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The part of the chapter that I want us to be focused on there is John chapter 16 and verse number 19 It says now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him and said unto him Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said a little while and you shall not see me and again a little while And you shall see me Verily verily I say unto you that you shall weep and lament but the world shall rejoice and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy a Woman when she is in travail have sorrow because her hour is come But as soon as she is delivered of a child she remembereth no more the anguished For joy that a man is born into the world and ye now therefore have sorrow But I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice and your joy. No man taketh from you You know as I've been thinking about our church and the brethren over the last few weeks You know missing church for one week. I suppose isn't you know, too unbearable, you know Going without church for two weeks I guess you know, it's manageable But when you start hitting the third week and the fourth week and now we're going into the fifth week Well, we've not been able to gather for church and let me just say, you know I know we're doing online services But I don't consider this church because church is the congregation church is the assembly of the body of Christ together And so I get the blessing of being to serve you, you know with the technology, you know Technically we're not having church are we okay? And so as we've been going through the weeks and we don't we don't want you know The technology to become the norm we want to be able to recognize that this is abnormal. This is unusual Okay We're doing the best with what we have But truly brethren our desire is to be in church to see our brothers and sisters in the Lord You know when you come to church, we're going to be certain people that you get along with better than others Nevertheless, you know the ones that I might have more in common with or those that I might have less in common with I miss all the brethren that make up blessed of Baptist Church and You know, I was thinking about how how I miss the brethren and I was thinking about a passage where you know where do we have a passage where we know that somebody is going to be away and and there's that there's that love and That desire to be together and I was reminded here of Jesus Christ when he was speaking to his disciples And of course, you know, we can't parallel exactly what Christ went through This is Christ speaking about him being arrested being crucified, you know being put to death You know for the three days and three nights that he was but the point being is obviously You know, they love Jesus Christ They saw him obviously as their Messiah his Savior and Christ will be taken away from the brethren and Christ says look when we're separated They're going to have great sorrow. They're going to miss him And so I was thinking about well You know what? We can look at this passage and take the principles from this passage and apply it to how we might be feeling today You know, I miss the brethren I hope that you know people that make up our church can honestly say, you know, I miss my pastor I miss my brethren. I miss my brothers. I miss my sisters in the Lord I miss seeing them every week and singing together with them hearing God's Word together I hope you can truly say that about yourself. And so the title for the sermon this morning is missing the brethren missing the brethren then we can have a look at this passage of what Christ said about the sorrow and the joy and See how we can apply that to our Situation Now if we look at John to the 16 again verse number 19, let's start there. Once again, John 16 19 It says now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him and said unto them Do ye inquire among yourselves of that? I said a little while and ye shall not see me and again a little while and you shall see me And so you can see there that Christ is saying look don't you want to ask me these questions? Why am I saying that there's going to be a period of time where we don't see each other? And if you keep going there in verse number 20 Christ says verily verily I say unto you that ye shall meet a weep and lament but the world shall rejoice and Ye shall be sorrowful But your sorrow shall be turned into joy, but the Bible says here Christ says that ye shall be sorrowful You see when we're separated from the people That we love when we're separated from the brethren that we meet on a regular basis on a weekly basis Maybe multiple times a week, you know You ought to have some level of sorrow like I trust I hope that within yourself you do feel boy I I do miss my brethren, you know, I am sorrowful I wish I could be in the house of God right now Even though I know we need to be obedient to the to the restrictions and the and the lockdowns that are in Sydney at The moment and the reason for this brethren. I'm going to quickly read to you from 1st John chapter 3 You don't need to turn there. But 1st John chapter 3 verse number 10 1st John chapter 3 verse number 10 It says in this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother For this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another And so this is a you know, one of the great commandments, you know, the great commandment was asked of Jesus What is the great and first commandment? And of course he said about love in the Lord your God with all your heart go your mind with all your strength and Then he says but the second is like unto it and that is to love your neighbor And in this sense, we're talking about loving your brother as yourselves And this is one of the great things that God expects from us You know when we look at all the things that God asks us to do as Christians One of the great commandments is to love the Brethren and if you're saved and you have that new man in you Then that new man will naturally maybe not the old man Maybe not the flesh but the new man will naturally love the children of God. Your new man will naturally love Your brothers and sisters in the Lord. And so the first point that I have for you brethren Point number one is that sorrow is a natural response Sorrow is a natural response, you know, if you're feeling sad you're feeling maybe a little bit lonely you miss church You miss the Brethren. Let