By Mark Weir

For many months, we at Denver South Seventh-day Adventist Church have been preparing, planning, and praying for our Islam and Christianity in the Bible Prophecy Series. People came, including many from our sister Adventist churches. We had several of our own members who have not been very active in church life for a while attend.

But the best part was the thoughtful, polite, yet purposeful interactions as people considered the implications of what was being shared. In a nutshell, this was a call to recommit to following Jesus—not a church, but our Savior.

One of the most memorable statements went something like this: “Christians through the years have been guilty of killing Muslims, Jews, and fellow Christians who disagreed with those in power. Muslims through the years have been guilty of killing Christians, Jews, and fellow Muslims who disagreed with those in power.”

“Both sides have been guilty of horrible atrocities, and where are God’s true people in all of this? Caught between warring sides more interested in power and control than being like Jesus.”

The harsh reality is that we are all living world that is fracturing, and to simply say, “Well, one day I will take more seriously my commitment to Jesus,” has one major flaw—we don’t have anything beyond today guaranteed.

Now please understand, I am not trying to be an alarmist, but I am a realist. Every day is a gift from God, and every day is one day closer to the return of Jesus. With that being said, I am thankful for every day of life that is given to me, and I want to live each day in anticipation of meeting my Savior when He returns in the clouds—and I want others to be looking forward to meeting Him as well.

The reason we share seminars like this with our community is to help those people to whom the Holy Spirit is speaking to. We want to remind people of what the Bible says, but even more, help them find hope in Jesus. Because when we trust in Jesus, all the mess that is going on around us is less concerning as we know that Jesus will both sustain and, ultimately, deliver.

—Mark Weir is the pastor for the Denver South Seventh-day Adventist Church. Photo by Liz Kirkland.