This sermon from Hebrews chapter 10 emphasizes the privileges and responsibilities of fellowship in a Christian gathering, highlighting the importance of unity and collective worship. It delves into the promised presence of the Lord Jesus Christ when believers gather, the significance of the Lord's Supper as a time of collective worship, the power of collective prayer, and the transformative nature of receiving instruction in the Word of God within a Christian fellowship.

So we turn in our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10, please. Hebrews chapter 10. I'd like to begin reading in verse 19. Hebrews 10 19 Therefore brethren having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus By a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil. That is his flesh and And having a high priest over the house of God Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith Having our hearts sprinkled 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 one another in order to stir up love and good works Not forsake this is the golden verse for this morning 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 first of all this morning, I'd like to think with you about the privileges and Responsibilities of fellowship in a Christian gathering Christian meeting Christian assembly But let me say at the outset we often hear the expression assembly distinctives And I'd like to say at the outset. There should be no such thing as assembly Distinctives and the reason for that is the truth is all here in the Word of God And it's for all the people of God now. It may be true that some Adhere more closely to the principles of the Word of God than others But I just like to remind myself that there are really no assembly distinctives It's here for every Christian and every Christian fellowship and Certainly, there's no reason for pride among the God's people is there I often think that if we could see ourselves as God sees us we'd have enough failure to sink a battleship I mean seen in the light of God's holiness and God's purity That's true So there's no reason for us ever to be prideful but to seek to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and so a lot of the things I say today would be true of Privileges and for instance responsibilities in any Christian fellowship in any group of people who gather in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Privileges first of all is the promised presence of the Lord Jesus Christ He said where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them? Think of that Think of meeting together with your creator in the midst With the one who gives you the breath to breathe at this very minute With the one who formed the starry universe The millions of galaxies and Millions of stars in every galaxy billions. Sorry billions of galaxies and billions of stars in every galaxy of the one who threw Orion out into space And keeps the heavenly bodies in their perfect orbits That's really what it means But not only that to gather together with the promised presence of the one who died on Calvary The one who formed us and was willing to die for us To put our way our sins by the sacrifice of himself So that we might dwell with him for all eternity With him I'd like him forever It's no mean privilege to meet with the Lord And then of course there's the privilege of collective worship The privilege of collective worship, and I'm thinking especially of the Lord's Supper What a wonderful thing is to meet with like-minded believers And just put all the cares of the world aside Blot out all the things that tend to distress us And just be there in the presence of the Lord for in worship By faith we leave this earth and We go into the holy presence of God and We have Audience with the king of all That's what really worship is It's by faith leaving this present scene And just going into the sanctuary The throne room of the universe As I say having audience with the great God and with the Lord Jesus Christ I Tell you we really entered into these things we would have the hush of eternity in our hearts wouldn't it It really would it's awesome When you really think of it And then the privilege of collective prayer What it means to gather with God's people And go into the presence of the Lord with our praise and with our prayers with our petitions It's really wonderful and To see those prayers answered to see God moving the checkers on the checkerboard To see him working in his sovereign way And to see him answering prayers in a way that would never have happened according to the laws of chance or probability Thank God for prayer meetings where the presence of the Lord is felt And I like to remind myself in that connection. I do think some of our young people or Brothers are afraid to pray publicly Afraid that they might make some theological disaster or something like that in their prayers Roman Revelation 8 has been such a help to me where we have a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ there and Standing between us and God the Father and our prayers ascend to him and he adds incense to them and then they go on to God the Father and I think that incense is the fragrance of his own person and work How do you like that the fragrance of his own? Person and work he removes all impurities from our prayers, and there are plenty of them, too He removes all of those and when they get to God the Father, they're absolutely perfect. That's an encouragement prayer for me Sometimes you might hear some young brother and he thanks God the Father for dying on the cross for him Of course God the Father didn't die in the cross. It doesn't make any difference God knows what he means and as I say, that's all removed and corrected when it reaches God the Father. It's absolutely Perfect the privilege of collected prayer then instruction in the Word of God I'll look back to my own boy