From Pastor Bill

Of all people, followers of Christ should be ready to embrace something new!  After all, the Bible says that “if anyone is in Christ, he/she is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (II Cor. 5:17). 

Just think, Jesus established a “new covenant” (Heb. 9:15), and in Him we have been given a “new birth” (I Pet. 1:3).  He gives to all who follow Him “a new heart” and “a new spirit” (Ezek. 36:26).  He intends for us to fully experience “new life” (Rom. 6:4) by walking in “the new way of the Spirit” (Rom. 7:6).

Practically speaking, this means intentionally taking off the old self and putting on the “new self” (Col. 3:10) every day.  It means obeying His “new command” (John 13:34), adopting a new attitude (Eph. 4:23), singing a “new song” (Rev. 5:9), and looking forward to “a new heaven and a new earth” (II Pet. 3:13).

It also means being willing to employ “new wineskins.”  Jesus put it succinctly: “And no one pours new wine into old wineskins.  If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined.  No, he pours new wine into new wineskins” (Mark 2:22).

As we stand on the threshold of a new year, I am confident that God is planning to do a new work in our midst.  Would you join me in asking the Lord to do something new among us in 2020, and then be ready to join Him?! 

Devotedly your pastor,

Bill Blanchard