Jono - Make Way for Jesus

The speaker discusses the power of tithing and the importance of being good stewards of what we have. They mention a pulpit swap between different churches as part of a city-wide prayer initiative. They then delve into the topic of tithing in the Old Testament, explaining the different types of tithes and their purposes. They also touch on the New Testament perspective on tithing, stating that while there is no command to tithe, there is still importance placed on giving. The message encourages listeners to study and make their own decisions about tithing. Awesome. Get set up here. I'm going to finish off part two of my message, which is on tithing, the power of the tithe. And I started this the week before last. We had Nigel Winder here from Rosa Bible Chapel last week, as we all did a pulpit swap. And I went to Pastor Jim Wasala's church, which is very much a Pacific Island church, and I loved it. The worship, oh man, it was like going back to, honestly it was like I was in a Ron Canole worship session, if you are old enough to remember who Ron Canole is. But it was great. And, you know, the pulpit swap in regards to church unity was an amazing thing. There was about 12 churches that signed up. It was all part of the 16-week prayer initiative that was happening within the city. And we started that 16 weeks ago, and for 16 weeks the church has been praying for the city. Each week a church would take up a different, a church would represent their week, and they would do prayer however they saw it. And it finished on Sunday night with our combined service. And so the pulpit swap was fun, and it was very, very good. So today I'm going to pick up again on Part 2. So if you're visiting with us and you weren't here two weeks ago, I'm just going to summarize very, very quickly what I spoke about. You can really summarize Part 2 or Part 1 simply as this. What you have is not yours. That's my summary of Part 1. What you have is not yours. Everything you have, everything you own, everything who you are belongs to him and him alone. And as that, we are called to be stewards of that. And so in our life, with our assets, with whatever we have that God has given to you, you are simply a steward of that. So that's my summary of Week 1. You can hear that message if you want to. Here it is online, and if you don't know where that is, it's on the World Wide Web, and we can send you a link. Amen. Part 2 of The Power of the Tithe. The tithe is a topical sort of subject, and I'm not a teacher. I am what I would class myself as an ice cream preacher, and I put it out there, and you'll either feel good afterwards or you won't. And hopefully most of the time you feel good. But this is more of a teaching subject, so I'm doing my best with this. But God has really challenged me in the whole area of the tithe, and he has challenged me that it's my role or my job as senior leader is to teach you in this whole area. And so that is the whole purpose why I'm doing this. I'm not preaching into a budget. I'm not preaching into a giant offering we're going to take up next week for my private jet. I'm not updating my car or anything like that. This is purely to teach a principle that we need to operate in. Is that all right? So what I will say is as I'm sharing, I'm going to share a bit of my own personal story, our own personal testimony. And as I share those stories, it's not a sharing of woe is me, and it's also not a sharing of woe, look at you type sort of thing. They're just stories and part of my journey of helping get this message across. And it's interesting, when you come to church, pray for the people that are preaching. And I say that because this, because nine times out of ten, they've either gone through what they're preaching about, or that week the enemy's taken them through what they're preaching about. And it's funny that since, you know, Pardon Wishes have never opened this topic up because I feel like I've been hemorrhaging money for the last couple of weeks, but that is all good. So the tithe, I'm going to look at the Old Testament tithe and what it means and what it looks like. I don't have any PowerPoint with me today, sorry, I'm having technical issues, so you'll just have to take notes. Tithe literally translates into tenth. The giving of the tithe was commanded under the old covenant or the Mosaic law, and the people lived under a set of rules or laws, and within these they were split into two categories. There were the moral laws, referred to more often than not as the common sense laws, and then there were the ceremonial laws. The common sense, for example, were don't lie, don't steal, don't murder, and these were based around or tied to God's nature. His nature defines morality, and His nature is unchanging. The ceremonial commands might to us sound strange, but these governed how Israel were to live, the holy nation, and there were over 600. In fact, I think to be precise, there were 613 precise commands given, and within that we find tithing. So there are actually three tithes in the Old Testament. One was the Levitical tithe, two was the tithe of the feast, and three, the tithe for the poor, and each tithe was for a different purpose, and the tithe was intended to provide and pay for certain services. The Levitical tithe, this was used to support the priests and the work of the temple. When they were split into tribes, the tribe of Levi, everyone else got allotted things and land, and the tribe of Levi weren't allotted anything because they were to work in the temple. They were the priests of the