The Hope That Is In You

The Hope That Is In You

(Acts 17:22-31; 1 Peter 3:13-16; John 14:15-21) J G White

10:30 am, Sunday, May 25, 2014, Windsor UBC

I am here today because I see hope in you.  Twelve years and four months in, I see the hope that is in you.

Now, you may not believe that.  You might think to yourself, ‘Well, he’s leaving now, he’s finally had as much as he can take; his bags are packed, he’s off to greener pastures.’  Trading in a big, old, fat pumpkin for a delicious, fresh, muscular scallop!

I still see the hope that is in you.  

You might wonder about all those many people I’ve seen come into our pews and ministry - some of them were baptized, some committed themselves to be members here - and then. they. dis.ap.peared.  Our exit door seems at least as large as our entry door!  

I still see the hope that is in you.

You may fret over the broken relationships and hurt feelings that seem to keep cropping up, as marriages struggle, good friends break up, and ministry partnerships blow up.  

I still see the hope that is in you.

You could feel stymied by the cross-purposes that seem to be with us always, about funding ministries, getting volunteers, agreeing to do something with the building, and the simple problem of who has what authority to make what decisions around here, for heaven’s sake!  Church politics is no better than town and municipal politics.  

I still see the hope that is in you.

My text for the morning is 1 Pet 3:15.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that is in you...  Without evaluating or judging much, let me say that you are more prepared now to give answer to those who wonder about the hope that is in you.

The Presence of Hope.  The hope of which I speak is the hope of a wonderful life with God. As Paul wrote in Colossians, I would speak of Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil and struggle with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.  1:27b-29

There is such hope in you; I have seen it!

I have seen some among you take new steps of faith, putting your confidence in Jesus, putting your souls into His hands.  In this I hope.

I have seen many of you maturing in Christ: growing in the love and knowledge of Him.  In this I hope.

I have seen many of you learn to speak and listen better: the Spirit of Communication is training you.  In this I hope.

I have seen many of you turn the eyes of your heart beyond those of your family, your friends, and your church: care and compassion has grown in you.  In this I hope.

I have seen many of you sing a new song… you sing someone else’s song, and joined with them in praising the Lord. In this I hope.

I have seem many of you look ahead and plan together: become strategic and forward thinking.  In this I hope.  

All such things are an outcome of our salvation in Christ.

I have enjoyed lunchtime on Thursdays more and more as each year goes by.  It does my heart good to see you, and other volunteers, interacting with one and all who come on in.  I see you treating everyone the same, respecting every person.  You smile, you welcome, you chat about everything.  You laugh a lot.  You serve.  You get to know our friends who join us for House of Hospitality.  God comes right there to the surface when you do these things.

I enjoyed the bit I glimpsed of the After School program.  As I get older, I think I know less and less about how to interact with children, but you folks in this program were gifted.  You made great connections with some children who deeply appreciated you: I think of Sam, and Michael, and Sebastian, and Zhara, and others.  With them you shared real light and hope - from you to them.  May it always be so.

That’s the presence of Hope.  Now, be Prepared for Hope.  

Peter said, always be prepared.  I wonder if being prepared to speak to the hope that is in us will have with it what the apostle Paul had, when he spent time in Athens, Greece.  

Paul observed.  Then Paul spoke the Gospel in the language of the people.  And Paul got a varied response; so the conversations continued.  

You have been learning that today we must give answer to the questions they have and ask.  No need to give answer to the questions you have, or the questions you think they have.  What is the heart-cry from people in our neighbourhoods?  We must prepare to give answer for the Christian Hope within us.  We must prepare.  

“Jesus is the answer” it used to be said.  “What is the question?” one might ask.  And that’s a very good question.  For what people of the oncoming generations are seeking can be different from what we seek who were born in 1970, or 1958, or 1935.  We prepare to share by knowing our audience, our culture, our neighbours.  

Paul did this well, as we see in his visit to Athens, Greece.  When he preached to them, he had clearly observed their culture and knew their spirituality.  He could quote their own lyrics back to them; he did not quote the Bible.  He spent time with them.  And he got a variety of responses: from rejection, to indifference, to interest, and a few conversions.  It was but a start. Paul prepared, and his own mission there in that city was but the preparation for the future work of God.

I don’t do this well, but can can think of two extended families in our area I developed long-term relationships with, rooted in the life and death of the matriarchs of the families. Some members of the families have been very hospitable, and kept inviting me back to visit them.  We had a lot of laughs; they asked a lot of questions.  I got to know them, a normal bunch of non-churchgoing people from West Hants.  Young and middle-aged and senior. Some of them even started coming into the pews here on Sundays.  I don’t know what fruit will yet grow from my time with them.  I could certainly have done more cultivating than I did.  I did the preparing… and some sharing of the hope that is in me.

You, I pray, will have such opportunities and experiences, always.  You have much you can do to be well prepared to share your Hope.

All good things are possible because of The Person of Hope, Jesus Christ.  It is because I believe in Jesus that I can believe in you, Windsor Church.  I know God, and I know you: He is your Hope.

As John Bartol wisely teaches, the Holy Spirit is like another Jesus, God with us.  We just heard a lesson from Jesus, promising God the Holy Spirit - the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth - to come and be with them.  However we are dispersed, the Spirit will be in and among us.

The Hope that is in you is actually God in you, a very personal thing.

I am deeply grateful for how so many of you have welcomed me into your personal lives. It is there we have met the Spirit of God.  I have been given many privileged moments of fellowship with you - in times of joy, times of decision, times of trouble, times of healing, times of learning lessons, times of living, times of dying.  

Once in a while I have been blessed to be present at the moment a believer dies.  This happened most recently to me almost 14 months ago.  I went in, to the QEII VG site, to visit Marilyn White and family.  When I got to her hallway, she was being attended to by some nurses, so the family and I chatted and laughed outside the room.  Then, we made our way in to her room, and talked with her and about her.  She was unconscious.  

Family and friends had been spending many hours over the past weeks and weeks together with her.  They made the most of every moment, and enjoyed as many little adventures as possible.  There had been lots of fresh flowers, hair dye, artwork, and gluten-free treats enjoyed in that room.  

That April evening things were quieter.  We were all back in her room for just five or ten minutes when her body finally stopped, and this life for her was over.  This amazing life that she led.  Yet the hope we live in is a hope for a life that is far, far greater than this one.  

Once again, I was given the rare privilege of seeing death.  A privilege, because the family welcomed me into that personal journey they took with Marilyn.  And a privilege because death has lost its sting!  Death does not win the victory!  Thanks be to God, through our Lord Jesus Christ!!  Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.  

He is with you.  God is present.  I see the hope that is in you.

My dear, fellow disciples: Jesus, our Master, has led us together through many things, for His glory.  He continues to lead us now, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Follow; continue to follow.

In January of 2002 I had no idea that we would understand ourselves through Natural Church Development.  I did not foresee a focus upon passionate spirituality and spiritual disciplines.  I did not imagine that we would eventually dive into small group ministry.  Or run an After School Program.  Or that I would lead a worship team - that’s a rather strange miracle!  Or that we would eventually pay close attention to leadership and what that can look like in our midst.  Or that we would put our money where our mouth is to discover a Vision from God for our Church.  

This final day, I do not foresee what you will be by 2015, or 2017, or 2019, when you will be 200 years old.  

Nor do I foresee what Digby Baptist will be.  

Today, I live in the hope. I enjoy Christ in you, the hope of glory.  

So, please, in my absence: Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that is in you... (1 Pet 3:15)

A Spiritual House

A Spiritual House

(Acts 2:42-27; 1 Peter 2:2-10) J G White

10:30 am, Sunday, May 11, 2014, Windsor UBC,

Weathervane at Parrsboro Baptist Church: breaking, and fell.  Eight foot aluminum cross on Windsor Baptist steeple: wobbling, and fell. Wooden cupola cross at Windsor Baptist: rotting, fell.

Support posts at Windsor Baptist: due to be repaired immanently.  Just like the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ.  His arrival has been imminent for 1,985 years!

