Message Title: Advent Week 2: Love
Theme: O Come Emmanuel
Season: ADVENT
Main Text: All
Scripture Reading: All
RCL Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12
Focus: God folded His love for creation into the design.
Function: To embrace advent by living God’s love in our hearts and lives.
Other Notes:
SCRIPTURE READING 1: Isaiah 11:1-10 READER: BO JOSH
A shoot will grow up from the stump of Jesse; a branch will sprout[a] from his roots. 2 The Lord’s spirit will rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of planning and strength, a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord. 3 He will delight in fearing the Lord. He won’t judge by appearances, nor decide by hearsay. 4 He will judge the needy with righteousness, and decide with equity for those who suffer in the land. He will strike the violent[b] with the rod of his mouth; by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be the belt around his hips, and faithfulness the belt around his waist. 6 The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; the calf and the young lion will feed[c] together, and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow and the bear will graze. Their young will lie down together, and a lion will eat straw like an ox. 8 A nursing child will play over the snake’s hole; toddlers will reach right over the serpent’s den. 9 They won’t harm or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain. The earth will surely be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, just as the water covers the sea. 10 On that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a signal to the peoples. The nations will seek him out, and his dwelling will be glorious.
SCRIPTURE READING 2: Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19 READER: CHRIS
God, give your judgments to the king. Give your righteousness to the king’s son. 2 Let him judge your people with righteousness and your poor ones with justice. 3 Let the mountains bring peace to the people; let the hills bring righteousness. 4 Let the king bring justice to people who are poor; let him save the children of those who are needy, but let him crush oppressors! 5 Let the king live[a] as long as the sun, as long as the moon, generation to generation. 6 Let him fall like rain upon fresh-cut grass, like showers that water the earth. 7 Let the righteous flourish throughout their lives, and let peace prosper until the moon is no more. 18 Bless the Lord God, the God of Israel— the only one who does wondrous things! 19 Bless God’s glorious name forever; let his glory fill all the earth! Amen and Amen!
SCRIPTURE READING 3: Romans 15:4-13 READER: TAMMY
4 Whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction so that we could have hope through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude toward each other, similar to Christ Jesus’ attitude. 6 That way you can glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ together with one voice. 7 So welcome each other, in the same way that Christ also welcomed you, for God’s glory. 8 I’m saying that Christ became a servant of those who are circumcised for the sake of God’s truth, in order to confirm the promises given to the ancestors, 9 and so that the Gentiles could glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, Because of this I will confess you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praises to your name.[b] 10 And again, it says, Rejoice, Gentiles, with his people.[c] 11 And again, Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and all the people should sing his praises.[d] 12 And again, Isaiah says, There will be a root of Jesse, who will also rise to rule the Gentiles. The Gentiles will place their hope in him.[e] 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in faith so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
SCRIPTURE READING 4: Matthew 3:1-12 READER: JOYCE
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the desert of Judea announcing, 2 “Change your hearts and lives! Here comes the kingdom of heaven!” 3 He was the one of whom Isaiah the prophet spoke when he said: The voice of one shouting in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight.”[a] 4 John wore clothes made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. 5 People from Jerusalem, throughout Judea, and all around the Jordan River came to him. 6 As they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. 7 Many Pharisees and Sadducees came to be baptized by John. He said to them, “You children of snakes! Who warned you to escape from the angry judgment that is coming soon? 8 Produce fruit that shows you have changed your hearts and lives. 9 And don’t even think about saying to yourselves, Abraham is our father. I tell you that God is able to raise up Abraham’s children from these stones. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and tossed into the fire. 11 I baptize with water those of you who have changed your hearts and lives. The one who is coming after me is stronger than I am. I’m not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 The shovel he uses to sift the wheat from the husks is in his hands. He will clean out his threshing area and bring the wheat into his barn. But he will burn the husks with a fire that can’t be put out.”
INTRO TO SERIES: Welcome to Advent- Yes, it started last week with Pastor Joy. But we’re all together!