temple, and everyone else was there to support them. So the tithes that were given were to support the workers of the house. The tithes of the feast, this feast tithe was kept and set aside as savings, used to fund trips to Jerusalem and other religious festivals. And the tithe for the poor, the poor tithe was paid every three years, and provided for the needs of those in need, especially for the fatherless, the widows, etc., etc., etc. So that's, in a nutshell, what the Old Testament says about tithing. And with this message, what I would say to you is, if I say something that you don't agree with, come and have a coffee with me. Go away, study it for yourself. Go away and look and search and study it for yourself. Come and have a coffee with me, because, you know, coffee's good. So what does the New Testament say about it? If you've got your Bibles, let's turn to Romans 7. We read from verse 1 to 6. Romans 7, verse 1 to 6. And it reads this, and I'm reading out of the NLT version. Verse 7, 1 says, Now, dear brothers and sisters, you who are familiar with the law, don't you know that the law applies only while a person is living? For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to a husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her. So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries. So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point. You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. And when we were controlled by the old nature, sinful desires were at work within us. And the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it, and we are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit. The law, or the old covenant, is gone. The old contract has gone. Through Christ He came and died and put in place a new covenant, a new contract. It's a new thing. We no longer live under the old, but we are now under the new, which is paid for by His blood. We have a new High Priest, and now He gives us direct access to the Father. Verse 6, now we can serve God not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 20 says this, When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew, to bring the Jews to Christ. And when I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law, even though I am not subject to the law. When I am with the Gentiles, who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law, so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God, I obey the law of Christ. Here we have Paul saying that when I am with the Jews, I live under the law, for the sole purpose of reaching them. But when I am with the Gentiles, I don't live under the Jewish law, but I don't live for myself, I live under the law of Christ. He is still submitted to the law, but he is submitted under the new covenant, the new contract that came through Jesus. You see, nowhere in the New Testament, in Paul's teachings, you will see any command or even a recommendation or amount when it comes to tithing. In fact, the word tithe is only mentioned four times in the New Testament. In Matthew 23, 23 we read, What sorrow awakes you, teachers of religious law, and you Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law, justice, mercy and faith. You should tithe, yes, but you do not neglect the more important things. Luke 11, 42 is the same. In Luke 18, verse 12 we read, I fast twice a week and I give a tenth of my income, the rich young ruler. And in Hebrews 7, verse 5 to 9, Now the law of Moses required that priests who are the descendants of Levi must collect a tithe from the rest of the people who are also descendants of Abraham. But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham and he placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God. None of these passages are instructions for us as new covenant believers to give a tithe. So it's case closed. It's stop your tithes. Save for that holiday you've always been wanting to have. Go save for that new car. Save for that new boat or the new kitchen. And that's the end of the message. No. You see, this is where it gets exciting. Yes, nowhere in the New Testament do we see a command to tithe. Nowhere do we see Paul giving instruction to the church to tithe. But we see extensive teaching on prayer, love and forgiveness or serving. But nothing on the tithe. But we do see, however, an extensive portfolio or a detailed teaching on giving. You see, the New Testament teaches us to give willingly. You see, giving is an act of the heart. Just like worship is an act of the heart. Just like obedience is an act of the heart. So is giving. Everything of the old covenant was to do with the outward appearance which was governed by rules and regulations. But the new covenant through Jesus is about the inward. And everything is ultimately governed by the heart. In essence and in simple terms, the old is about the have-tos and the new is about the want-tos. You have to obey versus you want to obey. You have to pray versus you want to pray. You have to worship versus you want to worship. You have to give versus you want to give. It's never about how much you have or how little you have. It's about the act of worship and giving as you give. It's about the heart attitude in the giving which sums up the new covenant. It's all about our heart. In part one, we read Proverbs 4.23. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything flows out of it. Some versions will say, for out of it flow the issues of life. The heart is where it's at when it comes to the new. The old was about obeying a set of rules that governed. The new is about your heart being submitted to God. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians 8. Verse one, it says this, Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. They have been tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with an abundant joy which has overflowed in rich generosity. You see, everything we do from God comes out of our heart and comes out of the overflow of our heart of our time spent with him alone. You see, this morning we come and we gather as a corporate body and we gather with each other and we worship and we sing songs. But out of that, it's out of the overflow of what happens at home by yourself when no one is around. It's out of the overflow. Psalm 91, in the secret place. I would say this to you this morning, that if you come to church and you struggle to worship and you struggle to praise, I would ask you, what is your private time like? Because yes, sometimes there are blockages. Yes, there's sometimes that really we come up against. But sometimes it's just the fact that you don't do it at home. So what makes you think you can do it here? Because it's out of the abundance, out of the overflow of the heart. Everything, everything, everything is out of the overflow. And that overflow comes from our personal times with him. They have been tested by many troubles. They're going through it and they're very poor, but they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity. For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They weren't commanded. They weren't told. They weren't obeying a set of rules. They did it on their own free will. And they begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. They did even more than we had hoped. For their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us just as God wanted them to. And he then goes on to challenge the Corinthians in their giving. So we have urged Titus, who encouraged your giving in the first place, to return to you and encourage you to finish this ministry of giving. To finish this ministry of giving. Since you excel in so many ways in your faith, with your gifted speakers, with your knowledge, your enthusiasm and love for us, I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving. I am not commanding you to do this. He's encouraging them to give. But he says, I am not commanding. I am not telling you to give. I want you to excel. You see, you can do everything else well. You have your gifted speakers, you have your gifted worship leaders, you have your gifted worship team, you have your gifted leadership structure, you have your gifted advertising, you have everything and everything else I want you to do. Also, I want you to excel in the gracious act of giving. Be like the Macedonians of their own free will. 2 Corinthians 9 verse 5, it says, So I thought I should send these brothers ahead of me to make sure the gift you promised is ready. But I want it to be a willing gift, not one given grudgingly. Going down to verse 7, You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully. And verse 8, And God will generously provide all you need. And then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. Just like the passage that I opened up with worship, the fish and the bread. After that was handed, after the feeding of the multitudes, there were baskets and baskets and baskets left over. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty to share with others. You know, this, like I said, this week and preparing this message and this has been percolating away in me for the last three months. And God has really challenged me in the whole area of giving. And even this week, like I said, pray for your preachers because normally what they're preaching about, they've either gone through or they're going through or the enemy is right on in there causing a mess to distract. And that's what this week has been for me. Monday you get up. And how we tithe is I don't have an automatic payment. I do it manually on the phone. I don't have an automatic payment. I do it manually on the phone. And as I do that, as I put it through, I pray to God. Because we've gone, you know, we have, technology has moved us on. You know, in the old days we passed the plates around. But technology has come and so how do you give without having become just a thing that you do that you don't see. So I don't do an automatic payment. I do an automatic payment. I manually do it. The first thing I do when we get paid, on both pays. And so Monday came around, payday, woohoo, I'm rich. 10 o'clock, woohoo, I'm poor. I said, God, thank you for what you have given me. Thank you for the blessings that I have. This is yours. Gone. Tuesday morning you wake up. Where did the rest of it go? I had to check, make sure I put the right amount through. But I knew I had some things coming up and I'm going, God. Tuesday I was out of the office and I was going, God, I don't know how this is going to work. I don't know how I'm going to do this. I remember I got out of my office and this is what the enemy does. In fact, every single time I go and put it through money, I tell what the enemy does. In fact, every single time I go and put it through money, I tell what the enemy does. You could use that money. You could use that money. Why don't you just give this much? That's why you do AP. No, because I like to fight it. I like to fight it. And he does, he gets in there. I tell you every single time, what about that bill you're coming up? That would cover that. And every time I've got to go, God, this is yours. Gone. Tuesday morning, get up, do all this, go to