WEBVTT 00:00:02.559 --> 00:00:06.419 It's flacnizomide, God's gut -level mercy. Learn 00:00:06.419 --> 00:00:23.059 it. Welcome back, friend. You tuned in to The 00:00:23.059 --> 00:00:25.280 Semi -Seminarian, where Scripture meets the static 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:27.620 and grace finds its way through whatever noise 00:00:27.620 --> 00:00:30.699 you carried in with you. Today we're stepping 00:00:30.699 --> 00:00:36.000 into Advent week one on hope. And we're beginning 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.240 with a question most of us have been too tired 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:41.780 to name. What if hope isn't something you muster, 00:00:41.780 --> 00:00:46.240 something that arrives uninvited? Isaiah 9 and 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:48.880 Luke 1 are going to guide us into that kind of 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:51.979 hope. The kind that breaks in, not the kind you 00:00:51.979 --> 00:00:55.759 have to build. And as you listen today, I want 00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:58.700 you to feel where you are. You're joining our 00:00:58.700 --> 00:01:01.659 tiny little church here in Oklahoma, modest sanctuary, 00:01:02.039 --> 00:01:06.540 soft hum of the heater kicking on, Bibles fluttering 00:01:06.540 --> 00:01:10.280 open across the pews. Folks are shuffling in 00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:12.640 from the cold, shaking off that early winter 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.719 wind. A couple of kids leaning into their parents, 00:01:15.739 --> 00:01:17.739 whispering questions about the Advent candles. 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:22.700 You may be listening miles away, but you know 00:01:22.700 --> 00:01:25.500 what? You're here, in the room with us right 00:01:25.500 --> 00:01:30.280 now. So take a breath, the season's begun, the 00:01:30.280 --> 00:01:33.040 light is on the way, and I'll see you on the 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:42.680 other side. So as I begin here a new series this 00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:45.400 morning, let me go ahead very briefly, church, 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:49.840 and start at the top of the mountain looking 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:51.959 down on the road that we're going to take over 00:01:51.959 --> 00:01:56.299 these next four weeks. and set the scene just 00:01:56.299 --> 00:01:58.659 a little bit overall, and then we'll talk about 00:01:58.659 --> 00:02:01.739 hope here in just a second. But I'd mentioned 00:02:01.739 --> 00:02:05.840 this earlier in the candle lighting, and if you 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:09.439 have been tracking with us for a while, if you 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:12.639 actually think about it, we've done some sermons 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:17.280 here recently on purpose to lead us to this point. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:20.240 And let me, if you've been with us, let me just 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:22.599 recall a few things that... You might remember. 00:02:22.860 --> 00:02:27.139 Maybe you remember that we spent a series where 00:02:27.139 --> 00:02:29.780 we looked at what happened in the Bible between 00:02:29.780 --> 00:02:33.620 the banishment from the Garden of Eden and the 00:02:33.620 --> 00:02:35.460 flood. You guys remember talking about that? 00:02:35.639 --> 00:02:38.819 And the thing that we noticed at the end of those 00:02:38.819 --> 00:02:43.020 three series was that through all of that, through 00:02:43.020 --> 00:02:47.360 the banishment, through the flood, what was the 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:53.620 first thing Noah did? Built an altar. The covenant 00:02:53.620 --> 00:03:00.300 of God, even through rupture, remained. Then 00:03:00.300 --> 00:03:04.199 we spent another three weeks looking at another 00:03:04.199 --> 00:03:08.280 rupture in the relationship between God and God's 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:12.139 people. That, if you recall, the temple is destroyed 00:03:12.139 --> 00:03:16.639 by the Babylonians. They're in exile for 70 years. 