A Warning to America's Lukewarm Church

Christian churches in America are in imminent danger and don't realize it. Most churches boast of growing attendance, relevance, and success, yet the glory and Spirit of God departing from our gatherings is a reality. Drastic change is critical; or we risk Jesus’ words to the Laodicean church happening to us: "I will spit you out of my mouth." Let's look together at the absolute worldly nightmare most American churches have become and restore our local fellowships through repentance and humility. It's time to stop business-as-usual church and give the glory to God, not ourselves.

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Transcript

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Hello friends, this is Howard Green. Welcome to Concern of the Times. Glad you joined me for this video and this podcast because today I have a very important message to you and we're going to dive right in. It's a warning to America's lukewarm church. And when I say that, it's not just churches in America, but primarily it's also churches in Western Europe, Europe in general, England, Ireland, basically here in the West. Churches that frankly have a problem. And the problem is this, we're

not only be departing from our first love, many of our churches have become or are literally lukewarm. Let me explain. On the surface, American churches seem to be successful, strong, and spiritual. Nothing could be further from the truth. The church in America isn't on life support. It's flatlined and spiritually dead for the most part. If there isn't a realization of how far we strayed from what Jesus caught us to do and be and into what we've become, frankly, we're going to make him sick.

We run the real risk of Ichabod. That's the glory departing, the spirit departing, spiritual autonomy, and ultimately judgment, unless we repent. Let me read something to you. This is out of Revelation. It would go Revelation 3, 14 through 22. And most of you know this section of scripture very well, but I'm going to read it as a matter of refresher. This is the words of Jesus of the church of Laodicea.

and friends to all churches who fit this mold. And I believe we're at a time where it's many churches, many professing Christian churches, evangelical churches in the world today, primarily in America. Let's continue. Verse 14 of Revelation 3, and to the church, excuse me, and to the angel of the church and land of Seirite, the words of the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. That's Jesus. I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. I would have that you were either cold or hot.

So because you were lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I am prospered, I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy gold from me, refined by fire, so that you might be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you might see.

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Friends, this is right into the church. Listen to this. Those whom I love, I'll reprove and discipline. So be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and I will eat with him and he with me. To the one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. And in this ominous warning, he who has an ear,

Let them hear what the spirit says to the churches. Amen. friends, that's a warning from Jesus to the church at Laodicea there in Asia Minor and to all churches who fit that mold in Revelation three, again, 14 through 22, if you'd like to read it on your own later. And look, here's the thing. You have to understand my heart in this. Again, like I said, everything that we do as believers has to be done in love. Everything goes to the filter of first Corinthians where

The Bible explicitly says that if we don't do everything through the motive and a heart of love, all we are is tinkling grass and sounding cymbals. That's where this warning to America's lukewarm church comes from. It's not because I want to be better or I am better. Lord knows I'm not. It's not because I have everything together or the church where I attend and places I preach have everything together, but we don't. But friends, there is a trajectory.

that the local body goes toward, the image and likeness of Jesus, or it goes the other way. We get conformed to the image and likeness of this world in order to reach the world. And I'm afraid, and I believe, and I think I can show you, and I think you probably know this, there are many churches, especially here in America, that are not being conformed to the image and likeness of Jesus, but they're becoming more like the world in order to quote unquote, reach the world. Friends, it's a grave mistake.

my concern and I have a big one. Now we could do itemized list, we could look at how this plays out in various contexts, but I think it's easier to pull it back to one big underlying thing that whilst not universally true in contexts like this, is often true in this kind of movement. I think it's more true for this movement than other ones and I think it leads to pretty much all of the issues. So whether that is Andy Stanley,

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compromising on sexuality or whether it's the silliness of the at the movie sermon series where they dress up as film characters and instead of exegeting the gospel of Matthew they exegete sharknado 3 or whether it is the most common thing which is just to shy away from the key theological battles of our day the key issues and just stay silent on them i think it comes back to this

In this context, a lot of the time, growth becomes not just a metric of success, but the metric of success. If you're growing, you're doing it right. And if you're not growing, you're doing something wrong. And I think that sets them up for significant error, particularly when the pressure is on. See, if your primary question as a church every Sunday is, how can we get them to come in and how can we get them to come back?

then at some point it's likely to occur to you that offending everybody there is not a good way to do that. And so when it comes to issues that are societally popular, but which are in opposition to the teaching of the Bible, the tendency is to stay quiet or to adapt the faith to fit it. And that leaves churches vulnerable. I'm going to give you some examples now so we understand the exact situation that we're in. And friends, I'm not alone in saying

There are so many good ministries and people that love the Lord, people that do podcasts and videos and fellow ministers and apologists and teachers and preachers that are warning of the same thing. Unless we repent, unless this lukewarm church in America and other places repents, the Lord's going to spit us out of His mouth. And you talk about Ichabod and talk about the Spirit and the glory departing. If it's not there already, let's continue.

Friends, there are networks, coalitions, associations, and conventions that are built around people and personalities and men and movements. I'm not gonna name any names or name any organizations, but you know what I'm talking about. Perhaps even organizations and coalitions and networks of churches that started off well, that were born of the right motives, but how quickly do we deviate and have spiritual drift and leave our first love?

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and these coalitions and these networks and these programs and these associations become more about lifting men and ideas instead of the gospel and Jesus Christ. And I'm not saying they're all totally gone, but what I'm saying is this, if we don't realign our priorities with this book, we have problems. We have problems. We have to make the main thing the main thing, and that's the gospel. That's Jesus.

