Our Living Hope

You don’t have to live many years to know that something is seriously wrong with life on planet earth!  Let’s face it: Life is often riddled with pain and heartache, suffering, and loss.  You wake up with body aches.  Relationships don’t work out.  Your job isn’t going the way you want it to.  Loved ones die.  Your marriage is “on the rocks.”  The kids are sick again.  The family pet dies.  The bills are piling up.  You lose your wallet.  And on and on the list goes.  You get the picture.  You know what I’m talking about!

Yet Paul has the audacity to write: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).  In other words, there’s a better day coming for those who believe!  Peter says, “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 from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4).

This living hope is the focus of my brand new Advent sermon series, beginning this Sunday, November 27!  Advent is a season of preparation, examination, and anticipation for the coming of Jesus Christ into the world – not only at Jesus’ first coming, but also at his second coming.  What Jesus has started at his first coming he will finish at his second coming.  The Kingdom of God is here today.  But the Kingdom of God is also coming in all it’s fullness and glory when Jesus returns.  And this is Good News!

Our first message on this first Sunday of Advent is entitled, “Hope for the Longing.”  Truth is:  We all long for a better and more fulfilling life.  This Sunday you will discover four inspiring characteristics of this life to come when God’s Kingdom is fully manifested.  Traditional worship  begins at 9:00 AM.  Contemporary worship begins at 10:45 AM.  We will light the first candle on our Advent wreath at each service.  Refreshments will be served between services.  Please join us to find hope and renewal in your life!