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00:00 Good morning. Last week, Pastor Pax spoke and he wore a green shirt from
00:06 Sarowak. So, nobody complained. Wrote emails to the church.
00:12 But no, actually, there's a story for this shirt. This shirt comes all the way from Ghana, Africa. And I'm going to
00:18 tell you the story of of of of this shirt in a while. But before we do that,
00:23 uh we want to make some announcement. The the church desires biblically to
00:32 have its leaders pray over you. This is a mandate of the church. Now we have
00:38 tried many ways. Alter calls, opening a room upstairs, inviting you in front and
00:44 that is really our heartfelt desire. We don't want to do it to embarrass anyone.
00:51 We don't want to you to be afraid that we're going to spill your secrets to everyone. So we're always trying to get
00:58 it right. So today we're going to try another method until we get it right. So you see there there's some hospital
01:04 screens at the corner. Now in a sense all of us are spiritually ill. We all need to have doctors at the end of the
01:10 service. We're going to pull that out. Now if it doesn't work, we'll try again.
01:16 But but understand our heart. We we are going to do an alter call at the end of it. Uh if you come or you don't come it
01:22 doesn't make you a better person or not a better person but uh do come if you
01:28 don't feel embarrassed do feel do come if you feel led by the spirit and those of you are uncomfortable of it at the
01:35 end we'll open the the hospital screens and we'll be there. All right. Okay. Um
01:41 now when you when you speak about Christmas inevitably one of these stories will
01:47 come out. You will have the story of uh the wise men or you have the story of
01:53 the manger the smell of Christmas as what uh pastor pex told us last week or
01:58 you will have Mary and Joseph or Zechariah one of the characters or you
02:04 have the shepherds and the story of the star. You cannot tell Christmas without
02:11 one of these stories. Now, what if we say we try to tell Christmas without
02:17 referring to any of this? How will the story come across? You see, they say
02:23 there's always two sides to any story. This is a story from this side of earth.
02:30 But if you're in heaven and you're an angel, the backdoor story will be only one
02:37 line. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. Is extremely powerful. They
02:45 call this the incarnation. And I pray this morning that God's word will go out and speak to me and you and
02:53 we really have a meaningful Christmas as we prepare for this coming Thursday. Let's come before God in prayer. Lord,
03:01 we thank you for the Christmas season. We thank you. The word became flesh.
03:08 And right now as your word goes out, may it just take root in us. And ask Lord
03:15 that your glory be shown and not us, not the cleverness of a man up here. Make me
03:22 Lord just as a jar of clay. Remove all pride. Grant us attentive years. Grant
03:29 fingers that want to use their handful loans to play games
03:34 or to do other things humbly not to do it. We say this in love, not to judge.
03:40 But for the next 40 minutes, we pray for your word to just come out and just work
03:46 in us. Jesus name we say this. Amen. Christmas is around the corner and you
03:53 cannot help it but there's excitement. You know why? Because it's a it's the timing of Christmas. Christmas is the
03:60 end of the year. Everybody's on holiday. Everybody's in the mood. Some people very stressed because haven't done
04:05 Christmas presents. Some people stressed because haven't ordered the turkey. So all very Chinese called kjong. Very
04:13 worked up. Oh, so much hustle and bustle and lights and glitter. Amidst all of
04:19 that, in the first Christmas, Mary says, "But Mary treasured up all these things
04:25 and pondered them in a heart." There's there is a place to be very quiet at
04:30 Christmas. I want to tell you the story of this church.
04:35 Few years ago on Christmas day, a few of our brothers were in prison.
04:43 That's that's the truth. We we have a ministry among the African students and I think uh pastor Rama remembers this.
04:50 Brother Prince, brother Brite was in prison. Sister M I mean Moren knows this and I sat down
04:59 with Prince after he was released from prison. Prince gave me this shirt. So
05:04 every time I wear it, I remember him. You see, he's now back in Ghana. And he told me, you know, on Christmas he was
05:11 thinking all of you here having makan. That's the only word he knew was African
05:17 of Malaysia. Makan and all of the festivities. And here he
05:22 was stuck in prison. Why? Because he and a few of them tried to be funny and worked illegally. So they were caught
05:28 and thrown in there. The college was going to bail them out in the next few days. But unfortunately for few days
05:35 stuck in prison. So on Christmas day he was stuck in his cell uh looking at four
05:41 walls with two other Africans. So what did they do? They started to sing.
05:46 Nothing else to do sing. The police guy got so offended came to
05:51 him and told him to shut up. Afterward say no it's Christmas. They went off singing. Wow. So he came in there with a
05:57 bon and hit him on his legs you know and they pull him out of that cell. Oh, I remember this story vividly because in
06:04 in and this is this is Sumang prison the lock up you want I can I can bring you there because I I went try to bail him
06:10 out. So I know where the lock up is even and they put him in another part where it was isolation you know it's like it's
06:16 like cold turkey they threw him there he was all alone because they thought he was a troublemaker so prince told me his
06:23 Christmas was very miserable he was all alone dark and lonely but it got him
06:28 thinking and he thought and he thought and he thought and I think sister Moren
06:34 will tell you this when prince came out because after that there was a long adventure brother Rama went all the way
06:40 to to Sunabulo detention to try to spring bright out. It was real adventure
06:46 all sort of thing. But Prince came out a change man and Prince came out a godlier
06:52 man. Now I want to start off with this story. You know you can have the best Christmas ever
06:58 but in many sense it will be your worst because it means nothing. You can have the best turkey, best macan, best
07:06 everything. It means nothing. You can have your worst Christmas stuck in the
07:12 prison cell, but it can be your best. Why? Because God speaks to you. And this
07:18 morning, I pray that God speaks to you. And I ask we quieten ourselves. And there's some very wonderful words here
07:24 to pick up. Now here, let's stretch it. Now, my wife always say nowadays, I'm very longwinded and all my messages very
07:30 doom and gloom. So, I promise her no doom and gloom and I won't be so longwinded. So, I'm going to preach only
07:35 on one verse, but this goes for one hour. I have a problem. And I'm only going to preach on verse
07:41 14. The rest is background. And look at the way John says it. The word became
07:47 flesh and made his dwelling among us. No shepherds, no Joseph, no Mary, no wise
07:56 men, nothing. Why? Deliberate. You got to ask yourself why.
08:02 Now you see that the other three gospels normally tell us historically but John has intentions. It's not that he forgot
08:09 Mary's name. He deliberately didn't want to bring this up. So that's the first point. Why he has int intention and I'm
08:17 going to tell it to you later. The secondly and more interestingly is his choice of words. I mean the word
08:26 the Greek translates this as logos. You know with a library up there we call it logos. The word. coin. Why not the
08:32 feeling, the concept? Nowadays, all about concepts. The idea became flesh,
08:39 the experience, but the word. Now, the word logos has a few meaning behind it.
08:46 We get the root word logic from it. So, it has something to do with the rational
08:52 faculty. And the Greeks, Aristotal use it in his rhetoric, what he called
08:58 philosophical discussion. The stoic philosophers use this in spiritual
09:03 matters. Now let me explain what it means. It has the connotation literally a word. It has the connotation of
09:10 rational thinking. Let me just give you a very very silly example. Here is your
09:16 elder Dr. Peter. Let me ask you a question. How does Dr. Peter drink his
09:22 coffee? Fair question, right? Does he drink it black? Uh the youth are here. What do
09:28 you think? Does he drink it with one or two sugar? What does our youth think?
09:35 He likes what? He likes latte. Okay.
09:42 Now, how do they come to that? It could be because they see Dr. Peter taking
09:48 latte or you could look at Dr. Peter and say, you know, this guy is a is a specialist
09:54 doctor always very worried about your bladder. So maybe he takes it black.
10:00 Or you think, you know, this guy likes to eat a lot. He runs around everywhere. He needs energy. So he takes three sugars.
10:07 But what's the best way of finding out how he likes his coffee? Peter, how do you like your coffee? He doesn't care.
10:16 How do I now know? Because he just told me. So there goes your latte.
10:21 It is a very stupid illustration, but it's the simplest illustration. What is God trying to tell you? How do I know
10:28 how Peter likes his coffee and Peter just said, "Who cares? Peter just told me."
10:34 So what's the verse trying to tell you? It means God speaks
10:39 or God reveals. Is it very important point? Because you
10:45 you think about God. No, you ask anyone out there, they'll tell you I think God is fill in the blank. Can be anything.
10:52 God is a spirit. God is this. God is that whatever he thinks like I think he
10:57 likes latte he likes cappuccino he likes black coffee likes what doesn't matter what you think but if God speaks
11:05 then God is telling you that's the first thing about Christmas God speaks what
11:12 does God speak now you look at the way John is structured he begins it with in
11:19 the beginning was the word where else in the Bible Oh, do you get a verse similar
11:24 like this? Genesis chapter what? Verse one. The language is creation language
11:32 deliberately. But how did God create a world? Did he
11:38 wave his hand and push? What did he do? He spoke.
11:44 Let there be light. And there was light. So when God speaks, there's life. So
11:52 that's the first point we pick up. Let's do a bit of theology before go
11:57 application because it's very powerful. The second is this word dwell. And of all the words John chooses the
12:05 Greek translation is pitch a 10. I mean why why don't just say he lived
12:11 with us. Instead deliberately he says pitch a tent.
12:17 Now he then uses another word. We have seen his glory. That's a very powerful
12:23 word. If you if you are a Jew, those are mean words. You don't simply say you
12:30 have seen God's glory. Now, let's let's look at a bit of those of you who know your Bible.
12:36 Where in the Old Testament were there a tent that was pitched
12:44 and God's glory filled that tent? What's that 10 called?
