The Reason We Gather | Andy Brown

Why do we gather for worship? This profound question cuts to the heart of our faith journey, especially in times when the world around us seems to be shaking. This message takes us through Scripture to examine the stark difference between people gathering on their own initiative versus responding to God's call. From the Tower of Babel to the golden calf incident, we see a pattern: when humans assemble for their own glory or purposes, it leads to confusion and rebellion. The people at Babel tried to build a tower to heaven to make a name for themselves, but God had to come down because their tower couldn't reach His majesty. The Israelites gathered to worship a golden calf, mixing their devotion with idolatry. These cautionary tales remind us that we are not simply a crowd looking for a cause. Instead, we are a people called by the King of Kings, responding to His gracious initiative. Psalm 2 beautifully captures this tension: while nations rage and plot against God, He sits in heaven, unmoved and sovereign. The psalm ends with a powerful invitation: blessed are all those who take refuge in Him. This is why we gather—not out of habit, not to make a name for ourselves, not to resist God's authority, but because He is worthy, because we need to hear His Word, because our gathering serves as a witness to the world, and because we come with both a warning and an invitation for those who don't yet know Him.

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Transcript

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Well, I want you to do a little soul searching this morning, and I want you to think about this question. Why did you come to church today? Why on earth did you gather? Now, no doubt many of us, you came bearing the weight of the headlines on your heart and on your attention, and yet you still chose to come today. Of all the things that you could have done, you chose to gather. After the events of yesterday, I knew that there was one phone call that I had to make. And I called my mentor. My mentor is named Lieutenant Colonel William H. Noe. He's a Air Force retired pilot. And in 1979, February of 1979, after the Shaw's government fell in Iran, he was the last plane off the runway. And he tells a wonderful story of the Lodmaster not sure if his C-141 starlifter would be able to take off because they had so many people, over 200 plus Americans, that he was getting out of Iran 47 years ago. And after yesterday, I had to make a phone call to him and I had to call him, and I had to get a little bit of his reaction with all of the world's news. And he said, Andy, yesterday was one of those types of moments that is a once-in-a-lifetime moment. Realistically, all of our attention, it's one of those types of moments where all of your attention, you can't help but look in one place. And today, you chose to be here. When the nations are raging, you chose to gather. When the world is unsteady, you chose to come to a safe place where we can find our refuge in God. When the world is seemingly being shaken, you chose to cling to the rock of your salvation, and you express that with the unshakable assurance that you took to come today and gather. You see, the reason that we gather is because God has called us. The reason that we gather is because we're responding to his initiative. We're not simply gathering because it's our idea. We're not a crowd looking for a cause. Instead, we are a people that are called by the king to come and gather. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us a story that when people get together and they get together on their own accord, when they just decide to get together, usually it's not a good thing. Usually when people take it upon their initiative to come and gather, it's not a good thing. But you're not those, and we're not those that have just taken it upon our initiative to come and gather. No, God has created space for us to come and gather. He's created this time where we join through the churches through the ages, or with the church through the ages as a continual witness. We're engaging in something, and I hope that you realize this. We're engaging in something, an unbroken strain that has been going on for nearly 2,000 years, where the church would gather on the first day of the week, the day of resurrection, and they would make a declarative statement by just us being here that Christ is risen from the grave. And that's what you've chosen to do today. You didn't come here again on your own initiative. You came as a response to a God who called you from one thing out of the world and into his marvelous light. And what I want to do is I want to show you in the Bible. We're going to go through a couple of passages today, and I want to show you this pattern that when people decide to gather on their own initiative, it's not a good thing. So would you take your Bible and first join me in this passage as we try to answer the question, the reason that we gather? Go to Genesis chapter 11. And in Genesis chapter 11, you're going to find a pretty familiar passage over there. Remember where we are. This is the beginning of the Bible, and so the Lord has just created the world and everything that's in it. But at Genesis chapter 11, this is this famous passage that we call the Tower of Babel. I want you to see that what's happening here. Everyone's gathered, and it's not a good thing. Listen to the Bible. Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they settled there. And they said to one another, so you see, everybody's gathered, they're settling. They said to one another, Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. Now let's stop right there for just a moment. They are using the same words that God used in Genesis 1 when he said, Come, let us make man in our image. It's the same kind of language. What is that telling us? It's telling us that they are replacing worship for the true God with worship of a God of their own imagination. And they're doing that based upon their own initiative. They're coming and they're gathering. And then verse 3, come, let us make bricks and burn them. And they had bricks for stone and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, there again, verse 4, come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top into the heavens. Don't miss that. So what are they doing? They're trying to build a tower that's going to reach all into the heavens. Now, God told them to scatter, and instead of scattering, they gathered. And then once they got together, they assembled themselves and they said, We need to reach a we need to show how great we are, and we need to build this tower that's going to touch heaven. Now I want you to pay attention to that because there's a detail that you'll miss if you're not paying attention. Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we do exactly what God told us and disperse over the face of the earth. Now look at verse 5. Don't miss this. It's comical. And the Lord came down. You see that? Here are these individuals saying, look, let's build a great name for ourselves. And here is the Lord who's sitting in heaven. And the Bible says they're building this high tower up to him. And then what? It's so high that they can't even reach him. God comes down. We're going to see that again repeated. And the Lord said in verse 6, Behold, they are one people and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they're going to do. And nothing that they propose will be impossible for them. Verse 7, same language that the Lord used in Genesis 1. Come, let us go down there and confuse their language so that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord did exactly what he told them to do, which they were trying to stop. He dispersed them from there over the face of the whole earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore, the name of the city was called Babel, because there the Lord babbled or confused the language of all the earth. And from there, notice again the emphasis on what the Lord does. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. So here they were resisting him. God comes down. They're trying to go up. They can't reach his majesty, his worthiness, his glory. He comes down and he does exactly what he wanted to do all along. Let's go to another passage of scripture. Let's go forward in the Bible. Let's go to the book of Exodus. Now you remember what's happening in Exodus. Exodus is where God goes to the Egypt and where his people are enslaved, and he goes and delivers them. But Exodus chapter 32 is where I really want you to turn. And in Exodus chapter 32, this is one of the darkest chapters in the whole Bible, but especially in the first five books of Moses. This is one of the saddest chapters in all the Bible. And if you're looking at Exodus chapter 32 and you're getting up to see that title there, it's called the Golden Calf. This is that moment of the rebellion of the very people of God, where they make a calf for themselves to worship it. But I want you to listen closely at verse 15. Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand. Tablets that were written on both sides, on the front and on the back, they were written. Now what's he have in his hands? He's got the Ten Commandments. Now notice what happened. The tablets were the work of God. The writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. Now look at verse 17. Don't miss this, because we're going to see this repeated in our main passage this morning. Listen to it. When, at verse 17, when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, There's the sound of war in the camp. Now that's exactly what had what was going on. They were rebelling against the living God. They were making war against God and his ways. And don't miss this. The way that they did that was by assembling themselves together. Now let's keep reading. But he said, verse 18, it's not the sound of shouting for victory or the sound of cry of defeat. Look at this. But it's the sound of singing. It's the sound of worship. Don't miss that. And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot. And he threw the tablets out of his hand, and he broke them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and he made the people of Israel drink it. And Moses said to Aaron, I love this, don't miss this. What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them? So who does Moses go and he confronts first? He confronts Aaron. Now who's Aaron? He's the leader of the priesthood. He's also the brother of Moses. Remember, Moses said, Well, Lord, I can't speak when he called him to go down to Egypt. And the Lord accommodated to Moses and said, Well, that's all right. I'm going to send your brother Aaron. He's a more eloquent speaker than you. And so Moses comes down from the mountain, his anger's burning hot. He throws down the tablets, he breaks the golden calf, he makes the people drink the water. And then he goes to Aaron. And he says, What did they do to you to make you cause them to sin? Now look at what happens at Aaron. And this is the Garden of Eden all over again. This is man being confronted with his sin, and he's going to blame somebody else. Don't miss this. And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my Lord burn hot. You know these people, and uh that they're set on evil. They came to me and they said at verse 23, Make us gods who shall go before us. And that should have been a clue to Aaron that something wasn't right. Make these gods that should go before us. As for this Moses, this man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don't know where he