The Promise of the Lord

Written by: Frieda Dowler

But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. I Peter 3:13 NLT.

The greatest promise from Jesus is that he will come again for his chosen ones and live among them. He has a place waiting for those who believe him and who have remained faithful. It will be a place where there is no more crying, sickness, death, or sorrow. It will be the end of all suffering. It is filled with beauty, love, and the light of God.

It’s hard to imagine such a place. Everywhere we turn today, there are sickness, immorality, dissension, war, and natural disasters. We see daily reports of these things on the news and on social media. They affect us personally, our families, our communities, our nation, and our world. It can feel overwhelming.

But the hope of everyone who believes Jesus, is the promise that he will restore all things and God will dwell among his people forever. In a world of chaos, it’s no wonder churches are growing. The world needs hope for better things than what we are experiencing right now. The posture of the church is to offer a better way through baptism and discipleship. At church, we can learn to think differently and adjust our focus through Biblical teaching and Christian living.

If you’ve been following our theme for the past few months, our leadership is getting us ready to welcome people who are seeking hope in a hopeless world. It is the responsibility of churches to welcome people in and introduce them to the knowledge of God’s salvation through Jesus. Our themed messages have been getting us ready to offer hope to people in our community who will come to Victory in the future. It’s a leap of faith.

Beginning in August, the messages from the series Unqualified encouraged us to become the person God sees. Those messages should boost our confidence in the person God made us to be. In that way, we can welcome others into our church. We don’t need to be on the leadership team to be qualified for that task. It takes all of us, in unity, to provide a welcoming place of peace for people who are suffering or confused.

Following that series, we heard a challenge to be All In with living lives in faithfulness to God. It requires a solid commitment to stick with God, no matter what happens. Commitment, by definition, is like glue. When we glue ourselves to God, our circumstances can’t pull us apart from him. And likewise, when we make a commitment to a local church, we should also take that seriously.

Then we had a series titled Move of God. This series was an invitation to join God as he moves on people. We learned it isn’t about our own strength and power but it means surrendering to God as he moves on people to join him. It won’t likely be in the spotlight, but God calls to us in the secret places. This series was a lesson on hearing from God through his Holy Spirit to come into intimacy with him.

So church, if you’re listening, we have the call to GET READY. We can sense what God is doing. He’s moving people toward him. People who are far from God are becoming aware of him, some for the first time.

Will we answer the call? Will we ready ourselves personally and corporately as a church? Can we put aside our personal comfort to see the bigger picture of being a place where people come to experience God? Can we be a place of HOPE FOR EVERYONE who is seeking?

My heart hurts when I watch the news, or see a loved one suffering with illness. If I didn’t have confidence in the promises of the Bible, I wouldn’t be able to wake up in the morning or to offer comfort to loved ones. Everyone needs to know this hope.

I want Victory to be a place where many more people can come to find hope. We can be a church that offers peace in a world of chaos if we, who call Victory home, will honor and protect what God has entrusted us with.