Now I want to preface this message, friends,
by saying that there are some God-honoring,
Bible-believing churches across this land who have
godly men standing in the pulpit who are
faithful ministers of the gospel.
But there is a good many who are
not.
They look good on the surface, and that's
the problem.
Satan has tricked many a pastor today into
thinking that if his church is on the
grow, then heaven must be smiling upon his
ministry.
That because he is climbing the ladder of
his denomination with a reputation as a man
who knows how to grow a church that
God must be with him.
Nothing can be further from the truth.
The old boy may just know how to
get folks to walk an aisle and join
the church by broadening the way of salvation
in ways Jesus never did.
If you want to see how God views
numbers, then go read the story about Gideon
and his 300.
Or go take a walk through the Gospels
and see how Jesus lost his crowd by
preaching hard truths.
Will you leave me too, he asked his
disciples?
Like I said, friends, Satan has fooled a
great number of pastors today into believing that
God is blessing just because the church campus
is growing.
If that's the case, then why are so
many megachurches preaching heresy?
Or why is it you can walk through
a congregation of 3,000 and not bump
into a true convert?
I believe Satan is using a lot more
pastors than God is.
Most men in ministry were not called by
God into ministry.
I remember one pastor in particular saying he
became a pastor because he was a single
man, and he wanted to meet girls, and
girls were at church, so that's why he
became a pastor.
It's the denomination's fault, really, that promotes men
in ministry based on their ability to grow
a church and reward them by giving them
bigger churches.
I believe I can list some reasons today,
friends, why God's not using us today in
the salvation of souls.
Number one, we care more about our reputations
than we do about God's glory.
Number two, we refuse to preach against sin
by naming it and coddle the sin-loving
members in our congregation.
Number three, we refuse to preach man's duty
of repentance for fear of a backlash from
our wealthy backslidden members.
Number four, we refuse to preach on holiness
because we ourselves live compromised lives and don't
pursue a life of holiness ourselves.
Number five, we will not preach on hell
and its terrors for fear it will disturb
some members or upset the good deacons.
Number six, we refuse to preach the scandal
of the cross by refusing to preach up
a blood-stained savior from sin who hung
on a bloody cross for sin.
Number seven, we refuse to preach the utter
necessity of regeneration and have replaced this doctrine
with making a decision and consequently have a
vast number of people who are textual decisionists
but who don't know the Christ of the
text.
Number eight, we have taken salvation out of
the hands of God and placed it in
the hands of men.
We make ourselves Christians today.
Number nine, we don't have a sacrificial life
of prayer either personally or corporately in our
church.
If we're not praying for the lost then
how would they be saved?
Number ten, we refuse to preach the doctrine
of the lordship of Christ in the life
of a believer and this explains all the
lawlessness in our churches today in the lives
of our members.
But all true believers know that Christ must
be a complete master.
Your time is not your own.
Your body is not your own.
Your money is not your own.
For you were bought with a price and
that price was his blood.
If you want to know why God's not
using us today, friends, then perhaps it's because
we refuse to die to our reputations and
preach the full counsel of God under the
anointing of the spirit of God.