Comments on: Unexpected Guest

By: sandy

sandy — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 09:03:19 +0000

My favorite story is the one about the pastor that just wanted to do God’s will and his small church that finally got new carpet.

The church wasn’t wealthy, the carpet was hard fought to obtain. The sanctuary was beautiful, the congregation happy.

As the preacher was at the pulpit one Sunday a man walked
in and sat in the front row of that church. He lit a cigarette and listened to the preacher. The elders were in a panic and whispered to the pastor, “we will throw him out immedietly”. The pastor heard Jesus in his heart say, just keep preaching, leave him alone.. so he told the elders to stay where they were and he kept preaching the gospel of salvation.

The man sat listening and then dropped the cigarette and crushed it out into the brand new carpet. “Just keep preaching,” the Lord told the pastor. He did and when he finished his sermon he gave the alter call.

That man in the front row got up with tears in his eyes, he laid a revolver on the alter and said, please pray for me, this was my last stop before going to my house and killing my wife and kids, please ask Jesus to have mercy on me.

By: Mark Stoddard

Mark Stoddard — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 11:37:27 +0000

Scripture is mostly silent concerning weapon weilding believers. It might not be silent had there been guns then. The dilemma:. Trust. Trust in God or trust in Smith and Wesson?

By: Trevor Davis

Trevor Davis — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 22:03:26 +0000

I’ve been ‘Caught out’ in Grace so many times I lost count years ago.
I view my acts of grace as my responsibility in answer to a perceived need and as a follower of Jesus and biblical teaching.
What the receiver of my act of grace does with it is his/hers responsibility and between themselves and God.
I pray that what I gave makes a difference.
But I’m far more grateful for the fact that I can give.
That, I thank God for every day.

By: Daniel Busetti

Daniel Busetti — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 03:00:51 +0000

I’m glad to hear you’re coming to SE Christian next week. My wife and I will be there. Having worked in the local county jail for almost 11 years, I’ve seen some of the people we arrogantly write off as scammers and frauds. As if we have never tried to scam God or fellow believers ourselves. If there is no resurrection and judgement then yes, we must attempt to exact judgement here and now. Ourselves, if possible. But if there is a resurrection and judgement, then we can drop our pretense of goodness and obey the moral imperatives of the Gospel. Without qualifying them with my self-imposed conditions. God will sort it all out in the end. Every place I wrote “we” should be replaced with “I”.

By: Nicola

Nicola — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 18:57:43 +0000

I am gobsmacked! I live in New Zealand so I am experiencing a cultural/ spiritual disconnect reading parts of this. To imagine a church that has armed ushers is beyond my imagination. I’m not going to venture in anti gun – pro gun rhetoric. How does Jesus feel.

By: Nancy Larsen

Nancy Larsen — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 23:28:28 +0000

This post reminds me of a time when my husband and I worked briefly in Haiti and met a man named Max Church who had worked for years there. One day he was talking about the people he had worked with, that had taken advantage of him and had stolen from him at times. I still remember what else he said, “I know they do it but they do it less than they used to and they know Max loves them “….Isn’t this was amazing grace is about?

By: James H Grummer

James H Grummer — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 18:34:46 +0000

Philip: I’m not sure Jesus mentioned anything about a “dress code”. I’m thinking jeans and a shirt (untucked) is OK by His standards. My guess He just wants us there. Next, I’m completely turned off by huge pipe organs, ornate churches, and well dressed people in Church. In fact, I have come to believe that the real Church doesn’t exist in any building or structure. (Its out in the streets) …. lastly, I’m dismayed by those who quote scripture in nearly every circumstance. I’m sure I could find some verse about how God doesn’t want us to be fooled by those who pretend they need help, but are scammers.

By: Casey Huisman

Casey Huisman — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 09:48:05 +0000

Just reading this blog, I wanted to comment although it’s a bit late. Great example of risk taking. It’s like when we get a report that half our givings to a hunger action are stolen by thugs and the recommendation is to shut the program. The Christian response should be to double the program, not to shutshut it down. I know it’s not that easy but we should start there. Thanks for your inspiration.

By: Nancy Riegert

Nancy Riegert — Sun, 03 Jun 2018 22:39:09 +0000

Although I love this story and all the great lessons we can learn, I am also going down the rabbit trail…
When I read the comments about an armed usher it reminds me of missionaries Jim Elliot and Steve Saint and the others. They had pre-determined that they would not use the gun in their possession if they were attacked. Their reasoning? They knew that they were going to Heaven and the unreached Aucas were not. I have thought of this often.

By: Rebecca Patrick

Rebecca Patrick — Tue, 22 May 2018 19:02:11 +0000

As a former deacon in our church with some experience in working with people who request financial assistance, I feel like it needs to be said that we need to be wise as well as loving to those in need. They are not mutually exclusive. In fact, being wise is often the most loving thing, because it means you need to take some time to get to know someone and their situation and not simply hand out money to make the person and their problem disappear. Certainly we can all be surprised and not know exactly what to do in a situation like this, but what if…the church’s leaders had spent some time after the service talking to the man, getting the name and phone number of the landlord for follow up, asking the man more about his life, and asking him about his faith? The lie would have been exposed, but the man could still have been loved and needs could still have been met, and perhaps a relationship formed.