“Watching for the Returning King” - The River Service

In this Advent sermon, Rev. Billy Cerveny confronts the reality of “spiritual sleep”—the slow drift from attentiveness to God into old habits, indifference, and forgetfulness. Drawing from Matthew 24 and Jesus’ call to “keep watch,” he explores how spiritual slumber often hides beneath the busyness and trivialities of everyday life. Rather than living awake to the reality of God’s kingdom, we settle into patterns that lull our hearts away from Christ.

Rev. Cerveny shows that staying spiritually awake isn’t about anxiety, fear, or obsessing over signs of the Second Coming—it’s about living a life of repentance. God often uses the pain, disappointments, and disruptions we face to awaken us to our need and turn our hearts back toward Him. True watchfulness means becoming aware of our own hearts, letting God break the soil of our lives, and turning toward Jesus—the One who once “broke in” to steal away our sin and who will one day return to gather His people.

Advent invites us to resist indifference, rest in Christ’s sufficiency, and live expectantly for the Savior who never sleeps and who promises to come again.