Put Some Meat On Your Bones

Leave your mediocrity and dry bones, and move on to maturity and put some meat on your bones.

God grabbed me. God's spirit took me up and set me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. He led me around and among them, a lot of bones. There were bones all over the plain, dry bones bleached by the sun.
He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? I said Master God, only you know that. He said to me, "prophesy over these bones: "Dry bones listen to the message of God!" God the master told the dry bones, "watch this, I'm bringing the breath of life to you and you'll come to life. I'll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You'll come alive, and you'll realize that I am God." I prophesied just as I'd been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound and rustling! The bones moved and came together, bone to bone. I kept watching. Sinews formed, then muscles on the bones, then skin stretched over them, but they had no breath in them. He said to me, "prophesy to the breath, prophesy son of man. Tell the breath, God, the Master says, come from the four winds. Come breath. Breathe on these slain bodies, breathe life!"
Ezekiel 37 (Message translation)
Many skinny people hear the words –"put some meat on your bones."
It's a phrase that is used often when someone is really thin and people are trying to get them to eat. Guys hear it more than girls because in this culture – for them, it is all about being seriously skinny. But to guys there is this idea that they have to "get big" and show their muscles and look all manly – whatever that means??? We are (for sure) a competitive culture with girls fighting each other to be the thinnest and prettiest and guys fighting amongst themselves to be the most muscular and strong.

