Point of Grace Online Worship - December 21, 2025

Point of Grace Worship 12.21.25 – Advent 4 – “Coming Home for Christmas – Drawn to the Light”

Advent – This season of anticipation, preparation, waiting for what is coming – for Who came and
is coming back ………. Is now ushering in the season of Christmas … the season of Light.

We have been “Coming Home for Christmas” spending Advent in the prophet Isaiah who brought God’s message of hope to a people who were far from home … in exile because of sin and rebellion against God.  The invitation then and now is “Come Home…. Come Home … Your Father has made you a way Home.  He has given His Son as “Light to Lead You Home”

Isaiah 63:1-5

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.
3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
4 “Lift up your eyes and look about you:
    All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip.
5 Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy;

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.

Glory – “The Glory of God is the full potency of God, the manifestation of His greatness, character and power.  The Glory of God is also His manifest Presence. “ – John Eldridge
It was the Glory God that filled the Temple in the Old Testament (Presence) and the Glory of God that raised Jesus from the dead (Power).

 “God's glory comes freely.  It comes apart from anything we do or say.
It still comes to us in Jesus Christ.
We are called to faithfulness, not so that Kingdom glory will come but because its advent is imminent. Divine light cannot be humanly generated we can only “Arise and shine because our light has already come” and is coming again.
Luke writes, (think Christmas story here) “An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them.”  Simeon celebrates, “A light to lighten the gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.”, the Magi marvel, “We have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him”. 
What a light show!  Majesty arrived in the midst of the mundane.  The most holy appeared in the flesh in the presence of cattle manure.  Divinity entered the world on the floor of a stable through the womb of a teenage virgin and the presence of a lowly carpenter.  Jesus is the light of the world who took on flesh so that he might take you into his arms heal your hearts, forgive your filth and destroy your darkness.  The Son of God became a human being not to demonstrate the innocence of infancy but to live the life we could not and to die our death so we need not!
Here is dazzling light, brilliant light and eternal light no wonder the Nicene creed confesses that Jesus is God of God and Light of Light”    Reed Lessing

Isaiah 60
3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
4 “Lift up your eyes and look about you:
    All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip.
5 Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy;

So Jesus could say,

““I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 8:12

and

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16

at the same time!

Think “Snow Globe”!

How do I keep the “aperture” of my soul wide open to the Light especially during the holidays?

            Time and Intentionality in the Presence of the Light
            Practices to open our souls “aperture” – Worship, Word and Prayer  (Daily Pause)

            “Jesus, Come in …..”

            “Let there be Light”

Point of Grace Online Worship - December 14, 2025

Point of Grace Worship 12.14.25 – Advent 3 – “Coming Home for Christmas – A Home Un-broken”  

Advent – A season of anticipation, preparation, waiting for what is coming – for Who came and is coming back. 

“Coming Home for Christmas” means some beautiful things for all of us.  It can also mean some painful things. Our experience of “home” although meant to be a place of wholeness, healing and restoration is in reality a place also tainted by wounding and brokenness in need of restoration and healing.  The hope of the Christ-child is that through Him we are invited into a home “un-broken” now in part but in full when He returns.  

Isaiah 61:1-3
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. 

This is the 5th Servant Song of Isaiah. 

“The Suffering Servant of Yahweh who is “anointed” by Yahweh to bring salvation, hope and restoration to God’s people speaks for and about himself in these Songs.  It was this song that Jesus used to launch and define His ministry and claim His place as the long awaited “Anointed One” of Yahweh – the Messiah – the Christ! 

Luke 4
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,   
 because he has anointed me   
 to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners    
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,19    
 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. 
The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.
 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Isaiah 61:1-3
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. 
He has sent me:
            to bind up the brokenhearted,
                 to proclaim freedom for the captives and
                     to open wide (eyes) those bound shut
                         to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,
                     to comfort all who mourn, and
                 to provide for those who grieve in Zion—
           to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
                the oil of joy instead of mourning, and
                      a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. 

 Responding to this “good news” to the poor – to us in need? 

“Jesus, come in … … …

 You get the last word!” 

 Amen 

 “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.
  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, 
  I will come in … “
  - Jesus -

Revelation 3:20

Point of Grace Online Worship - December 7, 2025

Point of Grace Worship 12.7.25 – Advent 2 – “Coming Home for Christmas - No Place Like Home”

Advent – A season of anticipation, preparation, waiting for what is coming – for Who came and is coming back. 
Perhaps in this season like no other our cultural rhythms reveal a deep unmet longing, yearning, hunger, desire … for a better more beautiful, more bright, less dark, more hope-full, peace-full, joy-full, love filled life.  The holidays give us a fleeting taste … a glimpse of life as it should be.

Food and feasting that abundantly satisfy hunger and thirst have always been ways we celebrate, anticipate, create and capture moments of bliss! 

Isaiah 55:1-5
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.
See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples.
Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.”

Sounds like Jesus!
John 7:36-39
Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”   By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. 

John 6:27,35
Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 

John 4:13-14
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Isaiah 55:1-2
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.

This feast is “free”, already paid for, available to all!
Just bring your “hunger and thirst” to this one table that satisfies! 

“It’s true, isn’t it? You long to be right with God, to be seen, known, and approved by the One who made you. But instead, you reach for second-rate food. You chase the applause of your peers, hoping it will satisfy. You idolize your children, living through their grades and goals, hoping that will make you feel full. You exercise obsessively, spend gratuitously, strive to be the indispensable friend or the perfect spouse all in a desperate effort to feel “right.” In darker moments, you scroll through images you know you shouldn’t. You pop the pill you bought in secret. You labor, you spend on what Isaiah would call “bad bread.” You toil for food that does not satisfy, forgetting that what you truly hunger for you already have, in full, in Christ.”
Pastor Matt Popovits

We yield our bodies to what we eat … we yield our souls to what we consume! 
Choose well the diet for your soul.
The feast that Jesus is and brings is available now – tastes of home that truly satisfy! 
Everlasting promises that fuel our soul!  When it comes to the soul, we eat with our ears and eyes.

Vs.3 
“Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.”

This feast is too good to keep to ourselves!

Vs. 4-5
“See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples.
Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.”

Vs.  6-7
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

Point of Grace Online Worship - November 30, 2025

11.30.25 Far From Home         Advent 2025 

Coming Home for Christmas: Home isn’t just a place; but it is primarily people.

-       This season uncovers our desire for safety, for acceptance, for being known and loved. You don’t get that through gifts or locations. You can only get that from people. 

Isaiah 11:1-10:

    [1] There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

       and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

    [2] And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,

       the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

       the Spirit of counsel and might,

       the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

    [3] And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

    He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

       or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

    [4] but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

       and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

    and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

       and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

    [5] Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

       and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

    [6] The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

      and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

    and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;

       and a little child shall lead them.

    [7] The cow and the bear shall graze;

       their young shall lie down together;

       and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

    [8] The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,

        and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.

    [9] They shall not hurt or destroy

       in all my holy mountain;

    for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD

       as the waters cover the sea.

    [10] In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

A stump of new life

A new kind of King

A new kind of Kingdom  

A God who leaves Home. 

John 1:1 & 14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus enters into our exile, so that we might have his home  

Redeeming Hurry

This season, every moment that brings a longing for home. Let it draw you back to him.