Well, good morning. That's my name is Rashad.
One of the pastor's here, reality church again.
So glad that you here today. On this beautiful not.
So frigid day here in New England, I think it's a
marvelous because the sun's out, and that makes all the
difference in the world. Agreement agreement, all right?
I need an agreement, this whole sermon people.
Okay? So we are in the second week of
Advent, and if you're not familiar with the word, it's We
means coming or arrival. When we talk about being in the
Advent season, we're talking about a posture of preparation
and its author Carrie Van Der. Vine, says it very beautifully.
Like this. She says, the message of Advent
doesn't fit neatly into a sound bite or vignette.
It's too complex, too deep to compete with glitter and noise.
It has a hard sell in a culture that would rather skip straight
to the big finish. But Advent is Important to be
forgotten because it is this season that prepares us to
encounter the Lord. This is our prayer for our
community, this season, that we would encounter the Lord.
Don't just want you to learn some great facts about Advent.
We want you to encounter the Lord, and I don't know what you
think about. When you think about
encountering the Lord, some of you might think being on a
Mountaintop on a crisp November December day and the Sun is out
and there's a little stream in a brook and you're like, oh man,
god tier. So you might be like me where
you're in the tropics and you're on the beach and it's a
beautiful morning and you can see the water and you can see
seat rails. You're like, man, God's here.
You may not vision yourself encountering.
God in the desert. You may not Envision yourself
encountering. God in a Barren Space.
Why is that? Because most of us don't expect
good to come from a bad situations.
The last thing, we expect, many of us is for our sorrow to be
turned to Joy. Here's the thing.
God often an almost always meets his people in the desert.
God often meets his people in the barrenness of life.
So if that's you who walked in here today, feeling Baron
feeling like this season has been a desert has been you've
been wandering then I truly believe that God wants to meet
with you and speak with you. In these chapters leading up to
Isaiah 35. There's a lot of Doom and Gloom,
and impending judgment, and things that are going to happen.
Israel's being surrounded by its enemies.
And an exile is coming that they're their Comforts their
freedoms, their prosperity is going to be stripped away like a
Barren desert and not only is suffering on the is coming.
Not only is suffering going to happen, but the land is also
going to suffer / and here's how God and Isaiah, 35, begin to
talk about Redemption and he starts with the land, he says
the desert verse 1 and the parched land will be glad the
Wilderness will rejoice and Blossom.
Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom, it will rejoice
greatly and Shout for Joy. The glory of Lebanon will be
given to it. The Splendor of Carmel and
Sharon they will see the glory of the Lord, the Splendor of
God. God is speaking to a desert,
he's speaking to a Barren parched dry land and those of us
that are from the West coaster from the Middle East, we really
know. What a desert is like, if you
talk about someone from, they don't really know what it does.
It is maybe you've seen something on TV, but a desert
is, it's a dry place, it's without Springs of water.
We called deserts Death Valley, right?
Like there's places that I've driven in California where says,
don't turn on your air conditioner.
Your car will die like seriously like bring water and make sure
your tanks full because this is where things die.
But here's what I want you to see in this passage is deserts
are full of potential. See if the circumstances are,
right? As we see in this passage things
begin to Blossom, things begin to burst into bloom and desert
flowers began to appear says the crocus.
The crocus is a beautiful colored flower and it smells one
person says smells like vanilla and it produces the crocus
produces one of the most expensive spices in all the
world saffron This is what this desert will produce a God's
appearing. The imagery is of a renewed
ability of desert land to grow plants and support Wildlife.
This is the potential of this desert.
You're going to hear California few times, okay.
I was there a few years ago and this was a year in which the
state received a good amount of rainfall, like, not compared to
like here in Florida. But for California standard, you
got really good. Rainfall and because of the
rainy season, there's this phrase as coined as called a
super bloom and what California experienced a super bloom and
Wikipedia to the super bloom is a rare Desert Botanical
phenomenon in which an Ali, High proportion of wildflowers who
seeds have Lain, dormant, and desert, soil, germinate, and
Blossom. At roughly the same time, the
font phenomenon is associated with an unusually wet rainy
season. The coming of the glory of God
causes transformation in the wilderness, This salvation
author says the salvation of God would be so complete.
That the very land would be transformed nature itself.
Would take up the joyful refrain to God.
God. Transforms deserts.
I just remembered when I'm driving to California and I'm
getting a glimpse of flowers and colors that I've never seen
burst before in this part of the country, and I begin to get
wrapped up in wanting to go. I want to see more.
This is doing something with inside of me.
