“What God Saw When He Came To Church”

Psa. 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psa. 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

Psa. 23:3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Psa. 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Psa. 23:5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Psa. 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

(This beautiful Psalm at first glance, has nothing to do with my title.)

NOTE: These are real people in real churches, with real problems. The names have been changed.

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“What God Saw When He Came To Church”

He watched them as they drove their cars into the parking lot before service.

He knew their needs and wished to bless them tonight.
He was coming tonight to heal all that would let Him.
His Spirit was ready to save and uplift them as well.
Some were coming early for prayer because they enjoyed talking to Him.
Some came because they were asked too. He could tell the difference.

He noticed that many were not careful how they entered in His House. They did not come before His presence like they did in days gone by. He watched all manner of people walk into His house. His house became full. At the appointed time, singers and musicians began to praise Him. That pleased Him greatly.

The Lord stood on the platform and watched His people as they began sing. He carefully scanned the crowd and observed their hearts, their thoughts and their words.

He knew their struggles, their successes and their failures.
He knew that tonight would be difficult for Him to accomplish what He desired.
Not every one was coming expecting to receive something from Him.
He knew that He would have to work in spite of the efforts of Hell.
He could see the handiwork of sin everywhere.
This is what he saw! He didn’t like it either.

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Harold Wilson and his wife Angie had argued for the past two days.

They had even argued in the car coming to church and had been harsh in their comments to each other.
That’s all they could think about.

Tommy Bourne, a rebellious teen sat slumped in his pew and refused to join in.

Roger Ellis secretly smoked cigarettes and piously played his guitar.

Mary Alice was 17. She was also 3 months along and neither her parents nor her boyfriend knew yet. Her mind was in a whirl.

Tiffany Clanton had been stealing money from work.

Bob Mathis was insanely jealous of his wife.

He had been imagining the worst.
He made far-fetched accusations constantly.
He watched who talked to her and for how long.
He even watched where she glanced.
Bob’s marriage was in trouble because of his stupidity and imagination.
Bob didn’t need any enemies.
His own mind was enemy enough

Victor Thomas had his car repossessed at 3:30am today and was ashamed to call anyone for a ride.

Everyone was going to know.
How could he hold his head up?

Larry Woods heard that, this coming Friday, his crew was going to be laid off. What would he do now?

Prentiss Duvall played the keyboard and sang with the Praise Singers.

He noticed that Robert Mitchell looked especially cute tonight.
He prayed that no one would find out about them.

The American Idol and Desperate Housewives was all that Joyce Proctor could think about.

She couldn’t talk about it though to most of the people.
Her TV was her secret.

Gary and Pam Griffith drank Margaritas with their supper at an out-of-town restaurant last night where no one knew them.

Bradley Duncan went into a strip joint 2 nights ago.

Darryl Johnson stared down at the floor. He never looked up much. He lived with condemnation and depression.

Jason Harper hadn’t paid tithes in 14 months. He wasn’t even under condemnation. He didn’t care. He couldn’t afford to pay tithes.

Ed Conner was an ex-convict and he had missed reporting in to his parole officer today. His mind was processing all of the possibilities. He expected at any time to see police officers come into the building.

Patsy Sikes disliked the pastor’s wife and said so to everyone who would listen.

Jerrod Walker was a Peeping Tom. He wasn’t cured yet.

Willy Yonts gave his wife Barbara permission to trim the dead ends of her hair a week ago. He sent her to the Beauty Salon.

He dared anyone to say anything about it.
Lots of Pentecostals were doing it.

Kandy Watkins had been out of a job for weeks now.

She had submitted more applications than she could count off the top of her head. Nothing seemed promising so far.

Billy and Sharon Glovers and their two children had shared a can of creamed corn for supper today. That’s all there was. There was no more food in the house and no money to buy more.

Larry Benson was tired. He was real tired.

David and Karen West were 2 months behind on their rent. The Electric Company’s notice arrived in the mail today.

Elizabeth Stewart received a call back from her Doctor today with the results of her last biopsy. The news was devastating.

Kenneth Scott’s heart medicine made him sleepy this time of day.

Especially when he sat down.
His eyes were already closed.

Missy Morris kept her bedroom window unlocked at night for Brad Stanton.

