Advent 2019: Peace vs. War

The word Advent comes from the Latin word for comingThe early church would spend this time in fasting and prayer.. repenting of things that needed to be repented of and committing to the things that needed to be committed or recommitted to. The Sundays of advent were a time where there was a break from the fasting and breaking of one’s self to celebrate the coming aspects of Christ.Today for whatever reason the Church has long ago discarded the idea that we need to get close to the Lord through the things that Christians should do to get closer, and replaced it with the lighting of candles. Now that is a reproof that we should stop lighting candles and start beating on our selves, but this year I want want to remind us that the hope, peace, joy, love, and unity is much greater than we often perceive.

The word Advent comes from the Latin word for coming.

The early church would spend this time in fasting and prayer.. repenting of things that needed to be repented of and committing to the things that needed to be committed or recommitted to. The Sundays of advent were a time where there was a break from the fasting and breaking of one’s self to celebrate the coming aspects of Christ.

The early church would spend this time in fasting and prayer.. repenting of things that needed to be repented of and committing to the things that needed to be committed or recommitted to. The Sundays of advent were a time where there was a break from the fasting and breaking of one’s self to celebrate the coming aspects of Christ. Today for whatever reason the Church has long ago discarded the idea that we need to get close to the Lord through the things that Christians should do to get closer, and replaced it with the lighting of candles. Now that is not a reproof that we should stop lighting candles and start beating on our selves, but this year I want want to remind us that the hope, peace, joy, love, and unity is much greater than we often perceive.

Today for whatever reason the Church has long ago discarded the idea that we need to get close to the Lord through the things that Christians should do to get closer, and replaced it with the lighting of candles.

Now that is not a reproof that we should stop lighting candles and start beating on our selves, but this year I want want to remind us that the hope, peace, joy, love, and unity is much greater than we often perceive.

In order to demonstrate the light of Christ we are going to have to look at the darkness that the light dispels.

In order to demonstrate the light of Christ we are going to have to look at the darkness that the light dispels.Worldly ways we see the darkness.It’s much worse than we can possibly imagine.What the source of darkness is (or sources.)We will discuss the truth of what God says and what his light does.We need to see the candle in the darkness.We need to know what steps to take to head towards that light.We will give an opportunity to repent and recommit to the light.

We will look at the way the world sees the darkness.

It’s much worse than we can possibly imagine.

What the source of darkness is (or sources.)

We will discuss the truth of what God says and what his light does.

We need to see the candle in the darkness.

We need to know what steps to take to head towards that light.

We will give an opportunity to repent and recommit to the light.

War Defined

The opposite of hope.hopelessness - c’mon that’s cheatingdespair, doubt, fear, distrust, discouragement, pessimism, abandon, disbelief, reality, fact, depressionDespair - the feeling that everything is wrong and their is nothing that can be done about it.families, at work, in health, finances… you’ve tried and tried and tried and it has not gotten any better.It is a culminations of some of the other words we used:doubtfear or discouragementdistrust or disbeliefpessimismIt can lead to a real physical or mental depressionIt may even lead to a desire to abandon everything that you know is good.The two saddest antonyms on this list:reality, fact - I find it sad because the Hope that God provides to us is the fact that He is here to love us and guide us an bring us to a place where despite the fact we are surrounded by great darkness and bleak circumstances, there is a light that shines so bright that all that darkness flees away from it.Somehow the world has substituted that fact, that reality with their own fact that tells us there is no hope. When your mind tries tricking you into the thought that there is no hope scream back at your mind or the one trying to convince you that they are a liar and a thief.

a state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state.

a struggle or conflict between two or more opposing forces

Ware is not the opposite of peace

agony - pain or suffering whether mental or physical

distress - specifically caused by anger or hatred

unrest - a “sense” that nothing is as is should be

agitation - the state of being “stirred up”

worry - a belief that it is not going to be ok

Top Ten Biggest worries facing the world today.

10. Lack of economic opportunity and unemployment (12.1%)

9. Safety / security / well being (14.1%)

📷A man in Helsinki waves the Finnish flag. Finland is rated one of the happiest countries on earth, according to the World Happiness Report. Reuters/Vesa Moilanen

8. Lack of education (15.9%)

📷Students attend school in a temporary classroom in Nepal one year after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 9,000 people. Paula Bronstein/ Getty

7. Food and water security (18.2%)

📷A protester in Flint, Michigan, holds up a sign criticizing the city's water contamination crisis that became a federal emergency and required aid from the National Guard. Bill Pugliano/Getty

6. Government accountability and transparency / corruption (22.7%)

📷Demonstrators wear masks depicting Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (L) and Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff during a protest calling for the impeachment of Rousseff near the National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, December 13, 2015. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

5. Religious conflicts (23.9%)

📷In Germany, Yazidi protesters with friends and family in Iraq and Syria call for action to stop ISIS' violent siege. Carsten Koall/Getty

4. Poverty (29.2%)

📷Weeks before the 2016 Olympic Games commence, children play in a garbage dump in one Rio de Janeiro's largest favela complexes, which suffers from poverty and violence. Mario Tama/Getty

3. Inequality (income, discrimination) (30.8%)

📷The income gap between top and bottom earners is getting wider in the US. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

2. Large scale conflict / wars (38.9%)

1. Climate change / destruction of nature (48.8%)

None of these are new. In fact if you read the first 2 books of the Bible you will see that even God’s chosen people were whining about these things for thousands of years.

