In Ezra, so what's Ezra about? So Ezra is a story of the Jews going back into their land
You know as we were studying through Jeremiah. We're seeing you know just
Just prior to the captivity by the Babylonians
But Ezra deals and like Nehemiah as well deals with the Jews going back into their land after a period of captivity
And Ezra deals primarily with the rebuilding of the temple
Okay
Now notice there in verse number 16 Ezra chapter 7 verse number 16
And all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon
With the freewill offering of the people and of the priests offering willingly for the house of their God
Which is in Jerusalem
I just want you to notice the term there the house of their God in verse number 17 that that they are amazed by
speedily with this money bullocks rams lambs with their meat offerings and their drink offerings and offer them upon the altar of the
House of your God
Which is in Jerusalem drop down to verse number 19
The vessels also that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God
Those deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem verse number 20 and whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God
Which thou shalt shall have occasion to bestow
Bestow it out of the king's treasure house just to prove to you that this chapter deals primarily with the house of God
And of course, that's the rebuilt
Temple that's the new temple the rebuilt temple which was not as glorious not as beautiful as Solomon's temple
But it's the same temple that when Jesus Christ would come to this earth 2,000 years ago
He would walk the earth and that would be the temple that he would be pointing to right
That was the one that was built in Jerusalem
Now, of course
We're going to continue now decently and in order series and when we talk about the house of God as I talked to you on
Sunday we're dealing now in the New Testament with the local church
You know the local church right now the gathering together. This is the house of the Lord, you know, I was in here earlier
I was in here earlier. Just preparing my sermon. I was here all by myself
I could not call this building the house of God when I was here all by myself
That's not the house of God as I taught you guys. It's not the building
Okay, but it's the people of God that make up the church
It's the people of God that make up the house of God in the New Testaments
Right now with that in in mind
Please go to verse number 9 Ezra chapter 7 verse number 9 and I love I love Ezra's attitude
Because brethren, you know
Our time is short on this earth, you know, you may live some 70 80 90 years
Maybe you know Lord willing we don't know when the Lord is coming back
We might live a lot shorter than that. And you know what? I don't know about you, but I want everything I do
Everywhere I go every friend that I make I want it to be profitable
I want it to be a good use of my time
You know, I've taught before that as a as a father of 11 children at a big household
Time has become more important to me than money, you know, sometimes we will say we'll do this. It will save you money
Yeah, but it'll take me so much more time. Like I'd rather just pay somebody else to do it
Okay, I don't care about money
You know my money goes and my times important and so wherever I invest my time wherever I spend my time
I want it to be profitable
You know, I want it to be to be beneficial and brethren, you know
We talk about the house of God when we talk about church. I want you to come to church and and and and and
You know for it to be a benefit to you for it to be profitable to you
The last thing I want for you brethren is to come to church and it's all vanity. It's all empty
You know you do it out of practice you do it out just because you feel like that. That's something I need to do
That's just you know, I tick my box because I've come to church this week, you know, but you get nothing out of church
You know, it's if it's not profitable for you brethren, you know
Do we really want church then like we want church me a place where we profit a place that we learn a place that we?
Grow a place that we can, you know lay up treasures not just on this earth, but of course treasures in heaven
That's where it's important. Right? Hey, some profit is on this earth
You know going soul winning and be able to preach the gospel sometimes just just knowing that I'll be out
You know got the opportunity to preach the gospel someone gets saved
Sometimes it's profitable on this earth because I get encouraged I get motivated I see the
Gospel the Word of God, you know still works today, but at the end of the day the prophet is in heaven
You know, there are days we go out so we and we don't see anybody saved, but we don't okay
Maybe we didn't you know necessarily profit on this earth
But we know we've profited in heaven because we've done the works that God has asked us to do
And so I'm not talking about just profiting on this earth
Okay
The great thing about being a Christian is that as long as we're doing God's will
Even though we're not getting anything out of it in this earth. In fact many times we're called to minister
We're called to serve somebody else. Hey, we might profit somebody else, but we know that our treasures are being laid up in heaven
That's what's important. Okay, but I love Ezra because ever says, okay, we've rebuilt the temple
Yeah, it's in this this house of God is important, you know church is important and you see here in verse number nine
Ezra's attitude it says for upon the first day of the month began he to go up from Babylon and
On the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him now look at
verse number 10
for Ezra had
prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to
teach in Israel statutes and judgments
What do you learn about Ezra before he goes to the house of God?
Ezra prepares his heart
He prepares himself before he goes to the house of God because he wants it to profit in what way does he want to profit?