Doesn't matter what the name of your organization is. Doesn't matter what your core values are or your principles are. Friends of Jesus is not preeminent in everything we do and we fail and we'll move on. Let's continue. Friends, we have massive worship concerts taking place in stadiums and arenas, complete with celebrity pastors and professional praise and worship artists. And I'm going to continue, but the reason I'm doing this, I'm going to give you kind of a

10,000 foot view and then we're going to break it down to some very specific things that we see that are actually contributing to this lukewarm church in America. Let's continue. Most, not all, evangelical churches in America resemble major corporations. Think of it. They have sleek buildings, meticulous branding, a distinct culture. Have you heard that? Our church has their own culture. Lavish budgets and religious professionals who get crowds to attend.

Many of these churches have budgets into the tens of millions with dozens of staffers and equipment and lighting and sound systems that would rival any Broadway production or arena. And that's a fact. Now know that some of you are leading smaller churches or even mid-sized churches saying, don't, don't have all that, but friends, it's not about the money. The problem is commensurate with the size of your institution because it's an institution and not the body of Christ.

When you're making it all about you and your little kingdom and your branding, you've got a problem. Whether we're talking about hundreds of thousands or tens of millions, it's the same problem. It's all the same church. Most of these churches are generally very successful in the world's eyes and in fellow ministers' eyes and have a reputation for being rich, prosperous, and in need of nothing. Well, we just heard Jesus address that in Revelation 3, didn't we? Collectively, most American churches

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Epitomize friends, they epitomize the laodicean church the rich and prosperous in need of nothing lukewarm and sickening to jesus so We're going to break down now into some specifics and what i'm to do is first talk about The problem with worship We'll just call it the worship problem and then we'll talk about the machine And then we'll talk about the men Well, let's go to the worship first and as we do this look

Because people are going to write in and say well how are you? love the video love the podcast and Amen brother and preach it and other people are going to say well look sounds like you have a problem with drum sets or you have a problem with a lighting system we have a This isn't about contemporary versus classical About a band versus acoustic about lighting versus no lighting Although we're going to discuss some of those things. You certainly are as distractions But what I want to talk about is as the famous song says, let's get back to the heart of worship

Or it's all about you, Lord, right? about you. We can sing it. We can talk about it. We can have meetings about it. But the reality is Jesus said, those who worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth. And he says, thy word is truth. So as we worship God in spirit and truth, as we are sanctified by the word and truth,

and his word being truth, what does that mean? That means that everything we do has to be through the lens of this book. And if it's not, we have to question why we're doing what we're doing. Isn't this what we're all about as believers? Asking honest questions, evaluating why we're doing what we're doing, because if it's not lined up with scripture, again, it's a slow drift taking us away from the main thing, and that's the gospel, and that's the Lord Jesus.

So yeah, I'm going to talk about some specifics. not trying to beat up on your favorite worship leader or your favorite worship movement, or I'm not trying to go after a certain church or this or that. That's not what I'm here to do. I'm here to essentially warn you, lovingly warn you to evaluate what you're doing through the lens of scripture. And if it's not lining up with it, to abandon it and start over again, but do it with the Holy Spirit's leading and not what the think tanks do and the religious professionals would have you do. Without him, we can do nothing. Amen.

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So here's some points on worship. We've substituted the sacred for the superficial. We've put on shows for people. And I'm telling you friends have been to a lot of churches. That's been a little local church in the corner with a couple of hundred people attending and the guy in the back doing the lighting and the music all the way up to the massive mega church with the massive sound systems and 50 foot jumbotrons and the surrounding speakers and the

the sound and the lighting systems that cost millions of dollars. They're all the same church. We substitute doxology rooted in solid theology for emotion and repetition. And again, I think I've mentioned before, but there's a great pastor named David Hocking who would call a lot of what we sing and do now, 7-11 worship at the convenience store. The same seven words sung 11 times.

This vain repetition and the same repetition and the same song and it gets sappy and what is this meant to do? Well, I just said it. It's not for doxology rooted in solid theology. It's for emotion and repetition. It builds the emotion. You got the beat drop and the crescendo and people feel so moved if they go outside and live just like the world and don't engage the world into something wrong. The 7-11 worship is focused on felt needs.

in self, in not on gratitude and on God. Don't get me wrong, these songs, they're melodic and they seem beautiful. They talk about wind and waves and Jesus and all these things and they get the name of Jesus flashing on the screens and the songs are just so wispy and people are entering in, but entering into what? Because you can kind of drop a lot of emotions playing the same three chords.

The same sappy song, but friends, what you're eliciting is an emotional response from people whose spirituality is a mile wide and an inch deep. You can do the same thing at the local arena. I can go down to Lucas oil stadium or bankers life field house, wherever they call it now, where the Pacers play and have just this wonderful concert and people raising their hands the same way. And we're doing the same thing in churches. It's great to raise hands and lift totally hands to the Lord.

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But a lot of these people that get whipped up in these emotional frenzies are doing it because the Psalms beautiful and not because Jesus is beautiful Well, how do you know that friends a tree is known by its fruit? Are you out there changing the world? Are you getting excited while you're in church and going out unchanged and unsaved? So we've substitute worshiping in spirit and truth for experiences and feelings which is sad day that we've arrived at here's another thing

And yes, this will be a personal gripe, but I believe, and I've heard this from many people, I love good music, by the way. I I love music. like drums. I play the drums. I like all these things. But listen to this. And you've been there. It's hard to have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying or to hear the still small voice and concentration on the Lord. I'm being totally legit and totally honest with you. Concentration on the Lord and to hear what the Spirit is saying is a most impossible

with the sheer volume and the cadence in the level of the music, the lighting, the surround sound, and the darkened rooms. The darkened rooms with these little spotlights focused on these people on stage with the swirlies. See, how are you sounding like one of those old phobias that don't like modern things? It's not true. Listen, I love music. And I've wanted some concerts, which are pretty cool, but here's the thing.

