Men, Hebrews chapter 10, the part that I want to focus on is verse 24,
Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works,
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is,
but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
And the title of my sermon this morning is Three to Thrive, Three to Thrive.
Another title for the sermon would be Why Do We Have Church Three Tons a Week?
Why do we have church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night?
Many people find this to be excessive.
And when they hear that you start going to church three times a week,
they think you're overboard or over the top.
You know, isn't Sunday morning enough?
Is it once a week enough?
Why go to church three times a week?
Well, the Bible tells us it's important that we not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
The assembling of ourselves together is important to our Christian lives,
and it's also a command of God.
And the Bible says that we should not forsake it so much the more as we see the day approaching.
Now let me ask you this.
Do we need more church or less church as we get into the end times?
I mean, how can we need less church?
Well, guess what?
The previous generation went to church three times a week.
The generation before that went to church three times a week.
And for a long time now, churches have had services three times a week.
I don't know how far back that particular tradition goes,
but I know that my parents and grandparents and great grandparents,
they were going to church three times a week.
Do we need less church?
Do we scale that back to just one service on Sunday mornings?
I think we need more church, not less church.
Now, when God said, as you see the day approaching,
He knew that in the end times, there would be a tendency to forsake the assembly.
That's why He even threw that in there so much the more as you see the day approaching.
There are even people out there who teach that the church age has ended
and we don't need church anymore.
Harold Camping was a famous radio guy.
He's like 175 years old or however old he is.
I don't know if he finally died, but he was like 100 when I was a kid.
And then he preached for like 30 more years, so I don't know.
But anyway, he would get up and tell people on his radio program to leave the churches.
Well, you could see what his motive was.
He wanted you on his radio program sending your money to him,
not supporting your local church, showing up at your local church,
and getting preaching from the local pastor that's preaching to you.
So that was his wicked agenda where he came up with that strange doctrine.
But the Bible says that we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is.
There are some people who are like that.
He says we should exhort one another.
What does exhort mean?
To encourage or motivate one another, to try to get people to come to church
so much the more as we see the day approaching.
Now in today's world, part of the reason why people are forsaking the assembly
is because of technology.
They think to themselves, well, I can just listen to a sermon at home on the radio
or on TV or on the internet or on YouTube.
So if I can just hear the sermon at home,
I can just lay there and eat chips off my chest,
and I don't even have to come to the assembly,
and I can still get the teaching and preaching of God's Word.
But God has commanded us to assemble together.
He didn't just command us to listen to preaching.
He didn't say don't forsake listening to preaching.
Don't forsake listening to a pastor preach.
He said don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together.
That's actually physically congregating in the same building.
And we're living in a society today where some people are just completely withdrawing
from social interaction.
People today, they're just so absorbed in video games, TV, movies,
and their only interaction with people is on Facebook or other social media
like YouTube or Twitter or something like that.
So they don't even leave the house.
And they just become a recluse or a shut-in.
And even when they go to the grocery store,
their heart starts beating faster just to take something up to the counter to buy it.
But then they realize the self-checkout is there.
You know, I almost thought I had to interact with a human being there for a second.
But I'm joking, but that is the way a lot of people are.
They literally cannot interact with people face-to-face anymore,
and it's very strange.
And we should not be that way as Christians.
We need to get together and talk and look people in the eye.
You know, that's one of the reasons I love soul-winning,
because it's us getting out in the community and actually talking to people face-to-face.
And a lot of people say, well, if they want to know about your church,
they can find it on YouTube.
Well, you know what?
That's just not the same as me walking up to their door in the flesh and talking to them
and actually opening my Bible and showing them.
That's much more powerful of a way to reach people with the gospel is in person, in real life.
Amen?
Now, forsaking the assembly altogether, let me say this.
Forsaking the assembly altogether is a major sin.
Okay.
Now, obviously if you go to church on Sunday mornings only,
you haven't forsaken the assembly.
I'm not saying you have to go to church three times a week to not forsake the assembly.
If you come once a week, if you come on Sunday mornings,
obviously you haven't forsaken the assembly.
You're still coming to church regularly.
I don't want you to misunderstand me.
Forsaking the assembly is a major sin because what does it say?
Right after verse 25, for if we sin willfully.
Now, let me ask you, what part of speech is the word for there in verse 26?
That's a conjunction.
So he says, not forsaking the assembly.
And then he says, for if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment
and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy,
who had trodden underfoot the son of God,
and had counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing,
and had done despite under the spirit of grace.
For we know him that hath said, vengeance belongeth unto me,
I will recompense, saith the Lord, and again the Lord shall judge his people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Now look, we've all heard that verse many times.
It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
And we've all heard these warnings about God's judgment and punishment many times.
But a lot of times, we don't get the context.
What's the context?
The context was, hey, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together.
And here's why.
Because our gods are consuming fire.
Here's why.
Because God will judge his people.
Now some people have tried to take this passage and say it's a warning to the unsaved.
That's not what it says.
Because it says right here, in verse 29,
of how much sore punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy,
who had trodden underfoot the son of God,
and had counted the blood of the covenant, watch this,
wherewith he was sanctified.
So this is written to a person who was sanctified by the blood of Christ.
And then it says that he has done despite unto the spirit of grace.
So this is a person who is saved by grace,
but they turn that grace into lasciviousness.
They have an attitude that says, oh, I'm saved by grace.
Salvation's free.
I can never lose my salvation.
And so therefore, I'm just going to go out and do whatever I want.
Right?
Okay, I'm saved by grace through faith, not of works.
