17th December 2023 Infill Service

Good morning. So I'm taking this month's theme Kingdom ready at its simplest,

just by looking at the kingdom as a place where Jesus, the King of

Kings, rules and reigns starting with us. Hence the title of today's message,

Prepare your Heart. I recently discovered a lovely children's Christmas book written by

Joycemeier, which was published ten years ago, called The Perfect Christmas Pageant.

I am aware that most of my audience has grown up when we choose to

be. But nonetheless, there is a point to starting with this and but

I'll summarize most of it. It was Christmas season at every Day Zoo,

and the whole town glistened and glittered and glowed. Haley Hippo is very excited

because she's been chosen to direct this year's Nativity pling. She knows it's all

about the birth of Christ. Hailey's eyes sparkled as she imagined how spectacular the

play would be. It would be her special gift, Christmas gift to Jesus.

It would be perfect. So she casts all the roles and then it's

time for rehearsals to begin. Unfortunately, things don't go as smoothly as she

expected. The Angel Gabriel, the goose is too loud. They're not Mary.

The shepherds kept losing their way, Joseph couldn't remember his lines. Hailey

was disappointed. She wanted the Lativity to be perfect, so she worked hard

to try and fix the problems. It looked like the rehearsals are finally going

well until one thing leads to another and it's a complete disaster and the set

is destroyed. You A tear rolled down Haley's cheek as she looked at the

mess around her. The Nativity is completely ruined. Someone gives her a hug

and says, don't cry, Hailey. But I wanted everything to be perfect,

she sniffled. I'm sure that's what Mary and Joseph wanted to that first

Christmas. But things weren't perfect for them either. But you know, the

one was perfect that that night. Hailey thought for a moment, and then

her eyes grew wide. Jesus, she said, finally understanding he was perfect.

That's what the Christmas story is all about. Haley quietly sets to work

fixing what she can fix with the set, and the Nativity takes place.

Mary smiled at her visitors. His name is Jesus, she said proudly.

He's Christ, the Lord Joseph bead, isn't he? Or it wasn't perfect,

but somehow it was just right. I love the messages from this that

aren't just for Christmas. The first and one I'm going to mention today is

it's not about a perfect performance. I'm talking about our behavior now and how

rubbish we can feel when we make mistakes and keep making them. It's about

doing our best with the right heart and continuing to ask the Lord for help

with this because we depend on him to do it. This is part of

preparing your heart for Jesus to rule and reign in it. As the Lord

said to the apostle Paul, as recorded in Two Corinthians twelve, verse nine,

my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in

weakness. In the amplify that reads, my grace is sufficient for you.

My loving kindness and my mercy are more than enough, always available, regardless

of the situation. For my power is being perfected and is completed and shows

itself most effectively in your weakness. That's a lot to take in. So

I'm going to read that again. My grace is sufficient for you. My

loving kindness are my mercy are more than enough, always available, regardless of

the situation. For my power is being perfected and is completed and shows itself

most effectively in your weakness. When we know God, our heavenly Father,

we know how loving he is, the one perfect Dad who keeps forgiving us

when we ask him to. Because when Jesus died for us on the cross,

which we celebrate at Easter, he took the punishment for our sins,

and then he rose again. This is why God keeps forgiving us when we

ask. The price has been paid in full. Hailey Hippo wanted the performance

to be perfect as her special gift to Jesus. But Jesus isn't looking for

perfection. He knows we're not and wants us to come as we are.

The best gift we can give Jesus is our heart. If you haven't done

so already, then I strongly recommend that you do. If you've already asked

Jesus to be lord of your life and surrendered your heart to him, then

I suggest that we ask him what special gift we can give him this year.

By this, I mean, for example, set aside time to worship,

listen to Jesus and just be with him. In the busyness of Christmas,

it can be missed, even though we know He's the reason for the

season. It may be about creating a good habit, or it might be

about addressing a bad habit with God's help. But I do suggest that we

all think and pray about what gift we can give to Jesus this Christmas.

Let's turn to our main passage for today in Luke chapter one, verses twenty

six to thirty eight, And I'm reading from Nibol in the Amplified Bible.

The basic verse is the literal equivalent of the Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek text,

which is then amplified to help us better understand the meaning of the original

word. So Luke chapter one, verses twenty six to thirty eight. Now,

in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, the Angel Gabriel was sent from

God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a

man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of the House of David, and

virgin's name was Mary. And coming to her, the Angel said, Greeting's

favored one with ye. But she was greatly perplexed at what he said,

and kept carefully considering what kind of greeting this was. The Angel said to

her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with

God. Listen carefully. You will conceive in your woo and give birth to

a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great

and eminent and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the

Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will

reign over the house of Jacob Israel forever, and of his kingdom. There

shall be no end. Mary said to the angel, how will this be,

since I am a virgin and have no intimacy with any man. Then

the Angel replied to her, the Holy Spirit will have come upon you,

and the power of the High will overshadow you like a cloud. For that

reason, the holy, pure, sinless child shall be called the Son of

God. And listen. Even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in

her old age, and she who was called Baron, is now in her

sixth month. For with God, nothing is or ever shall be impossible.

Then Mary said, behold, I am a servant of the Lord may be

done to me according to your word, and the angel left her. So

obviously a long passage, but it's I thought it was important to give the

context to what the Lord is saying today. So my second point today is

Luke one and verse thirty, do not be afraid. The angel Gabriel and

the children's story was too loud. They're not Mary. I'm sure that Mary

was grateful that the angel didn't yell her to not be afraid. It was

probably disconcerting enough that an angel appeared at all, and then there was the

message to digest, do not be afraid. This is such a key point

when it comes to preparing our hearts, when we think about preparing our hearts

for Jesus to truly rule and reign within us. When the Angel told Mary

to not be afraid, the meaning of the Greek word for afraid include don't

be alarmed or terrified. It's a strong word. As is mentioned in the

Daytime Online Bible study recently, do not be afraid. Fear not is a

message that's given many times throughout the Bible. Some people like to say it

appears approximately three hundred and sixty five times one for every day of the year,

but of course it depends on your translation, etc. I like what

one person said about it, though when I googled it, he can the

number of times in the Bible that it says fear not, do not be

afraid, be anxious for nothing, do not fear, do not worry,

and others. As he said, there is a lot of overlap, and

I haven't even colored all the ways we're told to not be afraid, be

of good, courage, be brave, etc. The main point is not

the exact number, but the fact that it's the most repeated command in all

of the Bible, and perhaps the easiest to fail. Why does God tell

us don't be afraid in one form or another so many times in the Bible,

because we need to hear it again and again and again. It's one

thing to know something in your head. It's another to actually step out and

practice it, to choose not to fear. We get a different revelation of

the truth of Scripture when we are our head knowledge by acting on it by

faith. In other words, before we see the desired outcome, as it

says in Hebrews eleven, verse one. Now faith is the substance of things

hoped for the evidence of things not seen. There's no shame in feeling fear,

but it's so important to not allow it to dictate our decisions. When

we practice refusing fear in small ways, it can help us in dealing with

bigger issues. I know I've mentioned it before, but some years ago we

went on holiday to Toronto and we went up to the End Tower. There's

a glass floor at three hudred and forty two meters or one and twenty two

feet if you prefer the Imperial system, and apparently it was built to withstand

the way to approximately fourteen large hippoes. Clearly I don't made the same as

even one hip hope I've a mind fourteen. But I still couldn't persuade myself

to walk across this glass floor because I could see right down to the ground

below. A couple of months ago, we went to Portsmouth and went up

the Spinnaker Tower, which also has a glass floor, albeit at one hundred

meters. I've been talking about my experience at this CN tower shortly before with

a friend and someone else, and I decided I should be able to walk

on the glass floor at the Spinnaker Tower. It bothered me that I'd allowed

fear to stop me at the CN Tower. My reasoning, I have some

told me there was nothing to fear at the Spinnaker Tower. The glass floor

can hold two hundred and eighty eight stone. On principle, I wanted to

go walk across it to practice refusing fear. For me, it was about

my self talk. It will hold your weight, Just walk on it.

