Sunday Evening, Feb 3, 2008,

Sunday evening, we continued on with our lesson in Heb 10. As we had some in attendance who were not there for the morning assembly, we recapped what we learned and continued on in our study.  The children and young people answered questions about what they had learned, which was an good indication that they are really understanding what is being taught to them. We discussed the great advantage of being under the new covenant, rather than the old. Under the new, as spiritual Jews we are given the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us and to empower us to live in victory over the flesh. In this manner, we serve God from a heart of love and not from a threat of punishment under a law. 

Further, under the new, our sins are forgiven and forgotten. We need not make daily, weekly or annual pilgrimages to an altar to ask forgiveness for sin. In fact, we become a 24/7 living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. This close relationship with our Father allows us to come boldly to the throne of grace and make our petitions known to Him, as there is “nothing between my soul and the Savoir”. 

Finally, we discussed one of the most abused scriptures in the entire Bible, Heb 10:24. Often this verse is quoted in a legalistic manner as “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together”, however, there are stipulations to this verse that are seldom mentioned when such threats are made. The first stipulations are found in the preceding verse, which is grammatically actually connected to verse 24.  What are those stipulations? Our assembly meetings must be conducive to an environment in which we consider one another’s thoughts and insight.  Our meetings should never be centered around one individual for it is certain that no one person knows it all. Secondly, we are to provoke one another unto love and to good works. How is this done? By allowing each member of the body to exercise his / her spiritual gifts to edify the rest of the body. This, and only this, will allow for true and lasting body edification. Again, our meetings are never to be a one man show where one person speaks and the rest are spectators. But the Hebrew writer does not stop here. In the next verse, verse 26, he tells us that our assembly meetings are to be such that we should freely exhort one another. This again gives us clear insight into the manner in which the New Testament church is to operate.  

Let us make a clear statement. In assemblies where consideration is not being given to one another’s gifting, or where the saints are not being provoked unto love and to good works, or where there is no exhorting of one another taking place, the saints are under no Biblical obligation whatsoever to assemble themselves together. In such case, as we used to say when we occasionally missed grade school, they have an “excused absence”. On the other hand, where these assembly meeting criteria are being met, why would a Christian not want to assemble themselves together with fellow believers, and even more so as time goes on and the world waxes worse and worse? 

Thank God for how He is leading us along as we strive to be a representation of the New Testament church. To view the entire outline, click here.