What does it really mean to be the church? In Ephesians 2:19–22, Paul describes the church not as a place we attend or something we consume, but as a family, a body, and a people God is building together. We need one another to grow in faith and to know Jesus more fully. The church will never be perfect, but it is one of the primary ways God forms us through relationships of love, encouragement, service, and belonging. The goal…
In Isaiah concludes with God’s promises to make all things new (Isaiah 65:17-66:2), that there will be a new lived experience because of the life he infuses into the world and the work he accomplishes, and he invites us to live in this new life now in anticipation of what will fully be. Jesus restores broken people and creation, and then invites restored people to join Him in His work of restoration.
In Isaiah 61, God promises good news for the brokenhearted, freedom for captives, comfort for those who mourn, and beauty instead of ashes. Centuries later, Jesus reads from Isaiah 61 in a synagogue and announced, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Isaiah’s vision is one of deep restoration. God doesn’t simply remove the signs of brokenness, He replaces them with joy, praise, strength, and a new purpose. The people who were mourning in the ashes become oaks…
God offers a grand invitation that is recorded in Isaiah 55. The voice resonates all they way back from Eden and is found in the mouth of Jesus (John 4:1-15; John 7:37-38). “Come, everyone who thirsts.” See, we have a tendency to want to do it ourselves. Just like Jeremiah warned (2:13) we build cisterns that cannot hold water. There is only one source. All of heaven knows it, and longingly watch this story of redemption play out (1 Peter…