00:00:00.000 - 00:00:27.600

[ Silence ] [MUSIC] mountains that we cannot not climb. God will supply all the strength that we need.

00:00:27.600 - 00:00:56.320

Give us grace till we reach the other side. We to the other side. Soon and very soon we are going to see the King. Soon and very soon we are going to see the King.

00:00:56.320 - 00:01:15.880

Soon and very soon we are going to see the King. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, we're going to see the King. ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪

00:01:15.880 - 00:01:49.680

- Amen. And as much as this is a day when we are giving attention to children, sermon will be aimed primarily for the little ones and this is the second

00:01:49.680 - 00:02:27.640

sermon in our celebration of the Advent season. The book of the Prophet Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3 are these words, "The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." I'd like for you all to repeat those words after me, "The voice

00:02:27.640 - 00:02:54.420

of him that cries in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Now the subject of the message is is come, come. Last Sunday, the word was heart.

00:02:54.420 - 00:03:16.680

Today, it's one word, come, come, come. Early in our lives, we hear the word come. Many times I heard it as a child growing up. Come here, come, come.

00:03:16.680 - 00:03:39.060

When the child is very small, taking the first steps, the parent many times will be a certain distance from the child and beckon saying, "Come here, come here." The child often takes the first steps in response

00:03:39.060 - 00:03:56.040

to the word, "Come, come." - Well, many years ago, when the people were a long way from home in a strange land,

00:03:56.040 - 00:04:17.480

they heard the word of a preacher telling them to get ready for a journey, to get ready for a trip home. They were to come home.

00:04:17.480 - 00:04:38.720

They had been away from home for many, many years, and now was the time for them to come home. Now, whenever we take a trip, it is necessary to consider the road that we will travel.

00:04:38.720 - 00:04:56.600

To have a good trip, it means that good roads are necessary. Texas is known for having a very good highway system, very good roads. And when you travel in some other places,

00:04:56.600 - 00:05:15.920

you can appreciate the roads that we have here in Texas. In fact, we have a very, very outstanding road, a well-known highway that comes very near this church that is known as IH35,

00:05:15.920 - 00:05:36.420

Interregional Highway 35. So as we consider the message today, it is in the form of responding to a journey, an invitation to take a trip.

00:05:36.420 - 00:05:50.700

It is concerned about having a good road, a splendid highway. The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord,

00:05:50.700 - 00:06:10.320

make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Now the preacher cries to the people, asking them to make a road through the desert to prepare a highway for the coming of the king.

00:06:10.320 - 00:06:23.360

When the king comes to visit his people, special arrangements are made. That was true many years ago. In fact, we always make special arrangements

00:06:23.360 - 00:06:52.800

when we are going to have special visitors. We clean up our rooms, we put on our best clothes, arrangements that are based on the fact that we are expecting this person or those persons to come. So we have here the prophet calling the people to get

00:06:52.800 - 00:07:14.840

prepared. The king is to come. The king is the highest person in the land. The king is to make a visit to his people. And in order for the king to come, they must prepare, make ready for the king, prepare.

00:07:14.840 - 00:07:29.940

A special road must be prepared on which the king is to travel. And in making ready for this special road, they will have to do some special work.

00:07:29.940 - 00:07:45.980

In other words, there are trees that must be cut down, there are stops that must be uprooted, there are low places that must be leveled, there are high places that must be brought down.

