When we suffer, God speaks. The nature, the power, and the very heart of our faith in Jesus are revealed to the world through our suffering.

The world's feasting is marked by avoidance, sacrilege, and idolatry. But Jesus invites us to a better feast. We can feast with eyes open wide to the reality of our sin and God's grace, fully accepted by God, because of what Jesus has done for us.

Pride is the essence of sin. It is destructive to our humanity. Pride slowly turns us into animals. But there is hope in Jesus Christ, the God who became a man, was treated as an animal, died and rose so we can become humble and thus truly human.

We live among idols. Our resistance to idolatry often results in the fury of our culture. But even when we find ourselves in the fiery furnace of persecution, Jesus Christ is there with us.

Life in exile presents unique opportunities to speak wisdom to a culture in distress. The gospel helps us see things as they really are and warn others not to commit themselves to a kingdom that will fall but rather receive God's eternal kingdom that comes to us by grace through Jesus Christ.

The book of Daniel is especially relevant for us today as we learn to live in a culture that is increasingly more hostile to the gospel. Christians are pressured by the world to embrace acceptable cultural identities and abandon the faith. However, power comes from our relationship with another King and our belonging to a better kingdom.

On this third Sunday of Advent, we consider God's glory expressed to us as grace and truth (or steadfast love and faithfulness) in Jesus. From the fullness of Jesus, we receive grace for salvation, sanctification, and support -- grace upon grace for every circumstance.

On this third Sunday of Advent, we look at God's glory, another major theme in the Gospel of John. In Christ, God has revealed himself to us. However, his glory is not limited to the manger. God's glory, which is the revelation of his character and attributes, shines on the cross and in the empty tomb.

On this second Sunday of Advent, we are considering another theme from the prologue of John's Gospel. The light of God's life, his wisdom, and his glory shines in the darkness of our sins through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Are you in the light? Are you walking in the light?

This Advent season we are looking at four themes from the prologue in John's Gospel. Jesus came to bring us life. What is life? Life is existence in a relationship with God and all that it entails. Are you living a true, real, eternal life thorough Christ?