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Hi everyone, this is Emma from Encounter Church Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our podcast.

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Our prayer is that through this podcast you can have an encounter with Jesus that will change your life.

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And now, get ready for an inspiring message from our preaching team.

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Well, if we haven't met before, my name is Angus. I have the privilege of serving on the team here at Encounter Henley and I count it an honour to be able to bring the word for you guys tonight.

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But as I start, do you guys mind if I get a little bit vulnerable? Is that okay? Someone's shaking their head. That's it. I'm going to do it anyway.

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If you look up on the screen, there's going to be a couple of pictures of me in high school.

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Yep. Don't do that.

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So that's me when I was in year 11 and 12. So this is back in 2015. So take your minds back about 10 years now.

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And I was year 11 and 12 and there was a girl and I really, really liked this girl.

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I was borderline obsessed with her if I'm being real. I would do anything for her.

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We were doing a psychology assignment together one time and she's like, oh, Angus, can you just do this, this and this?

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And I said, yeah, sure. Absolutely. And it turns out there's like the whole assignment and she did absolutely none of it.

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But I didn't mind because I really liked her. And over the course of year 11, we became really good friends.

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We hung out at school. We had classes together. We'd sit next to each other.

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We were texting every day, every now and again. She'd call me or I'd call her and we'd talk on the phone.

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And I thought, oh man, I really like this girl. And I think she actually likes me back as well.

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And so at the end of year 11, after a whole year of getting to know her and a year of friendship,

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I thought, you know what, I'm just going to bite the bullet and I'm going to ask her out.

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And so I went up to her one day and I said, hey, the new Star Wars movie is coming out.

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This is when the new trilogy was coming out. So was it The Force Awakens? Yeah.

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So I asked her, do you want to go see the new Star Wars movie with me? Because she loved Star Wars anyway.

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She goes, yeah, absolutely. That sounds really good. I'd love that.

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And I had the best night that night. I didn't sleep, but I was so excited for this date.

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And so we organised a time and I went to the Teacher Plays at Cinema.

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I got there an hour early because I just did not want to miss it.

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And I'm there and it's getting, the movie is supposed to start at, I can't remember what time, say, 2.30.

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And you know, it's getting closer and closer to 2.30. And she's not there.

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And it gets like 2.40. And I'm like, where is she? Do I just text her? Do I try and call her?

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Is that too clingy? Is that too much? Am I just going to be that overbearing guy

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who I just want nothing to do with if I just keep bothering her?

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Eventually she rocks up and I'm like, hey, let's just go get the tickets. Do you want popcorn? Do you want drinks?

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She goes, oh yeah, I'd love some popcorn. Do you want one to share?

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And she goes, yeah, that sounds good. Another fist bump.

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And so I go and buy us some tickets and I get us some popcorn and we go in and we watch the movie and it was okay.

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And we leave the centre and she goes, oh, my dad's here to pick me up so I've got to go.

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But thanks for the movie. And she just left straight away. And I'm like, oh, okay, that's fine.

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It's all good. I got to watch a movie with her. You know, it's going in the right direction, right?

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Later that day, I got a text from her saying, thanks so much for the movie today.

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Thank you so much for paying. You're such a good friend.

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And little 17 year old me was absolutely heartbroken. I was shattered.

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I thought, are you kidding me? I didn't have a job at the time and I just spent like 60 bucks on this.

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Like, that was a big deal for me. I was broke and yeah, I was pretty upset about it.

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And I just felt this emptiness, you know, this void.

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And as around that time, I started coming to church and going to youth group and all that fun stuff.

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And now here I am. But I recognise as I started going to youth and learning more about God and what he wants for me,

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that, you know, I had this hole inside of me and I thought that if I could only be in a relationship,

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then this hole inside of me would be filled. And that's part of the reason why, you know, I was so obsessed with it.

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I'd put her on this pedestal that, you know, there was no way that she could actually live up to.

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I had this hole inside of me. And as I got older, I discovered that, you know, we all look for things to rule our lives.

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You know, at that time when I was a teenager, I was enslaved by my singleness and even into my early 20s,

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I was desperate not to be single. And being in a relationship had become the most important thing for me.

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It had become the king of my life. And looking back now, it all seems pretty pathetic.

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But the fact of the matter is I had made my relationship status the king of my life.

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I had a void inside of me and I thought that getting a girlfriend would fill it.

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And I did get a girlfriend. And the hole was, yeah. But the hole was still there.

