Wesley Memorial Church (High Point, NC) Sermons & Podcast

If Shakespeare and Hamlet were to ever meet, writes CS Lewis, it would have to be due to the author Shakespeare's initiative, not Hamlet. Without the author, Hamlet would not exist.

When Jesus Christ was born into this world, the author of life has written Himself into our story. This same Author longs to re-write your story from a tragedy into a redemptive comedy. 

To learn more, submit a prayer request or make your own commitment to Jesus Christ, visit wesleymemorial.org

FULL TRANSCRIPT

the baby is the most important part and the baby would grow up the baby as was recorded in the book of luke that uh after jesus as birth and is presented at the temple then we fast forward to when he's 12 years old and you see one of the only accounts of him being that age in the bible and that's what we're going to look at today that the baby would indeed grow up and these people in this story will soon discover that the author of life has made himself known this is the first account of jesus really teaching at this young age and making it clear that this person this child is very different than everybody else that's around in luke 2 starting in verse 41. every year jesus parents went to jerusalem for the passover festival when jesus was 12 years old they attended the festival as usual after the celebration was over they started home to nazareth but jesus stayed behind in jerusalem his parents didn't miss him at first because they assumed he was among the other travelers so these weren't helicopter parents they just let jesus go he was going to show up eventually but when he didn't show up that evening they started looking for him among their relatives and friends and when they couldn't find him they went back to jerusalem to search for him there three days later three days i was lost at a baseball game in kinston indians when i was like seven for like 30 minutes and i thought i was gonna have a heart attack three days later they finally discovered him in the temple sitting among the religious leaders listening to them and asking questions now pause there when a boy was about the age of 12 that jesus is this time period in jesus's world um it was very quite normal for um boys of that age to sit at the feet of rabbis and religious teachers and have this sort of question and answer dialogue and jesus was of the age and of the in the upcoming year of his life he would be growing more and more into that role as was custom for boys that age so he's not doing anything out of the ordinary it's the fact that he disappears and then you'll see of course how he carries himself in these conversations all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers his parents didn't know what to think son his mother said to him why have you done this to us your father and i have been frantic searching for you everywhere jesus gives a very jesus answer but why did you need to search he asked he's sort of saying hey i'm never lost i'm not lost right now but didn't you know that i must be in my father's house he doesn't blame them for losing him but they didn't understand what he meant then he returned to nazareth with them and was obedient to them and his mother stored all these things in our heart jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with god in all the people so these religious leaders and teachers are amazed at how jesus carries himself the things the understanding he has we don't know what he said but i'm sure it was that he was interpreting scripture in a way that they'd never heard a 12 year old boy do before and because he is the word he is the word in flesh so he is the word teaching the word to the people already at age 12 the word made flesh emmanuel this is really the author of life the author of the word if you will making himself known to those around him you know i was looking into this when an author or an artist places themselves in their own work so artists will do this they paint themselves into pictures maybe authors do this it's called self-insertion if you've seen the marvel comic book movies stan lee always makes a cameo you know this famously he'll show up he created much of the marvel universe that's self-insertion that's the creator making himself known to his creation so it's very much happens in the world around us it's really nothing new to kind of break that wall down and in some ways that's what jesus is doing here he's this is his first really foray into doing this to the world and saying there's something different about this person he's the author making himself known he's the word teaching the word g k chesterton said i had always felt like life first as a story and if there is a story there is a story teller and surprised by joy c.s lewis it's his autobiography of his own journey to faith in jesus he poses an analogy that uses the well-known play hamlet and of course it's well-known author shakespeare where he said if shakespeare and hamlet could ever meet it must be shakespeare's doing hamlet could initiate nothing c.s lewis realized over time that shakespeare and hamlet could meet only if shakespeare took the initiative and wrote himself into the story because hamlet would be was no way he could do it because he is a creation of shakespeare now imagine if you're a character in a story and and one day someone comes up to you and says hi i'm the author of your life before you're in your mother's womb i knew you here i am in the flesh you would say okay uh let's put a pen in that and uh let me make some phone calls and get away from you because i don't think you're telling the truth but that is who jesus is that's what jesus is doing he's the word made flesh he's the author making himself known no if someone came up to you and said that you would need proof you would eventually say prove that prove it because this is way too much to believe if you did if they did provide proof then this individual would provide more guidance and insight and purpose to your life than anyone you had ever met you would follow this person and give up everything you had because they're the author of your life you would be constantly peppering this person with questions the author would be in a sense you're everything right because without them you wouldn't even exist so my response and your response would be similar to that i would think so it would be a lot like the woman at the well in john chapter 4 where jesus has a conversation with this woman and and basically tells her everything she's ever done and he's so amazed she's so amazed at this conversation she says to him sir you must be a prophet and he says basically i'm more than a prophet i'm the messiah i am who you've been looking for and then she runs and tells everyone about this man who told her everything she had ever done the author of her life she had done many things to be ashamed of but she was not ashamed to run and tell everyone her closest friends about this person she had met she had she and she was not paralyzed by her shame she wasn't paralyzed by being ashamed of that but in fact meeting him this man who knew everything she'd ever done transformed her life and filled her with joy it set her free she couldn't wait to share things this with other people