00:07:45.980 - 00:07:59.060

All of these things must be done in order for this special road to be made on which the king is to come. Now in those days, king did not have cars

00:07:59.060 - 00:08:27.240

like we have today. They had what we may call a wagon but it was a chariot. The king would come in his chariot and with the horses and he wanted to have a good road on which to travel. All of us know how how a trip is if the roads are bad, if they are bumpy and all of that. We don't enjoy the trip. Well the king wants

00:08:27.240 - 00:09:00.440

to have a good road. In fact, the king must have the best road on which to travel in making this journey. And the preacher reminds the people, "Prepare ye the way. Make straight, make straight in the desert a highway for the coming of the king. Now it is to be a straight road, be straight, straight, and in order to

00:09:00.440 - 00:09:27.400

have the shortest distance, in order to have the best journey for the king to take, the road has to be straight, not a winding road, not a road with a great number of curbs and crooks in it, but a straight road. So this preparation that the preacher is talking about is not only something that the king is to have,

00:09:27.400 - 00:09:52.500

but it has something that the people are to do. So boys and girls, you have to make a good road because the road takes you where you want to go. Road takes you where you want to go. All of you want to grow up and you want to be men and women someday and so what kind of man you become, what kind of woman you become

00:09:52.500 - 00:10:22.780

depends upon the road that you travel. And so you have to make it a straight road. It has to be a road that is made up of a good attitude. It has to be a road that's made up of having a good mind, of being kind, and being obedient to your parents, being obedient to your teachers, that kind of road will carry you where you need to be and where you ought to be.

00:10:22.780 - 00:10:56.780

So make straight, no crooks, no curves, make straight a highway in the desert. the death. That's what the preacher is telling the people. So in order to make this trip successfully there has to be a good road, a good highway, and the road needs to be smooth. How many of you enjoy riding on a smooth road?

00:10:56.780 - 00:11:04.780

Oh yes, all of us do. Smooth road. Yes, now you can take your hands down. Smooth road.

00:11:04.780 - 00:11:21.280

Smooth road. Because it makes the journey very comfortable and enjoyable when the road is smooth. You don't want to ride on a bumpy, bumpy, bumpy road. So the key comes into our lives.

00:11:21.280 - 00:11:34.400

One who is to help us be what we ought to be is saying that you must make that kind of preparation of having the right kind of mind and also not only having the right attitude

00:11:34.400 - 00:11:45.000

but taking the right actions. So you ought to act right. In other words, be what the king wants you to be when he comes.

00:11:45.000 - 00:12:00.280

That is what the preacher is saying. So this highway leads from city to city. We have a highway that leads from Austin to Houston. We have a highway that leads from Austin to San Antonio.

00:12:00.280 - 00:12:09.960

A highway that leads from Austin to Dallas. The highway leads to a city. It leads someplace. So the journey you are to take in your life

00:12:09.960 - 00:12:56.040

must lead to someplace. And that's what the preacher is saying. straight in the desert a highway for the king. I don't know whether any of you have ever been to a desert, but a desert is a, you've been to a desert, all right? A desert is a place where up there are this kind of desert. No trees. It's very, very hot. You think it gets hot here, but where the soldiers are today, it gets up to 120 degrees. It's very, very hot. And the desert is a place where there is no water.

00:12:56.040 - 00:13:17.480

And so many times people die of thirst because there is no water in the desert. The desert is a place where there is no food. And so all of these things that we ordinarily have, if we come to the desert, we don't have those things. And so what we need to do is to get through the desert.

00:13:17.480 - 00:13:32.840

It's a lonely place and there needs to be a highway. So there are many things, boys and girls, that we'll have to go through in order to get where we're going. And so we have to go through a desert, we have to go through some lonely places, we

00:13:32.840 - 00:14:00.000

We have to go through to places where we don't have access to what we like to have, but we have to prepare for it. Make straight in the desert a highway for our king. So to do that, we must study, we must be kind, we must be obedient, we must work, we must

00:14:00.000 - 00:14:28.220

be good. straight a highway. The road has to be smooth. Now I think I need to tell you that the King has promised to come and when we wait for him we will not be disappointed. Sometimes we wait for that which seems to be so long coming. When I

00:14:28.220 - 00:14:40.300

I was a little boy, I was waiting to grow up, to be grown, and it looked like it took such a long time. I was wearing short pants, you know, I was looking forward to the time

00:14:40.300 - 00:14:55.500

when I'd wear long pants, and that took such a long time. Seems like when you wait, it's so long in coming to things that we wait for. But this preacher tells us to wait,

00:14:57.040 - 00:15:12.760

to wait, and that for which we wait will come. Don't remain where you are, but make the journey to where you ought to be. You wouldn't wanna stay the same size you are all the time.

