WEBVTT 00:00.031 --> 00:22.984 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's get ready for the word today and a lot of you over this Christmas time will travel somewhere to see family for us as you know most of our family lives in New South Wales so most Christmas is all except I think one or two so far in the last 12 or 13 years pack up the car 00:22.964 --> 00:32.650 [SPEAKER_00]: queue up the podcast, get the playlist ready, fill up the coffee cups, get the water's ready, and we pin our ears back and we go. 00:32.670 --> 00:38.526 [SPEAKER_00]: And in our car, my rule is we do not stop. 00:38.506 --> 00:58.270 [SPEAKER_00]: you hold it in mate, however much you have whatever liquid you have before, that's on you because I'm not going to stay on the side of the road and see all the trucks that I've passed and all the fans, I'm not going to see them go past me and then I'm going to catch up really men again, I'm not doing it. 00:58.250 --> 01:03.104 [SPEAKER_00]: We're just going because once you get to kind of gobbling your home and host you're there right? 01:03.164 --> 01:13.272 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm feel like I'm on the downhill so that's so it's really only a six hour trip not an eight and a half You know because by the time I'm already imagining being there but we all 01:13.252 --> 01:14.053 [SPEAKER_00]: Do this, right? 01:14.093 --> 01:15.635 [SPEAKER_00]: You'll have Christmas Day. 01:15.955 --> 01:42.583 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you have to go to multiple places in the same day, and now I'm sorry to bring it up, but you're already having those frosty conversations right now about who's place you're going to on what days and what time you're going to get there and someone in the family is kind of like, you know, putting some subtle or not-so subtle pressure on you to be in different places at the same time, sorry to mention it, but there is reasons why we travel and that happens. 01:42.563 --> 01:49.792 [SPEAKER_00]: Because we travel to New South Wales every single year, because meaning is worth moving for. 01:50.473 --> 02:02.368 [SPEAKER_00]: There's something in us that tells us that connection is important and for us to be able to connect and for that meaning to take place, we have to move. 02:03.109 --> 02:03.810 [SPEAKER_00]: We have to go. 02:03.850 --> 02:05.432 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, 02:05.615 --> 02:12.005 [SPEAKER_00]: Matthew knew about that and records this journey, and we're gonna read about it in Matthew chapter 2, verse 1 to 12. 02:12.786 --> 02:17.674 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the King. 02:18.455 --> 02:24.484 [SPEAKER_00]: Behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem. 02:24.987 --> 02:27.511 [SPEAKER_00]: Saying, where is he who's been born King of the Jews? 02:28.352 --> 02:31.697 [SPEAKER_00]: For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. 02:32.439 --> 02:37.827 [SPEAKER_00]: And when Herr at the King heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. 02:38.428 --> 02:45.679 [SPEAKER_00]: And assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 02:45.659 --> 02:51.554 [SPEAKER_00]: They told him in Bethlehem of Judea for it is written by the prophet and you are Bethlehem in the land of Judah. 02:52.195 --> 02:59.854 [SPEAKER_00]: By no means least among the rulers of Judah, for faramus shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. 03:00.796 --> 03:06.726 [SPEAKER_00]: Then herid summoned the wise men secretly, ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 03:06.786 --> 03:11.073 [SPEAKER_00]: And he sent them to Bethlehem saying, go and search diligently for the child. 03:11.114 --> 03:16.122 [SPEAKER_00]: And when you found him, bring me words so that I too may come and worship him. 03:16.102 --> 03:24.973 [SPEAKER_00]: After listening to the king, they went on their way and behold the star they had seen when it rose, went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 03:25.754 --> 03:34.025 [SPEAKER_00]: When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and going into the house, they saw the child with Mary's mother, they fell down and worshiped him. 03:34.846 --> 03:42.295 [SPEAKER_00]: Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts gold, frankincense and morn being warned in a dream not to return to Herod. 