SPEAKER_02: 0:01

As the week approached, at the beginning of the week, Monday, I had a terrible day. I'll just be candid. Had a terrible day at work. And I knew that with some of the things that we had going down, I basically was a bearer of bad news for the one individual and the week of Thanksgiving. That probably not only ruined his week of Thanksgiving, but maybe impacted the rest of his life. So how am I supposed to be thankful in a week like something like that going down? And as I came to Thanksgiving, I was able to switch gears and focus on the goodness of God and the abundance of God and what can I do to express my gratitude for what God has done for me. And now today is the first, as Joe mentioned, it is the first Sunday of Advent. And what is Advent? Advent, as Joe mentioned, is a time of anticipation for celebrating Christmas. It's a time of anticipation also for the second coming of Christ. So these next four weeks are a time of reflection, spiritual reflection, based on Christ coming as a babe, and now he's reigning as a king for us as his people. And it's also a time of anticipation of hearing our minds toward the second coming of Christ. And as I reflect on where am I at in my life right now, and as I journey towards December 25th, Christmas Day in the next four weeks, what am I thinking? How am I gonna keep focus? The four things that the four uh attributes that come with Advent are all attributes that we receive because Christ came for us. And it is hope, it is joy, it is peace that comes along with it, and then it is a love for God and a love for each other. So this morning I felt led to, instead of preaching a traditional sermon, to have more of a praise and worship on four points of God, who God is. First, God is present, here. Secondly, God is holy. Thirdly, God is faithful, and then the fourth point is God is eternal. He was and is and will always be. And then I'd like to close with two songs on the advent of Jesus Christ. So the first point this morning, God is present. In the Old Testament, it is very clear that God's presence dwelled in the temple. As we go through the prophets, Ezekiel, and the visions that numerous of the prophets had, and we come into the coming of Christ, into the gospels. Today it is very, it is the scripture is very clear that God's presence dwells not in a building, but in his people. I'd like to read a few verses before we get into the singing. 1 Corinthians 3 16. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? And I've quoted this often where God's people are, God is. This morning, I'd like for you to, as we sing the first few songs, to dwell on the fact that God is here. God is here. We can't physically see him. But with what's happened in our service this morning, I can feel him. I can feel his presence. God is here in the form of his Holy Spirit. Second Corinthians 6 16. What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And then Revelation 21, 3, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Grab your hymnals and turn to number 135. God himself is present. I encourage you to sing from your heart this morning. Don't worry about your neighbor. Don't worry about how you might sound, but envision the themes that we're talking about this morning, and let your heart rejoice and connect with God Himself this morning. Number one thirty-five, God Himself is present.

SPEAKER_01: 8:50

Is here number one forty song number one hundred and forty.

SPEAKER_02: 12:04

God is present. God is present here. Number two is God is holy. God is holy. I'd like to read one of my favorite passages in scripture, and I hope you don't get tired of me using this scripture. I love Isaiah six and the first few verses. Isaiah six verses one through four. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the terrain of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim, each had six wings. With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. I think I'll read down through verses eight. And I said, Woe is me. This is Isaiah in his vision, for I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongues from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips, and your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I, send me. Now we've had many good services here at Grace Point. We've had services where there was a lot of testimonies, we've had services of prayer, services services of sharing, singing, and preaching. I have never yet felt the foundations tremble in any of our services. Can you imagine what attention getting act that would be? If all of a sudden we'd we're on a concrete floor, there was no basement underneath, all of a sudden we'd feel the ground shaken. This is what Isaiah felt in his vision. As he was face to face with God. How is it with you this morning? As we go into these weeks of Advent, as you reflect on your spiritual journey, as we prepare for the celebration of Jesus' coming, as we try to forget about the gifts we'll be giving, or the gifts we'll be receiving, or the food we're gonna eat, or the gatherings we're gonna have. But in these next, in this month, as we reflect on where am I in comparison to God's holiness? Where am I? Am I to say, woe is me? Or am I at a good spot? That's the challenge that I have for myself and all of us this morning. Number eighty-nine. Holy God, we praise thy name. And then have the men sing on verse two. Have the men sing on verse two, all sing unison on verse three, and then on verse four we'll sing all parts and fill up the parts with additional parts, um, high tenor, lo alto, men's baritone, whatever you whatever you wish. Just to fill up the song, fill up the music of the song. Again, all parts verse one, verse two, men, verse three, unison, and then four all parts.

unknown: 20:41

Amen.

SPEAKER_01: 20:43

Amen.

SPEAKER_02: 20:46

Turn to song number one oh six. One hundred six. Holy Lord God of Sabiat. So in this song, I like to sing unison the first time through, and then we'll sing it a second time through. And this song, just uh to make everybody aware, there are a numerous number or there are a number of rests. Uh it begins with a quarter rest in the first frame, and then in the third frame, as we do somewhat of a round, an echo round, there are some half rests as well. How many of you are familiar with this song? So a good number of you. Let's sing it the first time through. We'll sing it fairly slowly, and then we'll sing it through the second time in parts. And just worship as we sing this song about our holy God.

unknown: 25:59

Oh, but the well does have to be a good idea.

