Advent: Hope

(If you prefer to print this out, it is available here as a pdf.)

Scripture Songs 

We can hide God’s Word in our heart and worship Him as He deserves when we sing scripture songs. (Sing along with the recordings above if you want some help with the tunes!)

I Will Enter His Gates

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart.
I will enter His courts with praise.
I will say this is the day that the Lord has made.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad; He has made me glad.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad; He has made me glad.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.

This Is the Day

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made.
We will rejoice, we will rejoice, and be glad in it, and be glad in it.
This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made.

This Is My Commandment

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

This is my commandment that you love one another,
That your joy may be full.
This is my commandment that you love one another,
That your joy may be full.
That your joy may be full; that your joy may be full.
This is my commandment that you love one another,
That your joy may be full.

Rejoice in the Lord Always

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice!
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice!
Rejoice, rejoice; again I say rejoice!
Rejoice, rejoice; again I say rejoice!

Advent – An Introduction

Christmas is a big deal. This time of year, people work really hard, spending lots of time, energy, and money “getting ready for Christmas.” But the most important work of Christmas is already done: Jesus, the Son of God, came to this world as a baby to live a perfect life, die for His people, and rise again to give them new life. The Apostle John tells us “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” . We want to celebrate this most important work of Christmas, so for the next four weeks—the four weeks of Advent—we will think about what Jesus’s arrival means for His people.

Week One: Jesus’s Arrival Brings Hope

Right now, there may be people thinking, “I hope I get a new bike for Christmas,” or “I hope Mom likes the green sweater I got her,” or “I hope the Steelers win the Super Bowl.” It’s all right to hope for those things, but that kind of hoping is really just wishful thinking. It could turn out that there is no new bike, or that Mom doesn’t like the sweater (although she wouldn’t say so), or that the Steelers don’t even make it to the Super Bowl. The hopes of those folks may be disappointed.
The hope that Jesus’s arrival brings is not like that. In Jesus we have the proof that God keeps His promises. So when we hope in the promises of God, we can be 100% sure that we will receive what we hope for.
Throughout the Old Testament, God promised that He would bless His people. He promised that He would deliver them from all their enemies and show them how to live a good life. He sent prophets to remind the people of His ways, but over and over, the people ignored God’s promises and tried to create happiness for themselves. The prophet Isaiah wrote that those people, who were hoping in themselves, would find instead, “distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish” .
But God doesn’t leave those people in the darkness that they deserved. In the very next chapter Isaiah announces God’s amazing mercy. Isaiah writes in chapter 9 verse 2: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.” In chapter 40:3-5, Isaiah speaks again to those people in the dark wilderness of sin, “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.’” The Gospel of Mark applies those words to John the Baptist who announced the coming of Jesus to bring the hope of salvation to His people.
God promised to send a Savior, and He did. Two thousand years later, we can rejoice that God kept His promise—that Jesus came to be the Light to those in darkness. But the story doesn’t end there. We, who have believed in Jesus, still have a glorious hope to look forward to—the hope of Jesus’s return. says “ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (emphasis added).
As we observe Advent, let’s thank God for the promises He kept in the past and the promise that we know He’ll keep in the future when Jesus comes again. Praise God for the gift of HOPE which “does not put us to shame [does not disappoint], because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” .

Advent Week 1: Object Lesson on HOPE

Supplies:

Blindfold, flashlight, a room that can get relatively dark when the lights are out

Lesson:

Isaiah talks about the light of the world- Jesus. It is a prophesy which announces the Messiah’s
coming. Before Jesus came, the world was in darkness.
Bring out a blindfold and say, “Let’s experience how darkness affects us.” Put the blindfold on a
child and ask them to find a toy and/or play with it. How hard is it to find the toy/play with it?
Which is easier? Which is more enjoyable? Did the darkness make your experience different?
What does the darkness make you feel? Do you think you will find or do all that you need to
do?
Take off the blindfold (in the dark)
Turn out the lights and then tell them to take off the blindfold. Shine a flashlight and find the
toy in the dark. Can you play/work/find things easier? What does the light do for you? How
does it help you or change your experience?
Then turn on the lights and talk about how Jesus was promised to be the light that would
change the world. What would this light change in the world? Who brings the light? Who is the
light? What kind of light is he? What does his light do for those living in darkness?
Remind your children that this light has come and we rejoice and have a great living hope in
Jesus, our light and our salvation. We have seen the great light of his salvation and in this we
can rejoice daily, as Isaiah prophesies. But we also have a hope in his future coming and in the
light of our Messiah eradicating all darkness and the final darkness of death. We have seen a
great light and look forward to the full glory of this light revealed in his coming again.

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep
darkness, on them has light shone.”

“. . .waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Advent Hymn

Week 1 – Jesus’s Arrival Brings Hope – “Joy to the World”

Isaac Watts wrote “Joy to the World” as a paraphrase of Psalm 98. The psalm brings to mind the second coming, when Jesus will be revealed in all His glory as the great King who comes to judge the world with righteousness. Read the psalm and think about our blessed hope of Jesus’s return as you sing the hymn.

Psalm 98
1 Oh sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
2 The LORD has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
5 Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody!
6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!
7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it!
8 Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together
9 before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.

“Joy to the World”

1 Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let ev'ry heart prepare him room,
And heav'n and nature sing,
And heav'n and nature sing,
And heav'n, and heav'n and nature sing.

2 Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns;
Let men their songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

3 No more let sin and sorrow grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found.

4 He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness,
And wonders of his love,
And wonders of his love,
And wonders, wonders of his love.