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I don't know when it happened, but it

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happened nonetheless.

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A day came in the American church where

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we got a can of gasoline and soaked

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our pulpits with it and then set fire

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to it.

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And we replaced that pulpit of authority with

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amusing stories, light teaching, and worldly compromise.

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And because the pulpit was now degraded and

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reduced to ashes, we were no longer spokespersons

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for God nor ambassadors for Christ, but preachers

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became teachers and some became entertainers until that

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became the status quo.

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And that's why we're in the shape we're

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in now, meaning the church now resembles a

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private club and operates on its own private,

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isolated island.

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And every dollar and every effort and every

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ounce of expenditure is spent on self-preservation

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and creature comfort so that when the tide

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goes out, every shrimp has his hole.

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There's a big reason, friends, why the modern

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church has no resemblance to the one in

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the book of Acts, because we have no

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reliance upon the spirit of God.

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We can get more done with money and

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manpower, but in former times, the church operated

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on prayer and Holy Ghost power.

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I believe the Methodist minister Samuel Chadwick summed

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up our present condition when he said, the

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church still has a theology of the Holy

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Ghost, but it has no living consciousness of

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His presence and power.

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The title of my message today, friends, is

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no power in the pulpit.

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And my text can be found in the

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book of Zachariah.

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And for those of you who actually read

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your Bibles, you'll have no trouble finding it

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in chapter four of Zachariah.

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And in verse six, we read, then he

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answered and spake unto me, saying, this is

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the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying,

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not by might nor by power, but by

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my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

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When I read the book of Acts and

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I see plain men, uneducated men, fishermen by

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trade, standing like lions in the streets, preaching

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Christ and Him crucified, and the power of

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God coming down in signs and wonders, and

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everywhere these Christ followers went preaching, in the

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aftermath of that, it looked as if a

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earthquake had ripped the very fabric of a

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pagan society with the overwhelming power of Almighty

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God.

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And I had asked myself, why, why did

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the church in that day do so much

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and shake things up so much and save

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so many souls that it was as if

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these men literally turned the world upside down?

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And when I look at the sad, pitiful

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American church today, I cringe and I blush

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and I groan with disgust at what she

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has become instead of what she was meant

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to be.

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I don't blame the young people today for

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leaving the churches in droves.

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Why would they want to be part of

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a lifeless institution with no authority?

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They took a good look at their parents

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who were lifelong church members, and they saw

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outwardly religious people who lacked the reality of

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God in their own lives, and it turned

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them off to God altogether.

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Does anyone disagree with what I'm saying?

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Do you want to stand here and argue

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against my points?

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Do you want to prove to me that

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what I'm saying is entirely wrong?

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Do you want to call me delusional?

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Or are you so spiritually numb that you

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can't see the glaring issues of our desperate

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and sad spiritual declension yourself?

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Am I a madman standing here?

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Am I a madman crying out against the

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tide of the modern church and saying that

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the emperor has no clothes?

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Am I the only one who sees it?

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Has everyone drunk so much of the Kool

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-Aid of the modern church that they believe

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this is what God intended for his bride?

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Laughter and entertainment instead of conviction and conversion?

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A nightclub instead of an altar?

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Have I gone insane?

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Or does anyone else see how far we

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have drifted away from God's purpose, God's mandate,

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and God's commandments?

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Why are so many pastors antinomians?

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Why have we thrown holiness out the window?

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Why has the church just settled into conformity

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and compromise?

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All I can do is weep and pray.

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But I will share with you today, friends,

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for those of you who are serious and

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who really want more of God, who want

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to go deeper with God and do greater

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things for God, I'm going to share with

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you something today.

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It's what my homiletical mentor, Dr. Stephen F.

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Olford, taught me.

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Listen, friend, if you want more of the

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Holy Spirit, he must have more of you.

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I'm going to read you Stephen Olford's notes

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on the anointing of the Spirit.

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It's available for anyone who wants to possess

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it, but there are three conditions.

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Number one, holiness.

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Number two, yieldedness.

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Number three, prayerfulness.

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When a pastor gets serious with God, his

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congregation will know it.

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And when a pastor isn't serious with God,

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his congregation will know it.

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I listened to a Baptist pastor say his

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favorite TV show was Keeping Up with the

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Kardashians, and it reflected in his meager worldly

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messages.

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I guess it all boils down to this.

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God will not get serious with us until

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we get serious with him.

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We're not going to see revival if we

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can't even recognize our desperate need of it.

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God is very serious concerning holiness in his

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people.

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Oh, when Jesus was here in his earthly

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ministry, he wept over Jerusalem and foretold of

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its destruction.

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I wonder, I wonder how much he weeps

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over the sad mess of the modern church

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today.