Intro: At this time of year there was one book I always looked forward to receiving in the mail: The Wish Book from Sears. There's a lot of wishing going on in this season. As you go into the stores you can see it in the eyes of kids and adults. We live in a society that does a lot of wishing. If you could go out into the streets today and ask people what they wished for, what do you think you would hear?

- wish all my bills were paid/get out of debt
- wish I could win the lottery
- wish I could buy my own home
- wish for a better job
- wish for a spouse
- wish for peace

There is a lot of wishing going on in America today. We livge in a very wishful society. I think that's why I Dream of Jeannie was such a popular show and the reruns are still popular. We think it would be great to have a Jeannie that could just zap us up whatever we wished for.

The Make a Wish foundation has grown in great popularity over the past few years - granting wishes to children who are terminally ill. Some have wishes granted before they die and some don't. Our society puts a lot of emphasis on having our wishes granted before we leave this earth.

Some people see Jesus as coming to grant wishes. His healings may sometimes seem that way. Someone who had been lame, blind, deaf, or a leper would call out to Jesus and he would heal them. It was like a wish come true. It seems like Jesus was going around like a Jeannie granting wishes and making people well.

However, when you read the gospels, you see that's not really what was taking place at all. What we see is the presence of Almighty God coming into the lives of people to set them free. Jesus didn't just go around granting wishes, but he came into the world to reveal that the Messiah had come - the one that Israel had hoped for. The Messiah brought in the healing of God as a sign of something greater - the presence of hope - the presence of redemption. That hope is so much greater than anything a granted wish can ever bring.

In today's society, many have turned their minds toward wishing and actually believe they live in hope when they actually live lives pursuing only a wish. There are those who buy lottery tickets wishing one day they'll hit the jackpot. There are those who continually strive to make the right deal or land the right job that will make their lives a dream. But listen to the man who actually won the lottery - who's wish came true. A year after winning he was asked if winning the lottery had made him any happier. His answer - No! It had made his life more complicated with people always asking him for money. What he really desired was to see his daughter free of cancer. She was dying and he couldn't do anything to free her from cancer with all the money he had won. Today's wishing for things that will make us happy won't bring that happiness to us. The only thing that will bring fulfillment into our lives is true hope. And that hope only comes from God.

As we look at this candle burning before us, it symbolizes something very powerful. It symbolizes a hope that God has brought to those who will turn to Him for their hope, rather than to their wishes for a better life. Here's the difference. Wishes are not based on anything. Wishes may or may not come, and even if a wish is fulfilled it won't bring lasting fulfillment to our lives. Hope on the other hand is an anchor we can depend on. Hope is an assured fulfillment that only God can bring to us. In this season of Advent, we proclaim that we can't bring hope to the world from our human plans and designs. Only God can bring hope to this world through his eternal plan in sending His Messiah - Jesus Christ.

Today, we can celebrate that true and lasting hope is part of our lives because Jesus has come. When God came to this earth in Jesus Christ, everything that the people of Israel had hoped for for thousands of years was accomplished. Today, we have a hope that is steadfast and provides a foundation for our lives if we will accept this hope that Jesus brings. Christmas is about the coming of Christ to bring the presence of this hope to us. Even if none of your wishes come true, this hope is real and it is one of the greatest gifts of God to you.

To better understand how this hope is very different that any wishes, I want to take the letters of hope today to explain the real Presence of Hope that Jesus brings to our lives today:

H - Jesus came to fulfill the establishment of the household of God - the household of faith. This house goes far beyond any bricks and wood that you and I can build. You may have a wish and a dream for a beautiful house or maybe you already own one, but the house I'm speaking of can only be built by Jesus. This household is a family. It's the greatest family you'll ever be part of.
Family is used in a lot of ways nowdays. People try to get us to buy into a family - a family of vacationers or groups like us. But this family is greater than anything you can buy into. Jesus gave his life to bring you into this family. It's the family of faith and the only way you come in is through faith in him. It's what David talks about in Psalm 23 - "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." It's the household of faith that brings us into the family of believers, worshippers, and into the flock of the Good Shepherd.

Bethlehem - House of Bread. Jesus said "I am the bread of life." He calls us to come into the house and feed on his manna. He says his family are those who do God's will.

