Morning Message Text: Romans 15: 4-13
4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had,
6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed
9 and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of your name.”
10 Again, it says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the peoples extol him.”
12 And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope.”
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Morning Message:
Today as part of our Advent celebration we focus on hope. Hope is something that makes life bearable as we go through the days of our lives. I am always reminded of Paul’s words at the end of what we know as the love chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” I don’t disagree with his statement, but I don’t think that we should allow the importance of hope to be overshadowed. Let me explain. Our faith is very important; we must have faith in God and put our faith in Jesus in order to be saved. But there are times in every Christians life when our faith is shaken, and we feel like we have lost our way and at times even our faith. What keeps us going during these trying times when our souls feel so empty? It’s that small glimmer of hope that even though we are at such a low point in our faith that God will restore us. Faith in Jesus gets us to heaven, but sometimes we need hope to get through the night.
And then we have love. Love, God’s love, that he instills in us through the blessing of the Holy Spirit, is amazing and truly the greatest of all blessings. God created all things because of his great love. God created us for the purpose of sharing his love and communing with him. Jesus calls us to love God with all of our being and to love each other unconditionally. Love is probably the most sought-after emotion known to mankind. Poems and songs are written by the thousands about every aspect of love. It can be an obsession for many people; some would even say that you can’t live without it. It is a very lonely existence when you feel alone and unloved. That is never completely true for anyone because God loves you no matter what. Contrary to popular belief you can make it through times in your life when you feel like there is currently no love in your life. What makes that possible? Hope! As long as you have the hope of love, as long as you can look forward to a time when love might find you, then lonely times are bearable. Don’t get me wrong, this feeling of being unloved is a lie that the devil speaks to your heart. He tries to deceive you so that you won’t feel the love of God. Hope is the cure; it is like the glue that holds our spirits together, and the devil cannot defeat us as long as we have hope.
Today as we continue to focus on the Nativity, I would like to turn our attention to Joseph. He is sometimes known as the forgotten man of Christmas. He was the man chosen by God to be the adoptive father of our Lord, the one who would protect the infancy of the Savior of the world. In the word of God, Joseph stands silent. He is spoken to, he is spoken about, but not a single syllable crosses his lips. He is viewed by many people as just a bit player, an extra, in the Christmas drama. Joseph was just a common man, but according to Matthew’s genealogy, he was a potential king, a person of royal blood—yet we know very little about him. He was a simple man, and he probably had a very simple vision for his life and future. His plan was to marry Mary and raise a family, work hard at his trade to make a living, and worship and serve God because he was a religious man.
The story of Joseph gives us hope. Just like Joseph, we, at many points in our lives think that we have things figured out. We have a plan in our minds, and we go through our lives trying to make our hopes and dreams a reality. Joseph had his life all figured out, and then he finds out that his future wife is with child. This must have shaken him to the core. Now in this day and age, he has a dilemma; he knows the child is not his, but he doesn’t want to hurt Mary. In his mind he must be thinking the worst of the situation, but he doesn’t overreact Why do you think that he didn’t just expose Mary as an adulterer and wash his hands of the whole situation? I believe that three things were at work in his heart. Love: the love that God had given him for Mary. Faith: the faith in his God that had seen him through his entire life. And Hope: that small glimmer of hope that a loving God was at work, even in a terrible situation. I want you to notice that God allowed Joseph to go through all of these emotions and feelings and then he gave him the answer in a dream. What can we learn from this? When everything is crashing down around us cling to our hope and allow God to work in his time.
Our scripture for today is really quite simple even though it may sound complicated. Verse 4: “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” God’s Word gives us everything that we need to have hope. And as long as we have hope we can make it through when our faith and our love is hard to find.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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