Making Room for Hope

[00:00:07] Speaker A: Welcome to the Weekday Podcast of Sugar Hill Church, where we desire to help you know God and discover your purpose, whether you're exercising, driving, meditating, or just hanging out while you tune in with us today. Thanks. We hope these next five minutes help you feel encouraged and inspired for your day. [00:00:22] Speaker B: Well, hey friends, it's so great to have you here on the Weekday Podcast. It is Christmas season, so be sure to swing by christmasandshuckerhild.com to learn about all the different gatherings that are coming up this month to help us to experience Christmas. And I want to encourage you be thinking now about who you can invite to say, hey, come sit with me this Christmas Eve in English. We're gathering at 2, 4 and 6, and at 4 we've actually got two services going on at the same time, one specifically tailored for those with kiddos. It's a family service. It's going to be incredible. And then Sugar Hill Espanol has a unique gathering that night as well. So make plans now. Go to Christmas and sugarhill.com well, today I want to think about this idea of making room for hope. In Luke 2, verse 7 it says, and she talking about Mary gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling cloths, she laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the end. Now, I don't know about you, but sometimes life feels like a Christmas closet. And you probably know the one I'm talking about, that closet with last year's decorations, tangled lights and forgotten ornaments. And it just creates this mountain ready to avalanche at any moment. And so we keep promising ourselves we'll organize it next January. But somehow next January never comes. What I found is sometimes our hearts can be like that too. And what I mean by that is we're stuffed with old hurts and we're packed with disappointments and we're crammed with anxieties about tomorrow. And we keep saying, we'll deal with it later, maybe next year, next time. But like that overflowing Christmas closet in my house, we can't receive anything new until we make space. Now, Bethlehem was a lot like that on that first Christmas. It was a small town of 500 that suddenly was bursting with thousands. Every guest room was packed, every home was filled to the rafters. There was no vacancy, no room. Literally no space. But here's the irony that makes me shake my head in wonder. The very circumstances that seem to be working against God's plan were actually setting the stage for it. No room. In the end, that's okay. God had a manger in mind all along. Too crowded in the guest rooms. Perfect. The Savior of the world would make his debut among common folk and cattle. What if the very situations that seem to be working against you are God's actual setup for hope? What if, like Mary and Joseph's seemingly unfortunate lodging situation, your no vacancy season is precisely where God wants to birth something new. But first, we need to make room. Like clearing out the refrigerator before Thanksgiving and dinner. You know, the one with the mysterious leftovers and the suspiciously old containers. We need to create space for fresh hope. So let me ask you this question. What needs to be cleared out of your heart's end? Maybe it's busyness, that constant rushing that leaves no room for wonder. Maybe it's bitterness, those grudges that have taken up permanent residence. Or possibly it's fear that that unwelcome guest that's overstayed is welcome this Christmas dare to do some heart cleaning. Not because you need to earn hope. Hope is a gift, not a reward. But because sometimes, like those shepherds on that holy night, we need to pause our regular programming to receive heaven's breaking news. Today, I want to encourage you. Let's make room for hope. [00:03:34] Speaker A: Thanks so much for joining us today for the weekday podcast. Our prayer is that the encouragement you just heard would help you live more like Jesus today. We would love to see you at Sugar Hill Church for one of our gatherings each Sunday at 9, 15 and 11. And we're always streaming live at Live Sugarhill Church. Thanks again for joining us today. As always, if today's message encouraged you, share it with friends and family by tapping the share button. Have an awesome day.