Mary

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[0:21] ... Hi and welcome to Pendleton Center Church.

[0:37] We are the Chancel Choir. If you're new to our church, please pick up a welcome folder that's at the connection site or the welcome and information desk. We'd like to know you are here, so everyone, please put your name on the friendship card you'll find in the bulletin.

[0:54] If you would like to receive the church newsletter or need an update of any information, please be sure to fill out the address, email, and phone number.

[1:05] On the back, you can write prayer concerns, blessings, or notes to the staff. Please enjoy our service and have a blessed day. Good morning.

[1:16] This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[1:37] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[1:52] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[2:07] Will you pray with me? Dear God in heaven, we just pray your special blessings would come down upon us from heaven above. Bless us in this place that we might experience the Holy Spirit, that we might worship you, Lord, as you would be worshiped, and help our hearts to be filled with your blessing.

[2:23] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We'd like to invite the Schlee family up to light our Advent candles for this morning as we hear these words from the scripture.

[2:37] Matthew chapter 1, verses 18 and 22 to 23. This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about.

[2:49] His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

[3:03] All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, God with us.

[3:21] This is the word of the Lord. Praise to you, God. I'd like to invite you, if you're able, to stand as we're going to sing together. O come, all ye faithful. Amen.

[3:31] It's here to be. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Re Хотя. Amen.

[3:47] O God, O ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.

[4:25] Come and behold him, born the King of angels, O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

[4:53] True God of true God, life from my eternal, No, ye God's not the virgin's womb.

[5:10] Son of the Father, begotten, but created, O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

[5:38] Sing choirs of angels, sing in exultation, O sing all ye citizens of heaven above.

[5:56] Glory to God of glory in the highest, O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

[6:27] The Lord be with you. And also with you. Please be seated. You're going to notice in your bulletin in the next couple of weeks that your friendship cards will have a place to say which Christmas Eve service are you coming to.

[6:41] That's not like signing up like if you come to a different one, we're going to say you can't come, okay? You can come to anyone you want. That's just to help us with our planning. And also you should note that our 7 o'clock service has been changed to 7.30 for this year.

[6:56] Thank you. And good morning again. You're going to notice those clipboards that are going around are for cookies. Now, a lot of the cookies that are needed are needed today because they're for cantata.

[7:12] So if you are planning on bringing cookies for cantata, you want to make sure that that's when you're bringing them, okay, today, a little later this afternoon, sometime this evening before the cantata begins.

[7:24] We also are in need of cookies for next week for our celebration of our Advent play. This is part of our children's ministries, and we want to make sure that there's an awful lot for a reception for after that too.

[7:36] So please bring cookies. Cookies are good. Eating cookies is good. Sharing cookies is good. It's Christmas. Amen? Amen. Amen. All right. And you're going to notice in your bulletin, there should be an envelope for a mission moment, which is for our Good Samaritan Fund.

[7:55] Our Good Samaritan Fund is for people. It's not for an outreach out beyond the walls of this church. It actually is about the people who are in this church, sometimes people who are going through a hard time, sometimes people are just a little bit down.

[8:09] And our Good Samaritan Fund helps us to look after the people of our own fellowship, our own congregation. So please seek the Lord about how you would be blessing the folks of this church.

[8:23] Do you have joys that you want to share? I'm joyful just to be here with you this morning. What joys? Judy. Let's pray for Carolyn, who is out of the job.

[8:34] She got even a better job where she could. It's absolutely fantastic. She can be home with her family. Last week, we prayed for a little boy named Landon, who had a massive hole in his heart.

[8:45] He's perfect. He's fine. He's healthy. And Pastor Lisa prayed over me last week while I traveled to Arkansas. I reached out to three young men who really needed to understand who Jesus was, and they said all glory and praise to him for that word.

[9:02] Praise God. So praises for answered prayer and healing and answered prayer and being able to reach people for Jesus Christ. Yes. Yay.

[9:14] Birthdays and Christmas and kids home and family together all in one package. We love it. We love it. That's awesome. Yes, what do you have for us this morning? Okay, tell me louder.

[9:28] You were with your mom all day yesterday. That is an amazing blessing, isn't it? Amen. Amen. Yes. Amen.

