Through iCare, our ongoing campaign to reach out to others, you are saying:

iCare about…

…those in my community who are suffering the devastating effects of poverty, abuse and homelessness…and, that means there needs to be a safe haven - a place to run to, recover and regenerate.

Over the last couple of months, so many of you have taken this local iCare pledge to heart. Through our iCare Transitional Housing project, we are now partnered with Mary Hall Freedom House in their Open Arms Project - a transitional housing initiative for women right here in Gwinnett County.

In the initial stages of our project, we are furnishing 34 apartments; and, thanks to your generous giving and help, eight are already complete; providing a safe haven for eight or more women immediately!

Last month we asked for volunteers to help us as we sorted and assembled furniture. Just a few short days after our request, more than 75 of you showed up to help load the furniture unto trucks and, once inside the apartments, the furniture was moved in, curtains hung, cabinets filled, dishes and cookware put away and we even provided things like towels and toothbrushes. With your outstanding help, we had eight completely furnished and decorated apartments in move-in condition within five hours.

We can’t thank you enough for your continued generosity which provides the resources we need to make outreaches such as these possible. And, we would like to give a very special thanks to the many volunteers who participated in transforming these empty apartments into places of safety and rest for many special women.

Now, that’s eight down; just 26 more to go. Stay tuned for more opportunities to show how much we care.
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Every church has a unique calling; different churches are called to different things. I feel like God said there are five things that He’s specifically called this church to do. We are called to be:

1. A church of reconciliation. Reconciliation means to bring something that has been divided or separated back together again. We are called to first reconcile lost people to God; and second, to reconcile people to each other (the part that has been left out of most churches). We are called to a life that is no longer about living for ourselves, but for others instead. As new creations, we no longer regard anyone according to the flesh, including their color! Everything we do now has to do with reconciling people to Christ and to each other. Honestly, there’s a lot to overcome to live that way. Too often, we just don’t get it…until we get a heart for reconciliation–seeking to understand, to see others’ perspectives, to reach across the barriers of separation and begin treating others, not based on what they have or haven’t done for us, but based on Jesus and His love for us. The only way to bring this kind of true reconciliation is through the blood of Jesus at work in our lives.
2. A church that preaches and lives according to the uncompromised Word of God. Unfortunately, there is a great void in the area of preaching the Word of God in the churches of America today. We’ve gotten more concerned with pleasing and attracting people. People don’t want to be challenged. But God’s Word has tremendous power to transform. If we want to experience that power, sometimes we need to be pierced, to hear things that we don’t want to hear from His Word.
3. A church that transforms the world around us. We have a dilemma today. We’re finding that rather than the church changing the world, the world is changing the church. Throughout history, whenever this has happened, the church has lost its influence in society. We’re called to be the salt and light of God in this world, but when we’re bickering and fighting, just like people in the world, we have no flavor, no transforming power.
4. A church that releases God’s will through prayer. If you’re one who has criticized our current president or our new president, it’s time to stop speaking words of death and start praying and speaking words of life. Things are not going to get better by speaking negatively about them. The more you pray for people, the nation, etc., the less critical you will become about them.
5. A church that models love and forgiveness. The number one message of Jesus in his life was forgiveness. That should be the main thing people get out of us when the meet/interact with us — regardless of how they treat us. We’re called to be an expression of God’s love. That means setting aside bitterness, resentment, offense and unforgiveness.

The message of our church is to bring people together so we can do the will of God. But, our enemy wants to divide and conquer us. To keep this from happening, we have to put our thoughts, opinions and feelings on the altar and pursue a heart of reconciliation. I’m calling on every one of you to put out the fires of division, strife and discord and to walk in love. If we can be that kind of church, imagine what kind of power we’ll have to bring transformation to our community!

