Jesus Is Coming, When?

First Sunday Advent

Mark 13:24-37

"Jesus is coming, When?"

1 Corinthians 1

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,

5 that in every way you were enriched in him with all speech and all knowledge--

6 even as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you--

7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ;

8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Mark 13

24 ¶ "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,

25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

26 And then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory.

27 And then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

28 ¶ "From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.

29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.

30 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away before all these things take place.

31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

32 "But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

33 Take heed, watch; for you do not know when the time will come.

34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.

35 Watch therefore--for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning--

36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.

37 And what I say to you I say to all: Watch."

Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the coming Messiah. Amen

"In a ’Peanuts’ cartoon, Lucy announces,’ Boy do I feel crabby!’ Linus tries to help her feel better, and gives her his chair in front of the TV besides fixing her a sandwich, some chocolate cookies and milk.

As he gives the sandwich to her, he asks, ’Now, is there anything else I can get you? Is there anything I haven’t thought of?’

To which ~Lucy replies, ’ Yes, there’s one thing that you haven’t thought of and with a sound that bowls him over she yells, ’I DON’T WANNA FEEL BETTER!!!

A story from Mark Twain.

"Once Mark Twain called on a certain young lady in Hannibal, Missouri. He was late getting off work, and by the time he got to the livery stable to get. a horse and buggy the only animal that was left was a very old, bony, swayback, scraggy, bedraggled-looking horse. He arrived at the young lady’s home later than he had anticipated. She was furious because of the delay.

Although he was late, she made him wait 35 minutes.

When she finally appeared, she glanced out the window, saw the old horse and said,’Is that the best you could do?’

Mark Twain went to the window, gasped, and said, ’I can’t believe it! When I got here that was a spry, young colt!"

Those two stories tell us something about this new season of the church we are beginning today, the season of Advent. Advent is the season of hope, the season of waiting, the season of changing, of repentance, of turning one’s life around. It is the season of waiting, of anticipation for Jesus coming into our lives. It is the time of waiting for Christmas, and Jesus’ arrival on earth. During this season of Advent we recall Jesus’ first coming, we learn what it means to live in the present, in this in-between time; and we wait for Jesus’ second coming.

This morning we are briefly going to look at the period of the during the Advent season.

First we will recall Jesus’ first coming, the event that will be celebrating in a few short days, the Christmas event. For this season of Advent we wait, we live again the greatest event in the history of human kind, the event that God loved us so much that he decided to come to earth and be like us, we live again. We wait for the glorious birth in the manager, the birth of Jesus. That one event has changed the course of the history of the world, because in that event, God declared that you and I are worth something very special, we count, you and I are worth saving from the brokenness of sin death.