The Gathering Surf City

Yay. Alrighty.

So we begin the Advent season,

right? I'm going to ask this
question all morning long.

How many of you grew up in a worship
practice tradition where you

celebrated the Advent wreath and
its recognition and all that?

Raise your hand.

Okay, see,

here's what I found out.

If you grew up in that tradition,

it's hard for you to imagine that
people in worship as a part of a

congregation didn't grow
up in that tradition.

I mean,

I grew up very Baptist,

y'all. We didn't do that.

I never saw an Advent wreath
until I was in high school.

Didn't know what it meant.

Didn't know anything about it.

Didn't know there was candles
and all that sort of thing.

And so in high school,

right around my junior senior year,

somehow like that,

I was.

I was dating a girl,

coincidentally. Her name
was Rhonda Jones,

but it wasn't her.

But that's how I remembered her name
from the minute I met her.

But anyway,

this girl I was dating,

she said,

well, Christmas Eve,

we always go to midnight Christmas
Eve candlelight worship,

right? That was the first time I was
ever introduced to an Advent wreath

and the whole Christmas
Eve worship time.

Because, I mean,

growing up in the congregation
that I grew up in,

the place I grew up,

we didn't do Christmas Eve worship.

We didn't do any of that stuff.

And then when I moved to Maryland
to pastor a church up there,

they did Christmas Eve worship.

And leading up to it,

every Sunday was planned.

So they told me what to preach.

I was preaching the candles
of the Advent.

And so I've made that a practice
on and off through the years,

and we haven't done it here
in several years.

So this year,

as we were finishing up Hebrews and
moving into our priorities,

and then as we got ready to finish our
gratitude messages leading up to

Thanksgiving, I thought,

you know,

all four Sundays of
the Advent wreath,

fall in December.

This year,

this December 1st.

Welcome to December.

Glad you're here.

Thank you.

All right,

somebody's already told me I have to
do the woo because the video just

doesn't get it.

Sorry, Kyle.

But anyway,

so we are going to celebrate
through these weeks.

And really,

the idea of Advent means the coming
or the expected coming of Christ.

And so the candles,

the weeks,

the messages that lead up to Christmas
really kind of focus our attention

on the birth of Christ.

And so the first candle
of the Advent wreath.

And different traditions
do different things.

Were y'all aware of that?

Some wreath,

it's called the Candle of Hope.

Some people celebrate The
Prophet's candle.

So I call it the Prophet's
Candle of Hope.

Okay. I just figure I'll roll
all of it up into one.

Alrighty. So this is the way I've
done it over the years.

And I look at this and
I think to myself,

alright, so the message
of the first candle,

the first Sunday of the Advent,

the message that we're supposed to really
consider and focus on is God's

hope and God's promise
to us of hope.

And so I started considering
these things,

I was like,

all right,

so the prophets,

if you go back and read through the prophets
and a lot of the Christmas

prophecy, the birth
of Jesus prophecy,

the Messianic prophecy we find
in the book of Isaiah.

And so I kind of wanted to focus there
over the years in the book of

Isaiah.

So we're going to look at three passages
basically in the book of Isaiah

this morning.

And we start out with condition.

And there's a reason I wanted us to
look at this particular passage in

Isaiah, chapter 2,

verses 2 to 5.

I'll read this to you.

He said,

now it shall come to pass in the latter
days that the mountain of the

Lord's house shall be established on
the top of the mountains and shall

be exalted above the hills,

and all nations shall flow to it.

Many people shall come and say,

come and let us go to the
mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways and
we shall walk in his paths.

For out of Zion shall go forth the
law and the word of the Lord.

From Jerusalem he shall judge between
the nations and rebuke many people.

They shall beat their swords
into plowshares,

their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation shall not lift up
sword against nation,

neither shall they learn
war anymore.

Sounds like hope.

Would you pray with me,

Father, today we thank you and praise
you again that we get to gather in

this place.

And God indeed we celebrate hope.

We celebrate God,

that our hope is found
in you and only you.

We can hear different messages and different
perspectives and different

ideas about what hope is,

what hope looks like,

who brings hope,

who gives hope.

Where do we find hope?

And yet God as your kids,

as your people,

as the family of God,

this fellowship of believers and
gathering of the saints.

God, we thank you that we know
our hope is in you and God,

that you have given us
through your word,

a promise,

a message of hope.

And so God,

my prayer this morning
is that we hear you,

hear your voice as you speak hope
through the message of Isaiah.

And we Pray it in Jesus name.

Amen. Isaiah was a.

Thank you.

I heard that.

Amen. All right.

Isaiah was a royal prophet.

Isaiah was a prophet to the kings,

to the royal family.

He was also found to be in the lineage
of the kings of Jerusalem.

