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Gift of Gold (November 30, 2025)

• Organic Church • Season 2 • Episode 56

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A star led scholars across deserts, but what really changed history was what they carried—and why. We unpack the Magi’s gift of gold as a bold, public claim that Jesus is King, exploring how a toddler without a throne still drew worship fit for a palace. That same gold challenges us today: bring your first and finest, not leftovers; choose surrender over convenience; let your worship tell the truth about Christ before the crown is visible to everyone else.

We walk through gold’s layered meaning—purity that mirrors the holiness of Jesus, value that elevates excellence over excuses, and surrender that dethrones our pride. Along the way, we contrast the hunger of outsiders with the apathy of insiders and ask how far we’ll actually go to honor the Lord. From meeting practical needs like getting a family a stove before Thanksgiving to the quiet ministry of faithful notes and everyday kindness, we show how bringing your “gold” spills beyond four walls and into the streets.

Herod trembled at the rumor of a rival, but kingdoms rise and fall while Christ remains on the throne. If gold was a royal announcement then, it’s a discipleship compass now—directing our time, budgets, attention, and courage toward what matters most. Join us as we trade silver compromises for golden surrender, learn to let the flesh lose so the spirit can live, and commit to showing up when God calls. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review with one line: what “gold” will you bring this week?

SPEAKER_00:

Gifts of the wise men. Amen. Now here's the thing. We all know what they are, right? I didn't hear a big yeah. There were a couple of people that were like, and then some were like, maybe? Box of diapers, one of them? Right? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And we're gonna start with gold. And I've titled this message the gift of the gold because I think we have to understand the prophetic behind each of the gifts. Amen? Because they weren't given by accident. These gifts weren't chosen by happenstance. These gifts were chosen prophetically and intentionally. And so I want to start with Matthew 2.2. And I've already warned the tech team that I've decided I'm gonna jump a lot. So good luck. It says, Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him. And today we're gonna look at that first gold, that first gift of gold, the treasure of kings and the declaration of divinity. But I want you to turn to your neighbor and say, gold is for kings. I want you to say it again. How many of us own a piece of gold? Piece of jewelry, right? Maybe a gold earring. Yeah, there's a couple of us, not everybody. Maybe you guys aren't ready for this. I don't know. But here's the thing: if you own a piece of gold, consider yourself royalty. Amen? Even if you don't own a piece of gold today, consider yourself royalty because you are a child of the blood-bought king. Amen. Listen, you are important to God just the same as Jesus, as the Son of God was important. Your salvation was bought through his blood. You are royalty just the same. Alright. So the Bible simply calls the magi, but we have to allow history to fill in the details, right? How many of you like history? Nick's not here. Where is he at? Oh, he doesn't feel well. Okay. I hope he listens to this and hears that. Don't tell him I said it, though. These were not random travelers. These were scholars. These people were intelligent men. Amen. We know that. They weren't sent by accident. They were intelligent men who were sent to find the baby Jesus. They had studied the stars and the prophecies of the nations. They journeyed, you ready? Over 900 miles following the supernatural sign that God had placed in the sky. You guys can't follow your GPS to church. Amen? You guys know where the building's at and you still can't get here. I'll tell you this. My my son, my oldest son, he just turned 18. God rest my soul. You know what I mean? Like, does that mean I don't have to worry about him anymore? No, because I don't think that's how that works. I think I worry more now.

unknown:

Right?

