Christmas service

Reformed Ex-mormon iconReformed Ex-mormon

2 views

0 comments

00:08
Well, Merry Christmas Valley Baptist Church. It's a blessing to see everyone here tonight. It really really is
00:14
It's a joy not only to come together and worship God with one another and have fellowship with one another
00:20
But also particularly today if you guys haven't gotten the notice yet. It's Christmas night, right?
00:26
I hope we're all aware that I hope we're all here to celebrate the birth of Our one and only
00:31
God becoming flesh living a perfect life and dying that death that we deserve and being buried and rising again on The third day, so it truly is a blessing to have everyone here tonight
00:39
So just welcome to everybody that's here. It's a blessing to be able to see everyone and to have fellowship
00:45
I just wanted to do a quick rundown of today's bulletin and announcements real fast on this this Bulletin this agenda if you didn't get one out front
00:54
We're gonna be doing a prayer right after I'm done up here Brother Rick will be leading us in that and then what we're gonna do is we're gonna do a hymn singing
01:02
Followed by a reading from a couple different volunteers from around the room here tonight And then we're gonna do another singing and then we're gonna have a short message from the book of Matthew After which we're gonna do another singing followed by a candlelight service and after that we're gonna be doing communion
01:19
So we'll be able to come together to want with one another to the Lord's table here tonight Which is gonna truly be a blessing after which we're gonna have another singing and following that I would invite everybody to stay
01:30
Afterwards and enjoy the fellowship as we have the gym obviously open Cookies and hot chocolate and coffee if we have any late -night coffee drinkers like myself.
01:40
I made a lighter pot though So hopefully it doesn't keep you guys up all night. And if any of the kids get into it
01:45
Hopefully it doesn't keep them up all night either. So anyway on that note, just welcome everybody I'll go ahead and turn the time over to Rick to open us up with with a word of prayer
02:03
Jesus we thank you for all that you have given us And we think that we have the opportunity privilege to come here this evening to worship you to gather on Lord's Day and not just any
02:14
Lord's Day, but when that happens fall on Christmas Day and We thank you that we can
02:20
Celebrate and worship you and thank you for coming to earth Not just to be a baby in a manger and that you didn't just stay there but you live the perfect life that we couldn't live you you died on the cross and took the punishment for our sins
02:38
You took the curse that we deserved and then you rose again and you've ascended sitting at the right hand of the
02:44
Father We thank you for Calling us us out to be your church And just pray that you bless this time and that you would be pleased with their worship and in Jesus name we pray.
02:55
Amen I would invite you to please stand as we sing this first song together
03:46
Oh Now Oh Oh Oh About me
06:27
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth To a virgin be thrown to a man whose name was
06:35
Joseph of the house of David The virgin's name was Mary and having come in the angel said to her rejoice highly favored one
06:43
The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women? But when she saw him she was troubled at the same and considered what manner of greeting this was then the angel said to her do not be afraid
06:54
Mary for you have found favor with God and Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth his son and shall call his name
07:01
Jesus He will be great and will be called the son of the highest and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father
07:07
David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom There will be no end then
07:13
Mary said to the angel How can this be since I do not know a man and the angel answered and said to her the
07:19
Holy Spirit will come upon You and the power of the highest will overshadow you therefore also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the
07:26
Son of God Now indeed Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age And this is now the sixth month of her who was called barren for with God.
