TheGospelSaves28

1 hour ago, Dennis1209 said:

2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

I think part of the reason is the above verse. Wouldn't it be much more pleasurable sitting in a pew listening to a sermon on "the prosperity Gospel" or there's different methods to become saves and go to heaven, etc. Rather than a Hell, fire and brimstone sermon of the Gospel truth, and narrow is the gate to Heaven, through the precious sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Ever watch a sermon from one of the mega-churches and the message? How much the Gospel was preached and the way to heaven? Or did it come down to tithes, gifts, offerings, selling something and entertainment value? 

People want to sit down and hear something that makes them feel better about themselves, and not condemnation, or trying to live a Holy life following in Jesus' foot steps. No, they want their ears tickled and hire Pastor's to do just that. I'll reserve my comments about the ecumenical coalition gaining ground that Jesus, Buddha, Allah, Baal, etc. are all one and the same god we worship. 

Just my thoughts.
 

Loved it Dennis. There is a false and deceiving form of Christianity that does not preach repentance for salvation. Reading through Gods Word, it is full of urging Gods people to REPENT (change/turn) from their sins, ultimately leading to becoming new creations in Christ once you put believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior AND repenting together. However, for example: if a homosexual is still willingly living in that homosexual life style (with homosexuality as being sinful) but yet that individual identifies their self as Christian, after reading scripture, I can say with assurance that that individual has a false sense of salvation and is not truly saved through Christ Jesus. (This is not a popular belief, but is THE TRUTH of scripture) 

John1, we as Christians can know what is right and wrong, righteous and unrighteous, godly and ungodly, by reading Gods Word. It is a guide to living morally and righteous. Also, there’s Gods law (the Ten Commandments) along with many commandments made by Jesus that can help us in holiness and righteousness. We are to test everything to scripture and we are to challenge and hold each other accountable so that we don’t fall with the rest of the world. If we look no different than the rest of the world, then we can’t call ourselves Christian. Scripture says that we must be reborn, changed, and we will be like new creatures, dead to the flesh. This is proof that you have true salvation in Christ and that you are filled with the Holy Spirit. You will have new wants, desires, our priorities in general will change 

I agree with you completely ScottA. However, the fact still stands that not only was the Corinthian church out of Gods will, but it was also divided, was it not? The overall point I was trying to make was too many times we stand at variance to our brothers and sisters in Christ when dealing with denomination and differences, whether convictions, opinions, or theology differences. We spend too much time arguing and debating (Examples: the Baptist are right in their conservatism, and Pentecost are wrong in their theology, Catholics practice idolatry when worshipping Mary over Jesus, so on and so forth) than we do uniting as one body in Christ with different members yes, but the fact that we need to be one body in one accord still stands. 

As I have been reading through the Pauline Epistles (the letters wrote by Paul) I am now currently starting in Second Corinthians. As we all know, the Church of Corinth was a church that Paul had part in establishing. However, due to the culture of Corinth, they inevitably reverted back to their pagan ways and beliefs, took part in sexual immorality, divided into factions, didn’t believe in the resurrection of Christ, so on and so forth. This got me thinking about the current state of “The Church” today and how divided we are. It’s a given, not everyone has the same convictions and opinions, there are also some theological differences and disagreements, so what do we do?? Time and time again, we keep to our own denominations, worry about ourselves and our salvation (completely set in our ways and traditions) and we pretty much write off or condemn all those who don’t agree with us to a T. However, I believe Paul was facing worse circumstances in his day, but, did that cause Paul to condemn and become selfish and self righteous?? NO, because Paul understood the importance of the unification of The Church, and new how destructive division could be for The Church. So Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthians with intentions of correcting them, begging them to REPENT, while at the same time encouraging and exhorting them to become better followers of Christ!! This is what we need so desperately today as The Church!! Y’all have a good night and God bless