Rainier Valley Church - Seattle

Pastor Steve Pratt

Dec 27, 2020

Christmas represents God's invitation to the whole world to the joys of forgiveness, redemption, and salvation. Open your Bibles to Isaiah 55:1-13 as we look at the joyful invitation, the joyful response, and the joyful transformation that God brings to a tired, weary, and broken world.

No one would describe 2020 as being peaceful but would they describe you as being at peace? We can have peace despite our circumstances because we trust in God's sovereign plan, obey God's just rule, and anticipate God's future peace. Open your Bibles to Isaiah 11:1-10 as we look to the Prince of Peace to find peace in the midst of all the chaos.

For most of us, 2020 has felt hopeless. From a global pandemic and a struggling economy, to the isolation of quarantine and figuring out online school. We've walked through civil unrest, racial injustice, wildfires, hurricanes, and a chaotic election season that makes it easy to become hopeless. But every person needs hope. We need hope to wake up in the morning, hope to go to work, hope to keep going. Most of never stop to ask the question? What is my hope in? Do we hope in ourselves, in others, in vaccines, economic recoveries, elections? As Christians, our hope doesn’t rest in the changing of the calendar from 2020 to 2021, our hope is found in a person, and his name is Jesus. So how can we celebrate a COVID Christmas, because Jesus is the embodiment of hope. Christmas isn’t silly escapism but a real, historical redemption Christmas isn’t just old tradition but a living, objective, glorious truth Christmas isn’t a simple distraction, it's a celebration of the central truth of history! Open Your Bibles to Isaiah 9:1-7 as we learn what it means that Jesus is our hope. Big Idea: Christmas is Worth Celebrating because Jesus is Hope personified. 1.The Hope of Illumination (9:1-2) Light coming into the World! 2.The Hope of Increase (9:3-5) God’s people will multiply all over the world! 3.The Hope of Incarnation (9:6-7) A Child will be born who will be almighty God!

Thanksgiving 2020
No matter who you are, this has been a hard year from quarantines, lock-downs, and restrictions to financial challenges, joblessness, and relational hardships, there is no shortage of bad news. It's easy to join the masses in complaining, wallowing in self-pity, and being paralyzed in anxious. But God has something else for his people, something that sets up apart and makes us distinct, especially in times of suffering and hardship, God is calling us to give thanks! Christian thankfulness is grounded in the Gospel so it's not dependent on our circumstances and situations.  We are called to praise the Lord, to thank him, and to serve him with gladness. This call to thankfulness is the essence of worship and the secret to spiritual vitality in the midst of a global pandemic.

2020 has seen the world turned upside down and as an act of sanity and worship, we want to apply the important practice of Sabbath. Learn how the practice of the Sabbath enable us to stay attuned to God's presence throughout our week.

Baptisms is a celebration of new life as we reenact the story of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection through the act of baptisms, and Jesus' story becomes our story. Celebrate those who boldly, joyfully, and publicly declared their faith in Jesus through Baptism! The old is gone, behold, the new has come! "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)

Journey through the Wall: Letting Go of Power and Control (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 and Psalm 51)
Sometimes God uses obstacles, hardships, and weaknesses in order to get us to stop, slow down, and become dependent, humble, and spiritually sensitive. God custom designs "thorns " in our life to radically transform our character.

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality involves embracing God's choice to birth us into a particular family, in a particular place, at a particular moment in history. That choice to embrace our past grants us certain opportunities and gifts. It also hands us a certain amount of "emotional baggage" for our journey through life. For some of us this load is minimal; for others, it is a heavy burden to carry. True spirituality frees us to live joyfully in the present. Living joyfully, however, requires going back in order to go forward. This process takes us to the very heart of spirituality and discipleship in the family of God-breaking free from the destructive sinful patterns of our past in order to live the life of love that God intends.