Francis X. Hastings Sr.          

Revised, May 18, 2001

The streams of Christianity are coming together!

This was the theme of Celebrate Jesus 2000, just what does it mean?  Was it just a fancy slogan, was it a line just used to attract people or did it have some other significant meaning?  The streams of Christianity are coming together at the TWA Dome in St. Louis on June 22nd through the 25th on the 2000th anniversary of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. An event that has passed, however, it has made a lasting impression on many.  So let us continue to bring the church back together, let us make fertile again the Fig Tree, let us feed it’s roots, prune and cultivate its branches, for a tree damaged and broken will surly die.  This was not the intention of Jesus Christ upon giving Peter the keys to His Church.  Christ said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

To many people there are many reasons for the streams of Christianity to come together.  Perhaps the most important reason is to reintroduced the main virtue and the very reason that Jesus Christ was born into this world.  We as Christians know that Jesus Christ cannot and will not return for his church until his church has made themselves ready by living in the way that he instructed us.  I will not soft sell God’s promise of salvation.   We,  his church leaders have failed miserably and until we repent in the matters most important to Jesus Christ we will have no salvation.

Confusion, decent, anger, condemnation, fear, being judgmental does not come from God neither does it come from the words of his Son our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  What does come from the words of Jesus Christ is a new commandment.  Look to Matthew 37

through 40 where it is written; Jesus said, 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and the first commandment.  The second resembles it: you must love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments hang the whole law, and the prophets also.' What was the old law?  The old law was given by God handed down to Moses on two stone tablets.  The ten Commandments as found in exodus 20;1-17.  Jesus Christ came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it.  Recognize that the original ten

Commandments handed down by God were for the most part negative, three positive Commandments and seven beginning with "Thou shalt not".  God, in His goodness realized that His people were incapable of obeying His Commandments so he went one step further to make it easier for His people to receive His loving Grace of salvation.  We know that two thousand years ago God sent his only son Jesus Christ to live, to teach, to love, to heal, to feed and to give his life so that we Christians could have eternal life through our acceptance of Gods Holy Son.  Now that's as simple as it gets.

However, we Christians have in fact over simplified our ability to gain salvation through the blood of Christ.  We, the leaders, ordained to deliver God's holy word to his people have failed miserably.  We have in fact sugar coated and soft sold Gods holy word so that we His Priest and  Preachers could be comfortable and well liked in our pulpits.  We, who have been chosen as the teachers of the word will be held accountable before God for our actions and responsibilities in our ability or inability to deliver the truth.

We must stop soft selling Gods holy word, we must stop making ourselves comfortable in our teachings.  We must be bold, we must be firm, we must be matter of fact and we must teach the truth! We must become true Disciples!

Yes, it’s true, our salvation does come through our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and Redeemer.  We as Christians acknowledge and accept that Jesus Christ suffered, died, was buried and on the third day rose from the dead to have victory over Satan so that we would have eternal life through our acceptance of His sacrifice at the cross.  We as Christians from all denominations accept and teach this truth, this is the common bond we have that make us the church, the body of Christ, the temple in which he referred too when he said "The temple will be destroyed and the rebuilt in three days".  We are that temple! Christ lives in us!

The temple, the church, the body of Christ is all Christian Churches and all Christian denominations.  Until we can accept that and teach that and embrace each other and love each other and stop condemning each other we will not see the face of God!  Teaching our people that salvation is gained by merely accepting Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection is not enough!  We must emphasize that the teachings of Jesus Christ must also become a part of us and the way we live.  Faith without works is failed faith.  I am not saying that we must earn our salvation.  We cannot do that, Jesus Christ did that for us at that at the cross!  However, unless we live the teachings of Jesus Christ in the areas of Love, then we have not accepted Jesus Christ in his fullness.  By talking bad about other Christian Churches from our radio broadcast and our pulpits what we are teaching our people is to accept the messenger but reject His message. If we do not live the way he taught us, then we are like a clanging symbol making a lot of noise and no music.

Isn't it time that we come together in one voice in praise of God in thanksgiving for Jesus Christ with the common bond of love that Jesus described so beautifully and clearly in all of his teachings? 

What does denomination mean, where could this word have been derived from?  I am not a scholar, I don't claim to have the knowledge of all languages and what words could have been derived from those languages.  However, it would seem to me that the word denomination would come from the word the division. We all know that division does not come from God!  For denominations have been divisions in the body of Christ!  Look to scripture in Mark chapter 9 verses 38 through 40; John said to him, 'Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils in your name; and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him'.  But Jesus said, 'You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me.  Anyone who is not against us is for us.'

In this scripture Jesus has for told us that there would be different followers of him, different and various Christian churches.  Christ said, 'Anyone who is not against us is for us'.  What is it that we don't understand about his teachings in this scripture.  What is it that we don't understand about the differences between loving your neighbor or condemning your neighbor.  Why is it that even after specific instruction through Christ’s' Holy word that we still feel we can stand in judgment over our Christian brothers.  Only God is the judge, we must stop setting ourselves up before others as God.  God is not the author of the hatred, anger, condemnation or fear, neither is He the author of confusion.  The church today when preaching these negative teachings are following not God and his teachings but rather they are allowing Satan to teach and instill in us hatred, anger, condemnation and fear all in the name of God!

Denomination, I don't like that word.  I don't believe that word is from God.  I have to say that I believe we must begin to live as Christ asked us to live.  We must love one another, we must allow one another to worship Jesus Christ within the doctrine and dogma of their specific churches.  Though many Christian churches we have but one God, in the spirit of ecumenism, in the spirit of love, in the spirit of Jesus Christ can we come together and love one another and worship one God, one voice as Christians, one church (the temple, the body of Christ).

Different churches, one God, one voice, the voice of the body of Christ!  We his people, various churches, diversified ethnic ancestry, the rich or the poor, the sick and healthy, no matter who we are or where we are as Christians let us finally live together in loving harmony as Jesus Christ asked us to do.  Perhaps by living this way, the way Jesus Christ instructed us to live we may one day be like the Prodigal Son, reunited into the family with great celebration and jubilation.

I would like to conclude with the scripture from Matthew chapter 10,  verses 40 through 42;

'Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me; and those who welcome me welcome the one who sent me. 'Anyone who welcomes the prophet because he is a prophet will have prophet's reward; and anyone who welcomes the holy man because he is a holy man will man's a holy man's reward.  If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, then I tell you solemnly, he will certainly not lose his reward.'

Come Lord Jesus Christ, renew the face of the earth, come Holy Spirit, kindle your fire in the hearts and actions of all within your flock, all Christians throughout the world.

For the Glory of God the Father, I remain, 

Faithfully Yours in Christ Jesus.

Francis X. Hastings Sr.