The second Sunday of Advent is about Peace. What is this peace, and how do we achieve it in such a troubled world? The peace between God and man could be only be accomplished from "the Servant of the Lord and Our Lord of Peace". In Isaiah 42:1-9, we read about the main roles of the Servant of the Lord which is to be a covenant to the people, to establish justice on the earth and to be the light of God. Later in Isaiah 42, the prophet shows who is not the Servant of the Lord. However, we do read in Luke 4:16-21 that Jesus is ready to be the Servant of the Lord and ready to start reconciliation between man and God.
Our responses to Jesus' declaration, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing," (Luke 4:21b) requires us first to be willing to receive Jesus, and then, with grateful hearts, to accept his sacrificial justice. Finally, we also need to be part of His justice by reconciling ourselves with God and to reconciling others with God.
Listen to Pastor Donald as he links passages from Isaiah 42 to the Gospels and shows how the promises of God have been kept.
Today, we had to say goodbye to three members from the OEM family since they are to return to their home country in the Philippines next week. Byran and his family have made a lasting impact with our congregation, and they will be missed. Although they had only been with us for about a year, they helped out in so many ways using the talents which God has given them. Some examples of their willingness to serve are when Raven Elijah played the piano at a time we needed a pianist and Bryan preached a moving sermon on "Facing the Storm". More importantly, they were a family with genuine needs, hopes, failures, triumphs, feelings and all the other things that make us so human. We will miss our brothers and sister, but they will always be a part of our family united in Jesus Christ.
If you have not already seen it, we recorded Byran's sermon on August 26, 2018, and you can watch it on our YouTube channel.
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