so when the angel gabriel announces to mary in the new testament about the birth of her son that she is to name him jesus gabriel knew a bigger the bigger story of what was about to happen she knew jesus as the author of all creation but also of mary's life as well and that's why gabriel greets mary maybe with such joy in luke chapter one because gabriel knows the fullness of what's unfolding right now and it's so much joy that even mary is sort of off put by what gabriel says and how he says it gabriel came to her and he said greetings favor one the lord is with you but she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be gabriel knew to rejoice because the author has made himself known and is making himself known essentially writing himself into this our story the author of life being born into the flesh riding himself into our world and nothing's ever been the same since and this is really what people are looking for in their lives aren't they they're looking for god in flesh the author of your life who knows you better than anyone else could ever know you and that's one of the great tragedies of human existence is there people that reject that offer from the author of life that there is one who knows you better than you even know yourself and you're cutting yourself off from that joy from that intimacy of knowing the one who knows you so so deeply god longs to write himself into our stories he can turn maybe your story is a tragedy maybe your story right now has a downward arc and it seems to have no redemptive quality at the end god it brings him such joy to turn a tragedy into a redemptive almost comedy if you will if the author did not write himself into our story into our world we would have no understanding of god if god with us the emmanuel had not come we wouldn't have a larger clarifying story or meta narrative in which to place our own stories and i'll explain what i mean by that in a moment see this overall story of of stasis and fall and redemption it's ingrained in human beings if you're religious or not we all are attracted to that bigger story we all hunger for redemption we hunger for a savior from gilgamesh to star wars to the matrix to go on and on it's a hero that comes essentially to bear the sins and to lead the people toward a better future right we are that story is built within us we're created for that story it's really called a three three act uh story arc and um if this is a picture of it this is what most plays are written to follow this it's the most common narrative structure you see it across historical boundaries across cultural boundaries this three act structure is what you maybe if you took middle school language arts you would have seen this it's the form that screenwriters first learn when they're learning how to write it's the dominant plot shape of our stories and i would argue it's the dominant plot shape on the human heart that we're hungry to have this redemptive act of our lives and in fact the gospel story in the bible is a three-act story the biblical authors did not present the story of the bible in three acts just so we can understand it better instead we understand stories better because they reflect the storyline of the gospel of redemption that we're created for stories that echo this structure without jesus without the author making himself known into our world into your life wanting to write himself into your story without jesus there's a whole lot of fall but there's no resolution without jesus there's a lot of failure but there's no forgiveness without jesus god in flesh with us there's a lot of death but there's no resurrection at the end the author wrote your story he wrote my story and the author can provide more insight and guidance into your story like nobody else can nobody and so maybe that's one reason why we celebrate jesus as the light of the world because what does light do it provides guidance to take that next step to take the next step that god knows you better than anyone else will ever know you that christ is full of light and glory and with that guidance as our original author of life you can't see anything as it really is unless you see the greater story as it says in the in the book of psalms that the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom that when we bow down and emit our dependence on him he will lift us up and give us honor that there's an aspect to knowing this god in flesh god with us the author writing himself into our story that helps us find answers for our own stories that we're a people in need of resolution and redemption and he has come to offer that to you and to me so this is why we sing joy to the world the lord has come right that the author has made himself known to us and that's the takeaway for today is that he has come to write himself into your story and to mine and that the wonder of god being born in a helpless baby that he would grow in wisdom and in stature and then that jesus would be the best storyteller that's ever lived and would sit and tell stories again and again because he knows that that's what we're hungering for as well deep down so my friends i'd be honored to pray for you right now and to pray that we live into more of his story for our lives as we go throughout this continued christmas season let's pray lord indeed joy to the world for you have come you have come oh god is the author of life but you know us so intimately and that we can know you and receive you by faith this day and every day to walk with you o god i pray for anyone here today that's feeling dismayed that feels though god that you don't understand where they are in their lives that they don't know that next step to take god i pray that they were reminded and encouraged that you see the full scope of their lives that you that you're never caught off guard you're not surprised that you know a god that we are but made of dust that our flesh is weak god you know the very hair on our head you that you know all the details of who we are our frailties and our joys and that you have come o god to rewrite our stories that turn us away from tragedy that turn us away from fall and emptiness and i've come to rewrite that story arc of every single human life that will trust you and that will put us toward on a path of victory on a path of redemption and resurrection that without the birth your birth and that manger there is no easter there is no hope for the future but because you have done this on our behalf you've defeated darkness across the cosmos that you have come in and your light has not just pushed back the darkness that your your light will never be conquered

and all the powers of evils and principalities that are opposed to your reign o god have been and are currently being defeated thank you god that we are a people of victory that death is not the end of our story and that just what we see in our present darkness is not the end but that you are god with us here and now and tomorrow and the next day and the next day praise you o god in heaven for you are good

hello my friends thank you for listening to the wesley memorial church podcast this is clark chilton one of our associate pastors here at the church we're in a sermon series called advent preparing for christmas advent is that time of year where we know it's not quite yet christmas and that's okay a time of preparation a time of waiting a time of seeking god and drawing near to god as we take this journey together toward the manger on christmas eve christmas is a wonderful time of year it's also a stressful time it's a time when we remember those in our past or we miss loved ones it can be a time of difficulty as well we acknowledge that we want you to know that we're praying for you if you want to join us for a worship service any sunday at 8 30 9 45 or 11 a.m we would love to see you to learn more visit wesleymemorial.org and now here's this week's message on advent preparing for christmas it is a pleasure to share with you this morning from the word of god our text for this the third sunday of advent comes from zephaniah in the old testament chapter 3 and i'll begin reading at verse 14. seeing o daughter of zion shout aloud o israel be glad and rejoice with all your heart o daughter of jerusalem the lord has taken away your punishment he has turned back your enemy the lord the king of israel is with you never again will you fear any harm on that day they will say to jerusalem do not fear o zion do not let your hands hang limp the lord your god is with you he is mighty to save he will take great delight in you he will quiet you with his love he will rejoice over you with singing this is the word of god thanks be to god i cannot imagine a world without music i know that music is one of god's great gifts to the human race i like to be surrounded by music with every opportunity if i'm in my study preparing for sermons or teaching scripture i'm surrounded by music sometimes that music is gregorian chant sometimes as a bach oratorio sometimes this southern gospel sometimes is soul whatever the music is i'm grateful for it i can be inspired by it and i like to have a life filled with it i truly believe that music is one of god's great gifts to us i believe that all creation is filled with music i believe that only the heavens can hear the music that creation is sending back to the heavens today but i do believe that creation is filled with song i think this is what the psalmist was getting at in psalm 19 when the psalmist said the heavens declare the glory of god and in psalm 98 when the psalmist says make a joyful noise unto the lord all the earth now you may think all the earth just means all the people but i believe that creation itself worships god with great song and praise in the magician's nephew one of the chronicles of narnia written by c.s lewis aslan of course is the christ figure and in that particular chronicle of the chronicles of narnia the magician's nephew there is a beautiful beautiful picture of aslan the lion singing creation into existence i think creation is filled with praise to god that's why jesus could say as he was making his triumphal entrance into jerusalem if you don't praise me these stones will cry out i'm so grateful for music and i think we're in a cosmos that's filled with music and i'm so grateful that the bible teaches us that the jewish and the christian faith is a faith built on the gift of music in so many ways we use that gift of music in so many ways i've not counted personally but i have read that when you go to the scriptures there are over 1150 verses about music and i'm so grateful for that and that tells me that music is so important in the worship of god music is so important in the nurturing of our souls but even though there are well over 1100 verses in the bible about music my favorite verse about music occurs in this text that i read just a few moments ago from the prophecy of zephaniah and it's zephaniah chapter 3 verse 17 where the people of god are being told that there will come a day when the lord your god is with you he is mighty to save he will take great delight in you he will quiet you with his love he will rejoice over you with singing he will rejoice over you with singing it is god in this text who is doing the singing we don't spend a lot of time with zephaniah we really don't spend a lot of time dealing with the minor prophets of the hebrew bible sometime during the season sometimes during the season of advent we will spend a little more time with the prophecies of the old testament particularly how those prophecies of the old testament point us toward the first advent and the second advent of jesus christ into human history we don't spend a lot of time with any of the minor prophets sometimes their prophecies are hard for us to hear because all the prophecies that we find in the hebrew bible to some extent are prophesying disaster to the people if the people do not live faithfully in covenant with their covenant god zephaniah according to tradition was the last prophet to preach before the fall of the city of jerusalem so zephaniah was prophesying in a very dark dark hard harsh time when so much of their culture so much of their civilization was rapidly falling into ruins it was a time of moral disaster and economic disaster and it eventually would lead to being destroyed by another nation the babylonians who will come and destroy destroy the temple of solomon and take people off into captivity zephaniah was the last one to prophesy right before those events that's why when you look at the book of zephaniah and it's a short book only four chapters we find in this short book eight eight oracles or songs and of these eight oracles or songs at least seven of them really seven of them the best we can do seven of them are prophesying judgment on the people of god that's three-fourths of this book is a book that speaks judgment that's why we hear words like we find for instance in chapter 1 verses 14 and 15 zephaniah is saying the great day of the lord is near near and coming quickly listen the cry of the day of the lord will be bitter the shouting of the warrior there that day will be a day of wrath a day of distress and anguish a day of trouble and ruin a day of darkness and gloom a day of clouds and blackness a day of trumpet and battle cry and the list goes on these prophets like zephaniah were were proclaiming to the people that if they did not repent if they did not turn back to god that their living their way of living would end in disaster i really have to take these minor prophets particularly in writings such as this in very small doses it's hard sometimes to deal with these minor prophets as they speak judgment to people who will choose sinful ways over living in fellowship with their covenant god but we need to spend some time hearing this language from the prophets if we're going to have a balanced view of god if we're going to have the biblical view of god god is a god of great great grace and great great love but god also hates sin because what it does to the human family we look at these prophecies from the old testament that are declaring that judgment is coming and we are reminded that as human beings by virtue of our nature our greatest need is the need for salvation the need to be delivered from who we are and what we seek to do in human history timothy keller is one of my favorite contemporary authors he has blessed the body of christ in so many ways with his writings he founded a church off of times square in new york city and he led that great church he's written many many books that have blessed the body of christ timothy keller by the way is suffering with advanced cancer i invite you to pray for timothy keller he has blessed so many of us one of the things that timothy keller said one time that continues to resonate with me is this he said today's culture believes the thing we need salvation from is the idea that we need salvation the irony is that we can't get away from needing salvation so often in our culture people just want to be affirmed regardless of the way they live they want to be affirmed they want their actions affirmed if that's what you want the bible to do you're going to have a really difficult time spending time with the minor prophets such as zephaniah zephaniah was clear to the people that they did not change their ways and live godly lives disaster would come but what is amazing to me in all these minor prophets is that as you're reading through the minor prophets usually beginning early in their prophecies you begin to hear faint strains of hope early in their prophecies you'll see some glimpses of hope just popping up here and there for instance in zephaniah chapter 2 in the midst of all the words about judgment comes these words seek righteousness seek humility perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the lord's anger you begin to see these little glimmers of hope in the midst of the prophecy of zephaniah but then when we get to chapter three of zephaniah's prophecy those faint strains of hope that appear just rarely throughout the book be comes a crescendo of great hope and that's what brings us to the text for the morning all of a sudden after all the darkness concerning the coming of the day of the lord that zephaniah speaks to us we get to these words i read them a few moments ago sing old daughter of zion shout aloud o israel be glad and rejoice with all your heart we get to these words from zephaniah where we're commanded to sing to shout to rejoice and then that text goes on to say the lord has taken away your punishment he has turned turned back your enemy and we know that our lord delights to come among us to come to us as our saving redeeming holy one of israel and then zephaniah goes on to say the lord the king of israel is with you even in the darkness the lord the king of israel is with you never again will you fear any harm on that day zephaniah says they will say to the city of jerusalem do not fear old zion do not let your hands hang limp there's one of those numerous places where in the bible we hear the words do not fear do not let your hands hang limp and i think the picture there is someone someone whose hands are hanging lip because they have just given up and the prophet zephaniah is saying don't don't don't do that don't give up but instead sing shout rejoice know that our great god is with us know that our great god will intervene into human history and save us save us as individuals and eventually save us as a creation and then we get to one of my favorite verses in the bible verse 17 of chapter three the lord your god is with you my friends never forget that he is mighty to save regardless of what you're going through today remember that he will take great delight in you even when you cannot take great delight in yourself know that your creator takes great delight in you he will quiet you with his love you could translate that he will calm you with his love you see this mothering love from god like like a mother or father would quiet a crying child with the love of the parent he will quiet you with his love he will rejoice over you with singing here we see a picture of god singing here we see a picture of god joining in to the song of creation here we see a picture of god joining in with the singing of the heavens and it says here in this text that he is singing because he is rejoicing over you

i hope that you know where god is taking you i hope that you know where where you're going because god is with you god is a god that delights to restore us in so many ways to restore us here and now in this life after desperate seasons we can enter in the season of restoration but then ultimately he will restore us for eternity ultimately he will restore all creation my friends i hope you know where you're going i hope that you know the direction of your life i've now been in this pulpit for over four years so i guess it's okay if i tell you something i told you well over four years ago over four years ago i shared with you that one of my pet peeves are people who for whatever reason just refused to use their turn signals when they're driving that is a great frustration for me i'm trying to deal with it i'm trying to relax while i'm driving and not get so irritated by the people who just cannot seem to ever use their turn signal it really bothers me when their lack of using their currency will cost me some time you know i may pull out if i know that you're going to turn right before you get to me on to another road but some people just never use the current signals i don't know what it is about some people who refuse to use their turn signal maybe they just don't care to let the rest of us know what they're doing or maybe they don't know where they're going

i hope my friends you know where you're going i hope that you know what what is at the end of the journey i hope that you know that god is at work in your life restoring you and god is at work in human history to restore all of creation

some of you are listening to me today because god knew you needed to hear this some of you are listening to the prophecy of zephaniah today because god knew you needed to hear this life has been so difficult for you you come to this morning tired and battered and beaten perhaps you got some hard even devastating news this past week perhaps you're facing something very very difficult in the week to come i know that god wanted you to hear this from the prophet zephaniah the lord your god is with you he is mighty to save he will take great delight in you he will quiet you with his love he will rejoice over you with singing some of you listening desperately need to hear that and receive that today as god's honest truth to you life can become so tough and so difficult and i know that the the holiday season can be a very difficult season for a lot of people because of some of the losses they've had to endure in life but i want you to hear this great good news from god today the lord your god is with you on john wesley's death bed some of his last words were best of all god is with us know that god is with you he is mighty to save he can save you from whatever the enemy is bringing into your life he can save you from whatever the devastation of these days may bring to you he will take great delight in you i hope you can feel the affection of our fatherly god for you this morning he will quiet you with his love some of you have spirits that are agitated some of you have spirits that are running in so many directions let god's love quiet you calm you focus you right now and know that this god our god is singing he's singing because he is rejoicing over you i love the songs of this season because they bring us so much hope he shall feed his flock like a shepherd one of the songs say and he shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead may your life be filled with this hope and this joy and this security amen

hello my friends thank you for listening to the wesley memorial church podcast this is clark chilton one of our associate pastors here at the church we're in a sermon series called advent preparing for christmas advent is that time of year where we know it's not quite yet christmas and that's okay a time of preparation a time of waiting a time of seeking god and drawing near to god as we take this journey together toward the manger on christmas eve christmas is a wonderful time of year it's also a stressful time it's a time when we remember those in our past or we miss loved ones it can be a time of difficulty as well we acknowledge that we want you to know that we're praying for you if you want to join us for a worship service any sunday at 8 30 9 45 or 11 a.m we would love to see you to learn more visit wesleymemorial.org and now here's this week's message on advent preparing for christmas well the christmas season is ripe for fresh memes i always like finding memes of things here's a couple of images that i find thought were great this is uh bell-shaped bells you can purchase uh it looks like dollar store probably over five dollars wow they're proud of those this is a christmas list for 2021 dear santa here's what i would like an amazon url web link

hey if santa if anyone can turn that into a hyperlink it's santa claus so don't be discouraged children this this rang true with me um socks as gift

think about it

older i get i like a good pair of socks for christmas when you're 10 you might as well just give me a pile of dirt i could care less socks now this is from last year but still i thought it was funny joy of the world we survived 2020 toilet paper

you know we hear a lot about joy this time of year you'll see it on ornaments you'll see it on your mantel you'll see it on shirts mugs joy joy joy it's all over the place um you know but how do we how do we experience joy here and now i mean how do we how do we make life a joy in a world that does not feel joyful often how do we experience joy i mean this is where the rubber meets the road the church talks a lot about joy but how do you experience joy how do you know the joy of the lord as it says like in the proverbs or psalms how do you how do you experience joy in a broken and messed up world i mean jesus was full of joy he is full of joy the disciples were so full of joy that uh when they're getting beaten and whipped in the book of acts they rejoiced at being associated with the son of god the apostle paul when he writes the book of philippians the philippians often called the joy epistle because he uses the word joy like dozens of times he tells us to rejoice in all circumstances even though he's writing that while being chained to a wall in a roman prison so how do you experience joy outside of circumstance or even in a broken and messed up world you know one time i went to a church with a friend in asheville when i was a younger guy and he invited me to his church and uh the preacher that day preached on joy and he preached on joy for an hour an hour i got joy in my hands i got a joy in my feet and he was like all over the place an hour he talked about joy and i was listening to him i was like okay either you are delusional or you're on to something there's no middle ground here with the joy the joy preacher you you got you you figured something out or you're crazy and he wasn't crazy because here's what he knows that christians know is that we don't generate joy joy is jesus having jesus in your life is a joy because as christians the the spirit of god can reside within us as temples of the holy spirit that's the promise of the gospel making us new creations how in the world could that not result in joy that if you have jesus you have joy outside of circumstance that's the main way we can make life a joy it's because it's not us that does it it's christ within us the hope of glory amen that gives us joy but sometimes it comes at a at a price we have to push through the wall of ourselves we have to get outside of our own heads in order to experience that kind of joy like have you ever been trying to help somebody and they need you to serve them in some way and and you're thinking okay yeah i'll do it but it's like you're thinking oh this is so inconvenient you know like okay there's like a thousand other places i'd rather be right now a thousand other things i'd rather be doing right but you push through those feelings anyway and when you get to the other side of that what do you feel you feel a sense of joy don't you and it's not just self-satisfaction like i'm so righteous it's deeper than that like when you push through yourself and you push through your own head and you care for another human being like jesus would and does you encounter this thing called joy that you didn't generate right and you're so glad you did it right when you helped a neighbor you did something for someone else and you saw them as a child of god you let go of your life and in so doing you found your life you let go of your own desires for a moment and when you got out of the way god could use you and when god uses you and me you're going to feel joy someone give me an amen on that one you're going to feel joy because when god uses you he's using you to be a blessing he's using you to be a blessing our actions can help make life a joy it's a joy to bless our neighbors even people we don't know sometimes it's more of a blessing to treat to bless people you don't know even jesus said what good is it if you love people that are just like you you should actually love people that you probably don't like and you experience a blessing and you experience joy when you do that because god's using you to change someone's life now there's a lot of definitions for blessing one definition i like to use is going above and beyond expectation because that's how god loves us he gives us more than we expect he goes above and beyond he's always above what you thought he was going to do that's the definition of a blessing your expectation was down here and it arrived up here when we treat people like that when we love people like jesus does when we go above expectations we can make life a joy not just for other people and our neighbors but also for us it goes both ways it's reciprocal now when we're in our series overview here um i have the slightly cheesy metaphor i'm using of a bag we're going on a journey every week and we're we have things we've taken with us along our way sort of like sort of like mr rogers right sort of like a little mr rogers prop moment hopefully my branch hasn't completely fallen apart here's our righteous branch from he's looking worse

it still smells good though um the pro the old testament prophecy that the messiah would be a righteous branch should be birthed out of the stump of jesse the lineage of jesse uh the king david would come through that eventually jesus would be born in that lineage out of that dead stump of the old testament covenant it was not working anymore god would birth something new so the year 33 a.d there was like a few dozen christians now today this today there's probably there's been billions of believers so you see that righteous branch growing throughout history changing lives all around the world the messiah our object last week was a mini stoplight whoa almost falls apart really focusing on the yellow

there you go focusing on the yellow and the red sometimes waiting time is not wasting time when we wait on god what we're what god does in us while we wait is more important than what we're waiting for it's about it is sort of about the journey now it's a destination sometimes god says no and it doesn't mean he hates you it means sometimes he just wants you to wait in line and don't get out of line he has a promise for you waiting down the road and that green light hits and we feel better and then today we spare no expense with this prop i couldn't find any joy soap so um i wrote joy on a bottle of dial i don't want to go buy a bottle of soap i mean we have so much soap around here so it's hard to it's hard to have an object lesson for joy so this is the best we could do so we're carrying joy with us in our bag today as well that we can make life a joy to those around us and in luke chapter 3 um the john the baptist gives a kind of a prescription for making life a joy in luke chapter three a passage that i've kind of overlooked over the years um and you see well you'll see let's just read it john 3 verse 7 john said to the crowds that came out to be baptized now john's not a politician you brood of vipers

so he's he's not really wanting them to be baptized in the way that they thought who warned you to flee from the wrath to come bear fruits worthy of repentance do not begin to say to yourselves we have abraham as our ancestor for i tell you god is able from these stones to raise up children to abraham even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire the people feel perplexed anxious so the crowds asked him what then should we do in reply he said to them whoever has two coats must share with who with anyone who has none and whoever has food must do likewise even tax collectors came to be baptized and they asked him teacher what should we do he said to them collect no more than the amount prescribed for you soldiers also asked him and we what should we do he said to them do not extort money and from anyone by threats or false accusation and be satisfied with your wages and the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning john whether he might be the messiah john answered all of them by saying i baptize you with water but one who is more powerful than i is coming i am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals he will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire his winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary for the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire profits don't mess around any advent preparation has to include john the baptist we always it's always in the lectionary for this reason because it's he prepares the people that's what prophets do they always make us question our motives they make us question how we live our lives and they will it will benefit us if we will listen to their words prophets and who's the greatest prophet that ever lived i'll give you a hand it starts with g it ends with us jesus he's a prophet too he's the prophet so john says to the essentially says to these people that the people the tax collectors the soldiers your life is not your own your agendas for yourself are not as important as you think they are and so before you come up here and let me baptize you don't say one thing and then do something else because you can't fool god you can't pull the wool over his eyes and play the religious game and god's not going to let you get away with it and that's what he's saying to them don't let me baptize you and you treat your neighbors like garbage because if you do that you're basically you're you're delusional you're living in a fantasy world where you think that god's not going to notice so if you say you're a believer john is saying then live like one treat people like you would expect to be treated yourself for a few years ago there was this huge trend in the united states with this woman named marie condo have you ever heard of her she's like the organization lady and you're cleaning out your house cleaning up your closet getting rid of clutter right simplifying your life and we caught on to this craze for a little while and you walk around your house and you pick things up and you ask yourself does this spark joy that was her sentence does this spark joy and if the answer is no you let it go and you just get rid of all this stuff and so thrift stores and goodwill and landfills never had it so good while we went through all of our stuff and asked ourselves does this spark joy in my life so it's a good thing to do but many people though have really false i would say delusional ideas about what sparks joy in their lives power politics money alcohol sex control all of these things that people think sparks joy in their lives but it doesn't even come close it doesn't even maybe doesn't even bring happiness sometimes only jesus brings joy lasting joy in your life with him as savior residing in your heart i once had a conversation with a young man that i was friends with um when i was in my 20s and he was sleeping around and doing all these stupid things and partying a lot and i was like okay everything you're doing is it bringing joy and peace to your soul he said no but i'm having fun

i said okay sin is fun for a little while or else you wouldn't do it but is it bringing peace to your soul of course the answer is no but people don't want to acknowledge that and basically your ass is asking and what john's asking too is what narrative is driving your life what story are you subscribing to what flag are you marching to in what beat are you going because we're all following some body we're all believing in something whether it's yourself or it's jesus or whatever your world view is everyone's following something so the question you must ask is is it bringing peace to your soul is it bringing joy to your life if the answer is no let it go see john gives us two prescriptions here today in this passage one is to be under god's authority and that's what he calls them out and the other is to live a righteous life if we do those things you will you will find joy you will find it so the first is it is a joy to be under god's authority so john calls them out and says hey don't just say to each other we're safe for we're descendants of abraham that means nothing god can create sons of abraham from these stones see when we're under pressure in our lives people run to their own perception of authority whatever that authority's structure might be we point to that to justify our lives and that's what these people are doing in this passage they're they're saying hey my bloodline goes to abraham we're good i don't need to get right with god i'm already good just because simply of how i was born and people do the same thing where they say uh i don't really need to be forgiven by god i just need to be a good person and i'll be fine or i have a lot of money and i'll be okay right this is sad stuff so how does john respond to this john says that means nothing you can't fool god he doesn't let them off easy god he's saying to them god isn't pleased with your like second generation faith that you're not owning in your own life but you're pointing to your lineage as somehow being enough you need to own it today yourself how you live now will determine but it will show really what you believe live a righteous life because you know what there's joy in living a clean life there's joy in living under god's authority it's not he's not there to ruin your fun and to take away all your your the perceived sense of happiness that you have if anything he will expand upon joy he will give you more than you even ask or imagine there's joy knowing that you're right with god that your sins are forgiven that you're that you're have peace with god that you live under god's authority i mean what these people are doing is they're passing the book they're saying oh well we're we're okay because of our ancestors you're just pushing it over to him

there's a lot of things on earth that make me very sad one of them is people that live their lives in a way that they are unprepared to die that makes me very very sad that's a tragedy and you know people like that too they think they're going to live forever well that we are going to live forever but not necessarily on our own terms but on how on god's terms so this this sense of unbelief that millions of people have it may it is very sad that they have this almost a delusion that that i can live however i want and i'll be okay really unbelief is one of the most amazing things in the world to me i don't know how you don't believe in the evidence that god has given us in all of creation if you have children i don't know how you don't believe in god i don't know how you're a parent without praying for one i don't know how you make it so hat's off to you but unbelief blows my mind another thing that makes me very sad is people that perpetually never live up to their own decisions that don't own their lives people that always say it's someone else's fault come on people that just say i'm not responsible for what i do and how i treat other people around me the blames on someone else you know what that's easy it's easy to do that you can do that it's harder to own your life and own your decisions and go yes i will make it right myself if you do that you'll grow as a person and you'll experience more of the joy of the lord but people that say i'm never at fault you're basically you're saying it's really pride you'll never know joy of the lord without coming before him with humility and bowing down and admitting dependence on god so some of these people like this in this passage with john that's what they're saying they're saying to john and to god we're we're fine we don't we don't need a change of heart just let us get this over with so we can get on with our lives and john's saying no no no whatever you're pointing to it's not enough whatever authority structure you think you're living under that makes you right with god it's not it's not it's not it it's not it everyone marches to the beat of someone and john is saying to them live under god's authority and experience more of the joy of god when we do that secondly it's a joy to be righteous the crowds ask what should we do john replied if you have two shirts give one to the poor if you have food share it with those who are hungry you know like i said it feels good to help other people it feels good we feel joy when we do that deliver more of a righteous life our actions exposing more of what we believe and this passage it's he goes on when he says the acts is at the root you see this foreshadowing when jesus talks about the father in heaven is like a gardener and a pruner and he cuts away things that don't bear fruit and throws them into the fire so you see the same echo of what jesus would teach about god as well every branch that doesn't bear fruit so the people hear this and they go okay well gosh that sounds bad then what do we need to do john and john doesn't say well go buy this book or go to a class or pray this thing he doesn't say any of that he says be righteous don't just say you believe these things but do it and when you do it it will show what you believe there's a really good word in the christian church it's the word orthodoxy i think that's a great word it's not a bad word there's a lot one one definition of it is right belief believing the right things about god so when we when we read the apostles creed for example that's orthodox faith that's that's foundational stuff you can't pull any of that stuff out it's key to who god is in the story of salvation to the whole world but another word is orthopraxy right right practice or right action the belief that right action is as important as right belief john's answer to them is orthopraxy he's saying don't just believe in your head but act on it do it prove it by the way that you live so you can hear this though and we think whoa whoa are we saved by does helping people or does that make us right with god not necessarily no we know that if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that jesus is lord you will be saved it is a free gift for anyone that will believe in the heart and profess christ as lord period but our actions do make us holy or not how we live how we ex how we treat other people we can experience joy through those things because jesus does give this pretty stark picture in matthew 25 of the end of time and this thing we call the great judgment where he separates people and into sheep and goats and he separates them out and he says this in matthew 25 40 truly i tell you whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you did for me so god puts a very big price tag on how we act and what we do with what we have how we show what we believe when we choose to push through our own heads and push past ourselves and let god use us it is a joy my friends to do that so don't be necessarily scared by those words i don't think god wants us to be walking in fear fear-based service he wants a joy-based service for our lives but like you and i i hear that and i go okay well then how again how do i really do that what does that look like there is this person in church history called brother lawrence he was a monk he was actually less than a monk in a french monastery in the 17th century he wrote he didn't write this book someone wrote it for him it's called the practice of the presence of god and it was people were so impressed by lawrence and how he walked in this perpetual sense of god's presence he was just a holy man and people acknowledged that about him so other people wrote down his words into this book and lawrence was like a dishwasher and a monastery maybe a cook sometimes and he would write about finding the joy of god while he was washing dishes does anybody ever feel that so maybe that's where the soap comes into play just that even in the small innocuous things of life you can experience the presence of god that's what he would write about and he had this sentence i read this week and it was perfect for this where he said our sanctification does not depend on changing what we do but in doing for god's sake what we normally do for our own sake so it's not this huge transformation necessarily but simply living your life like you've always been living it but you're not doing it for yourself anymore but you're doing it for god's sake and god's glory do you see how that just transforms how you look at your whole life how everything is not an accident and our decisions matter and and that we have such power at our fingertips to be a blessing to the world so john is saying this to his audience he's saying to these things they're already doing you tax collectors you soldiers you people just be righteous in what you're doing this glorifies god and it shows what you believe deep down that's how we can make life a joy when we leverage what we have for god's glory and then jesus teaches on the sermon on the mount when we pursue righteousness we pursue holy living he says you will be filled not only that but you will be blessed when you make that your pursuit he says blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled you know in closing i know that a lot of people and i know some of these people are not having a good christmas not having a joy-filled advent and there is a season of life where there is a there's almost a spiritual practice of lament and and drawing near to god with tears and god is close to the brokenhearted he is with us in our pain and he is with you in your pain and in in sometimes the church we have to be careful because we can't just tie a theological bow around this and go hey you know what joy's coming around the corner because sometimes it doesn't feel like joy's coming around the corner and that's that's okay the christian faith is not meant to be this perpetual high right that that's why it's true because because it fits within the rhythms of life it acknowledges that the difficulties of the human condition and doesn't just gloss over those things the bible is a book of sadness too there's lots of parts of the bible that are built for those moments in life but i want us to be encouraged because joy is knowing christ it is having christ in your heart and in your life he will give you joy we can't manufacture it ourselves necessarily but he will give it because that's christ in us i invite you to close your eyes and hear these words from psalm 16. you show me the path of life in your presence there is fullness of joy in your right hand are pleasures forevermore god we thank you that in your presence there is joy jesus that you are our joy you are the reason that we can feel that god i pray that you help us love those around us this coming week that you blessed us to be a blessing and i also pray for those who are mourning right now who are grieving who are hurting who feel that they have more they can bear and god and maybe the word is that you know what maybe you do have more than you can bear maybe you do need to let go of that and give it more to god that you we're not meant to carry so much weight sometimes lord you say that your burden is light if we give our burdens over to you god i pray that we maintain the course that we keep our eyes focused on you even when we don't feel joyful we stay in line we remember your goodness your character you're in your perfect integrity your patience with us you'll never let us fall nothing will separate us from your love death hell the demons none of it you will never let us go jesus we continue to give our lives to you day after day and trusting that in time your joy will be made complete in us amen

