Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Welcome to the Chroma Charge podcast.
[00:00:11] Amazing. Welcome. Welcome. You can take a seat now.
[00:00:16] I just felt prompted to start actually with a story this morning. Some of you will have heard this story already, but probably not many of you. But the team was celebrating because it's quite recent, but the team was celebrating a couple in our church. He recently. So they have.
[00:00:33] They've not really grown up in church. Well, the girl, she went to church as a teenager and some stuff happened in her life and she went away from church. And then growing up, she met a guy and they'd been together for a number of years. And then he just said one day, you know, I really would like to go to church. And so they came along to church and he had an encounter with the Lord and he walked forward and he gave his life to Jesus. And then. Which is an incredible story just for him. But then she came along to the glory night couple of weeks ago and she, she decided also that she needed to come back home. And so she gave her life to Jesus. And last week they were just sharing. They got baptized together. But they, they basically felt the conviction of the Lord that they were, you know, living together. They got two beautiful children. They felt the conviction of the Lord to now get married and to live actually in his ways and under his blessing. And so, yeah, amazing, right?
[00:01:26] And they realized that the day that they'd. They literally did it quickly because when the Lord speaks, we act fast. And so they did it quickly. And so they got married on the Monday and they realized actually we want to die to our old lives and get baptized the day before. So they got baptized on the Sunday, got married on the Monday and sent us the photos on Tuesday. So just incredible, incredible story.
[00:01:49] And they are just two out of 277 people who have given their lives to Jesus in 2025 in this church.
[00:01:58] So we are so, so excited. I couldn't help myself. I had to share that story just because it's so great.
[00:02:06] But who's ready for Christmas? You ready? Got it all done.
[00:02:11] So exciting. The excitement is building in our house. I don't know how many of you guys have Advent calendars. Is it just me as adults? I know the kids have Advent calendars in our house. We as grown ups have them also.
[00:02:24] Well, when I say we just me. Joel doesn't have one. He doesn't really like chocolate. There was a man in the first service who said he had a whiskey advent calendar. I don't know how that works. Like whiskey every day. Anyway.
[00:02:35] Anyway, he can come and give his life to Jesus. Again, joke, joke.
[00:02:41] But we have this. We have Advent calendars. We're really excited to have them every day. You know, whoever came up with an idea to make sure that we're patient by having chocolate for breakfast every day for a month? It's just genius, right? It's absolutely genius. And my kids always want to have the next day now, you know, can we have tomorrow's now? And I'm trying to teach them that then there won't be the joy tomorrow. You need to just have one a day.
[00:03:03] And so my son, who's 7, turned around to me this week and said, can I have number 24? I was like, absolutely not. Like you've not understood the concept of Advent calendars. The whole point is that you wait till the end to get the big chocolate, because that's the prize. And he turned to me and he said, so mummy, and why is number 24, the Big Chocolate, gone from your Advent calendar?
[00:03:28] Caught red handed. Not that any of you guys would ever do that, right? But I was like, because mummy wants a big slab of chocolate. And I was hungry. And when you're a grownup, you can do whatever you want.
[00:03:40] There is no good moral teaching that comes from that story. But the point is, I just couldn't wait. I wanted the chocolate. And you know, Christmas, we're celebrating this. The theme this year is Massage the Promised King. And the whole point, right, is that people were waiting and waiting and waiting patiently for the arrival of Jesus. There were all these promises, like, he's coming, there's a Messiah, he's going to save you. And they had to wait for hundreds of years for the promise to be fulfilled. And at Christmas we celebrate that Jesus arrived, born as a baby, and those promises were fulfilled.
[00:04:17] But just to be really clear, I want to do a quick kind of Gospel overview today. You know, the arrival of Jesus wasn't the moment that Jesus started his existence, right? So Jesus is the Son of God. We've got Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and they are eternal. You know, he. God is eternal. They were there at the beginning of time.
[00:04:37] There'll never be a time where they're not going to be here, when God is not going to be here.
[00:04:42] And he invented time. Okay, so you've got Jesus at the beginning of creation. We read that in John 1 where the word was with God and the word was God. He was there in the beginning.
[00:04:54] But what we see is that in the beginning he created the heavens and the earth. We know the creation story, right? And he created man and woman, Adam and Eve, in his image. And so there's this moment, this beautiful picture in Genesis where we took. Where we. Where we read about the paradise, the Garden of Eden literally meant the Garden of Paradise. And they got to live in this beautiful relationship with the Lord, how it was always intended to be.
[00:05:20] They got to walk with the Lord and talk with him and have this beautiful, perfect relationship with him. And he gives them free will. If you know the story, you know we've got the Garden of Eden, then you've got the knowledge, the tree of. The knowledge of good and evil. And the Lord says not to eat from that tree. And in that moment, we see original sin. We see that they chose to. To go their own way, to trust their own decision over God's. They're choosing in that moment to decide for themselves what was right or wrong as opposed to following God's way. And that is called sin. And ever since we've been doing that, you know, I don't know about you, but we choose our own way.
[00:06:02] Even when we know what things, what. What the right way of living is, we still do our own things. We still sin, sin. And this separates us from God. And we see, we read that in the Bible, that actually they're banished then from the Garden of Eden because there's this brokenness in relationship with God. And yet in his mercy, there's this promise, this thread of hope all the way through the Scriptures where God comes after his people, he pursues them, he raises up leaders, and not psychics, prophets, you know, he raises up people to be his messengers through time, to say, there will be a day where we will be back in relationship once and for all. Sin will be paid for in full, and we can restore this relationship together. And that's what these promises are all about, this waiting and anticipation for God.
[00:06:55] And, you know, at the arrival of Jesus, we've just heard that over 300 prophecies were fulfilled. But I want to say to you today that there are promises that the Lord has for you, prophecies that are spoken about in his word that he is waiting to fulfill in your life.
[00:07:15] It is true that at the arrival of Jesus and at the death and resurrection of the cross, when Jesus went to the cross and rose again, everything was fulfilled.
[00:07:26] And yet we have an opportunity now to say yes and amen to those promises. He has more for us. And so he is prophesying, wanting to do more in our lives than we could even ask, think or imagine.
[00:07:41] And we get to come to Him Today, you know, as I was preparing this talk, I actually felt like the Lord say, you know, sometimes my people don't even know the gift I have for them. Maybe they don't even expect a gift from me. But I want to announce this morning that there are gifts, there are promises that the Lord wants to fulfill in your life that you could not even imagine. And he wants to blow through and fulfill them in your lives. It's good news.
[00:08:07] It's good news. You can turn to your neighbor and say, it's good news like you believe it.
[00:08:14] See, it says in Isaiah 9, we're going to read it in a minute. But it says, of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. Which means as the Lord arrives, His kingdom extends. It's like his hand extends to every part of our lives. You know, his hand extends this morning to your health.
[00:08:35] You know, he wants you to be well, to be healthy. His hand extends to your mental health, to our minds. His hand extends to every part. It extends to your marriage.
[00:08:47] If there's marriages this morning, there is hope. When the Lord arrives, His hand extends to your children, to their children, to the generations behind you.
[00:08:58] His hand extends to family members who don't know him yet. His hand extends to your finances, even his hand extends to your workplaces, to your work colleagues, to your city, to this nation.
[00:09:12] Of the increase of his government and his peace. There shall be no end, which means is ever increasing.
[00:09:20] Do we believe it, the people of God? We say yes and amen to the more that he has for us. This Christmas, there was another incredible baptism testimony from last week, and I want to just share it with you. He wrote it down and he sent it to Emily, who runs our new life. And I've just been reading it this week, and it's just incredible. He said this 45 years of my life I've spent as a practicing Hindu. I would pray to many different gods for many different reasons, only I never seemed to find answers, nor did I ever feel the presence of the gods I was praying to.
[00:09:56] After some of my darkest moments in life, I began to question God. So I asked God if He was real and to show me how to pray to him so that I could feel his presence. That's when I heard his name deep in my heart.
[00:10:11] Jesus.
[00:10:13] This went on for weeks. His name kept popping up randomly in books, in conversations, in my thoughts. I started following Christian content on YouTube to learn. And I continued my relationship with Jesus, falling completely in love with my true living God, whom I now see in all of my past, my present and my future.
[00:10:35] But get this, he says, but of course, Jesus wasn't quite finished showing me just how real he was. Fast track to today. Both my daughters, their mother, my daughter's partner, who's from a Sikh background, his brother, his cousin, members of his family, and my partner have all, all confessed. Jesus as Lord, He wants to do more than we could ask, think or imagine. How incredible is that? That not only God wasn't only after one life, he's after our families. He wants to. He wants to breathe his love and his kingdom into each one of our lives. It's an incredible thing.
[00:11:22] He wants to rush in and show us the expansion of his kingdom. And this morning, I want to just highlight three things. What are three promises that the Lord has for us? Firstly, the promise is salvation. It starts with salvation. You know, the name Jesus literally means the one who saves. No. Angel Gabriel announces that to Mary, you shall have a son and you shall call him Jesus, the one who will save, save his people. And then the name Messiah or Christ, they both mean the Anointed One. So Jesus is the anointed one to save us. There's no one else who can save us but Jesus.
