We worship today at the end of another miracle year at Grace. As we look back over the past twelve months, it is amazing to take note of all that God has done. We moved into our new facilities in March. We experienced a month-long revival during April in which attendance was the highest we have had in years. Ministry to women, men, children and teenagers took place which enriched families, reached new members and resulted in outreach touching many unbelievers and unchurched people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
 
We are now in the position to close out our two-year long “One Mile for God’s Glory” Capital Campaign. We are within, $7,000 of achieving our overall goal of $150,000. Pledges have been made by several members which will more than accomplish the remaining amount. This victory is monumental for our congregation. You will recall that we raised a bit more than $86,000 in our original campaign pledge drive. We actually pledged 58% of the total campaign amount. To date, actual receipts total $57,000 more than was pledged. That means God has led members and interested partners to give 38% more than was originally pledged. Today, our church has raised 96% of the total campaign goal.

 
God may lead you to give a year-end, OVER-THE-TOP donation toward the completion of the $150,000 “One Mile for God’s Glory” goal. Campaign envelopes are available for your donations. The campaign goal has been accomplished through what has already been received and what has been pledged to come in soon. Your donation today will amount to a praise gift to God for His blessing and mighty power. Give something to say thank you to God and offer your expression your honor to Him.
 
We turn now, at the beginning of a New Year, to achieve new goals and adventures in the Lord’s work. I want to urge you to pray about your regular tithes and contributions to the church. Will you pray about increasing what you are now giving? Our 2018 Church Budget as of last Sunday is well below what is required on a weekly basis. The budget calls for weekly income of $3,100, but the actual receipt total amount is approximately $2,700.
 
I have been praying about this matter during the Christmas season. God has blessed us in attendance over the last two weeks leading 183 people to attend on December 16, 155 to attend on December 23, and 112 to attend on the December 24th Candlelight Service. Our church has finished the year with the highest attendance we have had in several weeks. We have almost completed our Capital Campaign. Total receipts including tithes and offerings, plus gifts to the capital campaign, have averaged $3,900 per week throughout the year. Our average weekly income including budget and campaign offerings amount to $800 more than what our current budget amount.
 
I do not believe God wants us to cut ministry in order to lower our current budget. I plan to ask our Stewardship and Finance Team to present a 2019 Church Budget which is the same as what we now have. Let’s trust the Lord to perform another miracle. I believer He will lead us to increase what we give in tithes and offerings to the ministry of our church.  Based on what the Lord has done, I believe we will see Him do more than we can even imagine throughout the coming year.

The year-ending conference this December is one that requires a great attendance from all our members. Since the conference is now scheduled for the 5th Sunday night on December 30th, it is likely that attendance will be lower due to the New Year’s holiday. In order to encourage greater attendance, the Deacon Body has postponed the scheduled conference until the next Sunday night, January 6th.
 
The conference agenda will be:

• Closure of the “One Mile for God’s Glory Campaign”
• Recommendations from the Relocation Dream Team
• Year-Ending Financial Statement Approval
• 2019 Budget Adoption
• Building Usage Proposal
• Committee and Team Reports

 
By the nature of the business to be conducted, you can understand why attendance is so crucial. Please mark your calendars and make plans now to participate in these direction setting decisions that will guide our church through 2019.
 
The Deacon Body has given notice to the church family concerning a change to our constitution and by-laws concerning the Deacon Election process. Copies of these changes were made available last Sunday morning in order that our church family may preview them. The church will be called into conference at the end of the worship service on December 30th to consider and approve these necessary changes.
 
We should all give thanks to God for what He has done this year.

• Our church family has welcomed 26 new members into our fellowship.
• We have baptized 9 new believers into the kingdom of God giving us a total increase of 35 this year.
• We are less than $13,000 away from completing our $150,000 capital campaign.

 
God has done a great work at Grace during 2018. We praise His name for the evidence of His presence and work of His mighty hand upon us.

The Advent Season is a time of preparation and anticipation as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. While Jesus came to our world as a baby in the little town of Bethlehem, we anticipate today, on this side of the manger, His second coming when He will take us to heaven to be with Him forever. As the angels said to His disciples when He ascended into heaven,
 
“…why do you stand looking into the sky?  This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)
 
At Christmas, we rejoice in Christ’s coming to save us from our sins, but, as He came first to save us, He will come again to receive us and finish what He began so long ago. You really cannot celebrate Christmas without looking forward to heaven.
 
That is why the angels who announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds were introduced as “…a multitude of the heavenly host.” There was a taste of heaven on the night when He was born. The stable and the manger, the crowded city of Bethlehem, the swaddling clothes and the fact that there was no room for Him in the inn show us that Jesus was born into this world which was not ready to receive Him. The gospel of John says so,
 
“He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.” (John 1:11)
 
Even so, His second coming will be a surprise to everyone,
 
“For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.” (1 Thessalonians 5:2)
 
The Advent season is not only a time for us to celebrate the birth of Jesus, it is also a reminder of His second coming for which we eagerly wait and look forward to with patience.
 
