Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome this evening to Living Hope Church. Merry Christmas.
We're glad that you chose to join us. This is a great and special time to be able to celebrate the birth of our king. And if you are new here or haven't been here in a long time, we're glad that you chose to join us. Or at least say yes to the person who dragged you along this evening. My name is Duba. I'm honored to be the lead pastor here at Living Hope, and I this evening we just have a special time of singing Christmas songs, of hearing special music from various people that are a part of the church family here, and also spending time in God's word. We'll also be lighting the Advent candles this evening, just a time of remembering the coming of Jesus into this world. And so we just invite you to listen in to God's word, listen to the message that the Lord has for us this evening. And you're invited to stay seated if you'd like. Through the time. We'll sing a couple congregational songs, one at the beginning, one at the end. The other times, you're welcome to just stay seated and listen and worship with us. At the tail end of our time, we will light a candle. Hopefully you have a little candle. Many of you have a little candle you grabbed on your way in. If you do, can you hold it up for me?
If you didn't get a candle and you would like one, and you feel like you're responsible enough to have an open flame at the back of the center section, there's a table with some candles there that we will light later on at the tail end of our service. We should be somewhere around an hour or so for the time of our service. Again, if you're new here, there are some restrooms immediately through the double doors you walk through. Women's to this side, men's to the other. And then if you have kids, you need to step out for a while, feel free to do that. We are recording the service as well. If you'd like to be able to pass it on to other people, if you would join me in prayer. And then we will sing a song together as we start the evening. Lord Jesus, we're grateful for the time that we have this evening to celebrate, to worship, to remember.
And I pray that as we do that this evening that you will turn our eyes heavenward. You will draw our attention towards your love for us and your desire for us to be in relationship with you.
Lord, I pray that you would give us a peace this evening as we rejoice I pray that you would remind us of the power that you possess not only to change the world around us, but to change us as well. In Jesus name. Amen.
[00:02:32] Speaker B: Join with us if you'd like to stand.
Come o come. Amen.
And ransom captive Israel that mourns with lonely exile here until the Son of God appears.
Rejoice, Rejoice.
Amen. And you have shall come to the O is right now.
O come now day spring come and cheer our spirits in giant and drive the day the shades of light.
[00:04:03] Speaker C: And.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: Pierce the clouds and praise.
Rejoice, rejoice.
Immanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come desire of nation, All peoples in one heart and mind, in envy, strife and at one se fill the whole world with Heaven's peace.
Rejoice, Rejoice.
Amen.
You come to the holy Israel.
Rejoice, rejoice.
Shall come to thee. O is right now.
[00:05:57] Speaker A: You can be seated.
I'm going to spend a few minutes and just share a little bit about this first candle that we'll light in just a moment, called the Hope Candle.
Over the last four weeks leading up to Christmas, we've taken part in something called Advent.
It's this time of special and as you know, in our culture, waiting is often to be avoided.
But Christ Jesus is more special than anything our world can offer us. Thus, this season of waiting for the coming of our Savior is not to be done with speed, but it's to be savored.
Because the promise of Jesus has been so longed for by so many for so long.
These God fearing women before us, these God fearing men before us, they were wise to remember that this time of anticipation was worth it.
What is this Advent about, this season of waiting, particularly these candles that we light. It's an intentionally slow process causing us to look forward when we can really just quickly light the middle candle and say, well, Jesus is here.
But it's worth us taking it slowly to remember to consider all the things that the people before us who were waiting for the coming of King also walked through. The Advent season is an invitation to set our minds off the stresses of the year, to take our focus off of the crazy hustle that can be associated with the Christmas season that many of us are experiencing right now, or maybe earlier today and tomorrow in the next few days, which then also produces more hassle in us than hope.
Advent is a chance to focus our thoughts on the gift that God has given us in His Son Jesus, who stepped down from heaven and took on the form of a man so that he could die a criminal's death, a death that was due us. And not just that, that he would rise again, conquering the power of death.
So that. And here's this word again. So that our hope of a restored relationship with our Creator might be experienced again. Because for thousands of years, from the time that brokenness was first experienced in the garden, there was this longing, this hopefulness that one day restoration with God would one day be possible.
And that's what we consider with this first candle.
