Advent 2023
LOVE (Christmas Eve)
December 24, 2023 • Scott Klaudt
This year is a special year because the 4th week of Advent lands on Christmas Eve. So if you’re listening to this, you are actually listening to our Christmas Eve Service. Amazingly enough, it lands on the most important subject we can possibly seek after…God is love. This is what the incarnation is about: Love. That he loved us enough to become us. That he loved us enough to take on all of humanity and release us from our false views of God. Pagan gods demand sacrifice to be loved, pagan gods demand words to be loved, pagan gods need appeased to be loved. Not Christ. He is the true God, and he showed us what true love is.
JOY
December 17, 2023 • Scott Klaudt
In week 3 of Advent we look at something CS Lewis said was “A Christian's greatest weapon.” Why do we buy things? Why do we long for things? Why are experiences so important to us? We are longing for and created for joy! If you ask anyone on the street if they want joy they will say yes, but ask them how, you’ll get a million different answers. Yet joy is something Jesus said he gives us! However, do we feel it? One of the reasons why is because we want Jesus without his way, but his way is the way of joy. This week we look at what that way is and how we can fully participate in the joy of the Lord.
PEACE
December 10, 2023 • Scott Klaudt
In Week 2 of this Advent season, we look at something the world so desperately needs…Peace. In the prophecy of Isaiah, it says the Messiah would be the Prince of Peace. That’s who he is, that’s what he desires, and that is what he will accomplish. The issue is so many of us are waiting for the other person to make peace, but we can’t control other people. There really is nothing we can do to change world history or the chaos that ensues, but we can have peace in the middle of the carnage. Advent is a time to recalculate where we need to change in our peacemaking abilities.
HOPE
December 3, 2023 • Scott Klaudt
The Advent season has arrived, and in Week 1, we look at "Hope". Hope is something essential for life; without hope there is no moving forward. But what are we hoping in? Some think a new president will bring hope, some not. Some think a better economy brings hope, but for some, that doesn’t matter. During this season, we look at the passage where it says “We have seen a great light” and that will be our theme. But how does light bring hope? We break this down this week and all through this season.