Advent season began this past Sunday, November 28, and for the next four weeks, I (Matt), want to give you passages of scripture, a few thoughts to ponder and a song of worship that will match with the theme of each week. I pray these advent meditations will help guide your gaze to Jesus the Messiah this Christmas season!

Advent Week 1: HOPE!

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. (Isaiah 61:1-2)

The Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). (Isaiah 7:14)

As we begin the 2021 season of advent the world is no less chaotic and hopeless than it was when these prophecies were written or fulfilled in Jesus years later. Nations still fight each other, people still divide, human effort still falls short and human depravity still reigns.

So how can we celebrate hope? The answer was, is and always will be, Imanueal! God with us! God did not leave us alone in our hopelessness. He came down to our level, yet without taking on the stain of sin. Jesus came to bring good news! There is now hope, we can find true healing from the source of that which brings hopelessness in the first place, our sin. We are no longer separated from our Creator, we can find hope in Him.

But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. (Galatians 4:4-5)

Take a moment, gather the family, and consider the hope that Immanuel brought into our world and can bring into our lives.

Click on this link to listen to “Emmanuel” (Hope Of Heaven)” by North Point Worship.

Have a great first week of Advent!

Your friend in the Gospel,
Matt