Hope in the Darkness?

Tithe

When you tithe, you’re trusting God with your finances. Tithing is a biblical principle. God calls us to give the first 10% of our income back to Him. We’ve seen God provide abundantly in our church, and we know He will provide abundantly for you and your family when you put Him first in your finances. In fact, it’s the one area in the Bible where God tells you to test Him. "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it." Malachi 3:10 NIV

Dec. 17, 2023

Pastor Shane Davis

N/A

CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS

Week 3 – Hope in the Darkness?

December 17, 2023

John 1:1-5 NIV

Matthew 1:23

Hope is a __________ for a ____________________ to happen.

Isaiah 9:2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

Isaiah 42:1-4 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. 3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; 4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”

Sometimes we believe in __________,

but we live with disappointment in ___________.

Luke 1:5-7 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.

18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. 59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60 but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.” 61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” 62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”

72 to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant,

Hold onto God’s _______________.

Genesis 21:1 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.

Our hope hinges on what we ____________ not what ____________ we are in.

The Christmas story can be summarized as: The most brilliant of __________ came down to the ____________ of places.