Just like the first creation, the new creation in Christ is gracious, glorious, good, gradual, and goal-oriented. As we prepare to enter a new year, let us reflect on the power of the new creation the Lord has brought us into with our new birth.

Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 5 is challenging to our sense of right and wrong. He calls us there to “go the extra mile,” and this teaching can inspire us to reach beyond our natural sense of goodness to a supernatural expression of God’s love to the world around us.

During our Thursday night meeting, Brother Deron Porter shared this message on Ruth and Naomi’s experiences as they returned to Bethlehem.

When Jesus meets Nathaniel at the beginning of the Gospel of John, He tells him he would see “heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51). By calling up the imagery from Jacob’s dream of the opened heaven, the Christ reveals the true significance of the Christmas story. The real question is, how will we respond to the wonder of it?

During this advent season, the ministry of John the Baptist takes on special significance as he prepared the way of the Lord. While we wait for the Lord to come into our lives and our situations, the valleys must be filled and the mountains laid low. The message of the gospel both humbles us and exalts us, depending on our unique need.

Advent is a season of waiting, and as we look at the condition of our lives and wait for the coming of Jesus, we can sometimes think there is little hope or beauty to be seen. However, when Jesus comes into our situation, He brings a beauty we can only begin to imagine. We spent time this Lord’s Day considering some scriptures on the Lord Jesus as the shoot from the stump of Jesse.

The account of King Asa in 2 Chronicles reminds us of the importance of turning to God for help in the midst of trouble rather than seeking the wisdom of man. May we all take this warning to heart!

When we stumble as believers, the Lord is not through with us. Instead, as Peter tells us, he intends to “restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us. As we look at the way the Lord restored Peter himself after he failed, we can gain encouragement for those times when we are at our lowest.

The picture of the Lord Jesus in 1 Peter 2 as the Cornerstone, rejected by men but chosen by God, is an encouraging one for us as we endure various forms of rejection in our own lives.

Brother Norris uses two object lessons to show the power of the gospel message in providing strength for us to endure the sufferings we face in this life.