty essential. Amen. If we're Christians. So here's what he says. Whoever is not with me and some of you know it is what is against me. But listen, there's a comma there. And whoever does not gather with me scatters. I know. See, it just landed, didn't it? Listen to what he said. He said, whoever is not with me is against me and whoever does not gather with me scatters. So as Christians, we have to ask ourselves, am I gathering with and for Jesus or am I scattering? And many Christians are scattering. And why is that? Because some Christians believe, they believe this, that gathering is optional. Jesus believed it was essential. It was essential. When Jesus was resurrected and he talked to his disciples who had all scattered. They all abandoned him. They all ran away. He went to the leader and his name was Peter. And he asked him three times. Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? And many of you, you would say you love Jesus. Jesus number one. Jesus is my homie or whatever. You know, your Christian teacher says Jesus says to Peter, do you love me? Three times in John 21, 16, Jesus repeated the question. Simon, son of John, right? Just called him name. His mama gave him a man. You know, when my mama said Matthew, Stephen Brown, I knew I was in trouble. Simon, son of John, do you love me? Yes, Lord. Peter said, Listen, you know, I love you. Then take care of my sheep. Now who's his sheep? It's the church. It's the church. Jesus wants to know, do you love him? Are you really a Christian? Are you following me? Are you listening to me? If you do, then take care of my church. Many of you heard me say this. There are all kinds of religions in the world today. There's Muslims, there's Buddhists, there are literally hundreds of different versions of Hindu. Listen to me, Christianity at its core is a with others religion. It's a religion that gathers. We come together. As Christians, we gather in large meetings at a campus. It's what we do. We have 14 campuses. Okay, I went to multiple campuses last week and when all of our campus pastors were preaching. I went to multiple campuses. People are gathering. Our church spends a lot of money on these facilities on these buildings. And why is that? Because we just want to waste money. And I hear Christians say this all the time. The church is not a building. Nope, but it needs one. It needs one. And we can build it or all 30,000 of us can come to your house. So pray about it. Pray about it. You never know what's going to happen when Christians meet at your house in the Bible. Somebody cut a hole in the roof. We're like, that was amazing. Not if you own the house. Acts 2 one on the day of Pentecost. Listen to this. All the believers, how many of the believers, all of the believers were meeting together in one place. This is the birth of the church. Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit falls upon you. And they waited and they were all together and the Holy Spirit fell upon the church and the church was born that day. It was born that day. And then when we read on, so this is an act chapter two. So we go 20 or 18 more chapters in Acts chapter 20, verse seven on the first day of the week. He says, when we were gathered together to break bread, like we don't just gather together because we got nothing else better to do. We gather because we've been told what to do. We gather together to remember him. We break bread. It's not just about the cracker. It's not just about the juice during the Lord's supper. It's about what he did for us. We gather and we remember, but we don't just gather in a large setting. We gather in small settings as Christians. We gather in smaller settings, in homes and in classrooms. Why is that? Because we're with others. Religion. Okay. Listen, this first Corinthians 1619, the churches here in the province of Asia, the church is plural, send greetings to the Lord as does Aquila and Priscilla. And listen to this and all the others who gather in their home for church meetings. Some of you, you have a wonderful Bible verse that the Lord is the Lord of your home. Have you ever had a meeting for the Lord in your home? Thank you so much for joining us for service today. I'd like to invite you to give by going to donate.sc so that you can partner with us as we see God work through Sandals Church. But for now, let's get back into the message with Pastor Matt. Isn't that interesting? We all say, this is God's house, but you've never invited him to be a part of the meeting in your house. Like you've had family gather. You've had friends gather. You've never gathered for the Lord. This is something that the early church did. It's essential. We can't get away from it. We are gatherers. It's what we do. And so here's the thing is so many people say, well, my faith is personal. OK, great. Amen. That's awesome. Your faith should be personal, but it cannot be isolated. You see, if your faith is just about you, then it's not about Jesus. And what we want to do is we want to gather