Matthew 2 1-2

Matthew 2 1-2

Gifting the giver.

Introduction

My Brothers and sisters We are in the season of Celebrating a great occasion, the birth of our lord and Savior Jesus christ. its definitely one of my favorite times of the year. This is the season we get together with family and friends. We buy gifts for one another, We exchange gifts on our Job, We attend Christmas parties and gatherings. I would like to encourage you during this wonderful time of celebrations we are celebrating the birthday, let’s not exclude the Birthday boy.

Although its sounds somewhat cliche, but I believe we must KEEP Christ in Christmas. We must remember his purpose. We must remember he was born. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He gave sight to blinded eyes. He gave his life up for ransom for our sins.

let’s not give everyone else a gift and not give christ his gift.

I don’t know about you but I believe it would be quite strange for someone to get together, buy gifts throw a birthday party for you or me. exchange gifts to one another and not invite me to my own party.

Someone may ask how can we gift the ultimate giver, How can we gift, the man who has the entire world in his hand.

My brothers and sisters I remember someone asked what is it that I would like for christmas. The question was asked what do you get someone who seems as though have everything. The answer was you get them more of what they already have. How many can attest that it seems as though its this way with God. What do you give a God who has everything. The answer is you give him more of what he already has.

The good news about this gift is you don’t have to go to the UTC mall to purchase it. You don’t have to go to Target or best buy to order it, you don’t have to login to your amazon and order it and wait for it to arrive, because it’s not physical it’s spiritual.

What are these gifts one may ask. Im glad you asked.

There are three things that God specifically ask for in the Bible. Those three things are Glory, Worship and Service. You give him Glory, Worship, and you serve him. These are our gifts to God.

We should give him Glory.

Glory in a sense is Credit. We give him Glory when we recognize him.

We give God his Glory when we recognized him for all that he is. We recognize the personhood of God. His Character, His being, So often we recognize God as a name but we fail to give him glory as a being. He said to Moses I am that Iam. Which discribes himself as a being.

We cant get so consumed with God the name and don’t give glory to God the character. What do I mean. We have to be careful because we ourselves can make anything a GOD. When we recognize it as a name. But when we recognize him as a being we know who he is. There is a bunch of Frank’s in the world, There is a bunch of people with your name as well. Alot of people know your name and not many know who you are and all you bring to the table. So we must get past knowing God’s name and get into knowing him personally as a being, then in return we give him Glory for who he is.

God is a personal God, a ‘he’ not an ‘it’ (Exodus 3:13).

2. God is holy (Leviticus 11:44). He hates sin.

3. God is merciful (Exodus 34:7). He does not want to punish.

4. God is just (Psalm 89:14). He is absolutely fair.

5. God is jealous (Exodus 20:5). He tolerates no rivals.

6. God is faithful (Lamentations 3:23). He will never desert us.

7. God is truthful (Hebrews 6:18). He cannot lie.

8. God is eternal (Genesis 21:33). He has no beginning or end.

9. God is unchangeable (Malachi 3:6). His character stays the same.

10. God is omniscient (Psalm 139:1–4). He knows everything.

11. God is omnipotent (Exodus 15:6). He is all-powerful.

12. God is omnipresent (Psalm 139:7–10). He is everywhere.

13. God is invisible (Exodus 33:20). No-one can see him.

14. God is incomprehensible (Romans 11:33). No-one can fully understand him or figure him out!

15. God is Creator (Ecclesiastes 12:1). He made all that is out of nothing.

16. God is Redeemer (Psalm 19:1 14). He bought us back with the blood of his Son.

17. God is Spirit (John 4:24). He cannot be seen or touched.

18. God is Saviour (Isaiah 45:15). He saves us from our sins and from his wrath.

19. God is King of kings (1 Timothy 6:15). All the kings of the earth must bow to him.

20. God is Father (Matthew 11:25). This is what he becomes to us through Jesus Christ.

B. ‘Glory’ is the one word which sums up all the above

God’s name is bound up with his identity, who he is. He is Yahweh, the ‘one who is’, the great I am. This God of glory is jealous for the honour of his name and all that we, his people, say and do should reflect his honour and reputation. All the authority that is in the name of God has been transferred to the name of Jesus.

