December 2, 2018 - ADVENT 01 - Return of the King 2- Preparing for the End of the World

I like those happy videos good transitions. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. I'm going to there we go. Get that adjusted there. I'm glad you're here today on this first Sunday of Advent as you know, our Christmas season sort of ramps up through Advent and there's things going on and I really want to encourage you to get involved. I invite friends and neighbors to join with us. I know Mark and Lisa were not here today. But Mark actually has some co-workers that went caroling with us last year. They never been caroling before and wanted to do that. I think they're coming again this year, but if there's people like that in your life that you want to come along it's really a lot of fun and it's sort of helps us get out of our comfort zone. Usually one of us runs up and knocks on the door leading into Advent for and then Christmas Eve and so it's kind of a new series that were starting today and wrestling with some classic passages and they're actually the ones that are listed in that devotional guide. If you're reading through the ghost ride there still some left. I think we ordered 40 or so. There's still a few left in the lobby. But each Sunday's reading is what I'm going to be teaching on in that devotional guide through through this Sunday and the next two Sundays in this Sunday. I just want to prep for you what Advent usually is focused on historically sometimes and some Churches like today. It's been like this season season are the themes of Hope and joy peace and love and certainly that's one way to approach it. But the more ancient aspect of advent is that the church in the medieval times and even before begin to focus on Advent in terms of Jesus second coming and then the Christmas story of his first coming and so the second coming of Christ is something that churches nowadays lot of Evangelical churches. It's not the easiest thing to preach on it's not the easiest thing to teach on because it is there is no, nality really something like it that way cuz it's never happened before and so we live in anticipation in sort of this waiting and so the church Focus on at least two Sundays of Advent on the second coming of Christ and then the anticipation for the first coming when she came some 2,000 years ago with in ancient Israel. And so we want to do that this morning focus on this idea of the second coming of Christ. I want to say that for me when I became a Christian to church I became a Christian and actually did focus a lot on this unlike most evangelicalist churches do today. We had people come in who would be sort of self-appointed teachers and profits that would talk about the end times and they would look at the news for example this week in the news and a week ago. There was a seismic sound that didn't result in earthquakes. He was November 11th all across the world and now just today and yesterday they were saying they think it was a big MagnaFlow underground the cause this disturbance that was picked up on the different instruments throughout the world and then in Alaska, there was the the earthquake that just happened to 7.0. Is this going to lie towards something bigger for all of us in this end of the cuscaden the plate that were on a tectonic plates and these guys would come through and they would connect all the dots and they would say well because Trump is the president of the US and and the Putin's in Russia and she's in China and the earthquake just happened in Alaska and there's riots in France and there's there's famine in Yemen because of the war was Saudi Arabia and there's this going on in Africa and us and they would put this all together and then they would make these Grand proclamations that of course the day of the Lord is coming quickly be ready. I got some of them got a little bit off and they would even say I remember one guy. I think I shared this before with you said forget this cuz he literally said he'd be at the Antichrist would be Belgian that that was fascinating to me cuz I have we have some some freezeland will whatever. She felt it went so good. He Belgian and he was going to be gay and I don't know how he figured that out from the text. But somehow that he in six AAA that from the text that he was going to be a super computer programmer at those were his words back in the day again, I've looked through my Bible and I know some Greek Lexicon for the other seriously, there is no super computer programmer anywhere in this book. Because God condescends the time and places to speak through us into Inspire. But but but these things were happened. An end and the church, I grew up in a we had a certain view of the end times that involve the Rapture a lot of Christians don't believe in the Rapture rather than Jesus going to come back in and bring it all together. They won't be this in between heard some do some don't it's a debate in the church, I grew up and we believe in a very certain kind of way that the end times wood unwrap and so you hear this back and forth and there would be manipulative appeals and pictures and often times the sense of it's all going to go to hell in a handbasket. So we ought to just hold the fort till Jesus comes instead of engaging is Jeremiah says that for the flourishing of our city that we've been sent into Exile it would result in all kinds of weirdness. If you were a teenager, you'd be like Lord. May I get married before you come back? Love you too real for some of you this morning. I'm putting it in G-rated terms.

