Why do we gather together? Hebrews Will Groben

Hebrews [NLT] And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices. 19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place...

21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise...

24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.

ἀ γάπη [uh-GAH-pay] God’s kind of love: † unwavering † sacrificial † unconditional

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. ἀ γάπη [uh-GAH-pay] God’s kind of love: † unwavering † sacrificial † unconditional

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. It should read “outbursts” of love! † Reveal the unwavering, sacrificial, unconditional love of God for people. † Amazing, God-driven, God- revealing acts of love!

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. παροξυσμός [pah-rah-ksoos-MAHS]... is a provocation

Let us think of ways to provoke one another to amazing, God-driven, God-revealing acts of sacrificial and unconditional love and good works.

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do... Christian community... † is necessary for obedience † is necessary for emotional, relational, and spiritual health † facilitates evangelism † facilitates spiritual growth

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another... παρακαλέω [pah-rah-kah-LEH-oh]... means encourage, warn, urge...

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another... παρακαλέω [pah-rah-kah-LEH-oh] † Warn about things that take us away from God. † Encourage the things that bring us closer to God.

People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated. -- D.A. Carson, For the Love of God

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another... παρακαλέω [pah-rah-kah-LEH-oh] † Warn about things that take us away from God. † Encourage the things that bring us closer to God.

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Summary: 1. Form strong friendships with other believers and spend time with them. 2. Encourage each other in faith and hold each other accountable, to stay in a healthy relationship with God. 3. Think of ways to provoke each other into amazing acts of love, and do them together.

Hebrews Will Groben