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Sermon: Isaiah 6 The Vision of a Prophet

Isaiah 6


The Vision of a Prophet


We are approaching a new Millennium. Two thousand
years of Christian witness have passed. The story of
the church has been mixed. On the one hand it has
been one of breathtaking expansion. Out of all
proportion to its small beginnings the gospel has spread
into virtually all the world. Millions - what Revelation
calls ‘an innumerable multitude’ - have become
members of the Kingdom of God. But at the same time
the tale has been one of failure and shame. Often those
who have called themselves Christian have committed
atrocities that have shamed the name of Christ and
turned people against the gospel. The institutionalising
of Christianity by Constantine in the C5 contributed
much to the corrupting of faith. That and the
rationalism of the Enlightenment which gripped the
Western mind in the C18.


But we must not simply blame the decline of faith on
the institutionalised churches. Free church movements
such as our own must share the blame. Certainly in my
lifetime there has been little meaningful evangelism and
outreach in our own church circles. We have to be
frank, little clue about how to relate to people and our
evangelism is often no more than in-house gospel
services.


Bizarrely, we expect people to come to us. Into
services where they know no-one, feel they stick out
like a sore thumb, and hear language they do not
understand; and we are surprised when they don’t
flood through our doors. We feel the fault is theirs.
We console ourselves that we have fulfilled our duty.
Hardly a biblical model of ‘going into all the world and
preaching the gospel’, is it?

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About John

Hi there - I am a member of Greenview and have been for over 20 years. For a number of these years I functioned as an elder, however, indifferent health forced me to take more of a back seat. I see this as an opportunity to do a little writing, often focussing on issues that are a matter of evangelical debate today. Naturally the views expressed are my own and may not reflect the views of the elders or church at large, though differences are likely to be in the detail and not the substance.

These articles and sermons were written partly to clarify my own thoughts and partly with the intention of provoking thought in others who may read them. If you read one I hope you find it stimulating. Please feel free to give me feedback or discuss my articles in the forums.

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