...do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." When I first turned to God in 1965 and read the Bible for the first time, I found the above scripture in Colossians 3:17. As a child I went to Meeker grade school which was across the street from the Assemblies of God church. It said on their sign that they were Pentecostal so I assumed that that was my church. When I joined the Army in 1959 the army asked me what my religion was and I told them I was Pentecostal. They put on my dog tags PENT for my religious affiliation. I never went to church so it probably didn't make any difference. It wasn't til I was 23 and truly turned to the Lord Jesus that I understood that Trinitarian and Oneness beliefs differ. Wow, do they ever!
My understanding of the Trinitarian belief is they do acknowledge that Jesus is God. However that belief is that He is one of three persons in the Godhead and He is often referred to as God the Son. The other persons in the Godhead are God the Father and God the Holy Ghost. I think I had always believed that Jesus was God. At least from about age 5 or so. That would have been around 1946. There was a beautiful meteor shower that summer that everyone in the neighborhood was out standing in their yards oohing and awing over. I was also standing in our yard crying, My maternal grandmother who was a Holy Ghost filled Christian was visiting at the time. When she saw me crying she came over and knelt down beside me and asked me why I was crying. I told her because I was afraid. She comforted my heart by saying to not be afraid for it was just a sign that the Lord Jesus would return to take His church home one day. I didn't ever, from that time on, not believe in the Lord Jesus.
As I said in the first paragraph in Colossians 3:17 the Bible says. "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." Because the Lord Jesus told me to read His word, starting in Matthew, it wasn't hard for me to accept baptism in Jesus name. There are, no doubt, folks in the Assembly of God church that are baptized in Jesus name also. The Bible is clear in the issue of baptism. Jesus said in Mark 16:16, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." And that being baptized saves us the Apostle Peter said in 1st Peter 3:20b-21, "...when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ..." But is it enough?
The Bible foretells in 2nd Thessalonians 1:7b-9 of the day, "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power..." If my understanding is correct, one needs to not only be baptized but also to know the Lord. It will not do just to know about Him. One might say, But I do know the Lord. In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus foretelling of the day of judgment said, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." What?
Friend of mine, do you know the Lord Jesus? He is not the second person of the Godhead as some believe. Rather the Bible plainly declares in Colossian 2:9-10 that, "...in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power..." He is more than the Man upstairs. He is the Lord of glory! The Bible says in 1st Corinthians 2:6-9, "Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." If the princes of this world had known who it was they were putting to death, the apostle said, "had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." The Lord of Glory died for you.
There is an old song I love, the chorus of which goes like this;
He's the Lord of Glory He is the Great I AM
He's the Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End.
His name is Wonderful, the Prince of Peace is He.
The Everlasting Father throughout Eternity.
Do you know Him as the Lord of Glory today?
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