24th December 2023 - Christmas Celebration Service

Theme or draw to or close our theme around the Kingdom being Kingdom ready.

And as you might expect with tomorrow, as it is the twenty fifth of

December, are you ready because the Kingdom is here? Somebody might be asking,

are you ready for Christmas? Now? Tomorrow is some of you are

shaking your head saying, oh, I still know all these things I still

need to do, and probably have all rabidly started your to do this to

again. Sorry, but you know what, there's a lot of stuff to

do at Christmas as we gather as family, as we celebrate together, but

as we as a church today celebrate Christmas, we declare, the Kingdom is

here. Here's Kingdom here. And just in the same way you might take

your for turkey or whatever meat you have or whatever roast you have out of

the oven. And somebody says, yea, with all smelling the room,

is it ready? And if you're a bit like my dog, then when

nice smells come in the room, you start to drool a little and you

lick your lips because the smell's coming and all already making you hungry, aren't

I? But but the thing are we as hungry for God's kidingdom? Can

we get a little lips, just a little glimpse of coming in His glory

when we when in the midst of ship, our hands go up and we

gather hit. You know. Some of those carols we sing are ancient,

ancient, ancient carols. But when we sing, oh, come, let

us adore Him, there's an invitation church. I was in worship then.

It wasn't just I was singing a traditional carol and I got all the words

in my head. That's one of the liberties of worship is that actually,

when we know songs well enough, we can forget looking at screens. We

can close our eyes, we can lift our hands, and we can say,

oh, come, let us adore him, you know. And I

was lost in worship just for a few moments. And that's the exciting thing

that when we get close to God's presence, we say, can I have

a little more please? A bit like Oliver to its Can we have some

more please? You know? And God is not like mister bumble. God

is not like mister bumble going what do you think you're asking for? God

is saying, come and ask for more. There is much much, much,

much, much much much much more of his presence of his purposes.

In Matthew chapter six, verse thirteen, it says this, but seek first

the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added

onto you. What are all these things? They are the fruits of the

spirit, the gifts of the spirit, peace, joy, love, hope.

These are the things that God gives to us when we come to a

place of his kingdom. Seek first his kingdom. Now, to seek his

kingdom, you've got to seek the king. You can't just seek the kingdom

and go, oh, this is nice around here. I like it.

The grounds are well kept, and everybody's happy. Okay. The reason everybody

is happy, the reason that things are well kept is because the king is

on the throne. And the king being on the throne means there is rule,

there is order, there is structure, there is peace, there is

joy, there is hope. And so it says seek first the kingdom.

And by logic, it then says seek first the king, because if we

don't accept there is a king, then the kingdom is irrelevant. Seek first

his kingdom and all these things will be added unto you. Luke said something

that I find bassa everything on the explore about the Kingdom Luke, Chapter seventeen,

verses twenty and twenty one. Now, when he was asked by the

Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered them and said,

the Kingdom of God does not come with observation, nor will they say see

here or see there. For indeed, the Kingdom of God is within you.

So when the King has come, and the King arrives tomorrow in our

you know the King Jesus arrives tomorrow. That's what we celebrate around Christmas Day.

We're remembering his birth, and we have hindsight. We have perfect hindsight.

We're not just remembering his birth and saying, well, what happens next.

We know what happens next in the Christmas story because Mary and Joseph have

to take him and flee and run to Egypt. And then we read how

he grows up in a godly way, and then we know the full story.

He ultimately goes to the cross and pays the price for you and for

me, and then Jesus ascends to heaven. And as he ascends to heaven,

what does he say to his disciples the Holy Spirit, I leave with

you the comforter, the strengthen her. And so the Kingdom of God,

because we've recognized Christ as King, comes within us through his Holy Spirit.

The Kingdom of God. Now, when there is a kingdom, there is

order. And so when the Kingdom comes inside us, sometimes we need to

readjust sometimes there are some things that we do and then we go. I

had a friend of Michael Charlie. Some of you may have heard me told

stories about Charlie before I used to work with Charlie. Charlie was a salesman.