is, and we don't know what's become of him, and we don't even know if he's coming back. And so at verse 24, I said to them, Let any who have gold take it off. And so they gave it to me, and don't miss this, and I threw it in the fire, and out came this calf. Don't miss this. Here is Aaron saying, Listen, all these people, you were gone, Moses, you know how they are. They are very compelling in what they want me to do, and we didn't know when you was coming back, and so my solution was give me all the gold you have, and I just threw it in the fire to see what happened, and out jumped this calf. Comical. He's not taking responsibility. Now, so I said to them, and out jumped this calf. Verse 25. And when Moses saw, pay attention here, when Moses saw that the people had broken loose. Now that's such important language. What's the Bible say in Proverbs about a people that don't have a vision? What happens? They cast off restraint or they perish. Same Hebrew word that's underneath both of those. When people lose the vision, and this is the reason why I'm asking you the question: why is it that we gather? Because I don't want you, First Baptist Church, I don't want us to lose this vision. Because this vision of the reason why we gather is so wonderful. But it's also something that we have to hold before us, because if we're not careful, we can gather for all the wrong reasons. And they were breaking loose, the Bible says, for Aaron had let them break loose to the derision of their enemies. And then Moses stood at the gate of the camp. And he said, Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me. And I love this. And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. Now, don't you love that? It's like, well, now we've been called to repentance, and then all of a sudden, all the sons of Levi, who should have been doing the right thing in the first place, they finally woke up. It's never too late. They finally woke up and they went back to Moses. Now, let's go to a couple of other passages. Go forward to Numbers. Now you notice I'm having you skip Leviticus. That's all right. Skip Leviticus, and we're going to go over to Numbers chapter 16. It's been a long time, church, since I've called you to the book of Numbers, but I want you to go there with me. We're going to look at Numbers chapter 16, and we're just going to look at the first three verses. There again, what are we exploring? When people get together on their own initiative, it usually is for the wrong reasons. And we don't want to be those people that get together for the wrong reasons. Now, Korah, the son of Ishar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan, and Abram, the son of Eliim, and An the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, they took men. And they rose up before Moses with the number of the people of Israel. Now notice this, 250 chieftains of the congregation. So that 250 that we read there, that 250, because they're chieftains, what does that mean? It means that it is multiplied. This is a rebellion that has been multiplied. These individuals who were well-known men. Now look at verse 3. They assembled themselves together. It's not good. The pattern that we've seen all along, when people take the initiative to assemble themselves together, they're usually not responding to the initiative that God has to call us out. Remember this. Remember this. We are not a people who are gathering looking for a cause. We are individuals gathered because the king of the ages has called us to come together. We're always in response to his initiative. And then it says they assemble themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, for they said to him, Leaders, those that are appointed of God, you have gone too far. For all the congregation are holy, and every one of them, the Lord is amongst them. And why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord? So you see, they're saying there's really no problem for us. We don't have any reason to repent. We're not here for any other reason. And that was a mark of their rebellion, and of course, God deals with it. Now I want you to take your Bible, and I want you to join me in our main passage today, Psalm chapter 2. And when you get over to Psalm chapter 2, you're going to notice that some of this is playing in the background. Some of this is playing in the background when David is writing this Psalm, and this is a story of history that's just repeating itself over and over, over and over again. Psalm chapter 2. Listen to the first question. Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? Now, I've got a little footnote in my Bible. It says, Why do the nations rage? That word rage there underneath it is a word that means make so much noise. There's a lot of noise, God says. There's a lot of noise going on. Maybe churches are gathering, just like ours, filled full of noise. But does that necessarily mean that the holiness of God is here just because we've come together? That's the question. Why is it that we've gathered? And that's a question for you to ask. Did you come here because of habit? Did you come here, for example? Did you come here like they did in Genesis chapter 11 to make a name for yourself? Oh, listen, listen, I know who I'm talking to. I'm talking to the man on both of those screens. I'm talking to me. That one's really hard for me, and it hits me. Did I come here to make a name for myself? Did you come here, Mr. Businessman? Mr. Businesswoman? Those that are running for office or election, did you come here to make a name for yourself? Or did you come here to worship the Holy God? Or take the golden calf, for example. What were they doing? They were coming and they were mixing their worship. They were coming to worship something wrong. They were worshiping wrongly. They were coming and assembling