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The hole was still there. And as I've continued to grow and get older and hopefully wiser,

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I started searching for other things to fill the void.

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I think that this is something that we all do, right?

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Especially in the lead up to Christmas where we are now, it can become more evident than ever where our priorities are

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and what's ruling over our lives. What we're searching for to fill the void.

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And so I ask you, where are you searching? What is your king?

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We are starting off this brand new series called Home for Christmas.

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And during this series, we're going to be exploring the idea that Jesus made his home here on earth

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so that we can let him make his home in us. Jesus made his home on earth so we can let him make his home in us.

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And we'll be unpacking the Christmas story to help draw out this idea and to remind us all in the busyness and the chaos

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that is the silly season that Jesus is the reason we're celebrating.

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Jesus came to earth and he dwelt among us so that we could ultimately be reconciled back to God through the redemptive work on the cross,

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through his death and his resurrection.

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We're making our way through this series all the way into Christmas Eve, which is now less than three weeks away,

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which is very exciting, maybe a bit daunting.

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So invite your friends, invite your families, invite your plus ones.

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We're going to have a really great and wholesome time together as we continue to make our way through this series.

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So before I jump into what I'm actually talking about, let's pray.

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Loving God, we thank you for your son Jesus, for sending him as a baby to dwell among us,

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for making his home here on earth.

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Father, we pray that as we make our way through this series that we would be constantly reminded of who you are,

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what you've done for us, and your great love for us, God, because above all else you are love,

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and you love each and every single one of us.

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So Father, as I speak tonight, I pray that your spirit would be moving in this place.

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So if there's anything that isn't of you, Father, may my eyes skip over it and not say it.

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And God, if it means I have to go on with the script, I hope not, but I'll roll with it.

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We hand this over to you, God. Your name we pray. Amen.

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In the song, If I Believe You, by the 1975, the lead singer and songwriter Matt Healy,

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he captures a very real and a very raw struggle that many of us experience.

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This search for meaning and the desire to understand and experience something beyond ourselves,

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something to fill a void within us.

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He sings about having a God-shaped hole inside of him,

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and he goes on to wrestle throughout the song with his faith and his perception of God and himself.

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It's a very thought-provoking song, and what I find most interesting about it is how it expresses a longing for something divine,

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something that fills the emptiness that seems to be inherent to the human condition.

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This sense of longing is largely universal, and I'd say that probably most of us here would have some kind of sense of,

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oh, I've lost my spot, something more, sorry, something to worship.

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For me as a teenager, it was being in a relationship.

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Whether it's through the lyrics of a song, the pages of a book, the deep thoughts of philosophers, or even our own experiences,

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we recognise this pull for something greater, something transcendent that cannot fully explain or satisfy through earthly things.

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In his book, Meer Christianity, C.S. Lewis comments on this.

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He says that creatures are not born with desires that, oh my gosh, this writing is so small.

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Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists.

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A baby feels hunger, and well, there is such a thing as food.

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A duckling wants to swim, well, there is such a thing as water.

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If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy,

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the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

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We all search for something whether conscious or not to be the king of our lives, to rule over our hearts.

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And in this search, we often encounter a paradox or some mixed messaging.

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Because society tells us that we can fill the hole with anything we want.

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We can fill it with money, success, fame, relationships, sex, happiness, a clean house.

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But none of it really works.

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And the important thing to note here is that none of these things are inherently bad.

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These are all good gifts, relationships, work, love and pleasure.

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They are all extremely valuable parts of life.

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But what happens when we place our ultimate hope in them?

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When we make them the central purpose of our experience and our existence?

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As Tim pointed out a few weeks ago, he spoke about this,

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good things can become ultimate things, and we can end up worshiping them,

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expecting them to fill this God-shaped hole that we all have.

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But they can never fully satisfy us, because frankly, they were never meant to.

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Many people attempt to make wealth and power the rulers of their lives.

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Society tells us that financial success or security or influence can bring happiness and significance.

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But the reality is different.

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More often than not, when we chase wealth, the more we realize that it doesn't actually fulfill the deepest desires of our hearts.

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In fact, wealth can often lead to a sense of emptiness,

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as those who are mass-riches frequently find themselves still searching for something greater, to give their lives meaning.

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Famous actor Jim Carrey once said, I wish everyone could be rich and famous, so they could see that it's not the answer.

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Similarly, power and success can be very alluring for a lot of people.

