The God of the Christmas Story - God of Hope (North OC)

Marcel: do it.

It's Christmas.

Christmas is here.

Are you excited about Christmas?

Some of us may be excited.

Some of us may be that, that there's, there's a, uh, some tenderness there.

Maybe there was some tragedy that, that happened in your life.

And so we understand it could be on different extremes here at excited,

most excited time of your life, or maybe the most challenging time of your life.

Some of us, it could be the most stressful time in our life.

We start thinking about setup and, and trying to get gifts, and

trying not to break our necks as we stand on a ladder trying to put up

lights, you know what I'm saying?

And so it can be fun, it can be a blast, and then we're always reminded,

especially in the church, Hey, remember the reason for the season.

Let's make sure we put the Christ back in Christmas, right?

We hear these slogans all the time, dropping bars, oh,

there you go, alright, so.

And so we want to yes, we want to do this But I notice here and I want us I was

praying thinking about this and as we talk about Daniel about a sermon series

here For Christmas, we wanted to identify the God of the Christmas story We want

to go ahead and that's going to be our sermon series here is the God of the

Christmas Story because as we embark upon this season, and yes, we can be in all

Jesus or, or, or ham or Thanksgiving and presents and all these different things.

We want to make sure that we always see God in this story.

And how God is still prevalent in our lives and how the Christmas

story provides such a blessing and a hope for our lives in 2023 beyond.

So let's go to God in prayer.

Father, we thank you so much for this chance to have.

Uh, to look into your word, to be excited about what, about who

you are, to learn more about you.

God, as I step back and been thinking about the next several weeks, I really

am excited to get a chance to, to, uh, study more of your word and to take

a step back and, and get to know more about you and, and to come closer to you.

And I pray father that today we can draw closer to you as we

understand you and your character.

We pray in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

I'm going to go ahead and call my wife.

My wife Corinna is going to come up on stage here with me today.

And so we're going to be looking at, uh, we're going to, for the next four

weeks, we're going to be studying out just the first two chapters of Matthew.

And so Matthew is a letter written by one of Jesus's followers.

And so he writes this letter and it's important that we understand

and realize that this letter was talking about who Jesus was.

It's called the gospel according to Matthew.

But it's written to a Jewish audience.

So as you read it, you have to understand, you have to know a

little bit of Jewish culture to fully grasp all that is there in the

treasures that are there in the text.

And so this first week, we're going to look at how God is a God of hope.

Our God is a God of hope and we see this in the Christmas story.

Let's go ahead and let's get into it.

In Matthew chapter 1, we're going to read here, uh, in verse 1.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

It says, this is the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son

of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac.

Isaac, the father of Jacob, Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers,

Judah, the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar.

We'll go ahead and keep going here in verse, uh, five, it says Salman,

the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab Boaz, the father of Obed, whose

mother was Ruth Obed, the father of Jesse, Jesse, the father of King

David, David was a father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife.

Then it goes on and says a whole bunch of names.

And if you read it before, those names can be a little tricky.

And so I'm not going to butcher all those names.

Okay.

So we're going to just breeze through it on your own and I want you on your

own to look this over but we do want to jump over here to this verse here

because we want to see something in this lineage of Jesus Solomon the father of

rare bone where a bomb the father of.

Abijah, Abijah, the father of Asa, Asa, the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat,

the father of Jehoram, the father of Uzziah, Uzziah, the father of Jotham,

Jotham, the father of Ahaz, Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah, the father

of Manasseh, Manasseh, the father of Amen.

Then we jump on down to verse, uh, what is it, uh, 16 and Jacob, the

father of Joseph, the husband of Mary and Mary was the mother of Jesus who

called, who was called the Messiah.

Thus, there were 14 generations in all from Abraham to David, from 14,

14 from David to the exile to Babylon and 14 from the exile to the Messiah.

Let's stop right there.

This is our main text for today.

And you're like, how are we going to get a text out of this?

But we're going to see the God of hope in Jesus's lineage.

We see a God of hope.

And so this is to help us out here.

This is, uh, uh, the image.

This is all the names that were listed.

And this wasn't an exhaustive list.

Matthew only, he actually took out some names.

And for a theological purpose.

Which is for a different sermon.

Okay.

But he goes and he lists all these names.

And he starts off just with Abraham.

And now this is important, because you're like, Why would we have a letter

about Jesus and get into his great great great great great great all these great

grandfathers Some of these names weren't even mentioned anywhere else in the

Bible Why are we getting into all this?

Again, this is written to a Jewish audience.

For the Jews, it was important to know your ancestry, because that's your tribe.

And so they have meticulous records in the temple that would

show you where you came from.

Better than our system that we have today.

And so you can see this, so this was important in general for them

to know they had records for this.

But here's the key, is that he highlights this.

He says, Jesus is the son of David and the son of Abraham.

Now this is important.

Because if you know, the, the faith, even Christian faith, but the Jewish faith,

there are some key central figures.

And two, you could argue maybe the biggest figures in the

faith was Abraham and David.

Father Abraham had many sons.

Come on.

Y'all know that.

All right.

There you go.

If you haven't worked with the kids, please sign up to work with the kids.

You can learn that song right there.

Okay.

All right.

So Abraham's a father of nations.

And so he's really big.

And then you have King David.

David was really, he wasn't the first king, but he was the best king.

All the kings were referred to whether they were good based on what

David was like, but here was the key is that the promised Messiah.

The promised one, the anointing one, the one who would redeem God's people,

redeem all of creation had to come through the bloodline of Abraham and David.

And so what's Matthew doing right here?

He's letting his audience know and letting you and I know from the

beginning that Jesus is the rightful heir to King David, the Messianic throne

because of his bloodline, but he's also the fulfillment of Abraham being

a blessing to all the nations because he comes from his bloodline as well.

And so we see something really cool, but we see the markings of a God of hope.

You see this ancestry of Jesus here that we go back to, we

see this God of hope here.

We see this, uh, hope and it's really, you see it in several different

ways, but you see this creative grace that God has upon his people.

And I like that phrase.

I read that this week, this creative grace.

As you look at this genealogy of people, you go, man, there's a lot of tough names.

I don't know.

That's probably one of your thoughts.

But if you look at this, you go, wow, there's some really

some huge biblical heroes here.

You got Abraham.

You have David.

Uh, you, you have, you know, certain Kings that were awesome and they did

these great things in Jacob and the patriarchs, but you also have what?

Some really wicked and sinful Kings in there as well.

If you have ever read 1st or 2nd Chronicles or 1st or 2nd Kings,

most of the kings that are listed here were actually wicked kings

as far as when it comes to their faithfulness or unfaithfulness to God

and what they led God's people to.

But yet who comes through their bloodline?

The Messiah.

Despite this wickedness, you see the Messiah being Then

there was these names here.

I don't know if you caught this or hopefully you did.

But there was four women that were mentioned.

And, uh, the women that are mentioned are, uh, uh, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba.

Now, if you know their stories, you know that those stories would

make the local gossip circles.

If you know their stories, you know that would make the inside edition

that was going on over there.

That would make the tabloids, if you will.

You guys get what I'm saying.

And so it's interesting because there's Sarah, there's Rebecca,

there's Rachel, there's all these other women that could be mentioned.

However, he mentions these four.

Huh, why?

Well, there's a number of possible reasons.

What's interesting is that these women, at least three, possibly four, were all

Gentiles, meaning they were non Jews.

So from the beginning, the Messiah and God's plan was

always to include all nations.

What's interesting also as well is that again, there was some scandal through

some questionable choices in, in, in really all of these situations, either

a sketchy past or questionable decisions which affected their family line.

And in some of these cases, you could say that they had illegitimate children,

which sets up for Mary, who has in.

Illegitimate child.

So, hey God's people, look, throughout there's been situations in which God has

worked despite what people were doing.

And we see this God of hope, cause he said, my will shall

be accomplished no matter what.

Even if my people go sideways, I'm still going to accomplish my will.

And you see this grace.

You see Jesus, you go, wow, Jesus is past here.

He's got some, he's got some people maybe that I don't know if you really want to

have a picture of and your family room.

I'm not that's true.

That's the one you go.

Yeah, man Manassas.

That was our great great grandfather boy.

What kind of King was he?

And we can have family trees in which we could feel a

little bit questionable about.

We can maybe feel shame or we can maybe feel like oh, man because of

my past my parents my grandparents my Culture, whatever the case may be

and we can think that we can't become something but God shows us what?

It doesn't matter what the history and past was I can accomplish my will

through you because I'm a god of hope You see God can work in our lives despite

our family our sin Whatever may be a hurdle Because God works regardless.

And He is a God of hope.

Right now Karina is going to share some more about how God is a God

of hope through Jesus lineage.

Karina: So one of the, I, I just really, uh, was in awe this week as I thought

about God's people throughout history and the state of hopelessness that they

were constantly in over and over again.

As I looked at the, as I thought about the genealogy of Jesus and I thought

about the history, I thought about.

All the adversity that God's people, uh, were facing, and the adversity

that was threatening to wipe them out.

And even as, um, Um, we think about the history and we, you know,

Marcel brought up some situations.

There was, there were definitely plenty of historically chaotic situations that God's

people were facing and the environment for the coming of Jesus and the birth of

Jesus was unfavorable to say the least.

And so I wanted to go through some of these names that stood out to me.

You know, starting with Abraham, Abraham was promised this son that

was going to, that he was going to become, uh, the father of many nations.

And so he was going to bear this son and yet Sarah was barren

and was barren for a long time.

She, that, that didn't seem like a hopeful situation.

for this father of many nations.

And, uh, she was 90 years old and laughed at the thought of

having a child because she's 90.

Um, they didn't actually have their kid until Abraham was, they didn't have Isaac

until Abraham was a hundred years old.

And so I thought about that and I'm, and I thought about, wow, the God of hope.

Um, then we continue in the, in his.

In the genealogy and we get to Jacob and Esau and Jacob tricks his father

Isaac into giving him Esau's birthright, which means that the lineage of this,

this promise, this hope, the lineage is supposed to continue through Jacob.

And yet because of his trickery, he has to flee from his brother

who's trying to kill him and is gone from his family away for 20 years.

Again, doesn't seem like it's looking good for, um, for this

lineage, and yet God is working.

I thought about Jacob and his sons.

You know, the sons are supposed to become the people of Israel, and

yet they almost die in a famine.

They have to travel to Egypt, uh, they have to travel to just get grain.

They, they go, and if you know the story of Joseph, Joseph brings them over,

uh, to Egypt just so they can survive.

Because things are not looking good for the Israelites.

And so, God's people survive, and the lineage continues.

The story of Judah and Tamar, that's a scandal, but we don't have time to get

into it, but his lineage almost ended.

He had two sons, he had three sons, two of them die without having kids.

And then the third one, I don't know what's going on, but Tamar feels the need

to take matters into her own hands and ends up being the one to bear Judah's, um,

Son that continues the lineage of Jesus.

And so, again, over and over we see this creative grace, um, that

God is working amongst his people.

Uh, when, um, Salman and Rahab come into the picture, right before that,

the Israelites are, have been wandering in the desert for, For 40 years,

they've been wandering the desert.

This idea of the promised land, it's there, but it's, it's looking gloomy.

Um, but yet, here it is, um, they've been, you know, their

leader Moses has just died.

Uh, but there's still this promise of, I'm going to enter this promised land.

And Rahab ends up being the one, this foreign woman, ends up being

the one to save the day, to help the Israelites get into the promised land.

We keep going, you get to Boaz and Ruth.

Another famine has hit the Israelites.

And again, um, you know, Ruth, she's a Moabite.

She has that whole story.

They have to She has to travel back to Israel.

Um, the husband that she had died and the whole, that whole line dies.

So Boaz ends up inadvertently becoming the one to continue

the lineage of Jesus with Ruth.

Um, and that, um, you know, that seemed almost impossible.

Boaz was an older man.

He says that to Ruth like, Oh, you could have gone after any of the younger

men, but you chose me, an older man.

So again, uh, famine.

Uh, these creative grace stories.

Uh, we get to David, uh, now the Israelites are facing war.

So now, not, not only are they being threatened by famine at different times,

but now we're introducing also war into the picture, the Philistine army,

that's where you get Goliath and he's threatening them and they're scared,

but David comes in, he almost has to, um, he almost gets killed by Saul.

So all these things over and over again.

And it doesn't get really much better after that.

And Northern Israel falls to, is, uh, to Assyria.

Then you have Judah who's captured, uh, by Babylonia and they have, they are,

the Israelites are taken into exile.

So hopeless situations.

Over and over again.

Hopefully you're getting the picture.

Um, but evil kings, famines, war, all of that exposed God's people and the lineage

of Jesus to destruction and elimination.

And as I think about that And I think about the near impossibility

of the survival of his lineage.

I see hope.

I see hope and I see God's presence.

Because all throughout what I see is God was always there.

Even when there was, the Israelites were being threatened.

God was there.

He knew.

He knew what was going to happen.

And so it makes me think that God is always there.

There God is always present even through the dark times.

God never abandoned his people He never forgot his promises not even

to Abraham and he never gave up on the Israelites And what that

reminds me that he he never lost hope

Marcel: Amen, amen And so we see again this God of hope And the application

then for us is that we serve, still have a relationship with this same God.

The God of yesterday is the God of today and the God of the future.

And if he's been a God of hope, then for his people, he's a God

of hope for today, us, his people.

And so we can have hope in the hope of God.

That means there's hope for our faith.

There's hope for this world.

Many times we talk to people, I was talking to my neighbor,

she's like, I just feel so bad about where this world is going.

But because there's a God of hope who's present, there's hope for the world!

There's hope for your faith.

There's hope for your marriage.

There's hope for your parents.

There's hope for your kids.

There's hope for that relative.

There's hope for that challenge that's in your life.

