Sermon Tone Analysis

Advent

I hope you have been blessed during our Advent series this year, and this morning I hope to tie together much of what the Lord has been speaking to us as a congregation on Sunday mornings as we reflect on the Advent again today.

To recap:

Week 1—Rick kicked off our season for Advent, and he mentioned that Advent simply means coming or appearing in Latin.

The word in Greek is parousia.

Last week, Rick kicked off our season for Advent, and he mentioned that Advent simply means coming or appearing in Latin.

The word in Greek is parousia.

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He spoke about the HOPE that we have because of the Lord.

Hope doesn’t have to materialize what they believe because they anticipate and expect what can’t be seen with tangible faith.

Week 2—I spoke about the PEACE that Christ came to bring us all, mainly reconciliation between us and God.

This is the ultimate and eternal peace that Jesus desires for each of us, but His peace works its way into every area of our life.

Week 3—Last week, Christian did a tremendous job in speaking about JOY.

He shared both personally and in reflection upon the life of Joseph of how joy is in the reflection upon the dots of God’s involvement in our lives.

Today, we will finish our series as we reflect and remember God’s LOVE for us.

There is no force or power on the earth greater than God’s love.

The Scripture tells us that nothing can separate you from His love.

That death can’t keep you from it.

There is no mountain high enough, valley low enough that could keep you from God’s love.

VIDEO: Advent Love

The prophet gives a description of the coming One as the Great Shepherd.

The arrival of this Shepherd will be in such contrast to everyone else that has attempted to lead Israel.

In verse 14, Ezekiel says that the Lord will tend his sheep in good pasture.

Look at what verses 15/16 say about the true Shepherd:

the Lord will provide for us

Ezekiel 34:

the Lord will care for us

the Lord will gives us rest

the Lord will search for and rescue us

the Lord will heal us

the Lord will give us strength

We hear from the Lord, recorded in letters of red, how He longed to become that Good Shepherd for His sheep.

Matthew (;36

Last week, Christian talked about being empathetic, feeling what others feel.

It is said of Jesus here that He not only was moved by empathy but compassion.

His feeling what others felt led Him to do what other couldn’t or wouldn’t.

He decided to change the direction of the narrative.

Out of His great love, Christ continues to do for each one of us.

Nearing the end of His days, Jesus looks at the lost sheep of Israel and recognizes how they have rejected Him in the same way they rejected the messengers of God throughout their history.

It hasn’t changed His love for them.

It hasn’t changed His desire to care for them, to lead them, to guide them.

Despite what you have done with God’s voice in your life, despite what you have done with His acts of love toward you and for you…It hasn’t changed His love for you.

His desire is still to be the Good Shepherd in caring, leading, and guiding you through His perfect peace.

The Lord’s love is patient and steadfast.

God’s love distinguishes Him.

When Paul writes the famous chapter on love in , he debunks what it isn’t first.

He says it isn’t giftedness or even the appearance of sacrifice.

It isn’t found in tongues or prophecy or even giving to the poor ALONE.

These things must all be fueled by one common, divine force—LOVE.

Then Paul begins to define love for us.

He says:

I corinthians 13:4

It is the first defining term and the last descriptive word I want to highlight for us.

1 Corinthians 13

LOVE is PATIENT.

When we fall and when we fail (because we will), the Lord, in His perfect love, doesn’t give up on us.

His love is patient.

It is eternal.

He is steadfast and resolved in His love.

And even if there are consequences to our choices, He allows hardship or tests, His love is not that He brought about those things, but that He is with us even in those circumstances and situations of our lives.

His love sees us through.

His love carries us through.

His love never ends, never fails.

I love what Charles Spurgeon says about the love of God:

Consider what you owe to His immutability.

Though you have changed a thousand times, He has not changed once.

His love for us stays the same, never-ending, unchanging.

Franklin Graham says:

No matter what storm you face, you need to know that God loves you.

He has not abandoned you.

This brings us to our Advent verse for today!

VERSE:

This is the most quoted verse, and for good reason.

Though often heard, let’s not allow it to lose its value or power for our lives.

The simple truth is that God deeply loves us.

He created us out of His love for us, has purpose for our lives, and has never stopped loving us.

The depth of His love is ON DISPLAY by his willingness to reconcile us to Himself.

Or as we saw in week two, He made peace with us and Himself through the Advent or coming of Christ Jesus.

“This is how much God loved the world...”

The Bible tells us that God is love.

But this isn’t void of action or a display of that love for us.

The heart of the gospel is not a philosophical observation about the character of God as love but a declaration of that redemptive love in action.

Bible scholar A. M. Hunter highlights the significance of agapē by noting that while eros is all take and philia is give-and-take, agapē is all give.

Love must of necessity give.

It has no choice if it is to remain true to its essential character.

A love that centers on self is not love at all but a fraudulent caricature of real love.

Mounce, R. H. (2007).

John.

In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.),

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Luke–Acts (Revised Edition) (Vol.

10, p. 400).

Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Bible scholar A. M. Hunter highlights the significance of agapē by noting that while eros is all take and philia is give-and-take, agapē is all give.

Love must of necessity give.

It has no choice if it is to remain true to its essential character.

A love that centers on self is not love at all but a fraudulent caricature of real love.

God gave his Son for the deliverance of all humanity (cf. 2 Co 5:19).

This giving extends beyond the incarnation.

God gave his Son in the sense of giving unto death as an offering for sin.

God gave his Son for the deliverance of all humanity (cf.