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What's Hurting Us Right Now

The entire content of the What's Hurting Us Right Now
web site is available as a PDF e-book (97 pages).

Study Outlines

Lesson 1 - Materialism

Lesson 2 - Our Fascination with Fun

Lesson 3 - Overcrowded Lifestyles

Lesson 4 - Crippled Families

Lesson 5 - Our Shortage of Personal Evangelism

Lesson 6 - Postscript: Getting Indignant About What's Going On

Preface

"What's Hurting Us Right Now" is based on some outlines I prepared for a weekend series of sermons in January 1993 at the Douglass Hills Church of Christ in Louisville, Kentucky. Considerable revision has been done, but the basic outlines remain as they were when I handed them out to the members at Douglass Hills. I am still deeply grateful to them for asking me to speak. We were fortunate that weekend to enjoy one of those powerful, transforming experiences that are rare and unpredictable. The publication of this material is dedicated to the saints at Douglass Hills -- that remarkable congregation -- with its elders, its deacons, and its evangelists.

Since doing the series at Douglass Hills, I have been asked to present this material to a number of other congregations. I am grateful for the opportunity to preach these sermons in so many places, and I am thankful for numerous listeners' suggestions that have improved the lessons.

These studies were intended to discuss five of our top problems today, five ways the devil is wreaking the greatest havoc among us. I cannot think of a problem that is doing any greater damage at the practical level than these five. When I try to imagine the challenges that, if we could overcome them, would pay the biggest dividends, these are the ones that come to my mind. This is my list of the five problems I would most like to see us work on.

If someone thinks he knows of another problem as bad as these, I will not argue the point. We do have more than these five problems to cope with. All I am saying is that I believe these five are critical concerns, areas where we are sustaining very heavy damage -- much heavier, I fear, than that caused by some of the problems we tend to spend more time on.

If I protest with the loudest and the clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God, except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is a mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.

-- Martin Luther

The devil would surely like us to be preoccupied with problems that have less potential for destruction than these. He is clever enough to know the value of smokescreens, red herrings, and such. He knows that all of us tend to be interested in certain kinds of problems more than others. If he can attract our interest to problems other than the ones where he is really hurting us, it will be much easier for him to destroy us. If we fail to fight where he has pitched the battle at any given moment, disaster will be the result.

When the basic plan of this material was laid out, I did not have any certain congregation in mind. I am not engaged in a vendetta against any particular group of Christians. The material is needed, I believe, everywhere I have ever preached.

I hope the reader will understand that I do not mean either to take a "holier than thou" stance or to pose as an expert in these studies. These are all difficulties that I myself struggle with, sometimes very painfully. I certainly do not have all the answers to the questions these issues raise. While I do make some suggestions, my main purpose has been simply to sound the alarm and call attention to the fact that we are in trouble in these various ways.

These problems can be looked at in more than one way. They are obviously problems in and of themselves. They involve sin, they can cause us to be lost, and by themselves they are responsible for much of our misery in this life. In these outlines, however, I am looking at them primarily as problems that create other problems. They are means the devil is using to hinder our spiritual lives and the Lord's work in general. They make our other problems worse than they would be otherwise.

It is also helpful to notice that these problems are related to one another. It is impossible to talk, for example, about the breakdown of the family without discussing materialism, for that is one reason the family is in trouble. It is impossible to deal with our shortage of personal evangelism without confronting the overcommitment of our time, for that is one reason we do not engage in personal evangelism any more than we do. In real life, all of these problems are tangled up together. It is only for purposes of study that we separate them into distinct topics.

Ultimately, of course, all of our specific difficulties are but symptoms of our failure to love God and our fellow man as we ought. Everything else eventually gets back to these two problems. If we would do these two things -- truly love God and love others -- the devil could hardly create for us the kinds of problems discussed in these outlines.

It is hard to make presentations like these without seeming to be overly negative. In calling attention to these issues, I do not wish to be just a doomsayer. There is hope. But the hope is only in the Lord. And it is available only to those whose eyes are open wide enough to what is happening to arm themselves with the Lord's might. I am persuaded that the Lord would say to us precisely what He said to Cain long ago: "If you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it" (Gen. 4:7). Sin's disasters can be avoided only by those who are willing to be warned!

We are allowing ourselves to be hurt in ways that seem to escape our notice. These studies are meant to be a wake up call. We need to rise from our slumber and get indignant with the devil. We need to determine that, God helping us, we are simply not going to take it any longer. It is later than we think. Our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. Let us be strong in the Lord.

These are exciting times to be alive. To be a Christian -- one who serves the Lord with real commitment -- is to experience each day as an immensely interesting adventure. My prayer for you is that you will enter into this adventure radically and faithfully, that you will deeply taste the experience of belonging to the King in our day. If you have any comment, question, or criticism regarding these studies, I would be happy to hear from you.

Gary Henry
WordPoints

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