Megachurch Pastor Says God NEEDS You!

Fight For Truth

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Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to the channel where we bring you Christian commentary about the things that matter.

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As ever, please know this video isn't a sinful attack, but rather a biblical critique. In today's video, we're going to be talking about a sermon clip from a gentleman named

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Tim Ross. Tim is the pastor of Embassy City Church in Texas, and he's a trendy, seeker -sensitive style preacher who really angles towards young people.

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He has even spoken at Life .Church, which is Craig Grishel's huge megachurch. In fact,

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I believe it's the biggest in the entire United States. The following sermon clip is a great example of one of the biggest problems facing the evangelical community today.

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Watch this. He needs you. I'm going to say something to you that is going to be so sobering, but I hope it's encouraging to you at the same time.

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Do you not know that the Holy Spirit in you only has you for the time that you're alive to reach people through your personality expression in a way that he's never had prior to you in human history, and will never have after you go back to be with him forever?

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Which means for the time you're here, the worst thing you could do is rob us of you.

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Now, this is the epitome of man -centered preaching. The same kind of message, the same type of style can be found at Stephen Furtick's Elevation Church or Mike Todd's Transformation Church.

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In these congregations, the Bible is all about you. Every message is about how awesome and special and interesting you are, and how

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God is just so crazy about you and how great you are that he wants to be your best friend. Because, I mean, who wouldn't?

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You're awesome. The first line of Tim's message is, quote, He, that is, God, needs you, end quote.

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But just a quick glance at the Scriptures demonstrates that this is false. Acts 17, 24 -25.

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It plainly says this, quote, The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything, end quote.

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So you see, the passage here has the complete opposite message of Tim Ross. Tim says that God needs you fundamentally, but the

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Bible says that you need God. In fact, the passage makes a point to say that God himself gives life and breath to all creatures.

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Not only do you need God spiritually, but you need him every minute physically as well. The very breath in Tim's lungs that he uses to say that God needs you is the same breath that he needed

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God to grant him. That's the irony of this whole situation. How on earth could the infinite, holy, all -powerful

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God need lowly and finite creatures to accomplish his goals? Of course he doesn't.

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He's been accomplishing his goals without us for all eternity past. Isaiah 46, 9 -10 says, quote,

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For I am God, there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me. I will accomplish all my purpose, end quote.

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So you see, God will accomplish all of his goals, all of his purposes, whether he has you or not.

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It's just part of him being God. And it's extraordinarily prideful to suggest that the Lord of the universe can't get the job done as well without you.

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But let's watch the second part of that clip again, because it's very important. Watch this. And do you not know that the

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Holy Spirit in you only has you for the time that you're alive to reach people through your personality expression in a way that he's never had prior to you in human history and will never have after you go back to be with him forever.

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So here Tim says that the Holy Spirit only has you while you're here on Earth. He only has you for a temporary time to use your gifts, your personality, your attributes to spread his message.

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Again, this is a fundamentally man -centered statement. There is no praise of God here, or at least there's very little.

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Just a desperate attempt to convince people that they're super special and awesome and great, and God needs them to accomplish his will.

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As we've already covered, Luke tells us in the book of Acts that that is not the case. The Lord will accomplish all of his purpose no matter what.

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His perfect and pleasing will, then, is not bound up in your gifts or your personality or your expressions.

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But wait, some might say, Colin, don't you know that the Lord gives gifts to his people to serve the body of Christ?

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And don't you know that the Lord uses his people uniquely to accomplish many of his purposes? How then can you say these things?

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And my response to that would be, yes, I totally agree with that, depending on what you mean. First Peter 4 .10

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says, Notice Peter's language here.

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Yes, we're given gifts to serve others, and yet, we must not forget that these gifts are given only by God's grace.

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And also, Peter says that we are merely stewards of these gifts. A steward looks after something and uses it properly for the benefit of the steward's master, knowing that this thing does not truly belong to them.

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They're just looking after it. Our master is God, and we must store the gifts that he has placed in our keeping by his grace.

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Do you see, folks, how completely different this biblical message is from Peter compared to the message of Tim Ross?

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This is fundamentally different, in fact. It couldn't be more different in many ways. Peter does not say that God needs you to use your gifts because he's only given them to you for a season.

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Peter does not say that you are so unique and special that God just can't get things done if you're not around.

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Not in the same way. No, he doesn't say that God needs you to use your gifts. Rather, he says that you need

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God to have the gifts in the first place. And more than that, you are responsible for stewarding them for God's glory.

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It's your responsibility. The biblical message shows us how glorious and authoritative God is, but Tim's message shows you how glorious you are.

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Let's go ahead and listen to the end of the clip once again. Watch this. Which means for the time you're here, the worst thing you could do is rob us of you.

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So he polishes this off by saying that while you're here on earth, quote, the worst thing you could do is rob us of you.

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End quote. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the man -centered gospel of self. James 115 says, quote,

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You see, biblically speaking, the worst thing you could do is sin against the holy God and never turn away from your self -centeredness by his grace and serve him.

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The worst thing you could do is refuse God's grace and continue to hate him. But in Tim's worldview, the worst thing you could do is rob the world of how awesome and special and talented you truly are inside.

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It is possible that Tim was speaking with some level of exaggeration here. So I want to give the benefit of the doubt on that.

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Perhaps he meant to say that this is one of the worst things you could do rather than the worst thing.

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I think that's a more fair interpretation. But even so, it still exposes a fundamental flaw in Tim's message here.

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It's still all about you. The message makes it sound as if you are the master. God needs you.

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Just please let him use you for his kingdom. You're so cool, so unique. God only has you for just one lifetime after all.

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So just please, pretty please let God use you. In fact, if you don't let God use your super awesome special gifts for him, you're robbing the world of yourself.

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And that would make all the rest of us very sad. Folks, this is not biblical teaching. Not at all.

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The reason it would be horrible to not use your gifts for God is because you're refusing to recognize his authority, his holiness, his grace, his worthiness.

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You're not glorifying God. That's the problem. It's not that you're ignoring how special you are.

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You're ignoring how glorious God is. Romans 121 says, quote, For although they knew

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God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

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End quote. The central problem is not that you're giving us less of your wonderful self, but that you're giving

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God less attention, less glory, less love, less worship than you know you ought to.

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Again, the message of scripture simply does not align at all with the message of most modern megachurch pastors.

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The trendy teaching being offered by many of these teachers is nothing more than a motivational pep talk,

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Oprah Winfrey, Tony Robbins thing with a little scripture sprinkled in. It's not really sound at all, and we should avoid it like the plague.

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Give God the glory, not us. We don't deserve it. Even if we're in the church, even if we're saved, we're still nothing more than repentant sinners saved by God by his own good pleasure.

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There is no room for boasting in that kind of message, and praise God for it. But there is plenty of room for boasting in the message of, you're so special, please don't rob the world of your awesomeness.

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So please, folks, if you listen to Tim Ross or pastors like him, stop. Run away.

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Find a good, solid man of God who preaches from the scriptures accurately with God's ultimate glory at the center, rather than with your feelings and your motivation at the center.

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Remember 1 Corinthians 3 .7 which says, quote, so neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only

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God who gives the growth. End quote. I pray this has been a blessing to you, and please know this,

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I do not offer any of this correction from a high and mighty position. I am nothing but a wretched sinner saved by the grace of Jesus Christ.

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So let's pray for Tim Ross, that he would stop this man -centered teaching by God's grace and turn to the truth of God's word.

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