Thursday, February 16, 2006
NAU 1 John 1:3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
One thing that seems to be lacking in the church in America today is the number of qualified and able preachers who can honestly stand in the pulpit and say, “Thus sayeth the Lord!”
Power in the pulpit is no simple task, yet it is necessary for the body of believers. Why? Our fellowship depends on it! If we are to be able to associate together and come into partake of the Body, how can we if we cannot unite under the Gospel which was “seen and heard and proclaimed to you also” ?
In a day when the sermon is relegated to a feel good, on-going self-help seminar it denigrates the Gospel because it cannot unify the Body. We cannot make people feel better until they understand that there is a need. A need for fellowship with the Father, and with His Son that every man, woman, and child groans needs—a relief from the sin that encumbers them.
It is no wonder that it is difficult in our postmodern culture to share the Gospel. All people have heard is, at best, half of the Gospel. They hear that God is love, and that all He wants is them to know that He loves them.
Unfortunately they don’t hear is that, yes, God loves them, but it is a holy love. It isn’t the same kind of love that we understand to be love. Because God is holy, and loves what is holy, He rejects what is not holy. He hates what is not holy. We cannot be holy. Therefore He rejects us because His wrath is on us.
NAU Ephesians 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Even more powerfully:
Ephesians 5:5-6 5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
We must proclaim the full Gospel to save fellowship. It is no wonder that the fellowship with the world in our churches by taking our ques from them instead of prayerful obedience that our members think it is ok to come to church and act Christian, but go home and act like a heathen—they see the same in the pulpit.
Live like you just saw Him for the first time. Let it inundate your worship, and your joy overflow into overwhelming praise.
We are no longer children of wrath, or sons of disobedience. You have been bought with the blood of a risen Savior, if you have placed your faith in Him to do so, and begun to live a life of faithful obedience to Him.
Sacrifice your will, gird up your loins, and take up your cross and follow Him!!!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Aaron “Tree” Landis
Psalm 1.3
One thing that seems to be lacking in the church in America today is the number of qualified and able preachers who can honestly stand in the pulpit and say, “Thus sayeth the Lord!”
Power in the pulpit is no simple task, yet it is necessary for the body of believers. Why? Our fellowship depends on it! If we are to be able to associate together and come into partake of the Body, how can we if we cannot unite under the Gospel which was “seen and heard and proclaimed to you also” ?
In a day when the sermon is relegated to a feel good, on-going self-help seminar it denigrates the Gospel because it cannot unify the Body. We cannot make people feel better until they understand that there is a need. A need for fellowship with the Father, and with His Son that every man, woman, and child groans needs—a relief from the sin that encumbers them.
It is no wonder that it is difficult in our postmodern culture to share the Gospel. All people have heard is, at best, half of the Gospel. They hear that God is love, and that all He wants is them to know that He loves them.
Unfortunately they don’t hear is that, yes, God loves them, but it is a holy love. It isn’t the same kind of love that we understand to be love. Because God is holy, and loves what is holy, He rejects what is not holy. He hates what is not holy. We cannot be holy. Therefore He rejects us because His wrath is on us.
NAU Ephesians 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Even more powerfully:
Ephesians 5:5-6 5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
We must proclaim the full Gospel to save fellowship. It is no wonder that the fellowship with the world in our churches by taking our ques from them instead of prayerful obedience that our members think it is ok to come to church and act Christian, but go home and act like a heathen—they see the same in the pulpit.
Live like you just saw Him for the first time. Let it inundate your worship, and your joy overflow into overwhelming praise.
We are no longer children of wrath, or sons of disobedience. You have been bought with the blood of a risen Savior, if you have placed your faith in Him to do so, and begun to live a life of faithful obedience to Him.
Sacrifice your will, gird up your loins, and take up your cross and follow Him!!!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Aaron “Tree” Landis
Psalm 1.3
posted by Aaron L. at 4:08 PM | 
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