Sermon Transcript:All right, I want to add my welcome to already a glorious day. I mean, we have sang Joy to the world, we've really gone through the themes of what we're going to talk about this morning, whether it's through the advent calendar, whether it's through the point reading, or again through song. So Joy to the world that we just saying, The Lord has come Let earth receive her King, Let every heart prepare Him room and heaven and nature same. But what if you're sitting here today, or you're listening in online later, or live and you're thinking, I don't feel it master, like, I know, I'm supposed to I know, I'm supposed to get into the Christmas vibes in the Christmas spirit. But I don't feel any joy or really happiness, or it's on the low end. I mean, you say I have it, but on the thermometer or on the thermostat, it's on the low end. Some of you are like, well, there's a difference between joy and happiness. And you think, well, happiness is fleeting, you can be happy when you you know, get a surprise or a little piece of candy or something. It makes you happy for a moment. But joy is something that's sustainable, that lasts forever. And I sometimes even those definitions, though, aren't that helpful. Because you think at the end of the day, call it joy, common happiness. I don't feel either, because some of y'all are thinking there's a lot of stress coming up. And so here we got this great image of one of my favorite movies and and there's gonna be some some rendition of this going on in your home, you may have already experienced it at Thanksgiving, or you're looking forward to it at Christmas, a movie like Christmas vacation, because one of the reasons why that movie indoors, and not just for the humor, but because it is so rooted in the reality, isn't it that we're all going to gather and there's going to be bickering and there's going to be fighting and there's going to be people who are out of it. And there's gonna be things said that are inappropriate. And there's going to be things that are spilled and things are not going to get cooked rides, and all kinds of things are going to happen around the holidays that are going to create such angst for us. And a lot of y'all, you know, you have you have a cousin Eddie, you got one I know you do. And so you're thinking I don't have a cousin Eddie. And I've said it before, maybe that's because it is you. And so that's something you ought to consider when you think about your holiday rendition in your holiday traditions. But you may be asking yourself, What am I going to do? What am I going to do? Because we are going to enter into this we're going to gather we're going to have holiday things and festivities and have the people of God been here before. One of the reasons why we look to the prophets of old the prophets in the Old Testament is because they show us and they remind us how God works. That if you're in a funk, or even if you're doing well, he, the prophets, they often remind us how God works. And if you're proud, he will bring you low, and if you're low, and if you're faint hearted, He will fill you up. Here is what he has done. Here's what he is doing that is God. And here's what God will do. We're gonna look at the prophet Isaiah, which, if you've read any of Isaiah, we've been reading him a little bit in the Scriptures through the Advent season, and I've even read him up here, we're gonna read him again, because he's often the prophet that the foretells and foretold a lot of what is going to happen with the Messiah. Isaiah is writing about 740 BC, so 740 years before Christ was born. And he's going to speak to the Babylonian exile that happens in 586 BC. And when you hear these numbers, remember, you only have to remember a couple of things about this. And that is that whole idea that you had the United Kingdom around David, that's sort of the height of the Israelite empire. And then you had Solomon who built Solomon's temple very quickly, you have a divided kingdom, northern kingdom falls to the Assyrians in 722, southern kingdom vows to the Babylonians and 586 BC. This isn't, these aren't really faith things. These are just things to understand in terms of history, and your Bible. And so what Isaiah is gonna do is he's going to give them hope, in the midst of that, and we're going to see this in Isaiah 55, beginning in verse one, is anyone thirsty? Spiritually, literally, come and drink even if you have no money? Come take your choice of wine or milk, it's all free. So you see this idea that that the Prophets saying that God Himself is opening up the table for us and saying, Here Come Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no, good, right? So just merely earthly Why do that? Listen to me and you will eat what is good. This really harkens to what Jesus says fromRemember when Jesus comes, he talks like this to this whole idea of I provide water springs of life and you will never thirst again. Isaiah though in 55 says this, listen to me, and you will eat what is good, you will enjoy the finest food, come to me with your ears wide open, listen, and you will find life I will make an everlasting covenant with you. And we know what covenant is. It's a promise for the people of God, I will give you all the unfailing love, I promise to David. Now that's huge, right? Because that is the height of the Israelite kingdom, as I've already said, that Davidic kingdom, see how I use him to display my power among the peoples, I made him a leader among the nations, you also will come in nations you do not know