Sermon

God reaching to man is the message of Christmas 2025

Omega Church NZ

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  1. You've tuned into. A mega church.

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  9. This God seeking man. It's not loud enough.

  10. Let's do it one more time. Is God seeking man?

  11. Yeah. It's just, you know, we need to.

  12. We want to keep it very simple today.

  13. The message from the time Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of

  14. Eden. What did they do as a reaction?

  15. First thing they came to know that they were, they were

  16. ashamed of. I mean they knew they were, they

  17. were naked and they were trying to hide it by taking the leaves

  18. and covering themselves, you know.

  19. And I mean God kept his timetable and in the evening he

  20. used to come and speak to them. So he started walking in the

  21. garden. When they heard the steps of God

  22. walking in the garden, they hid behind the bushes.

  23. And then he calls out Adam. Adam, where are you?

  24. You know all the story. But man's reaction has always

  25. been to hide from God. It's always been to run away

  26. from God. From that Adam's behavior till

  27. today, man has not changed. He may have gone to university.

  28. He can have degrees, He can make millions of dollars living in

  29. great houses, but the behaviour of man towards God has not

  30. changed. They run from God, hide from

  31. God, but God's heart has always been to reach out to man, as He

  32. did in the Garden of Eden. He does even today.

  33. Show me one instance where God has not taken initiative.

  34. In the Bible you see everywhere the signature that God sought

  35. man always, always it's he who took the first step.

  36. So we see in the in the in the story of, you know, as Luke

  37. describes in Luke chapter 2, when Jesus was born, the angels

    Luke 2 chapter mention

  38. appear to few shepherds. We read it in Luke chapter 2,

    Luke 2:13

  39. verse 13. Suddenly a great company of the

  40. heavenly host appeared with the Angel praising God and saying

  41. glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth.

  42. Peace to those on whom His favour rests.

  43. His favour rests on earth. There's no doubt about it.

  44. That's why we are sitting here. If that favour is not there, we

  45. will not be here at all. And that favour is pursuing man

  46. as it pursued those people, the shepherds, who are out in the in

  47. the open. When the angels had left them

  48. and gone into heaven, the shepherd said to one another,

  49. let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened

  50. which the Lord has told us about, and they go and find a

  51. little baby in a Manger. It's just amazing for me, so

  52. many years. I've been thinking about now

  53. nearly 48 years now having become a Christian.

  54. I always wonder how can God fit into a small frame the body of

  55. Jesus 6 foot let's say he is he was 510.

  56. Some people say so let's say 510 frame.

  57. How did this big God fit into the small frame?

  58. It's a mystery, but that mystery is also the time in very

  59. encouraging to me very recently when I thought about how does

  60. God dwell in man and work miracles?

  61. How does he heal? How do they set people free?

  62. That insight into incarnation is the key to move in the

  63. anointing. You wonder, oh, I want to pray

  64. for somebody. What's going to happen if that

  65. big God can fit into the small body of Jesus?

  66. He can fit into your body as well.

  67. He can dwell in you. So when we say touch, it's not

  68. me wanting to touch somebody, it is to allow Jesus within me to

  69. touch the person and to release that power to heal or to give

  70. answer to any anything they are standing for.

  71. So that is what it is. And for me, this idea has really

  72. made Christmas, understanding Christmas very special.

  73. And then man sometimes, you know, has been trying to find

  74. his own ways, as you see at the Tower of Babel, he they all came

  75. together. They had one language.

  76. They said, let's make build a tower, make a great name for

  77. ourselves. Let's reach it to heavens and

  78. they start building it. That is a symbol of man's

  79. working hard to reach heaven or to become equal to God or to

  80. take the place of God. And you look at many religions,

  81. they are based on that. They are based on that.

  82. I've been breaking my head to with a man.

  83. I mean he was my friend when I was in primary school and we

  84. connected now and he is a strong Hindu and now I am not only a

  85. Christian but I am a pastor and he is trying to convert me to

  86. Hinduism again because he keeps sending me different videos.

  87. I told him stop it, you are not going to change me, instead you

  88. should change. So I send him information and in

  89. fact I send this message that I am preaching now.