For creation (Psalm 19:1).

(a) Who gets the credit for our being created? God.

1) ‘I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Psalm 139:14).

(2) How contemptible to speak of creation by chance or evolution.

(b) Who gets the credit for the beauty of creation? God.

2. For redemption (Ephesians 1:14).

(a) Who gets the credit for our being predestined? God.

(1) ‘And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified’ (Romans 8:30).

(b) Who gets the credit for purchasing our salvation? God.

(1) ‘In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace’ (Ephesians 1:7).

(c) Who gets the credit for drawing us? God.

(1) ‘No-one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day’ (John 6:44).

(d) Who gets the credit for our being kept? God.

(1) ‘For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 8:38–39).

So He deserves Glory.

Not only does he deserve Glory but we should gift him with worship.

2. We Should give him Worship because

The Bible says he searches the earth looking for worshippers.

You didn’t come just to be in attendance but you came to worship God.

Is there anyone in here that can say out of all the things I’ve been through. Out of all the things I’m going through I still have a praise, I still have a worshipper in me.

I came to even speak to those who knows what it feels to worship while wounded.

Worship while wrestling, to worship while hurt.

Your worship is not predictable

Or predicated on how you feel but you worship him because who he is.

The song says “Because of who you are I give you glory., because of who you are , I give you praise, Lord I worship you because of who you are”

My brothers and sisters neither one of us are the same but we have learned in church that we must worship the same.

Neither one of us will worship God exactly the same.

That’s why I think we should create an atmosphere of worship that’s not judgmental or bias.

Truth of the matter I can’t judge your worship because I don’t know what all you’ve been through.

Some us may cry, some of us may lift our hands, some of us may dance,

Some may speak in tongues, but don’t let how someone else’s worship determine your worship. You have to be free in your spirit as to how you worship him.

The old song says some folk run, some folk, shout.

Bishop aTrotter said it like this you don’t know my story,

All the things that I've been through

You can't feel my pain,

What I had to go through to get here,

You'll never understand my praise

Don't try to figure it out

Because my worship is for real

Because my worship is for real

Some may ask the importance of worship

6 Reasons For The Importance of Worship:

1. Rom 12:1 Worships Involves Surrender of Our Lives

Rom 12:1 Declares “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Rom 12:1

2.  Worship Is Putting Our Focus on Him

True worship is based on the desire to honor God. It requires a personal revelation of God as found in the Scriptures. Worship is not based on my likes or dislikes. It is not based on my personal preferences or priorities. It is a focus on Him.

3.  Worship Involves ‘Getting Out of the Way’

We have to learn to remove our worries, our opinion, our questions and ourselves—so we can worship with appropriate honor. It’s letting go. Sometimes, we get in the way of our own experience of genuine worship.

4.  Worship Involves Personal Sacrifice

Praise can be easier when times are good or we have had the big victory.

It requires a sacrifice of our own feelings and fears so we can give Him the focus He deserves.

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess His name.” Hebrews 13:15

5.  We Must Worship in the Face of Pain & Loss

King David demonstrated what it means to worship in the face of loss and pain. His baby died. He prayed and prayed, but the baby died. I can’t imagine the pain that would come from the loss of a child. The loss of loved ones is too great to bear.

After the baby died, the Bible tells us—

Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. 2 Sam 12:20 NIV

6.  Worship Is Celebrating Who God Is and What He Has Done

1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the Earth.  2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.  3 Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His      people, the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.  5 For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues    through all generations.

Psalm 100:1-5 NIV

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Christmas is really about worship……

Hebrews 1:6 (NLT)

6 And when he brought his supreme Son into the world, God said, “Let ALL of God’s angels worship him.”

We know the story of the wise men when Jesus was born……They sought him for the sake of worshiping him…

Sometimes some of our cultural Christmas traditions can actually kind of cloud our true worship of the Savior – can’t they? We’re caught up in the hustle and bustle of some of the things we’ve come to call Christmas and we can easily begin to lose focus of the almost indescribable eternal significance that Christmas represents. Our vision of the true significance of that morning can easily begin to get covered up by the “culturally driven traditions” of this holiday.

For us to regain focus here is my encouragement to you. WORSHIP. Worship is how you regain the awe, the significance, the amazement of Christmas. When we worship, we take out all the stuff of the world. It’s the antidote for that slow poisonous death of the world, of the culture watering down and watering down Christmas. Worship cuts through the haze of everything else that has been pressed into Christmas. Worship refocuses our hearts and our minds on God, and worship puts Jesus Christ back where he was on the first Christmas – at the center of our focus. It should cause us to be joyful and to respond when it happens.

When we make Christmas about worship it brings the love and the power of God back into correct proportions. In worship God’s love and God’s power become bigger and bigger and the struggles of this world become smaller and smaller.

Worship allows God’s plan and God’s purpose for our lives

to take center stage

to occupy our hearts and our minds

and to restore our soul AS we magnify the Lord.

Mary worshipped as she sang her “song of praise” to Elizabeth in Luke Chapter 1 when she sang “My Soul Magnifies the Lord . . .

Not only should we give him our worship but we should give him our service

3. We should give him our service.

In the New Testament, doulos is frequently used to designate a master’s slave (one bound to him), or a follower of Christ (a “bondslave” of Christ).

Our responsibility is to become that of a servant to God.

He is the master we are his servants.

Both the servant and master has a purpose and if done correctly works simultaneously with one another.

The purpose of the master is to protect and take care of the servant.

The purpose of a servant is to fulfill an assignment that the master has entrusted in him.

The servant can exercise no will or initiative on his or her own.

Paul calls himself the “servant of Christ” Paul compares his servitude to that of a prisoner

According to philipians 2:7 Christ took upon himself the “form of a servant”

As mentioned earlier The word servant can be compared to that of a slave.

According to Rom. 6:17–18Once we become Believers we have moved from being slaves to sin to become slaves of righteousness .

Psalms 100:2 advises us to Serve the Lord with gladness, Come into his presence with singing!

Paul states in Romans 12:11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

Is there anyone in here that can say that no matter what I may go through. Im still going to serve the lord.

The song that says

“for the rest of my life Ill serve him.”

“For the rest of my life ill trust him”

“For the rest of my life Ill serve the Lord”

It take some nerve to serve the lord.

Look at somebody and say after all that you have been through he kept you alive.

That’s enough to serve him there.

Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

Talking Point:.

They were arguing not realizing they were all at the table

It seems as though they should have been happy for another that they were all at the table eating...

we should be happy for one another.

I want you to eat. I’m not going to get mad because what God is doing in my brothers life. “Im going to see what I can bring to the table.

Thats were serving comes in at.

Serving provides us with not just the opportunity to eat off of the table but an opportunity to bring something to table.

What are bringing to the table?

Surround yourself with those who are willing not just to eat off the table but who will bring something TO the table and empower you.

The disciples although they were all eating, They found a way to compete with one another in the midst of the supper.

Look at somebody and say “DON’T compete with me eat with me.”

Well my brothers and sisters we all have a gift.

We have a gift that we could give to christ. I have a good news

This day we can give me our worship and our service.

Worship and praise are two things that God can never have enough of.

Not only that but we all have a gift inside of us

We have this gift inside of us, a call, a special anointing on our life that we can give back to him.

With our service and our worship

“1 Corinthians 12:8-11 ASV

For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit: to another faith, in the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, in the one Spirit; and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits: to another divers kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as he will.”

When we worship him and serve him we are giving our gift back to him.

It’s our decision rather we give use that gift and give it back to christ.

Some us have the gift or call to preach inside of us, others have the gift to sing, evangalize, witness, or even just the gift to be able draw others to Christ!

Although it’s good to have a gift inside of you, the gift was not given just for you.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,

However the gift was given so that we could use it to help with the building of Christ’s Kingdom.

So the Text says the wise men Went on their journey and behold the same star that they say in the east directed them to Jesus

f. When they found Jesus the first thing they did was worship him

..

i. And brought gifts, frankincense and myrrh..which is we're we get our traditional of buying gifts for Christmas

~Well what was it that made these men wise?

~What is so wise about these men that we can learn from?

a. Well within the text these men made three wise decisions we can all learn from.

The sought Jesus when they found him the worshiped him...and they were willing to change .

The fist thing they did was They sought Jesus.

We can have knowledge of the Bible, we can even have religious convictions, we can even live out God’s commands to the letter and still miss the point. God is

seeking a relationship with us through his Son Jesus the Christ, and he wants us to seek him. What we find out is that when we seek him, we will find him. Jesus

once said, “Seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened.” The author of Hebrews wrote

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him

(Hebrews 11:6).” And when we find him, meaning have a relationship with God through Christ, everything else falls into place. The magi were rewarded for their

journey of faith to meet Christ.

When we come to church, when we live good lives is it because our primary focus is on seeking Christ, to search for him to try draw nearer to him? Or are we like

the religious leaders in Jesus day who think that doing our religious duty is enough, following God’s commandments, being at church, maybe even knowing the

Bible really well?

From Jerusalem to Bethlehem They came from a strange land to fall down and worship Christ while the Jews his kinsmen would not bulge..

These men were spiritually hungry and thirsty for something.

They made up in their mind that the were going to see Jesus they were not concerned with everything else that was going on around them...they had a mission

and that was to find Jesus.

And believe I'm speaking to about 10 people that can say..listen I didn't come to church for all the latest gossip.

I didn't come to church to see what you had on..

But I come to see Jesus..

These men were determined to see him...

When they Got into the town Jesus was born and asked about the birth of the Jesus...

The people in the town had no idea that Jesus.

How can the king and people be in the same city as Jesus and not notice that God was about to move, how could the people in Bethlehem not know at Governor

was about t be born..

It took some wise men from not within the boundaries of their religion and philosophies to inform them about Jesus...

But like these wise men our main object is to see Jesus

Tell somebody make sure you find Jesus.....

I know the theologians debate on what day he was born But I’m just glad he was born because if he wasn’t born.. there could be no death m.. and he was no death there couldn’t be no blood. If there was no blood there could be no remissions of sins

She gave birth to our savior even dispirit the consequences she could have faced.

I know we are about to celebrate his birthday on December 25th.

But not only was he born of a virgin

Jesus healed the sick raised the dead

They stripped him of his clothes

Put a crown of thorns on his head

The led him to a his call Golgotha..

They crucified with him to robbers on on his left and the others on right

at about three in the afternoon Jesus cried Eli lama Sabactaani.

God why how though forsaken me..

and he gave up the Ghost

They took him in the tomb he stayed there one day..

HE stayed there two days..

But early the third day morning he got up with all power Silver bells, silver bells

It's Christmas time in the city

Ring a ling, hear them ring

Soon it'll be Christmas Day

Away in a manger

No crib for a bed

The little Lord Jesus

Laid down His sweet head

The stars in the bright sky

Looked down where He lay

The little Lord Jesus

Asleep on the hay

The cattle are lowing

The Baby awakes

But little Lord Jesus

No crying He makes

I love You, Lord Jesus

Look down from the sky

And stay by my side

Until morning is nigh

Be near me, Lord Jesus

I ask You to stay

Close by me forever

And love me I pray

Bless all the dear children

In Your tender care

And fit us for heaven

To live with You there