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There are 10 fundamentals that I've outlined that comprise a summary or highlights of what it means to have a very personal, meaningful and productive relationship with God. Those are key words in my mind because it begins with a personal relationship with God. The most important relationship any human being can ever have is a personal relationship with God. Ultimately, that's what really matters in life. A personal relationship with God can only be achieved as God prescribes it, as God delineates it in His Word.

Once we enter into a personal relationship with God, we can then have a very meaningful relationship with God and a productive relationship with God, providing that we follow the principles and the teaching of God's Word. We're going to review 10 fundamentals, so put on your seatbelt. We're flying fast, but hopefully this will provide a good overview of what we're studying together.

The first fundamental is what I've called the Great Rejection. And it focuses on people in this world that are described in the Word of God, especially in Romans Chapter one, who don't believe there's a God. In the Book of Psalms, the Psalmist said, the fool has said in his heart there is no God. There are plenty of people in this world that don't believe there's a God. And if many believe in a supreme being, they don't believe in the true and living God. They don't believe in the God that Scripture describes and that we know. From there, as a result of rejecting God, people reject his truth.

In Romans, chapter one talks about the wrath of God being revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. So man chooses a life that is against God and against righteousness, and chooses that rather than the truth of God. And that's how man rejects God. And the result of that is tragic. And it is described in Romans chapter 1.

Man chooses not to glorify God, not to be thankful to God for who he is and what he has provided. Man becomes vain in his imaginations, comes up with all kinds of theories and philosophies, and they profess themselves to be very wise by coming up with all of these philosophies and theories about creation and about a supreme being and so forth. And the Bible says, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And then they changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into images, images that are man made. And man, in his foolishness, worships man made things, man made images.

So God then brings a consequence to that. God gives man up to uncleanness to live life the way man chooses to live. God never imposes himself upon people, never forces people to believe or to follow him, or to honor him, or to be thankful to him. However, he does always tell us, tells us the consequences of not doing that. Yet man has a choice, then in verse 25 of Romans 1, man changed the truth of God into a lie.

And it's Satan's lie and you know, worships and serves a creature rather than the Creator. And the result is that there's all kinds of unnatural things that man engages in and it's a futile life. And then there's a description in Romans one of a whole list of sins that man engages in because they suppress the truth of God and choose to live life as they choose, separated from God. And you can see a whole list beginning with verse 29 being filled with all unrighteousness. And there's immorality, there's wickedness, there's all these sins that are listed all the way down to verse 32.

So that's what happens when an individual rejects the existence of God or rejects the God of the Bible. It's a terrible rejection. Now that's one group of people. The second group of people are the ones that look at the people in this chapter one and say, that's not me. They look down on people that commit all of these sins and we compare ourselves to other people and come out looking pretty good.

Because we usually, if not always, compare ourselves to people that are worse than us. And we come out looking good, we smell good, and we think we're okay. And there's a great deception in that. That's described in Romans chapter two, where God tells us of the standards of his judgment, the fundamentals, the principles of his judgment, how God judges. He doesn't judge the same way you and I do.

He doesn't evaluate people's lives the same way you and I do. And so these people in self righteousness look at all that list of sins that people who don't believe in God, who reject God and suppress the truth of God, and they look and they say, you know, I'm not like that. Yeah, I try to live by the Ten Commandments. I never killed anybody. I never hit my parents, maybe my siblings, but not my parents or my grandparents, worst case, but they think they're pretty good.

And in fact, a lot of people in this group actually are very religious. A lot of people subscribe to certain religions and they think that if they go to church, whatever church or religious activity that they engage in. And perhaps they give money to their religious affiliation. They try to live good, they try to be kind to others, they try to be good parents and so forth. And they think they're pretty good.

That's a terrible deception. The deception of thinking that you're okay with God and you're not. And so that's a real problem. And, you know, it's described in Romans chapter two, and it's focused, especially in this context, on Jewish people who thought, well, they have a relationship with God because they're God's chosen people. God has given them a lot, a lot of advantage.

And they look at the Gentiles and they say, we're not like them. But that's true of anyone that looks at others and says, I'm doing pretty good. I'm not so bad.