Is hope going to be realized in creation again? And the answer to that, in the name of Jesus, is yes.
This candle of hope symbolizes promises delivered through the prophets of old, that one day a Savior, he would come.
God crafted the most beautiful, the most powerful rescue plan and ever he laid it out, he put it in place for you and I.
God is a God who is faithful. And in the midst of our unfaithfulness, in the midst of us saying God, I'll do it your way. And then us doing it immediately our way, moments later, over and over again, for thousands of years, God said, even though you are unfaithful, I will show myself faithful. Over and over again, he did that.
Here's what it says in Micah, chapter 5, verse 2.
One prophet speaking about this coming ruler that would one day save humanity. It says this. You know this. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come from me one who will be a ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient of days. Another passage you know from Isaiah, it says this. Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a what? A son. And you will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us.
Friends, there's more that Isaiah says in chapter nine about this coming Savior.
He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice.
The zeal of the Almighty will accomplish this.
Prophet after prophet, person after person, was saying, one day the Savior's going to come. One day he's going to come. Keep hoping, keep holding on. Because one day the promise of God will show up in the person of Jesus Christ. So as we light this candle, it's a simple yet profound act.
It's a testimony to the power of light over darkness.
It's a testimony of God's faithfulness in the midst of our unfaithfulness.
The light of just one candle can push away darkness. So as we light this first candle, we begin our journey, this journey of Christmas.
The first candle of Advent is called the Hope candle or the Prophet's candle.
And as we light this. As I light this, now one step closer to Jesus arrival, the hope of the world. As I light this candle, we're going to listen to a special song by some people. So if you're doing that special, you can come up now. As I light this candle.
[00:12:03] Speaker D: Good evening.
So, Pastor Duba, this last Sunday read through Matthew's genealogy of the Christ child.
And so tonight we're going to play a song on the genealogy of the Christ child.
[00:12:37] Speaker C: Abraham had Isaac. Isaac he had Jacob. Jacob he had Judah and his kin.
Then Perez and Zerah came from Judah's woman, Tamar Peraz. He brought Hezron up and then came Aram. Then a man adapted Ossen. It was then the died of son Salmon, who with Rahab fathered Boaz.
Rushi married Boaz, who had Obed, who had Jesse. Jesse he had David, who we know as Cain.
David, he had Solomon by dead Uriah's wife.
Solomon, well, you all know him. He had good old Reho and followed by Abijah, who had Asa.
Asa had Jehoshaphat, had Joram, had Isaiah, who had Jotham, then Ahaz, then Hezekiah, followed by Manasseh, who had Amon, who was Amen was the father of a good boy named Josiah who grandfathered Jehoiakim, who caused the Babylonian captivity because he was a liar. That's not actually accurate, but it rhymes.
Then he had Shealdiel, who begat Zerubbabel, who had Abiyoth, who had Eliakim.
Eliakim had Azer, who had Zadok, who had Achim. Hakim was the father of Eli. Again, he had Eliezer, who had Nathan, who had Jacob. Now listen very closely. I don't want to sing this twice.
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, mother of Christ.
[00:14:51] Speaker D: Good evening.
This evening I have the privilege of being the one to speak about love and lighting the love candle when I finish.
And as you'll see, the love of God is mighty indeed.
There's nothing like it. We rely on it for everything.
Duba gave us some good encouragement about hope.
And the Bible also has a lot to say about love. Both the love of God for us and the love he calls us to have of him, and the grace he gives us to enable us to love him.
God created us to Worship him with our lives by living lives in loving obedience to him.
That was simple to say.
There's a lot to it.
Jesus himself commands us to such a love for God when he says in Matthew 22 that when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him, Teacher, which is the great commandment of the law.
And Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Here we see that there is a great commandment and then there is a second commandment. It is not equal to the Great One. But it's very important we understand that if we really love others with a Christlike love, we have to first be loved by God and love God.
After washing his disciples feet at the Last Supper, Jesus expands on that second commandment when he says in John 13, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another, just as I have loved you. You are also to love one another.
By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.
So the second commandment is a modification of its earlier edition. In saying that we are to model our love for others after Christ, a Christ like love.
Because love is so profoundly important to God, we have to ask ourselves, what exactly is love in our world today? There's much confusion about that word, isn't there?
And I would say a permissive society.