[9:40] No cancer for Judy's son after his colonoscopy. That is a blessing too. Praise God. Yeah. Star Point Drama Club play was awesome.

[9:54] What play did you all do? We did a million airs with some comedy. I remember seeing that advertised. Yes. Wonderful. I'm so glad it went well. Any other joys to share this morning?

[10:05] Yes, Jan. I spent the day with my sister and we went to Rose Cafe and found out on the night also. Mm-hmm. Yes.

[10:18] And I made a Christmas. Wonderful. Wonderful. Ministering at the Rose Cafe and just spending time with people and with your sister and to be a blessing and to be blessed at this wonderful time of year.

[10:30] Praise God. Praise God. Are there any others? Kelly has one. I wanted to thank everybody who's been involved in getting us ready for the cantata. Way too many to name, but there's a lot of our instrumental community congregation today.

[10:46] We had to pick one song to show you a little preview of what you'll hear if you come tonight. I do thank everybody from behind the scenes who are singers and instrumentalists.

[10:56] They've worked for a couple months to get this ready for you and really get you in the Christmas spirit. Tonight at 7 o'clock we'll have an even bigger choir. We've got a great choir this morning and a full orchestra about right here and we hope that she'll come.

[11:11] This is a very pretty slower ballad that we love and there are some optimal ones that recognize songs you've never heard before. So we hope you see as many of you tonight as convenient and we hope you enjoy what we have to do.

[11:25] Blessings abound in this church. Amen? And in our community let's return our gifts, tithes, and offerings to the Lord with joyful hearts. Amen. If you're looking for hope, hope is with us.

[12:21] If you're searching for love, love is here. If you're looking for peace, peace is waiting in its heaven's gift, and it is near.

[12:44] Come to all you look for. come to all you need.

[12:56] Come now and sing. Come receive the joy, you.

[13:07] You're ashamed of your past, God, you're waiting for you.

[13:32] You're afraid, you'll fail, you're afraid, you'll fail, but He'll help you. If you only take a step of faith. Come to all you look for, come to all you look for.

[13:47] Come to all you look for. Come to all your love for. Amen. Oh, come let us adore Him.

[14:32] Oh, come let us adore Him. Oh, come let us adore Him.

[14:47] Christ the Lord. Oh, come let us adore Him.

[15:00] Come let us adore Him. Amen. Amen.

[15:12] Amen. Amen. Amen.

[15:27] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[15:39] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[15:51] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[16:02] Son and Holy Ghost. Amen. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this day and the opportunity we have to worship you together in spirit and in truth.

[16:22] We thank you for all of the blessings you pour out into our lives, you give to us so abundantly. We just ask that as we return, even this small portion of all you have blessed us with, that you would bless it and give us wisdom to know how to best use it for the furtherance of your kingdom so that many would come to salvation in Jesus Christ and be abundantly blessed as you have blessed us.

[16:50] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please be seated. I have a number of concerns to lift up this morning.

[17:04] We have for healing, we're praying for Betty Bobzine, who is Debbie King's mom. Not only are we praying for Betty to recover and to gain her strength, but Betty's sister, we prayed for Betty's sister in her transition as she was in hospice.

[17:20] Betty's sister died this week, and so that's Debbie's aunt and Betty's sister, and we just want to keep this family lifted up. Erin Preach's niece, Abby, who is a 26-year-old mother of two, was diagnosed with a disease that is likely going to cause her to become blind and deaf, and we want to be praying for this family.

[17:42] We want to be praying for Abby and for her family and all of these folks. I understand Rob Krasinski's mom has had a couple of strokes this week.

[17:55] We want to lift up his mom and Rob and Karen as they're attending to this. Ron Ellman and Joan Kirkland are going for surgery this week.

[18:05] Jan Gertz remains in the hospital. That's Tom Gertz's wife. Roy Phillips, who is Lori Gondek and John Phillips' dad, has fractured his back, and that's in need of our prayers as well.

[18:22] He is in the hospital. And we do have a couple of families who are in mourning. For the Nelson family, Carol Nelson's daughter Kathleen passed away.

[18:33] And if we all remember, Doug and Diane Find, Doug has been in care at home for quite a long time, and he passed away this week.

[18:46] The funeral will be here on Tuesday at 10 o'clock, if you all want to turn out for that to just be with Diane and the family. Are there any other concerns that you need to lift up?