me just say that's a natural response. It's a normal response In fact, I'd be concerned if you had no sorrow at all Like I'd be concerned if you're like woo-hoo no church, right five weeks. No church. Yeah, great You know then boy, what are you manifesting? Are you manifesting that you're a child of God or maybe Potentially manifesting that you're a devil Okay, or a child of the devil and I trust that no one's like that in church But my point being Brethren is that this is a definitely a natural response. We ought to desire to be with the Brethren Okay, we may not be a family in the biological sense But we are the family of God. We're brothers and sisters, you know We use these titles brothers and sisters because we really are a family. That's where it comes from. We're a brother You know, we don't have the same blood in our veins But we've been saved by the same blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed for us And so what I'll get you to do. Can you please stay there in John chapter 16? Stay there in John chapter 16 and please turn to 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 please and verse number 17 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse number 17 What we have in some of the epistles many times as you know Paul, he was just one man He would travel from city to city from place to place Preaching the gospel establishing churches and then because he was one man he would have to write letters to churches because he couldn't always be there and Paul many times in his epistles speaks about how much he misses the Brethren how how sorrowful he is to not be there in the presence of the Brethren and Again, you know, we see that in Paul and we know that is a natural response But notice there in 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 verse number 17 The Bible reads, but we brethren being taken from you for a short time in presence. So he's saying look I'm not present with you. I'm away from you not in hearts. He says Endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire and Brethren you know that that sorrow that we may have or not been in church and and not seen our brethren We know that this is something that we need to understand as Christians that we ought to have a great desire To see the Brethren Paul says look. I wish I was in your presence You know, I want to endeavor the more to be out there with you abundantly I want to be in your presence and this is a good response that the sorrow the sadness of not being together And he says that he has a great desire a great desire to be with the Brethren But I want you to notice verse number 18 now We know that the reason we can't be gathered together is because of this virus Whatever you think of this virus is insignificant to me whether you think it's a deadly killer Whether you think it's the most contagious thing in the world or whether you think it's just the hoax or whether you think it's just A little flu with no big ramifications compared to other flus as far as I'm concerned I don't care about it but one thing that we are facing are the government restrictions and lockdowns that we deal with and That's what I'm basing my judgments on that's what I'm basing my decisions on and you know, we may call this I do believe you know what we're seeing worldwide is the judgment of God, you know And the world is being judged but also just as a natural consequence Christians are also facing the same consequences than churches But I want you to notice verse number 18 in this passage There can be other reasons and maybe it applies even today Okay, because when God passes judgment he can use wicked governments like we see when we're going for Jeremiah We can use the Babylonians to judge, you know a wicked government a wicked nation judging another wicked nation He could use that sometimes God uses the devil himself and if you look at verse number 18 It says where for we would have come on come unto you even I Paul once and again But Satan hindered us But Satan hindered us you see it is Satan's desire to have the brethren separated It is Satan's desire that we would not be able to come together collectively and worship in a church But once again keep in mind that you know, some people don't understand the working of Satan's They think like the world is like this yin-yang, you know, you've got God one side That's 50% good and then you got Satan on the other side, you know equally in In control equally in power and his 50% bad and you've got this yin-yang battle in play That's not the case at all. You know, God just has to say the word and he can destroy Satan immediately Okay, God says the word in the millennium and Satan is bound for a thousand years There's nothing Satan can do in the power of God many times God will allow Satan to carry the plan forward You know the wicked plan We know that one day the Antichrist is going to raise be raised in the scene Satan's going to give the dragon's going to give the power unto the Antichrist these things have been prophesied to us by God and God is going to allow that to be the case to Then show his full wrath and judgment upon this wicked world But I want you to understand that even if we classify what we're seeing today as God's judgment That doesn't mean that Satan's not busy. I believe Satan is extremely busy, you know trying to bring forth his plans, you know to Eventually bring forth his desired Kingdom and his desired Antichrist and again I don't know when that's going to happen could be a long way from now But still even days of Paul when he wrote second Thessalonians He said that the mystery of iniquity doth already work. It was already in plan It was already taking place in the time of Paul and if it was taking place in time Paul It's still taking place today Okay, and slowly as as time develops we've seen further layers of the devil's plan come together But you know, we shouldn't be worried about that because all it takes is for Christ to come on his white horse And he destroys the whole kingdom straight away. It's not a big deal Okay So don't overestimate Satan's power many times God would just allow Satan to carry out his wicked plans To prepare for God's wrath and judgment to come upon this wicked world. Okay, but nevertheless Satan is busy Okay. Now, can you please turn to Romans chapter 1 turn to Romans chapter 1 verse number 11? Romans chapter 1 and verse number 11 Romans chapter 1 verse number 11 I just want