All is Well | Livestream Christmas Program

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] the lord is [Music] [Music] days [Applause] [Music] toys [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] that was [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is thank you for joining us merry christmas and welcome to all is well a virtual christmas celebration my name is pastor rodney brooks and i will be your host for tonight this year even though we are calling our presentation a virtual christmas celebration it is our hope that you will feel as though you are right here with us as we celebrate the birth and life of our lord and savior jesus christ we'll be joined by soloists terenda greene and daniel cruz internationally renowned sand artist joe castillo pianist gary menzies and the fba worship singers choir and orchestra we'll also have the good fortune of hearing from some of the songwriters who penned the songs we'll be presenting among them michael w smith buddy green matthew west babby mason and donna douglas walkley before we get started we thought it only appropriate to take a moment to acknowledge the hardships challenges and loss everyone in the world has experienced this year coven 19 has affected every phase and facet of life as we knew it and it changed all of us in ways we could have never anticipated wearing gloves masks frequent hand washing and social distancing became a part of our daily routine many contracted the virus and recovered many fought hard but lost their battle we've been confronted with job loss church school and business closings having to cancel weddings graduation prom and even the inability to plan or attend the funeral of a loved one a sense of grief and helplessness has permeated our existence residue from the lockdowns and quarantines caused emotional and physical ramifications like depression frustration loneliness drug and alcohol abuse thoughts of suicide and domestic violence from our living rooms we watched as peaceful protests turned violent and destructive resulting in loss of life loss of livelihood and property damage totaling more than 500 billion dollars the soul of our country and the world awakened and mourned many of us have been left yearning for a hurt and pain to be healed with a restoration of joy from all that's been broken ravaged and lost some of us seek forgiveness redemption salvation hope and peace it seems that we are all in a sense of longing so in this unsettling environment we find ourselves you may be wondering why would we title our christmas special all is well when it seems that all is not it is our highest hope that as our christmas special begins to unfold song by song and narrative by narrative that you will soon have the answer to that question thank you for joining us [Music] peace on the earth has come [Music] emanuel has come born this [Music] happy morning [Music] jesus to the world on this happy morning [Applause] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] jesus the lord has jesus the lord is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] tears are falling hearts are breaking how we need to hear from god you've been promised we've been waiting welcome holy child welcome holy child [Music] i hope that you don't mind our manger how i wish we would have known but long awaited holy stranger make yourself at home please make yourself at home bring your peace into our violence bid our hungry souls be filled now breaking heaven silence welcome to our world welcome to our [Applause] [Music] tender brow prepared for thorn tiny heart whose blood will save us unto us [Music] is is born so wrap our injured flesh around you breathe our air and walk our side rob our sins and make us holy perfect son of god perfect son of god welcome to [Music] our [Music] [Music] [Music] bye [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] peace peace peace on earth let there be peace on earth and let it begin begin let it begin with me with me with me let there be peace on earth [Music] on earth [Music] that was meant to be [Music] please [Music] step is [Music] me [Music] please [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] [Music] so [Music] do [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] peace and being able to feel that all is well is what we all long for isn't it and yet since the beginning of time there have always been wars conflict unrest uprisings disease pandemics plagues tragedy and heartbreak situations that make it difficult to experience but this is nothing new one time jesus was having a conversation with his followers and told them to expect these kinds of tribulations he continued by saying i have told you these things so that in me you may have peace in this world you will have trouble but take heart i have overcome the world we read that in john 16 33. desiring external peace is one thing but then there's the internal lack of peace calls from the conflict and restlessness we feel when we sin a word that's not used much anymore sin is when we commit an act that goes against god acts of sin breaks trust and ruins relationships you know the kind of things that causes us to feel guilt regret and shame the truth is that in the midst of our long history of external and internal conflict there has always been and will always be one never changing never failing never-ending constant and that constant is god's great love for us and the personal relationship we can have with him through his son jesus christ when you know jesus as your savior it is possible to have peace and know that all is well both inside and outside regardless of your circumstances you see although our sin separates us from god and breaks our relationship with him our relationship can be restored when the punishment for our sin is paid for and our sins forgiven we have a choice we can pay for our own sins with our own life by being eternally separated from god or we can accept the gift of salvation from our sins that jesus offers us jesus willingly gave his life as payment for the sins of the world by dying on a cross to save us he was buried in a tomb then three days later rose from the dead conquering death forever jesus exchanged his life for hours so that we could be forgiven of our sin our relationship restored with god and we could spend eternity in heaven with him and that my friend should give all who believe a great sense of peace and confidence that all is well jesus also taught us that we are to forgive each other as god has forgiven us and to love one another unconditionally as god loves us i think you'll agree that