WEBVTT 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:05.599 Well, it's the first Sunday of Advent. 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:10.320 It's one of my favorite times of year as Christmas comes and we get to light. 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:21.039 At my church, when I grew up, we had that wreath, and you had the four candles around the side outside and the one candle in the middle, and we had those Advent candles, and that's the season that we're in now. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:26.559 Let me read that last verse that Sam read to us. 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:30.800 O house of Jacob, come. 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:36.000 Let us walk in the light of the Lord. 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:40.240 You think about 2,000 years ago, why do we need the light of the Lord? 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:41.439 Why do they need it? 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:45.200 They were a nation who were under the rule of the Romans. 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:49.759 They had lost their great position as a great nation among nations. 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:53.520 And the Israelites wanted freedom and they wanted a ruler to come. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:58.000 They wanted God to send his Son who would be the king again for Israel. 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:00.240 But why today? 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:02.079 Why do we need Advent today? 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:04.319 Why do we need light today? 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:10.640 Maybe for you, you've got family members who are gone astray. 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:13.200 Maybe this year you've lost a loved one. 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:17.200 Maybe you've got a child who's not in the fold. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:24.719 Maybe you've got illness in your family, or maybe you've got financial trouble or a job you've lost. 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:29.359 And you're looking for something beyond what you can do yourself. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:34.400 We're looking for hope beyond what we can do ourselves. 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:36.640 That's the season of Advent. 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:42.640 Well, it used to be, I love that Brian introduced me, made me cry a little bit or a lot. 00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:45.120 We've got a long history, said 15 years. 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:48.000 We used to get fat in the fall. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:56.879 So we eat a lot of food, you know, it's football season, we eat a lot of food, then Thanksgiving would come and we'd eat more food, and then Christmas would come and we'd eat more food. 00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:02.239 And like my brother said, we'd look like we were had uh we were pregnant women by the end of the fall. 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:08.319 And so we thought, let's go for a run uh every Saturday and train for some kind of a half marathon. 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:16.080 So we trained for a half marathon in March or April, and Saturday mornings we go for an hour to an hour and a half run to train for that. 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:19.599 And it became a time where he and I could share life. 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:22.960 We talk about careers and family and stuff going on. 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:30.159 And then it became a time like some of you do with your friends, where it was a time of accountability. 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:37.680 I would share a little bit of what was going on in my life and the things that I was doing I shouldn't be doing and the things I shouldn't be doing that I was doing. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:41.759 And it was it was a every Saturday ritual. 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:44.240 Hey Brian, man, can you believe I did this this week? 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:46.080 Or can you believe I didn't do this this week? 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:50.159 Or how mean I was to my family or my wife or whatever. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:59.759 And I would feel like Brian understood me and he would encourage me, and I'd go back and I'd resolve that this week is gonna be better. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:02.400 And so by the time I got done with my run, I felt great. 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:07.599 And I'd beat my chest and say, I'm a new man, I'm forgiven, I'm ready to go forward and conquer the week. 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:14.080 And usually by Monday or maybe Sunday or maybe Saturday, even, I'd fail. 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:20.719 Like I would fail every week, even though I'd resolved to do the right thing that week. 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:24.400 And accountability really didn't do it. 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:30.000 That my desire, my hope, my attempt to control my behavior didn't work. 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:40.319 Until finally he and I one day woke up and we started saying, We live with so much that God has done for us. 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:50.000 This great God of the universe, the creator of all things, he has given us our families, our wives, our kids, our houses, our community. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:54.639 Why don't we spend time on this run giving him thanks? 00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:56.560 Basically praising him for what he's done. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:03:58.879 Let's look to the good things he's done for us. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:09.759 We quit focusing on the things, the behaviors we were trying to quit, or the behaviors we were trying to start doing, and we began to focus on the God who gave us so much. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:16.800 And what's amazing is in that change of focus, the behavior started changing. 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:33.600 It was like when we let go of the desire or the need to have control of our little world, we gave freedom to God to come and work in us and through us to change our little world. 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:39.040 And this desire for control is something you see. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:41.759 I don't know if y'all have watched this new Netflix series, The Crown. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:42.639 Have y'all seen that? 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:43.360 Anybody? 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:45.519 Maybe some of y'all binge it. 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:46.879 I mean, I think it's fantastic. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:52.000 In the second episode, Anthony Eden is a minister of parliament. 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:58.000 And he thinks Churchill is old and decrepit and is really bad for the nation and bad for the party. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:03.600 So he goes to King George VI and says, George, please help us. 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:08.399 Please help us convince Churchill to step down, to step aside. 