(Extra)ordinary Christmas: Songs | Doug Sauder

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Born unto us this day, a Savior ♪ Gifted from heaven to a manger ♪ The hope of the world, a light for all mankind ♪ All of the earth rejoice, it's Christmas time ♪ So lift up your voice and sing out His praise It's Christmas Born as the King, rejoice in Him today It's Christmas And make a joyful sound It's Christmas Let His praise resound It's Christmas Goodwill to all the earth And peace divine ♪ All of the earth rejoice, it's Christmas time ♪ It's Christmas time Yeah So lift up your voice and sing out His praise It's Christmas Born as the King, rejoice in Him today

It's Christmas And make a joyful sound It's Christmas Let His praise resound It's Christmas Lift up your voice and sing out His praise It's Christmas Born as the King, rejoice in Him today It's Christmas And make a joyful sound It's Christmas When freedom comes It's Christmas It's Christmas time Oh, oh, oh ♪ Yeah ♪ Come on everybody, let's celebrate Come on everybody, let's celebrate Come on everybody, let's celebrate Come on everybody, let's celebrate Come on everybody, let's celebrate Come on everybody, let's celebrate It's Christmas Come on everybody, let's celebrate It's Christmas Come on everybody, let's celebrate It's Christmas Come on everybody, let's celebrate

It's Christmas Come on everybody, let's celebrate It's Christmas Come on sing it if you know it Angels we have heard on high Sweetly singing o'er the plains And the mountains in reply Echoing their joyous strains Everybody sing Gloria In excelsis Deo Shepherds, why this jubilee Why your joyous strains prolong But look at some tidings be Which inspire your heavenly song We sing Gloria In excelsis Deo Gloria In excelsis Deo Hallelujah Hallelujah, oh, sing glory to God, glory to God, glory to God in the highest forever, for all He has done is unfailing love, glory to God in the highest forever. Come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing, come adore on bended knee Christ the Lord, the newborn King. Everybody sing, sing Gloria in excelsis Deo, Gloria in excelsis Deo. We sing glory, glory to God, glory to God, glory to God in the highest forever, for all He has done is unfailing love, glory to God in the highest forever. Glory to God, glory to God, glory to God in the highest forever, for all He has done is unfailing love, glory to God in the highest forever. Glory, glory, glory to God in the highest. Glory, glory, glory to God in the highest. Don't be afraid, he said, I'll bring good news, I'll bring great joy to all people. The Savior, yes, the Messiah, the Lord has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David. Glory 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. Heaven, heaven and nature sing.

We will sing, sing, sing. Joy to the world. We will sing, sing, sing. Joy to the world, the Savior awakes. Let men their songs employ, while fields and floods, crops, fields and plains, repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy. Repeat, repeat the sounding joy. We will sing, sing, sing. Joy to the world. We will sing, sing, sing. He rules. 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. Amen. ♪ Wonders, wonders, wonders of His love ♪ ♪ We will sing, sing, sing ♪ ♪ Joy to the world ♪ ♪ We will sing, sing, sing ♪ ♪ Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee ♪ ♪ God of glory, Lord of love ♪ ♪ Hush not, for love cries before Thee ♪ ♪ O King to the Son of God ♪ ♪ Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee ♪ ♪ God of glory, Lord of love ♪ ♪ Hush not, for love cries before Thee ♪ ♪ O King to the Son of God ♪ Woo! So everywhere you go in the world, people sing. And especially around Christmas time. People are singing in all different languages, all different styles. And sometimes when you go through the Christmas season, it's sort of this song, this music, is like white noise. It fades in the background, like all the lights. You hear the sound of singing, but you're not really thinking about what the words are saying. Maybe you even sang some songs in church today, and you're like, I don't even know what I sang.

I mean, it was just like a memory that kicked in. Joy to the world. Gloria, glorious. What does that even mean? What are we actually even saying? And if we're not careful, songs can become very ordinary. Ordinary song, I mean, a song just has lyrics and melody and some rhythm, and you put those things together. So what makes a song so extraordinary, so powerful? And I experienced the power of a song this week when I was, I took my wife to Les Mis, and we were watching this woman sing this song, this heartfelt song. And I look over at my wife, and she's wiping tears out of her eyes. And I'm like, what is it about a song that evokes such powerful emotion? My wife doesn't care about the French Revolution. She didn't know all the things that are going on, but the song of a cry of a person's heart at a certain moment can evoke deep emotion. And songs have a way to reframe our day when we're having a bad day. Ever have a bad day, and then you listen to a song and you feel differently? It awakens hope in you, pulls you out of the depression or anxiety, pulls you out of yourself? This is the power of a song.

And so we've been paying attention to how ordinary things like light, or like a table, can all of a sudden become holy. You see, songs are not ordinary. What's the definition of ordinary? Ordinary, possessing no special or distinctive features, common, average, mundane. Songs are anything but ordinary. I want you to think of your favorite Christmas movies. Everybody got your favorite Christmas movies in your mind? And I want you to think about how all of them end, almost all Christmas movies end in the same way. They end with a whole bunch of people singing. So let's just review for a second. Anyone ever watch the movie The Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge, bah, humbug? Ebenezer Scrooge doesn't care he underpays his employees. He doesn't care that Tiny Tim is sick and dying. It's all his money. It's all about him. And then he has this epiphany. He sees the world as it really is. He sees the past, the present, and the future. And all of a sudden, his heart is awakened in new ways. And at the end of The Christmas Carol, what does Ebenezer Scrooge do? He joins the song of all the people in the city. Scrooge sings. Whoa, maybe The Christmas Carol's not your favorite Christmas movie.

Maybe it's a wonderful life. George Bailey is getting ready to commit suicide. He's ready to end his life because life has not gone how he expected, and he feels like it's all been for nothing. I don't know if you've ever felt that way. Like, man, I don't even know. And in a moment, he sees what would happen if his life hadn't been lived, how the world would be different. And at the end of It's a Wonderful Life, what happens? Everyone gathers together and they sing. Maybe that's not your vibe. The Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life. Maybe this, Charlie Brown Christmas. Anybody Charlie Brown? All right, Charlie Brown's having a bad day. He gets the wrong tree, and people are laughing at him. He's beating himself up. He can't do anything right. Everyone's trying to figure out all the things you have to do for Christmas. He's feeling the pressure. Anybody feel the pressure of Christmas when it happens? Getting all the decorations right, the presents right, all the things right, and people, you can't please everyone, and you feel, huh, huh, huh, and then Linus comes out. And Linus reads the Christmas story. And what happens right after Linus

reads the Christmas story to remind everyone what Christmas is all about? Everyone sings a song. Maybe it's not Ebenezer Scrooge. Maybe it's not It's a Wonderful Life. Maybe it's not Charlie Brown Christmas. Maybe it's the Grinch who stole Christmas. The Grinch who's gonna take all the presents and all the gifts, and then a single girl, Cindy Lou, begins to sing. She begins to sing even though there's no presents, even though there's no decorations, even though all the who's in Whoville are depressed because Christmas has been stolen. And the song awakens the people to realize that Christmas is more than just gifts and decorations. And even the heart of the Grinch grows three sizes. And what does the Grinch do at the end of the story? He sings with all the who's because he belongs. This is what songs can do. They can inspire us. They can reframe us. They can evoke deep emotion that we didn't even know was there. They can connect us with other people. Songs are not ordinary. And we don't wanna be the type of people who over the next couple of days just let all those songs fade into the background. But here's the question I wanna ask.

Why are songs not ordinary? Why do songs have so much power to affect the human soul, the human mind, the human heart? And I wanna share what the Bible says. And then we're gonna read one of the most famous songs in the Bible. So why do songs have so much power? Why are they extraordinary? Because we were created in the image of a God who sings. Zephaniah chapter three, verse 17 says this. The Lord your God is with you, the mighty warrior who saves you. He will take great delight in you. In his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. What? Zephaniah describes God this way. God is powerful and strong and mighty to save. How many of you are glad that God is a warrior, that he fights for us, that he defends us, that he protects us, that no weapon formed against us will prosper? All of us have this image of God as a mighty warrior who fights for us. But most of us don't have the image of a God who sings over us. I mean, kids, I want you to know this. When you sleep, sometimes your parents walk into your room. They just wanna watch all that energy at rest. And they watch you breathe.

And maybe sometimes they sing over you. Sometimes they pray over you while you're sleeping. I don't know if you know this or not, but God, your father, does that for you. When you sleep at night, he watches over you. Zephaniah says he sings over you. The reason songs are so powerful is because we have been made in the image of a God who sings. And I want you to think about the entire Bible and how songs are we from the very beginning of the Bible to the very end of the Bible. If you've never imagined creation like this, Genesis chapter one, there were songs happening in the beginning when the world was created. How do we know this? Well, because God tells Job what it was like in the beginning. He asked Job this question. Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? So just imagine for a moment the formation of the blue planet, the earth. Everyone look at the earth. When God made this, was it completely quiet or was something else going on? God whispers to Job, hey, when I laid the foundations of the earth, I want you to know there was a song being sung by, by who? He says this, while the morning stars sang together

and all the angels shouted for joy. God says to Job, when I created this planet, when I created this planet, when the stars were cast into the skies, the stars themselves were singing, the angels were rejoicing. It wasn't a quiet moment. When I created the world, there was singing everywhere. And even though you can't, hear it right now or see it right now, there are songs going on constantly through the earth in the unseen world, angels. Right now, angels are singing this. We know this from the book of Isaiah, chapter six. Angels are saying this constantly. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory. And then you know what? They say it again and again and again and again. So let me get this straight. Right now, though you can't hear any music, any songs, there are songs happening, not just in the creation in the past or angels in the present, but also creation. Right now, creation itself is singing. Psalm 98, let the sea resound and everything in it. Let the world and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the mountains sing together for joy.

Let them sing before the Lord for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. Right now, mountains are singing. Rivers are rejoicing. Trees are clapping their hands. All of creation is in a chorus and we people have the opportunity to join in creation and join that angelic song or maybe not. And see, there's this word embedded in all these songs in the Bible. It's the word glory. The whole earth is full of his glory. What is glory? Glory is his might, his power, his beauty, his majesty, his splendor. All creation is joining in the glory of God. And if you notice the songs we sang and the songs we're gonna sing later, you'll see the word glory everywhere. Almost every Christmas song has that word somewhere in it. It's recognizing, acknowledging the beauty, the power, the awesomeness of God, how much he loves us. Aren't you grateful for the glory of God, right? And so we're gonna look at one of the most well-known songs in the Bible, a song written by a teenage girl named Mary. And her song's gonna begin with the glory of God. But let's talk about how she got into the situation

where she found out she would be the mother of Jesus. She was an ordinary girl, a teenage girl, living in a poor, small, insignificant town called Nazareth. In Luke chapter one, verse 26, well, here is the origin story of her song. It's in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent an angel, Gabriel, to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel said to her, "'Greetings, you who are highly favored, "'the Lord is with you.'" Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "'Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. "'You will conceive and give birth to a son, "'and you are to call him Jesus. "'He will be great, "'and he will be called the Son of the Most High.'" The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. "'How will this be?' "'Mary asked the angel, "'Since I'm a virgin?' The angel answered, "'The Holy Spirit will come on you, "'and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, "'so the Holy One to be born "'will be called the Son of God.

"'And even Elizabeth, your relative, "'is going to have a child in her old age. "'She who is said to be unable to conceive "'is in her sixth month, "'for no word from God will ever fail.' "'I am the Lord's servant,' Mary answered. "'May your word to me be fulfilled.' And then the angel left her." Can you imagine that scene? Mary's going through her life, her ordinary life. She's planning on getting married to Joseph. Maybe she's thinking about her wedding day, or the house they're gonna live in, or the kids they're gonna have, or the future they're gonna have. And an angel interrupts her life with a message. "'Mary, you are favored. "'You are highly favored.' The angel says it twice. "'God has picked you to be the mother of Messiah.' And she's confused. "'I don't understand. "'I've not been with a man before. "'I don't understand. "'How's this gonna happen?' "'This is something the Holy Spirit's going to do. "'And because with God, nothing's impossible. "'God will never break a promise.'" And this is important for us to know. Nothing that God says, his word will never, ever fail.

This is the thing. about God. God doesn't change. God keeps his promises. And so she has to process all this as she goes to her cousin Elizabeth and they celebrate because her cousin Elizabeth is pregnant with John the Baptist. And so they have this two little mom moments where they spend some months together and just process what happens. And out of this, Mary writes a song. Now I want you to think about the words of the song because again, sometimes we can just read this and go, oh, that's nice what she said. But I want you to think about the words. I want us to let the words sink, not just here, but here. Here is the song that Mary writes. When she finds out she is going to be the mom of Jesus, the Messiah. Verse 46, and Mary said, my soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. For he's been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on, all generations will call me blessed. For the mighty one has done great things for me. Holy is his name. And his mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who are proud

in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors. So we wanna take this song for a moment and go, what can Mary teach us about the power of a song? What are some reasons why we as Christians, 2,000 years after this song was written, why should we sing? And so here's the first. We sing to glorify God. It's a simple idea. We sing to glorify God. Maybe your Bible says to magnify God, to lift God up, to recognize, again, his glory, his power, his majesty, his awesomeness, his beauty. That's the glory of God. That word glory, both the Hebrew and Greek word mean weight. God has weight to him. There's something more than just fluff or a momentary wow. The wow of God never changes. And to glorify God means to look at God and say, wow, everybody say wow. Wow. Okay, so when was the last time you had a wow moment? So I had one yesterday.

