What Christmas is All About: Candlelight 2011

It's Christmas, make a joyful sound. It's Christmas, let his praise resound. It's Christmas. We'll true all the earth and peace divine. All of the earth rejoice, it's Christmas time. It's Christmas time. So lift up your voice, sing out His praise. It's Christmas, morning's the key to joyous day. It's Christmas, make a joyful sound. It's Christmas, let his praise resound. It's Christmas. Lift up your voice and sing out His praise. It's Christmas, morning's the key to joyous day. It's Christmas, let his praise resound. It's Christmas, let his praise resound. It's Christmas. All of the earth rejoice, it's Christmas. Lift up your voice and sing out His praise. It's Christmas, morning's the key to joyous day. It's Christmas, make a joyful sound. It's Christmas, let his praise resound. It's Christmas. It's Christmas. Yeah. Thanks, Adrian. Let's stand up together and let's sing some of those great carols together tonight.

Hark the herald angels sing. Are you glad you're here tonight? Put your hands together, let's sing together. Here we go. Hark the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn King. Sonder and bursting by God and sin's pregnant son. Joyful elevations rise. Join the triumph of the skies. With angelic hosts proclaim. Christ is born, He's dead for hell. Hark the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn King. Rice by highest, heaven adored. Christ the everlasting Lord. Make in time behold Him come. On spring of the birds. Build in flesh, in God and sea. Hand in God, in deity. Please, let's man with him to dwell. Jesus our evangelist. Hark the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn King.

Hark! Three, two, one. Here we go. Angels we have heard on high. Sweetly singing for the plain. And the mountains in reply. Echoing their joyous train. In excelsis Deo. In excelsis Deo. Come to Bethlehem, here we go. Come to Bethlehem and see Him who's but the angels sing. Come adorn on Bethany. Christ the Lord, the newborn King. Glory. In excelsis Deo. Glory. In excelsis Deo.

All right, how about the first Noel? This is a great, great carry. Great singing, everyone. Let's go and have a seat.

Good evening and Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Thank you very much. My name is Mark, and just as many of you are joined together with your family, I've got my family, at least my kids here joining me tonight. You're going to be hearing them read in just a moment. That's Jack, Luke, and Anna. On behalf of all of us, we want to welcome you here to our Christmas candlelight service. I'm thinking that for a lot of us, this is the first opportunity you've had to just sit back and relax and enjoy Christmas. In fact, probably just over the course of singing those carols, your blood pressure has dropped a full 10 points or something like that. And we're happy about that.

And we've got just so many great moments to look forward to. In fact, in just about a minute's time, we're going to be receiving tonight's offering. So there you go. There goes the blood pressure right back up. But before we get to all of that, a show of hands, how many of you were with us last weekend for our Christmas concert? Was that amazing or what? And I can say that because, you know, I didn't sing or anything. But for the folks that lended their time and talents, we are so grateful for that. And if you'd like to enjoy it again, perhaps with your friends or families over Christmas or New Year's, our video team has worked really hard this week to make the concert DVDs available tonight. And you can pick them up right next to the information desk after this service, if you're interested in that.

And then coming up next weekend, we are kicking off a brand new series for the new year called Just Like Jesus. Because let's face it, a lot of us have change on the brain, but, you know, what's the target? How do you actually want to change? Well, what better way than to become more like Jesus? And you'll get a lot more out of this series if you pick up this devotional book by best-selling author Max Lucado entitled, coincidentally, Just Like Jesus. And you can get these right at the information desk after tonight's service. Ten dollars covers our costs, but it's still five dollars less than the list price. And I got to say, we really, really want you to have this for the study, but it's not intended to be kind of a last minute stocking stuffer because I know there's probably some of us that still have a little bit of shopping to do. We really want you to have this for the series, but if you, you know, bring a couple to your family in Bakersfield, we will run out. So does that make sense? Thanks.

All right. Also coming up, by the way, next weekend we kick off or we resume our normal service times. Saturday's at six. Sunday's at nine and ten forty-five in the morning. And also this week we've got a group of fellow Twin Lakers that are leaving on Monday morning to Mexico, a part of a team called Club Dust. As you think of them, maybe in the coming week, pray for them. They're going to be building homes and bringing the love of Christ to very needy families that live just on the other side of our border.

And now as we prepare to take tonight's offering, I just want to thank all of you that call Twin Lakes Church your home because your end of your giving really makes a huge difference. And so thank you. And as we prepare to give our gifts, let's also offer up our voices as Adrian leads us in this wonderful Christmas carol. O come all ye faithful. One, two, three. Let's sing it to him.

O come, O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. Come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold him, born the King of men. O come, O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him. Christ the Lord. Sing quiet, sing choirs of angels. Sing in exultation. Sing all we find, hosts of heaven above. Glory to God, glory in the night. O come, O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him. Christ the Lord.

Let's stand up together. Yea Lord, and ye, Lord we greet him. Born this happy morning, Jesus to thee be all for bringing him. Word of the Father, now in flesh of... Sing it out. O come, O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him. Christ the Lord. O come, let us adore him. Christ the Lord. Great singing everyone. Let's go and have a seat.

A chute will come up from the stump of Jesse. From his root your branch will wear fruit. The spirit of the Lord will rest on him. The spirit of wisdom and of understanding. The spirit of counsel and of might. The spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord. And he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears. But with righteousness he will judge the needy. With justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. The wolf will live with the lamb. The leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf and the lion and the lamb together. A little child will lead them for the earth will be filled with knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to Bethlehem the town of David because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there the time came for the baby to be born and she gave birth to her first born, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there is no guest room available for them.

Well it took a lot of work to get to tonight didn't it? A lot of planning and shopping and wrapping and packing and probably traveling and decorating and cooking and baking. And now here you are. Christmas Eve is tomorrow. But I know that like Mark said in the announcements it can be tough sometimes to stop all that forward momentum during the preparations for Christmas. And when you get to church to just stop and let Christmas wash over you. And remember to take some wonder in the joy of Christmas. So to help you do that, to help you just kind of pause here is a little video. Christmas through a child's eyes. Watch this.

What's your favorite part of Christmas? Christian up the Christmas tree. When we get to have all the food. Getting Christmas presents. Getting out of my room. Peking the corner and seeing those Santa Clauses. What's your least favorite part? Last year the tree was fake and we could see right through it. My brother cried because he's scared of Santa but I'm not. What kinds of things do you like to do in the snow? Play in the snow. I like to make snowman. Make snow angels. Like sound hills. Snowball fights. And then I like to escape but really hard. I can't even do it. Whose birthday is on Christmas? Jesus. Jesus. Jesus is. Santa's. I mean, I mean Jesus. And where was Jesus born? In a tent. In a state. At a hospital. In Bethlehem. In Oklahoma. What kind of animals were there? Sheep and cow forces chickens, camels, pigs, elephants, bunnies, and raffles, and rats, dogs, and kitty animals. Why do other people get presents on Jesus's birthday? Because they've been good. Well they gave presents to him when he was born and we gave gifts to each other. Because Jesus was the gift from God. What do you think is Jesus's favorite part of Christmas? Just seeing people happy. See how everyone's being kind to one another. Probably the missions for all the homeless people. If you could give Jesus a present, what would you give him? A puppy dog. A snowball. A little bear and he loves it. I'll give him one of my toys. My love. My heart. Everything I had. Why do you think Jesus came to live with us? Because he loved everybody the mostest. Because he wanted us to be good and not bad. He loved his son and that was what God wanted him to do. And that way he could fix out all the problems that were having. He felt like we were more important than him. I think he loves us very much. Why is Christmas so special? Jesus was born on that day. Because you share it with your friends and family. It's a day where we can spend time and we get to give presents to other people. It's about sharing. We get to praise Jesus. I love it. Merry Christmas everybody.

Isn't that great? I love it. You know I love hearing kids talk about Christmas because they see it with fresh eyes. And that's how I hope we can look at tonight's scripture as we continue our Advent series here at Twin Lakes Church which has been Fear Not. The messages of the Christmas angels. In this series we've been looking at all the angelic appearances during the Nativity story. To Zechariah, to Joseph, to Mary. And tonight we'll be in Luke 2. The angels appearance to the shepherds. And I want to focus down on Luke 2:11. This is sort of the heart of the angels message to the shepherds. You could say these are the 12 words of Christmas. How many of you tonight have heard of the 12 days of Christmas? Anybody heard of the 12 days of Christmas? Yes. Well these are the 12 words of Christmas. In many ways if you understand what these words mean then you understand the whole heart of Christmas from Luke 2:11. And like I'd like us all to say these words out loud together. Let me hear you. Unto you a savior has been born. He is Christ the Lord. The 12 words of Christmas.

And right now tonight for the next 10 minutes or so I want to pick out just 3 words to look at more closely. And it's going to be kind of like opening Christmas presents because these are 3 words in this one verse that each contain a big surprise. And so let's unwrap these together. The first word I want to look at is the word you. Unto you is born this day in the city of David. A savior which is Christ the Lord. Unto who? Who is this addressed to? Well a couple of verses before this it says and they were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flocks at night. And so the you is shepherds. Unto you shepherds there is born this day. Now what does this mean? We tend to think of shepherds as clean and cuddly and cute. Sort of precious moments shepherds right? But in the culture at this time shepherds were rejected. In fact the only thing considered lower than a shepherds in this society was a leper. They were socially outcast. They were at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of status. They were legally distrusted. Shepherds weren't even allowed to testify in court cases. They were so rejected. Religiously they were unclean. They weren't even allowed to go to the temple. They were really at the bottom. People despised them.

I don't even know how to translate this into our culture. I don't know what to compare it to in our day because if I name a profession I'll offend somebody. It's like you can imagine this verse saying there were telemarketers working the night shifts. You know? And there were hell's angels riding their hogs at night. I don't know but that's the idea. God chooses these people and for the rest of his life having started his life this way Jesus Christ always seems to find his way to the outcasts of society. The woman at the well. A woman who'd been divorced several times and was living with a guy she wasn't married to and that's why she was drawing water from a well at high noon the hottest time of the day because that's when nobody else was there. No one but Jesus. Who makes this social outcast the first evangelist in Christian history or what about Zacchaeus the tax collector who was viewed by his people as a traitor because he collaborated with the Romans and he hides in a tree probably because he's afraid of the crowd that hates him so much and Jesus stops and looks at him in the eye and says Zacchaeus I want to have dinner tonight at your house. The guy nobody else loves or what about the woman caught in the act of adultery. The religious leaders are all judging her but Jesus says neither do I condemn you and he sets her free and how about you. You made mistakes. Maybe you try to hide him even from God maybe you feel unworthy but the point of God coming to the shepherds is that God finds you and says unto you a savior has been born unto you. That word taking it back personally can change your life. It means nobody needs to think that they need to be rich enough or smart enough or strong enough or good enough not with Jesus because unto you is born this day a savior and that's the second word I want to unwrap tonight the word savior.

Why do we even need a savior? Couldn't we just save ourselves? Well let me put it this way I was at the San Francisco 49er game this past Monday night when the power went out a transformer blew outside the stadium and I want to show you the view from the blimp you're going to see a flash in the lower left hand corner that's the transformer station exploding and then the all the lights go out in Candlestick Park. Let's see that one more time because where this is this huge Monday night football stadium getting ready for the game you see suddenly a big giant black hole and there's 70,000 people sitting in the total darkness and I mean every single light was out the power to the PA system was out so they couldn't even tell us what was going on. We were quite literally in the dark. We were clueless. We were powerless. Now there were a lot of powerful people there. There were celebrities there. I saw Steve Young there. I saw John York there the owner of the Niners multi-millionaires. There were two TV networks there but no matter how rich or poor not one single person inside that dark stadium could do a thing about our darkness. We were all powerless able to do nothing but call for help until somebody from outside the stadium who had the ability to bring power and light to us came to help us. Why talk about that tonight because that is precisely the story of Christmas. We humans were in the darkness of sin powerless and we needed someone from outside our dark planet with the power to bring us light.

Now when we hear the word savior we think of that that Jesus came to save us like that but back then see this with fresh eyes. What did people think of when they heard this word savior? Well they didn't think of a redeemer on a cross they thought of a warrior. They thought of this. This is a first century inscription that's been found declaring Caesar Augustus is the savior of the world. That's the kind of person people thought of when they thought of a savior him. That's what they were conditioned to picture Caesar. Look at this statue of Caesar. He's athletic. He's an arm or a bronze breastplate there an expensive silk toge. He's a political hero. So the Romans were thinking of this when they thought of a savior and so were the Jews who were oppressed by Romans when they prayed for the Messiah to come and break their chains. This is what they thought they were going to get because they thought God's got to send somebody who can out muscle Caesar. So keep them in mind they're thinking of somebody who's a warrior who's rich and powerful who lives in a palace but then the angel says to them this will be signed to you. You will find a warrior leading a great army. No you'll find a baby a baby. Well in a palace lying on silk no you'll find a baby wrapped in cloths just rags and lying in a manger a feeding trough for animals.

Here's the third word I want to unwrap in Luke 2:11 the word born. He was really born a real baby. He was God here on earth but he didn't just miraculously magically materialize he didn't beam down from a spaceship. He was really born a messy human birth as a real human baby sometimes I think we try to kind of soften the reality here we think well after all he was God. So maybe he wasn't exactly a real baby you know maybe he had superpowers maybe he talked like those babies in the eat trade commercials right. You know ever wonder if he could do something like hey wise men welcome shepherds have a seat. Listen I am God but I need a little help getting out of the manger. You know did he did he talk like that? No he was a real human baby he didn't glow in the dark like he does in almost all of our pictures of it. It would have been easier to find him. The angel probably would have said this will be a sign unto you a glowing baby. But the angel doesn't say that he was totally a normal newborn dependent on his mom for all his needs. What does this show? It shows that God doesn't demand that we come up to him. God loves us so much. He comes down to us and not halfway to us all the way to us.

