(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you work out according to God's will on what's best for for everyone involved there and pray for the Taylor family as well just to as they're taking on a little bit of an extra burden at this time too so we'll add them to the prayer list and any other updates anything yes sir okay yeah yeah yeah of course yes yeah yeah how's his foot how's your dad's foot so it's still causing it's still causing a bunch of pain yeah yeah okay okay so but physically you you you you both are well with that so that's good so it's it's it's more of a car thing it's it's a it's that hassle and pain and insurance and whatever and and the financial stress due to the due to the fender bender yes yes yes yeah that's that always stinks it's the whole things is usually a a lot of stress okay excellent very good I'm glad to hear that good any anyone else any other updates for the prayer list yes ma'am now he's done that before hasn't he okay so but okay that's great so the the treatments that they're giving him are helping him and I know those I think are very difficult when he actually has the treatment but they're seeing good positive results that's awesome well I'm really happy to hear that so that's that's great yeah any any improvement with that with his diagnosis and the problem is is very significant so appreciate everyone praying for Toby who has that aggressive MS and they've been treating him and and he's been showing improvement so so it's very very very good so please continue to pray for him and praise the Lord for that good report anyone else have any updates for people who are on the list or extra all right very good and down at the bottom I added Mountain Baptist Church pastor Jason Robinson is churches and pastors that we're praying for this week so please pray for their ministry pray for the pastor and his family and let's continue on here September challenge is the church attendance challenge so if you're here you're on a good start for the month okay Sunday morning you're on you're on par to meet the challenge unfortunately I think there's some sickness going around which has kept a lot of people out of church and let me just add this in light of that and I'm gonna be preaching on church this morning illness I don't care if it's the challenge if you're sick stay home because everyone's gonna appreciate the church is gonna appreciate a lot more if you don't come in and spread that sickness to everyone else obviously there's times that you can't help it or maybe you don't know that you're sick things happen we live in the world we don't live in bubbles but at the same time please try to use really good discernment discretion on when it's appropriate to come to church and when it's not you know given thoughts sometimes people have allergies sometimes people are sick there's different things so if you know that you're sick if you know your kids are sick please just hang back and wait until you're well to come in because it spreads man it spreads it spreads quick so anyways appreciate that but this is the church attendance challenge so the challenge is to attend church three times a week so that's the standard challenge and you know I got a lot of prizes up here so I'm gonna be giving out prizes for things that I owe we're ready to distribute but this one doesn't have a prize if you attend church three times a week but the challenge because I look at this challenge as more of a standard and you know that's my personal belief I can't prove that from the Bible that you must be in church three times a week as a standard okay everyone has to come up with their own standards but this is my standard but but the challenge if you want to earn a prize because the challenges are meant to make you do a lot more there's already a bunch of people who have this standard of attending church three times a week if you want to earn the prize you can go to church four times a week if you drive up to the church plant on Thursdays so obviously it's not close Greenville is quite a distance away or you know it doesn't have to be Greenville either if there's another church that you know of that's you know that has another midweek service or something like that that's at a time different than ours and you want to go and attend theirs that's also acceptable it doesn't have to be our church plant I just say the church plant because it's great to support them especially at a midweek service so if you wanted to actually get a prize though then four times would be above and beyond what the challenge is for this month so but that also since there's not a prize for three times a week you know especially if you're sick don't worry about the prize it's not it's not worth it it's not worth it alright but speaking of prizes so I am pretty confident for the Bible memory I only owe for Hebrews 11 because Hebrews 10 was all the way back in January and I know I was caught up with everything by like the camping trip so that was something I was certain of so I have but Hebrews 11 was split into two parts okay so I'm gonna distribute prizes for Hebrews 11 there was also the visitor challenge there was also the soul winning in June that challenged that every day and then there was the digital detox okay so here's a sample here's the type of stuff that you're gonna get because I know not everyone participates in all the stuff that we do but I've got these prizes kind of split in half these are the higher value prizes and these are the lower value prizes so over here we've got a like a fake dremel rotary tool we've got some string lights for your backyard or camping or whatever um there's a 100 feet 37 bulbs in that box we've got an outback gift card we've got some crumble gift cards we've got another gift card to a bunch of different places we've got a fake GoPro Chinese GoPro here ratchet straps popcorn maker and a Donner ukulele kit so I know that this has been hey you think it's funny but they've been doing some lessons right? with some of the kids this is a little bit of motivation here if you wanted to to get in on that and learn an instrument it's a great way to do that and then over here we've got a lot of the the famous chocolate stuff that everybody seems to like so much this probably will all stay here and all this is going to be gone that's normally the way it seems to go and I've got four of these colors may vary um this is what I'm using right now I have to try out the product before I offer it up as a prize here but these actually come they're kind of cool because they come with its little like a koozie and strap and all kinds of accessories and straw and whatever we've got some QT gift cards some water balloons yeah I'm getting near the end man is going to be like alright alright passive versions on with it right? so let's start with the visitor challenge if you brought a visitor hand real quick because I know there wasn't very many people I thought there was one other person oh oh and well when he comes back we'll hold a prize for him alright brother Will come on up here anything on this half you're welcome to take for yourself yes this half right here right at the division of the table is where we have the division of prizes alright good job I'm going to make a note Owen is owed for that alright how about the digital detox who completed that? slip your hands up real high real quick alright alright anything on this side of the table come on up and get your prize this half right here yes sir anything over here we've got the cups the chocolates the water balloons very good alright congratulations on the digital detox and now the soul winning who completed the soul winning challenge excellent the soul winning actually before we do the soul winning who did Hebrews eleven two people and you both did the whole chapter right the both sections in the time frame okay so for that since you both did both of it you can get one of actually two of anything that you want on the table for Hebrews eleven go for it man anything yeah yeah those are the higher value things but whatever alright very good and then finally the soul winning challenge so how many people were there again raise your hands I know I should have had this thought of in advance one two three four five six alright yeah you can have one of these or two of these go I don't know whatever they look like awesome alright good job everyone on the various challenges and we've got a few leftovers for next time Hebrews twelve right Hebrews twelve is the next prize opportunity so you've got a little bit of a sampling here of what's available for you alright let's continue on here I'm taking up way too