Christmas Eve Service 2025

[00:00:00] Speaker A: It. [00:00:24] Speaker B: Good evening, everyone. Well, I'm grinning because it's a celebration evening, isn't it? Merry Christmas. [00:00:34] Speaker C: Merry Christmas. [00:00:36] Speaker B: So good to be together in God's house for a special service of song and word tonight. But I noticed that the title says Christmas Eve candlelight service. So one of my main jobs tonight is to instruct you in how to handle a candle. Now, this is technical. The unlit candle tips. For obvious reasons. Okay. Mostly because the altergill doesn't like to come back and pick up a lot of wax off of everything. [00:01:20] Speaker A: Okay? [00:01:21] Speaker B: So the unlit candle tips. You're going to get to light a candle later in the service, and it'll be lots of fun and bright and warm. And we will be singing during that time. Yes, sir. [00:01:34] Speaker C: One more encouragement. Do not blow out the candle. It will spread the wax. [00:01:43] Speaker B: I was just going to say that. Our offering tonight is an offering of praise from our hearts for a God who condescended to come to this earth to save us from our two biggest enemies, sin and death. However, if you brought a monetary offering tonight, we'll have plates in the back of the room. And with that, let's begin. Let's join together with our opening sentences. Please rise. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. [00:02:35] Speaker A: Amen. [00:02:37] Speaker B: To us a child is born. To us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulders. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Sing to the Lord a new song. [00:02:58] Speaker C: For he has done marvelous things. [00:03:13] Speaker A: Sam. Through thy grace and Mary, Bless Jesus. Lord, most love. Was reigning over us through sin and lemon. Praise him there. May we praise him there? [00:06:09] Speaker B: Our first lesson tonight from Genesis, chapter three. And they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden. And I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. And he said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree and I ate. Then the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you've done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this cursed Are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field? On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. [00:10:22] Speaker A: Ra. [00:11:04] Speaker C: The second lesson is from Isaiah, chapter 11. Did I turn my mic on? [00:11:10] Speaker A: Okay. [00:11:13] Speaker C: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide disputes by what his ears hear. But with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together. And a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together. And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the whole of the cobra. And the weaned child shall put his hand in the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples of him shall the nations inquire. And his resting place shall be glorious. [00:13:02] Speaker A: Sa. Jesus. And his shelter was unstable, and his pride. Ra. Sam. [00:16:30] Speaker B: Our third lesson from Isaiah, chapter nine. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor. Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness. From this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. [00:17:33] Speaker A: It's. O how a rose ever blooming. From tender stems has from Jesse's lineage coming has been love. It came a flowering bright Amid the cold of winter when have spent the sun. Foretold it that Rosa. With Mary we behold it the virgin mother kind to show God's love aright she bore to men a savior. Rabbit. [00:21:48] Speaker C: From Luke, Chapter one. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, greetings, O favored one. The Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. And you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, how will this be, since I am a virgin? And the angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And Mary said, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. [00:23:34] Speaker A: Glory to you, Jesus. I am light to all. [00:26:23] Speaker B: Our fifth lesson. Luke, Chapter two. 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. He went to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 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, laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. [00:27:42] Speaker A: There's the Lord Jesus lay down his sweet. The baby. Children. [00:29:23] Speaker C: Also from Luke 2. 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 great 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 savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. 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. 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 they had seen and heard as it had been told them. [00:31:19] Speaker A: Angels, we have heard our heart. Jesus, by your joyous days alone. Ra. [00:33:59] Speaker B: Our seventh lesson, John, Chapter one. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. Without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life. And the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness. The darkness has not overcome it. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him. Yet the world did not know Him. He came to his own. His own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. [00:35:29] Speaker A: In. [00:35:29] Speaker C: The name of Jesus. Merry Christmas. It was worth all the preparation, huh? Well, if you're done. I don't know. My parents would always stay up late on Christmas. Not always. I shouldn't say that. Sorry. Mom and dad, if you're watching. No, they were always. You know. They put a lot of work into preparing to make Christmas fun. And enjoyable and exciting for us and to liven, give life and joy and excitement to our Christmas celebration. And it's a common trope to get up here and say, talk about all the busyness of the season and kind of losing the joy of it and such. But think about it. Maybe there was some work put in, in service to your family or to relatives far away to get them gifts or cards or, or to connect with people. But here we are and well, here's our moment. Here's our moment