"He Gave Gifts unto Men, Part 2" By Brother Parrish Lee December 13th,
2015
Thank
you. Thank you for
your hearts, thank you for your
lives, thank you for your sacrifice, thank you for listening to the
call, and
thank you for joining us and leading in praise and worship this morning. You know, you can’t speak
for everybody, but
how many can’t wait to enter into the presence of God?
You know, I sing in my car a lot, and it’s a good
thing that nobody else is in that car with me, because I can’t get half
of the
notes that are going on, but I know he who is the receiver of all good
and
perfect gifts, He listens to every word.
But, the Bible says, when you come together, forsake
not that assembling
of yourselves together as the manner of some is, as you see that day
approaching (Hebrews 10:25), and how God inhabits the praises of His
people
(Psalms 22:3). Amen. Amen. Well,
giving honor to that God
that we talk about, that they talk about so much this morning; that we
sang to,
that we love, and loves us back. Giving
honor to Him. Who,
as the Bible says, is
the Rose of Sharon, the Bright and Morning Star, the Lily of the
valley, the
Ancient of Days, but whom we know as our Comforter, whom we know as our
Provider, whom we know as the one who does not leave us, even when we
should be
left, who is the ever-living, ever-forgiving God.
That God that we know, giving honor to Him. Giving honor to all those
who have come
before us, who have paved the way for this ministry, from our founding
pastor,
he and his family, for our pastor, he and his family, and all those who
got
called and listened, who stood in the gap to make up the hedge, to
allow the
ministry to continue going forth.
And giving
honor to all of y’all, who present yourselves, bring your hearts, and
bring
your lives, and say, instead of sleeping in, instead of doing something
else,
instead of working overtime, instead of making any excuse, “I will put
myself
there, to come and worship my God this morning.”
Giving honor to all of y’all. We
have—this month is designated
as a month where our theme is, “He Gave Gifts unto Men.” And our Scripture theme is: Ephesians 4:7-8 But
unto every one of
us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he
ascended up on
high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. He
gave gifts unto men. Pastor
Ulysse taught all of us, but I really
heard, as he was teaching a really good lesson, to definitely take time
to give
reverence, to give honor to God’s Word when we read that from the
scripture. Matthew 2:1-11
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, 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. When
Herod the king
had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all
the chief priests
and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ
should be
born. And they said
unto him, In
Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou
Bethlehem,
in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for
out of
thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had
privily called the wise
men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he
sent them
to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child;
and when
ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him
also.
When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which
they saw
in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the
young
child was. When
they saw the star, they
rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 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.
Remain standing for
prayer. Lord, we
thank You, Mighty
God. Every time we
come into Your
presence, we get humbled and just sometimes don’t know what to say,
just,
“Thank You, Almighty God for what You have done for us, which would
take the
rest of this week to even mention.
We ask
that You, in this time of sermon, in this time of fellowship, in this
time of
congregating, this time of presenting ourselves to You, the Almighty
One. And we ask
God, we ask, that Your Word is
true; as You said, it will not return unto You void, but will surely
accomplish
that to which You sent it. And
this we
do, come, pray, and claim, in Jesus’ name, and everyone said, amen.
You
may be seated, Saints. Part 1:
They Gave Gifts “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…” Now, if
we could just
provide a little bit of a setting, here:
At the time of our Lord’s birth, the Bible goes on
to talk about how He
was born in Bethlehem, and everything about our Lord had significance. Everything, everything,
everything about the
Lord had significance. But,
it says He
was born in Bethlehem, and this was to be from the prophecy in the Book
of
Micah. Micah 5:2
But
thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be
little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come
forth unto
me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of
old,
from everlasting.
And,
in verse two (of Matthew chapter two), the wise men said, “Where is he
that is
born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star…”
Again, the prophecy, from the Book of
Numbers, this time Numbers 24:17 I shall see him, but
not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out
of
Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the
corners of
Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
The Bible goes on to talk
about these Wise Men, and how they came before the Lord. It says when they found
the star, they
rejoiced. It’s kind
of interesting, we
had the chance to go to Israel a few year ago, it was some time ago,
but, it’s
amazing how far away Bethlehem is from Jerusalem.
