Hope of the Earth: Hope in the Darkness - November 30, 2025

It is my privilege to invite you to today's sermon podcast.

I have made the Apostle Paul's prayer request my own.

When he states in Ephesians 6, 19, pray also for me, that whenever I open my

mouth, the words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

May today's sermon come alive to you and aid you in your understanding of God's plan for your life.

Well, did anyone take advantage of Black Friday shopping this year?

Don't raise your hand. It's okay.

Aren't you glad I asked you after we took the offering? I saw a video come up

on my phone from the vintage year of 2007.

So vintage, right? Seems like only yesterday, doesn't it?

2007, the scene was Black Friday shopping. It was earliest you can get in the

morning at the Boise Town Square Mall.

And it's what Black Friday used to be. Wall-to-wall people all over the place.

Going down to Build-A-Bear Workshop, going to JCPenney, going to every store

you can imagine, just person to person.

So much rush to get that extremely good deal, to get that $5 teddy bear from

Build-A-Bear Workshop.

If you go perfect under the stocking, you know, or under the tree or in the

stocking, it's all about the rush. You got to get the good deal.

I'm so glad they invented the Black Friday online shopping that started last weekend.

Man, from the comfort of my chair while I'm watching Boise State win the game,

I can just text my order in. And boom, it's there and it'll ship and I got to

hide it from the family so they'll know what I got them.

It's great. But, you know, even though we have that convenience to do that,

there's still a hustle and bustle that goes on.

Because what did we do instead of spending our time out shopping?

And we spent our time getting out to Christmas decorations and getting that

thrown up all over the house.

There's always something that's there to fill the void when a convenience takes

over or makes something easier. you know?

But there's something about the season we call Advent that just says, time out.

Let's remember what all this hustle and bustle is really about.

Let's get down to the heart of the matter, and let's take time to remember.

Take time to remember what Christmas is all about, because Advent is the lead up to Christmas.

And what is Christmas all about? It's about God sending his only begotten son

to all of humankind to be born of a virgin,

to grow up and to live a sinless life, to give his life willingly on a cross

for all those that didn't care about him or didn't believe in him,

even for those that did especially.

But Christmas is about Jesus, therefore Advent's about Jesus and lead up to

that. And so we remember that,

As a kid, I didn't celebrate Advent. I didn't know what that was.

That was from some other kind of church where the preacher weared weird robes

and always had these different color vestments on, you know,

and I always thought it was like a graduation.

You know, you go to graduation, you get a robe and you get a special thing on

you. If you got like a 4.0 or, you know, you wore all these different things.

So Advent was foreign to me, but I'm glad I stumbled across it as I got older

and that we celebrate that in our churches because it gives you a longer time.

It gives you a whole month to think about what Christmas is about rather than just one day.

It's the buildup to that. We get to wait expectantly, wait to celebrate the

coming of Jesus Christ, the first coming, his first advent.

But also it helps us to think about his second advent when Jesus will return

again with the victory that he's afforded all of us. Victory over sin, victory over death.

For an eternity, we get to be the victors.

Isn't that awesome? And so we celebrate this. We remember what Jesus did.

We remember back to the Old Testament how they waited for a Savior,

how they were marred and oppressed, how they had no freedom,

true freedom that comes that we've experienced through Jesus and all the ills

of sin that they suffered.

So during this time of Advent, it's that time that you invest,

the time you invest to remember what Jesus has done,

to remember what life was like perhaps before Christ, and then all the events

leading up to the giving of Jesus to all humanity, that unwrapping of the greatest

gift that there ever was in Christ.

So when we think about this Advent season, that's what it calls us to do.

It calls us to wait, and it calls us to remember.

While the world rushes around, get this deal and get that deal.

We remember what the season's really all about, and we can recall God's faithfulness.

We can remember that God made a promise and that God kept that promise,

that anytime God makes a promise, he's going to keep that promise.

And so within us, we can have a true hope, not something that's based on something that's false.

Now, we think about what the word hope is all about. It just doesn't mean expectation,

although it is about expectation.

A hope is not just about desire, what you desire to happen, but a hope really,

when we get down to it, is that trust.

