His Church Will Prevail
Bottomline: The Church of Jesus Christ cannot be killed, will not be held back, and it will prevail.
The church simply is the gathered followers of Jesus.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—30 for we are members of his body
You cannot love Jesus and not love and connect with His Church.
The Church, the Bride of Christ, is a beloved community called to mirror God in the giving and receiving of love for the sake of the world.
I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! 2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
Fear is the currency of oppression. -Danielle Strickland
Worldly power does not always equal Kingdom advancement.
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
The Church of Jesus Christ cannot be killed, will not be held back, and it will prevail.
Your political candidate will win or lose based on how American citizens vote on a Tuesday in November. But the church wins or loses, the community wins or loses—and in some way our nation wins or loses—based on how Christians love each other. That’s why Jesus said we must not allow anything or anyone to divide us. As we consider candidates and policies, there is one question Christians must not neglect in their decision making: “What does love require of us?” -Andy Stanley
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.