Advent Week - Angel's Candle

Welcome

Announcements

Join us on Sunday Mornings at 9:30 am dor Sunday School, No Wednesday night Service this week or next. We start back on Jan 5th.

Christmas Eve Service will be at 6pm

Prepare for Worship

Call To Worship

224 Joy to the World

Confession

Prayer of Confession

Merciful Lord, we confess that with us there is an abundance of sin, but in you there is the fullness of righteousness and abundance of mercy. We are spiritually poor, but you are rich and in Jesus Christ came to be merciful to the poor. Strengthen our faith and trust in you. We are empty vessels that need to be filled; fill us. We are weak in faith; strengthen us. We are cold in love; warm us, and make our hearts fervent for you that our love may go out to one another and to our neighbors. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Assurance of Faith

Romans 5:1

Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Worship

228 We 3 Kings of Orient Are

227 Angels We have Heard on High

230 Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Prayers of the People

Prayer Request

Our Father which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done

in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Peaceful Messengers

Angels come in many shapes and sizes

They have different roles, they communicate in different ways

No one is Scripture who encounters and angel in full form responds lightly, they reflect God’s holiness

Angel’s are messenger’s of God, they communicate that which God wants to tell directly to people.

Christmas Messages

Birth Message

Matthew 1:18–24 ESV

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife,

Luke 1:26–38 ESV

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Birth Message

Luke 2:8–14 ESV

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 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. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Warning Message

Matthew 2:13–15 ESV

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Matthew 2:19–23 ESV

19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Messages of Peace

Joseph + Mary

Joseph and Mary are brought inner peace in the difficult situation of being the ones to bear the burden of being chosen to experience the virgin birth

Matthew 1:24–25 ESV

24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Shepherds

The shepherds are the first among the Israelites to know of the coming of the Prince of Peace

The promise that God would through this child bring Peace to His people

Isaiah 9:6 ESV

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

God’s People

The angels gathered and they sang

Luke 2:14 ESV

14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

They brought all of us the message of the promise of peace to come through the Conquering King, The suffering Servant, who would save the world

Our Peace

We must not misinterpret this message of peace, it does not mean a life of comfort and ease

Inner Peace

The advent of Christ allows each believer, to seek after personal peace

It is not guaranteed and it is not everlasting as of yet within our hearts

But our reflection on Christ should result in peace, knowing that it is his work that saves and not our own

Philippians 4:6–7 ESV

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:15 ESV

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

Peace Among Men

The peace of Christ is not restricted to the heart alone. It should extend to the world around us.

God has promised peace to His people

Psalm 29:11 ESV

11 May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!

Hebrews 12:14 ESV

14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Matthew 5:9 ESV

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

We are called to be agents of peace as followers of Christ.

Everlasting Peace

Isaiah 11:1–10 ESV

1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. 6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

Conclusion

God’s angels are not beings to be trifled with. We cannot and should not act as if we can call them down for our own protection, well-being, or blessings. They are the envoy of God. They serve at His behest and His alone. They are being created specifically to serve the purpose of the administration of this world. Whatever, they do they do by God’s will

In the Christmas story we see them bring announcements of coming events, specific instructions upon which the cast of the Christmas play were to act, they relayed the instructions of God as Director of all these events. And in doing so they brought great peace to the players. For each time they recieved another set of instructions they were gifted with peace. They knew who was in charge of all that was happening around them, and they knew they could respond in obedience and that everything would turn out just as God planned.

For us today we have the same assurance of peace given to us daily. We do not need the full manifestation of an Angel to bring us the directives of God in our life. Personally, I have no interest in seeing an angel in this life. But I do have a message, that is just as assured as that which Mary, Joseph and the Shepherds recieved. I have it in the form of God’s recorded word.

Let us find our peace there each and every day. When you are struggling with how you should respond to situations in your life, ask God. He has already given you and answer, you merely need to look to His word to find out.

Understand I am in no way saying that each and every instruction in each and every situation is clearly laid out and easy to discover in Scripture, but I assure you that there is nothing in this life that you cannot take to the Word and seek out the principles by which God would have you live. We should find as much peace in that fact as the players int he Christmas story had in the messages of the angels.

God calls us to live peacefully. Internally, and with those around us. With those who share the faith of our savior, because we will spend eternity with these people. And with those who do not believe, so that our witness to them is that our God is a God of peace, and that faith in him is what allows us to endure even the unthinkable.

God is saving this world, He is fulfilling the promise that we see in Isaiah. For us today it seems a far stretch that some day this world will reflect exactly what we read there at the end, but it is His promise. We should strive today in our own hearts, in our own church, and in our own community to live in light of the promised peace of Christ. The world reflected in Isaiah comes about when the world is covered in the faithful, so today I call on you to live that kind of peaceful life regardless of the hardships still surrounding us today.

Doxology

Closing Prayer

If anyone has any questions or concerns feel free to catch me afterwards. And a quick reminder we do have plates in the back for anyone who desires to worship through giving today. The plate to the right is general giving, and the one to the left is specific for our missions giving.

Join us as we sing the doxology:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below, Praise Him above ye Heavenly Host, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Hebrews 13:20–21 ESV

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.