to take some time and look to God and give him thanks for Jesus Christ. And isn't it neat that in such a hustling, bustling world, so concerned with the economy and moving things forward, that we still have a holy day, a holiday, and maybe take some time off of work, maybe travel to see family. We do slow down. And what a reason to slow down. Jesus coming at Christmas. That first Christmas was the most amazing gift. It's cliche. The most amazing gift ever to be imagined, the most amazing hope ever and help just at the right time to rescue us from our problems. There are a lot of images that we use to talk about what Jesus did for us at Christmas, all of them coming from scripture. So like this one, to those sitting in darkness have seen a great light. So sitting in the dark, and here comes the light of the world. Boom. I was in Target a couple weeks ago and all the lights shut off. You know, there were lots of people in there hustling and bustling around. And all of a sudden everybody stopped. Looked at the people next to me. They were a little nervous. People at checkout were very nervous. And then the lights came back on, you know, and it's like this little taste of what Jesus has done for us. We who were sitting in the darkness of sin and ignorance, confusion and death. Christ has come. A light has dawned on us, bringing hope and light and warmth. We could talk about sin, our sin problem, the disobedience that we heard about right back at the beginning with Adam and Eve and the death that was a consequence for that and being kicked out of the garden and separated from God and boy. Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles. God sent his son Jesus Christ to forgive us and to give us hope and to give us life. Or what about death? Think about if you've had a loved one in a difficult position with a health concern or you've had loved ones on their deathbed. It's one of our primary problems as human beings. It's our mortality also coming from all the way back in the beginning, Adam and Eve, sin and the consequence of for it. And just like Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead by his own resurrection, he's given us the hope of everlasting life. All of that because Christ came to us on that first Christmas, became a human being to die and to give us his own life. Ignorance. You know, Christ is, is wisdom from on high. He who is from the Father and knows all things. He through whom all things came into being. He has come to enlighten us who sit in darkness. Which I guess is the same image really. But have you ever been in a position where you just needed answers? You weren't sure where to go next or how to deal with with a problem and then suddenly the light bulb turns on, Maybe somebody comes and helps you think through it. Well, Christ in the most amazing way has come to give us understanding, to point us to God again and to show us what really matters, to rescue us from our confusion, lift us up out of the murkiness and give us clarity. Have you ever been in a tough financial spot? Maybe it seemed like there was no hope, nowhere to turn, or it was just really stressful. And then there was a breakthrough, a gift or somebody generous, or maybe something worked out and you were lifted out of that. We who were indebted to God by our sin and deserved only punishment and condemnation. The death that was given to us as a result of our sin. Christ who is rich beyond comparison. Christ who has everything as the name above all names, the King of all, came to us and shared his wealth with us just out of his abundant generosity. The Father giving us everything through His Son Jesus, to make us rich. You, you are rich. You are immortal. You are enlightened in Jesus Christ. We have everything from Him. Jesus is the powerful one, the One who is above all through whom all things were made. He's the one who came to us as a powerless little baby, not coming to flaunt his power or to use it to mete out justice on those who had rebelled against God, but come as a baby to win us over, to present Himself to us through preaching and teaching and finally through his own self offering on the cross to sacrifice Himself for us, to give us his life. This Jesus unites us to himself through baptism and by faith. He takes us up into his own life by giving us his body and blood, uniting us to Himself. He's conforming us to his own image, making us like him, rescuing us from our own twisted nature, and has promised us everything. All of this accomplished by coming to us as a human being humbling himself to this point to become one of you and me. One of us. To become a human being. Emmanuel. God with us, to lift us up and make us one of him. To make us his brother and sister. To bring us into God's family. And so we take a moment. A moment. We should have 12 days of Christmas feasting. Just take the week off. Take next week off from work. Just tell your employer your pastor said all right. What a thing to celebrate. Jesus Christ come for us in Jesus name. Amen. Let's stand for prayer. Let us pray. O God, you make this most holy night shine with the brightness of the true light. Grant that as we have known the mysteries of that light on earth, we may also come to the fullness of his joys in heaven through the same Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. All right, please be seated. We've now we've got three hymns in a row because I skipped one. But we'll light candles before the third. Channeling. [00:44:54] Speaker A: You know. [00:44:56] Speaker C: There'S love begotten. [00:45:51] Speaker A: Ra. [00:46:16] Speaker C: Changing. [00:48:00] Speaker A: Ram. Sa. King. Ra. Sa. Sam. Holy night holy sa. Holy night she. Sing hallelujah Christ the Savior is Lord Holy. Face. Jesus. [00:54:21] Speaker C: Merry Christmas. Let's greet one another with the peace of the Lord. Peace, the Lord be with you. Peace of the Lord be with you. Peace of the Lord. Peace be with you. Sam. Merry Christmas. I like your outfit. [00:54:58] Speaker A: That's great. [00:54:58] Speaker C: And your cross. That's awesome. That's awesome. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Oh, I better get back there so I don't miss anybody. [00:55:24] Speaker A: Hi. Hi. Yep. [00:55:25] Speaker C: Merry christmas. Josh vanderheide. [00:55:40] Speaker A: Sa.