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1 Year Lectionary – Second Sunday in Advent – December 10, 2023 | 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	The Old Testament
0:29	reading for for this the Second Sunday of Advent of populace Zion is taken from
0:34	the prophet Malachi 4 for behold the day is coming burning like an oven when all
0:41	the arrogant and all the evildoers will be stubble the day that is coming shall set them Ablaze says the Lord of hosts
0:49	so that it will leave them neither root nor Branch but for you who fear my name
0:55	the son of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings you shall go go out leaping like Calves from the stall and
1:02	you shall tread down the wicked for they will be ashes Under The Souls of your feet on the day when I act says the Lord
1:10	of hosts remember the law of my servant Moses and the statutes and the rules
1:16	that I commanded him at Horeb for all of Israel behold I will send Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day
1:22	of the Lord comes and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their
1:29	fathers let I come and strike the land with the decree of utter destruction this is the word of the Lord
1:36	thanks be to God the epistle is taken from Romans chapter
1:41	15 for whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction
1:47	that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope May the god of endurance and
1:54	encouragement Grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jes Jesus that together you may
2:02	with one voice glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ
2:08	therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God
2:13	for I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness in order to confirm the
2:20	promises given to the Patriarchs and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his Mercy as it is written
2:27	therefore I will praise you among the G genes and sing to your name and again it is said Rejoice O Gentiles with his
2:35	people and again praise the Lord all you Gentiles and let the peoples extol him
2:41	and again Isaiah says the root of Jesse will come even he who arises to rule the Gentiles in him will the Gentiles hope
2:49	May the god of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by
2:54	the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope this is the word of of
2:59	the Lord thanks be to God the holy Gospel According to St Luke the 21st
3:05	chapter Jesus said and there will be signs in the sun and the moon and stars
3:11	and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the Roaring of the
3:16	Seas and the waves people fainting with fear and with for boing of what is coming on the world for the powers of
3:24	the heaven Heavens will be shaken and then they will see the son of man coming
3:29	in a cloud with power and great Glory now when these things begin to take
3:34	place straighten up and raise your heads because your Redemption is Drawing Near
3:39	and he told them a parable look at the Fig Tree and all the trees as soon as they come out in leaf you see for
3:44	yourselves and know that summer is already near so also when you see these
3:50	signs taking place you know that the kingdom of God is near truly I say to
3:55	you this generation will not pass away until all has taken place Heaven and Earth will pass away but my words will
4:01	not pass away but watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the
4:08	cares of this life and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap for it will come upon all who dwell on the face
4:15	of the whole Earth but stay awake at all times praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are
4:22	going to take place and to stand before the son of man in the name of Jesus Amen
4:30	so this is a penitential season and you’re going to note that we’re taking another look at the end of the world
4:36	today uh Lo he comes with clouds descending we just sang and you’re going to note there really isn’t any bad news
4:43	for Christians here uh there is indeed bad news for those who arrogantly
4:49	persist in sin and unbelief and what an interesting text we have in our Old Testament text to begin with listen to
4:55	the words again of the Prophet Malachi for behold the the day is coming burning
5:01	like an oven when all the arrogant and all the evildoers will be stubble have
5:07	you ever had the experience of basically sharing your faith with somebody who is an unbeliever and they got really upset
5:15	really mad and they accused you of being arrogant you know it kind of goes
5:20	something like this well you know what do you believe I I believe in Jesus Christ what does that mean well I
5:26	believe that there’s salvation only in Jesus Christ and then they react and then you can
5:32	hear the volcano rumbling and then just goes off what that is the most arrogant
5:40	and terrible thing I’ve ever heard are you saying that your religion is the only religion that’s right that’s
5:46	correct that is the most arrogant that is the most selfish and they just vomit
5:52	out right and you’ll note here the scriptures teach that they’re the ones
5:58	being arrogant we who’ve been humbly brought to penitent faith in Jesus Christ for the Forgiveness of our sins
6:05	whose mind is being renewed daily by the word of God as we continue daily by the
6:12	power of the Holy Spirit to mortify our sinful flesh and its passions to put to
6:17	death the false Doctrine and false teaching that our old Adam loves to hang on to that as we humbly walk in God’s
