Today is the second Sunday of Advent. Our journey this season is returning to the heart of Worship. Each Sunday of Advent we are also looking at the word WAIT. Today we will be talking about the Atonement. Advent is a season of great expectation. Advent represents the already and the not yet. We are not waiting for the Messiah to come but for his return. We are also waiting on God to send his Holy Spirit once again in power. This power has diminished due to the disobedience of His people. That’s us by the way. Last Sunday we talked about having a willing obedience. Jesus himself sent us on mission and the big part of that mission was teaching others to obey. This does not just mean the parts we like but the whole counsel of God. Acts 20:27 (ESV) “for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” Too many Christians have shrunk back from scripture. Hebrews 10:39 “But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.” There is so much more available to us than the empty way of life handed down from generation to generation. The church has become accustomed to this powerless way of life. Jesus paid to high a price for us to continue in that way. We must turn from our wicked ways and repent. We must continue to call on God to revive us again. We are no different than Israel and since God said he does not change, He expects the same from us. Hebrews 10:29 “How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?” I believe we do not take this seriously enough nor do we take serious the fact that this same Jesus will return one day to judge the living and the dead. If we did we would follow God’s word more closely and do what He tells us to do. That is called holy living. We then would see the same results as we see throughout scripture. Since we are not seeing these results, we must repent and change our ways. There is so much more available to all who believe.

Prayer: Be Holy. Also thank Jesus everyday for giving you the opportunity to be saved. Leviticus 11:45 “I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.”