12:50 Tabernacle is right off the text is not even
12:55 hinting it. And in fact, if you know your Old Testament and you read Exodus
13:00 33 is a parallel reading of it because Exodus 33, Moses sees part of the glory
13:08 of God. Part. Yeah. Okay. So, this is how it is. Why is he trying to tell us
13:14 this? Why is he saying in not so many words
13:19 that the word became flesh and tabernacled with us?
13:25 Now the tabernacle is simply this. Now remember this. You know the Israelites are on a journey. They
13:33 don't know how they're going. They are not sure. They are frightened out of
13:39 Egypt. What does God do? God gives them a cloud in the daytime, pillar of fire
13:45 at night. Then Moses tells God, look, I need to see your glory.
13:51 And then God tells him, you can see the back of it. Then he give tells Moses,
13:56 you know what? We do a tabernacle and then your people will know I am in your
14:02 presence. So what is John telling us? John is telling us not only does God
14:09 communicate, God wants his presence in our lives
14:15 because life is a journey. That's very powerful. So God wants to reveal himself
14:21 to you and God wants his presence in our lives. Now here's the third point I'm going to pick up as we go on. In the
14:29 tabernacle, not every Tom, Dick, and Harry goes in. Who goes in? only Aaron
14:36 who in a sense beholds the glory of God the Levites.
14:42 And here he says this. What does he say? We have seen his glory.
14:50 Why is that glory? A baby. No more priests, no more ves,
14:57 no more layers after layers. Everyone can see his glory. It's extremely
15:03 powerful. So God's word revealed in this world, God's presence known in this world. How
15:10 does he do it? There's a book written by CS Lewis and he talks about tao from taing from laer.
15:19 You'd be surprised a lot of Christian authors to Louisis all refer to
15:25 and this is what he says. He said the Chinese also speak of a great thing called the toao. It is nature. It is the
15:32 way, the road. Now I want to ask you, especially if you're a Chinese scholar, do you know how the word tao is
15:39 translated into English? Wikipedia tells us this. No, the Chinese translation of
15:46 the New Testament logos is translated with the Chinese word.
15:53 I can't read Chinese. I can't verify but you can Google up Wikipedia indicating that the translators consider
15:60 the concept of tao to be somewhat equivalent to logos. Now what is C Lou
16:05 saying? He's saying God is so big, you are so small. How are you going to
16:11 comprehend God's presence? How are you going to comprehend God speaking to you? It could be your own imagination. You
16:17 know people say I think God told me. How do you know God told you? Just your imagination. I feel God. Maybe you just
16:23 been drinking too much. You see, how do you know? And so CS Lewis says at the
16:28 end of the book, the towel is Jesus. What is he saying? He's saying the word
16:34 is also the way, the road, the mediator between God and man. So let's put it
16:41 down. Jesus Christ is God's word to this world. Jesus Christ is God's presence in
16:47 this world. To know God is to know Jesus. It's is as simple as that and as
16:53 and as profound. What is the best way to know God through a person? The word
17:00 became flesh. There's a very old story about uh people saying about this elephant. It's a very famous Indian
17:07 illustration. So in India they use that they say blind people go to an elephant and you ask a blind man what's an
17:13 elephant like? So the blind man will touch the elephant. He say oh this one touch the tus and he says is you know
17:18 it's like this. The other guy t touched the trunk and says something else. The guy touches the tail and says a snake.
17:25 What's the point? The point being is that the elephant is so big you can't make it out. Now the illustration is
17:32 always used to talk about God. God is so big and we are so small you cannot make
17:38 out God. But here's the point what John is trying to say. What if you weren't
17:43 blind? You will be able to make out the elephant, right? Yeah. Okay. You see the elephant. Here's what John's saying. So
17:51 what? So what? You see the elephant. Did your life change? Your life didn't change.
17:58 So the point John is saying is to know God is to have a relationship with him.
18:05 A relationship where you feel his presence. A relationship where his word brings you life. If not, it has no
18:13 meaning. And that's very powerful. And I pray this morning as you go away today
18:20 at the end of this service, you sense God's presence, you sense God speaking to you. How do you know it's not your
18:27 emotion, your conscience, your own imagination is got to speak and
18:32 experience Jesus. How does that happen? Let me just give you an another example.
18:39 You have to be able to pick up who Jesus is. Here's a reading from G about the
18:44 about Christmas from a Syrian monk called Alopen and this is 600 AD. The Lord of heaven
18:53 sent a cool wind to a girl named Moen. It entered a womb and at the moment she
18:59 conceived. The Lord of heaven did this to show that conception could take place without a husband. He knew there was no
19:06 man near her and that people who saw it would say, "How great is the power of the Lord of heaven." Moan became present
19:13 and gave birth to a son named Jesus whose father is the cool wind. 600 AD
19:20 and you can tell from this description is Chinese.
