Weekly adult Bible studies can answer this need if they led by a teacher who knows the Word of God well, and participants are encouraged to have their questions answered and their confusion solved. Unfortunately, such have been replaced by small groups with "facilitators". The result is just a full-on sharing of ignorances where no one is wrong (lest they be offended) and you leave the group worse off (dumber) than when you entered. People are hungry for Bible truth, but getting it is not as easy as you think. A lot of sermons are full of christened psychobabble, what God allegedly "spoke" to the preacher, or just something poorly prepared. Years ago, churches (where I grew up) of many denominations followed a prescribed six year cycle of Bible texts ensuring the congregations had a through the Bible experience, and no matter what church you attended, it was the same passage being exposed. Not any more. Of course, knowing what the Bible says and obeying it are two very different things. The persecution the Western church has is materialism, mediocrity, and mob mentality. Personal surrender is at a low. I was asked about the possibility if revival. My response was who are the convicted serious preachers who will feed those willing to repent from sin and seek God in all His revealed truth? After preaching in America for 3 decades, I returned to Australia to endure the worst of preaching ever. The description of the horrors I've heard required another day. Hillsong bad theology has overtaken most denominations. There's been a lack of proper Bible teaching in colleges and universities, and the preachers cannot construct a proper sermon where the subject of text is treated. The delivery of the sermon is another issue. The way people dress is often inappropriate, when we've come to give God our reverence and due respect. The songs now sung are trite, monotonous, and the tune is melody-less. However, the drums and strumming if the guitars is never neglected. No more four-part harmony. One church here hands out ear plugs before the service. And by the way, children's Sunday School has almost been abandoned. There is children's church and youth group, but the Bible is not systematically taught or the teenagers armed with apologetics so they can face atheists once they hit university.
Too many Christians are afraid of I Corinthians 14: 26-38. We may just as well remove it from our bibles.
"behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it." Jeremiah 6:10
One thing I will never understand is people who call themselves Christians, attend church and even witness to other people, but at the same time don't want to follow the bible, like you mentioned 1Cor 14:26-38. I've met many who say they are committed Christians, but when I mention something from the bible they don't like, like 1Tim 2:11-12, they either ignore it or try to "overcome" the verse, instead of changing their ways.
The consistent blankness I have met when bringing up I Corinthians 14:26-38 is a noteworthy spiritual phenomenon. With all of the talk about problems in the church, one would think the one place in the New Testament that would attract attention would be the one that gives plain instructions.
One explanation is that God himself has given them a spirit of slumber (Romans 11:8).
Is there anyone preaching (having conversations) like this today that you know of? I don't even know where to begin looking for this type of Godly interaction. Any suggestions?
There was a religion that used to do this. It was an offshoot of the Mennonites, although I can't remember the name except I think it started with the letter P. I would imagine there are still small congregations in Pennsylvania that adhere to it, but many of those religions are Luddites, which means my home in South Florida couldn't exactly watch it and participate on livestream. It's a very interesting idea and I'd like to explore it, but I can't even find a Biblically adherent church in my town, much less something that might be even closer to what God meant for us.
Weekly adult Bible studies can answer this need if they led by a teacher who knows the Word of God well, and participants are encouraged to have their questions answered and their confusion solved. Unfortunately, such have been replaced by small groups with "facilitators". The result is just a full-on sharing of ignorances where no one is wrong (lest they be offended) and you leave the group worse off (dumber) than when you entered. People are hungry for Bible truth, but getting it is not as easy as you think. A lot of sermons are full of christened psychobabble, what God allegedly "spoke" to the preacher, or just something poorly prepared. Years ago, churches (where I grew up) of many denominations followed a prescribed six year cycle of Bible texts ensuring the congregations had a through the Bible experience, and no matter what church you attended, it was the same passage being exposed. Not any more. Of course, knowing what the Bible says and obeying it are two very different things. The persecution the Western church has is materialism, mediocrity, and mob mentality. Personal surrender is at a low. I was asked about the possibility if revival. My response was who are the convicted serious preachers who will feed those willing to repent from sin and seek God in all His revealed truth? After preaching in America for 3 decades, I returned to Australia to endure the worst of preaching ever. The description of the horrors I've heard required another day. Hillsong bad theology has overtaken most denominations. There's been a lack of proper Bible teaching in colleges and universities, and the preachers cannot construct a proper sermon where the subject of text is treated. The delivery of the sermon is another issue. The way people dress is often inappropriate, when we've come to give God our reverence and due respect. The songs now sung are trite, monotonous, and the tune is melody-less. However, the drums and strumming if the guitars is never neglected. No more four-part harmony. One church here hands out ear plugs before the service. And by the way, children's Sunday School has almost been abandoned. There is children's church and youth group, but the Bible is not systematically taught or the teenagers armed with apologetics so they can face atheists once they hit university.
Too many Christians are afraid of I Corinthians 14: 26-38. We may just as well remove it from our bibles.
"behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it." Jeremiah 6:10
One thing I will never understand is people who call themselves Christians, attend church and even witness to other people, but at the same time don't want to follow the bible, like you mentioned 1Cor 14:26-38. I've met many who say they are committed Christians, but when I mention something from the bible they don't like, like 1Tim 2:11-12, they either ignore it or try to "overcome" the verse, instead of changing their ways.
The consistent blankness I have met when bringing up I Corinthians 14:26-38 is a noteworthy spiritual phenomenon. With all of the talk about problems in the church, one would think the one place in the New Testament that would attract attention would be the one that gives plain instructions.
One explanation is that God himself has given them a spirit of slumber (Romans 11:8).
Is there anyone preaching (having conversations) like this today that you know of? I don't even know where to begin looking for this type of Godly interaction. Any suggestions?
I personally don't know of a single church who does this. There might be, but if so they are very hard to find.
There was a religion that used to do this. It was an offshoot of the Mennonites, although I can't remember the name except I think it started with the letter P. I would imagine there are still small congregations in Pennsylvania that adhere to it, but many of those religions are Luddites, which means my home in South Florida couldn't exactly watch it and participate on livestream. It's a very interesting idea and I'd like to explore it, but I can't even find a Biblically adherent church in my town, much less something that might be even closer to what God meant for us.
This sounds great. Would a Q&A suffice? Or would this look like a discussion between a couple people on stage?
I read of one pastor somewhere who who had a regular question and answer period after the normal service. Timothy Keller I think it was.
But no one today that I have ever heard of is interested in practicing Paul's instructions on a New Testament worship service in I Corinthians.