- Wise men (magi) - pure motive, truly to seek God
- From east, they come out of their convenience. They do not give spare cash, they deliberately come from far, not only so, they brought gift in honour of this god
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- True seekers of god
- Even though you start out knowing nothing much.
- None of us can find grace on our own.. But grace comes and find us,and expand in us
- There will be people like magi in our life. But if we believe it is god who gives grace, we will pray in accordance to the truth (god is saviour, people need god, and you r source of blessings)
- True seeker - not seeking for selfish gain (certain wish to come true), but to worship Him
- Worship in spirit (over service) - god desires the worship, the praise from our heart, from relationship with him over works
- God really want us to be in awe of HIM (inside --> outside)
- Posture of worship you have today?
- Acknowledge he is The Lord of lords, and king of kings - thus we submit under him (submission); god wants us to pursue inner joy with him first (see how He is loving us first) -> not to give him gifts, do for him first
- Gesture - gift -> allegiance
- Inward --> outward
- Subconscious "bribing god" --> give the "transactional feeling -- eg give time, money... In exchange for sth"
- Relational giving - out of affection, love and happiness of having him as our lord, our king, our helper, our sole refuge. Not with motive, but just because we want him to be happy, because he loves us more than he loves himself, more than we love ourselves
- When love is the basis of giving, we will not feel the loss of giving. We will want to give him, in fact, the best, our all.
- King Herod - rejected Christ (fool)
- Refuse to submit himself to the king who gives life
- Why he reject god?
- He wants to control Jesus, and god's plan when he is blinded by jealousy, threat, fear, pride (devil's play)
- How Satan pervert a person
- Power, pride, personal gains -- self becomes god --> lose self (because it is against God's principle)
- A man needs to be in constant fellowship with God - this is god's principle of creation
- Consequences
- Needs of flesh increases - enough is never enough
- Died / lose self
- Those who wants to gains life will lose their life in The end
- If what we are pursuing, seeking is not Jesus himself (and his spiritual blessings) --> this worldly reliance we have today will cause us to reject Christ
- All Jerusalem troubled with the king Herod , same as priest, scribes - indifference (know the god' words well, but they r just going through the motion)
- Sometimes, we know god's words without internalising the spirit --> have inertia to believe and submit
- Sometimes, people settle for the 2nd best, without considering god has sovereignty and will carry his perfect will, for the good of his children
- Some people just want to be on a "safe" zone
- Thin life between indifference and foolish
- Familiarity breeds contempt - we may have gone through the bible over and over again, but nothing seems to happen
- Pray -- until we fight this indifference in our life (don't let us go into hypocrisy) so that we don't lose out the blessings
- Introspect: Ask ourselves - are we humbling before God's approval or before man's reconciliation, papyri all smooth life, trouble-free
- Are we treating god's promise seriously or are we more mindful about Man's thoughts.
- When we face people, do we first react by our flesh or new way of the spirit
- How to get out of this indifference
- Becwuse you see two things of equal difference --> thus anything also can
- If we know what following god brings, vs the blessings we lose when we follow the devil -> we will naturally follow God
- Know the truth, and the truth will set you free
- Look at the divine providence (intervention, works etc) of god that is obvious in this story
- Only by divine guidance can we be found in Jesus
- We can be deceived by devil, but god will not be outwitted
- He is always present, behind the scene
- Cannot be outwitted
- God always appear at the right time (he sees through herod's plot, and guide Joseph and lead by His sovereign will)
- God works to protect the people He cares
- Schemes of men sometimes seem very pressuring and intimidating, but god's thoughts are higher
- Behind each experience, there is a higher character, purpose
- So why are we so afraid of the giants in our life?
- Recognise the unshakeable sovereignty of God
“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NIV
- choose life = choose God, and follow all the way (don't sit on the fence)
Forum
- If you are a worshiper of god, what is the posture of worship? Do you have the hunger spirit, if don't have, pray to restore. Posture of submission? Or transaction ally, legally
- Is god our ultimate treasure? Anything in your life you cannot give to God?
- What is obstructing your worship of God? (Self)
- Are those things making you more unhappy?
- Hard to worship?
- Is there indifference in us? (Yes - need to pray until we fight, by making every attempt to recognise his divine providence)
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