19:25 At the height of the Tong dynasty under Emperor Taong,
19:30 monks from Persia came and had official sanction for 150 years. They flourished
19:37 in Zean. In fact, Elohop is described in what they called a steel in the museum
19:43 there. He's very famous in Zean. And these writings he wrote collectively came to be called the Jesus sutras or
19:51 the sutras of Jesus. Now today we're not talking about how to make communication
19:57 to various culture. But I want to tell you what Alopan wrote. He just wrote about Christmas. This is what he writes
20:03 about the cross. For the sake of all living beings and to show us that a living life is as frail as a candle
20:10 flame. The Messiah gave up his body to the people of unh wholesome karma. For
20:16 the sake of the living in this world, he gave up his life. After the Messiah had accepted death, his anemies seized the
20:24 Messiah and took him to a secluded spot, washed his hair and climbed to the place
20:30 of skulls which was called Gota to give one's life like the Messiah is a mark of
20:36 great faith. Notice what's missing in what they wrote. Because when you write
20:42 it, you know what he's writing Jesus as? He's writing Jesus as a human being.
20:48 Because Alopan is what you call a Neestoran monk and the Netorians believe
20:54 God had a dual nature. Meaning when he was on earth he wasn't God he was just a
21:02 man. So this morning we have to ask ourself who is Jesus to you? Let me go
21:09 back to Philillip. Jesus said I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father
21:16 except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my father as well. From now on, you do know him and have
21:22 seen him. Philip said, Lord, show us the father and there will be enough for us.
21:28 Now, Philip is thinking like Alopan. He's saying, you know what, Jesus, you're just a prophet. You're a rabbi.
21:36 You're a good man, but you're not God. Show us God. And Jesus says, "Don't you
21:43 know me, Philillip, even after I've been among you such a long time. Anyone who
21:48 has seen me has seen the father." Powerful words. And Jesus is simply
21:54 telling Philillip, if you see me, you see God. I am the presence of God. I am
22:02 the word of God. Are you settling for a lesser Jesus? In
22:07 the beginning was the word. What does it mean? It means Jesus is eternal. He is
22:13 not the created building being. Jehovah witnesses tell us Jesus is not God.
22:19 Here's the first verse very clearly. In the beginning was the word. He's eternal. Then it gets more complex. The
22:27 word was with God. Meaning Jesus is separate. The word is separate. He's in
22:33 relationship with God. Then it gets even more complicated. The word was God.
22:39 Meaning the word is divine. The word is God. Now at this point our brain stops
22:44 thinking you know hey you Christians very illogical. You got one god or you got three god correct or not. And this
22:52 is something everybody struggles with don't understand. You Christian don't know why you say one god three god don't
22:57 know how many gods you have. Oh no god is one or god is one or god is also three. Don't make sense. And that's why
23:04 it's important to understand why the word is revealed.
23:10 The Bible doesn't bother to explain it to you. It is what it is.
23:16 You can spend up to midnight arguing with a guy. You'll never get it done. The more you argue is worse. God is one.
23:24 God is father, son, and spirit. But God is one. And it
23:30 goes on, through him all things were made. The word is God's agent in creation. Jesus brings life. What kind
23:36 of life? The other verse. In him was life. Through him we have life. That life was the light of all mankind. He
23:43 will expose our sins to give us the life we want. That's what the light does. And then the word became a person. Now this
23:52 is very important. And I know to some of you this is very boring. But you see before you can go to application.
23:58 Everyone say no you're very theology very heavy. We want application. You can't have application if your theology
24:05 is wrong. Meaning your your beliefs are wrong. You see, if Jesus is God, that's
24:11 extremely significant. Now, a lot of us say it, but it's here is not here. You know why? Because you come to church, it
24:18 just bang down your throat. Jesus is God. Jesus is God. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You don't
24:23 you don't believe it. But the moment you believe it, the consequences are
24:28 incredible. Let me give you example. Ma Gandhi is a great man.
24:36 He wasn't a Christian. He was a great man. Ma Gandhi inspires us. Correct.
24:44 Steve Jobs is a great man. He inspires us. Some people say
24:52 uh Mahhat is a great man. Very careful about words.
24:58 But you you have your choice. You can choose who you want. What's what am I trying to tell you? Great people inspire
25:06 you. God is not asking you to be inspired by Jesus. You know, there's a
25:12 big difference. You know, he's asking you to have Jesus in your life. Huge
25:18 difference. And the moment you absorb that that he
25:23 is God and he is man,
25:29 the implications in your life are tremendous. And here's why I'm being so
25:35 long-winded on this. Because I think a lot of us mentally we see, yeah, Jesus
25:40 is God, but we don't really get it and we settle for a lesser Jesus. And our
25:46 lives show it because the moment you believe this, it is all or nothing.
