New Year's Morning Worship: Preparing to Celebrate Our 75th Year as a Church.

It is worth celebrating the tenure of someone or something good. The long-lasting nature of something good means it was established on virtue which has been nurtured. All this year, Grace Church will be celebrating that which is virtuous in a spiritual sense and how we nurture it going forward. Those things which endure have been established on core principles and carefully maintained, and this is also true of the church. Jesus said that upon this rock (Him) He would build His church; and the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18). The church endures because Jesus ensures that it will.

The Virtues of Family Blessing.

The book of Genesis begins and ends with family. The failure of the first family, Adam and Eve, brought sin into the world. But God’s grace can reverse the effects of sin in the family.

In Genesis 48, Jacob legally adopted Joseph’s sons and gave them a blessing. In this chapter, he tells his sons what will happen in their futures. His words do come true. Some of Jacob’s sons’ families were permanently troubled or blessed; some were temporarily, individually troubled but later restored. All had the opportunity to respond to the grace of God.