Christmas Eve Candlelight Service (3) First B Jackson 2015-12-24 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- All right. Merry Christmas, everybody. How we feeling tonight? Thank you. Yeah. Like it. Enthusiasm. Hey. Welcome to First Bee. And if you're visiting here for the first time, really, really good to see you. Glad that you're here. There's enormous cookies back there. They're the size of they're the size of your head. And if you if you're visiting, please, there are people back there with baskets and they will give them to you. Even if you're not visiting, just like you've got kids. Go ahead. Go ahead and get we wanna see them gone at the end. But really, just to say, glad you're here. Glad you're here. Tonight is just meant to be a fun, reflective, worshipful night. We're here to celebrate the Christ in Christmas. Amen? Amen. We'll read scripture, reading through the nativity story, worship in song. I I really wanna hear you sing. And then candle lighting. Watch your eyebrows when we get to that point. Speaking of candle lighting, I'd like to invite up the ION family here to light the Christ candle here on this advent wreath. So I'm gonna I'm gonna have them take it away. Today marks the end of our advent journey. We've prepared our hearts, our minds, and our spirits for the celebration of Christ's entrance into the world. As we light the Christ candle, may we devote our lives to reflecting his light. He is the light of the world. In John eight twelve, how Jesus said, who I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Can I invite you to stand up and we'll sing together? And again, let this be an opportunity for you to to sing out and remember our lord. Oh, come all ye faithful, joyful, and triumphant. Oh come ye oh come ye to bear my hand come and behold come and behold in born the and that's why we're Christ the Lord. Sing choirs of angels. Sing choirs of angels. Sing in exaltation. Sing on citizens of heaven And Lord, we greet thee. From John one, God's unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus. He has revealed God to us. Joy? Yeah? Alright. Joy to the world. Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive a king. And key. Alright. Amen. Amen. You all can be seated and I'm gonna ask our narrator to keep going for us. Alright then. This is from Isaiah seven fourteen. Alright then. The Lord himself will give you the sign. Look, the virgin will conceive a child. She will give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel which means God is with us. For a child is born to us, a son is given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, and prince of peace, and his government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of heaven's armies will make this happen. Isaiah nine, and seven. But you, oh Bethlehem, Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah, yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past, Micah five two. The prophets foretold Jesus was coming. If you'd like to, just stay seated and but the words are on the screen. Invite you to sing with. God rest you. God rest you, Mary gentlemen. And I thank you, despair. Remember Christ our savior. It's born upon this day to save us Now sing praises to our Lord. Now to the Lord, sing praises on you within this place. And with true love and brotherhood, each other now embrace this holy tidal Christmas unstoppable and this is how Jesus, the Messiah, was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph but before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiance, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly. So, he decided to break the engagement quietly but as he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. Joseph, son of David, the angel said, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this occurred to fulfill the Lord's message through his prophet. Look, the virgin will conceive a child. She will give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel which means God is with us. When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. Of Syria. All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census and because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David's ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiance, who was now obviously pregnant and while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son, and she wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no lodging available for them. And that night, there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep, and suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terrified but the angel reassured them, don't be afraid, he said, I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The savior, yes, the Messiah, the Lord, has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David and you will recognize him by this sign, you'll find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth and lying in a manger and suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others, the armies of heaven, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased. When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, let's go to Bethlehem. Let's see this thing that has happened which the Lord has told us about and they hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph and there was the baby lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds story were astonished but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen and it was just as the angel had told them. Luke two. Amen. Amen. What do you say we stand up? We celebrate too. Shepherds, why this jubilee? Come to Bethlehem and see Christ whose Noel. We'll sing Noel and that means the announcement of the good news that Jesus Christ was born not just for Israel but for all mankind so we could receive forgiveness through him. So, y'all can have a seat. I've got the next part of the narration. Next part of the story is right here and you'd expect it from Matthew two but I've got another piece, a little piece and most of y'all who know who I am, I'm a preacher. So, this is what I do, right? I'll try to just keep it really brief but I want to say something. This next part is expected and it talks about the wise men. So, let's read that first. Matthew two, we're going to read one through 12 of this. This is early in Jesus's life and notice that he's called the king, the capital K king. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod, the small K king. Behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem which was the capital city, right? Where you'd expect a king to be born. Wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born? Capital K, king of the Jews. For we have seen a star in the East and we've come to worship him. When Herod, the king, small K, heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with the scribes of the people together, they were troubled. He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. The Christ, capital C. Means king, the anointed one, the Messiah. So, they said to him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet and actually we read this a few minutes ago from Micah but you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you shall come a capital R, ruler. Capital K, king, capital C, Christ. Who will shepherd my people, Israel? Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star had appeared, and he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the young child, capital C. Every time you see a capital, this is talking about Jesus, okay? Go and search carefully for this young child. He wasn't willing to call him a king. And when you have found him, bring back word to me that I may come and worship him also. Wink, wink. When they heard the small cake king, they departed and behold the star which they had seen in the East went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was and when they saw the star, they rejoice with exceedingly great joy. I think this is cool. I'm going stop right here for just a second. God was reaching out at that time to people who didn't know him. These were pagan guys from the Far East. Didn't know Jesus, didn't know God, but God was communicating to them in a language that they understood. He drew them. That's what God does. Amen. So, he's drawing them and when they seen the star, they rejoice exceedingly great joy and when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and they worshiped him and when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him, gold and frankincense and myrrh. Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way. They knew better than to go back to that small K king and announce that capital K king's birth. We're we're actually, they're they're walking up the aisle here with plates. We're going to take up an offering right now and it's not because I have a big group of people here. I want to go to the other end of Jesus's life for a minute and this is something that might not be quite as expected and the reason I think this hit me so hard this week is because I saw the people of this community coming into this church. I know not all all y'all come to this church. Some of y'all from parts back east and down south and all over the place but we had folks come in this week that brought in gifts for people that are needy, families and so this set of verses was coming to mind. Now, every Christmas Eve for as far back as anybody can remember, First B's had an evening worship service on Christmas Eve and we've always taken up an offering during both those services and it's always been for local benevolence. So, that's what this is for. This is not for the general operating fund. It's not for the pastor's love gift. It is not for all manner of things that it might be. This one's just for local benevolence. Really, it's so that when somebody comes in and they're having difficulty and having a problem, they need food or they need clothing or they need shelter, we're able to say yes if we have money in this fund. So, that's what we're going to take it up and that reminded me of this next set of verses. So, the first little part of Jesus's life, the wise men come and when they come, they fell down on their face and they worshiped him and it says and then they open up their treasures and they presented gold, frankincense, and myrrh. For any of you know who know the rest of that story, Herod wants to kill Jesus, right? And when he warns Joseph in a dream, you need to take this child and take your wife and get them down to Egypt. Well, what does a poor builder do if he's broke and can't get anywhere? Well, those wise men had come and they had offered him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. That's traveling money. Praise God he provides. So, Matthew 25, this is the Olivet discourse. It's in the last week right before the crucifixion. Jesus is explaining to his disciples what's going on in the next little time here and you'll see the capital K king up there and then, the king, Jesus is explaining, will say to those on his right hand, come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the very foundation of the world. For when I was hungry, you gave me food. When I was thirsty, you gave me drink. When I was a stranger, you took me in. When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was sick, you came and visited me and when I was in prison, you came to me and then the righteous will answer him and say, lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in or naked and clothe you and when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the capital K king will answer to them and say to them, assuredly I say to you that in as much as you have done it, to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me. So, praise God. This week, I've seen an a tremendous outpouring of support for about 14 or 15 families, needy families that were on the angel tree back there and then, the day before yesterday, we found out about 10 more families that had a need and folks from the church and from this community just came in and answered all that and as much as you've done it to the least of these. Praise God. You've done it to Jesus. So, this is for the local benevolence fund and it is completely and totally voluntary. We don't expect you to do this but if you want to, we want to give you the chance. So, God, would you bless this as Beth sings, oh holy night. Amen. Holy night the stars are brightly shining it is the night of the savior's birth led by the light king of kings layth us in lovey manger in all our trials, born to be our friend. Knows Truly he taught us to love his law, his love, and his gospel is peace. Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother and in his name all oppression shall cease sweet hymns of joy in for chorus raise we let all within us praise his holy name So as Jesus grew and became a man in John eight twelve, he said, I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't have to walk in the darkness because you'll have the light that leads to life. And tonight, I I want you to hear that very real invitation to you, to to I, to us, to follow God's one and only son, the one that leads to light, the light of the world to rescue us from the darkness of sin and death so that by belief in him, we have eternal life. Amen. That's what tonight is about. Jesus really is the greatest gift that we could ever receive at Christmas, and he's the gift that keeps on giving. In response to this invitation, we're gonna close in a candle lighting, and I'll invite you to stand up if you would do that. And while you're standing, I'll invite Ray to light his candle from the Christ candle from the Advent wreath. That represents Jesus. He is the light of life. And then we'll pass that light. In turn, we'll pass that light to one another representing our test to light that light. Let that light of Christ shine through us to the world. So when your candle's lit, please just be sure to just hold it straight up. Alright? Let that unlit candle reach your candle so that we we can all keep our eyebrows tonight. Does that sound alright? And then while we're lighting candles, can I just invite you the the words will be on the screen, but just to join us in song here in reflection, knowing why Jesus came? He loves us. God so loved the world that he gave his son. Whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Would you join us in silent night too? Lord, again, once we we thank you once again that you came to meet us, right where we're at, and not just not not just in the manger, but then you lived that perfect life. You died that perfect death for us, then you rose again. And then you ascended, but you sent your Holy Spirit, and and here you are living in us. We thank you that you are still with us today, and we thank you that you're coming back. And we give you praise. Amen. You could blow out your candles here. Here's what I want you to know tonight. There's nothing that can extinguish the true light of Christ that lives in those who've put their faith and trust in him. John one five says, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. Be encouraged by that. The darkness of this world cannot extinguish the light of Christ. And you and I, we have a privilege, and that privilege is to let that light shine through us. Amen? From Matthew five. You're the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden, neither do people light a lamp, put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven. So that's what this last song is about. Can I encourage you? Sing out. Sing the mountain Go Florine. Hey. May God bless and keep you. Let that light shine. Merry Christmas, everybody. Merry Christmas.