25:54 No halfway measures. And the reason why many people come to church, sit at the
25:59 back, play their headphones, and I'm not here to judge you and don't bother, cross their fingers and say, "Yo, will
26:05 you hurry up?" It's because you're settling for a lesser Jesus. And I want
26:11 to ask you this morning, Jesus is God. Absorb that. And once you do that, the
26:19 implications in your life are lifech changing. I want to give you three areas
26:25 how this is going to change you. And these are three gifts. I pray you have just like prince sat in the prison quiet
26:33 and lonely and God spoke to him. What happens when the word made flesh? Three
26:39 things he's going to give you today. He is wonderful counselor. He's the giver of grace. And he's the servant king.
26:46 Let's look at the first one. You see the word means vulnerable. When you say
26:51 flesh, he becomes fleshy. Meaning you can hit him, you can stab
26:57 him, you can push him, you can crucify him. There's a very old song by this
27:03 woman 10 years ago by Joan Osburn says, "What if God was one of us? Just a slob
27:10 like one of us. Just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home." Well,
27:17 he is. He pitched a tent. He didn't stay in a hotel. When I pitch a 10, I have to
27:23 borrow your toothbrush. I have to get into your life. I'm fleshy and I'm in
27:30 your life. Let me try to go there a bit deeper. In 1968,
27:35 a woman called Kitty Govis was murdered. This is extremely famous story. What
27:42 happened was this was as she was walking towards her apartment and there's a picture of apartment. She was stabbed by
27:49 a man and as she was being stabbed, she screamed out. She says, "Help me. I'm
27:55 being stabbed." And lights went on. It's a very famous story. As the lights went off up there, people looked down and
28:02 they say, "Go away. Go. Get away." And the guy ran.
28:08 Now, you know what happens after that? Did anybody come down to rescue her? She
28:13 was bleeding. Did anybody come down to open the door? No one did, you know. And Kitty Genovves went to the front door.
28:20 The door was locked for some reason. So, she went to the back. The story is the
28:26 man came back. go and look it up in Wikipedia if you don't believe me. It's a very sad story
28:32 and he looked for her and he found her at the back
28:37 and now he assaulted her and then stabbed her. The story became so famous
28:44 her name is immortalized as what you call the Gobis syndrome and I think it's something we all
28:49 suffer. You know what it tells us? It means people looked down
28:56 and didn't risk their lives. They did not risk their lives.
29:02 2,000 years ago, God looked down.
29:07 He looked down and he saw us helpless in
29:13 sin. And he didn't just risk his life. He
29:19 came down to give his life. He became flesh
29:24 that could be stabbed, assaulted, and crucified.
29:30 That's extremely powerful. And Hebrews tell us this. We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize
29:37 or weakness. We have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are. Yet he did not
29:45 sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence. You notice
29:51 there's tabernacle language again. You know, no more will straight to God so
29:57 that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our times of need. Let me
30:04 give you lesson number one on this. God empathizes with your pain, your
30:11 suffering, your temptation because he came down, love came down and
30:19 suffered worse than Kitty Genovi. Point one, got
30:25 to really take this home. You say you suffer. Who in this room
30:34 including me can say we suffer more than Jesus? Who died on the cross painfully
30:40 mocked? Don't ever say God doesn't understand.
30:46 God understands. Point two, you say, "Annor, I pray, you
30:51 know, God didn't answer my prayer." What happened at the garden of
30:56 Gethsemane? What did Jesus do? He prayed. What did he pray? God, take this
31:03 away from me. Did God take it away? No.
31:09 He knows what's it like to have your prayer wish denied.
31:14 That's why his wonderful counselor Isaiah was right. Then you say, "Anel, I
31:19 don't know how to pray." Not like you or you talk say meaning you talk machine
31:25 gun. You talk a lot. I don't know how to talk. Sister Cindy shared me a story. Where's sister Cindy? Is she here? I
31:32 want to embarrass her a bit. She was wonderful. She shared me with a story how one day she held a sister's
31:39 hand and just didn't let go. And the sister wanted to share. Words couldn't come out. Just held like that. It was at
31:46 a prayer meeting. It was a wonderful story. In Mark 2, a very famous story of
31:53 a paralytic coming down from a roof and Jesus says, "Your sins are forgiven."
32:00 Now, you must understand something about the Bible. Jesus never says your sins are forgiven unless what? There's
32:07 repentance. There's right through scripture, you know. So, what does that text tell us in
32:13 Mark 2? It's a very powerful text. It means this. Jesus saw his heart. He knew
32:20 this was a man who was repentant. So even if he didn't open his mouth, Jesus
32:27 says, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Jesus is wonderful counselor
32:34 because even if you're in so much pain, you don't know what to say,
32:43 he understands. I I I take that to heart. You know why? Because I have had the privilege of having people pray ask
32:50 me to pray for. I mean that's one of those things of being a speaker and sometimes whether it's a room upstairs
32:55 or in front people share me stories and I don't know what to say. I say God I
33:00 lost. I don't understand it. And sometimes when they share with you after
33:06 the third sentence they break down and they say and I don't know what to say.
33:11 And I want to tell you if you're in that position, I only want to say this.