You can do this. There's no need to be negative about it or beat

yourself up up saying things like don't be so stupid, get on there.

But you've seen small children to do it. You know there's no news to

put yourself down. I did it. It felt out like an inune,

especially because of the previous experience in Canada. It's worth considering yourself talk when

you're dealing with FID doesn't encourage youself. You can and repeat to yourself whatever

problem you might be standing on to strengthen yourself. I said, all they've

encourryed us to practice refusing. You are in small ways where possible to help

create habit. So what it is here? I found a really helpful article

of which I'm largely getting to quote. Fears are essentially an emotion belief the

thing pro poses a threat to us. We can all have a destructive emotion,

and we're familiar with how it affects our ability to do what needs to

be done with children of God himself. When we truly believe this, fear

loses its grip on us. Doesn't mean will never experience it, but it

loses its grip on us. Romans eight point fifteen in the New American Standard

Bible says, for you have not received a spirit of slavery, leading to

fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters,

by which we cry out Abba, Father. Abba is the Aramaic word

for father, and Aramaic was likely the language that Jesus spoke. Fear is

from the devil, and it's the enemy of our faith. As it says

in two Timothy one, verse seven, for God has not given us a

spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a When we're

afraid to do something we know we should do, that's the time to stop

and reflect on this scripture. Meditating on it gives us strength and courage.

Remember, we can personalize it too. For example, God has not given

me a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of

a sound mind. Therefore I refuse to fear. Satan uses fear as a

weapon to disrupt our faith. He wants us to question and doubt everything God

says to us. If he can get us to the point of unbelief,

he can move us away from trusting God. Life can send us trouble at

any time, but as believe us, we never have to be afraid of

it. We can depend on God to always be there when we need him.

Doesn't necessarily mean we'll always feel him, but He's promised to always be

with us, as it says, for example, in Matthew twenty eight twenty

I love what it says in Psalms twenty six Excuse me fifty six, verse

three. Psalms fifty six, verse three. Whenever I am afraid, I

will trust in you. Sometimes we just need to keep it simple, don't

we. Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you. If some

of you have started to sing that in your head, it's because it's a

line from the song You Are My hiding Place. Fear and trust don't mix.

Trust in God is much more powerful the courage we receive from him.

Isn't due to the absence of fear. It gives us the ability to move

past it. I think it's worth repeating there's no shame in feeling fear.

We don't have to deny it, just deny it any place to dictate to

us. Clearly, God disipated us experiencing fear whilst making it clear that it

doesn't belong to us, which is why the command not to fear is repeated

so often in the Bible in one form or another. Fear can be experienced

in so many different ways, and God has and always is the answer.

The many times we see don't be afraid in the Bible is backed up with

many different reasons. Luke one verse thirty. Then the angel said to her,

do not be afraid, Mary, So you have found favor with God.

This was the reason that God gave Mary to not be afraid at the

appearance of an angel, and what he had to say to her This would

have to be what anchored her soul, her mind, her will and emotions

when dealing with fear, and the expected reaction of society, including Joseph,

her fiance at the news of her pregnancy. In the society and culture of

the time, she would have expected to be shunned and rejected as an unmarried

mother. Earlier, in Luke one, when the Angel appears to the priest

Sacarias to tell him that his wife, Mary's relative would bear him a son,

despite the fact that they're both old and she's barren. The Angel says

in Luke one, verse thirteen, do not be afraid, Zacharias, for

your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,

and you shall call his name John. In other words, don't be afraid

because your prayer has been answered. Your prayer that looked and was impossible,

naturally speaking, has been answered. These are just two examples that show us

the fact that the Lord gives us many sound reasons to not fear. It

doesn't mean that life will be a picnic. I think we all know that

Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem whilst Mary was heavily pregnant, and then there

was no room at the Inn, and jesus first cock was a feeding trough

for animals. When Jesus was still very young, they fled to Egypt as

refugees. Zacharias and Elizabeth were clearly older parents, which brings a different set

of challenges. As I said earlier, the courage we received from the Lord

isn't due to the absence of fear. It gives us the ability to move

past it Psalm fifty six, verse three. Whenever I am afraid, I

will trust in you. We have a clear choice that we can make when

we experience fear. An insightful quote I remember reading in a biography written by

someone who was a widow, said trust was made for the dark times.