Says there to seek the law of the Lord and to do it
So that's you know
Yes
I'm gonna prepare myself for church because I want to see what God's Word has to say to me and I want to do it
Not only that it says and to teach he says look
I've got it
I've got to prepare myself because I also have to teach and
Brethren whether it's the person in the behind the pulpit that teaches or if it's a person in the congregation
That's learning things to do certain things for the house of God
We have to prepare ourselves for God's house whether you're the preacher or you just can someone come in to listen
And to participate of the church we need to prepare ourselves for church and so brethren
I want you to come to church and I want it to profit you. I want it to be beneficial
I want you to walk away from church and said man that was the best hour
You know that I spent you know, this is the best place I could have been for the last hour
You know, maybe I had some other things to do
Maybe some other things on my mind that I had to do but thank God I came to church for that hour that hour
And a half those two hours because it was beneficial. I learned something now. I know what God wants me to do
Wow, you know, I was able to praise God. I was able to give God worship
We want church to be a place that we profits and so we need to prepare ourselves for church and the title for the sermon
This evening is how to get the most out of church how to get the most out of church
And yes preaching is part of it brethren
But you know what you can have the best preacher in the world behind this pulpit preaching to you every week
But if you've not prepared yourself, it's not going to be beneficial
You need to prepare yourself to come to church
And so I've got seven points see just very practical teaching how to get the most out of church
Alright now, let's turn to our Hebrews chapter 10, please Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 25 Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 25
And if I get passionate about this brethren it's because I love church I
Love church, you know, not just because I'm preaching. I just love the people of God. I love being together with the people of God
Because we deal with this world Monday to Fridays, you know, we we deal the the corruption we deal with a sin
You know and it's good to be in a place
We just you know where things are normal where people are normal where God's Word has been taught and we understand what is right and wrong
I love I love God's house. I love his church
and in Hebrew chapter 10 verse number 25
The first before we read that the first point that I have for you is do not make church attendance our
decision
Don't make it a decision in your life, you know, just just get into the practice
Hey, it is is our normal practice every week to be in God's house every week to be in church
It's just as normal as going to work. It's as normal as waking up and getting out of the pajamas and putting on clothes
It's as normal as eating my breakfast
It's as normal as you know, having a shave if you gave you have a shave whatever it is
It's as no, you know going to church should just be a normal practice
It shouldn't be honey should we go to church today that shouldn't be the way it is, you know
You should already have that in your mind. It's not a decision
That's where God wants me to be Hebrew chapter 10 verse number 25 not forsaken
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 what we learn in this verse here is that there is a manner of some people the manner of some is it is
They're a pattern in life to miss out on church
You know, you kind of then maybe they turn up to church, but you kind of expect them to not be in church
Like, you know for some people you expect them to always be in church
You kind of have an idea, you know
You know who's going to be there and when people are not in church when people don't turn up to church for two weeks
Three weeks, you know you start wondering. Hey, there must be something wrong with that person. Maybe that person is sick
Maybe that person's been hurt
Maybe something has happened to this person and you start to be a little bit concerned because they haven't turned up to church
But then there are other people that don't turn up for months and it doesn't even you know
You know, we don't think about that person necessarily because we know their manner is to not be in church
We know their manner is not to turn up and so it's usual for us for them not to be here
But then when they do turn up, it's a surprise and say blessing
You know, it's good to see brother so-and-so, but we're kind of accustomed to that person not turning up
And so for some it is the manner to not turn up for church, you know for them it's a decision
Do I go today? Do I not go today? Oh, I've got some other things I need to do
I'm gonna prioritize that over church if we want to get the most out of church brethren don't make church attendance a decision
Okay, just turn up when you know, you need to turn up and look
What does that mean to forsake the assembling of ourselves together?
You know, I've heard some preaching and I disagree with this some some some preachers and I look though these pastors they mean well
I'm sure they mean well, but some pastors basically say if you miss one service
Right you forsake in the assembly like, you know, you better be in hospital
You better have like a broken arm because if you miss church you forsake in the assembly, that's that's not that that's pretty severe
Okay, there are other legitimate reasons why you know, you may not turn up to church services
These restrictions might be one of them. All right, but there might be a look to forsake
This is what look up the dictionary. What does forsake mean? It's not complicated
To forsake means to abandon or leave
To abandon only where you make a decision say you know what church is not for me anymore
I don't want to be in God's house, even though there are people meeting today
I'm not going to go there anymore because I'm sick and tired of church. I'm gonna forsake. I'm gonna abandon church
That's what it means to forsake church. If you miss a service for some legitimate reason so be it
You know if there's someone in church, it doesn't turn up for service. I'm not upset with you
Like I'm just the world there must mean something must have come up that was that important for them to miss church
and I'd rather think best of people that I hope that was serious enough for them to have to make that decision that they
Had to miss church this time, but look I'm just those are obviously the exceptions
But our usual practice should be that we're just there. Hey God's house is open God's people are meeting
I'm gonna be there because I want to be close to God and I want to fellowship with God's people. Okay?
it's not a decision and
Look it said there at the end of verse number 25 and so much the more as you see the day
Approaching and I love that because we can apply that for our church. Hey when blessed our Baptist Church started meeting
We were only meeting once a week when we're not
You know for the midweek services
We're meeting once a week and then once our brother David came on board and we're able to have another preacher there behind the pulpit
Hey, we've gone to twice a week. Hey, praise God and guess what we're doing now three times a week
Hey, even though more as we see the day approaching and so that's a good thing, you know
Increasing the amount of times we gather together, you know
And serve the Lord and worship God is a good thing and a church that's only adding services like churches
They're only doing more and we're doing other things
We're going soul winning on Saturdays and we've got the Fridays with the men that sometimes they're doing in the Bible studies
That's tomorrow as well
You know
We're doing more and more because we want to learn more of what God says we want to we want to please the Lord and we
Realize we live in an evil day and therefore we need to be amongst our brethren even even more so
Right, and so I like that because I see that this is a church that all these you know
There are people in this church that don't have a habit of forsaken God's Church
But actually desire to be more and more in God's house, especially as our day becomes wicked
All right now just for me a personal story, you know
I grew up in a household where we basically only really went to church on Sunday mornings, you know
I was I grew up in a Baptist Union Church and you know, we didn't miss church
Like we went every week, but it was mainly the the Sunday mornings
That was a service that we would always go to and I always wondered why do people go Sunday night?
I don't understand like I've already been there because you know you get into a habit, you know, okay
We went to church this morning. Why do people go at night? So I have no idea people got midweek's
Well, what's that about midweek service?
you know I and you know eventually I got myself into independent Baptist Church and then I started ran because I'm actually learning things and
Learning things on Sunday morning. I was like man
I'm gonna go tonight cuz I'm gonna learn even more right and then so I you know
I developed a habit with myself and Christina we would go on Sundays
We would go to the Sunday service both the morning and the evening service and then eventually
You know, I think the the occasional midweek services the occasional ones about what got me going to the midweek service
In fact midweek service became my favorite service
You know believe it on more than Sundays and the reason I got into the midweek service and my pastor said to me
Hey Kevin, would you like to preach for us one day, you know the very first time I got the opportunity to preach at church
He says look, you know, there's an opportunity coming up on Wednesday. Can you come in on Wednesday and preach for us?
