The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
00:00:01 okay next uh next week is Christmas and then New Year's and then uh you are going to teach us to know God all right so um we're going to continue about our series on caroling and let me just uh give something one thing I really appreciate is after sermons right people come and tell me hey you know I I think something you did not very right if you're doing in the right spirit is very good because we all should be teachable so Wong told me this you know which I really took to heart you see you think
00:00:30 this verse which is actually Romans chapter 5 and you read it by itself it sounds very stoic you know read it we glory in our sufferings suffering produces perseverance perseverance character character hope this on last week you don't need to be Christian to do this in fact a lot of self-help people teach you this they teach you to have a positive attitude they teach you to look back look at your mistakes to look forward to have positive thinking learn from the past and all of that so here's the danger the danger is is when we look
00:01:00 at this in isolation all of these things about being positive being grateful learning from your past all of this is very human the moment we sandwich this it takes on a completely different perspective it's a sandwich text meaning the only way we can get out of suffering is when you're anchored in faith because you've been Justified you have peace with God you have you're standing on Grace and God's love love so fills you verse 5 and this one thing I want to really take us today it is a holy spirit
00:01:36 thing because when you're going through a lot of pain or suffering right try imagine being somebody who lost somebody at batan Kali it's very hard you scream and you don't need to understand everything you just need to understand enough that God loves me I'm mean it his grace I'm been Justified and then the rest you process I want us to take us that today as we go go through silent night because this is actually the single most famous Carol ever written it is on the 20111 UNESCO list it's been translated into 300 languages everybody
00:02:17 knows this carol everybody you want to bring a non Christian to church to sing they'll sing this song so the question again we're going to ask is like what we did with Joy to the World number by the way there's a top 10 of Carol right number one is Silent Night number two Joy to the World you want to know why are we singing it and what do the words mean so this morning we're going to look a little bit at the backdrop of this Carol and we're going to see what the words mean and we're going to ask ourselves why is it
00:02:46 this song or all the carols is so popular so let's come before the Lord in prayer Lord I ask for humility we ask your words go out and don't come back nor and Lord we we ask that we know what we are singing during Christmas and may this morning sermon come with scripture that illuminates and not the wisdom of man Jesus name we say this in 1818 a Catholic priest called Joseph mura wrote a Carol that he would not realize would become so famous it is so famous there's a museum in a place called almhof in
00:03:32 Austria there's a museum to it can you imagine there's a museum to the Cara and of course the most famous uh state to history which is really interesting was in 1914 at what we call the Great War or World War I where 13 million died you think the war in Ukraine is a war in there you have a war like a battle of vun one war is one battle 300,000 people will die nobody no war in history of mankind the people die over what we call Wall of attrition and the lines just don't move you know and in 1940 at the
00:04:06 start of the war right at Christmas Germans at across the line started to sink silent in German and the British people recognize it and so they responded they call this the miracle truth and for a short while in the war in such a horrific War re claim more lives than the history of mankind after that you look at what happened with the pestilence and the genocide and the otoman Empire if you ever study history this went down in history it shows you the absurdity of wars and how men stries to peace but why
00:04:46 is this carol so famous I give you a bit of context which may be a bit more relevant to us and one of the thing that strikes us about this carol as opposed to other carols like Joy to the World the herald angel saying is this mood correct is this mood there's something about the mood you know it's a mood that makes you pause let me tell you the history of it in 1818 what happened in this little town this is right after what we call the Napoleonic Wars Europe is ravaged it's like coming out of covid is
00:05:26 bankrupt there's uncertainty sburg which is where the the church was bought is now losing his independence at part of Austria there is famine but most interestingly why silent night and this is why I think the song came about let me give you two reasons maybe feel firstly there was over flooding and the church organ was broken so father mura saw a a traveling band singing The Nativity singer he wanted to write a song but the church organ was broken so what did he do he found a guitar that's that a song in those you know
