Got Room | Jason Martin

You're listening to a message to go from as church.

We hope this message will light up your tea.

Right. So what was the team of the play just now?

Knock knock? Okay, it was knock knock? And when a

lot of times, right, when we do a knock knock,

what do we say? Who's there? And after that you

go on to the punchline, which is the joke, right,

the joke I don't knock knock jokes. I should have

prepared one, right. But the whole team for today's play

earlier on was this maybe I'll get the first slide up, okay,

And the title of the word that I'm sharing today

is got room. So turn to your neighbor and say,

do you have room? Got room or not any of

y'all in your house? You have an empty room. Wow, Alexica,

empty room? Right, So a lot of us when we

start you the whole play it was about letting Jesus in.

Right.

Jesus was knocking on the door. Uh. And Jesus is

always looking to come into our lives, so he knocks

on our door and most of the time what happens

we say no because there is no space. So when

you have room. Again, is your room filled up or

is it empty? Do you have space for God? Right?

So you saw just now when Timothy he was dressed

up like the businessman. God gave him that five million

dollar contract, but after that he had no room for

God because he was busy. Right. So today I want

to speak to us, especially first of all, if you're

a Christian, right, if you're a Christian, I'm want to

ask all of us have we made room for Jesus? Right?

Or do we only have room for him during Christmas

and for the rest of us. If you're visiting us,

you can follow along with us and say and later, right,

you will be given an opportunity to say that, Hey, Jesus,

I think I want you in my life. You know,

because there is so many things that, so many reasons

why Jesus is the reason for the season this year

and every Christmas. Okay, so the next light making room

for Jesus. So when you saw just now the innkeepers

had no vacancy for Jesus. Correct, you have no vacancy

for Jesus. And why is it that you don't have vacancy?

Any reason why you do not have any space? What

is the main reason why we run out of space.

It's because we fill it with something else. There will

always be space, but it is always filled up with

something else. Okay, And today I wanted to share a story.

It's actually three points on the different things that will

take up space in our lives, especially during Christmas and

throughout the rest of the year. Right, there will be

so many different things, but today I only broke it

down into three piece. So it's simple for y'all to understand,

simple for us for me to understand, because this is

something I realized that, Hey, do I make room for God?

I am here preaching or sharing the word of God,

but I have I made room for God? You know?

Is God still the center of my life? So all

of us have twenty How many hours in a day?

Does everyone have twenty four? The President of the United

States has how many hours in a day? Twenty four?

How many hours in a day? There's live I have, LEVI,

how many hours you have in a day? Okay, he's

not very sure. Okay, it's twenty four, LEVI remember that

all right. So, whether you're the president of the United

States or whether you are a kid, all of us

have twenty four hours. And that twenty four hours. We

choose what is important to us. When we feel that

twenty four hours, we filled it with what is important

to us. And you know that right now. If you

ask anybody, or most people, hey, so, how's work, how's life?

What's the what's the one of the most common things

that they will say, huh okay, some people say okay.

A lot of people who I asked, they will say

very busy. You ask a kid orso they will say,

very busy. You know. Now, also kids was all saying, well,

very stressed. So whether again, whether you're the president or

where you're a kid, we have the same amount of time,

and we choose what to fill that time with, right,

And most of the time we make things for what

is important to us. Okay, so you make things for

what is important to you. So what is important? What

are some of the things that is important to you?

You're like, how many likes exercising? No, so nobody got

room for exercise because you don't like it. But if

you say, hey, how many of y'all like to sleep?

Or always I got, I will make room for sleep, right,

you will make room for what is important to you. Right.

And if you have Okay, for those of us who

maybe you liked a guy or you liked a girl before. Right,

suddenly that person becomes the center. Everything that you do

revolves around that person. You make space. Everything else is

not important. Right. You make space for that person, and

because of that, that person becomes very important. Right. How

many of you all had a car breakdown recently? Do

you have a car breakdown recently? So when your car

breaks down, before your car breaks down? Right, if I

ask how many of y'all have time to bring your

car to the workshop, you say no, timeline, I got

no time to bring the car to the workshop. But

at the moment your car breaks down, what do you

do You find time? You find time to bring it

to the workshop, because suddenly it is important. And this

is the same with Jesus. Most of the time we

know that Jesus is important. He is God, He is

to be the center of our lives. But why is

it difficult for us to find room for him? Is

it because he is? Is he our priority? Or not? Right?

