THE RESPONSIVE READINGON THE LOVE OF CHRISTLEADER: Let us proclaim the amazing love of God in Christ!

CONGREGATION: For God so loved the world that He gave His oneand only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, buthave eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the World tocondemn the world, but to save the world through Him. For all havesinned and fall short of the glory of God. But God demonstrates Hisown love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.Thanks be to our God! Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ ourLord! This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us andsent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

THE FIRST NOWELLNOWELL

THE OFFERTORY PRAYERTHE OFFERTORYSTILL, STILL, STILL • ECBC ORCHESTRA • ABIGAIL DOLL, SOLO

CONGREGATIONAL GREETINGSLOTTIE MOON CHRISTMAS OFFERINGVIDEO CHALLENGE

THE MORNING SERMONCONRAD “BUSTER” BROWN, SENIOR PASTOR

PASTORAL PRAYER

TIME OF RESPONSE JOY TO THE WORLD VERSE 2

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THE WAY OF LOVE

If I speak in the tongues of men and

of angels, but havenot love, I am a noisy

gong or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have pro-phetic powers, and

understand allmysteries and all

knowledge,and if I have all faith,

so as to remove mountains, but

have not love, I am nothing.

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver

up my body to beburned, but have not

love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is

not arrogant or rude.It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

it does not rejoiceat wrongdoing, but

rejoices with the truth.

Love bears allthings, believes all

things, hopes all things, endures all

things.

Love never ends.

As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they

will cease; as for knowledge,

it will pass away. For we know in part and

we prophesy inpart, but when the perfect comes, the

partial will passaway.

When I was a child, Ispoke like a child, I

thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but

then face to face. Now I know in part;

then I shall know fully, even as I have

been fully known.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these

three; but the greatest of these

is love.

THE INCARNATION OF LOVEDAVID MATHIS

The incarnation refers literally to the in-fleshing of the eternal Son of God — Jesus “putting on our flesh and blood” and becoming fully human. The doctrine of the incarnation claims that the eternal second person of the Trinity took on humanity in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. A helpful way to remember the key aspects of the incarnation is the summary statement of John 1:14: “The Word became flesh.”

The WordThe Word refers to the eternal divine Son who was “in the beginning with God” and who himself is God (John 1:1). From eternity past until he took on humanity, the Son of God existed in perfect love, joy, and harmony in the fellowship of the Trinity. Like the Father and the Spirit, he was spirit and had no material substance. But at the incarnation, the eternal Word entered into creation as human. He became a first-century Jew.

BecameBecame does not mean that he ceased to be God. In becoming man, he did not forsake his divine nature, as if that were even an option. Rather, he became man by taking on human nature in addition to his divine nature. It is essential to the incarnation — and very helpful throughout all theology — to recognize that divinity and humanity are not mutually exclusive. The Son of God didn’t have to pick between being God and being man. He could be both at the same time. The eternal Word became human.

FleshFlesh isn’t merely a reference to the human body but the entirety of what makes up humanity — body, mind, emotions, and will. Hebrews 2:17 and 4:15 teach that to save human beings Jesus had to be made like us “in every respect” except our sin. In the incarnation, everything proper to humanity was united to the Son of God. The Son of God did not only become like man; he actually became truly and fully human.

The Word Became FleshSo the eternal Son of God, without ceasing to be God, took on a fully human nature. This is what Christians have long called “the incarnation.”

And what a magnificent truth and fuel for worship this is. Jesus didn’t just become man because he could. This was no circus stunt, just for show. He became man, in the world of the ancient creed, “for us and for our salvation.” The eternal Word became frail human flesh and blood to save us from our sin and to free us to marvel at and enjoy the unique union of divinity and humanity in his one spectacular person.

The incarnation is not only the way in which Jesus became Immanuel — God with us — but it’s an eternal testimony that he and his Father are unswerv-ingly for us.

WO

RSH

IPG

UID

EADVENT 2017at East Cooper Baptist

May the God of hope fill you with all ljoy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Romans 15:13

ADVENT PRELUDEELENA CRUDGE, ORGANIST

MORNING WELCOMEAND ANNOUNCEMENTS VIDEO

RISE SHINE, YOU PEOPLEADVENT HYMN

JESUS JOY OF HIGHEST HEAVENWAM CHILDREN’S CHOIR

Jesus, joy of the highest heaven,Born as a little baby

Under a wondrous star.Like us, crying he takes His first breath

Held by His mother, helplessClose to her beating heart.

Jesus, laid in a lowly manger,Facing a world of dangers,

Come to turn me a strangerInto a child of God.

Jesus, King of the highest heavenLearning to take His first steps,

That He might bring us life.Like us, knowing our smiles and sorrows,

He showed the way to follow,A way that is true and right.