This is something that a man named Charles Atlas took quite serious. He was the founding father of modern-day body-building and fitness. He was born Oct. 30, 1892. After emigrating with his mom from Italy when he was a boy; he went on to develop his own muscle-building mail order business through the use of advertisements in popular magazines. His most famous ad, a cartoon in which a scrawny young man resolved to bulk up after a bully kicks sand in his face, ran for decades.
I remembered seeing those ads as they ran again in magazines even in the 70's.
So, we can understand the physical aspect of putting some meat on your bones but what can we see about it in the spiritual sense?
Ezekiel 37 starts out with the phrase…God grabbed me. Let me tell you that He has a way of getting our attention. He got my attention in 1993 and I couldn't possibly look away. The very next line in the scripture says that God's spirit took me up and set me down in among them – a lot of bone! There were bones all over the plain, dry bones, bleached by the sun. This is another thing that God does… He doesn't take us to these beautiful fields of flowers and blue skies or even to the living to get our attention to His existence in our lives – He instead takes us to the dead, and to the graveyards. People are always asking "why are there such terrible hurts and pains in this world? Simply, sometimes…It's so we can grasp the brevity of life; because it truly is like a vapor…it's gone in a flash. And we don't know when it all will end.  He makes us aware of our mortality; He brought to my mind; all my fears of dying and made me come face to face with the next question that He asked… "Son of man, can these bones live?"
SO, CAN THEY?
I believe they can. He said to me, "prophesy over these bones; "Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!" Dry bones live by reading and applying the Word of God to their lives. He shows us in this scripture that we need to speak it to have it happen. After God the Master tells the dry bones, "watch this:  I'm bringing the breath of life to you and you'll come to life. I'll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You'll come alive and you'll realize that I am God!" He does this figuratively with all of us that have truly accepted Him.  But this is also a clue to how much power our words have if we truly believe in it. God could have done all this by Himself if He chose to; but He instead puts it in our hands. As you can see, it doesn't actually happen until the next part of the scripture; "I prophesied just as I'd been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound and rustling, the bones moved and came together, bone to bone. I kept watching, sinews formed, and then muscles on the bones, then skin stretched over them." Our words have weight when we truly believe them.
I believe that God brought me and my family back from deaths door and I believe that He is a God who can heal bodies and bring people back from the dead still today.  He tells us in Ephesians 5:10 to: Wake up from your sleep, Climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light! For those of us who now believe, we recognize that we once used to be asleep and headed for the graveyard… but we allowed God to instead save our souls and now we are able to see the light. He also tells us that even though the bones were joined and there became tendons and muscles that there was still no life in them. So, He then says, "prophesy to the breath, prophesy son of man, tell the breath, "God the Master says, come from the four winds, come breath; breathe on these slain bodies, Breathe life." He wants us to have the Holy Spirit breathed upon each one of us, because that is when we truly start to live. In my opinion, this is when we become interesting to those people who are watching us. "So, I prophesied, just as He commanded me. The breath entered them and they came alive! They stood on their feet, a huge army." You are not really alive until you are spiritually alive; they're just dead men walking. There are people walking this earth today, – some who would EVEN call themselves Christians that only get excited and look alive when they see or talk about their favorite celebrity or ball player. They practice hero worship more than anything else and they would travel to the throes of the world to see those people just to make them feel more alive. Still others get involved with alcohol or drugs to give them excitement and make them feel alive but that too can only last for a short time and then eventually you come back down and come face to face with your deadness again.  Or still others – they just go from one relationship to another hoping against hope that the next person that they get involved with will help them to feel good about themselves and feel alive. Wow, if that's living…then no thanks.
But – I think this generation could be different… I think this is a generation that is looking for a deeper, more meaningful connection with Jesus and I think that just like in Ezekiel 37 that God can put life into dry bones in order to create an army of true followers. It's just all in your vision…it's what you see; you see bones, I see an army. This is a generation that has seen too much, and experienced it too. They have seen things on television and at the movies at a younger age that men in other eras wouldn't have ever seen as grown men, and despite it all OR maybe because of it… they instead have a desire to search for something different.  They are looking for something more. They seem to have passions but their misguided. God wants to wake up those passions to serve Him; because our destiny is revealed in what we are really passionate about. He wants them to love Him; because a lover will always outwork just a worker.  When we love… we give more of ourselves. But before they will love Him, we've got to first convince this generation that they can be brought back to life by His forgiveness; because sadly, they've bought into the lie that life is hopeless, that life is hard and then you die. But just like it is in this scripture we can see that God says "bring on the hopelessness!" The word tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones… He is telling us to preach to this generation; to open our mouths, and no longer stay silent, because we alone, have the message of hope!
If God can raise an entire nation of lost souls after being dead so long… don't you believe that he can still touch those "dead" people that we know and "do life with" still today? The baton's been passed… it's up to you to grab it. Ezekiel was told to take on this call, and now it's our turn.
It is possible to come back to life… if you didn't believe it before – I hope this message gives you some hope. Take a look into a mirror and look at your own reflection. How dry are your bones? Don't be a dead man walking! And for those of you who are made of muscle, blood and sinew; GET BUSY! This is a high calling! Do you hear it? Some of you will and others will not, but at least tonight when I'm doing the same thing that Ezekiel did in those days of old…while I'm prophesying to you…Will you at least give it some thought?

Planning Your End Game

Are you strategizing about your potential in life?

Benjamin Franklin, in his article "The Morals of Chess" (1750), wrote: "The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions; for life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effect of prudence, or the want of it. By playing at Chess then, we may learn: 1st, Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, and considers the consequences that may attend an action… 2nd, Circumspection, which surveys the whole Chess-board, or scene of action: - the relation of the several Pieces, and their situations… 3rd, Caution, not to make our moves too hastily…"
How many chess players do we have here? I'd like to speak to you about chess, potential and ….your endgame. Have any of you ever heard the word before? The endgame is the stage of the game when there are few pieces left on the board, and it's during the endgame when pawns become more important. And it's also the time when the king, which was to be protected in the middle game because of the threat of a checkmate, becomes a strong piece is often brought to the center of the board so it can protect its own pawns and it can attack the pawns of opposite color, and hinder the movement of the opponent's king. Spiritually speaking – this speaks volumes.

From the time you were all wee little ones your parents were looking at you and trying to figure out what kind of person you would become, how successful you could be, where you would end up and ultimately what kind of person you would be? They had and still have great hopes for each one of you. It was no different with me and John – we looked at Shelby and Cameron and we watched their behaviors and mannerisms, and who they were as people and we began to gauge their strengths. With our kids – we noticed their true love for others and their drive to become leaders and we began to form ideals of where their lives might take them. John and I realized very early on that our kids had great potential.

Looking back now – they delivered all that and then some. I'm extremely proud of both of them. I adore my kids. They are without a doubt the most beautiful part of my life besides my faith in Jesus.
But what really is potential? By definition potential is: nothing more than being capable of something that is not yet in existence or having the capacity or possibility. But yet we make great statements about certain people having potential, people latch onto it and hold great hope in it but isn't it really then nothing but a great big question mark. It's not tangible:  You cannot hold onto it or grasp it. It's not real or actual, it's not definite.

 Getting to know many of you in these past 6 years or so, I have noticed some "so called" great potential. Some of the people in here have been just like my kids they have delivered all that and then some when it came to their potential. Sadly, for others they've fallen short.

 So, here we are right now. Most of you are getting out of school – some graduating from 8^th grade, others just to the next grade and some of you are moving on to college.

 So, I think it is a timely time to ask you the question - what kind of potential do you truly have? In the spiritual world – ALL of us have potential. Jesus made it - Even Stevens, so that all of us have the same opportunities to reach Him and be successful in that game. Adrian Rogers, a great preacher spoke that the ground is the most level at the foot of the cross.
When it comes to true, important potential in what truly matters; I'd like to make clear to you that you have it all.
All of you have the potential, the capacity, and the possibility to be all that you would be. Potential in itself just means that you haven't accomplished something ….yet. It is a great thing, but really it's N O T H I N G!!!!!!!
It takes much more than potential to be anything worth anything.
So, what is it then that makes some people successful and other people failures? Not all of us are going to make it…. and they all didn't in Jesus' time either. Think about King Saul, Samson, and Judas to name just a few.
Saul was chosen to be king of Israel because the people were looking for an earthly king instead of being led by God himself. He had so called great potential…..but soon after he was given the job – he fell victim to pride… and that is always a person's undoing!

In 1 Samuel 13 it says that his son Jonathon attacked a Philistine outpost at Geba; but Saul has the trumpet blown to announce the news…that"Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost" …. He takes credit for himself the job that his son did…and then he next acts out in pride by thinking that he alone could accomplish the things that he was called to do without God's help, even though Samuel specifically told him the rules that he was to follow…..

(This is why I will tell you all the time….that the statement is so true… "Obedience is better than sacrifice.")
Samuel told Saul to wait for seven days and for his arrival to offer up a burnt offering to God, but Saul jumps the gun and does it himself, without Samuel being there and because of this choice that he made, it is spoken to him, "you have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after His own heart, and appointed him leader of his people…. because you have not kept the Lord's command."

 Samson's mom and dad also thought he had great potential….they were told early before ever having Samson that he was going to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines… his mom was told that she was never to drink wine or any fermented drink while she was pregnant with Samson because of his high calling, but Samson made poor choices, thinking foolishly that he had all the answers. He became prideful too; wanting to take a Philistine wife, and then thinking that he had all the answers and could outwit all his opponents.

And then there's Judas who walked with Jesus while he performed a great many miracles – he had amazing potential but he also fell victim to his sinful nature and let greed take hold of him; settling to get paid a meager amount of silver to turn over the Son of God Himself, into the enemies hands.

Having potential in itself is NOT ENOUGH to make it.
So, how is it then that some people win the game of chess all the time, no matter when they sit down or who their opponent is?
How can you be successful?
I think it's much more about the question; we just got done asking ourselves in our series …..The question of - "Who am I?"

 How do you see yourself? Who are you, what do you see when you look into a mirror… what do you see yourself to be? If you see yourself as a successful businessperson, a wealthy person, chances are you will become those things, but if you see yourself in the spiritual realm doing great things for God - you can be that too, your vision of yourself has much to do with how well you will succeed; think about it, if you don't believe in yourself, why would anyone else ever believe in you?

