October 7 , 2021 The Beacon • 5

Everyone should gather at the Lord ’ s house

Ever visit another man ’ s church ? I have , bunches of times . Sometimes the stay is only the length of a Sunday morning . If the Sundays fall right , there ’ s this Pentecostal church I visit when I am at the beach in North Carolina . It ’ s a little place , contemporary construction , tucked back in the middle of a small coastal town . I don ’ t know if they get many visitors . A lot of folks don ’ t go to church if they are out of town on Sunday .

The times I was there , a younger woman led some pretty jumping worship . The pastor is spot-on with his “ Christ Rock Solid ” messages . Though I ’ ve spoken with that man a few times , I couldn ’ t tell you his name or that of anyone else that goes there . But I like going there if I am in town .

Back in the days when there were phone books , I found myself cruising the yellow pages , looking for a church . I would be working far away from home for a couple months , and I did not want to be sailing about unanchored . My first Sunday visit , I knew that was the place . Outside of a snazzy sign painted on the window , there wasn ’ t a thing that stood out about the building of this church ’ s rented store front location . The pastor was in his mid-20s , just a little older than my oldest son at the time . The congregation was composed of about two-dozen 20- and 30-something folks . I was old enough to be the father of most there .

There was this little girl , maybe 4 . For some reason she adopted me straight away . I was very grateful for that as I was really missing my family . About a quarter of the congregation was on the praise team . It was a relatively new church plant . Most had only been Christians a short while . The other amazing thing , most had not played an instrument six months

earlier . They were learning as they went along . Their enthusiasm for God and their church was contagious .

I shot pool one night with the pastor . I think he was a hustler ; he beat me soundly . They knew they wanted to build something , a people for the Kingdom . Two months later my job was done . It was time to go home . I ’ ll never see that place again , but those people , well , we have a date down the road , “ When we all get to heaven .”

After my youngest son was born , I had to leave full-time ministry . I would be gone for the next 12 years . During that time I did itinerant ministry for many different churches . I would walk into these places I had never been , speaking to people I had never known , and in

short order make some good friends . We would then proceed to have some good times in the name of the Lord and do some good things for one another and others in the community , people from many walks of life .

I did a lot of ministry and had a lot of fun with a great many of the Lord ’ s own in those days . Every time it started the same : I would walk into a church I had never been as a foreigner and end up a friend .

As that period of my life began drawing to a close , Sandy was cruising pastoral job sites on the internet , seeing if there might be a place that would be interested in the background , experiences and ministry partnership we could offer . She found this little place in the middle of Ohio , a place called Coshocton . I used to travel through Ohio a lot in my seminary days , but outside of hitting a McDonald ’ s

drive-thru occasionally , I had never spent much time there . I set up a visit to introduce myself to the church , see if they might be interested in a guy like me . From my first visit , I knew I had found our new home .

What is it about a foreigner that allows him or her to come to a Christian house of worship and immediately find brothers and sisters in Christ to enjoy and begin doing life with as if they had always been friends ? The truth of that question , Christian houses of worship have different ways of focusing on the Lord , but in the end they are all God ’ s houses . No matter what the name on the front of the church , when you and I step into a Christian house of worship , you aren ’ t in another man ’ s house of worship , you are in the Lord ’ s house .

Check out Isaiah 56 : “ For this is what the Lord says , ‘ To the eunuchs who keep my

Sabbaths , who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant — to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters ; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever . And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him , to love the name of the Lord , and to be his servants , all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant — these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer . Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar ; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations .’ The Sovereign Lord declares — he who gathers the exiles of Israel : ‘ I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered .’”

Foreigners , eunuchs , anybody — there is no

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The Coshocton County Beacon October 7, 2021 | Page 5

Everyone should gather at the Lord ’ s house

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