Candlelight 2025 at Believers Center

Christmas brings with it lights, music, and traditions

Christmas brings with it lights, music, and traditions that have been passed down through families for generations. Decorating trees, sharing meals, exchanging gifts, singing carols, and gathering with the people who matter most. These moments fill our homes with warmth and happiness. But tonight invites us to remember something far deeper than the beauty of the season.

Christmas Eve points us back to a moment in history. The night God stepped into our world. The birth of Jesus is more than a story we were told as children. It’s the arrival of a hope we all need. In Jesus, God draws near to us. He comes close to our fears, our uncertainties, our questions, and every moment when life feels heavy. He enters not with force or fanfare, but with a quiet promise that we are not alone.

Jesus called himself the light of the world, and that light still shines. It shines into places of grief, into seasons of waiting, into relationships that feel strained, and into the corners of our hearts. So as we gather on this Christmas Eve, we pause to let that truth sink in. And tonight we celebrate the moment that light broke into the darkness and changed everything forever.

Merry Christmas church

Well, Merry Christmas church is so good to see each and every one of you. If you would please stand to your feet, we’re gonna go ahead and kick the night off with some worship. Oh God with the Son Christ the Lord, our Savior’s holy day God believes in higher, that all of creation declare your word and you w God with the Sonic die. Come on, my friends, come on. God with the Son Christ the Lord Our Savior’s holy word lives in higher and all the creation be pay away and you won God with the Son of Hallelujah, the greatest blessing, the Son of Heaven living here with us, hallelujah, we can’t stop singing, Jesus Christ the mirror, call a love, hallelujah, greatest blessing, shall heaven here with God, God and you saw singing Jesus Christ and Mary called in many God with the Son Christ the Lord Savior’s holy. God with the Son.

Good evening, everybody. Merry Christmas. Almost, I guess. Close enough. We’re so happy to see you tonight. We’re glad you took the time to come and worship the King of Kings. The Lord of Lords with us tonight. God delights in the praises of his people. He’s not just here. Father God has always wanted this. The Holy Spirit has always wanted this life-to-life relationship with us.

Jesus came to repair something

It’s something, you know, salvation has a lot of different theological tones to it and some beautiful truths that talk about this particular event, Jesus coming the first time. But bottom line was Jesus came to repair something that had gone terribly wrong, that was broken, that man could not fix for himself. And so God decided he would come in flesh as a representative, as a second Adam to repair what had been lost.

How many of you are glad tonight that Jesus came? Really glad tonight that Jesus came the first time. All that he did throughout the years since the fall of man was so that we could once again enjoy this wonderful relationship with him. He celebrates it more than we can imagine. Amen. Amen.

Maybe it’s your first time here with us. You are very welcome. We’re very glad that you’re here. Maybe you’re always here with us, and we’re very glad you are here also. It’s the together coming together to celebrate once again, remember, recall, and celebrate the birth of Jesus. And when we get to do it together, it’s even more exciting.

Every single person was included

Marshall and I are very, very pleased this year to have my niece Janet and her husband Matt and their delightful children, Ava, Rosie, Phoenix, Luna, and Elsie. Can you guys give us a wave? We’re so excited. Matt’s mom lives in Rio Rancho, so they’re with her, but they came to be with us tonight. And if you travel a short distance or a long distance, thank you. We really mean it. We hope you feel welcome in this house. We hope you know that you are seen and that you matter to us and to God.

Do you know I love recalling this every single year? And one of the things that always stands out to me about the Christmas story, we read it over and over, especially in the book of Matthew and in the book of Luke. We see this, that every single person was included. It didn’t matter if you were younger or older. It didn’t matter if you were a wise man or a shepherd. It didn’t matter if you had power, if you were a powerful person or you had no power at all, you were and you are included.

And I think it’s remarkable that on this one night that all of us come back to remembering what the angel said to Mary, the mother of Jesus. God, nothing shall be impossible. And it seems so much easier for us to all believe that too when we celebrate this night. He loves doing life with us. Again, he paid a great, great horrible price so that he could enjoy this oneness that we have with him. And we get to celebrate it with other members of the Christian family as well.

