12-24-17 Angels, angels everywhere!

4th Sunday of Advent  -  The Angel Candle

Scripture    Hebrews 13:2

Luke 2:9-14

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Matt 28:1-8

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.   His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you." So, the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

JESUS BIRTH		JESUS DEATH/RESURRECTION
Angel announced his birth          *	Lk 2:9-14	Angel announced his resurrection*	Mt 28:1-8
Announced to just a few men	Lk 2:17	Announced to just a few women
Afraid, excited, hurried, told others		Afraid, excited, hurried, told others
Mary of Nazareth was the first to know God’s son would be born & first to see him		Mary of Magdala was the first to know Jesus had risen and was the first to see him
Joseph of Naz was chosen by God to care for Jesus at his birth.		Joseph of Arimathea was chosen by God to care for Jesus at his death.
Sign he is the messiah: find a babe wrapped in cloths lying in a stone feeding trough in a cave carved out of the rock.	Lk 2:7	Sign he is the messiah:  find cloths but no body on a stone slab in a tomb carved out of the rock.	Lk 19:41
Herod: upset at Jesus birth – believed he might be a messiah/king, tried to have him killed, and killed innocent babies in the process.		Pilate: upset at Jesus life – believed he might be the messiah but had him killed, saving the life of a guilty man in the process.
Physically helpless: first trip to Jerusalem held by Simeon, who was looking for the messiah, and dedicated him to God	Lk 2:25	Physically helpless: last trip to Jerusalem unable to carry his cross they had Simon of Cyrene, just passing through town, was forced to carry it for him.	Lk 23:26
He was laid in a manger		He was laid in a tomb
Miracle conception brought about his life	Isa 7:14	Miracle resurrection brought him back to life	Mt 28:6
Wise men saw a great light, followed it to see the new king.	Mt 2:2	Wise man sought his followers to destroy them and was blinded by a great light which caused him to see Jesus as king.	Acts 9:3
Came to earth alone		Went to Heaven alone
Jesus was taken away to Egypt – a foreign land until the proper time to return home.		Jesus was taken home to heaven until the proper time when he will return to this foreign land
God used a messenger angel to announce the coming of new life through Jesus		God wants to use you to announce the new life in Jesus that has already come

CONCLUSION

Hebrews 13:2

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Hebrews is a tremendously well crafted sermon with the climax being chapter 11 & 12 with the hall of faith. Then there is chapter 13. This is a sermonic technique – Preach and Prescribe. Chapter 13 is a prescription for daily living giving several practical admonitions for living a Christian life. The first in vs 1 Keep on loving each other as brothers.  (Describe how that looks in practical ways)

Vs 2 reminds me of an OT story: Gen 18:2-10   Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. He said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way — now that you have come to your servant." "Very well," they answered, "do as you say." So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. "Quick," he said, "get three seahs of fine flour and knead it and bake some bread." Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree. "Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked him. "There, in the tent," he said. Then the Lord said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son."

          Genesis 19 – Crazy Lot story. Lot showed hospitality and the wicked did not. They rescued Lot and made the wicked lose their sight.

Angels are champions for us and all around us. We can know this because of how they respond when someone puts their trust in Jesus for the very first time.

Luke 15:10   In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

12-17-17 The Lord is my Shepherd!

3^rd Sunday of Advent  -  The Shepherd Candle

Scripture:   Philippians 2:5-8

PSALM 23:1-6  NIV

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

There is an old song that says: Heaven came down and glory filled my soul, when at the cross the Savior made me whole; My sins were washed away – and my night was turned to day – Heaven came down and glory filled my soul!

That is the Christmas song you never sing at Christmas. “Heaven came down” sounds like a perfect description of Christmas. God chose a young girl to be the mother of His son, a poor girl, a girl engaged to a man, a girl who had never slept with a man and would not do so before God’s child would be born. That is Heaven coming down. He could have chosen a Queen, or at least a princess. He could have chosen a woman who was experienced at raising other children. But He didn’t, he came down and chose and average ordinary, otherwise very forgettable person.

 As for a father to raise His son, again he could have chosen a King or prince or at least one of the Scribes or Pharisees. But no, he chose an average ordinary carpenter from a small town in Northern Israel called Nazareth. But no, heaven came down father and would come down farther still.

The capital city, Jerusalem – yes it was the undisputed capital of Israel 2000 years ago -where the Holy Temple of God stood. This was a logical place for God’s son to be born, but no, heaven came down about 5 miles south to a very small town called Bethlehem that had not been known for anything since king David had grown up there 1000 years earlier.

