1 00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:06,360 Have you ever just looked around you and said something's wrong? 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:11,480 Has there ever been something or maybe even this week or you 3 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:13,720 know, something that's happening in the world around you and you 4 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:16,520 just look at it and you say something's wrong here? 5 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:19,480 Anybody just nod your head. You don't have to raise your 6 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,960 hand. Something's wrong this week. 7 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:27,200 I was feeling a little guilty because I had a long standing 8 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:30,240 tradition that I kind of have broken over the last few years 9 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:32,720 and I I was starting to feel bad about it. 10 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:37,560 And that tradition was that on Thanksgiving, I like to 11 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:40,160 celebrate Thanksgiving the way the Pilgrim is meant for us to 12 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:43,760 celebrate Thanksgiving, which is by stopping at White Castle on 13 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,280 the way home from Thanksgiving dinner. 14 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,520 And so, you know, the last few years I haven't done that. 15 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:53,200 And I, I thought this year I just was feeling a little bit 16 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:55,440 guilty about that. And I thought, this is the year 17 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:59,520 that I reinstate their tradition and I get things back to normal. 18 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:01,840 Now, listen, I, I, I'm going to get myself in a lot of trouble 19 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:03,080 if I don't say some things today. 20 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:05,360 The cooking at Thanksgiving is wonderful. 21 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:10,160 It's just not my favorite meal. The food was fine, just not my 22 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:12,880 favorite meal. And so I've always supplemented 23 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:19,640 the meal with delicious White Castle sliders, the best food. 24 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:22,920 By the way, South, I probably shouldn't do advertisements, but 25 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:26,680 South Lebanon, White Castle, the freshest in all the land. 26 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:32,680 You got to check it out. Anyway, So, so Thursday night 27 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:35,560 we, we had Thanksgiving dinner and, and it was good. 28 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,600 It was good dinner. And on the way home, I thought, 29 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:42,080 you know, I'm not really hungry, but I really do, you know, want 30 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:44,760 to get back to my roots of White Castle. 31 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:47,520 But I went home and we're hanging out at the house. 32 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:49,880 And then a couple hours later, one of the boys wanted to come 33 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:52,080 up to the gym and play some sports. 34 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:56,120 And so I thought, OK, I'll take you up to the gym, thinking this 35 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,480 is my opportunity. And so I drove up to the gym, 36 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:04,080 dropped the boys off, and then I headed down 42 because the 37 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:06,680 closest one now is down at 42 and 275. 38 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,800 So I headed down 42 on my way to White Castle. 39 00:02:11,640 --> 00:02:14,480 I got down there. There were no lights on. 40 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:21,640 Since when does White Castle close closed? 41 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,000 9:30 We're not talking midnight, we're talking 9:30. 42 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:28,520 Maybe I was too early, maybe they open at 11 or something. 43 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:32,120 But but I got there in my hopes and dreams were just dashed and 44 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:36,200 all I could think is something is wrong with this world when 45 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,840 White Castle is closed. No White Castle for me. 46 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:42,400 You ever you ever thought that? You ever just thought something 47 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:44,040 is wrong? Not about White Castle. 48 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:46,840 You probably don't have the same convictions I do. 49 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,920 You know, I told I'm coaching basketball this year and I told 50 00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:55,840 them I'm a pastor and our services end at noon and so I 51 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,200 will coach. But there is no way that I can 52 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:02,360 coach any game before 1:00 PM. And I got my schedule this week 53 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:08,160 and I have some games before 1 PM 10 AM on Sunday, basketball 54 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:11,040 games. A couple weeks ago we, we had a 55 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:13,240 volleyball tournament tournament down in Nashville. 56 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,920 And, and listen, I, I really, I don't want anyone to think that 57 00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:22,560 I'm being condescending or I don't want anyone to think that 58 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:24,680 I'm speaking I'll against you. I'm not. 59 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:27,840 But I want you to say, I want you to know that I, I think 60 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:32,120 something's messed up in our world that sports have taken 61 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:36,400 over. And, and, and listen, I'm there. 62 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:41,240 I'm not, I know, I, I'm living in this place as a parent that I 63 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,800 have kids that are into sports and I love sports and I want 64 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:47,520 them to be able to play. But in order for them to play, 65 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:51,880 there's conflict. And, and, and so I understand 66 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,400 where everyone's at, but I sat there in Nashville a couple 67 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:59,080 weeks ago and it was really great watching, I love watching 68 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:00,720 my kids play. I mean, I, I made it through the 69 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:02,880 whole first service, didn't cry until the very end. 70 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:06,600 And here I am 2 minutes in. I love watching my kids play 71 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:08,240 sports. I, I was super proud. 