07:36
Nothing will be impossible Then Mary said behold the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word and the angel departed from her
07:50
To the city of Judah and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth when
07:56
Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting the baby bleeped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the
08:01
Holy Spirit and she cried out with a loud voice and said Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb
08:08
And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord for behold when the sound of your greeting
08:17
Reached my ears that baby
08:47
And his mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear him
08:52
He has done mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart
08:59
He has brought down rulers from their thrones and has exalted those who were humble He has filled the humble with good things and has sent away the rich and the needy
09:08
He has given help to Israel his servant in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers to Abraham and his offspring forever
09:17
And Mary stayed with her about three months and then returned to her home Luke 2
09:24
Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus the census be taken of all the inhabitants of the earth
09:30
This was the first census taken world Berenius was governor of Syria and everyone was on his way to register for the census each to his own city
09:38
Joseph also went up from Galilee from the city of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David which is called
09:45
Bethlehem Because he was of the house In order to register along with Mary who was engaged to him
09:53
While they were there the days were completed And she gave birth to her firstborn son and she wrapped him in clothes and laid him in a manger
10:01
Because there's no room for them in the same region There were some shepherds staying out in the field and keeping watch over their flock
10:09
And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them in the glory of the Lord shown around them and they were terribly frightened
10:16
But the angels said to them don't be afraid for look I proclaim to you good news of great joy
10:22
That will be for all the people Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you who is the
10:29
Messiah the Lord This will be the sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger
10:37
Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angels praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to people he favors
10:48
When the angel had left them and returned to heaven the shepherds said to one another
10:54
Let's go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us
11:00
They hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger After seeing them they reported the message that they were told about this child and All who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them
11:14
But Mary was treasuring up all of these things in her heart and meditating on them
11:19
The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard which were just as they had been told
11:29
We'll now go ahead and sing our second song The flesh keeps silence and with fear and trembling
12:16
Nothing With blessing
12:28
I've got to Be King of Kings yet born of Mary Lord's inhuman
12:56
Vesture in the body and He will give to all the faithful His own self for heavenly fruit
13:15
Rank on rank the hosts of heaven
13:21
Tread before Him on the way
13:27
As the Lion King from the age of years away
13:51
At His feet the six -winged Seraph Cherubim with sleepless eyes
14:03
Fill their faces to the present As with ceaseless voice they cry
14:14
Alleluia Alleluia Lord, Alleluia Alleluia When we think about all the festivities, all the importance that is
15:04
Christmas, all the traditions and all the things that we can remember from when we were little up until today, the most significant part about Christmas is remembering the purpose of it, to remember why it was, what was the bringing about the birth of our
15:19
Savior. And that's what we're really going to be discussing today. And that's the significance and the importance that we actually meet here every single
15:26
Sunday, every single Lord's Day, is to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, our God.
15:33
And so I hope today as we consider this and we focus mostly in the birth of our Savior, that we can be reminded of those things, that we can be encouraged in those things, that our faith might reside in those things.
15:45
So let us go ahead and start off with a little prayer before we get into the message for tonight. If you'd like to start turning your way, we're going to be reading from the book of Matthew.
15:54
Matthew chapter one, verses 21 through 23 for the night. And what we're going to really be doing is we're going to be looking at really just a quick rundown of the entirety of the book of Matthew.
16:07
You might be, oh man, we're going to be here for a while. We could be, very well be, but I don't think we will.
16:13
We'll just be taking the important stuff from the beginning and looking at the important stuff at the end.
16:19
And I think that that's going to mean a lot for us tonight as we consider what Christmas is all about.
16:26
What's the whole meaning of Christmas? But let us go ahead and start off with a word of prayer. Lord God, I do thank you,
16:33
Lord, for the time that we have here with one another, with family and friends, loved ones, and brothers and sisters, and our community.
16:46
I pray for those that aren't able to make it here tonight, Lord. For whatever reason, whether it be traveling, whether it be illness, whether it be road conditions, whatever it is,
16:55
Lord, I pray that you do with everyone in this.
17:04
Let your peace resound in our lives, revive our hearts and our minds again today.
17:11
And Lord, let us shout a new song of praise and reflection of your goodness,
17:17
Lord. God, you are the light that draws the nations to yourself,
17:22
Lord. And we thank you for this. And we say this in your holy name, Jesus, the Messiah, Emmanuel.
