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[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, colspan: 2, align: left"]The mega church “would proudly proclaim that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. But they have redefined salvation. Salvation is not simply, under the new gospel, the forgiveness of sin and the imputation of righteousness. It is not a deliverance from the wrath of God upon an undeserving and rebellious people. The new gospel is a liberation from low self-esteem, a freedom from emptiness and loneliness, a means of fulfillment and excitement, a way to receive your heart’s desires, a means of meeting our needs. The old gospel was about God; the new gospel is about us. The old gospel was about sin; the new gospel is about needs. The old gospel was about our need for righteousness; the new gospel is about our need for fulfillment. The old gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing; the new gospel is attractive.” –Gary E. Gilley, The New Gospel
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[TD="width: 50%, bgcolor: #FFFF99, align: left"] Salvation on the sinner’s terms[/TD]
[TD="width: 50%, align: left"] Salvation on God’s terms[/TD]
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[TD="width: 50%, bgcolor: #FFFF99, align: left"] Seekers are drawn by convenience.[/TD]
[TD="width: 50%, align: left"] Seekers are drawn by conviction (John 16:8).[/TD]
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[TD="width: 50%, bgcolor: #FFFF99, align: left"] The world is assimilated into the church.[/TD]
[TD="width: 50%, align: left"] The church is to be separate from the world (2 Cor. 6:14-18).[/TD]
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[TD="width: 50%, bgcolor: #FFFF99, align: left"] Looking to make sinners comfortable [/TD]
[TD="width: 50%, align: left"] Looking to the Comforter to convict sinners[/TD]
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[TD="width: 50%, bgcolor: #FFFF99, align: left"] Seeks to make people happy[/TD]
[TD="width: 50%, align: left"] Seeks to make people holy[/TD]
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[TD="width: 50%, bgcolor: #FFFF99, align: left"] The attendees are seeking personal fulfillment: How can my life fulfill my desires and needs?[/TD]
[TD="width: 50%, align: left"] The attendees are seeking personal faithfulness: How can my life be well pleasing to the Saviour (2 Cor. 5:9)?[/TD]
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[TD="width: 50%, bgcolor: #FFFF99, align: left"] Friendly seekers assemble to have their itching ears scratched (2 Tim. 4:3).[/TD]
[TD="width: 50%, align: left"] God’s people assemble to hear the God-breathed Scriptures which are profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16-17).[/TD]
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[TD="width: 50%, bgcolor: #FFFF99, align: left"] Emphasis on pleasing the sinner[/TD]
[TD="width: 50%, align: left"] Emphasis on pleasing the Saviour who died for the sinner[/TD]
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[TD="width: 50%, bgcolor: #FFFF99, align: left"] Overriding concern for numerical growth[/TD]
[TD="width: 50%, align: left"] Overriding concern for spiritual growth.
(God rewards faithfulness, not numerical success–1 Cor. 4:2)[/TD]
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[TD="width: 50%, bgcolor: #FFFF99, align: left"] “We have made it easy for hundreds superficially to ‘accept Christ’ without ever having faced sin and with no sense of need. We are healing slightly the hurt of this generation, trying to treat patients who do not even know they are sick” –Vance Havner[/TD]
[TD="width: 50%, align: left"] “They that are well need not a physician, but they that are sick” (Luke 5:31).
“And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). [/TD]
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[TD="width: 50%, bgcolor: #FFFF99, align: left"] Worship services are casual.[/TD]
[TD="width: 50%, align: left"] Worship services are formal (in the sense of dignified, reverent, worshipful, respectful of WHO GOD IS). We are not attending a ball game or going to the beach or going to a rock concert; we are worshiping the King of Kings.[/TD]
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[TD="width: 50%, bgcolor: #FFFF99, align: left"] Come just as you are.[/TD]
[TD="width: 50%, align: left"] Come desiring to be more like Christ, to reflect SELF less and less, to reflect CHRIST more and more (2 Cor. 3:18).[/TD]
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[TD="width: 50%, bgcolor: #FFFF99, align: left"] Entertainment–What can this service do for me?[/TD]
[TD="width: 50%, align: left"] Reverence–What an awesome God! I adore Him! How can I please Him? (Heb. 11:6)[/TD]
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[TD="width: 100%, bgcolor: #FFFFFF, colspan: 2, align: left"] “If I see aright, the cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. It is, rather, a new bright ornament upon the bosom of a self-assured and carnal Christianity. The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it” –A.W. Tozer (If only Tozer could see us now!)
Hello!!!!
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