72 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,840 But I sat there thinking something's wrong when we're 73 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,600 spending weekends and weekends and weekends and we're not even 74 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:20,640 doing all of it, but but it something's wrong when that's 75 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:24,480 taking over life, when you look at our political system, when 76 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:27,920 you look at the way we interact, when you look at a simple 77 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:32,720 Facebook post about something you know, totally arbitrary can 78 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,960 turn into hatred, Something's wrong, right? 79 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,680 You've experienced this. We have hope. 80 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:42,760 Today is the start of Advent season. 81 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:46,240 And maybe you have thought those thoughts. 82 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:49,400 Something's wrong, something's off. 83 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,240 Today, as we start Advent season, the season of preparing 84 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:57,480 ourselves for the coming of the King, I want you to know that 85 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,560 there is something wrong. There's a lot of things wrong 86 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:06,040 with our world, but the good news is the King has come and 87 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:09,400 the King is coming again. Advent is a season that we look 88 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:14,160 back, we celebrate what has happened, that Jesus came to 89 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:18,640 earth, took on flesh, became one of us and walked this earth, 90 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:22,800 ultimately gave his life so that we could have salvation and in 91 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,360 life. And so we celebrate in Advent 92 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:28,400 what has happened, but we also look forward. 93 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,520 Advent is not just about looking back, it's about looking 94 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:33,840 forward. And so today, if we say 95 00:05:33,840 --> 00:05:38,200 something's wrong, yes, but I've got good news. 96 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:44,120 The King has come and the king is coming again, and all will be 97 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:46,800 made right. Over 1000 years before Jesus 98 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:50,120 showed up, there were prophecies, there were promises 99 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,200 of this coming king, this coming Messiah. 100 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:55,960 We're going to be looking at those over the Advent season. 101 00:05:55,960 --> 00:06:01,760 Today we're in Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah is in that the the 102 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:05,280 context of Jeremiah is exactly where what I was talking about. 103 00:06:05,280 --> 00:06:09,600 The people, something's wrong. They're God's people, the 104 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:11,600 Israelites, they've followed him. 105 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:14,880 He's delivered them and then and then raised up kings. 106 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,120 We have David and the Lion of Kings of David. 107 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:21,800 And God had delivered them and, and God had given them a place 108 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:24,560 and God had given them an identity and a purpose. 109 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:29,760 But over the course of time, those kings and leaders and even 110 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:32,040 religious leaders had LED them astray. 111 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:34,480 And all of a sudden there were false gods. 112 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:40,000 There were false idols just like there are today that God in the 113 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:45,080 way and took the place of the one God, the true God. 114 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:48,480 And so Jeremiah in this in writing. 115 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:52,280 This is a prophet. Jeremiah is called to call out 116 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:57,960 to proclaim judgment, but also to proclaim the good news. 117 00:06:58,280 --> 00:07:02,040 The promised 1 is coming. Stand with me. 118 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:07,880 We're in Jeremiah 23 and this isn't going to be on the screen. 119 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:10,440 The 1st 4 verses, verse five and six will. 120 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:14,560 But the context of this is that the, the people have been LED 121 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,000 astray. They, they've turned away. 122 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:20,520 They're worshipping other gods, just like in our world, people 123 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,320 have have turned away. And it's complicated and it's 124 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:26,920 tricky and it's messy. That's where the people were the 125 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,720 the leadership, the kings, the religious leaders had had LED 126 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:35,240 them had begun to to go their own path. 127 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:39,840 And so in Jeremiah 23, starting in verse, one says, woe to the 128 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:43,320 shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my 129 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:47,040 pasture, declares the Lord. Therefore, this is what the 130 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:49,560 Lord, the God of Israel says to the shepherds who tend my 131 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:52,160 people. Because you have scattered my 132 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:55,320 flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, 133 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:58,440 I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done, 134 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:01,240 declares the Lord. But then in verse 3 we see a 135 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:03,600 turn. I myself will gather the remnant 136 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:06,680 of my flock out of all the countries where I've driven them 137 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:10,120 and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will 138 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:11,760 be fruitful and increase in number. 139 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:15,000 I will play shepherds over them who will tend to them, and they 140 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:18,120 will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be 141 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:21,160 missing, declares the Lord. Now stay up because we still got 142 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:25,840 two more verses. But once again, something's 143 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:28,920 wrong. This is addressing political 144 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,360 leaders, kings, and it's addressing religious leaders. 145 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:34,640 Really toward the end of the chapter, it gets more into the 146 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:38,360 religious leaders, but but they've been LED astray and and 147 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:42,480 the people are living in this conflict and and they've messed 148 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,400 up. And so Jeremiah comes and and, 149 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:49,680 and the prophecy is there's going to be judgment, there's 150 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:52,120 going to be punishment, there's going to be exile. 151 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:58,040 But in verse 3 we see God will gather his people back. 152 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:03,360 God will take care of them. Verse 5 the days are coming. 153 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:06,000 Say that with me the days are coming. 154 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:10,200 Say it again, the days are coming declares the Lord, when I 155 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:14,040 will raise up for David a righteous branch, a king who 156 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:17,800 will reign wisely and will do what is just in right in the 157 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:21,320 land. In his days, Judah will be saved 158 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:25,600 and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he 159 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:29,680 will be called the Lord, our righteous Savior. 160 00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:30,840 Praise Lord, you can have a seat. 161 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:34,560 So. So we have the prophecy of 162 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:36,720 judgment. Something's wrong. 163 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:41,200 You've been LED astray. We have the promise that God has 164 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:44,520 not forgotten about his people. He will gather them back. 165 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:49,760 Then we have the promise of a coming king, a savior. 166 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:54,520 The days are coming when I will raise up a righteous branch, a 167 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:58,520 king and and the people will be saved. 168 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:02,280 Advent is a time to look back. I've got good news. 169 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:07,040 The promised one has come. That's what we celebrated. 170 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:11,120 Advent, the king has come and we will celebrate it through this 171 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:15,000 next month. But we also understand the King 172 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:22,360 is coming again. God's promises are always true. 173 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:24,960 So let's work through this. The days are coming. 174 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:28,040 Stay with me one more time. The days are coming. 175 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:30,920 Now the reason I have you say that with me is because it's not 176 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:34,960 just the days have happened, but the days are coming. 177 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:37,440 If we're sitting here in our world and we're saying 178 00:10:37,560 --> 00:10:42,200 something's wrong, something's off, something's messed up, yes, 179 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:50,200 but the days are coming when the king is coming again and he will 180 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:54,080 restore what's broken. The days are coming, declares 181 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:56,480 Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch. 182 00:10:56,480 --> 00:11:00,320 I want to start here. God had promised to David that 183 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:05,120 that he would bring a a savior, A Messiah from his line. 184 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,960 And in Second Samuel Chapter 7, this is the promise to David. 185 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:12,520 The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish 186 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:16,080 a house for you when the days when your days are over and you 187 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:19,520 rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to 188 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:23,760 succeed you and your own flesh and blood, and I will establish 189 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:25,840 his Kingdom. He is the one who will build a 190 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:28,760 house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his 191 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:31,880 Kingdom forever. I will be his Father and he will 192 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:35,280 be my Son. The promise is through David, 193 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:38,480 God will bring a Messiah, a king. 194 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:46,160 Now we Fast forward and the people have messed up the the 195 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:48,160 line of kings. Some of them were good. 196 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:51,800 David was a a good king. There were other good kings. 197 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:55,400 The current king at the time of writing this is Zedekiah. 198 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,600 He was not a good king. You know that sometimes we have 199 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,200 leaders that are good. We have leaders that are bad, 200 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:03,680 right? Hopefully you're not in one of 201 00:12:03,680 --> 00:12:08,240 those bad times right now. There were good kings. 