The American Church

This message is on the state of the American church and I want to read you some comments friends about the church in America. I thought it'd be best to hear from some real church members describe their recent experiences rather than this preacher being a dead horse with my own comments. I copied these comments down from two female Yelp reviews of the larger churches in my area that had posted on the church's website recently.

Listen to their observations. The first lady said I had to stop going because of the new pastor's sermons. He's more concerned with being funny than rightly dividing the word of God.

Every sermon he has to make jokes and he spends more time talking about his family than anything. I get nothing out of these sermons and some of them are closer to motivational speaking than expounding the word of God. The pastor acts like a failed comedian and motivational speaker.

Well those were her comments about her church experience. Let me read you another lady's observations about a different church in the same city. Disappointing.

During a recent sermon the pastor attempted to be funny in describing Esau the red and hairy man from the Bible by flashing up a picture of a U.S. political leader on screen. Not only did this seem inappropriate during a sermon by a church leader it was a poor analogy and not even funny. Well that's what she wrote about the condition of the church in her area that she had noticed.

And I could give you my own observations friends but what would be the point? These women sum it up better than I can because they sum up the sad spiritual declension in our pulpits today friends where pastors are more interested in getting laughs from their congregation rather than conversions. I don't believe for one skinny minute that these two observations are remote and in the minority. I believe they speak for the majority today.

They actually pinpoint the state of the church in America today. For the most part we've got professionals in the pulpit rather than prophets. We've got entertainers rather than God called men but there's a good reason why the church in America today is not experiencing revival.

We'd rather turn our sanctuaries into discos with strobe lights and loud music because at least that way we can mask and cover up the fact that the Holy Spirit is absent from among us and God has withdrawn his presence from us because of our infidelity to him. There's a reason why churches don't preach hard against sin and inform men and women and boys and girls about their duty over penance to stay out of a devil's hell. There is a reason why pastors refuse to warn you about the dangers of damnation because some of them are in danger of damnation themselves from a unconverted ministry.

Many ministers today are more concerned about their reputations and about being accepted by their deacons than warning sinners to flee from the wrath to come listen to what can happen to our society when a God called man fears God more than man and calls sinners to repentance. I'm talking about Mordecai Ham. I'm holding in my hand a first edition of Mordecai Ham's biography and this is his signature right here on the first page of this first edition.

God used Mordecai Ham's preaching to convert a young Billy Graham. Billy Graham came to Ham's tent meeting a clean good church member and a teenager and he got mad at the evangelist for pointing him out and calling him a sinner but Mordecai Ham said he never pointed at Billy Graham but the Holy Spirit sure did and Billy Graham got saved that night because he heard about man's duty repentance. He saw he was a sinner in need of a savior and that's what God did with Mordecai Ham in converting Billy Graham and listen to what Mordecai Ham's ministry did as he went up and down throughout America friends listen to this when evangelist Ham preached mockers were converted families were restored bars were closed laws were changed churches were filled overflowing one church even advertised in the paper that no more new converts should attend as there was not room for them hundreds were called to preach and crooked politicians either repented or feared the consequences when some resisted God's work God withdrew his grace in answer to Ham's prayers and God's judgment fell dead bodies had to be taken out of meetings that's a time when Christianity changed the world instead of the world changing Christianity does anybody see the problem does anybody really care