He was a sales director in a company I used to work in,

and he had a let me call it a dirty mouth. He used words

that you and I probably wouldn't even in meetings. He would say to people,

beep, and there would be quite if I had to put all the

beeps in, there'd be quite a few beeps. And anyway, I walked

into work one day and I was based in reading, and I walked into

the office one day and I walked into reception, and as you do.

I don't know whether you still do these days, but because in many offices

you often don't walk through reception. But I walked in through reception and turned

to the reception and said Hi, how are you today? And she turned

to and she said, have you seen Charlie yet? He just walked in.

She said, have you seen Charlie yet? She was excited about something

and I said no, I haven't seen him yet. Said why, what's

happened? Something's happened? And I was thinking, oh, has he broken

his arm or you know, as he had a new haircut. I didn't

know. Anyway, she was really excited about Charlie. So anyway, I

had meetings throughout the morning, but later on, just before lunch, I

had an opportunity to walk down to his office and I stuck the head in

the door, said Hi, Charlie, how are you? And he went,

hey, Dave, great to see you. It's not the kind of

thing I used to get from Charlie. He'd probably go what do you want?

That would have probably been the greeting I would have got. Okay,

I said can I come? And he said, oh, yeah, please

do, please do. And I sat down and I said, there seems

to be something different about you. He was smiling, he was glowing.

It's almost like someone turned a light on inside him and he was now glowing.

I said, Charlie, what's happened, he said, you'll never guess.

He then went on to say he'd been to Spring Harvest and his wife

was a Christian. He'd come to christ and he said, it's made a

difference. He's completely made a difference. He said. There's things that I

don't do anymore. He said, I used to smoke probably twenty thirty cigarettes

a day. He said, I'm not even interested anymore. It wasn't because

somebody told me I shouldn't smoke, he said, I just wasn't interested.

Yeah, I said, I think there's something else I've noticed. I said,

in the ten minutes I've sat with you, now, you haven't sworn

once. He went, I haven't even noticed. But these were some of

the things. Now, as Christ's order, as the kingdom order, came

inside him, some things got readjusted, some things got realigned, some out

of natural desire. Some will go gradually, some will go immediately. They

don't all have to go immediately. You know, sometimes we wrestle with these

things. We don't like the rules of the kingdom. But you know,

God's order just brings structure, brings us peace, brings us hope. So

God's kingdom is within us and that's why it matters that we connect with people.

That's why I feel personally. I mean, we will have an online

service tomorrow at eleven o'clock, online only, and you're welcome to come and

join us. But I just love sending people back to their home because what

we had in the past. And maybe this will change in the future,

who knows. But in the past, we had people who would travel for

thirty minutes to come to a forty minute service to travel thirty minutes home,

and that was kind of okay. But what I felt really uncomfortable is they

were leaving their family behind, their unsaved Unchristian family. They were leaving them

behind saying bye. And I was thinking, there's this massive opportunity you're spending

time together, to take some moments to share christ. I said, let's

do it on the you know, the Sunday before Christmas. Send people home

to do what they're going to do and be Christmas with family and be christ

And therefore the kingdom within you ought to shine forth. We'll also find in

Matthew it says this in Matthew chapter three, verse two, Repent for the

Kingdom of Heaven is at hand now, As again in Charlie's readjustment. There

were things he went, oh sorry, He started saying sorry. He wouldn't

have noticed before, but sometimes he'd sometimes he'd he'd barge through a door because

he was in a hurry, and now because he just noticed things were different,

the structures were different. He turned and he said oh sorry as he

went through. Instead of barging through the door, let people go in ahead

of him. The Kingdom of God is at hand, the Kingdom's order.

