Posted on 04/27/2021 7:02:29 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
In these dire times, many are looking to the church to offer hope, but true hope and peace only come through conviction of sin and deep repentance. This is how we will truly change our nation. We can’t make bad people good; only God can do that.
The term “Achilles’ heel” refers to an area of weakness and vulnerability. The American church today has an Achilles’ heel—a lack of prayer and powerful preaching. Both are vitally important to spiritual health. Sadly, many Christian leaders focus on image rather than intimacy with Christ, being woke instead of waking up from their spiritual slumber, not wanting to offend the world instead of not wanting to offend God.
Pastors, it's time to stop tip-toeing through the tulips of political correctness and repair the Achilles’ heel of cowardliness. A. W. Tozer said, “When we become so tolerant that we lead people into mental fog and spiritual darkness, we are not acting like Christians, we are acting like cowards.”
God honors a stance for truth and boldness with a mighty empowerment of His Spirit. I’d rather have the power of God upon my preaching than the accolades of men.
Seek Him More Than Cinemark
Unfortunately, although we are blessed to have biblically sound leaders in many churches, we see far too many powerless sermons in prayerless churches. Most churches have a few opening songs, followed by a quick sermon, followed by a closing song. “Get them in and out” may work for a car wash but not for those who genuinely want to encounter God.
We have no problem spending hours watching a movie, but in church, many appear bored to death … spiritual death. Shouldn’t we seek God more than Cinemark? When He is our all-consuming passion, we don’t run to the exit; we run to the altar.
Pastors or Prodigals?
When asked why they don’t speak about sin in their sermons, many pastors admit, “I don’t want to say anything negative.” This is why their sermons are powerless. They are painstakingly careful not to offend the secular while crushing the sacred. They avoid words and phrases like “absolutes” and “doctrinally sound” and exchange them with smooth words designed to appease the unconverted, who say, “Don’t tell us what is right. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies” (Isaiah 30:10). These leaders are either false prophets or have become prodigal pastors because they’ve chosen the world over the Word of God.
God’s Definition of Success
Over the years, there’s been a slow shift away from intimacy, prayer, and worship. Today's leaders are considered successful if they are busy, big, and busting at the seams, but in God’s eyes, the leader who waits on Him is successful: “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). Waiting on God can result in an influential and successful ministry, but that’s not the focus, He is.
We are also guilty of measuring success by social media standards via “views,” “likes,” and “followers.” As a result, the realities of judgment, the desperate need for repentance, and the shed blood of Christ are starkly missing in most sermons. Those topics aren’t very “user-friendly.” The very thing we need is the very thing we are avoiding. Charles Spurgeon reminds us, “If you have no wish to bring others to heaven, you are not going there yourself.”
Powerful sermons and praying churches usher in spiritual awakenings and “bring both incredible conviction of sin and marvelous release from the bondage of corruption” (Richard Owen Roberts). God’s Word is elevated, truth is proclaimed, and many are set free. This is why I recently wrote that revival is our only hope.
Let Cinderella Come to the Ball
Leonard Ravenhill noted that the Cinderella of the church today is the prayer meeting. The prayer meeting is relegated to a dark corner somewhere in the church on an off night so that there is little expectation that anyone will pay her any attention. She goes about unnoticed, unloved, and uncelebrated, yet she is the one who keeps the house clean.
It’s time for Cinderella to go to the ball—to get dressed for our King and seek His face for grace and mercy, to intercede on behalf of our nation. We must respond with humility and repent of our sins.
Repairing the Achilles’ Heel
When you lose intimacy with God, you lose your bearing. Return to Him, and He will return to you (Zechariah 1:3). The strength of the church is in its purity and spiritual power, not in its numbers. God doesn’t need a majority—He is the Majority. Prayer can no longer be a footnote at the end of a sermon; instead, prayer and spiritual power must guide the church in these critical times.
Although the weakness of many pastors and congregations today is causing the American church to stumble spiritually, a return to powerful sermons and praying people can help the church repair its Achilles’ heel and stand strong again.
As Charles Stanley would say: “They’re preaching sermonettes for Christianettes…”
Lack of Biblical teaching is a problem. The liberal church I attended had to constantly dodge Scripture that opposed its liberal leanings. Doing a sermon series on an entire book was almost impossible for them. The Service of Lessons and Carols had to omit a part of a verse.
The PCUSA had to change the Scripture in their pew Bibles to fit their beliefs. They may have changed it further and may have to change it again.
We moved to a conservative church and they did series’ on books of the Bible. We started there when they did Romans.
Christianity is a victim of its own success. The Scientific Revolution Christian Civilization gave birth to has led many away from God towards ideas which will not withstand the test of time. In the name of ‘Science’ people are throwing out the best way men have ever had to maintain a Civilization long term.
For most pastors these days its the avoidance of offence and discomfort lest the attendance and the flow of dollars decines.Far safer to preach against society than hold their paying congregants responsible as individuals for their actions.Truth be told many pastors are agnostics.
RE: Christianity is a victim of its own success.
That can be a problem. The moment Christians attribute their success on ANYTHING to their own ability instead of God’s grace and sovereignty, pride comes in and with pride, the fall.
MOSES WARNED ISRAEL ABOOUT THIS IN DEUTERONOMY 8:10-20
10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
11 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.
12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down,
13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied,
14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
15 He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock.
16 He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you.
17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”
18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
19 If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.
20 Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.
Luckily, I attend a REAL church, the Open Door Baptist, in Scranton.
Until the many pastors of today stops worrying about packing the collection plates with a parishioners tithing and how much the church rakes in overall so that the church can be a near like grand cathedral with as much glitter and bling that can be bought with God’s tithings and for the pastors parsonage can be multi-million dollar estates with numerous cars and SUV’s and airplanes galore, until the church forsakes worldly trappings and get’s back to actually preaching Holy God’s Word and His laws intended for us to live by the church will be of no help to the wayward flock.
The title says it all.
Used to be churches had midweek prayer services.
Now you can’t find hardly any and when you ask why, you’re told it’s because nobody, or almost nobody, shows up.
Like it’s not worth it if there’s not a big crowd.
Small wonder churches are weak and powerless.
My pastor rails against the tickle the ear prosperity preachers fairly regularly. And he’s stomped on congregational toes with regularity. Some get mad and leave but he continues on with the way he feels God is leading him. We had one couple I knew who was all excited about SCOTUS and gay marriage being made legal and the next week the pastor spoke sternly this was wrong-wrong-wrong, God didn’t change his mind about this sin, man did and we were not going to have any part of gay marriages in this church. The woman was furious and said why would he say that? I said are you serious? God hasn’t changed, the pastor hasn’t changed, you have, you are willing to accept sin and call it good. Needless to say they left the baptist church for the wishy-wash of the Methodist church.
One church he preached at in a revival had some deacons pull him aside after the second service and said you don’t need to preach that get saved and right salvation stuff here, we are all saved. He said really, you are all saved and assume no one here needs saved or to rededicate their lives or be convicted by the Spirit of their actions? Yes was their reply. He said that’s fine you won’t have to worry about me saying another word about it, I’ll shake the dust off my feet and be gone from this place and walked out never to return.
My pastor understands that one day he may go to jail for preaching the Word - he says if it was good enough for Paul and for Peter....
The same applies for Sunday evening services in many cities these days all across America. The preacher says he can't compete against sports on TV and so on. Well preach get back to preaching God's Word and His Law for us and you might be surprised. More and more people today are thirsting for knowledge, the knowledge of God and His Son. Try it and you might be shocked and get over yourselves.
I’m right there with you friend. You’re exactly spot on. Glory!!!
I actually liked the Sunday evening services when I was single, but once we had kids, Sundays with two services were just grueling. It was no day of rest at all.
But prayer is the life blood of the church, and I have an issue with a pastor who doesn’t see that and recognize that even if only 2-3 people show up, it’s NOT a waste of time.
One blessing of online mass is I can fast-fwd thru the homily. I listen to the beginning, and if it’s puff, I just skip it.
The priest in my home parish holds a big gab fest instead of a homily.
EWTN mass when Fr. Mitch Pacwa preaches is the best for a sermon, he is always worth listening to and I learn something.
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