The Master's House - Week 4: Love

Amen, I want to talk to you today, just just briefly,

on the topic of the Christmas anomaly. The Christmas anomaly.

We're gonna start reading in Matthew chapter two, Matthew chapter two.

So if you've got a Bible, go to Matthew chapter two,

start reading in verse one. If you're there, say amen,

not oh MYI all right, the old Mas. Just follow

along on the screen. Matthew chapter two, Verse one. Now,

after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea, and the

days of Herod the King, behold, wise man, 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 have come

to worship him. When Herod the King heard this, he

was troubled in all Jerusalem with him. And when he

had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the

people together, he inquired of them where Jesus Christ was

to be born.

They said to him in Bethlehem of Judea.

For thus it is written by the Prophet. But you,

Bethlahem and the land of Judah, are not the least

among the rulers of Judah. For out of you shall

come a ruler who shepherd, who will shepherd my people Israel.

Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men,

determined from them what time the star appeared, and he

sent them to Besthlahem, and said, go and search carefully

for the young child, and when you found him, bring

back word to me that I may come and worship him. Also,

when they heard the king, they departed and behold the

star which they had seen in the east. Wept before

them till they came and stood over where the young

child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly

great joy. And when they had come into the house,

they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and

fell down and worshiped him. And when they had opened

their treasures, they presented gifts to him gold, branking, sense.

And murder.

Let's pray, Father, we thank you for your word. It's

the only change agent on the face of the planet.

So I pray right now, Lord, that your word would

take residents deep at the fabric of our being, Lord,

replacing doubt and worry and stress and anxiety, fear and anger,

and all of those things that are contrary to who

you are Lord, bring a harvest of life from your

word in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So these these wise men or magi, these these people

that had been had been studying the heavenlies, searching for

the Christ, looking forward to Jesus, they see this anomaly

in the sky. They see this thing that was out

of place, that shouldn't be where it was, and they

immediately took notice, and they said, this could be that

thing that we're looking for.

This could be the answer.

Now, I personally believe that these men that showed up

were the descendants of those same wise men, those same

magi from Daniel chapter four. When Daniel was interpreting the

dream of King Nebuconezzer. He was able to interpret the dream.

Nebuconezzer came to know the Lord, and as a result,

he began to instruct all of his wise men to

study the prophetic scriptures.

And I believe that the reason.

They saw the star is because they also were looking

forward to the Christ. And we know that they were

in Babylon, which would make this geographically make sense.

And it was quite a journey.

So this star appears, it's the same star that the

shepherd saw. It's the same star that we read about

in all the Christmas stories, the one that is so

elegantly constructed out of tenfold and every kid's Christmas play. Amen,

and hung high up on a stage. And it's that

same star. An anomaly that was out of place, something

that just didn't make sense because it shouldn't be there,

and it wasn't an everyday occurrence. And they begin to

track this anomaly. It shook them to their fabric, and

it moved them from where they were to encounter Jesus.

See, people are curious by nature. We're all curious.

When we see something that doesn't belong, we want to

check it out.

Amen.

You know, it's the start of every good horror movie, right,

there's a creak in.

The basement, and people go and check.

Not me. I locked the door and turn on the

lights and grab a gun. Amen, that's what I do.

I don't go check it out. But most people are

curious by nature. As a matter of fact, they teach

us in communication that one of the greatest tools for

communication is to quickly open a curiosity loop and then

close it as we open another curiosity loop, trying to

keep you attached so that you're always waiting for the

answer to the question that was posed earlier. And it's

why people don't fall asleep when some people communicate, and

they fall asleep when others communicate, because there's no curiosity

that started. There's nothing to keep people looking forward to

an additional answer or something else happening.

We're all curious.

And these men were no different than everybody else even today,

and I believe that people are still searching for those anomalies.

They're still looking for those things that are out of place,

those things that just don't seem to belong. And when

we really study and we really look deeply into these men,

they were people of wealth, and they were people of influence.

They were able to get together an entourage of people

and make what we now know is a two year

journey from where they were.

To find Jesus.

How do we know what was two years because they

told Herod when the star appears.

And then when Herod decides.

That he wants Jesus dead, he kills every baby two

years of age and younger because he knew that that

was the gap, that was the time frame in which

he was born. So the wise men, even though we

even though we show it in every play. They did

not show up the day Jesus was born. They came

two years later. They made a two year journey out

of curiosity. People having wealth and influence in everything that

most people are looking for and striving for in the world. Amen,

they should have been happy where they were. They should

have been in their lazy boy with their feet up, enjoying.

The privilege that they had.

But they were curious because wealth is not everything. The

trappings of the world and the materialism that we see

around us, those are not always the things that people

are looking for because under those things, what people are

literally looking for, what people really what really, what people

really desire, is for that peace of curiosity that's in

them that knows there's something bigger, that there's something more,

something that can bring peace, something that can bring joy,

something that can can get rid of that stress and

that anxiety and all of those things we face. There's

something out there that can meet me deep down at

the fabric of who I am and meet the need

that money and prestige and influence and fame just can't meet.

