Christmas Candlelight Service
MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION:
We celebrate that this morning. You guys go ahead and take a seat. My name is Brennan, and it is so good to be here with this morning. Are you glad to be at church this morning? Come on. Oh, my goodness. I don’t sound like it’s been, like, three weeks since we met. Are you excited to be at church this morning? Come on. Well, it is so good to be here on campus with you guys. And for those that are watching online, we want to welcome you as well. Man, it’s so good to be able to celebrate the Christmas services together. The candlelight service here we did at 930. And, man, it’s just powerful. And I’m excited about what guys are going to do in this service. Well, I have a couple of things that will run through this morning. The first is, as you walked in, you saw the signs up, and we can’t. We promoted it this past week, but we want to stay open. You know, having the three weeks off and having back in April through June, we weren’t able to meet.
We want to continue to meet. So we just asked that during the service. If you could wear your mask, that’d be great and allows us to continue to keep our doors open and being safe and being a loving neighbor to those as well. Also, after the service, if you do not have any kids that you need to pick up in your kids, you can exit through these two exit doors right here, and it goes right through the parking lot. You get to your car. It’s fast and easy. If you have kids, you just go pick them up like you usually do. But we just have it nice and easy for you guys to be your exit through these two side doors. All right. Now, if you’re new, if you’re online watching your news, or today is your first time, we want to welcome you as well. And we have a team of people, myself included, that would love to get to know you, loved to be able to pray for you during all this. So if you would text new to 859 200 7648. And there’s a group of people, myself included, that would just love to pray for you. See how you’re doing. Check on you, those kind of things. All right. So next Sunday, we’re only going to have one service, and it’s going to be at 11:00. So if you come to the 930 services, there will be anybody here at 11:00. We’re going to be meeting and celebrating as our last Sunday in 2020. Thank the Lord. So, all right. Also, for those online, we’re going to be observing communion later. And if you want to go ahead and get your elements, I’ll get a candle for your family. 2000 years ago.
The weary world needed to rejoice. And for right now, we need to rejoice knowing that you are good. That Father, we can come into your presence. Knowing that you’re a good name. Amen.
Thank you. You can be seated. I’m Virgil Grant. I’m the pastor here at East Side and one of our leaders. And we want to welcome you to our Christmas service here this Sunday before Christmas. And before we jump into the message, I just want to talk to you a little bit about your generosity this Christmas.
(Worship)
We didn’t do Winter Wonderland and some other things, so we had some funding that we had set aside throughout the year for the Christmas season. And so what we decided to do is the leadership of the church. We decided to take that $25,000 and bless it and give it and divide it up between six ministry partners that we have a relationship with around the world. And so we were able to do that on behalf of East Side. And then, last Saturday, we did the food drive from 11 to 2, and people drove through and dropped off donations. You dropped off 11,000 pounds of food. There’s equivalent to over $18,000. Yeah. And so Anthony Lowry down at the Gods Outreach Food Pantry, he says the largest one-day food drive in the history of their organization. And you made it happen. Yeah. Woo! So. And praise the Lord for that. And then we took a couple of schools here in Madison County, and we did their Angel tree drive for them. We provided 70 different kids with angel tree gifts. And you take the value of that, and there’s a little bit over $10,500. And so this Christmas season, over the last five weeks, you guys gave through Eastside over $53,000 worth of donations. So way to go, Eastside. Woo Yeah, And we say this all the time. Your generosity is someone else’s miracle. And this is a reason why if you have not joined our online giving team, we encourage you to become an online giving team member. And it’s really simple. All you have to do is go to our website Eastsideky.Church/gift and to join our team, all you have to do is set up a recurring giving, and you can do that monthly, every other week, once a week, twice a month, and then you choose an amount and the amount that you choose is really irrelevant to God or to us because, for some of you stepping in, the generosity is very, very new to you.
