God Is With Us First B Jackson 2013-12-24 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Friends, welcome. It is so good to see you. Merry Christmas to you. Christmas. And welcome to First Beat. We are really, honestly, and truly glad that you're here to worship with us. We hope that you feel right at home here at First Beat. If you are visiting for the first time, we want and you wanna know a little bit more about First Beat and and who we are, please stop by the welcome desk in the back before you leave tonight for a free gift. Woo hoo. And a very warm welcome. Okay? So that's back there. If you're a first time visitor or no more, please stop there. Tonight is just meant to be a fun, reflective, worshipful night. We're celebrating Jesus entrance into the world by reading the nativity story for from scripture. Nothing new here that you're gonna hear tonight. And we're worshiping song and we're gonna close in a candle lighting. And what's great is that we all get to sing tonight. So it's very much a participation here on your part. We'll sing together. But let me open up in prayer before we before we begin and and greet one of our lord. Lord, we give you thanks. How wonderful that you came to earth. It is overwhelming. It truly is. Just watching that video and knowing that you came to live among us, to die for us, to raise for us, and to reign. Thank you God. How powerful, how mighty you are, and what a privilege it is for us to be able to worship Amen. Why don't we stand up and greet one another? Say hi to the folks around you. Hey. How's it going? How you doing girls? How you doing buddy? Pretty good. We can have a seat. The Lord himself will choose the sign. Look, the virgin will conceive a child. She will give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel. 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. These will be his royal titles, wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. His ever expanding peaceful government will never end. He will rule forever with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David. The passionate commitment of the Lord Almighty will guarantee this. But you, oh Bethlehem, are only a small village in Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past. If you know this song, would you please sing with us? 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. 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 of 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. At that time, the Roman governor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. Was the first census taken when Quinerius was governor of Syria. All returned to their ancestral towns to register for the 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 fiancee, 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 first child, a son. She wrapped him snuggly in strips of cloth and laid him in ages because there was no walking available for them Again, would you sing this song with us too? That night, there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby guarding their sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of God'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 will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in the leaves. 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 on and peace on earth with those whom God has 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. 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 have heard the shepherd's 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 seen and heard. It was just as the angel had told them. Amen. Shall we praise you? Amen. Let's stand up together. Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the reign of King Herod. About that time, some wise men from Eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem asking, where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw stars that rose and we have come to worship King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this as was everyone at Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, where is the Messiah supposed to be born? In Bethlehem and Judea, they said, for this is what the prophet wrote. And you, oh, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah. For a ruler will come from you, who will be a shepherd for my people Israel. Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. Then he told them, go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. When you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him too. After this interview, the wise men went their way, and the star they had seen in the East guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy. They entered the house and saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. And they opened their treasure chest and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Amen. Well just as the wise men joyfully gave gifts to the Lord, we too have an opportunity to be joyful givers as well. So I'd like to invite our ushers to please come forward and while they're coming forward, I want you to know this that you are under no obligation to give to me. And I really mean that especially first time visitors. We're just glad that you're here and welcome. But if anyone does feel compelled to give tonight, I I do wanna know I want you to know what you're giving to. At first b, we have a discretionary fund for anyone who comes to First B and has a financial need. And it is a real blessing, can tell you as a staff member to say yes, when when someone has has a baby can we can give and we can pray and If that sounds like something that you'd like to give to tonight, please feel free to do that and know this know that as a church that that we encourage giving because God has given us. John three sixteen for God so loved the world that he gave his only son. We see that it's synonymous. And whoever believes in him, this is the message I want you here today. And whoever believes in him won't die without eternity. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for for loving us so much, so much that you would give us your son. We celebrate him tonight. Not only his first coming and his entrance into this world, but who is yet to come. We look forward so much to your return. Thank you, God. When you say whoever believes in you, you mean whoever believes in you will have eternal life. Thank you for that free gift of grace. Amen. As Jesus grew in a man, 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. Tonight, I want you to hear that very real invitation to you, to believe in the one that God has sent and to have the light that needs to eternal. And in response to that invitation, we're gonna close in a candlelight. And so I'd like to invite my friend Joe here to light from that Christ candle and then he'll light your candle and pass around. Pass to the person next to you and I'll say this too because it's a would you take your unlit candle and that's the one to tip. So you the you know what I'm saying? Candle wax and the burnt eyebrows. It's happened one too many years. So please be careful. There you go. And we'll begin lighting them around the room. And then once we get going here, we're gonna share in in the song silent night. Thank you, also for peace. Thanks that's what you offer us, and that's who you are. And I pray that that peace will go with us. Thank you, God, that you are also joy, and you are loved and you are light. There's no one that compares to you again. And so tonight, we wanna pause, we wanna reflect, Alright. We can turn those lights back on and you can blow your candles but I want you to know this that when you become a believer in Christ and Christ lives in you, there's nothing that can extinguish that. I want you to know that. That's from first John or from John one five that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it. That is that is a wonderful promise for the Lord. And so we're gonna share that new that new news about Jesus that he's the light of the world. He's our great hope. Not only in these days but the days to come. Revelation one eight reminds us of this that he was and that he is and he is yet to come. We don't just look back at his birth, we look forward to his return. And that's a good reason to go, to share that news that Jesus was born and Jesus will return. So we're gonna close with one last song here. And let's joyfully sing that Jesus has been born. Let us say Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Hello?