Written by: Teresa McCaskill in More Than You Wanted to Know About Worship Design on December 20, 2011

Context:

This past weekend as we continued in our Advent series, The Cast Of The Christmas Play, we celebrated the Love of Christ that redeems the world. Christ Jesus is the practical expression of the love of God in every way. He is the Center of attention, the One we worship and adore. His love caused Him to come to earth as Savior, to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). He is also the Redeemer Who has made it possible for us to become sons and daughters of God (Galatians 4:5). As His family we continue to express the coming of Christ as we love those God puts into our lives.

God has called quite a diverse group to worship at Northland, people of all ages and from many backgrounds and traditions. This weekend we were led in worship by the young and the not so young and from both far and near. On Sunday morning Pastor Joel brought the Word from our distributed site in Oviedo, Florida. Our Advent Family brought greetings and the Scripture Reading from Australia.

We were delighted to welcome the Biggie Choir to the platform to help lead the congregation in our singing. Just in case you didn’t know, Pastor Vernon named the Choir years ago when we “biggie-sized” the Worship Team to include more people. The name just kind of stuck. These folks come together a few times every year and usually help out sometime during the Advent Season. This time we also added children to the mix and rounded out the Biggie Choir with the (newly named by Pastor Joel) “Littlie” Choir as well. This time we were pretty close to having “kids from one to ninety-two” on the platform!

Call To Worship:

“Gabriel” led by our Biggie Team
(Lyrics and Music by our own Rob Alexander, our regular bassist)

Gabriel sweet herald brings
Mysteries on tireless wings.
Servant of God bringing His words of love.
O Gabriel sweet herald come
And bring the glorious message from His throne up above,
The birth of the King of Love.

Bear from Heav’n the glorious joy
The news of this amazing boy
In whose heart our sins are weighed.
The one for whom we’ve hoped and prayed.
Come down from your heav’nly berth.
Bring sweet words from God to earth.
Christ the child from blessed womb,
Born to soon defy the tomb.

Gabriel sweet herald brings
Mysteries on the tireless wings
Servant of God bringing His words of love.
O Gabriel sweet herald come
and bring the glorious message from His throne up above,
the birth of the King of Love

O sweet angel tidings bring
Of the newborn King of kings,
On the heav’nly rush of wings
“Peace on earth” your sweet voice sings.
Hallelujah, praise and laud
To the child who comes from God.
Honor giv’n to you as well,
O lovely servant Gabriel.

Gabriel sweet herald brings
Mysteries on the tireless wings
Servant of God bringing His words of love.
O Gabriel sweet herald come
and bring the glorious message from His throne up above,
the birth of the King of Love

Peace on earth, good will toward men,
Peace on earth.

Participatory Worship  led by our Biggie and Littlie Team

“Joy To The World”/”Angels, We Have Heard On High”
(“Joy To The World:” Lyrics by Isaac Watts; Music and Additional Lyrics by Michael McElroy, Joseph Joubert, and Buryl Red; “Angels, We Have Heard On High:” Traditional French Carol; arrangement by Charlie Peacock)

“Here I Am To Worship”
(Lyrics and Music by Tim Hughes)
Solos by Courtney Stewart, Annabella Linares, Brandy Forsman, Kara Crane, Grace Feltman, Hannah Groves, Alina Areopagita and Amanda Holton

Light of the world, You stepped down into darkness,
opened my eyes, let me see
beauty that made this heart adore You,
all for love’s sake became poor.

Here I am to worship.
Here I am to bow down.
Here I am to say that You’re my God.
You’re altogether lovely, altogether worthy.
altogether wonderful to me.

King of all days, oh, so highly exalted,
glorious in Heaven above,
humbly You came to the earth You created;
all for love’s sake became poor.

Here I am to worship.
Here I am to bow down.
Here I am to say that You’re my God
You’re altogether lovely, altogether worthy,
altogether wonderful to me.

I’ll never know how much it cost
to see my sin upon that cross.
I’ll never know how much it cost
to see my sin upon that cross.

Here I am to worship.
Here I am to bow down.
Here I am to say that You’re my God
You’re altogether lovely, altogether worthy,
altogether wonderful to me.

Here I am to worship.
Here I am to bow down.
Here I am to say that You’re my God
You’re altogether lovely, altogether worthy,
altogether wonderful to me.

“O Praise Him”
(Lyrics and Music by David Crowder)

Turn your ear to Heaven
and hear the noise inside.
The sound of angels’ awe,
the sound of angels’ songs
and all this for a King,
we could join and sing
all to Christ the King.

How constant, how divine,
this song of ours will rise.
O praise Him. O praise Him.
He is holy. He is holy.

Turn your gaze to Heaven
and raise a joyous noise.
Oh the sound of salvation come,
the sound of rescued ones
and all this for a King,
angels join to sing,
all for Christ our King.

O praise Him. O praise Him.
He is holy. He is holy.

How infinite and sweet,
this love so rescuing.
O how infinitely sweet,
this great love that has redeemed
as one we sing.

Alleluia. Alleluia.
He is holy. He is holy.

