I know there are some who have been hurt by those within the walls of a local church. Go gather together with believers. There are some who have been hurt by things a preacher said or did, and how they, as humans, have failed you as an individual. Go gather together with believers. Some of us may have done some things we’re not proud of the night, week, or even our whole lives before today’s gathering. Go gather together with believers.
We do not follow men, we follow Jesus. We do not trust in preachers or elders, though we follow and submit, as the Bible mandates. We do not trust in our own righteousness to save us, only Jesus can do that. There are a million and one excuses (and more) to not get to the gathering of believers today, and while some may have valid points, the local church is God’s last great hope for anyone, and why? Because we know Jesus, and we are all sinners who have been saved by His love and mercy and grace. The local church isn’t a place to find perfect people, but a hospital for the sick, a war tent for the saints, and a place to be loved and healed by Jesus, while worshipping God Almighty. Do not let your circumstances, choices, or other people stop you. Go gather together with believers, and let Jesus lead you every step of the way.
Hebrews 10:19-39
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, and since we have a great 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. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 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.
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For,
“Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
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