292 ~ THE PROMISE THE PROMISE GIVER THE PROMISE KEEPER ~ CHRISTMAS

We welcome you to the Via Zion Sermon podcast.

We are a church based out of Chennai, India.

We are thrilled that you tuned in today and hope that you will

be refreshed, revived, and energized by what you hear.

Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of

purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus.

The year 2025 is 1 where we will be positioned by God to possess

our promise. As we are in the Advent season,

we look afresh at Jesus, the quintessential promise.

Whatever this year has looked like with its highs and lows, we

bring it all back to Jesus without.

Whom? This year would have been empty

and unbearable. He isn't just a promise that God

made, but He is the promise giver and promise keeper.

Hi, just want to wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Whatever I hear has looked like this past month has been amazing

in that anticipation didn't drop, expectation didn't drop

because you know, if God could send Jesus to earth, if he could

do this amazing thing for us and through whom we have salvation,

the very great gift of Jesus is enough to celebrate.

In spite of what you may have lost this year, in spite of the

things that may not have happened, whatever

disappointments, whatever setbacks you may have had, maybe

you had a great year. But I pray that as we meditate

on God's Word today that we would be refreshed in the fact

that the miraculous can still happen today, just like the

miraculous happened 2000 years ago when Jesus entered the

Earth's atmosphere. So much shifted, history was

made, things were never the same.

And today we're going to be looking at how Jesus is the

fulfiller of every promise. This whole year we've been

looking at positioned to possess the promise, right?

And through the year we looked at different elements of it.

We just finished up a whole series on Joshua entering the

promised land. And then we got into actually

looking at the Christmas story and the different parts of it

where we looked at the kings, the shepherds, we looked at Mary

and Joseph, the vessel, the steward.

And today we're going to be looking at how every promise

finds its culmination in Jesus. Every promise in the Bible finds

its fulfillment in Christ. We're going to be looking at

that, understanding it better. Last week, December 21st, on

Sunday we had our Carol service which was an amazing time when

we had carols by candlelight, we had a play, we had a dance and

overall the theme of the evening was Jesus, the promise giver and

the promise keeper and the operative word there is Jesus

and I want to bring that word to you today.

If you haven't accepted Jesus as your saviour, today would be the

best day for it that you would say yes to him.

It's a very simple thing. To invite Jesus in your life is

a simple prayer and you just have to accept that you're a

Sinner and invite him into your heart.

But if you are someone who says I follow Jesus, I love Jesus, he

is my God. And you have been feeling

disillusioned at the end of the year, which is normal.

You've been feeling exhausted, you've been feeling weary.

I just want to bring it back to this that Jesus is the

fulfillment of every promise, every promise you are believing

for every promise you are standing on Jesus.

In Jesus, we find fulfillment. What does that mean?

We're going to be looking at that today when I was just

researching the prophecies that were made about Jesus.

It's amazing. There are hundreds of prophecies

about Jesus, and Jesus has already fulfilled so many of

those. And in his second coming, he's

going to fulfill another bunch of those.

But you know the thing about his birth, Jesus coming to earth,

which is what we celebrate in the season.

There are 10 specific prophecies in the Old Testament which Jesus

fulfilled to the T. We look in Isaiah Chapter 9

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

where it talks about a son being given and how the government

would rest on his shoulders. We looked in Isaiah 7 on how

it's said that the virgin will give birth to a son and you will

call him Emmanuel. We looked in my Micah 5 verse 2

Micah 5:2

where Bethlehem is pronounced as a place of birth.

Of a ruler. We looked at Hosea Chapter 11

Hosea 11 · chapter mention

was one where it talks about how out of Egypt God calls his Son,

which explains the escape of Jesus, Joseph and Mary to Egypt

during the time of Herod's outrage.

We look at Numbers 2417 where this is a Pagan prophet, a Pagan

Pagan seer who speaks saying out of Jacob a scepter will rise, a

star will come speaks about Jesus.

Psalm 72 verse 10 talks about how the kings of Tarshish and of

Psalms 72:10

distant shores will bring tribute to him.

Speaks of the kings who will visit from the east.

Psalm 72 verse 9 talks about how desert tribes will bow before

Psalms 72:9

him and his enemies like the dust.

It talks about the shepherds would bring their worship to

him. Jeremiah 31 verse 15 talks about

Jeremiah 31:15

the massacre of little boys at the time of Jesus birth.

It says there was a voice heard in Rama weeping and wailing.

Rachel refusing to be comforted talks about the big massacre of

happened that happened of little boys under the age of 2.

Daniel Chapter 9 verse 25 talks about a time when the word would

Daniel 9:25

go out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed 1.

The anointed 1 is Jesus Himself. Jeremiah 23 verse 5.

Jeremiah 23:5

It talks, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will

raise up for David a righteous branch, a king who will reign

wisely and do what is just and right.

And you know the word, the root word for branch is the same word

As for someone from Nazareth. What an incredible.

It cannot be coincidence, it can't be chance.

These were specific words given by the prophets.

They were given an utterance and these guys spoke it out to a

people that didn't understand, that didn't perceive.

But these words were recorded and hundreds of years later it

found its fulfilment in Jesus birth.

And you know it's interesting when they look at the statistic

laws of one person fulfilling hundreds of prophecies, it's

practically impossible. And yet.

Jesus did that. The prophets who wrote these

were men over different seasons of life, different eras,

different writing styles, different calls, and yet they

all echoed the same thing, that a savior was coming, a Redeemer

was coming. Restoration was coming.

Jesus is foreshadowed in everyone of the Old Testament

books this whole year. When I did the Bible in one

year, I was amazed that every. Book of the Bible, every book of

the old. Testament has the mention of a

Redeemer talks about the redemption that comes through

blood. It talks about a person who

would stand in as a substitute, and we know now that that was

Jesus. So even as we sit today for this

service, even as we're spending time here in the presence of

God, I don't know what your mood is.

I don't know if you're ecstatic, you're satisfied, you're

content, or you are restless, You're disappointed either way.

Either way, I want to ask you a question, which was something

that I have been mulling over when I ended this year.

When I end this year, I'm turning a year older and for me,

it just feels like a lot to contemplate and think about.

And I've spent a lot of time just thinking what this year

look like taking stock, looking at my victories, looking at my

losses, looking at the things I learned, looking at the areas I

messed up in. You know, when I was taking

stock, like almost like an inventory, I realized that, you

know, even if Jesus didn't do one more thing for me, I am

sorted. Salvation was the greatest gift.

The fact that I can call on His name, night or day is enough.

And so the question I wanted to bring for you is this is Jesus

enough? Yes, He's the fulfillment of

every promise. But maybe you're in the weight

and you're saying, you know what?

My promise hasn't come through. That child I've been waiting for

hasn't happened. That marriage I've been

believing God has got for me hasn't happened.

I still haven't met Mr. or Miss Wright.

Maybe you're saying that Dream job is evading you.

That degree is still far away, whatever it is.

My question to you is this is Jesus enough?

If you take away the accolades, the achievements, the blessings,

the the waiting, the disappointment, the losses, you

take all of that aside. The question he's asking us is,

am I enough? Is Jesus enough?

Why am I asking this? Why am I asking this?

Well, when we read the book of Hebrews, Hebrews Chapter 11,

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

there's this famous passage which is called the Hall of

Faith, just like the Hall of Fame.

There's this thing called the Hall of Faith, which is

basically Hebrews 11. The writer writes down right

from Adam to all the judges and the kings.

He mentions people by name and says they were commended for

their faith because of the way they stood their ground, because

of the way they worshipped God, because of the way they took

land and territory. And as he's mentioning this, he

comes to verse 13. And I won't read this for you.

All these people were still living by faith when they died.

They did not receive the things promised.

They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting

that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.

What an interesting passage. When I read this, my heart first

sank. I was like, oh goodness, so am I

going to enter heaven with half my promises undone?

