In the beginning, God created everything from nothing. He spoke things into existence that were not there before. Mark explains in his gospel that Jesus was baptised to show us that as God created, baptism creates us into something new. Jesus didn't need to repent from sin as He is divine, but we must repent in order to be saved. Christ's baptism also is a significant milestone in the start of His worldly ministry.
The fourth Sunday in Advent is about Love which is "agape" in the original Greek. It is an unmerited, willful act of God to love us - His creation. Christmas is about showing agape love to others. Because God loves us, we can have hope, peace, joy and love towards others.
Hear the good news of Christmas. We celebrate the birth of our saviour Jesus Christ. God proclaims peace to men through Christ. The angel announces great joy in his birth. It is a great joy for all who believe and trust their salvation to Christ. And this joy of loving fellowship with God never ends.
December 21st is a day in the Advent season marking the longest night of the year. On this day, many denominations hold a church service that honours people that have lost loved ones and are experiencing grief.
The parable of the rich fool. Christians are not to devote our lives to gathering and accumulating wealth. What happens to all that wealth when we die? Second, we are not blessed by God when we hoard our wealth. We are blessed when we are a blessing in the lives of others. And, we are blessed when we build the Kingdom of God.
From a Christian perspective, the Beatitudes teach that believers are blessed even in hard times because they will receive eternity in heaven. Also, we are blessed for having honorable qualities such as being meek, righteous, merciful, pure, and peacemakers. The horrors of war are discussed.