Welcome Christmas - Hope for the Waiting - Matthew 1:1–17

Hi and welcome to South Sub Church. We are so glad you're here. Whether in person or online, you're part of our family. We're one church with two unique expressions of worship, but one mission to bring people to Jesus Christ and together become passionate followers of him. We value living a life of generosity because Jesus was so generous to us. This morning, I want to invite you to give. It's simple to do online at southsub.church. You can also text the number on the screen or in your seat back pocket, you can choose to put cash in the envelope if you carry cash. Britney, do you carry cash? I do not. I do not either, but this is a third option for you as well. If you're new, take a moment to fill out our connect card. We'd love to get to know you, pray for you, and help you get connected. If you're watching online, welcome. Drop us a hello in the chat, maybe with a few emojis somewhere, maybe if you're tropical or maybe in the mountains. Let us know where you're watching from. We're so glad you're here. Thanks again for worshiping with us this morning. [Music]

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Well, good morning. You know, I am so confused. And here's why. Because it's one service. Some of you that are sitting over there are supposed to sit over there. And some of you that sit back there are having to sit up here. And then I'm also confused because I come to church and when I stand up here, I I I expect to see smiling faces. But those of you that used to sit over there but having to sit over there because someone sat in your seat over there, you're not smiling. Okay? So, everybody do me a favor. Turn to the people around you and say, "Merry Christmas." Now, turn to the person next to you and say it like you actually mean it. Merry Christmas. You know, it's it's kind of interesting. Um, we're starting Advent season right now. We're saying Merry Christmas. We're wearing the the shirts to say welcome Christmas for our big programming coming up next week. Um, but it's so barren here, right? Like you you look around and there's no Christmas trees up yet. There's no garland hung on the different places. There's no twinkling lights. And so I don't know about you, but but like we're stepping into Christmas, but yet the auditorium is so bare. It almost feels like we're Christmas with no hope. Now, I know that's not really true, but isn't it sometimes the trappings of the season is what brings us brings us that joy? It's the It's the tree topper on top of the tree that makes you smile because Christmas is here. It's walking through the mall and in the midst of all the commercialism that you see in the mall, you still see Santa. You still see all the trappings. You hear the Christmasy music coming through the speakers. And so so many times it's the things, the decorations as the decor around Christmas that makes us feel the hope that comes with Christmas. But here's what I want you to know as we begin our advent season today and the first of our series called Welcome Christmas. The very first Christmas did not begin with all the decor. The first Christmas didn't come with all the the trappings that we think of is what brings in the season. It was really a quiet at times feeling almost hopeless. Now I said at times feeling almost hopeless. The hope was there, but people had waited for Jesus for so long. And all those years they were waiting for the Messiah to come. There had to be days they woke up just going, "I'm not feeling it today." Um, but here's what I want us to know. That the hope of Christmas has always been there. And I don't know where you find yourself today as we enter into this Advent season. You may be here today and going, "I'm kind of like one of those people of old. I'm not feeling it today and I'm not sure I'll feel it as the season comes, but our feelings never determine what hope really is. And so, I'm glad you're here. Today, we are beginning this series called Welcome Christmas. And here's what we're going to be doing over the next few weeks as we will lead up to Christmas Eve. And we'll conclude at that moment. We're going to be looking at the book of Matthew. And we're going to be looking at the Christmas story through the eyes of the disciple Matthew. And if you've ever read Matthew before, it's got some really fun stuff in there. It's got the magi story. It's got the the story of Joseph hearing that he's going to be the father, the earthly father of of heavenly Jesus. But it also has the part of the scripture that doesn't start out so fun. It it's the part of Matthew that if you've ever read it, you probably didn't read it. It's the part of Matthew that you saw a list of names just going, I don't know what those are there for. I'm just going to skim past those and move on to the good start. But there is really some hope that we can find in the be very beginning of the names, the genealogy of that of Jesus. And so if you have your Bibles, if you want to turn and look with me there, I'm actually going to read it today. If you don't have your Bibles, we'll