[18:59] Yes. Yes. For Angela, who is donating a kidney to Jerry coming up the 12th. Yes.

[19:10] Amen. This week, and so we're going to be praying for both of them. Thank you. Yes, Richard. I have a question for Michael who has serious health problems.

[19:25] Thank you. Yes. The number of our witnesses had said it was near Rochester. A student was struck by the police officer. Oh, dear.

[19:37] And the sheriff's authorized by the police officer. Yes. Yes. Okay. So there was an incident that a number of people had witnessed in Rochester, near Rochester.

[19:49] A pedestrian was struck at the, unfortunately, it's always unfortunate, but it was a police officer who struck them. The police officer is devastated. So is the family of the person who is no longer with us.

[20:02] Thank you for that. We'll pray for them. Yes. Yes. Marilyn is going in for surgery. That's Kathy's sister. Yes.

[20:13] My friend Don is a baby date. He was working hard surgery a couple weeks ago. They just canceled the surgery. Now he said he had an ear or a valve and had to buy it. So it will be on a Friday. And what is his name?

[20:26] Don. Don. For Don, who's got to have some surgery, and there have been some complications with this, we just want prayer for Don. Thank you. Any others? Yes. My nephew, Mike Black, went to the hospital with a brain bleed.

[20:42] Right now he's doing all right. Okay. So Dick's nephew, Mike, who was in the hospital with a brain bleed. All right. Thank you. We will pray for him.

[20:53] Praise God for all God's blessings that we can pray for one another. Yes, Phil. Rich Joseph's older brother, Tommy, is not a word. Okay.

[21:03] Rich Joseph's older brother, Tommy. Many strokes, and he's living down in Florida. Thank you. Any others? With these concerns and those that are in your hearts, you can join me in your seat, or you can come to the rail as we turn to the Lord in prayer.

[21:19] Father, our gracious Heavenly Father, you know what we need before we even ask.

[21:35] Father, our list of needs is abundant. This week, our list of needs is abundant. We pray, Lord God, that you will be with all of these people who have been mentioned, every single one.

[21:55] That you will be with their caregivers. That you will be with their medical professionals, Lord God. Father, we just ask that your presence, that your grace would draw them near to you.

[22:14] Let them know that in the midst of their troubles, in the midst of their struggles, they are held. They are held in the palm of your hand. Lord, we pray for those who are sick and in need of a healing touch from you.

[22:38] Whether it be in their spirits, their souls, or their bodies, Lord, you are the one who knows best what is needed. We see with our eyes.

[22:48] But you see so far beyond anything we can possibly know about them and what they need. So we just ask, Lord God, for your mercy.

[23:03] We ask for your peace that passes all understanding to guard their hearts, to guard their minds, to keep them. Father, we pray for those who are grieving losses.

[23:18] It is always so hard at holiday times, Lord God. We just ask in Jesus' name for your comfort.

[23:33] For the comfort of friends and family. For the comfort of knowing that we have hope. The hope of eternal life in you.

[23:46] Lord God, be with each one who grieves and mourns. Whether that grief is fresh and new or has been from a long time.

[24:01] Just ask in Jesus' name that you would rebirth your joy into the hearts of all your people.

[24:13] Even as Jesus was born into the world. Lord, help us to remember that we have a greater promise.

[24:26] That we have the promise of your love. To be with us and to be with everyone we love. Lord, transform us in this season.

[24:38] Help us not to be so focused on the busyness of getting ready and all of the decorations and food and gifts. That we forget that there are people who need to be tended to.

[24:53] Help us not to forget even to attend to our own need of relationship with you. Help us not to forget you. Help us not to forget you. In this busy time.

[25:07] Help us not to forget that there are people you want us to reach out to. Beyond presence. Those gifts that we can buy and hand out.

[25:21] But to be a real presence. Bringing the presence of Christ. Into their lives. We pray that this service would bless you, Lord God.

[25:36] And that as we sing songs of praise and hear the words spoken and expounded on. That we would be transformed and made into those people who can be a blessing from you.

[25:47] Bless Pastor Tom and the message that he will be bringing to us. Bless all of our worship, Lord. In Jesus' name.

[25:59] Amen. Shall we hear from the word of the Lord? trzy .

