Over at the pro-Emergent website Emergent What? Bob Hyatt, who is pastor of an Emergent Church, asked me how the worship service went at my little Connecticut River Baptist Church (SBC) and what I preached on yesterday. In a moment you will see where the title of this particular short post ties in.

It was a good opportunity to share and so for the possible edification of readers of Apprising Ministries I also put my answer here. I told him our worship went great, we praise the Lord that our little fellowship is in revival.

I preached about the Ted Haggard issue and how when God does something like this (and with Kent Hovind) that God is causing right now within His Church can do a couple of things. For the faint of heart it can cause much unrest.

But for those who have been through the fire and hammered into shape on the anvil of adversity it wiil immediately cause us to go to Jesus and ask Him to make sure there is nothing in our own lives that could arise of a similar nature. I had also shared this earlier on Slice of Laodicea where I am the pastoral advisor as well as contributor.

I also told them this is not about tearing these men down but prayerfully bringing about restoration. We prayed for Haggard’s family. I finished up talking about how dangerous groups like the Purpose Driven seeker sensitive churches and Emergent/Emerging churches are (remember,he had asked) because they are seeking to make people comfortable within this culture.

And left them with my conviction that while speaking at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) recently Dr. John MacArthur was right in saying that America has been abandoned by God. So my sermon was a rather topical one with only a bit of expository preaching this particular Sunday on 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12.

The fact is that the Prognosis For The American Christian Church doesn’t look good no matter how much Rick Warren promises them or how cool Rob Bell tries to make following Jesus or how bright Joel Osteen’s smile may be. As always I highly recommend the work of Dr. John MacArthur and following are the links to his very important sermons concerning, among other things, Christ as Head of His Church, the Reformation and the truth that America has been abandoned by God.

May the Lord have mercy on us as we must now prepare ourselves and encourage each other because the ride is about to get very, very rough. Even so:

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for Whom and through Whom everything exists, should make the Author of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says, “I will declare Your Name to My brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing Your praises.” And again, “I will put My trust in Him.” And again He says, “Here am I, and the children God has given Me.” (Hebrews 2:9-13)

Here are the links to the sermons of Dr. John MacArthur at SBTS:

Christ, Head of the Church (October 31, 2006)

The Tale of Two Sons (November 1, 2006)

Abandoned by God (November 2, 2006)