03:42.275 --> 03:46.969 [SPEAKER_00]: they departed to their own country by another way. 03:48.164 --> 03:51.468 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, Christmas stories are all about journeys. 03:52.349 --> 04:01.780 [SPEAKER_00]: We have the story of the shepherd seeing the angels in the night and they make a trip to go to find where Jesus was. 04:02.722 --> 04:14.796 [SPEAKER_00]: We have the journey of Mary and Joseph themselves coming to the city to be able to have the child but then being chased all the way to Egypt and back. 04:14.776 --> 04:17.058 [SPEAKER_00]: because of King Herod's edict. 04:17.699 --> 04:23.044 [SPEAKER_00]: And then we have maybe the strangest story, the strangest traveling story of all. 04:24.005 --> 04:42.522 [SPEAKER_00]: These strange foreign Persian astrologers who travel over, scholars say, about 13, 100 kilometers, 1,300 kilometers or more in pursuit of a star. 04:44.375 --> 04:48.559 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, this is strange because the ancient world did not travel. 04:48.619 --> 04:49.880 [SPEAKER_00]: You and I used to it, right? 04:49.960 --> 04:54.424 [SPEAKER_00]: I think our 1300 kilometers that New South Wales isn't even that far. 04:54.564 --> 04:55.766 [SPEAKER_00]: That's easy, right? 04:56.026 --> 05:03.212 [SPEAKER_00]: We're used to long distances and we're used to travel and we're used to going between states, even going between countries. 05:03.253 --> 05:05.174 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you have been around the world this year. 05:05.475 --> 05:06.916 [SPEAKER_00]: And you think, oh, that's not that bad. 05:06.936 --> 05:08.137 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not that far to go. 05:08.177 --> 05:12.441 [SPEAKER_00]: But don't forget, the ancient world did not travel. 05:13.197 --> 05:14.979 [SPEAKER_00]: Firstly, they didn't have the transport for it. 05:15.459 --> 05:16.981 [SPEAKER_00]: They didn't have the roads for it. 05:17.261 --> 05:18.803 [SPEAKER_00]: They didn't have the maps for it. 05:18.823 --> 05:20.805 [SPEAKER_00]: They didn't know what was out there. 05:21.165 --> 05:26.330 [SPEAKER_00]: Most people in the ancient world would not have travelled more than 20 kilometers outside of there where they were born. 05:27.552 --> 05:38.563 [SPEAKER_00]: And so for these men and women who made this way from one place to the other over 1300 kilometers, this represented a significant journey. 05:39.522 --> 05:43.647 [SPEAKER_00]: Now most likely, this is one not just three kings as the Carol says. 05:44.087 --> 05:47.191 [SPEAKER_00]: We only think it's three kings because of the three gifts. 05:47.211 --> 06:07.774 [SPEAKER_00]: But most likely, this was a caravan of anywhere up to 300 people who've traveled across borders, across political landscapes, even across world views to get to where Jesus was. 06:08.834 --> 06:24.439 [SPEAKER_00]: because they believed three deep things that our world still aches for today, that the world is not sealed shut, that God speaks in ways that require interpretation and that meaning is worth moving for. 06:26.022 --> 06:34.335 [SPEAKER_00]: See, their worldview was very different to ours that was this kind of weird blend of kind of folklore-ish astrology, 06:34.619 --> 06:45.956 [SPEAKER_00]: This kind of strange mix of philosophical speculation, Babylonian, Star-Law, but Matthew isn't really bothered. 06:46.116 --> 06:51.544 [SPEAKER_00]: He's writing here to Jews, but he's not bothered by the theological fuzziness of the way that these guys get here. 06:52.606 --> 07:04.423 [SPEAKER_00]: What he's wanting to show us is that Jesus attracts us before he instructs us. 07:04.943 --> 07:08.230 [SPEAKER_00]: before you understand what it means. 07:10.815 --> 07:18.430 [SPEAKER_00]: And so this is brilliant because God is attracting us before He's instructing us now. 07:19.220 --> 07:32.211 [SPEAKER_00]: to get us out of the mode of we three kings of Orian are and thinking purely about the nativity scene that you've seen a thousand times and that you'll probably continue to see a thousand times. 