Jesus Is Not a Politically Correct Wimp.
This is a great article about the public perception of Jesus and the reality of Jesus in the Bible.
Jesus Is Not a Politically Correct Wimp
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Tag Archives: Jesus God the Son
Video of “Chain of Custody” of the Bible and “Did Jesus claim to be God” from J Warner Wallce, Cold Case Christianity website
Chain of Custody video J Warner Wallace – Cold Case Christianity
Did Jesus Claim to Be God? (Cold-Case Christianity Broadcast #10)
Online home to J. Warner Wallace, author of Cold Case Christianity and Christian apologist.
http://coldcasechristianity.com/2014/did-jesus-claim-to-be- . . .
I do not claim to be an expert in any areas of theology/Christianity. I have a Master’s of Divinity Degree and so I am considered to be professionally qualified as a Pastor and as much as possible an authority on Lutheran Doctrine and pastoral practice. Point is, there are people out there who have become very expert in different aspects of Christianity and one of those is J Warner Wallace. Pastor Wallace was a cold-case police detective in the Los Angeles Police Department who looks at the history and authenticity of Christianity and puts it under scrutiny as a detective, particularly a cold-case detective. A cold-case detective almost never has any physical evidence and therefore has to build a case on a lot of different aspects of the case, which is presented in court to prosecute the suspect.
As a detective Pastor Wallace is also very familiar with the “chain of custody”. As a Federal Police Officer in the Coast Guard I was also very well trained in the “chain of custody”. Any evidence recovered from a suspected crime scene has to be handled with utmost security in order to assure that lawyers, judges, etc, have complete confidence that this evidence hasn’t been tampered with in any way. If there is any serious question as to the chain of custody important evidence can be excluded from a trial, obviously the effect of that could destroy a case. Wallace applies those same parameters to test the “chain of custody” of the Bible and he shows that there is very little doubt that the chain of custody has been faithfully maintained dating back, in the case under discussion, to the Apostle John. The first link is to that video, you can paste that link into your browser to see the video on the “Cold Case Christianity” website.
The other link is to Pastor Wallace’s podcast which raises the issue whether Jesus actually claimed to be God. This is an issue that Bible opponents love to raise, did Jesus come straight out and say “Hi, I’m God.”? Well he did, too often we try to put everything in our own context, 21st century Americans, and when we don’t see that in other times and places we dismiss the claim. Jesus made it very clear to His 1st century Jewish listeners that He was very much God and they understood Him very clearly. Listen as Pastor Wallace explains how Jesus made it very clear who He was.
I do want to make it clear, that as Christian disciples we are not made Christian disciples by the evidence. We are brought to faith in Jesus by the Holy Spirit, we don’t want to make our Christian faith a test of physical evidence. By the same token when we leave questions unanswered to people who are obviously antagonistic to the faith, we raise questions in others as to the authenticity of the Christian faith. Often I’ve found myself acting more as an “apologist” a defender of the faith, not for the benefit of the person who is challenging what I’m teaching, but the benefit of the weaker brother or sister whose faith might be undermined because of an antagonist. Our faith is in Christ, He is the One who leads and guides us, the Lord of our lives. We do not need the physical evidence, but often we are challenged by a hostile world and we want to: “but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;” (1 Pet 3:15 ESV) I would really encourage you to check out Pastor Wallace’s website, he has a lot of great blogs, podcasts and videos on many fascinating aspects of “…the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3 ESV)
9/11 was a fateful date in my life
A couple of milestones, first I just published my 200th post, decent amount for thirteen months of writing. Thanks very much for those who check out my blogs. Most other bloggers are better and more prolific than I am, (and OK, much more popular) but blogging gives me a chance to address some issues, refer people to when they’d like to check out my ministry and an artistic outlet for me. (Yea, I know, not very artistic, but it is for me.)
Other milestone, much more compelling, the thirteenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington D.C. and western Pennsylvania.
I was working in corporate finance for Robert Half International in downtown Boston. Worked half a block from Boston Common. Like everyone else this day didn’t start out notably and there was nothing about the day that was at all out of the norm. Nice weather, a little chilly, hey it’s Boston in September, it cools off quick after Labor Day. Pleasant enough walk from South Station, about a mile. Into the day, heard on the radio that a plane hit the World Trade Center. Like others, I thought they were referring to some small craft, didn’t sound like too much of a surprise. The buzz in the office, though, was slowly, but steadily, increasing and I decided to check the television. Clearly this was much more serious. Then the second plane hit and then the plane hit the Pentagon. It was quickly disclosed what flights these planes were and where they had originated, Boston.
I don’t know how, but it had to be one of the one of the fastest decisions in city and state government I’ve every known. Everyone leaves the city who doesn’t live here and they need to be out by 2pm. None of us needed much encouragement. Terrorists struck two major east coast cities, the flights originated from Boston, who is to say there aren’t more and one, or more, aren’t aimed at Boston.
On my way to the last train out of South Station is one of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had. The mile walk in the heart of Boston on a weekday in September consists of waiting for walk lights, dodging traffic to get across streets, traffic congestion and noise, planes very low over head landing at Logan Airport just across the inner harbor. There wasn’t a lot of idle chatter on the train home and it seemed as if the train crew was on a mission to finish the course and get the heck home themselves.
I knew one NYPD Officer and one Fire Department of New York firefighter and also someone at the Pentagon. Also my corporate jobs were all closely associated with NYC. My first job was with Chase Manhattan, and subsequent companies I worked for had me handling the NYC area. Spent a lot of time in NYC and knew a lot of people in different corporations there. None of them, thankfully suffered any ill-effects due to the attacks.
I wasn’t going to get hold of anyone for a while, but they were all in my prayers. Churches across my home city, mine included, were open the next night and as you may know, church attendance spiked for the next few weeks. Flags were hung, various patriotic displays and waiting for the next step.
I had been serving in the United States Coast Guard Reserve for twenty-five years. Yes, the Coast Guard is a military organization, in fact the unit I was in at the time was a Naval Coastal Warfare unit. This was a unit deployable to anywhere in the world. These units were formed after the bombing of the U.S.S Cole in Yemen In October, 2000 in order to protect U.S. ships in foreign ports. We were told to keep our cell phones on, our seabags packed and be prepared to leave at very short notice. This unit stayed mobilized until August 2002. We were deployed for almost three months to Tarragona, Spain to do force protection for a NATO exercise in Spain.
From there I went back to the boat station I had been with for over twenty years. From there to a temporary assignment to the First District Small Boat Tactical Team to do security for different High Interest Vessels and locations in the First District (mostly New England) and then back to my boat station for the rest of my four years on active duty in the War On Terror.
My corporate job had dissolved since my time on active duty, yea legal, but not really very supportive? But in the meantime, it was decided that I attend seminary and was accepted at Concordia Seminary in St Louis to study for a Master of Divinity degree and to begin my third career as a Minister of the Gospel. I successfully finished in 2010 and was called to my first parish, First Saint Johns Lutheran Church in York, Pa.
God’s hand was clearly in the events in my life in the last thirteen years and the Holy Spirit certainly guided me through a challenging, exciting and interesting time. Praise God and I pray that He uses my experiences to His glory and to serve others to the glory of Jesus Christ.
Questions can often only be answered by doing and not fussing.
Having been a still, relatively, recent seminary graduate, Master of Divinity (2010 – Concordia Seminary St Louis, Mo.), I think I can comment with some authority on Henry Blackaby’s comment”…merely ‘talking about the Christian pilgrimage is not sufficient. We must actually set out on the journey! We can spend many hours debating and discussing issues related to the Chritian life, but this means little if we never actually step out and follow Christ!” (“Experiencing God day by day” p 24). Yea and amen, it doesn’t just apply to seminary students, although it seemed as if too many thought that ministry was all about sitting around thinking great thoughts and then on Sunday morning coming down to dispense their great wisdom. Yea, well neither one applies to anyone that I met, and I think that after 4 years of actual ministry (my anniversary was this past August), I think I can say with some authority that I didn’t meet any students that had many, if any great thoughts.
