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  HOW A CHURCH BACKSLIDES
  by Zac Poonen
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of passing on the
teachings of Jesus to future generations to ensure the continuation of
sound doctrine and faithful discipleship. It highlights the need for
faithful men to be raised up to teach others, focusing on living out the
narrow way that Jesus taught, including overcoming anger, loving
enemies, and forgiving others. The speaker warns against the danger of
churches drifting away from the truth and the necessity of being filled
with the Holy Spirit to boldly witness for Christ in every area of life.

Topics: "Discipleship", "Passing on Faith"
Scripture References: 2 Timothy 2:2, Matthew 28:19, Acts 20:29, Revelation 2:4, Matthew 7:13, 1 Corinthians 11:3, Isaiah 30:10, Jude 1:11, Ephesians 4:14, Ephesians 5:1

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of passing on the teachings of
Jesus to future generations to ensure the continuation of sound doctrine
and faithful discipleship. It highlights the need for faithful men to be
raised up to teach others, focusing on living out the narrow way that
Jesus taught, including overcoming anger, loving enemies, and forgiving
others. The speaker warns against the danger of churches drifting away
from the truth and the necessity of being filled with the Holy Spirit to
boldly witness for Christ in every area of life.

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CONTENT
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I decided some time ago was to come, to go everywhere only for half a
conference. Because that is the way we can raise up another generation
to run the conference without me. It's very important that we have a
burden that the work God has started continues into another generation
and to another generation.

See, when Paul was coming to the end of his life, in 2nd Timothy chapter
2, Paul was around 67 years old as far as we know when he died, when he
was killed. Paul was 67 years old when he was killed. This is the last
letter he wrote in 2nd Timothy.

And he says there in verse 5, 8, the Lord has shown me that my departure
has come, time of my departure has come. In the 6th verse of 4th
chapter, Paul says, I am not saying that about myself. I am praying that
the Lord will help me to live up to a hundred years.

But I don't want to keep on preaching till then. I want other people to
come up and preach the word. But Paul told Timothy in 2nd Timothy
chapter 2, what you have heard from me, entrusted to faithful men who
will be able to teach others also.

See, Paul knew that towards the end, people are going to go astray from
the truth. And they will not want to listen to the truth. So he was
concerned that Timothy must be faithful not only himself but he must
raise another generation.

Notice what he says there. Not clever men but faithful men. Faithful in
relation to money.

Faithful in relation to their thought life, their language, their
speech. Faithful in relation to their thought life, their language,
their speech. And they, that is the third generation, verse 2, must be
able to teach another generation.

So you see, first of all he tells Timothy, you must, Timothy is the
second generation. Paul says this to Timothy, who is the second
generation. The faithful men mentioned here are the third generation.

And they must teach others, which is the fourth generation. You see what
a burden Paul had. This message must not be lost.

Because he knew, it says in chapter 4, verse 3, the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine. The time will come when they will
not listen to the truth. Sound doctrine means healthy doctrine.

That means the words that Jesus taught. Jesus told us to go into all the
world and preach the gospel, to make disciples in every nation. And
teach them to do everything I have commanded you.

That's Matthew 28, verse 19 and 20. And that is the sound doctrine. But
people will turn away from that.

They want their ears tickled with things that will comfort them and not
teach them to take up the cross everyday. And they will turn away their
ears, verse 4, from the truth to all types of myths. So that is my
burden also.

Because I already see so many people are turning away from the truth.
Even in our CFC churches, I find people are not gripped with the truth
of God. The second generation is not being gripped.

All of you who are elders, first of all, you have to make sure your
children are gripped by the truth. Every one of them. And if they are
married, they must begin to teach your grandchildren right from
childhood these truths.

Because the truths that we preach in our church are almost not preached
anywhere else. They don't have put emphasis on the things that Jesus
taught. And that's not new to our generation.

It's not something new because it happened in the days of the apostles
also. See Acts chapter 20. Paul writes to the elders in Ephesus.

See Ephesus was the, as far as we know, the best church Paul planted.
The reason we say that is because he could teach the most profound
truths in Ephesians which he could not teach in all the other letters.
And that is one place where he spent three years more than he spent in
any other place.

And he calls the elders one day. And he was about to leave Ephesus. Acts
20.17. He called the elders of Ephesus.

And he tells them in verse 31. Remember that night and day for three
years I kept on admonishing each one of you with tears. That means Paul
preached in the morning and preached in the evening for three years.

He never got tired of preaching. And in the midst of all that he was
working to support himself. See he says that in verse 34.

You know that with my hands I ministered not only to my own needs but
also to the brothers who were with me. Because he wanted to be an
example to them. And so when he leaves them, see three years two sermons
a day means he must have preached two thousand sermons to them.

And when he leaves he does not remind them of those sermons. He says
remember verse 18. The last part.

