Sermon Tone Analysis

Hope

This morning we begin a 4 part sermon series called Advent of the Messiah.

The first of the series if you have not figured it out is Hope.

Before we dive into hope, Let’s take a few moments of what Advent is all about.

For some of you, this may not have been a part of your journey.

You see advent is the time period in church history that we celebrate the advent of the messiah coming to this earth.

Christ.

God in the flesh.

For us it is a time looking back at the process the people of God experience.

It is also a time where we can celebrate that Emmanuel, God with us is here today.

The Spirit lives within us.

We also celebrate the advent of the second coming.

Where Christ will return once again, not to present himself to mankind, but rather to gather his own.

Advent is a celebration.

I time of remembrance of What God did for his people.

What God did for us!

For me personally, I have spent months preparing for this time to present to you a celebration.

A time so that we focus on the Advent of the Messiah.

The one that came to rescue us from our darkness.

This is why the candles are so important to me as it is a visual sign or presentation.

For a flame cannot loose against darkness.

I was once teaching a small group of children the concept of darkness and light.

How one candle will illuminate an entire room.

We searched all over the building to find a room that could be dark, I mean really dark.

I found an old storage closet and we pilled into the room.

Brought a towel with us and placed it on the floor under the door to stop the light.

It was as dark as we could make it.

I asked the children to look around and could they see one another.

There eyes began to adjust to the darkness and yet still they couldn’t see one another.

It was at that point I lite the candle.

It was truly amazing how much one candle lit the entire room.

Think about this for a moment before we look at the text.

Darkness has no control over light.

Darkness and light in the same room.

Light will always win.

The video clip we saw about Isaiah and a possible perception of How God spoke to him show us that the small light played an important roll in the Advent of the Messiah.

So as we begin to look at Hope as one of the Advent themes, let’s pray

We will be working our way through Isaiah chapter 9 and spending some time on an all too familiar passage.

Turn with me to Isaiah chapter nine.

We will be begin reading

The Prophet’s Hope

The prophet is telling the people of what will be coming.

He is sharing Hope.

You will notice that the image we are using this Sunday for hope is a prophet stating with their hands raised up to God.

That is hope.

Where is your hope.

What have you hoped for lately?

I have a friend who is looking at a new ministry and has his hope on the details of this endeavor will work out.

He is hopeful.

Students are in the last few weeks of class and are hopeful that they will get their assignments completed and good grades.

They are hopeful.

Teachers are hopeful between all the Christmas concerts, parties and last minute lessons that they will survive these next few weeks.

They are hopeful.

Maybe you are missing family, you are counting the days in which you will once again see them over the holidays.

You are hopeful.

You job has turned into the mundane and you wonder if you are making a difference.

You are hoping for a change, but you don’t know what, You are hopeful.

As we look into the life of he people reading these words for the first, second, third, hundred, The people were hopeful.

“There is no gloom for those who are in anguish.”

The prophet, Would imagine writing and then speaking these words, would have had his hands raised up stating this wonderful truth

“There is no gloom for those who are in anguish.”

In other words.

Hope is coming.

You see the prophet was setting the stage for the people to place their hope in something other than themselves.

When life seems hopeless.

Where do you go to find your hope.

This Christmas season, this advent of the messiah, I hope you will gain a clear understanding where you hope should lie.

Where you should place your hope.

Here is an interesting note this prophecy was written approximately 750 years before the birth of Christ.

Yet Isaiah would have assumed, like all prophets, would take place sooner.

One commentator writes,

In v.2, as in several of the succeeding verses, past tenses are used to speak of events that, though future, are certain because they are divinely planned and predicted through an authentic prophet of God.

These prophetic perfects serve to present faith’s faculty of imagination with the assurance of things hoped for (cf.

Heb 11:1).

Hope becomes the strongest when our faith is in God and not of ourselves.

When we realize that God will give and provide the strength to hold onto His promises.

That is the true Hope that one day all of this will be reviled.

The prophet was looking forward to the day in which God would come.

God would Emmanuel with us.

God would be with us.

One day we will be with Him.

Isaiah gave him four names or descriptions of who this child will becomce

The first two deal with his divinity.

He had wisdom from God and his power will come from God.

Isaiah's envisions at time when God will deliver the people from the sadness anguish in contempt.

He foresees the beginning of the messiah's worldwide mission and the revelation, joy , and piece it will bring.

In a glorious new era God will deliver his people from war, multiply them, and give them peace in abundance .

God will accomplish this deliverance through the birth of a male child who will rule and righteousness,

He is David's descendants and whose dynasty God will extend worldwide forever.

Have you ever awoken in the middle of the night and feel you have to make a trip to the washroom.

You attempt to get there without injury to yourself or awaken your spouse who is attempting to quietly enjoy more rest without the disturbance of a stumbling person half asleep taking a journey most often each night but continues to find the corner of the dresser or bed to bash their toes.

If you are laughing as this fits your description, you can identify with the people reading this verse over and over again.

You see they were walking in darkness and were faced with a great light and this light shone.

As I was preparing this message and reading this text over and over a thought came to me.

These people were walking in darkness.

Had they accepted the fate of darkness in their life?

Had they continued to go through life like eeyore in the Winnie the pooh stories.

Given up all hope?

Destined for a life of hopelessness.

Or were they waiting for God to once again come and redeem them.