Transcription
No hope without His birth this Christmas. Bring praises to Christ, who came to save us. Glory, glory, glory, glory to the new King. Glory, glory, glory, glory to the newborn King. Glory, glory, glory, glory to the newborn King. Glory, glory, glory, glory to the newborn. Glory to the newborn. Glory to the newborn King.
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Watching silent skies by night, through the heavens, the stars shine. Oh, I said, "Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain."
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Born a star and truth low above the earth, ring out an angel chorus that hailed our Savior's birth. And down in a lonely manger, I hum, Christ was born. And God smiled on that blessed Christmas. Oh, I said, "Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born."
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I was a lonely seeker, I sought both night and day. And I asked the Lord to help me, He showed me the way. He made me a watchman up on the city wall. And if I am a Christian, I am the least of all. So I said, "Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born." Go tell it. Go tell it. Go tell it. Tell it. Go tell it. Go tell it.
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Theory, I tell, I can believe myself. Such a theory to me. Just an ordinary night. The fire, the only light. The sheep [Music] sleep.
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Sing, hey guys, if you have a kid who's going to be in the Christmas play tonight, we're going to sing one of our songs, and they can join these kids that are already on the stage. And after the announcements, we'll hear the kids do one of the songs from the Christmas play tonight. Thanks, man. Angels everywhere sing. They be afraid. A star would give us light to a in the night. And mother with a baby. So we gathered up the lambs down to Bethlehem, looking for a newborn King. There we found in the stable.
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He.
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Hello and welcome to Central. My name is Tiffany, and I'm Thomas, and we're so glad that you're here this morning. If this is your first time with us, we'd love to connect with you. Take a moment to fill out one of our orange cards in the seat in front of you, or you can scan the QR code. If you bring that card to the table in the lobby, we have a gift bag waiting for you. Plus, it's a great chance to ask any questions you might have or meet one of our pastors. We'd love to say hey. For those of you with little ones, we've got nursery available during the 10:00 a.m. service for infant through age 5. They'll be well cared for while you enjoy the service. Tonight is a special one. Our kids' Christmas play is happening at 6:00 p.m. You don't want to miss seeing how our kids have been preparing to share the Christmas story. It's always a joy to watch, so make plans to come back tonight. This Wednesday is Christmas Picking Night. Rehearsal starts at 6:00 p.m. in the Tabernacle. So if you play an instrument, bring it with you and join in. Then at 6:30 p.m., we'll gather for a time of Christmas music and fellowship. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just enjoy a good jam session, all are welcome to join in. Looking ahead to next Sunday, Bomb Diggity will start at 10:00 a.m. in the Kids Central Building. It's always a blast for our kids. Choir practices at 4:00 p.m. If you're a part of the choir or want to be, come on out. At 5:30, Kid Central and Salt Light Students are having their Christmas parties in their respective buildings. It's going to be a fun way for our kids and students to celebrate. And don't forget, our Starlight Christmas Eve service is coming up at 8:00 p.m. It's a beautiful night of worship, and our choir will be singing. There won't be a Wednesday service on Christmas Day, so mark your calendars to be here for Tuesday, December 24th instead. Our "Expand Our Border" sermon series kicks off December 22nd. Pastor Cameron will be challenging us to see how God is calling us to enlarge our tents in the new year. Then on New Year's Eve, we'll gather in the Chapel at 6:30 p.m. to share in the Lord's Supper. Start 2025 focused on Christ and His faithfulness. There will be no Wednesday service on January 1st. Don't forget to follow us online at cbcdone.com or through our Church Center app, or even on Facebook and Instagram to stay in the loop with everything happening here at Central. As always, our ushers are in the back if you'd like to give your offering today, or you can drop it in one of the black boxes or give online. Now is a great time to share the live stream and then stop your phone. Thanks for worshiping with us today, and let's get ready to lift our voices and praise God together.
[Music] N N N N Christ is born, the Savior of the world. N N N N Christ is born, the Savior of the world. Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the newborn King. Peace on Earth and mercy, my God, and is reconciled. Join for all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies. With angelic host proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem. The Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the newborn King.
N N Christ is born, the Savior of the world. N N Na N Christ is born, the Savior of the world. Hark the Herald Prince of Peace. Hark the Son of Righteousness. Light and life to all He brings. Br with healing in His wings. Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. The Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the newborn King.
