back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Worship Christmas Service 12/22/2024
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All right, good morning and Merry Christmas church family. 00:01:04.180 |
I know we're all excited this morning to come 00:01:07.180 |
and to worship, to remember what Christ has done for us 00:01:10.900 |
and to celebrate Christ and as Christ our savior, 00:01:19.740 |
So as we begin this morning with our service, 00:01:24.740 |
And so we're gonna start with the song Christmas Offering. 00:01:31.160 |
♪ Over the skies of Bethlehem appeared a star ♪ 00:01:59.380 |
♪ Three wise men seeking truth traveled from afar ♪ 00:02:19.340 |
♪ They bowed before the humble prince of peace ♪ 00:02:25.340 |
♪ I bring an offering of worship to my king ♪ 00:02:30.340 |
♪ No one on earth deserves the praises that I sing ♪ 00:02:38.300 |
♪ Jesus may you receive the honor that you're due ♪ 00:03:02.480 |
♪ The sun cannot compare to the glory of your love ♪ 00:03:23.580 |
♪ No mortal man would dare to stand before your throne ♪ 00:03:49.020 |
♪ I bring an offering of worship to my king ♪ 00:03:54.020 |
♪ No one on earth deserves the praises that I sing ♪ 00:04:01.260 |
♪ Jesus may you receive the honor that you're due ♪ 00:04:18.120 |
♪ I bring an offering of worship to my king ♪ 00:04:23.120 |
♪ No one on earth deserves the praises that I sing ♪ 00:04:30.480 |
♪ Jesus may you receive the honor that you're due ♪ 00:05:29.620 |
We have choir, we have our children's ministry 00:05:34.580 |
came to see your nieces, nephews, grandchildren. 00:05:40.340 |
for you to take out your cameras and take pictures. 00:05:43.020 |
But obviously that's gonna be happening soon. 00:05:44.980 |
Let me get to a few announcements before we get started. 00:05:48.020 |
We have a mission team going out to South Korea 00:05:50.860 |
in a few weeks and so they have a hoodie fundraiser 00:05:53.980 |
going on and it's gonna be going on every Sunday 00:05:56.580 |
until they leave in about two weeks, I believe, 00:06:00.100 |
And so if you go outside, there's a table out there 00:06:03.340 |
and those funds will help support some of them 00:06:09.860 |
On New Year's Eve, we have a ping pong tournament 00:06:13.860 |
that happens at 5 p.m. before we have our service at 11. 00:06:17.100 |
And so if you're planning to participate, please sign up. 00:06:23.380 |
So you can go out there and sign up for that. 00:06:38.180 |
Today, after the Christmas or after the service, 00:06:46.580 |
And so Pastor Mark and some of our outreach team members 00:06:51.340 |
So after the service, if you come and visited us as a guest 00:06:56.180 |
and you want some clarification on certain things, 00:07:07.660 |
where all the planters are, that's where the table is. 00:07:10.100 |
So please, we invite you to come and visit that table. 00:07:16.860 |
for the Lottie Moon Christmas mission offering. 00:07:19.740 |
And so if you are planning to give to the missions offering 00:07:27.020 |
as Lottie Moon missions offering when you give. 00:07:29.700 |
And then again, that offering will go to support 00:07:31.980 |
our missionaries that we're supporting overseas, 00:07:38.940 |
And as they come, I'm gonna pray for our offering 00:07:48.180 |
and they're gonna do their presentation as well. 00:08:00.980 |
Otherwise, we'll give you a minute to give your offering. 00:08:15.140 |
Help us, Lord God, to give you our full heart, 00:08:18.360 |
that we would worship you genuinely in spirit and in truth. 00:08:21.560 |
Help us to understand what it is that you've given us 00:08:25.120 |
so that we would respond appropriately, reasonably. 00:08:30.460 |
all of it, Lord God, may bring glory to your name. 00:08:33.480 |
And I pray that the offering that we give now 00:08:38.760 |
that greater and greater glory would come to you. 00:19:00.600 |
♪ Firm through the fiercest drought and storm ♪ 00:19:05.840 |
♪ What heights of love, what depths of peace ♪ 00:19:10.840 |
♪ When fears are stilled, when strivings cease ♪ 00:21:01.480 |
