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Series A – Fourth Sunday of Advent – Sunday, December 18, 2022 | 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	In the name of
0:29	Jesus Amen all right it’s not quite Christmas we’re
0:34	still an advent that means this is a penitential season and in our Old Testament text today we heard that
0:41	famous and I mean famous prophecy regarding uh the the birth of the
0:47	Messiah from a virgin of all things but when you consider the details in which
0:53	that particular prophecy was given let’s just say that I
0:58	would like to say that’s kind of a backhanded prophecy uh and the reason being is because King ahaz was a wicked
1:07	and I I I I cannot emphasize this enough he was a wicked fellow we learn about
1:13	him and from several places in the Old Testament but most notably we hear about
1:19	him in the book of second Chronicles chapter 28. and listen to these details
1:26	they’re they’re quite horrible so here’s what it says ahaz was 20 years old when
1:32	he began to reign no one should begin reigning when they’re 20 years old it’s just saying that it’s a formula for
1:39	disaster right and he reigned for 16 years in Jerusalem he made it to be 36.
1:46	God didn’t put up with him for very long and he didn’t do what was right in the eyes of Yahweh as his father David had
1:54	done so you’re going to note he’s a descendant of David he’s the king of Judah he’s a son of David the scripture
2:00	always refers to the kings that follow in David’s line as the sons of David he
2:05	walked in the ways of the Kings of Israel and the Kings of Israel were idolaters and he even made Metal images
2:12	for the balls he made offerings in the Valley of the son of hinom and burned
2:18	his sons as an offering according to the Abominations of the Nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of
2:24	Israel and he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every Green Tree this
2:34	guy basically was raised to be a believer in Yahweh and said nope I’m
2:41	going to worship the false god I’m going to worship all I’m going to worship Molech and worship the gods of Damascus
2:48	and things like this completely unstable and in idolatrist beyond all belief but
2:56	in the midst of all of this something terrible happens kind of a national crisis if you would and the national
3:03	crisis is that the king of Assyria now the king of Syria and the king of Israel
3:09	that’s the northern kingdom they’ve conspired together and they’ve they’ve mustered an army together they’ve
3:16	brought the forces together and they’re going to invade Judah all for the purpose of deposing King ahas and
3:25	putting a puppet King in his place the son of tabel and as a result of this
3:31	let’s just say that when we get to our prophecy things are in complete turmoil
3:37	disarray and everyone is fearing greatly and rightly so you’ll note that when
3:43	armies are on the Move that’s generally not a good time in people’s lives bad things usually happen when armies are on
3:50	the move and in this particular case that’s exactly what’s going on and the people and King ahas are terrified they
3:59	are outnumbered they are outmanned there is no hope but here’s the thing
4:05	in the recent history of Judah God has graciously
4:10	powerfully delivered Judah from the hands of those who would invade them and
4:17	what did they do they cried out to Yahweh for help but ahaz is not a fellow who believes in Yahweh he’s not going to
4:23	cry out to Yahweh he’s not going to ask for help but you’re going to note something here as wicked as he is God
4:29	still desires his repentance still desires that he turned to him in
4:35	penitent Faith that’s what he desires of all of us and so we’re going to note
4:40	ahaz stands as a king of Israel who is faithless and he is not faithful at all
4:48	he’s the opposite of faithful and and he’s a fellow who has drifted far far
4:55	far from the true faith and no we are all prone to this don’t think for a
5:02	second this couldn’t happen to you and I don’t think for a second it couldn’t happen to me it all begins with a little
5:08	bit of compromise you know just just a little bit uh you know what has God done for me lately maybe your your mentality
5:15	your attitude if I don’t take care of myself who’s going to take care of me and so you begin to put your trust in
5:22	yourself or your trust in your money or your trust in the US government or
5:28	things like this I don’t know why anyone would put their trust in the US government that that seems like a foolish foolish thing to do but alas you
5:34	put your trust in the stock market or things like this and you begin to slowly
5:41	drift you know it always starts that way or maybe you’re breaking that third
5:47	commandment you’re despising God’s word just you’re waking up on a Sunday morning going you know it would be
5:54	really nice if I had a lot more free time and I’d I’d really free up a lot more of my time to work on my hobbies
6:00	and do the things I really want to do if I just cut church out and stop listening
6:05	to God’s it always begins with things like this yeah and then where it ends up never
6:12	ends well you you’ve you what started off as a little bit of compromise turns into you