and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey. So he's foretelling what's going to be about Israel and the people of God, that people are going to come up to Jerusalem, and they're even going to go out from Jerusalem to praise Israel's God, because I, the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious. Seek the Lord while you can find him, calling him now while he is near, Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Now he's saying that because he knows that's where some of us are at, we're gonna mess around and playing with things that we know are wrong. And he's saying, Listen, I'm giving you an opportunity, open your ears. Let's put those very things behind us. Let them turn to the Lord, that He may have mercy on them. So that's what's so interesting, over and over again, right? In the prophets, you will see that God Of course, condemns certain acts in ways of acting in this world. But he's always saying, Come to me, while you still have life, I used to have breath. And what do you find from our Heavenly Father, you find mercy, not wrath, not judgment, not cut your head off. But it is the idea that God will give you mercy if you'll yet turn to him. Yes, turn to our God, and He will forgive generously. Same idea that Jesus says when he comes, my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts as the Lord. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. Now, again, we've all been used that idea as a man God's ways, man, they're higher than my ways. Yes, that's true. But look at what it's really talking about. Here. It's talking about the contrast of living righteously and living wholly, in contrast to the wickedness in which we have left that we have turned from that we have repented from, and that God has forgiven us for you can see that maybe from the text clearly now. But that is that whole idea that his thoughts are higher than ours, that just means that his expectations and what He desires, and what flows from him is righteousness and purity and holiness. My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts as the Lord, My ways are far beyond anything you can imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, right, so spiritual thinking, higher thinking. So my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. This is so encouraging, because God is calling us up into this, not not using us as some sort of separation between us and our Heavenly Father. But he's calling us to realize what we can partake and be a part of, if we will yet turned to him. The rain and the snow come down from the heavens. Now again, when you see the word heaven in the scriptures, keep in mind, it can be talking about the abode of God where God dwells or lives, where we go, when we dive we're believers. But he also could just be talking about when you look up, you look up at the night heavens, that's the stars and the moons or just the day heavens idea of the sky, where the clouds are in the rain in the snow. But here they come, the rain, the snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bred for the hungry. So what he's saying is he's taking something very basic, they would have lived in a primarily agricultural society, just like we would have experienced up until the last 100 years or so most people were only one step from the farm or they actually lived on a farm. So he's using illustrations that they would understand that we can really understand as well that when those things come, what does it produce? It produces fruit or veggies in it's the same with my word, I send it out, and it always produces fruit, it will accomplish all I want it to and it will prosper wherever I send it. You will live in joy and peace. There's that word and I underlined it. Next week, we're gonna be talking about peace. But today we're talking about joy that we'll be able to live in this now again, we're still thinking let's still hold my first point. Some of us right now but I'm not right. I don't feel it right now. He's saying, you and I we will live in this. The mountains and hills will burnbursts into song and the trees of the field will clap their hands again, something that we get a sense of we get excited about, but we realize it hasn't fully been revealed, and even realized yet that also came true in our songs that we sang, right? Come Jesus come to all that, right. That's where we were going. Which leads to our first point this morning is that Jesus is coming. And so therefore joy is coming. Right. And we're going to see this in the announcement of the angels to the shepherds, that familiar story that we've been thinking about and syncing them singing about this Advent season. So let's go and go straight there. First point, Joy is coming. And now let's see how joy has come in Luke chapter two, beginning in verse eight, you may be familiar with this story. But don't let your familiarity with the story. Get over maybe what God wants to speak to you about it this morning, or whenever you're listening to this. That night, there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby. So you guys have gotten the picture. You might be heard the story, guarding their flocks of sheep, suddenly an angel the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. So there's an announcement to normal people doing normal things out in the dark night. They were terrified. But the angel reassured them. Don't be afraid. He said, I bring you what good news that will bring great. Here's that word again that we're focusing on today. Joy, to what to all people, the Savior. Now