[0:00] Now, as we've been learning from the very beginning of Holiday Club, God is the creator of everything. He's the creator of absolutely everything.
[0:13] And as our memory verse told us in Daniel chapter 7 verse 14, he is the king over all the people. Regardless of where they come from or what language they speak, he is king over all.
[0:26] Now, that reading from Phoebe is from the book of Nehemiah, and that verse is really important. It rings true with our memory verse. It says a lot of similar things. And indeed, just after this verse, Nehemiah is going to talk about a lot of the people we've been learning about in Holiday Club.
[0:41] He's going to mention Adam and Eve and how they get it wrong. He's going to mention Moses, a great leader, but how he too kept on getting it wrong.
[0:56] And what Nehemiah does is he starts with Adam and Eve, he goes through Moses, and he tracks it all the way through to his day. And he says, you know what? Just like all of those people that we've been learning about, Nehemiah says, you know what?
[1:07] I look around at where I'm living, I look around at the people I live with, and you know what? We keep getting it wrong too. Exactly the same. And so this verse is really important for Nehemiah because he says, even though we keep getting it wrong, you're still God.
[1:24] You're still the creator over everything that is everything that has been made. And all worship belongs to you. It's a really important verse in the book of Nehemiah.
[1:36] And so Nehemiah, he's looking forward to a great rescuer, the promised one. Now, there was a name we called this promised one. I'm going to give you the clue just to remind you. Snake crusher.
[1:50] Snake crusher. That's right. Yes. The snake crusher. Yes. There's a lot of very confused looking people until you pointed that out. So the snake crusher. This is the one that was promised to Adam and Eve.
[2:03] That there would be one that would come who would fix all this. And he was known as the snake crusher. Okay. He was going to fix all of this. It had been as great promise that God did.
[2:14] And God keeps on giving these great promises. And God keeps on doing these wonderful things to these people who keep messing up. So even though the people keep making a mess of things, God keeps coming to the rescue.
[2:27] So we know about Adam and Eve. They messed it up. And God came. And he came to them. And it says that he dressed them. Even though they'd made a real mess of it.
[2:37] He dressed them. He made them ready. He dressed them all up. Before they had to leave the garden. And then remember Cain. He was the first villain of the Bible. People were getting ready to kill him.
[2:49] Possibly deservedly. But God says, no, no, no, no, no. I'm looking after him. And as we go through it all, we find the people who've rejected God. But God saves the whole of humanity.
[3:00] Using Noah and his family to build a boat. And save his family. We read about it. And we read about it. God continues to be loving and gracious and kind.
[3:11] And he keeps coming to the rescue. He keeps saying, I can fix this if you will let me. I will fix this. And then of course we get to the Tower of Babel. Where people have rejected God.
[3:21] They've decided, I'm going to build this great big tower. We don't need God. We're going to do it our way. And in the Bible, there's this big silence. And we're wondering, is this it? Is this when God finally loses patience with all of us?
[3:31] Are we done? And then we get Abram. God brings out Abram. He said, right. Through his family, we're going to bring the snake crusher. Through his family, we're going to do this.
[3:44] Through his family, I will fix this. And so we did Abram, who became Abraham. And then when Abraham's family get into trouble in Egypt, when they're in need of rescue, God comes again.
[3:58] And he rescues them out of Egypt. And were they grateful? What do you think? Do you remember? Were they grateful when God rescued them from Egypt? No. They complained, didn't they?
[4:11] Remember they complained. They said, we want to go back to slavery. We want food. We want water. Our clothes are going to run out, etc. And they whined and they whined and they moaned. And they complained all the time. And then they did worse.
[4:23] And they made a real mess of it. And so God says, the snake camera is coming. I can fix this. And we go on from there.
[4:35] We've got the books of Joshua and Judges. Two books about the defeat of the people of God. We've got some military victories. But ultimately it just goes worse and worse and worse.
[4:46] The utter spiritual collapse. At the end of Joshua, the end of Judges, it is about the defeat of the people of God. And then it gets worse. Remember how it gets worse? The people who look at all the other nations.
[4:57] Instead of looking to God and saying, wow, we can be the best nation on earth. We can serve God. We can have him fix it. We're going to have the snake crusher coming. This could be amazing. And instead, they look at all the other countries and say, actually we want to be like them.
[5:12] So from being the absolute best in the world, they're willing to be like the rest of us. A big mess. And they say, we don't want God being charged. We're going to have a king. Now who remembers the name of the first king?
[5:25] Didn't turn out too well. First king. Saul. And Saul was everything they wanted. He was tall. He was good looking. He was everything on the outside that they wanted.
[5:36] But he was not right on the inside. He wouldn't say sorry when he made a mess of things. Until it was far too late. He wouldn't say sorry. And it doesn't end well for Saul. And in the end, God says, I will fix this.
[5:51] And he brings forward David, who does not look the part at all. Far too short and young and not quite ready for the job. We think. But God sees him.
[6:02] And he's a man who makes mistakes. He's a man who completely fails like the rest of us. But he says sorry. And that changes everything. And so from there, it gets worse.
[6:14] It's quite a few kings. Some of them are okay. Hezekiah. He's a pretty good guy. I mean, I really like Hezekiah. But even he makes a mess of it. And all the way through, the prophets are saying, God can fix this.
[6:27] But it gets worse and it gets worse and it gets worse. And so there's a really low point. Just before Nehemiah. Just before what Phoebe was reading. Just before then. This is what happens. The people, they decide they're not going to be like God. They're not going to listen to God.
[6:38] They're not going to do it God's way. They're going to do it their way. And so they become impossibly cruel. They become really evil. What they really do is they look at all the poor people all around them.
[6:49] And they steal from the poor. They snatch everything that they have. Because they're no longer listening to God. They no longer want to be like God. And so they think money matters. And the richest people in the country. They get all the gold and silver together.
[7:02] Because they think that's what's important. And you know what? All that gold and silver, you know what happens? It attracts these huge armies. Who look over and see all their riches and think, I'm having that.
[7:13] And so the Assyrians come. And the Babylonians come. And they take all the treasure. And they also destroy all the people. Because even though the prophets are saying, God can fix this.
[7:26] They don't want God. They wouldn't listen. And they are destroyed. But a few survivors. One of whom was Nehemiah. Remember God can fix this.
[7:38] They remember the promises God had made them. They remember the snake crusher. And so they return back to God. They say, look, we're really sorry. Can you fix this? How can you possibly fix this?
[7:50] And God does. He brings them back. He rescues the people again. And so Nehemiah, he says, wow. That's my paraphrase to be fair. But he says, wow.
[8:01] You have rescued us. You really are the God of all the nations. You really can fix this. But even so, Nehemiah and his friend Ezra, they're teaching the people to look to God.
[8:15] To trust God. And so at the end of the book of Nehemiah, they are looking forward to the snake crusher. The one who will come to fix it all properly. Not just a little bit fixed.
[8:27] Not as a small rescue. But to fix it properly. So, this really matters. You see, the snake crusher comes. Jesus, he's born as a man.
[8:39] And he changes everything. God as man. He comes. All those promises that God made that he would come and fix it. Well, you know what? He came to fix it.
[8:50] The only problem was, in order to fix it. In order to fix the mess that we found ourselves in. In order to fix the broken relationship between God and people. People who keep messing it up. He had to die.
[9:03] So we learned about Jesus, the snake crusher. Who came and who defeated sin. Who defeated death. For us. And when he rose from the dead, he says, I have fixed this.
[9:17] Amazing. And so what that means is, is that for Adam and Eve, it was fixed. For Abraham, it was fixed.
[9:28] For Moses and the people. For David. For all of those who've been waiting on the snake comer to come. The snake crusher to come. All of those who've been waiting all that time. Like Nehemiah and Ezra and all the rest. All of those people who were looking forward.
[9:40] He had fixed it. And what's really wonderful is that for every single one of us here in this church today. And for all of us involved in the holiday club this week. And at Legacy.
[9:51] God fixes it. He fixes. He mends. That broken relationship between us and God. And then of course when he rises from the dead. He says, you know what?
[10:01] After you die, I'm going to take you with me. He can be with me. And that would be wonderful if that was the only part of the story. That we have a wonderful future.
[10:13] Hopefully way off in the distance. But in actual fact, when God says, I fix things. When I fix this, he means right now as well. He looks at each and every one of us as we are.
[10:23] Failures and all. And says, I can fix this. Don't wait until years and years and years have passed. We can start fixing things now. Now what's really interesting about the verse that Isaac read.
[10:37] Is that the church at that time had got it all wrong. The church at that time thought that God would only fix it. If you looked like them. Dressed like them. Ate like them.
[10:49] Pretty much if you were them. And if you were different. Even a little bit different. God wouldn't want you. God wouldn't fix it for you. And you know what God did?
[11:01] He laughed. And he starts fixing it for people all over the place. And Peter, who was part of the church. He's out there. And he's seeing God fixing it for people that don't dress like them.
[11:13] That don't look like them. That don't eat like them. That nothing like them. They don't even speak the same language. And God is fixing it for them. And so the church, they call Peter back and say, Peter, what do you think you're doing?
[11:24] All these other people. God seems to be helping them. What's going on? It must be your fault, Peter. Peter. And Peter says, God did it. It's not my fault. Do you think I can stand up to God and say, you can't fix it for them?
[11:40] And the church had to recognize at that moment, right enough, Peter. God can save anyone. God can fix it for anyone.
[11:52] That means me. That means you. It means all of us. And God can fix it for any of us. And the church had to realize that.
[12:04] They had to realize that God really is. As we were learning in our memory verse, the God and the King of all the nations of the earth. And so our holiday club is this wonderful thing.
[12:18] One of the great things about the holiday club is the variety of people that make it happen. We've got people who make food, who do teaching, who do leading, who do singing, who actually, some of them, their only job seems to be to make other people smile.
[12:30] I love them. You know who you are. It's amazing how all these people come together. These incredibly different people. You know?
[12:41] I mean, I recognize I'm not normal, but when you get a whole room of people who are all so wonderfully different coming together to do a task.
[12:51] You see, they all come together with one goal. With their different skills and different abilities and different personalities and different annoying habits. We all come together with one goal. And that goal was the glory of God.
[13:04] And you know what's really amazing is that when we all pull together, when people from all these different churches pull together, God did something. He actually did something this week. We were privileged to be a part of simply keeping up with what God was already doing.
[13:20] We had this great joy of actually getting to come together and see, in practice, this thing called the body of Christ.
[13:33] We actually got to see it. And some people with the hands. Some of them were hands with incredible musical ability. Some with great crafting ability. Other people were maybe more like an appendix, I'll be honest.
[13:51] But body nonetheless pulling together for the glory of God. And when we did that, we got to have the privilege of seeing them do things with these people. And with us.
[14:02] Again, I try and pretend sometimes that we stand there and impart stuff to the children. It's not like that. It's a two-way thing. And all of us right now, this Sunday, get to participate in the great joy of being a part of what God is doing.
[14:16] It's an incredible encouragement to see that the promises that were made to Adam and Eve and all the way through are true. And when we say that God can fix things, when we say that God can fix, well, this.
[14:33] The Holy Club is evidence. We are the demonstration of God fixing things. Not the finished article, I'll quickly add. But we are the proof that God can fix things.
[14:46] Now, some of us in here may be like the Israelites. You know, we have known God. We have met God in the past. And we have allowed him to fix things in our lives in the past. But like the Israelites, perhaps we've decided to kind of go off on our own tangent.
[15:00] Perhaps like the Israelites, we've decided, actually, yeah, we know about God. I know about God in my past. But actually, I'm going to go off on my own. And we just get reminded. Actually, God is the God that fixes things now.
[15:13] The mess that you're in now. The half-completed picture that you are will one day be complete. But God is willing to keep working on that now.
[15:25] Maybe some of you here have never known God can fix things. Maybe some of you have never met God, never asked him. Never said, I am sorry for the mess that I've made. Will you please fix this?
[15:36] And that might be you. In which case, do not let this opportunity pass. Because as I have said, each and every one of us here that was involved in the holiday club is evidence.
[15:49] That God can fix things. Not perfect. But because of that, we are the evidence that God is the God of all nations. Languages, types, differences.
[16:03] And when we give him the glory, when we pool together and give him the glory, we can have the privilege of seeing him do wondrous, wondrous things.
[16:15] And that, in a sense, is the story of what we've been involved in this week. So thank you for once again listening so well. Before we finish by singing, I'm just going to pray one more time.
[16:31] Heavenly Father, as we come before you just now, we thank you for everything that you've done this week. We thank you for the work that goes on. And we thank you that we will not be a mess forever.
[16:43] But that the God that says, I can fix this, keeps his promises. And so bless us, Lord, as we go from here. Let's be encouraged by being together and truly being this body of Christ this last week.
[16:58] In Jesus' wonderful name. Amen. Amen. Amen.