I was listening to this message from a new pastor at a church my wife and I used to go to. It is a good sermon and I want to share it here. It is about games we play sometimes. It is centered at the foot of the cross where Jesus was hanging on that cross. The Roman soldiers were guilty of playing games while the most important even in all of history was happening right above them. They paid no attention to it, but rather were gambling for His clothes. Listen to this pastor share about it.

No, it is not enough to know all there is to know about Jesus. It is imperative that we know Him personally … that we are in a relationship with Him … that we are His friend … that He knows us and we know Him. Just knowing about Him is not enough. Scriptures tells us that He will say to many “Depart from Me, I never knew you” on judgement day.

When He was on the cross, we were on His mind … not only His mind, but His heart.

This is a most serious matter and one can’t afford to ignore it. How can we know we are saved. We can! It is very dangerous to go thru life with a “I sure hope so” approach. If that is where you are at chances are you are not saved. If there is any doubt you are on thin ice. God has said in His Word that we can know because when we get saved we will know it. He puts a witness in our lives telling us. We will feel different … we will be and feel clean before the Lord as He has forgiven us of our sins and cleansed us from all unrighteousness.

Nancy “Honeytree” Miller wrote a song (Clean Before my Lord) back in the 1970s which has been recorded by numerous singers over the years. Nancy’s maiden name was Henigbaum which is German. In English it is honeytree. My wife and I are blessed to have Nancy as our worship and praise leader in our church (Calvary Christian Fellowship) here in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Nancy is considered the First Lady of gospel music from the Jesus movement back in the 1970s. She was a teenager and a hippy when Jesus saved her and came into her heart and life in 1970. In 1973 she started professional song writing and singing. She has written some great songs over the years.

I know a lot about Donald J. Trump, but I certainly can not say that I know him personally. We have never met much less established a relationship with each other. I knew of Nancy Honeytree since the late 1970s. I have been within a couple of feet of her as we went to the same church at one time years ago, but we never met each other until a few years ago. Now we are friends. She has been in our house sitting right next to me and we talked to each other for quite awhile. I usually see her every Sunday when we communicate back and forth. It is safe to say we have a relationship with each other. I said all that to illustrate that know about and knowing personally are not the same.

Here Nancy is in our house on my 79th birthday. That is her on the far left …

Jesus was born as a human baby. He was a “stranger in the manger”. Nancy Honeytree’s pastor sometimes would say to her … “you ought to write a song about that”. Once he was sharing about Jesus being a stranger in the manger. He turned to Nancy and told her you ought to write a song about that and she did …

Yes, and He will remain a stranger unless we do something about it. You see, it is our move … our decision … our choice. He wants very much to have a personal relationship with you, but He is a gentleman and won’t force His way upon you. He has done all that He could do and all that was needed to make it possible to become God’s friend rather than His enemy. That is right … enemy … for our sin makes us His enemy. That is not good … not good at all. All it takes to change things is to call on His Name; be willing to repent acknowledging your sin and need of forgiveness; asking Him to forgive you; inviting Him into your heart and life. It is so simple yet so hard … hard because our pride stands in the way. Don’t let pride prevent you from making friends with Jesus.