Let’s pray and let’s commit the evening

So let’s pray and let’s commit the evening, the rest of the evening to God, and let’s expect the impossible. Amen. Father, we thank you for your presence here. We honor you. You are our most welcome guest. Thank you for making it possible, not just to gather in a building like this, but to actually gather in your presence and to come without a sense of guilt, without a sense of condemnation, but rather a sense of true, valid belonging.

We thank you that even as we welcome you, you will make it known to us to everyone tonight that you’re welcoming us into your presence, and you want to do this evening, and you want to do the rest of life into eternity with us. We thank you. Have your way. Holy Spirit, cause everything we say and we do to point to Jesus, to put the spotlight on him, to see him as the one who sits at the head of the table. We love you. We welcome you. Have your way in Jesus’ name. And everyone said, Amen.

God bless you. You guys are welcome to take your seats now. Joy to the world the Lord is come. Let earth receive her king. And heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and sing. Behold through the heavens, there came a holy word. Go, tell it on the mountain, over the hills, and everywhere, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born.

The nativity story

The shepherd’s fear and trembles when low above the earth rang out the angel chorus that held our Savior’s birth and go, tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born down in the holy manger, the humble Christ is born and brought us guard salvation that blessed Christmas morn and go, tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. Let earth receive her king prepared and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature single. Glory to the newborn king. Sonor and mercy, my God, and sinners reconcile. Joyful nations arise, join and try of the sky, when challenges proclaim Christ is born in men and heaven just sing glory to the new kingdom and I asked this when I born thy side by stores. Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing for the flames, and the mountain reply, echoing their joy straight.

In my family, we’ve always shared the nativity story together every Christmas, no matter how old we get. We’ve all seen the nativity scene a hundred times on mantles, in church, on Christmas cards, but sometimes we forget what each figure in that manger really represents. They remind us of searching, of following the light, even when the journey is long. They brought gifts fit for a king, showing that Jesus’ arrival was something the whole world had been waiting for.

Next is Joseph. She carries the heart of the story, saying yes to something bigger than herself, trusting God with her whole life. A tiny baby in a manger, yet the greatest gift of hope that the world would ever know. He will be known as light of the world. Beside them stands the shepherd boy. He represents ordinary people, those who weren’t wealthy or powerful, but being among them for the very first time to hear the good news. And lastly, the humble animals who shared their space.

Matthew 2

As we prepare to step into a moment of worship, I just wanted to look back at the moment when the world first met their king, and we find this in Matthew 2, and it says,

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born the king of the Jews? For we saw his star in its rising, and we have come to worship him. It led them until they came across and stopped above the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overwhelmed with joy. Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary and his mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped him. They opened their treasures and they presented him with gifts.

This is a heart of per this is a heart posture of worship, church. This is what it looks like. These men didn’t come in casually, they came in with so much intention. Despite the fact they were meeting the king in a manger and not in a palace and not in a royal court, they still came. And that’s because our worship is not waiting for perfection. Our worship is waiting for a revelation.

And so if you’re in this place tonight and you’re in need of a revelation, let me tell you, the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, the author and finisher of your faith has come. And his spirit is here. And so we don’t have to be spectators. We get to lift our voice and lift our hands in worship. We can fall to our knees in adoration. Why? Because the King of Kings has sent his son Jesus, and he’s here.

And so would you stand to your feet as we get ready to worship? I encourage you. Bring your gifts, bring your attention, bring your gratitude, bring your faith. You don’t have to bring your best, but here we are. So bring what you have tonight as we worship the king.

In the darkness we were waiting

In the darkness we were waiting without hope, without light, till from heaven you came around. There was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the law and prophet to a virgin came the word from a throne of endless glory to a cradle in the dirt, praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit three God of Glory, praise forever to the king of peace to reveal the kingdom coming and to reconcile the lost to redeem the whole creation.

For even in your suffering, you saw to the other side, knowing this was our salvation, Jesus, for our sake you die, praise the Father, praise us, Son, praise us, Spirit, free God, just praise forever to the king of the morning that you rose all of heaven held its breath till that storm was moved for good for the Lamb had conquered death, and the dead rose from their symbiote, and the angel stood in love for the souls of all whose heart to the Father our restored, and the church of Christ was born, let the spirit take obey.

For the love of Jesus Christ, who has resurrected Father, praise us, praise the spirit, free. We praise forever to the king of king forever. Yes, we praise your name. You can have all my moments of my days. I give you a worship Jesus. You can have my moments of my days. You can have all my moments. You can have all my moments on my days. I give you all my worship. Jesus can have all my moments. I give you all my worship. My whole life now I drive. I love you my word for short. I have been all my whole life now, I love my day. I give you all my worship. You can have all my mom. I give you all my worship. All my days. I give you all my worship. Jesus. You can have a moment of my days. I give you all my worship Jesus for your glory so for your glory we lift your name thank you for the cross in light of the world you step down into darkness open my eyes let me see beauty that made this heart adore you hope of a life spent with you here I am to worship here I am to bow down here I am to say that you’re my God you’re all together all together worthy all together wonder for to me so wonderful your name is mighty you’re the King of Kings blissing King of all things, King of all things, all so highly exalted, glorious in heaven, and humbly you came to the earth, you created all for love’s sake, be came for so we see here I am to worship, here I am to counter, here I am to save you my God, you’re all together, all together worthy, all together wanted for me.

So here I am to worship, and here I am to God, here I am to save them being you’re all together, all you can do, are together one to be so wonderful, it’s all for your honor and your glory and your praise all to lift your name we lift his name every voice lift his name Thank you for the cross and tell me I would know how much he comes to see my sin upon the crowd and I could know how much he comes to see my sin upon the road in God to see my sin to see my sin Thank you for the claws Thank you for the cloud and shall give I am to worship here I am to cast out here I am to save that Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you’re my God. You’re all together lovely. All together worthy. All together one day for two wonderful Jesus. Oh come let us come let us. Yeah. Amen.

What you magnify matters

Well, Merry Christmas, everybody. That’s great to see y’all. Thank you so much for being here. Um, yeah, just honored if like like uh Pastor Cindy said, if if this is your first time or you uh come often or you’re a CEO, that’s what we say, church and Easter only, that’s okay. We’re glad you’re here. Uh, just grateful that you would make the time uh to be with us. Y’all can take your seats just for one more minute. I know you’re starting to feel like this is Catholic Church. I I want to do something. Show of hands. Who here has completed Christmas shopping and Christmas wrapping? Show of hands, okay. These are the people we don’t like. They make the rest of us look bad. Who here has completed all the Christmas shopping, but still got a little bit of Christmas wrapping to do? Okay, who here is going to the mall after this service? Anybody see? These are my people. Okay.

Well, we are going to, in just a minute, we’re going to light our Christmas candles. But before we do that, I just want to talk to a to you for a few minutes on something that’s really amazing. Of course, y’all probably know the story, but 2,000 years ago, something amazing happened. And it was before there was a manger, before there was a star, before there was shepherds and wise men, before any of that, there was a young girl, probably maybe 14 years old, something like that, named Mary. Nothing girl came from a nothing town, nothing to show for her life, no notoriety, no status, no influence. But an angel comes to her uh one day and says, Hey Mary, you’re gonna have a baby. But the baby is not just gonna be any baby, it’s your baby’s actually gonna be the son of God. It’s gonna be, it’s gonna be God himself in human skin.

And then something really amazing happens when he says that to her. Uh, and it says, He leaves. And I I find that to be shocking because I’m thinking like, okay, there’s no instruction manual, no next steps. He doesn’t come back the next day, he doesn’t come back next week to check on. He just he just gives her that news, and then he just leaves. And I think that for me, when I think about Mary, uh, on that night in this season, I think she would have had every opportunity and every reason uh to panic and to focus on the bad. But a few days pass, and she says something amazing. She says this, this is Luke chapter 1, verse 13. Mary says this, my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. My this is what she says, my soul magnifies the Lord.