Now do we like order, well, in some ways we do, but

as long as it fits with what we want to do. It's only when

order. And if you ever had a teacher said stand in line, Dave,

I'm stand in line after food, you know, because I'm maybe I'm

I'm keen to get to the front of the queue, or maybe we're on

the road. And I saw this actually happen this morning. I was driving

into Egham and there were some cars parked inappropriately, and I saw a bus

go all the way round the island on the wrong side of the road,

and I thought, naughty boy, shouldn't have done that. But we don't

like rules. But do you know, rules bring structure, rules, bring

peace, rules, bring something something of God's kingdom and God's order. In

John chapter one, verse twenty nine, it says this the next day,

John saw Jesus coming down towards him and said, behold the lamb of God,

who takeshs of the world. He recognized the king, He recognized our

savior and his purpose. He recognized his purpose because he came to pay the

price, and we can't pay the price. I regularly here, particularly this

time of the year, I have I've even had friends who said, Dave,

because we cast everywhere. Now, we're even going to start broadcasting on

Instagram. That door opened to us just a couple of weeks ago. So

for those who are instagram, you from the new year will be broadcasting on

Instagram. But I've had a number of people who say, yeah, I'd

like to attend your service online, but I need to get my life sorted

out first. Just just give me a few weeks or a few months,

let me get thin, and then then I'll come and join you on line.

I went, okay. And sometimes I'll smile right at them and say,

do you think I've got my life in order? Do you think I've

got it all sorted? I said, well, you've got it more sorted

than I have, I said, yes, And I've got things I'm working

on, I said, And actually, here's the reality. If you wait

until you get things sorted, you're doing it in your own strength probably,

And consequently, I'll see you in a few years time, maybe, I

said. Bease, come as you are to a God who loves you as

you are, and in loving you as you are, some of those some

of his love towards you will draw you towards him. And as God draws

you towards him, and as you recognize the rule and raid of his kingdom,

you will shape you will make choices differently. And then there'll be a

moment when you go, I recognize who this is. This is my savior,

Jesus. There will be a moment when you recognize that he came for

you. And in that moment you'll almost kind of relax and go, oh,

I'm home. I'm in the place that I should be in. I'm

in the place that I need. Mark says this in Mark chapter ten,

verses thirteen to sixteen. Then they brought the little children to him that he

might touch them. But the disciples rebut those who brought them. But then

Jesus saw it. He was greatly displeased and said to them, let the

little children come to me, and do not forbid them, For of such

of the king is of the Kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to

you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child,

will by no means enter it. He took them up into his arms,

laid his hands on them, and blessed them. It's a simple transaction.

It's not about being childish, It's about being child like and going. This

is simple. God sent his one and only son, born of a virgin

anger, worshiped by shepherds, plain, old, rustic men and women,

and by the greatest the magi, the wise men. And I like to

ask a couple of trick questions at Christmas. I was asking, I think,

Joel and Hope about this last week I can't remember, said how many

kings were there, how many wise men were there? And of course they

give the answer that most of us would give, because we sing the song

we three kings of Orient are, and so we've got it into our culture.

There are three kings. The Bible does not say there are three kings.

The reason why we think there are three kings is because there's three gifts

gold and Franken sent to me. There were many, there was a crowd

of them going and following the star. So as we gather at Christmas,

let's recognize the king, Let's recognize his kingdom. And as I want to

bring this to a close, I want to close this with Ephesians chapter two,

verses eight and nine. Let's say this, for by grace you have

been saved through faith and that lot of ourselves. It is a gift of

God, a lot of works. Lest someone should boast, we do not

earn. We do not earn our place in the kingdom, no matter how

good you are, don't matter how bad you are. Christ died for you.

We paid the price for you and for me. So it's not about

good works. Good works will follow. Good works will naturally follow. When

we function as in the kingdom, we will want to do things. We

will see need and will want to respond to it, and we'll run out

of ourselves and we'll say, do you know what, I have got nothing

to give right now? And God will tap us on the shoulder or whisper

in our ear, or give us a gift for the moment you say,

here's something, and we'll release that gift to them as a blessing to others.

So let me pray, Father, thank you, thank you for your

kingdom, and thank you for the words that we sing at Christmas, but

at other times as well, God of God's Light, of light, King

of king y. And so Father, this Christmas, help us afresh to

look into the Nativity scene, to look at Mary and Joseph, Mary who

responded so gently and said, if it be your will, you know,

and she took that responsibility. And Joseph, who betrothed to Mary, still

stepped into that role. Lord. And then you sent shepherds and wise men

Maji on a journey to come and adore him to worship in that stable.

And so, Father, as we gather as family and friends, as extended

community in homes around the nation, Father, I pray that your light would

shine, that your kingdom would be real, and that your life and love

would impact us and others too,