Voddie Baucham preaches on the Holy, Righteous, Warrior Jesus and His Almighty Father, the Most High God that we seldom hear about preached from American pulpits anymore. I just saw this and felt it was worth sharing. Enjoy or meditate or weep, and pray. Whichever is appropriate. The video is well worth the 5 minutes.
Whether or not you agree with Bro. Baucham on every point, the over arching theme of the message is sound. We hear far more about baby Jesus meek and mild than we do about the Righteous Judge and Soon Coming King. And our walk, MY walk, has suffered for it. The modern American church has lost the fear of the Lord.
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Oh, and lest anyone make the mistake of assuming that the grace and mercy of God is being discounted, I don’t see it that way. And yes, I realize that we in the season when we celebrate the advent of Jesus as the babe born of the virgin Mary, but we need to remember that the ultimate purpose of that was greater than the advent itself.
I think Bro. Baucham is rightly addressing the stunning lack of balance that often leads us to believe that anything we do is excusable solely because of that grace. As if there is now therefore no accountability for the deeds we commit in these bodies.
THAT is unBiblical, and un-Christian.
Sobering reminder indeed. Thank you, Elspeth.
Thinking out loud: this is the Jesus, the God I believe our Lord wants us to know. Why is it, that with so many pulpits out there, do we seem to hear more about a “sissified Jesus” than the Warrior King who does have wrath, who is self sustaining, who will break us? Are the many who are behind the pulpits in America fearful more of their audience than of the Lord? I mean no disrespect, and of course there are many churches in America who do speak the truth without the sugar coating, but I just wonder why there are seemingly only some ministers who seem more called to teach of God’s entire character (servant AND king, Prince of Peace yet Mighty Warrior), but but not all. This sort of message would be necessary for all of us to hear.
My daughter was speaking to me about this recently. Her take is that very rarely do we hear the message preached the way John the Baptist did–Repent! For the kingdom of God is at hand. Now, we talk about how God accepts us and loves us, but we forget to talk about the fact that He is, indeed, God. And that’s why youth groups aren’t retaining their members as they graduate and move on to adulthood. They’ve lost the reverence for God, or the fact that we owe Him obedience.
Brother Baucham is spot-on. Nice to see him name names, too – the author of The Shack, Rob Bell… He is right to call them out, on their heresies…
@ Will:
You didn’t miss the Osteen impression did you?
@Karly: I’m glad you appreciated it. The first thing that struck me is what you said coupled with what Sheila (or Sheila’s daughter) said. It’s amazing how little we hear spoken about this aspect of God’s character. I guess because it makes us uncomfortable when we think about how short we often fall in our walks and attempts to live the Christian life.
I’m not that familiar with Joel Osteen, though I’ve heard enough about him to have an idea what that must have been, now that you say it.
Amen! That is REFRESHING! (Don’t mean to be shouting, just emphasizing.) And he’s right. I’m thankful my church doesn’t preach the sissified Jesus, but we hear it all around us, nonetheless.
I’m going to play this clip for my boys, just to remind them!
Thanks,
Julie
Amen! He is SO right. I;ve been saying lately, its not about hugging each other and never preaching on sin–people need to hear the truth spoken to the fullest extent.
LOVE this, Elspeth! I have really appreciated Mark Driscoll’s teaching on this along the very same lines. He reminds the church that we too often picture jesus as the marginalzied Galiliean peasant that he was when he lived 2000 years ago, but that today Christ is in His glorified state at the right hand of the father, all tatooed up and eyes on fire and a sword in his hand ready to fight against Satan, his demons and their followers.
I have recently started a Christ-ceneterd recovery program for some addictive behaivors that I have allowed to take center-stage in my life for far too long, and understand more and more God as Warrior, and Christ as a strong Soldier-King, has really helped me to repent of my sin and to be strong in Christ against temptation and the enemy. I love passages like
The LORD goes out like a mighty man
like a man of war he stirs up His zeal,
He criest out, he shouts aloud,
He shows himself mighty against his foes. -Isaiah 42;14
as well as Psalm 35:1-3. These verses remind me not only, as Bro Baucham pointed out that God takes our sin very seriously, but also that when we have confessed our sin and have a truly contrite heart and want to fight against our flesh and against the enemy in agreement with God that we need to turn from our sin, that HE will do the real fighting for us. That I need only call on my Redeemer King and ask Him to “take up the sheild and buckler and rise for my help!” and He will be faithful to do so.
Indeed in this world we are to follow the example of Jesus and turn the other cheek and return kindness for persecution against our enemies that we might show the love of Christ and lead many souls to Him, but we need to make no mistake that Christ is also a warrior redeemer who will return with his legion of angels and tear the weeds from the harvest of His people.
thanks for sharing this!
The Shack was a messed up book. I couldn’t understand why it was so popular with the people in my sphere-o-contact.