The same can be said for many who have spent years, decades in the church. Sure we are to study Scripture, right up until they are throwing dirt on our face, but as Blackaby writes “Christianity is not a set of teachings to understand. It is a Person to follow. As he walked with Jesus, Andrew watched Jesus heal the sick, teach God’s wisdom, and demonstrate God’s power. Andrew not only learned ‘about’ God; he actually experienced Him!”
OK, point taken Christianity is about being a disciple, unless you are in unusual circumstances, discipling means being taught by another person and teaching another person, at the same time. While also continuing to study and be encouraged by Scripture.
I disagree that “Christianity is not a set of teachings to understand…” Yea, it really is, you always have Jesus and He will disciple you, but there may be unusual times when you just have Scripture and no one to disciple, be discipled by. Certainly we turn in prayer to God and are guided by the Holy Spirit. But point taken, bottom line being a Christian is being in relation with Jesus.
In that discipling relationship there will no doubt be questions. Certainly it is our nature to have our questions answered before we start out. In the Coast Guard you had these guys who had to have every question answered before they got underway, generally they just got shoved out the door. You can stand around talking it to death or you can get underway, get on scene, and you will get answers and rely on your training, experience and greater minds at the station to address the situation. In the meantime, yapping about it at the station and instead of getting there produces very little.
In my Christian walk it has been uncanny how many times the answers have come while I was in the process. Sometimes they wouldn’t come until after you were settled in the lane you were guided to travel and realize that the only way those questions could have been answered was to actually follow the Holy Spirit’s leading and play it out. I’ve had many experiences of looking back and thinking “ohhhh, that’s how that was supposed to be, that’s so cool, I would have never have thought that.” Like it or not, the Holy Spirit is going to do it much better than you and in a way that often just leaves you in awe. “I would never have done it that way.”
Despite what you think, you are not entitled to answers to everything, often the whole point is for you to get underway and the answers come. Your growth comes in being guided by the Spirit, getting answers on the way and it’s the only way it could have happened.
Many think that they have a “choice”, well yea, the right way (God’s way) or the wrong way (your way). Some people like to go to God with an attitude of; “You answer all my questions, give me your pitch and then I”ll think it over and get back to you.” As if God’s Son is some kind of vacuum cleaner salesman.
Blackaby suggests that Jesus might say, ‘Put on your shoes, step out onto the road and follow Me.’ As you walk daily with Him, Jesus will answer your questions, and you will discover far more than you even knew to ask.”
Get off your high horse, listen, quit quibbling. There are no better offers and when you really submit yourself to God and trust in His Word instead of listening to your own, often, pompous nonsense, you will find that you really do understand, and that you aren’t even close to really understanding. That you realize you don’t need to know everything. You can trust Jesus and His Lordship and you can get on with what you need to do.
Do we take the chance to bless anyone. First St Johns Aug 31, 2014
(click on the above link or copy and paste into your browser to hear the recorded version of this sermon)
We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who pray for those who torment them said … AMEN!
Paul is usually a tough read. While I sit hear and listen as people do the readings and please don’t get me wrong, the people who step up here and contribute to this church when they serve as readers do a tremendous service and they do a great job and I want to thank them for stepping up. But there are times when I feel bad, because Paul can get awfully tortuous and it’s difficult to follow a thought and put in the right punctuation in their head. Well today, Paul is about as straight forward and to the point as you can get. First sentence “Let love be genuine.” Very straight forward to read, to explain … well a lot more ambiguous.
This whole pericope is about being “genuine”, being a real Christian disciple. When Paul talks about your love being genuine, it’s that you should want what is absolutely best for the other person. At the end of worship, I try to make sure that I ask for “Faith Sharing” moments. These are not intended for you to put pressure on people to go to the right church and get their life all together instantly. These are intended to keep us all aware that we are disciples, that our life is about sharing Christ, or at least it should be. When we have a “Faith Sharing” moment we are showing genuine love. “I care enough about you to stop and talk to you and to share with you what is really important, that is life in Christ.” Regardless of what the world tells us, of all the things that should be “important”, there is only one truly important thing and I’m sharing this with you right now, that Christ is my Lord and is always with me and that He has promised eternal life in the resurrection to me and does to you as He leads you to true knowledge in Him.” That is true love, that is selflessly putting yourself out so that you can show that person Christ, so that you can witness to that person what is truly important in this world, and eternity. Remember how we really only have one word for love, the Greeks had four words for the same word that we use rather glibly. Be assured that when they used the word agape, they knew exactly what they were saying. They weren’t saying that God was nice, or pleasing, or my buddy, they were saying that God’s love for us is self-sacrificing, that He would do for us whatever would be for our benefit, for our growth, for us to come closer to Him and His will for us in our lives. That self-sacrifice was up to and including giving His life for us so that our sin would be paid for and that we would have that promise of eternal life. Can we bless someone any better than that?
