Hephzibah Baptist Association

To the Churches:

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Christmas is a wonderful time of year. Perhaps the word that best describes the feelings that I had as a child for Christmas would be the word "anticipation." There was anticipation for a two-week break from school We lived 400 miles from our nearest relatives so there was anticipation for the opportunity to see my grandparents and aunts and uncles who always came to their house to visit that week. And of course there was the biggest anticipation for the gifts we would receive. In our home, Christmas was the time that we would receive "large" gifts. You didn't get a new bike or a BB gun or any other toy in our home except at Christmas or on your birthday. And so, each year each of us children would decide what the ultimate gift would be and then lobby all year long with the hopes that "Santa" would leave it under the tree on Christmas morning. When Christmas morning came, we would rise early and rush into the family room to see what Santa had brought. And most of the time we would find there the fulfillment of our greatest hope.

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That is much the way it was on the first Christmas. Those who knew and loved the Lord understood that the Lord had promised a Messiah who would come to save His people Godly men and women like Simeon, Anna, and Elizabeth longed for the coming Messiah. They waited in eager anticipation for years for the fulfillment of God's promise. Generation after generation after generation of God's people lived and died without seeing the fulfillment of God's promised messiah. But on a quiet night a baby was born in the city of David who met and exceeded both the needs and desires of those who love Him. Christmas is a time of anticipation, and its ultimate fulfillment is not found in the things of this world, but in the Lord Jesus who is the answer to our deepest longings. 

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Director of Missions

Tim Batchelor