They Were All Wrong

A good many years ago, a preacher went into a town where there was no New Testament church. He preached in a house of worship and then in the market place of the city. Soon the religious leaders of the city heard him and invited him to address them. They thought if his religious claims seemed meritorious to them, they would fellowship him. But to their dismay and confusion, he preached that they were wrong and he was right; that their worship was not acceptable to the God of heaven. He preached that the church to which he belonged was the only true church of the living God. Such a preacher! Don’t you know he hurt their feelings? Evidently they were sincere. Surely he could have made a nice talk and got away without causing any discord! Who was this preacher anyway? His name was Paul, and he preached this sermon in Athens. It did cause some stir. It did not please those leaders at all. They got up and left before he finished. But the sermon pleased God. You can read it in Acts chapter 17. There is no room in Christ’s church for a compromiser.