As I watched the election coverage, I was deeply moved by the faces, streaming with tears, in celebratory scenes from across our great country. The enormity of this moment for all Americans was clear as even news anchors found themselves moved with tremendous emotion and unable to speak. For the first time in the more than two hundred years of our nation’s history, America came together to elect a person of color to the world’s highest office. I was especially excited because the vision of racial reconciliation has been so close to my own heart and so much a part of the vision of our church - I could see the endless possibilities sitting before us.

I truly believe that we have entered a new season of change, and we have both the privilege and responsibility to support President Elect Barack Obama in prayer. I am a very strong believer that Obama has the potential to do some very good things for our country. However, I also recognize that what God would use to bring our country together, the enemy would use to bring greater division. It is with this recognition that we must, as Christians, take our call to prayer with utmost seriousness and, as the church, get behind our President to support him in prayer. It is through prayer that we have the opportunity to turn our nation in a positive direction.

Scripture is clear regarding our responsibility to pray for all in authority. We cannot allow ourselves to get caught up in criticism rather than prayer. When we fail to pray, we become a part of the problem rather than the solution.

This past weekend, I spoke a message to challenge us all to prayer for our new President and our country. For those in our congregation who did not support Barack Obama, the challenge from the Lord was to view our President in a different light and to get behind him, even if they don’t agree with him on some issues. For those in our congregation who did support Barack Obama, the challenge from the Lord is to understand that there are some sobering issues that he supports which violate Scripture, and we should pray that God would move on his heart in these areas.

If you weren’t here this weekend, I urge you to visit our website to listen or watch the message. I also ask you to pray daily about five key areas that will impact President Elect Obama’s leadership and the course of our nation, which I discuss in greater detail in the online message.

1. Pray for protection for our President and his family.
2. Pray for his heart to be turned toward righteousness and justice.
3. Pray for the governing of our economic system to be fair and equitable.
4. Pray that God would surround him with wise and godly counsel.
5. Pray that the President would govern in such a way that brings our country back together.

In closing, I believe Barack Obama has the opportunity to be a great leader in a very critical time for our nation and the world. I will support President Obama with all of my heart and prayers; and my prayer is that he will become one of our greatest Presidents ever. I invite you to join me in that prayer.

One of the things I’m convinced of is that over the last eight to ten years, the church has drifted away from its influence in society. We’ve started to put a lot of trust in government to solve our problems. Unfortunately, because of that, the church has lost its influence in our society. And, as a result of that, our culture has begun to degrade to levels that I’ve never seen in my lifetime.

Because of this, I wanted to introduce a good friend of mine to you who brings a message about what is really happening in our society and how far it has fallen. That friend is Dr. Michael L. Brown, founder and president of ICN Ministries (RevolutionNow.org). He has a word that is shocking, challenging and timely. My hope is that his message will sound an alarm to the church that will awaken us to the plight of America and the need for a Jesus Revolution in the church, our nation and the world. Here’s some of what he had to share with us:

I’ve got some bad news, some really bad news and some great news to share with you. The bad news is that America is in a terrible mess. We are in a terrible moral and cultural crisis. The really bad news is that the church is in a terrible mess; a terrible moral and cultural crisis. You don’t have to go into the world to find the sex scandals, teen pregnancy, pornography, rampant divorce or families falling apart; they’re everywhere in the church. The great news, however, is that if we submit our lives, our hearts, our minds fully to the Lord and make ourselves available and avail ourselves of God’s power, we are the solution to the problems in America.

Jesus said, You are the salt of the earth… and, …if the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! The great problem in America today is that the salt (that’s us, the church) has lost its saltiness. We are no longer the moral conscience of our nation. Most of the nation hardly takes us seriously because we seem to be hypocrites - saying one thing and living differently. The light within our nation is darkness. Rather than the church changing the world, the world is changing the church. We cannot set others free if we ourselves are bound.

What God wants to do in America starts with the people of God - not with any politician. The problems in our society are so deep that there is no political solution. It doesn’t matter who gets elected. We cannot put any trust in the political system. Yes, we have to vote according to our convictions to uphold what is right and to elect people to office that will do so - but we can’t put our trust in that system. There is only a gospel solution.