And so, we suggest $20 a week because that’s what the average American spends on coffee at their favorite coffee shop. But the amount doesn’t matter. And when you set that recurring gift and whether it’s weekly or monthly, then that’s how you become a part of our or online giving team. And currently, we have about 290 people. That’s a part of our online giving team, and we would love for you to join. And your generosity makes everything that we do a reality. So on behalf of the leadership of the church, thank you for your generosity that you do week in and week out. Now, I’m fully aware of what many of you have been thinking about 2020. Now, the reason why I know this is because I have been thinking the exact same thing and the thing that you and I have been saying. We’ve been saying something similar to this man. I am so over it. Now. How many of you have been so over 20? 20. Raise your hand if you said that. I’ve said that. You’ve said that. We’ve all said that. And what we mean by that phrase is that we’re ready for 2020 to be over with, and we’re ready to turn the page to a new chapter. But I got thinking about what if we took all of these thoughts that we had about 2020, and what if we applied some positive thinking, some positive vibes, some true things, and some good things to 2020? And what if we actually watched this? What if we actually got over 2020 rather than pushing 2020 behind us? In other words, how could we somehow or another get over 2020 in a healthy perspective, healthy way rather than just pushing 2020 out the door? And so what I want to do this morning, we’re going to read a passage from the Christmas story, and out of this Christmas story gives you and I a hint of how we can get over 2020 in a healthy way. And this is part of the Christmas story that we’re going to look at is the announcement of the angel that he proclaimed 2000 years ago in the Middle East. Now, you and I, we would say that the last nine months have been very difficult and very hard, and we would all agree and go, yeah, it’s been very difficult and very hard. But this announcement that was made 2000 years ago by the Angels in the Middle East was announced to a group of people that had it a lot worse than you and I. And they’d been living in oppression and darkness and chaos and silence for centuries. Now, think about this, folks. We’ve been living in chaos and darkness for nine months. They had done it for centuries, and they were just waiting for a word from the Lord so that they could get over it. And what we discover is that 2000 years ago, an angel appeared to a group of outcasts, social outcasts there was called shepherds. And these shepherds receive the word of the Lord from the word from the Lord so that they were able to get over it. Now notice the announcement. Notice what it says here. This ain’t this angel that pronounced this declaration was enabling them to get light over darkness, to get life over death, to get joy over despair, and to get God over it all. Look within, if you will, at luke chapter two.
Luke 2:10-14
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Now, just for a few moments this morning, I would like to focus in on that phrase joy to the world. It’s the announcement of the good news. The joy has come, and I want us to think about joy to the world as we think about Christmas and celebrating Christmas in a few days. I don’t know about you, but that just the sound of that sounds great. Done celebrating Christmas, right? I mean, I’m ready to celebrate Christmas. How about you? Now, I don’t know if you’ve watched this or not, but on social media, on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms is that people have been celebrating and putting up Christmas decorations quicker than ever before. Heather. It seems like as soon as the day that Halloween occurred that they took down all the black and the orange, and they started putting up what, all the green and red lights because why? People were ready to have some joy in their life. And so they started celebrating Christmas. And a lot of people announced on social media that this is the first time ever in their life they put up their Christmas tree before Thanksgiving because they’re looking for joy.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I love everything about Christmas. I love the decorations, I love the food, I love the parties, I love the family get-togethers. I love the lights. I love everything. Even the gifts. I love every bit of that. And folks here’s the thing that we have to understand is that the reason that so many of us are looking forward to Christmas this year is because this has been the craziest season, at least in my lifetime. With all the pandemic, the politics, the chaos, the losses, the closures, the shutdowns, the hardships, the stress of 2020 has just been overwhelming. And that’s on top of everyday life stress, correct? I mean, there’s a divorce that takes place. There are diseases, addiction, accidents, and abuse. All of this has taken place on top of this pandemic and politics and everything else. And this. This is the reason why you need to hear that there is an angel that is pronouncing good news to you and me, the angels declaring onto us. Do not be afraid. I bring you good news. There will cause great joy for all. For all the people today in the town of David. A savior has been born to you. He’s the Messiah. He is the Lord. And what is the source of this good news? The source of this good news is that there’s a savior that has been born. The source of this good news is that there is a messiah. The good news of Emmanuel God with us, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, the sweetest name on earth. And later on, Jesus would declare to a group of people in John 10:10. He looked around, and he said, You know what? I want each and every one of you to have life to the full. And he looked around. He said I want you and you. And you. And you. And you. And you. I want all of you to be full of it. And what he was talking about being full of it in a good way, being full of the spirit, having the freedom, having the confidence to take a risk, to dance, to laugh, to create, to dream. And he says I came so that you could have life and that you could have joy and you could have it all to the fullness. And then, a little bit later on, Jesus was getting ready to go to the cross. Remember, He’s getting ready to go to the cross. And he calls his disciples together. Remember this? He calls his guys together. He says, Hey, guys, come together.