[26:30] . . . . . .

[26:40] . . Thank you.

[27:11] Thank you.

[27:41] Thank you.

[28:11] Thank you.

[28:41] Thank you.

[29:11] Thank you. Thank you.

[30:11] Thank you, Sophie.

[30:41] We wonder what's in the package. What is that that we've received? What if you were to get a Christmas gift from God this year? Wouldn't that be great?

[30:53] What would you actually want? What would you hope to receive? Some people would want to receive a whole lot of money. Some people would say, I'd just like to be healthy. Some people might pray for something much closer to their heart.

[31:07] Some may be an easy life or a new job. There was a woman by the name of Dorothy Walker. There was a woman by the name of Dorothy Walker. She lived years ago. She was described as a very devout woman and she had a plan for her life.

[31:21] She had hoped to marry the right kind of person and live a particular type of life that was what she expected from her upbringing. Imagine if as a young woman she was told, you will be the wife of a senator and your son will be president of the United States and your grandson will be president of the United States.

[31:45] Would Dorothy Walker have believed it? And yet it happened for her. What if you received a message from God like that?

[31:57] What if somewhere along the line you became aware that your child was destined to be incredibly famous, amazingly influential, powerful and great, maybe even the king over their nation, the son of God, to reign over Israel forever?

[32:22] What would you do? That's the story we have read for us this morning. A young woman, Mary, we suspect she was about 14 or 15 years old, is being told that she'll have just such a child.

[32:36] And who is this child? Well, it's Jesus. We know that. In fact, for the next few months we're going to be talking about Jesus. But we can't talk too much about Jesus yet because he hasn't been born yet. That'll happen in a couple of three weeks.

[32:50] So we're talking about people around him. And today I want to talk to you about his mother. Jesus is the son of God and he's also the son of humanity.

[33:03] We talk about him being fully divine and fully human, which we'll preach on that in a couple of weeks. We understand that Mary was told that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and she would become pregnant.

[33:19] That should be enough to throw you right there, right? You're going to be pregnant by God. Very different. Very unusual.

[33:32] And yet, he's also the child of Mary. Some people don't have a comfort level with that. The idea that Jesus actually has some aspect of humanity in him.

[33:49] Yet, it's important that the traits he gets are not just from God, but also from us. From his mother. And what our parents do and how they are affects us more than we even know.

[34:04] A few years ago, my father was walking across the parking lot. And somebody came in and saw me and said, I thought you were out in the parking lot. I saw a guy who was walking just like you walking across the parking lot.

[34:17] Walking just like me. You see, we hand down more than we're even aware of. It's not just our gestures, our movements. It's who and what we are and what we value.

[34:29] In many ways, we don't know a lot about Jesus as a little boy. But we do know about his mother. Someone once said that Mary is the embodiment of provenient grace.

[34:41] Which is what we as Methodists talk about being the grace that goes before. The grace that prepares us for the coming of God. Mary did that. And there's a reason God chose her to be the mother of Jesus.

[34:54] First of all, she was good. She says, how can this happen to me? I'm a virgin. Nowadays, that would be an odd pronouncement by people. We used to consider that to be something that women were proud of.

[35:06] And young men were proud of. And now, we're confused. What's right? What's wrong? Is it okay to say, I'm good? It's good to be good.

[35:19] And God honors that. And God's happy about that. And it says that God saw her and says she was highly favored. But if you look at the original work, Cierto, it means highly graced.

[35:31] Full of grace. That's an amazing thing. It's easy to be full of pride. It's easy even some ways to be full of power or anger or frustration.

[35:46] It's easy to lash out. It's a lot harder to be the person that finds grace in every situation, in every person. Full of grace.

[35:58] Don't be afraid, Mary, the angel says. You have found favor with God. You are graced by God. And yet, she was humble. She says, what kind of greeting is that?

[36:10] Now, I would have been more like, whoa, an angel. Oh, that's kind of troubling, right? She's troubled because of what he said about her.

[36:21] What does it mean when God says he's happy with you? That's almost as troubling as when he's not happy with you because we're not used to being told we've done well.

[36:36] But Mary has done well. She's faithful. In fact, when she's told this incredible thing from the angel Gabriel, she says, let it be to me as you have said.