Be built into a spiritual house.  Jesus the Cornerstone.

To build a spiritual house is to build a household, a family of sorts, a faith community.  Things made of metal or wood or glass are tools for the living Church to use.  

On a day when many remember and honour motherhood, it’s a good day to consider how we build a faith family.  At the heart of our existence as a local church are our get-togethers, so often for worship.  You know me; worship remains a main interest of my life, and a central focus in my ministry as a pastor.  

It continues to be helpful to for us all to go back, again and again, to the inception of the whole, worldwide Church.  We get these wonderful glimpses of the first Christian Church ever, in Jerusalem.  We read about these folks, and God the Spirit with them, in Acts 2.  I want to pay attention to four elements of the worshipping community, and yes, this preacher is still old-fashioned enough to alliterate: Preaching, People, Prayer, and Praise.  (Maybe there will even be a Poem at the end!)

PREACHING

What is the central activity of a worshipping community, such as the first Church in Jerusalem, or this latter-day Church in Windsor?  Teaching and Preaching?  The instruction, the information, the facts?

We are told in Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.  The first apostles of Jesus taught about His life and impact, and how to be disciples of this Master who was still active, by His Spirit.  

Is a Church mainly about true information, what we preach?

The founding pastor of Windsor Baptist was David Nutter.  (I have always tried not to make jokes about this Church being founded by a “Nutter”.)  When thirteen people were organized to form this congregation, December 2, 1819, the Pastor spoke to them from 1 Timothy 3:15, which refers to the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth.

There is a need for truth - from God - when we are the gathered community.  There is also the need to work together on knowing the truth and putting it into practice.  It is so obvious that believers in Jesus do not all agree about so many things.  

I attended a little men’s retreat recently.  In a small group for discussion, a couple of the guys were carrying their Bibles.  One had this blue, leather-bound scripture, with a Masonic Lodge symbol on the cover.  The other, with his plain, black-covered Bible, almost verbally attacked the other, declaring: that organization comes “straight from the pit,” as he put it.  They clearly did not agree.  

My own approach, as a preacher and teacher, has been to be diplomatic about many things.  Really, I play it quite safe, and avoid controversy.  More direct openness could be a real improvement for me; I know that.  Differences of opinion and interpretation - and experience - need to be opened up and explored more in this day and age.  Or else we will not be open and non-judgmental enough to reach many people of the oncoming generations with the Gospel of Jesus.  We each still have things to learn.

PEOPLE

That earliest of all local churches certainly had people as a main focus.  Acts 2:42 says They devoted themselves to the ...fellowship, to the breaking of bread…  

Is a congregation mainly about people, our relationships?  Many churches have been criticized for being more like social clubs than mission stations, and sometimes rightly.  

I do wonder, at times, why are each of you are here, on a Sunday, some of you also committed to a committee or group that does some of our work.  Is it really about God, or is it a human thing.  I wonder why I am here too, why I have taken up a career in the Church.  It is all about people, being together instead of alone, being supportive?  

Acts 2:42 suggests to me it is a good thing to be devoted to the fellowship.  To be devoted to sharing meals together, even.  

I know I am so attached to worship being for the whole people of God, and those who are missing are truly missing.  

A church - any church - is the people, of course, not the building, not even the event.  So many folk get involved in this church because people connect and like each other, or the pastors are liked, or the leaders are kindred spirits with them, all that kind of thing.  Very few people join Windsor Baptist because we are Baptist Christians.  You did not join in for our statement of faith, or the purpose statement, or even for the new vision.  

We are a living family of God.  To be a more functional family, instead of dysfunctional, would be good.  This takes hard work, and hard love.  It takes Christ, who builds His Church, and builds this spiritual house out of people.  

PRAYER

Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to… the prayers.  

I was impressed in 2002 with the praying people of Windsor Baptist, and I remain pleased.  I’d say we are above average in some ways that we are prayerful.  I’ve never tried to measure this, but the average might be mediocre among Baptists today. Many of you do well, have a gift for prayer, or have been trained to pray well and pray much, and to lead in prayer out loud.  It is not so in every local church.