I was watching the Miami Hurricanes play Texas A&M. Come on, people, let's go. All right. Listen, on that last play, when that intercession happened, our house went crazy. People were dancing and high-fiving and we were jumping up and down. It was like a wow moment. All that frustration, all that, we're so close, we could see the door open. All that just like exploded in, this exuberant, awesome joy coming alive. You know, I wonder if we get more excited about a football game or a new dress or a Christmas present than we do about God who gave us all those things. Because sometimes we can sit in church, it's like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah. I mean, a couple hours ago, we were screaming to the top of our lungs for people that God made in his image. He made them that good. He made them be able to run that fast and jump that high and catch those balls. He made all that stuff and somehow we get like just, and so she's saying my soul is gonna glorify the Lord. My spirit's gonna rejoice in God, my Savior. I'm gonna make him big, I'm gonna magnify him. I'm gonna make him bigger than anything else or anyone else in my life.

What would happen if we lived in this way? And she says my soul is gonna magnify God. What does my soul mean? Well, the soul is the seed of your emotions and your thoughts and your desires. She's saying in my mind, in my heart, in my will and desire, I want you to be king, Lord, over all of it. I want to live the type of life that you are the most important, the biggest person in my mind. When we magnify or glorify God, we don't make him bigger in the world. He's already as big as he could be. We make him bigger in our own mind, in our own heart, in our own will. And she is teaching all of us that one of the most powerful things we could do is to say I want to glorify God. Everything in me, I want to glorify my God because he is worthy of my praise. And you know, God's glory doesn't fade. You know, right now, like, who are the most influential people? Like, maybe the kids like, Bluey. Or your teenagers, Taylor. Or Elon or Donald. You pick the person, you pick. The vibe, the celebrity, the power broker, the wealthy person.

You know what's gonna happen to all those people? They're gonna fade like the grass. I mean, I remember the glory of the Miami Dolphins, 1972. That was a long time ago. Undefeated season. That's what you call faded glory. Kids, I want you to ask your parents or your grandparents to show you a picture of when they were young, when they had muscles and flawless skin and a lot of hair. What you see before you is faded glory. They used to look really, really good, and now not so good. But listen, that's gonna happen to you, but that never happens to God. God's glory remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. And Mary's drawing our attention, the focus of our attention to God himself. What do the angels say to the shepherds in the field? Listen to the line. In the sky over Bethlehem, glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests. These shepherds got to experience a light show, and I'm sure their first expression was, wow. The wow of God. And they took that wow of God, they saw the light show, they ran in, they saw the baby, and what does it say after they left? After they saw the angels, after they knocked on all the doors, after they told all the people,

they left glorifying and praising God. God had become the biggest person in their lives. He'd always been big, but not to them. And so Mary is saying to us, listen, when you sing, this is what you were created for. The shepherds were reawakened out of their slumber, rediscovering their purpose, the reason God made them. Songs have a way to draw us out of ourselves and back into the reality of who God is and what he's doing in the world. If you wanna know your purpose, Isaiah defines it. Everyone who is called by my name, God says, whom I created for my glory, you were created to display the glory of God. Then he says, the people I formed for myself, that they may proclaim my praise. So I want you to say this after me. I was created to glorify God. I was created to glorify God. I want you to say it again. I want you to think about it. I was created to glorify God. I was created to glorify God. You will never say a more true statement made in the image of God to recognize his bigness, to be transformed by his goodness, by his beauty, by his power, and to experience this sense of awe. You will never be more fully alive than when you are recognizing the glory of God

and glorifying him in your life. The shepherds got to experience this and they passed it on to everyone they met. Mary echoes this in her song. She says, my soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. So the first thing is we live to glorify God. The second is we sing to say thank you. Look at how she's expressing gratitude even though she has no idea how the rest of the story is going to turn out. She has no idea what's gonna happen next. You see, typically when we thank God, we thank God for what has happened. Like God, thank you for helping me pass that test. Thank you for helping me make the team. Thank you for helping me to get the raise or buy the house or have the baby or build my family or do whatever I'm gonna do. But Mary thanks God before any of it ever happens. Have you ever thought that maybe you should thank God in advance for what you're praying for right now? God, I thank you for what you're about to do in my life. I thank you for the promises you're gonna keep to me and I know that your words never fail. This is what Mary's teaching. In a song, we can express gratitude. Mary has no idea. She just says, I don't know what's gonna happen. I don't even know what this means.

