The Commission

The next entry for my Blog is The Commission, which was written by David Blake, Neesmith Cain, Logan Cain, Carter Frodge, Taylor Matz, and Madison Jonson.  It was first released December 11, 2021.  A link to Cain singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.


See my hands and look at my feet
It’s okay if it’s hard to believe
I have faith you will do greater things
It’s my time to go but before I leave

Go tell the world about me
I was dead but now I live
I’ve gotta go now for a little while
But goodbye is not the end

Don’t forget the things that I taught you
I’ve conquered death and I hold the keys
Where I go you will go too, someday
But there’s much to do here before you leave

Go tell the world about me
I was dead but now I live
I’ve gotta go now for a little while
But goodbye is not the

End of the journey, the end of the road
My spirit is with you wherever you go
You have a purpose and I have a plan
I’ll make you this promise
I’ll come back again but until then

Go tell the world about me
I was dead but now I live
I’ve gotta go now for a little while
But goodbye is not the end

go tell them about me
(Go tell the world) I’ve gotta go
(Go tell the world) for a little while
But goodbye is not the end

Many of us who know about Jesus realize that he died on the cross for us so we could have eternal life in heaven.  For those who don’t know about Jesus, I hope this entry will provide you with a little better understanding of Jesus and his purpose.  I also believe there is a very key message that often gets forgotten and overlooked in the Christian community and that is the most important command that Jesus gave to everyone.  The time period for the song takes place after Jesus has risen from the dead and is appearing before those who loved him and followed him.

It was foretold for thousands of years that Jesus would be born, would die, and then come back to life.  People had waited throughout the centuries for his coming, and then it finally happened.  I believe that people today who have read about the prophecies of Jesus, the life of Jesus, and have accepted him as their personal savior; have failed to realize one command that Jesus left with them.   This one command is what this song is all about.    Think about the people who saw Jesus after he rose from the dead, what were they looking at when they saw him and what were their thoughts?   After seeing his face, I would probably look at his hands and his feet to see if those nail scars were there.  The last time I had seen him, he was hanging from the cross with blood coming out of his hands and feet.  In this song, the writer notes that Jesus is prepared for this first impression and gives us a little time to take in what we are seeing.  He understands our unbelief, but he has a mission for us and has faith in us taking on this mission.

His command to us is to tell the world about him.  Let the world know about who Jesus is and why he came, and that his coming had been foretold for many centuries.  We are told that he believes we will do even greater things than he did.  I know this is hard to believe, but we have so many more opportunities to spread his word and love.  His time on earth was short and he could only reach those he came in personal contact with.  Think about the options we have today to share his message; we have churches, video, music, cell phones, and social networks that span the globe.  We can reach more people in a single day than he could have reached in centuries.  His mission for all of us is also known as the Great Commission, and is found in the book of Matthew 28:18-20, “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We are reminded to not forget the things he taught us about love, acceptance, forgiving, and eternal life.  As we accept this mandated mission, we are told to make everyone aware of everything we know about Jesus.  Everyone needs to know how they can be brought from the deep despairs of life into an eternal life of love.  Yes, we will still have our daily struggles, but our eyes and our hearts need to always be looking towards the ultimate goal; eternity in heaven in perfect peace.  If you have accepted Christ as your personal savior, have you accepted the Great Commission and put it into practice?  Have you witnessed the joy on someone’s face once they accepted Christ into their lives?  When does your commission start?  Today.  When does your commission end? When you draw your last breath. 

Jesus said, Go tell the world about me…….

.

Click to Hear Cain Sing The Commission

Hymn of Heaven

The next entry for my Blog is Hymn of Heaven, which was written Brian Johnson, Phil Wickham, Bill Johnson, and Chris Davenport.  It was first released June 25, 2021.  A link to Phil Wickham singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

Hymn of Heaven

How I long to breathe the air of Heaven

Where pain is gone and mercy fills the streets
To look upon the One who bled to save me
And walk with Him for all eternity

There will be a day when all will bow before Him
There will be a day when death will be no more
Standing face to face with He who died and rose again
Holy, holy is the Lord

And every prayer we prayed in desperation
The songs of faith we sang through doubt and fear
In the end, we’ll see that it was worth it
When He returns to wipe away our tears

Oh, there will be a day when all will bow before Him
There will be a day when death will be no more
Standing face to face with He who died and rose again
Holy, holy is the Lord

And on that day, we join the resurrection
And stand beside the heroes of the faith
With one voice, a thousand generations
Sing, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain”

And on that day, we join the resurrection
And stand beside the heroes of the faith
With one voice, a thousand generations
Sing, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain”
“Forever He shall reign”

So let it be today we shout the hymn of Heaven
With angels and the saints, we raise a mighty roar
Glory to our God who gave us life beyond the grave
Holy, holy is the Lord

So let it be today we shout the hymn of Heaven
With angels and the saints, we raise a mighty roar
Glory to our God who gave us life beyond the grave
Holy, holy is the Lord

Holy, holy is the Lord
Holy, holy is the Lord

Many times, I have heard people say, that person is such a breath of fresh air; meaning the person brings light into a challenging situation.  The writer of this song starts by saying they long for the breath of fresh air that only heaven can bring.  No matter how good or bad things are for us today, heaven will far surpass all of our hopes and dreams.  It is a place where there is no pain or sorrow and everywhere we look is perfection.  We get to spend time with Jesus, who is the one who died for us so we could spend forever with him.  That day will come when we will bow down to him in reverence as well as thankfulness for what he did for us.  Some of the greatest things in heaven, other than time with our savior, will be that there will be no more death, no more sadness, no more suffering, no more tears of sadness, and we will be reunited with friends and family who had accepted Christ and passed on before us.  Every time we experience this joy, we will be thanking Jesus for dying for us and reuniting us with  our loved ones.