Jesus quoted Isaiah when he declared one day, in the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem, "It is written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a den of robbers." (Matthew 21:13)

Prayer, when it is thorough, is simply an activity between people and God.  Conversation.  Quality time together, even when nothing is said.  It could be claimed that a church, a congregation, is all about people having a relationship with the Lord.  “Believing all the right spiritual facts, and being committed to one another as a group of people are not enough, Church.  Being people of God is what matters!”  So it might be claimed.  And this is part of the balance; certainly as we look at that picture in Acts 2 of the Spirit-filled folk who had preaching and prayer and people as priorities.  

They also had PRAISE.

Acts 2:46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.  

For some it may be that the great binding agent of church is the praises, the worship, the music. And it can be that a key desire of leading believers is to move worship into greater praise, fitting for the people we want to reach to give to God.  Not the old forms; sing the new, new song.  I know how important music is to my own sense of divine worship; though my taste is for more hymns ancient than modern.

As we consider singing and music, I note that my own mother is in the house today.  So we have a woman here who once sang for the prime minister.  Yes.  When she was in school she was in a choir that did quite well, and they sang at an event before Prime Minister Diefenbaker!  

Well, we hear inspiring Christian leaders today remind us that our worship is like a performance to an audience of One.  

Psalm 149:4 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory.  There are other such phrases in scripture.  

Children learn, in family life, to perform, especially for their parents.  I don’t remember when I was a kid saying, “Mom, look at me, watch me, Watch Me, WATCH me!”  But my brother and sister and I probably did that, as so many children do.  I’ve seen it happen to some of you.  What age is that when kids are so demanding for attention to their performance?

I’m grateful to Elijah for the use of his artwork on our bulletin today.  I don’t know how spontaneously he produced this, but you know where I found this?  On a bulletin board by his mother’s desk, here in the Church Office.  When little, we want parents or other adults to take pleasure in the things we can offer.  Most would have to admit this is still true in our adulthood, looking for approval from our parents.  

The Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory.  As a planner of Sunday mornings, it is so easy to get caught up in how every person takes pleasure in what we spent 70 minutes doing.  We say, “Oh, that funeral was wonderful, it was the best! (It was to die for.)”  And, “that commissioning service for the students in Wolfville the other night was great!  Wasn’t the preacher good, and the singing, and the prayer; and that duet was a tear-jerker.”  

How can we step back and know that the Lord took pleasure in His people?  God received our song, and our offering, and our prayers?  The Holy Spirit had a word for the people and spoke?  We keep pointing this out the service; the words of some prayers and hymns keep the Audience of One before us.  

I’m coming back to the heart of worship,

And it’s all about You, all about You, Jesus.

And, when it’s over… we keep our hearts humble before our God, and one another.  “Look at me, look at me; look at us, look at us” becomes, “Look at Him, look at Him; on the cross; raised from death!”

Keep being built into a spiritual house. Attend to the people who are in danger of breaking and falling.  Crosses of metal, wood or stone are erected and collapse: what Christ builds is eternal. Have this living God as your foundation for the organization.  Be complete, with Preaching, People, Prayer and Praise as priorities.    This is what God continues to create with you, in Christ Jesus.

Hearts Burning Within

Hearts Burning Within

10:30 am, Sunday, May 4, 2014, Windsor UBC, J G White

Luke 24:13-16, 27-32

13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.

27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

For me this has been a powerful a story, through many years of worshipping the Lord.  Yet this wonderful ‘hearts burning within’ was not at a worship service.  We tend to connect this Resurrection Day story with our coming to the Lord’s Table: Jesus takes the bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and shared with those two disciples.  But it happens at an evening meal among travellers.  And the actual ‘burning’ of their hearts within them was during the walk, while this ‘stranger’ talked with them, and as they considered the scripture together.

