When opportunity knocks

A few years ago I was at a gas station filling up when a young man nervously approached me. He asked if he could give me a Jehovah's Witness pamphlet. I politely said no thank you and he quickly got back in his car and left. My first thought was, "Wow, that kid was really nervous about talking to me." My next thought was, "Wow, I wonder if I should have talked to him? Maybe God sent him to me."

I'll never know.

I'm sure you have similar times in your life where after the moment is lost you think, "I should have said this or done that." Many times, like in my experience, we recognize it too late. So how do you take advantage of these opportunities before they're lost?

In the corporate world I teach people that there are three principles to opportunities. I think these same principles can apply to opportunities for sharing your faith.

1. You must prepare for opportunities


2. You must recognize opportunities


3. You must act on opportunities
   

Prepare: Write down your own testimony. Memorize verses that that have impacted your life. Pray for God to make you aware of opportunities throughout the day to show Christ's love to others through your actions and your words.

Recognize: The best way to recognize an opportunity is to always be looking for one. Purposefully look for opportunities to impact others throughout the day.

Act: Take action on the opportunities God provides. Don't put off an opportunity you recognize today until tomorrow.

Colossians 4:6 (ESV)
⁶ Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)
¹⁵ but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;

What are you doing to be ready the next time opportunity knocks?

Looking for an explanation to evolution

A million or a billion or a trillion years ago or an eternity ago, there was nothing. There was nothing but blackness if nothing can even have blackness. Then, in an instant, in a moment (although instants and moments do not yet exists) there was something.

Poof!


Out of nothingness came something. I guess something is an understatement. Out of nothing came everything.

I'm not a physicists or a biologist. However, I am a well educated (Texas A&M) professional. Somewhere my education and 20 years of being a successful business professional have failed me. I'm apparently not smart enough to understand this little known physical law that something can come from nothing.

If you can help this slow Aggie understand this truth (it must be true since it is being taught at all levels of education as fact) please post an answer here. Please include any links that provide information on the scientific theory of nothing from something. I'm also interested in any scientific proofs how random chance and chaos can produce order and mind-blowing systems of complication like a living cell and DNA.

I'm open minded and just seeking the truth.

Some helpful links I've found doing my own research are below:

How something came from nothing.
Also discussed here...
And here...

Proofs of theory:

Evidence 1.
Evidence 2.
Evidence 3.

Not enough time in the day

How often to you say that there is just not enough time in the day? I know
I feel this way most days. I get up early, spend an hour in the car going
to work, spend the day at work, an hour back home and then some fleeting
quality time with my family before I go to bed and start the whole process
over again.

There is so much to do and so little time to get it done. Our calendars and
to-do lists are full. Stress levels are out of control. Is this God's
plan?

Genesis 1:5

One the first day of creation, God created light and separated the light
from the darkness. It's easy to forget that what God did here was create
the first day - he created time, at least time as we know it in our finite
humanity.

What does this mean to me? God gave us 24 hours in our day and all the days of our lives. The time I have is sufficient. If I am short of time, I need
to look at how I am spending what God has given me. Am I being a good
steward with the gift of time from God?

Usually when I read the parable of the talents I think of spiritual gifts,
money or other blessings. What is I read this parable again and apply it to the time God has given me, both in my day and in my life. How should I treat
the time that God has given me?

Matthew 25:14-30

My time here may be a nothing more than a vapor in eternity. Am I
investing it for eternity or wasting it by burying what I have in the
ground.

James 4:14

Obsession - Losing Control of Passion

I've recently change the layout of my blog - again. I'm pretty happy with what I have now but I know at some point I'll open it up to tinker with it and change it - again. I guess I'm like the weekend grease-head that keeps tinkering with his car. I just like tinkering with it, learning how to adjust the CSS and HTML codes, finding neat widgets created by someone else and figuring out how to best install them in my blog site. It's fun to me, the wannabe geek.

I noticed something about my behavior with my latest round of blog site updates. My interest in learning and creating started to slide from a harmless hobby, to an obsession. As it made this slide I noticed other important interests starting to slide backwards.

If you were to ask me at any point about my priorities in life over the last month I would tell you - God, family and work and not even mention any hobbies or social interests. However, looking back, I notice I was spending much more time working on my blog layout than time reading my Bible. I found my self sitting in my living room with my family but with my laptop as I tinkered. As I look back I also notice that rather than sharing my journey of seeking God on my blog, I was spending all my time on the aesthetics of my blog.

Now there is nothing wrong with hobbies. There is nothing wrong with spending time learning new things like how CSS and HTML work. What's wrong is when a hobby works it way up the priority chain in your life. The problem is when a passion becomes an obsession.

We often don't think of hobby passions as sinful. We relegate sinful passions to passions of sexual lusts. We think of hobbies as just that, hobbies. However, anything that takes priority over Godly endeavors and becomes an obsession, becomes a sin. Passion, no matter how harmless on the outside, can wreck havoc when it gets out of control and becomes an obsession.

Hobbies and passions are usually a good thing. Often, your passion is planted in you by God. That passion needs to be realized by living it out for your primary passion, the passion that Holy Spirit brings you once you believe.

The apostle Paul said it well when he tells us to keep our eye on the ultimate prize. Don't let your primary passion be distracted by anything, including your well intentioned earthly hobbies. Keep your primary passion on the eternal things, the things above, the things that will not be burned in the fire.

1 Corinthians 9:24-25 (ESV)
²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
²⁵ Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

Philippians 3:13-16 (ESV)
¹³ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
¹⁵ Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
¹⁶ Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Father Knows Best: Teachable Moments

From the moment a child first enters this world they begin learning. They learn that it is a lot colder outside of the womb. They learn if they cry someone will bring them food or change their soiled diapers. They also learn very subtle lessons such as the comfort of their mother’s voice, the warmth of sunshine on their face and the joy that comes with smiling and giggling. As a child experiences their world, every moment they are learning something new. Every moment is teaching that child something.

As parents we marvel at how quickly our toddlers grow and learn. They seem to absorb everything like a sponge. It seems natural to both child and parent that learning is moment to moment, non-stop. Then we start the “formal” education. We send them off to school to learn math and English. We send them off to Sunday school to learn about God. It no longer seems natural for learning to be moment by moment. Now we treat learning like it is dependent on “formalized” education.

What happens to all those spontaneous teachable moments as our children get older? How do we manage to get so busy that we miss these opportunities the older our kids get?

Nothing happens to those moments. Our children are still learning moment to moment. The question to ask is, what are they learning?

They’re learning to fit in at school, or not fitting in. They’re learning about morals from video games, PG-13 movies and TV. When they were infants they learned that crying brought them food and someone to change their soiled diapers. Now they’re learning many more buttons to push to get what they want from mom and dad.

Every moment in your child’s life, from infancy to adulthood is a teachable moment. We can either be an active part of the lesson and teach them the values we want to pass on to them or we can be passive and let them learn on their own and hope they figure it out.

When God gave Israel “the Shema” he commanded them to diligently teach His words to their children, not just in Sunday school but when they sat together in their homes, went on walks, before bed and first thing in the morning. And it wasn’t just words to teach their children but they were to be displayed in everything they did and on the forefront of their thoughts. Our children learn more from our actions than our words.

Where are your children learning their moment to moment lessons about life? What lessons are they learning? What role are you playing?

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (ESV) 4 "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Has grace replaced the 10 commandments?

I’m writing this post in response to comments on my Sabbath post. The understanding of the issues raised by these comments is key to the understanding of grace and the understanding of the gospel itself.

I wrote my post on the Sabbath based on a question raised in my Sunday school class. The question was whether or not we were forsaking God’s law in preference of worldly traditions by worshipping on Sunday instead of Saturday.

I started writing my post unsure of where it would end up. I know we are free from the law based on Paul’s teachings, especially in Romans and Galatians. However, I also know that keeping the Sabbath (as in Saturday) separate and dedicated to God is part of the 10 commandments. If we throw out the Sabbath, do we have to throw out the other nine?

I came to the conclusion that as Christians saved by grace that we are not bound to a Saturday Sabbath. You can read my post to see how I came to that conclusion. I’m by no means a biblical scholar so I may not have laid out my points as well as I should have.

In any case, I stand by this conclusion and I will attempt to address the opposing comments and perhaps strengthen my position as well.

