talents that are going to be shown
And Alex Grobe is going to give a message at the end.
So Alex Grobe is one of our teachers.
So welcome, everybody. Welcome, visitors. And we're going to
get started here in a second. I'm going to open in prayer and we'll get started.
All right, Heavenly Father, thank you for this
nice day that we can be together and celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus.
The one that was foretold to…
Save his people. And we're thankful that this child grew
in grace.
He sacrificed himself on the cross of Calvary for us.
And we want to…
Thank him and praise him.
want to celebrate.
this birth and the incarnation.
that was so important to
Each and everyone here today and in the world.
So we continue.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
All right, so we've got a diverse program. We've got some songs. We've got some skits.
We've got…
some different instruments that will be played.
So I'm going to ask if Jonathan and Jacob Arajan can come up.
And they're going to present something. He became one of us.
Is the title of their…
part and here's a microphone. Would you like to use this microphone?
Each of you separately. Okay.
Here, you can use this one
He became one of us. John 1.14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
He entered a world he breathed. Oh, wait.
Here we see God coming to our world and taking on a human body.
Jesus is God who became man. He did not stay in the safety of heaven.
He entered our world, he breathed our air. He shared our pain. He lived our life. I died our death. He became one of us.
He became human without ceasing to be God and walked among us. This is the central idea of Christmas.
We are not alone in this world. God came near and became one of us.
He died for us and rose again.
If God can leave all his comforts in heaven and become one of us, how much more should we praise and thank him for what he has done
on the cross for us. May his name be glorified. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay, very good. Now our next
Our next one will be one…
Our preschool and kindergarten class.
Oh, there they are. Okay. I was wondering where they went.
Move that another way. Okay, they're going to sing Away in a manger.
And there's also a verse, Matthew 1.21.
Yeah. Here, I'll let you.
All right. Come here. Come here, you guys.
Okay, are you ready?
20s.
Uber.
Asada.
You should call his name Jesus.
Save his people from his sins.
Matthew turned me eggs.
Okay.
One, two, one.
Okay, you ready? Ready to sing only in the manger? Mr. Dan's going to help us.
Okay. Away in the ranger house before a
But it's true.
Lord Jesus.
History tab.
Now the eaves.
If you wonder, hey.
Okay, good job, kids.
So next, Ethan Guma is going to play the piano.
Ethan's going to play the piano and he's going to play angels we have heard on high.
Okay, nice job, Ethan.
Next, we're going to have a skit.
by Ian Isaiah, Elena Rhodes, and Taylor.
So they're going to come up and
do their skid. It's called the Candy Cane Skit.
Ready?
We give them the mic?
I'm going to give you guys the largest hat.
Okay, say it.
Please check under your sheets. There are only a few fortunate ones who receive a special gift under their seat
Please raise your hands if you would like to win a prize.
You can get a gift to everyone.
You know what is free and everyone can have?
For God's love the word.
Whoever believes him, should not push, but have eternal life.
But when the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem
Those under the law that…
Under the law that we might receive adoption to sonship.
Romans 6.23, for the wages of sinners, death, but the gift of God is eternal life, Christ Jesus our Lord.
Matthew 1, verse 21.
And she will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus.
Have you heard of the legend of the candy cane?
Look at the candy canes.
Stripes that are blood.
stripes that are red like blood shed for me. Ways for my Savior who is sinless and pure. Jesus, for Jesus is my Lord, that's for sure.
Turn it around and a staff you will see. Genius, my shepherd is coming for me.
Thank you.
Okay, thank you.
Very good.
Next, we're going to have…
O come all ye faithful, by…
some Albanians is what I was told. Okay.
Oh, come on ye faithful.
triumphant.
Oh, come ye, O God.
Me too.
He loves me.
Born the king of Abraham.
Oh, God.
I sat for him.
O come, let us adore him.
O come, let us adore.
Come on me, oh God.
me to bed.
Oh, man.
I'm looking of angels
Oh, God.
Almighty God.
O come my faithful.
Book of my fear.
come my faithful to that.
Let us adore him.
Come, let us hide.
Embrace.
Okay, thank you very much.
Next, Samuel Myers is going to play his trumpet.
He's going to play Hark the Herald.
And whenever you're ready, Samuel.
Okay, very good.
Thank you, Samuel.
Next is going to be the fifth grade
class skit.
Sixth grade.
Sorry. Sixth grade skit.
I don't have a title for a skit.
A meeting of the committee of God's prophets topic of Messiah.
Do you need another? Nope.
I am Moses, the chairman of this committee of God's prophets.
The topic of today's meeting is the Messiah. The people have, in all of our times, been asking questions about the Savior, when he'll be born, why is it important for him to be born.
And other things like that. That's why God had to have this meeting to go over the plans he's given us.
First, let us do the attendance.
Please state your names for the record.
I'm Micah.
David, Jeremiah. Isaiah. Daniel.
John!
Thank you. Now on today's business. Over the past few weeks, you should have gotten your assignments from God. They will have been the word of the Lord, possibly coming in forms of dreams, visions, oracles, or such as a means of inspiration.
Good, good. Then we'll begin. Let's go in chronological order.
Yes, John?
birth or kind of…
Dr. Paul, like starting with the earliest prophet, because I'm either going first or last
And that's a pretty big difference.
I think we'd start with the earliest prophet if there are no objections.
Thank you, John. And I believe that has me going first.
God has told me that I am responsible for writing down what he had told our fathers, the patriarchs, as well as those things that has happened during my lifetime.
Before my time, Abraham was told that the whole world would be blessed through him, and later Jacob was told the same.
When Jacob was blessing his sons before his death, he prophesied that the Savior would descend
descended from Judah. This means that the Savior will be descended
From Abraham, Jacob, and Judah, and he will save the whole world. There will be an oracle given by Balaam that predicts a king coming from Jacob who would crush Israel's enemies.
This predicts both our King David as well as the Messiah.
In addition to the direct prophecy, God has given me the task of creating pictures and situations that will foreshadow the Savior.
For example, I will explain the concept of atonement and give God's command that the blood of the pure and innocent must be used to cover and make up for sin. I will be using goats and lambs and other animals without blemish for sacrifices. This will predict the Messiah.
Who will be the perfect sacrifice that will not need to be repeated. Additionally, when the people have been bitten by venomous snakes, I will put a bronze serpent on the pole so that they can look at it and they will not die.
And I am told, this is a picture of the Savior as well, and that he will be lifted up like the serpent to save people.
Finally, God has given me a prophecy of my own to give to the people.
I am to predict a prophet like me who will come from the people and speak God's
This prophet will be a mediator between God and Israel.
So that they can hear God's voice.
This concludes my report. I believe David is next.
Yes, thanks as usual. Thanks.
You. As usual, I'm here on behalf of the entire Summers Committee.
But most of what I have to report today is my own assignments.
A lot of what God has given us is symbolism
And foreshadowing, but I'll highlight a few of the more
Pacific. Specific examples. In one case, it is told that
The Savior's enemy.
Savior's enemies will plot against him.
But that he will not do anything to defend himself.
Another example tells that someone who the Savior breaks bread
Bread with will betray him. God also revealed to me many details of the Messiah's suffering and death, including
Many words he will say.
Wait, wait. I thought you said all this world, a lot of, like, comforting and hoofing.
people read it to feel calmer and less anxious. This all sounds really depressing.
Unfortunately, someone does have to suffer for our sins, but I'm getting to the comforting stuff, I promise.
Anyway, mixed in with some of the suffering passages, there are a lot of promises that God won't actually abandon. The Savior for us
For that matter, two deaths.
He also says there will be suffering.
But he won't let…
Death be the ultimate end.
The Messiah will ascend to heaven after triumphing
over his enemies, and he'll give us gifts that he received while among us.
There are also a lot of promises that God will deliver His people. If I were to go
Overall, all of those, we'd be here all day.
I also have a note from here. I also have a note here from Nason that you bring his report as well.
Oh, yes. God sent his word to Nathan telling Nathan to tell me some of…
Some things, the part that's
Revel it. Revalent to this meeting is that God
promised me that my and my offspring's throne
would it be established?
