Thanksgiving Christmas Hope

Thanksgiving Christmas Hope

Did everyone have a good Thanksgiving! I guess we should be asking if God had a good Thanksgiving. Like did we give Him thanks! For most it’s just turkey day. I hope everyone gave even a little Thanks on thanksgiving and of course I hope you got plenty to eat!

Are you ready for Christmas? Yeah! I love Christmas! No? Uh…

The Christmas Season? Actually, I heard the Christmas season doesn’t really start until December 2nd? Like who decides that? OR the 12 days of Christmas, what is that? I know know about you but in our family we didn’t have 12 whole days of receiving Christmas presents! don’t know.

Some celebrate the Advent candles and those start 4 Sundays before Christmas with a candle lit on Christmas day. Like you won’t find that in the Bible of course. It’s just a tradition, right? This year Christmas falls on a Sunday so apparently this Sunday is 4 Sundays prior to Christmas plus or minus the PI times the square root of Thanksgiving so some start the Advent candles today.

I love seeing Nativity Scenes, everyone looks so happy!

It’s amazing how many baby Jesus get stolen now. Posted on Facebook and got caught!

Sometimes we just lose hope for this world!

But the first candle of the Advent is HOPE!

Hopefully Christmas gives you HOPE!

Christmas is the hope that Jesus was born into the world to live a perfect life and then to die to be our perfect sacrifice so that we could be saved.

Sometimes we get bogged down in Black Friday shopping and wrapping presents and we lose site of the true meaning of Christmas. He was God’s promise to send us a Savior!

I can’t wait for Christmas to arrive!

Even more so, the people couldn’t wait for the Messiah who would save the people both from their sins and from their enemies. They say hind site it 20/20. We have the benefit of seeing Christ as told from the Bible. OT people didn’t have this. They had to wonder about Him and what He would be like. They imagined a King riding in for battle and striking down the enemies!

But our battle is not against flesh and blood is it? We need salvation? We need minds and hearts changed! Ours is a spiritual battle.

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In Luke Chapter 1, Mother Mary, after hearing about having the Messiah from the Angel she sang the praise song called the Magnificat. (It wasn’t called the Magnificat back then, right? Trademark Mary)

It’s beautiful song of praise of course!

There was another song also sung in Luke Chapter 1. And that’s what we are going to talk about today.

The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

Luke 1:5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. 8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. 11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” 19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.” 21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. 23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”