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:20.939 And they come back. And if you've been with us, 00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:25.039 you may recall, they gather back, they're discouraged, 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:30.280 but then the priests open the word. And I don't 00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:32.500 know if you remember what scripture says that 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:35.020 they did, but when they heard the word again, 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:43.060 they wept. And they rebuilt the temple. And prayer 00:03:43.060 --> 00:03:47.240 in the house of the Lord, the covenant resumed. 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:55.639 God continues to push forward in our lives even 00:03:55.639 --> 00:04:02.000 when we keep screwing it up. We keep breaking 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:08.599 it. God keeps making it. And here we find ourselves 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:16.560 again. God pursuing after us. Only this time, 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:20.120 it's not about another altar. It's not about 00:04:20.120 --> 00:04:26.240 building a new temple. It's about God saying, 00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:31.620 I love you too much to leave you the way that 00:04:31.620 --> 00:04:38.680 you are. So I am going to come to you. And by 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:47.430 coming to us, it actually, removes all of the 00:04:47.430 --> 00:04:51.389 barriers that we have always had between us and 00:04:51.389 --> 00:04:55.250 perfect reconciliation with God. No matter how 00:04:55.250 --> 00:05:01.449 hard we have tried, there has always been a sin 00:05:01.449 --> 00:05:06.250 that separates us from God. And we looked at 00:05:06.250 --> 00:05:09.810 last week the prophecy of Malachi and the idea 00:05:09.810 --> 00:05:14.160 of refining metal. And remember we talked about 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:18.720 how the refiner would sit there looking at that 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:22.199 metal as it's being refined until what? Until 00:05:22.199 --> 00:05:26.899 he could see his own reflection. God's that refiner. 00:05:27.379 --> 00:05:31.480 God loves you too much to let the parts of you 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:37.519 that aren't him stay. So he comes to us so that 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:40.740 those barriers can finally be removed, that we 00:05:40.740 --> 00:05:44.519 can truly have. reconciliation with God. And 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:47.819 when we think about it, that should be, as Christians, 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:52.660 the most important thing we desire. Because without 00:05:52.660 --> 00:05:57.519 the possibility of true reconciliation with God, 00:05:57.660 --> 00:06:03.180 my friends, while you might be happy in this 00:06:03.180 --> 00:06:08.180 world, you won't find real hope, nor peace, nor 00:06:08.180 --> 00:06:13.259 love, nor joy. It's only the incoming of the 00:06:13.259 --> 00:06:18.540 incarnate God that actually makes these things 00:06:18.540 --> 00:06:24.459 possible. That is why we stop for four weeks 00:06:24.459 --> 00:06:28.120 and don't rush through them. Because every one 00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:30.779 of these things are things that the world will 00:06:30.779 --> 00:06:36.079 promise to you as a counterfeit. But only the 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:41.680 coming of God can provide them. And that should 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:45.319 matter to us. So let's look at the first one, 00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:51.319 hope. The world says hope is something you build. 00:06:52.259 --> 00:06:55.519 Scripture says hope is something that breaks 00:06:55.519 --> 00:07:00.120 in. And that distinction right there this morning, 00:07:00.180 --> 00:07:02.439 friends, is going to be all the difference in 00:07:02.439 --> 00:07:07.000 the world. Because we live in a culture that 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:10.339 has turned hope into a self -improvement project. 00:07:11.079 --> 00:07:14.319 Hope is something we're supposed to manufacture. 