Heaven kept coming down lower and lower. His son was not to be born in a hospital, a palace, a hotel or even a house; His son would be born in a stable (Stable is too nice a word – clean place where the majestic horses reside) no it was more what we think of as a barn with cows, goats and sheep and plenty of dung to go around. A filthy place where the animals got out of the cold night air. Heaven isn’t done coming down. They did not bring with them a nice pack-n-play with clean sheets for the baby so they had to wrap him in some borrowed clothes and lie him on a bed of straw in a manger (wait that sounds too) it was a feeding trough where the animals stuck their snotty noses and drooling tongues to eat their hey. That is how far heaven had come down.

Wait a minute, there was one more step down, and this may have been the biggest step down of all. Birth announcements have become a big deal these days. People go to elaborate means to tell people they are going to have a baby, but they all pale in comparison to God’s announcement that His baby was being born. He sent a point angel to make the first part of the announcement and then sent an entire host of heavenly beings to help make the announcement. I can imagine the meetings and practices the angels had in preparation for this announcement because they were only going to get one shot in all of history to do so. The night came, and instead of, again, going and announcing to Kings and Queens or the high priest and religious leaders of the day, instead of announcing it on a jumbo Tron in a 1000 seat colosseum, instead of blasting it to the world through social media, God set in motion this amazing angelic production for a couple of average ordinary shepherds on a hillside outside Bethlehem where only they would hear the greatest news the world has ever known. Heaven came down and glory filled their souls.

Luke 2:8-20                    Good News Translation

There were some shepherds in that part of the country who were spending the night in the fields, taking care of their flocks.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone over them. They were terribly afraid, but the angel said to them, "Don't be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people. This very day in David's town your Savior was born — Christ the Lord! And this is what will prove it to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great army of heaven's angels appeared with the angel, singing praises to God: "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased!" When the angels went away from them back into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us."

          So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and saw the baby lying in the manger. When the shepherds saw him, they told them what the angel had said about the child. All who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said. Mary remembered all these things and thought deeply about them. The shepherds went back, singing praises to God for all they had heard and seen; it had been just as the angel had told them.

          It is fascinating that the shepherds are the first to hear about the birth of Jesus – the only ones to hear directly from heaven about his birth and the first to see him. Where are this child’s grandparents? I can guarantee you that if my Kim and been Mary and I were Joseph, Tata would have been the first one on the scene – that is what my mother is known as to her grandchildren. In fact, she would have invited herself along on the trip to Bethlehem to see old friends and be there in case Mary gave birth before returning to Nazareth.

          They returned to the town of their lineage – where were Joseph’s Bethlehem relatives?

BETHLEHEM - the town of David. When David lived in Bethlehem, his occupation was that of shepherd.  The OT shows shepherds as an honorable profession as shepherds were fiercely protective of their sheep – worked so close with their sheep that the sheep could recognize their own shepherds voice. Unlike Western shepherds of today where sheep are driven, in Jesus day, the shepherd went out front and called out and the sheep followed the shepherd.

          John 10:27-30

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."

Jesus, traveled from heaven all the way to earth – a long distance indeed. He who was laid in a feeding trough the sheep may have eaten from has now become the shepherd of the sheep. John 10:11  "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

The story of Christmas is about the shepherds, the average ordinary people who heard about Jesus, got to meet him, believed what was said about him and told other what they had seen and heard about him. Isn’t that our story? Isn’t Christmas about us? Average, ordinary people who have been told about Jesus, we get to meet him as our personal Lord and Savior, believe what the bible tells us about him, and tell other what we have learned and experienced with Jesus.

But wait – even though Christmas is about the shepherds and about us, it is most certainly about Jesus who left the glory of heaven and brought that glory with him to earth by stepping further and further down then anyone could have imagined. In fact Philippians 2:5-8 form the MESSAGE tells us:

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death — and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.

Jesus traveled that far so that everyone could have a very Merry Christmas! Heaven came down and glory filled my soul!!!

12-03-17 Jump! Dad will catch you!

(1^st Sun Advent) The Prophecy Candle

Scripture: Matthew 1:23, Isaiah 7:14

A CHILD LEARNS NOT TO TRUST

There is an old story of a father who took his young son out and stood him on the railing of the back porch. He then went down, stood on the lawn, and encouraged the little fellow to jump into his arms. "I'll catch you," the father said confidently. After a lot of coaxing, the little boy finally made the leap. When he did, the father stepped back and let the child fall to the ground. He then picked his son up, dusted him off, and dried his tears.

"Let that be a lesson," he said sternly. "Don't ever trust anyone." 

Matthew 1:22 introduces a common statement in his work. He wrote, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet” Since he used this phrasing in at least a dozen passages, Matthew knew it was important to point out to his readers that many of the events he described fulfilled specific prophecies.

Matthew 1:23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us." More than 700 years earlier, Isaiah wrote: Isa 7:14  Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

AHAZ BECOMES KING – DOES NOT TRUST GOD

King Ahaz took the throne at age 20 after his father Jothan had been king.

He did not trust in God. Aram and Israel fought but could not overtake him.

Ahaz begged the king of Assyria, Tiglath-Pileser to help him stand against his enemies who then conquered a portion of Israel and killed the king and sent the people into exile.

As a thank you, Ahaz sent gold and silver from the temple and went in person to visit Tiglath-Pileser. He had a replica of the Assyrian altar made and returned home to worship and offer sacrifices on that foreign altar. He then thought he should worship the gods of those who were warring against him since they were finding success. He closed the temple and set up altars on every street corner to other gods which angered the Lord against him.

          In the midst of all this, the prophet Isaiah tried convincing Ahaz to put his trust in God alone. The threats against Ahaz and Judah were so great that he and the people shook like leaves in a storm and he would not trust God. Isaiah spoke the word of the Lord to Ahaz to encourage him to once more trust in God, and said: Isa 7:7-14   Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says: "'It will not take place, it will not happen, for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah's son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.'"

          10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, "Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights." But Ahaz said, "I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test." Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

          Notice God told Ahaz to for ask for a sign, which he refused to do. God would give a sign any way – an impossible event – a virgin would conceive and give birth and be known as “God with us” – Immanuel. If that wouldn’t convince him to trust God – nothing would, The literal translation here of virgin is a woman of marriageable age (not a girl – not a married woman who has been with a man = virgin).  Would Ahaz have to wait 700 years for the birth of Christ or is this not really about Jesus and only meant for Isaiah’s day?  Isaiah 7:14 has a single meaning with double significance. In that day and in the future, it meant that God would be with his people.  In Isaiah’s day, he would be with them if Ahaz would turn and trust in God. In the future, it meant God would come in person through the birth of Jesus so that all people could know him. Instead of being present based on our behavior = the law as in the OT, God would be present as an act of His will by being born in the flesh.

          Matthew shows us that God had a plan and carried out that plan - “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet” The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

          Matthew doesn’t just point to this one prophecy as proof that God was coming among men.

JOHN THE BAPTIST

4 NT passages quote Isaiah and Malachi concerning the birth of John the Baptist, central to the Christmas story and the birth and ministry of Jesus.

Matthew 3:1-3   In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"

          Mark 1:1-3   The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way, a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"

          Matthew 11:10   This is the one about whom it is written: 'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'

          John 1:23   John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'"

OT quoted by Matthew

Isaiah 40:3   A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord;make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.”

          Malachi 3:1   "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the Lord Almighty.

          These OT verses say one will prepare the way for Yahweh to come. But it is Jesus who shows up…EXACTLY – Jesus is Yahweh (God) in the flesh: John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel, meaning ‘God with us.’

          The king of Judah, Ahaz, rejected the God who created him and relied on earthly powers who failed him. John the Baptist, son of a priest who served in the temple of God used his life to point others to Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

          700 years before it happened God announced the birth of Jesus to Mary, a woman of marriageable age – a virgin and the birth of John the Baptist who would prepare people for his coming. Who has God already planned to have you to prepare the way for Jesus coming into their life? Don’t rely on your abilities or those of others – do what Isaiah said – Trust in God and He will make it happen.

A CHILD LEARNS TO TRUST

One day, while my son Zac and I were out in the country, climbing around in some cliffs, I heard a voice from above me yell, "Hey Dad! Catch me!" I turned around to see Zac joyfully jumping off a rock straight at me. He had jumped and them yelled "Hey Dad!" I became an instant circus act, catching him. We both fell to the ground. For a moment after I caught him I could hardly talk. 

When I found my voice again I gasped in exasperation: "Zac! Can you give me one good reason why you did that???"

He responded with remarkable calmness: "Sure...because you're my Dad." His whole assurance was based in the fact that his father was trustworthy. He could live life to the hilt because I could be trusted. Isn't this even more true for a Christian?