Sunday, December 26 AM

Our scripture reading this morning is from the book of Isaiah. We'll be looking at the first 10 verses of Isaiah 11.

There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the

Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, nor decide by the hearing of his ears.

But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.

He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his waist.

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the

Lord as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people, for the

Gentiles shall seek him, and his resting place shall be glorious.

Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, blessed are the ones who hear this prophecy and tremble at your word.

Joyful are the ones who hear the witness of your Spirit in the proclamation of good news and believe.

Safe are the ones who take refuge in you through the Lord Jesus and find you mighty and strong, faithful and true, and radiant are the ones who, after a life full of love and prayer and faithful service, fall asleep, only to awake in your presence to enjoy your smile forevermore and to join in making a joyful noise with myriads and multitudes of saints that have gone on before.

Thank you for the gift of the incarnate Word, the Lamb standing as though he had been slain, this branch who is also the root, our resurrected

Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we praise your name today as your indwelling

Spirit moves us to rejoice in your Son together, and it's for the sake of his holy name we pray.

Amen. You may be seated. Last Sunday evening was a wonderful time of worshiping the

Lord together with the wonderful children, with all the costumes, and celebrating the birth of the

Lord Jesus, the nativity scene, the singing, all of it was very wonderful. And so it's also continued joy to get to sing more

Christmas songs this morning. So if you would, turn to page 167 in your regular hymnals.

We'll sing, O Sing a Song of Bethlehem, and then page 162, The Birthday of a

King. O come all ye faithful joyful and triumphant O 'er the land of the free and the home of O come all ye faithful joyful and triumphant O 'er the land of the free and the home of the

Lord. O sing a song of Galilee O 'er the land of the free and the home of the

Lord. O sing a song of Galilee O 'er the land of the free and the home of the

Lord. O sing a song of Galilee O 'er the land of the free and the home of the

Lord. O sing a song of Galilee O 'er the land of the free and the home of the

Lord. O sing a song of Galilee O 'er the land of the free and the home of the

Lord. O sing a song of Galilee O 'er the land of the free and the home of the

Lord. O sing a song of Galilee O 'er the land of the free and the home of the

Lord. O sing a song of Galilee O 'er the land of the free and the home of the

Lord. There seems to be a different emphasis or a new song or a scripture that speaks to you in a joyous way.

This year, two words came to my mind. He came.

He came. First of all, it focuses on the whole reason for the celebration, because it's so easy to get sidetracked.

I mean, the worldly celebration of Christmas misses the whole point, but He came.

That's the reason we celebrate He came. And so that keeps me focused.

He, that is Jesus, our Savior, He came. And it also brought to my mind the word of the angels to the women at the tomb.

He's not here. He is risen.

As He said. As He said. And He came.

Okay. He came as He said. You see,

He came is the second part of my message. The first part is

He is coming. He is coming. And that brings us to the

Old Testament. To the Old Testament and throughout the Old Testament, the whole

Old Testament, from the beginning to the end, if you will, whispered, shouted in types, in word pictures, in prophecies and promises,

He is coming. The Old Testament says He is coming.

And from the very beginning,

I want to share just a few places in the

Old Testament that speak He is coming. In Genesis chapter 3, beginning at verse 14, the

Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock.

And above all beasts of the field, on your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring.

He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.

But from the very beginning, at the fall, Almighty God initiates the plan of redemption.

He is coming. And then in Genesis 14, we are introduced to a most unusual person, a priest in Jerusalem.

His name is Melchizedek. And in Psalm 110, the one who is coming will be a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

And then in Deuteronomy 18, God says, after Moses, I will raise up for you from your own brothers another prophet after the order of Moses.

And so that one who is coming will come as a prophet after the order of Moses.

And then in 2 Samuel chapter 7, he speaks to David the king and says, there is one who is coming who will sit on your throne, who will be king forever, king forever.

And so he will come as a king after the order of David. And indeed he has come.

He has come as a prophet, a priest and a king. And then more familiarly at this time of year, prophecies from Isaiah.

Chapter 7, behold a virgin shall give birth to a son and you shall call his name

Immanuel, God with us. And again in Isaiah chapter 9, unto us a child is born.

Unto us a son is given and the government shall be on his shoulders and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, almighty

God, everlasting father, prince of peace. And in Isaiah 53, we're introduced to the suffering servant, the one on whom the

Lord would lay the iniquity of us all. He is coming as prophet, priest, king and suffering servant.

And lastly, in Micah chapter 5 verse 2, where will he come?

But you, O Bethlehem Ephratah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.