Hope is that confidence. Hope even is that refuge in God.

Why? Because we know he's a God that has made promises, and he's a God that kept promises.

And so thanks be to God, we could trust him. We can have hope in him because

he's going to come through because he always has.

Now, sometimes it might seem delayed because we prayed and prayed and prayed,

and we've just not seen any traction in our prayers.

Sometimes we pray and pray. Maybe you've even knelt down here and you've prayed

and prayed, and it just seems like your prayer bounces off the ceiling and comes

back down and rattles around somewhere for Mary to find when she's doing the janitorial work,

But I got to tell you, Mary hasn't found any prayers. She's prayed some prayers,

I know, as she's walked through the church.

But she hasn't found any loose prayers, so guess what? God's heard them.

Every prayer that you make, God has heard them. And you can trust that God will

answer. Doesn't mean we're always going to like the answer.

Sometimes God says, wait, wait a minute. Wait, I'm working it out. Trust me.

Other times God's going to say no.

No. well, this isn't for you. This isn't for this time. No, it's not going to happen.

But sometimes it's going to be yes. Isn't that great?

You got kids. Some of you have grandkids and some of them are great about pestering you for stuff.

Every time you go, they go, you go to the store with them. Can I have this? Can I have this?

Their expectation, of course, is that you're going to say no,

because you've already said it 25 times, but they're counting on that one time.

They're hoping in that one time that you will actually say yes.

Yeah, I'll buy you that snicker bar. Put it on the counter. What? Really?

The surprise that they have when that happens.

Advent is about that hope, that expectation. And like I said before,

it's also the time where we weighed an expectation of Christ's glorious return

to bring all things to that final conclusion.

And so we begin this, which in many circles and the way they do church years,

it's the first of the church year, not the Nazarene church year,

but liturgically speaking and such.

It's the first day, the first worship day for the new church year.

And as a part of our tradition in celebrating Advent, we like to look to the gospels.

And this morning, we're going to look to the gospel of luke chapter 2 and we're

Luke 2 · chapter mention

just going to read three verses today but i'll invite you if you're able and

willing to to stand with me as we read the word of the lord from luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

Scripture says, in those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census

should be taken of the whole entire Roman world.

This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria,

and everyone went to their own town to register.

Father, may your word impact us today, God. It's brief in the way I've just read it.

Lord, it's part of a greater picture, a greater story of how you unfolded that

first advent, the first giving of Christ.

But Lord, help us to catch from this today that the hope that we have in you,

the hope that our forefathers had, Lord, the hope that others that come after us will have.

And Lord, just speak to our hearts today, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thank you. You can be seated.

There's something about the first phrase in the scripture here,

in those days, that sets the tone for something great that's about to happen.

Think about in those days where Israel was. Here was Israel,

and really in a lot of ways, Israel was in darkness.

Israel did not have the light of God. If you think about the dark times they

were under, consider this.

They were under Roman rule, under Roman oppression.

That's what our text today lines out. In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree.

They were not a free people. They were people that had some governing government authority over them.

They weren't free to continue to worship and to live as they wanted because

there was an oppressor at this time.

Israel was in darkness.

We know that they were going to take a census here. Why do you take a census?

You take a census because you want to know how many people you have to tax,

how many people live in your kingdom, and how much filthy lucre is going to

come in. to the government coffers.

Maybe that's the wrong word. Maybe not filthy lucre because it was coming from

the people that were working hard to make it by honest means.

But we know Israel was in darkness. Their land was occupied.

They weren't free to really be the people of God who God had called them to.

As a matter of fact, it had been over 600 years roundabout that they hadn't

been on their own, that they hadn't called their own shots, that they had been captive off and on.

And it had been 400 years since they had a recognized prophet of God to come

and to proclaim the word of God.

Now, y'all were without a pastor for a few years, but you had a prophet in here.

You had someone here to preach for you, Pastor Les, right?

But can you imagine 400 years without someone to guide you?

400 years, several, several generations.

Israel was dark. There was brokenness among them.

