ADVENT: JOY

Following Jesus does not guarantee a life free from pain or struggle, nor does it mean living now just waiting for eternity. Faith in Christ means finding our joy in Him no matter what life looks like.

The coming of Jesus is a message of God’s peace by God’s grace through God’s promised one who transforms his people into followers of Jesus who graciously pursue peace with others.

HOPE OF CHRISTMAS

Jesus was born in the flesh so that we might see God. Through being made alive in Him (spiritually born) we have an inheritance reserved in heaven, a living hope guaranteed to us by Christ.

“Worship the King” Hebrews 13

The final thoughts in Hebrews are to take all that we have learned and put them into practice in the most effective way. It isn’t a list of moral behaviors but rather what transformation in Christ truly looks like in us.

JESUS OUR PERFECT EXAMPLE

Christians look to Jesus who endured suffering and pain in this world for us, so that we might be encouraged to endure hardship for the sake of reaching the lost around us.

Hebrews 11

Followers of Jesus share in a long, even ancient, history of the family of faith—men and women who received the grace of God, trusted the character of God, heeded the voice of God, and awaited the promises of God...to the very end.

THE PROMISES OF OUR FAITH

Jesus takes us beyond religious rules and order. In Christ the promises of our faith are about us being transformed inwardly, remaking us into who we were designed to be.

At the Fall of Humanity, sin caused all human beings to be eternally separated from God. The gospel is God providing a way for human beings to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.

Hebrews teaches us that the promises of the gospel (new covenant) are built on the accomplishments of Jesus and the faithfulness of God. Consider Jesus as the mediator (attorney), God as judge, and the verdict as eternity.

Jesus, the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace, is a high priest forever. This is good news if you’re tired of broken leaders, broken promises, and broken laws.