00:07:14.899 --> 00:07:18.639 Something that you generate through the sheer 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:23.060 force of your will. We have vision boards and 00:07:23.060 --> 00:07:26.199 five -year plans. We have a grinded -out culture, 00:07:26.379 --> 00:07:29.620 the bootstrap mentality. We've got influencers 00:07:29.620 --> 00:07:33.829 who tell us to just manifest it. Speak it into 00:07:33.829 --> 00:07:38.930 existence. Stay positive. No matter the fact 00:07:38.930 --> 00:07:43.089 that the house is burning down around us. Hope, 00:07:43.089 --> 00:07:49.470 according to the world, is that thing you do 00:07:49.470 --> 00:07:53.069 when you grit your teeth and try to produce even 00:07:53.069 --> 00:07:57.750 on the dark days. But there is a wound under 00:07:57.750 --> 00:08:01.029 that bandage that nobody wants to talk about. 00:08:04.170 --> 00:08:10.930 If I have to achieve hope, then hope is only 00:08:10.930 --> 00:08:19.990 as strong as I am. And I'm tired. And maybe you 00:08:19.990 --> 00:08:24.990 felt that settle in your chest just now. Because 00:08:24.990 --> 00:08:29.069 you know what it's like to wake up and have to 00:08:29.069 --> 00:08:31.649 convince yourself that somehow the coming day 00:08:31.649 --> 00:08:37.220 matters. You know what it's like to have to paste 00:08:37.220 --> 00:08:40.179 a smile on your face because everyone expects 00:08:40.179 --> 00:08:44.100 you to be fine. You know what it's like to scroll 00:08:44.100 --> 00:08:47.639 past people who seem to have their lives completely 00:08:47.639 --> 00:08:50.059 together while you're just trying to make it 00:08:50.059 --> 00:08:57.080 to Thursday. The world's version of hope is exhausting. 00:08:59.179 --> 00:09:03.059 It never lets you rest. It never lets you be 00:09:03.059 --> 00:09:07.100 weak. It never lets you admit the tank is empty. 00:09:09.240 --> 00:09:14.440 And here we are on this first Sunday of Advent. 00:09:16.460 --> 00:09:22.580 This church has been lighting candles for hope 00:09:22.580 --> 00:09:25.620 since before every single one of you has ever 00:09:25.620 --> 00:09:32.500 been born. This one. But maybe this year, before 00:09:32.500 --> 00:09:37.019 we start taking the lighting of the candles for 00:09:37.019 --> 00:09:40.399 granted, maybe we need to be honest about what 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:45.259 we're actually hoping for. Are we hoping for 00:09:45.259 --> 00:09:48.480 strength to keep the performance going? Or are 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:52.820 we hoping for something that arrives without 00:09:52.820 --> 00:09:56.320 our permission? Something that doesn't require 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:03.210 us to hold it up. Isaiah chapter 9 wasn't written 00:10:03.210 --> 00:10:07.710 for optimistic people. It was written by a nation 00:10:07.710 --> 00:10:12.309 who tried everything. They had made political 00:10:12.309 --> 00:10:16.110 alliances that had collapsed. They courted the 00:10:16.110 --> 00:10:19.669 nation of Assyria for protection and got devoured 00:10:19.669 --> 00:10:24.320 by them instead. The trusted kings who promised 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:28.519 reform and couldn't deliver. Ahaz, the one who 00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:32.460 was supposed to steady the ship, ended up sacrificing 00:10:32.460 --> 00:10:38.120 his own son to foreign gods. They had watched 00:10:38.120 --> 00:10:42.419 generation after generation pray for dawn and 00:10:42.419 --> 00:10:47.580 get more nighttime. These weren't unmotivated 00:10:47.580 --> 00:10:51.419 people. They weren't sitting around waiting for 00:10:51.419 --> 00:10:55.320 someone else to fix things. They had tried. Lord, 00:10:55.659 --> 00:11:00.879 how they had tried. They tried diplomacy. They 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:03.399 tried military strength. They tried religious 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:06.879 reform. They tried everything that the ancient 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:10.539 world said you were supposed to try to do when 00:11:10.539 --> 00:11:13.899 your nation was falling down around you. And 00:11:13.899 --> 00:11:18.909 that is the ache. Underneath our text this morning, 00:11:19.070 --> 00:11:26.169 exhaustion. Exhaustion of a people told again 00:11:26.169 --> 00:11:31.570 and again, if they just worked harder, if they 00:11:31.570 --> 00:11:35.730 just believed more, prayed harder, trusted deeper, 00:11:36.090 --> 00:11:43.210 then maybe the darkness would finally lift. But 00:11:43.210 --> 00:11:47.179 it didn't. The people didn't stumble because 00:11:47.179 --> 00:11:51.399 they were weak. They stumbled because they were 00:11:51.399 --> 00:11:54.279 asked to scale a mountain only God could move. 00:11:55.139 --> 