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WELCOME
Welcome to CrossPointe
Eve of Christmas Eve - or as my wife likes to joke, “Christmas Adam”
Who says that Dads are the only one who get to bad jokes
Final Week of our Advent Series
Waiting, Longing, Expectation
Today is a time to remember God’s faithfulness to his promises.
Big Idea: Together we will paint a fresh picture of God’s ‘unusual’ faithfulness
“Fresh” picture because
Sentimentalized picture of the nativity.
I want to re-paint how we see Nativity.
Not so much the cultural picture of the time but the spiritual picture that was prophesied 700 years before the events of that Holy Night began to unfold.
This is from a vision given to Isaiah, the prophet.
We may miss the extraordinary power and force of Jesus’ birth if we over simplify the picture surrounding Jesus birth.
The world’s sentimentalized picture of the nativity
There is typical scene and Mary and Joseph hovering above a wooden manger of filled with straw as baby Jesus lay atop.
There are camels and fluffy lambs with Angels hovering above the scene
The shepherds and wise men are kneeling before the manger.
“Unusual” because
As we’ll see in the passage today from , description of the problem and the promise of his solution is jarringly strong initially
Though some may be familiar with the passage, I pray we see the uniqueness of God’s plan that defies human wisdom and turns the world upside down.
Open in Prayer
INTRODUCTION
Sentimentalized picture of the nativity.
I want to re-paint how we see Nativity.
Not so much the cultural picture of the time but the spiritual picture that was prophesied 700 years before the events of that Holy Night began to unfold.
This is from a vision given to Isaiah, the prophet.
We may miss the extraordinary power and force of Jesus’ birth if we over simplify the picture surrounding Jesus birth.
The world’s sentimentalized picture of the nativity
There is typical scene and Mary and Joseph hovering above a wooden manger of filled with straw as baby Jesus lay atop.
There are camels and fluffy lambs with Angels hovering above the scene
The shepherds and wise men are kneeling before the manger.
The picture God paints for us in is a bit different and shocking really.
Read
Let’s start with a Blank canvas
Blank canvas
Some may not know that I like to draw and paint.
I almost went to an art college out of high school but I wanted to play basketball in college so I chose a different path.
So today, I want to paint a mental picture for us from Isaiah 9
BACKDROP
Imagine we are standing before a white, empty canvas - with a brush in hand and endless colors to chose from
We need to begin with the backdrop, the color tones that will shape our picture this morning.
The feelings we will try to paint are Gloom, Anguish, Contempt
These were cities in the north of Israel.
When foreign armies marched to invade Israel, these were among the first to come under attack.
Walked in darkness, deep darkness
What colors would you use?
Black, browns, grey
ILLUSTRATION
How do you paint a tangible darkness?
This past week I watched a report on the 33 Chilean Miners who were trapped for 70 days back in 2010
They were trapped a half mile under the surface (2,070 feet)
It was 100 degrees with 100% humidity
One miner said, “I lived with death, I slept with death because ever time the drill missed our location I would lose hope.”
Another miner wrote, “There’s no way I’m going to lie to you… how things are going down here… it’s very bad..
This hell is killing me, I try to be strong but it’s difficult.
Sometimes when I sleep, I dream I’m at a barbecue… when I wake up I find myself a prisoner in this darkness.”
CONNECTION
These 33 miners were buried deep beneath the earth for almost 2.5 months.
It is impossible to know what they experienced this passage speaks of another darkness - a deeper darkness.
A darkness that greater than 2,000 feet of earth rock separately loved ones.
The darkness spoken of in is a darkness caused by sin
The top definition of “sin” on Urban Dictionary defines sin as “harm.”
Sin is harming someone and sinless is equal to harmless.
The Bible however defines sin as “missing the mark” but more than that it is an inward driving force that is in rebellion against God.
Our sin leads to an infinite darkness and separation between God and man.
There is no rescue mission possible apart from God directly intervening to save us.
The Christmas story loses all its power when we can only see the darkness out there but fail to see the darkness inside of us.
SETTING
The Darkness begins to take shape and we see what it produces: WORLD AT WAR WITH GOD & EACH OTHER
Our of the darkness comes destruction / Wars
Nations at War (1): Zebulun and Naphtali
These were cities in the north of Israel.
When foreign armies marched to invade Israel, these were among the first to come under attack.
Result of War (5) :
“For every boot of the trampling warrior in battle tumult”
I had to look up this word tumult - it means the thundering noise of battle approaching.
The ground shaking.
there’s a fierceness to the setting.
Clothing / uniforms are rolled in blood
They are used to fuel the fire.
On our painting we begin to see things taking shape
We see shadows from the outcome of battle
I picture broke down buildings, blown out vehicles, destroyed roads
I picture all of this coming around the edges of our painting toward the very center - pulling us in
Foreshadowing
There is promise that light will shine in the darkness
There is hope that there will be no more gloom
There is the promise of increased joy and rejoicing
The promise of a hero who will step into our scene and bring salvation (4)
“you have broken as on the day of Midian”
Here we see that God’s solution will not fit with human reason.
“Midian” is a reference to Gideon’s army as “all the Midianites and the Amelekites and the people of the East came together, and the crossed the Jordan River” ready to attack.
The number totaled over 120,000 men.
Gideon had only 32,000 men.
Outnumbered 4 to 1 God told Gideon he had too many men.
God brought Gideon down to 300 men.
Now the battle was 400:1.
Even with 300, God instructed Gideon to surround the Midian army to watch as God brought them victory.
God saved Gideon in this strange and unusual way
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