So today, like what I mentioned, there will be three

points that usually takes up space in our rooms. Okay,

so the first point, next light, the first room filler,

Remember the title of the room is got room. The

first room filler is plans. How many have Christmas plans?

You'll have Christmas plans. All of us have plans. And

when we have plans, we plan what we plan to

do this coming up for lunch, what we plan to

do in the coming year, what we plan, what our

kids do, we plan for our holidays. We have a

lot of plans and sometimes these plans take Because of

these plans, we plan our life according to it. Our

plans become our priority. Right. So I wanted to take

us through some verses from the Bible. Okay, thanks, So

this is from Luke one. So Luke one. It talks

about Mary. So, Mary, we know is the mother of Jesus,

and Mary had plans. She had plans like you and me.

All right, and let's see what happens. So the Angel

said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you

have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive

in your womb and bring forth a son, and call

his name Jesus. He will be great and will be

called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God

will give him the throne of his father David. And

he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and

of his kingdom, there will be no end. Then Mary

said to the Angel, how can this be? Since I

do not know a man? Okay, so I give you

a bay of contacts. Mary was probably in her mid

teens or close to a campus student at that time,

so at that time they married quite young, right, and

Mary was engaged to who Joseph, So she had a plan.

She wanted to get married to Joseph. She wanted to

have a wedding and then have kids. But what happened

to her plans? And angel appeared to her and said

that you are going to bear Jesus. And what did

Mary say? How can this be? Since I have not

known a man? So the word known here is she

has not married Joseph, so how can she conceive? How

can she conceive? So Mary's plans were up in the air. Again.

It was still a choice. It was still a choice

for Mary whether she wanted to follow God's plan or

she wanted to follow her plan. So what did Mary reply?

Next nighte and the Angel answered and said to her,

the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power

of the Highest will overshadow you. Therefore, also, the Holy

One who is to be born will be called Son

of God. Then Mary said, behold the maid servant of

the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.

And the angel departed from her. So Mary chose to

go along with God's plans. Can you imagine this. You're

about to be married and your fiance is Joseph, and

the Angel appears to you and say, hey, you're going

to have a baby. How would you respond? Would you respond?

So imagine if Mary had to go and tell Joseph, Hey, Joseph,

I know we're gonna get married, but you know what,

I'm already carrying a baby and it's God's son. How

would Joseph respond? You know, it's like all her plans

are suddenly changed. But you see how Mary responded. Mary said,

behold the maid servant of the Lord. Let it be

to me according to your word. And the Angel departed

from her. She says, okay, God, your plans. I will

go with your plans. She made room for God by

allowing God to come in and change her plans. Okay.

And if you see in the next verse, and Mary said,

my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced

in God, my savior, for he has regarded the lowly

state of the maid servant. For behold, henceforth all generations

shall call me blessed, for He is mighty, has done

great things for me, and holy is his name. So

when God went and changed Mary's plans? How did she respond?

She didn't get angry. She didn't get frustrated. A lot

of times when we make our plans and our plans

are changed or destroyed, what happens? We get so angry

and frustrated, and we get sometimes we even blame God.

We said that God, how come I plan all this?

I thought, this is your will? How come all these changed?

But you see from Mary, when her plans changed, she says,

my her soul magnifies the Lord. And she says that

my spirit has rejoiced to God, my savior. So can

you imagine this? When God changed her plans, she rejoiced.

How can you rejoice when God changed your plans? She

rejoiced because she knew that God is a good God.

She knew who God was, and she knew that although

she has plans, God's plans are always better. God's plans

are always greater. So when sometimes God knocks on our

doors and it changes our plans. Do we get angry

with him? Do we get frustrated? Or we say, God,

I will follow your plans because your plans are good.