Okay, well, I'm just going to go out and do whatever I want then.
You know what?
That's an abuse of the grace of God.
Now, here's the thing.
It is true that there's nothing you can do to lose your salvation.
The Bible says that he will never leave us or forsake us.
It says that we are sealed by the Holy Ghost unto the day of redemption.
We have eternal life, and no one shall ever pluck us out of Christ's hand.
We are saved.
We are sealed.
We are secure.
It's by grace alone, through faith alone, to God alone be the glory.
But, but, God will judge his people.
See, the Bible says right here, at the end of verse 30, the Lord shall judge his people.
Are we talking saved or unsaved?
Saved.
Now look, it's the same thing as if I said, Dad shall judge his children.
It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of Dad.
Right?
Don't despise Dad.
Don't tread Dad under, don't tread on me, kids, all right?
You know, don't tread underfoot.
The boss is what it's saying here.
So look, this has nothing to do with people being saved or unsaved, losing their salvation.
No, this is talking to people that are already saved and saying,
Look, God is going to judge his people.
God will, judgment will begin at the house of God, the Bible says.
Okay, and let me tell you something.
My children, if they go out and break my rules and blow me off, especially just flagrantly,
just, I don't care what Dad says, I'm going to do what I want.
How do you think that's going to go over?
Dad's going to be a consuming fire.
So how much more is the Lord going to come down hard on his children who completely
ignore his commands, completely blow off serving God and don't even care, right?
He's going to come down on them.
That's what the Bible says.
Fiery indignation.
Okay, God's going to be angry.
Now, if you would flip over to Isaiah chapter 28.
Isaiah chapter 28.
What am I trying to say?
Going to church is easy.
I mean, how hard is it to get your butt down here and just sit in a chair and just
listen?
What do you think is harder, sitting in church or going soul winning?
Going soul winning, right?
What's harder, reading the Bible for an hour or just sitting on your butt in church
for an hour?
Reading the Bible for an hour is harder, okay?
What's harder, witnessing, preaching the word of God, going to jail for Christ?
You know, what's harder, getting over all the sin in your life or just sitting in
church?
What's harder, friend?
Obviously, all those things are harder than going to church.
Going to church is pretty easy.
You just show up, you sit down and you just go like this and you're there and you
just get through it.
You just bite down and grit your teeth and just get through it.
No, I'm joking, of course.
But the point is, it's not hard to go to church.
It's one of the most basic things we do as Christians.
It's the minimum.
Here's what I'm trying to say.
Even when you get backslidden, even when you just have a bad attitude and you're
not right with God, you know what?
You should still drag yourself down to church and at least do that as a minimum.
Come at least worship the Lord and a couple times a week and get down here and just hear
some preaching.
By the way, that might pull you out of the slump that you're in.
It isn't that hard.
Look, I'll tell you what.
I grew up in a Christian home and I thank God for that.
Our family growing up had its ups and downs spiritually.
There were times when we were at lower points spiritually or higher points spiritually.
There were times when my parents were excited and growing in the Lord, other times where
they might have gotten a little more backslidden.
But you know what?
I thank God that my parents never forsook the assembly.
Never.
I always went to church.
My parents always took me to church.
No matter what was going on in our lives, no matter what the problems were, good times,
bad times, they brought us to church.
Here I am and guess what?
All of my siblings, you know what we all do?
We all go to church.
My brother goes to church.
My sister goes to church.
My other sister goes to church.
We always go to church and guess what?
They're all going to a fundamental Baptist church.
That's a great testimony of my parents that they raised us and they kept us in church
and here we are in church.
Don't forsake the assembly.
It's not that hard and it's disrespectful when God is inviting you to his house and
you don't show up.
You blow him off because you're blowing him off for the lake and you're blowing
him off for camping and you're blowing him off for whatever.
And I don't mean the guy on the radio camping.
I mean like going camping.
But either camping is no substitute for church.
Amen.
Don't just blow off the Lord and the things of God for all your carnal wishes
and desires.
So we don't want to forsake the assembly.
But you say, Pastor Anderson, I get that.
But Sunday morning is enough to not forsake the assembly.
You know what?
I agree.
I don't believe that you're sinning by not coming to church on Sunday night and Wednesday
night.
You're coming to church once a week.
You're showing up.
You're coming to church.
But I don't know about you.
I think we need more church, not less church.
So the question is, why come to church three times a week?
Why come back tonight on Sunday night?
Why come back on Wednesday night?
Well, look down at your Bible in Isaiah 28, verse 9.
The Bible says, whom shall he teach knowledge?
And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?
Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon
line, here a little and there a little.
Here's why you come back to church on Sunday night and Wednesday night.
Because you're getting three times the Bible teaching.
You're getting three times the teaching.
Look, you can only learn a little bit at a time that you can digest and absorb and
learn and grow from.
Look, if you're coming to church once a week, you're getting 52 services a year.
You come to church three times a week, you're getting 156 services a year.
Who do you think is going to grow more?
Who do you think is going to learn more about the Bible?
Who do you think, you say, well, but I can get that at home online.
Okay, how about your children?
Because the Bible says here that those that are weaned from the milk and drawn
from the breasts are the ones that need to learn doctrine here a little and there
a little.
Look, your children are only in your home for a certain amount of time.
You know, when they turn 18 and they're an adult, they're going to go off and
do what they're going to do.
Or maybe they stay with you until they're 20 or 25.
Eventually, at some point, they're going to go off and do what they're going to
do.
And you know what?
You're not going to say someday, boy, I wish we would have gone to church less.
I wish we would have just hung out more and stayed home more and gone outside
more.