have it up on the screen. It's in the handout that you came in here with. If you're a guest with us here today, we are so excited you're here. Whether you're in for the holidays and about to head back or you just came today, we are very, very excited that you're here. And we love reading scripture. We think that's what everything is based on. But I do have to kind of give you a warning before I read this scripture. It is one that you're going and that's why I don't read the Bible. Okay? It is just going to be a yawner in a way. But listen and watch and we're going to discover great hope in this. So Matthew chapter 1 and I'll be reading the first 17 verses. So here we go. This is the record of the ancestors of Jesus, the Messiah, a descendant of David and Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac. And Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. And Judah was the father of Perez and Zarah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez was the father of Hezron. And Hezron was the father of Ram. Ram was the father of Abnadab. And Abnadab was the father of Nashon. Non was the father of Salmon. Salmon was the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boab was the father of Oed, whose mother was Ruth. And Oed was the father of Jesse. And Jesse was the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon whose mother was Ba Sheeba, the widow of Uriah. Solomon was the father of Rahabam. Rayobam was the father of Abaja. Abajah was the father of Asa. Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat. And Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram. Jehoram was the father of Uzziah. Uzziah was the father of Jotham. Let me pause there for a second. If somebody's sleeping next to you, can you nudge them just for a second? We just got a little bit further to go here. Jonathan was the father of Ahaz, and Ahab was the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was the father of Manisa and Manisa was the father of Ammon. Ammon was the father of Josiah. Josiah was the father of Jehooken and his brothers. And they were born at the time of the exile to Babylon. And after the Babylon exile, Jehook was the father of Chhatel. Chhatel was the father of Zer. Zerubabel. Zerubabel was the father of Abied. Abied was the father of Elleim. Elleim was the father of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadic. And Zadic was the father of Achim. Achim was the father of Eli. Eliad was the father of Elazar. Elazar was the father of Mothan. And Mothan was the father of Jacob. And Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. and Mary gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah. All those listed above include 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to Babylon exile and the 14 from the Babylon exile to the Messiah. And everybody said, "That's a lot of names, isn't it?" You know, I was really worried as I prepared this sermon going, "I'm not sure I know how to pronounce all those names." But then I thought, "And you don't either. So, however I said it must sound right." So that's all the names of the lineage of Jesus there. Yeah. 14 generations from Abraham to David. 14 generations from David to the Babylon exile. And 14 generations from the exile to Jesus. Here's what one writer said about all those generations. Spanning roughly 1,800 years. This list could feel like a blank stage. Just names, just time passing, nothing happening. Yet hidden in these names is the quiet faithful work of God. Each person, each generation played a role in preparing the world for Christ's arrival. The bare stage of Advent and the genealogy both remind us that hope often begins in places where nothing seems to be happening. Even in the darkness, God is at work orchestrating that what will one day shine brightly before the world. You know, you may be here today and you're feeling a lot like that list. Long, drawn out, nothing's happening. Or maybe you feel kind of like this room, the room that we're declaring Christmas, but yet it feels so bare it can feel without hope. But here's what I want us to see as we dig into a little bit deeper in these long list of names. There is great hope in these generations. There is a great hope that was taking place for these 1,800 years of year after year after year, family after family after family. They kept waiting with not always things to show. They kept longing with nothing fulfilling the longing of their heart. They're all waiting for the Messiah year after year after year. And often times waiting can feel hopeless. But again, let's never mistake that when we can't see something going on doesn't mean God's not working the background. And so this morning, I want us to dig a little bit deeper into these names. Um, someone asked me, "Well, Keith, we're only having one service. How long will this go?" Well, here's the deal. I usually preach twice on a Sunday at 40 minutes a piece. So, I have 80 minutes today to preach. So, it's going to go a very long time today. No, we won't be looking at every name. We won't be digging into every generation, but when