The new definition of love is do whatever you want to do and we'll love you for it.
But that's not God's prescription for love. The clear answer from the Bible is that God is love.
There is no true love in the universe except the love that has its source in God.
Our love for God, our love for other people, whether in the family, the church, or among friends or elsewhere, has its origin, its origin in the God who is love.
Now that all sounds good. But each of us knows in our own heart that our love for God and our love for the people he places around us is far from perfect.
We obey God when it's not too inconvenient for us, and we're selective about which of the people around us we extend love to.
But James 2:10 says, for whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of it all.
James is saying that to offend one point is to offend against the whole law, since all are rooted in the same great commandment to love God.
The slightest sin makes each of us guilty of failure because the guilt of each trespass reveals our lack of love and respect for God.
So we're hopeless in our own abilities to perfectly please God. Thus we are condemned by our own sin.
Where can we find reconciliation?
Well, God does not only take the initiative, but he works to complete the whole process of our salvation.
He does not reconcile us by simply moving from loving us to forgiving us, because that would ignore the justice of God's character.
A perfect sacrifice for our sin is required.
God does not sweep sin under the carpet.
Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3, for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
The apostle Paul prays in Colossians 2 that the Colossians would have their hearts knit together in love.
We are knit together the more our souls are knit to God Himself. In love, as God's people love and serve God. And as we draw near and spend time with him, we offer pleasing worship to God.
I remember at the outset I said God created us to worship Him.
To worship him, living lives of loving obedience.
And he gives us the information we know, the things that we're to follow to be sacrifices of love to him, pleasing worship with our lives.
The Lord's love for us as people is so deep that he is faithful to us even when we are unfaithful to Him.
It's important that we always be mindful of the big chasm that sin creates between us and our Maker.
It's a chasm we can't cross.
The Lord's love for his people is so deep that he is faithful to us even when we are unfaithful. And this love in turn means that he desires to dwell closely with us.
God wants to be close to us. He wants us to draw close to Him.
And he gives us the grace we need to do that, Especially through the person of Jesus Christ, our loving Savior.
That's our focus this evening. The love of our Savior in redeeming us all that he subjected himself to, to enter life here on this planet. A messy place. We're messy people, aren't we?
We can walk into a clean something or other, a clean room, a clean relationship, and it doesn't take long and we can mess it up.
Because we're messy people. We're self serving in many ways.
So that's why the Lord undertook this mission of redemption. He initiated it and he completes it.
He calls us to lovingly commune with him through prayer, through the reading and study of His Word, through participation in the sacraments, through loving fellowship with others.
So the call of God's love is a love that reached out and pulled us from the path of condemnation and destruction, cleansed us, clothed us in righteousness and placed us in a position today as we still deal with earthly stuff. We're in a position today to honor him with our lives.
That's the challenge each of us face. Each and every day we make choices. My exhortation for you and for myself is that we would closely commune with our Lord.
That he wouldn't be the last thought, but he would be the first priority.
That he wouldn't be our last resort, but he would be our go to that we would be dependent upon Him.
He knows everything about us, right?
There's no need to play games with Him. So let's draw on the love he has for us and love him in return.
I'm going to light the love candle and the folks with the next special can come to the stage, please.
For me, this song is a kind of a special treat because it was 61 years ago on a Christmas Eve, the first time I ever sang before a church congregation as a solo.
And so now I get to share it with you again. And I'm honestly as nervous tonight as I was then.
[00:24:23] Speaker B: What child is this who lays to rest on Mary's lap is sleeping Whom angels greet with anthem sweet While shepherds watch are keeping this this is Christ the King whom shepherds guard and angels, angels sing Haste, haste to bring him. Lord, the Babe, the son of Mary why lies he in such mean estate where arts and ass are feeding Good Christian fear for sinners Hear, the silent word is pleading Nail spear shall pierce him through the cross be borne for me, for you.
Hail, hail, the word made for flesh the Babe, the son of Mary.
So bring him incense, gold and myrrh. Come, peasant king to own the King of kings salvation brings, Let loving hearts enthrone him.
Raise, raise a song on high the virgin sings her lullaby.
Joy, joy, for Christ is born the Babe, the son of Mary.
What child is this who's laid to rest?
