24th December 2023 - Christmas Celebration Service - Dave Food - Ready, The Kingdom is here

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, sinking, 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. He'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, yeah, with all smeggling 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 he

started to lick your lips because the smell's coming, And are 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 I

got coming in his glory? When 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, do 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 unto you. What are all these things? They are the fruits

of the spirit, the gifts of the spirit, peace, joyed 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 fascinateying 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 the 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,

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 don't

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 me 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, so 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 greeting 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 and 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 fourteen 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. So 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 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 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've ever had a teacher said stand in line, Dave,

don't 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 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 takes hims 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 broadcast 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 to 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. 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 will be

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

savior, Jesus. There'll 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,

laid in a manger, 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 is it? 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 mer.

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 not 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. Your 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. 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 betroth 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.