“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Isaiah 9:2
“The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood(overcome) it.” John 1:5
Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,
Can you believe it? It is time for all of the Christmas decorations to come out from storage! It is time for us to prepare our hearts and homes, and our churches. and our world for the birth of Christ. Look around! Christmas is everywhere! Hallelujah!
Here at the SEED we love to enjoy a four-week season of ADVENT.
Advent comes from the word “adventus” and means “coming.” The SEED goes by the yearly church calendar. Last week was the last Sunday of the church calendar, called “Christ the King Sunday.” Beginning this week, the first Sunday of the year-long church calendar, the season of Advent starts! We prepare our hearts, our home, our church, and our work for the coming of Christ. (Remember how we set our phone alarms to 11:28 am and prayed thanksgiving prayers? Today set your phones for 12:25 pm and pray for Christmas. Go ahead and get that alarm set! I am reading the CHRISTMAS CODE for one of my Advent devotionals, and each day at 11:25 pm I am praying for those who do not yet know CHRIST; that somehow they will come to know the love of God, the grace of Christ, and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit!)
I grew up in Northern Illinois and there was a NHRA Drag strip about 15 miles away. They had an advertisement on the radio stations that went like this … “SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! Where the Great Ones Run, Run, Run.” I was talking with another member about that this saying and he said that they had the same advertisement out here for the drag strip in Irwindale. He said maybe we should change our signs out front to say —” “SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! Where the GREAT ONE Comes.” That is what I’m talking about: Advent — the Coming of the Great One! What a wonderful and powerful celebration that will be…and we need to be ready!
I encourage you this season to take and read the Gospel accounts of the birth announcement of Jesus —- Immanuel —- God with us!
What if we go back to the beginning of the Bible? In the opening lines of Genesis we are told that darkness covered the whole face of earth. Listen to how it is put in Genesis. “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:2)
Everything was formless and empty, darkness covered the face of the earth. But even in that darkness the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, was hovering over the waters.
Some of us may not fully understand the opening verses of the Bible. Everything was empty and formless. Darkness seemed darker than any light! Yet it is exactly the LIGHT of GOD that breaks into the darkness. Do you know that the holidays are not always happy days for many? As a veteran pastor of 25+ years, I can tell you that it’s true: the holidays can be really dark days for many who grieve. This is why we gather together each Sunday: to open the Bible and let the light of the world enter in.
It is in the darkness that God came and brought the light. God promises to do the same for us—today—in 2024.
God will always bring the light!
As I have been thinking about this message this week, I was reminded to reflect on all the times that God brought light into the darkness of defeat, depression, diseases, death, fear, frustration, famine, loneliness and lostness.
I think of Abraham and Sarah waiting for years the birth of a child. God comes to them in their old age and fulfills His promise of HOPE in Isaac. How about Moses? God brings manna from heaven for forty years and water from a rock. The people have HOPE. When Goliath casts the dark shadow of fear over all the Israelites, along comes a little shepherd boy with five smooth stones. Light shines into the darkness of fear by taking down Goliath with one smooth stone. Again, there is HOPE. Then there is Daniel who is thrown into a lion’s den overnight; as light of dawn breaks in, Daniel is not consumed. The light shows him untouched by lions! The King now has HOPE in Daniel’s God! Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are brought out of a fiery furnace with the light of Christ shining about as the fourth man in the furnace. And those men are filled with the light of HOPE. How about Hanna who waited and waited for a child? I am sure that she felt the darkness of being childless. God’s light breaks in and she is given son named Samuel. Her son would anoint the future KINGS! There’s HOPE! We could add Ruth to these stories of darkness. Ruth suffered the death of her husband and father-in-law and two brothers-in-law. Ruth chose to believe and trust God. Ruth walked in the light of HOPE– following Naomi back to Bethlehem. Ruth walked the fields and gleaned grain from Boaz. Boaz becomes her kinsman redeemer and marries her! From Ruth, we get Obed, then Jesse and finally King David. Yes, it is precisely in the darkness that God’s light breaks forth!
For those of you who are about to stop reading because this is so long, here’s a new acronym for HOPE: HOLD ON, PRAY EVERYDAY…or HOLD ON, PRAY EXPECTINGLY! In the darkest darkness, HOLD ON.
