As we come to the last Sunday of Advent, we reflect on the gift of love God gave us through his incarnated Son, Jesus Christ. We praise and honor Him because of His immeasurable sacrifice for us, beginning with the humble circumstances of His birth, the itinerant life He led during His earthly ministry, and the inconceivable suffering He endured, from imprisonment to torture and crucifixion. Not only did He sacrifice his body, but he bore the Father's judgment intended for us, taking all the sins of the world, past, present, and future, on his broken body. We declare Him our Lord and Savior because He rose from the dead to forever free us from sin and eternal separation from God. However, what I want us to ponder this Christmas Eve is not his deeds but why He chose to surrender His glory, bring Himself down to nothing, and allow Himself to be murdered in so humiliating and barbaric a fashion.
There are many ways to show that we love someone, but the most obvious is simply this: we desire to be in their presence. We do not worship a God that wants to keep his distance or puts us on the shelf as a project as if we were a bee colony or ant farm.
From Exodus to Revelation, the One in whom “all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities” and who is “before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15-17) declares without qualification that He wants to be with us! Isaiah's prophecy of Jesus' birth gave Him the name Immanuel, which means “God with us.”
As we prepare our minds and hearts this Christmas Eve to celebrate our Savior's birth, know that God's love for us is so deep that there is nowhere else He would rather be than here with you and me.
Merry Christmas, Mosaic!
Ron
The Advent of Joy
December 17, 2023 • Carlton Yelle
Happy Saturday Church!
I hope you are experiencing encouragement, joy and rest this week. Tomorrow, I will be bringing the third week of Advent which focuses on Joy. We've touched a lot on the idea of finding joy in all circumstances over this past fall. And there has been some great truth and insight given about how to walk as believers with joy because of where our hope is.
So, this Sunday I want to take us towards a deeper look on what the advent of Joy is really about. And hopefully along the way, we will grow in our understanding of Scripture, the gospel of Jesus and our future hope in him.
I'm excited to see you all this Sunday! I'll see you bright and early for a morning of carols, fellowship and Scripture!
Your brother in Christ,
Carlton Yelle
Peace I Leave With You
December 10, 2023 • Jamie Overholser
Peace. What is it? What is it not? How do we get it? Why is it so vital to the Advent story and to our overall transformation as a child of God? The priestly blessing in the Old Testament declared, "...the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” In Isaiah's prophecy the Messiah is called "the Prince of peace." The angels praised God and said "and on earth peace" the night Jesus was born (Luke 2:14). Paul said in Romans 5:1, "…since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…." And, of course, the "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace... (Galatians 5:22).
Come, and let us gaze into the eyes of peace lying in a manger.
Jamie Overholser
Prepare the Way of the Lord: Hope in the Good News
December 3, 2023 • Keith Lahikainen • Mark 1:1–3
Advent is a season of “waiting” and expectant hope. It is a time when we look backward in thanksgiving for the gift of Jesus' first coming and forward in anticipation of his promised return. As followers of Christ, we live in this “in-between tension.” During this time of waiting life goes on as usual, and we are not immune from the disappointments embedded in this fallen world. We can lose patience in times of difficulty and become vulnerable to losing sight of the ultimate hope we have in Christ. The Apostle Paul reminded the Gentile believers in Ephesus that before they knew Christ Jesus, “You were without hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). And, as he wrote to followers in Rome, “For in this hope [the gospel] we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Rom. 8:24-25, ESV). As such, we can take great comfort in reminding ourselves today that Jesus' first coming as the long-awaited Messiah was prophesied hundreds of years before being perfectly fulfilled.
The Gospel according to Mark is perhaps the earliest recorded gospel of Jesus and yet it is often ignored amongst the gospels for meditating on the meaning of our expectant hope in Advent. Yet, Mark's opening three verses take us on a remarkable journey of tying the past promises of God to the Messianic fulfillment of Jesus and further still to the assurance of hope that he will indeed come again.
So, join us this Sunday as we dig deeper into Mark's gospel testimony (Mark 1:1-3) and the expectant hope we can rely on as we await the coming of our King!
See you then!
Keith Lahikainen
