Allegiance

Transcript

I'd like to ask everybody to turn with x me to 1 Corinthians chapter x 12 uh this is a passage that will likely x be uh familiar to us it's uh it's one x that we hear quoted by many of the x Evangelical x churches um x and and I and I think that we're going x to be and the reason I wanted to go here x is because we're going to be talking a x little bit tonight about what it means x when we say that Jesus is Lord x so we we find in 1 Corinthians chapter x 12 uh these words Paul writes to the x Ecclesia there he says now about x spiritual gifts Brothers I don't want x you to be ignorant you know that when we x were pagans somehow or other you were x influenced and let astray to mute Idols x then he says therefore I tell you that x no one who is speaking by the spirit of x God says Jesus be cursed and no one can x say Jesus is Lord x except by the holy spirit so what does x it x mean when one is to say Jesus is Lord we x find again we we find this expression uh x appear again in Romans this time in x Romans chapter 10 we're going to look at x three passages uh one in Corinthians one x in Romans and we'll go to Philippians 2 x so in Romans chapter 10 we we find these x words beginning in verse x 9 says uh in verse 8 but what does it x say the word is near you it's in your x mouth in your heart that is the word of x faith we are proclaiming that if you x confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord x and believe in your heart that God x raised him from the dead you will be x saved so this is a uh you know this is a x very well-known passage that if we can x confess in our heart that Jesus is Lord x we'll be saved for it is with your heart x it says in verse 10 that you believe and x are Justified and it's with your mouth x that you confess and are saved as the x scripture says anyone who trusts in him x will never be put to shame for there is x no difference between Jew and Gentile x the same x Lord is Lord of them all and richly x blesses all who call on him for everyone x who calls on the name of the Lord will x be saved so again this thought that I x want to try and explore tonight and and x to um what we'll do is we'll look at x some examples of people who really x live the idea that Jesus is Lord okay so x the first first one was in Corinthians x this one was in Romans and the third one x uh that we'll turn to is in Philippians x chapter x 2 and in uh and this is this uh this is x the attitude that Paul writes about this x is the attitude that we should all have x your attitude should be the same as that x of Christ Jesus who being in the form of x God did not consider equality with God x something to be grasped but made himself x nothing taking the nature of a servant x being made in human likeness being found x in appearance as a man he humbled x himself and became obedient to death x even death on a cross therefore here's x the point we're trying to x emphasize God exalted him to the highest x place and gave him the name that's above x every name that at the name of Jesus x every knee should bow in heaven and on x Earth and under the Earth and every x tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord x to the glory of God the father so those x are the three passages that I wanted us x to consider and I'm just going to pause x here and ask a question to everybody and x and I'd like some feedback here and I x guess my question to you is what do you x think it means when we say say Jesus is x Lord what does Lord actually x mean and I'll open it up so uh let's x let's have some thoughts x here I mean St one thing that comes to x mind Steve is um when Sarah called x Abraham Lord and kind of being in a x position of someone that uh is in x control is a help meet but is off his x Direction and guidance in a in a family x unit in in the way that she would refer x to Abraham as Lord okay yeah that's good x so um you know she she looked up to x Abraham that he was in a would you say x in a a position of authority over her x somewhat but as a provider and you know x provider and as a help meet in in a way x as well where he provided for the family x and they worked together in that role x good yeah ultimately that he was kind of x the head of their family unit okay all x right thanks so so that's an example x from the Old Testament where Sarah looks x to Abraham and refers to him as Lord x thanks for that Jason who else Steve x yeah hi David out here in Colorado yeah x hey uh just just an observation or x comment x that especially relevant to the First x Corinthians 12 passage okay all those x teachings there in some way have to be x uh contextualized to the Holy Spirit x gifts okay yeah fair I'm not sure x exactly where to go with with this one x but all the statements about the uh the x roles in the Ecclesia this gender roles x uh the uh issues about uh hats all that x stuff that all those x instructions uh that Paul gives x especially about the would say the the x ecclesial Duty x roles is in x a in the context of the hly in the x context of the H holy spirit so okay I x just say yeah all right plug that into x the equation so we throw that into the x equation as it relates to the passage in x Corinthians but in general when we're x talking about Lord is there anything x that like does that does that uh x expression or that title mean anything x to you x David like how would you describe what x it means when we say Jesus is Lord we x don't use you know and maybe it's you x know self-evident but you know the the x word Lord is not a a word that we use in x in our English today you know back in x the King James x version two levels we say I think of x Jesus Lord is the uh World Dominion King x everything does that and and the