Monday, April 11, 2005

 

Dear family,

 

I have been listening to The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir's cd "This is Your house."  The first song on one of the cd's is "Because of who you are." This is one of the most inspiring songs I have ever heard.  

 

When Christ walked the sea shore of Galilee and selected the ones who would be assigned to carry on His earthly mission after His death, He selected them not because of who they were but because of who they would be.  Once He had selected them He told them that someday they would all meet in the mountains near by for His final appearance with them alone.

 

Matt 28:16)  Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17) When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. 18) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19) "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20) "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. (NKJ)

 

The eleven went to the appointed location and Christ met them there. When they saw Him they worshiped Him, but some doubted. It seems somewhat unreasonable that after all they had witnessed there would be some remaining who would still doubt who He was but they did.  "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth".    Because of who He is, we have the authority and the responsibility to tell the world Who He is. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."  

 

Today we are in a war against terrorism being propagated by a segment of society who does not know who Jesus Christ really is. It is easy for us to say, they don't know Jesus the way we do but then we don't know Jesus as He is or else we would be different in our daily lives. If we were telling the world and showing the world a living example of who He is we would not see the terrible things happening throughout the world today. If the world knew who Jesus Christ really is, the world would be a different place. There would be no debate about school prayer, separation of church and state, conservative judges, porn and homosexuality. If we really knew Jesus Christ as He is, there would be no discussion about religious tolerance. It is not about these things, it is about "Who He is" and mankind's relationship to Him is! We will never win the war against terrorism until we win the war against tolerance and diversity (synonyms for sin and immorality).  We will never win the war against terrorism until we win the war against our uncontrolled selfish appetites. We will never win the war against terrorism until we win the war against all the false gods we worship and serve. Money, power and self importance have become our supreme gods blinding the world from  the true God and His son Jesus Christ. 

 

We have the key to the victory over terrorism. Like the disciples did 2000 years ago we must come to Him and acknowledge "WHO HE IS."  Only when we as individuals come to the knowledge of who he is and what he can and will do will we be able to carry out the mission He gave those disciples on that day.  "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. (NKJ). The victory is in introducing the world to Him and teaching the world how to become His disciple. The victory is in the courage to be His disciple. The victory is in the courage of "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you."  This is not about becoming an actor acting out some goodie good role.  It is about getting to know Jesus Christ and developing a genuine personal relationship with Him. It is about coming to know Him well enough to love Him. It is about knowing Him well enough to worship Him. It is about knowing Him well enough to obey Him. It is about getting to know Jesus Christ well enough to be changed by Him. It is about saying Jesus I worship you. I love and obey you not because of who I am but "Because of Who You are!"

 

Love

 

Dad