The Message

We had a guest here a few years ago by the name of Rabbi Irwin Katsof and he is an amazing man. He is a visionary, an entrepreneur and author and he has seen the violence around the world that is done in the name of God. He thought to himself, "Who am I? What can I do? I'm just a Rabbi living in Los Angeles and what can I do?" But he had a vision; maybe he could bring Muslims and Christians and Jews together and make a slight difference. He thought, "Maybe we can make a statement to the world that God isn't about violence." A few months ago I received an invitation by a group whose name I had never heard of before. They invited me to fly to Kiev, in the Ukraine to participate in a conference for peace and tolerance between Christians, Muslims and Jews; and I went. When I arrived there greeting me in the hotel lobby was Rabbi Irwin Katsof and he said, Robert it is good to see you again! I said, "Wow, we have to travel half way around the world to meet again." He told me about his vision and there in Kiev he had Muslim sheiks from Dubai and from Jordan, and from Egypt; he had the head Rabbi from Jerusalem who is an orthodox Rabbi. He had Tom Ridge, the first Secretary of Homeland Security for the United States and the former governor of Pennsylvania. He had one of the most amazing women I have ever met there. She was the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, and she was actually the first female Prime Minister in the Muslim world and today she is in exile in the United Arab Emirates. At this conference, we listened to each other give short messages, addresses. We all came back with a similar message and the message is we all believe in God. We all believe in the same God, we may have different perceptions as to how we have a relationship with Him, but regardless of our perception of who God is, He is who He is.

At this conference I gave an address. The address I gave was one that focused on the fact we have a common enemy. The common enemy that we all have is evil, violence, greed corruption, genocide, human trafficking. These are all evil. But, at the same time they are not the true enemy. They are the results of the enemy; they are the symptoms of the enemy. The real problem is found and cured in human hearts. It's a spiritual problem, I said. The spiritual problem is a lack of faith; a lack of faith in God to give us the power to tear down the walls and allow ourselves the freedom to build bridges; to allow the love of God to flow through our hearts and to be the people that God wants us to be.

When I left the Ukraine, I went to Berlin. There we met with hundreds of people who watch the Hour of Power. I asked an interesting question. I said, "How many people here can say the Hour of Power saved my life?" There must have been dozens of people who raised their hands and stood up and told me that the Hour of Power had saved their life. Lives are being changed through this ministry and around the world. It's happening and the reason lives are being changed is because we have a message: A positive message that Jesus Christ is alive and that He is real and that He makes a difference in our lives.

Years ago, I was looking through an old magazine called Life magazine. I was very interested in an article contained in the magazine because it was about a man named Armand Hammer, who was the president and CEO of Occidental Petroleum. I was looking at the pictures and they had a picture of him sitting in his bed. Can you believe that? He allowed them to take a picture of him sitting in bed watching three televisions he had bought so that he could watch all three major networks at the same time. I was curious and I wondered what does a man like this read? I looked carefully at the pictures and on his nightstand I saw on the top of all of his reading material, a magazine called "Guideposts." "Guideposts" is a publication that was started by Norman Vincent Peale. At that time, Norman Vincent Peale was going to be coming to preach here and I called my Dad recommending that he send a letter to Armand Hammer inviting him to come here so that he could hear Norman Vincent Peale preach. So Armand Hammer came here and as a result of that introduction, he helped us bring the Hour of Power to Russia. We started broadcasting in Russia before the wall came down in Berlin! And when I was in Berlin recently I saw just the remnants of the wall!

What walls do we have that keep us from making the leap of faith? What walls have we built that have kept us from proclaiming faith in Christ and proclaiming the love that Jesus has for our fellow man? What walls do we need to tear down? What bridges do we need to build?
Today I want to invite you to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. To accept him into your heart and say, "Yes Jesus, I need you. I want to put my sins behind and my love in front and walk with You." There is no better time to do it than today. Let's pray together:
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are a God of new beginnings and that You are tearing down the walls which prevent us from being the people that You have called us to be. Oh God, give us the faith to leap into Your loving arms and to say yes to You, to Your grace and to Your love. So, we give ourselves to You today, body mind and soul, one hundred percent to You, our God and our Lord. Amen.