O Beautiful Star

Is the fourth Sunday of Advent, the candle of love. So today we light the fourth candle of the Advent season, the candle representing love. Each week as we have lit each candle, the light has gotten brighter. It makes sense that the candle which completes the circle surrounding the Christ candle will be the one that represents love. The Bible states that God is love. It also states that when we compare faith, hope, and love, the greatest is love. When we write down the facts that God left the throne room of heaven to come to earth, that He came as one of us and endured all the hardships of our life, that the sole purpose of His coming was to die and pay the consequences for all of our sins, especially ours, and that He died in the most violent and brutal way known to mankind, so that we would have a second chance at an eternal relationship with Himself. And it can be explained in only one way: love.

First John 4:16-19. And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we might have confidence in the day of judgment. Because as He is, so also are we in the world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love because He first loved us.

Let’s pray. May love enter our hearts during this Christmas season, O God. May it find a good growing place there that our lives may become reflections of the great gift of love You sent us at Christmas so long ago. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Be the two, be the two. It requires a second to get up here and me to catch my breath, and then we’ll get moving. You sure were wondering, too, that was in Latin. That was not English, so I was not speaking in tongues, or you were not misunderstanding. You don’t have to turn that hearing aid up. That was real. But just to give you a little preview, some of the words of that song are, Ave Maria, maiden mild. I listened to a maiden’s prayer, for thou canst hear amid the wild, ’Tis thou, ’tis thou can save me amid despair. So, um… a little bit of a preview on that.

So anyway, our call to worship this morning is number 94, Angels from the Realms of Glory. So Stan Wilson. In your bulletin, a couple of lines, though, is we are collecting a Lottie Moon Christmas Offering here through the first of the year. Our goal is $1,500. The children do not have a service this Wednesday night, but the adults and the choir will. The adults here at 6 o’clock for a discipleship training or meeting, and the choir practice will be at 6:45 as normal. We will have a Christmas Eve service next Saturday at 5:30. 5:30, right now? 5:30. Yeah, Rick. 5:30. I got my watch set. So a little Christmas Eve service here that we’ll come out and enjoy, and we’ll put a service here. And then Sunday is Christmas while everybody is, I know, will be enjoying the fellowship and time together and opening the presents and all. Don’t forget the reason for the season, as they say. You know, Christ’s birth. God sent Him down here on earth for us. And, you know, as we got, we think, we think that often Christ is on the cross as an adult. He’s an only child. And, you know, Christ was a miracle child from the very beginning that only God could have sent to us. And think about Him as a child and as He grew and, you know, as He matured and all He went through and what He did and did for each and every one of us here.

Is there anything else that we need to bring up? Y’all still going? The ladies still going? Yeah, we’re finished. No Sunday school. No Sunday school Sunday morning. But 11 o’clock services. Yes, sir. Dallas. Thank you, sir.

You know, as we come in here, there’s several, we have our prayer requests, but there’s several families with bereavement. We had a funeral here yesterday. There are several, we have several in hospitals going through rehab and recovery and different things. So keep those in your prayer. And let’s go to the Lord in prayer. Most gracious heavenly Father, we thank You, Father, for the status You’ve given to us. Father, we thank You for the birth of your child, your son here on earth that you sent to us. Father, just continue to put the good feelings that we have at this time that we’ll carry all through the year, the love and peace and patience and just good feelings we have for each and every one that will not end here next week, Christmas Day, or in a short few days, that we can just keep that spirit and that feeling, that love within our hearts all year round. Father, we ask you to be with those that have lost loved ones, those that are in the hospitals, and those that are recovering at home. Father, that your love and your grace and your healing powers be upon them. And just continue to wrap Sauldam Baptist Church and each and every member here in your loving arms. In your name we pray. Amen.

All right. We will continue to worship the song. This is our offertory, number 93. It Came Upon the Midnight Clear. So Stan will sing. The choir for the message here, a little bit longer special than we usually do. This is our choir cantata for the year. So it is called O Beautiful Star of Bethlehem. So please, if you know the song, sing along. Some of them you’ll recognize. If not, just listen to us. And if we sound great, we’ve been practicing for months. If we sound meh, we just started the other day. So just keep that in mind.