Forever. The Savior will come.
from my descendants.
Thank you, David, and congratulations. Hosea, I believe you're next.
Go.
Tell me that
The safer world.
Thank you, Joseph. Isaiah.
I have a lot to report. I've tried to organize it generally chronologically for clarity, and I'll try to be brief.
First of all, God tells me to reassure the people that the Messiah is coming and he'll take care for us as a shepherd takes care of us
For his sheep. Another prophecy that
He will come from Jesse.
Who's David's father? Before the Messiah comes, there will be a forerunner who will prepare the way for him.
The side of the Messiah is that he will be born of a virgin and his name will be called Emmanuel, which means God with us.
The Messiah will be the light and joy of his people. He will be a wonderful, a counselor.
The mighty God, our eternal Father.
The Prince of Peace. And he will take David's throne and rule forever with justice and righteousness.
God has also told me that the Savior's ministry will begin in Galilee. His ministry is prophesied
to be miraculous. The blind will see, the deaf will hear. The lame will walk, and so on.
The Lord has also told me that the Messiah will suffer and suffer willingly. None of his specific words at his death have been revealed to me as they were to David. But I have been given understanding of what will happen on a more spiritual level.
He will carry our griefs and sorrows, and he will take our punishment for our sins.
His punishment will bring us peace, and his wounds are healing. He will do all this without complaining.
God also tells me to tell the people that one day the Savior will swallow up
Death forever. Saving.
Us, even from death itself. Additionally, I'm told that he will pour his spirit upon our offspring.
I've been given these prophecies.
promises for the Gentiles also, that the root of Jesse, that is the Messiah.
will be a signal to all peoples who gather to
He will bring his justice to all nations, and he will do it without…
With Violet, he will do it.
Not with violence or destruction. There's a lot more, but those are the main points.
Thank you very much, Isaiah. Next up, we have Micah.
Like Hosea, I don't have much to report. The word of the Lord came to me saying that the Messiah will be born in the small town of Bethlehem, Ephrath.
He is to be the ruler in Israel whose coming forth is from a long time ago.
Thank you, Micah. Jeremiah.
Oh, my turn now. Okay, God said that the Messiah's blood will be used to confirm or ratify a new covenant. He will make with Israel and Judah. He will write the law on the people's hearts and they will be able to know him personally. He will also forgive the iniquity of the people and not remain their sins anymore.
God also said the days are coming when he will fulfill
the promise of salvation. And he gives to Judah and Israel.
He will cause a branch
to spring up from David. That's the Savior.
The Savior will exalt justice and righteousness and bring salvation.
Thank you for that report, Jeremiah. That all sounds wonderful. Daniel, I believe you are next.
God sent me visions and I saw the Messiah coming.
Me with the clouds of heaven he is.
He is given a kingdom made up of all…
People, nations, and languages and the kingdom will never be destroyed. God also sent Gabriel to tell me a little about when the Savior will come and
And some…
of what will happen before and after his coming. The Messiah
This coming is something God has planned for a specific time.
Not just a vague promise.
Miss for some time in the future.
Thank you. Now, Zachariah, what are you up to share?
I have been given an oracle that the Messiah will come into Jerusalem with righteousness and salvation. He will be humble, riding on a donkey's coat like one who brings peace rather than war.
The Lord my God also tells me that the Savior will be sold for 30 silver pieces, the price of a slave, and then the money will be thrown away into a potter's field.
Thank you, Zechariah. Malachi couldn't make it today, but he said that John was familiar with his work.
John, would you mind telling us about it?
I can do that.
So God told Malachi that he was going to send a messenger ahead of the messenger.
of the covenant. The messenger
going to be like the prophet.
Elijah, going before…
The Messiah. In the spirit and power of Elijah.
And I think that's a lot.
of it that important for this meaning.
Thank you. And your own report?
Oh yeah. Oh yeah, right. So that's me.
Foreigner Isaiah mentioned and the messenger god told
about told Malachi
About not the messenger of the covenant.
Not just Jesus, my God.
The messenger sent ahead of him, I was born to prepare the way for Jesus I was supposed to preach.
And actually acting like you repented. I also…
been baptizing people with the water to foreshadow the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
and fire. That's the Messiah will perform. I'm not the Christ or Elijah.
But I work in the spirit of Elijah
And to prepare the people for Jesus coming. I will tell them…
that Jesus is coming and that he is greater than me or anyone else.
Thank you, John. You should all now have a better understanding of the who, what.
Where, when, why, and how of the Savior. Make sure you tell the people everything God has told you to do them.
But nothing more. And that concludes the meeting of the committee of God's Prophets on the topic of the Messiah.
Meeting adjourned.
Okay, next we're going to have Serena. Sabrina.
Ariel and Leah singing Noel.
Is that for you?
I said, move it over.
starring Angels gave the sign.
The Savior of humanity. Unto us a shout is gone.
He shall reign forevermore.
Come and see what God.
The story of amazing love
of the world, given for us.
Son of God and Son of Man.
before the world began.
Or to suffer, born to save.
Or to raise us from the grave.
I see everlasting.
He shall.
Come and see what God has.
The story of amazing love.
The light of the world given for us now.
Come and see what God has.
The story of a man.
Praising love.
Giving for us.
Jonathan Rajan is going to play the piano now.
And he's going to play away in a manger.
Thank you.
Okay, the first and second grade class
Jesus strong and kind.
is a song and then there's going to be some verses.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders.
And he shall be called Wonderful Consolor.
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
And she will bring forth a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he was saved their people from their sins.
And Mary said, and Mary said.
magnifies the Lord.
Luke 1 and 47, And my spirit…
has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
Loop 149.
Jeez.
Just say that in my thirst.
I shall come to him.
No one else can chat.
this flag.
I should come to him.
If I'm weak.
I should come.
No one else can.
Be my strength.
I should come to him.
He will keep us day and night.
We can always
Run to Jesus.
Jesus strong and kind.
I should come to him.
No one else can be my shield.
I should come.
to him.
For the Lord is good and faithful.
He will keep us there.
We can always run to Jesus.
Jesus shrunk.
Being kind.
Jesus said, and if I
I'm lost. I will come.
to me.
And he showed me on earth.
He will come.
To me.
For the Lord is good and thankful.
He will keep us day and night.
And we can all wait.
Jesus strong.
And kind.
He's strong.
In kind.
Jesus drowned.
And kindness.
Okay, next we have…
Wesley, Preston.
And Jonathan…
And Ethan, they're going to do a song for us.
It's fine. Mr. Neal, we forgot to prepare a song, so I don't really know what to do, so…
What? What do you mean you forgot? We got you on the schedule right here.
Everyone's expecting a song. You're going to have to come up with something.
Mr. Neil, there's this new AI assistant that can generate songs for us. Could we use that?
That's pretty unconventional, but okay, let's…
See what you can do. Okay, Mr. Jim, can you pull up Genesis AI Assistant?
Hey, Genesis of cooties. Wow.
Can you create a Christmas song?
Beep, beep, beep, beep, boop, boop. Yes, just one moment.
Get a writing complete. Playing.
Christmas song.
Dashing through the snow and a one-horse open sleigh
Or that feels weak.
Stop, stop, stop.
Jingle Bells? Really?
This is the chapel Christmas program. We're talking about the birth of the Lord Jesus, not jingle bells. I told you this before.
No jingle bells, right? I'm so sorry. We're all really sorry. We'll make sure this never happens again. I'm actually so sorry. Maybe can we try again?
Okay, better be good.
Hey, Genesis.
Can you create a Christmas song about Jesus?
Beep, beep, beep, beep, boop, boop. Yes, just one moment. Generating. Beep, beep, beep, boop, beep, boop, boop.
Beep. Generating complete.
playing Christmas songs about Jesus.
Dashing through the world with good news to proclaim
Sharing joy and love. All in Jesus name.
Oh, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Born on Christmas Day. He gave the word to bring us life and take our sins away. Hey, Jesus saves Jesus saves, say it loud today. Our Savior, King of the
So he came to Bethlehem that night. A star above the manger.
So there's only light.
Angels filled the sky.