From the first day I set foot in Asia you know how I was with you the
whole time. I served the Lord with all humility. Verse 20.

I did not shrink from declaring anything that was profitable to you. I
taught you publicly. I went from house to house preaching.

And what did I preach? Repentance verse 21 and faith. And verse 27 I
proclaimed to you the whole purpose of God. That is healthy doctrine.

But he says I know what will happen after I leave. People will say Paul
was too strict. God is a loving kind God.

He is always forgiving. You know like the false prophets in the old
testament would preach peace peace when there is no peace. So after my
departure just like Paul told Timothy people will want other type of
preachers who will say smooth things to them.

That is what the people of Israel told the prophets, the true prophets.
Preach to us smooth words. Don't preach all this hard stuff.

But the prophets did not bother what they thought. They preached what
God told them to preach. The sad thing is in our day most preachers do
not know God.

They know the bible they know the doctrine but they don't know God. And
so they can't hear God speaking to them about the need of the people.
They just want to say clever things which will earn them a good name as
a great bible teacher or something like that.

See bible teachers don't get crucified. Only prophets get crucified.
People would prefer to be a bible teacher than to be a prophet.

Church can only be built through prophets. So he says I know that after
my departure verse 29 all the wolves will come inside. These wolves were
waiting outside the door of the church in Ephesus.

Who were these wolves? People who called themselves Christians, nice
people, probably rich people. People who could influence the leaders in
the church with their money. People who are influential in society, whom
the leaders would want to please in some way.

Paul never cared for all that. To Paul everybody was the same. Rich or
poor, big man or small man on the earth makes no difference.

But I have found very few people like that in my life. To whom there is
no partiality. All people are exactly the same.

Not my community or wealthy or high position, nothing. Not my community
or wealthy or high position, nothing. So he says these wolves will come
in and they will destroy this church.

And some of you elders, verse 30 will also start saying all types of
things to draw disciples after yourselves. Now can you imagine maybe
there were 4 or 5 elders sitting there listening to Paul. What do you
think they would have thought? What do you think they would have
thought? They would have thought, who does Paul think he is? As if he is
the only spiritual man around here.

You think he is the only one who knows God? We also know God. That is
how Korah rebelled against Moses. You think you are the only one who
knows God? We are also God's people.

You know how God dealt with them. The book of Jude, he warns about
people who can go the way of Korah in the last days. Anyway, those
people would come in and the church, they did not take Paul's warning
seriously, these elders, so the church in Ephesus was destroyed.

So you read the second letter to the Ephesians. No, no, no, second
letter to the Ephesians. That is in Revelation chapter 2. Revelation
chapter 2 is the second letter to the Ephesians.

Like 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, there is 1 Ephesians, 2 Ephesians.
Like 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, there is 1 Ephesians, 2 Ephesians.
That is in Revelation chapter 2. And there the Lord says, I am going to
take the lampstand out of the place where it is fired.

The lampstand is the Lord recognizing that as his church. Now when the
Lord takes it out, the people of the church will not go away. The 500
people in the church in Ephesus will remain there.

They will still have their Sunday meetings, their conferences,
everything will go on like normal. But the Lord himself would have
departed. But the Lord himself would have departed.

So here is the church with 500 people, regular meetings, midweek
meetings, prayer meetings, but the Lord is not there. They glory in the
fact that this church was founded by Paul, not by any ordinary person.
But this church is not like what Paul taught.

It is so bad that Jesus says, I will not be here anymore. Because what
Paul predicted, the wolves have come in. And among the elders there was
conflict.

So what would happen? Does that mean that in Ephesus there will be no
more witness for Christ? Yes, there will be. Because he says in verse 7,
to those who overcome. So in the church in Ephesus, the Lord gives a
call to few people out of these 500 people who want to be overcome.

For whom devotion to Christ and becoming like Him is the passion of
their life. They see the decline going on in the church, but they still
see the Lord is there. They see Jesus is there, still patient with the
church.

These sensitive people recognize one day that the Lord is gone. Only
those with spiritual sensitivity will recognize that. You know it is
like a blind man, he won't know whether the light is on or the light is
off.

So those who are spiritually blind will not know whether the Lord is
here or he is not here. Look at the number of people today sitting in
dead churches, saying Lord Jesus, where two or three are gathered
together in your name, you said you would be in your midst, thank God
you are here. So many churches like that.

The Lord is not there. But like blind people they don't know that. But
the overcomers, they see.

They see the bridegroom has left the building. The bridegroom. And what
will the bride do when the bridegroom leaves the wedding hall? She is
not going to be there.

She will also leave. So the overcomers will leave that church. No, the
overcomers in that church will leave that church.

Maybe 10-15 people out of the 500. And they will start meeting with the
Lord somewhere else. They won't have such a grand building like the
first church in Ephesus.