00:06:03 music 68 di Silent Night 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 he wrote it on the guitar with a friend but you know why he kept that mood because at that time it was snowing very heavily and in fact in sburg it was snowing like you have never seen before and it's not the kind of magical snow it's a depressing snow you know why it was snowing because thousands of miles away in Sumatra a volcano had blown there was global warming then you know and that volcano was so powerful it blanketed the Earth and unprecedented
00:06:43 snow fell on Europe against a backdrop of starvation of just coming out of a war of a river flooding of snow you never see he wrote this song now I tell you why is so popular because it does something to us it tells us the need of silence and I will propose to you that's one of the hardest things to do in a church service let me let me do a little test very simple one you know all right do a little test all right okay I want you to take a deep breath relax in a short while we are just going to have silence for one
00:07:36 minute I challenge you you can't do it all right three 2 1 e that was exactly one minute and if you like a lot of us you will suffer for what we call Monkey mind you would think hey what is the guy doing how come so long it's very hard to keep still and probably the most important needed for Christmas because you know why at Christmas we rush we have to have a service we have to have the band we have to have the play those of you your kids you be go you'll be so stressed buying presents they wake up they drive you up
00:09:14 the wall at the end of Christmas and I I like to suggest what we really need at Christmas I want to suggest this is a time to be silent before God that I suggest is what really is missing you get so caught up in the whole thing you forget one basic thing is Jesus birthday and the basic question you have to ask what are you bringing as a gift for the birthday boy let me pause on that and we go through the lyrics a bit all right now of course this was uh poetry those of you who are Bible scholars don't tear it apart you say how
00:09:57 do you know it's a silent night of course a Bible say a silent night now how do you know it's a holy night there's nothing holy only Jesus yes yes we all know you know your Bible very good thank you very much don't need to do Exposition on this but the words and the melody makes you quiet that's the beauty of it and in the three stanzas there are few lines in it which are just so poetic and I want to pick up one line in each stanza and this is this one sleep in Heavenly peace when you hear that what comes to your
00:10:37 mind this isn't it it makes you feel rested it makes you feel comforted it makes you feel still and rest is a major theme in the Bible from Genesis one when God rested we have always been in external rest to the Sabbath rest to the fact that all the Fe of the Old Testament there are seven of them they point to rest to Jesus asking us to rest in him this is a major theme we won go to it but I want to pick up the idea of sleep in Heavenly peace now what the text is giving you this is what you call
00:11:14 is written in what we call the Romantic poetry it is like a mother looking at baby all of you who mothers who understand it the men don't like because men very thick you know but women would when you remember the day you held your baby child how did you feel you felt contented right a little baby in your side and you go but here's the Wonder of it that baby that Mary held is God that baby Mary held is God and when God sleeps can you try to put your head around there he's equally God and equally man when God sleeps he doesn't
00:11:54 fret like us he doesn't have sleep apnea he doesn't need sleeping pills to sleep he doesn't get stressed he sleeps Heavenly that's the point now there's a lot coming out here and I found this really interesting verse in Psalm 48 it's fantastic in peace I think this heavenly peace I will lie down and sleep I for someone like me who think who really suffer for insomnia I always prayed Lord give this to me I know I'm not alone for you alone Lord Make Me dwell in safety like wow all right you alone make me dly safety how do I
00:12:33 get that how do I sleep in Heavenly peace the first verse is interesting answer me when I call you my righteous God give me relief of my distress have mercy on me and hear my prayer you listen to Psalm 4 it's a lament he's actually very stressed and the whole Psalms there a short Psalm seven verses he talks about Israelites abandoning God he's so stressed in the end he say I say go to sleep I I wish I could have that I wish you could have that and why is that because there something about rest it's
00:13:04 about trusting in God the word rest connotates the word still and we know the famous s of with the Hebrew word is Rafa the word Rafa in Hebrew means to Just Surrender now I wanted to pause a bit and you can say how am I going to surrender how am I going to rest things are just so stressful but let me give you Psalm 37 be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him and then again there the whole issue of stress do not fret when people succeed do not fret when things go wrong do not fret when
00:13:35 you have this and that and look at the other version nkve Christian Standard Bible the the good World Bible be still rest I love this be silent that's silent night for you and surrender there this whole Idol of calmness so one thing I want us to do today and and we're going to take the sermon a bit differently I'm trying to encourage us as a body to learn to rest together we tried it just like one minutes of silence and I think it was very uncomfortable so we're going to do it again afterwards and I pray as a body
