Well, good morning and a very warm welcome to you all to our Christmas Club family service.
It's good to see so many of our young people here together today at the front.
It's great to have you with us and it was a great day yesterday at the holiday club.
I hope you all enjoyed it, those who were there.
And we're going to be following on with a theme from that today as well, thinking about
the time of year it is and the gift.
Gifts that we receive in Christmastime are special, but we're going to think today of
the greatest gift of all.
So we're going to come to that in a moment.
But just for your information, there's a few things on the notice sheet to highlight.
After the service this morning, the children are going to go out to the door to my left
here, going through into the hall.
And the hall is set up there for tea and coffee for everyone.
And the children are then going to lead us in some of the songs that they were learning
yesterday together.
So everyone's very welcome.
Please do stay behind for that.
If you can, there'll also be a slideshow of some of the pictures taken yesterday.
So you'll see pictures of some of the activities that they were involved in throughout the day.
So do stay behind for that if you can.
Just go through to the hall next door.
This evening, the YF meets in the MA Hall.
That's on this evening.
Friday the Free is on this coming Friday.
I'm just highlighting that as well because it's holiday time.
There may be families with children who maybe want to come along to that as well on Friday
between 12 and 3.
I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who was involved in the Christmas Club.
Not just yesterday, but in the days and months leading up to it, there was a lot of hard work
put into it.
Very practical ways.
People were organizing online sign-up sheets, printing sheets, baking, preparing all the crafts
and different things.
And then yesterday, so many people involved.
Too many people to mention, but just a thank you to everyone who was involved.
And especially we thank God that we're able to pray and that everyone can join in in praying
for it and continue to pray that everything that we do, the Lord would bless.
So thank you to everyone who was involved in that.
And today's service is a slightly different format to the usual.
So all the children, you'll have these question sheets.
There's some questions.
There's some activities.
There's all the singings we have and the readings are all in here as well.
So everything's in this booklet for you just to use going through.
There's some questions.
So when we go through to the hall, I'll maybe ask a few of you to see what answers to the
questions you put.
Because there's some questions.
I'm not sure what the answer is.
So you might have to help me out with that.
So I'll see what you put in the question sheet.
So the format's going to be slightly different.
And we'll be having readings and singings and a message at different points throughout
the day.
But we're going to begin by singing to God's praise.
We're singing in Psalm 100.
It's the Sing Psalms version.
If you have the psalm books, it's page 131.
Psalm 100.
We're going to sing the whole of this psalm.
The tune is Selma.
And it's a psalm that reminds us that together we come to praise the Lord as we come today,
not just here, but people throughout the world.
We lift our voices together to praise God.
So we'll stand to sing the whole of this psalm.
And we'll sing the whole of this psalm.
Amen.
All new to earth belong
Adore the Lord with joyful hearts
And come to Him in song
Of that the Lord is God
He made us lost His own
We are the sheep for whom He cares
His people will follow
And God is mixed with praise
His courts with thankfulness
Your praises gladly sing to Him
His name forever bless
What God the Lord is good
His love is never true
His constant truth and faithfulness
Through every age and youth
Well we bow our heads in a word of prayer
Now let us pray
Our Father in heaven
We thank you for this day
We thank you for Sunday
As the Lord's day
A day when we are able to come
Together in this way of worship
And praise to you
We thank you Lord
That you have given us so many good things
We thank you for all the times of great joy
We enjoy together
As we think back even to yesterday
To our time in the holiday club together
We thank you for your peace and blessing upon us there
And for all who came along
And for all that was done
And for all the enjoyment that we had
And above all Lord
We thank you that as we come together in these ways
We come to hear of a precious Saviour
One who we pray will become more and more precious
To every one of us here
Today and in all the days ahead
That our love for our Lord Jesus
Would grow and blossom in all our lives
From the youngest to the oldest here
For we thank you that as we come
We come not looking to give praise to ourselves
Or to anyone else
But to come giving praise to you
As we have sung
We are to come and enter your presence
With joy and thankfulness
For all of the goodness that you have shown to us
For all the great and wondrous things that you have done
