Revelation 2:1-5 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. …..
We live in a world today where the body of Christ is caught up in to many things of this world. And this includes far too many preachers. Men we are called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to be a witness of Him and lead our people to do the same. Satan works to distract and redirect by muddying up the waters of life and bog us down with the details of this world which serve no other purpose than to draw us away from our purpose and calling. This world wants grey areas and excuses but what this world needs is Jesus. This world wants social programs to fix all the ills of the world but what it needs is the Savior. This world wants teaching and more and more learning but what it needs is the Man who hung on that Cross! The world wants your money to give to others but what others need is the great healer and provider.
Jesus came and owned no fisheries, no wheat fields, no flour mill, no processing plant and no factory full of ovens. But he still fed 5000 hungry souls. Jesus came and was born in a livestock feeding stall, He had no bed in which to lay His head, He had no handsome features, He had no wealth, He was not a great warrior and still He influenced the world more in three years of ministry than Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle’s combined one hundred and thirty years of teaching. Jesus painted not one single picture and yet the world’s greatest painters like Raphael, Michael Angelo, and Leonardo da Vinci, all received their inspiration from Him.
Jesus did not write one piece of music and we find in history that men like Handel, Beethoven, and Bach have written much of their music in praise of Him. Jesus birth was contrary to the laws of life for He was born of a Virgin and conceived by God. Jesus death was contrary to the laws of death for He died on His own by giving up His own Spirit. Jesus lived for 33 years and of that He taught the known world for three meager years and yet He is the demarcation of all time. We are told in scripture that life is in the blood and when we lack it we must get it to live, and yet Jesus is the only one who gave His blood that we may live. His teachings are contrary to the common sense of this world. In this world we must gain our lives through our own work but Jesus said in order to gain life we must give our lives up just as He did. In this world we are taught that in order to be great we must stand out in the crowd and elevate ourselves above everyone else. But Jesus taught that the greatest are those who humble themselves and points to someone else. So we must ask ourselves what kind of blood was spilled on Calvary’s Hill for the redemption of man? And what is it that caused the need for the spilling of this blood whatever the nature of it is? The answer is that it was Holy blood that was spilled on Calvary, it was sinless blood that was spilled on Calvary, it was innocent blood that was spilled on Calvary! And the reason that this Holy, sinless and innocent blood was spilled is because man has none of those things. Man is full of sin and will stand guilty before an all powerful and righteous God without Jesus.
Preachers this is what the focus of what our ministries is to be. Paul wrote to Timothy to preach the Word. And do it when it is convenient and when it is not. Stand against that which stands against the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can plant churches but what are we doing that for? Is it to plant churches or is it to see that the gospel is spread and that the world may know that Jesus our Savior came, bled, died and was resurrected! Without the Gospel a church plant means nothing. Let’s focus on first things first and let everything else spring out of that. The gospel must always come first. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost came and filled the souls of men to empower them to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth that he came knowing nothing but Christ and Him crucified.
Today there are far too many preachers that are far too worried about far too many other things. We want to argue over who opens up the hearts of men to believe the gospel rather than just be joyful that men are being saved. We get distracted and bogged down over the mechanics of salvation and just how it works to its minutia rather than just be like the angels of heaven who rejoice over the one single lost sheep. Our churches are suffering from Jesus anemia and are not being fed the glories of God but instead are being fed the distractions of this world.
If we in the Southern Baptist Convention want to be more effective with the gospel then our people need to first be as in love with the Savior as the disciples were in walking with Him for three years and beyond. They ate a steady diet of Jesus every day. They come to know a Savior and His resurrection so much so that they were willing to go out sacrificially, in the Power of the Holy Ghost, and preach the word in season and out of season to the point of beatings, imprisonment, and death.
Today our church members will not risk their energy or their dignity much less their health or their lives. The church has lost its first love and no longer is willing to consider the sufferings of Christ as necessary or relevant for our lives and we live as if that is all behind us. The church today is in a sad state of affairs in which we do not belong. And preachers it is our fault! I am reminded of what Bailey Smith once said “What the world needs in the pulpits today is men of God who are filled with the Holy Ghost and who have been to the cross of Christ and have never gotten over it.”
May all the God called preachers of this world take up this clarion call of Bailey Smith and live out the Gospel of our glorious Savior in a way that actually honors Him and his sacrifice on the cross. And as Ian paisley once said “Does not our Savior deserve the reward of His labor?”
