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A poor, homeless man who had just given his life to the Lord, wanted to find a church, because he wanted to learn more about
the bible. He walked into the parking lot of one of the nicest looking churches he had ever seen. He walked into the church
excited to meet some Godly people and learn about Jesus. However, as he came into the church and sat down, he had no
welcome, but rather people smiled and sat far from where he was sitting. People walked right by him and gave him no loving
welcome.
The man was getting a little uncomfortable as he saw people staring at him, and over heard people whispering to one another.
People were giggling as they shared thoughts. "Look at this bum." "I know, he probably thought we were serving church dinner
today ha-ha." The man was a little offended over what he heard being whispered all over the church, but he sat patiently, waiting
to hear some preaching.
Service started as the people calmed down to pay attention. The man waiting to hear a good teaching started to have his hopes
crushed as the pastor made jokes and comments rather than preaching the word of God. Not getting anything out of what the
pastor was talking about, the man reached over to get a bible from the back of the pew, because he wanted to learn more about
Jesus.
He then thought to himself, "I can just ask the Lord to show me" So he asked the Lord to help him, and then he opened the
bible. As he opened the bible, people continued to stare, whisper, and joke around, saying back and forth, "The man is reading
the bible ha-ha." "I don‘t think he can read, I think he‘s just looking through the pages ha-ha." The man sitting there, now getting
embarrassed because of the peoples actions, hid his face in the bible and started to read. He had opened the bible to the book
of James chapter two and read:
"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your
assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to
him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit
here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?"
The man thought, "Lord Jesus?" as he wondered if the Lord was speaking to him. He grabbed the pencil from the back of the
pew along with the church bulletin and wrote these scriptures down, and then continued to read:
“If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to
persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.”
He was trying to focus as the pastor was cutting more jokes and people were acting as if church were a comedy show. He was
still determined to learn more about Jesus, so he continued to read.
The man remembered John 3:16 as the most commonly quoted bible verse, so he looked through the bible to find the book of
John. Having been in James, he turned over some pages finding 1 John, and having never read the bible and not knowing any
better, he started to read it.
He read 1 John 3:16, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren.”
He did not recognize this as the same verse from what he had remembered as a child, but never the less, he got truth from what
he read, and he read on:
"But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how
dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby
we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.”
The man continued writing all these scriptures down. As the pastor continued with his jokes and the people continued with the
staring and whispering, the man was beginning to wonder if this church even read the bible. He turned over to 1 John chapter 4
and read:
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not
knoweth not God; for God is love."
This man came into a church wanting to learn more about Jesus, and what he had learned about Him so far is that He is love.
He wondered why he was feeling no love from any of the people in the church if they were supposed to be Christians. Service
was now over after only 20 minutes, and everyone raced to the door to get to lunch before the rush.
Completely disappointed, the man sat up to leave when suddenly the pastor stopped him. Surprised, he thought, "Alright, the
pastor can help me understand more about Jesus" and with a smile on his face, he reached out to shake the pastor's hand and
introduce himself. However, the pastor ignored the mans hand and said to him, "Listen, I don't mind you coming to my church,
just as long as you clean yourself up and wear some decent clothing; I mean, what do you think God would say about you
coming into His church the way you look?”
The man quickly lost his smile; almost in tears, he mumbled in a soft voice, "This is not God's church" Dropping his head
toward the floor, he continued his comment saying, "This is not church at all"
Hearing this, the pastor laughed and mockingly replied, "What did you say?" This time the man stood up, looking the pastor in
the eyes, and with a tear rolling down the side of his face, he said, "God is love" and he walked out the door.
The pastor, seeing that he had hurt this homeless man, was left standing there ashamed. Looking at the pew this man had
been sitting in, he saw an open bible and the scriptures he had written down on the church bulletin.
The pastor started reading the scriptures on the bulletin. Conviction came over him as he realized he was partial with that man.
