MINISTRY MINDED LESSON 5 ASSEMBLE TO MINISTER2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching DetailsInformation Icon

Year: 2015

Title: Ministry Minded Lesson 5 Assemble To Minister

Teacher: Jerry B Simmons

Series: 2015 Ministry Minded Series

Teaching Transcript: Ministry Minded Lesson 5 Assemble To Minister

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015. We're continuing our ministry-minded series, talking about essential things for us as we serve the Lord and are engaged in the work of ministry here around the church.

And so we're going to start this evening in Hebrews chapter 10. So you can turn there in your Bibles, Hebrews chapter 10, looking at verses 24 and 25. And we're starting this week with the passage we closed with last session as we were talking about, you know, the importance of being present in order to be available to minister.

But as we talk about this idea of assembling to minister, that is the idea of gathering together, I want us to consider what should we expect as we gather together as believers? What should be our motivation for gathering together as we come on Sundays and Wednesdays or other days throughout the week? What's our expectation? What's our motivation? And what is it that God wants to do?

as we gather together. And here in the book of Hebrews chapter 10, we have some instruction about that. And so here's one of the passages that we often look to, to remind us of the importance of meeting together on a regular basis. So Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 and 25 say this,

And so here the author of Hebrews gives us an encouragement and some instruction about

not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Now he was writing to people who were tempted to wander away from the Lord, who were kind of tempted to move away from the things of Jesus because of persecution, because of difficulty that they were facing and things that were coming against Christianity and they were coming from a Jewish background. And

And so he's been encouraging them and instructing them in a lot of things here in the book of Hebrews. But here, one of the essential things, you know, the encouragement is, well, as you're tempted to move away from the things of the Lord and go back to Judaism, don't forget also and don't forsake to gather together as believers. As Christians, it's important for us to gather together.

And so he gives us this exhortation to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Now he says, it is the manner of some. Some do forsake the assembling of ourselves. And because of persecution, because of fear, because of whatever reason, there was a neglect that was happening. And so there were people who were not gathering together as believers. They weren't gathering together to meet with the rest of the believers. And so this is a reminder for us, an instruction for us to not do that.

to not let that kind of fall by the wayside, to not let that just, you know, become something of history, you know, something we kind of got too busy. At one time, we were really involved. We were engaged in assembling together. But he says, make sure that you don't let that happen. Make sure that you continue to assemble yourselves together. That is to gather together as believers.

Just to kind of see this from a couple different perspectives, here's a few different versions in the way that they translate this verse. In the ESV, it says, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some.

And so you see that same idea conveyed, that neglect of the meeting together. That it's kind of easy, actually, to neglect meeting together as believers. And I've gone through seasons in my life where I've neglected that meeting together. And, you know, at first you feel guilty, but then, you know, it kind of gets easier as you neglect. And then it becomes harder to come back because you've neglected meeting together.

In the New International Version, it says, let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. And so there's that idea of, you know, giving up, like just, it's just too hard, it's too scary, or whatever the case may be.

And then the New Living Translation puts it this way, let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do. And so throughout that, you can see the consistency there, the need for us to meet together. That's the general idea. The assembling of ourselves together is meeting together.

The Greek word that's there used to describe assembling ourselves together, it means a gathering together in one place or an assembling together at one place. And really, it's talking about, you know, a physical gathering together. Now, we, of course, live in a whole digital age and we have opportunity to connect with people in a variety of ways, you know, and it doesn't always have to be in person, but

And yet, I would encourage us that what the author of Hebrews is calling us to do, and I would say that even if, you know, the technology existed then that exists now, the exhortation would be the same. That there is a need for us to not just, you know, connect with one another digitally or those kinds of things, but there is the importance of the normal and regular, consistent gathering together, meeting together in one place.

having physical presence with one another at one location and being able then to, well, do the rest of the things that he's encouraging us here in this passage. So in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 and 25, notice the exhortation that goes along with this, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. And so here we get some of the insight into why, you know, we gather together and what we should expect and what we should be doing.

In verse 24, he says, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. And so one of the purposes of gathering together and meeting together is so that we can stir up within each other love and good works.

So that we can stir up or spur on or provoke is the idea of that word as well. To provoke in us, not provoke to anger, but to provoke to love and to provoke to good works, to help each other, to excite each other in doing the things of God. And so he says we ought to consider one another.

And so the idea here is, you know, that we are to have developed relationships with one another from this ongoing, consistent meeting together. The word considerate means to observe, to remark, to consider, or to contemplate. And so here's the picture that I see that the author of Hebrews is painting for us.

You're going to be coming to church service, and so you are thinking ahead of time. You're contemplating. You're meditating. You're observing. How can I, you're pondering, how can I help Richard fulfill the love and good works that God has for him? How can I help him to experience the fullness of all that God has for him?

And so ahead of time, I'm thinking, I'm preparing, I'm considering, I'm contemplating. It's a thoughtful, it's a mindful, it's an on-purpose type of thing. That as I gather together, as I don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together, I come with some thoughts about the people that I'm going to be connecting with and some thoughts about how I can stir up love and good works within them.

So there's this considering one another. And again, it gives us this idea, this understanding of the relationship that's established that we get to have with one another so that we help each other along in the Christian faith. And then he goes on in verse 25 again to say, "...not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another."

And this word exhort, it means to call alongside, and it can be used for comfort, you know, to call, you come alongside someone to comfort them or to help them, to encourage them, to help bring them forward. And so the idea here is that we're, again, physically, personally, alongside of one another, and

And so as we come alongside one another, there's this companionship. There's this we're joining together, again, to go forward in love and good works. And he says, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. And so we're to be working together, side by side, helping each other grow, helping each other develop in our spiritual lives, helping each other serve the Lord to a greater degree and do all that God has called us to do.

