Jesus is many things, but possibly the most unlikely and transformative aspect of Jesus is that he is here. After Jesus was born and brought to the temple, two people are recorded interacting with him. Simeon and Anna. Both of these individuals encountered the infant Savior and responded in worship. The years of waiting for Messiah culminated in the arrival of Jesus. Each of them waiting with hope that God would fulfill His promise of redemption. There is a massive difference between anxiously waiting and hopeful waiting. As you and I face our everyday life, mundane, redundant, boring, difficult, challenging, busy, lonely, are we waiting on Jesus with hope?

The arrival of Christ was a world shaping event. For modern-day believers, the significance and surprise of Jesus' arrival is lost. The Jewish people spent around 2,500 years waiting for Messiah. Years spent experiencing everything from prosper to slavery to dominance to exile. The chosen people of God had conquered and been conquered. They had an image and idea of who the Messiah would be and what he would do that simply didn't match up with Jesus. They refused to recognize Jesus as Messiah. We have a tendency to do the same thing with God in our lives. When God doesn't move in ways in which we think He should, we refuse to recognize Jesus as God.

What do we do when we feel distant from God? There is an unconscious belief that people who we perceive to follow God more closely don’t struggle. When most people struggle to when it comes to faith they start asking questions like, What is God's will for my life? There seems to be a rationale that if we had the answers to our future, our present would improve. God tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5 exactly what His will for our life is. Unfortunately the answer isn't usually what we are hoping for. So perhaps the question we should ask in these moments is, Why do I feel distant from God?

Being FOR Rock Hill means being FOR the next generation. One of the most important things we can do FOR Rock Hill, is make sure the next generation sees, knows, and is known by God. We want to help every parent become more intentional at home and more connected to a community of faith. Our lives must tell the story of God’s love in a compelling way that children of future generations tell long after we’re gone. The only way to tell a compelling story is to live a compelling life. Our children are already sharing the stories they’ve learned from us. It’s time we teach children more than where we’re FROM and start showing them who we’re FOR.

You don't get to be a good church if you're a bad neighbor. In our hustle to become great organizations, most churches have failed to stay centered on Christ's most important command. Love your neighbor as yourself. Each of us has a personal responsibility to see that command carried out in our lives. But we also have a corporate responsibility to live out being a good neighbor as a church. If our church ceased to exist tomorrow, would our community even notice?

Who is my neighbor? When it comes to being a Christ follower, this is perhaps one of the most important questions to answer. Thankfully, Jesus made this a very simple answer. Our neighbor is any person God made, who happens to be in our vicinity. The busyness of work, and cultural divisions will fight to convince us that our time and status excuse us from caring for others. God unequivocally says that we must be FOR our neighbors because He is FOR them.

What does Biblical Womanhood look like in real life? Anita McCart shares her experience and insights into the radical shift in the view of women and femininity in our culture and the church.

Jesus radically changed the perspective of a woman's value. However, somehow most Christian communities have failed to recognize the importance of women both in the church and in God's purpose in their creation. A woman's voice in the church is so important that not to hear it would be a detriment to the church. Today's culture is refocussing the perspective and value of women. This is slowly making its way into the church as well. As this correction happens, we must remember that our true focus must remain not on the creation of women, but on the Creator of women.

In God's creative design, women represent the culmination and completion of God's glory on display. Women were never and afterthought. In fact, woman were created in the image of God, to be helpers, life givers, and to bring Him glory. There has been much confusion and misunderstanding about the importance and value of women in the story of God and His church. If God felt it important enough to create women, we must be sure to acknowledge, equip, and celebrate His marvelous plan and purpose in women.

Contribute to the needs of the saints. Those are Paul's instructions to fellow believers. We don't know if he knew about specific needs or situations going on with the Roman believers. What we do know, and Paul knew, is that the storms of life will impact the people in our community. The only question that remains to be answered is, what is the plan to meet those needs? The first century church modeled community in response to needs in a very different way than today's American version of the church. We need to return to an idea that everything we earn or create isn't just for us. We need a plan to provide no matter the cost or circumstances. We need to BE the church.