As the Christmas season begins this year, I will be preaching on "Christmas in the Home." We will be examining the biblical themes of how Christ impacts our homes. Whether your home is a traditional one with both parents still married, or a blended one with children of different marriages, or just a couple without children, or just you yourself, your home is important. Home is where we feel accepted, where they cannot reject us, where we can be ourselves, and it should be a place of love, peace, hope, and life. Today we are examining how we can have hope in our homes. Hope is defined as "a feeling of expectation and desire." Biblical hope is not a groundless wish, but it is faith in the promises of God. In Christ we have hope of eternal life after death, but we also have hope for every day, knowing that God will always be with us, that he is working all things together for good for those who love him (Romans 8, 28-29). Hope must be shared. No matter how dark the world may appear, the Christian home should be a place of light and hope. In Christ our failures are not fatal, but there is grace to be forgiven, to stand again, and to continue to go forward in faith. Hope in the family impacts every member of the family, and it fills them with a positive expectation for their future. It is said of the righteous woman, "She can laugh at the days to come" (Proverbs 31, 25), and that is the reality of Christian confidence in God. Pastor David Packer