SPEAKER_00:

What? I got burst at 18. Well, my fear is this. Now he's 18, he says, I can do what I want. Well, the problem is you can, right? But at 18, you think you know everything and you think that you can't, anyhow. His girlfriend said to him, I want to go to church on Sunday, and he said, Okay, fine. If you want to go, we'll go. I want everybody to just take a quick look around the room and notice that they're not here. Right? He knows how to get here, right? He was asked to come, and yet he still doesn't show up. These guys traveled 900 miles because of a star they saw in the sky. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Now I'm asking you a question as I preach this. It's how far will we go to find the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? How far will we go? Are we willing to forego the sins of the world? No, we're not. Right? We think we are, and we're we're prepared to do that, and we we can we commit to it, and then we find ourselves still doing it. Oftentimes we water down the gospel with excuses for living like the world. The problem is this when we do that, we're making excuses for sin, and there is no excuse for sin once you have given your life to Christ Jesus. Amen. There is no excuse. Will you fall short of the glory of God? Absolutely. But so long as you repent, hey, listen, you can lose your salvation, you can't walk away from Jesus. Some people might get up and leave when I say that, but I believe it. Right? You're not saved forever once you give your heart to Jesus. You can't give your heart to Jesus and give up on Jesus. Amen. You can't do it. You have to live for him, just like he lived for you. All right. Who's that Matthew 2, too? Can you put that back up there for me? Or just hang there for just a minute. Just leave that there for a minute. Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose and we have come to worship him. We saw his star as it rose and we have come to worship him. Herod didn't search for Jesus. Jerusalem didn't search for Jesus, but these outsiders, right? The hungry-hearted, those who wanted to find Jesus went looking for him. Can I tell you that sometimes it is easier for the outsiders to find Jesus than it is for the insiders? Jesus came to Jerusalem. Jesus showed up, and yet they wanted nothing to do with Jesus. Herod wanted nothing but the worst for Jesus. Amen. But these outsiders, 900 miles. How what would be 900 miles away from us? What? Florida? That's a long drive, let me tell you. Been there done that? They're riding on camels. Anybody ever rode a camel? It's not comfortable, is it? It's bumpy. 900 miles on the back of a camel to find what you believe to be the king of the Jews. The Son of God. And when you arrive, you realize that there is no fanfare. Other than some lowly shepherds, nobody is celebrating the birth of the king. Now we know that they didn't show up when Jesus was born, directly when Jesus was born, but later, right? We know that? Yes? Okay. So we know that when they showed up, there was no fanfare. Jesus was a little boy and nobody cared about him because nobody understood the importance. See, God will still draw the hungry hearts. And when you know that the king is worth it, the distance doesn't matter. Amen? When you know that the king is worth it, listen, and when I talk about distance, I mean the distance from the things that you walk away from. Right? These wise men probably had wives. They probably listen, my wife would be happy if I traveled 900 miles by myself by camel, right? She'd be like, it's gonna be quiet for a little while. What did you say? Take the kids, yeah. And the scenic route while you're on it. God will always draw hungry hearts. Now it says that when they arrived in Matthew 2.11, they opened their treasures and presented him gifts of gold. But you need to understand something. Gold was not a practical gift, right? That wasn't something a lot of people had, right? And now you're giving gold to a child. How many of you would give gold to your children? I won't give most of my kids a butter knife. How many of you have teenage children and you've walked into their bedroom and find 46 cups, plates, wrappers? Some adults are still like that, right? Listen, they were bringing a child gold, but it wasn't a practical gift, it was a prophetic gift. See, in the ancient world, gold was the symbol of royalty. Exodus 25, it tells us that the Ark of the Covenant was covered with you. Solomon's palace was so filled with gold that silver was considered worthless. He had so much gold that he didn't care about silver. That's a lot of gold. Right? That would be like, have you ever seen people throw? Well, we can't talk about pennies anymore, R I P to the penny, right? We don't make those anymore. But people used to throw them in the trash. It only takes a hundred of them to get a dollar, right? Listen, I need all the money I can get. I got a wife and five kids. Life is expensive, right? I need all the coins. Listen, if you want to throw away your pennies, you drop them off to me. Okay. Dale, get out of here. I'm preaching over here. I get the pennies first. You can have the leftover pennies, okay? Solomon's palace was so filled with gold that silver was considered worthless. I think about that as somebody throwing away loose change because it's not important to them, right? Listen, my kids, that's all they usually have is change. And Emmett will count his change and he'll be, Dad, I have$23. How do you have$23 in nickels? Right? But he saves it because there's value. The problem is to us as adults, we don't value things that can't buy us a Starbucks. Right? If it's not tangible cash that we can peel, listen, most of us don't even carry cash anymore, right? Can I tell you it doesn't hurt to use your debit card? You swipe that card, you don't even feel it, right? Break a hundred dollar bill. Right? Anyone ever I did that a couple of days ago. I was like, I don't want to do that again. Give me my debit card back. But here's what I realize. They're showing up with gold to present to a king. I don't even want to save my change to buy my to buy my kids something nice for Christmas. Ashley says, I spend too much on my kids for Christmas. Right? But are you buying your child gold? Probably. Okay. That didn't go the way I planned. God said one thing out loud. He said that this child is a king. When that gift of gold was presented, he didn't say, This is just my child. This child is a king. But see, he didn't look like a king, right? He's a toddler, he's a child. He didn't have a throne, he wasn't surrounded by soldiers, he didn't have royal garments, but not only was he a king, he was the king. The king of kings and the lord of lords. And sometimes we have to remember that our worship declares the truth of God before the world sees the crown. Now, what I mean by that is if you look around this building, this church, and the world in general, there are a lot of new people coming to Jesus. Amen. And when they show up in church for the first time and they start to see people giving praise and honor to something that they don't understand, can I tell you that giving him our praise will allow somebody to see his crown? Right? That doesn't make sense to us because it is not our crown that is visible. Right? This isn't about us. I don't stand in worship with my hands lifted high so that somebody might think that I am righteous. I don't stand singing praises to God. I don't stand singing about Jesus. I don't preach the word so that somebody might think that I am better than somebody else. I do it so that the kingdom of God is glorified. Amen. And I do it so that the world can see his crown. Not my crown. Now I'm gonna get mine when I get to heaven, right? I hope it's so big I can't hold my head up. Right? Walking around like this all the time. That's what I want. But I'll tell you what, if I get there and it's a tiny little crown, I'm gonna take it. I'm gonna take it. Because to hear the words, well done, my good and faithful servant, and to enter into the presence of Jehovah Jireh will be more than any earthly acknowledgement. It will mean more to me than anything that the world could ever provide. Amen. And I pray that as we preach the gospel week in and week out, that people are starting to truly understand that. Now, we're gonna talk about each of the symbols or each of the gifts that are given, but I want to talk about gold specifically, and we're gonna talk about all of the symbolism that goes with gold. So, gold actually has a layer of meanings, and we're gonna hit three of them today. First is purity. Gold is one of the purest substances on earth. Did you know that? It doesn't corrode. Right? Now you can beat it up pretty bad, right? Nope. Don't tell my wife I ain't wearing my wedding ring. Didn't even notice. Oh, it's her fault. It is. It is. I would blame Roger, but he wasn't there. Here's what happened. We had an Elvis show last Wednesday, and she was helping me with my jewelry. I do all my Elvis rings. And uh, she put that one back with my Elvis rings. It's her fault. See, normally Easton helps me with that stuff, but he had to go to Connie's and spend time with Connie, so I had to do it by myself. Anyhow, it's one of the purest substances on earth and it doesn't corrode. This mirrors the holiness of Jesus. Perfect, sinless, undefiled. Hebrews 4 15. Do you have that one? Yes? No? That's okay. That's okay. It offers value. Gold represents worth, meaning that the Magi brought their best. Their very, very best. They didn't show up with silver. I want to remind you that Judas betrayed Jesus for not gold, not gold, but silver. He was willing to turn Jesus over for less than what Jesus was worth. Right? Now, can I ask you a question? How many times do we walk away from Jesus for what the world has to offer us? Right? So we look at Jesus and we say, I know, I know, Lord, that when I stand in your presence, all of the best things are given unto me, but the world will give it to me now. Instant gratification. Right? It's so much easier to live for the world than it is for Jesus. We are willing to sell Jesus for less than he is worth. Now I need you to understand that they didn't bring leftovers. They brought him their best. They brought him gold, which is something that he may have never seen otherwise. This is not cheap. This isn't leftovers. They didn't go to the thrift store, right? Now, I think that you can thrift gifts. I think you can give secondhand gifts. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But I don't bring secondhand worship to my Lord and Savior. I don't bring secondhand gifts into the house of God. See, when I write that tithe check, let me rephrase that. When my wife writes that tithe check, we write it with joy. Because I know that when I bring it and I put it in that plate, I know that when it hits that plate, it will bless this building, this body, abundantly. Listen. I never tell these stories so that the church looks good or so that anybody feels a certain way, but I got wind last week that there was a family in need, and this was not a family that was directly connected to our church. They weren't uh necessarily regular members here, and I found out that they hadn't had a stove for months. Can you imagine? That's expensive, right? Because what are you doing, DoorDash? Any of you ever DoorDash? That ain't cheap, right? Somebody DoorDash a Starbucks here right now. Preferably a gingerbread chai. Hot. And I'll take it afterwards. You don't have to drink it, I'll drink it. Ain't nobody got their phone out yet. Yes! That coffee might cost me$6, which is way too much for a cup of coffee. But it's$7.70, Ashley knows exactly. But it's delicious, okay?$11 to have that thing delivered. Lord Jesus. Okay. So you got a family who can't who doesn't have a stove. And I I asked some questions and I'm like, I want to know the story. I want to understand. Because I not because I want to know if they qualify, but because I want to know what to pray about. Because God, I need you to show me. Right? So I immediately start working on this and I find a stove. And I send a text. Hey, I've got one. And then that one got pulled out from under me. And I said, Lord, I know that you have called me to do this. Make it happen. A few days later, we find a stove. We drop off a check, we pay for the stove. They go and pick it up the day before Thanksgiving. He made sure that they were able to have Thanksgiving. Listen, it's not because I'm not telling you that story because I want the church to be glorified. I'm telling you that story because that's what we do when we put money in these offering plates, right? We're sowing back into ministry. We are sowing back into the community that we serve. Let me promise you something. That the love that this building shows to the community is second to none. Beth, how many families did we feed? 55 total people. We fed 55 people out of this building. We couldn't do that without you. We couldn't do that without these offering plates. This isn't about what the community can do, but it is about giving our best back to the world as well. Because when the world looks at us, what do they see? That's a genuine question. It's not a statement. I'm saying when the world looks at us, our hope is that they see Jesus, right? Our hope is that when they look at the church, not just this church, but the body of Christ as a whole, that when they look at the body of Christ, they see Jesus. Not a building full of self-righteous people. Right? Now here's the problem. There's always one in every bunch. Right? And so you get a body of believers together and they're doing mighty things in the community and they're just pouring out love and they're showing up on every occasion and they're doing all the things that God has called them to do, that God has laid on their hearts. We can't do it all. Amen? But we can do a lot. And then you have that one person that says, Well, yeah, but did you know that they only do that because? Let me tell you, if you feel that way, you don't understand the calling that God has on this building. God has called us to take every bit of resources that we have and pour it back out into our community. We believe that. It's what we've stood on since day one, and it's what we will continue to stand on. We will give our best back to the world because we give our best to God. We bring him our worship in the purest forms we worship in spirit and in truth, right? We don't stand here and raise our arms and we wonder who's watching us and who sees us. Amen. We lift our hands to give him praise, honor, and glory. We lift our hands to give him praise, honor, and glory. The Bible teaches us that following Christ requires a few things. The most important, in my opinion, is it requires surrender. Matthew 16, 25, whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Right? We have to surrender the life that we have. And people ask me, Pastor Michael, what do you mean by that? I have to die in order to live? Kinda. Now, I don't mean your body has to physically die, but your flesh man has to die to allow your spirit man to live. Well, what's the difference, Pastor Michael? I'll tell you, it's the still small voice that speaks to you regularly. Yes? And what happens is that still small voice will speak to us. And this happens to me a lot, and it's oftentimes things that I don't like to hear. Yes? I was uh I was doing something the other day, and God said, But you need to wash their feet. I ain't doing