Where is the church going?

No matter where we may be at the moment, every church on this planet, and every believer within that church, is moving forward.

  That's a pretty bold thing to say, don't you think?............ Do you agree? My guess would be no.

   If you disagree, why? Do you look around at other churches, or at your own church, and see areas where things aren't going as well as you'd like? Do you see back-slidden members or certain ministries that aren't doing as well as they once did?

   Have you seen styles change in ways that weren't to your liking? Styles in worship, teaching, music, etc.? Have you seen members leave for what they believed are greener pastures? Have you seen volunteers in certain ministries give up and walk away? Have you seen the church's funds dry up, and seen the generosity of the members dwindle?

   Do you look at your own life, or your own walk, and remember times when you felt you were closer to God? Times when you were doing more? Talking about your faith more? Thinking more about what God wanted for you and your life?

   I'm convinced that every church, as well as every believer on the planet has faced most, if not all, of these problems at some point. But I know something else too. I know that Paul said;

  ^"In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."  Philippians 1:4-6

   He wrote those words, not only to the individual members, but to the church as a whole.

   No matter where your church may be right now, or where you might be, do you believe that at some point, God "began a good work" in that church? Do you believe that at some point He "began a good work" in you? If so, why would you ever believe that He wouldn't complete that work?

   So, what does that mean? Does it mean that we'll always like what we're seeing? Does it mean that we'll agree with every decision that's ever made within that church? Does it mean that changes will never occur? Absolutely not. God will do His will within that church, whenever He pleases, and make whatever changes He deems necessary to bring that church where He wants it to be. Sometimes that's painful. Sometimes we don't like it. The same applies to our individual lives. We won't always like where we are or what we're experiencing.

   The best way I can describe how I see the church as a whole is this:

   Try to imagine the worldwide church as though it were onboard an enormous cruise ship. The captain is the Lord Himself. The various rooms within this ship are the various churches around the world. They all hold different passengers, they all serve different purposes, but they are all His. He is bringing all of us to one final destination, which is a paradise beyond our best and wildest imagination.
   He knows His ship from front to back, top to bottom, and side to side. He knows every single passenger intimately........even better than we know ourselves. He knows every task that needs to be accomplished to make the ship sail as He knows it should.
   While we are on this ship, we will all experience the same rough seas. We'll all see incredible sunsets, but maybe from different perspectives depending upon where we are on the ship. We'll all have nights when we're rocked to sleep, and we'll all have times when we feel a little sea-sick.
   As we move along on our journey, which is always moving toward our final destination, we will pick up new passengers. Some of them will hit it off with us immediately, some of them will take a little more time to warm up to us, while others will rub us the wrong way at times.........But we're all His, we're all on the same boat, and we're all heading to the same destination.......Forward to paradise.

   All we have to do is trust the captain.........To believe that He knows where we're going, and to hear His voice when He asks certain things of us even if we don't understand them at times. 

   But there can only be one anchor on this ship. It's not an anchor that keeps the ship from moving, but the anchor that ties us to the ship, and ultimately to the captain Himself.

   In Hebrews 6:19-20, we read:
"This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."  Hebrews 6:19-20

   We are all moving forward.........Toward a paradise that we did nothing to earn, and due to nothing we've ever done, said, or been. Not just as individuals, but also as His church. Let's not ever forget that, and let's rejoice together and offer praises to Jesus Christ Himself, who was and is the only one who could ever have made that a possibility.