And so again, in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24, he says we're to consider one another. The Greek scholar Kenneth Weiss says this about the word consider. He says it speaks of attentive, continuous care. The exhortation is to take careful note of each other's spiritual welfare. The purpose of this attentive, continuous care is to provoke each other to the exercise of love and good works.

And so there's this attentive, there's this paying attention and this continuous care for one another. And that's part of the reason why we are called to gather together so that we can pay attention and care for one another in our spiritual walks and in our spiritual lives. And so again, Hebrews 10, 24, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.

And so the exhortation from this is we're to assemble together, to gather together in order to minister together.

A lot of times we think of church in the context of, I need to go be fed. I need to go be ministered to. And of course, there is that effect as we gather together as well. We get ministered to, we get blessed. But it's a dangerous thing, and it becomes really a not good thing when we come just only expecting people to minister to us,

and not with the expectation of us ministering to others who are in need. And so I want to encourage you this evening to be faithful in gathering together. And as we gather together, come intending to minister to others.

Come prepared, come thinking, be contemplating ahead of time. You know, how can I stir up love and good works with those that I will be interacting with this day? How can I help them develop and grow and go forward? How can I exhort them? And even more and more as we see the day approaching, as we see the return of the Lord, this call to assemble, to minister doesn't diminish, but it increases. We need more and more to gather together

and to be ministering to one another and stirring up one another towards all that God has for us.

Well, I want to talk through a few different aspects of what that might look like as we gather together and under the idea of assembling to minister, that is, who are we ministering to and how are we ministering? And so the first point I'd like to consider with you is found in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 2. Would you turn there? Hebrews chapter 13, verse 2, just a couple pages away. And here the point is to minister to strangers, right?

Minister to strangers. As we gather together, as we assemble together, we all come and meet in one place. Who are we supposed to minister to? Well, one of the exhortations here in Hebrews is to minister to the people that we don't know. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 2 says, "...do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels."

And so he says, do not forget another thing to be mindful of. Don't neglect this. Don't let this go by the wayside. Don't forget to entertain strangers. That is those that you do not know. And he goes on to give a little bit of an explanation. He says, hey, some people have entertained strangers and they didn't know it, but they were entertaining angels. Now you could think about some Old Testament examples of this.

In Genesis chapter 18, you have Abraham as he's visited by the Lord and these other two men who we find out are angels. He's entertaining angels. He hosts them. He, you know, provides a meal for them. He spends time with them. We also see Lot entertaining angels in Genesis chapter 19. Jacob has an encounter. He doesn't really entertain the angel. He really wrestles the angel, but that's in Genesis chapter 32. Joshua, he comes in contact with the Lord of Hosts.

even greater than an angel in Joshua chapter 5. Gideon as well in Judges chapter 6. Manoah, which is Samson's father in Judges chapter 13. And so these are just a couple quick examples. But the idea here is not so much that, well, you know, make sure that you entertain strangers because, you know, maybe it's an angel. And then if you don't entertain the angel, then you're going to be struck down. But here's the idea. You could miss out.

on something good that God would want to do. You could miss out on meeting someone important, powerful. You could miss out on meeting someone that's special, that God would want to do a special work in that exchange and in that entertaining the stranger that he would want to do a unique thing in your life. And so don't forget to entertain strangers because, well, you might miss out on something that God might want to do.

I've often shared this and I think it's a good thing for us to consider. How many of us would have ministered to Job? Because you think about Job as he was just all infected and had all these sores and in the mud and all this down and outs and everything and you know,

we maybe would have just like walked right by and maybe tried to avoid making eye contact. But we look at Job and we look at God's exchange with Job and we see, man, Job was a righteous man. He was a really awesome guy. And how cool would it be to interact with Job and be able to entertain Job? Well, in a similar way, he says, don't forget to entertain strangers.

Because, well, the word angel literally simply means messenger. And so he's saying, you know, you could be missing out on entertaining, interacting with a messenger of the Lord. You could miss out on hearing from the Lord. Well, this idea of entertaining strangers...

The word means to basically show hospitality or to show love to strangers. It's an expression of love or hospitality, of reaching out, of warmth, of welcome to strangers. And so he says, this is how we're to behave. Don't forget to love strangers. Don't forget to be welcoming, to be showing hospitality to people that you don't know.

I like what the commentator Albert Barnes had to say about this. He says, I could share some testimony. I'll just share real briefly on behalf of Dave and Jackie Byrne.

You know, we prayed for their son Aaron for a long time. He was a prodigal. He ran away from the Lord. And one of the things that God used in bringing him back to the Lord, it wasn't necessarily immediate or anything, but it was something that stood out to him and really ministered to him, is he was down and out one time just walking down the street, just kind of broken, just really upset, tore up over situations that were happening. And he was

And he happened to kind of just like lean against the fence or a wall at a home that, you know, he was just on some street he didn't know. And some guy walked out of the home and started ministering to him, talking to him and encouraged him and taught, you know, shared with him some things from the Lord. And it turns out it was...

a guy named Pastor Mike, who you guys remember the church that used to be catty corner to us? It was the pastor of that church. And they didn't know each other. They didn't know one another at all. But it was an impacting time for his life. And so this is the idea here. He entertained a stranger. He didn't know who he was. He just ministered to him. And it was an important part of the process of God bringing him back to salvation, bringing him back to right relationship with God.

And so what Albert Barnes is saying is the hope that we could participate in something like that should be enough for us to entertain strangers. Or he says that our own souls may be blessed. Again, that we could miss out on something cool that God would want to do if we don't entertain strangers, if we don't minister to people in this way. And so we are to minister to strangers, to show love to strangers personally.

Now, that doesn't mean we have to be foolish and give away all our money to everybody who asks and things like that.