That is, he would be born in Bethlehem. And we sing that he would be born in Bethlehem and we celebrate that he was born in Bethlehem.

And it's most curious that this one who came, this

Jesus, one day speaking to a crowd, he said,

I am the true bread that came down from heaven and whoever eats this bread shall live forever.

And God so arranged historical circumstances and brought about Caesar Augustus to declare that the whole world should be taxed and everybody should go to their hometown to be registered.

And so Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem to register and that's where Jesus was born, in the house of bread.

That's what Bethlehem means, house of bread. And even more curious, when he was brought forth, he was laid in a manger, a feed trough.

And it's almost as if, you know, the Lord God says, take and eat.

Now that is most interesting because throughout the whole Bible, you know, our relationship with God is described in these, you know, physical senses.

Psalm 36, taste and see the Lord is good. Taste and see the

Lord is good. David says in Psalm 27 verse 4, there is one thing

I ask of the Lord and that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the

Lord all the days of my life, gazing upon the beauty of the

Lord and inquiring or meditating in his temple, gazing upon the beauty of the

Lord. And even more astonishing, the apostle

Paul says this, he says, we, we Christians are the aroma of Christ to one another, the aroma of life and to those outside the aroma of death.

Now that is just most curious, you know, that our relationship with him, you know, is described as, you know, through these physical senses.

And yet, you know, we don't taste, but we do nourish, be nourished and grow.

And we don't see, but we come to understand the circumstances of passing worth of knowing

Christ Jesus, our Lord. And we don't smell, but there is just a way about us that is different.

Now that brings me to part three.

Part one, he's coming. Part two, he came. And part three, he is here.

He is here. He is here. He is here. He is here.

I want to read you something written by a

Christian a thousand years ago. His name was

Bernard. He lived in France. And this is what he says.

Now bear with my foolishness a little. I want to tell you of my own experience, as I promised, not that it is of any importance.

I admit that the word has also come to me and has come many times.

And I want to tell you, but although he has come to me, I have never been conscious of the moment of his coming.

I perceived his presence. I remembered afterwards that he had been with me.

And sometimes I had a feeling that he would come, but I was never conscious of his coming or his going and where he comes from, when he visits my soul and where he goes and by what means he enters and goes out,

I admit that I do not know even now.

The coming of the word was not perceptible to my eyes, for he is not color, nor to the ears, for there was no sound, nor yet to my nostrils, for he mingles with the mind, not the air.

He has not acted upon the air, but created it. His coming was not tasted by the mouth, for there was not eating or drinking, nor could he be known by the sense of touch, for he is not tangible.

You asked then how I knew he was present. When his ways can in no way be traced, he is life and power, and as soon as he enters in, he awakens my slumbering soul.

He stirs and soothes and pierces my heart, for before it was hard as stone and diseased.

So he has begun to pluck out and destroy, to build up and to plant, to water dry places and illuminate dark ones, to open what was closed and to warm what was cold, to make the crooked straight and the rough places smooth, so that my soul may bless the

Lord, and all that is within me may praise his holy name.

He is here. You don't see him. You didn't hear him enter, and there is no aroma, but he is here.

He is with us. He is in us, in our fellowship, in our praying, in our singing, in our reading of the scripture, in our preaching and teaching, and he is blessed by our worship.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

He is here as he promised, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there

I am among them. He is coming. He came, and he is here, and he is blessed by our worship.

Let's pray. Father, I thank you, and I praise you for your great love and mercy, and that out of that great love you sent your only son to be our

Savior, and I thank you that you are here this morning with us to help us to worship you and to give you praise and glory and honor, for you are worthy, for you are worthy, for you are worthy, for you are worthy.

Help us now as we continue in our worship, in song, and then as we partake of the

Lord's Supper. In Jesus' name, amen.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.

It's to be here this morning to worship you, and we thank you and we ask these things of Jesus.

Let us partake. We have stained our souls, but you have washed us white as snow.

We look forward with yearning to the day we may be in your presence.

But until then, we thank you that you sent your son to die on the cross and spill his blood to redeem us.

We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. He would come, and he fulfilled that promise.

He kept his promise, and he came. And he promised to be with us always.

I will never leave you, never forsake you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

And where two or three of you are gathered together in my name, there I am with you by his promise.

And he has promised to come again, and he's coming again.

He's coming again. So, let us leave rejoicing that he has come, and he is coming again.

He is faithful to keep his word. Let's pray. Father, dismiss us as servants and witnesses of you, of your son, the

Lord Jesus, and what you've done for us. In Jesus' name