Light and Life

Joy is a deep source of delight, even in the midst of trials, because of Jesus.

JOY HAS COME

Luke 2:10-11 (NLT)
but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!”

Leviticus 23:1-2
The Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as official days for holy assembly.”

Deuteronomy 16:14-15
This festival will be a happy time of celebrating with your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows from your towns. For seven days you must celebrate this festival to honor the Lord your God at the place he chooses, for it is he who blesses you with bountiful harvests and gives you success in all your work. This festival will be a time of great joy for all.

Luke 2:10-11 (NIV)
but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!”

WE ARE ALL CALLED TO JOY

JOY BUSTERS & JOY BOOSTERS

COMPARISON

CONSUMPTION

John 15:11
I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!

Luke 2:10-11
but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!”

JOY IS FOUND IN THE MANGER

John 3:16-17
For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

The Christmas Story

The Love of God

The Gift of God

The Responsibility of Mankind

The Consequences of our Decision

The love of God is shown in Affection not Obligation

1 John 4:9-10
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

The gift of God is given Purposefully not Thoughtlessly

John 3:17
God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

The responsibility of mankind is to receive the gift.

John 1:10-12
He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

The consequence of our decision is Life or Death

John 3:18
“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.”

Peace is the quality of life not simply found in the absence of trouble. It comes from a place of security in the truth that we are right with God.

Expressions of Biblical Peace
The absence of war or chaos
The presence of harmony in relationships
The inner sense of rest and security
The way you approach another person
A right relationship with God

Colossians 1:19-21
For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.

The experience of peace generally depends upon peace with God specifically.

Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

The experience of peace originates through a person not a process.

Colossians 1:20
And through him God reconciled everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

Our help comes from somebody but not just anybody.

Colossians 1:19
For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ.

Isaiah 9:5
The boots of the warrior and the uniforms bloodstained by war will all be burned.  They will be fuel for the fire.

Isaiah 9:6-7
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

John 14:27
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

Are you settling for something less than peace?

John 16:33a
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.” 

John 16:33b
“But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

Hope: “to wait with confident patience for what you believe will come.”

Hope forward is shaped by a look backward.

Matthew 1:18-19
This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

Matthew 1:20-21a
As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:22-23
All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!  She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” (Isaiah 7:14)

All creation is desperate with hope for salvation

Romans 8:19-21
For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

Matthew 6:10
May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Hope attained fuels our hope for what is yet to come.

Acts 1:8-11
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”

Revelation 1:7-8
Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven.
And everyone will see him— even those who pierced him.
And all the nations of the world will mourn for him.
Yes! Amen!
“I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”