Shepherds came to see the baby born to change the world and set his people free. Oh, Jesus sakes, Jesus saves, born on Christmas Day. He came to earth to give us life and take versions away.
Hey, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Sing it loud today. Our Savior, King the Lord of all, guide us every day.
All right, very clever. From the makers of Cooties. Wow.
This is great. Okay, nobody else gets to use that for the rest of the program.
Okay, so we're going to have the Guma kids come up.
And they're going to sing Jesus
joy of highest heaven.
And we'll also have some verses.
No verses, just song. Okay.
Joy of the high is heaven.
Born as a little baby.
Under a wondrous star.
Like us.
Crying he takes his fur.
breath held by his mother helpless.
Close to her beating heart.
Jesus, laid in a lonely manger Facing a world of danger.
Come to turn me a stranger.
Into a child of God.
Jesus, King of the highest heaven.
Learning to take his first steps.
That he might bring us life.
Like us, knowing our smiles and sorrows.
He showed a way to follow.
Always a chew and right.
Jesus, take away our
Every darkness, steady my simple foot.
steps that I might end your goodness.
Live as a child of God.
Okay, so we're nearing the end here. We've got our last song here.
And our Sunday school kids are going to come up and sing
Heart the herald angels sing.
Kids can make their way up. And as they're making their way up
I'll let you know that Alex Grobe will give the message after this.
And then after the message, we'll sing one final song, Silent Night.
We'll all sing that together.
After that, I invite all the
kids and, well, I invite everyone to go downstairs. We have…
To go cookie boxes, one per family.
So one per family, you have a…
Cookie box to go.
And also the kids, you can pick up your present from the church.
Your Christmas present and our teachers as well so
Hark the herald angels sing.
We've been working on this.
A little bit for the last few weeks with all the kids.
Thanks to Dan for…
Working on that.
From your head.
Glory to you.
The newborn king, peace, honor.
and mercy, my
God answered.
Joyful ally nations rise.
join our tribals of the sky.
With the jealous.
Christ is born in that.
A handheld ahead.
Lord angels sing.
Glory to the newborn king.
My high is heaven.
And Lord, Christ's say yes.
Everlasting, Lord, and time.
the virgin worm.
Jesus all.
I knew well.
Glory to him.
The newborn king.
Eldos.
righteousness, light and light.
And you all we bring prisoners.
And the healing.
for that man.
the sun of earth
Pour to give them second birth.
Glory to you.
The newborn king.
Okay, thank you.
So I will introduce Alex Grobe. He's one of our teachers. He teaches the
middle school boys.
So, Alex?
Good morning. So two things.
I'd like to get straight before I start. First one is a number of years ago, Ray Giannini, who's one of the elders here, and I had a conversation about making sure when you come on Sunday you're dressed appropriately and you're Sunday best.
Sorry, I took a different route this morning. The second one is, as was pointed out earlier, the talent portion of the evening is concluded. So I don't know what that says about the next few minutes, but I'm sorry.
So.
We come together this time of year to celebrate. And thanks for joining us. I think that talent show was fantastic. And I wanted to pause for a few minutes to maybe think about
Some of the things that we celebrate. So I did a couple of things.
a lot of internet research. So some of the primary examples, maybe you get caught up this time of the year
in reindeer, like I am at the moment.
guy in a red suit, he's going to come down the chimney, give you lots of gifts.
Whether you're on the naughty list or the nice list.
Maybe you get…
really tied up in purchasing gifts.
So because I'm an engineer and statistics and numbers make everything better, I have a few statistics and numbers to throw out at you about.
this time of the year, which is…
the largest commercial time of the year. Since 1992, December has been
the time of the year where the most money is spent on buying things in our economy.
So last year, there was about $964 billion
spent during the Christmas holidays with people focusing on that as the primary thing
at Christmas that they were interested in.
That was up about 3.8% from last year.
If you're keeping score, Mother's Day comes in second. So moms, you're second to
Christmas, but only about a third of that amount of money is spent on Mother's Day.
So for last year, that was about $1,750 in spending at Christmas per person. I don't know who came up with that number. That's not my number.
I didn't check the math on that one.
