1st Sunday of Advent 2017


The Promise of Hope

Verse: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23

This month, New Hope Chapel will be celebrating the birth of Jesus by lighting candles on an advent wreath: one candle for each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. The word advent means arrival or coming—and at Christmas we celebrate Jesus’ coming to earth as a baby, when God became a man.

Today we will light the first candle, which symbolizes promise (light candle now).
Long ago, many thousands of years before Jesus was born, God promised to send a Savior to the world.

The first time was just after Adam and Eve had sinned in the Garden of Eden. He knew that their disobedience made it impossible to have the kind of relationship He wanted to have with them. So He promised a solution to their problem. He would send a Savior who would set mankind free from sin and death.

Over the many thousands of years that followed, God reminded His people time and time again that He had not forgotten His promise. He told them many additional things about the Savior’s coming: what town He would be born in, what family line he would come from, and that He would live in Galilee. God also told them He would heal the blind and the lame, and preach good news to the poor. Most importantly, God said the Savior would suffer and die for our sins.

God made good on those promises. And as Jesus fulfilled each one, He proved He was the One promised from the beginning to come to earth.

Pray: Dear God, thank you for always keeping your promises. We know you are faithful and cannot lie. We are glad we can trust you to do whatever You have promised to do.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

written by Julie Coleman, read by Bill and Jaimie Smith