Your plans. You are a faithful God, and you will

provide because the promises are said in Jeremiah nineteen eleven,

Next life, For I know the plans I have for you,

says the Lord. They are plans for good and not

for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

This is why Mary could rejoice when her plan failed,

because she trusted God's plans. When we make room for

God and open the door and he changes our plans,

do we rejoice? Because if we rejoice, then we regard

him as God, and we know that God is a

good God. His plans are good and not for disaster,

to give you a future and a hope. Right, So

this morning, right, there was also some drama that happened

this morning. Right, I'm not sure that there's a I

want to show you a bit of drama that happened

this morning. So is it showing? Right? So y'all are

all sitting here very comfortable and stuff like that, Right,

But just two hours before this, it was a totally

different story. This was the ballroom two hours ago. Right,

We were all getting ready to come to church, and

then suddenly we get a text and say that, hey,

the ballroom is occupied. We are not able to meet here.

You know, suddenly the plans changed. And then there's a

lot of tax going back and forth, a lot of

phone calls. How did we respond? We, I mean a

few of us, all of us was We still say

that God, you are in control. We might have had

to use a small room, but we know that God

your plans are good. And within two hours we transformed

this whole place into now where you're sitting. So give

a hand for those who have come early and just

put it all together. I tell you later I will

share a story about how our plans right now. Right,

I don't really plan, really, I think God, God, you

are in control, all right, And you can see that

this is a testimony. Do you know that today we

have more people than we have ever seen in ex clanging.

So God, we can plan. But God's plans are good

and God is the one God will give us a

future and a hope. So this morning, if you are

here and you feel that hey, my plans I have planned.

It has all gone down a drain. I've lost hope.

I tell you this morning that God is a good God,

and if you open your door to him, he will

give you a future and a hope. Okay. So the

first room filler was plans, so don't worry if your

plans are down the drain. Okay. The second one. So,

after you have plans, you got problems? How many of y'all?

Your planner your plan goes exactly one hundred percent. Then

you are a super planner. You plan exactly. Your plans

go one hundred percent. Okay, So let me read from

Luke one. Okay. So after Mary found out she was pregnant,

and then Joseph also, God revealed his plans to Joseph,

so they decided to get married, and now Mary was due. Okay,

ex clang, quite fruitful. A lot of the ladies here

have been pregnant before. There's always there's always babies. We

are always celebrating babies and baby dedications and stuff like it.

So think about it this way. You are eight months pregnant.

You're eight months pregnant or probably nine months. I think

it's probably nine months pregnant and you are supposed suddenly

that Houman issued a decree you need to go back

to your hometown and register yourself. Okay, if your hometown

was in Perlace. Just imagine sitting in the car for

seven hours, eight hours going down the police how would

you feel? You feel uncomfortable? Right, Mary had to sit

on a donkey, eight or nine months pregnant and go

from Nazareth to Bethlehem. That is about I think about

one hundred and fifty miles. There's a donkey walk or

run a donkey walks, so it was an agonizing slow

walk for Mary and Joseph. Right, so I read here.

So Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the

city of Nazareth into Judea, into the city of David,

which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house

of the lineage of David. So to be registered with Mary,

he betrothed his wife, who was with child. So it

was that while they were there, the days were completed

for her to be delivered, and she brought forth her

firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him

in a manger because there was no room for him

in the Inn. So imagine Mary. How would Mary have felt?

She was carrying the son of God. She had to

make a painful journey, and she had to deliver her

baby without any of her relatives around her. Her mom

was not there, she didn't have a midwife. I mean,

there was none mentioned in the Bible about hygiene. She

had to deliver in a manger. So she was faced

with so many problems. And a lot of times, when

we are faced with a lot of problems, we say

that God, I don't believe in your plan anymore. Your

plans are giving me a lot of problems and headache.

So I don't want to follow your plans. I will

close the door to you. But you can see that

for Joseph and Mary, because they knew who God was

and they prioritized God's plan, they still went along. They

still say that God, you are in control, all right.

Apart from that, they also faced other problems. What was

the other problem they faced next verse? The other problem

that they want to they will face is there was

somebody out to kill their son. You think you got problems.