10-15 people will meet in a house. But the Lord will be there. And that
will be the real church in Ephesus.

Throughout 2000 years, the Lord has never left himself without a witness
on this earth. If the majority of Christians fail him, he will still
have a few overcomers who are true to him. So, see these churches, 7
churches we read in Revelation.

Five of them, the Lord found nothing to really appreciate there. There
were a few good things, but the presence of the Lord was not there. They
didn't love Jesus fervently.

Christianity was a routine affair they did on Sunday and Wednesday and
nothing more than that. That is the only type of Christianity the New
Testament speaks about. But there were two churches like that, Smyrna
and Philadelphia.

So what we see is, out of all the churches planted by the apostles,
almost all of them drifted away except a few. And what was the reason?
The reason is the theme we have for this conference. They stopped
preaching the narrow way that leads to life.

And so, they were afraid if we make it so narrow, some people will leave
our church or they will go somewhere else. That can be a temptation to
CFC elders too. If we make the way so narrow, a lot of people will get
offended and leave.

What did Jesus preach? What did Jesus tell his disciples at the end of
his time on earth? Please read Matthew 28 verse 19 and 20. In every
nation, he said we must make disciples. That means a church must
comprise not just of people who say, I want to go to heaven.

No, they are not interested in such people. Not just those who say, I
want my sins forgiven. But those who want to, disciple means those who
want to follow Jesus Christ every day of their life.

And that is a very small number. But that is the only real witness for
Christ. In every nation, make people who will follow me every day of
their life.

So now, all of you brothers, I want to ask you this question. Are you a
person who is really seeking to follow Jesus Christ every single day of
your life? You young people in schools and colleges, are you seeking to
follow Jesus? It will make you different from other children in your
school and college. But it's such a temptation to be like them in order
to be popular.

Or the rest of you who work in offices or do your own businesses. Are
you seeking to follow Jesus in that office and in your business? Jesus
also was a businessman for about 12 years of his life. No, for 12 years.

For 12 years, he was doing business. From the age of 18 to 30. For 12
years, he was a businessman.

But how did he do it? Do you want to do it like that? That is the
question. This is what it means to follow Jesus. He has given us an
example in every area.

When my children went to school, I would tell them, can you think of how
Jesus was when he went to school? Think about it. I ask yourself how
Jesus was when he went to school. That's what I told my children to
think about.

Which type of children would he make friends with? How would he behave
with the other students? What I am trying to say is, at every level,
Jesus can be an example to us. Whether you are a school student or a
businessman or a full time worker. Or a full time Christian worker.

He is an example in all areas. So we can follow him as a disciple
whatever we are doing. Even a wife in the way she submits to her
husband.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11 that Jesus is the example for a woman
in the way she submits to her husband. The way it says here, 1
Corinthians 11 verse 3, the head of Christ is God. And the head of the
woman is the man.

The meaning is, just like Christ submitted to his father, the woman can
submit to the man. So, even for a woman, Jesus Christ is the example. So
what I am saying is, for every one of us, if you seek the Lord, he is an
example for you.

He has shown in his life how we are to live. And then, that is a
disciple. And those of us who are called to teach the word of God, that
is, every elder of every church, what is their calling? It says here in
verse 20, Matthew 28.20 Teach the people to do every single thing I
commanded you.

So, I have not finished my task as an elder if I have not taught every
single thing Jesus commanded. So, I have not finished my task as an
elder if I have not taught every single thing Jesus commanded. It says
here, only those who do these things is the promise given, verse 20, Lo
I am with you always to the end of the age.

No, you see, that promise everybody takes. Oh, Jesus said he will be
with me to the end of the age. Always.

But for whom it is given? It is not given for everybody. You read to
whom it is given. If you go and make disciples, and you don't have to be
a preacher to do that.

You can be a college student and make a disciple in college. You can be
a college student and make a disciple in college. You can tell them
about Jesus.

Tell them how you followed Jesus and how they can follow Jesus too. And
to have the boldness to do that, you must be filled with the Holy
Spirit. Otherwise, you cannot have the boldness to do it.

When I was 21, I was just 2 years after my baptism. I wanted to witness
to the Lord, but I didn't have boldness. I began to seek and seek for
the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire.

God met with me. That is how I got boldness. Otherwise, I was a very shy
person, not willing to speak boldly to others.

So, if you are like that, you must seek God for the baptism in the Holy
Spirit. That's what changed me. And it will change you.

And it changed those 120 disciples on the day of Pentecost. They were
sitting inside closed doors before that. Afraid.

Afraid to witness. When they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they
threw the doors open and they came out and began to boldly witness. The
same thing happened to me and the same thing happened to you.

And I fear that many many of us have not filled with the Holy Spirit
like that. When we come to the meetings and we want to hear the word of
God, all that is very good. But you are supposed to be a flaming fire
for God wherever you are living or working.