You know this is the difference between the message of Jesus and the message of man made religion human religion basically always says do all of these things and you will ascend to God. But Jesus said I am God come to you to do for you what you could not do for yourselves. This is the surprise gift of Christmas the message that God sent to the shepherds and he sends to you unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior which is Christ the Lord unto you. And that's what we're going to celebrate in just a few minutes during the candle lighting the light of Jesus lights up our darkness by coming into each willing heart and lights our world one heart at a time. Will you let him like yours. Let's pray together which about your heads with me. Lord thank you for going to the shepherds of all people the shepherds with the message that the savior is here the one who can light our world when we feel powerless and he's coming as a real human baby all the way down to us and God thank you that that baby grew up to be a man who died on the cross for our sins and rose again. Thank you so much for your grace and may we now each one of us receive the light of Christ tonight as we place our trust in him in his name we pray. Amen.

Well in just a few minutes the candle lighting will be your moment with God and I want to encourage you to let the light of Christ in but to sort of set the stage set the mood for the candle lighting. Melody and then Lisa will sing two classic songs about Christmas and Mike Connelly a friend of ours is going to show you on the center screen through the unusual medium of sand art just how the light of Christ pierces the darkness. Watch this.

O come, o come make my new world to free your captive Israel that morn's in the Lordly exile here until the Son of God have God appear. Rejoice, rejoice O Israel true shall come Emmanuel. Emmanuel O holy night the stars are brightly shining and there is the blood of our dear Savior's blood. Lonely the world in sin and fear are hiding till I'm here may the soul fill this room my thrill I've hoped the weary world's new choices for God knows I'm new and low and small you alone are near O holy the angel I send O night divine O night when Christ was born O night divine O night O night divine your angel he bring for the space on round the brave is made for the precious shall sing say the ends of the truth in grateful colors face me then all with the bonus praises hold in me just is the Lord and ever and for Christ we know no end of life O night divine O night divine O night divine O night divine O night when Christ was born O night divine O night divine.

Thank you so much, Mike. It's amazing. Told you we had some great moments. Well, we've got another one right now because this is that light came into the world through the little baby Jesus in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago. That light has come all the way over the centuries to you and to me and we're gonna celebrate that. And I hope that more than just being perhaps a Christmas tradition, you really reflect on the significance of God coming all the way into your life, into your heart. And as you hold your candle, and as that light reaches you, think about maybe the first time you heard the name Jesus or the first time you knew you wanted Him to be your savior and just revel in that moment and savor it. I'm gonna ask the ushers to come forward and from this one light, this whole room is gonna be filled and it's such a beautiful time for us. And parents, just as a reminder, we're hoping that just the candles will get lit. So if you have little ones, please keep a close eye on Him.

As we're lighting the candles, let's sing that great carol, "Silent Night."

Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. Now we are close to know the rich and over and shut all the insects gently and warm. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace. Silent night, holy night. Shepherd's Quake at the sight. Glory Street from heaven and earth. Heavenly host sing of heaven. Christ the Savior. Christ the Savior is born. Christ the Savior is born. Son of God, holy night. Son of God, lost your light. Radiate beams from by with the dawn of redeeming. Jesus, Lord. Jesus, Lord, at thy birth. Jesus, Lord, at thy birth. At thy birth.

I don't know what you're hoping for this Christmas, but our hope, our prayer, the reason we do what we do, is that the light of Christ would burn brightly in your heart this Christmas, and burn all the more brightly in this new year. What you do me favor, just raise your lights up high as we bring the house lights down. Too bad they didn't have these at Candlestick Park. What a really cool moment there, huh? May you be filled with joy and peace and hope and love this Christmas. And now let's just very carefully blow these little lights out. We might blow out the candle, but we're not gonna blow out the joy, because we're gonna sing one more song. I'm gonna invite you once your candles are out to stand up, and let's sing this last song with real enthusiasm. Joy to the world, the Lord has come.

Please get the joy, Lord. Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare the approved And let the new nature sing and let the new nature sing And let the new nature sing and let the new nature sing. Let the new nature sing and let the new nature sing and let the new nature sing and let the new nature sing. And I, I speak of a time that all could find me well. No time can tell the tone of joy. I speak of a time that never let my soul never let it speak of. He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations through. The whole reason is righteousness and wonders of His love. And one that one is a reason I seek to join people and join. And all the flowing well, no time, no time can tell the love of joy. I speak of a time that never let it speak of. And one that one is a reason I seek to join. And one that one is a reason I seek to join.

Thanks for being with us tonight. Merry Christmas. God bless you. Thank you.