to show you another passage where Paul is desiring to be with the brethren. He misses the brethren He's sorrowful that he can't be together with them. It says there in verse number 11 For I long to see you and brethren I long to see you For I long to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift To the end ye may be established That is that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me Brethren, why is it that we desire to be in church? Yes to come and hear God's Word preached to be fed God's Word Absolutely to sing God praises and to praise him to worship him. Absolutely But also verse number 12 said that is that I may be comforted together with you You see Paul didn't know he was a leader in the church. He established these churches His desire was to be in church. So he could be comforted with the brethren and that's what it is brethren You know, we live in a wicked world and church is a refuge church is a place where things can be normal Okay, we don't have to face all the propaganda that is being publicized in this world We don't have to think about all the deaths and diseases and the works of Satan, you know We can come to the house of God and comfort one another be like we've like-minded brethren worship God and just have some Normality in life and to prepare us to go back into the world, you know to do our works to do our jobs to do it to live our life and be engaged and understand what God's Word expects from us and So you can see that Paul many times longs to be with the brethren and again I hope that's your desire. But point number one brethren is that sorrow is a natural response. I hope you feel sorrow I hope you feel sorrow that you can't be together with brethren in the house of the Lord Now stay there in Romans chapter 1 verse 11. Can you please go up to verse number 9? Same chapter Romans chapter 1 verse number 9 because this brings us to our second point Okay, the second point, you know of this sermon and if you look at verse number 9 Because Paul was away from the brethren. This is what he does. This is these are his actions and These ought to be our actions Okay, verse number 9 it says for God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son That without see sin look at this without see sin. I make mention of you always in my prayers Making requests if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you So notice that even though Paul desires and he wants to be with his with the brethren he wants to be at church Notice what he does when he can't be together with a brethren. What does it do? He's laboring in prayer He's remembering the Brethren in prayer Continually and so brethren point number two for the sermon this morning is remember each other in prayer You know, we haven't seen each other face to face, you know, we don't have the companionship right now, right? This is our fifth week now, but you know what we can remember each other We can remember each other's face If we just go before God and bring each name each family that makes up blessed about this church in prayer And I promise you this if you start bringing each individual person each family in prayer before God It's going to be like you're together It's like we're together because we're bringing up the good memories that we have of one another, you know We're concerned about the different challenges that we go through We can rejoice with the great successes that we see with the Brethren. Let's remember each other in prayer I know we have the chat group. I know we have whatsapp and we have that chat group, whatever But Brethren that doesn't replace prayer going to God remembering each other in prayer because we're all praying to the same Lord God Okay, and it's God that's keeping us united as a body even though we're currently separated Okay, not only did he pray for the Brethren, but notice what he said in verse number 10 making requests So when we go to God in prayer, we're making requests to God right making requests He says by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you So we ought to be asking for God's will for this church and asking God God our desire our request Is that we can be in the house of God together? And so Lord, can you please change the hearts of the politicians? Can you please put an end to this covert whatever, you know? Dilemma that that we're facing in this world so we can be gathered together as a church And so we need to be going to God not just praying for the Brethren not bringing just in remembrance of Brethren But asking God God, can you please open the doors so we can come together in church? And I believe if we as a church collectively are making those prayers Continually, then the doors are going to be opened up sooner for us to be once again in the house of God worshiping together with a Brethren. So point number two Brethren was remember each other in prayer Can you please take your Bibles and go to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1 and verse number 3 Colossians chapter 1 verse number 3 Colossians chapter 1 verse number 3 reads We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you It's the same thing, right? Paul says that he prayed continually for the Romans Now to the Colossian Church he's praying always for you Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have to all the saints Now drop down to verse number 9 Verse number 9 For this cause we also So remember it says there Sorry in verse number 4 it says For we heard of your faith and of the love that you have for all the saints Because it's love in the saints, it's love in the Brethren That causes us to go before God in prayer And so when we get to verse number 9 It says for this cause we also So for the love that the church had toward the Brethren For this cause we also since the day we heard it Do not cease to pray for you And to desire that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will In all wisdom and spiritual understanding So when we go before God and we pray for one another What should we be praying for? That we increase in spiritual wisdom and understanding Okay? You say well we can't have church we can't be gathered together Yeah but you know what it's important that even though we can't have church right now It's still important that we gain God's wisdom and spiritual understanding That we continue growing in our Christian life We can't make the excuse Brethren and say well we don't have church Therefore