This is a prayer, it’s very famous. It’s what’s known as the magnificant from Latin, which means to magnify. And I want to submit to you this evening, just for a quick minute, that what you magnify matters. What you magnify matters. I’ve got three little thoughts for you before we do the candles, and that’s this. Number one is this everyone magnifies something. Everybody. It’s just it’s how we’re wired, it’s in our DNA to focus on something. And whatever it is that we focus on, that thing becomes bigger in our lives. And so the question is not whether you magnify something, the question is what? The question is what you magnify.

And when Mary says, My soul magnifies the Lord, what she’s not doing is she’s not making God bigger. Because you know what? You can’t. He’s all the way big. He wears a double XL. God’s already He made the universe. You can’t make him big. So what does it mean to magnify something? Well, magnify, there’s two kind of ways you can think about it. There’s two ways of magnifying. Number one is through a microscope. So if I had a microscope right here, what a microscope does is it takes something small and it makes it look big. It’s something small and it makes it look big. But another way to magnify is through a telescope. And what a telescope does, listen to me, makes big things closer. It brings big things closer.

And so when Mary magnifies God, she’s not making a small God bigger, she’s bringing a big God closer. A big God closer. And I don’t know if you ever if you’ve ever done that where you’ve had a uh a magnifying glass and you look at something on the ground. It’s it’s that doesn’t it just look it looks bigger to you? It’s not that it’s bigger, it’s just that it looks bigger to you. It’s not that it’s closer, it just looks closer to you. And I want to submit to you this evening that the further you are away from God, the smaller he’ll seem. But the bigger you make God, the closer you are to God, then the more aware you become of his presence in your life.

It’s like um, y’all ever been to like the airport, you ever been close up to a Boeing 737? It’s huge. Those planes are shockingly big. Like I can’t, I couldn’t believe how big this plane was, but man, you like see it in the sky, and it’s like you gotta like squint to see it. Why? Well, it’s not because the plane is small, it’s because the plane is far. Or like the moon, right? Of course, the moon, you know, the moon’s pretty big. I was, you know what I mean? The moon is pretty big, but like when you see it out in the sky, I mean, you can put your thumb up and you can cover the moon. Why? Because the moon is small? No, because the moon is far.

And I want to say that it’s the same way with God, that you can be so focused, and we can be so focused on small things, that this amazing God that’s so big and is so great can be hidden by something that’s actually really small, and that’s the problems that you face. And so there’s so many people that spend an enormous amount of time magnifying their problems, magnifying their fear, magnifying what other people think, magnifying the news and the chaos and the uncertainty, and where’s all this going? And just want you to know this that whatever you magnify expands in your life, and it becomes what you see everywhere you look. Everyone magnifies something.

Worship before you have answers

Number two is this worship before you have answers. Come on. Worship before you have answers. You know, Mary, she did not magnify God when everything was worked out, when everything was all cool, the baby was here, and everything’s looking really cherry. It wasn’t like that. She she she magnified God while she was still in the middle of an uncomfortable and uncertain middle season. I’m thinking about like Mary, right? So I’m thinking she probably had like a few questions. That would have been me. I would say, yes, let’s do it. A few questions. So one would be like, you know, what am I supposed to tell Joseph? Because she’s engaged, right? So what is she supposed to tell Joseph? Like, hey, honey, funny story, you’re never gonna believe this. You know, it’s like, what is she gonna tell her parents? You know, you think her parents are gonna believe this story? Like, anyone here got a teenage girl? What if she comes home and she’s like, I’m pregnant, but God did it, right?

So she she had all it was an uncertain time for Mary, but rat for Mary, rather than magnifying the uncertainty and the worry and the different the difficult circumstances, what she chose to do is she chose to magnify God, to bring a big God closer. And I’ve told you this a hundred times, but following God will not always produce an easy life. I wish that was the case. I wish it was like you follow God and then everything just becomes easy, like that would be that’d be sweet. Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re offered. But no matter what life you live, and no matter what season you find yourself in tonight, I’ll I want you to know this, you always have a choice. You always have a choice, and the choice is this what you magnify.

