Looking for God in All the Wrong Places

This Advent sermon challenges contemporary misunderstandings of Jesus' prophetic warnings in Matthew 24, arguing that His primary focus was the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD, not solely the end times. The pastor emphasizes the importance of reading Scripture through the lens of first-century Jewish audiences while applying it to 21st-century lives. The message calls for "forgiving God"—essentially humbling ourselves to see God as He truly is rather than as we've made Him in our own image. Like the man on the rooftop who missed God's provision through practical means, we often look for God in the wrong places, missing His actual work in our lives. The sermon reveals God's compassion even in judgment, giving the Jews 40 years and multiple signs before Jerusalem's destruction, demonstrating that Jesus, as the final sacrifice, ended the need for temple sacrifices. This first Sunday of Advent focuses on forgiveness—forgiving our misunderstandings of God and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts.