Luke 2:8-20 - 12/22/24

Or hear say he will defend the poor and the exploited he will rule against the wicked and Destroy them with the breath of his mouth he will be clothed with fairness and Truth in that day the wolf and the lamb will live together the leopard and the Goat will be at peace calves and yearlings will be safe among lions and a little child will leave them all the cattle will graze among Bears Cubs and calves will lie down together and lions will eat grass as the livestock do babies will crawl safely among poisonous snakes yes a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes and pull it out unharmed nothing will hurt or destroy in all of my Holy Mountain and as the waters fill the sea so the Earth will be filled with people who know the Lord in that day the heir to David's Throne will be a banner of Salvation to all the world the nation will rally to him for the land where he lives will be a glorious place the second reading is Luke luk 28-14 that night some Shepherds were in the fields outside the village guarding their flocks of sheep suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared among them and the radiance of the Lord's Glory surrounded them they were terribly frightened but the angel reassured them don't be afraid he said I bring you good news of great joy for everyone the Savior yes the Messiah the Lord has been brought tonight has been born tonight in Bethlehem the city of David and this is how you will recognize him you will find a baby lying in a Manger wrapped snugly in strips of cloth suddenly the angel was joined by a vast host of others the armies of Heaven praising God glory to God in the highest

Heaven and peace on Earth to all whom God favors now will you join me in the prayer of Peace gracious father you have reconciled us to yourself through the blood of Christ Making Peace for us with you and with one another we praise you that the Prince of Peace has come to rule and reign in our hearts in a world filled with Strife we ask for the peace that surpasses understanding to guard our hearts and Minds in Christ Jesus enable us to reflect this peace as ambassadors of your kingdom until the day when perfect peace is fully recognized amen please stand as you're able as we sing together their First Noel born is the king of [Music] Israel the first the angel did say was to certain poor sheer in fields has [Music] contined and night no h no born is the king of is isra and by the light of that same star three wise men came from country far to seek for a king was their intent and to follow the star wherever it went no born is the king of isra then let us all with one of sing praises to our heav Lord who have made heav and Earth of not and with his blood

Man have no born is the king of [Music] Isel In Christ Alone My Hope Is found he is my light my strength my song This Cornerstone this Solid Ground fir through the F and store what Heights of love what depths of Peace when bears are still when striving SE my comforter My All In All here in the love of Christ I Stand of the World by Darkness slain then buring forth in Glorious Day up from the gra he rose again and as he stands in Victory since curse has lost it grip on me for I am his and he is mine but with the precious blood of [Music] Christ no guilt in life nor fear in death this is the power of Christ in me from Li first cry to final breath Jesus commands my T no power of hell no scheme of man can ever CL me from his hand till he returns or calls me here in the power of Christ stand no power of hell no scheme of man can ever PL me from his hand till he returns or calls me home here in the power of Christ [Music] stand Lord we thank you that we can stand in your power we thank you that only because of you we can we can become acceptable in your sight Lord we thank you that you did

Pluck us from the enemy's hand we thank you that one day we will return home to be with you forever and we thank you for this day that we can celebrate together with you your love and your grace and your sacrifice and your birth on this Earth in Jesus name amen well if you have your Bible and I hope that you do please turn with me to Luke chap 2 today we are discussing peace peace peace that's something that we all long for in our world today isn't it we all want a little bit of Peace this past week we had all sorts of Chaos in our world seems like every day there's something massive like reported something that would have been headline news for like three weeks he's now just buried under everything it just seems like there's headline after after headline after headline of all sorts of stuff and it just gets buried under chaotic pile of increasingly I don't know it just seems like a really crazy headlines everywhere incredible Technologies are being reported and a lot of people it's just no one knows about it new research it's all piled under like politic headlines and stuff like that and just the sheer amount of like sicknesses and trials and Cancers and this week I listed out 23 families in our church that are going through some sort of sickness that's a lot of people that's a lot of people in our church that's over 10% of the families in our church which is just obnoxious it seems like some folks are just overworked they just can't seem to get ahead you know with all of the inflation and some people they're underworked and they can't seem to get enough hours or enough pay in order to make ends meet people are stretched to their limit they can't seem to find

Peace whatsoever and the peace that we seek and that Christ offers is not found in better circumstances or in U more palatable headlines or anything like that but the peace that we have is based in the unchanging reality of Christ