Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Welcome to the Crema Chaj podcast.
[00:00:08] Great. Well, we're on the Countdown to Christmas. I trust that you're all ready.
[00:00:15] Food bought, presents wrapped.
[00:00:20] Thankfully, I have a wife and so I show up at Christmas. She's very good and gets everything sorted. If you don't have a wife, find one.
[00:00:36] Okay.
[00:00:40] I was just this week sometime I was just out walking and you know when you're coming to the end of the year, you kind of. Sometimes I often just rehearse the year with the Lord in the sense I'm just talking to him about, about the year.
[00:00:57] And I felt the Holy Spirit whisper, don't despise the day of small beginnings. And that comes from Zechariah, the prophet Zechariah, chapter four.
[00:01:09] And I guess the Christmas story, the birth of God coming to earth is the epitome of, of this.
[00:01:23] If you want to understand how God works, look at the life of Jesus.
[00:01:29] If you want to understand how God works in your life, look at his life.
[00:01:37] You see, God is a builder. God is always building. What he does is he places seeds in our lives. In New Year, we're going to talk about sowing and reaping, and then he allows them to grow.
[00:01:50] And often when he plants the seed, there's kind of a little bit of glory and, you know, a bit of excitement all around the planting. And we see that in the Christmas story with angels appearing and all sorts going on. But then he enables it to grow.
[00:02:10] Do you know, let me give you, give you an example of that. He. If you were to ask me how I've changed personally in the last 10 years, you know, excuse me.
[00:02:22] You know, sometimes overview a year when you're my age, 10 years, and I'll look back and go, how have I changed? What has God done in my life? You know, where was I and where am I now?
[00:02:36] And I think looking back, if you were to say to me, so how have you changed in the last 10 years? And you might be surprised by my answer, but I think, I think my answer would be from disappointment to anticipation.
[00:02:50] You see, God has always been working in my life right from the moment Jesus met me. I've seen him do wonderful things. But, you know, often I'd get to the end of the year and there'd be disappointment with myself, like lack of achievement. I don't know if anyone can relate to that, even though there were so many things to be grateful for.
[00:03:12] But there was always this underlining thing in me. Oh, I haven't done enough.
[00:03:18] And the change that I'VE gone through probably in the last 10 years is I'm no longer disappointed, but I'm starting to live in anticipation.
[00:03:28] I'm anticipating all that the Holy Spirit will do.
[00:03:34] Why? Because I'm learning not to despise or belittle or not treasure for the day of small beginnings, but rather treasure and sometimes ponder all the Holy Spirit is doing now. So what I want us to do, I want us to read possibly the most famous story in the whole world. So if you've got your Bible, find Luke chapter two. And we're gonna stand to read. So grab your Bible, your phone counts, it'll come up on the screen. Why don't we all stand? We're going to read the Christmas story.
[00:04:13] So Luke, chapter two, verse one. And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
[00:04:24] This census first took place while Quinius was governing Syria.
[00:04:28] So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
[00:04:33] Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of David, which called Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.
[00:04:51] So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
[00:05:07] Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
[00:05:21] Then the angel said to them, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people.
[00:05:30] For there is born to you this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
[00:05:43] And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill towards all men.
[00:05:56] So it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.
[00:06:08] And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger.
[00:06:14] Now, when they had seen Him. They made him widely known saying which was told them concern saying which was told them concerning this child.
[00:06:25] And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
[00:06:30] But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
[00:06:35] Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen as it was told them. Amen. Take a seat.
[00:06:48] Okay.
[00:06:51] The first thing I want to say is. God starts small.
[00:06:56] His purposes are always bigger than we expect, but he often starts small.
[00:07:05] When God comes to earth. Immanuel. When Jesus is born, he comes with both a fanfare of the angels, but a small beginning.
[00:07:17] The angels announce the birth of a king, but the child Jesus is. Is born in the most humble of situations. The stable is no place for a king.
[00:07:31] Why does God work like this?
[00:07:35] I want to offer this to you because your situation and your circumstances do not affect your destiny.
[00:07:43] Let me say that again. Your circumstances, your situation does not affect your destiny. And the birth of Jesus demonstrates this. God is making a point because it's easy to believe we're stuck because of our circumstances rather than seeing the promises of God.
