“Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word.” 1 Kings 18 : 36
Today we will have worship and celebrate Christmas with a heart full of thanksgiving because of God’s goodness throughout 2017. With the theme “Let it be known,” we will rejoice and have a spiritual feast.
The theme for this Christmas is taken from the book of 1 Kings 18 – it is about the prophet Elijah conquering the opposition against the Baal prophets and how the fire of the Lord came down from heaven when he prayed “Let it be known this day that You are God in Israel!” The Israelites repented and returned to the Lord, and Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal and experienced a great victory.
Tonight, we want to do the same like Elijah. The Lord is reminding us to do something new, something that has never been done in the history of IBC Church: a Christmas concert. For the past 3 months, everyone who is involved in this concert has poured out their heart, energy and time in preparing for this concert.
Tonight, through this Christmas concert, we will lift up our prayer, praise and worship wholeheartedly and with all that we can so the Lord’s heart is pleased. We will declare together “Let it be known that You are God in our lives, in IBC church and in America.” And we believe that the fire of the Lord, which is the fire of the Holy Spirit, will fall upon us – awakening our lives, the church and this nation.
A great harvest of souls will take place in the church and in this nation, just like the story of Elijah where all Israel returned to believe in God after the fire of the Lord fell upon them. And we also believe that we will experience a great victory starting tonight, just like how Elijah and the Israelites experienced a great victory from the prophets of Baal. Hallelujah!
Expect the Lord’s great visitation tonight. Believe that everything mentioned above will happen to us, His church and this nation – because nothing is impossible for our God. And for us who are in need of the Lord, He will touch us tonight. How much you expect the Lord, is how much the Lord will satisfy us. Let us prepare our hearts seriously.
May you enjoy the Christmas concert and take part in the amazing praise and worship. May you experience the resurrection of the Holy Spirit and a great victory.
And as conclusion, we as the senior pastors of IBC Church Family and the whole family of IBC would like to wish IBC Church Family and Friends, “Merry Christmas 2017” and “Happy New Year 2018.” God bless.
Pastors Raymond and Juliet Pranoto