And how, you must have known that they were
travelling on camels, and they were being guided by the stars. But, it’s quite a little
distance to go; we
had to get on a bus, and we had to travel quite a ways to get to that
specific
site where they say—and who knows?
They
know the exact spot where the manger was, where He was born, where the
inn
was? They just have
a place where they
call, they say where He was born.
But,
from Bethlehem to Jerusalem was quite a little ways in travel. And, while we were there,
you could see that
there was this thing, where some of the people were wondering, and some
of them
were saying, “Those people are chasing a far-off dream, because who
would actually
know where this star was, where this great significance was that took
place
here?”
And,
as the wise men found the star, and they rejoiced, even modern-day
scientists
are looking for what kind of sign that must have been, because truly it
must
have been something great and significant.
And they go on, you have the scientists, you have
the astronomers, and
they are quite perplexed, thinking that they could just figure it out. And they think it was an
alignment of the
stars, maybe, an alignment that came together, and maybe that’s what
made it
bright… But, the
fact of the matter is,
even at the time when the Lord was born, even though He was right there
in
their midst, the people of Jerusalem never saw it.
Because, the truth of the matter is, the things
of God, even though they could be right in front of us, they don’t
become
revealed to us without His blessing, without His anointing. For he is the one who
gives knowledge, and understanding,
and anointing. So,
even though people
might look, He blesses those that, as it says in His Word, “Seek ye the
LORD
while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:” (Isaiah 55:6) He is the One who opens
the eyes.
The
message title today is actually, “He Gave Gifts Unto Men, Part 2,” and,
generally, our brother Jesse would be doing all the speaking this
morning, but,
Jesse asked if he could take a reprieve today, and he gave me some
notes, and
he said, “I’ve got this wonderful message,” but I’ve got a little
something
going on in my throat, and I won’t be able to give it, but, here, here
are the
notes.” And I
looked at the notes that
Jesse had, and I was like, “I can’t do that.
Jesse, those are some beautiful notes, and maybe
sometime you’ll be able
to share it, but, you know, it’s like David said, you can’t go out in
somebody
else’s armor. You
know? You have to
prove it for yourself.” And
even though I can see what God might do
for somebody else, I can talk about it, but I can’t talk from it, like
it
happened to me. I
can talk like it
happened to somebody else—these are the things that I can say that
happened to
me. So,
as the Wise Men went there—I
love this part, because it just calls them Wise Men.
Of course, some people say they were three
kings, some people say they were the Magi, kind of like astronomers,
they were
the scientists of the modern-day time, but the truth of the matter is,
they
came and they told Herod, “Where is he who is born King of the Jews? We have seen His star, and
we have come to
worship Him. We’re
not just coming to
see this thing that might have happened, we are come to worship Him. This is a king that even
the stars declare
the greatness of this guy.” And
so, as this is revealed to
them, we see that, when they rejoiced, they also, according to the
Bible, it
says they came into the house, and they saw the young child with his
mother,
because it took them a while to get there.
When they came into the house, the Bible says, they
fell down and
worshipped. They
fell down before Him,
and this would show that image of respect and honor that we want to
give to
this who we saw as King. They
fell down
to lower themselves to say that, “We are in the presence of one greater
than
us.” They fell down
to show this
outwardly to show that this is what belongs to this new-born King. But this was the outward
showing, because the
Bible also says they fell down and worshipped Him.
They fell down and worshipped Him, because
worship is something that you do from the inside.
Worship is something that it comes out and it
goes a blessing, obeisance, an honor given to someone who is worthy of
it. So, on the one
hand, you had the admiration,
and on the second hand, you had the adoration.
