Sunday Wk 50: Wk 2 Joy

Intro

Over the years the sounds of Christmas has been established by many incredible voice…

Bing Cosby - White Christmas (42)

Burl Ives - Holly Jolly Christmas (46)

Andy Williams - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (63)

Perry Como - Home for the Holidays (54)

Judy Garland - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (44)

Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song: Chestnuts roasting on an open fire (46)

Doris Day - Silver Bells (64)

Brenda Lee was only 13 years old - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree (58)

Dean Martin - Winter Wonderland (1966)

Ella Fitzgerald - Jingle Bells (60)

Gene Autry - Frosty the Snowman (47)

Frank Sinatra - Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (1948)

Eartha Kitt - Santa Baby (53)

José Feliciano - Feliz Navidad (1970)

Elvis - Blue Christmas (57)

Johnny Mathis - Sleigh Ride (58)

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to come across THAT ANY OF THESE ARE BAD AND SHOULD NOT BE SUNG--FOR I BELIEVE FATHER LOVES SMILING, LAUGHING, AND JOYFUL MUSIC…

BUT LET ME SAY, I do like the

New Sounds of Christmas too that point us directly to the Joy Jesus gives!

Amy Grant - Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song) (92)

Michael English - Mary, Did You Know? (91)

Lauren Daigle - Noel

Chris Tomlin -

Rebecca St. James -

Josh Groban -

Carrie Underwood

Pentatonix

and many many more thanks to technology!

FOR ME ONE OF THE GREATEST Songs—NEXT TO—

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and

Good Christian Men Rejoice is

JOY TO THE WORLD!

SING: JOY TO THE WORLD!

page 495

WELCOME:

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Scripture:

2 Min. Break

Mickey greets FB Family

Wed: MidWeek

15th: 77 Sacks Stuffed for Seniors 1pm (Special Offering today for Senior Sacks)

19th: Friend Day

shared meal following the service and

wear your Christmas sweater (ugly or not)

19th: Healing Remembrance Service 3pm

22nd: Christmas Caroling 6p

24th: Christmas Eve Candlelight Service 530p

SING 2nd Worship Set:

! page 493- It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

Candle #1:

(LIGHT the Hope Candle)

! page 492- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

ADVENT IS OUR SPIRITUAL RESET FROM THE HOLLY TO THE HOLY!

Leaning into Jesus is where we find true Hope, for He has defeated the enemy.

Where there is no Victor there is no HOPE.

Jesus is our Victor and there is Hope for Today.

Candle #2:

(Lite the candle)

! page 498- O Little Town of Bethlehem

PREPARATION Wk 2

God’s Promised Peace (Shalom): is a return to God’s original creation, before it was marred by humanity’s sin. Without peace there is anxiety, fears, performance driven life — God provided a way of escape through Hope that brought peace.

Ezekiel 34.25

Ezekiel 34:25 (NLT)

“I will make a covenant of peace with my people

As we reflect on God’s peace this Advent season, may we be remember our role as God’s children :

to actively make peace as we await the fullness of God’s shalom through the second Advent of Jesus Christ.

! page 503- What Child is This

Candle #3:

(Lite the candle)

Wk 3 - JOY!: God’s Life coming to live in Me!

Many of us will go home for Christmas and for so many families, when a son or daughter comes home, it is a cause for great joy.

There will be hugs and exclamations, Special food, presents, there will be much cheerful chatter.

It is not always like this—for some Christmas is a sad time dealing with past memories or financial burden. That is why it takes us all to bring support and love.

There is something wonderful though about coming home.

Our Advent journey brings us to the birth of a baby boy to a priest named Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth. The baby’s name would be John and as he grew up people would later call him John the Baptist.

Luke 1.14

Luke 1:14 NLT

You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,

WHY?

Because he would prepare the way for the Messiah, our Victor.

Today we focus on the Joy the would come to all people.

Luke 2.10

Luke 2:10 NLT

but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.

So what will happen when God, the Holy Spirit, lives and breathes through this man? He will do what God loves to do.

God loves to bring people home; so this Spirit-filled man will bring people home.

Luke 1.16

Luke 1:16 The Message

He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God.

That is why there will be such joy.