Imagine you're just giving birth to your son, who is

the son of God, and there is somebody out. Somebody

who is really powerful out there to kill your son?

What do you do? When they heard the king, they departed.

So this was the wise man they were looking for Jesus.

They departed, and behold, the star which they had seen

in the east, went before them till it came and

stood over where the young child was. And when they

saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And

when they had come into the house they saw the

young child with Mary his mother fell down and worshiped him.

And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts

to him gold Frankinson's and Mr. Then, being Divine, finally

warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod.

They departed for their own country another way. So you

can see, right, even when they following God's plans doesn't

mean that we do not have problems. We have problems,

but God is in control. Because if you see the

verse here, verse twelve, being divinely warned in a dream,

no matter who is against you, if God is for you,

no weapon formed against you will prosper. If God wants

you alive, you are alive no matter what people throw

your way, So don't worry if your plans have changed.

Don't worry if you're faced with problem. As long as

we are following what God wants us to do, he

is in control. Right, and the promise in the Bible

says next verse Philippians four. So Philippians four, when we

are faced with problems, the first thing we do is worry. Right,

the Bible says, don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need, thank him for all he

has done. Then you will experience God's peace with exceeds

anything we can understand. His peace will God your hearts

and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now,

dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts

on what is true, honorable, right, and pure, lovely and admirable.

Think of things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Kick putting into practice all you have learned and received

from me, every thing you heard from me and saw

me doing. Then the God of Peace will be with you.

If you know that the God of Peace with is

with you, no matter what comes your way, you have peace.

You can have all the riches of the world and

not have peace, and you will feel not complete, but

with the God of peace. When problems come away, and

when we open the door to him, he will give

us peace. And peace is one of the things that

everyone in the world is looking for. Do you know

that they look for peace either through money, through sex,

through drugs, through position, through power. Why because you want

to be in control. But if we something ourselves and

say that God, you are in control, and you know

that he has a good plan for you, you will be

at peace. So that's the second thing that we have

to be aware of. And the third point the room

feels sometimes when the problems don't draw us away from God,

you know what draws us away from God prosperity. And

that was the example that was just now shown in

the play. Sometimes God blesses us, we pray to him,

God blesses us, and when we blesses us, we forget

about him. And then we say, God, I think you've

done your part. Now leave it to me. You know.

So prosperity is a test of character. Do we still

believe in God? Or do we believe in our riches?

So the vers here next slight So Matthew two again

this the three Wise Men. After Jesus was born in

Bethlehem and of Judea. In the days of Herod the

King Behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,

where is he who has been born King of the Jews?

For we have seen his star in the east and

have come to worship him. These wise men, they were rich,

they were one of the richest people on earth, but

they still left everything to seek God. So they didn't

allow their riches, their titles to say that, a I

have arrived, I have everything I need. I don't need

God anymore. They still knew that, hey, God is still

the most important thing I need. And do you know

how long the wise men traveled for I think they

said it was close to two years. They traveled from

the east to the west looking for God. And that's

why they say, for we have seen his star in

the east, and what they have come to do. They

have come to worship Him. So they they didn't put

their faith and trust in things, but they still knew

that God is the one that provided for them. He

has done it before and he will do it again,

and that's why they seek to worship him. So do

we close the door to God once we have everything

that we need? Do we treat God as a genie

or do we treat God as God? Because if we

treat God as a genie, once we get everything we want,

we say that, Okay, you've done your part, now let

me do my part. And you say, God, you're not

important anymore. And that's what stops us from inviting God

into our hearts. So but what does the Bible say

firstimoty six, next verse? But the people who long to

be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many

and foolish, harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

For the love of money is the root of all

kinds of evil, and some people craving money have wandered

from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrow.

So again, money is not evil. But the love of

money is one of the why the most walls start.

It's because of money the world. There is so much

war and fighting going on. It's because of money and power.

