Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

We've been waiting for what seems like a long time now, Michael, my son is so looking forward to the coming holidays.

The count down to the end of term 4 and the end of homework, classes and teachers teling him what to do.

“Will it ever come?”

“I can’t wait!” kids are always like this.. we’ve having had a conversation about what we would do in the holidays - the movies, hanging out with friends, having sleepovers, riding his bike and scooter.. playing playstation games, going on holidays and more.

“Will it ever come?” “I can’t wait!” kids are always like this.. we’ve having had a conversation about what we would do in the holidays - the movies, hanging out with friends, having sleepovers, riding his bike and scooter.. playing playstation games, going on holidays and more.

Will it ever come?

“We can't wait!” We've heard kids say that again and again, haven't we ?

wether it’s school holidays, a family trip away or getting presents at Christmas.

The good news is that it’s almost here, Christmas is coming, the holidays are coming.

We can hardly wait!

For parents not so much ..

Christmas and the school holidays is all about waiting, waiting with eager expection.

“Expectation” means that we are eagerly looking forward to something—hopefully something that promises good things to come for us.

Will it ever come?

“We can't wait!” We've heard Christmas, I think, is all about waiting, waiting with eager expectation.

“Expectation” means that we are eagerly looking forward to something—hopefully something that promises good things to come for us.

If we are expecting bad things to come, it fills us, instead, with a sense of dread.

There are those for whom Christmas is more an expectation that brings about a sense of dread than of eager expectation.

I think of the homeless, the hungry, the depressed, the weary.

I think of those whose lives are dominated by hurt and anger and resentment from relationships broken and from love denied or betrayed.

And I think of those whose lives have become disrupted and disjointed by war or terror.

Christmas, I think, is all about waiting, waiting with eager expectation.

“Expectation” means that we are eagerly looking forward to something—hopefully something that promises good things to come for us.

If we are expecting bad things to come, it fills us, instead, with a sense of dread.

There are those for whom Christmas is more an expectation that brings about a sense of dread than of eager expectation.

I think of the homeless, the hungry, the depressed, the weary.

I think of those whose lives are dominated by hurt and anger and resentment from relationships broken and from love denied or betrayed.

And I think of those whose lives have become disrupted and disjointed by war or terror.

If we are expecting bad things to come, it fills us, instead, with a sense of anxiety or fear.

There are those for whom Christmas is more an expectation that brings about a sense of dread and pain rather than of eager expectation.

If we are expecting bad things to come, it fills us, instead, with a sense of dread.

There are those for whom Christmas is more an expectation that brings about a sense of dread than of eager expectation.

I think of the homeless, the hungry, the depressed, the weary.

I think of those whose lives are dominated by hurt and anger and resentment from relationships broken and from love denied or betrayed.

And I think of those whose lives have become disrupted and disjointed by war or terror.

I think of the homeless, the hungry, the depressed, the weary, the suffering from our current bushfire situation, who have lossed so much.

I think of those whose lives are dominated by hurt and anger and resentment from relationships broken and from love denied or betrayed.

And I think of those whose lives have become disrupted and disjointed by war or terror, so much of the world today is broken and groaning in anticipation.

For most of us life brings some mixture of dread, or at least anxiety and hurt, and eager expectation.

It's the things we dread that call into question the meaning and even the worth of our lives.

We need to have something that we're looking forward to, something we are hoping for, if life is to have joy.

It seems that God created us to need times of expectation to give meaning to our lives.

So what is it that you are waiting for?

For Christmas to come?

For presents to open?

For family gatherings?

For that delicious holiday meal? for the holidays and all that comes with it.

In no time at all those will all have become memories, and we will be turning to other expectations—a New Year's Eve party, going back to the gym to burn off all the Christmas food, New Years resolutions..

In no time at all those will all have become memories, and we will be turning to other expectations—a New Year's Eve party, a special winter outing, the warmth of home on a stormy winter day.

And then before we know it we will be looking forward to spring, to Good Friday, and the celebration of Easter.

What an abundance of expectations lie before us!

We who worship the Christ-child, born in Bethlehem's stable, are blessed with a wealth of expectations, surprises that are worth waiting for, hoping for, joys that linger long after Christmas.

Let's listen to what the prophet Isaiah was looking forward to, waiting for, eagerly anticipating.

The Reign of a Righteous King

Let's listen to what the prophet Isaiah was looking forward to, waiting for, eagerly anticipating.

“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,..and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding...He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.”

The Righteous King vs. 1-5

What would the world be like with him as King vs. 6-9

What the King will do on “that day” vs. 10

The Righteous King vs. 1-5

Let’s read from:

A shootv will come up from the stumpw of Jesse;x

from his roots a Branchy will bear fruit.z

2 The Spirita of the LORD will rest on him—

the Spirit of wisdomb and of understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and of might,c

the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—

3 and he will delight in the feard of the LORD.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,e

or decide by what he hears with his ears;f

4 but with righteousnessg he will judge the needy,h

with justicei he will give decisions for the poorj of the earth.

He will strikek the earth with the rod of his mouth;l

with the breathm of his lips he will slay the wicked.n

5 Righteousness will be his belto

and faithfulnessp the sash around his waist.q

Illustration

We have your own yard, you may be familar with this image of a stump with nothing but a shoot growing out of it.

we noticed all these shoots growing in our back yard coming out of this dead tree.

Ive tried to get rid of it but it never stops but it just keeps coming up.

we noticed all these shoots growing in our back yard coming out of this dead tree.

Ive tried to get rid of it but it never stops but it just keeps coming up.

we noticed all these shoots growing in our back yard.

The culprit was a variety of tree we planted.

At a certain point they send up shoots from their roots.

We had shoots popping up everywhere.

We cut down the trees.

The shoots kept coming.

We put a spray on the stumps.

The shoots kept coming.

We cut down the shoots.

The shoots kept coming.

We sprayed a second time.

They are almost gone now but once in a while they still pop up.

we noticed all these shoots growing in our back yard coming out of this dead tree.

Ive tried to get rid of end but it just keeps coming up.

we noticed all these shoots growing in our back yard coming out of this dead tree.

Ive tried to get rid of end but it just keeps coming up.

But the one thing that will always be true is that the tree is dead but at the same time there is new life happening.. new shoots not really what we want but it’s there.