Christmas Weekend Services.

Dear Church Family,

Here is the information for our services and sermons this weekend, on Christmas Eve and Sunday morning at Hill Country Church (PCA).

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

Who: All are invited to join us in celebrating the incarnation and birth of our Lord Jesus Christ (Children are welcome in the service! There will be no child-care provided, but a cry-room is available if necessary).

What: Christmas Eve Candlelight Service (order of worship – pdf).

Where: 4700 E. Rancier Ave, Killeen, TX 76543 (at the Killeen SDA church building).

When: Friday, December 24, 2021, at 6:30 pm. (The service will last about an hour with refreshments and a time of fellowship following the service).

Christmas Sermon Series

Here is the schedule of sermons of our Christmas sermon series from the Gospel according to Luke:

December 5    Mary’s Praise (Luke 1:46-55)
December 12   Zacharias’ Prophecy (Luke 1:67-79)
December 19   John’s Preaching (Luke 3:7-18)
December 24   Jesus’ Person (Luke 3:21-22)
December 26   Jesus’ Pronouncement (Luke 4:16-30)

*The audio recordings of these sermons are available online here.

A Christmas Eve Sermon on Jesus’ Baptism?

Yes, you read that correctly. Our sermon on Christmas Eve will be based on just two verses of Scripture which speak of Jesus’ baptism (Luke 3:21-22):
²¹ Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

While it certainly is not the typical text for a sermon at Christmas Eve service, the topic of Jesus’ Person most certainly is. We’ll be looking at this short text to learn what it teaches us about both Jesus’ humanity (how He identifies with us) and Jesus’ divinity (how God the Father identifies Jesus). The Son of God became man. Jesus is both fully God and fully man. That’s what we celebrate at Christmas time: the miracle of Immanuel – God with us!

Jesus’ Pronouncement

In our Sunday morning worship service on December 26^th, we will have our final sermon in this Christmas season sermon series. We’ll be looking at Jesus’ first proclamation in the book of Luke at the beginning of His earthly ministry. Jesus has just returned from this forty-day temptation in the wilderness. He returns to His hometown of Nazareth, attends synagogue worship on the Sabbath, reads Scripture, and then gives a short sermon (Luke 4:16-30).

It’s interesting to think about Jesus preaching a Christ-centered sermon, but that’s precisely what He does. He preaches a Christ-centered sermon from several Old Testament Scriptures. First, He reads some verses from the beginning of Isaiah 61. After making some application by pointing out that this prophecy from Isaiah is fulfilled by Himself, Jesus then references two other passages – one from 1 Kings 17 and one from 2 Kings 5. After referring to these passages, Jesus explains how He is not what they were expecting.

It’s a fascinating proclamation in the synagogue in which the people first respond with awe and wonder, but then are moved to murderous rage! They had thought that He had come to rescue only the people of Israel, but He made it very clear that He came as the Savior of Jew and Gentile alike.

Conclusion

I hope you will join us for our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service and worship on Sunday morning, the day after Christmas!

The Lord be with you!
– Pastor Peter M. Diets