Chris
I remember as a kid, I was maybe 11 years old. We were in a church service and a man who looked homeless walked in. He was in the back of the church and I assumed he was being somewhat disruptive. Two men in the back of the church, who would be considered deacons or ushers, grabbed this man, picked him up and shoved him out the door and went back to the service.
I’ve never forgotten that image.
Philippines
Recently at the end of month 9 we gathered as a squad in Manila, Philippines. As we were having a morning devotional, a man peaked his head in the door, closed it and then began to curse, yell and complain to the front desk which was right outside of the door.
I quickly became annoyed.
He was taking away attention from the person that was trying to teach. He then proceeded to come back in. His shirt was off; he had tattoos all over. As he walked in he asked what was going on and a few other questions. Everyone placed their attention on him wondering what he was about to do next.
I was sitting very close to the door, therefore close to this individual. I immediately went into protection mode. I was wondering if I needed to grab this individual. In that moment, I prayed. I asked God what would He have me do. A squad mate patted my arm as to tell me everything was going to be ok and that they too felt some of the emotions I was feeling.
Join us
Another squad mate invited him in to join us and asked him what his name was.
He said, “my name is Chris…I would love to join.” He sat down right in front of the person giving the teaching, which I assume made that person uncomfortable. We continued and I kept an eye on Chris in case he tried to do anything.
As I was sitting there I remembered that moment when I was a kid and the two men threw the homeless man out of the church. I realized I didn’t want to be that type of person. I wanted to be led by The Lord and have compassion for this individual.
The teaching was winding down and Chris began to weep.
We went over to him and prayed for him asking what was going on. He proceeded to tell us and ended his thought by weeping and saying, “oh the Gospel”. He then said he believes and it was true again ending his thought by saying, “Oh the gospel”. He would grab a Bible and wave it in the air and continue to weep. We asked if he would share about his life and he did. We encouraged him and told him that God wipes his sins clean and he could start clean. He knew that. He knew the scriptures, but it had not registered with his heart until perhaps that moment.
We prayed for him some more and two of our men took him out for breakfast to get to know him more.
The Gospel changes us. The gospel changes us and speaks to people in ways we never could.
“Oh the Gospel”
I learned a lot that day. The way Jesus loves is so different. He doesn’t care if a man or woman interrupts a church service or devotional. Will he not leave the 99 sheep to go after the one that got away? Will he not run to his son who squandered his wealth and then throw him a party? Will he not die on a cross for the sinner?
“Oh the Gospel“
