Sunnyside First Baptist Church
Waiting...
  • O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)
  • Joy To The World (Unspeakable Joy)
  • O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)
  • Away in a Manger

  • 3rd Sunday of Advent

    Hello I am one of the animals who were at that first Christmas You maybe surprised….but we can talk Are you looking forward to Christmas? For all the visitors, some expected and some unexpected? Are you looking forward to being surprised by a person or two? I can you tell you, at that first Christmas we were surprised… Here we were thinking we were all comfortable…. Sitting in what we thought was OUR stable, preparing to rest When our quiet night was interrupted by some unexpected guests!!! These were guests who weren’t even supposed to be in OUR stable’ A stable is no place for humans to sleep, its for animals!!! But that innkeeper…. Shared some of our space with a young man and young woman And boy did they mess things up They disturbed our sleep, They moved things around They interrupted what we thought was a peaceful and organized life You see not long after they arrived, a baby was born Do you know how much noise babies make? Also they used our feeding bucket for His bed But it didn’t stop there Other people came visiting, looking for this baby!!! There were some smelly shepherds Some characters from a foreign country with gifts And a lot of angels And there was this huge star lighting up the place Everyone was happy They were singing And you know what? Their joy rubbed off on us Because we soon discovered that we were experiencing something special God was born in our stable We were proud So we told everyone And he was bringing hope and peace to the world as you discovered last week But not only this he brought joy to us.
    And he brings true and long lasting joy to everyone. So with the candles of hope and peace. Let’s light the candle of joy.
    Because as we discovered when God enters our space we discover true joy no matter how inconvenient.

    Let’s look back...

    I do these “look back” portions of the message most weeks to do exactly that...
    Look back.... But this week I want to look back and add a couple of really important today applications that I just didn’t have the time for last week.
    So this is a “two-fer” the ushers will be passing the plate this week, twice.
    Last week I said,
    Know Jesus, Know Peace and No Jesus, No Peace.
    But there is some really gritty realities that go along with PEACE.
    When our “Adult” children choose to adopt different values than ours.
    This can be the most painful on parents. You see rolling in our heads is verses like...
    Proverbs 22:6 ESV
    6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
    All of sudden your child or your adult child, that you have trained, mentored and been apart of their lives for 18, 19,20,25 years decides to go in another direction.
    Quits school, Get married, wants to go live on a beach in California.
    All that you have “hoped” for is gone and your worst fears are coming true.
    We as adults, as parents we can see down the road more than a few miles… because we have travelled them ourselves.
    We know the pain, the suffering, we know the difficulties that lie ahead.
    Our natural inclination is to jump in and correct and get them back on a the track.
    Many, if not most, times this fails miserably.
    Instead maybe we need to choose...
    PEACE
    ​
    Here is the valley I’ve seen in the last three years. Very hardworking people who do not give up. They are fixing machinery at 11PM or 5AM.
    They are working grapes or apples or whatever until the job is done.
    That brings a certain about of PEACE.
    That’s not the peace that I’m talking about.
    The peace that we need comes from the hand of God.
    Jesus said
    John 14:27 (The Message)
    27 I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.
    Regardless the situation...
    I am “gifting” you… Peace of mind and heart.
    This gift, there is nothing is the world that is the same...
    Don’t be afraid, don’t be worried… Peace will meet all of your deepest darkest empty holes in your hearts and minds.
    One of our problems… probably our biggest problem is our topic for this week...

    Waiting...