Am I going to live in this place of limbo, not knowing whether

what I got as a promise was from God?

It was discouraging. And when you go on to read, it

says people who say such things show that they're looking for a

country of their own. If they had been thinking of the

country they had left, he's talking about Abraham and

others, they would have had opportunity to return.

Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one.

Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has

prepared a city for them. So it's talking about Abraham,

Isaac, Jacob and and Joseph and guys who in faith did certain

things, you know, spoke certain blessings over their children

and generations. And then they were no more.

And then what really got my attention was they did not

receive the things promised. So if you and I are still in the

wait, we are in very good company, right?

But the interesting thing that I want to again ask you is, is

Jesus enough? Even in this prolonged weight?

Is Jesus enough? Is he sufficient?

Would you be OK if Jesus was all you got?

But the fun fact is this, those of us who live in the era.

Of AD after Jesus made his way to earth.

Our story is little different from the ancients mentioned in

Hebrew 11. Let me explain why.

Hebrews 11 verses 39 to 40 says these were all commended for

Hebrews 11:39–40

their faith. Faith.

Yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had

planned something better for us, so that only together with us

would they be made perfect. What does that look like?

So they didn't receive their promise, right?

They were commended for it, but God had something better.

What had he planned better? It was the coming of His Son

Jesus to earth so that together with all of us, they wouldn't be

made perfect. Jesus coming to earth perfected

everyone who had gone before, and in coming now we have this

confidence that every fulfillment of every promise is

possible. Everything that is promised in

the world when you take it and claim it, When I take it and

claim it, we can believe that it is yes and Amen in Christ Jesus.

That is what 2 Corinthians 120 it says.

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in

Christ. And so through him the Amen is

spoken by us to the glory of God.

What does that mean? Every promise, every promise

made by God through the Scriptures, when you and I take

it appropriate and say this is mine, God, I'm believing for

that sevenfold Abrahamic blessing because I'm an heir

according to the promise by faith.

Every promise is yes and Amen. So I have news for you today.

You can count on God coming through for you on every promise

ever made if he made a promise. Many times we make promises to

each other and we don't keep it. Recently I was having a

conversation with my oldest. He just finished his exams.

It was close of, you know, school.

He came home and at 7:00 he said I need to get on and play Call

of Duty and I thought we were going to watch a family movie.

So I said what are you talking about?

We had planned something else and he said no.

Well, I made a promise to my friend that I would play for

him, play with him and for me. I couldn't, as I sorry to say, I

was the worst possible role model at that moment.

I said why would you make a promise like that?

I think you should break it. I think it's worthwhile breaking

it because time with your family is more important.

But my son stood on his ground and said it's a principle, I'm

not breaking it. I told him I put it off many

times. I'm going to play with him.

And so we went ahead and watched without him.

I was seething the whole time, but I realized how different God

is as a parent and how God, how different and how trustworthy

God is that when he makes a promise, never breaks it.

He's not a man that he would like.

You can count on him coming through for in Jesus, every

promise made is yes, and he isn't that exciting.

But I want to leave this with you. 2 warnings.

Things that I've learnt the hard way.

I always assume when God gave me a promise, I take it like a dog

with a bone. I hold on to the promise and God

will come through and he does. But in recent years what God has

done is he has trained me through the promises, evolution.

That promise has to take stock in my life, it has to really put

roots into my life and to do that God has tested me.

He's allowed me to walk through refining fires till the promise

has been tested. So wanting one, the promise will

go through its testing. It will try you and prepare you

for the promise, the fulfillment of the promise.

How do I know this? Psalm 105, verse 19.

Psalms 105:19

I'm reading from the amplifiers talking about Joseph.

Joseph had a prophetic word. He knew that the sun and moon

and the 12 stars were going to bow before him.

He knew those sheaves of wheat were bowing to him.

He was coming and telling his family prematurely.

But that word so close to 13 to 14 years for fulfillment, Joseph

had to grow up. Joseph had to go through trying

and refining to actually be elevated to that position.

And this is what it said until the time that his word of

prophecy regarding his brothers came true.

The word the Lord tested and refined him.

The promise will refine him. That's important.

The promise will refine you. The second warning I want to

leave with you is the timeline of fulfillment is in His

sovereign hands. You and I have no control over

timeline. So if He's given you promise,

there is no guarantee it's going to happen immediately.

It could happen in the next two years, five years, 10 years, 20

years, 30 years. But He's still in charge.

And the beautiful thing about those of us who know Jesus is

eternity has begun now. And like I've shared this many

times, sometimes answers happen beyond the grave.

What does that mean? My grandparents have prayed for

us 8 grandkids for years, faithfully every afternoon.

Many of us went off track. Many of us gave up on God.

Many of us didn't pursue the things God had meant for us.

We went wayward. But their prayers ricocheted

through eternity. And after their time, those

prayers were answered, many of us returned to the Lord.

Many of us got into ministry. Many of us pursued God with with

a passion that they had. But it happened after their

lifetime. Did they see the promise

fulfilled? They didn't.

But they prayed with such faith and God answered.

And the beautiful thing about the fulfillment of promises for

the believer is it It happens either in life, in death, or

beyond. God is not limited by time.

Psalm 90 was 4 says 1000 years in your sight, or like a day

that has gone by or like a watch in the night, 1000 days thousand

years one day time. God is the inventor of time.

He exists out of time. He knows when the child has to

be conceived. He knows when that life partner

needs to be brought and he knows when the job has to be changed.

He knows when the salary has to be increased.

Nothing, nothing in all of creation is beyond His control.

His power is endless. So wait on it, It will come to

us. God is not a man to lie.

He's not a man to change his mind like I did with my son,

trying to get him to break His promise.

God isn't like that. And you know, the miracle of

Jesus's birth, Everything that happened when you read Luke

Luke 1 · chapter mention

chapters 1 and 2, when you read Matthew chapter 1, you just

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

realize that everything about it is miraculous.

So angels visiting Mary and Joseph, divine conception, kings

just following an astronomical, you know, of new star and just

coming from the east, shepherds being greeted by angels, Anna

and Simeon coming into the temple at the right time.

Everything is supernatural, everything is miraculous.

But the beautiful thing is today you and I live in the

miraculous. The minute we said yes to Jesus,

we entered that story. We entered that story.

Salvation brought us in. It initiated us in the

miraculous. Today you and I, you know

salvation doesn't just mean that one and done moment of accepting

Jesus and being saved, but salvation is a lifelong thing

where God is renewing us, He's restoring.

US. He's redeeming us and so we have

entered the miraculous and today, I believe today is as

good as any to tap into the miraculous.

And I want to leave 2 main thoughts with you.

There are two reasons why we can tap into the miraculous because

just like that first Christmas, on this Christmas, Jesus's

presence makes all the difference.

You think about that first Christmas Jesus came was God in

the flesh. He was not a mini God.

He was not a lesser than God. He was God in all his fullness

and he made his appearance in the flesh.

John chapter one verse 14 says this.

The Word became flesh. And made His dwelling among us.

We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son,

who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Isaiah 9 and Matthew 1 echoes it.

Where a virgin will give birth to a son, His name shall be

called Emmanuel. God with us, God amongst us, God

within us. Jesus's presence made all the

difference then. It makes all the difference now.

No matter what your ear look like, No matter what the last

few months look like. If you are here right now with a

beating heart, with lungs that are enabling you to breathe,

with legs that move, with hands that function, with an intellect

that is right now grasping what is being spoken, God has been

with you. Even if your faculties are

failing, but you are able to just listen to this.

God has been with you. His hand of protection has been

on you. Nothing has separated you from

His love. Not, not tragedy, nor

devastation, not height nor depth nor persecution.

Nothing distanced Himself from you.

If you felt distanced, it was not because He left.

It was because of the presence of pain and pressure and

problem. Sometimes that takes up

precedence over the presence of God.

He never left. We just lost our awareness of

Him. And I was just realizing today

the kind of noise we have in our lives.

The noise of our laptops, our iPads, our phones, the noise of

TV's with non-stop entertainment, the noise of

YouTube and it's reels and it's and it's posts and the things

that just trigger us to listen to all kinds of voices, bring

all kinds of news into our systems.

We are surrounded by noise and therefore it many times has felt

like God left us, but He never did.

If Jesus had left you, you and I wouldn't be where we are.

He never left. His presence made all the

difference then, it makes all the difference now.

The second thing, the second reason why we can tap into the

miraculous is Jesus's Kingdom made its appearance then and it

has its appearance now. What did that look like?

What did that look like? You think about the Angel

Gabriel visiting Mary, visiting Zechariah and the temple.

You'll think of the Angel Gabriel appearing in dreams to

Joseph, giving him specific directions, saying he do this,

do that. The angels in the field meeting

the shepherds and an entire choir of angels singing what was

happening? Heaven was opening up and

releasing its precious sun hits. The darling of Heaven had been

sent to earth, and Heaven was rejoicing.

Heaven was invading. Earth.

Luke chapter 2 verses 9 to 12, it says an Angel of the Lord

Luke 2:9–12

appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them

and they were terrified. But the Angel said to them, do

not be afraid. I bring you good news that will

cause great joy for all the people.

Today in the town of David, a saviour has been born to you.

He's the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you.

You will find a baby wrapped in cloth lying in a Manger.

He's still. Here, but who was announcing it?

The envoys from heaven has been sent to say hey, make way on

earth. Heaven is infiltrating Earth.

It broke open the way for the Kingdom of God to begin its work

on earth. Today, it's not different.

When we read in Revelation chapter 5 verse 8, it talks

Revelation 5:8

about how the prayers of saying the Saints are being offered

like sweet incense before the throne room of God.

Every time you and I pray in the name of Jesus, we are actually

accessing heaven. We are opening up heaven.

Heaven is hearing, answers are being sent, deliverance is being

sent. Jesus taught about thee says

when 2 of you are two or three of you are gathered there am I

in the midst of you? Whatever any of you agree and

pray. It will be.

I'm giving you the keys of the Kingdom, he said.

Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.

Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

This is the Kingdom of God. Isn't it amazing?

The Kingdom of God that made its appearance then is very much on

the move now. And so how do we apply these

truths to ourselves? So we know that God's presence,

Jesus presence made all the difference.

We know that the Kingdom made its appearance, but how do you

and I make that relevant to us today?

How do I make this work in my favor today?

Maybe I'm utterly discouraged thinking God left me, but I just

want to come back to these two things that I want to leave with

you to take away into the new year.

It doesn't end on December 31st. This doesn't have a validity

expiring. This is for a lifetime.

The miraculous will invade your life.

But you need to do very specific things because if Jesus presence

is with you and if His Kingdom has appeared on earth, there

should be a certain way in which we appropriate this.

There should be a certain way in which we live.

And the first thing I believe is that we need to believe and

boldly declare God's word. What does that look like?

Now you have to understand this. Jesus is God's word in the

flesh. He is God's word in the flesh.

In John chapter one we read about how in the beginning was

the Word. The Word was with God, the Word

was God. Jesus is the Word in the flesh.

Amen. And if.

He is the Word in the flesh. He define.

He completely defines miraculous fulfillment.

God had spoken to prophets hundreds of years ago.

All those words had found its fruition in Jesus himself.

They all came to pass when it became a man.

It came down and into earth and took shape and substance.

God's Word is still alive and active.

It is still. Powerful.

The whole month of November we celebrated the month of the

Bible and we were looking at how Jesus, his word, is so powerful.

It's alive, it's active, it's relevant.

It still moves and works in our lives today.

It brings conviction, it brings correction.

And I want to just. Leave this with you.

Would you believe God's word for what it was?

Because the written word is powerful.

But the written word is only as powerful as much as we bring it

into our systems to rewire the way we think and behave and act.

Recently I was reading up on a genetic project that was done by

scientists to study the wiring of a brain and the effect that

prayer and belief in God has on it.

And was incredible because they said when one reads the

scripture aloud, new neural pathways start forming in the

brain because what your ear is listening to, your brain is

actually tracking and it's actually beginning to believe

that which is being spoken over it.

And if you think about your life, most of our lives

patterns, our mindsets, our attitudes, our behaviour is

driven by what we speak to ourselves or what someone is

speaking to us. From little children, we have

people speaking either life over us or death over us.

And we begin to believe these lies and the truths as the

gospel truth. We believe that this is

everything we know, but as we get older, Romans 12 talks about

renewing our mind and being transformed.

Renewing our mind. Neurophysicians are able to

conclusively prove that prayer on the Word of God, reading it

aloud, declaring it aloud changes the way our brain is

wild. And I want to leave this with

you, that if Jesus is the Word who became flesh, and if he came

to earth as proclaimed by the prophets as God gave utterance.

Every word of God-given to you will come to pass, but it's time

for us to no longer read it passively.

Just believe it. Just keep it on a post it and

justice leave it there. But it's time to believe it and

declare it with boldness. This is what the word of God

says. Isaiah 55 verses 10 and 11.

Isaiah 55:10

It says as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not

return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and

flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the

eater, so is my word that comes out from my mouth.

It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I

desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

God's word has been sent to you. You have it.

Romans talks about how faith comes by hearing and hearing by

the Word of God. What you speak out is what you

believe. What you speak to yourself is

what you believe. What someone speaks aloud to you

is what you believe about yourself.

But I want to just reframe that for you.

What if you began to declare God's word on boldness and allow

it to rewire how you think? Rewire what you believe.

If the Word became flesh, then God's Word we will still do the

miraculous in our lives. God's Word is known to bring

things that are not as if they were.

It brings it into being. So don't stop believing the

Word. Don't stop praying the

scriptures into every sea, into every situation.

Maybe you have a health crisis. You have scriptures for that.

By His stripes I am healed. Maybe your heart has been

shattered into a million places by heartbreak.

You can say this, The Lord is close to the broken hearted.

He binds up all their wounds. Keep saying it till you believe

it. I was recently reading a story

about a person, a young man, who was struggling with anxiety.

Such crippling anxiety that when he woke up in the morning, he

couldn't get out of bed. He would hold his knees up to

his chest, still wrapped up in his blanket, and be shaking.

One of his mentors at church said, you know what, I think

it's time you stop just reading the Bible and declaring it

aloud. So as you read it, speak it out

loud so that your mind starts to hear it.

So this is what he did. He started by taking one

scripture. God has not given me a spirit of

fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.

And every morning he would wake up and he sits up with his heart

racing, palm sweaty, mind racing.

He would just declare that loudly and gradually.

Nothing happened immediately, but over a few weeks the heart

racing slowed his reflex to run and hide stop.

Eventually he was able to get up and go about his day's tasks.

God's Word is powerful. If the Word became flesh and

made its dwelling among us, we have proof that every word that

has been released by God will find fruition, will take shape,

will carry the substance, will do the needful work on earth.

What has God promised you? Have you found yourself in the

world? This won't make sense to you

unless you find yourself in the world every day.

Unless you're making notes. I don't understand how people

actually read the Bible and don't make notes from it because

none of us have a memory big enough to remember everything

we're reading. Even if you have a bookmark

option in your Bible app, make a note.

Write on things that you need to declare.

Write on the things you want to pray.

Pray the prayers of Jesus. Pray the scripture over every

situation because this is it. Whatever word every promise that

God has given you is yes and Amen in Christ Jesus.

What if you're missing it because we're not declaring it?

What if you're missing it because we're not making a note

and speaking it over our lives today?

My desire for you is that you would take the prominent and

less prominent situations of your life, bring it to the

throne room, and ask God to give you a promise for each.

As you start speaking those promises over it, I believe God

is going to change things. The miraculous power of Jesus,

His presence which changed everything, is going to change

your life. You have the word today.

What are you doing with it? The second take away I want you

to think about is the Kingdom. The Kingdom made its appearance

when Jesus first came to earth. The Kingdom is on the move today

and the violent taken by force. That's what it says.

When we say violent, it doesn't mean it's going to be

revolutionary in the sense of, you know, guns and axes and

knives. You know, it's not going to be

that way. It's going to be people,

ordinary people like you and me, who are filled with the Spirit

of God, who are exuding the glory of God, stepping into the

darkest places on the planet, tearing the presence of God into

those places. It's going to be you setting up

a dance studio in a low income group and teaching little

children dance and bringing light into their lives.

It it could look like you feeding the poor.

It could look like you helping the marginalized.

It could help look like you helping the trafficked in

rescuing them. It could look like you're

training people who can't afford education.

That's what the Kingdom looks like.

The Kingdom of God is within us. That's what Jesus said.

Luke 17 verses 20 to 21. Once on being asked by the

Luke 17:20–21

Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied

the coming of the Kingdom of God is not something that can be

observed, nor will people say here it is or there it is

because the Kingdom of God is in your midst.

This is the thing, when you look at what all Jesus taught about

the Kingdom, he talked about a woman mixing yeast in a bowl of

flour. He said how the whole flower

would rise up because the east had permeated.

He talked about the Kingdom of God being like a mustard seed

that a that a gardener planted and it grown to the largest tree

where all the birds came and took shade.

She kept teaching about the Kingdom of God and in the in,

you know, the terms of somebody going after the lost, she talks

about it as a farmer sowing seed.

He was always making these analogies and he was comparing

things well, what was the greater perspective?

He was saying it was ordinary. The Kingdom of God is not going

to look like a political situation.

It is not going to look prominent.

It's going to be obscure. It's going to be inconspicuous,

but it's going to be very pleasant and very powerful.

John the Baptist, when he first came to earth and he was

baptizing people in the Jordan, he kept saying repent, but the

Kingdom of God is near. When Jesus came, he said the

Kingdom of God is. Here.

He had brought the Kingdom of God here today, you and I part

of this Kingdom. When we get when we say yes to

Jesus, we get adopted into his family.

We become subjects of this Kingdom, and subjects of the

Kingdom do exactly what the king does.

And in Psalm 146, verses 7 to 9, this is what it talks about,

Psalms 146:7–9

what God does on the earth. It says He opposed the cause of

the oppressed. He gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets prisoners free. The Lord gives sight to the

blind. The Lord lifts up those who are

bowed down. The Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the

fatherless and widow, but he frustrates the way of the

wicked. This is the Kingdom life.

This is the Kingdom life and my desire for you is that you would

seek and serve the Kingdom. Jesus said seek first the

Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these

things will be added unto you. Paul wrote to the early church

which was so consumed about what they ate and didn't ate and all

of that. He said the Kingdom of God is

not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness,

peace and joy. Would you seek for yourself the

Kingdom? Many of us, we don't seek first

the Kingdom. We don't look at the way we

live, whether it's honouring of the King.

We don't want to serve sacrificially.

We want everything handed to us on a platen, then we will serve.

You want all the right conditions, ducks in a row, then

maybe I'll give something to God.

But The thing is, you have to seek first the Kingdom, because

now you're a subject. The Kingdom of this world is

becoming quickly the Kingdom of our Lord and Christ, but it

depends on whether you are living in such a way to honour

the King. Are you in right standing with

God and with man? Is the Shalom of Christ guarding

your heart and mind? Are you a peacemaker?

Do you carry peace into every room you walk into?

Do you live with this unexpressible joy in spite of

every situation? Those are the things that mark

you as one of the Kingdom. And it doesn't just end with

seeking, but you've got to serve the Kingdom.

How do you serve it? I love this picture that you're

going to see. It's it's a satellite picture of

the Earth at night. So it's just one half of the

Earth. It's night time.

But all the lights that you see dotting the surface are

artificial lights in the cities that are, you know, in the

middle of the night or in the evenings.

These are lights that are artificial lights.

And if you notice, there are a lot of big gaps on the map.

The big gaps are actually desert landscapes like the sub-saharan

and probably the Arctic areas, the tundra and other places.

My question to you is, if we were to have a map of the

Kingdom of God with each of us being the light at any given

time, if someone was to take a telescopic image of us from

outer space, if all of us were truly being the light, would we

light up the earth that we are on or would we be one with the

darkness? That's the question.

If I'm part of the Kingdom, the Kingdom which made its

appearance that first Christmas, I need to be shining my light

wherever I go. I can't keep shining it where

all the other lights are. Sometimes we're just shining it

so bright in church. But Jesus said, go into all the

world and preach and baptize and lead people to me.

Teach them the things I taught. Drive out demons, rescue the

oppressed, set free the captive. This is what Jesus commanded us

to do. But we are living within 4

walls. We want what we want.

We are pursuing what we desire. We need the.

Comfort of everything that we love.

We have missed the picture. If you can agree with me and say

yes, Jesus is enough. My question to you is, are you

taking him at His word? Are you boldly declaring His?

Word out loud till you see the things.

That the word says happen. Are you seeking and serving the

Kingdom? That's how we'll know if Jesus

is enough. As I was preparing this, it's a

challenge I took on myself. God, even if in 2026 none of the

things I'm asking you for happen, you are enough.

Your presence is enough. Serving and seeking your Kingdom

is enough. That's a pledge I'm making to

him. You are enough, God, because of

for everything you did for me, I want to live for you.

I want to be content in you. God, if that is your prayer, can

I pray with you, Jesus? I pray that you would touch

hearts and minds right now if we have lived so caught up in

ourselves, so obsessed about our own needs.

Sorry Lord, forgive us. And I pray that, Lord, today we

tap into the miraculous. Happened to the miraculous that

Lord, we will begin to believe your word afresh.

We start to declare it on you because God, you are word in the

flesh. You are proof that every word of

God is powerful. Nothing is impossible with you

and we choose to trust you. Godfather, we pray if we've been

seeking the expansion of our own Kingdom, our own families, our

own businesses, we're sorry. We pray that Lord we will seek

first your Kingdom and that Lord we will do our part to shine

bright where you have placed us. Forgive us Lord for the

grumbling against bosses, against jobs, for not working as

in a way that you would be proud of.

We pray today God that we will seek and serve your Kingdom here

on earth. We bless your holy name.

In Jesus name I pray Amen, Amen. If you are saying I don't know

Jesus, I want to just lead you in a simple prayer if that is

your desire. I want Jesus.

I want him for myself. You seem to say that this guy,

this, this God is with you. He's a manual God with us.

He is through sickness, through health, through prosperity,

through failure, through setbacks, through the victories.

He never leaves. He's a God who's with you

because he was a man. He understands us.

He feels our pain. And because of his death on the

cross, because of his resurrection, today we have

victory over sin and death. Today by his wounds we are

healed. No wound is too big for Jesus to

heal. So if that is what you want, you

want a life of communion with Jesus.

Can I ask you to repeat this very simple prayer just after

me? Jesus, I accept I'm a Sinner.

Forgive me. I accept you into my heart.

I invite you into my heart. I thank you for forgiving me.

I pray that I would live for you today and every day.

Fill me with your strength, Fill me with your power, fill me with

your wisdom. Teach me from your word, teach

me from your family. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. Amen.

Welcome to the family of God. You are now a subject in the

Kingdom of God and I just want to welcome you into this

beautiful new life. You are now a new creation and I

want to encourage you that you would find a faith community,

someone who will journey with you, people who will answer your

questions, teach you how to read the word, and I would urge you

to get into the Word of God. Get your hands on a Bible and

start to read the word of God. Start speaking it aloud and see

what God would do. Let's not give up on believing

for the miracles. Let's tap into it through His

Word, through His Kingdom. God bless you.

Have an amazing last week of the year.

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