Mercy Christmas

It's great to see you. Welcome Kuya Mora cuienda

carcius in fuer Spuraka Nivea yard.

Fire donkey. Fire donkey.

They did my 12 yard fatum did to liar donkey.

Edward Vicki Bieta alka Alka yard.

It's good to be God is good. Why he sent an English family to

Pretoria, I don't know, but this place has been good to us and

it's good to celebrate Christmas together.

And it's great that you invited your families to join you, Hein

and David, to have your dad chat with us today for the first

time. It's great to have you.

My neighbors from I live in a little place called Swinburne,

outside Harry Smith. And I saw this man walk towards

me and I said, hey, Louis. And he said no, I'm Louie's

neighbor. I'm Darlie and he said, but your

mum can make a good steak, egg and chips.

But happy Christmas. My mother in law's been with me

for four days now. I just want to pray for all of

you and just ask God to just just bless you and and to give

you grace and mercy and and and everything like that.

Have we got a tee of time boys for this afternoon?

Thea You know, I said when when you're in laws come, you buy

fish and you put it on the mantelpiece and when the fish

starts to smell, it's time to go home.

I tell you, we've replaced the fish.

It's it's but I want to say mom, of all the mother in laws I've

got, you're by far the best. I just want to honor you say a

happy Christmas and when you're leaving, I've got given the most

God gave me the most beautiful mother-in-law.

It's great to see you. It's it's fantastic to have you

If you can put up the slide, please.

And we're going to say it together. 123 Merry Christmas.

OK, let's say it one more time, but loudly. 123 Merry Christmas

last time. 123 It doesn't actually say Merry Christmas.

But anyway, well done guys, well done, well done, well done, well

done. In Afrikaans, Sir, Kanada, grace

and mercy is the same word, Kanada, but in English it's a

different word. I want to say to you today,

three CI and for all of you are visiting, I want to say to you

mercy Christmas. I want to say to you, mercy

Christmas. One of the great gifts on

Christmas Day, the Bible tells us is God's mercy.

It's different to God's grace and the simple way or the

different ways of prescribing or describing it.

The grace of God is when God gives us something that we don't

deserve. The mercy of God is when God

withholds something that we do deserve.

We deserve wrath, we deserve punishment.

We deserve to be forgot. And and God withholds that from

us. He withholds his wrath from us.

That's called the mercy of God, but it's far greater than that.

It's his loving kindness, and it's his intervention in our

lives, and it's his healing and his wholeness.

And maybe you didn't know where to go today.

And maybe you're just a visitor who had got no family at home,

and so you just saw the crowds coming and so you snuck in at

the back. I want to say to you, mercy

Christmas. Jesus Christ came to give us

mercy. And so when his mother started

to sing in the book of Luke, we can look to Luke chapter 1 and

Luke 1 · chapter mention

verse 46. And I want you to receive the

mercy of God today. I don't know what you've done.

I don't know what you've been up to, I don't know what sins

you've committed this year. I don't know what mistakes

you've made. I don't know what

disqualification is you've had. But when I pray you leave this

auditorium today and you leave this property, you'll understand

the mercy of God. This song is called Mary's

Magnificat or when she magnified God in Psalm in Luke 1 and verse

46. And Mary said, my soul glorifies

the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

Mary was also a Sinner. She needed a Savior.

She wasn't a perfect woman, for he had been mindful of the

humble state of His servant. From now on, all generations

will call me blessed, for the mighty One has done great things

for me. Holy is His name, His mercy say

His mercy. His mercy extends to those who

fear Him from generation to generation.

My prayer for you today, I don't know who you are.

Maybe you're here for the first time.

My prayer is at the mercy of God would extend to you and to your

family and to the generations of family that you're part of.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm.

He has scattered those who are proud in the inmost thoughts.

He has brought down rulers from their Thrones, but has lifted

high the up the humble. He has filled the hungry with

good things, but has sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel.

Remembering to be, remembering to be merciful.

You know one of the things you keep the Scripture up.

One of the things the Bible says is God remembers to be merciful

and he remembers not to remember our sin.

It doesn't say he forgets our sin.