If you were an old person that they will be like Lord come quickly. I'm ready to come now. It was almost kind of weirdness and get the Corvette. There was some truth to what was going on in this there was a sense and we see this as well in our secular society. There is a sense Among Us. That the end of the world in some ways is coming. There's a sense of Fascination we have with the end of the world. Hollywood and authors even in secular society. Have you been fed into this this since that something is determined to end of the world as we know it and for Hollywood. It's often apocalyptic and and makes John's Revelation. Look tame sometimes whether it's a alien invasions or the machines the computers take over. Or global warming ends up just the whole planet in an inferno and nothing can grow these apocalyptic yearnings are within us. I need you I think points to something that Christians can a firm in some ways that this world as is not all there is and something has been broken and it's going to miss. In our secular thinking eventually it will just result in a massive downward spiral and maybe human Ingenuity will save us in the end or the aliens. The good ones will come in the Hollywood version. but in the ancient Christian telling of this God has designed this creation to move towards an endpoint and a new creation. And so Jesus teaches that there is more. Someone invite you into that story this morning on the first Sunday of Advent. I turning to the Gospel of Luke chapter 21, if you would with me and your Bibles or your phone go to Luke chapter 21. We're going to go to verse 25 and we just a few short verses. If you're ready, could you stand with me if you're able to do so as we read this Gospel reading together?

Luke is in the New Testament chapter 21

and Jesus is giving some of his final teachings in his life on Earth and it starts in first 25 and it says this hear the word of the Lord the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Jesus is teaching it says there will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars and unearth distress among the nation's confused by The Roaring of the Sea and the waves. People will stains from fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world for the powers of heavens of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the son of man coming in a cloud with great power and great glory and a when these things begin to take place stand up raise your heads because your Redemption is Drawing Near. Ebony told them this Parable. He said look at the Fig Tree and all the trees as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near and so also when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God isn't here truly. I tell you this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place Heaven and Earth will pass away but my words will not pass away and then his final set of instructions in this piece of teaching verse 34 be on guard card so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness in the worries of this life. And that day does not catch you unexpectedly like a trap. Portable come up on all who live on the face of the whole earth be alert at all times praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that the said that will take place at the stand before the son of man. Everyday, he was teaching in the temple and at night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives as it was called and all people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in the temple. Let's pray over that. Father thank you for my brothers and sisters friends and spiritual family and you in all that you gather together this morning. And as we lean into the Advent the season of a waiting and of expectation of being active as we await the second Return of the King. And we wrestle with these difficult passages that seems so strange in our society are modern days and yet somehow between Hollywood and popular authors, maybe not so strange. May you be with us today. I'm a saint and sinner process lord. I can't change anybody. But I know that you're Holy Spirit has been moving for thousands of years and can continue to move Andre Inspire this text this scripture this word from you in our lives for the stay in this moment to see the big picture and the fine print version for our lives in Jesus name if you will say that to be seated, please. amen One of the things I like about the church year is it reminds us that the secular calendar is not all there is or if we came from another religious path. There is a nother game of foot. There is another calendar. There is another way God has moved in the past and that he's moving in the present and so happy New Year on this first Sunday of the church year.

It's interesting that author puts the other a while ago. So the end is near and coming to a theater near you or write in your own living room in this was written in 2015 said as of this writing over 250 250 end of the world movies have been produced with more than a hundred appearing since the year 2000. He says the pace of apocalyptic meaning in times drama shows has no sign of showing down. The number of Apocalypse theme movies from 2000-2009 doubled over the previous decade is an on Pace to double Again by the end of this decade that we are in. In the past few years and some of these are a little old Terminator Genisys Tomorrowland San Andreas that it applies. I think to all of us on a West Coast Mad Max Fury Road, we could go on and name them pearly the first End of the World movie was in 1916 of Danish film The End of the World featuring a near-miss by Comet which triggers worldwide disasters and social upheaval. There was like the 90s version called Armageddon is well, I believe a variation of this an alien invasion apocalypse started in 1953 with HG Wells War of the Worlds. Tom Cruise is a bloody nasty messy thing, but the War of the Worlds and that was over radio drama and people thought it was real if they missed the introduction and some panics worried that the country that the North America was being invaded by aliens. Spielberg remake that in 2005 there's tons and tons of these movies of the aliens or the zombie apocalypse. Apparently there is something deep down in us that tells us that there is an appointed end to this world as we know it. We are just grasping at straws about what that may look like and Jesus tells us the same thing. To me, there's some indication in arts and play and when it goes dark of something truthful behind it that we need to dig into. Like I said, I was in a church that when I first became a Christian that fixated on the end times, but we didn't often do enough work about the hopeful turn of what that means and off and it went astray or when it's sideways and that it resulted in sort of a false quietism about our neighbors and our friends around us and started this we have the truth instead of humbly saying, okay, how can we engage more? Thankfully those I think those attitudes of shifted in those kinds of churches. So today we live in between the times and our call is to stay awake and to serve a bar Temptation and failure is often assuming that nothing will happen that everything will continue on as it always has and yet we know someway intuitively deep down that something is amiss and needs to be made right. And will it be made right by the sense of our own self destruction? Will it be made right by getting what we deserve the ultimate collapse of the planet or the alien invasion is Hollywood would have it or the zombies? I don't know what that would look like in real life. I don't ever want to know quite frankly. But there's something within us that tells us something is broken. Something's missing. It's going to end one way or the other. In the Christian hope this ancient teaching of Jesus is that he has come once in the baby and then as a man on Earth God putting on flesh dwelt among us as we move to the end of Advent and Christmas Christmas Eve. We speak of this. I know he said he will come again because he brought it started the kingdom. He inaugurated the kingdom, but it will come fully when he comes again and the fullness of redemption a new life and New Creation will happen at this point. This is a glorious and strange story. But as Orthodox Christians those who believe that Jesus was real and what he did and said was real and that has claims on all people for all time. We leaving into the story and we wrestle with these texts and there's several of them like this throughout the New Testament and even Daniel 10, which this text also leads to her Daniel 7 rather the son of man that Jesus Took on that title for himself. We sure a little more than we'll just unpack the verses. Are you still with me? Say Amen if you are or yes. If you're not not your neighbor and say hang on spout to get real weird when we wrestle with this words of Jesus.