I was like praise God, you know, I was asking God
Hey God, are you gonna give me an opportunity to preach because maybe one day I'd like to become a pastor
I already have those thoughts in mind. Hey this opportunity opened up and I thought okay
I'm gonna go on Wednesday and I got there on Wednesday and I preached God's Word and you know
It's my first time and I thought I did okay for my first time and I was excited
But then I feel like a hypocrite because I like well
Why did I turn up for midweek service?
Because I preached and then I was like man if I'm gonna preach on Wednesdays for midweek service
And I don't turn up next week for the midweek service
I feel like a bit of a hypocrite and I thought I'd be embarrassed right by that
So I started going to the midweek service and then I became a three times a week, you know church attending
Christian right I'd go there, you know three times a week
I had opportunities to preach but I found that that Wednesday was my favorite service
Because the church that I was going to on Wednesdays, they would have a prayer time after the preaching
Okay, and what I found during that prayer time is you know, because you go to church and you sort of hey
Say hello, and you know people going about their business to have their own lives
But when you get together and you start to pray for one another I started to realize man
Some of these people I go to church with they've got problems. They've got hurts. They've got worries. They've got sicknesses
I didn't know right. I mean, I guess I was so preoccupied in my own problems in my life
I forgot that there were other people in church with issues and problems and we've got together to pray about this
I found out that I started to love my brethren even more because I realized they have needs and
Sometimes I can help them in their needs or if I can't help them at least I can pray for them
And then what else did I find out on Wednesdays when I had a need for prayer?
Hey one time when I didn't have a job Brethren, can you please pray for me? Hey, they prayed for me
I got a job next week. Praise God. Hey, I had a need there was a situation and and the Brethren prayed for me
I felt loved by the Brethren and so Wednesdays became my favorite because I started to love the people
I started to love it wasn't just a preaching of God's Word. It wasn't just a singing
It was getting together with believers and I knew they loved me and I loved them and we prayed together
And so, you know what what we're going to be doing with this church
Starting from next year starting January next year
Our midweek services are going to be a little bit shorter in the preaching and we're going to be praying
Okay, well, I'm going to be asking you guys for prayer requests. Please bring your requests
Let's get into this habit of being open with one another we can share certain things so we can pray for one another
Okay, that is so important. Okay
All right, so point number one do not make church attendance a decision can you please turn to Psalm
119 Psalm
119 for me
And I'm just going to read to you from 1st Corinthians 14 verse 40
Which is where we got the title for this series, which says let all things be done decently and in order
Let all things be done decently and in order and of course the direct context of that is in church
You know church ought to be a place where things are done orderly where there's order where there's decency
Okay, it's not just one person getting up and preaching and one of us is I want to pray
I want to break out and people just praying all over each other man. You got some of those Pentecostal churches
It's a mess. It sounds like a zoo
Because people are just praying on top of each other and they're not even praying in English
They're praying in their gibberish language, which nobody understands
Hey
That's a situation where things are not done decently and in order and so the point number two that I have for you brethren is
Remove all distractions. If you want to get the most out of church, you have to remove all
Distractions whatever might cause chaos in church whatever may cause case of chaos in your mind
You've got to set those things aside and pay attention and be focused on the house of God. Okay?
Now you're turning to us someone hundred nineteen and verse number eight
I just want to show you this some 119 verse. Sorry verse number 18 verse number 18. Sorry some
119 and verse number 18 look at this
Open thou mine eyes that I may behold
wondrous things out of thy law
Brethren, this is a great prayer to pray to God when you come to church ask God God
Can you open my eyes because I want to see great things in the Word of God
I want to learn something great today Lord, please open my eyes
You know what? The Psalmist is saying here. Not the palmist
Joe Biden guys saying that
It's not the palmist. It's the psalmist. What is he saying? He doesn't want to be distracted
He doesn't want chaos in his mind. He doesn't want things to be blurry
He wants things to be clear and he asked God God, can you open my eyes?
Brethren the psalmist did not want distractions when he learns God's Word and Brethren
That's how we need to that's what we need to make the most out of church is remove all
Distractions and Brethren, let me tell you when church service is on
Please do everything to be on time or be before the time
Please do that, you know when you come late to church and look some people have legitimate reasons
They come late to church, especially they're traveling afar
I understand, you know, but for those that are able to make it on time and you still miss out on parts of the service
You know, you're not distracting me as a preacher
You may not even be distracting other people in the church, but you've caused a distraction for yourself
You've missed part of the service and this in the first part of the service. What are we doing?
We're singing where we're giving praise to God, right? We're lifting up our hearts. We're magnifying God
We're opening our mouths. We're praising God brethren and when you miss out on that, you know
There's a lot of people like that. They turn up to church just in time for the preaching
Well, you've caused a massive distraction for yourself because church is not just a preaching
Okay church also includes the singings the singing of praises to God and you know what?
There are so many great hymns in our hymn book
You know a lot of these hymns are full of doctrine where you may have learned some great truth
Just by singing those hymns, but you turned up late and you missed it
You know, God wants to receive your worship
God wants to receive your praise and when you miss out at the beginning of church, you know
You you've caused a disservice for yourself, you know, you're not making the most out of church as if you turned up on time
and
It's not just the preaching. It's not just the singing. It might just be the prayer. It might be the opening prayer
It might be when I asked brother brother Luke, could you open in a word of prayer and brother Luke touches upon something?
