"Consequently, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring...." (Acts 26:19)
My commitment is to Jesus Christ. When I first encountered "religion," it was Jesus Christ who was waiting for me. As Peter said, it is "through Him" I "believe in God." As a very little boy, I did not see a "heavenly vision" as Paul; I saw Jesus and heard of Jesus in my father and mother and grandparents and Guy Eli, whom, when I was only four years old, can still remember singing with my Dad and me in our 1941 Studebaker, "I Need Jesus." Then there was 83 year old, "Daddy" Shultz, who, when he prayed, I remembered thinking as a six year old, "Could this be what the scene in Gethsemane was like?" Then there was------- sorry, I could keep going.
Before I could read, I also heard of Jesus in great songs such as, "Jesus Is All the World to Me" and "The Name of Jesus Is So Sweet" and "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" and "Moment By Moment"
"Dying with Jesus by death reckoned mine,
Living with Jesus a new life divine,
Looking to Jesus 'til glory doth shine,
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine."
"Moment By Moment" was written by Major Daniel Whittle, a Major in the American Civil War. He composed this song in 1893, and when the great Andrew Murray heard the words, he adopted it as "his favorite hymn." It is reported that Whittle, while attending the World's Fair in Chicago, met Henry Varley, a lay preacher from London. Varley said to Whittle, "I do not like the hymn 'I Need Thee Every Hour.' Whittle replied, "Very well, I need Him every moment of the day."
Here is a great, maybe the great, key to life:
1. "Dying with Jesus"
2. "Living with Jesus"
3. "Looking to Jesus"
4. And doing all, "Moment By Moment"
This is not a sermon. It is my Life. He is my Life. And for over 48 years, in the words of our text, I have "kept declaring."
Father, in Jesus' Name, as with Your "Breathed" Word, keep these songs in my heart. Amen.
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* For a report on yesterday's rally at the United Nations, and brief testimony of Major Whittle, go to: www.antipasprayerforce.blogspot.com
* I am preaching this coming weekend in the CCE meetings-- Maybe I'll sing some of these songs.
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