Dear God, I’ve done something wholly unique this week. In planning for the talk tomorrow night, I basically wrote out a speech. I will likely take this and turn it into an outline because I don’t normally read from text, but this felt so important and out of my comfort zone, I wanted to take this approach instead. Here is what I wrote. I offer it to you as my offering:
Given the tragedy of last weekend in Kerrville [about 30 miles from where we live], I want to start with something a little different.
In 1871, there was a man named Horatio Spafford. He was a wealthy attorney and real estate investor who had put a lot of his fortune into real estate along lake Michigan in Chicago. He was also a faithful Christian and active member of the Presbyterian church. He had a wife and four daughters. That year there was the great Chicago fire that burned much of the city including Horatio’s real estate fortune.
Two years later, Horatio decided the family needed a trip abroad so he put his wife and daughters on a boat to England and he stayed behind to finish some business, planning to join them soon. Tragically, the ship his family was on struck another vessel out at sea and sank in 12 minutes. From his family, only his wife survived. He lost all of his children just two years after most of his fortune. It was similar to Job losing his fortune and then losing his children.
His wife cabled him from England with the message, “Saved alone. What shall I do?”
He rushed to be with his wife as soon as he could which meant sailing across the Atlantic himself. During the voyage, the captain of the ship went to Horatio and told him they were at the spot where his family’s boat had sunk. Horatio went up on deck, looked out at the ocean and was inspired to write these words:
When peace like a river attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul
We sang this in church Sunday, and it brought tears to my eyes. I cannot imagine the pain felt by those who have lost their children and family. I’ve not experienced that. But I have experienced pain to the point of desperation. I have been devastated.
David had been Devastated too. He wrote songs of lament when Jonathan and Saul were killed. He did the same for Joab. You can be sure he wrote a lot of poetry and songs while he was running for Saul over all of that time. Our lives will not be perfect, but God is our rock. But he ultimately wanted to show us how it was done.
So God did this amazing, miraculous thing for us. He came down and was born to a virgin. He grew up in a poor family. They all spent the first few years of his life running from Herod, moving as far away as Egypt before hearing from an angel it was safe to go home. And this Jesus grew up, taught a bunch of things that were shocking to everyone, including his closest disciples, allowed himself to be killed, rose again from the dead, and then ascended to heaven to rule with God, sending his Holy Spirit to be here with us until our death or his return, whichever comes first.
Now, to quote a pastor in Atlanta I heard once, I can understand why it would be hard for you to believe all of that. I can understand some of you looking at the virgin birth, the miracles, and the resurrection from the dead and saying, “No way am I buying that.” I get that doubt. But what I don’t get is why you wouldn’t WANT the Jesus of the Bible to be true. Not maybe what Christians in your life have told you about Jesus or shown you about Jesus through the way they live, but about the actual Jesus we learn about in the Bible. There is no reason all of us shouldn’t WANT Jesus to be true.
There are a lot of us that left God or never wanted anything to do with God because of the “hypocrites” we saw who said they believed in him but were awful or judgmental. Over the last 2,000 years, there have been a lot of people who did a lot of awful things in Jesus’s name. I don’t need to list the things. Y’all could probably give me a huge list if we had the time, but here’s how I heard someone describe the difference between who Jesus was and what he taught and some of his followers and how they have lived out their faith:
Bach wrote the “Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major.” People who understand music theory will tell you it is a genius piece of music. The music dances around the notes and starts to lead you to a note your ear wants to hear but then it leads you away again. It’s beautiful. So I heard this man describe it this way one time. He decided to take cello lessons for three days and then play the “Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major.” He then played a recording for the crowd of him playing the piece. It was not good. You could hear a few of the notes, but they were not put together in a way that was even close to what Bach wrote. And if you were to only know Bach’s piece from what this man played you would have no idea the genius that was in the “Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major.” There would be no way to.
This is the problem with a lot of Christendom now. The people who claim Jesus as Lord do not understand the piece, have not spent the time with the piece to learn it, and play it so poorly it hurts not only the ears but the soul.
So let me tell you a story that exemplifies the beauty of Jesus. It ties together his commands to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. It explains what it looks like to forgive as you have received forgiveness. It exhibits God’s call to accept his grace and then go and sin no more.
John 8:2-11 (page1042)
2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
This is what Jesus taught us. This is who Jesus is. He didn’t come to give everyone a free pass. He also didn’t come to condemn the world. He came to save the world.
Last week, D.J. did a great job of bringing in John 3:17 with John 3:16 (page 1034). Most of us have heard John 3:16 before: “For God so loved the world the he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” But here’s verse 17 right after it: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
God WANTS you. He WANTS relationship with you. And the message Jesus preached when he walked around saying the people needed to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand was not, “You best be believing in me or you’re going to go to hell.” What he was saying was, “God wants to be in your life. God wants the best for you. God loves you. All he wants you to do is love him back and then love everyone around you as much as you possibly can regardless of what it costs you.”
But it starts with surrender.
Matthew 16:24-25 (page 950)
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
And how did Jesus teach us to live? Most of it is written in the Sermon on the Mount—Jesus’s stump speech—recorded in Matthew 5-7:
- Beattitudes: Be merciful and a peacemaker and prepared to be persecuted for such outlandish thinking.
- Represent me proudly, regardless of what it costs you.
- I didn’t come here to get rid of the law and give everyone a free pass:
- You’ve heard it said don’t murder, but let me raise the bar.
- You’ve heard it said don’t commit adultery, but let me raise the bar.
- You’ve heard it said love neighbors and hate enemies, but let me raise the bar.
- Give to the needy.
- Pray (Lord’s Prayer) regularly.
