Hebrews 10:23-25 

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised;)

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

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.

As believers, there must be no wavering in our faith.  We are either all in or all out.  While I do understand that we struggle with sin, sin should not be our preference.  Our faith in Christ should cause us to despise our sin and passionately pursue righteousness and holiness in Him.  

Many times, we are influenced by those around us.  The spaces in which we inject ourselves cause us to become like the others in those spaces.  If we are constantly around people who are negative, we may begin to see the negative influence they have on us.  If we are constantly around people who love benevolence and helping others, we may find ourselves challenging ourselves to become more benevolent and giving. It is what it is, and God knew it would be this way before the beginning of time.  That is why He instructed the Hebrew writer that we are to provoke one another "to love and good works".  He knew that we would need a body of like-minded people to surround us, folks who love the same God that we love, who think like we think, live holy the way we live, and hate sin the way we hate sin. He knew that we would need a body where the Gospel is preached, heard, and appreciated regularly.  He knew that we would need all these things.  He commands us in verse 25 not to "...[forsake] the assembling of ourselves together..."  We need to gather with the body of Christ on a regular basis in order to encourage each other and provoke each other to do the right thing and bless each other and help each other and hold each other accountable.  Times are getting worse and worse by the minute.  Sin is rampant, and the enemy of our souls is pulling out all the stops to do all he can to destroy the body of believers.  He hates God, so he hates God's people. But God has put in place a built-in support system where we can get re-charged and energized and inspired after having spent a whole week dealing with the onslaught of the evil one. We can start off our week in church!

God loves the church.  It is referred to as the "body" of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27, Ephesians 5:30).  When we become believers, we become part of the body.  No, the body of Christ is not a building.  It is a group of saved people who know they have been "saved by grace through faith" (Ephesians 2:8). While the body is not a building, it is commanded by God that the body meets.  In America, we have adopted the practice of meeting in a building that will accommodate the group of people who have gathered to worship their King, fellowship with each other, break bread together and pray one for another (Acts 2:42).

On this Sunday morning, the first day of the week, I pray that you are preparing your heart to hear and receive the Word of God preached by the man of God in the house of God.  I pray that you are encouraged by God's Word and that it helps you throughout this next week to face any challenges that may come your way.  I hope it also convicts you of any unconfessed sin that you may be carrying.  Cry out to God and ask Him to help you follow after His Spirit so that you will not fulfill the lusts of your flesh (Galatians 5:16).