you know I'm not going to grow spiritually Or therefore I'm going to start backsliding I'm going to start living out my wicked sinful life Because I don't have church I'll replace church with something else Brethren we ought to be praying because this is difficult times When people are out of church it's easy to become a backslider It's easy to get back into your old sins So we need to remember to pray for one another That we continue to grow in wisdom and understanding Verse number 10 That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing Being fruitful in every good work And increasing in the knowledge of God Strengthen with all might According to his glorious power Unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness That's hard isn't it? So I ought to be going in prayer And I'll mention brother Tim because brother Tim's here I ought to be going to the Lord Lord can you please work in brother Tim's life You know I know that he's facing these lockdowns These restrictions I know he loves to come to church and to mingle with the brethren And Lord you know he's unfortunately you know in his situation You know he lives with a flatmate and not his family And so maybe there's some loneliness there Lord But Lord I pray that brother Tim or whoever it is that we're praying for That he would endure this with all patience and long suffering Because brethren during this lockdown we need the patience We need long suffering The reason we get agitated And we want to get out there and protest and make a noise Is because we're struggling with the patience We're struggling with long suffering But not only should we pray for people to be patient and long suffering It says that with joyfulness Lord can you make brother so-and-so, sister so-and-so happy during lockdown Can you please show them your presence Can you show them your love Can you show them your comfort So they would rejoice even during these lockdown periods Lord I pray that the brethren can rejoice even though we can't have church Lord I pray that the brethren will rejoice That they can't have church right now So they understand and they value how important it is When we are gathered together they would not take it for granted And so brethren we ought to be praying for one another Point number one brethren was sorrow is a natural response Number two remember each other in prayer Remember to pray for one another continually I need your prayers and you need our prayers We need to be praying for one another You know if we're just praying for ourselves Like if everybody is just praying for themselves I'm just praying for my own needs not for the needs of others And you're just praying for your own needs and needs for others Well then there's only one person praying for you that's yourself But if all of us in our church remember to pray for every single person Every individual every single family Then how many people are actually praying for you You know how much more would God hear the words of you know collectively Of blessed about this church if we're going before God praying for the brethren Praying that we'd be strengthened My hope is that when we can get back in church when we can get back together That we're even stronger spiritually than we've ever been before That we're even wiser than we've ever been before That we have greater patience than we've ever had before And that we have greater joy than we've ever had before But that can only come if we're praying for one another Alright now we did see earlier in the book of Romans How one thing that might be restricting us from coming together In the house of God is the working of Satan We saw that Paul was hindered by Satan to come and meet the brethren So can I get you to please turn to 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 8 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 8 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 8 We are going to come back to John 16 if you still have a finger there But let's go to 1 Peter chapter 5 verse number 8 Let's just remind ourselves that Satan is on the loose Satan does desire to destroy God's people Not only does he hate God's people but he hates people in general He hates God's creation So the third point that I have for you brethren is what we find here in 1 Peter 5a It says be sober and vigilant Because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion Walketh about seeking whom he may devour Whom resists steadfast in the faith Knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world So the third point that I have for you brethren Is stay sober and vigilant Stay sober and vigilant, why? Because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion Walketh about seeking whom he may devour You see when we're without church and we're missing the brethren As I said it's easy to get backslidden It's easy to become weak in the faith And Satan as a roaring lion that's what he desires He'll see the Christian who's getting weaker and weaker in their faith And then he'll go on the attack He sees the weak Christian and then he'll take his advantage We need to be sober, stay sober and vigilant Sober means that we're aware of the situation We're taking things seriously We know that we live in a wicked world We know that we're made of flesh and blood We know we have a sinful nature We know how easy it is for us to fall into our old habits, our old sins And to be vigilant as well To be watchful, be prepared for any attacks that might come Maybe from the devil or maybe just from our own wicked heart Being aware, being steadfast And understand what is happening in this world As I said, I have no doubt the devil is bringing forth his plans further Furthering his plans To bring him ultimately his desired kingdom on this earth But I want you to remember one thing This is not our world I need to just constantly bring this to our attention You know we've recently seen the protests in Sydney, Melbourne And I don't know where other places there's been ones I think in most major cities in Australia there's been protests And you might ask me, Pastor, are you for or against those protests? And you know the honest answer is neither Neither Now if you said to me, well are you for lockdowns or are you anti-lockdowns? Well obviously I would favour the anti-lockdowns My preference is that we would just deal with this virus Allow herd immunity, let this virus go rampant like we do any other disease Any