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[0:00] Good morning. A warm welcome to the service this morning. A welcome especially to those who are visiting with us, some friends who are visiting from different areas, some who might be here for the first time and everyone is very welcome, those who are in the building and those who are online as well. It's good for us to come together and to be able to worship God in this way.

[0:25] I don't have an intimation sheet or email so I'm just going to go through the intimations as they are on the screen there and you have the welcome there. There's no tea and coffee after the service today just to be a bit maybe cautious about things at present.

[0:39] Evening service tonight at 6 and I'll hopefully take that myself. Kirk Session meets tomorrow at 6pm here in the church and the ladies fellowship meet on Monday at 8. I think tomorrow night the ladies are meeting at half past 7 in the church here, some of them.

[0:55] So, you'll have details on that. Little Fishers on Tuesday 10 till 12 and Road to Recovery on Tuesday evening at 7. And the prayer meeting on Wednesday at half past 7 here and on Zoom also.

[1:10] And the children's Christmas parties take place on Friday hopefully. Up to P3 including the creche 1.45 to 3.15, P4 to 7 at 4pm to 5.30. And any donations of party food for both parties will be welcome.

[1:29] You can all read this as well but for those who can't see this online I'll just read this out so bear with me. It's hope that Rooted will go to ice skating at Scala Day on Friday and the Rooted folks will get details of that minibus leaving the church no later than 4.45 for a 5pm start.

[1:49] And the service is next Sunday hopefully, God willing, will be taken by myself. Sunday morning service will be a Christmas family service at 11 o'clock so you can note that.

[2:01] There's the CD that Duncan mentioned a couple of weeks ago. Again, the details are there. And I think that's all the intimations. You've seen them on the screen beforehand anyway.

[2:12] So, that's as much as we've got time for just now. So, let's begin this time of worship and we'll sing to God's praise. We'll sing from a hymn 172 or 3. What is it, Ruthie?

[2:26] I've got a little time of Bethlehem in my notes here. Let me just double check that is what's on the screen. Yes. I've got 173 in the hymn book but hopefully it doesn't really matter.

[2:38] So, we have the words on the screen there. O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie. Above your deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark street shineth the everlasting light.

[2:50] The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. So, we'll stand to sing the first of our Christmas carols this year and we sing to God's praise. Let's sing the first of our Christmas carols this year and we sing to God's praise.

[3:31] Yet in thy dark street shineth the everlasting light.

[3:42] The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

[3:53] The morning stars together proclaim the holy birth.

[4:04] And praise and fears of all the years are met in thee. And praise and sing to God the King and means to men on earth.

[4:15] For Christ is born of Mary and gathered all above.

[4:26] While mortals see the angels keep their watch on wandering love.

[4:38] How silent thee, how silent thee, the wondrous gift is given.

[4:49] So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his end.

[5:00] No weary here is coming but in this world of sin. Where me souls will receive his fear that dear Christ enters in.

[5:22] The holy child of Bethlehem. He said to us, we pray.

[5:33] Cast out our sin and enter in. Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels.

[5:49] The great glad tidings tell. O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel.

[6:04] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's close our eyes and bow our heads.

[6:16] And let's speak to God as we come to him in prayer. Amen. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day that's been set aside from all other days.

[6:34] we thank you for this the Lord's day we were able to to take time to be still and we pray to know that you are God and that you are with us we thank you Lord for the for what we have sung in that hymn words which are familiar a tune that is so familiar to us that we've sung year on years through through through the the course of our lives and yet we thank you for the wonder of all that is packed into these words we thank you for the the fact that in this dark world you have not left us in darkness but you have you have given us the everlasting light in Christ we thank you that you looked upon us father in our in our sin when we fell but determined that in love you would not leave us in that hopeless state but you would send

[7:35] Jesus your son to be our savior the light of the world who could bring everlasting light into this world and into the the souls into the hearts of all who trust in him we thank you for your grace we thank you Lord that when we deserve nothing but to be pushed away from you you have shown to us not a judgment and not cold hard law but you have shown to us such grace in Christ we thank you that Jesus took our sin from us when he came into this world we thank you that Jesus he lived for us the the perfect life the life that was without failure and without fall a life which was lived as the the substitutionary life in our place we thank you that he kept all of the laws of God and we thank you that he gives to us his righteousness when we believe in him and he takes from us our sin when we believe in him we thank you for the message that was given to mary and joseph through the angel that emmanuel god with us is here and we thank you that that's the the essence of the christmas story that god is with us not against us but with us and for us and for us as the apostle paul said in romans if god uh be for us who can be against us so we ask lord that as we as we reflect on these familiar truths in the course of this this hour and over this season we pray that the holy spirit would press them into our minds and into our hearts we pray that these uh truths would not uh be historic facts which are remote from us but we pray that you would give us faith that we would take hold of them and that we would know the reality of your love and your grace and the salvation that comes only through jesus to help us lord we pray we pray that in this hour in this service we would know uh the reality of emmanuel god with us we pray that you would open our eyes and that you would open our ears and that you would help us to see and hear jesus we pray your blessing on everyone who is here and those who are not here but who are watching from a distance perhaps just now or perhaps later in the week when they click a button we pray your blessing on on each life that is connected to us here lord we pray for all the homes that are represented and we thank you that you're the god who knows us and you know the the joys and you know the heartaches you know the the things that bring us such peace and uh contentment and you know the things that cause us to be restless and anxious and we pray that you would meet us lord today at the point of our need we bring to you those who who may be anxious about the week ahead some who may be going for tests in hospital or uh procedures in hospital we thank you that uh you are the the one who hears our prayers as we bring them ourselves and as we carry those whom we love to you and where there is anxiety about what's up ahead we pray uh that you would give peace we pray for those who are in hospital at present uh we think of billy ross especially who

