Sound The Trumpet : The Purpose-Driven Church

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“The Purpose-Driven Church”
by Art Sadlier
October 1st, 2005

The Purpose Driven Church

Jesus said in Matthew 24 that the Great Sign of the last days and of His Return would be religious deception. (vs.4, 5, 11, 24, 25) The thing that is nearest and dearest to the heart of every believer is the salvation of the lost. That is the point at which believers are the most susceptible to deception. In Matthew 24:24 we see false prophets proclaiming a false message, seeking to deceive the “very elect”.

Today we have false prophets proclaiming the false gospel of easy-believism, producing counterfeit Christians. These men then claim that souls are being saved in their ministries and that this authenticates their ministry.

The basic philosophy of the Purpose Driven Church is to bring the world into the church. They use the world’s methods and make the unsaved comfortable in the church. Rick Warren states, “Your goal should be to remove as many barriers as possible so that the unchurched have no excuse for not attending”.

Purpose Driven Churches begin by canvassing the unsaved in a community, asking what they want and do not want in a church. They then follow that pattern and the unsaved happily take ownership of the church. Great crowds result but a great crowd doesn’t make a church.

The church of Jesus Christ is made up of “called out ones”. Those who are called out of the world are called to be separated from the world and called to be separate unto Jesus Christ. 2 Cor 6:17,18 “wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” Heb 13:12,13 “wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.”

The devils greatest assault on the church has always been to attempt to join the church. We have an example of that in Acts 16: 16-18. Paul was grieved that this unsaved girl would seek to identify with the church.

In the fourth century AD Roman Emperor Constantine granted total freedom to Christians and Christianity became the favored religion of the Roman Empire. The unsaved world flooded into the church and counterfeit Christianity overwhelmed the true body of Christ. The result was a thousand years of spiritual darkness.

The church is always strongest when it is entirely separate from the world. Acts 5:13, 14 “and of the rest durst no man join himself to them; but the people magnified them... and the believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.”

The right definition of the gospel is always the major issue. There are a billion and a half people in our world today who claim to be Christians. Multitudes are deceived because of a faulty definition of the gospel. The real issue of the Purpose Driven Church is a wrong definition of the gospel. Rick Warren’s definition of the gospel in his book “The Purpose Driven Life” is a definition any Catholic or Mormon or Jehovah’s Witness can accept.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13