The scripture for today, October 25, is Hebrews 10:25 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 7-SHADOW OF DEATH-Cover“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another ~ and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Some people declare, “I can walk through nature ~ the temple of God ~ and feel God is closer there than in a church building.” Well, do they really do it? How often? The purpose of the church meeting is not so much to encourage ourselves as to encourage others along with worshiping God.

Look at the context. Verse 23 says “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess” and verse 24 says, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” How do we do these things? A lot of it is done during our congregation’s worship and encouragement service.

And what comes after our verse for today? Verse 26 says, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left.” Meeting together with other congregational members is one of the major things that keeps us from falling.

Should we meet once a week? This scripture says to meet “all the more as you see the Day [of Judgment] approaching. Many say, “But that’s too inconvenient.”

It was inconvenient for Jesus to leave a perfect heaven for an imperfect earth. It was inconvenient for him to leave the company of angels for the company of sinners. It was inconvenient for him to do this for 33 long years. Inconvenient taking the blame for our sins, and then taking our punishment. Inconvenient experiencing agonizing spiritual death when God left him on the cross, and then that agonizing physical death.

Do we really know inconvenience?

The scripture for today, June 14 (6/14), is Numbers 6:14 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“There he is to present his offerings to the Lord…a year-old ewe lamb without defect for a sin offering…. “

A lot of people don’t understand what Jesus dying on a cross has to do with going to heaven.  Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death.”  In Old Testament times, God allowed people to kill a perfect animal in their place whenever they sinned.  But they had to keep doing it over and over, because it is impossible for us to be perfect.   Finally Jesus came to earth as a human, and John the Baptist called him the Lamb of God (John 1:29).  

Jesus was perfect; that is, he never sinned (Hebrews 4:15).  Then he took the wages of sin and died as the perfect Lamb of God in our place ~ both physically (separation from people on earth) and spiritually (separation from God).  He even went a step further and miraculously came back to life!

Then God said, If you’ll believe and imitate Jesus, I will forgive your sins and consider you perfect too. Then I’ll bring you back to life.  (Romans 6)  How amazing!

And, by the way, since he came back to life on Sunday, that’s what makes Sunday so special.  It’s an I’m-sorry-you-had-to-die-for-my-sins Day, and a Gratitude Day.