My final conclusion in my Sabbath post is as follows:

It is clear that God set aside a day of rest as a holy day. It is clear that God wants us to meet together and honor him and to delight in doing so, putting honoring God above our own pleasures and business. This is not a “law” that brings salvation but an act of obedience as we live and walk in the Spirit and seek those things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Gal 5:16-25, Col 3:1-11)

If your church meets on Saturday, then set aside your busy life (rest) that day as your holy day to honor God and if on Sunday then set aside your busy life on Sunday to be your holy day to honor God. The point is - put aside your busy life to honor God, delight in this day and delight in the Lord.

There were stated objection to two specific points I made in my post. I’ll address these issues. However, while these points helped me draw my conclusion, I could throw these out and still stand by my final analysis.

I made the comment that it appeared that from the earliest church tradition that the first century Christians met on Sundays. I referenced Acts 20:7, 1 Cor 16:1-2 and Rev 1:10. The opposing comment stated:

This is not supported by the verses you cite. The day of the Lord is established as Sabbath and Isaiah confirms it in Isaiah 58.

I agree that Isaiah is referring to the Sabbath as the day of the Lord. The Sabbath was the Lord’s Day under the old covenant. My point was that the early church began referring to Sunday as the Lord’s Day. While the verses I list above are not conclusive in themselves, they do lend biblical support to the historical reality that the early church recognized that the first day of the week was the Lord’s Day.

But every Lord's Day, gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. - Didache 14, ANF 7.381 (c. 90 AD)

We have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day. - Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Magnesians 9, ANF 1.62 (c. 105 AD)

But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God ... made the world. And Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead on that same day. - Justin Martyr, First Apology, ANF 1.186 (c. 160)

I do not want to over debate this point. I concede that if one believes the church has been corrupt since 100 AD then what was practiced by the church at that time will not matter to one’s point of view.

The second point that was challenged was where I stated that the Bible never mentions that anyone other than Israel should observe the Sabbath. I said that in fact, Paul goes out of his way to insist that we are free from law given to Israel and specifically mentions the Sabbath in Colossians 2:16.

The disagreeing comment is as follows:

Paul was a Torah observant, Torah teacher, as commanded by Yeshua in Matthew 5!

Also the statement that the Bible never says that the law or sabbath was
for anyone but Israel. You are mistaken not knowing the Scripture. Torah is
clear that there is "one law" for everyone. And specifically of Sabbath is
Isaiah 56.

Isaiah 56:6-8

This is speaking of Messiah and the
gentile inclusion and their keeping of the Sabbath.

I disagree that Isaiah is specifically speaking of Jesus. Isaiah is speaking to Israel on the importance of them keeping the Sabbath and any foreigner that wishes to join them must do the same.

The real case to be made about is that we are free from the law. There is nothing we can do that will save us, including recognizing the Sabbath as Saturday. Nor is there anything that we have to add to the grace of God to be saved, including recognizing Saturday as the Sabbath.

Paul wrote extensively on the subject of being free from the law. I’m going to pull out just a few verses; however I believe my point is true to the context.

Romans 7:6 (ESV)
6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.

Romans 10:5-10 (ESV)
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.
6 But the righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' " (that is, to bring Christ down)
7 or " 'Who will descend into the abyss?' " (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Galatians 2:15-16 (ESV)
15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;
16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 5:1-3 (ESV)
1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.
3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

In Romans, Paul basically lays out the complete Christian doctrine. He goes into great lengths to explain that we are free from the law but how that does not give us a license for lawlessness. He quotes Deuteronomy in verse 10:8 that the law is now written on our hearts. In Romans and his other letters, he speaks that now we live by the Spirit which is opposed to living by the flesh (sin).

In Galatians, Paul is speaking specifically to Christian Jews coming to the churches in Galatia and trying to convince them that they are not really saved unless they embrace the old covenant law, in addition to the saving faith in Christ.

Paul cannot be clearer in Galatians that we are not to bind ourselves to the law of the old covenant and that anyone teaching this is teaching a false gospel.

Galatians 1:6-9 (ESV)
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Galatians 3:1 (ESV)
1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
What is the gospel that Paul is referring to? The gospel is Romans 10:9 - because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I have one last point in reference to the opposing comment. Matthew 5 is used to support the argument that we are still under the law.

