We Need A Joseph's Heart Series

What Does It Take to See Jesus?

Part 1 - We Need a Joseph’s Heart

By Rev. James May

Thanksgiving, with its family gatherings and feasting has now passed into history and we find ourselves filled with thankfulness for all of the blessings of God that he has bestowed upon us. Even with all of the present economic distress and all of the wars and unrest in our world, God is so good to His people. He supplies our every need. God is faithful to pour out his blessings upon us.

As I sought the Lord for a message from the Lord for the church, I felt impressed to bring to you a series of messages during this month of December, as we march toward the celebration of Christmas and the birth of our Savior in Bethlehem of Judea about 2,011 years ago. That great day marked the beginning of the end of the reign of sin, evil and death in the world. Jesus, the Light of the World and the Savior of mankind was born as a baby in a manger. His main purpose in coming was to go to the cross and give his life as a sacrifice for our sin that we might have a way back to a right relationship with our Father in Heaven.

Each of us must now approach Christ in our own way, and our own time, as the Spirit of the Lord leads us. We must come to know who Jesus is and what He is all about, and we must accept him as the Lord of our lives. If we don’t, then Jesus’ coming into this world means no more to us than any other baby born into this world under the poorest of conditions. Like so many millions today, that baby born in a manger, would only represent the great need of mankind.

We look upon the poverty stricken people of this world and see the pictures of babies that don’t get enough nourishment and many who don’t live long enough to see their first birthday. We see little children with bloated stomachs, not because they eat too much, but because they eat very little. We see mothers and fathers whose greatest cry is that somehow someone will help them to take care of their children and give them a hope in this life. We must never forget that just because they are poor and starving, and living in squalor, doesn’t mean that they love their children any less than you or I.

The whole world needs to see Jesus, for He alone is the hope of all mankind. The world is caught in the grip of Satan and is falling deeper into the blackness of the bottomless pit of sin and depravity with each passing day. Man’s only hope is somehow, look up, above all the need, above all the poverty, above all the death and disease, above all the thirsting and hunger of the body, and get a glimpse of the Lord of Glory that can supply all our needs.

Let’s face it – every need of man, in all that he lacks, stems from a spiritual problem. Sin brought evil and death into the world; and only cleansing from sin and getting back in a right relationship with God, will reverse the continual worsening of the condition of the human race. WE MUST SEE JESUS!

That brings me to title for this series of messages, “What Does It Take to See Jesus?” The first message today deals with what kind of heart must a man have before he can see the Lord for who he really is. Our message today deals with the fact that, “We Need a Joseph’s Heart”!

Most of us have heard messages about Joseph and we’ve seen how that he was moved upon by the Holy Spirit to accept the things that surrounded the birth of the Son of God and accepted the great responsibility of raising the only perfect child that would ever be born into this world.

Now I know that some of you think that your child is the perfect child, but we all know that our own judgment is influenced by the love that we have for our children. But then we are forced to realize that the truth of the matter is that no child is perfect. Every one of them is born in sin; brought into this world with a rebellious nature and filled with selfishness. I’ve never seen a child that wouldn’t fight for what he/she wants, and I’ve never seen a child that never gave their parents any grief. No matter how good they might be, there comes a time when we are forced to realize that they aren’t perfect, no matter how much we want them to be.