much time in the announcements for this but I needed to get this all squared away alright continuing on with our regularly scheduled program the men's preaching class is this Saturday coming up so this Saturday the seven ten o'clock right here all men are welcome to attend the preaching class and the only caveat for preaching is you have to be a soul winner already if you want to be able to preach in the class but plan on preaching prepare a five to fifteen minute sermon and that will be dependent on how many people are here for that Bible memory passage is Hebrews chapter twelve upcoming birthdays and anniversaries are listed there brother Seth's birthday he's out of town have you heard from him how is everything going he gets home tomorrow hopefully excellent excellent so everything's gone pretty well yeah yeah well excellent very good I appreciate the prayers for brother Seth's safety now he's going to be traveling back hopefully he should be home tomorrow so hopefully there won't be any issues with his travel plans and things like that but appreciate your prayers I'm interested in hearing what he has to say and how everything went that's going to be pretty cool so pray continue pray for him he's on our prayer list his birthday today and you can see the rest of the birthdays am I missing anyone's birthday or anniversary for the month of September yes ma'am which son Houston is on the twentieth okay very good thank you you told me that already didn't you I'm sorry anyone else that I miss alright well the good thing is it's the middle of the month so we'll get it added on there before the day comes alright excellent alright that is it for the announcements we got a sermon notes placed on the back so you can keep notes while I'm preaching the sermon but I'm going to turn the service over to brother will who can lead us in our next song turn to song number one twenty-nine song one twenty-nine on the angels song one twenty-nine on the first on the rain that's proud for me let me hide myself in thee and the water and the wine on my own is time to learn be a sinner doth endure safe from wrath and make me your good light years forever good light still the way we're known is the sacred heart that's known thou wilt save and thou wilt alone in my head no price I bring simply to my cross I cling my life's all is being fed with my eyes shall close in bed when I rise to worlds unknown and behold me on my throne rock of ages laugh for me let me hide myself in thee song number one while the rest of the church turns to Hebrews chapter 10 Hebrews chapter 10 which reads for the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers there into perfect for then would they not have ceased to be offered because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins but in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith sacrifice an offering thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me and burn offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure then said I lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will O God above when he said sacrifice an offering and burn offerings and offering for sin thou wouldst not neither has pleasure therein which are offered by the law then said he lo I come to do thy will O God he taketh away the first that he may establish the second by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all and every priest standeth daily ministering and offering often times the same sacrifices which can never take away sins but this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us for after that he had said before this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days saith the Lord I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more now where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh and having an high priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised 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 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 war or punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto 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 but call to remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated he endured a great fight of affliction partly whilst ye were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions and partly whilst ye became companions of them that were so used for ye had compassion of me and my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and enduring substance cast not away therefore your confidence which have great recompense of reward for ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promise for yet a little while he that shall come will come and will not tarry now the judge shall live by faith but if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him but we are not of them who draw back unto perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the soul let's pray dear Lord thank you for this day thank you for letting us come together and to get to hear your word preached Lord bless pastor and fill him with your spirit and give him clarity of mind and the words to say give us ears to hear that we can listen to the message and ponder and apply it to our lives that way we can better serve you and win people to you Lord in Jesus name I pray Amen Alright the title for my sermon this morning comes from the passage here in verse number 25 kind of near the end of the of the verse it says and so much the more as you see the day approaching the time my sermon is in so much the more and what I want to teach on is really where the the idea of the church challenge for this month comes from for the attending church three times a week we have a motto of three to thrive it's a common motto amongst IFB churches offer three services and I just want to teach on the importance of church and why you know there's a few different subjects I want to kind of deal with when I go over this stuff when we look at the Bible and one of the most important ones is you know God is ordained in the New Testament a church a church gathering the church is the pillar and ground of the truth the church is what Jesus Christ died for and shed his blood for the church is the assembly it's the gathering it's us together and you know before I even get into the passage definitionally and just the way that we think about church and what a church is you know we typically will common usage today people will talk about a church being like a building like oh there's that church that church that church and um but it's not it's not a building and I'm not saying it's wrong to refer to something that you see a physical building and you see a steeple and you're like hey that's a church yeah that's where the church meets that's the building in which the church comes together I'm not going to be nitpicky about it but it is important just to have that understanding that church is the congregation it is the gathering of ourselves together and coming together at a time to praise the Lord to hear from the Bible to learn to edify and to exhort one another to be there as a church family for each other and this is extremely important to have as a church and not as some would say and this is probably been this has been like this forever clearly as we see at least from the time of that the book of Hebrews was written that there are some people who don't think that church is really that important at all and we run into people regularly when we go out and preach the gospel we go talk to people about being saved and often times in the beginning kind of when we're introducing ourselves we say where we're coming from hey we're from stronghold Baptist church and a common question that a soul winner might ask is do you go to church anywhere right I ask that very frequently and in that part of the conversation just the introduction part because it's good to know like hey do you already attend a church do you go to Baptist church you go to Pentecostal church you know kind of where they're coming from it also helps to what areas of the gospel I might want to spend more time on knowing a little bit of their background but sometimes people say yeah I don't go to church or I have some people say like why have church right here we're having church right now and we'll have this real loose definition of church which is just totally inaccurate and it's not a biblical definition whatsoever just to say that anything is church and it's church when you talk to people and they like to reference the verse that says you know where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst but it doesn't say where two or three are gathered together in my name that's church it