[00:27:34] Speaker E: And in the same region There are shepherds out in the field Keeping watch over their flock by night.
And the angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were filled with great fear.
And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord.
And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased.
When the angels went away from them into the heavens, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.
They went there with haste, and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.
And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning the child.
And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they heard and had seen as it had been told to them.
I have the honor of discussing the Hope Candle, and if you know anything about me, I like Christmas a lot, and I really, really enjoy a Charlie Brown Christmas.
Now, some of you are as obsessed as I am, and they know the reference that I literally just made.
When Linus comes up and he's telling Charlie Brown, this is what Christmas is all about, he gets up on stage and he starts talking. And the moment he says, fear not, Linus drops his blanket.
Why?
Because there is a moment that Linus has where he's no longer afraid.
There is no fear.
He doesn't need his comfort blanket to get through anything anymore because he's literally discussing the angels saying, you don't understand that Christ has been born.
Yes, it's just a cartoon.
There's a conversation that the producers had when they were making it, and one of them said to the other, like, well, should we even do this? And the response that Bill Melendez makes is, if we don't say this, who's going to?
And all these years later, Linus still tells the entire world what Christmas is all about.
Now we go through our life and we see, well, yeah, but this was how long ago?
Like, sure, they had been waiting and waiting and waiting, and suddenly the promises that had been made and told for all these years came true.
And here we are in 2025, still waiting.
But the cool thing Is that's okay?
Because we have hope.
What do we have our hope in? Why is it that we have hope at all? When we look back along history, we see all the prophecies that were told came true.
So is there any doubt in our minds then that the rest of the promises, when Christ says, hey, I'm going to go prepare a place for you? If it weren't true, I wouldn't say it.
So what's that mean for us?
It means that it's true.
It means that we get to hold on to the fact that we know that the Christ who was born, who came as a baby, who made the promises along his life, who sacrificed himself on the cross for us, is because he wants to be with us. And he made a way for us. And that continues to hold true.
There's one more verse I want to read.
Romans 8.
For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I don't need to be talking about the love candle to be talking about this, because that right there is what gives us our hope.
Christ wants us.
The Christ wants us to be with him.
God made a way so that we could be with Him. This is so beyond exciting for us. It is worth rejoicing. And when you read this, you go, that's cool.
[00:32:53] Speaker A: It's awesome.
[00:32:54] Speaker E: I don't have to worry about the powers and the dominions and the heights. I'm terrified of heights.
I really am. I was scared.
Jump off big rocks. I'm like, lord, save me.
Sorry.
When we see this, though, what we fail to realize is this counts for everything.
Nor disease, nor sickness, nor unemployment, nor hard times, nor financial worries, nor angry friends, nor unnecessary drama, nor anything. There is nothing in our life that is so difficult and so hard and so complex that Christ goes, yeah, I can't deal with that.
But instead, he says, everything, everything is worth it.
Because ultimately, this isn't the end game for us.
Our hope that we get our undying hope, our forever hope, is that one day, one day when we say, yes, Lord, I accept you, I follow you as my Lord and Savior.
I will live that way till my dying breath. And when I do, I get to look forward to the day where he says, well done, good and faithful servant.
No matter how hard my life gets, I always get to hold on to hope.
And as we go through Christmas, which is a Time of joy and of love, of peace and of hope.
Remember, the baby started it, but the cross is what finished it.
As I light the last candle or the hope candle, the next special can come on up.
[00:35:06] Speaker C: Satan.
No, you are not alone.
O come barren and waiting ones weary of praying Come see what your God has done.
Christ is born Christ is born Christ is born for.
[00:36:13] Speaker B: You.
[00:36:21] Speaker C: Ho come bitter and broken down with fears and spoken of his perfect love.
Oh come guilty and hiding ones There is no need to see what your God has done.
Christ is born Christ is born.
[00:37:04] Speaker B: Christ.
[00:37:05] Speaker C: Is born for you.
He's the Lamb who was given slain for our pardon.
His promise is peace for those who believe.
He's the Lamb who was given slain for pardon.
His promise is peace for those who to believe.
So come though you have nothing Come, here's the offering Come see what your God has done.
Christ is born Christ is born.
[00:38:13] Speaker D: Christ.
