1/1/2023: New Year's Day

SERIES THEME: A SAVIOR IS BORN

The first Christmas sermon was preached to a small congregation consisting entirely of shepherds. The preacher was an angel. The message of his sermon? “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you.”

That is a heavy word: Savior. It says as much about us as it does about this child. If the angel had said “a teacher has been born” or “a mentor has been born,” it would mean that within us exists the potential to fix all that is wrong with the world. It would mean we just need a bit of help: a coach, a mentor, a source of inspiration. But the angel said, “A Savior has been born.” If one needs saving, it means he is totally helpless—completely lost—doomed, without outside intervention. That is how God the Father viewed us: helpless, lost, doomed. So, he sent more than a coach. He sent his only Son to be our Savior.

After December 25 the secular world is done with Christmas. But for the Church, the season of Christmas has just begun. For twelve glorious days—The Twelve Days of Christmas—we will ponder the nativity of the Son of God. We will celebrate what that nativity means. A Savior is born!

WEEKLY THEME: A SAVIOR IS BORN TO BE THE TRUE SON

Christmas holidays mean family time. Extended family travel and visits. Meals are prepared, gifts given, memories are made. The memories might not all be good. Sometimes, Christmas dinners end in fights. Sometimes, hurt feelings keep family from coming together during the holidays. The painful reality is that we sinners fail our families, and our families fail us.

God knows what that’s like. He, too, wanted his children to be everything he hoped for them to be. But he was sorely disappointed. That’s why he made a plan. God the Father sent Jesus to be the son that he always wanted—reciprocal in love, perfect in obedience, unwavering in devotion. Jesus came to be everything that God wanted from us.

By coming to be the true Son of the Father, Jesus gives us rights to be redeemed sons and daughters—sons just like Jesus with the rights, the relationship, and the privileges of heirs.

God bless your worship.

Pastor Adam Mueller will preach on Galatians 4:4–7, “God Sent His Son”

View the service folder.

Watch the livestream.