hello my friends thank you for listening to the wesley memorial church podcast this is clark chilton one of our associate pastors here at the church we're in a sermon series called advent preparing for christmas advent is that time of year where we know it's not quite yet christmas and that's okay a time of preparation a time of waiting a time of seeking god and drawing near to god as we take this journey together toward the manger on christmas eve christmas is a wonderful time of year it's also a stressful time it's a time when we remember those in our past or we miss loved ones it can be a time of difficulty as well we acknowledge that we want you to know that we're praying for you if you want to join us for a worship service any sunday at 8 30 9 45 or 11 a.m we would love to see you to learn more visit wesleymemorial.org and now here's this week's message on advent preparing for christmas you know i've told before i grew up in goldsboro for a couple years and they have these creatures in goldsboro called flying squirrels and in eastern north carolina and i think their purpose is just to scare your mother i think that's why they exist at our house we had a lot of trees near our home and squirrels would float down to our chimney and run down the chimney and get into our house i'd hear them sometimes and one night we were in our family room watching television and there was a hanging picture on the wall and from behind the picture a squirrel came out attached to the wall and bedlum ensues and we start running around everywhere and we run out of the room close the door my older brother and i are like what are we going to do how are we going to fix this problem and and i he said let's put the cat in there let the cat kill it and i said well i don't know about that i said what if we try and trap it okay so we we can manage the corner and get it back into the hearth area into the chimney area behind the you know the the protective thing for sparks thing and we got it back there and i said in my youthful innocence i said what if i get a oven mitt and and reach in there and it'll welcome my assistance and my compassion and mercy and and and gladly let me domesticate it and take it outside so i tried to pick it up and it was like you know a squirrel on methamphetamines i mean it was just out of control you know it was not going to happen so then we said what if we cut a hole in the side of a box and push it up to the front of the hearth and wait for it to come out and that's what it did it eventually came into the box closed it up and took it outside and released it back into the yard so crisis was averted you know it's it later i was thinking about i was thinking about that memory it's funny that our little visitor he frantically tried to bash its way out of its dark prison but when it started to do that it kind of would almost harm itself out of its panic and its anxiety the harder it struggled the more pain it caused in some ways it just had to wait for someone bigger and stronger and more capable to come in and uh the one who could peer into his world in a sense and then release it into a larger world where it actually belonged as we're going through this time of advent and it's really a time of waiting uh you know sometimes waiting can feel like we're wasting time but in reality waiting is an opportunity to learn patience and you know in many ways advent it really is about the journey and not just the destination you know because sometimes we can really hype up christmas to the point when you get to it you're like oh is it okay it's over you know but it this is it's more about it's while we're waiting it's more about what god does in us while we wait than what we're waiting for right it's you can write that down if you want that's pretty good it's more about what god does in us while we wait than what we're waiting for and in those moments of waiting we learn patience we learn trust we learn to rely more on one who is bigger and stronger than we are and is then capable to set us free to the place where we belong so we're in our second week of the advent preparing for christmas series and i got my journey back here again i got my bag full of stuff that's what we've been taking with us last week we pulled out a bunch of items so tonight today i've got some interesting things to help us during christmas christmas can be difficult we can get headaches so you've got some aleve if uh you know i could use this at christmas time uh those of us with uh aching joints got some voltaren um this is great stuff by the way it's really great i use that sometimes full full disclosure and then last week we learned about our branch the righteous branch that uh christ is representative of that he has been birthed out of the dead stump of the covenant with israel and that he is our the new growth in the sense of the reign of of the king and the earth and then our object today is uh is really a little stoplight isn't that cute a little stop light and we're really going to focus more on yellow and red here uh for advent because sometimes waiting waiting is more important than we think it is because when we're forced to wait we're forced to be patient we're pushed closer to a place of trust waiting is not fun i'm a very impatient person sometimes believe it or not and and waiting can really start to grate on you and many times i'll be waiting in traffic or in a line and you think god what are you trying to teach me here what do i need i need to learn but waiting time is not wasted time really waiting presents us with an opportunity doesn't it it presents us with a moment to decide what we do with this time that we have henry now when the catholic priest said that waiting time is not wasting time waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life it's not just something you do it's he would say it's the foundation many times just waiting on god in prayer simply abiding with god is a huge huge part of what it means to be a disciple of jesus that we're waiting uh with him even we're not alone in our waiting but that we are waiting with him it's a big part of what it means as a christian well today we're going to look at the messianic prophecy of micah and the old testament minor prophet is called and micah was a contemporary of isaiah back in those days and in this prophecy of micah he would prophesy that the messiah would be born specifically in the city of bethlehem that the messiah would specifically be born of a woman so this is written 700 years before jesus was born so we have that span of time between micah and bethlehem and the birth 700 years i mean a lot can happen in 700 years think of what our world looked like in the year 1321 you know i mean a lot can change but god knew that bethlehem would continue he knew that bethlehem would continue to be a city and it still is that he that it would in a sense endure now bethlehem it's not a new york city it's not a paris it's definitely not a jerusalem even it's more like the town of like level cross or like think of tyro and go much smaller you know it's like a one yellow light blinking town that you kind of pass through to get to the beach or something like that it's like an unincorporated township that's what bethlehem is like it it's not even included in the 12 tribes of israel it is a very very small place totally unnoticed bethlehem is known as the city of david now why is that it's because david was born there jesse his father was born there david's brothers were born in bethlehem they're all from bethlehem bethlehem also means the city of bread or the house of bread it was a place of bread manufacturing to that whole area it was well known for its bread that it produced so from bethlehem would come nourishment and the abilities to sustain people to help with food now of course it's fascinating that in john 6 35 jesus would say i am the bread of life that i have come to be your sustainer all who you will never hunger if you follow me so it's fascinating that bread is the basic metaphor for sustaining our lives jesus would come from the place that's called the house of bread and then it says bethlehem ephrata as we'll read that's the district that's the little bit of a larger area where bethlehem was located because there's more than one bethlehem so there's it's god was being specific 700 years and saying it is not it'll be from this specific place that the messiah will be born not the other ones it was being very specific to distinguish it the wise men when they're pursuing the birth of the messiah they would refer to this prophecy in the book of matthew in matthew chapter two the wise men says this in the time of king herod after jesus was born in bethlehem of judea wise men from the east came to jerusalem asking where is the child who has been born king of the jews for we observed his star at its rising and have come to pay him homage when king herod heard this he was frightened and all jerusalem with him in calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people he inquired of them where the messiah was to be born they told him in bethlehem of judea for so it has been written by the prophet micah and you bethlehem and the land of judah are by no means least among the rulers of judah for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people israel so if i'm picking the place of the birthplace and you and i are we probably picked jerusalem that's the place of the lights and the attention and the people and everyone would know that here comes the messiah but even god knew that he almost had to come under the cover of darkness and even when he did king herod tried to kill the baby king herod out all the firstborn sons killed in that area so god knew i've got to come in on on the sly because this world is under enemy occupied territory and so if we're picking the place we would pick the obvious place but thankfully god's thoughts are not our thoughts thankfully god's ways are not our ways that thankfully god knows that great things come from small places that he always works out of the small unnoticed innocuous things of life that the rest of the culture might not pay attention to that god knows that waiting time is not wasting time and that what god does in us while we wait is more important than what we're waiting for so here are these words from micah chapter 5 under the inspiration of the holy spirit micah writes but you o bethlehem of ephrata you who are one of the little clans of judah from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in israel whose origin is from old from ancient days now to scholars before this before christ was born they were very confused about this passage because on one hand it's saying there's someone gonna be born from a uh from the town of bethlehem and he's gonna rule israel but then it also says whose origin is from ancient days so it was confusing because it's like how can you have an origin and not an origin right and then so then if you look at other words though you could you could uh interpret this as origins and ancient past from of old being of god he is the implication here is that whoever this person is is divine they are divine but they will somehow be born in bethlehem but that's not his beginning he's never had a beginning the son of god he's always been with the father and the holy spirit for all eternity but he has a he entered himself in the temporal flow of time in this point and place in bethlehem but jesus is from eternity past he has no beginning and no end in verse 3 therefore he shall give them up until the time when she is a reference to mary who is in labor has brought forth so whoever this person is they're going to be born in bethlehem they're going to have an origin yet not an origin and they're going to be born of a woman and then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of israel so this could be a prophecy that's currently unfolding before our eyes where there's actually more jews living in israel than even in new york city right now more jews from around the world are moving to the land of israel that we know in 1945 the nation state of israel was established that really seemed like a miracle i mean the jewish people never thought they would have a country ever again and now we're seeing it happen before our very eyes now this could also be a prophecy about gentiles as well me and you that it's a it's the gathering of the people of god back to the heart of god as well and then verse 4 he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the lord of course here's when jesus refers himself as the good shepherd you see there's echoes of that in the majesty of the name of the lord his god and they shall live secure for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth and he shall be the one of peace you know waiting on god in prayer waiting on god through our daily lives for the rest of our lives it it's a it's a critical spiritual discipline to continually develop that none of us are perfect but to continue to grow in this deep abiding heart of prayer to be people of prayer that's how we wait on god is through prayer waiting on god that as now and said so much of our journey is the foundation of it is that waiting with god but also waiting for god and just drawing near to him with our heart and mind and soul and strength that here's one of the best things though about waiting in god on god in prayer is that waiting in prayer is a disciplined refusal to act before god acts that you're refusing to move before he tells you to move that you're holding every thought captive in service to him that if we refer back to this stoplight that we're instead if you're if you're waiting for that light to turn green in your life whatever that thing is to also learn how to be content when it's yellow or when you get a no and it's red to to be content with that that to know that god is enough even if you're not getting the direction that you thought you should have gotten see when we're in prayer we're aware that god is in action and that when the circumstances are ready and that when others are in the right place when our hearts are prepared he will call us into action at the perfect time if we're listening the pastor h.b charles jr tells a great story about waiting and how it's not wasted time when he tells the story uh one hot afternoon us a woman was walking to her neighbor's produce stand to buy grapes and i don't know anything better than fresh grapes in the summertime but the line was long and so she was in the back of the line yesterday i went to the daniel boone inn in boone long line long line you gotta pay cash only daniel boone in you gotta take out some money to pay but he waited a long long time and so we know what that feels like to be in a queue that just seems to stretch on and on this woman's waiting but she's waiting patiently at first but here's the thing about waiting in line right if you're waiting a lot you see someone up front they get special attention how did they get i was at disney world in march you waiting lines at disney world you see people cut they walk by me and they get in the front of the line and i would ask them how do they do that well they have a special need they're you know whatever they have a thing they signed up for so when you're waiting in line you you get impatient as you wait longer and longer but this woman's waiting she waiting for her grapes when she finally made to the front the owner asked for her order she asked i would like her some grapes please the answer was please wait for a moment the owner walked away disappeared behind a building and for some reason this rubbed the woman the wrong way maybe you've been there maybe you're like hey i've waited forever you're making me wait some more that's not really fair everyone in line before her was greeted warmly they immediately got what they wanted but this woman did not they she was forced to wait and when she got to the front of the line she was forced to wait some more the longer she waited the angrier she became then the man appeared again and with a big smile he presented her with the most beautiful grapes she'd ever seen he invited her to taste them she never tasted grapes so good and as she turned to leave with her delicious grapes he stopped her and said i'm sorry i kept you waiting but i needed the time to get you my very best you know when you and i are waiting on god maybe you're waiting on god for something i don't know you're waiting on god to tell you or lead you or direct you in some way i encourage you whatever it is you're waiting for door to be open the problem to be solved asking god to meet a need please hear me don't get out of line don't get out of line wait wait wait because he is our reward he is our portion he is more than enough and having that patience it is is saying i'm trusting your character god i'm trusting in who you say you are and not in my circumstance i'm looking beyond what i'm seeing i encourage you don't get out of that line that in our weakness in our impatience he is strong he will give us our what we need in those moments he is working he is preparing his best in a sense and i'm going to read some scripture and i want to i pray that this these words just minister to you if you are in a season of waiting and if you're not you will be either you you are or you will be at some point and so hear these words of god god knows that we have to wait he knows that we're made of dust he knows that we get impatient so he's god gives us all these words throughout the bible so ask you to close your eyes hear these words first from isaiah 40 but they who wait for the lord shall renew their strength and they shall mount up with wings like eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint psalm 27 wait for the lord be strong and take heart and wait ii peter 3 the lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness instead he is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance exodus 14 14 the lord will fight for you you need only to be still and then isaiah 30. yet the lord longs to be gracious to you therefore he will rise up to show you compassion for the lord is a god of justice blessed are all who wait for him

“Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Jesus is implying that as the King, his words are authoritative. His voice is truth and leads to truth. 

Jesus’ Kingdom is not one of flesh and blood, castles moats and earthly conquest. Plunder. His Kingdom is of the heart. He is King of all that is righteous, pure and true. He can be King of our intentions, our motives, guiding us into holiness. So of course His kingdom is not of this world.

Whatever voice we listen to, is what we belong to. Because the converse of Jesus’ statement is that those who belong to lies do not listen to His voice.

But here’s the tough part: human beings, in our natural state, we tend to be really, really bad at listening spiritually. 

And because we are not very good at listening to the King’s voice, at least, not initially in our walk with Christ, its the main reason many non-believers look around at the Church and the physical chaos of our world and ask, “Jesus is King? Really? Where’s his reign?” This is a costly error, because they are looking in the wrong place for evidence. If you aim for nothing you’ll always hit nothing. 

Look back at what Jesus said: those who belong to Him, listen to His voice. Those who belong to me are under his authority. Obedience. Much of the problems of this world are caused by people who reject Christ’s lordship or don’t know how to listen to His voice, or even worse, claim to speak for the King but are in fact deceivers. 

Yes, this world is messed up but maybe its not because of a failure on Jesus’ part/on the King, maybe its a failure of His subjects, on people’s unwillingness to listen