uh the x ideal of my life in the sense that this x is I want to be like my more the sense x of a teacher Master Lord yeah okay all x right so to him as a as a rabbi as a x teacher as a as a leader x instructor um on one hand you also look x to him as sort of the the king of King x Lord of lords that and okay thanks for x that Richard uh yes um there's a page I x forget what it is where Jesus said why x call me Lord Lord and don't do what I x asked you to do um x yeah yeah and I and I think that's a big x part of where I'm hoping to go tonight x Richard so I'm glad you brought that up x and and where I'm trying to go x is is to have us think about this theme x of x Allegiance when when we call Jesus our x lord we are pledging our allegiance to x Jesus one of the one of the words that x is sometimes translated in our x Bibles uh one of the Greek you know the x Greek word for Lord that is uh the Greek x word that's translated Lord in our Bible x is often times translated in our English x versions not as Lord but as as x Master sometimes as x owner so for example you know the the x crumbs that fall from the master's table x we might be one uh Jesus speaks in x parable about the owner of a Vineyard x the Lord uh I remember Doug Eagles uh x once talking about when Jesus went and x and asked his disciples to take the the x the cult that he would uh use as he went x into Jerusalem and if anybody asks you x tell him that the master or the owner x desires to have this and the idea here x is that Jesus is has ownership rights x that our Allegiance should be to Jesus x as a slave might give his allegiance to x his master but of course we have a x loving Master Romans I think speaks x really really uh eloquently about the x difference between Earthly Masters and x Heavenly Masters we have a loving master x and our baptism brings us you know frees x Us From Slavery to sin and now we are x slaves to righteousness right so the the x big picture that I'm trying to get x across here is one of x Allegiance our Allegiance is to Jesus x and when we are baptized and when we x claim Jesus Is Our Lord we are x saying that everything we have is to be x committed to Jesus that he is you know x he is our head so that's where I'm going x and again I'll open it up for comments x or or or questions or discussion so Jump x Right In if you'd x like Steve when you say um Allegiance x the first thing that comes to my mind is x I just remember in grade school you know x the pledge of allegiance to this country x and my dad was always you know he was x would always tell me that I he would x rather I not say the Pledge of x Allegiance but rather stand x respectfully with my hands at my side x because our Allegiance was not to this x country but it was rather to God and to x Christ and so that's where the the word x alleg x uh kind of brings my mind yeah so that x was allegiance to the flag right I how x many of you remember sister Pat x Sabian a number of us remember Barbara x raises her hand you know pat pat came to x the United States as a a young x adult um she came from the x UK and as a child uh she lived in uh I I x believe it was London or one of the x suburbs that was under constant bombing x by the x Germans uh she told stories about about x that about living under the bombs x hearing the bombs explode x Etc and uh later on she she uh began to x correspond with a brother uh Sabian out x out our way and they eventually married x and she moved to the states Pat died x probably I'm going to guess she was in x her late 80s early x 90s but she was never a citizen of the x United States even though she lived here x almost all her adult life and the reason x she lived uh in the United States not as x a citizen but as a resident x alien be was for her x conscience um when one becomes a citizen x of the United States at least back then x they had to swear allegiance to the x United x States and Pat was not prepared to do x that and consequently she lived freely x as a resident alien and you know obeyed x the laws of the land but never became a x citizen so that's that's a a thought x that I think goes along with Allegiance x her Allegiance was to Christ first and x so too is ours we live freely in the in x the United States but we truly live as x strangers and pilgrims here x right now I'm going to um what I'd like x to do next any any other comments before x we move x on I want to tell you a little bit about x how this uh this theme came up in my x mind you know why it was that I wanted x to present this and the reason is x because as some of you know Sandy and I x just came back from having x visited Switzerland and x Germany and when we were in Germany we x had an opportunity to go to the x Christadelphian Ecclesia in eslington x um how many of you remember do do are x any of you familiar with this uh x Ecclesia in eslington x yeah Steve yeah go x ahead um if you if anybody's ever met x brother horse Trad and sister Jean Trad x they um they used to be members there x many many decades ago really I had no x idea okay that's pretty cool yeah I had x no idea well let me tell you a little x bit there too say again Chris s's x daughter Faith goes there as well yeah x yeah so unfortunately wa when Sandy and x I went uh Faith was away on on as they x say over there on holiday uh but what a x terrific experience it was for us and x this eclesia has a long history and I x wanted to talk a little bit about this x Ecclesia and as we go through this I x think you'll start to see how it was x that this Ecclesia got me thinking about x the concept of Allegiance so what you x see here is uh the sign board that they x have right on the street in in the town x of eslington uh or it's just outside of x stutgart x um it