So much in that trust was made for the dark times. You will have

heard me say this before, but trust, in my opinion, is the

greatest gift that one person can give to another and is usually built over time

and shared experiences. Taking that time to dayly build our relationship with the Lord

is what we've build. The trust that we need to help us to turn

to him in the hardest times when life is at its most difficult, and

not turn away from him because we can't see him or necessarily feel him.

That's when we trust in His word, which is eternal, as it says

in several places in the Bible. For example, Isaiah forteenth and verse eight.

The grass with us and the flower fades, but the word of our

God stands forever. That's a long time. Luke one, verse thirty eight

says, then Mary said, behold, I am the servant. Maybe done

to me according to your word. Mary accepted God's will and word for her,

regardless of whatever her feelings may have been. When we make a decision

based on whatever the Lord is saying to us, like Mary, we don't

see the beginning from the end, but we know the one who does,

God is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end as it

sets in Revelations twenty two. Revelation twenty one, verse six. Like Mary,

we don't see how it's all going to turn out. But when we

say yes to God in our hearts to whatever he's saying to us, we

can trust him to provide for us. That's faith. To close, I

want to reiterate and the two main points I've made today, then finish with

a poem that will be familiar to some of you and which I've read before,

but is relevant today. So my first point is it's not about performance.

It's about coming as we are to the Lord, giving our hearts and

surrendering ourselves to him and trusting that we are complete in Him, and that

is what makes us kingdom ready. And the second point is do not be

afraid. This is so key to preparing our hearts for Jesus to truly rule

and reign within us. If you're experiencing fear in any air of your life,

what is God's saying to you about it? Sometimes our emotions can be

overwhelming and make it difficult to hear from the Lord, and that can be

a good time to ask others for prayer. We can always ask others for

prayer anyway if we need it. There'll be an opportunity for prayer afterwards,

if anyone would like it. But first I'd like to finish with the poem

The touch of the Master's hand twas fattered and scarred, and the auctioneer thought

it's scarcely worth his wife to waste much time on the old violin, But

he held it up with a smile. What are my bidding, good folks,

he cried. We'll start the bidding for me a dollar, a dollar,

then two, only two two dollars, and he'll make it three three

dollars, once, three dollars, twice, going for three. But no

from the room far back. A gray haired man came forward and picked up

the bone, then wiping the dust from the old violin and tightening the loose

strings. He'd played a melody, pure and sweet as a carrolling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer, with a voice that was quiet

and low, said, what am I bid for the old violin? And

he held it up with the bone. A thousand dollars? And who'll make

it two two thousand, and who'll make it three? Three thousands? Once,

three thousand, twice? And going and gone, said he. The

people cheered, but some of them cried, we do not quite understand what

changed its worth. Swift came the reply, the touch of the Master's hand.

The Master comes, and the foolish crowd can never quite understand the worth

of a soul and the change that's wrought by the touch of the Master's hand.

I strongly believe that many people present, as well as those listening online

or artwards to the podcast, feel that you need a fresh touch from the

Master's hand for whatever reason, to help you to prepare your heart for him.

So let's pray, Father God, thank you with all my heart that

you're here and you always listen to our prayers. Thank you that one touch

from you is enough, because your life, you are life itself. You

are the source of life. Thank you that in your hands you can take

us and whatever history we come with, and you can bring out a unique

song, something that truly glorifies you. We surrender ourselves afresh to you and

ask you for that fresh touch, be glorified in and through us. We

ask it in Jesus, Precious all Powerful Name,