The Wonder of Advent: Holy Hope

Malcolm Muggeridge prayed, “Lord, help us never to lose the wonder.” I wonder. Have we lost the wonder? Our awe is too quickly eclipsed by “awwww!” We have seen it all. Nothing new under the sun. The early believers lived with an eye to the sky, knowing that Christ would return. Today we light one candle, but there are more to come. Stand on your tiptoes. The baby born in Bethlehem will someday come in the clouds and every eye will see him as the trumpet sounds. How then shall we live? Holy. The New Testament writers connect our eschatology with our ethics, our hope with holiness. Message based on 2 Peter 3:8-13. Quotes:Duane Brooks: Our eschatology informs our ethics.  Hope of Christ’s return leads us to live holy lives. Duane Brooks: God is being patient, he wants to keep his promise, don’t take it from granted why not turn from sin now. Emily Dickens: Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all, and sweetest in the gale is heard and sore must be the storm that could abash the little bird that kept so many warm. I’ve heard it in the strangest land and on the chilliest sea, yet never in extremity, it asked a thing of me.Duane Brooks: Love that expects us to become exceptional, obedience speeds up his return. Stuart Hamblen: All things are possible with God, it is no secret what God can do. Christ comes to us everyday. Because I knew Christ I knew I would be changed for good. Bernard of Clairvaux talked about three advents:  Christ’s first coming; his coming to us now by his Spirit and the coming in which he judges the world.To discover more messages of hope, go to tallowood.org/sermons/.Follow us on X and YouTube @tallowoodbcFollow us on Instagram @tallowood.baptistFollow us on FaceBook @tallowoodbaptist