Today, I want to sound the alarm about things that are going on. As an example, there are homosexual activists, some of them very well-funded, and the things they are standing and fighting for will undo the very foundations of our society.

Now, let me start by pointing out that the average gay/lesbian person has no concept of a homosexual agenda. They think it’s just something the religious right just made up. Their agenda is that we just let them live a normal life and not bother them. But there are gay activists with a specific agenda that is being aggressively promoted in places like our schools, targeting our children - even first graders are being exposed to diversity training (which is nothing more than homosexual activist training) including discussions and materials about sex-change operations, gender identity confusion, etc. In many schools, gender has become the enemy. The rights of parental authority and free speech have been stripped by the courts.

This didn’t just happen overnight. There’s been a progression:

1. 40-yrs ago gay activist began coming out of the closet.
2. They began to say, We demand our rights.
3. They then began to demand that conservative Christians would recognize those rights.
4. They began to take away the rights of conservative Christians.
5. Now they are trying to put you and me in the closet.

We have so fallen asleep. We’ve got to wake up to reality. We’ve been so passive that we haven’t even realized that we’ve been pushed into the closet and the door is closing. We need a revolution - not the way the world does it with anger, but by overcoming evil with good. We lay down our lives and overcome hatred with love.

Revolutions start when people get to a breaking point. We’ve already crossed the ‘enough is enough’ line in our culture. We need to wake up and realize we are not primarily here for what’s good for us. We are here to make a difference. We need to start living out the Scriptures as though every word is real. We need to step back and think about what we can/need to do. We have a higher goal - the kingdom of God. We’ve got to recapture our prophetic zeal and remember that we’re here with a mission. We do this by going after God and His Word. We are God’s agents of radical change in society. Won’t you take up the challenge to make yourself available to Him?

What an amazing two weeks we’ve had! Your Final Destination (YFD), a powerful theatrical production designed to bring people face to face with the reality of Heaven and Hell, ran for six shows with a packed house every night. In fact, all six nights, we had to turn people away (unfortunately) as we simply had no more room.

With the help of hundreds of volunteers, who served as cast, crew, altar workers and intercessors, we witnessed a mighty move of God. Over 2300 men, women, youth and children from all different walks of life responded to the invitations given at the end of each show to receive God’s gift of salvation or to rededicate their lives to Him! It was such a privilege to be a part of what God did, and continues to do, in so many people’s lives. Thank you, Victory, for your willingness, dedication, availability and prayer!

 (Click on the photos to see the entire gallery)

What do you think about Heaven? What do you think it’s going to be like? Have you ever given any deep thought to that? Very few people know what heaven is really like. Most people think of people and angels just kind of floating around in space or in the clouds, not really having anything to do. It sounds pretty boring. The truth is that there’s quite a bit more to Heaven than that. Most people don’t have a clue just how good heaven will be.

When I started studying Heaven, it was probably the most difficult, but fascinating study I’ve ever done on the Bible. The topic is so vast, that it is impossible to answer every question in a short space, but I would like to answer a few of the key questions. Then, I want to leave it up to you to dive deeper into the subject. (To help you in your own study, let me highly recommend one of the most thorough books on the subject: Heaven by Randy Alcorn.)

The Bible has a lot to say on the subject and that’s where we need to go first to find answers about Heaven. First, take a look at Philippians 1:21-23. Among other things, Paul says that Heaven is “far better” than anything we’ll ever experience here on earth. Think about some of the best experiences you’ve ever had in the earth, or the most beautiful places you’ve ever seen. According to Paul, Heaven will far better.

God’s Word also talks about two heavens. First, there is the present heaven, where believers go when they die and which is described as paradise and a place of transition. (See Luke 16:9-26) When we die on the earth, our bodies return to the earth, and we pass into this temporary heaven in the form of soul and spirit.

