Forsaking The Assembling Together: Satan Will Love You
Learn why Not Forsaking the Assembling Together is vital for spiritual survival, beating isolation, and thriving in the body of Christ. Stay strong in faith!
Forsaking The Assembling Together: Man! Satan Will Easily Pound You
Let’s is talk for a second. Life is messy. It’s gritty, it’s loud, and sometimes it feels like you’re just one bad Tuesday away from throwing in the towel. We’ve all been there—covered in the proverbial “bodily fluids” of a bad week, smelling like the death of our own expectations, and wondering if anyone actually cares.
In those moments, the temptation to pull the covers over your head and ghost the world is strong. You think, “I can just pray at home. I’ll watch a stream. I’m fine on my own.”
Build a Spiritual Lifeline- Forsaking the Assembling Together
But here’s the raw truth: You aren’t fine. Christianity was never designed to be a solo sport. It’s not a “me and Jesus” bubble; it’s a “we and Jesus” reality. When we talk about Not Forsaking the Assembling Together, we aren’t talking about checking a box on a religious chore list. We’re talking about survival.
Hebrews 10:25: “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
It sounds formal, but it’s a spiritual lifeline. Let’s dive into why staying connected to the Ekklesia—the “called-out ones”—is the difference between thriving and being devoured.
1. You Aren’t Lion Bait
The Bible doesn’t mince words: your enemy is a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Have you ever watched a nature documentary? The lion doesn’t go for the center of the herd. He waits for the one who wanders off to “find themselves” or the one who’s a little too tired to keep up.
Listen, if you’re wandering around like easy lion bait, playing house with sin, you’re asking for a life of trials that will break you. But here is the real “blood and guts” reality: if you lose the ability to repent, you’re standing on a trapdoor.
When King David sinned, he wasn’t being dramatic; he was terrified. David begged, “Do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:11) Don’t mistake God’s patience for permission. Keep sinning on purpose and you’ll eventually lose the hardware required to repent. You become a hollow shell. David’s greatest nightmare wasn’t death—it was the departure of the Holy Spirit. He knew that once that light goes out, he is just a dead man walking.
He was shaking in his boots. Are you really not afraid to lose your connection to God? Are you okay with gambling your SALVATION just to stay isolated?
When you stop showing up, you’re basically walking into the tall grass alone. Not Forsaking the Assembling Together keeps you inside the perimeter. There is safety in the pack. When you are alone, you are easy prey for the “roaring lion” of depression, doubt, and the deceitfulness of sin.
2. Breaking the Habit of Isolation- Not Forsaking the Assembling Together
The author of Hebrews notes that skipping out had become the “manner of some.” In modern terms? It’s a habit. It starts with one missed church services because you’re tired. Then it’s two because the weather is nice. Suddenly, you haven’t seen your brothers and sisters in a month, and the thought of going back feels awkward.
Isolation is a slow-growing mold. It starts in the dark corners of your schedule and eventually takes over your spiritual life. You need to fight for the habit of presence. Showing up even when you don’t feel like it sustains you when the “feeling” of faith is nowhere to be found.
3. The “Ekklesia” Reality
The word for Church in the New Testament is Ekklesia. It literally means the “called-out ones.” Notice the plural. You aren’t a “called-out one” living in a vacuum. You are part of a body.
Imagine a hand decided it didn’t need the arm anymore. It’s still a hand, technically, but it’s going to stop functioning pretty fast. It’ll wither. It’ll lose its purpose. You cannot be the Ekklesia by yourself; you stay “plugged in” through the assembly.
4. The Duty of Exhorting One Another-Not Forsaking the Assembling Together
We all get “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). Sin is sneaky; it tells you that you’re doing fine while you’re actually drifting toward a waterfall. We need people who love us enough to get in our faces and say, “Hey, you’re drifting.”
This isn’t just “nice to see you” small talk. It’s the raw, honest work of comforting the broken and stirring up “love and good works.” You can’t be exhorted by a pre-recorded video. You need skin-on-skin, face-to-face contact.
5. Because “The Day” Is Coming
The “Day” refers to the return of Christ. The early Church lived with a “pinch me, I must be dreaming” expectation that Jesus could show up at any second. They met in homes, in synagogues, and in secret because they knew time was short.
As the world gets darker and more chaotic, we need to gather “all the more.” If you see the finish line, do you slow down? No, you sprint. Gathering is our way of sprinting together toward the return of our King.
6. Preventing Heart-Hardening- No To Forsaking the Assembling Together
Hebrews 3:13 warns us to exhort one another “daily… lest any of you be hardened.” Sin makes your heart like a piece of clay left out in the sun—it gets brittle and cracks. Fellowship is the water that keeps the clay soft. The stories, prayers, and presence of others keep our hearts tender toward God.
Look, if you’re alone, who are you going to exhort? Your reflection? The cat? You can’t.