was a a fantastic experience for x us it was something i' had never x experienced before in the sense that the x entire service was conducted in the x German language of x course and one thing that was really x really welcoming when we arrived was x that the x exhorter had typed out his x exhortation and he put it into a x program um open L I think he said it was x and he translated entire exert from x German into x English and then he printed out the x exert in English and as uh there were I x think six uh English-speaking brothers x and sisters that were visiting that day x Sandy and me Jeff and Kelly gelano and a x couple from x Australia and he he knew that we were x coming and so when we arrived he handed x us a copy of his exhortation which I x have right here um on I think they call x it A4 paper it's a little bit different x in size than than the paper we use uh x and it was on uh oil of the Olive Tree x and it was really a great talk and of x course I couldn't understand anything x but I could follow along and as you see x here uh on this picture on the left you x see the words of our hymns which are the x tunes that we know but the lyrics are in x German and so that was kind of fun for x us to try and sing in German uh not so x well but we were able to carry a tune I x guess because we were familiar with it x uh the picture on the top right is a x picture inside the building the building x was built in x 1974 and that uh art uh sculpture that x you see there is made out of wood and it x represents Daniel and his friends in the x fire in the fiery x furnace um and in the bottom you see the x Cornerstone on the building showing that x it was built in 197 4 but also showing x the Star of David and sort of the the x Jewish roots that this uh that this x Ecclesia has so x um this Ecclesia actually started in x 1922 thereabouts and it was started by a x brother by the name of Albert x mayor he was a uh he was a young man in x his 20s who learned the gospel El out in x uh Oregon he was uh he worked for a guy x who was a x Christadelphian and he learned the x gospel through this x man and this this man Albert Mayer was x from German descent his mother died and x he went back to Germany and when he went x back to Germany he formed an Ecclesia x there and he he called the Ecclesia I x and I I mean I I can't speak German but x it's it's ER Christan which stands for x early Christian it was the early x Christian Church it was it was a church x that was different from all of the x churches that had developed layers of x tradition and layers of uh extra x biblical teachings he was trying to go x back to the early Christian Church sort x of foundational x Christianity and that's what adelphian x are all about and so this now is the x largest eclesia in Western Europe we x were there I think there were 60 to 80 x people who were in attendance but since x 1922 there this has been a continuously x active Ecclesia with Services every x week even throughout World War x II and and this I think again you're x going to get hints now as to why I'm x think thinking about this subject of x Christ is our lord Jesus Is Our Lord we x owe our allegiance to him because in x 1934 there became a x requirement for all Germans as Hitler x came to power to uh to offer an oath not x just to the x country but to the man so on August 2nd x 193 for you know Hitler is is the x chancellor at this point in history and x he requires now that all military x members of the of the army swear an oath x and I've got it written out here I swear x by God this holy oath that I will render x to Adolf Hitler furer of the German x Reich and people supreme commander of x the Armed Forces x unconditional obedience x and that I am ready as a brave Soldier x to risk my life at any time for this x oath x okay so we're talking about Allegiance x now brothers and sisters and I want you x to put yourselves in the shoes of a x young German man I want you to think x about what it would be like to be living x in Germany under Nazi rule as Hitler x comes to power and as he's promising x these people who have been going through x great economic difficulties that things x will get better that the you know and he x starts uh he starts trying to create x this Coalition around him and soon Nazi x Germany becomes the you know the problem x that we know it to be and as he began x drafting individuals into his army he x was requiring this oath so when we talk x about you know Jason when we talk about x pledging allegiance to the flag or we x think of our sister Pat Sabian saying x you know she's not going to pledge x allegiance to the x country can imagine Now sort of how how x that's been escalated it's no longer x about an object or you know a country at x large it's about elevating a specific x individual above x all it has real real consequences now x and there's real meaning behind what x you're saying yeah uhuh isn't that x amazing x so what you see here is a x picture I think it's in the late 20s x maybe early 30s no I guess it's in the x early 30s of this ER Christian x Christadelphian Ecclesia in esington uh x Germany outside of stutgart x um these are some of the brothers from x that Ecclesia and after the war one of x the brothers a brother by the name of x Carl walner this is in a book by the way x uh that was written by a brother Graham x Jackman uh about the Mertz brothers so I x will uh if anybody wants information x about this I've ordered this book on x Amazon you can find it on Amazon and x I'll send you information about it but x um this brother walner had this quote x which I thought was fascinating you know x so you think about what it what must be x like you know as as Nazi Germany is is x sort of x you know x