It says He remembers not to remember our sin, He remembers

to be merciful, and he remembers not to remember our son.

Christmas Day, mercy, Christmas to Abraham and his descendants

forever, even as he said to our fathers.

Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about 3 months and then returned

home. When it was time for Elizabeth

to have her baby, she gave birth to her son.

Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown

her. Say it not mercy.

Say great mercy. You know why we're here today?

You know why I stand here today, Englishman from Durban, because

of God's great mercy. And the reason that you are

here, you started the year. You thought I don't know how I'm

going to get through the year. Some of you have been through

chemotherapy, some of you have been through divorce, and you

didn't know how you're going to get to the end of the year, but

you're standing here because of God's great mercy.

And this day we celebrate the mercy of God.

For time's sake, let's go to verse 67.

It says his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and

prophesied. Praise be to the Lord, the God

of Israel, because He has come and has redeemed His people.

He has raised up a haul of salvation for us in the House of

His servant David, as he said, as he said through his holy

prophets of long ago. Salvation from our enemies and

from the hand of those who hate us.

To show to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the

oath you sought our Father Abraham, to rescue us from the

hand of our enemies and to enable us to serve Him without

fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our

days, as you, my child, would be called the prophet of the Most

High. For you will go on before the

Lord to prepare the way for him to give his people the knowledge

of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins

because of his, I say it, tender mercy, his tender mercy.

That's just the, the, the accounts of Christmas in the

book of Luke. And five times in one chapter he

mentions either great mercy or tender mercy or mercy to the

past and mercy to the future. And I want to just take tell you

today, friends, the Bible says in Ephesians that God is rich in

mercy in the book of Lamentations in Afrikaans,

Clark, the book of Lamentations, as you know, it's a crying book.

It's a book of deep sorrows. It's a book of deep pain and,

and in the Hebrew alphabet there's 22 letters and, and the

book of Lamentations goes one, one verse 22, two verse 22,

three verse 66, chapter 4, verse 22, chapter 5, verse 22.

It's 7 * 22. It's the complete book of

suffering, Lamentations, clock letter.

And in the very middle, in the very center of that book is this

song that we sing. If you're an old time church guy

like me, some of you got saved recently.

You had a biggie, but I've been in a church a long time.

Just close your eyes. You might remember the same.

close your eyes. The steadfast love of the Lord

never ceases His Let's go again. The steadfast love of the Lord

never ceases. His mercies never come to an

end. They are new every morning.

New every morning. Great is thy faithfulness, Oh

Lord, great is thy faithfulness. I want to say to you, friends,

as you look into the year ahead, you think, dear God, I don't

know how I'm going to make it. You know how you're going to

make it. His mercy is new every morning

in the midst of whatever you're going through.

His mercy, His great mercy, His tender mercy, His rich.

And mercy is new every morning. And Luke says, like the rising

of the sun will be the mercy of God, Like the rising of the sun

will be the mercy of God. Some of you know this story, but

I have a school friend of mine. He was the first team rugby

player, and he was an athlete. And six weeks before athletics

day, he tripped with a shotgun in his hand and he shot off this

muscle, shot the ground off. He was by himself in the field.

And he eventually crawled to a road and he got taken to

hospital and had a massive operation on his leg here.

And they did skin grafts. His whole muscle was blown away.

He was an unbelievable athlete. He was just a beast of a man.

And six weeks later, with that muscle gone and with the skin

graft bandaged up, he won the Victor Ladorum at our school.

And at the end of the day, through this bandage, this was

blood. This is a tough guy.

And he got unbelievably sick a few years ago, very, very sick.

His liver failed. He picked up a virus in

Mozambique and his wife phoned me.

I did their wedding. His wife phoned me and said,

Rory, please pray for Guy. He's very sick.

And I phoned the doctor in Durban and the doctor said

Afrikaans swear word to me, basically meaning he's gone.

And I raced to Donald Gordon Hospital in Johannesburg and the

helicopter landed and he came in and there was a Muslim doctor.

And I went to the Muslim doctor and I said, hey, Sir, I'm a

pastor, can I pray for him? He said you do what you do, I do

what I do, but don't get in my way.