  90. I send it to him and I don't know whether he read it or not,

  91. but he sent me in response another video of why we should

  92. consider Hinduism as an option. The point is, it is a

  93. revelation. Christmas has to be a

  94. revelation. Just just as much as God came,

  95. left heaven and came through and became a small child, and that

  96. child has become the Christ who died further on the cross, it

  97. has to be a revelation that knowledge has to come through

  98. the work of the Holy Spirit. Until that it shines in your

  99. heart, there will be darkness in the life.

  100. So that revelation is what is redid.

  101. And I am praying God, you touched that man out of so many

  102. people. You brought that man back into

  103. my life after more than 60 years or even 55 years.

  104. I'm saying I don't want to lose that guy.

  105. I want him to. I want you to save him.

  106. So this is this should be our heart.

  107. The Christmas. Let's have this heart of praying

  108. for people who need salvation and speak to them, be persistent

  109. in presenting love of Jesus to them is very, very important.

  110. And then you see, God took the initiative to send the angels to

  111. proclaim that a son is born for you guys who is the savor of the

  112. world. He is Jesus, he is Emmanuel, God

  113. with us. And the shepherds went and found

  114. it as the angels proclaimed. So again, the initiative is

  115. coming from God, not from the shepherds or for anyone.

  116. And you have another story of miraculous guidance to find

  117. Jesus in Matthew chapter 2. And you find 3 wise men who

    Matthew 2 chapter mention

  118. travelled from the east and when they saw the star in the sky and

  119. they said, ah, this star means somebody great is being born.

  120. A great king is being born. And they were looking for a sign

  121. and they found the sign in the sky and they said let's go and

  122. find this child or this king who is born.

  123. And they travel probably 3 months, six months, 2 years.

  124. I don't know how long it took, but they travelled and then the

  125. star kept guiding them. I've been doing some research,

  126. you know, Google research. So in that what you find here is

  127. that that is indication of the birth of Jesus.

  128. He is trying to find a star. And there was one NASA

  129. scientist, he said, oh, he figured it out.

  130. He looked up into some of the writings of Chinese writings and

  131. he says he was able to say there was a comet that appeared and

  132. guided those Magi or the wise men to the place where Jesus

  133. was. And they came to here and said

  134. where is the king who is born? King of the Jews is born here.

  135. He felt alarmed about it and he calls the priests and they finds

  136. out that he is going to be in Bethlehem.

  137. And then he says OK, go and find him and worship him and come

  138. back and tell me so that I too can go and worship him.

  139. But they were warned in the dream not to go back to the

  140. king, but to go by another way. And afterwards he got angry, got

  141. all the children killed under 2 years of age.

  142. So looking into those kind of a thing they were able to say,

  143. yeah, it is BC four or five between that time and there is

  144. one more clue that you come across in the in the in the

  145. Gospel of John in verse 14, he says God in the beginning was

  146. the word, the word was with God, word was God.

  147. And in 14 he says the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

  148. The word dwelt, the Greek word is Tabernacle.

  149. So they think that that is a big clue John is giving that it

  150. should coincide with the Feast of Tabernacles, which they

  151. celebrate for seven days in a year, once a year, remembering

  152. their deliverance from Egypt. So the Feast of Tabernacles

  153. should be the time when Jesus was born.

  154. That's how they come to a conclusion about it.

  155. And then you look at so many other things here and there, and

  156. ultimately it is not 25th of December anyway.

  157. That's the good news. It's not 25th December, so they

  158. come up with a date in September and some people come up in

  159. March, whatever it is. So my point is very simple that

  160. Jesus left heaven, who was the Word, the Logos, and who had no

  161. beginning and no end. He had the same beginning, same

  162. continuous existence or ontological existence as the

  163. Father and the Spirit. That means they are coexistent,

  164. Co, eternal and all powerful, equally to be loved and to be

  165. worshipped and to be obeyed. He left heaven for you and me

  166. and dwelt and took the form of the flesh.