Exhortation isn’t a “vibe”—it’s a collision. It’s getting in someone’s face to pull them back from a cliff.
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You can’t exhort a ghost: You need a brother standing there so you can stir him up to “love and good works” before he wrecks his life.
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A podcast can’t exhort you: A screen can’t see the “deceitfulness of sin” in your eyes. You need a real person to look at you and say, “You’re walking the broad and easy path”.
7. Personal Accountability
Be honest to yourself: we are all “stupid ” sometimes. We get stubborn, we get prideful, and we think we know best. Church community is the ultimate reality check.
When you are part of a regular assembly, people know your name. They know when you’re “off.” They know when your marriage is struggling. By being there, you give people permission to hold you accountable to who God called you to be.
8. Validating Your Identity: Not Forsaking the Assembling Together
In the early Church, identifying with a local assembly was dangerous. It could cost you your job, your family, or your life. By showing up, you were making a public declaration: I belong to Christ. Today, it costs your time, money and comfort. It is a physical act of identification: “These are my people. This is my King.”
9. Facilitating Shared Suffering
Life shows up and kicks you. Hard. Sometimes you’re the one pulling the “gore-drenched dressings” out of someone else’s wound. You cannot “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15) via a comment section. You need to be in the room so someone can hold the oxygen mask for you during your “down and out” moments.
10. The Application of Word and Prayer: Why Forsaking the Assembling Together
You can study the Bible, pray, and fast in your closet—and you should! But fellowship is where those tools are applied. You learn to love by being around unlovable people. You learn to forgive by being around people who offend you. It’s the laboratory where “theory” becomes “practice.”
We weren’t built to be alone; humans are social animals. You’re going to find a “clique” one way or another, but if you settle for a pack of wolves, don’t be surprised when you start acting like a beast.
1 Corinthians 15:33 warns us: “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.'” It’s a slow-growing mold. You think you’re the one “influencing” them, but the raw truth is that the “evil company” is the one staining your soul.
When you stop Not Forsaking the Assembling Together, you leave the safety of the saints and walk straight into the arms of people who will help you lose your way. The wide and easy, the path of least resistance. If you play in the mud, you’re going to get dirty. Period.
11. The Matthew 18:20 Promise
“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
You can pray with your friends and God hears you. But there is a specific, manifested presence of Jesus that happens when we gather. In context, this is about the authority of the church to bring restoration. Why would you want to miss a room where Christ has promised to show up in a unique, authoritative way?
12. Modeling the Acts 2 Blueprint: Not Forsaking the Assembling Together
“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” — Acts 2:42
The early church lived in a four-part harmony: Doctrine, Fellowship, Breaking Bread, and Prayer. Notice that “fellowship” (koinonia) is listed right next to doctrine. You can’t have a “steadfast” spiritual life if you cut out the fellowship limb.
Look, you better keep 2 Timothy 3:1-5 locked in your head. It warns that in the last days, “perilous times will come” where people are lovers of themselves, boasters, and unholy. They’ve got a “form of godliness” but they’re hollow inside.
The Word says: “From such people turn away!”
But here’s the raw truth: If you’re out there on your own, who’s going to warn you when you’re accidentally cozying up to one of them? When you’re isolated, you lose your radar. You need the assembly to look at your “new friends” and tell you, “Hey, stay away from them,” before their rot becomes yours.
“It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than “yours, and you’ll drift in that direction.” (William Buffett)
13. You Are a “Necessary” Member
“And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’…” — 1 Corinthians 12:21
When you stay home, the Body of Christ is literally handicapped. You have a gift or a perspective that the rest of us need. If the “eye” skips, the rest of us walk blind. Not Forsaking the Assembling Together is an act of humility—admitting you need them, and they need you.
14. Mutual Edification: On Forsaking the Assembling Together
“Therefore comfort each other and edify one another…” — 1 Thessalonians 5:11
“Edify” means to build up, like a construction crew. You can’t build a building if the bricks are scattered all over the city. They have to be stacked together. The assembly is the construction site for your character.
Proverbs 27:17 says it plain: “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”
But here’s the gritty reality: iron doesn’t get sharp by sitting in a velvet box. It gets sharp through friction. It’s heat, it’s sparks, and it’s two pieces of metal clashing together.
If you’re alone, who’s going to sharpen you? You can’t sharpen yourself any more than a knife can sharpen itself against thin air. Without the assembly, you don’t get “sharpened”—you get dull. You get rusty. and become a blunt instrument that’s useless for the King’s work.
A Chistian need the friction of other believers to grind away your pride (fried chicken) and your jagged edges. Stay isolated, and you’ll stay dull.