[00:12:03] His name is above every other name. We can't choose from a bunch of gods. He's the only way. He is the anointed one to save us.
[00:12:12] He came from the throne room of heaven with all of the riches of heaven. He gave it all up and came as a baby in a stinky, uncomfortable stable. And a baby is completely dependent on everyone else to look after them. Why did he come in this humble way? Why did he give it all up?
[00:12:34] He gave it up for you and for me. For us. He came to rescue his people.
[00:12:41] What a God. What other God gives up the throne room of heaven to come down and to come into the dirt and into our mess, to rescue us from our sin and to bring us into life. He is the one who saves. You know, the consequence of sin is death. And we see the consequence of sin today in a broken world all around us. But Jesus came not as a superhero in a cape from the sky. He came as a humble baby who would go on to pay the debt in full.
[00:13:08] To pay in full and to become the Lamb of God.
[00:13:13] See, this is really interesting. You know, the manger that Jesus was born into was traditionally used for these perfect, newborn, unblemished lambs which were wrapped in a swaddling cloth and placed in a stone manger for protection, ready to be used for temple sacrifice, the people of God would take these unblemished perfect lambs to the temple to be sacrificed for the forgiveness of their sin. Except we know that it was never enough.
[00:13:47] It was never enough to pay our debt in full. We needed a perfect sacrifice. And his name was Jesus. And he came down from heaven onto earth to pay the price in full to become the Lamb of God, the anointed One, to save us from our sin. He paid the debt in full. And it says in the Scriptures that today whoever believes in him, whoever confesses him as Lord and believes in their heart that Jesus was raised then from the dead three days later gets to receive the same resurrection life that he bought for us. It's an incredible, incredible gift and it's free for whoever comes to him.
[00:14:25] And I want to say this morning that the first promise is salvation.
[00:14:30] Jesus is the only way.
[00:14:32] And then the secondly, the second promise is his kingdom.
[00:14:37] So everything changes when we receive salvation. And it's the story of our new believers time and time again. Because it's not just that our sin is forgiven, but this resurrected life means that we now get to live under the kingship of God in His kingdom, which is where his blessings flow.
[00:14:56] It's such a beautiful gift. It's like we come home to the King.
[00:15:00] You know, it's the story of our new believers. It's my story. That's the light that now dawns on us. No more gloom. It's the joy that just doesn't make sense. Have you experienced that? It's like you're going through things in life but you have this joy, this internal joy that has a name. His name's Jesus and it doesn't make sense.
[00:15:20] And yet he is alive and he brings us his joy. It's the hope that never fails in any circumstance. It's the purpose that now goes far beyond our own idea of what life is like. You know, a good successful life is a great job and you know, maybe a couple of kids and mortgage free and maybe a pension one day. Not sure it far surpasses that because our purpose is so much greater than our own. When I got saved, it was huge that the Lord had called me to something small. So much greater than I could ever imagine. I got to be part of his story, not my story.
[00:15:56] And so we, we get to be part of his kingdom.
[00:15:59] And in Isaiah 9 there are these promises, there's this announcement that one day the Son is going to come, the Son of God is going to come and this is what is going to happen. And they list. Isaiah lists all of these promises. And I want to read it this morning. So if you have a Bible, you can turn to Isaiah, chapter nine.
[00:16:18] And we're going to stand as we read the Word of God. We're going to honor His Word above My Word. So would you stand with me? And the words will come up on the screen.
[00:16:29] And Lord, as we read this, I pray that you would put these promises on our hearts, Lord.
[00:16:37] So Isaiah, chapter 9.
[00:16:39] Nevertheless, there will be no more gleam for those who were in distress.
[00:16:46] Verse 2. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of the shadow of death. A light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy. They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Jump to verse six. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. And the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
[00:17:44] Amen.
[00:17:46] Amen. You can grab a seat.
[00:17:49] This is just a taste of the promises of God. There will be no more gloom for those who are in distress. If you are in distress this morning, there will be no more gloom when you come to the Lord, a light has dawned. He increases our joy. You know, some of you, I think, have found yourself recently just saying, like, like, why is life so hard? Here we go again. Here's another thing. There's always something. Life is just so hard. And I want to announce, as Isaiah does this morning, that he has shattered the yoke that burdens us, the bar across our shoulders, the rod of our oppressor is broken at the arrival of Jesus. Is life absolutely perfect? No. But do we have the Prince of Peace living in our hearts, calling us forward from glory to glory? Yes, the light has dawned at the arrival of Jesus. And the promise this morning is that of his kingdom there will be no end.