6:19	lending and ending up in hell that that’s how this works out you’ve drifted so far you’ve careened off the edge of
6:26	the Earth into the Lake of Fire this is what happens to ahas and so we we read
6:31	in the Fuller context of our Prophecy from our Old Testament text today in the days of ahaz the son of jotham the son
6:38	of Uzziah the king of Judah jotham was faithful he did what was right in the
6:43	eyes of God I’m sure he didn’t raise his son to be an idolater uh so here’s what we were resin the king of Syria pack of
6:50	the son of ramaliah the king of Israel they came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it but but they could not yet
6:57	mount an attack against it so they’ve they’ve brought the forces in but they haven’t quite got ever all the gear in
7:03	necessary to uh to mount an attack and lay Siege so when the house of David was
7:09	told Syria is in League with Ephraim the heart of ahas the heart of his people shook as the trees as the
7:18	of the forest shake before the wind okay that that’s that’s understandable I
7:23	mean when your country is invaded I mean it is normal to feel fear fear and
7:29	anxiety but alas we have one that we can call out to
7:34	God God has made it clear he desires to be our help in our time of trouble call
7:40	upon him in the day of trouble he will answer the scripture says and not only that in the recent history of Israel and
7:46	Judah there’s good reason to believe that that God would intervene in in the
7:52	middle of such a military action so he does although ahaz doesn’t can humble
7:59	himself and cry out to Yahweh God decides you know what I’ll see if I can start communication myself see if we can
8:05	turn this boy and get him heading in the right direction so he sends none other than the prophet Isaiah himself who is
8:13	one of the greatest authors of scripture man the prophet Isaiah he stands as one of the Pinnacle prophets of the Old
8:20	Testament and God lets Isaiah know exactly where ahaz is going to be so
8:26	that he can meet him and we’re going to find out that ahaz is going to be inspecting the water supply which is
8:31	something you need to do when you know before your your city is blade seeds you gotta check your food supply you gotta
8:37	check your water supply got to check your armaments and stuff like this so ahaz is out doing the kingly thing and
8:43	checking his water supply and God sends him to meet him there while he’s doing that so Yahweh said to Isaiah you go out
8:50	you meet ahaz and you and share Joshua your son at the end of the conduit of
8:56	the upper pool on the highway to the washers field and you say to him
9:02	careful be quiet do not fear do not let your heart be
9:09	faint because of those two smoldering stumps of fire brands at the fierce
9:15	anger of resin and Syria and the son of remiliah you’ll note here that God’s
9:20	kind of trash talking these two kings talking about them like yeah they’re nothing don’t fear them no big deal now
9:27	to God that would truly be the case to ahas that doesn’t seem even possible to think this way but you’re going to note
9:33	by God trash talking these two kings he’s trying to Kindle Within
9:40	ahaz faith confidence that the god of Israel will
9:47	come through right God’s making it sound like this is no big deal don’t be afraid
9:53	and then he goes on because Syria with Ephraim and the son of remilia they’ve devised evil against you that’s true so
10:00	saying let us go up against Judah and terrify it let us conquer it for ourselves and set up the son of tabail
10:06	as King in the midst of it but thus says the Lord God it shall not stand
10:12	it shall not come to pass now here’s the bit what’s not going to come to pass the deposing of king ahas
10:19	and the and the setting up of tabel right for the head of Syria’s Damascus
10:25	the head of Damascus is resin and within 65 years Ephraim will be shattered from
10:31	being a people God’s about to scrape them off the planet and disperse them into the Nations for their idolatry
10:37	right and the head of Ephraim Assyria the head of Samaria is the son of ramalia and then we get these amazing
10:43	words if you are not firm in faith you will not be firm
10:50	at all if you are not firm in faith you will not be firm at all and that’s the point
10:58	a lot of people think the secret to the Christian Life is do good or try harder
11:03	be more intentional really pull up the bootstraps and this time I’m going to
11:08	get it right that’s all law and believe me when I tell you if you if
11:15	you’re if you’re going to think that the law is the thing you need to really apply yourself to for the purpose of
11:21	really supercharging your Christian walk you’re gonna burn out in fact here’s the thing
11:29	the law you got to be careful with that thing because it is always accusing us
11:36	and when you amp up the law then we need it amped up but you don’t follow it with
11:42	the gospel you know what you know what your sinful flesh is going to do gonna run away say that’s it I’m done
11:50	I’m out of here goodbye hasta la vista there are many people who have lived as
11:55	legalistic Christians early in life who’ve now turned who their faith is