17:29
Amen. Let's go ahead and read the selected text for tonight. Matthew 1, verses 21 through 23.
17:39
And she will bear a son, and you shall call his name
17:45
Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
17:52
Now all this took place in order that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophets would be fulfilled, saying,
18:01
Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name
18:09
Emmanuel, which translated means God with us.
18:17
When I was in preparation for this wonderful text this week, I found myself at the firehouse this week at my job, marveling over this text, not being able to sleep over this text, finding myself, this isn't a shameful thing to admit at all, but having tears of joy and sadness, distress, happiness, all the emotions there bottled up in the back of a fire engine as we're going to calls.
18:44
I'm wiping my eyes as we're going into patients' houses. I'm not even kidding with you about this.
18:51
The significance of this text really comes about from the reading that we had just a little bit ago.
18:58
All these things that are meeting up with it, as we have had the last two books of the church that we've gone through, has been the book of Ruth and the book of Haggai.
19:08
And I've had several people after each one of the messages, after each one of the considerations of those texts, come up and say, how could they not have recognized the
19:17
Christ? How could the Pharisees have crucified
19:23
Jesus Christ? Because in this Old Testament, it's so clear what it was prophesying about.
19:29
And that happens over and over and over again, all throughout the
19:35
Old Testament. And so what we're going to be looking here is that the beginning of the book of Matthew, and we're going to be looking and considering the end of the book of Matthew.
19:44
Because all those shadows in the Old Testament, each and every one of them find their resting place, find their end, find their completeness in where the substance comes about.
19:57
And what we're reading right now is the fullness of that substance. Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us.
20:06
It does not get any better than knowing Jesus today. It does not get any better than that right here in this text.
20:14
So let us consider here in Matthew 1, verse 21. This comes after, this is being spoken to Joseph, the husband or the soon -to -be husband of Mary in this text, who is concerned that his wife, his soon -to -be wife, is pregnant currently.
20:33
And he's alarmed by this. He's worried by this. And he has an angel that comes to him and tells him that she's actually conceived this child, not by natural means, not by having a male have sexual relationships with a wife, but that she was overshadowed by the
20:53
Holy Spirit. And this angel tells Joseph that she,
20:58
Mary, will bear a son. And this is where we see the name of Jesus and the significance of what the name of Jesus is.
21:10
She will bear a son and you shall call his name
21:15
Jesus. Acts chapter 4 says that there is no other name underneath heaven whereby which a man must be saved other than the name of Jesus.
21:28
This name is the most important name that we could ever consider. And we have the definition of His name here in this text.
21:37
And I don't ever want us to ever utter that name Jesus again without considering what the name actually means.
21:44
And it says it here for us. His name, Jesus, for He will save His people.
21:54
And notice in there that the definite statement of this, He will save His people.
22:02
It doesn't say that He might save His people. It doesn't say that He could save His people. It says that He will save His people.
22:11
And so when you have faith, this text continues on. And it says, what is it saving them from?
22:16
Their sins. And we're going to circle back around to this principle here in a moment with saving them from their sins after we read verse 23.
22:25
But it says, now all this took place in order to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord.
22:32
Who is this Lord? It's God. It's God that speaks to Isaiah in chapter 7 of Isaiah where this prophecy is given.
22:43
And the prophecy is this. Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call
22:56
His name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us.
23:03
So God Himself is the one that prophesies to Isaiah 700 years before the birth of Christ.
23:11
And what is the name? What is one of the titles that Christ will have? Emmanuel.
23:19
Later on in that same text, it says that you shall call Him Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
23:29
This is the fullness of the substance. This is the coming about of all the prophecies.
23:38
Everything that was in the Old Testament over years upon years across continents, across peoples and groups, they were all speaking about the very one person, and that is
23:50
Jesus Christ, this substance that we have here in this text. You shall call
23:55
Him Emmanuel, which translated God with us.
24:02
God with us. And this is to fulfill all things so that He might save His people from their sins.
