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What gift do you bring for someone who has everything? What gift do we bring to God this Christmas season?

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Join me, Pastor Richard, and the story of the shepherds who encountered the promised Messiah born to the Virgin Mary. Rediscover the wonder and awe of Jesus' birth.

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Today's scripture reading is taken from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, verses 8 to 20. Luke chapter 2, verses 8 to 20. The shepherds and the angels. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them. And the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

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And I want to start with the question. What gift do you bring for someone who has everything? What gift do you bring for someone who has everything? I don't know about you, but for me, I really struggle when it comes to getting gifts for people. Some people it comes naturally, for me not so much. I I really struggle. Sometimes I dread having to get a gift for someone. It doesn't come naturally for me. Likewise, when, for instance, one of my children asks, Oh, what gift do you want? Well, I don't know. Give me some time to think about it. Maybe a couple of months. Do you have someone in your life like that? I'm not sure. Uh or we could imagine together some of those very rich and famous people. If you had to get a gift for Elon Musk, well, what are you going to get this guy, huh? He has his own rocket ships. What do you get a person like that? Um if we think about others, um, if it was the Lee family, well, what gift do you do you get for for these people? What gift do you bring for someone who has everything? Um they have every gadget already, uh, they've got the fashion already in their closet. If it's a child, if if they have every thought, if they what gift do you get for someone who has everything? And I want to tell you this morning, because we on the series about what gift do we bring to God, the one who truly has everything. Well, there's one gift that you know money cannot buy, that clothes aren't going to satisfy, that gadgets cannot match, that exotic holidays cannot provide. There's one gift that money cannot buy. Do you know that gift? One of the greatest gifts we can bring to Jesus, even this Christmas season, this Advent season, is to share the gift of hope with others. This morning we sang together the song Go Tell It on the Mountain. Uh, thank you, worship team. I appreciate that very much. It was a special request. Uh, I had, please, this Sunday, we need this song. Why? Because there is a history behind the song. And this takes us back to the late 1800s in America. See, uh, John Wesley Work Jr. was born several years after the official abolition of slavery in America. So this was in eight around 1865 when slavery was officially ended. And entering adulthood, John Wesley, and he's here on the right, uh, as you're looking at the screen, he found his passion in compiling and developing spirituals, old slave spirituals. So, what are those? Uh, these slave spirituals, they were songs that blended African musical traditions uh with Christian faith and Christian themes and the experiences they had in slavery. And so his heart was really for this. It was his passion for all these wonderful songs that he treasured. And he was a part of Fisk University. Fiske University was, I don't know if it was the first, but it was a university in America soon after this time when slavery was ended, where black people could actually go for education. All right, and so it was something very special. But guess what? The university had no money. That's not really a surprise, is it? And so they had the Fisk University Jubilee singers. And John Wesley Wirt Jr. uh was a part of this, and they would tour around to many places throughout the U.S. singing these spirituals, these songs that they would have uh during slavery just among themselves. They would have sung while they are in a tobacco plantation, or uh they were out in the cotton fields working. These were things that they would sing to pass the time, to keep their faith alive, um, to keep hope in their mind. And they would encourage each other through singing this that Christ had come to earth to set free the captive, and that one day they would be set free from slavery of every kind because of what Christ had done. And over the years, there's been different verses added by different people, but at its heart, this song, Go Tell It on the Mountain, it really is the heart of what we would call the Christmas story, the story of Jesus' birth. It echoes the shepherds' reactions when they heard the angels proclaim the birth of Christ. They couldn't keep the news to themselves. Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. This is one of the songs the Jubilee singers would sing. And as we remember, what does Jubilee mean? What does it come from? The year of Jubilee. That time when every debt was to be forgiven. Freedom was to be given. This was meant to be the year of celebration, and it looked forward to Christ's coming. And so these Jubilee singers, uh, one of the songs they would sing is Go Tell It on the Mountain. And so when we sing this hymn today, as we did this morning, it's much like the shepherd's proclamation. It's a way to share the hope and joy of Christ's birth. And so, just as uh families, you know, you would share with such excitement the birth of a new baby. Well, this hymn encourages believers to spread the good news of our Savior's birth. Now, there are some people who have become a bit sour on Christmas. All right. Some would say this isn't really good news. Some people, if you talk about Christmas, they don't get excited to say, oh, yeah, that's Christians. That's the Bible. You have all those do not things, right? Isn't the Bible full of do not this, do not that? Other people might say, well, it's really only good news for very religious people. Only people who are, well, very holy, very perfect. It's not for me. Some people would even argue this good news of Christmas is irrelevant when contrasted with science. There are critics out there. There are many critics out there. But how do I answer the question, does the gospel still give hope today? Well, I've got to tell you, yes, the gospel, the good news that Jesus came and died for our sins and rose again, it does continue to give us hope even for today. In a world where, in many ways, we've long since lost our moral compass, the gospel continues to give direction and guidance for us. And in our world where there's conflicts and there's wars making life uncertain in so many ways, the gospel gives us hope of citizenship in a future kingdom that is going to know lasting peace, where there'll be security, where we don't have to worry about what tomorrow may bring. The gospel gives us hope that our present suffering has a purpose, that it has meaning. It gives us hope that we can see again one day our loved ones who died trusting in the Lord. We'll see them again. It gives us hope for freedom from the slavery of sin. And so I say, yes, the gospel is still very much relevant today. For humanity, we're drowning in polluted waters far from shore. The gospel is like a lifeline that can pull us to a new shore, to a fresh start, to a land of plenty, a land of peace. So what gift can we give to the God who offers us this good news, this lifeline? What gift do you bring for someone who already has everything? We look at the shepherd's response, even from the passage that was read this morning. They were out, and we have to, we're so familiar with their passage, just work with me here. Let's try to imagine the scene again for real. Okay? Can we do that? They were out on this clear, cold night. In those places at night, the temperature drops. It was cold, and they're watching over their flocks as they had so many nights before. We know there was a multiple amount of shepherds, we don't know how many, but they would have taken the night in shifts. Not one person stays awake the whole time. They would have taken turns, they would have had shifts. Some would be sleeping, some would be remaining alert, alert against predators that would prey on the sheep at night. And so they'd be beside this campfire to keep warm because it's cold at night. And that would have been perhaps the only man-made light they could see where they were. And besides that, they'd look up into the night sky. Here in Singapore, we have so much light pollution at night, it's hard to really grasp. But if you've ever traveled to a remote place, you look out on a clear sky at night, and the sky, it just seems to extend forever with stars. It's so expansive. And the shepherds were there. The ground was perhaps damp with dew because of that temperature drop. The sheep were all asleep. Some were standing, some were laying down. If you don't know this, sheep will stand sleeping, but if they feel more secure, they'll be laying down. And there would have been the sound of the crackling fire and the sheep softly snoring. There probably would have been the smell of sheep as well. And the shepherds were there, a few of them awake, when suddenly this unearthly light, it shone down. In a place where there was only one man-made light, it shone down. And so the shepherds, they were shocked, awake. They were filled with fear. They weren't sure what was going on. They were so startled, and they looked up and they saw this angel of the Lord had appeared. Don't be afraid. I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior. Yes, the Messiah. The Lord has been born today in Bethlehem. Wow. After this pronouncement, you know what? The sky lit up with angels everywhere. I can't imagine these shepherds, how they must have felt at that time. And the angels were praising God. And so the shepherds, as a shepherd, you've got one job, right? What is your one job? Take care of the sheep. Right? Take care of the sheep. You've just got one job. Take care of the sheep. Well, they forgot all about the sheep. The scripture tells us they hurried to Bethlehem. They must have been uh in an area just outside of Bethlehem. They hurried. They were probably running, they were jogging, they were in a rush to get there after this experience. And after finding Jesus as a newborn babe in the manger in Bethlehem, when we talk about a manger, really we're talking about a stable. He was in a stable, he was in an area for animals because we know Airbnb had no bookings available, there was no hotels. They went to the manger and they found Mary and Joseph and Jesus as a newborn babe, and they were filled with awe and wonder. And the scripture tells us that the shepherds, they told everyone what had happened. It would have been the middle of the night. They were waking people up. You know what? I don't think they cared. The shepherds were so filled with awe and wonder, this angelic encounter, going and finding that sure enough, a babe had been just born and that this was the promised Messiah. They were shouting it out all through the town. What gift do you bring for someone who has everything? Well, this Advent season, YCCA, the gift we bring is the gift of hope. The gift we bring is the gift of hope. So what does that mean? How do we bring the gift of hope? Well, some of us, we're already bringing the gift of hope. That's what our Give a Gift initiative this year has been all about. Giving hope to parents who desire to be empowered to better connect with their children in church. I there were 54 names on that list. I'm so proud of you that every person was signed up for, every single one. And these are these gifts, are they not just gifts, they're expressions of hope to families who may have disadvantaged situations right here in our neighborhood. These are the people we may see as we walk around here. When you're giving some fair price vouchers, when you're giving uh some other gift that maybe they put on their wish list, you're not just giving those things. This is a reminder. You're seen, you're cared about. That your life has meaning, that you are special. And so these are expressions of hope. Now there's more opportunities, of course, than uh just this give a gift initiative. Uh, there are, in fact, opportunities all around us. If we walk about five five minutes walk towards North Point, for those of us who make that walk regularly, you know. There are people in difficult circumstances there. There are people who are selling the tissue packets. Uh, there's one uncle in the underpass between the MRT and North Point who is blind, who is often singing and playing music. He's there almost every day. There are many around us, if we will open our eyes and look, who would be in need of the gift of hope. And so when we when we offer something to them, we're not just offering them that thing, we're offering them hope. In my younger days, I went for many trips to New York City. How many people have been to New York City? Just raise your hand. Okay, a few, maybe a dozen and a half. I see little hands there. That's all right. Um, I went for quite a number of years in a row for Christmas outreach. And so what we would do is we would spend in the afternoon, we would spend about two hours making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You know how many sandwiches you can make in two hours, a whole group of you? A lot of sandwiches. And what we would do, we would wait until about nine o'clock at night, and we would go out near Port Authority, near a battery park, near different places where we know we'll be able to find homeless. And we'd bring a hot drink, we'd bring a sandwich, we'd bring a blanket and a toiletry kit to bring to them. And I did this for several years in a row. Heard a lot of stories. But I must tell you, the thing that they appreciated most was not the blanket. Some of them, in fact, they'd say, Oh, it's okay. I already have a toiletry kit, I already have a toothbrush, I don't need it. I already, but what they appreciated is they were being Seen. We were stopping, we were talking to them, and more importantly than talking, we were listening to their story. Because they are invisible to everyone else. People all day long would walk past them, not make eye contact, certainly not speak to them. And so when we would do that, we would be giving a gift. Church, we have such a gift to give. The gift of hope. The people outside these doors, in some sense, are no worse than us. Do they do bad things at times? Well, do we do bad things at times? We are all in need of a savior. We're all sinners. But the hope that we have is we can receive forgiveness. The hope that we have is there is a God who has a plan and a purpose for our life. The hope that we have is when we're at the end of our rope, we can pray to the Lord. When someone is sick, we can pray for their health. When someone is in trouble, we can pray for them. We're able to approach a God who has everything. And so we have this gift of hope. We have this good news that is our gift to give. Also, take the opportunity as we're looking at ways to give this gift of hope. Please, if you have family, relatives, you have friends, you have work colleagues, please invite them for our traditional Christmas Day service. People who would not set foot in a church during normal times may be willing to come for a Christmas service. So I'd like to encourage you, invite them. Tell them you're going to come, you're going to experience a traditional Christmas Day service. We're going to have a brunch after. It's going to be a wonderful time. And as they come, they will also hear the good news. This gift of hope will be offered to them. So please, I want to encourage you. This is a wonderful way that we can give the gift of hope, even this Advent season, this Christmas season. And as Pastor Weiyi did share with us, there'll be a little graphic being sent out through our WhatsApp last that you can use to forward if you want to invite people as well. For some of us, I understand Christmas, we have the lights, we have the music. Well, go tell it on the mountain. There's a bit of momentum to it, right? But for some of you, Christmas is not actually a very happy time for you. I understand that. For some, perhaps you've recently lost your employment. For some, you've heard that a a close friend has been diagnosed with a very serious medical illness. For some, perhaps a family member has recently passed away. Whatever the reason, there are those, and even among us here, those who instead of being filled with joy, you may feel a bit depressed during the holiday season. Many of us, myself included, we like singing the Christmas hymns and songs. And one of my favorites is Silent Night. And when we sing that song, we sing all is calm, all is bright. But the reality is that within two years of Jesus being born in that manger of Bethlehem, King Herod, we're not going to re-preach the story, he heard about what was going on, and it became a very terrible time. Right? And so he made this evil and terrible decree. He knew this child, according to prophecy, had been born, was going to be king of Israel, found out the times, he should be less than two years old. He felt threatened, and he sent his soldiers to Bethlehem and surrounding areas to kill every male Israeli child aged two and under. Jesus was spared because Mary and Joseph were warned in the dream to flee to Egypt. Mad King Herod. He did such a terrible thing. And so those in Bethlehem, they suffered extreme grief and loss as King Herod had these children murdered. I can't imagine it. I can't really imagine the gravity of the situation then. But it was not a time of silence. There was weeping and mourning and screaming. It was not a time of brightness for them. And so if this Christmas season you don't find yourself filled with joy, in a sense, you're in good company. Because we're still in this world with trials. But the story for those in Bethlehem, it didn't end there with Mad King Herod's cruel violence. As Jesus grew as he entered into his ministry, we can read he performed so many miracles. He healed the sick miraculously. He gave sight to the blind. He gave freedom to those oppressed by demons. He had compassion on the poor. He even raised the dead. And Jesus brought hope to mankind. He ushered in hope. And it brings us that hope today. That there is a brighter future. That there is something ahead that we can look forward to. So what gift do we bring for someone who has everything? This Advent season we bring the gift of hope. Offering it to all those who are in need of hope. Offering it hope for freedom from sin. Hope of victory over sickness and death. Hope of a glorious future. Hope of a future kingdom where things will be fair, they will be just. Hope of a kingdom where God will rule eternally with justice and righteousness, where his people will live with peace and satisfaction. That's the hope. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for Jesus to come today. I'm so ready. It'll be a kingdom where we finally feel complete. And the gift that we give, it communicates to the receiver that they matter. When we give our gift, it tells them they matter. You are not an accident, you're not inconsequential. Instead, you're created for a purpose. You are loved by God who sent Jesus to be the hope of mankind. And as we give, we also receive. What is it that the scriptures tell us in Acts chapter 20, verse 35? Quoting Jesus, it says, It is more blessed to give than to receive. And so, church, let's be strong in giving of the hope that we have. God has given us hope for the dark times. We need to share that with others. We need to be strong in this area. We need to reach out. It is not enough to go and attend your connect group and sit at Izone with your favorite khakis and to just go through life like that. It is not enough. It is not enough for us, YCCA. God has more for us than that. We have a community right around us to reach out to. Something happened and have never been able to reconcile and move past it. My friends, for us, for YCCA, we are called to more than just enjoying our time together. We are called to give hope to others. That is part of our calling. That is to be part of our identity. That is part of our duty and our offering before God. Please invite two people. Can you raise your hand two? Let's see, two? Okay. Two people for our traditional Christmas Day service. Invite two people. If we all invite two people, only one of them comes from each of us, we're still going to have this place full of people who will be hearing the gift of hope. And that's a wonderful thing. And that is an offering to God that we can be very pleased with.

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We pray that you've administered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Ish Christian Church, please visit our website at ycanglic.com. Have a blessed day.