"O Come All Ye Faithful"	December 11th, 2005

Matthew 3: 1-10, Isaiah 40: 1-5,11 Colossians 1: 15-20

1. In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea
2. and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
3. This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' "
4. John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
5. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.
6. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
8. Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
9. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
10. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

1. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
3. A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD ; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
4. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
5. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it.
   For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

11. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
17. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
19. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
20. and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

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