Sermon
Why Churches Die
The Commons Church
Speaker: Austin Wadlow
June 7, 2026 · 36 min
Summary
Paul charges Timothy to preach God's word faithfully regardless of circumstances, warning that churches die when pastors abandon preaching and congregants stop enduring sound teaching. The sermon emphasizes that pastoral accountability before God and conviction in preaching are essential to the church's survival and mission.
Highlights
Churches die because they abandon God's word. And there's two reasons that that happens. Number one, the pastor stops preaching the word. And number two, the people stop enduring it.
Wrongly placed fear leads to wrongly placed motives. If I fear you more than I fear the Lord, then I'll show favoritism towards certain people in the church. And I'll speak flattery to you instead of the truth.
If you are spending hours being catechized by social media and whatever it is you are streaming, but you are only spending minutes being shaped by the word, then I promise you, it is not the word that is forming your life, it is the world.