The Scaredy Cat King and the Magnificent Magi

Well, let's have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father,

thank you so much that we have been given the

privilege of knowing God in Jesus, truly knowing God, grant

us the courage to follow the star in Jesus' name. Amen,

Has anyone here been afraid of something in their life?

Just totally terrified of the outcome? A few of you have.

The rest of you is struggling with honesty this morning,

because everybody has. Everyone has struggled with deep stuff in

their life. Have you ever faced a fear that you

just didn't know how you get through it, but somehow

you did with God's help? Anybody like that? Look, when

Jesus came to earth, it was a troubled time. There

was uncertain in the air. And we have a contrast

that we're gonna look at this morning between the scaredy

cat king King Herod and the wise men, the magnet

nipicent Magi, and how we can chart our lives with

faith and joy instead of fear and compromise. Let's begin

by looking at Matthew two verses one to two engage

the scripture. The Bible says, now, when 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 have seen his star in the east, and

we have come to noticed the intentionality here we have

come to worship him. Grabbed that thought, We're coming back

to it now. The Greek word for wise men here

is magi. In the plural Greek form its magoy madjoi,

as the oi is the plural ending the magi literally

were magicians. In fact, we get a word magic from

the root word that we find here used for magi.

Magicians have bad track records. In the Bible, the magicians

failed Pharaoh when God sent Joseph to beare him out.

Pharaoh had the dreams. The magicians couldn't figure it out.

God gave the spirit of prophecy the testimony of Jesus

to Joseph. He was able to disclose the meaning of

the dreams. The same occurred with Moses. Remember Moses was

engaging the magicians. He had the rod of God that

represented the physical manifestation the Holy Spirit. In his end,

he threw it on the ground it morphed into a

living serpent, and it ate up the false servents that

were created by magic from the magicians. And finally, when

the magicians were struggling with their failures, they had to

recognize that that rod in Moses's hand, they said, this

is the finger of God. And they realized that God's

power was greater than magic. The Holy Spirit is the

power of God in their lives. Magic is always the

counterfeit of the Holy Spirit. And so we go into Daniel.

Remember Daniel there and as he engaged with Nebu Canezer

in more than one case, they would always bring the

magicians forward to try and all the problem and true

to form in the Book of Daniel. The magicians always failed.

Then they would call the prophet Daniel, and God's word

never fails. Now, friend, if you're relying on horoscopes, new

age crystals, Harry Potter books, card readers, psychics, mediums, and

the like, you will not get the help you need

in your life, because the help you need in your

life comes from God's word, God's prophets, God's presence in

your life. God's light is not human light, It's God's light.

What made the magnificent magiz special as this. They left

the land of magic and wizards for the newborn King,

who has all the answers, all the power, all the

character of God inside of him, all the hopes and

dreams of the world wrapped up in that baby born

in Bethlehem. They followed the star. When the magnificence Magi

came to Jerusalem, the place that should have had the answers,

the place that should have been engaging in the scriptures,

they proclaimed, without apology, everywhere, we have seen his star

in the east, and we have come to worship him.

This morning. I asked the critical question forthright of you.

Have you seen his star in the east? Have you

come to worship Jesus for yourself? Does your journey mirror

the journey of the wise men? I'm asking something of

a loaded question that deserves a decisive answer from everyone

here today. We didn't live back then. We didn't physically

see his star in the east, we didn't physically follow it.

But friend, we can choose today to worship the newborn

King in our time, in our place by following the

light that God gives us in our life and Bible light,

Bible truth, personal truth in a relationship with Jesus. Now

there's only one problem though, that has to be sorted out.

To worship the new born king. It's really present in

the text and we can read write over it. We

have to forthrightly figure out what it means to worship

and who we should. Let me ask this question or

pose it to you. If Jesus is just a demigod

like Vishnu Shivu for odin Zeus Apollo, or an angel

like Gabriel, or a created angel, as the Jehovah's Witnesses assert,

and that the modern Anatrinitarian movement, which is challenging one

of our twenty eight fundamental beliefs, asserts, then I warn

you you have no business worshiping Jesus in spirit and

in truth if he is a created being. Did you

hear me? These wise men came from the East to

worship the king. There's no rebuke in the Book of

Matthew for this. If these false teachers or right the

ones I've mentioned here about Jesus claiming that he's not God,

then the wise men were wrong about Jesus, and their

journey to Jerusalem to worship the King was vain. It

is something we should not be talking about at Christmas time.

If Jesus is not God in the flesh, then the

magi made a bad trip for nothing in a senseless

and then evil journey to worship a new born king,

in which God said, don't do it. But that's not

what's happening here. God's loyal angels. By the way, do

real angels who talk to prophets know what they're talking about?

When an angel speaks in the Bible, should we listen

to the angel? Now? Angels aren't fuzzy on this at all.

Angels have absolute clarity on how and who we should worship.

Look at relation nineteen ten. John was making a massive

mistake in his relationship with God as he got the

testimony of Jesus. As he saw these visions that betrayed

the future, and he was so enamored with the angel

who had given this to him. This is what he did,

he says. Then I fell down at his feet to

worship him. But he, that is the Angel, said to me,

you must not do that. Why what does the text say,

I am a fellow servant with you and your brethren

who hold the testamy of Jesus. No, by the way,

those who hold the testimony of Jesus are identified in

relation twenty two A to nine as the prophets. Prophets

hold the testimony of Jesus. But notice what the Angel

says next, worship what God? For the testimony of Jesus

is the spirit of prophecy. So the angel's not fuzzy here,

the angel saying, look, don't worship me, I'm an angel.

Now the angels. The Greek translation of the second century

BC used the word angeloss angel as a translation of

the word eloheim God's the counsel of the gods in

Psalms that he two is the counsel of the angel,

fallen angels or fallen God's. The one true God is

the one true Elohim. And so in angels who have

been actually in the literature at that time called gods,

not the God, saying don't do this, worship God. There's

really only one God to worship. The Angel told John

to worship the real thing. So when the wise men

came to Jerusalem, they came to worship the new born King.

What does that mean? What does that tell us about Jesus?

What must he be for that to happen? Christ must

be God, the new born baby must be God, or

it is a violation of what God has commanded in

terms of worship. So we have a worship definition right

here at Christmas as to who Jesus is. Friends, it's

no accident in the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus is

called Emmanuel God. With us you can worship God. So

this idea that Jesus had some point and time in

which he was created, that he emanated from the Father

as a creation does not fit the description that the

Bible gives us we worship God. Now, when you do

what the Magi did, you bow down to worship Jesus,

who are you worshiping? You're worshiping God in human flesh.

We must make the choice today in our time like

the magnificent Magi did in their time. When we choose

to follow Bible evidence in our journey to find the

little Lord Jesus, we must come to the realization that

when we face him right we are seeing God in

that temple of a baby, that God in Christ is

present in our relationship with him. We can choose to

worship Jesus, the Christmas King, who is God. By the

worship definition, he is worthy turned with me to Isaiah's

sixty Versus one to seven. Let's just go down and

look at this. The great Gospel prophet Isaiah looked to

the future. He said, arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness

the people's. But the Lord will arise upon you, and

his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall

come to your light and kings to the brightness of

your rising. The wise men were fulfilling scripture as they

came to the glory of the Lord, not just any glory.

Yahweh Jehovah, God Glory. And then it goes here. Lift

up your eyes round about, and see they all gather together.

They come to you. Your son shall come from Afar,

and your daughters shall be carried in the arms. Then

you shall see and be radiant. Your heart shall thrill

and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be

turned to you. Now the sea is a metaphor for

the nations. The abundance of the peoples of the earth

is what it's getting at the wealth of the nation

shall come to you. Verse six a multitude of camels

shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Epha.

Here we have a clue that the East isn't necessarily Babylon.

It's the Arabic East where these kings came. And those

from Sheba shall come that shall bring gold and frankincense,

and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord. Those magi

probably didn't realize fully that they were fulfilling the prophecy

of Isaiah when they made the journey from the East

to find the Lord Yahweh as the new born king

of the Jewish people. What is the primary difference between

these magnificent magi inherd, the king with his unbelieving city,

in a faithless kingdom that didn't care for God at all.

Had all the advantages, had prophetic truth, had all the

wealth and the like, but they just weren't engaged where

it mattered. The difference is the difference between joy and fear. Now,

if you had to make a choice today, if I

were to have a bag in my hand that says joy,

and I'd have a bag in my hand that says fear,

and you were to seize one of the two bags,

which would you take into your life. How may of

you say joy raise your hands high, hopefully you mean it.

I'm not gonna ask the other question, all right, I mean,

would it be crazy to choose fear over joy? But

that's what we see in the storyline here Matthew two three.

