Christ Is Everything

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Christ Is Everything

As we near the end of this Advent and Christmas season, we must go back to the foundational element for all of the other Advent elements, and that is Christ. He is the only way that we can truly have hope, peace, joy and love. As many people say this time of year, and as cheesy as it may sound at times, Jesus truly is the reason for the season! Christmas is about Jesus Christ. 

 The word Christmas literally means “Christ's mass,” which comes from the Latin word “‘to give thanks.” This points to the truth that we should give thanks to God for sending the gift of his son Christ into the world.

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God Is Love, But How?

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God Is Love, But How?

Love is a beautiful and, yet, confusing word. The word “love,” like many other words in English, has a range of meaning. The two most prominent meanings for love are: 

(1) An expression of intense and deep affection for another person (e.g., spouse, child, family, friends, etc.)

(2) an expression of interest and/or pleasure in something (e.g., the Saints, fishing, hunting, gumbo, brownies, etc.). 

Sadly, in today’s society these above definitions have been conflated. Case in point is the common phrase: “God is love.” When I hear someone say, “God is love,” I immediately think, “what does s/he mean by ‘God is love?’” In my opinion, the phrase “God is love” is oftentimes a conflation of the above two types of love and has nothing to do with “love” being an attribute of God. In fact, oftentimes the phrase, “God is love,” says more about the person speaking than the creator of the universe.

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Hoping for More

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Hoping for More

The Christmas season is upon us—a season with its own dedicated food, music and foliage; a season that sees our calendars filled with events; our houses filled with the sights, sounds, and smells of the season; and our hearts filled with Christmas cheer (or dread or anxiety or sadness or some combination of all these things). Basically, Christmas is a very full season. But in this season of “more” (more events, more gifts, etc.) Christians are called to focus on “less.” In the hustle and bustle of this demanding season, Christians are called to slow down and experience the simple gift of Christ.

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Maximize Your Christmas with a Family Advent Guide

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Maximize Your Christmas with a Family Advent Guide

What would happen if family time & Advent both collided with just a little intentionally this Christmas season?

What is Advent?

Another year is closing out quickly, which means that Christmas is right around the corner. If your family is anything like mine you have trekked up to your attic or storage space recently to grab boxes of decorations. You've also made a trip or several to your local Christmas tree source and local hardware store for some important seasonal necessities. Now your house is filled with new smells, sights, lights, and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas with these exciting extras. Both my 3-year-old and 8-month-old have loved the last week of Christmas setup, from the tree to our exterior illumination experiment to a new Christmas village from my grandfather. My wife and I have intentionally planned several family trips in December to a few favorite New Orleans Christmas spots/activities. But as exciting as all the extra parties, activities, lights, and family time is, this season is really at the core about so much more. This season is in fact one of the most important times for us to reflect, renew, and refresh, because this season is ultimately about when the Lord solved the world's problem and provided the One through whom redemption would come.

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Christmas and the End of Time

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Christmas and the End of Time

I am typically reluctant to talk about the second coming, that moment when Jesus returns to earth to set everything right. I guess it could have something to do with the fact that I very often think that people that talk about the second coming are whackos. They conjure up images of driving around in RVs and carrying signs. They often have a complex set of calculations that tell them when the world will come to an end. This line of thought also seems to attract bad haircuts, something I never want to be associated with.

However, if we are to take the Bible at its word, I believe that Jesus is coming back again. I don’t claim to understand everything about that climactic moment in time and I most assuredly don’t know when it will happen, but I do know a few things. First, no one knows when it will happen (Matthew 24:44). Second, while I don’t know the exact means or sequence of events, I know that the grand finale to all of this is that Jesus is victorious and that the entire earth is put under the rule and reign of God (Revelation 21-22). Finally, I know that this end of time event is inexorably connected with the event of Christmas.

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Hope You Can Touch

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Hope You Can Touch

Advent is a time of great expectation and excitement. We celebrate the first coming of the Son of God into the world with worship and presents and trees and lights. Peace on Earth and joy are written and sung everywhere. Our brightly colored nativity scenes feature plump smiling baby Jesuses with animals gathered around the manicured stable, and the Christmas pageant has real camels, y’all. Yet, the reality of the birth of Christ is a little less Pixar and a little more Christopher Nolan (Godman Begins). There were no pleasant smells that night, only what the animals had to offer. There were no nurses or air conditioning, no one running to fetch ice chips. And the only people rushing through the door to meet the new baby were a few sketchy sheepherders who likely smelled about as pleasant as their flock. It was a quiet, still, solemn, dirty, and largely unannounced affair.

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Have Hope: Jesus Has Come & Will Come Again

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Have Hope: Jesus Has Come & Will Come Again

On Sunday, I had the incredible privilege to kick off our “A Vintage Christmas” series, preaching on “Hope” from Isaiah 9:1-7. If you missed the sermon you can watch it below. Also, check out our other series resources here. One of the things I love about preaching is that more often than not, I find myself preaching at myself before preaching to others. As I preached on hope, this weekend was no different.

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