Looking Towards Jesus

It is because of Jesus’s work in the past that we can look towards his work in the future! Come Lord Jesus!

Scripture: Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,           you who lead Joseph like a flock!      You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth 2        before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.      Stir up your might,           and come to save us!

3   Restore us, O God;           let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Announcements

Family and Year end giving update

Mail a check to P.O. Box 2465 Elkins WV 26241

I’ll be posting something on Facebook for giving Tuesday.

Prayer Announcements

Prayer

Lighting of Candle

Reading of 2 Scriptures

Silent Prayer…Amen

Intro: Good morning

Welcome to the first week of advent!

Hope you had a great thanksgiving.

Advent Definition

Advent comes from the latin word “coming” which is derived from the greek word “Parousia”. It was a time to wonder at the incarnation of Christ.

The incarnation means a lot to me, it is a theological idea all through Young Life and we get that from Jesus.

This is an incredible time to read the gospel of John and 1 John as they focus so well on these themes.

“Rev Dr Packiam “Advent is when the remembered joy of Christs’s first arrival awakens the anticipated joy of His second arrival”.

Church has been celebrating this since the 6th century but is also loosely mentioned in the early church fathers.

What is the purpose of advent? Why do we celebrate it year after year?

As i’ve pondered this question…Our lives are apart of the biblical story line. We are in the final movement in God’s grand narrative of creation and redemption.

Being apart of the Appallacian Mountain Range. I often go to see 1 mountain but it is always apart of something bigger. I often can’t see it.

“God’s saving plan the Incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and Parousia are all facets of one event— rather like the way several separate mountain ranges blend together as a single range of mountains when viewed through a telescope (2 Pet 3:8). The first and second comings of God’s Son comprise one event in the divine plan. Cranfield captures their unity thus: “It was, and still is, true to say that the Parousia is at hand.… Ever since the Incarnation men have been living in the last days.”

Transition

Story of Longing: Wedding Day

Not terrifying and scary, althought getting married kind of is…but it is beautiful and wonderful

barn themed out door

outdoor and rained, we watched on the radar as the cloud rolled in and then parted! We had to wipe all the seats off twice for our guests.

During our wedding, we wanted to wash each others feet as a sign of mutual love and submission to one another and a symbol of our sacrificial love (like the woman who washed Jesus’s feet.) We had a tub…but we forgot the water and the towels in the process!!!

had to use water from the rain and a paper towel I still had in my pocket!

It didn’t matter, it was special! It was the best thing ever because it was really happening!

How are you making this time special and set apart? The danger of this time is we often have spent more time looking for sales and deals than longing for Jesus.

Mark 13:26-27

Doesn’t this sound beautiful and glorious! A cosmic event of The Lords great and final act!

Why did we just celebrate Thanksgiving? If you are an American (which you probably are if you are watching this) you are apart of the larger narrative of American culture and history.

As Christians we are apart of the larger narrative of scripture

Are you installing that into your heart and into your families hearts?

Do you and your family long (not just nonchalantly) for Jesus to finish his work?

Before this speech earlier in Mark, the disciples and Jesus were just leaving the temple.

The temple was a special place in which God’s spirit dwelled and God’s people could meet with him.

It is important to remind ourselves that Jesus saw himself as the fulfillment of the Temple. God incarnate.

Mark (1) The Destruction of the Temple (13:1–4)

Certainly it was obsolete for the Gentile Christians to whom he wrote. It was more than obsolete; it was dangerous because the continuation of its sacrificial system undermined the finality of Jesus’ sacrifice. The disciples’ amazement is understandable. The temple of Jesus’ time is described in Josephus, Antiquities 15.11 and War 5.5.1–6, and in the tractate Middot of the Mishna. According to Josephus, some of the stones were thirty-seven feet long by twelve feet high by eighteen feet deep!

The Gospel according to Mark The Lesson of the Fig Tree (13:28–31)

Here is an important key to the eschatological predictions of Mark 13, for if Jesus’ words will outlive the cosmos, then the world to come is already present in them.

Vs 31-my words never pass away.

These events were not separate for Jesus. They were connected and intermingled. They were the birth pains of the same pregnancy, the same moment of labor. The world agonizing from the fall and longing to see it’s redemption.

If we are not fascinated with it how will the world be?

Everything hinges on the resurrection! If the resurrection is true, the incarnation is indeed true. God came to earth to make his presence known to his people.

If the resurrection is true, the cross is indeed true and Jesus Christ bore our sins so we might enter into life with God. He ransomed us from separation with God.

If the resurrection is true than we are indeed in the last days, awaiting for Christ to return. We know that the check will clear. He has proved it already by his resurrection.

So we trust his words in verse 31 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

Jesus’s words are Truth. Soak that in for a moment. His words are Truth and eternal. They are not dependent on his world and how we image them to be, they are True.

So we wait in faith and hope in faith! We long for his coming like a child longs for Christmas morning. Waiting in bed completely giddy and full of excitement.

Though it is night it is not time to sleep!

Like It was on my wedding day. That day was truly spectacular, but it is my marriage that I cherish most. The gifts that we recieved on that Day were incredible, but it was not the gifts that I cherished. The great gifts that accompany that day will be splendid and joyous, but it is the union of Christ and his Church, heaven and earth, the old and the new that we long for. Do you long for it? Does the world know you long for it?

It is this day that leads to our purpose. To be united with Christ, to rule and reign with him, forever. And so in the Advent season we rejoice that Jesus has come, and soon he shall come again. Amen

Let us now go to the Lord for a time of prayer

And this time, Oh, God, we pray to you for those who are in special need. We pray for...

Here these prayers now as we pray together as your people. Praying the prayer that you taught your people.

As Christ our Savior taught us, we are bold to pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.

Jesus taught us it is more blessed to give than to receive so let us present our tithes and offerings to the Lord.