Sermon Tone Analysis

My Spiritual gift is patience.

Some of you are thinking, “you’re besetting sin is lying!”

It’s true though, I don’t like waiting.

You know what I mean...

You’re a red light.

Someone’s in front of you.

It turns green.

They don’t move.

HONK HONK HONK.

You’re on the highway.

Traffic isn’t moving.

You start huffing and puffing.

You’re tapping your fingers.

You start yelling at the guy next to you.

You grab your phone and look up the contact for the state representative...

You’re in your car.

Your spouse is in the house.

You’re in your car.

And your spouse. is in.

the house.

You know you shouldn’t text them because that’s just not right.

But you do it anyway.

But you’re subtle about it.

“Hey.

Just chillin’.

In the car.

Ready to go.” Meanwhile all the things you want to say are streaming through your brain...

Christmas season is among us!

This is also known as the season of Advent.

ADVENT

It’s a season of waiting and more importantly a season of preparation.

But Let’s face it.

Let’s face it

We don’t like to wait.

For some of us, it’s nearly impossible…take this short clip from the movie “Kicking & Screaming” for instance...

VIDEO CLIP:

Phil became impatient and eventually outraged when the line at his local coffee shop wasn’t moving quickly enough.

Phil became impatient and eventually outraged when the line at his local coffee shop wasn’t moving quickly enough.

This year at The Bridge, we want to slow down and use this season of Advent, of waiting and preparing, to prepare our hearts for an encounter with Immanuel, “God with us”.

I want to begin by reading a portion of scripture that’s actually very difficult to read and often times in bible reading many people just skip right over portions of scripture like this… But I’m going to read it this morning...

Matthew 1:

I wonder if any of you became impatient as I painstakingly read each line in the geneology of Christ… :-) But waiting can be like reading that genealogy.

In a season of waiting we sometimes wonder...

What’s the point?

Why this repetitiveness?

Is this ever going to end?

If I can’t pronounce it, it must not be relevant!

But here’s the thing.

And this is something we learn from this genealogy.

While you wait, God works!

Matthew begins by providing his audience with two important facts about Jesus.

He was the Son of David.

(Messiah) In this genealogy we see that as generation upon generation waited, God was working to bring about the Savior who would free us all from the bondage of sin.

He was the Son of Abraham.

(An Israelite) While generation upon generation waited, God was working to fulfill his promise to his friend, Abraham.

God always keeps his promises!

He was the Son of Abraham.

(An Israelite)

This is so important to understand!

While we wait, God works.

If we don’t get this, irritability, discouragement and defeat will be our daily companions.

Jesus is the one they had been waiting for .

But why the geneology?

it was proof that Jesus had a right to the throne of David

it was proof that God kept his promise to Abraham.

“Through Abraham’s seed the whole world would be blessed!”

Indeed, this was the implied message in the Angel’s words to Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph...

Waiting doesn’t always make sense, but if we can understand and trust that God is working we will experience a refreshing encounter with Jesus.

This is what the Angels implied in their message to Joseph...

Loo

When Joseph learned of Mary’s pregnancy imagine the horror!

He may have become agitated.

He may have devolved into a drunken stupour

He may have left Mary and doubted God’s faithfulness for the rest of his life.

He may have become a defeated, miserable old man...

But Joseph waited.

Even as the Angels said...

You won’t see the promise yet, Joseph.

You’re going to endure some ridicule and disdain, Joseph.

People won’t understand your situation, Joseph.

Mary’s going to get some “looks”, Joseph.

Wait, Joseph.

A

People are going to question your integrity and your wisdom, Joseph

BUT, His name will be Immanuel.

God is with us.

So Joseph waited.

Throughout Scripture God is continuously calling us to wait… Here’s one example:

Psalm

Have you ever noticed that good things nearly always come about because of a process; often times a long process?

God works in our everyday lives.

There are many reasons to love the geneologies in the bible.

God didn’t include them to make us bored or to laugh at us as we tried to pronounce names like “Shealtiel or Amminadab”

One of the things that’s clear here is that God cares about history.

And Immanuel, God with us, takes place in actual human history.

Generation after generation of waking up, going to work, putting food on the table, making decisions, having babies, farming the land, populating cities, getting little hearts broken in childhood romances are all part of the human’s everyday experience.

And God is at work.

Each individual mentioned represents a real life with real quirks, real problems, and a real need for a Savior.

Not so different from you and me.

God works in unexpected and sometimes unwanted ways.