Hope Series

Advent: HOPE

Isaiah 40:1-5

Advent ( Latin adventus, Greek parousia) : appearing, arrival or official visit.

Romans 15:13 Psalm 33:20-22 Isaiah 40:31

Our hope is in His comfort vv.1-2

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

If God’s comfort is not enough for you, then no one else’s will be either.

Our hope is in His preparation vv.3-4

Two kinds of preparation:

By God’s people.

By God Himself

Our hope is in His presence v.5

Viktor Frankl, a Jewish doctor who survived the death camps in Germany during World War II wrote about his experiences and in particular the effect of hope. He noticed that some prisoners just withered up and died while other prisoners stayed strong. He tried to figure out why, and this was his conclusion. “If a prisoner lost faith in his future, he was doomed.” He gave this example. “One of my friends in the camp had a dream that the war would end March 30. He was convinced the dream was a revelation, but as the date drew nearer, it became clear from the news reports the war was not ending. On March 29 he began running a temperature. On March 30 he lost consciousness. On March 31 he was dead. His loss of hope had lowered his body’s resistance to all of the diseases in the camp.” You literally can’t live without hope. You can’t stay healthy without something to look forward to. Depression is linked to hopelessness.

Turn to Isaiah 40:1-5

This morning we begin a new series entitled Advent. The word Advent comes from a Latin word Advent ( Latin adventus, Greek parousia) : appearing, arrival or official visit.

The observance of Advent began around the 4th Century A.D. and was originally all about the 2nd Advent, (The 2nd Arrival) …known as the 2nd coming of Christ.

When the New Testament talks about the 2nd coming of Jesus, it uses this GK word parousia, like in Matthew 24:3 “As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming (parousia) and of the close of the age?”

More recently, those who observe ADVENT focus on the 1st Advent, the 1st coming of the Messiah that we call Christmas. The purpose of celebrating Advent is to help get our eyes off the secularization of Christmas and focus on the real meaning of Christmas. Each week is marked with a different candle that signifies a different aspect of Advent.

There are 3 purple candles, one rose candle, and one white candle.

--The candles = represent Jesus and what He came to bring us.

--The evergreens = represent life for those who are in Him.

--They are arranged in a circle which is a sign of the eternality of Jesus who has no beginning and no end; the Alpha and Omega—the 1st and last letters of the Greek language.

So, each Sunday we will light an additional candle. Then on Christmas Eve, we will light the last candle. 3 Christmas Eve Services-- 3:30, 4:45, 6:00

This morning we light the 1st candle, the Hope candle. (light)

We live in an age where hope is in short supply…stats

To be sure, there are lots of folks in the world that have hope, but their hope is in the wrong place…

There is one place, one person, one being that we CAN place our hope, and that is the God of the Bible.

Listen to just a few of the verses of Scripture that declare our God as the God of hope:

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13. You ought to scribble these references on your listening guide or in your Bible because there’s not a person here that doesn’t need more hope…some of us are desperate for that hope. “We wait for the LORD;

he is our help and shield. 21 For our hearts rejoice in him because we trust in his holy name.

22 May your faithful love rest on us, LORD, for we put our hope in you.” Psalm 33:20-22

“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

Yahweh is the God of all hope. The wise put their hope in Him.

So this leads us back to our passage for this morning. It speaks of the hope that we have in Jesus. Even tho it was written 700 years before His birth, it called out to the people of God then, and it calls out to the people of God now: Put your hope in Jesus!