Longing: Longing for the King

Longing for the King

DO we yearn enough?

What do you pine for? Yearn for?

DO we yearn enough?

DO we yearn enough?

Clay when we’re leaving: NO Babysitter!

Desire for us to stay, but once we’re gone I don’t think he thinks twice.

Pictures of longing

Picture of ‘The Shot’

Wanting your faces to leave with this kind of expression...

Pregnant

Longing for the King

Question: How can I get people to understand how important it is to yearn for the King’s arrival?

How can I get the to look like this? Or to cry like Clay? Or to have that depth of yearning?

How? To do that, we need to understand our need for the King

Giving up Hope

The Neediness of a Hopeless People

: They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

 They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

Distressed, hungry, enraged, curse king and God, distress, darkness, gloom… And they will be thrust into THICK darkness

Expecting God to intervene just let to them down a downward spiral of dark.

This is what ‘giving up on hope’ looks like

This is the opposite picture of longing.

“Waiting is the Hardest Work of hope” Lewis Smedes

Pictures of despair

Pictures of despair

: Hope Crashes into the Scene

: The people who walked in darkness

Isaiah 9:2: The people who walked in darkness

2  The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,

on them has light shone.

God

HOPE! HOPE! HOPE!

God multiplied the nation’s boundaries

Increased their joy

increased their joy

Saved them from Exile

Stopped the war

6  For to us a child is born,

Verse 6:

6  For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7  Of the increase of his government and of peace

there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Victory Day has come!

Christmas Day: Hope Crashes into the Scene

Baby Jesus is born.

How does this government operate?

How will people from the darkness begin to see this great light?

How does God multiply the nation with joy and save his people from slavery?

Yearners Come from their Neediness

Deserted

Shepherds: Outcasts: Crooks and outlaws, testimony in court was worthless

Outcasts: Crooks and outlaws, testimony in court was worthless

Shepherds: Outcasts: Crooks and outlaws, testimony in court was worthless

Shepherds: Outcasts: Crooks and outlaws, testimony in court was worthless

 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

Devoid

Simeon and Anna: Waiting for the consolation and redemption of Israel

Waiting for the consolation and redemption of Israel

: And it had been reveled to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

29  “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word;

according to your word;

30  for my eyes have seen your salvation 31  that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

31  that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

32  a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

and for glory to your people Israel.”

Different and Distant

Magi: : “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?”

Magi: Matthew 2: Outsiders

“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?”

 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Dejected

Zacchaeus

: And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

Seeking to see: “Trying to reach something one desires”

Distraught and Diseased

: Roman Centurion:

Pleads with Jesus to heal his servant

: Jairus and a Sick Woman

: Jairus and a Sick Woman

Jairus, a synagogue ruler whose daughter was dying. Falls at Jesus feet pleading with Jesus to come to his house to save his girl.

Sick woman who pulled at his robe

Sick woman who pulled at his robe

Challenge as a Pastor:

How to convince you that you were the deserted, the devoid, different, distant, dejected, distraught and diseased!

How to convince you that you were the deserted, the devoid, different, distant, dejected, distraught and diseased!

Milk and honey:

Where do God’s people wrestle with God? In the land of milk… The wilderness and the rocky terrain.

Are you aware of your need?

Longing came out of a need or a place of darkness or separation or desperation

HOW LONG, O LORD!

Before we go out and tell the world how needy they are, we need to know how needy we are!

I miss you!

W

The King

Do you long for the King and his Kingdom?

The King

Longing for the King

Isaiah’s Picture

Luke’s Picture

Longing for the Kingdom

Isaiah: Government will grow

Rules from the the Throne of David