Okay, good morning everyone.
Good morning.
If you don't know me, my name is Chris.
I'm the teaching pastor here at Watermark.
It's great to see so many of you coming out.
Who's coming for the walk?
Great.
If you haven't put your hand up,
somebody will press gang you into coming on the walk with us.
Again, kids are going to be staying in this morning,
so they've got something to color in with.
If your kids are kind of running around going crazy, it's fine.
Feel free to kind of take them around to the back.
We're family, so it's cool.
Okay.
If you've got a bulletin with you,
I would like you to take out your bulletin.
If you don't have a bulletin,
has someone not got a bulletin?
Could somebody go and grab some for us so that everyone can get one?
If you look on your bulletin,
you will see inside there is a little rectangle with a cross and a dot there.
Can everyone see that?
Yes?
Okay.
What I would like you to do is,
I would like you to close your right eye.
Okay?
And I'd like you to look at the cross.
Okay?
Still keep the dot in focus,
but keep your eye on the cross.
And I'd like you to move the sheet of paper as close to you as you can
until you see the dot disappear.
Has everyone found it?
Okay.
Some of you, it's like not disappearing.
Just, okay.
Close your right eye.
Look with your left eye.
Okay?
Bring it closer.
Bring it further away until you find that.
Some of you are going,
I don't know what's going on here.
Who hasn't managed to work it out?
Okay.
A few of you haven't managed to work it out.
Okay.
We'll spend a special session with you afterwards in how to do it.
What you should realize is that every single one of us actually has a blind spot.
Where if you focus in a certain way at a certain point,
there are things which are actually there,
which at some point,
physically your eye actually doesn't see them.
Okay?
We all have blind spots.
Not just physical blind spots,
but blind spots in our lives.
And I know some of you are like,
the rest of the sermon,
you're not going to hear this
because you're just kind of going in and out.
I know, it's terrible to start like that.
Control yourselves.
Okay.
We all have blind spots in our lives.
We all have things which are there,
which we don't always see
because we are focusing on certain things so deeply
that actually we miss some of the reality of what's going on around us.
And one of those great blind spots in our lives
is the people around us.
People in need around us.
And you know,
Hong Kong is such a crazy place
because it really just draws your focus
with all the pressure that we're under in this city
so that if you're a student,
where does your focus get drawn?
It's all on your exams coming up,
all on your studies.
If you are a worker,
where does your focus get drawn?
It gets drawn on those deadlines,
those projects,
those annoying colleagues,
the desire for career promotion.
If you're a parent,
where does your focus get drawn?
It gets drawn all onto the demands of parenting,
health, education,
all these things which are necessary
and realities in our lives.
But the thing is,
often what Hong Kong does for us
is it pressures us into seeing
the things and focusing more on the problems we have in life
rather than the blessings that we have in life.
We focus more on what we don't have
than on what we do have.
And all the resources and the things
that God has given us
that are available to us
that he uses
so that we might bless other people.
You see,
I was talking to a guy a while ago
and he says to me,
initially he was looking for a job
and he couldn't find a job
and then finally he found this job
and I came to him and I said,
congratulations,
it's amazing.
And he said,
yeah,
but I've only got 10 days holiday.
I went to somebody else
and I said,
hey,
it's bonus time coming up.
And this guy,
he got a great bonus from his work
and he was really happy
and then he looked over to his colleague
who got a bigger bonus than him
and I met up with him
and he was depressed
because he didn't have as much
as the other person had.
You see,
our minds are often focused
on what we don't have
more than the blessings of what we do have.
And when we're like that in Hong Kong,
what happens is
we tend to focus more on ourselves
and we don't see
the people around us
who we could bless
with what he has given us.
You know,
120 years ago,
there was a lady called Martha Polster.
She was a German Christian missionary.
She came to Hong Kong
and she saw
four visually impaired girls
that nobody else saw,
that everybody else ignored
because they were wrapped up
in their problems
and their issues.
But she saw them.
And she did what love always does.
Love sees
and then love reaches out.
Love sees
and love reaches out.
And she knows
she started this school
120 years ago.
Ebenezer School.
And since then,
hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds
of children
and adults
have been transformed
through this school
bringing hope,
bringing dignity,
bringing life
into them.
And the reason
that her eyes
were open
to this
was because
she saw
what this Advent season
is all about.
She saw
that Advent
was about
the coming
of Jesus Christ,
the coming
of hope,
the coming
of the one
who in this passage
we read
said this,
the spirit
of the sovereign Lord
of the Lord
is upon me
and he's anointed me
to proclaim
good news
to the poor,
to the prisoners,
to the blind,
to the oppressed.
Do you notice
he didn't say
I've come
to proclaim
good news
to those
that I kind of
feel comfortable with.
he didn't say
I've come
to proclaim
good news
to those
who are kind
of like me
because he wouldn't
have had many people
then to proclaim to.
He didn't say
I've come
to proclaim
good news
to those
who haven't
made any
poor choices
in their life.
He said
I've come
to proclaim
good news
to the poor,
to the prisoner,
to the blind,
to the oppressed,
to the people
on the margins
of society
that everyone
else doesn't
see.
And we know
he didn't just
come,
he was sent
because that
was his mission
in a world
which is broken
and filled
with injustice
and pain.