together. Gathering is a part of what we do. It's God's heart for you. In first Corinthians, eleven thirty three, he says, so my dear brothers and sisters, we're called family. He says, when you gather for the Lord's Supper, listen, wait for each other. Wait for each other. So many of us when we when we come to church, we say, I hope I get something today from the preacher. Do you have any idea how much pressure that is? You see, some Sundays, some Saturdays, depending on upon when you worship or when you watch, they're not about you at all. He says, when we gather, wait for each other. I got a debrief question this, this week, the debrief is back, excited to be back. And I appreciate everybody who listens. But I got a question from a young person. And so many young people are battling this. They're battling social anxiety. Listen to me. Social media makes you antisocial. That's what it does. It doesn't help you. It harms you. And so many parents, you're concerned about your kids. I listen. How much time do you spend in your home talking about Jesus versus watching or being on a screen? The screen makes you antisocial. Jesus makes you socially aware. And so many young people. And here's what she said. She said, do I have to come to church if I struggle with social anxiety? Listen, years ago, I used to have horrific anxiety about flying. When I was a kid, I was in elementary school and my elementary school was right next to a base, a military base, an air force base. And it was one of the strategic air commands for the entire U.S. military. And they flew B-52s out of there, gigantic, terrifying devil planes. That's what they sounded like and One day while I was on the playground one of those planes crashed. I Heard it. I felt it. I saw the billowing smoke it Terrified me for the rest of my childhood I had to drive by the field with my parents with my friends with my family by the field where all the men on that airplane died and It affected me. Listen to me. It didn't just affect me, it wrecked me. And let me say this to everyone battling anxiety. It kept me from truly following Jesus. You see, you can't go, remember the essentials? Go ye therefore. You can't go if you're afraid to go. And I was afraid to go. So how did I get over it? By flying. You are not going to conquer your anxiety by running from what makes you afraid. So here's what you do. You, you just put your foot in the water. Here's the thing. Here's why you need to come to church. We have to like you like we don't have a choice. We don't, we don't have a choice. We can't be like Jesus. What about this guy? He's like, yep. That guy. Are you sure? He's like, absolutely. I mean, there were naked, crazy people that ran at Jesus. He was like, hey! People that everyone had forgotten about, bound, chained, isolated in cemeteries. They got a seat with Jesus. They got a seat with Jesus. And so here's what I said to that young woman. I said, yes, you have to come to church, even if you have social anxiety. Let the greeters know, hey, I'm really, really anxious. So what you know what that means? Don't sit on the front row because when you jump up, I'm gonna freak out, then we're both freaking out. You know, I think you're gonna kill me because I'm fragile. So talk to a greeter and say, hey, I really battle social anxiety. And we can create a place for you because we love you and maybe maybe You come to church and you sit through a song and then you go home Maybe you you come to church and you make it through worship and and you sit through a point one point and then you go home And then maybe the next week you do two points and then maybe eventually through the power of the Holy Spirit You make it through a service and then by the grace of God, maybe you're ready for a small group Yeah, I get it. People are scary. I know I'm in relationships with people But God listen to me is always going to empower you to what he's called you to And God has called me to get on planes and go around the world and preach the gospel. Just this week, I was texting with a pastor, I'm gonna be preaching in Ireland. I didn't even know I was Irish, but God knew. God knew. You see, but I can't preach there and be obedient to what God's called me to if I don't deal with my anxiety about flying. And I got scripture to back it up, amen. It says, lo, I am with you always. It's what the Bible says. Lo. says, no, I got more scriptures. Satan is the prince and power, power of the air survival. Listen, when we forget about each other, we have forgotten about Jesus. I know so many Christians want to see a movement of God in our country. What if we had a movement where we actually started being concerned about each other? What if we actually started caring for people whom we disagreed, caring for people who were sinners, caring for people who were lost? So I'm going to talk today, though, about why you need to go to church. You need church. Number two, gathering with other Christians encourages my faith. Anybody discouraged? I mean, wouldn't that be awesome if we watched a news story, one news story, just give me one where we're encouraged. It's all tonight at 11. You're already dead. I mean, oh my gosh. You know, I mean, some of you are afraid of sharks. Now there's bacteria in the freshwater. You were all dying. You know, it's like, come on, come on. Listen to Hebrews 10, 24 through 25. This is one of the first verses I memorized when I became a Christian and a pastor challenged me to memorize this first when I was in college. He said, do you know Hebrews 10, 24 through 25? And I was like, I didn't know there was a Hebrews. It says this, let us hold. I want you to think about that. What are you holding onto right now? Some of you hold on to bitterness. You're super good at that. Lord, I'm going to judge everyone just like you called me to. No. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess. What is this verse saying? There's a difference between what people say and how they live. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess for he who promises faithful. Aren't you glad God isn't a hypocrite? Can you imagine if we all die? We go to heaven. It's judgment day. And Jesus is like, psych, I didn't really die for you. I just like the way it sounded. I mean, can you imagine how hosed we'd all be if Jesus was a hypocrite like Christians? He says this, and let us consider how we may spur. Now, think about that word. I know we're in the West, but California is not really the West anymore, even though we're the furthest West, but we're not cowboy anymore, unless you live in Norco. Think about what it means to spur. Spurs are the things that cowboys use to drive the horse forward It's painful, but it's necessary So if you're ever offended by my sermon, maybe the Holy Spirit's spurring you Let it spur one another on let us encourage each other and let us consider how we may spur one another toward love Does anybody hear one of the essentials in that? But love with what? Good deeds. You see, it's not just what you say as a Christian, it's what you do as a Christian. Let us not give up meeting together. As some are in the habit of doing. You see, some of you are in the habit of not going to church. Man, I work out at the gym and I have for years and I can always tell when people come back to the gym and it's been a while. Wouldn't that be awesome if when we came back to church, our bodies changed? Hey, John, how's it going? You see, when you don't exercise, your body changes. When you don't exercise your soul and go to church, your soul changes. And it doesn't get fitter. It becomes lazier. As some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another. Listen to this. All the more as you see the day approaching, as the world gets worse, we need to attend more. That's what it says. Listen, if you have graduated from your need for church, you have graduated from your faith. You've forgotten. We all need to be encouraged. Why? Because it's easy to be discouraged. Man, it's so easy to be discouraged in your marriage. It's so easy to be discouraged about your finances, your job, your kids, the world. Isn't it nice to know once a week that God still got this and He still got you? Man, the older I get, the more of an encourager I see God calling me to. There's so many times when I freaked out, flipped out, lost my mind on our kids, was ready to give up on my marriage, and now it all seems so trivial and it all seems so small. You want to know why? Because the Lord has been with me and he's got me through it. And so part of my job as an older sandalite is to encourage the young ones. Because they're raised in a world that says, if it's hard, give up, get out, go somewhere else. And we have Christians in this church divorcing for no good reason. Other than the fact they haven't been in a group with an older married couple, like, do you think that's a problem? You should see what I married, you know, and if we got through this, the Lord can get you through it. And listen to me, married couples, empty nesters. God wants to turn you into a cheerleader. You can do it. You can do it. Let's go. Let's go. Last week, Tammy and I, we went to with one of our pastors. His kid was running in cross country. And let me tell you something. Cross country is a sport for people who hate themselves. And I know that because I used to run it. And why did I run it? I was too small to play contact sports. That's what skinny kids do. We just run. And he was running. And I know what it feels like. I know how nervous it is. And here's the thing. I can't I can't chase this kid down. He's 12. He's 12. But you know what I can do? I could encourage him. Let's go, Andrew, let's go! You got this. I know it hurts. I know, I know, I know it hurts. I puked after every race in cross country. That was my spiritual gift. Cross the line. You know why you're laughing? Because you didn't run cross country. But I can encourage him. Listen to me, listen to me, old people. I can't run the race, but I can encourage those in the thick