1 00:00:14,911 --> 00:00:20,825 ...R.C. Sproul's and your John MacArthur's. 2 00:00:20,825 --> 00:00:23,773 When pastors hear them and start realizing, 3 00:00:23,773 --> 00:00:28,598 man, if I preach this in my church, 4 00:00:28,598 --> 00:00:31,162 I'm going to get in a whole lot of trouble. 5 00:00:31,162 --> 00:00:34,016 Well, here's two extremes. 6 00:00:34,016 --> 00:00:37,119 One is cowardice. 7 00:00:37,119 --> 00:00:38,516 I've come to believe 8 00:00:38,516 --> 00:00:41,376 that being a coward runs in the blood 9 00:00:41,376 --> 00:00:44,035 of every man I've ever met including myself. 10 00:00:44,035 --> 00:00:46,313 We have to fight being cowards. 11 00:00:46,313 --> 00:00:50,788 And we have to fight self-preservation. 12 00:00:50,788 --> 00:00:53,515 Christians are supposed to suffer. 13 00:00:53,515 --> 00:00:56,720 Pastors are supposed to suffer. 14 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:58,433 It's what we do. 15 00:00:58,433 --> 00:01:00,924 And if by taking the truth of the Gospel, 16 00:01:00,924 --> 00:01:03,276 we lose our positions, we lose our places, 17 00:01:03,276 --> 00:01:04,474 then so be it. 18 00:01:04,474 --> 00:01:06,539 At least we've been faithful to Him. 19 00:01:06,539 --> 00:01:08,211 But the other extreme 20 00:01:08,211 --> 00:01:10,253 is running into your church 21 00:01:10,253 --> 00:01:11,949 loveless, 22 00:01:11,949 --> 00:01:13,612 without prayer, 23 00:01:13,612 --> 00:01:15,613 like a bull in a china shop, 24 00:01:15,613 --> 00:01:17,668 and just destroying everybody in your path. 25 00:01:17,668 --> 00:01:20,504 First of all, what do you have that you have not received? 26 00:01:20,504 --> 00:01:22,889 And if you have received it, why do you boast? 27 00:01:22,889 --> 00:01:25,323 If you've come to understand 28 00:01:25,323 --> 00:01:27,078 great truths of the Christian faith 29 00:01:27,078 --> 00:01:28,370 that have been forgotten, 30 00:01:28,370 --> 00:01:30,205 what separates you from anybody else? 31 00:01:30,205 --> 00:01:32,122 It's the grace of God that's done that. 32 00:01:32,122 --> 00:01:33,673 Freely you have received it, 33 00:01:33,673 --> 00:01:35,578 not based on your own virtue and merit, 34 00:01:35,578 --> 00:01:36,777 but the grace of God. 35 00:01:36,777 --> 00:01:40,136 Now treat others with grace. 36 00:01:40,136 --> 00:01:41,730 (incomplete thought) 37 00:01:41,730 --> 00:01:44,665 When I went to preach in a certain church 38 00:01:44,665 --> 00:01:47,796 for a few months, 39 00:01:47,796 --> 00:01:50,544 they were very opposite of me. 40 00:01:50,544 --> 00:01:55,609 It was a typical, little country church. 41 00:01:55,609 --> 00:01:57,773 I didn't go in there 42 00:01:57,773 --> 00:02:00,805 and start lambasting everybody. 43 00:02:00,805 --> 00:02:02,377 As a matter of fact, what I did 44 00:02:02,377 --> 00:02:05,025 is I went in there and started teaching on the family. 45 00:02:05,025 --> 00:02:09,157 Why? Because the family is basically a disaster in America. 46 00:02:09,157 --> 00:02:10,731 And if you can go into a church 47 00:02:10,731 --> 00:02:12,097 and preach the Scriptures 48 00:02:12,097 --> 00:02:14,357 to the point where those people's families 49 00:02:14,357 --> 00:02:16,537 are being healed, then they'll listen 50 00:02:16,537 --> 00:02:18,350 to the other things you have to say. 51 00:02:18,350 --> 00:02:20,944 So if you're going to go into a church and reform it, 52 00:02:20,944 --> 00:02:23,146 here's the first thing you need to realize. 