Advent 2023 Pt 1 - The Promise of Christmas
Notes
Transcript
GREET EVERYONE-
If I have not had a chance to meet you; My name is Scott and I am a follower of Jesus and have the privilege of serving Him as the Lead Pastor among the people of Stonewater Fellowship.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. Next Sunday Dec 10th is when our weekly Prayer times Begin - 9:00 am before worship all of us are invited to come and pray.
2 Sunday December 24th - Christmas Eve - Candlelight Worship gathering at 5:30 pm
4 - Let go to Prison - Kairos Prison - Applications are in the Back tables and training begins Jan 6th - There is an app for that.
5- Re-Engage group begins Sunday Jan 21st. There is an App for that.
LETS GRAB OUR BIBLES IF YOU HAVE ONE AND
Open it to the Letter to the Hebrews Chapter 11 today as we begin our Annual journey of exposing the arrival of Jesus and all that God promised and brings into our life as the arrival of God with us, Emmanuel - Jesus not only happened 2000 years ago but continues to happen every day to millions of people around the world with the proclamation of the Gospel.
and in reality really might ought to happen to us each and every day.
TRUTH
Lets Look at the Word of God this morning.
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
3 You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
4 For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
LET’S PRAY
ENGAGEMENT
This first Sunday of Advent is usually marked on the Church Calendar as the Advent of Hope.
SO this morning as we look at the advent wreath and the first candle lit it is the one that is lit with the Hope of the season.
I thought a lot about Hope this season.
In this culture that we live and exist in it is oh so interesting to think through not only the word Hope but to think about how little we need to Hope for.
HOPE in our use of the word in our language is really been reduced to a feeling.
Oxford defines it this way -
“Hope is a Feeling of Expectation that is connected to another feeling and that is desire - so Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire” -
You have a want and an unmet expectation that you gonna get or receive something.
The other definition is “a Want for something to happen or to be true”
it seems like the last 50-70 years of our cultural development and maybe since the beginning of the industrialization of our economy what has actually happened is we have reduce what we need to hope for.
Because here is what has happened or better yet what we have done to our selves. We have spent billion of dollars and billions of man hours reducing the Feeling of Hope and making the thing that make our life easier come true.
Because the reality in our language - Hope is a feeling that is connected to unmet expectation that has historically been unmet.
So we do tings and manipulate thing in our world to reduce the disappointment. A lot of times that disappointment has been huge and when those hopes have gone UN met they have huge consequences and we have done a lot to relieve those as well.
Let me give you an example.
Back in the day - And it really wasn't all that long ago - When I was dating a girl in high school. one of the things the I hoped for - among other things - was that I would get home on time after the date and would not get in trouble for being late.
Back then it was a problem for me.
Here is the reason it was important - becasue Parents had concern for your safety and well being - and if you were not where you were supposed to be they began to worry.
Because they did not know where you were -
Well we solved that problem - Well let say this we solved the Parent worry problem .
You see when I didn't show up on time it wasn't me who was suffering at the time it mom and dad and what we did is we invented cell phones and know all we need to do to alleviate the initial unmet hopes of on time arrival is call.
Then they know we are alright and we wont be in so much trouble.
Reality is we have done everything we can up until this point and it look like we will continue to do things to make our lives seemingly more convenient and easier.
and what has happened is we have slowly but surely reduced the need for hope.
Think about it this way - There was a time where we might have said - Many I hope I can think of something good to say or good to write.
We don't even have to think we now have artificial intelligence to do that for us.
What is terrible about all of this innovation is that to be on it in life means that you have and are using the latest thing gadget or technology and what is really frightening is that if we refuse the world will seemingly leave us behind.
and there might not be too much our 8 year old self is more afraid of than being left out or left behind.
TENSION
What is interesting to know is that in all of this convenience and comfort and eliminating the possibility of disappointed hope is that mental illnesses is at an all time high.
Depression is at an all time high -
suicides and addictions all time high.
and it is interesting that as we have eliminated the need for Hope so that un-met hopes and the pain of disappointments are lessened -
at the very same time - we have eliminated HOPE all together.
This is not Something new.
It is as old as human beings ourselves.
