Day 8- Yesterday, I posted about two guys that have greatly influenced my life.  Today, I am thankful for those that went before me that I have not known, but I hope to meet one day in heaven.

Hebrews 11 talks about these people.  The writer called them “a great cloud of witnesses.”  These are the people I am thankful for today.  These mothers and fathers of the church helped the church form what we now call orthodox theology.  They recognized which letters from which others were to make up the Old and New Testament.  They give wonderful examples of how a Christian should live, think and love.  If we are able to go further in our faith it is because we stand on the shoulders of giants in the faith.

As a United Methodist, the shoulders that I stand on are John Wesley’s.  Wesley was born in 1703.  With help from his brother Charles, John would almost single-handedly bring revival to England.  The movement grew and migrated to America.  Once in the colonies, Methodism spread West as fast as railroads where built.  Schools were often housed in these new Methodist churches.  The movement grew and today United Methodist is one of the largest Protestant denomination in the United States.  All because of two brothers who dared to preach the gospel.

There are other giants of the faith whose shoulders we stand on.  People like John Calvin, Martin Luther, St. Francis of Assisi, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Graham, Jon Huss, and the list good go on and on.  Of course, we can’t forget the 12 Apostles.

There are other saints that in that great cloud witness we need to remember too.  The men and women of the Old Testament.  We stand on the shoulders of people like King David, Moses, Abraham, Noah, Job, Ruth, Daniel, Amos, Boaz, Jesse, Joshua, Caleb, Issac, Naomi, Jacob and many, many other Old Testament saints.

We, as modern day Christians, needed every one of them.  They are our spiritual forefathers and mothers.  They have taught us much about who Christ is and how we are should live and in some case how not to live.  They are important to the faith.

But the real foundation of the church, the biggest giant of them all, is Jesus Christ.  Paul called him the chief cornerstone that the builders rejected.  He is called the Author and Finisher of our faith.  There is no one in all of history that is more important than the man for Galilee.  Jesus came in the form of humanity to take on the sins of the world. Without Jesus Christ and the power of resurrection, humanity would have no hope of ever being in a right relationship with God.  But Jesus did come!  He did endure the pain and suffering of the cross so that we might have the right to be called the daugthers and sons of God.  Not because of anything that we have done but because of everything that Jesus has done.  Praise be to God!