November 30th, 2025  Worship Bulletin

November 30th, 2025 Children’s Bulletin

November 30th, 2025 Devotion

November 30th, 2025  Children’s Message

Grace to you and peace. Amen.

Introduction

This morning marks the first message of both our Sunday and Midweek Advent series. Over the past three weeks, we have focused on the end times, the return of Jesus, the final Advent, when He will come again in glory.

That anticipation prepares us to look back to the first Advent, when God’s Son came in humility to a little burg called Bethlehem. The same promise that steadies us for His return, also fills us with joy for His birth. Many of the hymns we sing in this season could just as easily be sung in anticipation of His second coming and the Day of Judgment for Christians. Both proclaim hope, both proclaim peace, and both remind us: Jesus has come and Jesus will come again.

This series is called, The Missing Piece. Each week we add another piece to the puzzle that will be complete on Christmas. The missing piece is the peace Jesus brings. This morning learn what it means to find peace in the waiting.

Isaiah paints a picture of that peace:

“You will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.¹

I want you to see something in that verse. I need to teach you some Hebrew to see it. In the Hebrew language for that verse, the language Isaiah used to write it in his own hand, looks like this:

יֵ֣צֶר סָמ֔וּךְ תִּצֹּ֖ר שָׁל֣וֹם שָׁל֑וֹם כִּ֥י בְךָ֖ בָּטֽוּחַ׃

See what I mean!! The translation puts it as, “Perfect Peace” but look at it in the original language. That word שָׁל֣וֹם is Shalom. I want you to see that word appears twice in that verse. It’s saying you get a double portion of peace. God will give you your portion of peace, and then give you even more. It is peace that goes beyond our human ability to understand.²

It’s not the peace of an easy life but the peace that comes from the presence of God. Men, this peace steadies you to be the provider, protector, and spiritual leader your house needs. When the world shakes, a man grounded in faith gives his family piece.

The Restless House

On an early morning the alarm clock cuts through the dark, coffee brews, trucks start, and the rush begins. Sometimes it feels like we live like runners in the fog, moving fast but never arriving and not able to see the end.

God calls us to something different. The Bible says:

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You.³

When our minds are fixed on Jesus, peace begins to settle over the restless house. Peace is not the absence of problem. It is the presence of Jesus in the problems.

Zechariah’s Silence

In Luke chapter one we meet a man named Zechariah. He is a man faithful but fatigued. For years he prayed for a child and served God in the Temple. When an angel appeared, promising a new life, his faith faltered. God met his doubt not with punishment for doubt but with discipline to correct, prepare and teach.

That silence was God’s training ground. Zechariah’s voice was quieted so his mind could be renewed by the promises of God.⁴ Faithful waiting trains the mind just like labor trains the hands. When the mind is focused on Jesus it becomes strong, steady, and peaceful.

Gentlemen, the home follows the tone of its head. When you learn to quiet your heart before God, you teach your house peace is possible even when answers delay.

When John was born, Zechariah wrote, “His name is John,” and immediately his tongue was loosed,⁵ and the silence became song. The man who once doubted now declared God’s faithfulness. Train your mind. Fill it with what is pure and true.⁶ When you fix your thoughts on Jesus, He gives you the strength to lead your home well.

The Bible says:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.⁷

Cast your cares on Him, because He cares for you.⁸

The Lord is my rock and my fortress.⁹

This training renews the mind, bringing stability to you house. The man who practices this peace becomes the calming force in his family.

Christ Fills the Silence

Our Advent roads lead to Bethlehem. The centuries of waiting find their answer in the cry of a newborn Savior. The missing piece is Jesus who has come. 30 years later Jesus would say:

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.¹⁰

Jesus doesn’t just give peace. He is peace. When the storms come remember the One who stood and said, “Peace, be still.¹¹” You can’t speak what you don’t have. When Jesus dwells in you through His Word and Sacrament, His peace lives in you. That peace guards your minds,¹² renews your thoughts, and steadies your hand to lead well.

Lead at Home

Let the Advent wreath become your training ground. Gather your family, grab a copy of the Advent devotion and each day read it with your family. You don’t have to be a theologian. You don’t even have to know where to find things in the Bible. Just start. As you do, the peace of Jesus begins to fill your home with the kind of peace the world can’t give and can’t take away.

A peaceful man is a powerful witness. In a loud and angry world, the quiet strength of a Christian man becomes a sermon his children never forget.

Closing Thought

Advent waiting is not empty, it’s expectant. The missing piece of your peace is already on the way. As you wait, let your mind be renewed by the Words of Jesus, and let His שָׁל֣וֹם שָׁל֑וֹם shalom‑shalom guard your heart and your home. Next week, we’ll see how that peace begins to take root in our relationships. Until then, keep the watch, and train your mind in the truth of Jesus.

Amen.

=======

NOTES

1Isaiah 26:3–4

As We Gather

Today we begin Advent by learning what it means to wait with faith. In a restless world filled with noise, schedules, and worry, God calls us to fix our minds on Him. Through Zechariah’s quiet training and Isaiah’s promise of shalom-shalom, we hear that perfect peace is not an easy life, but the steady presence of Christ in the waiting. As we anticipate His birth in Bethlehem—and His return in glory—we learn to wait with hope, trusting that the missing piece of our peace is Jesus Himself.

Prayer Before Service

Almighty God, who has given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto You, and You have promised that when two or three are gathered together in Your name You are in the midst of them: fulfill now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of Your servants as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of Your truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

History:
This prayer, attributed to St. John Chrysostom (c. 349–407), has been used in the Church for centuries to acknowledge God’s promised presence among His people. It reinforces the Advent themes of watchfulness, expectation, and confidence that God hears and answers prayers in His perfect timing. It aligns naturally with the sermon’s teaching that Advent waiting forms and strengthens the Christian mind and household.