Fresh Manna 2021

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Strong Tower Radio

Fresh Manna By Garhett Morgan

Garhett Morgan

Via Dolorosa

The Emmaus Road

The Damascus Road

Stones Wood and Some Bread

Hold Your Tears

Two Witnesses

Faith Through Abraham’s Eyes

To the Unknown God

Practical Tips

No Sword Found

God Cares

Fresh manna fell to the ground as a gift from God while the Israelites were in the wilderness.

It was fresh from the ovens of heaven, baked by the master baker himself.

How the Israelites must have anticipated the taste and the smell of each morning's delivery.

Just like the Israelites, you too can now experience the taste and the smell of fresh manna.

Today you will be listening to Garrett Morgan, pastor of Big Rapids, Bristol and Reed City Seventh-day Adventist churches.

Let's go ahead and have a word of prayer before we get started.

Father, Lord, we come to you today praising your name for so many things.

Lord, we want to worship you each and every day.

Lord, that's our duty and that's our privilege, to worship you each and every morning and evening.

But Lord, today it's your Sabbath, a special day, a day that you have set apart in time, a 24-hour period where we can solely focus upon you and not the things of this life that so often need our attention.

Lord, you've not only given us this day, but you've given us a reason to celebrate and rejoice in a living Savior.

So Lord, today as we open your word, may we understand and may we do, we pray in your name, amen.

We live every day, but we often don't live for Jesus.

We serve a Savior that is alive and is well and is busy, and He wants us to live each and every day, not just breathing and not just going about our everyday activities, but he longs for us to live for him.

A few weeks ago I was studying the 10 Virgins and of course I was reminded that even the wise were asleep.

If we serve a risen Savior, if we serve a living Savior, then why is it that Christians often seem so dead?

If we serve a Jesus that is exciting and we serve a Savior that is personal, why is it that Christians are often very, well, not very personal at all?

If we serve a Savior that has good news and peace and joy that passes all understanding, why is it that Christians are often the opposite of that?

These are questions that I've often asked myself, not necessarily about other people, but about myself.

We serve a Savior that is alive and well, and He longs for us to not only be alive, but he longs for us to be spiritually excited.

That is a message that our church has been preaching for decades now, and of course we've had many messages from this pulpit on this subject, but I'd like to take you to a story today that has to deal not with the second coming of Jesus, but in fact, the first coming of Christ.

If you go to Matthew with me, Matthew chapter 2, you'll recognize this story immediately.

It is 1 that not just Christians tell, but it's 1 that we even find in secular homes as well, and most will recognize the story of what happens in Bethlehem in Matthew chapter 2.

In Matthew chapter 2, we find a baby has been born, and how exciting that is.

But Notice what it says here in Matthew 2 and verse 1.

It says, 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, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews?

For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.

Now if you would skip down with me to verse 9.

When they had heard the king they departed and lo the star which they saw in the east went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy." When Jesus was born on earth, the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel and Jeremiah and almost every book of the Old Testament at that time had been predicting the Messiah was coming.

Not only that the Messiah was coming, but where he was going to be born.

And not just where he was going to be born, but why he was coming at all.

And as Jesus was born on earth, with the exception of a few, we find that most didn't recognize it.

Now, of course, we know that Mary and Joseph recognized that the birth of Christ was miraculous.

It's hard to miss when your wife is pregnant, right?

And it's hard to miss if you're pregnant.

They were aware that something was taking place.

The shepherds, well, they were kind of worn supernaturally, weren't they?

But then we see the rest of Israel, the rest of God's chosen people who had been reading and memorizing the prophecies of the text for centuries, when Jesus finally came, were caught unaware and in fact, ignorant.

Ignorant of the miracle that was being done in the town of David, not just the miracle of the Messiah being born, but the miracle of what he was about to do.

And the ones that recognized this miracle from on high were in fact, not from among God's chosen people, but from among the Gentiles.

There's a lesson to learn there, isn't there?

