So it's the first Sunday of December.
So we are officially in Christmas season and I have
some, I have a question to ask you or some questions.
Raise your hands, OK? And this is going to be a few.
So if you don't actually agree with the first one, it's OK.
All right. So who absolutely loves like
loves Christmas and I'm not talking about what it really is
about. I'm talking about you love it.
You love it. OK, there's a few.
There's a few. OK.
All right, then who? Who?
Who thinks it's lovely? It's nice.
You know, it's all right. It's nice.
Yeah. OK.
Who? Who can take or leave Christmas?
Anyone. That's me.
Yeah. OK.
Anyone that really doesn't like Christmas at all.
Are you brave enough to put your hand up?
OK. Right.
OK. Now, my kids are not in this,
this in this one. They're coming at the half 11
service, so I can really let it RIP.
Yeah, I had. I actually spoke to them and I
said, look, I'm going to say some stuff about Christmas.
I love it. All right?
But you know, Mum's story now what I'm about to say to you, I
know some people might feel. Oh, you know, I'm really worried
for Denise. OK, I'm OK.
All right. Just want to let you know that
when you see me in the foyer, I'm all right.
OK. I'm good.
Yeah, but when it comes to
Christmas, I see Christmas, I'm a little bit heartbroken by
Christmas and I kind of see Christmas like someone who's
broken your heart. And the reason being like when I
say that like someone who has broken your heart time and time
again that after a while you see the pattern, you see them away
off and you just go. I know, I know your pattern.
You know, like someone who dangles themselves and they, you
know, they, they woo you and then when you are bedazzled,
they break your heart and they do it often that you then think,
you know what, I'm just hardened to you.
I am not going to let you in. And that's how I feel a bit by
Christmas. I had to brief my daughter about
that one. And the reason being is that
when I was a child, my parents were not that Christmassy.
They did celebrate Christmas, but I, I don't know if it's a
cultural thing, but at school you know, they'll be celebrating
Christmas. I'll be going to the shopping
centre and you see all the big tree and the polar bears and all
that stuff, Santa's grotto and everything like that.
And then at home, my parents were not that Christmassy and my
mum, she never really gave me what I really wanted.
She always gave me things that I needed.
So I would get like, you know, a bath towel, a dressing gown, a
pack of knickers, vests, those sort of things that I would get.
And I remember when I was 8 years old, my uncle bought me a
speak and spell and that is that.
And you know those dogs where they walk and then they bark.
I think I got that and a speak and spell.
And I I still have that speak and spell.
I don't use it, but I still have it.
It's like 4 years old and that's the only present I remember that
I actually really wanted. And I just thank God.
Thank God that my pet, my kids have a dad who had a different
Christmas. I don't even know if it's to
thank God, to be honest with you, but I really don't know.
But he had a different Christmas to me.
He got whatever he wanted. He had the real tree.
I'm not saying that if you don't have a real tree, you're not
celebrating Christmas. But his mum really went to town
and because he had that Christmas, he gives our children
that Christmas. And I have learned to like
Christmas because of it. I get up at 5:00 because they
wake us up and we sit there and we watch them.
But if it was my way I would probably giving them that toy.
They don't need that toy but they have their dad and they
enjoy Christmas and so you may feel that way.
I remember last year being at a petrol station and I went to go
and pay for my petrol and I saw the man at the till and I said
Happy Christmas and he went I don't like Christmas and I went
oh why not? As if, you know, I wouldn't know
that he goes because I don't like my family, don't like being
with my family. In fact, I don't like being with
people. And he was just going on and on
and on and I really wanted to pray for him.
Have you ever been at the till and you wanted to pray for
someone? Have you ever done that?
You've ever prayed for someone? And there's like people behind
and it's kind of awkward. I've done it once in Oldie.
I had to pray for the guy at the till.
And it's kind of weird as well because you really feel you've
got to step out in faith. And they're kind of like thanks
in your life. It's a bit weird.
But if you feel to pray, do so. And it's a stressful time as
well. Have you noticed the the adverts
on TV? Have you seen the Tesco adverts?
They're not like the Waitrose one when you've got Keira
Knightley, you know, falling in love with that bearded man.
I don't know what his name is. But the Tesco adverts are more
realistic. There's arguments.
