Site Logo
← Table of Contents

WHAT ARE WE LEARNING FROM THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY?

February 4, 2001 AM

Sermon Outline

Phil 4:8

INTRO: A couple of weeks ago we spent a little time talking about how the entertainment industry has desensitized people ... changed the way we think about certain things. I want to continue those thoughts this morning. While I have enjoyed music, literature, motion pictures and television, as much as any one, I believe that industry has gradually eroded the morals, ethics, values of our culture. Certainly, that industry has not single handedly done this - but it has been the tool of godlessness!!

I. WHAT ARE WE LEARNING?

A. Being the bad guy may be glamorous alternative

1. several movies of recent date left that message

2. popular stars cast in bad guy roles are heroes!

3. distinctions of good and evil are some how lost in creating of sympathy for the bad guy

4. Isa 5:20

5. we are learning to see gray ... not black and white!

6. 1 Thes 5:21,22 are we able to tell the difference

B. I may never be held accountable for my actions

1. this message attaches to the previous one

2. the do your own thing message pervades!

3. almost any behavior can be rationalized, justified by personal desires, feelings and such

4. no accountability idea permits every sort of bizarre behavior ... and is seen daily

5. Eccl 8:11-13 this is the way it really is

6. consequences and accountability cannot be long ignored ... and all of the thats not fairs one may utter will not change the fact of accountability

C. Homosexual behavior is apparently fairly normal

1. more and more programming, motion pictures include references to homosexual behavior

2. usually the references, characters are presented in context of acceptability, normalcy

3. the alternate lifestyle is being pushed by the entertainment industry ... and tolerated by consumers

4. but God has never approved; always condemned

5. Rom 1:24-27,32 never a more plain statement!

6. note in v.26 the words vile affections

D. Biting sarcasm in families is communication

1. so many of the sitcoms are filled with such

2. its funny ... we laugh at the put downs, the cuts

3. more and more one hears this in families ... childrens responses to parents; spouse to spouse

4. and its not funny ... its disrespectful, hurtful

5. Prov 31:26 is the way of wholesome communicating

6. were being taught to be unkind, inconsiderate!

E. Violence is acceptable response

1. if there is someone, something you dont like, take violent action!

2. burn the school; take a mob and waylay your enemy; shoot your way out of trouble; take your life

3. we are not teaching people how to work through trouble, problems in righteous ways

4. we are teaching if you dont get your way, take action!

5. where are honor, dignity, patience, godliness, kindness, respect in todays world?

6. Titus 7:11,12 with Col 3:10-14

CLOSE: In the hands of Satan the entertainment industry is a tool of destruction. Should Christians be aware and concerned? Absolutely, yes. Its not their problem any longer. Its our problem.

Cecil A. Hutson

04 February 2001

God's Plan of Salvation

You must hear the gospel and then understand and recognize that you are lost without Jesus Christ no matter who you are and no matter what your background is. The Bible tells us that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) Before you can be saved, you must understand that you are lost and that the only way to be saved is by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:8) Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17)

You must believe and have faith in God because "without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Hebrews 11:6) But neither belief alone nor faith alone is sufficient to save. (James 2:19; James 2:24; Matthew 7:21)

You must repent of your sins. (Acts 3:19) But repentance alone is not enough. The so-called "Sinner's Prayer" that you hear so much about today from denominational preachers does not appear anywhere in the Bible. Indeed, nowhere in the Bible was anyone ever told to pray the "Sinner's Prayer" to be saved. By contrast, there are numerous examples showing that prayer alone does not save. Saul, for example, prayed following his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:11), but Saul was still in his sins when Ananias met him three days later (Acts 22:16). Cornelius prayed to God always, and yet there was something else he needed to do to be saved (Acts 10:2, 6, 33, 48). If prayer alone did not save Saul or Cornelius, prayer alone will not save you. You must obey the gospel. (2 Thess. 1:8)

You must confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (Romans 10:9-10) Note that you do NOT need to make Jesus "Lord of your life." Why? Because Jesus is already Lord of your life whether or not you have obeyed his gospel. Indeed, we obey him, not to make him Lord, but because he already is Lord. (Acts 2:36) Also, no one in the Bible was ever told to just "accept Jesus as your personal savior." We must confess that Jesus is the Son of God, but, as with faith and repentance, confession alone does not save. (Matthew 7:21)

Having believed, repented, and confessed that Jesus is the Son of God, you must be baptized for the remission of your sins. (Acts 2:38) It is at this point (and not before) that your sins are forgiven. (Acts 22:16) It is impossible to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ without teaching the absolute necessity of baptism for salvation. (Acts 8:35-36; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21) Anyone who responds to the question in Acts 2:37 with an answer that contradicts Acts 2:38 is NOT proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Once you are saved, God adds you to his church and writes your name in the Book of Life. (Acts 2:47; Philippians 4:3) To continue in God's grace, you must continue to serve God faithfully until death. Unless they remain faithful, those who are in God's grace will fall from grace, and those whose names are in the Book of Life will have their names blotted out of that book. (Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:5; Galatians 5:4)