The Local Assembly by Pastor Dolapo Lawal: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Discerning our gathering

Psalm 122:1

This is David's cogitation. I want to share the importance of properly discerning our gathering, that is, our coming together

Hebrews 10: access to the holiest

Hebrews 10:19 to Hebrews 10:25

The writer is saying we now have access

This way has been consecrated for us because in the old covenant you didn't have access to the holiest of all. You stayed outside. The most you could be was in the outer courts.

Then there is the inner court, then the holiest of all

When Jesus died the veil separating the inner court from the holiest of all was torn from top to bottom. Not bottom to top, because you could have assumed somebody tore it.

It was a very thick material. It shows we now have access

The veil that was torn is his flesh, meaning his death

We are not doing church in the outer courts. We are not doing church in the inner court. We are having church in the holies of holies

Priests went in there once a year with a bell and a rope around them in case they died.

There had to be a sacrifice before you could step in, and it was just for priests.

That is what the death of Jesus is for, to make us kings and priests to our God Revelation 5:9, Revelation 5:10

One of the things Jesus died for is our gathering. One of the things we do with that access is not forsaking the gathering of the brethren.

It is where we stir up love and good works, in preparation for his coming

The outpouring is corporate

Acts 1:4, Luke 24:49

He told them to wait. Not him, them. The Holy Spirit came on 120 people at the same time, not one person. They were having church

In Acts one they were praying, using scriptures and doing administration, because that is where they replaced Judas. That is proper church, and they had a pastor

Peter was their pastor. When the outpouring came in Acts two, everybody knew who was in charge. Peter stood up to speak.

These men are not drunk, it is just 9:00 a.m. This is what was prophesied by Joel Acts 2:14 to Acts 2:18, Joel 2:28

The outpouring of the Spirit is not first on an individual but on a corporate assembly of 120 people.

Every time you see the outpouring of the Spirit, you see it in company: Acts 2, Acts 4, Acts 13, Ephesians 5:18 to Ephesians 5:19

Seated together: church is the body

Ephesians 1:15 to Ephesians 1:23

This is not a prayer to collect. It is a prayer of revelation. He is praying that God will open your eyes to see what you already have, not to give you something

Faith in Jesus and love for all the saints work together. You can't claim faith in Jesus and not like church. Once you love Jesus, you have to like church

You can't say I like pastor but I don't like pastor's wife. To hate my wife is to hate me. If you don't like the wife of Jesus, what are you? That is his bride

Imagine someone comes to you and says your wife is rubbish. But we say that about the wife of Jesus. Some of us say the church is rubbish

God has no better people than church. He can't leave people that believe in him and are naughty to go and be pleased with people that don't believe in him and are also naughty.

Naughty is bad in church but it is worse outside

Anybody who comes to church, anybody claiming to be a Christian, takes humility, because the idea of Christianity is acknowledging you need saving. That person is self-aware

It is a knowledge prayer. He is not saying God give you something.

He is saying God show you what he has given you

Notice everything is plural. Towards us who believe, not towards you

God has done a powerful work in Christ and placed him far above all

He is head over all things for the sake of the church

Jesus fills all things. Church fills Jesus. Jesus is head, the church is body

Ephesians 2:1 to Ephesians 2:6

The us that is made alive together with Christ is his church

Christ is seated as head and we are seated with him as his body

When Jesus met Paul on the way to Damascus Acts 9:4 he said persecuting me, not persecuting the church. He is the head

Have you had a cut you didn't see? You didn't feel it until you saw it. The body is just the touch point but the pain is in the head.

When you insult the body, Jesus feels it

This is a major thing every believer must understand. If not, he will abuse our assembly

We are not seated as individuals. We are seated together through the agency of church. Only one senator cannot pass a law, it has to be the parliament or the legislature.

There is something called the ecclesia, the body, and that body is far above principalities and powers

If you are not in church, you are not in the body. Your touch point to being part of the body is through a local assembly

A church is a gathering of people with a pastor sharing God's word

What qualifies it to be a church is somebody in charge sharing God's word. Maybe you are in a country that doesn't allow churches.

Once we agree that one person is in charge, responsible for our progress and sharing the gospel with us, and the word of God is taught clearly, then what we are having is church

Anything that has two heads is a monster

As a pastor you don't have supporters, you have members, you have sheep. You don't join a ministry to help them. You join a ministry to be helped

There is a clear understanding of who is in charge. Peter before the church. Moses before the children of Israel. If he doesn't have a leader, God is not in it

Church is Zion

Hebrews 12:22 to Hebrews 12:24

The word for assembly there is ecclesia. So the church is Zion

Anybody coming to church is coming to God. You are not coming to mark attendance. You are not coming to socialize.

