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An archive of Jacob Nannie's Sermons & Teachings
This sermon is titled "Waiting for a New Story." It was preached on Isaiah 6, verses 1 through 13.
I was really excited to preach this sermon because I have always wanted to preach a sermon
on Isaiah's vision in Isaiah chapter 6. This is our Advent series. It's always a couple weeks on
Isaiah and looking forward to the coming of Jesus. And the title of the series was "Waiting in Hope."
It was preached at the Shawnee campus, and it was my sixth residency sermon. I think it was
my first use of an AI image within my sermon, which was very well received. I got a lot of laughs
and a lot of compliments about how instructive it was. I guess not the AI image, but my explanation
of the AI image. I don't know. Maybe it wasn't helpful at all. But I had a lot of fun with this
sermon. It was a good sermon. It was preached on December 1st of 2024. Second service. Good morning.
How's everyone doing? It's cold outside. It is officially the coldest weekend I've ever lived in.
And the second time in my entire life that I've seen snow fall. So last night was amazing. I got
outside last night. My wife was home. I got a snowball, and I hit her as hard as I could with it.
And then she got me back. You know, growing up, I hated the heat. I still do dislike the heat. It's
different here than it is in California. But in the Central Valley of California, it gets quite hot.
It gets to about 104 sometimes. The week I came here, it actually got to 113, I believe. So it's
quite hot. And I don't like the heat. But I've lived in the Central Valley for over 20 years.
And even when I moved away for a year after high school, I moved to a literal desert, the high
desert of Victorville, where even the wind is attacking you with heat. And every summer in the
Central Valley was spent either in 15 plus pounds of football gear, or under a tractor changing oil,
or trying to loosen an incredibly tight bolt. The heat was always on my face. It was at me,
and I hated it. And every year, I would get to my boiling point. I hope you're catching the puns.
Where I would give a sigh of defeat, and I'd tell myself and those around me,
I can't wait for the cold weather. I was always looking forward to the cold weather. In the
moments of heat stroke and sweat and sunburns, I longed for the cold weather. I waited in high
hopes that the temperature would soon drop and I would be set free to go outside and do whatever
I wanted. So you can imagine my anticipation when we learned we're moving to Kansas, where sometimes
it snows. It snowed last night. It snowed yesterday. Our excitement began to get excited.
Our hopes began to rise. We longed for a proper fall, the proper use of our fireplace in genuinely
cold weather. And we even hope it snows on Christmas Day. That would be amazing. And since
April, we've been longing for a new season in weather, but also a new season of life. We've
been waiting in hope for things to change. Waiting in hope is a part of our story,
but it's also part of many others, particularly during the Christmas season. If you notice,
a lot of Christmas characters, the movies center around these characters who are just a bit
unsatisfied with their current situation and they hope for something new, something better,
something fresh. Here's a few of them. Last night I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" for the first
time ever. A lot of firsts for me was since I met him in Kansas, right? I even cried a little
bit at the end. It just got me, you know? But in this movie, George Bailey, through life's events,
he becomes dissatisfied with his life. He has aspirations to go travel the world, but doesn't
quite work out that way. And in the end, his life gets really to a pit of despair and he's waiting,
not in hope, but he's waiting for the end and planning the end. But an angel shows him his life
and what a world without him would look like. And then he's reinvigorated with a fresh perspective.
Or "A Christmas Carol." Scrooge clings to his wealth. He claims to be content with his life,
but his journey through his past, his present, and his potential future leads him to hope that
things can change and leads him to hope for a better new story. Or one of my favorites, "Elf."
We watched to turn this on after Thanksgiving dinner. My grandma, my grandmother's first time
ever seeing this movie, which is their first. But Buddy the Elf, he waits in hope to find his dad and
live a new story with his dad and his new family. A lot of Christmas movies capture this idea of
waiting in hope for something new and something better. And Christmas is a season of waiting.
We're even waiting in the hopes that we might get the presents we asked for this year.
But for Christians, waiting looks slightly different and our hope is in something that
is much more secure. Waiting in hope is something we all experience and it's what this season is all
about. Not the Christmas season, but the season of Advent. And for the church, the season of Advent
is where we look back at how the ancient church, the Old Testament church, waited for the first
coming of the Messiah. We also look forward to the second coming of Christ and we wait in hope
for his return. And we're calling the series "Waiting in Hope." I haven't said enough already.
And for the next five weeks, we're going to study the book of Isaiah. And I know going from the
depths of Romans to Isaiah and waiting in hope is a bit of a jarring turn, but it's going to be
an awesome five weeks. And the book of Isaiah is a prominent Old Testament book that most of us are
unfamiliar with. Most of us might know a few key facts about Isaiah. It's a book written by a prophet.
It's very large. It sits somewhere in the middle of my Bible. But our limited familiarity with
Isaiah is unfortunate because Isaiah has a lot of hope in it. There's a lot of things that are a
little shaky, a little terrifying, a little strange to us, but there's lace in their hope for a future
in Israel. Isaiah is writing to and about the nation of Israel and their failure to rely solely
on God and solely on God's kingship. But he also envisions a future righteous kingdom.
And in chapters one through five, he critiques Israel for strain from God,
but he sprinkles in these images of hope of a future kingdom. And in chapter six,
Isaiah has a vision of God in the throne room, and he's commissioned to prophesy to the nation
of Israel. And if you're willing and able, please stand with me as we read from God's Word this
morning. We're going to read Isaiah chapter six, and I'm going to read for us verses one through
five. "In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,
and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphim were standing above him. They each had six wings,
with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And
one called to another, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of armies. His glory fills the whole earth.'
The foundations of the doorway shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with
smoke. Then I said, 'Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips and live among
a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies.'" This is the
word of the Lord. You may be seated. This chapter in Isaiah really captures the theme for the rest
of the book and sets the tone for the rest of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah is waiting. Isaiah is
longing for a new and better story. And verse one of this passage tells us, locates us at a crucial
point in Israel's history. He says that in the year King Uzziah died, and you might remember
King Uzziah from our summer series going to the book of Kings. Second Kings 15-3 tells us that
he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. During that series, we saw two common phrases.
Either kings did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, or they did what was evil in the eyes
of the Lord. That would distinguish him as a good or bad king. And Uzziah was a good king.
John Oswald writes in his commentary on Isaiah this. He says that Judah had no king like Uzziah
since the time of Solomon. He had been an efficient administrator and an able military
leader. Under his leadership, Judah had grown in every way. He had been a true king. How easy it
must have been to focus one's hopes and trust upon a king like that. What will happen then when such
a king dies and coupled with that death, there comes the recognition that a resurgent Assyria
is pushing nearer and nearer. No earthly king could help Judah in that hour. This great king
who led Judah to prosperity has died. And it's a terrible and terrifying time for Isaiah and the
nation of Israel. The people of Isaiah's day were waiting for a new and better story. They were
desperate, in desperate need of an ultimate king that would outlast any earthly king. An ultimate
hope that would outlast any earthly situation. And it's here in Isaiah chapter six that we get a
glimpse into that ultimate hope. That story that shows us what ought to be, what is, what can be,
and what will be by God's sovereignty. And what we see in this story is this key idea that Jesus,
the holy king, has brought and will bring the hope of salvation through judgment. If you don't walk
away with any sentence, write this sentence down. This is the main idea that Jesus, the holy king,
has brought and will bring the hope of salvation through judgment. You might be questioning
salvation through judgment. That doesn't really quite make sense. But I want to show us this
morning that while that might sound counterintuitive, it means hope for those who trust in Jesus.
And Isaiah begins with a great and terrifying vision. Paul was reading through my notes this
morning. He says, "Man, I'm glad worship together Sunday was last week. Because this vision is great
and terrifying, and I want to paint it in a great and terrifying way." Some of us may be unfamiliar
with the book of Isaiah, but we're usually familiar with key passages such as chapter 6
and Isaiah's vision of the throne room. But I think we often misunderstand it. We see Isaiah's
vision as something to desire, something sweet, something awesome, something that we want. But I
think that's a misunderstanding of what Isaiah might have been feeling while he sees this vision.
Years ago, I was a part of a church that would always sing this song, almost every Sunday, called
"Show Me Your Glory." And here are a few lines of that song. It says, "I see the cloud. I step in.
