Dear brothers, and sisters in Christ once again I welcome every one of you in the sweet name of Jesus Christ who is the master and author of all preachers.
Our heavenly father wants to show his love to the world. Therefore, he sends his one and only begotten Son Jesus Christ, our Savior, to this world. The Word of God says to us, in Romans 5:8 “God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The Lord gave his Son as a gift for the world. The God’s gift includes his promises and his righteousness.
As we are traveling towards Bethlehem, to celebrate the Christmas day the important thing is hope. I got a question, what is the big deal with Christmas anyway? You may answer in a different way, Jesus bring the salvation, light, ete., There could be a lot of answers. To me, I got one word, HOPE. Hope that is found in and through Jesus.
Charles Swindoll wrote a book titled Hope Again, with the subtitle of “When Life Hurts and Dreams Fade.” On the back cover describing the contents of the book with the following words: Hope is more than mere wishful thinking. Hope is a vital necessity of life — a gift that God wants to give to you. Hope Again is a voice crying in the wilderness ... a word of enthusiasm for life in the midst of any difficult situation you are in.
The Old Testament Prophet Zephaniah’s time people could identify with that need for hope! They were overwhelmed with grief and prolonged distress, along with a history of disobedience of God’s commands. The prophet’s purpose was to shake the people of Judah out of their self-satisfaction and return to God.
Zephaniah’s main theme is the coming of the day of the Lord, when God will severely punish the nations. It will not be a day of rejoicing and celebration in which the enemies of God’s people will be destroyed and the people of Judah exalted. According to the prophet there is coming a time of accountability and judgment.
We can see the progress of Zephaniah’s philosophy in his short book. Chapter 1 includes God’s thunderous judgment and punishment for all who disobey him. There is wrath and pronouncement of destruction. “I will consume man and beast; I consume the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, and stumbling blocks along with the wicked, I will cut off man from the face of the land” says the LORD” (Zephaniah 1:3).
In chapter 2 there is a whisper from the prophet of hope. He calls on the people to plead to the Lord to save them and perhaps he will listen and respond (2:3). Later Zephaniah writes that there will be a remainder of survivors from the judgment that will fall on them as a people. “Restoration” is a hopeful word! (2:7).
The hope rises to an increasing flow of passionate care and love from God who will bring salvation and forgiveness to those who are faithful to him. There is almost a rhythm, as the prophet writes,
Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away your judgements, he has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the Lord is in your midst; You shall see disaster no more. — Zephaniah 3:14-15
Hope to press on ... hope to endure ... hope to stay focused ... hope to see dreams fulfilled ... that is what God is giving them in the midst of judgment and despair!
That need still exists! In a world filled with hopelessness and abandonment, we need to hear the voice of God saying that he will live among us! He will bring hope in the midst of fear. He has brought that hope in the being of the Messiah, Jesus!
Zephaniah has two themes in his prophecy ... one is negative and the other positive.
First Is a Negative Theme (Zephaniah 1—3:13)
As we look through Zephaniah’s message to Judah we begin to feel a deep dark dread. It begins as he delivers God’s message, “I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth, declares the Lord” (1:2). This negative theme includes: There is a Fear, despair, and sorrows.
Fear. One day in hot July, a farmer sat on the porch of his house, smoking pipe. A stranger came from the city who asked, “How’s your cotton coming?”
“I don’t have any,” he replied. “I Didn’t plant any. ’I am afraid of the boll weevil.”
“Well, how’s your corn?”
“Didn’t plant none. ’I am afraid of drought.”
“How about your potato garden?”
“I don’t have any. I am afraid of tater bugs.”
The city stranger finally asked, “Well, what did you plant?”
The farmer answered, “Nothing’, I just played it safe."
Some of us are fearful of action because there may be something out there in life that we are not prepared to meet, so we play it safe and do nothing.
Depression. This is a horrible feeling of being overcome by the sense of ineffectiveness and defeat. We have the feeling that we are alone and no one cares about us.
“I am now the most miserable man living,” wrote a famous American leader. “If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on earth. To remain as I am is impossible. I must die or be better.” Who was that famous leader? Abraham Lincoln.
In his book, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Ray Basler comments that in the darkest days of the Civil War, Lincoln constantly wrestled with unrelenting depression and despair. Basler writes about those twin feelings ...
It can strike anyone. No one is immune. Not even a nation’s president. Here is this marvelous man with magnificent character, feeling absolutely alone ... Surely, the president ought to sleep well because of his protection, because of his wise counsel, to say nothing of his financial security. Yet there he was, tossing and turning through the night, haunted by dark and debilitating thoughts.
The people of Judah were troubled by those feelings as they tossed and turned at night. Do you?
Sorrows. Webster defines sorrow as “Mental anguish or pain caused by injury, loss or despair." Because of Judah’s unfaithful behavior and action, they brought on themselves as a nation and as individuals more sorrow than they could stand. Add in natural calamities and you have a recipe for sorrow.
Today we also have sorrows that come as a result of our own foolish decisions plus experiences we have no control over ... illness, death, financial reverses on Wall Street, war, and hatred that come to our street. Is it any wonder that we are filled with negative feelings in life?
Other negatives in the lives of Zephaniah’s readers included burdens, homelessness, war, injury, and family disputes. Situations have not changed over the millenniums, have they?
The Second Theme is Positive: Zephaniah 3: 14-20
The LORD your God in your midst, the mighty one, he will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. (3:17)
Most of the times we are singing this song:
What a mighty God we serve
What a mighty God we serve
Angels bow before Him
Heaven and Earth adore Him
What a mighty God we serve
Guess what! Most of the times, we just forget that how mighty our God really is.
