HE'S ON THE WAY.

(Welcome: Praise report from last week: 32 Baptisms, 19 Decisions + largest sunday weve had for in person).

+ New people please HEAR my heart: We have many ways to get planted in church, dont allow the busy-ness of the holidays and Christmas time to slip away out of community

We have dinner parties, We have essentials class, We have Grill & Chill for the guys, Wednesday morning prayer for the guys, Discipleship groups are forming now in our mens minisry. We have Woven dinner parties for the lades, We have LOADS of ways to get PLUGGED in and PLANTED In the SOIL of our church. There is NO REASON that you cant meet people and get some SKIN in the GAME.

HE’s ON THE WAY.

IS 40:1-5

Isaiah 40:1–5 ESV

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

“ And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.””

Isaiah 40:1-5 ESV

MSG TITLE: “HE’S ON THE WAY”

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PRAY

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Christmas at Colonial. its upon us.

Tonite we’ll fill out the square with the sound of Worship!

What are we celebrating: the INCARNATE GOD IN JESUS CHRIST. BORN TO US FULFILLING THE SCRIPTURES.

GOD COMING TO EARTH.

Thats what were CELEBRATING EACH AND EVERY YEAR!

THERE IS SOMETHING VERY POWERFUL FOR A BELIEVER TO TAKE SOME TIME TO BEHOLD THE MIRACLE OF THE INCARNATION: WHAT GOD HAS DONE.

Some verses about the incarnation:

luke 1:30-35 “30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”

John 1:14 “14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Phil 2:6-7 “6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

1 Tim 3:16 “16 Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”

God Incarnate. Jesus being born into the WORLD. to Save the WORLD. what a miracle!

SO as we think about this season, as we begin to celebrate and get ready - I think its good to remember. God had a plan. He was on the way. God was (because we read it in Is 40 - God IS ON THE WAY. God is coming into our lives:

Two things that were true when IS PREACHED it - But is STILL TRUE TODAY: PRAY THIS IS A HOPE FILLED MESSAGE TODAY:

1.HE’S COMING FOR THE WORLD.

He came for the world.

not for MATERIAL THINGS>

BUT FOR PEOPLE.

God came for the world.

Because God loves the world.

He doesn’t love Sin.

But He loves people.

He doesn’t love the train wreck that the world has become but that won’t stop him from coming into the world.

1 John 4:19 “19 We love because he first loved us.”

Nothing can stop the coming of the Lord into the world. When God wills it; it happens. When God wants it, it’ll be.

“where theres a WILL, there’s a way”.

God Wills IT - SO NO MAN COULD HAVE STOPPED IT!

Matt 3:8-9 “8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”

SO YOU GET THIIS SENSE THAT GOD IS ON THE WAY.

I LOVE THAT EVEN IN THE OLD TESTAMENT PROHECY WE SEE DETAILS OF WHAT HE’LL DO!

HES ON THE WAY

*** the time between the book of Malachi and the beginning of Matthew was roughly 400 years. the intertestamental period. the Silent years. There was no prophecti record. it was quiet. But God was on the way.

God had a plan. God is always outworking his plan for the world.

How did they know? How could you KNOW? it was in the WORD: it was God had done and will always do!

truth to write down: The Wilderness Season Always Precedes the Deliverance of GOD.

Wilderness season always come before the rescue

YOU CANT BE FOUND IF YOUR NOT LOST.

“if i feel lost, im about to be found”

before closeness comes, distance had to exist.

before proximity can be experienced, seperation HAD to be PRESENT!

English Standard Version (Chapter 40)

3  A voice cries:“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

the WILDERNESS was SYMBOLISM of the EXODUS.

AND THE MIRACLE WORKING POWER AND NATURE OF GOD.

IT NEEDED TO HAPPEN!

Hosea 2:14 “14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.”

The People COMING OUT TO BE BAPTIZED BY JOHN was SYMBOLIC of WHAT GOD HAD DONE FOR HIS PEOPLE AND MARKED THE BEGINNING OF THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH!

Even John’s call to be N THE WILDNERNESS was LITERAL SYMBOLISM.

matt 3:1-2 “1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The New Bible Commentary 40:1–11 The Long-Awaited Lord

John the Baptist, with prophetic symbolism, used the literal wilderness for this very work

BUT NOT ONLY THAT WE GET THE DETAIL!

“ Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. “

What Valleys could God lift up in your LIFE: This to me represents FREEDOM from SIN. The lofty HEIGHTS OF DISTANCE BETWEEN YOU AND GOD ARE NO MORE THROUGH JESUS.

What Mountains and Hill’s could be made Low: this represents the overcoming of the Lord in the battle of our lives. What seems impossible to you? Could GOD DO THE IMPOSSIBLE?

What uneven ground could become level?: to me this is the HEART. Before Christ its uneven, its Bacslidden, its Untrustworthy. Its a ROUGH PLACE the HEART of a MAN becore JESUS

Truth: He is STILL MAKING HIS WAY INTO THE WORLD.

2HE’S COMING FOR ME.

He came for Me.

He comes for ME.

He will always be coming for me.

and thats the GOSPEL.

its not just for a few

its not kist even for the JEwish people.

its for EVERYONE.

John 3:16

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

SO THIS CHRISTMAS TIME: LETS REMEMBER AND LETS CELEBRATE. HES COMING< HES ON THE WAY.