The Christmas Dream
I was in Starbucks a few hours ago, getting coffee for the weekend and getting some beans, and I heard something that I guess I didn’t expect. It was busy,…
I was in Starbucks a few hours ago, getting coffee for the weekend and getting some beans, and I heard something that I guess I didn’t expect. It was busy,…
The Festival of Lights For many people in the diaspora – both Jews celebrating Hanukkah and Gentiles observing this celebration – Hanukkah is all about dreidels and latkes. However, if…
Every Christian loves the story of Christmas. We love to hear about the angels and the shepherds. We love the think about noble Joseph and humble Mary. We love the…
The angels must have been stunned to see the second member of the triune God become a human being! The baby of Bethlehem was Creator of the universe, pitching His…
The Advent Season is a time of reflection as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus! This year at Hope, we’ll also have weekly artwork that helps us immerse…
Imagine how Mary must have felt when she was told by an angel that she would be the parent of the long-awaited Messiah—that she’d be responsible for raising and nurturing…
We are going to be in Philippians chapter 2 today, as we talk about this great story, the Christmas story. You know, normally you think about Matthew. You think about…
Dear Roger, I seldom hear Christmas carols anymore. Lyrics are adjusted to leave out Jesus, manger, even the word “Christmas.” Is it important to teach these songs to our children?…
The Hebrew word for peace is SHALOM. Shalom is RELATIONAL HARMONY and it’s four-dimensional. It’s right relationship with God, Self, Others, and Creation. How do we experience the peace…
Christmas is filled with images of angels atop our trees and lighting our front yards. But very few of us know how amazing and powerful they are. Most people…
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.” In 1977 these blue words scrolled across black screens in theaters across America, introducing an unsuspecting audience to the world…
Leave your baggage behind. In a crowded, busy holiday season, it’s common for people to feel weighed down by family relationships, financial pressure, regret, or failure. This series will help…
When we first meet Mary in Luke’s gospel, it is on the occasion when an archangel appeared to her suddenly and without fanfare to disclose to her God’s wonderful plan.…
As we shop, look up, seek out or ask for gifts in this season of the year — let’s do ourselves a favor and REMEMBER the GIFT of the Savior…
Names matter in the Bible, because names are used descriptively to describe something or somebody, and one name that, we’ll look at other names a little bit later, but…
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Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices! O night divine, O night when Christ was born! He is a light to reveal GOD to the nations, and he…
Lots of people make a lot of fuss about Christmas. Some love this time of year (myself included). Others hate it or are opposed to its celebration. Some couch their…
As you know, we’ve been in a series in Galatians, and we’ll hold off on that until next Lord’s Day. And this morning, just to think a little bit about…
A great author tells the beginning of the story to prepare the hearer for the end of the story. Charles Dickens famously starts A Tale of Two Cities with the…
The end of Jesus’ story is found in the beginning. Every detail of God-made-flesh in the manger points to the crucified Savior on the cross. Today, we consider Herod and…
As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, may God give us eyes to see the beauty of the Christmas story in a fresh way. Every figure we meet at Jesus’ birth…
Jesus’ story begins with shepherds coming to him, the lamb of God. It ends with the Shepherd being struck down and the sheep scattering. And then there is a final…
Did you know that one of the biggest challenges to Christianity comes during the Christmas season? It is centered on who Jesus’ family was. In our day when people challenge…
Christmas is full of cozy thoughts: a sleeping Jesus, wide-eyed shepherds, a soft-faced Mary. The nativity sentiment is warm, the emotion is joy, and the feeling is peace. Such is…
Introduction Favorite Christmas Song “White Christmas” – best-selling Christmas song of all time Guinness Book of World Records – over 50 million sales Written in 1940 by Irving Berlin Popularized…
A great author tells the beginning of the story to prepare the hearer for the end of the story. Charles Dickens famously starts A Tale of Two Cities with the…
Do we choose to be Herod, cling to our power, and our glory, and our sin, and ourselves? Or do we willingly humble ourselves before Jesus and find that in…
Peter Stoner, in his classic book Science Speaks, calculated the chance of any man fulfilling these prophecies, even down to the present time, to be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (10 to the…
Introduction Gold: emblematic of Jesus coming to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Matthew 2:2 A metal fit for a king Frankincense: emblematic of the priesthood and…
God’s glory shows us who we are in relation to a glorious God. His glory drives out fear and replaces it with joy. God’s glory reassures us of the power…
A conscience is that pressing sense that unerringly guides our choices and pricks us when we don’t heed it’s prompting. It’s that mysteriously universal compass that relentlessly points true north…
Christmas presents piled high….how many toys do our children need? How do we make our Christmas less about money and more about Jesus? Randy Alcorn writes: “An alarming number of…
Dear Roger, How could Herod miss Christmas? How could he hear the Wise Men coming so far to find this baby, and not recognize the signs? I don’t want to…
Most times the reason we don’t let go of worldly things is that we don’t seem to realize that there is something better and more important than what the world…
A war will be waged again this Christmas, a battle far more pressing than whether to say “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas.” For believers, the real challenge is something entirely…
Who was the Innkeeper in Bethlehem who cruelly turned Mary and Joseph away? We’ll never know his name. Pastor John Beeson decries him as one of the Christmas villains: “Every…
King David had no reason to invite Saul’s crippled grandson, Mephibosheth, to sit at his royal table. But David had made a covenant with Jonathan. Jesus has made a permanent…
Christmas may be celebrated around the world, but many people find it a lonely time. Dr. Deb Waterbury suggests ten ways you can avoid loneliness this Christmas: “It’s simply amazing…
The majority of people in the world will miss the next Christmas. But how can that be? How can anyone miss Christmas, given the amount of advertising, publicity, and promotion…
Grace really is, relationally speaking, it really is the unsettling solution for just about everything. Jesus was full of grace. He extended it to people who were nothing like him,…
Dear Roger, I hear people talking about praise and worship. Are they the same? If not, how are they related? What is the difference between them? Sincerely, Liz …
Evidence does, indeed, show that Jesus lived. The question is, will you believe it? At this point we’re not even addressing the question of whether Jesus was God in human…
According to Luke 1:1–4, the Gospel of Luke and its sequel the Acts of the Apostles were written to help Theophilus (and all subsequent readers) know the truth of the Christian…
One wonders why there are so many people in America who seem so offended at a simple greeting like, “Merry Christmas.” While talk show hosts rant about the “Attack on Christmas,” by…
God is above but He is not pushed up; He is beneath but He is not pressed down. He is outside but He is not excluded. He is inside but…
Merry Christmas! Oh, excuse me! Seasons Greetings. Happy Holidays. Finding Jesus at Christmas is just like playing “Where’s Waldo.” Look hard. He’s nowhere to be found! I attended a middle school “Christmas”…
God has blessings for you in categories that you don’t even know exist. Preached at National Community Church.
We naturally drift towards isolation and a lack of intimacy, but Jesus’ incarnation proves his desire to share his heart with us, step into our seclusion, break us out of…
A perverse man spreads strife, and a slanderer separates intimate friends. —Proverbs 16:28 Jesus made a remarkable statement concerning Judas. He said, “‘Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve,…
Are you a control freak? It’s easy to do, whether you are a leader of a large organization or the mother of small children. It’s amazing to me how many…
Wise Men followed the star. They jumped for joy, and they came bringing gifts. Mary and Joseph needed a miracle and it was provided by someone that God sent from…
Man’s condition before Christ came was hopeless. Jesus, Son of Man and Son of God came to save mankind. Nicodemus, the curious Jewish leader, was told by Christ to be…
Here’s a creative way to help your children participate in a week of prayer! Make a chart with a big square for every day of the week. Choose a category…
What was the Star of Bethlehem and what did it signify? Nine points of the star’s meaning are revealed in Matthew 2. The light of God’s glory not only appeared…