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Good morning again. If you've got your Bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to
join us in Matthew chapter 2. Usually I'm able to get all my stuff ready while the announcements
are going, but we'll quick stage change up here. I want to echo what Pastor Dave said. If you're
a first-time guest, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for worshiping with us. At the
end of the service, if you wouldn't mind, I'll be back here at this connections table. I would love
for you to take the time to come back there, just stop by for just a moment so that I could personally
thank you for being here and worshiping with us. But also, if you have any questions about us
as a church, I would love to be able to answer those for you. So there's several pieces of paper
kind of around where you're seated at, but I want to point two of those to you and kind of take just a
couple minutes to go over these. This blue one that is December and January at Willow Ridge,
we have a lot that's going on over the next couple weeks. A lot of adjustments, a lot of special things
during our normal worship times. And so this is a great piece for you to grab, put on your refrigerator,
have nearby so that you can be reminded of all of our times and all of our activities. Some of those
that I want to point out to you, number one is tonight at six o'clock. And this is this one. It is
our Kanda Christmas Cantata. If you've been here for that before, you know why we call it a Kanda
Christmas Cantata. If you've never been here before for that, I invite you to come tonight so that you can
find out why it is kind of a Christmas Cantata. It's a little bit different than a traditional church,
but it is a time for us to gather together to celebrate, to have fun. All of the family is
invited. All of the family is welcome. There's going to be hot chocolate. There's going to be time
together and you will absolutely be blessed. So be back here tonight, six o'clock. I promise the heat
will be cranked up. It'll feel good in here. I know the cold air is tearing through, but you'll want to
be here and not miss this tonight. So then back to this, a couple of things over the next few weeks
on Sunday, the 21st, that is our, during our 950 fellowship time. That's a little Christmas party
that we throw as a church together. So we'll have a bunch of homemade goodies that Dave has
coordinated with different individuals that they are going to bring. We will have that set up in the
lobby. And so you'll want to come here. You'll want to be here early because certain things
like cinnamon rolls get gone really quick. All right. So you'll want to be here early to be there and be
a part of that at 950 on here is our Christmas Eve service at 530. We will take communion together
as a church that night. And then honestly, one of my favorite Sundays of the year is on Sunday,
December 28th is where we're going to have our prayer breakfast. And so that's a little bit
different service than what we typically do. We'll gather at 950. We'll have breakfast. We're going to have
grits, bacon, eggs, sausage, and pancakes, fruit, in case you want something a little bit less carvy
and a little bit healthier for you. We'll have some fruit. And then we'll spend time as a church family
and breakfast together. And then our worship service time will be led by our church staff
as we come together in prayer for the upcoming year. And I was excited. Typically, I lead our prayer
breakfast in our prayer time, but we sat down as a staff this week and planned it out. And each staff
member is going to have a time of leading during that. And so it's going to be a wonderful time and
you will want to be here for that. So there's even more dates after that, but make sure that you pay
attention and that you have all of that. Well, before we get into Matthew 2, I do want to read a verse
out of Luke chapter two. Luke chapter two, verse 10 says, and the angel said to them, fear not for
behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Would you pray with me?
God, I thank you for this opportunity that we had to gather in here this morning. God, I thank you for
our kids who led us in worship. I thank you for Dawn and her team as they week in and week out,
invest in these kids and engage them with the gospel, with, with worship, with discipleship,
as she engages with families to help come alongside them, to help them mold and shape and point their
kids toward Jesus. What a blessing it was Lord to have them here. And God, I know that you were glorified
God as they worshiped you. God, be with us as we look at the Christmas story this morning.
As we look at the invitation that is sent to all to come and to respond to Jesus. And God, I pray that
you'd be glorified in all that is said and all that is done. And it's in Jesus that we pray. Amen. Amen.
So we had our New York mission trip last week and that's where, that's where I was. Brent Hawkins led
the trip. Let me tell you, Brent did a great job. Brent did a wonderful job. I was telling someone
this morning, uh, it was a wonderful for me as, as your pastor to be able to go on the very first
mission trip that I've gone on with adults where I'm not the leader. It was wonderful, wonderful. Brent,
Brent took it and he led. Um, but I learned a really important lesson on this mission trip.
I learned that a lot can happen as a result of an invitation. It was a wonderful trip. And I know you
guys had a wonderful day of worship back here. I want to thank Josh Nix for preaching and for Josh
Nix open and being faithful to God's word. I want to thank my son, thank Grayson, um, for, for him being
willing to share his testimony. And as a dad, I do want to say this to you guys as a congregation,
uh, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you and your encouragement, uh, not only to him,
but to me as Grayson shared with you, his call to ministry and his desire to continue on and to
become a pastor one day. And just the encouragement that you gave him in that. I want to thank you so
much for that. But while we were in New York, I learned that a lot can happen as a result of an
invitation. I've never been to coats for the city. This is the, the, the project that we go up and do,
uh, in New York where we're basically a bunch of churches around South Carolina and North Carolina,
North Carolina collect coats. And then they're, they're shipped up to New York with partnering
churches and churches can go up there and we give away coats. And if we think it's cold here,
if we think it's tough here, it's way tougher in New York, right? On Friday for us, it never got
above freezing, never got above freezing. And for us, that's an extreme, but for them, that's normal.
But a lot of people can't afford or don't have. And so it's a wonderful ministry.
I learned a lot. What could happen as a result of an invitation. Here's what would happen for us.
Two people volunteered to stand outside in the cold. And what they would do is they would stand
outside and they would invite people into the church so that they could receive something.
You know, we are traveling around here. Like we see churches, we know where churches are, but,
but this church in New York is actually in Queens is positioned in a very unique area.
If you're looking at the church, you know that they're shared wall spaces. It's not a freestanding
buildings like we're used to. On the left-hand side is, is a bar known as the jar. And on the right-hand
side is a restaurant and sandwiched in between is this church. And if you, if you're not looking for it,
you might miss it. So men and women in their, in their day and in the hustle of what it takes to,
to survive and hopefully to thrive in New York city, they've got their head down and they're going.
And so we took two of our, our ladies and positioned them outside. And then their nice,
wonderful Southern accents, they invited strangers inside. Once they came inside, there were some
opportunities. We had two to three people set up at a, at a little craft table.
would help them make Christmas ornaments for the kids. They, we had someone set up and was working
like a barista set up and had hot chocolate and, and coffee and, and hot tea. And in typical
Willow Ridge fashion, hot chocolate wasn't sufficient. So there must be whipped cream. And then for some
reason sprinkles that are thrown on top, never placed. I learned a lot as a result of an invitation.
You see an invitation to come inside, an invitation to, to, to make a craft, an invitation for, for a cup
of a hot, of a hot beverage on a cold day. An invitation to come get a coat.
I want to tell you two stories. First story is this young mom comes in. Now I also, I think this is
relevant. We're, we're largely in a Hispanic neighborhood. Most people don't speak English.
This young mom with two young kids, like one's in a stroller and one she's having to hold on to, to, to, to, to get where they need to go.
She speaks English, but very minimal.
They come in and, and, and by looking at them, they're, they're not prepared in their dress for the day.
So she comes in as, as they were the church, the church is a Hispanic church. So they're able to communicate and speak well.
And as she leaves, this was later on in the day, she ended up leaving with not only a coat for herself,
but with full winter ski suits for the small toddler all the way up to her other child.
So not only would it keep them warm for this season, but the seasons to come as well.
A mom frustrated, a mom scared, a mom and her two kids who were cold,
left warm, not only physically, but spiritually as they were ministered to.
Then I met a guy named David. I want to tell you about David.
David's an interesting guy.
What did I do during all this?
I kind of bounced around. I was outside some, I was inside some, I got to make some crafts.
Oh, the part that I left off, Brent started this several years ago about making balloon animals.
And I made some balloon animals that did not look like animals, but they were balloons.
All right.
And so, so I'm outside and you're watching people who are either receptive and they come inside.
Polite with a, with a head nod, but a no, thank you.
Or they're just, they got the look on their face and they're angry.
They're bitter and they just don't want to be bothered.
We're standing outside and this guy, David, comes walking down the road, walking down the sidewalk.
And he's got that angry, he's got that bitter look on his face.
And our two ladies, they invite him in.
And when David comes by, I can smell David.
And it's very evident that it's, it's, it's been a while since he's bathed, but already very early that morning, it's very evident that he's been drinking and been drinking heavily.
What we find out is we, we find out his name, Pastor Walter comes over and begins to minister to him, begins to share with him.
And what we find out about David is he's, he's homeless.
He's an alcoholic.
He's without a job and with no hopes for a job.
He's living in a shelter and he just is broken.
Nothing's going well.
Nothing's going right.
So he asked if we pray for him.
And so we rally around him and we pray for him.
Lay hands on him.
Pray, Walter prays.
Beautiful time, wonderful time gets done.