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and

all Jerusalem with him. The Greek word used for troubled

means shaken or agitated. The king and his people were

stressed out over the good news of the new born king.

For the Jews, now, why would King Harry be so threatened? Well,

he was a king. Wait, a new king. What happens

to the old king? The Hebrew word haraud it's a

verb means to shake or to tremble, and this is

the root word for the word Herod. He's named after

a word for fear. So if we're to put it

in English vernacular, you could probably say Herod's name means

scaredy cat. He's the scaredy cat king whose name means fear,

and he's living up to the meaning of his name.

Matthew two, verse four. 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 sod is written by the prophet.

And you owe Bethlehem and the land of Judah are

by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For

from you shall come forth a ruler who will govern

my people Israel. Boy, that's a bad text to read

to a king who wants to keep on ruling his kingdom,

that the new born king is one who would take

his place as the ruler of the kingdom. Hero didn't

want a newborn king to kick him off his illegitimate

blood bought throne. No way. Now, when you are the

king in your own life, have you ever tried to

be the king of your own life? Sit in your

own throne? I call the shots. God. Listen, Lord, I'm

praying to you. Here's my agenda. Help me out. I

know what I need. You ever pray like that, Well,

that's not how we pray if God is on the throne. Instead,

we say, Lord, what do you want me to do?

Where are you leading me? What is my purpose in

your plan? When I am surrendered and on my knees

to you, The scaritycat King didn't want the King of

the universe, who is God Almighty in the person of

the newborn King. He didn't want him to take over

his fearful, fulfilled kingdom to control him and all his

fearful and stressed out subjects. No way. Herod was personally

opposed to God's personal answer for his fears because he

was per opposed to accepting God's king who would be

God in his place in his life? Is that possible

we could do the same, It is, Friend. God comes

to us with the same claim today as when Jesus

came to earth that first Christmas, to be worshiped as

the true King. Do you want joy or fear in

your life? That's the question. If you want more fear,

then forget Jesus. Do you want more of you on

the throne of your heart? Are you willing to surrender

you're out of control life and the throne of your

agitated heart to allow Jesus to lead in your life. Well,

if you are, then There's Joy in the Journey. Michael

card It's one of my favorite contemporary artists. Relatively he's

older now, but he has a song called There's Joy

in the Journey. It's a beautiful song. Look, the Lord

doesn't want to find you at the end of your road.

He wants to meet you on the road. So there's

joy in the journey. In the journey, friend, Jesus, cannot

be your king with someone else sitting on the throne

of your heart. And verse four, Herod asked where the

king was to be born. The priest and the scribes

quoted the ancient scroll of Micah the Prophet, taken from

their dusty shelf of scriptures and scrolls that they probably

only used when they had to a technical knowledge of

the scriptures. Herod was an Edomite impostor with no legitimate

bloodline connection. He should never have been king. And mike

Hah predicted the true king would be born in a

little town of Bethlehem, the city of David, indicating he

would come from the line of Judah from David to

be king over all of God's people. Now David had

already been king. David's line had failed, it had been

reduced down to Judah, and Judah was overtaken by the

Romans the Treaty of one sixty one BC. Judas Maccabeus

his name means Judas the Hammer, the great Alexander, the

go to the Jewish people that opposed Antichus. The fourth

Epiphanes was able to save God's people until he signed

that peace treaty with Rome, seeking protection from Rome rather

than from Michael. The pre existed Christ in the book

of Daniel. And when he did that, the whole nation

came into slavery, and by degree Herod became the king

of the Jewish people. He was needed my king. He

had no business being king. But the scripture pointed to

the line of David. Now Jesus has two credentials to

be king, where the first one is divine. The text

of Micah fives too says he would come from the

east Mergolam. He'd come from the east from days of

Olam eternity. He is not a created being, and so

he's our king because he's God. But secondly he is human.

He comes from the line of David, and so God

and man merge in the person of Jesus is not

a king, he is our king. An important event in

a person's life has two essential coordinates of both the

place and the time. Now, if you're trying to meet

somebody and you got the place right, but you don't

have the time right, you don't show up, you don't meet.

If you have the time right, but you have the

wrong place, it doesn't work either. When you show up

on church on Sabbath, does God say we should meet

on the seventh day? Yes? Or no? He does so

it's the right time. But if you go meet in

the parking lot somewhere at the middle of walmart, isn't

the right place. See Jesus meet in the synagogue, the

place of gathering. We come in holy assembly to the

place on time, and God and us we meet together.