We go into a worship setting at church where people are praising and worshiping the Lord to get the lights dimmed totally down. In a windowless room, usually very, there's no windows and the spotlights on the four or five or six or seven, let's call it it is. Entertainers on stage belting out these cadences and coming forward at the same time and moving back and these sweeping motions. you're telling us to get our eyes on Jesus and it is impossible.

Now granted there people there with their arms raised and they're praising and doing this and that but you gotta wonder with all the emotion and all the hype and the beat and the cadence and the smoke and the swirlies on the walls is he increasing and we're decreasing or is it the opposite? It's hard to get my eyes on Jesus frankly but my eyes are focused on you because you're in my face and in my head. I remember yeah back in the old days let's say it like it is I would be there in church and someone's doing this

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beautiful worship song, whether it's a few people in a band or a bunch, doesn't matter, that the music wasn't deafening, the lights were up so you could see people and talk to people or whatever or look at your Bible. But I remember sometimes standing there in the presence of the Lord, praising and worshiping Him, but being able to hear my thoughts and think about the Lord and think about His goodness and His majesty and His beauty. Now, you're up there you're being literally

Bombarded with this sight and sound extravaganza that's coming. It's been bombarding you It's a much like if somebody would go to that sphere out there in Las Vegas It's like it just all this totally surrounds you now and whether it's a bigger small church and it's like whoa. I'm trying to Worship and spirit and truth and frankly, I just can't Break through what's happening in front of me friends. These churches are dangerous. Do they think the focus on Jesus and putting in themselves?

It's no matter how many times you point to the ceiling, you got the word Jesus flushed in the screen. You cannot lie to yourself and say you're making this all about Jesus when it's all about what's in front of you on stage. It's all about the show. Let's continue. So yeah, like I said, I've been to churches and fellowships and gatherings where the fog machine lights, music are so overpowering. There is zero chance I can focus on the one seed on the throne. Got a great quote from Dave Hunt here. Dave Hunt was the

founder of the ministry, the Berean Call, which is still in operation today. And it's a wonderful ministry. So that is the bereancall.com. If you ever want to check them out and it's a, highly recommend the ministry and love what they do and love the people there. But this is a quote from Dave Hunt. Dave Hunt said, manmade rituals intended to connect with God can degenerate into forbidden idolatry and divination. And that's something there because

You have to wonder as all these churches doing like we're doing on Sunday morning, is that what this is leading to? Is this mass deception? this getting our eyes focused off of Jesus and focused on the machine, the mechanism, the act on sage? I don't know, friends, but it doesn't seem impossible. That's from his book. I was a quote in his book, Beyond Seduction. The original book was The Seduction of Christianity, both great books. And again, that was Dave Hunt from the Bury and Koff.

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He saw sense when to be with the Lord back in 2011. What a great man of God he was and his words live on because the words about Jesus and again his ministry was a Debrion call, which is still in operation today. I suggest you check them out. Here's another one. A.W. Tozer. Here's what he says about worship and the problem in our churches today, which incidentally he wrote this back in 1955. And friends, he was alive today. I think he would just

Almost, it would be unbelievable what he would say, but here we go. A.W. Tozer said this, Today we have the astonishing spectacle of millions of dollars being poured into the unholy job of providing earthly entertainment for the so-called sons of heaven, people in church. Then he says, religious entertainment is in many places, rabidly crowding out the serious things of God. Many churches these days have become little more than poor theaters or fifth rate producers.

What do we call them now? Worship leaders, worship team, production people, lead pastors, or fifth rate producers peddle their shoddy wares with the approval of evangelical leaders who can hardly quote a holy text in the defense of their delinquency. And hardly a man dares raise his voice against it. Well, friends, I'm raising my voice against it. I know there are many other godly men and women who are saying, stop, something's wrong here. This is not what the Lord intended. This is not church.

This is something else you might call it a church, but it's something else and that comes from tozer's article our odd idol of entertainment and that was written in 1955 and here we are, you know 60 plus years later and uh 70 years later unless and nothing's changed. It's actually gotten worse It's gotten a lot worse, right? So here we go warm feelings and goosebumps Goosebumps, excuse me won't substitute for worshiping in spirit and truth

Just because we paste the words Jesus or Savior or Gospel or love on the giant jumbotron does not make the massive production that Sunday mornings have become pleasing to God. And friend, it's not pleasing to God. Think about it lately. I you to listen to this and think about if this resonates with you. We've collectively made worship songs about Jesus either being our boyfriend or like a Santa Claus or a best buddy. That's what he's like now.

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and all these felt need songs. Let's continue. Worship is reduced down to the same repetitious three chords and sappy lyrics meant to evoke an emotional response and whip people into an emotional frenzy. This is a far cry from worshiping based on the reality of who God is. Let's turn our eyes, friends. Let's turn our eyes upon Jesus and not ourselves. I'm going to put this out there as a loving admonishment and

I'm sorry, I'm just gonna say it the way it is. need to stop. Churches need to stop platforming Bethel music, Jesus culture, elevation worship, and Hillsong. Why? It's not because of the type of music. I love good music. I love strong music. But it's the message behind the music. Boy, the words even look great. What a beautiful name it is, right? Go to those websites. Go to YouTube. Go to those churches.

look at what they're preaching and it does not line up with scripture. Friends, you're building up those movements that are very anti-holy spirit, the true spirit of God, not the spirit of deception that they're promoting.

