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1 Year Lectionary – First Sunday in Advent – Sunday, November 28, 2021 | 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
0:28	the holy gospel according to saint
0:30	matthew the 24th first chapter
0:33	[Music]
0:40	when they drew near to jerusalem and
0:42	came to bethphage on the mount of olives
0:44	and Jesus sent two disciples saying to
0:46	them go into the village in front of you
0:48	and immediately you will find a donkey
0:50	tied and a cult with her
0:52	untie them and bring them to me if
0:54	anyone says anything to you you shall
0:56	say the lord needs them and he will send
0:58	them at once and this took place to
1:00	fulfill what was spoken by the prophet
1:02	saying say to the daughter of zion
1:04	behold your king is coming to you humble
1:06	and mounted on a donkey on a cult the
1:09	full of a beast of burden the disciples
1:11	went and did as Jesus had directed them
1:13	they brought the donkey and the colt and
1:15	put them put their cloaks on them and
1:17	sat on them and most of the crowd spread
1:19	their cloaks on the road others cut
1:22	branches from trees and spread them on
1:23	the road and the crowds that went before
1:26	him and that followed him were shouting
1:28	hosanna to the son of david blessed is
1:30	he
1:31	blessed is he who comes in the name of
1:32	the lord hosanna in the highest this is
1:35	the gospel of the lord
1:37	in the name of Jesus
1:39	amen
1:40	here again our gospel text prophecy
1:43	fulfilled on that palm sunday say to the
1:46	daughter of zion behold your king is
1:48	coming to you humble and mounted on a
1:50	donkey on a cult the fall of a beast of
1:54	burden i find it fascinating last week
1:56	it was the end of the world and you all
1:57	survived you did pretty well through it
1:59	this week we begin to look at the season
2:02	of advent and i love how the second
2:05	advent of Christ and the first advent of
2:07	Christ oftentimes overlap in our
2:09	readings during this season but in order
2:11	to understand what’s going on here i
2:13	mean let me kind of frame it this way i
2:16	don’t know if you guys have noticed
2:18	but republicans and democrats don’t get
2:20	along have you noticed that they don’t
2:22	seem to they don’t seem to converse well
2:23	with each other and i think we’ve hit
2:25	the point now where people are
2:27	absolutely
2:29	like panic stricken they have anxiety
2:31	and they load the idea of actually going
2:34	to holiday meals especially if somebody
2:36	from the other political party is going
2:37	to be there because you know what’s
2:39	going to happen you have a couple of
2:40	glasses of wine and somebody says the
2:42	word trump and then it’s well an all no
2:45	holds barred brawl right this is how
2:48	this goes
2:49	well have you noticed that in the
2:51	political one-upmanship
2:53	that takes place in our country there’s
2:55	a time-honored tradition okay now
2:57	remember when trump was inaugurated
2:59	there was he’s been elected he’s now
3:01	being inaugurated it’s january and what
3:05	does trump do he says that his
3:07	inauguration was the most attended in
3:10	all of you know u.s history this is how
3:12	we talk and of course cnn has their
3:14	helicopters up and they’re
3:15	no it’s not that big that’s we’ve had
3:17	bigger crowds here all right so biden he
3:20	he at his inauguration where they say oh
3:22	man big crowds it shows a big show of
3:24	support and so they’re kind of you know
3:27	basically looking at their whether or
3:29	not they’re valid or whatever based upon
3:32	how many people show up to the
3:33	inauguration
3:34	as if somehow this says anything right
3:37	well i can do you one better but let me
3:40	kind of do it in reverse all right if
3:42	you remember a few weeks ago there was
3:44	Jesus going through jericho heading
3:46	towards jerusalem and there was that
3:48	fellow blind bartimaeus right okay blind
3:51	bartimaeus happens to be in this crowd
3:53	all right because it says in in the
3:54	gospel that we read that he left
3:55	everything and followed Jesus well so
3:58	blind bartimaeus is in that group of
4:00	people but i want to note something here
4:02	it is the passover season Christ is
4:04	coming into jerusalem for the passover
4:06	and to go and be our passover lamb
4:10	to die in our place so that when his
4:12	blood is over us the destroyer passes
4:14	over us if you think of the passover
4:16	themes here they’re very important but
4:18	here’s the thing
4:19	there are hundreds of thousands of
4:22	people streaming in to jerusalem for the
4:25	passover this is where it’s supposed to
4:27	take place big throngs large crowds well
4:32	let’s just say that you know finding a
4:34	place to stay is going to be tricky and
4:36	challenging where to eat at night
4:38	there’s going to be long lines you know
4:40	and things like this you get the idea
4:43	and here comes how many people
4:47	maybe a hundred and twenty
4:52	how are they dressed
4:54	well you know galilean fishermen how
4:57	they dress they’re not they’re not
4:58	really impressive is there a military
5:00	parade here
5:03	21 gun salute
5:05	did the military do a flyover
5:08	all right was Jesus wearing a crown
5:13	no a lot of those things are missing
5:16	hang on a second here
5:17	there we go a lot of those things are
5:19	missed in fact none of them are there
5:20	okay so we have a
5:22	motley crew a former blind guy we got
5:25	some galilean fishermen we have
5:28	you know pretty basic smelly judeans you
5:31	know after having walked on a
5:34	they need a shower and what’s Jesus
5:37	riding on by the way
5:39	white horse
5:40	you know kings
5:41	usually
5:42	have horses and stuff
5:45	um
5:47	does this sound impressive to you guys
5:51	doesn’t sound impressive at all
5:53	that’s
5:54	the point
5:55	all right that’s really the point and
5:58	this is mucho importante a little
6:01	spanish there just to help out
6:03	all right it’s really important because
6:05	we have to kind of sort this all out
6:07	Christ has two admins right this is his
6:09	first
6:10	and you can kind of think of this as
6:12	Jesus’s triumphal entry his inauguration
6:15	as the king of israel
6:17	as our king your king my king and this
6:20	is most certainly true but then Christ
6:22	has a second coming a second advent and
6:25	usually when we think of power and might
6:28	and kings this is along the lines of
6:30	what we’re thinking of if we were to
6:32	fast forward to the near end of the new
6:35	testament revelation chapter 19.
6:37	it says this regarding Christ
6:40	verse 11 i saw heaven open and behold a
6:44	white horse
6:45	ah
6:46	this sounds this sounds about right the
6:49	one sitting on it’s called faithful and
6:51	true oh you betcha he is in
6:53	righteousness he judges and he makes war
6:56	that’s what we want we want him to yeah
6:59	war yeah
7:01	his eyes are like a flame of fire and on
7:02	his head are many diadems oh there there
7:05	it is the crown jewels there they are
7:07	and he has a name written that no one
7:08	knows except for himself he’s clothed in
7:11	a robe dipped in blood i bet it’s the
7:13	blood of his enemies yeah right and the
7:17	name on which he is called
7:19	for you greek guys out there halagos
7:22	tooth they you
7:23	the word of god and the armies of heaven
7:27	they are raid in fine linen white pure
7:30	following him on white horses from his
7:33	mouth comes a sharp sword with which to
7:35	strike down the nations and he will rule
7:38	them with a rod of iron he will tread
7:40	the winepress of the fury of the wrath
7:43	of god the almighty and on his robe and
7:46	on his thigh he has a name written king
7:48	of kings
7:49	lord of lords
7:51	now that’s what we expect crown jewels
7:54	white horse military oh and he even has
7:57	designer clothes king of kings lord of
7:59	lords no doubting who this is right well
8:02	this is what the jews were expecting the
8:03	messiah to do
8:05	to come in
8:06	and Christ doesn’t use and this is not
8:08	what he does he fulfills a different
8:10	prophecy altogether but here’s the thing
8:12	had Christ ridden into jerusalem on that
8:15	palm sunday
8:16	and on this horse with that military
8:20	and executed justice um where would you
8:22	and i be
8:28	oh yeah i see yeah that’s kind of the
8:30	issue isn’t it you see all good stories
8:34	and i mean this is have you ever noticed
8:36	like the best stories all tell the same
8:38	story over and over and over again
8:40	right
8:41	think back with me
8:43	i know i’m a little bit of a romantic
8:45	here one of my favorite stories of all
8:47	time cinderella right wasn’t there a
8:49	prince involved right then there was a
8:51	prince yeah there was a prince wasn’t
8:54	there a
8:54	maiden you know wasn’t she like
8:56	oppressed and well stripped of any kind
8:59	of dignity and she was abject poverty
9:02	and all this kind of stuff right well
9:04	see here’s the thing and all of the good
9:06	stories like that when you have a prince
9:08	who rescues his love
9:10	right even if she comes from humble
9:12	birth even if she’s there’s nothing
9:15	about her that would you know make you
9:18	say that she should be a princess
9:20	the king the the prince’s eye falls on
9:23	her and he loves her
9:24	and so always in those stories there’s a
9:27	rescuing of the princess and then
9:29	finally a reconciling with the evil
9:32	forces of darkness that were oppressing
9:34	her in the first place
9:35	so when we think about advent you have
9:37	to think along those lines Christ rides
9:40	into jerusalem
9:42	humble
9:43	on a cult the full of a donkey and the
9:46	prophecy being fulfilled says this say
9:50	to the daughter of zion
9:52	well who’s she
9:54	who’s the daughter of zion i’d like to
9:57	meet her
9:59	there you are
10:00	you’re the daughter of zion
10:03	i’m part of the daughter of zion
10:06	you see the daughter of zion is the love
10:08	of Christ
10:09	it’s his church it’s his bride
10:12	and so in his triumphal entry
10:14	he comes in
10:16	not bedazzled in diadems he comes in not
10:20	riding a war horse he comes in
10:22	on a beast of burden a borrowed donkey
10:26	and don’t let
10:28	these appearances
10:30	fool you
10:31	or to deceive you into thinking
10:33	something bad about Jesus don’t be
10:35	scandalized by this because what he is
10:38	coming to do
10:39	is to bleed and die for the sins of his
10:42	bride the daughter of zion
10:45	those who have faith in him
10:47	to lay down his life so that she can be
10:50	washed in his blood
10:52	so that she can have all of her sin and
10:55	filth taken from her
10:58	and that she can be clothed
11:00	in a bedazzled
11:02	dazzling
11:03	bright
11:04	white
11:05	pure
11:06	wedding dress
11:09	important thing to be happening here so
11:11	you’ll note
11:12	in fulfilling this prophecy
11:14	the prophet announces to the daughter of
11:17	zion those who trust in Christ those
11:20	whom Christ has washed away their sins
11:23	so that they can be forgiven because
11:24	he’s going to the cross
11:26	not to well have the blood of his
11:28	enemies spilled but for his own
11:31	blood to be spilt so that she
11:33	can be forgiven and pardoned
11:35	and so in the midst of this we learn
11:36	from philippians chapter 2 that even
11:39	though Jesus is king of kings and lord
11:41	of lords even though he is by nature
11:43	equal with god he humbles himself and
11:45	takes on the form of a servant and
11:47	became obedient to death even death on
11:49	the cross so that you and i can be
11:51	forgiven
11:52	so say to the daughter of zion behold
11:55	your king is coming to you
11:57	how’s he coming humble mounted on a
12:00	donkey on a cult the full of a beast of
12:02	burden a borrowed one at that so you’ll
12:04	note that even though Jesus at this
12:07	point
12:08	is in the form of a servant a slave
12:11	don’t think for a second that he’s not
12:12	king of kings because he is
12:14	and don’t think that because he’s
12:16	borrowing a donkey that he’s
12:17	poverty-stricken he owns the cattle on a
12:19	thousand hills none of the billionaires
12:21	of our time have anything on this guy
12:25	but he’s put all of that aside in order
12:28	to redeem and to save his love because
12:30	god so loved the world he so loved you
12:32	that he gave his only begotten son that
12:34	whoever believes in him
12:36	will not perish but have everlasting
12:39	life
12:40	and don’t think for a second that
12:42	despite the fact that he’s not wearing
12:44	diadems that he isn’t exactly who he he
12:47	claims to be and who the crowd
12:49	recognizes him to be
12:50	hosanna to the son of david they
12:52	recognize him as king the prophet has
12:55	declared him to be king indeed he is and
12:58	although he’s not wearing a crown he
13:00	will be in just a few days
13:02	the crown he’s chosen for himself is not
13:05	bedazzled in diadems
13:07	crown is chosen for himself as the crown
13:09	of thorns where he takes your sin and my
13:11	sin upon himself
13:13	so that we can be forgiven and pardoned
13:16	he dies in our place
13:18	so that we do not have to suffer the
13:20	fate that we have so horribly earned
13:23	and instead he does the greatest work of
13:26	all
13:27	giving laying down his life so that we
13:29	can live so say to the daughter of zion
13:34	behold your king is coming to you humble
13:36	mounted on a donkey what does this call
13:37	for
13:38	faith
13:40	everyone who believes these words
13:43	who can see past the poverty see past
13:47	the borrowed donkeys he passed the
13:48	scandal that he’s not riding a white
13:50	horse
13:51	everyone who has faith they see what is
13:54	happening here and their hearts leap and
13:57	they rejoice and they
14:00	with the crowd at that time now cry out
14:02	hosanna to the son of david blessed is
14:04	he who comes in the name of the lord
14:07	and with that we consider then in his
14:09	first advent Christ comes humble but we
14:12	know in his second advent he will not
14:14	come humble he will finally come on that
14:16	horse
14:17	and so we hear then the admonition the
14:19	exhortation of the apostle paul in our
14:21	epistle text so you know then brothers
14:24	and sisters
14:26	that the hour has come for you to wake
14:28	from sleep
14:30	and we talked about sleep last week
14:33	sin
14:34	it just puts us all to sleep right and
14:37	that’s what it is sin is sleep slim sin
14:39	is darkness
14:41	there’s nothing good in sin it’s slavery
14:44	and so you’ll note that the time the
14:46	hour for us to wake from sleep it is
14:49	near at hand it’s just around the corner
14:53	salvation is nearer to us now than when
14:55	we first believed didn’t we just do
14:57	advent a year ago
14:59	we’re doing it again now what we do this
15:01	every year and it’s a good thing we do
15:03	right but you’ll note that last year we
15:06	were that we were that much closer
15:09	to the end of this darkness and this
15:11	sleep
15:12	and our salvation was near to us then
15:14	and now it’s nearer to us than ever it’s
15:17	never been closer the night is far gone
15:20	the day is at hand i gotta admit i’m not
15:23	a keen fan of just how little sunlight
15:25	there is during this time of the year
15:26	have you guys noticed that all right
15:28	it’s you know even after the time change
15:31	it’s like i’m sitting in my office
15:33	working on the bulletins or whatever and
15:35	it’s it’s almost eight o’clock and oh
15:37	the sun decided to finally wake up right
15:40	but i one of the things i enjoy is is
15:42	that my my office faces east and so on
15:46	those days when i’m up and it’s dark in
15:49	my office and i look out the window and
15:52	always and again you can just see the
15:54	very first twinges the slightest subtle
15:59	color of pink in the clouds right he’s
16:01	there go oh well the sun’s about to come
16:03	up you give it just a little bit of time
16:05	and that tiny little faded bit of pink
16:09	turns to something a little bit more
16:11	vibrant and then you see they begin to
16:12	see an orange all right or maybe even a
16:15	yellow and it starts to get brighter and
16:17	brighter and brighter and thinking dang
16:19	it where’s my camera and ah it’s too
16:21	cold i don’t want to go out there and do
16:22	anything right so i sit there and i
16:24	watch and finally
16:26	boom
16:27	it happens so
16:29	suddenly
16:31	but you’re going to note brothers and
16:32	sisters
16:33	as we anticipate
16:35	and get ready to celebrate the first
16:37	advent of Christ
16:39	who comes to us humble born of a virgin
16:42	born in a barn if you would
16:45	humble laid in a manger
16:48	that the second coming that we’re
16:50	looking forward to is not something that
16:52	we need to fear
16:53	just like we shouldn’t fear
16:56	him in his first advent he’s already
16:58	come to us on a beast of burden laying
17:00	down his life so that we can be forgiven
17:03	note then that the night is far spent
17:06	have you noticed the world’s going crazy
17:09	just look off into the east you can
17:11	already see those first faded colors of
17:14	pink the sun’s about to rise
17:17	ah the night is far gone the day is at
17:19	hand and because of this then even
17:22	before the sun comes up let us then cast
17:25	off the works of darkness and put on the
17:28	armor of light even now before the sun
17:31	rises
17:32	let us walk properly as in the daytime
17:34	not in sexual immorality and sensuality
17:37	not in quarreling and jealousy but let
17:40	us instead put on the lord Jesus Christ
17:43	now and make no provision for the flesh
17:45	to gratify its desires the night is soon
17:49	to give way to the rising sun Jesus
17:51	Christ when he returns in glory to judge
17:54	the living and the dead and he’s going
17:56	to lead us into a world without end
17:58	and we have nothing to fear from this
18:00	Jesus he comes to us humble today he
18:03	comes to us next week in his body and
18:05	blood given in shed for us for the
18:06	forgiveness of sins on the cross he
18:08	comes to comfort us so daughter of zion
18:11	you who are in Christ you bride of
18:13	Christ
18:15	behold
18:16	your king is coming to you
18:18	he loves you deeply laid down his life
18:20	for you so repent
18:22	believe
18:23	and dare to hope
18:25	the day is at hand in the name of Jesus
18:28	amen

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