Today I need a young volunteer to come up and help me. Do you know what this is?
Yes, it is a view master.
When you look through these
holes, what do you see? Right.
Pictures. Today we are going to play a
little game. J I want
you to pretend that this view master will actually show you PAUSE what is
going to happen PAUSE in the future!!!!! J J J
·
So, look in and tell me what you see? PAUSE How about in this
view master? Okay, that concludes our
game. Thank you for your help.
Today we move towards the competition of our Old Testament
sermon series, as we focus upon the Prophet Isaiah. Prophets, in the Old Testament were people to
whom God revealed what would happen in the future!!!! Isaiah has been called, “The
Prince of the Prophets.” If Matthew,
Mark, Luke& John are the Gospels of the New Testament, then Isiah is the 5th
Gospel contained in the Old Testament.
Isaiah, who lived 3000 years ago, was an unusual prophet,
because he was also s priest at the temple. He was also an ambassador that was
sent to represent the King to other nations.
The Old Testament Book of Isaiah is the 2nd
largest book in the Bible. God spoke to Isaiah,
inspiring Him to speak God’s Word to God’s people, calling them:
(1) To repent of their sins
(2) To
foretell the eventual defeat and exile of God’s people, as a
consequence of their sins
(3) To foretell of a time
of hope in the future --- when God’s people would be reconciled with Him. PAUSE
Last Sunday, we spoke of the defeat of Israel & Judah, and the destruction of Jerusalem, by the
Babylonian empire. Isaiah and other prophets proclaimed that this was a result
of the faithlessness of the people and their religious and governmental
leaders. Not only that, but God’s people
were sent into exile BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON FOR 70 YEARS.
·
Not in order for us to better
empathize with this history, SLOW we need to imagine how we would feel if our nation was
invaded and defeated; PAUSE how we would
feel if we lost our homes, and were exiled to Brazil. PAUSE And there we lived in tents not by the rivers of Babylon,
but by the Amazon River. Think how
HEARTBROKEN we would feel for ourselves, our loved ones, and our nation. PAUSE
· Now, the fact is
that you and I do not have to be defeated and exiled to feel despair. One psychiatrist puts it this way: We have ALL felt
despair during difficult periods in our lives. We may occasionally despair
about our job, marriage, love life, family, finances,
world events, etc. But typically this despair dissipates in time, and life goes
on. When despair doesn't dissipate but rather deepens, it may take control and
become CHRONIC, diminishing
quality of life, impairing functioning, and keeping us from moving toward our
goals, dreams and desires. Then our
despair may become pathological or clinical despair. Clinical despair can
be conceptualized as a profound and existential hopelessness, helplessness,
powerlessness and pessimism about life and
the future. Despair is a deep discouragement and loss of faith about one's
ability to find meaning, fulfillment and happiness, to create a satisfactory future for oneself. PAUSE
·
I wonder if you can think of people
you know who are currently experiencing such darkness? PAUSE I wonder how many of
us in this room are in such a state now?
·
PAUSE L I remember long times of despair in my life,
where my depression just would not lift. God seemed very far away…and discouragement and depression were my
constant companions. All my thoughts were negative and self-condemnatory.
However, while God’s people cried in Babylon, the prophet Isaiah
received a word from God—a word of hope for them and for us. Please open your bulletins to page 4, looking at verse one, where God speaks and says, “Comfort, comfort for my people says the Lord.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her punishment is over, that her
sin has been paid for , that she will receive from the Lord’s hand double for
sins”—meaning that God will pardon, reconcile and give double blessings in
proportion for the amount of trouble
that they endured. And God sums up his
promises, in one of the most beautiful and inspiring promises that God makes to
us in all of Holy Scripture. Let us read
responsively verse 31:
For those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
THEY WILL SOAR ON WINGS LIKE EAGLES;
THEY WILL RUN AND NOT GROW WEARY, THEY WILL WALK AND NOT BE FAINT.
Now, this word of hope speaks on two
levels:
1. It was intended
to bring hope to the ancient people of Israel—to serve as a light at the end of the tunnel. Indeed, as
God’s people heard and meditated on this word 3000 years ago, they found God’s promised strength,
power and encouragement to help sustain them through the exile, with an
ANTICIPATION of their RETURN TO THEIR HOMELAND and the RETURN OF GOD’S FAVOR. As people read this word, they began to
understand that God was speaking to them; and that comfort began a positive
turn around, so that his people did wait upon the Lord who renewed their
strength, just as God promised. PAUSE / SLOW…..And such hope is available to us. PAUSE
· So in my case, these
words were especially meaningful
to me. While I was in the darkness….I prayed these words…and
I grew to comprehend that these were
not just words printed on the page of my bible-----for through these words, I heard God speak
personally to me—John Donnelly. I was encouraged to seek help
from my loved ones, and then a counselor.
I grew to understand, in a new way, that I could accept God’s promise
and to choose to believe that He was renewing me day by day…and slowly, but
surely, I began to emerge into the
light, as I replaced my negativity with encouragement from Jesus Christ. PAUSE
· Whether or not
you have faced prolonged despair, you can be an instrument of God by
encouraging your friends & family. Bring a smile...a hug…a prayer...a listening ear, and your will be a
ray of light. PAUSE
2. So, our first
reading today was meant to encourage God’s people then, and us in the
future. Secondly, today’s passage on the
reconciliation between God and men and women is elaborated on in Isaiah’s
prophecies, which followed today’s readings…that the final reconciliation with God would be accomplished by a
suffering servant—an innocent, who
would take our punishment upon himself…one, whom Isaiah called ,”
Wonderful... PAUSE Counselor…. PAUSE Almighty God… PAUSE Everlasting Father… PAUSE the Prince of Peace.”
Now,J J J of whom is Isaiah speaking? PAUSE He is speaking of Jesus. PAUSE Now, Jesus was a great reader of scripture, and he learned of his mission on earth by
reading Isaiah. PAUSE Indeed, in his first
public sermon, as we hear in today’s Gospel, he quoted Isaiah to proclaim his
identity. Would you all please turn to
page 5 in your bulletins, and let us read the portion of the Gospel highlighted
in bold face italic print?
“The Spirit
of the Lord is on me, because he
has anointed me to proclaim
good news to
the poor. He has
sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery
of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free, 19 to
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
MY FRIENDS, THE YEAR OF THE LORD’S FAVOR IS NOW! We, right here at Christ Church, are the ones
so fortunate to see the prophecy of the past fulfilled in the present.
· Aren’t we blessed
by hearing the good news of God’s word explained
& proclaimed PAUSE & studied in Small Groups???
· Aren’t we blessed
as God the Holy Spirit opens up our spiritual
eyes to see His hand at work in our families, church and in the world?
· Aren’t we blessed
by the forgiveness of sin,
won for us at the cross by Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe?
You see, the prophet Isaiah could only the future
through fuzzy pictures, like one peering through a view master.
We, however, are
able to witness in our own time
PAUSE that which prophets could only dream of,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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