The answers to the

The fact of the matter is that those things are very small in God’s economy… In fact, His answer to all those is to simply have peace in knowing that He is Lord of all.

1. Climate change / destruction of nature (48.8%)

Now I don’t have time to discuss every one of these in detail. What I can say is that these issues have not changed since the beginning of recorded history. I can find every single one of these things in the first two books of the Bible. I can also find the solutions to these things in the first two books of the Bible.

Now I am going to be bold when

Despair comes close - the feeling that everything is wrong and there is nothing you can do about it.The problem with that is that the world tells you that’s just a feeling. Let me be abundantly clear. It’s not a feeling.... everything is wrong. There is nothing you can do about it.

ESV“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

In comparison to the darkness that the world sees, the true darkness is much worse.

That word poor best translated is “utter mendicancy”

Remember

ESVas it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Romans 3:9–20 ESV

What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

All Have sinned....

Reading Leviticus; If that is the Law of God.... your guilty and the punishment is severe.

Guilt is not the goal

Ann Landers has written an interesting paragraph on guilt. And in that paragraph she says, "One of the most painful, self- mutilating, time and energy consuming exercises in the human experience is guilt. It can ruin your day or your week or your life, if you let it. It turns up like a bad penny when you do something dishonest, hurtful, selfish, rotten or tacky. Never mind that it was the result of ignorance, stupidity, laziness, thoughtlessness, weak flesh or clay feet. You did wrong and the guilt is killing you. Too bad. But be assured, the agony you feel is normal. Remember, guilt is a pollutant and we don't need any more of it in the world." and there she stops with no answer on how to get rid of it.

The implied answer is that yes you did something wrong, but don’t let guilt get you down.

The problem is we feel guilt, BECAUSE WE ARE GUILTY!!!!

The Result — The wages if sin is death.

Luke 16:24 ESV

And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’

Luke 16:23–24 ESV

and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’

Luke

Let me say… that man in hades does not care about the economy, food and water, climate change, or even the wars..... you know what he cares about....

I AM IN ANGUISH IN THIS FLAME.

WARN MY BROTHERS - LUKE 16:27

The Devil - noHe is a tempterHe is a liar and skilled deceiver.He is a thief and an enemy.Other people - noThey are also liars.Hopefully in ignorance but sometimes out of selfishness they do things that make you lose hope.The real culprit - youWe cannot blame the devil because our hope rests in Christ and whatever the devil does to shake us, Christ is still there.We cannot blame others because our hope does not rest in them. Our hope rests in Christ and no man or woman has no power to take our hope away unless we give it to them.

God

The Devil - noHe is a tempterHe is a liar and skilled deceiver.He is a thief and an enemy.Other people - noThey are also liars.Hopefully in ignorance but sometimes out of selfishness they do things that make you lose hope.The real culprit - youWe cannot blame the devil because our hope rests in Christ and whatever the devil does to shake us, Christ is still there.We cannot blame others because our hope does not rest in them. Our hope rests in Christ and no man or woman has no power to take our hope away unless we give it to them.

1 John 1:5 ESV

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

The Devil - almost but not quite.

Acts 26:18 ESV

to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Acts 26:18

Testimony of Paul’s calling Jesus spoke to Him to send him to....

Us..yup...

Romans 2:11–12 ESV

For God shows no partiality. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

The

If you are human which you are and you have now law you will perish

If ignorant you still perish

If you know the law - you have broke it.

The darkness is way darker than we can even imagine.

Even Paul recognizes the real war.

Romans 7:23 ESV

but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

Ro 7:

ESVFor I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

If The LORD’s desire is to give you a hope, do you think He is to weak to do that? It’s a promise of one who created the universe.

Flash light experiment pure black vs bright light.

ESVBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

In Christ as we read, there is no darkness.....

ESVNot only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 1:5 ESV

through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,

Psalm 18:28 ESV

For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness.

John 8:12 ESV

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Luke 1:76–79 ESV

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Luke 1:79 ESV

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

ESVbut they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Luke 1:

Luke 2:14 ESV

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

ESVbut the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

ESVbecause, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”

ESVFor “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

ESVRemember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

So as we have said, we looked at the darkness that is surrounding us. It’s there. It’s real. It’s inescapable.But there is a hope, and it is only found in one place. Through Christ Jesus. Let me implore you, If you do not have 100% hope, I want to pray for you. There is no shame in admitting you lack hope. There is no shame in admitting fear. What is a shame is not confessing and committing. Today I want you to be bold. If you’re hope is not where it should be for whatever reason, Let us pray together for God to do something about it. amen… I’ll give you 5 seconds to raise your hands.. If you don’t I will assume you are perfect and I may want you to pray with me later… If you do, I will know that you are human and need Christ’s help.

Advent 2019: Peace vs. War

Advent = Coming

How the Coming Christ is the Candle in the Darkness.

How the Coming Christ is the Candle in the Darkness.

Today we talk about the second candle… peace.

Today we talk about the first candle… hope.

The Darkness Surrounding Peace - War

The Darkness Surrounding Hope

The Way the World Sees It

The Way the World Sees It.

It’s Worse Than We Thought.

It’s Worse Than We Thought.

The Source of Darkness

The Source of Darkness

The Hope of God

The Candle of Peace in the Darkness

Head Towards the Light of Peace

Head Towards the Light

Your Chance to Stark Walking

Your Chance to Stark Walking