Advent: Looking Back and Looking Forward
This Sunday officially begins Advent for 2018. Advent is a time when we reflect on the longing God has placed in every person to know God personally and his promises to make himself known to us. It's a time when we remember the longings of God's people for the promised Messiah to come. It's a time when we look back on the miraculous and unexpected manner and effects of that first coming of Jesus in Bethlehem in the presence of shepherds, animals and angels.
Advent is a season of looking back.
But Advent is not just for looking back. It's even more for looking forward to the second coming of Christ. It's for resting in the promises of Jesus to come again and put an end to all of the suffering, sin, pain, sorrow and brokenness in the world. It's a time for anticipating Him creating a new Heavens and a new Earth. It's a time for looking forward, knowing that we can do so with confidence since we have a God who never changes...whose unexpected and inimitable first coming is the down payment and assurance for his second and final coming.
So as we come together on Sunday, let's do so looking back and looking forward, ready to worship the God who has come down to rescue us and and who promises to come back again to bring us home!
Here are the Songs and Scriptures that will make up our services on Sunday:
Call to Worship from Philippians 2:5-11
Nobody Like You
Come and Stand Amazed
Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery
Communion with 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Here Comes Heaven
Behold Our God
Sermon from Matthew 5:31-32
Great Is Thy Faithfulness