Her parents disliked him and didn’t trust him.
If she got caught, she would be grounded for life.

Marvin Garrett had stopped taking the medicine the Psychiatrist had prescribed for him for a while now.

He didn’t need it any more he was sure.
He didn’t have a problem. Everyone else did.

Lela Flowers wanted a divorce.

Her husband Steve was an idiot.
It was time for her to move on.
Her marriage was boring.

Clyde and Sue Armstrong were sitting crossways with the pastor. They felt he had been preaching just to them recently.

Pat Thurston’s blood sugar level was out of whack tonight and she could tell.

Marsha Cantrell was in pain. Her gall bladder had been acting up. She also didn’t have hospitalization insurance.

Becky Shaw was unhappy with the church dress standards.

She tried to comply when she came to church.
She wasn’t convicted.
What she did on her own time was her business.
She posted pictures of her vacation on MySpace.
She was posing on the beach in her new short shorts.
She cropped the picture to show herself just from the waist up to post on Facebook.
A lot of the saints were on Facebook.
Not too many knew about her MySpace account.
She felt smug and somewhat superior.

Belinda Jones had been writings hot checks from one bank and depositing them in another.

By hurriedly going back and forth, she was able to make it look like she had more money than she did.
First Bank had called and left a message before service.
She feared she would be arrested for kiting checks.

Josh Palmer had 5 days growth of mustache on his face. He knew the Pastor frowned on facial hair.

He figured maybe Jesus even had a beard.
Josh loved to test the boundaries.

Don and Debra Martin had both recently resigned from leading the youth group.

They felt hurt that Paul Roberts was supporting the new youth leader so strongly.
Paul had never offered to help them.

Kay Ellis was busy texting Elaine Howard. Kay could text without looking at her phone.

She just stuck her hand in her purse and punched away.
No one knew but her and Elaine.

Keith Norman had stopped to talk with a Bankruptcy Lawyer after he’d gotten off work today.

Mark and Wilma Faraday’s 14-year-old son Jerrod ran away from home yesterday.

He’d left a note.
The police hadn’t found him yet.
They were beside themselves with worry.

Evelyn Conner was grieving.

Her darling of 52 years had died 6 weeks ago.
She was lost in her own grief.
All she could talk about was her Joe.
She missed him so much.

Satan stood in the back with his arms crossed.

A smirk was on his face.
He was pleased with his successes and accomplishments.
His Imps were grinning from ear to ear.
He just knew that he had made God’s work impossible.
He had done damage to their worship.
He had brought murmuring into their hearts.
He had led some astray.
He had confused the efforts of the Almighty.
He was exceedingly happy.

NEVERTHELESS…

The Lord ignored Satan. He considered neither him nor his works an obstacle He couldn’t overcome.

He then turned his eyes and looked the people over.
In spite of all the problems and problem people, there were hungry hearts in the building.
His heart melted at their interest in Him.

He was grieved by the sins of His children.

His arm was not too short to reach them.
His ears weren’t stopped up so that He couldn’t hear.
They were their own problem.
He would not force Himself tonight on them.
If they were unwilling to reach out to Him He would look for someone who would.

There were new faces in His house tonight. Many had never received heard His Word or felt His Spirit.

In spite of the wicked:

His hands reached out to touch those who reached out to Him.

In spite of the unbelieving:

He healed all those that believed in Him.

In spite of Satan’s work:

He gave strength to the weak

In spite of the unconcerned:

He comforted the broken-hearted.

In spite of the carnal minded:

His Glory fell on the righteous.

In spite of the ungodly:

Conviction fell upon the sinful.

In spite of the rebellious:

He blessed the willing.

In spite of the workers of evil:

He gave strength to the faithful.

In spite of the disgruntled:

He let His presence be felt.

In spite of the perverted:

He blessed the pure in heart

In spite of the sinful:

He let His holiness show

In spite of the downcast:

He lifted up heads.

In spite of His disappointment in their failures:

He gave His forgiveness.

In spite of past their failures:

He forgave their sins

In spite of Satan’s efforts:

Sinners repented.

In spite of Hell’s efforts:

Seekers were filled with the Holy Ghost.

That His Word might be fulfilled: