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[0:00] What a blessing to be able to fellowship together. Very good. Very awesome.! Good morning once again.

[0:11] ! I mentioned earlier I was taking a break.! It's not until after today. I wasn't going to let you down and not show up. Anyway.

[0:24] We're going to talk about something. First of all, okay, looks like I'm ready to go. So I entitled this message, Why Are You Here?

[0:38] Okay. And you might be thinking, oh, are we going to get into philosophy? Why do we exist kind of thing? And I'm not so much talking about why are we here, but why are we here?

[0:54] Why are we here at church? Why do we come to church? What's that about? Why are we here? Many reasons for people to come to church.

[1:07] Some people, you know, it's religious obligation. I think sometimes we all know people that, there's some people that actually, there's traditions that actually think that God requires you to be in church.

[1:19] And if you're not in church, you risk the potential of going to hell. You know, better go to church, you're going to go to hell. You ever hear that? There are people that literally believe that.

[1:32] Or maybe I just go because God wants me to be in church. You know, God wants me there. You know, life's going to go better for me if I attend church regularly.

[1:43] You know, God's going to bless me if I attend church. So these people are going for God. They're thinking they're going to church for God.

[1:54] I'm doing something for God, you might say. There are others that go to church for themselves. Sometimes people will go to church to kind of build business contacts for their business.

[2:09] I've actually seen this. People that'll show up for church and they're trying to get to know people for business contacts. Or maybe they show up to show off.

[2:21] Maybe they want to show off an outfit or show off their car or something, you know, something along that line. There are people that have those reasons. Or maybe social reasons, you know, just to build friendships.

[2:34] Not necessarily bad, but that's just one of the reasons that people come. A lot of times people have kind of a consumer mentality.

[2:44] I'm here to get something for me. I'm here to receive something. I'm here to receive good teaching. I want to find a good church where I can get good teaching.

[2:58] Where I can experience good worship. You know, it's, it's, this is about me receiving, getting something kind of thing. Again, not necessarily bad.

[3:08] We want good teaching. We want to experience good worship. And it's all right to look for that. But, but there is kind of a, it's about me kind of thinking. There can be. And sometimes, you know, people will like rate the sermon.

[3:20] You know, well, I'll give that, Juan Snyder, it was a five maybe. I don't know. Hopkins, five and a half. I don't know. No.

[3:32] Doffing, maybe a six. I don't know. Or, or, or the worship, you know. Yeah, that message was, or the music was, it was all right. I don't know. I didn't like this.

[3:42] You know, there's, there's like this rating going on. And it's almost like a consumer mentality. I'm only here to receive. And it's okay because we all have needs.

[3:53] And we all, you know, church is a great place to have some of our needs met, isn't it? It's good. There's nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that. There are plenty of other reasons to go to church as well.

[4:06] I just want you to ask yourself, why are you here? Ask yourself, why am I here? Why am I here? In a very real sense, it does relate to our, the philosophy of why do we exist, doesn't it?

[4:20] You know, last year we identified why we exist as a church, right? And we came up with our, our mission statement. I believe God inspired this, brought this to us. It's not the word of God, of course, but it's a great summary, isn't it?

[4:33] We exist to glorify God, walking closely with him, striving together to become more like Jesus every day. I mean, what an awesome mission statement.

[4:45] And it, you know, we say it, it, it's a summary of Ephesians 4. You know, it's why we exist. And really, I think if you think about it, it's a summary of the entire Bible.

[4:57] You know, the whole Bible is about that. God, you know, we exist, why? To glorify God, to walk closely with him. That's, I mean, that's why, I mean, the whole Bible is full of that. Striving together to become more like Jesus every day.

[5:10] And with a little tweaking, we could actually adopt this as our own personal mission statement. And I think it would be valid, it would be biblical. I exist to glorify God, walking closely with others, excuse me, walking closely with him, striving together to become more like Jesus every day.

[5:30] All right, somebody jumped the gun here. I made it for you. So there you go. You take a picture of that and take it home. Isn't that nice? Very professional. Anyway, it's a summary of the Bible.

[5:45] And really, this is the truth of the universe, isn't it? It's why God, literally why God created man. It really is. So, so, I mean, you could take that.