following the teachings of jesus would make the world and us a more peaceful place this next song further explains the matchless love of god demonstrated to us through jesus listen closely as daniel cruz sings god so loved the world every preacher in the pulpit every cynic on the street every poet every papa every trader every thief every soldier every lawyer every tv talk show star anybody teaching students anybody tending by [Music] god [Music] every judge and every jailer every master every slave every rebel every skeptic every addict in their chains all the powerful and pretty all the faithful and the fools those bowing down to idols those seeking to find truth [Music] god [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he loves let us [Music] every cynic on the street even you and me [Music] [Applause] all of us [Music] [Applause] [Music] all of us us [Music] [Music] uh let us love let us love anyone [Music] hi everybody my name is donna douglas walkley and i'm babby mason and we want to wish you a very merry christmas first of all secondly we kind of wanted to tell you how we met it goes back 38 years wow 38 years 38 years we were both um on a mission one hot summer day in atlanta georgia and we were headed to the corner grocery store to find the sweetest coolest cantaloupe we could find and i stood before this big mound of cantaloupe i was thumping and smelling you know the ritual when from behind me and i can emulate her perfectly came this voice that said how do they feel because i know the ritual too yes and we struck up a conversation and found that we had a mutual love for music you were very pregnant yes cantaloupe was the thing that i had a craving for and the thing that i love about that dede is that god knew that we were destined to be friends yes and and sisters and that our writing uh would bring us together and that we would our lives would be enriching because of our friendship yes and that the world would be encouraged because of the songs that we write and that just blows my mind that god knew that even before the world was formed before he hung the fourth first star that's right he knew we were gonna meet over cantaloupe that's right and then our songs would be done in 21 different languages and sung all over the world to glorify him yes and so uh i remember the day that we wrote this song called king jesus is his name we have been writing all day yes and you were on the way out of the door when you got this you know this strike of an inspiration and you said hey bab what about this yes and you say it i heard this little drum beat in my head dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk dunk so i came back and i said bab what about this and you said i said run and tell everybody you see and you said bethlehem has a little baby and you say it born in a stable late one night and i said underneath the sky so starry bright come on back in the house girl and let's finish this song yes so we wrote king jesus is his name which is about to be performed in an arrangement with um another song yes a beautiful arrangement yes but the verses kind of tell the story so that's why we're kind of telling it up front but it's a beautiful story of christmas and the the best the greatest story ever told king jesus is his name this is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] tell me what did they call him what did they call that a little bitty baby jesus what did the heavenly host proclaim [Music] tell me what did they call him [Music] [Applause] [Music] this little baby's gonna change the world in the hearts of men [Music] tell me boys did the heavenly host proclaim jesus is [Music] [Music] is [Music] his name is jesus is jesus jesus [Applause] is [Music] [Music] hello first baptist merry christmas this is buddy green and it's good to be with you even this way in this virtual way of trying to speak into a phone and act like i know what i'm doing uh but i i'm so glad you're gathering one way or another either at home or in attendance some way to uh sing songs of christmas to be the people of god and uh to just celebrate at this great time of year personally i i've really been longing for christmas on this year because it's just been such a crazy year and i know it's been you you've been like me you've been probably fearful angry confused um saddened fed up with social media not knowing who to trust uh concerned all about the divisions in our country racial political it's just been crazy but you know it's the kind of world that jesus came to save right it's it's always a crazy world you know this is just the the latest version of calamity that um that has come down the pike and there'll be more to come until jesus returns but you know i i am so encouraged at this time of year because of advent and christmas as i consider again this amazing story of of god invading his creation to make things right and the person of jesus um and these songs helped me hear that story so well you know it was uh almost 30 years ago that mark lowry gave me a lyric and asked me if i could come up with some music and i did and he liked it and before long michael english had done the first recording of it and within a few years all these other great artists started discovering this song and singing it and then choirs were singing it and congregations and it's been great to see this um song kind of take its place among other favorites out there you know it's not a great song but it's about a great savior and i think that's why it's lasted i think that's why it's found a place among the other songs there because it it just gives us this reminder of who jesus is so again let these songs be little portable theologies for you tonight that will help you go from a good theology to a great doxology to be the people of god to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world that is so needed now we are saved for a purpose and um so so throughout this season celebrate uh let's get over the bad news and celebrate the good news okay god bless you merry christmas and see you in 2021 god willing [Music] [Music] mary did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new this child that you deliver will soon deliver you oh mary did you know [Music] did you know that your baby boy will give sight to man mary did you know [Music] that your baby boy would calm a storm with his hand did you know that your baby boy has walked away when you kiss your little baby you have kissed the face of god or mary did you know [Music] [Music] [Music] will speak [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] is until the sun [Music] rejoice [Music] is [Music] mary did you know that your baby boy is lord of all creation mary did you know that your baby boy [Music] nations did you know that your baby boy is heaven's [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] team [Music] well hello and merry christmas first baptist atlanta i want to send a special message of greeting to dr anthony george and worship pastor rodney brooks i heard that the choir is going to be performing a song that i wrote called unto us and i hope it just ministers to you i love writing christmas music and i think this year i've been finding myself going back and listening to christmas music throughout the year and one of the reasons for that is because of just the overflowing of the message of hope that the christmas season the luke chapter 2 the story we know and we love the greatest story ever told the story of a king who would leave the splendor of heaven to come and greet us and meet us here in this broken earth and for such a time as this can we all get an amen that we need christmas this year more importantly we need to be reminded that he is still the light of the world this song really just explores the wonder of his name emmanuel which means god with us and i pray that as you sing this in the choir as you listen to it in the congregation that your heart will be flooded by the power of the name of jesus by the power of his name emmanuel and be reminded that even though 2020 may have taken so much from you maybe you have not been able to be with loved ones or family or at your place of worship or your place of work may you be reminded that in spite of all of the separation he is the god who stays with you emmanuel god with us amen god bless you merry christmas and may we all be celebrating this marvelous wonderful truth that he left the splendor of heaven who are we that he would walk among us thank you all god bless you and merry christmas [Applause] [Music] who are we that are king who trade heaven's riches for a stable and a major law can it be great i am bending down to reach us morning star let this dark world know here is our hope has come unto us unto us a child is born unto us unto us has given glory to god in the highest wonderful prince of peace emmanuel has come to set captive screen but the angels we sing glory to god in the highest unto us who are we that a king would still walk among us knowing he would only live to die cross of shame crown of thorns he still chose to carry beauty broken breathing must do is our promised one jesus our hope has come unto us unto us a child is [Music] [Music] emmanuel has come to set captives free for the angels we sing glory to god in the highest [Applause] [Music] is [Music] oh god unto us unto us a child is born unto us unto us our son has given glory to god in the highest wonderful prince of peace in men who has come to set back us free with the angels we see [Music] he has bought this [Music] so [Music] child of hope sleeping on a bed of hay [Music] who would know that he was a king he left his throne willingly [Music] oh who knew the promise had come true [Music] [Music] of is is [Music] his blood was shed [Music] with his final breath but on that third day he rose [Music] is has all power in his hands [Music] is god of glory [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] yes [Applause] [Music] even with all that we've experienced this year god has promised to never leave us or forsake us he's also promised to work everything together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose even those things that we don't fully understand just pause for a second and think about it some of those good things from this year may have been the dinner you took to your neighbor or to first responders or the shoulder you provided for the tears of a grieving mom it may have been a math problem you helped your child understand because you are both forced to conduct work and school remotely maybe it was waving as you stood outside the window of an elderly shut-in who couldn't have visitors perhaps you've had more time than usual to pray or just to listen and hear the heart of someone who needed a friend did you find that you experienced the beauty of more sunsets notice the wonder of a butterfly or gaze that glistening stars sprayed across the black velvet sky did you say i love you with more frequency i encourage you to do your own inventory but i think you will realize that already a lot of good has risen out of some very bad circumstances with the birth of jesus light came into a dark and dying world jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly our prince of peace not only came to offer the gift of salvation but to also provide many other gifts that provide to us when we belong to him gifts like joy beyond measure peace that passes all understanding contentment in all things grace that is sufficient truth and mercy that will follow us all the days of our lives compassion that is new every morning and love that never leaves never changes and never fails we pray that you have enjoyed the celebration of the birth and life of jesus realizing that no matter our circumstances internally or externally that through jesus and all he has given to us we can always have peace and always know and trust that because of him all is well to close out our christmas celebration our friend michael w smith is joining us to share a few words and then introduce the title song he wrote called all is well michael first baptist atlanta hey michael w smith here i'm so happy to know that you'll hear all as well tonight when someone asks me what's your favorite song you've ever written i always say all as well never forget when i wrote it it was a moment in time for me and you know what i think it's especially important i mean the song today because we have so many distractions around us telling us just the opposite but ladies and gentlemen the word of god is true and we know who's on the throne troubles may come our way and we all know we're not immune from hardships but we know how the story ends and we know who is the victor and because of that because of the truth of the gospel all is well and if i were to add anything at all i would say merry christmas to all of you and hallelujah [Music] [Laughter] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] see [Music] is peace [Music] is is [Applause] is [Applause] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: FirstBaptistAtlanta

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Length: 73min 0sec (4380 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 20 2020