SPEAKER_02: 26:22

God is holy, and number three, God is faithful. God is faithful. Psalm 100, verse 5. For the Lord is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. Lamentations 3, 22 and 23. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. I don't know what you all are going through right now, but some of you might be going through a fairly difficult time, and some of you might be on the top of the world right now. No matter where you're at right now, every morning, just like the manna and the quail that God supplied back in the old testament. A fresh batch every morning. That's God's grace right now. Every morning when we wake up, as a dew on the ground, so is God's faithfulness and God's grace for us. Turn in your song songbooks to nine oh seven. Nine hundred seven. Be still, my soul, the Lord is on thy side. But it's a song that just tells us that no matter what we're going through, God is here. The next song we're going to be singing after this is Great Is Thy Faithfulness, and I'm going to spring a surprise on Cordell this morning. Give him one song notice. I would like for you to sing the first verse as a solo in Great Is Thy Faithfulness in the next song, and that number is 155. 907. Be still my soul. I'm gonna try to keep this song moving. This song is easy to drag on, so I'm gonna try to keep this song moving.

SPEAKER_01: 32:41

Number one fifty-five. Great is your faithfulness.

SPEAKER_02: 32:54

What we'll do is we'll have Cordell sing down to the chorus, and like for us to start humming on faithfulness, on faith, he'll sing, Great Is Thy, and then let's have the humming chords come in on um let's have the ladies hum the alto softly, and then the tenor and the bass, and we'll let him carry the melody. And we'll sing down to the chorus, skip the chorus on verse one and go back, and everybody join on verse two and three. Skip the chorus on verse one.

unknown: 34:21

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02: 37:22

God is faithful, God is eternal. Psalm ninety verses one through four. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You return man to dust and say, Return, O children of man, for a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday, when it is past, or as a watch in the night. God has always been, God is, and God always will be. If you can, please stand for this song. One, two, and four. Omit verse three. Immortal, invisible, and God only wise. I'd like to sing verses one and four. One and four. Again, this is a time of anticipation for the celebration of Christ's birth. It is also a time of looking forward to the second coming of Christ. And it is a time of reflection. Where am I in my walk with Christ? I'd like to try the song O Kam O Kame Manuel, number 204. This is a song composed on a minor key. We don't sing it very often. It is a beautiful song. I think most of you are familiar with it. I like to sing verses one all the way through in unison. And then I like to sing verse two again unison down to the chorus and then split into four parts on the chorus. And then we'll skip verse three and sing verse four in four parts. Again, verse one unison all the way through, verse two, unison down to the chorus. Everybody split into parts on rejoice. And then go back and sing verse four in four four parts. This song is there's only a portion of this song that actually refers to the birth of Christ. This song is a song of God or Jesus coming as a king. For us, it brings joy. For God as people, it brings joy. For the people that do not know God, the kingdom of Christ is actually a scary thing. For us, it brings joy. We have a king that is here to reign and rule. Let's keep that in mind as we approach the Christmas season. Verses one and four. Joy to the world, the Lord has come.

SPEAKER_00: 50:41

God is present, God is holy, God is faithful, and God is eternal. Over the past uh week, I guess Thursday was Thanksgiving Day. And I don't know about your families, I'm sure you you you do do it similarly, but we were with Christy's family, and her mom and sisters put a lot of work into setting the table before the meal comes out. Um typically, if you're like a a a normal American, you're gonna have a you know, it's a time to feast and turkey, mashed potatoes, all all the different sides and everything. And if it was just if it was up to me, I would just I'd I would cook the turkey and and set it down on the on the plain table and and just have at it. Uh but the the I'm going somewhere with this. Uh my point is they they put a lot of work into setting the table, all the different placements, the placemats, and the the different sets of silverware and and and bowls and plates and everything. And it makes the the meal itself very meaningful. I felt like that was what happened this morning during this time is as we went go into the Christmas season, it feels like these four four uh themes or attributes of God really set for me set the table for the month that is ahead of us. Um if if uh I'd what I'd like to do is during this next month, keep coming back to these four points, um because they're all four present in the Christmas story. God's presence, uh God incarnate uh Jesus was God present with us and God's holiness. Uh we saw the we see that in the story of the shepherds and the wise men, uh how they recognize that something is holy, something holy is happening, and they worship uh God's faithfulness in I I think of the you know the hundreds of years prior to the birth of Jesus and all the promises that God had given to Israel, promising the coming Messiah, God's faithfulness in providing that Messiah, and ultimately God's God is eternal. That Christ did not stay in the manger, he grew up, he died, was raised again, and now is seated at the right hand of the Father, and we can have access to God through him. So thank you for leading out with that, Sean. Um I was blessed to be here this morning, and like I said, it just sets the table for for the season that is ahead of us. I'm gonna open it up to each of you, or to if there's any of you who would like to share, please uh raise your hand and we can get you a microphone if you'd like to give a response to the sermon time this morning.

unknown: 53:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 53:36

If there is no one, um why don't we stand and let's have a closing uh closing prayer and you can consider yourselves this minister. Let's pray. Father, we come before you again with grateful hearts. Thank you for uh the way you've met us this morning through your word, through your Holy Spirit ministering to our hearts through the songs that were sung. I pray, Father, that you could go with us this this coming week as we enter the Christmas season, and that uh our minds can constantly come back to the truth that you are eternal, you are uh holy, faithful, you're present in our lives. Unless as we go from here, we ask that you would watch over us this coming week in Jesus' name, amen.