And these men saw this anomaly and.

They were they were eager to chase after it because

the things that they had just didn't answer the questions

that they had. In Matthew chapter five, verse fourteen, we

read this, you are the light of the word. Now,

this is Jesus talking to a group of people. Jesus says,

he's on the side of a mountain.

He's teaching.

And we've always taught it this way, that there is

a multitude of people, and Jesus is speaking to this

multitude of people.

But when you actually read.

It, what happens is Jesus is on the side of

the mountain and he calls his disciples to him. He

calls his disciples up the mountain, it says, and then

he taught them, the disciples, not the multitudes. The multitudes

were still there waiting because Jesus was a master of

creating a curiosity loop, of building anticipation and introducing anomalies

into people's lives so that they wanted to hear what

those people had to say, because those people were not

like everybody else. And Jesus he calls his disciples up

and he teaches them, and this is what he says.

He says, you are the light of the world, a

follower of Jesus, a disciple. You are the light of

the world. You are the star that appears in the sky.

That's an anomaly.

That people just can't seem to explain.

You are the attention getter.

You are the one that He has chosen to use

to disrupt the natural path of people.

And it may take two years for you.

To shine, but you are making a difference. Come on, somebody,

He says, you're the light of the world.

A city set.

On a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light

a lamp and put it under a basket, but on

a lamp stand and it gives light to all who

are in the house. Let your light so shine before men,

that they see your good works and glorify your Father

in heaven. He says, you are this anomaly, that you

are the light that shines in a dark world, and

people see in you what they don't see another. In

Psalm chapter seventy three, the whole Psalm almost is dedicated

to seeing the wicked prosper, the wicked get their reward,

or those far from God get their reward to have

the wealth and the things that we chase. But then

he says, but those that follow me they have peace.

Those that follow me don't fit in they stand out

because here's the thing. Not just does it happen for

us to be the anomaly, but sometimes we can get

our eyes on the wrong thing, and we follow the

wrong thing, and it leads.

Us into a place that we don't want to go.

Because so many times, when we don't live with gratitude

in our lives and graciousness in our lives, we always

think that other people's blessings are better than our blessing,

other people's things are better than our things. And when

we get caught in that comparison trap where we're always

looking at others rather than just simply looking at God

and his plan for our life, then we get caught

up and we find ourselves on a journey that doesn't

take us to Christ, but takes us away from Him.

So just like we are that guiding force.

That people see, Look, there's people in your life that

they watch. How you let me just let me just

talk to parents for a second. How many of you

every time you go and pull out your kids go nuts?

It's like, what in the world has happened? My child

is like possessed? Amen, Listen, I have great kids. But

sometimes we went to we went to dinner one time

with his family and we were sitting there and Lexi

was running around the table picking French fries up off

the ground and eating them.

And everybody was freaking out.

Everybody was like, she's eating she's eating food off the floor,

She's eating food that came off somebody else's table.

And I was just like, oh, yeah, okay, but stop her.

And I'm like, why she's eating free? I just kid.

I didn't say that. I didn't say that, but the.

People we were sitting with said, oh my gosh, our children.

Are eating off the floor.

And I just casually and calmly said, you know what's okay.

The Lord's got them, the Lord will protect them.

Don't worry about it.

And I just reached over and I said, baby, don't

eat them nasty French fries.

Here. You got clean French fries right here. And this

is what she did.

She took the French fries and she dropped it on

the floor and reached down and picked it up and

ate it. But you know, I just had a peace

about the situation.

I just had a piece.

In that moment that it didn't worry me, it didn't

bother me. Now I didn't feed her off the floor

all the time, but if it happened, the Lord had

her come on somebody, And people are watching how you

react in those moments when your kids lose, and if

you react led by the Holy Spirit and complete peace

and with a wisdom that most people just simply don't have,

but it's divinely inspired, suddenly people take note and they

begin to say, Hey, that person handled that situation differently than.

I handle that situation.

Or when your boss calls you in and for no reason,

he just blesses you out and you think you're just

about to get fired, and people can hear him yelling

through the door, and you just thank him for the

opportunity to continue to work there, and you walk out

and you're smiling, and you just say, hey, I learned

something I didn't know before, and I'm just gonna I'm

gonna be a better employee. Now people begin to see, oh,

there's something different about them than there is everybody else,

because I would cuss that guy out. See, God is

depending on you to be those anomalies in the world.

He's depending on you.

To be the light of the world because he's no

longer hanging the Northern star to lead people to a

manger because we don't serve a baby and a manger anymore.

We are now.

Saved by a resurrected savior and the potential that we have,

the opportunity we have, especially during this season when everything

is so rampant, everything is so out of control, and

everything is so loud, that we can live our lives

at a steady, quiet, easy pace that everybody takes note

of that when everybody else is screaming, How am I

gonna provide Christmas for my children?

