This post by Thomas Brooks below merged well with my post on April 12 : Complete & Effective Dominion
I mentioned
how important it is to test the spirits. A minister who is not breaking your
heart with the word of God almost every time he takes the pulpit, there is a
strong chance that he has not been hand picked by Him. A real minister of God
will cause you to go home somewhat, if not fully offended every time you hear
him. Why? Because it is the nature of the true Gospel it offends unbelievers as
much as it offends believers that are not right with Him.
Sadly,
Satan has worked it so nicely for us to make us comfortable with a half
truth, that in the Church, we scream “apostasy” when we are offended by the
truth of the Gospel and in our state of spiritual
we have no idea that we are led by Satan to react this way. Satan has done such
a great job that we love our mediocre preachers, they make us feel good, we
agree with them, we say AMEN, HALLELLUJAH!
We get all emotional and drunk on “god” yet, we go back home with the same compartmentalized
lives, wrong attitude toward Him, stubborn hearts, lack of obedience and our rituals that make us
feel good because we found “religion”
Even on my
death bed, I will keep saying over and over again. The reason we are offended
by the preaching, the posts or the books that call for examination of our
hearts, or to a deeper life and make us feel inadequate is because we are not
where we should be. Deep inside of us, we know something is wrong, but we shut
if off and slap our mask on again. For a lot of us, often the subtlety of Satan
acts like a snooze alarm we keep pressing the button just so we can get a few
more minutes of sleep. Before we know it, time passes us by, we get so deep
with Satan, and in our slumber it would take a bulldozer to get us out of our
lethargy and laziness. By then, it is easier to say Oh! Well God is good!
May God
have mercy on us!
Thomas Brooks (1608–1680)
was an English non-conformist Puritan preacher and author
Consider carefully what you
hear." Mark 4:24"
It is sad to see how many preachers in our days, make
it their business to enrich men's heads with high, empty,
airy notions; instead of enriching their souls with saving
truths.
Fix yourself under that man's ministry, who makes it his
business, his work to enrich the soul, to win the soul, and
to build up the soul; not to tickle the ear, or please the
fancy. This age is full of such light, delirious souls—who
dislike everything—but what is empty and airy.
Do not judge a minister . . .
by his voice, nor
by the multitude who follow him, nor
by his affected tone, nor
by his rhetoric and flashes of wit;
but by the holiness, heavenliness, and spiritualness
of his teaching. Many ministers are like empty orators,
who have a flood of words—but a drop of matter.
Some preachers affect rhetorical strains; they seek abstrusities,
and love to hover and soar aloft in dark and cloudy expressions,
and so shoot their arrows over their hearers' heads—instead of
bettering their hearers' hearts. Mirthful things in a sermon
are only for men to gaze upon and admire. He is the best
preacher, not who tickles the ear—but who breaks the heart.
"My message and my preaching were not with wise and
persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's
power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom,
but on God's power." 1 Corinthians 2:4-5
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