Kingsville Presbyterian Church Virtual Bulletin December 20 2020

Kingsville Presbyterian Church Virtual Bulletin December 20, 2020 - Fourth Sunday in Advent

Welcome! Welcome, as we worship together in this Advent Season. We are happy that we can celebrate the coming of the Christ Child together and acknowledge what His birth means in our personal lives and to our troubled world. Come worship with us often.

Prelude O Come All Ye Faithful, Anne Murray Introit “Jesus, Name above All Names” Jesus, name above all names; Beautiful Savior, glorious Lord. Emmanuel, God is with us; Blessed Redeemer, Living Word.

Invocation and Call to Worship The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the desert a highway for our God! Let us proclaim the name of the Lord and ascribe greatness to our God! He is the Rock, his work is perfect and all his ways are just.

He is the God of faithfulness who does no wrong. John came proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of Isaiah the prophet—all flesh shall see the salvation of our God!

HYMN Away in a Manger Nat King Cole

The Prayer of Confession Moses writes in our first lesson, “I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock, his work is perfect and all his ways are just. He is the God of faithfulness who does no wrong. ” Therefore, with contrite and broken hearts, we confess our sin. Heavenly Father, we come to you because you are faithful and your ways are just.

But we are soiled by sin. Dirty from misdeeds. Grimy from guilt. Lost in a cesspool of selfishness. Though you are faithful. We are faithless. Though you are just and upright. We can be unjust and dishonest. Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

John the Baptist came proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He pointed to the one who is mightier—Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus loves you. Jesus died for you. Jesus lives for you. And Jesus forgives your every sin. And so we say to the world— All flesh shall see the salvation of our God!

Prayer of the Day Almighty and everlasting God, you sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus whose birth, baptism, teaching, miracles, death and resurrection empower us to see your mighty salvation. With the open eyes of faith we thank, praise, serve and obey you; through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Special Music As Joseph Was A Walking Edna Richie, Viper, Kentucky

Old Testament Reading, Deuteronomy 32: 2 -4 May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb. For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Epistle Reading, 1 Corinthians 15: 1 -4 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

Gospel Reading, Luke 3: 1 -16 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. ’”

He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father. ’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ”

And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do? ” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise. ” Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do? ” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do. ” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do? ” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages. ”

As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ”

“The Word of God Came to John” Nadin Khoury was thirteen years old, five foot two and weighed —soaking wet—one-hundred pounds. Nadin and his family escaped war-torn Liberia. Once in America, his family settled in Philadelphia. In 2011, Nadin Khoury was a new kid in Philly with a single mom who was an African immigrant looking for work. That’s the kind of kid bullies spot from a million miles away.

A worker at the nationwide morning show called “The View” heard about it and invited Nadin to appear on the broadcast. Unknown to Nadin, the producer had also invited three members of the Philadelphia Eagles football team to appear on the show as well. One was All-Pro wide-receiver De. Sean Jackson said, “Nadin, I’m here for you, man, anytime you need me. ” Then, in full view of every bully in Philly, De. Sean Jackson gave Nadin Khoury his cell phone number. Bullies think twice before they harass a kid who has an NFL player’s number on speed dial.

We all have our fair share of bullies. Sin and shame, guilt and blame. The biggest bully on the block, however, is a liar and the father of lies. We know him as the devil and Satan hits us with his lies and rubs our face in our dirt. He wants to destroy us. So we run. And we run some more. Then we keep on running. That’s why God sent a man named John—John the Baptist. The setting. In his first two verses of chapter three, Luke provides the setting—answering the questions: when? who? and where?

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness” (Luke 3: 1 -2). When? The Word of God came to John in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar —or 29 AD. Who? Luke also tells us that John is the “son of Zechariah, ” thus reminding us of God’s amazing intervention that led Zechariah and Elizabeth—too old to have children—to have their miracle son named John.

Where? At the end of Luke 1 John is a young boy in the wilderness, waiting for his public appearance to Israel (Luke 1: 80). Now, at the beginning of Luke 3, John is still in the wilderness, but the waiting is over. John’s ministry begins. And his ministry is for people frantically on the run. The salvation. “All flesh shall see the salvation of our God” (Luke 3: 6).

This is great news! Salvation is for all people—even people who feel as though they are running for their lives. People running from problems that no one else understands. People running from bad relationships, bad feelings and bad breaks. People running from a painful past; a perplexing present; and a future that looks like a train wreck waiting to happen. For such people there is salvation! “All flesh shall see the salvation of our God. ”

The shepherds see the salvation of God (Luke 2: 15). Simeon says, “My eyes have seen your salvation” (Luke 2: 30). Fishermen (Luke 5: 1 -11), tax collectors and sinners (Luke 5: 27 -32) see God’s salvation. And from a sycamore tree even little Zacchaeus sees the salvation of our God (Luke 19: 4). The angel puts it this way on Christmas, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2: 10).