But to be mindful and to be, you know, led by the Lord and to minister to strangers and be hospitable as we are able. And so minister to strangers, it's again the idea of hospitality. And you can see that idea in 1 Timothy chapter 3, as Paul talks about the qualities of elders and leaders, bishops. He says a bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, as well as able to teach.

We talked about this idea of a bishop or overseer a few weeks back and talked about, you know, those who have authority within the body of Christ. And so for those who are leaders within the body of Christ, one of the characteristics that we're to have is this idea of hospitality, that we minister to strangers, that we express and demonstrate love to

to people that we don't know. In Titus chapter 1 verse 8, similar qualities listed there. He says, And so for those who are leaders within the body of Christ, there needs to be this understanding, this idea of hospitality for us that we welcome. Now, in the context of what we're talking about here this evening,

speaking primarily about, you know, gathering together on Sunday mornings, this is definitely a quality that we need to have and develop and continue to grow in, that as God brings people here, that we would minister to strangers, that we would show love to those that we don't know, to those that God brings, and that we would show hospitality, especially as leaders here within the body of Christ.

But it's not just for leaders. Here's a couple other passages. Romans chapter 12, not speaking about leaders specifically, but speaking to the church in general, he encourages us to be distributing to the needs of the saints and to be given to hospitality.

that we're to be given to hospitality. We're to be given towards these things and inclined to show love to strangers. In 1 Peter 4, we'll see this again in just a few moments, but be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

And so, you know, showing love to one another, showing love to strangers, it might cost, you know, there might be some cost involved. And so there can be a tendency to grumble. But we're to do that without grumbling, to do that willingly, to give ourselves to hospitality in that way. Consider the words of this man, Harry Brington. He says, fundamentally, most of us go to church expecting our own needs to be met and

We have the attitude of guests rather than hosts. We want to sit in our favorite seats, enjoy our favorite music, see our friends, and have food and drink with people we already know.

I think this is something that probably rings true in our hearts, right? This is, yeah, we easily grow comfortable in our gathering together, in our meeting together, week by week, month by month. You know, we're very familiar with the ones that we are spending time with. We're comfortable with them. And so we can kind of develop this attitude of, I just want to go hang out with my friends and be blessed, right?

and not have to minister to others...

but really just to be able to hang out, you know, for it not to be a ministry, not to be effort on my part, but to just be able to go and relax and enjoy myself. And so I'll have my favorite seat, you know, and I'll have, you know, my favorite music and talk to my favorite people. And it's very easy for us to just have that mindset and that pattern, even if we know better, but it just is a kind of a subtle pattern that can develop in us. And so I'm

The exhortation, I think, here in making sure that we don't forget to entertain strangers is to be mindful of that and break out of that cycle. Don't get caught up in that cycle where you only talk to the people you know, where you only minister to the people that you know, where you only hang out or fellowship with the people that you know, but that you come, again, assembling to minister, that we gather together for the purpose of

of ministering to others. And part of that is those that we don't know. Not just our friends, not just our, you know, the people that are easy for us to talk to, but for us to gather together and minister to those who we don't know. Those who need to be ministered to, that are not already plugged in and, you know, have fellowship with everybody else, but those that God brings.

And so this idea of showing hospitality or ministering to strangers is something important for us to consider. If someone shows up to service, we need to understand that God brought them. God's sovereign. He's able to bring who he wants to bring and to take others to somewhere else if he wants to take them somewhere else. We need to have the understanding if someone's here, God brought them.

And also understand, God didn't just bring them because we're going to have awesome Samoan worship, right? He didn't just bring them for me to teach, but he brought them for the whole experience of the gathering together of the saints. And so many times we kind of get in this mindset of, you know, service is just the things that happen up here. But as I will often encourage you, you know, the majority of ministry happens not from the stage, but in the pews, right?

And that's where I believe God wants to continue to develop us and grow us up, that we would minister to strangers. God brought them for us to minister to. And so we can show them hospitality. Now, I like the idea, the picture of hospitality. You know, you can kind of think about having someone over to your home

and how you would host them. And that's the mindset that we're to have. Not coming expecting to be catered to as guests as we come to church, but coming expecting to host those that God brings. And so you can start off as you just drive into the parking lot. I would encourage you to reserve the best parking for your guests.

You can easily just take the best parking for yourself, especially because, you know, you might be early because you're serving or whatever. And so it's easy to, you know, all right, this is my spot. This is a spot I like.

But I would encourage you to be mindful even of your parking spot and reserve the best parking for your guests. In the same way as, you know, you would not make someone, you know, who comes to your house, all right, well, go park around the corner because I'm going to park right here, right? No, like you would host them, right? You would show them hospitality and let them know you're welcome. You take my spot. I'll walk. You can park right here.

And so we're to have this mindset of hospitality as we minister to strangers. Let them have the parking spots. But then also you could think about welcoming your guests. So if someone comes to your home,

You don't just kind of like casually make eye contact and, you know, move about your business, right? You welcome them. You, you know, invite them in. You open doors for them. You offer them refreshment. You offer them a place to sit, you know. You're engaged with them and welcoming them and bringing them into the party that you're hosting or whatever it is that's happening. And so in the same way as the Lord brings people, we're to minister to strangers and to welcome. They're your guests, right?

