Advent Celebration: First Sunday
First Sunday in Advent– The Angels Candle, purple
Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people: for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord And this is the sign unto you: Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. (Luke 2:10-12)
There was no warning. It was a dark night with only the faint light of the stars. The shepherds on the Bethlehem plain were routinely watching their sleeping sheep. All was at peace, so the shepherds were beginning to drowse.
Suddenly the Sky burst bright with holy light. There in the sky was an angel, glorious in brilliance. Startled out of near sleep the shepherds were stricken with fear. They cowered in terror.
But the angel declared,
Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people: for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this is the sign unto you: Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. (Luke 2:10-12)
Miraculously, the terror bled out of the shepherds’ hearts, and they were left in holy awe at the majestic angel. Perhaps this was the Archangel Gabriel, who brought the news to Mary that God would conceive in her the Messiah.
The angel said he had good tidings. The Shepherds began to be excited.
He said the news would give them great joy. Their anticipation increased.
He said the joy would be for all people. Likely, the Jewish shepherds interpreted “all people” to mean the Jews. But the angel was speaking to encompass all the world’s people.
He announced that the Messiah was being born. This was exceeding great news to the shepherds. As Jews, it was the answer to the fervent desire of faithful Jewish hearts. The Messiah was the long-awaited deliver of the Jews from bondage.
The Messiah had first been promised to Moses,
And Jehovah said unto me, They have well said that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. (Deuteronomy 18:17-19).
Isaiah prophesied.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)
The Announcement by the solitary angel concluded with a sign, the proof of the truth of the announcement.
- A baby–a natural birth
- Wrapped in swaddling clothes–a natural clothing for a newborn
- Laying in a manger–this was totally unnatural. Babies were placed in cribs in the home. Cradled a manger, where cows eat, was a significant departure from the natural.
With the close of the announcement, again without warning,
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased. (Luke 2:13-14)
We should contemplate the message that the Angels delivered. We are two millennia past the first Advent of the Messiah, but we have another Advent coming. We should have our hearts tuned to the Second Coming, when Jesus our Lord will come to deliver us from this fallen world and transform the world by his righteous reign.
Advent Sunday 1: Prayer
Father, You sent Your Angels with the best news in all the world–my Savior, came to die in my place for my sins. Give me a true heart to eagerly accept Him with great joy as did the angels. Give me a true heart to embrace Him, the most wonderful gift in creation.
To the glory of God, our Father; Amen.
Advent Wreath
Introduction to Advent
This is the season when Christians look forward to the birth of Jesus the God/man. Born a baby in the natural way, this child grew up to be a powerful preacher and miracle worker. He was fully man and operated in the power of Almighty God. He was fully God and participated in human life because he was a limited man. Through his life He did not sin; therefore, He was the perfect sacrifice for the sin of mankind. This God/man was tortured and killed, amazingly at the command of God. The ultimate purpose of the baby born in a Bethlehem manger was to be the perfect atonement for your sins and mine.
The Birth of Jesus
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (Luke 2:1-20)
For believers, this is the best of good news; there we celebrate his birth starting just after Thanksgiving. For the four Sundays before Christmas Day, December 25th we celebrate Advent. This is the anticipation of His coming into the world. The advent of Jesus the Christ, Emanuel = “God with us”.
The Advent Wreath
One of the traditions is to set out an Advent Wreath. There are many styles of the wreath. Nearly all of them include a ring of evergreen boughs and candles. Christians have adopted the evergreen tree as a symbol of the Christian faith in everlasting life. The candle with its burning wick symbolizes the light of Christ that came into this dark world.
The style of wreath I favor is the ring of four candles – three purple and one pink, and then as a pièce de résistance on Christmas Day a large, white candle set in the center.
Each candle is symbolic of something or someone. The meanings I favor are:
First Sunday in Advent | Purple | The Angels candle |
Second Sunday in Advent | Purple | The Shepherds candle |
Third Sunday in Advent | Pink | The Mary candle |
Fourth Sunday in Advent | Purple | The John the Baptist candle |
Christmas day | White | The Christ candle |
Advent: Third Sunday
Advent—Love
December 22, 2013
“For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God: Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.
Jehovah did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all peoples: but because Jehovah loveth you, and because he would keep the oath which he sware unto your fathers, hath Jehovah brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
In 1917, Fredrick M. Lehman wrote,
“The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell
It goes beyond the highest star, And reaches to the lowest hell
God’s love so sure shall still endure, All measureless and strong
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race – The saints and angels’ song.”
Because God’s love is infinite and eternal, He has given us the privilege to ask Him to bless the those things we care about. Since we have this honor and responsibility, this morning we will be praying for four things:
- Our Nation
- Our Church and our Pastor
- Others in need
- Ourselves and families
Please pray with me:
“Almighty God our Father, we love you. You have planted love in our hearts and you have nurtured it, so that love has grown in us.
Lord Jesus, there are many things we care deeply about and the love you give us expands to encompass them. Now as we pray hear our hearts and intercede for us before the Father.
Holy Spirit of truth, guide our prayers to express the desires of our Savior’s heart for saving the world.
Lord, you have blessed America far beyond the blessing of any other nation except, Israel. You built into the land vast resources and fruitfulness. You established our nation in freedom. You revealed Yourself to our forefathers and they established in this nation a godly government. Over the two centuries of America’s existence, our generosity has been unprecedented in history.
And yet in these latter days we have lost our first love. Since we are now turning our backs on You, we are in serious danger of losing Your blessing so that America ends up on the dust heap of history. Save us from our foolishness.”
Please pray for God’s intervention and His saving of America:
Prayer
“Thank you, Jesus for blessing us with Grace Fellowship Church. You love us. You called us out and brought us together in this special relationship with You and with one another. We are deeply grateful. Thank you.
We know we are not complete. We want to grow into the Body of Christ that You intend for us to become, so we are open to grow in our relationship with You and grow in numbers.
You have blessed us with an educated Pastor that loves us and is seeking to nurture us to see the purposes You have for us.
We ask that you strengthen his spirit and deepen his love for us, so he will have the resources to minister to Your glory and our benefit.”
Please pray for our church and our pastor:
Prayer
“We live in a fallen world, Father. We see that in the lives of those we care for. They struggle with their situations in the world. They struggle with afflictions in their bodies. The struggle to find employment, they struggle with finances.
Therefore, as You have laid the struggles of our loved ones on our hearts we now turn them over to You, with confidence in Your love to bring them through their struggles and into Your blessings.”
Please pray for the ones you love:
Prayer
“We need more of You Jesus. You love us and we love You. We acknowledge that too often we do not live in Your love. Manifest Your love in our lives to cure all our ills and bring us closer to You. Heal our diseases, Guide our prayers, strengthen our faith, and make us more like You, Lord.”
Please pray for yourselves:
Prayer
Join with me now in offering the prayer that our Lord Jesus taught us, saying…
