Joel2:13 And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil.
Years back, myself and some brethren attended a thanksgiving service with the state governor in attendance. The celebrant was a top functionary in his cabinet. The priest who preached in that service left the message in the bible and decided to campaign for the governor's second term ambition from the pulpit. He abandoned the bible message to speak about the good works of the governor and what he had done. Maybe he expected the governor to donate a large sum to the building project of the church but when the governor gave his remark, he seem not to even be in tune with the man's ego massage. It was a shameful episode right in the eyes of every one who knew what ought to be. I wouldn't be wrong to say 'He preached to the gallery but the gallery failed him'. Pardon my grammar.
Men who should hear the message of repentance were pampered and rubbed on the head just because of pecuniary gains. God is calling us all to return to the message of the bible. Right in the bible, we saw Christ, the prophets and the apostles preach repentance. On the day of Pentecost, after the 120 received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Peter preached saying: "...Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost", Acts 2:38 KJV. Through that message 3,000 were added to the church. Don't tell me the message of repentance is outdated.
We need to stop pampering people with sweet words and philosophy of men when they need an encounter with the truth of God's word. If the apostles had preached the messages some preachers are preaching today, they may not have been persecuted. When the gospel message of the apostles filled Jerusalem, the religious council tried to stop them but Peter and other apostles said, "We must obey God rather than human beings!", Acts5:29. Paul preached Christ and him crucified till he was beheaded. He didn't tell us about his latest trip to America and how he built a big cathedral in Ephesus. If we want to see true biblical transformation in the lives of men, we need to preach Christ. We owe God the duty to return to the true message of the bible- Christ.
Father, I receive the grace to return to the message of the bible in Jesus name.