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And the good news for them, when we look out for loud and deep, one day's a-clotting for justice. The wrong time, the right return, when we saw that the good news for them, to be able to see in honor's way, how great we are from now to day of war. It's on 427. We have three kings of Orient Park. Number 427. These three kings of Orient Park, glaring gifts, three treasures of heart, the hill and fountain, board and mountain, follow me by the storm. Star and night, star and night, sun and moon, a beauty bright, rest their meaning, sail the sea, guide us to thy brutal faith. Lord, I hear you, Lord at the next wave, Lord, I pray that you'll round him again, In the meadow's easy meadow, over the stormy wind, over the moon. Star and night, star and night, star and night, star and night, a beauty bright, rest their meaning, sail the sea, guide us to thy brutal faith. Make your sails, move over their miles, release their storms, all day and tonight, there at the crazy moment, raise the worshiping heart of God. Star and night, star and night, star and night, a beauty bright, rest their meaning, sail the sea, guide us to thy brutal faith. Move over their miles, release their stormy wind, release the light of the gathering wind, star and night, star and night, a beauty bright, rest their meaning, guide us to thy brutal faith. Star and night, star and night, star and night, a beauty bright, rest their meaning, sail the sea, guide us to thy brutal faith. Hold the sound, behold him, the quiet, give him love and sacrifice. Alleluia, Alleluia, his holy name is Christ. O Lord, star and night, star and night, star and night, a beauty bright, rest their meaning, sail the sea, guide us to thy brutal faith. Amen. At this time, we'll go to the announcements. We actually don't have any bulletins this morning. We had a little bit of a family emergency, nothing major, but we pray for Oscar. He's the source of all our troubles this morning, but if you're wondering which one of my children is named Oscar, it's the one that has four legs and is furry. And I don't mean that little blonde kid that runs around on the four legs. That's my namesake that he's living up to, but nothing major, but mom had to stay home with the kids and keep an eye on him. So I think he's coming out of it, whatever it is. I don't know if it's right to ask you to pray for a dog, but definitely pray for Karen that her little heart is not troubled and everything will be fine. So it's just kind of a hectic morning, Christmas, with the gifts and trying to get the bulletin done so it didn't happen. There really isn't anything to announce in the bulletin anyway, other than Merry Christmas, which I can just say from the pulpit, Merry Christmas. It's great to see all of you here, everyone, so festive looking with your flannels and your reds and everything. So even I managed to play the part this morning, so Merry Christmas to everybody. I appreciate you coming out and spending the morning with us, being here. And I'll try to make it a short sermon. I can't promise you it will be a sweet one, but I'll do my best to make it sweet. That's kind of in the ear of the beholder, I guess, to determine the heart it falls upon kind of determines how it's received. But that's going to do it for announcements. We'll just go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching this morning. Holy, holy, holy, There's a beside thee, Perfect in heaven, Long and glorious in Christ, Holy, holy, holy, The earth shall praise thy name, In perfect sky and sea, Holy, holy, holy, Merciful and mighty, Holy, holy, holy, Great works of the blessed tree. Amen. I just have to pass the offering plate. As the plate goes around, let's turn to our Bibles 2. Matthew chapter 2. That's Matthew chapter 2. As always, we'll read the entire chapter. Please follow the walk of Saturday and play the gateway of great skills from Matthew chapter 2. Matthew chapter 2. Verse 1, the Bible reads, Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem and Judea, and dazed the head of the king, behold, He came wisely from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that was born king of the Jews? We have seen the star of the east, and have come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem witnessed. And when he had guided all the chief priests and scribes and the people together, He demanded them that Christ should be born. And he said unto them, In Bethlehem and Judea, with us it is written by the prophet, And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, and at the least among the princes of Judah, By the leaves shall come a government that shall rule my people Israel. And then Herod, when he had privately called the wise men, and inquired 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 we have found him, bringing word to him, that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed, and lo, the stars they saw in the east, And before them, till they came, and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. When they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary's mother, And fell down to worship him. When they had opened their treasures, they presented unto them gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God of the dream, for they should not return to Herod, They departed into their own country and other world. And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord, Would flee into Egypt, and be thou there, until I bring thee word, For Herod would seek the young child, to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child, and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt, And was there until the death of Herod, that might be fulfilled, Which is spoken of the