Seeing all this beauty in this land and the potential of life
that I didn't know was there. And when you begin to see that,
the beauty that's possible, it begins to change your
imagination of what's possible. And so, God starts with saying,
when I show up, I begin to change deserts.
And so, if you think of I've been in the desert season, my
circumstances have been Barren and empty, then God says, look
what I can do in Barren spaces. My favorite features t.d.
Jakes says Get Ready. Get Ready, Get ready.
And I am gonna hear this passage.
I'm reading this. I'm just thinking man.
Wow, God, if you can do this in deserts, I wish I had an organ
right now. If you can do this in deserts,
If God can grow saffron and deserts, if God can bring
flowers and daffodils and trees and life and ecosystems and
Death Valley, what can he do in your life, man?
Verse 3, strengthen the feeble hands, steady, the knees, that
give way, say to those, with fearful Hearts.
Be strong. Do not fear.
Your God, will come. He will come with vengeance with
divine retribution. He will come to save you.
If you are at the end, if you are exhausted.
If you were tired, if you were worn out, if you are ready to
throw in the towel, hold on. Gather yourself, don't give up.
Don't give in to fear, God will come.
God is coming. He says strengthen your hands,
you saying the residing, whatever you have left, use it
in Grass, hold onto something, don't keep your ground.
Don't lose the grounding from. When from beneath you Isaiah
saying, this, he's encouraging the desponding people of God, of
the Assurance of the blessing, that's promise from God.
When you to name the things in your life and the things in the
world that have you anxious to have you worried, they have you
fearful that keep you up at night, that relationship that
family member that job, the rent that health issue that
Injustice. The Brokenness that you see on
the on the newsreel, every moment of the day and I want you
to insert this God will come God will come God, will, come God,
will come, but God, and God will come and strength.
God will come and the strength to overcome the evil.
God will come and strength to overcome enemies.
God will come with strength to overcome forces of Oppression,
because God comes to save. God comes to rescue and he's
powerful enough to rescue and save things from the depths
things from the darkness. God Will Save.
Remembering that is how you strengthen your feebleness is
how you address fearfulness and that's what Advent is about.
God will come, God Has Come Loop 2:10 says this, the angel said
to them, this is the nativity scene is happening.
Do not be afraid. I bring you good news, that will
cause great joy for all the people.
And when we hear this passage, it's on everything that you buy
in the stores right now. Like I bring you great.
Bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the
people. I want you to understand before
this Angelic. Pronouncement there was 400
years of Silence. That Malachi was the last time
we have heard from God and from Malachi to the New Testament
gospel writers there was 400 years of Silence.
And God interrupts the silence and he says there's great joy in
the midst of your sorrow. This 400 years, may have been
dark empty, Barren, you may experience oppression, but I
came to let you know that I'm here.
That the kingdom of God is at hand because God is coming.
Another commentator says is, why would the Wilderness Blossom and
Shout for Joy? Because they will see the glory
of the Lord. Israel had seen God's glory
during The Exodus, and at Mount Sinai God's glory filled the
Tabernacle and the temple. Thus, the glory of the Lord
refers to a visible appearance of God, a theophany which
usually was accompanied by miraculous signs.
That Jesus of Nazareth, was the embodiment of God's glory.
God says Jesus is here, Emmanuel God With Us.
If God's coming, that means things are going to change.
The coming of God is followed by Miracles and I know that we hear
that word, when I God doesn't do things like that anymore.
If God doesn't do Miracles then we have no hope.
If God can't save my life and I have no hope the sign of Jesus
power and authority. In the Kingdom of head is that
he can turn death into life that he could turn Darkness into
light that he can transform desert and tulaja wayss.
Verse 5 then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears
of the deaf unstopped. Then with the lamb, the lame
leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for Joy water will
gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
Isaiah paints a picture for us of what happens when God comes
healing new lease on life and joy Malachi said that Jesus.
He's talking about. Jesus is the sun of
righteousness will come with healing in its wings.
Jesus brings life. Healing, Resurrection hope.
Turns deserts into blossoms, he turns death into life and that
is the joy of our salvation. When God shows up new life
Springs up, no matter how, Barren the desert.
We see New Life bursting, all throughout the New Testament.
Everywhere that Jesus went, you see new life happening, John the
Baptist was in jail and he was wondering what if Jesus was the
one and he knew that he was the one that he needed to know a
fresh because of his situation. So he sent his disciples of
Jesus and they in it. This is what Jesus says in her
pain response to them in Luke 7 22, he replied to his
Messengers. Go back and report to John what
you have seen, and heard the blind receive Leaves sight, the
lame walk. Those who have leprosy are
cleansed. The deaf hear, the dead are
raised, the good news is proclaimed to the poor.