And he gets up in the upper room, and he says to them, You know what, guys? My hands are bound up. I’m going to the cross and will be I will be beaten. I’m going to stand trial. I’m going to go to the cross. And I just want you to know that I remember how I’ve loved others and remember how I’ve loved you and remember how I cared for you. And here’s what I want you to do, is I want you to carry that legacy home. And then Jesus goes. And there’s something else I want you to remember. And he says to his disciples, in John 15:11, he says.
John 15:11.
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
And Jesus is basically saying to his disciples, as you listen to me, as you move and travel around the world and tell people about me, I want you to be men and women that are known for your joy. Can I ask you a question this morning? What are you known for? What is your reputation? If I were to ask someone. Well, you know what? What are you known for? Some people would say, Well, you know, I’m known for the grill master. I can cook anything on the grill. I’m good at the smoker. I can, you know, smoke anything. There’s some people that are known for their for the cause. They’re an athlete. They can jump high. They can shoot the three from anywhere on the floor and drain it. For some people they’re known for their voice. They’re good singers. For some people, it’s with their hands. They are able to build anything. They’re good mechanics. They’re good at creating things and building things with their hands. Some people are known for their artistic, creative ability for others. They are known for inventing something special for others. They’re known as being a coach for the last two decades. Everybody’s called you coach, and that is your identity. For some people, it’s the fact that you’re known as a great leader. Some of you are known for being very difficult, hard-nosed individuals. The question is, what are you known for? And the question that I would ask you next is this Would you be known for your joy? Would you be the type of person that when somebody looks at you, they go, you know what? I don’t know what she has. I don’t know what he has. But they always has a smile. They always have a smile on their face. They have this radiant contentment that comes from deep within. I don’t know how to explain it, but they’ve always got this light in there. They’re always positive. They never say anything negative.
They never post anything negative on social media. They always possess an optimistic outlook on life. They’re so kind to others. They make me sick. They’re just flat-out nuts. I mean, these people are not easily stressed out. It doesn’t take much to make them laugh. They often times they will sing. And even though it’s off-key, they will still sing. They will dance even though they have no rhythm. But they keep moving. And whatever she’s got, whatever he’s got. I won’t what they have. Would you be known for your joy? And I got thinking to myself. Verge. You know, I talk to myself oftentimes. Do you do that too anybody? I just call myself Verge. I said, hey, Verge, I go. Are you full of it? And that is what some of you are thinking. Yeah, he’s full of it now. It’s full of joy. They verge like, Are you known for your joy? Are you known for your positivity? Are you known for being optimistic about life? And I’m not talking about the paint-on fake smile. I’m not talking about pretending to have a smile and that everything’s okay when life isn’t okay. What I’m talking about is, do I really have joy deep inside of me? And there was this guy named Paul who later on in life experienced the announcement of the Angels some years later when he received Christ on the Damascus Road. And then, he became an apostle, and he was writing to some new Christians in the city of Philippi. And notice what he says in Philippians 4:4. He says.
Philippians 4:4
Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!