6:24	word we believe what his word tells us it is arrogance to contradict God it is
6:33	arrogance to say that there is salvation in every religion you know including
6:39	Christianity but also including Islam including Buddhism including jism including Mormonism and all the other
6:45	isms out there right that’s complete arrogance uh and so the the the flip the
6:50	script gets flipped when Christ returns and the truth about who’s really
6:56	arrogant and who’s really humble now is revealed in Stark Stark words and so
7:03	again the day of the Lord is coming burning like an oven when all the arrogant and all the evildoers will be
7:10	stubble and the day that is coming shall set them Ablaze says the Lord of hosts
7:15	so that’ll leave them neither root nor Branch yeah God’s view of those who
7:21	persist in sin and unbelief is that they stubble to be burned up reference to the
7:26	fires of hell though and you’ll note then things now change in this text there’s
7:32	the negative bit but here’s the positive bit and this is you’ll note designed to
7:38	give us encouragement to give us hope not to cause us to despair listen to the words but for you who fear my name
7:47	listen to these words the son of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings this kind of works out pretty
7:53	well in English by the way it doesn’t quite have the same word play uh in Hebrew and other languages but you’ll
7:59	note the son of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings that’s a reference to Christ’s Second Coming he
8:05	is the son s o n of righteousness and the healing in his wings that he will
8:10	have will be to raise you and I from the dead and gloriously gloriously resurrect
8:16	us so that we now no longer have uh mortal bodies that are subject to
8:22	corruption because of sin but Immortal bodies uh bodies that will live forever
8:27	in the new Earth and then he describes the joy that we will experience when Christ returns you shall go out leaping
8:35	like Calves from the stall you shall tread down the wicked for they will be ashes Under The Souls of your feet on
8:41	the day when I act says the Lord of hosts beautiful text note here uh if
8:48	this is a penitential season what’s our motivation for repentance the kindness of God cuz we
8:56	all know you don’t have to convince any of us we all know no none of us deserve this none of us has earned God’s
9:03	salvation this salvation this eternal life by our good works by our obedience to God’s law far from it if we uh if if
9:10	we were to depend upon God’s law and our and our obedience in order to save us none of us would be saved and that’s
9:18	kind of the big problem out there with all the false religions of the world is they all teach a de facto Works
9:23	righteousness you do the right things you say the right prayers you light the right candles you put the right amount
9:29	of money in the offering plate and you do the doings and the de the the stuff and the things and then maybe may maybe
9:37	maybe maybe you you you’ll make it but we we don’t want to be arrogant and think and presume that we have
9:44	salvation man totally backwards it is absolutely arrogant to
9:49	contradict God and to say to Christians oh you shouldn’t be so so sure that you
9:55	have salvation I mean after all I mean I know that it says that salvation is by grace through faith and that it’s a gift
10:02	of God it’s not of our own doing or things like that but you you you can’t
10:07	you can’t think that way that that’s that’s just arrogant no it’s not it’s
10:13	humbling you know and so as we consider then this next text Our Gospel text I’m
10:20	going to grab something from a strange place and kind of help us out here
10:25	because you’ll note then that the Arrogant are con constantly um nipping
10:31	at our heels and at times in human history uh the Arrogant get the upper hand in the government and as a result
10:37	of it Christians suffer horrible persecutions and so in In Our Lifetime
10:44	we’ll note that we are in the last waning days of Western civilization of what used to be called Christendom but
10:51	uh that that that’s no longer a thing in fact a good way to think about it is is
10:57	that um I is is that that’s kind of an abnormal
11:03	thing for Christians to get along well with others and people to kind of think kindly of them and just to leave them
11:09	alone uh normally Christians are persecuted so we’re coming to the end of those days when we’re not going to be
11:15	vexed by uh by people who want want us dead and so we have to go back a little
11:21	bit to a a text that I think is a little bit odd for this but it fits perfectly
11:27	do you remember in Daniel chapter 2 Daniel Chapter 2 King Nebuchadnezzar had
11:32	a dream uh the uh the Judah is in Exile because of their impenitent idolatry and
11:39	now they are you know literally in Exile under King Nebuchadnezzar and nobody could accuse Nebuchadnezzar of being a
11:45	sound reasonable kind fellow with an even temper or things like this in fact
11:50	he was far from any of that and he had a dream that God had given him and that
11:56	dream needed an interpret ation and he refused to tell the dream to his
12:01	magicians and Sorcerers and enchanters because he didn’t want them to try to basically pull the wool over his eye and
12:08	say well here’s the interpretation after they considered what the dream was and so he said to them I’m not going to tell
12:14	you the dream but you need to tell me both the dream and its interpretation and they said no no King has ever asked