You are coming to God

Church is eternal

Revelation 21:1 to Revelation 21:4

God is going to melt this heaven 2 Peter 3:10.

Heaven and earth will pass away Matthew 24:35. Then we will have what the Bible calls a new heaven and a new earth. We are coming back to this world.

The Bible calls it the new Jerusalem

When this heaven and earth pass away, sickness will pass away

I don't know what the economy will look like. I know there will be work, but I don't think there will be poverty. There will also not be marriage

A lot of things will pass away but church won't. This thing is eternal in nature. We are not doing it for now

The old earth will be destroyed and church will come out of it and enter the new earth. John saw the new Jerusalem. Who is the bride? The church

This is talking about God tabernacling with men, and it infers the disposition of what church ought to be

Why people lose spiritual warfare

A lot of people lose spiritual warfare because we don't fight as church. We fight as individuals. What God put above principalities and powers is church

It takes more than a senator to pass a law. Many people contend in spiritual warfare alone, as one senator trying to pass a law. Meanwhile our power is ecclesia

The major reason people lose is they don't report the problem to ecclesia. And they don't report because ecclesia gossips

If you are seated far above principalities and powers and the devil is under your feet, there is a level of affliction the devil can't afflict you with because he is below you.

The person afflicting you is who is sitting with you

The accuser of the brethren many times is among the brethren. Joseph's problem was his brothers Genesis 37

A person comes to church and we think shame, not restoration. The people judging have aborted. That thing you are condemning, you know you are doing it.

As long as the light is not on you, you point fingers

People can point at Jesus and say crucify him, and just five days before they were saying Hosanna Matthew 21:9, Matthew 27:22

Church people tell me David is their best Bible character. Meanwhile David is right in front of you and you can't give him grace.

How many of you would still come to church if you heard I killed the assistant pastor and took his wife? But that is David 2 Samuel 11

It is easy to give Bible grace because you opened another page. I like Abraham. He slept with his maid Genesis 16:4 and you are an activist

Everybody wants mercy but we don't give it. That is why we never experience mercy

Church is for sick people

Revelation 21:9

Some people have very funny ideas about church. By way of introduction: we are hypocrites. Church people are hypocrites. If our church was perfect, the moment you joined it became imperfect

Don't go to the hospital, see people coughing and tell them to keep quiet. People cough in the hospital. When people behave naughty in church, don't be surprised. Church is for naughty people

Some people are responding to treatment, their cough has reduced. For some it is getting thicker. Any which way, church is for sick people.

If you don't have that disposition you will be surprised, but you shouldn't be

Somebody says, I used to steal before. Then you leave your phone in church and they steal it. You say, how can you steal it? But I told you

This is not a museum for saints. We were declared saints. We didn't attain it. He gave us righteousness, he gave us holiness

When people say I'm holy, I'm righteous, they are not saying it because of what they do. They are saying they have been empowered to do righteousness.

So don't be surprised when people in church make a mistake or have a flaw

Jesus, a perfect pastor, had just 12. One was Judas and the entire 11 abandoned him. What a good report card for a teaching ministry

Acts 1:3, Acts 1:6

Three and a half years was not enough, so after the resurrection he came down to teach for 40 days.

A Bible seminar with Jesus, 15 to 18 hours of teaching every blessed day, showing them scriptures, things pertaining to the kingdom

When Jesus finished and was about to ascend, somebody said, excuse me sir, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

You need to understand how disappointing that question is. For the entire three and a half years and the 40 days, all Jesus said was that everything he did was spiritual and eternal in nature.

It is not about Israel

They said, do you understand? Yes. Okay, I'm about to leave, wait for the promise. Sorry sir, when will you restore Israel? Jesus just said, when the Holy Spirit comes.

At this point I just leave you with the Spirit

As at Acts 10 they were arguing salvation for Gentiles. God doesn't have better people. It is still church. There are wicked people in church, it is still his plan

The prodigal son is still a son Luke 15:11 to Luke 15:32. My prayer for you is that you won't be the other brother, the critical brother.

How can you love them, see the way they are behaving?

They will hurt you in church. We hurt you in church

Church hurt and work hurt

There is church hurt but I have never heard of work hurt. Imagine somebody spoke to you at work in a way you didn't like. Will you go and resign? Hunger will finish you

There was a video circulating some years ago about a university in Nigeria where lecturers were allegedly trading sex for marks. I didn't say in my heart, my children will never go to university

But you hear people's horrible story in church and say, I can never go to church. So it is our valuation of church. They hurt me at work, I'm not doing work again?