  167. And I think it is a great event, great event, not to be

  168. celebrated just one day in a year.

  169. It has to be celebrated every day.

  170. Every day, every day it's Christmas for us and every day

  171. it is Easter for us because that is the purpose ultimately why he

  172. came into the world to die on the cross.

  173. So it is something Good Friday and Easter.

  174. Everything you have to celebrate.

  175. You have to worship him because he's worthy of the sacrifice.

  176. He's a lamb who became the sacrificial animal for you and

  177. me. He died as you, you died as me.

  178. That's why we celebrate. That's that's the most powerful

  179. thing that we can ever think of it.

  180. And then he did not come into a he could have been born in a

  181. kings family. He could have been born in a

  182. very rich persons family, but he was born to a couple who are not

  183. very wealthy. In fact, when they wanted to

  184. come back and register, you know, there was an addict to go

  185. back and register. And then they traveled to

  186. Bethlehem from Nazareth. And then when they went to the

  187. inn, there's no room. So he LED into a place where she

  188. gave birth in the, you know, animals were kept and they had,

  189. she had to keep the baby in a Manger.

  190. You know, many times I used to wonder about the word Manger.

  191. One day I had to look up with the dictionary, you know, it's

  192. just the tub in which they put some grass or whatever they want

  193. to feed the animals. And that was the place they put

  194. some dry hay and that was a bed for Jesus.

  195. And he was laid in the small Manger.

  196. And that is just, you cannot get more simpler than that.

  197. You cannot get more simpler than that.

  198. I don't know whether he ever had experience of lying down on a

  199. hay. Have you ever had the

  200. experience? Yeah.

  201. Those who have farming background, it is not very

  202. comfortable. It's very itchy.

  203. I don't like it. I tried it, I don't like it.

  204. But they just put some cloth on it probably.

  205. And then he was laid in that Manger, not the most comfortable

  206. bed. Why?

  207. Because he was identify with you and me, Every common man.

  208. I tell you if you are making 100,000 or more in a year, you

  209. are the top 3% of the people, rich people, top 3%.

  210. You may not be millionaire or a billionaire, but you are in the

  211. top 3%. And when Jesus came into the, I

  212. mean into the world and was laid in the Manger, He was

  213. identifying with the 97% of the people of the population of the

  214. world. He is just saying I have loved

  215. you to leave my heavenly home and to become one with you.

  216. He identified with us. It is amazing.

  217. I just don't know. I don't have enough words to say

  218. how amazed I am to think about God trying to identify himself

  219. with a common person if in this 21st century, if he came, he

  220. would choose to be born in a Mumbai suburb or Bombay suburb

  221. where is a slum area. Probably because they are the

  222. people who are down economically, socially, in every

  223. way, ignored, trodden upon, used.

  224. He would be choosing to be born in such a place.

  225. Why? That is the heart of God.

  226. Heart of God. To seek man makes him to come to

  227. the lowest point so that you can be lifted up to the highest

  228. point. To sit with him in the heavenly

  229. realms in this by the right hand side of the Father.

  230. It's amazing. The more you think of

  231. incarnation, the more you will be humbled.

  232. And I tell you, that is how God was to conquer your heart this

  233. morning. And you had to put him on the

  234. throne in your heart, the highest place.

  235. Why? Because he came to the lowest of

  236. the point a man can live in. So that's why he's called

  237. Emmanuel, God with us. Let's shout.

  238. Emmanuel, God with us. Yeah, he ordained a star to get

  239. the Magi, and he does not leave you without proof, without the

  240. message of the gospel. He as he ordained a star to

  241. guide those people from the East.

  242. What God is saying is he is interested in the whole world.

  243. He did not come as a Christ or a Redeemer just for the Jewish

  244. people. It is for the whole world.

