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

All right first of all I just want to thank Pastor Thompson and his family and of course all of you here at Church Foundation Baptist Church for having me and my daughter out here appreciate the hospitality and the generosity it's very much appreciated Pastor Thompson and of course I wouldn't expect anything less from you as you mentioned earlier we know each other for a long time I actually had to go back and look on YouTube when you said Genesis 6 I was like oh yeah you know that sparked a memory when you came and visited us and you can thank God that that Pastor Thompson chose to stay here instead of moving because you were considering potentially moving at that time right and that was one of the reasons he was traveling around and looking to see since he was unable to find anywhere to go locally and you know thankfully everything worked out with Pastor Jimenez and Verity Baptist Church and being able to start a church up here obviously you all be very thankful for having a church like this here and I'm very happy to come out here and be able to visit your church where you coming out and visiting ours I think it was eight years ago is when that was I looked at YouTube's got the history still the Word of Truth Church hasn't been shut down that's that is no more current update so that's still that's still up there but Genesis 6 was the second Bible study that we had done I started in John then went to Genesis so that was within probably the first year of our of our existence as a church then so anyway it's very good to be here I'm not going to ramble on all day about that and I'll apologize for not going in to say first Corinthians or second Corinthians for those of you doing the Bible challenge you're like I thought I got through all the really long chapters of the New Testament now we're going right back to it dude we'll read 71 verses this morning right but what I am preaching about is it's very important because this story is a long passage in any of the gospels that we look at it in the story of Jesus Christ and his arrest and what I want to preach about this morning and what I want to just get across and hopefully be be edifying as well as exhorting on on your your own spiritual walk with Christ and the time I started following from afar and one of the things we notice here we're going to be looking between Peter and John in this story and in a few other cases that are right around this time as two examples now we know that that the apostle Peter and John are both great men of God like great men of God right and and I wouldn't you know I wouldn't even try to compare myself to one of those men as far as the greatness and their servitude to the Lord and and all the sacrifices that they made and all the great accomplishments that they've had but we're going to be looking at Peter here in a negative light you know there's something that that he did you this is a the passage ends up denying Christ and it's important to understand this so before anyone even tries to turn off the preaching and say oh I don't need to listen to this right you know following from afar there's many many ways you can think about this but this is geared towards believers this is geared towards the saved okay both Peter and John were obviously saved they were apostles so if we can see some of these impacts I'm going to show you some of the negative effects of what happens when you start to follow Christ he was still following Christ but he was following from afar and this is where we pick up here look at verse number 54 in Luke chapter 22 this is right at the arrest of Jesus Christ in the garden of Gethsemane okay the Bible says they took him and of course all the disciples fled everybody forsook Christ in this moment but what happens here it says they took him and led him and brought him into the high priest's house and Peter followed afar off so Peter hangs back right kind of thinking he's away from the danger away from some of the threat he says so I still want to follow I still want to see what's going on but I'm going to follow from way back here Peter followed afar off this is not in here coincidentally or accidentally you know this is here on purpose letting us know that Peter followed afar off because what we're going to see also is that there's another disciple that followed and he followed actually very closely we'll see that when we get to to the contest story in in John but let's keep reading I want to show you some things about here the results of Peter following afar off and this is before we even get into any more applications about this let's look at verse 55 there Bible says that when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were set down together Peter sat down among them so one of the results of Peter following from afar off is now he's just hanging out with and and just associated with these other just some of the we'll see later at some of the the guards and just other people hanging out at the at the high priest's house and not necessarily the crowd that you want to be associated with maybe not the worst in the world I don't know these people but he ends up here he's definitely not side by side with the apostle that let him in because there was another disciple there that actually gained him got him access through the gate to get into this position to even be able to follow from afar off and he just kind of hangs back and he doesn't go he's not hanging out with the guy who's real godly and close to Jesus he's just still keeping his distance and staying far away verse 56 says but a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire and earnestly looked upon him and said this man was also with him so what's happening he's warming himself by the fire he's just trying to trying to get in there and and be incognito and just pretend like he belongs with everyone else there and oh yeah I'm just warming myself with you right and this this lady's just looking at him she's he earnestly looked at him so she's just kind of eyeballing him going like wait a minute aren't you one of his followers though aren't you one of those aren't you one of those people that's that's a Christian aren't you one of those people following Christ I think I've seen you before and of course Peter says you know he denied saying woman I know I'm not and after a little while another psalm and said thou art also of them and Peter said man I am not and about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed saying of a truth this fellow also was with him for he is a Galilean and you know to this point it's taking a whole hour he's still there he wants to see what's going on but he's hanging out with these people trying not to blow his cover as it were and he's and he's saying oh yeah I don't know him I don't know him and then someone else finally approaches him and and says no look you're a Galilean you know basically we could tell by the way you're talking we understand you've you've got to be one of his followers and Peter said man I know not what thou sayest and immediately while he had spake the cock crew and of course this is brings to remembrance what Jesus had said unto him about denying him because earlier he was confidently practically