From Here To There - Why Going To Church Matters

 Psalm 122:1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!”

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WHY GOING TO CHURCH MATTERS

Ephesians 5:25 Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

My purpose is tied to the local church.

The church is not a place I go to, and it's not an event I attend. It is a spiritual family that I belong to. 

Acts 2:41-24, 46A church is a group of baptized believers who are joined together in a commitment to help each others fulfill God's purpose for their lives. 

#1. God’s Presence

Psalm 139:7–10 

1 Corinthians 3:16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 

John 14:21He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. 

“Manifest” - to exhibit to view, to come to view, appear, to make known 

Exodus 25:8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 

Exodus 25:22And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you 

Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

God shows up where He’s invited.

“There will be no manifestation of the presence of Christ without acute desire. God waits to be wanted. Sadly, He often must wait so very long”. - A.W. Tozer

Exodus 33:15 “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us?

#2. God’s Power

Matthew 18:19 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

Deuteronomy 32:30 How could one chase a thousand and two put ten thousand a flight. 

Psalm 92:13 Those who are planted in the house of the Lord Shall flourish in the courts of our God. 

flourishto blossom to the point of fruit.

In God’s presence you experience the power of God’s STRENGTH

2 Chronicles 16:9 

In God’s presence you experience the power of God’s JOY

Psalms 16:11

In God’s presence you experience the power of God’s REST

Exodus 33:14 

In God’s presence you experience the power of God’s WISDOM

Psalms 31:19-20 

In God’s presence you experience the power of God’s HELP

Psalm 40 

#3. God’s People

1 Corinthians 14:26 Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 

I have a picture of s flock of sheep here

Move to the middle! 

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.