24:10
I want to do something, as many times in many books, not even just in the
24:17
Bible, but what we see as a principle of people that author books, is that you will see things in the bookends.
24:25
You'll see things that are significant in the beginning of the book that find their completion in the end of the book.
24:31
You see a bookend. It's at the beginning, following at the end. What I'm going to do here is
24:37
Matthew has done this very specific thing, has taught us some very important stuff at the beginning of the book that finds its end at the end of the book.
24:47
So let's look at these things. And I would encourage you, if you have your Bibles open, to just follow along with me on this.
24:54
We'll be just, like I said, doing a quick sweep of the entirety of the book of Matthew by looking at the beginning and comparing it to the end.
25:02
In verse 1 of chapter 2, it says, Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judah, in the days of Herod the king, behold,
25:09
Magi, that's what we just read about, about the shepherds and the wise men, coming to see the birth of Jesus Christ.
25:16
Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who is born King of the
25:24
Jews? Notice that right there,
25:29
King of the Jews. This baby,
25:37
King of the Jews. What does it say after they say this?
25:44
For we saw his star in the east, and we have come to worship him.
25:53
Immediately, your mind should be thinking here, what does the Bible say about our worship, and who should it be to alone?
26:01
To God alone receives the worship. Who are the Magi coming to worship?
26:08
A baby laying in a manger, Emmanuel, God with us. He was worthy of worship because it's fully
26:18
God. And this truth is something that is miraculous to even think about.
26:25
That the creator of all things, both heaven, he comes about through the womb, and he takes a breath of the very creation that he has made.
26:34
He learns how to walk on the very ground that he shaped with his hands. He's cradled in the hands of the sinful creation that fell many, many years prior.
26:51
This is the miracle that we talk about with Christmas, that this infinite, holy, wise, eternal
26:58
God has stepped into time with us. And that all the prophecies are fulfilled right there, and this is
27:06
God in flesh, and we should worship him. And notice how I said that, we should worship him.
27:14
Today, as well as 2 ,000 years ago, and that's what the Magi did. They came to worship the baby
27:20
Jesus, because it was God there. And he was king of the
27:26
Jews, is what it says in here. I want you to pay attention now to another thing. I want you to remember that very explicitly.
27:33
Look at verse 11, it says, And after coming into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell to the ground, and they worshipped him.
27:42
So not only did they come to worship him, but they did worship him. Then opening their treasures, they presented to him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
27:53
They fell to the ground, and they worshipped him. So remember this, Jesus is king of the
28:01
Jews, and because he's God, he is deserving of worship.
28:07
Let's take a look at another bookend that this book of Matthew establishes for us.
28:14
They fell to the ground, and they worshipped him, because he was deserving of worship. And he was deserving of worship, not only from the
28:23
Magi, but from all people. Including the kings of the earth, the governors, the rulers,
28:32
Herod himself. And we read from the book of Luke, what did Herod seek to do? He was worried about being a king, and so he sought to kill all the babies in that area.
28:45
All those that are two years and under. God with us deserved worship, and what did the king of this world seek to do?
28:55
Murder him. They sought his death immediately.
29:06
The one that fills all things was sought to be killed.
29:12
The one who upholds the very life of Herod, with the power of his own word, was sought to be killed by the leaders of this world.
29:24
Now think about this now for a moment. He's deserving of worship, he receives hateful, sinful, depraved man.
29:35
And it says that when Joseph and Mary had found out about this, they departed. Behold, in verse 13,
29:41
Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Get up and take the child, his mother, and flee to Egypt.
29:49
And remain there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him. So Joseph got up and took the child and his mother, while it was still night, and departed for Egypt.
30:01
And he remained there until the death of Herod, in order that what had been spoken by the
30:08
Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying, Out of Egypt I shall call my son.
30:16
And this is quoting from the Old Testament about the people of Israel, that they saw themselves as the son of God.
