Article: A Rebuke And An Exhortation (By Dan Lirette)

When preaching the Gospel, whether Open Air or One2One, it is of utmost importance that when preaching, we do so with the intent, desire and passion to draw the lost person TO Jesus Christ and His Salvation; not AWAY from Jesus Christ and His Salvation:

Mark 2:15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.

We see here that Jesus loved and sat with sinners and publicans.

Today, we see differently; we see disciples name calling, holding banners which are abominations and consorting against the lost with vile words and wicked practices.

Jesus Christ and HIS disciples sat with and ate with sinners and publicans.

The offended ones were most oftentimes the religious hypocrites and pharisees; rarely do you find a sinner or publican becoming offended at Jesus and His dicsiples in Scripture.

Today, however, so called disciples run about name calling, raising their voices in ambominable words and offending sinners and publicans!

When a sinner becomes offended, the preacher will many times say, "You just don;t want to give up your sin!".

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, rarely had to make such a statement...

Why?

The answer is simple:

He went about doing GOOD:

Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Today, people are self-proclaimed "anointed ones", running to and fro, doing the opposite of good and destroying that which God is seeking to build.

Comepare Christ's preaching with that of today's Open Air Preaching, and you'll soon see how wide the gulf is!

Today's Open Air Preacher will hold a sign saying, "God abhors you!" while Jesus, in contrast, does the absolute oppposite.

We see this perfectly exemplified in Mark 10...

Jesus preaches One2One in a public setting, to a rich man with great possessions.

The story didn't end well for the rich man, and it also didn't end on a great note for Jesus Christ either, looking at it from a human standpoint!

The rich man went away grieved, as he refused to give up his posessions, as Jesus had so commanded!

Mark 10:20-22 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

Note that verse 21 tells us that before Jesus spoke, Jesus loved him.

Many Open Air Preachers begin their non God-Ordained Meetings by opening with, "God ABHORS you!".

They'll justify their twisted gospel preaching by quoting Psalm 5:5, ignoring the very Testimony of Jesus Christ when HE PREACHED.

1- Jesus LOVED

2- Then, Jesus SPOKE.

Now look at verse 22:

And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

We see that this meeting ended with a rich man turning AWAY from the very One who LOVED him.

Notice that nowhere does it state that Jesus then "began to abhor him".

Notice that nowehere in the text does Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who IS the Word, begin quoting Scripture texts on how angry His Heavenly Father is.

Notice that nowhere does any disciple begin frantically writing Psalm 5:5 on banners to convince this rich man that he's doomed for eternity.

Notice that no one rebukes Jesus for not becoming rude and mean while preaching.

Notice that that there were no news crews, upset students or an angry mob present.

Many things can be seen from this passage which fly directly in the face of much of today's Open Air Preaching.

Let's take two men for examples:

1- One man will go to a homosexual parade and LOVE the homosexuals, telling them of God's Word, His Wrath, His Love and His Salvation; namely, we could refer to such as a man as being Mark Cahill.

2- The second man attends homosexual parades with a huge entourage of "open air preachers" holding banners that say "God hates you!" and "God abhors you!"...namely, we could say such a man is Ruben Israel and all who march with him.

The first man, Mark Cahill, is like Jesus who loved the rich man.

The second man, Ruben Israel, is like the individual Paul the Apostle spoke of:

Philippians 1:15-17 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: the one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds:But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.

Mark Cahill would be the "other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel."

Ruben Israel wouyld be the "...Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: the one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely..."

You see, both men are preaching Christ; only one man is preaching Christ of LOVE, as Paul teaches and as Christ has SHOWN in the example of the rich man.

Now....

The result of preaching from a heart of love may be the same as the man preaching that God hates homosexuals; both may not gather in many souls.

However, as we see from Paul's writing, there's a RIGHT way to preach Christ and a WRONG and ABOMINABLE way to preach Christ.

The RIGHT way is GOD'S way, namely, as we see Jesus do.

The WRONG WAY is any OTHER way than God's Way!

Beloved, I'm not advocating a fluffy message... .

Hell is still hell.

Repent still means repent.

Grace still means Grace.

I forever disdain any change to the Message of the Gospel!

I also, however, disdain the MANNER in which many so called Open Air Preachers present the Gospel!

Some will defend the Open Air Minister's abominable actions by saying such things as, "I've met this man! He's the most loving man I've ever met!"

However, during a homosexual parade, when holding signs which are abominable and dispicable, the homosexal doesn;t sense, see, know or experience that love that the Open Air Minister's friends speak so highly of.

"Touch not my anointed!" is another phrase which is used when voices rise up against false gospl preaching.

1 John 2:20, 27 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things....But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

The "anointed ones" are all who walk with God and keep His commandments, as 1 john 2, in context tells us.

NO ONE is among any "elite" anointed group!

Don't believe that lie if anyone rattles that phrase off to you when testing and proving all things, Beloved!

1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

We are called, commanded and EQUPIIED to test and try all spirits purporting to be of God.

The hateful Open Air Minister may accuse you of preaching a fluffy message, because you refuse to bow to his unScriptural ideologies of Open Air Preaching; don't bow!

The abominable Open Air Minister may call YOU names, call YOU a fraud, call YOU a contentious person; don't bow!

Beloved, the Gospel Message must NEVER be compromised by preaching or associating with those who bring shame and reproach to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE if you encounter such a one as to preach a message of BAD News rather than the Gospel, which is GOOD NEWS!

The Mark Cahill's of the world are impacting the Kingdom of God for Christ!

The Ruben Israel's of the world are demeaning, defaming, harming and hurting the name of Jesus Christ, and they're masking their wickedness under the banner of "We're preaching the Truth! We're not compromising!"

Beloeved, I exhort you to follow the example of Christ, who "loved him".

I encourage you to stand fast in the Word, for the sake of the Gospel.

The offended individual will almost always be the religious hypocrite and pharisee; the sinner and publican will most always come to Christ or leave; but when they leave, they leave grieved, as we have seen in the above text in Mark... they almost always will not leave hating you and the God you are telling them of; namely, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Preach God's hatred for sin!

Preach the Love of God!

Preach hellfire!

Preach Heaven!

Preach Repentance!

Preach Christ and Him Crucified!

PREACH! PREAH! PREACH!

But in your preaching...

Be sure that when he leaves, he knows that you LOVED HIM and that he leaves GRIEVED over his sin; not hateful towards your God!


Dan Lirette
Director/ ICM Open Air Outreach
http://www.icminternational.org