Before I get into that, let me give you some unfounded reasons and excuses why the world
would say people hate going to church.
Because don't you hear that sometimes?
People saying, yeah, you know, people like you, you're going to scare people away from
church.
You're drawing people away from church.
That kind of preaching draws people away from church.
It gets people away from God.
And here's a couple reasons what they'll say.
Okay, number one, how about this?
The reason why people hate going to church, because you guys got a bad spirit.
How many of you have ever heard that before?
You just got a bad spirit.
You know, Pastor Amjour, I like what he says.
I just don't really like how he says it.
How many times have you heard that?
You know, it's like, you know, what he's saying is good.
I'm not going to argue with that.
It's good.
It's just, you know, the kind of spirit he has, you know, it's just the way he says it.
Okay.
Well, you know, the Bible says, though, I'd be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge.
And here's the thing is that people often say, well, people hate going to church because
of pastors like you, because you have a bad spirit.
But hold on a second.
The last time I checked, we don't have a bad spirit.
We have a Holy Spirit, right?
The Bible says, and whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation, and whom also after he believed, ye were sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, and to the redemption of
the purchased possession, and to the praise of his glory.
So the Bible says that we're actually sealed with the bad spirit, no, with the Holy Spirit.
And you know what?
Sometimes the Holy Spirit is a little rude.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit, when he is filling a man of God, is going to be rude in the preaching.
It's going to hit hard.
It's holy.
It's not a bad spirit.
It's a Holy Spirit.
It's holy preaching.
It's preaching that is powerful.
It's preaching that hits the issues of today.
It's preaching that pierces through the dividing of the sunder of soul and spirit, joys in
the marrow.
It's a discern of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.
It's powerful preaching.
It's holy preaching.
It's not a bad spirit.
And look, folks, you look at churches like ours and the new IFB, they're filled with
people.
People are being reached.
Souls are being saved.
People are assembling together.
People love the preaching of God's word.
And you know what?
No one's saying, yeah, this place is just such a bad spirit.
They're here because they know God's spirit is here.
Here's another reason they'll give, an unfounded reason or excuse the world will try to throw
in our face as to why people hate going to church.
Number one is because they say we have a bad spirit.
Number two, well, you guys aren't just, you guys aren't relevant enough.
Where's the smoke machine?
Where's the purple lights?
Where's the rock band?
You guys got to be relevant.
But here's the thing.
The Bible is always relevant.
In fact, the Bible is timeless.
The Bible tells us that it has everything that pertains to life and godliness.
Anything that you need in 2021, the Bible has the answers for all your spiritual needs.
You don't need purple lights.
You don't need purple jeans or skinny jeans, purple jeans.
You don't need purple jeans either.
You don't need smoke and mirrors and skinny jeans and purple lights.
You do well with using the word of God.
The word of God has been preached for thousands of years.
It's reached people for thousands of years.
It's relevant.
It's timeless.
It will continue to reach people.
This is a stupid reason.
Here's the last reason.
Church is just too strict.
Your church is way too strict.
This is why people hate going to church.
You guys are too conservative.
What's with the shirt and tie?
What's with the old-fashioned hymns?
This is what they'll say.
But here's the thing.
What people don't realize is that there's people in this world that actually like boundaries.
There's people in this world that actually like rules.
I'm one of them.
We've got a church filled with people that like boundaries, that like rules, that like
being told what to do from the word of God.
The last time I checked, the church is not for these lawless and disobedient people.
It's for people who love the law of God.
It's for people who want to come to be instructed in the ways of righteousness.
It's for people who want to know where is the boundary.
Where are the rules?
What does God's law say about life?
For people to say church is just too strict, yeah, for the lawless and disobedient, it's
too strict.
But for God's people, this is what we want.
We want restrictions.
We want boundaries.
We want the law of God in our lives.
Now why do people hate going to church?
Because those are stupid reasons.
Those aren't real good reasons.
I've heard many of these reasons throughout the years, and they're dumb.