we begin to pull back and look at the stories of the different generations, we are going to find great hope. And so, if you have your notes, if you want to write just this first principle of hope, the first principle of hope that we can find in this list of names is this. Hope trusts that God is working even when nothing is moving. hope. Trust that God is working even when nothing is moving. You know, the first name that we have on that list is Abraham. He's the father of our faith. He's the one that you look back and he is the patriarch of all, patriarch, right? He is the one that God began everything. But if you go back to Genesis, do you remember how how his story started that God appeared to Abraham one day and said,"Abraham, here's the deal. I'm going to make you the father of many people. I'm going to make you more than just a father of many people. I'm going to make you the father of an entire generation that I will call my own. Can you imagine having that kind of conversation with God? Can you imagine God himself appears to you and says, "I've got something great for you. You're going to be the beginning of it and it's going to go from you to your kids to their kids to their kids and it's going to go so many generations that one day the world would look back and going and Abraham began it all. He was a father of all fathers. You can imagine if Abraham was there that day and kind of poked his chest out going, "Wow, God, thanks." And then all of a sudden, as he's poking his chest out, he has to scratch his head and going, "But God, if I'm going to be the father of all these people, if I'm going to be the father of this nation, don't I need a son first?" And then all of a sudden, Abraham looks at God and says, "And God, and don't you remember the woman I'm married to, Sarah? She's 90 years old. Now, I don't know about you, but I know how the biological clock ticks. And if you're married to somebody nine years, 90 years old, you're probably not going to have kids that go for many, many generations after that. Yet, here is Abraham in the beginning of the story, the initial generation, and he saw in his own life that God was doing something even when he see it couldn't work. Another name in there in verse 15 of the the the the genealogy talks about Elliott. Elliott lived during what we call the silent years. The silent years are those years those 400 years from the time the last prophet spoke in the Old Testament until the Messiah was born in the New Testament. Jesus came and lived among us. 400 years. And Elliot was one of the generations that lived during the silent period. Have you ever gone through a season in your life you're going, "God, where are you?" Have you ever gone through a season in your life going, "God, I'm praying, but I don't feel like you're close. Are you even hearing anything I'm saying that you just feel that distance from God?" Can you imagine living in a generation that didn't hear from God for 400 years? Yet Elliott is listed in that genealogy of Jesus because even when he couldn't see what God was doing, even when he couldn't hear what God was doing, even when he didn't understand what God was doing, in a period of 400 years, yet God was working in the background, that 400 years of silence doesn't mean God was asleep. That 400 years of silence just meant God wasn't working on my own timetable. But there's Elliot stuck in the middle of all those. Think about this. Of the tr of the genealogy listed there of 44 different generations, only one of them got to ever see Jesus. All of them had to wait and wait and wait. And I'm sure no matter what generation they'd lived in, there had to be a point they just kind of threw up their hands going, "God, am I waiting for nothing? Are you really going to do what you said you promised? Are you really going to come through like we think you said you said you would?" But here's what they had to remember. though 43 of them never saw or touched or held or was experienced the life of Jesus the Messiah on this earth. God was working in the background. And as you and I think about the hope that Jesus brings this year, there may be some in this room today that's just going, "God, you seem so far and so distant that maybe if you had a second silent age, I'm in one right now." But here's what we need to remember. That even though God is not where you can see or you can't see what he's doing, he's still doing right now. I remember if I go back to August 2021, several years ago, Denise and I were living in California that time. I was working at a church and just in a season I sensed God was doing something in me going, "Keith, I'm about to move you. I'm about to change your place of ministry." And we kept waiting, kept waiting, nothing happened. And finally, just through some circumstantive events, felt like God just going, "Keith, I I need you to have faith in me. I need you to resign from your position at your church in California and trust me. Um, I didn't go home and tell Denise what God was telling me because I knew she'd look at me going, "Both of you sound crazy to me right now on that