12:21	for anything like this only God can give an answer like that and so it turns out as The Story Goes you know
12:27	Nebuchadnezzar he his volcanic uh anger explodes and he wants to run basically
12:33	murder all of the uh The Magicians and enchanters and the chief the chief guys
12:39	in charge of his government and Daniel is able to um have a word with him at
12:44	least give by some time he has himself in Shadrach Meshach and abedo pray in
12:50	haste a very Hasty supplication asking God for mercy God answers their prayer
12:56	gives Daniel both the dream and its inter interpretation and it has a lot to do with our gospel text today it really
13:03	does so listen to Daniel and his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream from Daniel
13:10	2:31 he says Daniel said you saw oh King and behold a great image this image
13:17	Mighty in exceeding brightness it stood before you and its appearance
13:23	was frightening so Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about an image
13:29	that was bright and note the word frightening what follows next is well a
13:37	description of the rest of this particular image the head of this image was of fine gold its chest and arms of
13:43	silver its middle and thighs of bronze its legs of iron its feet partly of iron
13:48	and partly of clay and as you looked a stone was cut out by no human hand and
13:53	it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces and
13:58	then the iron and the clay the bronze and the silver and the gold all together were broken in pieces and became like
14:05	the chaff of the summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found but
14:14	the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth interesting Vision now the
14:22	interpretation this was the dream now I will tell you its interpretation you oh King The King of Kings to whom the god
14:29	of Heaven has given the kingdom the power and the might and the glory and into whose hand he has given wherever
14:35	they dwell the children of man the beasts of the field the birds of the heavens making you rule over all of them
14:42	you are the head of gold another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you and yet a third Kingdom of bronze which
14:49	shall rule over all the Earth and there shall be a fourth Kingdom strong as iron
14:54	because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things and like like iron that crushes it shall break and Crush
15:01	all of these and as you saw the feet and the toes partly of Potter’s clay and partly of iron it shall be a divided
15:08	Kingdom but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay and as the toes
15:15	of the feet were partly iron and partly clay so the kingdom shall be partly iron partly strong and partly brittle as you
15:22	saw the iron mixed with soft clay so they will mix with one another in marriage but they will not hold together
15:29	just as iron does not mix with clay and in the days of those kings the god of
15:35	heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed nor shall the kingdom
15:41	be left to another people it shall break in pieces all of these kingdoms and
15:48	bring them to an end and it shall stand forever just as you saw that the stone
15:55	that was cut uh from a mountain by no human hand hand and that it broke in pieces the iron the bronze the clay the
16:02	silver the gold a great God has made known to the king what shall be after this the dream is certain its
16:08	interpretation sure so think of think this through with me Nebuchadnezzar has
16:14	a dream about a frightening image and the image is according to the
16:20	interpretation basically about all the kingdoms of the earth and um and God
16:27	basically saying I’m going to bring all of this to an end and so if you were to think about it since the top of this
16:34	image its face is a Babylonian image and made of gold that references the
16:40	Babylonian Empire a good way to think of this is that that image is kind of a
16:45	depiction of what’s called mystery Babylon and this has to do with all the
16:51	all the nations of the world and in the ways in which they oppress people why
16:57	would Christians be afraid afraid of of of their government because I don’t know if you
17:03	guys have noticed it just seems like it’s not too long from now before the US government in particular isn’t going to
17:09	really tolerate a Biblical Christianity and you’ll note that our leaders seem to
17:14	be hellbent on um not obeying God’s commands and enacting laws in accordance
17:20	with what is True Justice and true righteousness but instead they seem hellbent on enacting laws that uh
17:27	basically undo True Justice and true righteousness and you Christians if you if you even raise a voice and protest
17:35	you’ll be shouted down you’ll be cancelled and uh we we’ll we’ll find a way to have you lose your job and things
17:42	like this yeah think that through so note then that in this in this prophecy
17:48	in this prophetic dream we have a rock that was not heed by human hands that comes and
17:54	smashes the kingdoms of the earth brings them as it says to an end and then this
18:01	rock it grows and grows and fills the entire Earth that rock is Christ by the way we know that so when we look at our
18:09	gospel text here again watch the dichotomy the dichotomy between those
18:16	who refuse to hear the gospel refuse to believe the gospel refuse to repent of
18:23	their sins and be forgiven of their sins and what will come of them in the last
18:29	days compared to Christians Christians uh you know a completely different
18:35	outcome all together so it says in Our Gospel text today Jesus says that in the
18:40	very last of the last days there will be signs in the sun and the moon and the
18:47	stars and on Earth the distress of nations in perplexity because of the
18:53	Roaring of the Sea and the waves people fainting with fear fear and with
18:59	foreoing of what is coming on the world for the powers of the heavens will be
19:04	shaken and then they will see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great Glory so you’ll see what’s going
19:13	on here from the cross references the signs in the sun and the moon and the stars we know what those are uh there’s
19:20	a day coming when and here’s you don’t have to imagine this because we all kind of know how when the world goes into
19:27	panic mode how this is going to play out but there’s going to a day coming maybe it’ll happen overnight while you’re
19:33	sleeping maybe it’ll happen during the day while you’re at work but regardless of when and where it happens it’ll
19:40	happen and that is is that the sun will no longer be giving the light that it gives that beautiful white light that we
19:48	get from the Sun that will be extinguished and the only thing left will be well the the dim light of a d in
19:58	Star turned red and so this is what’s coming and then the moon itself since it
20:04	reflects the sunlight it will no longer shine like it has for all of these Millennia but instead will look like
20:12	blood in the sky and when that happens everybody on Earth all the nations of
20:19	the Earth all the governments of the world are going to go in full panic mode you think it was hard to find toilet
20:26	paper during Co good luck finding toilet paper after this okay it ain’t going to
20:31	happen that being the case you’ll note that the that everybody who is an
20:36	unbeliever this is going to cause them great anxiety perplexity Panic people
20:44	fainting as a result of all of this and then to make matters even worse then the
20:50	Stars themselves will fall from the sky they will disappear alog together and uh
20:57	and you note then that what happens is that everybody panics everybody panics
21:04	they’ll see the sign of the sun of man coming up in the heavens and everybody is in complete
21:11	pandemonium what are we going to do what’s coming on the earth people fainting with fear for for boing of
21:17	what’s coming in the world but Jesus says these words to us we who believe in
21:23	him now when these things begin to take place
21:28	straighten up and raise your heads because your Redemption is Drawing Near
21:35	okay so y’all I’m sure you all have seen the movie Titanic right you know as as
21:40	the as the ship is starting to slip into the sea and it’s in you know the front of it’s going into the into the ocean
21:46	you have all these people running around trying to figure out what to do you know some people throwing deck Chairs into the ocean seeing if they will float and
21:53	people just in complete Panic okay but uh
21:58	that’s going to be what it’s like when all of this goes down but we on the other hand rather than in complete Panic
22:04	Christ tells us when you see these last signs right before he returns straighten
22:09	up and go Jesus is just around the corner yeah
22:16	right I I mean I might even bake a cake I mean I you know I don’t know how long
22:21	it’s going to be before Christ shows up once these last signs uh appear but we have nothing to fear and as a result of
22:29	it Christ tells us who have humbly confessed our sins who have humbly been
22:36	brought to Contrition who humbly cry out to God for mercy and for
22:42	forgiveness that because we are forgiven we have been given Faith because we have
22:48	been reconciled to God and we hear his words and abide in his words as Christ
22:53	says that that’s what Christians do we then on when these signs show up
23:01	it is going to be Joy it is going to be excitement it is going to be like it’s
23:09	going to be like Christmas Eve when you’re you know seven-year-old kid you can’t sleep at night because you know
23:15	that uh as soon as you wake up in the morning there’s going to be present under the tree and they and you get to open them and it’s going to be fantastic
23:22	it’s that kind of thing and the dichotomy couldn’t be Starker I mean the
23:28	difference between the two couldn’t be Starker because those who persist in in sin and unbelief they have their mind
23:35	set completely on the things of this world in fact that’s what the Apostle Paul was kind of getting at in Ephesians
23:43	chapter 2 in Ephesians chapter 2 Paul basically says to all the Christians
23:48	before they were Christians you you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the
23:54	course of this world following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons
23:59	of Disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and
24:05	the mind and we were by Nature children of Wrath like the rest of mankind and so
24:11	you’ll note that all the nations of the Earth right now in their secular way of looking at things and their and their
24:17	way of looking down at Christians and persecuting them and other nations just
24:23	literally driving them underground all of this all of their Grand plans for
24:29	making the world a glorious place a workers’s paradise and things like this is going to come Crashing Down And when
24:37	they see that their Doom is near they Panic we Rejoice that’s the
24:45	difference and it’s all because we know the truth that Christ has come into the
24:51	world the Son of God was incarnate came to Earth and he submitted himself to God
