Bible Verses for Sunday Service December 25, 2022
Luke 1:31
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
Announcements:
Next Sunday is New Years Day and we will have Sunday School and church as usual. Since it is the first Sunday of the month, we will have refreshments between Sunday School and church for fellowship Sunday.
If anyone would like to make a nomination for the church offices, put the name of the person you are nominating on the sheet on the foyer bulletin board. Also, if you are presently an officer and would like to be on the ballot for next year, let Pastor Jim know.
On Thursday, January 5th at 7PM at the home of the Witschis, the deacons will meet to set the budget for the coming year, as well as the agenda for upcoming annual meeting.
Our annual meeting and potluck will be on January 15. Everyone is welcome to join us for a potluck right after church. Our annual business meeting will follow. We will be electing officers and voting on the budget for the coming year. We will consider a project involving the support of a missions’ training center with ACTS International.
Be sure to check out the Christmas cards from friends, from both near and far, on our bulletin board.
Sermon:
In honor of the birth of Our Savior, Pastor continued his series in Luke with “Valuables from a Visitor,” a sermon about John when he was named on the 8th day as provided in Luke 1:67-79. In this sermon, Pastor explored the stream of praise that burst forth from Zechariah once he could speak, having confirmed that his son’s name was John. Zechariah recognized that His son would have a special role with the Messiah, who would be born in about 3 months.
As described by Zechariah, the Messiah would visit us in person, we would have a visit from Deity, and that was a cause for praise. Especially as God himself would be visiting as a human person, God incarnate. Jesus would come as the God-Man. Not God indwelling a person, but here as a man. He needed to come as human because his primary goal, his provision was redemption. He had a much bigger purpose than simply walking on earth. We see that purpose illustrated in scripture like Ephesians 1:7, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”
Pastor explained that Jesus coming was a visit from the Dayspring. Zechariah was comparing the Messiah coming to the visit from sun each morning, the start of the day, like the day spring forth as the sun rises. You can think of this as a historical illustration. Jesus came at a point in history, and everything revolves around that point, we live in AD 2023. But, we should look forward too to his next visit, the one to end all things here on earth, and usher in the new kingdom. For us to personally rejoice in the coming visit, we need personal illustration. We need to accept Jesus personally so he can work in our hearts to prepare for the next visit.
Accessing the Service, Bulletin and Sermon Outline:
Here are the pages from the bulletin, click on the images below to see them full size:
If you would like to have the sermon outline, you can download it here, a pdf file.
Due to the lack of help, Pastor was not able to record the service on Christmas Day. However, if you would
like to see all the services, you can find them here.