[00:08:06] Because when your circumstances rule your life, you will live in disappointment. That's what I was talking about. But rather, the Holy Spirit wants us to. To show us and teach us to see beyond where we are, to what he desires, to his promise to us.
[00:08:27] See, Mary already has the promise.
[00:08:31] He will be great. He will be called the Son of the highest. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
[00:08:39] And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. And there will be no end.
[00:08:47] What has God promised you?
[00:08:49] What does he say to you? You know, I just picked out two of my favorite verses. Jeremiah 29:11. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not evil. To give you a future and a hope.
[00:09:03] That's what the Lord says to you this morning.
[00:09:06] My thoughts are peace, not evil. And I have a future and a hope for you. And then Paul says to the Ephesians, and now to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think Paul is. What a mouthful. Paul is really trying to get to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think according to the power that is worked within us. What Paul is saying, he can do more in you and through than you can even think possible.
[00:09:39] That's his promise to you.
[00:09:42] And you see, when God works. There are moments of excitement, you know, when he speaks, when we encounter, when a prophet prophesies over us or we hear him speak to our heart and he says thus, and we go, yes, Lord.
[00:10:02] You know, the angel comes to Mary and he says, you're going to give birth to the Messiah.
[00:10:13] But he left out one crucial detail.
[00:10:20] It would happen in a stable because there would be no room for him.
[00:10:27] No one would be interested in him.
[00:10:30] She goes through all the embarrassment of a teenage pregnancy and ends up giving birth in a stable.
[00:10:39] And I think Mary could rightly go, it is not fair.
[00:10:46] Yeah, come on. Anyone?
[00:10:53] The one, you know, you're going to give birth to the king, the Messiah. The world is going to be changed through him.
[00:10:59] But the angel failed to tell her that bit.
[00:11:03] You're going to give birth in a stable.
[00:11:09] You know, we had some of the best prophetic words over our life, Juliet and I, this year.
[00:11:14] You know, we've had some really amazing promises with God. And then Juliet goes and breaks her wrist.
[00:11:21] It's not fair.
[00:11:25] Do you know, were you here a couple of weeks when I was preaching on whiplash?
[00:11:29] I said, don't falsely claim for whiplash. Didn't anyone show up to church that week? I've got a whiplash.
[00:11:36] Last Thursday. No, Friday.
[00:11:38] Not this last Friday. Friday before last, we're coming here for the Christmas rehearsal. A van drives into the back of us, hits us at 50 miles an hour. We were trying to turn right. My poor car again.
[00:11:52] It's shorter than it used to be, okay? But then, even worse, the guys in the van get out and run away.
[00:12:02] And they're gone. They just left the van running in the middle of the road.
[00:12:06] Now, I don't want to talk about the intelligence of people, but they were not the brightest of guys because the company name was sign written on the side.
[00:12:16] Okay?
[00:12:17] I mean, hey, phone number and everything.
[00:12:24] It's not fair.
[00:12:28] God, why do these things happen to me and my car?
[00:12:33] I mean, if you want to look on the bright side of it, my higher car is an S type Mercedes at the moment. So I'm going up in the world. If this keeps going, I'm going to have a Rolls Royce by the end of next year. Okay.
[00:12:46] Anyway, Juliet wasn't as excited about the car, but I was anyway. God, why?
[00:12:56] Why do these things happen? Why? You know, there is, in this church, there is a groundswell of healing. You just saw a little bit of it. Now, a few years ago, we didn't see anyone get healed.
[00:13:11] Now every week, people are Healed and saved. The favor of God is upon us. Does it feel like we're under attack? Sometimes, you bet.
[00:13:21] But the devil only attacks something worth attacking.
[00:13:25] Bring it on.
[00:13:28] Please spare my car. Bring it on.
[00:13:32] Because the promise is so much better than the attack.
[00:13:36] Because we find ourselves in a spiritual battle.
[00:13:40] And I believe Jesus speaks promises over our lives.
[00:13:44] And the Holy Spirit places a seed. And then he says, will you trust me to grow this storm swirl around us? Romans 5, 5.
[00:13:56] But this small seed of the kingdom that is planted in our lives, Matthew 6:33, grows to become a tree.
[00:14:05] But we must trust him to come to see the promise come through.
[00:14:12] The second thing I want to say is, learn to see what the Holy Spirit's doing.