[00:38:13] Speaker C: Is born Christ is born for you Christ is born Christ is born Christ is born for.
[00:38:58] Speaker F: The daughter always outshines peace.
It's a relational thing, isn't it?
Luke 2:14.
The angels come say glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those whom he is pleased.
What is peace?
It's one of the most longed for realities in human history, isn't it? People want peace in their lives.
At the same time, it's one of the most elusive realities.
For me as an educator, peace is early morning, day off in the easy chair, fire going the doodle on your lap with coffee in the ceramic.
And then being a doodle, peace is destroyed. Just like that.
He helps doing something. We strive to find peace in our everyday lives.
Nations go to war seeking it, families fracture over it. Even the church struggles to preserve it.
And when peace is finally secured, the cry always should rise to God be the glory.
On that first Christmas night, the angels did not announce a new philosophy, did they?
They didn't announce a new political regime or solution or new administration or an inner coping mechanism to find peace in yourself. They came to announce a person.
Peace arrived because Jesus arrived.
And peace can only be found in Jesus.
Peace came in real history.
The angels declared that this peace comes through the Lord of never ending universal sovereign rule.
That is where peace only can be found on a day, a real day, in real history, in a city, Bethlehem, in a real world. The Savior came to remove all our guilt, the Christ to fulfill all our hopes, the Lord to defeat all our enemies and make us safe forever.
This isn't some sentimental mushy piece. This is not abstract piece that we can't grab a hold of this is true, real relational peace grounded in Jesus and who he is.
What kind of peace is this?
Scripture divines peace far more richly than the absence of just conflict. And sometimes we think, if I can just avoid conflict, I have peace.
That's me. I don't like conflict. Because you know what? Because it's not peaceful, is it?
Feelings get hurt, people get angry. You got to challenge people, you got to correct people. And that's not always fun.
But it's not just the absence of conflict.
Peace is actually harmony between people. It's a heart thing.
Peace is security, safety, and flourishing.
Peace is the way of salvation.
Peace is a soul at rest before God, the final blessedness of God's redeemed people. That is peace. The prophets long for this peace. Haggai declared that God would bring peace to his dwelling place.
Isaiah envisioned a world so restored that even creation itself would rest in harmony. If you think about that passage where lions would rest with sheep and snakes with children, and there would be peace among God's creation, the way he intended to be before we messed it up.
This piece was never merely just emotional, it was messianic.
And Peter makes it clear in Acts 10 that this piece is still preached today.
He says, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all and who receives this peace.
And Our passage, Luke 2:14, is very precise.
The angels say, peace among those with whom he is pleased.
[00:43:24] Speaker D: Who are those?
[00:43:25] Speaker F: Those older translations made it sound universal, but the modern translations are clear. God's offer of peace goes out to all. It's there.
But God's peace rests on those who receive his son, Jesus Christ as their personal relational Savior.
Jesus explains this in Luke 10. If a son of peace is there, your place will rest upon him.
And who is the son of peace?
Someone who welcomes the peacemaker, Jesus Christ.
Peace is not automatic.
Peace is relational with your Creator.
And that's where we go to three things about peace.
And where does it all start? Where do we begin this peace journey? Where does it have to begin?
It has to begin with peace with God.
Roman 5 tells us something sobering and glorious. Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is it. That is the only way that we can have peace is through the relationship and being justified and having that right, standing before God through Jesus Christ.
This is not a vague calm or spiritual sentiment. This is very objective. It's a fact. This is reality.
And people make a lot of money off Other people wanting to find peace and giving them 10 steps to have a peaceful life.
It's just one step, isn't it?
It's putting your faith in a Savior who died for you because of sin. Humanity was not merely restless. We were at war with God.
But at the cross, Jesus absorbed God's righteous wrath and reconciled enemies and into children.
Paul tells us why we were enemies. We were reconciled to God by the death of his son, Jesus Christ.
Peace with God comes only one way and that's reckless reconciliation through Jesus Christ.
So we have this vertical relationship and now we go, all right, what's next? Then we have peace within ourselves and that's huge.
Once we are reconciled to God, peace begins to reshape us from the inside out.
If you're into wound care, wounds heal from the inside out, don't they?
We as broken people, heal from the inside out, from our heart first. And then it's going to express itself through our everyday life.