Experts say that you should spend the experts, in air quotes there.
that you should spend about 1% to 2% of your annual salary on buying gifts at Christmas time.
So if you want to do the math, this math I did check, this is my own math. That means your annual income, if you were spending at that rate last year, was $87,500 a year.
to $175,000 a year to hit that number. So the world sort of focuses us on commercialism at this time of the year. That was very successful
in taking this season and making it a commercial event.
The estimates this year are that you should spend about $2,100 on buying your gifts at Christmas.
So kids, write that number down. Check in with me later to see what happened.
So that is what the world seems to focus on. As I was doing my research, that was sort of the number one thing was, well, you should spend money.
go out to dinner, you should buy gifts for people. And the number one focus seemed to be on commercialism.
So the next thing I did was I said, well, what about traditions? Because Christmas is usually a time we focus also on traditions.
So I checked out a number of lists of the most common or best traditions to uphold, new and old.
So this is where there's the first wardrobe change of the evening.
So good housekeeping has a list of 42 traditions.
And perhaps maybe Santa Claus isn't your thing, reindeers. Maybe it's an ugly sweater
event. So you don't usually get to wear ugly sweaters at church, but…
Here we are this morning. So one thing I took notice of on this list as I read through the 42 things from Good Housekeeping that we should
Keep or start his traditions.
is that not a single one of them involved attending a church service. There was nothing about
the birth of the Messiah, of anything even remotely religious.
A lot of it, again, had to do with going shopping, going out to dinner. Some things were not necessarily bad things like
Maybe spending time at a homeless shelter, volunteering to help people less fortunate than you.
But I was a little struck with the fact that not a single of the 42 traditions that they identified had anything to do with even religion, if I looked at it that way, coming to church, celebrating this time of year for
The true reason of the season.
So I don't forget my note cards here.
So I want to take a moment to think about what traditions are important to you and your family this time of year. What are the things that you like to do
What are the things that you celebrate?
So then, and this has absolutely nothing to do with the skit that we had a few minutes ago, and I apologize because I was just banned, I heard, from using Genesis AI.
I didn't intentionally ask AI, but now apparently anytime you search on the internet, you're going to get an AI answer. So I was searching for
What do people think is the true meaning of Christmas? And I'd like to read what Google's AI responded to because
It's not terrible. It gives me a little bit of hope about this whole AI revolution thing maybe turning out better than Hollywood tells us it will.
But this is what AI said. The true meaning of Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the Son of God.
It's a time to reflect on love, joy, family, and giving.
Here are some ways to experience the meaning of Christmas.
Give thanks, express gratitude for love, hope, and joy found in Jesus.
exchange gifts. Remember the gift of God's love and that we are never alone.
Be charitable, become more accepting.
generous and charitable in both gifts and emotions.
Connect with others, be social and share with others.
Volunteer, help the homeless, visit the elderly, or help family members
Focus on Jesus, discover the personal meaning of Christmas for you.
So like I said, that's not terrible, but I think maybe still falls a little bit short of what actually is the true meaning of Christmas. So why is it
that we here, that myself, my family, what do we celebrate? What do we look forward to at this time of the year?
As you've heard today, it's
the birth of Christ, who came to this world to be born as a human who
It wasn't any less God when he was here, but I'm sure had to give up some things because I don't think a human body can even
contain what it is that it means to be God and the creator of the universe.
That's the true meaning, and I'd like to read a couple of verses from 1 John, and I was really keeping track this morning.
Both in our first service and in the talent show to see if anyone else read these same verses and nobody did, so…
They were alluded to but not read. So I would like to read 1 John 1, verses 1 through 5 and 12 through 14.
And this is about this child that came to this world.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made.
In him was life and in life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness overcame it not.
One page too far.
And he came unto his own, and his own received him not.
But in as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the children of God, even to them that believe in his name.
who were born not of blood nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory and the glory
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
And that's why we focus on this time of the year. We remember
that God, God the Son, came down to this world, constrained himself to a human body, lived here.
for 30-some years, had a ministry of about three years.
But the real reason why that's important isn't just because some baby was born
many years ago, but because of who that child was and what he came to this world to do.
