Christianity has one supreme message to give to the world – the secret of victorious living. If you travel back in time to the first century you will find, like today, people who do not believe in God, yet these people discovered that there in their midst was a company of people who held the secret to victorious living. This little company of men and women were harried, persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and slain, but they could not be conquered. When the Romans drove them into the arena to provide a feast for starved wild beasts, and to entertain Roman citizens, they went to their death singing like victors. When people saw this amazing sight of unconquerable personality, they craved it for themselves. Christianity has always spread when it has been able to present the message of victorious living. At the time of when the Old Meeting House was founded there was a great deal of uncertainty about life and people flocked to hear Puritan preachers like William Bridge preach with great authority and personal conviction from the Bible. When preachers forget the Bible and preach on secondary issues their churches become empty. Today the world does not see sufficient evidence of its power to give victorious life. Yet that is the knowledge the world is craving. Men and women are living defeated lives. They are defeated by their fears, their worries, their prejudices, their hatreds and their sins. They want a way of victory. Jesus Christ has that way. Christians must demonstrate that triumphant life or fail this generation. Unless I have found victory in my own life, I cannot tell others how to find it. If I have not discovered the secret of personal victory over sin, I have missed the deepest message of Christianity.
John.