33:16 Analym doesn't understand. Neither does Peter or anyone. Here's the good news.
33:22 Jesus understands. So if you come to pray afterwards,
33:28 you don't even have to say it. You just say, "Anel, I have some issues. I will tell you the wonderful counselor knows."
33:38 Then you don't have to worry about me telling your secrets to the whole world. Which is one of the biggest worry people have. Don't come in front. I don't trust
33:45 you. No honor, you're blubber mouth. I I like to believe I'm not. But the point is that. So hear this. Jesus
33:53 understands. So first gift. Jesus is called wonderful counselor. Let's move
33:59 on. But let me just finish with this song. The young people I hope you sing this one day. It's a song by Carrie
34:05 Joby. It says this, "If my heart is overwhelmed and I cannot hear your
34:10 voice," and sometimes we hear this, right? "I hold on to what is true though
34:15 I cannot see. If the storms of life they come
34:21 and the road ahead gets steep, I will lift these hands in faith, I will
34:28 believe. I'll remind myself of all that you've done and the life I have because
34:36 of your son. Love came down and rescued me. Love came down and set me free. I am
34:45 yours. Whatever you're going through, 2,000 years ago, the lights went on in
34:52 heaven and love came down. not just risking their life but gave his life. Jesus
34:60 wonderful counselor worship team I really hope one day we play this do this song fantastic song let's go on next
35:07 point we are looking about gifts and Christmas is about gifts everyone is having presents my wife is very stressed
35:14 because haven't bought presents she's probably not the only one is all about buying gifts what to give for this
35:20 person that person or the auntie uncle all all are very very stressful you all
35:27 understand that So let's talk about gifts. And quite interesting as Jesus gave his gift of
35:33 his son, he ends with this word grace and truth. Meaning gifts has got to do
35:39 with grace and truth. Now he expands this in 2 Corinthians when he's talking
35:44 to a church which is very poor called the Maconia church and he says for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
35:51 that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor. That's a key word.
35:58 So that you through his poverty might become rich. Now here's a lesson to all
36:04 of us upper middle class that Jesus for our sake became poor. This Christmas
36:11 when you give remember it's not just about money you know because what did Jesus give? Why did the word become
36:18 flesh? He gave himself. Christmas banquet will happen on
36:24 Christmas day. out there there will be people of the nations there may be people from
36:31 Pakistan from Nepal from Africa
36:36 giving ourselves sometimes simply means going over them and to say hello that's
36:43 all because we tend to have a holy huddle among ourselves and the holy huddle
36:50 prevents us for giving out and jerk says this the Christian spirit does not shine
36:55 out in a Christian snob and I pray FBC is not made out of
37:01 Christian snobs. You know when you're upper middle class and all same kakinang
37:06 Chinese call it same color skin you tend to migrate birds of a feather do that right for the Christian spirit is a
37:13 spirit of those who like their master live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor and on
37:21 Thursday I pray we do that I think God's not asking too much go out to someone
37:27 you haven't spoken to speak to someone from the Tamil ministry Speak to someone
37:32 who is lost and lonely. Don't speak to your your own type. Don't be a snob. You
37:40 spending and being spent to encourage your fellow men. Giving time, trouble, care and concern to do good to others
37:47 and not just their own friends. That key word you want to underline there. Not just their own friends in whatever way
37:54 they may be. The word became flesh so that we can learn to be poor like Jesus
37:60 did. But here's the interesting thing about this text and to go back to John. You see the purpose of giving is grace.
38:07 You know sometime we forget that and when Paul wrote this you know who he was
38:13 describing who as example the Macedonian church. The Macedonian church was the
38:18 poorest of the church. Now here's something very revelatory. You know what he's saying? He's saying the poor people
38:24 also must give. Even if you're dirt poor, rotten,
38:31 completely in a state of bad state, you give. Now,
38:37 let me give you example why this is quite important. Because when you talk about giving, there's givers and takers.
38:43 And sometime you give out a kind heart, but your intention sometimes may not give the result. Because why? Why do you
38:49 give? You give so that God's grace is shown. Let me give you a simple example.
38:56 See I come from a third world country I won't mention the name can be any third world country and in that third world
39:02 country I pray I pray don't mention a god and I'm brought up if I pray I get
39:09 things understand that I I I used to I used as a young man I used to go temple you pray
39:15 to pray but say pray pray pray pray my study go better I pray my mom's help my dad's health I pray pray if I pray I
39:22 offer sacrifice I get stuff correct Right. Now this guy comes to FBC and he
39:28 becomes a Christian because Dr. Peter preached the good word to him. He goes to alpha.
39:33 Okay. This was provoked a bit. Now after that he tells you his story
39:38 and he comes from a very poor family. He's been bashed around. The employers are treat him like dirt. You being a
39:44 very kind FBC person you're so charm you know. give money after give money give
39:52 TV then give computer give iPad oh very good you know what you have done
39:60 if I'm him oh very good this church you know what you have just done to him you
40:06 must understand he comes from a background where if he prays he gets stuff he's a young Christian your
40:14 overshadowing of love do you think you have shown him grace you have just made
40:19 him out that God is Santa Claus. God has just become Santa Claus
40:27 is a very powerful thing what Paul is saying. So Paul saying yes give just don't give money sometimes.