themselves, not because they're responding to the goodness and the greatness of God, they're coming to worship the wrong thing. Why did you come today? What did you hope to see? What did you hope to experience when you got here? Did you hope to experience something that's going to tickle your ears? Did you hope to have the kind of music that you like? Did you hope to experience the presence, the person, and the power of God that's here? Or, for example, think about uh the Korah's rebellion. What's going on? They're resisting God's authority. Is that the reason you came? Let me ask you a question, and I'm jumping ahead of a message, but it's the right time to ask it. One of the things that we say here at First Baptist Church, our mission, straight from God's mission, is that we want a people who see ourselves as sent ones. We want to see ourselves as living sent. We want, what does that mean? It means to follow Jesus and invite others to come along. Everything that we do, we take the Great Commission seriously at First Baptist Church. And let me say this if you're not taking the Great Commission seriously to be a disciple who makes disciples, then you're living in open disobedience to God. Because it's not just simply me and the staff's job to make disciples and be disciple makers. Our job is to equip the saints to do the ministry. That's our job. Why did we gather today? Or maybe in this psalm, as we're going to see. Maybe, maybe, and prayerfully not. But maybe our gathering, or we see gatherings that happen all over the place. Individuals that they gather against the Lord and against his anointed. But here's the hope that I want to hold before you today before we even get into the rest of this psalm. God is the one who has called us to himself. The reason we're here, the reason we come every week, the reason we join with other churches and the church through the ages in this little assembly of the saints called First Baptist Startville is because we want to encounter the living God. Remember, we are not a crowd looking for a cause. Our cause has already been secured. Jesus has already given us the marching orders. He's already done everything sufficient. He holds himself out as the perfect substitute for every sin that you could ever commit. He holds himself out as the only solution for the sinfulness of mankind. And here's what he says: He says, if I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself. And so why are we here? We're not a crowd looking for a cause. We are a group of people that are responding to the living Lord. The King has called us, and so we come. We come. We gather our whole life. I know we're, listen, there's a thousand other places that you could have been. But here you are. You're not choosing to sit at home and watch the headlines. You're not, prayerfully, and if you are, stop, okay? Scrolling through the sermon on your social feed. Prayerfully, you're taking a moment to think about this thing that we call church. We're breaking free of this whole notion of coming to church. We're learning what it means to be the church. So the question that's asked in the Psalms is why do the nations rage? And after the events of this week, can you see the nations raging? Why do the peoples applaud in vain? The kings of the earth, the Bible says in verse 2, set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. And notice what they say. Here's the message that the world gives God is holding you back from achieving your potential. To thine own self be true. That's the spirit of the age that we live in. You are the sum total of truth. In you you find every answer that you need. And then, so what's the message? God is holding you back from it's the same message that the serpent gave in the beginning. God is keeping the best from you. No, no, no. He's not keeping the best from you, he's keeping you for the best. The limits that he puts in your life are to safeguard you so that he can fashion you and form you. You can't do everything. You're not called to do everything. You're called to become the man, the woman, the boy, the girl, the husband, the wife, the daddy, the mother, the grandmama, the granddaddy, the aunt, the uncle, the cousin. You're called to be the person that God uniquely wants you to be. He sets those guardrails in your life. Why? To protect you, to show you that there's something grander and greater that he wants your life to fill. And there again, that's not some mystery for you to go and find out and hope that you make it. Remember God's vision for your life. Romans 8, it says it clearly. Those whom he foreknew, he predestined. Predestined for what? To be conformed into the image of his son. So what's God's vision for your life? It's for your life, no matter where you are, to look just like Jesus. It's for your life to live as a living, to be a living witness of the God who has called you from one thing into his marvelous light. God is not keeping you from something, he's keeping you for something. Because he has a plan for your life. Now notice what happens next at verse 4. He who sits in the heavens laughs. Now don't miss this. Here, this all noise is happening. They're all gathering themselves together against the Lord and against his anointed. There's a lot of noise that's happening. But look at what look at how God responds. First off, where is he? He's in heaven. He's untouchable. He is high and lifted up. No idea that you can surmise can ever defeat who he is. His holiness is beyond imagination. But yet, he makes himself accessible. But yet, he makes himself knowable. Notice where he is. He's in heaven. Notice what he's doing. Don't miss this. He is seated. All authority belongs to him. He is the one who is in absolute control of every circumstance of your life. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's how we're called to pray. And guess what? That's exactly what's going to happen. Because he who sits in the heavens, notice the next thing that he does. He laughs. Why is he laughing? Is he laughing to make fun of them? No. He's laughing to let them know that the best that they do is nothing more than an impotent and empty threat against him. He holds them, the Bible says, in derision. That is, he shows them how the best that they can do can only reveal how pathetic they are. He holds them in derision. You know what he does? The same thing that he does with the cross. You mean to tell me that the way that God chose to save the world, all those who by faith trust in him, would be to send his only begotten Son, and He did that at one point in time to unite all time in Himself, so that at the name of Jesus every knee would bow, tongue confess? Yes. Yes. You mean to tell me that a man born of a virgin in this little bitty nowhere in the middle of the world, this little insignificant place, born in an insignificant town, who had lived and it lived a life that you could just look. You mean this was the plan and purpose of God? Yes. Why is that? Because God's wisdom, God's foolishness, the Bible says, his foolishness, and there is no such thing. But the way the Bible says is his foolishness is wiser than the wisest of men. And his weakness, which there is no such thing, his weakness is more powerful than the most powerful concept, person, idea that we could imagine. This is how God holds himself. But then look at the next thing. Look at verse 5. He is high, he is lofty, he is lifted up, but he is not inaccessible. You know what he does? He speaks. And you know the reason that he speaks? Because he wants to let us in on what he's doing. If he doesn't disclose himself to us, if he doesn't tell us what he's doing, we'd never know. But I want you to look at what you have in your hand. You know what you have in your hand? You have a whole thesaurus. You have a whole grammar. You have a whole history. You have a whole revelation of what God intends to do in the world. Sort of like with me when I know that my wife is upset with me, and um, it's probably because I did something wrong. We're riding in the car and there's silence. Anyone ever been there? Anyone? Okay, thank you. I didn't want to feel like it was just me. And then all of a sudden I say, honey, what's wrong? And if she doesn't tell me, I don't have a clue. She tells me, you know why she tells me? Because she's inviting me in. You know why God speaks to us? Because he's inviting us in. He's telling us what he wants to do. And by the way, this is just an aside, but it's it's everything in this one little side comment. So write it down. Anytime you see the Lord speaking, you should see Jesus. Anytime you see the Lord speaking, you should see the way that he speaks. And how does he speak? He speaks with words. Well, who is the word of the Father now in flesh appearing? It is Jesus Christ. And you know who Jesus is? He is the self-disclosure of God. There's not a God behind the back of Jesus. Show us the Father. Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. He speaks to invite us in. He speaks to let us know that there's more. Then the Bible says, He will speak to them in his wrath, terrify them in his fury, and here's what he says. As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, You are my son. Today I've begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, the end of the earth your possession. Now you can't read that and not see Jesus. Because who is Jesus? He is the only begotten Son of God. And who is Jesus? He is God for us. When we see Jesus, we see God inviting us in, an invitation to enjoy his glory forever. And then he says at verse 9, You shall break them, that is, the nations, with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now here's the invitation. Listen. Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way. For his wrath is quickly kindled. And then here's our verse, the reason that we gather, all summed up in one sentence, ready. Blessed are all of those who take refuge in him. Why have we come here today? We have come here today to take refuge in him. But what I want to do, because I don't want you to miss this, I want you to get it in your mind, and I want to answer it definitively here this morning, or at least in a way that we in this moment, there's more that we can say, it's not definitive, but at least in this moment. Why do we gather? And I want to give you four reasons very quickly. Number one, we gather because he's worthy. That's why. It's always a response to him. We're telling him that you are worthy of my attention. You have called us to be your people, and you have sealed us by the power of your spirit. No one can compare with you. He sits in the heavens, he laughs. Here he is. He's the one who has all authority, and he's the one by grace through faith that invites us into that authority and allows us to share it always through the Son. We gather because He's worthy. The second truth for you to write down is we gather to hear his word. He speaks and we listen. We are always a listening people. And far be it from First Baptist Church to ever put up with anyone who stands where I am, including me, and doesn't give you, thus saith the Lord. Not opinions, not what I think's best. Far be it from us as a people of God to ever put up with in a Sunday school classroom, in a community group, in a small group, in a D group, whatever group you're in, whenever you gather, demand that whoever's leading give you the word of God. Because why do we gather? We gather to hear His Word. The third point for you to write down is we gather as a witness. That's why we gather. And I hope that you understand this. And this point needs to be reiterated and reiterated again and again. Your gathering here today is a witness. Coming to church is a witness. Listen, as you just heard, we've launched this campaign called The Greatest News for Us. You know what that does? It encourages you to tell people that Jesus Christ will forgive them of their sins. It also encourages you, this next campaign called Plus One, you're gonna be asked to invite somebody to church. Some of you can do that, can't you? Did you know that your neighbors, those that don't come to church anywhere, if you just ask them, they're likely to come with you. And you know when they're most likely to come with you? At two times of the year, Christmas, and we got another one coming up called Easter. Your gathering together is a witness. And think about it, and you know this. Of all the places you could be, you chose to gather here today. Why is that? If we're doing it rightly, is because you're responding to God who took the initiative for you. You're responding to a king who has called you and said, Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. Our gathering is a witness we're gathering together in dress rehearsal for the time when he will gather us to himself. The Bible says, the dead in Christ will rise, and we who are alive and remain, we will be gathered together with them. Our coming here is a little dress rehearsal for glory when we sit at his feet and adore him. Fourthly, why do we gather? We gather with a warning. We tell the whole world that there's coming a day when God will gather his people. And just like the church used to say back when my grandmother was in church, there's a gospel train that's coming and you're invited to get aboard. There's a warning that's happening. This is the way the world's gonna be. We're gonna gather around the throne for forever and ever. As well as it's not just simply a warning, it's also an invitation. Our gathering serves as a witness. Could you just imagine what happens to us when God gets a hold of us a little bit more than he already has? When you surrender to him a little bit more, when you invite somebody to church, when you share your faith with them, could you just imagine what kind of witness we can have? We've already got a huge footprint in this city called Starkville and Octibaha County. Could you just imagine what happens as God wakes up this sleeping giant called First Baptist Church and God gets a hold of us and he gathers us together for a purpose, and we sing, Glory is the Lamb who was slain. Glory to his name. He's coming again. Can you just imagine what kind of witness we'll have and an invitation that will happen when we're not gathered because we're a crowd looking for a cause? We're looking for Jesus. And we won't rest until we meet with him. Used to be an old song that we used to sing, and sometimes we still sing it, but it's old. It was written right after the war of 1812, and I love the vision that it gives for the why we gather. Listen to it. Brethren, we've met to worship and adore the Lord our God. Why do we worship? It's for adoration. And then listen, the preacher says, Will you pray with all your power while we try to preach the word? All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down. Brethren, pray in holy manna will be showered all around. Don't you want a little taste of heaven when we meet together? Not to meet together, not to meet together for those reasons, but to come and say, I'm ready with anticipation to meet the living God. We come together, but we don't just simply look at each other. Look at the next line. Brethren, see poor sinners round you, slumbering on the break of woe. Death is coming, hell is moving. Can you bear to let them go? See our fathers and our mothers and our children sinking down. Brethren, pray in holy manna. We'll be showered all around. And I love this next line, just in case we think we're just talking about the boys' club. Sisters, sisters, will you join and help us? Moses' sister aided him. Will you help the trembling mourner who's struggling hard with sin? Tell them all about the Savior. Tell them that he will be found. Sisters, pray. And holy manna will be showered all around. Oh, what a vision for when we gather in anticipation of the day that he'll gather us. Listen to the next line. Let us love our God supremely. Let us love each other too. Let us love and pray for sinners till our God makes all things new. Then he'll call us home to heaven. At his table, we'll sit down. Christ will gird himself and serve us with sweet manna. All around. We are not a crowd looking for a cause. We're a people that the King has called. And so we gather. Father, thank you so much for Jesus. Thank you, Lord God, that you've given us a reason to be here. You've given us a reason to listen to your word. You've called us out from darkness into marvelous light. You've secured us by your loving grace and power. And now, Lord God, you've set your seal of approval and affection. You've put the Holy Spirit, sealed us into the day of redemption. And Lord God, now we want to be people that respond and not do things just to do things, but always respond to your gracious initiative. The God who called us from darkness to light. And I wonder today, Lord, if there's anyone here that doesn't know you. Father, would you help our church to grow? Would you help our church to gather more and more? All because we're being obedient to the King and His command. Don't let us come and make a lot of noise. Be like Paul said in Corinthians 13, just a bunch of noise and clangs. But instead, Lord, may your love be here. And may we have an experience of the living God every time we meet. All is vain. Unless you move in our midst. And Lord, we ask you to do that. Right now, as well as every time we gather. Oh, we love you, and we entrust ourselves to you. In Jesus' name. In everybody said, Amen.