They're your guests when God brings people. So welcome them. Now,

you know, we're a lot of people. And so on a Sunday morning, if God brings someone, uh, then it doesn't mean that everybody all at once, boom, rush, you know, make a circle around them and trap them and just, you know, welcome them over and over and over again. Uh, you know, you can be strategic and be mindful. Okay. Jake's talking to them right now. All right. And then later on, okay, he's done talking to them. Okay. Now I'll go introduce myself and welcome them. And, and, and we can, you know, in that way show, uh,

love to strangers and welcoming them. You know, in a similar way, if you're hosting, let's say you're a husband and wife, you're hosting something at your house and you have a guest come and

You don't just say, oh, well, Kim talked to them, so I don't need to talk to them. I can go about my business. Okay, Kim welcomed them, and then now I go and welcome them, and we interact and have this discussion together. And in this way, we show hospitality. We demonstrate warmth and welcomeness to the people that are gathered together that come that day. So welcome your guests. And then also you get to know your guests. That's another part of hospitality. So you don't just welcome them.

and then never talk to them the rest of the party, right? No, you welcome them, and then, you know, you're interacting, you're engaging, you're dialoguing. And if you're just faking it, you know, then that's pretty clear. But to show and demonstrate genuine interest in them, to care for those that God brings, again, into your home, or again, your guests here. They're your guests. And so show some genuine interest and get to know those that God brings here to your church, right?

to this assembling together that God has placed you in. Another thing to consider is to give your guests the tour.

You know, when someone comes to your home, that's a very kind of normal thing, right? You give them the tour. All right, here's the bathroom, here's the bedrooms, here's the kitchen, here's where the ice chest is for the drinks, you know, here's the barbecue, have a hot dog, you know, you give them the tour, show them what's around and where to go. And in a similar way, as God brings people on Sunday mornings or Wednesday evenings, that we have the opportunity to show hospitality. And

to give them the tour, let them know, you know, and to let them see the different things that are going on and available to them.

Another thing that you do as you show hospitality is you introduce your guests to others. So someone comes to your home for the party, you welcome them, you get to know them, but then you also introduce them to other guests at the party. So again, they have someone to talk to and they're able to be engaged and not just sitting there all by themselves on the couch being lonely. And so you get them interacting and you give them opportunity to interact with one another. Now,

Very important for me because one of those times where I was looking to get someone involved and interacting with others, there was this young girl. She was about to drive off on a Wednesday night, and I stood in front of her car. I said, stop and park, and I got her out of the car. I walked her around. I introduced her to different people and got her engaged a little bit, and then a couple years later, I married her. And so...

You never know. If you're single, seek out people, introduce them to others, and you might just find a spouse. But introduce them to others and encourage them and get them engaged with others or perhaps invite them to different events or ministry things that are going on and give them that opportunity to engage. Well, another thing to do is to reserve the best seats for your guests.

So again, you have someone over to your home. You're showing hospitality. You don't say, OK, well, you sit around the corner over there by yourself. You can sit at the kids' table. And you don't do that unless they're one of the kids to sit at the kids' table.

But you give them a place that is, you know, a good place for them to sit. And I think that's something important for us to consider as well. Again, you know, we come expecting to be guests many times and have our needs ministered to. And so we want to sit in our favorite seats, which typically is the ends, right? Everybody loves the ends. Nobody likes to sit in the middle. And that can be, you know, pretty...

unwelcoming. It can not be a demonstration of hospitality because, you know, you get there, you sit there, and then you make everybody else climb over you to get to, you know, the middle seats whenever they need to have a seat and the rest of the aisles are filled. And so I would encourage you, and I want to ask you to consider as you come on Sunday mornings or Wednesday evenings or whenever, reserve the best seats for your guests. Don't just take your favorite seat and

But show some hospitality and make room and allow for others to be able to sit comfortably and not have to climb over you.

Here's what one pastor said regarding this. He said,

This step may frustrate some, but it also gives your leaders another chance to serve. Also, if church hospitality frustrates your leaders, he says you may want to have a discussion about character and servant leadership. Yeah, if serving others is frustrating to you, then maybe you need to reconsider your role, you know, and your position within the body of Christ. And so I would encourage you to reserve the best seats for your guests. Now, along those lines too, one of the tendencies is everybody likes the back, right?

And so then when people come in later during the service, now you could say, well, they're late, so that's their fault. But then they have to come up to the front and sit down. Now, that's embarrassing for those who are late. And you could blame them and point at them and laugh and scoff and stuff. But I think even better would be to sit towards the front and leave those back seats open for those who come later. And that's a good way to show hospitality and reserve those best seats for

for your guests. Well, then finally, say goodbye to your guests. There's other things, of course, you could consider regarding hospitality, but saying goodbye is also a good thing. You know, as you have the party, you host the party and people are leaving, it's polite. It's nice to walk people out, you know, to say goodbye, to have a send-off. And it's a part of showing your love and demonstrating that hospitality to your guests. And so that's your...

responsibility as well. As we show hospitality to our guests, they're your guests. So say goodbye, you know, and send them off. And again, in the same way as we welcome them, you know, we don't just all like, you know, all right, everybody on the count of three, you know, goodbye or whatever. It's not talking about like that, but just have that warmth and have that care and that attention towards those that God brings. Again, if God brings them, God's brought them.

And they're your guests. And so show hospitality and minister to strangers. It's part of the reason why God calls us to assemble together. Well, not only are we to minister to strangers, but now moving on to point number two, and we're going to jump to 1 Peter chapter four, we're to minister to one another. So we minister to strangers. That's part of why God's called us together.

But we also gather together in order to minister to one another. That is, minister to those that we do know, those that we are familiar with, those that we are friends with, and we've known each other for a long time. And we're to have a ministry towards one another, and we're to come to service, we're to come to our gatherings together with this expectation of this exchange of ministry.

There's ministry that you're giving out. There's ministry that you're receiving. That's the one another. It's the back and forth that goes on. And so in 1 Peter 4, we're going to jump in at verse 8. He says,

And so as we are gathering together, as we are in the same place and meeting together in one location, having that physical presence with one another and not forsaking that, one of the important things, the essential things for us is going to be love. And it needs to be a fervent love for one another. Notice he says, for love will cover a multitude of sins. Because, well...

put any people in close quarters for a prolonged period of time, and there's going to be conflict, there's going to be sin, there's going to be, you know, the difficulties that arise. And so in order to be able to deal with those difficulties, we need to have fervent love for one another.