one. You know, you're not in your mid late 50s and decide to quit a job without a job." But in August of 2021, I remember sitting in my boss's office just going, I I think my time is up here. And he said, "Oh, are you have another job?" And I said, "No." And I resigned my position that day. But it was in faith. I had great hope. I had great hope that God had given me a promise that he was going to take care of me. I had great hope that God had a place for me to serve in ministry. And so it's with faith I went home to Denise and said, "Denise, that sounds crazy, but we're going to place our hope in Jesus like we have our whole marriage and we're going to step away from this job and God's got something for us." That hope was great the first month. And and God must not have read my mind because in my mind I just figured after the first month God would like redeem this hope right the way would be over the lights would start shining and I would have a place one month went to two months and two months went to three months at 8mon mark when Denise and I are living with my son and daughter-in-law and granddaughter I think they were running out of hope they were running out of hope that they would ever get their parents out of their house but here's the story Remember I said August 2021 is when God called me to step away. If you've been around the church for several years, you'll also know this. It was in July 2021 that your former pastor felt like God was calling him someplace else. In these eight months, I'm going, God, where are you? Like I stepped out. There's no hope. It seems dark. What's going on here? You know what God was doing in my life? He was doing here in the life of South Sub Church. He was ready things that the two would merge into one. And could it be in some of the hope that you're lacking right now going, "God, what are you doing? Where are you at? Are you listening to me?" He's going, "I got you. I'm just moving the pieces in the background to put it all in order for you." And that's what was taking place. And all those generations from Abraham all the way to Jesus, God was just putting the pieces in place. He was simply just getting to the point that he was working in the background even though people couldn't see what was going on. Let me give you a second piece of hope that we can find in this one. A second piece of hope says this. Hope sees God turning broken pieces into a bigger story. Hope sees God putting broken pieces and building them and turning them into a better, bigger story. You know, it's interesting as I say that and I look in the room and knowing many of your circumstances and many of your lives and many of your situations over this past year, it's been a broken year for many. Whether it's a relationship that broke or health that broke or a loved one that died and broke in that way or or a job that broke. For many in this room, it's been what you would call a broken year. But hope says yet this that God is taking the broken pieces of my life and he's turning them into a bigger story for his glory. I look back at the list. There's some names on that list that probably most of us don't recognize. There's one particular name mentioned in verse three. Tamar Tamar. Her husband died before she ever became pregnant. Now that's a sad story. But let me explain why I was even sadder back in those days. because it was really the job, the calling, the number one thing that a a lady was supposed to do once she got married is bear children so the generations of the families could go on. And so here she married this man and he died before she could ever have children. So it was the custom of the day that if a husband died before the woman ever became pregnant and bore children, then the father-in-law of this woman was supposed to take one of the other brothers in the family and that brother married that person. And so again, the genealogy that the family tree could continue. And so Judah took his other son said, "Here, marry Tamar because your brother died. So marry her and and have children." He died before she ever had kids. So you can imagine some of the the consternation, some of the worry of Tamar. So but don't don't worry about it because Judah went to the third brother and said, "Listen, I need you to marry your sister-in-law because the other two brothers died and you need to marry her. That's your job. so she can have kids and we can continue on our family tree. She marries brother number three. Guess who dies before she ever has kids? He died. Brother number four said, "No, sir. Not going. I ain't really saying that. I just made that up." But Tamar gets so worried, so just looking at her broken pieces of her life. Here's what she does. And I'm glad the kids have already gone downstairs because this the point in the Bible it conse goes from PG to PG-13. She dresses up herself, disguise herself, and she goes to her father-in-law Judah and seduces him. He ends up laying with her. They end up having sex, and she becomes pregnant by her father-in-law that day. Now, you talking about just kind of messed up, out of control. You're