Have you seen them? So you've seen the two brothers
where they're playing a game and they're arguing and all sorts of
stuff are coming up for when they were young.
And then there's also one where this couple in the car park and
I can relate to this one and they have an argument just
before they do their Christmas shopping.
Their husband says something mean about her brother and she
gets really angry. I haven't got a brother, but I
can relate to the argument and I like the way how they're doing
the adverts, the Tescos. But also, as I said, it's a
stressful time. And if you've got kids, these
last two weeks is where everything is just ramping up
and you got these emails like in October, you know, like when you
get 50 a day and they tell you there's going to be Christmas
dinner, Christmas jumper day, Christmas fair, Christmas,
whatever. And if you're like me, you
ignore them. And then these next two weeks
you're going to school and you see everyone with their
Christmas jumper and you're like, oh, I'd better quickly run
to the shop and get you one. And then there's Christmas
dinner and there's all these things happening and it all
happens and ramps up in these last two weeks and the kids have
got colds and they don't want to go to school.
And all that stuff is happening. And then it's Christmas.
And I always find that I'm so stressed and so tired and that
day comes and I just remember that I always look at 4:00 in
the afternoon where it's nearly dark.
I look out the window and I think, and now it's over all
that, all that, and it's now done.
Anyway, can anyone sorry I've ranted, I'm ranted, I'm sorry.
And I'm just glad that was only like 3 people that absolutely
love because it's Christmas, because if you all put your
hands up and then I've just ranted, sorry, I'm sorry, I'm
sorry. But anyway, it's lovely.
It's a nice time. I can't do this in the 11:30
service. So I'm saying it all now.
OK, so this is the time. This is the time where it's
special and it is so easy to forget the meaning of Christmas.
It's so easy. Even as a Christian, it's so
easy to just be thinking about everything else but Jesus.
And so we're going to be thinking about that.
We're going to be looking at that today.
So I would like you to turn to your Bibles, if you've got your
Bibles, or you can look at the screen and look at Luke chapter
2, verse 8 to 18. And I'm going to read that
passage. OK, so, and there were
shepherds. In fact, let me give you some
time. Let me give you a bit more time
to find Luke chapter 2. And there were shepherds living
out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks
at night. An Angel of the Lord appeared to
them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.
And they were terrified. But the Angel said to them, Do
not be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy
for all the people. Today in the town of David, a
Saviour has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord.
This will be assigned to you. You will find a baby wrapped in
clothes and lying in a Manger. Suddenly a great company of the
heavenly hosts appeared with the Angel praising God and saying,
Glory to God in the highest heavens and on earth, peace to
those on whom his Father rests. When the angels had left them
and gone into heaven, the shepherd said to one another,
Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened,
which the Lord has told us about.
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who
was lying in the Manger. When they had seen him, they
spread the word concerning what had been told them about this
child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds
said to them. Now the author Luke, before this
passage, he mentions that Caesar has issued A census and so
everyone has gone to their hometown to go and register.
And Joseph goes to Nazareth. He goes with Mary, he goes to
Nazareth and he goes to register.
So he's registering in Nazareth with Mary, who is pregnant and
she's agreed to be his wife. Just think about that.
She's pregnant and she's his fiancee.
Now, culturally today that is acceptable, but back then that
didn't look good. That really didn't look good.
And just think he's registering his fiancee.
He's registering, he's there with his fiancee.
She's heavily pregnant. And then people be like, wow,
OK, so she's she's not even your wife yet.
No, it's not my baby. It's not my baby.
It's some. Oh, right.
So it's some other man's baby. No, no, no, no, no.
She's a virgin. But it's God's baby.
Yeah, Right. That really makes sense.
Really, doesn't it? That makes sense.
It doesn't seem like the math is mathing here.
Really. And then there's no room for
them. There's nowhere for them to
stay. And they have to stay in a
stable. She gives birth in a stable and
Jesus is in a Manger. He's in a through where animals
are eating. Now, you know, we've got that
whole new bin system now where you've got, you know, that
purple lid bin and that black bin and you've got the food bin.
I don't know about your food bin, but my food bin is always
dirty. Fruit flies everywhere have to
really scrub it and just think that the King of kings was in a
trough, was in a place where animals eat from, animals eat
from. That's where he had to lay.
