We Chose Not To Follow That

I had lunch with a fellow pastor today. We talked about the joys and sorrows of ministry. He told me a story I couldn't believe. In a meeting, he opened the Bible to a relevant passage to the purpose for which they met, and read it. After finishing the reading, one of the team members said, "We previously decided not to follow that."

I thought I misunderstood. I asked him to clarify. Sure enough, I heard perfectly well. So let's get this straight. A pastor met with several church members for an important meeting. The pastor read from the Bible seeking direction about the meeting. The group as a whole, affirmed the expression of one that they chose collectively not to abide by the teachings of the Bible.

I am still shocked. This meeting included some of the most influential decision makers of the church. In essence they said, "We don't care what the Bible says, we are going to do it the way we think is best."

I knew the church had a lot of trouble when it came to promoting and adhering to the Bible. I have to confess that was a new one for me. People stating outright they chose to not to follow God's Word, or to put it another way, to dismiss scriptural truth. What a dangerous practice. If you can do that on one point, what keeps a group from arbitrarily choosing what they will and what they will not follow. It is all to be followed.

I'm stunned. Flabbergasted. Bewildered. Shocked. Dumbfounded. Supposed people of God rejecting the word of God.

I shouldn't be surprised. Those same people revolted when the pastor began preaching verse by verse through different books of the Bible. They had no spiritual stomach for it. One little boy told his parents he did not need to take his Bible, because they never used it in class.

When Jesus saved me, one of His great gifts to me included planting me in a church with a Bible preaching pastor. Verse by verse. I confess much of it was over my head in those first days. I cut my teeth on solid spiritual meat. Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday. We had no youth service. I sat right next to my friends surrounded by adults studying the Bible, and I did not miss.

I went to school to learn to study the Bible. I am still a Bible student to this day. I am a Bible preacher and teacher myself. Apart from the Bible, what does a preacher or teacher use for material? Even study material should be saturated with scripture. If not, what are we doing.

I admit I am old fashioned. I believe the Bible is the divinely inspired, God breathed, inerrant and infallible word of God. The Bible is authoritative as God's word for the church and all the members making up the congregation. The Bible is the written revelation of God handed down through men. It is the official text book for the local church. For all blood bought churches.

I realize we are living in a day when the Bible is out of vogue. Recently, someone informed me on their quest to find a church home they have discovered a lack of Bible preaching and teaching. Some read a text and then spew their own philosophical insights instead of taking their cues from the Bible. It boggles my mind that this occurs. It more than staggers me that people put up with this, and actually prefer it.

I thank God for churches I served in the past who all hungered for God's word. I praise God for planting me in Spring Creek Baptist Church where I picked up on teaching through the book of Acts when I arrived. We have spent months in the sermon on the mount on Sunday morning and in the Psalms on Sunday night. They hunger for God's holy word. I've never heard, nor expect to ever hear, "We chose not to follow that Bible truth." Thank God for putting in a church with my kind of people.  Bible people. May our numbers increase all over the land.

Amos 8:11-12 (ESV)
¹¹  “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.

¹²  They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.