There was a waiting taking place because all the way back to the prophet Isaiah,

They heard prophecies about a Messiah, one who would come and rescue them,

one who would come and save them from their brokenness, save them from their oppressors.

And yet they still waited in the midst of their brokenness. They waited.

Kind of brings light, a new light to Psalm 130 verses five and six. Listen to this.

I waited, I wait for the Lord.

My whole being waits. and in his word, I put my hope.

I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning.

I love the sentiment of this. The psalmist cries out, man, we're waiting,

God. We're waiting. We can't wait.

For those of you that ever worked the night shift, you can't wait till that

sun starts coming up. You know your shift is about over.

You can't wait. You get to go have breakfast and go to bed here the watchman

the scripture says I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning,

that they made it through another shift watching out for the safety of their city.

Israel was in darkness in those days. But you know, there's still darkness that pervades today.

Even with the first advent of Christ, there's still darkness that is in our world.

Think about the kind of darkness that we encounter. We have natural disasters still, don't we?

Of earthquakes and floods, things that come out of nowhere, tornadoes,

hurricanes that are devastating.

Continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Jamaica. Some of their churches

were wiped out by the hurricane that came through not long ago,

Churches that we went by and visited when I was in McCall and we did a mission

trip there It's darkness,

Sucks the hope right out of you.

Where once things were vibrant, natural disasters, we think about war We know

wars and rumors of wars, right?

There's war going on Maybe even a new war down in Venezuela Darkness,

don't have to go outside of our own nation to look at what happens with violence.

Violent things happening, silly things happening, violence disguised under what

they call protests, peaceful protests that aren't very peaceful.

Horrible things, darkness and brokenness. We may have experienced or we may

even know of others with broken relationships,

not just talking about in marriage with divorce, but just relationships between family members,

Hopefully you didn't experience any of that During your Thanksgiving conversations after dinner.

But we know about broken relationships And grief,

Holidays are a hard time As we grieve over lost family members As we grieve

over those lost relationships As we grieve over things that aren't the way they used to be,

All of this just shows the darkness that's around us that sometimes tries to

pervade and tries to enter our life.

And I got to tell you, the world's suffering can be overwhelming, can feel like that.

We can almost end up hopeless if we let that darkness continue to creep in.

When we look at the state of the world, when we look at the state of families,

when we look at what we're up against, it could be depressing.

But there's a scripture I want to share with you from Romans that just reminds

us and helps us to take a time out and to remember what's going on.

It's Romans 8, verses 22 through 25. I'll just read part of it here.

Romans 8:22–25

The scripture says, we know that the whole creation has been groaning as in

the pains of childbirth right up to this present time.

See that when you see this volcano that hasn't exploded for a while, just blow its top.

And you have these crazy earthquakes. And there's these incredible storms that

just seem to come out of nowhere.

The whole of creation groaning in the pains of childbirth right up to this present time.

But the passage goes on, but if we hope for what we do not yet have,

we wait for it patiently.

That even in those days there was darkness, and even in today there is darkness,

we wait patiently for God to unveil what's coming, for God to release the light

that will expose everything in the darkness.

What an apt picture of the earth in childbirth. You can't wait to see what your baby looks like.

Maybe you saw the ultrasound. They didn't have that back then.

Maybe you have the 3D. I hear there's a 4D ultrasound. I don't know what that

is, but you kind of, I think we did for you, Emma. We did the 3D ultrasound.

Need to compare that to see how it turned out. As a matter of fact,

put that on the screen. No, I'm just kidding. Steve doesn't have it.

There would go my Christmas gift from Emma.

We've got to be careful of the darkness, though, not to let it seep in,

because we have to have the hope that Romans had.

Paul, when he wrote the Romans, said, if we hope for what we have,

what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Patiently wait. Man, do I want Jesus to come? Absolutely. Do I want him to come today? Yeah.

Do I want him to set these wrong things right? Absolutely.

But then I remember there's still broken people that need a savior.

There's still sinful people that need those sins forgiven. That without Christ,

they're going to be separated from God for all eternity.

And so I wait patiently, but in the patient waiting, what do we do?

