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I’ve read more books on leadership in 2025 than I have in the past few years combined. Partly because my “coach” assigned them and partly because I need help. Leadership is complicated and the larger our church becomes the more complicated it is. Our mission is easier to talk about than our vision because our mission is assigned by Jesus. We might word it differently than other local churches, but we all exist to make disciples, or, as we like to say, “To Develop Followers of Jesus for Life.”

That’s the title of a book by J.B. Phillips that I found by accident one day. I don’t remember where I found it, but the title grabbed my attention and drew me in. It was published the year I was born, 1961. Its relevance has not diminished with time. Mr. Phillips outlined some of the destructive and inadequate views of God that are held by people both in and out of the church. Then, in the second half of the book, he described how God has made His true Self known to mankind.

Some of my best artwork has been achieved by connecting the dots. Seriously. It’s a fun way to draw because if you can follow numbers, you can draw a picture. It won’t win at Art Prize but at least it will be recognizable. Sometimes Bible Study is like drawing with the dots. One must connect one place to another place until a clearer picture is obtained.

This week we plan to study some of the classic passages in Isaiah about the Person and work of the Messiah. Does it really matter if they are true statements? Does it really matter if we believe what the passages teach? Is it enough to believe in a Jesus or do we have to believe certain things about Jesus as the Word describes Him? It seems to me that we can’t say we really believe in Jesus if we deny what the Word of God says about Him. If we don’t believe what the Word says about Him, we are believing in another Jesus, not the One of the Bible and the One the Church has confessed for the past 2,000 years.

Each year we pause whatever we are studying to take some extra time to consider the Advent of Jesus. The word advent means arrival. From the Scripture we know that there are two advents of Jesus. The First Advent is when He came “robed in flesh.” He was fully human and fully divine. The only-begotten God-Man. The Second Advent is when He comes again to set up His earthly, literal, visible Kingdom. So, are we planning to study the first one or the second one? Yes!