During the Christmas Season, you may want to share with your children or grandchildren some of the truths about heaven that they can understand:

• In heaven, no one will be crying – Revelation 21:4
• In heaven, we will have a wonderful place to live – John 14:2
• In heaven, we will be with Jesus forever – 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
• In heaven, there is no night time nor darkness – Revelation 22:5
• In heaven, you will be surrounded by the love of God – 1 Corinthians 13:13

 
Help your children learn about the second coming of Jesus this Christmas. Heaven is a real as Bethlehem is real.  Heaven is as certain has the birth of Jesus is certain. It will be a great blessing to talk about heaven over the next few days as you are wrapping presents and listening to Christmas carols. Get yourself ready for Advent.

The apostle John wrote,
 
“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:10-11)
 
What in the world is a “propitiation?”  The word means “atoning sacrifice” or a “blood offering”. The word pictures the Mercy Seat of God that was fixed atop the Ark of the Covenant stationed within the Holy of Holies inside the Temple.

 
No one knows what the Mercy Seat really looked like, because the Art has been lost for centuries. However, this is the place where God was supposed to sit. The Ark was the place where the blood of the sacrificial lamb was sprinkled on the Day of Atonement each year for the sins of Israel. It was that place between the two angles wings where the High Priest would make atonement for himself and his people.
(If you would like to read about this place, see Hebrews 9:1-7)
 
All of this is wrapped up in a wonderful Christmas present called propitiation. That is what God did when He gave us Jesus. He gave us His wonderful love wrapped up in “swaddling clothes” and lying in a manger (Luke 2:7). The Temple with its Outer Courts, its inner worship place where the sacrificial fires never ceased, and it’s Holy of Holies where God’s presence was stationed upon the Mercy Seat was just an ruff image of God’s great Love. A clearer presentation came in Bethlehem when Jesus was born to a virgin whose name of Mary. They called His name Jesus because He was the one who would:
 
“…save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)
 
The Bible says of Him,
 
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this world; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once and for all, having obtained eternal redemption…” (Hebrews 9:11-12)
 
We used to sing this great old hymn,

That’s what “propitiation” means.

• It is a word that captures the love of God.
• It is a word that presents to us the greatest present ever imagined – Forgiveness of Sin.
• It is a word for the way we ought to love one another sacrificially.

 
We love each other because God first loved us and gave His only begotten Son to show us how to love others. I really like that word--PROPITIATION. It is a word that plumbs the depth, the measures the length, extends the breadth, and elevates height of God’s love for us.


My kids used to ask me, “How much to you love me, daddy?”

I would always say, “This much,” as I held my fingers about an inch apart.

They would say, “No, you love me this much,” as they stretched their arms apart as far as they could.
 

Propitiation shows us that God is holding His arms out for us as far His love can reach.

Advent is the season of the year celebrated by the people of God as a time of expectant preparation for the birth of Jesus. The prophet Isaiah forecast Christ’s coming as the one and only Savior of the world,
 
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulders: and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
 
Beginning this Sunday morning, we will light the candle that represents Hope. Jesus Christ is our hope. The apostle Paul explains that Hope abounds in those who put their faith in Jesus,
 
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)
 
Not only does Jesus provide us with hope as one of the abiding qualities of our faith, but He also give us Love, Peace and Joy which represent the other qualities we recognize during the season of Advent. The white candle in the middle of the Advent wreath stands for Christ, which represents the center of what the Christmas season is all about. Jesus Christ is the light of the world that dispels the darkness of sin providing forgiveness and redemption to all who believe in Him,
 
“In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:4-5)
 
When Robbie and I visited Israel a few years ago, we bought nativity displays for all of our children. We also bought one for ourselves, which we place in our home at Christmas time. Each one is made of olive wood which came from olive trees grown in the Holy Land. They are unique in that way and each one is identical accept for one difference. The ones we bought for our children are carved by machine. The one Robbie and I have is carved by hand. The differences between them is slight. When you pick up the pieces, you must look very closely to see any differences at all. The most significant difference between the machine carved displays and the one that is hand carved was the price. The one that Robbie and I bought for our home, the one that is hand carved was significantly more expensive. It took more time to carve it by hand. It took more experience and more expertise to create it. The one that Robbie and I have is a work of art. The ones our children have, while beautiful and very similar are what you might call “Knock-Off’s.” They are copies of the original.
 
Christmas time for many people today is like those “Knock-Off” nativity scenes. It is commercialism gone crazy. Christmas can be more about nostalgia and sentimental feelings than about what God really did and the price that was paid to send Jesus to this sinful world. If you don’t believe me, just watch one of the Christmas movies on the Hall Mark channel this month. Hope is not about how you feel or which boyfriend you wind up with under the mistletoe. Hope is about what happened in a manger. Hope springs from the fact that
 
“…God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world unto Himself.” (2 Corinthians 5:19)
 
Hope flows from the message spoken by angels to shepherds,
 
“For unto us is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)
 
Today, is HOPE SUNDAY at Grace. We worship today as the people of God filled with the Hope that Jesus Christ brought into this world by His birth. Let the Hope of Jesus Christ fill you, surround you and encourage you today.