2 Timothy 4:3-4 (KJV) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
These are very familiar and often quoted verses about the last days of our present dispensation of the body of Christ. I recently received a book given to me by a good friend at Church and I would like to quote from this very needed excerpt on page 139 in the Book " The Tragedy of Compromise." I think it describes some of what is going on to replace the preaching of the words of God today and how it takes place. Page 139 states that, "evangelical Christians have become enamored with psychology. This fasciantion has definitely had its effect upon preaching. People are more interested in having their feelings explored and diagnosed than they are in hearing objective truth from the Scriptures. We are living in an age where the focus of ministry is upon conseling and group manipulation rather than upon preaching. Expertise in psychology and in church management are deemed more important than immeresion in the Word of God." The next paragraph goes one to say that, " meeting a person's emotional needs, helping individuals achieve self-esteem, and solving their personal problems," are what the modern pulpit psychologists are replacing Biblical preaching with.
There are pleany of topics that will deal with any personal problems people may have if preaching will be centered on Biblical topics like sin, grace, holiness, justification, sanctification, propititation, biblical predestination, adoption, and especially rightly dividing. Modern day preaching doesn't change lives because most pulpits today cast so much doubt on the words of the living God with the greekifying and offering a "better rendering," that the hearers are left wondering what they can and can't believe insteading of being fully persuaded in their own minds. Good practical preaching is preaching the words of The Lord and expounding upon (Neh 8:8) them and letting the living words of the living God quicken hearts and cause them to desire more of the sincere milk of the word of God that they may grow thereby. Good growth will keep them from staying children and being carried about with all the modern winds of doctrine ( Eph 4:14). We are commanded to feed the sheep ( Jn 21:15-17) and nevermind "amusing the goats." ~ Spurgeon
There are pleanty of things to disagree on but one thing I think we can all agree on according to the words of God are that we are commanded to "preach the word," in these last days and let The Lord do the work on the hearts. It takes the pressure off when you do what you were commanded to do and allow the hearers to have the choice to believe or not ( Acts 28:24). I want to exhort those who are obeying this command faithfully to keep on preachin!!! No matter who shows up or who doesn't, just keep preaching! And for those who have replaced the word with psychology repent like Simon Peter did and preach from a repented stanpoint like he did in Acts 3. The same man who had denied The Lord three times stood up and said in, Acts 3:14 (KJV)" But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you."
We may roll the thunders of eloquence, we may dart the coruscations of genius, we may scatter the flowers of poetry, we may diffuse the light of science, we may enforce the precepts of morality, from the pulpit; but if we do not make Christ the...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
From the same material one man builds palaces, another hovels; one warehouses, another villas, bricks and mortar are mortar and bricks until the architect makes them something else. Thus it is that, in the same family, in the same circumstances,...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
The church has joined the world so that the world does not have to join the church. This exaggeration, spoken by a great preacher, contains a great basis of truth. It is not by competing with third rate amusement bureaus and second class...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
In our day, as with the Pharisees in the days of our Lord, there is with multitudes of men a desire, not so much for goodness of character, as for the reputation of goodness; not so much for the truthful, as to speak truth to obtain the praise of...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
One gem from this ocean is worth all the pebbles from earthly streams. ~ R. Cecil In one of my early pastorates I asked one of the members of my church how she was getting along in her Christian life. She replied: " Very poorly. My life is a...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
Love's tenacity: — The little English drummer boy's apt reply to Napoleon indicates the spirit of love in this respect. The story relates, that when the little drummer was brought prisoner before the Emperor, he was told to sound the...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
"Christ died for sin. Believers die to sin. Unbelievers die in sin." ~ Unknown Thank The Lord once you are saved by trusting the gospel ( 1 Cor 15:1-4) you cannot die in sin because Colossians 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
A sculptor wrought a beautiful statue, and a man who saw it said: " I do not understand your statue. You can carve, I know, but your statue is all out of proportion. Can't you see it?" " You can not see it as I see it, " remarked the sculptor. "...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
" The story has been told of a soldier who was missed amid the bustle of a battle, ans no one knew what become of him, but it was known that he was not in the ranks. As soon as oppourtunity offered, his officer went in search of him, and, to his...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
