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[0:00] Good morning. A warm welcome to all of you. It's lovely to have so many folk that I don't know the faces to, but we do welcome you, visitors. I was thinking this week with the snow it'd probably be, oh, maybe half the usual number on a Sunday morning. People will be staying away. I know some folk have had to stay away because of the weather, but it's lovely to welcome you. If you're from other churches, we rejoice that you're able to be with us together this morning. We are God's people. We're here by his grace to worship and to praise him, and we do that because of Jesus, his son. We're getting in the run-up now to Easter, the run-up to that most momentous event in the history of the world when the Son of God laid down his life for us upon the cross and broke the power of death and sin and hell by rising again. And as Jesus was coming into Jerusalem in that beginning of that Easter week, the people there shouted as they saw him, Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the King of Israel. But Jesus is not just the King of Israel. He's the King of the world, the King of the universe, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And we're going to begin by worshipping him, singing from the screen.

[1:22] Come people of the risen King. Let's stand and sing together. And I'll sing together.

[1:33] Now each of us will sing to the Lord, the underst dot com. Let's pray. Yeah. You've before the call, let's see, set the Lord this elect has not to deny. I never get whose danger is produced and детistic but no matter. soleest, etc.

[1:54] From the shaming shadows of the earth, we will lift our eyes to Him. Let's lay the arms of mercy, which together children in.

[2:13] Rejoice, rejoice, let every turn rejoice. Rejoice, the heart of course, now Church of Christ rejoice.

[2:37] We have much to rejoice in if Christ is our Savior and our Lord. Let's come to Him in prayer together. Let us all pray. Amen. Most glorious and joyful God, we thank you that you are the God who delights in us and rejoices over us as a groom rejoices over his bride.

[2:59] We are those, Lord, who reciprocate that joy. We bounce back that rejoicing because, oh Lord, the love that you've poured into our lives, the joy that you've given us with the knowledge of sins forgiven, of peace with God, of eternal life.

[3:17] Lord, all these things and many more besides cause us to rejoice. Yes, we may have had a difficult week, troubles with weather and cold, difficulties with work or school, or Lord, problems within our own hearts and lives, families, friendships, relationships.

[3:35] Lord, there's so much around about us. Perhaps that would make us not feel like rejoicing. But when we lift our eyes up to your Son, when we look to see Him, the one who was slain for us, who died in our place, when we look to see Jesus, the one who now has conquered sin and death and who seated at your right hand as King and Lord of heaven and earth, when we see again, oh Lord, that we are one with Him, that we are those who have been born again of His Spirit, those who have become children of God.

[4:10] Lord, when we consider the blessings, the blessings you've poured upon our lives, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, Lord, we can't help but feel a smile growing upon our lips.

[4:24] We can't help but feel a sense of wonder and delight that we are the objects of your love and the objects of your joy. Yes, we are sinners, Lord. We know that. We've felt that. We've struggled with that throughout this week and we have failed.

[4:43] But Lord, we thank you that you do not count our sins against us. Thank you that you've covered them with the very precious and wonderful blood of Jesus shed at the cross. Lord, we thank you that, Lord, we stand before you now as forgiven and accepted and loved.

[4:59] And Lord, we thank you that this is all by your grace. We aren't forgiven because we've been good people this week or because we are here even in church. Lord, to worship and sing your praises.

[5:11] It's nothing that we can do, nothing of ourselves, but all of your goodness, your loving kindness, your unmerited grace. Lord, we thank you that it's you who sent your Son to save us.

[5:23] It's you who sent your Holy Spirit to awaken us from the depths of sin. It's you, O Lord, who gave us faith and repentance to turn and seek you.

[5:34] It's you, O Lord, who's kept us and kept us walking with you, whether that be decades or just months. We thank you again that our salvation is all of you, that we are yours because of what you have done.

[5:48] And Lord, grant us again to lift our voices, our hearts, our very lives, Lord, to you in worship this morning and praise. And, O Lord, more than that, we ask that out of our joy and rejoicing in you, that it wouldn't just be for an hour or so, but it would be through the day, through the week, through our lives, that, O Lord, we might always have our eyes looking unto Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.

[6:16] So be with us. Send your Holy Spirit down amongst us afresh, that, O Lord, where our eyes perhaps are closed to these things still, we don't know the joy of this forgiveness, the joy of this salvation.

[6:29] Open our eyes. Unstop our ears. Awaken us from our death. Lord, where we need that comfort, comfort us. Where we need that strengthening in our weakness, strengthen us. Where we need, O Lord, that knowledge and assurance of your forgiveness, grant that too.

[6:46] May, O Lord, you be at work here in our midst. And, we pray, bring glory and honour and praise to your name and the name of your Son, Jesus, in whose name we bring our prayers now.

[7:00] Amen. Now, boys and girls, it's good we've got a few extra boys and girls as well. I want you to think of a number. It's a number that crops up in the Bible.

[7:13] It's a very important number today for one person. And, I wonder if you could help me if we discover this number. Because one thing you mustn't do, okay, it's almost written in law, you mustn't mention the age of ladies.

[7:29] Okay, so we're not going to mention the age of this lady, but we're going to find the number. And, if in your mind you make a connection between that number and an age, well, that's nothing, that's not my fault.

[7:40] Okay, that's your mind. Okay. So, here's the first clue to this number, okay, in the Bible, because you're all great Bible scholars.

[7:50] There was a terrible siege. That means the city of Samaria was surrounded by the Assyrians, and people had so little food, they were so hungry, that all the food prices went up.

[8:04] So much so that if you wanted to buy the head of a donkey, you probably haven't thought about that as having it for your meal, unless you've got one in the oven at the moment, I don't think so. But if you wanted to buy the head of a donkey, it would cost you this number of shekels.

[8:18] Okay, anybody going to give me a guess? Boys and girls, give me a guess of a number. How much, let's imagine it's pounds. How many pounds would you pay for a donkey's head to cook it and eat it?

[8:28] If you're really, really, really, really hungry, have you got an idea? 20 pounds? Would you pay 20 pounds? No, no, it's more than that, it's more than that. Okay, okay, well, here's another clue.

[8:41] King Saul had a very good friend whose name was Barzillai. Okay, now you remember that name, don't you? It's all coming into your mind. Barzillai was a friend of King Saul, and when King Saul left him and said goodbye to him, and this man, Barzillai, was this number of years young.

[9:01] Any idea what age he might have been? You've all just got it all on the tip of your tongues, but you just don't want to say it. Okay, one last clue, and I think you'll probably get this one.

[9:13] When Moses was this age, God met with him at the burning bush and sent him back to Pharaoh to say to Pharaoh, set my people free. Okay, so can you guess?

[9:28] Do you know how old Moses was when he was sent back? Oh, some people there, some bright young people there, unlike their parents. Yes, Adam.

[9:40] 80. Okay, that's the number I was thinking of, 80. Okay, now, so think of that number and then sort of put it out of your head. Now, this person is a wonderful age, a wonderful young age.

[9:55] In fact, I think some days this person seems to be much younger than I am, and I'm just a few years younger than that. So, you all know, it's Jean.

[10:06] Jean Brumby has got a special birthday today. So, because she is a very special lady to this church and to this fellowship, we've got something special downstairs, but we've also got something special upstairs as well.

[10:24] So, I'm going to ask Jean, as shy as she is, to come to the front. Come to the front, please. Mrs Brumby, please. I can't go away this weekend. I know. But the Lord had other plans.

[10:37] Mrs Brumby, we would like to present you with these flowers just as a small token of our love and affection for you.

[10:48] They're quite heavy. Beautiful. Thank you. All right, Emily. We've done it. We've done it. Well done, Emily. Thank you. You can sit down. Okay. Now.

[10:59] What are you doing? We are going to sing happy birthday to you. Oh, you're not. Yes, we are. Sorry, Karen. Yes, we are. I know. It's very embarrassing, isn't it? Standing at the front like this.

[11:10] And then we're going to pray for you as well. Is that okay? Well, that would be good. And give thanks to God. We want to give thanks to God. And you would want us to give thanks to God for you and for what the Lord has done through you and through you and Peter in the past as well.

[11:25] And the blessing that you've been to this fellowship, we do want to thank God. So, we're going to sing happy birthday. Then we're going to pray. And then you can sit down and hide again. Thank you. Okay. Well, you've got to put up with being sung happy birthday to first.

[11:37] Okay. So, I think, what should we call you in the birthday song? Should we call you Mrs. Brumby, Mrs. B or Jean? Jean. Jean. Okay. Ready? Happy birthday to you.

[11:51] Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Jean. Happy birthday to you.

[12:03] Amen. You three hip-hips, as he often does. Let's pray together. Let's pray together.

[12:15] Oh, Lord, our God, you are so good to us. You are so kind. We thank you so much for the friendship that we have as brothers and sisters in Christ.

[12:27] And we thank you so much for the love that's shared between us. Sometimes it's hidden. Sometimes it's open. And we thank you especially for the way that you have shown your love to us as a church through Jean.

[12:43] We again give you thanks for every remembrance of Peter, his ministry here. We thank you for continuing to use Jean and make her a blessing. We thank you for the strength, the health, and the way that you've continued to sustain her, Lord, up until this wonderful time in her life.

[13:00] And we pray that you would richly bless her on her birthday. And in the months and years ahead, as you continue, we pray to keep her close to you and continue to help us to be a blessing to her and continue to use her to be a blessing to us.

[13:18] For we ask this all with grateful thanks in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Bless you, Jean. Well, can I just say this? I did try to speak for the weekend with the snow and the M62 clothes going away.

[13:34] But then I do have to say this. But the love and the care of the church coming here is absolutely second to none. And I do thank you and bless the Lord that I belong here.

[13:49] Thank you. Leave them there. That's a good idea. Luke. We've been studying Luke on Sunday mornings for a few months now.

[14:01] And Luke in chapter 3. Last week we looked at the baptism of Jesus. As recorded in Luke. And we're going to continue from there. So Luke chapter 3.

[14:12] That's page 1029. If you've got one of the Red Church Bibles. And we're going to pick up from verse 21 and read through to the end of the chapter.

[14:24] As soon as you turn there, you're going to see a very, very long list of names. Now I've spent most of the week practicing reading these names. But I'm sure I'm going to make a complete hash of it anyway.

[14:37] So please be patient. But it's God's word. And it has relevance to what we're going to look at in a little while. So we're going to read the whole of the chapter.

[14:48] And can I just... If you think that's a bit boring reading all the... If you boys and girls, as you read through, follow through, If you hear a name that sounds familiar, or somebody famous from the Bible, make a note of that, okay?

[15:01] Because there's some very famous people in this list of names from the Bible which you'll have heard of. So we're going to read from Luke 3, beginning at verse 21, and then to the end of the chapter.

[15:12] When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened.

[15:24] And the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, You are my son whom I love.

[15:36] With you I am well pleased. Now Jesus himself was about 30 years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph.

[15:50] The son of Heli, the son of Mathat. The son of Levi, the son of Melchi. The son of Janai, the son of Joseph.

[16:03] The son of Matthias, the son of Amos. The son of Nahum, the son of Elslah. The son of Nagai, the son of Marth.

[16:14] The son of Matathias, the son of Simeon. The son of Josek, the son of Jodah. The son of Joannan, the son of Risha.

[16:24] The son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel. The son of Neri, the son of Melchi. The son of Adi, the son of Kossam.

[16:35] The son of Elmadam, the son of Ur. The son of Joshua, the son of Eleazar. The son of Jorim, the son of Mathat.

[16:47] The son of Levi, the son of Simeon. The son of Judah, the son of Joseph. The son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim.

[16:57] The son of Meliah, the son of Mena. The son of Matatha, the son of Nathan. The son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nashon.

[17:15] The son of Aminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, the son of Serog, the son of Ru, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Sheilah, the son of Canaan.

[17:44] The son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalal the son of Kenan the son of Enosh the son of Seth the son of Adam the son of God if the children the young people would like to go out to their activities now please please turn back in your Bibles to Luke and chapter 3 to that long list of names that we looked at together and the verses just preceding there Who Do You Think You Are is a TV series it's not been on lately but every now and again once a year or so there's a series of celebrities who investigate their past, investigate their ancestors their forefathers, the people who make them what they are today and very often those celebrities as they go back through past generations find out about people that they had no idea about exceptional people often as well people maybe of ranks some of them even found out that they are related to royalty many generations back now there are websites available and companies who will trace your genealogy whether you're a celebrity or not to find out how far back whether there's anybody famous or anybody important in your past as it were a relative of mine of my grandmother's traced her line back they were called

[19:34] Hamon and they were from originally from Sark as you know many of you are from Guernsey and they traced back 500 years to the very first Hamon who left Jersey another channel island to go to Sark to farm 500 years ago well when Luke does the genealogy of Jesus and traces back his line we find that he goes back not just 500 years but several thousand years all the way back to Adam Matthew in his gospel has a similar line of names but he goes all the way back just to Abraham in his genealogy and as we go through that list I wonder boys and girls particularly did you pick out some famous names in that genealogy there was of course King David there in verse 31 a very famous king of course there was Boaz you read all about him and his love story in the book of Ruth a wonderful story of God's grace and of course you go back to

[20:39] Abraham he's in there isn't he the very first of the faith and then Noah and his ark and then Methuselah the oldest man who ever lived do you know how old he lived to?

[20:54] can you remember? 969 969 little way to go gene for you okay and then of course Adam the very first man the very first human being and Luke through his gospel has been very rigorous hasn't he?

[21:15] he's told us that right at the start remember when he introduces his gospel he says with this in mind since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning Luke was very meticulous we know he was a doctor meticulous in finding out everything he could about the life of Jesus and this genealogy with all of these names some unpronounceable as you heard me trying to pronounce them shows that this is the case he's as it were turned every stone he's been very careful and rigorous in his study of the life of Jesus and again one reason perhaps why we have this genealogy is to prove to us again that this is historical evidence this is true what we read in the Bible is something we can trust it's not fairy tale or myth as some would have us to believe it's a true record of historical events in the life of Jesus real trustworthy we can take the Bible as being something of authority from God but before we look at this genealogy and this list of names there's something else interesting I think which we may have skipped by in verse 23 and that's where Luke tells us the age of Jesus when he began his ministry his mission as it were in the service of God

[22:37] Jesus we're told himself was about 30 years old when he began his ministry now 30 is not an insignificant number in fact 30 is a very important age in the Old Testament because at 30 was the age when the priests and the Levites that was the tribe of God's people who served in the tabernacle and served in the temple that's when they could begin their ministry for God they couldn't begin it before you can read about that in Leviticus chapter 4 now when it came to national service in the army of God the Israelites they were to begin that at 20 all the men aged over 20 went to war you can read about that too but those who served in the tabernacle those who served God in the temple had to wait another 10 years before they could be called to active service we're not told why God set that age limit why he wanted more mature men as it were to serve in his ministry but it was not until that time that Jesus himself began publicly to serve his father's purposes and will remember we looked last week how we saw there in the baptism of Jesus that God the Son

[23:51] God the Father God the Holy Spirit were of one mind one will one purpose one plan in the coming of Jesus the law of God said no one could serve God before they were 30 and Jesus waited until he was 30 that's not unimportant that's significant because we're told later on in the Bible when the time had fully come this is Galatians 4 when the time had fully come God sent his son born of a woman under the law to redeem those under the law that we might receive adoption to sonship no shortcuts for Jesus no fast tracks even though he was the son of God there's no getting around God's word he was obedient and faithful to the word and the will of God but it's no doubt that Jesus would have been able to begin his ministry much earlier surely than that age remember we saw even when he was 12 years old in the temple he knew who he was he knew what he was about and his parents came looking for him he said didn't you know

[24:59] I had to be in my father's house but he was faithful to God's will yes perhaps he could have been and would have been very able to complete the ministry much younger but he waited until it was God's time the whole of Jesus life was a life of law keeping of obedience of righteousness he never broke a commandment that's why we know that our Lord Jesus is the only human being who has never sinned not in thought or word and deed rather as God himself testified about him Jesus did everything that pleased God remember that voice from heaven just in verse 22 you are my son whom I love with you I am well pleased well pleased dear friends we cannot jump God's timing we have to submit everything in our lives to the will of God our heavenly father and we have to submit our lives to his word because that's his revealed will for us we all get impatient don't we we all think that we know better or we presume that we are ready to do something perhaps long before we actually are but dear friends we are followers of Jesus

[26:24] Jesus in Hebrews in chapter 5 we're told who son though he was learned obedience from what he suffered now it can be really hard for us particularly when we're young to wait particularly when you're in your teenage years I want to be an adult I want to be treated like an adult I want to be respected like an adult I want to be older than I am a grown up but those years as we grow those years that we develop like in the life of our Lord Jesus are not wasted years they're important years they're not pointless they're there so that we can develop to be the people the men and women of God that he wants us to be don't always keep looking forward perhaps for those of us who are a little bit older thinking about retirement thinking oh I just long to finish work and get to retirement so I don't have to do this daily don't be impatient those of us who are longing to get married or those of us who are longing to have grandchildren or whatever it may be we need to wait to rest in the purposes the plan and the will of God because in this time God has a purpose for us because from that verse in Hebrews 5 we're told son though he was he learned obedience from what he suffered we're told the reason he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him

[28:00] God has a purpose in our waiting a purpose in preparing us for what is ahead Jesus knew that he was able to patiently trust God's purpose and well as he revealed it in his word well let's get back to this genealogy then let's get back to this list of names it may seem to us again to be so unimportant why all these names these strange sounding names the majority of them we don't know yes we've heard a few names we know but most of them we don't know anything about why has Luke gone to so much trouble to give us a list of dead people what relevance can this have to the message that he is wanting to share with Theophilus remember that's the one the man to whom he wrote the letter the gospel and to us his message is the gospel so what does this say about the gospel what does this say about the Lord Jesus it seems to me there's several good reasons you may think of many other reasons why this list is here but this seems to me several three in particular that

[29:11] I want us just to think about this morning what does Luke want us to know primarily about Jesus he wants us to know and be certain that he is the son of God and I believe that this list here reminds us of that and leads us to that conclusion there's a sense of a circle going on isn't there remember we've got in verse 22 you are my son says God and at the end of the verse 38 the son of God there's a linking isn't there there's a linking we're meant to see and make the loop we're meant to make the connection and that's exactly what Luke's been doing all the way through this gospel record as he's been presenting us with these historical events he's been every all the way through we keep being confronted with the fact here in this person Jesus Christ this man who now at 30 begins his ministry is the living son of God remember when Gabriel spoke to Mary and told her of the son she would conceive what are we told he will be great and will be called son of the most high another name for

[30:20] God isn't it and then the shepherds as they're waiting and the angels come and speak to him and tell them today in the town of David a savior has been born to you he's the Messiah the Lord that's God's special name Jesus in the father's house we've already mentioned there as the son of God and here 32 you are my son Luke goes all the way back to Adam to break make this wonderful link between Adam and Jesus the son of God and that's something that comes out through the rest of the New Testament where we have this comparison between Adam the son of God created and Jesus the son of God uncreated Paul particularly speaks about it in 1 Corinthians he speaks of Adam as the man of the earth or the son of the earth Jesus the son of heaven Paul speaks about Jesus being the second Adam or the last

[31:22] Adam in other words what Adam ruined Jesus came to restore Adam was the first of all human beings born Jesus was the very first of all those born again of that new creation so in 1 Corinthians 15 45 so it is written says Paul the first Adam became a living being the last Adam a life-giving spirit we're to see that link here again Luke is reminding us from where Jesus came he came from God he is the son of God but also of course we have this list of human people ordinary human people to remind us that Jesus himself is not only the son of God he's the son of man it's one of the titles doesn't it that Jesus uses again and again through the through the records through the gospels he calls himself the son of man or speaks about himself in the third person as the son of man

[32:25] Jesus truly God and truly man truly human like us born of a woman read that in Galatians born of Mary his descendants like ours go all the way back to the very beginning of the human race to the creation of Adam in that sense we are all related aren't we we are all members of this one family because we all stem from we all come from Adam the first created man and as we look through the ancestry of Jesus we find some good uns and some bad uns don't we just like those on the TV with their celebrity families there's some good people here there's like David and Boaz and Abraham really super people and then there's people who actually shouldn't really be there think of Boaz I mentioned the love story between him and Ruth

[33:27] Ruth is the ancestor of our Lord Jesus Christ but who was she she was a Moabite she was a Gentile she was somebody who worshipped false gods she was not part of Abraham's line part of the pure Jewish line but she's included as she came to faith in Christ then there is Peraz now you may not know but some of you will remember a terrible thing that happened in Genesis Peraz is the son of Judah who committed incest with his daughter in law a terrible thing to happen a terrible disgrace on the family but Jesus is part of that family and we're told here of someone called Salmon Salmon we're not told about his family but if you look at Matthew's genealogy which is similar he tells us that Salmon was the son of Rahab who was Rahab

[34:30] Rahab was the prostitute in Jericho who hid the spies but here again in Jesus' lineage there's a prostitute an incestuous relationship a Gentile person even Jesus had skeletons in his cupboard if I can put it that way but those people did not shape who he was they did not freshen him to follow in their pattern he followed the Lord he went God's way and he lived for God's glory now all of us have family and without putting too fine a point on it family are trouble aren't they family you can't choose your family you can choose your friends but not your family and let's be honest all of us have got good and bad and bad in our family and we may be the black sheep of our family and they're not easy we may even find that our family whether they're still living or whether they've passed on cast a shadow over us perhaps how we view ourselves is affected by how our family viewed themselves or viewed us perhaps we find it very difficult to shake off a name that we're associated with but dear friends we stand and fall before

[36:04] God by ourselves however we are grateful to God and for all of us we are grateful for God for our families because they have given us life provided for us however imperfectly that may be the same time we are our own people because of Christ we are new creations what our family were like does not mean that we have to follow their path or follow their way or their beliefs or whatever like Jesus whatever the past may be we're living in the present now and who we are is who we are in Christ and who we are that matters is how we live for God now not how they lived before us yes Jesus is truly a man with family with problems we know the problems Jesus gets to his family later on doesn't we when they come out and they think he's mad his brothers try to take him away and even later on in

[37:09] John 6 his brothers even take the mickey out of him families are not easy to live with but we are who we are Jesus knew that too and thirdly and I'm going to spend a little bit more time on this one Jesus is the son of promise the son of God we see that here we see he's the son of man because he's truly human but we see he's the son of promise once again that's a truth that's come all the way through Luke's record so far he's been pointing us to and showing us through the history of Jesus' life that Jesus has come because of God's promises back in Luke chapter 1 verse 55 Mary's wonderful song of praise to God says this just as he promised our ancestors this saviour who's born this one who's coming into the world is the son of promise according to God's promises to his people throughout history that's why the Old Testament is so good and if you don't read your

[38:11] Old Testament let me encourage you to do that because you're missing out on such a large portion of God's word and it tells us about the promises of God tells us about those who are looking forward to Jesus it tells us about the sort of messiah and saviour he would be but I just want to pick out from this list of names three people who receive particular promises from God that are fulfilled in the life of Jesus and they tell us something about the sort of ministry that Jesus was beginning the sort of work that he came into the world to do first of all we have David King David in verse 31 remember David was promised by God that there would always be a kingdom bearing a descendant of his to Samuel chapter 7 and God gave him this promise your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me your throne will be established forever and one of the things that keeps cropping up is Jesus' descent from

[39:11] David again as Gabriel is about to come to Mary we're told of the background that Mary and Mary was a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph a descendant of David and later on she's told herself by the angel Gabriel verse 32 the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David so that promise thousands or so years before Jesus was born given to David that there will be a kingdom and a king will rule be a descendant of yours now is coming true Jesus is coming to establish God's kingdom not the kingdom of Israel that piece of land in the Middle East but a kingdom where God is the ruler with authority and grace and Jesus is the king not geographical not limited to one part of the world but spiritual where all

[40:15] God's children belong Jesus came to preach the kingdom remember how he begins his preaching ministry begins with repent and believe for the kingdom of God is at hand it's near when you're a Christian something wonderful happens you change kingdoms you move spiritually from the kingdom of the dominion of the devil into the kingdom and the dominion of Jesus here's how Paul describes it in Colossians 1 for he rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves we're part of God's kingdom already but it's going to find its fulfillment and its perfect completion in heaven for there's a new heavens and a new earth Jesus has come to be king and to be a

[41:15] Christian ultimately must mean that that we acknowledge Jesus as our king that we want to be part of his kingdom and living in the kingdom of Jesus means living under that kingdom's laws that kingdom's rules living differently to the world around about us are you a member of the kingdom that Jesus came to bring in fulfillment of God's promise then of course we have that wonderful father of the faith Abraham mentioned here for us as well Abraham his name's cropped up as well earlier in Luke Luke in chapter 1 where Mary talks about the promises of God in chapter 1 verse 54 speaking of the Lord God he has helped his servant Israel remembering to be merciful to Abraham God made many promises to Abraham he promised him that even though he had no children at that time and he was 100 years old that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars he promised him that even though he lived in a tent and owned no land whatsoever that he would own a wonderful country in which his children would live but especially he made him a promise a promise that through one of his descendants the whole of the world would be blessed

[42:43] Genesis 12 verse 3 God says to Abraham all peoples will be blessed through you Paul picks up on that wonderful promise and promises like it in Galatians in chapter 3 and he writes this the promises were spoken to Abraham and his seed or his offspring the scripture does not say and to seeds meaning many people but to your seed meaning one person who is Christ Jesus has come to fulfill the promise God made to Abraham several thousand years ago that there would be one of his descendants who would be a blessing to the whole world not just to the Jewish nation not just to Israel but to everybody God's plan had always been for that that everybody in the world would know the good news of Jesus that people from every tribe and tongue and nation wherever they come from would be part of God's kingdom and family and receive the blessing of the forgiveness of sins no matter no matter who you are no matter what your heritage no matter what your lineage no matter what your genealogy

[44:03] Jesus came to be a blessing to you bringing the blessing of God into your life as you put your faith and trust in him there's no other way to receive that blessing there's an exclusivity about Jesus we can't be blessed by God or know the blessing that Abraham was promised apart from through that one person Jesus Christ we can't know that blessing through anybody else through any other religion through any other teacher through any other psychology through any other means if you're hoping to get to heaven if you're hoping to have God's blessing if you're hoping to know God's love it can only come as you come to Jesus because he's the only way he said himself I'm the way the truth and the life there's one more person here that we need to think about and he's the very last name on the list before

[45:04] God the son of Adam Adam the very first man as we've recognized Adam and Eve his wife were promised that one of their descendants would destroy the devil and the curse that he'd brought into the world we know Genesis chapter 3 God created Adam and Eve they were without sin and they enjoyed fellowship and they enjoyed all the blessings and the joy of being in God's wonderful paradise love but Satan came along in the form of a serpent and he deceived them and he lied to them he told them not to trust God because God wasn't worth trusting and so they did what they shouldn't have done they disobeyed God's law they committed the very first sin and in doing so they brought upon themselves death and all of humanity and all the sorrow and all the grief and all the heartache and all the things that we see in the world today are traced back to that act of sin an act of sin that we've continued to imitate in our own lives as we've continued to break God's commandments as we've continued to do our own thing and believe the lies that the devil tells us that there is no

[46:24] God that it isn't worth putting our faith in Jesus that there is no heaven and hell these are lies and so God gave a promise to Eve and to Adam and he said this concerning the devil concerning the evil one I will put enmity between you the evil one and the woman between your offspring and hers notice again singular offspring he will crush your head and you will strike his heel what does that mean it's the very first promise in the bible of Jesus coming into the world to save us the devil through his lies caused Adam to fall into sin but Jesus the offspring of Adam would destroy the devil crush his head and reverse the power of sin for all people but notice there it says he will crush your head and you will strike his heel and for us to be set free from sin and death and hell for us to be rescued from the devil's dominion and brought into the kingdom of the son

[47:29] God loves Jesus himself had to suffer the painful bite of death when he suffered upon the cross as our savior as our atonement as our sin bearer the son of God became the son of man so that he might rule over the kingdom of God blessing every nation by his victory over the evil at the cross Paul writes concerning that having disarmed the powers and authorities that's the evil forces he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by the cross this is the Jesus who has come into the world this is the Jesus whose ministry we're about to enjoy studying in Luke this is the Jesus who came for you and for me is he part of your family have you received and accepted him as your king have you entered into that wonderful relationship with him by the

[48:42] Holy Spirit's work of new birth which means you shall never be separated never cut off never isolated but that you shall forever enjoy him let me urge you as I close let me urge you if you're not a Christian if you've never trusted Jesus if you've never come to faith in him then let me urge you to do that please don't ignore this Jesus who hopefully you've seen from the pages of scripture from the Bible God's trusted word is the only one who can make you and God friends again the only one who can grant you the knowledge of forgiveness of sins of peace of life please come and acknowledge him and bow the knee to him as your king and take him as the very God that he is of your life why put it off why wait another five years or ten years why wait till you're 80 or till you're on the verge of death why wait this is God's time the Bible says now is the day of salvation today is the day of his grace now don't wait any longer don't put God to the test now he's ready to receive now he's ready to forgive now he's ready to love let's pray together as we close

[50:13] Lord you know us all completely and our hearts and minds are open before you you know whether we are in your kingdom or not you know whether we enjoy the blessing that you gave the world in Jesus you know whether we're still in Satan's darkness still believing his lies still following his errors or whether we are yours we pray oh Lord please please please make Jesus real to us afresh this morning and those of us who know him and delight in him and trust in him oh Lord cause our faith to grow and to be enlarged that we may know and love him and follow him more and more and like Jesus we might be gladly obedient to your word which is so good for us we pray

[51:18] Lord for those who do not know any of these things that even now Lord you would speak that you would take away the fingers out of the ears as it were that you would melt our hard hearts which have rejected and stood against you for so long that Lord you would cause us to know that following you and trusting you is the very best thing we could possibly ever beyond our imagination for those of us who still have a past holding us back family or friends help us Lord to be set free from these things healed as it were maybe from those past hurts too help us to walk in the freedom of the children of God in the coming days and in all the days you give us for we ask it in Jesus name amen now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy

[52:34]  Spirit amen amen