Christmas Eve: Lets Us Sing

Good evening friends,

My Name is Kyle Lammott, I am the Pastor here at Exodus Church, We are all so thankful that you have come out this evening to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the King of kings and the Savior of the world.

When Jesus arrived it seems that heaven and earth joined together to sing praises to God.

The Angles sang,

Luke 2:14 NKJV

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

And thats what we are going to do together this evening.

We are going to sing his praises together for he has done

Our original plan was to enjoy an evening outside with coffee, hot chocolate, Apple Cider and cookies, and to sing some Christmas songs together around some fires

However, due to the cold weather we chose to move it indoors.

So, we still have coffee, hot chocolate, and apple cider and want you all to partake and enjoy…

At the end of the service we will have a candle light song we sing together so make sure you all have candles… and we have some battery operated candles for the kids.

Just a few notes for house keeping.

Bathrooms:

The bathrooms in this building our out of order right now, however there are bathrooms in the kids building right across the courtyard.

We also have security out in the fellowship hall happy to point you in the right direction.

Church Tomorrow

Tomorrow we will gathering together here to worship at the special time of 11:00am -

Our normal service times for the new year will be 10:00am, but for Christmas we pushed it back an hour to give you all more time at home on Christmas morning.

Tomorrow will be a shorter service, and it will also be a total family service. It will be our first Sunday in this new building and want to have the whole family together to worship.

So please come out in the morning to join us at 11:00 for a family service as we worship together.

Candles

Tonight is a candle light service. So at the end ushers will light candles on the aisles and then you will pass the flam down each row.

As we pass the flame if your candle is lit make sure you keep it upright and let the other person light from your candle as to not spill wax.

Friends, Tonight is a night to join together, to raise our voices and celebrate the arrival of the King.

Let me pray

God our Father, every year we rejoice as we look forward to this feast of our salvation. May we welcome Christ as our Redeemer, May we bow before him as our King, and our God may we forever praise his name.

We pray this in the name of the Father and the son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Homily

Christmas is a time to sing. For it is a day of great celebration.

Music is one of the greatest gifts God gives to his creation.

The power of music and song cannot be overstated.

Music has a power to to grip the heart and the mind.

It has the power to bring low and to uplift

Within just moments music can change your perception of reality.

And there are times where music has the power to change reality itself.

Just ask those who were hiding on the other side of the walls of Jericho.

Or the demon that left Saul when David played his Harp.

Song is glorified speech… So when there is something so amazing that normal words fail to carry the weight, we sing.

This is why we sing at Christmas.

The weight of the glory of the incarnate Christ can only be carried through song.

And we see this to be true throughout the Christmas story.

Mary sings.

Zechariah sings.

The angels sing.

Simeon sings.

And when Christ ascends, all of heaven sings.

The glory of the The birth of Christ,

the God who put on flesh and dwelt among us,

the one who humbled himself,

the one who formed in the womb of a virgin,

the incarnate God who came to his own,

This glory of the coming of Christ demands that we sing because it contains a news so good that has the power to transform this world.

We sing because of the good news that the:

The great king has arrived

The promised King who rules with justice and righteousness has come.

He is the king of King, he is the prince of peace.

His rule and his kingdom is one of peace that will extend to the ends of the earth and to the end of time

We sing because The Redeemer has come

The one who saves us from the chains of sin and sets us free to live in the glory of his grace.

We sing because the savior of the world has been born

We sing because salvation has come to the nations

We sing because the longing and waiting of God’s people has been realized in Christ.

We sing because the the great warrior has conquered

We sing because Joy has come to the world

We sing because Peace now stretches forth to all who receive Christ.

My Friends, Christmas is a time sing, because Christmas celebrates the originator of music and the first singer. And that is Jesus Christ.

If you know Christ, than sing your heart out in praise to God for he has done a marvelous thing.

If you do not know Christ, the truth is, you have no reason to Sing.

But that can change. For Christ has come to save the lost, to forgive the sinner, to set free those who are enslaved to sin.

My friends, the gospel of Jesus Christ will usher you into the eternal song of the lamb where you will forever have a song to sing as you bow before the king on his throne.

I pray that tonight will be the first night that you are able to truly sing to the glory of the King.

Lets pray

Lord God, our Redeemer, who came to bring good news to the poor, let us all men see your glory.

Show yourself to those who have never known known you, let them see your saving work

Let your name be preached to the ends of the earth, that all may find you.

Lord may we faithfully sing your praises, this night, and forever more. Amen.