 Father, you have an instrument here, an instrument of peace, an instrument of truth, an instrument of inspiration, maybe an instrument of conviction, an instrument, Father, that you want to use the day to deepen the commitments in our own lives and give us each one of us a deep appreciation for what we had a chance to hear so we can at least do something to give somebody else an opportunity. Would you bless this message this afternoon and the effort that's been put into preparing it and the work that was done many years ago to provide for us in our language a Bible that is ancient and holy and beautiful and healing words and now do Father take the words of our brother use them to bless our hearts and glorify your name we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. God bless every one of you it's a joy to be here my first time at this weekend event and I guess all of you brought a Bible didn't you do you all have a Bible how many of you have at least two translations or versions of the English Bible most every hand goes up how many of you can read a Bible in more than one language not so many but there's a few and it's a blessing to be able to do that isn't brother Dale it is a blessing we are so blessed friends so blessed we cannot comprehend the world of Christians for many generations who did not have the scriptures available to them like we do we have in our church right now a visiting lady who is illiterate she can't read can you imagine that we can read I'm talking to you today about Casiodoro de reina that's the Spanish translation and some brothers at least you can say that I'm just going to call him reina or just make it reina so you can say it in English amazing man a Roman Catholic monk of Saint Jerome's Order back in the 16th century about the same time as mental simons and he became a student and teacher of Scripture he loved the scriptures and he was a man unusually gifted in languages of course he spoke his native Spanish in Spain and as a Roman Catholic monk he learned to read Latin and use the Latin scriptures the Vulgate ancient Bible but he also knew Greek and Hebrew and other languages as well now a short way to describe Casiodoro de reina reina is just to call him the wind that William Tyndale of Spain Wikipedia just says about Tyndale with Tyndale's Bible is credited with being the first English translation to work directly from Hebrew and Greek texts furthermore it was the first English biblical translation that was mass produced as a result of the New Tech advances in the art of printing and if you have a King James Bible about 90% of the wording in the King James Bible is derived from Tyndale's translation of Scripture we still read what he gave us now I could say exactly the same thing about reina he was also the first Spanish translator who worked directly from Hebrew and Greek texts to produce scriptures and his Bible was printed and what brother Dale reads in Costa Rica is probably 90% reina's words amazing amazing here is a picture of the cover page of the first printed edition of reina's Bible the Bible that is the sacred books of the Old and New Testament it's not very professional looking really translated into Spanish what reina did was an amazing feat he published his Bible in 1569 in about 34 years after Tyndale's Bible was published in English 42 years before the King James version was published Cipriano Valera revised his Bible and published it that in 16 to and that Bible which is called the reina Valera Bible reina Valera Bible is still what we use today it was revised numerous times down through the years and in 1960 it was revised and that has become pretty much the standard Bible for use in the Protestant evangelical non-Catholic world in all of Spanish speaking countries again quoting the reina Valera Bible is a central to the perception of the Bible in Spanish as the King James version is in English the 1960 revision became the common Bible of millions of Spanish speaking Protestants around the world almost all Hispanic churches use it despite further attempts to revise it and you know I love that Bible brother Dale and all of our Latin brothers Spanish speaking brothers love that Bible the word of God in Spanish now I'm gonna take a little time to give you a little historical background I wish I had more time to do this than I have we'll start with a familiar date 1492 King Ferdinand Queen Isabella in Spain were married in 1469 and 1492 Jay chased the last Moors Muslim invaders from North Africa out of Spain after about 800 years of more occupation of Spain now imagine that 800 years of Muslim rule and that was that was the last and they had been chasing him out for years before that but I don't think we can imagine 800 years ago can you can you think of anything that happened 800 years ago do you have any comprehension how long ago that is we don't really the Spanish people hated the Muslim Moors that rule over them for those years and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were determined to unite all Spain to resist the Moors they were actually from two different kingdoms in Spain and their marriage was sort of the political event that brought all the kingdoms of Spain under more of a united rule and they believed as did everyone in that time as have people ever since the Tower of Babel when Satan first introduced this idea through Nimrod that the way to have political unity and strength in a country is for everyone to serve the same God in the same religion they believe that with all their heart now Spain had at that time the largest Jewish population of any country a very large Jewish population