boasting saying like lord I will never leave thee I'm never going to turn my back I'll be there to the death I am I am right there with you I'm going to serve you I'm with you I will never leave you or forsake you I'm going to be right there and why is it sort of an important one because you may have the right attitude right now and hopefully you do right lord willing you've got the attitude that says I am going to serve Christ with all my heart with all my soul with all my being and I am there and nothing will ever come between me and Christ and look that is the right attitude to have that's the same attitude Jesus had but in the span of like less than a day that all changed quickly he went from confidently affirming that he was never going to do anything like that and and I believe sincerely in his heart I mean that's honestly what he was thinking like that would never happen to finding himself in this situation where now he's denying he even knows who Christ is I don't I don't know the guy I don't what do you mean I know I'm not one of his followers I don't know him now Christ had already told him that he was going to do this and at the time he probably blew it off just because he thought that can't apply to me and again another lesson to learn when you hear the word of God when you're seeing what Jesus says we see what God says to you don't blow any of it off as if it can't ever possibly apply to you because then you're not taking heed lest you fall right let him that thing at the stand take heed lest he fall Peter thought he stood we didn't take heed to what Jesus was saying unto him thinking that would never happen to me and then what happened he falls and now you have this this great reminder as soon as he denies in the third time look at verse 61 Bible says the Lord turned and looked upon Peter that in itself should you know that's sending chills up my spine right now just look just thinking about he knew what was going on while Peter Peter's standing over there off in the distance warming himself by the fire Jesus is being accused and has these people harping on him bringing false accusations against him he's got his own thing going on and then as soon as Peter denies him that third time he looks over at him up to that point Peter probably assumed he didn't he there's no way Jesus could even know he's there oh he's the son of God he prophesied this was going to happen of course he knew this was going to happen and he knew is there and then he looks right at him and that stuck in Peter and he said and it says here and Peter remembered the word of the Lord how he had said unto him before the cock crow thou shall deny me thrice and Peter went out and wept bitterly one of the results of following Jesus from afar you say well I want to follow Jesus but I don't really want to get that I don't want to get that crazy I don't want to get that close to Christ I don't want to be that sold out to serving the Lord following a far off you know what you're a lot more likely to come into positions like this where you're going to end up finding yourself weeping bitterly because you fall because you get into sin because you end up denying Christ because you're not rooted down and planted where you need to be where God would have you to be you're just you're kind of dabbling and you've got one foot in the world one foot in the church and you're going yeah I don't really know if this is all really for me I'd rather just kind of follow Jesus afar off well you don't want to end up like Peter in this situation where he goes out and he weeps bitterly I'll tell you what weeping bitterly is if you know I hope that's you've never been through that I've been in there I've been in that shoes before you catch yourself you've you've you've fallen into sin and and you just are so distraught and broken about it that you end up weeping bitterly it's terrible now one other point I want to bring up here because just because we're in this passage and I'm not going to teach much on this but I kind of like bringing this up because there's a lot of people who get confused about um you know Peter denying them three times or deny you know the cock crowing once a cock crowing twice you have these these different accounts between the gospels and in the book of Mark it says you know you'll deny me thrice before the cock crow twice and I'm not going to go in depth on that but I just want to point something out here that might be interesting to you in case you've never seen this before and this is also to point to what we're reading about here as well so in Luke chapter 22 the three denials that we read about the first one's in verse 56 where it says a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire and then the next one Peter responds man I am not and then the third one says man I am not so you know talking about their gender and this is back when you could use pronouns that like were legit right like the real ones so we see here he's denying to a maid and then he's denying to a man he's denying to a man well you know in Mark 14 he denies to a maid then he denies to another maid and then it says they so all I want to point out here is that he denied Christ even more than three times so just something to think about you want to go back go back there's a challenge you do your own study now and compare these back and forth if you've ever kind of wondered about that or had some issues about the how can it be the cock crowing twice the cock crowing once they're all true they're both true and and one of the ways you get there is because Jesus or Peter denied Jesus more than three times he definitely denied him three times and Jesus was making that point to to let him know hey it's going to happen at a certain time but he denied him more than three times now turn if you go to John chapter 18 we're going to see another account of this story John chapter 18 and we're gonna start reading verse number 15 if I was in Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple so we didn't get this contact we didn't get this information in Luke where it just said Peter followed afar off but here we see Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple that disciple was known under the high priest and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest so this other disciple which I'm not going to go in depth and try and approve this to you I believe is apostle John that ends up going in with Jesus so we're going to see the difference here between the apostle John who's staying with you look did he forsake Christ when they came to rest him yes he did they all did but he quickly comes back and you know repents basically and just going you know what no I'm going to stay with Jesus now after he already forsook him he comes back Peter he's kind of going well I'm just going to stay back I'm going to hang back I'm going to follow from afar off and just kind of see how this all plays out now just because I can't help myself let's make an application here because there's a lot of people when bad things happen because what's going on because what's going on here hey everything's going great when Jesus is feeding the five thousand and when Jesus feeds the four thousand when he's healing people and you have all these great