Jesus, take away every darkness,Steady my simple footsteps

That I might in your goodnessLive as a child of God.”

ARISE, YOUR LIGHT HAS COMEHYFRYDOL

LOVE DIVINE, ALL LOVES’ EXCELLINGBEECHER

Please use the following prayer to

prepare your hearts for worship:

O GOD OF LOVE,In this Advent

season -- help us not to lose our wonder at the

LOVE that advent delivers.

For Wonderis at the root

of praise.

Wonderis at the heartof Christmas,

and not for one day only but for each

waking day.

At the heartof Christ’s

incarnation is the truth that God

makes extraordi-nary things

happen in ordinary places, that heaven and earth holy and

earthly God and human are

intertwined.

Don’t let uslose our wonder.

Let us receive Your love.

Amen.

ADVENT

The word Advent means “coming” or

“arrival.”

The focus of the entire season is the

celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the

anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second

Advent.

Thus, Advent is far more than simply

marking a 2,000 year old event in

history.

It is celebrating atruth about God, the revelation of

God in Christwhereby all of

creation might be reconciled to God.

That is a process in which we now par-

ticipate, and theconsummation of

which we anticipate.

In this double focus on past and future,

Advent also symbol-izes the spiritual

journey of individ-uals and a con-

gregation, as they affirm that Christ

has come, that He is present in the world

today, and that He will come again in

power.

That acknowledg-ment provides a

basis for Kingdom ethics, for holy

living arising from aprofound sense that

we live “between the times” and are

called to be faithfulstewards of what is

entrusted to usas God’s people.

So, as the churchcelebrates God’s in-

breaking into history in the Incarnation,

and anticipatesa future consumma-

tion to that history for which “all

creation is groaningawaiting its re-

demption,” it also confesses its ownresponsibility as a

people commis-sioned to “love the

Lord your God with all your heart” and

to “love your neigh-bor as yourself.”

LOVE DIVINE

About a trillion centuries

Before the world was made, and seas of deep and empty space were not Yet

there to make an endless spot

For nothingness, nor Gabriel, nor

Lucifer, nor flames of hell,

Nor beasts and elders

round the throne,But only God

the Lord alone—No element of any kind,

Nor measurement, but only Mind—Ages before the Lord employed

His sovereign power to make a void

Beside the vastness of his will,

When there was only God to fill

The mind of God with joy and He was Life,

and absolutely free...

The Father fixed his gaze on me,

Foreknew my soul that I should be

At first ashamed before his face,

And then a vessel for his grace;

And in the Holy Trinity

Engaged a glad conspiracy

Of love that all the energy

Of God should be employed to see

That I, when all his work is done,

Would bear the image of his Son.

--John Piper

“My Lord, I did not choose You, For

that could never be; My heart would still

refuse You, Had You not chosen me. My

heart knows none above You;

For Your rich grace I thirst.

I know that if I love You, You must have

loved me first.”

-- Josiah Conder

Advent at East Cooper9:00 and 10:45 am Sanctuary Services

The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before.

What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you.

And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock,

watching God’s [back] fade in the distance.

So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder.

There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing.

For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.

LOVE IS ON THE WAY

REFLECTION THOUGHTS FOR WORSHIP PREPARATION

Some may say it [the Incarnation] is not true, but no one can say it is trivial. If it is true, it is the greatest good news that ever came to human beings on this planet. Those who heard it for the first time called it news; more than that, good news…. Human existence and the world itself are not meaningless happenings but the expression of purpose, of intentionality, and, above all, of intelligibility and love, which have been made known in Jesus Christ. -- John Leith

Our love for God, expressed through obedience to Him, is to be a response to His love, not a means of trying to earn it. Both our love for others and our love for God are prompted by His love for us. -- Jerry Bridges

Our lives are so chaotic because in our arrogance we dwell on how our plans have been skewed. God had plans too. -- Timothy J. Keller

The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. -- Isaiah 7:14

Thou didst love me before I loved thee, an enemy, a sinner, a loathsome worm. Thou dost love me as a son, and weep over me as over Jerusalem. Love brought thee from heaven to earth, from earth to the cross, from the cross to the grave. Love caused thee to be weary, hungry, tempted, scorned, scourged, buffeted, spat upon, crucified, and pierced. Love led thee to bow thy head in death. My salvation is the point where perfect created love and the most perfect uncreated love meet together; For thou dost welcome me, like Joseph and his brothers, loving and sorrowing, but loving and rejoicing. Thy love is not intermittent, cold, changeable; it does not cease or abate for all my enmity. -- The Valley of Vision

The Church in Corporate Worship DECEMBER 10, 2017