Two Opening Songs
Hosanna
Away in a Manger
Welcome and Announcements
Advent Candle Lighting
(as first candle is lit) : On this Second Sunday of Advent, our attention turns toward a group of biblical characters connected with the Christmas Story--the shepherds. Upon hearing the Good News of Jesus’ birth from a host of angelic messengers, they went to see this great sight. And they spread the news to all who would listen. Tidings of good news, which would be for all people! Still today, God calls common people like you and me to go tell others the wonderful news of Christmas--that unto us a child has been born!
(as second candle is lit) Though we honor them, we realize that ultimate honor belongs to the “The Great Shepherd” of our faith, whom we follow as the Messiah for All Time. So we light this “shepherd candle” in his honor today.
VANTAGE POINT: GOD, THE SON
Vantage Point Christmas—Part 2
Have you heard the Top Christmas Gift for children this year? This is put out by the Toy Retailers Association. The Top Christmas Gift is “Baby Born with Magic Potty.”
Display picture of Baby Born Here
Description from this things website
Baby Born is being potty trained!
Place Baby Born onto the Magic Potty and you’ll hear music and see lights flash! Press the crown button and you will hear a flushing sound!
Baby Born has many life-like functions, he can cry real tears, open and close his eyes and can squeal with delight! His limbs move and body is waterproof, enabling you to bath him! Feed Baby Born with her very own special food, and let her drink from her bottle!
Baby Born is wearing a special outfit! He comes with all the accessories necessary to perform the major functions; including a potty, nappy, doll food, bottle, plate and much more!
Baby Born with Magic Potty is a wonderful way to encourage roleplay!
Age: 3 years +
Product #: 348169
Features
Place doll on the potty to hear music and see flashing lights
Press the crown button to hear a flushing noise!
Opens and closes eyes!
Drinks from bottle
Eats own special food
Needs nappy changed
Cries real tears
Squeals with delight
Moveable limbs
Bathable
Baby Born boy is anatomically correct!
Includes
Bottle, plate, spoon and special doll food!
Musical Potty with LED lights!
Nappy, day and night dummies and birth certificate!
Comes dressed in a special outfit!
JESUS LONGS TO BE OUR GREATEST GIFT
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV)
--He Knows The Plans of the Father
He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 1 Peter 1:20 (NIV)
Speak briefly about The Bethlehem Star DVD and www.bethlehemstar.net Software is Starry Night.
--He Knows The Predictions of the Prophets
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14 (NIV)
Isaiah 53
--He Experienced the Previews of the Old Testament
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" John 8:58 (NIV)
The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. [2] Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. Genesis 18:1-2 (NIV)
"Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come." Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?" [15] The commander of the Lord’s army replied, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so. Joshua 5:14-15 (NIV)
JESUS RELISHES THE MYSTERY OF BEING OUR IMMANUEL
Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. 1 Timothy 3:16 (NIV)
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Colossians 1:15 (NIV)
Jesus is the very representation of God in His incarnation. God’s complete character—his holiness, love, and truth—is expressly imaged in Jesus Christ. In human flesh Christ is the exhibition of God’s righteousness and justice, his grace and mercy, his constancy and faithfulness. Whatever may be said about the nature of God is show forth in the person of Jesus Christ.
One of mankind’s persisitent questions has been and continues to be: “What is God like?” The answer of Christianity is simple and direct—He is like Christ. In John’s Gospel Philip requests, “Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied,” Jesus says, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father.” That makes Jesus our Greatest Gift. He answers our deepest questions.
You can learn a lot about incarnation by taking care of fish in an aquarium. Caring for fish in an aquarium is no easy task. You have to run a portable chemical laboratory to monitor the nitrate levels and the ammonia content of the water. You pump in vitamins and antibiotics and sulfa drugs and enough enzymes to make a rock grow. You filter the water through glass fibers and charcoal, and expose it to ultraviolet light. You would think, in view of all the time and energy expended on their behalf that the fish would at least be grateful. Not so. Every time your shadow looms above the tank they dive for cover under the nearest shell. They only show you one emotion: fear. Even though you open the lid and drop in food on a regular schedule, they respond to each visit as a sure sign of your designs to torture them. You cannot convince them of your true concern for their well being.
To those fish you are a deity. You are too large for them, your actions too incomprehensible. Your acts of mercy they see as cruelty; your attempts at healing they view as destruction. How can you possibly change their perceptions? You would have to become a fish and speak to them in a way they could understand.
A human becoming a fish is nothing compared to God becoming a baby. An artist became a spot in his own painting. A playwright became a character within his own play.
Jesus loves being among us incognito.
Talk about Henry V
JESUS GIVES HIMSELF WITH PERFECT TIMING
"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come." John 2:4 (NIV)
"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" Mark 1:15 (NIV)
Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. Luke 3:23 (NIV)
JESUS KNOWS HE’S NOT THE GIFT WE EXPECTED, BUT HE IS THE GIFT WE NEED
Roll “The Doghouse” Video Here
If Jesus came to reveal God to us, if he came to unwrap the gift of who God is and what God is like, what do I learn about God from that first Christmas? What words come to mind as I ponder that question are not at all what I would have expected. Humble, approachable, courageous, Philip Yancey even uses that word underdog—these hardly seem appropriate words to apply to deity.
Humble. Before Jesus no pagan author had used “humble” as a compliment. Yet the events of that first Christmas point inescapably to what seems like an oxymoron: a humble God. The God who came to earth came not in a raging whirlwind nor in a devouring fire. Unimiginably, the Maker of all things shrank down, down, down so small as to become an ovum barely visible to the naked eye. This is not what we expect!
Images of wealth and power must have filled the minds of Isaiah’s contemporaries who heard the prophecy about a Ruler, a Mighty God, a Prince of Peace who would sit on David’s throne. This must have conjured up nostalgic glances back to the glory days of King Solomon. But the Jesus who shows up is not what we expect. The god who roars, who could order armies and empires about like pawns on a chessboard, this God emerges in Bethlehem as a baby who cannot speak or eat solid food, who depends upon a teenage girl for shelter, food, love. He’s not what we expect.
Approachable. Those of us raised in a tradition of informal or private prayer may not appreciate the change Jesus brought in how human beings approach deity. Hindus offer sacrifices at a temple. Muslims bow down so low that their foreheads touch the ground. In most religious traditions, in fact, fear is the primary emotion when one approaches God.
Certainly Jews associated fear with worship. Mishandle the ark of the covenant and you die. Enter the Most Holy Place and you’d never come out alive. Into this environment God makes a surprise appearance as a baby in a manger. He’s not what we expect…he’s what we need.
Even when the disciples finally figured out who Jesus was, he still wasn’t what they expected.
Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?" [28] They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." [29] "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." [30] Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. [31] He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. [32] He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. [33] But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Mark 8:27-33 (NIV)
He revealed he was the messiah to the woman at the well and she drops her bucket and runs
He reveals to the religious leaders "I and the father are one" and they attempt to kill him
The wind and sea obey him and his disciples marvel in fear
Demons identify him as the Son of God and cry out for mercy
Prostitutes and tax collectors find forgiveness and acceptance
Corrupt men in power grind their teeth and vow his death
He refused to defend himself before his accusers
He made promises of paradise to a dying thief
He sacrificed himself on a Roman cross prompting a soldier to declare “This man was the Son of God.”
He wasn’t what we expected, but he’s exactly what we need
JESUS KNOWS HE’S THE GIFT THAT WE KEEP UNWRAPPING FOREVER
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, Matthew 11:29 (NIV)
"Come, follow me," Jesus said, Matthew 4:19 (NIV)
But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." Matthew 8:22 (NIV)
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. Matthew 9:9 (NIV)
JESUS KNOWS THAT HE’S NOT JUST A GIFT GIVER, HE’S A GIFT RECEIVER
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians. 2:10-11 (NIV)
Closing Prayer
Dismiss Baptismal Candidates
Response In Worship
Come Now is the Time
O Come Let Us Adore Him
Draw Me Close/Breathe
What Child is This?
Jesus, Messiah
Baptism
Offering/Send Out