So what the Bible says is true, if you love it,

it will bring you destruction. But if you love God,

you have a future and a hope. So what would

you want. Do you want destruction or do you want

a future and a hope. You know you can have

wealth and a future and a hope. You know how

by putting our faith in God and knowing that no

matter what comes away, we will have ups and downs,

but God is in control. Right, So even as I

just draw towards a close, so the summarize, right, these

are the three points that I've shared. Making room for Jesus.

His plans are greater and they are good. If we

recognize these three truths right, we will of course make

room for God. Why wouldn't you want to make room

for God when you know that his plans are greater

and they are good. Second one, the peace of God

will be with us through it all. How many of

us needs peace? I need peace. I'm telling you every

day I need peace. Every day I need peace. And

if I need peace, I need to let Jesus into

my life. And the third part is seek God and

He will give us everything we need, not everything we want,

but everything we need. So looking at these three truths,

would you want to say, God, I have room for you.

Come into my life. God has a good plan for you.

He will provide for all your needs, and he will

give you the peace that surpasses all understanding to God

our hearts. So even as I draw to wes close,

I invite the band up. I just wanted to share

a story as a family, so someone we all may know,

someone we all may not know. So as I was preparing,

we are coming towards the end of the year, right,

So I was looking back at the year. Then I

was thinking, wow, December twenty twenty three, December twenty three,

can you all remember December twenty Industree, what you'all were

doing and stuff like that. It's good to take stock.

So let me tell us what our journey. So in

December twenty three, we as a family, we were going

through different stages of our lives. First of all, there

were there was there were a lot of challenges when

it came to parenting. Right. If y'all know, you'll know

a lot of it is in Spotify in my other

sermons that I shared. We were facing a lot of

challenges in parenting, right. Uh. It really took an emotional

toll on us. It took a financial toll on nurse. Yeah,

it really cost a lot of strife. Apart from that,

suddenly we found ourselves a single income family because at

that time, Jazz Company went through some restructuring and suddenly

I was the sole breadwinner at that time. And to

top it all off, we suddenly found ourselves not having

a school for one of our kids because it just

wasn't the right fit and we couldn't we couldn't find

the right school because of the different needs and challenges

that he was facing. So in December last year, all

that was going through our minds, all that was going

through our plan. So when we look at it, I

was like, how do I even plan for twenty twenty four?

How do I even plan for twenty twenty four? I

can't plan. Everything is not going according to plan. But

what we did as a family said that God, you

are in control. You are in control. Our plans have failed,

We're going through so many problems, but Lord, you are

going You are a God that will supply for every

meed and you know what to find at school. Al

So it will cost us a bomb. It will cost

us like probably five times what we're paying right now

to find a school to cater for those needs. So

it really took a huge But even as we surrendered God,

I said that God, I'm going to let go and

let God, because even if I worry about it, I

can't do anything. But God, I'm going to claim to

your promises. Your promises is that you are a good God.

You will give us a future and hope, and you

will provide for our every need in church, I just

wanted to testify. Then, you know that we actually found

a school, found a school with teachers who utually look

at him and care for him and nurture him in

such a way that it was even difficult for us

as parents. But they have that sort of passion for him.

Apart from that, just found a job and it was

a job that paid her even more than what she

was let go previously. And although she was in between jobs,

the company that let her go still paid her bonus,

still paid her bonus, and that is unheard of. I mean,

you left the company for a few months, Why should

I pay you? You know, but the company is still

paid bonus. And if you ask me, how is it

all possible? How is it that we are still standing

right here? It's because we believe in God's plans. He's

a good God. He has a future and a hope

for us whatever will come our way. He is in

control and what we want is peace, because I'd rather

have the peace of God with problems then no peace

and no problems. And above our I know He will

supply all our needs according to His riches in glory.

So this morning, even as we have heard the word,

are you ready to let Jesus into your life? Do

you have room for Jesus? First of all, Christians are

speaking to you as well. Let's not just be Christians

by whatever we feel in in a form, but Christian

is little Christ and you're putting Christ at the center

of our lives. Have we pushed Jesus out? If we have,

Let's let him back in. Let's clear things that are

not meant to be there. Let's make room for Jesus.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

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this week is going to be a good week. I

hit for you. God bless