BOOKS AND WRITING 2

I have over a thousand books in my personal library as I usually buy 10 to 20 a year. As I have perused book lists on line I have noticed books appearing asking why there is such a dearth of knowledge of the word of God in the western church.

This is not the case in places like Africa and Asia. There they seem to read the word and go out and do likewise. Like praying for the dead to come back to life. In one book I read it said it happens all the time because they read and believe.

The western church generally speaking by comparison is not a doing church. In fact some do all they can to disprove that the supernatural has anything to do with Christianity today. This type of church is content to listen to sermons that for the most part have very little relevance to everyday life.

People then go home and forget all about what has been said and nothing changes. That’s if they remember any of it. Research shows that 80% of sermons go in one ear and out the other. Despite that fact the church persist in such a useless method of teaching.

In comparison to my younger days as a Christian the bible doesn’t seem to excite western Christians anymore. I was taught to read and study the bible every day and never went to a meeting without it. Today it seems, people just sit there and listen to someone else read it.

Mind you, in the old days you needed your bible because the preacher would constantly refer to it or teach from a whole passage. Today, it is often a case of “My text today is verse 27 of chapter 4 of the book of Acts and then we are told how that verse teaches us God wants to prosper. Not exactly a bible study you need a bible for.

At Bible College, we were taught that a sermon had to have an introduction, the body of a message and a conclusion. Or as we used to say, tell them what you are going to say, say it and then tell them what you have said. In other words, ram it home to make sure the listeners understand and digest.

Today it seems that we have an introduction, a verse of some kind (if you are lucky), then a monologue where the preacher hangs his pet subject on that verse and then a delusion that we have studied the word of God.

In the Real Estate business they say there are three essentials in any transaction. Location, location, location.

In the church there are three essentials for us to grow. The Word, the Word, the Word. And why is that? Because if you know the truth, the truth will set you free. That truth has been set out in God’s word to his church, the Bible.