Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro its time for HOPE, JOY, AND FINALY, LOVE

DOUG CHOOSING HOPE AND KAY’S FUNERAL,

There are two QUOTES from the 1994 movie Shawshank Redemption that come fo mind....”we can either get busy living or Get busy dying”

Doug has chosen to get busy living, becuase dying takes care of itself.

Then there is this quote that is equally as true...

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

--Andy Dufresne— Character from Shawshank Redemption

It seems that many are tempted to give up on Hope today.

You may know someone or maybe you too have been tempted to give in to a Nihilistic view of the world.

The First Sunday of Advent reminds us that the words of --Andy Dufrense-- Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

Luke paints a picture in our passage today that reminds us that Hope is a powerful motivator in the midst of unbearable circumstance.

Early on in this passage does not seem to scream hope…in fact we see that Luke paints a dire picture of the future.

Nature will do wild things

There will be turmoil

People will be afraid

Everything that we count on will be put to the test.

But then Luke gives us reason to hope…in the midst of these circumstance we see Jesus returning with power.

Then to further drive home his point Luke reminds them and us that these times are not signs of God’s absence but are signs of God’s presence…

When the trees begin to sprout their leaves we know that summer is coming soon…That is what these things are signs of God’s ability to bring something beautiful from what seems like destruction and Chaos.

When we stop hoping in the faithfulness of God we see impossibilities instead of opportunities to overcome.

I know this sounds a bit over the top I mean we have had so many opportunities to overcome that we maybe wondering if we will ever see victory…

However I am convinced that Losing hope is more dangerous than impossibilities because without hope everything is impossible.

In order to maintain hope we must refuse to allow the world to lull us into losing heart...

We do this by taking time to pray intently with our minds and hearts entirely transfixed on the strength that come from the Hope of God’s eminent return presence of God.

We do this in a variety of ways but during this holiday season I want to encourage you to look for space to do this one thing....

Find a Time and Space to Rest in Christ

The World Calls us into a hustle and bustle during this time of year.

But Advent calls us to slow down and contemplate the Hope we have in Jesus.

It is interesting to me that some are claiming the supply chain issues are going to destroy Christmas…kids will not receive the newest toys, the hottest fashions will not be easily available to us…and so on.

What if this is an opportunity to change our focus…to finally slow down and focus of Jesus the Hope of the world?…Take more time to decorated the tree, skip the mall and break out UNO, Turn off your devices and live in this moment with God and those closest to you.

Hope lives in the resting presence of Jesus not in more activity.

Most of us are more tired than we realize on the soul level which may be leading us to the brink of exhaustion physically.

Solitude Give rest to the spirit…If we do not rest our spirit then we will never be able to live fully in the vibrant hope of the fulfilled promise of Messiah.

Create a space to rest

Select a time to be in that space.

Communion