Stop talking about yourself and start talking about the real Jesus!
Steve, along with guests Frank Seamster and Frank DiPietro, discuss a major problem that exists today in America: the preaching about “another Jesus.” In 2 Corinthians 11:4, Paul calls out this wrongful practice that was happening even in his day. Unfortunately, many sincere, good people and churches talk about another Jesus, just wanting to help people but not knowing the true Gospel or the true Jesus themselves. They are simply preaching what our culture teaches us—humanism, me-ism, self-centeredness, etc.
”Another” Jesus?
Rather than trying to understand God, we try to understand ourselves, which leads to preaching about the “commercialized Jesus. “The American gospel has become man-centered, need-oriented, and entertainment-based,” says guest Frank Seamster. That, in fact, is how many churches operate today. Jesus’ gospel—that Jesus is The Way, The Truth, and The Life—goes unpreached. Churches instead place us in the role of the victim, which in turn prevents us from living victoriously.
Therapeutic preaching is good, but what we really need is transformation! We cannot live off of self-help, crisis management alone. We need the life-giving Word of God! Our lives can be transformed and changed only by the Word.
Fresh Fire
Frank DiPietro discusses a time after the Revolutionary War when America was full of crime, ungodly beliefs, and devoid of the hunger for God that had ignited the First Great Awakening. God’s faithfulness did not allow America to die. The result? Revival broke out at Cane Ridge, and by 1801, the Second Great Awakening exploded. Masses gathered together to be touched and changed by the Holy Spirit. Later in 1857, America was experiencing great financial devastation, high crime, and poverty. God once again visited America with His power, when He responded to four men praying on Fulton Street. They rented local theaters to host the crowds coming for a great prayer revival.
A revival historian, Frank DiPietro recalls those two historic revivals and how he knows that America needs God’s power, presence, and glory once again. And he also shares that he is excited because he sees the Kingdom of God advancing right now. Every day, he asks if this could be the day for a fresh revival.
Learn more about historical accounts of revival in Frank DiPietro’s book, The Fire That Once Was.
3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
Questions:
What recent preaching of the Word impacted you?
Do you ever see yourself as a victim?
What changes will you make to embrace victorious living in God?
ACTION POINT: Pray for yourself, your pastor, your congregation, and your community, that God would rend the Heavens, come down, and revive His people once again!
2:26Rather than understand Jesus, we start talking about understanding ourselves. We preach it until it becomes another Jesus, the “commercialized Jesus.” (Steve Gray)
3:48The American gospel has become man-centered, need-oriented, and entertainment-based. (Frank Seamster)
4:44We have created the church that is all about being victims, and there is nothing about being victorious. (Frank Seamster)
7:23The self is never satisfied. (Steve Gray)
14:21It wasn’t an evangelist. It wasn’t a congregation. It wasn’t a church. It was Holy Ghost power. (Frank DiPietro)
