Sermon Date: December 25, 2023

Joy to the World, The Lord is Come!

John 1:14:
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Sermon Date: December 24, 2023, Christmas Eve

O holy Child of Bethlehem!
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in,
Be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
Oh, come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!

Sermon Date: December 24, 2023

Luke 1:46:
“My Soul magnifies the Lord, and my soul rejoices in God my Saviour.”

Read Galatians 5:13-26. The battle of Satan versus God in the world.

Sermon Date: December 17, 2023

Joy to the World

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
far as the curse is found,
far as the curse is found,
far as, far as the curse is found.

Sermon Date: December 10, 2023

Prayer of the Day

Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of Your only-begotten Son, that by His coming we may be enabled to serve You with pure minds; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Sermon Date: December 3, 2023

Advent; A Marriage Proposal

Isaiah 43:1-5:
“¹ Israel, the Lord who created you says, “Do not be afraid—I will save you. I have called you by name — you are mine. ² When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you; your troubles will not overwhelm you. When you pass through fire, you will not be burned; the hard trials that come will not hurt you. ³ For I am the Lord your God, the holy God of Israel, who saves you. I will give up Egypt to set you free; I will give up Ethiopia and Seba. ⁴ I will give up whole nations to save your life, because you are precious to me and because I love you and give you honor. ⁵ Do not be afraid — I am with you! “From the distant east and the farthest west, I will bring your people home.”

Isaiah 43:10-13:
“¹⁰ People of Israel, you are my witnesses; I chose you to be my servant, so that you would know me and believe in me and understand that I am the only God. Besides me there is no other god; there never was and never will be. ¹¹ “I alone am the Lord, the only one who can save you. ¹² I predicted what would happen, and then I came to your aid. No foreign god has ever done this; you are my witnesses. ¹³ I am God and always will be. No one can escape from my power; no one can change what I do.”

Isaiah 43:18-19:
“¹⁸ “But the Lord says, “Do not cling to events of the past or dwell on what happened long ago. ¹⁹ Watch for the new thing I am going to do. It is happening already — you can see it now! I will make a road through the wilderness and give you streams of water there.”

Joel 2:12-13:
“¹² ‘But even now,’ says the Lord, ‘repent sincerely and return to me with fasting and weeping and mourning. ¹³ Let your broken heart show your sorrow; tearing your clothes is not enough.’ Come back to the Lord your God. He is kind and full of mercy; he is patient and keeps his promise; he is always ready to forgive and not punish.”

Isaiah 62:1-5:
“¹ I will speak out to encourage Jerusalem; I will not be silent until she is saved, And her victory shines like a torch in the night. ² Jerusalem, the nations will see you victorious! All their kings will see your glory. You will be called by a new name, A name given by the Lord himself. ³ You will be like a beautiful crown for the Lord. ⁴ No longer will you be called “Forsaken,” Or your land be called “The Deserted Wife.” Your new name will be “God Is Pleased with Her.” Your land will be called “Happily Married,” And will be like a husband to your land. ⁵ Like a young man taking a virgin as his bride, He who formed you will marry you. As a groom is delighted with his bride, So
your God will delight in you.”

Sermon Date: November 26, 2023

“We Care, to Share, to Dare, and to be Different for Jesus”
Matthew 25:31-46:

“When the Son of Man comes as King and all the angels with him, he will sit on his royal throne, and the people of all the nations will be gathered before him. Then he will divide them into two groups, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the righteous people at his right and the others at his left. Then the King will say to the people on his right, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world. I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me.’ The righteous will then answer him, ‘When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we ever see you a stranger and welcome you in our homes, or naked and clothe you? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me!’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Away from me, you that are under God’s curse! Away to the eternal fire which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels! I was hungry but you would not feed me, thirsty but you would not give me a drink; I was a stranger but you would not welcome me in your homes, naked but you would not clothe me; I was sick and in prison but you would not take care of me.’ Then they will answer him, ‘When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and we would not help you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you, whenever you refused to help one of these least important ones, you refused to help me.’ These, then, will be sent off to eternal punishment, but the righteous will go to eternal life.”

Sermon Date: November 19, 2023

1 John 4:13-19:
“¹³ We are sure that we live in union with God and that he lives in union with us, because he has given us his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and tell others that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If we declare that Jesus is the Son of God, we live in union with God and God lives in union with us. ¹⁶ And we ourselves know and believe the love which God has for us. God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them. ¹⁷ Love is made perfect in us in order that we may have courage on the Judgment Day; and we will have it because our life in this world is the same as Christ’s. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid, because fear has to do with punishment. ¹⁹ We love because God first loved us.”

Sermon Date: November 12, 2023

Matthew 25:1-13:
“¹ At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were foolish and five were wise. ³ The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. ⁴ The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. ⁵ The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. ⁶At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ ⁷ Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. ¹¹ Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’ ¹² But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’¹³ Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

Revelation 19:7:
“⁷ Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.”

Revelation 21:2-5:
“² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ ⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'”