O hear the tidings of great joy of Jesus Christ the King;
Exalt His Name above all names, and to Him praises sing.
The prophets set Him forth of old, this Savior promised long;
Come sing the praises of the Lord with all the ransomed throng.
A Child was born, a Son was giv’n, the Lamb of God was He;
He came to do the Father’s will to set the captives free.
Unto the Savior glory give, Jesus Who came to save;
He died to put away our sin, and rose up from the grave.
With Him the Father is well pleased, Christ is our Righteousness;
In Jesus sinners are received, He is our worthiness.
Rejoice, give thanks, and sing His praise, let ransomed sinners tell;
That God in human flesh has come, O praise Emmanuel!
TODAY’S SERVICES – Messages by Pastor Bill Parker
BIBLE CLASS – 10:00 a.m. –
What About Fasting? – Matthew 6:16-18
MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –
OPENING – 1 John 4:9-11
CALL TO WORSHIP (above)
HYMN – O How I Love Jesus – p. 483
READING – 1 Corinthians 13
MESSAGE – True Christian Love (2) – 1 John 3:11-14
CLOSING HYMN – Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus – p. 84
MID-WEEK BIBLE STUDY – WEDNESDAY – 6:30 P.M.
“Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before His presence with singing.” (Psalm 100:1-2)
We welcome Beverly Hayes, Monica Hayes, and June McLarry into the fellowship of our church. May the Lord bless them through the ministry of His Word.
SCHEDULE OF SERVICES FOR THE REST OF DECEMBER
-- NEXT SUNDAY (Dec. 17) we will have a church fellowship dinner fol lowing the morning services.
-- THERE WILL BE NO SERVICES ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24.
-- We will resume our services on SUNDAY, DECEMBER 31.
-- We will have the Lord’s Supper SUNDAY, JANUARY 14, 2018.
-- There will be no mid-week Bible Study on December 20 or 27. We will resume our Bible Study on Wednesday, January 3.
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6-7)
This is one of the many Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming of Christ into the world to save His people from their sins by establishing righteousness for them to insure and secure their whole salvation unto final glory. Christ became incarnate and was born. He obeyed the law perfectly, satisfied its justice by dying for the sins of His people and paying their debt in full. The language of these verses expresses both the greatness of His Person and the success and fullness of His atoning work. All who hear the Gospel, God’s promise to save sinners and give them the whole inheritance of eternal life and glory based on the righteousness of Christ, are commanded and fully warranted to rest in Christ because of who He is and what He accomplished as our Surety and Substitute. When His birth was announced, He name was also give – “And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: FOR HE SHALL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS” (Matt. 1:21). –Pastor Bill Parker
“Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14; cf. Matt. 1:23)
WHAT ABOUT “CHRISTMAS”?
There are believers who, for whatever reason, cannot separate any celebration of the birth of Christ from the idolatrous, materialistic, and worthless traditions and thoughts unbelievers have in their celebration of “Christmas.” It is true that the Lord Jesus in His humanity was not born on December 25. We do not know the exact day. It is true that there is no particular one day set aside in the Bible for believers to celebrate the birth of Christ. We as believers celebrate Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection every day. He is not simply our “reason for the season.” He is our reason for existence!
It is also true that the celebration of “Christmas” was born out of the idolatry of false Christianity in an attempt to transform pagan ritualism into some semblance “Christianity.” It is true that the vast majority of people who celebrate “Christmas” have no idea of the truth of Christ as revealed in the Bible. The majority of people who claim to celebrate the birth of Christ do not know and believe in the true Christ of the Bible. But we who are saved by God’s grace in Christ and who are brought to a saving knowledge of Him DO know and believe in the true Christ. We celebrate His birth, His life, His death, and His resurrection as our redemption from sin and the establishment of righteousness by which we are justified before God.
But consider this – When the Apostle Paul stood in Athens on Mars Hill, he saw a monument that unbelievers had built “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD” whom they worshipped ignorantly (Acts 17:23). Paul did not ignore this idolatrous work of unbelievers. He used it as an opportunity to preach the Gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in and by the true Christ of the Bible – “HIM I declare unto you.” Let’s take the times that people celebrate in ignorance and use them to preach the true Christ, to tell people WHY the Son of God came into the world – “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:4-5).
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