Pastor's Desk
November 20 , 2005
JESUS SAID, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10) How has he accomplished this? He laid down his life for us and has become "the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:2) He was raised from the dead with resurrection power and ascended to heaven. From there he poured out the Holy Spirit on the church so that they would be empowered to take the word of life to the world.
Jesus declared that he would "build his church and the gates of Hades would not overcome it." (Matthew 16:15) 'Gates' in the scriptures speak of the seat of authority and power and 'Hades' speaks of death. Jesus was saying that the church he was building had so much life in it that all the powers of death would not be able to snuff it out. The implication is that the church is a carrier of divine life. The church is the people of God, those who have believed in Jesus and crossed over from death to life. They are participating in his life continuously by eating the bread of life and drinking the blood of the new covenant. (John 6:53-57) Streams of living water flow from within them and flow out to water the dry and lifeless places of the world. (John 7:37-39) They go into places which have the stench of death and they impart life. As the apostle Paul said, "Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life." (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)
God's intension is that the church be a community which offers life to a lost and dying world. We are called to be "blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which [we] shine like stars in the universe as [we] hold out the word of life." (Philippians 2:15-16) So the life that we experience as Christian believers is transferable to all those who put their trust in the Lord Jesus who is the author of life. Let us then be a life-giving church!
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... I will build my church,
and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
(Matthew 16:18)
This page was last updated on Sunday, November 20, 2005