the office, going, God, I don't know what I'm going to do. I remember getting up out of my office and I walked over to the hall. If you've been down to town, I walked across to the hall. And instantly the voice came in. Well, perhaps if you hadn't given, it would have helped. And it's funny because instantly, as soon as that voice came in, it was like my spirit override my brain and everything. And it just automatically rose up and it said, I don't care what my situation is, I'll always give. And it was like a spiritual thing, just shutting that enemy down. I don't care what situation I'm in, I will always give. And it rose up within me. It's like Daniel Shadrach and the team before they go in the fire and they say, even if, even if I will still worship God, even if there's only bread on my table. And it wasn't, so don't worry. But even if there's bread on my table, I will still give. I will still worship you, God, because I'm thankful there's bread on the table. Because we have to trust God. We have to trust God. If everything we have belongs to him and we are stewards for him and we are, we own nothing, then we have to rely to trust on God to provide the needs that we have. I needed two things to happen. And both of them were outside of my control. There's nothing I could do. Nothing I could do. And the enemy came in, if you hadn't done that, if you hadn't have done that, and within me the spirit rose up and said, I will still do that. I will still do that. When you give, give cheerfully. It's an act of worship. God, this is yours. And with it I give it to you with my heart full of love and adoration for you. You know, we can sing it easy enough. I worship you, almighty God. There is none like you. I worship you, Prince of Peace. I worship you, Prince of Peace. That is all I want to do. And I give you praise. You see, we can do it out of our mouths. We can do it in church. But see, sometimes I think we need to let our wallets in on the worship session too. Sometimes we need to let our wallets worship God. God, I worship you. God, with everything that you've given me, I worship you. I praise your name. I trust you. Everything we do is worship. If you come into the service and you've participated in what we call our worship service, and you think that that is it for the week, then you are mistaken. Because everything you do is worship. Whether you're singing it, whether you're talking it, whether you're obeying it, whatever it is you do during your week, it's worship. It's worship. And everything we do is worship because He is everything. He is everything. Like I said, I need two things. Like I said, I need two things. I have to trust God. I said, God, I've just got to trust you. And when I found myself going, I might just check my account and see what's happening, I'll go, no, I don't want to. God, I trust you. I trust you. I trust you. And then on Friday, or actually after that, Tuesday, after the enemy tried to get on in there, I was driving home from the office and I got a phone call from someone on something that was part of this tied up with. And it still wasn't finished. It was like, oh, wow, God, it's only been a couple of hours, but I trust you. I trust you. And then at five o'clock on Friday, it was all sorted for the week. It was all sorted. It was all sorted. I didn't give less. I didn't not give it all. I gave because it's worship. I gave because I wanted to give to him. I gave because I love him and I trust him. You see, God leaves it up to us how much to give. To be honest with you, it would have been easier him just telling us what to give. It would have been easier for him to say, look, I'll take the command part out of it, but I'll leave the amount in just to help everyone out. But he leaves it up to us. But if he gave us an amount to give as a command, then it's not a free will given and it's not our heart given. The Amplified version says, let each one give thoughtfully and with purpose. Just as he has decided in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver and he delights in giving. Not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver and he delights in the one whose heart is in the gift. We have a set amount, Sarah and I, we have a set amount. I don't look at my page, we can go, oh God, what do I give? It's just, that's how we… And it's purposed. I think we have to put some effort into deciding and seeking, because God's looking at what's in our hearts versus what's in our hands. See, God sees the heart gift versus the hand gift. I read this story this week. A man has a wallet divided into two sections. In one section he puts the money for the offering, and in the other section he puts the rest of his cash, which is a considerably larger amount. When the offering is taken, he accidentally reaches into the wrong part of his wallet. He takes out the large amount of cash and puts it into the plate. After the service he realises what happened and he tells the pastor and comforts him by saying, it doesn't really matter though, because I gave it to the Lord and he recognised the amount I gave. And the pastor asked, how much did you intend to give? And the man answered, I intended to give the smaller amount, but I accidentally gave the larger. And the pastor replied, then that's what God recognised, because that's what you decided to give in your heart. If we want to give more but can't, God recognises that, because he sees what's in our hearts. If the hand gives more than the heart wanted to give, God recognises that too. Because he sees what's in the heart versus what's on the hand. I