24:58	and to the authorities of his day the Roman Empire and he submitted himself
25:03	and was obedient even to the point of death and Death on the cross in order to redeem us and save us from this feudal
25:10	world this world where you know you don’t live very long I don’t live very
25:15	long and it’s just a hard mean existence of Blood Sweat toil and tears all
25:22	because of our sin we are forgiven because of what Christ has done carrying our sins in his body on the tree
25:28	bleeding and dying in your place and mine giving us his righteousness in
25:33	exchange he takes our iniquity and unrighteousness and and he takes on the
25:39	full justice of God and what we have deserved by penalty so that we can be forgiven pardon and have encouragement
25:46	and hope of a future to come again the dichotomy cannot be stronger when you
25:52	see these things happen when the world recognizes this whole thing is going to come to a screech ing halt there is no
25:59	Grand future for Humanity that only a cold dark end we when we see this we
26:06	straighten up we raise our heads our Redemption is Drawing Near so Jesus says
26:11	look then at the Fig Tree and all the trees as soon as they come out and leaf you see for yourselves and you know that summer is already near so also when you
26:19	see these things take place these last signs you know that the kingdom of God
26:24	is near so truly I say to you this generation will not pass away until all of this has taken place Heaven and Earth
26:31	will pass away but my words will not pass away the generation that sees those
26:37	last signs they will not pass away you can then raise your head and know that
26:42	our Redemption draws near but Christ gives a Stern warning here and one that
26:47	we need to take into consideration because he is encouraging us through these words but also encouraging us to
26:55	not lose heart and as a result of it get caught back up in all the cares of this
27:01	world and all the nonsense about it you know the lust of the eyes the lust of
27:06	the flesh the lust for power and I would say all the stuff that distracts us from
27:13	from uh from a sound Pious faith in Christ regarding all the conspiracy
27:18	theories and and all the horrible things that are taking place in in in government and behind the scenes and the
27:23	Deep State and all that kind of stuff just don’t even focus focus on that he says listen watch yourselves lest your
27:32	hearts be weighed down with dissipation dissipation is like going on a multi- weeklong bender uh you know of either
27:38	drugs or alcohol or something like that and then the drunkenness and the cares of this life and that day come upon you
27:45	suddenly like a trap it’s really easy just to say you know there’s too many
27:51	important things going on in the world I can’t be completely checked out I I just I just need to jump in and just you know
27:59	the cares of this world are overwhelming we’ve got to do something about this and and as a result of it you end up in
28:05	drunkenness dissipation and all this other nonsense so that now you no longer attend church now you no longer hear the
28:12	word of God now you no longer receive the sacraments now you no longer even read the Bible or pray and when you go
28:19	into that mode time seems to speed up and when times speed up like that this
28:28	day or even the day of your own death will come upon you suddenly like a trap
28:33	it’ll come upon all who dwell on the face of the Earth but Christ admonishes us stay awake at all times praying that
28:40	you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the son of man
28:46	and how does one stay awake keep coming to church keep hearing the word of God
28:53	keep hearing your sins being forgiven keep receiving the body and blood of Christ Christ This is how we stay awake
28:59	keep in the word and let God’s word transform you the one who believes in
29:05	Jesus who loves Jesus abides in his word and this is what we’re called to and the one who does so stays awake in faith
29:12	rather than going into the sleep of sin so that they’re awakened with a start
29:17	when Jesus returns and they’re caught completely off guard so brothers and
29:22	sisters this second Sunday of Advent I am Again by the great kindness of Christ
29:31	that the call for repentance during this Advent season is not that if you don’t repent you’re going to get a good
29:38	beating instead the the the call for repentance is based upon the fact that you are already in Christ you trust him
29:44	you believe in him and so as you see the world spiraling out of control and the
29:50	universe coming to a cataclysmic end note then that we can raise our heads
29:56	and we can know that our Redemption draws near and Jesus is indeed our
30:02	Redemption and when the son of righteousness Rises uh he will come with healing in his wings and he will say to
30:09	each and every one of us well done good and faithful servant and then he will open the gate and let us into that new
30:16	Earth when our then the joy that we will experience can only be described as the
30:21	leaping of a calf what amazing things that we will see in that day so be encouraged continue in prayer ask God to
30:29	give you strength to escape the things that are going to take place and to give you faith and confidence in Jesus Christ
30:37	so that you may stand before him on this day not in shame but in awe holy awe and
30:45	Thanksgiving for the great gift that he’s given you in your in your salvation in the name of Jesus
30:55	Amen

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