202 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:11,920 There were bad kings. There were kings that led people 203 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:14,280 toward God. There were kings that led people 204 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:16,160 away from God. There were religious leaders 205 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:20,720 that led people to God. That is my goal to point you to 206 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:22,920 Jesus. And there were kings that were 207 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:27,000 selfish and, and were self interested and were corrupt and 208 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:32,600 LED them the wrong way. And so, so the promise had come. 209 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:37,520 But at this point, if you thought of the Kingdom David's 210 00:12:37,680 --> 00:12:42,440 line as a tree, it's as if the tree was withered or falling 211 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:43,920 down. Anyone have a dead tree in your 212 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:45,600 yard? Anybody. 213 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:47,120 I'm the only one. OK. 214 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:50,640 Great Waters Association is here. 215 00:12:51,560 --> 00:12:52,480 Yeah. Thank you. 216 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:55,040 I appreciate you. I got this little tree in the 217 00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:58,400 backyard. It's it's like nothing on it for 218 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:00,200 years. I'm like, I need to chop that 219 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:03,760 thing down. But every once in a while in the 220 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:06,480 spring, something will shoot out of it. 221 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:08,920 There's new life. You've seen that, right? 222 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:13,800 Something that appears to be dead will sprout new life and 223 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:17,360 you're reminded that it's not totally dead. 224 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:19,800 That's where the the whole line of David here. 225 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:23,040 It was like it was like the the tree was cut off. 226 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:27,720 It was like it's over in the and and they're facing the judgement 227 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:32,880 in the condemnation. But but God says the days are 228 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:38,920 coming when I will raise up for David a righteous branch out of 229 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:45,200 the seemingly dead. A new, a shoot, a branch comes 230 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:51,520 up, and that branch is Jesus. See, God had promised, and when 231 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:55,760 God promises something, it comes true. 232 00:13:56,720 --> 00:14:01,040 We can mess up, we can blow it, we can get off track. 233 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:02,880 And that's what the people had done. 234 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:05,680 That's what the kings, the leaders had LED them astray and 235 00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:08,840 they're facing judgement. And it's as if Jeremiah is 236 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:11,440 saying, listen, I, I hate to tell you this, but it's going to 237 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:16,080 get worse before it gets better. But the good news is it's going 238 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:19,800 to get better. The judgement is coming. 239 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:22,600 I, I love what I, I read this week. 240 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:26,200 I thought this was really good. It said the judgement was 241 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:30,880 coming, but it was just the beginning of God's ultimate plan 242 00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:33,520 of restoration. See, when we face judgment or 243 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:35,520 discipline, we think it's the end. 244 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:43,760 But the truth of the gospel is God has promised us the hope of 245 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:47,880 eternal life. And when we mess up, when we 246 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:50,120 blow it, when our world is messed up and we say, hey, 247 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:54,240 something's not right here, that doesn't mean that God is gone. 248 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:56,520 He's abandoned. Yes, they blew it. 249 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,480 Jeremiah was there to say you've messed up, you've gone your own 250 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:01,600 way. But good news, God's promise 251 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:08,200 stands, and a righteous branch will come out of the line of 252 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:11,320 David. Jesus is from the line of David 253 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:15,200 because God's promises never fail. 254 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:18,560 That's good news. Today the king was coming. 255 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:22,480 Spoiler alert, the king has come. 256 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:25,240 That's what we celebrate at Christmas. 257 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:29,680 The king has come. The prophecy is true. 258 00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:33,320 The second thing, what what is the king come to deliver? 259 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:39,440 Well, verse 5A, King who will reign wisely, who will do what 260 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:43,480 is just and do what is right in the land. 261 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:46,560 What would this king, what would this righteous branch do? 262 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:51,000 He would bring justice, he would bring wisdom, he would bring 263 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,120 righteousness to the land. So we look at our world and we 264 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:58,120 say something is wrong and it looks like at times that the bad 265 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:02,640 is winning over the good, right? It seems like people that are 266 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:07,600 not following God are, are prospering where at other times 267 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:13,160 the people of God aren't. But a king is coming who will 268 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:15,640 reign wisely, who will do what is just and right. 269 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:20,880 Jesus came and Jesus is the truth. 270 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:27,400 He sets things right. And so Jesus came and and he 271 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:29,800 showed up and the promise was true. 272 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:33,600 But I want to say this again, He is coming again. 273 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:37,960 And we're living in this weird in between right now where Jesus 274 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:43,880 has come and he's shown the way, but we still live under some 275 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:48,080 corruption, some difficulty, some brokenness. 276 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:52,320 And sometimes we say something's not right. 277 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:56,760 Sometimes we, I think this is probably where the people were 278 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:00,800 that, that we can be torn in the middle, like we know that 279 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:03,400 something's not right, but what do we do? 280 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:09,000 What's the path forward? And Jesus came to reign wisely, 281 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:12,079 to be just and right. Here's the good news. 282 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:17,119 The Savior has come and he's shown us the way. 283 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:25,599 We have this amazing gift, God's word, that teaches us who he is 284 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:30,040 and what he's all about. And so in the in the difficulty, 285 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:34,600 in the tough decisions, because it's tough to live in this place 286 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:40,320 where something's not right. Admittedly, guys, I'm a father, 287 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:44,840 love my kids, love sports, want my kids to do well. 288 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:51,200 There's a lot of places in my life that I feel this tension of 289 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:56,720 something's wrong. Good news is the king has come 290 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:01,440 who is right and just and you. And you know what? 291 00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:05,000 When the world is full of hatred, when the world is 292 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:12,360 worshipping idols, we don't have to because the king has come, a 293 00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:15,000 king who will reign wisely. See, there were kings that were 294 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,000 good. There were kings that were bad. 295 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:20,120 But but King David, you know, King David was a good king. 296 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:23,720 You know, he didn't always do everything perfectly. 297 00:18:24,360 --> 00:18:26,760 In fact, he messed up in some pretty big ways. 298 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:35,200 But the true king has come who is right and just the one who is 299 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:37,440 perfect. It goes on in verse 6 and the 300 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:41,240 days in his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in 301 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:43,360 safety. So so the king is coming. 302 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:46,200 The righteous branch is coming up from the line of David. 303 00:18:46,360 --> 00:18:51,880 He is the king that is just and righteous and is wise and and 304 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:53,520 but I want you to see this next part. 305 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:56,360 It says in his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in 306 00:18:56,360 --> 00:18:58,560 safety. This is is a short term promise, 307 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:02,280 but it's also a long term promise and it's for all of us 308 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:09,640 that we can live in the safety and salvation of Jesus, the King 309 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:12,440 who has come and is coming again. 310 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:15,040 Here's the thing. He's not just a good king that's 311 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:17,840 wise. He's not just a good king that 312 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:20,440 is righteous. He's not just a good king that 313 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:25,040 brings justice. He's a king who loves his people 314 00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:31,320 and wants to save his people and wants to give them life and 315 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:36,320 peace and safety and hope in the midst of brokenness. 316 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:41,000 Jesus is the King that delivers justice, righteousness, and 317 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,440 salvation to the people. That's us. 318 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:46,400 Somebody get excited about this guy. 319 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:47,960 Somebody say Amen. Come on. 320 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:49,960 I feel like nobody's with me here. 321 00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:53,000 Come on And listen, I get it. We talk about this every year 322 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:56,080 and I feel that as a pastor. But I want you to know that the 323 00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:58,640 King has come and he's coming again. 324 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:01,600 And he didn't come just to be a good king. 325 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:05,840 He came to save his people. And that's good news, because 326 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:08,960 that's the only reason that any one of us is here. 327 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:16,840 He brings justice, He brings righteousness, He brings 328 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:20,240 salvation. Jesus is the king. 329 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,840 And even in a broken and a corrupt world, we can live. 330 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:29,680 This is the cool thing, guys. We can sit here as the church 331 00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:33,440 and we can say something's wrong and we've all done that right. 332 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:35,280 Just nod with me so I know you're with me. 333 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:37,880 We've all done that right? We've said something's wrong 334 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:41,440 here, OK? Can I tell you that? 335 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:47,120 Because Jesus has come, because the righteous and just King has 336 00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:53,400 come and offers salvation and grace, we the people of God can 337 00:20:53,400 --> 00:21:01,880 live right and just right now in 2025, in the brokenness, we can 338 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:06,480 be a people of peace and righteous and righteousness and 339 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:08,960 justice. All right, let me, I talked 340 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:10,240 about sports. I'm going to, I'm going to take 341 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:18,480 a detour back here for a second. I want to encourage you guys if, 342 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:22,560 if sports are an issue, which they are for my family and they 343 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:26,560 are for a lot of us, I want to encourage you that you can still 344 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:31,120 worship. You can still worship every 345 00:21:31,120 --> 00:21:34,040 single day. You can still pray and, and you, 346 00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:38,960 you can even still worship on the weekends. 