00:14:07 you can learn to be silent and hear God speak now there's another kind of Silence you know because sleep in scripture has two connotations that is the Eternal sleep in fact Paul uses that language in Corinthians and we tell people rest in peace but actually when people die you're not Christian you don't know where they go so they say strange things may he I hope he rests in Paradise I hope he rest in this they don't really know it's a fretful rest there's no Heavenly rest and nothing was more obvious than the emperor shangti when he
00:14:45 died he was so anxious he had to bury himself with entire Terra cot Army because he thought after he died his armies were still his enemies were come after him so to be safe he buried a whole Army of Terra Cotta soldiers together with with his life wife's life and all lot of things he was quite brutal man and you know the Terra Cotta Army right it faces East you know because you know he built the wall also because that's where the enemies were coming it shows how threatful we are as a people so here's first thing I want us
00:15:14 to look at the idea of resting in God alone that's what we're going to do today right I want us to pause and sit and say how can I rest how can my soul the Hebrew understanding of soul is everything my physical self my emotional self for my hope comes from him and this is what Christmas is and so you sit there you say yes I heard this a million one times how does a baby born give me hope I got stress I got work problems I got health problems how does all of this help me all this talk you have about
00:15:49 about hope I want you to pause on this all right so we're going to take a few words today you can give you three words right the first stanza sleep in Heavenly peace the idea of rest something we all struggle to do the idea of Silence even harder to do in a church the idea of surrendering for people who like to always get up and do things to to just know that sometimes you're not in control you know no matter what you're facing you just got to slow down and trust God and let me tell you that's extremely difficult to do so there one
00:16:25 sleep in Heavenly peace here's the next one and now the author takes it to another Vantage the shepherd silent night holy night Shepherds quick at the sight we know this text Glory stream from Heaven afar Heavenly Host sing Allelujah that's of course the Luke text I want to take one verse which we also don't do in church we don't do at all the first is silence I I I throw to you you find it hard to do silence here's another thing which you also don't do in church and it's in the second line quick
00:17:03 at the sight the term here is excitement this term here is reverence and if you know the Lucan narrative there are two parts of doing this or I'll just put it up for you we know the story right suddenly great company heavenly host appeared the angel praising God glory to God highest heaven and on Earth peace to whom his favor rest when the Angels left them and gone into Heaven the Shepherds said to one another let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing has happened where the Lord has told us so they Hur up found Mary
00:17:36 and Joseph and the baby who Li in a Manger when they see him they spread a word concerning what's been told by this child and all heard were amazed at what the shepherd said to them we know this story right actually what we don't really know the background this this entire story of the good news the all man actually comes from Isaiah 52 in Isaiah 52 the Shepherds here are actually The Watchmen who proclaim the they are so they quck at the sight so much they Proclaim go they see it they see this and they say wow the Messiah do
00:18:08 you really think they understood everything I don't think so here's something about faith you just need to know enough not everything did you really think the Shepherds understood imputed righteousness justification by faith all those theology Evangelical no this just new God arrived at the door side and the baby but I want to pick up verse 19 but Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in a heart and many people have picked up the Luke is trying to do the contrast because she sees this
00:18:41 she had an earlier vision from an angel and God is a child she's wondering what it all means I want you to pause that God is a baby so here's another word which we very very seldom stand in our church in a upper middle class intellectually inclined theologically correct gospel centered church we all like to use all those big words the first is we don't know how to rest in God we don't know how to quiet ourselves here's the second one I think this is even more and I humbly suggest FBC suffers from this and we're not the
00:19:19 only one is this word we have forgotten what it is to wonder to ponder and say wow this is this happened God became a baby I think we've forgotten that you see churches like to fight Evangelical churches think they're very smart they tell themel you know the Bible car SP like to say we filled with the Holy Spirit then the both sides will argue law they fight law one side accusers the other side of playing with emotions oh you charismatics all play emotions charismatic accus Evangelical you all intellectual all de in the f they
