REJOICE: REDEEMING

Merry Christmas! We hope you are finding a greater fullness in your heart and life as you are going through this season.  It can be hard to find the joy of this season.  We are often distracted by the activity, celebration, and stress of everything we have to do.  This is why our sermon series for this season is Rejoice! We want to find the strength and power of celebrating what the Child born in Bethlehem brings into our lives.  The sermon for this week is Redeeming, and it is based upon Isaiah 40:1-11.  We often take the idea of redemption for granted until we need it within our lives.  Redemption has a lot of images; it is a slave being set free because the freedom has been bought.  It lies behind God’s forgiveness for our sins because the penalty has been paid.  It is the moment of realizing that everything is lost, except God’s goodness and power redeems us from the pit, the shadow of death,  or the enemy of our souls!   God has paid the price that we should have paid.  Isaiah shares with the people of God a powerful vision of the redeeming God who one day will elevate the humble and bring down the prideful. This seems like a distant reality for them and us, but maybe this is why the Son of God was born in the most humble of circumstances.  It is the power of redemption coming to life!  If we read this scripture closely, we find that this redeeming power was not just for Isaiah, not just for Bethlehem, but is for you and me.  We pray that you will experience this redeeming power in your heart and you will be filled with joy as you read Isaiah 40:1-11.

Isaiah 40:1-11 (NIV): ​

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. ² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. ³ A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴ Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. ⁵ And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” ⁶ A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. ⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. ⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” ⁹ You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” ¹⁰ See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. ¹¹ He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young