Nov 30

First Week of Advent:  Hope

Advent Candle 1 stands for hope, and specifically, the Israelites’ hope that the promised Messiah would come. They had been waiting for the Messiah for centuries, wondering what he would look like and what he would do when he arrived. When Jesus was born, that hope was finally fulfilled – “a prophet like you” (Deuteronomy 18:15) had come. How Jesus fit the prophecies the Israelites had been reading for centuries would become the critical conflict of His ministry – whether He fulfilled them and whether people had been reading them correctly.

This candle is also called the “Prophet’s Candle.”  In all their messages of judgment on the people for their sins, the prophet’s also give messages of hope.  Hope that God has no forsaken us, hope that there is a future that will be better, and hope that God’s promise to bless all nations will be fulfilled. 

 Most scholars conservatively estimate that there are over 300 Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament, some going back to Genesis. The prophecies gave specific details about the Messiah, details like:

  • He would be born to a virgin mother (Isaiah 7:14)
  • He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)
  • He would spend time in Egypt (Hosea 11:1)
  • He would come from the house (i.e., the family line) of David (Ezekiel 37:24)
  • He would start his ministry in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1-2)
  • He would be the figure that Daniel referred to as “the Son of Man” (Daniel 7:13-14)
  • He would teach “hidden things, things from of old” (Psalm 78:1-2)
  • He would be holy, a rock that would make people stumble and fall because they didn’t believe in him (Isaiah 8:14)
  • He would be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)
  • God would call him, “my son” (2 Samuel 7:14) (Psalm 2:1-9)
  • He would gather the Israelites back together (Isaiah 11:12)

The fact that the prophecies described God calling the Messiah his son and also that he would be called “mighty God,” became especially important. To be God’s son and called God himself would mean that the Messiah wasn’t just a new prophet like Elijah or an ordained warrior like David. The Messiah would be a divine figure. Since falsely claiming to be God was blasphemy, anyone claiming to be the Messiah had pretty big shoes to fill.

Pastor Greg

Nov 22

The New Covenant and Thanksgiving

Jeremiah 31:31-33

The prophecy from Jeremiah this week takes us to the Lord’s Supper.  When Jesus said of the cup, “This is the new covenant in my blood.”   When they finished the supper, they sang a hymn.  We often don’t reflect on that, other than singing “Bless Be the Tie” when we finish Communion.  Yet, they sang a specific Psalm, one of the Songs of Ascent, which are Psalms of Thanksgiving sung by pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem and the Temple.

As Jesus heads to the garden and his betrayal, he sang a thanksgiving to his Father.  In our thanksgiving, we don’t ignore the challenges and the trials we are going through, but we do reflect on the presence of our God that has promised “Never to leave you or forsake you.” 

Thanksgiving as a national holiday began in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War.  In his proclamation of Thanksgiving, President Lincoln wrote:

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have
been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown
in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which
preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us.
We have vainly imagined . . . that all these blessings were produced by some
superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success,
we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming
and preserving graced, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

Thanksgiving focuses on God and blessings we enjoy from God.  Take this as your focus this week.

Pastor Greg

Nov 14

Send Me?

Isaiah 6:1-8

In the World War II movie Fury, Shia LaBeouf’s character, appropriately nicknamed as “Bible,” because of his penchant for quoting biblical verses, sits at the gunner position of a Sherman tank during the final weeks of World War II.1

As the crew awaits near-certain death from an approaching German battalion, “Bible” quotes to the crew:

“There’s a Bible verse I think about sometimes; many times; it goes, ‘Then I heard the voice of the LORD, saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ (Troubled, LaBeouf’s character pauses and clears his throat). And I said, ‘Here am I; send me.’”

The sermon’s text this week is often called the “Call of Isaiah.”  Isaiah is probably in despair and confusion.  The righteous king has died and the future does not look as good.  But instead of looking at the circumstances, God gives Isaiah a vision of his holiness from the Temple.  Then God asks who will go and speak for God.  Isaiah, with his failures and flaw volunteers to be God’s messenger.

How many times are we are so caught up in our circumstances that we can not look up and see the greatness of our God?  Yes, God wants to use us, to use you.  Even with all our lacking, we are the ones that God wants to fulfill the tasks that need to be done.  The real question is, “Are you a willing volunteer?”

The character from the movie realizes that he and his crew are the ones that are called to face the enemy and keep them from advancing.  Jesus quotes Isaiah 6 in Luke 4:17, and says his task is the call of Isaiah 6.  So, each one of us that follow Christ, must also face the call if Isaiah 6.

Pastor Greg

Nov 08

When God is too Gracious

Jonah 3

This is the third sermon dealing with God’s acceptance of those beyond Israel.  Human conflict is often fueled by a fear of “the other.”  And it was easy for the ancient Israelites to assume that God approved only of them.  Yet, over and over again, God breaks the barriers down that keep God’s love and God’s grace from reaching those that are not, in our opinion, worthy of God’s love. 

Jonah’s experience again is another challenge to God’s intention to send his grace to those beyond the pale of God’s light.  First, he refuses to go, then he gets mad when he is successful, then he has to be taught a lesson by God in the end.  Then we are not told if the prophet changed his mind about God.

Again, our church’s decision to be Open and Affirming is a difficult position.  Not because it conflicts with the gospel (which it doesn’t), but because we must be continually searching our heart to root out any prejudices against someone different from us.  This is the hardest position for us to live up with: because it requires us to continually to be humble.  Humility is a character of Christ that we are invited to also take upon ourselves.  Matthew 11:28-30:

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Pastor Greg

Watch for closings and delay messages
during the winter months on TV Channels 3, 5 and 8.

Twinsburg First Congregational Church