SUNDAY 14TH DECEMBER | PS AARON MORE

Um

I'm not too sure how many people know my

story of the last 10 years.

Um but it's quite a remarkable one. So

um first of all I just want to before I

do share I just want to acknowledge um

Calvin who has been my steadfast

champion. So um yeah. Yeah. And um I

couldn't I couldn't really share my

story without um acknowledging him

because it is um he is part of my story.

So um as I said, I don't know how many

of you know, but 10 years ago I was

diagnosed with breast cancer. Um um I'm

sorry the the worship has been so um

profound and all of those are my

testimony songs. So it's been amazing.

But so 10 years ago I was diagnosed with

breast cancer. Came completely out of

the blue. I was on crutches with a

broken ankle and um thought that it was

just a muscle that was a little bit

wonky being on crutches, but no, it

wasn't. Um it was breast cancer. Um and

uh so what transpired was a round of um

many surgeries

um and um it's 10 years to the week um

that I started chemotherapy.

I I um went through every treatment that

there is. Um, I went through

chemotherapy, lost all my hair. Um, lost

all my hair, which was very painful. Um,

I've done radiation, lots of lots of um,

lots of surgeries. However, when I

started on this journey, a very precious

warrior gave me a word and I said to the

Lord, um, I will do this journey with

tenacity.

If this is a journey that you want me to

go on, then I will do it with tenacity.

And um the diagnosis, it wasn't good. It

was breast cancer. And a dear friend

gave me as I went in Exodus 14:14.

Exodus 14:14

The Lord will fight for you. You only

need to be still. And I have learned to

Sabbath. I consider any time that I take

out take a side is to Sabbath. So I

started chemotherapy and it is rough as

you can imagine. There were days that I

couldn't open my eyelids. There were

days that I could not walk. And in those

days I would have warriors, prayer

warriors and my children. Max surprised

us coming home and it was amazing. But

it's as rough. It's as rough as you can

imagine it to be. And even with a strong

faith, it's still really rough. There

was one day that um I felt myself I was

in recovery from a surgery and I felt a

demonic spirit of fear come over my life

and I'm not too sure if anyone has ever

experienced this and it started with a

cold sweat from my head and went to my

toes and I knew that if I didn't respond

in a spiritual way that it was it was

coming after me.

I knew that the only way that I could

break it was to speak the name of Jesus.

And I couldn't even walk. I actually had

to climb up some stairs, crawl on my

hands and knees to my kitchen. I knew

that somehow I had to take a communion,

which is something that Calvin and I

regularly do in our marriage. I knew

that the only way to break the spirit of

fear, and it was demonic, it was cold.

It was sweaty. I've never experienced

anything like it. And um I managed to

get a glass of water and some cracker

and I sat at the dining room table and I

went, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus."

That's all I could do. Jesus, Jesus,

Jesus. I don't know how long I sat

there. That was the only thing. And

until it broke, I didn't take communion.

But in that moment of intimacy with the

Lord, he broke it. And I took that

communion. And um the power of

communion, I didn't even know that we

were having communion today. So um

that's that's just amazing. The power of

communion can break things. It can break

things. So I finished chemotherapy

and um then I had to go into radiation

and that was um pretty pretty tough as

well. And um I felt the Lord say to me,

I want you to go back a verse as I'd

claimed the Lord will fight for you. You

just need to be still. I went back and

um the verse says the Egyptians you see

today you will never see again. And I

took that I'm never going to see cancer

again, but I've got to go through this

journey. It was pretty rough. And um so

I went through that and then I finished.

And the Lord said, I want you to go back

again. And this is what I want you to

claim over your life. Exodus 14:13, do

Exodus 14:13

not be afraid. Stand firm and you will

see the deliverance of the Lord. And the

the deliverance the Lord will bring you

today. The Egyptians you see, you will

not see again. The Lord will fight your

battle. You just need to be still.

And then once I was clear, I felt the

Lord say, "Read on." And it was, "Raise

your head. Tell Is tell the Israelites

to move on. Raise your staff and stretch

out your hand and move." And I've

claimed that for 10 years. There's been

some really tough times, some dark, dark

nights. And I had no words. and I could

only put Calvin's hand on my forehead

and he would know to pray. Those

thoughts just encompassed and consumed

me. So that's just a little bit of

history. So um I a couple of weeks ago I

have been on estrogen blockers. Um for

most women they will understand what

that means. Um and it's very important

for you to have estrogen in your bones

for calcium. So, I've gone 10 years

without um with with the possibility of

my calcium being leeched out of my bones

and osteoporosis

and um arthritis and brittle bones. So,

that's one of the side effects of the

treatments. So, um I've just had my

10year clearance from my surgeon and and

um

and oh wait, there's more to come.

And um so with that was a barrage of um

scans and um mamograms and ultrasounds.

So they all cleared which is fantastic.

But there was one more that I had to do

and that's been my bone density gr scan

and that's the one that I've been a

little bit anxious about. So I knew that

that was coming and I started to claim

Ezekiel 37. Breathe life into these

bones. Breathe life into these bones

Lord. breathe life into these bones. I

will rest in you. I will Sabbath in you.

Breathe life into these bones. So, I had

this um my bone scan last week, the week

or the week before. And um I was very

quite anxious to know what it was about.

Just because you're a woman of faith

doesn't mean you don't get a little bit

of anxiety. So, I went in there and I

said, "I guess you can't tell me what

the results are." And she said, "No, but

I will show you." and I sat up and she

aligned my scans and there has not been

one leech, not one breach of calcium

from my bones.

And um and and she looked at me and she

said, "This is remarkable. Your bone

density is above average for a woman of

your age." And um and I just went,

"Thank you, Jesus." And she said,

"There's lots of prayer had gone into

this, isn't there?" And I said, "No,

there's lots of thank you, Jesus." And

um so the testimony on my lips is that

it doesn't matter how dark the moment

is. When our eyes are fixed on Jesus, he

will take care of the detail. He just

wants us to be yielded to him. And um

it's remarkable that my bones are as

strong as they are. There is nothing

that has been leeched from them. And I'm

just so grateful. The desire of my heart

is to see my grandchildren get married.

And that's my longevity plan which the

Lord has promised me.

>> Wasn't that great? Okay. So good to hear

the goodness of God and uh what he's uh

doing in

all of our lives and just his

faithfulness and uh yeah we celebrate

that with you Katherine. Hey

also uh this morning just want to um

honor my lovely wife Sarah. Uh just a

huge thank you to her who last week set

up all of the memorial things and while

she was going through her own grieving

journey of her first Christmas without

um her mom was you know down here uh all

of last week just preparing things for

that uh moment last Sunday. So thank you

so much for that Sarah. We uh appreciate

you so much.

Wow.

Have you ever um

thought about You probably haven't.

Here's a question for you. Have you ever

thought that some people are a little

bit like Christmas trees?

Like some people are a little bit

prickly, right? like uh you know uh

sometimes at that particular time of

year some people due to drinking a

little bit too much sort of topple over

a little bit like a a Christmas tree.

Some people are uh artificial even

though they look pretty good. They're

not uh they're a little bit more plastic

than they are living. Um, and uh,

so you know, if you see someone running

around in a Christmas tree this morning,

you can remember that that you know,

some people only ever come out when the

presents do, right? Like it's uh, and

uh, you know, like Christmas trees, some

people just turn up once a year. And so

um, but this morning I want to talk on

the Christmas story. And it's it's an

interesting thing to have to do because

obviously uh if you've been coming to

church for any length of time, you've

heard the Christmas story a fair few

times, right? Like uh you've heard the

story many times and you know who the

characters are. And um I I like the film

franchise Fast and Furious. Any Fast and

Furious fans here? Wow. I see that hand.

