Transcript for The Glory of the LORD (Captioned)

PROCLAIM THE GLORY OF THE LORD SERMON TEXT: ISAIAH 52:7-10

HE (the LORD) HAS REDEEMED JERUSALEM. THE LORD WILL LAY

BARE HIS HOLY ARM IN THE SIGHT

OF ALL THE NATIONS, AND ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

WILL SEE THE SALVATION OF OUR GOD.

This is the Word of our Lord; Let us pray:

Glorious and gracious God, may the words

of my mouth and the meditation of each of our hearts

be acceptable in Your sight,

our only source of

hope and comfort. Amen.

Pastor Dave motions and waits for the

congregation to be seated comfortably before

continuing with the sermon.

Dear Followers of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Did any of you turn the news

on this morning while you were getting ready

for church? Maybe while you were

eating breakfast.

Did you ever notice anything about the news on

Christmas Day? It's pretty worthless.

I mean unless something really, truly major would

happen, nothing seems

to get reported. Everybody's off doing something ...

we have great stories about people feeding the homeless; we

have stories about the other services that were held, but

there really isn't anything new!

I mean we have a big blizzard going on back East ...

So at least the weather channel has something exciting

to hear this morning. CNN Headline News was

playing their entertainment report from

last night. But there is great ...

news ... this morning!

Great news that you and I have,

that has come to us from God Himself

ABOUT God Himself.

That God has revealed His glory in His Son,

Jesus Christ.

That He has saved us. And the Prophet Isaiah

reminds us this morning that WE are to be the ones

to proclaim the glory of God.

You and I are the ones who today and every day ...

every day of our life

are out there shouting to the people;

reminding the believers your God reigns,

Isaiah says. He has come. He has

brought us joy. He has brought us salvation.

We have SEEN His glory

in Jesus Christ and how truly amazing that is.

That God the Father,

sent Jesus Christ, His Son

into this world to be the radiance of

His glory. So that people

could hear His voice and

see in Him the Truths of God.

We know how tremendously special that is

when we recall our Old Testament lesson.

When Moses, that great leader of faith

in the Old Testament on Mt. Sinai

said to God: I want to see Your glory.

Show me Your glory. And the LORD said to him:

I will ... but realize you

can't look at My face. You can't

look at My face in your sinful state

but I will reveal My Glory to you

first and foremost in My Name ...

the LORD ... the LORD.

The One who's compassionate. The One who's

gracious ... The One who is

abounding in love and mercy.

Who for years and years and years took

His own people to prepare them to receive Me,

their Messiah. The One who was going to

deal with their sin. He was the Savior-God, the

God of the Covenant that He had made with people.

That God Himself was

going to keep. He was going to show people, His love

in a most beautiful

and miraculous way. Even

more so, when we hear Him passing before Moses

When He takes Moses and He

tucks him in to the side of that rock.

And He says: I'm going to put My hand

in front of you so that you can't see My face

until I pass by, and then you can see My back.

Then you will KNOW ...

the Glory of the LORD. I think we hear those words

and we're in AWE

of what that scene must have been like as

Moses was talking to that Rock.

And the LORD passed by proclaiming His Name.

Proclaiming that HE IS the Savior-God.

The One who is going to deal with people's sins.

The One who is going to show them His love and

His abounding grace.

And we saw that in our Gospel lesson ...

How God, the Father, did not abandon His plan.

But He carried it out.

He prepared the world at that time

to receive His Son through John the Baptist.

There were people of God LOOKING for the Messiah.

They were LONGING to see Him.

They came up to John and they even went up to him

thinking he was the One! He was the Christ! He was

the Messiah of God! And John very clearly told them all:

I am NOT the Light!

I am NOT that One. The One who comes after me,

I am not even worthy to untie the thongs of

His sandals. And there we see

that greater miracle of God that He ...

gave His Son,

into this world.

The Son of God taking on our human

flesh ... and blood.

To be born into this world.

To show people God's love.

To teach them of God's forgiveness.

To be active, in carrying out

the will of God, the Father.

Obeying each and every command that God

had set and laid down, that human beings couldn't keep.

And He lived that

perfect life. He died that perfect death.

And as the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us,

we have seen that through the eyes of faith.

That has been recorded for us

what God did in taking care

of our sins.

In shattering our darkness. In breaking the yoke

that restrained us, so we couldn't be free.

But we NOW are free!

We are free in the forgiveness of God's Son

who sits in God's heaven at this very moment

as His One and Only

beloved Son. And we are to give glory

to the Name that is above all names.

The Name of our Savior.

The One that has brought to us the forgiveness of sins; who

is our King that we will fall before Him for all eternity,

singing glory and praise for what He has done.

As Isaiah reminds us, He is the One who

came to the ruins of Jerusalem

and restored them. He is the One who comes to us

in our ruined state and restores us

by the power of His working.

By what He has done.

And for that, we rejoice!

That is the Good News of our lives! We are the

watchman that Isaiah says and tells people to be quiet and

listen for. We are the ones who have the Good News.

We are the ones who have the salvation of our God.

When Isaiah says, proclaim that Glory to God,

that is yours who loves you.

Revere His Name.

Hold it sacred. Carry it with you and

proclaim it in your life ...

to a world that so needs to know that Jesus IS

the ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN.

He is the Plan that God, the Father, set up and carried out

and delivered out into this world.

To deliver us OUT of this world

into our heavenly home.

That Name of Jesus is sweet in our hearing,

And we honor it. And we respect it.

And we praise it each and every day as we pray to Him

for all of our needs to be met.

With all of the thanks that we have from

hearts that are filled with the knowledge that

we ARE the children of God.

Let us hold it sacred and

let's share it with the world that is still in darkness.

The world that John reminds us:

God Himself made.

Jesus was the Word that was present at creation.

He came into this world to save it.

And it saddens us to know that there are still people in this

world who do not recognize Him,

who do not see Him.

Who do not have eternal life ...

because nobody told them the Good News.

No one has cried from the rooftops who the Lord of the

universe is ... and who the Savior is.

And WE HAVE THAT KNOWLEDGE.

That Name that was written on our hearts

at our baptism is ours by faith and

we hold it SO dear.

Today we remind ourselves of the joy that is ours.

The joy that fills our hearts.

That will be abundant in our life, as we go out

and proclaim the Glory of the LORD.

Amen.

Let us rise.

Now may the peace of God which goes beyond

all of our understanding, keep your hearts and your minds and

especially your lives in the one true faith unto life

everlasting.

Amen.