Friends, we have been studying prophecy in our church since the beginning.

We've been singing and we have been talking about the second coming of Jesus for a long time.

And I pray that there are more than just a few that are ready when he comes.

We assume that there were 3 wise men from the East that came to Jesus, right?

That's what the song says, that's what's in all the nativity scenes, right?

But in scripture we find that the number isn't exactly stated, but the reason we assume there are 3 is because there were 3 gifts that were given, right?

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him.

And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

These men of stature came for many miles to worship at the feet of a baby.

What humility that those men must have had to come from so far away to worship at the feet of a mere child.

But they did it because they recognized what this man was going to do.

They recognized that this child was more than just a baby but in fact was their Creator.

And in giving these gifts to this man, this new man-child, they were making a statement that often goes unnoticed.

Of course, we know the gifts that these wise men gave were of golds of frankincense and myrrh.

And gold makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

What better thing to give a king than gold, the most costly thing that they could think of.

And what must have been going on in the mind of Mary and Joseph when these 3 statesmen of power came and worshipped their sons bearing precious gifts of gold.

But the next 2 gifts make us scratch our head a little bit.

Have you ever asked yourself the question, why is it that these wise men chose frankincense and myrrh to give a baby?

Well, frankincense and myrrh are very interesting.

You find frankincense mentioned quite a bit in the Psalms.

David was a fan of frankincense, or a spike nerd, so to say.

A little bit different, but virtually the same thing.

Frankincense and myrrh, 2 different herbs, 2 different items that had to do with smell.

When we think of myrrh, however, there was really only, to my understanding, 1 use of myrrh in scriptural times.

In fact, when a few of us were in Egypt just about a year ago, in the museum there In Cairo, there were actually quite a few different basins or different vials that were full of this myrrh product.

Myrrh was the ancient equivalent of what we would call embalming fluid.

Myrrh was a symbol and a tool that had to do with preparing a body after it had died.

Have you ever asked yourself, why is it that these 3 wise men, or we assume 3 wise men, brought a child embalming fluid?

Now not to be even more morbid still, but this is the truth of the matter.

When the embalming process would take place, especially in biblical times, that would come with a certain odor.

An odor that was, as you can probably imagine, unpleasant.

And so often when the people were embalming a body, they would use frankincense to light and it would make the area smell a lot better.

It would mask, well, let's just say, the stench of death in the room.

Frankincense was used for other things as well.

It was used, of course, in the sanctuary we know.

It was actually sprinkled on top of the table of showbread as that bread was broken, which is an interesting symbol in and of itself.

We don't have time to get into that today, but my point is, why is it that these wise men would give Jesus the Messiah a mere baby 2 different fluids that had to do with death.

And the simple answer is that these wise men not only recognized where and when Jesus would be born, but more importantly, they recognized what Jesus had come to do.

In giving these gifts, they recognized and were showing their faith that Jesus was coming with 1 purpose in mind, and that was to die in the place of sinful humanity.

And I'm sure that Jesus, when he was a child, was shown these gifts from time to time, and I'm sure it was quite a reminder to his family of what the future of Jesus had to hold.

Imagine growing up and knowing and recognizing very quickly what your purpose in life truly was and what a responsibility and weight that that must have had on the shoulders of Jesus from the age of just a young boy.

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Series

Fresh Manna By Garhett Morgan

Hold Your Tears

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Probation and the Second Coming

36m

The Alabaster Box

1h

Fresh Manna By Garhett Morgan

The Damascus Road

42m

Meeting the Master Gardener

First the Blade, then the Ear

1h 2m

When the Truth Stagnates

19m

Plenary

Our Mighty Intercessor

1h 3m

Daniel

Daniel Chapter 7: God Judgment & Gospel

54m

A Visit to the Tomb

34m

Going to Extremes

1h 10m

A More Excellent Way

A More Excellent Way Part 2

37m

Divine Assurance

The Man in the Shadows

1h 43m

The Gentleness of God

57m

Sound Doctrine