1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,980 Oh, you weren't here. 2 00:00:29,980 --> 00:00:38,160 last week, that's why. All right, so today we're beginning the season of Advent. Advent 3 00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:45,680 just simply means arrival, and it's a season of preparation. We sort of look in two directions 4 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:51,760 as we come to Advent. We look back to the birth of Jesus, but we also look forward to 5 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:58,120 when He comes again. And so in many ways, we're sort of in between that place where 6 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:03,220 we have been rescued and we have been saved, but we are still waiting for the day when 7 00:01:03,220 --> 00:01:05,400 everything is fully made right. 8 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:11,160 Now, the first Sunday of Advent is the Sunday where we remember the theme of hope. 9 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:17,020 And so throughout the next four Sundays, the church throughout history has remembered the 10 00:01:17,020 --> 00:01:21,920 hope that we have in Christ, the peace that we have through Christ, the joy we have in 11 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:26,440 Christ, and the love that has been shown to us by Christ. 12 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:31,100 And the candle that we will light in just a few minutes is the prophecy candle 13 00:01:31,100 --> 00:01:37,600 that looks forward in hope to all the great things that God has promised. 14 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,380 So we're going to begin with a word of prayer and a Scripture reading, 15 00:01:41,380 --> 00:01:44,880 and then we'll introduce a new song that we're learning this year. 16 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:46,040 Let's pray. 17 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:52,660 Father in heaven, we thank you that there is hope while we wait. 18 00:01:53,140 --> 00:02:00,420 We thank you that you hear our cries, that you know our sorrows, that you remember your covenant 19 00:02:00,420 --> 00:02:07,640 and that you know us fully and that you come to save us. So we just ask that you would lift our 20 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:13,020 eyes this morning to hope that you would strengthen our hearts, that you would give us the energy that 21 00:02:13,020 --> 00:02:19,480 we need to serve you, to be reminded that you don't just call us, but you also send us out with 22 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:26,760 the good news. So help us as we seek to proclaim that first to our hearts and then to those around 23 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:31,920 us and ultimately to the world that you would help us be proclaimers of the good news about 24 00:02:31,920 --> 00:02:39,220 the birth of your son. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to read this morning 25 00:02:39,220 --> 00:02:45,400 from Lamentations chapter 3. We read this a few weeks ago, but it is a helpful verse, 26 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:48,620 especially as we're focusing on hope. 27 00:02:48,620 --> 00:02:52,200 So if you would be standing with me, and we'll read this together. 28 00:02:52,200 --> 00:03:00,320 But I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope. 29 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:04,620 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. 30 00:03:04,620 --> 00:03:08,160 His mercies never come to an end. 31 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:10,660 They are new every morning. 32 00:03:10,660 --> 00:03:13,360 Great is your faithfulness. 33 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:20,440 The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him. 34 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:21,920 This is God's word. 35 00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:25,120 So we're going to begin by learning a new song this morning. 36 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:31,840 If the kids want to gather in the back, we're going to learn a song called Sing We the Song of Emmanuel. 37 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,660 It contains some familiar carol elements, 38 00:03:35,660 --> 00:03:43,620 but it also contains sort of a deep and abiding picture of God being with us and our hope there. 39 00:03:43,620 --> 00:03:47,000 So we'll kind of learn that as we go this morning. 40 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,200 So we're going to go ahead and start by singing that. 41 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:59,840 It has a little bit of an introduction. 42 00:04:05,660 --> 00:04:12,620 Sing me the song of Emmanuel 43 00:04:12,620 --> 00:04:17,360 This the Christ who was longed foretold 44 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:21,340 Low in the shadows of Bethlehem 45 00:04:21,340 --> 00:04:25,460 Promise of dawn now our eyes behold 46 00:04:25,460 --> 00:04:29,600 God most high in the manger lay 47 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:33,700 Lift your voices and now proclaim 48 00:04:33,700 --> 00:04:38,140 Great and glorious, love has come to us 49 00:04:38,140 --> 00:04:41,580 Join now with the most of heaven 50 00:04:41,580 --> 00:04:52,940 Come to welcome Emmanuel 51 00:04:52,940 --> 00:04:57,540 King who came with no crown or throne 52 00:04:57,540 --> 00:05:01,220 Helpless he lay the invincible 53 00:05:01,220 --> 00:05:05,860 Maker of Mary, now Mary's son 54 00:05:05,860 --> 00:05:10,000 Hold on wisdom to save us all 55 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:14,080 Shepherds, sages, before you fall 56 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:18,260 Grace and majesty, what humility 57 00:05:18,260 --> 00:05:22,340 Come on, let me adore you 58 00:05:22,340 --> 00:05:52,320 We'll be right back. 59 00:05:52,340 --> 00:06:10,240 and peace for the weary heart. 60 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:14,240 Lift up your heads for your king has come. 61 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:18,720 Sing for the light overwhelms the dark. 62 00:06:21,940 --> 00:06:25,620 Glory's shining for all to see. 63 00:06:25,620 --> 00:06:29,700 Hope alive, let the gospel ring. 64 00:06:29,700 --> 00:06:32,140 God has made a way. 65 00:06:32,140 --> 00:06:34,200 He will have the grace. 66 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:37,600 Tell the world his name is Jesus. 67 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:42,040 Glory's shining for all to see. 68 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:46,180 Hope alive, let the gospel ring. 69 00:06:46,180 --> 00:06:48,640 God has made a way. 70 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:50,740 He will have the grace. 71 00:06:51,060 --> 00:07:05,060 and our world's name is Jesus 72 00:07:21,060 --> 00:07:51,040 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. 73 00:07:51,060 --> 00:08:21,040 Thank you. 74 00:08:21,060 --> 00:08:23,480 The Lord is come. 75 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:28,040 Let her receive her King. 76 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:34,940 Let her be our preparing room. 77 00:08:34,940 --> 00:08:37,520 And to heaven and nature sing. 78 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:40,400 And to heaven and nature sing. 79 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:46,160 And to heaven and heaven and nature sing. 80 00:08:51,060 --> 00:08:56,840 Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns. 81 00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:19,860 Let men their songs employ, while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains, repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy, repeat, repeat the sounding joy. 82 00:09:21,060 --> 00:09:30,100 No more let sin and sorrow glow 83 00:09:30,100 --> 00:09:34,800 Nor thorns infest the ground 84 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:42,220 He goes to make His blessings flow 85 00:09:42,220 --> 00:09:44,860 Far as the curse is found 86 00:09:44,860 --> 00:09:47,760 Far as the curse is found 87 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:49,580 Far as the curse is found 88 00:09:51,060 --> 00:10:15,540 He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness, 89 00:10:15,540 --> 00:10:27,580 and the wonders of His love, and the wonders of His love, and the wonders, wonders of His love. 90 00:10:27,580 --> 00:10:43,680 You may be seated. We're going to move into our time of prayer. 