For the first time . . .

If you were there about 2,000 years ago you probably would have ran off like everybody else.  We like to think that we would be different - that we would have stayed with Jesus right up to the end.  Like Peter - even if we had to die with Him, we never would have left.

But remember a few things:

* There was no New Testament. No Gospel.  No weight of thousands of years of religion behind this new movement.  Just a man who claimed to be one with the Father.  There are many of them around today that we write off as religious wackos.  Jesus would be no different to you.

* There was no accepted concept of grace and pardon and mercy - the Law was God's revelation to mankind.  Yes, a good portion of it talks about the grace and mercy of God but like people do today, the religious types find the things that they like to focus on and it wasn't grace.  So listening to this man talk about God like a daddy and emphasize the grace and mercy of the Law sounded like a hippie version of God.  You too would have thought this.

* There was no Church - no place to go to discuss this man Jesus and consider His teaching and evaluate whether He really was the Messiah.  Those who talked about Jesus among the religious were those that were plotting His death.  So chances are the only version of Jesus you were hearing was a twisted version of the Son of God.

Now think about this -

For many of our friends, coworkers and family those three things still apply today.  There are many who have heard the name of Jesus but don't know who He is.  Many who have never heard of grace - only the condemnatory remarks of the religious types in our culture.

And yes, for many there is no church they attend - your interactions may be the only place they hear about God . . .

But this weekend is a weekend that people are most open to coming with you to a place to hear about the life-transforming work of Jesus in our everyday life.

There are eight locations of LCBC throughout Southeastern PA that would love for you come this weekend and bring a friend that has never heard the truth.  Perhaps it can be a place to start the conversation about what God is doing in our lives here and now.

Consider bringing someone to church at LCBC this weekend.  Check out our locations here.