Old Fashioned Christianity [old Paths / Landmarks]

Old Fashioned Christianity

Prov. 22:28

Powerpoint for this and hundreds more free sermons at our website:

http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons.html

Perhaps the most applicable verse to the 21st Century!

We like to talk about the good ole’ days…and sometimes we long for them!

Game: Remember when…

Say amen if you remember when…

You clean your rug by hanging it up and hitting it w/ a stick?

You could walk to the grocery story and rattle off your list to the clerk, and he would fetch them for you?

Movie theatre was cheaper on Saturday, and you didn’t have to worry about what you would see?

Got the latest news from the radio?

Doors of your home were seldom locked?

Didn’t know you were poor because everyone else was just like you!?

Hobos would stop by your house for food and then do a chore?

You knew all the neighbors

Mother would can all the vegetables she could before winter

No a/c but you didn’t know you were hot…it was always that way!

At school you were expected to pay attention, and do what you were told the first time!

Most men worked 6 days a week

Dr’s. made house calls carrying all they needed in the little black bag

“Gay” meant happy

a mouse was a rhodent, not something in your hand at your desk

downloading was how you got the hay into the barn

a website was where spiders lived

when mom said “time out” it meant out in the woodshed

you hoped it wasn’t raining when you needed the restroom!

Our society has come a long way…for much of it we can be glad…but unfortunately, our society also feels like we’ve outgrown the need for God!

We Need Some Old Fashioned Preaching:

What is it? Some would say it’s a tone of voice or jumping pews. But what is the characteristic that sets the old preaching apart?

We need bold preaching w/out compromise. One of the greatest reasons for America’s moral washout is the watered down sermons coming from our pulpits! We need preachers to say, “thus saith the Lord”, w/out apology. A preacher w/out boldness is like a knife w/out an edge/gun w/out bullets/Mustang GT w/out an engine!

People today are very bold w/ their sin/out of closet/flaunt it/brag about it at watercooler/sometimes even Christians are bold about sin saying, “that’s who I am, like it or lump it!”

Preachers ought to be bold, too, in crying out against sin! The need of the hour is prophets of God saying, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand!

Ill—Billy Sunday lived in the early 1900s/preached boldly against sin/a drunk before being saved/preached much on the wickedness of addictions/alcohol/one day was asked to tone it down, stop offending people, stop rubbing the cat’s fur the wrong way/he replied, I’m not changing my preaching…let the cat turn around!

Bold preaching is avoided/feared in the 21st century…

But not in the old days! What was the difference that made any difference? It wasn’t the man, it was the message! How rough it was/how real…how it was said/ what was said…How loud/how lived…Good acting/good accuracy…Personality/purity…Walking on eggshells/stepping on toes (truth hurts!)…Fiery delivery as much as it is faithful content…guy pounding/God producing!

However, the fire today is also gone! Though the fire wasn’t the man, but the message, though it wasn’t delivery but content…the fire causes more to listen!

Ill.—one day a young preacher asked John Wesley how to get more people to come hear his preaching/I want bigger crowds!/Wesley said, allow God to set you on fire, and the people will come to watch you burn!

Pray for me that the fire of my content will spread to my delivery! (don’t hesitate to help, either…say amen…like “sic ‘em” to a dog!)

Bold preaching is clear, concise, and direct. It should feel like it’s aimed right at you at times. The dedicated Christian seeks out a church where they can be uncomfortable!

Joke—little boy came home from church, mom asked, what did the preacher preach on today?/thought a moment… and said, “he didn’t say!”

Unfortunately, around our city and across our nation, compromising, pussy-footing, pantywaste preachers stand up and try not to rock the boat…just talk 30 minutes w/out saying anything!

Ill.—d.l. moody said that good preaching will make people get right or get mad!

3 areas where we need more old fashioned preaching:

1. Against sin

Sin: man calls it an accident/God calls it abomination

Blunder/blindness…by chance/by choice…fascination/fatality…infirmity/iniquity…luxury/leprosy…liberty/lawlessness…trifle/tragedy…mistake/

madness…weakness/willfulness

I believe in being positive…sharing the good news! But there is no good news until you face the bad news.

Ill.—mail carrier who doesn’t give you all your mail (we need preachers who will deliver all of God’s mail, and that includes the bills he sends when He reads our meters and the summons to appear before Him!)