It's called worship. That scaredycat king would know when the

true king had come to Bethlehem the time and place

to be right, but not to worship, but rather to kill.

Look at verse seven, than had summoned the wise men

secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared.

Now there's evidenced in verse seven that the scribes and

the priests had looked the skies over. They were aware

of what had happened. He wasn't they were. They had

noticed that little star in the east, moving in the

direction of Jerusalem. The difference between these fake religious leaders

and the magnificent Magi is born out in the context

the magnificent Magi followed the star in the east, why

to find the new born king. They left the land

of magic seeking a holy spirit Bible directed answer to

their spiritual needs. But the fake religious leaders, and let's

face it, is there such a thing as a fake

religious leader. Now. One of the indicators are that it

could care less what the Bible says. A fake religious

leader is a politician rather than a person of faith.

A fake religious leader is not well to surrender their

lives to Jesus, but rather to control others by means

which are manipulative. That's the kind of people we found

in Jerusalem when the Magi showed up. These fake religious

leaders had studied the scriptures, they had noticed the star,

but they had no intention of letting the star and

the scriptures change their lives. They were more concerned with

worldly affairs than heavenly events, with security, with political security,

rather than salvation for others. The Greek word for a

peer used in Matthew two seven star peered, is the

same Greek. It is the Greek word phanaros. The verbus

phanara oh. It is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew

word mara. Why don't you practice that word mare with me? Ma?

If I could hear it be music mayars maray. And

the word mare means to appear that which is saynes

vision appearance, and that word is used in the one

time prophecy in the Book of Daniel that points to

the coming of Jesus Christ, a four hundred and ninety

year time prophecy of seventy weeks of years, where each

one of the four hundred ninety years, or excuse me,

each one of the four to ninety days represents an

actual year in prophetic time. It starts in the autumn

four fifty seven b C with the decreed of restoring

Bill Jerusalem until Mashiachnageede, until Messiah Prince. There will be

seven week weeks forty nine years later four to eight

b C. And then sixty two weeks no year zero

eighty twenty seven, and then the last seven the last

week of seven years. Is very clear in day On

nine twenty four that in that week God would put

an end to sin. God would bring in everlasting righteousness.

To day On nine twenty four, he would atone for iniquity.

In the Greek in the Hebrew language, it's not the iniquity,

it's all iniquity, because there's no definite article. And excuse

me the Hebrew. He would have universal salvation to bring

in everlasting righteousness. And then it says in the middle

of that week of seven years, Messiah would be cut

off and have nothing. And then of course out of

that comes the new Covenant in Daniel nine twenty seven,

he would confirm a covenant for the many. Now, they

should have been studying that Bible prophecy. Now we know

in the second century BC and Cave eleven and the

Dead Sea scrolls that the Jewish people in some places

were studying Daniel nine. They were expecting the Messiah as

the new Melkezadek and Christ comes on time, as Luke

records in his Gospel, they were eagerly waiting for him.

At that time. Some had studied the scripture, but these

religious leaders had not. They were ignorant of the Bible.

They were ignorant of God's They were not in surrender,

so they could understand. The priests and scribes had a

competent four and none of your timeline prophecy. They should

not have doubted the coming of the Lord at that time.

And yet they did because they had set aside Bible

prophecy prophetic truth for nonsense in their leadership styles and

the like. They had another king than God ruling their life.

Who was that king that was ruling over them? Who

do you think his name is? Satan? Exactly? Daniel predicted

in Dale nine twenty six that the people of the

Prince who is to come will destroy the city and

the sanctuary. Now we get all kinds of ideas based

on our own presuppositions as to what that means. Some

people think that people the prince would be the people

of the prince who's the messiah prince, and somehow his

people would destroy the city. Well, they didn't do that, really.

And then others think, well, that could be the Roman

prince Titus who came in, And most of our scholars

think it's the Roman prince Titus. But you know, Jesus

quotes this verse he leaves no doubt as to which

prince he's talking about. Turned to John fourteen thirty, he says,

I will no longer talk much with you, for the

ruler of this world is coming, and he has no

power over me. Now, who is that prince and ruler.