We have walked and talked with Him a long time now together, more than twelve years.  We have shared some moments of the fire of God within us!  Even when we did not fully know what the Lord, the Spirit, was up to.  We have also shared the dullness and melancholy of the times our souls wandered in the desert.  We have come face-to-face with death; we have enjoyed new life. In all these places, has not our Lord been real, and beautiful, and incredible!

I thank you, and my God, today, for the high privilege of leading you, month by month, year by year, to the Lord’s Table.  Though we are quite traditional about our ceremony, notice this still is simply white bread cut up in small pieces, it is little sips of grape juice. Ordinary stuff of life.  It is a very quiet meal.  There will be chewing; there will be slurping; the occasional cough.  In the ordinary our Living God breaks through.  May we feed on Christ in our hearts, and know that He sustains our souls. 

May you continue in this fellowship in all the years ahead that the Lord God has for you.  May your communion be sweet, and your joy be full.  And may you testify, from time to time, in your walk together, that your hearts burned within.

Jesus, Plain and Simple

Jesus, Plain and Simple

(Matthew 28:1-10) J G White

10:30 am, Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014, Windsor UBC

Christ is risen.  He is risen indeed!  This could be all that needs to be said.  It is as simple as that.  Jesus - human and God - is executed, and then is alive again.  Hallelujah!  How have you met Jesus alive?

So many days of our year we seem to have complex problems to solve, disagreements to resolve, or personal sins to absolve.  But at the heart of our Faith, and our church community, is a personal God, Jesus.  A God to celebrate!

A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, “Why do you have that palm branch, dad?” “You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honour him, so we got Palm Branches today.” The little boy replied, “Aw Shucks The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up” (sermon central)  

We celebrate today Jesus who shows up.  Though His appearances are often subtle and subversive.  How has Christ appeared to you in your life?

Today brings us all to Jesus, to point to Him, to enjoy Him, and marvel at Him, to put our confidence in Him, to lift Him up above other things that might seem important.  

Jesus once said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (John 12:32) He was referring to his execution by being hung on a cross of wood, a common death penalty at the time.  But today we find Him up and alive!  

This day is simply all about Jesus.  Jesus, plain and simple.  Even when He gets up and is alive again, He is no show-off.

Stop and notice the extraordinary things that happened, things that would get people’s attention.  We hard one record of the resurrection, in Matthew 28. A sudden earthquake.  An angel from heaven rolling the stone away from the tomb.  The angel appearing like lightening, clothing bright white, as snow.  The guards at the tomb took off in fear at all this.  

So, Jesus coming out of the tomb would surely be a blast of glorious, incredible, wondrous, mighty, overwhelming…

Uh, no.  He is simply there, not even attracting attention.  Not glowing, not awe-inspiring.  Not even being recognised at first by some who knew him, as the Gospel of John would tell us.  Jesus Christ is simply present, alive, with them.  

Can some of you speak of moments and ways Jesus has appeared to you?

Jesus, executed and come back to life, is the One who is enough.  His story… continuing now, is the one thing needed.  He is greater than any great things that vie for attention, and any problems that arise.  

Christ is greater than the angels. Those angels who opened the tomb, or any other impressive spiritual creatures.  Hebrews chapter 1 speaks at length about this.

Christ is greater than bunnies & chocolates & easter dinners.

Christ is greater than the pagan origins of “easter” or “christmas,” and any other troubles with our religion.

Christ is greater than the passover and the Jewish sacrificial system out of which He lived His life.

Christ is greater even than the sacrificial atonement theories of Christianity.  He is our ransom, our substitute, he pays our debt, he wins a victory… all of this, and more.

Christ is greater than the problems in our thinking, such as why there is such suffering in the world, how creation came to be, and what God is or is not.  

Christ is greater than the best churches we’ve got, with the best vision statements, leaders, preachers and teachers, ministries, and music.  And Christ Jesus is better than the worst of Churches and Christian history.

You know one of my own favourite themes about Jesus and what He offers.  He is available, the Kingdom has come near.  This is one of the best ways to put it.  God and the good life is available to people - no matter what is happening in their lives.  Amid all the personal problems and disasters, and all the successes and happy moments, the best thing going is Jesus.