But you are not ashamed to let everybody know that you are a follower of
Jesus Christ. I know when I was in the Navy, I knew that if I want to be
a witness like that for Christ, my chances of promotion will go down. My
salary will not go up.

I have to make some decisions. What is more important for me?
Advancement in my profession and a higher salary or being a bold witness
for Christ? I thank God I made the right decision 60 years ago. And you
do like that, the Lord will be with you always.

It says here, till the end of the age. So through the centuries,
churches have gone down spiritually because they stopped proclaiming the
way as a narrow way. We don't have to make the way more narrow than what
Jesus made it.

See the Pharisees for example, had so many traditions which Jesus threw
away. It's all rubbish. Important things they didn't obey.

But they made silly rules like you must wash your hands up to your
elbows before you eat. Criticizing Jesus' disciples because they were
not doing that. Or why do you proclaim a grain on the Sabbath day? But
more important things like, don't squeeze rent out of that poor widow
who has rented your house.

Those type of things they were not serious about. They were serious
about rituals and traditions which did not cost them anything. I want to
speak the truth.

It's possible my brothers and sisters that your Christianity is costing
you nothing. You are glad to be in a good church. It's such a wonderful
church, it doesn't even take an offering.

And we can come for conferences, everything is free. And year after year
after year there is no passionate witness for Christ where you are
living and working. You have to ask yourself whether you yourself are
walking the narrow way.

If you preach everything that Jesus taught, it will become a narrow way.
See if you turn to Matthew chapter 7, where he spoke about the way is
narrow that leads to life. Verse 14, where did he say it? At the end of
Matthew chapter 5, 6 and 7. Which people call the sermon on the mount.

So, what he is saying at the end of this sermon, he is saying what I
have told you so far is a very narrow gate and a narrow way. And if you
go through Matthew 5, 6 and 7, you will see it is true. It's a very
narrow way.

You have to overcome anger. You have to overcome dirty sexual thoughts.
You have to love your enemies.

You have to forgive everybody who has harmed you. When you do anything
good, don't let other people know about it. You must never be anxious.

You must not love money. Isn't that a narrow way? Even any one of these
things by themselves is a narrow way. And the Lord said people will not
preach that as you come to the end of time.

They will turn away from the truth. And the truth is all that Jesus
taught. Why do they make the way broader? They say it's not anger.

It's not such a serious thing. Everybody gets angry once in a while.
It's not serious.

But what did Jesus say? Let us take one example. Anger. Matthew 5, 22.

He compares it to murder in the Old Testament. Verse 21. Old covenant
was don't commit murder.

But I am telling you, don't get angry. He is comparing it with murder in
the Old Testament. To me the meaning is like this.

As seriously as the Israeli people took murder, I must take anger just
as seriously. If I get angry with somebody, it's like an Israelite going
and killing somebody. How many Christians take it like that? How many
preachers take it like that? If you get angry with your brother, you are
guilty.

That is in your heart, anger. Now if it comes out of your mouth and you
say something bad to him, then you are more guilty to a supreme court.
And again if you go and say something in anger, more than that, then you
can go to hell.

How many people preach that anger can be the first step to hell? Have
you heard it anywhere other than CFC? I have not heard it. This is what
I mean by now. And this is what people try to make broad saying, you
can't take anger seriously.

Everybody gets angry. It's not so serious. Some of you may not say it,
but that's how you behave.

It's normal for all married couples in the beginning to get angry with
each other. Especially when they have a baby. All types of things that
irritate them.

Now if they take it seriously and say, Lord I repent that this is wrong,
then there is a hope that maybe after a few years they will overcome it
completely. It won't happen in one day, but it will definitely happen in
a few years. I know because it happened in my life.

I also know people who even after 20 years of married life, they still
get angry with each other. So what should they say? They should say,
well this is not so serious. And gradually they make the way broader.

Because more people come in. Somebody says I am getting angry. Oh that's
ok brother.

Everybody gets angry. I also get angry. Don't worry.

And like that more and more people come to the church. And not a single
one of them is interested in overcoming anger. Is that the type of
church we are building? Someone will come up, God will raise up somebody
to preach the narrow way once again.

And that's what's happened throughout the generations in the last 20
centuries. When a church begins to die, just like the church in Ephesus,
God will raise up someone to proclaim the narrow way again. And after
30-40 years it declines again.

And again God is to start anew. And that's how all these denominations
have started. Now we don't have to worry about what happened in the 2000
years.

But we have to worry about ourselves. Are we preaching discipleship in
our churches? Are we preaching all that Jesus taught in our churches? Or
are we keeping quiet about some things and gradually the way becomes
broader? That's what we need to think about seriously.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/SY6zydnVUq8.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/how-a-church-backslides/
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