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will kind of probably offend you but well. And the Holy Spirit to me is like the genie from Aladdin. I view the Holy Spirit like the genie from Aladdin.

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and he's blue.

unplanned, perfect. And he's funny. And he's sneaky. And he's courageous and he's everywhere. And he's wonderful. That's who he is to me. And he's funny. He's sneaky.

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He's silly. He's wonderful. And I view him like the genie from Aladdin.

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I don't know where in my life that just kind of like came up. Maybe when I was like 10, I don't know, but cause he's there, you know? And he's, he's the helper and he's just always supportive and comforting and he's just fun. the first time I saw a fire tunnel, like I didn't, was uncomfortable. didn't like it. If you don't know a fire tunnel instead of

people standing on prayer lines or being at the altar, you get people on both sides and they're facing each other, like almost like they could make a tunnel if they put their hands together at the top. And then we have people walk through and then there would be, sometimes if fire chimes are very relatively tame, they're just like, there's elusive blessing or you know, some sort of, but sometimes they can get quite chaotic. And in our environment, they got some, they got pretty chaotic sometimes. People busting out of the tunnel and onto the floor and stuck places. So I remember telling you like after the first one we ever did, I'm like, yeah.

that I'm not comfortable with that. And you're like, oh, damn, you don't have to be involved. Just stand at the back as you feel comfortable. You know, move closer. But, you know, it was like, never, like my job was never on the line. Like I got to get this or not. There was no coercion. There was nothing of that. It was just like, just taste and see, just, just, you know, be in the room and where these things are happening and, and see what the Lord does. And so that sort of freedom that you gave me and that, that it wasn't group think or.

manipulation was super, it helped me feel, well, the integrity and the authenticity of your connection with Jesus.

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and means, discounting the Holy Spirit, and they use a different spirit, a spirit of deception to promote what they're doing. No one can sit here and tell me that Bethel music, that Hillsong, that elevation worship in Jesus culture are pleasing to God. You look at the men and the movements behind those labels, and you'll be shocked. And the ones of you that don't, you need to wake up, and you need to look into what you're putting on your church screens and giving them promotions for in the mornings.

Well, the songs are beautiful. What a beautiful name it is and all these songs. Yes, I get it. And I'd be a liar to say the songs in general don't sound beautiful, but friends, you're promoting the movement behind the songs. Do your due diligence. Do your homework. Well, you know, Howard, the Bible says to mark those who cause division. I mean, you heard that before the Bible. Oh, you're being a funny guy. You'd be in a church. Come on, listen, you're you're being an old grouch. What about Hill song about Bethel? The winning people are winning people to what?

to a label, putting their hands up, to smoke mirrors and lights. Friends, I can go, like I said, to an arena and get people excited, but they're singing about Jesus. What's the message behind their songs? Look at their doctrine. Without solid theology, there's a lack of doxology. Jesus said, those who worship must worship God in spirit and in truth. do your own work. And like I said, people are going to say, well, Howard, the Bible says to mark those that cause division.

the rest of the verse. Mark those who cause division and teach contrary to the doctrine that you were taught. You want to cause division? Take the people that are ripping apart the body of Christ and that are misleading people and deceiving people. There's a good reason to divide. There are sometimes in this Bible and in the Word of God, there are good reasons to divide. Mark those who cause division contrary to the doctrine you've been taught.

behind each of those worship movements, friends, there is a doctrine, deceptive doctrine, and their leaders that do not line up with scripture. And you can write me, you can email me, and we can have coffee over that and talk over that, and it's fine, I'm good with that. But friends, you know it's true. You can find that model in this book. I'll sign on, otherwise, no, I won't do it. Dwight Moody said this, Satan is willing to have us worship anything, however sacred. The Bible, the crucifix, the church,

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If only we do not worship God himself. Just because something sounds religious and has religious sounding platitudes, brains doesn't make it right. It does not make it right. But now, I'm going to give you some examples of what we just talked about. And I'll see you on the other side.

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like nothing I've ever heard.

Alright, we're back. So now we're going to talk about the machine. We talked about the worship and this warning to America's lukewarm church. Now we're going to talk about the machine. What do you mean by the machine, Howard? Well, some people will call it Big Eva, like Big evangelicalism.

Some people will call it churchianity. And I remember Keith Green used to call it Christianese, a Christianese culture. What about the churches themselves? What about the machine? Here we go. Well, friends, churches have become well-oiled machines. They have formulas and strategies ensuring success, which is measured by dollars in seats. They consult and retain church growth strategy firms for expert coaching when casting a vision.

