Hebrews 10:24-25
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Enoch enjoyed close fellowship with the Lord. In fact, his communion with God was so intimate that the Lord translated him to glory long before his life on earth might have ended. “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5, NKJV).
“Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25).
There is a supernatural element to times of corporate worship and fellowship. When we join a local body of believers and fellowship with them, we are not only obeying Scripture but we are allowing God to work in us through the encouragement and admonition of other Christians.
“Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus” (2 Corinthians 7:6).
Paul took a ministry trip to Troas where he was to be joined by his spiritual son Titus. He longed to see his godly son in Christ and knew his spirits would be lifted by his presence. Yet after Paul arrived in Troas, Titus didn’t show up.
Today, Rusty George, pastor of Real Life Church, joins Gary Wilkerson to discuss how people desperately need one another to have healthy lives and how we can overcome past pains and truly join into Christian community.
Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life … I am the living bread which came down from heaven … he who feeds on Me will live because of Me" (John 6:35, 51, 57). The image of bread here is important. Our Lord is telling us, “If you come to me, you’ll be nourished. You’ll be attached to me, as a member of my body. Therefore, you’ll receive strength from the life-force that is in me.” Indeed, every member of his body draws strength from a single source: Christ, the head. Everything we need to lead an overcoming life flows to us from him.
“In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22, KJV). The Greek word for habitation as used here means “a permanent residence.”
David said of his Lord, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies” (Psalm 23:5). Jesus said, “I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom” (Luke 22:29-30).
The one thing our Lord seeks above all else from his servants, ministers and shepherds is communion at his table. Oneness around his heavenly table — a place and time of intimacy and continual coming to him for food, strength, wisdom and fellowship.
“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them” (Psalm 107:1-5).
How would you feel if you cooked a wonderful meal, invited guests who said they would come, and then, after everything was prepared and ready to be served, no one showed up? Most of us would feel quite rejected and disappointed. Yet, this is what happened in this parable Jesus told his disciples in Luke 14.