becoming you know the constant threat x that it x was x um and these brothers and sisters would x go to x meeting and the you can see the quote x here the constant x exhortation was who are we going to be x christs or x Hitlers there can only be one answer x we're the richest people in the world x right I mean so you see this quote here x and and this is the this was the life x that these brothers and sisters lived x under and this was the exhortation that x they heard week in and week out who is x going to be your lord to whom will you x show your Allegiance is it to Christ or x is it to x Hitler think again you know let's put x ourselves in the shoes of these brothers x and sisters it's x 1933 and the x Gestapo comes to a Brother's home x brother Johannes the book x says and the Gestapo warns this x brother and says x look you have to stop x meeting you should not be meeting x together as a as a as a group this x 1933 year later the Gestapo shows x up and they confiscate a bunch of the x literature written in German about our x faith and now the Ecclesia knows that x this is really a x problem and what they start x doing is um they obey God rather than x man you know Jesus says do this in x remembrance of x me and so the Ecclesia did not x disband but instead they met x quietly they met at x night they met in x homes they sometimes met in x restaurants they always met with a x limited number of people so that they x would be under you know under the rule x you know they could obey the law of the x land which says groups no larger than x such and such so they always they always x always met but at the height of the x war they talked about how brothers and x sisters would get together in x restaurants in the public and they would x share a bottle of wine and a loaf of x bread and to any other German that was x observing them they were Simply Having a x meal but to these brothers and sisters x they were remembering Christ in the way x that he had asked x so they try and go under the radar they x try and uh go x undetected at one point um one of the x brothers was told that the Gestapo was x about to raid their x homes and so the brothers one this this x one brother uh told about taking all the x literature and hiding it in his garden x so that when the raid came they wouldn't x find it x there were three brothers from one x family that were members of this x Ecclesia the Mertz Brothers M x RZ there was uh Albert August and x Rudolph they were uh Three x Brothers From a very large Catholic x Family from what I understand they were x were nine brothers in total in the x family and three or four sisters so it x was a very large Catholic x Family and um The Story Goes that these x that one of these brothers discovered a x Bible that was actually floating in a in x a river or a stream they fished it out x they dried it off and these Catholic x boys began reading it which was x something that they had not had access x to x and then Albert MZ was working for a man x who was a member of this ER Christian x this early Christian Christadelphian x Ecclesia and in the height of the war x November 17th x 1935 three of these brothers were x baptized on the same date into the name x of Jesus x Christ their parents didn't want them to x but they were x Allegiance was not to their x parents but to x Christ so I guess the question I ask is x what verse does that remind you of but x when these brothers were baptized x against the wishes of their parents you x know Jesus talks about the need to leave x father and mother and brother and sister x right it's about Allegiance our x allegiances to Jesus Jesus is our Lord x and these three men and there are many x members of our Ecclesia who have been x baptized uh against the wishes of their x family sometimes right and so this is an x example of that with these three men but x you know being baptized in a free x country like Canada or the United States x is probably very different than being x baptized in Nazi Germany in x 1935 yeah David I just share a a talking x about family I'll share a personal exper x experience yeah please my brother uh x when we were in our early 20s married a x Catholic and he asked me to be an x attendant in the wedding and so we did x the rehearsal at the x church and the priest says well you'll x all come up here and then you'll kneel x at the front of the church so I had to x tell my brother I said I I can't do that x I can't kneel down in in a Catholic x church and he says you know and we had a x discussion about it then he said to me x well maybe it could be the M Master of x Ceremonies and I said yeah he says x you'll just have to introduce father so x and so I said well I can't call him x father so in the end I compromised and x uh referred him as Reverend there you x go yeah but you know so it's it can be a x challenging you know challenging thing x for folks who who you know discover the x gospel uh outside of their family x history right and yeah I was the only x one so yeah okay all right so here's the x Merz brothers and uh three of them x Rudolph August and Albert are baptized x on November 17 x 1935 uh I don't know if that was uh in a x stream in a river uh but it must have x been pretty cold anyway um Nazi Germany x was rolling along and the pers ution at x this point x begins uh Rudolph is the first one x that's that's called x up and he refuses to take the oath like x we looked at that oath before right you x know that that Adolf Hitler is you know x that our Allegiance is to to him above x all and uh Rudolph says no I'm not going x to do it and this young man his boy is x sentenced to 18 months in prison x and while he's in prison um it it x appears from the records that he disc x that that he