And he's weeping.
And then Walter learned a lot about invitations.
Invites him to church the next day.
They've been inviting everybody to church.
But I was there for this invitation.
Most people said maybe or no.
Some people said, okay.
David was quick.
David said, sure.
David said, absolutely.
And in that, in full transparency, as I hear David say he'll come back to church the next morning, sin crept into my heart.
And I thought, yeah, right.
I've heard this story.
I've seen it play out a thousand times before.
He came and he got his coat.
He came and has people pray with him.
I don't think he'll come back.
Odds and statistics point to something different.
The next day, we get there.
We get there early.
We get ready for worship.
I'm going to be speaking that morning.
Wonderful time and worship and fellowship together.
And as we're preparing for the service to start, the door opens.
You feel the cold rush of the New York air fill the room.
Here comes David.
David comes walking in.
I immediately thought, good one God, bad one Bo.
Right?
But guess what he did?
He invited someone to come with him.
And there sitting on row three was David.
This other man worshipped, were prayed for, were prayed over, and offered prayers.
All because, all because two ladies stood out on the street, stood out on the sidewalk, and invited him.
And when he walked in, a young man invited him to have a cup of coffee.
Another person invited him to have a conversation.
Another person invited him to have a coat.
Another person invited him to share his story.
Another person invited him to be prayed for.
And in every single one of these invitations, through the power of moving of what God is doing, David said, yes.
And David said, yes.
The power of an invitation.
Christmas is God's invitation to you.
Christmas is God's invitation to me.
And this invitation is an invitation into a relationship with God through his son, Jesus.
This morning, I ask you this question.
What will you do with your invitation?
If you do not know Christ, will you come into relationship with him this morning?
If you do know Christ as your Lord and Savior, will you dig down into a deeper layer of obedience and commitment in relationship with him this morning?
You see, Christmas is an invitation.
It's an invitation to lunches.
It's an invitation to cantatas.
It's an invitation.
Some of you got invited here this morning to see these cute kids come and sing.
It's about invitations.
But the most important invitation connected with Christmas is this.
It's an invitation into a relationship with God.
And what's remarkable is the Christmas story is filled with people saying yes to the invitation.
So let's read, starting in Matthew 2, let's read the first two verses as we read about God's invitation to the wise men.
It says,
Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying,
Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?
For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.
First thing that we see in this story of the invitation to the wise men and the invitation to you and I today is this.
God invites you to come to Jesus.
I feel like there's more of wondering what we actually know about this group of men known as the wise men.
Some Bibles refer to them as wise men.
Some refer to them as magi.
Some refer to them as kings.
They're probably, the better translation is magi.
And there are things that we think that we know.
And then there's things that we actually know.
So what do we know about this group of travelers?
Well, they were wise, but specifically, they were astrologers.
They were students of the stars.
They would have looked out into the night sky and studied the constellations and where the stars aligned and studied and charted all of those things and the information that they got.
We know that they were men of prominence and power.
We'll see that through the gifts that they bring.
But we also know that historically speaking, when they referred to magi, they were probably both religious leaders and political leaders as well.
We also know that they were Gentiles.
They were Gentiles.
They were not Jewish people.
They were not God's chosen people.
They were foreigners from a foreign land.
That's what we know.
What do we not know?
Number one, we technically, we don't know how many.
We assume three, oftentimes because of the three gifts that were given, but we don't know how many that came.
We just know that the plural, more than one.
We don't know specifically what country they come from.
All that the Bible tells us is that they come from the east.
So different traditions point to different areas and regions of the world, but no one knows factually for sure where they came from specifically.
So here's a question for us this morning to think about is how do Gentile astrologers come to search for the king of the Jews?
Like what happens in the course of their life, in the course of their tradition to set themselves on a journey that would have not been, hey, let's hop there, be there in a couple hours, days, weeks, months of traveling in order to arrive at their destination.
How do Gentile astrologers come to search for the king of the Jews?
Here's what I think.
Here's what I think we can look to in the Bible and see some biblical evidence of.
Here's what I think.
If you remember from a couple weeks ago when we were working through the book of Daniel, about 500 years before the birth of Jesus was Daniel.
In Daniel, we go all the way back to Daniel 1, Daniel was a Jewish boy who was devout in his faith, who knew his scriptures, who was committed to his God.
And he was taken from his father and he was taken from his home to Babylon, which would become Persia, which is set in the east.
And if you remember in his story, while he was there, he became a chief leader in the government, working with the king and the king's council.
Daniel, what we know during his life was faithful to God, continued to be a student of the scriptures and was given prophetic visions concerning Christ.
And I believe from what we see in scripture and what we know about Daniel and his faith, that he would have shared the news of the one day coming Messiah to those around him.
To those who he was in relationship with, to those he encountered.
And I believe that in doing this, what was communicated is God's plan of salvation.
And you're like, but that's impossible.
That's impossible.
You're talking about 400, 500, 600 years that this would be spread out for these magi to come and to work and to move.
But isn't that how God works?
Not in the norm, but in the miracle.
And I believe what we see here in the coming of the magi is the evidence of the missionary heart of God, of what God has said since the time and the calling of Abraham is you're going to be a blessing to the nations.
So I believe what we see here are these Persian, Babylonian descended magi, whose great, great, great, great, great, great granddaddies would have heard about a Messiah, would have heard about the King of the Jews.
And the scripture would have heard about the King of the Jews, in Numbers 24, in a prophetic verse passage that's given to us, we see connected with Jesus a star.
It says, I see him, but not now.
I behold him, but not near.
A star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.
It shall crush the forehead of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheheth.
We see Jesus in connection with a star.
We see Jesus as a Savior, not for some, but for all people.
What the angels announced to the shepherds in Luke chapter 2, the verse we read earlier,
And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Not just for the Jewish people, but for all of the people.
So what God does is here, is he comes down to here.
He takes on flesh, becomes the form of a baby, and then he invites us to come to him.
And he's going to invite Mary, he's going to invite Joseph, and he's going to invite the shepherds,
and he's going to invite these Gentile magi.
They're going to make the choice, and they're going to come to Jesus.
You see, you're here today.
You're here with the news of the gospel.
See, the magi didn't quite exactly know where they were going, or how this would work out.
There's going to be surprises that fill their journey.
But they knew that there was an invitation to come to Jesus.
And they just said yes.
Today, if you're here this morning, you might not know what it all means, or what it all looks like.
But would you say yes to Jesus?
Would you say yes to come to Jesus?
Would you say yes to take a step into a relationship with him?
Let's keep reading verses 3 through 11.
So they come, and when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled.
Let's pause real quick about Herod.
Herod's crazy.
Herod's a psychopath.
Herod kills some of his wives.
Herod kills some of his very own sons in order to protect his power and his throne.
When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled in all of Jerusalem with him.
And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
And they told him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet, this is Micah,
and you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.
Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.
And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, go and search diligently for the child.
And when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him.
After listening to the king, they went on their way.
And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place the child was.
And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.
Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
So God invites you to Jesus, the story of Christmas.
And to say yes to this invitation to come to Jesus means that God also invites you to give yourself to Jesus.
To give yourself to Jesus.
The wise men are coming to Jesus, but there are other characters that are here.
There's other characters in play.
And these characters have alternative motives than what the wise men had.
You see, Herod doesn't want Jesus.
Herod wants his power.
Herod wants authority.
Herod wants control.
He wants what is his.
Not willing to give of himself.
We see here the priests.
The chief priests.
This will be a theme all throughout the Gospels in their conflict with Christ who has come, Messiah.
And the priests, what they wanted was they wanted worship.
Not the worship to God, but they wanted the people's worship.
Control again.
You see, the scribes, the rulers of the law of the land.
And what did they want?
They wanted to determine the morality of the place.
They were the moral police.
Not based off of who God is, but based off of who they are.
You see, this group of individuals were not interested in coming themselves to Jesus.
They were more interested of what they could keep for themselves.
But the wise men, the wise men, the Magi, with no expectation, with no preconceived notion,
with no rule book as to what's to come next or what to expect,
they just wanted Jesus.
I read an author this week who said this about their trip.
Jesus was the culmination of their journey.
So they travel from far away.
They travel from far in the east.
These men, this band of people of great prominence, of great power, and great wealth.
And they bring with them, of not fully knowing what to expect or what to find.
But they bring with them three gifts.
These gifts are very interesting gifts.
There's one of these gifts.
If you're looking to get me this for Christmas, okay.
I'll take it.
It's the gift of gold, right?
The gift of gold.
And there's a deep layer of beauty in the gifts that they bring.
It says they give gold that the gift says something.
The gift teaches us something.
The gift says something about Jesus.
They give the gift of gold for the royalty of Jesus.
You see, gold was always associated with royalty.
Kings would be surrounded by it.
They would wear great large medallions from their necks.
Their arms would be filled with bracelets.
