Nerf Swords don’t cut

Nerf Swords don’t cut

November 4, 2009, 09:40
Filed under: Church wrongs | Tags: depression, Evangelism, Pastors, preacher, sermon

 National Publishing and Jones Brothers, 187[?]                      Willohroots family bible from  my ‘s dad’s  side.Monday started off with rank disappointment, so instead of getting all down and blue, I thought I would listen to  Jeofurry sermon.  I like to hear Jeff preach, and thought that would be uplifting.  Just to continue the downward spiral of the day, I could not get any of his sermons to load.  At least the day was consistent.

 

I popped over to the church site of a friend of mine,  someone I had not checked in on in a long time.  I found an eight part series on The Beatitudes, at least that was the title, but they really weren’t.  A little googling and I found out that they were Rick Warren sermons, from one of Rick Warren’s sermon series.  I listened to most of them.  Now I was really depressed.

I heard a good man, a man with a loving servant’s heart become a shadow.  His sermon illustrations were not from his own life, they were from Rick Warrens life, and so the message I was getting was like a fax of a fax, a bit blurry, lacking the crisp detail needed to bring a message.  Seeing some one attempting to imitate anyone but Christ,  well it just isn’t Christian.

Armed with a cynical attitude and already filled with negatives, by the power granted to me by Google,  I set out to check out other web sermons.  I found way too many cheap imitations of the same thing.   Now I imitated Warren at a fancy dress party,  but never in the pulpit.  There are so many people going to Hell, so many of the saved that need the guidance of Holy Writ, and the exhorting that comes only from the Word,  that I take my post very seriously.  I can imitate no one.  I do not need to.  My God has worked in my life, He continues to do so, He does this so that I may share His Glory and point to Him.

To fight the Great War we are given the words of Moses and the Prophets, the Apostles, and even the words of the Messiah Yeshua!  These words have Power!

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edgedsword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Ephesians 6:17
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

I am afraid some of my brothers are using imperfect swords.  The power is not there,  because instead of reaching up to God for power in preaching, they are reaching out laterally to other preachers who have had success in their area.  They must forget that the success they are viewing  came from God,  not from the preacher whose church they are observing.  Instead of getting the message from the source, they are sitting in the shadow of a man, not the light of the Son.  If  you attempt to copy Warren, or Piper, or Keller, or MacArthur you will be such a shadow, wielding a shadow sword.  Reach High!  Attempt the unattainable, and seek to copy Christ, as did James, and Peter, and Paul, and all the rest.  You will fail, as I am sure they did, but it is a glorious failure, as the attempt is a victory, and fail to reach that hight the highest worship that we have.   The sword from this armory will have little effect in real war.

 

Blades of sponge do not pierce to the heart.

I am not condemning Rich Warren, there are plenty of blogs for that,  but I am pleading for us all to use the great weapon we were given, the Sword of the Word.   Jeff , get First    Baptist  Langdon,  North Dakota site fixed,  and encourage your pastors to be themselves, as God has molded  them.  My wife has taught me much, but most of all to be me in the pulpit, just me.  If God put me there, [and He did] , why try to be someone else?  It is best to be a real little guy, standing in the Light of Jesus , wielding the true Sword,  than the shadow of a giant, holding a Nerf blade against the  Devil.  The bible has many stories of God using men and women, but I can only think of one where He used a Shadow.

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