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all nations
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Matt 28:19
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations , baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
NIV

Mark 13:7
7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
NIV


Mark 13:9-10
10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations .
NIV



the least of
Matt 25:31-46

31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these , you did not do for me.'

46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
NIV







This morning is good like any other morning. I got out of my bed and went into the kitchen to eat breakfast, thinking about the Lord and what I might do today and this came to my mind:

On Jesus’ last day here on this Earth He told His disciples the following:

Matt 24:14
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations , and then the end will come.
NIV

Matt 28:18-19
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations , baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
NIV

Mark 13:10
10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations .
NIV

Repeatedly you find the words all nations…hum…what does that mean? All nations who worship at my Church? No. well it MUST mean those who do proper things. No. OK, it must be those who are members of my (or this or that) religion. No. Then it has to refer to those in other countries. No.

All nations simply refers to everyone. And everyone is everyone. Handicapped and not. Other countries or not. Whether they go to my Church or not. Whether they do proper things or not (especially if not) they still need salvation. If they are in your Church or religion, Church or other countries it doesn’t matter they still need Jesus.

So what if it seems they are uncommon? It does not matter to Jesus.

Please the following words from Jesus own mouth:
Matt 25:31-46

31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these , you did not do for me.'

46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
NIV

So, I think we have a lot to do, even right where we are because I want to be with the sheep on the right!

I've been listening to some very good music. My wife has been copying some of our CDs so that we can both listen to them and this one song by Steven Curtis Chapman keeps coming to my mind "I'm gunna love you with my life" and although I can remember hearing it and really liking it in the past, being who I am now and having gone through so much as I have now, that song has a totally new meaning! It is now extremely important to me. So important that it is my song now between me and Jesus. I do want to love Him with my life! It's one thing to say it and a totally different thing to do it.

At the beginning of the song it says:

There is a pressing question
My heart's been asking me
When I say I love you Lord
What does it mean?
It's one thing to say it
And another thing to do
How can I show you it's true?
I'm gonna love you with my life

The mere words say it all!
I'm gonna love you with my life

Not with my words or behavior, none of those alone (as many religions say) but with my life. Think about that for a moment. If God is omni everything and scripture clearly states that He is, then He really does know if you act one way at Church and another when you're elsewhere.

Ok then what does love you with my life mean then? Great question! We are to be like Christ, hence the name Christian. So what was Christ like? You asked another great question! People would probably say many things but patient, forgiving, always willing to go the extra mile…,you could go on and on, but the ones we named are often the hardest ones for us, as humans, to gain.

So what's different for us verses Jesus. I could be wrong, but He NEVER EVER QUETIOND HIS HOME. NEVER. But we do. We have been told many times in scripture that it is evolving, who is building it, but we want the details! Who? What? When? Why? Where? We think that we have to know! Why? Because we're humans? I don't think so, because as I have read that we're living eternally and as humans we can't do that, but human nature just drives us on and on so all we can do is trust God and go where ever He leads us.

That's what I do. I never would have thought that what has happened would have happened and that I would be alive today, but it did happen and I am alive. Why? Because He controls life and death and there's, obviously, still work to be done for Him by me.

Do I know what work I'm here for? Nope but I'm going to love him with my life! When people speak of me, I hope that they will think of Jesus!

When I was going to bed last night (yes, I'm always thinking) the main reason that I had written to you finally came to me! It's as simple as the words I'm gonna love you with my life. That's what Jesus did. At the cost of His own life He loved us, and now as Christians we're able to do the same thing: Are you willing not to be caught up in the "you display" to be caught up in the "Jesus Display"? I AM!

I am with you always

A woman in my Sunday school class gave me a poster that was all about Matthew 28:18-20 and this part of the verse was highlighted. I have always thought That’s nice but it wasn’t until recently that I saw the realism and importance of those words of Jesus.

He is OMNI everything and that alone is difficult for me as a human to understand. I simply cannot! And to realize that He would be with just me was impossible.

But He has shown me time and time again that He is with me. To the point that I just have to believe it. No, it doesn’t make sense to me and no I don’t understand it, but it’s true and it does happen.

So, when things come up or things just don’t make sense it helps me to know that He knows it too. And even if I think that I might die, I stop and realize like the Apostle Paul said: to die is gain, so really there is no worry for me when I realize this!