Christmas Eve Service 4:30pm.
First B Jackson
2021-12-25

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Hey. Welcome, everybody, and Merry Christmas. How are feeling? I wanna direct your attention right over here to Ray while he tries to light those candles. Hey.

We're we're glad that you're here to worship with us. And and we got a full house, and it feels good. And I'm I'm glad to see each and every one of you. Merry Christmas to you. Couple of things just to note before we get started here.

We would love to give you a little gift this evening before you go just to say Merry Christmas and glad you came. So please, would you let us give you a gift? It includes a cookie, if you like cookies. But there's going to be some elders or people right by the door to hand you one on the way out. So please, please take that.

And if for any reason that you're not able to be in this room, there is overflow down the hall. And the service is broadcasted down there. So if you need to step out for any reason, you can do that. And also, the nursery is open downstairs. There is no nursery person down there.

But parents, if you have to run downstairs, be in the nursery, this service is also broadcasted down there, okay? Sound good? How's everybody doing? That good. So tonight is just meant to be a fun and reflective and worshipful night.

Does that sound good to you? And are you ready to sing? Because really, we'll have familiar carols. We really want you to sing. This is participatory.

Is that the word? We're we're here to celebrate the Christ in Christmas. We'll read the nativity story, sing Christmas songs. We'll light some candles. We're gonna be careful with those candles, aren't we, this year?

There's no hair gonna be on fire, no no losing eyebrows. So to begin here, the candle lighting, I wanna invite up, I think it's Kevin, this this one. And I see him in the back. And he's gonna light the Christ, the much anticipated Christ candle on the advent wreath. At the end of the service, not quite yet, yeah, you can come on up, Kev.

We're gonna use that candle to light our candles. So thanks for being here, Kevin.

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, we may devote our lives to reflecting his light. He is the light of the world. In John eight twelve, Jesus said, I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Amen.

Would you stand with me? I'd love to to pray, and then we'll sing together. And God, we're grateful. Thank you. You are the reason for this season.

We look back at your first coming. We look forward to your second. Thank you, God, that we get to be here together corporately to worship you. You are worthy of it. Amen.

Hey. That's kind of fun. Shall we keep going? Yeah. Joy to the world from Luke 10.

This has been my favorite verse by far this Christmas season. This is the one that sticks with me. The angel's birth announcement to the shepherds. I bring you good news of great joy for all people. That good news is still good news today.

Amen? Let's sing it. Amen. You can have a seat for a little bit. We're gonna share the story.

Ray's gonna share the story.

From the prophets Isaiah and Micah. From the prophets Isaiah and Micah. Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son and she will call his name Emmanuel. It's Isaiah seven fourteen.

For a child will be born to us, son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders. And his name will be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God, eternal father, prince of peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace. On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

But as for you, Bethlehem Ephesians, too little to be among the clans of Judah for from you, one will go forth for me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago from the days of eternity. It's Micah five.

You can stay seated, Beth. Whatever comes up on that screen, love for you to sing with us, please. Please.

Now, the birth of Jesus was as follows. When his mother, Mary, had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit and she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which translated means God with us and Joseph awoke from his sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife.

Let's sing. Come on. Come.

Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus. Can you hear me now? Now in those days, the decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria, and everyone was on his way to register for the census each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee from the city of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house of the family of David In order to register along with Mary who was engaged to him and was with child.

While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth and she gave birth to her firstborn son and she wrapped him in clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. In the same region, there were some shepherds that were staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flocks by night and an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them and glory of the Lord shown round about them and they were terribly frightened but the angel said to them, do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all of the people. Think about that. You're just minding your own business.

Shepherds in the field and angels announce, an angel announces to begin with and then as surrounded by the multitude of the heavenly armies of angels. Suddenly appeared with that angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth. Peace among men with whom he is pleased. When angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, let us go straightway to Bethlehem right now and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us and so they came in a hurry and they found their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby as he lay in the manger. Is there more?