  245. And he made it clear from day one and we cannot make him a

  246. Jesus for justice. Christians, it is for everybody.

  247. So many times we confine him to the church just on Sunday or on

  248. a Bible study day. No, he has to be Lord of every

  249. day of your week. And that should compel you to

  250. see somebody and look at that person and say made in the image

  251. of God should be saved by the gospel of Christ and reach out

  252. and touch the people. It is the same thing we are

  253. repeating again. Actually I had a very different

  254. message to preach, but I said I don't want to preach that

  255. message because it's a bit harsh.

  256. Very, very harsh message I had. I was reading the book of Jonah

  257. and the book of Jonah. God says to Jonah, go and preach

  258. to Nineveh. I am going to destroy in 40

  259. days. He didn't want to take that

  260. message. Why?

  261. Because he can. As a prophet he must have

  262. forcing that the same people are going to attack Israel and carry

  263. them as captives. So he doesn't want them to be

  264. alive. So he says he refuses to go and

  265. preach and he runs away. If this is where God tells him

  266. to go, he goes this way and he had to cause so much of trouble

  267. to him. You know, he had to bring the

  268. storm on the sea. He has to send a fish to swallow

  269. him. And next day or after three days

  270. again, he commands the fish and it vomits him on the shore.

  271. And then the word of the Lord comes to Jonah again.

  272. Get up, go and preach to Nineveh.

  273. Why? God had to take that trouble

  274. because the man was unwilling to preach the gospel or message of

  275. repentance to Nineveh. And what we are doing is

  276. repeating the story of Jonah in our lives.

  277. We are unwilling to share the gospel of Jesus.

  278. You are and you and me are a Jonah.

  279. To someone who is working with you, to someone who is a

  280. relative to someone who is your friend, you are a Jonah.

  281. I am a Jonah. If you don't open your mouth and

  282. say Jesus loves you and came into the world, you have to

  283. choose whether you want him to bring a storm in your life.

  284. You want us to be thrown into the sea and a big fish to

  285. swallow and warmed you out again in front of his house where you

  286. have to preach the gospel. I don't want that to happen.

  287. I would rather be willingly say, God, I want to partner with you.

  288. I want to pray for this person. Will you please pour out a mercy

  289. and grace? I have saved the person.

  290. You know, that's how we have to be doing it.

  291. Cool. And he crossed many barriers

  292. from heaven to earth. You know, God has nothing to

  293. share in. In a sense, God is transcendent.

  294. He is far above, far away from whatever is belong to the earth.

  295. He has nothing in common. But he crossed that barrier and

  296. shared in our humanity, in the in the flesh and blood that we,

  297. we, we are in. He took he partook in that human

  298. nature. And that's that's a big barrier

  299. he has crossed. Secondly, he crossed the barrier

  300. of holiness to sinfulness. He is holy, He's being

  301. worshipped by the angels, holy, holy, holy all the time. 24 by 7

  302. But he left that holy Kingdom of God, his own presence, his own

  303. heaven, and became and came into the midst of sinners and lived

  304. like a common man. That's a crossing the barrier.

  305. It could have been as painful as going through the cross.

  306. It may not be simple for God to become man.

  307. It's not a OK, I'm going for a holiday for 33 years.

  308. It's not like that. It is not like that.

  309. At least that's what I think. And yeah, the cradle, probably

  310. even the Manger could have been a wooden through.

  311. If it is a wooden through that is used, that would stands for

  312. the cross. If she made a cradle to put baby

  313. Jesus to sleep, that word symbolizes the cross.

  314. That is, from day one, the cross is at the heart of Jesus who

  315. came into the world. You cannot separate the cross

  316. from his incarnation. You don't have any mission.

  317. You've got no purpose if you separate them.

  318. And Jesus came into the world just precisely for this purpose

  319. to die on the cross so that he can make the atonement cover up

  320. for you my everybody's sin in the world.

  321. So we may be saved and become one with him and share in his

  322. royalty, share in his sonship and share in his ruler ability

  323. to rule with him. And I tell you, this is just

  324. from rash to riches kind of a story.

  325. We are having that kind of rags background and he wants to lift

  326. you up to riches background. And this is quite amazing to me.

  327. It's very amazing. And I'm telling you this, Christ

  328. deserves your worship. It deserves your praise,

  329. deserves your Thanksgiving. And this is not for something to

  330. think about one day in a year. It is to be lived daily, daily.

  331. You need to understand that as he incarnated came into the

  332. world, so should we reach out to somebody?

  333. So should we reach out to somebody. 2 more minutes I have.

  334. I think I'll just tell you. Once I went to Delhi and we had

  335. a meeting in in that place. It was very dirty, very dirty,

  336. smelly. He went to crossover into that

  337. area. There was an open drain and

  338. there were two or three bricks in between to keep your leg on

  339. the brick and crossover to the other side.

  340. And there are millions of flies. And I was, I didn't want to

  341. really go and sit down on the ground.

  342. So I was just standing there. So the preachers, the pastor

  343. said, will you please come and sit here?

  344. I said, no, no, I'm quite all right here.

  345. So he thought, I'm separating myself.

  346. This guy has come from New Zealand.

  347. He's not identifying with the people.

  348. It wasn't the case. I just my knees are not great.

  349. So I don't want to go and sit on the floor.

  350. I was quite happy to stand. But at the time came, I did go

  351. there. I laid my hands upon them and I

  352. prayed. And this man is waiting to for

  353. me to say, do I have a sanitizer or something to wash my hands?

  354. I didn't do any of those things. I laid my hand on them.

  355. I prayed and he said, this is surprising to me.

  356. I have seen many other pastors come here.

  357. They come with hand sanitizer. When they lay hand again, rub

  358. their hands. But I did not see you do it.

  359. I said They are men and women who need God, and I have come

  360. here to bring God to them. I am not here to impose myself

  361. as a man who has come from a rich country.

  362. That is not my purpose. Jesus crossed barriers to bring

  363. the gospel to each one of us. I cannot afford to do it.

  364. I cannot afford to do it. There has to be a change, a

  365. transformation of heart and mind, otherwise we are going to

  366. lock up the gospel in our heart. Shall we pray?

  367. Father, this morning, thank you for the Word.

  368. I bring your children before the throne of grace.

  369. And Father, I pray, Holy Spirit, that you move here right now.

  370. Move here right now. I pray that you convict and

  371. convince and give them a vision, a vision of taking the gospel to

  372. someone. Oh my Father, Holy Spirit, I

  373. pray open their eyes to see, open their ears to hear right

  374. now and touch their heart. Touch their heart.

  375. I can feel right now God is warming your heart.

  376. God the Holy Spirit is putting that warmth in your heart.

  377. You feel warm in your chest right now and that is happening

  378. to you by the Holy Spirit. I want you to just stand up so I

  379. know that the Holy Spirit has stirred you and you are not

  380. going to be the same. You are going to carry this

  381. gospel to someone, somewhere to bring glory to His name.

  382. If you feel that warm sensation in your heart right now, I want

  383. you to stand up so I can pray for you.

  384. Sastre sarane mahasarasto korobo sandastereni mandana sarastoroni

  385. bahasastere sandara mahare shandara sastro kohori BA

  386. samandar sokoroni rehas sandastakoroni ho sabasta

  387. koroni. The Lord says, I have kept a

  388. reward for you because you want to follow me.

  389. You want to have a heart like my own.

  390. I will reward you in due season, says the Lord.

  391. We praise you God for the for the word and bless your children

  392. and I pray that everyone will go today with this burden in their

  393. heart to take the gospel to somebody.

  394. Let not this year pass before they open their mouth and share

  395. the gospel with somebody, a friend, a relative, or someone

  396. to the glory of your name. Thank you again for your

  397. presence in our mission. We worship you, we honour you.

  398. You're worthy of our worship because you cross the barriers

  399. and came into the world to dwell in a human body.

  400. I worship you Jesus. We praise you, Lord, in Jesus

  401. mighty name. Amen.

  402. Amen. Thanks for joining us at Omega.

  403. If you need prayer for healing or breakthrough, or simply to

  404. find out more, please head to our website or Facebook page in

  405. the links below.