The word “genuine” in Greek is avnupo,kritoj meaning without hypocrisy, it is sincere, unfeigned, the absolute truth. You’ve heard that we should make relationships with people and not deal with the Christian thing. Isn’t that really hypocrisy? If you’re going to know me, I hope you will know that I am a Christian, and that I’m going to live my life as a Christian witness in all parts of my life. Anything else would be insincere, hypocritical.
There is so much in this passage, this could go on for hours, but let’s remember who Paul is writing to, I might be repeating myself, but these people are right on the nub of Christian persecution. Paul is writing from Corinth. I’m sure the contrast wasn’t lost on Paul, “I’m writing from a city that treats Christ like a buddy, the church like a plaything, a place where those in the church have a long way to go to Christian maturity.” I’ll bet Paul was thinking; “how do I show these people what the Roman church is dealing with, people who are being oppressed and persecuted for the faith. I don’t have any problem here, because these people treat church like a party. The Romans are sacrificing everything, up to their lives, and they treat the church like a life-preserver, Christ’s church is the only thing they can rely on in a world that is a very real danger, spiritually and physically.”
Paul probably wrote this epistle in 56 AD, at this point the Roman Republic is beginning to crumble, the Roman army, essentially took over the government and placed their man Claudius as emperor, who was poisoned and followed by Nero. You may know that Nero probably started a fire that burned most of Rome that he subsequently blamed on Christians. I’m sure you can imagine how that made life very difficult for Christians. Nero would have Christians killed in the Roman games and use Christians as human torches to light his garden parties. No doubt Paul was aware of at least some of the things that they endured and was trying to encourage them, but he also wanted to remind them that regardless of how much danger his Christian brothers and sisters faced, they were still expected to be faithful and live a Christ-like life, and remarkably, they did.
Paul’s epistle to people who are being so beaten down is a continuous reminder to us that we, who live a pretty comfortable life in the church, are expected to live up to Christian principles in an even more exemplary manner. Our prayer group has put a lot of focus on Christian brothers and sisters who being systematically murdered in Iraq right now. There is a picture of Christians being crucified, I thought of using that picture, but it is very graphic, but just the very idea of brothers and sisters being crucified and beheaded as we enjoy our comfortable lives here in the United States should be a compelling reminder that we should faithfully live up to Paul’s exhortations in this letter in an even more intentional manner. That we should be more active and intentional in blessing those around us.
In the face of this persecution that the Romans are facing, Paul goes on to remind them: “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulations, be constant in prayer.” If someone is trying to hurt us and even murder us, this has to be a tough reminder. Let’s face it, our immediate reaction is to be like the world, someone’s trying to hurt me, I’m going to hurt them back. We are told to “do undo others as we would have them do unto us” (Luke 6:31), the world tells us “to do unto others before they do unto us”. Paul is telling us to rejoice in hope, be patient, PRAY!! It is hard, but as Christians, those who are mature in the faith, we are called to do the “hard” thing. Jesus certainly did! If we are being beaten, tortured, mocked, scorned, hung on a cross, are we going to rejoice, be patient? Aren’t we going to curse them? Jesus didn’t. That’s why we are called to a higher life. While He hung on that cross He said; “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” He who endured so much for us, expects us to reach for the higher standard that He set. We shouldn’t repay evil but are called to do what is honorable. It is interesting that Paul tells us that we are expected to leave vengeance to God. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Paul tells us that we should give our enemy food and drink, why? “…by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head.” It’s a tough lesson, but that is where our faith comes in, that faith that the Holy Spirit gives us to endure. If you really want payback on your enemy, who would do it much better than you ever could? God can and He promises that He will. In the meantime, we should, in faith, pray for that person. We should follow Jesus’ lead and ask the Father to forgive the person who persecutes us and then trust in how the Father is going to deal with that person. In our Christian hearts what we want for the person is not eternal condemnation, we want them to be a brother or sister in Jesus and come to us for forgiveness.