[5:56] So how does this relate to why we come to church? Well, you know, it really relates to, to pretty much everything we do, doesn't it? Pastors, Tim and John and myself, we've been working hard to, to, to try to make sure that anything we do at Tri-State, models this, follows this.

[6:12] This is our mission. Again, it's, it's God's mission. It's why we're here kind of thing. And, so, so we've been working to do that.

[6:24] So we're going to look at a passage of scripture that, that kind of helps to, to bring this down to maybe some practicality here. We're going to be looking at a passage from the book of Hebrews.

[6:36] The book of Hebrews, it's, it's a unique book. It was, we don't know who wrote it. Some people think Paul, some people think others. We have no idea. They, they, they don't know for sure who wrote the book.

[6:47] The book was literally written as an in-depth, and a very complete contrast, of the old covenant, versus the new covenant.

[6:58] And, and so you see a lot of references to how, you know, the old way, and how the new way, is better, literally better. In fact, the title could, could be, Jesus is better.

[7:10] You could actually almost give that a title. I'm not saying you should, and, you know. About the first nine and a half chapters, it's spent kind of comparing and contrasting, and talking about how the old, the new covenant, is so much better, than the old covenant.

[7:29] And, and it goes, goes in great detail. How, how Jesus is infinitely better, than the old covenant. How the new covenant, infinitely better.

[7:40] Jesus is supreme. You know, first chapter, he's better than the angels. Um, third chapter, he's better than Moses. You know, he's, he's the great high priest, talks about that.

[7:54] Um, several chapters, I think, are spent on that. How Jesus is our great high priest. Uh, worship in the earthly tabernacle, contrasted with worship, through Jesus, personal relationship, with the living God, through the blood, and, and body of Jesus Christ.

[8:12] Hebrews. Nine and a half chapters. And then, chapter 10 opens up, uh, with how Jesus' sacrifice, is once, for all.

[8:24] It's a once, for all sacrifice. Talks about that. Um, this amazing passage, this is, this is just before, our, our text passage.

[8:35] I'm going to actually read this. It's from Hebrews 10, 14, through 18. For by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever, those who are being made holy. Think of that. For by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever.

[8:51] Those of us that have trusted Christ, we're made perfect forever, and we're being made holy. It's a process, all right? It's an awesome verse. Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this.

[9:04] First he says, this is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them in their minds.

[9:15] Jeremiah 31. Then he adds, their sins and lawless acts, I will remember no more. Once more, Jeremiah 39. Listen to this.

[9:25] And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. Again, Old Covenant, the sacrifices, we have to do this, do this, and do this.

[9:38] No. Where these have been forgiven, that's where we're at. If you've trusted Christ, they've been forgiven, they're gone. Sacrifice is no longer necessary.

[9:49] So then beginning in verse 19. So he's got nine and a half chapters, Old Covenant, New Covenant, Christ is better, and then chapter, or verse 19 starts out with the word, therefore.

[10:05] What's the therefore, therefore, right? So, this is our text passage. We can read this together if you want. Hebrews 10, 19 through 25.

[10:17] Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, once again, blood, flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

[10:50] let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

[11:02] 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.

[11:18] Let us pray. Dear Father, we thank you so much that you love us so much, that you, so much that you gave your son.

[11:32] God, we thank you that you died for us, that you've redeemed us, God. Your blood, your flesh, thank you that you are our great high priest.

[11:45] Lord, I just pray that you speak to us today. I pray you speak through me. I pray that you give us something, Lord, change us, Lord, make us different, make us more like you as a result of today, Father.

[12:05] Lord, we lift up the other churches that are meeting in Dubuque, God, where your people are gathered, Lord. Touch their hearts, Father. Change them as well, Lord, speak to them. Speak to all of us.

[12:17] Thank you, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. All right, so we're going to briefly walk through this passage. You know, we just read it, so I'm just going to kind of quickly think about this.

[12:31] So we talked about this. The blood of Jesus, you know, his flesh. He's our great high priest. It's awesome.

[12:42] verse 22. Since these things are true, and you got to, you got to, you got to take these, you got to recognize and remember, this stuff is true of you and me.

