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Sunday Service Messages  

The lighting of the Prophecy Candle:  Today we welcome the season of Advent as we prepare with expectancy the arrival of our Savior at new levels in our lives and anticipate the return of that same Savior in power, glory, and justice.  This is good news for those who believe.                                                                                 

The theme of our worship today is the hope we find only in the Holy One of Israel.  The candle I light today is the candle of prophecy, a reminder of the story Jesus tells in Mark’s gospel reading today.                                                                      

Jesus invested himself in those whom the Father gave Him and He has made the same investment in you and me.  For if we are in Him and He is in us it is clear that we have been given to Him.  We come to the Word today as we discover the encouragement that Jesus gave His followers just before the Passion Week was to begin which set time apart, BC and AD.

                                                                            Mark 13:24-37        

It was news to them, but it is an important reminder to us.  Jesus will return and when He comes again, He will come in power and glory and justice.  That is a fact!  He said so!  What then is the point?  The point is – pay attention not only so you won’t be caught off guard or surprised, but so that you remember that you have been given work to do.                                                                                                                

Each of us have been invested in for a purpose.  Since we are slaves in His household, we have each been assigned work to do.  We may not have the same work our brother or sister has been given but from the beginning of our life in Christ we have been created in Him for assignments that are designed to give Him all the glory.  Not because He needs it because He already has it, but because living for His glory shapes us for the best way of life.                                                                                           

As Jesus prepares His followers for His second Advent His attention is directed toward their awareness of what is going on around them that will prepare them to live alert.  Awareness is a responsive dynamic not a control or self-centered dynamic.  That is why it is important that we do not know the day or the hour.  We need to sit light in our world so that we are always ready to respond to His nudging or directives.                              

We haven’t spent any time over the last 30+ years talking about the day, or the hour and I know many do.  But what is important is we won’t know – He says so, so it is most important that we recognize the investment He has made in each of us, and we need to simply go on with what we have been given and what we have been called to by the King.  “We have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ” in what we become and what we do.                                                                        

With Ashley and Taylor here, I wanted to take advantage of their story of investment as they await the day and the hour.  I always find it encouraging when we hear about the movements and ways of God that reveal eternity in the here and now.

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