I'm sort of confused, but I'm the Lord's servant so may it be to me as you say. What a powerful prayer of surrender. She has no idea she's gonna travel to Bethlehem. She has no idea her baby's gonna be laid in a feeding trough in a barn. She has no idea that King Herod's gonna try to kill her and her family. She has no idea she's gonna have to be a refugee and live in Egypt. She has no idea she's gonna come back to her hometown, Nazareth, and people are gonna mock her and Jesus as that child, that illegitimate child. She has no idea what's about to happen, but she's like, God, I wanna thank you. You picked me. You saw me. You love me. And so my soul rejoices. If you're having a rough season, there's still a reason to give thanks. And songs have a way to reframe. If you're like, I don't know if I could sing. This feeling so sad, angry, burden, stress, pressure. Listen, the power of a song, power of a song of gratitude can change how you see your life. She says, he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.

From now on, all generations will call me blessed for the mighty one has done great things for me. Holy is his name. There's a sense of awe. It's not, my soul rejoices in God, my savior. He does great things for me. He's been mindful of me. Holy is his name. She's like, wow. God, you're good. I don't understand it. I'm caught up in it. I'm all in whatever it takes. So I'm gonna sing and I'm gonna give thanks no matter what's going to happen next. And this is the power of Mary's song in our lives. Have you experienced that type of awe, that type of joy, that type of gratitude this Christmas season? Some of you are like, eh, maybe like for a minute. Because we're going so fast. We're doing so many things. We don't pause and listen to the words we're singing. Think about the weight of the glory of God. And think about, is that flowing in my heart like it did for Mary? I had a moment like that this week. On Wednesday, I went with my wife into the Paul Ryan jail for women. My wife and a team go in every Wednesday.

Actually, every day of the week. And this particular week, we got to bring in a guitar. Ananda, one of our worship leaders, came in. And so I got to talk to these women about the Christmas story. Many of them had never heard the Christmas story. But one of my favorite moments is watching the women worship with the guitar, worshiping inside this jail. And you just watch certain moments where women lift their hands, where tears flow down their cheeks, where huge smiles in tears are reminding that though they're incarcerated, they're not free on the outside. There's a freedom on the inside and a joy on the inside and a surrender to who God is on the inside and that God can redeem all things because God's word will never fail. There's something so extraordinary about a song. You always have a reason to sing. So we sing to glorify God. We sing to say thank you. And then the last part of Mary's song, we sing to give each other courage and hope. If you look at the rest of the song, Mary says, hey, God did this for me. He was mindful of me. But then she talks about world history, how God uses the poor and the humble and the weak,

how he raises them up, how he sets down people who are proud and pushes them down, how God's mercy extends from generation to generation. And it's like she's saying, hey, I'm writing this song as a personal praise to God, but I want you to read it. I want you to sing it. I want you to sing my song and I want you to sing it together so you can find courage and hope. It's an overflow of a heart that is full and it's a contagious, contagious thing. And so one of the questions that you might ask is, well, why do Christians sing all together? Well, partly because we've been made in the image of a God who sings and partly because we've been commanded as God's people to sing. Ephesians chapter five, verse 19, Paul's talking to the church. When it's gathered together that we should be speaking to one another with psalms and hymns and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord. There's something about when we sing with other people that it's not just a song that's isolated to us, it's something that connects all of us together, the person to your left, the person to your right, the person in front of you, the person behind you. They're also singing about their testimony,

how God was good to them. They're also thanking God for what God has done in their life. And when you need hope and courage, someone else's song can give you hope and courage. Even if you can't sing today, just listen to the testimonies of God's love and grace all around you. It will give your heart courage and hope and awe. And so Psalm 66 says, people of God, shout, sing, make the praise of God glorious. Say it like you mean it. Sing it like you mean it. And if you can't sing, let the community that's connected to God give you faith and courage. That's why Psalm 34 says, glorify the Lord with me. Let's exalt his name together. When we all sing the same song at the same time, it's like the only chance we have to pray or talk the same thing at the same time, all in this beautiful unison, joining the angels. in heaven and all of creation, and all the Christians of the past and the present and the future. Listen, you know the powerful thing about this song in the Mary Writes? It's not completely original to her. If you go back many, many centuries to 1 Samuel,

