"Preaching it straight" does not mean. . .

I think I know what you mean and who you are referring to but please don't contribute to the co-opting of the IFB title by folks who are categorically NOT biblical fundamentalists.

 

Yeah, I agree that we need to separate the real guys from the frauds and fakes. Naturally, if you are an SBC preacher, your experiences are going to pertain mostly to SBC folks and if you are IFB then your experiences will pertain to that group.
When you live in a seminary setting for years, there will be some horror stories along with the good stories. Hope I dont come across as biased,I was just story-telling and wasnt after any particular group. Got friends in both the SBC and IFB groups.

 

Amen to that! I like what brother John MacArthur said: "just positively affirm the truth." Sound advice.

Thank you for that post. It was a good one.

 

Jesus taught otherwise. Even Jesus' disciples were fooled by Judas until later when it became evident.

I went to a large IFB church in TN and a long time deacon became a believer while I was there. The pastor was a graduate of BJU too.

Mt. 13:24-30, "Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. "But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. "But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. "The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, `Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' "And he said to them, `An enemy has done this!' The slaves ^said to him, `Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?' "But he ^said, `No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. `Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn." ' "

 

I mean when we are talking about a group.. SBC, IFB..etc.. we have to recognize those who are part of a group but who are not good examples of the group.
When I was in seminary, we had Comparative Religions class and the Methodist, Lutherans, etc sent someone to lecture our class.
My favorite was a local Assemblies of God pastor who stood up and shared a sincere heart with us. When confronted with examples like Swaggart and Goreman who left the Assemblies of God rather than be disciplined, and others, he simply said.. "please dont use those people as a measuring stick for the rest of us Assemblies of God pastors". Thats basicallyt what I am saying here.

 

Many IFB preachers do not preach very well. The reason is that they don't preach theological, text driven messages, but center the message on an idea, or application that THEY wish to make.

The younger generation of IFB preachers is trying to change that. They are more God-focused and look for heart changes produced by the Holy Spirit rather than emotionally solicited responses, that produce not lasting life changes.

 

Many SBC preachers cant preach. Traveling around for almost 20 years in both SBC and IFB churches, I can tell you the SBC boys fare no better. As you said, the IFB preachers often center on an idea or an application.. I agree with that. Have seen it too many times, but I think they do it more because of CONVICTION. Guess it all depends on whether or not it's what the Lord told the to preach. But I think you are right on the money with that post.
I was wondering.. you think, in your experience (and everybody else posting).. do you think the IFB tend to preach more TOPICAL messages rather than EXPOSITORY????? Just curious.
It's no more of a challenge for me to preach expository rather than topical. Last week I preached Ecc. 5:4-5 and was basically letting the folks know they made promises that they haven't kept. I try to keep them in their Bible.
I am embarrassed to admit that since switching to IFB, I see more messages preached from texts that dont have anything to do with the message!
Some SBC sermons are like S.S. class.
Me.. I like the fire.. tell us both sides brother..!! Sunday a young preacher preached from Isaiah 5 and the vineyard that was planted..did a good job but he didnt say what happened with the garden produced the wrong fruit.. remove all the walls, rip away the protective covering, ...
you want God's protection.. its gonna cost you, you must bear fruit.(Sad, the kid that preached,, he didnt say that part!). But in a nutshell.. I am hoping that we can all point towards more bible-centered messages and away from the issues preaching.