00:11:59.100 And I wonder, I wonder if some of us are standing 00:11:59.100 --> 00:12:02.440 perhaps at the foot of a mountain just like that 00:12:02.440 --> 00:12:05.860 this morning. You've done the work. You've read 00:12:05.860 --> 00:12:09.820 the books. You've gone to counseling. You've 00:12:09.820 --> 00:12:13.169 said the prayers. You tried to stay grateful, 00:12:13.269 --> 00:12:16.730 stay faithful, stay hopeful. You've climbed and 00:12:16.730 --> 00:12:18.750 you've climbed and you've climbed and you've 00:12:18.750 --> 00:12:23.870 climbed and you are still in the dark. Friends, 00:12:23.909 --> 00:12:28.470 Isaiah is writing to you. He's not writing to 00:12:28.470 --> 00:12:32.529 people who gave up too easily. He's writing to 00:12:32.529 --> 00:12:37.190 a people who gave everything. They gave everything 00:12:37.190 --> 00:12:44.200 they had. still could manufacture light. And 00:12:44.200 --> 00:12:47.100 here's what he tells them. People who walked 00:12:47.100 --> 00:12:50.500 in darkness have seen a great light. Those who 00:12:50.500 --> 00:12:53.399 dwelt in a land of deep shadow, on them light 00:12:53.399 --> 00:12:58.799 has shone. Hear those verbs. Seen, not made. 00:12:59.340 --> 00:13:04.990 Shone, not generated. This text isn't about human 00:13:04.990 --> 00:13:08.429 accomplishment. This text is about divine arrival. 00:13:09.570 --> 00:13:12.090 The light didn't come because the people had 00:13:12.090 --> 00:13:16.009 finally got it together. The light came because 00:13:16.009 --> 00:13:18.669 that's what God does when the darkness has been 00:13:18.669 --> 00:13:22.490 speaking far too long. Friends, a reading of 00:13:22.490 --> 00:13:25.529 Holy Scripture this morning from the prophet 00:13:25.529 --> 00:13:29.909 Isaiah ben Amoz, chapter 9, verse 1 through 7. 00:13:32.110 --> 00:13:34.490 But there will be no gloom for her who is in 00:13:34.490 --> 00:13:38.570 anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt 00:13:38.570 --> 00:13:43.490 the land of Zebulun, the land of Naphtali. But 00:13:43.490 --> 00:13:46.330 in the latter time he has made glorious the way 00:13:46.330 --> 00:13:49.289 of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee 00:13:49.289 --> 00:13:52.909 of the nations. People who walked in darkness 00:13:52.909 --> 00:13:55.429 have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a 00:13:55.429 --> 00:13:58.710 land of deep shadow, on them light has shone. 00:14:00.039 --> 00:14:02.879 You have multiplied the nation. You have increased 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:07.340 its joy. They rejoice before you as a joy with 00:14:07.340 --> 00:14:10.779 harvest, as they are glad when they divide the 00:14:10.779 --> 00:14:14.340 spoil. For the yoke of his burden and the staff 00:14:14.340 --> 00:14:17.379 for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you 00:14:17.379 --> 00:14:23.820 have broken as on the day of Midian. For every 00:14:23.820 --> 00:14:27.840 boot of the trampling warrior. In battle, tumult, 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:30.259 and every garment rolled in blood will be burned 00:14:30.259 --> 00:14:37.419 as fuel for fire. For to us, child is born. To 00:14:37.419 --> 00:14:41.220 us, a son is given. And the government shall 00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:44.460 be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called 00:14:44.460 --> 00:14:47.580 Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting 00:14:47.580 --> 00:14:52.139 Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his 00:14:52.139 --> 00:14:55.240 government and of peace, there will be no end. 00:14:55.850 --> 00:14:58.750 on the throne of David and over his kingdom to 00:14:58.750 --> 00:15:02.169 establish it and to uphold it with justice and 00:15:02.169 --> 00:15:05.730 with righteousness from his time forth and evermore. 00:15:06.309 --> 00:15:11.090 The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Friends, 00:15:11.090 --> 00:15:18.029 reading of the word. Did you catch that last 00:15:18.029 --> 00:15:22.610 line? The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. 