How am I gonna do this? How am I gonna.

Make it oh next year? How am I gonna pay rent?

How am I gonna lost my job? I lost somebody

and we're just running, and everything says.

You need to give up.

This is what scripture says, Gay, though I walk through

the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear

no evil because Jesus You're with me. You're Rod, and

your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before

me in the presence of my enemies.

You'll anoint my head with all My cup runs over.

You know, you may look and you may see twenty

seven cents in your bank account, but your cup is

running over. Because you have a peace that passes all

to human understanding. You may have gotten a bad report

from the doctor, but you know that's not the end.

That's just the beginning of a testimony that he's building

in you. And it doesn't matter what happens. He's got you,

and he's moving you, and he's leading you. And wherever

we end up, and whatever we do, we know that

it's better be God's plan and we're going to be

able to rest in it, and we're going to be

able to grab hold of it, and He's going to

do something for us that we couldn't do for ourselves. Surely,

goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of

your life, and you shall dwell in the House of

the Lord forever. And if we live our lives that way,

we are that northern star that's guiding people, that anomaly

in a dark world that people are looking for because

they know what they have is not the answer. They

just can't seem to grab the answer. They can't figure

out the answer because they never read about it in

a textbook. Listen, you can't learn him into your heart.

You have to trust him into your heart. You'll never

be able to figure out God, because he is so

much wiser and so much more and so far ahead

of us in every single way that we just have

to trust.

The plan and the past and.

Live in the peace that he's resented, knowing that when

we get there we'll know it. And until we do,

he's providing and he's guiding, and he can send manna

into your life. He can kick up the wind and

blow some quail. If you need to buy the meat,

He'll throw a stick in the water and make the

bitter water pure. He's able to provide for you, and

he will use you to be the light of the

world so that other people can get to know that

man that was once a baby and a manger that

we celebrate on December. I think he was born probably

in August, but December the twenty fifth.

That's his Christmas present to you, is that he wants

to use you. He wants to use you. Clay, you

guys can come and get ready, you know.

I I feel like this last year I've been kind

of running at fifty percent. It just seems like one

thing after another, just it's been a heavy year. Amen

twenty twenty five has been a heavy year, and it

just seems like that that I haven't been to I

haven't led at one hundred percent like I normally do

that on a good day, I might hit seventy percent,

and then most of the time it's fifty percent. And

I look back as we get to the end of

the year, we start looking back at all the things

God's done. And I realized something that was absolutely soul

shaking to me is that our church has probably gone

further in this year than any one year previously. And

I began to talk to the Lord and say, hey, Lord,

you know I it's it's as if you didn't need me.

It's as if you didn't need me for ministry to function.

It says, if you didn't need me for the church

to continue to move and to work and listen, we

have fed more people than we've ever fed. We've helped

we've helped in schools more than we've ever had. I know,

in two Sundays, we got vision of Sunday coming up

and trying.

Not to give it all the way, but but but,

and I started saying, Lord, it's like you didn't need me.

And this is what the Holy Spirit whispered to me

deep in my heart. He said, I don't need you.

I want you.

Said, I don't need you, I want you. I want

you where you are for this season and time because

you'll just allow me. And this is the word to

shine through you. Church, Just let Him shine through you.

Just be that navigational beacon for other people that are searching,

that are lost, that are hurting and broken. Let people

into your herb and brokenness so so they can experience

God with you and through you.

He doesn't need you, he wants you. He wants you

because you're his and he is yours.

If you're here today and you've never asked Jesus to

forgive you of your sins, you never ask him to

be your lord.

You're far from him, and you know you are.

You don't have to stay far from him. You can

come and take a knee by the manger of the

baby that's born, that was born for the purpose.

Of dying for your sins.

This day you can be set free from the bondage

and stress of sin, and He'll make you.

A light in the world.

And all you have to do is trust him with

every head bowed and every eye closed. If you're here

today and you want to ask Jesus into your heart.

You want to surrender your life to him, ask him

to forgive you of your sins and be the lord

of your life.

Just slip up your hand and say, that's my pastor,

pray for me.

I want to give my life to Jesus today. You

want to surrender everything to him.

Just put it up and put it right back down. Amen. Amen,

there's somebody else. Amen. Amen. Every eye open, everybody stand

to your feet. But a couple of my altar a

couple of my altar workers, come down. My altar team,

come down. Just a couple of you guys.

And as the band sings this song, if you raised

your hand that said I want to ask Jesus to

forgive me my sins, be the Lord of my life.

I'm gonna count to three, and I want you to

step out from where you are.

Listen. I know it's hard. I don't want you to.

Step out from where you are and make your way

to the front, and they're gonna pray for you to

receive Jesus as your savior. As soon as the band

starts singing, the altars are open for anything else you

may need. But I'm gonna count to three. If you

raise your hand and said I want to be saved today.

I want you to step out and move one, two, three,

step out and move right now past Quay four.