says where two or three are gathered together in my name I'm there in the midst so yes when people are gathered together two or three in the name of Christ hey Jesus is there with you amen for that that's great but when two or three are gathered where's the bishop where's the elder where are the offices that people hold within the church that God is ordained and we'll get into that a little bit later when we get past Hebrews 10 but I always want to know where are all these things and what we see in Hebrews and Hebrews we're starting the book of Hebrews one because it's got the you know the title of my sermon but it's got a lot of other important things and Hebrews is the book it's like the book in the New Testament that's going to give you the most differences and highlight the transition from Old Testament worship and practice and what was done into the New Testament and then you got the explanation and it really covers you know Melchizedek it covers the offerings the sacrifices and what things are done away with and what things aren't and Hebrews does a great job of explaining all of that and giving us the understanding and in Hebrews 10 we see this and we're going to reread this passage at least in the context here of what I want to talk about starting in verse number 19 the Bible says having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus now this is again referencing the old tabernacle it's referencing the veil that was put between the holy place and the most holy place this is how it was ordained that things had to be and only the high priest once a year would go into the most holy place to offer a sacrifice both for himself and for a people and when you read the Old Testament all the laws all the commandments on how they did everything and were performing the sacrifices that were symbolically atoning for their sin but also there were sacrifices that would help get them right with God even though they're saved salvation has always been by grace through faith there's never been a time in history where anyone has ever been saved by following God's law and Hebrews again really clear Hebrews 7, 8, 9 read all those chapters it explains so without a shadow of a doubt that the blood of bulls and of goats was never able to wash away sin it never it's never been the way of salvation ever any animal sacrifice was never how an individual soul got saved from going to hell never once there was a purpose for the sacrifices and they showed truths about especially about Jesus Christ who was to come who was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world it's always been the plan it was never a plan B it was always that Jesus Christ was going to have to pay for the sins of mankind because God knew everything before he even created the world he knew there was going to be a fall of man he knew that man was going to sin he knew that there had to be an atonement made for man and he already knew that the blood of bulls and goats would not provide an atonement for man's sin but he was showing the people and preparing the people and getting them ready and showing what was going to come one day when it came in the form of Jesus Christ the Messiah who died on the cross and shed his blood and made the ultimate sacrifice for our sins in himself okay and I'm not going to go too deep into that this morning because that's not really what the sermon's about we're talking about the New Testament so as we read about the transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament we're seeing how important of course Jesus Christ is in what he did and because of his death burial and resurrection verse 19 says having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiness the holiest talk about the holiest oh we now have access everyone has access to enter into the holiest of holies where before it was really strict and no one was able to go in there just the high priest he says you know what now because of what Christ did we all have access we all have access to the throne of God we all have access to just walk right up and boldness even not timidly boldness is the exact opposite of being timid you say no I'm going to walk right up knowing full well that Jesus provided that way the blood of Jesus provided that way to give us access to come before the throne verse 20 says by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh again showing the symbolism of the veil that was literally hanging separating the most holy place when it rent when Jesus died on the cross that was symbolic of his flesh being broken for us to provide that entrance into the most holy place so and there's a I'll get into the point of why am I even going so far in depth in all this in just a second here verse number 21 and having an high priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised and you know we can we can hold fast the profession of our faith without doubts without wavering without having to back off a little bit or start to question or wonder oh I don't know am I really saved is this thing real no we can hold fast the profession of our faith why because he's faithful that promised like it says in Titus 1 2 in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began God makes a promise we don't have to doubt it we don't have to question it if God makes a promise it's true and it's going to be true and it is true and we don't have to waver on that at all I don't know is salvation forever in hope of eternal life eternal means forever is salvation forever you better believe it is it's eternal it's not temporary life it's not life until you sin again it's not life until you do something where God takes it away from you you know it's eternal life it's forever in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began hey let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works so not only he's talking about us that have this faith us that have this access us who have put our trust in Jesus Christ as our savior now let's draw near with a true heart let's hold fast the profession and let's consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works the verse doesn't end there it's got a colon in verse 25 it says not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is so even back at the time when this was written wasn't it the manner of some to forsake the assembling to not go when hey we're all gonna gather together on this day at this time we're gonna assemble as a church as a congregation that's what the assembly is it's a congregation it's a church hey church is at this time at this place we're all gonna go and there were some people that said nope their manner was that nah I don't need to go to church nope not for me no you know you do the church thing I'm gonna do me you do you that's fine hey look that's not what the Bible says the Bible's teaching here not forsaking not letting it go not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some some people are like that and that doesn't make them unsaved but it makes them wrong and it makes them not appreciative it makes them not understanding of what church is even really about because if you just think that church is the same as reading the Bible on your own or doing a little prayer time or doing something like that well you've probably just been to the wrong church first of all but second of all you don't even understand what the meaning is because a church is a congregation and when you're having your own little devotional that is not the assembling of ourselves together not forsaking verse 25 again 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 day do you think this is possibly talking about it's talking about the day of Christ the day approaching the day when Christ is going to return and again I'm not going to prove that to you from the passage you can figure it out for your own read it later but he's talking about all Hebrews is about Christ anyways but as the day is approaching obviously it was a future day well the only thing left anyways is going to be either the rise of the Antichrist the return of Jesus Christ the millennial kingdom the millennial kingdom so at some point in the future it's one of these days that's approaching and look since this is a future date he has to be talking about something that's still even future for us because all the prophetic things are still waiting yet to happen so whatever event that is it's still in the future is my point so since he's saying so much the more as you see the day approaching what is so much more? not forsaking and assembling of ourselves together so much the more it's so much the more important as the day approaches. Why? because in the