of the race. Next, why do I need to go to church? Number three, gathering with other Christians empowers my faith. Last weekend, Tammy and I, we attended Sandals Church, Hunter Park, Saturday night, and we attended Sandals Church, Lake Arrowhead. And I had somebody come up to me and he said, Pastor! And I was like, Oh, here we go. He said, In all my life, I've never seen a pastor attend church when he wasn't preaching. And I said, I'm sorry. I said, I don't just attend church because it's my job. I attend church because it's my calling. It's my calling. When I gather with you guys, I feel empowered. When I'm by myself, I feel powerless. When I see all of you, I'm thrilled. I'm not the only one. I'm not the only one. There are other people who love Jesus, who are inspired by Jesus, who are trying to make sense of this world. It empowers me. Listen to the words of Jesus. you, whatever you bind on earth, whatever shall be bound in heaven. You know what he's saying? You have more power than you think. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. I know that's a weird word, but it means whatever you let go of. Whatever you let go of here is let go of heaven. Man, you are, you have more control than you think. Again, Jesus says, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my father who's in heaven. For where two or three are gathered at a football game, gathered at a political rally, gathered at a protest. No. For where two or three are gathered together in my name. Listen to me, Christian. There I am among them. Man. It's why I gather with the church. Because Jesus promises me He gathers with the church. And you say, well, He's already in my heart. Yeah, but he's in the church in a way that he's not in your heart. It's different. It's different. And we need this. We need this. Man, last week, I listened to the sermon three different times. Fredo's message online, Jeff's message on Saturday night, John's message on Sunday morning. The Lord spoke to me in every message. I heard the same message from three different pastors. And the Lord spoke to me in three different ways. That's why I need church. Because His Holy Spirit speaks powerfully to me. And it wasn't just the message. When I watched my wife worship, I watched her hands raised. When I watched the peace of God come over her, I was reminded, God is real, and God is here, and God is good. You see, one of the ways we let go of the things we hold on to is we lift our hands up free from anger to the Lord. It was just so good to be with her. So good to sit with her. So good to celebrate with her. And to experience the power of God. And this is what I say to people who don't get the Church. There's just something about Church. It's powerful. It's real. Next, why I need to go to church. Gathering with believers is the future of my faith. Look, if you don't like gathering now, you're not going to like heaven. Yeah. Yeah. You want to know what hell is? Scattering. Everyone's running. Everyone's running. You want to know what heaven is? Heaven is a gathering. Jesus said this in Mark 13, 27, He says, And then He will send out His angels, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. When Jesus returns, He's going to gather us together. He's going to gather us together. You see, gathering is a way that I prepare for my future. 2 Thessalonians 2, 1 says this, Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and are being gathered together to who? to Him. You see, so many Christians want to talk about when Christ is coming, but they don't understand why Christ is coming. He's coming for you. He's coming for me. And I can't wait for that day. I can't wait for that day where He calls my name. My wife and I, we finally started watching Chosen. I know many of you have been praying for us that we would watch that show. And it's not that I hate Jesus, it's that I hate television. So, but we started watching it. And we watched the first episode. And I just was in tears when Mary Magdalene was in a bar Ordering a drink and there was a voice that said this is not for you and There was a hand that touched her hand And then she ran into the streets But Jesus followed her And he called her by name her real name And he said, Mary. And he changed her life. Listen, man, some of you, you've gone through heartache, you've gone through hurt, but when Jesus comes, he's going to gather you with him and he's going to make those tears go away and he's going to heal everything that was ever broken. And we need to look forward to that. Isn't it going to be awesome to gather with the church free of dysfunction? I know fun is in dysfunction, but I'm looking forward to a worship service without some of the nuttiness. Amen. The Bible says it's going to be a feast. Think about gluten-free, calorie-free, fat-free doughnuts that the Lord has made. Can you imagine that bakery? He is. I mean, Krispy Kreme is just going to be like, Yes, Lord, yes, that was a good donut. It's going to be amazing. It's going to be incredible. But