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You’ve probably heard the phrase “happiness depends on circumstances, joy does not”. Joy accentuates the pleasurable, good things of life. Joy shared in community brings something of the Kingdom of God. Joy with God is not one directional or transactional. The joy of the Lord is reciprocal in its nature - we give and He gives. In Advent, there is joy in God’s coming and closeness. The key to lasting joy isn’t in seeking joy itself, but in pursuing the joy bringer.
Advent places the church, every year, in longing for the fullness of the throne of God to be realized. We need Advent, even if we never reach Christmas morning. What we long for is not a nostalgic look back or presents, what we’re longing for is the presence of the Holy Spirit. Hope is what grounds us now in the expectation and preparation for God’s future. In order to get from our past to God’s future, we must go through some pivot point, something that will connect those two disjointed realities: Jesus is the connection.
Pastor Josh wraps up this Identity In Christ Royal Priesthood by looking at the calling on God’s people to be a Royal Priesthood that has both authority and responsibility to serve as kingly priests and to spend ourselves serving those on the outside who do not yet know Jesus.
The description of a “free bondservant” is seemingly a contradiction, but scripture tells us that we are freed as slaves to sin to become slaves of righteousness and that the yolk of God is easy and His burden is light. So what does it look like to be set free to serve another Master?
Most of us probably don’t feel like we qualify to be called saints, but Paul wrote to the Corinthians, a church that had all sorts of problems, and told them that they were God’s saints. By the power of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we are indeed, made righteous - saints. And this type of sainthood isn’t something reserved as a posthumous honor, it’s meant to describe our lives on this earth as we reflect God’s glory and do the works He created for us to do.
This week, Pastor Josh begins a new series, The Names God Calls Us, by looking at how we are referred to as God’s handiwork in Ephesians. We often find ways to identify ourselves by so many factors that aren’t who we really are. Our identity comes from who God says we are. We have a specific identity and purpose in Christ that matter.
Guest speaker Jeremy Geelen discusses the significance of Jehovah Tsidqenu, God Our Righteousness.
This week, one of our teen group youth, Jennifer Bruton, shares her perspective on relating to God as Abba while looking at the various roles of fathers in our lives.
Guest speaker Emanuel Williams preaches on the power, might and abundance of the Lord revealed in the name El Shaddai.
In Genesis, Hagar is the Egyptian slave of Abraham and Sarah that encounters in the desert a loving God that both sees and hears her. In John, Jesus convinces Nathaniel that He is the Son of God by how clearly He sees Nathaniel. In both cases, God sees these people beyond their present circumstances, meets them in their pain and doubt, and then gives them guidance and walks them through their confusion and trouble. We learn from this how God will absolutely meet us where we are, but He will not wallow there with us. He meets us in our pain, our sorrow, our lack and he leads us through and out of it, if we will obey and walk with Him.
We learn from the story of King Saul that God does not shift or change His mind. His glory, unlike the fading glory of an earthly king, stands forever, does not diminish and only God’s glory is heavy enough to remain after death takes it’s toll. In Jesus, all the Glory of Israel dwells in bodily form.
Many of us are crying out that we're the light of the world, but we're unwilling to walk out the process of sanctification. Sanctification is a walking out of the righteousness we've been given and it doesn't happen all at once. The book of James tells us that through persevering we are made complete. Being sanctified means that we listen and obey every day - it's the interchange between God and us. We can't "manage" our sinful nature or minimize it - it will lay dormant and catch up to us eventually. We have to kill it with sanctification.
*The video shared at the beginning of the sermon can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mcXtontujA
Jehovah Shammah, meaning "God is there" as used in Ezekiel, may seem at first like it keeps God at a distance. God's omnipresence means that "God is there" is never at the cost of "God is here". However, by looking into this name, we realize the beauty of hope, the beauty of blessing "the other", and even the beauty in the separation of "here" and "there".
"The Lord is My Shepherd" is a name of God that we are very familiar with, but have lost a lot of connection to living in capitalistic 21st century America. This name says as much about the "Good Shepherd" as it says about us. Looking at Psalm 23 and John 10, we see that the Good Shepherd leads us to places we would never go on our own, and profoundly connects the Divine Intention to our mortal selves. Instead of being SERVED by this name, we instead get to see the profound humility understanding that the "The Lord is my Shepherd."
Peace is the concept that is the foundation of Kingdom rule and reign. But if we define peace simply as the absence of conflict, war, anxiety, etc, then we have an incomplete picture of the fullness of the peace that God offers. God's shalom is the nature of the very presence of God. The peace of God is something of substance that occupies our hearts and drives out fear.
In the book of Exodus, God reveals Himself as Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals. Healing is a good gift and God the Father loves to give good gifts to His children. With healing, we have to be equipped, have faith, and lean into the "not yet" of the Kingdom of God. In this sermon, Pastor Josh discusses three aspects of healing: healing is in God's nature, what our role is in healing, and why healing doesn't always occur when we want or hope for it to.
Paraclete is a name used by the disciple John to describe the role of the Holy Spirit as our advocate and defender. Some may assume this means that He advocates for us before God the Father, but the Holy Spirit is not arguing against the Father, He defends us against our enemy, the accuser.
Jehovah Nissi - the Lord is our banner. Our attempts, our efforts, the things we do, only succeed because of who God is - because He is our fortress and our banner. This name of God goes hand in hand with what we learned last week about God, The Fear of Isaac, is our provider. Being under God's banner isn't covert or silent. Like Moses raising His hands for victory in battle, God gives us freedom in the Kingdom, but also chooses to use our efforts and abilities to accomplish His purposes. Being under God's banner means that we surrender and that we give up our own story for the Kingdom story.
Twice in the book of Genesis, Jacob calls God the "Fear of Isaac". By using this name, Jacob is bringing us deeper into his story and God's BIG story. As we look at God as the "Fear of Isaac", we see that our own fears are meant to be met by God Himself, knowing Him as our provider, as the God who gives generously, and how those who follow Him do the same.
Alpha and Omega, a name for God used only three times in scripture all in Revelation, is deep with meaning. It's the name of God that ties us to both the history of God and the future of God. In the beginning of his book "The Pursuit of God", A.W. Tozer says, "We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge in us that spurs us to the pursuit." God is the very source of even our own longing for Him, but not only is He the source, He is our destination and end. He is both the author and finisher - what He initiates, He will complete.
SERVICE TIME & LOCATION:
10:30am Sunday @
190 Rosewood Centre Drive
Suite 101
Holly Springs, NC 27540
E: office@hollyspringsvineyard.org
P: 919-391-8247