And so that's chapter two, and that's the second fundamental, which leads to the third fundamental, which is the greatest provision that has ever been made. From Fundamentals one and two, you've got to get to fundamental number three. Because if you stay either in fundamental one or fundamental two, if you stay knowing that you resist God, reject God, don't want God in your life and in your mind, in your thought process, that's one thing. But if you think you're okay and a religious individual and are living pretty well, that spells eternal trouble. And you've got to go to fundamental chapter three.

Because fundamental chapter three is the pivot point for people in Fundamentals one and two. And the only way actually to understand and benefit from fundamentals four through 10. You've got to get what's true here, right? If not, it's hopeless. You can't even begin to understand and live by fundamentals chapter four through 10, which we will see, this is the gate.

This is the turning point. This is the pivot in an individual's life. It's understanding the relationship that God has offered with himself through the provision that God has made in the person and work of his Son. The greatest provision ever made, this is the greatest message, the greatest news any human being will ever hear, is the salvation that God has provided by his grace through faith. And that's the positive.

The negative, is that it's not as a result of our works. Whether it's the works that you find in that great deception. I'm religious. I do all of these religious activities. My heart is pure, my motives are sincere.

I really want to do good. But if you don't do it according to what God has prescribed, it's worthless, it's empty. It's void of any value. And so we've got to come to this fundamental to this greatest provision of all time, of all eternity, for a lost mankind. Man is a sinner.

Romans 3:23 all sinned and were descendants of Adam. When he sinned, the whole human race sinned in him. And we continue to demonstrate our sinfulness by continually coming short of the glory of God, who God is his perfect standard, his perfect righteousness.

The problem is that the wages of sin, Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death. The consequences of staying in an attitude of rebellion against God, the consequence of remaining in a state of deception, thinking that we're right with God because we're not as bad as others, results in spiritual separation from God. The wages of sin is death. Wages are something that you get for doing something. So when you work, you're promised wages for certain amount of hours or a salary or an hourly wage.

You deserve that. You earn that. The wages of sin. What we deserve for our sin is death, which is eternal separation from God. A horrible existence, a horrible eternity awaits those who die in that condition, who are spiritually dead, spiritually separated from God.

The wages of sin is death. But the good news is that God doesn't reward us for our wages, giving us his gifts and his eternal life. That's a gift. And God has made a provision through a wonderful gift, an indescribable gift. What the Lord Jesus Christ did as God and as man, as sinless man and as holy God, he went to the cross to die for our sin and to make a provision so that we, by his grace, grace all that God is able to give to us that we don't deserve, we don't deserve forgiveness of sins.

We don't deserve an eternity in heaven. We don't deserve a right relationship with God. We deserve none of it. And it's all by God's grace. All that God is free to do for us because of what Christ did for us on the cross.

And that's the greatest provision that has ever been made. Salvation by grace, through faith. It's that gift that is received by us. We don't work for it. It's not wages.

We don't deserve it. We don't merit it. It's a gift. At a point in time you say, I received that gift, I believe consciously and purposely on the Lord Jesus Christ for my salvation. Personal, eternal, unending gift that God gives to us, not as a result of works.

If God were rewarding us for Our works we would go back to wages of sin is death. And a personal relationship with God is only possible through the provision that God has made. Not through the work that we perform, but through, not through our sincerity or activity or goodness. It is a provision that God makes for salvation that can only be received by believing, trusting in what Christ did for us on the cross. What a friend for sinners.

What a great Savior, that he would leave heaven, go to the cross, taking all of our sin upon him. He didn't know any sin, he had no sin, takes all of our sin, goes to the cross and dies in our place so that he could offer us the gift of salvation. He pays the price for all of our sin, all that we deserved, he took upon himself. What a Savior.

The greatest provision of all. Now once an individual gets to this place where they have a right living relationship with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, now things open up. Now we're able to enjoy and engage in what God has provided for us. And we'll look at those as we look at the following fundamentals we have. Fourthly, the greatest book in the world, the Word of God.

God describes it as living and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword. It's life giving truth. And ever since the beginning of creation, there's been a battle for man's soul and it was focused on the Word of God. When Satan came to Eve, he lied about the Word of God, he changed the Word of God, he took away truths from the Word of God and he deceived the woman and she gave to the husband. And it was the battle for the soul of man.

And man lost that battle because man sinned by disobeying a very simple commandment that God gave to man which represents all that we engage in when we live according to our own sin. The battle for the human soul. It was followed later by the battle for the truth of God's word. When Satan met the Lord Jesus Christ In Matthew chapter four, Luke chapter four, there was a great temptation. Jesus had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and Satan comes to him and he actually uses the Word of God as he did with Eve.

Though with Eve he changed some things, added some things, deceived her about it with the Lord Jesus Christ. He actually quoted scripture accurately, but it was Scripture that didn't apply for that circumstance. And that's where the critical component of understanding how to study the Word of God is vitally important. And there are questions that we need to ask ourselves when we study the Word of God. Who is speaking?

Well, if we just ask that question, we can get in trouble because God speaks in his word. He speaks directly to Adam, to Eve, to Moses. He speaks through the prophets, he speaks through David. He speaks through the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ himself speaks.

And you say, well, Jesus is God. Whatever he says, I must apply to myself. You can't just ask that question because you will always go astray just answering that question. You've got to ask not just who wrote it, but when, at what point in time, and to whom and for what purpose. Those are the four questions.

So when we understand in the Garden of Eden, God spoke when. When he had created man and woman. And he spoke to Adam and Eve, gave them specific commands while they were in the garden. And he had a commission for them. He had a purpose for them.

He told them what to do. Then man sinned against God. God kicked them out of the garden. They could no longer be in the garden. God changed the instructions.

Still God speaking, but something changed for Adam and Eve after they sinned, after they were out of the garden. And unless we distinguish the differences between when God is speaking to whom and for what purpose, we're never going to get to the Word of God the way God intended for us to study it. Scripture calls it rightly dividing the Word of God. And that's what Satan was doing when he tested the Lord Jesus Christ and tempted him to do things that he was not supposed to do. He quoted Scripture to him and Jesus said, no, that one doesn't apply, because Jesus knew exactly how to rightly divide the Word of Truth, rightly interpret the Word of God, rightly apply the Word of God.

He says there's another scripture that applies in this instance. And an interesting insight we get there is that Satan was being scriptural, but he was being a deceiver. He was misusing and misapplying the Word of God. And that's a great trick that Satan is playing today and throughout the history of mankind. Satan takes and changes the Word of God.

He wants you to study the Word of God. As long as you don't study it correctly, he wants you to apply the Word of God. As long as you're not applying the Word of God that is supposed to apply to you and to me. And Satan wants to keep us from doing that. The greatest book in the world, the Bible, is God's Word and can be understood, can be applied correctly if studied the way God intended for us to study it.

You will never, ever, ever benefit from the Word of God and get the profit and the benefit that God put in it unless you rightly divide it. You cannot just take any and all scripture and say, well, it's whatever it means to me. If it's whatever it means to you, then it doesn't mean anything. God says what he means and means what he says, and that's what we've got to figure out. The greatest book in the world that then opens up from fundamentals 5 through 10, keys to living the Christian life productively, meaningfully, and in a way that honors God.

We see, as we continue in a study of God's prescription for you and for me, that there's a great leader. You see, we don't just follow anybody or everybody in the Bible. Who do we follow? Whom do we obey? Do we obey what God said to Noah?

Well, then what are we doing here? We should get busy building an ark. If we're listening to God and following what he said to Moses, then we'd be here and maybe not here. We might be in a temple, and we would have to follow the Ten Commandments and live by those. And we'd have to rely on God to lead us as he spoke to Moses, as he led the children of Israel.

We'd have to be out there looking for a pillar of cloud to follow or an audible voice from God. If we followed what God said to Moses at night, we could look out and say, okay, we're waiting for the pillar of fire so that we can follow it, because that's what's going to tell us where to go and what to do. And when we come to a place where there's no food, well, we just pray. And God showers down food from heaven, which he did for the children of Israel. And when we're thirsty, we say, well, God says, just strike the rock.

And he gave water from the rock. But you see, it's not just following anybody and everybody in the word of God, because God has determined that we, as members of the body of Christ, are to follow one person that God revealed his truth to for us today and revealed his plan for us today, and revealed to us how we. How we today should live. And that's the Apostle Paul. And it's not because Paul is something he himself says.

You know, he took me as his enemy, the chief, the prototype, the example of sinners. I'm the head of it. And he showed to me his grace, and he made me the pattern, the first one. And the pattern that all who come after all who believe from that point on should follow that pattern. And if we don't follow that pattern, we might be biblical, but we'll be wrong.

We might be able to quote some scriptures and try to live by others and be wrong on the wrong path. We will not honor and glorify God because throughout the letters that Paul wrote, we have an emphasis on who he is, his unique apostleship, distinct from the twelve apostles, a unique apostle that we're to follow. He actually says in a few places, you follow me, be followers of me. Why? Not because Paul is something, but because God predetermined by revealing to him his plan for us today, that we're to follow what he teaches, what he instructs us to do, and how we are to follow.

It's a great thing that God has taken revelation that was hidden before, that was kept secret before, and revealed it specifically to the apostle Paul. And he, through Paul, he has revealed it to us so that we can live life the way God intended for us to live it. If we do not follow Romans and the writings of the Apostle Paul, we might be scriptural, we might be biblical, but we'll be on the wrong path. We'll never be able to have the fullest meaningful relationship with God and never be able to be productive or fruitful to God so that our lives honor and glorify Him. It's only as we follow what God has told us to follow and whom God has told us to follow and obey.

It is there that we find the instructions in the next five fundamentals. Next one is the greatest partnership in the world, which is the whole topic of prayer. Prayer is a partnership with God. Prayer is a relationship with God. This is a focus on how we engage in prayer.

What are God's specific guidelines in prayer, and what do we depend upon God for? Lots of confusion by being biblical, but by being wrong. Taking prayers in the Bible that do not apply to us. And that may be, you know, part of engaging in religious activity. Praying prayers that are in the word of God, but that don't apply to us.

So it's a lot of those prayers in Scripture. And when you ask the full questions of who's speaking to whom, when and for what purpose, then you're able to distinguish between what prayer is for us today and what it is not. So we have Christians today taking any and all prayers of Scripture and believing things that will never come to pass as a result of those prayers. We have prayers in Second Chronicles where God says to the children of Israel, God speaking to the children of Israel at that time for a particular purpose. He wanted the children of Israel, to turn from their wickedness and turn to God.

And God says, if my people. Who's he speaking to? My people, the children of Israel. At that point, you can't take that and say, well, we're his people now, so we're going to hijack that prayer and apply it to us today. You can't, because the when and to whom is critical.

If my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and forsake their sins, I will heal their land. That does not apply to the United States of America. God will not heal our land if we humble ourselves and pray and forsake our sins and so forth. It is right for us to pray, but to pray according to the word of God, not just to take any prayer. A classic prayer is what's called the Lord's Prayer.

And there are books that have been written and sermons that have been preached all over Christendom about the importance of the Lord's Prayer. And it does not apply to us. We try to change it so that it kind of applies to us. When you say, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, it falls apart right there.

Because the hope of the nation of Israel is the establishment of the kingdom on earth. That was the promise to the children of Israel from the beginning of the world that's been promised to them. There's coming a time when Christ is descending and he's going to be ruling and reigning on earth on David's throne. There will be perfect justice, perfect righteousness as he is king.

And the children of Israel who will be going through horrible tribulations, the remnant, the believing nation of Israel will be going after we depart from here. Seven years of terrible tribulation. They're going to have to rely on God. And the longing of their heart will be for God to establish his kingdom, for Christ to return. Because it's horrible circumstance.

They cannot buy or sell anything. They cannot buy food unless they have the mark of the beast and they identify themselves with antichrist. And they're going to pray with longing. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God's will is not being done on earth as it is in heaven.

Just read what's going on in this world. Just what's going on with us. We've got. There's sickness, we're getting older, we're failing. There's all kinds of corruption, all kinds of disease, all kinds of events that are taking place.

God's will is not being done on earth. No matter how much you pray and no matter how much you long for that, it's not going to happen. Because God is predetermined. His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Once Christ is ruling and reigning on his throne here on earth, then there'll be peace.

There will be peace on earth. So taking prayers, just because they're prayers that are in the word of God, even prayers that are uttered by God the Son, doesn't mean they apply to.

There's promises to the nation of Israel where two or three are gathered in my name. Whatever you ask, I'll do it.

Well, if that applied, who would like a better car? Well, let's just agree that you need a better car. Go over there to the other room. We'll pray together. We agree you can have a better car by the end of the day or sometime in the near future.

Doesn't apply.

So there are a lot of. A lot of teaching on prayer in the word of God. But the only teaching on prayer that applies to us, that works for us is prayer that the Apostle Paul teaches us to pray. And there's very specific guidelines, very specific instructions as to what to pray for and how to pray. And you can find those prayers in several parts in Scripture.

You can find it in Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter three, Philippians chapter one, Colossians chapter one. They're very specific prayers that relate to what God is doing today and how he wants us to engage with him in prayer. Because there's some phenomenal, powerful truths that we need to understand when we think about prayer. And one of them is that God did not save us so that he could be involved in our business. It's a lot of the prayer that, frankly, is going on today that for many years I prayed, I was relying on God to do things for me.

Some of you may have engaged in this, but it may sound hilarious that somebody would think this, but I'm in a hurry and I'm looking for a parking space.

Somebody leaves right in front of the place I was going to, and I would thank God for providing a parking spot. God did not save us so that he could be involved in our business. The prayers for we were involved in a church baseball league a few years back. And because it was a church baseball league, it was the custom of that league that before a game began, you'd pray, and after the game was over, you'd pray. We played five and a half games.

We prayed 11 times that day. And the prayers are that some would pray that they'd win, others would pray that God would protect us from getting hurt or nonsense that is trying to get God involved in our things. That's not why God saved us. You might think, well, that sounds pretty impersonal on the part of God. It's far greater than that.

When you understand what God actually did, it blows your mind how phenomenal, how glorious it is because God did not save us so that he could be involved in our business. That's what we always think. Protect us on a trip and take a few of your angels and put them about, you know, the church bus and make sure we get there safely. Now it didn't work. And I can tell you funny stories about how it didn't work.

Even though we pray or health or prolonged life or provision, it doesn't work. Because what is true is that God saved us for a loftier purpose. And that is so that we couldn't be involved in his business. Wow. That we could be co laborers with God, co laborers with Christ to accomplish what he wants to do in this world.

That is liberating. That gives insight as to what prayer is, how a partnership with God through prayer works.

So then next is fundamental number seven, which is the greatest power that God has provided. Again, we learn all of that, as Paul teaches us as members of the body of Christ, what he has provided for us. And we have learned a lot about the power that God has provided for the children of Israel. And it was embedded in the provisions that God made through God's Jehovah, Name I am Name, where He provided everything the children of Israel needed. Strength, protection, power, provisions, all kinds of things.

And it was all resident in God's name. Just look at a concordance and look at how many times the word name is in Israel's history. Because it was everything that was embedded and provided through the name of God. That's how he provided grace for individuals to live life the way God intended. That has changed, has changed completely.

And now the grace that God has provided us comes through the dispensation of grace, through the apostle of the grace of God. Because that's how God is dispensing grace today. It's through all that God has provided in, in and through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul calls it the mystery. It's the all that is involved in the revelation, the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.

And that's how grace comes to us. You can't go back to the provisions that God made for the children of Israel specifically for them through his great I am name and hope that God will do that for you. You can be biblical, but you can be dead wrong about what God is doing today, the power that he gives to live the Christian life in. There are somebody. I've got 43 provisions of the grace of God for us today, and that's very limited.

Somebody counted 95 provisions of the grace of God that are given to us. It's the grace of God that is provided for us to go triumphantly through all difficulties of life. God does not remove difficulties, but God gives us grace to triumph through those difficulties, not to grin and bear it. To triumph, God promises in often misquoted verse and promise claimed 1st Corinthians 10:13 there has no testing or temptation given you, but such as is common to man. But God has made a way of escape.

God has provided a way of escape so that you might be able to bear it. Well, we think that God has a dial for each one of us up in heaven. And he says, let's see this person. I can take them to about a three. That's about all they can bear.

And so God is controlling how much you suffer and how much you are able to tolerate. And you, of course, you're really spiritual. And God turns that dial up. You can. You can do a six, and God controls what comes at you.

That's foolishness. What that verse actually means is that God is telling us that the things that we face today are common to man. In other words, God doesn't give us uncommon circumstances. I've got a banker who's a believer, and when he sees that we've had some success in business, he said, oh, you're so blessed. Our company does not have a competitive advantage because it's owned by Christians.

God doesn't bless businesses. In fact, there are a lot of Christians that make very bad business decisions. And God does not bless bad business decisions. He just does not. So understanding this verse 1 Corinthians 10:13, the way God makes a way of escape, not by reducing the trials and difficulties you experience.

He gives us the grace to be able to triumph in all circumstances that we face, which men face everywhere, they're common to man. But God gives us the power, the grace to live that way. And perhaps a good way to illustrate that is that if you have a vehicle, a combustion engine vehicle, which means that it needs gasoline for its power, so you look at the tank and you say, okay, time to go back to the gas station, get some gasoline, and that provides you power to go another three, 400 miles and then you need to stop again and refuel and get more power.

Now if you get an all electric car, you've got a completely different source of power. You can go to the gas station all day long. Not only can you take that pump, you're not going to find a place to put it because there's no gas tank. It is fueled by a completely different power. And so if the combustion engine is is of an ex.

An example of what Israel was provided through the grace that was resident in God's I am name. Now we don't go there for that. Now it's all resident embodied in God's mystery revelation. It's the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. And that's where we now get our power.

So the greatest power next, it's fundamental number eight. The greatest purpose. The greatest purpose. Our mission. What is our mission in life is to bring glory to God as his ambassadors.

And so we have again all kinds of confusion. When we take instructions and commissions that are given to different people at different times and try to apply them to ourselves, it doesn't work. So there are commissions that God gave, Christ gave them. In Matthew, chapter 28, we call that the Great Commission for some reason. And then at the end of Mark, there's a commission.

At the end of Luke, there's a commission. At the end of John, there's a commission. In Acts, chapter one, verse eight, there's a commission. It's all different commissions, none of which we could perfectly keep. That don't apply to us because there's a completely different purpose.

And Christ has described it through the APostle Paul. In Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, he says we're ambassadors for Christ.

And what's the motivation for that commission? It's the love of Christ that constrains us. Motivated by love. We are ambassadors as those who have been reconciled to God. We have the word of Reconciliation According to 2nd Corinthians 5, and we have, according to verse 18, the ministry of reconciliation.

That God wants individuals who are in an enemy status before him to be reconciled to Him. He has done everything possible to provide reconciliation for man. And the only way that man is going to hear is as we if we as ambassadors tell our children how to be reconciled to God, tell our grandchildren how to be reconciled to God, take the people that we come in contact with to be reconciled to God, and the message of reconciliation is all in a nugget of truth that is rich and powerful. It's at the end of verse 21, which is our message. He has made him Christ to be sin for us.

He who knew no sin, that we might be made, the righteousness of God in him, all focused on the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. He died there. Once you're saved, once you come through fundamental three, and you trust Christ as your own personal Savior, you are an ambassador. You might be a good one or you might be a bad one. You're an ambassador.

And our purpose in life is to communicate this truth to the unsaved. It's the biggest message we have. It's the gospel of the grace of God, the good news that Christ died for us. He was buried. He rose again the third day.

