22nd December 2024 - Christmas Celebration Service - The Gift and a Promise

On this earth, Father, as we serve you, and as

we want to be good diligent workers. Lord, whether it's

voluntary or whether it's paid. Lord, help us to excel

in all that we do. And as we give out

of Lord the General, as we give out of our

hearts to you, Lord God, receive these gifts with grateful,

thankful hearts, and help us to use them more effectively

for enlarging your kingdom and sharing the good news of

the Gospel, especially this Christmas. In Jesus' name, Amen, thank you.

Joel the smartest stressed man in the room. That's not me.

That's Joel. He always put He makes me look every

Sunday morning when he comes, I say, Joel, you're looking

really smart today. He's obviously been given a great fashion

taste by his parents. Do you know we learn a

lot from our parents, Some things we don't even realize

that we learn. Do you realize you look like your parents?

You know there is something you inherit from your parents.

There is something we learned from our parents. I'm looking

at a family here and thinking I can recognize some

family familiarities, and so as we celebrate Christmas, do people

recognize something of the family of God in you. Is

there something of the good News of the Gospel that

shines forth this Christmas? You know, yesterday Eggin was brought

to a standstill as Norman wore a costume. It wasn't

just Norman, there was loads of other people as we

had the open air Nativity outside the United Church with

a brass band and with the Scouts. And you know,

there was a great big Scout master. He must have

been six foot two tall, dressed as an angel with

great big golden wings, and he proudly spread those wings

just like this. He spread those wings so that everybody

could see joy to the world. I couldn't work out

the title of my sermon this morning, so I'm going

to give you two titles. It's either a gift, the

promise of a gift, or the gift of a promise.

I couldn't work out which way round it needed to go.

So you get both titles, the gift of a promise

and the promise of a gift. Now, as a complicated sentence,

we know what gifts are. There are going to be

gifts given out. I can see gifts at the table

as we're blessing one another, and as we're giving to

one another. Our gifts on the table says gifts from

ore Arash as well, thank you sir for being generous

to us. And Letty can tell you more about that

in a moment. But do you know what a gift is?

An intentional thing. You never give a gift by mistake.

You never go, oh, sorry, I didn't mean to give

you that. We don't do that. Gifts are intentional. And

do you know what, Sometimes we can give gifts and

they're worth very little, but they're worth an enormous amount

because it's the thought and the love that we give

as we give. Do you know what? The gift that

I'm talking about is Christmas, the gift of the promise

that was talked about in Isaiah, was talked about in

the Old Testament said God will send someone, God will

send a rescue. Let's first start in Matthew chapter one,

verses eighteen to twenty five, and I'm going to rattle

through a few scriptures here. Now. The birth of Jesus

Christ was as follows. After his mother Mary was betrothed

to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with

childs by the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being

a just man and not wanting her to have a

public to make her a public example, was minded to

put her away secretly. But whilst he thought about these things, behold,

an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph's,

son of David, do not be afraid to take to

you Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in

her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring

forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus,

for he will save his people from their sins. So

all this was done that it might be fulfilled which

was spoken by the Lord through the prophets, saying, behold,

a virgin shall conceive with child and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God

with us. Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as

the Angel of the Lord commanded him, and took to

him his wife, and did not know her until she

had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his

name Jesus. So this was fulfillment of a promise a

virgin conceives by the Holy Spirit that was promised, and

the promise is a gift. The gift is the son Jesus. Now.

At the time Jesus was born, we as humankind, did

not know the significance of his birth. We didn't know

that God was making a way to pay the price

for our sin. Adam and Eve made poor choices in

the garden of gsemone in the garden of Eden. I've

done that before. I've got the gardens mixed up. That's

an easy thing to do. I suppose the garden of

Eden made a poor choice. And as they made a

poor choice, sin entered the world, and shame entered too.

As Jesus, as God, walked round the garden, he said,

where are you? And where were Adam and Eve? They

were hiding. They were covering themselves because they were ashamed.

