Advent Conspiracy 2 – Spend Less - Isaiah 55

Sermon 12-05-10 advent conspiracy 2 – spend less - Isaiah 55=

1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.

Series- advent conspiracy - concept of the advent conspiracy...
Based on the book……….
Someone has conspired to take it from it original intent
Who would steal Jesus birthday, can you imagine such a thing?

The wise men spend the money on themselves
Story of the wise men who come a long way then decide to spend the gold f and myrrh on themselves.

Who would steal Jesus birthday, can you imagine such a thing?
What would it look like to give Christmas back to Jesus?

Scripture asks – why are we Buying that which is not bread
We are Spending in ways that does not satisfy
Embracing things that do not satisfy
Holding to that which is not the main thing

Examples of things that you just couldn’t live without. & now it sits idle.
Sweater, kitchen gaget, power tool, car and payment

The whole advent of gift receipts
We buy way too many thngs that just don’t satisfy
And the invitation is to do less
And in spending less, begin to make room for Jesus

Many will spend less this year because of the economy
What if we learn to spend less because of a spiritual decision
The problem is not the stuff. The problem is that we want it too much
The spiritual issue is not stuff its to learn to want less

Speaking of wanting less, I just came back from Africa
Where do I begin- A story or two of how they live in Africa.
The number of funerals
12% have aids
20% children die before 5
Life expectancy is 42

The students at the secondary school
It takes your breath away to think of how these people live

#1 take back from Africa-
What we worry about is absolutely unconscionable.

Someone said-
Well, there are hungry people here locally. Yes there are.
To what degree are you investing in helping them?

Someone else said-
That is fine jeff, We live in a different world, that is not us.

No. I reject that. In gods kingdom there is no us and them.
There is no good ones vs bad ones, have vs have nots.
It is us. It is we. We are them. There is only one world.
They will sit across the table from us at the great banquet in heaven. What will we say then?

Bishop machado
What I expected- please continue to help
What I got – we don’t need your stuff
This is a mutual thing- how so
We have something more impt than this
The joy of god’s love
I want to have the kind of relationship here that we will have in heaven

If I ask you to eat less, do you get mad?
No we understand this.
We have an entire industy whose point is to help us eat less
Slim for life, weight watchers, p-90x
We are all for intentionally eating less so that we can be healthier, feel better

Man that sermon is a downer. Is it? Or is it an invitation to a life of joy
This may be one of the most spiritual invitations that we have had in some time.

An invitation to want less so that I can want God more.

So the scripture invites us to Come to the waters
Why are our souls thirsty?

As long as we seek wholeness in stuff we will be hungry

Not that stuff is good or bad
But yearning for a day when we don’t want.
Nothing except to be with god

If we have less room for our stuff, our egos, our ideas, suddenly we have more room for god

The moment that we set aside the stuff and give up on it,
we begin to hear his voice
we begin to sense his presence

What if this year we totally rethought what we were doing. How we were living. Isn’t that what Jesus is asking us to do?

If you are tired of it, come to the waters
Eat and drink the good stuff of God and fine the life that is truly fulfilling.


Advent candle with water - The water connection