♪ Bought with the flesh and blood of Christ ♪ 00:24:16.100 |
- It was a quiet night in the fields near Bethlehem. 00:24:45.720 |
The shepherds excitedly went to seek out the savior. 00:24:54.920 |
they found the baby wrapped in cloth lying in a manger. 00:25:13.660 |
and he will bring hope and salvation and joy to the world. 00:26:43.340 |
♪ Hearts filled and floods, hearts filled and flames ♪ 00:26:50.860 |
♪ Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy ♪ 00:27:00.860 |
♪ Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat the sounding joy ♪ 00:27:19.500 |
♪ All will follow you where the Lord's love is at ♪ 00:28:03.880 |
♪ And wonders of his love, and wonders of his love ♪ 00:28:29.840 |
♪ All will follow you where the Lord's love is at ♪ 00:29:15.600 |
♪ All will follow you where the Lord's love is at ♪ 00:29:42.020 |
♪ All will follow you where the Lord's love is at ♪ 00:29:53.520 |
♪ All will follow you where the Lord's love is at ♪ 01:07:36.020 |
but I wanna read this to you as I conclude my sermon 01:07:48.020 |
while I was out on the street for a few days. 01:07:56.020 |
that we were gonna be doing homeless ministry full time. 01:08:04.020 |
just to see what it is exactly that they needed. 01:08:22.020 |
what I wrote down while I was there for a few days. 01:08:30.020 |
I went to stay among the homeless to see how they lived. 01:08:40.020 |
When everyone left, I stayed behind with one backpack 01:08:43.020 |
containing a notebook, Bible, and a book to read. 01:08:46.020 |
I stayed with four homeless friends that I made. 01:08:49.020 |
They were laughing and amused that I would sleep with them. 01:08:52.020 |
They didn't think that I would be able to last one night. 01:08:55.020 |
It began to really pour down around 9.30 p.m. 01:09:00.020 |
that five of us would be snuggled together in a small area 01:09:03.020 |
with a small piece of blanket to cover all of us. 01:09:06.020 |
Angel, Fernando, Jorge, and another friend, Martin, 01:09:11.020 |
had to sleep by himself because he came late. 01:09:22.020 |
It wasn't as cold at first, but around 11 p.m. 01:09:33.020 |
We were so snug I couldn't even move my arms. 01:09:43.020 |
During the night I heard loud sirens many times, 01:09:47.020 |
but the sounds didn't seem to bother any of the other guys. 01:09:52.020 |
and woke up Jorge to a lady's home about three blocks away. 01:09:58.020 |
I was hoping that they would wait until the rain stopped, 01:10:03.020 |
Jorge had to jump the fence to let Angel and I 01:10:15.020 |
She had three boys and a sister in that apartment. 01:10:23.020 |
there were three homeless people sleeping there. 01:10:31.020 |
she came over to where we were and held our hands, 01:10:36.020 |
After prayer, one of the homeless guys made coffee for us. 01:10:49.020 |
What can you possibly do as a homeless person? 01:10:52.020 |
We left the apartment around 8 a.m. in the morning. 01:11:00.020 |
I wanted to ask them to wait until it stopped raining, 01:11:03.020 |
but I also wanted to know their life as they lived it, 01:11:16.020 |
Jorge decided to catch a bus to his friend's apartment. 01:11:24.020 |
which I was saving for the phone call I was going to make 01:11:29.020 |
Next home we went to was packed with homeless people, 01:11:33.020 |
It was sort of scary to be among these people at first, 01:11:36.020 |
but it didn't take long for me to get used to it. 01:11:38.020 |
I felt like I was in a whole different world. 01:11:45.020 |
We sat there for another three to four hours just waiting. 01:11:51.020 |
The life of the homeless is just a lot of waiting. 01:11:58.020 |
but it is the feeling of hopelessness and emptiness. 01:12:01.020 |
Santa Ana Civic Center will not open up to the homeless 01:12:12.020 |
no responsibilities, at least for that moment. 01:12:15.020 |
These two guys were no longer just homeless people 01:12:43.020 |
that we go to a shelter provided by Salvation Army. 01:12:46.020 |
They come around on those days when it is extra cold. 01:13:00.020 |
