On Sunday mornings we have been
studying at Immanuel Baptist Church 1st Corinthians chapter 16. Verse 22 is very interesting. As I stop and
contemplate this text today, its truth causes me to stop and consider all of
those who do not have faith in Jesus Christ.
Paul said, “ if anyone does not love the Lord–the curse be on him. Come,
O Lord!” Please understand that Paul is
not mad, he simply telling the truth. I know that Paul was not bad because in
verse 24 he says my love to all of you. He tells the Church of Rome in Romans 9:3, “For I could wish that I myself were
accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh”
Paul publicly expressed his love for the saints. Paul
said I LOVE YOU! You don't love people
if you're not willing to tell them the truth.
Sometimes people say things like, “Brother Steven we could have more
people if you would be so direct.” Or
“If you would not be so passionate…” If I have it right, and I believe I
do, If you don't like gospel preaching, than just hold on, because there will
be none in hell. There will be no Gospel
singing, no praising. If you know the
Lord and you don't like gospel preaching you are going to be miserable in
heaven… I have decided, I'm going to do
all I can, as I can, to drag others into the kingdom of God with the gospel!
And so if you want a weak watered-down feel-good
message, there are plenty of Manzi-pansy preachers in our culture who will do
that for you. I'm not here to tickle
your ears, I'm not here to put a pacifier in your mouth, and I’m certainly I'm
not here to change your diaper! God has
given us a job to do and how can I do my job if I am forced to hold your
hand? Don’t get me wrong, I want to be a source of encouragement
to you but at some point we have to learn to hold our own head up!
I'm here to preach the gospel, to train you in the
Scriptures, and encourage you to change this world. I love you that is why I preach so hard to
you! In fact that is honestly why I preach so along
to you. It amazes me today; people say
we don't have very long attention spans…
But we can go to 2 1/2 hour movie and not complain that it's too long,
we can sit down and watch an hour TV show, with meaningless temporal
commercials, but we can't listen to the gospel being preached for more than 20
min. without complaining…
I believe the Lord is glorified when we love Him and
each other and when we tell each other the truth, and hold each other
accountable. CONCLUSION: If the Lord permits, I hope we can have
possessions to give, places to go, people to grow, and person to glorify.
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