00:20:00 fight but it doesn't matter what side of the camp you're on I I want to show you a posture let me just give you a little bit this B theology there two words they like to use in theology one is Orthodoxy Orthodoxy means what you believe the other words called Auto praxy auto praxy is the posture that follows what you believe that means okay very good you come to FC oh you're very gospel centered we preach all the right thing oh very good or really let's see it in your posture of worship and the posture
00:20:27 is from the heart here's I'm going to show you another photo I'm sorry if I'm offensive today yeah no I'm not really sorry no I'm not you can write to me nicely L why I'm not but here I'm going to show you another photo which I have never seen happen FBC never I'm going to challenge you today I told this to the worship thing the worship thing say will not happen at this service but don't do it to prove me wrong I want to show you photo and it has always been my prayer that when we worship some people in the
00:21:00 church will do this but in my entire life in FBC I have never seen this now why God not good enough for you to kneel down too oh kneeling is what the Catholics do yeah we are very good at criticizing people we get it you are very theologically correct yeah we get it we're very good at Condes judging everyone from not being gospel centered and not doing expositional Bible study but why is it we have not KN now here's the other thing I can say everybody KN your KN love it's not from the heart you
00:21:39 know what would be interesting what will be interesting is that if we played the song later and some of you were so moved you came in front and knelt here but not going to happen L this FBC I don't believe all the they saw the worship team said but I'm going to challenge you to do that because what we're going to do later on is to find silence for you to rest and if the song So moves you you stand up you come in front here and you kneel down I would say that's the Holy Spirit but you do it with all the music
00:22:14 psycho you guys say ah the Lord is here spirit and now the Alor call we want you want to raise your hands come on now that's I just playing up your emotions I'm very good at doing that thank you very much I should been a pastor of aega Church I'll be making millions now but if there silence and there's nobody and you felt God speaking you came up here and now I would say that's the holy spirit let me tell you what I'll make it easier for you even no need to KNE just stand but that were not very hard right
00:22:44 that mean as we play the song and it's silence right and we going to do that later the Lord moves you you stand now here's the thing we don't want to co you to doing it in the end maybe your posture isn't kneeling your posture isn't understanding I just pray in your heart where you sit you find wonder that God became man so the second word here's the last one okay silent night holy night son of God's love pure light raining beams from thy holy face with Dawn of Redeeming Grace Jesus Lord at die birth and this
00:23:24 one is theologically pack and this verse has been picked up and is this word dawn of Redeeming Grace what does that mean is Dawn you know what's Dawn Morning Has Broken you're not out of it Redeeming the Greek language CH is like to buy you back even though I ransome you and Grace and we're not going to go into the theology so much but Galatians which is a whole argument about Judaism forcing people to be circumcised there's this famous verse when the set time has fully come or when the appropriate time has fully come when the
00:24:06 time has fully made that's that issue about timing God sent his son born of a woman the seed of a woman that's Genesis language there obviously Genesis 2 born of the law he was a Jew why so he could fulfill the law to redeem those under the law and he's trying to tell the Jews Jesus fulfills it and now goes out to Gentiles he has bought us back he has bought us back because we are all sinners we are all sinners and by our own self we think we're good people we are not you and I know that he not only
00:24:41 redeemed us he gave us full adoption to sanes he made us son there the other wow moment here and this only comes if there a holy spirit pun to you but here's what the verse both verses are saying when you talk about dawn let me give you uh the word the word means is not finished yet you know here's another word we really struggle with waiting and those are the three words I want to give you today to rest quiet and then you rest you wonder and as you wonderand you learn to wait and brothers and sisters that's how
00:25:25 we have hope when we say dawn of Redeeming Grace let me just give you one story which you all know some of it it's a man called Simeon in Luke Chapter 2 there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon who was righteous and devout he was waiting for the consolation Israel the word consolation here means they were grieving he wants Israel to be back and here's interesting the Holy Spirit was on him but here's one thing everything I just say you could sit here and just say look it all doesn't make sense unless
00:25:55 your heart is yielding to the spirit and this is what happened it been revealed to him by Holy Spirit he will not die before he seen the Lord's Messiah now this what's interesting now which I I'm going to say again I'm going to be very offensive also I think doesn't happen in the church moved by the spirit how many you really believe you sit here you've been moved by the spirit maybe moved by the music maybe moved because very clever speaker here who actually turns this sermon into a t talk knows how to