N N N N Christ is born, the Savior of the world. N N N N Christ is born, the Savior of the world. And worship, come and worship, worship Christ the [Music] newborn [Music] King.
N N N N Christ is born, the Savior of the world. N N N N Christ is born, the Savior of the world. N N N N Christ is born, the Savior of the world. N N N N Christ is born, the Savior of the world. N N N N Christ is [Music] born.
Great job, kids. Thank you for leading us in worship this morning. They're going to be heading down now, so parents, wave at them. Make sure they uh find where you're sitting at so they can find their seats. We're excited for this program tonight at 6 o'clock and um, if you are new to Central, there's an orange card behind the seat in front of you. If you could take that, fill it out, and just take it to the lobby uh before you go this morning, we would love the opportunity to get to meet you and get to know you. And we are so excited to be worshiping Jesus this Christmas season. And so right now, we're going to take a few minutes. I'm to let these kids find their parents before we all stand and we're going to stand and greet uh those around you. Inquire, you can also be making your way up at this time.
[Music] We go. [Music] I. [Music]
Angels from the realms of glory, wing your flight o'er all the earth. Ye who sang creation's story, now proclaim Messiah's birth. Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the newborn King.
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We have on high sweetly singing, for the p and the mountain in regard. Heo back their joyous. [Music] Oh, glory in excelsis Deo. [Music] Day. Glory next shall she. [Music] St. Come to be. Heaven see Him who birth the Angels see. Come adore me. Christ the Lord, the new. Glory, glory, glory, glory in excelsis Deo. Glory, glory, glory, glory in excelsis Deo. [Music] [Applause] Adore Christ the Everlasting Lord. Time, behold Him coming, of the Virgin flesh, the God. And see His pleas with us in flesh to dwell. Jesus, you well. The Heralds Angels Sing, Glory to the [Music] newborn.
All creation, joy in praising God the Father, Son, evermore your voice is raising to the Eternal free. In come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the worship Christ the is the King.
Great singing. You can be seated. [Music]
World died for us, so that we could [Music] live. There was a baby born in this world of sin, for just to die for us, so that we could [Music] live. With a perfect heart, took on all our sin. He as a sacrifice, but now He is the [Music] alive. There was a baby in this world of sin, just he died for us, so that we could [Music] live. A baby in this world, live for just died for us, so that we could [Music] live. With the perfect, took on all our sin, he died as a sacrifice, now he is the [Music] alive. Now, now Jesus lives inside. [Music] [Music] Of now, Jesus lives inside for [Music] to now. [Music] Inside to die. Now, now Jesus lives inside of me. [Music]
Gathered around the table, so much to be thankful for this Christmas. Oh, how I've missed this. But through the joy and laughter, you can feel the sadness. Cuz this Christmas, everyone's not with us. It's the time of year when happiness and cheer won't be enough to get me through the night. I need a wonderful [Music] the Mighty God to carry [Applause] me. God with us. [Music] Mighty in a manger, told us he'd be no stranger to all our sorrow and all the hurt we'll ever know. Let these gifts remind us how love came down to find us. Wonder of the ages, the life, the truth, the way. He is our Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Prince who's strong enough to carry [Music] me. God with us, the one who loved. Ever. Oh, Jesus, you can make this season wonderful. For unto us a child is born, wonderful. For unto us the Son is given. [Music] Wonderful. And He will live and He will die to conquer death and give us life forever. He will be our wonderful. He is mighty, mighty God, Prince of who's strong enough to carry me. God with us, the one. Oh, Jesus, you, you're wonderful, wonderful, you're wonderful. Oh. [Music] [Applause] [Music]
Let's all stay in the [Music] seat. Light of the world, treasure of heaven, brilliant light. The stars in the wintery sky, joy of the Father. Reach through the darkness, shine across the earth, the shadows to fly. Light of the world, from the the beginning, the tragedies of time, no match for Your love. From great heights of glory, You saw my story, and God, You entered it and became one of us. Sing Hallelujah, sing Hallelujah, sing Hallelujah for the things He has done. Come and adore Him, bow down before Him, sing Hallelujah to the Light of the world. [Music]
Light of the world, crowning a manger, born for the cross to suffer to save. High King of Heaven, death is the poor. We are the richer by the price that He paid. Sing Hallelujah, sing Hallelujah, sing Hallelujah for the things He has done. Come and adore Him, bow down before Him, sing Hallelujah to the Light of the world. [Music]
The world soon will be coming with fire in His eyes. He will reign on His own through clouds, He will lead us straight into glory, and there He shall reign forevermore, forevermore. Sing Hallelujah, sing Hallelujah, sing Hallelujah for the things He has done. Come and adore Him, bow down before Him, sing Hallelujah to the Light of the world, the Light of the world. [Music] [Applause]
