King David is known as the man after God's own heart. His relationship with and trust in God is often held up as the goal for all of God's people to strive for, but in this psalm we see David pleading for God to deliver him from spiritual darkness. David shows us how to be honest, reach out to God, and request deliverance from God through desperate prayer.

The story of Jesus' life continues after Christmas in powerful and surprising ways. As a young child, his family flees an oppressive government, he lives as a refugee, and ends up growing up in a small, obscure town. Not quite the origin story we might expect for the hero of the world. But it's exactly the story God has been pointing toward and foreshadowing throughout all of human history.

Application Questions:

1. What about Jesus' life as a young child surprises you?

2. How should Jesus' identification with the refugee, oppressed, threatened, and obscure shape how we view others in similar situations today?

3. How does the identification of Jesus as the new and greater Moses shape your understanding of God's sovereign guiding of all human history?

4. How does what we've discussed today inspire your worship of God?

The darkness of death is the natural culmination and pinnacle of the darkness of sin and suffering.  It is an overbearing weight.  But the coming of the true light in the person and work of Jesus rescues us from this burden and frees us from death's grip, to give back the life we were meant to have.

Application Questions:

1. What are some ways you avoid thinking about death?
2. How does meditating on the true light of Christ coming into the world help you to treasure Him more in your everyday life?
3. What are some ways you can “number your days” so you can gain a heart of wisdom?

The darkness of suffering is real, complex, and something we all struggle to deal with. Advent points us away from our attempts to cope with suffering on our own to Jesus Christ, the true light, who overcomes the darkness. While our suffering is still real and deeply painful, Jesus walks with us as one who suffered for us. 

Application Questions:

1. How do you try to cope with suffering by controlling it, denying it, or not thinking about it? In what ways does that help, and in what ways does that not help?

2. What is your experience with lament in prayer?

3. What would change if you thought more regularly about how Jesus will one day remove all suffering?

4. What stands out to you the most about the ways Jesus transforms our suffering here and now?

Advent is a time of reflection on our need for the light of Christ in the darkness of sin, but we have a difficulty in understanding our hearts. We often try to utilize artificial light to help us navigate the darkness of the world and our heart, but it cannot take us out of the darkness. This sermon is about how dark our sin really is in each of us, and how precious it is that true light has come into our hearts and will expel the darkness forever.

Application Questions:

1. Why do we need the Light of Christ to shine in the depths of our hearts?

2. What are the artificial lights you are tempted to make as idols in your life?

3. How does the truth that Jesus is the light of the world change how you look at the darkness of sin in your life?

Advent is a time of reflection on our need for the light of Christ in a dark world, but we don’t always feel that need in our bones. We need to meditate on the brightness of the Light and the depth of the darkness to move Advent from our heads to our hearts to our lives. This sermon looks at the beginning of John’s gospel to get a sense of the brightness of the Light of Christ, and what it means that he would enter a dark world.

Application Questions:

1. Is it ever hard for you to "feel" the reality of Advent, even if you believe it's true? Why do you think that is?

2. What stands out to you most about Christ's brightness as the Word of God? Can that bring a helpful perspective to what's happening in your life now?

3. The Light came into the darkness out of love for you. How can that change the way you handle your hopes, disappointments, and other things affecting you this holiday season?

God has been so good to us in so many ways that it is not that hard to be thankful to Him for our families, our jobs, our children, our careers, our health, etc. We also are thankful for things that we own, like our cars, homes, computers, cell phones, etc. It is good to cultivate a thankful heart for all those things we have received from Him. But what about our great salvation that He has given us? How often do we thank God for our salvation? And other people’s salvation? This sermon looks to exhort us to cultivate a thankful heart through a deeper appreciation of the Gospel. The Gospel is the place where God Himself has shown us how much He loves us, and it is also the best place for us to honor Him and give thanks.

Application Questions:

1. What about knowing that you don’t have to save yourself (by constantly obeying the law) can make you more thankful to God?
2. How does knowing that to be saved all you have to do is to believe help you to grow in thankfulness?
3. How do you think your life would be impacted if you had to pay for your sins constantly?
4. Can one be truly thankful to a god who breaks His own rules to save us?
5. God was under no obligation to pay for anyone’s salvation. How do you feel knowing that He chose to pay for yours?

Jesus concludes his sermon with a stark illustration about the eternal implications of where we put our faith. The bless-ed life that Jesus has been describing isn't just about fulfillment and joy in this life, but is the basis for eternal human flourishing as well. In Jesus we find the fulfillment of our humanity both in this life and in the life to come.

Application Questions:

1. Have you put your faith in Christ? How is that demonstrated in the way you live and the shape of your life?

2. How does the security you have in Christ shape and motivate the way you live your life?

3. What are the "upside-down" values of this world that you find most compelling / tempting?

4. How does your personal relationship with Jesus help you to see reality right-side up each day?

As a fruit tree, the world will know us by our fruit. Our actions and responses to the things around us is an indicator of our heart. If we continually produce bad fruit, we need God to transform our hearts, and if we are producing good fruit, we need God to maintain it.

Application Questions:

1. Why do believers need to examine their hearts?

2. What is the fruit believers need to be producing? (Galatians 5:22-24)

3. What are the things currently in your life that is preventing you from producing fruit?

The call to love our enemies is one of the most difficult and paradoxical commands in Scripture. It neither makes sense nor comes natural to us. But when we look to Jesus, and understand the true nature of love, we find ourselves more appreciative of the love that we've received and are better able to extend that love to others - even our enemies.

Application Questions:

1. What is your honest reaction to the command "Love your enemies?" 

2. Do you struggle with demonstrating the depth of love that God requires? 

3. How does meditating on the depths of love God demonstrated towards you help you love others better?