[12:54] All right? So, sometimes people will read the next passage and they'll think, oh, I got to do this and I got to do this and I got to do this and I got to do this and, you know, if I don't, maybe, maybe I've, maybe I'm not saved or maybe I'm, you know.

[13:09] No, your salvation is taken care of. If you've trusted Christ, he lives in you. These things are true about you. You have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, which is covering you.

[13:25] By the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, his death and resurrection. He's our great high priest.

[13:36] That's taken care of. Since that's true, verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart.

[13:47] So we're kind of talking about worship, worshiping, worshiping Jesus, worshiping. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

[14:03] Specific, logical response to the verses ahead of that. It's a logical response. Let us draw near. This is God's awesome new covenant.

[14:16] His amazing, incredible new covenant. And what he does is he draws on, or she, we don't know who wrote this. Could be a she. I don't know. They draw on old covenant imagery to kind of bring out new covenant reality.

[14:33] So every believer has continual access to God's throne of grace, don't we? Through Jesus. We've got continual access. We take that for granted. We shouldn't take it for granted.

[14:45] We've got continual access to Jesus because of what he did. He says, let us draw near with a true heart.

[14:57] What does that mean? What does it mean to have a true heart? He's talking about honesty, sincerity, you know, openness, transparency, pure in motives, undivided in devotion.

[15:11] Let us draw near with a true heart. Let us draw near in full assurance of faith.

[15:22] In full assurance of faith. Unwavering trust in Jesus' sufficiency. Right? We've been learning about Jesus' sufficiency with our study of the book of Colossians.

[15:37] Good stuff. So we've got full assurance of faith. Again, because all this stuff is true. The verse is ahead of that. It's true. We can have full assurance of faith.

[15:49] And this is cool. Our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. What do they mean by an evil conscience? What's an evil conscience? It's like a broken conscience.

[16:03] It's guilt and shame. We can be sprinkled clean from that because of Jesus. Clean of guilt. Clean of shame. Inner cleansing from guilt and shame.

[16:15] Through Christ's blood. Again, it's through Christ's blood. In the previous chapter, he kind of talked about this as well. So I want to just look at that. Hebrews 9.14.

[16:27] I like how he puts this. How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

[16:46] Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that awesome? How much more? Cleanse our conscience. We've got a clean conscience. Hearts sprinkled clean.

[16:57] All right. And then, the last part, what does he say? Let us draw near with our bodies washed with pure water.

[17:08] That's, again, it's an allusion to symbology from the old covenant, the ritual cleansings that they had. But again, it's through Jesus. Outward cleansing symbolized in baptism and ongoing sanctification.

[17:23] So again, that verse, made perfect forever, all those who are being made holy. All right. We've been made perfect forever, but we don't act like that, do we?

[17:36] We don't. But, as we're walking with God, as we're trusting, walking by the Spirit, he's changing us. He's making us more and more like him.

[17:48] All right. Verse 23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

[18:01] Let us hold fast. What does that mean? It means to hold on, hold resolutely to the hope that we profess.

[18:14] Okay. What is that? What's the hope that we profess? I know sometimes the word hope can kind of bother us because we say things like, I hope it doesn't rain today.

[18:25] Or I hope gas prices go down. Things like that. But here, the word hope is, I know the common definition is a confident expectation.

[18:38] We have a sure hope that our futures are with Jesus. A sure hope. Hold resolutely to that hope.

[18:49] Again, all these verses, all these truths, we can hold on to that. Let us hold firmly. It's, the original language is talking about like clinging firmly and sticking to without wavering, wavering.

[19:06] And what is the basis for our hope? As the verse says, it's based on God's character. It's based on who he is. For he who promised is faithful.

[19:21] Isn't he? He who promised is faithful. He's always faithful. He will always be faithful. This is based on his character.

[19:34] It's not based on you and your behavior. It's based on Jesus. It's based on God. So, so why come to church? You know, why come to church to worship?

[19:45] We're talking about worship. Some pretty good reasons there, right? But you know, someone could say, well, you know, I can, I can do that on my own. I can enjoy these things on my own.

[19:55] I don't need to get together with a group of people necessarily. Well, the author's not done. 24 and 25. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.