they were educated and prosperous people as Jews usually are but this king and this queen basically said to those Jews in their country you either leave our country or you convert to Roman Catholicism and if you don't it's a death sentence on you and many of them did die at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition in fact more Jews were martyred by the Spanish Inquisition than Protestants or reformers but you know what some of those Jews to save their lives at least made a show of converting to Catholicism and they started attending mass and they were educated people and they could understand the Latin mass that those priests they could understand the readings of the scriptures that those Roman Catholic priests gave and some of them met Jesus through that amazing some of them became converted born-again Christians and some of them started Bible studies in their homes and invited spanish-speaking people and so there were secret Bible studies going on especially in Seville Spain southern Spain and out of those Bible studies many of them in Jewish homes there was a revival born it's an amazing story what God does through instruments that he chooses to use this is the Spain that Reina was born to around 1520 it was a Spain that was out with the Moors and out with the Jews and get rid of them all and all the heretics there's no room in Spain for you it was also the Spain into which flowed the immense wealth of a huge Spanish Empire that stressed all the way from southwestern United States and California and way out there to the very southern tip of South America and the gold that you studied about in your history books from the Incas and the Aztecs and all of that was pouring into this Spain in the lifetime of Reina so God stirred up a mighty revival in Spain that I knew very little about before being introduced to it in recent times the Spanish Reformation movement another factor that seems quite unlikely that God used to feed this revival and to bless Reina in his translation work there was a Roman Catholic scholar he's usually called Cardinal Cisneros who started a university and he produced the what's called the Computencia and Polyglot Bible the first ever printed polyglot multi-language Bible he put in parallel columns of this of his printed Bible in the Old Testament the Hebrew that the Jewish people had preserved the Latin Vulgate that was translated by Jerome a thousand years earlier and the Septuagint the Greek translation of the scriptures made before even the time of Christ and in the New Testament he had the Greek and the Vulgate and actually had some secondary translations included too in part of that it was an amazing work and it was a Catholic Cardinal who did it and he said he did it to revive the languishing study of the sacred scriptures well he never became a reformer or a Protestant or an Anabaptist for sure but God used that and indeed the study of the scriptures did flourish and several Catholic priests started preaching directly from the Bible under in their Sunday morning masses and so forth and even leading secret Bible studies in the homes probably attending some of this some of the Bible studies hosted by Jewish men who had been reading their scriptures for years and when they started reading the New Testament suddenly realized that this Jesus who had come was indeed the Messiah they had been waiting for it's very likely that Reina heard these messages and participated in these Bible studies but the truth is the records are pretty sparse we don't know a lot of details this is a picture of the great cathedral of Seville Spain where Mark Yoder and I visited Mark Yoder wrote a book that TGS published called oops called stronger than fire brother Andrew St. Marie has it on his book table out there over there toward the cafeteria and it tells the story of costador de reina reina this cathedral in Spain was one time a Muslim mosque and was converted into a cathedral and enlarged and rebuilt and by the time of Reina's life I think it was nearly finished it is the largest Catholic cathedral in the world even larger than St. Peter's in the Vatican by a tad and men like John Heel one heel here and Constantino and others preached from the scriptures in this cathedral Catholics devout Catholics hungry for the word of God for the scriptures hungry to hear about God gathered at 3 or 4 a.m. in the morning and made long lines along the streets of this cathedral you can't begin to comprehend that because there's no way to take a good picture of it and waited until the eight o'clock mass and flooded in and filled the cathedral to hear the preaching amazing this is a picture of the interior the altar of the cathedral displaying some of the riches that float into Spain in that time period this is all gilded gold plated I don't know maybe it's a hundred feet high I can't remember how how high it is ornate beautiful beyond comprehension just full of wealth to walk into that cathedral and look around is just I don't know how to describe it but it's overwhelming I'm just gonna stop and comment about something I'll walk through that can see it the theater with Mark Yoder we spend a half a day or so looking around and we couldn't see nearly everything in it in that cathedral there's painting after painting on the walls of scenes from the life of Christ I guess there must be hundreds of them I'm sure many doesn'ts and we studied that art looked at those paintings from the masters of Europe walked and sort of showed the life of Christ in chronological order and many many scenes of Christ crucifixion I was a little dense that day I guess just overwhelmed