that. You guys remember last time I did that? Now, here's what I need you to understand. That was a heartfelt moment between me and each and every one of you. Amen. But God's saying no. That's wonderful. Because I I I I argued with him, and I I I don't know why I'm telling you this, but I'm gonna tell on myself. I argued with him, and I said, I'm not doing it, God. I said, I've already done it once. And he said, but seven times seventy. He said, You did it once, do it again. And when you're done, do it again. And when you're done, do it again. And it hasn't happened yet, but I know what God is telling me to do, right? That is allowing my flesh man to die and my spirit man to live. But when we argue and we we become obstinate to the move of the spirit, then we are living in the flesh and we are not allowing our flesh to die. We are not giving God our best when we're living in the flesh. We are not giving God our best. I know that that hurts, but listen, I have to say this to some of us too, because I think we need to understand it. I posted this on social media the other day, and it was meant to be a joke, but it's very serious. I need to remind you guys this season is not about giving gifts. Okay? The greatest gift was given to us, and that was salvation through the birth of our Lord and Savior. Yes? Okay, it is great to give gifts. That's wonderful, and I think it's delightful when we can, but that is not what this season is about. Do not overextend yourself to tell the world that you love them. Have you ever just looked at somebody and said, you know what? I really love you. I am thankful for you in my life. You're a wonderful person. I can't imagine what I would do if I didn't have you in my life. Have you ever done that for somebody? Most of the men in here are not shaking their head, yes. Do you know why? Because we're too tough. Right? Listen, I believe this genuinely, and it's not a good thing. Okay? I shouldn't be pointing. It's not a good thing. Women have an easier time being in tune with the Holy Spirit because they can live in the emotion of the Holy Spirit. Men tend to resist the move of the Holy Spirit because we don't want to be emotional. Who said that? Tanya. It's not a bad thing because I think men need to be have a tough exterior to some to some point. But I also think we have to be able to reveal ourselves to the Holy Spirit. Amen. Because are we giving God our best when we're resisting his move in our life? I have never once in this church ever seen the altar fill up with men. I have never once in my life ever watched the men of this church gather in such large groups that you couldn't deny what God was doing. Instead, it tends to be five or six of us. And I think the same thing every time. Have your way with those who give you their best. Have your way with those. Lord, I want you to move in our lives. I want you to excite us. I want you to set our spirits on fire. But Lord, if we're not willing, if we aren't willing, don't waste your time. Because Lord, if you are not willing, or if we are not willing, use those who are. Here I am, Lord, use me. Yes? Here I am, Lord, use me. How many of us are truly willing to be used every day? Listen, God has called me to some wild stuff. Right? I could tell you this there are many men my age that have kissed as many old ladies as I have. Okay? Marcus, why'd you just raise your hand? Marcus, be over there kissing old lady. Don't ask, don't ask, guys. My wife and I tell everybody when we show up at a nursing home to do an Elvis show, that it is part of our ministry. Because we bring joy to those who may not otherwise see joy. Amen. That's a crazy thought. But it's true. Can I tell you something? That when we show up, we bring our best every time because we believe that is what we are called to do as people in ministry, as child, as children of God. Yes? I am called to bring my absolute best all of the time. I pray that as we're moving through this experience in our lives, that as we're moving through the season of our lives, that we are also able to give God our best in all things. All right. Herod was a paranoid puppet king, terrified of losing power. I loved that sentence when I wrote it. I was like, that's just fun. So imagine the disruption when the Magi walk into Jerusalem and say, So hey, where's the king of the Jews? That's gonna shake him up a little bit, right? We saw his star in the sky, and we've come to worship him. Where is he at? See, it shook the political powers, it shook the spiritual powers, and it really shook the cultural structure. See, that's the problem. In the world that we live in, in the flesh, we have this hierarchy of power based on your name or who you think you are, right? But see, none of those things matter in the spirit. Now, there are layers of accountability. But as a pastor, I am no more saved than you are saved. Right? I would remind you about the thief on the cross. The day that he was to die, Jesus told him that he would enter into heaven with him. He would enter into his kingdom. Listen, the thief on the cross is no less saved than you and I. Here's the difference. He didn't get to do good works, he didn't get to give his