Christmas is a season marked by giving. We give gifts to family and friends. It surely makes since that giving marks this season, as God is the author of Christmas and gave Jesus, the greatest gift of all to us and He also gifts to us the gift of faith, to see and understand who Jesus is and know that He has granted to us a better possession and lasting one through Jesus Himself.

Jesus passing through the heavens and landing here on earth as the great high priest brings us undeserved help for all that we need. We need help. We can deny it, but we all do. That is why Jesus came and that really is what Christmas is about.

Christmas is filled with the mysterious and the miraculous. Jesus, fully God becomes fully man, two natures simultaneously. Mind-boggling and beyond comprehension no doubt. But what this means for us is unspeakably great.

It is always good to get our life fixed on what is most important, especially during the Christmas season. This advent season we will do just that as we fix our eyes on Jesus. We will look at the person and work of Jesus through the book of Hebrews. As we begin today we see that there is truly none great than Jesus. Let us be fixed on Jesus this advent season

I cannot think of a more timely text for our current day here in America than the one that God has laid before us this morning. In our country there is much fear, anger and uncertainty. In Paul’s journey to Jerusalem there was much fear and uncertainty in the church over what would happen to him in Jerusalem at the hands of the religious and political parties alike. Paul though, is set on one thing alone, the will of the Lord. God’s will was that the gospel would go to the ends of the earth and that all men would hear of Jesus and the salvation He provides. Paul believed that he must go and even suffer in Jerusalem for the gospel to get where it needed to get.

What is it in our life that if we lost that we would feel like our life was over? Is it our job? Is it a relationship? Or is it some material item? That was the vibe in Ephesus in the first century as we read Acts 19. Their business which centered around idolatry was declining and being threatened because the gospel had come and changed lives in Ephesus. Idols are no gods at all and really are nothing, but they do have power over our lives and can run us into destruction. Idols will eventually be violent and have at their end destruction. Only One can save us from their ruin. Jesus alone is the answer to our hearts longing. He is the all-satisfying treasure that delivers from the love affair with idols.

Paul mounted an assault on the darkness that was prevailing in the city and by the power of God the gospel prevailed as many turned and believed in Jesus. How do we mount such an assault with such prevailing effects? Today we will look at what truly overcomes the darkness.

We live in a day where the truth of God is desperately needed, lives need changed and people are needed to speak up about both of these things. This was the same need in Ephesus in the first century and God provided Paul and others in spreading the most important truth. Some in Paul’s day new part of the message, but not all. So, him and others stepped up to make sure the truth of God about the gospel, the Holy Spirit and baptism was known. We need the same today and the church is to be the one to do it. Let us be bearers of truth who walk by the Spirit of God and are willing to invest such into the lives of others.