Then there is the eternal Heaven, or second Heaven. The Apostle John describes this in the Book of Revelation (21:1-8). At the end of time, the old heaven and earth will be destroyed and there will be a new heaven and earth. Heaven will come down to the earth and we will live on the earth, but it will also be Heaven. It will be more beautiful than anything we can imagine. In fact, the earthly beauty that we see even now is only a vague, shadowy reflection of the splendor that will be. In this new Heaven, there will be no more death, sickness, suffering, sorrow, pain or any other evil thing brought about by sin and the curse. We’ll have new bodies in which we’ll be able to do things we can’t do now. Can you imagine that? It’s true! And, not only that, but we will be in God’s presence all the time, ruling with Him, learning, discovering and rejoicing! I want to go, don’t you?!

Here’s what we have to understand: after we die, we will all face two judgments. The first, which will determine whether we spend eternity in Heaven or Hell, is not based on works (what we have done) but on our faith. It is only if we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord that we will gain entrance into Heaven.

The second judgment, concerning our works, determines how we will experience eternity - what rewards we are given. Again, we are not saved by our works. BUT, our works give evidence to our salvation. If we truly have faith, we will do good works. Like the Apostle James said, “Faith without works is dead.” All of us will stand before the judgment seat to have our works judged and be given rewards. Therefore, it matters what we do.

Heaven is going to be unimaginably awesome! Don’t you want to go there? Certainly you don’t want to trade that for a little earthly pleasure now and an eternity of torment. I urge you, if you haven’t already done so, turn to Christ right now. God loves us so much. He doesn’t want any of us to perish. So, turn away from doing life on your own. Stop living only for yourself and surrender to Jesus. Don’t get all religious; just start walking in relationship with Christ, and tell someone about it who can help you continue to grow. If you will do that, all the splendor of Heaven awaits you!

You know, I can’t remember the last time I heard a sermon on Hell. Can you? Few of us ever dive deep into the subject. It’s such a negative thing; most people just kind of ignore the concept. When asked, people have a huge variety of views about what Hell, whether or not it exists, who goes there and why. A recent survey showed that while 74% of Americans believe in a biblical Heaven, only 59% of Americans believe in a biblical Hell. For each person who believes they’re going to Hell, 120 believe they’re going to Heaven. 

But here’s the deal, Jesus said that the path to Hell is broad and easy. Many people tread that path. Conversely, the path to life is narrow, more difficult and relatively few people walk that way. While it’s become popular in our culture today to believe that there are many paths to Heaven, the Bible explicitly states that there is only one way: through Jesus. In fact, he said it himself, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, NIV)

In truth, our souls go on living forever after our earthly bodies have passed away. And, after we die, we will live for eternity in one of two places: in Heaven with Jesus or in Hell with the devil. It will be the decisions we have made during our earthly lives which will determine which one. Therefore, anyone who has a belief in God and in the truth of his Word has to seriously consider where they will spend eternity and the reality of both Heaven and Hell.

Because we so rarely give any real thought to these things, I thought we should spend a couple of weeks delving into what the scriptures have to say on the matter. This week, as you may have noticed already (and despite how unpopular the subject may be), is about Hell.

First thought: “Why did God create Hell?” The answer is very simple - Hell was never created for people. God never wanted any of us to go to Hell. Rather, God created Hell as a place of punishment for the devil and his angels who rebelled against God, attempting to usurp God’s throne before the creation of the world.

Hell is indescribably awful. Imagine never being able to see anyone or anything, never resting or sleeping, being utterly alone, feeling forgotten, living without any hope, being consumed with fear, being tormented and completely separated from God…forever. This barely begins to describe existence in Hell.

