{"id":22904,"date":"2016-11-08T16:30:55","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T22:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mbcpathway.local\/?p=22904"},"modified":"2016-11-08T16:30:55","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T22:30:55","slug":"ratliff-challenges-not-to-settle-for-a-powerless-gospel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2016\/11\/08\/ratliff-challenges-not-to-settle-for-a-powerless-gospel\/","title":{"rendered":"Ratliff challenges not to settle for a \u2018powerless\u2019 Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s3\">ST. CHARLES \u2013<\/span><span class=\"s2\"> Ron Ratliff, pastor of Tenth Street Baptist Church in Trenton is a cowboy poet and a preacher, and he did a little of both as he presented the Convention Sermon to messengers at the Missouri Baptist Convention Annual Meeting here.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\">Ratliff preached from 2 Timothy 3, Paul\u2019s description of difficult times. In verse 5, Paul specifically warns Timothy that he must not \u201chave a form of godliness, but denying its power.\u201d This is what is wrong with the church in America, Ratliff said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\">\u201cWe\u2019ve bought into a powerless Gospel,\u201d he said. \u201cIt seems to me that worst thing that can happen to a person is not the chastisement of God or the judgment of God, but that God would move on, and we\u2019d be left in our lukewarm, don\u2019t-really-need-anything, don\u2019t-really-believe-anything Chrsitianity. A nice safe religion for respectable people but with a powerless gospel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\">Turning to Acts 1 and 2, Ratliff noted that the early church was noted for its great power through the Holy Spirit. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\">\u201cWe cannot have what they had if we do what they did,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\">So what did the early church do? Ratliff said they heard the Word of God, believed it, obeyed, prayed on it, and agreed upon it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\">\u201cActs 1 says the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the power of the Gospel,\u201d he said. \u201cNow, before you can be filled up, you\u2019ve got to get fed up with the status quo, failure of the flesh, and fed up with the devil.\u201d\u2002<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ron Ratliff, pastor of Tenth Street Baptist in Trenton is a cowboy poet and a preacher, and he did a little of both as he presented the Convention Sermon to messengers at the MBC Annual 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