This idea of fervent love, it's the idea of love in full force. The commentator Thomas Constable says it this way. He says this same expression, this idea of having fervent something, occurs in non-biblical Greek to describe a horse at full gallop and a runner straining for the tape at the finish line of the race.

So think of that picture of the runner. You know, they're straining. They're giving it all they have. It's that final sprint, everything they got to hit the tape, to finish the race, to win the race. That is, they're in full force, full speed ahead. And that's the idea here. Have fervent love for one another. That is, lean in and give it all you got and have this constant strength.

intensity in your love for one another. Keep yourself in this fervent love. Keep your horse at a gallop. It's easy for us to kind of let our horse slow down, and we just kind of, you know, we're casual in our love for one another.

And we're not that consistent in it or we're not that intense with it. But there needs to be this intensity. Keep your intensity. Intensely love one another. Intensely care for one another. Intensely have this desire to meet together, to minister to one another. It's an important part of our fellowship, of our assembling together to minister.

It's something that you need to be mindful of. It's something that's not going to happen automatically. Fires die down automatically. That's the natural tendency. That's the natural progression. So we've got to continue to stir up

this love for one another. If you're going to be running, you know, you're going to be slowing down naturally. And you have to be mindful to keep pushing yourself, to keep yourself at speed in order to, you know, have that strong finish. And that's the picture here. Above all things, have this kind of fervent love for one another. The commentator Wayne Grudem says, where love abounds in a fellowship of Christians, many small offenses and even some large ones are readily overlooked and forgotten.

But where love is lacking, every word is viewed with suspicion. Every action is liable to misunderstanding and conflicts abound to Satan's perverse delight. When we're lacking in love, that's when we're all irritated with one another and upset with one another because we don't have that fervent love. He says, for love will cover a multitude of sins. And so we're to have that kind of love. Keep yourself with intense love towards one another.

Well, going on into verse 9 here of 1 Peter chapter 4, he says, So we talked about hospitality in the spectrum of guests, strangers, people that we don't know. But here it's interesting. This is applied to one another. So he's not talking about people you don't know. He's talking about the people that you do know.

The believers that are gathering together regularly, consistently. He says, be hospitable to one another, again, without grumbling. And so the same types of hospitality applies here. Reserve the best parking, not just for your guests, but for one another. Think about others around you when you park.

Think about others around you, you know, in the idea of welcoming one another. So welcome one another as you gather together and get to know one another. Again, have a genuine care and concern for one another and reserve the best seats for one another. Again, don't just have this idea of, I just want to be comfortable and just, you know, have what I want and be ministered to and have no responsibility whatsoever. That's not why God has called us to assemble together.

Save the best donuts for one another. You know, hi, you probably have your favorite, but be mindful of others and show some hospitality to one another. And again, without grumbling, you know, I wanted that donut or I wanted that seat. Someone, you know, sat in my seat and now I'm upset about it. But we're to show these courtesies to one another without grumbling, without being upset or irritated about it.

And finally, we can also say goodbye to one another. You know, send off and have that exit greeting where we encourage one another and send each other off into the things that God has in store for them each week. In Romans chapter 12, verse 10, Paul says, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in honor, giving preference to one another. This is the idea of hospitality, showing hospitality to one another. Give preference to one another.

Let them have preference. Let them have their choice. Let them have the better selection or the better things. Let them have a better experience. Now, as a contrast to this, you could think about the city of Corinth or the church of Corinth.

Remember in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, as Paul talks about communion and their partaking of communion as they were doing it as a church, he says, I don't have good things to say about your partaking of communion because, well, their communion wasn't just a little, you know, tiny cup and a little tiny cracker like we practice today, but they would have these love feasts. But the problem was, he says,

People are coming and they're hoarding. And so this guy is full. He's like stuffing himself and feasting and just like, oh yeah, this is awesome. Great fellowship feast. But he's taken all this food and then the person next to him is hungry. And so one's feasting, one's, you know, gluttoning themselves and the other person is hungry. One's drunk and the other person is thirsty. And Paul says, don't you have homes to eat and drink in?

The purpose of a church potluck is not for you to just have everything that you want and feast yourself and then just pass out in the pews. That's not the purpose. The purpose is for us to share together, for us to partake together, to be together. And again, it's this idea of giving preference to one another. Yeah, that's your favorite piece of the chicken, but maybe let someone else have that. It's not about you getting the perfect meal that you want. It's about you getting the perfect meal that you want.

I'm just using that as an example because that's what Paul was dealing with there in Corinth. But you get the point. Whatever the context may apply, be hospitable to one another without grumbling. Give each other preference. Give each other priority in life and in the things that go on. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, this is the part I was telling you about. He says, therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others, and one is hungry and another is drunk.

So here's one guy hungry because he didn't have enough, but he came to the church potluck hoping to be able to have some good fellowship and food together. And others took it all for themselves, and he didn't get anything. One of the classic scenes in my head is a mission trip that we took to American Samoa. And while we were there, they would often have feasts and different things. And watching Pastor Pule was the awesomest because he would wait. He would wait till everybody had eaten.

And then he wouldn't take a plate. He would take one of the platters that someone brought food on, and he would just back clean up. And he would just go and just fill up. But he would wait until everybody else had eaten before he did that. So he feasted, and he gluttoned and then passed out on the pews. But he waited until he made sure everybody else had opportunity to eat, that he wasn't stuffed and gluttoned, and then somebody else was hungry. And that's the idea, giving that preference to one another.