talking about a family tree with some broken pieces, that one's got a big broken limb on it, doesn't it? Yeah. Watch this. The reason Tamar is included in that whole genealogy that I just gave you, because no matter how dysfunctional her family was, no matter how much she messed up and broke some pieces in her life, it did something kind of in her own timing. Guess who came in and restored it? And it's through her lineage that Jesus was still born. So Tamar to us is proof that God can take broken pieces, dysfunctional pieces in a person's family tree and still make something out of it. Sometimes I come across people going, Keith, if you just knew me, if you just known what I've done, if you know what kind of family I came from, how could God ever use me? If God can use Tamar, he can use anybody in all of her dysfunction. But it didn't stop at Tamar. There's Manisa. Manisaw became the king of Judah, king of Israel when he was only 12 years old. And when he had inherited the throne, he inherited from father that had lived in a very godly manner. Had been walking and doing and leading the country in the ways of God. But the Bible lets us know that when Manis took over, instead of following his father's faith, he reversed everything his father Hezekiah had ever done. He rebuilt pagan altars. He practiced sorcery. He consulted with mediums. He's he filled Jerusalem with idols. He even sacrificed his own son on the altar as part of his sacrificial false idol worship. Again, broke in pieces. And for decades, he led Judah into this this deeper rebellion becoming one of the most evil kings that we read about in all the Old Testament. So what does God do? He eventually allows the Syrian army to capture him and take him captive. And in this prison cell, broken and humiliated the king of a great nation who's no longer a king of any nation. He's in this this jail cell and he's broken. He's humiliated. Manaw humbled himself before God. And after he humbled himself before God, he was finally released from jail, put back over the king of Israel, and guess what he did? He restored the very things that he broke in the first place. God took the broken pieces of a king's life, broken into just this horrible type of life. Not just a horrible type of life for his own, he had even taken his own life. and he led other people to live and lead and exist in this hor horrible mess. But God restored him. Then there's Jehovah. Jehovah had served as the king of Israel for only three months and was taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians. And he stayed in jail after taking captive. He stayed in jail for over 37 years. Can you imagine day after day after day he looks at himself he looks at the cell and going this life is so broken God how can you ever use it but finally he was led out of jail and he was put back into place of ministry but more than a place of ministry he was put back into place of leadership and he led the country to know who God is and experience God again broken people broken pieces that God redeemed no matter how broken mind in your situation is it's never beyond the hope of a god redeeming it. There's a story and not a story there's an art called the kinugi art. It's a Japanese art. I think we have a picture of it. Here's what happens in kugi art. When a potter a piece of pottery or vase is broken rather than looking this broken pieces and just throwing it away. The art says this. They will take liquid gold and they will begin to put those pieces together and they will form that pot. If you ever go to a garage sale and you see one of those, you need to go ahead and buy it because you can pay off the church's mortgage for that one. It's just known as this beautiful piece of art. And I can't think of a better picture of mine and your lives of what God does is when he takes our broken pieces and he puts them back together with his grace and he makes something beautiful out of our lives. God did it with so many people in the genealogy of Jesus. so many people that somebody else could looked at and going, "How could God use that person? How could God use that person? God could never use that person over there." But yet God in his great hope, he puts those pieces that back together and makes something beautiful out of them. It's at this point in our service, I wish we weren't in a service. I wish we were in my living room. And I wish we were in a time that we could sit around and just talk with one another. And I would ask the question, how many have a story of coming out of a brokenness, coming out of a not so soughtafter type of lifestyle. But God took your life, God took my life, and put it back together and form something beautiful out of our story. You see, sometimes we come to church, we think, oh, people go to church, those that have it all together. If you're a guest here and you think you're at a place where people have it all together, that's the church down the road. That's not going on right here. We're just a bunch of broken people that God had mercy and God had grace on. And God says, "I will use you in spite of you in your life."

