WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.439 Well, Merry Christmas. 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:04.000 It is the first Sunday in Advent. 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:08.800 Remember, Advent is the four Sundays weeks leading up to Christmas. 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:10.400 So we're actually in the church calendar. 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:12.320 We're not really in Christmas time. 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:14.240 We are in Advent. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:23.120 Advent's the season of waiting and hoping, anticipation toward Christmas of the one to come. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:28.480 A couple weeks ago, I went to the airport to pick up my aunt who flew in from Seattle. 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:33.679 I got there early and she wanted me to meet her there at the top of the escalator to help her with the luggage and get to the car. 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:38.880 And so I got there early, and it's good people watching there at the top of the escalator in case you hadn't been there in a while. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:40.799 And I'm a stand back person. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:42.799 I don't know if you're a front row person. 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:50.799 I'm a stand back and I can kind of just I can see over because I've got that thing going on and I can just see, and then I go after the person that I want. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:01:05.359 But there's other people there, and I watched one family who had distinctly prepared a lot for this moment because they had signs, and it's like the whole family's there, so they had parked and they had walked and they had wiggled their way up to that front, right? 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:09.280 With that little you know, rope is there blocking you from going further. 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:10.719 And they are just waiting, right? 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:11.920 They are waiting. 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:16.319 They've spent hours for this, and they're eagerly waiting. 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:24.400 And when the time came near, that one person appears coming up the escalator, right? 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:27.760 Barbara! Barbara! I mean they break free from the rope. 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:29.040 I mean, you know, it's hugs. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:40.480 I mean, I mean, this is the person that they love and they've waited for, and this is the person that loves them, distinctly different from all the greetings I saw of like coworkers. 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:42.319 It's like, hey, good to see you, Robert. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:43.680 You know, let's get your bag. 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:47.920 You know, it's like, you know, I mean, these people are hugging, kissing, right? 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:51.040 I mean, this is the person they love, and this person loves them. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:02:02.079 It's an image of Advent that we're waiting on, not a coworker, we're waiting on somebody who loves us dearly. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:07.840 So we wait and we prepare during the season of someone who's coming for us. 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:09.840 Let's reread this passage. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:16.319 Alarming language to begin Advent, but it's for us and it's purposed for us. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:18.879 Matthew 24, verse 36. 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:24.639 But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:28.400 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:42.159 For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware, until the flood came and swept them all away. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:44.879 So will be the coming of the Son of Man. 00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:50.479 So Jesus is speaking about his second coming when he will restore the broken world. 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:56.879 A strange way to begin Advent, such alarming language, but it means something for our hearts. 00:02:56.960 --> 00:02:57.919 Here's what I think it means. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:06.080 Point number one is this it is foolish to live unaware of God's supremacy and love of your heart. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:09.599 It is foolish to live unaware. 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:12.159 It is foolish to live unaware. 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:24.240 Dietrich Braunhoefer, in his book on Advent, God is in the manger, he said this the celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul. 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:26.319 So what's that? 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:34.400 Who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:38.400 It reminds me of what we say every week, what I already said. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:43.599 We're more broken than we originally thought, but we're more loved by God and Jesus than we dare to dream. 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:48.879 The second part of the sentence only makes sense if the first part of the sentence is something you're in touch with. 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:55.840 Two weeks ago in the city of Kyerson, Ukraine, Kherson was freed from Russian occupation. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:03:57.599 People celebrated. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:03:59.599 Here's an image I found online. 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:05.520 They were celebrating in the streets because the Russian soldiers were pushed across the river. 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:06.560 So they weren't far away. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:09.599 They were over in the industrial part of the city. 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:11.360 So they weren't far away. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:14.800 But these people have become free. 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:16.879 And they are celebrating. 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:18.319 They are ecstatic. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:19.120 They are so happy. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:23.040 Yet the Russian soldiers are just over the river. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:23.519 Right? 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:25.040 So they're like celebrating. 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:27.759 That's what I love about this image, is there's such a celebration. 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:34.800 At the same time, this young lady is fully aware that at any moment, at any moment, the alarm could go off. 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:37.439 The air raid sirens could go off at any moment. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:45.040 So she's both like in the reality of the celebration of the life she currently has, and at the same time, she's fully aware an alarm could go off at any moment. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:50.480 You're cooking, you're walking the dog. 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:54.720 This is the language of the normal life that this passage gives us. 00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:58.959 You're just living normal life, and then the alarm sounds. 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:02.720 An alarm is a startling call to pay attention to something else. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:04.000 That's what an alarm is, right? 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:09.839 Maybe you woke up by an alarm today, maybe a smoke alarm went off this week, an alarm went off to get the turkey out of the oven. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:12.720 You're doing one thing, an alarm goes off, and it changes everything. 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:13.680 It affects you. 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:15.279 Pay attention to something else. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:20.879 Being alarmed is to grow an awareness to that something else. 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:22.800 And that's what God's calling us to. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:25.279 He's saying, hey, hey, live alarmed. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:26.319 Like wake up. 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:31.040 Wake up to the reality that there's more to this life than this world. 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:39.759 The text is alarming with intense language for the distinct purpose to jar us awake to that which means the most. 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:45.360 The Noah story that Jesus mentions, it's a horrifying story, really. 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:49.759 I mean, maybe you heard it in Sunday school, maybe you saw like this image, right? 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:52.560 This is the image we show in our children's ministry. 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:53.519 Right? 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:56.879 I mean, how many stories in the Bible have a boat and animals? 00:05:57.040 --> 00:05:58.160 I mean, you know, kids love it. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:01.759 We all love it until we realize, like, oh, like families drowned. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:04.000 Like, that's what happened, okay. 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:17.439 The horror of that story for the world is more rightly shown in the 1911 work by the French artist Leon Commer, Flood of Noah and Flood of Noah and the Companions. 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:20.800 Now, we don't show this in our children's ministry. 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:23.120 That's not an image that we show. 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:28.639 But it's it's more accurate to the story. 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:44.319 Now, what's interesting with this Noah story and this flood is that in the ancient times, many religions had flood stories, which makes us think that there really was a flood. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:58.160 But their stories would end with something like, and if you don't keep your act together, and if you don't worship me like this, this, and this, I will flood you again. 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:02.000 Isn't it interesting how our flood story is different? 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:13.279 That this Yahweh God says at the end of our flood story, this Yahweh God says, I promise no matter what, I won't do that again. 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:21.920 Not because you covenant to me, but because of my covenant of grace to you. 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:55.759 A couple of months ago, our family was hiking in North Carolina, and I knew the hike went up this really safe trail, and then it got to the top, and there's a lookout, and then it went along a ridgeline there at the top, and my Enneagram 5 wing six, thank you very much for the 20% of y'all that know what I'm talking about, kicked in, and so all my precaution and anxiety kicked in, and so I gather the girls together to give them the pep talk about when we, you know, when we get to the top and how we're gonna behave and how you're gonna listen to me. 00:07:55.920 --> 00:08:00.079 And Christy's talking to strangers because that's what she does as the Enneagram 2. 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:04.399 She's meeting strangers, and I'm just like safety patrol for our family. 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:08.079 So we start up the hike, we get to the top, here's the lookout at the top. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:09.199 Is our family on this hike? 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:13.040 There we are at the top, and then we hike along this ridgeline. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:20.160 And there's a cable along the ridgeline, which was nice, but I've also seen my children like walk into a mailbox. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:35.200 So the cable was nice, but so I'm in the back, and it's like every six minutes, hey, heads up, drop off to the left, hey, scoot to the right, hey, that's far enough. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:40.720 Hey, you know, just like every and I don't want my children to live afraid. 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:43.200 I don't want my children to live afraid. 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:51.039 I I want them to be adventurous, I want them to be colorful, but I I need my children to live aware. 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:53.440 And I need my children to be wise. 00:08:56.879 --> 00:09:00.559 Bonhoeffer also says in his Advent book, says this. 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:12.240 Look up, you whose gaze is fixed on this earth, who are spellbound by the little events and changes on the face of the earth. 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:17.039 Look up to these words, you who have turned away from heaven disappointed. 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:25.759 Look up, you whose eyes are heavy with tears, and who are heavy and who are crying over the fact that the earth has gracelessly torn us away. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:29.600 Look up, you who burdened with guilt cannot lift your eyes. 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:33.279 Look up, your redemption is drawing near. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:37.120 Something different from what you see daily will happen. 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:39.600 Just be aware, be watchful. 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:44.480 Wait just another short moment, wait, and something quite new will break over you. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:46.000 God will come. 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:48.720 That's what this passage is saying. 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:51.440 Be awake, be aware, look up. 00:09:51.600 --> 00:10:05.039 And this is not fear on you, this is grace on you, the loving warning, the loving welcome to the very great truth that all of us live most of our lives avoiding, you and I will die. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:09.039 And this world is not all there is. 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:18.399 And your heart and my heart and our lives belong to God, who wonderfully created you and lavishly welcomes you in Jesus. 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:24.320 Now, in 1 Peter 2, Peter uses the Noah story as a lesson on morality. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:26.159 Good passage, good lesson. 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:31.200 But here, Jesus uses this same story, this Noah story, to make that point. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:32.639 Be aware. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:35.200 The end will come at some point. 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:37.120 Your end will come at some point. 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:47.039 But as we rest in the heart of God, our coming death is not judgment to fear, because all of the judgment, if you're in Jesus, all the judgment do anything of you. 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:50.720 It's taken care of in Jesus. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:58.480 And what we have left is the anticipation of a lavish welcome into restoration and redemption. 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:07.039 In verse 38, there's just all these activities off, like eating and drinking, marrying and giving and marriage, there's all these like just like really normal lives. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:08.399 Which is the point there. 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:16.879 The point is like, don't fall asleep by the normality of life to forget what actually matters most. 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:20.639 Verse 40. 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:28.879 Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken away, and one left, two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one left. 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:35.200 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:44.399 But know this that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:51.279 Jesus is saying, verse 36, in 40, none of us know that the day and the time of Jesus' return, right? 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:56.240 So even if you hear that on late night, you know, religious television, just go ahead and change the channel. 00:11:56.559 --> 00:11:57.600 It's just not true. 00:11:57.679 --> 00:11:58.639 It's not possible. 00:11:58.799 --> 00:11:59.840 Nobody knows. 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:01.440 It's not even the point. 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:06.720 The point is to live in hope of that day now. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:14.399 Point number two is this In Christ you are lavishly welcomed and you are never left behind. 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:17.440 That's the promise we have in Christ. 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:29.360 Jesus says there is a separation between those who are righteous by refuge in Christ, that astonishing grace that we have in Jesus, and then those who refuse that grace. 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:36.000 And Jesus is urgently calling you, if you're refusing that grace, to say, refuse it no longer. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:39.600 Give up into Jesus. 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:50.799 Because it's going to be like we're doing the most common things in life, tending a field, preparing food, washing the car, and then the story is going to transition. 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:58.720 And suddenly we're going to be in the restoration of all brokenness, a redemption. 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:02.799 And Jesus is saying to you, now, I come for you. 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:05.120 You don't disappoint me. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:06.559 You don't embarrass me. 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:07.440 I welcome you. 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:11.120 Jesus is saying that he won't leave us behind and he won't abandon us. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:13.840 And Jesus can say this. 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:15.840 And he can welcome us like this. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:20.000 And he can take all the judgment because of the cross. 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:23.519 Where all of our sin is put upon him who knew no sin. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:26.879 And his righteousness is given to us. 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:28.559 That we are his beloved. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:36.879 Point number three: part of our growth in grace is growth and awareness of this temporary world. 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:42.480 That's part of what it means to mature as a Christian, is become more and more aware that this world is temporary. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:47.519 Two questions have helped me this week to process this. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:53.679 I think they're good for us to contemplate and then for us to pause just in the middle of the sermon for us to pray. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:14:01.600 The first one is this: How am I growing an awareness that this world is not the fullness of God's story for me? 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:10.720 How am I growing an awareness that this world is not the fullness of God's story for me? 00:14:12.559 --> 00:14:15.600 So let's just pause right here in the middle of a sermon. 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:16.159 We can do that. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:19.200 I gave us permission to do it, so we can we can do it. 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:22.399 Close your eyes, let's just close our eyes. 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:24.399 Calm our hearts just a bit. 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:27.759 How are we growing in awareness? 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:37.200 Heavenly Father, would you help us become even more aware of how astonishing you are for us? 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:40.159 How sufficient you are on the cross. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:41.919 That you came. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:47.440 You came not to disappoint us. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:51.440 You came not because we disappoint you, but you came because you love us. 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:53.600 And that you welcome us. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:59.919 Help us grow even more aware that we were made not just for this world, but we were made for eternity. 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:04.080 And that our lives and our hearts belong to you. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:05.519 Help us to grow. 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:18.399 Even now, Holy Spirit, would you begin to reveal in our hearts in greater ways what it means for us to be even more aware now that this world is not all there is? 