experienced some sort of x mental x breakdown um and he was uh sent to a an x insane asylum and he was there for a x number of years before he was released x and then later on he was called up as x the war was progressing he was called up x again and he was uh again sentenced to x prison and uh was put in an insane x asylum a second time x um so again you know we're trying to x relate to these guys and this was uh I x believe he was the youngest of the x brothers and then uh shortly after that x the second brother who's seen his x younger you know his younger sibling Go x off into a prison he gets called up and x the same thing he refuses to take the x oath and what you see here on the side x is x um is some correspondence and in this x book you can actually see the letters x they brother Graham Jackman has copies x of all of this uh information you know x in the original so it's all written in x German this is a x translation and this is about x August so it was uh dated March 25th x 1939 he says the accused who has no x criminal record did not obey the command x to report to the regiment in we in ver x and instead sent the order back that x took some guts don't you think Return to x Sender right um he had to be fetched x from his home on February 6th in the x barracks he repeatedly disobeyed the x orders of his commanding officer captain x petzold and put on uh to put on an army x uniform and to take the oath of loyalty x to the fur to the father Chris right he x St hat as his reasons that he's a x urist and his religious convictions x forbids him to kill human beings even in x case of war and that he cannot act x contrary to this Divine command however x severely he's punished his brother x Rudolph refused to obey on the same x grounds so these are the first two of x the Mertz brothers that are called up x into Hitler's army they both refuse one x is sent to prison August is sent to the x uh you know to to a work x camp now let me tell you brothers and x sisters when Sandy and I were in Germany x two weeks x ago we went to the DA the the DACA x concentration x camp this was the first of the work x camps and to to be x there it was uh it was grim you know x there were there x were thousands of people that were x executed in some of these places but it x didn't start out as an execution Camp it x started out as a place where they would x take you know though the opponents the x political opponents of of the Nazis and x they would sentence them to work as x unpaid labor hard hard x work and um the guides that that we were x at daau told us that these men would x come in and they would be just x physically abused mentally abused from x the moment they got there well the the x sausen Work Camp is where brother August x was sent and he was there for a number x of x years and uh as the Western forces began x to uh come in closer and closer to the x camp uh they say there were 33,000 x people at this Work Camp x and they began a death march the German x guards gathered everybody at the camp x and made them March hundreds of miles x north northwest away from the from the x Western allies so that uh they they x wouldn't be discovered and if people x began to uh fall back they would be shot x and killed on the side and uh The Story x Goes that as uh as the Western forces x got closer the German guards began to x panic and run away and when that x happened uh brother August and a number x of others he tell later told the story x they were able to escape uh they ran x from the Death March and they x escaped um that brother August died I x think uh in x 1960 um remained a faithful brother all x his life but this was his x experience and then the third brother x was brother Albert um brother Albert's x story might be a little more widely x known among the Christadelphian x Community but Albert was um he was x sentenced to death uh on April 4th he x was executed at uh at the Brandon uh x Berg x prison um we'll talk a little bit more x about brother Albert but I wanted to x sort of pause here and I wanted to x remind us all about the history we have x as a x community um we refer to ourselves as x the christadelphians and and our story x you know our name began as a result of x conflict in the United States this time x where brothers in Christ you know looked x at each other and said how can we go to x war against one another our you know our x allegiances to Christ first not to the x North or to the South and so we x obviously know the experience of the x early christadelphians and how the name x came about and and how as a result of x that we were allowed to file for uh x religious conscientious objection in the x United States we're able to do that x brother Roberts uh once wrote these x words where he said you know it's x impossible for a Christadelphian to be a x patriot or a x soldier and the United States census x used to take take a census of religious x bodies the last you know now they take x individual censuses um but in the 1930s x they used to take a a census of x religious x organizations and these words are x amazing you know the x christadelphians have consistently x maintained that their faith prohibited x participation in the army or navy of any x country whether in time of peace or x times of War until the return of the x Lord Jesus Christ to the Earth okay this x is what the United States government x said about our x community and it's because of people x like Albert Merz and Rudolph MZ and x August MTZ in Germany and because of the x many brothers and sisters that we know x who served as religious conscientious x objectors in Vietnam or in World War II x or in Korea you know these people who x stood up and showed their allegiance was x to Jesus are the ones that