That's a great end of year question. The easy answer is: 2024! But what will come in 2024... Jesus?! We know our Lord is coming, but we don't know when. But the short book of 2 Thessalonians has something to say to us about what we should do, no matter what comes next, or how bad things seem to be getting. It tells us about difficult times and our confident hope. Read through 2 Thessalonians 2 in advance and we'll talk about it on Sunday.

This Sunday morning, we have one combined service. We have moved in extra seating for the morn-ing service at 11:00 a.m. and the two candlelight services at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Each of these services will be an hour when our whole church family and your entire family can worship together, with lots of carols and a shorter message from God's word. At 11:00 a.m. we will consider Joseph's dilemma in Matthew 1:18-25. In the candlelight services we'll consider how the light has come into the world to bring joy from gloom and triumph from troubles. Invite someone to come with you and worship Christ our coming King.

Have you ever woken up late and realized you were out of time to get ready for something big? What would it be like to wake up late for the Lord's return? That's actually something that's possible for any of us. In Romans 13:11-14 we are called to be ready for His coming. We are urged to wake up early, while it's still dark, and start getting ready because the big day is coming. What does it look like to wake up early and start getting ready? Let's talk about it Sunday...

What will it be like when the glory of heaven breaks upon the earth at our Lord's return? Will I hurry to Him or will I hesitantly hold hold back? It's a question that's in the air when the angels appear to the shepherds of Bethlehem. It's a question in the background when the promise of the virgin birth was first given. This Sunday, since we have the children's Christmas program, we'll also hear some words addressed to little children. The grandfatherly Apostle John will urge us to draw near our Lord now, so we don't withdraw from Him when He appears.

Advent season is here. Advent is the four Sundays before Christmas, when the church throughout history has traditionally remembered Jesus' first coming in the nativity, while also looking forward to his second coming in glory. This year, we will do a short series through Advent called Ready for His Coming. We will be considering several New Testament passages which call the church to be ready for Jesus' soon coming. If you believe His coming may be soon - then let's be ready. This Sunday we will consider three specific ways that James, in 5:7-11, tells us to get ready.

" We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we know of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing - as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth." Col 1:3-6. I pray the Lord gives you a blessed opportunity to tell someone of your thanks for his grace.

This Sunday we will be reminded of the great restoration of all things God is bringing us to, as we see his restoration of relationships and shalom in Job chapter 42. I pray this encouraging portion in God's word also bears its fruit in his for his glory.

In Job chapters 38-42, God finally answers Job himself. God invites him to stand up like a man and explain things to God. "If only God could see it the way Job understands things, maybe God would change his plan..." But that's not the way this conversation goes. They start out simply enough, talking about the weather, and how the bears and eagles are doing. Job is surprised that God is actually pretty well informed! Then, the Lord starts talking about some things that we, as smart as we are, still aren't completely sure what God is describing. That may be the point. Why is it that we think so much, why do we trust our own perspective or judgement more than God? Let's talk about it Sunday.

After Job's three "miserable comforters," another of his friends speaks up. He's younger than the oth-ers, what does he know?

He knows how to help Job hear him.

He knows that God is doing more than we can see.

And he knows that present troubles are not the end of our story.

This least-known of Job's friends actually has the most worth hearing. I'm praying that what we hear from him this Sunday will encourage you to trust God in troubles and also equip you to be used by God to encourage others going through trouble.

Job's friends don't know. If their claim that God gives good in life to those who do good and brings trouble upon those who do bad falls short, then how does life work? Is there a better overarching prin-ciple that can guide us through life? The principle given in Job 28 is what Job's friend's overlook and what God will also lead Job even further into. This chapter should encourage us to trust our ways all the more to God whose ways are higher than ours. This Sunday, in Job 28-31, we'll see what true wis-dom is and what it looks like in our lives.

Job chapters 3-27 can be hard reading. These cycles of speeches by Job and his three friends are hard to understand and hard to get through. They wear us out reading them, in fact, they wear God out. We can certainly learn from them some things not to do when trying to understand and comfort those in suffering and grief. This Sunday we'll see why these three fall short, and where to look for a better response for those who are hurting.