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"Who do people say the Son of Man is?" "John the Baptist, or Elijah? or one of the prophets." "But what about you- who do YOU say I am?"
We're prepping for Vacation Bible School- our single biggest event! We make our strongest appeal to our most important audience: our own children and their friends. It's our chance to shape the next generation. It's one of those "If I could only tell you one thing, this is it!" moments.
Here's my heart- if this is what we want our kids to build their lives on, we'd better make sure our lives are built on it, too! We're focusing on who Jesus is, what Jesus did, how we know, and where Jesus is now. That's how we're going to worship for these next several Sundays.
Here are some thoughts from C.S. Lewis I'd like you to chew on: I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God." That is one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is the Son of God, or else a madman, or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to... Now it seems obvious to me that He was neither a lunatic, nor a fiend; so consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God. (Mere Christianity, 55-56)
We may note in passing that he was never regarded as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect on any of the people who actually met him. He produced mainly three effects: hatred, terror, and adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild approval.
I love you, and I LOVE Being Your Pastor!
Rusty
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