Message | Inspired Advent With Micah | The Advent of God

Well, here we are, church. It's that

Advent season already. And as we think about Advent, we think about anticipation. I know that the

anticipation. I know that the anticipation is definitely building at my house. We just put up our tree over

my house. We just put up our tree over the weekend, and my four-year-old son said, "Dad, uh, I want there to be presents under that tree." I said, "You're going to have to hold off a little bit there, buddy." And and I

think he's going to snoop, so we'll probably hold off a long time and put him under the tree. Uh but there's a lot of anticipation building in our house and maybe in your house as well. But

when we think about advent, it's all about anticipation. Advent means arrive

about anticipation. Advent means arrive or arrival. And so we anticipate Jesus's

or arrival. And so we anticipate Jesus's second advent and we celebrate his first advent as the world anticipated the

Messiah coming in and entering. And

almost no one anticipated the way of course that God would do it. And so as we celebrate Advent, there's probably a lot of excitement, anticipation. There's

also, we know, uh, some sadness with Advent. There are some difficult

Advent. There are some difficult emotions wrapped up in the holidays, of course, because of loved ones that we've lost. And I want to start out by by

lost. And I want to start out by by telling the story of of John Glenn. So

John Glenn learned how to do a lot of things. John Glenn learned how to fly

things. John Glenn learned how to fly fighter jets. He completed 59 missions

fighter jets. He completed 59 missions in World War II and 90 missions in the Korean War. John Glenn also learned how

Korean War. John Glenn also learned how to fly fast. He was actually the first pilot to fly at supersonic speed. John

Glenn learned how to fly in outer space even. And in 1962, he became the first

even. And in 1962, he became the first American to orbit the Earth. John Glenn

learned a lot. But there's one thing that John and his wife Annie Glenn never learned how to do, and that was to say goodbye.

They hated goodbyes. So, they developed a code. Each time John left home, he

a code. Each time John left home, he would say, "I'm going to the store to get a pack of gum." And Annie would say, "Just don't be long." And then John

Glenn would go to Japan, Korea, Germany, or outer space. and John and Annie Glenn never learned how to say goodbye. But do

any of us really learn how to do that?

Well, our goodbyes ever not a little bit awkward or uncomfortable? Saying goodbye

is difficult. And if we take it a step further, saying goodbye to to our loved ones is extremely difficult. And there's

there's no right way to do it. And so we remember that goodbye is is not natural.

So it's not going to feel natural. When

God created the world, goodbye wasn't a part of it because sin wasn't a part of it. Death wasn't a part of it. But when

it. Death wasn't a part of it. But when

sin entered, death entered and and so did goodbye.

But what we're going to see today in our Advent series is the solution to goodbye, the hope for goodbye. and we're

going to look at it through the prophet Micah. Micah is a minor prophet. It's a

Micah. Micah is a minor prophet. It's a

a short book in the Old Testament of your Bible, but that doesn't make it any less important. And we're going to start

less important. And we're going to start out today as we're going to go through Advent, looking at Advent through the lens of Micah. Micah administered to

Israel during a time where they needed hope. They needed solutions.

hope. They needed solutions.

They needed something. And if we look at Micah 1 verse one, what happens is the word of the Lord came. The word of the

Lord arrived.

Advent. God arriving.

And who did it come to? Not the most likely person. Micah of Moreseth.

likely person. Micah of Moreseth.

Moreseth was a small agricultural rural town and it was near some some pretty big cities.

Moresth was seen as very unimportant.

The word of the Lord wouldn't come to to Moresth. And so it comes to an unlikely

Moresth. And so it comes to an unlikely man, an unlikely town, but with a very important message. And see what's

important message. And see what's happening in in Moreseth and what's happening in Israel is bad leadership.

corruption.

These people of of Mores are being taken advantage of by the larger, more powerful cities near them. We'll read

later on in the book of Micah that the evil leaders during this time are plotting in their beds, in their sleep, how they can take advantage of the poor, how they can take advantage of other

people and make themselves great. And so

that's the kind of corruption that's going on during the time of Micah. And

so when the word of the Lord comes, it comes both to confront sin but also offer hope for people like those in Moresath.

And it gives you an idea of who the leaders were of that time. Jotham, Ahaz,

and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

God wants them to hear. Hear you people and pay attention all of them.

O earth and all that is in it. And let

the Lord be a witness against to you, the Lord from his holy temple. And so

regardless of of the corruption and who's doing what, first God has a word for everyone, a word of law. It's it's a word of witness against them that they they first need to come to the Lord.

God's coming to them and they need to bring their sin to him. And so that's what God is is doing here because God refuses to let his people drift

unnoticed or unloved. The the world at that time and you could say at this time as well seems to be drifting into anarchy. God doesn't just let it

anarchy. God doesn't just let it dissolve into chaos. God refuses to let his people drift unnoticed or unloved.

God arrives.

So this reminds me a little bit of of parenting. So, if you have young kids or

parenting. So, if you have young kids or if you've had young kids or maybe even if you're an uncle and aunt, you you've seen this, but but sometimes you just start to notice that the kids are are

drifting a little bit. The respect is is drifting, right? The the talking back is

drifting, right? The the talking back is is increasing and the manners are decreasing. You know what I'm talking

decreasing. You know what I'm talking about, right? And then it just it keeps

about, right? And then it just it keeps snowballing and getting a little bit worse. Okay? There's drift. As a parent,

worse. Okay? There's drift. As a parent, you either have to do something about it. you have to enter in uh or it's just

it. you have to enter in uh or it's just going to get worse, right? And it's just going to turn into chaos. And so maybe that looks like you're just going to talk with your kids and sit them down.

Maybe it looks like a consequence, like a timeout. Maybe you realize they're

a timeout. Maybe you realize they're just tired, they're exhausted, and they need a nap. Uh but as a parent, you're not just going to let it the house devolve into total chaos because you

lose all control. And and God's the same way as Heavenly Father with his people.

He refuses to let his people drift unnoticed or unloved and and and first it's with our sin. We know the word of God convicts us of sin and and we're to

come to him with that sin. But the

beautiful thing is when we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And when we do that, we come to him, God also saves us from our drift. Maybe it's

an emotional drift away from the Lord.

Maybe it's a different kind of drift, like a heartbreak that you're going through and it's caused you to drift. Or

maybe it's loneliness that just hits different this time of year in Advent.

Maybe it's hopeless times in your life.

Remember that the word of the Lord came and the word of the Lord comes to you.

God refuses to let you drift unnoticed or unloved.

Then we get to verse three in Micah 1.

It says this, "For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth." Wow. So, first we had the

the earth." Wow. So, first we had the the word of the Lord came to Micah. The

word of the Lord came to the world.

Okay? And the word of the Lord prepares them for what's going to happen. The

Lord himself is coming out of his place down to earth. And this

is this is powerful imagery. He will

tread upon the high places of the earth.

This is this is a warrior standing stepping on the mountains. That's the

imagery here. Now in the first advent, Jesus comes in humility but still as a warrior to to conquer the hold of sin and death. But in the second advent,

and death. But in the second advent, Jesus comes in power. And the warrior comes to fight what we cannot conquer ourselves. The things in this world that

ourselves. The things in this world that that plague us because we live in a fallen world. No matter how hard we try,

fallen world. No matter how hard we try, no matter how many boundaries we create, uh no matter how much we're within the will of God, the chaos, the corruption,

the brokenness in this world will always affect us. And we can only do so much

affect us. And we can only do so much against it. We need what the warrior

against it. We need what the warrior what only the warrior can do to conquer what we cannot. It reminds me a little

bit of a firefighter. You see

firefighters run into burning buildings when everybody else is running out or they're backing away or they're pulling out their phone and they're taking a video, right? But it's the firefighters

video, right? But it's the firefighters who are going in. Now, they don't do this if there's nobody in the building, but they're doing this because there's people trapped inside that burning

building that cannot free themselves.

They cannot find a way out. They can't

get out. They're blocked. Whatever

reason it is, and the firefighters go to do what they cannot do themselves.

It's beautiful imagery for what God comes to do, what Jesus comes to do in this world. Jesus enters

this world. Jesus enters in Advent into the burning building.

It's burning with sin. It's burning with corruption.

It's burning with pain, death, hopelessness.

And he comes to do what the world cannot. To free them from the hold, from

cannot. To free them from the hold, from the consequences of sin and offer them a hope and a future. That's the first

advent. In the second advent, Jesus

advent. In the second advent, Jesus comes to destroy those things once and for all. And so maybe right now you're

for all. And so maybe right now you're facing a fire that you can't put out.