And so we pray today that as we turn to your word
As we thank you for it
As we thank you for the Bible
And for all that it teaches us
About who we are and who you are
It teaches us about the gaps that exist in our lives
And we don't know you
But we thank you that it teaches us too
For the way that that gap is filled
When we come to put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
We thank you for this time of year
And all the things that we enjoy
When there is so much activity around us
And in our own lives too
As we think of the schools
And all that is happening in them
With concerts and school meals
And pantomimes
And all sorts of things going on just now
We realise that it's a busy time of year
And we just pray your blessing on the schools
Upon the teachers and staff
And all the pupils just now
And as we look forward to the holidays this coming week
We pray that you will bless them
In their time off
And there will be a time to enjoy
Enjoy together with family and friends
But we realise too Lord
That this time of year
Is often a sad time of year for many
Many will feel lonely
Many will feel sad at this time of year
Because of different things going on
Or different things that have happened
In the past year or in the past years
And we do remember Lord
That we are to look out for one another
To encourage one another
To help one another
And we thank you that your word teaches us that too
That we are to pray for and to encourage one another
As often as we can
And so we thank you Lord
For the very fact that you are with us
That that is above all what we remember
At this time of year
That you sent your son into this world
You sent him as the greatest gift of all
And we pray that in everything else
That goes on in our lives just now
That you will help us to remember you
And to remember your great love towards us
To remember your son Christ Jesus
And to come and be able to call him
Our Lord and our God
Help us to trust in him
With all our hearts
So may you bless our time together here
And also as we go through to the hall later
We pray Lord that you will bless us
As we continue to worship you
And to praise you this day
For all your goodness to us
Remember us and all our families
All who we love and care for
And indeed even those we see as strangers around us
Lord we pray for you to bless us
And watch over us
We give thanks to you for all of these things
And ask it all in Jesus name
With the forgiveness of our sins
Amen
Well it's a special time of year just now
When there's so much activity going on around us
And it's a busy time of year
Hands up if you're feeling a little tired today
For a busy day yesterday
Most of the adults are putting up their hands
And some of the children as well
Because it is a busy time of year
There's a lot going on
There's a lot of activities going on
Even around us in school
There'll be busy things going on
When you have your Christmas lunch
You'll have your Christmas parties
Christmas concert
All of these things going on
And then even when you're at home
You're maybe sitting there
Looking out the window
To see if the postie or woodies
Or DRs appearing at the door
Seeing if they're bringing cards
Or presents to you
Because it's this time of year
And we exchange presents
And that's one of the most exciting things
At this time of year
Isn't it?
As we were thinking about yesterday
It's exciting when you see
Maybe under the tree
Lots of Christmas presents
Appearing
And you're beginning to wonder
What's inside them
Maybe you're starting to have a little peek
Just starting to open up the presents
Not just the young people
I know some older people
Who enjoy doing that as well
They start shaking the partials
Wondering what's in it
Or start just ripping a little corner
To see if they can see what's in it
And you'll be looking at things like this
Maybe there's these kinds of boxes
Appearing in your house
And under the tree
And you start wiggling it around
And wonder what's inside this
But is this the greatest gift
At this time of year?
We think of how often
We're asked that question
What do you want for Christmas?
Have you been asked that question?
What do you want for Christmas?
And do you have an answer for that question?
Maybe you've asked mum or dad
Or granny or grandpa
Or one of your friends
This is what I want for Christmas
This is what you could get me for Christmas
But is what do I want
The most important question?
Or is a more important question
What do I need for Christmas?
What do I really need in my life for Christmas?
And maybe it's not the gifts
That appear under the tree
I hope that's not what we think
Is the greatest gift of all
Because today I want us to think
About this special time of year
But to remember
It's not just about gifts
That appear under the tree
Or that come on the post
Or in the partial service
It's to remember
What God has given to us
The greatest gift of all
And what has he given to us?
Who has he given to us?
Do you want to answer that question?
Hands up if you want to answer that question
You can just shout it out
Go on then
Who has he given us?
Jesus
Isn't it?
Yeah?
