Shout Out Loud and Sing for Joy!

During this time of year we face crowded shopping lines, as well as expectations that need completed before the end of the year. There are tasks that need completed at work, at home and even at church. Often we are so busy that we forget to just stop and raise our arms and shout and scream for joy. 

Brothers and Sisters, Advent is much more than hustle and bustle and spending our time trying to find the right gift for our loved ones. Next Sunday we enter the third week of Advent, the week of joy, the joy that we are one week closer to welcoming our Messiah that is to be born.

This expectant joy was revealed to us long before it was to occur, we were told in Isaiah that our salvation was to come. 

2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." 3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 In that day you will say: "Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. 5 Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. 6 Shout aloud and sing for joy,people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you." Isaiah 12:2-6

Beloved, we are people of God's promise revealed  to us in the birth of the child in the manger. This child that would bring us our Salvation through his birth, life, suffering, death, and resurrection. The promise has been revealed and kept, we only need wait with expectation and the knowledge that Christ is coming. 

Next time you are waiting in the crowded line at the mall, or cut off by another vehicle in traffic, next time you want to curse and complain, while blaming it on Christmas...

1. Stop
2. Give Thanks to the Lord
3. Make His name known
4. Tell others what the Lord has done for you
5. Sing to the Lord, sing His songs to all who will hear
6. Raise your arms to the heavens and shout for joy, because joy has come in the form of the Messiah

People of God Joy comes in the morning, noon ,and at night in the form of a babe come to save the world and to set its people free from bondage. Find some time this week to "Shout Out Loud" and "Sing For Joy", for our God Emmanuel is with us in Joy!

Pastor Tim