A Prediction that You Can Count on!

A new month's coming! In just four days, September will arrive - and with it comes my favorite sport, football! Now I know some of you are thinking, "Football coming in September? Hey, John - it's already here!" But not so. The NFL has been playing their PREseason (did you catch that? It is PREseason football!). The real season begins in September. During this preseason, I have found it interesting to hear all the predictions being made. If they were all to come true, we would have 32 Super Bowl champions this upcoming season! Every team thinks it is their year to win it all. And so they go on record with their bold predictions of gridiron success. Of course, only one team will prevail. So much for predictions!

But there is one prediction that you can count on. It has nothing to do with football. And unlike all these predictions being made, you won't find it being hyped on ESPN or the local sports page. The prediction I am referring to is the following prediction that the Lord Jesus Christ made concerning his church: "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it" (Matthew 16:18). Note that Jesus does not say, "I MIGHT build my church." He states clearly his intention to build his church. And not even the power of hell will be able to withstand the advance of His Church!

So if the Church flounders, it is not due to a failure on Jesus' part. (In another text (see Matthew 28:18-20) he states that "All authoring in heaven and in earth has been given to me.") No. Any failure of the Church of Jesus Christ to advance against the Kingdom of Darkness can be laid at OUR feet. All too often we (the church) are so busy doing our own thing - that we lose sight of the MAIN THING (more tomorrow on "the main thing")! My prayer for my church and the Church world-wide is that we would stay on MISSION - keeping the MAIN THING the MAIN THING! As we do, Jesus WILL build his Church. That's a prediction you can count on!

Thanks for listening,

pj