So, what happened that caused mankind to have to go there? Answer: Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, listened to the devil, disobeyed God, opened the door for sin to enter the human race and died spiritually. Because of their choice, each of their descendants (that’s you, me, everyone) has a bent toward sin and we cannot enter Heaven in that state. We are born on the path to death and Hell. Therefore, unless something changes, that’s where we’d all end up.

And now for the good news! God has the answer for sin and Hell: Jesus! Through Jesus we can enter into life. He came to buy us back from our sin by becoming a sacrifice for us on the cross. He took all our sin upon himself, died and then rose again in triumph over sin and death. He opened the doors of Heaven and offers life to all who believe. All we have to do is turn away from our sin, receive God’s forgiveness and surrender our lives to Jesus.

So, let me ask you this: Where are you headed? Have you surrendered your life to Jesus? If the answer is no, then I want to encourage you to face the reality of eternity. You cannot count on even one more breath. Don’t wait. Surrender now. Don’t spend even on more moment on the road to Hell. Choose life.

Second, if you’re one who knows that you’re on our way to Heaven, what are you doing to help keep others from going there? Those of us who know the good news have to share it with those who don’t. Wouldn’t every one of us want someone to save us if we were drowning or on fire? Then, how much more must we seek to bring the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ to those all around us who are lost and going to Hell? We interact with people every day who are on the very threshold of Hell. Let that fact motivate you to share the Gospel with them. Be bold. Tell them about Christ. Bring them to Your Final Destination this week. Be intentional. God doesn’t want anyone to go to Hell, do you? Of course not! I urge you to live like it!

In case you haven’t noticed, we seem to be having a meltdown - politically, economically, morally, etc. We’re in a real crisis time and we don’t like it. Most of us just want everything to be nice and easy. Some of us need to get off of easy street and join the battle that’s already raging. Something more important is at stake than our comfort zones.

You see, God wants to take us through a process of transformation…but it’s not easy. In fact, it usually requires some degree of struggle. Yet, when we get into a time of crisis, usually all we can think about is how badly we want out. We just cry out, “Oh, God! Get me out of this trouble!” But God is not about just getting us out of difficulty. He wants to use our crises to transformation us. Yes, God does want to bring us out of these problems, but he wants to do so by changing us, transforming us. He doesn’t want us to be defined by our “issues.” He wants to take us beyond them into the increasing glory of the purposes he has designed for us.

God has a prophetic destiny for every generation and every individual, but sometimes we miss these callings because we need to be transformed. We, the church in America, are in that place right now. We are so divided in so many ways - particularly along racial lines - and this hinders the accomplishment of God’s purposes for us. God wants to do something in the area of reconciliation - a real transformation, anextreme makeover, if you will. Think about it: if we were transformed and began strategically evangelizing, reaching across cultural barriers, we could end racism in America in one decade. (Let me note: The diversity that is represented at Victory is a prime example and is essential to the work of reconciliation that God wants to do through the church in America.)

So, we need to get an extreme makeover - to go through a major transformation process. In order to do this, there are four stages we go must go through, four types of grace that we need to rely on.

First, we need Survival Grace - This is for times of crisis, like when you only have enough time to say “Jesus” right before a car wreck…and you survive…and it’s amazing that you’re still alive. This is God demonstrating that his hand is on you. In these times, instead of despairing about what has been destroyed, we have to understand that God is doing something.

Next, there’s Visionary Grace. In this stage, God uses the crisis to tamper with our inner vision, desires, hopes and dreams. The old ones have to be dashed; they are often the flesh or the enemy. They are really false hopes and God has to break us free from these things because they limit our faith. He wants to take us beyond our limitations, to do above and beyond all that we have asked or imagined. So, he breaks us out of our current hopes, expectations and visions (ours are just not big enough for the abundance that he wants to pour out) and expands our capacity. He uses the season of trial to stretch our box.

Thirdly, we need Transitional Grace. Because old wine skins can’t take new wine, God has to make us ready. Sometimes, at the beginning of a transition things seem to be going the opposite of where their supposed to go. That’s because we don’t know how to operate in the new realm yet. We need a transitional time to learn how.