[00:14:17] Do you know, in amongst everything that's happening in the stable, there's a group of shepherds?
[00:14:25] Now, we don't know, but it was probably Gabriel who appears to them. It doesn't actually say in the text, just as an angel, but Gabriel's been pretty busy the last few months, so it was probably him and his legion of angels that were involved.
[00:14:41] And he's telling the shepherds, there is born to you this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord.
[00:14:50] Now, again, shepherds don't have a big social media following.
[00:14:55] You know, what was God thinking?
[00:14:58] If you want to get the message out, he's picking the wrong kind of people.
[00:15:04] He should have picked, you know, noble people, people with a whole following on Instagram or whatever, whatever it is. This is what the apostle Paul says.
[00:15:14] Not many of you were noble when you were called.
[00:15:18] Not many of you have got blue blood. I mean, some of you might have blue blood. You may be related to the Windsors, I don't know. But my hunch is you're not.
[00:15:29] You know, thankfully, you're important to somebody, but not many of you are important to everybody.
[00:15:40] Why does God, you know, pick some shepherds, some apparently just common people that are out in the fields, because Paul says this. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to. To put to shame the things that are mighty. You and I and Mary has just given birth in the humblest of settings.
[00:16:07] And I love this story because you just couldn't make it up. There's a knock on the door, and shepherds start showing up to see the king.
[00:16:17] You know, if he's not, you know, how bad can it get? You know, she's giving birth in a stable, and now shepherds Are banging the door, hey, we've just come to see the king.
[00:16:26] But this is a king like David.
[00:16:29] This is important.
[00:16:32] Solomon welcomed the queen of Sheba to see his wisdom, but he didn't walk with the Lord.
[00:16:42] David welcomes the distressed, the discontented, and those who are in debt, and they become his mighty men, the heroes of the kingdom. The first to come to Jesus are the poor, not the noble. The noble come later because Jesus is a king like David, or should I say, David is a king like Jesus.
[00:17:10] And we read this, Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
[00:17:17] And you know when you see the nice nativity and we've got a great one out the front, and it's all nice and neat and tidy, and, you know, baby Jesus is sitting there, well, actually sitting there with pretty much no expression on his face, but you'd think, oh, she's just looking at this perfect situation.
[00:17:37] How beautiful, how wonderful. There she is 30 seconds ago, giving birth. And the shepherds are already here.
[00:17:48] The word where it says translated pondered means to consult, to dispute, to mentally consider, to encounter, to ponder, to attack.
[00:18:07] And I, you know, you can. I'm not a Greek scholar, but I can do a little thing on my Bible software where it says where this word is used, and this word is normally used to decide if you're going to go to war.
[00:18:19] You ponder if you're going to go to war. She's not pondering the beauty of the situation.
[00:18:26] She's pondering the situation and going, I don't know if I can do this.
[00:18:32] I don't know if I have the mental health. I don't know if I have the physical capabilities to be able to do what. What he's asked of me.
[00:18:41] I am just Mary. I'm just a teenage girl who has just given birth to the Messiah. There is this incredible promise out front, and I don't know if I have the resources to do what God has asked me to do.
[00:18:59] So she ponders and she decides whether she's going to go to war or not.
[00:19:04] And I think she has to revisit her original response to when Gabriel spoke to her and said, you're going to give birth to a messiah. And this is what she says. Behold, the maidservant of the Lord, Let it be to me according to your word.
[00:19:21] And now she has to revisit that promise.
[00:19:25] Behold, the maidservant of the Lord, Let it be to me according to your word.
[00:19:30] We've always worked, Juliet and I, through our life. Old orders are good orders until you get new orders.
[00:19:36] Why?
[00:19:37] Because when you get the old orders, they always seem like good orders because there's all the excitement of getting the orders. But when you actually come to work them out, the temptation is. And it's hard and it's difficult, and you're having to work through a situation. You're praying, lord, could I have some new orders?
[00:19:55] Because the old orders are now hard work.
[00:19:58] Because now we have to do them.
[00:20:00] And I want to encourage you. When God gives us orders, when he gives us something to do, when he gives us a promise, he doesn't keep changing his mind.
[00:20:09] When he says something, he says, this is what I'm going to do. And we have to work through it.
[00:20:14] And so we respond the same as Mary.