[36:48] What an amazing word of faith. She did what God wanted and she was willing to sacrifice. Later on in the scripture, she's described by Elizabeth as the most amazing woman that ever lived on the face of the earth.

[37:06] Probably the most famous woman that ever lived on the face of the earth. But what did she have to go through to become that?

[37:16] What is it exactly that Mary agreed to do? She said, yes. And then it all began. So here you've got a young woman who's about 14 or 15, excited about getting married to this young man, Joseph.

[37:33] They have dreams. They have expectations. They have a life planned out. And now she's got to go and explain to Joseph that she's pregnant by somebody else. And the somebody else is God.

[37:44] God, would you want to do that? And then after she works through that, she gets to take a trip when she's nine months pregnant. And maybe you think it'd be better to ride on a donkey.

[37:57] I don't know. I've never been nine months pregnant. But I can't imagine, ladies, that this would be a happy journey. Poor gentleman. I don't think it was for Joseph either. She ends up giving birth to her first child in a dirty stable with some mangy shepherds as her midwives.

[38:19] Not exactly a young woman's dream of what she expects the birth of her first child to be. A crowded room full of strangers.

[38:33] Yes. Mary agreed to something that was quite the sacrifice. It disrupted her life. It changed the plan of what she had expected.

[38:44] She ended up poor. Her husband died young. And worst of all, she watched her child, Jesus, her firstborn, die on a cross in an agonizing and hurtful way.

[39:01] Mary was willing to sacrifice in a way many of us probably wouldn't be to bring Jesus into her life and into the life of the world.

[39:12] As the Apostle Paul writes for us, I want to know Christ. Yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

[39:29] I want to participate in the sufferings of Jesus. If you could think of the gift you would want from God this Christmas, would you say, I want to suffer like Jesus did?

[39:42] How many of you? Don't raise your hands. It's hard. It's not easy. And this is the woman God chose to be the mother of Jesus.

[39:56] And it was important. That Jesus was raised by Mary. Because Mary reinforced all those values that God wanted Jesus to carry into the world.

[40:10] Now, I've got to tell you, sometimes people will say, you know, well, the goal is to be like Jesus. And my answer often is, yeah, he was the son of God. I think he's got an edge on us, right? Have you ever felt that way?

[40:21] It's like, yeah, I'm sorry. I don't know that I can quite live up to being this. But even so, he was also the child of Mary. He was tempted.

[40:33] We know he felt pain and anger. And he struggled, too, just like we do. And Jesus saw in his mother humility and faithfulness and sacrifice and goodness and grace.

[40:51] It matters what we do when we raise our children. It matters what our children learn and who they learn it from.

[41:02] And it makes a difference because we don't often realize just how much they're watching our every move. Some of you old timers like me remember this TV commercial.

[41:23] It's yours? No, I'm... Your mother said she found it in your closet. I don't know. One of the guys must... Most of what? Look, Dad, it's not... Why don't you get it? Dad, I...

[41:33] Answer me. Who taught you how to do this stuff? You, all right? I learned it by watching you. Parents who use drugs have children who use drugs.

[41:47] You remember that? Such a simple message. It's hard for us to forget it, isn't it? Parents who do the wrong thing have children who learn the wrong things.

[41:58] As it says in the scripture, the sins of the father will be visited to the second and the third generation of those who hate the Lord. But children who have parents who do the right thing receive the blessing.

[42:13] And the Bible says for a thousand generations. In the book of Ephesians in chapter 6, it says to us, fathers, do not exasperate your children. Instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

[42:26] In another version, it says, don't raise your children to wrath. Don't raise them to frustration and anger. But bring them up like Mary brought up Jesus. With humility and goodness and sacrifice and grace and faithfulness.

[42:41] It matters who we are for our children. Do you know that God chooses parents for children? God decides which ones would be the right ones.

[42:54] And God hopes and prays that they'll live in to the expectation. For Dorothy Walker, she raised a president.

[43:08] Who raised a president? It's only happened twice in the history of our country. But for us, I suspect it will be a little simpler.

[43:19] It's possible you're raising a president, but the likelihood is you're not. It's possible you're raising a king, but most likely not. But you are raising a child that's special.

[43:35] Maybe that child is special because they're going to accomplish amazing things. That through the witness you give to them and the way you teach them and raise them, they will do incredible things for God in this world.

[43:46] Or maybe they're a child that needs a special care and special attention. And a special love that only you can give because the world will be hard for them. I think sometimes God takes the children that will have the most difficult life and gives them to the most grace-filled parents.

[44:05] It's a blessing to have children. And Mary saw this as a blessing, but she could have seen it the other way, right? We could read in the Bible that Mary would talk to her son and she'd get frustrated and say, You know, if it wasn't for you, Jesus, we wouldn't have had to take that expensive trip to Egypt, which probably ruined your father's business and led to him having a short life.

[44:31] And then they have to explain all the rumors in the village about you, besides which the crazy stuff you were teaching everybody. If not for you, Jesus, my life could have been.

[44:42] Right? And instead she loved him. She loved him for who he was, as we need to love our children for who they are.

[44:54] We need to give them that special gift that God has given to us. So that they can become what God intended.

[45:06] Mary could have answered different. She could have said, Well, that's a nice offer, this Jesus thing, but to have something else, because I was kind of thinking money and fame and an easy life, you know, and even just that Joseph's carpentry business would be like huge.

[45:29] She never saw Jesus as a king. She never saw these words fulfilled that is spoken of in here. But she still lived God's plan into her son's life.

[45:49] So what gift does he give to us at Christmas? I want a hippopotamus for Christmas. Only hippopotamus will do.

[46:00] I love that song, don't you? I mean, a hippopotamus. Can you imagine a more absurd gift than a hippopotamus? What if you received a hippopotamus for Christmas?

[46:11] It would wreck your life. I mean, it would tear through your house. It would attack you. It's a hippopotamus, for goodness sakes. Who wants a hippopotamus for Christmas?

[46:23] Or in other words, I want something that's so absurd, so ridiculous, that nobody else could possibly get it, so I could say I got the most incredible special gift.

[46:37] But the problem is, is God wants to give us that special gift, and yet we've turned the holy day of Christmas into a narcissistic celebration of selfishness and focus on what can we get?

[46:52] When God wants to give to us. But the way God gives his blessing is that he blesses through us. And it's not intended to be for us.

[47:05] God wants to make you a special blessing in this world. To your family, to your friends, to the people around you, those you go to school with, those you go to work with, to be a special blessing in this world.

[47:19] And when you're a blessing in this world, then you receive the blessings of God on top of it. Not what can we get, but what can we give?

[47:35] Not a child born to be a president or a king. But actually a child born to us. A little child born in a manger so we wouldn't fear him, that we receive as a gift from God.

[47:54] You will receive a gift from God this Christmas. You have that opportunity every day. And that's the divine gift of Jesus born into our hearts. But it's not a gift that we just receive and that's it.

[48:08] It's a gift that we participate in. It's a gift that we have a place in and we have a role in, just as Mary did. It's interesting that in verse 37, it actually says, no word from God will ever fail.

[48:24] And then Mary responds by saying, may your word be fulfilled in me. That's a newer translation than what I remember reading. But what a powerful translation, because we know that the word of God is the message of God's salvation that we receive through Jesus.

[48:42] Jesus is the word. How is it fulfilled through us? Can we be people that learn how to practice humility and love and faithfulness and patience and goodness and grace?

[49:05] To be like Mary was so that Jesus could be born to her, just as Jesus could be born to us. What example do we leave in this world?

[49:19] Imagine if you turned it all around and instead of seeking what we want to hear, we'd hear what God wants us to say. Where did you get this?

[49:44] Where did you learn how to use this? I learned it from you, all right? I learned it from watching you! Parents who use Bibles have children who use Bibles.

[49:59] A message from the app. Parents who have the word of God born in them have children and friends and neighbors and people around them who have God born to them.

[50:15] How are we making a place for Jesus in our lives if God sends to us his gift this Christmas? Will we be like Mary and able to receive Jesus in such a way that it changes us so that like Mary we can sing a song of how wonderful God is, how magnificent God is, how incredible it is that God has transformed her life and our life and with it and through it we can change the whole world.

[50:47] And O's ear Good news of great joy For every woman, every man This will be a sign to you A baby born in Bethlehem Come and worship Do not be afraid Company of angels Glory in the highest God, my earthly son

[51:48] Those who will favor us Come and worship Do not be afraid My soul, my soul Magnifies the Lord, my soul Magnifies the Lord He has done great things for me Great things for me Until a child is born Until a son is born Until a son is born Until a son is born Every heart repair is thrown For a nation under heaven Come and worship Come and worship Do not be afraid My soul, my soul

[52:50] Magnifies the Lord My soul, magnifies the Lord He has done great things for me Great things for me The Lord, my soul, my soul That we know He's the sound of shit With His righteousness And He shall be On daily stone And He shall be This day of wonderful Counselor Everlasting Father Wonderful Counselor And His name shall be Everlasting Father My soul, my soul

[53:52] Magnifies the Lord My soul, magnifies the Lord He has done great things for me Great things for me My soul, my soul Magnifies the Lord, my soul Magnifies the Lord He has done great things for me Great things for me On daily stone Everything for me Africa clarify www.early-hoven concluding Flood whole day All fortune Wait Three separating Third July Cold plans Bang Over completed Train That In Linked Close Could conception Underidenceんと In iki ph You are worthy

[55:01] You are mighty You are worthy Worthy of praise I will follow I will listen I will love you All of my days And I will sing And worship The King Is for everything I will love And adore you I will bow down This voice I will sing And worship The King Forever you are Each of us I will love And adore you I will bow down And adore you You are Prince of Peace

[56:02] And I will live my life for you You are holy You are mighty You are worthy You are worthy Worthy of praise Worthy of praise I will follow I will follow I will listen I will listen I will love you I will love you All of my days All of my days And I will sing And adore you You are King And you are mighty The King And love My been hating You are worthy I will love And adore you You are full You are great I will bow down And adore you I will bow down For the living God You're my soul In His grace You are free

[57:03] And forever You are righteous You are thinking I will bow down And adore you For the哦 Is Yours The omega Beginning The end You are my Savior His Messiah Or my령AST peace and I will live my life for you. You're my Prince of Peace and I will live my life for you.

[57:32] Do we live our life for Jesus? Do we recognize the great gift that God has given to us or do we sometimes get caught up in all the struggles and all the worries and all the concerns about the simple things that really won't matter in the end of life? God calls us back at Christmas. God calls us back to live our lives the way Jesus would have our live our lives, to live our lives the way Mary has shown us to live our lives. So let's turn our hearts over to God and return to faith, shall we? Dear God in heaven, I have sinned. I have failed to live the life you want me to live.

[58:14] Give me your gift Lord. Help me to receive Jesus. Bless me with faithfulness and goodness and mercy and grace. Help me to be the child of God you want me to be. Forgive me Lord. Change me.

[58:45] Be born in my life. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. What a wonderful blessing. What would you do if you knew that Jesus was coming to reclaim all of the universe this December 25th? How would you live your life different if you knew it was all over in about three weeks? Might change your way of looking at things but it shouldn't. We should be doing the life that God wants us to live every day of our lives and God has given you an opportunity for a brand new start, a brand new life, a brand new way of living.

[59:21] So go and live in that blessing and may God forgive you. Jesus said if we turn to him he is he is gracious and loving and will forgive us so in the name of Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven.

[59:34] In the name of Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven. Glory to God. Amen. And now I'd invite you to take a moment and share the peace of the spirit with one another. The kids are welcome to come up if they'd like to and put an ornament on the Christmas tree.

[59:57] Any kids want to put an ornament on the tree come on up. It was the right rhythm structure unlike what we did in the run through. There you go. There you go. There you go.

[60:20] Very good. Good morning. Here you go guys. There you go. I'll let you take care of that. I'm going to hand that off to you. Okay. There you go. Very good.

[60:39] O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see the light.

[61:03] Love the light deep and shamelessly. The silent stars go by. Yet in my dark streets shine. The everlasting light.

[61:23] The hopes and fears of all the years are met in the night. For Christ is born of Mary and gathered of the fire.

[61:45] The hope and the light. While mortals live, the angels keep their watch of wandering light.

[61:56] All morning starts together. Proclaim the holy birth. And praises sing to God the King.

[62:12] The peace and peace and peace and peace to all on earth. How silently, how silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given.

[62:28] So God imparts to human hearts a blessing of His heaven.