wasn't thinking I didn't really think about until it was called to my attention afterward by dear Spanish brother he said did you did you see in that cathedral there is not one painting did you see one of the resurrection of our Lord not one dozens of his death and the scenes from his death not one of his resurrection he said there actually is one but you probably didn't see it some some obscure corner painted in I think he said the 19th century much later they added one now I'm just gonna remark about that this is a passing comment not related but you know the view of Christianity that focuses on Christ's death and what he accomplished in his death has so infiltrated our understanding of Christianity in the Western world that has affected us a lot more than we believe the Apostles bore a witness of the resurrection of Jesus and if there's anything I want to do in my ministry and preaching in life is to be a living testimony of the living Christ the resurrected Christ now I could talk about that for a long time but I'm not going to I just want you to think about that and you may see things that you've never thought about before now this picture of this great cathedral and all the wealth is that really Christianity is that like the Christ that we read about in scriptures who walked with the poor was born in poverty and walked with the poor had nothing to do with that kind of wealth you know let's not point fingers at the Catholics let's point fingers at ourselves this is our church in the way we live the way we practice our Christianity does it look like Christ is it a faithful representation of who he was when he was here on this earth let's move on this is the courtyard of the monastery of Sonny Cidro a small town just north of Seville Spain this is the monastery where Casa d'Oro de Reina Reina served as a monk Mark and I toured this month old monastery it's there as a tourist attraction now not that large not beautiful and ornate but beautiful enough let's just talk a little bit more about that Casa d'Oro de Reina Reina was a monk in Saint Jerome's order he was not like many people think in the Jesuits or even the Augustinian order the Saint Jerome's order was non-political and I think it tells us something about Reina that he joined this order as a young man and and became a monk this order like Saint Jerome as he's called from a thousand years earlier than than that dedicated themselves to the study of the scriptures about half a day and simple labors in their fields or little shops and about a half a day studying the scriptures that was their life in voluntary poverty in this particular monastery there were about 130 or so monks and something happened here we don't know the details of the story but it must have been a powerful moving story and Mark and I and many people with us believe that Reina was a mover behind what happened there he was a lover of the scriptures and he began teaching the holy scriptures to these monks and they were reading some of Luther's writings and some of John Calvin's writings I doubt they read Anabaptist writings I don't know they were being introduced to another way of thinking they were studying the scriptures and they met Jesus and Jesus changed their lives my friends Jesus changed their lives and a little secret church was born in that monastery converted monks nearly all of them converted and there they were in a Catholic a very Roman Catholic Spain and they knew that they could not stay hidden long they called a I guess we'll call it a brothers meeting they talked about their life and what awaited them and what they should do I'm sure they prayed together that we don't have many details of any details of that meeting and they made a decision they decided that all the monks in that monastery could individually decide what they would do those who wanted to could flee and they said go one or the most two to increase your chances of of getting out of escaping Spain those who chose to stay could stay a few fled very quickly about a dozen of them including Reina and all of them but one that fled made their way safely up into up into France those who remained were soon discovered I won't tell that story they were imprisoned along with multitudes of other prisoners a big crackdown on the Spanish reform movement in Seville Spain so many were taken prisoners that the prisons couldn't hold them they were they were imprisoned in houses they were tried and many of them were burned at the stake about 40 of those monks lost their lives in the plain just south of Seville Spain burned alive within a few months or years of Reina's flight I stood out there south of Seville it's actually included in the city of Seville sort of a park area we assume were closed and I just tried to think about the scenes that are described in history you know I could not comprehend I could not comprehend what happened there and in so many places but we'll move on Reina made it up to Geneva and all of the monks that fled sort of headed for Geneva up in France where John Calvin was the reformer leader I don't know what Reina thought before he got there but it didn't take him long to discover that his heart did not fit with John Calvin's rigorous system of Christianizing society through the rule of the state imposing Christian order and enforcing a system of Christian doctrine and all and he left there not long later and he said this is just a new Rome it's not the church of Jesus and he was right he was right he wrote about it he said I could not walk by the field where the Spanish reformer Servetus was burned alive and that story is told in vivid detail in history