And that's the fellowship that we're to have. That's the hospitality that we are to show to one another. Well, then moving on to verse 10 of 1 Peter chapter 4, Peter says,

So as we minister to one another, and part of our gathering together is for this purpose of ministering, we are to have this fervent love for one another. We're to show this hospitality towards one another. But then also we're to exercise our spiritual gifts. And this is something that we have taught on and talked about many times, even recently as a church. And so I'm not going to get into the details here. But notice he says, each one has received a gift.

And so minister to one another. Be a good steward of the manifold grace of God. God's shown you grace and given you the capacity to minister to others. So be a good steward of that resource that God has given to you and make sure that you minister that gift. Because, well, we all can relate, I think, to this reluctancy to minister. It's very easy to hold back. It's very easy for us to kind of just step back and

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I can lead worship, but, you know, it's easier for me to say no. It's easier for me not to. I can teach, but it's easier for me not to. I can encourage. I can pray. I can be, you know, an exhortation to people. I can minister in this way or that way, but, you know, it's kind of uncomfortable. It's always a step of faith, and I don't really like it that much. And hey, be a good steward of the grace that God has given to you.

And again, I'm talking about this in the context of our gathering together. And I'm not just talking about what happens on the stage, but what happens as we as believers interact with one another. I'm a firm believer more ministry happens in the pews than from the pulpit. Not that this part of ministry is not essential or not important, but it's just not the most important thing and it's not the only thing.

that we're called to gather together to minister to one another. And that's why many times on Wednesday evenings, on Sunday evenings, we have that opportunity to pray for one another, to encourage one another, sometimes corporately, sometimes individually. But even if we don't have that incorporated into the service, we should be engaging in that as we interact with one another in our gatherings together. So before service and after service,

exercise your gifts. As God has given you spiritual gift, minister it to one another. Be a good steward of the grace of God. And so as we assemble in order to minister, we're to minister to one another. That is to love fervently, to be hospitable, and to use our spiritual gifts. Well, the final point, point number three, we're going to jump to 2 Timothy chapter 1. And here the point is to seek opportunity to minister.

Seek opportunity to minister. Here in 2 Timothy chapter 1, Paul's going to call out someone who ministered to him and refreshed him greatly. But as we prepare to talk about that, I want to just introduce you to a new word that I learned. I'm just kidding. I didn't learn it recently. But the word click, right? It's a click, or it's a word that we're familiar with. Here's what the word click means. It's a small group of people who spend time together in

and who are not friendly to other people or to those who are outside of the group. Now, cliques are something that are notorious in churches because, again, as we talked about at the beginning of loving strangers, it's so easy for us. It's so much more comfortable for us

to come expecting to sit in our favorite seats, enjoy our favorite music, talk to our favorite people, fellowship with those that we're comfortable with. It's very comfortable. It's all what we really enjoy. And so it's easy for us to have these relationships together. And we don't intend to be unfriendly, but it's just, you know, this is so easy. We have this comfort level with one another, and it's very easy for us to be a clique, right?

or for there to be multiple cliques within the church. And what we have to do is to be mindful of that so that we break outside of that habit, that tendency, that pattern that develops, and we need to seek opportunity to minister, to be looking for different people to minister to, different people to talk to, and to break outside of what our normal tendencies are.

Here in 2 Timothy chapter 1, here's what Paul says. He says, Notice as Paul talks about this guy, Anisophorus. He says, He often refreshed me.

He wasn't ashamed of my chain as opposed to other people who abandoned Paul when he was imprisoned. But he says, when Onesiphorus arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. Think about those words. He sought me out very zealously and found me. So the idea here is he went out of his way. He didn't just go a little bit out of his way, but he worked really hard to go out of his way to find me.

This word sought me out, it means to seek in order to find. It means to require or demand or to crave something. You ever have a craving? You know, it's like something and you're not satisfied until you got it. You got to fulfill or satisfy that craving that you have. Well, we should have a craving to minister to people around us. And we shouldn't be satisfied until we meet that.

And so it's going to cause us to break outside of just the normal, I'm just here, you know, feed me, minister to me, you know, pamper me and give me everything I want and everything I like. And if you don't, I'm going to gripe and complain about it. No, no, we're not to come with that attitude. As we assemble together, we're to be looking for it and be craving. Lord, I want to be used by you. I want to impact people's life. I want to encourage people. I want to minister to people and build them up and lift them up and help them grow and stir up loving good works and

to be zealous in our seeking for opportunity to minister. David Guzik encourages us in that in this way. He says, whom would God have you diligently seek out and not be ashamed of and refresh? Is there not one person on the outside whom you can draw into your circle of friends and refresh them in the name of the Lord? So yes, you can be real comfortable in your clique, you know, your circle of friends, but perhaps you can reach out to someone who's outside and bring them in.

and welcome them and help them to be part of the group and to be ministered to and to be edified. And I would suggest to you that this is going to require for us to go outside of our comfort zone and kind of our normal thinking. We often talk about our comfort zone because, well, we all have our comfort zones and we like to be in our comfort zones because it's comfortable, but to seek zealously

to minister is going to require us to step outside of those and to come together with that expectation of stepping outside of our comfort zones. Think about some examples from the scriptures. In Acts chapter 16, Paul ministered to Lydia. He went into the city and there wasn't a gathering together and so he sought out zealously. He went to the riverside and found Lydia and ministered to her. Now, it was not normal for Lydia

men to minister to women in that way. It wasn't normal for them to have a conversation or dialogue or to have, you know, fellowship together in that way. But Paul went beyond whatever, you know, the norm was, not in an inappropriate way, you understand. He ministered to Lydia. He shared the gospel with her. Priscilla and Aquila, this married couple, ministered to Apollos, a single guy.

