The good news about Christ can only be appreciated with the bad news as the backdrop. There are times when the saints must be fed, and there are times when the sinners must be warned (C.H. Spurgeon).
(Shane Idelman – ChristianHeadlines) A few years back, I listened in astonishment as some prominent “Christian” leaders talked about replacing “preaching” with “having a conversation.”
At first, I thought that they might be confusing individual conversations with how we should speak to the masses, but I was wrong. They felt that we should stop “preaching” from the pulpit and start being more passive and less confrontational. Never mind the fact that Jesus said, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent” (Luke 4:43). But according to many, it’s time to replace the pulpit with a couch and preaching with conversing.
It’s not my practice to name names, or reference churches, but when they depart from truth they open themselves up for exposure. Sadly, many churches carry their books, promote their material, and seek to model their church after them.
There is a very troubling trend in the evangelical church as a whole. We are in desperate need of genuine leadership—broken, humble people who are not afraid to admit that they need God; men who are more worried about prayer than about status and recognition; men who petition God rather than position themselves. Many men want the recognition, but not the brokenness; the honor, but not the humility. The state of the family today is disheartening as well. Men have largely forsaken their God-given role as spiritual leaders in their homes…that, no one can deny. And I believe that the pulpit is partly to blame.
Today, the truth is often neglected, watered-down, or avoided altogether in the hope of not offending members and building a large audience. Judgment is never mentioned; repentance is never sought; and sin is often excused. We want to build a church rather than break a heart; be politically correct rather than biblically correct; coddle and comfort rather than stir and convict.
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