Beloved Friends and Ministry Partners,

Greetings in the name of our sweet Lord, Jesus Christ.  I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Can you believe, Christmas is just around the corner?  Then, before we know it 2021 is here!

I am preparing to send out Christmas Cards. For some of you, I don’t have your mailing address.  I would like to send you a Christmas card.  Please email me your mailing address if you wish to get a Christmas card from me.

Beloved friends, last Sunday is the first day of Advent.  Not sure what Advent is? Basically advent means coming into view, or an arrival.  So, Christmas is coming! Generally, Advent is the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas, observed as a reminder of the circumstances and events of when Jesus came into the world.  There is no luck involved in the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.  There is luck involved when normal people try to make predictions.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” – Isaiah 9:6-7

Isaiah was referring to Jesus.  Isaiah lived long before Jesus did, but he wrote about the time Jesus would be born. That is a prophecy.  A prophecy is when God reveals something that will happen, or something He will do before it happens.  It is not predicting the future because predictions are guesses.  God may or may not say when it will happen, but we can be sure that it will happen sometime.

Because this prophecy (and many many others) came to pass, we can trust what the Bible says.  And the Bible says that Jesus came so we may have life.  When He died for us it was all part of God’s plan for us to receive forgiveness of our sin, in order to have eternal life.  Praise God!  The season of Advent is a period of both repentance and celebration; also, a season of hope and expectation.  Let’s open our hearts to Christ.

Beloved friends, amidst this time of pandemic and uncertainties, my prayer for you is that your heart is filled with hope, love, joy and peace.  Christmas time reminds us of the hope we have in Jesus.  God is good!  If we place our trust in Jesus and accept His gift of forgiveness we can expect one day to spend eternity with Him (John 3:16; 14:2-3).  That is the hope Jesus gives us!

Happy Blessed Advent!

Hugs and Blessings,
Jae