Listen To Sound Doctrine

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

(2 Timothy 4:3-4)

Meditation

I may be a weirdo, if fact, I am a weirdo, but if I sit through a sermon and some part of it doesn’t convict me, I think there must be something wrong. I know there is always some area of my life that I need to work on, but since I rarely seek those areas out, I need a good preacher being the Holy Spirit’s mouthpiece. I need that convicting message from the Holy Spirit to give me a kick in the backside to make the necessary changes to come into God’s will. I wasn’t always that way. I started my walk with Christ at a church that tried very hard not to offend anyone. The sermons stayed well clear of anything to do with sin and hell. Since I was already saved, that was okay with me. After I was saved, I didn’t see the need to hear about all the parts of my life I needed to correct.

The first time I heard a really convicting sermon, I got very mad. How dare that preacher expose the things I was thinking and doing as being sinful. They had nothing to do with church. I thought that being saved was for Sundays and the rest of the week was for a ‘regular’ life. I vowed to never return to that church again. I went back to my ‘safe’ church where my ears could be tickled, however, the Holy Spirit would not leave me alone. I didn’t want to deal with my shortcomings. I wanted to hear how being a Christian was going to make me prosper financially. I wanted to hear how all my pains were going to disappear. Fortunately, I kept finding scriptures that would debunk those false teachings.

To my surprise and alarm, the preacher, whose words convicted me, had been right. I needed to make a whole bunch of changes in both my actions and thoughts. When a good preacher convicts me, it means he’s doing his job. He’s telling me the truth from the gospel and I need to heed what he’s preaching and change my ways. If the preacher is not making me squirm every once in a while, he’s either not doing his job or I’m not listening. I am the least perfect person I know, so if I haven’t felt convicted in a while, I need to figure out why. Find a preacher who convicts you, pray he always does, and stick to him like glue. Consider yourself fortunate if you already have such a preacher, pray for him because he’s the kind the devil will come up against.

Daily Prayer

Father God, you are the essence of love. No one will ever love us like you do. You loved us so much, you gave us your only Son to pay the price for our sins. Jesus showed his love for us by willingly going to the cross. The time has arrived for the truth of this prophesy to be fulfilled. Lord when a good preacher in this day and age tells his congregation about the sin in their lives, he will often be dismissed and sent packing. Lord we ask you to increase the numbers of the good preachers all around the world. Always bring good men to the pulpit. When another preacher, who isn’t so good, gives a sermon that wouldn’t convict the devil, he’s the wrong preacher, send him packing. Remind us we are ultimately responsible if our preacher only itches our ears. Help us to select a preacher who will preach the truth to us, no matter how much it might bite at our pride. Satan will try to use them to get between Jesus and us. Help us, Lord, to know you will never leave or forsake us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen!