Question: My pastor is always preaching about sin. Should I find a new church where the messages are more positive?

Answer: You should find a new church if your current church is not presenting the entire Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! That means talking about sin and talking about God’s love.  If you don’t clearly get the message that we are all sinners in need of a Savior and that the wages for our sin is death, you  haven’t gotten the whole word of God!

Jesus says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” ( NKJV ) Here we learn of God’s great love for us. But, we also learn that if we do not accept His Son (Jesus Christ) as the One who saved us by dying on the Cross for our sins, we will perish.

Throughout the Bible, we are presented with this truth. Our sin separates us from a holy God, keeps us out of heaven, and brings death. That’s the bad news.  We need to hear this message in our church regularly so that church newcomers will know this and others will remember this truth.

But the church must regularly tell the positive message – the Good News.  God loves us – so much so that He sent His only Son to take the punishment we deserve and die for our sins.  We only need to repent and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior!  We need to ask Jesus to forgive our sins and live our lives as we are taught in God’s Holy Word!

The reality is, however, that many people like hearing about God’s love, but they don’t want to hear that their sins have very negative consequences.  They want to live their lives by their own rules instead of by the rules of God.  They want to determine what is right and wrong instead of admitting that only God says what is right and what is wrong!

Therefore, they move from church to church trying to find one that will only tell them what they want to hear. The Apostle Paul warns in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”

So, make sure your church is giving you the full message of God’s Word.  Make sure your church leaders are telling you what God wants you to hear and not what you may want to hear to feel comfortable in your sin.  When this is done as God desires, you should feel uplifted and encouraged by God’s love instead of beaten down and hopeless!

Desire to hear all of God’s truth! Don’t just be left with itching ears!

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