Christmas Eve 2024
This is when unexpected visitors arrive with gifts beyond anything we could imagine when songs fill the air and hope fills our hearts for miracles ready to happen. This is the fulfillment of centuries of promise that sages of ages past long to see a distant God who chose to dwell among his people, a king arriving as a baby, Tiny Hands destined to wonder heal the sick and feet that will walk on water, wrapped up tight in swaddling clothes held close by his tired mother. This is love and color and life and peace and feasting, forgiveness and generosity, glorious, victorious hope for the world with limitless possibility all rolled up in one tiny, fragile gift, so much more than it seems on the surface. This is Jesus. This is Christmas. Amen. Would you stand? Let's sing to this Jesus. I The goats sailed on the mountain, the one that we've been waiting for, the king of our salvation, Born on this day our Savior, Christ, the Lord, go telling on the mountain, Over the hills and everywhere, then we can be forgiven. The weight of all hearts, and he came to pass. He's Emmanuel. Emmanuel, God with us. Emmanuel, King Jesus, the Savior of the world, is born. Emmanuel, God with us. Emmanuel, King Jesus, Savior of the world, is born. Go sailing on the mountain, humbly and mercy sent from heaven. The angels fill the skies with highest praise, Emmanuel, God with us. Emmanuel King, Jesus the Savior of the world is born. Emmanuel God with us, Emmanuel King Jesus the Savior of the world is born. Is born. Go tell it on the mountain. This baby, born of virgin birth, the ruler of all nations, the glory of our God has come to Emmanuel God with us. Emmanuel King, Jesus, the Savior of the world, is born. Emmanuel God with us. Emmanuel King Jesus, the Savior of the world, is born. He's the Savior. The Savior of the world is born. The Savior of the world is born. Amen, Merry Christmas church. These verses from Isaiah, chapter nine say, for us, for to us, a child is born, and to us, a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called, wonderful counsel. Their Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace and of the increase of His government and of peace, there will be no end. And on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore, would you continue to sing to this. Emmanuel dismay, and let nothing you dismay. Remember Christ, our Savior, was born on Christmas Day to save us all from Satan's power when we were gone astray. Oh, tidings of comfort and joy. He's the hope for all. He's the hope from God our help. From God, our heavenly Father, a blessed angel came and unto certain shepherds brought tidings of the same, how that in Bethlehem was born the son of God by name, oh, tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy. Oh, tidings of comfort and joy. He has come for us this Jesus. This is Jesus. He's the hope. He has come for us, the Messiah, born to give us life. Jesus Christ is born. All the children sing hallelujah. And sing, he has come for us, this Jesus. He's a hope for all men. Born to give is born to give Amen. Thanks for worshiping with us. You can go and have a seat. You from the Great Commission in Matthew 28 until the great multitude in Revelation seven, God invites us to join him in the great pursuit. In a world filled with diverse cultures, languages and people, we are unified in this mission, his mission. Since 1845 IMB missionaries have embarked on a journey to share the gospel, make disciples and plant churches in places where Jesus is not yet known, but the task is monumental. Billions are still unreached, living without the hope and love of Christ in 2023, over 879,000, people heard the gospel. 141,000 people believed, and 116,000 were baptized. Yet so many more still wait for their chance to heal. Hear and believe. Lostness is not just a statistic, it's an eternal reality for billions of souls. But amidst the challenges, there's hope. The great pursuit is a faithful journey fueled by love, compassion and the unwavering belief in the transformative power of the gospel. Stories of redemption, reconciliation and restoration inspire us to press on our vision is rooted in Revelation. Chapter seven, verse nine, a multitude from every corner of the world united in worshiping Jesus Christ, you are called to play your part in this vision. Whether you pray fervently, give generously, go boldly or send faithfully, your role is vital in the great pursuit. Join us in solving the greatest problem in the world, lostness. Together, we spread the message of hope and salvation to every nation, tribe and tongue. This is the great pursuit. So we gather together tonight we celebrate the birth of Christ. But there are still billions of people around the world who have not heard that, they have not heard about the forgiveness of sins offered in Jesus's name. And so the annual Lottie Moon Christmas offering goes directly to supporting our 3500 full time Southern Baptist missionaries who live year round all around the world, sharing the gospel, planting churches and raising up leaders. And if you want to give directly to that Christmas offering tonight, you can mark Lottie moon on your tithes and offerings. We're going to continue now by reading the story of Jesus's birth from Luke chapter two, and then we'll continue to stand and sing together. It says in verse one, in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the end, and in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night, and an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shown around them, and they were filled with great fear. 