Jesus
That's what we were looking at
At the holiday club yesterday
The greatest gift of all
Given to us
Is Jesus
Because you see
With all the other gifts
We get at Christmas time
And indeed any other time
Maybe we get birthday gifts as well
You see
Jesus isn't just for Christmas
He's for every day of the year
But when we think of every gift
That we get
So often
What will happen to them
They will break after a time
Or they will grow old
And we lose interest in them
We just put them away in a box
Or very often
They just end up
Going into the scrap
We put them away
We forget all about them
But that's not what we are to remember
Or how we are to remember Jesus
The greatest gift of all
We should never grow tired
Of Jesus
Or think that he's not important now
He's not special now
Because he's always important
And he's always to be special for us
Because he blesses us in so many ways
He looks after us here
And he promises us
And all of us
That if we put our trust in him
It's not just for here and now
But forever
For eternity
As the Bible says
He sent us the greatest gift of all
A saviour
Who is Christ the Lord
That's the verses
That we're going to look at
Together today
Because when we read in the Gospel of Luke
We hear about the angel
And we're going to read this in a wee while
That we hear the angel saying to the shepherds
Fear not
For behold
Born to you unto this day
In the city of David
It's a saviour
Who is Christ
The Lord
And that's what's important
That's our greatest need
Somebody put it like this
If our greatest need
Was information
God would have sent us an educator
If our greatest need
Had been technology
God would have sent us a scientist
If our greatest need
Had been money
God would have sent us a banker
If our greatest need
Had been pleasure
God would have sent us an entertainer
But
Our greatest need
Was forgiveness
Forgiveness from all our sins
And so God sent us
A saviour
That's the greatest gift
That we're going to think about today
So we're going to read
In the Gospel of Luke
But before we do
We're going to say
The Lord's Prayer
Together
Now the Lord's Prayer
You find it on
The Order of Service
We're going to say
The Lord's Prayer
Together
Our Father
Who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done on earth
As it is in heaven
Give us this day
Our daily bread
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom
And the power
And the glory
Forever
Amen
Well we're going to turn to read
Our first reading
Well all the readings are going to be
From the Gospel of Luke
But we're going to spread the readings out
Into three parts
So our first reading is in Luke
Chapter 2
We're going to read from verse 1
Down to verse 12
So you find this on your Order of Service
Or in your Bible
Around page 1032
Luke chapter 2
Reading from the beginning
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 firstborn son
And wrapped him
In swaddling clothes
And laid him in a manger
Because there was no place
For them in the inn
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
Shone around them
And they were filled
With 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 saviour
Who is Christ
The Lord
And this will be
A sign for you
You will find a baby
Wrapped in swaddling clothes
And lying
In a manger
And so on
And may God bless
That reading
From his word
Well the first part
Of our service
Just now
We're going to think
About the gift
That God has given us
The gift
Of a saviour
When we look
At these verses here
Especially verse
Verse 8
Down to verse 12
There we read
We're reading about
The shepherds
Who were out in the field
The night Jesus
Was born
And I'm sure
This is a story
You've all heard before
Or many of you
At least have heard before
And the danger
Of hearing
A story again
And again
Is that
You can think
Oh it's just the same
Old story
I've heard it all before
And you can become
Maybe bored of it
You say
I've heard all this
I don't want to hear it
But listen again
To what
Verse 10 to 12 says
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 saviour
Who is Christ
The Lord
And this will be
A sign to you
You will find
A baby wrapped
In swaddling clothes
And lying
In a manger
These are really
Special words
For us
This is a reminder
To us
Of such
A special day
When God
Sent his son
Into this world
And he was born
Into this world
And he was born
As a saviour
To the world
Somebody put it
Like this
We are to
Hear this
Clearly
So we are to
To listen
To this
Clearly
Even if we have to
Put our hand up
To our ear
And say
What did you say
Can you tell me again
We are to listen
To what he is saying
Here
And then somebody said
We are to feel it
Powerfully
So we are to feel it
In our heart
To feel the power
Of God's word
To us
To see
Here is
The greatest