You can choose to magnify your problems, or you can choose to magnify God. Mary worshipped before she had the answers, and that’s real faith. And then lastly, number three is this you get to choose what you magnify. You get to choose what you magnify. You know, there’s this thing called target fixation. I don’t know if anybody’s familiar with this, but but people who ride motorcycles, they know this. That if you’re like, let’s say you’re flying down the highway and there’s something on the side of the highway and it catches your eye, and you’re on your motorcycle and you start looking at the thing, that you’ll start to veer that direction. And so it’s dangerous because you go where you look. Because your target is fixated on it.

And the same way is when you fixate on the wrong thing, it can pull you off course. You can you can fixate on fear. Fixate on uncertainty, fixing, fixate on like the grief, maybe that for you, like this season. I know there’s a lot of people that feel a lot of different ways about Christmas. I I grew up thinking Christmas was only joy for all people. Now I’m a pastor and I know that’s not the case. Right? But you can fixate on that. You can fixate on the seat at the table that’s empty for the first time this year. You can fixate on that. Or you can fixate on God.

We’re not trying to say that like those problems don’t exist and it’s not real, but we’re inviting you, even for a short time tonight, to shift your focus off of all the worldly things on to an amazing Savior who’s done so much for us. That’s what’s so powerful about a night like tonight is we’re choosing to magnify Jesus. Even for a short time, it’s like an hour that we’re doing this. And and when the hour’s over and you when you walk out of here, like your life is still gonna be your life. That’s true. Your situations are still gonna be your situations, your challenges are still gonna be your challenges.

But this moment here in this room with all of these people, it’s an opportunity for you to spend a few minutes saying, Look, I got problems, but God, you know what, you’re bigger than all of that. There’s things I’m believing for, but you know what, God, you’re bigger than that. There’s there’s things that I was hoping for this year that didn’t happen, but God, you’re bigger than that. And the things that I’m facing, while they may seem big, God, what I’m doing in this moment is I’m choosing to magnify you. And you’re not making God bigger. What you’re doing is you’re bringing a big God closer by magnifying Him.

And so that’s what we’re gonna do just for a few minutes. And so I’m gonna invite my uh family up and our amazing church staff are gonna come uh with them as well. And what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna we’re gonna light the candles. So y’all should have your candles. Uh hopefully so. The kids have the glow sticks, and we’re gonna go row by row. But what we’re doing, we’re not just lighting candles because candles are cool and fire is cool, we’re not just doing that. What we’re doing is we’re doing what Mary did in spite of all the uncertainty and all the unanswered questions in our lives. What we’re choosing to do is we’re choosing to magnify God and say, God, you’re big. God, you’re great, God, you’re beautiful. And I’m pulling a big God close.

And there is something amazing about the way that we do the candles because it starts just like with this one middle candle. That’s where that’s where it starts. And it goes from one candle to the next, to the next, to the next, to the next. And that’s how the light of Jesus spread. You know, if you’re in here this evening and you believe in Jesus Christ, the reason for that is because the light was spread to you. And it’s not like it’s just one person too many, it’s one light to another light to another light to another light. And that’s how the gospel spreads.

And I’ve told you this many times is that the gospel, as amazing as it is, it’s a great privilege, but it’s also a great responsibility. On one hand, the gospel is a privilege because you didn’t earn it. Like I don’t know how I don’t, I don’t care how much the world sucks up to you, you don’t deserve to be here. You don’t. I don’t deserve to be here. It’s scandalous that I get invited into the kingdom of God to appreciate and celebrate intimacy with Him. It’s just a privilege. The gospel is good news for people like me, for people like you. It’s a privilege.

But it’s also a responsibility. Because the fact the very fact that you are breathing right now proves to me that this is your time not just to appreciate the light and to celebrate the light, we do that, but we also spread the light. And it’s our responsibility to live our lives in a way that causes the gospel to spread generation to generation to generation. And so let’s just spend a couple minutes magnifying God.

A quick word of logistics. Never tip a lit candle. Isn’t that right? There’s this thing called gravity. Pesky. And apparently, if you tip a lit candle, the wax goes everywhere. So what we’re hoping you’ll do with all the candle fun is you keep the candle that’s lit flat and then you tip the unlit candle into the lit candle. Can y’all do that with us? Okay, here we go. Oh, stand with me.