15. Letting the Word Dwell Richly
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly… teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns…” — Colossians 3:16
A song sticks in your head better than a lecture. Paul tells us the Word dwells “richly” in us when we are teaching and admonishing one another. There is a spiritual resonance that happens when a room full of people sings the truth together. It moves the Word from your head to your heart.
16. The Equipping of the Saints- Not Forsaking the Assembling Together
“…for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry…” — Ephesians 4:12-13
Church isn’t just a place to get fed; it’s a training ground. God gave pastors and teachers to the assembly specifically to equip you. If you aren’t there, you’re like a soldier who skips basic training and wonders why they’re struggling on the front lines.
Let’s kill the “self-improvement” myth right now. You can’t perfect yourself. You aren’t the sculptor; you’re the jagged, broken stone.
Jeremiah 17:9 lays it out in all its gritty reality: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”
Your own heart is a liar. It will tell you that you’re “fine” while you’re rotting from the inside out. If you’re alone, you’re taking advice from a con artist—your own ego.
You need the Not Forsaking the Assembling Together reality because God uses the Ekklesia as His workshop. You need other people to hold up the mirror and show you’re blind. Perfection doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it happens when the Spirit uses the Body to grind down your “wicked” edges. Try to do it alone, and you’ll just end up perfectly deceived.
17. Guarding Against Hard Hearts – Forsaking the Assembling Together?
“But exhort one another daily… lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” — Hebrews 3:13
Sin is a liar. It whispers that you’re doing fine while it slowly turns your heart to stone. The only antidote is the daily, consistent “exhortation” of other believers. We keep each other tender; we keep each other true.
FAQ on Forsaking the Assembling Together
1. What if I’ve been hurt by the Church before?
It is a painful reality that the “hospital for the broken” sometimes causes the wounds. However, isolating yourself because of a bad experience is like refusing medical treatment because of one bad doctor. The “lion” of bitterness thrives on your isolation. Healing usually happens in the context of a healthy community, not in isolation. Look for a group that prioritizes the “Acts 2 blueprint” over religious politics.
2. Is watching a livestream the same as “assembling together”?
While technology is a great tool for the homebound or those in transition, it is not a replacement for the Ekklesia. You cannot “exhort one another” or “weep with those who weep” through a screen. As the article mentions, Christianity requires “skin-on-skin” contact. A stream allows you to consume content, but assembly allows you to contribute your “necessary” part to the Body.
3. How do I find the right community to “immerse” myself in?
Look for a community where the Word of Christ “dwells richly” and where there is an emphasis on mutual accountability. Don’t look for a perfect church (it doesn’t exist), but look for a group of people who are honest about their “messiness” and are committed to the training ground of spiritual growth.
4. What if my schedule makes it impossible to attend a traditional Sunday service?
“Assembling together” isn’t restricted to a specific day or a steeple-topped building. The early church met “daily” and “from house to house.” If you can’t make a Sabbath morning, look for small groups, mid-week gatherings, or a community of believers that meets during your off-hours. The goal is the habit of presence, regardless of the time on the clock.
5. I’m an introvert; isn’t “me and Jesus” enough for my personality type?
Personality doesn’t exempt us from spiritual laws. While introverts need more “closet time” for prayer and study, the “hand” still needs the “arm” to function. Your quiet perspective and thoughtful encouragement are often the very gifts the rest of the Body is missing. You don’t have to be the loudest person in the room to be a “necessary member.”
6. Why does the Bible say we should gather “all the more” as “the Day” approaches?
As the world becomes more chaotic and “darker,” the pressure to compromise or give up increases. Gathering serves as a spiritual “huddle” where we get our orders, our oxygen, and our encouragement. The closer we get to the return of Christ, the more we need to remind each other that He is coming and to “hold the line” together.
7. What happens to my faith if I stay on “the island”?
Without the “water” of fellowship, your heart naturally begins to harden due to the “deceitfulness of sin.” On an island, your doubts go unchallenged, your sins go unconfessed, and your spiritual gifts go unused. Like a coal pulled away from the fire, your zeal will eventually grow cold because it lacks the shared heat of the community.
The Final Word: Stay in the Room- Not Forsaking the Assembling Together
Whether it’s the upper room in Acts 1:13-14 or the daily temple gatherings in Acts 2:46, the Bible is clear: the people of God belong together. It’s easy to look at the Church and see the flaws—the “questionable glop” of human politics. But remember, the Church isn’t a museum for saints; it’s a hospital for the broken.
From the “two or three” in Matthew to the “whole body” in Corinthians, every verse points to the same truth: you were created for Christian community. If you’ve been drifting, let this be your wake-up call. The Day is approaching. The lion is roaring. But the Body is waiting. Don’t just attend a service—immerse yourself. Be the hand that stays attached to the arm. Be the believer who refuses to leave their post.
We are stronger together. We are the Ekklesia. And we aren’t going anywhere.
Read also As Salt of The Earth – Do You Have Superior Preservative
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