Joy - God's Joy for All the People | December 18, 2022

One of my big prayers this Christmas for you is, "God, please rest Your merry gentlemen and gentlewomen! Would You please bring tidings (news) of comfort and joy to Your people through Your Son Jesus? In Jesus’ name, Amen!” Rest, comfort and joy fit with what our leadership team set out to teach you this year: how to be content, persevere, and have hope. This is why we tried to teach you a theology of suffering through Job and teach you a theology of perseverance through the Book of Jude and find hope in disturbing times through the Book of Micah. Now as we continue in our Advent Season and focus this Sunday on Joy from Luke 2:8-20, we learn that an announcement can bring us joy. Maybe you are bored with life? Maybe you are in the depths of despair? What if you are an announcement away from being lifted from the doldrums to the heights of joy? That is what can happen when you hear the good news of Jesus. That is what those who are getting baptized this Sunday will experience. You are only one announcement and tiding from joy!