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Series A – Midweek Advent 1 – Wednesday, November 30, 2016 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:22	Scripture text
0:29	tonight is taken from the Gospel of Luke chapter 1 verses 1 through 23.
0:36	and as much as many have undertaken to compile A Narrative of the things that
0:41	have been accomplished Among Us just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and Ministers of the word
0:48	have delivered them to us it seemed good to me also having followed all things
0:53	closely for some time past to write an orderly account for you most excellent Theophilus so that you may have
1:00	certainty concerning the things you have been taught in the days of Herod the King of Judea
1:08	there was a priest named Zachariah of the division of abhija and he had a wife
1:14	from the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth they were both righteous before God walking blamelessly in all
1:21	the Commandments and the statutes of the Lord but they had no child because Elizabeth was Barren both were advanced in years
1:29	now while he was serving as priests before God when his division was on duty according to the custom of the
1:36	priesthood he was chosen by law to enter the Temple of the Lord and to burn incense and the whole multitude of the
1:43	people were praying outside at the hour of incense and there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right
1:50	side of the altar of incense and Zechariah was troubled when he saw him in fear fell upon him but the angel said
1:57	to him do not be afraid Zechariah for your prayer has been heard and your wife
2:04	will bear you a son and you shall call his name John and you will have joy and
2:11	gladness and many Will Rejoice at his birth for he will be great before the Lord and he must not drink wine or
2:19	strong drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb and he will turn many of the
2:26	children of Israel to the Lord their God and he will go before him in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the
2:34	hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord a people
2:42	prepared Zachariah said to the angel how shall I
2:47	know this for I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years
2:52	and the angel answered him I am Gabriel I stand in the presence of God and I was
2:57	sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news and behold you will be silent and unable to speak until the day
3:04	that these things take place because you did not believe my words which will be
3:09	fulfilled in their time and the people were waiting for Zechariah and they were wondering at his
3:15	delay in the temple and when he came out he was unable to speak to them and they realized that he had seen a vision in
3:22	the temple and he kept making signs to them and remained mute and when his time
3:27	of service was ended he went to his home in the name of Jesus
3:34	now when I was a kid I thought my mom was crazy sometimes
3:40	I mean we’d go about our daily lives doing well the normal things we do you know I’d go to school we’d come back
3:47	we’d do homework my mom would cook dinner she would do the dishes and then eventually I learned how to do the
3:52	dishes and and we had this normal Rhythm that we would go through but every now
3:57	and then the Rhythm got disrupted when we got word that Grandma was coming
4:03	and I don’t know what would happen to my mother but she would transform into somebody else
4:08	and what was once an acceptable level of clean in the house now Rose to the level
4:15	of pigsty it was absolutely awful so there I was as a young lad I mean we’re
4:21	going about our normal business the house looks well normal to me it looks as clean as it is and my mom was already
4:27	a very clean housekeeper and then she would say this is not going
4:33	to do do you see the dirt in the grout what dirt what’s grout look at look look
4:38	at this vacuuming job here in the living room it’s not good do it again and it’s
4:44	like what has gotten into my mother and then my grandma would show up and everything would be fine and and then
4:51	after she left it was like we were yeah back to normal life and my
4:57	grandmother never even noticed anything it was just the strangest thing well
5:03	think of it this way is that Advent is this time of well
5:10	preparation anticipation somebody important is coming to town and there is
5:15	a major theme within Advent and that is the theme of preparing in preparation
5:21	and that is what we hear about John the Baptist John the Baptist is the Forerunner of Christ and he is preparing
5:28	the way of the Lord and his call as we will hear this Sunday is repent but as
5:35	we look at our gospel text we’re going to be working our way through the opening portions of the Gospel of Luke I
5:42	think it is very important that we note here that God now is preparing to
