Tonight was the third installment of the White Horse Inn Discussion Group "Preached Word" series.  I missed the second one, but the manner in which they are presented doesn't hinder you from joining in from right where you left off.  Anyway...

Discussion tonight centered around the importance of preaching the Gospel and the Holy Spirit's application of it into our lives.  Without the efficacious work of the Holy Spirit, the preaching devolves into a self directed alternate Gospel, which Paul expressly denounces even if it came from himself (Gal. 1:8).  To often today's preachers reveal their lack of trust in the God's word by their willingness to compromise the gospel message in favor of the latest and greatest method, program, or desire to make the message more palatable to unsaved and saved alike.

Compromising the Gospel is reflective of today's society, which has fallen into moralistic relativism.  When the Gospel is preached, we are confronted with our sinfulness and rejection of God's rightful claim on our lives.  It becomes an uncompromising fact that we are dead in our sin and need a Savior, who is Jesus Christ.  This leaves little room for the moralistic relativism which we constantly prop up in ourselves to make us feel good about our role in the social fabric and the good that WE do.