Dear Church Family,
In 1961 as the Green Bay Packers began preseason training camp, legendary coach Vince Lombardi stood before his players. After waiting many seconds, he held up an object in his hand and simply stated, “Gentleman, this is a football.” David Marannis wrote in his biography on Lombardi, “He took nothing for granted. He began a tradition of starting from scratch, assuming that the players were blank slates who carried over no knowledge from the year before.”
No doubt you are familiar with the words of a best-selling book written in 1860 titled “Say and Seal.” Stop acting like you don’t know these beloved words. Mr. Linden gently shared them with Johnny Fox as the small boy died. Little did Anna Warner imagine that within a short time the few lines of a poem she wrote would be sung and treasured by people around the world for years to come. Composer William Bradford put the words to music and added the chorus. Some believe she used Galatians 2:20 as the basis for the words, “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
The first stanza goes like this, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so; little ones to Him belong, they are weak, but He is strong.” Now you recognize the words? Here’s more, Anna and her sister Susan lived in an old house near West Point, New York. Born into wealth, a national financial crisis left them impoverished. Their writings reflected their deep trust in their Savior and the eternal riches that belonged to them as children of God.
Now you might be thinking what one player said in response to Lombardi’s famous five words, “Coach you’re going a little too fast.” Learned theologians over the years have pointed to the simple truth that Jesus has shown His great love for them through His redemptive death on the cross as the most important doctrine they could ever know or teach. We must ever remember the basics of what the Bible teaches. (Just now the sermon I am listening to quoted John 3:16 and how per Romans 8:1 those in Christ no longer face condemnation.)
In every sermon I strive to give hope. This flows from preaching the Gospel. If I have not presented the Gospel, then what has been said cannot be called a sermon. It might be a pep talk or a lecture, but if the Gospel fails to be expounded, I have not preached. Proclaiming the Gospel reminds all who hear they have been loved in the ultimate way as the song declares, “Jesus loves me, He who died, heaven’s gates to open wide; He will wash away my sin, let His little child come in.”
In this time of crisis, I hold up this wonderful truth to you – not “This is a football” – instead I point you to Jesus who has and does now love you!
With great hope,
Pastor Gillikin