How do you know when you have found the real thing?

In the third week of our Advent series through Elf, Pastor Zach explores the question John the Baptist sends to Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”

Like Buddy trying to spot the real Santa among all the impostors—and like trying to find the “original” Ray’s Pizza in a city full of them—sometimes it can be hard to recognize what is genuine. But when Jesus is asked to prove who he is, he does not point to a throne or a title. He points to what people can see and hear: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the sick are made whole, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and good news is proclaimed to the poor.

This Advent message invites us to look for the signs of God’s kingdom breaking into the world around us—to streng ...