5:48	fulfill his promises and God himself is doing the preparation
5:55	in light of his soon appearing and so with that as we consider God
6:02	preparing to fulfill his own promises we remember that at the very end of Genesis
6:07	1. yeah this is the chapter of the Bible where we hear that God said let there be
6:13	light and there was light and he created everything that you see Stars the Sun the Moon
6:19	well the animals the rivers everything he created them in six days and at the
6:25	very end he creates humanity and God declares that all that he had created
6:30	was very good yeah but we all know that something went
6:37	terribly wrong as the story tells us God’s enemy invaded the garden of the Lord
6:44	and deceived our first parents and through his deception well tempted them to disobey the Lord
6:51	and as a result of their disobedience we were plunged into death and into a
6:58	curse misery suffering disease broken marriages murdered children Wars famine
7:06	pestilence mental Insanity starvation
7:11	destroyed friendships and Societies steeped in sin and idolatry have followed in its wake
7:17	see our parents ate from the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil and unfortunately we have known
7:23	experientially both good and evil ever since but if you’re honest it feels like what
7:30	little good we experience is quickly overrun by the evils of this world
7:36	and I don’t know about you seems like the longer I live
7:42	the more tired I get tired feel like I’m languishing under
7:47	the curse and the tyranny of Darkness but remember there was a promise given in the garden a prophecy
7:54	that would dare to have us hope but that hope seems only like a whisper
8:02	there in Genesis chapter 3 but whether it’s a whisper or a thundering voice from heaven when God speaks and when he
8:10	promises he never renegs he never lies and so as a result of this this promise
8:17	like everything we’re going to see in Our Gospel text calls for belief calls for Faith calls for trust
8:24	here again the words from Genesis chapter 3 where God pronouncing judgment on our first parents it says that they
8:31	heard the sound of the Lord Walking In The Garden of the cool of the day the man and his wife they hid themselves
8:37	from the presence of the Lord and God called among the Trees of the garden but the Lord God Called To The Man and
8:43	said to them where are you he said well I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I
8:49	was naked and I hid myself he said who told you that you were naked have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded
8:55	you not to eat and now comes the first passing of the buck
9:01	he said the woman that you gave to be with me she gave me of the fruit of the tree and
9:07	I ate and the Lord God said to the woman what is this that you’ve done and the woman said well the serpent deceived me and I
9:13	ate and the Lord God said to the serpent because you have done this curse are you above all livestock and above all the
9:19	beasts of the field on your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life
9:25	and here’s the whisper of a promise I will put enmity between you and the
9:32	woman and between your Offspring and her Offspring he shall bruise your head
9:42	and you shall Bruce his heel so the promise of The Offspring of the
9:47	woman if you think about it and do the math when unfulfilled for millennia
9:54	Generations came Generations went civilization civilizations they Rose
10:00	and they fell in the Years between the promise and the arrival of the seed the civilizations
10:06	that arose in the in the shadow of Eden they were eventually judged by God for
10:12	their wickedness and the entire Earth was flooded and only Noah and his family survived
10:18	and as we read through the Old Testament we follow now the Scarlet thread of this
10:25	seed this promised one God appeared to Abraham we learn brought him into Canaan
10:31	God wrestled with Israel and brought the Hebrews to Egypt where they were enslaved for 400 years keep that number
10:37	in your mind God delivered them through Moses and brought them to the promised land and raised up King David and his
10:43	descendants and then plunged and in Israel and sorry King David and his descendants ended up plunging Israel
10:50	into idolatry and God punished them by sending them into captivity in Babylon and after bringing them out of captivity
10:57	he re-established them in Judea and he spoke to them for just a brief period of time through the last of the Old
11:03	Testament prophets talking 1500 years of history in the Old
11:09	Testament from the time the children of Israel arrive in Judea to the time when well the final
11:17	prophets speak and then well
11:22	there’s 400 years of Silence after that and I think it’s important to note what
11:28	exactly God said in The Parting prophet of the Old Testament we’ll look at two brief
11:35	passages Malachi chapter 2 starting at verse 17.
11:41	kind of a brutal prophecy says you have wearied Yahweh with your
11:47	words fun place to start isn’t it you’ve worried Yahweh with your words but you
11:55	say well how have we wearied him by saying everyone who does evil is good
12:00	in the sight of the Lord and He Delights in them or by asking where is the God of Justice
12:08	that’s an interesting place to start wearing the Lord by telling everyone who
12:15	does evil that it is good in the sight of the Lord does that sound like it could have been written today
12:22	are there not well now let’s be frank here are there not buildings that call themselves
12:28	churches that bless sin that tell people that God blesses them
12:36	in their sin a terrible plight
12:42	and in the midst of this terribleness where these people have worn God out God
12:49	gives another promise behold I send my messenger and he will prepare the way
12:55	before me and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come into His Temple
13:01	and the messenger of the Covenant in whom you Delight behold he is coming says the Lord of hosts but who can
13:07	endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears for he’s like a Refiner’s Fire and like a Fuller’s Soap
13:15	and already as you listen to this prophecy you can begin to see Jesus in
13:20	the temple preaching and teaching oh and the Pharisees and the Sadducees coming
13:26	to test him and leaving well dissatisfied and then the closing
13:31	chapter of the Prophet Malachi reads this for behold the day is coming burning like an
13:38	oven when all of the Arrogant all of the evil doers will be stubble the day that
13:44	is coming shall set them Ablaze says Yahweh of hosts Yahweh save Earth in the
13:50	Hebrew so to leave them neither root nor branch
13:55	but you who fear my name the son of righteousness shall rise with
14:01	healing in its wings you shall go out leaping like Calves from the stall you
14:06	shall tread down the wicked for they will be ashes under your souls at The Souls of your feet on the day when I act
14:12	says the Lord of hosts remember the law of my servant Moses and the statutes and
14:18	the rules that I commanded at Horeb for all of Israel and behold I will send to you Elijah the
14:24	prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes and if you pay
14:30	attention here in this closing chapter of the Old Testament Prophet Malachi it
14:36	sounds like the Lord is prophesying the second return of Jesus
14:43	because he is but you’re you’re going to also notice he’s also prophesying the first coming
14:50	of Christ the first Advent of Jesus and so it is how shall we say it a good
14:56	biblical tradition a good biblical practice to talk about Jesus’s first and
15:02	second Advent in ways that combine the two first and second visitations coming
15:09	together and so you’ll notice we have an eye for the future day of judgment but also
15:16	we have an eye of the first Advent of Christ and hear the words the end the prophet Malachi’s book
15:24	Behold I will send to you Elijah the prophet before the Great and the awesome day of the Lord comes he will turn the
15:31	hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest I come and strike the land
15:38	with the decree of utter destruction
15:44	and then after Malachi puts his pen down
15:51	God stops speaking for 400 years
15:57	for 400 years silence
16:03	but he never stopped speaking through his word and so for those 400 400 years
16:09	the generations that came and went they heard the promises and they were in
16:15	anticipation of the Fulfillment of them and so when Jesus shows up finally
16:22	we read in the New Testament that over again the people were expecting him they
16:28	knew he was coming they were anticipating his arrival even Jesus’s
16:33	enemies so at the time when the well the New Testament opens as we read in Luke
16:40	chapter 1. when the curtain comes back up and God begins to move again and to
16:46	stir and is getting ready to speak everybody is in anticipation and what is
16:52	called for in this time of anticipation belief
16:58	and repentance Trust and making your paths straight before
17:04	the Lord seeing your sin for what it is and seeing the Salvation that God is
17:11	providing for us and so our gospel text opens with these
17:16	words with Luke writing to Theophilus and as much as many have undertaken to
17:22	compile A Narrative of the things that have been accomplished Among Us you see Luke well it was a physician of his time
17:28	an educated man probably a gentile convert to Christianity potentially
17:34	through the Apostle Paul and he’s writing to a gentleman whose name is Theophilus what a funny name
17:40	Theophilus the lover of God that’s what it means I love it because if that was
17:46	really his name and not some pseudonym that he was using It’s a Wonderful double entender because you can say well
17:53	I guess that’s written to me too because it is
17:59	so as much as many have undertaken to compile A Narrative of the things that have been accomplished Among Us just as
18:04	those who from the beginning were eyewitness and Ministers of the word they have delivered them to us it seemed
18:09	good to me also having followed all things closely and for some time passed to write an orderly account for you
18:16	almost excellent Theophilus so that you may have listen to this word