There's more. It's okay. I've been preaching on this for three straight weeks now. We're not going to add any new characters. You all know the story.

Right? It's really, really good too. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this child, and all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary, Mary treasured all of these things, pondering them in her heart, and the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all that had they had heard and seen just as it had been told them. Think about this.

You're minding your own business. You get a specific message. It says, this message is for you, and he specifically tells them how they're going to find that baby lying in a manger. Tells them how it's going to be wrapped, what's going on specifically for you, and they got up straightway. Their response was to listen to the voice, listen to the message, and go, and that was awesome.

I gotta loosen up. I've dropped the microphone. I can't light the candles. It's a full room.

Y'all are all here. We're all

pulling for one another. Are we not? Would you stand up and sing the next song? I don't even know what it is.

Angels, please stay down. Shepherds, Noel, the announcement of the good news that Jesus was born. Let's sing a bit.

Y'all can have a seat. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, Magi from the East arrived in Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the East and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Now, I want you to keep up with the responses we've had so far.

Joseph heard from God in a dream and he woke up and he did exactly as the Lord had commanded it. The shepherds heard from God through angels and when the angels had gone back into heaven, they went immediately and found it just like the angel said it would be and now, these guys are coming from afar off. They're not even Jewish. They're coming towards the Jewish Messiah. From a long ways off, they got wind of it by a star and they followed after that star in anticipation of what God would do.

Herod, when he heard about it, he was the king. Herod was a bad dude. Really bad. He was known for building projects and brutality. By this point, he had already killed his wife and his wife's mother and three of his own kids.

He was a bad dude. Called Herod the great. He was fear... Fearful. He was a puppet king, but he had a lot of financial power and he had a lot of power.

And when he heard about this from the wise men that the king of the Jews had been born, he knew he was the king of the Jews and this guy was going to supplant him. Right? When he was killing all of those people, he was doing it to protect his power. This, when he was troubled, that's a response. To the good news of the gospel, to be troubled by it, and to be against it.

Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of all the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. He should have known, honestly. And they said to him in Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what has been written by the prophet, and you, Bethlehem, land of Judea, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah, for out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel. That's Micah five two. And they had studied scripture and they knew it but go forward.

Then he, Herod secretly called the Magi and determined from them exact time the star had appeared because they were paying attention and he wasn't and he sent them to Bethlehem and said, now go and search carefully for this Christ, this child and when you have found him, report to me so that I too may come and worship him. What was he going to do? Come and worship and probably not. No. He was not.

After hearing the king, they went their way and the star which they had seen in the East went on before them until it came and it stood over the place where the child was. Now, those three kings or Magi or wise men, they were seeking from afar off. They get there. They talk to Herod. They hear from the chief priest.

It doesn't say anything about those chief priests and scribes. These were church folk and they didn't go with them. That's an that's a response too. But they did. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

That's a response. And after coming into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell to the ground and they worshiped him. Then opening their treasures, they presented to him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Just as the wise men joyfully gave gifts to the Lord, we do have an opportunity to give. So I'd like to invite the ushers to come on forward. And Ian and Lisa are gonna sing, what child is this? They're an offer to her. While they're coming forward, I I want you to know you are not obligated to to give.

Let me just say that again. You are not obligated to give. We're just glad that you're here. Truly are. If you feel compelled to give, I want you to know what you're giving too.

Here at First Bee, we have a local benevolence fund, and we use it. Oh, do we use it? And it is so good to be able to say yes when people come and they have a need. And I just wanna thank you in advance. Thank you for your generosity in the past.

Thank you for your generosity in the future. It is so appreciated. But that sounds like something you'd like to give to, thank you. We encourage giving because God has given to us about 03/16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish, will have eternal That being said, I'd like to pray, and then we'll ask these guys to say, Lord, we thank you for the gift of your son truly.

Thank you for the gift of your son. He is why we're here tonight. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for sending your son to live, to love, to die, to rise, and to reign. You are truly the most generous giver of all.

