Sermon Tone Analysis

Sunday, November 27, 2022: Advent 2022: Three Offices, One Christ.

Prophet

Prayer:

Those struggling during this season.

Chronic pain, mental health.

Christmas Extravaganza Find a location Elizabeth Alexander Thanksgiving: travel Covid

Introduction to Advent Series

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Three Offices, One Christ

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Christ=Anointed

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Anointed to what?

Prophet Priest and King

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Heidelberg Catechism:

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Q.

Why is he called “Christ,” meaning “anointed”?

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A. Because he has been ordained by God the Father and has been anointed with the Holy Spirit to be our chief prophet and teacher who perfectly reveals to us the secret counsel and will of God for our deliverance...

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Old Testament Offices: HOW Did Jesus fulfill them?

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Introduction:

Social Influencers

Open boxes

Modern Day Prophets in a Consumeristic World

Influencers are Modern Day Prophets:

They give people direction.

They tell people what to avoid.

They have a good handle on trends.

They can predict what will do well and what won’t.

Today we’re going to talk about an older version, less glamorous version of social influencers: Prophets!

Prophets weren’t sitting in front of the camera, they were out and about with God’s supernatural influence to give people direction, tell them what to avoid, how to handle trends, and even predict what will happen in the future.

Big Question: HOW DID JESUS FULFILLED THE ROLL OF PROPHET, particularly in his ministry and the cross.

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Old Testament Influencers

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Deut 18:15-18: “15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’

17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken.

18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers.

And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

Future influencer is coming:

“God will raise up for you a prophet like me.” Between the Old and New Testament, God raised up many prophets!

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All Shapes and Sizes:

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Priest=Professional, based on lineage

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King=Political, based on lineage

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Prophets??

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Moses and Amos=Shepherd

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Jeremiah and Ezekiel=Priests

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Daniel=Politician

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Habbakuk, or Malachi, Jonah, Nathan?

Just dudes dubbed by the Spirit to speak God’s Word.

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All Had Same Function:

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Reveal God’s Message to God’s People

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Northern Kingdom

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Southern Kingdom Judah

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Jonah and Nahum: Nineveh

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HOW DID THEY REVEAL GOD’S MESSAGE?

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They give people direction.

Spiritual Accountability Partners They knew how to apply the TORAH to Israel

They tell people what to avoid.

Whistleblowers AVOID SIN!! AVOID COUNTERFEIT PROPHETS AVOID WAR

They have a good handle on trends.

If you don’t repent, God will punish you!

Nathan: David’s murder of Uriah and affair with Bathsheba Jonah to Nineveh: “If you don’t repent, you’re all going to die.”

Isaiah and Ezekiel: Hope beyond Babylon!

Malachi: AFTER Babylon, more corruption

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They can predict what will do well and what won’t.

Fortune Telling vs. Forthtelling

Fortune Teller: Someone with a Crystal Ball able to magically see the events of the future.

For sure, God gave some prophets the ability to see visions, but man, are they difficult to understand!

But mostly prophets are FORTHfellers.

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Proclaim into the present what God has already revealed for them!

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Like Parenting:

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“I told you once, I told you twice, I’ve told you 20x, don’t do that or else…”

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OLD TESTAMENT INFLUENCER: ELIJAH

Deut 18: “I will raise up for you a prophet like Moses…”

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Malichi 4:5-6: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

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People awaited the coming of Elijah the prophet.

Why? Elijah’s coming would prepare Israel for the Messianic Age, or the Age of Christ.

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No Coincidence that Elijah’s name pops up 29x in the NT!

Advent=Isaiah 40:3-4

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A voice cries:

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“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;

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make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

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the voice of one crying in the wilderness:

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‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

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make his paths straight,’ ”

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4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

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Mark makes it even clearer:

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Mark 1:6: “Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.”

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Description of Elijah from II Kings 1:8

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John the Baptist was this second Elijah.

This fulfillment of this very special prophet who would introduce to the World this Day of the Lord, this Messianic Age.

‌Matthew 17:10-13: 10 And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 11 He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things.

12 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased.

So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.”

13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

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SO, as important as Elijah was, and as important as John the Baptist was as fulfilling his role, THESE two influencers were NOT what what God promised in DEUT 18!

OLD TESTAMENT ENDS:

“Listen to him…”

NO ONE LISTENED!

ISRAEL’s social influence declines…

WAITING FOR THIS NEW PROPHET TO COME.

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2. The New Testament Influencer

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Luke 7:11-17: 11 Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him.

12 As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”