Church solutions though even prepackaged sermons for you that are available for purchase But not by the spirit a lot of these and there's not just one there are many of them actually that I've done my research here But there are church growth Organizations, but I'll call them the church growth gurus That charge anywhere from three thousand to over twenty thousand dollars annually Get this to help churches be successful

And forensics goes for churches all over the West and Europe, but especially here in America. We're importing a lot of this, unfortunately. Our American churches make it a priority to have something for everyone. Not the gospel, not the gospel, but carnivals, giveaways, bounce houses, dunk tanks, iPad giveaways, computer giveaways, massive indoor playgrounds, multimillion dollar light and sound systems and Jumbotron video screens. These churches are described as being places

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that are created to make a weekend experience where people would to return for again and again and again. Imagine that making a church experience that people want to come back to again and again and again because the experience. They don't get me wrong. These people will say, well, at the end we get to present the gospel. At the end we get to show them how much we love them. We get to finally present the gospel. I've heard people say it like this. Then you finally will earn the right to share the gospel. Well friends, the Holy Spirit

Jesus gave me the right to share the gospel. I'm going to have earn it. So let's continue. just don't know what to say about that. Most churches, whether mega, medium, or small, have become swank, seeker-sensitive, purpose-driven country clubs whose primary function seems to be filling seats to keep the machinery running smoothly, and might I add, keep the dollars flowing in. The Lukewarm Church in America has changed the gospel message from, Jesus came to save sinners to,

God has a wonderful plan for your life. And that's a fact. And I've heard that put many different ways, but the ultimate solution is God came to give you a better life. Jesus came to give you a better life. Jesus said, if anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. The modern church says this, you were made for more, get plugged in, find community, be part of the story and belong.

and belong to something bigger than yourself. And I've got plenty of examples I can show you. I'm going to show you those in just a minute. The lukewarm, watered-down American churches don't go into all the world to make disciples, rather they try to win the world by becoming like the world. This misplaced self-reliance births tepid movements that masquerade as revivals. Revivals not born of prayer and fasting, but by entertainers and hype. The end result is an increased

personal holiness, but an increasing appetite for more man-made experiences. All these quote-unquote revivals breaking out. We baptized 10,000 here and we had a stadium full of 15,000 here and we had these college kids get together for so many days. Again, again, with these revivals, they're not born of prayer and fasting, but by entertainers and hype. Remember the 7-Eleven worship, the end result is an increased personal holiness.

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but an increasing appetite for more. The Lukewarm American Church gives rise to network coalitions and conventions and associations. We've talked about that before, but I want to kind of dial down a little bit here. They've lost their first love by promoting movements in men and not the gospel of Jesus. These leaders return to churches with more manmade ideas, more activities, programs and strategies, all the while ignoring the fact without him, without him,

We can do nothing. Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit says the Lord. Let's put it in the modern standard version. Not by programs, not by activities, not by making our church attractional, not by making our church irresistible, not by just loving on them and doing this and doing that. Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit says the Lord. Without him, we can do nothing. Amen?

Inside of these churches, we have massive banners in our lobbies. Well-crafted, well-written core value statements and mission statements. We fill our halls and our rooms with spiritual platitudes and religious rhetoric. We use words like Jesus and Savior and missional and relational and souls, and yet the primary focus is getting people into our buildings and not to the cross. Prove me wrong, and I'll tell you why you're wrong.

It's because the fruit always bears out the truth. Where are the souls being saved? Where are the souls being changed? Why are they going out to their community and winning other souls? And praying for people on the streets and calling people to come to the name of Jesus. Why instead are we out there talking about how great our church is and how cool our pastor is and how cool our carnivals are? Can we just buy lunch for you? We just want to love you and be

You're using the name of Jesus again to build your brand. You should be drawing people to Jesus, not your program. That's a fact. I'm going to show you some examples of this, of the machine, and I'll see you on the other side.

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all around.

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Every community deserves a local church that inspires its audience to serve and love the broader community. The church should be magnetic. It should be seen as a vital, essential part of its community, even among people that don't believe what we believe. You see, people who are nothing like Jesus liked Jesus, and he liked them back. Every community deserves a church that is irresistible like Jesus was irresistible. They deserve a church they like, even if they don't believe what the church believes.

and they deserve a church that likes them back.

Irresistible, create irresistible environments, be the irresistible church that attracts people because after all, people who are nothing like Jesus like Jesus, where his body, they're to some extent, people should like us, even if they don't agree with us. They should be so happy you're in the community. They should be so happy that your county allows elementary schools and middle schools and high schools to host churches because we can't get enough churches in this community. The more churches, the richer and the better and the better we get along. mean, we don't wanna be a Christian, but bring on the Christians. We want our kids to marry them, wanna work for them, and wanna hire them. They're just the best.

people. That should be our reputation. lot of effort over this last year. It's a major initiative for us to rebrand Christianity in our community, to maybe even rebrand Christianity regionally and spill over beyond that. And we actually are working with people who are brand experts, who are brand gurus. Interestingly, one of the people that I approach to is a major brand kind of guru in

in business culture in America, when I asked him before he really knew who he were, before we really understood he's an unchurched person, his first response he told me later was gonna be no. Should have another one? That we just now have started is called It's On Us, where we just show up at a restaurant, show up at a coffee place and pay for people's food, pay for people's coffee. And we just did that last week and it was really fun at a coffee place.

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And really our messaging there is just, hey, we're in a pandemic. Life is difficult. It's not much good news going on right now. And we just want to make your day a little bit brighter. We just want to say, hey, we're for you. We're on your team. We're cheering you on. And we hope that just buying coffee or buying some food might be an encouragement to you today because we think you're pretty awesome. on creating irresistible environments. Before people hear the message, they experience it from online.

to the parking lot, to the stage, to small groups. We want people of all ages and backgrounds to feel welcome, valued, and cared for. It's not about polish or perfection. It's about purpose. We want the setting to be appealing, the experience engaging, and the content helpful. But our vision doesn't stop at the walls of our church. We are for our community. We don't just exist in it. We exist for it.

