The With-God Life

Merry Christmas! Today is the 8th Day of Christmastide, so we continue to celebrate the wonder of Christ’s coming and the mystery of the incarnation. 

Call to Worship | From 1 Timothy 3:16

Christ manifested in the flesh, Christ revealed in the Spirit.

Praise the Lord, all you nations.

Christ contemplated by the angels, Christ worshiped by the Magi.

Praise the Lord, all you nations.

Christ professed in the world, Christ exalted in glory.

Praise the Lord, all you nations.

Prayer of Adoration

Take a few moments to openly thank God for a few attributes of his character. This will be a popcorn-style prayer where everyone can share short one- or two-phrase prayers. For example, “God, thank you that you are all-powerful” or “God, thank you for your grace for me this week.” The leader can open and then close after a few minutes of prayer.

Song of Praise | “Joy to the World!”

Feel free to sing out loud acapella or with accompaniment. Or you could just play the recording linked here and listen.

Joy to the world! the Lord is come:
Let earth receive her King.
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns:
Let men their songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

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.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness
And wonders of his love, and wonders of his love,
And wonders, wonders of his love.

Prayer of Confession

Invite people to spend a few moments of silence reflecting on the last week and if there is anything that they want to talk about with God: a place of sadness, failure, sin or struggle. What do you want to name to God? After a few moments, the leader can invite people to pray the following together:

After a few moments, the leader can invite people to pray the following together:

Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart and mind and strength; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us.

Words of Assurance | From Hebrews 4

Since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence,

So that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Greeting of Peace

As God’s spiritual family, and people who have received and continue to receive peace through Christ, extend that peace to one another. You might take a moment to send a text to someone in the church family to let them know you are thinking about them!

Our Offerings

Lord, who are we that we are able to give so generously?

For all things come from you and what we now offer is already yours.

Want to make a gift this morning? Give online here.

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host:
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Scripture Reading | John 1:1–18

Invite someone to read the Scripture out loud, and pause for a few moments of silence after the reading to receive God’s Word.

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

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.

¹⁵ (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Sermon | “The ‘With-God’ Life”

Reflection

Take a few moments to reflect quietly or out loud together about the message. What particularly spoke to you today? How might you respond to God’s Word in your own life today?

The Prayers of the People

Pray specifically for the needs of the people gathered with you this morning. We are not able to sustain our lives apart from the Lord’s presence, grace and mercy.

The Lord’s Prayer

And now, gathering all of our prayers into one, we pray as our Savior has taught us, saying:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever. Amen.

“God With Us”

You’ve come to bring peace, to be love,
To be nearer to us.
You’ve come to breathe life, to be light,
To shine brighter in us.
Oh, Emmanuel, God with us.

Our deliverer, you are Savior!
In your presence we find our strength.
Over everything, our redemption,
God with us, you are God with us.

You’ve come to be hope to this world,
For your honor and name.
You’ve come to take sin to bear shame
And to conquer the grave.
Oh, Emmanuel, God with us.

You are here, you are holy.
We are standing in your glory.

Commission | Matthew 1:23

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel- which means “God with us.”

Let us go forth to live our lives with God!

Benediction | 2 Corinthians 13:14

Say these words together:

Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with us all, today and forever.