I pray that these gifts would just be a sweet expression of our love back. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

I've got a few words. Yeah. I like using the slides. A very special clause. Alright?

It's Christmas Eve, a very special clause, but it's not this guy. Alright? It's not this clause. I'm a grammar nerd. Everybody who comes to church here knows that.

This is a clause, but it's not Santa or missus. It's three different verses in the Bible that are big picture. We've gone through the story over and over and over again, but there are three big picture verses that I wanna cover. It's Galatians four, maybe four verses four and five, second Corinthians eight, and then one more familiar one. So there's a clause in each of these.

It's called a henna clause. And so when I'm up here, I want to deliver as best I can exactly what it says. Right? And so for me, doing my job, I like to say, okay, I know this is why God did what he did when he tells me. Other than that, I don't really know why he did what he did.

He did it but I don't know why but in these three, he says why. So, a henna clause shows purpose behind what something's done or the result, the expected result of what would happen or in Bible, in the Bible because it's God that is the prime mover. It shows his purpose but also shows the results. Okay? So, here we go.

This is Galatians four four and five. When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son. His son was born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law. So he's already told us why he was born. He's born to redeem those who are under the law.

But that part of the sentence is in the indicative mood. Okay? The indicative mood says, this is certain, this has happened, it is fact, no doubt about it. God acted in a specific way. And then, the rest of this sentence is in the subjective mood, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

So so that we might receive adoption of sons. There is a contingency there. It is... We know why God did it but it is required of us to accept that. So so that we might receive.

So... But it is a question of two wills. God has his will and you have your will. Now, let me go forward to that so that. I love when it says so that because I don't have to guess and you don't have to guess.

We know exactly why God did what he did. He sent forth his son, born of a woman under the law to redeem so that we might receive adoption of sons. And I said last week when I was going through that to think about Jesus having been adopted by Joseph. It just hit me so squarely last week that Jesus was an adopted son and he knows what it's like. He had lots of different early troubles in life and one of them was all of the things that the people around them would be saying about him and his birth.

They weren't singing about it. They were whispering about it and Joseph was a good man and he was able to take that and he was a good father but he had left the best, the heavenly father for an earthly father. Let me go to the next verse. I'll I'll skip some of the grammar. Second Corinthians eight nine says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You know the unmerited favor that God has through Jesus that though Jesus was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor. We talk about him being born into a stable manger situation. Poor, no room in the inn, homeless, born homeless. Though he left the glories of heaven. Though he was rich, he became poor so that so that is the henna clause so that you through his poverty might become rich.

God has acted in a way that is there's no doubt about it. But the so that has the so that you through his poverty might become rich. So the might become rich there is in the adjunctive. Note the similar structure. God acted.

There's no doubt about that he did this. But the second part in the so that you might receive, okay? It doesn't say that you absolutely will. Do you get that? There is a possibility laid out there.

God has done everything that he needs to do so that you might receive some specific gift. The henna clause tells us his purpose. So, so that we might receive adoption as sons. I could go further here and say that in the first century, adoption as a son and adoption as a daughter was two different things. Adoption as a son meant you had all the rights of inheritance.

Adoption as a daughter didn't mean that. So that through his poverty, you might become rich. Now, you might think, oh, that's prosperity gospel. I'm far from it. He left the glories of heaven and took on this place on earth so that you who are earth bound right now might experience all of the riches of heaven.

So that you might become rich. Those are the two specific gifts and then, does the might bother anyone? Does it seem uncertain? It it is out there grammatically uncertain. It's it becomes certain when you decide what to do with Jesus.

I I talked about the responses above. If you're troubled by it and you fight against it and you wanna kill it off like Herod, then that's that's that might is not even a might for you. That's a no for you. But if you hear the word of the Lord and you internalize and say, that's what I want. May it be to me just as you have said like Mary or you get up from your dream and you go immediately and do what the Lord has commanded or you recognize the message and you accept it, then that might as a certainty for you.