When the liar is rubbing my face in my sin and shame, guilt and blame, too often I run to all the wrong places. It’s easy to look to other people. And my job. And my accomplishments. And my money. And my vacations. And my stuff. These are good gifts. These are grand gifts. But these are not my salvation. There is only one salvation that can defeat devils, demons and darkness.

But watch out! We can all be self-deceived. “Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father. ’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham” (Luke 3: 8). The Pharisees and Sadducees (named in Matthew 3: 7) missed God’s salvation because of their pride. They believed that—by virtue of their Jewishness—they were guaranteed a place in the covenant. “We have Abraham as our father. ”

John says that we are saved, not by grace, but by God’s grace—God’s amazing and life-changing grace. Grace, John says, comes through repentance and baptism, in which our roles are completely passive as we surrender to God’s love, distance ourselves from our past ways of sin and profess our allegiance to the coming one —Jesus, who is the Savior.

“As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ. John answered them all, saying, ‘I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire’” (Luke 3: 1516). John is not the Christ—the anointed Davidic deliverer and king. John is the proclaimer. Jesus has the power!

And Jesus comes to fight the bullies on our behalf! That’s what Luke 4 is all about! Jesus meets the bully in the wilderness and three times defeats him with the thunderous, “It is written!” Throughout Luke’s gospel Jesus casts out devils and demons. Jesus binds the strong man. Jesus announces the salvation of our God! Jesus fights Satan for. . . our health and for our family. Jesus fights for our salvation and for our restoration. And Jesus fights for our final resurrection.

Are the odds against you? Is the coach against you? Is the boss against you? Is your health against you? Are your emotions against you? Does it seem as though everything is against you? Difficult, for sure.

But Jesus fights for … You. Yes, you. You with the broken past. You with the aging body. You with the absentee father. You with the lost job. You with the bad back, the bad credit score and the bad grade. Jesus fights for the “yous” of the world.

Are you a you? Then Jesus fights Satan for you. Jesus defeats Satan for you. And the day is coming when Jesus will destroy Satan for you. Jesus even gives you his number on speed dial. And what would that be? B-I-B-L-E. Bible!

I used to have the cutest beagle dog. His name was Howard. And Howard could run. Man, could Howard run! I would take Howard running with me. Why, Howard could put in eight miles like nobody’s business! Problem. Sometimes Howard would run away. One summer day, Howard was running away, again! I caught up with him and I got to within ten feet of that darn dog. Howard stopped dead in his tracks. We looked at each other straight in the eye. Howard had a choice. He could either listen to me or take off running.

What did Howard do? You guessed it. Howard took off running, again! So do you. So do I. We all run. And we run some more. And then we keep on running. Because he’s after us. “He? ” You know. The bully on the block—the father of lies, the devil himself trying to, again, rub our face in the dirt. But we don’t have to keep running through life. Why is that?

God sent a man named John—John the Baptist. The setting? 29 AD, in the wilderness. The salvation. For all people. The self-deception. “I don’t need repentance and baptism. ” The Savior? Jesus! And Jesus invites us to stop running, turn around and look straight into his tender eyes, trusting these magnificent words of 1 Samuel 17: 47, “The battle belongs to the Lord. ” Amen.

Hymn Josh Groban, O Holy Night

Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer Each petition ends with This gift is for all people and we so confess All flesh shall see the salvation of our God Lord Jesus Christ, you are our Divine Warrior who fights for us. Whether it’s a mere skirmish or an all-out assault, the battle belongs to you, Lord. Fear and discouragement are not the order of the day; faith and hope are. This gift is for all people and so we confess—

All flesh shall see the salvation of our God. Lord Jesus Christ, often we feel like Gideon taking on the Midianite army; like David standing before Goliath; like Elijah facing 400 prophets of Baal; like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in a fiery furnace; like Esther against the Persian government. It’s not our competence but your presence that matters. This gift is for all people and so we confess—

All flesh shall see the salvation of our God. Lord Jesus Christ, when it seems like evil and terror will triumph, give us eyes to see your power and your might. When we’re under attack by the seducer, accuser and condemner, let us see your scars, your resurrection triumph and your all-sufficient grace. This gift is for all people and so we confess—

All flesh shall see the salvation of our God. Lord Jesus Christ, when we have to confront darkness in broken people and broken situations, protect us and empower us through the gospel. When our divided hearts wage war inside us and we’re tempted to look for another savior, come to us and fight, Jesus, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. The Lord’s Prayer is spoken in unison.

HYMN Hark, the Herald Angels Sing

Benediction, Charge, and Blessing Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the desert a highway for our God! Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, rejoice.

Choral Benediction “Emmanuel” Maranatha Singers Emmanuel, His name is called Emmanuel, God with us, Revealed in us, His name is called, Emmanuel.

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Mission Statement The Kingsville Presbyterian Church is committed to spreading the teaching of Jesus Christ and caring for the blessings given to us by God, while providing for the needs of the congregation and community in a safe and friendly environment and keeping up with the changing nature of our world and the people in it.