Oh holy night

Oh holy night the stars are brightly shining it is the night of our dear Saviors in sin and every till he appeared in the soul felt its word a thrill of hope the weary world rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morning your deal when Christ was born divine Oh night divine holy holy love we seek holy when Christ was hold on divine oh night holy law so we thank you Lord death could not want availed hold before silence the boast of sin heavens praise of you glory for you are in life work death could not hold you failed soy before you silence the boast of sin and gray the royal phrase of your glory for you are to life you have no life, you have no evil night joy in the kingdom, joy is a name of proble day, my powerful name is the name of Jesus Christ my king of proper name again I know me.

This thing would repeat itself over and over again in my life. When I was a junior in high school, my older brother was a senior, and he would often come home after I would already be in bed and turn on the light and get ready for bed, wake me up. We’d have a few words and then he’d go to sleep. He he would encourage me to someday at the appropriate time, he said, drink. Oops. Wow. Didn’t even feel that. There’s a problem with that, huh? Anyway, story quick. End.

He uh would tell me, he said, You got to do this. It’s a it’s a great time. My father had been an alcoholic, had suffered with it most of his adult life, was still drinking. When Bill said he would never do it, and then he took it up. And then he was encouraging me to do it. I had already sworn I would never do it because of what I’d seen it doing to our family. But then one night the scene repeated itself, and I expected Bill to be drunk, raving about what a good time he had. But this time he was sober. And he let the light on and he began to talk to me about something changing in his life. Something had changed.

And I said, What changed? And he said, I made Jesus Christ the Lord of my life. And I no longer need the support that this gave me in my life. The support I thought that it gave me in my life. I no longer needed to have a great time, to laugh, to have fun with my friends. I found a new life, Marshal. And I want you to have it too. He took the time to share his story with me. And not long after that, I made up my mind to follow Jesus as Lord of my life.

A prayer of commitment

As we prepare tonight to again pray a prayer of commitment, a prayer of committal as we look forward to 2026. We do this every time we do candlelight. We commit ourselves, we make a fresh commitment to faithfully represent Jesus Christ, to tell our story so that people can come to know Him. We are partnering with God in this. God is a relational God, as we said as we started the evening. He has a covenant with us. We have one with him. And a big part of that is now telling our story to the world.

And so let’s pray this and we’ll commit ourselves to this again, and then we’ll extinguish our candles and we’ll close the service. Father, we it’s a big deal. It’s a big deal with you, especially. We’re asking you to help it be a really important thing to us. More important than it’s ever been as we come into a new year. You’ve actually anointed us. We have our own story of a changed life. We’re asking you, God, to open doors in the hearts of men and women around us. Send them to us, send us to them so that we can share some kingdom moments together. And God allow you to love them through us and to share your care with them.

We believe that 2026 will be even more fruitful than what 2020 was where the kingdom of God is concerned. We thank you that it will expand and grow to the north, to the south, to the east, and to the west, to every nation of the world, and we’ll be a part of that, starting right here in Albuquerque. This is our city. We are the church, and this is our city. So we thank you for working with us. Through us, reaching deep into the darkness. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

All right, you can extinguish your candle again. Don’t blow the flame toward your neighbor. Our host team is coming. They’ll pass containers and you can drop your candle in there. And we just want to remind you that this coming Sunday we will be having Sabbath Sunday. And so that means we will not have service. But we want to encourage you to get together with friends that day. Have community together. Even though we’re not gathering here, it doesn’t mean you can’t gather in other places. And we look forward to seeing you back here on Sunday, January 4th. That will be our first service back in the new year, and we’re so excited for that.

Uh as you leave tonight, we have a special treat for you. But before you do that, we have one last special video, and it’s from our staff to you. Merry Christmas, everyone. Thank you so much for being here. I want to wish you a merry Christmas. I wanna wish you a merry. I wanna wish you a merry church from the bottom of my heart. Okay, now we’re gonna try. We got it. Woo! Yay! Thank you, guys.