My short series on the Feasts of the OT will come to a close this week. A short recap of the previous weeks:

• God Redeems His People- Passover
• God Separates His People- Firstfruits and Pentecost
• God Reminds His People- Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and Sukkot (Booths/Tabernacles/Ingathering)

This week’s sermon is God Delivers His People. This one is a bit different in that it will also lead right into our Christmas celebration. The two feasts this week are Hanukkah (aka the Feast of Dedication) and lesser-known one called Purim.

Neither feast finds its roots in the OT Law where God requires the Jewish people to observe them as He has the others before mentioned. As we will see, Hanukkah found its roots during that Intertestamental period (between Malachi and Matthew) as a celebration of the Maccabean revolt against Syrians. Purim is a feast of celebration for the salvation of the Jews during the time of Esther.  Both are feasts of celebration of God’s preservation and protection.

I chose these two and chose to do them last because I felt they would be a great lead-in to our celebration for Christmas.  I begin next week with a 4 part series called Expect the Unexpected. Here is the lineup:

• The Unexpected Birth
• The Unexpected Child
• The Unexpected News
• The Unexpected Dawn (January 1 sermon)
• AND THEN COMES REVELATION!!

I hope to see you this Sunday for the final “feasts” sermon and then during the month of December. If you are unable to be there, we do live stream our services at 9 and 10:45. You can go to the church’s website (ovcf.org) to see where to watch.