August 20 2018 – Click here to listen
A friend of mine called today and asked if I would speak to a guy he recently met. It turns out he was a thoracic surgeon who graduated magna cum laude from Yale University. After becoming a successful surgeon, he got caught robbing a bank and just got out of prison after serving six years. He is now covered with prison “tats,” (tattoos) and is a hardened loner.
Why?
My buddy gave him a copy of my book, Miracle on Luckie Street, and he is about three quarters of the way through. He asked if I’d be willing to talk with him and I said sure. In fact, I’m anxious to talk to him to try and understand why he fell so far so fast and to see if I can somehow help him. I started out my life in just the opposite manner. My life began in the gutter and it looked like it would end there. Then I found God, and He helped me claw my way out of it. This guy started out with incredible success and it looked like his life would be vanilla and yet he ended up doing what no one ever could imagine him doing and hit the gutter hard. Face Plant!!!
My friend told me the guy is now pretty much a total recluse and as far as he can tell he has no family or friends. How lonely he must be. How Satan must torture him as he reminds him over and again of where he was, and what could have been, and where he is now.
Sin has no favorites and Satan is no respecter of humankind.
I’ve met more than one person with similar stories as I’ve traveled through the United States working in prison ministry. You have no doubt heard of “down-and-outers,” but I can verify there are plenty of “up and outers,” too.
Perhaps church would help keep us on track; however, to achieve any benefit from church one must first attend a church. Duhhh . . .
So many in our society just ignore God and His church. I’ve tried to convince my neighbors and other friends to attend church with me and have realized sparse success. For whatever reason they just don’t seem to like it. The church I attend is more creative perhaps than most. They have a gourmet coffee bar, they have spent millions on a child center that is nothing short of Disney World, their music program is akin to a major concert with flashing lights smoke and talented musicians and singers. They have over 100 programs all geared to reach people for the Lord. They beam their messages delivered by headline mega preachers of the day to remote campuses through state of the art television cameras. And yet so many will not attend even with all that stuff going on.
I’ve been observing all of this and thinking of Jesus and His ministry. He didn’t have problems getting people to come hear him speak; He had problems maneuvering through the huge crowds. His approach was not complex. He didn’t put on a show like those in the palace of Herod. There were no dancers, elaborate programs, and magnificent auditoriums that would put the Roman Coliseum to shame. Just Jesus walking down dusty roads preaching this simple message: There is hope in God. He loves you and wants to transform your life to one of peace, joy and love.
The message of Jesus lives today, and yet the grand Jewish temple is gone. Church is to worship His majesty and hear His word plainly spoken, not to be entertained or told that our sins, such as gay marriage, are not really sins.
I’ve heard many people ask the question, what would Jesus do? How I wish that the modern-day church would form one of their many committees and look at their programs and then ask, what would Jesus Do? And then try to emulate Him. As for the bank robber. Please pray for him. If I am provided an opportunity to speak with him I will without a doubt tell him that hope is alive and well in Jesus Christ. One on one in a loving way I will tell him that God loves him and so do I.
Ask yourself: “What is the purpose of the church?” According to this verse below, the purpose and activities of the church should be 1) teaching biblical doctrine, 2) providing a place of fellowship for believers, 3) observing the Lord’s supper, and 4) praying. The followers of Christ are the church! I believe walking down the dusty trails of life speaking to the people we find along the way and telling them There is hope in God. He loves you and wants to transform your life to one of peace, joy and love is what Jesus would do.
Acts 2:42
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”