Playlist of all YouTube Intros
Session #1 - November 30, 2021: Introduction
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Wa i t U p o n t h e L o r d w i t h Fa i t h
Series Theme Verse: They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31
Week 1 Theme Verse: And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Galatians 3:8-9
Opening Prayer
O Lord, rend the heavens and come down. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in the night of despair. Show forth your power and might, just as you did in the days of Abraham and Sarah; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit—God forever. Amen.
Genesis 17:1-9
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
Romans 4:13-21
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
Matthew 1:16-25
And Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”
Reflection ( ) = meaning of the Hebrew Word
n their old age, Abraham (the Father of Many) and Sarah (the Princess) had a son Isaac (Laughter). And all of this points to the most miraculous birth—Jesus (the Lord Saves). Jesus saves us. Jesus loves us. And Jesus will return for us. Then we’ll say what? Another Hebrew word that means “Praise the Lord.” Does anyone know that word in Hebrew? It sounds like this: “Hallelujah!”
By Reed Lessing. © 2021 Creative Communications for the Parish, a division of Bayard, Inc., 1564 Fencorp Dr., Fenton, MO 63026. 800-325-9414. www.creativecommunications.com. All rights reserved.
Abraham trusted that God was able to do what He promised. Trials and challenges may tempt us to doubt God’s promises. As He did with Abraham, God will strengthen our faith, assure us of His promises, help us to trust, and fulfill all He said He would do.
The Lutheran Study Bible, Concordia Publishing House
What does waiting upon the Lord with faith mean to you?
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Download Sesson #1 Information as a PDF)
Session #2 - December 7, 2021
Watch the recorded intro on YouTube
Wa i t U p o n t h e L o r d w i t h H o p e
Series Theme Verse: They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31
Week 2 Theme Verse: I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.
Psalm 130:5
Opening Prayer
O Lord, rend the heavens and come down. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in the night of despair. Show forth your power and might, just as you did in the days of the prophet Isaiah; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit—God forever.
Amen.
Isaiah 40:27-31
Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Romans 8:22-25
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Reflection
Isaiah 40:27-31
At this point, only those with faith to “wait for the LORD” are left in the prophet’s audience. Those looking for immediate fixes, for magical cures, are off invoking the rows of idols that seek their business. But to those few who surrender their lives to the everlasting God, the prophet has concluding words that surpass all the cheap promises of the idol market: The one who does not faint or grow weary gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless… The fundamental lesson that prepares the human heart for the entrance of God is the lesson of God’s oneness and uniqueness. It is the lesson that cultivates out of human powerlessness not helplessness and despair but openness to the power that alone can save, God’s power. It is the lesson that sweeps the universe clean of all distraction… So long as the human heart harbors other loyalties besides God, it is lost in a sea of chaos. Augustine was one who spoke from personal experience: “Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee” (Confessions 1:1).
Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching & Preaching: Isaiah 40-66; Paul D. Hanson, John Knox Press
Romans 8:22-25
The hope we have is sure, because we already have a foretaste of its fulfillment: The Holy Spirit (Romans 8:23). The reason the Spirit is a foretaste of the consummation is simply the fact that the restoration means above all the restoration of complete communication between God and His creation, and it is the Spirit who is the power of that restored communication.
Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching & Preaching: Romans; Paul Achtemeier, John Knox Press
What does waiting upon the Lord with hope mean to you?
How does being a member of Christ’s Church encourage and strengthen hope and faith?
Consider the example of Monica, mother of Augustine: Bishop of Hippo, who for years faithfully waited for and actively prayed for the reformation of her son. Through grief and tears, she continually trusted in and prayed to the Lord – never losing hope.
And now thou didst “stretch forth thy hand from above” and didst draw up my soul out of that profound darkness [of Manicheism] because my mother, thy faithful one, wept to thee on my behalf more than mothers are accustomed to weep for the bodily deaths of their children. For by the light of the faith and spirit which she received from thee, she saw that I was dead. And thou didst hear her, O Lord, thou didst hear her and despised not her tears when, pouring down, they watered the earth under her eyes in every place where she prayed. Thou didst truly hear her. (Confessions 11:19)
Closing Prayer based on Hymn
Come, thou long-expected Jesus, born to set thy people free; From our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee. Israel’s strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art; Dear desire of ev’ry nation, joy of ev’ry longing heart.
