Down Home Preaching

   A Great Falling Away or God Building His House

 

    After having taken a break from writing and preaching to study and pray and wait for God to show me where He needs me and what He needs me to do, I have been given a very clear view of the condition of the church. I had grown quite disgruntled with many of the local churches and denominations years before but still felt it necessary to attend because that's what I was taught to do.

  With the onset of Covid and quarantining as well as social distancing it was easy to stay away from meeting in congregations but did not take away the desire to read and pray and grow. After the highly politicized pandemic was over, I once again began to attend a few local churches. Having been blessed to stand behind the pulpit and even more so being blessed to have an internet ministry that reached the world for nearly ten years I found myself once again very disappointed with what God began to show me.

   The Bible speaks of apostasy and backsliding. Many preachers today want to point their fingers and claim it is the great falling away. They want to blame people leaving the church for their dwindling numbers and their poor attendance. They accuse those who leave of backsliding and making the church look bad.

   Oh, I can assure you it certainly does make the physical churches look bad, but what about the Spiritual Church. The real Church that real Christians belong to. Well, I can assure you it is alive and well and getting stronger every day. Let me explain a few things.

   Real Christians read their Bibles and can discern the spirits. Just like an employer can tell which employee is worth his salt. It is not hard for Blood bought, born again, Spirit filled children of God to know who should and should not be expounding the Word of God to all who come before them. 

Is it right for a true child of God to sit in a church and listen to a 15–20-minute sermonette with little or no substance? 

Is it right to listen to a preacher start quoting the writings of men with questionable doctrine to explain how we should consider looking at the Word of God? 

Is it right for a minister to preach for a living instead of living to preach?

   I can assure the answer to all three of these questions is unequivocally NO!

And so, the soul that longs for preaching from the heart, preaching that fills the air for an hour with purpose; becomes hungry. 

The soul that knows the scriptures draws its sword against false teaching and compromise.

And the soul that seeks a real preacher is the soul that seeks a man whose desire is to preach from his heart and not his head. A man who lives to preach and not one who preaches for a living.

   So, you see the problem with churches today is not the true Christians leaving. 

They are not leaving the faith. They are the ones who are gaining strength in their faith. They have risen from the dead to live uncompromising Spirit filled lives.

They refuse to be coddled like babies with little or nothing to feed and grow on. 

They refuse to allow teachings from questionable authors and denominations and cults to enter the holiness of the Word of God that should be being taught.

They refuse to sit before a man who is more concerned about keeping his job as a pastor than he is being a devoted minister to God.

   Yes, I said minister TO God. A devoted servant to God preaches His word by the power of the Holy Spirit to His children for God. The air is filled with experiential preaching that cuts deep and heals wounds and lifts the hearers to a life they need to live now and forever, AMEN! 

That ain't no 15-minute sermonette!

People are leaving the church locations and congregations in great numbers, but they are not the ones falling away. They are not the ones backsliding. No, the problem is the churches themselves. 

   Day after day we see nothing but disunity, compromise, even blatant sin against the Word of God all in the name of attendance and income. Denominations call each other brothers but battle against each other for the most they can get. Heresies have begun swallowing up churches in the name of feel good and better than because they pretend to have more of God one way or another. 

    Is it any wonder real Blood bought, born again, Spirit filled children of God chose to stay at home and read and pray and live for God on their own? Is it any wonder websites and outreach ministries like this one have become their source of good sound preaching?

    Yes, there is a great falling away. 

Yes, there is a tremendous amount of backsliding. But it is in the churches and their leadership. 

It's not the people who say enough is enough. 

I will not support a preacher who is more worried about his income than being Gods minister that the Lord would build His House through.

I will not be cheated out of a fulfilling sermon meant to feed and build the body by the power of the truth in the Word. 

I will not ignore what I know is not sound doctrine just to have a place to meet with others. 

   Welcome to Down Home Preaching.

This ministry has been started for everyone who would rather study and pray and praise God from home instead of participating in the compromising and the hypocrisy and the selfishness in the church today. 

  Remember, the real church is a spiritual body. As Christians we are all fitly joined in that body which makes up the true living church. No matter where you are or where you choose to praise and worship and serve God. 

   You may be alone in front of your computer screen or your phone reading this now, but you are still a member of Gods church along with thousands of others who are doing the same thing anytime and all the time. 24/7.

   If you are not saved. If you have come to read this sermon then praise God. You wouldn't be here if the Holy Spirit hadn't drawn you to read this sermon this far.

Please before you leave this page, bow your head and ask God to show you more of the truth. Ask Him to light His path for you to follow. Ask Him to forgive you for not listening and desiring Him sooner. Ask Him to open your heart to know His Son Jesus. 

And He will! AMEN!

Join us at www.downhomepreaching.com

 

Pastor Steven Freede

Short and Pointed

10/17/24