People are wired for worship. We worship God through the Person of Jesus, or we worship persons, things, or ideas that are lesser than God. We prove the object of our worship and our level of devotion by what we are willing to sacrifice. Proper Christian worship involves sacrifice as well, but with a twist - that is, Jesus is our ultimate sacrifice; therefore, our felt sacrifices for Him are not out of constraint but out of love, appreciation, honor, and reverence for what He did for us.

A happy and holy New Year to you Hope Church. In some ways, 2024 was a great year for our assembly, while in other ways it was an extremely difficult one. Let us take a few weeks at the very beginning of 2025 to focus on an absolute essential of Christian living. That is the worship of our Lord, our King, and our God. We will talk about what worship is, what it's for, and how we go about it in our daily lives.

It is now the week between Christmas and the new year. Excitement has worn off and things are now a bit quiet, as they should be. Here at Hope Church Mill Creek, today we quietly and prayerfully consider our church and its future as we officially vote on our elder nominees. Today's sermon will be about church elders and be a directive to ours.

It's Christmas! We thank you so much for choosing to listen here today. Of all the church gatherings in this community, you chose to listen to this service with us. We hope and pray you hear from the Word of The Lord as we all celebrate the one, true King Jesus today. Born a sinless baby, lived a perfect life, died a terrible death, and miraculously resurrected again - all for you and me. Holy, holy, holy.

Most of us would really like to get ahead in life. Whether that be financial position, social standing, or power level, we like it when people look up to us. It would seem that is the natural order of life then. Except, that is not what our model, the man Jesus did. Jesus seemingly went backwards and down - leaving the throne of heaven, becoming mortal man, and suffering with us and for us. This is our model for how we should be - this is humility.

This season of Advent, may we consider where we were, where we are, and where we would be were it not for the Christ child. If God had not sent His beloved Son to His created earth in vulnerability as a baby, where would that leave us? Why would anyone give up their own child for the salvation of someone else? This level of sacrifice is simply too great to comprehend. Or is it love?

Since the fall of man in the days following his creation, man has struggled to see, hear, and know God. Scripture tells us that men prefer darkness over light. Even those who know Jesus sometimes struggle. So, in this present darkness, how do we know God? We see glimpses of Him here, there, and in Scripture. The Advent season reveals a glimpse of God like no other, the incarnation of the Christ child.

As we approach Thanksgiving, three covenant partners of our church give their testimonies about how God has moved and is continuing to move in their lives. We challenge all Christians to spend this holiday season and every day being thankful to God for all that He does for us.

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This is our last week of the "Red Letters" series where we have walked through statements of Jesus, such as "I am the bread of life," "Forgive them, and "I will give you rest." We have learned much from these but on the last week, we will talk about what arguably could be the most important words Jesus said, "You must be born again."

This has been a good year for Hope Church Mill Creek in many ways. In other ways, it has been difficult for this body. Death has claimed the lives of several precious souls connected with us and has threatened to take others. In light of this, let us take a day and focus on the place called heaven. Let not your hearts be troubled.