I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and may God bless you in this New Year!  2022 is filled with opportunities to grow in Christ…in your love for Him and for others.  “Lord, do a great work in us this year.  Draw us closer to you.  Draw us closer to our brothers and sisters in Christ.  And draw people who are not yet in Christ to yourself.  Grow us and use us.  We are available to you.”  Let’s make that our prayer for this year. 

We are going to begin a new series on Sunday.  Usually, after the first of the year and leading up to Easter, I enjoy preaching from the gospels, focusing on the Person of Christ.  For the next few months, we will look at John 13-17, which is sometimes referred to as the Upper Room Discourse.  The night before He goes to the cross to pour out His blood, Jesus pours into His disciples in the Upper Room.   

Pray for God to use this Upper Room series in your life and in our corporate life as a church.  These chapters contain some of our Lord’s richest teaching.  There is so much to savor and be nourished by in these chapters.  I encourage you to be reading over them in preparation.  

This Sunday, we’ll begin by looking at John 13:1-17, where Christ shows us what “Love To The Uttermost” looks like.  

Finally, what a joy it is to share with you that, since Sunday, we have met our Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal of $60,000!!!!!  Thank you for your giving, church family.  Imagine all the wonderful ways God is going to use this, all around the world, to impact the lives of men, women, boys and girls…for all eternity.  Praise God! 

I’ll see this Sunday, with a Bible in my hand.     

By His Grace, For His Glory, To The Nations, 

Dr. Thurman Hayes, Jr.