Christmas Hopes - Week 1

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Notes:

We often have a love-hate relationship with Christmas

The holidays don’t magically fix things…The holidays magnify what’s already true

Having unfair and unreal expectations of Christmas will lead to disappointment

How do we experience what we hope for at Christmas?

Christmas is not about creating the impossible…it’s about celebrating an incredible promise kept

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
- Matthew 1:18-23

Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
- Matthew 1:18-23

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because…
- Matthew 1:18-23

…what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
- Matthew 1:18-23

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
- Matthew 1:18-23

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world…
And everyone went to their own town to register.
- Luke 2:1-7

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
- Luke 2:1-7

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
- Luke 2:1-7

The first Christmas wasn’t about a pass from problems, it was about a promise kept.

The God who is for us came to be with us.

- Holiday pressures magnify
- Unrealistic expectations create disappointment
- Christmas isn’t recreating the impossible, it’s a remembrance

Christmas isn’t where control and consumption overcome chaos

Christmas is a remembrance of a love that kept a great promise

Challenge:

Let go of false expectations that a season can’t deliver

Let’s remember it’s the great love of a promised Savior