he says I could not walk by there without weeping at the wickedness of what happened we'll move on I'm just gonna quickly trace Reina's life after Geneva he went to Frankfurt first and then when Queen Elizabeth took the throne in England after bloody Mary's death she was a Catholic persecuted the Protestants in England Queen Elizabeth was favorable to Protestants he went to he went to London there Reina married but everywhere he went the Spanish inquisitors were following they were trying to find him to get him to kill him to capture him do whatever they could and I don't know exactly how he was able to translate the Bible through about a dozen years we'll see of working as he fled from one city to another carrying his precious manuscripts with him and apparently worked pretty much alone though he must have had at least some assistance who maybe served as secretaries and maybe they're revered some scholars that helped him to some extent we don't really know he moved on he went to Antwerp he went to Frankfurt he ended up in Strasbourg France always seeking a safe place to continue his work by the time that man turned 50 he completed that translation and then he had the big problem how could he get it safely printed how could he ever get that Spanish Bible back into Spain but I can't tell that story I'll just read to you what Reina wrote you see it there on the overhead in the introduction to his translation he wrote some beautiful things he had an humble heart he said I've done the very best I could with this but I know that it's imperfect and others coming after will make it better but I like this so much he said the importance of this work for the advancement of the kingdom and the glory of the Lord gave us a courage that we would have never had if we considered our own strength we have no doubt that our work has been pleasing to God because of the constant assistance of his favor that we have been able to carry such a heavy load so hindered by Satan with so little help from brethren for so many years the work has been in our hands for 12 complete years taking time out for sickness travels and this and some more things we can affirm that we have spent nine years when we did not put down the pen nor slackened in study now like you do stop and ponder that kind of commitment that that kind of dedication to a task I do not understand apart from God's enabling grace how how Reina survived and how he ever accomplished what he set out to do I thank God for that man well what happened to Reina's Bible we'll just take a few more facts here his first printing was 2600 there's no translator given no printer mentioned no city mentioned on the title page where it came from and we really don't know what happened to most of those copies of that first printed edition of Reina's Bible a few of them were shipped as I noticed here in wine casts with false bottoms to a friend but we don't know what happened to them when they got there we do know there's a record of 1400 of them that was a large quantity shipped and work where they took the cover off and the title page out and they put a dictionary cover and title page to disguise it and I'm sure what it was what the intention of shipping them down to Spain probably on ships did they get there we don't have much record and only a handful survived today we saw one copy of that first edition of Reina's Bible in the Seville Cathedral it's owned by the Columbian Library which is associated with the cathedral is there in a glass case and opened up for us to look at and we stood over odd more beautiful dear friends and all the gold plate and all the beautiful paintings in that cathedral there were no Spanish Bibles actually printed in Spain until 1790 over 200 years after Reina's Bible was printed the Bible was outlawed we can't imagine this is what the Supreme Council of the Inquisition wrote to the Inquisition courts in Spain and there were many of them revered lords we understand that the Bible has been printed in Baselans in Spanish that wasn't the right city but that's what they thought by the intent and at the expenses of some Spanish heretics with the intention of bringing them secretly into these kingdoms Spain was a union of many small kingdoms and since they would be very harmful for this Bible to come here it would be advisable that as soon as you receive this serves that you order that special care be taken to prevent this Bible from entering and if any would have entered and be found you command that they be all gathered proceeding against the persons that brought them in and all that you do keep this council informed so you get the picture now I'm going to give you a little more picture of this Spain first a little picture of Reina's Bible just to review it was the first Bible translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek scriptures as preserved by the Jewish Maserites and the the traditional text over in the Greek Orthodox country where they preserved the Greek scriptures and this Bible is universally recognized as excellent some people think it's the best translation into modern languages ever made it is excellent even what we have today is excellent but my friend Bonifacio in Spain said it's not as good what we have today is not as good as Reina's it compares to tend those Bible maybe Luther's German Bible but Reina had one unique advantage that no translator has had since his time at least we believe this is true and his translation reflects it he read the Hebrew scriptures with the Jews in those Bible studies in Spain who maintained Hebrew as a living language and no one since his time has had that