Jesus, essentially tells John, I know things aren't as you
prefer, but the kingdom is on the rise.
I know, you're not where you want to be.
I know everything's not going perfect in your life right now,
but I want, you know, the kingdom is on the rise.
I'm healing people, I'm transforming lives.
I'm opening eyes. I'm changing the lives of those
who have been marginalized and cast to the side because the
kingdom of God is in your midst and it's coming.
Jesus arrival is our foundation for joy.
This is water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in
the desert thirsty ground bubbling.
Springs God, give us this picture of this desert being
transformed and he's saying with the coming of Jesus, I'm
reversing all that was lost. All that was withered and that
life is actually possible in places that seem unlikely.
You're gonna have to listen to podcast and we hear some of
this. Listen God can make water come
out of rocks. God Can Transform and part seas
and stopped the Sun. God can create an oasis in the
midst of your Barren life. He can transform it at his
appearance at his coming, in his presence and this is the
bubbling up in the water Jesus. I came to, I will bring you
Springs of Living Water as we reorient ourselves in the story.
Remember that he came remember what he's come to do.
Maybe even Mark the moment in which he changed our lives and
go back to it. And remember it a fresh and it
begins to Bubble Up. Oh yeah, God you are good.
Wait a minute, Julie is possible this side of Eternity.
This is why we retell the story to get wrapped up in that story.
He's a God who turns sorrow to Joy, disappointment to wonder?
Luke 1. It says this when Elizabeth
heard Mary's greeting, Elizabeth Mary's cousin, she's pregnant
the time. It says the baby leaped in her
womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Just from being, in proximity to Jesus, we were meant for God.
We were meant to be with God, in his presence is where we come to
life, is where we find life. Are you with me?
Have you ever gotten news that your favorite band or artist was
coming? Into town, are your favorite
team? Are you?
Do your favorite relative? Your favorite cousin?
Your favorite uncle? Your favorite friend is coming
into town, right? And yeah, and doesn't it do
something within you doesn't it? Do something within you when you
find out your favorite reggae band because that's the language
of Heaven, is coming to Boston, right?
It is best something within you and your mark, the day and it
begin something and there's an anticipation that begins to
happen inside of you and me. Eight, you begin to anticipate
and imagine what it will be like you begin to change your face
will begin to change your body language would begin to change
the tone of your voice because of joy and its Essence cannot be
contained. Joy must be expressed.
Joy is meant to be shared. Did you know this reggae band is
coming into town? You guys should come with me,
right? Joy is meant to be shared.
Joy is contagious. We see it in the description of
the trees and the flowers, and the crocuses in the womb of
Elizabeth. That it cannot be contained.
It has to be expressed things have to grow babies, have to
leave trees, have to sing trees, have to clap hands because they
see the Redemption of God coming.
This is why so many people love the World Cup, right?
And Americans. We don't even do soccer or
football as they call it in the world.
But there's something about watching this Sport and seeing
someone scored the only goal in the whole 90 minutes and seeing
the Elation that Joy of a whole nation on their back cheering
and crying and literally worshiping and you're like,
yeah, yeah, I feel that. I feel that I'm getting from
that country. I feel that Writer something to
passion and joy and Elation. That's it.
Man. I want that man.
That's special. We were meant for joy.
We are drawn to it. We long for it.
Have you ever had a moment as a child where you couldn't contain
your joy? You got that.
That present. You got that gift.
You got that VHS cassette. I do.
You guys remember VHS? You got.
You got that. Special gift or ice cream.
You just say, I can't contain it.
You sing about it. You'd pour all around.
You don't care what anyone thinks because you have joy, and
you can't contain it. And you have to share it.
And you have to express it because something has been and
inside of you, Just the anticipation of getting
something begins to change how you feel on the inside.
And maybe as an adult, you've been trying to recapture that
the joy just been fleeting. Here's the promise that God
gives at the end of verse 10 says, and the land those, the
Lord has rescued real return. They will enter Zion with
singing Everlasting Joy, will Crown their heads gladness and
joy will overtake them and sorrow and sighing will flee
away. Is this saying God's kingdom
will be Everlasting Joy? Not something that's fleeting,
that's something that comes and goes and you're trying to
recapture is no Everlasting Joy. That's what you experienced in
the Kingdom in life. There's morning for a season,
there's there's lament for a season, but Joyce for eternity.