[62:39] GodaaaGrath, O God. Amen. He is heaven, the Lord for End. And we're my loving convenience. God is stone where he Listen to us, we pray Cast out our sin and enter in Be born in us today We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell Oh come to us, abide with us Our Lord Emmanuel

[63:43] Our God is with us, amen? He lives in us and rules and reigns over our lives As we allow him that place in our lives As we allow that relationship and Encourage ourselves to seek God The Holy Spirit draws us The Holy Spirit draws us to Christ And the Holy Spirit draws us to the table By Jesus' invitation Everyone is welcome If you love God, repent of your sin And seek to live in peace As a disciple of Jesus Christ You are welcome at the table To receive from God all that God desires to bless you with So come to the table You're welcome Whether you've been a Christian all your life Or this is the first time you've set foot in a church You are welcome to come to the table If you are sensing God

[64:45] Calling you The Lord be with you Lift up your hearts Let us give thanks to the Lord our God It is right to give our thanks and grace It is right And a good and joyful thing always and everywhere To give thanks to you, Father Almighty Creator of heaven and earth You formed us in your image And breathed into us the breath of life When we turned away and our love failed Your love remained steadfast You delivered us from captivity Made covenant to be our sovereign God And spoke to us through your prophets And so with your people on earth And all the company of heaven We praise your name and join their unending hymn Holy, holy, holy Lord God of power and might Heaven and earth are full of your glory Hosanna in the highest Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord

[65:45] Hosanna in the highest Holy are you and blessed is your son Jesus Christ Whom you sent in the fullness of time to be a light to the nations You scatter the proud in the imagination of their hearts And have mercy on those who fear you From generation to generation You put down the mighty from their thrones And exalt those of low degree You fill the hungry with good things And the rich you send empty away Your own son came among us as a servant To be Emmanuel Your presence with us He humbled himself in obedience to your will And freely accepted death on a cross By the baptism of his suffering Death and resurrection You gave birth to your church Delivered us from slavery to sin and death And made with us a new covenant By water and the spirit On the night in which he gave himself up for us He took bread and he gave thanks to you He broke the bread

[66:47] And gave it to his disciples He said take and eat This is my body which is given for you Do this in remembrance of me And when the supper was over He took the cup Again he gave you thanks and praise And gave it to his disciples He said drink from this all of you This is the cup of my blood The blood of the new covenant Poured out for you and for many For the forgiveness of sin Do this as often as you drink it In remembrance of me And so in remembrance of these Your mighty acts in Jesus Christ We offer ourselves In praise and thanksgiving As a holy and living sacrifice In union with Christ's offering for us

[67:50] As we proclaim the mystery of faith Christ has died Christ is risen Christ will come again Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here And on these gifts of bread and wine Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ That we may be for the world The body of Christ redeemed by his blood By your spirit make us one with Christ One with each other And one in ministry to all the world Until Christ comes in final victory And we feast at his heavenly banquet Through your son Jesus Christ With the Holy Spirit and your holy church All honor and glory is yours almighty God Now and forever Amen Shall we pray together now With the confidence of children of God The prayer Jesus taught us Our Father Who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come

[68:50] Thy will be done On earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those who trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom And the power And the glory Forever and ever Amen Will those who are assisting Serving this morning Please come forward春 selen karist

[69:51] Holy Spirit and 진 Wesley Sag haunted tiro Amen Principle sai letters lis Jan back Lily приходorenն Garcia팅trad anório Thank you.

[70:33] Thank you.

[71:03] Thank you. Now Jesus Christ invites you to come to the table, to the rail for prayers, for healing and anointing, to make a commitment, to light a candle.

[71:15] God invites you. Everyone's welcome. Come and join us. God bless you.

[71:48] God bless you.

[72:18] God bless you.

[72:48] God bless you. God bless you.

[73:18] God bless you. God bless you.

[73:46] Thank you.

[74:16] Thank you.

[74:46] Thank you.

[75:16] Thank you.

[75:46] Thank you.

[76:16] Thank you.

[76:46] Thank you.

[77:16] Thank you. Thank you.

[78:16] Thank you. Thank you.

[79:16] Thank you. May the Lord bless you with goodness and faithfulness and grace and joy and a love like Mary showed to Jesus and gave to the world.

[79:29] Go in his peace. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. you