As we count down the days to Christmas, we will prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus, Emmanuel, God With Us through the examination of scripture and fun holiday traditions.
ADVENT CALENDARS:
- AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT: How many of you do advent calendars?
- For $800 you could have had a Swarovski advent calendar
- I love the look of the reusable wooden ones
- But let’s be honest, the cheap chocolate ones are more my budget!
- You can get calendars in just about any theme:
- Aldi calendars- beer, wine, cheese, hot sauce, candles, chocolate, pop figures, dog treats, etc
- There is something magical about counting down the days to Christmas. It’s that carrot dangling in front of you encouraging you to keep going because Christmas is just around the corner.
- If only we could have “advent” calendars for the mundane things. They already have some for other holidays like Halloween. But imagine:
- Advent to Tax Season
- Advent to Oil Change
- If only we could have “advent” calendars for the mundane things. They already have some for other holidays like Halloween. But imagine:
TRANSITION: Advent calendars remind us of the promise of Christmas. Let’s discuss our scripture readings and see what excitement is brewing behind God’s Word.
TEXT: Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12
EXPLAINATION & INTERPRETATION:
- God’s design has love woven into ALL creation Isaiah 11:1-10
- The Book of Isaiah covers a large window of time.
- The section here points to the coming of Assyria (which would wipe out the Northern Kingdom of Israel)
- Consequences are coming for God’s people but God reminds them of what God originally intended for creation.
- God’s going back to the plan- wolves & lambs laying down together, children won’t fear the serpent, no harm or destruction on God’s mountain. Doesn’t this sound beautiful!?
- We praise God because of his love Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19 ONE TRUE KING
- A natural response to these promises is worship. While our psalm speaks of kings, it may not be talking about earthly kings.
- Psalm 72, a psalm of Solomon, speaks of kings while also portraying a perfect image.
- No king of Israel rules perfectly – no king today either- this psalm points to a perfect king, the One True King.
- God’s design includes Jews & Gentiles Romans 15:4-13
- Paul writes a letter to the Churches in Rome with strong instructions on how to live as Christ followers.
- Tensions between Jewish and Gentile believers was strong. This letter reminds both parties that God’s design originally included everyone.
- (Paul also quotes the Isaiah passage)
- Our response to God’s design is to change our hearts and lives to get with the program Matthew 3:1-12
- Last but not least is the story of John the Baptist in the wilderness preaching and baptizing people for the forgiveness of sins.
- John is not claiming to be the messiah but the proclaiming that the messiah was coming. He reminded the people that God would fulfill God’s promises and they should be ready.
- How would they get ready? Changing their hearts and lives.
APPLICATION:
- Our God designed creation to be fruitful and flourish under the collaboration of God and humans. God designed things so lamb would not fear the lion and child would not fear the snake. We’re getting back to that place.
- Jesus is the man getting us back to God’s plan after humans have taken bunny trail after bunny trail.
- Knowledge of the coming Messiah SHOULD change us.
- Not because we fear going to hell.
- But because we’re so excited for what God is doing.
- We want to be a part of it!
- The second week in Advent is focused on LOVE
- We love because God first loved us 1 John 4:19’
- Everything about our faith flows from this truth.
- God loved first. God created out of love. God designed love. God calls us to love.
- GET YOUR ADVENT ON! Want to keep “Christ” in Christmas? Feed the hungry, comfort the afflicted, love the outcast, forgive the wrongdoer, inspire the hopeless.
- Go ahead, eat your cheese or chocolate, enjoy your fancy crystals.
- Join in the celebrating& giving hope
- Dec 11th 6:30 pm Christmas Program – need readers
- Find ways to serve & show love:
- Jubilee Dec 10th – cooking & clean up
- Kokomo Rescue Mission Dec 16th
- WE NEED VOLUNTEERS TO DRIVE & DELIVER RED RIBBON CHRISTMAS BOXES IN THE KOKOMO AREA ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16 AT 7:30 AM. https://kokomorescuemission.org/events/ and fill out the Delivery Driver Sign-Up.
CONCLUSION
COMMUNION
Meriah J Tigner 