On the one hand you show the honor, on the other
hand you show the love,
and the worship that they brought for our new-born King. Now,
they presented Him with
gifts. When we do
some studying on the
gifts, you know there are several things that it says about it. But, things that were
relevant at the time are
unmistakable. So,
they gave Him gifts,
they gave Him gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
And gold is something that you give; it’s a
sign of wealth. You
give gold to kings,
and people of great honor, because it cost you quite a bit to give
gold, but
you give it to one who is worthy of receiving it.
One who is deemed worthy.
But frankincense, frankincense is a little
bit different. Frankincense
is actually
a perfume. We know
that it has an aura
about it, but frankincense, specifically, that you give to royalty. And not just any old
royalty. Not
everybody in the king’s house; you give
it specifically to the king. You
give to
one who is in royal authority, that, whenever you walk into their
presence, you
realize that you are in the presence of an anointed one, of a royal one
in
authority. Frankincense
is given, and it
is presented, to even show a sign of deity, one of great leadership,
one of
great authority. And
myrrh, myrrh,
believe it or not, at the time, was given at funerals.
Myrrh was an anointing oil that you did over
dead bodies a lot. It
was a sweet and
permeating smell, but you would give it to those who were in great
leadership,
great kings, great authority to show that your whole
life is precious, and your death means something to the
entire land. So,
these three gifts that
they would give, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh; gold is a symbol of
kingship on earth, frankincense as a symbol of deity, and myrrh as a
sign of
death, and whoever’s death they give it to, was going to be something
that
meant something. Their
whole life was
summed up, and it was something precious to give. So,
this was part one of part
two’s message of how they brought gifts, and they brought these
precious gifts. Part 2:
He Gave Gifts Now,
we talked last week about
some of those gifts that they gave—you know, I’m still kind of hooked
up from
that praise and worship this morning.
I’m still kind of touched.
I’m
going back and forth in my mind.
Holiness, holiness is what I live for.
Good gracious alive.
Holiness is
what I need. You
know, sometimes we need
to cut this part out and keep that part going.
He
gave gifts to men, and we
talked last week about some of those gifts, because, if you go through
the
entire Bible and you see that God gave so many gifts, and truly, the
gifts that
God gives are the gifts that keep on giving.
From the Book of John, we’re just going to talk
about a couple of those
gifts. From the
Book of John, John 1:12
But as
many as received him, to them gave He
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: I
have a friend at work who met a
lady some time ago, they fell in love.
And the lady, she had a son before she met him. And they fell in love, and
my friend, he
loved both the lady and the son. And, they got married, and, as time
went on,
they had other children. It’s
a
beautiful family. And
they’ve grown up
together, and, something happened.
The
birth father of the son wasn’t in the picture too much.
And the son, obviously had feelings about
that. Well, as this
beautiful family
grew together, and did things together, and he belonged to them, this
beautiful
family, something happened. When
that
young man, that son, got to be twenty-one years of age, he didn’t even
tell my
friend, he didn’t even tell him, he took himself down to the Federal
Building,
and he got his named changed to match the man who had raised him, to
the man
who was a father to him—unbeknownst to my friend.
And, my friend, after all the legal papers
were signed and the name as formally changed, my friend came to me and
he
didn’t even know what to say. He
said,
“My son,” and he told me the story, “He didn’t even tell me he was
going to do
it.” But, what is
it like to see the
father that you want, and want to be able to have his name, and realize
that,
“Well, I’ve got to go down to the Federal Building.
It’s going to cost me money.
I don’t even know how my dad is going to take
this. But this is
something that I want
to do. This man has
done what a father
is supposed to do for me.” And
that’s a
powerful thing, that we don’t have to make a journey at all. We don’t have to dig
around and find some
money. We don’t
have to do that,
because, you see, to as many as believe on His name, to them gave He
power to
become the sons, or the daughters, of God, and, yes, we get His name. So,
He gave us this power to
become a son of God. And,
not a
spectator, which is one who knows what’s going on, he can see it. And not a servant, who is
close, and can
identify with part of it, but still at a distance, as far as
relationship
goes. And, he
didn’t give them power
even to be a friend, because a friend, even though he’s included, and
the
relationship is nice, likeable; a friend shows a strong bond, but it
does not
show family, it does not show blood.
