Point of Grace Worship 12.17.23 – Sermon Notes – Advent 3 “The God Who Comes!”
Advent means “to come” – it is a season of anticipation, preparation and expectancy and … waiting!
The coming of Jesus the first Christmas has a deep back story about “The God Who Comes”! The back story reveals that before Jesus was Jesus - He was God at work doing Jesus-y things. In the earliest stories of the bible the “pre-incarnate Christ” (Jesus before Jesus) comes, He shows up sometimes in the form of a human… and sometimes as The Angel of the Lord.
When Jesus (before He was Jesus) comes, His Presence Brings Compassion and Rescue!
Exodus 3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father,the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. 7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
Presence?... Compassion?... Rescue?
God sees, God hears and He comes to Rescue. Jesus not only rescues us “from” something but “for” something better. Jesus calls people to play a part in His Rescue plan.
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you[b] will worship God on this mountain.”
Presence?... Compassion?... Rescue?
Jesus gently reveals that the rescue plan is not dependent on Moses but on who is with Moses. The Presence of Jesus is everything.
13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 5 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.
The name, “I AM who I AM” drips with presence. There are only two kinds of Gods … the ONE who “is”…. the many who “are not”.
When Jesus show up as “I AM” in the flesh … His Presence brought Compassion and Rescue!
Jesus is Present with compassion and rescue … will we notice Him?
Tell them, “Turn to me, I am right here!”
Perhaps, this Christmas season Jesus is at work closing the gap between you and Him?