If I go back to that naughty and nice list, we sort of look at that and we understand it in some sort of
way as a judgment. Am I more bad or more good so I can be on that naughty list or that nice list?
To be honest, none of that matters. We all understand at some level that there's a penalty for doing something wrong for sin.
And God sent his son to this world to be born, to live, to die, and to raise again.
to pay that penalty for us.
Because no matter what.
No matter how good we try to be, this is going to take a minute.
Forgot about the mic for a second there.
No matter how good we try to be, even if we were to live a life by the world's standards that was amazing, fantastic, we tried never to do anything wrong.
This is the best we can offer. Our works are filthy rags, dirty things that are unworthy to be in the presence of God are in heaven.
And that's the true gift that we get this time of the year is that Christ came to this world offering himself to us freely so that we can take
Everything that we think we have
And recognize that it's filthy, it's dirty, it has no place before a holy God.
But his son who came and died on the cross, I promise this is the last wardrobe change.
What he gives us is by his sacrifice, those dirty rags can be made clean.
And we can be washed and have
holiness placed on us that we didn't earn or deserve.
And we have the ability then to accept that free gift and to stand at some point in the presence of God
outside of punishment with no penalty for our sin, not because we deserved it, but because God came, sent his son, and he died on the cross to forgive us from our sins.
And that's why we celebrate this time of the year.
That's what's important. So certainly as you leave here today, there's a song afterwards, so I'm not dismissing you.
As you leave here today and go back out into the world this time of the year, spend time with family, spend time with friends.
enjoy this time of the year, relax a little bit. Do some of those things that AI said would be good to do because that was a pretty good list of things
that you can do to enjoy this time of the year. But remember, the real reason why we celebrate. Make sure that's a focus of all the things that you do.
Because that light that I read about transfers to us as believers. And we have the ability to go out into the world and shine that light and bring others in.
to that same saving grace that took us from
From dirty, filthy rags and makes us acceptable to God. Again, not because of us, but because of what his son did for us on the cross.
So I'd like to close in a word of prayer before we have our final hymn.
Lord, we thank you that you sent your son to this world, that we take time out of our schedules this year
this time of the year to celebrate his birth.
We know his birth is important because it is ultimately the thing that leads us to the ability to be free from
The penalty of our sin by his sacrifice that came later after his ministry being in this world
tempted without sin.
Offering himself as a perfect sacrifice for us to cover our sins, to wash us clean.
We thank you that you sent him. We thank you that he accepted that
that honor, that sacrifice to make himself a sacrifice for us. We ask that you would
Help us to keep that focus this time of the year, to share that gift with as many others as we can. We ask these things in your name. Amen.
Okay, thank you, Alex. We're going to now, I'm going to ask the Sunday school kids to go in the hallway and pick something up
From Mrs. Gumma.
And…
We are going to turn in our hymnals to 628.
628 should be…
Silent Night, yeah. Silent Night.
Dan's going to play the guitar. Dan, thanks again. And Dan has been…
leading the singing downstairs with the kids
And some of the kids are also participating with
their instruments. So we've had a nice
good time in the basement singing
singing these…
Christmas songs and other Sunday school songs that we've
enjoyed over the year.
So as the kids are prepping, you can turn to 628.
And they will enter shortly.
And we will…
end the meeting with Silent Night. And then we invite you to go downstairs, help yourself one to each family for a
To go cookie box.
And I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
Appreciate you all coming.
Okay, so we're on hymn 628.
Silent late.
Silent night.
Holy night.
All is come. All is grown.
Round and virgin mind.
mother and child.
Holy infant so tender and
Sleeping and heavenly.
Sleep.
in heavenly peace.
Silent now.
Holy Night.
Shepherds quake and the sun.
Glory stream from heaven of fire.
Heavenly hosting us.
Halleluia. Christ the Savior is full.
Christ the Savior is born.
Night at night.
Holy night.
Son of God.
Love, pure love.
Radiant keens from God.
I holy faith.
With the dawn of Bree TV.
Grace.
Jesus, Lord at thy birth.
Jesus, Lord.
Bye.
Everything is dismissed.