Sometimes, you know, we have the different ministries in the church. We've got the youth ministry. We've got the marriage ministry. We've got this ministry and that ministry. And so we kind of, you know, encourage cliques in that way. It's like, okay, well, you minister to this type of people and this group ministers to that kind of people. But remember, Priscilla and Aquila ministered to Apollos.

This married couple ministered to this single guy and encouraged him and taught him. And both Priscilla and Aquila, the husband and the wife, were involved in this ministering and instructing him. Again, it's outside of maybe what we would typically think. Oh, you're a single guy? Okay, well, we have a singles ministry. But maybe that's not how God wants to work. And to seek out zealously, you don't understand. It doesn't have to be, well, I minister to my kind of people.

Oh, you're Hispanic? All right. Well, we got some Hispanics who can minister to you. You know, you're Caucasian? Okay. Well, here's the Caucasians and they can minister. We got to break those boundaries. Those things don't exist in the Lord. Again, Paul the Apostle in Ephesians chapter 5 encouraged married couples and he was a single guy. He had been married, but he was single. And so

He's able to minister. Can you imagine that? Single guys can minister to married couples and instruct and teach and encourage and equip married couples? Absolutely. Remember, Jesus reached out to a Samaritan woman in John chapter 4. Now again, this was breaking barriers in two ways. First of all, Jesus ministering to a woman. The men would not typically have this type of interaction with a woman in that culture.

But then also, Jesus was Jewish, and she was a Samaritan. And they didn't have relationship with one another. They didn't talk to one another. They were not friendly towards each other. But he broke through those boundaries, broke through those natural or those cultural ideas, and he ministered to this Samaritan woman.

Peter brought the gospel to Gentiles in Acts chapter 10. That was radical. That was something that, well, even the church challenged Peter. Hey, what do you think you're doing bringing the gospel to Gentiles? How dare you do that? Kind of crazy when we look back at it, but they were coming from a totally different mindset. They didn't understand the fullness of what God wanted to do with the gospel message. But Peter, in obedience to what the Lord was speaking to him, broke through those barriers and broke through those boundaries and

and ministered to Gentiles. Philip taught the Bible to the Ethiopian eunuch, and on and on and on we could go. Again, these are examples of people who crossed normal and natural boundaries in order to minister to people. There was a zealousness to break out, to not just have the same old, same old, but to reach out and to minister to those that God has placed in their lives. God uses old people to reach young people.

He uses men to reach women. He uses one nationality to reach another nationality. He does that. It's not that we all have to hang out or are supposed to hang out or it's best to just, you know, be with our same kind of people. I would encourage you, instead of coasting in your routine, as we assemble in order to minister to one another, seek for someone new to pray with. And it doesn't necessarily have to be new, like a guest. It's their first time here.

That's possible and good to do as well. But just someone outside of the routine. Have some interaction. Have some ministry to those that you don't normally interact with. Sit down and listen to someone that you don't normally talk with. Pray for someone you don't normally pray for. Again, consider the example of Anissa Forrest. Who can you refresh that you don't normally refresh, that you're not normally engaged with in that way?

And so here's what I would encourage you. Here's some guidelines that I would encourage you to consider. 10 minutes before service, speak primarily to people that you don't communicate with regularly. As we gather together, listen, especially, you know, for many of us, we see each other. We've known each other for years. We see each other regularly. We have each other's phone numbers. We can always get together. As we gather together for service, come with the intention. 10 minutes leading up to service,

I'm going to primarily focus on and minister to, speak to, talk with, engage, get to know people that I don't already know, people that I'm not already talking to, not already ministering to. I would encourage you to do that. Now, this will be a challenge for some because 10 minutes before service, there's usually two people here. But you know, if there are guests...

Very often it happens where the new people are here all by themselves when service starts, and then all the rest of us old crusty Christians walk in the door, you know, 10 to 20 minutes after service starts. And we miss out on that opportunity, that time with those that God brings before the service starts. Remember that we're assembling to minister. And so I would encourage those, you know, who are involved here, those who are engaged here, you're called to be part of the body here.

You need to be here before service, not just at service time, but be here before service to welcome guests, to minister to one another. Again, the ministry doesn't just happen from the stage, and so it doesn't just happen between service starts and service ends, but it happens as we interact with one another, as we minister to one another and get to know one another. And so be here.

To minister to those that God brings and to minister to one another. And focus and prioritize, you know, based on the time that you have. Because a lot of times we're having conversations 10 minutes before service that we could have any time. We could have it, you know, after service, after everybody else is gone. We could have it in this context or that context, on the phone, by text, Facebook, whatever. I mean, we have so many ways of interacting and communicating with one another that we're always around, right?

And so many times we're wasting time dealing with things or talking about things that they don't need to be dealt with right then. And this is time where sometimes we only have that 10 minutes with some people. And so we need to prioritize based on that. Speak primarily to people that you don't communicate with regularly. I would encourage you, you know, before and after service, that immediate time, it's not the time for us to talk to each other.

It's the time for us to connect with people that we don't get to see regularly, that we don't get to talk to normally. If you want to, you know, talk with one of the other leaders or servants in the body, there's opportunity for that, you know, make time for that. But don't just hang out and shoot the breeze and talk about the Dodgers and miss out on ministering to those that God brings.

If you want to talk to me, listen, 10 minutes before service and 10 minutes after service, that's the hardest time to talk to me. Not just because of the busyness, but also my head's all over the place because I'm ready to teach and getting ready to teach, winding down from teaching, and my mind's fried, especially after second service. And so that's, hey, you want to talk to me? I'll make time. We can make time. We can find a time to meet. We can talk after everybody else is gone. No problem. You and I, we can do that.

