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[979.52 --> 980.48] and it keeps you up at night. |
[980.84 --> 982.52] Or perhaps it's economic pressures |
[982.52 --> 984.44] that you see all around the globe as well, |
[984.48 --> 985.18] as well as in Canada, |
[985.18 --> 987.88] and you think, do our kids have a future in this world? |
[988.48 --> 990.38] Or perhaps you think of climate change. |
[990.46 --> 992.54] You think, man, what's going to change in the future |
[992.54 --> 993.84] as things develop, |
[993.96 --> 996.16] and we have all these new challenges related to climate? |
[997.08 --> 999.74] Or perhaps your challenges are closer to home, |
[1000.44 --> 1002.32] as many of ours are, right? |
[1002.88 --> 1004.14] It's divorce in the family. |
[1004.14 --> 1007.30] It's kids having problems |
[1007.30 --> 1009.18] that you as a parent feel unable to solve. |
[1009.30 --> 1010.84] Kids walking away from the faith. |
[1010.92 --> 1011.66] It's the loneliness. |
[1012.30 --> 1014.18] It's the brokenness of families. |
[1014.32 --> 1016.36] It's the grief that comes with losing a loved one. |
[1016.54 --> 1018.42] It's the sickness from the cancer diagnosis. |
[1018.76 --> 1021.36] All of these things etch away in their own way |
[1021.36 --> 1024.68] at our hope for a future that's better than the present. |
[1025.60 --> 1027.18] And I think if we're honest with ourselves, |
[1027.32 --> 1028.30] even this morning, |
[1028.90 --> 1031.74] there are so many things that burden us to a place of saying, |
[1031.74 --> 1034.08] do I really have hope? |
[1035.52 --> 1036.92] And it seems to me then |
[1036.92 --> 1041.46] that we need to allow Isaiah to minister to us. |
[1042.38 --> 1043.98] And Isaiah's not doing anything novel. |
[1044.14 --> 1046.00] The New Testament writers do the same thing. |
[1046.54 --> 1049.50] They instill hope in us by pointing us back. |
[1050.38 --> 1051.66] In their own way, |
[1051.78 --> 1053.38] the New Testament writers are all saying, |
[1053.64 --> 1054.60] have you not seen? |
[1055.30 --> 1057.84] Have you not heard what God has done |
[1057.84 --> 1060.26] in this sending of Jesus? |
[1061.74 --> 1064.10] And let me just pause and help us remember |
[1064.10 --> 1067.58] that the reason we're here in worship this morning |
[1067.58 --> 1071.46] is because God made good on His promise, right? |
[1071.86 --> 1073.34] That child came. |
[1074.32 --> 1075.70] That promise that Isaiah made |
[1075.70 --> 1077.48] and many others of a servant who would come |
[1077.48 --> 1078.82] to take up the rule of God |
[1078.82 --> 1079.98] and establish His justice |
[1079.98 --> 1083.22] came with the birth of Jesus Christ. |
[1084.20 --> 1085.44] God made good on it. |
[1085.46 --> 1086.70] And the reason we're worshiping here |
[1086.70 --> 1088.30] is because something happened |
[1088.30 --> 1090.14] that shows that God is faithful |
[1090.14 --> 1091.66] and we can have hope. |
[1093.22 --> 1095.08] I don't know if you need this as much as I do, |
[1095.56 --> 1096.56] but on a regular basis, |
[1096.70 --> 1098.86] I'm trying to make a part of my daily practice |
[1098.86 --> 1100.92] giving gratitude to God |
[1100.92 --> 1102.70] for the finished work of Jesus on the cross. |
[1103.62 --> 1107.02] Because I am not necessarily optimistic all the time. |
[1107.44 --> 1108.42] And I think the older you get, |
[1108.48 --> 1110.06] the more reasons you have to despair. |
[1110.62 --> 1112.84] And I find that I don't have a lot of things in my life |
[1112.84 --> 1113.46] that will make me think, |
[1113.54 --> 1115.26] yeah, I have a security because of this, |
[1115.26 --> 1118.62] other than the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. |
[1119.70 --> 1120.84] And if you're someone who's struggling |
[1120.84 --> 1123.32] with whatever it is about the Christian faith, |
[1123.60 --> 1125.50] start with Jesus and the resurrection |
[1125.50 --> 1126.66] and move from there |
[1126.66 --> 1128.26] because everything hinges |
[1128.26 --> 1130.36] on whether or not there is an empty grave. |
[1130.98 --> 1131.90] And I'll say at Advent |
[1131.90 --> 1133.46] that the cradle of Advent |
[1133.46 --> 1136.26] always moves to the cross of Easter, right? |
[1136.26 --> 1138.00] Jesus was sent into the world |
[1138.00 --> 1140.30] to accomplish salvation for the world |
[1140.30 --> 1142.00] by defeating the power of sin, |
[1142.36 --> 1143.56] overcoming death itself, |
[1143.88 --> 1146.22] and restoring all things in his resurrection life. |
[1147.64 --> 1150.16] And hope is built only around the fact |
[1150.16 --> 1154.38] that Jesus Christ gained victory over the cross. |
[1154.80 --> 1156.46] He gained victory over Satan |
[1156.46 --> 1158.20] and the tomb is empty. |
[1158.86 --> 1160.48] I think of all these passages, |
[1160.66 --> 1162.38] specifically 1 Corinthians 15, |
[1162.68 --> 1164.36] where Paul's just giving this beautiful teaching |
[1164.36 --> 1165.00] on the resurrection. |
[1165.18 --> 1166.96] Then he says, hey, if it didn't happen, |
[1167.22 --> 1169.06] we're in serious trouble as Christians. |
[1169.06 --> 1171.20] If the resurrection did not happen, |
[1171.52 --> 1174.18] we are to be pitied and mocked above all others |
[1174.18 --> 1176.24] and our hope is in vain. |
[1177.12 --> 1178.38] And the reason he says that |
[1178.38 --> 1181.62] is because he knows Jesus Christ rose from the dead. |
[1182.26 --> 1183.24] And because of that, |
[1183.82 --> 1185.88] we have hope for the future. |
[1187.08 --> 1189.42] I invite you, even over the coming weeks, |
[1189.80 --> 1192.14] to constantly find ways to look back |
[1192.14 --> 1193.86] to the finished work of Jesus |
[1193.86 --> 1195.82] as the thing that gives you hope. |
[1196.90 --> 1198.02] A writer I quite love, |
[1198.02 --> 1199.04] his name is Leslie Newbegin. |
[1199.50 --> 1200.98] Missionary in India for 40 years, |
[1201.08 --> 1201.92] came back to Europe, |
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