Pastor Chip explained in the fourth and final sermon in our Arrival series that Jesus came to bring redemption and free us from sin and death. “Redemption through Jesus” means we are delivered from slavery into freedom because He ransomed His life for us. It also means Jesus is renewing, or restoring, the image of God in us on a continual basis, so we can reach out and help our world see His redemption.

Humankind waited centuries for a forgiving Savior to deliver them from bondage. Matthew reminds us of Isaiah’s prophecy that Jesus would be called Immanuel, meaning “God with us,” [Matthew 1:22-23]. Jesus’ presence then, and now, means our waiting is over for God’s peace, love and joy.

This week, Pastor Chip presents the second reason for Jesus coming to the earth, PEACE. The flow of peace comes first from UPWARD peace with God - being made righteous in His sight - that enables us to have INWARD peace which passes all understanding that extends to an OUTWARD peace that aligns with God's will in our actions.

Typically during Advent we look at the Christmas story in the Gospels from different angles, but this year, we are doing something a bit different. In this series, we are looking at the reasons why Jesus came. He came to show love, give peace, be present and bring redemption. We begin the series with the idea that Jesus came to earth because He was motivated by love. He came to us so we might be able to come to God.

Last week in our series, Praying for a Miracle, we considered how the most powerful miracles are those that transform from the inside out. We conclude our series this week by daring to set aside our humble Iowan natures and ask big so we can watch what God will do.

Why we pray for miracles is more important than what miracles we pray for. Miracle praying is for two purposes: to lift up God and glorify Him and for believers to bear fruit. We must remember, however, that miracles are most powerful when they change a person from the inside, even if the pain and suffering of the current situation is still present.

More important than what we ask of God is how we ask. The starting point is a posture of dependence on God where we rely on His power, allow the truth of His Word to fill our minds and permit His Spirit to transform the desires of our hearts. When our hearts delight in the Lord above all else, then what we ask for will align with what God wants for us.

We are living in the last chapter of God’s big story. Everything in the Old Testament pointed to Jesus, and everything after the Resurrection is the picture of God releasing His people to be His disciples on Earth. We are released from sin and death to make disciples for His fame in our Little Iowa.

As believers, we are empowered by Christ’s defeat of death and His resurrection from the grave. By believing He arose from the dead, we can claim victory over our sin, doubt, fears and physical needs.

It began with creation, where humanity was God’s crowning achievement. Though man and woman were greatly loved by God, they chose to sin, which brought devastating effects to all creation. God could have rejected humans, but instead He promised to renew them. A second chance was given, but humans again rejected God’s mercy. God should have abandoned mankind, but this week Pastor Jesse shows us how God’s mercy and love goes far beyond our human failures.