291 ~ THE PROMISE THE PROMISE GIVER THE PROMISE KEEPER ~ PART 2

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 Church, this has a joy and a privilege to be able to bring

God's Word to you today, even as we take some time to listen to

God's Word. For those of you who are

watching online or listening, I pray and believe that God will

minister to us. His Word doesn't come back to us

void. Whatever we'll receive, whatever

we hear, whatever we read, I believe it finds root in our

hearts and it starts working within us.

You know how many of you can agree that Jesus is the promise

for this season? Amen.

He came down 2000 years back. He was the fulfillment of

Emmanuel. He is God with us.

He died on the cross. He rose again and we get to

experience him every day. And so today in Advent, as we

saw the bumper, as we heard last week, you know, sometimes this

promise can seem like it's missed.

It's just moving away. It's not there.

And I pray and ask that this promise will become real in your

heart. Jesus is the promise.

He is the promise giver. So for those of you who are

holding on to his word, I pray and ask that he'll give us the

strength and the grit to hold on to it, that we won't let go.

And hold on to something else. He is the promise keeper because

he keeps his promises. He not when he gives it, but he

also fulfills it in his time. And so a lot of the promises

that we receive here on this earth is so that we can bring

heaven here on earth if he came down, which means we can also

believe in God. And so this Christmas, it's not

about us just believing it, but it's also about witnessing it

and experiencing it. You all, me included, can

experience the miraculous hand of God.

Last week we saw from the lives of Joseph and Mary of how one

was a vessel and the other one was a steward.

And I believe God is wanting to shape us into those two specific

things where we'll be able to be a vessel for His miraculous.

And I believe and ask, I don't know about you, but we are

believing for God's miraculous hand on our lives.

And I pray and ask that we all will be partakers of that.

We won't just be reliant on our own strength, on our own

abilities, on our own things that we are surrounded.

We'll rely on Him solely so that we'll see the miraculous hand of

God in our lives. And I pray we'll also be better

stewards because God's given us certain things that he wants us

to do, you know, be responsible for the message that he's

deposited within us. And so today, even as we

continue, we're going to go to the second part and I'm going to

go into this area of these two special characters that

witnessed the birth of Jesus. You all know what I'm talking

about. It's about the shepherds and the

wise men, and we'll be looking into them.

But even before you go into that, I just wanted us to kind

of go back into some of the things that we are plagued by as

society. You know, a lot of us when we

are looking into our own country, into the own fabric of

our, of being a citizen of this land, we realize it's not as

plain as it's, look, we're just not this one citizen around.

We realized that we've had different systems in place.

We have certain categories in place.

And so one of the things that we realized is we have been divided

by categories time and again, you know, from the last census

that they took in our country to where we are today, we we are

categorized into these different sub caste systems.

We have the FC, we have the BC and then we have these Obcs and

the SC and the St. and this forms a society.

We were divided in such a way. We have with that division.

What happened economically, we were divided.

Education wise, we were divided, opportunity wise, we were

divided. And so within these categories,

we've been surviving within these categories.

Socio economic systems work within these categories.

Our experiences differ within these categories.

Even our understanding of God changes within these categories.

We see differences in the way we all live.

But one of the things that remains a common denominator is

sin. Sin effects all these different

categories. The outcome of sin effects all

these categories. The outcome of sin in terms of

brokenness effects everyone. And so today when we are living

in this world with these different categories, and that

category more or less is not even just probably seen around,

but it's in our mindset. And so we fall back on that time

and again. And so as Christ's followers,

what are we called to receive this Christmas?

Because this Christmas when we see these two specific groups of

people who came to worship him, God tied the ends.

He made sure everyone from the least to the most well known, He

tied everyone and all of us fall within this category.

And I want to encourage you today, we are not as Christ

follows, we don't have just access to certain things.

We have access to God, Holy stereotypically, you know, we

might be holding jobs here based on this categories that I spoke

about. But God is saying what I have my

plans for you is forgiven for all of mankind.

It's for whoever receives him. To them, He's given them the

power to become children of God. And so we all get access to his

inheritance and so we all can get to claim the benefit of

being His children. And one of that is being

eternity, spending eternity with him.

One of that is spending eternity.

You know, one of that is living whole lives here.

One of that is finding healing here.

One of that is finding restoration here.

One of that is finding, you know, a place where we can come

together and share of God's goodness.

One of that is actually having hope for the generations to

come. And so today, what is God asking

us? God, we're probably living in a

world today where we probably haven't experienced any kind of

discrimination or we've faced equality or, you know, we are

probably in an egalitarian setup.

But God's asking today. A lot of us are feeling that

unsaid thing. A lot of us are feeling

invisible. A lot of us are feeling, why is

this just happening to me and my family?

But in the season of Advent, it's a beautiful reminder that

the people of God were expectedly waiting for this

Messiah to come. And it just doesn't end that

every time we celebrate Advent every year is a reminder for us

is are we also waiting expectantly?

Because if you're not waiting expectantly, we will miss out in

seeing Jesus in the everyday. What are some of the things that

we feel like are plaguing us today?

As much as I talked about those categories that might not make

sense, but some of the categories that the outcomes of

those categories are debt. Some of those categories that

we've seen as broken homes, some of that we've seen as

relationships is fraying. Some of the thing we've seen as

ill health. We've come into this culture of

performance. We've come into this pressure of

having to be someone who we aren't really.

We also see this other thing of being marginalized.

We also see this other thing of what we, we might feel like we

don't belong. And all these are probably, you

might say is very felt. But Jesus who came 2000 years

back, came for all of this, came for all of this.

And the reason why I wanted to start off with this is because

many a times we just think the Christmas message is for us, but

the Christmas message is for everyone.

Sometimes we just think, you know what?

The aspect of Christmas is only for those who are privileged

because we suddenly wear these shoes where we suddenly think we

are bringing joy. We are bringing, we are able to

give gifts. And so we think we are in this

giving mode. No, but everyone is in the place

of receiving. Yes, generosity is filled as

we're grateful for what God said, and so we are giving, but

are we also receiving from the one who came?

Is Emmanuel really relevant to us today?

And that's why our Christian faith is so pivotal.

That's why this promise is very important.

It has no room for Iraqi. We all have the same access to

God. You know, one of the beautiful

passages that we get to read is what the Psalmist have written.

And in that they say in Psalm chapter 91, we're going to read

Psalms 91 · chapter mention

from the Passion translation. You can follow it even as we

need. When you abide under the shadow

of Shadai, you are hidden in the strength of God Most High.

He's the hope that holds me and the stronghold to shelter me,

the only God for me and my great confidence.

This word Shaddai is the is a is a Hebrew word which means

almighty, which means it establishes God as the one who

can accomplish his purposes, protect his covenant people and

supply every need. Sometimes we just read, you

know, whoever dwells in the shadow of the Almighty and we

don't understand the all compassing nature of the

Almighty. This Shaddai is he establishes,

he accomplishes his purposes in US, He protects us and he

supplies everything. And so there are, there are a

lot of occurrences, close to 48 occurrences of this world.

But as we read this, it's an evidence that God is with us

through everything. So today, if it's if you're

feeling less purposeful, you can still rest under the shadow of

Shaddai. If you're feeling, you know what

provision is hard, it's a struggle.

I'm not able to make ends meet. You can still rest under the

shadow of Shadai today if you feel you're not protected, you

feel like the enemy is around. He's his darts are coming out at

you. You know, he's striking you with

the wrong identity. He's speaking you to the old man

that was that that existed. And now he's not able to see the

new transformed man. Rest in the shadow of Shadai,

and he will protect you. And so today, this one aspect of

Advent is very important. We need to learn to rest in Him,

because if we don't rest in him, we'll get caught up with what

the world wants us to be under. And I believe when Jesus came

into this world, he came to set us free once and for all.

So when you receive Jesus into your heart, you are set free

once and for all the systems, the patterns, the the thought

processes, the structures that the world is wanting to operate.

And many times these structures are not physical structures, not

what we face in person, but it's structurally right here.

You suddenly are not able to see that God will carry you through

because here you're still captive to the plans and to the

patterns that the enemy's already worked in and through

your life. As I was reading and meditating

through these two beautiful stories that you're going to

see, you know, it's interesting. They covered two different

aspects of society. The shepherds and the wise men

are two distinct aspects of the society. 1 was outside the city.

One was in the heart of the city.

If you have to put it into that category.

And God was reminding I came for all that message can never

change. I came so that I can fulfill

everyone will find. Just imagine that I can't wait

to see what it is like to see the whole gospel being revealed

to us many a times just take part in part, but God saying I

came to fulfill the law, which means he didn't just fulfill our

aspect. He fulfilled in his entirety the

two things that we are going to be looking in their characters.

The first are the shepherds. And let's, so let's just read

from Luke chapter 2 verses 8 onwards.

Luke 2:8

And this is what it says. And there were shepherds living

out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks

at night. An Angel of the Lord appeared to

them and the glory of the Lord shown 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 people. Today in the town of David, a

Savior has been born to you. He's the Messiah, the Lord.

This will be assigned to you. You will find a baby wrapped in

cloth and lying in a Manger. Suddenly a great company of

heavenly host appeared with the Angel praising God and saying,

Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace to

those on whom his favor rests. When the angels had left them

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

Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened

which the Lord has told us about.

Just remember, they're living in a time and age, but God hasn't

spoken for 400 years. God hasn't spoken for 400 years.

And what we heard last week was what probably happened little

over than a year back, you know, mainly getting betrothed and the

Spirit of God coming up on her, she becoming pregnant in the

same time, Zechariah and Elizabeth having John.

This is where we see God really moving, you know, within the his

people. A year before that, but before

that there were 400 years of silence right after captivity.

They repent, they sin, another regime comes.