We experience pain in our life. Crying sadness.
But eternity, There's No More Tears in the kingdom of God,
he's going to wipe away our tears.
And he Turtle Joy is going to be possible and it's going to burst
within us and around us. Everlasting Joy will it says
will Crown. Our head is not just a flimsy
accessory will be crowned with with joy gladness and joy.
It said it would be overtaken by it in the world were often
overtaken by sadness or often overtaken by disappointment and
bad news and heartbreaks. Is you be overtaken by Joy when
you finally see the king face to face when everything changes,
when the opens the heavens and comes and Makes his kingdom here
on Earth, Everything Will Change.
Who does not want that. And you may be saying, how can
that be? You don't know what I've gone
through. Joy transcend circumstances.
Paul says, in Romans 8, I consider that our present
sufferings are not worthy. Comparing with the glory that
will be revealed in US. We're talking about Paul who's
been Shipwrecked has been beaten who's been gone through jail and
persecution is saying man this stuff is awful but what's coming
far? Transcends, anything I'll ever
experience here on Earth God wants to interrupt our lives
with joy. Over the holidays.
My on my kids were home and try to do some, do some work to be
productive and they just kept bursting out and laughter and
joy and tickling. Oh no doing all that stuff and
it pulled me out of my place and that go man.
This is worth being interrupted over.
This is, this is what the kingdom of God is about.
Let's anticipate what's to come. Let's get wrapped up in, Wonder
let's bring the past into our present.
God's come God's manifest himself in the person of Jesus
here on Earth. He said here am I my beloved Son
in whom I'm well pleased the Lamb of God who takes away the
sins of the world for God. So loved the world he gave his
only begotten son for you. And as you repeat and remember
that story watch The Joy bubble to the surface.
Lucy Shaw. Ryder says this anticipation
lifts, the heart desire is created to be fulfilled.
Perhaps. Perhaps not all at once more,
like lie and slow stages. Isaiah uttered, his prophetic
words about the renewal of the nature creation into a
Wilderness of spiritual barrenness and thirst for him.
And for many are the New Testaments, here's the vacuum of
dry and difference into which he spoke was not yet a place of
fulfillment. Yet the promise of God through
this human mouthpiece and the word promise always holds a kind
of certainty was verdant with hope.
It kind of greenness and Glory, a softening of hard-heartedness
a lively expectation. Would Herald the coming of
Messiah and once again in this season of Advent, the same
promise, for the same anointed one is coming closer.
Anticipation lifts the heart. What have you been given?
You might go mad. I don't think I can achieve joy
in this season. I don't think I can achieve joy
in this life. Our joy is rooted in our
awareness of what we've been given.
And so this season we stop we pause and we remember what God
has done and anticipation for what God's going to do.
And believe church that God wants us to reclaim Joy wonder
and awe. I believe that God wants to
transform our imagination. So we can dream again.
Many of us over these past three years, we've been in the
spiritual desert. We've been in a Barren place.
For many of us, we haven't heard from God and 400 years and were
like God, I don't even know if you speak anymore.
And I believe that God wants to speak to us, I believe that God
wants to grow things within us and speak through us and give us
joy until we can advance and show the world that what he's
like. And what happens that the scene
of Jesus's, birth, and they all stopped, and they bow down and
they worship their overcome with joy, not that, they're still not
Roman occupation. Not that it's still not very
dark in the middle of winter, but that hopes come And that
this is not how things are going to end and that God is here, and
that God sees us and that God. And the kingdom is at hand.
Psalm 96. Is this let the heavens Rejoice?
Let the Earth. Be glad Let the Sea ReSound.
All that's in it. Let the fields be jubilant.
Everything in them that all the trees of the forest, sing for
joy that all creation Rejoice before the Lord.
For he comes, he comes to judge the Earth if a dry desert can
burst out into Joy full singing, what our response for you to the
presence of God Church. If you've been in the desert, if
you feel deserted, if you feel like you've been a dark dry
Place void of Joy, don't look for God somewhere else.
You right? Where God wants to meet you.
The God, Who restores everything.
Who creates streams in the desert and causes water to gush.
Out of parched, lands is coming You believe that?
Amen. We pray for us.
Jesus, we thank you that you are the good news.
You've come to save and redeem and to restore guy, when you are
received cities, and people are transformed, you are cause for
Great Joy. Pray, as we worship you that you
would meet us, you would cause your were to soften our hearts
to cause water to begin to flow within us.
Holy spirit. We just welcome you into the
space as he could speak words of truth, in life to us in Jesus
name, amen.