00:15:23.450 --> 00:15:28.549 Not your zeal. Not your determination, not your 00:15:28.549 --> 00:15:31.509 positive thinking or your discipline or your 00:15:31.509 --> 00:15:38.549 refusal to quit. The zeal of the Lord. God's 00:15:38.549 --> 00:15:43.830 passion. God's initiative. God's unrelenting 00:15:43.830 --> 00:15:46.669 commitment to break into the darkness whether 00:15:46.669 --> 00:15:51.250 we are ready for it or not. That Hebrew word 00:15:51.250 --> 00:15:56.830 for zeal, kinah. It's the same word used for 00:15:56.830 --> 00:16:03.370 jealousy, for burning passion, for a love that 00:16:03.370 --> 00:16:08.710 is so fierce it refuses to let go. God isn't 00:16:08.710 --> 00:16:12.769 casually interested in your liberation. God is 00:16:12.769 --> 00:16:18.710 consumed with it. And centuries later, Zechariah, 00:16:18.830 --> 00:16:22.049 standing in a temple with a tongue just loosened 00:16:22.049 --> 00:16:26.309 after nine months of silence, Says almost the 00:16:26.309 --> 00:16:30.049 same thing. By the tender mercy of our God, the 00:16:30.049 --> 00:16:34.149 dawn from on high shall break upon us to give 00:16:34.149 --> 00:16:36.590 light to those who sit in darkness and in the 00:16:36.590 --> 00:16:40.169 shadow of death to guide our feet into the way 00:16:40.169 --> 00:16:48.549 of peace. Break upon us. That's the word. The 00:16:48.549 --> 00:16:55.000 dawn doesn't rise from within us. It breaks upon 00:16:55.000 --> 00:17:00.100 us from outside and above, from beyond the horizon 00:17:00.100 --> 00:17:07.500 we can see. That is Advent hope. Not the hope 00:17:07.500 --> 00:17:14.660 you climb toward. The hope that descends. So 00:17:14.660 --> 00:17:21.200 let me ask you something this morning. When you 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:27.380 hear the word hope, What do you feel? Do you 00:17:27.380 --> 00:17:35.059 feel expectation or pressure? Because for a lot 00:17:35.059 --> 00:17:38.400 of us, hope has become another thing we're supposed 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:42.740 to produce. Another performance we're supposed 00:17:42.740 --> 00:17:46.900 to maintain. Another mask we're supposed to wear 00:17:46.900 --> 00:17:51.630 so people don't worry about us. Have you ever 00:17:51.630 --> 00:17:54.730 been told to stay hopeful when everything in 00:17:54.730 --> 00:17:57.829 you is screaming you can't hold it together anymore? 00:18:00.730 --> 00:18:04.289 Have you ever felt guilty for not feeling more 00:18:04.289 --> 00:18:08.910 optimistic? Like somehow your darkness was a 00:18:08.910 --> 00:18:15.809 failure of your faith? Have you ever smiled at 00:18:15.809 --> 00:18:21.450 church when you wanted to weep? Hopeful people 00:18:21.450 --> 00:18:26.769 aren't supposed to fall apart in public. Have 00:18:26.769 --> 00:18:29.750 you ever laid in bed awake at night, exhausted 00:18:29.750 --> 00:18:32.789 from the work of believing things would get better 00:18:32.789 --> 00:18:35.410 and wondering how long you're supposed to keep 00:18:35.410 --> 00:18:42.690 this up? World has turned hope into a personality 00:18:42.690 --> 00:18:46.309 trait. Spiritual caffeine you're supposed to 00:18:46.309 --> 00:18:48.230 drink each morning so you can keep functioning. 00:18:48.940 --> 00:18:51.960 And if you can't muster it, if you can't fake 00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:55.220 it, if you can't perform it, well, maybe you 00:18:55.220 --> 00:19:00.480 just don't have enough faith. But that's not 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:04.660 biblical hope. That's not Isaiah's hope. That, 00:19:04.819 --> 00:19:09.380 friends, most assuredly is not Advent hope. That's 00:19:09.380 --> 00:19:14.400 counterfeit. And it has been abusing us for a 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:19.450 long time. Here's what. counterfeit looks like. 00:19:19.589 --> 00:19:22.150 Hope is something you can muster. Hope is something 00:19:22.150 --> 00:19:25.609 you maintain. Hope is something you can fake 00:19:25.609 --> 00:19:29.690 it until you make it. Hope is something you earn 00:19:29.690 --> 00:19:32.609 through positive thinking and relentless effort. 00:19:33.430 --> 00:19:36.970 Hope is something you post so folks think you're 00:19:36.970 --> 00:19:42.970 doing fine. Hope as performance. Hope as spiritual 00:19:42.970 --> 00:19:48.650 help. Hope as good vibes only. And sweetheart, 00:19:48.970 --> 00:19:55.789 that version of hope will eat you alive. Because 00:19:55.789 --> 00:19:59.089 it demands of you to keep going until you have 00:19:59.089 --> 00:20:04.049 nothing left. It demands you keep smiling when 00:20:04.049 --> 00:20:07.890 your heart is shattered. It demands you keep 00:20:07.890 --> 00:20:11.390 believing even when everything in you is collapsing. 00:20:11.750 --> 00:20:16.960 And if you can't do it, If you stumble, if you 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:20.539 admit you're drowning, then somehow that's your 00:20:20.539 --> 00:20:26.420 fault because you didn't hope hard enough. That's 00:20:26.420 --> 00:20:31.339 not the good news. That's a yoke. That's a burden. 