53 00:02:23,146 --> 00:02:24,518 You need to move slowly. 54 00:02:24,518 --> 00:02:26,146 You need to move with love. 55 00:02:26,146 --> 00:02:28,025 You need to move on your knees. 56 00:02:28,025 --> 00:02:30,617 And then you need to look at the needs of those people 57 00:02:30,617 --> 00:02:33,852 and meet those needs with Scripture. 58 00:02:33,852 --> 00:02:36,792 And as you're meeting those needs with Scripture 59 00:02:36,792 --> 00:02:39,350 like no other man before you has done, 60 00:02:39,350 --> 00:02:41,919 then when you start going into these other truths, 61 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:43,352 they're going to look and say, 62 00:02:43,352 --> 00:02:46,164 well, you know all that stuff he taught us about the Bible, 63 00:02:46,164 --> 00:02:48,276 it really healed our families. 64 00:02:48,276 --> 00:02:50,554 It really turned us toward godliness. 65 00:02:50,554 --> 00:02:52,724 So, we shouldn't attack him just because 66 00:02:52,724 --> 00:02:54,234 we've never heard this before. 67 00:02:54,234 --> 00:02:57,082 Let's go on and listen to him for a while 68 00:02:57,082 --> 00:02:58,606 because we know the good 69 00:02:58,606 --> 00:03:00,897 that his preaching's already done to us. 70 00:03:00,897 --> 00:03:04,622 Most men want to just immediately attack the big issues. 71 00:03:04,622 --> 00:03:07,112 Here's another thing that has to be taught 72 00:03:07,112 --> 00:03:08,552 to a congregation. 73 00:03:08,552 --> 00:03:13,712 And that is not only that the Scriptures are inspired - 74 00:03:13,712 --> 00:03:15,592 the Southern Baptists and others 75 00:03:15,592 --> 00:03:17,529 won phenomenal victories 76 00:03:17,529 --> 00:03:19,874 when they held on to the doctrines 77 00:03:19,874 --> 00:03:22,292 that the Scriptures are inspired and infallible. 78 00:03:22,292 --> 00:03:25,212 But that's only half the battle. 79 00:03:25,212 --> 00:03:26,566 The next question is: 80 00:03:26,566 --> 00:03:29,128 are the Scriptures sufficient? 81 00:03:29,128 --> 00:03:30,771 Do we need anthropology? 82 00:03:30,771 --> 00:03:32,175 Do we need psychology? 83 00:03:32,175 --> 00:03:35,177 Do we need 5th Avenue church growth techniques 84 00:03:35,177 --> 00:03:37,235 to make Christianity work? 85 00:03:37,235 --> 00:03:39,240 Pastor, you have to teach your people 86 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:41,852 how to rely upon the Scriptures alone. 87 00:03:41,852 --> 00:03:45,046 The Scriptures are sufficient. 88 00:03:45,046 --> 00:03:47,452 Another thing that a pastor needs to realize: 89 00:03:47,452 --> 00:03:49,664 you walk into a typical church in America 90 00:03:49,664 --> 00:03:52,936 and you can count on a great many people - 91 00:03:52,936 --> 00:03:56,415 maybe half, maybe more - 92 00:03:56,415 --> 00:03:59,184 are unconverted. 93 00:03:59,184 --> 00:04:01,982 And so you try to lead them in spiritual truths, 94 00:04:01,982 --> 00:04:03,914 it's like trying to teach a goat 95 00:04:03,914 --> 00:04:05,934 how to be a sheep. 96 00:04:05,934 --> 00:04:08,040 The pastor needs to go into that church 97 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:13,309 being loving, being evangelistic, being warm, 98 00:04:13,309 --> 00:04:15,721 and trying to win people to Christ. 99 00:04:15,721 --> 00:04:17,351 You get a converted congregation, 100 00:04:17,351 --> 00:04:20,233 they're quite easy to lead.