Luke 6:39-49 // Jesus calls us to humbly learn from him as Lord of our lives. Jesus is not

only our master teacher but also the master builder of our faith and life. May we seek him to

shape our hearts with humility, and to produce a treasure of good words, good fruit, and good

works.

Luke 6:27-38 // Jesus has an unqualified command for those who walk in his way: love your enemies. The way towards love is not against the way of justice, but is through the means of mercy and forgiveness that flows like a river from the work of Christ to love his own enemies.

Luke 5:27-39 // Most Christians are bad at feasting—part of our excessive binging culture—but Jesus wasn't. He came eating and drinking to show that the gospel is that we are invited to dine with God himself. Through Jesus' example, we learn 1) Who Jesus invites to feast with him; 2) What Jesus’ feast is like; and 3) How we feast with him.

2 Peter 3:14-18 // Peter's second epistle has been teaching us to wait well for the second advent of Christ. While we do, we must learn to be diligent, remember, keep our feet, and grow up.

2 Peter 3:1-13 // Peter leads us to remember what God has done while we anticipate what he has promised to do. We look forward with confidence that God will fulfill all of his promises because he always has. People scoff, but we wait for the promise of his coming. The day of the Lord will come with judgement for the unrepentant, and it will come with purification of the creation. Right now we live in flesh corrupted by sin in a world corrupted by sin, but we wait patiently for that day with our minds set on the new earth where there will be no sin.

2 Peter 2 // In the second chapter of 2 Peter, the apostle warns the church that as sure as there were false prophets in the past there are false teachers among them in the present. As disciples who are faithful to Christ and who anticipate the return of the Lord we can prepare for the second advent by being aware of and avoiding false teachers, by steadying our souls and grounding our freedom in Christ, and by trusting the rescue of the Lord and looking to his coming.

**Due to an error, the first section of this sermon is missing from the recording. See the manuscript for the whole sermon.**

2 Peter 1 // Advent is a time of preparation for Jesus' second coming as we look to his first. To prepare, we must pay careful attention to the Word of God, which through the power of promise can develop our imagination to know and participate in the holiness and happiness of Jesus. //

Luke 5:12-26 // In these two stories Jesus shows that he is willing and able to heal with compassion, authority, and to the uttermost. Jesus meets a leper and a paralytic at the point of their desperation and he heals them in a way that not only restores their bodies, but meets their deepest needs. We can have the utmost confidence in coming to Jesus with our deepest needs - the forgiveness of our sins and total restoration of our bodies.

Luke 5:1-11 // In Jesus' call to Peter we see how he calls us to follow him, what the call of Jesus is, and what kind of people he calls.

Luke 4:31-44 // Jesus Christ is the Word in the Dark -- as he begins his ministry he shows beyond the shadow of doubt that he has all authority over all darkness, especially the darkness in you.