Don’t you listen? Many times he quiet, sing to him, he let’s see quiet, did cry, was he quiet, was he quiet, or did he cry? Yes, the king changes. As the Savior of God. Your name is the Savior of God. For king changes. King changes. Oh, Christmas. So much.

Basically, it’s a sermon. I’m not going to speak long to you, Stephen. I was trying to think of what some wise words just kind of put up. And I was thinking, that’s not even what the name. It was the beautiful star of Bethlehem. You know, that star’s got things kind of started and going. It appeared, the Bible says, in the east. And it got a whole bunch of Magi or wise men digging into some books to figure out, okay, what’s this about prophecy? And got them going to Jerusalem. And, of course, it’s shown the way once they got there over where the baby was, where Jesus was. You know, God just, He provides a way. He’s always providing a way, like the star did. Even in life.

Matthew 11:28-30 says, come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart. You shall find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. You know, that’s an old farming. I’m thinking, in Ravenel, you guys know a little bit about farming. And it’s a picture of two yoke on oxen. And one’s been doing it a whole lot longer than the other. And the thing is, is that those yoke were put on those oxen for a reason. And they were specifically for that animal. And the picture is that God comes alongside of us and He takes us through the field. And whatever we’re facing, He goes with us. He provides a way.

He also provides a way in the next life. Listen to what Jesus is having his last supper with his disciples. And he says, don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. I’m going to come and get you and take you along the way. He says, and you know the way that I am going. Remember Thomas? I love Thomas. Thomas is going to be one of my favorite disciples. I’m going to look him up one day. And remember what he said, Lord, we don’t know the way. Remember what Jesus said? Thomas, I’m the way. Now I’m the truth. Now I’m the life. Nobody gets to the Father but through me. The way.

You know, the thing is, what I find is, we’ve heard the choir talk about how do we find the way to the gospel. God provided a Savior. But the deal is, He’s not just our Savior. Because in His name He says, He shall be Jesus Christ, what? The Lord. See, a lot of times we want a Savior. We want to kind of get what I call our hell insurance. But we’re not too crazy about a Lord. And that little baby came not just to be our Savior. He came to be our Lord. And the two go together.

You. Listen to how David just writes in the Psalms. Show me your ways, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God, my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Listen, he also said, you shall show me what? The way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasure of living with you forever.

Not everybody wants the way. Not everybody wants. We want a Savior, but this Jesus that came. He also talked about a narrow gate. He says, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction. And those that enter it are many. For the gate is narrow, though, and the way is hard that leads to life. And those who find it are few.

The last time I checked, somebody had to build the road. Somebody had to pave the way, put up the signs, create a gate, and lead you down a path. That’s how much God loves you.

I just wanted to kind of close with this story. I was kind of, I read it this week about a guy named Joseph Schecksneider. Interesting guy. He was 22 years old. And he was supposed to show up in court for stealing a car. And he didn’t show. And it’s not the first time people who were supposed to be in court don’t show up in court. But he didn’t show. And it wasn’t all rare. He was a native of Abbeville, Louisiana. And this young man was always in trouble. And here’s what he would do. When he would get in trouble and supposed to go to court, he’d just kind of vanish. He’d go out on the lam and just stay low where nobody could find him until things kind of cooled down. But he always came back. One time he even joined a circus. But he always came back. He always came back. But not this time.

Days went by. Months went by. Years went by. Decades went by. The day he was supposed to show up in court was January 1984. But then something happened in May of 2011. Workers were renovating a bank in downtown Abbeville, that little town in Louisiana. And part of the renovation is they had to explore and do something with the chimney. The chimney went from the roof to the second floor of a bank. And they were renovating this bank in downtown. And they got in there. And guess what? They found a skeleton. And it wasn’t Santa. It was Joseph. Don’t know why he crawled up in that chimney and down that chimney and apparently got stuck right there in the middle. Maybe it was to rob the bank. But nobody will ever know because it’s not like you’re going to be able to interview this guy.