And so his message was not a countryside
message like Amos the fig

picker. Okay,

just so y'all know,

one of these days I might
preach on Amos.

But anyhow.

But Isaiah was prophet to the kings,

and his period of prophetic ministry
was during three of the kings.

And so the dates for the book
or the writings of Isaiah,

they vary.

Somewhere between 700 B.C.

and 500 B.C.

you know,

different scholars,

different people piece it together.

And I just don't argue with.

I just know this.

Isaiah brought a message to
the leadership Israel.

And his message was a
message of warning,

but it was also a message of hope.

And right in chapter two,

we see this message of
the hope to come.

Now, we know that there's some things
that happen between these early,

before Christ days,

because I don't put the
E on the end of that.

Y'all notice that BC stands
for before Christ,

not current era,

just so y'all know.

I guess that's politically
incorrect.

All right,

so Isaiah is giving us
the hope to come.

What's the hope to come?

If we're gonna.

We're gonna look into
Isaiah chapter two.

If we're gonna consider what God wants
us to know through the message of

Isaiah, through the.

Through the prophetic
ministry of Isaiah,

is that one day God rules
from his mountain,

right? Now,

guess what?

We all kind of want to
look at it and go,

how about today,

right? We want it to be now.

And God's people were the same way.

The Jewish people,

the nation of Israel,

they were the same way.

They wanted to be.

They were anticipating.

They were looking forward to it.

And because they were studying
from creation,

Torah curse,

all of those things,

all through the.

The hundreds and thousands of years
that they were looking at all this

going, yes,

you know,

God is going to redeem his creation.

God is going to set
up his leadership.

God is going to rule.

There will be a king who will rule
from the mountain of God.

And that's what they
were anticipating,

man. They're looking forward to it.

They're ready for it to be that way,

right? It's a promise of hope.

It is a hope to come.

And folks,

I'll just tell you from.

From 700 or 500 to 2024,

we're still looking forward to God's
rulership of his creation.

Now we Know that with the advent
of Christ and the death,

burial and resurrection of Christ
and Christ on his throne today,

we know that God is in charge,

he's in control.

But let's consider a few things.

The Jewish people from
the time of Isaiah,

you see,

that was some of the period of time
when Israel had a whole lot of

influence.

That little strip of land right there
on the eastern side of the

Mediterranean Sea is a very,

very important little strip of land.

Because you couldn't get from Egypt,

that empire area,

to the Babylonian,

Persian, Medo,

all that area,

without going through Jerusalem,

without going through Israel.

It was a thoroughfare.

So people want to know,

how is it that Israel and
the kingdom of Saul,

David and Solomon,

how did it become so influential?

How did it become so important?

Well, guess what,

everybody had to pay tribute to the nation
of Israel just to traverse the

world, right?

And so,

yeah, Israel,

this little bitty 80
mile strip of land,

was so important to the
world's communication,

economy and everything.

And that's how Israel became
such a conduit of wealth.

All right?

And so Isaiah is speaking into the
kings following the split of the

kingdoms.

Actually, no,

actually, during the bad
years of the kings,

some of them.

But what we see is that Isaiah has audience
with the kings to tell them,

this is what God would have you do,

this is what God would call you to.

So I started looking into that.

By the time Jesus is born,

500 years later,

700 years later,

whatever it is,

guess what?

The kings aren't in control anymore.

There's a king,

but he's a sellout.

Can I just,

I'm going to put it bluntly for you.

Rome is an occupying force,

right? They've set up a puppet
king named Herod.

And 10%,

roughly about 10% of the nation benefits
and profits from this puppet

rulership under the
authority of Rome.

And so you got King Herod and you got
this religious establishment and

you got these governing authorities
and you got this,

this sort of divided population.

And can I just put it this way,

about 90% of the nation of Israel
just hated both of them.

They didn't like Rome and
they didn't like Herod,

you see.

And so you've got these people who are
just waiting on the promises of

God to be fulfilled.

Where will it happen,

when will it happen,

how will it happen,

what will it look like?

And they're waiting on this king to come
riding in on this grand stallion

and just start slaying all his enemies
with swords in both hands and all

this kind of stuff.

And God didn't do it that way,

y'all.

There is hope to come.

You know,

I think about what.

Can I just say,

I'm glad it's December.

I'm glad November's over.

I'm glad certain conversations
are over.

Okay. I'm just glad.

But I tell you what.

I see some similarities.

I see mistrust.

I see conflict.

I see hatred between people.

I'm going,

folks, if we could,

if we would put our hope in God,

trust God's provision,

trust God's gift to us,

you see,

then I think we could find a path that
our priorities and goals need to

please God.

One of my prayers,

and I've got this noted to mention
when I pray for our country,

state, county,

town, my prayer always
resembles this.

God bend our leadership to your will.

Bend our cause.

Guess what?

We live in a very selfish world.

A selfish country,

a selfish state,

county and town.

Okay, can I just go ahead
and be blunt like that?

Folks seek their own way
in what they want,

when what we need to be praying,

and particularly as God's people,

we need to be God.

What is it that you desire?

What pleases you?

What brings you glory?

What proclaims your kingdom
and the good news?

The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

How can I be a part of that?

You see,

that's what God's called us to.

Isaiah, chapter 9,

verses 2 and 3.

What is it we're hoping for?

What's the hope God's promised?

What is it you're looking
for this Christmas?

I mean,

here we are,

four weeks out,

right?

Four and a half weeks.

Something like that.

If this is the first.

Yeah, something like
three and a half.

I don't know.

I'm confused.

Anyway, what hope do we find
in this Christmas season?

Okay. The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light.

Those who dwelt in the land
of the shadow of death,

upon them a light has shined.

You have multiplied the nation
and increased its joy.

They rejoice before you according to
the joy of harvest as men rejoice

when they divide the spoil.

Well, I just told you these
are the same people,

that they don't like each other.

They don't like their leadership.

They don't like the empire of Rome.

They're struggling.

And most likely,

here's what they're subjected to.

And if you identify with this,

okay, fine.

Most of this population,

they're agrarian.

They're farmers.

A lot of them raise sheep or goats
or grapes or olives or grain.

And the Roman Empire,

through its puppet.

Sorry about that.

Through its Puppet king Herod.

They have to produce one what,

basket, bushel,

something of grapes for themselves
and one as taxes.

That's a 50% tax.

But that was the way the culture
worked back then.

They had to work their land or what
land was entrusted to them,

and they could keep half what they produced
and had to give the other

half to the government.

Right. That creates kind
of a hostility,

especially when maybe you're having a
bad year or a bad harvest or some

kind of plague hits your livestock
and that sort of thing.

And so God's people are
looking for relief.

They're looking for the hope that God's
promised for hundreds of years.

They're looking for the Messiah,

the king that would reign,

the king of kings.

And we're going to get to that
passage in just a minute.

The idea is that they're
looking for hope.

Do you know people in your life this
morning that are looking for hope?

Who's sharing hope with them?

Do they expect to find it
on the evening news?

Do they expect to find it in what we
used to call water cooler talk?

You know,

when you work in a place that
has a water cooler,

everybody stands around and talks.

Now we have bottled water and
we take it to our desk.

You see,

my point is that if there is going
to be the communication of hope,

who's going to communicate it?

Who's taking hope to the world?

I mean,

we've created such a system
where we're told,

I don't believe it's true,

but we're told that,

oh, you can't talk about faith,

religion, God or Jesus.

You know,

my. Rather,

I don't believe that's true,

folks. I believe we are called
to talk about our faith,

our Savior,

the kingdom of God,

the hope that we have in him.

And I don't really care where we are.

I think we're supposed
to talk about it.

I think if my neighbor down the street
needs to hear a message of hope,

then on our street,

who should be speaking hope
to that neighbor?

I should.

Right. I need to be taking
hope to people.

I need to be telling them,

guess what?

God's still on his throne.

He was on his throne when he gave
this message to Isaiah.

When Isaiah gave this message to.

To a beaten and burdened people,

to a people who were being
misled by some bad kings.

And then along would
come a good king.

And then the Roman Empire
steps in and occupies,

and Isaiah is giving them
a message of guess what?

There will be born a child,

a light in darkness.

Isaiah 9,

6 and 7.

So there is A hope to come.

A hope for what?

What is it that we're hoping for?

We're hoping that God takes charge
of this mess we've made,

right?

What will that hope look like?

What is it that I am looking for?

Folks, I'll just be honest.

I've been preaching,

oh, 30 years now.

I've been in ministry
40 something years.

I can't wait to see everybody.

My voice is cracking.

Sorry. I can't wait to see everybody
around me just bowing and praising

God together,

right? Sunday mornings.

I picked.

I generally pick on Sunday mornings,

y'all. I did something this
morning I don't ever do.

I press the snooze button.

My alarm went off at 4:30.

Coffee's not ready yet,

right? Ten minutes later,

the alarm went off again.

Right about the same time the
coffee pot went beep,

beep, beep,

beep. I was like,

okay, I can get up now,

right? But when I got up,

I put on my headphones and I got my
phone out and I hit a song that I

particularly enjoy right
now called Trust in God.

And I just listen to it.

Just trust in God.

I don't care what the headlines
say this morning.

Just trust in God.

I don't care what's going on
in the world around me.

Just trust in God.

I don't know what the guy,

you know,

I tell a joke a lot of
Sunday mornings that,

you know,

you guys let me be the pastor here,

man. I am so blessed that you
let me be the pastor.

And what's cool about that
is you keep showing up.

Thank you.

I love it,

man. All Sunday morning.

So on my Facebook,

he says,

yay, it's Sunday.

I love it,

right? But I want to see everybody celebrating
the birth of Christ and

the hope and the promise that we have
in redemption and salvation and

that no matter what's going
on in the world around us,

whether it's here or halfway
across the world,

you know,

halfway.

Once you get past halfway,

you're coming back.

Y'all know that,

right? Wherever it is in the world,

God is on his throne.

And he has given us a way and
a means of salvation.

And that's Jesus.

And the person that's suffering,

the person that's hurting,

needs to understand that
Christ is the answer.

Maybe not for the specific
moment or suffering,

but in the promise that God has given
us for his creation in the world we

live in.

You see that,

man? This world can spin
out of control.

I tell people,

you know,

if you got Jesus,

that's all you need.

And they go,

yeah, but what about lunch?

Well, that's a very real
kind of thing.

I'm not saying it's not.

And so in the 70s,

for some of you,

that's ancient history.

But I did watch a video this week that
said if you lived in the 70s,

you remember these things.

How many of you watch those videos
just for the fun of it,

right?

I remember a Christmas toy back in the
70s that they called a clacker.

Anybody remember the clacker?

These two really hard,

sort of.

And you put your eye out
with those things.

So they outlawed them,

right?

But going back,

I think about these things and I go,

all right,

so growing up and coming through life
and thinking about how it is that

God has shown a way always of what he
is providing for the message of our

hope, right?

And I look at that and I go,

wow. Isaiah 9,

6, 7 says,

for unto us a child is born.

All right,

guess what?

Isaiah had a child.

The immediate fulfillment of this
prophecy was Isaiah's own child,

right? But the future fulfillment
of this prophecy is Christ.

It's messianic unto us.

A son is given and the government will
be upon his shoulder and his name

will be called Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God,

Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace.

Right? I mean,

that's the hope to come.

Or for us in Christ,

that's the hope.

Today I get to live that peace.

I get to know that Christ
is the prince of peace.

I get to know that God has provided
this rulership of his creation,

despite the details that
go on around us.

I have hope.

And that's what I'm looking for of the
increase of his government and

peace. There will be no end upon the
throne of David and over his

kingdom, to order it and establish
it with judgment and justice.

From that time forward,

even forever,

the zeal the Lord of hosts
will perform this.

God has promised hope.

God is the promised hope.

Okay, we were told about it.

We were warned.

You know,

we're going to get,

as we go through our candles here,

we're going to get to the point where
we start seeing the lead up to the

manger that Scott sang about.

Why? Why a manger?

Why not a throne room?

Why a manger?

Why not Jerusalem General Hospital?

Why a manger?

Because Isaiah also said there would be
nothing about him that would draw

mankind to him.

It had to be a faith
step to trust God,

to trust God's provision.

So the first candle of
the Advent wreath,

prophet's candles.

This is always a very scary moment.

You know,

you always wonder,

will it light the prophet's
candle of Hope.

Do you know somebody that
needs hope this morning?

Do you know somebody that just needs
to hear a message of hope from a

friend? Maybe you're the friend,

maybe you're the one that needs to
go to your neighbor and say,

look man,

I just want to come down and
say hi and let you know.

Just let you know,

man, we had a good time at the
gathering this morning.

I want to take you with me or can I share
with you the scripture passages

from Isaiah where God
communicates hope?

See, take the word of God to the world
because that's where they will

find hope.

Not in the news,

not in the latest water
cooler conversation,

not in the events of the last
three and a half weeks.

Our hope is found in Christ.

Okay, we're going to sing a song,

give you the opportunity to respond
to God and what he's doing.

I want to encourage you to take the
message of the advent to your

neighbors. Go talk to
people about Christ,

about his birth,

right? Go buy cupcakes,

put a candle on it and say,

hey, just wanted to bring
you a cupcake.

Just celebrating Jesus birthday,

man. That'll start a conversation
right there.

Okay? Just to deliver hope
to a world that needs it.

Pray with me.

Father, thank you for today.

And thank you,

God, that you loved us.

And you loved us more than
we could imagine.

God, you love us now.

And God,

as we get ready to celebrate
this season,

God, as we celebrate the
birth of our Savior,

we do it annually.

We in a lot of ways have let
the world take our message.

So God,

help us to reclaim it and share
your hope with the world.

God, if there's even one person here
this morning that doesn't know

Jesus, never trusted Jesus,

never received the salvation
that Jesus has offered God,

my prayer would be that they
would bow before you today.

They'd admit their sin and God,

they'd receive the forgiveness and
salvation that you've offered.

God, help us to love you,

help us to show our love
for you to the world.

And we pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.