“Jesus Is The Light And The Hope Of All Nations!” ~ Welcome To “Coffee With The Clancys” ~ Where God Is Good And So Is The Coffee! On their new album “Kingdom Come,” Bryan and Katie Torwalt are singing about how Jesus is the hope and the light of every nation. Jesus is what we ALL have been waiting for, hoping for, for all of our lives! I shout and dance and sing along with the Torwalts’ amazing song and declare with all my strength, mind, soul and spirit that this is TRUE with a capital “T!” But, what exactly does this mean and why is Jesus the hope of every nation, every people group? What is it about Jesus and his uniqueness that would cause the Torwalts’ to declare and sing these truths? And why is Jesus the Light and Hope to those who worship other gods, or no god at all for that matter? Link to the Torwalts’ song “He Is The Light:” https://youtube/watch?v=G4eT0X5AzK0 Here are some of the lyrics to this amazing song: “All of creation is waiting and longing ~ For sons and daughters to declare this truth Lift up your head ~ Lift up your voice and sing.” Chorus: “He is the light ~ Shining in the darkness He is the hope ~ Hope of all the nations He is the light ~ He is the light For all the world to see!” What is this LIGHT that is so unique that Jesus alone is shining out with it? Is Jesus really the Light shining in the darkness? Is He the HOPE of ALL the nations? In what way is Jesus this amazing HOPE? And exactly how is it that Jesus is the Light and the Hope for ALL THE WORLD TO SEE? What are these Torwalts’ singing about anyway? We have all heard songs of this type declaring amazing things about the person of Jesus. We have heard them, all of our lives, if we grew up in Christian families. Many times, even if we didn’t grow up in a Christian family we have heard these types of statements about the person of Jesus, but why? How did a Jewish carpenter, turned Jewish Rabbi, living on the outskirts of the Roman Empire have such an incredible impact on the entire world? What was He saying that brought such hope, such joy? How was it different than any other spiritual teacher that came before or after him? What is SO unique about the message of Jesus? In almost every Bible College and Christian seminary one of the first classes you will take is on the centrality of Christ. If you have been a Christian any length of time at all you have most likely heard this term in your studies of the Christian Faith. This is one of the first things you study (or should be) when you go to Bible College or seminary. The idea this doctrine communicates is that Jesus is not just one aspect of who God is; He is the exact representation of God’s being as it states in Hebrews 1:3. In contrast to this truth, I often hear Christian pastors and teachers teaching as if Jesus is one aspect of God’s character! As if the Old Testament reveals a very different nature and character about who our God is! This is a GIGANTIC ERROR and it has been used by the enemy to distort the nature and character of God the Father and even the person of Jesus and His finished work on the cross! Because of this distortion of the truth of who God is, many Christians begin to wonder what this Great Light is and why is this so joyful? The Torwalts, along with many other Christian song and hymn writers are singing about this incredible hope, but why? Many of the actions of the God revealed in the Old Testament do not seem worthy of this great joy in the pronouncement of His coming! It seems a little more terrifying, than hopeful or joyful! On May 25th, 1977 the first Star Wars movie was released in theatres all across the country. I was eighteen at the time and very involved with the Christian Youth Group I belonged to. The interesting phenomena that was happening in many youth groups was the phrase declaring that, “Jesus is the Force,” it even became a Christian bumper sticker! An interesting thought, and I am sure well-intentioned, but not even close to the truth about who Jesus or the Christian God is. Yet, I remember my youth director almost promoting this idea as a new doctrine to our youth group. This was in a conservative Evangelical Church by the way. So, Jesus is the Force? Do we not at our very core understand that this is completely false? Yes, there was a cosmic battle of Good versus Evil, but that being said, all similarity ends! The Force, while presented with “God” like attributes, is completely non-personal. While there is a conflict between Good and Evil, the Force is on BOTH SIDES OF THIS CONFLICT! The Force is both good and evil and you get to decide which side of the Force you want to align with, but both sides of the Force are equally relevant to human life. It is only because of the Churches overall confusion about who Jesus revealed God the Father to be that any idea of Jesus being the Force became popularized at all. Instead of believing what Jesus taught about God we somehow feel more comfortable with the following doctrines and beliefs: 1. God is in complete control of ALL events that occur, both good and evil. 2. The devil cannot do anything to us unless God specifically allows him to do it. 3. In this way, every evil event that occurs to us, or our loved ones, is part of God’s wonderful plan for our lives. 4. That we have no idea what God is really like, He is a complete mystery. 5. Jesus revealed only the loving aspect of God’s character, he was not a complete revelation of God’s character and nature. 