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. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ, the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger, and suddenly there was with the angel, a multipude of heavenly hosts, praising God and saying glory in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherd said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us, and they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger, just like these angels and shepherds worshiped Jesus on that first Christmas night. Would you stand and would you worship as well? Sing Angels we have heard on ANGEL angels, sweetly singing reply echo back their joyous dreams. Oh, ces the. Sheila's Jubilee, why your joyous strains prolong? What the glad some tidings be, which inspire your heavenly songs. Oh. Daniel Oh ceased, you. Come to bed the heavens see him whose birthday Angel. Sing, come, adore, abandon me. The new Monkey shall cease day on shall cease. O, come? O ye faithful, Joyful and triumphant. O come ye? O come me to bear the hell. Oh, come, let us adore him. Oh, come, let us adore Him. Christ. You sing choirs of angels. Sing An exaltation. Sing all you citizens of ado let us adore him. Yea, holy Lord, we greet thee born this happy morning, Jesus to thee. Be Your glory. We give Oh. Forgive now, in flesh appearing, oh, come, let us adore him. Oh, come, let us adore him. Let us the Lord. You sing us once more. We'll praise we'll praise your name forever. We'll praise your name forever. We'll praise your name forever. Name Amen. Thank you for worshiping with us. You can have a seat if you've never met before. My name is Colby. I'm one of the pastors here. Thanks so much for worshiping with us here on this Christmas Eve. Uh, Pastor Charlie will be up later. He's going to be doing a children's sermon, and he's also going to be leading us in Lord's supper later on in our service, in a minute, we are going to take up our offering for tonight, and the deacons are going to be passing the plates for our tithes and offerings. If you would rather give virtually, we have that option as well. You can go to our website, monks corner church, and there's a giving tab there that you can click on. You can also give by text or through the church center app. That information is up on the screens as well. Just want to remind you, this Sunday on the 29th we have a tradition here, First Baptist, and on the last Sunday of the year, we have a combined worship service. And so this Sunday, the 29th we're going to have one worship service at 11am it's going to be choir led worship, and we would love for you and your whole family to come back and worship with us this Sunday. And then on the following Sunday, the first of the year, it will be on January 5, we're going to go back to our 830 traditional worship and 11 o'clock contemporary worship led by this team up here on stage tonight, after our after our offering, we're going to have a time of greeting, and during that time of greeting, our kids choir can make their way up to the steps. And also, if you did not grab a candle on your way in, then during that welcome time when we're walking around, shaking hands, that would be a great opportunity to go to one of those doors and grab a candle so that you can participate at the end of the service with Silent Night. Alright, I'm going to pray for us, and while I'm praying, our deacons and ushers can make their way forward for our offering. Lord, we're so grateful for the opportunity to worship you tonight, to gather together as your people, to celebrate the birth of Christ, to remember that this Emmanuel came into the world, to be with us, and he is even with us right here, right now. And so God, we pray that what we give in our tithes and offerings tonight would be worship that would glorify you, that it would continue to fuel your mission, so that more people here in monk coroner would know about this good news, and that those billions of people around the world who have never even heard the name of Jesus, that they too would be able to know this good news of great joy that we celebrate tonight. It's in his name we pray amen. You. We're going to continue to worship because they see this next song, captivity is right. Then more. Morning exile here until the Son of God appears. Rejoice, rejoicing man, you and you shall come to come thou Lord of mine, who to thy tribes on side, in ancient times, they give the law. In Cloud, in majesty, rejoice, rejoicing man, you shall come to the you. Come down days green come and cheer us. Spirits by thy disperse the gloomy clouds of night in Des dark shadow. Rejoice, rejoicing. Man, you shall come to the rejoice. Rejoicing man, you shall come to the rejoice, Rejoice, rejoice. Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice. Rejoice, Rejoice, rejoice, Rejoice, rejoice, Rejoice, rejoice, Rejoice, rejoice, sing. Man. Shall come to the men thanks for worshiping with us. We're now going to move to our time of greeting and again, first kids choir, you can make your way up to your to these steps up front. Let's stand Let's greet those around us. Then we'll continue on and Worship in just a Minute. You All right, church, as you make your way back to your pews, you can take a seat. Our first kids choir has been working on Sunday mornings for like two months, and working really hard and getting ready for tonight. So I hope you enjoy. They're going to be singing First Noel and then they're also going to be singing Away in A manger. You Oh, Great, Love. Oh, wow. So good. Alright, they're going to sing one more song. And on this next one they're going to start it, and then as the song goes on, the worship team behind is going to start singing. And everyone at the end, we all can sing and finish up the song together. Okay, this is a way in the manger you. Not where he back To town, Ha, my King, Oh. Is right. All right. Thank you. Well, good job, guys. If you don't know me, may not be hard for you to know which one of these is related to me. But anyhow, let me. Let me sit right here. Hey guys, so I am going to ask a few questions, and I'm going to call on the children that are the quietest, and I put their hand up. Okay, so tell me what is so special about tonight. What is so special about tonight? The day before Jesus's birthday, it's Christmas Eve, the day before Jesus' birthday. And who can tell me what? Why we celebrate Jesus' birthday tomorrow? Because he was birthed on Christmas. He was he was born on Christmas Day. And you know, the Bible tells us this all throughout the New Testament, but in Galatians, there's a passage that says when the fullness of time had come, that means when it was God's time, when God wanted it to happen. God sent forth His son, who's Jesus? Born of woman Mary was his mother born under the law to. Deem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. So Jesus was born, but he was born because we needed him to be born and we needed him to live. Who knows why we needed Jesus to live? Anybody know we think because he was our he helped us, and He died for the cross for us. He did. He lived a life that we couldn't live. He never sinned. Who knows what sin is? Could someone tell me what sin is? Sin is wherever you do something to disobey God, that's exactly right. When you do something that breaks God's law, raise your hand if you've sinned before. Oh, we've all sinned. Right? The Bible says we've all sinned. We might not just know about it, but we you can put them down now, that's okay, but we've all sinned, but Jesus never sinned, and because he never sinned when he died on the cross, that was the way God planned for Jesus to make us right with God, because God can then accept us as if we had never sinned, because Jesus was what God called the perfect sacrifice. You have something to say. Because Jesus was born he, he was born to save our lives. That's exactly right. And so because of Christmas morning being such an important time. We know the story about people coming by and giving Jesus gifts, and so that's why we get gifts. And so I know some of you might be expecting some gifts tomorrow morning, from, who knows who, from Santa, or from grandparents or parents and everything. And so who would like to tell me what you think you're getting tomorrow for a gift? What do you think? What do you think you're getting? A robot, a robot. All right, what else a smart watch? A smart watch. Okay, this is last second for some of you people. All right, what else you think you're getting? Spinning tops. Spinning tops. Okay, you I think I'd rather get jewelry. Jewelry. Okay, you seem too young for that, but I guess you're never too young for that. Dad is thinking, Oh, alright. Well, you know what, even if you get what you want tomorrow, or if you don't get what you want tomorrow, you're going to be happy because we celebrate tomorrow, because Jesus was born. Amen, amen. So who would like to pray for us and thank God for sending Jesus, Dear God, thank you for this day. Thank you for dying on the cross for and saving your lives. Thank you for bringing us together for this wonderful day, and we love you. Amen. Amen. Great job, guys on singing as well. You all right, if