[11:38] who comes into the the church week by week and we ask lord that you would draw near to him uh having to deal with the reality of uh losing uh another leg we pray uh that you would strengthen him uh in his inner being we pray that you would uphold him and lord that uh he would know that you are close to him and that he would know that he is remembered uh by your people so bless him lord we pray we pray for anthony as he recovers at home and we pray for others who have gone through surgeries and who are waiting for uh different treatments who are in their homes who would want to be with us but who are unable to be and we ask lord for your blessing to be upon uh them and their families we pray for those who are grieving who are conscious that this time of year is a a joy to many but it opens up uh old wounds of grief and we ask lord for your comfort uh for those who are sorrowing to know uh that you are the father of all compassion and we pray for those who battle uh with addictions and who find that the the temptations are are more intense over this over this period and we ask that you would strengthen them lord and that they would look to you uh day by day pray for those who are fearful as well uh we hear reports in the news we read papers we struggle to know how to discern everything that we that we we take in but we we ask lord that you would calm those who are fearful and that you would give us wisdom uh through this time we pray for those that you have allowed to be in authority over us as you've called us to and we ask lord that you would give to them wisdom we are conscious that they do not ask for it uh they do not look to you but we pray that uh as we pray for them that you would give to them uh what they need to govern a well hear our prayers take away our sin lord we pray as we confess it and lead us and guide us in this hour and we pray this in jesus name and for his sake amen boys and girls would you like to come forward please how's everyone today good good good stuff good stuff you looking forward to holidays and christmas everyone recovered from the ice skating friday i wasn't there bumps and bruises you'll get to go though lily was there jonno was there some people were there connect yeah connect are there there'll be others coming next week next week there'll be more yeah it's a conversation for another day so john ronnie and bella are disqualified from answering this question but i've got something to show you today and i wonder if you know what it is tape no it doesn't record it records you think it's a tape recorder michael yes i'll show it to the people who might be at home i know there's some of the boys and girls that are at home you can see that there it's got a wee twiddler thing there i think that's a technical word for it and there's the cable you can see over there maybe as well any ideas so we've got one guess and it's a tape recorder i can tell you it's not a tape recorder does it go into the microphone

[15:41] and with a button i can turn the volume up and see the button completely no it's not that either nothing to do with microphones nothing to do with tape recorders katie a what sorry electric pump pin no it's a pump electric pump no it's not electric pump is it something to do with animals said jonno it's nothing to do with animals it does have something to do with god but that's down the line here so i'll put it over this way let's let's see do you think the adults might know you think they'll know okay right let's just draw on the wisdom of the adults will you be disappointed if they don't know yes i'm very disappointed i'll be disappointed if they know anything so anyone know what this is what's that it's for finding see if i'd shown it to you a bit closer but is that for coordinates know what it says it says what myrdo said satellite finder so that's what this is this is a satellite finder see see it's not quite the internet but remember a couple of weeks ago the wind blew really strong and uh we've got uh we've got the the sky television uh dish for for getting the satellite tv and uh after the wind blew did anyone else lose their signal yeah some people lost their signal we lost half our channels and so i didn't know what to do and uh james came and he gave me a a wee help and he had he had a different he had a different kind of device but i don't have that one today and then uh we had a look at the the dish and it was a bit sugary and it was a bit rusty and james said i think if you phone kenny mclean he might know how to do this so i phone kenny and he appeared with a dish in an arm and he appeared with this thing and he he he screwed it into the the dish and um he got it in exactly the right position and then he says off you go inside and check to see if there's a signal see if there's a picture and the picture was crystal clear and now the the satellites are lined up and we're getting a good picture and kenny was saying to me this is the point uh michael you were asking a second ago what's this got to do with god michael's always trying to figure the sermon out before i get to it well kenny said to me when he was lining up he said the thing is you have to get it in exactly the right position because if it's not in exactly the right position and if anything's blocking the direction uh to the satellite if there's anything that's blocking the beam like a mountain or trees or whatever between you your dish and the satellite it doesn't work no picture so i could say what do you think the sermon is now but i won't i think we're a lot like the dish older fashion people might might have been called one at one time oh you're a bit dishy that's the old fashion way of saying he's very handsome or she's very pretty but you know we're all we're all about like this dish because the dish that's on the side of the house you know that's for picking up all the signals um it has to it has to stay connected to the satellite if it's going to work now who do we have to stay connected to if we are going to be bright and healthy and strong as Christians who do we have to stay connected to we have to stay connected to to Jesus don't we and we can't let anything