I want to see your glory like Moses did. Flashes of light and rolls of thunder, but I'm not afraid.
I'm not afraid. Show me your glory." Flashes of light and rolls of thunder, and you're not afraid?
That's a terrifying vision. When I first met Christina, she would get real scared
at thunderstorms in California, which are not like they are here, because when she was here as a kid,
she remembers them being terrifying. These are terrifying things. And you know, I get the song.
I get the sentiment behind the song. But songs are potent teachers, and songs like these lead us to
miss the magnitude of Isaiah's vision. Don't forget, Isaiah was already scared because of
his geopolitical situation, because a great king of Israel has passed away, and a powerful nation
is at Israel's heels. And in that scared state, he sees the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,
and the hem of his robe fills the temple. I mean, just the size of this is a bit terrifying.
How many of you have seen the movie, what's it called, "Free Solo," where the guy climbs El
Capitan, right? Just like looking up, I don't know if you've been to Yosemite before, but looking up
at that is just kind of scary. It's so massive. And so Isaiah, who's already scared, is looking
at this great throne room, the Lord who's seated high and lofty, and his robe fills the temple.
That's sort of terrifying. And if that's not terrifying enough, what he sees next definitely
is in verse 2, where he says, "Seraphim were standing above him. They each had six wings,
with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew."
Some of us might have seen that meme where it's a New Testament angel saying, "Don't be afraid,"
and then an accurately biblical angel, or it's just like terrifying. You're like, "What do you mean
don't be afraid?" These are terrifying things. How many of us here are familiar with seraphim in the
Old Testament and what they mean? Okay, it's about the same amount of hands as first service.
Speaking on seraphim, Andrew Abernethy, he writes this. He says, "Since punishment accompanies every
mention of seraphim in the Old Testament, the vision of seraphim would send shivers down one's
spine. Judgment is looming. Seraphim were associated with snakes and fire, probably snakes
because of their bite, but I do like to imagine that they were dragons, but that's just me."
Imagine you have a vision that looks something like this, or this picture. That's terrifying. If it's
not terrifying, it's because you're probably thinking of it in a romantic movie type way.
But I mean, imagine you're there. You smell the smoke, you see this great room, you see these
seraphim that are flying. Imagine the sound of fire waving through the wind, waving through.
That's a terrifying vision. It would remind the ancient reader of looming judgment. Judgment's
coming. Abernethy later says in his book that seraphim present a sense of danger here as
guardians of what's holy and agents of judgment. This is a terrifying sight to the ancient reader
and to Isaiah. And after seeing these things, Isaiah hears the seraphim call to one another,
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of armies. His glory fills the whole earth." John Oswald again
makes an interesting note about this call of the seraphim. He says that revelation does not come
merely through raw experience, but also through divinely given cognitive interpretation of that
experience. What the seraphim say to one another puts words to Isaiah sees in his vision. They're
calling out that what you see Isaiah is a holy, holy, holy God, the Lord of armies and his glory
filling the whole earth. Isaiah sees, Isaiah hears, and then Isaiah experiences
the ground shaking and smoke filling the temple. Again, terrifying things to experience.
The smoke and the quaking of the ground are reminiscent of other appearances of God and
his glory in the Old Testament. Here's just a few verses that kind of image this for us.
Exodus 24 16 says, "The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai and the cloud covered it for six
days." Exodus 40 34, "The cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord
filled the tabernacle." Or 1 Kings 8 11 where it says, "And because of the cloud, the priests were
not able to continue ministering." Why? "Because the glory of the Lord filled the temple."
And I think Exodus 19 18 captures this whole vision actually in one theophany, one revelation
of God to his people. It says, "Mount Sinai was completely covered, enveloped in smoke,
because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace,
and the whole mountain shook violently." Through this experience of what Isaiah sees and hears and
experiences and feels, he intimately knows that God is holy. But what does holy mean? And what
does it mean for Isaiah? This is a word that we're really familiar with. It's in our vocabulary,
but what does it actually mean? We often think of holy as being set apart or separate, and that's a
true statement. That's what holy does mean in a sense, but to limit it to that kind of misses a
larger meaning of holiness. Or we might think of holy as being ethically right, and that's also
a correct kind of definition of holy and holiness, but it also misses a larger meaning of what it
means to be holy. You see, God alone is holy, both in essence and character. He's set apart from all
existence. In the Old Testament, holiness is exclusive to God. Only God is holy. And if you're
considered holy, in the same way that God is considered holy, it's because you're in his
presence or you're dedicated to the temple, which essentially is another way of saying you're in his
presence. What it means to be holy is not just to be separate, because even evil things are called
holy in the Scriptures, because they're set apart from good things. What it means to be holy is to
come in alignment with God and his character so that you might be in his presence. Being holy
means coming in alignment with God and his character so that you can be in his holy presence.
Therefore, when Isaiah sees, hears, and experiences the holiness of God,
he knows that he is not in alignment with God and his character, yet he's in the presence of a holy
God. Something doesn't match up here, and that is bad news for Isaiah. Isaiah encountered the
holiness of God. He experienced the terrifying sight of seraphim, the smell of smoke filling
the temple, the shaking of the ground, and here was his response in verse five. "Woe is me, for I am
ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips. And because I'm
ruined because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies." And take note, he hasn't even seen
God's face. He's just seen God's glory and God's holiness, and that enough causes him deep anguish
over this chasm between his character and God's, his unholiness and God's holiness. He recognizes
that he was unclean in the presence of a holy God. He was once aware of his people's own uncleanness,
their wayward ways, but he's now aware of his uncleanness, his unholiness. In chapter five,
he pronounces six woes upon Israel. "Woe to you, woe to you, woe to you Israel." But here in chapter
six, the seventh woe he pronounces on himself. Oswald again says this, "Isaiah recognizes with
sickening force that his character is not any more than his people's in keeping with God's character.
Their lips don't belong to God or else they will continually pour forth praise like the seraphim.
Why then are the lips unclean? Because that of which they are an expression,
the heart and the will do not belong to God." Isaiah and his people are out of alignment with
God and his character. And that's a problem for Isaiah because Isaiah is in the holy presence of
God. Have you encountered that holy presence of God, the holiness of God? Maybe that hasn't looked
like this, but have you experienced the otherness, the complete otherness of God and his existence,
his essence, his glory? And if you have, how does that inform the way that you live?
What have you done with that experience? What does God's holiness tell you about your own character?
Are you in alignment with God's character? You see, we ought to be humbled in the presence of
a God who is holy. We ought to be humbled in the presence of a God who is holy.
Isaiah was at a point of despair because he knew he was in that presence and he knew
he was not in alignment with this holy God. And different translations express Isaiah's words
differently. The classic King James says, "Woe is me for I am undone." The ESV says,
"Woe is me for I am lost." The New English translation says, "Woe to me, I am destroyed."
And the message says, "Doom, it's doomsday. I'm as good as dead."
Isaiah is in despair. This is not a good time for him. He's not happy about seeing the holiness
of God because he knows for him it is not a good thing. But he's not left in his despair.
Verse six says that, "Then one of the seraphim flew to me,
and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs."
Fire is a powerful symbol, both in our day and in the Old Testament and the Scriptures.
It's used often in the Bible. It can be a blessing and a curse. It can bring warmth to us,
but it can also tear down a house. It can be awesome and terrifying. Take, for example,
Leviticus 9 24, where it says that, "Fire came from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering
and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted," some
translations say, "with joy and fell down." I imagine you're offering stuff to God and
fire shoots out of the temple to consume it. That is terrifying, but also like, okay,
he's accepted our offering. It's terrifying and awesome. They shout for joy, but they're
also on their face because it's terrifying and awesome. God's image, God's glory, and
God's holiness are often described with this fire. In Exodus, he appeared as a pillar of
fire and a pillar of cloud. And it's with a burning coal from the altar that the seraphim,
again, a symbol of judgment, has come to judge Isaiah. You see, it's God's righteous fire
that burns away all unrighteousness. It's a judgment of God's fire that either purifies
or destroys you. And what does that fire do with Isaiah, for Isaiah? Well, he says that
the angel, the seraphim came and he touched my mouth with it, with the coal, and said,
"Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned
for." Purification through fire, the hope of salvation through judgment. James Hamilton,
who wrote a book that is conveniently for my purposes titled God's Glory and Salvation
Through Judgment, he writes about Isaiah chapter six, verses one through seven. And he says
this, he says that, "Yahweh's holiness exposes Isaiah's sin. And after he realizes and confesses
his sin through the purging of the burning coal from the altar, Isaiah's guilt is removed. Glory,
judgment, salvation. For those chosen by God for his service, the fires of judgment purge us of
unrighteousness, leaving what God has made righteous." This is why judgment is both a
blessing and a curse. It's a curse to those who do not have Jesus, because if all you have is
unrighteousness, when the purifying fire of God comes, there will be nothing left of you.
But if you have the righteousness of Christ, when the judgment of God's fire comes upon you,
the only thing that will be left is the righteousness of Christ in and through you.
In Isaiah's vision and in Christ Jesus, God has brought the hope of salvation through
this judgment. The righteous fire of God's judgment can purify you.
Have you experienced these fires before, this purifying judgment? And if you have,
or maybe you haven't, are you allowing God to do the bittersweet work of burning away
all of your impurities? Because God can purify you through the fire of his righteousness.
After Isaiah's purification, God commissions him to prophesy God's new and better story.
Purification comes and God asks, "Who will I send? Who will go for us?"
And Isaiah responds with enthusiasm, "Send me!"
At the teaching team, I was told that the Hebrew, I don't know much Hebrew,
the Hebrew is much more aggressive here. Isaiah enthusiastically wants to be sent.
He really wants to go on God's mission. When God removes our iniquity,
he does not do so merely for our benefit, but also for his glory.
When God purifies us, we should enthusiastically respond by doing the work he's called us to do.
And if you're sitting here and your sins have been atoned for by the blood of Christ,
how are you responding to that?
Are you simply content with the thought that you're no longer going to hell?
Pastor Paul told us last week, following Jesus isn't just about receiving a get out of hell free
card. It's about living the full life offered in Jesus, becoming more like him every day,
and getting ready for heaven to come to earth. Following Jesus looks like responding
to the forgiveness of sins with enthusiastic service.
For Isaiah, this meant proclaiming a new and better story to God's people,
a new future for Israel. What does this enthusiastic service look like for you?
For Isaiah, God says, go, say to these people, keep listening, but don't understand.
Keep looking, but do not perceive. Make the minds of these people dull.
Deafen their ears and blind their eyes, otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their
ears. Understand with their minds and turn back and be healed. This is kind of confusing, right?
Like God wants Isaiah to tell the people to do one thing and do the exact opposite thing.
See, but also close your eyes. Hear, but also cover your ears. Perceive, but don't perceive.
God tells Isaiah to make their hearts calloused and dull.
How is this a new and better story for the future of Israel, for the people of Israel?
This is sort of the same question that Isaiah has in response to God.
Verse 11, he says, then I said, until when, Lord? How long will these people listen to what you're
telling me to tell them? How long are they going to shut their ears, close their eyes,
and turn off their minds to understanding? And God responds with this. Isaiah says,
until when, Lord? And he said, and he replied, until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants,
houses are without people. The land is ruined and desolate, and the Lord drives the people far
away, leaving great emptiness in the land. Though a tenth will remain in the land, it will be burned
again. Like the terebinth or the oak that leaves a stump when felled, the holy seed is the stump.
So God responds to Isaiah. God responds that Isaiah is to proclaim this news until everything
is laid waste, until judgment has taken its full effect, and until the nation of Israel
is cleansed of all of its unrighteousness. And it sounds intensely bleak, right?