But what is interesting is when they found him, he’d apparently gotten stuck. And the way the bank used that building back in the day is they kept the second floor for storage. So all the officers and all the folks were always on the first floor. So this guy probably cried out for help. Nobody ever heard him. And I can’t, all I could think of as I was reading this story was how he left this earth. He cried out. It probably was a slow, agonizing death. And he was all alone. And he was in the dark. And I think about how, what describes our life without Christ. That’s it. And eternal separation from Him. We’re going to be, people, we’re going to cry out. Nobody’s going to hear us. We’re going to be alone. And we’re going to dark. And it’s going to be slow and agonizing.

And our choir gave us a message today. Our choir gave us a message of hope. Our choir gave us a message of peace and joy and what comes and about a star and about showing us the way. It’s interesting that before the early followers of Jesus were known as Christians, what were they known as? They were called people of the way. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And my prayer this morning is this. If you’ve never made that decision, God has a way for your life. The choir talked about king makes all the difference, especially the King of Kings and the Lord of lords. I’m going to ask you This morning, if you’ve never made that decision, I want you to think about that. Have you given your life to Christ? I’ll be down front to receive you. We’ll talk about it some more if you want to. I mean, I couldn’t think of a better way to respond to what they’ve sung than by getting things right with Christ in your life.

Or maybe you’re a Christian, and for some reason, you’ve kind of stuck Jesus off to the side, and you want to go that way just when you need Him. So you want a Savior, you just not be on a Lord. And He wants to be the Lord of your life because He’s got a lot for it. So that’s what we’re going to ask. I’m going to ask this morning. He’s always got a better way to live. God’s always got a better way to live. That’s what’s neat about this book. There’s a better way to live. All you’ve got to do is turn on the TV, the news. I’m going, gosh, you offer us a way to a better life, a better way to live.

Let’s pray. Father, I thank You for the choir this morning. You know, as I read this little story about this young man that got stuck in the chimney, I thought, you know, in a way it kind of seems funny. But how tragic. How tragic is a life without You? A life where we don’t know the way. Just kind of stumble around. But what started with a star ended with the coming of the greatest birth on the planet. You. That You loved us so much that You came. And You came in form like us so we could kind of identify with You. So that we could never be able to say, You don’t know how I feel. But You do. And maybe somebody this morning needs to just say, Lord, I want to know Your way. I want to go Your way. I want You to hold my hand and take me there. And thank You for doing that. So whatever decision we need to make this morning, help us to make that. Maybe not just keep You as our Savior, but also make You our Lord. And we ask this in the name that’s put up every name. The name of Jesus.

Donnie. We’ll close out this morning with 340, “He Hideth My Soul.” Stay in. We’ll see. Saturday night’s going to be special. You know, it’s just a sweet service. You know, sometimes we just need to get away from all the hustle and bustle and all the stuff. And just say, let’s come remember what it’s really all about. And so that’ll be at 5:30 Saturday night. And then Sunday morning we’ll be having service at 11 o’clock, but no Sunday school. So it’s going to be a great weekend. What a great sweet weekend. I think it’s going to be coming up and be part of that.

Remember, you may be the only Jesus someone ever sees. You show them the way. You do that. One of my biggest favorite pictures in my office, I’ve got a poster size that my daughter took of me with my granddaughter. And two years old. We’re at Middleton Gardens. You can’t even see our faith. And she’s holding my hand as we’re going down this path. That’s the picture I see of the Lord. I mean, that’s Him. That’s how He wants to take you through life. You know, He wants to be there for you. So just let Him.

Let’s go Lord in prayer as we’re dismissed. Father, thank You. Thank You for our choir. Thank You for their hearts, their voices. Thank You for Donnie’s direction. Thank You for the fact that they prepared and just gave us an incredible sermon today about how much You love us. Well, may that always stay on our hearts. May we sing to a world that, you know, greater love has no man than this, than a man laid down his life. And that life was Yours. So give us an opportunity this week to share with someone else how much You love them. And we ask this in the name above every name, the awesome name of Jesus. And all God’s people said, amen.

Let’s give our choir another hand for what they did. Thank you so much. Don’t blow it out. Christmas Eve, we’ll take, have the white one. Yeah. Looks good. Thanks, Kathy.