You can be seated. If you have your Bible, we're going to start in Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. I have the best job in the world, and I'm really old. It has not been very long since we were getting ready for the Christmas play that Jordan starred in. And if you guys don't know, Jordan is the young lady who just led you in worship. Uh, I remember Jordan in first grade and fourth grade, and she's about the same height now. But it's really cool, you know, who would have known when I obeyed God, I don't know, 18 years ago, uh, no, 20 years ago, His call to full-time ministry, that I would get to be part of stuff like that? Not that I taught Jordan how to sing or anything like that, you know, just that I get to be around and watch it happen. It's pretty awesome. Church, thanks for letting me be one of your pastors for 17 years. Don't worry, this is not my going away speech. It's my plan to to be the children's pastor at Central Baptist Church when I'm 80. World's first. I'm not sure you should clap for that. Be the world's first octogenarian children's pastor. That'll be awesome. That would be awesome. I'm excited about it. Um, God called me into full-time ministry when I was 20. Seven, something like that. Uh, God called me to be His child when I was 20. I didn't grow up attending church regularly. I understood the gospel, but uh, maybe I didn't understand the gospel. Either way, I didn't surrender to Him, turn away from my sin, and trust Him to save me until I was a young adult, 20 years old. Before that, and some after that, I was pretty terrible. I watched the kids in the children's department, the ones who can't sit still, the ones who won't sit still, the ones who won't stop talking when I'm preaching, and I try to have a little, I try to have a little extra grace because that would have been me. You know, the kid that everybody wanted to string up would have been Jeremy. Uh, when I was a teenager, my psychologist, the 8:00 laughed at that. It was kind of mean, but among other things, diagnosed me as Oppositional Defiant. From what I understand, that means that if you tell me to do one thing, I will do the other thing. Uh, I really struggled with authority as a teenager, young adult, sometimes as an old man, still struggle. Um, if I had the option to disobey, to choose to do what I wanted to do instead of what I was told to do, I would take it. Sometimes I would decide what I wanted to do based on what I was told to do, the opposite was what I wanted to do, and if there was ever an option, I would take that. I nearly failed the fourth grade. And uh, I came to a realization this morning. All my life, I thought I only passed fourth grade because of the mercy and kindness of my fourth grade teacher, Miss Wilder. Um, because of my oppositional defiance, when she told me to do work in class, I kind of had to do it. But when she told me to do homework, she wasn't there, no one else was there to make sure I did it, so I did not do it. And uh, if you're a mathematician, you understand how that brought my average down low enough that I should have repeated fourth grade. And I thought Miss Wilder was a very kind woman. But preaching this message in the 8:00, I realized maybe they hadn't, they hadn't invented No Child Left Behind yet, but maybe Miss Wilder decided she couldn't take another year of of Jeremy. I don't know. I don't know. The young lady that we'll take a look at this morning in scripture, did not wrestle with what I wrestled with. I picture it. Most Bible scholars tell us that Mary was a teenager, 17 years old, maybe. Mary was married when we read espoused. It's important that we understand it was a different culture, a different time. Their wedding was kind of split in half. You had the wedding ceremony where the vows were taken, where the promises were made, where the commitment took place, and then you had a span of time that could be up to a year where you were separate, not separated. I have to be careful with that word, but you were separate. You spent that time apart. Some people believe part of the purpose of that was to test the fidelity of each person in the marriage, but then after that time apart, you would come together and consummate the marriage, come together as husband and wife. And when we meet Mary here, she's in that period, 17 years old, she's a wife, she hasn't seen her husband in a long time. Luke chapter 1, let's start in verse number 26. And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the House of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou art highly favored, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Imagine you're 17. God sends a message, this great big plan He has for your life, bigger than you can even wrap your head around. Scary, intimidating, exciting, huge. 17. Mary's a logical girl. This is always a fun lesson to teach in children's ministry. Uh, Larry, um, Larry, Larry the Cable Guy, the cucumber. What is I'm sorry, her name was not Larry, it was Mary. That's not in my notes. Verse 34. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? Her mind went to logic, reason. It takes a man and a woman to make a baby. This is impossible. How could this be? 35. The angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Verse 37. For with God nothing shall be impossible. Possible. Mary, God has this big, exciting, important plan for your life. You're 17. It's going to be scary. It's going to be hard. Mary's smart. She knows what the neighbors will think. She knows what the town gossip will say. She knows what Joseph will think when he finds out that his wife is pregnant and they haven't been together for months. Will he believe this story? The angel, the Holy Spirit, the baby is the Son of God. Will this wreck her marriage? Will this ruin her life? Oppositional Defiant Jeremy would have never been in this situation, neither would Larry. But were I in a similar situation, I don't know, man. You know. But now the angel didn't ask. He didn't say, "Hey, God's got an idea. What do you think?" He said, "This is going to happen." But I remember some situations like that when I was a teenager, situations I didn't have any control over. I was adept at making sure that everybody knew that I didn't want to do what I was forced to do. I was really good at pitching a fit, kicking, shouting. My childhood home bore the scars of my temper. As I got older, it became less cool to do that, so I just mastered a grumpy face and a glare and a sharp, cruel, uh, mouth. But I can't imagine finding out that I had to do something that was going to be hard and scary and embarrassing and embracing. Verse 38. Mary said, "Behold." Now that word behold means to look, but it's deeper. It means to look and consider, think about, come to some realization. Mary's speaking to herself as well as Gabriel, maybe God. "To behold the handmaid of the Lord." Handmaid sounds so soft. Doesn't sound negative. Don't get it wrong. The word handmaid means slave. When Mary calls herself the handmaid of the Lord, I believe purposefully she brings us back to the idea, to the realization, to the thought of Hagar, the handmaid of Sarah. You remember the story? Abraham and Sarah, God had promised them a child, but it had been a long time. They still didn't have one. So Sarah came up with the terrible plan. She told her handmaid, her slave, "You will be with my husband, and we'll have a child through you." Nobody asked Hagar's opinion. She she got pregnant, she gave birth to Ishmael, and they were cast out. This hard thing that she went through, watching her child be not accepted by his father and mistreated, and there was even a moment where she thought he was going to die. She had to go through all of that. And Mary says, like she was Sarah's slave, "I am God's slave. Look at me. Behold me. Consider who I am." I'm convinced, obviously at this point, although it's a little harder to think about before the crucifixion and resurrection, what it means to become a child of God. Mary had placed her faith in God. She was a believer. She was adopted into His family, and that relationship is multifaceted. And if you're a child of God, your relationship is multifaceted. You're His child, He's your Father. You're His friend, but you're also His servant, and He's your Lord. It's all twisted and mixed up and beautifully interwoven. Those relationships. And Mary got it. "Look at me. I'm just God's slave." She accepted who she was and what that relationship meant. And I could see, you know, Oppositional Defiant Jeremy doing that. Okay, I can't win this fight. You're in authority over me. I have to accept this. But it was so much deeper with Mary. Look at the rest of verse 38. "Be it unto me according to Thy Word." She says, "I want what God said. This thing that God has planned for my life, the good, the bad, the hard, the exciting, I'll take it." Now, she had no choice, but you see the difference in her attitude. She accepts her position, but she's excited. She accepts it with joy. If we read further in Luke chapter 1, she sings a song about it. Way different. Not my kids, but other people's kids when you tell them to do the things that they have to do, but they don't want to do. Way different than me. Sometimes when God tells me the things I have to do, but I don't want to do. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to Thy Word. 17 years old. It happened. She became pregnant. You know the story. Nine months later, she's traveling to Bethlehem, crowded city, poor, nowhere to sleep. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, giving birth to her baby in a barn, the Son of God. The honored, chosen woman hanging out with animals, visited by shepherds. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. When those shepherds showed up and told her, "Hey, the angels told us the Savior was here," the Bible says she pondered it in her heart, thinking about what that meant. This baby sleeping on hay, her son, savior of the world. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. When she dedicates Him at the temple, and a prophet of God is telling all about the amazing things that baby Jesus will do, and then, if you look in your Bibles, it's in parentheses. He looks at Mary and says, "A sword will pierce your spirit." I don't know if she understood. I don't know if she could read the Old Testament prophecies and knew that her son was going to suffer. Maybe she got that early on, but if not, she's starting to get it here. Your soul will be pierced. You're going to suffer. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Two years later, when the Magi show up with extravagant gifts for a son, and then her husband wakes up and says, "We got to go. We have to leave everything. Move to another place because they want to kill our kid." The handmaid of the Lord flees, leaves our home behind, goes to a brand new place she's never been. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. She's traveling, and nobody knows where a 12-year-old son is. And dads freak out, but moms, it's a whole another thing. Where's my kid? Behold the handmaid of the Lord, rushing back to find him. She doesn't understand, I don't think, everything that's going on. She watches her son teaching the teachers. What a cool position for her to be in. The handmaid of the Lord. At the wedding feast, you remember they ran out of wine. This is not a sermon about the fact that Jesus would never serve alcohol to people who were already drunk. We can have that debate later. The handmaid of the Lord turns to her son, says, "It's time. Let's do something big." She says, "Whatever He tells you to do, do it." Imagine the pride she felt when her son came through, brought joy back to that celebration. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Her son's famous now. Crowds are following Him. He's in that house, she can't even get inside to see Him. So many people there to meet her boy, to hear from Him, to be helped by Him. She's outside. I can picture it, you know, she's trying not to cry, but she's so proud of it. It's so cool that she got to be part of this. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. At the foot of the cross, and it felt like they took the heart out of her chest and nailed it to that wood. Her boy who she loved so much and suffered so much, and he never did anything wrong. Bible says they beat him beyond recognition. She knew him. Three people were crucified that day, and of course, they suffered the most, but number four, and maybe not far behind, was the mother watching her son suffer. We met her at 17, she's 50. This has been her life. Life, the ups, the downs, the excitement, the joy, the pain, the disappointment, the confusion. She said yes to all of it way back when. She couldn't have known all the details, but she just keeps showing up. Apparently, that yes was still yes. You remember the story at the foot of the cross, Jesus looks at Mary and He says, He said to John, "Behold your mother. This, I want you to treat my mom like your mom. I'm leaving. It's time for me to go. I want you to take care of my mom." Then He looked at Mary and He said, "Behold your son." I know He meant John is like your son now, he's going to take care of you. But I know what she heard. I know what I would hear. You know, that's that's my son, the one who's suffering. It's my boy, and he's hurting, and I'm hurting because he's hurting. There she was, behold the handmaid of the Lord, crying. She watches her baby boy suffer and die for her sins and for your sins and for my sins. She said yes to it. 33 years ago. Would you flip over just uh, well, to the book of Acts chapter 1? The Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Acts were written by Luke. Acts is kind of part two. It's almost like they're one book. And Luke, of course, was a doctor, but he wasn't just a doctor. When he wrote the Book of Luke and the Book of Acts, he served as like an investigative reporter. He wasn't there. He wasn't an eyewitness for most of these things, so he went and interviewed people. Now, the only person in the room when Mary heard about Jesus coming was Mary and Gabriel. And maybe he interviewed Gabriel, but I don't think so. My guess is, and I'm probably right, that he interviewed Mary, you know, sometime after that crucifixion, sitting down with 50-year-old Mary. And wrap your head around this. First century, most people who lived past 21 would go on to live to be 55, which is young for me now. There was a time when 55 seemed ancient, but at 48, 55 is, you know, pretty young. But Mary would probably live to be mid to late 50s. And here she is, near the end. The handmaid of the Lord. The last thing I think that we read about Mary in scripture is right here in Acts 1, verse 14. Now, remember, this is after the crucifixion. Jesus died. This is after they buried Mary's baby boy, put him in that empty tomb. This is after He came out, after He spent time on earth, after He ascended back into heaven. She's seen the whole story play out. She now understands what she embraced when she was a 17-year-old little girl. Acts chapter, verse 14. "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus." Now, this isn't the end. Doesn't tell us about her death, but it seems to be where the Holy Spirit leaves her in this story. There she is, hanging out with the other followers of Jesus. And the words we heard from her seem to be her words throughout all of this. "Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to Thy Word." The good stuff, bad stuff, the scary stuff, the hard stuff, the suffering, the celebration, until finally the end, the escape from all the hard, and an eternity of all the good. "Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to Thy Word." And I think about this. I'm convicted by how much I fight that. How often I find myself pushing back, wanting something different, wishing we could change things up. I want all the good. I want all the fun. I want all the exciting. I want all the laughs. I want all the jokes. I want all the hugs. I want all the smiles. I don't want the hard. You know, somewhere inside, though, I try not to show it, there's still an Oppositional Defiant 17-year-old. You know, God hasn't completely erased