Sometime ago, a minister was preaching. And--and there was a man who'd been attending his church for a, oh, quite a lengthy time. And he came that morning up to the altar, and he said, "Pastor, I now wish to give my testimony and my surrender to the Lord Jesus, which I have done last night." And the Pastor said, "Well, I am sure glad to hear about that, John, to know that you have decided to finally come and give yourself to the Lord, because we don't want to hurt your feelings, but we know that you had been very wicked. And we know you have mistreated your family. You gambled away your money, and you drank it up, and lived a horrible life; and your family went without. And it gives my heart joy this morning to know that you have come forward now and going to surrender yourself to the Lord Jesus to become a different person, to serve Him."
He said, "Thank you, pastor." He said, "Then just what... I want to ask you something. What sermon did I preach, or what text did I use, or what song was sung in the church in the hymns that made you so decide to do this?" And as the man looked at him in the face, with the tears running off his cheeks he said, "Pastor, it was none of your sermons, though as good as they were. It was none of the choirs singing or the specials, though as good as they were."
He said, "Then would you tell this congregation why you have made this decision?"
He said, "I worked with a man who is a Christian, and I've said everything to him. I've called him a holy-roller. I've called him a religious fanatic and everything, and it didn't bother him a bit. But he lived such a life till finally in my heart, all along, he has won a place that I want to be like that man. And that's the reason that I ask him to lead me to Christ. I want the Christ that he serves." You see, God does work through the pastor to get His church ready. He works through the songs to get His church ready. And He works through you to get His church ready. If your pastor would fail and continually to fail, you'd hunt you another pastor. Quickly you would do that. If your choir didn't sing right, or your solos wasn't right, you'd say to the director, the one who has the music, "Don't let them sing no more. They just make me nervous to sing." But what about you as an individual? How do you fail in your daily living? How do you tally up with God--what God says for you to be a shining light that sets on a hill. No one can pass that way, when around your way without knowing about Jesus. What type of life do you live? One of those types that's mean, and insulting, and aggravating, indifferent? Or can you speak of the peace and the love that you have found in Christ? She has made herself ready. 58-1012 (t) THE SUDDEN SECRET GOING AWAY OF THE CHURCH (E29-E30) (WMB). |