But why did we spend so much time going to church?
That's not what you're going to say.
I guarantee you that my parents are glad for every evening service.
They took us too.
I guarantee you that my parents are glad for every Wednesday night when they drove
across town.
And by the way, we often drove 30 to 40 minutes each way to go to church.
Because my parents always wanted us to go to the best church they could find.
And they would often drive 30, 40 minutes.
I can remember spending entire Sunday afternoons touring model homes.
And that was not a fun thing to do when you're a kid.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
Model homes.
You know where you go to a new housing development and they have the model homes?
My parents were really interested in this for some reason.
They really liked it.
So we had all this time to kill.
So we'd go to Sunday morning church and my parents would hang out and fellowship
for as long as possible after Sunday morning church.
Then we'd all go out to lunch somewhere.
We'd go with some other people.
And we'd go out to lunch together and burn up another hour, hour and a half or whatever.
And then we'd go look at model homes for a few hours.
Or we'd go shopping because we lived like 30, 40 minutes away.
So they just wanted to stay on that part of town.
They didn't want to drive back and forth.
So we would just stay on that part of town the whole Sunday afternoon just killing
time walking around model homes and whatever.
I've seen a lot of homes, my friend.
And then we'd be back for Sunday night church.
And then after Sunday night church, you know what they did?
They hung out for like an hour, hour and a half.
We were always that last group of people in the parking lot.
It was like my family and a couple other families.
And it'd be dark.
They'd lock the doors.
We're just out in the church parking lot.
It's 9 o'clock at night.
And then they'd say, all right, let's go to Leather Beast.
And we'd go to this ice cream place called Leather Beast.
I mean, Sunday nights for us would last until like 1130 at night.
And we had to go to school.
We weren't homeschooled.
You know, we had to go to school in the morning.
And so this was like our one night to party.
Was Sunday nights.
I mean, we'd be over at the kid table at Leather Beast.
You know, our parents are at the adult table talking, fellowship.
Hey, you know what?
Thank God.
Thank God for it.
Church.
As some of you know, my parents, they went to church and they interacted with people.
They went out to lunch.
They went out to ice cream.
They talked with a fellowship.
You don't get that online.
You don't get that on the radio or TV or a download.
First of all, you don't get any sound biblical preaching on the radio unless you're living
in Guyana.
Okay.
That's another story.
But anyway, so, but you know, on the internet, there's a lot of great preaching on the
internet because the great thing about the internet is everything's on the internet.
So you can find all kinds of, you know, good churches and good preaching on there.
But it's never going to substitute for the fellowship.
It's never going to substitute for the assembling of ourselves.
Look, I want my kids to hear as much face ripping preaching against sin as possible.
Boy, there's so many pressures out there to get them into fornication, drugs, alcohol,
pornography.
Boy, we need them here in this hard preaching as much as possible.
And not only that, we need them around other Christians and around other people
that are going to edify them and build them up.
So we need more church.
So why else should we go to church on Sunday night and Wednesday night?
Go to John chapter 20.
So we said, first of all, God wants us in church.
And if we forsake the assembly, that's a big sin.
But then you say, Hey, pastor Anderson, if I don't go to church on the evening services,
I still haven't forsaken the assembly.
And I agree with you.
I agree with you.
You have not forsaken the assembly.
Or maybe you're a Sunday night only.
We have some Sunday night onlys.
Maybe you're a Wednesday night only.
You have not forsaken the assembly.
I mean, if you're showing up to church once a week, no one could say that you forsaken it.
Okay.
Agreed.
So then why be a three to thrive?
Because I don't just want to survive.
I want to thrive.
You know why?
Because I'm not trying to do the minimum in my life.
I'm not trying to say, what's the minimum I can do where God won't just cloud up
and rain on me?
Is that how you live your life?
Just show me the minimum and I'll do it.
Hey, you looking for the minimum?
Let me give you a minimum.
Come to church once a week.
Come to church three times a month.
There's your minimum.
But do you want to be a minimum?
I want to be maximum.
I want to be maximum for Jesus Christ.
And so, so much the more.
Let's do more.
Let's show up more.
Why?
So we can learn more.
Why?
So we can fellowship more.
Why?
So that our children, for crying out loud, can be in church more.
I mean, those of you that have children, you must want them to hear hard preaching against sin
in the day that we're living.
It always blows my mind when someone who has teenagers quits the church
because my preaching offended them because my preaching was too hard.
How could preaching be too hard when it's directed at a teenager?
I mean, they need to be shaken, friend.
With all the influences that are out there, they need some hard preaching.
Hey, hard preaching is what kept me on the right path as a teenager.
I had a lot of bad influences coming at me and it was that fire-breathing preaching.
And guess what?
Most churches, the fire-breathing preaching comes at night.
Now, in our church, it's pretty balanced between morning and night.
But at a lot of churches, the morning service is a sweetness and light service.
The hardest preaching was the evening service.
Wednesday night.
Why?
Because that's when the diehards are there and the pastor really cuts loose and preaches.
Hey, I'm glad I was at those services.
If I had been a Sunday morning only growing up, I wonder how much fire-breathing preaching
I would have even heard if my parents only took me to the mildest service of the week.
So we need more teaching, more fellowship, more preaching.
We want our kids to get more.
But here's another reason why.
Because you never know when the great service is going to be.
Some services are better than others, right?
Sometimes you go to church and it's just okay.
It's just kind of a run-of-the-mill church service.
And then every once in a while, there's just that awesome church service.
You don't know when that's going to be, though.
You can't predict that.