other virus And we're all going to die one day We can't stop death, it's a natural part of life But from what I'm seeing the recovery rate of this virus is very high So as far as I'm concerned I think the lockdowns are an overreaction But at the same time the reason people desire to go out and protest and fight these things Even though I side with their argument more so You need to remember that many of these people Obviously the majority are unsaved people This is their life They look at the 70 years, they look at the 80 years they have of life And they say, well look I'm losing one year of my life I'm losing two years, three years potentially Maybe four years of my life And I can understand the desire to fight I can understand the desire to protest Because this is all they have This is their world They want it to be well, they want it to be well with them But brethren listen I don't care This is not my world I'm going to be back here for a thousand years And I'm going to be ruling and reigning with Christ And I'm going to have the world exactly the way I want it That's what I'm looking for This is just the world As far as I'm concerned let them fight, let them argue Let all the turmoil of the world go Whatever situation I find myself in in this world I know that I'm not of this world I know I'm of heaven I know where I'm going when I die And I know when I'm coming back I'm going to come back with Christ And we're going to rule and reign with him for a thousand years And we're going to have the world exactly how we want But if you can please turn to John chapter 17 Turn to John chapter 17 I'm saying stay sober and vigilant Don't get carried away with all the arguments Whatever side your opinion is brethren Don't get caught up, don't get entangled with the affairs of this world We are looking forward to a world to come You go to John chapter 17 I'm going to read to you from Matthew 10 16 Matthew 10 16 Jesus Christ says Jesus Christ says Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves That's what we are brethren You know I laugh every time someone says to me You know you're a sheeple Oh look at all these sheeples Look at them they're just obeying the government Yeah I'm a sheeple That's what God says That's what Christ says Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves But then he says this Be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves So just because the Christian is a sheeple Yes that's what we are brethren I'm sorry to say that Just wear it with a badge of honour Christ was the sheep He was the lamb He offered himself to be a sacrifice for all mankind He laid down his life Will you be prepared to do the same To lay down your life You know what As Christians we're just sheep amongst a pack of wolves And yes our government is a pack of wolves But you know what Those protesting on the streets I guarantee you there's a bunch of pack of wolves right there as well Whatever side you're on You're going to be eaten alive Because you're not of this world But we need to be wise as serpents We ought not to be ignorant We ought to be aware of the arguments We ought to be aware of the positions Be stable minded Be sober Be vigilant Be aware But at the same time Don't stop being a sheep That's what you're commanded to be I'll read to you Romans 8.36 Romans 8.36 It says As it is written For thy sake we are killed all the day long We are counted as sheep for the slaughter That's what we are in this world brethren We're sheep counted for the slaughter Are you willing to accept that And I tell you this If you accept that If you say you know what I'm just a sheep amongst a pack of wolves on this earth And that's how it is You're going to be a lot happier Okay Because otherwise you're going to desire to be the wolf yourself You're going to desire to be the serpent yourself And be on the attack And be concerned about the affairs of this earth You know these 70, 80 years of life that you live Listen be focused on the thousand years to come Be focused on the new heavens and the new earth to come That's where your focus ought to be After those words are written there About being sheep for the slaughter It says in verse number 37 Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors Through him that loved us So this is the spiritual reality You know the physical reality we're sheep Okay But the spiritual reality is that we're more than conquerors As I told you We're kings and priests We're going to rule with Christ We're going to be the government We're going to be the royal family We're going to be in charge We're going to judge the wicked on this earth for a thousand years So don't worry brethren You know we're just passing through We're sojourners on this earth Don't be overwhelmed with this world Keep your focus on the Lord Keep your focus in the current situation we're in Whether we have all the freedoms we desire Or whether we're bound and we're locked up for the rest of our lives Who cares? Who cares we're sheep counted for the slaughter But we're more than conquerors in Christ Okay And now you're in John chapter 17 verse number 14 Let me just remind you of this passage John 17 14 Jesus Christ says I have given them thy word And the world hath hated them Why does the world hate us? Because they are not of the world Even as I am not of the world Now brethren we have a government that's trying to force vaccinations Okay Obviously I'm against that Okay But let me tell you something If we had a government that was anti-vax You know yeah it would be better I agree But you know what They would still hate us Okay It doesn't matter The unbelieving wicked world They hate Jesus Christ And they hate Christ's people Okay They hate Christians They hate the preaching of God's word It doesn't matter who's in power The world hates Jesus Christ And you need to learn this You need to accept this Yes there are people that might have our better interest in mind But they're still going to hate Christians Yes you might agree with the protest going on I actually hope they succeed I hope the protest Take down the wicked government And take down all the lockdowns and restrictions But at the same time Even if all those people were in power And I stand behind the pulpit preaching God's word They're still going to hate what we're preaching behind the pulpit It's not going to change Okay You're not of this world What else does Christ say? Verse number 