He asked God to bless us in a certain way and that might be exactly how God
Intended you to hear or to receive something from the Lord that day
But Brevin we need to avoid
distractions from ourselves
Children it's important for our children to learn to sit still in church
Okay, and look I don't expect I'm a father of many children, you know
I don't expect my children to be just you know, children to be completely quiet
You know whether they don't make a noise, you know, if you have children, they're gonna make noise
There's going to be some element of noise
Hey, but it's a good thing for children to learn to sit down and understand for the next hour
I'm gonna hear God's Word for the next hour
I'm gonna just settle myself so I can praise God so I can receive something from God
Hey, so they're not distracted number one and others in the church are not distracted either
Okay, and the best way that I found for my children to not be fidgety in church is we got them used to sitting down
silently at home
Listening to some level of preaching or mum opening up the Bible, you know
Singing songs and you get the children used to just sitting down being still and so when they come to church
They're not a distraction. Okay point number two is remove all
distractions
The next point that I want is on sorry within this with it within this thing
If you find yourself to be easily distracted what I really recommend you to do and some people already do this
Which is awesome, but what I really recommend you to do
Especially if you have a desire one day to be a preacher maybe a pastor etc is write down
You know bring a pen and paper, you know take down notes
It's gonna help you because it's one thing to see the preacher
It's one thing to listen to the preaching but you're adding another dimension to your church attendance when you write down things that you've learnt
When you write down passages, maybe I've said something and you couldn't really get it
but you write down the the reference of the Bible and that you can go back in your own time and look it up once
Again, and look that I found for me when I would write down notes
Sometimes that he helped me be focused on the preaching instead of being distracted with other things
Okay, and I think that's really beneficial because especially if you do want to become a preacher one day a pastor one day
You know, if you've got down your notes that you've been able to capture during preaching you're gonna have a wealth of knowledge
You know that you've been able to capture that you can go back to as a resource
If one day you want to teach something similar, you know, you've got all that material that you've had
You know in your preparation to one day be a church pastor and so taking down notes is a great way to remove
distractions
Okay, another way that we can remove all distractions. Can you please turn to our James chapter 1 turn to James chapter 1 for me
James chapter 1 verse number 21
James chapter 1 and verse number 21
and
I've preached this before I've said it before and I feel like this is just one of the main things I want to teach this church
like
Brethren, if there's only one thing you learn from Pastor Kevin
All right during these 12 months that I'm down here if there's only one thing that you learn say
Oh, this is the thing that I really learned from Pastor Kevin. This is what I want you to learn. Okay?
Confess your sins to the Lord. I
Know I've said it before but I know because I'm a human being I know what it's like
I know we commit sins and we forget to confess it to the Lord
Oh, we become prideful and we get comfortable in our sins
Or we become ashamed and we feel too ashamed to come before God and tell him of our sins
But brethren this is one way to remove all distractions is to go to God and confess our sins
Look at James chapter 1 verse 21
James chapter 1 verse 21
the Bible reads wherefore lay apart all
filthiness and
superfluity of naughtiness that that's from an excess of naughtiness do this and
Receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls
Brethren when you come to church, I know you want to come and receive the engrafted word
Do you want to receive the Word of God you want to learn something from the Word of God?
Well before you can learn the Word of God, there is something you need to do
It's a layer part of filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness. You need to get rid of that sin out of your life
You know what you come to church and you have unconfessed sin you're full of sin, you're not walking the Lord
You're not gonna get the best. You're not gonna make the most out of church. I promise you that
You know, the flesh is going to is going to be engorged with its own pleasures
You know that the Spirit of God will be resisted. It would be withheld from helping you walk in his ways
Brethren just just if there's only one thing you learn from me. Okay during these total months
It was that Pastor Kevin told us we have to confess our sins to the Lord
Do it every day and do it before you come to church. I do it before I get up and preach
Every time I get up before I get up and preach. I'm praying Lord help me preach forgive me for the sins
I've done Lord help me be a clean vessel
Help me be a vessel that you can use use your spirit to work in me to help feed the people of God
you know if we're just
Bogged down our sins and we're just not going to Lord brethren. You're not going to be walking with him
You're going to be resisting the Holy Ghost from working your life and you're not going to you're going to be blinded from the Word
of God
You know you can have the best preach behind the pulpit, but you're not going to be profiting from it because you're far from God
Okay
Confess your sins to the Lord so number one do not make church attendance a decision number two remove all distractions
point number three
You know can you please turn to Hebrews chapter 5 turn to Hebrews chapter 5
Hebrews chapter 5
point number three
Expect to hear from God
Expect to hear from God now think about this brethren if you knew
That every time you come to church you would hear from God
Like if that was just your expectation wouldn't that just make you be in church
Like just I'm going to hear from God today
Now if you get into the habit of thinking well, I'm not going to hear from God. I'm going to get I don't know
You know that's when you're going to start missing church services
You know but expect to hear from God if you expect to hear from God you're more likely to turn up to the house of God
Hebrews chapter 5 and verse number 11
Hebrews chapter 5 verse number 11
Paul here, I believe it's Paul that wrote the book of Hebrews. He's writing this to Hebrew believers
He says in verse number 11 of whom we have many things to say
I've got a lot to say to you. I've got a lot of praise to you all right
There's a lot to be said the Bible is a big book. There's a lot to learn, but then it says here and
Many things to say and had to be added seen ye a dull of hearing
Brethren we're going to be careful that we don't go to church and become dull of hearing again that same
Pastor Kevin's gonna preach again. I was preaching about a church attendance like Gary
We really know we need to attend church listen don't become dull of hearing
Pay attention open your ears ask God to open your ears that you may receive his word
Why is it important to have your ears open okay expect to hear from God because in Revelation chapter 2 verse 29
It says he that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches
The Holy Ghost brethren the Holy Spirit is here with us today, and he wants to tell us some truths
He wants to tell you certain truths right now brethren. He wants to work in your heart right now