The word apocalypse would you say that with me apocalypse is a new is a Greek word and it's used actually of several types of literature within the Bible. Daniel is an apocalypse in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bibles. We talked about this language in Luke starting a verse 25 to the end of chapter 21 that we just read is also apocalyptic language. It is visual uses imagery to communicate something beyond the images apocalypse is not all supposed to be taken. Literally. It was a form of writing that you were supposed to see deeper meaning behind the last book in our Bibles. That's what we call the book of the Revelation and apocalypse is an unveiling of the end of the book of Revelation is called The Apocalypse of John. And the language with it except for the first part of the first chapter or two is very imagery Laden and it's not necessarily meant to be taken literally and that's where in the Church of my early salvation and bring up is that there were too many of these fly-by-night. Guess that took too much of it way to literally like literally trying to figure when in fact Revelation was meant to encourage Christians and Times of persecution and it has a final and it is coming at some point but a lot of what was going on has already happened and it's happened more than once. In fact many biblical Scholars would argue that the Beast or the Antichrist has been any number of human rulers in the Bible on indicates any type of centralizing totalizing human authority governmental system that thinks that it is the end of all things and is the Eternal Empire The Babylon keeps manifesting and how do we live if we are experiencing a Babylon in our midst? And it finally one day Jesus will wrap it all up as we move towards the end of Revelation. Other writings throughout the Bible are this apocalyptic literature this apocalyptic style of writing.

It seems strange to us. But in the midst of our pain and suffering in the midst of experiencing troubles in life this type of writing is actually not meant to scare us as it was often in my butt is actually meant to encourage us and you will see that in just a second as we will work through this text a little bit verse by verse One More Story. I should tell you about sort of my experience with an X teaching of the church. I had a video clip that I debated playing it or not. We're not playing at this morning, but there was a movie series Christians also got into the trying to be Hollywood light and in the seventies there was this movie series called a thief in the night a distant Thunder and I forget the other one, but they were all based on a certain kind of reading of Revelation in the end times. And I don't know why but they use in children's director in the church. I first became a Christian and felt that this was good for pre teenage children to watch and in fact, it was meant to literally sort of scare the hell out of you and I don't mean that isn't in the swearing sort of way, but it's been such a scare this the going to hell out of you. I just absolutely this sort of Terror for a child to watch and it starts out with this woman hearing her radio alarm clock pop on and it's it's awful 70s. It's just the cheapest crate. Well, whatever but do you watch it you let you will take great Delight. I'm sure it's on YouTube and dumped enter alarm goes off and there's a snooze band saying that there has been millions of people have gone missing all of a sudden. So with the Rapture view of the end times and and in her in the bathroom off to this side of the ensuite bathroom. There's a shaver going of what must be her husband or boyfriend and the shaver is just rattling in the sink because he has been taken And then it goes to unpack this whole thing about the world uniting around us sort of a really malevolence United Nations that has real teeth and kills people in the mark of the beast that everyone was supposed to get a certain way of reading Revelation a tattoo on their hand. It was a barcode for six six six. And if you resisted you would get your head chopped off. I mean, it was really watching this. I don't know why what's up. Anyway, it was a scary movie. Read it now as an adult and I find it a little bit entertaining and somebody interpretation and what was going on but and then there was this creepy Christian worship song that would come in as the refrain. I talked about I wish we'd all been ready. There's no time to change your mind. The son has come and you've been left behind. And you can almost hear the satanic voice, muha.

