My Jesus: Advent kickoff

Introduction

Next week we will be kicking off our Advent series, and I would be willing to step out on a limb and guess that many of us are already there. We have decorations in place, shopping lists, and plans made or in the process of making them at least.

These are not bad things, in fact they really can be good things. But this week I want us to focus our attention on what is most important. Good may be the most effective enemy of great. And all these good things may in turn rob us of what God has truly called us to celebrate and honor this advent season.

Hebrews 12:2 CSB

2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 4:7b (CSB)

7b Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

Prayer

Colossians 1:13–23 CSB

13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 14 In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together. 18 He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. 22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him— 23 if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.