There are certain things that I'm preaching that the Holy Ghost wants you to pay attention to to have your ears open
Not dull of hearing that you may receive it and grow there by
All right, but if you're dull of hearing if you don't think you're going to hear from God
Well, you know what you're going to miss out on some great nuggets of truth
Now Brethren again with children especially with little babies you know again
I know as a parent sometimes parents you know babies they throw up or they need to be fed or their diapers the nappies need
To be changed or something right and sometimes mothers are doing that and they get distracted
You know they've got to deal with their child or whatever well
You know what I don't expect you to necessarily pay attention or or yet pay attention to every word that I say
You know I don't think I'm that important. Okay. I'm not that important
Okay, I'm not but you know what even when you're kind of distracted little children
You know what I really encourage you to do is still pay attention even if you miss parts of it
Because if there's only one nugget of truth that you've learnt it was profitable
Okay, when the preacher gets behind the pool, but they may have you know five six. You know what I've got seven points right now
I have seven things that is going to enrich your church attendance
But if you only paid attention to one if there's only one thing that you
Listen to that you got and go well if I make this change in my life
I'm going to get more out of church praise God for that
You know it's so many times
You know when I've heard preaching I don't remember the whole sermon
But usually just one or two things that was new that touched me that I oh yeah
That's something I need to change and praise God for that
You know because when you when you're preaching to a whole bunch of people there are different parts of a sermon
That will touch people at different places right and again. It's the Holy Spirit that is working in your hearts
That's you know that's teaching you certain things that you may hear the Spirit of God
Now once again
I said it's not just a preaching
May very well be the song service as I said to you. I grew up in a Baptist Union Church
Okay, and man the preaching ah it was dull. It was dull
I don't know what I you know what when the preaching was on
I was reading my Bible, or I was reading the hymns. I was okay. What's this him about you know?
What was great about the old hymns?
Is that it's like I said it's full of doctrine, and I don't know how much doctrine
I probably learned as a child just reading through the hymns just oh wow that's in the Bible
Is that in Bible that's in the Bible more so than the preaching
Praise God here praise God, so you know what the song service is important the Holy Spirit can see
Can I speak to you through song as I said someone might might pray hey the Holy Spirit might be speaking to you in that prayer
Why is church attendance so important because there might be something that you've asked God you know you've gone to God and say God
I have a problem. I need this answered Lord
Can you get when you can you please show me this answer and maybe the Lord's put it on my heart or some of the
Preachers heart to give you the answer and then you miss out on church
Or you come late, and you miss out on that part the Holy Spirit wants to touch touch upon you and teach you
Brethren you know what expect to hear from God if you expect to hear from God
You're going to be at church on time and you're going to be paying attention
Not just to the preaching, but you're going to be paying attention to the singing as well
Hey even the fellowship even the fellowship, you know how many times do I come to church?
You know I was flying down from Queensland brethren sometimes
I get really tired. I tell you the truth coming down every week before right company. I'd be very tired
I'd be very tired, but you know what by the end of the service or on what we're doing Tuesday nights at the end of
Tuesday nights I was so uplifted. I was so encouraged because I was again with the believers
I was in fellowship
You know you guys had a smile on your face you guys encouraged me
And I said hey that was profitable to come all the way to blessed up Baptist Church to preach them
Okay, just the thought sometimes the Holy Spirit can speak to you in that way
Where you know maybe you felt down, maybe you felt like people around you you know you feel a bit lonely
Maybe you come to church, and you know what just the hello hello sister. How are you today? Hello brother?
How's your week been you know just those words might be the Holy Spirit?
Speaking to you to tell you that you have brothers and sisters in the Lord that love you that want to lift you
That won't lift you up, and you know what you just saying hello don't
Underestimate how important that is you know what someone might be coming to church a little bit down you go up to that person
I'm hello brother. How are you is there anything that I can be praying for you about you know?
Is there anything that I can do for you this week?
Just just some simple words
May be the answer that that person needed from the Lord the Holy Spirit might be working in you
Right to to for that person to hear from God
So point number three brethren is expect to hear from God
Let's go to Romans chapter 14 now. Let's go to Romans 14
Romans 14 and verse number 19
Romans 14 and
This kind of builds builds on from what I just said right, but point number four to get the most out of church is
edify
the body of Christ
Edify the body of Christ you know when you're when you're new to church
When you when you first start coming to church?
You know the thought is well
I want to go to church because I want to be edified like I want to hear from God
And you know I want to learn his truths
And I need to find a place where I can just you know feel comfortable learning God's Word
I know the truth is being preached here, and you know when you're that first church going person
You're kind of seeking your own edification, which is not a bad thing
You know it's not bad at all
But what what where you need to get to brethren is the point where you're not just being edified yourself
But you seek the edification of others. That's what's going to get you the most out of church
I promise you hey being edified is great, but even better than being edified is when you edify someone else
It's going to make you feel better
Okay
Especially when you find out that brother so-and-so's go for some problem some difficulty
And you were able to encourage him you were able to maybe give him a Bible verse
Hey, you were just able to say brother. I'm praying for you. Just giving you in mind, and and you know you've lit up his face
You know he's going to have a better week this week because you stepped in and you edified your brother
Romans 14 verse 19
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and
things wherewith one may edify another
Brethren we come to church. We come here to edify one another one another you know what that means
I need your edification, and you need my edification, and we need each other's edification
We need to encourage each other brethren because it is not an easy life to live a Christian life. It is not easy
It is it is challenging to live a Christian life. It is challenging to live a life
That's pleasing to God and the same temptations the same struggles you go through
I know each of my brothers and sisters are going through the same level of difficulties or some some type of challenge
You know when they brother or sister suffer some type of illness I get really upset because you know I kind of say well
Lord why have you looked after my body so well? Why why do I why don't I don't have pains?