A fire where all you can do is is surrender to the Lord. Maybe it's a a fire in your career.

Maybe it's in relationship or marriage or with children or financially.

Whatever kind of storm or fire it is, we need the warrior to step in. Jesus

runs toward the fire, not away from it.

And we lean on the warrior in those difficult times where we can't free ourselves.

Then we get to Micah 1:4.

And it's imagery of the second advent, the new world arriving.

says the mountains will melt under him.

Those beautiful, gigantic, gorgeous mountains under the power of God, they melt like wax. It says hills and and valleys will split open like wax before

the fire like waters pour down a steep place.

The the power of God is great. This is

easy for him. Why is this happening? Why

is the world melting away? What is Micah talking about? It's when Jesus comes

talking about? It's when Jesus comes again. Revelation also tells us that

again. Revelation also tells us that when Jesus comes again, the old will pass away. There'll be no more of of

pass away. There'll be no more of of this earth. There'll be a new earth, new

this earth. There'll be a new earth, new creation and a new heaven, new heaven and new earth. And we all look forward to that day. And many people ask, why why doesn't Jesus do that? Doesn't he

look around and see that it's gotten bad enough? What are we waiting for? Well,

enough? What are we waiting for? Well,

Jesus wants as many as possible to enter into that new world with him. And so,

it's the mission, the urgency of the mission to continue to spread the gospel, to continue to enlarge Jesus's family until he comes back again and creates a new heaven and a new earth

where we will dwell with him eternally.

And so, even though this is warrior imagery, things splitting open, melting, this is good news. This is good news for all of God's people, for all who love the Lord.

And then in Micah 5, there's some things promised along with this.

It says, "And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God." So to shepherd the

flock is to be with his people, to be near his people, will finally be with the Lord.

And they shall dwell secure. Not

insecure, not in in danger of what's in this world. But we shall dwell secure.

this world. But we shall dwell secure.

For now, he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace, their shalom, their peace. God is

our peace now. And God is our peace in eternity. And of course, in eternity,

eternity. And of course, in eternity, it's a different kind of peace. It's an

eternal peace. It's an it's a peace unlike anything we've ever experienced.

But in order for that to happen, God has to tear the old world down. And so God tears down what sin builds so he can

build what only grace can.

This makes me think of the Notre Dame Cathedral fire. And some of you remember

Cathedral fire. And some of you remember when this happened because this happened in 2019 in April of 2019 and seemed like

the world was watching as Notre Dame was burning and it was centuries of this architectural beauty that was just swallowed by the flames. Uh the spire

collapsed, the roof fell in. Looked like

the end for this building. But the fire ended up being a blessing. The fire

exposed weaknesses that the architects already feared were there. Weaknesses they had been warning

there. Weaknesses they had been warning for decades that needed to be addressed.

And there was severe structural rot and hidden damage. And so the fire forced

hidden damage. And so the fire forced the rebuilding. And so today, Notre Dame

the rebuilding. And so today, Notre Dame is restored. It's stronger. It's safer

is restored. It's stronger. It's safer

and more beautiful than before. The fire

didn't end it. It saved it. And so

sometimes God allows these things to collapse so grace can rebuild what the decay was hiding. Now that's true in a number of ways. We know that that's true

in our own lives with our sin. It's true

with our unforgiveness, our our bitterness, or maybe the ways that that we're compromising in the Christian life. the

law of the Lord, the the word of the Lord convicts us to tear down the old and to let God build the new in that process of sanctification.

But at the same time, in a different way, we can look around the world and we see the consequences of sin. It doesn't

take long to see that. It doesn't take long to see corruption. Doesn't don't

have to look far to see brokenness or to find hopeless people.

Jesus promises that he will come tear down the old and build a new. And in

that new world, there's no more goodbyes.

There's there's no more empty chairs.

There's no more final breaths.

We say goodbye to goodbye.

And so even in the midst of hurt, even in the midst of of drift, difficult times where we we look around and and we're overwhelmed by our consequences,

and it seems like God has stepped away, we remember that God steps in even when his people step away just as he did in Advent, just as he did through

the prophet Micah, just as he continues to do in our lives each and every day.