He had never felt anything like this before. Reading on through the scriptures, his heart began pounding as conviction brought
him to tears. He realized then that he was not a child of God. In his own church, on his knees in front of a pew on the back row,
he repented, For the first time in his life, he was truly sorry; acknowledging his sin and knowing he had been living a lie, he
believed on the Lord Jesus to save him, and he was born again.
He got up and ran outside the church hoping someone was still there that had seen the homeless man leave. He looked down
the parking lot; he ran over to the side of the church looking down the sidewalk; running around to the back of the church, he
looked down the ally; not seeing the man anywhere, he stood there with disappointment as he tried to catch his breath. Standing
there with his head facing the ground, the pastor said, "Lord, I‘m sorry; I will never treat a person like that again.”
Wednesday of that same week, the pastor stood up behind the pulpit and said, "You all might remember that homeless man
who was sitting there on that back pew Sunday morning." Smirking and laughing, the church members were expecting some
jokes from the pastor. A few seconds of silence went by as the pastor was trying to hold back tears. It was obvious that the
pastor was emotional. A change of attitude was heard in his voice as he said, "That man led me to the Lord." In shock, the
church all stood in attention, ready to hear what the pastor had to say. The pastor opened his bible to James, where he had
placed the bulletin that the homeless man wrote all those scriptures on. He read off all the scriptures to the church, and then
told them what had happened. After hearing this, many of the people in the church came forward to repent.
From that day on this pastor had a new attitude in church. He no longer told jokes and made comments about things that didn't
even relate to the bible. Instead he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. He taught of the importance of examining yourself to
see if you are in the faith. He also began to teach about reaching the lost and taking care of peoples needs. He had the people
in his church set up tables in the parking lot and feed the poor every Sunday after church, and they preached the gospel to
hundreds of homeless people. This pastor's entire view on church had been changed. Though the pastor never saw that
homeless man again, he thanked God that He used that man to teach him a lesson; a lesson that changed his life. All from
three words spoken from the heart, "God is love"
the bible. He walked into the parking lot of one of the nicest looking churches he had ever seen. He walked into the church
excited to meet some Godly people and learn about Jesus. However, as he came into the church and sat down, he had no
welcome, but rather people smiled and sat far from where he was sitting. People walked right by him and gave him no loving
welcome.
The man was getting a little uncomfortable as he saw people staring at him, and over heard people whispering to one another.
People were giggling as they shared thoughts. "Look at this bum." "I know, he probably thought we were serving church dinner
today ha-ha." The man was a little offended over what he heard being whispered all over the church, but he sat patiently, waiting
to hear some preaching.
Service started as the people calmed down to pay attention. The man waiting to hear a good teaching started to have his hopes
crushed as the pastor made jokes and comments rather than preaching the word of God. Not getting anything out of what the
pastor was talking about, the man reached over to get a bible from the back of the pew, because he wanted to learn more about
Jesus.
He then thought to himself, "I can just ask the Lord to show me" So he asked the Lord to help him, and then he opened the
bible. As he opened the bible, people continued to stare, whisper, and joke around, saying back and forth, "The man is reading
the bible ha-ha." "I don‘t think he can read, I think he‘s just looking through the pages ha-ha." The man sitting there, now getting
embarrassed because of the peoples actions, hid his face in the bible and started to read. He had opened the bible to the book
of James chapter two and read:
"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your
assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to
him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit
here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?"
The man thought, "Lord Jesus?" as he wondered if the Lord was speaking to him. He grabbed the pencil from the back of the
pew along with the church bulletin and wrote these scriptures down, and then continued to read:
“If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to
persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.”
He was trying to focus as the pastor was cutting more jokes and people were acting as if church were a comedy show. He was
still determined to learn more about Jesus, so he continued to read.
The man remembered John 3:16 as the most commonly quoted bible verse, so he looked through the bible to find the book of
John. Having been in James, he turned over some pages finding 1 John, and having never read the bible and not knowing any
better, he started to read it.
