We do not believe what we teach

I am seeing a lot of posts and hearing messages based off these two verses:

2Ti_4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

2Ti_4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

But what concerns me is that everyone is speaking of how no one wants to hear sound doctrine, but no one is teaching the very doctrine they are decrying people for not listening to. How will they know unless you teach them?

Can the average pew sitter tell you with any confidence what the doctrines of the Christian faith are?

Are the Doctrines consistent? Do people understand what Doctrine is? Have we the preachers and teachers failed to teach even the most basic of things to our congregants? Do we the ones proclaiming the Word actually believe the Word we are proclaiming? Are we living and testifying as if it is true?

Well let us take a moment and go through them shall we?

First what is Doctrine? a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a Church, political party, or other group

A belief, a basic tenet, a fundamental core for doing what we do. That is a doctrine.

Ok. So what are the basic doctrines of the Christian Faith? I have not gone too deep here just the basics.

1. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Trinity. The triune God is The God. The Alpha and Omega.

2. In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth.

3. Jesus Christ the Son of God, who is God Incarnate, is alive today as He was yesterday and always, was born of a virgin, God the Spirit made this conception happen not man.

4.There is one way to heaven and one way only, Through belief in Christ as the Son of God who died on the Cross, and shed His blood for all. He died, was buried, and rose again and even now sits at the Right Hand of the Father that we might live.

5. The Bible is the Spirit inspired Word of God wrttten by men, directed by God, given to man that we might know God and what He expects wants desires of us.

6. Hell is real, it was created for satan and his angels. Yet All who have not placed their faith in Christ will end up there.

7. Satan is real and active today working against God's people, against God's plan.

8. Heaven is real and the dwelling place of God.

Does the basic pew sitter believe all of these? Do they even know and understand the core beliefs? I think many today are not as fervent and passionate about these doctrines because they do not know the doctrines.

For if they were, people would be witnessed to at a far greater rate by the average man and woman of God, for if Christians today believed Hell is real they would be yelling even louder and longer than they do, to keep people out. The church doors would never shut for the possibility that one might come looking for the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

If we truly believed that many will perish, we would never rest, we would never stop pleading with them and with the Father that ALL might come to repentance. We would be at the altar wholesale praying for revival, lost souls, our own cleansing! We would be at the church day in and day out working to spread the Gospel even further!

We are so lazy, so insensitive, so comfortable, so worried about our own inconvenience that we have lost sight of what will happen to people who reject Christ, what will happen to those who do not hear of Christ.

What will happen to those who hear the false prophets of easy believism, prosperity theory, or smiling jack (joel osteen in case you didnt know whom I referenced) who tells everyone they are good enough. the power is in them.

(Many will say I shouldn't list these false prophets by name, I say you must so people know to run from this heresy that is being preached, Kenneth Copeland, angsley, Oral Roberts, Benny Hinn, Osteen, there are many who preach a false doctrine wrapped in half truths. They will lead the people astray, they will cheapen the authority of the church when people fail to see the fruition of the prosperity message.)

If we do not teach the doctrines to our people, the people will fall for the false teachers who will teach half truths.

If we truly taught these doctrines, with the eternal consequences of hell, the eternal reward of heaven, if we truly taught, and believed what we taught, this world would be on fire for Christ right now.

This is why I maintain that we do not truly believe what we claim to believe. For if we did we would never stop confessing, professing, witnessing, testifying, and praising the God whom we claim to serve. The God who made life possible, made eternal life possible and the God who came looking for you and me after He did everything to set all of this up.

You are probably going to say that this is too harsh, that I can not say these things for people won't listen, you are probably right. But if we do not get back to preaching Sin, Christ crucified and eternal damnation then we are going to lose even more than we already have.

Take the kid gloves off, stop the worry about entertainment and preach the Gospel that worked for ages before us and will work again. God has promised His Word will not return void, yet we have preached a go along to get along message, we worry about cutesy titles, and worried how man will receive what we have to say.

STOP.

Worry about God and what He will say. Preach the Gospel and let the Spirit convict!

Preach and teach as if you actually believe what you are saying, what you claim to be living. No one will believe if you do not act as if you believe it.

We need to stop the feel good, ear tickling, walk through the tulips messages and start preaching that the lost are going to hell, the Christian is to be the Christ like example, sin is destructive and God is love and judgment and wrath.

Start acting as if you believe what you preach. Live as if you believe it. One hour, 2 hours, or 3 hrs a week?

If that is what you give to God and call it enough they will never believe, for you do not.