07:32.732 --> 07:35.980 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna read to you one of my very favorite poems. 07:37.073 --> 07:42.061 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, this poem, I debated whether to read it in full, but I'm going to read it in full. 07:42.862 --> 07:44.946 [SPEAKER_00]: And it will take us a couple of minutes. 07:44.966 --> 08:04.077 [SPEAKER_00]: But what I want, the reason I want to do that is because I want to kind of break us out of the nativity version and pull us into perhaps something the way that maybe it really happened with also some theological speculation kind of baked in. 08:04.057 --> 08:06.019 [SPEAKER_00]: This is T.S. 08:06.039 --> 08:08.942 [SPEAKER_00]: Eliot, journey of the Magi. 08:09.762 --> 08:10.823 [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be on the screens. 08:13.286 --> 08:20.553 [SPEAKER_00]: A cold coming, we had of it just the worst time of year for a journey and such a long journey. 08:21.974 --> 08:25.998 [SPEAKER_00]: The ways deep and the weather sharp, the very dead of winter. 08:27.459 --> 08:32.224 [SPEAKER_00]: And the camel's gold soft-footed refractory lying down in the melting snow. 08:33.301 --> 08:39.912 [SPEAKER_00]: There were times we regretted the summer palaces on slopes, the terraces, and the Silicon Girls bringing Sherbet. 08:41.375 --> 08:46.103 [SPEAKER_00]: And the camel men cursing and grumbling and running away wanting their liquor and women. 08:47.085 --> 08:56.701 [SPEAKER_00]: And the night fires going out, and the lack of shelters and the city's hostile and the towns unfriendly, and the village's dirty and charging high prices are hard time. 08:57.242 --> 08:57.823 [SPEAKER_00]: We had of it. 08:59.288 --> 09:07.537 [SPEAKER_00]: At the end, we preferred to travel all night, sleeping in snatches with the voices seen in our ears saying that this was all folly. 09:09.940 --> 09:16.287 [SPEAKER_00]: Then at dawn, we came down to a temperate valley, wet below the snowline, smelling of vegetation. 09:17.308 --> 09:26.578 [SPEAKER_00]: With a running stream and a water mill beating the darkness and three trees on the low sky, and an old white horse galloped away in the middle. 09:28.043 --> 09:37.174 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, we came to a tavern with vine leaves over the lintal six hands at an open door, dicing for pieces of silver, and feet kicking the empty wine skins. 09:38.195 --> 09:48.447 [SPEAKER_00]: But there was no information so we continued and arrived at evening, not a moment too soon, finding the place it was, you may say, satisfactory. 09:50.289 --> 09:57.257 [SPEAKER_00]: All this was long ago, I remember, and I would do it again, 09:58.739 --> 10:01.144 [SPEAKER_00]: Were we led all that way for birth or death? 10:02.386 --> 10:03.508 [SPEAKER_00]: There was a birth certainly. 10:03.989 --> 10:05.332 [SPEAKER_00]: We had evidence and no doubt. 10:05.733 --> 10:09.520 [SPEAKER_00]: I'd seen birth and death, but it thought they were different. 10:09.540 --> 10:14.790 [SPEAKER_00]: This birth was hard and bitter agony for us, like death, our death. 10:16.306 --> 10:25.998 [SPEAKER_00]: We return to our places, these kingdoms, but no longer at ease here in the old dispensation with an alien people clutching their gods. 10:27.099 --> 10:29.462 [SPEAKER_00]: I should be glad of another death. 10:32.005 --> 10:42.398 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a fascinating and beautiful poem as this wise man back in his hometown, reflects on the journey there and back. 10:43.576 --> 10:50.365 [SPEAKER_00]: And there's so many things I love about it, so many beautiful colors that weave their way through this poem. 10:50.445 --> 11:00.779 [SPEAKER_00]: But the thing that stays with you as you reflect and look back is that for the wise men's journey, they see that the birth of a child haralded a change. 