Christmas at Naz Church

Giving Thanks For Christmas

Hear the Word of the Lord

1 Thes 5 16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

Let us Pray

Announcements

Family and Year end giving update

Mail a check to P.O. Box 2465 Elkins WV 26241

Introduction

My name is Brian Hayes and it is good to be back with you on this Sunday after we have just celebrated Christmas

I want you to turn to someone, if you are watching this with someone, if not just say it out loud. Tell someone something that you are thankful for.

We do this as a form of prayer at campaigners followed by everyone saying hallelujah!

I am thankful that Jesus Christ was born! Hallelujah.

Challenge you to rejoice this week. Do it and make it fun. God loves silliness and a glad heart, he loves when we approach him with joy and laughter. Practice this at dinner with your family or while driving, just rejoice!

On that note I want to share a story with you all about laughter

Story of Braven and swords

he loved his play swords

We opened other presents but braven kept coming back to the swords and wildly swing them around.

Christmas morning brielle was up at 5:15am, we had family come in, Braven woke up me at 6AM.

This morning he busted in to my room screaming, “I’M GOING TO GET YOU DAD!”

We laughed this whole morning about Braven and his new found love.

Remembering is rooted in an event and it takes frequent reminders.

Christmas is about remembering the past and looking forward in anticipation. Christmas is a reminder that God isn’t someone who gives you a devotional to read and walk away from. Christmas isn’t just a time of baby Jesus devotionals. So often we approach scripture as just a grab bag, or a moral hand book.

Scripture is more than a book on right and wrong

Scripture is more than something you read 5-10 minutes a day.

Scripture is God’s love letter for us to enjoy, think through, and mediate on. It is a story that we are apart of! Hear Psalm 1.

Psalm 1

The New International Version Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the one

who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,

and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—

whatever they do prospers.

Cost of Christmas

Going back to 1 Thes 5:16.. reread.

It is God’s will for us to rejoice in what he has done. Is that just at Christmas time?

Scripture asks us to think through what Christmas means for us each and every day.

First: we are to chew over how God came to us and how it effects our lives daily.

This is an idea explored over and over and over again in scripture.

If the apostles and prophets found it important to talk about time and time again, do you think it is important for us?

Does it have practical applications for you and for our church? Think and Rejoice in it.

Secondly: we cannot rejoice without accepting that our rejoicing cost something.

Rejoice happens the most in Luke, Isaiah, and the psalms. Luke and Isaiah most closely focus on God’s redeeming plan for those on the outside. Those far away from God.

Luke 1 with the coming of Christ, and his birth, a few times in the middle. Chapter 15 Rejoice is everywhere.

Story of lost sheep, story of lost coin, story of lost son.

Rejoice because what is lost is found.

Do not separate the birth of Christmas with God’s redeeming plan for his world.

Do not separate Redemption in eternity with the work that God is doing now.

Christmas is not just about Gifts, credit card debit, and Baby Jesus. Those can be packed up, payed off and forgotten

C.S. Lewis says: All these toys were never intended to posses my heart. My true good is in another world and my only real treasure is Christ.

!An example: Going out to eat is not about ordering food and watching it sit on the table. It is about enjoying the meal. Enjoying what you ordered and waited for.

So it is with Christmas. Rejoice for Jesus was born, he walked with sinners and outcasts, he revealed God’s kingdom, he willingly laid down on a cross to pay for our sins and our redemption, he was raised by the power of the holy spirit to conquer sin, satan, and death, sent his holy spirit to empower us, his kingdom people, and one day he will come again. AMEN?!?

We celebrate the beginning because we know the end. Celebrate because what what was once lost, has now been found.

As this new year rolls around, will you celebrate in tangible ways?

Story of Brielle’s new PJ’s

The New International Version Chapter 61

I delight greatly in the LORD;

my soul rejoices in my God.

For he has clothed me with garments of salvation

and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,

as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Jesus delights in you, day and day and day, so rejoice! For great is his love and faithfulness.

Let us pray