It is challenging to talk about anything after thinking about the above, it all will be so so wonderful.  The problem is that we let the challenges of our life take over our daily thoughts again and again.  It all seems to be an act of desperation.  Part of the problem is that we do no pray enough, which leads us to forget about God and his role in our lives.  We are told in 1st Thessalonians 5:16-17, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”.  We need to thank God for everything he has done for us in our lives.  We should also pray for the needs of our families, our friends, our enemies, our country, and the entire world.  All of these are God’s creations, he put all of us here.   We sometimes give up hope after praying for so long, it is almost as if our desperate pleas are not being heard.  We maybe go to church and sing the songs of glory, and hear the strong message of God’s promises.  I love to listen to songs about Jesus and faith on the radio and I sing my heart out.  After I leave the church building and after I get out of my car, I seem to lose some of that joy I was just experiencing; I let life take away my joy.  As the song says, it will all be worth our pain, our suffering, and our frustration with life.  The day will come when Jesus, the one who died for us, will wipe away all of our tears and fill our hearts with joy as we begin life in our new home.  We are told this in the book of Revelation 21:4, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”  This promise is for those who have accepted Jesus as their personal savior.

The day that Jesus comes in the clouds, the people who have accepted him will rise into heaven to join all others who accepted him and died before us.  We will be part of the resurrection of millions of others.  We will all of a sudden be side by side with some of the greatest people of faith who ever lived.   Many of these will be people we have read about in our bibles, others will be some of the great leaders of faith that came after the time of Jesus, and most will be people who are regular everyday people who accepted Christ as their personal savior.  We will be standing with people who might have lived since mankind was first created, all of the God’s faithful will be together for the first time.  This entire gathering of the saved, which will be larger than we could ever imagine, will start singing Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.  Jesus, the sacrificial lamb, finally gets to hear all of his family sing praises to him and the father.

Wow, I am not sure I can even imagine the billions of voices from people of all eras of time and representing the entire earth singing at one time.  The angels will be also be joining in as the music reaches a crescendo that we ever thought possible.  What better way to honor our savior, who is the definition of holiness.  Holy, holy is the Lord indeed.

Click to See Phil Wickham Perform Hymn of Heaven

He’s Alive

I am taking a little different approach to my blog entry for this week, which is Holy Week with this upcoming Sunday being Easter. One of my favorite songs this time of year is He’s Alive, which was written by and first by Don Francisco in 1977. Note that God wrote the story and Don wrote the lyrics. My original plan was to write my views of the song, as I do for other songs each week, but as I listened to the song today; I realized that the song clearly sends a message so much stronger than any message I could ever write. My ask is that you listen to this song, the link is below, and just close your eyes and absorb the message the lyrics bring. Our Savior hung on that cross and he died for our sins, so we could have eternal life. He told those around him this was going to happen, and that he would return from the dead. He also knew, that being the humans we are and most of us being like Doubting Thomas; that we needed to see him and touch him to truly believe what he said.
I am so grateful for what he has brought to my life, what he has done for me, and what he has planned for me for eternity. I don’t need to be afraid of this world, I don’t have to fear Satan; because I know he came back to wrap his arms around me and protect me. So, I strongly encourage you to take a few minutes of your time, eliminate all distractions around you, and listen to this song with your heart and not just your ears.
He’s alive!

Click to Hear Don Francisco Sing He’s Alive

He’s Alive

The gates and doors were barred
And all the windows fastened down
I spent the night in sleeplessness
And rose at every sound
Half in hope of sorrow
And half in fear the day
Would find the soldiers breakin’ through
To drag us all away
And just before the sunrise
I heard something at the wall
The gate began to rattle
And a voice began to call
I hurried to the window
Looked down into the street
Expecting swords and torches
And the sound of soldiers’ feet

But there was no one there but Mary
So I went down to let her in
John stood there beside me
As she told me where she’d been
She said they’ve moved Him in the night
And none of us know where
The stone’s been rolled away
And now His body isn’t there

We both ran towards the garden
Then John ran on ahead
We found the stone and empty tomb
Just the way that Mary said
But the winding sheet they wrapped Him in
Was just an empty shell
And how or where they’d taken Him
Was more than I could tell

Oh something strange had happened there
Just what I did not know
John believed a miracle
But I just turned to go
Circumstance and speculation
Couldn’t lift me very high
‘Cause I’d seen them crucify Him
Then I saw Him die

Back inside the house again
The guilt and anguish came
Everything I’d promised Him
Just added to my shame
When at last it came to choices
I denied I knew His name
And even if He was alive
It wouldn’t be the same

But suddenly the air was filled
With a strange and sweet perfume
Light that came from everywhere
Drove shadows from the room
And Jesus stood before me
With His arms held open wide
And I fell down on my knees
And I just clung to Him and cried

Then He raised me to my feet
And as I looked into His eyes
The love was shining out from Him
Like sunlight from the skies
Guilt in my confusion
Disappeared in sweet release
And every fear I ever had
Just melted into peace

He’s alive yes He’s alive
Yes He’s alive and I’m forgiven
Heaven’s gates are open wide
He’s alive yes He’s alive
Oh He’s alive and I’m forgiven
Heaven’s gates are open wide
He’s alive He’s alive
Hallelujah He’s alive
He’s alive and I’m forgiven
Heaven’s gates are open wide
He’s alive He’s alive He’s alive