18:21	it is so outrageous certainty
18:26	so that you may have certainty concerning the things that you have been taught notice the days we live in
18:33	the thing that we’re taught to embrace by Society is doubt the person who well has the audacity to
18:41	say that they know something with certainty well we all know what that person is they’re arrogant
18:47	isn’t that what the society says see Society values doubt doubt blurs
18:55	definitions doubt creates ambiguity in an ambiguity there is no sin
19:05	there is no judgment there is no condemnation there just is
19:11	like one big bowl of three-day-old oatmeal but we
19:17	have been written to by Luke so that we would have certainty
19:23	and so the Story begins in the days of Herod the King of Judea
19:29	you see in the days of Herod the King of Judea God began to stir God began to
19:34	fulfill his promises the promises he made all the way back at the beginning of time
19:39	see back that the days of Herod the King of Judea there was a priest and his name was Zechariah
19:45	the division of abhija and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron and her name
19:51	was Elizabeth this reads like history not mythology because it is and they were both righteous before God walking
19:59	blamelessly in all the Commandments a little bit of a note and that is is that you’re going to notice righteous and blameless righteous
20:06	before God is how we talk about our standing before God by grace through faith
20:12	blameless before others is the second table of the law in how we conduct
20:17	ourselves with each other and so Elizabeth and her husband
20:22	Zachariah they were righteous by faith and blameless in how they conducted their affairs with other people but they
20:29	had no child because Elizabeth was Barren and both were advanced in years and there’s that wonderful Motif I seem
20:36	to remember in the Old Testament there were a bunch of women who had difficulty
20:41	conceiving why is it always this difficulty conceiving and now we went
20:47	out in the Christmas story we not only get it once we get it twice because I mean who can have more difficulty than a
20:55	virgin giving birth that’s kind of what the whole Motif is pointing to from Sarah
21:01	to Isaac’s wife to even Samson’s mother or the mother of Samuel all of these
21:07	women who had trouble conceiving God is in the Old Testament preparing us for
21:12	what is coming so that when the promises are fulfilled we can sit there and say of course he’s been telling us this is
21:19	the way it was going to happen the whole time because that’s what he was doing
21:25	so while Zechariah was serving as a priest before
21:31	God when his division was on duty according to the custom of the priesthood he was chosen by lot to enter
21:38	the Temple of the Lord and to burn incense and the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour
21:44	of incense ah let your prayers rise before you as
21:49	incense lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice and there while they were praying and he was burning the
21:56	incense and Angel of the Lord was standing on the right side of the altar of incense
22:02	Zechariah was troubled when he saw him and fear fell upon him but the angel said to him do not be
22:08	afraid for your prayer has been heard your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son
22:15	and she’ll call his name John and you just have to wonder if you were
22:21	to pull out you know that prayer and look at the well the stand to see when
22:26	they stamped it and the date on it how many years had gone by
22:32	you think zachar wire was still praying for his son well his wife is an octogenarian
22:38	probably not but his prayer had been heard his prayer had been heard and your wife
22:45	Elizabeth will bear you a son you shall call his name John and you will have joy and gladness and many Will Rejoice at
22:52	his birth for he will be great before the Lord and he must not drink wine or strong drink which means he’s the
22:58	Nazarite he’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb hmm
23:04	it’s as if the angel Gabriel believed in well infants can have faith because they can
23:11	and so he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God and he will go before him in the spirit and the
23:17	power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just
23:24	and to make ready for the Lord a people prepared now at this point Zachariah
23:31	should have been doing an end zone dance yes this is awesome
23:39	but he didn’t have certainty he had a lot of doubts a lot of doubts
23:47	and well they manifested Zechariah said to the angel
23:52	how shall I know this for I’m an old man my wife is advanced in years it’s like
23:59	Gabriel do you not know how to read a calendar what’s going on here Gabriel
24:05	now whips out righteous indignation because this is not how one who believes
24:11	in Yahweh and trusts in his word is to respond to his words
24:17	to the angel answered you can almost see his feathers kind of ruffling up right I
24:23	am Gabriel as if he’s supposed to know that’s like important I’m Gabriel I
24:29	stand in the presence of God and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news
24:36	you should be rejoicing you should be happy you should be like wow and you’re not and behold
24:43	since you don’t believe the word of the Lord we’re going to make it so you’re not able to make any words yourself and
24:49	so behold you’ll be silent unable to speak until the day that these things take place because you did not believe
24:54	my words and whose words were Gabriel’s words for real they were gods
25:02	and they will be fulfilled in their time and see that’s the thing God always
25:10	fulfills his words in his time he knows
25:15	what he’s doing so while the people were waiting for Zechariah they were wondering at his
25:20	delay in the temple and he came out by the way delays like that generally mean that the priest died
25:27	okay in case you didn’t know that not only were they required to wear you know something like this to cover up but at
25:34	the bottom of their robes they had like little bells and they took a rope like
25:39	this and tied it to his ankles okay because if you did something wrong there was a good chance that God would
25:45	strike him dead and so when the Jingle Bells stopped
25:50	you take the rope and you drag the body out from behind the holy of holies otherwise God will kill you in the
25:56	process so it’s like Zechariah has taken a little bit too long you don’t think oh I hope not so
26:04	they were thinking the worst so the people were waiting for Zachariah they were wondering at his delay in the
26:10	temple and when he came out he was unable to speak to them and they realized that he had seen a vision in
26:17	the temple and he kept making signs to them I always kind of crack up at this a little bit of a side note okay this part
26:23	of scripture actually makes me really laugh because I picture Zechariah trying
26:28	to explain to them without words that he saw an angel and how do you go about doing such a thing it was
26:36	anyway that’s not very holy but
26:41	so it’s a poor fellow he’s just absurd but it’s wonderful
26:46	so we kept making signs to them and remained mute and when his time of service was ended notice that they
26:52	didn’t give him any days off yeah well you lost your voice well that’s too bad for you get back to work so when he was
26:58	done he went home and so our text today tonight this
27:03	Advent teaches us that God is stirring
27:09	God is moving God is finally fulfilling his promises in his time
27:15	that is what Advent is really about the anticipation the arrival of Christ and
27:20	the fulfilling of God’s promises and you’ll notice who’s doing the preparation God is
27:27	so in the days of Zechariah his soon to be born son the son he
27:32	didn’t believe was coming well this son through the power of the Holy Spirit prepared the way of the Messiah making
27:39	the path straight through the preaching of repentance and baptism today
27:44	God is still stirring God is still moving today Christ has sent pastors and
27:51	Christians into the world to prepare the way of Christ’s arrival that second
27:56	Advent his coming in glory to judge the living and the dead he’s sent us to
28:02	Proclaim repentance and the Forgiveness of sins baptizing and teaching very similar to
28:09	the way John did and so this calls for faith not doubt this calls for certainty
28:16	not I don’t know and that’s what faith is it’s trust it’s
28:23	belief that God fulfills his words in his time you see God never renegs on a
28:28	promise and it’s important for us this Advent season to remember and again go over
28:35	what it is that God has promised to us because with all of the people running around the religious landscape making
28:42	all kinds of promises for God that he never made we need to hang on to the ones we know
28:47	for sure that he’s given to us for the scripture says in Romans 10
28:52	verses 11 and 13 that everyone who believes in Jesus will not be put to shame
28:59	that is a great promise because every time we examine our lives
29:05	in light of God’s law and the Ten Commandments we see how woefully short that we fall
29:11	and it is good news for us that God has sent his son into the world not to
29:16	condemn the world but that the world may be saved through him and so everyone who
29:21	believes in him will not be put to shame you will not be shamed on the day of
29:26	Jesus’s return there will only be well like the leaping
29:31	of a calf that excitement that fun that great thing to look forward to new
29:37	Heavens new Earth World Without End no more curse no more knowing evil
29:42	thank God I can’t wait for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek if the same Lord as Lord of
29:48	all and God bestows his riches on all who call on him for everyone who calls on
29:56	the name of the Lord will be saved but remember what Peter said in second
30:02	Peter 3 13 according to his promise we are waiting for a new heavens and a new Earth in
30:09	which righteousness dwells and so this Advent
30:15	let’s do what Malachi teaches us to do keep our eyes both on Jesus’s first Advent and the second Advent because the
30:23	two go together and let us also well
30:28	drop all of the sin that entangles us all of the sin that makes our own paths
30:34	crooked let us repent be forgiven bear fruit in keeping with
30:41	repentance and live like children of the day that is Dawning rather than Children
30:47	of the Night in the name of Jesus amen

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