There's another aspect of hope that we can gain from this genealogy, and that is this. Hope acts on God's promises before it ever sees God's provisions. Hope acts on God's promises before it ever sees God's provisions. I love the story of Nashon. Nashon, you can read about him or see his name listed in verse four. Now, the scripture itself, the Bible doesn't give us a lot of information. Really gives us very little about Nashon. But if you go back to Jewish history, there's a story about Nashon. Nashon was in that group of people in that lineage that was around when Moses was leading the people out of Egypt, out of bondage and he was leading them across the Red Sea. And if you know the story of that, the Bible lets us know that when Moses came to the Red Sea, he looked in front of him and he had a host, a million people, a million Israelites that he's leaving out of bondage and he's taking them out away from from Egypt. and he looks behind him and there's the the Egyptian army chasing after him because the the Pharaoh decided he didn't want them leaving after all. And he looks to the left and he looks to the right and there's mountains on both sides. So basically here is Moses and he and all these Israelites are going, "Okay, I got them out of here, but we're trapped right now." If you know the story, the Bible lets us know the Red Sea parted. Now the Jewish tradition, again, you won't find this in scripture, but if you're part of a good Jewish family, they will say that Nashon was a part of that. that when God was talking to Moses and Moses going right through that Red Sea that Nashon would have been the one that would have walked through it first with Moses. But here's what the story says. That when Nashon put his foot in the water, nothing happened. That Nashon waited to his knees and nothing happened. Can you imagine that? Here's this army chasing after you. Got mountains on the left and right. You can't get out. God says, "Go through the Red Sea." So you start walking through and you start walking through in your knees. Nothing happened. And the story goes that the sea didn't part until Nashon got out up to his shoulders in the water. See, here's what that tells us. That sometimes it doesn't just take one step for us to see God's hope. It takes two steps or three steps or four steps. That sometimes we have to wait deeper than what we really want to go before we see God really give us what we're hoping for and the promises that he gave us. I think of Ruth. Ruth in verse five. She lost her husband. She lost her home. She lived as a poor immigrant, picking up leftovers just to survive. Yet, she kept moving one day at a time, one step at a time. And finally, she marries a man by the name of Boaz. And Ruth becomes the great grandmother of a little boy by the name of David. Can you imagine a poor immigrant woman? She's got no job, no money. She She fed herself and her family by just going out the fields and just gleaning the things that fell off that the the harvesters left. And as she's picking up those scraps off the ground, she had no idea that in future years David would call her Gigi, great grandma. Yet she took it one step at a time. Another one, Zerubabel. Zerubabel returned from the exile from Babylon to pile of rubble. So what had happened all the Israelites were sent out of Israel and they were just cast out but at one point in history they were allowed to come back because Jerusalem was like the place that's where the temple was and they would come to the actual temple to do all their worshiping and their pilgrimages and and just a lot of things they did without their religion. But when they finally came back to Jerusalem Jerus Zerubbabel looks and goes there is no temple to worship God. It was just rubble. It was just beaten down nothing. And so God said, "Zubel, I want you to rebuild the temple." Like, really, God? Me? That's really cool, God, you want me to? And he might have felt honored except for as the one called by God to rebuild the temple. He had no building supplies. He had no money. He had no political clout. He had no influence. God's telling him, "Would you like just erect, construct, erect this amazing edifice, this place where people come to worship?" But he had nothing to go on. God gave him a promise, but his hope and the promise that God gave him, he had to act on it before he ever saw the provisions. I don't know how it really went. Maybe he just started looking around going, "Oh, there's a brick over there." And he goes and picks up one brick going, "Okay, God, there's one brick at a time. Let me look around for another brick over there's another brick. Let me set." I don't know how that whole building campaign started, but he started with absolutely nothing. And you and I need to be reminded in our life that sometimes we need to act on his promise before we ever see the provisions.

