Rev. Steve Foss, First Baptist Church Sun Lakes
Do you ever think you’re on a lonely journey through life? Do you ever wish you could have a support network that will be transparent with you and speak straight with you? Do you feel a part of society or a pariah? Begin anew by allowing God to knit your heart with those at First Baptist Church Sun Lakes who hope to see the prayer Jesus prayed happen. What was in that prayer? That earth would be changed, enhanced, transformed, and renewed by heaven’s power (read Matthew 6:10).
It can happen, you know—life, or living as you know it, can be totally transformed. Your life can experience the touch of heaven’s grace, and you can then begin a new walk filled with thanksgiving, mercy, and grace. Do you find yourself coming home too intoxicated to even change into your night clothes? Don’t you want a change? Come back to church. Come see the body of Christ: God’s handiwork upon those whose lives were once shipwrecked upon the shore of disappointment and discouragement. Yes … come, sit by me.
You got hammered at the bar on Saturday? Come to church this Sunday. You can sit with me.
You’re a drug addict? Come to church this Sunday. You can sit with me.
You’re divorced, and the last church you attended condemned you for it? Come back to church this Sunday. You can sit by me.
You’ve had an abortion and it’s slowly eating away at your heart? Come to church this Sunday. You can sit with me.
You’ve been unfaithful to your spouse? Come to church on Sunday. You can sit with me.
Here’s the thing: People don’t come to church on Sunday to sit in the pew so they can quietly judge others to feel superior. People come to church because in their deepest, darkest, most painful moments, they heard about a man named Jesus who could save their soul, and they’d like to know Him. Come back to church. While others are rebuilding the country, let’s rebuild the church across America. Give it another shot.
“… Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners’” (Mark 2:17).