[00:20:19] We ponder.
[00:20:21] We decide whether we're going to go to war over the promise.
[00:20:26] We weigh up all that's happening around us.
[00:20:29] But we answer in faith. Let it be to me according to your word.
[00:20:34] Whatever you've said, Lord, I'm going to do. I'm going to believe you and I'm going to follow you. And finally, the last thing I want to say is, the miracle begins. The baby in the manger is presented at the temple. The prophet starts speaking, the promises are declared, and then the family have to return home.
[00:20:54] The normality of life, the believing, the promise.
[00:20:59] See, it's easy here, but it's when you get home, when you get to work, you see, small things take time and often hard work.
[00:21:10] The promise can seem very distant when we get back to normality.
[00:21:16] But we read that. If you read the rest of chapter two, we don't have time now that Mary and Joseph would return to Jerusalem each year.
[00:21:25] Why? Because of the promise and because they've dedicated their lives to the Lord. And in verse 40, we read this. And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom. And the grace of God was upon him.
[00:21:40] Look for the promise to happen.
[00:21:44] God is going to strengthen you in spirit.
[00:21:47] He's going to fill you with wisdom, and he's going to place his grace upon you, your inner person, your spirit that has been born again, that has been made alive. God is going to strengthen by his spirit.
[00:22:04] He's going to fill you with his wisdom, not the world's wisdom.
[00:22:09] And he's going to place his grace. Grace is unmerited, power, favor. He's going to place it upon your life so that as you walk with him, wherever your feet tread, you will receive his favor. And we call this discipleship.
[00:22:28] This is what discipleship is.
[00:22:30] Jesus grew into the promise and if it was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for us.
[00:22:37] We have seen so much salvation here, but now we must raise some disciples. Some of you have signed up for the Cromer discipleship, which starts in January, and, And if you haven't signed up, it's. It's just about full. Apparently there's a few more spaces for guys. We're a little bit slower on signing up. You, you, you might get in. The rest of you gonna have to wait for the next intake in Easter.
[00:23:02] But the other thing we're going to do is we're going to do a ministry school.
[00:23:06] And so we're, we're gonna, we're doing the discipleship, but we're also going to gather some people who have, I think, a light life, call on their lives for ministry, that want to plant churches, that want to be pastors, that want to grow into ministry, and we're going to start training and equipping. You see, discipleship is a fun journey, but it is a stretching journey because we get to do the things we never thought we could do. And, you know, on one of the visits to Jerusalem, I love this bit. Mary and Joseph lose Jesus.
[00:23:42] If you have any parents here, does that not make you feel better? They lost the Messiah.
[00:23:49] I mean, I mean, you make some mistakes with your kids, all right, they lost the Messiah.
[00:23:57] You know, they only had one job. Just, just raise him so he could save the world.
[00:24:02] And they lost. He was a whole, I mean, a whole day.
[00:24:07] He's gone.
[00:24:09] You know, we've recently makes us feel so bad because we've done church for many, many years and we've lost count number of times we've got home and left a child at church.
[00:24:22] You know, the most terrible parents that have ever walked the earth, you know, because I think Juliet's got them and she thinks I've got them and they're still here.
[00:24:32] Okay? And you know, the worst one, the worst one was we would get back from church quick because we were doing a meal and we had people coming back for dinner and it was just, you know, when you could lock it was, you know, we've lived through some technological changes and it was great because you'd lock your car and it would deadlock it just from your pocket. And I remember one of the children wasn't quick enough out. So we're in and we deadlock the car and people are in and we're just doing food and stuff. There's knock at the door from one of the neighbors. Do you know, you've left one of your children in the car.
[00:25:02] And we're like, oh, no.
[00:25:06] But nothing surpasses Mary and Joseph.
[00:25:09] They lost the Messiah.
[00:25:14] They find him. And this is what Jesus says to them. You know, none of the kind of, you know, you know, you know, our kids, whenever we've got looked at us and go, you know, we're. You know we're going to be eternally damaged, don't you.
[00:25:28] You know what you've done, don't you?
[00:25:31] This is what Jesus says, why did you seek me? Did you not know? I must be about my father's business, The King James's business. The NIV says I'd be in my father's house. Where else would I be? The actual literal Greek doesn't say that at all. It says, I'd be about. Did you not know I'd be about my father's.