end times things will continue to get more and more wicked the world will get more and more dark and people are going to be apostatizing and falling away from the faith and there's going to be a lot of false prophets there's going to be all kinds of things going on in the world that's why church is so much more important assembling of yourselves together being amongst God's people you are out in the world everyday of your life in general you're out just amongst whoever in the world you are being exposed to and now more than ever all of the messaging all of the media, whether it be in print, whether it be in your ears whether it be in your eyes all of the messaging of the world you're being bombarded with it and none of us is above influenced by those things. None of us is as human beings the beings that God created were social creatures we are referred to as sheep in the Bible and obviously there's specific reasons for that but part of the reason is people follow others and people follow and are influenced and impacted by what other people say and do it's been proven it's been studied just as a species, as the human race we have a tendency to be impacted and followed by what other people are telling us and the more you're hearing things and the more you're seeing things the more even subconsciously in your mind you're going to think that it holds more weight and it might be more true because you just keep hearing it over and over and over again, it makes you more comfortable like, oh that sounds right but what's happening these days is you're getting bombarded with messages that are full of a lot of lies and the people lies have always been around and there's always been people who have been controlling you know, information, flow and stuff like that but now we just get hit with it so much more it's more than ever before I mean everybody's walking around with one of these things, is there any adult that isn't walking around with one of these things in our church? I'd be shocked even the holdouts that have been you know, like, look I've been a holdout for a long time but now it's been years since I've had a smartphone now, I mean years and years like I was a big holdout, I didn't want I didn't want to get sucked into it, I didn't want to have anything to do with it I wanted just a simple flip phone which I had for a really long time right up until about the time I moved out here, but it was right before I moved out here I'm not blaming it on Georgia, it's just that's how long it was, so it's been six years now at least that I've had a smartphone and I wasn't alone six years ago but good night trying to find people now adults that aren't carrying one of these things around and well these are, these are information tools and now they're being used way more for other things probably even more time spent on other things than making phone calls like then just communicating with the people that the whole purpose of it is a phone I don't know when are they going to stop calling these things phones because it's not even the primary function anymore they're cameras with they're media devices I mean indoctrination tools, whatever the point is you are getting inundated with this stuff regularly, okay and obviously we all need to make sure we're grounded and we're founded and the truth and you know you try to avoid being influenced by the world, but it's still out there so it's that much more important to be able to gather together as like minded believers in your local church and be able to talk with other Christians about things that really matter about things that are maybe contrary to what the world thinks and teaches and to hear other people saying things like wow I thought I was nuts because it seems like I'm the only one that thinks this way no, now you can get the confirmation of the truth amongst other believers and instead of being feeling more and more isolated and look, often times when people feel isolated they're less inclined to even speak up and say anything about it you're more emboldened when you know there's more people behind you there's more people like hey, no, I'm not crazy, you know, this world's crazy and that's true this world is crazy and the things of the world are not the things of the Father but we need the encouragement, we need the exhortation, we need the edification that comes with being around other people that believe the same way, even if we're not identical in every single one of our beliefs, it doesn't matter we still are here to support one another and believing just what is true and being able to parse out the lies of the world and be able to have that boldness just like we should have the boldness to walk to the throne because of what Jesus did for us we also need to have the boldness just to live in the world and to stand for the truth part of going to church a big part is the considering, like verse 24 says in Hebrews 10, considering one another just, I mean, just considering one another how about that? how about praying for other people? how important is that? you know when Peter was released from prison when the angel came and miraculously led him out of the prison where did he go? he went to a house where a bunch of believers were congregated together and what were they doing? they were praying for him you think that's a coincidence? because I don't God hears the prayer of the saints they were gathered together yeah, holding a church, a prayer study a prayer time, right? prayer meeting but they were gathered together believers, it was a congregation and they were praying and God heard their prayer and Peter was released from prison you know we can't always be thinking about church as to what is, well what do I benefit from church? and that is the number one thing, when you ask people like what church are you looking for? well, do you offer this program? and they're just thinking about, well what can I get from you out of church? well you know what the best church is going to be? full of people who what can I do to help the people in church? that's the best church to be a part of you know, people don't like it's funny, and I wish people would think about this that choose to go to the mega church fund centers that have all the activities in the world all the youth group stuff, every age group all this, you got all kinds of things going on but then at the same time, most of those people are like well I kind of feel like a number there, I kind of feel like it's not a family, I kind of feel like I'm overlooked yeah, because you're choosing to go to a place that has you're trying to have it your way like Burger King and make it so that it's, oh you have this, this, this, this for me well if everyone's focused on what can you do for me, who's focused on other people? which is what Jesus did which is what being a Christian is supposed to be all about, is ministering and serving, and when you come to church notice the emphasis is on let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works we're thinking about other people and that's how you're going to grow as a church family, that's how you're going to make the strong connections because you're caring about other people, you're praying for other people you're trying to help other people within the church I'm not against having programs and activities, we do activities here too I think it's great, I'm not trying to say that that's wrong, but it's the mindset what is it when you come into church, what are you expecting? and why is it important? Why is church important? Is it something that we should just check a box and say, okay I did my duty, I went to church Sunday morning, I'm good for another week, I hope that's not your mindset or your attitude, I really hope it's not, I hope you come to church because you love coming to church, but what I want to show from Hebrews 10 is the importance of coming to church that's spelled out in the Bible, look, not just now, but so much the more as you see the day approaching, you need to be in church, you need to be not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, you need to be considering one another to provoke unto love and to good works this is important in 2024 and even more going forward Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 4 and I've preached on this subject in the past and for those of you who have been coming here for a while, you know, I'm not offering you anything new We're turning to the same passages that I go to prove and support this doctrine because they're so solid and they're so strong but we need the reminder from time to time, we need to not get lackadaisical about church, because let's face