Our college pastor California said three things I disagree with and would like to get your perspective. These things are very important to me as the youth that hear his sermons i care for and want to make sure arent being mislead.
His statements…
1. if you skip a bible study, sunday church service or dont read your bible for a day then God doesnt hear your prayers that day.
the verse he used, -God detests the prayers of a person who IGNORES the LAW. (Proverbs 28:9 NLT)
2. God doesnt hear the prayers of a fallen away believer or a prayer for a fallen away believer.
-the verse he used, Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for these people “ANYMORE.” (Jeremiah 14:11 NLT)
3. God doesnt hear your prayers if you have a unconfessed sin of any kind
-the verse he used If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. (Psalms 66:18 NLT)
(all other versions use cherished or regard, literal translations is if i had seen lawlessness… which leads me to believe that if i have a sin im not willing to forsake or try to justify God doesnt hear my prayers i.e. some one i know going to church and not willing to give up smoking weed after 2+years of accepting Christ then God doesnt hear that person.
i would like to hear what you think about the matter and what i should do about it i have calmly and respectfully confronted him alone only to be shut down and him backing up his views with out other scripture other than the book of Nahum saying God is a God that needs to be feared and revered…
Answer
David,
Your next step is to take your concerns to the Senior Pastor of your church.
God gives responsibility to pastors to shepherd His people which includes caring for them, feeding them, and protecting them. Acts 20:28-31, NIV, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard!”
Ephesians 4:11-16 is also an important passage in regard to your concerns. It states additional responsibilities of pastors. “It was he (God) who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
Pastor Chris