He read 1 John 3:16, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren.”
He did not recognize this as the same verse from what he had remembered as a child, but never the less, he got truth from what
he read, and he read on:
"But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how
dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby
we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.”
The man continued writing all these scriptures down. As the pastor continued with his jokes and the people continued with the
staring and whispering, the man was beginning to wonder if this church even read the bible. He turned over to 1 John chapter 4
and read:
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not
knoweth not God; for God is love."
This man came into a church wanting to learn more about Jesus, and what he had learned about Him so far is that He is love.
He wondered why he was feeling no love from any of the people in the church if they were supposed to be Christians. Service
was now over after only 20 minutes, and everyone raced to the door to get to lunch before the rush.
Completely disappointed, the man sat up to leave when suddenly the pastor stopped him. Surprised, he thought, "Alright, the
pastor can help me understand more about Jesus" and with a smile on his face, he reached out to shake the pastor's hand and
introduce himself. However, the pastor ignored the mans hand and said to him, "Listen, I don't mind you coming to my church,
just as long as you clean yourself up and wear some decent clothing; I mean, what do you think God would say about you
coming into His church the way you look?”
The man quickly lost his smile; almost in tears, he mumbled in a soft voice, "This is not God's church" Dropping his head
toward the floor, he continued his comment saying, "This is not church at all"
Hearing this, the pastor laughed and mockingly replied, "What did you say?" This time the man stood up, looking the pastor in
the eyes, and with a tear rolling down the side of his face, he said, "God is love" and he walked out the door.
The pastor, seeing that he had hurt this homeless man, was left standing there ashamed. Looking at the pew this man had
been sitting in, he saw an open bible and the scriptures he had written down on the church bulletin.
The pastor started reading the scriptures on the bulletin. Conviction came over him as he realized he was partial with that man.
He had never felt anything like this before. Reading on through the scriptures, his heart began pounding as conviction brought
him to tears. He realized then that he was not a child of God. In his own church, on his knees in front of a pew on the back row,
he repented, For the first time in his life, he was truly sorry; acknowledging his sin and knowing he had been living a lie, he
believed on the Lord Jesus to save him, and he was born again.
He got up and ran outside the church hoping someone was still there that had seen the homeless man leave. He looked down
the parking lot; he ran over to the side of the church looking down the sidewalk; running around to the back of the church, he
looked down the ally; not seeing the man anywhere, he stood there with disappointment as he tried to catch his breath. Standing
there with his head facing the ground, the pastor said, "Lord, I‘m sorry; I will never treat a person like that again.”
Wednesday of that same week, the pastor stood up behind the pulpit and said, "You all might remember that homeless man
who was sitting there on that back pew Sunday morning." Smirking and laughing, the church members were expecting some
jokes from the pastor. A few seconds of silence went by as the pastor was trying to hold back tears. It was obvious that the
pastor was emotional. A change of attitude was heard in his voice as he said, "That man led me to the Lord." In shock, the
church all stood in attention, ready to hear what the pastor had to say. The pastor opened his bible to James, where he had
placed the bulletin that the homeless man wrote all those scriptures on. He read off all the scriptures to the church, and then
told them what had happened. After hearing this, many of the people in the church came forward to repent.
From that day on this pastor had a new attitude in church. He no longer told jokes and made comments about things that didn't
even relate to the bible. Instead he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. He taught of the importance of examining yourself to
see if you are in the faith. He also began to teach about reaching the lost and taking care of peoples needs. He had the people
in his church set up tables in the parking lot and feed the poor every Sunday after church, and they preached the gospel to
hundreds of homeless people. This pastor's entire view on church had been changed. Though the pastor never saw that
homeless man again, he thanked God that He used that man to teach him a lesson; a lesson that changed his life. All from
three words spoken from the heart, "God is love"
Lesson Learned
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