New Year’s Resolutions

A New Year’s Resolution

It is a new year, and one of my new year’s resolutions is not to look down on new year’s resolutions. Why? Because a new resolution can make a profound impact. Need proof? Here are ten spectacular things that all took place on New Year’s Day; and all, I would argue, came as a result of someone resolving to make them happen. Consider these impressive January 1 events: New Year’s Day, 1502 – The Portuguese establish a new settlement by naming it Rio de Janeiro (which, when translated, means, “January River”). New Year’s Day, 1773 – John Newton introduced a new hymn based on 1 Chronicles 17 to his church in Olney, England. As it was passed on to other churches, its name was changed to the one we know: namely, “Amazing Grace.” New Year’s Day, 1818 – Mary Shelley first published her terrifying novel, Frankenstein. Who would have guessed that

Hope in Egypt

This sermon concludes our Advent teaching series and is based on Matthew 2:13-18. You can also view each week's sermon/worship service on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ncsq_QNvCv61bIwKUpP5A SERIES OVERVIEW: My wife, Jo, can spell anything (and, as you can plainly see, anything has an “h” in it). Me, definitely not. I don’t know if it is because I never had the opportunity to study phonics or if my muddled Boston accent derailed my best efforts, but spelling is not one of my strengths. But my mediocre spelling has nothing to do with my contention that “Advent” is spelled with an “h.” See, “advent” and “hope” are so intertwined that you can’t spell one without the other (in fact, you can’t even talk about “advent” without talking about “hope”). And “hope,” as you can plainly see, has a really big “h” in it. This Christmas, we want to look at how hope