30:23
But it's actually saying that according to that, it was speaking about a future day of Christ, that he was going to go to Egypt and be called out of it, so it was a fulfillment of that.
30:33
We continue to see this all throughout the beginning of here in the book of Matthew. Now take notice, follow me down to verse 23 here.
30:43
So right now we have established Jesus, King of the Jews, worthy of worship, sought to be killed.
30:50
The fulfillment of all prophecy, the fulfillment of all of Israel. And in verse 23 it says,
30:57
And came and lived. So this is after Herod has died, and Joseph and Mary with their son,
31:03
Jesus, has gone back to Jerusalem. And it says that they resided in a city called
31:12
Nazareth, so that what was spoken through the prophets would be fulfilled. He shall be called a
31:19
Nazarene. This book has done something amazing for us here just at the beginning of the book.
31:29
In verse 1 of chapter 1 it says that this is the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David and the son of Abraham.
31:38
This book has established something truly remarkable for us here in the birth account of Jesus. It's teaching us that He is that promised seed that was going to come about and save His people, and that the titles that He is going to have of many is that His name will be
31:54
Jesus. You shall call Him God with us. He's deserving of worship, and He's a
32:00
Nazarene, and He's the King of the Jews. I want to now go to the very other side of this book now.
32:10
Let's go to Matthew chapter 26.
32:25
Matthew chapter 26, verses 63 to 68.
32:43
This is Jesus before the Jewish Pharisees, the people who knew the
32:50
Old Testament best. And Jesus was before them, the high priests,
32:57
Caiaphas in this day. And it says, after being charged and men coming up and accusing
33:04
Jesus of what He has said and done and why He's deserving of death. It says here in verse 63 that Jesus kept silent and the high priest said to Him, I put you under oath by the living
33:17
God, this is Caiaphas, that you tell us whether you are the
33:23
Christ, the son of God. Now, in the other accounts of this text that takes place here in Matthew 26, it says that Jesus said to Him, ego emi,
33:37
I am. Which is the very explicit name of God in this day, in this
33:44
Greek language. So He says to Him, ego emi, I am. You yourself said it.
33:52
What did He just claim before Caiaphas? That He is the
33:58
Christ, that He is the son of the living God. You said it yourself.
34:07
Nevertheless, I tell you hereafter, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.
34:14
And brothers and sisters, know of how they respond to our
34:21
God with us after He says this to Him. Then the high priest tore his garments and said,
34:31
He has blasphemed. What further need do we have of a witness?
34:38
Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy. What do you think? And they answered and said, He is deserving of death.
34:49
And they spat on His face and they beat Him with their fists and others slapped
34:55
Him and said to us, Oh Christ, who is the one who hit you?
35:06
Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews. God with us who is deserving of worship.
35:15
What does He receive right here? Vile brood of vipers, house and den of wolves have come and have sought to kill.
35:33
Oh Christ, who is the one who hit you? Bookends.
35:43
Jesus is Christ, the Son of God. Now let's look and consider
35:50
Matthew 27, 11. Jesus is King. Matthew chapter 27, verse 11.
36:01
Now Jesus stood before the governor. This is before Pilate. And the governor questioned
36:09
Him and said, Are you the King of the Jews? And Jesus said to him,
36:18
You say it yourselves. The same exact saying that He said to Caiaphas, the high priest.
36:24
You said it yourself. Jesus is
36:30
King of the Jews. Follow your eyes just down a little bit further in verse 27 to 31.
36:37
Then when the soldiers of the governor, this is Pilate, took Jesus into the praetorium, they gathered the whole
36:44
Roman cohort around Him and they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.
36:51
And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head and a reed in His right hand and they knelt down before Him and mocked
36:59
Him saying, Hail, King of the Jews. Follow your eyes now down to verse 37 of the same chapter.
37:16
And above His head, they put up the charge against Him, which read,
37:25
This is Jesus. What's the definition of Jesus's name? He will save His people.