him yet. He's still kicking. He's still fighting. I don't punch holes in walls because Cheryl gets mad, but you know, still rolling my eyes, I'm still glaring, still putting that mad face on sometimes with my Creator. Is my Savior? Mary accepted her relationship with God, the easy and the hard. He's the Lord, I'm the slave. Mary embraced it. I want it. I love it because Mary trusted God that in the end, she had the faith to believe that saying yes to God, following Him, obeying Him, was going to be worth it. And not just worth it in the end, but worth it all along. Would you uh, just stand up right where you are? Bow your head. Let's just take a moment to behold not Mary, not Jeremy, but you. You. The first obvious question is, are you the handmaid of the Lord? Are you His servant? If you have turned away from your sin, been adopted into His family, you're His child. That also means He's your Lord, and you are His servant. If you have not been adopted into His family, you get to get that taken care of today. I'm not telling you that a life with God is all easy, but it is all worth it, and ultimately, it's all good. Our pastors would love to talk to you so you could know more about becoming His child. But for those of us who already are, behold you, the servant of the [Music] Lord. Are there some things in your life that you're not embracing? Some plans in your life that God has that you don't like? He knows. You haven't fooled Him. He gets it. Now would be a good time to talk it through with Him. Maybe just admit it to Him. Or maybe you're like me, you're just looking back at some of it now. Would be a good time to tell Him He was right all along. It was worth it, and it was good, even when it was hard. Or maybe there's some hard stuff right [Music] now, and you're obeying Him, and you're embracing [Music] it. You need to talk to Him about it. He's your Lord. He's also your Father. He's also your friend. And nobody loves you like He does. Now would be a good time to talk to Him about it. Of course, you can talk right there at your chair. This altar is open. If there's some business you need to take care of, don't hesitate. [Music] [Music]
Dear heavenly Father, You are very, very good to us. Behold, Lord, all of Your servants. We stand here this morning loving You. Thankful for Your sacrifice, God. Mary suffered. That was Your boy [Music] too. That You went through that so we could be rescued. We thank You for it. God, will You help us to embrace everything You have for us, even when we don't want to? Help us to trust You enough to believe that everything You're doing is ultimately good. But God, also when we're going through the hard [Music] stuff, be there. Help us feel Your presence. Give us strength and guidance because, God, we need it so bad. Lord, I pray for every one of my brothers and sisters in this room and the hard things they're going through that I don't know anything about, but You do. And also pray for my brothers and sisters in this room that every time You bring to us a big, exciting, scary, hard plan like Mary, we'll embrace [Music] it. Behold the servants of the Lord. In Your name, we pray. Amen.
James is coming to close. Before he does, uh, just a reminder, it's December, the month of Christmas, when we celebrate the birth of Christ. Obviously, we opened December with our Chest of Joash offering, but if you didn't have a chance to participate in that, the chest will be out all month. If you have an offering you want to add to that, uh, you just do it. Thanks, guys. Thank you, Pastor Jeremy, for the reminder that what starts at Christmas culminates at Easter and continues on. And uh, thank you for sharing your heart and your story with us. I also want to know what happened to Larry. Maybe we'll find out one of these days. But until then, just wait. Um, I do have an important announcement. If Glenn and Tanya Padric, if you um, would come just stand up here at the front. They are coming to join our church family by way of um, statement and baptism. And so we um, want to welcome them. And so if you're glad that the Lord has brought them here, let's give them a hand. They were already extras in our Thanksgiving musical, so they're already um, just fitting right in. And so before you leave, come by and just uh, greet them and and tell them that you're glad that they're here. Don't forget that this evening, 6:00, children's program. You don't want to miss it. Be here. And then also, don't forget that in January, we're going to be starting and preparing for our month of prayer because we believe that prayer is important, and we believe that prayer is important to ministry, and we want to start the year off right. So we're going to have a a prayer month of January. There's going to be more information about that coming up, but just go ahead and and start praying now for what the Lord will have us do. Let's pray. Dear heavenly Father, we thank You for the awesome ability to be Your servants. And God, I pray that we would continually submit to Your authority and to Your will in the ways of our life. Lord, that we will come to You in the good and the hard, knowing that You are working all things out for Your glory and for our good. Lord, continue to seal this truth to our hearts, and may we continue to rejoice in the goodness of Your birth at Christmas. We love You. Thank You. Praise You. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.