Oh, I wish I was there.
If you're always there, you don't miss things.
And we have a lot of stuff that happens that's worth being here for.
So you don't want to miss any of it.
All right.
You know, I'm not going to name who it was.
Somebody said, oh, if I would have known you were going caroling at the police station,
I would have been there.
And I said, well, see, you never know.
You never know what cool stuff's going to happen.
I'm just giving him a hard time.
But anyway, look at John 20 verse 19.
Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week,
when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews,
came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them,
Peace be unto you.
And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side.
Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.
Then said Jesus to them again,
Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and saith unto them,
Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them.
And whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained.
But Thomas, one of the 12, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
The other disciples, therefore, said unto him,
We've seen the Lord.
But he said unto them,
Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails,
and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side,
I will not believe.
Look, I wonder if Thomas would have stayed home from night church
if he would have known that Jesus was going to show up.
Right?
Because they were there, the Bible says,
in the evening, in verse 19, and the disciples assembled together,
and Jesus showed up, they didn't know he was going to show up,
and he's breathing on them, and they're receiving the Holy Ghost,
they're getting all these great instructions, they're getting all this power.
You say, oh, well, Thomas was listening online.
Here's the thing.
You don't get breathed on, you don't get breathed on over the internet.
He had to, I mean, he was there, he got the breath of God.
He got to see Jesus.
Hey, you can't put your finger into Jesus' side on the internet.
You can't touch the print of the nails in his hand on the internet.
And so, Thomas stayed home from church.
I guarantee you, whatever he was doing wasn't as important as having been there,
and he probably wished that he would have showed up.
Now, thankfully, God gave him a chance on the next Sunday night service.
He showed up again on the next Sunday night and corrected him.
But the point is, you never really know when that special service is going to be, do you?
So you've got to just be there, and you won't miss things.
Look, if you would, at Acts chapter 2.
Here's another key point.
Acts chapter 2.
When two or three are gathered together in Christ's name,
there he is in the midst of them, the Bible says.
Okay.
Now, obviously, that's not just referring to church.
Also, people could get together and just have fellowship in his name,
and Christ will join in the midst.
But boy, when we have the whole church all gathered together in one place,
God's Spirit is often present in a powerful way, in a mighty way.
And there is something about being in a group of spiritual people,
being around God's people, singing the praise of God with his people,
listening to Bible preaching with God's people,
that does something more for you than just being by yourself or even listening online.
You know, I don't know about you,
but sometimes even when the Bible is being read before the sermon,
I get so much out of it just being in church, sometimes more than I got at home.
I don't know if you've ever had that experience where you're in church
and just the chapter is read before the sermon,
and things are just jumping out at you.
Why?
Because we're in church.
Because God's Spirit is moving.
God's Spirit is with us and present, and it's powerful.
You know, I'm often adding something to my sermon at the last minute,
just hearing the reading in God's house,
because it's just powerful to be here, and God's Spirit is here.
Hey, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
You know, God speaks to churches often, and when you're there, you're part of that.
But let me tell you this.
There are many examples in the Bible where people just were in a group,
where they were in the right place at the right time,
and they were filled with the Holy Spirit as a result of being in the right place at the right time.
And if they hadn't have been there, they wouldn't have been filled with the Spirit.
And everybody who's there is all filled with the Spirit in these situations.
It's very interesting.
Look if you would at Acts chapter 2, verse 1.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place,
and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,
and it filled all the house where they were sitting,
and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire,
and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and began to speak with other tongues.
Other tongues means other languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Why?
Because of course we know that later in the chapter,
they're speaking to people from at least 17 different nationalities,
and they're preaching them the Gospel in their own language.
This is not a gibberish, you know, we're not going to go into that.
But anyway, go to chapter 4 and find another example of this.
But what I wanted you to see there in chapter 2,
is that they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
Being a part of that assembly, being there, being present,
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
Look at Acts chapter 4 verse 31.
And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together,
and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and they spake the Word of God with boldness.
Go to 1 Samuel chapter 10.
1 Samuel chapter 10.
So we see a couple examples in the book of Acts,
where being in church when God did a great work,
caused you to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Look, maybe you're not filled with the Holy Spirit today,
but I'll bet you that if you would have been there that day,
and you would have showed up that day in Acts 4,
and you would have got on your knees and prayed with the disciples,
you would have been filled with the Holy Spirit too.
He wouldn't have had to rewrite the Bible and say,
you know, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
except for so and so.
No, I mean, people who were there, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
Because they were there at the right time amongst God's people,
when God was doing a great work.
Boy, that's a pretty good reason to show up to church,
just to be in that group,
and to get those spiritual blessings of just being in that assembly,
being in that group, being in that congregation.
1 Samuel chapter 10.
This is speaking to King Saul.
After that, thou shalt come to the hill of God.
This is before he's King Saul, he's just Saul.
Whereas the garrison of the Philistines,
it shall come to pass when thou art come to the city,
that thou shalt meet a company of prophets,
coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret,
and a pipe, and a heart before them, and they shall prophesy.
He's saying, look, you're going to walk down this road,
and there's going to be a group of prophets prophesying.
And they're going to be singing songs and prophesying.
And what does he say in verse 6?
And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee,
and thou shalt prophesy with them,
and shalt be turned into another man.
So when Saul got around a group of godly,
Spirit-filled people that were singing praises to God,
and preaching the Word of God,
the Spirit of the Lord came upon him as a result
of being confronted with this group,
and then he prophesied with them.
Let me ask you this.