you remember that woman named Hannah who couldn't have a baby? And God gave her Samuel and she wrote a song? Well, some of the lines from Hannah's song are in Mary's song. You see, every time we sing, we're singing between past moments of the people of God who've experienced his faithfulness and a future moment in heaven where we celebrate his faithfulness. We sing in the in-between. And Dietrich Bonhoeffer in a book called Life Together describes what happens every time Christians sing together in unison. He says, God has prepared for himself one great song of praise throughout eternity. And those who enter the community of God join in this song. It's the song that the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy at the creation of the world. It's the victory song of the children of Israel after passing through the Red Sea. It's a magnificat of Mary after the Annunciation. The song of Paul and Silas in the night prison. The song of the singers on the Sea of Glass after their rescue. The song of Moses, the servant of God. And the song of the Lamb. It is the song of heavenly fellowship.

Think about what happens every time we sing. We're singing at the in-between place all the times that people cried out to God and he answered them and they sang their song. And the future song in heaven where we're gonna sing to Jesus because it's already been accomplished. And we sing in between these places with our pain or sadness or anger or dreams or disappointments, all the good and all the bad. We offer everything in our soul to God as we sing. And then Dietrich Bonhoeffer says this. This song has a different ring on earth from what it has in heaven. On earth, it's the song of those who believe and in heaven, it's the song of those who see. If you've had a loved one who's passed on, the Bible says they become part of a great cloud of witnesses. People in heaven aren't stressed about what's gonna happen with the economy, or who the next president's gonna be, or whether you can pay your rent next month. Here's what they'd say. God is faithful. So keep on going and keep on singing because we already see God's goodness face to face. We sing in faith. We don't know how it's gonna turn out,

but that's why we sing at the in-between. And that's why songs can be extraordinary. A common song can become holy. So we're gonna practice today. We're gonna make it a little bit different. We're gonna actually practice this because it's hard to just sing a song and get it. And so I'm gonna invite out Gabby. She's one of our leaders. She leads our Calvary Kids in worship every weekend. And the Bible says it's through kids, through children, that God has perfected praise. And she's gonna take us through a way where we can practice together, taking what may seem like an ordinary song and experiencing a holy moment with God together. So please welcome Gabby. Good morning, church. As Pastor Doug said, I get the privilege of leading worship every weekend for our little ones that are in the room with us this morning. And before we jump into our time of worship, we'd like to prepare our hearts and our minds to be fully aware of Jesus and to give him our full attention. And because this morning all of us are together in this room, I would love that we could do that together. So the first thing that I'm gonna ask you to do is if you please could stand on your feet. This is a sign of respect and honor to God

because he's already in this room with us and we wanna give him our full attention. And then the second thing that I wanna ask you to do with me today is I want you to open your hands like you're holding something. And I want you to think about that one thing that is on your mind that has been on your heart this season. What is that one big thing? Just think about it. And sometimes that one thing could bring a couple of thoughts. Maybe those are really sad thoughts because you've been feeling lonely or anxious. Maybe you lost a friend at school or maybe you're not doing so great at school. Sometimes that one situation can bring some worrisome thoughts because you don't know how you're gonna pay the next bill or you don't know if that person that you've been praying for is gonna get to know the Lord or is gonna be saved. For some of us in this room, those thoughts are really glad and happy thoughts because you've seen the Lord move in your life in ways that you've never seen him before. Maybe the Lord has answered that one prayer that you've been praying for many, many years. Maybe the Lord has provided for something that you didn't know how was gonna happen. Maybe you reconcile with a friend, with a family member.

So whatever that one thing is, I want you to put it on your hands and visualize it on your hands. And now, as we think about it, I'm gonna ask you to close your eyes and lift it up to God. And as you're lifting it up, I want you to visualize how that one big thing gets smaller and smaller the closer it gets to Jesus. And now think about how the Lord has moved. Think about his faithfulness, his goodness, his abundant love, his mercy, his provision over your life. And alongside this year, it's been only because of him. So as we lift up our hands, as we surrender that to the Lord, I just want us to put this into practice and magnify the Lord together. I want us to glorify his name and sing how great he is. Amen? Amen. Amen. Sing together. ♪ He wraps himself in light ♪ ♪ And darkness tries to hide ♪ ♪ And trembles at his voice ♪ ♪ And trembles at his voice ♪ ♪ How great is our God ♪ ♪ Sing with me how great is our God ♪ ♪ And all will see how great, how great is our God ♪ Sing it again, how great is our God.