40:34 It's extremely important. So you must ask yourself when you give
40:39 why sometime people give to me they feel good. They don't tell you so much by I give money I give oh they're very poor I
40:44 give you money write you how much you want write you a check. All you do the guy say, "Very good, man. I better go to
40:50 the dick church and do the same stop story. I go to 10 churches. I make a lot of money, man. I got a scam going here." Hallelujah.
40:58 Now, let me just hammer this in. This is really important. Yesterday, I went to a
41:03 service. This was the flyer. Now, I'm going to be very careful my words.
41:08 And in this service, this language was spoken.
41:14 Very careful. And the majority everyone who came to this service was from a country
41:23 where if you're a Christian you are super minority. You you get my wordsh
41:30 I was very privileged to ask to attend. I went there because it was David Adam's fault. Where's David Adam? I blame David
41:36 Adam entirely for this. Where David Adams? David is all your fault. Because
41:41 many weeks ago he shared that if we give we must give or all or nothing. He shared from King David and he said that
41:49 you know why are we not preaching out to certain groups of people. I went back very depressed. So David is your fault.
41:56 And I said Lord give me a person from a group where they are persecuted and God say you pray answer. So the last few
42:03 weeks I've been following a person who was who is from this background and is from this country and I was privileged
42:10 to attend and I was very encouraged. I walked into a church which by the way is quite near here and there was about 100
42:17 people from that country all praising God. I was very encouraged. Now later on I spoke to the leader of
42:24 this group and he told me something very profound. He said, "Not everyone who gives in this group does it right, and
42:30 not everyone who takes does it right." I said, "It's crazy. This is a ministry where you go to jail." He says, "Never
42:37 underestimate the human nature." Because if I'm from this country and I'm
42:43 persecuted and I want to get out and I want to go to America, I want to go to
42:48 Australia, I want to go to England, guess what's the best way to say I am?
42:54 I'm a Christian. correct or not? You got to separate sheep from goats. By
43:01 the way, just for sight info, do you know what's the best way? If you are a refugee from Syria and you want to get to America and you want to get UN, now I
43:08 know the protocol. You want to have UN HCR process your card in record time.
43:13 Say you're from Syria and say you're gay. Yes, the gays are right at the top
43:20 because if you're gay, you're from this part of the world, you're very persecuted. But to say you're Christian is a long
43:27 long everyone says they are Christian but you go to Australia you go shoot people.
43:33 So here's the point. Be a giver but unless it takes people to a place of
43:40 grace. Don't give money. Give your life. Give your time. And bring everyone to a
43:47 place of grace. Let me just close and end with this. And
43:52 we close by going back to the tabernacle. The word became flesh and dealt with us. We have seen his glory.
43:59 And he repeats it again. The glory of the one and only son who came for the father full of grace and truth. The west
44:08 minister cateis says what is the chief aim of man is to glorify God and to
44:16 enjoy him forever. I want to ask a moment how do we glorify God? And August
44:21 Stein said this. He said, "We are made for himself." Him capital H for God.
44:29 Meaning we're not made for ourselves. Now when we talk about glory, we think we're doing great things. So someone
44:36 say, "Wow, you go and do great things for God." We think, "Oh, maybe the guy's a preacher preaching to thousands of
44:42 people. Wow. Doing a ministry like Alpha W of people come, you know, or doing a
44:48 great ministry." We think glorying God is to do great things. So if I'm a car
44:54 park attendant at B1, I'm I'm coochie. I'm just a usher out there. I'm cooat.
44:59 No, but the the the the top guns, you know, like like Peter, some people see
45:04 like Anel come out there very fleshy. Wow. These are the all up there. We are just down here. So these top people
45:11 glorify God. I want to seriously correct that a little bit. And the text tells us
45:16 this. I have a I have a client who is very very successful
45:21 and committed Christian and he told me honor I'm going to do this for God and because he had money. So he told me he
45:28 was going to do this and change the lives of this particular state and and he was going to do and he started to do
45:34 it very powerfully. So he had programs in his development that was going to help the poor going to do this to change
45:40 the life of these people. He even did all sort of things for the churches. Wow. mover and shaker.
45:47 But of course along the way he greas people a little bit. You everyone greases ma. You tell him he don't like.
45:53 He sometime treat his stuff very bad. You tell him he don't like. He's doing great things for God.
