Sermon Tone Analysis

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

Birth Message

Warning Message

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

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

God’s People

The angels gathered and they sang

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

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

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

Everlasting Peace

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