1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage�with great patience and careful instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
Welcome to the forums. I have listened to Joel Osteen on many occasions and he preaches a very good sermon, and I am certain he reaches many people. Have you noticed how HUGE his church is? Obviously there are some people between that BIG church and his television ministry that do feel like they are being fed through his sermons.
Myself however, tend to believe that most of his sermons follow a pattern of the power of positive thinking. Not a bad thing necessarily, but for me it is like listening to the same sermon over and over and over.
It starts out with a joke, and then moves into examples of one person believing in something hard enough and long enough until that blessing is bestowed upon them. Like if their faith is strong enough, God will not deny their dreams.
I am not terribly comfortable with this, because sometimes our ways are not God's ways, and our idea of a blessing is not what the Lord has in mind for us. It might be my thinking that is messed up on this, but I have to wonder how the ones that lay all their hopes and dreams on this way of thinking might feel if that isn't the blessing that is going to be bestowed upon them. Seems to me that would really open the devil's door for that "What a LOSER YOU ARE" speech
I think he is a good man that reaches a lot of people, but I don't think he is the right preacher to feed me. I need a little more variety in my spiritual diet.
That's just me. My apologies to any that just love him, and that is okay too, for I do believe that he does reach many, probably more than I ever can or will.
When I first heard him, I loved him, but frankly now, I need more.
Okay, I posted a link to You tube and it was deleted, sorry admins.~my bad for breaking the rules.
It was on Joel Olsteen's interview on Larry King Live and how Joel would not take a stand for hell~whether jews or muslims or any other belief was wrong and going to hell if they reject Jesus Christ, and just sugarcoated everything Larry asked him. You can find the whole transcript on the internet.
I do not judge Joel's soul but he does NOT preach the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ and that is dangerous and Paul warned that this is another gospel and another JESUS worthy of damnation.
Gal 1:6~ I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. (II Corinthians 11:3-4
We are to test everything to see if it is of God: Test all things; hold fast what is good� (1 Thess. 5:21)
A preacher of the True Gospel will preach with conviction for lost souls and not try to win a popularity contest by avoiding the truth. A feel good gospel produces nothing but people going to a social gathering who do not forsake their old lifestyles.
I was found by Christ during the 70s when people actually REPENTED and turned from their old lives. I see a whole lot of post modernism today that does not challenge people to to take up their cross, die daily and not love their lives unto death.
I wonder what some of these preachers would say to the Christians martyrs as they were going to their death? "Uh, just stay positive and focus on the blessings, they will come to you"~~
God bring us a revolution or the TRUE gospel will not be known anymore.
I like Joel Osteen. He's very charismatic in the way he talks, but he reminds me more of a motivational speaker than a preacher/pastor. He never opens his Bible during sermons and 9 times out of 10 he doesn't quote any scriptures. He references them but rarely will he tell you the exact scripture. He's more for uplifting your spirit than for giving you a message from God that will truly better your life.
i haven't listened to him a whole lot but from what i have heard. he preaches for lack of a better description "half gospel"
in otherwords a whole lot about a God who loves you and a Saviour who wants to help you. But nothing on the fact that you are lost.
Another reason i don't look to preachers for spiritual food. That's what scripture is for. While im all for learning from others about spiritual truths. I certainly won't depend on others for my spiritual food. Its okay to drink in spiritual milk for a time but eventually you need to get to the meat and potatoes. and at some point be able to feed others instead of remaining one of the many sheep that follows a shepherd their entire life. Churches should be equipping the entire body of Christ for ministry instead of relying on Bible schools and seminaries to educate the few who feel "called" (as if the rest of the church hasn't been called)
I think people like Osteen are giving tasty milk that has had the nutrients removed. And he gets this huge following of people who want to feel good and say they are christian but don't really wanting it changing their lives. They want the grace and blessings from God but not having to put off the old self and become a new creation and ultimately a servant of the Lord.
as it was quoted earlier they gather teachers who will tell them what their iching ears what to hear.
I think that seems to be something we all agree on and I think it is dangerous to preach of only one side of God, for the God we serve is more than a loving God. He is also a Jealous God and a God of Wrath, and an Almighty God that can do anything whether it is make it rain for forty days and forty nights or take someone's ability to swallow while the meat is in their mouth.
I fear because of the preachings of those like Joel Osteen, there are many out there that do not believe there is a Hell. I think it is dangerous to believe you can live like Hell, and want nothing to do with the Word or Obedience there in, and that some how you are not rejecting Heaven and what Jesus has gone to prepare for us, for we serve a God that never changes.
I find him to be much more of a motivational speaker than a gifted preacher in the Word. Hearing the same sermon every week with a new joke, and new examples doesn't really feed a person in the Word. I think that is why I became bored with him in a short time. While others that are all about the Word, and can apply it so very well to the days we live in now, they are the Pastors I continue to know and love and listen to, some for more than twenty years now.
I still like to think that God uses even those like Joel Osteen to bring people in, and hopefully make them hungry enough to pursue a Greater Truth through Him. But I also fear that such preachers will have much to answer to someday, for when the day comes that our tongues confess and our knees bow, we stand alone before the throne to give our account, and we don't have a congregation or a popularity poll behind us, and I think that misleading another believer to believe something is okay, when it is clearly not okay in the Word, or clearly not so from what it Written, then we have caused one of His to stumble, and that is something we have to answer for.
Luke 9:23-26 [23] Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. [24] For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. [25] What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? Of course God gives us things, but if your faith is based on what you get on this earth then what happens when you lose everything? If your wife dies in a wreck if your kids die in a flood and you lose your house, car, job and freedom what will your God be to you then? It happened to Job didnt it? Yet God was still worthy of praise. if God never gave you or any human the gift of salvation would he still be worth of praise? Ill answer for you,Yes. After all he didnt make a way for satan and his fallen angels did he? But he is still worthy of praise! It is easy to praise him when you get good things but when you praise him in the midst of pain it shows to the world how worth and holy he really is.
"As God can send a nation or people no greater blessing than to give them faithful, sincere, and upright ministers, so the greatest curse that God can possibly send upon a people in this world, is to give them over to blind, unregenerate, carnal, lukewarm, and unskilled guides."
You Guys ROCK....It's refreshing to know that I'm not the only one who see's Osteen for what he is..a false teacher.
Anyone who doesn't preach the full council of God is a false teacher.
Everyone in Christian-ease wants the power of His resurrection but they refuse to accept the fellowship of His suffering. Jesus said in the last days there would be many (not a few) false teachers and false prophets who would deceive many (not a few) and lead many straight to Hell.
Can we discuss the different Bible versions out there...is it any wonder the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is watered down and ineffective to so many.