I see that hand. That's a fantastic uh

revival in church. Um and one of the

interesting things about the Fast and

Furious franchise is when they

originally wrote the script, the main

character was actually supposed to be

Paul Walker. He was meant to be the main

character on the script. He won the

leading part. But then, let me tell you

something, church. What happened was a

charismatic bald man came in and uh Vin

Diesel due to his charisma even though

he had less lines and was supposed to be

THE SUPPORTING CAST MEMBER. WOW.

SOMETHING HAPPENED. HIS BOLDNESS, the

charisma, the greatness took over and he

became the main part even though he

wasn't the main part. And it's

interesting when we think of the

Christmas story because uh we actually

tell the Christmas story through the

lens of all of the people who aren't the

main part because it's hard to tell the

story through the lens of a baby. I

mean, we realize that the Christmas

story was rec recorded by men because

they didn't even put the weight in,

right? Like I mean, every man knows now

when they go to the hospital, they get

the text, they're like, "Try and

remember. try and remember my wife is

going to ask how big was the baby. So we

clearly the writers of the gospels were

males because they didn't uh actually

record uh the weight of baby Jesus but

we always interpret the story of Jesus

through the supporting cast right it's

actually through Mary through Joseph

through Elizabeth through Zechariah

through the uh shepherds through the

magi and uh so we we have these various

characters that we are interpret the

story through. And for uh Mary, you

know, in Luke 1, it tells us that in the

end of the sixth month, the angel

Gabriel was sent um to a city in Galilee

to a virgin bethrown to a man whose name

was Joseph. And uh the the angel comes

and says, "Greetings, O favored one. The

Lord is with you." And you know, we

could start with that character and it's

probably a character that you're

familiar with that when it comes to

Christmas story, if you're particularly

gifted uh a particularly gifted girl,

you probably play paid the part of Mary

in a school production at some time. Um

uh if you are unfortunate like me, you

got to play the donkey. But um you know,

if you were gifted, you got to play the

part of Mary or maybe an angel. And we

love to remember how the angel came to

Mary. And then we we go on and we have

uh uh Zechariah who um uh did become the

father of John the Baptist. And uh you

know if you ever have someone in your

life that talks too much, the Christian

way of telling them to shut up is to ask

for the Zechariah anointing to come.

Because in the temple, the angel, he

asked the angel a question and the angel

said, "Because of that, you're not going

to be able to speak for 6 months." I

used to think when Sarah was praying for

encounters that she was for me that she

was uh wanting God to touch me. But I

wonder now if maybe she just wanted me

to shut up. And so she was uh because

that's what happened uh to Zechariah.

and an angel turns up in the temple and

he like asks the wrong questions and

they're like, "Hey, now you're not going

to be able to speak till the baby

comes." And maybe that's something

familiar in the story. Or or we read of

the shepherds who were out in the field

watching their flocks and that they they

again have a visitation and get led and

maybe slowly we're working down the

skill of drama. You know, maybe you

weren't Mary or Joseph. Maybe you didn't

qualify for an angel and so you

qualified to be a shepherd in your

school production. You know, it slowly

kind of goes a bit down. Uh Auntie Sue

didn't even ask me to be a part of the

production this year, so I didn't even

get a uh not even a token roll. Um but

you know we tell the story of the

shepherds and kind of what happens is to

keep the story fresh people always need

to come up with some new angle to tell

you about what was the case of shepherds

in those day. or we move on to the wise

men who um you know brought the gifts to

Jesus and we begin to look at hey how

can we reinterpret this and so we say

hey you know it's commonly known that

three wise men but it doesn't say three

wise men there were only three gifts we

we try and find a way to retell the

story with something fresh and actually

I believe in later manuscripts there was

actually a part that was left out in

some of the earlier manuscripts where

they actually said to Mary and Joseph

These are both birthday and Christmas

presents when they uh presented them to

Jesus, but uh just missed from our

translations.

So, these are kind of the familiar

people that we tell the story of every

Christmas. And given that it's every

Christmas, it amazes me that there's

actually two more characters at the end

of the Christmas story that actually

never get a mention. It's like there's

only kind of about eight or 10 people

and yet two of them never ever really

get mentioned when we come to tell the

Christmas story. You see, we often will

give a shout out to Mary, to Joseph, to

uh Zachchariah, to Elizabeth, to the

shepherds, to the magi. Uh, and uh, but

there's actually two more characters

that kind of don't really get a mention.

Actually, in my uh, acting days at

primary school, um, they gave me the job

of holding the wall. So, there was a

wall and it was a blanket and me and my

friend each had to hold one side of the

wall. And despite it being uh Hollywood

level special effects, no one

acknowledged me at the end of it. I

didn't get any requests for autographs

even though that wall was amazing. And

uh I actually remember my whole family

came to watch the production. And so my

brother and sister came to watch me hold

a blanket. And uh if I was holding it

properly, I shouldn't even be seen. It's

like they're like, "Hey, what did you

do?" I'm like, "Did you see that wall?

How amazing." And so I I can identify

with these two characters.

You see, the two people that I'm talking

about are Simeon and Anna. And so what

happens is baby Jesus is coming to be

presented for the rituals at the temple

and Simeon and Anna have been waiting.

You see, the the the Jewish people

believed that the Messiah was going to

come as a political figure, as a figure

that was potentially even a military

figure that was going to help set the

nation of Israel free. And so when you

trace the Christmas story up until this

point, what actually Mary had received

from pretty much everyone was like,

"Hey, this child is going to be a

blessing to the Jewish people." That was

the predominant message that she had

received so far. This one will be the

hope of Israel. And so that was the

message that she had received so far.

And then it tells us that Simeon was an

older man and he was waiting because the

Holy Spirit was on him and he had been

told that he would not die until he saw

the Lord's anointed. And so one day, it

doesn't tell us where he is, but it

tells us that he is um

uh we'll we'll pick it up in Luke 2:25.

Luke 2:25

It says, "Now there was a man in

Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the

man was righteous and devout, waiting

for the consolation of Israel, and the

Holy Spirit was upon him, and it had

been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit

that he would not see death before he

had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came

in the in that spirit into the temple."

And when the parents brought in the

child Jesus to do for him according to

the custom of the law, he took him and

said blessed uh he took him and blessed

God and said, "Lord, now you are letting

your servant depart in peace according

to your word. For my eyes have seen your

salvation that you have prepared in the

presence of all peoples, a light for

revelation to the Gentiles and for the

glory to your people Israel." So here he

gets this uh persuasion by the Holy

Spirit to go to the temple and Mary and

Joseph give baby Jesus into his arms.

And can I just say this is not parenting

advice. If you have a newborn, you come

out of the ward and someone says, "I'm

here by the Holy Spirit. Can I hold your

baby?" Say no. But um it it it did

happen. In this case, it was the Holy

Spirit. And Simeon takes this baby. And

you got to remember for Mary and Joseph,

like they had had encounter after

encounter. They had angels, then they'

had the meeting with uh Zechar Zechariah

and Elizabeth. That had all kinds of

things going on. So they knew that Jesus

was going to be something special. But

when he gives this proclamation, it says

they were amazed. And I think the reason

why they were amazed is includes this

line. You have prepared in the presence

of all people a light for revelation to

the Gentiles.

You have prepared a light for revelation

to the Gentiles. You see, up until that

moment, they had been expecting Jesus to

be a light for the Jewish people.

But you see, for them in those days,

there was nothing darker that they could

think of than the nations that were

oppressing them, than the other nations.

And so, here in the midst of this uh

baby dedication,

Simeon recognizes that there is one

here. You see, there was a crowd of

people and no one else recognized. But

Simeon because of the Holy Spirit on his

life, he saw something different and he

makes this proclamation that here is

Jesus a light of revelation to the

Gentiles. Can I tell you it does not

matter how dark a place

you might live in. It does not matter

how dark a place is that Jesus is the

light of the world. And so at Christmas,

he has this revelation and he's like,

"Hey, there is a light." The place that

we think is the DARKEST IS THE PLACE

that Jesus is going to light up. He's

coming to the darkest places. And can I

tell you something this morning? You

might have dark areas in your life.

Probably most of us do. Actual areas

that we're like, "Well, yeah, that's

just something that I just struggle with

and that's just mine." And this morning,

the words of Simeon remind us that Jesus

was a light of revelation to the darkest

places. And he's actually quoting from

Isaiah 49

um a prophetic um scripture where it

says, "Is it too light a thing that you

should be my servant to rise up to the

tribes of Jacob and to bring back the uh

preserved of Israel? I will make you as

a light for the nations that my

salvation may reach to the ends of the

earth. Do you know geographically from

Jerusalem, New Zealand is the end of the

earth? Like he was actually prophesying

that it's going to go all the way to the

end of the earth. They didn't know even

how far the ends of the earth was in

those days. But he was declaring that

there would be a light of Jesus that

would not stop. And so sometimes we need

to be remembered of the simplicity that

Christmas reminds us that all of the

darkness in the world, every piece of

darkness is to be invaded by light.

Because if God had wanted to condemn the

world, he would have sent a condemmer.

But he didn't send a condemmer because

he wanted to save the world. So he sent

a savior who is the light of the world.

And this morning the good news is

whether you've known Jesus for 50 years

or whether you're yet to know him, if

you have areas of darkness in your

world, there is a light that is go wants

to pour into your life. And it's not

just a a um impersonal light.

It's actually a relationship

with a living God. Isn't it amazing that

he says he's like, "I'm done." He's

like, "You can take me in peace now.

Like, I'm happy to go home." Such was

his revelation of who Christ was that

even just seeing him as a baby, he was

like, "Well, I'm done. you can take me

home now. Like I can see what's going to

happen in people's lives as a result of

this baby and I'm completely done. I'm

happy to go home. Take your servant in

peace. What a revelation to see Jesus

that way. Because the reality is when we

realize just how much he is the light of

the world, everything else that we're

laying our lives down for all of a

sudden pales into insignificance.

And we can actually be like him and say,

"Wow, I have seen everything I needed to

see."

Maybe this morning there's an area that

you've been like, "Wow, not not that

area. Wow, not that pride, not that

self-sufficiency,

not that lust, not that relationship,

not that thing. Like I can let the light

into certain places, but not that." And

this morning, even as we consider the

baby Jesus, we are reminded of this

prophetic revelation from this man that

everyone forgets in the Christmas story,

but that uh actually Mary and Joseph

were amazed by what he said because

there was so much power in that

revelation that Jesus is the light of

the world.

You'll notice that it tends to be peers

of people that that that uh Dr. Luke

when he is writing is sharing these

peers of people and in those days things

were established by two witnesses and it

says um in Luke 2:36-38

Luke 2:36–38

there was a prophetess Anna the daughter

of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced

in years, having lived with her husband

seven years from when she was a virgin

and then as a widow until she was 84.

She did not depart from the temple,

worshiping with fasting and prayer night

and day. And coming up at that very

hour, she began to give thanks to God

and to speak of him to all who were

waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

You see, there was a crowd of people in

the temple. And to most people there,

there was simply a ritual happening. The

dedication of a baby, something special,

but something every day special. Yes,

how special. They're coming to present

their baby. To most people, that's all

that was going on. But a Anna had

something different. Someone who had

prayed and fasted. She was aware of the

time that she was in. You see, she had

the same revelation that Simeon had in

of who Christ was. But here's the thing.

She began to declare and speak to him of

all who were there. So uh and and custom

was not for females to speak in the

temple at that time. But she broke

custom because she was so aware of the

revelation of who Jesus is. Can I tell

you maybe some of us need to remember

that fresh revelation of who Jesus is

because she only saw Jesus as a baby and

could not stop herself from telling

everyone about him. She could not stop

herself even though she had only all she

had seen was a baby. But she began to

declare and and and and maybe for some

of us, we've lived in a season of

feeling like, wow, people don't really

want to know about Jesus. And I guess

we'll just uh live within our lives and

hopefully somebody might one day ask me.

Kind of like that guy who who worked at

a factory and he said, you know, I'm

going to just um I'm just going to let

my actions speak. I'm just going to show

how the love of God in practical ways,

but I'm just not going to mention his

name. And so this guy was the best

worker in the factory. He worked hard

for years. And uh after years of

working, finally one day a coworker came

up to him and said, "Hey, there's

something different about you, isn't

there?" And he said, "Yes, there is."

And this was his moment. Years of sewing

seeds of good works, he was now ready to

share. He said, "There is." The guy

said, "Don't tell me. I think I know.

Are you a vegetarian?"

And we should let our good deed shine be

for all men that they might glorify our

father. People don't want to hear from

someone words if it's not backed up by a

lifestyle. But what Anna reminds us is

when we have a true revelation of who

Christ is, it should be the natural

response

to share who he is to others in our

world.

And maybe this morning, what we're

needed to be reminded from these two who

are so often forgotten in the Christmas

story is the wonder of transformation

that we're invited into for our lives

to allow the light to shine. And in the

wonder of transformation that we are

invited to share with others because of

this one who brings light to the

darkness.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth,

and the life."

I love what McManis says. He says this.

When Jesus said, "I am the way, the

truth, and the life," what he was really

saying was, "There is no one else coming

for you."

What he was really saying was there was

no one else is coming for you. Jesus is

the hope of the nations. 2,000 years

later, we remember a baby being born.

Not because it's a great story, not

because it happened, but because it

happens. That he still comes to life.

The light of the world stepped into the

world and his light is still uh shone

upon human hearts of frailty.

And maybe this morning if you are

comfortable, close your eyes. And if

you're not comfortable, you're going to

be the only one looking around. So

probably close your eyes and be

comfortable with it.

Maybe you're here and you've been

following Jesus for a long time

and there's that area in your life

that you don't actually believe

he can set you free from or you can open

up to him.

And if you if that's you this morning, I

want to remind you of the reality that

he is the light of the world and the

light shines brightest in every dark

area.

So Lord, this morning

we open our hearts aresh to you, light

of the world.

Lord, if there are things we've been

struggling with and we've believed a lie

that it is just our lot in life to

struggle with those things,

Lord, we invite your light in this

morning

to set us free.

And Lord, for those of us who have maybe

lost the wonder

of the light of Christmas,

Lord, if we've

maybe had people tell us they're not

interested and it's made us maybe sh

back. Lord, I pray there would be fresh

faith this morning to be like Anna,

Lord, to be one who would declare how

good this light of the world is to those

we come into contact with. Not to need

to preach sermons, but to share the

reality of the light of the world who

transforms everyone.

And Lord, this morning I bless each

person here in the mighty name of Jesus

to know your grace, your power, and your

goodness. And uh even I'm just going to

invite the music team to come. And I

actually felt this morning like we were

supposed to finish with a praise song

and that we uh that our response was

actually going to be uh that first

praise song where the spirit of the Lord

is there is freedom and uh that maybe

this morning uh even as you begin to

think about that thing that you've just

given to the Lord and you wonder why

will I be able to walk with you in it

this time Lord that area of darkness

that you would declare that there is

freedom and maybe this morning. You're

thinking about those situations where

you need courage to share who Jesus is.

That this morning, even as we declare

this over our lives, that there would be

a fresh release of courage and freedom

in the mighty name of Jesus. Awesome.

Let's go.