Real joy does not come from gifts or circumstances. It comes from your relationship with Jesus and the people around you. Happiness fades. Joy lasts. This message shows you where joy starts, what steals it, and how to refocus your life on what brings lasting joy at Christmas and beyond.

Simple action steps for you. • Check your focus. Ask what you stare at most this season. Loss or grace. • Heal relationships. Ask if being right matters more than love. • Reorder priorities. Spend more effort on Jesus and people than on decorations and gifts. • Give yourself away. Serve. Encourage. Forgive. Show up. • Stay connected to Jesus. Abide in His love daily. Obedience follows love.

You live in a world that feels dark and unstable. Advent tells you something simple. Hope came. Hope is here. Hope is coming again. Isaiah spoke to people who felt afraid and worn out. God answered with a promise. A child would come. A Savior would reign. Light would break through.

Three truths rise from Isaiah 9.

Truth 1 Hope shines strongest when life feels dark. Darkness does not win. Jesus brings light into your fear, stress, and pain.

Truth 2 Hope is a person. Not a feeling. Feelings shift. Jesus stays steady. He guides you, strengthens you, and gives peace.

Truth 3 Hope lasts because Jesus reigns forever. Earthly leaders and systems fail. His rule never ends. His promises stand.

Your next step Slow down. Read the Advent Guide. Pray with your family. Tell Jesus where you feel the darkness pressing in. Hold onto the Savior who holds onto you.

Your family gave you more than your looks. They gave you habits. Some help you. Some hurt you. You pass those habits to your kids unless you stop them. You stop them by following Jesus. Someone has to say it stops now. Israel forgot God. They lived like the people around them for hundreds of years. Their kids grew up not knowing who God was. That is what happens when you drift. Old habits take over. Change takes time, work, and a new way of thinking.

God told Israel what to do. Follow me and life will go well. Your choices shape your family. If you change your life, you change your children. You need to name the baggage you were handed. Bring it to Jesus. He breaks old patterns and helps you build a new path.

Deuteronomy 6 gives a simple plan. • Do what God says. Your kids watch more than they listen. • Love God. Obedience proves it. • Talk about God in normal moments. • Make your faith visible. • Stay alert when life is good so you do not forget Him. Start with your own life. When you change, your kids have a better chance to change too.

We’ve all watched someone we love fall apart and felt helpless to stop it. 2 Samuel 12 shows us how to love people enough to tell them the truth, even when they don’t want to hear it.

Main truth: Love without truth isn’t love. Truth without love isn’t heard.

Here’s what God teaches us: · Go to God first. Ask if He wants you to step in. Don’t react out of emotion. · Lead with grace. Nathan told a story instead of attacking. Grace opens hearts. · Speak with courage. Real love says the hard thing even when it’s uncomfortable. · Point them to God. Don’t shame them. Remind them who God is and what He offers. · Let God handle the rest. You can speak truth, but only God can change a heart.

Nathan’s story points to Jesus, who tells us the truth about our sin and then forgives us with grace.

Your job isn’t to fix people. Love them, speak truth, and trust God to do what you can’t.

Action step: Pray first. Speak with love. Leave the results to God.

Good relationships depend on how we talk and listen. The way you communicate shapes every part of your life. God doesn’t only want a strong relationship with you, He wants you to have strong relationships with others too. That starts with how you speak and how you listen.

Your past affects how you handle conversations, but Jesus gives you the power to change that. Real growth happens when you stop blaming others and look at what’s going on in your own heart. Most conflict points to something in you that God wants to fix.

Healthy communication happens when people feel safe, honest, and not judged. When others know they can trust you, they’ll open up, and healing can start. Your words can either build people up or tear them down. If you want better relationships with God, your spouse, your kids, or your friends - start communicating with honesty, humility, forgiveness, and love.

Main Truth: Talking God’s way changes every relationship. Call to Action: Start today. Listen more. Judge less. Use your words to heal.

This week we’re taking time to look back and thank God, and to look ahead at what He’s still doing. God has been so faithful, and He’s not done yet.

The angel once asked Hagar, “Where have you come from, and where are you going?” That’s a good question for us too. Everything behind us has helped prepare us for what’s next. Philippians 1:6 says the same God who started His work in us will finish it.

Here’s what we’re celebrating: 25 years of God’s goodness. We’ve grown from about 250 people to over 2,100 each week. 1,863 baptisms. Lives changed by Jesus. Spiritual growth. More people reading the Bible, growing in faith, and building stronger families. Faithful giving. Up 11%, showing hearts that trust God’s mission.

But we can’t stop now. The building that once worked for us can’t hold what’s coming. Just like a farmer has to plant new fields to keep growing, it’s time for us to take new ground. God’s calling us to reach beyond Choctaw.

• Our mission now is simple: To introduce people in East Central Oklahoma to Jesus and help them grow in relationship with Him.
• Our first step is this Easter, two services in McLoud.
• This isn’t just a test. It’s the start of what’s next.

Here’s how you can help: Pray. Ask God to guide us and open hearts. Give. Help make space and build what’s needed to reach more people. Go. Join the team heading to McLoud. God’s done amazing things, but He’s not finished. The best is still ahead.

Your kids won’t remember how much money you made or the stuff you owned, but they’ll never forget how you lived your faith. Isaac’s story reminds us that faith isn’t inherited by accident; it’s modeled, spoken, and trusted out loud. Abraham showed Isaac how to trust God in hard moments. Isaac learned to hear God’s voice for himself. He spoke blessing over his kids and trusted God with their future, even when life was messy. Parents, that’s our calling too. You don’t have to be perfect. Just be faithful. Your walk with God is the greatest inheritance you’ll ever leave.

Action Challenge: Live your faith in front of your kids. Let them see you trust God, hear you speak life, and feel you release control of their future into His hands.

Every man is passive in some area - marriage, parenting, faith, or finances and that’s often where he’s failing. Jacob’s life shows what happens when passivity takes over. He repeated the same broken family patterns he grew up with, stayed silent when his daughter was hurt, and allowed compromise in his home.

But even in Jacob’s failure, God was faithful. God used his broken family to bring Jesus into the world. The same God can use your story too, but only if you face your passivity, take responsibility, and start leading your family toward Him.

Main Truth: God is faithful even in your failures, but it’s time to stop being passive and start leading.