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Many strive to climb the corporate ladder to achieve influence and significance and make a name for themselves,

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believing that this will provide them with the authority and the influence that they crave.

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But again, oftentimes it just leaves us empty and wanting more.

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Power without purpose ultimately leads to isolation, burnout and dissatisfaction.

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Another common ruler that many see, including myself, is relationships.

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You know, our relationships are a central part of the human life and they're a great source of joy and support.

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They're not designed to be the ultimate ruler of our hearts.

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When we place too much emphasis on a relationship or another person to define us and fulfill our deepest desires,

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we put an unfair burden on the people around us, expecting them to give us the validation and direction

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that only a true king can provide.

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Even societal acceptance can become a ruler in our lives, leading us to make decisions based on the approval of others,

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rather than our own beliefs and values.

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The desire for validation can lead us to compromise our integrity and live according to the world standards instead of gods.

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In the story we read about in today's teaching text,

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wise men from the Easter also searching for something to fill their god-shaped hole.

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They're following a star, not just out of curiosity, but with the belief that something or someone of profound significance has arrived.

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These men who are likely very well versed in the ancient prophecies and the scriptures that we read in the Old Testament,

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they're seeking the king, the long-awaited messiah, who would deliver them and the world from oppression, suffering, and separation from God.

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For generations the Israelite people had awaited this saviour,

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but after centuries of prophecies, miracles, and God's presence through his prophets, there had been a long period of silence.

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For about 400 years in between the Old and New Testament, God had not spoken.

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There had been no new prophets, no new revelations, just silence and old traditions.

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In today's lingo, some people would say that God had ghosted them.

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If you're unfamiliar with the term, a definition will come up on the screen.

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When you get ghosted, this is from the Merriam-Wipster dictionary, by the way, so it is official.

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Ghosting is the act or practice of abruptly cutting off all contact with someone such as a former romantic partner,

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usually without any explanation by no longer accepting or responding to phone calls or instant messaging, etc.

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So you disappear completely from someone else's life, or they disappear completely from your life.

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I imagine that would probably be pretty similar to how the Israelites are feeling, because 400 years is a long time to not hear from someone.

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It would be like, if I told Deanna I'd do the dishes when I got home, and then I don't come home for 400 years.

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I imagine it should be pretty displeased with me.

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But obviously we have the gift of hindsight, and that we can look back and see that it's not that God wasn't doing anything,

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there was just other stuff happening.

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But imagine what it would have been like for the Israelites at the time.

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Imagine what that silence would have felt like.

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Imagine holding onto the hope of something great, God had made so many promises to them, but only to have it seem distant and forgotten.

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Maybe that's where you are tonight.

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Maybe you've been searching for something only to feel let down and disappointed.

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Maybe you've tried to feel that God shaped whole inside of you with different things only to still be left wanting.

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It could even be that you felt let down by God, like the Israelites did.

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The Israelites were living in the tension of knowing something was promised, but feeling like it was taking too long to arrive.

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That's the space that the Magi or the wise men entered into when they were searching for Jesus.

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That's where we're at in the passage.

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In the quiet and in the silence, they didn't stop searching.

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They kept believing that what was promised would one day be revealed.

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And then Jesus was there.

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The king that the wise men had been searching for had arrived.

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Like it says in John chapter one verse 14, the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

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We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the Father full of grace and truth.

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See, church Jesus is the one that can feel our God shaped whole.

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The wise men looking for Jesus weren't just looking for a king, they weren't just looking for someone to rule them.

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The passage says that when they saw Jesus, they bowed down and they worshipped him.

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They knew that their God shaped whole was going to be filled by this baby Messiah that they were going to be saved.

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This is a stark juxtaposition to King Herod who ordered for Jesus to be killed so he could hold on to power.

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Herod's God shaped whole was being filled by the influence he had as king over Israel.

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I did a quick Google search to see what came of Herod.

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I didn't dive super deep into this, so don't quote me if I'm wrong if there's any historians here.

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But he became severely ill through what researchers believe was chronic kidney disease and gangrene in the area.

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So look where that power got you Herod.

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Should have been like the wise men.

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Sorry, Tex.

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Moving on.

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Jesus says in John chapter 6 verse 35, I am the bread of life.

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Whoever comes to me will never go hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

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We can try to feel our God shaped whole with things such as money, relationships, power, influence, but they will always leave us wanting.

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Like we're talking about Marvel movies, they started off really strong with the Iron Man, the Captain America's.