00:26:23 play your emotions but how many of you really when you sit here right now is are moved by the spirit look what he did move by Spirit doesn't tell you why he went into the temple cour doesn't explain it you know you don't know how long he was waiting he was waiting he was waiting he was waiting then one day he said you know what I'm going to go to church that's what the text is saying moved by the spirit he went to Temple cour and here's the other thing is interesting the parents brought the Child Jesus to him but the customer of
00:26:52 the law required he's born under the law right time Simeon took him the arms and praised God and saying this Sovereign Lord as you have promised you may now dismiss your servant in peace that's you know what that is that's sleep in Heavenly peace he's saying I can now die in peace that's rest you you see where we're going with this that's waiting and there's rest I I've now seen the baby I can die hey what happened to you did your life get better do your cancer get improved did your share market go up do your do you
00:27:29 get back job nothing his his life was just as bad nothing but he now says I can die in peace why for my eyes have seen your salvation what is that Wonder that's Wonder we should prepare in the sight of all Nations a light for Revelation Gentiles and the glory of people Israel I want to pause on this because when let me ask you a question and here something brutal you know you see this you see very terrible so sad you know then you go on your life but if you lost someone there today in church you will be asking this
00:28:16 question why God correct it betrays a bit about ourselves you know but let me give you a simple and it's not going to answer everything right when God redeems he's not just redeeming us he's going to redeem creation a lot of us have false hope you know what's false hope here's false hope and I really pray you hear these words a lot of us come to church sit here and we think our church attendance and we do a little bit and then we say God should spare me for something like this you won't admit it you won't admit it but
00:28:55 your heart is saying that and when something like this happens to you you say is not fair now that's very painful isn't it but what is Christmas Christmas is the dawn of Redeeming Grace God is giving you a for days God is not saying you're going to spare all of this he's giving you hope to carry you through all of this we go very short memories in 204 on boxing day 230,000 people died of a tsunami have you all forgotten that or not you think they died because they sin they died because a broken
00:29:30 world and so it's not only us that will be redeemed this Prayer by amig GM he says father God or your word tells us that all of creation is groaning waiting to be redeemed so three words let me tell you what a silent Christmas teaches us I want us to ponder this and this was something I struggled with the first is to rest in him for all of you who are very Kong who are anxious who are jumpy who can't wait for this service to be over and then because you've done your religious Duty and gone home I really
00:30:04 suggest you pause because that's not what church service is about the second is to ReDiscover wonder and awe and I'm going to challenge you again that if today you can't even kneel perhaps as a song sings you would stand but I'm not going to judge you it's your heart maybe you can ReDiscover W seated down but posture shows the heart and the third is what is hope hope isn't sitting here giving 10% of your tithe coming Faithfully to church service and doing a little bit and saying that it's not fair
00:30:44 if bad things happen to you can't stress that enough hope is being able to have that kind of Holy Spirit love driven in you that hope come when you have suffering it produces perseverance perseverance produces character and character hope and hope does not disappoint because God's love is pour out to you let me just finish off with another uh carol which is very similar and then we're going to get sister lean to come up and sing and what she's going to do she's going to sing and in between every stanza we're going to have silence
00:31:28 like what we did just now and during that silence I pray God speaks to you so I just give you a bit heads up we're going to do a bit of Things Different today right we're going to quieten ourselves down so let me just tell you a bit of the song it's French lyrics will be this guy called plac capu he's a very famous uh uh uh poet ad DOI Adam was a very famous musician and John Sullivan Dwight was a minister who translated this into English I want you to keep keep this in mind because we're going to
00:31:59 come back to this after the song so I'm going to quickly get this the words up and maybe lean can come up as you get your ready and get Joanne and I want you to prepare yourself for this like I said there three words I want us to prepare ourself today one is to rest and as she plays the song later on I I want the words to resonate and you rest and then wonder and then maybe ReDiscover hope what it means in redem in Grace so we're just going to quickly go through only one stanza and then we're going to sing