"The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name." Ex. 15:3
"For our God is a consuming fire." Heb.12:29
We are not serving a dead God who cowers in fear or refuses to answer. Our God fights for what is right and holy and just. He does not fear and He is not shaken by our circumstances and troubles. His battle plans are already completed and the victory is won before the battle begins.
What do we have to fear? Surely Satan goes around like a roaring lion, but He cannot destroy anything that God has under His protection.
I believe that this church, and each of us as individuals, who are saved and sanctified, and living for God cannot be defeated by the devil unless we throw up our hands in surrender. Let the battles come! Let the devil roar! Let the heathen rage!
My God is powerful and I will not fear for He is my shelter and my tower of defense!
When the storm is raging around us; when the waves tower over us; and when it seems that there is no more hope – run to Jesus! He is not shaken by those storms. He has the power to calm them and deliver you through them and even make you stronger because of them.
"Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" Ex. 15:11
There is no other power that can compare to the Mighty God that I serve. No other god can stand before Him! He defeated the pharaohs, the Caesars, and every other man who dared exalt himself above God! There is none who can stand before Him! What have we to fear? Why do we feel defeated? Why do we shrink from the battle? Why do we turn back and run from the enemy? OUR GOD IS THE MIGHTY ONE OF ISRAEL! WE HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR!
There have been times when I’ve been lost, away from home, and panic struck my heart -- and yet alone I experienced the wonder of the comfort of God in his nearness.
There have been situations in my home and family that brought me to a point of worry that I don’t even have any words to begin to describe -- only to discover that the Mighty God was there and that it was okay. God spoke calmness into my heart.
I’ve laid on my bed, and hurt greatly for people in their terrible circumstances and somehow felt like I was responsible to do something to help -- yet knowing that their needs far exceeded any capacity or capability that was mine, then seeing and feeling the transformation from fear to trust in the ability of Almighty God to see them through when I could do nothing.
We say that we will fear no evil. What I need to do always is what we all need to do always: trust our Mighty God! Understand that its not some power of positive thinking; that its not some self-talk; that’s not some Yoga technique. I will fear no evil because God is with me!
Our Mighty God is here! He is really here! He keeps his promises -- he really truly with us, even in the deepest and the darkest of valleys."
The scripture tells us in Matthew 1:23 Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us. The Lord is with us forever, that is our hope.
Zephaniah’s closing description answers the important question. “What makes us different?” Or at least, what should make us different. “Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm.” If we truly believe we have something to share, then we cannot be quiet Christians. “Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The Lord your God is with you; he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”
This life is far more exciting than any picture we may have of Christianity. Some people have just enough religion to endure. Thank God for those who are enjoying it. That is what Zephaniah sees in the future. There will be joy in Jerusalem. Sorrow will be removed. Sin will be destroyed. Oppressors will be cast down. And the meek and lame and the scattered and the outcast will all be gathered together. In Luke we see the great feast of the Lord. The feast where the invited guests do not come, so the places are filled by those who were outside. The world may like our conventional, unhelpful, unthreatening Christianity. They may see that as their ticket to salvation. But those who were put to shame, will be given praise and honor. Those who were righteous in times of unrighteousness. Those who spoke of God in the halls of knowledge. Those who think that a government must be judged by its surplus or deficit of compassion. We have been worldly Christians in our secular age for too long. We must raise our voices, in joy, in song, in praise, saying glory to God, Glory to the God who restores his people. Glory to the Christ who calls the outcast. Glory to the Spirit that lifts us up. Glory indeed.
When Martin Luther began the Protestant Reform time, he did so because he rediscovered the Scriptures. The Bible had long lay buried under centuries of custom and tradition and hierarchy. The church of Luther’s day had said to people, “You don’t need to know the Bible. We will tell you what to believe.” In some parts of Europe in the late middle ages it was actually illegal to own or to read the Bible. So when Luther rediscovered the power of the Scriptures, and perceived its glorious good news that the just shall live by faith, then he got going. He demanded that the church of his day reshape its life according to the Bible. We call that the Reformation.
For the word of the Gospel is, “Hope never disappoints.” Hope never disappoints. Zephaniah states, “The Lord our God will renew us in His love.” If we trust in Him, He will renew us in His love. If we but take on a little holy boldness, He will renew us in His love. If we but move out into the highways and byways of life, where many are weary and sad, He will renew us in His love. If we but get into high gear and do what the designer creator made us to do, He will renew us in His love. It’s the kind of hope we need... Christian hope that empowers us to hear God’s voice, to obey God’s will, to trust God’s power.
In January 2009 Gabriel turned six years old. Gabriel was so focused on eating his birthday cake, that he hardly noticed a giant package in the corner of the room. When another child pointed out the large gift, Gabriel ran over and began to tear off the wrapping. When the package was open, Gabriel discovered it wasn’t a bicycle or any of the other items a six-year-old would dream about for Christmas. Rather, it was Gabriel’s dad, Army Specialist Casey Hurles, home on leave from the war in Iraq. Gabriel and his father had been apart for seven months, so when Casey learned his leave would coincide with his son’s birthday, he hatched a plan to offer Gabriel an amazing surprise. He had himself wrapped up as the ultimate birthday gift for his child.
In essence, that’s what God did for us that first Christmas. He offered Himself as an amazing surprise. He wrapped Himself up in the form of a tiny baby. Everything we know about God, we learn from his son, Jesus Christ. He is the Word made flesh.
