Pastors Brian and Jacque Lother
Brian: Oh, wasn't that good? Yeah. They did a great job. You lose something? Okay. Well, she said she lost her scriptures, but I thought you hid it in your heart.
Jacque: I left them on that thing and then somebody took them up. Yeah.
Brian: There you go.
Jacque: Thank you. Paula.
Brian: Are we ready? Buckle your seat belts. I got a message this morning. One of the things about being an older-- I still remember going to MXPX concert with my son, BJ. How many know who MXPX is? No. They were a punk band, great punk band. They would call themselves left Coast Punk, you know, meaning California. They are from California. And I went down at First Avenue, and some of you might wonder what I was doing at First Avenue, but I like some of that music, so I just go down there and listen to it. I was in line, you know, we are in line and I hear this voice from behind me saying, "Hey, old guy." Of course, I wasn't old. At least not in my mind I wasn't old. He kept yelling.
Jacque: That was what, 15 years ago?
Brian: And that was 15 years ago.
Jacque: That's a good point to make in this story.
Brian: Yeah. I wasn't even really old then. And the guys kept saying, "Hey, old guy." Finally, I turned around. He said, "Yeah, you." I said, "Yeah." He said, "What are you doing here?" Yeah. I said, "Well, I like this music." And he, about when I picked him up off the sidewalk. But one of the things that happens when you live a while, you have more history to draw from. How many know that? Some of you will remember the race for outer space with the Soviets. Who's going to be the first on the moon and all that sort of stuff. Before we ever did any of that, obviously, all the whole things with the space race took steps to get to where we are today. The Soviets actually did the first spacewalk where they had a guy go outside the capsule, and obviously, he was tethered to the space capsule. I remember him coming back to Earth and he made this statement. He said, "I went outside into outer space and I looked for God. And he wasn't there." An American that was listening to him said this, "Well, if that tether line would've broken, you would've seen him."
When I was in grade school, I read the series, the book, A Little House on the Prairie. Of course, most of you, if you haven't read the books, probably saw all the episodes of Little House on the Prairie. There was one story that Laura Ingalls Wilder tells in that wonderful series of books that she wrote about her mom and dad. It was the wintertime, and her mom and dad had to go away for a few days. Laura and her older sister were left in the house cabin by themselves. The dad knew that the firewood was like in the barn or out in this woodshed. He was concerned that if a storm came, they could get lost in this whiteout storm. And so he tied a rope to like a porch post that was more than enough length to get to the shed.
He tied it to this post. And then he said to the girls, if you need to get wood and it's snowing out, tie this rope around your waist because it'll be a way for you to get back to the house. And sure enough, this storm happened, and they did what Dad said. How many knows it's good to do what dad says? Father knows best? Our father in heaven knows best. They, I think, brought all the wood from the woodshed into the house. But they had a way to get from the woodshed back. They just followed the rope cause the rope was tethered to the house. I mentioned last week about this manger scene. We've seen it from time to time, where Santa Claus is kneeling at the manger. And there is an inscription oftentimes with this Santa kneeling at the manger. The inscription is taken from Philippians and the scripture says, "and at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.
I just really want to talk about the importance of connecting, having a tether line to the scriptures so that we don't lose our real direction in life. The word of God teaches us that he will save his people. That's why Jesus came to save his people. I think it's wonderful that we utilize this time of year to show goodwill and to give each other gifts and to celebrate, et cetera, et cetera. But if we don't have that tether line back to the scriptures that actually keep us moored in the right place about why he actually came, and why is it that we celebrate this time of year, you know what we are really celebrating? We are celebrating the fact that we have been forgiven. That's what we are really celebrating.
We are celebrating the fact that our God came in the form of a human being and became the substituted penalty for our sin so that we wouldn't have to be penalized, and that by receiving him, we can have forgiveness of sin. We can have the best do-over anybody could ever have offered us and have eternal life. And so, I'd like to just go back to the scriptures a little bit this morning and remind ourselves about this wonderful gift that God gave us and we'll begin in Philippians chapter 2 verses 6 through 11.
Jacque: Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to clinging to.
Brian: The "he" here is Jesus, of course.
Jacque: Instead, he gave up his divine privileges. He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the names above all other names, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ his Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Brian: This is kind of a brief synopsis of the life of Jesus on earth, that he was God. He didn't even try think that he was equal to God, even though he was God. He gave up his divine privileges. I mentioned last week what it must have felt like in heaven for those years that Jesus was on the earth. His throne was absent in heaven. Most of us probably haven't ever really given much thought about what heaven was like while Jesus sojourned the earth. But he became a human being. He humbled himself in obedience to God. Wouldn't our world be a much better place if we all just humbled ourselves before God and lived in the way that God asked us to do? Wouldn't our homes be better? Wouldn't our communities be better? Wouldn't our state and our country be better if we just all walked in a place of humility and understood that we are created by God? We didn't make him.
God is not a figment of our imaginations. God is not something we created because we needed a propping up, but we were created by God and we were created for his pleasure. That doesn't mean in God's mind that he was using us in that context, not in that fallen context, but it it's in the same way that he had so much love to give. That's why he created us so he could give more love. And that's really the highest way that as parents, we should have children. Not all children come into the world that way, but there are some children whose who, the husband and wife, the parents love each other so much. They have so much to give, and they want to share that home and that life and that legacy with a child. And they bring a child into the world. This is how God was with us.
And then once he did what he did, God elevated him to the very highest place so that his name is above every other name. What is the first thing out of your mouth and my mouth when we are driving down the road and we hit a patch of ice and our car starts to spin? What's the first word out of our mouths?
Jacque: Jesus.
Brian: Jesus. Yes.
Jacque: Help me.
Brian: Help me, Jesus. The name, Jesus, is used millions of times a day, sometimes in a good way, oftentimes in not such a good way. But it's a name that we call upon because we know there is power in that name. We just intuitively know how to do it or do it. And so he goes on to say that he was given this name above every other name, and that at his name, every knee should bow and every power. I like the scripture that Paul writes about. He says that the demonic realm believe, they believe in Jesus. And they actually shudder at the name of Jesus. Remember the story of the Demoniac of the Gadarenes.
Jesus came to this man who had probably suffered a huge abuse during his life, and he was tormented by demonic spirits. And the name of this demonic spirit was actually legion because there were so many of them. Legion was like a 5,000 if you want to put a number on it. But there were multiple demonic presences that just for harassing and tormenting this poor man's life. And Jesus just walked towards him, and the demonic realm said, "What are you going to do to us?" That's the power of Jesus. That's the power of Jesus. Let's go to Colossians chapter 1, verse 15.
Jacque: Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
Brian: Jesus was something we could see with our eyes. He was the visible image of the invisible God. Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Jesus was like an exact replica in nature and character of his father in heaven
Jacque: That we could see with our eyes.
Brian: That we could see with our eyes. Yeah.
Jacque: He existed before anything was created and is supreme all creation. For through him, God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.
Brian: Wow.
Jacque: It seems like you have to make a comment there.
Brian: It seems like I should, shouldn't I? But maybe I'll let it just stand on its own.
Jacque: I've got to say that again. For through him, God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.
Brian: Jesus is the one that actually created everything. God the Father, and Holy Spirit, if you can kind of imagine this with me, they got their heads together in a sense, and our father said, "I think it would be good for us to do this creation. Have at it, Jesus." Jesus then spoke and all things came into being. He created everything in the heaven realms and everything on Earth. He made the things that we can see and even the things that we can't see. We can't see with our natural eyes, the molecular structure of things. We can't see atoms. We can't see the things on the atomic chart. We don't see those with our natural eyes. But he still created them all. He created it all.
He created the stuff that our universe is made out of. He created that first. And then it's like you can't make a cake without having ingredients. There was no way to have the universe without the ingredients of the universe. He created the ingredients first. He didn't go to the store and buy the ingredients like we do for a cake. It would be a real challenge for all of us, wouldn't it be to bake a cake and someone says, okay, bake me a cake. Well, I need to go to the store and get ingredients. Well, no, just bake me a cake. How do you do that without the ingredients?
God, Jesus actually created the ingredients. In the beginning, the world was without form and it was void. What Jesus did was he created the ingredients to make the world. And then he took those ingredients and began to form the universe and put it in place. Jesus did all that.