positive things going on there's all this excitement about the ministry it's not that hard to follow Jesus it's not that hard to be with him nobody is considering following from afar off in the midst of the excitement everyone wants to be there but but when the government comes in when the governors and the high priests and the people who can actually do some harm to you and cost you to even be associated with this man now all of a sudden it's not quite as popular to be a disciple of Jesus Christ this is the point where it's going to test your faith and test you to see well how do you really want to be close to Christ how close you want to be or would you rather just be real comfortable and follow him from afar off because look at the end of the day you have to realize to this end Christ came to this earth was to be sacrificed and to go through everything that he went through and to be arrested and beaten and spat upon and crucified to that end that's why he came and you know we're supposed to be Christians which means Christ followers we're going to follow Christ that's why Jesus said you know hey take up your cross and follow me you have to expect that the hard times are going to come he demands that we ought to be right there with him he's willing to work with us I mean we should just take that when he says hey get in the yoke with me if he's willing to descend to our level to work with us who in the world do we think we are to say yeah no I'm just I'm gonna I'm gonna hang back here Jesus you know I kind of want to follow you I saw it but but you know man that's a lot of heat that's a lot of pressure you don't understand Jesus you don't understand I've got a family you don't understand I've got this good job you don't understand I've got all these reasons why I can't be in the news you've got all these reasons why I can't be associated with Pastor Thompson or Sure Foundation Baptist Church I mean do you know what they said about the sodomites I mean have you ever heard what he said about about these reprobates I don't know if I could be associated look do you want to follow afar off or do you want to be right there and to think of it if you're going to be right there if you're going to follow closely you're gonna have to expect that there's going to be difficult times the apostles you want to be close to Jesus well you got to be there then and understand when the law comes to arrest him and maybe arrest you and maybe want to put you to death too well how close you want to be John chose to be right there with him Peter chose to follow afar off John gives Peter access he's like no no no hey let let this guy in he's okay let let him in and we allow for that and you know what there's going to be people who aren't as spiritually grown out you can't say the apostle Peter wasn't spiritually grown I mean he was he knew what he was doing he as one of the apostles and spending so much time with Jesus he was grown he was mature but not everyone is and you know we're not going to reject those that want to follow Jesus far hey if you want to follow Jesus you know praise God but what I'm saying is you know get all in yeah it's going to cause you more hardship following afar than it is just being right there with them and just just being sold out just going hey I'm going to go all the way because I'll tell you what you're going to suffer God's going to if you're going to suffer for Christ you're going to suffer for Christ if you're following at all if you want to follow far off though here's the problem is that now you're going to find yourself in condition where not only to be persecuted but now you're going to have like the weeping bitterly part because they both come down on you and you think you can avoid stuff here's the thing at the end of the day you're never going to be able to avoid it you're going to call yourself a follower of Jesus Christ you say you believe the word of God you know like right now things are bad for people who are really outspoken about it and there's a lot of persecution and there's a lot of people who want to destroy you but don't think that by well I'm not going to say those people I'm going to kind of say silent don't think it's not going to come for you too if you truly are a follower of Christ it's going to come to you one day too it may not be today but it's going to come so you know what just decide right now you know I'm going to be right there with Christ and not try to follow from afar off and not just try to be like well I'm just going to go back here and just see how things play out look you're in it you're born again you want to follow Christ at all get right up there and be close to him because here's the other thing you know God offered to be your shield your buckler your defense right if that's your defense against this world how far away do you want to be from that defense I mean you go out in a physical war you go out to a physical battle and he's talking about being your your buckler or your shield I mean that's a physical object that's going to help defend you you're out in warfare you've got the shield you got armor it's going to help protect you well I wouldn't want to have like or like you know you think about Dave and Goliath Goliath had this armor bearer David Jonathan had an armor bearer you know these guys are supposed to help defend while they can go out and be free to attack and you got these guys your defense I don't want my armor bearer just like way over there and I'm way over here I mean look the enemy's right here I need to I need the defense now I need to be close to that defense defender right so you're going to be better served being right up close to Jesus than you are being farther away you got to be ready let's keep reading here in John 18 verse 16 the Bible says but when but Peter stood at the door without then went out that other disciple which was known under the high priest and spake under her that kept the door and brought in Peter then set the damsel that kept the door unto Peter art not thou also one of this man's disciples he saith I am not and notice this here's his damsel this is right at the gate this isn't even when he's gotten to the fire yet and he's warming himself with everyone else this is the damsel first right at the gate as he's getting let in so there's another you know another point but notice he says there's a damsel a damsel or a maid these are young women okay girls you know what happens when you start to try to follow Jesus from afar you lose your boldness I mean come on apostle Peter where's your courage you've got this little lady this damsel coming to you and saying wait aren't you oh no no no not me can you at least have enough boldness to stand up to a damsel and say yes I am I am a follower of Christ and here's the thing he already had the encouragement knowing that John was in there John wasn't pretending to not know Christ he went in with Christ and especially when you have other people there that can help encourage you hey they're already leading the way go and stand with that man go stand next to John John will help you John will encourage you don't go hanging back with the people warming themselves don't go hang out with the bums by the fire right go go over there by by John and be