Paul writes, do not be anxious about anything and the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
In reality, anxiety is the fruit of self rule. Peace grows when we entrust ourselves to Christ's rule.
As we take on the mindset of Jesus.
Humility, self giving, love. Our restless hearts are guarded by his peace.
And when we have peace with ourselves, what's next?
We get to have peace with everybody in this room.
Every person that God puts in your life. Peace with others.
Finally peace becomes something we live out.
How can we love one another, let alone our neighbor, if we don't have peace with God and ourselves?
It's told to us if possible. If possible on your part, so far as it depends on you. Live peaceably with all people.
We do not create peace, we carry it. The peace we receive from God now governs how we treat one another.
Paul says, let the peace that comes from Christ rule your hearts.
You are called to live in peace.
The peace that shapes families, churches and communities.
When Christ's kingdom is our highest priority, that's when peace abounds.
As we light the peace candle, Gemma and Maya will come up and.
[00:48:04] Speaker B: Will.
[00:48:04] Speaker F: Come up and sing for us.
[00:48:27] Speaker B: Sa.
Who was.
[00:49:25] Speaker C: Messiah?
Messiah.
Messiah messiah.
[00:49:44] Speaker B: We.
[00:50:10] Speaker C: One holy night Messiah Messiah.
O God, come let us adore oh come let us adore you O come let us adore.
Precious promise come back again oh Messiah Messiah Baby born to save us Messiah As I am all our needs.
We fall.
On our knees we fall.
[00:52:19] Speaker A: On our knees we fall.
The waiting is done John, chapter one, verse nine says this in following the true Light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world.
The world was made through Him. Yet the world did not know Him.
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
And this is what we celebrate at Christmas. God becoming man and the Word became flesh, it says in John 1:14.
And dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, the glory as of the only Son, from the Father, full of grace and truth. I'm going to light this last candle celebrating the end of the season of waiting. This advent, this preparation for the coming of Jesus, as I do, let's remember together how a big God became small in the form of a human. Not just a human, but a baby, a helpless human, if you will, so that we could know him personally, both as he walked the earth and so that we could know him eternally as we trust in him as our Lord and as our Savior.
There's a word that we see throughout Scripture, and we sing in songs. We sing in songs that we sing today. It's this. It's Hallelujah.
It simply just means praise the Lord.
And as we come to the conclusion of lighting these candles, it's appropriate for us to say praise the Lord as we remember the hope and the faithfulness, the hope that we have in the faithfulness of God, as we remember the love that he has for us, right. For God so loved the world that he what gave his one and only Son.
We can rejoice knowing that as the angels announced the joy that we can have because there can be peace now between God and man.
We now, as we just heard moments ago, that we can have peace with God. Something else we can rejoice in. And the culmination of it all is the lighting of this last candle, this Christ candle, the middle white candle. And so as I light it, I'm going to invite Josh to come up and sing one other song.
As I light this.
Let's say hallelujah together. Can we do that?
Hallelujah.
After this next song, we'll bring the lights down a little bit more and.
[00:54:59] Speaker B: We'Ll light the individual candles that you have sat.
It is the night of our dear Savior's pe Long lay the world in sin and.
The soul felt it a thrill of hope the weary world rejoices for yonder breaks A new and glorious more Fall on your knees oh hear the angel voices.
When Christ was born.
Light divine.
Led by the light of faith ser with glowing hearts by his cradle is.
[00:57:11] Speaker D: Still.
[00:57:15] Speaker B: Over the world Star is sweetly gleaming now come the wise men from out of variant land the king of kings Manger in all our trials Born to be our friend he knows our need Our weaknesses constrain danger Behold.
[00:58:05] Speaker D: Your.
[00:58:06] Speaker B: King before him Lonely bed Behold your king before him Holy bread Truly he taught us to love one another.
[00:58:39] Speaker D: His.
[00:58:40] Speaker B: Law, his love and his gospel his.
[00:58:44] Speaker C: Peace.
[00:58:48] Speaker B: Change shall he break for the the slave is our brother and in his name all oppression shall cease Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus Praise we with all our hearts we praise his holy Spirit Christ is the Lord that ever praise we his power and glory.
Ever more Proclaim his power and glory.
Ever more Proclaim.
Sam.