11:01.580 --> 11:08.790 [SPEAKER_00]: There was a transformation or a transition that was taking place because of the birth of one baby. 11:11.099 --> 11:27.780 [SPEAKER_00]: Matthew is less poetic, but even more shocking that they traveled hundreds of miles across desert basins, mountain passes, political borders, just because a light appeared, because they looked up and saw something in the sky, and you think to yourself, would you go all that way? 11:27.840 --> 11:34.288 [SPEAKER_00]: As they turn up in the pub outside of Jerusalem, and someone says, how'd you get here and why'd you come? 11:34.488 --> 11:36.150 [SPEAKER_00]: And they say, oh, we saw a star. 11:37.932 --> 11:38.473 [SPEAKER_00]: That's it. 11:39.888 --> 11:43.655 [SPEAKER_00]: that entire trip for one light in the sky. 11:46.540 --> 11:51.068 [SPEAKER_00]: So the measure I show is you don't have to understand the light to start walking towards it. 11:53.292 --> 12:02.588 [SPEAKER_00]: This is a long way to travel, but let's connect this to astrology in a bit of a cheeky way. 12:04.120 --> 12:11.911 [SPEAKER_00]: Because many people in our city will check their horoscopes before they check the state of their soul. 12:13.914 --> 12:19.683 [SPEAKER_00]: They'll look to something external, look to something and I still think they're in the paper. 12:19.723 --> 12:20.364 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure. 12:20.644 --> 12:21.866 [SPEAKER_00]: Does anyone buy the paper? 12:24.850 --> 12:32.862 [SPEAKER_00]: But we'll check that to see what's going to happen in my fortune or in my future before we check in in the state of our heart. 12:33.905 --> 12:36.531 [SPEAKER_00]: God's not asking you to worship the stars. 12:37.974 --> 12:45.229 [SPEAKER_00]: He's not asking you to consult the stars, but he's not above using something you can understand to get your attention. 12:46.713 --> 12:52.926 [SPEAKER_00]: You've got to think about how far away and how different the world view was of the people who traveled there. 12:53.750 --> 13:04.075 [SPEAKER_00]: These Persian travelers, they looked at the sky as a sign of something that God was doing of, of a sign of something that we are yet to understand. 13:04.897 --> 13:09.328 [SPEAKER_00]: In the ancient world, the sky is announced divine activity. 13:09.764 --> 13:14.932 [SPEAKER_00]: When a new star appeared, they took it, that, oh, they must be a new king that's being born. 13:15.412 --> 13:17.115 [SPEAKER_00]: They paid attention to the sun. 13:17.155 --> 13:19.158 [SPEAKER_00]: They saw what the sun was doing. 13:19.198 --> 13:20.820 [SPEAKER_00]: They paid attention to the moon. 13:21.181 --> 13:27.109 [SPEAKER_00]: And so when there was some kind of eclipse or some kind of heavenly event, that freaked people out. 13:28.211 --> 13:33.038 [SPEAKER_00]: Because they saw these things mirroring that what was happening on the earth. 13:33.929 --> 13:40.318 [SPEAKER_00]: Now modern astronomers have offered a couple of different real-world possibilities for what could have what they could have been following. 13:41.139 --> 13:53.676 [SPEAKER_00]: They reckon that potentially there was a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn between 6 and 7 BC, and that conjunction of those two planets could have formed this light that they followed. 13:55.192 --> 14:04.888 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a comet, perhaps, in the Chinese annals, in the Chinese history books, they say that maybe it was a comet that went across the sky. 14:06.130 --> 14:18.010 [SPEAKER_00]: It could have been a supernova, but if the church fathers back in ancient Christian history have proposed that this was no, this was a divine light, something that was not natural at all. 14:19.222 --> 14:31.764 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, whichever way that you land, it doesn't change the fact that these magic-y followed something that they did not know to arrive at something that they would. 14:34.429 --> 14:36.833 [SPEAKER_00]: God speaks in ways that we can actually hear. 14:38.917 --> 14:41.702 [SPEAKER_00]: God initiates before we know how to respond. 14:43.302 --> 14:48.768 [SPEAKER_00]: This is God-bending low to speak to us so that we can understand. 14:50.450 --> 14:59.199 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, it's time to go to theology corner because I want to talk to you about general and special revelation. 14:59.659 --> 14:59.939 [SPEAKER_00]: All right? 15:01.261 --> 15:03.984 [SPEAKER_00]: This isn't just sentimental Christmas imagery. 15:04.344 --> 15:07.487 [SPEAKER_00]: This isn't just something that we put on the front of a card. 15:07.808 --> 15:12.853 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a kind of a theological engine that's humming behind this entire story. 15:13.778 --> 15:15.279 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's about revelation. 15:15.600 --> 15:19.724 [SPEAKER_00]: It's about the way that God speaks and reveals himself to us. 15:20.244 --> 15:24.608 [SPEAKER_00]: So the magic again with what theologians call general revelation. 15:25.269 --> 15:27.992 [SPEAKER_00]: Revelation that's available to everyone. 15:28.072 --> 15:40.724 [SPEAKER_00]: Now have you ever sat down, looked at a waterfall, walked through a forest, walked along the beach, gone into swam into the ocean, stood on a cliff top and seen the view and you thought tears of my gosh. 15:40.744 --> 15:42.165 [SPEAKER_00]: Isn't God amazing? 15:43.006 --> 15:43.587 [SPEAKER_00]: You thought that? 15:44.348 --> 15:51.682 [SPEAKER_00]: You go out at night and look up at the stars and think to yourself, that alive, there's gotta be a God. 15:52.343 --> 15:55.649 [SPEAKER_00]: If things are this beautiful, there must be something beautiful behind it. 15:56.090 --> 16:00.818 [SPEAKER_00]: If things are so incredibly designed, there must be a designer. 16:01.419 --> 16:07.410 [SPEAKER_00]: If there's a so intelligent and smart, there's got to be an intelligence behind the universe. 16:09.297 --> 16:16.448 [SPEAKER_00]: You may have even said that, where you've been somewhere incredible, and you've thought, how can you not be a God? 16:17.630 --> 16:24.941 [SPEAKER_00]: When things are so incredible and beautiful like this, that's what theologians call general revelation. 16:25.222 --> 16:35.237 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's here in Psalm 19, verse one, the heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 16:35.943 --> 16:42.012 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what we can look at creation, look at everything around us and go, wow, there's something out there. 16:44.496 --> 16:50.525 [SPEAKER_00]: But creation's voice as rich as it is, has limits. 16:50.545 --> 16:55.733 [SPEAKER_00]: It can tell you that God is, but not yet who God is. 16:57.095 --> 17:02.102 [SPEAKER_00]: It can tell you that God exists, but can't tell you what He's like. 17:05.137 --> 17:10.645 [SPEAKER_00]: Creation can move your heart, but it can't redeem your heart. 17:10.665 --> 17:18.677 [SPEAKER_00]: Because if you stand there on the edge of an ocean looking out at the vast expanse in front of you, you can be inspired, wow! 17:20.100 --> 17:25.948 [SPEAKER_00]: But you're still broken, unredeemed, unfulfilled at core. 17:26.650 --> 17:28.292 [SPEAKER_00]: That's not gonna fill you up forever. 17:29.639 --> 17:36.913 [SPEAKER_00]: It starts to scratch at the edge, but doesn't complete the job. 17:38.255 --> 17:44.707 [SPEAKER_00]: General revelation can widen your eyes, but it cannot wash your sins, which is why there must be something else. 17:45.589 --> 17:51.580 [SPEAKER_00]: We must move from general revelation to what theologians call special revelation. 17:53.348 --> 17:56.892 [SPEAKER_00]: And now, look at what happens next because what is Matthew do here? 17:57.393 --> 17:59.956 [SPEAKER_00]: The magic eye are over here looking at the sky. 18:01.237 --> 18:03.640 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe something exists. 18:03.660 --> 18:04.962 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe something's out there. 18:05.442 --> 18:08.126 [SPEAKER_00]: And they go on a journey, 1300 kilometers. 18:08.726 --> 18:09.688 [SPEAKER_00]: And where do they arrive? 18:11.710 --> 18:12.751 [SPEAKER_00]: They arrive at Scripture. 18:13.953 --> 18:15.414 [SPEAKER_00]: They arrive at Herod's palace. 18:15.875 --> 18:16.816 [SPEAKER_00]: They knock on the door. 18:17.397 --> 18:19.339 [SPEAKER_00]: And they say, we're here to see the king. 18:20.534 --> 18:37.851 [SPEAKER_00]: and her it's like a bit freaked out because he thinks he's the king and they're not clearly looking for him but he doesn't know so that he asked his scholars and his theologians and he says to them when was the king meant to be born and so they bring out the scroll of Michael. 18:38.219 --> 18:40.281 [SPEAKER_00]: and they read my ketchup to five. 18:40.741 --> 18:46.587 [SPEAKER_00]: I would say this, but you, oh Bethlehem, a pastor who are too little to be among the clans of Judah. 18:47.247 --> 18:56.075 [SPEAKER_00]: From you shall come forth from me, one who is to be a ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from old, from ancient of days. 18:56.736 --> 19:04.002 [SPEAKER_00]: So their big general revelation about oh, maybe God exists, finds its home in Scripture. 19:05.444 --> 19:07.045 [SPEAKER_00]: They go from a sign. 19:07.902 --> 19:16.514 [SPEAKER_00]: to the Scripture and yet it gets even more specific than that because to they stay there, their journey goes on. 19:19.098 --> 19:36.863 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture leads them to the sun, and they stand before the sun, and then they kneel before the sun, 19:38.092 --> 19:41.239 [SPEAKER_00]: and they lay their gifts down. 19:43.724 --> 19:50.879 [SPEAKER_00]: So this is from general revelation from a sign to the scriptures to a son. 19:51.721 --> 19:58.615 [SPEAKER_00]: And that is a map for us as we try to move towards meaning this Christmas. 19:59.337 --> 20:02.781 [SPEAKER_00]: As we make our way from, there must be something out there. 20:02.821 --> 20:09.249 [SPEAKER_00]: To, oh, there isn't just something, there is someone, and we know his name, his name is Jesus. 20:11.632 --> 20:17.398 [SPEAKER_00]: John chapter 1 verse 14 says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. 20:18.860 --> 20:28.011 [SPEAKER_00]: And we've seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 20:30.742 --> 20:33.975 [SPEAKER_00]: This is what Athanasius called the great condescension. 20:35.180 --> 20:39.216 [SPEAKER_00]: God bending low and coming down to us. 20:43.887 --> 20:45.789 [SPEAKER_00]: So this is the journey of revelation. 20:45.909 --> 20:48.612 [SPEAKER_00]: This isn't kind of abstract theology. 20:48.652 --> 20:53.657 [SPEAKER_00]: This is a map of how people come to faith in man-evil and how people come to faith in the show. 20:53.697 --> 20:58.061 [SPEAKER_00]: They are a range of how people come to faith in France and there's how people come to faith right across Melbourne. 20:58.081 --> 20:59.903 [SPEAKER_00]: This is how people come to faith in Victoria. 20:59.923 --> 21:01.284 [SPEAKER_00]: There's how people come to faith. 21:01.304 --> 21:04.247 [SPEAKER_00]: They start with this strange notion. 21:04.367 --> 21:10.013 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, there's hunger, there's something restless here that's gonna make me go on this journey of seeking. 21:09.993 --> 21:16.002 [SPEAKER_00]: and they move, move, move, move, towards, towards until they find Jesus in the pages of Scripture. 21:16.282 --> 21:20.709 [SPEAKER_00]: And then the Scripture's not enough because it needs to lead them to faith in Christ Himself. 21:33.148 --> 21:38.616 [SPEAKER_00]: So general revelation can wake you up, but only special revelation can lead you home. 21:41.043 --> 21:48.534 [SPEAKER_00]: we need both, creation can get your attention, but it's Christ who will take our allegiance. 21:51.258 --> 21:57.347 [SPEAKER_00]: So, Christmas time is this time of meaning and connection, but you and I both know it's also a season of ache. 21:57.928 --> 22:05.880 [SPEAKER_00]: In the middle of our hot summer, it can be this kind of melancholy winter of the soul where people feel lonely than ever. 22:08.363 --> 22:10.206 [SPEAKER_00]: People long for revelation. 22:11.097 --> 22:20.697 [SPEAKER_00]: And so the magic become a mirror for us to take this trip, because meaning is worth moving for. 22:22.962 --> 22:26.710 [SPEAKER_00]: Firstly, he's worthy of worship from those who are far away. 22:27.922 --> 22:49.322 [SPEAKER_00]: So this Matthew here begins with these Gentile worshipers outside the promises of God, outside the history of Israel, outside the language, outside the culture, outside the politics, outside of everything that could have been claimed as center, and they find themselves the closest people to Jesus. 