No, but there is some truth in this mind you so let's not totally Mark everything but how it was used in the manipulation and that all of that it was meant to scare you. It was meant to say do you know Jesus make a decision today? And there was a time and a place for that sometimes when we're sitting on the fence as we talked about last week. But there was also a sense that it missed the point of these texts by a country mile if I can say it that way because Jesus approach to the end times is very different than that. He tells them he warns them he said will end and there will be a new Heaven and a new Earth and Christians have debated on how exactly that will look. In fact. I love the North American Baptist statement on the end times, which is a lovely statement. If you don't know what it says this we believe that God Amen God not the aliens. Not humans. Got me work through other things, but we believe that God in his own time and in his own way. I love that because that's how much specificity scripture actually gives us. Not the fly-by-night crazy prophets. Not the guy who wrote why Jesus is coming in 1988 and clearly we all missed it. I know he missed it and then wrote the sequel for those that would still buy the 89 book Lord. Help us. We believe in God in his own time and his own way. Jesus said no one knows that time or date but the Father in Heaven, no one knows they got his own time as always will bring about all things to their appropriate in and establish the new Heaven and the new Earth Revelation 21 1 Ephesians 1 9 through 10. I love that because it cuts out the speculation. It's centers on the ultimate work the big picture sovereignty of God the general sovereignty of God and it says God is at work in the world and one day he's going to wrap this thing up and there will be something new and glorious coming out where the old and the new come together and there's Recreation but it doesn't get into crazy speculation. It doesn't get into fear-mongering. It doesn't get into emotional manipulation. It says, in fact the end will come and God is in it. And so what do we do with light of this knowledge? So look at the text. You're quickly Luke Chapter 20 21 verses 25 to 28 signs. And then he says at the end of giving this list of all kinds of things that they will see that everyone will see that all of creation. I'm like the first coming where it was all of the people that were considered out of power and were considered the lowest level of society. Jesus was born in a manger be stable and Shepherds came and they were in poverty of family that was poor they were going to do since this it was in the sense of displacement in Mary understanding was pregnant. And in this lowest Jesus first came, he came to those that could actually see him those that need to know there's a messiah need to know there's hope in the world not the powerful not the potentate's But the second time when he comes it says he will come in a way that all people will know. the son of man coming in a cloud with great power and Glory They said no verse 28 when these things begin to take place. When is things begin to take place by all your hoarding supplies run up to the mountains? Tell your neighbors make them all watch the seventies and then the remakes of the Left Behind movies. Hide and fear Tower horde become even more in word know know he says when these things begin to take place stand-up raise up your heads because your Redemption is Drawing Near. Better attitude about the sense of what might happen when Jesus returns is not one of Doom and despair and Gloom but one of hopefulness as Paul says all of creation is groaning for the revealing of the sons of God those men and women those who will follow Jesus and act differently towards their neighbor and towards the creation lift up your heads because the new thing is coming the fullness of New Life. There's so much to unpack here, but I want to move on. Revelation 1:7 says every I will see him and even those who pierced him this idea that there is something that is long for that. The end of the world is something that ultimately will be glorious and will be New Creation Heaven and Earth come together and meet a New Jerusalem. It says descending from heaven and God recreates in the resurrection of the Dead in the life of the world to come is not something to be fearful but something to look forward to with anticipation. Nor is it something to using his excuse to be an active? So often the false Holiness crowd while we just need to hold up and just hold on. We don't know when he's going to come it could be tomorrow or it could be another 2,000 years the end times were from when Jesus began to teach these things and he died on the cross until he comes again. We've been in the end times for 2000 years. So the challenge of Advent people is that we actively wait and we pass on the faith one generation to another and we engage our neighbors. How do we share Jesus and we lean into this historic standall of Christianity this hard thing to lean into but we lean into it by face. Lord help us when it goes on nieces in the next passage verse 29 through 33 33 the Fig Tree. I don't look possibly a Syrian is reading this to expand it. If you were not in the immediate middle in Mideast. He says and all trees where the other gospel authors that quote this do not to make sure will if you don't know what a fig tree looks like all trees in Spring as they begin to show leaves tell us that summer is already on the way or almost here. And in some ways we say there have been wars and rumors of wars. There's been an earthquake's there's been apocalyptic events all throughout human history. And these things when they happen should not scare us should not terrify us. I mean we need to prepare and do what we can in terms of life, but it's at their deepest being at our deepest sense of who we are we don't need to sit there and cower in fear. But know that the end could come in our generation. It's called the imminent return of Christ at any time. Jesus could come again. I'll tell you sometimes when I'm dealing with sort of mini Apocalypse in my life. Sometimes I pray like the ancient churchy Christians did come quickly Lord Jesus. Sometimes I'm dealing with a situation. I said come quickly Lord Jesus. There's so much Brokenness in this situation is so much come quickly and make all things new. There's a yearling within our hearts to see new things burst forth. I believe that yearning for beauty and ultimate truth and and restoration when we see the devastation in the creation. We see the miss you so so much consumption immaterialism is Christmas gets hijacked and we forget that Advan comes first that there's a year that we desire and that is a god-given thing to help us to live differently and to react differently and Define motivation to act differently in this world and towards one another