again, Israel would have thought maybe Israel centric just the idea that yeah, we're gonna prosper. But what the prophets are trying to tell Israel all the time, is that the Messiah would come through you for the whole world. All people the Savior, yes, the Messiah, the Lord has been born today were in Bethlehem, the city of David, right, that's significant. That's important. And you will recognize him by this sign, you will find the baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth lying in a manger. Again, familiar words to us. If you've been in church during Christmas season, suddenly, the angel was joined by a bass host of others. So it would have been enough for the announcement to come, it would have been enough for them to say this. And these normal people just doing the normal job, day to day which was tending sheep, but he says no, suddenly, more is going to come. The angel was joined by a vast host of others, the armies of heaven, praising God and saying what Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth, to those to whom God is pleased. We're going to talk about that piece. Next week. When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherd said to each other, let's go to Bethlehem. You think right after you've not only had an angel, but our whole heavenly angels, armies come and sing for you and to proclaim to you, let's see this thing that has happened? What's the Lord has told us about? They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph, and there was the baby lying in the manger. After seeing him the shepherds told everyone what had happened, and what the angel had said to them about this child, All who heard the shepherd story were astonished. But Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them. Often, the shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God, for all they had heard and seen, it was just as the angel had told him. So what's happened, we know the story. We know the Christmas story, we've seen it, we've read about it, we're hearing about it again, Joy has come just like the song. But it doesn't end with him in swaddling clothes. So let's think of maybe this image that we have in our heads that, you know, I just pulled from one of the latest renditions of movies called the nativity story. But it's just this whole idea that either in a cave because there was no room for them in the end, or some sort of stable that this is where the king of the universe was born. And we have this whole idea because we see it in the scriptures that he was there among the animals and among the shepherds, and that he was wrapped in swaddling clothes. But like I said, just because joy has come, we're coming back to where we feel today, what we're thinking today how we're processing this Christmas season and every Christmas season. It's just the beginning of the new work that God is doing in the world. That's the proclamation. That's why it's so good to come to church and to sing the songs and that we need to be reminded every year of similar themes and similar scriptures, because it's what gives us hope. That's what we're talking about. That's why this whole series is Christmas series is talking about the hope that is and the hope that is to come. Which leads to my final passage this morning, which is in Revelation, chapter 21, beginning in verse one. Then I saw a new heaven andA New Earth. So what's going on here? It's a redeemed Earth. So one of the things that we may not realize when you're talking about what is ultimately God doing in the universe, what is the story of the universe? It is linear. So there is a beginning, the idea that the Earth was formed out of nothing, right out of chaos. And so we have that whole idea of Genesis, chapter one, verse two, three verses there. And then what do you have, you have the whole idea that Adam and Eve, the first representatives of humanity were placed in a paradise in a garden, and that quickly, they made decisions and affected the rest of humanity than the rest of the world. And so when Jesus comes along, one of the things we're meant to see throughout all the Old Testament is there hasn't been redemption yet. We don't know what's happening. God, what are you doing in the world? How are we supposed to find hope, joy, and peace? And then Jesus, we find Jesus is the answer. The prophets didn't know that there'll be a first and second coming, they just knew the answer was Jesus, the disciples knew that Jesus was the real deal, they just didn't know that there was going to have to be a second coming, that the first coming was going to be the idea of a baby born in a manger and dying on a cross for sins. But at the Second Coming, there would be the whole realization of what was started 1000s and 1000s. And 1000s of years ago back in the garden. So when he says, the Prophet John here in Revelation, the bat, last book of the Bible, I saw a new heaven and a new earth he's talking about finally, it's that realization that we've been hearing about that we get to go back to a fully perfect garden in humanity. The old heaven, the old Earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. Again, that whole idea of the chaos being gone, I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Makes sense, right? And he's had this height of glory, this height of beauty, that he's able to peer into see, to give us hope that it's really coming, that it will come that Jesus, when he first came in a manger, that that joy that was proclaimed, it is going to be fully realized, in a later day to come. I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, Look, God's home is now among his people, he will live with them, and they will be his people, God himself will be with them. So we saw that with Jesus. Remember, Jesus said over and over again, if you want to see the God of heaven, look to me, I am. And I was there before Abraham and all these things. And so now what he's saying is, look, there's gonna come a day, when we're all gonna see, right, it's talked about in the Bible, and other places where every eye will see, every knee will bow. And so this is what's happening now is that we're seeing the full realization that God himself will be with them, and He will wipe every tear from their eyes. And there'll be no more death, or sorrow, or crying, or pain, all these things are gone forever. Now, that's what we're really waiting on. Right? Because you and I, when we gather around the table, whatever table we gather around at some point during this Christmas season, we will still feel the angst, we'll still feel the tension, we'll still realize that man, I mean, yes, we are happy that we're together. And yes, there's a joy that we look forward to, with the birth of our Savior. But but we also just feel it's it's still not right yet. This isn't what I signed up for, this still hurts all these things that are going on in our heads and our hearts. And what God is saying to the Lord Jesus Christ as he gets that, and that there is going to be a day in a time in which the joy will be fully realized, because these things will be gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said, Look, I'm making everything knew.And then he said to me, write this down for what I tell you is trustworthy and true. And he also said, It is finished. And the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, just the Greek alphabet, the first and the last letter, so it's just that idea of the beginning and the end, to all who are thirsty. Where did we hear this before? Wherever we heard this before about thirst, and about the next line? I will freely from the springs of water of life, give? Where did we hear that before? We heard it in Isaiah, we saw it in the life of Jesus when he came in he was on earth. He talked about this whole idea that anyone is able to come that the shepherds themselves, what is it just just a normal in some ways lowly occupation, they were there for the pronouncement. Even at the end, you'll see that anyone who's thirsty, anyone who's hungry can come, All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings and I will be their God, and they will be my children or my people. So what's the third and final point this morning is that our joy will be made complete. It will be and that's really the hope is that youEven if you and I don't feel very happy or joyful right now, or even if we know we're going to step into situations this holiday season, that are going to be hard because it's the first one without our loved one around the table, or it's gonna be hard because of the way my mommy or my auntie or whoever acts or it's gonna be hard because of it's been tight this year because of inflation or because of some other event that happened in your life and money, whatever it is, we have a hope that our joint will be made complete that now we see partially, but soon, we will fully see and fully know, which gets us to this image that we get to go to, which is some idea that we will get to eat back around the table with Jesus Himself. Right? You remember he when he was with his disciples at the Last Supper, and when he really shared meals, even in his resurrected state, on the road to Emmaus, you always get this idea, all the way to revelation that we will be at the banquet table with the lamb, and that he will come in and eat with us and that we will eat with him. That is when our joy will be fully complete. Do you ever thought about that? When you sit at the table? It is and it may be a Clark gridwall moment or some sort of family situation like that. But where are we heading, we're heading to a table in a banquet table with our King and that whether we can afford this, this drink that's at the table, whether we can afford this food that's at the table or not, it will be freely given to us. That is the hope. And that is the prayer. I don't want to end there because we are in El Paso. So as you look at this, you may think I don't know about the grades. And I don't know about the wooden drinks. I want to go to the final passage and so we can really understand this this morning. Okay, this is what it's gonna be like, Okay, some version of this is what we're going to be able to eat and partake of together at the marriage supper with the lamb. It will not be boring, Heaven will not be boring you and I will not be lacking or wanting anymore. Everything will be perfect and beautiful and in place for us to enjoy forever and ever with him forever and ever. And doesn't that bring you hope and joy this morning? Whatever it is that you and I are going through. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank you, that you love us that you care for us that you give us Inklings and Taste of Your glory right now. That as we pray and as we sing song, and as we've heard your word that we have hope, and we have joy, even if it is a hope and a joy that's deferred right now that we know it's coming, that you are deliver are coming you have come and you will come for us again. We thank you for that. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

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