Lord, by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt, have I called my sons. And Herod, when he saw them, he was mocked of the wise men, With exceeding wrath, and sent forth, and slew all the children, That were in Bethlehem, and all the coasts thereof, From two years old and under, according to the time, When she had diligently inquired of the wise men. And it was fulfilled, now that she was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And Rhema, was there a voice heard, of lamentation and weeping, And great mourning, and racial weeping for her children, And would not be comforted, because they are not. But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appearth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, Saying, Arise, take the young child, and his mother, and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead, which shot the young child's life. And he arose, and took the young child, and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he had heard that Achalus did it rain in Judah, And his room with his father Herod, he was afraid to grow thither, And notwithstanding being the word of God in a dream, He turned aside into the park of Galilee, And he came to dwell in a city called Nazareth, And it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophets, And it shall be called Nazareth. Brother Adam, would you pray for us? Father, thank you for the opportunity to be in your house, Lord God. Thank you for your goodness and mercy, Lord God. I just give you all the glory and honor of the day. Thank you for giving salvation to your son, Lord. I just ask you to bless his service. Bless brother Corbin, Lord God. I ask you to allow him to preach boldly to us, Lord God. Can you just give us a heart and years of understanding, Lord, In which he has holy made a prayer. Amen. So, of course, Matthew chapter 2 is probably a very familiar passage this time of year, A very traditional passage to turn to when we were talking about the wise men there. And I'm going to be coming back to this passage here, So you want to bookmark that. And we'll come back at the end too, but just beginning, I'll just point out a few things here about this story. The first thing is this, is that when these wise men are coming and making this offering To Christ at his birth, it's a very joyous occasion. This isn't something that they're doing reluctantly. This isn't something that they're forcing themselves through. This is something that they've wanted to do. This is something that they determined to do. And we'll get, I'll make more application about that there at the end. But notice in verse 10, it says when they saw the star, They rejoiced with exceeding great joy. So they're coming to make these offerings of the gold, the frankincense and myrrh, But they're doing so with exceeding great joy. They're not just happy to do it. They're very exuberant to do it. They're very excited to do it. They're rejoicing exceedingly. And they're coming before Christ and making this offering. And they're doing it with great joy. And really this is something that you see throughout Scripture. Often you'll see people making offerings to God, And it brings a great sense of joy into their life. And of course that's a major theme this time of year. We think about joy and hope and all those things on Christmas. And rightfully so. Christ came into this world not to condemn the world, But that the world through him might be saved. Christ has come to us as a light, a beacon of hope and of salvation. It's something that we rejoice over. And hopefully that's something that carries over into our Christian life. We're always glad for salvation. But also hopefully that same joy that we have in salvation carries over into our service for God. That's the application I'm going to try and make this morning. I'd like to go ahead and have just another quick word of prayer before we begin though. Dear Lord, again I ask that you would help me this morning to get this message across clearly. Lord, that it be received well. And Lord that you would help us to serve you in the coming year out of a heart that desires to do so. That we might honor and glorify you. And I just pray that you would bless this service again in Christ's name. Amen. So keep something there in Matthew chapter 2. Bookmark that. We'll come back at the end. Let's just look at a few examples of what I'm talking about this morning back in Ezra chapter 1. I'll just look at a few passages in Ezra. And the title of the sermon this morning is Offerings of a Free Heart. Offerings of a Free Heart. And that's kind of what we saw there with the wise men is that they're coming willingly. They're doing this out of their own heart's desire to come and make these offerings to the child Jesus. And that's again something that you see throughout scripture. Often when there's this theme of redemption where there's this theme of revival. You'll see God's people offering and they'll be doing so out of a free heart. And what happens is that joy results. Ezra is a great example of this. This is of course Ezra's leading the children of Israel back out of the land of Babylon into their homeland. And reviving the work that God had begun before their bondage. But if you look there in Ezra chapter 1 verse 4 it says, And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver and with gold. Of course this is Cyrus speaking in regards to Ezra telling the people of his land to help them with gold and with goods and with beasts. Besides the free will offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. So he's providing this abundance for them. Let's go over to chapter 3. So this is something that kind of carries through the book of Ezra. When the work of God is going to be done, when this revival is going to take place. There's this offering that people are making. And the king here in chapter 1 is commanding it. He's saying let this be done beside the free will offering. Meaning anything else that anybody would like to offer go ahead but make sure these things are taken care of first. And of course that's something that you see in the sacrifices in the Old Testament. I'm not going to go through all those but if you know your Old Testament you know that there's the sacrifices that were commanded. The Passovers and other such required sacrifices. But then there was also what's called the free will offering. Which is something that wasn't necessarily commanded to do but was something that was optional they could do. There were rules concerning that free will offering. There were things that if they were going to make a free will offering that which is above and beyond that which is commanded. They had to follow certain criteria. They couldn't offer a lame sacrifice or anything like that. There's a whole lot of application right there. But it's again I'm just making that point to show us that throughout scripture there's this idea of people offering of a free heart. They're offering freely from their own heart because it's something that they desire to do out of a love and appreciation for God and what he has done. If you look there in Ezra chapter 3 verse 4 it says they kept also the Feast of Tabernacles as it is written. And offered daily the burnt offerings by number according to the custom as the duty of every day required. So they're of course keeping the sacrifices that they're told to keep. Go over to chapter 7 and that's something that they start out doing. The king is commanding that these sacrifices be provided for. They get there. They're making these sacrifices as they're instructed to do so. This is something they're following if I could say a religious formality. And I know today in Christianity that word religion has almost become a dirty word. Well religion and religious is a Bible word that I'm not ashamed of. Yes I am a religious person. Often people throw that in your face. They'll say well I'm not religious I'm spiritual. Well I dare say if you're not religious you're not spiritual. Because God has certain religious formalities doesn't he? God has a form of religion. You know a lot of people have a form of religion but they deny the power thereof. That's the problem with a lot of religion that's out there today. But make no mistake about it Christianity is a religion. You know you're here this morning in a religious service. You're a religious person and you know you can be religious and spiritual. You know but I don't think you can be spiritual without being religious. I'm going off. Let's move along here. Where did I have you go? Chapter 7 verse 16. If you look there it says and all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon. With the free will offerings of the people and of the priest offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem. So I know I'm not giving the full context of these verses. But I'm just showing you that there's this idea throughout the Bible that when people are wanting to worship God they're doing it out of their own heart. They're doing that which is required. There's the things the sacrifices the gold the other things that have to be there in order to make up the temple to have the religious formality as it were. But then there's also on top of that this free will offering from their heart that comes additionally. And that's really what I want to focus on. We'll look at one more passage here in chapter 8 verse 28. It says we'll just back back up verse 26 where he starts weighing all these things that were offered. He says I even weighed unto their hands six hundred and fifty talents of silver and six and silver vessels and hundred talents and a gold and hundred talents. Also twenty basins of gold of a thousand drams and two vessels of fine copper precious as gold. And I said unto them ye are holy unto the Lord these vessels are holy and the silver and the gold are a free will offering unto the Lord God of your father. So he's handing these things over to the priests and saying this is a free will offering. Meaning that's not the only thing that was offered but that this is in addition to that. These are things that people were not forced to bring. They weren't constrained to do it as something that they wanted to do. And what we see again is that these free will offerings as in the case of the wise men. We'll look at them again in a minute. They were doing this free will offering if you will. They're coming and bringing this gold, frankincense and myrrh within the context of redemption. We have Christ the savior coming into the world. They're beholding this miracle of the star. They're following it. And then they're making this free will offering. It's tied to that theme of redemption. It's a free will offering. It's something that's tied to redemption and also revival. We see that here in Ezra. I mean they are being redeemed in a sense right from the bondage of Babylon. But also they are experiencing a great revival. And that's where revival comes from. You know obviously there's a lot we can be thankful for our redemption. But if we want to have revival, if we want to have fervency in our life that's something that is going to come when we want it. When we are willing to make the offerings that we need to make out of a free heart. Out of a heart that has not been constrained to do so. If you would go to 2 Chronicles chapter 2. I'm going to spend a little bit of time in 2 Chronicles chapter number 2 looking at Hezekiah. Of course this is toward the latter end of Judah. The southern kingdom of Judah. When they've been going through a lot of persecution. They've had the heathen kings coming and persecuting them. And they've been in bondage and we have this king Hezekiah. Who has a sort of revival here before they are carried off into Babylon ultimately. He has this revival and I want to look at that because again in keeping with this theme of revival you see what he starts to do. He has that religious observance. He has the structure that needs to be there. He has those things which are commanded. And then on top of that we see the free will offerings. The offerings of a free heart that are given at that time and we see the results of that as well. And if we look at 2 Chronicles where I had you go in verse chapter... Where did I have you go? Did I tell you chapter 2? I meant 29. I meant 29. I scribbled that out in a hurry. But thankfully I put a bookmark in my Bible. Otherwise this would have been a very awkward moment. You'd see me flustered yet again. You're probably used to that. I'm not. 2 Chronicles chapter 29. We'll start reading here in verse 26. And this is where they're having the sacrifices, the offerings of the people. I'm not going to take the time to develop everything. But if you know the story they're experiencing this revival. They're seeking the Lord and it says, And the Levites stood with the instruments of David and the priests with the trumpets. And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offerings upon the altar. So he didn't say hey if you feel like it, if this is something you want to do. He said no we're doing this. He commanded it. He said to offer the burnt offerings upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel. So they're following this religious ceremony, this formality that's there. He's commanding that this is done. When the offering's made the music's going to start. It's all very structured. This is something that was planned out. This is something that they intended to do because this is the way it was supposed to be done. And it says in verse 28, And all the congregation worshiped and the singers sang and the trumpeters sounded. And all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. And when they made an end of offering the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise. And again there's that word again, commanded. He's saying do this. Not if you feel like it. He's saying you're going to sing. Commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang, but notice this, praises with gladness. So yes these Levites when they begin to sing they're following what they've been commanded to do. But they're not doing it out of this cold rigid obedience. They're doing it, yes in obedience of course, but they're doing it what? With gladness. They're glad to be following the rules, the religious order of service, whatever you want to call it. They're glad that they've been commanded to do these things. And you know sometimes I think we in our Christian lives we might start to think, Yeah I'm going to go ahead and do what I'm supposed to do. But our hearts can begin to grow cold in that. We don't do it with gladness. We'll sing, but are we singing with gladness? We'll go out and we'll preach the gospel, but are we doing it with gladness? We'll sit down and read our Bibles because that's what we're supposed to do, but are we doing it with gladness? We'll pray, but is there any praise in our prayers? Is there any thankfulness? Is there any gratitude in our prayers? Or are we just following the religious formality that we've been given? Or are we doing these things with praises and with gladness in our hearts? Are we doing these things out of a free will offering of our own heart? Hezekiah commanded that these things would be offered there in verse 27. And of course I'm not trying to make light of the fact that there are things that we should just do. I'm not saying every morning you're just going to pop out of bed and just be ready to live for God with a big smile on your face. You know sometimes you're going to have to drag yourself to church. You're going to have to drag yourself to that prayer closet. You're going to have to drag yourself to that soul winning time. But look if that has become the status quo in our Christian life we've got some soul searching to do. We need to search our hearts. We've got to get down on our knees and ask God to soften our hearts. To break up that follow ground so that some scenes of love and rejoicing and compassion can be sown. And that joy can spring and grow in our lives. That's what we all want. I'd hope. Again we should definitely fulfill our religious obligations to God. I'm not against that. That's important. They wouldn't have had this revival if they didn't know hey here's how the temple is supposed to be laid out. Here's the people that are supposed to fulfill these roles. This Levite is supposed to do that. This group of Levites is supposed to do this. These are the offerings. We can't have this kind of an animal. It's got to be this one. You can't be lame. It's got to meet the certain criteria. You've got to have those rules. You've got to have that structure in place. But there's more to the Christian life than just rules and structure. When we're walking with the true and living God that ought to be something that brings joy and love and peace into our hearts. You know joy is a major theme of this time of year. But you know what it ought to be a theme that carries throughout the whole year in our lives. And that's something that we just experience when we get a little nostalgic. When we smell a pine tree or see some lights put up on somebody's house or whatever. And I'm not against those things. But you know that's a joy that's fleeting. The nostalgia of Christmas you know as sweet as it is as much as we enjoy it. There's more to it than that. There's a joy that we want to last year round. That can only be found in the Lord. And I'm telling you that can only be found in the Christian life. You know when you have fulfilled your God given duties. Say well what God given duties am I given. Well you know there's a whole book here that we need to be reading and find out what they are. And it's not just about the things that we do. Sometimes it's our attitude. Sometimes it's the way we treat other people. Sometimes it's maybe there's some sin we have to repent of. Look there's all kinds of things that we are obligated to do in our service for God. And it's only when we begin to do those things that then we begin to experience the real joy. The lasting joy of knowing that we have you know the approving eye of our Heavenly Father upon us. I mean that's a good day isn't it when you can get down and say I pleased God today with my life. And not every day is going to be like that. I know we're going to falter. I know we're going to slip. I know we're going to mess up sometimes and we're hopefully we'll get it right. But hopefully there's more days than not where we get to the end of the day and say I did everything I was supposed to do. And I'm glad I did it because I know God is pleased with me. That's where joy is found. You know it's not an unwrapping a tin of popcorn on Christmas morning. Although that brought joy to my heart this morning. You know. Look but that's a fleeting joy that popcorn is going to get empty. And then it's going to be like well back down now I've got to go to the gas station if I wanted more of that. Right. And that stuff's not as good. But we want the real joy in our lives. We want that year round. The joy that isn't fleeting. It's going to last. It's going to produce the fruits of the Spirit in our lives. That's found through obedience. That's found through yes religious formality. Praying. Reading your Bible. Being consistent in church. Soul winning. You know helping the brothers and sisters in Christ. Praying for one another. That's where that joy is found. And pleasing God. Those are the things he's told us to do. I really don't want to go into all of that with all the things that we should be doing. I think most of the people in this room probably know what it is that they're supposed to be doing. What I want to do this morning is just encourage you to do it out of a not just obedience but out of joy in your heart. And not get this idea or this attitude that everything that we do out of duty is joyless. I mean there's some things we do in this life that we just do them because we have to. And there's no joy in them. I mean think about what are some of the things we do? Paying bills. If you're the type of person that sits down to look at the budget once a month or whenever you do it. And you get excited about paying bills. Unless you're paying off a debt from when you're making the last payment. Maybe that's some joy right there. That's typically something you have to drag yourself through isn't it? But it's a duty. It's natural to have a joyless obedience and that kind of a thing. The things you just have to do and the practical things of life. But is that all Christianity is to us? Just this practical thing that we just kind of go through? Well if it is then that might explain why there's a lack of joy in your life. That might explain why it's not something you rejoice to do. You know it should be something that yes we do out of duty but duty is not joyless. I mean look at our story here. It says there again in verse 30 I want to point out here is that what is it that if you notice what's taking place. There's the offer there's the sacrifices that are taking place. The singing is taking place. And then Tezachiah says to him now you have consecrated yourselves unto the Lord come near. You know what's going to draw you closer to God is your obedience. You know it's our sins that have separated us from our God. You know if we feel distant from God I'd be willing to bet that that distance. You know there's probably some sin occupying that space. But when we when we do what we're supposed to do do the things that are commanded of us of the king so to speak as in the story here. You know then we are consecrated when we confess the sin when we let our joy be turned to heaviness our laughter to sorrow. When we you know make straight our paths when we get that sin out and we say I'm going to serve God. Then we're what drawn closer to God. And that's where real joy is found is when you know you have a closer walk with God. That's what he says here you've consecrated yourselves and you've come near. What brought them near? Religious formality. Going through the motions. Doing what they were supposed to do that brought them closer to God. But is that the end? Is that the end of it? Well now you're closer. No it says then they brought this is what prompted joy. The closer they got in proximity to God the more that prompted joy in their life. Proximity prompts joyfulness. Okay. The less the further you are away from God the less joy in your life. What's going to get you there? Doing the things what's going to get you closer the things doing the things that we ought to be doing. Okay. And it says there and the congregation brought towards the latter half of verse 31. They brought in sacrifices and thank offerings and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings. As many as were just wanted to do because that was what was in their heart. They had a free heart. And if you think about it you know that's what we have. If you're saved you have that free heart. You've been set free from bondage in this world. You've been shuttled out miraculously out of the spiritual Egypt that the rest of the world's walking in. You've been carried away out of back out of Babylon by a powerful hand by God. And you know these people recognize that and that's why they're willing to bring offerings of a free heart. Not just doing what they were commanded to do not just following orders but saying hey make some room for me. I've got an offering too that I want to offer out of a heart that has been set free. You know if we really want to have some joy in our Christian life maybe we should just sit down and dwell on what it is that Christ has done for us. I know that's what we're kind of thinking about here around this time of year. We're thinking about the birth of Christ. But what did that ultimate structure here? There's these commands that are taking place. There's this formality that plays out that brings them closer to God. And then you have this this joyful expression of thanks when they are bringing these offerings of a free heart. You know that's what I want in my life. You know I want to offer thanks to God out of a free heart. Out of a heart that knows what it means to have been set free from sin. You know that's something I've been trying to get across this pulpit I feel for a while. Maybe not in the best way I don't really know. I'm grateful for everybody that comes and has been patient with me as I've grown as a preacher and as a leader. It's something I've always known about Christians and the Christian life. Something I've known about myself. And just something I'm trying to come to terms with in this church is that people are going to serve God when they want to. That's when you say when are people going to start serving God? And I know when. When they want to. And it's one thing for me to just get up and harp and say you should be and you ought to and why don't you and be like Hezekiah here and just command it. And it's another thing for you to say well I've got something out of I want to offer on my own. Because I can't what I've you know it seems so obvious it seems so right there on the surface you can't make people do things they don't want to do. Right? And what I've learned is that the only person I have control over in this life is me. And the greatest influence I have over anybody else is the influence I have over my own family. Beyond that the best I can hope to do is just try to inspire you. And that's really the approach I've been trying to take a little bit more lately rather than just meh. Is try to actually try to inspire you to see what it is that you have in Christ so that maybe you'll serve God out of a not out of just a sense of duty that I ought to be there. But you'd actually do it in the long for the long haul with a full heart that has been set free out of joy and love for your savior. If I can get you to see that then you know what the rest will take care of itself. Because I know people will serve God when they want to. I really feel like maybe the approach you need to be taking up here is to show you why you should want to serve God. Remind you of how great our savior truly is. What it you know I can get up here and say hey you read your Bible so many times pages a day so many days throughout the year you read it so many times I can give you all the cold hard facts about Bible reading. Or we could just turn to some beautiful passage in the word of God and hopefully it'll stir your heart and then you'll go home and read it just because you want to. That's what I think we see playing out in the story. You know the formality brought them closer to God. The duty brought them closer to God but it was not joyless. It was something that they wanted to do. You know the soul winning that we do. We preach about soul winning. You know when you really get on fire for soul winning? Is when you start to see the effects it has on the people we preach to. You know when you actually start going yes go out of the sense of duty. Go out of the sense of obligation because the Bible does say go ye to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's the duty of every Christian to go soul winning. And to preach the gospel. It's a job that's been given to all of us. You know when you'll want to do it? Is when you realize that pure religion and undefiled is this. To visit the fatherless and the widows in their afflictions. And that's what we're doing out there folks. You say well what do you mean the fatherless? They have a dad. Well they don't have a heavenly father. You know and look go soul winning on the reservation. You'll run into widows a lot. That was one thing that blew my mind when I started going soul winning on these reservations. How much heartache was out there. That'll soften your heart. You know and I'm not saying that's where you got to go. Look it's right over here. There's neighborhoods in this town that we could go and probably hear just tragedy after tragedy after tragedy that people call their lives. And when we go out and reach those people and we bring some hope where maybe we can't fix all the problems that they have. Maybe we can't right all the wrongs that have happened to them. But we can tell them of a savior. We can tell them of Christ. And then get saved and be on their way to heaven. You know what you'll find yourself wanting to go soul winning. You'll say shut up deacon I don't need to hear that sermon. I don't need you to tell me to go soul winning. I'm going. You know but that's the thing you know I can't make people do that. Just like you know when people in the story are bringing the offerings of a free heart it's something that they wanted to do. They did it out of their own free will. Free will is something in the story we saw it follows that formality. The religious observance right which is not something to be avoided. But the free will followed. It says that after they brought in these sacrifices then as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings. And notice the results here look goes on in verse 33. And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep. But the priests were too few so they could not play all the burnt offerings. Wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them till the work was ended. Until the other priests had sanctified themselves for the Levites were more upright in hearts to sanctify themselves than the priests. And also the burnt offerings were in abundance. With the fat of the peace offerings and the drink offerings of every burnt offering. So the service of the house of the Lord was set in order. I just love how the story plays out. I love what we see taking place here. You see the king commanded hey this is how we're supposed to do it. Everyone gets on board and just does their duty. The joy comes. They rejoice to do it. They begin to offer freely out of their own heart. They start to bring these offerings. And then there's just so much that they don't have enough priests ready. And the other Levites have to get involved. And they're making all these great sacrifices just as it says there. Offerings were in abundance. You know when we're going to have a thriving church? Is when everybody not just falls in line with the way we're supposed to do things. But when they do things out of a heart that wants to do them. When they have a desire to offer a free will offering out of their own heart. That's when we're going to have an abundance of thriving church. And look our church is thriving. Are we busting at the seams? No but that's fine. You know but if we want to get to that next level as a church. If we want to do more work then we all have to have this attitude. Of not just doing things out of duty. But doing things out of a desire. And you say well why should I do it? Well you know it results in order. And then isn't that what happened here at the end? It says so the service of the house of the Lord was set in order. Everybody just kind of found their place. Look when you decide that I'm going to serve God. There will be a place for you to serve God. You'll fit right in the body right where you're supposed to be. And that tells me too that there's certain things that only certain people can do. You know obviously not everybody's going to get up and preach the sermon. Not everybody's going to lead the songs. Not everybody's going to operate the camera gear. Not everybody's going to clean the but there's something that we can all do. And maybe the ministry that you're going to have here is just being an encouragement to other people. Maybe it's you know we're all going to be hopefully be out there preaching the gospel. But you know maybe there's going to be somebody that comes along that you have a greater ability to relate with than I do. And you could be a greater encouragement to them. But that's only going to happen when we all decide that we want to do these things. That's when things are set in order. When we begin to play our part voluntarily and not just out of a sense of duty. I'll wrap up here. If you would go back to Matthew chapter number two. So again the title is Offerings of a Free Heart. We saw it in Ezra. There's many other passages we could turn to. We saw it in Hezekiah's day. The people coming and yes following their duty doing what they were commanded. But then offering at a free heart to where there was the abundance of offerings and then where things just got in order. The house was set in order. We saw it in the beginning of the sermon with these wise men. These wise men who went and made an effort to make this offering. Notice there it says that they traveled from the east. It says in verse one now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king. Behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. And it's a subtle thing here and this is how I believe it played out. They didn't just immediately come to Jesus. I mean they're going to Herod. He's telling them to seek them. And then if you jump down verse 11 it says and when they were coming to the house they saw the young child with his mother Mary. Meaning this didn't happen overnight. They had to come from the east when Jesus was born they saw the star at his birth. They've been looking for this and that's a very interesting thing that I would love to study out more. But they follow that star they get there and they're like we're looking for him and then they have to go seeking. What I'm getting at is this is that they're making an effort on their own part. They're putting in the effort and they didn't you know they didn't hop on a plane folks. You know I don't know if they hopped on a camel. Maybe they did. I think that's always plays out in the tivity scenes right. They're always on a camel. Maybe they were. But I wrote a camel once. It was scary at a zoo. You know it was it was a very frightening experience but it's a memory that I shared with Karen. I'm glad I did it. You know when that thing stands up it's like. You're going to go over. I'm sure with me too I'm sure the camel wasn't probably the most pleasant example. It's like really buddy. You just let the kid get up there. But I mean think about what these guys are going through in the story. Maybe they had families. Maybe they had to leave people behind. Maybe they were just so moved by what they wanted to find out there. That they were saying hey whatever it takes whatever distance we have to go we're going to go find this messiah. We're going to follow the SAR and see where it leads. Grab that gold. Grab that frankincense. Grab that smurf. Let's go. And you know they weren't hopping on a bus. They didn't get on Amtrak. They didn't take a plane. There was no sedan or whatever. It was at best it wasn't a four door. It was you know four. Feet. Hooves. What do camels have. I don't know. It doesn't matter. Four legged. There I know they got legs. But they made an effort. And they went the distance. Notice also that the effort that they put into this. Because it says there when they got there. Verse 3 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 the scribes of the people together. He demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him and Bethlehem of Judah for thus it is written by the prophet. You know what that tells me about these guys. These guys knew their Bible. These are guys that had spent time reading the scriptures. Reading the prophets. Because they're quoting scripture to them. They're saying. Thus it is written. And he says in verse 8 and he said unto them and he sent them to Bethlehem and said go and search diligently for the young man for the young child. And when you have found him bring me word again that I may come and worship him also. So now they get sent even further to go out to go and search diligently. The point is this is that before they could get to that place in verse 10 where they're making that when they're when they're rejoicing with exceeding great joy. They had some distance to travel didn't they. They had some things to learn along the way. They had to study they had to be taught they had to travel they had to sacrifice. They had to go and search diligently. And the point of the sermon is this is that you know you say well what can we offer Christ. You know I want to I want to have joy. You know I want to make a free will offering. You know what is it that I have to offer. I don't know that anyone in this room has any gold, frankincense or myrrh this morning. But you know what the good news is that you don't need any of that. The effort of your life is the greatest free will offering you will ever offer God. The effort of your life. What you do with your time. I understand we all have duties and responsibilities and things that we have to we have to tend to. But there ought to be some time in our lives that we dedicate to the Lord. Church Bible reading soul winning the things that I'm constantly harping about. Why do I harp about them because these are the offerings that you're going to bring to God or not. What good would have them to just have all that gold, frankincense and myrrh just sitting around. They had to give it to somebody. They wanted to use it as an offering to God. But in order to do that they had to make that effort didn't they. They had to come from the east. It's the effort of your life that's the greatest, the free will offering of your heart. You know the offerings of a free heart. Just like those people that we read about back in 2 Chronicles in Hezekiah's day. The children of Israel. They were set free. Have we not been set free folks? Have we not been miraculously delivered? Have not the prison doors of sin been flung open? And are we just going to sit there staring at the shackles or are we going to get up and walk out and actually do something out of a sense of gratitude for our Lord. And be like these wise men. When we see that star in the east we travel that distance. They saw that star rise and you know we have a star that is shining in a dark place. We have a day star that is rising in our own hearts. We need to follow that and we need to be led by that and we need to go and make the sacrifice of effort in our lives. Freely. Because we want to. Not for me. Not to impress your neighbor. But because you want to. Because it's something you want for God. You say why should I want it? Well verse 10. When they saw the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. You know I want the joy that we feel this time of year to last all year. I want that exceeding great joy in my life. Well how did they get it? Through service. Through effort. Through sacrifice. That's what led them to see that star. That's what rewarded their efforts with joy. So you know if a cold religious service is what would define our Christian life then it's out of a heart of joylessness. If you think well the Christian life is just this cold formal just rigid thing that I just do out of duty. That's not going to lead you to joy. You're not going to rejoice with exceeding great joy. In fact you're probably going to get burned out on that and quit. And say what's the point? I'm not getting anything out of this. You know but obviously these religious practices the formality the rigidness it has to be there. But there's a purpose to it. It leads us to a closer walk with God and that's where that true joy is found. When we start to do things out of not a sense of duty but because we want to please our Heavenly Father. And that joyful service that's what's going to spring you know in our lives that's what's going to come out of our lives. But it's only going to come out of a heart that truly understands that what it means to have been set free. Okay let's go ahead and have a word of prayer. Dear Lord again thank you for this time of year where we think about all that you've done for us Lord. In your birth and Lord in your death and your life and Lord I pray you'd help us Lord to offer our own offerings Lord out of a joyful heart Lord. So that we can we can rejoice with exceeding great joy in our service to you. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. All right we're going to sing one more song for you. Let's open up our handles to song number 425. Song number 425, no room in the air. Song number 425. Song number 425. All praise and all kindness. All of your goodness. All of your goodness. All of your goodness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness. All praise and all kindness.