Take it with you (Part 1)

A.    Just Take it with you
1)    Grocery Store, Homework Experience
Have you ever gone to Walmart or to the store, did all your shopping, paid for it, and left some of it at the store? How did you feel when you got home?

As a student, did you ever have your homework done and felt good about it, until the teacher said take out your homework, and you realized that you had left it on the kitchen table.

Now, all the frustration, the anger, the wasted time, the beating yourself up, could have all been avoided, if you had just taken the stuff with you. Life tip: when you pick up something, remember to “Take it with you.”

2)    The McDonald’s Experience
I heard a story about a man who was really hungry and went to McDonald’s to buy lunch. He ordered his food, drove up to the first window, paid for his food, and drove right by the second window forgetting to pick up his food.

So now when he got back to work realizing he had forgotten to pick up the food, he also realized that he didn’t have the time to go back and pick it up. So, he remained hungry because what? He forgot to “Take it with you.”

B.    The role of Assumptions
1)    Thinking it’s true but it’s not.
We base our actions (for the most part) on assumptions that we make. An assumption is something we believe is true, but it may not be true at all. The man assumed he had his meal from McDonald’s, only to later find out that he didn’t and was still hungry.

2)    Consequences of Assumptions
Now all of us have assumed certain things to be true and acted upon them and found out we were wrong in our assumptions. Sometimes it does not matter a whole lot if we are wrong, for instance, if you assumed it was not going to rain and you didn’t take an umbrella but then it did rain, chances are you got wet. No big deal unless you just got your hair done.

Sometimes the wrong assumption matters a whole lot. For instance, you marry someone assuming you could change a destructive behavior only to discover you can’t. That’s a huge price to pay for a wrong assumption. 


3)    God is keeping track of our Church Attendance
There is an assumption that many Christians and non-Christians alike assume about Christianity, that is not true. They assume, that the main thing about living and showing your love for God is being in church on Sunday morning. They think that God has a big attendance chart and that on Sunday morning, God is filling in those charts and giving out eternal stickers. 

God is saying: “There is John, yes! I see Amy made it, good! This is Fred’s 45th consecutive Sunday, amazing! Oh, David did not make it this week, this is not good, he has had 12 no shows this year.”

Hebrews 10:25 (NLTse)
[25] And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

God commanded this not for Him, but because He knows that we need each other for strength and encouragement. Christians cannot be concerned just for their own spiritual well-being; they must also encourage others to keep fervent in their love and active in their service for God. 

C) Get to church at all costs
1) The morning discussion
Because we make the assumption that being in church is the main thing, we miss out on the main thing. So, before church, we are saying things like. “Boy if you don’t get out of that bed and start getting ready for church, I’m going to knock the living daylights out of you.”

How about this, “it’s 2:30am, girl I got to get out of this club so that I can get to church in the morning.”

Or, how about this, “you are going to make me late for church again, I’m leaving you next time!”

People have some of their biggest fights right before church.

2) The Devil is busy
How many of us have even said, “man the devil sure is busy on Sunday morning. He tried to keep us out of church, but we made it!”
STOP giving so much credit to the Devil! Some things are just your lack of organization and self-control. When you blame everything on an outward force, you are giving yourself a crutch to not look inward for the changes that need to be made. 

3)    Picking up Bonus points.
Now once you get to church there are ways to get bonus points. You get points for;
1)    Bringing your Bible.
2)    Staying awake during the sermon.
3)    Staying through the whole service.
4)    Doing some service in church.
5)    Standing and clapping during certain portions of the service.

Now don’t get me wrong, these things are good, but God is not saying, “that’s good Living Word had 75 out of 100 come to church today, and 50 of the 75 actually knew the worship songs.”

D) The reason to come
1) To be equipped. 
The word of God tells us to come to church, not for brownie points because you showed up, but because the Church is where you come to be equipped to live like Jesus Christ, the other 166 hours of your 168 hour week.

On Sunday mornings and on Wednesday Bible study, we teach the word of God to give you instructions on how to love God with your life and how to love your neighbor as yourself.

Church is important, but showing up to the building is not the main purpose. The only way to please God with coming to church is to TAKE IT WITH YOU.


2 Peter 1:5 (NLTse)
[5] In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God's promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, [6] and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, [7] and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
[8] The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

- Peter encourages believers to add to their faith virtue, which refers to moral excellence or goodness. This suggests that faith should not just be a belief but should also be accompanied by righteous living.
- He also emphasizes the importance of knowledge, indicating that believers should continue to learn and grow in their understanding of God and His Word.
- Self-control is highlighted as a virtue that believers should strive to develop, showing discipline in their actions and decisions.
- Steadfastness, or perseverance, is mentioned as a quality that believers should cultivate, demonstrating resilience and endurance in their faith journey.
- Godliness is another virtue that Peter mentions, showing the importance of living a life that is pleasing to God and reflecting His attributes.
- Brotherly affection, or brotherly love, is highlighted as a quality that believers should possess, showing kindness and care towards fellow believers.
- Love is described as the pinnacle of these virtues, emphasizing the central importance of love in the Christian life. Peter suggests that love should be the overarching virtue that governs all other virtues and actions of believers