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Confident Expectations for 2021!

Church Matters

Greetings Calvary Bible Church Family,

 

I believe the time is right for a quick note to our church family. We are already one month into a new year that we all hope and pray is going to be a lot better than 2020. Whether it will be or not remains to be seen. It certainly hasn’t started out that way in the Brown household. Getting COVID wasn’t one of my New Year’s resolutions! Neither was spending a night in the hospital or having the refrigerator break down in the middle of our quarantine. In spite of all that, we (the Browns) are all doing much better, and looking forward to reconnecting with our church family this Sunday. All the love and support from so many of you has meant the world to us during this challenging time.

 

I think it’s safe to say we were all hoping to put the challenges of 2020 behind us and launch into the new year unhindered by sickness, quarantines, and cancellations. Instead, it seems like we are off to a great sputtering and halting start.

 

So, is there anything we can do to salvage an already less than ideal beginning to this new year? Yes! Without a doubt, 2021 has the potential to be the greatest year on record since the beginning of time! No, really, I’m not just doing my best Joel Osteen impersonation! I am speaking the absolute and unquestionable truth. This could be the greatest year ever because 2021 could be the year that Jesus comes again! This could be the year when, “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord! (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

 

That is our hope. It is what we look forward to with great anticipation whether it happens this year or a hundred years from now. In the mean-time we are still not without great hope and encouragement. Here’s a few reasons to be encouraged about the year ahead regardless of our momentary difficulties:

 

  • God is sovereign over all things. Consider Ephesians 1:11, “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”
  • God is good and He has good plans for you and me. Consider Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
  • It is no accident that we are here at this time and in this place. Esther 4:14 “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
  • There could be no higher calling than to be an earthly representative of our Heavenly King. 2 Corinthians 5:20, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

 

What could be more hopeful and encouraging than the truths contained in those passages from God’s Word? I would like to challenge you to see this world and your life from that perspective. God is in control and we are here on purpose for a purpose. This Sunday we are going to start a short series focused on the purposes of our Church. I want to answer the question, What is Calvary Bible Church here for? Between now and Sunday, think about how you would answer that question and come ready to hear from God’s Word!

 

We have been and still are enduring unprecedented times for the Church in America. How will we respond? This is not a time to shrink back or to live in fear and isolation. We need to be together. We need to be the Body of Christ boldly reaching out to the Wood River Valley with the love of Christ and the hope of eternal life. Please come this Sunday. Your church family needs you and you need your church family.

 

  • Sunday Worship Service 10:15am
  • Annual Congregational Meeting this Sunday at 6pm

 

In Christ,

Pastor Ron