And my friend had started to go not yellow jaundice, he went

orange. He started to go orange.

And they had to put a heat mat underneath him and a heat mat on

top of him. And they bound him up because

his body was not producing any heat.

And I watched his heartbeat go down into the 20s, and I

thought, he's going to die. And they held him on for a

couple of days. And I've visited him every day.

And then the specialist called us in.

And I knew his mom very well because his dad was one of my

teachers. And they lost the child on the

school that I went to. Their son had a motorbike

accident and on our school. And so she had lost the child

before. So she knew what it was like to

lose a child. And she was about to lose a

second child. And the doctor said if he does

not have a liver transplant in 24 hours, he'll be dead.

And I prayed and I prayed and I prayed and I prayed.

And many people to this day, I think it was my prayers, but it

wasn't because at the absolute, absolute critical time of his

life, they would just let me and Mama and his mum walk in.

And his mum was an Anglican. And she took her, his legs like

this for one hour. And if you're an Anglican,

you'll know her, this prayer, Lord have mercy.

Or do you respond? Obviously not many Anglicans

here, the priest would say, Lord have mercy and the people would

pray back, Christ have mercy, let's try it, Lord have mercy,

Lord have mercy. And I saw that mother hold that

friend of mine's legs for one hour and she just cried, Lord

have mercy, Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy, Christ have

mercy. And I remember sitting and

thinking, I don't know if there's any power in this

prayer. In 24 hours, that guy's life

turned. He didn't need a liver

transplant. He walks around today as if

nothing ever happened. I was in with the doctor, said

if he does not have a transplant within 24 hours, he will be

dead. And people say to me, well done,

Rory. I said, no, it's got nothing to

do with me. It was a mother who had already

lost a son. You know what, friends?

We have a Father in heaven who lost his son.

He sent him to this earth so that he would die and he would

lose him. And that father on Christmas Day

over your life says this Lord have mercy, Christ, have mercy.

I don't know your situation, I don't know your circumstances,

but I do know the faithfulness of God and His mercy is good

enough to touch you and to heal you and to intervene in your

life. Today, in Jesus name.

I was looking at the news around the world, at Gaza and Israel,

at Russia and Ukraine, at the Sudan, at Syria.

We just have to look at our neighbors, Mozambique and the

Congo and Mali. And we've got to say God have

mercy. God have mercy.

This world needs the intervention of Jesus

desperately. Let me define to you quickly,

and then we're going to read 3 scriptures and refinish.

Good morning. The mercy of God is his

unwarranted kindness. The mercy of God is his

undeserved compassion and pity. The mercy of God is an

intervention that alleviates pain.

The mercy of God saves us and redeems us.

The mercy of God is extravagant and the mercy of God liberates

us. I want to just mention three

quick scriptures, Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

You know the story of the Good Samaritan.

You can turn there or cover them on the screen.

The Good Samaritan is actually a story about some clever church

oak, some religious oak. And if you're in the church for

the first time because you only come to church on Christmas and

Easter, it's nice to have you. Maybe you just come on

Christmas. But when I look in the Bible,

God fought with religious people and he loved sinners.

The church loves religious people and fights with sinners.

This church loves sinners. So if you just come on Christmas

time and you're a dirty, dark Sinner like me, you're welcome

here. May the mercy of God touch you.

On one occasion an experts in the law stood up to test Jesus

teacher. He asked, what must I do to

inherit eternal life? What is written in the law?

He replied, how do you read it? He answered, Love the Lord your

God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your

strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbors

yourself. You have answered correctly.

Jesus replied do this and you will live.

But he wanted to justify himself as a clever religious oak.

So he asked Jesus, And who is my neighbor?

In reply, Jesus said A man was going down from Jerusalem to

Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers.

They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away,

leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going

the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed on the other

side. So to a Levite, when he came to

the place and saw him passed on the other side.

But a Samaritan, a guy from Bronco, Sprite, OK Bob, Suntan,

OK Wycliffe. As he travelled, he came where

the man was. And when he saw him, when he

saw, say, when he saw him, he took pity on him.

