Right in the middle of the sermon, at a critical moment, he opens the door to the church and stands there in the door. Finally Nikola asked him, “May I help you?” and the big lunk says, “Can I come in?” And he does. If he had sat there peacefully, it would not have been a big deal to interrupt in the middle of the sermon, but he sits down in the front and then turns around and starts blowing kisses at the girls! Then he looked over to where I was sitting and began wagging his tongue at the girls on my side of the room.
Needless to say, this totally ruined the atmosphere and the train of thought in the sermon, not to mention made everyone extremely uncomfortable. Brenda and I immediately bowed our heads and began to pray that God would take control of this situation and prevent this man from destroying the work that God was doing in the service. About the second minute of our prayer, one of the guys got up and went outside and left the door open, and motioned for the “visitor” from hell to follow him out of the room. He resisted the idea at first, but then with a little bit of encouragement from Nikola, he followed Victor out of the room.
When they went out of the church, Nikola said that we always need to be people who are welcoming to one and all, even those who make us uncomfortable. While my mind agreed with Nikola that this was our biblical position, my emotions were rebelling. Welcoming those who are leering at our young ladies during the service is beyond my current spiritual maturity level. Today, 16 hours later, I can acknowledge that Jesus died for this man too, but frankly he seemed much more under the influence of Satan than a soul searching for God. Victor returned after five minutes or so and said that while the man would not be returning to the service, he was waiting outside near the street and that he was waiting for our girls.
Nikola’s response was much more mature than mine. He reminded us all that we too were and are sinners and that we have experienced the great blessings of God. Our goal and greatest wish should be, must be, for others to experience God in the same manner. Again I mentally agreed fully with Nikola, but my heart wanted to pound this guy into the ground (I have two teenage daughters!). As I have been examining this internal inconsistency within myself, I have been searching to see if there are other areas where I have mental understanding, but lack heart change. I think that each time I do not do what the scriptures say, that this is revealed in me. There are several solutions to this lack of maturity; I can submit my heart, not only my mind to God’s Word, or I can just take those parts out of the bible since I do not plan to obey any way. click here to see the new bible
Clearly this disruption came from the evil one, but God turned it to His purposes as always. We all focused much better after the interruption. And when we finally dismissed, the lunk was gone.
Needless to say, this totally ruined the atmosphere and the train of thought in the sermon, not to mention made everyone extremely uncomfortable. Brenda and I immediately bowed our heads and began to pray that God would take control of this situation and prevent this man from destroying the work that God was doing in the service. About the second minute of our prayer, one of the guys got up and went outside and left the door open, and motioned for the “visitor” from hell to follow him out of the room. He resisted the idea at first, but then with a little bit of encouragement from Nikola, he followed Victor out of the room.
When they went out of the church, Nikola said that we always need to be people who are welcoming to one and all, even those who make us uncomfortable. While my mind agreed with Nikola that this was our biblical position, my emotions were rebelling. Welcoming those who are leering at our young ladies during the service is beyond my current spiritual maturity level. Today, 16 hours later, I can acknowledge that Jesus died for this man too, but frankly he seemed much more under the influence of Satan than a soul searching for God. Victor returned after five minutes or so and said that while the man would not be returning to the service, he was waiting outside near the street and that he was waiting for our girls.
Nikola’s response was much more mature than mine. He reminded us all that we too were and are sinners and that we have experienced the great blessings of God. Our goal and greatest wish should be, must be, for others to experience God in the same manner. Again I mentally agreed fully with Nikola, but my heart wanted to pound this guy into the ground (I have two teenage daughters!). As I have been examining this internal inconsistency within myself, I have been searching to see if there are other areas where I have mental understanding, but lack heart change. I think that each time I do not do what the scriptures say, that this is revealed in me. There are several solutions to this lack of maturity; I can submit my heart, not only my mind to God’s Word, or I can just take those parts out of the bible since I do not plan to obey any way. click here to see the new bible
Clearly this disruption came from the evil one, but God turned it to His purposes as always. We all focused much better after the interruption. And when we finally dismissed, the lunk was gone.
2 comments:
OOOOhhh, I checked the "cut-out Bible" out, and gullible person that I am I thought it was real. Boy, what a bucket of ice cold water to lukewarmness!
Well, the only thing worse than a lecherous lunk in my experience is one with a weapon and keyring which gives them pseudo-authority over you. It is also my experience that we are so often called to the very people that make us angry or uncomfortable.
Some food for thought, or humble pie that I had to eat recently involved leading a group of believing women healed of drug and alcohol addiction who lost custody of their children. It was so easy for me to think how bad that was and how I'd never, ever do that, until I heard them pray. The agony I heard in those prayers convicted me right to the core.
Sharon you had me laughing out loud this morning! Thanks for the chuckle :-) I was not in any way PROMOTING the cut-out bible concept, but rather implying that we, or at least I don't often do what it says. And who said you had issues?
Post a Comment