347 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,720 Maybe your, maybe your games are going to be during worship time, 348 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:44,720 but I promise you, there are churches. 349 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:47,560 One of the, one of the great things about today is that we 350 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:51,320 have the opportunity to put the service out there so that you 351 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:54,080 can join us. Even if it's later, you can join 352 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:56,120 us or there are all these other churches. 353 00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:57,720 This is really cool. I went to Nashville. 354 00:21:57,720 --> 00:21:59,800 I got on Google Church of the Nazarene. 355 00:21:59,920 --> 00:22:02,480 There were two churches of the Nazarenes within 10 miles of me 356 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:04,480 that I could go to. Praise the Lord. 357 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:09,200 I had the gift of being able to worship even though I had the 358 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:15,600 struggle. OK, political stuff, the hatred, 359 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:19,040 the division. You don't have to be a part of 360 00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:22,280 that. In fact, not just you don't have 361 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:26,040 to be a part of it. You should not be a part of it. 362 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:32,000 You should be a person of grace and love and truth, not a person 363 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:36,760 of division and hatred. Good news, the King has come, 364 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:40,160 He's righteous. He's, he's bringing justice, he 365 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:49,840 is good, he loves his people, and he offers us the path today. 366 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:52,880 You're not left to your own devices to figure out how to 367 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,560 live a righteous life in a broken world. 368 00:22:55,800 --> 00:23:04,670 You have the and you can pray and you can be guided by the 369 00:23:04,670 --> 00:23:08,480 Spirit to know how to navigate this world. 370 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,200 It's tricky guys, please understand, I am not getting on 371 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:14,480 anybody. I'm not trying to bring 372 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:17,440 condemnation, but I do want to be true to the word of God, 373 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:21,520 judgement and that our world is corrupt and broken. 374 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:28,120 And it's tricky and it's tough. But there's a king that's come 375 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:34,200 and he reigns. And if he reigns in my heart and 376 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:40,560 my life, he shows me the way, shows me how to live in the 377 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:44,960 midst of the mess. Jesus has come. 378 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:49,280 The third part of this, This is the name by which he will be 379 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:53,240 called the Lord, our righteous Savior. 380 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:55,680 So, so the righteous branch is coming. 381 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:58,800 The promise is fulfilled, the promise is true. 382 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:01,080 A king is coming. He's a good king. 383 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:03,000 He's a righteous king. He's a just king. 384 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:06,960 He's also a king for his people, that loves his people, that 385 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:10,680 offers us justice and righteousness and all of that. 386 00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:15,400 And verse 6 tells us he's the Messiah. 387 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:20,480 He is the Lord, our righteous Savior. 388 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:24,560 Now this is kind of cool. At this time King Zedekiah, the 389 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:28,280 king of the people, was a messed up bad king that led them 390 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:33,000 astray. The the name Zedekiah actually 391 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:39,280 means God is righteous. It's it's his name proclaims 392 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:43,400 that God is righteous and good, but his leadership in his life 393 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:47,000 LED people away from God's goodness and righteousness. 394 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:52,920 You see the problem there? But this righteous branch, this 395 00:24:52,920 --> 00:25:01,200 king, well, his name is the Lord, our righteous Savior, 396 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:07,960 Jehovah Sidkanu, the Lord, our righteousness. 397 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:15,600 Not just a name, but in function, Jesus, the one that 398 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:18,200 has come, the one that we look back and we celebrate, and the 399 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:22,240 one that we look forward to, his coming again is our 400 00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:28,360 righteousness. 2nd Corinthians 5 says God made him who had no sin 401 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,360 to be sin for us so that in him we might become the 402 00:25:32,360 --> 00:25:35,480 righteousness of God. This is so cool, guys. 403 00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:38,600 We can look around and we can say the world's messed up, but 404 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:41,400 if I'm being really honest, I can stand before you today and 405 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:47,200 say I failed. I've messed up, I've fallen 406 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:49,960 short. And there's not a person in here 407 00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:53,840 that can sit, can stand up here and not say the same thing. 408 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:59,720 Every single one of us has fallen short, but a savior has 409 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:06,200 come, the Lord of Righteousness. He's not just a prophecy. 