New Years 2017 Behold all things have become new
1st Cor. 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.
Eugene Peterson: from the Book “The Pastor” “The vocation of pastor has been replaced by the strategies of religious entrepreneurs with business plans.” “People learn to shop for churches; there is no loyalty to the church. They're consumers being attracted to one product or another. I think its sacrilege, to tell you the truth, it really is.”
1st Thess. 1:3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
1st Thess. 5:8-11 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
2 Cor. 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.