And I will say it again. Rejoice. Now, I want you to understand that that letter, that verse is a command. Now it’s a happy command, but it’s a command in the language. In the Greek, it is called an imperative. Now, the imperative means it’s non-negotiable. It’s like you have to do it. Now, do you understand that Paul wrote half of the New Testament, and as he wrote half of the New Testament, the only time that he repeats a command is right here. He doesn’t say, you know, don’t steal. Let me say it again. Don’t steal. He doesn’t do that. He doesn’t say, you know, don’t commit adultery. Let me say it again. Don’t commit adultery. He’s never he never does that. He does it one time. And the only time he does it is right here. He says, let me say it. Rejoice in the Lord. Let me say it again. Rejoice now, folks, if Paul says it twice, I think it’s a pretty important command. And he says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Well, Paul had it easy. Paul had an easy life. And it was easy for Paul to say, Rejoice in the Lord. You know what, pastor? You don’t know what I’ve been through this year. You don’t know what I’m going through currently. You don’t know what my life has been like. The DNA of my life. What my life has consisted of. And I would agree with you. I don’t know everything about your life. But here’s what I do know is that the Apostle Paul, when he penned this verse, he was in prison. He was chained to Roman soldiers. He was incarcerated falsely because he declared that Jesus is Lord. He didn’t have any of the comforts of home. He didn’t have a food truck around the corner. He didn’t have a Chick-Fil-A drive-through to go through.
He didn’t have a flat-screen television. He didn’t have a recliner. He didn’t have any family around. He didn’t have any of the comforts of life like you, and I have. But he said, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. Now I got to thinking about joy. Now, let me ask you a question. Have you ever had anyone come up to you, Heather, and say Heather, would you hold me accountable to be a person of joy? I’ve never had anybody ask me that. I’ve had people do this. Hey, pastor, I’ve got a foul mouth. Could you pray for me? Hold me accountable for my foul mouth. I’ve had plenty of people to do that. I’ve had people look at me and say, pastor, you know what? I have anger issues. Would you pray with me? And would you hold me accountable for my anger? I’ve had people come up to me and say, you know what, pastor, is that? I’ve been ten months sober. I want to stay sober for the rest of my life. Could I count on you? Hold me accountable and ask me questions, and pray over my sobriety. I’ve had people do that, Heather. I’ve had even people that’s been in a dating relationship come up to me and go, You know what? I just want to honor her. I don’t want to cross the line. Hey, pastor, would you somehow or another would you just check in with me occasionally and making sure that I haven’t crossed any lines sexually and I’m honoring and treating her with respect. I’ve never had anyone say, pastor, would you check on me and hold me accountable for having joy in my life? And here’s what I think. I think we should hold each other accountable to joy.
Because you know what? There’s no other choice for us. The negativity, the irritability, the fear, the bitterness, the envy, The anger, The cynicism. That is not even an option for us as Christians. Because you know why? Because Jesus Christ left heaven, came to the earth. He lived for 33 and a half years, went to the cross. He died on the cross and was laid in the grave. And on the third day, he raised from the dead. And because of that, folks, we have joy. We have hope that the world knows nothing about it. And none of those other options are even an option for us. But here’s the thing. I think we should hold each other accountable for joy. You know why, Beth? Because there are a lot of people. A lot of people, a lot of Christians, Samantha, who? You know what? It looks like they’ve been baptized in vinegar. Wouldn’t you agree with me? They go around. They always got a scowl on their face, right? I mean, it looks like. You mean, like. Is that what it means to be a Christian? Go around with that on your look on your face all the time. It’s like, that’s no fun. I mean, they always are negative. They always have an issue at work. They always have an issue with their team. They always have an issue in their family. They always have issues with the church. Wherever they go, they have issues. I mean, they’re legalistic nitpickers. Do you know anybody like that? Don’t elbow each other now in the church. Please don’t do that. But I’m just telling you. So many of Christians walk around looking like they’ve been baptized in vinegar. And folks, we should have joy, unspeakable joy, because Jesus Christ is alive, and he’s defeated the grave, death and sin, and Satan. And there our enemy. And we have victory. We win, my friends, we win. We should have unspeakable joy. And by the way. These Christians have been baptized in vinegar.