00:32:33 the song Oh Holy Night the stars are brightly shining it is the night of the dear savior's birth this is really great poetry long lay the world in sin and error pining till he appeared and the Soul felt this world this is great poetry you know what this is this is waiting is about waiting pining in anticipation and we understood this last week Christmas is looking back in gratitude and we wait in anticipation for him to come again meanwhile as we wait God changes us meanwhile as we wait suffering might come to you blessings
00:33:17 might come to you but as you wait you learn to rest in God you learn to rest and that's what waiting is this is the other thing we do while we wait and here the second line the trle of Hope the we Soul rejoices that's Joy to the World for Yonder breaks a new and glorious M what is that that's dawn of Redeeming Grace there dawn of Redeeming Grace this understanding what it is to just rest in God in this but probably the song's most famous line because this is just a very hard song to sing is found in its chorus
00:33:59 and what I want you guys to do today Fall on Your Knees when have you fallen on your knees as you play the song later would you have the courage to come in front and Fall on Your Knees there if you can't would you have the courage to stand raise your hands or sit there says Lord hear this Fall on Your Knees hear the angel voices Oh night divine oh night when Christ was born I want to ask Joanne to just give us some I want us to just quieten ourselves down and like I said today we we want to pause and let God speak to
00:34:47 us what happens is that Leanne is going to sing the song and you're are going to be seated here and we want you to let the words just what make you rest and as the words go I pray you will wonder at God as you wait there and after one stanza we just going to be very quiet I'm going to put up some scripture and as the scripture speaks to you in that silence I'm going to challenge you to kneel before God and if nobody kneels it's fine I I don't really care being embarrassed I really don't care don't feel in your heart to kneel maybe
00:35:32 stand Lord we just quieten our hearts right now and we still learn to rest in you maybe we're all suffering we have pain teach us to be still and just to comfort us oh Lord and let us wonder how on that day you God the almighty the Ancient of Days became a baby why why have you paused on that oh church that the god of universe became a helpless baby for my sake and your sake to redeem us from our sins not only us to redeem whole of creation that doesn't take us to our knees I don't know what does we let Leanne just sing this song
00:36:20 and let's scripture just speak to us [Music] Oh Holy Night the stars are brightly [Music] shining it is the night of our de savior's SP long lay the world in sin and [Music] nevering till he appeared and the Soul felt it [Music] wor a thrill of Hope the wey World rejoices for oner praise a new and glorious morning [Music] Fall on Your [Music] Knees oh he the angel [Music] voice oh night div [Music] when Christ was born oh now Divine [Music] oh oh night as the music place we thank you for those who have come in front and
00:38:25 knelt and I don't want to do this out of a conscious thing to make you feel guilty maybe there you if you want to kneel you kneel you want to stand you stand I'm going to give you a verse as we go into this silence I want you to read this verse and if God speaks to you you come in front you near we thank you someone kneeling there where they seated this is Spirit moving we want you stand I'm going to give you a minute now and I want you to read those words and I want God to break your heart I want God to really break
00:38:57 your heart your heart [Music] L By the Light all Faith serenely [Music] beaming with glowing Hearts by his crad we stand so that by th of a star sweetly gleaming here come the wise men from warant Land the King of Kings lay th and LLY m in all our trials B want to be your friend he knows our need to our weakness is no stranger behold your king be before him lowly Bend [Music] behold your [Music] king Him Lonely behold your king before him lowly [Music] B father God as we your spirit MO moves in our midst we ask you break our hearts
00:42:00 and I want to invite the church now into a confession of sin where you are privately whether you're seated as the music plays or you're standing I want us to weep at our sin I want us to weep at the broken world where landslides happen where marriages are broken where we can't sleep our sin was so much that God had to become man because he loved us and so scripture tells us in our relationship one another have the same mindset as Christ Jesus who being very in a nature God did not consider equality with God something
00:42:37 to be used his own Advantage rather he made himself Nothing by taking the very nature of servant being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself but becoming obedient in death even death on the cross behold your king [Music] truly he taught us to love one another his loest love and his goel is peace chain shall he break for the slave is our brother and in his name all oppression shall ceas sweet h of joy in grateful cous raise we let all within us praise His holy
00:44:25 name chrry CHR is the Lord Oh Praise His Name forever his power and [Music] Glory the more Proclaim Oh night [Music] divine oh night oh night thank you I like to invite you all to return to your seats as we continue this behold your king thank you lean therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth and every tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father