We want our community to be glad we're here and to be better because we're here. We partner with local organizations already doing great work. We meet real needs with no strings attached. Being for the community isn't a strategy to fill seats. happens sometimes when I talk to church leaders in general about this content and we talk about creating environments, I get pushed back that says, well, Andy, that's because you're trying to be attractional. You're an attractional model. You're always just trying to get more people and just get more people. We're not that kind of church.

You're just a tractional. And I say, yes, we are. need that. Yes. We want to attract as many people as possible. And by the way, if you bought chairs for your auditorium, you should put butts in them. That's why you bought them. If you have empty seats and you don't have people in those seats, you have a problem. And you can be critical of us because we're tractional. Why did you buy those chairs? Now, finally, in this third part here, we're going to talk about the men. We've talked about the worship.

The machine that we're going to talk about the men. These are the personalities, the promoters and the powerful. And again, this can be a small church in the corner, the medium sized church, the mega church down the road that draws tens of thousands each week. We used to believe that God equips the called. Now we believe executive search firms call the equipped. I'm going repeat that. used to believe that God equips the called. Now we believe executive search firms call the equipped.

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I'll that stand on its own. The Bible says, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain. But the American church uses executive coaching teams and vision casting gurus to grow our church attendance. In Acts chapter two, verse 47, the Bible says the Lord added to their numbers daily. While the American church, it's concerned about churning out quantities of attenities instead of quality of disciples. Do you hear what I said?

Acts 2 47 says the Lord added to the numbers daily what the American church is concerned with churning out quantities of attendees As I'm sorry. I've heard preachers say this butts in seats. That's not me being crude. That's what I've heard said Among some of these quote-unquote pastors. They're worried about quantities of people in the seats instead of quality of disciples You can just get the numbers in you just get people in if you can just get them in what are you doing, man?

This is about winning souls. This is about heaven and hell. This is not about your church, your brand, or your ego, or your personality. Well, how are we? Love Jesus? People are going to eventually come here to the gospel, maybe if that's the sermon series we're on this week. Baloney and hogwash, because the fruit bears it out. And it's not the numbers you have attending your church. Because if numbers are a litmus test for the Holy Spirit being in your church, something's wrong. Something is wrong.

Creatures under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit used to preach about matters of personal holiness, lost souls, and eternity. Now our pulpits are filled with life coaches giving Ted talks about living this life to its fullest rather than dying to self and Christ living in us. Friends, we've got a problem. We've got a problem. And here's a fact that I'm gonna tell you this, and I mean this when I say it. You can write me later if you want, but it's a warning.

to the watered-down, lukewarm, Western American church that's dying. Many churches are led by hirelings, not shepherds, performers, not prophets, and spiritual influencers instead of men who are influenced by the Holy Spirit. As we're preaching and teaching, friends, our job is to disseminate the Word of God, to make much of Jesus, and to give an invitation to eternal life.

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through Jesus alone. It's not to build our brand. It's not to build our ego. It's not to gain more followers on social media. Listen, I'll tell you right now, I throw anything away just to see souls come to saving faith in Jesus. What we're doing is so important. We cannot afford to get this wrong. How do get it right? You put your face in this word and you study every line, every verse and get it not only in your head, but in your heart.

and keep the main things, the main things. You don't have to go out and make your church more attractional or make it more resistible or earn the right to share the gospel or give away iPads or have bouncy houses or dunk tanks or, or, whatever carnivals friends, this is life or death, heaven or hell. Most of those people that come to your events and functions are never going to come back. That's reality. You would have got there and reach unchurched people. then go out there and reach unchurched people with the gospel.

You don't need to lure the men under false pretense with a free cup of coffee or a dinner on me or a lunch on me or a trunk or a tree. Brands that as bait and switch, amoy, gospel. It's not the gospel to buy them. American lukewarm churches look for the gifted, polished, and well-connected rather than the broken, contrite, and the called. We hire men with the same vision, replicate successful ministries of other men who hear from one another and not from the Holy Spirit.

Many pastors are treated like celebrities and idolized as dynamic, anointed, and powerful speakers while building their kingdoms and not his. Our local American churches are teeming with lead pastors, executive pastors, assistant pastors, assistants, the assistant pastors, and their assistants who rarely, if ever, preach about God's holiness, repentance, heaven, hell, judgment, wrath, or eternity. And in friends, it's an eternal tragedy that the modern gospel message that's encouraging millions of people

on the way to destruction. I have another quote, and this one is from Leonard Ravenhill, that this defection starts with the pastor, and it really does. And I'm a shepherd, and I shepherd people, and we have to take ownership of this, dear brothers. And here's what Ravenhill said, if there's no brokenness in the pulpit, why should there be brokenness in the pews? Can a mariner sit idle if he hears the drowning cry?

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Can the doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die? Can a fireman sit idle and let people burn and give no hand to rescue? And then he says this, can you set it ease in church when people all around you are going to hell? What's the answer to these? It's obviously no, can't. We have to get out there and do something. Jesus told us what to do. Go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come to our pre-lunch.

He said to go out into the highways and hedges and compelled them to come to our carnival or our dunk tank or our lunch on us or our trunk or treat. To come see our new facility. To come just love one you. No, Jesus told us to go out the highways and hedges and compelled them to come in to the Father's table, to eternal life in him. To believe the gospel, to repent. That's the word you can hear now often is repentance. Ravenhill, so we have people who are preaching the gospel for greedy gain.

