Invitation

The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the Gospel.

In Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, God fulfilled his age-old promise to save this tragically messed up world. There is a day coming when the power that raised Jesus from the dead will transform all creation, purifying and preserving forever everything that is good in it, and destroying forever everything that is harmful. Those who belong to Christ and his church see foretastes of that day in this age by the power of the Holy Spirit. God himself will reign over all and in all; nothing that opposes him or his loving intention for creation will endure.

In Christ, however, we not only discover that we are objects of God’s love, we also discover our persistent bent to fight against God and abuse our neighbor. Our thinking, our emotions and our wills are all corrupted by desire, pride, fear and selfishness. We find ourselves enslaved to dark and destructive powers within us and within our world. 

Apart from Christ, our sin would mean our ruin. The problem is not just “them, it’s “us.” As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote in The Gulag Archipelago, “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”

Fortunately, Jesus did not come just to defeat sin, death, and the devil “out there” in the world, he came to defeat them in each of us as well, opening the door for sinful people to enter the age to come. 

Who will be delivered by the power of Christ’s death and resurrection? Those who have faith in Christ, whom God gave as the means of our salvation. Who are those who have faith in Christ? Those who trust him enough to join themselves to him and live their lives in him.

The most important thing that you can take away from this visit, then, is the knowledge that you are invited to follow Jesus Christ in his church, trust him in all circumstances and pin your hopes on his victory over sin and death.

God bless you on your journey with Jesus.