They hurt me in school, school is rubbish? But once it is church, church is nonsense

Is it the hurt or is it how you see church? For some people it is just another business. There is a pastor building an empire and we are just his customers.

That is not what church is

God is so personal and relational that Pharaoh can train you as Moses. The pastor is evil, but God is still using him to raise you to deliver his people. Just focus on God

That is why it says cleanse us from an evil conscience Hebrews 10:22. If you are doing it from a pure heart, a pure conscience, nobody can use you

Church is spiritual

Illustration: the first-time visitor

You grew up in church, so you might not know that church is spiritual. Imagine you have never had church before. You come from a country where they don't speak English.

Your friend invites you to church

The music is playing and everyone is quiet. You tap your friend: why is the music sad? Somebody comes out and says in a soft voice, can we lift our hands and worship Jesus?

Who is Jesus? He is our savior, he died for us. God killed him for our sins. Crucified, nailed, behind the stone

Sad songs. You see people crying. Then we say, brethren, we are about to bring out the communion elements, we are about to eat his flesh and drink his blood. It is normal to us.

But if you step out, it is actually very spiritual, it sounds cultish

What we do in church is spiritual. Eating communion is initiation. It is all of us agreeing to be one with each other and with the Lord 1 Corinthians 10

1 Corinthians 11:27 to 1 Corinthians 11:32

Notice he didn't say unworthy people. He said in an unworthy manner. There is something called discerning the Lord's body

What killed Ananias and Sapphira is they didn't discern the Lord's body Acts 5:1 to Acts 5:11. You think you are lying to Peter, but Peter said you are lying to the Holy Ghost.

They didn't pick that this is not a man

The church said, it is your money, you didn't have to lie. Why are you lying to the Holy Ghost? No, I didn't lie to the Holy Ghost, I lied to you.

You are missing the point. This is church

Sleep is a cute way of saying die. That is why they die, because they can't discern the Lord's body

1 Corinthians 11:17 to 1 Corinthians 11:22

Here is the context. We just came from the top of the chapter. Contextually it is talking about eating the communion, but he is also referring to discerning the Lord's body, both of them

When he is talking about discerning the Lord's body, he is saying, can't you get that the Lord's body is the communion and his people

1 Corinthians 11:23 to 1 Corinthians 11:26

He now enters into the communion. He was explaining that communion is what makes us one

There is no poor Christian. I'm not speaking economically. You might not have cash, but in as much as you have the Holy Ghost you have what money cannot buy.

You can't look down on a Christian

I have seen people say, I cannot join that church, they don't fit me. The people of God don't have better people. Angels want to be like us.

How dare you look at a child of God and despise them

Illustration: the general's daughter

Imagine you are a guy and you married a Nigerian military general's daughter. The two of you had an issue and you went to her father.

You are talking and she says, keep your mouth shut.

Are you talking to me like that? And she comes close and gives you a slap

If you raise your hand back, if you even look at the man, you dare not. Why? Her father is there, and her father is a general. How much more God

When you abuse a Christian, you are insulting God's child

A lot of people don't have a valuation of what Christianity is about. Some of you are weak, some are sick, some sleep

God told Abraham Genesis 12:3. I pray you will not curse somebody God has blessed. That is how people carry unnecessary battle

2 reasons we should discern our assembling together

1. You fulfil wrong prophecy

   Hebrews 10:25

   When you don't go to church you are fulfilling wrong prophecy. The Bible says some people will not come.

   Why should it be you?

   I'm sure I'm correct, you might disagree: anybody who is not regular in church, by choice, cannot have a prayer life.

   If you cannot be disciplined to bath and brush, you can't convince me you read your Bible and pray every morning

   The early church met daily

   There was a study in China about people who went to prison for their faith. Some denied their faith but later came back.

   I may not have the details exactly right, so look it up, it is a short read

   The separating factor between those who didn't deny their faith and those who denied it and later came back was two things: fellowship with others and memorizing scriptures

   I believe that between Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, one person was afraid.

   But when Shadrach said let's do it, the rest said okay, let's go and do it. Sometimes your conviction is in company Daniel 3:16

   When you go to big Christian meetings the anointing is always different. When you lift your hands, you are not alone. We are plenty

   Being around the world too much can make you feel odd. This is the place where you don't feel alone. So what are you doing in the valley? What are you doing at home?

   Part of service is driving to church. Even the early church left their homes. That is the meaning of ecclesia.

