O Little Town of Bethlehem, Will you Welcome your Saviour? Part 2 | Rev. Elisha Satvinder

And we can kind of just look at it a bit more today, uh, and, uh, like I told you last week, um, how this kind of came together. Of course, there are so many things you want to preach at Christmas, you want to teach in a season. Uh, there’s so much to talk about and, uh, like I told you, I said, I, I, I love, uh, good aesthetic decorations. Uh, one of my bucket list items is to have a white Christmas, you know, uh, but with the right things around, not just for the sake of white, you know? Like that there is a, uh, wood, there’s a fire taking place. Not the, the, uh, not the made-up one. Serious, you know, logs burning.

And, uh, sometimes you go to, when we were in Portland, I remember, uh, there were different places. When you cross the river to Washington, um, different areas, people’s homes, they have large lawns. And these large lawns, they would start decorating their homes, and they will, they will go really crazy, okay? And what people would do is they will take slow drives. Some of them will have apple cider for sale or give out apple cider and cookies, and you drive slowly as a family thing, and, uh, you look at the Christmas lights. Everybody has this interesting decor.

Uh, years later, it became very popular. Some of the housing areas began to charge people, so when you come in, you have to pay money. And they would, would really go all out to do that. So, you know, the whole atmosphere varies, you know? Uh, it’s a celebration, you know? It’s Christmas—you feel it everywhere. And, uh, I don’t know how many of you remember those days Orchard Road was really known, Singapore, for their decorations. Now it’s horrible, you know.

So I was, when I was studying there, I remember the first time, that, that, that year I was there till late December. My course had only finished then. And, uh, we went to Orchard Road, and I remember it was really beautiful because it was a competition. Every, uh, retail shop, whatever it was, would, would decorate the way they wanted to, and at the end of the day, they would win, uh, I, I think quite a substantial amount of money. And, of course, they were recognized by the government, so everybody would go out of their way to decorate.

And when you walked, with the music, the different, uh, Christmas carols, the lights, so you really felt that you were in Wonderland. Excuse me. And it was interesting, you know, how it was done. And, uh, when I was walking, uh, in this place this, this few months, this few weeks ago, and I was enjoying the decoration, and all of a sudden, I paused for a while. And I felt a check in my own heart because I remembered if the Lord didn’t come, this would never exist. It would never exist.

And we saw Bethlehem last week. They missed the greatest birth ever to take place because it was the census. Everybody had come to town, the space, the place was busy, it was crazy, everybody was making money, isn’t it? Because the food outlets made a lot of money. The Airbnb—if they had Airbnb at Bethlehem, okay, yeah, okay—and, uh, you know, all these different things were taking place. Of course, it was a rip-roaring business time, isn’t it? Everybody from outside is coming to register, and there was no space for Jesus.

Then we see, then the shepherds, the most unlikely people, most neglected—they are like your, uh, Alam Flora guys who, who pick up the garbage, huh? The least of community society. And the angel comes and proclaims to them, and they go, they respond. And then we see the Magi traveling thousands of kilometers, not on AirAsia, but on camel’s back, through desert, whatever, seeking him.

So today, with that in mind—and if you didn’t get to listen to it, it’ll be great if you go back and listen to it—but I want to follow suit with that. Today, I want to talk about responding, seeing him, and worshipping. There is this tragedy of missing the Savior.

Now I, I want to say this again. This is not to say everybody go and have a somber Christmas. Celebrate Christmas, but keep its perspective. Amen? Celebrate Christmas, go crazy in the right ways, okay? Yeah, go crazy, do whatever you need to do. But we’ve got to not miss our Savior. Uh, you see, the greatest tragedy of Bethlehem is not its smallness because when you read in Matthew Chapter 2, it says when King Herod asked the, the, the teachers of the law, “What does it say about this person?” And they said, “This has been spoken by the prophets, that Bethlehem, though you’re small, you’re not the least, you’re not insignificant because in you, there’s going to be born the Savior.”

Okay, so Bethlehem is a simple town. Okay, so the greatest tragedy of Bethlehem is not its smallness. You know, we say, “Oh, this is a small town, insignificant.” You may have read this—uh, there was this little place, uh, it’s a little town, but it’s a town that is picturesque. It’s beautiful. It’s parks and the ducks that swim there, uh, just the different areas, the way they have the trees there, the parks are. And tourists love to come through, and they were sitting at the bench, and, of course, the local person, the local people are also sitting around. And this guy rather cheekily, sarcastically says, “Any great people born in this town?” And the person who is answering looks at the person who has asked the question, looks at him, and says, “No, only babies were born.” Only babies. Why? We all look for greatness.

So after a person becomes very well-known, we make their home a monument, isn’t it? A museum. But they were all born babies. The tragedy of Bethlehem is not its smallness but its blindness. That’s the tragedy of Bethlehem. Though Christ was born in their midst, they missed him. They missed him.

Today we face the same danger. See, we’re living so close to the message. We say, “God is in my heart. I believe in Jesus. I, I, we, we sang just now—that’s an amazing Christmas hymn, isn’t it? Christmas carol written by four different people over a space of a few hundred years, okay? And, uh, this is one Christmas hymn that moves many hearts. But today we face the same danger. We can be so close to the message of Christmas, but we can remain untouched by its power. We can remain very untouched. We, we can talk about Jesus, and that’s a challenge. It’s just not a Christmas message, dear one. It’s a message that we ponder on and we think.

2025—what am I going into for the rest of my life? You know, I, I, I know I don’t look it. I turn 60 next year. It’s the new 30, so okay. It’s the new 30. You only call shocks and okay, yeah. So I’m very cognizant of this whole thing because I said 60 years—okay, my last lap of life must count well for the Lord. It must count. I cannot go and want to, you know, break records with dignity and do this and do that. Who did you meet? How much, how many millions you raised? Where did you travel? Where did you speak? You know, how many people you educate or, you know, the business we do, the education we get, uh, the business we build, the homes that we purchase, the cars that we get—all this, at the end of our last breath, doesn’t matter, isn’t it? It doesn’t matter.

So sorry, it’s—I’m not going to do an “R” message for Christmas, okay? Why? Because I think Christmas is the perfect time to reflect, because that’s why Jesus came, isn’t it? To seek and save the lost. So he was born for a purpose, a very significant purpose. So today, we say we face the same danger—that when we can be so close to the message, we can have all kinds of Bible translations on our hand, our handphone. Uh, we, we can have Bibles in our hands, uh, Bible studies and all these different things and still never let the message change us, shape us, transform us.

Revelations 3:20 says something amazing. We often—I’ve heard many preachers, evangelists, use this to tell, uh, non-believers about this. But this, when we read it in its context, is speaking to believers. He’s speaking to believers here. It says, “Here I am,” Jesus says. “I stand at the door and knock.” Well, Joseph and Mary knocked on the inn’s door. “Said no room, no room. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,” and opens the door. I got to hear it right. I think Bethlehem heard the knock, but they had no space. They had no room for him. He says, “If anybody hears my voice and opens the door”—we believe in our heart, we, we, we are convinced in our minds, we believe in our heart, we surrender our lives, and we say, “Lord, come into my life,” right? Amen?

In one sense, we open up our hearts, right? So we open up the door of our hearts. When you welcome somebody, we’ll say, “Welcome home.” When you say, “Welcome,” we open the door, right, and say, “Please welcome.” And you’ll be doing that at Christmas, welcoming friends and relatives. And, “Please welcome. Merry Christmas.” We’ll be doing all those different things. He says, “If anyone hears my voice, to him who has an ear to hear, let him hear,” isn’t it? “To him who hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat.” Not come in and preach a sermon. Not come in and lecture you. Not come in and have a Bible study. “I will come in and,” what? Everyone, he is longing for something beyond you and I can imagine. He says, “I’m going to come in and not eat you up, you know. I’m going to eat with you,” all right? “I’m going to come in and eat with that person and they with me.”

If you step back and you think, it’s this amazing engagement of communion, of fellowship, of union, of love, of sweetness. Because when you invite somebody to your home, it’s not to fight, right? When you invite somebody to your home, you say, “Come, let’s have coffee. Come over for tea.” And you sit down, and you make that hot tea or that coffee, and you have whatever—it’s a cake, whether you buy, bake, or bring, whatever it is, you know, whatever you want. You have that, and please don’t plan lunch right now. And what you do, you have a conversation.

When we look at this, that means I have to intentionally get up from where I am, open the door, and say, “Welcome.” And many of the times, that’s the hardest thing to do, is to say, “Lord, not right now. Not right now.” That is the tragedy of Bethlehem.

The next scripture I want us to look at is Matthew 7:21-23. It says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’” when we think again, he says, “When I knock, you open the door. I come in, will enter the kingdom.” First, we see Jesus coming, knocking the door. He says, “Hey.” Now he says, “Look, when we start doing that, then the reverse is true. You come to me. Come to me, all of you that are heavy laden. Come to me. Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons, and in your name perform many miracles?’”

“Hey, I took care of the youth. I taught Sunday school. I was in the worship team. I did this. I did that. Hey, you know, I gave.” But the issue is this: I can be close but never allow the message to change me. Christmas—I can be close to the message, but I remain untouched by the power. I remain untouched by the one born as King. So he says, “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.’” What an indictment, isn’t it? “I never knew you. Away from me.” Well, that’s a bit painful to hear, isn’t it?

So let’s look at this. Let’s first look today at the innkeeper. I want to think of a warning of missed opportunity. The key idea is this: What does the innkeeper symbolize for you and me? What does he symbolize? He symbolizes us. We can say, “I’m really close to Jesus physically.” We can be close, yet spiritually distant. We can live in the same home, physical proximity, but never connected in the heart. Isn’t it true? Never connected in the heart.

So the missed opportunity of the innkeeper—because he’s probably the one who says, “Sorry, please go out. There’s no space.” If you look at the scripture earlier, the Magi have come—or rather, from distance, the shepherds have been told. Jerusalem is in upheaval. Bethlehem says, “No room.” We can be spiritually distant. I can come to church week in, week out. I can serve. I can look at devotions in the morning, but I may never be connected to the Lord in my heart, never allowing the power to change me. I remain the same. I remain the same.

The hymn—I close the year with Christmas. I say, “Happy Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.” And then I put all my goals in. I do everything, but I remain spiritually unchanged. I remain spiritually distant. You see, the innkeeper never rejected Jesus outrightly. He just had no room. Say, “I knock—sorry, no room. No time. I’m busy. I’ve got a lot of things going on. I’ve got problems. I’ve got priorities. In fact, the mutton curry is cooking. Sorry, chief, can you come later?” Or bak kut teh, for some of you. You what? I don’t know.

So I hear the knocking, but I say, “Sorry, I cannot open the door of my life and let you in.” In fact, can you just peek, okay? Just take a peek. “Now can you just stay there?” That could be our tragedy, isn’t it? Missed opportunity of the one coming in and transforming us and changing us.

So today, how can we look at this message or this example? We know the story of Jesus. Last week, this week, I spent two weeks with the kids reading the birth of Jesus. But I realized one thing for myself: I know the story of Christmas quite well. But is Jesus Lord, or is he going to be tucked away in an honor call away in the manger?

So this is the challenging thing. You see, proximity to the gospel—closeness to the gospel—is not the same as transformation. It’s not the same. I cannot, I don’t make him Lord. You can call me, you say, “Lord, Lord. Did I not?” What? “Says you never opened your heart. You never let me in.” Let’s look at Luke 2:7. He says, “And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in the manger because there was no guest room available to them.”

Matthew 13 says, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden.” I want you to think of that word: treasure. “It’s like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, right? Okay, but what does he do? And then in his joy”—the shepherds had great joy, the Magi had great joy. They bowed, they worshipped, they brought their treasure—“he hid it again, and then in his great joy, went and,” what? “Sold all he had and bought that field.”

We always feel, “If I let Jesus in, what will I lose?” And yet, if I open the door, I gain everything. Again, “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant.” So, two different scenarios here. “Looking for fine pearls.” And that pearl can define our vocation, our education, our money—all, all that. “When he found one of great value,” that means different from all the pearls he knows of. Because remember, the first one is fine pearls, but he finds one.

There were many stars, but only one pointed to Jesus. “He went away,” and again here, “sold everything he had and bought it.” Wow. I, I would illustrate this way: We, we can be invited to this amazing big banquet, you know? But I get distracted with all the little stalls outside, and I fail to come to the biggest banqueting table inside of the hall. Outside, I’m just eating hot dogs. But inside, since it’s Christmas—turkey, roast chicken, your roasted lamb, uh, whatever it may be—and we are just happily enjoying hot dogs.

We, we enjoy a lesser food on the outside, but when we come into the banqueting table, we realize, wow, what a feast. And Jesus, the feast never stops as he builds our life. At least, can I hear an amen? So, the issue is this: the innkeeper—I would use this word—is indifferent. What does the word indifferent mean? I’m not hot, I’m not cold. I’m not concerned. I’m casual. Because I will say this: “What else do you want of me? How much more do you want of me? Is this much and no more. I’m okay. God understands.”

So that’s the challenging thing. So, the indifference—what does it reflect? Our tendency to prioritize the immediate—all that’s around me—over the eternal. So, the challenge is this: I need to stop living a life that is indifferent to what God requires me to live. What would it be? Well, I can—I put this together—the life that God invites us is this: pursue righteousness in our actions, love mercy, walk humbly with our God. We, we—isn’t it? Oh man, what does the Lord require of you? What is the other thing? To do, embrace the call to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. You see, I can be holding a Bible, but I never allow the Bible to change me. Why? Because I always say, “This is not for me. Don’t preach at me. Don’t, don’t tell me. Come on, I, I’m all right.” No. I can have the proximity, but I must be changed. I must be changed. Because I cannot keep saying that.

So, with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. Jesus said that. He said, “You can call me Lord, Lord. You can say you did all the things, but did my word change you? Did my presence shape your heart? Did it break your heart? Did you draw closer to me? Did you shine the light? Did you pursue me?”

I think Christmas is such an amazing time to reflect and say, “Am I going after that one star, or am I disturbed by all the other stars that I see in the glitter of the tree, and presents, and decoration, that I miss the greatest star?” Have all the other stars, but make sure it’s all about that one star. He’s the superstar.

“And love”—what can I—“and love your neighbor as yourself.” So Pastor Fing said, “Write more names.” Hey, Christmas, I know we, we have, we have different things happening, we’re traveling, whatever. Christmas—what an opportunity to say, “Come see the greatest star in my life.” Our neighbors—next year is coming.

Church, can I ask you to start thinking: one person that you would lead to the Lord next year? Not me. You’re going to pray for this person, you’re going to fast for this person, and we’re going to see this person come and give their life to the superstar of your life. Amen? The shepherds went back—they didn’t quiet. We saw that last week, right? They started telling everyone. They said, “Come see.” When the woman at the well, she said, “Come see somebody who spoke about church.” It’s all about that.

He says, “Go therefore.” I think Christmas is a great time to reflect and say, “Have I been telling everybody?” Hey, this Christmas, what an opportunity. Just don’t make it about beef rendang, mutton rendang, turkey, chicken, whatever it is. Do that. Keep some for me. No, that was serious, you know. Okay, no, uh, keep some for me. But the thing is this: don’t miss the opportunity to tell somebody of the real message of Christmas. What is Christmas all about? Who it is all about?

Why do we have Christmas service? Because it’s about him. It’s not about makan. Do, do you understand that? I sound the same, no? It’s about Jesus. It is about the Lord. We will have nothing of this if it’s not of him. We will not meet here on Sundays. We will not get up with some faith and conviction and, and hope that there will be, when we breathe our last, that we will walk through another door. Because that door, we don’t have to knock—that door has been opened for us as we’ve opened our heart to him. Amen? That’s the difference.

Let Christmas be something that stirs our heart to say, “It’s about that one star.” Love your neighbor as yourself. Let your life reflect the light of Christ—that one light that the shepherds saw, that one light that the Magi followed, that one light that troubled Herod, that one light that Bethlehem missed. Love others. Let your light shine. Grow in holiness through the renewing of your mind and live as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Trust him in all circumstances, obey his word, and commit to sharing the good news with others, making disciples as Christ commanded.

Let this Christmas and every season be marked by a deeper intimacy with God, a vibrant faith—no, please, I haven’t finished—and a life lived for his glory. Amen? 2025—yeah, I know it’s Christmas—but 2025 is just five days after. Then think about it: Is God part of my goals? Is his word part of my goals—the year that I’m planning? This is what I’m going to knock out. These are the results I want. These are the businesses I’m going to get done. These are the things I’m going to achieve. This is where I’m going to travel. Look at it again and say, “Is growing in Christ—that is, understanding his word a bit more, seeking him, pursuing him—in that goal?”

If it’s not, the star is not shining. Yes, I’m challenging you to do that. Yes, I challenge myself to do that, because it’s one year closer to his return. John 1:12-13 says this: “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” We are born of God. Amen? What a privilege. What an exciting thing.

And he continues to knock on the door, and he says, “If you hear, you hear my voice, open the door. Let’s eat.” He must have been an Asian, isn’t it? “Come, let’s eat.” Born in the wrong place. Born in Klang would have been more appropriate. That would have been a crazy thing, isn’t it? Yeah, okay. Anyway, think of it.

The second thing I want to look at today is the star. So we looked at the innkeeper, now we want to look at the star—a call to follow the light. The main thought is this: the star guided the wise men, right? It guided the wise men. But following the light required what? Faith, perseverance, and obedience. It required that. Today, God’s word and his Spirit continue to guide us, but we must choose to follow. That’s required of us. I must choose to follow.

Today, we have plenty of distractions, but trust me, if, if, you know, if I don’t intentionally do, I’m also swallowed in with all the different distractions, you know, and, and then I lose track, and I realize, “Oh dear, I’ve missed out so much time.” So there are distractions of our modern life, and they obscure that light of God that comes through his word.

Again, I, I, I catch myself at times—I’m busy doing work, but I miss the God of the work. When I say “God of the work,” you go to work, you do business—that’s God’s work. Don’t call him only when you need something. Call him even when everything is good, because it’s his work. When you go to college, university—hey, God blessed you with that. Great. You have that opportunity. Give him the right space and place. Amen?

So, we, we, we can be so distracted with all these different lights. Why? Faithfulness in small steps often leads to profound encounters with Christ. It’s in the little things I can give God the time he deserves daily. Amen? I can.

Two scriptures here: Matthew 2:9-10. He said, “After they had heard the king, they went on their way.” This is of the Magi. “They heard the king, they went on their way.” When—this is when they had gone and said, “We saw the star. We saw his star. Where is the child that’s born the King of Jews?” And Herod calls them secretly and says, “Go search for him. When you find him, that I may come and worship him too.” Of course, he didn’t. And when he realized they had gone, when we read further in the story, he kills all the children under the age of two. Why? He’s threatened. He’s challenged.

And sometimes our own self-governance is disturbed, is challenged, because we do not want him knocking on the door. So, I love this part here, and I’ll tell you why. “And they heard the king, and they went on their way to look for Jesus. And the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them.” He always goes ahead of us so that we can follow. “Until it stopped over the place where the child was.”

So this morning, as I looked at it, I said, “My goodness, God’s word, God’s Spirit is always like that star that always takes us back to Jesus.” Amen? Always takes us back to him. And, uh, that’s our true north. Let’s go back to that. “When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.” They were overjoyed.

Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp for my feet”—why? It’s a direction. It tells me how to walk—“and a light on my path.” We have so many paths before us, but only one with the light shining. The others could be torch lights that we are fooled about. Yeah.

So how can we look at this? Have you ever driven in a fog or real heavy rain? You can’t see. Today, we have GPS, or we have Waze, or we have Google Maps, right? So it helps us. Somebody is talking to us and saying, “At 200 meters, turn left,” you know, uh, “Turn left.” I change that voice into a male’s voice. No, let me not go there. “200 meters, turn left,” okay? Uh, so we need headlights if it’s in a real dark place.

We need God’s word, we need God’s truth. Why? The wise men trusted the star even when the journey was uncertain. We don’t know what 2025 holds, but we know there are challenges, we know there are issues we are facing. We want everything to be good, we have problems, whatever not. But I often say this, and those of you who have come to me with different things, I always say this one thing. If I asked you, “What’s my favorite thing?” you say, “Many, okay,” but this—I always say this: calm your heart. Calm your mind. Quiet your heart down. Quiet your mind down. Why? In the noise of our hearts and our minds, we cannot hear the voice of God.

Elijah was so distracted with what was around—the wind, the earthquake, the fire, all that—and God comes in a still, small voice. Bethlehem was so busy, they missed him. The innkeeper—indifferent. The star—God guides. His word, his presence. Amen?

2025—make a decision. Don’t go and buy gym membership and then not use it after March, okay? The biggest membership—Heaven, okay? Membership to read the Bible. The wise men trusted him. I don’t know about you. I was sitting this week, and I came back, and I was writing things down. I realized 2025 is really going to be a challenging year. And I’m writing down all the different scriptures, and I’m saying, “God, what are the ones that I really, really need to pray through, but that I hear your voice, and I know you’ll take care of everyone around me, and that we can engage all this together.” Can we do that, church?

The first Friday—come as we open up this year, 2025. Come on, as we bring a year-end next week. Don’t come to a Sunday service. Come to the place where we want God to keep shaping us. Keep shaping us, and that when we go out again, we look at it, we take that seed, we take that handle, and say, “Lord, shine your light on my path.” Amen? So we’re going to do that.

That’s why five days in the year to come, you know, hey, we want to fast, we want to pray—not for the sake of losing weight. Don’t lose weight, okay? You want to lose weight, stop eating so much. The issue is this: we want to gain spiritual momentum and direction. Amen? We want to do that. We want to get that.

What’s happening on the Super Sunday, the third Sunday? We are really saying, “Hey, this is what we know God wants us to go for and do. This is how we are going to do it.” Amen? We know what it’s going to look like. Why? And we’re going to say, “This is how we’re going to do it.” So let’s all come together and say, “We’re going to do it.” Amen? Amen? Thank you for that underwhelming response. We’re going to do it, everyone. Okay, at least you sound a bit better more now.

Okay, let me come back here. I digress, okay? Faithfulness in small steps often leads to profound encounters with Christ. We looked at the two scriptures. We talked about driving in a foggy place or rain, whatever. We always need clarity. God’s word—God’s voice—is in his word. He will come through, okay? So even when the destination is not clear, his voice is clear. Hebrews 11:1—we know this by heart. “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Faith is not about us. Faith is about God. Is faith about God? Can we see what 2025 holds, everyone? No. Can we see what the next five years hold? No. Let’s take hold of God and let the best GPS work for us, okay? Let’s let that happen, okay?

My final thought: Bethlehem. I started with Bethlehem, I’ll end with Bethlehem. A mirror of our indifference. Bethlehem’s indifference—remember, indifference: I’m neither hot, I’m neither cold. Hey, I’m not excited, you know. What? I’m casual. I’m okay. And, “How much more do you want me to do?” That’s indifference, yeah. Bethlehem’s indifference is common. It reflects actually human beings—men—where we ignore what is important.

Today, we must ask ourselves a question: Are we, or you can change the noun, am I indifferent to Christ even as I celebrate his birth? Am I indifferent? I celebrate Christmas as a cultural event, but not something of spiritual significance. So I ask myself the hard question: Am I celebrating my Savior or just a season?

Remember we started with this scripture: “Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Can I get all of us to read this? This was prophesied way before Jesus came, right? And we, we have this very prominent scripture in Christmas. Are we ready to read it out loud, everyone? Okay, all of you ready? Because I only heard a few “Yes” here. Okay, everybody, we ready to read it? Let’s read it, okay? Let’s read it out loud.

Isaiah 9:6: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” We need all that in our journey. We need all this.

Can you imagine going to a hospital? You have an emergency, you go there, you register. But when your name is called, you don’t respond. The doctor comes out, looks at you, and says, “I’m ready to give you medicine. Come on in.” But you don’t want to go. You said, “I’ve registered, that’s enough.” You see, I can be so indifferent. There is a cure waiting for my ailment, but I’m going to ignore the doctor who is calling me because I don’t want the trouble to take that medication.

I can have salvation. I can register, but I never want the power to change me. I want to remain the same. Bethlehem’s indifference was this: they had a heart that refused to open to Christ. They refused to open to him. Indifference—I know the worship team is up here, but can I draw you into this closing thought with me? Please listen to this.

Indifference is so deceptive. It’s so deceptive. Indifference is one of the greatest enemies of our faith. You see, now faith is the evidence of things hoped for. What? The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen. This whole thing of indifference is this: It’s not an active rebellion. I don’t outrightly reject God. I come, I look like a Christian. But it is a passive neglect of what keeps Christ out. I hear the knock, but I refuse to get up and open the door. I hear the knock, I hear the knock, but I just said, “No, it’s, it’s too much.”

Imagine with me, church. Imagine Jesus—the greatest birth ever the world has known. Forgives sins, breaks the power of death and hell. In him, we have life. In him, we have fullness. In him, we have freedom. He promises healing. He promises power. He promises the Spirit that rose him from the dead. We talk about the one who is coming to judge the living and the dead. The one who has the power to undo the work of the enemy.

The greatest person ever lived—Jesus Christ. We have the truth in our hands, and yet we struggle to bring the message of hope to a dying world. Are we not convinced that there is power in that name? Are we not convinced that there is only salvation in one—in Jesus?

The Magi—they never put the gifts out first. They bowed and worshipped him, and they brought their gifts. If he is God, then let him be God. And let us come with that reverence and that honor and say, “You alone are God. I worship you, God. I surrender my life to you. I don’t want to be indifferent, God. I don’t want to say there’s no room.” No, indifference is not an outward rebellion—it’s just that I have this passive neglect.

And this is why it’s so deceptive. It’s not easily detected. It cannot be acknowledged because I will always say, “I don’t have the problem. What’s your problem? Hey, why, why, why so serious? Why so spiritual?” You see, if someone has a tumor and they do not go for a checkup, that tumor is going to kill them. And the spiritual tumor is called indifference—a passive spirit. We don’t know it’s there because we don’t want to acknowledge it. And it grows and it grows until one day it’s fourth stage.

Romans 13:11-14, “I say this because you know that we live in an important time.” I think we live in an important time. Amen? 2025 is also knocking on the door. Yes, it is. “Now it is time for you to wake up from your sleep. Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Jesus’ return is one year closer. Amen? Amen. The night is almost finished; the day is almost here. So we should stop doing whatever belongs to darkness.” This is your GPS speaking to you—God’s word.

“We should prepare ourselves to fight evil with the weapons that belong to the light. We should live in a right way like people who belong to the day. We should not have wild parties or be drunk.” You said, “Eh, Pastor, I don’t have wild parties. I’m not drunk.” “We should not be involved in sexual sin or any kind of immoral behavior.” “I don’t have that problem.” Okay. “We should not cause arguments or trouble or be jealous.” Ah, maybe got problem already.

“But be like the Lord Jesus Christ, so that when people see what you do, they will see Christ. Don’t think how to satisfy the desires of your sinful self.” See, somewhere in these few verses, we are all found in it. We are—nobody is—we are all found in it.

The story of Bethlehem challenges us to respond to Christ with urgency and with joy. With joy. Not indifference, not distraction. This season, Jesus stands at our door—our hearts—and he knocks. The question is: will I open the door? Let’s make a commitment to the Lord: “Lord, you’re the shining star. I believe in Jesus. I believe he’s the Son of God. I believe he died and rose again. I believe he will come back, and I know what my position is. I know what I need to do. I know my place as a person in the kingdom of God. You are the pearl of great price. You are the greatest treasure, Lord. I know what I need to do in the community of believers. I know what I need to do. I’m not going to be indifferent. I’m not going to be a passive person in my heart and always thinking that I am okay, that others need to change, and I don’t need to. No, Lord, I will stop deceiving myself that way. I will stop being arrogant.”

Make Christmas more than a program but a day to acknowledge Jesus, honor him, worship him. Hey church, like Pastor Fing said, “Not too late.” But, “I’m not around.” It’s okay. Tell them to come to the church and then go back to your house and eat, okay? But come on, tell people about the true meaning of Christmas.

2025—make it very clear. “Lord, no longer passive commitment. No longer passive commitment. Reach people who are far from God. Let Christ truly be at the center of your celebration.” Can we stand up together?