Kids wish to go to Disney Word - become part of the Disney family - but much greater is bring them into the family of faith each week. They will never forget the touch of this family and of the Christ that saves them.

Bob and Kim Forman family - 60 foster kids through the years - 14 foster kids in their home right now. 15 loads of laundry a day!. On foster child, Danny, is 21 now and has a good job. He credits the Formans for their caring, supportive relationship, helping his reach goals and come to know God. He says, "I wasn't a normal teenager. I was always getting into trouble. But Bob and Kim helped me have a relationship with God. A lot of people can talk the talk but can't walk the walk. Bob and Kim are different, you know? Their actions speak louder than words…You can't fake love."

That says it all. God's household of faith is a household that can't be faked. We are brought in by pure love and we experience pure love in that household.

O - Obedience is the foundation of this hope. Jesus was totally obedient. He calls us to be obedient in faith. One of the main messages of John the Baptist and for the Advent season is "Repent." That doesn't just mean to try to be better, but to give up your sins to God and live a new life that God makes possible. Obedience means taking the risk to deny yourself and live for God. God is calling us to turn from those things that will keep us from experiencing the hope of new life so he can give us that hope. Reckless living won't give us the hope we desire.

Tommy Morrison, famous boxer, announced to the world in Feb. 1996 that his was HIV-positive. He lived a very promiscuous lifestyle, being with many woman. He said he never thought it could happen to him. "I thought that I was bulletproof." But instead, he was very vulnerable.

We are all vulnerable to sin. We must be careful and stay close to God in our daily walk. God calls us to repent and to be obedient to Him. That's the only bullet-proof lifestyle.
Listen to the hope that Titus 2:11-14 gives us. The hope is in the obedience. As we wait on Christ, he calls us to live lives that are pleasing to him.

David is good example. He fell into sin, but he repented and turned his heart to God. He gave up that sin and turned from it. Then God promised him that he would establish his house forever. This was the lineage that led to Jesus and that Jesus came to give hope to the world through this obedience.

P - Promise. We have a promise that is steadfast and sure. God has given us the promise of forgiveness, life, love through his Son, Jesus. God initiated a covenant with Israel that was a promise to them - God would be their God and they would be His people and He would save them. God has fulfilled that covenant in Jesus. He has brought us into that covenant promise for life. This is a promise that will never fail and that establishes the kingdom of God as permanent.

Many politicians give promises. Look at Hitler. Promised people the greatest kingdom in the world - free of Jews and homosexuals and those they didn't trust. But look where it ended up.

Look at Jim Jones. Promised the people a heaven on earth in Guanna. But look where it ended up.

Political leaders are still giving promises and militaries are rallying to lead governments around the world. But the P in hope is for the Promise of God, not the Promise of Politicians. We do not put our hope in political systems, but in the hope that only comes from the Promise of God in his kingdom that is not of this world.

Promise is that Jesus is coming back to fulfill his kingdom. He will come back to redeem His people and to make all things new. Listen to I Peter 3:3-9.

E - This hope is eternal and everlasting. It will never fail. It goes on forever. You and I can't comprehend it. But God gives us this as a promise - of everlasting life. Death has been destroyed forever. Even though death is still with us, it won't be forever. And it doesn't have any lasting power over us.

Listen to I Corinthians 15:19- "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men."

We don't understand death. We think of death as robbing us of those we love. My cousin Debbie and her four year old son, Paul, drowned some years ago. It was one of the most difficult deaths I have ever experienced. This young woman had everything to live for. Yet, as she sought to save her child who had fell into the river, they both died. It brought incredible grief to all the family and especially to my sister who lost her best friend. If all we had to hope for was Debbie and Paul's life on this earth, everything would be lost and we would be left with nothing but lasting, heart-wrenching grief. But praise God, that is not all we were left with. We have been a promise that we will be reunited with Debbie and Paul, for they live on in Christ forever. We have faith in the everlasting. No wishes can give us that assurance. But that hope in Christ is steadfast and sure. It is the foundation for our very lives in the midst of death.

We have a lasting hope, an eternal hope, a hope that is forever.

So much greater than any wishes we can make. That's the hope that the Presence of Jesus