So when you see these things verse 31, you know, the kingdom of God is near Luke talks about the kingdom of God is having started in Jesus first coming but it's not fully here until he comes in his second coming this inaugurated it started but it's not fully here yet in x view. It's called inaugurated eschatology things of the end times yeska toast and so he's he's saying that we're in this in this phase and so the kingdom will come fully when Jesus comes again. It's a scandal. It's weird. If you think about it from our normal sort of way of thinking in late modernity here. But when you look at the yearnings that we see manifest in our hearts and in our songs and in our political debates and discussions, and you see that that yearning is there it's actually not so strange anymore. The yearning is manifesting itself all over the place.

I tell you this generation will not pass away which generation to generation that begins to experience the final apocalypse the generation whenever that generation is once that final movement starts, they will not pass away until the kingdom comes fully. Quite frankly when I was a kid. I thought well, it would be sort of exciting to be there as I get older. I like you know, it's okay Lord. You can wait another five six seven thousand years a million years is fine with me.

That Christians we see wrestling and Peter I say why is the Lord not come back yet? Why has he not done what he said yet and they didn't and the writings that the Holy Spirit inspired through Peter. He says this that God is Not is not a lazy or sort of a Meandering as you think but he's patient he wants more to come to repentance. Even this week we were reminded by the missionary. I forget his first name, but mr. Chow he or chose not to have him saying his name, right but young man who is coming from the states to try to evangelize the protected tribe off the Indian subcontinent. and I have a lot of mixed feelings about that and I posted a couple articles that sort of Analyze That

but it does remind me that Jesus said in Matthew this idea when the end will come. He said this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached to Every Nation every ethnos every people group and then the end will come it was reminder and agree disagree with his methods or whatever. He he prepped more than was initially reported in the oven secular news, but on the other hand lot of different things going on here, but he wasn't on the group literally in the news. This past week was an unreached people groups that do not have any living gospel witness for Jesus Christ. But I can imagine his seal in his training again. Lots of things on pack. We don't have time to do that this morning, but I did remind me that Jesus own words again. Until everybody has a chance then the end will come. Why do we support missions? Why do we reach cross-culturally, even when we don't have the mess it up Royal you is a long history of misuse of mashing it with politics and colonization. But at the same time the early church was missionary minded. And reach the cross and took the risks. Let's finish this up. So what should we do in response to all of this this Advent as we wrestle with the end 34 through 36. He said be ready be on guard that your hearts would not be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness in the worries of this life is a little try out there getting it a range of meaning dissipation sort of this distractedness too much time. We might say with your smartphone's if he was putting him on as they don't be so sucked into your technology that you've stopped learning how to sing can go deep had to pause and to breathe and be creative and be open to the Wonder and mystery of God in the world and creation and your brothers and sisters in Christ and your neighbors. Your guard so your hearts are not weighed down. What dissipation and drunkenness course literal drunkenness the Bible talks about this idea being doled? We would have to stay awake to hear stay active. We are stay alert and the worries of this life. Well, Jesus, I know you're coming back. But right now I could really use whatever. Yes, they in your fears to him in your anxieties, but don't let it weigh you down so much so that you forget that there's also a bigger picture that you're apart of. But you are son and daughter of the most high God that you're an ambassador of the king who will come again and that there is joy to be found in the bigger picture that this is not all there is and God loves all of us, but he wants to make it and renew it. Don't be wait down. So the day does not catch you unexpectedly like a trap snap. Or it will come upon all everyone be alert pray that you may have the strength to escape to this idea that there is an awakened weirdness. Just before this Jesus was talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. It would have happened in 70 AD. And now he shifts and he's talking both about that. But then about the end of the world as we know it for all time. So there's two audiences here in view in Luke.