And so this has been happening. And in 400 years what's happened

from the Assyrians to the Babylonians to the Persians to

the Medes, we move to the Greek, and then the Romans come in

play. And so now Israel is under the

Roman authority. And So what they are living

under, they still have temples, they still have as they're

living under the rulership of the Romans, they still have

their own places of worship. They've still formed this

religious structures through which they're walking through,

which has become more of a burden than for anyone to

actually wholly love God. But in the midst of this,

there's a remnant who's still seeking God.

And the reason why I'm spending some time here is the the first

group of people that we're seeing are the ones who

immediately went to see Jesus when he was born.

And these are the nobodies of society.

These are the ones who will always have doubt.

You know, for many of us, we've heard the story of a shepherd

who's actually looking after he cries, fox, fox.

And he goes and says, and he says, I'm joking, you know.

And so there's this, there's this loosely character sketch

that's done around these kind of people, the shepherds that they

are nobodies, you know, they are, they are left to just take

care because they are all by themselves with their sheep.

But we also see there are people in the Old Testament who, who

occupied those spaces and were kings who occupied the spaces

and hurt God. And so a couple of the things

that would have been really ingrained in the shepherds.

And why did they immediately go? Because the message that came

was this is for all people. They were able to find

themselves in that all. And so today I want to ask you,

are you finding yourselves in that all?

Because a lot of us are discounting the very fact that

this Christmas message is not for me because I've not seen my

miracle, because I've not I've not witnessed certain things

this year or probably I've not been able to see God come

through. No, But the good news is for

all. So are you able to witness and

say God, I see myself in this message.

So the first thing is the shepherds saw themselves in the

message of the ancients Cape. But the second thing is they

immediately responded. And you know, as I was

meditating, I was I was just pondering and then God kind of

like just highlighted me to Moses.

You know, Moses is here who suddenly is just left Egypt.

He's moved, he's got married and suddenly when he's sending to

sheep, he sees his burning Bush, which is actually on burning.

But it just got his attention. And the beautiful thing in that

is he received a command and he left.

There was something when shepherds encountered the living

God that they took the message seriously.

It didn't discount them from the very earthly systems that they

were governed by, very earthly systems that they were governed

by. So the trick the, the, the

question that I have for you is it was ingrained in their

history. A lot of these are oral

learners, you know, even though at that time they had scribes,

they had written it. But even from the time of Moses

all the way to this time, the story would have been recounted

because the five books were the prominent books at that time.

Those were the things that they they lived by the God of

Abraham, Jacob and Isaac. Abraham was a Bedouin, was

moving around everywhere. There was this immediate

response to what God did. I asked them to do that.

They did. And so I was wondering, God, why

did the shepherds immediately respond to the good news?

Because they knew who it came from.

Today the good news is coming from God.

The good news is for all people, and the good news requires a

response. And the first thing I wanted to

highlight was the regard of obedience.

The shepherd's response was to obey.

They went and they saw what they heard.

And so today, what is our response today?

Are we ready to obey whatever God's called us to do, whatever

God's given us as a instruction? This Advent message is 1 of

obedience is 1 of obedience. If you want to be a steward, if

you want to be a vest, if you want to be 1 who's willing to

receive the message that is for all people.

It requires obedience. And the question I have for you

today is, are we carrying history of God speaking to us

today? Where, where have we witnessed

it? Where have we witnessed it

today? A lot of us are coming from

lineages where our parents have heard God and have responded.

Our grandparents have heard God and have responded.

We in the last 40 years, time and again have seen God

answered. And so today do we have a

history for us to lean back on? They had a history which was far

beyond generations. The God who called them, the God

who set them as a nation, They had a God to actually look back

in history and say this is the God who's calling us today.

We also have a God who's calling us.

Can we respond to that? Maybe not rewrite our own

history, maybe go back to it and live and stand on the testimony

of what people have encountered in their lives and what you're

holding on to. We are not living in a time when

God is silent. Yes, we have videos, we have

reels, we have posts, we have sermons, we have the Bible is

everywhere. We have all that across the

world. But God is not silent today.

There is. God is raising up a remnant

who's ready to say yes to God. What are we receiving from God

today? Shepherds were the first

carriers of the message that Jesus was born.

They were the first witnesses. They went and they saw Shepherds

took the message seriously because they knew it was the

weight for their Messiah. It's it's it's, it's interesting

such a big message was hand delivered by God himself to the

to the least in the society. That's what humbleness looks

like. God of all creation.

He came to the outcasts of those societies.

They literally were staying outside the perimeter, taking

care, attending. He comes there and he says, hey,

I've come into the world. If they are all not seeing you,

I'm seeing you. The King has come, Messiah is

born. They just didn't listen.

They obeyed. They went.

They verified what they heard, They witnessed of what they

heard, and so in fact, when we read, it says that from verse

16. So they hurried off and found

Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the Manger.

When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what

had been told to them about this child, and all who heard him

were amazed at what the shepherd said to them.

But Mary treasured up all these things and ponded them in her

heart. The shepherd's returned,

glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard

and seen, which were just as they had been told.