Spend some time with that journal and think about how we can “overcome evil with good” and trust in our Father’s sovereign judgment. Who is it in our life that needs our prayer, that may be tormenting us but still needs forgiveness as much as we do.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.
100th blog
I just did my 100th blog, which is pretty neat. Appropriately enough it was sharing another’s blog to remember those who serve in our military and are in difficult, uncomfortable and even dangerous places. (I’m sorry I forgot his name, so now you have to check out the blog to get his name.) Anyway, I pray that in 100 attempts, I have made some difference, did something to truly serve my Lord Jesus Christ in someone else’s life. Some I’ve done just to have a little fun, or get something on the table, but I try to make most to make a difference for the Kingdom – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. May God richly bless you.
One other quick thing I wanted to note, I’m sure it’s probably not a big deal for most of you who have been doing this longer and much better than me, but at this time people in 24 different countries, which have been from every continent, have viewed my posts. Can’t say I’ve gotten a lot of feedback, so don’t know how much they’ve been “viewing”, but I really do appreciate seeing so many different people have at least give me a chance. Again, God bless.
The Transfiguration of Christ.
Jesus, God our Savior reveals His deity
First St Johns March 2, 2014
So now we go from Christmas/Epiphany to Lent/Easter, a profound switch. Christmas /Epiphany a season of great celebration, of great promise, the baby, the magi. We go from a pregnant-teenage Mary, courageously traveling 70 some miles on a donkey to give birth to Meshach, the promised one, in the promised location of Bethlehem foretold 700 years earlier by the prophet Micah. Now she courageously follows Jesus to the cross which Jesus certainly foretold, He tells us in our reading today: “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” Simeon told Mary in the temple “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), (Luke 2: 34-35) Later in Matthew 17 Jesus explicitly says “…”The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.” (Matt 17: 22-23) Everyone is on notice, and they seem to take it seriously, but this passes and it’s business as usual. Lent is a season of repentance, part of repentance requires some serious introspection. We are so focused on moving forward, so focused on tomorrow, not only do we forget the past pretty quickly, but most of the time we aren’t even in the moment, we so often don’t realize what is going on around us, the importance of what is happening in real time, right here and now. Look at Peter. As usual, God bless him, he is off and running. He has just seen an astounding event, he certainly knows Jesus the man, He has been with Jesus for sometime, Jesus’ ministry was for three years. So Peter knows Jesus the man, but now he has been privileged to see Jesus God the Son. “His face shown like the sun”, even with today’s technology, we can only light something up so much. Athletes can easily tell you the difference between playing on a sunny day, compared with playing under the lights at night. “…his clothes became white as light”. Remember they’ve just climbed this mountain, now it is hilly here, much more then I’m used to in Massachusetts, but having been to Israel and seen the “mountains” we are talking a hike, a serious effort climbing up a rocky, dirty, dusty mountain. How do you think they looked by the time they got to the top of this mountain?… Yea, scroungy and sweaty and covered with dust and whatever. How do you think that despite the grime and grunge of climbing up a mountain, that these guys looked when they got to the top, that now they see Jesus in such glory that they are down on their faces, terrified? Maybe covering their eyes from the intensity of the light? They‘ve seen Jesus in His essence as true God, the “Keyword Study Bible” describes the Greek wordmetemorfw,qh“To transform, transfigure, change one’s form …Spoken literally of Christ’s transfiguration on the mount.”1 Jesus literally transformed into His essence as God the Son.