I want to switch from why you need to gather in church on a weekly basis to why I gather with believers on a weekly basis. And I thought a lot about this. And I've been your pastor for 27 years. I gave my life to Christ when I was 21 years old. And I've been following Him for the last 32 years. Not always perfectly, but consistently. And I want you to know why I gather with other believers. Because I can read my own Bible. I've been studying long enough where very few sermons wow me or inform me. But there's something special that happens in the church. And here's the thing why I gather. I love being around people who understand what Jesus did for me. I just love that. Like I know what it means. I know what it means. That's why when I watched Chosen and I heard Jesus calls Mary's name, I know when he called my name. I know what that was like. I remember being at a party drunk and I went into the bathroom to wash my hands and I looked in the mirror and I heard the Lord sick Greg Laurie on me. Yeah. And Greg's a faithful steward. And some of you've heard this story. I went with a girlfriend. We were not walking with the Lord. I got up to go forward. She put her hand on my knee. She said, what are you doing? I said, I'm gonna give my life to Jesus. And she said, if you do that, we're done. And you've heard this story. I said, I guess we're done. Because I was done with sin. Because I heard my Lord and he called me. And I know the church is full of imperfect people. I know the church is full of difficult people. Like, I don't know if you know this, but we're all sinners. The Bible is like abundantly clear about that. And you're like, I don't think so. Go to church and then you'll realize, man, we need to be saved. But I love being with people who know what it's like to hear those words, to be called, to leave their life of sin and cling to the Lord. Man, I just, there's something special about that. And I love being in the midst of that. I love sitting in worship and being led in worship by people who are so gifted, so talented, as they lead a guy who can't sing to worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Man, I love that. Some of you, you know this verse for, it is by grace that you have been saved and it's not of yourselves. Some of you have never really read that in context. It says you made us alive together with Christ, for by grace you have been saved. You see, we take that verse and we make it personal. The verse is a verse for all of us. You and you have been saved by grace is in the plural tense in the Greek. You all have been saved by grace. And there's something special about that. And there's a difference between you guys and my neighbors who don't know Jesus. You see, it's not just a cracker. It's not just juice. It's the Lord's blood that was spilt for me. His body was broken so my relationship with God could be healed. Next, people who love Jesus help me to become more like Him. Look, Jesus loves you where you are, but He doesn't want you to stay where you are. I was watching a TED talk this week and so many of our young people are struggling in school. They're not doing well. And there's a lot of things that are broken about American culture, but one of the most grotesque things in our culture is that whoever you are, you're stuck where you are. Right? Your race is more important than your effort, your gender, your sexuality, all of these things are fixed and there's nothing you can do about it. And what she said in the TED Talk is the most powerful tool we can give to young people is that their mind can grow and it can change. She said that's the number one thing we're missing in education. She said that young people need to know they can do hard things. They can do it. It may not be easy, but they can do it. And here's the beauty of being in church over a lifetime. I've seen God change me. I've seen Him inspire me. Man, just last week I ran into an old pastor who discipled me 30 years ago. We haven't seen each other in years. We just ran into each other. We were both lost in Ace Hardware, which how do you get lost in that? It's literally the size of a garage. But we were in Ace Hardware and we just bumped into each other. We're going to get together next week and catch up. Do you know that I am your pastor today because this pastor 25 years ago said, I was done. Some of you are super talented at being hard. And I felt like I can't do this. I can't be a pastor, and you know what? On my own, I can't. But when I have people that have gone before me, people that have been in the trenches with the Lord, and this pastor is about 20 years older than me, he's retired now, but he inspired me again. And he poured into me. He was there for me. And he inspired me to become more like Jesus. And some of you, you're the first Christian in your home. You don't have a mom that worships God. You don't have a dad that worships God. But man, there are tons of moms and dads in this church that do. And they can show you how it's done. And