Sermon Extras

SERMON NOTES

ADVENT 2022- Prepare Him Room- Week 1

REVIEW> 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. 

• We look back to see what God has done. 

• We look around to see what God is doing.

• We look ahead to see what God will do. 

• “Christmas makes us cozy. Advent calls us to stay awake.” – N.T. Wright

• Also- just a quick word to families and parents. This season is an incredible opportunity for us to disciple our kids and maybe you are just like me and miss those opportunities sometimes, in our devotional Paul David Tripp said this: “In a culture that uses this season to get children to dream about how their lives would be made better by possessing a certain material thing, where Christmas has been reduced to a shopper’s nightmare and a retailers dream, it is vital to draw the wonder of our children away from the next toy and toward the wonder of the coming of our great Lord and Savior, Jesus.” 

INTRO> When it comes to this Christmas story, there are so many character to focus on! so many great stories! There is one character that I want to focus on this Advent season, that in all reality, would be the last character that we would choose to focus on…. and that’s John The Baptist. [ Does the name Bill Livingood sound familiar to you? The odds are is that you have seen him and you have ever heard him before. One of the things that I alway love to watch is the Presidents State of the Union dress, no matter the president. But there is a moment that is so cool to me, it’s the moment that the Sargent At Arms, walks into a busy, loud room and says boldly and loudly.. “Ladies and Gentlemen.. The President Of The United States!” That’s Bill Livingood and he is in the history books and the longest running guy to do that! 18yrs!] 

CONTEXT> That’s who John the Baptist is… He is the guy that steps onto the scene and says, “Ladies and Gentlemen… The King of Kings and Lord of Lords!” 

John The Baptist:

• Birth was prophesied in the OT multiple times.

• He is mentioned over 60x in the scriptures.

• All four gospels begin with John The Baptist.

• John is related to Jesus, possibly second cousins. 

• John Baptizes Jesus. 

• Jesus said that, John the Baptist is the greatest person to ever be born. Matthew 11:11

• John is a PK, his Dad Zechariah is a priest. 

• John dies a martyrs death by getting his head cut off at the request of King Herod.

APP> So it begs the question… Why study the life of John The Baptist for Advent? Well… all of that begins actually where the OT story ends… 

• “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” Malachi 4:5-6

APP> Why is this such a big deal? Because after this… there is what is known as “400 years of silence”. There was no revelation from God between Malachi to Matthew. I mean… can you even imagine the people of God during this time? 400 YEARS! Twice as old as America! 

• Then it happens.. did you see it in the text? “And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.  But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. Luke 1:11-13 There it is! the 400 years of silence is broken by a messenger of God saying, “God has heard your prayers!” 

Big Idea > Advent assures us that though God is silent, he is never absent. 

“Though the voice of God was silent, the hand of God was actively directing the course of events leading up to the birth of John the Baptist.” – MacArthur Study Bible 

APP> What does this mean?

• Oftentimes God uses silence to speak the loudest.

• “He says, “Be still, and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10 *ILL> teachers you know the power of silence, in a class, when a teacher is starting and is silent, it gets your attention!

 “In quiet and silence the faithful soul makes progress, the hidden meanings of the Scriptures become clear, and the eyes weep with devotion every night. Even as one learns to grow still, one draws closer to the Creator and farther from the hurly-burly of the World. The Imitation of Christ.” Thomas Akempis 

2) Continue to do what God last told you to do. 

• “Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.” Luke 1:8-9

• “…But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard.” Luke 1:

*ILL> There is a story told during WW2 of a troop that was on the front lines of fighting, down in the fox holes. They had run out of supplies and ammo, the sergeant had to make a call, he told 2 soldiers to stay, while they went back and that they would return. The two ended up staying for 2 days and 2 nights. When the troops came back and they were later interviewed they asked, “How did you make it through” the two replied, “Our sergeant gave us an order and we knew he would come back.” 

Big Idea > Advent assures us that though God is silent, he is never absent.