37:32
And what is it that they put above His head? This is Jesus, the
37:38
King of the Jews. In the other Gospels accounts, it says that it was, This is
37:43
Jesus, the Nazarene, King of the
37:49
Jews. Jesus, He will save His people.
38:02
Verse 50 and 51. In verse 55, it says,
38:36
This was God's Son. Brothers and sisters,
38:44
I hope you see in this text, the bookends. Matthew is established in the very get -go doctrine for us.
38:56
And we see what Christ deserved. But yet, what did
39:03
He receive? And why did
39:08
He receive it? It circles back to the very reason that He's called
39:13
Jesus. For He will save His people from their sins.
39:21
This had to take place in the way that it took place, so that your sin, the sin that you have committed against God and God alone, you would have forgiveness in God and God alone, because it is
39:35
God Himself that has become incarnate. It is God Himself that dwelt there in the manger.
39:42
It is God Himself who spoke all things into existence, learning to babble and learning to talk, because He was truly
39:50
God and truly man. This is remarkable to consider and think about.
39:59
I want you to pay attention to one more of the bookends that we see here in the book of Matthew. After the resurrection, in verse 6 of Matthew 28, it says,
40:09
He is not here, for He is risen, just as He said, Come, see the place where He was lying. After this, when
40:16
He is amongst His disciples, those that have faith in Him for salvation.
40:24
It says this in verse 17, it says, And when they saw Him, they worshipped
40:31
Him. When they saw Him, they worshipped
40:38
Him. The whole purpose of why we are here today at 7 p .m.
40:45
on Christmas is to consider God Himself becoming flesh, receiving what
40:53
He was undeserving of, because He was only deserving of all glory, praise, and honor.
41:00
There isn't enough gold in the world that could be given to God to give what He is due.
41:06
Yet He is deserving of all these things, and what did He receive over from the very day that He was born?
41:13
The sword coming against His neck. The evil, vile man trying to kill
41:20
Him and reject Him. But yet we've seen the glory of who
41:25
God is, that this was all according to His sovereign plan to bring about your and my salvation.
41:32
Which, when we consider all these things, brothers and sisters, you have to have faith in Christ.
41:47
There is no other name underneath heaven whereby which a man must be saved other than Jesus Christ.
41:56
You are only saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. Listen to me, if you look to your own works of your hands, your own works of your hands is what sought to kill
42:07
Christ in the first place. They're nothing but filthy rags. This is the truth, that you are either slain by the king of kings, the king of the
42:18
Jews that we see here crucified before us. You are either slain by the king, or you're conquered by him in humble submission by being born again and made undeserving partakers of the kingdom of God.
42:33
Be born again today. We could talk for a long time on the marvel and the greatness that is here in the book of Luke, in the book of Mark, in the book of John, in the book of Matthew, about the incarnation of the one and only
42:48
God. The one who holds all things in the hollow of His hand, as the Old Testament would describe that He holds it,
42:55
He upholds it, He keeps it, He sustains it with His power. Yet there
43:03
He was 2 ,000 years ago being cradled by His own creation. God being wrapped in flesh.
43:13
We could talk about this for a very, very long time. But I hope today that if any of us have come here not knowing who
43:21
Christ is, not seeing that He is deserving of worship, yet He received the wounds on our behalf,
43:29
I would ask today that you be born again, that you turn from your sin and seeing what's before you, and you turn to the very cross that our
43:36
Christ received, and that there and there alone is your salvation.
43:42
And because that's your salvation, He is worthy of all worship. Let us go ahead and pray.
43:50
Lord God, I do thank You for Your holiness, for Your goodness,
43:57
Your greatness, Your peace, Your loving mercy, Your long -suffering, Lord.
44:03
I thank You for all that You are. And God, I pray today that we would consider these things, that we would consider the remarkableness, the miracle that is the birth of Your Son, Jesus.