We continue to live as God would have us to live. And we continue to share his

love as God would have us to share his love, which includes the power that Jesus

Christ has over sin, we want to see people saved.

And so though there's brokenness and waiting, we know that hope dawns amidst all the darkness.

Some of my favorite times of traveling is when we leave really late at night,

and as we're driving, the sun starts coming up over the horizon.

I took a pretty picture today. The sun wasn't up yet as I drove to church and

it was just coming up and illuminated the clouds and Noah was with me.

He looked over to the desert hills here and he said, dad, look at how the light

is just coming through under the clouds, hitting the hills over there. Just a beautiful sight.

The pictures don't do it justice, but hope when darkness pervades us and we

don't know what we're doing or where we're going, hope dawns amidst that.

So God was at work in those days. Even though there was darkness, God was at work.

You see, God sent someone named John, Elizabeth's cousin, or Mary's cousin, Elizabeth.

So Jesus had a cousin named John, John the Baptizer, John the Baptist.

God sent him to prepare the way for the Messiah, to preach the repentance, to preach to get ready.

Prepare yourself because God's about to do something awesome. Get ready. here we go.

Whenever we go to a football game, definitely a college game.

And we're waiting around, waiting for the coin toss, waiting for all that stuff,

and then you hear the song come on, you know the team's about ready to come out.

You know there's an excitement that's getting ready to happen,

that your favorite team, the home team, is going to hit the field,

and they're going to storm out, and the crowd's going to go wild. And,

lights are going to flash. If you're at Boise State, the lady's going to ride

out on the horse coming out there.

The guys are going to run out with the sledgehammer, getting ready to play some

ball. It's an exciting time.

We know that hope begins to dawn on that.

With John the Baptist preparing the way, the people's hearts were being ready

and prepared to receive what Jesus was going to offer them, what Jesus was going to bring.

We also know that Mary, the mother of Jesus, that she received the promise of the Messiah.

We know that Joseph, her betrothed, was told that, hey, stick with Mary,

because what is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

Don't get rid of her. Hey, it's your right. You can do that.

The law says you can do that. Tradition says you can do that.

But I want you to hang in there, because I'm up to something.

The hope was dawning amidst all the darkness. The angelic visits,

the testing, the shame that was tried to be thrown upon Mary and Joseph even.

We know that God was at work in those days.

Here's what it says in Matthew, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 42 and verse 7.

Matthew 4.16 says, the people living in darkness have seen a great light.

On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.

And this is from Matthew 4, where Jesus then begins to preach.

Shortly after this verse, he begins to preach, and his message is repent.

Message of repentance. Turn around from your brokenness. Turn around from your sin.

Turn around and accept what I'm here to bring you.

That was Jesus' message. A light had come through to show the way through their

brokenness, to show the way to the wholeness that God was providing.

And just as God was at work then, I got to tell you, God is at work right now.

God is at work right now. And I want to share with you some things from all over the world.

I knew it was Kids Sunday, and so I made up these cool little things that kids

could kind of show around like the people at boxing matches,

You know, where they show the cards Round one, round two,

Well, I'm not going to do that But if you want to see these lovely things I've got them up here.

See, here's what's going on in Africa, just in the church of the Nazarene.

I'm not talking about the global church everywhere, but you hear some crazy

things that are happening in Africa, right?

Our own government has said, hey, you guys need to quit persecuting Christians

to one or two nations over there.

In Africa, I got to tell you, the church continues to grow strong in spite of

the persecution and conflict.

The church is growing so much that congregation have had to build bigger sanctuaries

to house all the people that are coming to worship, to house all the people that are seeking God.

New believers are being baptized in whatever river they can find,

no matter how dirty or how clean it is.

And even in the refugee camps, people are coming to Christ, being saved and being baptized.

Isn't that powerful? In the midst of darkness, God is still at work.

In the whole Africa region. That's just amazing.

Well, let's go to our side of the world in South America.

Young people are growing bold in their faith.

Young people are sharing Christ in their neighborhoods. They're responding to

God's call to become missionaries.

And some have even come to our own nation as missionaries to reach not just

the refugees that have come, but to reach people that are here in those areas

where our churches aren't reaching out or reaching in.

It's amazing that God is at work now, even in South America,

but yet that still spans the globe.

In Mesoamerica, or the Central American region, more than 3,100 students at

eight different Nazarene institutions are being equipped to strengthen their local churches.

But not just that. They're looking how they can better proclaim the word to

those people that are still yet not reached in their own nations.

Powerful! What God is still doing today amidst darkness. I don't know about

you, but I hear about stuff in South America.

We've got a country right now that.

Our government's kind of signaled, hey, quit sending drugs to our shores in Venezuela.

They're just one of many that are in South America. But God's light is still shining through.

There are still churches, even in those darkened areas, that are still doing the work of Christ.

In Asia Pacific, we know about this. Thanks be to God for Jubilee and what he's

doing and the messages we get from Pastor Donahue and that he shares with us.

You know, praise God for what God is doing in the Asia-Pacific region.

Workers are serving strategically in places. We know the church is growing.

There's challenging things going on with wars, with government oppression.

I mean, there's still darkness that pervades, but yet there's church planting going on.

If there's church planting going on, that means people are getting saved,

and so they have to have a pastor there. They're raising up pastors to take

these new baby churches.

I mean, God is on the move in the midst of that.

Men and women are being trained to go out and to serve in Eurasia, Europe and Asia.

We even have migrant Nazarenes. So we're talking about people that have moved

from their home to a new place in Europe.

And they are starting churches. They're planting and strengthening churches that are there.

They're bringing new life and new energy to the work of God.

To a section of the world where they have these great, gigantic,

beautiful cathedrals, but have less than we have in attendance here this morning.

God is revitalizing, doing amazing things. God is at work today.

And we know here in the USA, Canada, that God is still at work.

Even in the midst of aging churches, of aging congregations,

there's still new works being planted in unconventional ways,

out of strip malls, out in the middle of the country where it's a rural area.

Who's going to want to go to church out there? Where's all the people? God's doing it.

Look what God's doing in our own congregation. praise be to God.

It's awesome. God is still at work. There's still darkness around us, but God's still moving.

God is still doing amazing and incredible things.

See, remember, we have hope in God. He makes a promise and he sticks to it.

We can have hope in God because we can trust God that he's going to do what he says he's going to do.

Faithfulness and courage still shine through the darkness today,

no matter where you're at.

Grateful that our church, the Church of the Nazarene, is a global church,

that you can find us in most world areas.

And if we're not there yet, maybe we're already there underneath the radar,

so to speak, in some creative areas where access is limited.

I've got to tell you, God is at work now.

Hope is dawning. God's grace is active, reaching out and drawing people near.

So I love this verse in 1 Peter 1.3. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the

resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Does that verse get you excited? Come on, you can't still be having a turkey

hangover because you ate too much turkey.

We have a living hope.

That's what Advent's about. God is about celebrating a living hope.

It's what this first candle that was lit today represents, the living hope that we have in Christ.

It's not just some obscure promise made over 2,000 years ago,

surrounded by religious mythology.

No, it's a living hope that you can have today, that you can encounter today

in the person of Jesus Christ, who will break through your darkness and bring

the light of his truth into your life.

To shine the spotlight on all those closets you've tried to keep stuff hidden.

Not so he can judge you. Not so he can shame you. Not so he can say, aha, I knew it.

Because God already knows what you're hiding in those closets of your heart

that you're trying to keep hidden from everything else and everyone else.

What God wants to do, what Jesus wants to do, is to help you clean them closets out once and for all.

Take the doors off the hinges so you can't hide nothing in there anymore.

And just be free and open with God.

That's what we celebrate in a living hope is a Savior who has mercy upon us,

as the verse said, who gives us a new birth.

That means a new start, a new beginning, so we can step out in faith and live

a new life that God wants us to live.

That's the living hope that we have.

As we wrap this up today, I just got to say, let's be people of hope. You and me, can we?

Can we covenant that together? let's be people of hope.

Let's not be a Debbie Downer. Debbie, I'm sorry, I didn't put that on your last

name. You're not a downer.

But let's not be that where something

happens and we just immediately go negative. Let's have some hope.