Just so that, you know, any waiter or waitress in a restaurant. When they see you come in, they go, Oh, Lord, one of those. They hate waiting on you because you can; they can never please you. And you know what, folks? I think that Jesus knew. We would struggle to keep joy at the forefront of our lives, especially during the pandemic. And so I think. Jesus. I was able to look through the hallway of eternity and see that we would be experiencing COVID-19 this year. And that is the reason why on the Holy Week, the week of passion. On that Thursday night, when he grabbed his disciples, he put them together in the upper room. He gave us a visual. Reminder. But there’s nothing bigger than his Heavenly Father. That there should be an eternal joy for us as Christians. And so today, on this Sunday before Christmas. We’re going to celebrate. The fact that the grave is empty. And then we have joy. Enjoy this unspeakable because of Jesus. And I think that Jesus probably said a lot more things to his disciples than what is written in the New Testament. And I think that one of the things that Jesus said to his disciples, you know, what is that? Life is going to throw you off the tops of curveballs. But just take joy. Because joy doesn’t come from circumstances but from what’s going on in the world. Joy comes out of a relationship with me. And so we’re going to observe the Lord’s Supper. We’re going to observe communion, Eucharist, the Last Supper. It’s known by all of these different names.
And it is a reminder for us. That joy. Should be at the forefront of our lives. And so they’re in your seat are the elements. And we’re going to ask you to do some. I’m going to ask you to peel off that top layer and the top film, and then you’ll see the wafer. Then we’ll ask you to take the wafer out, and Vivienne Wallace is going to come and pray over the bread. And then, after she’s through praying over the bread, we’re going to take it together. So, Vivian, would you pray for us? God. We thank you. We thank you so much for your sacrifice. We thank you that you came to live the life that we couldn’t and that your body was broken because of it. We thank you for being wounded for our transgressions. And being Bruised for our iniquities. And as we take this bread, father, I just pray that you will help us to be mindful of the sacrifice that you made for us. And Lord, you didn’t come just as a baby, but you came. Father is our savior, and you died on that cross for our sins. And we thank you for that. And it’s in your name. We pray. Amen. Let’s take the bread together. And Jesus, after giving the bread to his disciples. The bread. Represented his body. But then the cup. What’s to represent? The blood that was going to be shed at Calvary. And scripture says without the shedding of blood, there’s no forgiveness of sin. And so Mike Eckler is going to pray over the cup this morning Mike.
Let’s pray over the blood. Lord, we thank you. Laura, We think that as the blood ran down, the cross thought that. As you utter those last words, it is finished. Lord, that for us, it was the very beginning. Hmm. Or we thank you, Lord, that you there when we think of the blood, that when we hold this in our hands. Lord, we don’t think of death, Lord, that we know that it represents life. We know, Lord. And we thank you, Lord, for what we celebrate this season. Lord, that you came to this earth and that you were born Lord, and that you live this life and that you died on the cross. But, Lord, you rose again. And that we have this hope, and we have this promise of everlasting life that this morning we can have our hope in you and be grounded in you. And for that, we are so grateful. And as we take this, Lord. Let us remember. Let us remember Jesus’ name, amen; this morning, I’m going to ask you to take your candle and just listen to me carefully here. Is. We’re going to ask you at the end of the service for you to take your Kindle home with you or for you to just throw it away in the trash can because of COVID reasons. We don’t want to recycle these this year. And so if you do that and the proper way to do this is you’ll see that Vivienne has her candle already lit, and she’s not going to try to come over top of me a lot. My Kindle. She’s going to hold her candle straight up and down, and then I’m just going to reach over, and then I’m going to help the next person by holding my Kindle this way. So our ushers are going to help you to get started, and then you can help the people in your row. And then I just want you to stand. And we’re going to close the service out with a. Familiar song this morning.
(Worship)