I don't have these chronic issues Lord and brother so-and-so is suffering sister so-and-so is suffering Lord
Help me be and help me edify that brother
Now you're going to get more at a church when you say hey, how can I serve my brethren at church?
Hey getting the most out of church is you serving others you edifying others?
I'll read to you in one sorry first Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 11
I'll just read that to you first Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 11. It says wherefore
comfort yourselves together and
Edify one another even as also ye do you know why we ought to come to church for comfort to comfort one another
Brethren I'm sick of going to the shops and seeing the the advertisements of ladies in underwear
You know I'm sick of going to to a place after place and the rock music
You know going to a restaurant and the world's evil music, and you know what this world is despicable
This world's crazy. We need to come to church where it's a place of refuge
Where it's a place of comfort when we can you know just be with in God's house in his presence with God's people
And we say hey, how can I comfort my brother?
That's why we come to church don't we come to comfort we come to edify one another because we live in a wicked world
We live in a wicked world and look can you please?
Can you please turn to our?
first Corinthians chapter 14 please turn to first Corinthians 14 I
Mentioned how I want to have our midweek service become a time of prayer as well a prayer service
June our midweek services you go to first Corinthians 14
And I'm going to read to you from James chapter 5 and verse number 16 James chapter 5 verse number 16 says
confess your faults one to another and
Pray one for another that ye may be healed the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much
Brethren you know what we're commanded to do we're commanded to confess our faults one to another
This is not saying confess your sins one to another okay
I'm not going to set up some confessional booth here, and you guys come you know
Well, you don't call me father pastor Kevin
What do they say?
Forgive me for I have sinned and I'll be like okay my son
Go and say 10 hail Mary's and you'll be right with God. That's not gonna. That's all
Okay, that Roman Catholic nonsense that tradition is rubbish, but you know our faults are other things you know
Like I said it might be illnesses it might be some trial or tribulation you're going through hey
It might be some financial hardships
You know it just it could be a variety of things
You know life as I said life is not easy living a Christian life is not easy right it might be some
Coworkers that you have that make your life. You know make it a hard time for your work
You know these are things that we should share with one another you know be open enough and say look
I've got this struggle in my life. I've got this fault in my life got this problem on my life brothers
Could you please pray for me?
What did it say the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much it also a pray for one other that year may be
healed
listen if we're not praying for one another we're not going to have healings in our times of difficulties and
So it's so important that we come to a place where we feel free to share our faults again
Not your sins just your trials or difficulties that you're going through so we can pray for each other encourage one another brethren
You know this is how we can profits in church. Where did I ask you to turn to?
first Corinthians 14 verse number three
This is about the preacher it says, but he that prophesy
So that's another way of saying the preacher, but here that prophesy look at this speaketh unto men to edification
and exhortation and
comfort
Why does the preacher get behind the pulpit to edify you?
Look if I step on your on your sins if I rip your face a little bit if I make you uncomfortable
A little bit brethren. I'm not trying to destroy you. I don't want you to get discouraged
I don't want you to walk away from church. I don't want you to walk away from the Lord
I want to edify you brethren if there's something that's preached. That's and you know that's your personal sin
Which is I thank God, you know
Thank God for sending the Holy Spirit to speak to me in the house of God today and Lord help me make necessary changes
I need to make so I can live in accordance to your ways, you know, praise God. Hey this sermon edified me
Yes, it touched my sins. Yes. I felt uncomfortable
Yes, maybe even a little bit offended Lord
But this sermon was for my edification and I know that the preacher preached this because he loved me. That's why he preached it
Preachers remember that when you get behind the pulpit, it's not just to rip everyone's face
Man, I'm gonna just make everybody feel horrible about their sins. No, you know, it's to edify them
Okay, what does edification what else it would say their exhortation that's motivation right and comfort comfort
We're here to preach to people's comforts now
You might say well, does that mean we can never preach anything negative?
Please go to 2nd Corinthians go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 13 in verse number 10
2nd Corinthians 13 and verse number 10
Now if you know the books of Corinthians man Paul was ripping into that church
I mean chapter after chapter chapter that that church was really messed up and Paul really had to you know
Correct them on so many things but in 2nd Corinthians chapter 13 verse number 10
It says therefore I write these things being absent
Lest being present I should use sharpness
What he's saying here is look I'm hoping you get things fixed while I'm away while I'm at absence
Because when I'm present if you don't fix these problems, I'm gonna use sharpness. My preaching is gonna be very sharp
It's it right. It's gonna be hard preaching
I'm gonna rip into you is what he's saying right if you don't get these problems fixed, but look at this
According to the power which the Lord have given me to
Edification and not to destruction
Paul saying look if I have to use sharpness if I have to be bold and preach strongly against you and against your sins
And I have to call you out for your wickedness
Listen, the Spirit of God is making me do so not for your destruction
But for your edification, okay, so you can learn so you can grow so you can be more Christlike
So brevin point number four is to edify the body of Christ. It's the preacher's job
Yes, but it's everybody's job to edify one another to comfort one another to pray for one another
can you please turn to a
Psalm please go to Psalm 122 in verse number one Psalm 122 in verse number one. I better hurry up
I've got seven points. We're a little bit past halfway now Psalm 122 in verse number one
The Bible reads I
Was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord
Brevin to get the most church point number five is rejoice in the Lord come to church to give God
Praise that's why you come give him praise. I was glad when they sent to me. Let us go to the house
Listen, I want to be glad to come to church. I want you to be happy
You know, oh man church again Thursdays rolled around already I've already worked hard today sharp church
I better turn up because what's pastor Kevin gonna think I'm gonna think well of you
Right, but sometimes, you know, you drag the children, you know, come on kids get ready. Come on
It's you know, it's our church again, you know, I was a kid. I remember being like that church again
Oh man church. Oh, we're going to this church man
But no when we when we when we go into church Brevin we need to come
Gladly, okay. We come gladly come to rejoice in the Lord. Please go to Psalm 84 Psalm 84 verse 4
Psalm 84 and verse number 4
Psalm 84
And verse number 4 says
Blessed are they that dwell in thy house. Do you believe that Brevin if you come to God's house?