SO WHAT?
Are you going to walk in the DARKNESS of the WORLD, or are you going to walk in the LIGHT OF THE WORLD? You have a choice! If you are already walking in the light and everything is bright, good! (Now go find someone who’s in the dark who needs some light.) If you are in the darkness of the world, open up the Bible and let the one, true, LIGHT OF THE WORLD SPEAK TO YOU. God’s already broken into the darkness with His light! God is in your darkness, waiting.
With all the Black Friday announcements and all the news that seems to constantly bombard us, I believe many have lost HOPE.
Oh, how we have lost the HOPE of Christmas.
HOPE Even the sound of that word can lift your spirits when you’re down.
HOPE keeps you going when life seems to be going nowhere or going in the wrong direction.
HOPE gives you some thing to cling to when you’ve lost your job, or your health, or someone you love.
HOPE is the spark inside your soul that tells you that tomorrow things will be better.
HOPE is like having an anchor in the future.
The Bible defines “HOPE” as expectation, trust, and patient waiting.
HOPE is linked to faith.
In the book of Hebrews chapter11 verse 1 it says, “Now faith is the assurance of things HOPE for, the conviction of things not seen.”
HOPE is the promise that your future belongs to God.
God is the source of our HOPE.
I coached Little League for many years when my children were little. I remember one of the coaches telling me a story about the time when he was a little boy beginning to play baseball. My friend told me that one of the things his coach did was host a picnic for the team at the beginning of the season. After they ate hot dogs and burgers, the coach sat them down for a pep talk. He asked, “How many of you have a dream to one day play in the Major Leagues?” Almost every hand shot up. Every kid with his hand up believed he could do it. You could see it in their eyes. He then told them, “If that is to happen—that dream begins now!” They were so inspired by that challenge—all of them were—that they practiced and played hard and they went undefeated for the next few years. All-Star teams from other leagues would play them and lose! Some 25 years later he became a Little League coach. My friend brought all the kids together at the beginning of the season to give them a pep talk—the same one his coach had given him. He asked his team the same question, “How many of you have a dream to one day play in the Major Leagues?” Not one hand was raised. Not one kid believed he could doit. You could see it in their eyes. My friend said that he was speechless. I thought about that story for a longtime. What had happened in the 25 years since my friend was a kid? What has come into our lives to steal our dreams and dash our HOPE?
God is the source of our HOPE. God so loved our world. God overcame the hovering darkness with HIS LIGHT. God sent His one, and only Son, Jesus Christ, into our darkness. Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus is the living Word.
All the people that I’ve mentioned earlier had their HOPES dashed, yet in the midst of their Hopelessness God broke through. Abraham and Sarah were given a son. Hanna was given a son. Ruth was given a husband and child. Daniel faithfully trusted God in a lions dens. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walked out of a fiery furnace to lead many to God. David conquered his giant.
As always, put yourself in these stories. Put yourself in the Christmas story again this year. Read the birth announcements with your name in there. Zechariah and Elizabeth waiting for years for a child only to have the angel Gabriel show up and bring the light of God into their lives. John the Baptist is born! Then Mary is told she will have a child from the Holy Spirit and she says — “Nothing is impossible for God.” Simeon and Anna are waiting and watching for the Messiah in the synagogue for years. The outcast shepherds guarding their flocks are filled with HOPE when the angels bring them “Good News of Great joy of all people.”
When it’s dark, HOLD ON…PRAY EXPECTINGLY!
I love to say that when you open up the Bible, wherever you read, put yourself in the story…and before you close your Bible—put the story into your heart, mind, soul.
You just might be the BIBLE that another person desperately needs to read. Shine your light into their darkness. Shine the light of Jesus Christ into their life.
Before I close out, read what the Gospel of John has to say.
”In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through Him and nothing was created except through Him. The WORD GAVE LIFE TO EVERYTHING THAT WAS CREATED, and HIS LIFE BROUGHT LIGHT TO EVERYONE. The LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS, and the DARKNESS CAN NEVER EXTINGUISH IT.”
I’m praying for you. Go be the LIGHT of the LIGHT OF THE WORLD, JESUS CHRIST.
See You Sunday
God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
Recent Comments