46:01 This year the bank pulled away his financing overnight. Nothing. Very close to me. A
46:08 few weeks ago, I sat down with him and he told me, "No, honor, I'm at the I'm at the tip of a cliff, you know, and
46:15 this is a guy who had everything, you know, tip of the cliff. I was going to
46:21 ask him now time to tell me to ask you that you owe me money." So, line three. So, he was tip of the cliff and he said,
46:28 "I pray God would take me away and save me." So at that moment I asked him I said
46:34 what if God allows you to fall and sing
46:39 and he paused for a long time you know I always remember the pause while we were in his apartment and he says well
46:46 I'm now at this end if that's God wants to do that then God will do it and I
46:52 will tell you this in my two years of knowing him that moment to me I felt he
46:58 glorified God more than all his big plans.
47:04 You see where glory is heading and you see where your life is heading. Let me give you the what Philippians says. He
47:12 says, "Who being in the very nature God did not consider equality with God
47:17 something to be grasped but made himself nothing." The Greek word here is called
47:24 konosis. It means emptying of yourself. That means empty everything. Taking the
47:29 very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself
47:36 and became obedient to death, even death on the cross. Therefore, God exalted him
47:42 to the highest place. Now, what are we learning here about the
47:48 word made flesh being very nature of God, not considering equality? What are
47:54 we learning here? Because the verse doesn't just says that. He says this, your attitude should be the same.
48:03 Your attitude and there's one type of glory which you and I don't like but is right smack in
48:10 the manger. And from the cradle to the cross is consistent. The term is called
48:17 the glory of humiliation. Oh that one for Chinese cannot no face
48:23 for Chinese people Asian gloring God means doing great things you know why because while you say you're gloring God
48:30 actually you're hijacking it to glorify yourself I say God I'm doing all these things for
48:36 you people say thank you know you save the world or thank you honor you preach so well thank you honor you do this oh
48:42 very high p it's okay it's okay it's okay Chinese very good at we call it do
48:48 they say oh this guy very humble he Not humble, brother. He just know how to put on an egg. Thank you. Thank you. It's
48:54 okay. No, don't worry. Look at you. So humble. He's not humble. Hello.
49:00 Biblical definition of humility is emptying of yourself.
49:07 And I want to close with this because I think in our church, this is probably one of our biggest issues.
49:14 How does it translate into simple English? It translates itself into a sin
49:21 all of us have the most simplest and insidious sin. It is simply called
49:28 pride. And because God knew we are such a stiff
49:34 necked people to show his glory, the glory that came in this temple
49:44 fulfilled in a manger. God is sending you and I a message. He's
49:52 saying, "Ano, you can put on an egg. You are chowo.
49:58 You're proud. Now, some of you say, "Well, I'm not
50:03 proud. I'm a nobody." You'll be surprised how that speaks to you. You see, in church, we always have
50:09 this. We have people who come, they feel insecure. Then they serve. And then when
50:14 they serve, people say, "Why you do this? Why your food so lousy? Why you going do this, do that, score two, three
50:20 times? Yeah, I don't want to come to church anymore." Correct or not? Why?
50:26 Because your security is in being glorified by people. You want people to say well done. Thank you. I take away
50:34 the thank yous. I take away the self glory and I humiliate you instead. I
50:40 this stupid church. I go to the church down the road. Whether you are insecure or whether
50:46 you're the most successful businessman in the world, the servant king teaches
50:52 us glory is in humiliation by what? Empting of ourselves. And by
51:00 that God is glorified. Christmas is around the corner
51:08 and you all will have fun. I'm going to close now, but after Christmas,
51:14 back to your problems. Back to eating leftovers. Back to turkey porridge
51:21 and cleaning the house. You must understand one thing. You know,
51:28 the word became flesh to show you he's a great counselor, wonderful counselor.
51:34 The word became flesh so that we learn to give in grace. And the word became
51:39 flesh so that we can learn to be the servant king so that we can empty
51:45 ourselves. Why does the word do all of that? And he tells us at the end of the
51:52 book of John, but these things are written that you may believe that Jesus
51:59 is the Christ, the son of God, and by believing you may have life. Friends, I
52:04 pray you have life. Whether you have a horrible Christmas or a great Christmas
52:10 or you like prince stuck in prison, it is not Christmas
52:16 but the day after that's important. Let me end with a saying from Louser again.
52:23 Louser said this you know the journey of a thousand steps begins with what? with
52:30 a first step and Toer Christian author Toerer picked that up
52:37 this morning. I want to pray for that and as we begin a song I want to challenge you as we come to a close of
52:45 this year to come to receive prayer. I want to ask the leaders of the church to come in front. We're going to do an
52:52 outer call. Can we have the leaders to come in front? The journey of a thousand steps begins
53:00 with one step. And we ask that as a song is being sung as we look at the servant
53:07 king, if you have any needs at all, would you come in front? And all I ask
53:14 is this. Don't let your pride get in the way. Don't let your pride empty
53:21 yourself. And if you're not comfortable at end of it, we going to have our hospital screen.
53:28 Now I can tell you this, we can do this and I may not have business, you know.
53:34 Then am I going to be embarrassed? Doesn't matter. Emptying ourselves. This
53:41 is Christmas.