But we know
that we
are the recipients
of that
because poverty
is spiritual,
economic,
relational,
emotional,
it covers
all of that.
We are all
blind in many
ways
because we're
blind to God.
We are blind
and we are
poor in love
towards other
people and
towards God.
We are prisoners
to our own
ambitions and
our own desires
and yet Jesus
came down
to reach out
to us
because he saw
us and he
reached out
because love
sees and love
reaches out.
one of the
great desires
of our hearts
is that someone
would take an
interest in us,
that someone
would see us
in spite of
what we're like
and they would
show grace to
us.
That is what
Jesus has done
for each one
of us if we
are believers
and trust in
him.
But he also
says,
Jesus says,
as I was
sent so I
send you.
I send you
to go.
in this
city where
we have,
we mentioned
one in five
people live
below the
poverty line.
Every time
you go to
work you
are walking
past people
who are
hopeless,
suffering and
in despair.
And God
wants to
open our
eyes to see
who is it
that he's
calling us
to.
We are not
the savior
of the world,
Jesus is,
but he wants
to open our
eyes to see
the people
he has put
around us
and to
reach out
to them.
I read
this story,
a biography,
it's a
biography called
Guailo,
about an
English boy
who grew
up in
Hong Kong
called
Martin.
And one
day his
mom found
out that
there was a
leper colony
in Hong Kong.
Did you
know there
used to be
a leper
colony in
Hong Kong?
Did you
know Hayling
Tao,
near Land
Tao,
used to
have a
leper
colony
until the
1970s,
where the
lepers were
basically,
they were
pushed onto
this island
because nobody
wanted to be
around them
because they
could be
contagious,
it could be,
it was just
awkward in
society.
And so they
were put onto
this island
and kind of
left there.
And the
mother of
this boy
found out
that there
was this
island there.
And she
said,
I want to
go and
find out
what this
is about.
I want to
go and
see these
people.
And do
you know
what her
husband said?
Her husband
said,
don't you
dare go.
Because if
you go,
like,
you don't
speak
canto.
If you
go,
like,
you might
get something,
it might
be dangerous.
If you
go,
well,
why should
we bother
about those
guys?
We've got
enough
issues of
ourselves.
But the
mum went
with the
whole family.
And the
dad actually
went kind
of following
on behind
because,
you know,
the mum
was pretty
strong.
And he
got to
the point
where they
got to
the island.
Everybody
gets off
the boat.
Dad stays
in the
boat.
He's not
getting off.
But they
get off and
they see
that these
people who
were this
leper colony,
they actually
realized these
are real
people.
These are
not just
lepers.
They're human
beings who
are real.
people.
And they
walked up
to them
in a
frightened
way because
they were
scared of
stepping out
of their
comfort zone
to these
unknown
people.
At one
point,
they walked
up to
one and
one of
the lepers
reached out
and touched
the head
of the sun.
And they
looked into
each other's
eyes and
there was
this moment
of saying,
you have
dignity and
you have
worth and
you have
value.
I wonder
how many
of us see
things in
Hong Kong
and yet
we're not
willing to
reach out
because we're
afraid.
How many
of us are
more like
the dad
who wants
to stay
in the
boat?
But the
call of
the gospel
is not
that we're
called just
to have
human
compassion
on people.
It's that
we have
an incredible
message of
hope and
life,
of forgiveness
and grace
and mercy
to bring
hope to
the hopeless,
to bring
light to
those who
are poor,
prisoners,
blind,
oppressed.
That's why
we're here
as a church
and that's
one of the
reasons why
we're doing
this walk
today because
we want to
see what
would it
look like
with us
who tend
to focus
so much
on what
we don't
have to
remember how
much God
has given
us and
then to
look out
and see
what is it
that the
people God
has placed
around us.
That's partly
why we're
starting this
love offering.
So over the
next four
weeks we're
going to be
sharing about
the partners
who are
reaching out
into Hong
Kong in
different ways
to think how
we can get
involved in
supporting them
financially,
in supporting
them even by
saying,
well, could I
just go and
see?
Could I just
go and see?
Some of you
are already
involved and I
encourage you to
just keep sharing
with other people
what you're seeing.
But the spirit of
the Lord is not
just on Jesus.
The spirit of the
Lord is on us
as Christians.
God has sent
us into this
world to
proclaim good
news to
people.
There is a
real cost in
going.
There is a
cost that
Jesus paid.
There is a
cost, but
Jesus paid it
for us because
he saw us.
So my question
is, who do
you see?
Who do you
see?
And my prayer
is that God
would open our
eyes, that we
would pray, God
open my eyes to
see who you
want me to see
this morning.
Who you want
me to see so
that you might
show me how I
might reach out.
If your kids
and you focus on
your kids'
education
completely, and
that's all that
wraps up your
mind, your kids
are going to
grow up with
huge blind
spots in
their lives.
If you're a
worker and all
you focus on is
just your work in
everything in
your life and
you never see
something bigger,
you will live a
life which is
shrunk down like
this.
Jesus calls us
to be part of
something bigger,
which is his
mission.
He wants us to
see his people
that he's called
us to reach out
to.
And he will go
with us with his
power and his
spirit.
He wants us
to make him
moving forward and
driving
the
core.
He wants us to
probe your
office to
see himself and
he is quiere
Euzy they
as he knows you
your husband and
andターils
and今
have so much
installed and
they have like