I wonder how many people went out soul winning yesterday,
preaching the Word of God, prophesying, as it were,
preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ from door to door,
who in the past would have never thought
that they ever would have done anything like that.
If we would have gone to that person five years ago,
ten years ago, and said, hey,
you're going to be going door to door,
preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
they would have said, no, I will never do that.
That is not me.
I'm not that type of person.
You'll never catch me out doing that.
Who would say that would have been me
if you would have said that to me ten years ago?
Ten years ago I would have said, nope, not me, never.
No way.
I'm too shy, or I'm not that religious, whatever.
But yeah, there you were yesterday.
Why is that?
Why were you there yesterday?
I'll tell you why you were there yesterday,
because you're in a group of people
that are Spirit-filled preaching the Gospel.
Next thing you know, you'll prophesy with them.
Next thing you know, you're turned into another man.
Next thing you know, you're filled with the Spirit of God,
because you're being around people
that are filled with the Spirit of God.
You're around people that are singing praises to God.
You're around people who are preaching the Word of God.
Next thing you're preaching the Word of God.
Now look, if you would, at 1 Samuel 19.
Same person, Saul.
We talked about Saul back in 1 Samuel chapter 10.
And Saul was already saved.
God didn't pick an unsaved person to be the king of Israel.
You know, he can pick anybody.
Here, let me just pick a guy who doesn't even believe in me.
Let me pick a guy who's not even saved.
Obviously, he picked a guy who was saved.
But you know what?
Being filled with the Spirit and being saved
aren't the same thing.
Now in the New Testament, we're indwelt by the Spirit
as a result of believing in Christ,
but that doesn't mean we're filled with the Holy Spirit.
And it's not that we're filled with the Holy Spirit.
In the Old Testament, they weren't indwelt by the Spirit at all.
But they still became filled with the Spirit
or the Spirit came upon them in a mighty way.
So this is a result of being around the people of God
where he was Spirit-filled and he preached.
And they even said, wow, is Saul also among the prophets?
Because he prophesied with them.
Now look, if you would, at chapter 19, verse 18.
It says, so David fled and escaped.
This is when Saul is pursuing and hunting David.
It says in 1 Samuel 19, 18.
So David fled and escaped and came to Samuel to Ramah
and told him all that Samuel had done to him.
And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Nihoth.
And it was told Saul saying, behold,
David is at Nihoth and Ramah.
And Saul sent messengers to take David.
And when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying
and Samuel standing as appointed over them,
the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul.
And they also prophesied.
So he sends his guys, he sends his goons to go arrest David.
And on the way there, these officers,
they're coming to get David.
And they come across this company of prophets
singing and prophesying.
You know, they might be singing the word of God in some cases,
where I mentioned the musical instruments.
Other times they're just preaching, right?
They're just preaching the word of God
and taking turns preaching.
And Samuel is presiding over them.
Boy, when they got there, you know what?
The Spirit of the Lord came upon them,
and they started prophesying.
They started preaching.
It would be like if we would have gone to the police station
and started caroling.
And all of a sudden, the police officers
are just taking off their badges
and just started singing with us.
And they're just, heart the herald.
Or what about this?
What if we're out soul winning an apartment complex?
And the cops are called, and they get there.
And then next thing you know,
they start soul winning with us and say,
you know what?
You're right.
This is more important.
And then they're like, we need backup.
They send more officers.
And then when those officers get there,
they start knocking doors and preaching the gospel.
Now, they'd have to be saved first.
But let's say it was a saved cop, and he showed up,
and he said, hey, I'm going to preach the gospel too.
Now, that'd be pretty cool, right?
That's what happened in this story.
I mean, if you think about it.
Because they're being sent out there to arrest them.
And it says, when the messengers of Saul,
they also prophesied.
Look at verse 21.
And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers.
And they prophesied likewise.
So he's like, these messengers,
and they're called messengers, but they
were sent to apprehend David.
OK.
So he sends more, because they're not coming back.
So then he sends more, and they don't come back.
Why?
Because they joined in the prophesying.
They were also filled with the spirit.
And then it says in verse 22, then went he also to Rhema.
So finally, he just figures, I got to stop sending messengers.
I just got to go there myself.
Because these messengers aren't coming back.
So he goes there on his own, and says,
then went he also to Rhema.
I'm sorry, not on his own.
He goes there himself in person, I meant to say.
And came to a great well that is in Siku.
And he asked and said, where are Samuel and David?
And one said, behold, they be at Nyoth and Rhema.
And he went thither to Nyoth and Rhema.
Watch this.
And the spirit of God was upon him also.
And he went and prophesied until he
come to Nyoth and Rhema.
So he has an experience similar to what
he had all the way back in chapter 10,
where now he's preaching with them.
Now the spirit of God comes upon himself,
and he prophesies.
This would be like if the chief of police shows up.
Where are all my officers?
And then he starts prophesying with them.
This was a pretty cool miracle.
But what am I trying to illustrate with this?
Flip over to Revelation chapter 3.
What I'm trying to illustrate with this
is that when you get around spirit-filled people,
you get spirit-filled.
If you are a saved Christian, if you are a born again
child of God, and you say, I want
to be filled with the spirit.
How do I do it?
Well, what does the Bible say?
Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.
So don't start at the beer church, OK?
Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.
But be filled with the spirit, speaking to yourselves
in psalms and hymns and spiritual song.
Singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord.
Teaching and admonishing one another, the Bible says,
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Getting together with God's people and singing hymns
is a good way to be filled with the spirit of God.
Getting together with God's people
and reading the word of God together, and praying together,
and hearing the preaching of God's word together,
hey, you'll prophesy with them.