I know so many of you, man, we get in this series and we're like, you got to read your Bible every day. And last week now, now I got a text to pray. I'm texting, you know, and you're like, I can't do this. I can't, I can't even text. I can't even pray. Listen to me. No one in this church has add worse than I did. Nobody, but I pray every day and I read my Bible every day. And you know why that was? I had people who came alongside me and encouraged... They didn't shame me. They encouraged me. They encouraged me. And let me say this to the parents. You want your kids to read the Bible? Let them see you read the Bible. It always amazes me. My wife has way more memories of childhood than I do. I don't know if it's just I'm a boy and clueless or checked out. I don't know what it was. But she remembers like in the first grade people who sat in front of her and behind her. I'm like, I don't remember my first grade teacher's name. Was I in first grade? I have to ask my parents. Was I in first grade? But you know what I do remember? I remember this. Listen to me. Every single day when I got up, my mom was up before me, reading her Bible. Every day. I would eat my cereal while my mom read her Bible. Every day. Wow. It was incredible. Listen to me, parents. You've got to model for your kids what's really important. Because the world is not going to lead them down that track. The world says you can go wherever you want, despite the consequences of your choices. And then let me say that this last point is going to feel a little weird. So just brace yourself for a little weirdness. But here's the last reason. I come to church because I like to be around people who know what it's like to be saved by Jesus. I like to come to church because there are people who can inspire me to become more like Jesus. But here's the last point. Do you know why I come to church every single week? Because the church needs me. And you may have never thought about this. But listen to me, if you're a man, I want to speak to the men first and then the women, because I think women just get this. Women just get this because the baby grows inside them and they know they're needed. They just intrinsically know it more than men. Oftentimes, we feel like we're optional or not necessary at all. Let me tell you why I come to church, because I know I'm needed here. And you say, well, you're just saying that you're just saying that because you started a church. No, I started a church because I discovered that I'm needed here. Why do you think when Jesus said to Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? He said, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. You know, I love you, Lord. Every time Jesus said, then take care of my sheep, feed my sheep, take care of my sheep. Because the sheep need you and the sheep need me. Listen to me, man. There are going to be times in your marriage where you want to leave. You want to know why you don't leave? Because you're needed. You're needed. Well, you don't know, Pastor. This marriage is crazy. And that's when you need to not be crazy. And you need to stay. You need to stay. You want to know one of the reasons one of the reasons sandals is so dang big. And there's only one reason because I stayed. presence. Dad's men be present, be present. The women in this church do almost everything. Guys, do something, do something. Find a place, listening to me where you're needed. And let me just say this, you're needed to. It's not just me. And here's what the Bible says. If no one preaches, how will someone hear? That's where our church name came from. Romans 10, 13 through 15. How can people hear if no one preaches? I wasn't my idea to preach. I get stage fright, but somebody's got to preach. You know what else? Somebody's got to work in the parking lot. Somebody's got to teach a Sunday school class. Somebody each and every week, if you don't show up for your class, we're scrambling to get somebody in there. Because the four year olds aren't going to watch themselves. Just them in the Holy Spirit. If you're a greeter, and that girl in the debrief, if she comes to church for the first time, and she panics and she's on her way out. Listen to me, your job as a greeter isn't just to pass out the cracker and the juice and say, hey, are you okay, sweetie? Are you okay? Oh, you have social anxiety? Well, let me sit with you. You can just stand right here and then we'll go in together. And we'll sit together. And if you need to leave at any point in time, I'll leave with you. No shame. No shame. One of our greatest volunteers. He could not get through a service when he first came. Went from the parking lot to the worship. I mean, he just literally, the first time he came, he only got to the parking lot. That's as far as he got. And now he's one of our biggest volunteers and one of my best friends. You're needed. You're needed. If you work on the production team, if you run a small group, then everything that you do is necessary. And part of the reason many of you don't come to church regularly is you don't understand your value. You don't understand your value. And honestly, you have no idea how God might be working just so that you can lead somebody to Christ. To pray with somebody. To welcome somebody. How about this? To smile at somebody. Has anybody been out lately? Not a lot of smiles. I go to a fast food restaurant now, they take my order, they don't even look at my face. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. Church may be the last place where we look each other in the face and say, I'm glad you're here today. Church may be the last place where you say, how are you doing? And you actually care. You see, the Bible compares the church to a human body. It says, but our bodies have many parts and God has put each part where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part. Can you imagine if you were just a beer belly? You were just walking around. Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, I don't need you. And the head can't say to the feet, I don't need you. As I was preparing this message today, the Lord put one of our camera persons on my heart. Her name's Rachel. You'll never see her because she's behind the camera. But without her you don't see me. She's necessary. I don't know how to run that thing. I couldn't turn it on. I don't know how to turn it off. Okay, I told you, you know, last week my wife and I, we didn't even know how to work CarPlay in our new car. 1 Corinthians 12.22, in fact, some parts of the body that seem the weakest and the least important are actually the most necessary. Here's what he says, all of you together, all of you, every single campus, every single person watching online, all of you together are Christ's body, and each of you is a part of it. And then he goes on to say, and here are some of the parts. So here's my challenge for you. I want you to shift in your mind from gathering being optional to essential. So if you're near a campus, if you're near a physical campus, I want you to make a commitment this week to attend regularly. To attend regularly. The only reason Tammy and I don't attend Sandals Church is if we're out of town. And when we're out of town, I try to find a church. Now some of you are on our Sandals Online and you're nowhere near campus. Okay? You're going to have to sit down and figure out, how do I gather? Because I can't physically be there. So how am I going to create community? Maybe you've got to get in an online group. Maybe you can figure out how to volunteer for the online team. But for all of us, we need to figure out how to be a part. Maybe what you do is each year you travel to a campus. That's a part of your journey. You see, Jews were scattered all over the world, but every single year they gathered in Jerusalem. I'm not saying Sandals is Jerusalem. I'm just saying if this is the place where the Lord has called you to worship, some kind of physical gathering needs to be a part of your routine. And you say, well, I'm busy and I live far away. That's why the Lord said once a year or some that were closer multiple times a year. But here's the thing, it was when the believers were gathered together in one place that the Holy Spirit fell. And I don't ever want you to miss on what the Holy Spirit wants to drop on you because you weren't present. I want you to be present. I love you. I care for you. Listen to me. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and the church is the hope of the world. And there is no plan B. If we don't get it right, the world continues to go to hell. And that's where they're going. But God's called us to make a difference. I love you so much. Let me pray for all of you. Heavenly Father, I pray in Jesus name, God, that you would convict us about attending church on a regular basis. Lord, if there's any way possible that we could gather, Lord, let us gather. Even if we are like the believers in Hebrews 24 and 25 Lord who have gotten in the habit of not attending God Let us make a new habit of gathering together and Holy Spirit We ask that you would just speak powerfully and work powerfully in our lives in our worship time together and Lord that we would have eyes For our community members who've come to church for the first time. And Lord, let us connect with them and let us know, let us help them to know, not only do you love them, but we love them. And we're glad they're here today. We love you, Lord Jesus. We pray in your name, amen. We hope your summer holds a lot of restful opportunities and room for a nice break from the norm. We at Sandals Church want you to know that you can be a part of us from wherever you go and however your rhythms look different in this season. We'll continue releasing weekly sermons and content on all podcast platforms, as well as on YouTube. You can also give to Sandals Church at any time by going to donate.sc. Thanks for being a part of this place. Thanks for being a part of this place. We hope you have a great summer.
Transcribed with Cockatoo