♪ Oh how great is our God ♪ ♪ How great is our God ♪ ♪ Oh sing with me how great is our God ♪ ♪ And all will see how great, how great is our God ♪ ♪ Oh, his name, you're the name above all names ♪ ♪ You are worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ And my heart will sing how great is our God ♪ ♪ Oh, you're the name, you're the name ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ You are worthy. You are worthy. And my heart will sing how great is our God. That's Jesus. One last time, how great is our God. How great is our God. Sing it again. Yeah, tell them. Yes. ♪ How great is our God ♪ Would you celebrate the name of Jesus in this place today? Father, we behold you, we sing. Behold the King has come, Divinity incarnate, Creator of the world, Breathing on air. Behold what light has come, And the dark cannot contain it, The Savior of the world Is finally here. Sing oh come.

Come let us adore Him, Come let us adore Him, For He alone is worthy, Christ the Lord. Behold the Father's love, Beyond all comprehension, He gave His only Son To die in our place. Go and see that empty tomb, He's not there for me, He's risen, Every heart prepare Him room, Jesus Christ the King of heaven. Come let us adore Him, Come let us adore Him, For He alone is worthy, Christ the Lord. We give You all the glory, We give You all the glory, We give You all the glory, Christ the Lord. Sing it again. We give You all the glory, We give You all the glory, We give You all the glory, We praise Your name, We praise Your name forever, We praise Your name forever, We praise Your name forever, Christ the Lord.

Come let us adore Him, Come let us adore Him, For He alone is worthy, Christ the Lord. Come let us adore Him, Come let us adore Him, For He alone is worthy, Christ the Lord. He is Christ the Lord. He is Christ the Lord. Church, we're gonna continue to sing and magnify the name of Jesus, our God who's always in control in every season, in every situation. Would you sing this together? We're gonna sing hallelujah, our God reigns. Hallelujah, our God reigns. Hallelujah, our God reigns. Hallelujah, our God reigns. Forever all my days, hallelujah, we sing. ♪ Hallelujah, our God reigns ♪ ♪ Forever you reign, our God reigns ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, our God reigns ♪ ♪ Forever all my days, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, forever we will sing to you ♪ ♪ And glorify you, the King of kings ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, our God reigns ♪ ♪ Every season, hallelujah, our God reigns ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, our God reigns ♪ ♪ Forever all my days, hallelujah ♪

♪ How we love you God, I will love you Lord ♪ ♪ My strength, he is our shield ♪ ♪ I will love you Lord, my shield ♪ ♪ I will love you Lord, my rock ♪ ♪ Forever all my days, I will love you God ♪ Let's sing that again. ♪ I will love you Lord, my strength ♪ ♪ I will love you Lord, my shield ♪ ♪ I will love you Lord, my rock ♪ ♪ Forever all my days, I will love you God ♪ ♪ Forever all my days, I will love you God ♪ Thank you. There is something extraordinary about a song. Out of the overflow of our hearts, and we say to God, God, we love you. And we say to God, together, we're gonna glorify your name. We're gonna make your praise glorious. We're gonna sing louder than we might normally sing. We're gonna pay attention to the words. And the Bible says in moments like that, God inhabits our praise, and he meets with us. And it's a foretaste of what we'll experience one day in heaven, and what would happen if, over the next couple of days, you had these moments where you listened to the words of these songs, and you experienced the presence of God, holy ground in your car, in your kitchen, with your family and friends. This is what God is inviting us into,

because songs don't have to be ordinary. Now, I wanna tell you about a moment. I told you my favorite moment of this last week was Wednesday in that jail, with these women who were incarcerated. And I asked the question before I told them the Christmas story, how many of you have heard the whole Christmas story? Only a few hands went up. Most of the people in the room didn't know the Christmas story. And this is the power of us being heralds, a chance to tell people, this is what Christmas is all about. It's not about Santa Claus or the Grinch or gifts. It's about the birth of Jesus. And as I shared the story, at the end, I said, you know, if you don't know Jesus as your Savior, you can come to know him. If you've never said, I wanna give my life completely to you, I wanna glorify you with my life. If you've not been living that way, you have a chance to live that way. This is the great invitation of Christmas. Jesus came to rescue us from ourselves, to die for our sins, to pay our debt. And most of us don't know the whole story or never really made that decision to receive the gift of forgiveness, to repent of our sins and to believe.