it after, if you've been saved for a long time, you've been in church for a long time sometimes you can just feel like it it gets routine and it becomes the I'm checking the box type of a thing it happens, it happens to the best of us, I mean, that's just what happens, look, I'm all for routines too, don't get me wrong I like having schedules and routines that's one of the things that actually helps you when spiritually you're not doing as good and you're not kind of seeing the importance of things, well, just keep going anyways, right, things should turn around for you but obviously we ought to be caring about the whole point and the reason why we come to church Ephesians 4, again to kind of combat the thought that either church isn't that important or you can just sort of make up whatever you want about church and just say you have church anywhere, well Ephesians 4 kind of teaches something different look at verse number 11 and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive but speaking the truth and love may grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Now we kind of read a bunch of verses there I just want to high level it keeps talking about the body, the body, the body, the body of Christ is the church and bodies have multiple parts and this is also taught in First Corinthians it talks about the different members of the body and there's different gifts that are giving and this is also referencing gifts and we'll get back to that in a minute God gives gifts to people, God has a body, this is the body of Christ and look I'm going to explain this real quick too as long as we're on the subject of church in general church means congregation we don't believe right here and this is important important fact to understand because almost every Christian denomination is going to teach different on this I was raised understanding this or believing this different or being taught this I don't even really know if I believe it or not but I accepted it the concept of a universal church is not found in scripture and when I say universal it means just everywhere so there are many people who teach that oh we're all part of the body of Christ like we're all part of this great church as being a believer, as being born again it's called the universal church or the invisible church even when I grew up as a Presbyterian which is a reformed church in the days of the reformers came out of the Catholic Church and tried to reform the Catholic Church and say oh the Catholic Church has screwed up on these things let's try to change it that's Martin Luther that's Wesley that's Calvin all those guys from the Reformation area all they're trying to do is reform the Catholic Church but the Catholic Church was just it's just not true at all there's no point in trying to reform the Catholic Church you just need to be like no just get saved and just don't even have any association with the Catholic Church because it's just wrong on so many levels especially with salvation and they can keep on bringing up this is wrong I know it's basically just a different religion it really is Catholicism but the word Catholic means universal that's literally what it means the word Catholic is universal and the Catholic Church means there's a universal church now the problem with that is that when you understand that a church is a congregation how can you have a universal congregation because a congregation has to meet somewhere I mean it just has to right like we're all gathered together here now not all of the members of our church are here today not all of the parts of this church but they all could easily be here today Lord willing right if whatever is the reason they're out in church was not happening they could be here gathered together with us but we provoke one another unto love and good works we know each other we know the people we know the members we know those that aren't here with us today right because they're truly part of the body just like you know if there's a problem with one of my body parts or even if one of my body parts were to get hacked off I still would know my body part right like I know my fingers I know my toes I know my eyes I know my ears I know all these various things well the church is the body of Christ there are multiple bodies because there's multiple churches right but Christ is the head of all of them but when you look at the scripture it's talking about the body of Christ it's always talking about the local church the local assembly it's not talking about this universal church because it doesn't exist because there is no universal gathering of all believers now one day sure that will exist in the future but that's way in the future right where everyone could gather together before the throne of God all the believers right but until that happens there's not this invisible church that just exists there are believers sure we're brethren in Christ amen we're brothers and sisters and we have other people that we love and care for that are saved but they're just part of a different congregation they're part of a different church it's okay to say that it's not there's nothing heretical about saying that but it's important because God has provided this concept of having the unity of the faith and this is also where ecumenicalism comes in where people want to just have unity with all believers all over the place or anyone that would even call themselves a Christian which then just turns to a bunch of compromising on beliefs in order to get the most basic thing that anyone can agree to to say that this is true which is not what God wants either he wants us earnestly contending for the faith he wants us sound in our doctrine and he wants the people who are leading the church to be qualified to do so and we can't just be yoking up with a whole bunch of different people who have all these different beliefs that doesn't even make any sense but when you read Ephesians 4 it says hey in verse 13 till we all come in the unity of the faith amen but this is why the understanding of a universal church gets screwed up because well wait we're not all going to be we're definitely not all going to be unified with people that call themselves Christian there's no way I mean people who believe salvation is by works like yeah you can't have unification in that but even amongst people who are saved there's still so many things that are different and some people are just way off on stuff how good you have unity if you have a bunch of different bodies out there no the unification should be within the local body and when you realize too so we talk about the gift giving there's different gifts that are given to the members of the church and I probably should have just turned to this passage but I don't have it in my notes the Bible talks about whether if you're the ear or the nose or the eye everyone has their own function and their own purpose and God's given people different gifts and he wants different parts of the body different members to do different things some people are good at some things better than others right some people are really good with the music the musical instruments and some people are terrible at it and that's fine everyone's different and God's blessed people differently with different skills and different aptitudes so those that are able to help the whole service and the function and the running of our church of our body by doing the things that they're able to do and they're able to minister and help with right it all makes perfect sense now since God gave people and he gave some gifts obviously there's members that have gifts but there's also the teachers he says he gave some in verse 11 apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying or the building up of the body of Christ God gave people with these gifts with these abilities to be able to hold these positions and these positions are important so if God's giving pastors and teachers and evangelists if God's giving this to his people for what for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ the body it's the gathering it's the assembly how could you then look at this passage and say like yeah well I mean church really isn't that important well it's not important that's why God just gave people gifts literally for the gathering for the assembly for the group for the church for the body he gave the gifts so that you don't but you don't really have to go like he doesn't want you to go he doesn't want you to be edified he doesn't want you to be perfected I mean that's why he gave them though I mean every believer should at least be able to acknowledge and be like yeah I mean if God's