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:17.360 And George in his wisdom says to him, the PM, meaning the Prime Minister, the PM will step down in time. 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:23.120 Until then, I do have the right to be consulted, to encourage, to warn. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:32.639 It is better to be patient and get what you desire in the right time than have a high office thrust upon you when you're not ready. 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:35.759 I speak from personal experience. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:42.240 And George is telling this Anthony Eden, you want to control the situation. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:48.240 You want to craft how the running of our government's going to go. 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:50.399 Really, you want to be in control. 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:57.120 And until you let go of that and let the right thing happen at the right time, it will fail. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:01.199 Just like my attempt to control my behavior failed. 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:05.600 And if we go back to the beginning of time, God created the garden of Eden. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:13.759 And in it he had Adam and Eve and all these great things that we could eat and all these animals and trees and just this perfect garden. 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:20.000 And he said one thing to not do don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:22.560 And not only that, don't even touch it. 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:25.519 It's like God saying, don't touch that with a 10-foot pole. 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:36.160 That desire to know between good and evil, that desire to have knowledge and have wisdom is something that you are going to want, but it will kill you. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:42.639 And the serpent slithers up to Eve and says, Why not? 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:51.920 If you eat that from that tree, you'll know good and evil, and you will be like God. 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:54.800 You will be like God. 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:03.360 You can control your little world and your domain. 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:21.199 It's what we do when we set up frameworks for comparing ourselves to other people and our hierarchies and our social order and our society and how we have rules of engagement with other people so that we can control our situation and our life so we can be like God. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:35.040 It's why we set up rules for how to deal with addictions and how to deal with hard people and hard children and how to come out from financial bondage because we want to have control of our situation. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:41.680 Solomon was a very wise man, as you know. 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:52.079 And in Ecclesiastes, he wrote, I said in my heart, I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:08:00.879 And my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge, and I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:07.439 I perceive that this also is but a striving after wind. 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:15.680 For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:23.040 Solomon would go on to say, all this striving for knowledge and wisdom and control, it's meaningless. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:27.040 Without Christ, under the sun, it's meaningless. 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:32.000 And I want to ask you today, what are you trying to control in your life? 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:34.799 What are you trying to get a grip on? 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:38.799 That your attempt to control is failing. 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:44.879 And our attempt to control is bringing death to that situation. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:48.559 Well, this is my swan song, as Brian mentioned. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:51.360 I'm going to be done being an elder in five weeks. 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:55.600 And I'm happy because I can come to church and just enjoy it and not worry about it. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:57.360 But I'm also sad because I've loved it. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:00.639 It's been a great experience for me and for my family. 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:16.799 But this, uh, when when Russ and I talked about this being the last opportunity I have to come and talk to you, I wanted to share some things with you that I think are very, very important for our church and for me and for my family and for you as well. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:27.120 Things that I think that must go on should this church continue to do what God's called us to do and who to be. 00:09:58.320 --> 00:09:59.279 What do I need to read? 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:01.039 What do I need to do? 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:04.799 This church is preaching Jesus. 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:14.480 You'll hear us talk a lot about law, gospel, and grace, and you'll hear us talk a lot about all these theological terms, but we're preaching Christ. 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:19.759 I don't mean some right-wing evangelical Jesus Christian people. 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:36.320 What I mean by that is simply Jesus Himself, the Son of God, that here is God, as I mentioned, creator of the universe, and he sends his son Jesus to come and live a perfect life on earth. 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:41.120 Everything that we didn't do right, he did right. 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:52.159 But then he went and went to the cross and took all the stuff that we did wrong and took it to the cross and paid that debt on our behalf. 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:55.919 And then gave us that perfect life. 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:11.279 Adopted into his family. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:20.559 And we preach that that while the world is dark and while it seems hopeless, Russ preaches Jesus every week. 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:22.320 In him is our hope. 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:26.720 In him is the light that Isaiah was writing about. 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:32.000 He is the water that if we drink from, we'll never go thirsty again. 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:34.399 He is the bread that brings us life. 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:38.159 In the garden, he was the tree of life. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:41.519 Jesus is the answer. 00:11:42.159 --> 00:12:00.240 The second thing is we are gonna, some of us love theology, and we're gonna want to talk theology, and we're gonna want to say that this church is theologically better than some other church, that we're not Baptists, and we're not Methodists, and we're not episcopals, we're not Lutherans, we're not Presbyterian, whatever. 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:07.679 We've got this supreme perfect theology that we're preaching law, gospel, it's not law, gospel, law, it's not law. 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:15.759 It's just, and I want to tell you, we are gonna be tempted to hang our hat on some theology in this church. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:18.960 But again, that's not the answer. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:23.279 Because theology can become simply head knowledge for us. 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:38.559 And theology can try to create a formula for our lives that says, if you believe this way, if you believe this theological perspective, then your life will have meaning and purpose and value. 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:43.120 But we know, I know from my first point, Jesus is the answer. 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:47.120 I want worth, I want value, I want life, I want hope, I want joy. 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:51.200 That is found in Christ, not in some theological perspective. 00:12:53.039 --> 00:13:06.559 So often we can hear and we can think, if I'll just remember the gospel, if I'll remember grace, and that can turn into if I remember this theological position, and that's not what we mean by that. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:18.080 What we mean is simply there is a God on the other side of that equation who loves us so much that he gave us Jesus. 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:28.720 That when we hear the word grace, when we hear the talk about the gospel, what we mean by that is here is God's love poured out for us. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:31.919 Here is Jesus given for us. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:37.600 Here is our hope given by the God of the universe. 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:42.159 So theology is not the answer. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:51.279 The third thing I'm gonna leave with you, and this is my final point, is that we will want control. 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:56.159 I will want control, and you will want control. 00:13:57.120 --> 00:14:00.080 But Jesus is what we need. 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:01.279 Okay? 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:02.799 So what does that mean? 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:04.480 What are you talking about? 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:12.879 You're gonna wake up one day, or I'm gonna wake up one day, and I'm gonna have a problem. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:16.879 And I'm gonna want an answer. 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:31.200 I'm gonna have a daughter who's crazy, and I'm gonna want to come to Russ and say, Russ, when you preach on Sunday morning, preach something that my daughter will hear that she will go and do the right thing based on your sermon. 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:44.399 Or I'm gonna have a financial hardship and I'm gonna come to church and I want Russ to teach me and tell me, do these three things, and I can come out of bankruptcy. 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:45.440 Or you know what? 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:48.480 I've been longing for my career to change. 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:56.799 If I'll go to church, I can listen to Russ preach, and he'll give me the steps to have a successful and fruitful career. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:00.240 I'm gonna want that in this church. 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:12.960 Because what I want Russ to do is I want Russ to give me a set of rules, a framework, a guide, 10 steps, three principles that can allow me to control my life. 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:27.039 Just like Brian and I tried to do after our runs on those Saturday mornings, or just like Eve did in the garden, thinking that I can be like God and I can control my life. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:31.120 And we want that. 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:32.320 We want control. 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:36.159 But Russ is gonna preach Jesus. 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:44.000 He's gonna preach the gospel that says you want control, but that's not what you need. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:46.000 Your neighbors want control. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:51.519 They want some hope, they want some practical steps to get out of this situation. 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:58.320 They want some way of finding freedom, and they think it's gonna be doing these three or four things. 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:07.360 And over and over and over again, Russ is gonna say, these things are great for your life, but you need Jesus, and he's already done it for you. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:10.799 And it's not gonna make sense to our heads. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:14.720 And you're gonna say, I can't stay at this church anymore. 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:17.759 I need somebody to give me some practical lessons. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:30.960 But that won't satisfy the deep longing of your soul and the deep need that we have as people for light and for hope and for life. 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:38.480 Jesus is the answer, not theology, and definitely not some set of rules that will give us control. 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:40.799 We need him. 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:51.360 It's so difficult because churches have people who come in with those needs. 00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:57.039 And you'll come in that way, and I'll come in that way, and churches want to provide that answer. 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:11.119 And Russ is going to struggle, and the elders of this church will struggle to keep us keep going back to Christ, even in the midst of pressing needs that we want to give answers to. 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:26.160 That gospel, the good news of Jesus given for us every Sunday. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:36.400 So I want to be like Anthony Eden, who tries to control the future of our government or the future of my family. 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:38.880 I want to be like Eve and be like God. 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:48.160 I want to be like Solomon and chase knowledge and chase wisdom, things that I think will make me smarter and wiser and better at handling life. 00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:56.640 And God didn't give me those things with the coming, with the advent of Christ. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:05.440 That baby in a manger, that little Jesus who grew to be our king, he didn't give us the practical solutions. 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:08.160 He gave us something so much greater. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:10.559 He gave us life. 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:14.000 And that's the light of Advent for us. 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:19.279 And that's the light of Advent that we as a church preach now. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:27.039 And that Russ and the elders and you as members and attendees, we will preach going forward. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:31.119 Because he is who we need. 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:33.359 Let me end with this. 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:36.799 Um this is from 1 Corinthians chapter 16. 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:43.039 It's a it's a verse from Advent, and it's kind of a I don't know, a blessing, but our Lord come. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:48.000 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:53.200 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. 00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:54.400 Amen.