22:50.281 --> 22:53.886 [SPEAKER_00]: He's worthy of worship from those who are far away. 22:53.926 --> 22:56.909 [SPEAKER_00]: This has always been the story of Scripture. 22:56.990 --> 23:02.537 [SPEAKER_00]: Even back in the Old Testament, we think the missionaries were created at the book of Acts. 23:03.157 --> 23:14.171 [SPEAKER_00]: Uh-uh, back in the Old Testament, the story was for Israel to be a light to the nations and that the nations would come to the brightness of the light. 23:14.191 --> 23:19.478 [SPEAKER_00]: Distances no barrier to God who creates galaxies and who concuss galaxies. 23:20.504 --> 23:28.475 [SPEAKER_00]: And so this story begins with people so far away, not just physically, like geographically, but in every sense. 23:29.317 --> 23:39.992 [SPEAKER_00]: And they find themselves at the foot of the creator and the sustainer of the universe, the one who created the light that they followed. 23:43.978 --> 23:50.427 [SPEAKER_00]: Secondly, this is your sign that God remembers you. 23:51.014 --> 23:51.895 [SPEAKER_00]: This is your sign. 23:51.935 --> 23:53.297 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how you got here today. 23:53.317 --> 23:54.959 [SPEAKER_00]: You might be coming here for a million years. 23:54.979 --> 23:56.501 [SPEAKER_00]: This might be your very first day. 23:56.521 --> 24:02.829 [SPEAKER_00]: You might have scrolled across this on your feed, on Facebook, or on YouTube. 24:03.129 --> 24:05.212 [SPEAKER_00]: And you're saying, God, give me a sign. 24:05.252 --> 24:06.954 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, this is your sign. 24:07.976 --> 24:10.459 [SPEAKER_00]: Get to know Jesus, this Christmas. 24:11.260 --> 24:15.385 [SPEAKER_00]: Your hunger and your ache has led you here. 24:16.057 --> 24:18.301 [SPEAKER_00]: Keep staying curious. 24:19.283 --> 24:21.668 [SPEAKER_00]: Keep following the light. 24:22.750 --> 24:25.034 [SPEAKER_00]: Keep moving towards him. 24:26.277 --> 24:30.505 [SPEAKER_00]: Grace always starts on the outskirts first before it starts in the center. 24:31.480 --> 24:32.341 [SPEAKER_00]: Isn't it crazy? 24:32.682 --> 24:43.196 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the ones who were the furthest away end of the closest and the king of Israel at the time didn't even know where the king was meant to look in the Bible. 24:43.796 --> 24:47.762 [SPEAKER_00]: He has to ask people the expert, the one who's meant to know, doesn't know. 24:47.802 --> 24:50.666 [SPEAKER_00]: And the ones who aren't meant to know, do. 24:52.308 --> 24:53.770 [SPEAKER_00]: Who's the ones having dreams? 24:54.591 --> 24:56.273 [SPEAKER_00]: The outside is. 24:56.675 --> 24:59.859 [SPEAKER_00]: And the dream is, don't go back to that guy, he's a crook. 24:59.879 --> 25:02.361 [SPEAKER_00]: And so they go around the outside, go the other way. 25:02.401 --> 25:05.565 [SPEAKER_00]: The story's all topsy, turvy. 25:05.605 --> 25:11.371 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're seeking today, you're not forgotten. 25:12.433 --> 25:19.841 [SPEAKER_00]: God speaking to you in a language that you understand, I want to implore you to complete the journey by meeting the person of Jesus. 25:23.485 --> 25:25.467 [SPEAKER_00]: Thirdly, look for light in this season. 25:26.628 --> 25:32.200 [SPEAKER_00]: All you might see is darkness, you might see darkness everywhere, but I want to encourage you to look for light. 25:32.703 --> 25:43.555 [SPEAKER_00]: Our church vision is this because we believe firmly that our life makes more sense when it's placed in the big overarching story of God, rather than making ourselves the hero. 25:44.176 --> 25:55.769 [SPEAKER_00]: When we place ourselves as a supporting character in the story of Jesus, life starts to make more sense, meaning is found even if that meaning is found slowly over time. 25:56.530 --> 25:58.052 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like a trickle, not a flood. 