The New Testament reminds us that the gospel always advances under fire and against opposition. It tell us this not to encourage fear or paranoia but to give us confidence in the victory of God and our share in it. Zechariah’s song in Luke 1 encourages us to trust in God’s victory over our enemies and we will look at that in the talk. But first we sing God’s praises for all the ways he has blessed us:

We light our third Advent candle:

Now we bring our prayers to God:

Our reading this morning comes from Luke chapter 1:

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Talk – God and our enemies.

Here’s an audio version if the video doesn’t work for you.

And now our prayers of intercession:

Our closing song: “Come thou long expected Jesus…”

To close we say the grace for each other: