Advent | Hope | Gary Vet

Well hope Community Church, it is great to see you today. Uh, my name's Dwayne.

I'm one of the pastors here and I get the privilege of welcoming you to church

today. Now at Hope Community Church,

we like to say that we are a family of families who loves God,

follows Jesus and shares hope in any way that we possibly can.

And we want you to be a part of that hope.

And so just know that we're glad that you're here today and listen at the end of

service today,

we'll share with you how you can get connected here at hope and be a part in a

deeper way of that family. Now,

one of the things we recognize as a family is that God has called the family to

some unique roles and some things that we do to share the love of Christ with

the people around us.

And one of those ways is through our generosity that's giving back of our time

and our talent and our treasure from all of the things that God has so

graciously given to us. Now, a few weeks back,

our lead pastor shared some vision as we were moving through the holiday season

about how we can be generous as a church.

And so we started a brown bag campaign to collect simple food items,

drop 'em off at our physical campuses,

and those items get distributed to the week,

both to our local schools and through a food pantry that we have at the Raleigh

campus. Now,

I'm excited to share that because of your generosity in just a few short weeks,

you as Hope Community Church have collected over 20,000 pounds of food.

Can we just give some praise for that?

And that might be a reason when we think about it, to celebrate and think, okay,

the work's been done.

But can I just tell you that the needs never stop and that beyond the holidays,

through the advent season and even beyond Christmas,

there will still be needs in our community and we want to be the kind of church

that's positioned to help with those needs.

And so one of the ways that you can continue to support that is through your

generosity, uh, with food.

The way that you can do that is simply to text the word food to the number 7 2 9

8 9.

And that'll give you a list of items that you can pick up at your local grocery

store and continue to bring those to our physical campuses throughout the week

and even through the weekend.

And you need to know that everything that you give makes a difference.

Your generosity makes a difference. Now, speaking of generosity at hope,

one of the things we say is that we want to be the kind of church that makes a

difference even through our giving.

And so we always share ways with you that we can give here at hope.

And one of the best ways you can do that is simply to text the word give to 7 2,

9, 8, 9.

And all the information will be there for you to be and continue to be a

faithful giver. Now, this is speaking of giving.

This is another opportunity for us to give our worship to a loving and living

God. So let's continue to worship. Welcome to hope. We're glad you're here.

Can we give God some thanksgiving today. Amen. Amen.

You may take your seats. It's because of that newborn king, Jesus Christ,

the son of God, born of a virgin here on earth.

He lived a perfect life and he was tortured

And he was crucified and he died. But we believe he didn't stay dead,

but that he rose again to the glory of God and for the sake of our

salvation. And as a family,

we spend time together to remember what Christ did by taking

communion. So if you're at home or you're sitting in the coffee shop,

you can find a cracker, a piece of bread, some coffee, some juice.

But we're gonna get something to represent what Christ went through.

And so if you have your elements with you,

you can open it up and you can take off that top piece.

And it's the the cracker,

it's represents the piece of bread that on the night before he was crucified,

Christ took and he broke. He goes, this is my body broken for you.

Take and eat. Let's take together.

In the same way, he took the cup and said,

this is my blood poured out for you. Take and drink.

Would you pray with me? Jesus, you are worthy.

You are worthy of every emotion we can possibly muster to express our

gratitude for your greatness and your boldness and your faithfulness to the

Father.

We remember you in this time and the great sacrifice that you made on our

behalf.

And we worship you as the name above every name of the king of kings and the

word in Jesus' name and pray. Amen.

We're gonna continue to respond to the goodness of Jesus today as we continue to

worship. So you can stand, you can sit,

but this is between you and the Lord right now.

Advent is a paradoxical season,

a season of waiting and anticipation in which the waiting itself is strangely

rich and fulfilling.

A season that looks back at the people who waited in darkness for the coming

light of Christ and yet forward to a fuller light still to come and illuminate

our darkness.

Advent falls in winter at the end of the year in the dark and cold,

but its focus is on the coming light in life.

When the agent of days becomes a young child and says, behold,

I make all things new.

I dunno about you, but my heart is full with those songs.

What great truths we just expressed in song.

And it reminds me of Paul's words that we need to encourage each other and

strengthen each each other through Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.

So we just enjoyed that together.

And now we begin a four-part series focusing on advent.

And some of you, because of your past church experience,

know exactly what I'm talking about and other people are thinking,

what is an advent? I've heard of an advent wreath,

an advent calendar. What is advent? Well,

simply the word means arrival or coming

and refers to two distinct physical bodily

arrivals of Jesus to earth.

Of course we know really well this one because we're celebrating Christmas,

the Christmas season, Jesus coming as a baby.

But there's another event where he's coming back and that is coming back to

right all wrongs as the just judge.

We sang a little bit about that in one of our songs today.

And I wanna just pause to consider these truths for just a minute before we look

at first Peter chapter one, our text for this morning.

And when we think about Matthew chapter one,

in the account of Jesus coming as a baby,

we recount that there is the angel of the Lord who comes to

Joseph.

Joseph is engaged to marry who is pregnant with the Christ child.

And he says in Matthew chapter one,

this is the angel of the Lord speaking to Joseph.

He says in Matthew chapter one, verse 23,

behold the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son

and they shall call his name Emmanuel,

which translated means God with us.

Now that's a quote that the angel of the Lord is using from

740 years before Isaiah chapter seven and verse 14.

So an angel of the Lord is quoting the Old Testament

about something that's happening centuries later.

And the name

God with us several weeks ago,

Jason was in Genesis chapter three and talked about what God said to the serpent

that a seed would come from the woman and that seed would crush the head of the

serpent, though the serpent would bruise the head of uh,

of the child.

And here that seed bears fruit because Mary

is pregnant with that child

and he is called Emmanuel God with us.

Because back in the garden,

God's presence was no longer experienced as the man and the woman were driven

out of the garden. God was with them.

And now Jesus comes Emmanuel God with us.

And then as we fast forward to Revelation 21 and 22,

we have a picture of what's going to happen when Christ comes

for the second advent.

And that is he is going to make a new heaven and a

new earth. And Revelation 21 verse three says this,

behold the tabernacle of God is among men and he will

dwell among them and they will be his people and God himself will be among them,

repeats three times the fact that God is going to be among us.

He was in the garden, he was in the tabernacle,

he was in the temple, he was in human form in Jesus.

And Jesus is coming back again,

making a new earth for us to dwell with God once again.

Well, how's that possible? Well,

the other name given by the angel of the Lord to Joseph in that same chapter,

Matthew chapter one is this,

she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus,

for he will save his people from their sins.

So the purpose of the first advent is the death barrel and resurrection of Jesus

Christ. We know in the gospels that Jesus set his face towards Jerusalem

in order to die and to be raised up again and then to

ascend to his father's right hand where he reigns today.

And the cross makes possible the second advent and for God

dwelling with us again. So that's the story of the Bible.

So when we talk about advent, it's not unimportant. In fact,

all of the letters of the New Testament speak to both advents.

We're gonna see this in first Peter chapter one.

I'd like you to turn there first Peter chapter one.

So between Christ's first advent when he came as a baby and when he comes as the

just judge that's going to right all wrongs, what are we to do?

Because from the very first century until today 2000 years,

people are wondering when is he coming back?

There's all kinds of people that give dates,

but they don't know and they will never know.

So what are we supposed to do now? Oh, Peter says this in one Peter chapter one,

verse one, Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ,

to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pania,

Galacia, Cappadocia, Asia Bia,

that's modern day Turkey who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God

the Father by the sanctify,

sanctifying work of the spirit to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his

blood. May grace and peace be your in the fullest measure.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who according to his great mercy,

has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of

Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance which is imperishable.

Undefiled will not fade away,

reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God

through faith for salvation,

ready to be revealed in the last time in this.

And these truths,

you greatly rejoice even though now for a little while if necessary,

you have been distressed by various trials.

So is that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold which is

perishable,

even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor

at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And though you have not seen him,

you love him. And though you do not see him now you believe in him,

you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory obtaining

as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Peter, writing to an audience of newly converted believers

residing in modern day Turkey

and he's telling them how he views the two advents of

Christ. That's what he's talking about.

But before we look at what he wrote, lemme say something about Peter,

if we're gonna listen to him,

probably worthwhile to know a little bit about him.

So as I think through Peter's life as he's called to be a disciple of Jesus,

I I think of Luke five,

five where Peter is on a boat thinking he knows better than Jesus.

Remember they fished all night, hadn't caught a thing. Jesus shows up and says,

Hey, put your boats back out, throw the nets soon.

And you know Peter, he's like, uh, Jesus,

we fished we're fishermen. You are not. You're the rabbi.

We fished all night nothing. But as he says that,

he catches the master's eye looking at him like Peter. He said,

but what you say I'll do? And there Peter in the boat

thinking he knows better learns, obedience

or Matthew chapter 14,

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

Jesus or Peter rather, in the water, fearing and doubting,

remember they're in the boat and Jesus comes walking on the water.

They think he's a ghost and they're afraid. And Jesus says, Hey,

peace beats you. It's me. And Peter says, if it's you,

it's like Peter, he just said it was, if it's you, let me come to you.

He says, come. So Peter gets out of the boat,

starts walking and begins to look down, doubting.

And Jesus says to him, Peter, where's your faith?

So Peter on a boat thinking he knows better than Jesus in the water,

fearing and doubting Jesus. And then in John chapter 18,

John 18 · chapter mention

Peter in the garden acting tough.

Remember Jesus And the disciples are in the garden,

and this is where Judas is going to betray Jesus.

And the high priests and their officials come,

servants come and there's Peter and what does he do? Oh no,

you're not taking my Jesus. And he pulls out a sword and he waxs off Mel's ear

there in the garden acting all tough.

The same chapter just verses away,

literally just hours away in the actual event,

Peter in the courtyard running scared and telling lies,

Peter, doubting, questioning,

impetuous, denying.

Can you identify with Peter?

Ever doubted Jesus ever questioned him,

ever denied him before friends. So that's Peter.

The last scene is Peter on the shoreline being restored

after the resurrection. Jesus,

he's on the shoreline and Peter's there and he says to Peter, Peter,

do you love me? The Lord, do you know I love you?

He asked him that twice. And the third time,

Peter probably upset that Jesus is questioning his love, says, do you love me?

Peter says, yes. He says, feed my sheep.

Peter on the shoreline being restored.

He knew what it was like to have ups and downs.

He knew what it was like to think right half the time and think wrong the other

half, 50 time 50% of the time being right,

50% of the time being wrong sometimes saying brilliant things

like you're at the crisis.

Some of the living God and other times saying other things where Christ reserved

his harshest, rebuke for him, get the behind me Satan,

Peter, like you and me normal.

But in the normal ups and downs of faith,

God lays hold of him like he does the rest of us.

And I think one of the greatest lies the evil one puts out is this.

If you've ever messed up, if you've ever done something stupid,

if you ever said something that was hurtful,

then you're washed up. You can't be used.

God's done with you. And nothing, nothing could be further from the truth.

We see this in the life of Peter. It's no wonder he writes the way he writes,

filled with joy and gladness because of God's mercy.

We need that. You need that. I need that.

God wants to use us.

He doesn't simply save us to instruct us.

He instructs us that he might use us in ways that we can't even imagine.

So here's Peter. He's writing, he's writing to these new converts.

They're from all over the world now living in these, this, uh,

modern day Turkey.

And he gives us three truths that are true of every believer,

every one of us. The first one is this,

we are chosen by God.

Secondly, we are redeemed by the blood of the lamb.

He says that in one Peter one, 18 and 19.

We won't look at that this morning today. And then third,

we are sanctified or made holy by the spirit of God.

So wait a minute, I, I believed in God. I I was searching him,

seeking for him and found him. And, and that is a human experience.

But when we understand in time,

we look back at it and we say the Father planned it.

Jesus achieved it and the spirit applied it.

And that's the reality for all of us.

That's the truth we sang about today.

The Trinity at work in your life, in my life,

chosen by God, redeemed by Jesus,

sanctified by the spirit of God.

There's much that can be said and needs to be said about all of this.

But I want to focus on what happens when Peter says those

things. What does he do?

What he does is what we ought to do. Verse three,

blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He bursts out and prays.

Paul does the same thing in Ephesians one, three,

blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.

When we consider what God has done for us,

our heart's disposition ought to be praise, blessed bee, praise God.

Right? And if it's not,

perhaps we have a heart problem.

Perhaps our faith has grown old and cold

or perhaps we don't understand what Christ actually

accomplished for us in his first advent.

And so Peter wants us to understand exactly that.

It reminds me of the old hymn you're familiar with.

Perhaps when I think that God, his son, not sparing,

sent him to die,

I scarce can take it in that on the cross our burden gladly bearing,

he bled and died to take away our sin,

then sings my soul,

my savior God to thee how great thou art.

How great thou art. When we consider what God has done for us,

we burst out in praise.

So he talks about what he's praising God for and the first thing he talks about

is His mercy. His mercy.

I hope that is an important word to you, his mercy.

We live in a day that calls for justice, that demands rights.

We'll do well to be grateful for God's mercy rather than to cry out for his

justice. We know what his justice brings.

But the beauty of Christ's second advent is that the just

Judd Jesus Christ is going to come and right all wrong.

So everything that's upside down, he's gonna turn right side up.

That day is coming. And between the two events,

what we experience is mercy. Mercy.

Mercy is simply two parts.

One, there's a need on the part of a person. The person is in misery,

the person is broken, the person needs help. And then two,

a person who has the resources to meet that need,

not out of the first person deserving it, but simply because of love.

And that's God's mercy. He saw our brokenness.

And before he saw it all experienced by humanity,

he said in the garden, I'm sending one to take care of the problem.

Mercy throughout scripture,

mercy throughout your life and my life.

Then he says, what does this mercy do? Well,

it causes us to be born again. Now wait a minute.

That word is kind of a new word, isn't it?

Didn't Chuck Colson write a book in 1976 called, born Again?

I was in Jimmy Carter talked about being a born again Christian.

What does born again mean? What's it all about? And of course,

that word is also 2000 years old. That idea,

Jesus talking to Nicodemus, who came to him at night,

Jesus said, it's,

it's necessary for you to be born again in order to enter the kingdom of God.

And Nicodemus says, well wait a minute,

I can be born again. Like enter my mother's womb again. And Jesus, you know,

you just imagine Jesus looking at him like, man,

I I I thought you were brighter than that. Nicodemus. Of course,

I'm not talking about a physical birth. I'm talking about a spiritual birth,

a renewal that takes place on the inside. Yes,

born of water and born of spirit.

That's the same context by the way, when Jesus is talking to Nicodemus,

that we get John three 16,

so born again and John three 16 are part of the same passage because

they refer to the same thing for God.

So love the world that he gave his only son,

that whoever believes in him should have. What? Eternal life. Right?

Eternal life. We have physical life.

It's broken. All we need is eternal life. And Jesus came to to give that.

And that's what he gives us. According to his mercy, he gives us new life.

Paul says it a different way in Ephesians chapter two,

a bit more bluntly. He said, you are dead and your trespasses and sins.

But then verse four of Ephesians two says,

but by God's grace and mercy,

he makes us alive. That's what it means to be born again.

And so he's really focusing in on God's mercy and this idea

that he has new life and what does that new life bring?

'cause that's what Peter really wants to focus on.

And that's actually a subject for the day. We're finally there.

And that is hope, hope,

hope. It's a word that we use pretty much every day. You know,

I hope I make it to the meeting on time.

I hope de still has the Grand Slam breakfast special, uh, um,

on a beautiful Saturday morning. Now parents, you have to admit this,

on a beautiful Saturday morning, you say,

I hope that my son's soccer practice gets

canceled.

, right?

We hope for a lot of things.

I hope that I'm done speaking before you're done listening.

Then we use it for more serious things.

I hope that my test results come back with no cancer.

I hope my child will reconcile with me. You fill in the blank.

We hope for a lot of things. But Peter's not talking about that kind of hope.

Those kinds of, that kind of hope is,

is a hope that arises out of an internal desire to have a different outcome,

a different kind of relationship with someone,

a different kinda life.

But the kind of hope that Peter refers to is a living hope that rests in

the mercy and only in the mercy of God.

He caused us to be born again to a living hope because of his mercy.

And this is not a, I hope so, kind of hope.

Like I hope I get to heaven when I die. I hope I've been good enough. It's,

I know. So kind of hope, a certain hope.

So I believe that hope is a settled confidence and God's plan through

Jesus Christ to give us,

to allow us to enjoy a joy-filled and fil life in the present days of

disappointments and difficulties. 'cause that's real life.

That's the hope that we need. But let's look at a few things about hope.

This living hope is first of all, a hope that is grounded in the past.

It's grounded in the past. In this sentence is a living hope.

Through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead,

he was dead and is now alive. Scripture calls him our hope.

So our hope is alive.

We have living hope 'cause our hope is all wrapped up in the mercy of God,

found in the Lord Jesus Christ and what he accomplished through his death,

burial, and resurrection. It says, hope that it's grounded in the past,

certainly is a hope that is focused on the future.

Look at verse four,

to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable,

undefiled,

and will not fade away presently reserved in heaven

for you. It's a hope that's focused on the future,

Grounded in the past, focused on the future. In fact, Paul,

Paul deals with hope a lot in one Corinthians 15, according to the resurrection.

And if our hope is only for this world,

like we only have hope while we live these 70, 80 years of life,

then we are to be of all people. Most pitied.

And lot of people say psych, uh, Christianity is like a psychological crutch.

And that's what they would be talking about.

If our faith was only for this earth that's focused

on the future.

When we experience the second advent of Jesus,

the second arrival when he comes, as I said before, to right all wrongs,

but these three words, imperishable, undefiled,

will not fade away.

Those are the kinds of things that we experience in this life.

Fruits and vegetables perish. People

perish.

But.

About our future already guaranteed and secured.

Imperishable,

undefiled has the idea of being stained or spoiled in some

way. You, you know what that's like?

Every time I wear a tie, I drip on it,

stains, everything gets stained,

it fades. It's the idea of of, uh,

undefiled where we'll find, not fade away. The idea of of fading

diamonds lose their luster. They have to be cleaned. Your couches fade,

your rugs fade, everything fades. It loses its luster.

Your car needs polished and waxed. And

in this world, that's what we face.

But that which is reserved for us in heaven,

no per no death, no dying, no

stains never loses its luster.

I think sometimes today we're so earthly might have,

were no heavenly good.

We don't think about the future. Very often we think about the now

we say, well, I hope I make it. I I want that. I want that kinda life.

Well, verse five is great.

We're protected by the power of God through faith

who's protecting us. God, his power.

That is good news. If it was up to my power, I wouldn't make it.

That is for sure.

God's going to make sure that you get your inheritance.

That doesn't fade. That doesn't perish. That is good news.

But the, but what I love about this passage

is the next point.

It's a hope that is active in the present.

So that's where we are. We're in the present. Peter was in the present.

Every human being is in the present that is alive.

And what I appreciate about the Bible is it doesn't provide a false perspective

about hope or about life. Verse six,

in this you greatly rejoice in what God's mercy we're born again to a

living hope reserved in heaven for us, protected by the power of God.

That is good news.

We greatly rejoice in that even though now for a little while, our lifespan,

since it is necessary,

you have been distressed by various trials.

If I was translating this, looking at the words,

you have mental anguish

because of the various size and shape trials that you

experience.

Anybody here have mental anguish

struggling with hopelessness,

angst and pain because of circumstances in your life? Yes,

we all do. And this mental anguish is,

is really important that we,

we deal with because it will destroy us if we don't remember

the living hope.

Here's a snapshot of of this. Just the last week or so,

a friend discovered he has terminal lung cancer leaving behind six kids.

A mother lost her unborn child.

A wife discovered her husband has early onset dementia.

A young lady lost her father-in-law who was like her father.

A couple exhausted and grieving over a child that is in trouble with the law

parents exhausted from caring for their son who is very sick.

Not sure how long he will live.

Husband watches on as his wife sub comes to alcoholism.

That's just from conversations with some of you.

Distress, mental anguish,

pain, grief, loss,

trauma. That's real life.

That's real life. That's what you're going through.

It is in that context of life, those realities.

Peter doesn't skirt the issue, he deals with it.

We go through anguish

and yet he uses the word to kick off that verse. We greatly rejoice.

And there's the PA paradox, right For the believer we have

great hope, a living hope because of what Christ has done in the past,

what he's going to do in the future and in the in the InBetween

time. Here we are. And what do we do with that grief?

What do we do with that anguish, that pain, that hurt, that angst

at seemingly hopeless situation in which we find ourselves?

What do we do? Well, he tells us That we rejoice

'cause we like our life and all the circumstances, isn't it? No.

Because we have life and eternal life at that.

And we must keep in mind those realities because

as Paul says, we don't grieve like the world that has no hope. We grieve,

but not like that.

We grieve knowing what Christ has done and what he's coming to.

Do we grieve that way?

Does it make the pain less? No,

but it does make it manageable because we know what God

is up to.

And I love the fact that it doesn't skirt those issues because if it did,

this would be pie in the sky stuff like we have to go around always smiling and

happy go lucky. And that is not what we find in scripture.

We find reality met with the reality of what God has done for us in Jesus.

And so Romans 1513 I think is a great verse.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace

in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

You notice that phrase in believing we can't have hope,

we can't have peace even even with these truths that we talked about.

If we actually don't believe them, if we don't hold them dear,

If they're just some list of things that we say we agree with,

they're not going to help you in your moment.

And moments of mental anguish, it says,

may the God of hope fill you with all peace and joy in believing,

having confidence that what God has done through Christ in the past,

what he's going to do in the future allows me to live today.

And joy and peace, I believe it.

I hold onto it. And if you're not experiencing that kind of hope and peace,

that kind of joy in this world,

perhaps it's because you have not committed to actually living

in light of those truths. You've committed to thinking about those truths,

maybe even singing about those truths but not living according to them.

That's different.

And we can't expect to abound in peace and joy without

believing,

like really trusting that God is up to our good in all of life's

circumstances, as Paul says.

But I wouldn't do my job properly if I didn't address those here without God and

without hope. Maybe you showed up. 'cause that's what you're looking for.

You're wondering where in the world you can find hope in this un world of

untethered anxiety and crushing hopelessness. And, and let me say this,

all that Christ has done for us is of no value to

us so long as we live outside of Christ.

You know, if I, uh, struggle with, uh,

Sickness from time to time, uh, immune system, that doesn't work the best.

And so I unfortunately frequently have to take antibiotics

and I can believe that that pill or those pills

will help me. I can know it. I can read about 'em, study it,

I can know it. I can look at it, say I believe it,

but until I take them, they have no effect.

And that's like saving faith.

It involves knowledge and knowledge of who Jesus is and what he's accomplished

for us. It involves an ascent to that knowledge.

I actually believe what I have heard.

And then it involves trusting in what you say you

understand. Do you really trust it?

Do you receive it? Do you embrace it? Do you welcome it into your life?

Or is it still just that bottle on the shelf?

There's an invisible boundary between the mercy of God and the brokenness of

humanity. And no amount of good works will break through that barrier.

That's why a Christian is not saying,

I hope I am good enough or I hope I will be good enough.

It's saying my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and

righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but holy lean

On Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock. I stand,

all of the ground is sinking sand.

Maybe you're ready to call for God's mercy. No,

you know you have a need and you know you can't meet it.

And now you believe that there is one who wants to provide for you through Jesus

Christ.

I invite you to pray this prayer with me if that is you.

If you're a believer already and maybe you haven't committed to actually living

out those truths and belief and faith, and I encourage you to do that as well.

But for those who have never placed their faith in Jesus Christ,

I encourage you to pray this prayer after me. Jesus.

I know what is being, what being miserable is.

I know I can do nothing about my condition.

I learned today that I'm dead in sins and need to be made alive by your mercy.

I'm resting on your mercy. I must rest on your mercy.

Staking my life, one that Christ did for me through his death,

his burial and his resurrection.

I believe in it and I surrender to him today.

Lord,

I do pray for those who have been without hope and without God in this world.

How crushing must be that pressure of hopelessness and

that mental anguish and angst. Thank you for your mercy.

For those of us who've already placed our faith in Jesus Christ,

we need to be reminded over and over again that you have cause us to be born

again to a living hope. It's alive today. Christ is alive.

He reigns so we can have joy,

we can have peace. We can have hope.

Help us Lord,

to trust in you day by day in the midst of this distressed world,

in the midst of our difficult circumstances,

may we have hope based on what Christ did when he came as a baby

grew to give joyfully his life for us.

Let he thank you in his name. Amen.