17th December 2023 Infill Service - Yasmin Chaffer - Prepare your heart

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

Joyce Smier, 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 play. She knows it's

all about the birth of Christ. Hailey's eyes sparkle 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 Plentivity 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. 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 night. Haley 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 beamed, isn't he? Or so 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 a 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 Nil 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 you. 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 womb 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 of verse thirty, do not be afraid. The angel Gabriel

and the children's story was too loud. They 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 that 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 by 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've practiced 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 the c En

Tower. There's a glass floor at three hundred and forty two meters or one

and twenty two feet if you prefer the Imperial system, and apparently it was

built to we stand the way to approximately fourteen large hippos. Clearly I don't

made the same as even one hippo. I have 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 saying things like don't be so stupid.

Get on there. You've seen small chilren to do it. You know,

there's no need 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 far 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 encouraged us to practice refusing me there in small ways where

possible to help create habit. So what it is here? I found a

really helpful article on the ends, which I'm largely going to quote. Fears

is essentially an emotions, belief, and thing 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

we'll 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 So 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, but 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, godssipated 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,

for 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 fiancee, 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, look,

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 its

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. Many of 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 today you build. Our relationship with the Lord

is what we 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, asia are fourteenth 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 the 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

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 for us battered and scarred in 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. One thousand dollars, And

who'll make it two two thousand, and he'll make it three three thousand's once,

three thousand and 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,