He took pity on him. I want broken people when they

don't know where to go and they come to this church and when we

see them, instead of walking around them, we will look at

them and take pity on them and say to them, Lord, have mercy,

Christ have mercy. He went to him and he bandaged

these wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and he put the man in his

own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.

The next day he took our 2 silver coins and gave them to

the innkeeper. Look after him, he said, and

when I return, I'll reimburse you for any extra expense you

may have. Which of these three do you

think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of

robbers? The experts in the law replied,

the one you had say it, Jesus said.

Go and do likewise. Friends, the Good Samaritan is

Jesus. The Good Samaritan is Jesus.

Everybody else walks around difficulties, walks around

broken people, walks around demanding people.

The Good Samaritan walks straight towards them, straight

towards them. Like you young lady who didn't

know where to go so you came to church today.

I just say to you, Lord, have mercy, Christ have mercy.

May He bandage every wound inside of your heart.

Young lady is the safest place on the face of the earth for you

to be. You've been kind.

God, can you see me? Lord, do you know me?

Father, can you hear me? God says I will stop at

Christmas service just for you, young lady, to remind you that

the Good Samaritan was not a man from the earth.

The Good Samaritan is a man who got born and on his birthday

they declared five times he will come to show mercy to people

like you and me. May you today receive the mercy

of God, the gracious, kind, extravagant outpour, tender

mercy of God, if you can put up Matthew 18.

The heading is not up there, but this is called the Parable of

the Unmerciful servant. The parable of the Unmerciful

servant, before the end of the day, sitting around your

Christmas tables with aunts and uncles that you only see at

Christmas time, you'll have a chance to exercise God's mercy.

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times

shall I forgive my brother? When he sins against me up to

seven times, Jesus answered, I tell you not 7 times, but 77

times. Therefore, the Kingdom of heaven

is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his

servants. As he began the settlement, a

man who owed him 10,000 talents, millions of dollars was bought

to him. Since he was not able to pay,

the master ordered that he and his wife and his children

already had be sold to repay the debt.

The servant fell on his knees before him.

Be patient with me, he begged and I will pay back everything.

The servants master say it with me.

Took pity on him, Cancel the debt and let him go.

That's what mercy is. He took pity on him, cancel the

debt and let him go. I don't know where you're from,

but today I want to tell you what Jesus does on Christmas

Day. He takes pity on you.

He cancels your debt, however big your debt is, and he lets

you go. You're free.

But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow

servants who owed him 100 Donari.

He grabbed him and began to choke him.

Pay back what you owe me, he demanded.

Unforgiveness has got horrible words.

Demanded, choked. His fellow servant fell to his

knees and begged. And be patient with me, and I

will pay you back. But he refused, demanded,

choked, refused. Incredible behavior that comes

from the church, our mercy Christmas.

God, please, will you drift my heart so much that these words

like choke and demand and refuse would leave my life and I would

give to people what you've given to me.

Lord, I stand here sinners. Lord God, saved by your absolute

intervention of mercy undeserved completely.

May I take that same mercy and give it to everybody, from the

teller, Lord, God, to the gardener, to whoever it might

be? But he refused, and said he went

off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the

debt. When the other servants saw what

had happened, they were greatly distressed, and went and told

their master everything that had happened.

Then the master called the servants in.

You wicked servant, he said it's fine.

He cried out to God. Cry out to God.

That's that's that's exactly what it sounds like.

Well, I've got nowhere else to go.

I just cry out to God and it says he heard him.

He heard his cry. I love the cry of children

because it reminds me of the cry that I made to God and the

parent who heard me from heaven. The master called the servant in

your wicked servant. He said I cancelled all the debt

of yours because you begged me to.

Shouldn't you have had on your fellow servant?

Just has I had on him. Friends, it doesn't matter who

you are. I've understood this.

In the Afrikaans culture, you guys rate sin.

They're bad sins and they're good sins.

And some of you think you're good sinners.

I've been here for 12 years. I've seen it.

We are sinners. There's good sin, there's bad

sin, and there's very bad sin. And the Bible says it's all sin.