The spirit of the Lord will come upon thee also.
So there's something to be said for physically being there.
And look, I'm all for listening to preaching online.
I can give credit to a lot of my spiritual growth
to preaching that I listen to online, OK?
Because when I was a young person,
when I was a teenager, in my older teenage years,
after the internet had been invented,
and in my young adult life, man,
I used to listen to a lot of preaching.
You know, I used to do every day, OK?
I would get home from work,
and this was a routine that I did, OK?
And I would start downloading sermons.
Because it would take me one hour to download one sermon
in the lowest quality.
It was not an MP3.
It was called Real Audio Format.
Who remembers that format?
Yeah, it was a really small file.
It would be like one or two megabytes or something
for the whole sermon.
And I would start downloading on my dial-up 14.4K modem
or whatever.
I would start downloading preaching.
And as I spent time with my wife and my children or child
or just my wife in the early days,
as we would spend time together,
I would just have those things downloading
throughout the afternoon and evening
when I got home from work.
And then another thing I had going
was I had a cassette deck that was wired to my computer.
And what I would do then is I would play
those Real Audio sermons that I downloaded
directly into the cassette deck,
but it was in real time.
So basically, in order to record an hour sermon,
it would take an hour, right?
Because it was just playing out the earphone jack
into my cassette recorder.
Now, those of you that are young,
I know this part of the sermon
is going totally over your head.
Just try to understand it as best you can.
So I record, and then I have a sermon playing
into that cassette deck.
So then every hour or so,
and it would flip over the tape on its own.
So every hour or so, I'd have to change sermons
and change cassettes.
Okay.
And I would just have this process going.
Other things are downloading.
Other things are going.
So I would just have this operation
just going all afternoon and evening
as we went about our course of the evening,
where I would just keep walking over
and setting up another sermon.
So I'd like this little sermon factory going.
And then the next day, I would go to work,
and I'd burn through all of it.
So I'd go to work the next day,
and I had a rule,
you know, I need to get my Bible first.
So I would either spend one or two hours first
listening to the Bible on my headphones.
Alexander Scorby also on cassette.
So I'd get my Scorby cassettes
and throw those in.
I'd listen to that for like an hour or two.
But, you know, that's too heavy
to listen to the whole day usually, right?
So I'd listen to that for like an hour or two hours.
And then I'd get into the preaching,
and I would just listen to preaching tape
after preaching tape after preaching tape,
because my job was such where I could do my job
and listen to preaching.
Obviously, some people's job doesn't allow them to do that.
But my job, I was turning a screwdriver
and doing a lot of things that didn't require me
to always be thinking very deeply.
So I would have preaching playing on my headphones,
kind of block out some of the other garbage
that they're blasting on the job site, right?
So I'd be listening to preaching.
And I would go through literally like eight sermons
in a day sometimes.
I'd listen to like eight hours of preaching or something.
And then I'd have burned through them all.
And then I'd come home and have to just start
the whole thing and start recording more.
And if I didn't have time to make myself preaching tapes,
I didn't have anything to listen to the next day.
Or I'd have to re-listen to things, OK?
So look, I am for listening to preaching tapes,
preaching CDs, preaching off the internet.
It can be a great supplement.
But guess where I was on Sunday morning?
In church listening to my pastor preaching live.
Guess where I was on Sunday night?
In church.
Guess where I was on Wednesday night?
And I didn't say, ha, I've already listened
to 25 sermons this week.
I've already listened to 30 sermons.
What do I need church for?
You know, I went to church because God
told me to go to church.
He said, don't forsake the assembling
of yourselves together.
And I knew that the more I got around God's people,
the better I was going to be off spiritually.
The more spirit-filled I would be,
the more I would do for the Lord.
And so I made church a priority.
And I looked at downloading preaching
as a supplement, not a replacement
for physically being in church.
Now you say, well, Pastor Anderson,
and I'm trying to cover all the objections.
So you say, well, Pastor Anderson,
my church is a little bit lame.
Now, if you go to Faithful Word Baptist Church,
you better not say that.
All right.
But I know we have a lot of visitors here this morning.
We have a lot of people from other places.
So you might say, you know,
I understand what you're saying, Pastor Anderson,
but my church is a little bit lame.
Sunday morning's all I can handle.
I just go Sunday morning because I have to,
just to check it off that I went to church,
but it's kind of lame.
Why would I come back Sunday night?
Why would I come back to Wednesday night?
Well, let me say this.
If your church is a little bit lame,
then Sunday night and Wednesday night
are probably the best services though.
They're probably better than Sunday morning.
Because usually lame churches are the most lame
on Sunday morning.
That's usually the lamest service.
So maybe you'll start liking your church a little more
if you came back on Sunday night and Wednesday night
and hear your pastor maybe preach a little harder sometimes.
I don't know.
You say, no, you don't know my pastor.
You know, it's pretty lame.
Well, what does the Bible say?
Look at Revelation chapter three,
and we're going to read about people in a lame church.
Verse one,
under the angel of the church in Sardis write,
these things saith he that at the seven spirits of God
and the seven stars,
I know thy works, that thou hast a name,
that thou livest, and art dead.
This is a dead church.
The Holy Spirit, Jesus,
I mean, they are saying, this is a dead church.
When God says it's dead, it's dead.
You have a name that you live.
You have a reputation for life, but you're dead.
Be watchful and watch this next phrase.
This is what I want to focus in on.
Strengthen the things which remain.
Strengthen the things which remain
that are ready for you.
Strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die.