In this garden story of Genesis - What we read is a story of false hope in the thing that someone said would bring us hope.
UNPACKING
What we hear and see and experience happening in the historical narrative of the Genesis story is Eve placing her earthly hope in that the fruit of the tree seemed to be.
and she did so under the advertising influence of the spiritual influence that that is all for everything being easier and more convenient for her.
And what he told her was that what God has and what God can do is not good for her and she needed to place her trust her faith and her earthly hopes in someone and something else.
And at this time in our culture and especially during what the world called the Holiday season -
We are steeping in that kind of hot water like tea in water on a hot summer day.
And here is what happened to them and it happens to us.
We look at all the world has to offer and we place out desirous expectations that what it says it can do can actually come to pass and we will be ultimately disappointed every time.
You see what happens in the garden happens to us.
Eve began to develop earthy hope as we all do.
She began to question her relationship with God and with her main influencer which we all do.
She began to look at what the world offers and thing man that looks great - That would be good for this or that.
She began then to desire - Hoping that shoe could eat -
and the opportunity came and she took it and made her earthly hopes come true -
But what the advertising and marketing said is that she would be like God - and in that she and her partner and husband would be like God
And here is how they would be like him - The text says they would know GOOD and EVIL.
Here is what is interesting - We take that to mean that Eve didn't know what was good in a moral sense and didn't know what was evil in the same moral scene.
Like she didn't know the difference between right and wrong -
No she knew - Look at what she responded to the Serpent of Old the Devil.
Devil says “Did God actually say you could eat of any tree of the Garden?”
Eve says “theses are the trees we can eat form and there is one that we cannot and if we do we will die.
Eve’s response - Here is what wee can and cannot do and if we do what we should not there will be consequences”
Eve not only the difference from Good moral choices and bad moral choices she clearly acknowledged that there were consequences if they made a bad moral choice that went against God’s will for them and God's way for them.
You see what we need to know is that the original language of the Bible the words “knowing Good and Evil” are not limited to a moral sense but a much broader use -
Knowing - also means “understanding - Acknowledging - being intimate with - Making yourself know to and making known to your self.
Good means - desirable - pleasant - agreeable - pleasing - seems best.
Evil means - bad deadly has defect displeasing distressing serious unpleasant selfish. worst miserable.
What the Devil said to her was - You are missing out on something and God knows that if you eat that fruit - You will not be missing out -
IT was a lie from the Pit -
They had God - They had all they needed Ever -
and What happens is they eat and the False hope of the world over came them -
They did not become more like God in any way - THE thing that happened is they LOST their relationship with the Holy God who created them and lives them and created them even in His image.
and Ever since then Every single offspring of theirs which is all of us - have been born with this nature of thinking that we don't have enough. And that nature from birth drives the way we interact with the world and with God and it has eternal consequences.
Even though what some people look at the response that God did as difficult.
In Every way how God responded was filled with grace and mercy and loving kindness -
Because if he hadn't - He would have hit the delete button and you and I would not be having this conversation.
and after his initial response Here is what God did on that Day -
God gave the Promise of Christmas.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
And when those words were spoken to his creation - HOPE was introduced.
Not earthly hope
Not feelings of Hope
Not the wishful thinking and what could be false expectations kind of Hope.
Not the kind of hope that has risk of disappointment.
Not the Kind of Hope that you and I come up with that desires certain things that we want to actually come true.
NO that is not the kind of Hope that came to creation on that Day.
No the Kinds of Hope that came into the minds and hearts of God’s creation was the Kind of hope that is spoken by the writer of Hebrews.
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
VS 1 - NOW FAITH -
Faith is interchanged with the word TRUST.
SO Here is what we need to know about these words in vs 1 -
This is how we can read this - Because there is an implied object into which this faith - this trust
Everyone say Trust
There is an implied Object into which this trust is to be placed.
and The object is God -
and Here is what Trust in God actually looks like and the witter in Hebrews begins by using an overarching theological Definition of WHat FAITH/TRUST is and then begins to take this definition into smaller and smaller examples.
FAITH - TRUSTING GOD - IS
Here is what it is - IT IS THE ASSURANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR.
Assurance - Looked that one up and here is what it means in the original language -
Reality - Faith/Trust ING God is the Reality of Things Hoped for.
Hoped For Dive Hope - Not our Earthly Hope but Divine Hope is based on Our TRUST or FAITH -
Here is what Divine HOPE is . Earthly Human hope can Have an error in its expectation -
But this kind of Hope that the writer of Hebrews is telling us is a reality - Is the expectations that are Given to us by GOD -
You see when God is the one that is giving to us the expectation of our rescue by the person and work of His Son Jesus - that then is a reality -
It is the Assurance the reality that God has given to us.
The Writer goes on to say that FAITH/TRUST in God is as well the Conviction of things NOT Seen.
Conviction - Proof, Evidence, Verification is what that means -
SO FAITH TRUST in GOD is defined by the Reality of Expectation that God has given to us, as he has spoken to us - and he has spoken o us in and through the Scriptures that you and I hold in our hands.
AS well as the Evidence and Verification of what is not seen or come to pass yet but will come to pass becasue God said it would.
WHAT is the result of that Trust -
VS2
The People of Old recieved their Commendation -
Commendation means two very important things - ONE it means to be spoken well of - So by Trust in God in action in life THe people of OLD and that is the people in the Old Testament Were Spoken well of by the word of God and in the word of God.
But here is also what it means.
It means that they were called forward to be a witness.
You see when our Faith our Trust in God is lived our we are not only thought of and spoken of with favor by God, but HE also calls us forth to be a witness to the Assurance of the Divine Hope that he gives and the Facts of things not seen.
VS3
The writer of Hebrews then begins to spend the rest of the 39 verses of this chapter to take us step by step and person by person into what Trust in GOD and the Reality of the Divine Hope that is Promises and the Factual Evidence of what is not seen yet looks like.
BY Trust we understand that all of creation )the universe) was created by the very spoken words of God. That when Jesus - The Son - The word of God said to the nothingness “let there be light” Light was formed by the power of God and light then responded.
Listen to the rest -
By TRUST Able offered to God a more acceptable Sacrifice.
By TRUST ENOCH was taken up that HE would not experience physical death.
By TRUST NOAH built an Ark and saved his family
By TRUST ABRAHAM Obeyed God, Left the land of His family and recieved and inheritance.
BY TRUST SARAH Abraham wife recieved POWER to conceive in her old age.
BY TRUST ABRAHAM offered up His only Son Issac and he saw God provide and recieved his son Back.
BY TRUST ISSAC - Invoked future blessings Jacob and Esau
By TRUST Jacob Blessed the Sons of Joseph that He had while in Egypt - Sons named Ephraim and Manasseh who became a multitude of people.
BY TRUST JOSEPH spoke of the salvation of God’s people.
BY TRUST that Moses parents Hid him in the river for three months
BY TRUST that MOSES refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter looking to the salvation of God people “the greater reward”
BY TRUST Moses left the comforts of Egypt and endured in the desert as Seeing Him who is not seen.
BY TRUST - MOSES keep the passover.
BY TRUST the people crossed the red sea.
BY TRUST the walls of Jericho fell.
BY TRUST Rehab, who welcomed spies was sustained
BY TRUST GIDEON, BARACK, SAMSON, JEPHTHAH, DAVID, SAMUEL and the PROPHETS
contoured Kingdoms, Enforced Justice, Obtained Promises, Stopped the mouths of Lions, Quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of sword, made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight, recieved back their dead by resurrection.
and Even though some were tortured, suffers mockings, flogged, placed in chains and in prison, stoned, sawn in two, killed with the sword, destitute, afflicted miss-treated, dressed in the skins of sheep and goats, wondering about deserts and mountains and living in dens and caves.
They were commended - They were spoken well from God and called forward by God to be witnesses of His goodness and His promises -
Even through they did not get to be the ones to receive it in their life time.
You see they did not receive the promise of Christmas -
They did not get to see the enmity that God had promised.
They did not get to revive the one the prophet Isaiah spoke of -
The one who would be born of a virgin, The child the son who was to be given. the one whom the government will be on His shoulders - the One whose name is Wonderful counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,
The ONE whom the increase of His government and his peace will have no end.