privilege he studied the scriptures out of the Hebrew with people who spoke Hebrew now Hebrew was virtually lost at least in the first and second century as a commonly spoken language it was not even the time of Christ commonly spoken though the Jewish rabbis of course read it and they probably use it in their study and sort of like German Catholics use the Latin Bible I guess or maybe like some Mennonites use the German Bible but it was revived in the second century AD and became a spoken language and the Jews of Spain had a large enough community to actually maintain that history and speak it and up until up until Reina's time they did speak it but when they were dispersed they didn't have a large enough community it was too dangerous to kept it and it became a dead language again until it was revived in art in art in the last century in modern Israel well I'm going to move on I see the time is really going this Bible has actually been translated into English by those who love it so much and says the best Bible it's called the Jubilee Bible you can look and look and find it for yourself if you want moving on the just a little more the confession of faith that Reina wrote in London about 1560 tells us a lot about his faith he was sort of forced to write it to prove his orthodoxy to the the Protestants of England at that time who were suspicious of him he believed and he stated it there very clearly that there should be freedom of religion as we call it no religious persecution he was in advance of his times like the Anabaptist he stated there that he found no biblical basis for into baptism but admitted it's hard to change long-standing customs and we'll move on there here's a picture of Reina a portrait I doubt if he was dressed that way most of the time but you know the old-fashioned way of making portraits here's a picture of King Carlos of Spain who was the king of Spain when Reina was born and survived for a number of years a very hard man and I'm going to read to you what this man wrote in an edict against the Anabaptist this would have been during Reina's lifetime and it shows you what kind of world Reina lived in and the opposition that he faced the kind of intense hatred for true Christianity and the holy scriptures that made that the inquisition pursue him wherever he was and kept him moving from city to city as he translated the scriptures now this you can find in martyrs mirror and it's sort of long moment it's going to read it I want you to think about these words and take them to heart and imagine what kind of world this is in order to guard against and remedy the errors which many sectarians and authors have contempt with their inheritance adherents had dared for some time to sow and spread in our territories incident I'll stop here this was directed against the low countries where mental simas at that time lived because King Carlos the first of Spain was also Charles the fifth of the Holy Roman Empire Empire and they ruled Holland and the low countries at that time and this edict was directed against the Anabaptists of the low countries let's me where was I they spread and so in our territories against our holy Christian faith sacraments and the commandments of our our mother the holy church we have at different times ordained and caused to be executed and proclaimed many decrees containing statutes edicts and ordinances as also penalties didn't to be incurred by transgressors skipping a bit and since it has come to our knowledge that not withstanding our foresaid decrees many and various sectarians even some who call themselves Anabaptists have proceeded and still daily proceed to spread and sow and secretly preach their foresaid abuses and errors in order to allure a great number of men and women to their false doctrine and reprobate sect now he's talking about minnow simons and his companions and all of those people in that generation in the low countries therefore he said we intending to guard against and remedy this summon and command you that immediately upon receipt of this you cause it to be proclaimed in every place and border of your dominions that all of those are such a shall be found polluted by the accursed sect of the Anabaptists of whatever rank or condition they may be shall incur the loss of life and property and be brought to the most extreme punishment without delay namely those who remain obstinate and continue in their evil belief and purpose or who have seduced their sect or rebaptized any also those who have been called prophets or apostles or bishops these shall be punished by fire burned at the stake burned alive all of the persons who have been rebaptized or who secretly and with premeditation have harbored any of the aforesaid Anabaptists and who renounce the evil purpose and belief and are truly sorry and penitent for it shall be spared in sent home no shall be executed with the sword and the women shall be buried in the pit are you comprehending those words it's hard for us to comprehend and added to that in order to better detect these Anabaptists their adherences and accomplices we expressly command all subjects to make known report them to the office of the place where their resider shall be found and anyone who shall know of persons of this sect and do not report them to the office of the place he shall be punished as a favorer adherent or a better of the sect of the Anabaptists but he who shall report or make them known shall have if the accused is convicted one third of their confiscated property talk about motivation get rich quick schemes this is King of Spain Philip II who is also a emperor of the Holy Room in the