Set goals for yourself. Just about everyone when they are in Jr. High thinks that they are going to become a marine biologist someday… because hey, it looks fun to swim with the dolphins. But when it comes down to the real work… very few accomplish it. Usually when those people get into high school they realize the grades that are needed to do that job and they get realistic or jaded and give up on that dream.

But do you right now in your life have ANY goals? What do you see yourself being, dream a little!

Avoid comfort zones.

When you're comfortable it can be dangerous. When you get real comfortable, we get sluggish, start dozing off and we lose our focus. Stretch yourself a little, don't always go the easy route – challenge yourself and be a person of Passion!

There's Power in your choices. Smokey the Bear said it best…"only you can prevent forest fires." Get rid of the victim mentality… You ultimately are responsible for you. Your choices now will either make you or break you… and just like in Chess; you have to think ahead in your moves. You move one way and you make yourself vulnerable to the attack of your foe. Wisely choose your tactics. There's a saying, "if you don't like the crops you are reaping, check the seed you are sowing."

Be teachable. You will NEVER BE SUCCESSFUL at anything you do unless you are teachable, you DO NOT know everything. To be successful at whatever you do in life, you have to be willing to sit under someone and learn. Pride is a destroyer of hopes and dreams.

Resilience. Winston Churchill said, "Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential"

When you fall down, get up. When life gives you lemons make lemonade. Life will be hard and if you are going to do anything at all for Jesus – there will be difficult situations. It's a promise; that's why there is a scripture in the bible that says, "Pattern yourself after the disciples, they put up with anything and went through everything and they never gave up."

AND…take a look at your endgame. Where do you expect to end up? Mindfully think about the worst case scenario. If you want to be the winner, then play like a winner; but don't see yourself as a finisher in this race IF you aren't even running in the first place.

 Solely banking on potential is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Instead envision your future and think about the road that you're walking on. Apply the tools that successful people use and you could have an amazing endgame.

 And remember the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.

 

 

No Foe Fo Sho

No Foe Fo Sho, all about friends

I AM. Part 6

Have you been pruned lately? Pastor Deb's sixth message of the I AM sayings of Christ

I am the real vine and my Father is the farmer. He cuts off every branch that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.Live in me; make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you cannot bear fruit unless you are joined with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make your home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is, when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.
So, what does Jesus possibly mean when He starts talking about vines, grapes and farmers? People of this time and day were familiar with vines and growing grapes and they were also familiar with the scriptures that had earlier mentioned vines, like in Genesis when Joseph interpreted the dream of the cupbearer; In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, and in Jeremiah when it says, I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock, how did you then turn against me into a corrupt wild vine? And also in Psalm 80:8 you brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. So, here is this very understandable visual that He gives us; but what EXACTLY was He trying to say? First the good news– that He was the promised Messiah that they had been waiting for. Not unlike He spoke to them earlier; when He mentioned that He was THE shepherd, the gate, the light. He was the real thing, the actual one, the genuine article, He was the TRUE VINE.
He was telling them and telling us right now from His word that there may be other vines, counterfeit vines, that are out there – but there is only one that is offered to you with God the Father as the farmer. This IS Great news! They disciples had chosen the right bread of life, the right light of the world. The right gate and shepherd, there was resurrection in Him, He was the way, the truth and the life… and He is the TRUE VINE; but then He goes on to elaborate…and He speaks a more harsh statement. The next thing Jesus tells the disciples ….is that God the Father cuts off every branch that doesn't bear grapes.
To prune means to cut off, remove, or take away.
To prune in the Greek language also means to clean off and cleanse from filth and to purify.
This is what Jesus meant when He said that "You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken." This is the cleansing that happens when we've truly accepted Jesus as our Savior; He has cleansed us, removed our sins from us and purified us. But then what?
God the Father cuts off every branch that doesn't bear grapes.
The most important thing for all of us to understand and grasp here is – that He's not just speaking to those who haven't accepted this vine – it's for those who have… He is talking to those who are already an existing branch that is attached to the vine; the branches that are IN CHRIST. Jesus is saying that it's not enough to just be part of the tree - it's that we then need to become a fruit bearing, grape producing branch.
He goes on to say in the message translation:
Live in me; make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch cannot bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you cannot bear fruit unless you are joined with me.
God the Father (the farmer)… expects ALL OF US, those who are outgoing, and those of us who are shy, those who are out in front and those who hide out in the back; He expects each and every one of us to bear fruit. We don't like to speak in black and white, right and wrong, but God pretty much makes it clear here that we are either:

