Two key ingredients when baking are flour and sugar. It is the same in any church service, where two ingredients are essential.
I hear of so many inventive ways that churches resort to in order to bring people through their doors, especially the ones that target the Millennial Generation. This is very commendable as long as there are these two essential ingredients:
“If we CONFESS OUR SINS, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and HIS WORD is not in us.” (I John 1:9-10 NKJV)
To reiterate, the two ingredients that are essential in any church are the fact that SIN MUST BE DEALT WITH and HIS WORD (the BIBLE) MUST BE IN US.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1, 14 NKJV)
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” (Romans 10:17 NKJV)
“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21 NKJV)
As you can see from these verses that there is inseparability between faith in Jesus and the ‘CONFESSION OF SIN’ and the ‘BIBLE’.
A pastor can speak about a man named Jesus all he wants to and he can preach a social message that hits home with these Millennials that bring them back week after week. But unless they are led to meet their SIN head-on and have to make a life changing decision, they are no better off in the light of eternity. Not only that, they will be powerless to meet the pitfalls of life that lie ahead. The same goes with the BIBLE. It must be presented in a way that they will devour it as the life-giving nourishment it truly is.
The following verse is a real eye-opener to make us realize that we must be preaching and teaching, no matter what generation it is, the essentials of the Gospel of Jesus Christ:
“You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. (James 2:19 NLT)”
Cornelius Plantinga reminds us of this immutable truth: “For the Christian Church (even in its recently popular seeker services) to ignore, euphemize, or otherwise mute the lethal reality of sin is to cut the nerve of the gospel. For the sober truth is that without full disclosure on sin, the gospel of grace becomes impertinent, unnecessary, and finally uninteresting.”
I have written an article that shows how each one of us must meet the reality of SIN face-to-face and deal with it the only way that God the Father has ordained in His WORD:
https://annointing.wordpress.com/2017/08/16/gods-mirror/
I have a second article that shows how each one of us must devour and absorb the BIBLE in an ongoing process that will carry us on into eternity:
https://annointing.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/absorbing-the-bible/
Annointing 