Thing that we need
And God has
Given us
This gift
The gift
Of our saviour
So we are to feel it
Powerfully
But as we come
To this word
We come prayerfully
Asking God
To speak to us
In a powerful way
And then they said
We are to go away
And ponder it
Deeply
So we are to go away
And we are going to
Think about
What do these words mean
This is a really
Special word
To us
God remembered
The world
God remembered me
And he gave
His son
For me
He sent him
Into this world
And this is
Good news
Of great joy
What's the best news
You've ever heard
I think Duncan Norman's
Best news
Yesterday was
Hearts won
They beat Celtic
That's the best news
That he'd heard
In a long long time
But other people
We hear good news
At different times
During the year
We maybe hear of
Somebody getting engaged
Or getting married
We hear of somebody
Having a baby
We hear of
Lots of different things
That make us happy
But what's the
Greatest news
You could hear
What's the best news
You could ever hear
Well the shepherds
Here
In Luke
They hear the
Greatest news
They could ever hear
Fear not
For behold
I bring you
Good news
Of great joy
A saviour
Is born
To you
Have you ever
Been afraid
Hands up
Have you ever
Been afraid
I'm sure
Lots of people
Have been afraid
I'm afraid
Of heights
Even up here
I'm looking down
I'm thinking
My knees are getting
A little bit wobbly
You're so
So far away from me
I'm so high up here
In so many ways
I'm really scared
Of heights
Some people are
Really scared
Of the dark
And you can imagine
What it was like
For the shepherds
Here when they were
Out in the field
At night
It was dark
And suddenly
There's this host
Of angels
All around them
There's all this singing
And light going on
Around them
And it's
They were afraid
And it was natural
For them to be afraid
We would all be afraid
If something like this
Happened to us
But look at what
They said to them
They said
The angel said
Fear not
Don't be afraid
I have good news
For you
A saviour
Is born
To you
And these words
A saviour
Christ
The Lord
There's three words
There that are
Really special
The first is
A saviour
He had a purpose
In coming
Remember yesterday
At the holiday club
There was a picture
Of a helicopter
Up on the screen
And there was this man
Coming down on the wire
To rescue someone
Because someone
Was in danger
Maybe they were
In trouble at sea
The boat was sinking
And they were
Needing rescuing
So this was like
A saviour
Coming for them
Well this is what
Jesus has done
For us
He's come down
From heaven
Come down
To earth
For us
For his people
To save us
So he's a saviour
He is Christ
It says here
The word Christ
Means he's been anointed
Earlier on this year
In May
We got a new king
King Charles
And there was a special
Ceremony for him
When he was crowned king
He was publicly made king
Over our nation
While Jesus
Was anointed
He was made king
Over all the world
Over all the people
He is the Christ
He is our king
And he is Christ
The Lord
He has authority
Over all things
He has power
Over all things
This is who we are to come
And see as our saviour
Not just anyone
In this world
But Jesus
He is the greatest gift
Of all to us
The gift
Of a saviour
There's another passage
In the Bible
In Ephesians chapter 2
And it speaks about
Our salvation there
It says
For it is by grace
You have been saved
Through faith
And this is not
From yourselves
It says
It is a gift
Of God
It is God's
Greatest gift
To us
A saviour
Who is Christ
The Lord
Well we're going to
To sing together
Now before we come
To our second part
We're singing
In Psalm 89
Psalm 89
We're going to sing
From verse 1 to 5
And the tune is
Done firm line
And again
It's a psalm
That reminds us
That we can ever sing
To God
For all his goodness
To us
God's mercies
I will ever sing
And with my mouth
I shall
Thy faithfulness
Make to be known
To generations
All
We'll sing
From verse 1 to 5
And we stand
To sing
To God's peace
Amen
God's mercies
I will ever sing
And with my mouth
I shall
Thy faithfulness
Make to be known
To generations
More
For mercy
Shall be built
Said I
Forever
To endure
Thy faithfulness
To hear
Me
to David's born of high.
God, I see established shall
forever to remain.
I will to generations all
thy throne built and maintained.
The praises of thy wonders, Lord,
the heavens shall express,
and in the congregation
of saints thy faithfulness.
Amen.
We'll just read on some verses in Luke's Gospel,
chapter 2.
We're reading at verse 13.
Again, you'll find this on the order of service.
Just a few verses from verse 13 to verse 15
as we continue to see what happened with the shepherds.
So at verse 13 it says,
And suddenly there was with the angel
a multitude of the heavenly host
praising God and saying,
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleased.
