Listen to the full audio of Dick Brodgen of Live | Dead speaking at Cedar Valley Church on Nov. 1, 2016
To adequately and powerfully love our Muslim neighbors, remember these words from Dick Brogden:
[pullquote style=”left” quote=”dark”]Like Jesus, we must love Muslims so passionately that we will die for them.[/pullquote] “Like Jesus, we must love Muslims so passionately that we will die for them. We must love Muslims enough to get out of our homes and do life with them. We must love Muslims enough to move our children into the Somali neighborhoods of Minneapolis, and to invite Muslims into the sanctuary of our home. We must love Muslims enough to leave our homeland and live and die in theirs. We must love Muslims enough to go to the smoke-filled cafes where they hang out, give up our 9PM bedtime (because interactions with Muslims happens after 11 o’clock at night in the smoking section). We must love Muslims enough that we start businesses that allow them to prosper and thrive in their communities. We must love Muslims enough to learn their languages and appreciate their food. [pullquote style=”right” quote=”dark”]We must spend time with them, spend time with them, spend time with them.[/pullquote] We must love Muslims enough to go to their soccer games and their weddings, and circumcision parties, and not just endure Muslims, but enjoy them as bearing the image of God. We must spend time with them, spend time with them, spend time with them. Not something on a calendar, not just a target, where you can check-off your little Muslim time on your list. But open our heart and our homes to them. Love them by opening our mouths and declaring to them the unsearchable riches of Christ, that Jesus is very God of very God and that he loves them. And that he’s going to love them through my hands, and through my eyes, and through my family, and through my deeds.[pullquote style=”left” quote=”dark”]..open our heart and our homes to them[/pullquote] The only one who will justly balance rejection of Islam with love for Muslims, is the one that will willingly lay down his or her life for that very Muslim person. Because yes, you are going to hold strong to the beauty and the and majesty of the deity of Jesus, but with equal vigor and zeal, you are going to love that Muslim man or woman and do whatever it takes that they might come into the Kingdom of God, no matter what it costs you.”
We must love Muslims enough to leave our homeland and live and die in theirs. We must love Muslims enough to go to the smoke-filled cafes where they hang out, give up our 9PM bedtime (because interactions with Muslims happens after 11 o’clock at night in the smoking section). We must love Muslims enough that we start businesses that allow them to prosper and thrive in their communities. We must love Muslims enough to learn their languages and appreciate their food. [pullquote style=”right” quote=”dark”]We must spend time with them, spend time with them, spend time with them.[/pullquote] We must love Muslims enough to go to their soccer games and their weddings, and circumcision parties, and not just endure Muslims, but enjoy them as bearing the image of God. We must spend time with them, spend time with them, spend time with them. Not something on a calendar, not just a target, where you can check-off your little Muslim time on your list. But open our heart and our homes to them. Love them by opening our mouths and declaring to them the unsearchable riches of Christ, that Jesus is very God of very God and that he loves them. And that he’s going to love them through my hands, and through my eyes, and through my family, and through my deeds.[pullquote style=”left” quote=”dark”]..open our heart and our homes to them[/pullquote] 
The only one who will justly balance rejection of Islam with love for Muslims, is the one that will willingly lay down his or her life for that very Muslim person. Because yes, you are going to hold strong to the beauty and the and majesty of the deity of Jesus, but with equal vigor and zeal, you are going to love that Muslim man or woman and do whatever it takes that they might come into the Kingdom of God, no matter what it costs you.”