Be alert praying and have the strength to stand before him. So weird to live differently in response watchfully not impatient. Not careless not consumed by Drinker entertainment or workaholism. What is it that consumes us that keeps us from being awake awaiting at active for the king what keeps us going to stracted. I'm drunk by our times these things Jesus says our response should be to live is alert people engaged people that we are the people who should be the most Kingdom woke and every possible meaning of that term And to be engaging in what he calls us to do.

I like how Vincent a Biblical scholar put City said there's some Christians and other times in other parts of the world. No face hatred and potential martyrdom for their faith. For those Christians the appearance of Jesus would be a rescue and escape from the powers of evil. But for most of us reading this in order to truly obey our Lord and stand before him on that day, we need to be ripped up out of the Briar Patch of possessions the pursuit of profit the property of consumption of the world. And I could add a whole list of things. They're the ignoring of our neighbors the self-centeredness the me ISM all about me. And he says do we really want to be rescued if it means giving up our affluent lifestyles? So will that little church that I became a Christian and was somewhat toxic. Depending on the issue a lot toxic to moderately healthy they did get something right. They remind us again and again that our life is short. And then all that we have is ultimately a gift. And circumstances apocalypse Calamity can take it all from us. But the only thing that is remaining is God's love in Jesus Christ, and that is the thing that we set our Hope on. My hope is not set on what I see in my immediate circumstance. But on him who has come and his promise to come again and I should live as if there is a king was coming back. And I Surrender and I submit to him. This should change how I relate. You should change how I see my neighbor. And there's a sense of patient is an urgency. There's the Detention of waiting, you know, something's coming, but it's not there yet. But we live in two that tension and we learn to live. Joyfully in that ditch. Some tensions were not meant to be resolved except for by Jesus himself. So we wait in that time. Let me do take outs and I'm an invite whoever is coming up with the worship team and we're going to move to a time of communion this morning. Amen. Hey, man, the king is coming. The king is coming. Next Sunday will be looking at a passage from Samuel for Advent. So the take-out says we're preparing for communion here and I'm glad our horse shippers whoever they are to come forth come forth of worshipers or musician musicians. The takeout is I I want you to know there is more. This is not all there is we live in the present with one? I sort of on the future in Christ. We live being fully awake in the present because we are also aware that eternity is going to break in fully one day. I know we learned to be as people who live in that tension. The other thing I would say is to take out his we need to not be engaged in that which distracts us and Doles us to the beauty around us. And what God is doing in our midst staying awake. I think it's like 90% of the battle in the spiritual life staying awake and active to God's work around us. It is so easy to be lulled into indominus a stupor of Mind and Spirit it when we gather and worship the holy spirit moves to remind us the king is coming. He's coming again Foley and we should live differently. What is it that's showing you what is it that's causing you to simply be consumed by everything else. Yes and Gage in the world around us, but with awakeness to Christ at work. I finally I would say Jesus changes the presents and will change the future. Are you following him today? Would you follow him? Would you say yes to him would we be at church that is outrageously loving slinging open the doors or the gates of the kingdom and welcoming people and inviting them to get to know Jesus through his church through his word through the spirit working in those things.

And finally, don't lose hope or heart he is coming again.

one of the challenges of being a pastor is

I'm also tasked with a call to proclaim the ancient message. That is seems strange in our culture too many years, but the Jesus is coming again.

As the ancient Faith declares in the Creed he will come again in glory as we read in Matthew or Luke 21 and glory and power to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end. Canada will pass away all the empires of the earth will pass away but his kingdom his words and his kingdom will never pass away. And so we build our lives on that. Lord thank you for your presence here today. Thank you for my brothers and sisters on this first Sunday of Advent and we know many of our church that's traveling as well our hearts think of them as well today.

But may we begin this Church New Year with anticipation as we ended it with Christ the King. We begin at the Christ will come again. And that we don't short circuit and jump straight to Christmas Schmaltz oenis and booze and all of that and consumers and materials and all that. But that we remember why was there a yearning and anticipation and that we would have that yearning into anticipation for your second coming as well? Pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.