The last recorded instruction that Jesus gave His disciples is that they were to be His witnesses. That mandate has been passed down through the life of the Church to all Christians of all times–each of us is a witness of Jesus. But do we know what that means? Are we aware of the implications of living out that mandate? Most of us know that the Church is to make disciples–but making disciples can only happen as disciples witness to others of who Jesus is and what He has done. Over the next weeks we will be exploring this mandate through our sermon series, “Witnesses Who Witness.”

The story of the first Christmas is the account of God coming to His creation. People–the apex of all that God created–had rebelled against Him and been separated from Him by an uncrossable chasm. But through the flesh and blood experience of a human birth in an infant body, God bridged that chasm and came near to humanity. Still today, Jesus Christ, God with a body, stands at the entrance to our hearts…knocking…waiting…knocking. This Advent, let us open the doors of our lives to all that Jesus is.

Jonah – one of the most well-known Bible stories, yet one so often misunderstood; a prophet of the Lord who resists God’s plan and will at every turn; a man embittered and self-focused, yet used by God to save thousands of people from destruction; a story of rebellion against God, and yet which reveals God’s profound grace and mercy . And to be clear, neither Jonah nor the fish are the main characters. Over the next four weeks, we will come to see the power of the inexorable will of God, which cannot and will not be blocked, even when people try their best to thwart His purposes.