There was no red carpet rolled out for the king of kings.
And then we found out, we see in verse 8 that the shepherds were
the first to know about Jesus. God spoke to the shepherds, the
shepherds. They were living outside
shepherds. Why the shepherds?
Surely there were more important people that could have been told
about Jesus first, because shepherds, they were known to be
only They lived outside. They were dirty, they were in
contact with the sheep. They would have had sheep blood
on them, sheep poo, muds, all sorts of things.
They weren't allowed in the temple because they were in
contact to death animals, the death of animals.
They weren't allowed in the temple.
They were also considered to be untrustworthy, illiterate, and
yet God spoke to the shepherds first.
All of it doesn't look good. He looks not how we would have
done this. But you know what this is The
wonderful thing about God is that He will do whatever He
wants to do, regardless of what it looks like on the outside.
He will do whatever He wants to do.
He will do a good work in your heart regardless.
Even if you don't look shiny on the outside, He's doing a great
thing. The Kingdom is upside down.
Upside down Kingdom, The first will be last.
Who we would think are the first.
They will be last. The last will be first.
The marginalized. The people who we wouldn't see
are the likely people. They will be first.
What God sees as valuable is what may.
We may not see as valuable. What we see as valuable in this
world, it doesn't mean anything to gods.
You would think that the King of Kings would have probably been
born in a palace, maybe borne by a Princess, but no, he was born
in a stable. It didn't look good, but God was
doing something wonderful. And at this point, I just want
to stop. And I just want to encourage you
that if God is doing something in you, keep going.
Keep going. I have a friend or there's
somebody that I know and she used to be an addict and she's
now in contact with so many people who were once like her.
She's given her life to Christ. She's changed her life around
God's changed her life. And she said to me, I don't feel
I'm good enough to actually pray for them and lead them to Christ
because look at me, look what I've done.
And I said to her, don't worry about that, don't worry about
that. In fact, you are brilliant
because you can relate to these people.
And also it's not you, it's God. So don't ever disqualify
yourself if you feel overlooked. Let God keep doing what he's
doing. He that began a good work in you
will continue until the day of Christ.
And so in verse 9 we see that God comes to speak to the
shepherds, because the glory of the Lords is there with them.
The glory of the Lord, God's weighted glory, is with the
shepherds. And the Angel of the Lord has a
messenger, a heavenly messenger in bodily form.
And the shepherds are petrified. Now, I live in the countryside.
There's no St. lamps. And you know, there's been a
full moon. And every month I always go out,
I look outside and I just see how the full moon just
illuminates all the fields that are around me.
I just think these shepherds would have had experience
heaven. Heaven came down and was so
bright. That must have been so scary,
but also because of God's glory, they were petrified because
God's glory was right there and they would have just felt how
unholy they are. And so the messenger says, don't
be afraid. I come to bring you good news.
And in the Greek, the good news is I have to have a look at what
it says because I, I keep forgetting to how to pronounce
it. But it's you, Angelizo.
You Angelizo. And that means to bring good
news, evangelize. And the way it's written in this
passage, the messenger is making a statement, a declaration,
declaration that God himself, this is history, that God is
coming to the earth to save it. He is coming down to the earth
to save it. And we need this good news.
We need this good news. It's like we're on a conveyor
belt towards destruction and death.
And yet God is saying that I'm coming, I'm coming down to
change that. So where you're going one way,
you're going to go a different way because I'm coming.
And then we learn that there is a Saviour who's been born and he
is the Messiah. He is the Messiah.
Now the Jewish people, they were waiting for a Messiah.
They were waiting for this human Messiah, this political person
who was going to change the Roman system and he was going to
establish the Jews and he was going to bring spiritual
discipline. But they didn't realise that he
was going to be supernatural. He was going to be fully man and
fully God at the same time. And we need a Messiah.
We need a saviour. I know I need a saviour.
I know I do because this world is just so messed up and I'm not
perfect and I mess up all the time, every day.
I need a saviour. I need a saviour because I mess
up relationships. I don't do relationships well, I
get it wrong. I need a Saviour, I need a
Saviour for every day. And so you, me, we all need a
Saviour and we have one. And as this messenger declares
this, these angels, they come from heaven, a plethora of
angels, an army of angels, they can't help themselves because
God's truth is being said. They come down and they just
shout glory, glory. They praise God and they come to
declare that God has peace where we deserve punishment.
He's coming with peace. He's coming because he loves us
and he brings peace, not war, but peace.
OK, so I want to leave you with a few things.
Actually, two things, two practical things, practical
things to do in this Christmas time because it is a busy time.
And so the first thing, the first thing that I would like to
just encourage you to do that in this time of business, in this
time where you are caught up with all the just the, you know,
the festivities, remember. That Jesus came, He was born and
he came to be your Saviour. Now you may not even you've
never accepted Christ as your Saviour.
Maybe that's where you're at today and he's available to you.
But also remember that Jesus came to save you and you can do
that, but just simply taking time to reflect, saying thank
you God, thank you God, thank you for Jesus, thank you that I
am set free. Thank you that I can do
something completely different, turn my life around because
there is a Savior. Thank you.
And the next thing is that this is a busy time.
We're going to see lots of people.
We're going to be around family, friends.
You're going to encounter people in car parks, shopping centres.
And so I'd like to invite you to put the cross of Christ between
you and others. Put the cross of Christ between
you and others. And when I say that I don't mean
literally holding up a cross to ward people off, I don't mean it
like that. What I mean is that this is a
time where there can be a lot of arguments where you're going to
see family and there are unresolved issues you may have
in laws that irritate you. You you're going to spend time
with your partner and you both work.
So you don't really spend much time together and probably see
each other for one or two hours a day.
And now you're going to see each other every day.
And there are issues that you're you've got that you haven't
resolved. You've got to try and put it
aside. And there might be arguments in
the kitchen while you're cooking the Turkey, all sorts of stuff.
Or maybe you've been driving around trying to find a parking
space and then someone after 45 minutes of driving around nabs
your space and you want to shout at them.
Maybe you've done restore recently and things have come
up, wounds have come up, and then now you've got to see those
people this Christmas time. You might have friends who have
got kids coming to your house that you don't like.
It's an awkward time. And I want to invite you to put
the cross of Christ between you and others, because what was
done on the cross is available to you.
There's healing at the cross, there's forgiveness at the
cross, There's grace at the cross.
There's patience at the cross. And you will feel things.
And instead of saying it to that person or saying it to others,
which is so toxic, give it to Jesus.
Give what you feel to Jesus. If you are angry, give that to
Jesus. If you have resentment, give it
to Jesus. If you have bitterness, give it
to Jesus. Because if you hold it on,
that's the place for the enemy to take root and make that a
fortress to do all sorts of trouble.
So give it to Jesus. And the beauty about the cross
is that God has forgiven those people.
God's got patience for those people.
God loves those people. So where you find it hard right
now to forgive, God Forgives. Just give it to him.
Give it to Jesus. You've got the armor of God, the
breastplate of righteousness, and it's not our righteousness
that we have to enter into. It's his righteousness where you
feel like you might want to box people down.
Yeah, it's God's. It's his righteousness because
of the work of the cross, because of Jesus.
It's his identity that we can take on.
So remember to put the cross of Christ between you and others
this Christmas and past Christmas.
We've got 2 1/2 weeks till Christmas Day.
We've got 4 just under 4 weeks until the whole Christmas time
is over. So thank you for Jesus.
I'd like to invite you to stand right now.
We're just going to say a prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you so much.
Thank you for your love. Thank you for your kindness.
Thank you for your patience. Thank you that you use us even
though we may not be all shiny on the outside, you use us, you
love us. Thank you that your Kingdom is
upside down. Thank you that what you see is
valuable is not what the world sees valuable.
Thank you lot. Thank you for your mercy and
grace, and thank you for bringing Jesus into the world.
Thank you. Thank you that we are set free.
Thank you that our lives can change.
Thank you that we don't have to be a slave to sin.
Thank you for the work that's been done on the cross.
And during this time. Help us to just think and be
grateful for what you have done for us.
And as we do life with others during this time, help us to go
to Jesus, to give all of this all our stuff to Jesus, and to
trust him in Jesus name, Amen.