410 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:09,200 He's not just a king. He's not just a good king. 411 00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:11,320 He's not just a king that's for his people. 412 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:15,160 He is our savior and our righteousness. 413 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:19,400 Here's the beautiful thing. I don't care what you've done. 414 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:22,240 I don't care how far you've missed the mark. 415 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:28,960 If you accept Him as your Lord and your Savior, when you stand 416 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:33,440 before God, it won't be a laundry list of all of your sins 417 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:37,880 and all of your shortcomings. What the Father will see is the 418 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:43,320 righteousness of Christ. That's good news, guys. 419 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:49,480 The King has come, the promised one has come. 420 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:55,920 He showed up. God made him who had no sin to 421 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:57,600 be sin. That doesn't mean that Jesus 422 00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:00,800 sinned. It means that that he took on 423 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:08,320 the sin of all of us and gave his life as a sacrifice so that 424 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:13,440 we could be saved, that that he took our place. 425 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:19,560 And now he is the Lord, our righteous Savior. 426 00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:24,840 Praise the Lord, guys. Something's wrong with our 427 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:29,520 world, to be honest. Something's wrong in the church 428 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:33,160 sometimes something's wrong with leaders. 429 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:37,040 We're not perfect. And sometimes kings and 430 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:41,400 political leaders and, you know, bosses and all of those things, 431 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:46,520 sometimes something's wrong. I've got good news. 432 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:53,840 The king has come and he's righteous and he's just, and he 433 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:56,720 is the Lord, our righteous savior worship team. 434 00:27:56,720 --> 00:28:02,200 Come on up, stand with me. Today as we start Advent, we 435 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,920 look back. We're talking about hope today 436 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:09,640 for the people in Jeremiah, for the people of Israel that 437 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:13,840 Jeremiah is prophesying to. His message is a message of 438 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:19,880 judgment, but his message is ultimately a message of hope and 439 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,520 a message of a coming Messiah and Savior. 440 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:25,360 And the message is the same today. 441 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,080 Something's wrong. There will be judgment. 442 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:33,800 Here's the beautiful thing. Jesus has come. 443 00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:39,280 He gave his life so that we could be forgiven, so that we 444 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:42,440 could be saved. So as we start the Advent 445 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:44,760 season, I want to call you to worship. 446 00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:49,080 And, and here's the thing, all you have to do to to have the 447 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:52,160 righteousness of Christ is accept him as your Lord and 448 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:55,000 Savior to say, forgive me for my sins. 449 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:58,000 I want you to be my Lord. I want you to be my king. 450 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:00,320 Sure, we're going to live under presidents and we're going to 451 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:02,560 live under bosses and we're going to live under, you know, 452 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:06,200 crazy things that are messed up. But today there is one true 453 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:11,920 King, and He is our first authority, and he lives. 454 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:14,720 As we talked about earlier, He lives. 455 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:22,600 And today all you have to do is believe, surrender, repent, and 456 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,440 turn to Him. And you are made clean. 457 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:30,880 You are given righteousness. And yeah, something's messed up 458 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:33,000 in our world, but we don't have to be. 459 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:35,880 We can live in his righteousness. 460 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:37,960 As we sing this last song, I want to encourage you to 461 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:39,880 respond. If you've never made that 462 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:41,960 commitment, today you can make that commitment. 463 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,040 It's simple. It's just to say, hey, I've 464 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:46,680 messed up. But Lord, I want to follow you. 465 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:49,800 If you've already done that, then this should be a time of 466 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:52,880 celebration and praise and recommitting ourself. 467 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,160 Let's make sure that every single one of us is there. 468 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:02,760 Jesus came. The promised one showed up and 469 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:04,680 he offers us life and salvation today. 470 00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:07,240 Don't miss it. Father, speak to us, help us to 471 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:09,800 respond to you today. We give you everything. 472 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:13,200 We worship you. If there's anyone here that's 473 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:16,880 been maybe missing the mark, if there's anyone here that's been 474 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,440 messed up, if there's anyone here that's maybe been 475 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:21,720 worshipping the wrong gods, Lord, today I pray we would 476 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,800 surrender everything to you, that you would be our savior, 477 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:26,560 You would be our king. I thank you Lord, that you're 478 00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:29,080 here for moving our hearts in Jesus name.