Skip to main content

Preaching the Word of Life

The writing below was written in May of 2011. It was during a time, when I renewed my commitment to never try to preach quaint, copied sermons from other ministers, but to solely study the Word of God and preach the FULL Gospel message on the Life of the Spirit no matter how little it may be spoken within the "Fundamental" pastoral majority.

 
    It is frightening to think that the majority of preachers that I have known spend much of their messages propagating fear more than love. They preach on how every Christian is so susceptible from falling and that if a person’s devotion is only one ounce less than it was 5 minutes ago, he is backsliding.
     They shout how you can go so far as to be useless to God. So many sermons embrace the teaching that the Old man of the flesh battles the New man in Christ and we must feed one more than the other to win. They tell weary saints that they better be busy for Christ, for soon He will be back to judge all. They live for the ‘You shouldn’t and you better’ speech, but where is the ‘It’s not you anymore, but now the Spirit of Christ’ message? Where is the Spirit that is living within to build you in the image of Christ? Where is the NEW creation? Did not the Old man die, seeing that we are new in Christ? Why is it that we still have to battle, still have to fight for our precious lives, or else be doomed to failure?  
    This is not the true gospel. The gospel is the good news that God will not only save a poor sinner, but make him a new person in Christ, undoubtedly a holy saint. The greatest preaching is not ‘Do or face wrath,’ but ‘it is finished now face the Love of God.’ We are given a new nature where the old man is perished, not just dormant. IT IS DEAD. Just as sure as Christ has risen from the grave and is in heaven, even so His Spirit has risen in our hearts and is living in us. We have victory, not because we do something out of fear, but because we CLAIM in love that it has been done and we REST in His power alone which is mightily working in our lives. It is not some dog on dog battle of good and evil in us. This kind of talk uplifts the influence of satan and downgrades the power of Christ. Christ’s purpose in dying was to ‘destroy the works of satan,’ not diminish, but destroy.
     The irony is that so many preachers desire the congregation to live holy, thus they scream over DON’TS and shout out all the DO’s without ever first establishing the very fact that it has been DONE. Living Holy is simply acknowledging the Holy One in us, which we are set apart unto Him, and daily reckoning our new nature in Christ. Sadly, we have so many weak, anemic, self righteous, pomp believers, because the one’s who are supposed to be feeding the flock with Grace and Love in their hearts are actually hammering the sheep on their heads with fear and formality.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Refreshing Witness

Proverbs 25:25 states,  “As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.”  Most Americans do not realize the privilege in simply having clean, cold water accessible in their home. When I fill a glass of water, to my shame, I hardly ever think about the millions of people who have died because they have no reliable source of water. Of course, in verse 25, Solomon was illustrating a bigger point than just quenching someone’s physical thirst. He revealed that “good news” can be refreshing and reviving to one’s soul. Do you remember what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman by the well? He declared, “ But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life  (John 4:14).” There are millions of lives spiritually thirsty. They are destitute of  the water of everlasting life.  They need the love and lig...
1 comment
Read more

Wanderers

One night I dreamed of a massive crowd aimlessly wandering through an empty town I tried to stop several people as they passed by But they paid me no heed, as If deaf and blind Finally I happened upon a somber, yet curious lad He asked me, “What brings you to the Town of Misled?” I said, “I'm not sure how I got here, nor for what reason.” “Well then” The boy smirked without hesitation “You're in good company alright, for we are all met with the same plight. Our vision is impaired, our understanding is empty. Indeed we are stuck in endless mediocrity.” Once more I looked around at all the hollow expressions Then stared back at the tattered boy with deep compassion “What can I do to help you and all of these poor souls? Perhaps some money for food, a strong education, and fine clothes?” The boy began to cry, while shaking his head “You don't get it sir, we already have plenty we possess. Our needs lie not in material wealth and f...
1 comment
Read more

The Sound of Hope, while the rest of the world is Silent

Throughout my life, I have experienced times of seeming hopelessness. When I was 11, I experienced the pain of losing my granddad. He died of a heart attack. In that same year, I watched in despair as my father drove away from our home in North Carolina and back to Pennsylvania. Both my mother and father had large disagreements, but in a way, both were also in pain. At 11 years old, I felt the piercing of real heartache. Before, hardships were simple, ever quickly coming and going without really doing much damage to my fun childhood. I will never forget the one statement my mom told to me, after such tragedies happened, "You will always have a Heavenly Father to care for you." I was not saved, but I kept these words dear to my heart.  Just before the discouraging year ended, my brother and I were invited to ride the church bus. For years, we had not been to church, but this time we went. Only a few months after riding, I received Jesus into my broken heart. I do ...
1 comment
Read more