At the very top of a list of felt needs would be the need for love and the need for acceptance

It’s part of our nature as humans to feel this need and pursue love. I believe it’s a God-given thing, a part of us.

The question for us this morning is not if we need and if we pursue love and acceptance. We do. All of us do. Every person on planet earth pursues love and acceptance in some way.

The question is not if, the question is how do we pursue it. The greater question is where do we pursue it.

We have seen the reality of Christmas displayed in hope and peace and joy the last few weeks. These are all from God. They find their fulfillment in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

All people have the desire to experience all of these things. But most people find joy, hope, and peace, elusive. They are out of reach.

We live in an anxious, chaotic, and discouraging world. A weary world as the song says.

As followers of Christ, we can and we do live differently. This is the beauty of God’s plan for us. We don’t have to participate in that. We can live differently.

The candle today represents love which is the greatest desire of every human being. But it’s tragically misunderstood and tragically unexperienced largely in our world.

The message today is that only when we encounter genuine Love, can we experience the hope, peace, and joy of God’s salvation.

God created us to find our deepest desires fulfilled in him. And he created us is such a way that our deepest desires can only be fulfilled in him.

We want to explore how we can encounter his love this morning.

~~~