Finding Certain Hope in the Christmas Season
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"Christmas presents a whole lot of things. It presents traditions, right? Probably almost every single one of you have a tradition in your family that's a big deal, right? It is really, really, really important in your household that this thing happens in this way. Maybe it's a certain meal that you eat on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day or what gets made for breakfast that day, right? Mine are mostly food related. Maybe for you, it's not food-related, right? And there are ornaments that only mom can hang on the tree, right? You know what I'm talking about, right? Like, you unwrap that ornament, and you're like, I'm just, hey, mom, I have this one. It is safely here. You can hang it on the tree, right? And there's traditions based around that, or a certain movie that you watch at a certain time, or whatever it is for you." [00:20:14] (54 seconds)
"And as we place our hopes in all of these things, we experience something that researchers, they call it the post-Christmas blues. Around Christmastime... And in the days following December 25th, anxiety and depression reach highs every year. That is the highest rates of anxiety and depression that we see at any time. Because as we place all of our expectations in this holiday and the beautiful things that will happen here and the hope and the joy and the peace that we'll experience from these things, it lets us down." [00:25:48] (40 seconds)
"And the reality is that if we are going to experience what Christmas has to offer, if we are going to have the hope and the joy and the peace that Christmas should present in our lives, we need to make sure that we are focusing on the right things. And so this year, I want to examine each of those things this week, starting with hope. And where our hope comes from and what hope really is as a whole." [00:26:29] (30 seconds)
"And yet, from the very beginning there's hope. Right as this is broken, God speaks hope into the situation and he'll continue to do so. He speaks hope over and over and over again, he speaks that this is not the end of the story, that what has been broken, while it could never be fixed by us, by humanity, that he will fix it. That he will bring this restoration that is so needed, and God brings this hope into the world." [00:29:18] (36 seconds)
"It's not music, it's not movies, it's not decorations, it's not that if the music will swell and the snow will fall that all of our lives will be made perfect again. What we celebrate at Christmas is that our God comes through on his promises. We celebrate that where there was sin and brokenness and hopelessness, God stepped into the picture, that God sent his son to this world in the form of a little baby, that Jesus was born." [00:31:16] (35 seconds)
"There are three different types of hope that I want to talk about today that we encounter in our lives, okay? The first one is wishful hope. Wishful hope, okay? This is hope that you don't really like have a reason to be hoping for this thing. You just are, okay? This is the kind of hope that you might experience if you're running late to a meeting, right? And you're trying to drive down Del Prado and you turn on Del Prado and you just see all those lights in front of you." [00:32:40] (30 seconds)
"Now, here's the thing about expectant hope. While we have reason for it, while we hope for it, it's not certain. Unfortunately, even with a woman who's expecting, we live in a broken world and there is hurt in this world. There is sickness and there is disease and many of you have experienced a loss where there was a miscarriage. And while you had expectant hope and there was reason for you to expect it, what you hoped for did not happen." [00:35:26] (40 seconds)
"This is placing our hope in something that we can be certain of. And here's the reality. This type of hope, something that we can be certain of its outcome, is incredibly rare. This is a rare hope. This is a hope that is almost impossible to find. And yet, it's the kind of hope that we have. It's the kind of hope that we have as followers of Jesus." [00:36:19] (30 seconds)
"Not wishful hope, not even expectant hope. We are able to have certain hope. We are able to have certain hope. We are able to have certain hope. Hope in our lives, that we can be certain that the thing that we are hoping for will happen. It can only be found in God, though. Because our God has never failed. He has never failed. He has made promises on top of promises on top of promises in the words of Scripture, and our God has always come through." [00:37:11] (33 seconds)
"And yet, yet, because my hope is in Jesus, and because it is not a wishful hope, it isn't even an expectant hope, because my hope in Jesus is a certain hope, I'm able to rejoice. Because if I saw my grandpa tomorrow, he would know my name. And I know exactly where he is. And I know that he's not in pain. I know that he has been restored. I know that I will see him again. I know it. I can place my hope there, a certain hope, because of Jesus." [00:40:52] (45 seconds)
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"And as we place our hopes in all of these things, we experience something that researchers, they call it the post-Christmas blues. Around Christmastime... And in the days following December 25th, anxiety and depression reach highs every year. That is the highest rates of anxiety and depression that we see at any time. Because as we place all of our expectations in this holiday and the beautiful things that will happen here and the hope and the joy and the peace that we'll experience from these things, it lets us down." [00:25:48] (40 seconds)
"And the reality is that if we are going to experience what Christmas has to offer, if we are going to have the hope and the joy and the peace that Christmas should present in our lives, we need to make sure that we are focusing on the right things. And so this year, I want to examine each of those things this week, starting with hope. And where our hope comes from and what hope really is as a whole." [00:26:29] (30 seconds)
"And yet, from the very beginning there's hope. Right as this is broken, God speaks hope into the situation and he'll continue to do so. He speaks hope over and over and over again, he speaks that this is not the end of the story, that what has been broken, while it could never be fixed by us, by humanity, that he will fix it. That he will bring this restoration that is so needed, and God brings this hope into the world." [00:29:18] (36 seconds)
"It's not music, it's not movies, it's not decorations, it's not that if the music will swell and the snow will fall that all of our lives will be made perfect again. What we celebrate at Christmas is that our God comes through on his promises. We celebrate that where there was sin and brokenness and hopelessness, God stepped into the picture, that God sent his son to this world in the form of a little baby, that Jesus was born." [00:31:16] (35 seconds)
"There are three different types of hope that I want to talk about today that we encounter in our lives, okay? The first one is wishful hope. Wishful hope, okay? This is hope that you don't really like have a reason to be hoping for this thing. You just are, okay? This is the kind of hope that you might experience if you're running late to a meeting, right? And you're trying to drive down Del Prado and you turn on Del Prado and you just see all those lights in front of you." [00:32:40] (30 seconds)
"Now, here's the thing about expectant hope. While we have reason for it, while we hope for it, it's not certain. Unfortunately, even with a woman who's expecting, we live in a broken world and there is hurt in this world. There is sickness and there is disease and many of you have experienced a loss where there was a miscarriage. And while you had expectant hope and there was reason for you to expect it, what you hoped for did not happen." [00:35:26] (40 seconds)
"This is placing our hope in something that we can be certain of. And here's the reality. This type of hope, something that we can be certain of its outcome, is incredibly rare. This is a rare hope. This is a hope that is almost impossible to find. And yet, it's the kind of hope that we have. It's the kind of hope that we have as followers of Jesus." [00:36:19] (30 seconds)
"Not wishful hope, not even expectant hope. We are able to have certain hope. We are able to have certain hope. We are able to have certain hope. Hope in our lives, that we can be certain that the thing that we are hoping for will happen. It can only be found in God, though. Because our God has never failed. He has never failed. He has made promises on top of promises on top of promises in the words of Scripture, and our God has always come through." [00:37:11] (33 seconds)
"And yet, yet, because my hope is in Jesus, and because it is not a wishful hope, it isn't even an expectant hope, because my hope in Jesus is a certain hope, I'm able to rejoice. Because if I saw my grandpa tomorrow, he would know my name. And I know exactly where he is. And I know that he's not in pain. I know that he has been restored. I know that I will see him again. I know it. I can place my hope there, a certain hope, because of Jesus." [00:40:52] (45 seconds)
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