Doesn't sound good, but note what God says at the end of verse 13. He says, like the terebinth or
the oaks that leave a stump when felled, the holy seed is the stump. There's a silver lining of hope
that God will preserve a remnant. If you remember, when we resumed our series in Romans this fall,
I spoke on Romans 11, where the Apostle Paul uses the metaphor of a tree to talk about a remnant of
Israel. And trees are used very often in the Old Testament and in the New Testament to symbolize
this idea of a remnant and the idea of God's people. In Romans 11, Paul even speaks, I believe
it's in verse 16, of a holy root, and that this root, this stump, that through these things the
Messiah will come. And Isaiah prophesies this very thing in chapter 11, verse 1, where he says,
"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear
fruit." Though everything is laid waste, everything is burned to the ground, this one stump,
this seed, this root, will last. And it's through this shoot, through the Messiah, that God will
bring salvation through judgment. God will bring salvation through judgment. This might sound
counterintuitive and terrifying, and in a sense it should. It should be scary that God is going
to purify through judgment. It should leave us wondering what unrighteousness is left in my life
that I might have to go through the pain of fire to be purified with. It is terrifying, but it's
what Jesus came to do in his first advent 2,024 years ago. What Jesus came to do in his first
coming, and will come again to do in his second coming, is known in the Old Testament and the New
Testament as the day of the Lord. This is, I don't think I mentioned the first one. The first image
was an AI-generated image, and so is this one. If you can't tell, I like to do AI-generated images.
We even played a whole game of it at the AI conference.
This is the day of the Lord. I gave mid-journey, the tool, some language from the Bible,
and this is what it came up with. Actually, with this one, I just typed in the day of the Lord,
and here's what it came up with. Scholars describe this day as a time of Yahweh's unmistakable and
powerful intervention, or an expectation that Israel's enemies would be judged and the faithful
remnant experience God's salvation. This is the great and terrifying day of the Lord. And usually
the Old Testament authors, they do speak of it as great and terrifying. But I want to point us to a
few passages that paint this day as a day of hope for those who are in Christ Jesus. First, and I'm
jumping ahead a bit here in our series in Isaiah, but Isaiah says in chapter 61, verses one through
two, that the spirit of the Lord God is on me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good
news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives
and freedom to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of our God's
vengeance, the day of the Lord. And he sent me to comfort all those who mourn. This is the day of
the Lord. And in Luke 4, 16 to 21, Jesus reads this passage and tells those around him that today
this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Jesus comes
to offer this good news, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty and to crush his enemies.
Later in the last book of the Old Testament, in Malachi chapter four, it says this, "For look,
the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness
will become stubble. The coming day will consume them, says the Lord of armies, not leaving them
root or branches. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing
in its wings and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall." Isn't that
wonderful imagery? The sun rising with healing in its wings and us being happy like little cows from
the stall. "You will trample the wicked for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the
day, on the day, on the day that I am preparing," says the Lord of armies. This great and terrifying
day of the Lord is the day in which Jesus, the Holy King, brought and will bring the hope of
salvation through judgment. Jesus has brought salvation to us through judgment by judging sin,
death, and the devil. In his first advent, he came to bring good news to the poor, healing to the
sick and brokenhearted, and liberation to the captives. And he did this by judgment, by victory
over his enemies. John 3 19 says that, "This is the judgment that the light has come into the world."
This is the light. This is the sun of healing in its wings. The light that John says is a life
of men. Jesus is the light, the glory, the holiness, the judgment, and king that Isaiah
beheld in his vision. For John says, "Isaiah said these things because he saw Jesus in his glory
and spoke about him." Jesus, our Holy King, has brought us and is continuing to bring us
a new and better story. He's done this through judging his enemies and crushing them and being
victorious over sin, death, and the devil. Do you fear these things? Do you fear sin, death, and the
devil? Don't fear because Jesus has crushed these enemies on your behalf fully. He's judged these
things and he's judged all unrighteousness. Are you poor in your spirit? Jesus came to offer you
good news. Are you sick or brokenhearted? Jesus came to offer you healing. Are you being held
captive by your sin, by your addictions, by darkness? Jesus came to liberate you and set you
free. And if you confess with your mouth that he is Lord and you believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, this healing, this liberation from sin, death, and the devil will be
yours through Christ Jesus. You will be saved. Jesus has brought the hope of salvation through
the judgment of sin, death, and the devil. And he's returning again to make these things a present
reality for you and I, and for those who place their trust in him. Amen? Let's pray. Lord, if we
thank you for the first coming of Jesus, God, and this I cannot put towards the complete destruction
of God's enemies. We thank you that we don't have to fear sin, has no power over us. We don't have
to fear death because no one can kill someone who has their hope and trust in Jesus.
Help us to experience these in deeper ways and help that experience energize us to
serve you more fully and to celebrate your return. In Jesus' name. Amen.