There's hope for your finances.

There's hope for your job.

There's hope for your mental health despite what's going on.

There's hope for that relationship.

There's hope for maybe a potential dating or marriage relationship.

There's hope for overcoming that sin that has had you in chains.

There's hope for that addiction that you feel like you just can't break away from.

There is hope because we serve a God of hope.

He's been showing up from the beginning, from Abraham to Jesus, and he's been

doing that for the last 2, 000 years, and we can testify to that as well.

You see, our God is present, even when it seems like it's hopeless.

In all those situations that Karina mentioned, I'm sure they're at one

point like, man, there ain't no hope.

Why should I try?

But they kept one foot going and God came through And so we can apply

that to our lives today in 2023.

Can I get an amen Church?

And so what does this call us to do?

Why I believe it calls us to have at least two responses and that's to worship

and to persevere Karina's gonna share a little bit about what it means to

worship in response to this God of hope

Karina: When I think about Everything that I talked about, the God of

hope, I think it calls me to worship.

That was the first thing that came to mind because I think about how

he's always moving and actively participating in our lives and, um,

that's worthy of praise because I, in.

Um, in my limited view, uh, I can just see problems, but God is bigger than that.

And that's what I see.

God is working in mysterious ways.

God is, uh, working creatively behind the scenes.

And it also makes me think that he's so much bigger.

Uh, he's so much bigger than this.

This, this small portion that I can see and my small life.

Um, and so I worship, it makes me worship, it makes me reflect in my own

life, but it also makes me, uh, want to worship together because I think

about, well, I don't know what God is doing in this person's life or that

person's life or that person's life.

And I want to know, I want to be there for the miracle.

I want, I think about what he's doing with the next generation, with the

kids that are in children's ministry.

There's so much that I don't know that God could be doing and the hope that

he's offering through our kids, the hope that he's offering through the college

students, um, the hope that he's offering through the older generation as well.

But I want to be around for the miracles.

Um, I think about in the account of Matthew, we, you know, we're

not reading that part, but I think about the Magi who traveled.

To Jerusalem because they heard of this hope they heard.

Oh, there's something special that's happening there.

This Messiah that we've been waiting for is there and they worshipped.

It brought them to worship.

Um, they wanted to come near to God.

In Luke we read that the shepherds heard about Jesus and that,

uh, they went to see Jesus.

And it says they returned glorifying and praising God for all the

things they had heard and seen.

This, uh, this man, Simeon, he got to hold Jesus and he praised God and

basically said he was ready to die.

I'm ready to die.

I've seen Jesus.

Uh, but just the hope that God offered through Jesus compelled people to worship.

And so I think about how hope should draw me near to God.

And even when I don't fully grasp all that he's doing.

That's what makes it even more special that God is offering something greater

than I can ask for or imagine and that Generation after generation.

He's offering this hope and that brings me to worship

Marcel: Amen, amen As we think about worship, it leads to perseverance.

That's a thought that came to mind for me Is that okay if I know God is

a God of hope and he's present and as I worship him I go Let me hold on.

I Yes, it might be bleak.

Yes, it might be rough.

It might be tough.

But if I just hold on, I'll see the promise fulfilled.

In every situation.

They were just hoping and then God came through all the way.

Sit down.

We want the Messiah.

The Messiah was born and now we wait and anticipate.

Where were the Messiah?

What return?

And he will return.

And so we need to hold.

And take one step each day in the direction of the Lord And so

what does that mean that means turning to God surrendering?

To him so that that hope could be fulfilled in our lives praying We ought

to start off with praying and then getting help from each other and if you're

visiting or you're visiting online Well, we'd love to sit down with you and be able

to show you this God of hope and how we can provide that hope with you today You

know generations led All these generations that are mentioned led to the hope being

fulfilled in Christ and again We wait in anticipation for the hope to be fulfilled

when Jesus Returns, we're gonna take communion right now and I want to read

this passage in Titus chapter 2 You know God reveals hope in Jesus's birth and also

Titus 2 · chapter mention

in his death and isn't in his resurrection and it says while we wait for the blessed

Hope the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Let's pray.

Father, thank you so much again for showing us that you are a God of hope.

We see your hope displayed in Jesus's birth.

We see your hope displayed in the resurrection and we thank you that

we have the hope of Jesus return.

God, we don't, I don't know where everybody is today, whether they're

fired up in their faith or they're struggling, but God, I pray that we

will worship you truthfully with our lives that God, we will hold on to

the truth and the faith that we have.

And that we will persevere.

Thank you for being a God who has hope in us as we see.

God that you not only have hope in you, but you have hope in us

that we will respond to your call.

And thank you for the display of love in Jesus.

In his name, Amen.