All over the land, men and women who are far from God, not trusting him, will come back in repentance and faith.

They will thank God for John the Baptist, who brought them home.

He will be like the great Old Testament prophet Elijah, who called the people to repentance (1 Kings 18).

Best of all, John will “make ready a people prepared for the Lord”, prepared for God, himself, to come and rescue them. John is not just the bringing-home prophet. He is the getting-ready-for-God prophet. When we read on in Luke’s Gospel, we find that the men and women who came home to God when John preached were precisely the people who were ready to welcome the King of kings.

Luke 7.29-30

Luke 7:29–30 NLT

When they heard this, all the people—even the tax collectors—agreed that God’s way was right,* for they had been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and experts in religious law rejected God’s plan for them, for they had refused John’s baptism.

Meditate today on just how joyous it is to repent:

to turn from living for yourself,

to turn from your sinful self-centredness, and

to come home to the God who welcomes you.

Let’s be filled with JOY! Today as—God’s Life has come to live in Us!

LETS PRAY

Father, you sent your servant John the Baptist to call people to repentance and to prepare the way for the Lord Jesus, who came to seek and to save the lost, grant that, as we remember John’s birth with joy, we too may turn to you with all our hearts and wait joyfully for that day when the Lord Jesus will return to rescue all who are waiting for him. May we always search for those that we can toss God’s lifeline of Hope and Peace to each day that brings everlasting Joy. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

SING! page 490

O come let us adore Him

O come let us adore Him

O come let us adore Him

Christ the Lord.

SERIES LESSON: Do you see what I see?

QUESTION: How Do You See Yourself?

John 1.12

John 1:12 (NLT)

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

1 Peter 2.9

1 Peter 2:9 NLT

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests,* a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

So, “Who Are You?”

If you are “in Christ?” You can say…

I am Accepted, I am Secure, I am Significant. 

I AM NOT THE GREAT “I AM”, BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD I AM WHAT I AM

Col 1.14

Colossians 1:14 The Message

the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.

Can I get a Hallelujah?

So our identity must

(take a note)

first start through a relationship founded in Jesus.

not of works or sacrifices but receiving God’s Grace.

We must secondly learn to train our spiritual eye to see What God Sees concerning us—in all of our ways.

not just at church but at work and play.

thirdly, making a Home for God living in us.

His Perspective is PERFECT

His PLAN is never lost in the day to day

He is building HIS church

and that is YOU and ME!

Quietly God is asking us to OPEN OUR EYES

So, God asks, “Do you SEE what- I see?”

What are things that seem to upstage God’s Plan and Purpose in our lives.

Unmet Expectations

Illness

Waiting at the airport when your ship comes in.

Relationships

Hard times

WHY?

I believe it is because we get our eyes off of Jesus.

Hebrews 12.2

Hebrews 12:2 NLT

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.* Because of the joy* awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Hebrews 12.1

Hebrews 12:1 NLT

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

Hebrews 12.1-2

Hebrews 12:1–2 (The Message)

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on?

It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit!

No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins.

Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in.

Study how he did it.

Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way:

Cross, shame, whatever.

And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.

Strip Down Start Running:

Let go of the past, put down the extra baggage, take off anything that binds you or slows you down.

Parasitic Sins:

Parasites are Broadly grouped, they include protozoa, helminths, and arthropods. More familiar, named are lice, ticks, mites, bed bugs, flukes, and tapeworms.

Keep your eyes on Jesu:

Put on your spiritually eye glasses (Spiritual Shades)

Stop the glare of the World‘s glamour.

Study how Jesus did it…

What are some things Jesus did?

prayer—studied the Word—took over satanic oppression— He did what e saw his Father do…

John 5.19

John 5:19 NLT

So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.

Never lose sight of where your headed.

Ps. 119.105

Psalm 119:105 NLT

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.

Eph 4.11

Ephesians 4:11 NLT

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.

eph 4.12

Ephesians 4:12 NLT

Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

Making it Personal

JOY HAS COME — Receive that joy today!

expect it

look for it

support it with God’s Word

write the Word down

speak it

believe it

If we can believe in Santa Claus and fairytales—sure we can believe in the Truth found in Jesus Christ , the Messiah, our Savior.

Closing