- Don’t be selfish
- Don’t worry
- Don’t judge others
- Ask for things, but subject your prayers to God’s will (see “It is Well with my Soul”)
- ALL IS WRAPPED UP IN Matthew 7:12 (page 937): “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
So are you ready? In Acts 26:12-14, Paul describes Jesus stopping him while he was going from town to town arresting and persecuting Christians saying, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” Are you ready for a different life? Are you ready for a way of living that brings good fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control? Or do you want to keep doing it your way? It’s your choice.
Jesus tells you he wants you. He knows your sins. He knows every one of them. He knows every one of my sins too.
There is a T.V. Show called Ted Lasso. And in that show, there is a scene where a person gets mad at a relative and goes through a series of “Thank you” for this and “F*** you” for that. Over and over. Thank you for … and F*** you for … I woke up the next day thinking I was going to write out my own thank you/f*** you list for a couple of people, and I felt the Holy Spirit tell me, “No. First, you don’t need to see your thank you/f*** you list for them written in black and white. That will not be helpful. Second, don’t forget God has a thank you/f*** you list for you too, and you are adding to it every day. Don’t think it’s not there. The good news is, He cannot see it through Jesus’s blood. But if He can have that much grace for you, how much grace can you have for them.
Next week, I’ll be talking about where we go from here and the first steps to living a life that studies how to play the genius way of life Jesus tried to teach us. But tonight, I just want to ask if you’re ready to put your stake in the ground and accept Jesus’s invitation to be in relationship with him. Maybe it’s a first time decision. Maybe it’s a rededication to living the life he’s calling you to live. Buy you are deciding right here, on July 7, 2025, that you are ready to be the man God is calling you to be for your wife (or if you’re single, your future wife), your children and future children, and your community. But mainly, and here’s the big secret, you’re doing it because the God of the universe loves you and you can’t wait to thank him for that love, for that forgiveness, and for that freedom from the sin.
So let’s pray. [After prayer] while our heads are down and eyes are closed, and my head is down and my eyes are closed too—this is just between you and God—it’s important to not just think this in your head but to actually make a physical gesture saying this will be the start of a new day for you. So just raise your palms to heaven, even as they are in your lap or laying on the table in front of you. Raise your palms to heaven and pray with me, “Jesus, thank you. I accept your gift. I accept your death and resurrection for my sin. I am so sorry for my sin. I need you. I need your forgiveness. I need you to be reconciled to the Father. Thank you for this. And now please send me your Holy Spirit to be in me, guide me, teach me, comfort me, and express your love for me. I will learn to live the life you’re calling me to live. I will learn to worship you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I will learn what it truly means to love my neighbor, including my enemies, as myself. It will be a long journey, but I have nowhere else to go. You are my God and my savior. Thank you for loving and forgiving me.”
We pray this to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Amen
Next week, I’ll spend my time talking about where to go from here. How do we learn how to live this amazing life Jesus brought to us from the Father?
Emails to God 
Letter to the Church in Philadelphia – Revelation 3:7-13
7 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia.
This is the message from the one who is holy and true,
the one who has the key of David.
What he opens, no one can close;
and what he closes, no one can open:
8 “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me. 9 Look, I will force those who belong to Satan’s synagogue—those liars who say they are Jews but are not—to come and bow down at your feet. They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love.
10 “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world. 11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. 12 All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.
13 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.
Revelation 3:7-13
Dear God, the beginning of this letter, referencing the “key of David,” was unique so I pulled out my biblical commentary (The Communicator’s Commentary: 1, 2, 3 John and Revelation by Earl Palmer) to see what it had to say about it. It referred back to Isaiah 22:22 that says, “And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.” So these people are seen and known my Jesus in a seemingly intimate way. He has opened a door for them that no one can close. That just made me think of the last verse of the song “The Love of God” by Rich Mullins:
Joy and sorrow are this ocean
They’re in its every ebb and flow
Now the Lord a door has opened
That all hell could never close
Here I’m tested and made worthy
Tossed about, yet lifted up
In the reckless, raging fury
They call the love of God
I don’t think I ever caught this connection from Rich. I wonder if that’s what he meant. Either way, this paints a beautiful picture of Jesus appreciating these unassuming, unpowerful, faithful Christians. They weren’t doing things that felt like they were showing up in the box score. They were just living their lives as faithfully as they could, doing the next thing they saw in front of them.
I couldn’t help but notice to keep them from the “great time of testing.” What was this? Is this what people understand to be “tribulation” and perhaps a reference to “rapture” in the mentioning of avoiding that time? I don’t know. It’s interesting that the commentary ignored this part of the passage completely. Maybe I will too. 🙂
Father, I want to be what the author of the commentary, Earl Palmer, describes when talking about why he’s impressed with the Church in Philadelphia: “I am impressed by the naturalness of basic realism of this strategy of evangelism. It does not idealize the Christian missionary task; it does not call for ‘super Christians,’ but rather for garden-variety Christians who are experiencing the miracle of the love of Jesus Christ in their own lives and fellowship.” Yes, to be a general, “garden-variety” Christian living a simple life of faith is what I want. No glory. No acclaim. No scorecard I can point to at the end of the day and show people, or even you, how great I was. Just a faithful life that successfully, quietly, knocked over a couple of dominoes in other people’s lives and maybe one of those dominoes falling over will be used by you for something great. And I’ll never know about it. And no one will ever know it was me. Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I just want to serve you as simply and humbly as I can. Please bless the path I walk to make that happen, regardless of what it costs me.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Posted by John D. Willome on July 10, 2025 in Revelation
Tags: bible, christianity, Church in Philadelphia, Earl Palmer, Faith, God, Jesus, John, Revelation, The Communicator's Commentary