1. Fruitful branches

2.  Fruitless branches

Live in me; make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch cannot bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you cannot bear fruit unless you are joined with me. I think this verse has great signification… we think that it's just all about letting Jesus live inside of our hearts but Jesus says that we need to live in Him - like He does in us. This comes with some work and dedication on our part. We have to be joined with Him; attached, with Him being the vine and us as the branches. When we truly do that, then we will begin to produce fruit; because it's then that we are attached to the life flow.
What are you attached to… what flows through you?
For a lot of branches they seem to be connected closer to their friends, families, a sport, a school, than they really are to God. We need to be more intimately connected to God.
How we'll do that is by being cleansed by His word. As His followers we need to read and study the Word of God so that it can change us into fruit bearers. I've told you before that God's word is living…it points out to us those areas that need to be cleaned up and changed. It also encourages us when we need it, comforts us when we need to feel His love, and helps us to grow…. Good FRUIT. His word says when our relationship is intimate; then the harvest will be abundant; but separated - we cannot produce a thing. In Galatians 5:22 the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. In Jesus' day a grape grower or a fruit grower would not tolerate a tree that doesn't produce fruit. It would be a waste of space,
Jesus spoke of this himself in: Luke 13:6, 7 a man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but didn't find any. So, he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, for three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any, cut it down. Why should it use up the soil? And then another time when Jesus walked up to a fig tree and found nothing on it but leaves and He said to it, May you never bear fruit again. And the tree withers.
If we do not remain in Jesus keeping Him as the true vine – sustaining ourselves from Him, being watered and fed by Him, then we will become like withered branches that will have no use whatsoever to us or anyone else except as firewood. And Jesus uses this point in the very next chapter telling us "I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourself at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done, kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in His love. God the father loves His son Jesus.
Some Christians believe that Jesus loves them no matter how they live or what they do.
I kind of see it like this; I don't think God ceases to love us - but I think that we lose our intimacy with Jesus when we don't keep God's commandments, our sins begin to cause us to feel indifferent to Him, and soon we don't feel like praying and if we do pray we don't think He is hearing our prayers and so we begin to lose our desire for Him.
We need to stay connected to the vine…like Jesus says … I've kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in His love.
Our sins disconnect us from the vine. We become nothing but firewood.

 

 

I AM. Part 5

Oops! You're Going the Wrong Way!
The way, the truth and the life.
After Jesus dealt with Mary and Martha concerning Lazarus and brought him back to life after 4 days – He goes on to do some pretty interesting things in a very interesting time frame. He makes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem atop a donkey and many of the same people who had witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus were there waving palm branches and singing Hosanna to welcome Him in.  All these people and Jesus had come for the Passover feast. During this feast, Jesus predicts His own death, and goes on to mention that the prince of this world will be driven out soon. Then He goes on to wash the disciples feet and predicts His betrayal by Judas and also His denial by Peter….and then tries to explain to the disciples and followers of His that all of this had been planned.