So whether you're a murderer or adulterer or whether you're

cooked 5 minutes from your boss at work, you're a Sinner just

like me. And there is no grading of sin.

I don't care where you grew up and what church you grew up,

there is no grading of sin. The Bible says we've all sinned

and that sin against God is millions of dollars, and any man

sin against us is just a few dollars.

And he says in the same way that he had mercy on us, we must

mercy Christmas. Let your family off the hook.

Let your previous partner off the hook.

Let your parents off the hook, let your children off the hook.

Stand around today as you're about to eat with maybe wine on

the table and food loading the table, and look at one another

and say, in the same way that God gave me mercy, I give mercy

to you. And we close with the scripture

in Matthew chapter 15. Are you with me?

Matthew 15 · chapter mention

There's an amazing story of an amazing woman.

This woman is a hero for me in the Bible.

It's called the faith of the Canaanite woman leaving that

place say leaving that place egg wife from Pretoria and I can't

orc need to and we have Orkney Snogney leave it say leaving

that place Jesus in Jerusalem. He leaves Jerusalem and he goes

to another place. You know what happened at

Christmas Day Where was Jesus before Christmas Day?

He was in heaven leaving that place, came to earth.

He left Jerusalem with the center of and he went to another

place. You know what Jesus will do on

Christmas time? He will leave the church and he

will go and park off in rafters. You think I'm joking right now?

Jesus sitting in rafters waiting for the lonely to come to

rafters to get sickered with Brandy.

And in that place he will reveal his tender mercy.

In that place he will show people they tend the mist.

Leaving that place, Jesus the drew to the region of Tyre and

Sardon a Canaanite woman. This is just she's a woman,

she's from a horrible area, she's a Canaanite, she's a

rubbish. The Canaanite woman from the

vicinity came to him crying out. Lord son of David, just like the

child. Lord son of David, have mercy on

me. The Greek word is a repetitive

text. It's like an echo through the

city. Lord son of David, have mercy on

me. Lord son of David, have mercy on

me. Lord son of David, have mercy on

me. Maybe you're sitting here,

you're an adulterer. Lord Son of David, have mercy on

me. Maybe you don't know how to

break the power of alcohol over your life or pornography.

Lord Son of David, have mercy on me.

Crying out my daughter is suffering terribly from demon

possession. Jesus did not answer a word.

Friends, this woman is a hero because she faced what Jesus

faced on the cross, because she saw the mercy of God in Tyre and

Sardon, not in the church, way out of the church.

She saw something in Christ that nobody had ever seen before.

We have the privilege of seeing it through the cross.

She saw it before the cross. She saw the mercy of God before

the cross. She saw the mercy of God that

was born on Christmas Day before Jesus had died.

He came to bring mercy, and this is the only woman who saw it.

Maybe you're sitting here and God has been silent and you've

been crying out to God for the healing of your body and God has

been silent. God was silent on this woman and

she could have left and thought to heck with Jesus.

I'm going. He has not answered my prayers.

This woman could have done this, but she saw something in the

mercy of God and instead of getting offended, she stayed.

Maybe you've been crying out for your son who's sitting on the

yachts in the Caribbean snorting cocaine.

The tender, great, rich, loving, kind mercy of God will never

fail. You keep trusting Him on this

Mercy Day. You keep trusting God even when

he's quiet. You keep trusting Him.

So his disciples came to him and urged him.

Send her away. She's an absolute nuisance for

she keeps crying out after us. Why did we have to take that

child out, friends? Because she was taking

attention. Everybody was looking at the

child. She was demanding attention.

We should have just left her there.

Until the story came. She just kept crying out.

Oh, Lord, son of David, have mercy on this.

I was just getting rid of her. She's a nuisance.

She heard that. She said, oh, let me just leave.

I'm just a nuisance. Nobody loves me.

Nobody cares for me, friends. I sat in a meeting once with a

friend of mine who had a brand called Lost.

It was a it was a it was a a demonstration of protest against

the word saved. Somebody started a brand called

Lost and the logo was nobody knows and nobody cares.

I remember preaching in Kearsney College in a leaders meeting.