You hear what I said? We have people who are preaching the gospel for greedy gain. There are pastors and Bible teachers who travel America and the world with a large entourage, staff, security, worship teams, and merchandise who will come to an arena or stadium and preach the gospel with a starting ticket price of $60, an average price of 103, and premium seats, get this, from $600 to $1,100.

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But the selling of the gospel is an obvious departure from the truth. The lukewarm church in America needs to come to terms with this stark fact. Then at most you're gonna say, we're not that, we don't sell the gospel. And of course you don't. But friends, what I described up to this point.

They're all the same church. I've heard that said from fellow preachers, from podcasters, from people to do videos, from fellow shepherds, from different people. I had somebody very close to me say this. He's not saved yet. He's an unsaved person. I've been to many different churches and they're all the same church. I know what they mean. I know what they mean. We're going to talk about that in a few minutes. Spot on, yet stark.

and frankly frightening quote that I've heard in long time. A.W. Tozer said this, there's nothing more horrific than men preaching about the Holy Spirit without the Holy Spirit. That right there is a problem with most lukewarm churches in America right now. We have men standing in the pulpit preaching about the Holy Spirit without the Holy Spirit. So here we go. Remember what I said a minute ago? Most churches in America are all the same church.

Well, I'm going to read this to you, and I'm going read it off my paper. I want you to think about this. I want you to walk into this church with me. We've tailored the worship of God and preaching His word into a nice Sunday experience. The perfect fit for everyone, a nice wide road, is not to alarm them. We're met with big welcome signs, new-here areas, and people scurrying about everywhere. We enter the auditorium to go to our seats. The excitement builds as the countdown clock

on the giant screen ticks away to the start of the worship service and the message 10, 9, 8, 7, the windowless room begins to go dark as people get ready for a pre-packaged worship video and a welcome video. Oftentimes you'll see a video that has a little kind of a cool melody and talk about how the church is glad to see you there and get connected, get involved, the windowless room

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becomes dark. The worship team comes forward in motion for everyone to stand, almost on cue. They belt out a melodic anthem with such an overwhelming volume and deafening cadence that it elicits an almost certain emotional response from the crowd. And when that's finished, one of the pastoral staff comes out to usually a beaster table, maybe a lectern, and for the next 20 minutes, usually no more, maybe a little more, gives the attendees an encouraging talk.

on how to be the best version of themselves and how God will help them achieve this new life of nobility and respect. So we can go out and touch our communities with our newfound niceness and likeability. Then usually there's an invitation at the end of the message, inviting people to connect, belong, get plugged in, or to find community of spiritual words. We'll get to know something about Jesus. Then at the end, the professional worshipers return once again with an upbeat song or two.

to send us out in the world to reach others with the good news about our church. And I'm going to give you an example of that. Well, before I do that, I'm going to tell you this. This scenario sounds familiar. It should, because it takes place across America, tens of thousands of churches. David Wilkerson said this, I blame the pastors for watering down the gospel, having made sin so soft because they prefer to be honored and loved by men rather than the Almighty God.

And why is this? Well, 2 Timothy 4.3 says, because most people will not endure sound doctrine, so we have to tickle their itching ears. Another quote by Tozer. Tozer said this, the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 % of what we do would go on and no one would notice the difference. Then he said, if the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the early church, 95 % of what they did would stop and everyone would know the difference. I'm going to play something for you.

and I'll come back in a few minutes. We're conscious of culture. That's the thing. So I think our music, it's like, it's eye-opening. People go out. I know churches could do stuff like that, which is sad, but that's the truth. I think that's why I open so many doors, because it's so good.

Concerning The Times: Howard Green (53:36.894)
The message doesn't change. Sometimes if the church isn't going to change the methods, then it will become irrelevant. Okay, friends, we're back. So we've talked about the worship, the machine, and the men. That's not where we're going to end. We're going to talk about restoration of a local church.

It doesn't matter whether the church is small or large or in the middle. We must collectively stop striving for prominence, visibility, and boy here's a word I despise. I wish I could wash it out of the vocabulary of every local church. We have to stop striving for performance, visibility, and relevance. Stop trying to be relevant. mean, and the word relevant and attractional means

plastered on the walls of so many how-to videos and preaching videos and coaching seminars Church growth seminars and being relevant. We got magazines devoted to it and websites devoted to it being relevant friends This gospel hasn't changed in two thousand years and it's the most relevant thing in history You want to be relevant to the world make this your new favorite be relevant to the spirit of God is leading to the word to To um preaching under the untune of the holy spirit

to preaching the gospel. When we relevant, that's when you're relevant. Dear friends, what would happen if we clear our agendas? And this is a challenge to you, to me, to all of us. If you're a preacher, Sunday school teacher, missionary, evangelist, Bible study leader, anywhere, Christian, anywhere in America, the West or in Europe, I want you to think about this. What would happen if we clear our agendas and our preconceived ideas and our preaching schedules and our

pre-planned activities and functions and programs for a non time specific season of seeking his will and repentance for our spiritual apathy and building our own kingdoms. What would happen? What would happen if we cease all of our busyness, our running around, our planning, our giveaways, our self-promotion, our branding, and make our buildings and making our buildings the measure of our success? What would happen if we do this perhaps?