When the angels went away from them into heaven,
the shepherds 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.
So we're continuing to see
what's happening with the shepherds here.
They'd been afraid.
They'd heard these angels singing,
and now they're singing
a whole host of them together.
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those
with whom he is pleased.
And here we see another gift
that God has given to us.
If we see Jesus as the greatest gift of all,
the gift of a Savior,
we see secondly here the gift of peace,
that peace that Jesus is able to give to us.
So I hope you're beginning to realize
that the greatest gift
isn't a gift found in a box like this one.
The greatest gift
is a gift we find spoken of
in the Bible,
the Word of God.
When God is speaking to us here,
he is reminding us
of all that he is able to give to us,
not just to the shepherds back in this day,
but to all God's people
down through all the generations,
he's able to give peace.
God's Word,
someone described it like a treasure chest.
A treasure chest is like a big box,
but it's usually locked, isn't it?
And you need a key
to get into the treasure box.
So how do we get into God's Word
if we think of it as a treasure chest
that is locked?
Well, the key to get into it
is faith,
to believe in what we are reading here
in God's Word.
Because it is through faith
we will begin to realize
that everything that God says to us
in His Word is true.
And that even when we live in a world
that so many sad things happen,
day after day we hear
of sad news
around us here
or in our country
or even in the world,
we are always hearing
of sad news,
sad things that are going on.
But the gift
that God has given to us
through Jesus
is the hope of peace.
Something that can often seem
so far away
for so many people
in this world.
And yet it's something
that God is promising us
through His Son,
Christ Jesus.
For example,
in another part of the Bible,
in a book called Romans,
it says this,
May the God of hope
fill you with all joy
and peace
as you trust in Him.
May He fill you
with all joy
and peace.
And that's what we were seeing
here,
the angels singing
to the shepherds,
Glory to God
in the highest
and on earth,
peace among those
with whom He is pleased.
God gives us
so many wonderful promises
in His Word
that are able
to give us peace
even when
there are sad things
going on.
Do you remember
a song that we were
learning yesterday?
We're going to sing it
through in the hall,
the song,
The Blessing.
Well, in that song
as we sang it,
it's actually singing
words from the Bible,
from the book of Numbers,
chapter 6.
The Lord bless you
and keep you.
The Lord make His face
to shine upon you
and be gracious to you.
The Lord lift up
His countenance upon you
and give you what?
What's the missing word
at the end there?
Give you,
anybody want to answer
that question for me?
The Lord give you peace.
Peace is what is in that song.
And that's the peace
that we look for.
Long before Jesus was born,
hundreds of years
before Jesus was born,
there was a man called Isaiah
who told us all about
the coming of Jesus.
Isaiah said,
For to you,
for to us,
a child is born.
To us,
a son is given.
And the government
will be on his shoulders
and he will be called
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
That is what he would give
to his people,
the Prince of Peace.
Jesus is the king
who came into this world
to give us peace.
Many years ago,
there was a king
in a place called Persia.
If you look it up on your maps now,
you won't find the place
called Persia.
But where it was,
you would see Iran now.
So it's in the Middle East.
And this king,
he was a good king.
And he was a wise king.
And he loved his people.
And very often,
he wanted to know
what was happening
in the lives of his people.
So what he would do was,
he couldn't go out
dressed as a king.
If he did,
everybody would see him
and know exactly who he was.
So what he used to do
was dress up as a beggar.
So he had dirty clothes,
torn clothes on.
And he'd go out
into the streets
and go and visit people
in their homes.
And this way,
he found out
what was going on
in their lives.
And one day,
he visited this poor man.
This poor man lived
in a cellar.
And he didn't have much food.
And all the food
that he had
was just little bits
of scraps
that he'd managed
to pick up.
But the king,
dressed as a beggar,
sat with him
for a time.
He ate a little bit
of his food with him,
the scraps that he had.
He spoke to him
in a cheerful way.
He tried to encourage him.
He spoke kind words to him.
And then,
after a time,
he left.
Well,
a few weeks later,
he went to visit
this man again.
But this time,
he decided
he was going to let him know
who he was.
So he said
to this man
sitting in the cellar,
Do you know who I am?
And the man said,
No, I don't.