giving people gifts to help me maybe I should go and be a part of that it's kind of like if God put forth the effort and the work to deliver his word unto mankind and to preserve it and to keep it maybe I should read it right here's this Bible okay here's the Bible I'll go to the dollar store big one up whatever people treat it like it's garbage or like it's nothing it's like look this is the word of God you ought to be reading it you ought to be studying it you ought to be living by it I mean this is life you ought to be treating the Bible with the true importance that it really has for someone who's put all their faith in Jesus Christ as their savior why do you even believe in Jesus? because of the Bible that's why and just as much as you ought to be reading this book well hey if God's giving some apostles some prophets some evangelists some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry maybe you should get around where those people are where are those people? in church verse 14 says that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine and I'll tell you what my own just personal anecdotal experience with the same group of people that want to tell me that they have church in their house and they have church here and church there and we're having church right now are the same exact people that are carried about with every wind of doctrine I can't tell you how many various things when I've gotten into discussions with some of these people that want to tell me that they don't need to go to church and I mean I literally I had one guy tell me and I brought this up before I had one guy tell me that he knows more than every pastor in the church every church that he's ever been to he's so smart I mean it's like oh yeah you're not proud at all either tell me that you're the most humble guy in all the churches as well right you're smarter you know more than everything else and this is the same guy that was trying to tell me that the sin of Eve wasn't eating of the forbidden fruit but really it was having a carnal relation with the serpent and that the seed is a literal serpent's seed that was born that was Cain and like yeah you know more than everyone else okay buddy like it's crazy and it's like he wanted to show me where it says the serpent beguiled Eve now every normal person you don't even have to go to church for this okay like these are people that get carried about with every wind of doctrine even without going to church if you just read and the serpent beguiled Eve what are you going to think if you know the English language and you know what the word beguile means he tricked her he deceived her right because that's what the word means but see when you're smarter than everyone else and you don't want to go to church and you don't want to hear anyone tell you anything different you know well if you look this up and he's looking up Strong's Concordance and he doesn't know Hebrew but when you're looking up Strong's Concordance and you're seeing oh see look this word it could mean this this this this and then it's like the seventh usage of the word it's like it says seduce well there you go right it says seduce see here's the hidden meaning like no you're a fool you need to get in church you need to get sound doctrine you need to hear teaching from the word of God and look people that don't know any better children look isn't it easy with children those of you that have children no you don't have children everyone knows this it's like taking candy from a baby right or how about this just being able to deceive children isn't it easy now I don't recommend just deceiving your children but you know every once in a while you kind of have a little bit of fun and tell them things and and you know you'll tell them later you're joking or whatever but it's easy to deceive children right they're easily manipulated it's easy to tell them things and they'll kind of believe anything they're real gullible they're real naive right because they're kind of ignorant they don't have a lot of understanding they don't have wisdom they don't have knowledge yet so it's easy to deceive them well when you're born again you are a child of God but you're a child you're an infant you need to learn you need to grow you need to get good doctrine you need to be taught the right things and the children people who are newly saved are a lot easier to be carried about with all kinds of different ideas and all these different things that are floating out there and again we got the internet now which is great so that the people who believe these weird things can have this big platform on hey the serpent seed and look at this and then there's oh wow look at that and the flat earth no the earth is flat look at this okay well we're supposed to be getting a lot more knowledge with the internet and it seems like we're regressing but I digress clearly the scripture is saying God doesn't want us to be children he doesn't want us to be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine oh this person said this was and look as a child I get it you can't blame the child for being a child and not really understanding things but he's given the instruction hey to prevent this to prevent all this being carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men by people who are actually trying to deceive people there are bad people out there with these bad doctrines who are trying to influence believers that are just not grounded not solid in their faith not knowing you know a whole lot about scripture that come along and want to deceive them and they're cunning and they're crafty and they're going to make their lies sound pretty good but to prevent that what did he do he gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to prevent getting carried away with every wind of doctrine so that people can grow in good doctrine and faith and grow up into this whole body that's fitly joined together now turn if you would to 1 Timothy chapter 3 so I want to make two statements that are simultaneously true and it's important to understand both to provide the proper balance one as a pastor of this church first of all I'm just a human being I'm a brother in Christ ok there is nothing different about me I don't have my own special connection to God that you can't have ok there's nothing like that as far as me as a person I'm a sinner I struggle with my own sins I have problems day to day just like you ok so there's no reason to inappropriately exalt or lift up a pastor of a church because they hold the title of a pastor or to think that there's some special God man or anything like that right that being said it's an important understanding to have that there still is an importance of having someone in the role of a pastor that does separate a pastor from everyone else in the church by virtue of the office and of the requirements that have been deemed being met in the person who's leading the church ok so a pastor of a church while they're no different from another person just as much as the apostles were just people ok and I'm not I'm not equating myself to an apostle but any position any title right it doesn't matter even still them I mean look how many times do we see some of the apostles getting it wrong or being in sin I mean it happens right apostle Peter is a great servant of Christ yet he did multiple things wrong that are recounted in scripture showing us hey I mean he's just like anyone else in a sense but in another sense he's not just like anyone else because he holds his position because God has gifted him with abilities and skills and things that he needs to do the work of Christ now I bring this up because some people have almost a disdain for pastors and again I'm going off of what I've heard other people say multiple times well I don't need some man to tell me what the Bible says you know people making that comment yeah you probably do you probably do need some man to tell you what the Bible says ok because that is now look on the one hand can you learn anything from the scripture on your own absolutely you could learn any truth that's in the Bible 100% with you and the Holy Spirit yes that's true yes that's true but didn't God give teachers didn't God give people to be teachers to help those especially those that are young in the faith to grow and be grounded and founded and to receive good doctrine and to learn and to understand hey even though I'm the pastor I know I could testify to this because I haven't always been a pastor there was a time when I was a babe there was a time when I had to grow there was a time when I was under the tutelage of a pastor and I thank God for that and I'll tell you what out of all the years that I was saved and didn't go to church I learned way more in the very first year of my solid consistent church attendance than I did in the rest of my life prior to that I learned way more about the Bible way more about good doctrine way more about the truth than I ever had once I got in church so many things changed so much understanding opened up so many and look I even I probably still have my Bible I have a note Bible that my brother gave me at his wedding I was the best man in his wedding it was a long time ago and that was the gift he gave me and every other page is blank so he could write notes and before I started going to church I would read my Bible from time to time and I'd jot down a couple things and a couple thoughts and I'll tell you what after going back and looking at it and unfortunately I didn't really read my Bible that much at all because that's another thing that tends to happen when you're not going to church is you sort of lose the time to actually open up your Bible and read it now look I'm sure there's people out there that don't go to church or read the Bible I wasn't one of those people I was probably one of the more common type of people but reading my thoughts on some passages I'm going like man I really didn't have very much understanding about this at all and I remember writing the notes and just not having real clarity right now I do I'll tell you this much when you go from being unsaved to saved wow the blinders come off you can actually start understanding the Bible and it's really cool right it's amazing for those of you who have read the Bible or tried to understand the Bible before you got saved and it was just like I don't even know what any of this is talking about as opposed to after you get saved and you start reading you're like whoa this is pretty cool I actually understand this book now but even with that you know difference then you go to well I'm still a babe I'm still not really getting a lot of this stuff I still need a little bit of help understanding that's where the teacher comes in that's why it's good to have someone to be like hey look at this and this oh wow yeah that's really cool yeah I get that makes perfect sense oh yeah that's consistent throughout the rest of the Bible yeah that's great teachers they help do that they help break things down right and unless you're really stubborn why would you not want to be taught or unless you're really proud I don't need someone to tell me why not why not learn a little bit why not look at the Bible why not let someone else who is investing hours and hours of time on their own in their own study in their own preparation who are putting notes together who are staying up and putting together some scripture some truth for you why not come and then receive part of that because I'll tell you what and just from a personal level I spend hours preparing sermons every week and reading my Bible and doing the things that I'm supposed to do but the most important reason for doing those things is for you I really truly want to help every single person in this room to the best of my ability everyone has different places and their knowledge and their understanding and I'm sure there are people here that understand other parts of the Bible better than me but you know what I'm going to try to teach the things that I know so I can edify you and I sincerely look every week I pray that God will lead me to sermons that will help you because that's what it's about that's what I care about and as we're going to read here in 1 Timothy chapter 3 you know this isn't just oh let's all gather together and we'll all read the Bible and everyone will just give their understanding of what this book says on how things ought to be run in a New Testament church now you want to talk about the Bible with your friends, amen, do it I love talking about the Bible with my friends and we have gatherings at our house sometimes and we talk about the Bible often great but there's a purpose for church and yes it's to provoke one another into love and good works and to think about and consider one another and be there for people and all the other things I've already mentioned very important but you know what there's also a part of it for teaching and for the ministry and for the perfecting of the saints look at verse number 1 of 1 Timothy 3 the Bible says this is a true saying if a man desires the office of a bishop he desires the good work it's an office, there's a structure hey house church who's in the office of the bishop well we're all bishops here that's ridiculous who's holding the office well it doesn't really matter you know what show me the person holding the office that meets these criteria verse number 2 a bishop then must be blameless the husband of one wife vigilant, sober of good behavior given to hospitality, apt to teach, you could have people, now listen to me that are married, that are vigilant that are sober that are good behavior right, good God fearing Christians that are living righteously, that are doing good that are given to hospitality but they may not be apt to teach that just might not be their strong suit, it may not be something that they're really good at doing if you're not apt to teach you're not qualified as much as any other attribute that's listed here these are all given as things that ought to be looked at for someone to be in charge of the church and someone who ought to be teaching within the church the primary teacher, the primary instructor the bishop apt to teach, not given to wine no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre but patient not a brawler, not covetous one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity and I love this parenthetical verse here, because it gives us more of the understanding of why it's important that he has his family in order for if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the church of God you know what, hey men you ought to be ruling your own house but also notice what that word rule is joined with, care if you don't know how to rule your house, how are you going to take care of the church of God a big aspect of ruling in the home is taking care of the things in your home taking care of the people in your home caring for them but if everything is just completely out of order at home, how are you going to come into a bigger family and try to keep things orderly, right? It's not going to happen which is why look, all of these things God's saying okay, in order for someone to hold this office, it's not unattainable by any means, it's not some super strict high standard but it is a standard I mean there's tons of pastors out there that meet this criteria, there's a whole bunch of them right? and many of you can probably fit this bill too but not everybody because God didn't ordain that every man would be a pastor, I mean that's just, that's not the way he made it, so and it's fine because we're a body and everyone's got a different function verse 6 though and again, this is important, not a novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil and here's the balance that we got to strike when you hear teaching from a pastor, you have to understand if they're biblically qualified, if they're truly not a novice, then take what they're saying seriously it doesn't mean they can never be wrong it doesn't mean they're infallible it doesn't mean you have to eat everything that I'm putting out there and you just have to receive it all and just don't question it and just believe everything I say but know that there's a lot of thought, this isn't just some beginner just coming up with some wild idea and throwing it out there and seeing how it sticks, let's just throw it against the wall and see what sticks no, there's a lot more to it, there's been a lot of study, there's been a lot of thoughts behind this, again not always right, you're responsible for making sure what you hear is correct however if someone's qualified, you ought to be able to recognize it and say okay, well I'm gonna I'm going to listen to what this man is trying to teach me and understand that you know, he's not a novice and you know, hopefully he's apt to teach, I hope you think that I'm apt to teach I've already been deemed worthy of these things so it's just been more and more experience and time with this and as I continue to grow my knowledge and wisdom, I'm trying to share that with you and honestly, for something the whole point is I want to express the importance of coming to church besides all the biblical reasons I'll just add this, I care about every single person in here