   Jesus was very particular about that word because it is not even a Christian word, it is a Roman word.

   Go and look at the etymology

   Ecclesia is people leaving their homes as representatives of society to a particular public place to legislate

   Jesus didn't tell them, I will build my church in Jerusalem. He told them in Caesarea Philippi Matthew 16:18

   Study the geography of that place. It had very big tall mountains and the ecclesia was there.

   When Jesus wanted to teach them about church they left Jerusalem and went to where there was an ecclesia

   He told them with words and he told them with pictures

2. Your children

   Even if you will not give offering, please give your children. I don't want you to take this as a pastor trying to hustle

   I saw this happen and the Lord quickened it in my heart. Puff puff was selling for about 10 naira.

   A woman gave the seller 100 naira for two puff puff and asked for the change in 10 naira notes, because she wanted her children to have 10 naira each for offering

   As I saw that, the Lord told me she is training the children how to see me.

   A child you give 10 naira to give as offering saw you getting change to give as God's offering.

   You are giving your God change

   Now that child is 13 and you wonder why he is not interested in God. Which God? The God you told him to give change. That is the God you want him to follow.

   You preached without speaking. You told that child God is worthless

Hezekiah and Manasseh

2 Kings 18:5, 2 Kings 18:13 to 2 Kings 18:16

Hezekiah is a great guy. He broke down the altars of Baal in Israel

He was about to die. God told Isaiah to tell him to prepare his house, in three days he is dying.

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed

God, open the book of my memorial. You can't do this to me. I have done so much for you 2 Kings 20:1 to 2 Kings 20:11

Before Isaiah got out of the palace God said, go back and tell him I have added 15 more years.

Let him get a leaf and put it on his boil and in three days he will be fine. He did it and he was fine

In that 15 years God gave him extra, Manasseh his son was born. After a while some people came from Babylon, and Hezekiah wanted to show he was a great guy, a rich king.

He showed them all the treasures of Israel and the utensils of the house of God 2 Kings 20:12 to 2 Kings 20:19

God thought it a foolish thing. Isaiah told him, because of what you have done your people are going into captivity to the people you showed those things to.

He said, it is fine as long as it is not in my lifetime

Notice he didn't have a problem with praying, because when they told him he would die he prayed. He had a problem with intercession. He was a lukewarm, selfish man.

His love for God had become lukewarm, and that was where he gave birth to Manasseh

2 Kings 21:1 to 2 Kings 21:3

I want to show you what you produce when you are not on fire. Manasseh reigned the longest in Jerusalem.

All the altars his father brought down, he put back up. Why? By the time he was growing and he met his father, he met a lukewarm man

Glory to God, Manasseh eventually went to prison, and in Chronicles we see he repented and found God himself 2 Chronicles 33:12, 2 Chronicles 33:13

Illustration: Solomon's inheritance

I said this several years ago and it was God that brought that calculation to me. Mary and Joseph are from the tribe of Judah. The two major actors in Judah are David and Solomon

Solomon was worth $3.1 trillion when they did valuation. The richest man that ever lived.

When Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph from that line of Solomon dedicated him with a pair of turtle doves, what you used if you were poor Luke 2:24

$3.1 trillion had finished before it got to them. The only thing Solomon had that he could give Joseph and Mary, who were in his lineage, was prophecy

Your children can inherit prophecy from you and they can also inherit problems

Battles they don't need to fight if you had won.

So start asking yourself, are you going to be like Hezekiah, as long as I'm fine, or are you going to insist that nothing will come?

That is one of the reasons God liked Abraham, how he led his household Genesis 18:19. Can God say that about you?

You are a model

I may say, I don't feel like going to church, but I have two young people God has put in my care to train.

I want to show them that whether we like it or not, we sit and listen to God's word

There are movies you might want to watch that you don't, because they are watching. There are things you want to do that you don't, because they are watching

Illustration: sakaba

My small daughter picks up whatever you say. On my mom's birthday I had balloons in my house. While bursting them I said sakaba, an old film, just to make them laugh

My daughter woke up in the middle of the night, saw me and said, Daddy is sakaba. If I had said something else, that is what she would be saying

Understand that you are a model. Don't live for yourself. It is a very small life to live. Live a spent life. Live a sacrificial life

Some of us say, I saw my mom do this. How many have praying mothers here? But you are a Netflix mom. All the series you have watched.

Will your children call you a praying mom too?

• Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for your word
• These things they have heard of me among many witnesses, may they be able to commit the same to faithful men who will be able to teach others as well

2 Timothy 2:2