Series Video – narrated by Emerson Cooper, Graham Taylor, Abbie Taylor and Andrew Letterman

Advent Family Reading –  led by Les and Martha Nixon from Sydney, Australia

Advent is the season when all are invited to participate in celebrating Christ’s coming. As we celebrate His birth and anticipate His return, we remember the part that was played by all those who proclaimed the Messiah thousands of years ago.
Today we will read from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1 verses 11 through 13 and 26 through 34. We will be reading from the New International Version.

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.

In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, 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 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 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 am a virgin?”
We celebrate this season as the church has over the centuries with the Advent wreath. The Advent candles remind us of the light of Christ.
The third Advent candle signifies love - the Love of Christ that redeems the world.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, our deliverer,
Your birth still shakes the foundations of our world.
May we wait for your return with such eagerness and hope
that we embrace without terror the labor pangs of Your coming kingdom. Amen.

Preparation for the hearing of God’s Word:

“A Baby Changes Everything” led by Eleanor Tracey and the Biggie Team
(Lyrics and Music by Craig Wiseman, Kimberly K. Wiseman, and Tim Nichols)

Teenage girl, much too young,
Unprepared for what’s to come.
A baby changes ev’rything.

Not a ring on her hand.
All her drams and all her plans,
A baby changes ev’rything
a baby changes ev’rything,

The man she loves she’s never touched.
How will she keep his trust?
A baby changes ev’rything,

a baby changes ev’rything,
And she cries, ooh, she cries.

She has to leave, go far away.
Heaven knows she can’t stay.
A baby changes ev’rything.

She can feel it’s coming soon.
There’s no place, there’s no room.
A baby changes ev’rything.
A baby changes ev’rything.

And she cries
And she cries.
Oh she cries.

Shepherds all gather ‘round.
Up above a star shines down.
A baby changes ev’rything.

Choir of angels say,
“Glory to the newborn King!”
A baby changes ev’rything,
A baby changes ev’rything,
Ev’rything, ev’rything, ev’rything.
Hallelujah!

The Preaching of the Word

Pastor Joel’s message focused on the fact that life catches us unprepared for the challenges and changes we face. But since we serve a God who is sovereign over every detail of the universe and every detail of our lives we are to face our changing circumstances with hope and faith in Him. Pastor Joel encouraged us with these words from Scripture:

John 16:33: “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Ephesians 3:20: “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,”

We focused on the characters of Zechariah and Mary. We find that they were troubled when they heard the angel Gabriel’s message to them. The first words of the angel were “Do not be afraid.” Or as Pastor Joel’s grandson Noah would say, “It’s all right. It won’t hurt you.” God is lovingly sovereign over the characters we read about in the Bible and the same is true for us today. He’s “got us.” All things hold together in Him with such intricate precision (even more so than a finely tuned clock) that He holds the key to the mysteries of The Big Bang Theory and “The God Particle” (http://www.northlandchurch.net/blogs/the_god_particle/) right down to the finest details of our lives, He is in control and He loves us.

Romans 1:20: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made…”

Colossians 1:16-17: “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

May our response when faced with challenges for which we are unprepared be the same as Mary’s. Pastor Joel personalized her story and highlighted the fact that God promises to fill us with His Holy Spirit in order for His will to be accomplished in and through us today, especially when we wonder how He is going to do it. He paraphrased her response like this:

“God, if you’re doing it, I’m in. This isn’t my body, it’s Yours. This isn’t my plan, it’s Yours.”

We, along with Mary want to be in the long line of those who responded to God in faith: Abraham and Isaac, Caleb and Joshua, Job, Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego…

Hebrews 11:32-35: “And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.”

Pastor Joel prayed on our behalf for a spirit of “yieldedness” to God’s plan for our life and for us to be open to the telling of His story. He prayed that we would hear the Lord say to us in the midst of the surprises and challenges of our lives, “It’s all right. It won’t hurt you. The Holy Spirit will come upon you.”
Amen.

Response to the Word preached

“Glory To Our God” led by our Littlie Team w/family and friends
(Lyrics and Music by Eleanor Tracey)
Solos by Jesse McCoy, Madison Fernandes, Abbie Taylor, Jana Crane, Kalaiah Diacheysn, Grace Alexander, Grace Mikesell and Hayli Sapp

One quiet night (One quiet night)
In Bethlehem (In Bethlehem)
The shepherds heard (The shepherds heard)
A song begin (a song begin)

They heard Glory, Glory in the highest
They heard Glory, Glory to our God
They heard Glory, Glory in the highest
Glory to our God

The Angels told them (The Angels told them)
From the sky (from the sky)
You’ll find your Savior (you’ll find your Savior)
Born this night (born this night)

They sang Glory, Glory in the highest
They sang Glory, Glory to our God
They sang Glory, Glory in the highest
Glory to our God

God sent His Son (God sent His Son)
To you and me (to you and me)
So ev’ry heart (so ev’ry heart)
That will believe (that will believe)

Can sing Glory, Glory in the highest
We sing Glory, Glory to our God
We sing Glory, Glory in the highest
Glory to our God
We sing Glory to our God