1 Chronicles 28:9 (NIV) “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.

It is often difficult to give a gift to the one we feel has everything.  We sometimes try to remember some things that we have heard the person mention they wanted.

God has given us such a priceless gift in the birth of His son Jesus the Christ.  What gift can we give Him?  Today we need to consider given God our whole heart every day.   If we seek God,  it will be revealed to us what he requires from us.  We can serve God through serving others.   God sees our heart.

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

This joy is not limited to the lyrics of a Christmas Carol, or the words on a Christmas Card.  This joy is not based on a feeling that happens when you receive a good report from your annual exam.  This Joy does not appear a certain time of the year.  This joy is not just for those who attend a weekly worship or mass.  This joy is not based on your yearly income, or the lack of.    This joy is the knowledge and belief that there is a savior, Jesus the Christ who came for all people.

Isaiah 9:6 (NIV) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

Where is peace?  That is the question that many are asking as we see: chaos, uncertainty, and confusion in the land.  It is almost imaginable to think that there is peace (calmness, serenity) when hear gun violence, children bringing guns in school, and more positive cases of the corona virus.

Yet there is peace, and it is offered to all of us who believe in Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace.  We can have peace in spite of unpleasant circumstances and unfavorable reports.  Situations may not immediately change, but when we trust in Jesus Christ we can have peace while we are going through the storms of life.

Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14 NIV).

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18).

A promise is defined as an assurance that one will do a particular thing or a particular thing will happen. Many times people give promises that they do not keep.  Sometimes they fail to keep the promises intentionally, while other times circumstances hinder them from keeping or following through with their promises.

God always keeps promises.  We can believe with confidence that if God said it, then it will happen.  We may not know the exact time, day, or year, but it will come to past.  Isaiah prophesied about a virgin given birth, and scholars believed that it was fulfilled almost 600 years later.

God keeps his promises.

Matthew 24:42-44 (NIV) ⁴² “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³ But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

During the thanksgiving holiday I was able to spend time with my grandchildren, and participate in the game of hide and seek.  This is probably a familiar game, in which one person would count to ten and then tell those who are hiding, “ready or not here I come”.

Jesus Christ is coming back to take all of those who are saved to heaven.  We don’t know when but we know that he is coming.  If we want to go back with him, we must be saved (born again). This is not a game but a promise.   Not being ready will not delay Christ from coming back again.

Be prepared for the second coming of Christ!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a] have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28 NIV).

It is not easy to see God working things out for good, when circumstances appear to not be working in our favor.  God knows what is best for us. Sometimes we can not see the good, because we are chasing our desires instead of his will.

In order to see the good, we must surrender our plans to God.  When we have faith in God, we can see the good. Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1 NIV).

Today choose to see the good.

1 Chronicles 16:34 (NIV) ³⁴ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

As we enter the season of thanksgiving, we must not forget to give God thanks.  God deserves thanks at all times.  Some may say that they are too busy, and forget to thank God.  Have you ever thought how things would be if God was too busy to allow us to breathe?   What if God did not give us strength to do the things that we engage in  daily.  Go blesses us not be involved in  dangers seen and not seen. We have so much to be thankful for, and our blessings are not just during the thanksgiving season.   We should slow down and give God thanks!

Psalm 91:14 NIV “Because he^[a] loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name

We should not be not afraid of anything, if we have made residency in God’s presence.  Our trust is in God: almighty, creator, sustainer, and rock.  God has provided a refuge or a safe place for us. God is aware that there are things that may be intended to harm us, but we do not need to fear.  God is there to help us in any situation we may face, because we dwell in his protected presence.

Hebrews 9:13-14 ¹³ The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. ¹⁴ How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,^[a] so that we may serve the living God!

Have you ever thought about how significant blood is?  As humans we need the blood in our bodies to sustain life, and bring nutrients to different parts of our body so that they can keep working.

More powerful than the blood in our bodies is the blood that Jesus shed on the cross for our sins.  Jesus shed his blood on the cross as a sacrifice for payment to redeem us back to God.   Through faith in this shedding of the blood, we have eternal life.  There is no other blood powerful enough to wash away our sins.

The hymn writer declares; “The blood that Jesus shed for me way back on Calvary, blood that gives me strength from day, today, It will never loose it’s pow’r.”

We thank God for the blood of the lamb (Jesus the Christ).

Luke 23:42-43

Several years ago I took a vacation on a cruise. It was breath taking to see the light from the ship shine on the waters in the still of the night. There was such peace on the ship, and for the few days on the cruise I had no concerns about the responsibilities at home. To me that time on the cruise was like paradise.

When Jesus was dying on the cross, one of the men dying to the cross beside Jesus said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom (vs, 42)”, Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise (vs. 43).
Paradise in this text was symbolic of heaven. One day all of us who are saved will go to heaven and live eternally with God. Heaven will be better than any cruise.