Monday, December 27, 2021-Closing Note

Dear Friends,

Thank you for taking this journey with me. It is one of my greatest joys to share in the excitement and anticipation of Christ coming to our world on that night in Bethlehem.  It is the beginning of another journey through the earthly life of Jesus that culminates in his death, burial, and resurrection which is our hope.

Christ remained on earth a brief time making appearances to his disciples and even as many as 500 people at once confirming his resurrection. Jesus then ascends to be with the Father.

We are a people living in a time where we remember his coming, his sacrifice, his resurrection, and we look forward to his coming again.  We see it in the symbols of our faith like baptism and the Lord’s Supper. This we do in remembrance of him. In remembering we also anticipate another coming of Christ in all his glory. May we be the community of faith in the world today, until he comes.

Blessings to each of you in the year ahead!

Pastor Greg Soult

Antioch Baptist Church

Advent 2021

Sunday, December 26, 2021-Evening-1 John 4:7-16

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.

God loved us and gave His Son for us.  It is the characteristic and witness of the confessing community, the body of Christ to love one another.  We know and experience love because God loved us and sent his Son to take the penalty for our sins and die in our place so that no one could make a claim against us.  The offense has been paid in full.  God loved and so too should his people.

God’s word says it best.

¹³ By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  1 John 4:7-16

May you abide in him and live your life in love of God and others.  May God bless you in the year to come.

Sunday, December 26, 2021-Morning-John 3:31-36

³¹ He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. ³² He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. ³³ Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. ³⁴ For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. ³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. John 3:31-36

We have been on this journey and have seen the light of the Lord, Jesus come to earth to testify concerning God.  Many will hear the word of his testimony and then make a choice to believe or not believe the words of that testimony.  Choosing Jesus will be the best decision you ever make.  Following Jesus will lead us to eternal life.  Serving Jesus in this world will bring light, hope, and promise to those who may feel helpless and hopeless. 

There is great hope in Jesus Christ and those who call upon Jesus to find peace, not because everything is perfect, and circumstances will always go your way.  There is peace because there is hope.  Hope is not about what things are now but what we know God is working them to be.

May your life be peace filled and hope full.  God bless you as you seek and serve him.