Je t’en conjure donc devant Dieu, et le Seigneur Jésus-Christ, qui jugera les vivants et les morts à son apparition et à son règne; Prêchez la parole; Soyez instantané en saison, hors saison; reprendre, réprimander, exhorter avec toute longanimité et doctrine. Car le temps viendra où ils ne supporteront plus la saine doctrine; mais selon leurs propres convoitises, ils s’entasseront des enseignants, avoir des démangeaisons aux oreilles; Et ils détourneront leurs oreilles de la vérité, et se tournera vers les fables (2 Tim 4:1-4)
As mentioned in the previous blog post ‘Are you bold enough to preach the Word of God‘, there are many believers, who are afraid to preach the truth of God’s Word. But not only believers are afraid to preach the truth, there are also many leaders of churches, who are afraid of preaching the truth of God’s Word. Many preachers and leaders of churches have adjusted their message to what people like and want to hear. À cause de ça, they have turned the powerful gospel of Jesus Christ into a self-motivating powerless gospel, that is focused upon the wealth and prosperity of the carnal man and their daily lives. They only preach positive and promising words, for a prosperous successful life, that temporarily motivate the believers. But they leave the demands and hard words of the Word out of it. Why are they doing that? Because many are carnal and are led by their senses, émotions, et des sentiments. They see the struggles of people and hear about their difficult lives, and that many feel guilty about themselves, and therefore the leaders want to leave them alone and don’t want to burden them with all kinds of requirements, règles, règlements, corrections, et châtiments, so that they will become more burdened and feel even more guilty.
C'est pourquoi, instead of preaching the whole truth, they preach partial truths, which isn’t the truth. They preach carnal messages, that derives from their carnal mind, which soothes and comfort the ego of people and give them pleasant feelings, and temporarily motivate them. They teach the believers worldly methods and techniques in order to become prosperous, successful and wealthy in life. This message draws many people, because who doesn’t want to live a prosperous wealthy life and be successful? But instead of preaching the truth of God and win the people for Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God, they win the people for themselves.
Because what happens when leaders, who preach this message fall into sin? Most believers drop out and leave the church, and sometimes even the faith because they are disappointed in the leader. This behavior proves that those believers have built their faith upon the carnal words of the leader, instead of the spiritual words of Jesus Christ; le mot.
What is wrong with the message?
If believers struggle in life and experience difficulties and hardships, and /or feel guilty about themselves, then you should en particulier preach the whole truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because only the truth of God’s Word set people free, including deliverance from (soi) condamnation. If the leaders of the church wouldn’t conceal the truth of God but preach the truth of God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit, then many people would be redeemed and freed from their yokes and heavy burdens. They would get what they are longing for and that’s a peaceful life, without guilt and condemnation, anxiety and fears, including the fear of death.
Come unto Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, et je te donnerai du repos. Prends mon joug sur toi, and learn of Me; car je suis doux et humble de cœur: and you shall find rest unto your souls. Car mon joug est facile, et mon fardeau est léger (Tapis 11:28-30)
Jesus promises, that He shall give rest to those, who labor and are heavy laden, because His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. Jesus promises, que tout le monde, who takes His yoke upon him and learn from Him, because He is meek and lowly in heart, will find rest for his soul.
If therefore, a person is still weary, heavy laden and carries a hard yoke, then it’s about time to give that hard yoke to Jesus and let go of those things, that the person carries around with him.
Jesus doesn’t say, that you won’t have to carry a yoke or that you will have no burden and will not experience storms. Everyone will go through storms in life, there is no one excluded. The Bible doesn’t say, that believers won’t have storms in their lives. Au contraire, believers will experience a lot of resistance from their surroundings and persecutions by the world, because of their faith.
The only difference between believers and unbelievers is, that born again believers are founded on the Word, and stay in Christ, and shall not be overwhelmed and controlled by the circumstances. They shall keep standing on the Word and not leave Him. They shall not murmur, se plaindre, wallow in apitoiement sur soi-même, blame others (including God) and overload themselves with worry, anxiété, and stress, but they shall experience joy and God’s peace, that derive from their relationship with Him (Lire aussi: ‘Prisonnier des circonstances‘ et ‘The two ways to go through a storm’)
People already feel guilty enough
En vérité, en vérité, je te le dis, Celui qui entend ma parole, et croit en Celui qui m'a envoyé, a la vie éternelle, et ne sera pas condamné; mais est passé de la mort à la vie (Jn 5:24)
When a person feels guilty and condemned, there’s something wrong with the relationship between the believer, Jésus, and the Father. Maybe the believer is not born again, or maybe the believer has an unrenewed mind, that causes condemnation, because the person doesn’t feel good enough, and still considers himself a pécheur. But it can also be that the believer doesn’t want to listen to the Word of God and is not willing to repousser le vieil homme, and keep doing things, which are not good and go against the Volonté de Dieu, and therefore the believer brings condemnation upon himself, which causes feelings of guilt.
Only by preaching the truth of God’s Word, and observe the words of God, a person shall be redeemed from condemnation, and therefore from feelings of guilt. The first thing, that disappears when a person Se repent et devient né de nouveau is the feeling of guilt. Because in Jesus Christ, you have been made free from every fault; every sin, and therefore you are no longer guilty of sin. If you keep living after the Word and the Holy Spirit in righteousness, doing the will of God, you shall stay free from condemnation, that causes feelings of guilt. But if you stay carnal and keep living after the flesh, doing those things that the world does, and which you did, avant ton repentir, Bien, then the feeling of guilt will remain, because your life stays unchanged and you have not truly repented.
This message is not often preached, because the preachers rather satisfy the believers, by preaching partial truths, qui sont des mensonges. They say for example, that it doesn’t matter how you live, and that you may do what you want to do because God loves you anyway and He has made you just the way you are. They are afraid to speak the truth of God because they know that the truth shall demand a change in the life of the hearer. And many hearers don’t want to become doers and change their life. Ils ne sont pas disposés à le faire repousser le vieil homme, but they want to make their own decisions and live, the way they want to live. Therefore many believers are living with heavy burdens, condamnation, and feelings of guilt.
Preachers stand in the service of God and not people
There are many preachers today, qui appartiennent au monde, and are no longer in the service of God, but in service of the people, and therefore they preach what people want to hear. But leaders of the church do not stand in the service of people but in the service of God. A leader should serve the people, but should not stand in the service of people. ‘Serving’ and ‘standing in the service of’ are two completely different things.
God has appointed a person in the office as a leader, to represent Him, His Word and His Kingdom. Therefore the person should listen to God, serve and obey Him and live according to His will. The person shall not speak from his own carnal mind, for selfish reasons and to gain profit, because the person has died to self, et a a déposé sa chair. Therefore the person is not looking for a message to draw as many people as possible in order to grow, but the person is looking for the truth and isn’t afraid to lose people because of preaching the truth. The person is not focused upon financial gain, popularity, and to be put on a pedestal by the people, but the person has only one purpose and that is to exalt Jesus Christ and to honor the Father. C'est pourquoi, the person shall listen to God and shall speak, what God has to say through the Word and the Holy Spirit and not deviate from that.
Les mots, which the person shall speak after God’s will, shall not only exalt Jesus and honor the Father, but the words of truth shall also strengthen the spiritual man.
The words of God may be hard, painful, confronting and not always positive and nice for the carnal man, but for the spiritual man, the words of God shall bring forth life, joie, and peace and cause the spiritual man to grow up into the image of Jesus Christ.
Les paroles de Dieu sont la vérité, and only the truth of God’s Word shall set people free from the lies of the devil. The truth doesn’t only set people free from the lies of the devil, but the truth will cause the people to stay spiritual awake and watchful and that they will grow up into mature sons of God, qui ne sont pas ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but bold enough to preach the words of God and do what Jesus commanded to do.
Donc, it’s about time to remove all those ‘feel good’ sermons from the church, which are mainly based upon personal experiences and philosophies of man, that temporarily causes pleasant and motivating feelings, and pleases the emotions and feelings of the carnal man, and bring back the Word of God and preach, what God has to say through the Word and the Holy Spirit to the church. It is important that the gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth of the Word of God, that calls people to repentance and sanctification, is preached again. De sorte que, souls are won for the Kingdom of God, instead of that souls are being pampered for the kingdom of darkness.
Il n’y a qu’un seul moyen, and that is through the spiritual Sword; la Parole de Dieu, that pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit (Hébreux 4:12). It is about time, that leaders don’t rely on (leur) own human knowledge, philosophies, et science and that they copy the methods of the world and apply them in the church, but that they rely on the living Jesus Christ and have faith in Him and act in the Nom de Jésus.
Paul preached Christ crucified and relied on Him
Just like Paul, who was filled with the Holy Spirit and wasn’t ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul wasn’t afraid to preach the truth of God, despite all the resistance and persecutions of man. Paul feared God and not people, and therefore he wouldn’t dare to preach something else, then the crucified Jesus Christ.
Paul knew the power of the cross and relied on what Jesus had accomplished at the cross, instead of relying on his own intellect, connaissance, sagesse, philosophies, and theories of the world. He didn’t go in his own name and his authority, but in the Nom de Jésus and in His authority
Paul didn’t come with enticing words, that had a temporary effect on the carnal feelings and emotions of the old man. Because Paul knew, that his own words, contained no power at all and would lead to nothing. He knew the power of the Word and the effect of the Word on people. C'est pourquoi, he spoke the words of God and spoke words of the Spirit, which confronted the carnal man, et les appela à la repentance, delivered the people and set them free, and caused the spiritual man to grow up and mature in Christ, and become like Him.
Don’t fear people, but fear God
Et ne craignez pas ceux qui tuent le corps, mais ne sont pas capables de tuer l’âme: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Tapis 10:28)
Jésus; la Parole dit, that you shouldn’t be afraid of people, and what they might do to you, but that you rather fear Him, Who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Because the day of judgment will come for everyone. On this day, every person shall give an account of every idle word that has been spoken. By the words, which a person speaks (s)he shall be justified or condemned.
Mais je te le dis, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned (Tapis 12:36-37).
'Soyez le sel de la terre’
