Advent Faith

Advent Faith

Isaiah 11:1-9

Isaiah 2:1-5

***Isaiah 26:1-7 or 26:3-9

Children’s Church

Sermon Title , “A great God, a great Faith”

Isaiah 26:1-4

*** LORD’S SUPPER

Read and Pray

Start right in.

Today our theme is faith.

Faith is full trust you can bet your life on.

When you have faith you fully trust.

What are the things you fully trust in?

We trust that we will wake up in the morning.

-Every day you wake up is a great day.

That our family will love us.

-Family love is a wonderful thing.

-It is wonderful to have people that love you.

That the sun will come up.

-To have the sun shining on our face when it is cool and to experience warmth from

You and I fully trust in these things.

You HAVE FAITH in them.

There is someone who will change your life forever. Into eternity.

I’ve met Him. I have a relationship with Him.

He has changed my life & He can change your life too.

Today we focus on our faith in Jesus as The Son of God.

The first part of our message today is the hard part.

The first part of our message today is the hard part to hear.

Hebrews 9:27 ESV

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

-Those who have not given their life in faith to Jesus will be judged guilty of their sin. As a consequence they will be cast into hell forever.

-I was reminded of this truth this weekend.

“Hell is filled with good people.”

Good people who trusted in their good works to save them.

Good people who never thought their small sins would be enough to damn them.

The day you do not wake up is the day you will meet God and be judged.

Here is the great news...

Those who have given their lives in full faith to Jesus will live with Him forever.

Why? By having Full FAITH in what Jesus has done on the cross, they received the gift of forgiveness.

The Christ Follower HAS FAITH (FULLY TRUSTS) that Jesus took on their sin and paid for it on the cross.

-Because of what Jesus has done for them, the Christ Follower has turned to Jesus and given Him all of their life.

The one who has had FAITH in Christ has no fear of death. Has not fear of the after life.

This believer will live in a heavenly city with God.

Verse 1 & 2 tell us about that day - The Christ Follower will see this great city.

vs. 1 -You will see a city that has walls made of the salvation of God - the most powerful walls ever made.

vs. 2 -The gates of the city will open, and you will enter it.

Christ will have come to earth and defeated all his enemies. Both spiritual enemies and human enemies. Christ will set up His Kingdom on earth with this heavenly city, The New Jerusalem. And Christ (Messiah Jesus) will be the final eternal King of the earth.

His enemies in the spiritual realm (Satan and Demons) will have been cast into the lake of fire.

The Bible tells us that not only will you worship Him, but you will rule and reign with Him. Eternity with God will be glorious! Pause

When we contrast the majestic King of the heavens to the humble Christ child we see a massive contrast.

Jesus as the king in heaven cannot be helped by anyone. (x2)

There is nothing he cannot do for himself. He has no need that anyone can meet for Him.

-The Godhead (the 3 in one) is perfectly content in Himself.

-The Father, Son, and Spirit have no need that they cannot meet within themselves.

But then we have the helpless child - The helpless Christ child cannot meet any need for himself.

We celebrate God at Christmas, because God humbled himself and became the weakest & neediest of human flesh -a baby.

-The only thing a baby can do for himself is breath and cry.

Jesus came in weakness & humility. 33 Years later, after maturing into adulthood, He rises from death to life as a powerful savior.

Jesus invites you now to have faith in Him as your Savior.

-Do you have faith in Him? What is holding you back.

-If you do trust Him, do you deeply love your Savior King?

Transition - Because of the power of the salvation of our God there is peace not only in the City of God, but there is peace those who have a heart for God.

AND, This can be you!

Perfect Peace, the Fruit of Faith, vs 3

Read verses, 3 & 4 AND Isaiah 9:6-7a, are like two beautiful sisters

Isaiah 9:6-7a

“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 … ”

In Christ there will be endless Peace.

and in verse 26:3-4 we see that

Perfect Peace, is the Fruit of Faith

Let me ask you a personal question -

Do you worry? Do you get stressed out with both the little things or big things in life?

YES! All of us have. Maybe even this week.

Amidst the worry & the stress.

God has promised to you, “PERFECT PEACE”

Literally in the original Perfect Peace means Peace of Peace.

We would say, Fullness of Peace.

It is God’s desire to bring this peace into your life.

What is peace?

Peace is not the absence of stress or challenges.

Peace is an inward condition that is birthed out of FAITH. (X2)

Illustration - I have had friends who experienced extreme stress and anxiety in a community they lived. They thought, If I could just get to a quieter place with a slower pace my stress and anxiety would go away. They sold their house and moved their family. It took them a couple of years to find out they still struggled with great stress and anxiety. Why?

-Their anxiety followed them because they were the source of it.

-God desires to give you peace on the inside.

-He desires for your soul to be at peace.

-Who does God give peace to? Vs. 3

-The Christ Follower who’s mind is STAYED on Him.

Pause

Transition - Now I am going to take a liberty and make a pastoral statement. I would like to speak to a sensitive topic.

-There are people in our church family who have anxiety disorders.

-Because of an overwhelming struggle with anxiety you take medication to help control your anxiety. (True for depression as well.)

-I want to be very clear.

When you are overwhelmed by anxiety and depression it is fine to take medication.