It's interesting because we don't hear about the shepherds

33 years, 30 years later when Jesus is in his ministry.

We don't hear about them, but their attitude to what had

happened, their response to their obedience was to share,

and I believe that still remains the heartbeat of Advent in our

second expectation of waiting for the arrival of the King of

Kings. We are just not called to keep

the message to ourselves. We are called to tell.

We are called to share. We are called to go about and

tell of His good works to everyone.

If you and I are not able to obey into doing that, we will

not be able to see the complete gospel being given to the people

around. And so as we see from these

shepherds life, what is God calling us to carry today into

this world that we are because you and I have this message

right within us. But are we like the shepherds?

Are we like the shepherds? They didn't look for prominence.

They, they, how would they have gone and shared?

They would have gone around and say, hey, guess what?

These angels came. They have said a Messiah is

born. I'm sure there were many others

who gathered around. Suddenly Mary would have felt

what's happening, and that's why it says she pondered.

She kept it close to her heart because she knew there were

bigger things that were going to come.

And it's important for us to see that God is wanting us to be His

carriers today. What are you disqualifying

yourselves with? Is it your life choices?

Is it some of the things that you think you know?

What if people know this side of me, they might just write me

off. People can write you off.

God won't write you off. People can say what you know,

who you were in your sinful state.

But God sees you the minute you ask for forgiveness, the minute

you allow Him to change you, the minute you start exhibiting

Jesus is light in and through your life.

You really need to be bothered of what Jesus says.

And so I want to turn my attention to Colossians.

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

Chapter 1 was 24 to 29. That's what it says.

I can even celebrate the sorrows I've experienced on your behalf.

For as I join with you and your difficulties, it helps you to

discover what lacks in your understanding of the sufferings

Jesus Christ experienced for His body, the Church.

This is the very reason I've been made a minister by the

authority of God and a servant to His body, so that in his

detailed plan I would fully equip you with the Word of God.

There is a divine mystery, a secret surprise that has been

concealed from the world for generations, but now it's being

revealed, unfolded and manifested for every holy

believer to experience. Living within you is the Christ

who floods you with expectation of glory.

The mystery of Christ embedded within us becomes a heavenly

treasure chest of hope, filled with the riches of glory for His

people. And God wants everyone to know

it. Christ is our message.

We preach to awaken hearts and bring every person into the full

understanding of truth. It has become my inspiration and

passion in ministry to labor with a tireless intensity with

His power flowing through me to present to every believer the

revelation of being is perfect one in Jesus Christ.

Even as I read this, this divine mystery that we read about is

concealed within us. For those of us who have seemed

and I love this verse, what it says in verse 27.

It says living within you is the Christ who floods you with the

expectation of glory. The mystery of Christ embedded

within us. You know one of the things about

being embedded is it's hardwired.

It's the board is there. It's just been infused with it.

It becomes a very fabric. No longer will the the sinful

nature have its voice. It becomes Christ who has his

voice. So today, just as the shepherds

have received it, they saw and we know in the Bible for those

of us who receive Jesus and have this faith, even though we just

believe with the hearts and have not seen God credits to us.

He thinks that he he's positioned us to a place that

your faith is higher than those who see me and believed.

And so today, as you and I believe in this Jesus who's

living within us, who was working in it through US, he's

embedded in us so that his glory will be evident.

What has happened when you are studying neural networks in our

engineering, there's this main emphasis on what is being

embedded. When it's embedded, what happens

is it makes everything run smooth.

It exponentially runs faster. It's caused to do certain

things, run in a particular way, and this embedding that Paul is

talking about is so that the mystery of Christ, the wholeness

of Christ, will be within us. Anything that we lack, the

gospel has its answer. Anything that we think we are

lacking in the gospel just requires us to open it and

meditate and allow Christ to run through it.

My lack has to go through His glory.

My struggles have to go through His dependency.

My needs and wants, as earthly as it is, has to run through Him

so I can receive contentment and satisfaction in Christ Jesus.

Today we've received the same message of Christ, his

resurrection. And the ask for us is, are we

willing to change so that God will be glorified in this entire

equation? For the shepherds, it was God's

message, God's revelation, God's freedom of the gospel that came

to them and they shared about it in its entirety.

And so today you and I have a story to share.

The very fact that I couldn't have planned my life to this

extent. The very fact that even if I

close my eyes, I have hope knowing where I'm going.

The very fact that I don't have fear of eternity.

How much do we have to share? How much is God doing around us

that causes us to take this and say we are ready to share?

So I pray we'll stop disqualifying yourselves.

We stop disqualifying ourselves because when we are embedded in

Christ, there's a heavenly treasure of hope.

Christmas is all about the hope that we have in Jesus.

Yes, we have war, we have signs of struggle, we have sicknesses,

we have illness. But be of good cheer for he,

Jesus, Emmanuel, God, who came down in flesh and who's

resurrected today and is seated at the right and has overcome

the world. Romans 1513 it says, may the God

of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,

so that you may overflow with the hope by the power of the

Holy Spirit. It's what God is saying is me,

may I fill you and may you overflow.

May I fill you with hope. Hope is is not that I have

everything, but Lord, in the midst of everything, I still

believe and trust in you. And as I allow that in my day

and day, month on month, year on year, it automatically has to

overflow and with the help of the Holy Spirit starts

overflowing. What becomes that overflow?

Christ is our message, no one else.

We point everything and everyone to Jesus.

He alone is our Saviour. The second thing is we preach to

our wakened hearts. Suddenly the Holy Spirit who has

been promised to us as a comforter, who has been promised

to us as the Ruach, who's been promised to us as the one who

has the entire, the Dunamis power is suddenly is showing us

who to speak to. It wasn't random people that the

Holy Spirit will take you. Just imagine Philip into the

Ethiopian eunuch. Peter spoke to 3000 peoples

whose hearts were awakened. You and I will get opportunities

to speak whose hearts are awakened.

You won't speak to dead end hearts.

That's what God to do is supernatural work.

We will speak to awakened hearts and where will it be awakened

when we can know how to tell the word of God clearly for a time

such as this today many a times you're preaching to the wrong

hearts. You're preaching to hearts which

are not ready to receive. That's why we in church, we

specifically have this 2020 where we constantly are living

the gospel so that their hearts are awakened.

It's awakened. So I pray that the heart will be

plowed as you work, as you do it.

That's why when we take the gospel today, we're not just

taking it and dropping it. We say, hey, come along with me.

Come along with me. The third thing is when we have

this hope that's overflowing in and through us, we will work

tirelessly. We hope, Paul says we who have

received the first Advent are eagerly waiting for the second

return of Jesus. So we work tirelessly today in a

world where rest is so exaggerated about.

I believe a lot of people have become lazy and a lot of people

have taken cushion after that. Today, when we found so many

excuses to say burnout, this and that, are we willing to be

tireless for the sake of the gospel?

You know, it's interesting. If we are truly tireless for the

sake of the gospel, we will in fact flourish.

We will not, you know, be wasted literally.

We'll be fruitful. We'll be fruitful into our old

age. And so Church, I want to ask you

today as the shepherds, are you discounting yourself or are you

receiving it? Because the message has come

specifically for you, for all people.

You are called to take it to all.

And I pray specifically that as you live in this space, you will

live out of the overflow that they responded in.

Their response was obedience. Our response is obedience.

When we obey, we live in the overflow.

We allow His hope to fill us. And it's the overflow of that

the Holy Spirit takes us out where Christ is.

Our message. We preached our wakened hearts

and we worked tirelessly, tirelessly.

The second thing that we see is the wise men.

So as I mentioned earlier, these were probably the ones in the

outer perimeter of the place of society.

Then we have the very people who in our day-to-day term would be

the downtown, the happening, the people who were in the midst of

all the bust, the people who were in in the midst of culture.

So let's read that Matthew chapter 2 verses 1 to 9.

Matthew 2:1–9

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the

time of King Herod, Magi from the East came to Jerusalem and

asked, where is the one who has been born King of Jews?

We saw his star when it rose, and have come to worship him.

When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem

with him. When he had called together all

the peoples, chief priests and teachers of the Law, he asked

them where the Messiah was to be born In Bethlehem, in Judah.

They replied, For this is what the prophet has written.

But you, Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are by number means

least among the rulers of Judah for you.

Out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them

the exact time the star had appeared.

He sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search carefully

for the child. As soon as you find him, report

to me so that I too may go and worship him.

After they had heard the king, they went on their way and the

star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it

stopped over the place where the child was.

These wise men decided to leave the minute the star appeared.

Just imagine and it's taken them roughly around like a little

over 5-6 months of journey and people say they are to come from

the east and it's, it is troublesome.

And the reason why I'm saying the wise men, the people in

downtown and culture is, is typically us Taiwan, cities

where we are all seated, where we have access to information,

where we are in the midst of culture.

We know what to do, we know what to say, we know how to be, we

know how to prepare ourselves. We know what to actually do.

In the midst of all the knowing, are we still obeying?

Because they chose to obey. The minute the star rose, they

knew what they had learnt. They put their learning into

practice and they went in search.

And the beautiful thing about knowledge is the fact that there

is a quest, there is a, there is always we've not reached, we've

not reached. And so this is where these wise

men, they had wisdom because you'll see in their very act and

the very the very nature and the very way that they operated out

of wisdom. They also operated of a deep

sense of God revealing himself. But you also see that there was

a there was still a quest to see what is the star.

It doesn't it aligns and they were wise by the worldly

standards, but God could move the sun, moon and the stars to

get their attention to say, Hey, my son is born here on earth.

And so if we do not have an internal hunger for knowing

more. And so this is, this is, this

is, this is, this is a very important thing because in this

Advent story, we every year come back to the same passage, but

there's also a year of refreshing that God wants us to

do. God wants us to experience and

have because the story can be the same, but the revelation is

much more clearer now the revelation much more as you've

moved towards understanding him a bit more deeper.

And I pray that each and every one of us will have that quest

quest to know him a bit more quest to ask God what is it may

not be content. Lord Jesus may not be content

may want to know more. You know the problem is we we

think if you've read this, we know it all.

No, it's it's like this treasure trove you keep digging you keep

digging. It's interesting that I've over

the last couple of years I've been doing this the Bible in 365

years and every time I'm going to these passages, it's it's

something new, it's something new.

It's some his revelation light is much real every year.

So I pray you and I don't settle off with the knowledge we've

received, but we take it back and say God show yourself.

I'm ready to listen. Just imagine here, as I said, as

the people who study the stars and its alignment.

They knew that science talked about a coming saviour.

So today you don't have to be worried about proving Jesus that

if Jesus did Jesus come, you know, it's, it's false.

It's, you know, it's a, it's, it's, it's a debunked thing.

They just made it all up. No science itself, God moved the

stars, God, astrologers, people who learnt in this can testify

that science points to Jesus who's a coming savior.

Nothing about a God is a myth. Everything in the Bible has its

backing today and science proves it and so today we can be so

passionate about the word and grossed is studying, but it's

out working of the gospel in our hearts must move us towards the

truth. Today we can study all we want,

we can know all we want, we can see all the messages we want.

We can do all that we want, but is it moving us towards the

truth or is it taking us away from the truth?

The problem with a lot of them having to say that I'm faith

doesn't make sense anymore is because suddenly somewhere on

the line, some form of automation happened.

Suddenly they didn't. They stopped digging, they

stopped asking, they stopped searching.

They were content with the knowledge that God said that God

was not presented anything they were doing.

And So what happens is suddenly you're just hitting hollow,

hollow, hollow. And before you know it, nothing

is making sense. You start questioning even the

revelation light that was once revealed in Micah chapter 5,

Micah 5:2

verses 2 and four. It says, But you, Bethlehem,

Ephrata, though you are small among the clans of Judah, all of

you will come for me. One who will rule over Israel,

whose origins are from of old, from ancient times, He will

stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the

majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they will live

securely for them. His greatness will reach to the

ends of the earth. It's interesting why Herod got

disturbed. He was under an authority, he

was under a regime, so he knew he was just a proxy person right

there. But when he heard the word of

God, he again went back to his history.

He would have grown up knowing who the God of Israel was.

He would have known. And so when someone is coming

who it says he will stand and shepherd his flock in the

strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name, he knew

this person will definitely be the king because anytime a king

rose in the name of the Lord, they survived.

And so that's why Insecurity said it.

He probably wanted. And so their knowledge read by

the revelation light kept them seeking.

Their knowledge led by revelation light kept them

seeking. Today, if you have to be in this

mode of seeking, you need to always have that Revelation

light. That revelation light will not

puff you up. This revelation light, the

minute you get that knowledge, will allow you to expand your

understanding of unity, will allow you to expand of what His

Kingdom looks like. We'll allow you to expand and

see this is what God wants. This is what God's calling us to

build. This is what God is calling us

to be set apart in, from and in. This is what God is calling us

to really guard ourselves. This revelation light will only

make sense when we are seeking. Time and again we take it back

and we apply it into our lives. Is a scientific backed

understanding of things causing us to stop perceiving God?

We made sure it's so comfortable that we are, we've, we've

tutored, we've programmed, we've designed it in such a way that

once a week when we hear it, that encouragement is enough.

But this encouragement is a culmination of what I've been

meditating through the week. This is is a culmination of what

God wants me to hear for the body collectively.

And so today I would ask you, would you personally take that

step to seek God? Every day means revelation.

Like be so evident in your life that you're seeking Him every

day. Wisdom plus action.

In this case, the wise men and what they did was obedience to

God and not man. They were obedient to God and

not man. They came, they went back to the

Scriptures. The scriptures prophesied the

same thing and they knew they were the right path towards

seeing the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

The second thing that we learnt from the wise men is their

knowledge read by revelation, right brought them prepared to

worship. They didn't come empty handed

when they knew they were going to see the King of Kings and the

Lord of Floods. They didn't come like they're

coming to see a king. They didn't bring it.

It's interesting the gifts that they bought.

Anytime royalty comes to meet another royalty, they bring

things from their land of origin, but what they brought

was everything that they needed to give to the King of kings and

the Lord of Lords. They prophetically wanted to

give it so that they can allow history to say the King of kings

has come and what does that look like?

This is why I think wisdom, when we allow God to work in and

through US, His wisdom starts operating in and through US.

Matthew chapter 2, verse 10 to 12.

Matthew 2:10–12

When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary,

and they bowed down and worshipped him.

Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of

gold, frankincense and more. And having been warned and dream

not to go back to Hera, they returned to their country by

another route. They did not come empty handed

to see the King of Kings and the Lord Lord of Lords, as I

mentioned earlier. When, when, when, when, when

These are coming from the East, They would have bought something

from the east to actually gifts. For example, we, we had gone, me

and my wife had gone this step to the US and what did we take?

We took some of the things that our country is known for, some

of the things that we can take back and go give.

And so we represented our nation and that's what gifts giving

looks like. But here when they gave, what

did they give? They gave gold, they gave

frankincense and they gave war. They knew who this king was, why

he came, what had to be given, what had to be given.

Knowledge did not limit them to actually understanding.

They moved in line with the revelation like they knew who

this king was. He was not an ordinary king.

He was not a king who was born out of royal human royalty.

This was God royalty. This was God royalty.

And so they brought gold, gold which denotes royalty.

This royalty that he came, came from above for once and for all.

He is going to be seated on the throne, and when you read

Revelation and you're going to be walking on the streets of

gold, the splendor, that's what gold looks like.

Frankincense. He's of the priestly order.

It says in Hebrews that he's in the order of Melchizedek, the

true high priest. Once and for all.

He came and he offered the sacrifice himself.

He offered the unblemished. And so today you and I aren't

called to do anything like that. We are just called to receive

him, partake, participate and received his redemptive BA.

The third thing we see is BA. It was an anointing oil.

When you read in the book of Exodus, it, it, it talks about a

place where they are all sacred. They use, they, they have a

Craftsman who kind of uses myrrh and all these things and they

create an oil extract all of that and all of that.

They anoint everything and they say these are set apart.

This is holy. So which means Jesus who was

here on earth knew no sin. He didn't have sin in him.

He was set apart from heaven above.

That's what they worshipped, that's what they came.

That's what their revelation light looked like.

And so today their knowledge was led by revelation light, brought

them prepared to worship. You know, it's interesting when

we see all these different depictions, they came prepared.

You know, many a times when I come, I come in different

outfits, very select outfits. If I'm coming to record, I'm

usually coming to record with my shirt and then I'm wearing

shorts. I'm prepared to record because I

only this much is going to be shown.

But when I come to preach on a Sunday, I'm coming with pants

on. I'm dressed for this.

They were dressed even though they knew it was just a child.

They knew even though this person was not going to be in

royalty in a palace, they were prepared.

They knew they had to give it their all to worship.

So today are we giving our all to worship?

Are we giving our all? What they brought out as gifts

were costing them something or could have cost them everything

That's today. What is in our hands today?

Are we ready to worship with all that we have?

You know, many a times we struggle when we read the New

Testament. His bride, the church is where

we see him. So today, when, when, when,

when? I mean we are required to come

to church. How prepared are we?

How prepared are we? Because if we are not prepared

mentally and if we are like, oh man, I just have to go because

the kids will miss Sunday school.

No, I'm prepared because I need to receive.

I'm prepared because I can't wait to worship.

I'm prepared because I want to press in into God's presence

today. I want to, I want to be here

because, and this is no motivation.

This is no motivation. If I can be prepared to worship

the King of Kings, I'd be prepared to do by Monday to

Friday to even the people around because I know God is in it.

So I pray this Revelation Light will give you that wisdom.

The third thing that we see is their knowledge read by

Revelation Light made sure they obeyed the direction they were

asked to take. You know, wisdom would tell

them, you know, in case they had to play favourites.

They knew that, you know, they would have to go to hell.

They have to tell him. He sounded insecure.

He wanted to know, but they knew that the message that they

carried was far important and they were willing to know who to

obey, not the earthly, but God. And it's a clear indication

today in this Advent, who are we really obeying?

Are we obeying the Master of the world?

How are we obeying the master himself?

Because obedience is what will set us apart.

They, they knew they, they risked their lives.

They, they were ready to, they were ready to take.

So today, many a times how we will need to take the chance.

You know, we, we, we are so worried today we'll get

ostracized, we'll be called out, we'll be labeled.

But God's saying, if I have called you, I will protect you.

I will keep you. There will be a time when

persecution arises. There will be a time when you

are targeted for your faith. But be of good cheer, for I've

overcome the world. As I mentioned earlier, Paul

talked earlier when we're talking from Colossians, says

sufferings are real. The sufferings of those who

follow Jesus is real. But that's the cost, that's the

ask for us. If they have gone through

before, we can go through it and come back.

Because in this side of eternity, it's temporary.

Everything is temporary. We are working towards the other

side of eternity. And so even today, even as the

shepherds obeyed and even as the wise men pursued to go see the

King of Kings, Are we ready to do that revelation light.

I pray we will have that. It has to be deeply embedded.

Christ has to be embedded in US. I just want to read a couple of

scriptures before I close. The first thing I wanted to read

is from John chapter one, verse 14.

And it says, and so the living expression became a man and

lived among us. He gazed upon His glory, the

glory of the One and the One who came from the Father,

overflowing with mercy and truth.

Meaning was time, for the perfect light of truth was

coming into the world and shine upon everyone.

He entered into the world He created, yet the world was

unaware. He came to the people He

created, to those who should have received Him, but they did

not recognize Him, but those who embraced Him and took hold of

His name. He gave authority to become

children of God. So today you and I can fall

either into that A category of the worst or the B category.

I pray that you and I will fall into the B category of the

worst. For those who knew who embraced

him and took hold of his name, we have the right to become his

children, which means we are aware of what the culture of our

home is. We are aware of who to call on.

You know, when you become A, when you're a child, you know,

you only called your father and mother the same thing.

When you're a child of God, you know, and you have to call to

God. And so today he's in US.

He is an US, which means we need to allow him to do his work.

You know, just this last week, we have a person who comes and

we chase him literally every year to get him to come and

clean our house. And the interesting thing is we

give him a list of what all he has to do, but invariably he'll

find everything else that's broken in our house and start

fixing those things also. And So what he usually has to

take two days, we'll end up taking seven days.

And it's in this that I realized this is how Jesus wants.

He wants to even just a couple of hours back when I was at

home, a water can got over and he just took the empty water can

out and he came and refilled it. That's what Jesus will do.

If you allow him into your heart, He will come in.

He will walk in and out. He will walk in such a way where

he is just cleaning things up, setting things right, saying,

you know what, I'll, I'll clear this part of your identity, this

insecurity that you're having. I'll start working.

Will you give me access? And so today I want to ask you

this obedience that they showed, this pursuing that they did

can't be done without him. And today you and I have his

helper that is the Holy Spirit. And so today the Christmas

message is real. Yes, we are called to live out

this Christmas message so that when he comes we will all be

with him in heaven. I pray that we will all be part

of a story. This, this the story that Christ

wants to write. You know, the problem is many a

times we, we, we use our very own qualifications and

limitations, what we've been spoken about, what have we, what

we've been told we are capable of, And that becomes a lingering

thing. I pray may you operate out of

the fullness of his identity, India, when he comes in, you'll

operate out of that. So whatever you're doing, you're

doing it for his glory. Whatever you're doing, you're

doing it so that his bride will be benefited.

Nothing about this. You know, there was a season in

our life and we worked, me and my wife worked for a team.

And it's interesting as we were leaving the team a month before

this is when the, when our boss actually asked.

So what do you, what are your, what are your qualifications

actually? And it's interesting that many a

times we didn't operate because of those qualifications.

We operated because God had called us there.

God had called us to serve in a capacity where we are serving

him. And when God decided, OK, you

guys have done your job here, now go.

And I believe that's where God wants that today.

I pray and ask you, and I cannot live this truncated gospel where

we are trying to live it out. But is it serving me?

We're trying to live it out, but is it fulfilling some of the

things that I need to get accomplished?

I'm trying to live this out, but oh God, I'll do this all for

you, all for your glory. I love how this verse says in

the hymn of heaven that it's one of expected.

There will be a day when all will bow before him.

There will be a day when death will be no more.

Standing face to face with he who died in rose again.

Holy is the Lord. There will be a day when all

will bow before him. Till then, I am ready to bow

down before you, Lord, That is my prayer.

That is a prayer of the shepherds.

That's a prayer of the wise men. And I pray and ask that that

will be the prayer of us, that maybe be ready to bow down

before him and say, Lord, I'm ready to bow down.

So I pray and ask that with the knowledge that we have, we will

allow his revelation light to guide us.

It will cause us to stand up, walk in faith, be ready with

what we have so that we bring glory to him.

Can I pray for you, loving heavenly Father?

I thank you, Lord, for each and everyone, all listening, Lord, I

believe, Lord, you're working in and through us, in and through

me itself. Lord Jesus, I can note this.

Thank you for the encouragement that your word gave, Lord.

Thank you, Lord, for the story that was written, Lord Jesus,

that you came to the two extremes and we can see

ourselves fitting right in that story.

Lord Jesus, I pray that Lord, your word will come alive today.

Whoever has belittled themselves, beating themselves

up that they are not enough, I pray the completeness of your

own come in them, Lord, that the completeness of your gospel,

come in them, the completeness of your salvation, redeem them.

Lord, I pray that you would remove every form of truncation

that we've done of the gospel, of your word, of your promises,

of your truth, that we will believe in the whole gospel and

live out the whole gospel today, here in this earth.

Today I prayed out for your peace, your love, Your joy will

be filling them, filling me, filling us so that out of the

overflow of the Holy Spirit we'll be able to testify all

that you want us to do and say and be Lord Jesus, anywhere,

everywhere. Lord Jesus, we thank you.

Go before us, be with us. I pray of him blood covering all

his children. I pray, Lord, even as families

come around this time, Lord, as loved ones come around this

time, your peace, your joy prevail.

That we will enjoy these seasons, Lord Jesus, of

conversation, of gathering around, of helping, of doing all

that you've called us to do so that we can bring Jesus into

this world. Thank you, Lord, into our world.

Lord, go before us, be with us. Your most holy name, pray.

Amen. Amen.

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