right there for Jesus let's keep reading here verse number 18 the Bible says and the servants and officers stood there who made a fire of coals for it was cold and they warmed themselves and Peter stood with them and warmed himself there he's standing there right with them instead of standing with Jesus he's standing with the people who are warming themselves by the fire let's jump down to verse number 25 the Bible says and Simon Peter stood there and warmed himself they said therefore unto him art thou not also one of his disciples he denied it and said I am not one of the servants of the high priest being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off saith did not I see thee in the garden with him Peter then denied again immediately the cock crew turn if you went to Matthew chapter number 10 Peter who had in his heart to follow afar off not only abandoned Christ as I mentioned before as all the disciples did but he also denied him he even denied knowing him he even denied being associated with him at all which that's even worse you know you run away from Christ you run away from the battle people get scared you know it happens we don't have any hope for the world we don't have people get scared you know it happens we don't have any record of anyone else denying Christ though like the apostle Peter did and here's what the Bible says look at verse number 32 in chapter 10 this is what Jesus Christ said whosoever therefore shall confess me before men him will I confess also before my father which is in heaven but whosoever shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my father which is in heaven now I'll tell you this much you know for a saved person this still applies this isn't talking about just an unsaved person you know be denied hey if you're gonna confess me before men Jesus is gonna confess you before the father right this is for saved people this isn't about losing your salvation but this is talking about the protection of God I was mentioning earlier right so you when you're being obedient when you're being a good child of God look we're all born again right everyone who's a believer in Jesus Christ is born again as a good child as an obedient child as someone who's going to confess the father and confess the son and say you know do the work that's set before you to do Jesus is gonna be looking out for you just as any good child when my daughter is real good and she's obedient she's doing everything that she's supposed to be doing and then she asks she's in trouble she needs help she asks me for anything she comes to me well guess what she's gonna she's gonna be a lot more likely to receive the good the blessing the help when she's being good herself then if she's being completely disobedient I mean imagine one just the the shame and sadness and grief that I would feel as a father if she's like yeah we're hanging out here and she she meets some new new friends and someone says hey isn't that your dad over there like no I don't know who that no that's not my dad no I'm I just came in here by myself I mean it's kind of silly she's 11 years old but you know that would that would one I mean first of all it's going to make me feel terrible I mean what is Peter doing to Jesus right he's just looking he's just thinking about himself he's just worried about his own skin look why are you even there then you're the the whole reason you're trying to follow afar off is because of Jesus and now you're denying him he knew what you were doing which is why he looked at you what a terrible feeling I mean think of a friend family member anyone just turning her back on you like that you know what there's consequences for doing that's what that's what the bible is teaching us with Jesus you look there's consequences okay you want to just just not confess God before man you're gonna deny him well then you know what be prepared to be denied yourself when when the time for the punishment's going to come God's going to say all right hey you remember denying me you're reaping what you've sown turn it to act chapter four I'll read this for you mark 838 the bible says whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his father with the holy angels now what other reason you know people denying Christ it's going to at least exhibit some type of shame associated with Christ right oh I don't want to be associated with that why because you think there's some type of shame associated well shame on you if you think there's any shame associated with Christ or the word of God and especially as you add this in this adulterous and sinful generation I mean if we live if anyone lives in an adulterous sinful generation I think I think we do today I mean the amount of adultery literal adultery that's going on divorce rates everything from people just being super promiscuous and giving themselves over into fornication and now just just increasingly giving themselves over into strange flesh and weird things look this is an adulterous and sinful generation and if you're going to be ashamed of what the word of God says how the word of God is going to is going to expose the wickedness and and expose it for what it is and teach us how we ought to be responding to these things look then shame on you if you're going to be ashamed of the word of God like you're going to you're going to take the values of a wicked adulterous sinful generation over God you're going to call the word of God a shame but that's not well you know what's going to happen the son of man's going to be ashamed of you and when you choose to try to follow from afar just follow all I want to follow I'm just going to be way back here this is where you're going to find yourself in being ashamed of the cause of Christ not confessing Jesus and it's only going to get yourself more damage your proximity to the Lord and the things of God will have a significant impact on your life your proximity how close you are to God following from afar is going to what you know what you're going to lack with that you're going to lack one of your lack wisdom you're going to lack boldness as we saw definitely with the apostle Peter and you're going to lack the fellowship because you want to have the best of both worlds right you want you kind of want to have that fellowship with the world but then the fellowship with with the people of God it's not going to happen you can't serve God and mammon you're not going to be able to enjoy either when you try to have both you're not going to end up with either you're either going to have to go the way of the world completely and just good luck with that or just get closer with God and with his people act four look at verse number 13 this is an observation made by the Pharisees about the some of the disciples of Christ about the apostle Peter about the apostle John right these two men that were kind of comparing this morning of with their closeness to Christ at this particular time the Bible says verse 13 now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men they marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus so the result of their being with Christ being close to Christ being right there with him even though they were unlearned and ignorant men because they were blue-collar workers they were