As I said, Peter is off and running, he’s so eager about what he’s seen, what should he have been eager about? … He’s just seen Jesus as God! I will bet that Peter, like too many of us today, was a little too familiar with Jesus the man, even though Jesus never hesitated to hold Peter accountable, to assert His authority over Peter, after reading this I think that Peter got a little too chummy, a little too familiar. Why does it seem that way? … Yea Jesus is great and He’s done great things, but right here I’ve seen these two guys I’ve heard about all my life,WOW! “Lord, it is good that we are [wow, thanks, that was so cool seeing Moses and Elijah, thanks and ah… of course You]. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” What’s Peter really telling Jesus? … “Oh yeah, you’re great! And so are Elijah and Moses”. Ya, NO! Elijah and Moses are great, but they are still men, regular people just like you and me. To be sure, God used them mightily, but they are still men. Who is Jesus? … Not only did this happen, but they’ve seen Jesus in a way that could only be seen in terms of Jesus being God, the divinity of Jesus. Peter’s trying to make them all equally great, but right on cue God the Father chimes in from the cloud: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Elijah and Moses are great, but this is My Son, the One and only the Meshiach, the promised One, true God, true man, He is and will be the redeemer of all who know Him as Lord. So, listen to Him. “The Case for Christ Study Bible”, Lee Stroebel, notes: “Moses appears as the representative of the old covenant and the promise of salvation, which was soon to be fulfilled in the death of Jesus. Elijah appears as the appointed restorer of all things…”2 Elijah was supposed to be the person who would make the way straight for the Lord, Jesus explained that John was Elijah and that is what John did. Both men have set the table, in baseball you have the guys who can get on base, they reliably hit singles to get on base to be driven home by the big slugger. Jesus is the big slugger, Jesus is the ultimate slugger, the Son of God, He is going to drive His chosen people home, the entire history of the Bible, by being that perfect sacrifice, being the complete fulfillment of everything the cumulative revelation of God through Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, on and on. All that they have done can only be brought together by Him who has demonstrated for the past three years who He is, but has now given them a very graphic representation that He is indeed God the Son. Great, Moses and Elijah, but God the Father proclaims who Jesus is and that we should always, ultimately listen to Him.
Peter tells us in his epistle, our reading today: “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty…we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven…” David Ohlman writes; [The word] do,xan “glory, manifestation of radiance, brightness, splendour.’ The important point about the glory of which Peter speaks [2 Peter 1:17] is that it is manifested. This glory looks backward to Moses and Elijah and forward to the second coming of Jesus.”3 As Rev Ohlman points out: “…there is something that false religions lack. They lack the Word … God continues to speak, apart from anything man might do. He continues to call out to his children and bless them. The true God is not sitting in some particular place waiting for someone to bring him something…”4 The point was made on the White Horse Inn, that, “It was well known in the ancient world that the God of Israel acted and spoke to Israel, the “gods” of other people’s didn’t.”5 There are a lot of dumb idols that people worship today, they don’t speak or act either, Peter points out that there are many cleverly devised myths from his time. He is probably writing to the Christian churches 30-40 years after the event on the mountain, and this isn’t the first time, Peter wasn’t with Jesus at His baptism, but certainly it was common knowledge that the Father pronounced: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” (Mark 9:7) He was an eyewitness on the mountain and there were numerous eyewitnesses at Jesus’ baptism, there was no doubt about what the Father was proclaiming, this is Him who has been promised, my only begotten Son, true God.
The Father bookends His proclamations of who Jesus is around Jesus’ ministry, from His baptism to the point that leads to the cross. Jesus is making it very clear from this point, where this will end, He will die as the sacrifice for the sins of the world and all people that He brings to Himself, all of us who are adopted through our baptism into His death, who take His Body and Blood who know Jesus as their Lord, will be saved because God the Son came to minister and to ultimately be the sacrifice by which we are saved. So take some time this week to journal what this means, that God, who reveals Himself to us through His Word, is your Lord and your Redeemer. What would be going through your mind if you were on that mountain as Jesus revealed Himself as God. Begin now that introspection and repentance that we should practice in this season of Lent
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.
1Keyword Study Bible p 2222
2Lee Strobel The Case for Christ Study Bible p 1344
3Rev David Ohlman Concordia Pulpit Vol 24 Part 1, Series A p 43
4Ibid p 44
5White Horse Inn podcast, December 2013
Pastor Jim Driskell 