So this Advent season, we remember to do these things to still experience God and his goodness and his

presence in the midst of some difficult things. And it looks like this.

things. And it looks like this.

First of all, pay attention when God interrupts.

Sometimes when we're trying to move through difficult things, we make plans and and sometimes they're godly plans, but they're not working out. Or sometimes they're not so godly

out. Or sometimes they're not so godly plans. And of course, those aren't going

plans. And of course, those aren't going to work out either. But Christians

struggle when things are frustrated. And

let's just use an example. Let's say

it's a career change. Let's say you're you feel led to to change careers and then suddenly you've hit a roadblock.

And often times I I I've talked to so many Christians who say, "Well, it seems like God is blocking this." It could be, it's probably one of two things, though.

A, God is frustrating it because he has a different plan for you. But B, it could also be the devil, evil in this

world, frustrating you because it is God's will for your life. And so when those things are interrupted, instead of just pushing through or making emotional

decisions, we have to step back and pray for God's will. God, is this your will for me? Are you redirecting me or is

for me? Are you redirecting me or is this just something I have to persevere through? Pay attention when God

through? Pay attention when God interrupts. The second thing,

interrupts. The second thing, take intentional steps toward the Lord.

Advent can be a very emotional season.

It can be a roller coaster type season for those who have experienced loss.

When emotions and heart betray us, we have to continue to take intentional steps toward the Lord with our mind, right? And and our actions.

right? And and our actions.

We have to continue to go through the motions and and worship the Lord. We

have to continue to hear the word of the Lord in our study, with the music. We're

surrounding ourselves with the people, the podcast, etc. And when we fill our mind with these things, then the heart follows, the emotions follow. They flow

from our thoughts. Continue to take intentional steps toward the Lord. The

third thing, when we're in the midst of really tough circumstances, when it feels hopeless, sometimes we got to look back. Look back

at at what God has done. Look back at all those times when God showed up. Even

if this thing seems like the most difficult thing yet, remember that God is faithful. Remember all those times in

is faithful. Remember all those times in your life and and remember his promises to you, God won't let you down. And the

fourth thing, no matter what, no matter how well this is is going, our circumstances in this world, it'll never be perfect. We live in a broken, fallen

be perfect. We live in a broken, fallen world. And there's corruption

world. And there's corruption everywhere. There's brokenness

everywhere. There's brokenness everywhere. We will constantly be

everywhere. We will constantly be affected by it, sometimes beaten down by it. We can't put our hope in this world.

it. We can't put our hope in this world.

Our eyes have to be on the prize. Our

eyes have to be on eternity. Our eyes

have to be on what the second advent points to, a new heaven and a new earth, where all of these things that plague us will be no more. In this imperfect

world, we're going to go through great trials.

When's the last time you felt like you were in one of those? Maybe it's right now, but we can all think of a time where we in those really difficult trials where it seemed like things were shattered into a million pieces. And

maybe it was your career, maybe it was your health, maybe it was your family, maybe it was your finances.

Sometimes our world does fall apart.

Might feel like we're alone.

You've probably heard of of people who've died from loneliness. And and you might feel that way right now. so

overwhelmed that you feel you can't go on or the darkness is so thick that you can barely breathe or your sadness and your tears are leading you to the worst

despair of your life. We can all think to a time like that feels like a losing battle but take heart. The warrior the warrior is on his

heart. The warrior the warrior is on his way. Advent

way. Advent arrival God arrives. The good news is we have

God arrives. The good news is we have the perspective of the first advent and everything happened just as God said it would. So we can take heart that

would. So we can take heart that everything will happen just as God says it will. Jesus will arrive. And that's

it will. Jesus will arrive. And that's

what Micah 1 is all about. The warrior

of the Lord arrives. The new world arrives. And in that new world, there's

arrives. And in that new world, there's no more goodbyes. We say goodbye to goodbye.

Let's pray.

Jesus, we thank you for your word of comfort, your word to the hopeless, your word to the lost, your word to the broken, your word to

the hurting.

Lord, we've been all those things at different times in our lives.

And so I just pray that this Advent season you'd fill us with hope, with peace that only comes from you. Lord, we

know that there are people in our lives who need that hope and peace and help us to be bearers of it to them.

We pray that this Advent season would be a blessing, that we would experience you in a new way, and through it, we'd be able to bless

others as we look forward to your second advent.

and you make all things new. We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.