12:01	Shipwrecked and their lives do not reflect anything of the values of the of
12:06	the Christian faith at all I I you know I hate to bring this up but I’ll give you an example Amy Grant all right when
12:14	I was growing up she was the queen of CR contemporary Christian music I remember
12:19	the song El Shaddai El Shaddai Elsa die right it was a beautiful song and
12:25	everybody you know every teenage boy in in the in the Christian church who was listening to Christian music had a
12:30	little crush on Amy Grant right well Amy Grant long ago she she was pretty much a
12:38	very legalistic Christian long ago started drifting into faithlessness and she recently
12:45	announced to The Washington Post of all places she wanted the world to know this
12:51	that on her Farm there in Tennessee she’s going to be hosting her nieces
12:58	same-sex wedding and she basically said wow
13:04	scripture’s clear love God and love neighbor I mean I can’t imagine somebody going through life without being loved
13:10	and so she has by her actions demonstrated that she is now Faith less
13:17	she’s drifted into rank idolatry and apostasy or the way to look at it
13:24	each of us are capable of this if you’re not firm in faith that’s faith in what
13:30	the promises of God for the Forgiveness of your sins the promises of God that he
13:35	will care for you meet your needs give you your daily bread forgive you your
13:40	trespasses deliver you from the evil one this all calls for Faith and yes the law
13:47	always convicts us and only then through the gospel and the comforting assurance that Christ is bled and died for all of
13:54	our sins only through faith in the mercy and kindness and grace of God are we
14:01	then able to look at the law and say this is what I need to be doing this is freedom but without the gospel the law
14:08	just seems like and well a mountain that’s too Steep and too high to climb because it is that’s
14:15	the point so he says to ahaz if you’re not firm in faith
14:21	you’re not going to be firm at all and ahaz doesn’t have faith so then the
14:28	next part of Isaiah is where we get our Old Testament text today so again Yahweh spoke to ahaz listen
14:35	ask a sign of Yahweh your God let it be as deep as she all as high as heaven and
14:42	you’re going to note here God is basically saying listen you don’t believe me
14:48	I’ll give you a sign God doesn’t hand out signs like candy he rarely gives
14:55	these things out and he says you pick it I’m going to give you a blank check the sign that you ask for to show you that
15:01	my intention is to save you and to deliver you from you know remaliah and
15:08	you know and and resin and Syria and Israel you just ask me anything had had
15:14	ahaz said all right I would like to see the sun do a figure eight and a
15:19	loop-de-loop in the sky you know what would have happened it would have done a figure eight and done a loop-de-loop all
15:25	right but he didn’t ask and he feigns humble piety here
15:30	but he doesn’t believe in Yahweh ask a sign but aha said I’m not going to ask I
15:37	will not put Yahweh to the test you know why
15:44	because Hattie asked for a sign Yahweh would have been delivered then what would he have done with his
15:51	faith in his false gods right you got to note we we sinful human
15:56	beings oftentimes the reason why we set things up the way we set them up is to
16:03	ensure that God never gets in the way of our favorite sin
16:09	because we know if we are confronted with the truth
16:15	we’re going to have to repent things are going to have to change and
16:20	so is this not the reason why so many people attack the Bible today and I’m not talking about atheists
16:26	I’m talking about people who call themselves Christians they attack and impugn the scriptures and undermine it
16:32	they’ll say things like you know the Apostle Paul you know he was the original he was the original member of
16:39	the He-Man Woman Haters Club that’s the reason why he wrote that women can’t be
16:44	pastors uh-huh right so we’re gonna we’re gonna we’re gonna slander the Apostle Paul so
16:50	that you can now bring in women pastors I see how this works you won’t be confronted with the truth because if you
16:56	believe that that was actually from God you’d have to change and that’s what’s going on with ahas here I won’t put
17:02	Yahweh to the test but God sees through this this false piety in this false
17:08	humility and here’s what he says Hear the no House of David is it too little for you to weary men
17:17	that you now weary My God also therefore
17:22	the Lord himself he’s going to give you a sign and here it comes all right so note the
17:28	sign of a manual is a backhanded sign God says ask me for a sign aha says no I
17:34	won’t put Yahweh to the test fine I’ll give you a sign you didn’t you’re not going to ask I’m giving you one anyway
17:40	all right behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and call his name Emmanuel
17:48	which means god with us and you know
17:53	what that’s exactly what ahas needed in that moment he needed God to be with him
17:59	because things are not going to go well for him so he and he the Emmanuel shall
