The following are sermon notes with a look back to Charles Finney. WHAT IS CULTURE? Dictionary Definition: The behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture; The sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another. Generational curse is the term many use to describe this plague of sin that is upon each generation. With each passing generation the problem gets worse. What was labeled rebellion in school in the 50s and 60s was spit balls and chewing gum in class. Today it is open sexual immorality, aggressive rebellion, and at its worse, assault weapons and mass murder. Romans 5:20-21 NIV The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Charles Finney*At Evans Mills, he was troubled that the congregations continuously said they were "pleased" with his sermons. He set about to make his message less pleasing and more productive. At the end of his sermon, which stressed the need for conversion, he took a bold step: "You who have made up your minds to become Christians, and will give your pledge to make your peace with God immediately, should rise up." The entire congregation, having never heard such a challenge, remained in their seats. "You have taken your stand," he said. "You have rejected Christ and his gospel." The congregation was dismissed, and many left angry. The next evening, Finney preached on wickedness, his voice like "a fire … a hammer … [and] a sword." But he offered no chance to respond. The next night, the entire town turned out, including a man so angry with Finney that he brought a gun and intending to kill the evangelist. But that night, Finney again offered congregants a chance to publicly declare their faith. The church erupted—dozens stood up to give their pledge, while others fell down, groaned, and bellowed. The evangelist continued to speak for several nights, visiting the new converts at their homes and on the streets. He rode from town to town over what was known as the "burned-over district," a reference to the fact that the area had experienced so much religious enthusiasm that it was thought to have burned out. Newspapers, revivalists, and clergy took notice of the increasingly rowdy meetings—meetings unlike those of reserved Calvinists. The revivalistic Congregationalists, led by Lyman Beecher, feared that Finney was opening the door to fanaticism by allowing too much expression of human emotion. Unitarians opposed Finney for using scare tactics to gain converts. Across the board, many thought that his habitual use of the words you and hell "let down the dignity of the pulpit." The zenith of Finney's evangelistic career was reached at Rochester, New York, where he preached 98 sermons between September 10, 1830, and March 6, 1831. Shopkeepers closed their businesses, posting notices urging people to attend Finney's meetings. Reportedly, the population of the town increased by two-thirds during the revival, but crime dropped by two-thirds over the same period.* In the New Testament entire regions were shaken by the gospel. The word that was preached and the signs that followed moved people to repentance. The power of the gospel is the same today. Are you hungry for that kind of move of God?
More on this tomorrow... *Source unknown. Please notify us if published information on Finney is known. Comments are closed.
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AuthorPastor Dave White is Senior Pastor of WOLCC, founded in April of 1995. Archives
November 2015
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