fishermen you know they didn't have the same education that the Pharisees had but you know what when you get close to God and they were with Christ their knowledge increased tremendously their wisdom increased being taught of God being taught by the word of God getting true understanding true wisdom truth given to them now all of a sudden that helps give them the boldness that they need to be able to preach the word of God with confidence and with power why because they were close to Christ that's what you get when you get close to Christ but when you are far off you're going to be lacking those things you won't have the confidence you won't have that boldness and you're going to start losing that wisdom that's right we need to bridge the gap how close are you and just take a stock in your own life how close you feel like you are to Christ just think about that where are you where are you in your walk how far how far away are you from following Christ now we all have work to do no matter where you're at none of us none of us are right there going yep I got my cross I'm you know all these have I kept for my youth up what lack I had right at least hopefully you don't have that attitude we all need to work but where are you at right how are we going to bridge that gap well you know the Bible says you draw nigh unto God he'll draw nigh unto you so you got to get it right in your heart first and foremost but then you gotta you gotta also put in the action right you don't want to be like one of these people that draw nigh to God just with their lips everybody says they want to be close to God everyone who thinks there is a God would say they want to be close to God just like the Pharisees but this is in in Matthew 15 uh verse seven you don't have to turn their Bible says you hypocrites welded as I has prophesied of you saying this people draw nigh unto me with their mouth and honor with me with their lips but their heart is far from me but in vain they do worship me teaching for doctrines and commandments of men there's there's plenty of people that look they'll say all day long oh yeah the Lord we want to serve God but their heart isn't in it they don't really care they don't want to be in it they want to have their cake and eat it too they like being able to to do the things that they do that's why Jesus warned them and said hey look you know the things that the Pharisees teach you that do and observe but but don't do after them because they're hypocrites they're not even gonna lift up their finger and do any of that work their love isn't real they don't have a real love for God they want to say all these great things but it's not real and God knows your heart and he's gonna know if you're fake so where is getting close to God start with it starts with your heart starts with your heart you want to draw an eye on Jesus get your heart right don't just say you want to do it get your heart in it now there are other things that you can do just if you just think about it how are we going to get closer to God well how about you can start by hearing more from him listening to him how am I going to listen to God let me introduce you to the word of God I'm not hearing voices you don't have to know I'm glad good I don't want you to hear voices I hope you're not hearing voices we have this voice right here the voice of the shepherd okay the word of God this is how you're going to hear from God you know how you're not going to hear from God all right let's go uh you want to catch a football game today you want to go out and hang out we'll go hang out with our buds we'll go do something do this do that and you don't actually open it and start reading it you need to hear from God you want to get close to God start listening to him to get the instruction that he's trying to give you he's already given us how about you communicate with him more how do we do that through prayer you speak to God you want to yeah I mean it just makes sense you want to get close to anyone you want to have a good relationship with someone how about good communication right you want to get closer to your spouse well that can start by having good communication listen to what they're saying and speak to them right you have that that two-way street there it it's so basic and elementary and simple but you know you have a lot of Christians out there that'll say oh yeah it's all about the relationship and everything else it's like when's the last time you've read the bible you think you have this great relationship with God you're not hearing a word he says because you've made up this idea of God in your mind and you're not hearing from him at all and you think everything's great and it's not you need to hear from him you need to talk to him how about getting in church getting among God's people now getting among God's people is going to help you get close to Christ turn to Hebrews chapter 10 but you say well getting you know I want to I just like what follow from afar I like just watching online here we go you ready for the comments to come in you don't understand look you need to get in a good church Peter and James and John all the disciples they didn't virtually follow Christ they didn't like his Facebook page and subscribe to his channel they were like literally physically there with him doing the work that's how you're a disciple of Christ okay you may want to learn and absorb and stuff look but you need to get in the house of God the pillar and ground of the truth you need it and if you don't have anything near you what are you going to do about it what is your desire to get close to Christ I mean at the end of the day that's you have to decide that for yourself let me put it this way because this should be a no-brainer should be right you think about it if we were to know of Jesus Christ coming back to this I mean this is obviously not even going to happen but just like Jesus being here right now walk around you were to hear about it and it's not an anti-Christ you know but we see him descend you know that's how you're coming to Christ but for whatever reason it's not the rapture and you know he's here like like you say man I really want to be by Christ but you know I'm over here and he's over there what are you going to do about that like what are you going to go make this yeah you're going to go to him right or you should be like well maybe I'll just wait around and maybe he'll come over here as he travels around and hopefully I'll get to see him well how bad do you want to get close to Christ right now look church is the body of Christ the local churches now if you don't have a congregation a body of born-again baptized believers to go to you're not part of an about about you we're not Catholics and we don't believe in the Catholic church amen pastor Thompson I'm coming into your church and saying this but I think I'm pretty safe and saying this we don't believe in the holy Catholic church okay we don't believe in the apostles creed saying we believe in the holy Catholic church right no I was forced to memorize that as a kid no it's not sticking with it's not a universal church okay you're not just part you're like well I'm just part of the church because I'm saved out here in the middle of nowhere and I just have