[00:25:52] I'd be with my father.
[00:25:55] It isn't. And the translators have said, well, they've got to be about something.
[00:26:00] But Jesus isn't saying. He said, I'd just be by my father's business, house. Doesn't really matter. Didn't you know I'd be with my father?
[00:26:11] Some of you have kids that hang around this place.
[00:26:14] They're taking photos, doing the media music, feeding the poor. And you might worry, you look at them and go, I'm just worried they're neglecting some of their studies. And sometimes they are.
[00:26:28] And one, I want you to know, we always tell them, work really hard, you need to pass your exams, okay? But they also are where their spirit is strengthened, where they'll be filled with wisdom, and where grace comes upon them and they're about their father's business and God. The grace of God is falling upon our children.
[00:26:54] And it's a very special thing.
[00:26:57] You know, you need many things to get on in life, but if you have the favor of God, if you have his hand with you, you're gonna be fine.
[00:27:07] I'm not letting you off do degrees and all that, kind of. All good, all good.
[00:27:11] But if the favor of God is with you, you know, one of the guys, he's around, oh, there he is. I can see him over there.
[00:27:19] Somebody handed him a camera and he started taking pictures.
[00:27:24] And who knew it? He's really good. Don't tell him.
[00:27:29] And he just has a way of capturing. He can see the photo. Me, I take a picture, I just snap it, you know, And I got everybody all, you know, dogs, cats, rubbish bins, everything. They're all in the picture. He takes a Photo and it's blurred apart from the bit he wants.
[00:27:48] And you know, he'll get better, but he just captures something. And he's really gifted.
[00:27:55] And so he changed the degree he was doing. He's now studying media. And now he charges a lot of money for doing weddings. I know about it. He charged me.
[00:28:07] But he's really good. Why?
[00:28:11] Because he was in his father's and the father captured him. And there he was taking pictures and doing stuff here and it captured his heart.
[00:28:20] And that's what he's made to do. And now the favor of God is upon him.
[00:28:25] And when he's really, really famous, none of you are going to be able to afford him to do your kids weddings.
[00:28:34] What am I trying to say to you all?
[00:28:36] Don't despise the day of small beginnings. God has wonderful plans for you.
[00:28:41] He plants a seed that will grow in your life when he speaks the promise to you.
[00:28:48] And many of you have heard his promise in his voice.
[00:28:52] Number two, treasure in your heart. What the Holy Spirit is doing now, the future may look impossible, but right now the Holy Spirit is upon you. He is all you need.
[00:29:06] And with him decide whether you want to go to war for the promise. That's what Mary does. Is the promise worth it?
[00:29:13] And I'm telling you, yes it is.
[00:29:16] If you're going to go to war for anything, go to war for the promise. Believe what God says. And thirdly, take actions to prepare for the promise.
[00:29:29] You know, if you are.
[00:29:32] If you are a new Christian, become a disciple.
[00:29:35] If you are already a disciple, become a discipler.
[00:29:39] Make disciples.
[00:29:41] You see, the wonderful thing about the Christmas story is that at Christmas everything stops. There is a pause in the affairs of eternity.
[00:29:52] Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus.
[00:30:06] He will be great and he will be called Son of the Most Highest.
[00:30:12] And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
[00:30:17] And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.
[00:30:21] And of his kingdom there will be no end.
[00:30:27] We are the first fruits of this promise.
[00:30:30] We are citizens of the kingdom.
[00:30:33] And today and the next few days, you may have a few more days of work. We pause and we celebrate. If we can't celebrate Christmas, who can?
[00:30:44] He came for you and I.
[00:30:47] Christmas is the celebration of the hope of the world. This hope has smashed into our lives.
[00:30:55] There is always so much more to do. There is a whole world to win.
[00:31:01] There's the gospel to go out. But right at this point we pause and we celebrate. King Jesus is amongst us.
[00:31:10] Don't despise the start of small things. The seed has been planted, it is growing. But be willing to go to war for the promise.
[00:31:21] Have an amazing Christmas everyone.
[00:31:26] This is a good time to be a Christian.
[00:31:28] Amen. Stand up.
[00:31:32] Thanks for listening to the Chroma Charge podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Kremachurch. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship and how to donate, visit our website at Chroma Church.
