091206

Click here to listen to the sermon  10mins

Malachi 3v1-4       The coming of the Lord

Philippians 1v3-11    Until the day of Christ Jesus

Luke 3v1-6           John the Baptist prepares the way.

God’s Invitation for us to receive our Saviour/King.

“See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire will come,” says the Lord Almighty.   Malachi 3v1.

“A voice of one calling out in the desert,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.

Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low.

The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.

And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’”                 Luke 3v1

In England we used to receive the Queen (or other member of the royal family) by standing on the side of the road and waving flags as she was driven by in her Rolls Royce.    The grass would be cut and roads freshly swept etc. 

However here we are encouraged to get ready to receive our King, Saviour, Lord of Lord’s, God.

Preparation for our Messiah requires a spiritual and moral response which focuses on repentance and forgiveness of sin.

An internal spiritual and moral cleansing, symbolised in the outward washing or baptism, in preparation.

To make straight our paths, is to make amends, to put right, to repent and say sorry!

To prepare for the coming of the Lord, is to repent ready to welcome our King, the Lord.

To ‘receive our King’, is to receive God into our lives through the Holy Spirit.

·        How exciting to witness this new birth in peoples lives as they receive their King.

·        What peace a joy we experience when we are put right wit our God!

·        What wonderful opportunity we have to further deepen our relationship with God through, living according to His will in our lives and keeping a short account of wrongs.

Spiritual awakening.   “Prepare the Way for the Lord.”

Christian people can feel distanced from God and feel that they have lost their way, or peace, or God is hard to find.

·        What is needed is a good ‘Spring Clean!’

·        To stop and do a stock take of what needs to stay and what needs to go, in our lives.

·        To clear out the rubbish and create more time to re-focus and centre our lives in Christ.

The Peace of Christ!

How wonderful to experience that deep inner cleansing of the work of God in our lives, forgiveness of sin, healing, repentance.

To receive our King and be at peace with him, with others, and with ourselves!

Philippians 1v3-11         Until the day of Christ Jesus

THE PEACE OF THE LORD BE ALWAYS WITH YOU!