Even what they had that was good was ready to die.
For I have not found thy works perfect before God.
Remember, therefore, how thou hast received
and heard and hold fast and repent.
If, therefore, thou shalt not watch,
I will come on thee as a thief,
and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis,
which have not defiled their garments,
and they shall walk with me in white,
for they are worthy.
What's God doing here?
He's praising members of a dead church,
the ones who are worthy.
He's saying, look, you have a few there,
even in Sardis, even in a dead church,
you have a few people there
who haven't defiled their garments.
You have a few good guys in that church.
And this is how it is in most dead churches.
I mean, and when I say a dead church,
I'm not talking about a false church
that preaches lies and a false gospel.
I'm talking about a church where the people are saved,
but it's just kind of a dead church.
But they're still saved.
I mean, look, if these people weren't even saved,
he wouldn't even be talking to them.
They wouldn't even be considered one of his churches.
They're considered one of his churches
because they have the right gospel.
They are saved, but it's just that they're a dead church.
And I've been in many churches
that were right doctrinally,
or right on the gospel, at least,
but they're just dead.
And he's praising the few good people.
Why?
Because there are always going to be a faction
of good people in a church that's a right church.
Even if it's a dead church,
there are still some people, even in Sardis,
that have not defiled their garments.
And he praises them.
He doesn't say, you know, you have to move to Philadelphia.
You know, why haven't you moved yet?
You know, those of you that are living in Sardis,
you need to just pick up and move to Philadelphia.
Is that what he said?
Because these churches are all in modern day Turkey.
They're all in the same area.
The seven churches in Asia.
He didn't say, hey, you need to move your family to Smyrna.
You have to do it.
Now, look, I'm not saying they would have been wrong
to move to Smyrna or Philadelphia.
That would have been a great thing to do as well.
But you know what?
Some people, they can't move,
or it's not going to work for them to move,
or they don't want to move, or whatever.
But he said, look, just stay there in Sardis then
and strengthen the things that remain.
You're worthy.
You're going to walk with me in white.
You're doing a good job.
Hang in there.
Strengthen the things that remain.
So here's the thing.
I wonder if your lame church is better off
with you coming on Sunday morning only,
or if you be in there three times a week.
Be in the right influence.
Being a good influence.
Being a good example.
Going to your church and doing soul winning.
Letting them see you win souls.
Hey, let them see you bring a visitor.
Let them see you be back on Sunday night
and Wednesday night,
not just show up all holier than thou on Sunday morning,
pontificating, oh, you know,
well, I just go here because it's all I can find.
I really like to listen to Pastor Anderson.
Not this church, but you know,
I mean, I guess I'll just hold my nose
and come here once a week.
And you're all holier than thou
and have a bad attitude and prideful and arrogant.
Why don't you instead humble yourself,
show up on Sunday morning,
show up on Sunday night,
show up on Wednesday night,
and don't look down on them,
talk down to them.
No, learn from the pastor.
Well, he's wrong on the rapture.
Yeah, you're wrong on other stuff
that he's right about.
And you know what?
He might be totally goofed up on the rapture,
but I guarantee you,
he knows something that you don't know.
And he could preach things
that you could learn from and grow from.
And you need to just be there
and listen and learn and grow in grace
and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ.
Be a blessing.
Come back, come back Sunday night.
Sunday night, Wednesday night.
And you know what?
Put your tithe in the offering plate.
Don't send it somewhere else.
Right?
Don't send it to a radio preacher.
Don't send it to me.
Take your tithe and put it in the plate
where you physically go to church.
Right?
Physically show up,
pay your tithe,
listen to the preaching,
fellowship with the people around you,
be a blessing,
come back Sunday night,
come back Wednesday night,
and then you could be a key player in that church.
And you know what?
You'll rub off on other people in that church.
You'll help them be more spiritual.
Or you can just keep whining and complaining
and barely show up on Sunday morning
and do nothing.
And then the church...
No, why don't you strengthen the things that remain?
Why don't you figure out
what the church is right about?
Why don't you figure out
what they're doing well
and help strengthen that?
Let's say their Bible prophecy is completely goofed up,
and let's say the pastor never preaches hard on sin,
but let's say he's good on evangelism.
He's good on soul winning.
Okay, well then why don't you just focus on that
and just say,
you know what?
Let's strengthen the things that remain.
They're still soul winning.
Let's strengthen that.
Or maybe the church has no soul winning,
but they have the right gospel
and they're preaching hard on sin.
We'll just say,
okay, at least they're still preaching hard on sin.
At least they have the right gospel.
Let's strengthen what's here.
Let's strengthen the things that remain.
God could possibly use you
to get soul winning fired up again.
Strengthen the things that remain.
Find what's there that's good
and focus on that.
You know, I used to be given
opportunities to preach
when I was in Bible college
or when I was in my home church
in Sacramento, California.
And you know,
when I was given an opportunity to preach,
I didn't get up
and preach against the church
if there was something wrong with the church.
I didn't get up and preach everything
I disagreed with the pastor on.
You know what I did?
I got up and I preached about the stuff
that they had right.
And I strengthened the things that remained.
And again,
it was not a Sardis type church.
I don't want to imply
that it was a dead church.
It was a great church.
It was not a dead church.
But I'm just saying,
even though it was a great church,
I didn't agree with every single thing.
But you know what?
I got up and preached about
the stuff that I agreed about.
And I strengthened the things that remain.
When I went out soul winning
with my buddies at that church,
I didn't get together with them
and talk about everything I didn't agree about
and everything I thought the pastor was wrong about.