We live in a world today where the body of Christ is caught up in to many things of this world. And this includes far too many preachers. Men we are called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to be a witness of Him and lead our people to do the same. Satan works to distract and redirect by muddying up the waters of life and bog us down with the details of this world which serve no other purpose than to draw us away from our purpose and calling. This world wants grey areas and excuses but what this world needs is Jesus. This world wants social programs to fix all the ills of the world but what it needs is the Savior. This world wants teaching and more and more learning but what it needs is the Man who hung on that Cross! The world wants your money to give to others but what others need is the great healer and provider.
Jesus came and owned no fisheries, no wheat fields, no flour mill, no processing plant and no factory full of ovens. But he still fed 5000 hungry souls. Jesus came and was born in a livestock feeding stall, He had no bed in which to lay His head, He had no handsome features, He had no wealth, He was not a great warrior and still He influenced the world more in three years of ministry than Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle’s combined one hundred and thirty years of teaching. Jesus painted not one single picture and yet the world’s greatest painters like Raphael, Michael Angelo, and Leonardo da Vinci, all received their inspiration from Him.
Jesus did not write one piece of music and we find in history that men like Handel, Beethoven, and Bach have written much of their music in praise of Him. Jesus birth was contrary to the laws of life for He was born of a Virgin and conceived by God. Jesus death was contrary to the laws of death for He died on His own by giving up His own Spirit. Jesus lived for 33 years and of that He taught the known world for three meager years and yet He is the demarcation of all time. We are told in scripture that life is in the blood and when we lack it we must get it to live, and yet Jesus is the only one who gave His blood that we may live. His teachings are contrary to the common sense of this world. In this world we must gain our lives through our own work but Jesus said in order to gain life we must give our lives up just as He did. In this world we are taught that in order to be great we must stand out in the crowd and elevate ourselves above everyone else. But Jesus taught that the greatest are those who humble themselves and points to someone else. So we must ask ourselves what kind of blood was spilled on Calvary’s Hill for the redemption of man? And what is it that caused the need for the spilling of this blood whatever the nature of it is? The answer is that it was Holy blood that was spilled on Calvary, it was sinless blood that was spilled on Calvary, it was innocent blood that was spilled on Calvary! And the reason that this Holy, sinless and innocent blood was spilled is because man has none of those things. Man is full of sin and will stand guilty before an all powerful and righteous God without Jesus.
Preachers this is what the focus of what our ministries is to be. Paul wrote to Timothy to preach the Word. And do it when it is convenient and when it is not. Stand against that which stands against the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can plant churches but what are we doing that for? Is it to plant churches or is it to see that the gospel is spread and that the world may know that Jesus our Savior came, bled, died and was resurrected! Without the Gospel a church plant means nothing. Let’s focus on first things first and let everything else spring out of that. The gospel must always come first. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost came and filled the souls of men to empower them to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth that he came knowing nothing but Christ and Him crucified.
Today there are far too many preachers that are far too worried about far too many other things. We want to argue over who opens up the hearts of men to believe the gospel rather than just be joyful that men are being saved. We get distracted and bogged down over the mechanics of salvation and just how it works to its minutia rather than just be like the angels of heaven who rejoice over the one single lost sheep. Our churches are suffering from Jesus anemia and are not being fed the glories of God but instead are being fed the distractions of this world.
If we in the Southern Baptist Convention want to be more effective with the gospel then our people need to first be as in love with the Savior as the disciples were in walking with Him for three years and beyond. They ate a steady diet of Jesus every day. They come to know a Savior and His resurrection so much so that they were willing to go out sacrificially, in the Power of the Holy Ghost, and preach the word in season and out of season to the point of beatings, imprisonment, and death.
Today our church members will not risk their energy or their dignity much less their health or their lives. The church has lost its first love and no longer is willing to consider the sufferings of Christ as necessary or relevant for our lives and we live as if that is all behind us. The church today is in a sad state of affairs in which we do not belong. And preachers it is our fault! I am reminded of what Bailey Smith once said “What the world needs in the pulpits today is men of God who are filled with the Holy Ghost and who have been to the cross of Christ and have never gotten over it.”
May all the God called preachers of this world take up this clarion call of Bailey Smith and live out the Gospel of our glorious Savior in a way that actually honors Him and his sacrifice on the cross. And as Ian paisley once said “Does not our Savior deserve the reward of His labor?”
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