I was preaching and I saw this man sitting there with his brand

lost. Nobody knows, nobody cares.

I started to weep and I just went up to him.

I said that's not true, That's not true.

I know and I care and God knows and God cares and this community

knows and this community cares. And you know what he did on the

Monday? He gave the brand away.

He didn't sell it. He gave it away.

And he said, what am I going to do now?

I said I've got no idea. But cry out to God, who knows

and cares. And two weeks later, he got

awarded the Ripco agency. And every single time I walk

around this town, the Afrikaans guys wearing surfing sets.

I don't know how it works. I haven't seen Durban guys wear

khaki pants like yolks. I've never seen such tight khaki

pants in my whole life. And then you put a phone and a

wallet and at the same time, it's unbelievable.

But every time, every time, every time I see a RIP curl shit

anywhere, some of you are wearing.

Every time I see you. And I just think the mercy of

God who knows and cares, she could have just walked away and

think they don't care for me. And Jesus is just looking at it.

He's entire and silent. He's crossed the barrier from

Jerusalem. He's gone to Babsontane and he's

sitting with a broken woman who's got absolutely no standing

in society. And she's saying please have

mercy. And he's pushing her away and

he's pushing away. So I want to see if she actually

sees me, pushes her away, keeps quiet, pushes her away.

The woman came and knelt before him.

Lord help me, she said. You know, friends, many of you

are absolutely, 100% fine, but some of you are here because you

need God's help. And instead of just walking away

across, you just got in on her knees, just got on her knees.

close the disciples, don't worry about the silence.

She just closed and she said, Lord help me, Lord help me.

You know why we celebrate Christmas?

Because Jesus Christ came to help us.

He came to help us. And if you're in trouble, I want

to say to you, Mercy, Christmas, he's come to help you.

He replied, Jesus, he replied it is not right to take the

children's bread and toss it to their dogs.

Friends, I'm no one, I didn't know this.

In Durban it's not a swear word, but in Pretoria it is.

That's like saying foot sack. You don't say foot sack to

people, you say foot sack to dogs.

We say foot sack to the person. They say I'm not a dog.

Jesus is saying I didn't come to give bread to the dogs, I came

to give bread to the children of Israel.

You think, why doesn't this lady just leave and say, hey Jesus,

you're hardcore, you can't call me a dog.

When we really want to degrade people, we call them animal

names, Dog, pig, baboon, you see in newspaper write apps, I got

called a baboon, I got called a monkey got called a dog, I got

called a pig. But Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ,

the savior of Christmas is calling this woman a dog.

And you know the instantly she says yes, Lord, yes Lord, yes

Lord, yes Lord. But even the masters in Tyre and

Son, even the people in Bubs attack, even those people, Lord

God, even those masters, they give crumbs to their dog.

If they do that, Lord God, I've seen something inside.

If they do that, Lord God, then surely you can just give me a

crumb. Yes, Lord, she said.

But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall under their master's

table. Then Jesus answered, Woman,

woman, you have great faith. May this woman be a gift to us

on Christmas Day. Women, women, you have great

faith. Your request is granted.

And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

That woman went through everything Jesus had to go

through on the cross. She went through the silence of

God. She went through the offence of

man. She went through the rejection

of humankind. Everything Jesus did on the

cross, she did it before he went to the cross because she saw His

mercy and that mercy overrode everything inside of her.

You and I have the picture of looking at from the other side

of the cross. Maybe God has been silent with

you. Maybe you've been offended or

rejected, but this is what I pray.

Lord, have mercy. Christ have mercy.

Let me say to you, Lord, have mercy.

Lord have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Woman, you have great faith. Woman, you have great faith.

If you will believe the mercy of God, you and I will change the

city today and ongoingly in Matthew 5, verse 17, it says

Matthew 5:17

this. Be merciful as the Father is

merciful. Open your hands like this.

Please pray this prayer today. Say it today.

I receive your mercy. I receive your mercy.

I put aside silence, silence, rejection, offence, all my

stuff, my sin. I receive your mercy and I ask

Lord God that I can give it away in Jesus name.

Mercy Christmas, Mercy Christmas.

God bless you.