But the Bible says that on the last day, every single knee will bow. And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And the question for all of us this Christmas is, is my knee already bowing? Am I gonna bow on that day willingly and gladly because I made that decision on earth? And listen, you have every breath of this life to make that decision. And if you've not made it, well, on the other side of eternity, it's too late. And so, in that jail, well, I told these women about Mary's song, and about the way that God appeared to a little peasant girl in a nobody town, and how the angels first appeared as shepherds who weren't even allowed to be in temple worship, they were outsiders. And sometimes, it's in the moment you think God doesn't see me, God doesn't care about me, that God reveals his great love for you in the deepest ways, and so, I asked if anyone wants to pray to receive Jesus, not just as a baby, as a gift from him, but as Savior, as Lord of all. Five hands went up, and five women prayed a prayer. It changed their life forever. And I think today that maybe God wants to do that again in a room this size. Maybe you're not having a difficult time, but you've never made a decision to follow Jesus.

You could be five, you could be 105. You could believe in God. You could know the words of the song, you could know the Bible stories, and still not have a relationship with God. So many times in the Bible, God would say, you sing your songs, but your hearts are far from me. You're in church, you say all the right things, but we don't have a relationship. Today, God has invited you into a relationship with him through his son, Jesus. As you put your faith and trust in him, as you confess your sins, as you receive the new creation work he's gonna do. And so we're not gonna play another song. We're just gonna quietly play and say, listen, if you want a relationship with the living God, if you want your life to glorify God, if you want to be pulled out of yourself and into a whole new way to live, this requires a response. And so here, we actually call this moment an altar call. We say, if you're ready to start that relationship with Jesus, if you're ready to repent, if you're ready to come back to him, then just step into the aisle and walk this way. And we will pray a simple prayer here, and you'll make a decision in front of all these people and in front of heaven itself, that you don't want to live for yourself anymore.

You want to live for Jesus. And again, it doesn't matter how old you are. It doesn't matter if you've come to know him maybe at a younger age and you've wandered away. It doesn't matter if you've heard the story for the first time. The invitation is open. There's plenty of room for everyone. If you're ready, step into the aisle, walk this way, and we will celebrate with all of heaven as you come. Come now. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Welcome. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Church, let's celebrate these decisions as Jesus draws people into his love and grace. We're so glad that you're here. God blesses faith and he blesses courage. And he wants to meet with you today. This is not an ordinary moment. This carpet under your feet is now holy ground for you as you get to meet the living God, experience forgiveness in a relationship with him. He knows everything about you. He knows everything you've ever done and said and thought, and he loves you anyway. Same is true of me, same is true of all of us. You're surrounded by a whole bunch of sinners who've been saved by grace. We've received the extraordinary grace of God. We've received the extraordinary grace of God, the gift of God. And you're about to receive this gift. And so I'm gonna give you some simple words to repeat out loud. They're my words, but this is an expression of your heart to God. And he will hear this prayer and he will answer

because God always keeps his promises. So if you can't right now, just say this out loud. Say this to God. Lord God, I open my heart and I invite you inside. Forgive my sin. Today, I repent. Now fill me with your spirit and I will walk with you all the days of my life. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, guys. Congratulations. Welcome to the family of God. So before you go back to your seats, I wanna ask you for five more minutes. You've just made the most important decision of your life. I'm gonna ask you to follow me and the guys over here to that open door where we're gonna give you a Bible, have a quick conversation, and be back with your friends in five minutes. Church, can we give them a hand as they go this way? And let us respond one more time in song as we sing joy to the world because our Lord has come. Let's sing, church. ♪ He rules the world with truth and grace ♪ ♪ And makes the nations proud ♪ ♪ The glories of His righteousness ♪ ♪ The wonders of His love, the wonders of His love ♪ ♪ The wonders, wonders of His love ♪ ♪ We will sing, sing, sing, joy to the world ♪ ♪ Joy to the world ♪

♪ We will sing, sing, sing, joy to the world ♪ ♪ Joyful, joyfully adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love ♪ ♪ Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above ♪ ♪ Joyful, joyfully adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love ♪ ♪ Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above ♪ Amen. Church, thank you so much for joining us this morning. If you're in need of prayer, we have a prayer team up here ready to pray with you, so please come forward. If not, we will see you on Christmas Eve. Have a great Sunday.