He's quoting Dale nine. Satan he had a death grip

struggle with Lucifer at the cross of Calvary. His two

feet were punctured by Roman nails, the serpent's fangs. Jesus

came to deal with evil. And so here was a

king who was really under the control of Satan. Harod,

the scaredy cat king was controlled by the ruler of

this world, the prince of darkness. Harod was no rule

at all. Really, Satan was his king. Satan ruled his realm.

Satan was king over all those religious leaders. Also, we

really don't have a choice in life, friend. You see,

we must choose a king. You can't say, well, I

don't want anyone in charge of my life. That choice

is itself a decision to let the prince of darkness

rule your life. If you don't decisively choose Jesus in

your life, you choose the enemy of your soul to

be king. When you choose yourself to be your own king,

you're really choosing Satan to be your king. John fifteen eleven.

Jesus says these things. I've spoken to you, that my

joy may be in you, and that your joy may

be full and John ten ten Jesus says, I have come.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

But I have come that they might have life and

have it abundantly. And the abundant life is a life

full of joy. Now, how many of you want to

go to church and hate it? Keep the hands down?

How do you want to go to church and say,

praise God? I encounter Jesus in church today, Praise God.

I came to the newborn King, and he's not some

DEMI God like full. I found God in Christ, in

my relationship. I learned the things of God in the

scriptures and from Jesus, and I found peace in my life.

I am a sinner, and I found salvation not just

keep on sinning, but to turn away from sin and

sin no more because I'm forgiven for real, and I

have the power of the Holy Spirit of my life.

I have God. I am so happy that I'm an

accepted believer, weak though I be strong savior I have.

Jesus says his joy would be full in us. We

don't have joy, we can't manufacture it, but Jesus brings

it into our life. Friend, when you choose Jesus as King,

the new Melkezedec in your life. You have a right

to joy in your life because Jesus is the King

of righteousness, thus the king of joy. And when you

choose yourself as king, you get satan by default. Fear

is what you rightly deserve. So choose Jesus in your life.

Jesus came to deserve that first Christmas as the Prince

of peace, the king of joy. Not just peace from war,

personal peace, personal peace, reconciliation with God, a right now

righteousness that's good enough for the judgment day. Jesus brought it.

Jesus is our righteousness Isaiah nine, verse six. For to

us a child is born, to us a son is given,

and the government will be upon his shoulder. His name

shall be called wonderful counselor. I like that word, wonderful.

You ever had a bad counselor in your life, someone

who gave you advice, but they weren't wonderful. Jesus is

a wonderful counselor who has the right answers for you,

Mighty God. It's one thing to be God. It's nothing

to be the Mighty God, the one with the power

to sort your life issues out. Everlasting Father. Now this

is Jesus, it's talking about here. Everlasting means. As far

as you go back into time, you find God the Father. There.

Christ is one with the Father. He is the everlasting Father.

Because he's one with the Father, he has divine, eternal credentials.

And then what matters to us in our life. He

is the son of God, Prince mean son, Prince of peace.

He didn't come, so God is at war with us.

He came to reconcile us to God Romans five, verse one. Therefore,

being justified by faith, we have peace with God through

our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that verse follows Romans four

twenty five. He was raised for our justification, our acceptance

with God. Christ is the peace child. Our peace with

God is firmly rooted in him. Of the increase of

his government, there shall be no end of the increase

of his government and peace, there shall be no end.

And upon the throne of David and over his kingdom

to establishment and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness.

From this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the

Lord of Host will do this. Now we live in

a world where a lot of young people. They have

a right need for social justice. I get it, and

they are fighting for social justice. Now look at that verse,

real heart, who's the one who wins the cause of

justice in our life? Us are God? As soon as

you take up the sword and you want to force

God's hand, you're not fighting with God. You're going ahead

of God. And so Jesus is the one who will

ultimately set things straight for us. Christ's promise of peace

is here to stay because Jesus is God's personal love

gift who brings the Holy Spirit his peace into our lives.

John fourteen one to three. And then verse twenty f

how many of you know this verse? Let not your

hearts be troubled. Believe in what God believe also in me. Now,

the context of this verse matters. Right before Peter's claiming

he'll never deny the Lord, and sure enough he will.

So what happens to people who fail God, who deny Him,

who mess up in their journey with the Lord? Does

the Lord say, well, you know I called you. You

didn't become perfect enough for me. You're out of the game.

That's not what he's saying. It's a people who struggle,

who make promises who have failed. Christ is saying, don't

give up. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God.