(All of this takes place when we celebrate Palm Sunday up until the day that Jesus is taken by those who came to kill Him)
In John 14 Jesus tells the disciples during this last dinner … "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father's House are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you may be where I am.
You know the place where I am going….." Thomas the one that is labeled later as the doubter asks him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" And Jesus answers him, "I am The Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
These were Jesus' words about His departure.
These words were encouraging because He was letting them know that they were on the right road; that He may not be traveling anymore in person with them after His dying for the cause but that they need to keep traveling it because He is the way, this was encouragement…. But these words were also powerful and divisive. Jesus was telling them that you cannot get to where you ultimately want to go (Heaven) IF you do not take the right road.

And He was making it clear right now to them, in this place that He is not A road, but THE road…just like He said earlier when He said that He wasn't A gate but THE gate. He is also stating that He is the truth basically saying that all of His promises that He made and all that had ever been prophesied are true in Him… that He is the fulfillment. And He is also stating that if they …and NOW we trust and follow Him that this path will lead us to life and not death.
Here is a man who knew that His enemies were watching; but He never watered down His message and His encouragement to the other believers.
How about you? Do you speak truth and tell the way when others around you are watching and waiting to attack, or do you sink back and not make yourself the target? How many of you who believe that the path that leads to God must be taken by the road Jesus; but instead say silent when others are around? In a world today that is filled with many different religions and a society that wants us to believe that all of them are equal; it's difficult for some to believe that there IS only one way.
Other religions call Jesus a good man or a good teacher, but God's Word tells us that He is God.

C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying… "He is either Lord, lunatic, or a liar."

Peter in Acts 4:12 said "neither is there salvation in any other – for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." That means that Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, Joseph Smith or any other man can get you there.
This ticks people off…they say that Christians are just narrow minded for believing these things. But remember Jesus already spoke "Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to eternal life and few find it." He said that He is the door, the gate to the sheepfold, and if a man seeks to come in any other way then they are thieves and robbers."
This means that those other religions cannot get you to God and that you also cannot be saved by doing or being good. Religion will never be enough to save your soul. It's through Jesus and His salvation that we can receive it. The cross and Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane shows that – when Jesus prayed He spoke the words…"Father if it is possible, let this cup pass from me." What He was saying is if there is any other way for men to be redeemed than for him to suffer the horrible pain that He was going to endure very soon then let it be.

But do we believe it?

At a missions conference attended by thousands of evangelical students only 1/3 of the participants indicated their belief that a person who does not hear the gospel is eternally lost. And a lot of the other 2/3 are probably afraid to mention it to anyone if they do believe it.

How many of you watched American Idol Gives Back this year?

Did you notice the fact that Shout to the Lord was sung without the opening chorus mentioning Jesus' name? They sang; my shepherd, my savior; leaving out the most important part… and the most offensive part?
American Idol was probably worried that they might offend some viewers?
Should we fault them?
How many of you have done the same?
Listen you better get it in your heads right now… that you are going to have to offend some people when you believe and live something that is as convicting as Jesus. Jesus walked around offending people. He told people that they were hypocrites; and that they were liars… and He also pointed out to those who needed Him of their sins. (He may have done it in love, but He did it) That's WHY He was crucified. The people around Him were offended that He was saying that He was the fulfillment of prophesy. One big thing you have to grasp here….There is a big difference in claiming Jesus and proclaiming Jesus.

claim . to demand by or as virtue of a right. (personal)
pro·claim .. To announce or declare in an open or ostentatious way: (public

Let me explain it to you out of the message translation… Mark 8:38

If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I'm leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends – know that you'll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when He arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels.

On American Idol the next night – they sang the song with the right lyrics; who really knows why? They probably still didn't want to….I've heard a story that the writer Darlene Zschech called them and said that they didn't have permission to change the lyrics and that she wasn't happy about it being done.  Being that she's a believer she probably thought it wiser to let them sing it again and proclaim His name than it was in causing a big controversy about it.
Do you truly believe that Jesus is the right road to travel?
Are you giving those directions; then?
I guess it comes down to whether or not you believe God's word or not and what Jesus had to say… "I am The Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Who is He REALLY to you; Lord, lunatic, or liar?
Your words speak volumes!