From the Pastor’s Corner of MBBC church paper – August 13, 1971
INTERESTING SURPRISE GREETS VISITOR
After last Sunday morning’s service I met an out of town visitor on the parking lot. He said he received two surprises from our worship service: (I) he didn’t know that many people went to church anymore, and, (2) he didn’t know people ENJOYED church that much.
His second surprise interested me. Here’s a man who is surprised that Christians enjoy worshipping Jesus Christ. And yet, irrepressible JOY was one of the chief characteristics of the early Christians. Twice the Pharisees criticized Jesus because HIS disciples were HAPPY! I doubt if that same charge could be leveled against 20th century disciples. What a tragedy. The average Christian acts like he’s attending a funeral and the average worship service is “like unto a funeral.”
But the fruit of the Spirit is JOY. And when He possesses completely the lives of men and women, the inevitable result is JOY UNSPEAKABLE AND FULL OF GLORY.
Praise the Lord that this visitor was able to see the fruit of Spirit-filled lives worshipping the Living Lord.
JESUS IS LORD AND IN CONTROL. That glorious fact produces a great feeling.
©2002 Ron Dunn. Used by permission of LifeStyle Ministries. This article is copyrighted and is for your individual use. Reproduction for any other purpose is governed by copyright laws and is strictly prohibited. This material originally appeared in the MacArthur Blvd. Baptist Church newsletter.