25:59.585 --> 26:06.075 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't see the whole road, but you can just see the next little bit, next little bit, like my headlights, they don't light up the entire hum. 26:06.295 --> 26:10.401 [SPEAKER_00]: They only light up a little bit in front of me and I have to keep going to see the next bit. 26:13.445 --> 26:15.368 [SPEAKER_00]: Fourthly, the journey is hard, but worth it. 26:16.270 --> 26:19.534 [SPEAKER_00]: He turns difficulty into joy. 26:20.396 --> 26:22.779 [SPEAKER_00]: TS Eliot said, a cold coming, we had of it. 26:23.440 --> 26:28.748 [SPEAKER_00]: The worst time of year for a journey and such a long journey. 26:29.251 --> 26:37.585 [SPEAKER_00]: And yet Matthew says, when they arrived at the feet of Jesus, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 26:38.767 --> 26:42.954 [SPEAKER_00]: Guys, some of you need to know that joys on the other side of your obedience not before it. 26:44.677 --> 26:48.744 [SPEAKER_00]: The feelings follow the obedience, not the other way around. 26:53.291 --> 26:55.495 [SPEAKER_00]: And so this second verse, 26:56.369 --> 27:00.254 [SPEAKER_00]: of O Holy Night, led by the light of faith serenely beaming. 27:02.337 --> 27:04.820 [SPEAKER_00]: This is not just an ancient song or metaphor. 27:04.860 --> 27:06.062 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the human condition. 27:07.423 --> 27:14.292 [SPEAKER_00]: We're led by things that we don't understand until we arrive at the feet of the one who makes himself understandable to us. 27:14.773 --> 27:25.026 [SPEAKER_00]: He's made us understandable through the words of scripture and then by meeting the person of Jesus resurrected and alive today in Him by His Spirit in us. 27:27.267 --> 27:28.929 [SPEAKER_00]: We're all following something, my friends. 27:31.952 --> 27:46.646 [SPEAKER_00]: The light of ambition, the neon of consumption, the flicker of romance, the screen glow that nums, the inner spark of longing. 27:48.628 --> 27:55.215 [SPEAKER_00]: The Christmas says these lights, they won't save you. 27:56.765 --> 28:03.955 [SPEAKER_00]: And behind every lesser light is Jesus, the light of the world, gently drawing you home. 28:06.017 --> 28:09.422 [SPEAKER_00]: My friends, meaning is worth moving for. 28:09.442 --> 28:13.087 [SPEAKER_00]: Take that next step and keep moving towards the person of Jesus. 28:14.008 --> 28:16.411 [SPEAKER_00]: You might not have to go 1,300 kilometers. 28:17.413 --> 28:19.195 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you've just got to go around the block. 28:20.710 --> 28:28.746 [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes it's a star that leads you, but the destination is always the same, which is Jesus Christ, drawing us home. 28:29.106 --> 28:30.810 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's stand together, team, you can come. 28:39.186 --> 28:41.250 [SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna pray together this morning. 28:43.728 --> 28:56.867 [SPEAKER_00]: that the Lord would continue to illuminate himself, thanks, buddy, to us, to our hearts, and then we're going to sing Gabby and Tim again, to lead us in this song, I'm available. 28:59.010 --> 29:10.427 [SPEAKER_00]: And so, Lord, we want to come before you right now, knowing that you hold the keys, you have the meaning that our lives can be shaped around. 29:12.280 --> 29:36.130 [SPEAKER_00]: You're the beginning and the end, and we're encouraged this morning to continue to follow, even if it seems nebulous for God that over time, as we move closer to Jesus, you elucidate who you are and who we are in you. 29:38.313 --> 29:39.334 [SPEAKER_00]: So draw us Lord. 29:40.816 --> 29:42.779 [SPEAKER_00]: We make ourselves available to you. 29:44.281 --> 29:52.692 [SPEAKER_00]: And as we come to kneel at your feet, we offer gifts not of gold, frankincense as a man, but we and know what we offer our lives. 29:54.414 --> 29:56.837 [SPEAKER_00]: Living sacrifices poured out laid down. 30:02.605 --> 30:10.215 [SPEAKER_00]: That you'd be honored, that you'd be glorified in our midst, and in our city and in Jesus name. 30:13.773 --> 30:16.003 [SPEAKER_00]: In Jesus' name.