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:35.240 That's the very thing Jesus said he was coming 00:20:35.240 --> 00:20:41.319 to lift off your shoulders. Counterfeit hope 00:20:41.319 --> 00:20:46.289 always puts a burden on you. Real hope always 00:20:46.289 --> 00:20:51.890 puts the burden on God. Counterfeit hope says 00:20:51.890 --> 00:20:54.730 if you just try harder, the light will come. 00:20:55.089 --> 00:20:58.150 Real hope says the light is coming whether you're 00:20:58.150 --> 00:21:02.450 ready or not. Counterfeit hope is a ladder you 00:21:02.450 --> 00:21:06.930 climb. Real hope is a dawn that breaks over you. 00:21:07.849 --> 00:21:13.569 And the difference between those two? will determine 00:21:13.569 --> 00:21:18.369 whether you survive this season or whether you 00:21:18.369 --> 00:21:20.950 just try and white knuckle your way through December 00:21:20.950 --> 00:21:24.450 pretending everything's fine. That's what we're 00:21:24.450 --> 00:21:30.029 facing. So, hoping not to choose that option, 00:21:30.410 --> 00:21:35.130 what does real hope look like? It looks like 00:21:35.130 --> 00:21:42.670 Bethlehem. It looks like a baby. Isaiah. Could 00:21:42.670 --> 00:21:46.849 have prophesied a warrior, a revolutionary, a 00:21:46.849 --> 00:21:51.430 system, a breakthrough. Instead, he prophesied 00:21:51.430 --> 00:21:55.769 a child. For to us, a child is born, a son is 00:21:55.769 --> 00:22:01.349 given. Why a child? Because nobody looks at a 00:22:01.349 --> 00:22:03.190 baby and thinks, look what I've accomplished. 00:22:03.750 --> 00:22:08.369 A baby is received, not achieved. A baby arrives 00:22:08.369 --> 00:22:14.150 helpless, dependent, vulnerable. And that's the 00:22:14.150 --> 00:22:20.609 point. God wanted to make sure nobody would ever 00:22:20.609 --> 00:22:25.710 confuse receiving hope with producing it. Hope 00:22:25.710 --> 00:22:29.650 of the world came in swaddling clothes, laid 00:22:29.650 --> 00:22:34.410 in a feeding trough, completely incapable of 00:22:34.410 --> 00:22:38.930 doing anything for himself. And that weakness, 00:22:39.250 --> 00:22:45.619 my dear friends, is the message. You don't have 00:22:45.619 --> 00:22:49.000 to be strong enough. Hope isn't waiting for you 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:53.859 to get your act together. Hope showed up unable 00:22:53.859 --> 00:22:57.839 to even hold its own head up. And that was on 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:05.200 purpose. Not in Rome. Not in Jerusalem. In Bethlehem. 00:23:05.380 --> 00:23:10.799 A town so small it barely made maps. To peasants, 00:23:10.900 --> 00:23:13.240 to a teenage girl and a carpenter who couldn't 00:23:13.240 --> 00:23:18.079 even get room at the inn. And look at what Isaiah 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:21.240 says, the light will shine. Zebulon and Naphtali, 00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:24.160 Galilee of the nations, the northern territories, 00:23:24.619 --> 00:23:28.460 the forgotten places of the land of God, the 00:23:28.460 --> 00:23:31.440 parts of Israel that got conquered first, that 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:34.240 everybody else had just written off by this time. 00:23:35.319 --> 00:23:37.900 That, that's where God said light would dawn. 00:23:39.880 --> 00:23:43.079 World's version of hope says plan better, work 00:23:43.079 --> 00:23:46.920 harder, be stronger, position yourself for success. 00:23:47.299 --> 00:23:51.380 Advent says look at the least likely place because 00:23:51.380 --> 00:23:56.660 that's where the dawn breaks. Good news, if you're 00:23:56.660 --> 00:24:03.160 feeling overlooked this morning, if you feel 00:24:03.160 --> 00:24:05.980 like God couldn't possibly be paying attention 00:24:05.980 --> 00:24:10.869 to your little corner of darkness, Bethlehem 00:24:10.869 --> 00:24:17.190 says otherwise. Galilee says otherwise. God specializes 00:24:17.190 --> 00:24:21.809 in the forgotten places. And Isaiah's people 00:24:21.809 --> 00:24:24.910 weren't ready. They were still scattered, still 00:24:24.910 --> 00:24:29.069 broken, still waiting. Mary wasn't asking for 00:24:29.069 --> 00:24:33.450 a Messiah. She was asking, how could this possibly 00:24:33.450 --> 00:24:38.430 be? Zechariah wasn't praying for a second chance 00:24:38.430 --> 00:24:41.170 at fatherhood. He'd given up on that dream decades 00:24:41.170 --> 