You know what I got together and did?
I got together with them
and strengthened the things that were right.
Strengthened the things that remained.
And I actually was edifying the people around me
and being edified by the people around me.
That's what church is all about.
So even if you're in a dead church,
that's not an excuse for you to just pull out
and do the minimum and barely show up.
No.
Get down there and be a blessing
and strengthen the things that remain.
So again, in review,
three to thrive is the title of the sermon.
Because we're not trying to do the minimum
in our Christian lives.
We're trying to be maximum.
And that's why we come back on Sunday night.
That's why we come back on Wednesday night.
That's why my parents wasted
hour upon hour Sunday afternoons
just killing time,
wasting time,
wandering around stores,
wandering around rental homes,
just wandering around anywhere.
Why?
To get us back in church on Sunday night.
And thank God they did
because I wonder if I'd even be here if they hadn't.
I mean, I wonder if they had just gone
to a lame church right down the street
instead of driving a little further to the good church.
Or I wonder if I'd even be here
if they would have been a Sunday morning only.
I don't know.
Because I probably would have missed out
on the most face-ripping sermons.
And who knows, maybe as a teenager
I would have gone out and committed fornication
because I hadn't heard that hard preaching
against fornication.
Or maybe I would have gone out and got drunk
because I hadn't heard the hard preaching against drinking.
Or maybe I would have gotten out of church.
Who knows where I'd be?
But I'm here today serving God,
my brother and my sisters.
Hey, we're all in church.
Why?
Because we didn't just have an attitude of the minimum.
My parents took us to the maximum church services
that they could get us to.
Don't forsake the assembly, but don't be a guy who says,
well, how little can I come to church
and God still doesn't consider me having forsaken the assembly?
Right?
I mean, is that how you want to live your life?
No, I want to just be so far from forsaking the assembly
that the idea of me forsaking the assembly is a joke
because I'm there all the time.
I mean, I'm there Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night.
And so I hope this sermon will encourage you
to show up to church more.
Why?
So you can be filled with the spirit,
so you can make friends, so that you can fellowship
and iron can sharpen iron.
And the attitude that says, well, I just listen online.
You know what?
That's an attitude that's basically saying,
church is about what I can get out of it.
And I don't put anything back in.
Because the internet, that YouTube is kind of a one-way valve.
You're taking, taking, taking, taking.
What are you putting back in?
Well, I guess if you click like and share and subscribe,
thank you for throwing a little something back in.
But my point is, show up to church not just to get something,
show up to be a blessing to someone else.
Show up to shake somebody's hand.
Show up to smile at them, talk to them,
be friendly to them, greet them,
give the gospel to them if they're a visitor
or if they're someone new.
Or maybe they just are down.
You can encourage them.
Or maybe you can take them out to eat
and buy them lunch and show them the love of Christ.
Why don't you show up and be a blessing?
Why don't you show up for soul winning and be a blessing?
You say, there's no good church in my area,
is what a lot of people say.
Well, you know what?
Then you do need to move.
Or you just need to give Sardis Baptist Church another shot.
Well, I tried Sardis Baptist and it wasn't perfect.
Well, maybe you just need to stop in at Sardis Baptist again
and strengthen the things which remain
and not forsake the assembly.
But I know that our church over the last 13 years,
we've had great evening service attendances.
We've had solid attendances.
I mean, there have been times in the history of our church
when the evening crowd was exactly the same size
as the morning crowd.
Where Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night
were all the same size.
Nowadays, we have a much larger crowd
on Sunday mornings.
Now, we still have over 200 people here
on all our evening services.
But on Sunday mornings, we have over 300 people here.
So there are a lot of Sunday morning onlys.
And I understand if that's all you can do.
Hey, great.
I'm glad you're here on Sunday mornings.
Not trying to chastise you this morning
or make you feel bad or guilt you into it.
But what I am saying is that I think
you could be benefited spiritually
by supplementing with some evening services.
And you know what?
Why don't you just try it?
Why don't you just show up on a Sunday night
and see what happens?
Why don't you just show up on a Wednesday night
and see what the Book of Chronicles is even about?
So I'm not trying to talk down at you
or ridicule you or threaten you
or belittle you or anything.
Because listen, if you come on Sunday mornings
and that's all you're going to do,
if you're going to come only on Sunday morning
until Jesus comes, just keep coming.
I'm glad you're here.
Amen.
And you'll never catch me saying
that you forsook the assembly
by only coming Sunday mornings.
But I'm just trying to encourage you
to think about coming back on Sunday night
and Wednesday night for your own sake
and for your children's sake.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the Church, Lord.
You've given us this great gift of a local church.
You've given us friends and people
that we could lean on.
You've given us teaching, preaching, singing,
all these different things that edify us
while we're here, Lord.
I just pray that you would help
as many people as possible
to take advantage of this gift.
And Lord, I know that there are people
who live in Phoenix
who listen to my sermons online every week
and never have even set foot in this church, Lord.
I pray that you would just exhort them, Lord,
somehow to get down here
and get a part of this action, Lord, down here
and be a part of the team
at Faith Ward Baptist Church.
And those that are visiting,
I know we have a lot of visitors, Lord.
I pray that they would be a blessing
in their local church
and be an asset, not a liability,
and that they would be faithful
and humble in their service for you
in their local church.
And in Jesus' name, we pray, amen.
All right, we broke our attendance record.
378 people here this morning.
All right.
Do we have ice cream?
All right, so we're having ice cream
after the service
because we broke our record.
378 people in church this morning.
Let's go ahead and sing one last song
and then stick around.