And he gives to us salvation free because he became sin for us, so that he might give to us something that we do not possess, his righteousness given to us as a gift. That's the purpose for our existence. That's why we are still on this earth. And it is our privilege and responsibility to engage others in a discussion and in a thoughtful process of bringing them to an awareness of the lostness, the enmity that man is in. And the fact that God has done everything possible to reconcile man to himself through that infinite work of Christ on the cross.

That's the purpose we have. We are his ambassadors. Now, the last two fundamentals is. Number nine is the greatest community. It has to do with the assembly of ourselves, is why do we gather together?

What is God's purpose for us to get together? And there's all kinds of wrong application and a wrong view of what a place where the church, the body of Christ meets, what that is. Some think this is a. That it's a holy place. Doesn't look real holy, but some think, you know, you don't touch certain things and you have to have an atmosphere because you're worshiping God.

And, and you have to have worship in, in. In certain prescriptions and certain activities. None of that you will find in God's word to the body of Christ. Because worship is doing the will of God. Worshiping God is presenting ourselves.

Romans 12 As a living sacrifice to Him. That's our reasonable common sense, common biblical sense. Offering to God to give ourselves to him, to serve him, to be his ambassadors, to honor him, to. To glorify him. That's worship.

And it doesn't happen just on the Sabbath as it did with the children of Israel. God took one day out of the seven, elevated it and said, this is a day when you worship me, set aside to rest. Certain things you can do, can't do doesn't say that to us anymore. What he says is he's taken the other six days and elevated them to the same level where we live every moment of every life to honor and glorify God as best we can. We don't do it perfectly, obviously, but our desire, our longing is to please him and to honor him.

And our gathering together is to study the word of God to. In order to, you know, Paul gave very specific instructions to Pastor Timothy said, preach the word, give yourself to doctrine, give yourself to warning, to reproof, to correction. Invest yourself in the study of God's word so that you can pour that into people's lives because you're contributing to their joy, to their successful relationship with God. And that's why we meet together. And that's the main reason.

All the passages that have to do that, Paul writes about one another, admonish one another, pray for one another, encourage one another, rejoice with one another. There's a whole list of one another. Those are all to be working together through this assembly. And as we go out into the world, you have opportunities that I don't. Each of us has opportunities that the other doesn't.

That's the world we live in. We are literally missionaries. Wherever we live, wherever we operate in life, and we have this community. Why we meet together so that we go out equipped for every work that God wants us to do, for every attitude, for every word God wants us to speak. We learn, we're equipped for life.

Finally, number 10 is the greatest hope, ending with the greatest hope. We have a great hope, the truth that one day. First Corinthians, chapter 15, verse First Thessalonians, chapter 4. One day we're going to depart this earth as a group and we're going to hear the sound of a trumpet and the shout of God. And those who have died in the last 2000 years in Christ will rise, meet the Lord in the air.

Then we who are alive, if we remain to the coming of the Lord, will we will join them, and we will meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with him in the heavenlies. Because there's a role for us to fill. There were positions that were vacated by evil angels, and we're going to fill those. We're going to govern the angelic community. We have things to do and ways to serve and please, please God that are yet in eternity future.

They're going to be magnificent. We're not going to be encumbered by this limited, sickly, aging body and the sin nature that's attached to it. Leaving all that behind. And that's our hope. We will be with him and all others who have gone before us and who come with us will be with them and with him for all eternity.

Different than the hope that Israel has. As we mentioned before, the hope of Israel is the establishment of a kingdom here on earth. A well known teacher who I love to listen to because he's got a great attitude, great spirit, great heart. But he just wrote a book on the coming hope for us. And the fact that we're going to be walking on streets of gold and we're going to be ruling and reigning with Christ here on earth.

He's mistaken. He's mistaken because that's not what the word of God teaches. We have a completely different hope. The living hope that Israel has is that ruling and reigning with Christ here on earth. Our hope is the fact, our assurance, our security, our 100% for sure hope is that one day we're going to be freed up from this world, from these bodies, and we're going to serve him and worship him for all eternity.

Engaging in these truths is what gives to you not only a very personal relationship with God, but a very meaningful relationship. Meaningful, fruitful, productive relationship with God. Apart from that, you can't have it with that, you can have it all. And it's way beyond what words can describe.