I attended a worship service
where the sermon had minimal Bible text,
but rather contained a lot of filler — video, jokes, opinion, observation and
action items. I’m certain the pastor and church leadership would not appreciate
my critique, but I left the church feeling I’d been fed the ambitions of the
church, rather than the Word of God. I realize the worship service is not about
pleasing those in the body, but I have to wonder if this type of service is
pleasing to the Lord. The prophet Amos recorded, “The days are coming,”
declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a
famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the
LORD”” (Amos 8:11 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----It doesn’t take depletion of Bible quotations or even Biblical references for God’s Word to not be heard. Everywhere there are churches filling up the pulpit with Bible quotes and references but not the words of the Lord. Some fill the pulpit with practicing, unrepentant homosexuals. Would one of those please preach on Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13? Oh! But these are Old Testament scriptures. Oops! There goes the Old Testament -out the window because, well, it’s old, you know. Surely God changes with the times like we all do! We’re smart you know! All scientific and everything. You gotta change with the times, don’t you?
-----Actually, no. It’s wiser to change with the revelation. So, let’s hear all those women preachers give a sermon on I Corinthians 14:33-38; “…a commandment of the Lord…” eh? Maybe we can assume it was only about culture. And since culture has changed, then what the Bible says about women is no longer relevant to us higher, more spiritually changed elitists (snort, chortle.) Paul does tell us from where his attitudes about women came. But we all can ignore I Timothy 2:12-14, “I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.” That doesn’t sound very “cultural” to me. In fact, it sounds downright theological. But we gotta ignore ‘causin it can’t be right!
-----And then there was the preacher standing in front of a Sunday school class presenting how God was not a liar for blaming on man the same death (Rom 5:12) that He had used in the process of evolving man (oops.) Oh, for sure this preacher wouldn’t deny the Word of God, no, no, no! He would just dice it up: like some part of death was already in the world while God used it to evolve life, and then when man sinned the rest of it came and spread to all, yadda, yadda, jibber jabber, shuck and jibe, etc., etc., but for sure, always short-sheeting God’s Word.
-----It amazes me how the air around so many pulpits fills up with scripture yet rings hollow of God’s message. For centuries we’ve heard that God was finished with Israel. He cast it off forever and the church stepped into its shoes for God’s promises to Israel. That sounds like the true and faithful God I’ve been looking for! Gag me with a spoonful of it! Ignoring scripture is ignorance. “I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means…God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew…But through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles…their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean…and so all Israel will be saved.” (I Cor 11:1-2,11-12,26) The re-establishment of Israel as a nation in 1948 occasions those who thus call themselves Jews (but are not) to bow down and kiss the feet of the Philadelphian church (Rev 3:9.)
-----Preaching the Word of God does not require scripture quotation. It requires humility and integrity in a preacher’s heart, a mental respect for God’s Holy Spirit inspired Bible in his mind, and honor in his work for the message the Bible puts together of itself. By embellishment God’s Word is cast heavy as lead into the dirt. By chop-job it’s dissipated into the air. By only respect, honor, and faithfulness does it proceed as God’s Word from a man’s mouth.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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