Series- Rediscovering Christmas
#1 preparing to find Hope
John 9
Introduction-
Good morning everyone.
Prayer- As we begin Advent, we pray Father that you would spark in us a time of gratitude and a time of preparing for the Christ child. May the joys of Christmas live everyday in our hearts. In Jesus Name Amen!
We find ourselves entering the Advent season.
Advent is a time of reflection and a time to prepare for the coming of the messiah.
To have our life slow down a bit and reflect on the things Christ has done for us.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come." ~
I am calling the series for the next 4 weeks “Rediscovering Christmas”-
Could there be a better time than this year to rediscover some of the things that have been lost or stolen in your life?
This year has brought many challenges and heartbreak, and it is not over yet.
On January 3rd, 2021, the first Sunday of the New Year, when most will talk about New Year resolutions, before we throw out an entire year, I would encourage you to make sure that you have learned all the lessons that were to be learned.
It would be easy to throw out the things we don’t like.
The word Advent means “coming’ and symbolizes the present situation of the church in these “last days”, as God’s people prepare and wait for the return of Christ.
The church today is in a similar situation to the Nation of Israel at the end of the Old Testament: in exile, waiting and hoping in prayerful expectation for the coming of the Messiah.
Israel looked back to God’s past actions on their behalf in leading them out of Egypt, and on this basis, they called for God once again to act for them.
In the same way, the church, during Advent, looks back upon Christ’s coming in celebration (His Birth) while at the same time looking forward in eager anticipation to the coming of Christ when he returns for his people.
In this light, the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” perfectly represents the church’s cry during the Advent season:
The themes for the next four weeks of Advent are;
Finding hope-
Expecting peace
Living Joy
Sharing Love
Background/ you know it well
A virgin named Mary and her boyfriend Joseph are selected by God to Father God’s Son Jesus.
A young Mary having never had a sexual relationship with Joseph, a young Joseph knowing that he did not have relationship with Mary are both visited by angelic messengers to explain how his fiancé is going to have a baby.
Angel to Mary…”you have found favor with God and the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. “
This is how it will happen and why it needs to happen.
He will be the savior of the world!
Hey Joseph, Mary, are you in?
We know that it took a God moment to get Mary to say “I am the Lord’s servant, May it be to me as you have said.”
It took a God moment for Joseph- “Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
You want a lesson on faith? Try that.
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.”
Faith and hope are defined in the dictionary as follows-
Faith is the confidence or trust in a person or a belief.
Hope is an optimistic attitude of mind based on an expectation or desire.
Faith says now and hope says it will happen in the future.
We need both- They are intertwined. They complement each other- faith says it can happen now and hope says that if it doesn’t happen now, it will happen later.
You don’t stop believing because you cannot see it.
For most people hope is a wish-list and it strength lays in the person’s desire.
Biblical hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised and their faith is in His faithfulness.
Most want to be able to search the scriptures to find out what we need to do?
Try reading the scriptures of the coming messiah and God says that you’re the ones that will fulfill that prophecy.
That is where Mary and Joseph were
Every generation has a “Where were you when”
Neil Armstrong landing on the moon in 1969
JFK or Martin Luther King shootings in the 1960’s
Y2K in 2000
911
All the School Shootings
Current generations that are alive- where were you and how old were you when the Coronavirus hit the world.
Can you picture the generation of Jesus-
Where were you when; Mary and Joseph had a baby in the power of the Holy Spirit.
All the people that must of told Joseph to get rid of that girl- She is no good for you.
All the people that shamefully looked at Mary- you better keep that man because no other man will do that.
You may never be asked to have that kind of faith- but what if your hope needs to be rediscovered because you have let others throw their trash on your life… or you heap trash on yourself!
Before you can find hope in uncertainties- you have to be looking for hope- (repeat)
That may sound like a no brainer, but if your focus is on the negative, what others say, what others do, you will miss the positive when it happens because you were not looking for it.
Are you up for an adventure?
If it is true that hope cannot be found until you look for it- my question to you is are you looking for it?
Are you looking for hope and do you know where to look?
I can read about hope. That would make a Good story.
I can talk about hope. That would be Encouraging.
I can be promised hope- Distant promise waiting to happen.
Jesus is the hope for our lives! Hear the word of the Lord- JESUS IS OUR HOPE.
Reality for me, the way I best understand hope is when it is active in my life. Right… if Jesus is my hope, then I need Jesus in my life.
I need Jesus, hope, faith and me together.
If you are to rediscover Christmas, if the first week of Advent is about finding hope-you have to experience Jesus for yourself.
Repeat- if you are to rediscover Christmas and find hope – you will have to experience Jesus for yourself!
John chapter 9:1-11 Read from the Bible
I never heard of this, but it is a thing- Doom scrolling! Yeah, you heard me right.
It is scrolling to find out all the bad things going on in the world around you.
I want to see the good things God is doing… and how I can line up with that instead of always thinking negative.
I want to find and live out the hope in Jesus Christ!
Jesus- saw a blind man from birth and went to him- Grab that truth.
Jesus went to a blind man.
The disciples asked Jesus who sinned! Him or his parents.
Jesus replied Neither - (3) “But this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him”
NIV reading makes it sound like Jesus was on an ego trip and this man was blind just so He would come along and be healed by Jesus.
But its not- it is about the transformation of what Jesus did when the man needing healing came to the healer Jesus.
“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
He goes to the ground and spits on the ground and makes mud and put it on the man’s eyes- that is not so far fetched- they believed there was healing in a person saliva.
After it is on, Jesus told him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash it off.
Check this out-
He puts it on the man eyes, gave instructions to wash it off-
Somebody led the man to the pool to wash it off- he’s blind but there was an eye witness to the event.
When that blind man washed it off, he could see!
Do you think anything negative anyone said mattered to the blind man?
This man was blind and now he can see.
Jesus cured one kind of blindness and exposed another-
This man was physically blind and now he can see- and exposed all the rest that were spiritually blind.
They had all kind of things to say about how Jesus chose to touch this man’s life-
Listen to me- let me give you some things that will tie your faith, hope, into Jesus!
Hope goes beyond right now
Hope is the fuel for faith
That blind man encountered Jesus and now he can see!
When Jesus opened his eyes, it was a brand new world-
Every color, every sight, was new and exciting!
I once was blind but now I can see.
I don’t care what kind of year that you have had.
What kind of struggles you face right now.
What season of darkness- what pain you are in- let me encourage you to not abandon hope.
It goes beyond right now- hope is alive as long as Jesus is on His way! When Jesus shows up… hallelujah, there will be a transformation of what was to what is now!
Just like the shepherds who hear the good news! Luke 2- “Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is the messiah, the Lord.”
“glory to God in the highest”
Hope goes beyond right now…
Hope is a reality not a feeling
Biblical hope is a foundation upon which we build our lives.
Biblical hope doesn’t make room for doubt because you believe that God will always keeps His promises wither we can see them or feel them.
“He who believes on me has eternal life”
“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have,”
As we close, maybe you need to be reminded this morning that it is not hope vs. Faith. It is Faith and Hope. There is a big difference.
One says if it doesn’t happen when you think it should, you lose hope.
The other says I will have faith, and if it doesn’t happen now, it will happen later.
I will not lose my faith and I will not lose my hope because my hope is in Jesus and He has never let me down!
“Where were you when Jesus healed the blind man by spitting in his eyes!
Maybe for some of us we need to allow Jesus to put mud pies on our eyes- on our hearts- over our pain- in our situations.
This morning’s message is not a typical message for advent but I believe it is a message for some people this morning-