18:06	eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good for before the boy knows how to refuse the
18:11	evil and choose the good the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted and Yahweh will bring upon you and upon
18:19	your people upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the days day the Ephraim departed from Judah
18:25	the king of Assyria so basically God’s saying all right I’m going to give you a sign and here’s the
18:31	interesting bit you have the sign of Emmanuel which will not be fulfilled until our gospel text today
18:38	Our Gospel text shows the Fulfillment of that in Matthew which is six seven hundred years later
18:43	but that part of it is is the part that’s for the future in ahaz’s time he
18:49	will see that in that span of time from the time of some you know basically roughly the time it would take for a
18:55	child to be conceived to be born to grow to be weaned and then begin to learn how
19:02	to distinguish between right and wrong that uh that that from that during that
19:08	time period these two kings who have invaded Judah they will be long gone and
19:15	their lands completely deserted that will be a sign for for ahaz that God was
19:22	telling the truth but here’s the thing the emergency is still on
19:30	things are really bad in Judah that that doesn’t get rid of these two kings and
19:36	their armies who have invaded Judah but because ahaz won’t call out to God
19:41	in faith God’s going to make good his promise his promise was that he would not be
19:47	overthrown as king but that doesn’t mean that God’s going to let him off the hook
19:52	in fact ahaz’s faithlessness and refusal
20:00	to speak with to bargain with to pray to to communicate and Trust in Yahweh leads
20:08	to a disaster whose numbers are like mind-boggling let
20:14	me explain what happened so it says this in second chronicles 28 therefore Yahweh
20:20	his God because of his evil gave him into the hand of the king of Syria who
20:25	defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to
20:31	Damascus so this military operation resulted in a win for Syria now ahaz
20:39	wasn’t opposed tabiel the son of tabial was not put in place but a huge number
20:45	of people inhabitants of Judah were taken captive and Drug off to Damascus
20:51	he was also given into the hand of the king of Israel who struck him with a great force for Pekka the son of
20:58	ramaliah killed one hundred and twenty thousand from Judah
21:04	in one day in one day the casualties not wounded
21:12	killed was a hundred and twenty thousand I don’t even think there’s a hundred and
21:18	twenty thousand people in Grand Forks North Dakota I I you know with numbers
21:24	like that that would wipe out the city that I live in every single one of them right
21:30	and so with 120 000 fell and one day all of them Men of Valor because they had
21:37	forsaken Yahweh the god of their fathers you see the reason why they were defeated defeated is because they had
21:43	forsaken Yahweh zikri a mighty man of Ephraim killed maasaya the King’s son and as azer come the commander of the
21:51	palace and elkanah the at the next in authority to the king
21:57	ahaz lost his son in this military Endeavor and the men of
22:04	Israel took captive listen to this 200
22:10	000 of their relatives women Sons daughters they also took much spoil
22:18	from them and brought the spoil to Samaria but a prophet so here’s what’s happened here this military campaign was
22:25	a big success for Israel the northern kingdom and Syria Big Win major
22:31	casualties huge numbers of people were taken into captivity some went off into
22:37	Damascus 200 000 of the tribe of Judah were being
22:43	marched all the way up to Samaria and here’s what happened God intervenes at
22:48	this point but a prophet of Yahweh was there whose name was ODed and he went out to
22:54	meet the army that came to Samaria and he said to them behold because Yahweh
23:00	the god of your fathers was angry with Judah he gave them into your hand but
23:05	you have killed them in a rage that has reached up to heaven so now we have a definitive theological word from God you
23:12	want to know why you were why you lost this battle is because Yahweh was angry with you because of your faithlessness
23:19	Because of You departing from him and worshiping these false gods so not only
23:26	is ahaz defeated and um we’re talking a huge number of
23:33	people have their lives completely destroyed either by death or by being taken
23:39	captive but then a prophet stands up and says the reason why this has happened is
23:46	because God is angry at you for being faithless and departing
23:53	from God so now they know the reason for it
23:58	so behold because Yahweh the god of your fathers was angry with Judah he gave them into your hand but you’ve killed them in a rage and now you intend to
24:05	subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem male and female as your slaves you have you not sins of your own
24:11	against Yahweh your God now hear me it’s send back the captives from your relatives whom you have taken from the
24:18	fierce for the fierce Wrath of Yahweh is upon you so certain Chiefs of the men of Ephraim
24:24	as Uriah the son of johannan the son of mashulamath jezekiah the son
24:31	of Shalom a mass of the son of hadlai took stood up against those who were
24:37	coming from the war and said to them you shall not bring the captives in here for you propose to bring upon us guilt
24:44	against Yahweh in addition to our present sins and guilt for our guilt is already great and there’s a fierce wrath
24:50	against Israel so the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the
24:55	princes and all the assembly and the men who had mentioned by name Rose and took the captives with the spoiled clothed
25:01	all who were naked among them they clothed them gave them sandals provided them with food and drink anointed them
25:07	carrying all the feeble among them on the donkeys and they brought them to the kinsfolk at Jericho the city of palm
25:13	trees and then they returned to Samaria so 200 000 people taken captive
25:21	told that the reason why they lost is because they had upset God by their faithlessness and idolatry
25:28	they then were allowed to return home knowing full well why that disaster had
25:35	fallen them and who does it all fall on ahas the son of David
25:42	if you’re not strong in faith if you’re not firm in faith you’re not going to be strong at all
25:49	but our story can’t end there because you see that prophecy had a part to it
25:54	that uh well goes on into the future unfulfilled it
26:00	sits dormant for centuries
26:06	but all of a sudden in the first century that prophecy comes to life and is
26:15	fulfilled suddenly out of nowhere and this is where our gospel text comes into play and note here
26:22	um Joseph the legal but not biological father of Jesus Christ is the rightful
26:30	heir of the Throne of David he is next in line for the king to be
26:36	king and where is he he’s not in Bethlehem he’s not in
26:41	Jerusalem he’s in Nazareth a town with maybe 50
26:47	families at this time and he’s not wearing a crown or holding a scepter
26:52	he’s slinging a hammer and while working with his hands with
26:57	the saw he’s pretty much a day labor Carpenter you think of him as a construction guy oh how the the the The
27:06	Throne of David the House of David has come to its complete opposite of its
27:12	Pinnacle if David was was its high water mark Joseph is about as low as they get
27:19	there is no glory there’s nothing the man is he doesn’t even make a lot of money how do I know this because when it
27:26	comes time for after the birth of Jesus for certain sacrifices to be offered
27:31	according to the commands of the Mosaic Covenant they couldn’t even afford the proper
27:37	sacrifice they had to go with the poverty sacrifice this guy is poor this guy’s hard-working
27:44	this guy has gotten not a lot going for him at least by the world standards but
27:51	somewhere along the way he fell in love with a girl named Mariam Mary Mary and
27:57	they have exchanged vows and they’re betrothed to each other they haven’t come together yet he’s he’s doing the
28:03	work necessary in order to build a home for them and uh and and all of a sudden
28:09	off she heads off to the Hill Country of Judea to be with her cousin Elizabeth
28:15	who is getting ready to Bear a child in her old age and Mary heads out there
28:20	when Elizabeth is six months pregnant spends three months with cousin Elizabeth and Elizabeth gives birth to a
28:27	son and all of this was miraculous miraculous and the son’s name is now
28:34	John the name that the angel Gabriel had given him and his father Zechariah his
28:40	voice came back upon the naming of the child and everybody’s buzzing about this but now that Elizabeth has settled the
28:47	baby has been born it’s time for Mary to head back to Nazareth and guess what
28:54	Mary’s showing she’s pregnant but Joseph hasn’t been with her
29:01	and so now we’re going to see whether or not this son of David is going to be
29:07	faithless like ahas or if he’s going to trust the word of God because you’ll
29:12	note in this in this particular scenario for somebody who is engaged to a young
29:18	lady this is about as bad as it gets this is
29:24	devastating will he trust God
29:29	well he doesn’t trust Mary at first so the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way when his mother Mary had
29:36	been betrothed to Joseph before they came together she was found to be with child from the holy spirit that means
29:41	she said how this came about yeah I know I’m pregnant I an angel appeared to me he was awesome
29:48	and mighty and and the angel appeared to me and told me that I was going to conceive and even though I was still a
29:53	virgin and that the Holy Spirit would overshadow me and she was telling the truth
30:00	her husband and you’re gonna know Israeli uh weddings back at the time you
30:05	would be betrothed so you would be legally the wife and husband but you weren’t you the marriage wasn’t
30:10	consummated yet that takes place later so her husband Joseph being a just man which means he knows the law
30:17	he knows what’s just being a just man and unwilling to put
30:22	her to shame he resolved his divorce her quietly it doesn’t talk about what he went
30:28	through but man I can tell you this when you are in love with somebody and you find out that they have completely you
30:35	know they’ve cheated on you and that that’s the only conclusion that he can come to that Mary has a lover and it’s
30:42	not him and that then that they’ve come together and and as a result of their
30:47	Union they they’ve produced a child and he is not willing to put her to shame
30:54	so he’s seeking a divorce and let it be done on the DL
30:59	so that she can be with a fellow who got her pregnant that’s what he resolved to do
31:05	but as he considered these things behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
31:11	saying Joseph son of David those are charged words man Joseph son
31:19	of David do not fear to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit Mary was
31:25	telling you the truth she will bear a son you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people
31:33	from their sins now the Hebrew he would have heard it in the name in Hebrew
31:39	because Jesus’s legal name is going to be in Hebrew Yeshua it’s where we get the name Joshua
31:45	from Yeshua it means Yahweh saves and because that’s Jesus’s name for he
31:53	will save his people from their sins and that’s what Jesus Does
32:00	he has come to save you to save me to Humble himself and become obedient to
32:06	the point of death even death on a cross in order to reconcile us to God because disaster is looming for each and every
32:13	one of us that that the disaster that we all face is the disaster of faith in
32:20	God’s Wrath because of our own sin and Rebellion our own apostasies and participation in the sins of the of
32:27	Satan and the devil and the demons themselves disaster has been decreed for
32:32	all of humanity God himself will come and invade Earth
32:37	Christ himself will come and swing a sword and God himself will act in Wrath
32:44	for anyone who does not believe who has persisted in sin and unbelief has been
32:49	Faith less we all need a savior
32:56	he will call his name Yeshua for he will save his people from their sins
33:02	and you are his people you who trust in Christ you who are
33:07	baptized into his death into his resurrection who’ve had your sins washed away who’ve been United with him in his
33:14	death and his resurrection you are his people you are adopted into the family of God
33:20	he has saved you and all of this took place to fulfill what this Prophet had
33:25	spoken behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and call his name
33:32	Emmanuel but that Prophet was originally spoken to a son of David who was faithless was the opposite of faithful
33:39	who is an idolater but this humble son of David Joseph now the question before
33:47	him like the question that was before uh was before ahaz are you going to
33:55	believe this sign the sign originally given to ahaz the son of David now comes to fulfillment
34:01	with Joseph the son of David behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name
34:06	Emmanuel will you believe it or not God is with you Joseph do you trust him
34:14	when Joseph woke from sleep he did as the angel of Yahweh commanded him he
34:20	took his wife but knew her not until she had given birth and the proof that he believed this word
34:27	is that he is the one who chose the name for Jesus and he called him Yeshua Jesus
34:32	just as he was told to do so brothers and sisters this last Sunday of Advent as we consider the
34:41	circumstances under which Our Savior was conceived and born note then that the prophecy of Emmanuel
34:48	comes to a faithless son of David and is fulfilled with one who is faithful they
34:54	stand in juxtaposition to each other but so we’ve looked at two different sons of David but no neither of them are really
35:02	what the story is about the story is about that third son of David Jesus the
35:08	one who will reign on the throne of David forever he comes to us today in
35:14	his word promising us the Forgiveness of all of our sins promising us deliverance
35:20	from our enemies and he has given us a sure and certain sign that he means our
35:26	salvation and deliverance and the sign is this the Christ Rose bodily from the grave on
35:33	the third day after he was crucified that in that particular sign Christ was
35:39	as deep as shayol and you’ll note he’s now ascended as
35:45	high as heaven we have a sign as deep as shayol and a sign as high as Heaven the
35:51	burial the death the resurrection and the Ascension of Jesus Christ that is
35:57	the sign to you that God is now with you repent of your wickedness repent of your
36:04	lackadaisical uh way of handling God’s word and your inattentiveness to God in
36:10	your prayers turn and trust in him call upon him in your
36:16	day of trouble so that times of refreshing may come because God is merciful and kind rich in mercy and
36:23	forgiveness and he doesn’t want you to experience disaster he has promised you
36:29	eternal life in him we have a sign as deep as shayol and as
36:34	high as heaven and that’s the sign of Christ the one who was sent to save us
36:41	so let us repent and let us trust and let us not be faithless let us repent of
36:47	our faithlessness and Faithfully trust in the one who is delivering Us in the name of Jesus Amen

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