00:15:12.760 - 00:15:31.440

You wanna move on, to grow up, to move on toward where you are made to be. So, he says, come, come, leave where you are. you are. Come. They were in a city called Babylon and they were to go to Jerusalem.

00:15:31.440 - 00:16:02.560

He says come. Take a journey through the desert. Come. The desert is very hot, yes, but come. The desert is a lonely place, yes, but come. The desert is without water, yes, come. The desert is without trees, no shade, no plants, no gardens in the desert, yes, Yes, all that's true, but come, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

00:16:02.560 - 00:16:19.600

Prepare the way. So this is what we celebrate. We celebrate the fact that a child is coming into the world called Jesus Christ. Prepare the way.

00:16:19.600 - 00:16:38.960

Prepare the way. When every child is born into the family, there has to be certain preparation. A child comes where there's no child in the family, the family has to make special preparations. We had to get a crib when the first child was born.

00:16:38.960 - 00:16:59.720

We got a washing machine when the first child was born. All of these things, we began to get toys for the children, all of those things because We really had to make room for that child, to make room for a new member of the family. So here is the one who is the Lord of all, who's the king, who's the child that is above

00:16:59.720 - 00:17:25.840

every child, and we have to make room for him. So we make room when we accept him into our lives. I heard a preacher when I was a child many years ago, as he said, "To accept Jesus as your Lord, to let Jesus come into your life."

00:17:25.840 - 00:17:43.580

And then after having said that, he sang a song saying, "Come to Jesus, come to Jesus just now. He will save you, He will save you just now. He is able, he is able just now.

00:17:43.580 - 00:17:57.000

And so I took that journey. And that's a journey everyone must take. It's a journey leaving where you are to becoming the person that God made you to be.

00:17:57.000 - 00:18:13.720

So as the choir leads us in singing the hymn of invitation, we'll announce that the door of the church is open. You may come to accept Jesus Christ as Lord of your life.

00:18:13.720 - 00:18:31.880

You may come to become a member of the family of God here at Ebenezer. We invite you to come. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

00:18:31.880 - 00:19:08.320

[MUSIC - "COME UNTO JESUS"] Come unto Jesus. Love you have tried. Come unto Jesus, bring on your mind;

00:19:08.320 - 00:19:50.260

He will make your life brand new. Oh, He will take care of you. Come to Jesus while you have time. Come unto Jesus while you have time.

00:19:50.260 - 00:20:13.880

♪ Come unto Jesus ♪ ♪ Make up your mind ♪ ♪ He will make your life brand new ♪ ♪ For He will take care of you ♪

00:20:16.040 - 00:20:39.300

♪ We'll take care of you ♪ ♪ Come to Jesus ♪ ♪ While you have time ♪ ♪ Just knowing Jesus ♪

00:20:42.200 - 00:21:07.480

♪ The Lord has made of me and my life ♪ ♪ Come to Jesus ♪ ♪ While you have time ♪ ♪ Though you may not have a friend ♪

00:21:09.360 - 00:21:34.360

♪ We will win you to the end ♪ ♪ Come to Jesus ♪ ♪ While you have time ♪ ♪ Just knowing Jesus ♪

00:21:37.360 - 00:22:02.480

♪ The Lord has made a change in my life ♪ ♪ Come to Jesus ♪ ♪ While you have time ♪ ♪ Though you may not ever breathe ♪

00:22:04.360 - 00:22:23.700

♪ We'll go with you to the end ♪ ♪ Come to Jesus ♪ ♪ While you have time ♪ - Amen, amen, amen.

00:22:23.700 - 00:22:35.380

Amen. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]