Christmas Hope

Reality sets in as another Christmas has arrived and another year is about to begin. During the course of time, much changes, and yet many things remain the same. The change in our culture during my lifetime has been startling. We have abandoned truth for individual happiness. At the dismissal of right and wrong, man is doing what is right in his own eyes. Darkness deepens as our culture moves away from the Light and into the abyss of self centeredness and ignorance. What remains the same is the reason for season. Jesus Christ is born. The incredible grace and mercy of our Creator is always enough to sing about-no matter how deep the darkness, and sordid the sinfulness of man. Because Christ came and because He lives and is coming again, there is always hope for mankind. This hope penetrates the darkness, and confronts our selfishness with a call to repentance and faith. As mankind looks in the mirror this Christmas season, we must confess we are masters of an ever increasing mess. The Anointed One has come and men love darkness instead of light-some things don't change. A child is born, a Son is given and the message of hope rings loud and clear at this Christmas time. Thank you Father for the gift of the Son! I have hope!

Advent Hope

Hope is not about escaping the reality of today, it is a way of living in time, in the moment, no matter how painful and disappointing that may be. Hope is knowing that each day, each moment is working for Christ's people a greater glory (2 Cor. 4:16, Rom. 8:18). We live in hope, and our hope is in His name-Jesus Christ. His kingdom, His rule over us today is our foundation for hope. I believe, therefore, I hope. This hope is not in Mohammed, Ghandi, Joseph Smith, Mother Mary, L. Ron Hubbard. These are mere mortals who need to find hope outside themselves. Our hope is in the One who came from above, who ascended back to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. We must repent for placing our hope in anything but Christ. All around the birth of Jesus was the annoucement of hope. Good news of great joy-a Savior is born-Glory to God in the highest. When Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God, it was a call to hope. A call to look forward, to live forward, to believe something greater is still to come and all that we encounter today is working toward that end. God is not dead nor does He sleep-Christ's people are a people of hope. Christmas is a time to rejoice in the hope we have in Christ.

Advent Hope

The irony of the incarnation is that God's perfect self expression was not what anyone could have come up with on their own. No man would have written the story with the Eternal God beginning as a baby with a dirty diaper, dependent for life upon a Jewish teenager. It's the great come down-the Word became flesh. They taunted Jesus to come down from the cross, but the great come down had already taken place. Jesus the Nazarene was from above. He was heaven's gift. Unlike Mohammed, Joseph Smith, Ghandi, Mother Mary, Confucious, Jesus was from above. All others are only men, Jesus is the God-Man. An inexplainable mystery, but a mystery with a face on it in Jesus of Nazareth. John 3 speaks of the great come down. Of Jesus being from above. Unlike John the Baptist, or any other prophet, priest or king in Israel's great history, this King was sent from the Father full of grace and truth. Hope lives because God has responded to the need of man with the perfect gift from heaven-a child was born, a Son was given!

Advent Hope / Matthew 12:21

Matthew 12:21-In His name the nations will put their hope. The NLT reads, 'and his name will be the hope of all the world'. This is a hard lesson for arrogant mankind to learn. We are the enlightened species and we can solve all the problems of the world, etc. The hope of the nations is not in politics, religion, military might, economic strength, government assistance, etc. The hope for mankind is the person of Jesus. In His Name-there is the power to bring peace to the most troubled heart, to bring light into the darkest life. Our greatest sin is that we continue to look away from Jesus. Man loves darkness because his deeds are evil (Jn. 3). Repentance is for 'bad' people, and we are not bad, just uneducated. At this Christmas time, let us hear the invitation of Almighty God to put our hope in the Son. Those who came to Jesus in the gospels, those who came expressing their need, humble and contrite, willing to submit to His authority, went away filled with hope and life. Joy to the world the Lord is come-let us put our trust in the Name above all names, Jesus Christ.