But you see all of these were steeped in the Reality of the Divine Expectation that God had Given them and the Factual basis of what was not seen yet - Namely Jesus.
SO God credited them with righteousness, and they recieved their commendation.
You see their Faith - Their Trust in God - Their Trust worked - Their trust was acted upon -
and Their trust and surrender to the Jesus who was coming is what led them into relationship with God and Gave them the Ultimate HOPE to endure all things and receive the reconciliation that God had promised.
They recieved the Promise of Christmas!
AS OBED AND TEAM COME TO LED US INTO THE TABLE OF JESUS
My prayer is for all of us to step into the divine Hope that was Given in the Garden -
That we would know the reality of the expectations of Jesus that God has given us -
that we have verification and validation that God has done the work and sent Jesus - and even though we have not seen Him yet we will.
Because He - Jesus - This Child in the manger - Has done all that is required to repair our Broken relationship with God - and we have trust in that so much that we would step out in that trust, sharing this Hope of the Season with others, that even though we have not seen them come to faith
- We are confident in what God has done and what HE can do.
You see all of these witnesses of Old did not receive the promise yet they acted on that promise any way -
We have recieved the Promise of the Enmity - We have recieved the Promise of Christmas - We have seen Him and Known Him and He is alive.
Lets act upon that - Lets do upon that -
This is why the writer in Hebrews continues to write in chapter 12 -
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
AMEN and AMEN -
Lets prepare our hearts to come to the table of Jesus together!
COMMUNION
Acknowledgement of our need for Jesus to prepare for the table of Jesus–
The Scriptures tell us that when we come to the table of Jesus it is a time of remembrance – A time of thinking about what Jesus has done and accomplished on the cross – A time of remembering why Jesus did what He did. And So as the people who have been called out of darkness, we take time to contemplate and to repent –
Repentance is a turning to Jesus again and again and again – In the life of a follower of Jesus it is never a once and done thing. The Bible tells us that if we agree with God “we confess” in the ways we have rebelled against God “our sin” He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and clean us from all unrighteousness.
So, to prepare our hearts to come to the table of Jesus, as a community, we spend time in prayerful contemplation, agreeing with God trough confession, the areas of our life where we have rebelled against Him, where Jesus still needs to do some work and touch us and heal us.
When we do this we encourage you to take a posture of Humility, as we spend the next minute or so in silent contemplation.
A posture of humility to you might be to stay in your seat with your eyes closed and your head bowed, you might stand with your eyes lifted to heaven and your arms and hands raised as Solomon did when he prayed, you might come and kneel here at the front or there Where you are seated – whatever that is to you, let us take a posture of humility, agreeing with God through prayerful confession the way where we have rebelled against Him as we prepare our hearts to participate in the table of Jesus.
Pause for 60 seconds in prayerful contemplation
Assurance of our forgiveness through the table.
As we come to the table of Jesus together, we are reminded of the assurance of our forgiveness. Because we openly and actively declare the Gospel as we participate in communion together. The poured out blood of Jesus and the death of His body as he joyfully took upon Him self the wrath of God that was due us.
Unity of the Table
When we come to the table of Jesus, we are spiritually united together. Paul says in this letter to the Corinthians “that Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.”
So as we come to the table of Jesus we are spiritually united together as brothers and sisters in Christ. We are also united with Jesus in his death and resurrection at His table.
Participation at the Table
BREAD: On the night He was betrayed, He gathered His disciples for a Passover meal. While they were eating Jesus took some bread; after He blessed it and gave thanks to the Father: He broke it, gave it to His disciples and said: “Take this all of you and eat of it, for This is My body, which is for you; when you do this, do this in remembrance of Me.”
Eat the Bread with Everyone
CUP: After the meal, in the same way He took the cup, again gave thanks to the Father. He took the Cup and gave it to His disciples saying, “Take this all of you and drink of this cup. This cup is the cup of my blood. The blood of the New and Everlasting covenant. My blood which will be poured out for the forgiveness of sins for many; when you do this, as often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me.”
Drink the Cup with Everyone
PRAYER TEAM!