44:23
Lord, I would ask You that You would cause each one of our mouths to sing loudly, not because we are singers, not because we are good at it,
44:33
Lord, but that You are worthy of worship, Lord. And God, I just pray that today we would love
44:42
You and be born again if we are not. And if we are, that we would be revived again today to sing this new song to You, Lord.
44:49
And I say this in Your holy name, Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the King of the Jews. Amen. I would invite you to...
44:59
We'll go ahead and stand on the last song, so we'll stay seating for this, but please sing and worship the
45:06
God who is deserving of such. Silent night, holy night.
45:36
All is calm, all is bright.
45:43
Round yon virgin, mother and child.
45:52
Holy infant so tender and mild.
46:00
Sleep in heavenly peace.
46:08
Sleep in heavenly peace.
46:16
Silent night, holy night.
46:24
Shepherds quake at the sight.
46:31
Glory streams from heaven afar.
46:40
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia.
46:48
Christ the Savior is born.
46:55
Christ the Savior is born.
47:03
Silent night, holy night.
47:10
Son of God, love's pure light.
47:19
Radiant beams from Thy holy face.
47:27
With the dawn of redeeming grace.
47:36
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.
47:44
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.
47:59
I was told that my mic was off, so I hope I was speaking loud enough for the guests in the back.
48:05
So what we're going to now do is a candle lighting service.
48:11
And before we do that, I want to read what we're doing tonight, why we're doing it, and the purpose of it, okay?
48:19
So my son was right up here with me, three years old.
48:26
My wife was explaining to him throughout this week the significance of Christmas. Why are we doing
48:32
Christmas? And so he was kind of confused, and so my wife said, Well, essentially we're celebrating the birth of Jesus like a birthday.
48:39
And so he was like, And my wife was like, Yeah, yep, that's what we're doing right now.
48:45
And he said, okay, well, and I'm adding words because he can't talk as many words as I can right now, but he said,
48:51
Are we going to Jesus's house? That's what he wanted to know. Are we going to go to Jesus's house later today?
48:58
And my wife told me this, and the remarkableness of this that I thought of was that if you were born again, according to the
49:07
New Testament, it says you are the house of God. That you are in his house already, currently.
49:17
Resides, is in the house of God. Now consider this text here in John chapter 1, verses 6 and on.
49:25
6 through 13, it says, There was a man having been sent from God, whose name was John.
49:31
He came as a witness to bear witness about the light, so that all might believe through him.
49:37
He was not the light. But he came to bear witness about the light. There was the true light, which coming into the world enlightens everyone.
49:48
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him.
49:54
He came to what was his own, and those who were his own did not receive him.
50:01
But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in his name.
50:13
Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
50:20
In Matthew chapter 5, which we won't read right now, it talks about that you don't put a light underneath a bush, underneath a bush, because why?
50:29
It's going to catch fire. You put the candle out.
50:35
You put it on the lampstand, so it gives light into the whole house. Now, what we're doing tonight is we are celebrating that light that is to bring all the nations into it, and that is
50:48
Jesus Christ is that light. John 1 explicitly tells us that Jesus is that true light.
50:55
And because Jesus is that true light, if you have been born again, you are members of that house that he gives light unto.
51:03
And so what we want to do tonight is we want to be pondering that, meditating upon that, thinking upon that, and considering about how when we have received the light, how can we show that light unto the world, those that we are amongst throughout the day.
51:19
And so I would encourage you as we do this, we'll turn off the lights. We'll have three of us, including myself, that come and light our candle, and we'll just go down the line passing the light,
51:30
Jesus Christ, along to one another. And just be pondering about today how can we share the light of Jesus Christ amongst the world and be members of his house.
51:42
So let's be pondering that as we do this. We can go ahead and stand, though, for this portion, so please stand with me.
54:58
Consider how dark the room, consider how dark this house was, how dark you were before you had the light.