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world But that thou shouldest keep them from the evil They are not of the world Even as I am not of the world Now brethren do you think If Christ was walking this earth right now Do you think he would be in agreement with the lockdowns? You'd probably say no I agree Do you think he'd be out there protesting though? If he was in Sydney right now If he was out there yesterday Do you think he'd be out there protesting? No he wouldn't be Okay You know what He's not of this world And if Christ would not be of this world then neither should we be Let's not be overly concerned or worried You know Stop being so focused on this earthly life that we have right now You know let's do the best with what we have Okay We're in lockdown God knows we're in lockdown So let's do the best we can with the current situation we're in Okay And let's keep our focus on eternity Keep our focus on when we return back to this earth that thousand years Brethren at that point we are in charge of the whole world We're going to be judging the entire world Stay sober and vigilant Don't get carried away with all the dramas that's going on in the world today Back to John 16 please John 16 21 John 16 verse number 21 We're going back to obviously Christ saying how he's going to be separated from the brethren And that we're going to have great sorrow But John 16 verse 21 says Jesus Christ uses this analogy It says a woman when she is in travail have sorrow That's her going through her labour pains Because her hour is come But as soon as she is delivered of the child She remembereth no more the anguish For joy that a man is born into the world And I've seen that many times with my wife Right the anguish, the sorrow, the pain of delivering the child But as soon as that child is born She's got the greatest smile on her face I'm still in sorrow The husband that watched the whole thing They're still stressed out You know but mum she's got a big smile on her face She's been able to deliver that child into the world And the point here brethren The fourth point that I have for you Is you have to let sorrow do its work I know we would rather not sorrow I know we would rather not have the situation where we're missing the brethren But because we are facing that sorrow We are dealing it We'll let sorrow do its work There's a purpose behind sorrow There's a purpose behind pain Labor pains and difficulties There's a purpose behind Missing our brethren And for the woman giving birth What was her purpose? Well sorrow The pain, the labor pains It helps the woman focus on what's most important That's to deliver that child The woman pays attention to the sorrow The way her body's reacting So she knows when to push She knows when it's time to deliver that child If she pays attention to the sorrows of her body When she's going through labor She's not worried about what's on television When she's in labor She's not worried about what she's going to prepare for dinner the next day When she's in sorrow When she's bringing forth the child All her focus and attention is on bringing forth this child That's the purpose of sorrow Sorrow has a job to do And we need to let sorrow do its work Brethren if you miss the brethren If you miss church Then let it do its job You know what it's helping us do? It's helping us focus on the importance of church Helping us focus on the love that we ought to have for the brethren Maybe if we didn't go through this time And we're just constantly in church Maybe we wouldn't be appreciating church for what it is We wouldn't be appreciating the brethren that we have together Maybe we need to allow the sorrow to do its work So we value church You know I don't know what people think about coming to Blessed Hope Baptist Church We've got a small building We're not very big in size We haven't got all the activities We haven't even got a place for the kids to run around and play And it's been a while since we've been able to fix things up It took time We can probably have many things we can complain about But when we're facing the sorrow It helps us to focus back on what is most important The desire to be in church, the importance of church And unfortunately when we were free to meet for church Even myself, we just took it for granted Ah I'll miss church this week because it's going to be next week Well you know what, eventually, there was no church next week Eventually we've gone two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, now five weeks without church And we should have appreciated it when we had You know I was speaking to a brother in the Lord just this week And he said to me that he was speaking to a friend who said to him Oh man I want to get in church now It's like it's too late now Getting into church is when we had the freedom to get in there To be together with the brethren That's when we should have valued church And so we need to let sorrow do its work It's helping us focus once again on what's the most important Instead of taking church for granted Instead of taking the faces of the brethren, the collectiveness of worshipping God together for granted Now we know sorrow is saying boy it's giving us our focus Man we want to be back in church We miss it so badly Maybe we've not been praying for one another the way we ought to Well being separated from the brethren Calls us to be prayerful toward the brethren Prayerful toward this pastor So I pray that you know I ask that you would be praying for me For wisdom and knowledge Not just to you know work through the lockdown periods with the church But also you guys know that we're planning to get back to the Queensland in October I mean who knows what's going to happen right It's all up in the air right now And the desire to get brother Sam to come down here and be the main preacher for this church moving forward You know there's a lot of things that need to come together We ought to be praying for one another And we live in such you know unstable times But let's not forget that God's in control God sees all things okay The devil is not so out of control that God can't stop him if he desires Let sorrow do its work Can you please turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 7 2 Corinthians chapter 7 2 Corinthians chapter 7 Verse number 9 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse number 9 Let me just give you a context of what we're about to read In our 1 Corinthians If you read both books 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians This is a really messed up church Okay No matter how bad you think our church is If you ever think our church is bad Or you're in a bad church Let me just encourage you to read 1 Corinthians Okay And even Paul even though that church was in such a bad state He still felt that he could be saved He still recognized it as a church of God And still was there trying to help them get through a hard time But they had many problems They had divisions in the church They were man followers rather than Christ followers Paul says they were carnal So they're just babes in Christ They're not growing, they're not learning There's divisions and there's great sins that are taking place In fact 1 Corinthians chapter 5 Paul has to instruct basically the church to kick a man out of the church For committing fornication Okay And so that letter of 1 Corinthians Brought this church into great sorrow When they realized just how bad they were Okay And they were being rebuked by Paul And obviously as I said he brought great sorrow into the church And as I'm mentioning right now You know you need to let sorrow do its work And so when we get to 2 Corinthians Paul now recognizes The improvements they've made Since the letter, since 1 Corinthians Alright They've made change Perfect even in 2 Corinthians They're not perfect But they've made a lot of good changes They did end up kicking that guy out of church for example Okay And then Paul reflects in 2 Corinthians About the changes that they've made So in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse number 9 Paul writes Now I rejoice Not that you were made sorry But that you sorrowed to repentance For you were made sorry After a godly manner That you might receive damage by us in nothing For godly sorrow Worketh repentance to salvation Not to be repented of But the sorrow of the world Worketh death And so this church out of the sorrow Of being rebuked by Paul in 1 Corinthians What did they do? They repented They got things right with their church When it says here That godly sorrow Worketh repentance to salvation This is not talking about the salvation of the soul They saved their church From being destroyed They saved the church from becoming a disaster Because they started to make these changes In their church Look at verse number 11 it says For behold this selfsame thing That you sorrowed after a godly sort Now notice what happens After they sorrow When they're sorrowing it says What carefulness it wrought in you You became very careful You became careful You became full of care For the brethren, for the church Right? It says yea, what clearing of yourselves Yea, what indignation Yea, what fear Yea, what vehement desire Yea, what zeal Yea, what revenge In all things you have approved yourselves To be clear in this matter Boy you know what We need to let sorrow do its work Because I'm hoping that when we get back to church That like it says here That we would have a vehement desire That we would have great zeal A great revenge Right? We want to get back in church And do the greatest works we can for God You know we can do the greatest works Our soul went in Right? I miss soul went in You know what? And this sorrow Let the sorrow do its work Maybe God's allowed us to bring the zeal back The zeal of church The zeal of hearing God's word The zeal of soul went in We need to let the sorrow do its work So brethren it's not all negative Okay God allows us to go through these things And you need to say Well Lord this sorrow What is it that you need to work in me In blessed old Baptist church I miss the brethren But I'm excited about what the work What work the sorrow can do in our lives You know Maybe when we come back We can be a much more powerful church Than we've ever been for the Lord Okay back to John 16 please John 16 verse number 22 John 16 verse number 22 Christ continues and he says And ye now therefore have sorrow But I will see you again And your heart shall rejoice And your joy no man taketh from you Brethren the fifth point that I have for the sermon this morning Is rejoice when we see each other again We are going to see each other again We are going to have church once again You say what if the lockdowns continue until the day we die Well we'll have church in heaven You say what if some loved ones pass away During lockdown we'll see them in the rapture Listen what look we're going to see each other one day And I don't believe that's all that's going to happen I believe that within a few weeks maybe a couple I don't know maybe even another month We are going to be back in church We are going to see the brethren once again Okay brethren But point number five Is that we ought to rejoice when we see each other again And again that's the whole work of sorrow Maybe we haven't been joyful about church Maybe we've been coming to church and we've just not had the joy But you know what when we miss it when we've not had it We've not seen the face of our brethren We see them again we rejoice I know it was like that before I know it was like that last year when we had the lockdowns What was it? I think it was about four weeks here in Sydney It was about six weeks in Queensland And when we saw each other once again in church Everyone was happy everyone was so It's like this big relief just this great joy Right to see one another To be in the house of God together And that's what sorrow can do Okay It helps us to rejoice when we see each other again So that's point number five Now can you please turn to Psalm 122 Turn to Psalm 122 in verse number one I'm just turning to a very familiar passage to all Psalm 122 in verse number one The Bible reads I was glad when they said unto me Let us go into the house of the Lord Of course for David here The tabernacle was the house of the Lord for him The house of the Lord in the New Testament is this house I'm not talking about the building I'm talking about the gathering together of the people Okay And you know for many of us We make a conscious decision to go to church But for our children they don't really make that decision They go because mum and dad say Hey let us go into the house of the Lord Okay And you know what For those that are dragged to church I need you to think about how important church is Not just to your parents But how important it is for you And how important church is going to be for your children in the future You