Christmas Hope
Romans 15:13/ 1 Peter 1:3-7
Good morning everyone-Glad that you have joined us wither in person or online.
This week begins Advent, a time that we are to prepare ourselves for Christmas and what Christmas is meant to be.
A celebration for what Christ has done for us by Emmanuel “God with us” coming to earth and offering redemption for our sins and offering us eternal life.
We begin a series today called “In the manger” Today message “Christmas Hope”
Prayer-
Father, Prepare our hearts for what you have for us this Christmas season. May it not be just another Christmas- but allow us through your precious Spirit to receive the fullness of your hope, your peace, your joy , and your love that comes from a personal relationship with you. May we accomplish much, receive much, and help much. In Jesus Name. Amen.
We lit the first candle this morning, the candle of hope.
The word hope appears in the NT 52 times. The hope reference here is always tied to Christ.
God is the author and the finisher of our faith, and our hope.
Romans 15:13- one of our text this morning/ Apostle Paul speaking a prayer to us
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
The church, the most powerful gathering of people in the world, though we live far below where we should, not because God’s power is not sufficient, but because we do not take the authority given to the church by its creator Jesus Christ and we do not assemble as we should and do not do as we should.
God intended his church to be a powerful force for good in the hearts and lives of those that have contact with the church of Christ.
The apostle Paul makes an appeal for the church to be one- those that are strong in the faith and those who are weak in the faith to be united under Christ leadership.
He came as a Jew but united Jew and Gentiles so that all could enjoy salvation through Him.
Christ came to save all people- (Repeat) the church must be inclusive. God reaches out to all, the church must show the love of God and offer the plan of salvation and the hope that is found in Christ alone.
We do not change His word but we make His word available to all we come into contact with.
This world is hopeless without Jesus
Because the world does not have the Joy of the Lord they do not know God.
They do not have the peace of God because the peace of God which passes all human understanding only comes from an active relationship with God and trusting in him.
The world does not have the power of God in their lives.
The three ingredients are what separate us as children of God- the ingredients that give us hope.
Hope that is in the Bible is not “I hope everything is okay” it is in the person of Jesus Christ.
Biblical hope is not Wishy-Washy.
Some people live their whole lives without hope
They are blinded by this world’s troubles and they see no way out.
A world misguided and lead by what they must do will never receive what God offers by faith and what only He can do.
That baby (Jesus) in the manger changed lives and changed eternity for those that would let Him.
You take Christ out of Christmas and all you have left is chaos and present buying and busyness.
In a word to the exiled Jews- God says Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Not only does God say you have hope, but you have a future.
Not only will he be there now, but also in your future.
No believer is without hope when the power of God is involved.
No situation is hopeless as long as the grace of God is available.
This world has changed! We no longer live “leave it to beaver.” Some do not even know what I am talking about. It was a TV series of a family in the 50’s.
The war on terrorism went from “over there” to right here in the USA.
911 changed our lives.
We cannot just walk into public buildings, stadiums, government buildings… you have to be checked through.
Y2K was a big scare in 2000.
Some pulled all their money from banks because they felt all computers would crash and the market would fall and lose money
Some went the opposite, they spent money they did not have and thought as long it would crash they wouldn’t have to pay it back.
Each put their faith and hope in something.
Hope is as necessary as Oxygen for us to breath. Don’t believe me, just ask someone who struggles with depression, hope is what they are fighting for.
God offers hope.
It begins with a relationship with that baby in the manger because that baby in a manger is no longer a baby and He takes the pressure off performance and behavior and puts it on trusting the work of Christ.
Romans 15:4
“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.”
I know many of you are broken, depressed, lonely, needing answers from God.
I hear the stories of how you are or have been mistreated-
Work nightmares
Issues beyond your control
Song
“My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus name.”
Jesus is the answer, He is our example, He is our security. He is more than enough in every area of our lives.
Jesus Christ, who came to this earth so that we might have hope.
His presence will see us through those times of trials.
His hope is there for us to hold unto.
Deuteronomy 31:6-
“Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you, he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Psalm 125:1-2
“Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken, but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forever.”
As we begin Advent, stay focused on Jesus! Enjoy the times, but don’t let the distractions take you away from the meaning of Christmas.
Luke 2:15-
“When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Lets go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
1 Peter 1:3-7 Read from Bible
We have a new birth and a living hope in Jesus Christ.
Because of the one that came as a baby was resurrected from the dead, we have a chance to experience salvation, fullness in Christ, power of the Holy Spirit living and working in our lives.
How can we have hope when everything looks hopeless?
In the midst of suffering, we can rejoice because your challenges cause you to:
Rely on God’s presence
Rely on God’s provision
Rely on God’s power
“My Grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor. 12:9
The greater the enemy comes at you, the greater Jesus is in you.
Maybe you hear voices telling you to just quit, give up, and let it go. Don’t stop. When you are weak, then he is strong. Remember the greater the attack against you, the greater Christ is in you, but you have to rely on his presence, his provision and his power.
For the Christians to whom the Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter, they had lost hope.
They were facing great persecution from the Roman government and were fleeing for their lives.
They were ripped from their homes and seeking hope.
Peter knows that the source of hope in the midst of difficulty is to focus on the person of God and the assurance of being secure in Him.
We can be comforted even in the midst of difficult times because of the source of our blessed hope
I have told you I am an application preacher, not only hear the Word of God but apply it to your life.
I am also a topical preacher, I try to make things relevant to what we are going through today.
Sometimes I am narrative preacher- let the text speak for itself.
That is the text today as we look at God being our hope.
You cannot ask the text to serve you, the text, calls each of us to do what it says.
What has happened to the church? In America we are not even a blip on the screen for evangelism and sharing our faith compared to the rest of the world.
The world today tells us that we live, we die, and that there is no heaven and no afterlife and no day of judgment and we let them get away with it.
We do not feel the urgency to tell people of the consequence of sin.
We live our lives like the Holy Spirit of God does not have the power any more to save or change lives.
We treat the “Good news” of God like it is a suggestion.
Give God a chance when you feel like it.
Illustration-
One preacher talks about a bumper sticker that aggravates him. I have never seen it but after hearing and sensing what God wants to say this morning to us, it aggravates me too. “Give God a chance for He died for the opportunity.”
Give God a chance? That is not what these texts are telling us today.
They are saying that a God that loves us has already given us opportunity and our only response should be to come.
The church today has got to be more aggressive with the message of the good news.
The Church of Christ has to be more like the book of Acts that was willing to share the hope that was within them.
The church must be willing to go to the highways and byways with the message of hope.
If we do not go to the hard places, the good news does not get out.
The hope of Christ that saves us is also available to others.
Let’s read this again-
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire- may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
As we close our time-
A world right out there- (point out) has little hope and is desperately looking for something to satisfy them- we have the answer…His name is Jesus!
This world is out of control with things that are beyond our individual abilities to fix. They are looking to the government to do something only God can do.
This Christmas what most people need is not what most people are asking for this Christmas- they need Jesus and they are asking for stuff!
Hope…the gift we all need is found only in Jesus and He is the greatest gift ever given and He offers it free even though it cost Him much.
Let me end with our beginning text as a prayer being prayed for each of us this morning-
Romans 15:13-“ May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him. So that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Amen.
