Advent 4 - Christmas Eve

This Christmas, we have focused on the hope that Christmas brings. The first week we said our geneology Hope is that Jesus did not come for those who could prove themselves righteous but for those who put their faith in Him, as the only RIGHTEOUS ONE.

The two dreams Our hope is what seems impossible with man is made possible by God.

The Christmas Story itself. OUR HOPE IS THAT GOD CAN TAKE OUR BROKEN STORIES AND MAKE A BEAUTIFUL MASTERPIECE AND A STORY OF REDEMPTION

Tonight, while we gather just briefly to reflect on that story, I want to bring one talk about one last reminder of Hope that I think we need now as much as ever. We need it as individuals, as a Church, and as a community.

If i needed you to track down some bad news, I am confident it wouldnt take you long to find some.

Facebook, Twitter, tiktok, fox news, cnn, your email inbox, and your text messages. I could almost guarantee that if you went through each of those places you would find. Devastating news about a pandemic, maybe a new pandemic, arguments about vaccines, arguments about federal budget, arguments about political opinions, arguments about MJ and lebron even though we know MJ is the GOAT and at any given time UT firing and hiring a football coach.

I feel often that we are talking about these things repeatedly and a phrase or similar phrase I hear constantly is this “ This world is the worst its ever been” or “ this is the end for us as believers” (maybe America as all empires fall but guess what America is not God’s country and he aint American) We have convinced ourself that somehow in the last decade that the world got lost and forgot who God was.

before I can give you good news and hope tonight I have to start with the bad.

The world has always been evil

Now of course I am excluding the short period before Adam and Eve sinned.

But immediatly as God created Adam and Eve they thought they knew better and doubted the very God that made them.

Their son Cane killed his brother abel.

A few generations later we have Noah and of all the many alive he was the only one the Lord considered not evil. they were so bad that the Lord saw they only thought about evil all the time. I KNOW SOME BAD PEOPLE BUT NOT SOMEONE I WOULD SAY THAT ABOUT

Noahs family gets off the boat and for the sake of children I will not discuss the evil they partook in but needless to say it is evil.

Then to the days of abraham where they married men to men and women to women and they sacrificed and killed their own children to false Gods. Yes abortion is not something the church should condone and it is an evil practice, but imagine an entire generation of people taking their visible tangible children and sacrificing them.

There was evil and genocide and disgusting evil in the days of Moses.

Then the prophets that saw pagan nations with murderous policies and more of the same evil we discussed but on higher scales.

fast forward to the time of Jesus. dictatorship where the firstborn of every home was murdered because of a fearful king

to the disciples afterwards that were burned beaten destroyed families that saw the nastiest of evils.

super fast forward through the rest of history the catholic church and its conquistadors

the muslims and their jihads.

christianity and their crusades

hitler in one of the largest acts of genocide

war after war after war

murder after murder after murder

all the way up to the very things i disused earlier on your news feed

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Now is the world really just getting worse and worse, or do we just have more avenues in which it is in front of our face? Is the world more evil and more destined to destruction today, or do we have American eyes that believe that things were better in “the good ole days”

Guys the world has always been evil and populated by evil people.

Pauls says this in Romans 3:23

Romans 3:23 NASB95

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Now here is the good news

The same hope for then is the same hope today

adam and eve not destroyed but restored

cain protected by god

noah and his family saved from the flood and that same hope was offered to all those people

abraham faithfully followed God and birthed the hope to all mankind through God’s people in Israel

Moses would lead those people from exile and slavery and cross the river onto dry land and the promised land

the prophets all spoke of the hope in Jesus that would one day come in bethlehem and preached that hope even in the midst of slavery and destruction

THEN JESUS BOOM COMES ON THE SCENE AND THE HOPE PREACHED FROM BEFORE AND PREACHED TODAY COMES AND DELIVERS ON THE PROMISE MADE FOR CENTURIES.

After that hope arives people are still evil and still choose to have wars and we have stories of Gods grace and hope

Christian, catholics, muslims, jews nazis, americans, africans, hispanic, asian, russian all see ing the Hope in Jesus, placing their faith in Jesus Christ the hope of Eternity

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now tell me this. If we agree on these two points, that the world has always been evil but that the same hope for then is the same hope for today… WHICH SHOULD WE SPEND MOST OF OUR TIME FOCUSED ON AND TALKING ABOUT? THE EVIL AROUND OR THE HOPE IN CHRIST?

I came home from work Wednesday and my 3 year old EMMA did not let me get two feet in from the door and she needed to tell me something. They had gone to the dollar tree to buy a gift for each sibling and for me. She said “ Daddy I have a surprise gift and you cant no about it” She was so so excited to tell me. Now I know she had gotten hurt playing that day and she also had gotten in trouble and lost some toys and she had gotten in fights with her brothers and yelled at one another. But none of that was what she wanted to talk about or tell me. She just wanted me to know what she had for me waiting under the tree.

There are two messages tonight

1 is to the church and those who are believers in Christ. We are almost to a new year. it will undoubtedly be a year with more political turmoil, more Covid variants, arguments about rights and everything else you can imagine, but let me ask you this. Do people know your vaccine status more than they know your Hope in Jesus? Do they know your political views, sports opinions, and health regiment more than they know your hope in Jesus?

Im not condemning having those opinions. You certainly can in a healthy and righteous manner. But what I am condemning is SHINING A LIGHT ON WHAT WILL ONE DAY BE IN THE DARK AND KEEPING IN THE DARK WHAT WILL ONE DAY BE IN THE LIGHT.

Christmas is a beautiful time to be reminded of the Hope that has always been available in Jesus Christ. This story of baby Jesus that dropped hope right down in the smack dab middle of Evil and distress.

the 2 message is to those who do not have a relationship with Jesus and you have never trusted Him to give you hope and forgive you of your sins

GOSPEL PRESENTATION

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