January, like some seasons in our lives, can seem dreary and endless. The prophet Jeremiah and the writer of Psalm 147 both spoke hope into these times.
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus begins with “Therefore, I tell you, don’t worry about what you will eat or drink or wear.” If you look at what he is referring back to, he is talking about making our relationship with God and with our neighbours our priority. In this light, Pastor Juli talks about how much Jesus loves us, and why, if we put his kingdom first, we really don’t have to worry at all.
Preparation precedes The Promise – God made both the Garden of Eden and the wasteland, and He is present in both. We need to learn to reframe our mindset in a season of trial. We need to rename it a Season of Preparation and allow God to meet us there.
Uncertainty can be unsettling, even scary. And many things in our world are unpredictable, or changing very quickly. Yet, God does not change, and His promises are firm. Rebecca Zhang unpacks this for us with stories about Cain, Abraham, and Kings Hezekiah and Solomon, and tells us why we can stand firm in our faith in an uncertain world.
“How to Live by Faith in an Uncertain World”, by Rebecca Zhang in Mandarin. English Translation by Kevin Sun.
On Easter morning, some women went to the Jesus’ tomb to anoint his body for burial. They worried about how they would get to him past the stone that blocked the entrance. That day, angels came and rolled away the stone. What are the stones in our lives that keep us from Jesus? And who will roll them away?
“Who Will Roll the Stone Away?” by Pastor Ryan Emmons
Pastor Ryan’s sermon “The Girl Who Lived” looks at hope and the faithfulness of God in the stories of Jesus healing the woman who was bleeding when she touched his robe, and bringing Jairus’s daughter back to life. As Lamentations 3:31-32 (NLT) tells us,
31 … no one is abandoned by the Lord forever. 32 Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
Argyle Road Baptist Church 