The Gospel Preacher and the Emergent Church

We need the gospel preacher now more than ever. The man of God who faithfully preaches from an open Bible boldly declaring “thus saith the Lord” is, in the eyes of some, becoming a relic of the past. The man who will daily get alone with God to hear from Him regarding his personal life and who will set aside time for the hard work of diligent study of the Word of God to bring God’s message to the church is sadly becoming more rare than common. This man I call the gospel preacher. He has no interest in crowd pleasing, because He longs to please the One who redeemed and is redeeming him. He makes it his ambition to make Christ known because he knows from personal experience that knowing Christ is the greatest pursuit in all of life. He does not preach because he has to get up and say something, but because he has something to say. His heart is white hot because he has spent time with the Lord Jesus Christ; he has saturated his mind with Biblical truth and when he preaches that truth he preaches not a lifeless message but a living, reigning, and soon coming Christ. He is like Jeremiah when he said, “But if I say, "I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name," Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it.” Jeremiah 20:9.

We need the gospel preacher today. We need him more than ever. We need men that are not interested in the latest fad, gimmick, or gold. They are not looking for the next opportunity to advance a “career” but are consumed with a passionate following of a “calling” they cannot escape. I have been privileged to sit under the preaching of Al Whittinghill over the past few days. How encouraging and refreshing and convicting and in your face-get right with God it has been! He is truly a living example of the gospel preacher and I thank God for this man.

For many reasons we need the gospel preacher today and none are greater than the growing influence of the Emergent Church. The Emerging Church movement is made up of those that hold to Christianity but feel that reaching a postmodern culture calls for a reshaping of orthodox Christianity to appeal to the postmodern mind. This is, as one would imagine, fraught with many dangers. Click here to learn more about the Emergent Church. Suffice it to say that only a casual reading of Dr. Mohler’s blog will leave the discerning reader with a sense of the dangers inherent within this movement.

So, here is what is on my heart. Surly we are living in perilous days. As Amos 8:11 states, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.” I thank God for the gospel preacher that earnestly contends for the faith. If you are one, stay the course. If you know one, pray for him. Again, we need him now more than ever.