ADVENT HYMN
Call to Worship: Psalm 62:5-8
Welcome to this fourth Sunday of Advent. We live in a country and culture that enables us to have almost anything and everything we desire delivered to our front door within 24 hours. But Advent is a season where we learn to wait. And as we sit between the advent of Christ’s first coming, and the advent of his second coming we wait with longing, expectation, and hope knowing that all of the promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus. So as we sing this morning, and as you hear from God’s word, I want to encourage you to sit in the inconvenience of waiting. To lean into the ache of longing and expectation of what is to come, as we hold onto hope. Let’s sing together:
COME THOU LONG-EXPECTED JESUS
IS HE WORTHY
Sermon: Matthew 2:13-23
The life of faith is a life where we learn to hold tensions - that God is completely sovereign and completely good, and that sometimes our experiences make it seem that God is anything but sovereign and any but good. We want certainty, but God invites us to mystery. We can know and believe God for the things He has revealed, and we can trust Him for the things He has not. If you are wrestling with those tensions this morning, my prayer for you, and for me is that our posture would be that of the father who brings his demon-possessed son to Jesus. ‘I believe! Help my unbelief!’ Go to Jesus with the wrestle, and speak openly and honestly to Him. Would you stand, let’s sing about the mystery and the glory of God.
COME BEHOLD THE WONDROUS MYSTERY
HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING
Advent Candle Lighting: Isaiah 46:8-11
BENEDICTION: Brothers and sisters, let us go as those carrying the Light of Christ into the darkness. Let us live as those who know there is no one like our God - the One who declares the end from the beginning, the One who has spoken and is speaking through His Son. The One who has purposed and will bring it to pass.