For a time some believed that the Universal Church, by spreading the good news of Jesus Christ via  missionaries in foreign lands, and sharing the truth of reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ in our great nation, that our world would incrementally be transformed in an upward spiral to the point of ushering in the Kingdom of God and setting up Christ’s reign and rule in righteousness. However, after a couple of world wars, this belief faded from view.

But we mustn’t live with a sense of defeated hopelessness. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is alive and well – and (through the work and power of the Holy Spirit) it is powerful to change individual lives and communities. This hope doesn’t stop at the boarders of our great land, but all over the world. Hear the words of Paul:

Col 1: 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints– 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.

Someone has said:

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers and it was not there …….. in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there …….. in her rich mines and her vast world commerce- and it was not there …….. in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution – and it was not there.   Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.

Let us be proactive …. go forward … and do what we as a church have been called to do.

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
(Acts 1:8 NIV)