I want you to know that...

-Your pastor believes that the doctor prescribed medication can be a wonderful grace from God.

-You will find zero shame from me. You should receive no shame from anyone else.

-If you need it, take it. It makes you no less of a person or a Christ Follower.

-Here is my caution and challenge.

-Do not allow the medication be an end in itself. Use it for what it is intended for. Drawing down the intensity of your anxiety.

As your intensity is drawn down by the medication, you can then focus on - CHANGING HOW YOU THINK. Changing how you approach life. Doing war against the lies we all struggle believing.

It is with the intensity of the anxiety drawn down that...

You can then begin to work on attacking the stinking thinking in your life.

ALL OF US HAVE Stinking thinking in our life.

-False views of self, God, Others.

-2 Corinthians 10:5, tells us to take every thought captive to obey Christ.

But today we are focused on Faith.

Verse 3 tells us that Perfect Peace is a Fruit of Faith.

For those “Whose minds are stayed on Jesus.”

When we are overwhelmed by anxiety, our minds have lost connection to Christ.

To have perfect peace you will have to grow in your faith.

How do I do that?

-You retrain your mind to think trusting thoughts of God.

-You must take scheduled breaks throughout your day (5 minutes) and refocus your life on God.

-What if you set a timer on your phone every 3-4 hours that reminded you to take a moment in silent prayer. Praising Him and asking for His help.

-What if there was a scripture like verse 3 that you quoted to yourself as you retrained your thinking.

-Your heart must allow faith to touch places that have not been surrendered.

APPLICATION

We know it will take time to retrain our mind.

-We all struggle keeping our mind “Stayed” [focused] on God.

-We go to church and during a prayer time we say, “God I trust you with this difficulty in my life.” By the time we get to the parking lot to get home we’ve snatched it back.

-I do that too.

Illustration - There is going to be a child who gets a bike for Christmas this year. It’s going to be the bike that the training wheels will come off of.

-It’s going to be the bike that dad holds on to the back of the seat as their child petals and wobbles down the street.

-The goal when riding the bike is to just stay up a little longer.

-Each attempt to balance, the goal is to just stay up a little longer.

-The biggest mistake is the child can make is to stop trying.

One of the biggest struggles we have in trusting God with our struggles is we stop trying.

-We give our struggle to the Lord. Shortly after we snatch it back. Our faith doesn’t last very long.

-I want you to view having faith like riding a bike.

-The goal isn’t to be a pro BMX rider the first time.

-The goal is to stay up (on your faith) a little longer than the

-When you fall off the bike of faith, get up and re-surrender to God.

-Don’t stay down! Re-surrender and try to trust him a little longer next time around. Slowly strengthen that muscle of faith.

Keep your mind stayed on the Lord.

Trust Him who holds the seat for you.

Transition - Why can we surrender to Him and trust (Have faith).

Faith, In the Everlasting Rock

Read vs. 4

Illustration - Picture

Stone mountain was formed with magma pushed up through the earth’s crust.

It is 825 feet high, 5 miles around, & believed to go 9 miles deep into the earth.

Stone Mountain is primarily one big stone. Estimated to weigh 1 trillion pounds.

It is so large and so strong, a direct nuclear blast would damage it, but not remove it.

-It is the closest thing we have in Ga to something that is an eternal rock.

-If you were on the ground on one side of Stone Mountain and a nuclear blast happened on the other side, you would not be directly effected by the blast. (There would be other complicating issues, but you’d be protected from the immediate blast.)

Let me ask you this question -

-If a giant rock, can shield you from a nuclear blast, what can The Eternal Rock of the Universe save you from?

-The onslaught of Satan of the enemy.

-The pressure of the holiday?

-Can The Eternal Rock help you have faith and gain new Peace In Your Life?

Close -

Illustration?

In Mark 9: Jesus was going around healing. A boy who was demon possessed was brought by His Father to Jesus for healing. Jesus told the father, All things are possible for those who believe.” The father responded, “I believe, help my unbelief.”

Those even with the greatest faith have places of faith to grow in.

We all can pray the prayer to God today. I believe, help my unbelief.

What area of your life is God calling you to greater belief?

(MAYBE STOP AT VERSE 4).

Application to God being an eternal rock.

-

-Yet, He humbled Himself and came as an infant - to save His people from their sins.

We have 5 days until Christmas.

Some of us are like Mary, You have Jesus right in front of you, but you are running around trying to get everything just perfect.

God wants you to be like Martha, and sit at the feet of Jesus, have your mind stayed on Him. Locked on Him.

Transition - And verses 5-6 gives evidence of why we can have faith and trust Him.

vs. 5-6, God is in control over the powerful

vs. 5, God has crushed the city of the proud.

The city has been turned to dust

vs. 6 Even the poor and needy can follow the Lord and and stand on the dust of their enemy.

Here is what we know about the prideful.

The prideful will be brought to humility either in this life, or the ilife to come.

vs. 7, God makes level the path of His people.

vs. 7, It is God who controls the stress of my life, not me.

How did Jesus as a baby “make level the way of the righteous”.

vs 8, I wait for God, not rely on self

(Maybe stop at verse 8)

vs. 9 , 2 seperate thoughts in this verse, Seeking God intimately and God’s judgements.