God's gonna bless you blessed today, right?
But then it says that they will still they say they will be still
Praising thee as I come to God's house. That's why we come to get the blessing of God and we come to praise God
That's why you come to church make the most out of church. Don't miss out on the song service, please and
Brevin when we are singing lift up your voices. I'm tired of hearing brother Luke all the time. That's a good thing
I want to hear someone else
So I lift up your voices Brevin start lifting them up to the Lord. So I can't sing pastor
I don't care if you can't sing. Okay, God doesn't God's giving you your voice
God's given some people natural talents to sing better than others
Whatever and I tell you what the more you lift up your voice
The better you are gonna get at singing anyway, the more you practice the better you got to be. All right
No offense brother Luke
Great singing, but you know, we all need to lift up our voices
You want to get the most out of church lift up your voices lift them up?
Alright, so I can hear I want to hear each of your voices when we sing praises to God
And I'm just gonna reach you another passage and you know
It kind of ties in with all of this, but I'll just quickly read it to you first Corinthians 14 verse 33
Which says for God is not the author of confusion
but of peace as in all
Churches of the Saints, you know, God is not the author of confusion
You know when you come to church another reason why I praise God at church is because sometimes I have questions
Sometimes there are passages that I just don't have an answer to and the preacher gets behind the pulpit and they preach that chapter
They preach that verse and now it's clear. It was once confusing now
I get it and when I learn you I love learning new things already to cover that before I love learning new things at church
And when I learn new things when I understand my Bible better, hey, that's an opportunity for me to praise God. Thank you God
Thank you for opening my eyes. Thank you for opening my ears. Well, thank you for the preacher
Who's able to look at that passage and you helped him understand it so he can teach others
and that's another great reason to praise God when you learn new things and
Again to the preachers that get here your job is not to make it more confusing
Have you ever been to church and being more confused? I have
You know pastor, you know the pastor turns to a passage. It's like oh, yeah
I know that passage but the times he's finished preaching I'm like, I
Don't know now. I've got more questions than I started with what's happened before
Okay, but God is not the author of confusion and you know what if you're the preacher you're here to make it clear
You're here to open up the understanding so people can
Learn God's Word and when they learn God's Word, they're gonna praise God
Hey, they might even come that they might even kind of come up to you and say thank you brother
That was a great sermon. I learned something today
Praise God for that how God was able to use you and when you hear that kind of words you get edified
We hear fortification as well. Remember? Hey, awesome
You know all that time or that all those hours or that research, you know preaching God's Word benefited somebody
Hey, it's nice when that happens
It's nice when people learn God's Word and we of course give God. Thanks. We rejoice in the Lord when we can learn new things
Can you please turn to our first Corinthians chapter 9 so I know I've got you bouncing around everywhere in the Bible
But anyway, it's good to do that once in a while first Corinthians chapter 9
please and
this the sixth point that I have for you if you want to get the most out of church is
Give toward the work of the church
You know give of your finances so I knew pastor Kevin was all about the money
This is about principle this is important. Okay, we would not have these walls painted. We would not have this floor carpeted
Okay, we would not have new chairs. I don't know when they come in, but they're on the way
Okay, they're on the way we would not have the live stream
We would not have so many nice things reverend that we have in our church today
We would not have this wonderful image that you know makes it look a lot more presentable if people weren't giving faith leads church
You know when you give faithfully, you know we can do more as a church all right well on the 12th of December
We're going to be doing a soul winning mega marathon guess what guess who's going to pay for the lunch
The church is going to pay for the lunch
All right, so you know when things come when the finances are given to the church
It means we can just do more for the Lord right and and this is an important principle
Already you let's go to first Corinthians 9
I was going to go to first Timothy 5, but I already covered that on Sunday, but first Corinthians chapter 9 in verse number 9
First Corinthians 9 9 it says for it is written in the law of Moses
Thou shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn
Doth God take care for oxen
Now that is in the laws of Moses
But if you're using an animal to plow the ground and to work hard you know let the animal eat
You know let him get some reward for his labor, but then the question gets asked of God take care for oxen
Does God really care about the animals and say well, I guess he does right it's his creation right
But that's not actually why it was written in the in the laws of Moses look at verse number 10
Or say if he it all together for our sakes
So say look did he say that in the law of Moses for the animals sake or for our sakes right?
He says look for our sakes no doubts no doubt. It's for our sakes no doubt
It's written for people not so much for the animals
It says this is this is written that he that ploweth should plow in hope and he that
Fresh off in hope should be partaker of his hope if we have sown unto you spiritual things
Is that a great thing that we that we shall reap of your carnal things?
What is it saying here?
Says look if you come to church
And you learn spiritual things is it really that much to us that you give of your carnal things
So that the preacher so that so the people that are working in the house of God can can you know live?
So you know you know?
Provide for himself and provide for his family and again brevin
I don't really enjoy preaching this because it sounds like I'm asking for money
I'm not I'm not the Lord has blessed me. I'm not asking that babe
We see a great principle here that it's important to give to the house of God yes for for many things that we can do
As a church, but also to provide for those that are working in the church
Alright, it's not for the animals. It was for the workers and look you know I'm imparting unto you spiritual things
Right what this saying is the spiritual things should clearly outweigh
Some of your carnal giving right so it's so hard to give this week
I don't know listen you're gonna get risk you're gonna receive spiritual lessons
That outweighs any carnal things you can have brevin the spiritual things are so much more important than the carnal things the
Spiritual things will allow you to live for eternity the spiritual things will teach you how to lay up treasures in heaven
So you can be Christlike?