sort of have x given us this privileged view in the x eyes of the United States government x that x christadelphians have have been x consistent in their faith World War I x guess it was the Vietnam War the the x individual who was in charge of x selective service was this Vietnam no x this was uh um after World War II right x um this is Lewis General Lewis B Hershey x that'd be Korea Steve this is x Korea okay um but this is what he said I x mean he is the one that x started and was responsible for the the x draft and he said members of the x Christadelphian Church followed more x closely than any other denomination x ation the doctrine as it related to x conscientious objection and their x refusal to enter the Armed x Forces that's pretty High Praise coming x from this man and brother Richard I'll x tell you that uh when he x retired um there was a a press x conference and um he retired I think x after the Vietnam x War and one member of the press asked x him you know what are you going to do x about the problem of these conscientious x objectors and Lewis Hershey said you x know that I I could never get beyond the x five words from Acts chapter 5 must obey x God rather than x man x um so you know there are x courageous there's a history of x courageous men and women who have stood x up in the face of real difficulty to x Proclaim Jesus as Lord and to show their x allegiance to him so this brings us back x now to Albert x MZ he was uh he was tried he was sent to x prison and he was tried for his reusable x his refusal to offer this oath of x allegiance to Adolf Hitler the fur he x refused to become a Rifleman in Hitler's x Nazi army x this is a picture of him at x trial his uh x attorney wrote him a letter after the x trial this is the translation and it's x powerful brothers x sisters it said yesterday's proceedings x ended with the death penalty for x you there was no alternative outcome as x you remained indifferent to all x propositions it turned out exact ex x actly as I told you this is the lawyer x talking to him yet your case is not x entirely lost though the harsh verdict x has been pronounced against you it might x still come to a lifting of the sentence x if you so to say at the last hour were x to x owledge the x incorrectness of your previous x View in other x words look Albert you're GNA be x killed but if you curse Christ x you can live if you will no longer give x your allegiance to Jesus as your Lord x but instead give your allegiance to x Adolf Hitler you can x live this was the x choice as the officially appointed x Council for the defense I thought it my x duty to admonish you to think this over x once more should you come to a better x judgment you have to ask for another x hearing and make an appropriate x declaration to this end but it's very x urgent and you only have a few days at x your x disposal that's pressure on a young x man that evening brother MZ wrote this x letter to his to his x Ecclesia you know imagine the recording x brother reading x this on a Sunday morning x my beloved all I find it hard to write x to you today not for my own sake but x rather as I know this letter will bring x you much grief you know my faith and My x Hope Christ is my x life and to die is my x profit when my time has ended and I have x to part I want you to remember that man x is destined to die and afterward to x undergo judgment I want to close now x trusting in God and His x Kingdom and I send you all my x love and he wrote a letter to his x parents day before he was x executed on Friday the 4th of April at x 5:30 in the morning my time will have x expired and my struggle will thereby x come to an end it's my last wish that x you may live in peace together x and take care that none is x lost and The Story x Goes that this x Ecclesia remained active throughout all x of the TR travails and turmoils in x Germany that they met quietly they met x undercover they broke bread in x restaurants where two or three are x gathered together there am I in your x midst and today this is a an act of x Ecclesia to God's x glory to the glory of Christ and to the x benefit of brothers and sisters today so x many years x later brother Merz concluded and he said x send my love to all the brothers and x sisters who are well disposed to me our x Lord's mercy be with you amen x so here's the rest of the story brothers x and x sisters in the Brandenburg x prison they had um an execution x chamber where they had a x guillotine and uh this young man was x brought into that x room and within 30 x seconds he was K K x executed because of his commitment his x allegiance to x Jesus I'd like to uh x conclude by uh reading a passage from x Revelation um see if I can find it x here um x Revelation CH 20 x verse4 I saw Thrones on which were x seated those who had been given x Authority x to x judge and I saw the souls of those who x had been x beheaded because of their testimony for x Jesus and because of the word of God x they had not worshiped the beasts or the x image that had not and had not received x his mark on their forehead or their x hands they came to x life and x reigned with Christ x a thousand x years and so brothers and sisters we x conclude our class thinking about this x young man who had such great x courage his brothers who had such great x courage and who really shows us who show x us what it means to Proclaim Jesus as x Lord one day and perhaps one day x soon the dust outside of Brandenburg x prison will likely x stir and this boy this young man will be x raised to x life and he'll x meet his Lord x and he'll be I'm sure x rewarded for his x faith so let us brothers and x sisters live lives like x him let us um Proclaim Jesus as our x Lord so thanks for your attention