Do you know what? We do not need to be

ashamed because of Jesus. He has paid the price. He

goes all the way to the cross from Christmas to

e that he goes from being born in a stable,

wrapped in swaddling clothes and lady in a manger, calling

the most ordinary people shepherds to come and worship him,

calling the wise men to come and worship him, going

all the way to the cross and paying the price

for you and me, that we might no longer have

to pray the price for sin and no resurrection life,

as he rose again on Easter. And so we know

in Luke's Chapter two, as it was said, for there

is born to you in this day the city of David,

a savior who is Christ the Lord. This was prophesied.

It wasn't just prophesied that he was going to be born,

but where he was going to be born. And this

will be the sign to you. You will find a

babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 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 men. I

love it when angels appear in scripture. I like getting

Christmas cards with angels on because it talks about God's purpose,

God's plan. It doesn't have to be us. It's not

all down to us. If God can't do it through

a man, he'll do it through an angel. But he will.

His plans will be outworks, they will be fulfilled this day.

This day, we can recognize Christ as our savior. We

can recognize the significance of the child that was laid

in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes. These were

the signs to say, you will find a child wrapped

in swaddling clothes, laying in a manger. Why do we

need a gift? Yeah, I'm sure you know someone this

Christmas who when you said what would you like for Christmas?

And say, I don't really need anything, Thank you very much.

I'm quite content. So why do we need a gift?

Why do we need the gift of the promise of Jesus.

Why do we need that gift? We need that gift

because God needs to make a way that we might

have fellowship with Him. And we have fellowship through His son,

our savior, Jesus Christ, the perfect son of God, son

of Man, conceived by the Holy Spirit of a woman,

a pure woman, Mary, fully god fully man. He experiences

our pain, he knows our suffering. But he also knows

how to move the world. He knows how to move

for the earth. And what does this lead us all to?

This leads us all to some of my favorite parts

of scripture. In Romans. Romans chapter five, it says this, therefore,

having been justified by faith, we have peace with God

through our Lord Jesus Christ. So the access is through

Jesus that which we're celebrating this Christmas, yet another Christmas,

Christmas twenty twenty four, justified by faith in Him. Through Him,

we also have access by faith into His grace in

which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory

of God. And not only that, but we also glory

and tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance, character

and character. Hope. Now, hope does not disappoint because the

love of God has been poured out in our hearts

by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. You

might say, Dave, why are we talking about on the

Sunday before Christmas? Troubles and challenges? Anybody got a trouble

or a challenge going on this week? Anybody only a

few hands? Lots of hands, okay, lots of hand. Here

we have troubles and let's not ignore it. Let's not

ignore the that fact that we've got a challenge. Let's

press in because God said there will be tests. Those

tests will come. But what comes from working through these

things perseverance. Tribulation produces perseverance. Guys, I want to say,

keep ongoing. For those listening at home, I want to say,

keep ongoing. If you're running out of patience, ask God

for patients. If you're running out of love, ask God

for love. If you're running out of hope, ask God

for If you're running out of money, well why not

just ask God and say, Lord, I need a source,

I need a supply, I need a provision. God's an

amazing God and he loves you and me. That's why

he sent his one and only son, that whosoever believes

in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And

perseverance produces character. You know, character is employable. If you've

got a good character, it shines forth in your life.

People will say, I want someone else like you. Do

you know anybody else like you? I'd like another one

of you. That's the best recommendation you can ever have,

is I just like another one of those, another worker

like you. And perseverance produces character. Character leads to hope,

and hope does not disappoint. That's the point of hope.

Hope leave lifts our eyes up. You know, when people

are without hope, their highser down. They're looking at the floor.

When people have been overwhelmed. They will look at their

feet in shame sometimes, And when they look at their feet,

you say, sometimes I want to say to people, look

at me, look at me. I want to bring some

fresh hope into your life. Because hope does not disappoint,

and his hope does not disappoint. Love is imparted into

our world. It's interesting that Joel started our service off

with a verse from Christina Rizzetti, which I'm now going

to quote again, which is from the Christmas carol in

the Bleak Midwinter. And as he sung, and as I

read again, what can I give him? Remember a gift

and a promise? What can I give him? Small as

I am. If I were a shepherd, I would bring

a lamb. Logical for a shepherd to bring a lamb.