no one to congregate with well look you know what you're in sin then now in the old testament here's what the bible says you're in Hebrews chapter 10 say there I was in Exodus 33 verse 7 and Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it without the camp afar off from the camp and called it the tabernacle the congregation and it came to pass that everyone which sought the lord went out under the tabernacle the congregation which was without the camp now Moses could have made it real simple and just said hey you're gonna have a tabernacle congregation right within the camp and let's just make it easier than everybody can just get here and then you can wake up like two minutes before church you just get out there and just be like hey we're right right around the corner we got it right here they specifically put it outside the camp and say you know what no you want to go follow the lord you have to go over there it's not just right outside your front door you have to go and make a point and say I'm going to go to the congregation of the tabernacle right off the bat that's going to you know it's going to weed some people out because God isn't just interested in just well everyone welcome look God wants as many people to be saved and come and attend church as possible it's going to be done his way Deuteronomy 12 5 and it's not just any building that calls itself a church or any group of people that call themselves a church that's that's where you just go through oh what's the closest one to me I mean it amazes me sometimes people ask like literally asking me and I and you know my name isn't out there that much the only way people are going to find out about me at all pretty much is going to be if you've heard anything about new IFB so it's just like people are going hey can you recommend a good church in my area and it's like they're like 20 minutes away from our church like no yeah how about stronghold papa's church right that's what I can recommend to you but it's this mindset of thinking that like well I need I mean that's too far right well hey if you if you need transportation we'll help you out with that and honestly I mean that because I mean some people may not have the transportation look if there's if there's something we can do to help you out with that of course but that's not the mindset of most people it's just laziness it's just what is it going to cost it's just well that's just too much for me I don't want to do that well how close do you want to be to the truth how close do you want to be to serving the Lord because I tell you what when you get in the right church when you get in a good church you're going to have plenty of opportunity to serve God and your spiritual life is going to grow tremendously just by being in the right church what is that worth to you and when your spiritual life is growing guess what you're getting closer to Jesus when you're getting challenged to read your bible more to go out and preach the gospel to to live a sanctified holy separated life getting sin out of your life look all these things are going to bring you closer to Christ and if you really want to get close to Christ well why don't you join yourself among a group of people who feel the same way that can encourage you and edify you and love you and help you to get closer to God is it worth the sacrifice because not every building not every church is equal the bible says in Deuteronomy 12 5 but unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there even unto his habitation shall ye seek and thither thou shalt come I guarantee you during the these old testament times there was people that there were people that were closer that were constructing places of worship to go and and assemble themselves together throughout all of the land of Israel there are people who weren't true followers of the Lord there are plenty of people out there that had their own religion and they're probably saying you know what let's make it easier how about Dan and Beersheba you know I'm talking about Jeroboam the son of Nebat hey let's make it easier on you don't go down to Jerusalem go over here right there's always people around here that's going to do that oh this could be more convenient oh look it's kind of the same right it's basically the same it's still the Lord I mean it's a calf but you know that's we're just symbolizing who the Lord is we hey we still have sacrifices we have an altar they're not all equal you go to the place that God has chosen out you find churches local churches you say hey is this a candlestick in God's eyes is this a church that's bringing forth light is this a church that's doing the work of God does God recognize this as a church because if not then that's not the place that God has chosen out for a name for himself in the new testament churches and if you don't have all those places around you maybe you should see look God's the one that builds the church God as adds members to the church as he sees fit everybody has a function everyone has a job God has work for every single one of you he's added his church members and you have different talents and skills and abilities that God has given for you to help the whole body that meets together to function properly you've got fingers and toes and knees and elbows and you know all these different parts of the body and God places members as he sees fit and God has a job I believe for every single believer every person in this world saved and unsaved alike the unsaved need to get saved because God's got a job for them and to save God's already got a job for you too well you know we're going to start getting in a body Hebrews chapter 10 verse number 24 the bible says and let us consider one another to provoke with love and to good works church is so much more than just preaching this is why I discourage the why just I'm just going to listen on online I'm just going to watch YouTube it's more it's more than just a sermon it's it there's it's more than even just listening to the even if you were to sing at home and stuff look I'm all for the ability and and I thank God that we live in a time where you could you could still have this it's a great extra thing to have it's great if you're ill if you're sick you're at home I mean today literally my family some of my children are sick and my wife's at home with them but thank God she's able to get something she's able to tune in hey thank God we're able to reach some people with these messages and get the message out there and have kind of a bigger podium to go and get a message out praise the Lord but that's not where it should stop with you and and settle for being satisfied with calling this church by watching church online or on your tv set that's not church you can get some benefit from it you get some value from it but it's not being in church my wife was not in church this morning but she did listen to it she gained something I'm sure from listening but she was not in church now she didn't forsake it but there's a big difference right a big difference the bible says in Hebrews 10 24 let's read it again let us consider one another to provoke and love because that's what you get people loving you and provoking you into good works and helping you encouraging you and strengthening you and being there for you as a church family because we're all brothers and sisters in Christ here but then verse 25 says not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together let us consider one another so we can program a good love and good words and not forsake the assembling of ourselves you know what the assembly is the church not forsaking the church not forsaking the assembly well what does it mean to forsake look you determine that for yourself is it going all three services every week not going missing one service out of a whole month no I mean I think that's kind of ridiculous but here's the thing people want to say well what is it then is it just going once a month well what about six times a year well what about once a year look how close do you want to be do you want to find that line of where you're in sin of forsaking the assembly or do you just want to make sure that you don't even have to think about that because as the bible says here in verse 25 but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching do we see the day of Christ approaching I mean is that the is anyone going to say no no I don't think it's day of Christ no it's not like getting like Sodom and Gomorrah it's not like the days of note look the day is approaching the day is approaching the bible says we need to not forsake the assembly we need to be in the assembly so much the more as we see the day approaching it's needful for us we need to be here one more point well one more page sorry is anyone here familiar with my preaching at all okay you weren't expecting a short sermon were you sorry good I'm glad I'm glad we're on the same page it's never my intent to go very long I'll just let you know that but it just always seems to happen that way just open up the bible and it happens so we want to get close we want to get close we want to serve God afar obviously being in church is extremely important hearing from God praying to God well how about winning other people to Christ how about loving other people you want to be close to Christ well what did Christ do he came not to be served but to serve not to be ministered unto but to minister that was his role that was his job that's our job too we're here to serve others we're here to serve people so you want to be more Christ-like you want to get close to Christ be more like him and his mission and what he was called to do and what he's already commanded us to do in the great commission Jesus is the one that said follow me and I will make you fishers of men follow me well how close are you following well are you a fisher of men who he said follow me and I will make you fishers of men but you're not a fisher of men let's see is Jesus wrong did he forget to say something else did he leave something out or do we actually have his thought here and what he's what he's teaching saying follow me and I'll make you fishers of men he actually meant that and that's real and that's true huh yeah I'll let you chew on that one for a while he also said this in Matthew 12 30 he that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad how close are you going to follow Jesus Christ let's close with this turn back if you would the Gospel of John go to John chapter 13 I just want to show you the benefits of being close okay we saw what happened to the Apostle Peter when he chose to follow Jesus afar off it didn't end well now thankfully he was able to get back on the horse as it were get back right with God get back in the service of God and continue to do many great things for God he got back close again he backslid he stumbled he fell and then got right back up again and continued to serve that's another amazing thing about the Lord his graciousness long-suffering mercy look he gives us space to be able to repent and be able to say okay you know what God I'm sorry I'm not going to do it anymore and and to the best of my knowledge Apostle Peter just lived out the rest of his days just serving the Lord faithfully never denying him ever again okay it happened but here's the thing we're looking out so it doesn't happen to us well how did it happen he started following afar off he lost that proximity he really gained you know fell back back slid away from the Lord and then he had this big gap in between him and God now let's look at the the benefits of the one who didn't the one who got right back there close immediately the Apostle John John is the one who had more things revealed unto him look at John 13 verse 23 now there was leaning on Jesus bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved this is Apostle John he's so close to Jesus he's right up there like has physical contact he's leaning on his bosom like he's just right up there with him that's close okay it's being close with Christ and it says uh Simon Peter therefore beckoned him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake this is when Jesus said that one of them's gonna betray him right at the at the last supper they're there Jesus says one of them's gonna betray him and Peter's like hey John ask him ask him who is it why is he asking why is he asking himself because John is the closest one John is right there he's the one that's going to get the inside information since he's so close look don't you want to be the one that's that close to Christ I do I want to be so close that people could be looking to you to be like hey what is it that Christ wants me to what is it that Christ is talking about what you know he's looking to him for information for wisdom for guidance for understanding hey hey ask him he'll answer you why because you're close to him I want to be that person he then lying on Jesus breast said unto him Lord who is it and Jesus tells him Jesus answered he it is to whom I shall give us up when I have dipped it and when he had dipped us up he gave it to Judas Iscariot the son of Simon so John is close to Christ he asks and Jesus answers now John might not have fully understood that I don't know I mean you could look at this and they still they what the bible says that they didn't understand why he said that thou doest do quickly I don't necessarily think though that John didn't know that it was Judas because it literally happened he didn't know to what intent Jesus spake unto him that thou doest do quickly but whether he understood it or not Jesus told him Jesus said hey look this is who it is why did he answer him because he asked because he was close he revealed it unto him but not only in this case I mean think about this John is the one that received the revelation the revelation of Jesus Christ the last book of the bible the revelation of Saint John the divine right if you read it and depending on what titles your your bible say but look it the it was revealed unto John the things that are going to happen okay he he had this this great blessing of wisdom you've got the book of John you've got first second and third John those epistles and you've got the book of revelation and tons of information and wisdom given to John why as a result of him being close to Jesus not only did he have that wisdom you know it also was given on him great honor and responsibility turn your view to John chapter 19 John chapter 19 as someone who is beloved of the