[19:42] or anyone get in between us and Jesus see if there's anything that gets in the way of the satellite then there's no picture what kind of things might get in the way of us and and Jesus what might get in the way of our of us being close to Jesus yeah and what kind of things specifically do you think in your life Michael you can think about that sometimes it can be our hobbies we spend so much time in our hobbies maybe on gaming or or something we've got no time for God no time to read the Bible no time to pray and and we drift away from Jesus and sometimes with the older ones more so it can be our work and our work's so busy we're working all the time and we've got no time for Jesus we start to drift we we lose that picture we have of him we lose sight of him we we we can't hear what he's saying so if the dish is a bit like us

[20:46] I think this finder is a lot like the Bible because if you want to know boys and girls how to stay close to Jesus if you want to be able to see Jesus clearly where do you look the Bible if you want to hear what Jesus has to say to you church where do you where do you look church well the Bible yeah we're in the church we only read one book don't we it's the Bible so the Christmas story really is all about how how God came near to us and God wants us to stay near to him not to let anything not to let anyone get in between us and him so boys and girls let's let's stay close to Jesus over this Christmas and every day and we can pray about that just now

[21:49] Lord God we thank you for the Christmas story we thank you Father that you sent Jesus your son into this world we thank you that his name was Emmanuel is Emmanuel God with us we thank you that we are able to be close to God we thank you that as we open the Bible we're able to hear God speak to us we thank you that as we as we think about these passages in scripture we're able to see that picture of who you are Jesus is the image of the invisible God we pray that you'd forgive us because we know that sometimes we let other things get in between us and you we lose sight of you we lose sight of how much you love us we lose sight of how good it is to be close to you and we pray that you'd forgive us Lord for that forgive us for our sin and help us Lord we pray each day to be asking you to take our sin away and each day to know that you are close so hear our prayers and bless the boys and girls as they head through to Sunday school in a minute continue to speak to them through your word and we pray all this in Jesus name

[23:02] Amen we're going to sing now this second carol and it's the hymn number 195 and I think you know this one very well Away in a Manger you know it Away in a Manger yeah Michael's giving us the tune and there's a line in this hymn in particular which I was thinking of just as we were thinking about that message it says in the third verse be near me Lord Jesus be near me Lord Jesus I ask thee to stay close by me forever and love me I pray and that's our prayer and we can sing it now a way in a Manger no grip for a bed the little

[24:05] Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head the stars in the bright sky look down where he lay the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay the cattle are awake the baby awaits but let the Lord Jesus no crying he makes I love thee Lord Jesus look down from the sky and stay by my side until morning is night be near me

[25:09] Lord Jesus I ask thee to stay close by me forever and love me I pray bless all the dear children in thy tender care and bid us for heaven to live with thee there okay boys and girls have you had the Sunday school and we can turn in our Bibles to Luke chapter 1 if you don't have a Bible don't worry the words are on the screen

[26:17] Luke chapter 1 and we'll read from verse 26 to verse 38 this is God's word in the sixth month and in that reference there it's the sixth month of Elizabeth that's Mary's cousin's pregnancy she's carrying John the Baptist in her womb and so it says there in the sixth month God sent the 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 went to her and said greetings you who are highly favoured 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

[27:20] Mary you find favour with God you will be with child and give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus he will be great and 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 the house of Jacob forever his kingdom will never end how will this be Mary asked the angel since I am a virgin the angel answered the Holy Spirit will come upon 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 even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age and she was she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month for nothing is impossible with God I am the Lord's servant may he answer may it be to me as you have said then the angel left her amen and may God bless that reading of his word to us we're going to sing again now to God's praise and we'll sing in Gaelic this time

[28:29] Psalm 103 Psalm 103 and verses 8 to 11 of the psalm Psalm 103 verses 8 to 11 I'll just read it in English the Lord our God is merciful and he is gracious long suffering and slow to wrath and mercy plenteous he will not chide continually nor keep his anger still with us he dealt not as we sinned nor did requite our own for as the heaven in its height the earth surmounteth far so great to those that do him fear that means respect not to be scared of so great to those that do him fear his tender mercies are we'll remain seated to sing these verses in Gaelic to God's praise well good now

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