Their fingers would be covered with rings.
All from the finest gold in the land.
But then every king is not only surrounded by it, but what sits on his head.
A crown of gold.
And they brought this gold to a king.
But Jesus would be a different king.
During his life, on this earth, he wouldn't be a king that would take up residency in a palace.
But he's a king that would not be guaranteed where he would lay his head down at night.
Would travel from town to town ministering to the people.
He's a king that was not clothed with garments of gold or great jewelry.
But instead would wear the clothing of commoner.
And definitely would not receive, in his ministry here, in his 33 years of life,
would not receive a crown of gold.
But instead, as he endured the pain of the cross,
would receive a different crown.
A crown of thorns to wear.
But he is still king.
We see the gift of gold, but also was the gift of frankincense.
Frankincense would speak to the deity of Jesus.
You see, frankincense was obtained from a tree by making incisions in the bark and allowing the gum to flow out.
It was highly fragrant when burned and was used in worship,
where it was placed to be an offering to God.
Frankincense was a symbol of his holiness, his righteousness, his perfection.
So these travelers from the east, they come and they say that you're king.
They come and say that you're God.
But they also bring myrrh.
They bring myrrh for the humanity of Jesus.
Myrrh was a product of Arabia, obtained also, like frankincense, from a tree.
But it was a spice.
And specifically, this spice could be used in many different ways,
but specifically was used for embalming.
In fact, the Bible tells us that Joseph and Nicodemus,
after Christ is crucified on the cross,
when they prepare his body for burial,
they prepare it with myrrh.
And so what we see is Jesus comes to be our king,
that Jesus comes and he is God,
and that Jesus comes to die.
And these men lay these gifts down.
The gift of his kingdom, which will be eternal.
The gift of who he is, fully divine in God.
And the gift of who he is, as a man who died on the cross for your sins.
But praise God, rose from the dead.
So they give gifts.
But if you're not careful,
you can come and see these gifts
and miss the other gift that they give.
And completely miss it.
Remember, because I didn't say Jesus invites you
to give gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
The point is, Jesus invites you
to give yourself to Jesus.
So look back with me.
Verse 11.
And going into the house,
they saw the child with Mary his mother,
and they fell down and worshiped him.
They show up,
and they submit themselves.
They offer themselves.
They surrender themselves
to a king who is a child.
They don't surrender themselves
because he's won a battle.
They don't surrender themselves
because he's expanded a border.
They don't surrender themselves
because he's passed a law.
They surrender themselves
not because of not yet of what he's done,
but because of who he is.
You see,
sometimes we think the response
is to bring our stuff to God.
But let me tell you this.
Before you bring your stuff to God,
please bring yourself to God.
and when you bring yourself to him
and you surrender yourself to him,
all the things just come with you.
All the things just come with you.
Today, you're invited to come to Jesus.
Today, you're invited to give yourself to Jesus.
Not part of you,
not some of you,
but to give all of you to Jesus.
And then the last thing,
let's look at verse 12.
And being warned in a dream
not to return to Herod,
they departed to their own country
by another way.
Being warned in a dream
not to return to Herod,
they departed to their country
by another way.
The third thing is this.
God invites you
to leave a different way
than you came.
God invites you
to leave a different way
than you came.
The Bible tells us
they were warned in a dream.
Who do you think
that dream came from?
That dream came from God.
You see, God said,
I brought you to Jesus this way.
But now that you've responded
and you've come,
now that you've responded
and given of yourself,
you see,
I gotta send you back
different than the way you came.
It's a beautiful picture
of what it means
to come to Jesus.
You see,
coming to Jesus
doesn't mean
come to Jesus
and then you
in yourself
go and get all the things right.
You in yourself,
you better check
all of the boxes,
you better dot
all of the I's,
you better dot
all of the T's.
Coming to Jesus
means coming to Him,
giving of yourself
and then following Him.
Following Him.
Follow me,
is the invitation
given by Jesus
mostly in the gospel accounts.
Over 20 times
these two words
are given
where Jesus looks
at those who are desperate
and they're coming to Him
for healing,
they're coming to Him
for peace,
they're coming to Him
for hope,
they're coming to Him
for purpose,
and His invitation to Him
is,
all right,
if you want it,
follow me.
Follow me.
It's interesting
when you,
when you look at the word
follow,
it's linked
into the same family
where the word road
comes from.
It means to be on the same path.
It means to be on the same journey.
It means to be on the same destination.
A literal translation of the word
is to be in the same way with.