I realized that I was amongst a group of people 01:13:02.020 |
that are familiar to a completely different life. 01:13:09.020 |
It is something that they are exposed to constantly 01:13:11.020 |
and I was right in the middle of these people on the bus. 01:13:14.020 |
I began to pray and it was the longest bus ride 01:13:29.020 |
Though this situation was not the most comfortable place, 01:13:35.020 |
that night I slept like a log because I was so tired. 01:13:40.020 |
Some of these things I completely forgot for years. 01:13:45.020 |
of the few people that I met, but a few things 01:13:47.020 |
that I learned that I would not have understood 01:13:55.020 |
is they don't have shelter, they must be cold, 01:14:06.020 |
who are more than willing to open up their homes, 01:14:08.020 |
and if it gets cold, immediately blankets come out, 01:14:12.020 |
from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, all the way to Sunday morning. 01:14:22.020 |
was a sense of insignificance and hopelessness. 01:14:41.020 |
"Every once in a while, they'll hand us things for free." 01:14:45.020 |
But it says, "Most people don't like to make eye contact 01:14:48.020 |
"because they know they don't want us there." 01:14:57.020 |
you could tell in their eyes they just don't want us there. 01:15:00.020 |
And the feeling of insignificance and emptiness 01:15:09.020 |
I realized that shelter was not safe for most people. 01:15:13.020 |
In fact, that night, I slept with 200, 300 people. 01:15:18.020 |
with somebody who was screaming in the middle of the night. 01:15:20.020 |
An alcoholic who was drunk was grabbed by my arms 01:15:23.020 |
in the middle of the night, pulled him to himself. 01:15:27.020 |
I had to move my cot up to the stage where no one else was. 01:15:35.020 |
that a shelter is the last place you'd want to be, 01:15:40.020 |
And that's something that I would not have known 01:15:42.020 |
if I wasn't there, even though it was just a few days. 01:15:45.020 |
But the biggest thing that I learned while I was out there 01:15:50.020 |
is no different than the biggest problem with all mankind. 01:15:57.020 |
Their homelessness was not simply because they didn't have a home. 01:16:06.020 |
Their biggest problem was that they were spiritually lost. 01:16:23.020 |
we don't solve their problem because we give them warm food to eat. 01:16:27.020 |
Their problem is like all mankind, where death reigns. 01:16:35.020 |
but sometimes the deception is that because our bills are paid, 01:16:41.020 |
because our children are sleeping in a warm house, 01:16:47.020 |
The Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 01:16:51.020 |
The only true life can be had when we're reconciled with this God. 01:17:00.020 |
and in our separation are homeless and wandering 01:17:04.020 |
from one stage of life to another looking for rest 01:17:07.020 |
because that Sabbath that He brought us in at the creation was broken, 01:17:13.020 |
and all of human history is striving, working, laboring, sacrificing 01:17:22.020 |
And Jesus said, "Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, 01:17:42.020 |
so that He can become a sympathetic high priest, 01:17:47.020 |
and so that we can come be reconciled to the only one that can give true life. 01:17:56.020 |
So as we sing, as we worship, as we fellowship, 01:18:06.020 |
the author and the only perfect of our faith. 01:18:38.020 |
that we do not spend this time of the year like the rest of the world. 01:18:44.020 |
I pray that the weight of what it is that we celebrate 01:18:48.020 |
would sanctify us, challenge us, rebuke us, strengthen us, 01:18:52.020 |
that we may worship You in spirit and in truth, 01:18:58.020 |
that God Himself came and took on human form, 01:19:10.020 |
And may glory, honor, praise, love, adoration, obedience 01:22:50.020 |
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 01:22:59.020 |
even to the point of his humiliation on the cross. 01:23:03.020 |
I pray, Father, that as we celebrate this day,