2 Timothy 4:3-4 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
3 The time will come when people will not listen to the true teaching. But people will find more and more teachers who please them. They will find teachers who say what they want to hear. 4 People will stop listening to the truth. They will begin to follow the teaching in false stories.
The bible speaks about False teachers and preachers and how we need to be careful that we are truly following Jesus Christ.
I have been faced by some startling facts over the last few days.
It all began with a YouTube link that came up when I was viewing an education product.
The content absolutely astounded me! Is it possible that the greatest churches in our world today along with their leaders, are in fact deceiving us to buy into a theology which is very far from the teaching of Jesus.
I am not going to go into this in too much detail because I would not like to spread any information that is untrue, but it certainly has left me feeling slightly off-kilter. The churches in question the two greatest distributors of worship music today and probably the most loved songs on your worship playlist – I know that they were on mine.
I would really like you to do your own research on this, but it certainly has propelled me to not just accept the teachings or worship music of a church or group just because it is available in a Christian store or even in our own church.
We need to be sure that all the teaching that we receive is the true word of God -not a watered down version or one that is created for popularity and crowd pleasing.
It is our responsibility to question these things and ask God to lead us to the truth – Gods truth.
During this time, I happened to be reading the book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala.
This book completely reinforced a very important truth to me.
The importance of prayer!
This is one thing that is almost left out of churches today. Besides a well written opening prayer or a prayer before taking up the offering, prayer is almost absent from the church meetings.
Yet in the bible, God refers to his Temple being a house a prayer. We find this in Isaiah 57:7 , Jeremiah 7:11, Matthew 21:13 and Mark 11:17
My house will be called a house of prayer …
God didn’t call it a ‘house of preaching’ or a ‘house of music’ but a ‘house of prayer’.
And why? Because prayer is talking to the very One that we are there to worship!
Jim Cymbala writes in his book “I have seen God do more in peoples lives during 10 minutes of real prayer than in 10 of my sermons.”
Because sermons are going into our brains where we process the message.
Prayer is going straight from our heart to our Fathers heart.
But Jim goes on to say that “Preaching, music and the reading of the word are all good but they should never override prayer as the defining mark of Gods dwelling place.
Jesus launched the Christian church, not while someone was preaching, but while people were praying!
The bible has all these wonderful promises:
“Ask and it will be given to you; Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matt. 7:7
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” Jer. 29:13
“You do not have because you do not ask God” James 4:2
The below exurb is taken from ‘Fresh Wind Fresh Fire;
Isn’t it time of us to say “STOP! We’re going to pray, because God said that when we pray, He will intervene.”
The sad truth is that in the city where I live – as in Chicago and Philadelphia and Houston and right across to L.A. – more people are turning to crack than to Christ. More people are dipping into drugs than are getting baptized in water. What is going to reverse this tide? Preaching alone will not do it; classes aren’t going to do it; more money for more programs won’t do it. Only turning Gods house into a house of fervent prayer will reverse the power of evil so evident in the world today.
WE NEED MORE PRAYER IN OUR WORLD TODAY.
Let it start with us. With me and with you.
Let us pray and see what God will do!