If I were a wise man, I would do my part.

What part did the wise men have? They brought gifts

of gold and frankincense and mrh The talked of God,

Jesus' kingship and the fact that he was going to die,

and the fact that he was going to rise again

from the dead. But what can I give him? I'll

give my heart. What can I give him? What do

I have what do you have in your hands? Well,

it's very simple. We can look at John three sixteen.

Here's a gift that really matters. For God so loved

the world. Are you in the world, anybody not in

the world today? Okay, so that's for you and me.

God so loved you and me. Let's change it to

world to you and me, and I'm talking to everybody.

God so loves and loves. And it's a continuous present tent.

So it's not just the past. It's not he loved

us and he doesn't love us anymore. He loves us

today and he will continue to love us and in

the future. For God so loved the world that he

gave a gift, a promise, his only son, not one

of many sons, his only son, that whosoever are we

part of whosoever, yes, we're part of the crowd, whosoever

believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God did not send his son into the world

to condemn the world. So the purpose of this was

not to shame us, not to condemn us. One of

the things about coming into the presence of God is

often we feel we're aware of our sin. We're aware

of our shortcomings. We're aware of how we fall short.

But God did not send Christ so that we might

be condemned. That's what the enemy does. The enemy loves

to condemn us and go, see, you're no good. And

God sent his one and only. He's so und to say,

but I still love you, I still love you, but

that the world through him might be saved, saved from

what saved from sin. Let me read it in a

different version, because I really you know these verses, but

in the amplified version. For God so great, and maybe

we could just close our eyes for a few moments,

I want to read these words over us. For God

so greatly loved and did deprive the world that he

even gave up his only begotten, unique son, so that

whoever believes in trusts, in clings to and relies on

Him shall not perish, come to destruction, be lost without hope,

but have eternal, ever lasting life, the promise of everlasting life.

For God did not send his son into the world

in order to judge there it is. He didn't send

his son to judges that would bring us to condemnation

or to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on the world,

but that the world might find salvation and be made

safe and sound through him. And that's the gift that

God sent us through Mary. And when the Angel came

to Mary, she said, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy

to carry this child, but if it be unto your will.

And so as I close out what I want to

share today, I want to just ask us to close

our eyes and think of the gift. Think of the gift.

Remember that the promise is from a reliable promise maker.

He who promised is faithful, He who promised is reliable,

He who promised will follow through. For God so loved you,

God so loved me. God so loved all those who

are watching. God so loved those who are outside, who

aren't even in the meeting, who aren't even listening to us.

And that's one of the reasons why we shout this

out across the airwaves in different languages around the world,

that God so loved us, you and me, that he

sent his one and only son, that whosoever believes in

him should not perish. So there's a response to the gift,

and there's a response to that promise, says what can

I give him? Poor as I am well, if I

were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb. If I

were a wise man, I would do my part. Yeah,

what can I give him? Give my heart? Give of yourself.

And so, whether it's those listening online at home or

those in the room, if you want to commit yourself

afresh to Christ today, I'm going to ask you to stand.

Maybe you've never done this before. Maybe you've never what

a great receiving of a Christmas gift that we'd say

we'll want to receive this child. I want to recognize

who Jesus is, the Son of God, the living Son

of God. And I want to declare that I believe

in him, and I put my trust in him, and

I turn from my bad ways and I put my

trust in him. And if that's you, I'm going to

pray right now, thank you Lord. For those who responding today, Father,

I pray that Lord you'd help them and help us

to help them to disciple them, as it says in Matthew,

go into all the world and make disciples. Father, help

us to teach one another to be better disciples. Help

us to show people the way, the truth, and the

life that is Jesus. For God did not send his

son into the world to judge or reject or condemn,

but that we might find salvation in him. Amen. Let's

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