1
00:00:00,710 --> 00:00:03,690
This message is on the state of the

2
00:00:03,690 --> 00:00:06,410
American church and I want to read you

3
00:00:06,410 --> 00:00:09,630
some comments friends about the church in America.

4
00:00:10,110 --> 00:00:12,690
I thought it'd be best to hear from

5
00:00:12,690 --> 00:00:16,390
some real church members describe their recent experiences

6
00:00:16,390 --> 00:00:20,410
rather than this preacher being a dead horse

7
00:00:20,410 --> 00:00:22,470
with my own comments.

8
00:00:22,470 --> 00:00:26,950
I copied these comments down from two female

9
00:00:26,950 --> 00:00:30,450
Yelp reviews of the larger churches in my

10
00:00:30,450 --> 00:00:33,610
area that had posted on the church's website

11
00:00:33,610 --> 00:00:34,610
recently.

12
00:00:35,030 --> 00:00:37,330
Listen to their observations.

13
00:00:38,010 --> 00:00:41,110
The first lady said I had to stop

14
00:00:41,110 --> 00:00:44,410
going because of the new pastor's sermons.

15
00:00:45,070 --> 00:00:49,030
He's more concerned with being funny than rightly

16
00:00:49,030 --> 00:00:50,710
dividing the word of God.

17
00:00:51,170 --> 00:00:54,470
Every sermon he has to make jokes and

18
00:00:54,470 --> 00:00:57,910
he spends more time talking about his family

19
00:00:57,910 --> 00:00:59,170
than anything.

20
00:01:00,010 --> 00:01:02,450
I get nothing out of these sermons and

21
00:01:02,450 --> 00:01:06,790
some of them are closer to motivational speaking

22
00:01:06,790 --> 00:01:09,450
than expounding the word of God.

23
00:01:10,010 --> 00:01:13,770
The pastor acts like a failed comedian and

24
00:01:13,770 --> 00:01:15,350
motivational speaker.

25
00:01:16,210 --> 00:01:19,410
Well those were her comments about her church

26
00:01:19,410 --> 00:01:20,290
experience.

27
00:01:20,750 --> 00:01:23,830
Let me read you another lady's observations about

28
00:01:23,830 --> 00:01:26,490
a different church in the same city.

29
00:01:28,330 --> 00:01:29,090
Disappointing.

30
00:01:29,570 --> 00:01:32,890
During a recent sermon the pastor attempted to

31
00:01:32,890 --> 00:01:36,590
be funny in describing Esau the red and

32
00:01:36,590 --> 00:01:40,190
hairy man from the Bible by flashing up

33
00:01:40,190 --> 00:01:43,450
a picture of a U.S. political leader

34
00:01:43,450 --> 00:01:44,730
on screen.

35
00:01:45,170 --> 00:01:49,030
Not only did this seem inappropriate during a

36
00:01:49,030 --> 00:01:51,690
sermon by a church leader it was a

37
00:01:51,690 --> 00:01:54,830
poor analogy and not even funny.

38
00:01:55,470 --> 00:01:58,290
Well that's what she wrote about the condition

39
00:01:58,290 --> 00:02:00,650
of the church in her area that she

40
00:02:00,650 --> 00:02:02,050
had noticed.

41
00:02:02,630 --> 00:02:04,510
And I could give you my own observations

42
00:02:04,510 --> 00:02:06,910
friends but what would be the point?

43
00:02:07,389 --> 00:02:09,949
These women sum it up better than I

44
00:02:09,949 --> 00:02:13,770
can because they sum up the sad spiritual

45
00:02:13,770 --> 00:02:18,050
declension in our pulpits today friends where pastors

46
00:02:18,050 --> 00:02:22,030
are more interested in getting laughs from their

47
00:02:22,030 --> 00:02:24,850
congregation rather than conversions.

48
00:02:25,650 --> 00:02:28,710
I don't believe for one skinny minute that

49
00:02:28,710 --> 00:02:31,750
these two observations are remote and in the

50
00:02:31,750 --> 00:02:32,270
minority.

51
00:02:32,810 --> 00:02:35,390
I believe they speak for the majority today.

52
00:02:35,890 --> 00:02:39,350
They actually pinpoint the state of the church

53
00:02:39,350 --> 00:02:41,070
in America today.

54
00:02:41,570 --> 00:02:44,730
For the most part we've got professionals in

55
00:02:44,730 --> 00:02:46,910
the pulpit rather than prophets.

56
00:02:47,350 --> 00:02:51,590
We've got entertainers rather than God called men

57
00:02:52,030 --> 00:02:54,790
but there's a good reason why the church

58
00:02:54,790 --> 00:02:58,190
in America today is not experiencing revival.