So, I did the quick note on the subjunctive. There it is. How about one more familiar verse? And I'm going to I translated this one as wooden but I translated straight from the Greek. Indeed, indeed, God loved the world in such a way as this.

God loved. He acted. He has done this. There's no doubt about it. It's a certainty and he gave his one and only son.

There's no doubt about it. He did this. God loved the world and he gave his one and only son. There's a god acted and then there's a so that. It's hidden in the common version you're used to hearing but it's there.

Why did he do that? Why did he do that? So that whoever is putting their trust in him, whoever, whosoever, the one that, whoever is putting their trust in him might not perish but might be having eternal life. That's John three sixteen. It's a little weird translation but that's what it says.

With the sow that in there. This is why God did what he did but the subjunctive is out there. God's will is certain. There's no doubt about it. He has already done all that he needs to do but he has left that in each of our laps.

If you look at these three verses together, the first one says that so that we might receive adoption of sons. The second one says that so that you might become rich, and then the last one says, so that whosoever, it really is a very real invitation for anybody to put their trust in him. Have him born into your life at this Christmas season. That would be fantastic. So might you believe today and receive the blessing of God just as God has purposed and CS Lewis says it this way.

I like this. The son of God became a son of man and that's what we're celebrating at Christmas. The son of God became a son of man in order that or so that the sons of men might become the sons of God. That adoption that he went through with his earthly father. Was to exchange for us an adoption by his heavenly father.

So might this be the fullness of time for you? I think that's it. It's the last slide.

As Jesus grew and he began his public ministry, in John eight twelve, he said, he's the light of the world. He said, I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you don't have to walk in spiritual darkness because you'll have the light that leads to life. I want you to hear this very very real invitation for you. To trust in the one that God has sent, to believe on him, to accept him.

In response to this invitation, we're going to close in a candle lighting. And so I'll invite you to stand up. We can stand up. We can stretch a little bit. And while you're standing, I'm gonna invite Ray and a couple of the elders to just to come forward.

And if you would, elders, to light your candle from that Christ candle and begin to distribute that that candle to to each of us. That candle represents Jesus as the light of life. And then we're gonna pass that light to one another representing our task to let the light of Christ shine through us to the world. Know this, when your candle's lit, please be sure to hold it straight up. Alright?

Don't tip it. Let that person next to you with their unlit candle tip theirs toward yours so that wax doesn't spill. We're gonna keep our eyebrows. We're gonna keep our eyelashes this year, aren't we? We're not gonna lose them for Christmas.

And while we're lighting the candles, I'm gonna invite you to to sing a couple of songs with us. We're gonna sing Away in a Manger and Silent Night. Please sing with us. Such a sweet moment. I just hate for it to stop.

But you can blow out your candles here. This is what I want you to know tonight. We we blow out these candles, but there is nothing and truly nothing can extinguish the true light of Christ. Nothing can. First John one five...

Or sorry, John one five. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it. That is good news that we need to hear today. Be encouraged by that. The darkness of this world cannot extinguish the light of Christ.

What's more is God has given us. Isn't that amazing? God chooses us. Mhmm. Us.

To let his light shine through us to the world. Matthew five Jesus says, you're the light of the world. In Matthew eight, he says, I'm the light of the world. But in Matthew, he says, you're the light of the world, followers of Jesus. A town built on a hill can't be hidden, neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead, they put it on its stand and gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others. Jesus' light in you shining toward others that they may see your good deeds and glorify whom? Your father in heaven. That's what this last song is about.

I encourage you to sing out, sing loud. Go tell it on the mountain. Jesus Christ is born. And one more. That Jesus Christ is born.

Hey.

Merry Christmas everybody. Drive safely. Enjoy the ones you love.

Yeah.

Tell them that you love them. Be sure and let's celebrate Jesus as the reason for the season. Amen.

Amen. Good night. Thank you. Good to see you, man. I'll take one of those back.

For the next service. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Good to see you. There you go.

I understand. You got it.