best because he died a sinner's death. We have given our lives to Jesus, most of us, and we have the opportunity to show the world the fruit of the Spirit every day. The challenge is what does our fruit look like? Are we bearing good fruit? Because you know a dead tree cannot bear good fruit if there aren't leaves, if it's not thriving, it will not listen. I my wife loves plants, and uh we bought this. I bought her a weeping cherry blossom for Mother's Day about three years ago, and we planted it at our old house. And she loved that tree with every fiber of her being. And when we sold our house, she said, we have to take the tree with us. We moved in November. You can't transplant a tree in November. So I had convinced the real estate agent to put in our contract that we could go back in the spring and move the tree. And as we were packing up the final load, I said, We're just taking the tree. We dug the tree up, we put it in a pot, and as spring rolled around, the leaves started to come out, they started to bud and they turned a beautiful green color. And then we decided we were going to put it in the ground, and we realized very quickly as we were putting it in the ground that tree had died. Because we had decided when we were gonna transplant it. We decided when we were going to move it. The problem was that tree produced leaves, but never produced buds. Right? Those leaves were dormant from the year previous. They were guaranteed to come out, but it never bloomed a single flower. We cut the roots of that tree off, never allowing it the opportunity to bear good fruit. The world looks to us to nourish so that they can produce good fruit. Now let me tell you, there are gonna be bad trees everywhere you go. There are gonna be bad trees that sit in a church. Listen, that doesn't mean that that church is bad. It doesn't mean that that person is bad. That means that they are not yet bearing fruit. Amen. It is our responsibility to continue to love them and to nourish them so that they might bear good fruit. Luke had already declared unto you a child is born. Isaiah foretold that the king would come. That gold was not just a gift, it was a fulfillment of the prophecy and a challenge to the earthly powers. The gold was a revolutionary declaration. There is only one true king, and his name is Jesus. There are a lot of kings. There are people in power all over the world. And every time somebody asks me, Pastor Michael, are you worried about the state of politics in this world? I say, while it scares me for what my children will grow up in, it does not frighten me for my eternal salvation. Because it doesn't matter who is in power because Christ is still on the throne. I haven't yet read where he has abdicated his throne and given it over to the powers of this world. I have not read that yet. Has anybody else? Good. That means that we should find peace and solace in who Jesus is. Gold should represent our honor, our devotion, our best, and our surrender. And I believe that God is still asking us today will you bring me your gold? Amen. Will you bring me your gold? Now, I've got a few more points that I want to make, but there's something else that I need to do. And it's that I think we need to speak out about what our gold may be. Amen. Because each of us have something that is special and that we do very well. And that is part of our worship. It is beyond the season that you're sitting in a seat. It is beyond the time that you're sitting here. Listen, some people have great ideas and they have zero follow-through. Amen? Praise you, Jesus. Hallelujah. It's true. Everybody wants to have an idea. Nobody wants to follow through on that idea. Right? That's hard. Pastor Roger, listen, I'll be like, here's the list of things we're gonna do. And he's like, and who's helping us? And I'm like, me and you, buddy. It's me and you, buddy. I'll send a text, nobody shows up. Listen, I'm not blaming anybody. I'm I know we're all busy, but I'm saying that God has called us for more than what we're doing. It's true. I believe it. I believe that wholeheartedly. So I want to just there are some things that I feel like we need to address that are outside of the building that is still part of your best to God. Okay? So there's a couple of them. These are people who serve, but not just serve in ministry, but uh help in ministry and do things in ministry. So a couple of things I want to talk about. First of all, how many of you guys get a birthday card from the church? Isn't that sweet? Isn't that did you know that I have nothing to do with that? I'm still thinking of you on your birthday if I know. I promise. Typically, I'll send you a text message if I know it's your birthday. A lot of times I don't know. Tina Bober does that exclusively. God bless her. That is giving your best outside of coming in here for worship. Right? Yes. That's amazing. That's wonderful. How many of you are friends with Lauren on social media? Isn't she wonderful? Her posts are always so sweet, so kind. But here's what I realized. The world tried to convince her that her Sunday recap wasn't worthy of being posted. How many of you have ever read her Sunday recaps? She takes my entire message, all of her notes, and she puts it to words so that somebody might see it, read it, and believe what God is doing. Amen. They don't even have to listen to the message to get the message. The world tried to convince her that that wasn't necessary. I need it, right? I preach to you. I don't hear it. I don't getting to read it and to see what happens. So thank you for that. That is gold outside of this ministry, right? That is giving your best outside of this ministry. Now, this next one. I have to be careful. I get myself in trouble. So I don't, I think it was two weeks ago, maybe it was last week, I can't remember for sure. I was driving into the church, must have been two weeks ago, and I had to go to Macaulay Drive because I needed to get a gallon of milk for the cafe. And so I went to Macaulay Drive. I grabbed a gallon of milk, and as I was coming back through, I saw that there was a kitty cat that had been hit on the side of the road. I know, sad. Margie's back there crying now. All right. So I did a voice text to Nick and I said, hey man, you gotta skip Water Street Extension. There's a dead cat on the side of the road. Margie's gonna make you pull over and try to pick this thing up. All right. That text did not go through because I didn't tell it to send. So Nick got here. I was like, man, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize I didn't send it. He's like, Yeah, she almost made me drive into oncoming traffic to avoid hitting it. Listen. What she does in her community, in her area. How many cats you got? 15? 15 cats. Rescued, right? These aren't cats that she breeds and keeps. These are cats that she has saved. I need you guys to understand something. That is giving your best outside of this these four walls. Amen. God has called each and every one of you to something. Each and every one of you. I promise you're not too old. I you might be. I promise you are not too young. If God has put a calling on your life and you know it, and you're not operating in that calling, we need to have a conversation. Because if you want to give God your best, you have to show up when He calls you to show up. But that means listening to that still small voice. Turning off the noise of the outside world. Listen, we're all so busy that we have a hard time making it to church on Sunday, right? What if I were too busy to show up to church on Sunday? Somebody's gonna be showing up at my house. What if Pastor Holly was too busy to show up on Sunday? What if Pastor Roger were too busy to show up on a Wednesday night to make sure your toilet's flush? Pastor Holly knows what that's like. She's had to plunge and plunge and plunge and plunge and plunge. Let me tell you something. There is no excuse for avoiding the house of God. There isn't. We are never too busy. Church should be the reason that you skip other events. I'm not saying this is the only place to be. I'm not saying, listen, God, family, church. Right? I'm not saying you have to be here every Sunday, but I'm saying when God calls you to this place, when he calls you into ministry, he expects you to show up for ministry. Amen. We have to be able to honor, be devoted, give him our best, and definitely surrender ourselves. When God is asking you, will you bring me your gold? He is not asking you for physical gold. He is asking you for the best of your praise, the best of your time, the best of your obedience, and the best of your faith. The Magi brought gold to a child. We are bringing our gold to a risen king. Amen. We are bringing our gold to a risen king. We are bringing the gold to the savior of our lives. We know he's the savior of our lives. They had a hunch. They believed it. And I think they believed it more than we do. And we've read the story. We know how it ends. Amen. Romans reminds us that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess the name of Jesus. Every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess. Church, today, we have to be willing to bow at the name of Jesus, bringing him our gold, our absolute best. If he is truly your king, you have to give him something worthy of that throne. That praise, that honor, that glory, surrender. Listen, allow your flesh to be defeated today. Allow your spirit man to rise. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you and I praise you that as these words were spoken, that they penetrated the hearts and the minds that of those who are listening, Lord, I pray that as we move from this place, that we continue to present you with gold. The best of everything, Father God, not the second hand, not the leftovers, but the best of the best. Lord, without your sacrifice, there would be no everlasting life, there would be no salvation. And so today I am thankful, Father, that you were willing to go to that extreme to give up your son so that we might have everlasting life. Father, give us strength and wisdom in this season. Give us peace and guidance, Father God. Lord, allow us to live for you and only you. We give you praise, honor, and glory in the mighty name of Jesus. And the church says, Amen. Love you guys. We'll see you on Sunday. No, we'll see you on Friday.