Sunday Morning Podcast December 6, 2015. Bro. Dave Goble.
TEXT: MATTHEW 2:1-2, 11
1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
MICAH 6:6-8
6 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
What gift have I brought Jesus? My gift is me. You can know what is in your heart, or what is in your mind. But do they connect, or agree? Today, trouble is all around us. We are in a “war.” Tragedy is on one hand, but what ..is in the other hand? God will comfort the grieving, but if that is all we have, we are “coming up short.” It needs to be more, on our part. It needs to be with all our strength. When tragedy hit in our nation’s past, on 9/11, our citizen’s came together, looking for strength. Strength, was needed.
Today, everywhere people are being attacked by evil. Priorities are changing to being more serious. God wants us to pay attention, to what our heart needs to focus on. Justice, or compassion, humility, and mercy to one another, most especially to those without God. God doesn’t expect us to neglect our temporal obligations, but rather to ensure the giving of our whole heart to Him through all of it. Satan is coming against us! But God can help us, because His strength is sufficient. The key will be that God’s people need to have it settled, for the day of “reckoning” is here, ..it is now. What does it profit a soul, to profess Salvation, but not have a “fruitful” testimony of the whole heart?
Faith is dead, unless we reach out to those that are without God. Do we pass the lost of humanity, not helping, when it is within our power to do so? Or, do we only do enough to “soothe” our conscience? We need to have a heart to truly “rescue.” The sinner and saint alike need to have a spirit of repentance, to be all that God would want and ask. Without this humility we’ll find it too difficult to be all that God would want from us, to inherit and keep Salvation. Does God want our time, our human “offerings,” the all of our heart? Does God want our strength? Yes, God does want the strength of our “heart,” without selfishness, or sinful habits. We don’t have this testimony unless we give our all, allowing our personal will to be broken, ..for a gift to God.
God wants your whole heart. What have you brought to Jesus?