00:45:54 amen so let me finish the sermon by tell you interesting story about The Wonder of God's glory and and if you lack faith I want to tell you God moves through the pages of History if the river didn't flood on that day Silent Night would not have been written because the church Argan would have been working last week Joy to the World if somebody didn't write a song not meant for Christmas you wouldn't get Joy to the world but nothing beats nothing beats the origin of this song nothing beats this this song was written by plid
00:46:35 capu here this he was an atheist yes he didn't believe in God he wrote it as a challenge because the priest asked him to write and on a journey back to Paris he opened the Book of Luke and ready he was a nominal Church believer he was a Socialist Party member ad doie Adam was a Jew or you say well it was translated by Minister you know what Minister he was he's a unarian Min you know what unitarians believe they do not believe Jesus Is God all three people here did not believe baby Jesus Is God but if these three people did not
00:47:21 write this song this one of the most powerful carols written what did we just read just now at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow every atheist every transcendal every person one day shall bow God's glory is such when he comes again the whole world would bow and all of creation will sing and occasionally through the cracks of History he shows his glory that a man and atheist who did not believe in God will write one of the most powerful carols ever written can you believe that if that is not the power of God I
00:48:16 don't know what it is I'm going to invite the worship team up and I want us to just take these words in and they're going to sing Silent Night and what we're going to do is we're just going to get everyone to sing and we're going to stand and sing it and at the third stanza they are just going to go quiet again and all all I ask is in that silence I want you to ask that God speaks to you I don't know what he's going to say but look Simeon he was waiting and waiting and one day the Holy Spirit just
00:49:00 told him you know what go to go go to the temple have you not considered God can speak like that to you today do you not want that only if your heart is willing so as the team gets ready and maybe Joanne gives us some keys I want us to slow down and I'm going to do a prayer that God speaks to you in this silence in the church in the same way as Simeon was waiting he was just waiting and waiting maybe he was waiting at home then the Spirit came to him and says you know what go to the temple and he went to
00:49:43 Temple he saw wonder and he says you know what I'm now going to die in Heavenly peace I'm going to pray that for you not not to die in Heavenly peace but that as Joan plays you you seek the Holy Spirit to speak to you I don't know why you say maybe a word of gratitude that Jesus died for your sins maybe a word of grief because you have been sinning maybe to say that you know what I I just can't keep on doing this coming to church every Sunday not doing anything but do you not want the Holy Spirit to speak to
00:50:21 you I do and then and then as as song sings I pray the Lord will prompt you and after the second stanza we're just going to go very quiet and then I'm going to ask you to offer prayer back to God and then we close Lord we just ask as this morning this Silent Morning your holy spirit moves in our midst and drives us to to break our hearts of our sins as we look at our own sinful nature and a sins of this world and the broken world where landslides happen and and we thank Lord on that faithful night that silent
00:51:05 night you came as a baby the almighty God the Ancient of Days came in flesh the word became flesh and dwelt among us as you dwell in that Wonder Lord give us that Heavenly peace we need let us quake as a she as the Shepherds did as we wait on you and remember the dawn of Redeeming Grace is on us that's good news and no matter what the world throws at us whatever we might be suffering we remember suffering produces endurance endurance and perseverance character and character hope and hope does not disappoint
00:51:56 because we have experienced the glory of God of Jesus born of a woman died on the cross defeated death wash away my sins that I will live joyfully Behold our [Music] King can you stand as we sing this meditatively perhaps let's just stand I mean let's join the worship team and singing let's raise our voices to the Lord in this we ask that this offering of worship is pleasing to you we offer our voices to you Lord they are broken because we are Broken Vessels we come no other way we ask this morning you pierce our
00:53:01 hearts you made us weep made us confess our sins you made us grateful now may the love of Christ so fill your heart that as you leave the hall today you realize the dawn of Redeeming Grace is on you that as Christmas come you would quick as the Shepherds did and wonder and may all of you find Heavenly peace today tomorrow and the rest of your life despite what happens in the future and God's people say amen you may be seated the service is over I'm going to ask CH Chang to play the guitar very slowly any one of you want to have
00:53:57 prayers talk to us we thank you the Holy Spirit move in our midst and truly hope God spoke to you do talk to us God bless all with you and may you prepare your hearts