That's why Yeshua said, "Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the
prophets." HE said, in essence, "Don't even think this!" So why have we thought
it and why have we taught it. HE goes on to say that the greatest in the kingdom
are those who do and teach the Law - Torah.

The comment goes on to encourage all to read the bible in its entire context. I whole-heartedly agree and freely admit that sometimes I am not true to this. In this instance I think we if take all of Matthew 5 into context, Jesus is fully supporting that the law cannot save you.

In Matthew 5-7, Jesus ratchets up the true meaning of the law to the point it is clear, that no man can live according to the law and succeed.

The specific versus mentioned above are Matthew 5:17-20. Jesus said he did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. He then goes on to say that those under the law (the law had not yet been fulfilled until Jesus’ death and resurrection) must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

This is an impossible task, the Pharisees were the experts and teachers of the law and Jesus was even explaining the laws to make them even tougher to truly follow. How can we exceed the righteousness of the teachers of the law? By receiving the righteousness of Christ through confessing that Jesus is Lord and believing that he died for our sins and rose again. Christ has fulfilled the law so that we may be saved from it’s judgment.

Freedom from the law does not mean freedom to sin as we wish and freedom from obedience to Jesus our Lord. Paul, in his teaching explaining our freedom from the law is clear that we are new creatures that live by the Spirit, leaving our sinful flesh natures a dead.

This is why. I make my final point in my Sabbath post, that as Christians, we should honor God with a Sabbath rest dedicated to him and gather to worship Him on this day with other believers. If we obey God’s Spirit in our hearts and seek him we can’t come to any other conclusion.

Grace has not replaced the Ten Commandments. Grace has written on our hearts the greatest commandments, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:36-40, Deut 6:5-6). All the other commandments follow from these.

Road Trip: Homesick

My kids saw snow for the first time last week on our family vacation. They loved it; for awhile anyway. However, by day 5 of our 7 day trip they were ready to be back home. They decided the snow was nice to visit but they wanted to get back to the greener pastures of our own backyard.

They were homesick. They missed their own beds. They missed their dogs. They missed their yard. The missed everything about our home, even things that I never even considered.

They weren't homesick because Texas is better than Colorado. Both places have their pluses and minuses. They were homesick because they missed their "home". They all knew, even the four year-old, that as nice as Colorado was, it was not home.

Do you ever get homesick? I don't mean when your on a vacation or on a business trip. I mean do you ever feel like this big world we live in is not really home? As a Christian, this world is not my home. My home is the new earth we'll enjoy someday. The problem I have however, is that I am not often homesick enough.

All too often, I love this world and don't even think about the new home waiting for me. I guess that is expected. After all, I've never been to this new home. How can I miss it?

I should miss it, because it is real and because God's Spirit in me yearns for it. This new home where I belong is not right in front of me where I can touch it. I get too easily wrapped up in my current world and all of its temporary pleasures. I don't have time to give any thought to the fantastic world God has waiting for me.

A good barometer on where I am with my walk with God is whether or not I'm feeling a little homesick. If I start to feel too much at home where I'm at, it's time to spend more time thinking of Him and less of me.

John 17:14-19 (ESV)
14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
15 i do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Is God Really Jealous?

And then he said, and the lord thy god is a jealous god. And I was, you know, caught up in the rapture of that moment until he said “jealous.” And something struck me. And I was like, I think about 27 or 28. I was thinking God is all, God is omnipresent, God is – and God’s also jealous? God is jealous of me?

And something about that didn’t feel right in my spirit because I believe that God is love and that god is in all things.

Oprah turned from her childhood faith to a new age faith in God because she could not believe that a God of love could be a jealous God.

On the surface, the Bible would seem to contradict itself.

1 Corinthians 13:4 (NASB)
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,

Exodus 20:5 (ESV)
5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

So if God is love and love is not jealous, how can God be a jealous God? This tripped up Oprah and it's easy to understand how.

When I am jealous, I am jealous because I am not getting what I want. I may think I love the person or thing I am jealous of but the reality is that I'm hurt because I don't have what I want or don't feel I'm receiving the feelings I have in return. As the bible says in 1 Corinthians, this is not love.