[20:12] 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.

[20:23] There it is. God has some very specific commands for us in light of these awesome truths. What does he command? Meet together.

[20:35] Meet together. Encourage one another. Encourage one another.

[20:45] We need to do that. We need to receive that. And all the more. I think sometimes as we get older maybe or as things kind of move along it's easy to kind of, I don't know if I, I don't need to go to church today or, you know, I, that's not that important.

[21:06] He says all the more. Do this all the more as you see the day approaching. this should be increasing in our lives, not decreasing, right?

[21:19] This should be increasing. All the more he says. And note that this is not to be passive, but it's to be active.

[21:31] Right? This is to be active. Verse 24 starts out, what does he say? Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds. Let us think about it.

[21:42] Let us consider. Let us contemplate how to stir up one another toward love and good deeds. Let us consider how to do that.

[21:55] This is active. It's not passive. Another translation says let us consider how to stimulate one another. kind of the same thing.

[22:05] Another translation, how to spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us actively, intentionally consider how to spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

[22:23] Pastor Hopkins and I were talking about this passage a little bit and John said, you know that the word for spur one another on or for stir up or stimulate it's only used twice in the Bible.

[22:37] Here and then in Acts chapter 15 39. The other time it's used, it's used and it's interesting, it's used when so the Apostle Paul and Barnabas they're traveling on their missionary journeys okay and then they get back into Ephesus I think they were operating out of Ephesus right?

[22:56] And but they had Mark with them and Mark left in the middle just kind of left. so the next time they were planning to go it was Barnabas and Paul and they're like yeah getting ready to go and Barnabas wanted to take Mark with them again.

[23:09] Paul said no way he left he blew us off and the verse actually says this it says and there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.

[23:24] the word for sharp disagreement is the same word as used for stir one another up it's the same word and these are the only two places where it's used alright okay what does that mean?

[23:39] that's two different things right? the word is it it conveys an intense emotion is what it does and I think both of these convey intense emotion and it's important to recognize that the Bible dictionary defines the word as provocation stirring up or sharp disagreement you know all three of those one author said it's emotionally neutral in a sense it's just it's emotional but it could be positive or it could be negative and I think we're talking here of course about stirring one another up providing causing emotion to stir up to serve God to do what he wants one author said this to spur one another on is to be a holy agitator someone who lovingly pushes another toward greater love faith good works helping them stay faithful and active in their walk with

[24:43] God we all need that from time to time don't we a holy agitator do you want to be a holy agitator I think we want to be a holy agitator all right again the first part of the verse says let us consider how we may do this again this this presumes intentional planned effort okay each of us getting ready for church Sunday morning I'm I'm going to see these people what can I what can I do to spur them on you know this this person's been hurting their dog died or whatever and boy it'd be nice to bless them what can we what can we do for them what can we what can we get for them let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds do you see the intentionality there do you see the the the the need to plan to desire to to to to to be intentional means we plan ahead what else does this mean well when we are together for any reason we should be looking to do this shouldn't we when we're together for any reason this should be a part of what we're thinking hey how can

[26:14] I stimulate my brothers and sisters toward love and good deeds what can I share with them or what can I do for them how can I build in their life we should always be doing this right encouraging one another influencing one another that's essentially what you're trying to influence love and good deeds in each other one of my favorite authors he's a leadership guru he's kind of recognized in the business world as the leadership guru John Maxwell I know Jack has lots of his books I know John has lots of his books as well he used to be a pastor he has a definition for leadership he said leadership is influence nothing more and nothing less and that's really what leadership is is influence one of my favorite definitions of leadership or of effective leadership leadership is the ability to get others to want to do what you want them to do or what you need them to do it's not the ability to get others to do what you want them to do it's to get them to want to do what you want them to do that's effective leadership and this is not just verbal

