 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| GO TO www.wirelessamberalerts.org TO GET FREE AMBER ALERTS ON YOUR CELL PHONE |
| First, I would like to start with a story that gives a great example for this topic. "During a normal Sunday morning service, after the praise service was over and the sermon had begun, the doors to the sanctuary opened. In, walked a young woman in dirty, tattered, and rather revealing clothes. As she began her walk down the isle, the looks of disgust shot from every side. Instead of finding a seat in one of the pews she passed, she continued her walk until she reached the front, and took a seat on the floor in front of the pulpit. Well, as you can imagine, the looks of disgust had turned to looks of horror, looks that now had turned to the head elder of the church as if to say, "Are you going to do something about this irreverent act by this obvious girl of the streets!" Well, to their relief, the Elder stood up and began to walk down the isle towards the girl. "Thank goodness," they thought as he approached the girl. "This embarrassing episode will soon be over." But, to their astonishment, instead of snatching the girl up and escorting her out of the sanctuary, the man found a seat on the floor next to her and began attentively listening to the sermon as she had been all the while." Why has our churches today become only sanctuaries for the clean, the "healthy," the well dressed. Why have we not learned from the mistakes of the Pharisees, but instead have now became as them ourselves? Did Jesus himself not say "I came for the sick?" How horrible is it that when the unsaved of today are questioned, the most common answer for why they do not attend church is because of a bad experience such as the one in the story. The desire of our Father in Heaven is that He is ".. not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) Guess what? That includes: prostitutes, drug addicts, thieves, liars, pimps, drug dealers, murderers, adulterers, homosexuals, the promiscuous, the jerk at work that makes your skin crawl, that includes everyone. And thank you Jesus, that included me. And I didn't have to get cleaned up first before He would save me, because if I did, I still would not be saved. He came to where I was, in the miry clay and called my name, and rescued me from a life of no hope and shame. He showed me true mercy, true grace, and true UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. There are many churches praying for revival, but all the while they are still judging, looking down at, and unwilling to love the lost of this world. Revival will not come for these until they learn what it is to have the love of Christ in their hearts. Now, please do not misunderstand and think I am saying to condone sin. We should not. But we must love the sinner. We must give God room and time to do His work in their lives. May we all be challenged to take a long honest look at ourselves. May we all be as Paul when he wrote in Romans 9:3 "For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers." Your brother in Christ, Jamie Cox jamiecox@thatnoneshouldperish.org |