Have some hope that, yeah, it might not be that great, but God's going to do something here.

And let's wait in expectation. And let's wait in anticipation of how God's going

to unfold this great thing that he's going to do.

Advent, remember, It invites us to wait. Advent even invites us to lament.

What does that mean? Well, it means complain to God.

God, I'm sick of all this brokenness around me. God, I'm sick of my family knowing

they need to follow Jesus, but they're not.

God, I'm hurting here because I see my neighbor in need.

And if we're waiting long enough, if we're listening close enough,

We might even hear the Lord say, okay, so do something about it.

This is your passion, step out in faith, and I'm waiting because I want to work through you.

So is there something that you're waiting to step out in faith on?

You're lamenting. There's a lot to lament, but are you taking a step of faith?

Are you saying, God, guide me? I want to help meet this need.

I want to share your love with others. I want to share your love.

There's a poem that was turned into a song and that we're going to sing here

in just a little bit. I heard the bells on Christmas Day Have you heard that before?

Maybe you're familiar with the poem But the old hymn, I guess we could call it,

Speaks about this hope in the midst of darkness It's based on the poem of Henry

Wadsworth Longfellow And it was written during the Civil War So if you kind

of catch the context of what was going on here It was a time where our nation was torn in two,

where sometimes it was family against family in the fight where some people

didn't even know what they were

fighting for but Uncle Jimmy and grandson Festus was so I'm jumping in too.

It's one of those times, and it's during this war that the poem begins,

the hymn with just some beautiful language about the joy of hearing the Christmas

bells, ringing out peace, ringing out goodwill.

You know how Christmas songs can do some things for you, right?

Why do you think they play it while you're Christmas shopping?

They want you to be a joyful giver to them,

to feel all this peace and joy as you're shopping for things,

And then when you look at your credit card statement later, you're like,

what did I do that for? No, don't do that.

But the bells were ringing out, peace and goodwill. And then as you go through

the poem, as you go through the song, all of a sudden, another sound rings out.

It's the sound of cannons.

It's the sound of people shouting and people dying.

It shatters the speaker's peace. It shatters what illusion they had of the goodwill,

and it really throws them into despair.

Believing that hatred and war have made a mockery out of peace and goodwill.

But yet then, the bells ring again, giving the poet hope, giving the poet a

different mindset. And here's some of the lyrics that gives us hope.

God is not dead, nor doth he sleep.

The wrong shall fail The right prevail With peace on earth Goodwill toward men So guys,

in the darkness When despair threatens to

overwhelm you Remember that our

God Our God is the one that we have hope in And that God neither sleeps nor

slumbers He's not taking a break He didn't put a sign on the door that says

Out to lunch but he's at work actively today just like he was back then.

God is unfolding, that God is calling, that God is offering his mercy and his grace to people.

And we know that one day he's going to redeem and restore all of creation,

that all the wrong things will be made right.

This is our hope. This is the hope that we share.

God is at work bringing light. God is at work bringing peace and ultimate restoration.

Choose hope. Choose hope and trust that God will redeem and restore all of that creation.

We choose hope today. Choose hope this week.

Even in the midst of a time where you can just complain to God about whatever.

Hey, that's important. There's a place for lamentations. There's a book in the

Bible called Lamentations.

But let's turn that lamenting into praise. Let's remember even this song that

we're going to sing right now.

To turn around our attitude to have that true hope in Jesus.

As the praise team comes, I just want to encourage you during this time as you're

singing If it does seem like darkness is just creeping in You want some prayer,

I invite you to come down during this song,

Maybe you're like, well, it's not for me, but someone else Hey, why wait?

Come and let's pray for others who are in the midst of darkness Who need the

light of Christ to shine through Because that's the promise we have That we

can all trust in God and therefore we can all hope in God,

Would you stand, and if God calls you this morning, I invite you to come forward. Let's pray.

I want to thank you for joining today's sermon podcast. You can find a copy

of today's sermon, as well as other sermons, and the sermon outline from today

on our church's website,

www.mvcnaz.org.

It is my prayer also that you will seek out a church home that recognizes the authority of the Bible.