know And I know my kids They're probably the last thing to think about right now Is their kids But you know what We need churches to remain strong To remain faithful So that our next generations can have a church they can go to You know what Church ought to be a place That you're glad when they say unto you Let us go into the house of the Lord In fact that very verse We're going to print that up We're going to go and stick it on one of these walls Frame it A nice frame, nice picture We're going to stick it on these walls So when we come into the house of the Lord That we ought to be glad to be here You know Church ought to be a place where you can rejoice Again The flesh, the old man doesn't rejoice in church That's why when it's time for church I don't really want to How far is it What's the traffic like I'll just watch it online Okay that's the old man That's the flesh Okay That's the lazy flesh But the new man rejoices When it's in the house of the Lord Can you please turn to Esther chapter 9 Esther chapter 9 verse 20 Actually now go to Romans 15 I'll read from Esther 9 You go to Romans 15 please Go to Romans 15 in the New Testament I'm going to read to you from Esther chapter 9 verse 20 If you don't know the story of Esther We have Haman who sought to kill the Jews This was during the captivity period The 70 year captivity of the Babylonians Some Jews were taken into Persia And Haman sought to basically kill all the Jews And you've got Esther Queen Esther who overcomes his plans And then you've got Mordecai who was her cousin Or maybe even her uncle Some people refer to him that way Because he was much older than Esther But in verse number 20 Esther 9, 20 it says And Mordecai wrote these things And sent letters unto all the Jews That were in the provinces of the king At Hiserias Both nigh and far To establish this among them That they should keep the fourteenth day of the month, Adar And the fifteenth day of the same yearly Verse number 22 says As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies And the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy And from mourning into a good day That they should make them days of feasting and joy And of sending portions one to another And gifts to the poor And so what we have here is when Esther and Mordecai were able to defeat Haman and his wicked plans Where the enemies of the Jews were destroyed Well what happens, their sorrow Because they were fearful of being destroyed Their sorrow was turned to joy And so Mordecai establishes that day As a day of rejoicing As a day of giving of gifts Of sending portions one to another Of sharing one with another And so brethren when we can come back to church Again we're going to celebrate Not only do we have to celebrate our three year anniversary But we're just going to celebrate that we can see one another, brethren Alright, so as soon as we have church We've got to get the food out We've got to get the gifts out And we just have to learn and appreciate one another I'm looking forward to that time when we can be gathered together Now you're in Romans 15, look at verse number 30 Romans 15, verse number 30 Just reminding you about the fact that we're going to rejoice when we see one another again Verse number 30 It says Now I beseech you, brethren For the Lord Jesus Christ's sake And for the love of the Spirit That ye strive together with me In your prayers to God for me That I may be delivered from them That do not believe in Judea And that my service Which I have for Jerusalem May be accepted of the saints That I may come unto you With joy by the will of God And may with you be refreshed Paul is asking, again collectively That the Roman church here Would pray together, okay Paul's desire was that he would be in Jerusalem Sorry, that he would be in Rome With all the brethren together But notice what is keeping him from being together He says that I may be delivered from them He says that I may be delivered from them That do not believe in Judea Okay So there were non-believers in Judea Non-believing Jews That was prohibiting Paul From going and being a blessing And being in the presence of the church And brethren, we have that today You know, our government is made up of non-believers You say, well, no, no, our Prime Minister You know, Scott Morrison He's a Christian Yeah, he's a Christian But he's not saved He's not saved He's a Pentecostal They believe in a false gospel They believe they can lose their salvation These people are not saved You know, we're being kept apart Because of unbelievers They do not understand the importance of church Okay But we need to remember To be praying for one another Okay And that, don't forget what Paul says there in verse number 32 That I may come unto you With joy by the will of God We ought to be praying that God's will will be done On earth as it is in heaven The same way that Christ taught us how to pray God, can you please have your will on this earth Okay And if his will right now is judgment Let it be judgment Okay Let sorrow do its work Let's be patient Let's be long suffering Let's be joyful Let's thank God Whatever scenario that we find ourselves in But what I love about Paul He says at the end of verse number 32 And may we view be refreshed That's what we're looking forward to We can become stale without the brethren We can become stale Christians without church You know coming together collectively as a body Helps us to be refreshed in the Lord Doesn't it Okay So being refreshed Being recharged as it were Right That's something that we can be joyful about That's something that we can be hopeful about That's something that we can be looking forward to And so brethren in conclusion As I said the title for the sermon this morning was Missing the brethren I miss you guys You know the reason I just put Jeremiah aside for now I just wanted to preach on missing and missing the brethren How we ought to think about this topic And I just pray that maybe I've been an encouragement to you You know I hope you don't get downcast And backslidden and far from God And you know but rather you would appreciate The church and the time that we have together as brethren But let me just go through those five points once again Number one Sorrow is a natural response Number two Remember each other in prayer Number three Stay sober and vigilant Number four Let sorrow do its work And number five Rejoice when we see each other again Okay let's pray