mean, I can't tell you, Lyle can't tell you, the eldership can't tell you. But I can say this, I think we should feel it. I think we should feel it. I think there should be a cost to us. I think there should be a sacrifice. Because it's in the sacrifice you learn to trust. I need to trust him. What I need to do is be obedient. What I need to do is worship him. To allow God to be God. And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share. As the scripture says, They that freely and generously give to the poor, their good deeds will be remembered forever. For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and the breed to eat. In the same way he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Amen. Three months ago I really set out on a challenge. I said, God, I want to be faithful to you. I want to be faithful. I want it to be the first thing I do on everything. The situation this week was relieved. Not by outside, it wasn't by outside anything. It was just God being God. And out of that I said, God, you are awesome. So I'm going to give to you again. I'm going to worship you again. I'm going to give again. Over and above what I've already given you, I want to give you more. I want to worship you because what I have is yours and yours alone. It's not mine. And so my challenge is this. If you are not a regular giver to the house, or perhaps you have given, but perhaps it's given out of excess and not allowed room to trust Him who is our source, I want to challenge us in this way. For 90 days, give to the house a regular amount, whether it be fortnightly, weekly or monthly. It's about the heart. Purpose in your heart. Thoughtfully decide an amount. Allow it to be a cost. Allow it to be a sacrifice. Allow it to feel. Allow room for you to trust God. If you don't have a giving number, contact Judith and get one. That's purely for taxation purposes. No one knows. There is only one person in this house that knows who and what. I know churches that the senior pastor knows who, what, so that he can buy those who and what's coffee and look after them because they are the biggest givers. I don't give a rip. I never want to know. I never want to know. Because it's between you and God. It's between you and God. Seek God. There may not be any biblical mandate for you to tithe. There may not be any biblical mandate on the amount, but there is biblical example. And perhaps 10% is a good place to start. Because we could operate under the new covenant, which is everything. So 10% is probably cheaper. But purpose. Purpose in your heart. 90 days. And I have done this. I have done this for over 90 days. Everything. Everything. Anything that comes in. I'll give off. And I say that not to, I just say that because I just love God. And I understand that anything I get, it's not mine. It's His. It's His. Give cheerfully. When you give, pray. Get excited about it. God, thank you for this gift. And I give this back to you cheerfully. I give this with a heart that is for you. I give this with a heart that has adoration and love for you. I can testify to His faithfulness. I have learned to trust. And I've seen His provision. And it's a daily, weekly thing. I look at what we have. And I know in my heart it belongs to Him. And I want to steward what I have been given well so that I can stand in front of Him and hear, Well done, good and faithful servant. And it's something that I am still learning. But my heart is just for Him. And so that's my challenge. That's my challenge. And I believe wholeheartedly that as you do that, the blessings will come. You will step into a realm of trusting Him. Father, I pray. Father, I pray that we would just love you more, Lord God. Father, I pray that we would love you more. Father, that we would understand that it's yours. And as we become faithful stewards of what you have given us, Lord God, Father, as we give to you, Father, not only of our time, not only of our worship, not only of our life, Father, we give of you our finances. Father, I pray that every family would be represented. Father, I pray that as we, as a church, challenge our hearts, challenge our spirits, challenge the physical to give to you what is yours. Father, I pray that it would become like a light on a hill where we can't explain it. Only the fact that I love God and God loves me. And that people around us see what we are doing. And see who God is through how we love and how we trust in you. In your name we pray. Amen. Thank you. Fantastic. There is an excitement within my spirit as I look ahead. I get a sense, and I was saying to Matt even just driving to church today, I get a sense that there is going to be a greater influx of people coming home next year. There is something within me that would love to see a line outside church. There is something, and I know in Southland it is not ideal having lines outside churches, but I would love to see, you know, I would love to see a line, and as people go up and down the streets, the fact that there is a line outside a church causes them to, just allows God in going, what is happening there? What is happening there? What is God doing there? And I do get a sense that we are coming into a time like that. We are coming into a time where the people that you minister to during the week, the people that you are around, there is going to be greater opportunity for us to share the gospel with them. And whether it has been just a part of your testimony, whether it is just something that God did that week, whether it is something that God is doing, whether it is an opportunity to share your complete, I think we just have to be ready as a church to share. I think we have to be a church that is ready to speak. And whatever it is that is in that moment, whatever it is that is right for that moment, we just speak and allow God to do the rest. Allow God to move on the words that are spoken, and as those words go out, allow the Spirit of God to come in and place them within the heart, within the spirit of that person listening, and allow them to grow. We had our life group break up this week, and it is just amazing to see a group of people that just love hanging out. But again, as we open up our homes, I believe our church service and our life groups are two key aspects of our church, because they are two aspects that promote community and they promote togetherness. Our church service, because they promote togetherness as a whole, as a corporate body, we come together. Our life groups, as you open up your home, as you go into someone's home, and as you share with one another, as you pray for one another, as you minister to one another, as you get ministered to, as you exercise the gifts on your life in that group, it's about the body of meeting there. It's community. It's relationship. And John, it says that they will know. They will know my love because of your love for one another. They being outside the church walls, they being your friends, they being your family, they being your colleagues, they being the people that are around your life, they will know the love of God because of your love for one another. They will know your love by the way you speak about one another. They will know your love by the way we talk about one another. They will know your love by how we encourage one another. We build each other up as we love one another. They will know because there's a difference. There is a difference when the church loves. And the difference is so great that the Bible tells us that the world will recognize His love because of our love. So it's about relationship. It's about community. Amen. I want to invite Matt to come up. That wasn't anything. That wasn't my message. Sorry. I'm going to invite Matt. Matt's got an advertisement. I'm going to turn to Luke. I'm not going to speak for long. I'm going to start Luke chapter 2. I'm going to start at verse 1. At that time, the Roman emperor Augustus decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David's ancient home. He traveled there and from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. And he took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was now expecting a child. Verse 6. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and she wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in the manger because there was no lodging or no room available for them. If you've been in the church a long time, if you've grown up in the church or the Christmas story, because it's so well told, you get to see a lot of teaching, a lot of sermons, a lot of excitement over stuff over the Christmas period. I was doing a wee Google search on nativity scenes and I'm not sure whether every year their families, they grab their nativity scene out and they set it up and they put it up. But there are so many different forms of nativity scenes. Now, I saw ones that they were made out of Lego and it was a Lego nativity scene. I saw ones that they used cans of Coke for it. They had a can of Coke with the names on it and they set it up and that was the nativity scene of cans of Coke. I saw ones that they had made, and I kid you not, out of bacon and sausages. Bacon and sausage nativity scenes. And when you've been around church for a long, long time, I guess you try and think of creative ways to tell the story. I'm not sure whether bacon and sausages do it justice, but it's obviously how they wanted to express themselves. But as you read the Scriptures, as you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and the different accounts of the birth of Jesus, it's a fascinating, interesting read. If you want to get right on into it and you want to go into the real biblical history and if you want to perform your hermeneutics and the exegesis and every other single word like that to really dive into it, you start going, well, you know, was it a cave? Was it a house? Was it an inn? Was there an innkeeper? Were there donkeys there? And you start looking at the whole story and breaking it down. And you can do that, and that is fine, but the fact remains that Jesus was born. Jesus was born. And that in that, that there was no room initially for him to be born. In verse 6 of chapter 2, we read, and while they were in there, the time came for her to be, the time came for her baby to be born. And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no room available for him. One thing Christmas does, I believe, is it causes us to reflect. It's a time of reflection. And I know even for myself, as I look back over the last year, if I look back over the busyness, if I look back over everything that's happened, if I look back over all the different aspects of my life, you reflect. And I suppose as part of that reflection, you want to make sure that everything you did was worth it, everything you did was OK, everything you did was done well, and you reflect and you reflect and you reflect. And one of the questions as I read this that I was asking myself is, did I make room for Jesus? Over this last 12 months, did I make room for Jesus? In the year coming ahead, as I look toward a year ahead of us as a church, are we going to make room for Jesus? The fact that there was no room