Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors (James 2:5-9 – NKJV). Did Jesus not say that the law and prophets hang on two laws – love God and love your neighbor? Did He not say, “because you have done it to the least of these my brethren,” when He talked with His chosen? (See Matthew 25:31-40). We are quickly becoming a people void of the name of our Lord Jesus. John 3:16 tells us that Jesus was sent to us because of God’s love for us. Listen to what James wrote and apply it to our (the USA; the world) rejection of the name of Jesus Christ. Now I write, “If you really fulfill the royal law to love God, you do well; but if you reject the name of our Lord Jesus Christ sent by God’s love, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.”

The name of our Lord Jesus Christ is important because of the actions of Jesus Christ, done out of love for His Father (and His Father’s love for us). If we say God, have we said the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel)? If we say God, can those that bow to other gods, that are not gods, think we speak of the things they worship? If we say Jesus Christ, do we point to the One true God? If we say the Father of our Lord Jesus, do we point to the One true God? The way to God the Father is through Jesus the Son. If we go any other way, do we go to our Father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? The way to the kingdom of God (eternal life) is Jesus the Christ (Savior). If we go any other way, do we go to the kingdom of our Father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? We must hang on to the name of Jesus the Christ. When we love God, we need to know that we love the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When we love God, we need to know that we love the Father of Jesus our Savior. Then, in Jesus name, we need to love our neighbors and one another.

We are all the least of these My brethren of which Jesus spoke. We are all in the need of a Savior. We are all in need of our Father’s (the Father of Jesus) love. We are all in need of our neighbor’s love and we all need to love one another. None of us can save ourselves. None of us can save our brothers and sisters. We are all the least of these my brethren and need to be visited in our prison (chains and illnesses) and we all need food and clothing. We need to give one to another and share one with another. We need to visit one another (and in that way not neglect the assembling) and encourage one another. If we are waiting for a pastor to lead the way, we have had one – Jesus – Jesus is our Pastor. We need to stop putting men before God and know that Jesus is our Savior and the Voice we need to hear and know. We are all the least of these My brethren of which Jesus spoke.

We cannot leave the body of Christ, just because we don’t like something about a gathering of Christians. We cannot reject the name of Jesus because it is not popular with the world. We need to be about the Father’s business and spread the name of Jesus and the good news of the kingdom of God. We cannot teach the kingdom of God, without the name of Jesus the Christ. The body of Christ is more than one gathering and the kingdom has need of being taught to the lost. The lost in the streets and the lost in the pews are all the lost children of God, the Father of Jesus the Christ. We will not find the lost hidden behind the robes of a man. We will find the lost by following the Jesus that the Father sent (and is sending) for His lost children. That which I give to you is what I have been given; Jesus the Christ died for the remission of our sins as written of in the scriptures. The body we are part of is the Christ, the very same Jesus that is the Word of God that died for the remission of our sins. We cannot leave the body of Christ.

God sent a man to prepare the way of our Lord Jesus. That man dressed in goat skins and lived in the wilderness. God is sending a people to prepare the way of the coming of our Lord Jesus. Will they be dressed in fine linen and gold? Will they imitate the world in their presentation? Will they be the rich that oppress or of the least of these the brethren of Jesus the Christ? Will they boldly speak the name of Jesus the Christ or hide behind the politics of the day? Will they love the Lord our God (Father, Word (Jesus) and Holy Spirit)? Will they love their neighbor? Will they love one another? Will they ask us to hear their voice or the Voice of God? Will they silence their brothers and sisters and listen to their own voice only? Will they use membership as a chain to entrap those sent by God? Will they seek to break the legs of God’s servants to keep them in their field? Will they give to the poor? Will they seek first the kingdom of God? God is sending a people to prepare the way of the coming of our Lord Jesus. Jesus is coming!

© 2005 Tim D. Coulter Sr.