Christmas A Season Of Hope

By Bobby Martin

As children we remember the anticipation that led up to Christmas. In many ways it filled us with hope as we wished for that new toy, waited for school to be out, and expected the first snow. That same dynamic is what made the first Christmas so extraordinary. For generations, men and women had been waiting anxiously for the birth of their Messiah, with no assurance that they would live to see him. And like us, they probably wondered if it would ever arrive. As adults we still experience similar expectations uncertainties. We wonder if God even knows we exist. A closer look at the Christmas story and the stories surrounding it can make this Christmas a season of hope.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bobby Martin
• Release date: May 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476042954

Bobby Martin

BOBBY MARTIN has cofounded two successful startups, one of which, First Research, a leader in sales intelligence, was sold to Dun & Bradstreet. He’s deeply involved with five other startups as an angel investor and advisor. Martin is chairman and cofounder of Vertical IQ, a leading provider of sales research insight for banks. He speaks frequently about entrepreneurship at universities around the U.S. and at corporate events. In 2006, he was the recipient of the Triangle Business Journal's "40 Under 40" Award in Raleigh.

Book preview

CHRISTMAS: A SEASON OF HOPE

The Christ of Christmas Brings Hope To Us All

Bobby Martin

Copyright 2012 Bobby Martin

Smashwords Edition

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

Hope For Our Doubt

The Story Before The Story

CHAPTER 2

Hope For Our Loneliness

Lonesome Tonight

CHAPTER 3

Hope For Our Relationships

The Herod In All Of Us

CHAPTER 4

Hope For Our Worship

Knee Bends

CHAPTER 5

Hope For Our Humanity

God As A Baby

CHAPTER 6

Hope For Yesterday, Today, And Tomorrow

A Second Look

CHAPTER 1

Hope For Our Doubt

The Story Before The Story

If we compared our experiences with Christmas as children we would most likely have similar experiences. You couldn’t wait for Christmas to come and it seemed to take forever to get here. But no matter how long it took to get here, it always came. That dynamic of waiting that we experienced as children, is actually the dynamic that set up the very first Christmas. For many generations, there was always a remnant of Jewish people who waited every single day for the arrival – not of Santa Clause - but of a Messiah. Every single generation had a group of people that lived literally every day of their lives in obedience to God’s command knowing this could be the day that the Messiah arrives.

But unlike the certainty of our Christmas, this went on for generations and nothing happened. Generation after generation of people died and there was no fulfillment of that promise. Many of the Jews peeled off into other things and abandoned their faith because they concluded it must be a myth or a fairy tale. Who in the world would devote their lives to a story or promise that’s a couple of thousand years old? When you wait that long and nothing happens, doubt begins to seep in and enshroud you in darkness.

Nevertheless there was a group of people that awakened every day and lived as if this could be the day the Messiah shows up. In that group of people were Zechariah and Elizabeth. These two people remained faithful while they were waiting on the promised Messiah. If there is anything the Christmas story shows us, it demonstrates God always arrives on time if we remain faithful.

Many of you right now are in a situation with your marriage, your finances, your career, or your decision making, where you are praying and you need God to show up. There are times in our lives, and they are many, when God seems to be silent. It fills us with doubt as we ask ourselves: Why do I continue to live my life day after day as if there’s something to the Bible and Christianity? What am I getting out of this? Where is this going?

Christmas assures us that not only will God show up, but He always arrives on time. But we have to remain faithful. So if you are in that kind of situation right now, let the Christmas story speak to you in the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth.

"In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were