Holy Empire son of Charles the fifth this is the king who sent his inquisitors after Casiodo de Reina and his men I think would have pursued mental assignments up until mental assignments death God spared mental assignments to miraculously now we just like to move on a little bit here and just come to an end with a few questions to ponder I can't tell you the story of Casiodo de Reina some of you may want to buy this book it's large has a lot in it the rest of you who don't do that at least a few of you can go back to the table in the back there with a lost and found box and in the Anabaptist voice that just came out a month or so ago Mark Yoder wrote in a little summary of Reina's life and it's included in this issue of the Anabaptist voice or some back there and I think there are some also over there at Andrew St. Marie's book table that you can pick up and take it and learn a little more I had so much more I would have liked to share but let's just stop and reflect a little bit and we'll bring this to a close Reina loved the Scriptures that man loved the Scriptures he studied the Scriptures and he risked his life and poured his energies 12 long years to translate the Scriptures out of their original languages into the Spanish of his people he wanted he had a burning vision in his heart to bring the Scriptures into the language of his people and I would say that history would confirm that all of his work in his generation didn't reach very many people in Spain very few people got to see the Scriptures in their own language in Spain in his generation praise God it's not that way today but you know we who have the Scriptures so freely in our hands we have multiple copies of the Bible I don't know how many copies of the Bible I have I don't know how many English translations I have and maybe a half a dozen Spanish ones besides I just asked myself do I love the Scriptures do I have any of that passion in my heart do I study the Scriptures with half the dedication and intensity that Reina did or maybe William Tyndale to use that example what have I invested I'm going to stop and tell you a little of my story just a little bit you know I grew up in a minute at home way out west in Oregon and I was taught the Scriptures my dad read us from the Bible every morning before breakfast we read a chapter out of the Bible he didn't comment much but we read the Scriptures I was taught to love the Scriptures by example I still have in my possession I didn't bring it along but I have the Bible that I was given by my parents when I was about 12 years old it came Bridge Bible just a handy small size center center reference concordance in the back just King James Bible is all we had I read that Bible I could open that Bible today and I can see in that Bible evidences of my love for the Scriptures I did love the Scriptures those pages I used that Bible for about eight years incidentally and then I laid it aside and I picked up a Spanish Bible when I was 20 years old and I moved to Guatemala and for the next number of years I laid my English Bible clear aside I hardly ever read it I was determined to immerse myself by the day on the Spanish Bible I wanted to read that Bible and I came to love it so much that I that I can't give it up when I got back from Central America I didn't think I was going to come back but I did after about six years I said I can I can understand this Spanish Bible better than I can understand my King James Bible so I just kept reading it I don't very much anymore but I still love it so that's my story but I go back and I look in that Cambridge Bible that I used during my teenage years I see many many underlinings in that Bible I read that Bible through from cover to cover many times during my teenage years I memorize Scriptures out of that Bible chapters and Psalms and a few whole books I mark that Bible up and I can see if I hold that Bible closed and I look at the pages on that Bible on the edges I can see where the New Testament begins those pages are starting to come loose and I can see over here in the near the back of the Bible where the back pages of the Bible weren't used much and of course there's the concordance and incidentally the book of Revelation which I didn't read so much I can see that you know something else I can see in that Bible I can see where the pages are actually coming out sticking out and it marks Romans 1 and at the other end of where they're sticking out it's about 1st John I focused in my young ears on reading the epistles it's evident the Bible tells the story I said I had a Christian home I had a godly heritage I had so much given to me but there's some things I did not get as a young man that like to share with you young people here today I did not understand in the way that I should have that Christianity is knowing Christ I love the scriptures I read the scriptures I memorize the scriptures I study the scriptures I think above most of my peers but I didn't understand I don't know if it was if it was taught and I didn't get it I just didn't have ears to hear or maybe it wasn't clearly taught but I didn't understand that Christianity is much more than the scriptures the text on the page and the principles and the the doctrines that derive and the commandments given it's more than that it's not separate from that I don't mean that at all never can be but it's more than that Jesus said you search the scriptures he said this to people who love the Old Testament we call it scriptures the Old Scriptures for the that the Jews were given he says you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and they testify of me but you're