To
us gave He power to become a sons of God, one who is given outright the
birthright. He gave
us the birthright to
be a son of God. He
gave us the
attributes that He would have; when you are a son, you get the
attributes of
your father. And,
He gave us the
Father’s love. He
gave us the Father’s
love. And
one thing that we recognize
about the gifts of God is, one, we can’t out-give Him.
No matter what we do, and you know we pray,
and we honor Him, and we do other things, but, how many know that, no
matter
how we give to that God, you always seem to get more back. You just cannot beat God
giving. And, two,
God gives, as we said earlier, God
gives the gifts that keep on giving.
His
gifts stay with you. God
gives a
blessing, that blessing flowing in your life.
God’s gifts keep on giving. Talk
about being a son of God. John 17:21
That they all may be
one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they I
[we
could say us]
also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent
Me. That
we would be one with
God. Giving us
access. To be one
with Him. Now, what
kind of a blessing is that? To
be one with God. That
is a relationship. Along
us to be a partaker, or to take part
in, righteousness. To
be able to take
part in the Lord’s righteousness.
To be
able to follow the path that the Lord walked.
To be able to partake, yes, also, of His sufferings,
also of His
temptations, also of His persecutions, that we could also partake in
His victories,
and is power, His anointings, and His glory. John 14:2-3
In my Father's house
are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a
place for you. And
if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that
where I am,
there ye may be also. So,
He goes to prepare a place,
that He might receive us and be with us, that where He is, we may be
also. How precious
a love that must be, for Him to
bring us to Him. Now,
many of us know, and we have heard about
this place that He has gone away to prepare for us, and we would cheat
ourselves
if we think that that place would exist after
this life is over. For, the truth of the matter is, that place exists
even
today. For, even
today, he inhabits our
praises that we could be together.
Even
today, He speaks to our hearts and minds that we could be with Him. Even today, He is loving
us with a love that
the world has never seen or noticed before, that we could be together
with God. Part 3:
The Promise and the Hope The
promise and the hope. Talking
about just a few more gifts. I’ve
got another gift of God, is His promise.
A promise is a statement of something that
will be. It’s a
statement of something that
will be, but it’s not here right now.
In
this case, it’s a promise, and a divine assurance of good. A divine assurance of good
with God. A promise
is something that the Jews held
onto for hundreds, and even thousands of years.
A promise something that, He told the Jews that they
wouldn’t be left in
their sins. He told
them they wouldn’t
be left in captivity. They
wouldn’t be
left unloved. A
promise is something
that God had said He would be our God, and we would be His people. ##25:15## Jeremiah 24:7 And I will give
them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my
people, and
I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole
heart. Saith
the
Lord. A promise is
what is unto us, and
to our children, and to as many as are afar off, even those that Lord
our God
shall call. A
promise that, if we were
to bring our tithes and offerings to the storeroom, He said that he
would pour
out a blessing (Malachi 3:10). A
promise,
a promise, He would pour out a blessing we would not be able to contain. A promise.
The promises of God. And,
another
gift is hope. The
gift of hope. And
hope is something that Is
longed for, but, when you have
hope, you have a chance that it might be obtained.
Hope is something that is longed for, that
can be obtained. Hope
that you won’t
have to be ashamed of things you do, because there’s no redemption in
it. Hope that,
wherever you go, a greater is
coming. Hope that,
though our sins would
be as scarlet, they shall be white as wool (Isaiah 1:18). Hope that, when we fall,
we won’t have to
stay there. And,
hope that none of this
is the end of the story, for there is more to come.
Hope that, if we listen to God and do our
best, He will do all the rest. And
our last Scripture—I didn’t
even have to talk too long—our last Scripture.
When we think about the gifts, and the promises, and
the hopes, and the
things that God has bestowed on us, of course, it would be impossible
to count
them all. For,
wherever you have a need,
you notice what great thing He brings to pass. 2 Peter 1:4
Whereby
are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the
divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Amen. Give the Lord a praise.
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