He said,
Well,
I'm your king.
And the man was astonished
that this was the king
who was sitting with him.
And the king thought
as he spoke to him,
Well,
this man's now going to ask me
for some kind of gift.
Because the king
had everything.
So he was expecting
to ask for some kind of gift
or some kind of favor.
But what the man,
the poor man,
said to him was,
You left your palace.
You left all your nice clothes.
You left all your good food behind.
And you came here
into my home,
this dark cellar of a place.
And you ate my scraps
of food with me.
He said,
That is enough for me.
Because to me,
you have given yourself.
You gave yourself to me.
Well, that's what Jesus
has done for us.
He left heaven.
He left his father's side.
He left all of that glory behind.
The Bible says
he made himself nothing.
And he came to his people.
God sent his son
into this world.
And they would call him
Emmanuel,
is one word name given to him.
Which means,
God with us.
Just imagine that.
The king of glory,
the king of all,
has come to us.
To be alongside us.
To be with us.
Jesus himself
reminded his disciples
just before
he was going to be put to death.
He said in John 16,
I have said these things to you
that you may,
that in me
you may have peace.
Because in the world
you will have troubles.
But take heart,
he said,
for I have overcome
the world.
You see,
peace with Jesus
isn't that all our troubles
are going to go away.
But peace with Jesus
is that we know
that he is with us.
And again,
that's one of the greatest gifts
we can experience.
To know
God
with
us.
But that's the wonder
of his gift
to us.
That he has come
to be
with us.
And that is what we are to remember.
So we have the gift
of a saviour.
We have the gift
of peace.
And now thirdly,
we are just going to read
a few more verses
in Luke chapter 2
and see a third gift
that he gives to us.
So we think of
the gift here
in Luke 2.
We are going to read
from verse 17
down to verse 20.
Again,
it's the shepherds
and their experience
here.
Here.
And when they saw it,
they made known
the saying
that had been told them
concerning this child.
And all who heard it
wondered
at what the shepherds
told them.
But Mary treasured up
all these things,
pondering them
in her heart.
And the shepherds
returned,
glorifying
and praising God
for all that they
had heard
and seen
as it had
been told them.
Well,
there's a third thing
I want us to see here.
A third gift.
And it's the gift
of praise.
We have the gift
of a saviour
and we have the gift
of peace.
And if we enjoy
these things,
what does that make us?
What should that make us?
It should make us
thankful
and giving thanks
to God
and praising
his name.
And that's what we see
the shepherds
did here.
They went
to see for themselves
what they had been told
by the angels
and they saw
Jesus
in the manger.
They saw him
just as they had been told.
And now
it says
they returned.
They come back
from seeing this
and it's changed them.
It's made such a difference
in their lives.
They're full of joy.
The fear that they'd had
when they first saw
the angel
that is gone.
Now they are praising
and glorifying God,
loving the Lord
for what he has done
for them.
You know,
it would have been easy
for the shepherds
out in the fields
to just stay
where they were.
To think to themselves,
we can't go
and see
this baby
that they're talking about,
this saviour
of the world
that God has promised.
we can't go
and see him.
You must have
to be really important
to go and see
this king.
You must have
to be really special.
We'd probably
just stay
where we are.
But that's not
what they did.
Imagine yourself
and it's Christmas
morning
and you're thinking,
I wonder if there's
presents
under the tree
for me.
Are you just going
to stay in your bed
and think,
oh, there's probably
nothing there for me?
Are you just going
to stay away
or are you really desperate
to see something?
To see what there is
for you?
If you're really desperate,
what are you going to do?
You're not going
to stay in bed.
You're going to get up.
You're going to rush down.
You're going to get
to the tree
and you're going
to pick up the box
and you're going
to open it
and see
what there is
for you.
Well, the shepherds
were so excited
by what they heard
that that's exactly
what they did as well.
They didn't hang about.
They didn't wait
to get a special invitation.
They were already told
that this gift
had been given
for them.
And so what they did,
they went
to see for themselves.
They did three things.
They responded.
Again, that is what
we have to do as well.
When we hear this message
of a Savior,
it's not just to ignore it
and to push it away.
That's not for me.
It is.
