__custompagedescription__
On this Sunday before Christmas, we celebrate Jesus the Savior who is the light of life. His story is bigger than a manger scene.
In dark times and on dark days, the light of peace can be hard to find. How can we know peace that overcomes the darkness?
This world needs more love. Not just any type of love. This world needs the love of Jesus. As followers of Jesus, it’s our responsibility to love as Jesus loved. Like a light pierces the darkness, our love should pierce the darkness of today’s culture and point a hurting world to the light of love found in Jesus.
The story of Christmas shines a light into our dark world. Today we look at Jesus’ family tree and see through the names and stories, God’s plan to invite us all to experience the light of joy.
We see and feel the brokenness around us and in us and sometimes “broken” falls on us because we live in a world broken by sin. When we combine all those things together hope can be hard to come by. Where do we turn?
What’s the quickest way to forget God? Start living like he doesn’t exist or like he doesn’t really matter. The temptation for families is to view God as a “nice helper” or “available in case of an emergency”. When we allow God to get pushed out because of “life” then he becomes an afterthought, an “if we have time” relationship, or worse yet, He becomes forgotten altogether.
Our series on (perfect) real families today takes us down a dark road. We live in a sexualized culture that bombards us with the destructive messages of sexual temptations. We are more accommodating of it than we realize. We may be closer to danger than we realize. God’s word has wise guidance for protecting sexual purity.
The greatest adoption story in the history of the world was when God sent His one and only Son into this world to rescue us from our sin and gave us the rights and privileges to be called children of God. If you are a follower of Christ, adoption is your story. Spiritually we have been rescued and the reality of our world is that there are millions of orphans who need to be rescued. How can the church show the love of Christ to a world full of waiting children?
Ideal families would always have exactly what they need and never want for anything. They would never overspend or become slaves to debt. Most of us live in real families, not ideal families. The Bible has much to say about our financial lives. How can we know financial freedom?
According to the Anxiety and Depression Society of America 264 million people in the world live with anxiety and 322 million people live with depression. Those are incredible numbers, but they become more overwhelming when those numbers hit home. Living with anxiety and depression is a reality for many individuals and families in our church. What can we do, where can we turn, how can move forward when we feel so overwhelmed? God promises His presence and provision amid the storm.