The Call of Christmas - Hope Seattle

Christmas Day: God With Us

December 25, 2016 • Peter Mueller

The hope and promise of God in the Old Testament is that the Savior Jesus would be called "Emmanuel", or "God with Us". There is great comfort to know that Jesus is not just God, but God with us in the midst of each moment of our days... we can trust, give thanks for, and celebrate His presence in our lives everyday!

Christmas Eve: Stepping Across the Line

December 24, 2016 • Peter Mueller

Sometimes, our expectations for Christmas and for life remain unmet. Mary and Joseph experienced this when their Christmas dream come true turned into a nightmare with the necessity of escape to Egypt ahead of an angry king intent on murdering their son. In the midst of life's disappointments and devastations, the words of the angel are still true: Jesus comes to bring good news of great job for all people! This Christmas, God calls us to reject a singular focus on the pain of our past and present and step across the line in faith in our prince of peace to give us a brighter today and new tomorrow!

The Call to Praise: The Shepherds

December 18, 2016 • Peter Mueller

After the angels came announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, they praised God and went and told everyone about it. Likewise, God calls us to praise Jesus wherever we go, in everything we do, with anyone we're with.

The Call to Obey: Joseph

December 11, 2016 • Peter Mueller

God called Joseph to a task he didn't understand and didn't want to do: take a pregnant young woman as his wife and adopt her child as his own, despite the misunderstandings and hit to his reputation this would cause. When God sends an angel to Joseph in a dream and explains the purpose to this call, he immediately obeys. Similarly, when God calls us to follow Him in one way or another, our call is to immediately obey, even when our sinful nature would rather not.

The Call to Trust: Mary

December 4, 2016 • Peter Mueller

This message looks at Mary’s encounter with the Angel Gabriel. The angel tells her that she will become pregnant with the Son of God and the Savior of the world - we will look at how God calls her to trust Him to do the impossible and calls us to do the same.

The Call to Prepare: Zechariah

November 27, 2016 • Peter Mueller

As the angel came to Zechariah to tell him about the coming Savior and Zechariah’s future son’s role in preparing the hearts of people for Jesus’ coming, we now take time to prepare our hearts for the celebration of His coming at Christmas.