Lord was close with the Lord this is who Jesus turned to to entrust the safety and welfare of his own mother his physical is earthly mother on this earth what a great honor John 19 verse 25 the bible says now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother sister Mary the wife of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene when Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved he says unto his mother woman behold thy son then say the disciple behold thy mother and from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home Jesus had to choose one person to care for his family after his departure and he chose John John is the one that's called beloved John's the one that leaned on his breast John's the one who he told about Judas Iscariot John's the one who's getting the revelation John's the one that's close to Jesus that's what we want to be last place John 21 because at the end of the day look we we all want to be that apostle John as far as the proximity to Christ being right there with Christ but don't get caught up and don't get caught up on anyone else we compared John and Peter a lot and look as I started off the sermon stating the apostle Peter apostle John I can't compare myself to them I think they're both just amazing awesome you know believers that have done tremendous amounts of work for Christ you know we look at these stories and it's easy to pick apart the apostle Peter right because of what we do but look this was given into us for instruction he's not trying to bash that person be like oh look how horrible Peter was look he did he did sin he was wrong but we want to learn from his mistakes everything that's written in here we're going to take and add more to our wisdom and it's not to look on anyone here and say well John's better than Peter Peter look it's not that's not it at all you're missing the whole point if you're thinking that you're saying so you're saying John's better than Peter no I'm not saying he's better I'm saying he was closer to I'm saying he was closer to Christ I'm not saying he was better okay now look we all have our own walk we all have our own mission we all have our own work to do and as the Bible says you know talking about the body of Christ look don't look at some other member and think oh well I'm not valuable because I'm not the eye and I'm not the the hand or whatever I'm do I've got this job and someone else has that job don't worry about that even the apostle Peter look he knew that John was close to Jesus which is why he even had him ask about Judas about who he was talking about but then we see Peter too I mean he knows all this and when Peter gets his instruction from Jesus Christ he's ended up we'll say well what about this guy well what about John don't worry about John look what Jesus look at John 21 verse 19 the Bible says this spake he signified by what death he should glorify God talking about the apostle Peter Jesus prophesied the death that he was going to have to glorify Christ his mission his end what he was going to end up doing God gave him his instructions Jesus tell him this is what's going to happen to you and when he had spoken this he saith unto him follow me this is last words this is what's going to happen to you follow me then Peter turning about see at the disciple whom Jesus loved following which also leaned on his breast at supper and said Lord which is he that betrayeth thee Peter seeing him saith to Jesus Lord and what shall this man do so now he's just worried about well what's what's John going to do I mean he's the guy that was close to you what Jesus says on him if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee follow thou me you're saying look if I want him to just be alive until I come back again none your business so you're saying none yeah and what shall this man do none yeah none your business follow me right worry about your own work worry about your own self how about you just try getting close to me Peter because Christ can have a close relationship with more than one person it doesn't just have to be the apostle John how about you follow me and you get right up close to me too there's room at Jesus bosom for you to rest your head too Peter and there's room for you so don't worry about getting jealous or envious of someone else and and they're well they're they've got this they're so close to Christ look why don't you just emulate that and say like look I want to be there too and then and then work on your own to get there focus on your work and and what you need to do to get to that point and I say the more people that are that close to Mary are great amen praise the Lord I wish all 12 of the disciples were that close except for Judas you know the 11 in Matthias right you know as everyone there's room there but look you know what are you going to do challenge yourself how close you want to be to Christ you want to try to follow him from afar I don't think it's a good idea get all in dedicate yourself to serving him you know the bible calls the sacrifice of ourselves our reasonable service like that's all of you that's this is what this is what God sees abuses and you know what yeah you just dedicate everything that you have and all that you do to him yeah it's reasonable and it is okay anyone here that's born again tell me how that's not reasonable anyone here who is saved from an eternity in hell tell me how that's not reasonable wait did Christ save your soul and and cleanse you of all of your sins and give you grant you forgiveness and give it to you as a free gift but it's not reasonable just to say I'm going to make any sacrifice on my own to now try to serve you we owe him everything we can never repay him but you know what we could do we could try to love him and and follow him and follow his commandments and do what he said and not and and in no way shy away or back off or be ashamed of his word in this sinful and wicked and adulterous generation that we live in the Christ that bled and died for you don't ever be ashamed of his word ever every single verse of the Bible including every verse of Leviticus every verse of Deuteronomy all of it is God breathed all of it is is from the Lord okay and none of it is bad it is all good and we should stand on every single word as a sure foundation if I were to have a word of prayer dear Lord love you thank you so much for the great gift that you've given us for saving us dear Lord for for cleansing us from our sin dear Lord I pray that you would please help us to to serve you better we all want to be close to you Lord and help us to have the the wisdom understanding as we read from your word as we hear from your word dear God open up your truths to us help us to to have the strength and the courage to keep moving forward even though there is a lot of things going on in our society in the world maybe even in the area dear Lord of people threatening and trying to to get those that follow you to to step back or to not be associated with the word of God dear Lord but I pray that you would please help all of us to stand together and encourage one another to to be strong and to and to worship you and to get as close as possible to you dear Lord we love you it's in Jesus Christ's name we pray these things amen