Something that I find happens more frequently in the days after preaching a sermon at The Rock, is how the Holy Spirit brings to my attention either comments and insights from brothers and sisters who heard the message that had occurred to them, or via podcasts and articles that appear in the days following that confirm or amplify in wonderful ways what we learned from the Scripture. The following is a perfect example of that from this week.
Speaking of, “You just can’t make this stuff up,” this past Monday I was listening to an interview on the Alisa Childers podcast, a ministry I have heartily recommended for many years now. Alisa is a gifted apologist for the Christian faith, as well as a person who having herself come out of Progressive Christianity has made it a key focus of her ministry to expose the false teachings that are prevalent in that movement.
In this interview that I’m referring to she’s with Josh Blevins, a pastor from Missouri. He opens by sharing a story from a few years ago when he was preaching from the letter to the Hebrews and the exact same text I had preached just the day before on Sunday, May 18th, Hebrews 10:19-39. As he arrives at the passage I had titled, A Final Warning on Apostasy 10:26-31, he shares how in his message he felt that the Holy Spirit prompted him to mention the Jonathan Edward’s sermon as I had also mentioned last Sunday, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, and then he also mentions, by name, the pastor/author of the progressive leaning book that counters Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God, which I also had alluded to. He mentions the author by name, calls out his false teachings in that book, offering one clear example of how he denies Substitutionary Atonement and much more.
After the service he recalls how several people came up to him telling him how brave they felt he was and how they used to go to that guys church but now were glad they had found his church and his faithful preaching of God’s Word. It was during those conversations that he found out that the pastor he had called out by name was the pastor of a church only a 10 minute drive from his church and he truly had no idea.
I highlight this because, well, it was encouraging to myself that what I had heard from the Holy Spirit to share with our church on the subject of judgement and the seriousness of the words, “For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Heb. 10:30-31, had also been the prompting of another pastor far from our context who felt led to share on the exact same passage and for the same reasons as well.
If you’re interested, the podcast with Alisa and Josh Blevins is linked below. There’s more good content on this podcast related to the text from Hebrews, as well as, identifying false teachers and their influence in the church.
Blessings,
Pastor Glenn
