June 3, 2019 – Click here to listen
I took a fishing friend and his family to church yesterday. He had expressed to me several times that he was a cynic and agnostic and didn’t go to church. I told him to give it a try because I felt he would really like it. The message was excellent, and the service was extraordinary. This little church in the Florida Keys is filled with some of the happiest friendliest people one could ever encounter, and they went all out to make my guests and others feel welcome.
We went to eat after the service and my friend could not stop talking about how great the service was, and particularly how friendly everyone was and now he wants to go back on Father’s Day when we are all supposed to wear Hawaiian shirts.
I have another fishing friend down here who is a tougher sale, but I finally got a commitment from him yesterday and he too is going to attend with me next Sunday. He has been turned off by church virtually his entire life due to one person acting like a hypocrite in front of him. I have been conversing to these guys while on fishing trips and praying for them for some time. At first they simply rejected, but persistence paid off.
I genuinely like both of these people and their families and am concerned with their well-being. Yesterday seeing this man and his family all sitting together smiling and talking to person after person who came up to welcome them was very rewarding.
I write all of this to invite you to do the same. Invite someone you know to church this week. It just might change their eternal destiny as well as their family and friends’. There are many misconceptions about attending church, but you can change many hearts by giving them a better understanding of what the Bible, our relationship with Christ, and church is really about through this one act of compassion for them.
Acts 8:30
Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.