[01:00:43] Speaker A: Amen.
Amen. Thank you for that.
Gonna light these little candles here that you have. If you have them next to you, encourage you to kind of grab them, pull them out. I'm gonna give you a couple pieces of information about this in just a moment. The first thing, though, is you're kind of fiddling with it. Maybe don't fiddle with it too much. Just make sure you push the candle into the plastic a little bit. All right. Don't push too hard to break it or anything.
But there's a reason that we do this, and there's spiritual significance other than it looks really cool.
And it's this. Like, at Christmas time, we see lights all over the place, right? People decorate their trees, and Christmas lights are on people's houses and everything.
In reality, Jesus is the light of the world.
And without him being the light of the world, we live in darkness. And there's a spiritual point to that. Yes.
Also, as we take these lights, we recognize that the light that we have within us, the life that we have within us, doesn't come from our own energy and our own effort. It comes from Jesus Christ.
And so the reason we pass this around, and it starts with the Christ candle, is to remind ourselves that the only way that I could have anything good that's a part of me is because of Jesus.
It's not because of what I've done.
Even as we drive around and we like to look at lights and everything, remind yourself and remind each other that all of the lights of Christmas point us to the light of Christmas, which is Jesus Christ.
And so as we pass this flame around, it's a symbol to us, to myself, it's a symbol to all of Us in this place, here together, that we're able to praise Jesus, that we're able to worship him because of the incredible work that he did in coming into this world. God incarnate, coming and dwelling with us. And so we rejoice as we do this. The way we do this, and this is important, is because Jesus has the light, and we are the ones who need the light from Him. We go and get the light. He's ready. He's there. He came into the world. But the way that I received the light is by saying, I need help. And so I'm the one who goes and says, jesus, I need you to give light to my life because I am dark without you. And so as we pass the candle around, the way that you do that is if you're the one without the flame, you go and you get the flames from somebody else. They don't reach over and give you the flame, okay? That's important to remember because we don't want wax dripping on you.
So if you don't have the flame, you go and get it from somebody who does have the flame. Josh, can you stand up? I'm going to demonstrate this here for a moment. And as I'm demonstrating this, I'm going to ask Pastor Les and Tom and Gerald and Chuck to come up here as well. And they're going to distribute the flame as well. So I'm not moving. Josh is going to take it from me and be able to give it to others. So he's going to give it to them over here. Chuck's going to take it. And so we're going to sing a song together before they start giving you the flame. We're going to sing Silent Night Together.
And as we do this, we'll pass the flame around and want to encourage you to stand as we do this. It's easier to move around when you're standing.
And then we'll bring the lights down just a little bit as we sing the song. And at the conclusion of the song, I'll come back and we'll blow out the candles, and then we'll put the candles back. I'll give you instruction for that. But at this time, we're going to pass the flame around and we'll sing Silent Night together.
[01:04:22] Speaker C: Holy light.
[01:04:28] Speaker B: All is come all is bright from young virgin Mother and child Holy infant so tender and mind sleep in heaven Wee.
[01:05:35] Speaker C: Shepherd.
[01:05:45] Speaker D: Glory.
[01:05:48] Speaker B: Stream from heaven above.
Sing alleluia Christ the Savior is born.
Christ the Savior is born.
Silent night holy.
Thy holy face with the dawn of redeeming grace Jesus Lord at thy.
Jesus lord.
[01:07:30] Speaker F: Let's sing this last verse. Just the voices.
[01:07:41] Speaker D: Holy night.
[01:07:53] Speaker B: Thy light with the angels Let us hallelujah to our king Christ the Savior is Lord.
[01:08:43] Speaker A: Amen let's pray together. Lord Jesus, we're so grateful for this evening that we have to remember, to celebrate, to rejoice in the work that you did, for the love that you have, for the joy that we can have in you, the peace that we can have because of a relationship with you, the faithfulness that you've shown us. And I pray that as we step back into whatever this evening brings and tomorrow brings, Lord, that you would continue to remind us of your joy and of your faithfulness for us to be in relationship with you. We thank you for the light that we have inside of us because of you, the light of the world stepping into our life.
Lord, I just pray a blessing over all those here this evening. In Jesus name, Amen. If you'd blow out your candles and stick them on the table in the back before you exit the door. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.