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:20.240 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:30.480 Second question is this How is my heart and life transforming by God's astonishing grace toward godliness and an eternal outlook? 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:39.600 How am I in a transformative process that I am not a temporary being, but I am an eternal being? 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:42.320 So let's pause again and let's pray. 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:43.279 Close your eyes real quick. 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:47.679 Heavenly Father, would you give us a sense that we are eternal beings? 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:52.399 And would that mean something for our lives today? 00:15:54.720 --> 00:16:07.600 Help us to know in a greater way that we are part of a story that began long before we were born, and that you will bring all things into a redemption and a restoration. 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:14.399 Holy Spirit, would you continue to help us become more aware? 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:15.519 In Jesus' name. 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:16.240 Amen. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:18.480 Matthew 24, verse 44. 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:24.240 Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour you do not expect. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:33.120 Point number four is this by growing aware of our story's end, we prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:38.240 As we become aware of our story's end, that our story does have an end. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:44.159 We prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ or our meeting with Christ. 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:56.320 The challenge with passages like this is that we can, in our fear, we can hear it quite different and out of the context of the loving Christ and out of Christ's work for us. 00:16:56.559 --> 00:17:01.759 Meaning this, if you don't know Christ personally, you could hear this as he doesn't care for you. 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:05.200 But the passage is a loving warning. 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:06.240 It is urgent. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:14.000 He's using alarming language, but it is a loving warning, a call to us to, like Bonhoeffer said, look up. 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:18.079 Don't pretend you can rescue yourself. 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:22.079 The way of the world and the way of the religion is always the same. 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:26.960 It is be good enough and do good enough, and then maybe you will be worthy, or maybe God will love you. 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:29.039 And the gospel is the opposite. 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:36.640 That God loves us so much that He provided for us in His grace that He loves us before we get our acts together. 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:46.400 I love the famous 1918 illustration in the poem The Night Before Christmas. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:50.799 This illustration is called Snug in Their Bed on Christmas Eve. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:56.160 And at some point, these children, right, they will awake. 00:17:57.359 --> 00:17:59.920 They will awake, they will be alarmed. 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:01.279 Somebody will wake them up. 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:05.039 They'll come out of that dream world and they'll come into that which is real. 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:07.680 And that's a great morning, of course, right? 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:09.440 You can maybe you remember that. 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:18.160 For me and my sister Sherry, we would, 1970s split level, the second set of stairs from that mid-level up to the bedrooms. 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:27.599 We would be down on that second stair in our jammies and our robes, and we could hear just around the corner my parents and my granny and my grandps getting their coffee together. 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:29.119 I mean it's painfully slow. 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:30.240 Like, how long? 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:31.039 How long? 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:32.160 How long, oh Lord? 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:32.799 How long? 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:38.319 I mean, I just was like, how like why are they taking so long? 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:41.039 And now I take forever to do anything. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:46.720 And just sit there, the anticipation that my sister and I would sit with. 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:50.880 And maybe you sat in a hallway, or maybe you sat in a bedroom when you remember it. 00:18:53.119 --> 00:19:03.119 That's the anticipation of a feast of provision that you're going to receive, not because you've earned any of it, but because it's given to you. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:06.240 Alright, look, look up. 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:08.640 There's a feast of provision for you. 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:17.440 A wealth of identity, all the forgiveness you ever need, all the righteous you ever need, all in this good and loving Christ. 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:19.039 Let's pray together. 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:34.559 Heavenly Father, as we begin our Advent practice of waiting and hoping, God, we anticipate. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:40.400 We need the feast of provision that you give for us. 00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:43.359 We are poor in soul. 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:46.880 We do not have our acts together. 00:19:47.200 --> 00:20:00.799 We are in need of that forever forgiveness we have in Jesus, and we are in need of that forever righteousness we have in Jesus, and we are in need of the wealth of identity and security that we can have as your beloved children. 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:05.680 We are in need of the feast of provision that Christmas brings us. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:17.359 Would you remind us this morning that you don't come for those who have their acts together, but you come for the imperfect, the broken, the sinners. 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:20.480 As we trust in you. 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:24.480 What a promise we have in this first week of Advent. 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:32.799 Thank you for this loving warning and this call to wake up, to be aware that this world is not all there is and there will be an end. 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:38.559 May we hear it as a loving call, a woo toward you. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:43.599 A lavish welcome out of your love for us. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:45.279 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:46.160 Amen.