91 00:10:45,540 --> 00:10:46,540 Thank you. 92 00:11:15,540 --> 00:11:45,520 Thank you. 93 00:11:45,540 --> 00:12:15,520 Thank you. 94 00:19:16,360 --> 00:19:26,100 As we come to our time of the service where we seek to turn our eyes more fully and live 95 00:19:26,100 --> 00:19:36,180 more deeply in light of what God has called us to do, we want to come this morning repenting 96 00:19:36,180 --> 00:19:40,780 of those areas in which we have placed our hope in other things. 97 00:19:40,780 --> 00:19:51,620 And in Jeremiah chapter 2, it says this, 98 00:19:51,620 --> 00:19:57,100 For my people have committed two evils, they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, 99 00:19:57,100 --> 00:20:03,820 and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. 100 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:12,840 The picture there is not just God's indictment of his people's disobedience and turning aside to their own way, 101 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:21,280 but it is also a picture of the emptiness of putting our hope in anything other than in Christ, 102 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:28,280 turning away from the one who is filled with living water to make for ourselves something that holds no water. 103 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:31,100 And so let's go ahead and go to God in prayer. 104 00:20:31,300 --> 00:20:34,820 Father in heaven, we confess that we have sought hope, 105 00:20:34,820 --> 00:20:39,720 often in what is empty or temporary or fleeting and fragile. 106 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:45,060 We have turned to our own strength and our own plans and our own desires. 107 00:20:45,060 --> 00:20:50,500 So help us this morning to be reminded that you are the source of true water, 108 00:20:50,500 --> 00:20:56,760 the living water that takes away our thirst and satisfies the depths of our soul. 109 00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:59,520 So restore our hope together this morning. 110 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:02,380 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 111 00:21:02,380 --> 00:21:11,760 I want us to read together from 1 Peter chapter 1, if you would just go ahead and read with me. 112 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:16,800 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 113 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:23,200 According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope 114 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:27,200 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 115 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:37,080 And so we're going to sing Living Hope, and then we are going to move into Christ our hope in life and death in order to prepare us to come to the table. 116 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:52,660 How great the chasm 117 00:21:52,660 --> 00:21:56,240 It lay between us 118 00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:59,060 How high the mountain 119 00:21:59,060 --> 00:22:01,980 I could not climb 120 00:22:01,980 --> 00:22:05,640 In desperation 121 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:15,040 I turned to heaven, spoke your name into the night. 122 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:28,840 Then through the darkness, your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul. 123 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:42,120 The work is finished, the end is written, Jesus Christ, my living heart. 124 00:22:42,120 --> 00:22:52,500 Who could imagine so great a mercy? 125 00:22:52,500 --> 00:22:58,780 What heart could fathom such boundless cross? 126 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:03,000 To the God of ages 127 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,000 Down from glory 128 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,600 To bear my sin 129 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:12,100 And bear my shame 130 00:23:12,100 --> 00:23:15,740 The cross is broken 131 00:23:15,740 --> 00:23:18,980 I am forgiven 132 00:23:18,980 --> 00:23:22,140 The King of kings 133 00:23:22,140 --> 00:23:25,460 Called me His own 134 00:23:25,460 --> 00:23:32,300 Oh, beautiful Savior, I'm yours forever. 135 00:23:32,300 --> 00:23:38,620 Jesus Christ, my with you, all. 136 00:23:38,620 --> 00:23:46,960 Hallelujah, He's the one who set me free. 137 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:53,540 Hallelujah, death has lost its good for me. 138 00:23:53,540 --> 00:23:56,920 You have broken every chain 139 00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:00,240 There's salvation in your name 140 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:06,260 Jesus Christ, my living hope 141 00:24:06,260 --> 00:24:15,960 Then came the morning that sealed the promise 142 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:21,920 Your buried body began to be 143 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:35,580 Out of the silence, the boring lion declared that faith has no claim on me. 144 00:24:35,580 --> 00:24:48,760 Then came the morning that sealed the promise, your buried body began to grieve. 145 00:24:49,700 --> 00:25:09,700 Out of the silence, the pouring light, declare the grief has no claim on me, Jesus has the victory on me. 146 00:25:13,700 --> 00:25:24,000 Alleluia, praise the one who set me free, alleluia, the end of the day. 147 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:29,780 Alleluia, praise the one who set me free, alleluia, the end of the day. 148 00:25:29,780 --> 00:25:38,140 Yes, I'll be standing in the name of Jesus Christ, my living Lord. 149 00:25:38,140 --> 00:25:45,260 Jesus Christ, my living Lord. 150 00:25:45,260 --> 00:25:51,260 Oh, God, you are my living Lord. 151 00:25:59,780 --> 00:26:13,540 It is our hope in life and death 152 00:26:13,540 --> 00:26:18,180 Christ alone, Christ alone 153 00:26:18,180 --> 00:26:22,040 What is our only confidence 154 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:29,760 That our soul holds our day 155 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:36,380 What comes apart from his command 156 00:26:36,380 --> 00:26:41,760 And what will keep us to the end 157 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:48,060 The love of Christ in which we stand 158 00:26:48,060 --> 00:26:53,760 Oh, we'll sing hallelujah 159 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:58,400 Our hope spends eternal 160 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:03,180 Oh, say hallelujah 161 00:27:03,180 --> 00:27:07,340 Now and ever we confess 162 00:27:07,340 --> 00:27:11,660 Christ our hope and love and love 163 00:27:11,660 --> 00:27:22,860 The truth can cause a troubled soul 164 00:27:22,860 --> 00:27:27,560 God is good, God is good 165 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:32,340 Where is His grace and goodness grown? 166 00:27:32,340 --> 00:27:37,060 In our great Redeemer's blood 167 00:27:37,060 --> 00:27:41,820 Who holds our faith when fears arise 168 00:27:41,820 --> 00:27:46,340 And above all the child 169 00:27:46,340 --> 00:27:51,080 Who sends the waves that bring us now 170 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:55,860 Unto the shore of the rock of Christ 171 00:27:55,860 --> 00:28:05,320 Oh, sing hallelujah, our hope strength is eternal. 172 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:17,600 Oh, sing hallelujah, now and then we confess, Christ, I will be alive for you. 173 00:28:24,780 --> 00:28:29,980 And through the grave, what will we sing? 174 00:28:29,980 --> 00:28:32,720 Christ, he lives. 175 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:34,820 Christ, he lives. 176 00:28:34,820 --> 00:28:39,480 And what reward will heaven bring? 177 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:44,140 Everlasting life within. 178 00:28:44,140 --> 00:28:49,040 Then we will rise to meet the Lord. 179 00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:53,700 Then sin and death will be destroyed. 180 00:28:54,200 --> 00:29:04,400 And we will feast in endless joy when Christ is ours forevermore. 181 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:15,180 Oh, say, hallelujah, our hearts praise eternal. 182 00:29:15,180 --> 00:29:24,000 Oh, say, hallelujah, now that we can face. 183 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:27,320 Christ our hope and life and death 184 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:32,540 Oh, sing hallelujah 185 00:29:32,540 --> 00:29:37,320 Our hope is eternal 186 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:42,040 Oh, sing hallelujah 187 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:45,580 Now and ever we confess 188 00:29:45,580 --> 00:29:49,860 Christ our hope and life and death 189 00:29:49,860 --> 00:29:53,580 Now and ever we confess 190 00:29:53,580 --> 00:29:58,460 Christ, I will be in love with you. 191 00:30:23,580 --> 00:30:53,560 Thank you. 192 00:30:53,580 --> 00:31:00,560 so what are we waiting for 193 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:01,560 you can ask yourself 194 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:03,900 excuse me 195 00:31:03,900 --> 00:31:05,340 if you had to name it 196 00:31:05,340 --> 00:31:07,900 what would you be waiting for 197 00:31:07,900 --> 00:31:09,980 can you put a name on it 198 00:31:09,980 --> 00:31:12,320 we are waiting 199 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:14,020 for our celebration 200 00:31:14,020 --> 00:31:16,200 of Jesus' birth 201 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:18,480 and we are also 202 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:20,580 waiting for the return 203 00:31:20,580 --> 00:31:21,840 of Jesus 204 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,780 getting into Brandon's sermon 205 00:31:24,780 --> 00:31:26,500 the Old Testament writings 206 00:31:26,500 --> 00:31:29,120 we find God's people waiting 207 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:31,460 waiting for the deliverance 208 00:31:31,460 --> 00:31:32,760 from slavery in Egypt 209 00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:36,800 the Hebrew nation cried out to God for help 210 00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,060 God heard them 211 00:31:39,060 --> 00:31:43,540 and sent a reluctant deliverer 212 00:31:43,540 --> 00:31:45,120 in the name of Moses 213 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:48,080 God has seen their suffering 214 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:51,100 and sent a man to do his will 215 00:31:51,100 --> 00:31:52,520 for his people 216 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:55,740 then in Isaiah chapter 9 217 00:31:55,740 --> 00:31:57,420 it's foretold 218 00:31:57,420 --> 00:31:58,620 of a child 219 00:31:58,620 --> 00:32:00,400 that's going to be born 220 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:02,640 who would take the weight of all people 221 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:04,820 for all times upon his shoulders 222 00:32:04,820 --> 00:32:07,340 as in the writings 223 00:32:07,340 --> 00:32:08,960 in the Old Testament we're waiting 224 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,120 we know that God 225 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:12,640 is long suffering which means 226 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,260 he'll get around to it in his time 227 00:32:15,260 --> 00:32:15,800 not mine 228 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:18,660 we know that God will act 229 00:32:18,660 --> 00:32:21,240 in his own timetable. 230 00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:25,960 And we will most likely always be, what else? 231 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:29,040 Impatient in that waiting. 232 00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:33,920 Advent is us waiting year after year 233 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:37,380 from now until the day we celebrate our Savior's birth. 234 00:32:37,380 --> 00:32:42,700 We are also waiting for God's Son, our Savior, to return. 235 00:32:42,700 --> 00:32:46,420 And sadly, though, on that day of his return, 236 00:32:46,420 --> 00:32:48,400 we will not be ready. 237 00:32:48,660 --> 00:32:49,640 That's a given. 238 00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:55,820 But thankfully, we have already won that battle. 239 00:32:55,820 --> 00:33:00,160 Jesus came into the world on God's timetable. 240 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:02,020 He came to teach. 241 00:33:02,020 --> 00:33:03,800 He came to die. 242 00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:09,420 He came to be risen up from the dead and then to ascend to God's right hand. 243 00:33:09,420 --> 00:33:16,020 And one day, God will send our Savior back to claim his people 244 00:33:16,020 --> 00:33:21,100 and usher them into a kingdom that we can't even imagine. 245 00:33:21,100 --> 00:33:25,580 We can have our imaginations run wild, but we don't know what it is, 246 00:33:25,580 --> 00:33:28,260 and it's probably a whole lot better than we can imagine. 247 00:33:28,260 --> 00:33:36,260 But through his grace alone, God's Messiah, though, will come, and he will take us home. 248 00:33:36,260 --> 00:33:42,660 On the first day of the week, we always come around this table to renew the strength 249 00:33:42,660 --> 00:33:46,660 that God's spirit needs 250 00:33:46,660 --> 00:33:50,060 and that spirit dwells within each of us. 251 00:33:50,060 --> 00:33:52,120 Let us pray for the emblems, please. 252 00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:55,820 Heavenly Father, we thank you so much 253 00:33:55,820 --> 00:33:59,920 that you have thought way ahead of us. 254 00:33:59,920 --> 00:34:03,040 We cannot think that far ahead, 255 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:06,420 but Father, you have brought all things to be. 256 00:34:06,420 --> 00:34:10,640 You bring all things around to your timetable 257 00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:11,820 the way you want them. 258 00:34:12,660 --> 00:34:16,000 It is up to us to be patient. 259 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:20,700 And, Father, as we take these emblems this morning, 260 00:34:20,700 --> 00:34:27,440 the bread, this little wafer that represents our Savior's body 261 00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:28,980 that was given there on the cross, 262 00:34:28,980 --> 00:34:33,160 and the juice that, Father, when we take, 263 00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:36,340 it is a representation of his blood that was shed, 264 00:34:36,340 --> 00:34:40,920 his lifeblood run from his body, and he died on that cross. 265 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:47,000 Father, we thank you for all of these things, as bad as it may seem in our own minds, 266 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:50,380 but it had to be done because we cannot save ourselves. 267 00:34:50,380 --> 00:34:52,600 Guide us in this this morning. 268 00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:54,620 Be with us as we partake of these emblems. 269 00:34:54,620 --> 00:34:57,320 In Jesus' name we ask. Amen. 270 00:34:57,320 --> 00:35:01,680 If you would please partake of the emblems of our Savior, 271 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:05,800 this small waper that represents our body of the Lord. 272 00:35:10,100 --> 00:35:13,880 And this juice, which represents the blood of our Lord, 273 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:20,060 that was shed of all, if it's the best word you can come up with, 274 00:35:20,060 --> 00:35:25,200 it ran from his body, his blood, on our behalf and our behalf alone. 275 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:25,860 Please drink. 276 00:35:25,860 --> 00:35:35,040 And Lord, we come back to you in prayer. 277 00:35:36,300 --> 00:35:44,140 Heavenly Father, there is so much that you've already done for your people, for mankind as a whole. 278 00:35:44,140 --> 00:35:47,020 You've already done many things. 279 00:35:47,020 --> 00:35:55,360 Many have missed it, and many have gone on not knowing you and doing what you're doing right now. 280 00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:56,940 You're still with us. 281 00:35:56,940 --> 00:36:00,920 You are always with us. 282 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:04,120 We have your spirit within us. 283 00:36:05,140 --> 00:36:13,200 And, Father, what you are doing is, again, at your timetable and not ours, as impatient as we may be. 284 00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:19,940 And we know that you will continue to do for us that we cannot do. 285 00:36:19,940 --> 00:36:26,240 You've already sent your Savior in our behalf to take the sins of the world upon himself. 286 00:36:26,240 --> 00:36:29,320 And, Father, without that, we would have no hope. 287 00:36:29,780 --> 00:36:36,180 But through your grace, we have the hope of eternity in a place that we can only imagine. 288 00:36:36,180 --> 00:36:40,240 Guide us and direct us this week as we go out into the world, 289 00:36:40,240 --> 00:36:42,860 not allowing the world to come upon us, 290 00:36:42,860 --> 00:36:49,520 but, Father, allowing us to look to you as a way around it, through it, over it. 291 00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:54,140 It makes no difference as long as we follow the path that you've set through. 292 00:36:54,140 --> 00:36:59,040 Guide us, direct us in all that we think, do, and say here this morning and through the week. 293 00:36:59,660 --> 00:37:02,740 In Jesus' name we ask and give thanks. Amen. 294 00:37:02,740 --> 00:37:22,000 Just a couple of announcements as we get ready to dive in this morning. 295 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:27,860 If you would like to follow along, there are handouts in your bulletin. 296 00:37:28,420 --> 00:37:32,220 You can follow along with our message this morning. 297 00:37:32,220 --> 00:37:40,420 Additionally, we have some devotions there on the back table next to everything. 298 00:37:40,420 --> 00:37:49,300 They're devotions that will take us through our time together in Advent as we approach the joy of Christmas. 299 00:37:49,300 --> 00:37:58,720 Also, some of us are maybe visual learners, or we need something tactile to sort of help us remember. 300 00:37:58,720 --> 00:38:02,740 Some of us are just real forgetful, and we need to see reminders in front of us all the time. 301 00:38:02,740 --> 00:38:12,600 So we have some sets of Advent blocks, and each block has a symbol on it that matches the devotion for the day. 302 00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:22,500 So those are, I didn't really have a good place to set them, so they are in these sort of brown paper gift bags here on the front seats. 303 00:38:22,500 --> 00:38:26,960 So there's 25 blocks in there that'll match the devotions. 304 00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:35,420 We'll also have the devotions posted on our website, as well as a few other places online as well. 305 00:38:35,420 --> 00:38:46,360 So they're sort of short, designed to be done with your family or with yourself or however you choose to do it as we prepare our hearts to celebrate Christmas together. 306 00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:50,940 So before we dive into the book of Exodus, we're going to go ahead and have a word of prayer. 307 00:38:50,940 --> 00:38:57,420 Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus and for grace and thank you for the hope that is found in him. 308 00:38:57,660 --> 00:39:01,700 Just be with us this morning as we walk through the wilderness with your people, 309 00:39:01,700 --> 00:39:05,660 that you would help us to see the power of hope. 310 00:39:05,660 --> 00:39:11,400 And as we walk through this time, in between the first coming of your Son and his return, 311 00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:15,260 and a time that so often to us feels like the wilderness, 312 00:39:15,260 --> 00:39:23,300 help us refresh our souls, encourage us, nourish us, and help us to see your hope. 313 00:39:23,300 --> 00:39:25,320 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 314 00:39:25,940 --> 00:39:33,320 So probably most of us can understand that there is a difference between waiting and waiting, right? 315 00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:38,100 There's kind of an everyday waiting that we do all the time, right? 316 00:39:38,100 --> 00:39:39,880 We wait for coffee in the drive-thru. 317 00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:42,760 We wait for the stuff we ordered to finally be delivered. 318 00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:48,580 Maybe it's family arriving for the holidays, and we're excited to see them, 319 00:39:48,580 --> 00:39:49,960 and we're waiting for them to arrive. 320 00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:53,340 Maybe you're in the car on the way to somebody's house for the holidays, 321 00:39:53,340 --> 00:39:59,780 and you have kids, and they're in the back going, are we there yet? Every few minutes, right? The 322 00:39:59,780 --> 00:40:07,360 first kind of waiting, this sort of everyday waiting, can be a little bit annoying, specifically 323 00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:12,320 when you're sitting at the green light. The person in front of you is not going, and you just want 324 00:40:12,320 --> 00:40:19,020 them to proceed so you can get to where you want to go. Generally, although this waiting is annoying, 325 00:40:19,020 --> 00:40:27,400 it's often not very painful and where we struggle with everyday waiting comes because we struggle 326 00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:34,240 with patience. There's a deeper and different kind of waiting that I want to talk to you about 327 00:40:34,240 --> 00:40:41,880 this morning. It goes much deeper. It feels much heavier. It's the kind that makes our chest tight 328 00:40:41,880 --> 00:40:48,480 or our stomachs flip. It's the kind of waiting we find deep in the uncertainty or maybe longing 329 00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:57,020 or maybe fear. Maybe we're waiting for answers that we don't have. Maybe we're waiting for God 330 00:40:57,020 --> 00:41:02,720 to move, and we have been praying and praying, and we are still waiting and waiting. 331 00:41:02,720 --> 00:41:11,440 Waiting in this way is much more difficult. It's a wilderness kind of waiting, and we are, 332 00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:19,620 as a people, not just now, but throughout history, historically very bad at this kind of difficult 333 00:41:19,620 --> 00:41:27,060 waiting. The difficult waiting without hope leads to incredible brokenness. In fact, if you walk 334 00:41:27,060 --> 00:41:32,700 through the wilderness between Egypt and the promised land with God's people, you see that 335 00:41:32,700 --> 00:41:40,000 time and time again in the difficult moments of waiting, when they take their hope away from 336 00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:49,020 focusing on God, it leads to massive brokenness. And the same is true for them and for us. So for 337 00:41:49,020 --> 00:41:54,580 example, is they're getting ready to go into the promised land, right? This group of spies comes 338 00:41:54,580 --> 00:42:00,880 back and goes, everybody's really tall and they're good at fighting. And in that moment, they see all 339 00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:08,020 of the problems and none of God's provision in the past and none of his promises for the future. 340 00:42:08,980 --> 00:42:10,840 And so sometimes when we wait without hope, 341 00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:14,420 what we see are the problems instead of God's provision. 342 00:42:14,420 --> 00:42:19,720 And sometimes we fear our enemies instead of trusting God's promises. 343 00:42:19,720 --> 00:42:25,240 Or in some cases where we're called to wait just like God's people in the wilderness 344 00:42:25,240 --> 00:42:27,500 where they wait for about 40 days, 345 00:42:27,500 --> 00:42:32,660 which while it seems long in the big scheme of things is not that long, 346 00:42:32,660 --> 00:42:34,800 they turn to a false God. 347 00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:42,540 We complain when things get hard, and we rely on ourselves instead of trusting in God's power. 348 00:42:42,540 --> 00:42:48,340 And so instead of waiting in brokenness, what I want to call us to this morning is a different 349 00:42:48,340 --> 00:42:55,520 kind of waiting, a waiting that comes from God and is based in hope. It's the kind of waiting 350 00:42:55,520 --> 00:43:01,940 that the psalmist talks about in the 130th Psalm, where he says, I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, 351 00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:08,180 And in his word, I hope my soul waits for the Lord more than for the watchman in the 352 00:43:08,180 --> 00:43:11,000 morning, more than the watchman for the morning. 353 00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:15,260 And I love the picture that's found in this psalm, because here is a watchman who's been 354 00:43:15,260 --> 00:43:16,280 awake all night. 355 00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:17,920 He's no doubt tired. 356 00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:24,180 His eyes have been straining against the darkness, and he has been faithful in that darkness. 357 00:43:24,180 --> 00:43:31,340 But his eyes look forward to the sky for that first shade of color to change, because he 358 00:43:31,340 --> 00:43:37,680 knows even in the midst of the darkness there is hope and that the morning is coming. 359 00:43:37,680 --> 00:43:45,360 When we talk about this kind of hope and this kind of waiting, we're not talking about sort of a 360 00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:51,060 bored sitting kind of waiting, but a hopeful and expectant where the darkness seems smaller 361 00:43:51,060 --> 00:43:59,580 because we know that the morning is coming. Advent for God's people is for waiting. 362 00:44:00,240 --> 00:44:04,180 The word itself means arrival, and when we celebrate Advent, 363 00:44:04,180 --> 00:44:08,620 it's not just the moment of arrival, but it's the season leading up to it, 364 00:44:08,620 --> 00:44:12,240 that waiting for the arrival of our Savior. 365 00:44:12,240 --> 00:44:17,160 And Advent throughout history is one of the ways that the church has said 366 00:44:17,160 --> 00:44:20,600 that God works while we wait. 367 00:44:20,600 --> 00:44:27,960 You see, Advent teaches us to wait not in fear or in panic or in self-reliance, 368 00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:30,300 but to wait rather in hope. 369 00:44:30,300 --> 00:44:31,560 Much like Simeon and Anna, 370 00:44:31,560 --> 00:44:35,020 as they are waiting for the consolation of Israel. 371 00:44:35,020 --> 00:44:37,000 One's a priest, one's a widow, 372 00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:40,440 and they have been waiting for decade after decade 373 00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:45,520 and ultimately end up holding that salvation in their arms. 374 00:44:45,520 --> 00:44:49,500 Contrasted to Israel in the wilderness, 375 00:44:49,500 --> 00:44:53,260 whose fears and desires and impatience 376 00:44:53,260 --> 00:44:57,120 and whose enemies and whose self-projects 377 00:44:57,120 --> 00:45:00,500 and all their plans lead them in the wrong direction. 378 00:45:00,500 --> 00:45:04,600 So here's sort of the invitation as we begin Advent. 379 00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:08,200 If we're going to wait, and we all are going to wait, 380 00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:12,140 we're going to wait, here's my prayer, with the promises of God, 381 00:45:12,140 --> 00:45:18,000 not in the strength of what we can do, but with hope instead of fear. 382 00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:21,860 And so here we are at Advent, and we're going through a series called 383 00:45:21,860 --> 00:45:24,640 Christmas in the Wilderness, or Wandering the Wilderness, 384 00:45:24,900 --> 00:45:30,040 or Advent in the wilderness. The big theme here is the wilderness. And what we're going to do is 385 00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:35,480 take a look at the book of Exodus as God's people have left Egypt. They're on their way to the 386 00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:39,960 promised land. And we're going to put that together with the beginning chapters of the gospel 387 00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:48,400 and see how their wilderness is met in their hope and peace and joy and love found in what God has 388 00:45:48,400 --> 00:45:54,740 done for them in the same way that our wilderness is met in the arrival of Christ. And so we're 389 00:45:54,740 --> 00:46:00,380 going to begin where a lot of stories begin, and that is in the darkness of despair. We're going to 390 00:46:00,380 --> 00:46:05,260 be in Exodus chapter 2. I'm just going to read a couple verses, beginning in verse 23. 391 00:46:05,260 --> 00:46:11,880 During those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their 392 00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:18,320 slavery, and they cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God, 393 00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:23,820 and God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, and with Isaac, 394 00:46:23,940 --> 00:46:32,080 with Jacob, and God saw the people of Israel, and God knew. Do you see where the despair begins 395 00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:38,940 during those many days? These are the days following that miraculous and providential 396 00:46:38,940 --> 00:46:47,440 story of Joseph. And then a king arises who does not know Joseph, who does not appreciate his 397 00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:58,280 contributions and day after day after day for 400 years God's people struggle you see the struggle 398 00:46:58,280 --> 00:47:05,880 of despair does not begin when God is absent because we know that he is not the problem is 399 00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:14,600 that we feel like in the silence sometimes that God is not there another way of saying that is 400 00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:22,260 maybe like this that God's not absent but sometimes our hearts feel that way and it's not 401 00:47:22,260 --> 00:47:28,380 really about a moment of struggle or a moment of pain but that kind of struggle and that kind of 402 00:47:28,380 --> 00:47:35,200 pain that bells and bells and bells and is added to until ultimately we find ourselves struggling 403 00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:42,400 and staggering under the weight of that pain and for God's people I imagine that this change 404 00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:50,680 happens sort of gradually at first. By the time we get to Exodus chapter 2, it's bricks and bricks 405 00:47:50,680 --> 00:47:58,260 and expectations and labor and slavery and cruelty, and a new king arises, and it's bricks and bricks 406 00:47:58,260 --> 00:48:03,980 and labor and slavery and cruelty, and a new Pharaoh arises, and it's the same thing and the 407 00:48:03,980 --> 00:48:11,900 same bricks and the same labor and the same cruelty, just with a different ruler. And what we find 408 00:48:11,900 --> 00:48:17,160 here is that God's people are groaning in the dark, and the people of Israel groan. And I want 409 00:48:17,160 --> 00:48:22,860 you to understand that our groaning under the weight of our despair and our struggle ultimately 410 00:48:22,860 --> 00:48:31,360 is not the problem. They are groaning because of their slavery. And we might think that groaning 411 00:48:31,360 --> 00:48:38,240 and crying out under this struggle is some sort of weakness, or maybe that it's somehow sinful, 412 00:48:38,240 --> 00:48:43,920 but the Bible does not treat groaning in that manner. In fact, Romans 8 talks about how all 413 00:48:43,920 --> 00:48:51,160 creation is groaning under the weight of brokenness and darkness and despair, and our souls are 414 00:48:51,160 --> 00:48:56,860 groaning so much so that we don't know how to pray. And the Holy Spirit has to come alongside us 415 00:48:56,860 --> 00:49:04,680 and pray on our behalf because our groanings are so deep. You see, groaning is a way of expressing 416 00:49:04,680 --> 00:49:09,940 our hurt. It's a wordless prayer for help. And notice, right, that's what they did. They took 417 00:49:09,940 --> 00:49:15,960 their groanings and they put words to them. Israel groaned because of their slavery and they cried 418 00:49:15,960 --> 00:49:20,520 out for help. And I want you to understand that it is okay to groan under the weight of your 419 00:49:20,520 --> 00:49:26,880 burdens. And I want you to see what God does. First of all, it says, these four verbs that 420 00:49:26,880 --> 00:49:31,880 happen here, we'll see repeated this morning throughout our message, is that God hears their 421 00:49:31,880 --> 00:49:39,660 groaning, that God heard their groaning. There's no confusion or hesitation in God's response. 422 00:49:39,660 --> 00:49:45,600 He didn't miss their call. He wasn't busy doing something else. His phone wasn't out of battery. 423 00:49:45,600 --> 00:49:49,940 He wasn't in one of those situations where sometimes I find myself where things have to 424 00:49:49,940 --> 00:49:56,200 get louder and louder until they get my attention. What it says is that God heard their groaning, 425 00:49:57,100 --> 00:50:03,280 that he was aware. There's no confusion or hesitation. And then it says this, that God 426 00:50:03,280 --> 00:50:09,240 remembered his covenant. This is not how we sometimes remember things, right? Where we have 427 00:50:09,240 --> 00:50:15,160 to be reminded because we totally forgot what we were supposed to be doing. When we hear about God 428 00:50:15,160 --> 00:50:20,480 remembering in Scripture, what we're hearing and what we are to understand is that God acts in 429 00:50:20,480 --> 00:50:26,440 accordance with the promises he made. That when it says God remembered, it's that God goes to those 430 00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:34,360 promises and begins to fulfill what he has said he would do. Maybe another way of saying that is 431 00:50:34,360 --> 00:50:40,420 that God puts his plan into action. And when you hear that, that God remembers his covenant, what 432 00:50:40,420 --> 00:50:45,520 you are seeing is a signal that God is taking those promises that he has made and he is beginning 433 00:50:45,520 --> 00:50:53,980 to fulfill them. In fact, these promises go all the way back to Abraham in Genesis chapter 15. 434 00:50:54,720 --> 00:50:59,560 God says to Abraham, know for certain your offspring will be sojourners in a land that's 435 00:50:59,560 --> 00:51:03,360 not theirs, and they will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for 400 years. 436 00:51:03,360 --> 00:51:08,040 But I will bring judgment on the nation they serve, and afterward they shall come out with 437 00:51:08,040 --> 00:51:13,340 great possessions, or as Joseph prophesied, I'm about to die, but God will visit you, 438 00:51:13,340 --> 00:51:19,060 and he will bring you up out of this land into the land he swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 439 00:51:19,060 --> 00:51:24,440 And so God, first of all, hears. He doesn't delay. He's not distracted, but he hears when 440 00:51:24,440 --> 00:51:31,980 his people cry secondly he acts in accordance with his promises and third he saw right there's 441 00:51:31,980 --> 00:51:38,700 no hesitation or confusion in his response about God seeing what we mean is that God knows what's 442 00:51:38,700 --> 00:51:44,840 happening right he's not surprised or unaware he's not startled at a turn of events in fact 443 00:51:44,840 --> 00:51:53,640 what you find is that this is part of his plan in the fourth verb we see God taking action it just 444 00:51:53,640 --> 00:52:00,340 simply says this, and God knew. I want you to know that God's work in your life is more than 445 00:52:00,340 --> 00:52:05,520 just some sort of intellectual understanding, right? It's a closeness that comes near to us, 446 00:52:05,520 --> 00:52:10,600 that comforts us in the midst of our struggle. And I want you to see before anything has changed 447 00:52:10,600 --> 00:52:15,100 in the Israelite situation, right? There's still slaves in Egypt. They're still making bricks. 448 00:52:15,100 --> 00:52:20,940 They're still suffering cruelty. And in the midst of that, nothing in their situation that they can 449 00:52:20,940 --> 00:52:30,400 see has changed, but God hears. God remembers. He puts his covenant into action. He sees and he knows 450 00:52:30,400 --> 00:52:35,760 their hurts. And I want you to know that God is at work in the darkness of our despair. 451 00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:43,460 But because it's darkness, we don't always see it or feel it. Let me just give you four 452 00:52:43,460 --> 00:52:49,760 very quick ways in which we can live faithfully in the midst of this kind of darkness. First of all, 453 00:52:50,200 --> 00:52:56,820 remember who God is, not just how we feel in this moment, right? Because our feelings can change 454 00:52:56,820 --> 00:53:01,800 based on how the day is going, right? Things are going well. Things are going smoothly. We're 455 00:53:01,800 --> 00:53:06,740 feeling well. We're feeling hopeful and joyful. And then we hit an immediate roadblock. It doesn't 456 00:53:06,740 --> 00:53:11,220 have to be a big roadblock, right? We run into a little bit of trouble and all of a sudden, 457 00:53:11,220 --> 00:53:17,900 everything is awful. Everything is broken. And the problem is because we see these little 458 00:53:17,900 --> 00:53:25,820 obstacle is so big, it throws everything into chaos. And what happens is this happens to us 459 00:53:25,820 --> 00:53:31,240 spiritually, right? In the moment where we feel discouraged and broken and fearful and maybe 460 00:53:31,240 --> 00:53:36,160 overwhelmed and we're suffering and we're groaning out, right? We're looking at the moment rather than 461 00:53:36,160 --> 00:53:43,580 at who God is. The second way to live faithfully in the midst of this kind of darkness is do what 462 00:53:43,580 --> 00:53:48,760 the Israelites, that they groaned toward God, not away from them. The problem isn't ever that we're 463 00:53:48,760 --> 00:53:54,000 groaning, it's that we're grumbling, right? It's the difference between a child, like maybe somebody 464 00:53:54,000 --> 00:53:57,960 else's child. I don't know. I don't know if I've experienced this, right? Here's the difference 465 00:53:57,960 --> 00:54:06,940 between groaning towards and grumbling. So the grumbling comes when a child comes and they go, 466 00:54:06,940 --> 00:54:13,040 I'm hungry. You don't feed me. You don't care about me. There's no snacks that I like. My life 467 00:54:13,040 --> 00:54:19,320 is terrible. That's grumbling, right? Groaning is coming in and going, I'm so hungry, can you help me 468 00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:26,920 find some food? And so often as Christians and as people, and even as churches, right, we tend to 469 00:54:26,920 --> 00:54:34,760 grumble rather than groan. Everything's bad, nothing's good, I'm discouraged, I'm upset, rather 470 00:54:34,760 --> 00:54:38,540 than running toward God 471 00:54:38,540 --> 00:54:42,240 and throwing ourselves upon His mercy. 472 00:54:42,240 --> 00:54:45,700 Third is this. 473 00:54:45,700 --> 00:54:49,040 Resist the temptation to take matters into your own hands. 474 00:54:49,040 --> 00:54:52,840 Self-made rescue attempts almost always become a disaster. 475 00:54:52,840 --> 00:54:56,500 If you want some examples, this is the Bible. 476 00:54:56,500 --> 00:55:00,300 Just start in Genesis, and you'll find it at every turn 477 00:55:00,300 --> 00:55:03,840 from Abraham and Sarah and Hagar. 478 00:55:04,760 --> 00:55:09,100 Moving into the Exodus, God says wait. 479 00:55:09,100 --> 00:55:11,520 The people who have waited now for 400 years, 480 00:55:11,520 --> 00:55:16,200 they can't make it more than 40 days before they head down to the God Emporium 481 00:55:16,200 --> 00:55:18,660 and pick out a new God into the golden calf. 482 00:55:18,660 --> 00:55:21,640 You see it in Joshua, not with Joshua himself, 483 00:55:21,640 --> 00:55:25,140 but with the people who seek their own plans instead of God. 484 00:55:25,140 --> 00:55:29,120 You see it with Saul, who can't wait for the offering, 485 00:55:29,120 --> 00:55:31,260 and over and over again throughout Scripture, 486 00:55:31,660 --> 00:55:35,660 There is a temptation to take matters into our own hands. 487 00:55:35,660 --> 00:55:41,140 And fourth, we want to anchor ourselves in the promises of God. 488 00:55:41,140 --> 00:55:45,500 Fear only ever sees for us disaster. 489 00:55:45,500 --> 00:55:48,760 Hope rests in God's covenant. 490 00:55:48,760 --> 00:55:52,980 The one who has promised to never leave us or forsake us. 491 00:55:52,980 --> 00:55:55,800 The one who promised to finish the work that he has begun. 492 00:55:55,800 --> 00:55:58,880 The one who promised to be near to the brokenhearted. 493 00:55:59,160 --> 00:56:05,800 one who says nothing can separate you from his love the one who promises to come again and so 494 00:56:05,800 --> 00:56:12,020 first we find ourselves in the darkness and then we come to this remarkable amazing wonderful news 495 00:56:12,020 --> 00:56:17,040 then the Lord said i've surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt 496 00:56:17,040 --> 00:56:22,820 and i have heard their cry because of their taskmasters i know their suffering and i have 497 00:56:22,820 --> 00:56:28,100 come to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and bring them out of that land to a 498 00:56:28,100 --> 00:56:33,900 good and a broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Just a few verses before we found 499 00:56:33,900 --> 00:56:38,980 ourselves in darkness and despair, and now we are seeing a God who steps into that darkness 500 00:56:38,980 --> 00:56:45,880 with light. And we need a little context for what's happening here. Moses has been raised up 501 00:56:45,880 --> 00:56:53,780 with God through some faithful midwives, through some good old-fashioned civil disobedience and 502 00:56:53,780 --> 00:56:59,900 not killing this young man in God's providential care of allowing his mother to raise him for 503 00:56:59,900 --> 00:57:05,740 several years. He has now fled from Egypt after 40 years for killing a man. He's lived now in the 504 00:57:05,740 --> 00:57:13,900 wilderness in Midian. He has a wife and a family and a flock. And at 80 years old, he's in the 505 00:57:13,900 --> 00:57:20,760 wilderness and he sees a bush that doesn't burn up. God introduces himself. I'm paraphrasing. 506 00:57:20,880 --> 00:57:25,940 Moses has a bit of a breakdown and we come to this text where God says, 507 00:57:25,940 --> 00:57:30,280 I have seen, I have heard, I know, and I have come down to deliver them. 508 00:57:30,280 --> 00:57:34,300 You see that God is not far away, right? 509 00:57:34,300 --> 00:57:37,460 These words that we just read, they're not words from a far off God. 510 00:57:37,460 --> 00:57:42,060 They show us that God is deeply and personally involved in the troubles of his people. 511 00:57:42,060 --> 00:57:46,640 God is moving toward his people before his people move toward him, right? 512 00:57:46,660 --> 00:57:50,260 And this is the record of Scripture, God in Genesis chapter 3. 513 00:57:50,260 --> 00:57:52,540 Adam does not go seeking God. 514 00:57:52,540 --> 00:57:54,840 God goes to get Adam. 515 00:57:54,840 --> 00:57:59,820 And the same is true in Bethlehem. 516 00:57:59,820 --> 00:58:04,460 The wonderful promise of God being with us isn't just truth. 517 00:58:04,460 --> 00:58:06,440 It's God's pattern of dealing with us. 518 00:58:06,440 --> 00:58:11,920 From Adam and Eve in the garden, to God speaking to Noah, to Abraham, to Jacob, 519 00:58:11,920 --> 00:58:14,820 in the fire in Sinai, the dwelling in the tabernacle, 520 00:58:15,100 --> 00:58:19,300 filling the temple with his glory, empowering his people with his spirit. 521 00:58:19,300 --> 00:58:24,660 God has been with his people. 522 00:58:24,660 --> 00:58:29,520 And then we come to this, and the word became flesh, 523 00:58:29,520 --> 00:58:32,240 and dwelt among us as we have seen his glory, 524 00:58:32,240 --> 00:58:37,380 the glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 525 00:58:37,380 --> 00:58:40,600 And behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, 526 00:58:40,600 --> 00:58:44,820 and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. 527 00:58:44,840 --> 00:58:49,380 I want you to understand that Exodus 3, as we see Moses in the burning bush, 528 00:58:49,380 --> 00:58:56,700 that this is not just a piece of history, but this is a preview of what God would do for his people. 529 00:58:56,700 --> 00:58:59,040 God says, I have come down, right? 530 00:58:59,040 --> 00:59:00,260 This is foreshadowing. 531 00:59:00,260 --> 00:59:03,880 The burning bush is preparing us for the manger. 532 00:59:03,880 --> 00:59:11,180 And when it says God with us, what that means is that God knows our suffering from experience. 533 00:59:11,900 --> 00:59:19,760 The word in Hebrew means a deep, intimate, close kind of knowing, that God is not just aware of 534 00:59:19,760 --> 00:59:25,400 our suffering, but he enters into it. And we see that literally in the life of Christ. Just like 535 00:59:25,400 --> 00:59:30,080 us, he was hungry. Just like us, there were times when he was lonely, he knows grief, betrayal, 536 00:59:30,080 --> 00:59:36,060 tears, pain, and even death. When we hear about God being with us, this means that God does not 537 00:59:36,060 --> 00:59:41,600 watch us from a distance. It means that God who walks our road, bears our burdens, carries 538 00:59:41,600 --> 00:59:48,320 our sorrows, and this is the foundation of our hope. Israel's hope didn't come from improved 539 00:59:48,320 --> 00:59:56,440 conditions. It came from the presence of God. When all they had was this promise, I have come down. 540 00:59:56,440 --> 01:00:02,640 Advent doesn't come from our circumstances always getting better or our strength or 541 01:00:02,640 --> 01:00:10,440 solutions or predictions. It comes from Emmanuel, God being with us. What's interesting is God comes 542 01:00:10,440 --> 01:00:15,860 to be with us, and then he sends us out. So what does he say to Moses? He says, come, I will send 543 01:00:15,860 --> 01:00:21,300 you to the Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. This is how 544 01:00:21,300 --> 01:00:27,820 God works. He comes to Moses, sends him out. Comes to Abraham, sends him out. Comes to Isaiah, sends 545 01:00:27,820 --> 01:00:35,840 him out. Christ comes, sends out his disciples. God fills his church with his spirit and sends 546 01:00:35,840 --> 01:00:41,520 them into the world. God's presence always leads us to God's mission. We're not comforted, just 547 01:00:41,520 --> 01:00:48,760 comforted by God being with us. We are commissioned by it, right? God being with us is not just our 548 01:00:48,760 --> 01:00:55,860 comfort, it's our calling. And so we've seen the despair, we've seen God coming close, and now we 549 01:00:55,860 --> 01:01:03,740 get this wonderful picture of the dawning of hope. The people who have walked in darkness have seen 550 01:01:03,740 --> 01:01:09,340 a great light, and those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them the light has shone. 551 01:01:09,340 --> 01:01:15,560 Skipping ahead a few verses. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, 552 01:01:15,560 --> 01:01:20,020 and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, 553 01:01:20,020 --> 01:01:24,500 Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and of the increase of his government 554 01:01:24,500 --> 01:01:31,340 and peace there will be no end. And on the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it 555 01:01:31,340 --> 01:01:33,700 and uphold it with justice, with righteousness 556 01:01:33,700 --> 01:01:36,140 from this time forth and forevermore. 557 01:01:36,140 --> 01:01:40,660 The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. 558 01:01:40,660 --> 01:01:43,500 Isaiah is speaking to people in the darkness. 559 01:01:43,500 --> 01:01:46,360 Surrounded by enemies and invasion, 560 01:01:46,360 --> 01:01:48,740 they're spiritually compromised, morally bankrupt, 561 01:01:48,740 --> 01:01:50,420 politically unstable. 562 01:01:50,420 --> 01:01:56,060 And Isaiah doesn't tell them 563 01:01:56,060 --> 01:01:58,940 that things will get better and then hope will arise, 564 01:01:58,940 --> 01:02:00,860 but rather in the midst of their brokenness, 565 01:02:01,020 --> 01:02:07,340 hope will come, that on them a light has shone. And what's interesting is that these verses, 566 01:02:07,340 --> 01:02:12,500 he's talking as if this has already happened. We'll talk about this more in a moment because 567 01:02:12,500 --> 01:02:18,660 he's using what's called the prophetic perfect. And it's a fascinating look at the sovereignty 568 01:02:18,660 --> 01:02:24,740 of God. But what I want us to see, first of all, that hope comes not just after the darkness, 569 01:02:24,740 --> 01:02:29,400 but it comes during it, right? That's the message of Advent. That's the message of the gospel. 570 01:02:29,820 --> 01:02:35,100 Hope comes not when we're good and we're squared away and everything is figured out and morals are all back together. 571 01:02:35,100 --> 01:02:41,120 It comes during the midst of darkness and brokenness, and it's certain because it's promised by God. 572 01:02:41,120 --> 01:02:45,640 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. 573 01:02:45,640 --> 01:02:47,900 And notice how this is phrased. 574 01:02:47,900 --> 01:02:52,060 Isaiah is talking about the future, but he's referring to it as if it has already happened. 575 01:02:52,060 --> 01:02:55,600 We talked about the prophetic perfect a moment ago. 576 01:02:55,680 --> 01:03:00,480 What that means is that future events are described in the past tense 577 01:03:00,480 --> 01:03:07,380 to convey the absolute certainty and inevitability of the promises of God. 578 01:03:07,380 --> 01:03:11,260 The dawning of hope is not just a change in circumstances. 579 01:03:11,260 --> 01:03:16,600 It is the coming of a person. 580 01:03:16,600 --> 01:03:20,980 Notice it's not new politics, a better job, more stuff. 581 01:03:21,640 --> 01:03:26,480 It's this, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. 582 01:03:26,480 --> 01:03:31,080 And while he's a king, he doesn't come with all the kingly trappings 583 01:03:31,080 --> 01:03:33,960 and the kingly separation from the commoners 584 01:03:33,960 --> 01:03:37,380 and the kingly wealth that gets him whatever he wants. 585 01:03:37,380 --> 01:03:40,480 He comes humbly born in a manger. 586 01:03:40,480 --> 01:03:45,540 He's called the Wonderful Counselor because he brings wisdom for our confusion, 587 01:03:45,540 --> 01:03:48,560 the Mighty God because he comes with strength for our weakness, 588 01:03:48,920 --> 01:03:53,120 the Everlasting Father because he comes with compassion for our wounds, 589 01:03:53,120 --> 01:03:57,000 and the Prince of Peace because he brings wholeness to our fractured lives. 590 01:03:57,000 --> 01:04:01,680 The dawning of hope means that darkness does not have the final word. 591 01:04:01,680 --> 01:04:06,140 Isaiah 9 begins with this deep darkness 592 01:04:06,140 --> 01:04:10,880 and ends with the kingdom of endless increase of righteousness and justice. 593 01:04:10,880 --> 01:04:13,820 And he adds this line that is so important, 594 01:04:13,820 --> 01:04:16,860 the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. 595 01:04:16,900 --> 01:04:23,400 not the zeal of people or the kings or the prophets, that God will establish this hope. 596 01:04:23,400 --> 01:04:30,500 And so if Christ has come, if light has come into the darkness, how are we to live? 597 01:04:30,500 --> 01:04:35,140 We're told in the New Testament we're to walk in the light, live as children of light. 598 01:04:35,140 --> 01:04:37,340 Proverbs talks about a path of light. 599 01:04:37,340 --> 01:04:39,340 How should we live as people of light? 600 01:04:39,340 --> 01:04:44,500 First of all, I think, is this, purpose rather than panic. 601 01:04:45,180 --> 01:04:48,860 So many times we run from one problem to another, 602 01:04:48,860 --> 01:04:52,520 panicking, trying to keep everything moving at the same time, 603 01:04:52,520 --> 01:04:53,800 depending on our strength, 604 01:04:53,800 --> 01:04:58,420 but rather in hope we move forward confident that God is in control 605 01:04:58,420 --> 01:05:00,580 even when we can't see it all. 606 01:05:00,580 --> 01:05:04,420 Secondly, in promises, not predictions. 607 01:05:04,420 --> 01:05:08,760 We like to predict things, and we're often not very good at it. 608 01:05:08,760 --> 01:05:11,640 I never expected to wake up and see snow in my car this morning. 609 01:05:11,640 --> 01:05:14,260 Tuesday, they're talking about it snowing again, 610 01:05:14,340 --> 01:05:17,240 which means it's either going to be like a sunny 75 611 01:05:17,240 --> 01:05:20,260 or it's going to be a blizzard and we get 12 feet of snow, right? 612 01:05:20,260 --> 01:05:24,020 They're all predicting something, right? 613 01:05:24,020 --> 01:05:25,200 Predictions are hard. 614 01:05:25,200 --> 01:05:27,020 Sometimes it's just guesses. 615 01:05:27,020 --> 01:05:30,880 You and I like to sit back and predict how things will go. 616 01:05:30,880 --> 01:05:34,200 If I do this and then I can do this and I can move on to this, 617 01:05:34,200 --> 01:05:39,180 rather than predictions, let's live in the promises of God, 618 01:05:39,180 --> 01:05:42,480 living out our visible hope. 619 01:05:43,260 --> 01:05:46,020 Here's what I want you to see, is that God's people have hope. 620 01:05:46,020 --> 01:05:54,140 We begin in the darkness of despair, Exodus 2, with groaning, feeling forgotten, unseen, and unheard. 621 01:05:54,140 --> 01:05:56,240 But this was not the end of their story. 622 01:05:56,240 --> 01:05:58,440 It's where God was at work. 623 01:05:58,440 --> 01:06:07,040 Even in the darkness, God sees, He hears, He remembers, He knows, and He comes down to destroy His people. 624 01:06:07,880 --> 01:06:11,120 And the same God that comes to rescue his people in Egypt 625 01:06:11,120 --> 01:06:13,980 is the same God that came to rescue us 626 01:06:13,980 --> 01:06:17,540 from the brokenness and slavery and oppression of our sin. 627 01:06:17,540 --> 01:06:22,500 So we want to live as people who have hope, 628 01:06:22,500 --> 01:06:24,620 sharing that hope. 629 01:06:24,620 --> 01:06:28,000 We're going to pray, and then we'll stand and sing about that hope. 630 01:06:28,000 --> 01:06:31,420 Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus and grace. 631 01:06:31,420 --> 01:06:35,680 And thank you that as we find ourselves often in life's wilderness 632 01:06:35,680 --> 01:06:42,680 and in darkness, that you have brought light into that darkness, that you have brought hope 633 01:06:42,680 --> 01:06:49,440 to where we are hopeless. We thank you for Jesus and for grace. It's in his name we pray. Amen. 634 01:06:49,440 --> 01:06:55,040 We're going to stand and we're going to sing, I set my hope on Jesus. 635 01:07:05,680 --> 01:07:16,760 When this life of trials test my faith, I set my hope on Jesus. 636 01:07:16,760 --> 01:07:26,660 When the questions come and doubts remain, I set my hope on Jesus. 637 01:07:27,660 --> 01:07:32,260 For the deepest wounds that time won't heal 638 01:07:32,260 --> 01:07:36,540 There's a joy that runs still deeper 639 01:07:36,540 --> 01:07:42,200 There's a truth that's more than all I feel 640 01:07:42,200 --> 01:07:46,380 I set my hope on Jesus 641 01:07:46,380 --> 01:07:52,140 I set my hope on Jesus 642 01:07:52,140 --> 01:07:57,580 My rock, my only trust 643 01:07:57,580 --> 01:08:02,660 Who set his heart upon me first 644 01:08:02,660 --> 01:08:06,160 I set my hope on Jesus 645 01:08:06,160 --> 01:08:19,060 Though I falter in this war with sin 646 01:08:19,060 --> 01:08:23,300 I set my hope on Jesus 647 01:08:23,300 --> 01:08:28,740 When I feel the fight and sink within 648 01:08:28,740 --> 01:08:33,240 I set my hope on Jesus 649 01:08:33,240 --> 01:08:38,860 Though the shame would drown me in its sea 650 01:08:38,860 --> 01:08:43,300 And I dread the wave of justice 651 01:08:43,300 --> 01:08:48,320 I will cast my life on Calvary 652 01:08:48,320 --> 01:08:52,920 I set my hope on Jesus 653 01:08:52,920 --> 01:08:58,760 I set my hope on Jesus 654 01:08:58,760 --> 01:09:04,180 My God, my only trust 655 01:09:04,180 --> 01:09:09,220 You set His heart upon me first 656 01:09:09,220 --> 01:09:12,780 I set my hope on Jesus 657 01:09:22,920 --> 01:09:39,800 Though the world call me to leave my Lord, I set my hope on Jesus. 658 01:09:39,800 --> 01:09:49,660 Though it offer all its vain rewards, I set my hope on Jesus. 659 01:09:50,660 --> 01:10:02,420 Though this heart of mine is prone to stray, give me grace enough to finish, till I worship 660 01:10:02,420 --> 01:10:20,520 on that final day, I set my hope on Jesus, I set my hope on Jesus, my love, my only trust. 661 01:10:20,660 --> 01:10:25,500 Who set his heart upon me first 662 01:10:25,500 --> 01:10:29,560 I set my hope on Jesus 663 01:10:29,560 --> 01:10:35,000 I set my hope on Jesus 664 01:10:35,000 --> 01:10:40,340 My rock, my only trust 665 01:10:40,340 --> 01:10:45,320 Who set his heart upon me first 666 01:10:45,320 --> 01:10:49,180 I set my hope on Jesus 667 01:10:49,180 --> 01:10:54,200 I set my hope unto Jesus 668 01:10:54,200 --> 01:11:05,940 We are so thankful that you are here with us this morning 669 01:11:05,940 --> 01:11:09,720 Whether here in person or with us online 670 01:11:09,720 --> 01:11:13,000 We will be here Wednesday evening 671 01:11:13,000 --> 01:11:18,240 Just a quick note as we move into some predicted winter weather 672 01:11:18,240 --> 01:11:25,060 On Sundays, we're generally here. We generally don't cancel Sunday service. 673 01:11:25,060 --> 01:11:33,280 However, if it is snowy and slippery, we want to just urge you to use caution in coming here. 674 01:11:33,280 --> 01:11:38,620 I will walk to church if I have to, rather than drive, just so that I can be here. 675 01:11:38,620 --> 01:11:42,900 So there'll be somebody here at the church, but if it's bad out, don't come. 676 01:11:42,900 --> 01:11:52,760 For things like Wednesday evening and other events, we'll let you know if we decide to cancel those because of weather. 677 01:11:52,760 --> 01:11:54,240 So that's where we're at. 678 01:11:54,240 --> 01:11:55,540 One more announcement. 679 01:11:55,540 --> 01:11:59,240 There are Advent devotions that take you through this Saturday. 680 01:11:59,240 --> 01:12:05,460 On the table back there, I'll put the little bags of Advent blocks if you want to see sort of what they look like. 681 01:12:05,460 --> 01:12:09,740 There is a set that is set up back there on the table. 682 01:12:09,860 --> 01:12:13,200 and you sort of put them out as you go through. 683 01:12:13,200 --> 01:12:16,180 They'll also be available online each day, 684 01:12:16,180 --> 01:12:20,800 and so we'll send out an email to remind you of that. 685 01:12:20,800 --> 01:12:22,140 I'm going to go ahead and pray. 686 01:12:22,140 --> 01:12:23,820 We'll read from Romans 15, 687 01:12:23,820 --> 01:12:27,220 and then we'll sing as we do this time of year, 688 01:12:27,220 --> 01:12:28,580 Go Tell It on the Mount. 689 01:12:28,580 --> 01:12:31,880 Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus and grace. 690 01:12:31,880 --> 01:12:34,040 Thank you for the hope that you have given us. 691 01:12:34,040 --> 01:12:37,660 Help us not to just talk about it, but help us to live in it. 692 01:12:37,660 --> 01:12:39,600 It's in Jesus' name we pray. 693 01:12:39,860 --> 01:12:40,420 Amen. 694 01:12:40,420 --> 01:12:44,760 So Paul writes in Romans, the 15th chapter, 695 01:12:44,760 --> 01:12:48,460 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, 696 01:12:48,460 --> 01:12:53,420 so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. 697 01:12:53,420 --> 01:12:55,360 And as we heard this morning, 698 01:12:55,360 --> 01:12:59,340 may the Lord who hears our cries, remembers his covenant, 699 01:12:59,340 --> 01:13:02,580 and has come near to us in Christ Jesus, 700 01:13:02,580 --> 01:13:04,920 may he fill us with hope in the waiting. 701 01:13:05,480 --> 01:13:10,060 May His love strengthen us, His promises anchor us, 702 01:13:10,060 --> 01:13:16,460 His presence be our peace as we walk through what's often a wilderness of this world. 703 01:13:16,460 --> 01:13:21,940 And as Peter reminds us, may you abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit 704 01:13:21,940 --> 01:13:25,020 until the day that Jesus comes again in glory. 705 01:13:25,020 --> 01:13:27,860 And so we go in the hope of Christ. 706 01:13:34,300 --> 01:13:37,060 I think we all know this forest by heart. 707 01:14:04,300 --> 01:14:10,000 It's coming, I won't say that Jesus Christ is born. 708 01:14:34,300 --> 01:15:04,280 Thank you. 709 01:15:04,300 --> 01:15:34,280 Thank you. 710 01:15:34,300 --> 01:16:04,280 Thank you.