Advent 2019 joy_message_12.22.19
- 1. The Church Calendar - Advent * Hope * Peace * Love * Joy * Light
- 2. ADVENT ~ Week 1
- 3. Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. Matthew 1:18-19
- 4. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:20-21
- 5. All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus. Matthew 1:22-25
- 6. Did Mary and Joseph experience joy or struggle at the birth of Jesus? Question
- 7. ADVENT ~ Week 1
- 8. A state of well-being, or having a pleasurable or satisfying experience; it is largely – if not solely – dependent on one’s circumstances... Happiness(Used 30x in scripture)
- 9. Joy is the settled assurance that God is a loving God who sits unshakably on the throne as Lord of the universe; the quiet confidence that – because of that fact – everything is ultimately going to be alright, and the determined choice – in light of who God is – to praise God in every situation Joy(Used 150x in scripture)
- 10. Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep on choosing it every day. Henri Nouwen
- 11. ADVENT ~ Week 1
- 12. Does God experience joy amidst the darkness and pain of creation? Question
- 13. DALLAS WILLARD We should, to begin with, think that God leads a very interesting life, and that He is full of joy… His is simply one great, inexhaustible, and eternal experience of all that is good and true and beautiful and right… This is His life.
- 14. DALLAS WILLARD (To God there is available…) Towering clouds of gasses trillions of miles high, backlit by nuclear fires in newly forming stars, galaxies cart wheeling into collision, and sending explosive shock waves boiling through millions of light years of time and space.
- 15. DALLAS WILLARD These things are all before Him, along with numberless unfolding rosebuds, souls and songs – and immeasurably more, of which we know NOTHING…
- 16. The world as God sees it is a panorama of deprivation and exploitation and death. The history of the world has shown over and over and over again that it is incapable of rescuing itself from forces too strong for mere human nature. The great good news of the last judgment is that ‘on that day’ God will set everything right, once and for all. Fleming Rutledge
- 17. Who is right: Rutledge or Willard? Question
- 18. ADVENT ~ Week 1
- 19. What about you: did you experience joy or struggle this year? Are you experiencing joy or struggle this Advent? Will Christmas be a season of joy or struggle for you? Question
- 20. - Flooding in the basement - Broken leg (again) - More flooding in the basement - Foundation repair, yard repair, toilet repair, drywall repair, siding repair, painting, staining, more painting, more toilet repair - Surgery and sickness and recovery - Kidney stone and sickness and recovery - Lost phone, dead battery, flat tire… A Brief Rundown of Our Year
- 21. Living with joy is not about things being either good OR bad, easy OR hard, finished OR unfinished, healthy OR sick, grass that’s green OR brown, living OR dying, about God’s life being “full of joy” OR God’s experience of the world being full of “deprivation and exploitation and death…” Joy is found by learning to live in the tension of BOTH. What I’m Learning...
- 22. More than one thing is true at the same time. The acknowledgment of the “bad” does not negate the existence (or my experience) of the “good,” and acknowledging the “good” does not lead me to deny the existence (or my experience) of the “bad.” What I’m Learning...
- 23. Advent begins in the dark. Fleming Rutledge
- 24. Advent begins in the dark. (Yes. And it ends in light.) Fleming Rutledge
- 25. The Advent season offers something remarkable to the church – the calling to live in two places at once… Fleming Rutledge
- 26. The Advent season offers something remarkable to the church – the calling to live in two places at once… It is the midnight of the year. The early church knew what it was doing when it settled on the winter solstice as the date for approaching Christmas. This is the right moment in the year for the announcement of the coming of the Lord. Fleming Rutledge
- 28. Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep on choosing it every day. Henri Nouwen
- 29. ADVENT ~ Week 1
- 30. Benediction O God of Elizabeth and Mary, you visited your servants with news of the world's redemption in the coming of the Savior. Make our hearts leap with joy, and fill our mouths with songs of praise, that we may announce glad tidings of peace, and welcome the Christ in our midst. Amen.