anybody knows any jewelry stores still open tonight, let me know after the service. Okay? Let's stand together. We're going to sing one more song together. Like sing glory to the newborn king, peace on earth and mercy my old god and sinners reconsider. Joy. Nations rise join the triumph of the skies. Proclaim Christ is born in bed. New born king. Oh Christ, by highest have not torn Christ, the Everlasting Lord, made in time behold Him Come offspring. Spring flesh the God had seen 12 she Glory to the new born king. Me, Prince of Peace, HAIL THE SON OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, light and life to all. He brings rise with healing in His wings, his glory by born and man, no more may die born to raise the sons of the give them second birth angels sing glory to the new King. We're gonna move into our time of Lord's supper now, as you make it take a seat. I a several times a year we, as a church, take what's called the Lord's Supper communion. A lot of times we pass it around, but today we are having you come and take it up front. Now if you need someone to pass it, just raise your hand and one of our deacons will bring it to you. If you need to remain seated, you can, but we ask you to come up and take the Lord's Supper. And first, Corinthians tells us this, that on the night when Jesus was betrayed, he took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and he said, This is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me, and that's part of why we take the Lord's Supper to do it as a memorial for what Jesus had done for us on the cross. It said also that, in the same way, also, he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me, For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. So in a minute, we're going to have you come down and take the Lord's Supper. Now the Lord's Supper is for those who are believers in Jesus Christ. If you have a little one with you who's never made a profession of faith, you can bring em down. They can watch, and you can explain to them why we do what we do. But it's for those who are believers, who've made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. And so we're going to have you stand up in a minute and go to your left and come down, if you're on this aisle, come down to this table, and then, if you're in the middle, come to your left, and come down here and enter back that way, in the same way over here. And you can take the bread, and you can take the cup, and you can take a second here to think about what Jesus has done for you, and also to think about your own life. And are you living the life God's called you to do? Is there any sin you need to turn from in your life? Are you following Christ the way he's wants you to after he has died for you on the cross? And so in just a minute, we're going to do that, and let me have a prayer for us, and then we will just come on up and come down. Heavenly Father. We thank you so much for this time I pray. This is a time of spiritual nourishment for us, Lord, as we come to your table to take the Lord's Supper, as you've commanded us to take, father. But we love you. We ask these things in Jesus name, amen. You. Lead with Our king, Who on the So Bring to exalt His name For nation. Holy. Praise His Holy Name. Oh. The stars are brightly shining. Burn, and the soul felt its worth. Weary world rejoices. I knew, praise the angel called The Angel when Christ was born Divine. Divine, truly, he taught us to love one another. His law is love and His gospel is peace. Household is Shall we pray for the slave is our brother, and in his name, all oppression. All oppression shall see, let all within us praise. His holy name, his name for rest. Came forever more proclaimed. Oh When Christ was born By i No way. Oh, my dear. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. We're going to close up our service by singing Silent Night and lighting our candles. And so I'm going to read these verses from John chapter one. And during these verses, I'm going to ask for our deacons to come forward. Pastor Charlie is going to pass the light to our deacons, who are then going to pass the light throughout the sanctuary. And then we'll sing Silent Night. These verses come from John chapter one, the true light which enlightens everyone. Was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to His own and His own people did not receive him, but to all who did receive Him who believed in his name He gave the right to become children of God. You? Would you sing us with us, silence, holy night. Holy night. All is calm. All is bright, round, young virgin mother and child. And shout sleep. Peace, sleeping. Heavenly, peace, silence. Quake, Glory streams from heavenly home. Heavenly hosting, Christ the Savior. Christ the saint. Same. Would you stand and sing this last verse with us, Son of God? The of God loves, pure Holy Face, with the dawn of free teaming grace, Jesus, Lord.