Believe also in me. Why because He's God. And look

at the next verse. In my father's house are many

rooms if they were not so? What I've told you

that I go to prepare a place for you. He's

talking about a planet kingdom in the future. This world

is not good enough. It's the future that's online. And

when I go and prepare a place for you, I

will come again and take you to myself that where

I am you may be also. How many of you

like that promise? He didn't leave to stay. He left

to bring us to God one day now verse twenty seven.

What happens in the meantime as we're struggling on the

road of life, when we don't know how to fix

things in our life. We're looking for the second Coming,

but it's hard right now. Look what he says in

verse twenty seven, peace I leave with you My peace

I give to you. Now. He was facing the cross

when he said this. The Bible says, for the joy

that was set before him, he endured the cross. My

peace I give to you, not as the world gives,

do I give to you, So don't try to get

it from some political party, be it the left or

the right, or something in the middle. You get it

from Jesus. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let

them be afraid. And the word let not is the

Greek equivalent of a strong command. Thou shalt not do this,

Because I am Almighty God in your life. I spoke

the Ten Commandments. I speak peace into your life because

I wield the power of God as the Prince of peace.

Scaredy Cat King asked the magnificent Magi to go to

the place where the child king was born and when

they should find the new born king. Herod commanded them

to inform him so we could come and worship the king.

It sounds so good, but it's just a lie. The

scaredy Cat King was a liar who wanted to kill

his rival king. He was afraid of the king and

of his rule in his life. He was afraid of

a king who is God, who can be worshiped. In

the story, no one finds the true king who doesn't

personally seek out the king for themselves. You can't send

someone over there and find the King. For you. You

must go in search of the King in your life.

Road to Bethlehem as a personal journey in which you

follow the star. You don't get in front of it.

You follow the star Matthew two nine. And when they

heard these things, they went their way, and low the star,

which they had seen in the east, went before them,

till they came to rest over the place where the

child was. You can feel the drama here. Verse ten

goes on to say, and when they saw the star,

they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. Now what do they

do there? What does the text say? Help me with that?

They say, okay, amen, that's kind of nice. What this

rejoicing exceeding with great joy? If you were doing that,

what kind of response would you have in your life?

I mean, the kids do it all the time. They

get up here. Oh goodie, I get a chance to

read the Bible verses this Saturday morning. Yes, you know,

sister Irene here was given the story, and she gave

the you that was misunderstood. They all lined up quickly

so they could pray. And boy, that to me was

the best part of the children's story, because they were

affirming their faith in the Lord. Look, when God has

revealed himself to us, what are we supposed to do?

Just sit there and not respond? Praise the Lord for Jesus.

Hallelujah for Jesus. May God be praised for giving me

in my faithless life at times, Jesus, the righteousness of God,

the Prince of Peace, the joy of Jesus, which I

have no right to on my own. God be praised

Matthew two nine and actually two to ten. When they

saw the star, they rejoiced, exceeding with great joy. If

you want joy instead of fear, then get on the

road this Christmas and follow the star to discover Jesus

in your life. Open that Bible of yours that can

have dust on the shelf, and pray for God's light

to lead the way. I'll recommend another book, the Desire

of Ages. Open that book, and why don't you read

the chapter Emmanuel God with Us. It's chiastic, it has

a supernatural structure embedded in it. And more than that,

and read that wonderful book and watch your heart glow

just like it did for the magi and years gone by.

The Bible records, the star went before them and they

followed the star friend. You can't find Jesus if you're

following yourself for someone else instead of the light that

God provides you in the Bible. You can't find Jesus

if you are leading the way in your own life

and God is not leading you. When you get on

your knees, you humble your heart before God. You are

following the star for yourself. And by the way, if

you're expecting nothing when you arrive. If you come to

the house and Jesus is just a demi God for you,

but he's not what God says, then there's something wrong. No,

Jesus is everything the Bible says. He is everlasting, Father,

mighty counselor Prince of Peace. And when you find Jesus,

you see human eyes looking back at you, and coming

through those human eyes you discern the face of God

God in Christ, Emmanuel, dear heart. God has provided a

house that is full of Jesus, so you can find

Jesus in your life like the Magi did when they

came to the house. What is God's house? Practically speaking,

what is God's house? It's the church. Now. If we're

in a church, and we are, we're in a church

where people love Jesus Christ centered church. If you're in

a church where people love Jesus and you come to church,

who do you meet inside that church? Jesus said, we

can do with the Magi. I did. They didn't come

to the main, They didn't come to the cave. They

came to a house in Bethlehem. This is after the shepherds.