not willing to come to me that you may have life I didn't understand that and it took me many years of living and I don't fully understand it now but I do understand it better than I did young people every one of you read the scriptures search the scriptures mark your Bibles if you will do whatever you have to do to put those scriptures into your minds and into your hearts but every time you open the Bible ask God to show to you the living Christ the resurrected Christ out of those scriptures so that you come to know him of whom the scriptures tell us I'll say a few more words I think of reina I think of a man who for 12 years fleeing from place to place with the inquisition at his heels hating him pursuing him I think of that man taking Greek which I can't read and Hebrew and Latin languages that I don't know and the labor of love that he poured into that translation project and how that project has blessed generations of people millions of people spread through the world Spanish today is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world I'm not sure if it's number two or number three some were up there in rank very widely spoken people still use that the Roman Catholics who persecuted and reina and tried to keep those his bible from getting into Spain today laud reina's translation as a remarkable excellent work for its literary value and for the scriptures that he presented but that means very little that means very little for them and it means little for us unless we come to know the resurrected Christ but I like to challenge this what have I done what have you done in the last 12 years what do you purpose to do in the next 12 years just block out 12 as your life and say what vision drives me what is my calling in life I'm not a bible translator I will never learn another language I'm probably too old for that and I'm not gifted linguistically I don't have that work I don't have your work but I have a work that God has given me am I as dedicated to that calling and to that work just my little niche my little place in life ever so small am I as dedicated to that am I as willing to sacrifice for that as reina was for the work that God put in his heart heart and am I investing my time in searching the scriptures and finding in them the living Christ Jesus said in John 17 in his high priestly prayer we call it and this is eternal life that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ Jesus the Messiah Jesus the Lamb of God Jesus the eternal Son of God mystery of mysteries incarnate who came into this world and live the life before us that reveals to us the character of God his father the express image of the eternal God lived here he calls us he calls you he calls me to take up our cross deny ourselves and follow him live a life as he lived as I said it does us little good to point fingers at the Catholics or a little good to point fingers at this particular Protestant sect or that one or a little good to even point fingers at different groups of Anabaptists or Mennonites or brethren or whatever you are it does us a little good to point fingers at anyone anyone and stand in condemnation of their failures let us lift rise to the Christ in glory and behold him and see our weakness and undone us as we stand before him and repent of our sins and renew our covenant to be Christian Christians Christ like Christians followers of Jesus to live in the world of our 21st century as well as we know how as much as we can in the place that we are guided by his spirit taught by the scriptures as Jesus lived in his world 2000 years ago Christian Christians dear brothers dear sisters it's a tragedy it's a tragedy when Christians compromise their Christianity to prove their point to protect their church to maintain their traditions and I'm not speaking against the traditions I'm not speaking against the church all I all I'm saying is if we compromise our Christ likeness in order to accomplish some goal we have compromised the heart of Christianity we heard our brother this morning says live your faith out where God has put you if you're in a maybe a maybe a rigid traditional minded branch of Christianity and God calls you there be a real Christian there I mean a real Christian there if you're whoever you are if you're an Indian I talked to three ladies today here from India who live in New York City I don't remember their names I don't know where they're where their walk is there are all kinds of people here follow Jesus my friend live your life before him purpose in your heart in every relationship in every transaction of life in every part of your life business home church life to be a Christian Christian let us pray Lord God we just humble our hearts here confessing that we have fallen far short of Christ likeness so often in our lives over and over sometimes we see it sometimes we don't but we confess it to you and ask for cleansing because you have said if we confess our sins you're faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness even the secret sins that we do not see if we walk in the light we have fellowship with one another and you do cleanse us from all unrighteousness it's a precious promise we look to the hero of faith today we can learn from his example but we don't want this example or any example to detract from Jesus the captain of our salvation the shepherd and bishop of our souls the good shepherd who leads us and guides us and has sent his holy spirit into the world to convict us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment oh god oh god we cry make us Christians true Christians like Jesus in our world we pray in his name amen