So when Jesus says
come and follow me,
what He's saying is
follow me in my way.
Follow me in my love.
Follow me in who I am
and who I've called you to be.
I'm going to invite
the worship team
to come here
and lead us in worship
in just a moment.
But I love
Matthew's account
of this.
You know,
Matthew could have left
verse 12 out.
Being warned in a dream
not to return to Herod,
they departed
to their own country
by another way.
You know,
I've probably read that
a thousand times
and it's never struck
with me
as much as it has today.
And I got to think
about that this week.
And I was like,
you know what?
Like,
this makes sense
that Matthew
would put this in here.
This makes sense
that Matthew
would have said,
yeah,
here it is.
It's important
that you come to Jesus.
It's important
that you give yourself
to Jesus,
but don't miss it.
You got to go
with Jesus.
When you come to Him
and you surrender
yourself to Him,
you see something
by the power
of the Holy Spirit
should happen in you
and you should change
in who you are
and you should lead
differently
now that you
are with Jesus.
Not now that you've
encountered Jesus,
not now that you've
just heard about Jesus,
but now that you're
with Jesus,
this should be different.
And why does this
make sense?
Because in Matthew 9,
in Matthew 9,
Matthew tells the story
of Himself.
And it says,
as Jesus passed on
from there,
He saw a man
called Matthew
sitting at a tax booth.
Let's pause there
for a second.
Matthew's not there
getting his taxes done.
Matthew's the tax collector.
He's the chief.
He's the criminal.
He's the betrayer.
He's the thief.
And it says,
Jesus
passing by.
He just says,
follow me.
Follow me.
And here's what Matthew
shares.
And He rose
and followed
Him.
Just as simple
as that.
That He rose
and He followed
Him.
Number one,
I want you to come
to Jesus this morning.
Maybe you came here
to listen to some kids sing.
Maybe you came here
because someone
invited you.
Maybe you came here
and you don't know
why you came here,
but you came here.
And before you know
who I am,
before you know
who we are,
we thank you
that you came here
and you came
to Jesus.
What are you going
to do with that?
What are you going
to do with that?
Well,
Jesus has invited you
to give yourself
to Him.
To give yourself
to Him.
And let me tell you,
here's what it means
to give yourself
to Jesus.
All of it.
every bit of you,
every success,
every failure,
every triumph,
every tragedy,
every sin,
every moment of regret,
every moment of grief,
every moment of hurt,
every moment of pain,
every moment of accomplishment,
every moment of praise.
Jesus says,
I want it all.
Give it to me.
Don't just give me your gold.
Don't just give me
your frankincense.
Don't just give me
your myrrh.
But give it all.
And when you do,
and you surrender
before Him,
and you say,
God,
I give you
all of me.
I don't know
fully what that's
going to mean
for my life
and what it's
going to look like.
I don't know
what tomorrow's
going to hold.
I don't know
what this afternoon's
going to be like.
But God,
you have me.
You have my sin
and you forgive it.
You have my failure
and you define me
as your son
or your daughter.
You have my success
and you say
moral weights
in His name.
And then,
God,
you just say,
follow me.
And you know what?
You're following me.
Maybe
standing out there.
Hey,
would you like a coat?
Would you like a coat?
Would you like a cup of coffee?
Can I pray with you?
You're following me
may be to forgive someone
that's hurt you.
You're following me
may be to find your identity
not in what you want it to be
but in who God is.
Today,
will you come
before the God
of all creation
and follow Him?
I'm going to pray.
When I'm done praying,
there will be prayer encouragers
on either side
of our auditorium.
The team's going to lead us
in a couple of songs
of worship this morning.
We invite you to respond
not to us
but respond to Him
who's invited you.
Would you pray with me?
God,
we thank you so much
for who you are, Lord,
and what you've done.
Lord,
we thank you
for the invitation
that you've placed
on our life,
on our heart
to come
and to follow you.
God,
I pray with every fiber
in me
that that would be
the declaration
of our hearts today.
Just to follow you,
Jesus.
To follow your will,
to follow your way,
to follow you faithfully,
day by day,
moment by moment,
step by step.
Trust in you
because you are worthy
of it all.
you are worthy
of it all.
And it's in Jesus
that we pray.
Amen.
That's it
for this week's message.
Be sure to check back
next week
for a new episode.
And in the meantime,
you can visit us online
at willowridgechurch.org
or by searching
for Willow Ridge Church
on Facebook,
Instagram,
and YouTube.
Thanks again
for listening.
Bye.