Advent – waiting on the arrival of something, or someOne, big and important.
It seems so easy to get lost in all of the busy-ness of the season with the passing of hours, days, weeks, and months that we forget the anticipation.
For Israel all those centuries ago, waiting had become their norm. They had awaited the Messiah for hundreds of years. Exile had come and gone. They tried to make their own way. God’s Word was silent until “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The silence of hundreds of years waiting for God’s promise to be fulfilled was broken by the cry of God Himself coming to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21) as the promised Emmanuel, “which means, God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
This is why it is fitting that the first week of Advent is remembering prophecy and looking forward to hope: We can have hope because God is faithful to keep His promises!
So, tomorrow, as we begin tuning our worship with the sounds of Christmas, let us look in anticipation to the coming of our Savior because “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20)! We do not wait in silence because the Word has already dwelt among us – and after His resurrection, He has sent His Spirit to dwell with us so that there will never, ever be a time for God’s people without Emmanuel!
May our hearts cry out as with the hymn of old: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel…Rejoice!”
And that is what we are singing about tomorrow: rejoicing that God is with us and trusting in all He has faithfully done – all the promises He has already kept and fulfilled in the first coming of King Jesus – so that we can hope and rejoice in His imminent return!
Here are our Scriptures & songs:
- Romans 5:1-5 —
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
- God With Us —
- Born to Die —
- Romans 5:6-11 —
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
- In Christ Alone —
- What a Beautiful Name —
- (invitation) Make Room —
- (offertory) He Will Hold Me Fast —
We invite you to join us this Sunday at Christ Community Church in Grenada, MS!
We have Sunday School classes for all ages at 9:30a and worship – everyone is welcome – at 11:00a!
If you are concerned about social distancing or are at-risk, consider gathering with us at 10:00a for a small group Bible study in our worship center. There is plenty of room to spread out, but there is also opportunity to gather with others at the same time! No one will crowd you, and you can exit out of our side door and avoid the crowd coming in to worship after the Bible study!
We also continue to live stream from Pastor John Goldwater’s facebook page and have current and past services on the CCC YouTube page.
Just Keith Harris 