Amen.
(Download Sesson #2 Information as a PDF)
Session #3 - December 14, 2021
Watch the recorded intro on YouTube
Wa i t U p o n t h e L o r d w i t h R e j o i c i n g
Series Theme Verse: They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31
Week 3 Theme Verse: This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Isaiah 25:9
Opening Prayer
O Lord, rend the heavens and come down. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in the night of despair. Show forth your power and might, just as you did in the days of Mary and Elizabeth; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit—God forever.
Amen.
1 Samuel 2:1-3
And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
Romans 12:11-18 11
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Luke 1:39-45
In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
Reflection
1 Samuel 2:1-3
Hannah sings of “my heart, my horn, my mouth, my enemies” (v.1), but these are placed in strong contrast to “your deliverance” (author’s emphasis). It is Hannah’s joy, but Yahweh’s power. Verse 2 complements verse 1 by a powerful triad of “none, none, none,” asserting there is no other like Yahweh … This song is indeed a celebration of Yahweh’s incomparability. Yahweh is the one who has the power to transform and the willingness to intervene on behalf
of the powerless.
Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching & Preaching: First & Second Samuel; Walter Brueggemann, John Knox Press
Romans 12:11-18
Life shaped in the way Paul describes it is … grateful response to the God who has delivered us from our slavery to sin. These admonitions are thus not “law” in the sense of requirements we must fulfill if God is to accept us. Paul is not smuggling the law through the back door, as it were, in his ethical admonitions. The admonitions are not contrary to grace, they are the response to grace taken seriously enough to shape one’s life accordingly.
Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching & Preaching: Romans; Paul Achtemeier, John Knox Press
What is your initial reaction to hearing waiting linked with rejoicing?
What could waiting upon the Lord with rejoicing look like for you?
In what ways do you see congregations following or struggling to follow Paul’s instructions in Romans 12:11-18?
In what ways do you follow or struggle to follow these instructions in your own life of Christian discipleship?
Closing Prayer based on Hymn Joy to the World
Joy to the world! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And heaven and nature sing.
Amen
(Download Sesson #3 Information as a PDF)
Session #4 - December 21, 2021
Watch the recorded intro on YouTube
Wa i t U p o n t h e L o r d w i t h G ra t i t u d e
Series Theme Verse: They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31
Week 3 Theme Verse: I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
Psalm 9:1
Opening Prayer
O Lord, rend the heavens and come down. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in the night of despair. Show forth your power and might, just as you did in the days of Zechariah the priest; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit—God forever. Amen.
Isaiah 51:2-4
Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song. “Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
1 Thessalonians 5:13b – 28
Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Luke 1:67-79
And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Reflection
Luke 1:67-79
Zechariah’s own story, of nine months’ silence suddenly broken at the naming of the child, is a smaller scale of what was going on in the Israel of his day. Prophecy, many believed, had been silent for a long time. Now it was going to burst out again, to lead many back to true allegiance to their God. What had begun as a kind of punishment for Zechariah’s lack of faith now turns into a new sort of sign, a sign that God is doing a new thing.
Luke for Everyone; Tom Wright, Westminster John Knox Press
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
There is always something for which to give thanks. Even on the darkest day there are blessings to count. We must always remember that if we face the sun the shadows will fall behind us, but if we turn our backs on the sun all the shadows will be in front.
The Daily Bible Study Series: The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians; William Barclay, Westminster Press
How often do you “count your blessings”?
How does “counting your blessings” impact you?
What could waiting upon the Lord with gratitude look like for you?
For what are you thankful right now?
Closing Prayer based on Hymn The First Noel (last verse)
Then let us all with one accord Sing praises to our heavenly Lord, That hath made heaven and earth of naught, And with His Blood mankind hath bought. Noel. Born is the King of Israel. Amen.
(Download Sesson #4 Information as a PDF)