Over the last few weeks of our “O Holy Night” series, I have really been enjoying spending time reviewing the revelation of God’s goodness & faithfulness to His people. First, in the accounts of the time between the book of Malachi & the Gospels – seeing God’s working in & through the ‘silent times.’ I have been encouraged with the promises of new hope given to Joseph, Mary, Zechariah, & Elizabeth – which signaled the advent of God’s plan. I have been challenged in the stories of the “waiting time,” aka, the time between God’s promise being MADE & God’s promise being FULFILLED. In preparation for this week’s theme, I have been thinking about a couple of Scriptures that declare a couple of the main purposes Jesus Christ came to earth.
These Scriptures are:
John 10:10 The thief (our
enemy, the devil,) has come only to steal, kill, & destroy. I came
that they may have life & have it abundantly.
&
1 John 3:8b …The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
Think about that – Christ came to give us life & life abundantly – & also to destroy the works of the devil. This enemy has been humanity’s adversary since God created people in His image – & the enemy has been working to steal, kill, destroy. As we look around our world, it is easy to find evidences that this satan has been busy.
I love that Christ is actively at work as well – destroying that which the enemy has meant for our harm & damage. That Christ can undo, correct, heal, renovate, restore, & transform those things & make them something beautiful.
This Sunday, the message is called, “O Holy Night #4 – Making Wrongs, Right.” We will have our friend, Mike Mercer from Compassion First (CF) with us to talk about a couple of ways that we can participate in the mission of God to destroy the works of the enemy, make some wrongs, right, & also help some precious people begin to walk into & live out the abundant life God intends for us. Hillside will be receiving a special offering at the end of the service to help support the “Holy Night” initiative – an outreach to the cemetery prostitutes (& their families) of Surabaya, Indonesia. Please consider participating in this offering, & in praying for the work of CF as they continue to work to make wrongs, right, in the Name of Jesus.
