After church services on Wednesday night the congregation was abuzz over the announcement

that was made: Jesus was coming to church next Sunday! He was not coming to preach, He was coming

to observe the church at worship. Jesus would be given a special seat of honor with a view of all the members.

This was certainly hard to believe, but coming He was, and you could rest assured that things would

not be like usual! For one thing, the preacher hurried home and began to work immediately on his

sermon. After all, there was no way he would be caught with a poorly prepared lesson on Sunday

morning. He would carefully scrutinize every aspect of the lesson. He would only preach God's word

with no additions of his own and no suggestion that any of God's word could be set aside. He would be

sure to preach with nothing but love and genuine concern for the souls in the audience. This sermon

would be special - no question about it! Jesus would be listening this Sunday, and there was no way

the sermon would be lacking.

The next morning some brother phoned Mr. Jones to tell him the news. Mr. Jones was a member

of the congregation, but he was absent last night (he had worked all day and felt "too tired" to come).

Mr. Jones quickly took out a thick black marker and wrote "Reserved" on his calendar for the hours

of worship on Sunday. This time he wouldn't let his boss talk him into working on Sunday

(which happened sometimes) or let his friends talk him into playing golf (which happened often, in good weather).

No Sir! Jesus was going to be at church next Sunday, and Mr. Jones wouldn't miss that for the world!

Coming home from the store on Friday, Mrs. Smith saw a neighbor working in her yard. Mrs. Smith slowed

the car down and turned into the neighbor's driveway so she could invite the neighbor to church

Sunday morning. Mrs. Smith rarely ever invited people to church because she expected that they

 wouldn't come anyway, or - if they did - they might be offended by the preaching. But this time was

different. Jesus was coming this Sunday and she just knew that the neighbor would want to be there!

That Saturday night, Mr. Doe was careful to get to bed early so as to get a good night's sleep.

Normally he would have stayed up late watching television or trying to get his Bible lesson done

at the last minute. The lack of sleep - not to mention lack of interest - often caused him to nod off ten

minutes into the sermon. But that wouldn't happen this Sunday. Jesus would be at church tomorrow,

and Mr. Doe would absolutely hate to fall asleep with Him watching.

       Mr. And Mrs. Peabody set their alarm clock early for Sunday morning. Quite often they ran about

five minutes late for church. While this was a little bit embarrassing, it was no big deal. Except for this

Sunday, that is. This Sunday Jesus was coming, and they would never allow Him to see them showing up late!

         Even the man who was going to lead singing had his songs all picked out ahead of time. Normally,

he would hurriedly pick out his songs just before services. But with Jesus in the audience, singing praises

 to God seemed much too important to be so carelessly planned.

There is just not enough room to adequately describe all of the changes in attitude and behavior

that occurred because Jesus was coming to church that Sunday! Bob was careful to wear clothes that

were appropriate - not too dressy (didn't want to shame those who couldn't afford them) and not sloppy

(didn't want to look like someone who didn't care).

Jill had her lesson all filled out for the first time in years.

Barbara fed her children at home so that their pew didn't look like a booth at a fast food restaurant.

Jack smiled and acted like he was actually happy to be there,

and everyone came to enthusiastically study God's word, sing songs of praise and admonition,

pray to the One who created all things, and remember the sacrifice that Christ

(who would be right there!) had made for them at Calvary.

           Because Jesus was going to be there, everyone was determined that this worship service would be

the most uplifting, the most joyous, and the most moving event that they had ever experienced!

It's too bad they didn't expect Jesus to come to every worship service.