Brethren that is so that outweighs anything that could you could possibly give carnally to the church
But we are called to give toward the work of the church once again the more that we receive in this church the more we
Can do okay, and look I'm not preaching this because we have a problem this church you know
Over the over the months of the years this church has been steadily giving more and more you know the beginning
It was just mainly to cover the flights
And you know now I can pay myself something for preaching and I pray some other I pay some of the other men
They get up to preach as well
So look these are good things
These are good things because those that are laboring are laboring for your profits you want to get the most out of church
Hey bring some of your carnal things as well, okay?
Give some some of your given and brevin that's also going to help you you know in your faith
Because I know every dollar you have in your wallet every dollar you have in your bank account
You you know that money can be allocated to something there's some bill coming up
There's some holiday to go to and you know what lord
It's going to be a bit hard to give of my of my things this week Lord
But if I give to your work Lord
I'm going to have to step out in faith and know that you're going to provide for me
no matter what and
Brethren I can testify to you as the sole income earner for a large family
Okay, my wife never worked since I got married. You know in Sydney an expensive city
We bought a house brethren okay
I can testify to you that as long as I put God's things first and I gave faithfully to my church the Lord always gave
Me more than I needed always
You know my wife would fall pregnant, and I'm like Lord. How am I going to afford this new child?
A few weeks later. He's a pay rise at work. Here's a promotion at work. It's like. Oh, well. That's how you're gonna
Take care of it. God
Go look just just do what God says just put God's things first and go to make sure you're gonna be taken care of I
Promise you that I've experienced that so many people can testify of this simple truth
We give to God and God gave us more than we needed
all right and
Lastly let's go to our Hebrews chapter 5. Please let's go to Hebrews chapter 5 and verse number 12
Hebrews chapter 5 and verse number 12 point number 7
Point number 7 when you come to church
prepare to apply
What you've heard and grow thereby
Okay, prepare yourself to apply what you've heard all right
Make a decision there's something that you learn there's something you have to do say God help me make that change tonight
Help me make that change tomorrow morning. Don't put it off for next week. Don't put it off for next month
Don't put it off for next year
Brevin if you get challenged on your soul wing you know you need to preach the gospel to two people
Don't say well God maybe in five years. I'll get out there and preach the gospel. Maybe in ten years
I'll tell my my family about you Lord. Hey, just make a decision today
I tell you look if you don't do it today. You're not going to do it
Okay, just when to get the most out of church
Listen and apply what you've heard, and that's what's going to help you to grow Hebrews chapter 5 verse number 12
Hebrews chapter 5 verse number 12 it says for when for the time ye ought to be teachers
Paul is saying to these Hebrews listen
You should be teachers by now
You should be the ones leading the churches you should be the ones preaching God's Word teaching God's Word
You should be the one doing that then it says here you have need that one teach you again
Which be the first principles of the oracles of God and it becomes such as have need of milk and not of strong meat
Brevin if you've been going to church for years
For decades after decade after decade and you can't teach God's Word to others
That's a problem
You know what that means you've come to church, but you never applied what you learnt
You probably learnt a whole bunch of things and you never applied it and now you can't even teach others
And you say well, what about the ladies well mothers? You know what you are there to teach your children?
Okay teach your children the Word of God
You know take the things that you've learned from God's house or your own personal Bible reading and teach your children
How they can love the Lord and how can they serve the Lord we all ought to become teachers
All of us that have been in God's house for a period of time listening to his preaching
And if you're not teaching others you know grandparents teaching the grandchildren
Etc you're not not all going to stand behind a pulpit and teach right hey teaching the gospel to people
Preaching the gospel we are all called to be teachers if you don't apply it
Then you're going to lose it and you're going to be
Someone that needs the milk like a little baby rather than be able to able to take in the strong meat of God's Word
you know there's been a time where I've you know I was in Chile for three months and
I didn't do any soul winning during that time and when I got back
To Sydney and I started soul winning. I was so rusty. I kind of forgot my plan
I kind of forgot the memory verses it was all jumbled up right because it was a period of time where I wasn't teaching God's
Word anymore, and then you know after a little while I was able to get back
I'll have you know get back into it and stuff like that well
You know what church is no difference you might hear some great troops in church. I'm sure you've heard some great troops in church
Okay, but you've forgotten it you didn't apply it or you thought well, maybe next week. I'll do it next month
I'll do it Lord, and you've forgotten
Okay, and you're back like that little baby. You still need the milk of word the word of God it again rather than the strong meat
James chapter 1 verse 22 says, but be ye doers of the word and
not hearers only
Deceiving your own
Selves wow you can deceive yourself how by being a hearer only oh, man
I hurt so many things today at church, but you don't do it
You're gonna forget it you're gonna forget the things that you learnt, and you're deceiving yourself
You're thinking I'm a chill in the Lord you think I'm a great Christian
I'm growing the look, but you haven't applied what you've learnt
What's the point then just to hear some guy scream behind the pulpit? What's the point?
You know I would rather you just take one hey
I've got seven things here
Just take one Brevin take one and apply that one and I promise you just if you just take one of those things
You're gonna have a better time at church church is gonna be more profitable for you, okay?
So let me summarize those seven things once again number one
Do not make church attendance a decision number two remove all distractions number three expect
To hear from God number four edify the body of Christ don't just seek your own edification
You edify others right number five rejoice in the Lord. You know go to church with a happy face number six
Give toward the work of the church and number seven apply what you've heard and grow okay? Let's pray