59
00:02:58,610 --> 00:03:02,790
We'd rather turn our sanctuaries into discos with

60
00:03:02,790 --> 00:03:07,070
strobe lights and loud music because at least

61
00:03:07,070 --> 00:03:09,970
that way we can mask and cover up

62
00:03:09,970 --> 00:03:12,950
the fact that the Holy Spirit is absent

63
00:03:12,950 --> 00:03:16,990
from among us and God has withdrawn his

64
00:03:16,990 --> 00:03:21,310
presence from us because of our infidelity to

65
00:03:21,310 --> 00:03:21,890
him.

66
00:03:22,510 --> 00:03:25,930
There's a reason why churches don't preach hard

67
00:03:25,930 --> 00:03:29,830
against sin and inform men and women and

68
00:03:29,830 --> 00:03:33,850
boys and girls about their duty over penance

69
00:03:33,850 --> 00:03:36,690
to stay out of a devil's hell.

70
00:03:37,290 --> 00:03:40,350
There is a reason why pastors refuse to

71
00:03:40,350 --> 00:03:44,710
warn you about the dangers of damnation because

72
00:03:44,710 --> 00:03:47,530
some of them are in danger of damnation

73
00:03:47,530 --> 00:03:51,170
themselves from a unconverted ministry.

74
00:03:52,210 --> 00:03:57,090
Many ministers today are more concerned about their

75
00:03:57,090 --> 00:04:01,650
reputations and about being accepted by their deacons

76
00:04:01,650 --> 00:04:05,910
than warning sinners to flee from the wrath

77
00:04:05,910 --> 00:04:09,750
to come listen to what can happen to

78
00:04:09,750 --> 00:04:13,230
our society when a God called man fears

79
00:04:13,230 --> 00:04:17,230
God more than man and calls sinners to

80
00:04:17,230 --> 00:04:17,829
repentance.

81
00:04:18,490 --> 00:04:20,829
I'm talking about Mordecai Ham.

82
00:04:20,950 --> 00:04:24,070
I'm holding in my hand a first edition

83
00:04:24,070 --> 00:04:27,850
of Mordecai Ham's biography and this is his

84
00:04:27,850 --> 00:04:31,990
signature right here on the first page of

85
00:04:31,990 --> 00:04:33,150
this first edition.

86
00:04:33,870 --> 00:04:37,910
God used Mordecai Ham's preaching to convert a

87
00:04:37,910 --> 00:04:39,410
young Billy Graham.

88
00:04:40,150 --> 00:04:43,630
Billy Graham came to Ham's tent meeting a

89
00:04:43,630 --> 00:04:47,810
clean good church member and a teenager and

90
00:04:47,810 --> 00:04:51,250
he got mad at the evangelist for pointing

91
00:04:51,250 --> 00:04:54,390
him out and calling him a sinner but

92
00:04:54,390 --> 00:04:57,710
Mordecai Ham said he never pointed at Billy

93
00:04:57,710 --> 00:05:01,130
Graham but the Holy Spirit sure did and

94
00:05:01,130 --> 00:05:03,770
Billy Graham got saved that night because he

95
00:05:03,770 --> 00:05:06,070
heard about man's duty repentance.

96
00:05:06,670 --> 00:05:08,730
He saw he was a sinner in need

97
00:05:08,730 --> 00:05:11,390
of a savior and that's what God did

98
00:05:11,390 --> 00:05:16,290
with Mordecai Ham in converting Billy Graham and

99
00:05:16,290 --> 00:05:20,330
listen to what Mordecai Ham's ministry did as

100
00:05:20,330 --> 00:05:23,310
he went up and down throughout America friends

101
00:05:23,310 --> 00:05:28,010
listen to this when evangelist Ham preached mockers

102
00:05:28,010 --> 00:05:33,810
were converted families were restored bars were closed

103
00:05:33,810 --> 00:05:39,750
laws were changed churches were filled overflowing one

104
00:05:39,750 --> 00:05:43,250
church even advertised in the paper that no

105
00:05:43,250 --> 00:05:46,850
more new converts should attend as there was

106
00:05:46,850 --> 00:05:50,630
not room for them hundreds were called to

107
00:05:50,630 --> 00:05:55,670
preach and crooked politicians either repented or feared

108
00:05:55,670 --> 00:06:01,370
the consequences when some resisted God's work God

109
00:06:01,370 --> 00:06:05,670
withdrew his grace in answer to Ham's prayers

110
00:06:05,670 --> 00:06:09,990
and God's judgment fell dead bodies had to

111
00:06:09,990 --> 00:06:13,190
be taken out of meetings that's a time

112
00:06:13,190 --> 00:06:17,470
when Christianity changed the world instead of the

113
00:06:17,470 --> 00:06:23,790
world changing Christianity does anybody see the problem

114
00:06:23,790 --> 00:06:27,210
does anybody really care