But let's save that 10 minutes before service for those that we don't normally get to talk to. Now, this isn't a law, okay? And so it's not like, okay, now we got to enforce this. And no, this is a guideline just to help us remember and prioritize. Hey, as we assemble to minister, that's the purpose. We're gathering together so that we can minister. Well, there's some people that we only have that 10 minute window before service starts. And so let's make sure that we utilize that and minister to those people.

We can hang out with each other all the time, but there's some that we'll only be able to reach that day for those 10 minutes. Now, during service, I would encourage you, that's the time to let the service minister to people. And this, you can think about it in a couple of ways. Sometimes you do interact with somebody, you're having a good time, you're fellowshipping, and so you're outside hanging out while worship is happening. And for those who are leaders here, I would encourage you, don't do that.

Don't keep people from being inside and engaging in the worship service. That's one of the reasons why God brought them here, so that they could participate. Worship is an important part. It's not just filler, you know, until the message starts. No, if you're outside and service is starting, be ushering people inside, encouraging people to come in and engage with the Lord and worship the Lord and receive the fullness of all that he has for them. Let the service minister to people. And sometimes we've had occasions in the past, you know, where

Well, it seems like this is the best time. And so, you know, well, we're going to have a counseling appointment on Sunday. So, you know, other people are here for church anyways, and they'll be watching the kids. And so now we're going to meet and counsel with this person or whatever. And so, you know, we're going to do that instead of attending service. But that's not appropriate. Let the service minister to the people. Let the word of God go forth. And so encourage people to be involved and engaged and don't distract them or disrupt them from that.

but let them experience the fullness of what God has for them. And then after service, for the 10 minutes following service, same rule as the 10 minutes before. Speak primarily to people that you don't communicate with regularly. That's what that time is for. Assemble in order to minister. Come with the mindset, with the expectation that you're going to be reaching out to those that you don't normally get to talk to, those that you don't normally get to interact with. There's been lots of studies done about people

how people experience friendliness at church and what is involved in people making decisions about, you know, churches and whether or not they're friendly, whether or not they'll attend. And it's interesting because the studies and the statistics kind of are in contrast or in opposition to one another.

So George Barna, you know, of course, the famous studies that he does. So his study found that 70% of people make up their mind about whether or not they're coming back to your church within the first 10 minutes of being there before the pastor ever gets up to preach. So he's talking about from driving into the parking lot, that first 10 minutes of being on the property, that's when they make the decision.

Now, other studies say more than any other time, the critical time for making a friendly impression is the 10 minutes right after service ends. And this study described it this way. It says this can be the loneliest moment

If everyone else is greeting friends and the visitor walks up the aisle in a pocket of isolated silence, so we're all talking to one another and the visitor is like, well, I don't have anybody to talk to and they just kind of like walk out because there's no one to talk to, then there's extra loneliness that's demonstrated in that.

But so I think it's interesting that the studies, you know, say, you know, the first 10 minutes, that's the most important. The last 10 minutes, that's the most important. Well, we can handle both. And so take those 10 minutes before and after to minister to those that God brings. Minister to those that you're not normally able to interact with. I would say, hey, if you have their phone number, then you don't need to interact with them 10 minutes before service, 10 minutes after service.

Save that. Now, after that 10 minutes, you know, people are filtering out and then there's opportunity to hang out in fellowship and minister to one another. For those of us who know each other and have been around for a long time, that's appropriate. But be strategic. Be mindful of the time. We have limited time with certain people. And so we need to come with the mindset, assembling together in order to minister to

And some people, we only have those windows to minister to them. 10 minutes before service and 10 minutes after service. And so this is what it means to assemble to minister. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, but do it so much the more. Exhort one another so much the more as you see the day approaching. Consider one another to stir up love and good works. We need to be faithful in gathering together.

faithful in being part of the services and the work that God is doing and come with the intention of not being catered to, but of hosting.

and ministering to others around us. Ministering to strangers, that is showing hospitality, showing love, being welcoming, showing the tour, you know, giving the tour, getting to know people, reserving the best seats, the best parking spots, the best donuts for one another, saying goodbye to them, just, you know, embracing them and surrounding them with the love of Christ. Also, we get to minister to one another.

to have a fervent love for one another, to be hospitable to one another, and to use our gifts in ministering to each other. But then we also need to seek opportunity to minister, to not just get stuck in the routine, not just get caught up in the, this is the normal thing we do, same people I hang out with every week, but to break out of that, to, like Onesiphorus, to be diligent in searching out and finding who you can minister to, who you can refresh.

And so that 10 minutes before service, that 10 minutes after service are critical times, crucial times to be able to minister to people that you don't normally get to interact with. Seek opportunity to minister. Make the most. Be diligent. Be mindful. As service is closing and the prayer is being offered, you can already be preparing yourself for who am I going to be ministering to? Who am I going to be reaching out to? It's not about us gathering together just so that we can be fed and catered to.

we gather together so that we can consider one another to stir up love and good works and that we can exhort each other more and more and more as we see the day approaching. Amen? Let's pray. Lord, I pray that you would help develop in us, Lord, the correct mindset, Lord, the correct priority, the need for us, Lord, to minister to one another, to minister to others as we gather together. I pray that you would help us to not be

neglecting the assembling of ourselves together, to not be forsaking that, but Lord, to be diligent in meeting together, but not just so that we can have our needs met, but I pray that you would stir up in our hearts a fervent love for one another, a fervent love for those that you bring, Lord, that we would look for their best interests.

that we would look to show them your love and demonstrate your care and concern for those that you bring. Help us, Lord, to recognize the people that you bring are people that you bring. They're our guests. And so, Lord, help us to host them, to minister to them, to minister to one another, and to break out of our routines, to break out of our comfort zones, and be diligent in seeking forth, to be zealous in seeking out who we can refresh, Lord, those that you would have us to minister to.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.