DON’T GET RUN OVER BY THE REINDEER: WHERE IS IT?

Merry Christmas!  Christmas Day is only 12 days away!  In our Christmas season, the sermon series is Don’t get run over by the Reindeer!  This week, our sermon is Where it is?  It seems that we are always looking for the right gift, the right decoration, or the right time.  Yet, as we go through this season with all the activity and gifts, we find ourselves empty and frustrated, rather than excited and relaxed. This week, we turn to Isaiah 11:1-10.  It is a vision of God’s Peaceable Kingdom.  It communicates a fullness that comes from a place of brokenness and heartache.  From a burned-out stump, a branch will grow and a flower will blossom. This is a part of the Christmas story because Jesus is the branch that will bring a wonderful rest to the striving of humanity.  But how? This vision of the coming Peaceable Kingdom helps us in 2019 to find the peace, joy, and hope that we are looking for!  As you read Isaiah 11:1-10, may you find God’s presence lifting up your heart! Isaiah 11:1-10 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him– the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD– 3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. 6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den, the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. (NIV)