# The Company You Keep

Invisible people are everywhere: among the old, the infirm, the lonely and those who need special emotional care. It is not hard to miss these souls. They are easily hidden from sight and easily ignored. Jesus ignored nobody! His ministry extended also to the chronically ill, the demon possessed and the destitute. We can be sure that if Jesus had restricted himself to charity work amongst the ‘nobodies’ of society, his enemies would not have bothered with him. Instead, Jesus…

A lot of stock is put in the sizes of congregations. Jesus saw his crowd of followers multiply after The Feeding of the 5000 (Jn.6). Many followed him to Capernaum hoping that he would be their new Moses. Being fed their daily bread from heaven for the rest of their lives was worth lining up for. Jesus had no time for these hangers-on. Even those who had identified as disciples were told that the only food and drink they could…

Handing out that ‘Cease and Desist Order’ to that random exorcist must have made the disciples day. That was until John told Jesus about it. Up until then it seemed appropriate for John to let the stranger know that casting out demons in the name of Jesus was reserved for a select group, which did not include him. Jesus told them to let people like that go about their business unhindered. Then Jesus said some words that should challenge us…

If those who preach: ‘Everyone is going to heaven,’ turn out to be right (which they most certainly are not), you will not hear a complaint from me. There will not be a happier person in heaven than yours truly. I have seen the blackness of my soul and I have seen the mercy of my God; how could I not have faith that Jesus saves? Some of my brethren spend too much time judging others and too little time…

A friend of mine told me of a very unusual church service he attended. He said that there was no sign outside the building indicating who they were or when they met, and that the church building had no windows. But he said that the strangest thing occurred when the service was about to get under way. It was then that one of the men got up and bolted the door. The message was obvious, those who were in, were…

When old Gordon Scott greeted me, he would catch me off guard if I wasn’t careful.Gordon: “Hello brother, how’s the world treating you?”Me: “Good, thank you, brother.”Gordon: “Oh, that’s bad.”At which point he enjoyed, yet another, chuckle at my expense.His point rang true, and still does. Gordon would often talk about the ‘Gospel of John’ that he would carry around with him in the early days of his Christian walk. The roots of his humorous greeting went back to Jesus’…