Sermon Extras

SERMON NOTES

Advent Week 1 HOPE- 2021 

INTRO> It’s that time of year again! Every year when we start Advent I always want to remind us of what season we are actually entering into and what this means: 

• The Word “Advent” simply means, “the arrival of”. The Church has historically set aside the four weeks leading up to December 25th to prepare for the arrival of Christ. 
1. We look back to see what God has done. 
2. We look around to see what God is doing.
3. We look ahead to see what God will do. 

APP>In a way this season is suppose to be in opposition to the rest of the world. Think about it, it’s the darkest time of year, the coldest time of year, the time of year when the leaves die off the tree. Then, there is the Church, bright with lights and candles… full of life with its evergreens and people singing and feasting.. why? 

“The church lives in Advent. That is to say, the church lives between two advents. Jesus Christ has come; Jesus Christ will come. We do not know the day or hour. If you find this tension almost unbearable at times, then you understand the Christian life. We live at what the New Testament depicts as the turn of the ages. In Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God is in head-on collision with the power of darkness. The point of impact is where the Christians take their stand. That is why it hurts. That’s why the church takes a beating. This is what Scripture tells us. No wonder there are many who then fall away; the church is located precisely where the battle line is drawn. It is the Advent clock that tells the church what time it is. The church that keeps Advent is the church that is most truly herself. The church is not suppose to be prosperous and comfortable and established. It is Advent- it is dark and lonely and cold and the master is away from home. Yet he will come. Keep awake.” Fleming Rutledge, Means of Grace pg 5

APP> That’s what Advent is! Traditionally during this season the church has used 4 words as sign posts to help us in this journey. They are 1) Hope 2) Love 3) Joy 4) Peace So our word or topic for today is Hope, the hope candle represent the OT prophets who waiting in hope for the coming of the messiah. 

I think there is great confusion around what we think HOPE is. Even when I hear my kids use the word, “I hope we can get some candy today” 

Hope is not: 

• a wishful maybe. 
• a cheesy motivation. 
• a magic medicine. 

CONTEXT> The word hope is used a total of 164x in the Bible. The word that is most commonly used in the NT, and in our passage today is the word ἐλπίς (elpis) ‘hope’ and it means “expectation”. 

Biblical Hope is… 

• Living- 1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…”
• An Anchor- Hebrews 6:19 “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain..”
• A Blessings – Titus 2:13 “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ..”

Biblical Hope is the confident expectation that what God has said will happen. 

*ILL> Maybe this will help, picture HOPE as a ROPE (the rope represent your life)

APP> I want to dig a little deeper here. When it comes to hope the question is not, “Do you have hope?” The bible makes it VERY clear that everyone has hope. “The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.” Psalm 33:17…Psalm 62:10 “Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

The question is, “What is your hope in?” 

• Psalm 42:5 “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation”
• Or, “What is your rope tied to?”

CONTEXT> In our passage today, it is very clear what Paul is saying that our rope should be tied to… 2:13 “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

• In this verse, Paul is telling us that our rope is tied to the return of Jesus! 
• People are often surprised to learn that references to the Second Coming outnumber references to the first coming by a factor of eight to one. Scholars have identified 1,845 different biblical references to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, Christ’s return is emphasized in no less than 17 books, and the New Testament authors speak of it in 23 of 27 books. The New Testament mentions His return in 7 out of every 10 chapters. In other words, 1 out of every 30 verses in the New Testament proclaims that Jesus Christ is coming back to this earth. The Lord Himself referred to the Second Coming 21 times.

Why is Paul so confident? Because v11.. “HAS appeared” 

I mean… look at the text…. these verse are very ONE SIDED…

• God comes to us
• God brings salvation to all
• God trains us
• God makes us holy
• God returns to us
• God gave himself up for us
• God redeems us

Our Hope is NOT in the fact that we are holding onto God. 

***The Barcelona Olympics of 1992 provided one of track and field’s most incredible moments. Britain’s Derek Redmond had dreamed all his life of winning a gold medal in the 400-meter race, and his dream was in sight as the gun sounded in the semifinals at Barcelona. He was running the race of his life and could see the finish line as he rounded the turn into the backstretch. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain go up the back of his leg. He fell face first onto the track with a torn right hamstring. Sports Illustrated recorded the dramatic events: As the medical attendants were approaching, Redmond fought to his feet. “It was animal instinct,”‘ he would say later. He set out hopping, in a crazed attempt to finish the race. When he reached the stretch, a large man in a T-shirt came out of the stands, hurled aside a security guard and ran to Redmond, embracing him. It was Jim Redmond, Derek’s father. “You don’t have to do this,” he told his weeping son. “Yes, I do,” said Derek. “Well, then,” said Jim, “we’re going to finish this together.” And they did. Fighting off security men, the son’s head sometimes buried in his father’s shoulder, they stayed in Derek’s lane all the way to the end, as the crowd gaped, then rose and howled and wept. Derek didn’t walk away with the gold medal, but he walked away with an incredible memory of a father who, when he saw his son in pain, left his seat in the stands to help him finish the race.

Big Idea> Our Hope is in the fact that our Father is holding onto us.