individually everyone that's here with us and those that aren't here with us that would attend our church I care about every single one of you and honestly, when I prepare sermons, I want to help you, I want to help you grow my heart to you, I want to help you grow individually and I want to do whatever I can to help you out so at least when you're thinking about should I go to church, you could know that Pastor Burzins wants your betterment and I want your betterment the same way that I want the betterment of my children in the sense that I will tell you the truth to the best that I know the truth and not withhold anything from you so if something might sting a little, I'll tell you the truth because I want you to know what's true because that's going to help you in the long run and I won't just say things to appease you because I don't want to offend you I won't do that some people get offended and it's not my intent to offend but if it happens, it happens and I can't control that but at least you'll know my heart and I'm going to tell you the truth so I hope that's what you're here for and every time you come to church, that's what I'm going to do my best to do let's keep reading here, verse 7 moreover he must have a good report of them which are without lest he fall into the reproach and the snare of the devil and then it talks about the deacons, likewise must the deacons be grave, not double tongue, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience and let these also first be proved then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless and you know what, this also goes for the position of a pastor too, these qualifications need to be met before the person's ordained, you got to find this stuff to be true first and then you go ahead and let them take the office, it's not something like well we'll just see how it goes and kind of play it by ear from there no, that is not the way it works verse 11, even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers sober, faithful in all things let the deacons be the husbands of one wife ruling their children in their own house as well for they that have used the office of a deacon well purchased to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus, now we're almost done here, look at verse number 14 these things write I unto thee hoping to come unto thee shortly, but if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God again, we're talking about church this is the house of God which is the church of the living God by the way it just says that, it's not something I'm just inferring there when it talks about the house of God it's talking about church no, the house of God which is the church of the living God he's saying this is how you behave yourselves this is who you ordain, this is who's holding these offices, this is who holds the office of a deacon, this is who holds the office of a bishop this is how things ought to be run in church how can you have a gathering of two or three people at someone's house well where is the bishop how are things being run here is it being run decently and in order, who's running things here it's the standard, it's how the New Testament church is ordained to be run because God cares about the growth of everybody and this is how we get to, from Ephesians 4 hey he gave some apostles, some pastors some teachers for the perfecting of the saints well this is a little bit more detailed on how that's going to happen which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth the church is the pillar and ground of the truth does it sound important to you? because it sounds important to me and I hope you can walk away from the sermon this morning with just a different view or a different concept of church going like, you know what it really is important and the only way you're going to you're going to really if you think it's important, if you think it's if I've convinced you, if what you've seen in the Bible is enough and you don't normally go to church or don't go that frequently or whatever whatever the case may be for each one of you individually but you're convinced then what you need to do is walk away and make the determination with yourself that I'm going to change this I'm going to make this part of my schedule and you know what it's going to be inconvenient, if you don't normally come to the church services to more than one, it's going to be inconvenient for you to go to another one even if it's just one more, it's going to be inconvenient because you're going to have other things that you're used to doing and that you can do and you're going to spend your time doing and you know what, you're going to have to sacrifice those things but when we think about what we do with our life and how we spend our time and what sacrifices we make is there a better reason than for Jesus who paid for your you know, it's a good idea I would say to remind ourselves of the actual sacrifice that was made for us when we think about our inconveniences in this life of serving God I'm pretty sure it was pretty inconvenient for Jesus Christ when he lived on this earth and ministered unto others and would go nights without sleeping, would be praying all night, would be wandering about not having anywhere to stay praying for people and then getting spit on and beat up and mocked and hung on a cross right, and everything that he did I'm pretty sure that was inconvenient for him maybe, maybe we can do like the Bible says, to present your bodies a living sacrifice which is your reasonable service and but hopefully it's not just like this guilt thing, hopefully it's a love thing that you love what Jesus did for you and say wow, that means if I can go to church more I'm going to learn more I'm going to dedicate and sacrifice more time, not just to the Lord but also to the people that are around about me because you can influence more people the more times you're here right, and get to know more people and love more people and do more for them and truly start to serve and ultimately be more Christ-like that's what we're trying to do, right I had another pastor, I'm not even going to get to that I'm out of time this morning but I do, I hope you love this church you know I'm doing my best to keep things in order and sometimes in my keeping things in order I got to make some rules I got to try to make sure things are being done decently here and inevitably inevitably there are going to be people that don't like the decisions that I make in this church it's going to happen I'm not even going to apologize for it but I think if you just at least understand my heart where I'm coming from because genuinely I do care about everyone here I do care about my position that I've been put in and the fidelity that I need to show with the Word of God I treat it seriously I do study my Bible I do take time and prepare these sermons for you because I want you to grow so knowing all of that hopefully you can look past my failures or my problems or the things that I say or do that you don't exactly like and understand that the whole purpose is to make things run and have the best church that we can have here and make it run smoothly and sometimes decisions just have to be made and it is what it is and we can all just move forward in the unity of the faith. Let's borrow our word of prayer dear Lord we love you we thank you so much for building this church that you built the members here dear Lord we thank you for that this is a great church I love the people here I pray that you please strengthen us help us to become more unified in our faith help us to provoke one another unto love and to good works that we could continue to serve you with good spirits and good hearts and with the right motives dear Lord and that you would help us to reach the lost and to and to help bring in more people that can be taught and trained to be good Christians to follow you to serve you with their life Lord and to continue to exalt your name we love you it's in Jesus name we pray Amen Alright we're going to sing one more song before we're dismissed and I will ask brother Will if he can do that for us Turn to Song number 4.2 Song 4.2 Song 4.2 Song 4.2 Song 4.2 Song 4.2 Song 4.2 Song 4.2 We gather together to bless you He shakes and makes his will to reign on the wicked oppressed He's aware of the stress He praises to his name He forgets not his own He guides us our God with us joining or gaining his kingdom divine from the beginning of life we are winning how poor poor we all be thou leader in battle and pray that thou still our defender will be let thine obligation be spake emulation thy name be ever praised O Lord Song 4.2