False Christian teachings, trends….
Pastor Hines 39-minute sermon covers the following points: 1, Fear and all emotions are good, given by God; 2, When fear becomes sinful; 3, Resting in the comforting love of God; and 4, Love casts out fear. The concluding 10 minutes or so of his sermon was very moving and tied all his points together very meaningfully, it was about the Reverend David Brainerd. This sermon provides much encouragement to begin the fight anew in 2023! Sermon highlight bullet points have been written for you
MORNING: Based on John 7:37: …Proclamation is made most freely, that every thirsty one is welcome. No other distinction is made but that of thirst. Whether it be the thirst of avarice, ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, he who suffers from it is invited. The thirst may be bad in itself, and be no sign of grace, but rather a mark of inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper draughts of lust; but…. EVENING: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” — Jer_8:20 Not saved! Dear reader, is this your mournful plight? …Years have followed one another into eternity, and your last year will soon be here: youth has gone, manhood is going, and yet you are not saved….
A W Pink considers Hebrews 10:26-31 in discussing the apostate’s doom. He discusses how preachers had watered down that [and all] scripture in his day [he died in 1952]. They promised believers that if they had accepted Christ [signed a card; uttered the sinner’s prayer…] that their eternal future was secure…. He discussed a three erroneous takes on this passage by Arminians, over-zealous Calvinists; he called out the dispensationalists for “trifling with God’s word.” He aimed to present a biblical take on the passage and seemed to do so. It is an important message for all Christians in this day of far greater heresy and apostasy than in the 1950s. I recommend reading the preceding post on the impact of Christian Liberalism on the church before this post. Video is 43 minutes with a long list of highlights beforehand
This post is a crash-course in the decline of the Christian church since the late 19th century. The purpose herein is to help you assess the quality of your own faith as you come understand the unbiblical impact of Christian Liberalism. The first two videos surround a figure of the Presbyterian church in the early 20th century, J Gresham Machen. [Although Machen was a Presbyterian, his fight against the unbiblical movement of Christian liberalism is relevant to the whole of Christianity.] Two posts from this blog are linked because they provide necessary information about unbiblical evangelism and C H Spurgeon’s fight against liberalism, narrated by John MacArthur.
The sermon of this post uses the apostle Paul’s speech to the Athenians from Acts 17, to explain our current culture and how we need to present the gospel message today. Pastor Hines explains that our culture is post-Christian and most do not know the basic historical foundational points of Christianity and believe, for example, that our worldview is only one option among many. [Many are becoming aware of what is happening in schools, how children are being indoctrinated into Pagan worldviews; but this type of indoctrination has been happening for 50 years or more in our culture, so many adults are unfamiliar with biblical truth that is essential to salvation and a correct understanding of themselves, God and purpose in living…. This sermon provides information that is as essential to Christians as R C Sproul’s dvd on the Christian Worldview.]
In the following 1 minute 36 second video, you will learn why the virgin birth was necessary. The video opens with preacher Andy Stanley saying that it was not necessary. The author of this video is speaking from the text of the Bible, many contemporary evangelicals and preachers make up their own way to God, it will prove to fall short of salvation in the end: don’t follow them; learn what is inside the Bible, God will judge you via terms He has established. The video excerpt of this post came from a 16-minute video of 10 of WWUTT’s most popular Christmas messages. That entire video is also here for those who might want to hear other messages: messages and times are indexed
This newsletter emphasizes the antitheses in our culture that make the light of the gospel brighter. Some of those he noted include: Jesus will remain in heaven until He appears a second time, without reference to sin (Heb. 9:28). ANTITHESIS: Rome’s false Christ returns every day to be offered for the sins of the living and the dead (CCC, 1374, CCC, 1414). Jesus finished the work of redemption on the cross (Hebrews 9:12, 10:12). ANTITHESIS: Rome’s counterfeit Christ continues the work of redemption on an altar (CCC, 1367, CCC, 1405). Jesus redeemed believers from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us (Gal. 3:10). ANTITHESIS: Rome’s false Christ requires Catholics to obey the law to attain salvation (CCC, 2068).
Dr. MacArthur opened his sermon by mentioning a few questions from a survey on evangelicalism; participant responses, by percentage, were given. That modern evangelicalism suffers from biblical illiteracy was apparent. He put that on church leaders for their teaching that falls short of scripture, and is largely devoid of truth. He talked about how hard it is to witness the biblical gospel because it must begin with ‘the most hated doctrine’ of scripture, that man is a depraved sinner. He used scripture to show what happened to Jesus, and then to the disciples for teaching that biblical gospel. [If you’re a new Christian, or have been under unbiblical teaching for some time, then this sermon will help you understand the biblical perspective of the gospel and witnessing it].
The 5-minute video of this post is the 23rd Psalm sung by Aileen Gilchrist. I linked this playlist, from the YouTube site, Christian Sermons and Audio Books, it has 10 other videos which are apparently the most popular videos on his site; that list includes music and sermons.
The following 2-minute sermon excerpt by the YouTube site, 5 Minute Christianity, makes the point that an apostle was present when every miracle of the New Testament occurred. MacArthur went on to specify that people in the churches of Acts had no ‘gift of healing’ as scripture indicates that many suffered illnesses unto death; he said that healing was given as a sign to show unbelievers that the apostle’s teaching was credible…. [Therefore, what is MacArthur implying about modern-day healers?]