    I’m going to do a bit of an experiment.
    I’m going to set a timer for 120 seconds… two minutes. Stop whatever you are doing…
    Stop And Wait
    So this was 2 minutes in 1440 minutes in a day and 525,960 minutes in a year.
    The Jews, God’s chosen people, have been promised, and punished, and promised again for some 2.1 with 9 zero’s behind it minutes that things were going to change.
    21,000,000,000 That’s 21 Billion!
    He gave them a promise, a new covenant an end to their waiting
    listen...
    ​
    Jeremiah 31:3–4 ESV
    3 the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. 4 Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
    And one more reflection from
    Jeremiah 31:31–34 ESV
    31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
    God told His people that their waiting would come to an end… “Behold the days are coming.” He said. Still they fought God for 700 more years.
    Trying to please him with sacrifice but instead all that God wanted was obedience.
    The Prophet for today is Zephaniah. You say you didn’t know there was a book of Zephaniah… No I didn’t say Zechariah, I said Zephaniah.
    Zephaniah is located at the end of Old Testament. just a few pages back from Malachi.
    Zephaniah was part of a long list of prophets including:
    Ezekiel
    Jeremiah
    Nahum
    Habakkuk
    Daniel
    That were actively shouting to the people about the NEW COVENANT… the one that will be made on the life and death of the Messiah.
    They were all doing this about 6-700 years before Jesus even came.
    Big Idea: What is WORTH in the WAIT?
    As we look at our passage today Zeph 3.17-20 turn there… if you can find it. Put yourself in the place of Israel. If you are a follower of Christ, we are the “new” Israel!
    Zeph 3.14-20
    Zephaniah 3:14–20 ESV
    14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. 16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. 17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. 18 I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. 19 Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. 20 At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord.
    Let me just provide a bit more context with this...
    Israel has just returned from a long captivity, 40 years, in Babylon… Again for the 3rd time. Listen to what he said
    Zephaniah 3:17–20 ESV
    17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. 18 I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. 19 Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. 20 At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord.
    The time is coming… The time is coming
    So, the events referred to in Zephaniah 3:14–17 are surely pointing to a day which has still not yet arrived. It is somewhere in the future. The Jews and by extension those of us who have accepted Jesus leadership in our lives.
    when ‘the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea’
    Big Idea: What is WORTH in the WAIT, In the END?
    Hab 2.14
    Habakkuk 2:14 NIV84
    14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
    With that knowledge there will come a day...
    Revelation 21:4 ESV
    4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
    This is that day that we as Christians as Followers of God and Christ will have
    Big Idea: What is WORTH in the WAIT, in the END, Because of the JOY?
    JOY!
    What kind of Joy… It cannot be anything like the joy that we have now
    It is a joy that we cannot fathom on any level.
    Listen
    Hab 3.18
    Habakkuk 3:18 ESV
    18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
    Real rejoicing, Real Joy
    It’s the joy that Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist caused in Mary’s womb
    Luke 1.44
    Luke 1:44 ESV
    44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
    It’s the same kind of “joy” that the three wisemen had...
    Mat 2.10
    Matthew 2:10 ESV
    10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
    Some 200 times the REAL JOY that scripture talks about happens in our lives only comes after great sadness, defeat, pain, anguish, tears and more tears.
    Once in awhile… if we look for it, if God gives us the opportunity, If we run through that door
    If we have the opportunity to introduce Christ to someone with or without words we hear this...
    Luke 15.7
    Luke 15:7 ESV
    7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
    That is the pure joy that all of everything points us as Christians towards.
    3John4
    3 John 4 ESV
    4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
    That JOY, That unspeakable joy, holding your baby for the very first time, That JOY, in Gr. “Chara” also expresses, dancing, singing, gladness, happiness..
    That is the JOY that surrounded the manger some 2000 years ago at the birth of Christ.
    Big Idea: What is WORTH in the WAIT, in the END, Because of the JOY?
    And when he was finally born, when the wait was over, when the Savior, the Messiah had finally come to fulfill all joy… We immediately started to find ways to kill him.
    Find the JOY this holiday, Find REAL JOY in the celebration of the only real true bringer of Joy. Jesus Christ.
    ​
    ​

      • Proverbs 22:6NLT

      • Jeremiah 31:31–34NLT

      • Zephaniah 3:14–20NLT

      • Zephaniah 3:17–20NLT

      • Habakkuk 2:14NLT

      • Revelation 21:4NLT

      • Habakkuk 3:18NLT

      • Luke 1:44NLT

      • Matthew 2:10NLT

      • Luke 15:7NLT

      • 3 John 4NLT

  • What Child Is This (Greensleeves)
Sunnyside First Baptist Church
sunnysidefbc@gmail.com
509-837-3084
https://sunnysidefbc.faithlifesites.com
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