And they walked into the house, which is symbolic of

God's church verse eleven. And going to the house, they

saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down.

And what did they do? You read it for me?

What did they do? While? Shame on them for doing

this of Jesus. But Jesus isn't What is Jesus for

that to happen? You answer the question for me. For

them to worship him, what must he be? Based on

Revelation nineteen ten, he must be God. Then, opening their treasure,

they offered him gifts gold and frank and sense and murr.

The magnificent Magi born in heathen lands worshiping gods that

are demons, came to the house to worship the true King,

the true God. They needed something better than that failed

religious system that had them worshiping hundreds of God God's

here and there for this and that, and they wanted

the truth. In the end, God is won. They needed

to see God. And God was in Christ that first Christmas,

right there, and they saw, and they believed, and they

gave the treasures of their heart to him. They didn't

come empty handed. They came with hearts grateful for Jesus,

dear Heart. This Christmas, let us do the same as

we enter God's house to greet the King. Let us

bring our gifts, our treasure, our hearts, our lives to Jesus.

Let us fall down and worship the new born King

with hearts full of joy, because we have followed the

star to the right house of faith where Jesus can

be found. Now, before we finish here, could I share

a story with you what happened eighteen years ago to

us just before Christmas. I've shared it many years ago

in two thousand and nine. Most of you weren't there

to share this story with you of how we learned

in a struggle to have a deeper confidence at Christ.

At Christmas. Eighteen years ago, just before Christmas, the devil

pulled out the stops to frustrate my family to try

and cause us to choose depression a lack of faith

instead of surrender to God. It was the perfect storm

for our family that year. My computer broke down. Now,

how many of you love your computers? You here, boy?

My computer breaks down, Hugh. My laser printer broke down.

At the same time the printer broke down my electric

It wasn't like a cell phone, really was. It was

an electric appointment book. It was before the cell phones

took over. It broke down. I was eagerly waiting for

my tax return check. I had file taxes late that year,

and the IRS made a big mistake. They sent me

a notice they postponed the check. Instead they wanted money

from me. Later we get sorted out out, but no

Irs bonus check for Christmas. I was gonna buy Christmas

presents with that. On my personal note, I learned that

my little sister had been diagnosed with cancer and her

surgery was scheduled for the next week. And then, to

make matters worse, as we were preparing for the holidays,

my wife was suddenly called out of the house to

visit our church property and there'd been an arson attack

against the house that was on our property. That was okay,

just a little bit from here, and we were scrambling

e the little thing just took us away, and I said, hurry,

honey go. That day, Diana had accidentally left a pot

on the stove with a temperature set on high. Have

you ever done that? Okay, what was my fault? Because

I'm the one that hurried her, and so she did it,

and I claim all the credit from mistake. I came

home six hours later and I found a house filled

with black sut smoke pouring out from the cracks of

the door like a dragon's nostrils, breathing smoke and fire

our house. You could smell the aluminum alloy in the air.

It was toxic to breathe. The smoke detector functioned fine,

but for some reason it chose to ignore the smoke

in the house that day. Probably I failed to put

the batteries in it. Swatting at the smoke, I walked

up to the stove and I saw the tangible effects

of the fire right there on the stove. Black suit

covered the stove, more of it covered the floor just

around it. You could see it, you know, like cobwebs everywhere.

The handle of the pot had burned down, and that

had produced the carbon effected the house, and the carbon

spread throughout the house, leaving carbon strands. As I said,

had looked like spider webs, like Spider Man had been

in our house, or more so, like a Halloween just

before Christmas. When you touched the toxic webs, it smeared

like grease over everything. The dishes were covered with it,

the sofa was covered with it. The carpet was infested

with that black stuff. Our clothes were tainted by it too.

The butter was messed up, black goo in the butter.

The cereal was infected with carbon, and it wasn't chocolate.

My little son, Donald said, Dad, we smell like chain

smokers in this place. As I stood at the stove

looking at the pot, it was glowing red and it

was eerily transparent. I picked it up and moved it

to the side, when suddenly a glowing orange soup poured

all over the stove toward me. It was molten to aluminum.

I came a few inches from serious injury that could

have killed me. I have been told that when molten

aluminum hits your body just goes right through it. It's over.

