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the Lord be with you
please stand as we begin our worship with the invocation and the reading
in the name of the Father end of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit
our reading for today is from the book of Isaiah
beginning at a chapter sixty one starting at verse one and continuing
from verse eight
"the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor
he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor
and the day of vengeance of our Lord
to comfort all who mourn
to grant those who mourn in zion
to give them a beautiful headress instead of ashes
an oil of gladness instead of mourning
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit
that they may be called oaks of righteousness
the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified
they shall build up the ancient ruins
they shall raise up the former devastations
they shall repair the ruined cities the devastations of many generations
for I the Lord love justice
I hate robbery and wrong
and I will faithfully give them their recompense
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them
their offspring shall be known among the nations and their descendants in the
midst of the peoples
all who see them acknowledge them
that they are an offspring
the Lord has blessed
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord my soul shall exult in my God
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness
as a bride groom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels
for as the earth brings forth sprouts and as a garden causes what is sown in
it to sprout up
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations"
this is the word of the Lord
grace mercy and peace to you from God our father our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
first we have to practice
when I say come Lord Jesus you say come Lord Jesus come
come Lord Jesus (come Lord Jesus come)
not bad one more time
come lord jesus (come Lord Jesus come)
we're in the season of advent and we look forward to Jesus' first coming
and his second coming
and we say come Lord Jesus (come Lord Jesus come)
in many ways our habit of giving and receiving presents at christmas
can help us to understand advent better
first of all there is
the anticipation
are you looking forward to receiving presents at christmas
can you hardly wait for christmas or maybe you remember when you were a kid
and you couldn't wait
were you the kind of kid who
would watch mom's movements and noticed that she was going to the atic more
often usual
so you'd wait for a time when your parents were otherwise occupied and go ahead and
check it out for yourself
anticipation
if you were like that
then you understand Ethan
Ethan is six years old and he is the physical
embodiment of anticipation for presents
he can't wait
in fact awhile ago
his parents made a crucial mistake
they ordered a christmas gift for him through the mail but they didn't realize
that the ups man had delivered it
that's ok they knew something was up when they saw a piece of cardboard all over
the front yard
they followed
the signs and they found Ethan playing with one of his christmas
presents
a full two weeks before christmas
anticipation
but we are anticipating something even better
and so we say come Lord Jesus (come Lord Jesus come)
speaking of presents what presents are you hoping for
are you looking forward to receiving a droid razor
or maybe an ipad or an iphone or an i something
or would you prefer a wii
maybe you're hoping to get your favorite movie on blu ray
or a kindle fire
I'll tell you what I'm hoping for
I'm hoping that the packers will beat the bears
and this year it seems that both the packers and the bears are in a good
position to give me what I want
and since it's christmas I'm gonna go ahead and hope that Brett Farve comes out of
retirement to play for the bears for this one game
you want
to know what my son Isaih wants? Isaiah wants the lego set
for the millenium falcon
and he wants it so badly
it's driving him crazy
the other day I found him in the basement working out his excess energy
we have this little
exercise trampoline and he was bouncing on it
and with each bounce
"falcon falcon falcon"
it's getting to him so much he can't sleep
well past his bedtime he'll wander into the office and I'll say
is everything alright
and he says oh I'm fine dad
I'm just thinking about the falcon
do you think I'll get it dad? dad you know the falcon has one thousand two
hundred fifty four pieces do you think I'll get it
and what I say is
well son you know
we'll just have to wait and see
but what I'm thinking is
and you're not going to tell him are you
what I've been thinking is if I have to get a second job and I probably will
you're gonna get the falcon
for christmas
but we're getting something even better
and so we say come Lord Jesus (come Lord Jesus come)
do you want to know what you're getting for christmas
it's a gift so great that even knowing what it is only heightens the sense of
anticipation so I'm gonna go ahead and tell you
you're getting Jesus Christ
the God of the universe
born of a *** wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger
come Lord Jesus (come Lord Jesus come)
you're getting Jesus Christ the son of God
come in the flesh to take away the sins of the world
come Lord Jesus (come Lord Jesus come)
and it is at this point that we realize
that our comparison between earthly gifts
and Jesus the reason for christmas
will only go so far
we don't just
want jesus
we need him desperately
if Jesus does not come
we are lost in our sins
we have no hope of salvation
and so we say
come Lord Jesus (come Lord Jesus come)
and the gift Jesus gives us is different too
because it involves suffering
we know
that the manger
leads to the cross before it gets to the open tomb that
christmas passes through good friday
before it gets to easter
we know how much to Jesus must suffer
in order to give us what we really need
for christmas
we also know that is exactly
what Jesus wants to do
and so we say come Lord Jesus (come Lord Jesus come)
as we contemplate this great gift
and his first coming
and his second coming
we look forward to his second coming
to a time when our suffering and our warfare
will be over
and we say come Lord Jesus (come Lord Jesus come)
you see
Jesus
has saved us
by grace through faith in him
he has overcome sin death and the devil he has taken away our sins
but sometimes
the manifestation
of these gifts in our lives
seems wanting
Jesus has won the war
but we his children are still involved in mopping up operation still involved in
battles
and sometimes it seems the devil is doing a lot of damage
sometimes it seems that
we ourselves
are falling victim
we fall into temptation
we fall into sin
we fight
sometimes the fight
is exhausting
and we just look forward to the time when it will finally end
and we say come Lord Jesus (come Lord Jesus come)
are you
keenly aware of your own spiritual poverty
are you broken-hearted over your own sin and all the damage that sin does in the
world
do you feel like a captive to sin like the devil has bound you up in prison
I feel that way sometimes
and our text
has something to say that
the spirit of God
is upon Jesus
Jesus has been anointed
to bring good news to the poor
to bind up the broken-hearted
to proclaim liberty for the captives
and the opening of
the prison for those who are bound he has come to give you
the garments of salvation
and the robe
of righteousness
and so we say come Lord Jesus (come Lord Jesus come)
and we know
that Jesus has given us all these gifts already
even if we do not see them as clearly as we wish
we know that he is with us
in the fight as we look forward to his first coming and his second coming
we pray that at the time between now
and then
he would make us into oaks of righteousness
that his name may be glorified
before the nations
we confess that we believe
in the midst of our battle
we look forward to the time when we will see him face to face
and so we say
come Lord Jesus (come Lord Jesus come) Amen
and now may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord Amen