This is the gift
of a Savior
given to the world,
to all who would
believe in Him.
So we are to respond.
The second thing
they did was
they rejoiced.
They gave praise
to God
for what He had done
for them,
all that they were seeing.
And then it says
they returned.
They went back
to their homes,
to their work,
but in a different way.
They were full
of rejoicing
in God.
They were full
of the joy
of the Lord.
Their hearts
were changed.
And that is what
we want
as we come
to see Jesus,
to see Him
as a Savior,
to see Him
as the one
who is able
to give peace,
that we would
see Him
as the one
who we can
give all our
praise to.
Yesterday
in the club
I asked a question.
What does God
want us
to give
to Him?
And one of the
answers that was
given
was a great
answer.
It was singing
that we are
to praise Him
in song.
And that's
what the shepherds
did here.
They went away
praising God.
The shepherds
returned glorifying
and praising God
for all that
they had heard
and seen
as it had been
told them.
Well, as we
come to hear
of the greatest
gift of all,
a Savior
who is able
to give us
peace,
today let us
all go away
from here.
Let us all
return to our
homes,
to our workplaces,
to our schools
this week,
to go to all
the concerts
or whatever
else you'll
be doing
this week,
hearing the
Christmas story
in different
ways,
but praising
God for His
gift of a
Savior to
us.
There's that
Christmas carol
in the bleak
midwinter.
We had it in
the club
yesterday.
I just want to
share these
verses again
because it
asks us,
what are we
giving to
God for all
that He has
done for us?
He doesn't
want us to
just give
money or
our time
to Him.
These are all
important things,
but listen to
what this verse
says.
What can I
give Him?
Poor as I
am.
If I were a
shepherd,
I would give
a lamb.
If I were a
wise man,
I would do
my part.
But what can I
give Him?
Give Him
my heart.
That is what
Jesus asks
of us.
That as we
hear about the
greatest gift
of all,
a Savior
given,
the one who
is able to
give peace,
the one who
we can go
away from
here today,
praising Him
for all His
goodness to
us,
we can give
Him our
heart.
And that
means believing
in Him
and trusting
in Him
and all
that His
word says,
every promise
that we have.
Because we
are told,
just as the
angel said to
the shepherds,
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.
Here it
says,
a Savior.
Our prayer
is that you
will be able
to say,
He is my
Savior
and my
Lord.
Let us
pray.
Our
Father in
heaven,
we thank
you for
all the
special,
precious
gifts that
you have
given to
us.
There are
so many
things that
we take
for granted.
There are
so many
things that
we maybe
even choose
to ignore.
But we
pray that
as we
hear of
the greatest
gift of
all,
a Savior
born to
us,
a Savior
who is
Christ the
Lord.
We pray
that we
will hear
and receive
that word
and delight
and praise
in it
and rejoice
in your
goodness to
us and
that we
would come
to give
your heart
to put
our trust
in you
for we
ask it
all in
Jesus'
name and
for his
sake.
Amen.
We're
going to
conclude by
singing once
more,
praising God.
we're
going to
sing in
Psalm 122
verse 6
to 9,
three stanzas.
It's a
Scottish
Psalter
version.
Psalm 122,
the tuner's
St.
Paul.
Again,
this is a
wonderful
psalm that
we can sing
together just
now and
make it a
prayer for
ourselves as
well.
For the
peace of
God to
reign,
around us.
Pray that
Jerusalem may
have peace
and felicity.
Let them
that love
thee and
thy peace
have still
prosperity.
We'll sing
these three
verses.
We stand
to sing
to God's
praise.
Amen.
And let thy maid, thy palaces, cross-veved, dear retain.
Bound for my friends and brethren, saints, peace be in thee, I'll stay.
And for the house of God our Lord, I'll seek thy good always.
We're going to close in a minute with a benediction.
And after that, I'll go to the main door.
And the children, you'll be going out the door to my left here, going through to the hall.
And get yourselves ready and organized.
We look forward to hearing the songs that you were learning yesterday and seeing the pictures.
And everybody, again, is very welcome to come through to the hall for that.
We'll close with a benediction.
Now may grace, mercy, and peace from God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest upon and abide with you all now and forevermore.
Amen.