When God is jealous he is jealous of our actions. He is jealous of our choice to choose other gods instead of Him. This jealousy is not from self-pity or insecurity but out of love for us and wanting the best for us.

Those that want to believe that God is all love and therefore cannot be a jealous God, want to believe this because they don't want a God that will judge and hate their actions, whatever those actions might be. "I can live whatever lifestyle I want because God loves me and wants me to be happy."

God does want us to be happy but God understands that only he can bring you true happiness. This is why all the other commandments are based on the greatest commandment:

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (ESV)
4 "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

I am joyful that my God is a jealous God that wants me to love Him with all my heart, soul and might. I am joyful because I know God is jealous when I turn from Him because He loves me with all His heart, soul and might. He loves me so much that He sent His Son to die for me even though I pursued "other things" above Him.

Road Trip: America the Beautiful

On day two in Colorado we headed down from Denver to Colorado Springs to visit the Garden of the Gods. It was April (just barely) and the morning was freezing with a little sleet mixed in for good measure. In the afternoon it cleared up a bit but it was still windy and cold. However, we endeavored to at least drive through the Garden of the Gods as we had heard that it was a spectacular site.

We weren't disappointed. In the foothills of the majestic Rocky Mountains there are some magnificent rock formations that display the artistic wonder of our Creator. At least that's what I thought I saw.

What I am told is that what I actually saw was created 65 million years ago when 1.5 billion year old granite rock heaved sandstone to the surface as the Ancestral Rocky Mountains were formed. Millions of years of rain and wind then formed these beautiful formations. Of course all of this started when some cosmic reaction happened by chance billions of years ago to form this earth, its beauty and all of us lucky organisms that grew from the goo.

Why is it that we can’t look at the beauty that God has created and just be amazed without putting it all into a nice tight box? We either can’t accept there is a Creator or if there is one, we want to make Him just an initiator of some cosmic event that started it all. We can’t accept a purposeful Creator that can create the beauty around us by just speaking it into existence.

Why do we make God either non-existent or non-relevant?

Because if God is who He says He is, we have to face who we are in light of God’s greatness. We’re not God and we’re not a part of God. We’re a creation, a creature. A creature created in the image of God but a creature that wanted more and still wants more.

So, we say there is no God, or at least no relevant God, and everything around us happened by chance. But, can there really be beauty by random chance? Are our art museums filled with paintings that happened when an artist’s cat knocked over the paint?

The writing is on the wall, the mountains, the stars and the sunsets. It’s time to face up to who we are and who God is. It’s time for the creature to humble itself before the Creator.

Romans 1:19-20 (ESV)
19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Road Trip: Grace and Peace

Once we figured out which route to take (see Lost before we start) we were off. Six people, four being siblings 10 years of age and younger, strapped to their seats for over 17 hours. Many of us have those fond family road trip memories. "He touched me!" "She put her hand on my side of the car!" And of course the famous, "Are we there yet?"

A family road trip can be a bonding experience or it can be a national lampoon experience. In order to avoid the latter I gave everybody one rule for the trip that was to be our family mantra - Grace and Peace.

Grace - favor and kindness towards people - even when they do not deserve it.
Peace - harmony between people - no conflicts, contentment.

This was quite a tall order, however, I think we succeeded for the most part. There were a few times that irritation with each other showed as we were tired and road weary. However, a quick "grace and peace" reminder seemed to get us back on track.

Wouldn't it be great if "grace and peace" were that easy all the time, both with our families and with the whole world. Why is it that grace and peace don't abound in our world?

In order to have grace, you need to be willing to give it, even when the other person does not deserve it. In fact, the other person has to be undeserving for it to be considered "grace" in the first place. However, even if you can manage to extend grace, peace may or may not follow. Peace will depend on how the other person responds to your grace. Basically, just like the old saying that it takes two to tango when referring to fights; it also takes two to tango for grace and peace to abound.

So is there no hope?

The hope is in the grace that God has already extended to us. The grace extended is the opportunity for peace with God through His Son, Jesus Christ, even though we've done nothing to deserve it. One day every knee will bow and grace and peace will then abound. Why not bow your knee now and experience the peace that comes from God's grace today?

Philippians 2:9-11 (ESV)
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.