Father Michael Walsh at the Good Friday service here:

Jesus Christ died for me personally so that I might have life forever.  But unless I experience this salvation as a personal gift to me, my response to Jesus will always be less than wholehearted.  In order for Jesus to give me life, I must be open to that life and live my life for Him.  Jesus wants to give me life and salvation is a gift.  But it is a gift that must be received and Jesus is always waiting to open our hearts so that we will receive the gift of salvation.

Remember, as you look around the pews, here or any pews, each other person you see is on some journey with God.  From delightful obedience to desperate struggle, we are a variety.  Remember to look for God in the life of the other person.  The person you idolize, the one you appreciate, the one who doesn’t attract your attention, the one you dislike, the one you’d rather never ever meet up with.  Remember, there is a personal experience of the Lord that other one has had, and you can meet the Lord there too.  

So one way to respond to the events of what we call Good Friday and Easter is to look for Christ in others.   Another thing to do is to take the joy and glory of Easter Day and enjoy it 52 times a year - every Sunday an Easter.  It was exciting this morning to gather at the Blockhouse with believers from all around here, and have joyful fellowship at breakfast.  But on every ‘ordinary’ Sunday, shall we anticipate a special time with our living Saviour?  Yes!

A third thing to do is seek His Lordship over every project in our lives.  We plan a vacation... with Christ.  We raise our children: with the Master’s guidance.  We seek a medical doctor’s care: with the Great Physician at our side.  We befriend a neighbour: in the name of our Saviour and Friend, Jesus.  

Christ as the centre, around whom everything revolves.  Lift Jesus Higher, says one gospel song.  For Jesus once said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." (John 12:32)

Author and evangelism professor, Leonard Sweet, says: “We lift Him up and He does the drawing…  It’s not ‘come to church,’ it’s ‘come to Christ’.”  Sweet finds, in his American context, that Christ is often missing from the churches, and he is missing Christ.  That breaks his heart.  

Jesus Christ is alive.  So our gospel, the good news, is alive today.  What is the Gospel?

There is a Kingdom, of sorts, that is God’s.  It has come near, it is available, people can enter this kind of life that is with God and from God.  The opportunity to turn around and receive it is here.  Jesus speaks of this, Jesus lives it, He is it, He provides it.

We people can be saved from evil, sin, wrong, pain, injustice, even death.  The reality of Jesus Christ is the way.  

We can be saved for good works - to do well and make a difference in this life.  Good things for us to do that are prepared for us to do by our Lord.  

We can be saved for eternity with God and God’s people, and God’s new creation.  

And the Gospel is rooted, simply, in the story of Jesus: crucified and risen.  That’s how it happens.  What He does.  

For weeks we spoke these Bible words to each other here:

Let us keep looking to Jesus. He is the author of faith. He also makes it perfect. He paid no attention to the shame of the cross. He suffered there because of the joy he was looking forward to. Then he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2 NIRV)

The joy He looked forward to is here.  Is now.  Is Him.

Let me end with a short, almost poetic, biography, that is known and loved by some, and is now almost 90 years old.  A Baptist preacher in California, James Allan Francis (1864-1928) came up with it in 1926. (The Real Jesus and Other Sermons)

Let us turn now to the story. A child is born in an obscure village. He is brought up in another obscure village. He works in a carpenter shop until he is thirty, and then for three brief years is an itinerant preacher, proclaiming a message and living a life. He never writes a book. He never holds an office. He never raises an army. He never has a family of his own. He never owns a home. He never goes to college. He never travels two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He gathers a little group of friends about him and teaches them his way of life. While still a young man the tide of popular feeling turns against him. One denies him; another betrays him. He is turned over to his enemies. He goes through the mockery of a trial; he is nailed to a cross between two thieves, and when dead is laid in a borrowed grave by the kindness of a friend. 

Those are the facts of his human life. He rises from the dead. Today we look back across nineteen hundred years and ask, What kind of trail has he left across the centuries? When we try to sum up his influence, all the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned are absolutely picayune in their influence on mankind compared with that of this one solitary life...