[00:18:49] And his kingdom is where we get to live this morning. We get to receive the promise of a king where we live in his kingdom. The Bible says, now we're heirs. I don't know if you remember, it's a famous story that Jesus shares about the prodigal son. And we are now welcomed home as a son, as a prince, and as a princess.
[00:19:10] That's how we're welcomed home. And I don't even remember in the story the son, like, he realizes he needs to go home. And he. It's like he's rehearsing in his head what he wants to say to his dad. And he says, you know, I'll just come as a slave. I'll just come as a servant. You know, I'll come in low because I've messed up and there's all this shame. And yet when he walks through the door, the Father reinstates him and says, my son, he gives him a cloak, he gives him sandals, he gives him a ring. He establishes him again as a son, not because of what he did, but because of what Jesus did. And we are now clothed in righteousness because of the Messiah. And we get to live in the kingdom of God as princes and princesses because of what he has paid for us. Amen. You still with me?
[00:19:56] Amazing. So we can know him as a wonderful counselor. We can know him as a mighty God, his mighty, powerful, outstretched hand. We can know him as everlasting Father. You know, not a daddy slams the door on you when you mess up, but an everlasting Father who died on the cross with open hands to receive you. We can know him as the Prince of peace who lives inside of us.
[00:20:20] And, you know, we learn these things. We learn about the promises of God from this book.
[00:20:25] And I want to encourage you this Christmas, this coming into this new year, to intentionally spend time reading His Word and getting to know the author, getting to know the king that we now live under and with.
[00:20:40] You know, if you don't have a Bible this morning, I'd love you. You're invited to take one from here. Come and ask one of the team. We'd love to give you a Bible. You can download it on your phone or maybe for many of us. We've walked with the Lord for many years, but it's time to intentionally seek His Word once again.
[00:20:58] This is a shameless plug. We have a Cromer discipleship course starting in January, and you are welcome to sign up for that. There's a few spaces left, and we're going to close the booking soon, but if you go onto our website, you can sign up for that. And what is it? It's intentionally going after the Word of God with a mentor over this coming year to let His Word transform you to Teach you of his promises and to introduce you once again to the author.
[00:21:26] Okay, so the promise is salvation. The promise is his kingdom. And then lastly, the promise is his presence. You know, when the prodigal son comes home, there's this huge party.
[00:21:37] It says that the Father, you know, lays out the big buffet and all the meats. And, you know, there's lots of guests. And you can imagine just this huge celebration, which is amazing, right? When anyone comes home to the Lord, there's a celebration.
[00:21:51] But the beauty, the best bit, is that when the party was over, you know, and the guests had gone home and the food was finished and the son goes to bed, the best bit about coming home isn't that he gets to live in the Father's house.
[00:22:08] The best bit is that when he wakes up the next morning, he gets to live with the Father.
[00:22:13] And, you know, we can receive his gifts that are part of his kingdom. But the greatest gift is his presence.
[00:22:20] God with us. Emmanuel, forever.
[00:22:25] Forever. He never leaves us. We get to sit face to face with the King of glory. How mad is that that he would come close to us and pursue a relationship with us? And as we say yes to him, he wants to encounter us every day.
[00:22:43] And, you know, I'm so grateful that I encounter the presence of God daily. But I remember times in this year that have been really tough. And he has just shown up is the only way I can describe it. You know, I remember sitting with a lady in this church. Just awful things that have happened this year. You know, a grieving widow and just difficult, you know, difficult circumstances. And getting in the car, just feeling tired and onto the next thing. And the Lord just filled my car with his presence. There wasn't even worship on. It's like he just showed up and I was just in floods of tears, just so grateful for his peace, for his joy, for his hope that he would come and sit with me in those moments. You know, being in doctor's appointments and just knowing that actually their words don't have the final word, but his blood has the final word. And having this assurance and this hope as I sit with man speaking to me, but hearing the voice of heaven because he's with me.
[00:23:41] We get to live in the house of the Lord, not just enjoying his blessings, but enjoying him, his presence, him with us.
[00:23:52] And so today I would love you to go home hearing these things. That the promise for you is salvation, that the promise for you is his kingdom. And the expansion of his kingdom and his blessings. And the promise is his presence that no matter where you go, no matter where you've come from, the Lord draws near to us.
[00:24:11] He is Emmanuel, God with us, and it is good news. Amen.
[00:24:17] All good. Do you want to stand? Why don't you stand? I'm done.
[00:24:23] Thanks for listening to the Cromer Church Podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Cromer Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, work, worship, and how to donate, visit our website at Chroma Church.
