A pretty common question is reflected in today's email from a young woman from Sweden, a

listener to the podcast.

And Pastor John joins us over Skype today to answer.

Dear Pastor John, hello to you and to the team at DG.

I'm a relatively new Christian in Sweden and I have a problem with my church.

I got baptized four years ago and became a member.

As time passed, I noticed our sermons don't touch on sin and never call for repentance.

I've asked one of the pastors who said they are not preaching contradictory to the Bible.

They just decided to not talk directly about sin.

They want to focus on the love of Jesus and his acceptance of sinners.

It sounds well to me as an effort to attract lots of people under the church.

At the same time, they don't celebrate repentance and obedience.

What do you think of a church that doesn't preach against particular sins?

I think that church is profoundly defective.

It is unfaithful to the Word of God over and over issue after issue.

See after controversy, sin after sin is traced back up the stream to the watershed issue

of do leaders and people treasure the Word of God above gold?

Do they savor the Word of God as sweeter than honey and do they submit to the Word of

God gladly in its truth and in its proportions?

The watershed issue over and over again, Tony, that I'm seeing in these days as it is right here.

So why would pastors presume to be wiser than the scriptures in the way they speak to God's people?

That baffles me.

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