Opening Prayer – Welcome – Pastor Mike Christmas Eve 2025
Opening Song: Joy to the World (A)
Offering – Christmas offering for Capital Campaign repairs to church and school we still need around $30,000 to meet the need. Thank you to everyone who has given!
Reads: Luke 1:26-37
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
"How can this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. The holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Nothing is impossible with God."
Song: “What Child is This?”
Reads: Matthew 1:18-25
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Song: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”
Reading: Luke 2:1-5
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And everyone went to his own town to register.
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.
Song: “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
Reading: Luke 2:6-7
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Song: “Away in a Manger”
Reading: Luke 2:8-20
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." So, they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Song: “Angels We Have Heard on High”
Reading: Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Video transition: The Light
Message: Pastor Mike “Hope Has Come - The Light of the World”
Story of men who experienced a Christmas miracle:
During the push to Berlin during the latter stages of World War II, Bryan Potter and a group of other bone-weary GIs were quartered in a brick farmhouse and told to get a good night’s rest. The order was as unnecessary as telling a starving man to eat everything on his plate. The men were cold and exhausted in the bleak December of 1944, and although there was little to burn in the fireplace and the antiquated kitchen stove, any warmth at all was greatly appreciated. They had just finished a sparse, but somehow comforting and filling meal, when one of the men started tapping his fork on his metal mess kit. “Fellas,” he said, when he had everyone’s attention. “Do you know what today is?” “Don’t tell us it’s your birthday, Skeeter,” Potter said with a sigh of mock disappointment. “I am so sorry, I wasn’t able to go shopping for a present. Every time I did try to go into town to buy something, those nasty Nazis started shooting at me.” “Can it, Potter,” his buddy replied. “It’s the eve of the birthday of someone a whole lot more important than this dogface GI.” And then the realization seemed to strike everyone in the crowded kitchen at the same time. It was Christmas Eve. “For several moments, the room was silenced as we all became lost in our own thoughts of Christmas back home,” Potter said. “We were all somewhere else in time and space. Some of us were probably remembering a special Christmas Eve at home with Mom and Dad, sitting around the dining room table after a big meal, listening to Bing Crosby sing ‘White Christmas’ on the radio, all of the kids just waiting to tear into the presents under the tree. Or the last Christmas that we held our wives or sweethearts in our arms before we enlisted. We all wanted to be back home with our loved ones, not crowded into some German farmer’s deserted home with the enemy all around us.” One of the men shifted uncomfortably on the hard wooden bench, then spoke up before he lost his nerve. “I think we should do something to observe Christmas Eve—you know, like singing a Christmas hymn. Something like ‘Silent Night’ or ‘Little Town of Bethlehem.’ ” “If he had been expecting ridicule from the hardened, tough men around him, he received none that cold and lonely Christmas Eve far away from our homes,” Potter recalled. “Softly at first, as some of us struggled to remember the words, we began singing ‘Silent Night.’ Then as we got more into the spirit of the hymn, our voices became stronger and stronger until the rafters of that old farmhouse were reverberating. By the time we got to the third verse, most of us were just humming along, but even that had a good Christmas sound to it.” Then, suddenly, someone carrying a bright light slammed open the kitchen door and shouted: “Everyone out! A mortar shell is about to hit!” Potter and his buddies scrambled for the door, ran several yards, then threw themselves headlong on the frozen, snow-packed German terrain. Seconds later, the demolished farmhouse erupted in a fiery explosion and began to rain pieces of brick down on them. Nazi mortar fire had scored a direct hit on their temporary sanctuary. “It was a good thing for us that even though we were bone-tired, we simply reacted on our training and our war-honed instincts,” Potter said. “None of us thought to stop to ask the stranger with the bright light just how he knew that a mortar mortar shell was about to hit the specific target of our particular farmhouse. “Whoever the guy was, he didn’t burst in among us and shout, ‘Heads up! The Jerries are going to start shelling!’ He told us to get out because a round was about to hit us. That statement required special and specific knowledge, and if any of us had stopped to interrogate the fellow concerning the source of such intelligence, none of us would have survived the direct hit.” Potter and his buddies spent the rest of the night in the ruins of a barn, huddled around a sheltered fire. One of the men commented that Christmas Eve was the perfect night to sleep on a pile of straw near mangers and cattle pens. “Later, when some of us had a chance to talk about the incident, a couple of the guys were already calling it a miracle,” Potter said. “After discussing it at great length, we all agreed that the man who burst into the farmhouse was not carrying a bright light, he was the light. “When we compared our collective memories, we concluded that the stranger was surrounded by a brilliant kind of illumination. We were convinced that an angel saved our lives on Christmas Eve in 1944 by warning us to get out of the farmhouse immediately before the mortar shell hit us.”
Steiger, Brad. Christmas Miracles: Inspirational True Stories of Holiday Magic (p. 47-50). F+W Media, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
These men were in a war and at first did not remember what day it was - Christmas Eve – wow they had forgotten – all the brutality of war and fighting had made them lose track of time – so they decided to honor Jesus on the eve of His birthday and sing to Him – after the singing they experienced Him or one of His messengers in the form of a man and a light who tells them to get out a mortar shell was going to hit them – miracle - they run out in the nick of time and are saved but no sign of the man with the light!
It changed all them that night according to Bryan – that Christmas Eve – The angel and the light - They gave Jesus the best gift they could that night - the gift of song and worship and remembrance of His birthday. He in turn saved their lives from certain death - he gave them life not death – His gift to them – He saved them so they could pass this story along to us tonight – they shared this Christmas Miracle Story with you and I tonight and have with over 10,000 people – These battle worn Veterans of World War 2 – Why do they share it? . So, we too may understand more about this indescribable gift of Jesus – they hope we should see Who He is! This man of light – Understand - Why He came! Jesus is the light of the world, and He came to save us from certain death – yes, he came as a gift to save our lives! In turn we should pass the blessing on to others and Be the Gift to them for the Gift He has been to us!
John 8:12: Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
Got Questions: What did Jesus mean when he said “I Am the Light of the world?”
“I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12) is the second of seven “I AM” declarations of Jesus, recorded only in John’s gospel, that point to His unique divine identity and purpose. In declaring Himself to be the Light of the world, Jesus was claiming that He is the exclusive source of spiritual light. No other source of spiritual truth is available to mankind.
There are two types of light in the world. We can perceive one, or both, or neither! When we are born into this world, we perceive physical light, and by it we learn of our Creator’s handiwork in the things we see. However, although that light is good, there is another Light, a Light so important that the Son of God had to come in order to both declare and impart it to men. John 8:12 records, “When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, ‘I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but have the light of life.’” The metaphor used by the Lord in this verse speaks of the light of His Truth, the light of His Word, the light of eternal Life. Those who perceive the true Light will never walk in spiritual darkness.
We take a candle into a room to dispel the darkness. Likewise, the Light of Jesus Christ has to be taken into the darkness of sin that engulfs the hearts and lives of those who are not following Him. That’s the condition behind having this Light—that we follow Him. If we do not follow Him, we will not have this light, this truth, this eternal life.
Physical light is necessary for physical life. The earth would certainly change very rapidly if there were no longer any sunlight. A forest full of trees with very thick canopies of foliage high above has very little plant life on the ground except for moss or lichen, which needs little sunlight. Plants will never move away from the light—they are said to be positively phototropic, drawn to the light. In the same way, spiritual light is necessary for spiritual life, and this can be a good test of our standing in Christ. The believer will always tend toward spiritual things; he will always tend toward fellowship, prayer, the Word of God, and so on. The unbeliever always does the opposite (John 1:5; 3:19–20) because light exposes his evil, and he hates the light. Indeed, no man can come into the true spiritual light of Jesus Christ, unless he is enabled (John 6:37).
Following Jesus is the condition of two promises in John 8:12. First, His followers will never walk in darkness, which is a reference to the assurance of salvation we enjoy. As true followers of the Light, we will never follow the ways of sin, never live in a state of continually sinning (1 John 1:5–7). Rather, we repent of our sin in order to stay close to the Light of the world. The second promise is that we will reflect the Light of Life. Just as He came as the Light of the world, He commands us to be “lights,” too. In Matthew 5:14–16 we see believers depicted as the light of the world. Just as the moon has no light of its own, reflecting the light of the sun, so are believers to reflect the Light of Christ so that all can see it in us. The Light is evident to others by the good deeds we do in faith and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The emphasis here is maintaining a credible and obvious witness in the world, a witness that shows us to be faithful, God-honoring, trustworthy, sincere, earnest, and honest in all that we do. Also, we should always be ready to give an account of the hope that we have (1 Peter 3:15), for the gospel Light we have is not to be covered, but made obvious for all to see and benefit from, that they, too, may leave the darkness and come into the Light.
What do we need to know from this message?
Answer: We need see that Hope has Come – He came as a light to this world – He still illuminates this Christmas season and even into next year because He is the Light of the world – the Savior – His gift to you is life not death and the best gift you can give Him is your heart and your worship – tonight we celebrate Jesus - His birthday – His coming.
Why do we need to know the message of this message?
Answer: We need to know that we can all see the Light of Jesus – we can receive His gift this Christmas season and even into next year if we choose to accept it. It does not matter what you have or don’t have just use what God has placed in your hand – He can do the rest. All these men had was a song and a moment to honor Jesus amid war and He showed up to save them from certain death.
What do we need to do as we have heard tonight’s message?
Answer: We need to commit to be His light to this dark lost world – Yes be the light of this Christmas season and and do the things that will bless others and honor Jesus on His birthday.
Why do we need to do this challenge of being the light?
Answer: I truly believe that if we choose to “be the light” we will be blessed, Jesus will be honored and others will see the love of Jesus in action and in turn I believe their lives will be transformed.
Candle Lighting explanation “Jesus The Light of the World”
Pastor Mike explains the meaning behind the candle lighting part of the service.
John 8:12: When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
These soldiers experienced that in 1944 on Christmas Eve 74 years ago.
Jesus is the light of the world – the gift from Heaven – the perfect gift who is indescribable but can be experienced as we take the time to honor Him on this specific holy night. These soldiers discovered that and experienced his saving power.
But we too when we accept Him as the ultimate gift will also be illuminated by His presence – You see He is the one that makes us the light of the world. We too upon acceptance of Him as Lord and Savior receive His light so we can help others out of the dark.
Matthew 5:14-16: Salt and Light
13“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
The Light of the World – we are here because Jesus wants us to be his light in a dark world and he wants us to Be the gift by passing our light onto others so they too can be delivered from the darkness – this is what our candle lighting signifies tonight He is the light – the source of all light and from His presence we too become a light to others so they can see and find peace and joy this season.
Light the candle from candelabras!
Explain lighting of the candle the how too’s! Please do not tilt the lit candle, only tilt the unlit candle! To prevent wax from dripping on chairs and carpet. Thank you!
Light Candles.
Sing: “Silent Night”
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born
Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth "
Closing – Pastor Mike – have a Merry Christmas! Please blow out the candles!