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But then we started getting stuff like the Eternals and Thor, Love and Thunder and it was just really disappointing.

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Now this is like when we put our hope in money and relationships because sometimes the money isn't there.

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Well, sometimes we can really love and care for someone, but then they start to annoy us or maybe they ghost us.

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And this God shaped whole begins to form again.

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We're able to look at the wise men in the story and how they worship Jesus and be reminded that just as they found the fulfillment of their longing in Jesus,

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we can also find the same satisfaction and peace in him.

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Jesus is not just simply a figure in history who spoke some fancy words and did some fancy tricks.

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He's the one who can fill the God shaped hole in our lives.

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Again, Jesus says, I am the bread of life.

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Whoever comes to me will never go hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

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This statement is not just about physical needs, but it's about spiritual fulfillment.

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Jesus is the source of the living water that quenches the thirst of our souls.

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Have you ever felt like you're unsatisfied?

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Like the things of this world just aren't cutting it?

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Like they're not enough to fulfill you?

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Have you ever felt that holy discontent where, you know, there has to be something more?

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Maybe what you've been searching in the wrong place.

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And maybe rather than looking around at the world around us, we have to look up at heaven instead.

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Because in Jesus, we find the answer to the hunger and the thirst that we all experience.

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He is the bread of life that nourishes us, the water that satisfies us, and the light that guides us out of the darkness.

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The wise men's journey to find Jesus was not just about discovering a king.

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It was about discovering the one who would bring true fulfillment and purpose to their lives.

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And the same is true of us today.

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Jesus is the only one who can fill the God-shaped hole, because he is the only one who has come to offer us what we truly need,

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which is salvation, reconciliation with God, and eternal life.

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As Jesus himself says in John chapter 14 verse 6, I am the truth, the way, and the life.

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No one comes to the Father except through me.

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There is nothing better than Jesus to fill our God-shaped holes.

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Like C.S. Lewis said at the start of this message, if there are desires within us that cannot be satisfied by the things of this world,

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perhaps we need to look beyond ourselves, look beyond this world.

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And Jesus is that thing. Jesus is the way. Jesus is the truth and he is the life.

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He is what we've all been searching for. And so church, where is your king?

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I'd say that your king is already here.

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Your king is already here. He is waiting. He is kind and he is good.

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He is faithful and he is full of love. He is everything that you need.

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Jesus came as a baby in a manger born in a stable.

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He humbled himself, come down from his throne of glory in heaven to live as one of us,

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so that we could experience true and unconditional love,

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so that we could experience satisfaction through him that nothing else in this world could provide.

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No amount of money, no amount of power, no living person can fill this God-shaped hole.

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Only Jesus and only God.

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So where is your king? He is here.

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We read that to receive his grace all we need to do is ask, speak and he will listen.

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There's no more silence. There's no more waiting. Our king is here and he is everything we need.

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So, out of this, it's a practical thing that we can do to start filling this God-shaped hole that we have.

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For starters, we need to actually recognize that God is the one that can fill this hole we have.

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And then we need to figure out what we're trying to fill the hole with if it's not God.

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It could be that you're not trying to fill it with anything

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and maybe you're just trying to numb yourself or distract yourself from it.

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Try not to think about it by watching the office for the tenth time.

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And then once we recognize that, we start to fill that hole with God.

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And it might not be the case that you're better straight away or you just feel that fullness and the completeness straight away.

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It might be something that will happen over time as you continue to grow and develop your relationship with God.

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And this kind of thing will look like doing all the practices that we've already heard about

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and all the ones that you can probably predict that I'm going to say.

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Spending time in prayer, reading the Bible, coming to church on Sundays.

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We need to foster our relationship with God and we can only do that by spending time with Him.

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We do that by putting time aside and choosing to invest in the relationship.

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Now that we've well and truly entered the Christmas season, where is your King?

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What is ruling over your heart? Is it God? Is it something else?

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Is your King found in the things of this world like Herod?

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Christmas is a time where our priorities really start to take ownership of our lives.

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And the true Kings of our heart starts to come to light.

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So where are you putting your hope?

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I pray that you would see that your King is here.

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It is Jesus and He loves you. He loves each and every single one of us.

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Thanks so much for tuning into this week's message.

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If you felt challenged or need prayer, we'd love to hear from you on Instagram, at Encounter Henley.

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Or if you're interested in how you can support this ministry, please go to our website, EncounterAdelaide.com.au

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Thanks again for listening. God bless you.