available, it didn't stop what was going to happen. They didn't get up to the room and go, look, there's no room here, and they go, oh, that's right, we'll just do it later. The fact that there was no room there did not stop the fact that what was going to happen was going to happen. I don't know whether, if you have been with your wife at time of birth, I mean, there is nothing you can do that's going to stop that train when it leaves the station. I mean, the pressure is on. I know for, no, I'm just trying to think what one. Harper. I know for Harper, we were living in Riverton at the time, and I knew that we had a 30-minute drive. I had done it in 13 minutes back in my younger days, but it's a good, solid 28-minutes drive, and I knew that the moment the train was loaded and ready to go, I had a limited time to get to the hospital, but I knew that nothing, nothing I could do was going to stop that. Nothing you can do. The fact that there was no room was not going to change the outcome. You see, as we reflect our busyness, everything we pack into our life won't stop Jesus from coming, but what our busyness may do is it may cause us to miss what Jesus is doing. You see, our society is busy. Our lives are busy. Even looking at statistics from the 60s to now, the pressure on people is immense. The busyness of life, and I don't believe there'd be one person in this building today that would say, I'm just not busy. I was talking to our neighbor, do a Christmas party every year, and we went over there yesterday, and I was talking to one of the guys, and he's in his mid-60s, fully retired, and I just said, hey, how are you doing? He goes, mate, I'm so busy. And I'm like, well, but you're meant to be retired. Busy. I don't think it matters what stage of life you're in. It's busy. Life is busy. You're juggling work. You're juggling kids. You're juggling kids' lives. You're juggling their programs. You're juggling school. Everything is busy. But our busyness won't cause Jesus to stop. But it might cause us to miss out what he's doing. And as I look back, and as I reflect over the year, I ask myself, have I, did I, make room for Jesus? I look towards the year ahead, and I ask myself, am I, am I going to make room for Jesus? And I think we live life, and we structure life in this. I mean, we all know that God needs to be number one, but we structure our life in like a pyramid-type structure. Well, the most important thing we've got is God. And then under that, we start prioritizing what is important. For some, it's family. Then it's our marriage. And then it's work. And we structure our life. But God is always on top. But the problem is when you live in that, when you live under that model, you then start juggling stuff around because you're trying to make sure that God is on top. But then you've got family to focus on, and then you've got your work to focus on, and then you've got to do this, and then you go, well, I won't go to church for that Sunday because I've got this on. And you start, and you try and keep God at the top. But all you do is you spend your life juggling your life and your busyness. When in actual fact, what it should be is God should be number one in everything we do. So if you're at work, then God's number one. If you're with your family, then God's number one. If you're at church, then God's number one. God is number one in whatever it is you are doing. It's a line like this, not like this, with God trying to balance God at the top. Because when you balance God at the top, you start going, well, I haven't prayed enough. I haven't worshipped enough. I haven't gone to church enough. I haven't done this. And you start coming under condemnation because the thing that you want to be on top gets lost in the busyness of life. But God is just God. Whatever it is you're doing, God is God. God is number one. If I was at work, God's with me at work, and He's number one, but I'm at work. God in my family, God in my life, and God is number one. Wherever I am, God is always number one. God is always number one. You see, we have to create space for Jesus. The room or the space that we create, the room and the space that we give Him will be the room that He will inhabit. The room that you create, the space that you give will be the room, will be the space that He will inhabit. If you create a large space, He will inhabit a large space. If you create a large room, He will inhabit a large room. But if you give Him a little, He will inhabit a little. If all the business, you just give Him this here, then that's what He's going to inhabit. And as we enter the last run at Christmas, as we enter the last week as a church, I would encourage us to reflect on the space we give Him, and we would reflect on ourselves. If He comes knocking, are we going to have room available for Him? Will we make room? Will we give Him that space? Will we give Him that, in the business that we have, will we give Him that space? Will we make room for Jesus? I'm going to invite the worship team to come. One thing I want to do before we close this meeting is as I was lying on the couch yesterday, freaking out going, God, what am I going to speak on? And as I was reflecting, one thing He did say is, you better make room for me. Make room for me tomorrow. And so this morning, as our last service, I want to do exactly that. We're going to move the front row of chairs out. We're going to create space. I've asked our eldership team to come and just minister to people, to pray for people. And I want us just to spend a few moments just in space for Him to move.