It just goes through you. When my wife came home,

she walked in, you could just feel the frustration settle

on her face and ender her heart. As her domicile,

her house, her palace, was this yucky, smelly, awful place.

My queen's castle was a massive mess that looked like

a war zone. We worked for two days trying to

clean up the mess. The more we cleaned, the words

it got. You just rub that junk into everything. One

week later, the smell was still there and soot was everywhere,

and we were seriously frustrated with our home. I've never

encountered a mess like that caused by a fire that

I could not clean. I mean, I came into the church.

My first job was a janitor. I do janitary work here,

as you know, which I don't like doing, but I

do it because we got to take care of our church.

You know, it's not too good for the pastor or

anybody else. But man, I couldn't fix this thing. The

mess was a different kind of mess. It was like

a supernatural mess, a dragon mess. At last, we did, Now,

what do you do when you have a mess like that?

What do you do? We called the insurance company. My

insurance nationwide at that time. I was expecting a difficult

time from the adjuster, after all, I'd waited one week

to report the claim. And God be praised that didn't happen.

A Christian angel answered the phone. She said, don't worry,

everything is going to be okay. The lady came to

my house and inspected every inch of the mess. I

was so embarrassed. She hired professional people to clean the

carpets for us. She hired a company to clean the

soot from the vents, even the places were it hid

the secret messes. She brought in a team to wash

every inch of her walls and ceiling from top to bottom,

and the cracks too. Ma'am, I never cleaned my house

from my wife that way she gave compensation or place

the food in the pantry. And what about those smelly

clothes that made us smell like chained smokers. She took

them all away. She called a dry clean company clean

every one of them meticulously to restore our clothing safe

and sound. You're looking at the picture. When they arrived

at our house. They came to us with large green bags.

They looked like Santa's elves. Stuff in our clothes into

those green bags just in time for Christmas. She said,

every place of clothing in your house is coming back clean, guaranteed.

And when we did the math, we got my goodness.

We got new everything, new furniture. You wouldn't believe it.

We got new everything. We did the math, we discovered

the fire was a blessing in every way. Our house

was still standing. But more than this, our house was clean.

Just before Christmas. I just recently did a clean at

my house. My son showed up from Fort Bragg, and

you know, we got to make your wife happy. So

three four days I was exhausted when they showed up.

It takes a lot to do deep cleaning a place. Friends,

the fire did not destroy the house or hurt us

in the fire. The devil had tried to frustrate us

with a series of hard blows that Christmas. But God

sent an angel into her life who kindly and patiently

gave us back our house. Wow, we found God in

our clean house after the fire. Friends, are you trying

to clean your own house this Christmas? Trying to solve

your own problems, trying to go ahead of God and

get things done for God in your life? I thought

of the logo because as I went outside, here was

the dear Angel. You're looking at a picture of her,

and here is she in that van that says nation wide.

I thought of the nationwide logo. Nationwide is on your side?

How that comes? Hey, look, maybe the nationwide adjuster calling

right now? After we said that, someone's phone went off.

That's cool. As I stood at the car of our

angel insurance agent, she handed me a check that I

wasn't expecting. That check matched the amount the RS botched

that year. I couldn't believe it. She put the money

in my hand so we could have Christmas that Christmas.

God was in the details of our lives, with perfect

peace on his side. We had to learn and adjust

and go into the future on God's terms. God was

in the fire and the mess. I'd give him the

devil credit for all this, but God was allowing us

to experience things for our growth. His solution full of

goodness and grace was there all along, even though we

had discovered it at the end. And when we couldn't

see how to fix our house, God was there showing

the way to his house. Because it's more important, you know,

fixing our house is letting our homes, our lives, our

hearts be fixed. And so you're asking a question, why

am I having so much trouble before Christmas? Why is

my life falling apart? Why am I dealing with this?

And that it's because God loves you. He wants you

to be broken so you can be healed. He wants

you to be humbled so you can be exalted. He

wants you to come home to Him. And when we

couldn't see how to fix our house, God was there

showing the way God led, the way. God was the way. Friends,

Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

These are divine titles I am. And like the magnificent Magi,

we learned that Christmas, the true star is Jesus, the

true wealth is Jesus, and that we could settle down

and deal with what comes across our plate without fear,

full of joy, not because we have the answers, not

because we have the money, but because because we have Jesus,

and more profoundly, Jesus has Us. God bless you. May

you choose Jesus full of joy this Christmas