Finally, we need Establishment Grace. As we move into the new realm, God begins to say “touch this/don’t touch that.” It’s about getting our priorities straight. We have to ask ourselves, “Is God first?” and “Do I trust him?” God is going to give us a new way of operating in this new realm. As we step into the fullness of the new realm of transformation, this grace will produce the ability to bring tremendous reconciliation along racial and other lines and so impact our nation as never before.

I urge you, if you are going through a time of crisis, understand that it is an opportunity to get a hold these graces and be transformed by God as he moves you into a whole new realm. Don’t resist the process; embrace it and the One who is at work in the midst of it. Let him give you an Extreme Makeover.

Because we care, we give. Since Christmas time of last year, we have generously given nearly $850,000 towards iCare projects! Through iCare we are being Christ to individuals and communities, both locally and abroad, as we are doing in:

Ethiopia

• Where we are building an orphanage on the outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa that will have a capacity for 70 children and is on schedule to hold opening ceremonies and begin welcoming needy children in November. And, where we have drilled nine wells already, and have three to six more on the way in the area of Angacha. Tens of thousands now have access to clean water in one of the poorest areas of the world. And also in:

Sierra Leone

• We are so excited to announce that we have raised more than $680,000 toward our Grafton Village Medical Facility and School. It is now PAID IN FULL and well on its way to completion! We will soon be serving approximately 600 children in 14 classrooms, with 18 teachers and staff; and providing quality medical, dental and ophthalmology services with Christian love, compassion and prayer!

Thank you Victory for your generous giving!

These may be difficult times, but God has a way to take His people through without all the fear, anxiety, hopelessness and despair that are so prevalent. He has a better word for us. In order to get there, however, we have to go through a process. As I have studied this process of receiving God’s provision in difficult times, I have consistently found three principles at work:

First, we must put all our trust in God alone - not in man, self, finances or government - in God alone. Now, I have to admit that I don’t always do that. There are times, when I start trying to take back control, try to do things on my own or start trusting in others. But this is double-mindedness and instability and God doesn’t answer our prayers when we’re in this state. He knows that we cannot receive His provision. It is only when we are trusting God that we will know and walk in His revealed will, and do so with health (mental, emotional, physical and spiritual) and prosperity. These things depend on our trust relationship with the Father.

Second, having put our trust in God, we will then keep God first in everything we do - in our time, our talent and our treasure. We will freely give God our first and best in every area. Now, we have a tendency, when things are tight, to stop giving to God out of fear and anxiety. This is because we start focusing on our problems rather than God. But this goes back to the first principle. Trusting God will close the door to fear and open the door to giving of ourselves in faith.

When we don’t put God first, we bring a curse into our lives. I don’t want to live under a curse. Do you? Of course not! So, if you’re struggling financially, ask yourself if you’re giving God the first and best of your time, talent and treasure? If not, you can repent, turn back to God and start making Him first in every area. Test Him in this. He will open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings. And, He will rebuke the devourer.

Finally, to receive God’s provision in difficult times, we must be willing to receive what we have not earned. Recognize that there are times when God wants to bless us when we don’t deserve it, when we haven’t earned it. We have to be able to receive it. Some people are good at giving, but terrible at receiving. We need to call in the blessing and be willing to receive it whenever and however it comes. Also, we need to go out and harvest what we have planted. Don’t leave the harvest in the field. Don’t be passive; aggressively go after what God has promised. Receive it by faith. Call in the resources. Don’t be one of those people who are just sitting back “waiting for God” passively all the while struggling financially because they won’t diligently go after God, His promises and their harvest.

No matter how difficult the times or our circumstances may appear, God will take care of us and we can go through them with peace and confidence. We only need to trust in Him completely in everything - rather than in ourselves or our understanding; put Him first in our time, talent and treasure; and then humbly and actively receive His provision.