00:24:44.029 ago. The man literally couldn't believe it when 00:24:44.029 --> 00:24:47.849 the angel told him. That's why he got his mouth 00:24:47.849 --> 00:24:52.029 shut for nine months. And the child still came. 00:24:52.630 --> 00:24:56.690 Hope didn't wait for an invitation. Hope didn't 00:24:56.690 --> 00:25:00.369 wait for us to deserve it or to prepare for it 00:25:00.369 --> 00:25:05.200 or believe hard enough to earn it. Hope showed 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:09.400 up in the middle of our mess because that's what 00:25:09.400 --> 00:25:14.599 hope does. You didn't have to be ready. You just 00:25:14.599 --> 00:25:18.299 needed to be there when the crying started. And 00:25:18.299 --> 00:25:21.880 this is the part that wrecks me every single 00:25:21.880 --> 00:25:27.339 time. The hope of the world arrived as something 00:25:27.339 --> 00:25:32.480 that could be killed, something that needed protection. 00:25:33.569 --> 00:25:37.250 Something that cried and needed feeding and couldn't 00:25:37.250 --> 00:25:42.369 lift his own head. Herod tried to destroy this 00:25:42.369 --> 00:25:46.589 hope before it could even walk. And hope survived, 00:25:46.730 --> 00:25:50.009 not by fighting back, but by fleeing to Egypt 00:25:50.009 --> 00:25:54.069 in the arms of a carpenter. Most powerful thing 00:25:54.069 --> 00:25:56.769 in the universe carried across the border as 00:25:56.769 --> 00:26:02.730 a refugee. And that vulnerability is the hope. 00:26:04.460 --> 00:26:09.259 Because it tells us the weight isn't on us. We're 00:26:09.259 --> 00:26:15.680 not holding hope up. Hope is holding us up. And 00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:18.859 if hope can survive in Bethlehem, if hope can 00:26:18.859 --> 00:26:23.819 survive Herod and exile and a cross, then hope 00:26:23.819 --> 00:26:27.140 can survive whatever you've been walking through. 00:26:28.740 --> 00:26:34.809 Emmanuel, God with us. Not God giving us advice 00:26:34.809 --> 00:26:39.849 from a distance. Not God handing us a strategy 00:26:39.849 --> 00:26:46.569 and wishing us luck. Not God stirring up a feeling 00:26:46.569 --> 00:26:51.349 in us that dissolves by Tuesday. No. Presence 00:26:51.349 --> 00:26:58.990 in the dark. In the ache. In the confusion. And 00:26:58.990 --> 00:27:03.710 in the ordinary. That's what the Christ child 00:27:03.710 --> 00:27:11.329 means. That is what Advent announces. God didn't 00:27:11.329 --> 00:27:16.329 send down to us a self -help book. God sent himself, 00:27:16.750 --> 00:27:22.549 wrapped in skin, breathing our air, crying our 00:27:22.549 --> 00:27:28.349 tears. The word John uses in his gospel, tabernacled. 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:33.839 God pitched a tent in human flesh. God moved 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:37.400 into the neighborhood, not to fix everything 00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:40.279 from a distance, but to be with us in the middle 00:27:40.279 --> 00:27:44.579 of everything that's broken. Hope isn't a concept. 00:27:44.619 --> 00:27:50.660 It is a heartbeat. So here's the invitation this 00:27:50.660 --> 00:27:56.859 morning. Stop trying to manufacture hope. You 00:27:56.859 --> 00:28:00.839 can't do it. You were never supposed to do it. 00:28:02.359 --> 00:28:06.680 The exhaustion you feel is not a sign you're 00:28:06.680 --> 00:28:10.359 failing. It's a sign you've been carrying a weight 00:28:10.359 --> 00:28:12.559 that was never yours to carry in the first place. 00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:18.880 Hope is not a ladder that finds you. Hope is 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:22.400 a light that finds you. You don't have to hold 00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:26.990 hope up. It folds you up. Advent is the season 00:28:26.990 --> 00:28:33.069 of holy receiving. It is the art of unclenching 00:28:33.069 --> 00:28:36.930 your fists long enough to accept what God is 00:28:36.930 --> 00:28:43.250 handing you. And I know that's hard. I know a 00:28:43.250 --> 00:28:45.730 lot of us have been clenching our fists for so 00:28:45.730 --> 00:28:48.269 long, you've forgotten what open hands feel like. 00:28:49.849 --> 00:28:52.269 I know some of us have been performing hope for 00:28:52.269 --> 00:28:55.920 so long, we don't know. How to just receive it. 00:28:57.960 --> 00:29:00.980 And maybe you learned early nobody's going to 00:29:00.980 --> 00:29:05.440 take care of you but yourself and it's on you. 00:29:06.339 --> 00:29:09.160 Maybe you've been disappointed so many times 00:29:09.160 --> 00:29:14.740 that receiving feels dangerous. Maybe, maybe 00:29:14.740 --> 00:29:16.960 you've been told your whole life that needing 00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:22.539 something is weakness. But the manger says otherwise. 00:29:24.200 --> 00:29:27.400 The manger says God entrusted the hope of the 00:29:27.400 --> 00:29:30.779 world to people who had nothing to offer but 00:29:30.779 --> 00:29:36.259 open hands. Shepherds who could not afford a 00:29:36.259 --> 00:29:41.200 proper sacrifice. The mage who got lost had to 00:29:41.200 --> 00:29:44.079 ask for directions. A young mother didn't have 00:29:44.079 --> 00:29:47.779 a nursery ready. Carpenter who had no backup 00:29:47.779 --> 00:29:53.140 plan. None of them produced hope. All of them 00:29:53.140 --> 00:29:58.000 received it. That's exactly what this table right 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:01.660 here is for. That's exactly what this season 00:30:01.660 --> 00:30:05.539 is for. That's exactly what a baby in a manger 00:30:05.539 --> 00:30:10.099 is for. To remind you that the most important 00:30:10.099 --> 00:30:14.359 thing in the universe arrived without your help. 00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:19.099 So as you leave this place, hear this blessing. 00:30:20.970 --> 00:30:23.869 May you walk this week with a hope you didn't 00:30:23.869 --> 00:30:28.190 make and a hope you didn't have to defend. Hope 00:30:28.190 --> 00:30:30.589 that sits by you like a newborn in the night, 00:30:30.670 --> 00:30:35.269 fragile in appearance, infinite in power. May 00:30:35.269 --> 00:30:37.630 you stop climbing long enough to notice the light 00:30:37.630 --> 00:30:42.589 has already come. May you lay down the exhausting 00:30:42.589 --> 00:30:46.210 work, producing what only God can actually give 00:30:46.210 --> 00:30:49.460 you. And instead, Instead, receive the gift of 00:30:49.460 --> 00:30:54.140 a God who refuses to leave you in the dark. May 00:30:54.140 --> 00:30:57.720 the dawn from on high break upon your darkness 00:30:57.720 --> 00:31:00.660 before you ever even lift your head to see it. 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:08.839 Church, is that the word of God? Amen? Amen. 00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:18.119 Friend, thank you for tuning in to the first 00:31:18.119 --> 00:31:20.680 Sunday of Advent. Today we walk through the heart 00:31:20.680 --> 00:31:24.460 of real hope, not the kind you strain to manufacture, 00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:27.200 not the kind you paste on like a smile for company, 00:31:27.359 --> 00:31:30.859 but the kind Isaiah promised and Zechariah named, 00:31:31.099 --> 00:31:34.180 the kind that breaks in when you've run out of 00:31:34.180 --> 00:31:37.920 your own strength. We've sat with the truth that 00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:40.680 hope isn't a ladder you climb, but a dawn that 00:31:40.680 --> 00:31:44.240 finds you. We remembered that God didn't send 00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:48.200 us the strategy. He sent us a child, weak, unexpected, 00:31:48.619 --> 00:31:52.940 unasked for, vulnerable, gloriously present. 00:31:53.779 --> 00:31:56.920 And if that light could find Bethlehem, it can 00:31:56.920 --> 00:31:58.900 find whatever darkness you've been sitting in. 00:31:59.559 --> 00:32:04.000 But before you go, hear me gently. Don't go back 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:06.940 to trying to earn what God's already gave. Don't 00:32:06.940 --> 00:32:09.779 clinch up again. Don't pick the weight back up. 00:32:10.700 --> 00:32:14.039 Advent is a season of holy receiving. Let the 00:32:14.039 --> 00:32:17.839 light come to you. Let the dawn break upon you. 00:32:18.700 --> 00:32:24.259 Let hope be the gift it truly is. And if this 00:32:24.259 --> 00:32:26.920 little moment of church has steadied you, this 00:32:26.920 --> 00:32:29.779 little tiny digital sanctuary in the red dirt 00:32:29.779 --> 00:32:33.799 has felt like a place to breathe, go ahead, throw 00:32:33.799 --> 00:32:35.779 your like in the offering plate. It lets us know 00:32:35.779 --> 00:32:38.990 you're here. And if you want to keep walking 00:32:38.990 --> 00:32:42.150 with us through the season of Advent, tithe that 00:32:42.150 --> 00:32:46.109 subscribe. That way, you'll know exactly when 00:32:46.109 --> 00:32:49.109 we're lighting the next candle. Until then, friend, 00:32:49.309 --> 00:32:50.549 be blessed.