6. The loving Jesus is saving us from the judgment of the wrath filled Father God. 7. We can only truly know God through the scriptures, but we can’t really speak (pray) directly to Him and get answers (in prayer) directly from Him. God is mostly unknowable. When I consider the above list I can see an incredible similarity between the Christian God and the Force. Interesting that these doctrines are what most of the Evangelical Church believes to be true about who God is! No wonder my youth pastor in 1977 so easily accepted Jesus as the Force! This idea of our Christian God being similar to the Force does not make me want to sing and shout that “He Is The Light!” He may be the light, but He is also the darkness! Not much to celebrate there! Thank God that Jesus is NOT THE FORCE! Nor, is He the same as Buddhism’s or Hinduism’s God either. Who, by the way, is the Force of the Star Wars movies. A non-personal, unknowable, all powerful, divine force responsible for and behind all other things, including both good and evil. Thank God Jesus revealed something so amazing, so wonderful, that it is almost unbelievable, it is like a fairy tale come true! We live in a mindset that is as if the entire world is in the midst of a very dark fairy tale that no one can see their way out of. It is a world full of magic, but very dark magic! We get a glimpse of the eternal nature of the Story, but we can’t make sense of it. All of the inhabitants of this land live with a dark foreboding fear hanging over their lives. Then suddenly something wonderful happens, something that changes everything. The Writer of the fairytale shows up on the scene. He makes a promise of the complete restoration of this Dark Fairy Land that we live in. A promise of a new kingdom that will overtake this Dark Fairy Land one life, one person at a time! The Writer tells us that the time for restoration is now! We can scarcely believe it, we have all lived in this Dark Fairy Tale so long. He teaches us what His new kingdom is like and He proceeds to travel all about the land doing good and healing ALL who have been oppressed by the Dark Lord of Fairy Land. The amazing Writer of the Story tells us things about our significance in the Story and how much He and His Father love us. As the Writer of the Story, He enters into the Story. And when the Dark Lord and all those in Fairy land who refuse to believe in the Writer’s message of wholeness, healing, deliverance and restoration reject Him, He does not reject them! He forgives them because He says, “they don’t know what they are doing!” They hate the Writer with all of their hearts because they cannot bear His message of Love and Forgiveness. They cannot stand the words He speaks telling them “that they have all had the wrong ideas for a long time now.” The message has ALWAYS been about love and forgiveness, they have just always refused to hear the Writer’s message! Out of hatred for the Writer, the Real Message and the True Story, the Dark Lord and the non-believers killed the Writer! No one could believe it! Everyone in Fairy Land was shocked, depressed, and hopeless and considering what terrible things this meant for Fairy Land! Meanwhile, the Dark Lord and his minions were having a celebration over their great victory over the Writer of the Story. The Dark Lord forgot one important thing, the one they killed, IS the Writer of the Story! Suddenly all around the Dark Lord’s palace the ground began to shake. It began to shake with such force that all the gates of his palace began to fall! Confusion broke out in every corner of the Dark Palace as the walls began to fall and everyone at the party began to flee in terror as the Writer walked into the room. The Writer reached his hand out toward the Dark Lord and trembling in fear the Dark Lord gave his keys of the Dark Palace (Hell and Death) over to the Writer. The Writer turned and began to run down every broken down corridor of the Dark Palace shouting out with JOY the message of the True Story and the New Kingdom and many multitudes received it with Great JOY! After freeing the last captive in the Dark Palace the Writer turned again toward Fairy Land and with one step burst back onto the scene in Fairy Land. His life, death and return from the dead showed all those who had believed in Him in Fairy Land that their trust in Him was not in vain. The Writer was who He said He was; the Writer of the Story! This was what brought such great hope, such great joy! For the first time in Fairy Land we actually knew the Writer of the Story. We knew His name and He knew ours and He knows who each of us are. The Writer is not an unknowable Force as so many of the religious leaders in Fairy Land have said. The Writer has shown us His great love for us. He loved and valued us so much that even when we did not trust Him, did not believe Him, He was willing to endure the wrath of the Dark Lord and all those who follow him, because of His love for us! The Writer is so good that He even forgave those who killed Him. Everywhere He went He did good, healing everyone, loving everyone, rescuing everyone, and breaking every law (religious or not) of Fairy Land that empowered the oppression of people rather than freedom, love and restoration! The Writer truly was all that the prophecies had proclaimed the coming King of Fairy Land to be: “The government will be upon His shoulders, and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end!” Everyone in Fairy Land has begun to realize that His ways are kinder, more loving, more good and better in every way than anything we in Fairy Land have even been able to think of up until now. The Writer of the Story has revealed to us the incredible, wonderful news about who He is and the amazing plans He has for Fairy Land and each of us. This is the amazing message of the Writer (Jesus), that if you have seen Him you have seen the Father. Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being! The fullness of God dwelt in Christ bodily. The Father lives in Jesus and Jesus lives in the Father. Jesus said, “I only do the things I see the Father doing and I only say the things I hear the Father saying. Jesus is the revelation of God in perfect detail. Jesus tells us the Father, goes the extra mile, loves His enemies, does good to those who do evil to Him and blesses those who curse Him. If someone steals His coat, the Father will give them His shirt! The Father sends the blessing of the sun and the rain on the just and the unjust, the wicked and the good. Instead of retaliating against those who brutally killed Him, God forgives them without even a hint of vindictiveness! What an amazing beautiful God! We who live in Fairy Land would have never believed the above to be true about God without the revelation of God in Christ Jesus! Above are some of the amazing revelations Jesus taught us about the Father! There are many more revelations just as wonderful about who God is! Does Jesus revelation of God the Father comprise what you believe and think about who God is most of the time? If it doesn’t, you need to begin to renew your mind about who your loving Heavenly Father is. He is not an unknowable Force, He is a loving Heavenly Father you can have a deep and meaningful relationship with. It is this God that has brought such joy, such hope and such a revelation of victory to all those who believe in Him and who follow Him. It is this God whom Jesus revealed that inspired Bryan and Katie Torwalt’s song “He Is The Light.” It is this revelation of God who caused the Apostle John to write in 1 John 1:5 “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” Now, if you are a follower of Jesus, you have been given the same message Jesus was speaking about who God is. Our honor, our duty, is to take this incredibly Good News to every tribe, tongue and nation across the world. We are carriers of the most amazingly wonderful Story that has ever been told. The Writer (Jesus) has planted His Story into your heart and you will find such great joy, such purpose, such significance as you get out there and share it. Remember the Dark Lord’s Palace has been completely destroyed and he only uses the deception of fear (faith in his negative life circumstances) to control, manipulate and destroy you! Resist him, oppose him in the name of Jesus (The Writer of the Story) and he will flee from you. Be strong and very courageous my friends ~ The Writer of the Story is LIVING INSIDE OF YOU! Below are the complete lyrics to the Torwalt’s song, “He Is The Light.” I feel the nations of the earth are shaking There is no power that can match His grace Lift up your head Lift up your eyes to see All of creation is waiting and longing For sons and daughters to declare this truth Lift up your head Lift up your voice and sing Chorus: He is the light Shining in the darkness He is the hope Hope of all the nations He is the light He is the light For all the world to see I feel the faith across the earth is rising We prophecy about his kingdom come Just like heaven All across the earth Bridge: Great, Great is The Lord Praise His name, Praise His name At “Coffee with the Clancy’s,” we believe that Jesus has indeed already won the VICTORY! Jesus is the fullest and clearest revelation of the Writer of the Story, and He fully and completely represents God’s true character and nature. Because of this, we have a VICTORIOUS HOPE and we are more than conquerors in the midst of the battles of life and we never have to settle for the lie that disease, affliction and poverty are the will of God. It is our desire to help both believers and non-believers alike to experience VICTORIOUS HOPE in the Name of Jesus Christ, and to understand that Jesus is the full revelation of our Heavenly Father and loving God. We desire to create a safe place to share a cup of wonderful coffee and discuss and discover a new perspective and a renewed Hope for Life. We also desire to stir up a passion for worship, because He indeed brings us Hope, Joy and Victory. We are thankful that many people are being encouraged in the midst of life’s battles; because Jesus brings such AN AMAZING HOPE and a clear revelation that our Father God is Good and He DOES NOT PARTNER WITH EVIL! 1 John 1:5 (NIV) This is the message we have heard from him (Jesus) and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. Details of the event: Monday Night November 3rd, 2014 Main Session: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm Location: William Carey Campus US Center for World Mission Building Mary Frances Redding Room M-12 1605 Elizabeth Street Pasadena, California This is across the street and just North of the main William Carey Campus. It is a three story building with a glass entryway. We will be meeting in the Mary Fran Room. Enter the main entrance of the 1605 Building; walk through the lobby and up the stairs to your right, where youll reach a door. Immediately after walking through that doorway youll reach another door to your right, which is the Mary Fran Room. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us: David Clancy (626) 646-3438 Email: davidclancy267@gmail Patty Tessandori Clancy (951) 751-9356 Email: tetsuba@yahoo
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 01:10:14 +0000
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