55:07
Consider today how the light has affected you, what it's like to be a part of the house of God, and what it means unto the world that's dark outside around us.
55:18
I'm happy that we did this at 7 p .m. so we could have that wonderful representation. It would have been hard to do this during daylight time, right?
55:25
So I'd ask to just have the lights turned back on in this room. And we're going to blow out the lights, not because we can blow out
55:33
Christ, but because this is a fire hazard, and we don't want this to go bad on us up here, right?
55:39
It's only an analogy as far as it can go, right? So we'll go ahead and blow it out now, okay? So you can go ahead and be seated now.
55:50
I promise I will only make you stand up one more time for today. But this is the time that we're going to participate in the
56:00
Lord's Supper. So the light that came unto the world, that died the death that you and I deserve completely, and paid the sin debt of those that have faith in Him, His sheep,
56:13
He is the shepherd of His sheep. He said on the very night that He was crucified,
56:20
He said, Do this as often. Do this. Participating in what we do here today.
56:28
This is explicitly meant only for those that are in the house of God.
56:35
If there is any hesitation today that's on the heart of, Am I in the house of God or not?
56:41
I'd ask you to not participate in this. Not because we want to exclude you, but because this is a serious thing that is proclaimed here.
56:52
If you are hesitating about taking it, I would encourage you to be born again, fall upon the rock, fall upon the light, fall upon the very cross that our salvation is in, and there alone is where you have salvation.
57:10
And you are born again, and you have grace, and you're saved from your sins. And then I would ask you to participate in this with us.
57:17
And so, we'll have the deacons of this church come out and hand this out right now. So we do this together, because together we are saved at the same place, by that same flesh, and that flesh that died there upon the cross,
59:00
Jesus Christ. And so let us not forget that sacrifice today. Let us participate and partake in the remembrance of that.
59:10
Take a knee. So again, we do this together, and we do this very seriously.
01:00:34
We do this not just pushing it to the wayside, and not just not considering things or doing it inappropriately.
01:00:40
We do this in the remembrance of the blood that was spilt there on the cross.
01:00:46
The very grounds upon which we can plea before a holy God and say, I am covered in the blood of Jesus Christ.
01:00:54
I'm undeserving, I'm unworthy, but He is righteous. So we take this in the remembrance of that righteous blood.
01:01:03
Take a knee. We'll go ahead and stand for our final song here tonight.
01:01:16
I just want to thank everyone again for coming, and just let us sing glorious worship to that God, whom you're so undeserving of.
01:02:46
He repeats the same.
01:03:07
His blessings flow far as the person's mouth.
01:03:13
But He rules the world, makes the nations prove wonders of His love, and wonders of His love, of His love.
01:04:07
Brothers and sisters, let us just close with a prayer. And I would encourage you to please stay around.
01:04:13
We have some hot chocolates and coffee and cookies. So we'll pray a little. Our normal time for church service is at 11 a .m.
01:04:20
I would invite everyone to come back here next Sunday. We really are celebrating
01:04:26
Christmas every single Sunday that we meet. We're celebrating the birth of our Savior, His death, burial, and resurrection.
01:04:32
So let us go ahead and pray. Lord God, I just thank You for today. I thank You for the time here tonight,
01:04:38
Lord. I thank You for the privilege and honor it is to know who You are. God, I do just pray that we can go about later tonight in fellowship and love towards our family and the household of God, and that we would have great fellowship while we participate in these treats.
01:04:53
And Lord, I pray that You would bless the hands that have prepared those things for us, and that You would give us the nourishment from them that we need,
01:05:01
Lord. And so we thank You for the sweets that they are. And we just say this in Your name, the name that saves
01:05:08
His people, Jesus Christ, amen. When we started going,
01:05:51
I was like, oh, man, I bet this is one that is not that heavy. It was actually, I thought it would work out. And everybody just jumped in.