Jacque: He made the things we can see and the things we can't see, such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else. And he holds all creation together.
Brian: There is a dilemma that many scientists have, and that is, if you understand an atomic structure, the atoms revolve around the, the atomic structure. The question often is, why don't just these atoms just fall apart or just fly out? Because they're the orbits in them and the electrons and neutrons and all that are orbiting. And the reality is they stay together because Jesus holds them all together. The scriptures teach that.
I can guarantee you that when the Apostle Paul wrote this, he had no clue what an atomic structure was. He didn't know anything about atoms. He didn't know anything about electrons or neutrons or protons or any of those kinds of things. But the revelatory nature of God gave that to him. He said this, that everything was created by him and through him, and he holds all of creation together. It's Jesus word that holds all of creation together. And you know what? He wants to fight for you and I He's on our side. Isn't that great?
Jacque: Yes. He holds us together too. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in his fullness, was pleased to live in Christ.
Brian: It brought our father in heaven pleasure to actually, in a sense, live the nature of our Father in heaven through Christ. It pleased him to do that.
Jacque: And through him, God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross.
Brian: There was a time in my life where I felt that God was at with mankind. It was because I really didn't understand the true nature of the cross. I would say this, that man might have out with God and man oftentimes doesn't live according to how God would desire him to live. There is no question about that. We just need to look outside, watch the news, and we can see that, right? But as far as God's attitude towards man, God's attitude is this, that God has made peace with everything in heaven and on earth because of the cross of Christ. Because of what Jesus did, God is at peace. He doesn't have enmity with us as His creation. We might have issues with God, but God doesn't have issues with us.
His love overrides our disobedience. His love overrides even our sin. I'm talking about his attitude. I'm not talking about do all people go to heaven when they die? I'm not getting into any of that kind of stuff. That's for other discussions. But what I am saying is that God's attitude towards humanity is that he loves everyone in spite of what they do. That's why all of us, regardless of our past, our history, whatever we've done, we should feel free to run to God at any moment, at any time. And yet, don't we all struggle with the idea that we haven't done enough or we've not been good enough, we haven't done enough. I messed up this week. I need to somehow make some kind of penance. I have to do this. I have to go through that in order for me to somehow get God to listen to me.
But this scripture tells us very clearly that all of God's heart has nothing but peace towards us because of what Jesus did on the cross. That's good. So at this time of year, it's easy for all of us to get trapped in commercialism, isn't it? It is so easy. the opulence that seems to happen at this time of year, and I think some years ago, some of you might remember this. There were many Christians who started to say a slogan to kind of combat the opulence of the season. And that slogan was this: Jesus is the reason for the season. Jesus is the reason for the season. But I'd like to maybe make a slight improvement on that statement and say, Jesus is the reason for the rest of our lives. Right? He's not just the reason for this season. He's the reason for the rest of our lives.
And we hear people say all the time, God bless America. We hear politicians say it. It doesn't matter if they're on the left or the right. They all say it, God bless America. But what in the world does that mean? What do they even mean when they say God bless America? I mean, who or what are they even referring to? "May the force be with" you type of thing. What do they really mean when they say God bless? There is only one source which claims to be penned by man but authored by God. And that is the holy Scriptures, the Bible.
When we begin to form and postulate ideas about God in his ways, we have to let our conclusions be drawn not by what we feel or think or what some great philosopher may have said. We still have to go back. We have to be tethered back to the scriptures as our source for what God is really saying. There are principles in God's word that if we live by them, our lives will be blessed. I'm not saying they will be easy, but they will be blessed. We must strongly resist and oppose what I call post biblical revelation, people who've taken the scriptures and then added revelation onto it. The Book of Revelation actually says that's not a good thing for us to do.
And even though I don't believe that God can actually be put in a box, which all of us have tried to do at times in our lives, he did place himself within the box of the Bible for us to learn what he's like and get an understanding of why Christmas. Why Christmas. We look at Galatians chapter 1:6-9. The Church of Galatia was the first place that followers of Christ were called Christians. There was a story that happened there where Paul is reiterating at Antioch.
At Antioch is where they were called Christians. Paul is writing through the churches of Galatia a story that happened at Antioch. The story was basically that all these gentile people became believers because they heard the gospel. Peter and Paul were there and they were having all these Bible studies, in a sense. They were teaching the word of God, this new revelation of the Messiah having already come. Some, what Paul calls, Judaizers came to Antioch from Jerusalem. They came and started to teach these Gentiles, well, you have to be circumcised in order to be a follower of Jesus. You have to do this with the law, and you have to obey that thing in the law. Peter started to get influenced by these Judaizers, they were his friends, and Paul and Peter butted heads. And Paul says he stood to face-to-face with Peter and put him in his place. And then he starts to write to the churches of Galatia about this incident. And he says this:
Jacque: I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ.
Brian: Wow. I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God who called himself to you.
Jacque: You are following a different way that pretends to be the good news, but is not the good news at all.
Brian: It sounds like some of the teaching today, people say, this is the latest, greatest, good news. The further we get away from Jesus, the worst the news really is.
Jacque: You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Let God's curse fall on anyone, including us, or even an angel from heaven who preaches a different kind of good news than the one we preach to you. I say again, what we have said before, if anyone preaches any other good news than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.
Brian: The people in Antioch, and then Paul is writing to the churches of Galatia, he says, you are turning to a different gospel. I want to just go back to the very beginning and the introduction of the good news. The good news first came by way of an angel to Mary. We read that in Matthew chapter 1, verses 18 to 24.
Jacque: This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph, but before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly. So he decided to break the engagement quietly.
Brian: Let's put ourselves in Joseph's position for just a second. He loves this girl Mary, and they're planning to get married, and she breaks the news to him, "I'm pregnant." What do you think your response would be? Well, this must be of God. Not. None of us. None of us. None of you ladies would be on Mary's side. And certainly, none of us guys would be on Mary's side and believing all of this. The scriptures called Joseph a righteous man. I think if he would have been an unrighteous man, he would have said stone her, which was still a practice in those days. But he was a righteous man, so he didn't want to disgrace, not himself. He says he didn't want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to simply call off the marriage very quietly. Let's go on.
Jacque: As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of David," the angel said, "do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
Brian: There is that reason again. There is that reason again. You are to call him Jesus. He's a savior. He's going to be a savior. Don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She's not guilty of what you think she's guilty of. This is an immaculate conception. That's where the term comes from. She will have a son, and you are to call him Jesus, for he will--- It doesn't say he might or he could, but he will save his people from their sins.
Jacque: And all of this occurred to fulfill the Lord's message through prophets. Look, the virgin will conceive a child. She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God is with us.
Brian: There are many things, but one of the things that I really take from this text here is that he will save his people. And why will he save his people? Because we can't save ourselves. That's why. We can't save ourselves. There is nothing we could do to undo what we've done. How many wish at times you could just go back and just redo something over again, right? But life and history, time is of the nature, that time is simply a sequence of events. Time is a lateral line in a sense. What I did yesterday, I cannot go back and undo. What I did a year ago, what I did 50 years ago, I can't go back and undo. And when we have done the unthinkable, and that is disobey our loving creator, live for ourselves supremely, live a self-centered life and not a life that honors Christ, there is nothing I can do to go back and change that.
That's why I need a savior to save me from the consequences of all of that. That's why I need that. And so Jesus came to save us from our sins. We see how it was spoken of by the prophet. I want to just go back. This is from Isaiah chapter 7, verse 13 to 14, keeping in mind that Isaiah wrote this 700 years before Jesus was born. Imagine that. Our country was, let's just say it was founded in 1776. That's when we got our independence. We certainly had many people on this continent who were forming a nation years before that. But if we just take 1776, we are just roughly 250 years into this thing. We are only one third into how long it was from Isaiah's prophecy to the time it was fulfilled.
How many here realize that most of what our founding fathers said about God and divine providence, a divine, you know, governor, whatever term you want to use that they used back in the late 17 hundreds, how many realize that most of our country's forgotten all about that? How many realize that many of the founding principles that our country was founded on have long been forgotten in our country and 250 years? So just think how many people forgot about this prophecy that took 700 years for it to be fulfilled? How much we forget over time, even when God speaks to us and gives us his word and gives us a prophetic encouragement to us, how often we can forget about it because it just takes too long to happen. So let's read it: Isaiah 7.
Jacque: Then Isaiah said, listen, well, your royal family of David, isn't it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of God as well?
Brian: Can you get a little picture of what the nation of Israel was like when Isaiah actually gave this prophecy? You've not only exhausted my patience as a prophet, you've exhausted the patience of God, and his patience is far greater than our patience as a human being. Isaiah is kind of painting this picture of Israel not being in a very good place.
Jacque: Then the Lord himself will give you a sign.
Brian: So here is what the sign is. The Lord will give you a sign, Israel.
Jacque: Look, the virgin will conceive a child. She will give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel, which means God is with us.
Brian: What does the sign do? What does the sign? Do? Yeah. Points away. It gives you guidance, doesn't it? It shows you how to get to where you are supposed to be going. And this is what the prophet says. The Lord will give you a sign. And here it is, a virgin will conceive. God tells us why he's giving them a sign. And it's because of this: to help them stand firm in their faith. How many know at times that our faith can be tested? We go through personal things, we go through loss, we go through disappointments. Sometimes it feels like God's not there. We go through these times, these seasons, these moments where our faith becomes tested. Is this worth it, we ask ourselves to keep doing this? I just don't feel like doing this anymore. Right? God gave Israel a sign, and that sign was this: A virgin will concede and you will call his name Emmanuel, which means--
Jacque: God is with us.
Brian: Yeah. It doesn't mean I'm with God. God is with us. God is with us.
Jacque: That's powerful.
Brian: Yeah. The humanity of Christ now comes to demonstrate the love of God. I like the story that preceded the birth of Jesus with Zacharias and Elizabeth. They were going to have a child. They were related to Mary and Joseph. John the Baptist, was actually the cousin of Jesus. And I just want to look at the story where the angel came to Zacharias and said, "You are going to have a baby." And he laughed. What a joke that is. This must be a pizza dream or something, because my wife is old. And because he doubted the angel who actually visited him in the holy of holies as he was making sacrifice that day, God just did this and put a mute, in a sense, spirit on him so he couldn't talk.
He came out of doing these offerings, the sacrifices that day from the holy of holies. And he couldn't talk. He goes home and Elizabeth gets pregnant. Six months into the pregnancy, Mary now has conceived, and Mary goes and visits Elizabeth. As Mary comes in to see Elizabeth, what happens to John the Baptist? He gets filled with the Holy Spirit and the baby jumps in her womb at the presence of Jesus. And they go through all this. All this time during Elizabeth's pregnancy, Zacharias can't talk. Elizabeth must have talked twice as much during that time.
Jacque: God didn't want him to say all those negative things.
Brian: All those negative things. That's right.
Jacque: He should do that to us sometimes.
Brian: So now, John the Baptist is born and they all the family, and everybody says, we are going to call him Zacharias the second. And Zacharias goes, oh, no. You know, but he can't speak anything. He asks for a tablet or something to write on. And he writes out, "His name shall be called John." As soon as he writes that fingers of God come off of his lips, and he begins to speak. The first thing out of his mouth is actually a prophecy that he gives. And we see that prophecy in Luke chapter one. I'll just read verses 76 to 79. This is part of it.
Jacque: And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the most high because you'll prepare the way for the Lord.
Brian: So John the Baptist whole purpose for being born was to prepare the way for the Lord.
Jacque: You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. Because of God's tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us.
Brian: And who was that morning light?
Jacque: Jesus.
Brian: It was Jesus. Because of God's, listen to this, tender mercy. That's God's attitude towards us. Because of God's tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us. Again, Mary was probably about maybe six months into her pregnancy at this time. His prophecy says it's just about to break forth.
Jacque: I have to go back and read that line again. Because of God's tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.
Brian: Yes. While other religions of the world today, they all probably have some good elements to them. What every other religion in the world lacks, my friends, is a savior. They all lack a savior. They all lack that person who will take our shame, our guilt, and our sins away. What most of them have is a way to try and climb a ladder to heaven, some kind of way to appease God, some kind of way to help the wrath not be so great. But what God our Father in heaven offers us is complete forgiveness of sins through a savior. Jesus is not just a model for us, someone to model our lives after. Although that would be good for us, he's much more than that. He is our savior. And he is our savior because every single one of us needs a savior. Every single one of us needs a savior. The world needs a savior today. These scriptures that I talked about today, these scriptures are that tether line that keeps us from going too far away from what the real reason for Christmas is. Jesus, God with us, he will save his people from their sin.
So Father, I thank you today. I thank you for the grace that you give to us in Jesus. I thank you that there is a savior who is Christ the Lord. As we celebrate his birth in all sorts of wonderful ways over the next few weeks, we will sing songs. We will gather together for celebrations with our businesses, our friends, our family. These are all good. We will exchange gifts. We will feed the poor and the hungry. These are all wonderful expressions of how to celebrate your birthday. But Lord, help us keep that tether line connected to why you came. And that's because you are our savior passenger. Pastor Jeff.
Jeff: Thank you Pastor Brian. After a message like that, we can't not give every listener who's here or who's watching us on livestream or online community. You may have tuned in for the very first time you may be here. You may have never, ever trusted Jesus with your life. And it really is because of God's tender mercy that Jesus came. And if there is anything he wants for you, he wants you to come to a place where you believe that. Because the moment you believe everything changes in your life, his goodness comes in a way you've never experienced before. So if we could all just take a moment, and if you are brand new to this whole idea, and you just heard Pastor Brian's message about who Jesus really is and why he came, all you have to do is say, Jesus, I believe. I believe and I opened my life for you to come in, be my God, my Lord, and give me new life. That simple prayer changes everything forever. If you have never said it, say it.
Before we end today, I really felt like it's important that we take time to pray for, pray for many of us, pray for each other, pray for ourselves because the Christmas season is often for many of us, a kind of a poignant reminder of the people we love who aren't with us anymore. And most of us in this room, most of us watching in the online community have lost someone that we love. And that loss becomes more real in seasons like this. At the Christmas tea, Dr. Bill shared how since he lost his wife, Jesus has become more intimate to him than ever before in his life.
He said something that really struck a deep, deep chord in me when he said, Jesus said, blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. And there is a place of intimacy with Jesus that you can only find when you are mourning. And so here we are in a season of celebration and merriment and many of us in some way or other, we find ourselves mourning during this season. And I want to pray for you, for Jesus to be your comfort and to come to you in a more intimate way. Because he heals our broken hearts. And he gives us a reason to go on. And he helps us discover a new normal. And it's something that we all will go through, we all have to go through. And there is nothing better than to have someone like Jesus there for us when we need that.
So just close your eyes and lift your hands to the Lord. If you are experiencing that type of mourn, put your hand on your heart. And Father, we just thank you for Jesus. We thank you for how you love us. You are with us in our darkest hours. And I release Father the comfort of the Holy Spirit to my friends who are in a place of mourning during these holiday seasons. And I bless them with your intimate presence, Jesus. And I ask that you'll draw near to each one of us in the season. Draw us close to you and bring us from ashes into joy. We thank you for that, Father. We trust you. We trust you. Amen. Pastor Brian. Thank you, Lord.
Brian: Thank you, Pastor Jeff for that. Thank you for the comfort we get in walking hand in hand with Jesus. Thank you for those of you joined us today in livestream. We thank you so much for being part of our faith community. We are so honored to have you tune in every week in all different parts of the country and we are so thankful for that. Thank you also for all of you who are here today, just a special thank you. It is a very special day in celebrating the wonderful gift of Jesus to us. Let's stand together, shall we? Let's raise our hands to the Lord.
And let me bless you. And now, may the Lord bless you, and may the Lord keep you. And may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord turn his face towards you and give you his peace, and may in this Christmas season you know more deeply than ever before, that Jesus is your savior. This we pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Jim and Brenda will be serving communion for anybody who would like to receive communion this morning. We will have people here to pray for you. Please stick around and have some good lunch together with each other. Don't hurry off if you don't have to. And for those of you who are visiting today, we welcome you and thank you for being here. God bless you. Have a wonderful day.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 12-11-22. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.