As we look to a new year, with the opportunities to get ahead and make this year better than the last, there will be no moving forward unless we build our lives upon the solid foundation of God, which the Lord’s Supper helps us do.

Mary shows us what it looks like to wait on God well, trusting His promises.

The Christian life is patterned on Jesus’ own suffering before glory. Just as Jesus was persecuted, his followers will be too. But God has given us helps to persevere in the face of opposition.

God calls us to submit to authorities as citizens, servants and spouses, to display his glory.

God saves and transforms his people. He takes us as we are, but loves us too much to leave us there, he wants to make us just like Jesus.

When the immediate situation for God’s people seems dim and hopeless, God encourages and inspires them to keep working, knowing He is doing something far bigger than they can see. We too can keep serving God, in the midst of trouble and trial, because in Jesus, He is doing much more than we can see or imagine.

God calls His people to reconsider what they’re investing in, and to invest in His purposes.

Revelation closes with a picture of the new creation. God’s people secure in God’s presence. No fear, no pain, no more death.

Revelation 17-20 paints a picture of the destruction of a world turned against God. The call for God’s people in the midst of that torrent is to get out of it! All evil will come under a final judgement before God, but God’s people, those who hold onto Jesus to the end, will be spared.

Revelation 12-14 portrays the spiritual event behind Jesus’ death and resurrection and the spiritual persecution that followed for the church until the end of time. During that time, some are marked by the beast, while others are sealed for God.

Our reason for existing as a church is to make Jesus known. We will only be as effective at doing this, as our own love for Jesus keeps burning brightly. 

John’s introduction to the revelation Jesus gave him regarding what must soon take place. 

God has made each believer part of his body, valued and dependent on all the others, to display his glory and goodness. 

In a world of turmoil and tension, God has given us a way to know and experience peace, through Christ. 

As Leviticus comes to a close, God sets forth great promises for obedience, along with great judgements for disobedience. Will Israel heed God’s word, or disregard it?

God gave his people sacred events through their calendar year - rhythms to remember His generosity and provision for them. Jesus now offers us ultimate rest in his grace and provision, but how do we enjoy what he’s offered to the full extent? 

God made a way for His people’s lingering sins and impurities to be dealt with so that God would remain among them and continue in fellowship with them. 

God set laws for Israel to understand not only their immoral state before him, but their unacceptable, unsatisfactory bodily state before him, which was a reminder of their sin. They were reminded of their continual death, and unworthiness, and therefore their need for atonement. In Jesus we are now cleansed and made holy, able to be used in our broken state for God’s glory. 

God gave his people food laws to set them apart from the nations as a distinct holy nation. This protected them from sin and idolatry, and redirected their worship back to God alone. Jesus has fulfiled the law and declared all foods clean, but still sends us out to be a distinctive people, in His name, as Holy. 

All people stand guilty before God, with a debt we are unable to pay. Leviticus 4-7 foreshadows the great offering God would give us in Jesus, to completely remove our guilt and make a way for us to be justified before Him.