[27:38] I mean I think we talk about how can I share a verse or share some thoughts this is action too isn't it how can I bless somebody I heard from a friend of mine who we've been kind of separated we haven't been talking but we've got some things going on in our family that are difficult and this person reached out to me and said I'm praying for you someone that we're not even on talking terms I was just so blessed by that Kath and I were looking for kind of looking off and on for a swing set kind of for the grandkids and we'd look and see this one it seems like the best deals were gone like that well Tommy Krause had one he was getting rid of and kind of shared it with some people and eventually I'd say yeah we'd be interested in that but we weren't getting there to get it because again we're too busy we just weren't finding the time so Tom recruited some friends they went and took his swing set down in his yard moved it to our house put it up in our yard for us just just did it just blessed our hearts what an encouragement considering how to spur us on toward love and good deeds

[28:52] I know Caitlin Langley when she was serving in the hospitality she would always bring me a cup of decaf she knew I liked decaf and I'd usually be up here talking to people and I wouldn't get back to get it she'd just come up she'd be clean up she'd bring a cup here here's some decaf what a blessing all the Langloises are like that by the way aren't they speaking of Langloises so kind of a funny story I think I was at Hy-Vee one day and I was dictating to my phone I was dictating a message to Kathy a text message I was walking around and I said something love you honey see you later what I didn't realize is it did not go to Kathy Wansnider it went to Kathy Langloises and I didn't know it and the only way I found out is she started responding with some loving love you too honey honey bunny because

[29:56] Pete got a hold of her phone and he was having some fun with it well anyway so I'm at Hy-Vee and I forget how it came about but I don't know if there's any Anna Green Gables fans in here but in the story Anna Green Gables you got Matthew went to get a dress for Ann in the store and he's all nervous you know Matthew is this elderly unmarried man and you know just really nervous and Ann is the the the the the girl that they orphan that they brought to live with them they wanted a boy but they got a girl anyway and so he's all nervous and he's at the general store and he's you know he wants to get a dress with puff sleeves that's what she wants but he's afraid to say it you know and the lady's kind of helping him she's like well so what would you like and he goes could I get some brown sugar she said well sure you know and she takes a 20 pound bag is 20 pounds enough or no she said here's 20 pounds is that enough yeah okay so anyway he comes home with 20 pounds of sugar he eventually did get the dress but he had 20 pounds of brown sugar and anyway so I knew them guys were fans of

[31:15] Anna Green Gables so I kind of alluded to that I said I'm at the store buying 20 pounds of brown sugar anyway so we had a gathering and Kathy brings this cake wonderful cake and it was nothing but brown sugar it was for me it was just a little bit of encouragement I just thought that was kind of cool kind of a funny story I know I know Brian Smith and both Brian Smith and Jim Huseman often times they'll loan like DVDs or music CDs and things to me and probably to some of you that's encouraging that's a blessing they quit doing that because I always forget to return them but what a blessing genuine praise is so helpful there isn't a time that goes by after I've preached I hear from Pastor Tim John that was excellent this was good he kind of talks about some of the points and then maybe he'll give me a little criticism you know it'd be good if you maybe did this or whatever but inevitably he'll praise me and thank me and it's just so encouraging so empowering so uplifting for people to do that genuine praise

[32:34] I don't know if you guys know this but you know Cheryl is a prayer warrior so we had a friend of ours that was involved with the church a couple of decades ago and we hadn't seen her in a long time and then she came back to visit and I talked to Cheryl and Cheryl was like oh I've been praying for her and you might have even told her I've been praying for her 20 years ago we haven't seen her in 20 years Cheryl's got her on a prayer list we someone to pray for you talk to Cheryl she'll pray for you awesome we've been very encouraged over the years by Jim and Carol and their support for us their ministry in the church but also just personally helping us older couple they've been through it Jack and Peggy the same thing and again Pete and Kathy just watch out for Kathy so serving people doing things praise encouragement and speech our speech is important what we say is very important we've talked about this verse a lot in the past but

[33:46] I think it bears repeating from Ephesians let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear when do you do this when should we do this when should we not do this when should our speech not be building not be giving grace we should always do this right it says let no corrupting talk so what is that I know some translations they translate that let let what's what's the word unwholesome talk yeah and and it makes you think like okay we shouldn't be using vulgar language or swearing right don't let any unwholesome talk and that's really not what they're trying to say here what he's trying to say is corrupting talk speech that is destructive that's hurtful and the reason we know that is just three or four verses later he covers the vulgarity in later in

[34:59] Ephesians chapter five corrupting speech what are some examples of corrupting speech so you know one thing one thing you notice is you get to know when a pastor when pastors are speaking like you get to know some of their favorite books we know some of John's favorite books and Tim's favorite books and you heard me talk about this book before Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People you hear the name of that it sounds kind of self-serving we want to win friends you know and I want to influence people but the book really is a manual on how to make others successful how to help others how to build others it's an awesome powerful book in the book he says this he says any fool can criticize condemn and complain and most fools do and that's true that's true it's foolish for us to be criticized and be condemning other people to be complaining even even complaining that promote negativity it'll put a person in defense you're not influencing love and good deeds you're actually putting them on defense you're wounding their pride giving them you're wounding their sense of importance kind of thing and it'll arouse resentment in people if you're critical if you're condemning complaining is more just negativity it kind of creates a negative negative atmosphere it fails to produce lasting change and it damages they damage our relationships another quote from the book it says by avoiding criticism condemnation and complaints you cultivate empathy strengthen relationships and create an environment where people are more receptive to guidance and collaboration this principle is not about lowering our standards but about empowering others about fostering understanding about promoting positive change isn't that what we're doing we want to spur one another on toward love and good deeds we want to promote positive change in our lives in people's lives another example of corrupting speech is sarcasm sometimes

[37:37] I think we think it's alright I'm making a joke and sometimes we make jokes at people's expense sometimes we don't even realize we do it sarcasm can be very destructive very cutting it can be very painful we need to be careful we need to watch out for that so we're talking about causing an emotional response encouraging stirring up stimulating so why do we come to church again some come just to fulfill some kind of a religious obligation you know I'm coming for God some come to church for themselves to receive something I just want to get I want to receive God wants us to come for others not just for God not for ourselves just for ourselves but for others we're here for others to give to serve to stir up to encourage right also we want to receive encouragement we want to be on the receiving end so be ready for that too be ready to receive encouragement receive gifts receive you know someone wants to do something for you serve we're here to receive

[38:54] I think one of the points I want to make is allow time to spend with others so when you come to church allow time to spend with people to talk with people so is this just can you still hear me is this just a church thing is this just Sunday morning are we just talking about Sunday morning here no this is for any time we're together as Christians really any time you know certainly for church for music practice or small groups even like when we get together when we do like at some community event 4th of July or whatever let us encourage one another let us spur one another on let us consider how to do this so how much do we need this like how often how frequently how much do we need this earlier in the book of Hebrews chapter 3 it says this but exhort one another every day as long as it is called today every day as long as it's called today why so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin every day courage one another every day as long as it's called today which is every day so that none of you will be hardened what can happen if we don't receive encouragement every day what does it say we can be hardened by sin's deceitfulness sin is deceitful and and the thing is if you're being deceived by sin you don't know it we have no idea that we're being deceived by sin that's why it's deceitful

[40:50] I mean that's what deceitful means but if we receive encouragement if we give encouragement it says daily so what else does this mean it means we need to get together often right we need to look for opportunities to get together we need to reach out to each other build those relationships we need to connect daily and maybe it's you know maybe it can be just a text message I mean today we've got you know infinite ways to connect you know social media text message whatever we can encourage one another very easily every day and we need this we need this we need this every day and we all do we all need this every one of us need this every day 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 approaching this is why we come to church this is why we're here and it's really it's a part of why we exist isn't it it's a part of it can you give some thought give some thought to how you can spur one another on you can do that even today even with the people around us as we break in the future just imagine the impact that we could have on each other if we all adopted this if we all did this and also the impact we can have on the rest of the world let's pray

[42:39]  Lord Jesus we do just thank you so much that you love us God thank you that you've given us your truth your word it's a gold mine gold mine truths encouragement it's a love letter it's a it's an instruction manual what a blessing your word God thank you that you live inside us God person of the Holy Spirit you live inside us you empower us to do these things Christian life it's not hard it's impossible but because you live in us you make it possible for us to do it God thank you for my brothers and sisters for the encouragement that we can receive from each other God use us use us in each other's lives God use us to impact Dubuque and the world for you thank you in Jesus name amen amen may may