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He would once again have sweet fellowship with us through his word and through his spirit. Ichabod would not be written in the door. The spirit and the glory would not depart. What if he fell on our faces for a time of prayer and fasting, getting back into this ward and saying, heavenly father in Jesus name, I'm sorry for what I've done. I've made this whether intentionally or unintentionally, here's where we've arrived at. I made this about me and us and our programs and our brand.

and not about your precious son, leading people towards our building and not the gospel. Well, what happened? Friends, if we do this, perhaps we would once again have sweet fellowship with Him and His Word and His Holy Spirit. It would involve much prayer and fasting and waiting on Him. This is a call to the leadership of every local church to get before the Lord on our knees with humility and to seek Him, His will, in His direction for restored fellowship with Him.

and with one another. Friends, I'm not a prophet, and I can't tell you what will happen to each of our fellowships. But I can say this with biblical clarity and authority, if nothing changes, we run the very low risk of doing church without the Holy Spirit of the church. Again, John 15, 5, without me, you can do nothing. Aren't you tired? Running on inertia? Running on somebody else's vision? Somebody else's program?

And not this, not the Holy Spirit. It can happen. I'm not judging you. I'm a fellow brother in Christ admonishing you, warning you, let's come back to our first love. Let's not be, let's not morph into the church of Laodicea that's lukewarm that many of our American churches have morphed into. Friends, this is a clarion call begging you to come back to our first love. Dear friends, pastors, teachers, evangelists, missionaries, and every Christian in a local fellowship, if we do seek him for a season of repentance, prayer, and fasting,

He may revive us again and restore churches, our local fellowships, be places of His glory, where His Spirit and Word change people who come into our fellowship for eternity. That, that dear friends, that should be our only desire to preach lost souls and equip the body of Christ, the people in our churches, for His glory and His glory alone. Again, everything we do must be through the

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lens of love as 1st Corinthians says and also must be for his honor and his glory alone. Is this about us or about him? I don't know if to do this but I'm gonna pray for churches in America and the world. I'm gonna pray for you too. Heavenly Father, I come before you in Jesus name. I'm gonna thank you for this message. It was not an easy message to give. I'm not here to judge anyone. I can't do that. Lord, I can only call things as I see them.

in this very broken, fragmented church. Now we know there's a true church, Lord. We know there's a remnant church. There's not valedony to relevance, to popularity, beginning the world would like us. There's a remnant church, Lord, who has made everything all about you and the glory of your great son, Jesus. And the need to win lost souls, the need to equip the saints to make our fellowship, our gathering together on Sundays, Wednesdays, whenever we get together.

about you and you alone. Lord, how far many of us have strayed. Lord God, in Jesus' name, I pray, Lord, I may have offended some people, made people mad. That's not my intention. I love the body of Christ. I love the local church. I love churches around the world. Lord, I'm not afraid to offend people if it's in the teaching and boldness of your word. And it's a loving thing to warn people, Lord. You put that in my heart.

It's in keeping with your word. Heavenly father in Jesus name, I pray Lord that you would make this message that I talked about today, Lord, light in life and salt and light to people that needed to hear it. Or maybe a wake up call for local fellowships to get back to what's important. Not do little baby steps, little bit to stop everything and to get back to making you Lord the focus of everything we do. Lord, many of us have gotten so far along. We don't know how to turn the page.

how to go back, how to go from being Laodicea back to the church at Ephesus, back to being our first love. Heavenly Father in Jesus' name, I know with your spirit, your word, you can do it. Lord, you can illuminate scripture and show these men who lead these churches how to turn things around today, not with their own strength, but totally letting go and relying on your Holy Spirit and your word to lead them. Again, Lord, without you, we can do nothing. Lord, Moses said, if you don't go with us, Lord, to the land, we're not going.

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It as well be something else. But Heavenly Father, for the men and the people who helped them, who were serious about reclaiming this local fellowship that they have, body of believers, these sheep that need to be shepherded, Lord, if they're serious about it, Lord, you will show them through your word how to do it. It's strictly all the trappings, all the marketing, all the branding, all the giveaways, all the silliness, Lord.

and make it about your son Jesus. So for the men, Lord, that lead these large coalitions and functions and movements and associations and networks, Heavenly Father in Jesus' name, my heart is for them too. I'm not here to judge and say they're doing everything wrong, but Lord, I know we're doing a lot of things that aren't right. We're going back into self-promotion and self-aggrandizement and learning to learn, Lord, and never disseminating, Lord, never getting it out, never getting it back to the basic things of you.

that we're making our meetings Lord about meetings and about functions about functions and book sales and promotions and self-reliance and patting each other on the back when Lord God the only thing we should be doing is focused on your gospel and on the souls of people who if we don't intervene Lord if we don't pray for them fast for them and present them with the gospel that we don't have to earn the right to do that we present them with the gospel or perhaps we'll be able to do your word do your Holy Spirit leading us.

snatch people out of the fire as it says in Jude. God help us with our worship and the thing that we've made it as the song says. It needs to be all about you. But God help us in Jesus name, Holy Spirit. Thank you for your leading this video and this podcast. It was a very hard one to do today. But help us. I love it. Lord, I love these men. I love these people in these churches Lord that are have tried so hard but their hearts get swayed and they go in their own direction Lord.

and they've been pulled away from their first love. Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, forgive us all. Help us. Restore us. We love you. Lord, we are repulsed and sickened just as you are by the Lukewarm Church, Lord. In Jesus' name, help us change, help us turn, bring us to repentance there. In the strong name of Jesus, I pray, with love to each one in the body of Christ. Friends, have a good week.

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We'll see you soon. God bless you as we approach this Easter season. We think about the resurrected Jesus. Man, he is alive, isn't he? Let's go out there with a new found sense of biblical urgency and compel people to come in and have those in our local fellowships do the same. Amen. God bless you. Take care. Bye bye.