Nashon stepping into the sea. Ruth stepping into an uncertain future. Zerubable stepping into the rubble. Their ri lives remind us that hope isn't passive. Can you imagine if if he would have just sat there on the steps one day, "Okay, God, I'll rebuild the temple. When you bring me this stuff, I'll I'll do something." God's going, "No, no, just take one step at a time." And and maybe a question we could ask oursel today is, "What's our next step?" As you think about hope and you're going, "God, I need something. I just feel like it's a dark season. God's going, "I got light for you, but you got to take a few steps before you get to the light." I was talking to a good friend of mine this past week that um he had lost his wife of 50 years several months ago. So, Thanksgiving was his first or this Thanksgiving was his first holiday without her. And I called him a few days before and he was having family come over. And when I called him, he just broke down and cried. He said, "Keith, I went to get the dishes out." because it's hard. I went to look for the tablecloth as she always said. He's going and he just just the grief in his soul was hard, but he mustered through it. I called him the day after Thanksgiving. I said, "How are you doing?" And this time it was a different voice. He said, "Thanksgiving was good." And guess what I did today? I took the Christmas tree and put it up. And it made me think and there are some in this room that are experiencing grief and you're going, I don't even want to pull the Christmas tree out this year. How do we celebrate when there's an empty seat at the dining room table? It's not going to feel like Christmas. But sometimes the promises that God gives us, all we have to do is do the first step. That the hope is there and the light is waiting to fill the room. It's just waiting for us to take the first step. So maybe if it's a step of healing you need to take and you just need to make that first counseling phone call like you know there's there's there's just darkness in you and you need help getting through it and it's just simply going I'm not even going to the counselor yet but I'll just make the phone call to make the appointment. Maybe this season you need to take a step rec step of reconciliation and just send a text to somebody going can we talk? Maybe the step you need to take is a generosity. And maybe God's leading you just to give something even when you feel like you have nothing to give. And we can go on through steps after step after step. Maybe what God is calling for some of us is a step of encouragement in this thing that we call welcome Christmas or a step of courage. This this thing that we call welcome Christmas. You just need to go to the next door neighbor and knock on the door and go would you come with me to welcome Christmas? I don't know what step God has for each of us, but he has steps. And it's in those steps that we find the hope. And so, as we begin Advent season this year, here is my call to all of us is that we will step into the hope that the season brings. even when the environment doesn't look like we think it should look, even when the circumstances of our life aren't everything that we'd want them to be, that there is still hope. And sometimes in the waiting of things to get where we want them to get, get where we think they should be, get where we think we deserve them, in the waiting we can lose that hope. But just as the genealogy, the life tree of Jesus shows us that hope is found in the waiting, I invite you this season to that hope. You know, it's interesting in the season that we're in in Advent season, we're looking for this hope. But hope is not just found in the birth of Jesus. The real hope is found in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And so here's what I'd like to do today. Rather than beginning Advent by celebrating with Christmas trees up, celebrating with the garland hung and the poinsettas up. Rather than celebrating in all the decor of Christmas, I want to lead us to begin celebrating the season, not in the decor, but the death of Jesus. But much more than death, the resurrection. And so we want to take some time together as a church. And we do this every week. If you're a guest with us here today, we always partake of communion every week. It's a thing that we believe God leads us to. Scripture teaches us to do it. And if you're a guest with us here today, you are invited. We believe this. The Bible says that all followers of Jesus are invited to the table to take communion. But this year, today, as we take communion, and we're not going to pass it like we normally do. We're not going to walk up here. You'll see some different tables. There's two in the back, and there's two on each of the sides over here. Um, I'm going to invite you in just a moment to go up to the table and just take it there. But as you take it, as you hold the bread, as you hold the drink in your hand, would you hold it with the hope that comes with not just the birth of Jesus, but the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is also. And you may even need to say, "Jesus, as you take it, Jesus, I feel the darkness, but I will grab hold of the light that you bring to the hope." Just a little bit of how we're doing it today. We have it set up in tinion style. You may wonder what in the world is intention style. There's different ways that you can participate in communion. Intension is simply where you'll take a piece of bread and just dip it in the juice. Now, we also have the little to-go cups up there. We call them to go cups, the individual cups. If you'd much rather just take it like we normally do that way, you're more than welcome to. But I'm going to pray now and I'm going to invite you as you're ready just to go one of our tables. Two here, two there, one back there as we celebrate communion to really begin the season of Advent. And so Lord Jesus, we come before you now and we do know this. Without the birth, we have no hope. But Jesus, we know this. Without your death, your burial, and resurrection, there's truly no hope. And so, as we step into this Advent season, we we we come before you bear. We come before you all the glitz and glitter of of Christmas. We simply come before you just going, Jesus, we need you. We long for the hope that you bring. And so Jesus, as we take communion, we remember you and we pray this in your holy name. Amen.