The Rev. Dr. Lyle W. Dorsett told 1200 Anglicans attending the annual winter conference of the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA) that there is a malaise across the church today. "We don't believe the old paths are very effective. We are in a spiritual war in America and in Western nations in general and we are losing battles in too many areas.
Dorsett said the first line of defense in spiritual warfare is Prayer. "Our churches need to be mobilized to pray. We need much prayer and much spiritual power. There truth is there is little prayer and little power. No prayer equals no power. Jesus saturated his life in prayer to the Father. Jesus solicited prayer for them. God resists the proud. Paul is humble in his thinking. They were in the Word and in prayer."
Lyle contended that the secret of the power of the Wesleys and other evangelists is prayer.
1. The preached everywhere and anywhere so women and young people could hear the Word of God not just men.
2. They proclaimed with simplicity.
3. They preached fervently and directly.
4. They based their sermons on the "old paths" on Scripture.
5. They taught the total corruption of human nature.
6. They maintained that the death of Christ was the only satisfaction whereby we could be saved.
7. They preached the universal necessity of heart conversion, the need to be born again.
8. They preached that God hates sin but loves sinners.
9. They proclaimed that prayer and Holy Spirit will empower people and He promises you will be persecuted for your efforts.
"The truth is we don't do these things for two reasons. The first is we are afraid of men. Many love the praise of men more than the praise of God. The second reason is poor teaching. We have been told for too long that we need to come up with new models. Not true. Let's excavate the old models. They are well preserved in the sands of time."
To read the full article, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment