How low was our Redeemer brought, the King who held the stars

Lay helpless in a maiden’s arms and pressed against her heart

While sheep and cattle raised their voice the babe could speak no words

The ever flowing Spring of Joy had come to share our thirst

Whenever I mess up, I tend to think that God couldn't possibly love me. Instead of believing in who God is and what He's done for me - instead of seeing that in Christ I'm already accepted, forgiven, and loved - I try to earn my way back into His good graces, but that’s where I go wrong.

Your heart and your home don’t have to match the frenzied pace of our culture’s typical holiday season. While you may still have full days and weeks coming up, the culture and attitude of your Advent season can be different. And it starts with you.

The gospel tells us we do not have some distant, far-off God, but an intimate, personal God who desires to comfort us and give us strength. Trust in him, trust in his work, lift your prayers and petitions before him, receiving his peace that goes beyond all human understanding.

For many of us, it’s easy to think worship stops as we leave the church building or when Monday rolls around. Yet, worship is all of life. Every moment of our lives is worship. Learn a new song with us and remember this truth.

Seasons point to a cycle of life, a sense of one thing tumbling into another, a constant pace of change but always consistently the same. This cycle, like so much else in our natural world, points to the divine hand of a creator. Seasons are meant to bring God glory as well as to mark the passage of time. 

An Advent devotional can be an excellent tool for turning our hearts and minds toward our true treasure, Jesus, instead of what the world tell us we should treasure.

We see throughout the Old Testament and the many strivings of mankind, this kind, firm, and gentle invitation from God to ‘return to Me and rest’ (Psalm 116:7). And when we look to the New Testament, we see Jesus’ invitation was as tender and sincere as His Father’s: “return to Me and rest” (Matthew 11:28).

In May, I had a health scare when a small breast nodule popped up on an exam. In the weeks of waiting to hear that it was nothing to be concerned about, I had to confront assumptions I had made about my physical well-being and my associated beliefs about God and his character.

I spent the first 15 years of my walk with Christ struggling to read my Bible. It was something I knew was important, that it was God’s Word and had profound meaning, and that it was how I could grow in my relationship with God. But whenever I tried, I mostly felt confused and discouraged.

God the Father has been eternally pleased with God the Son - and this truth gives followers of Jesus profound reason for joy and delight.

At New City, we talk a lot about belief vs. knowledge. We may possess knowledge of the true gospel or of God’s character, but the things we really believe are evident in the way we live our everyday lives. In other words, misbelief in God - a false gospel - is the root or source of sin.