Expectations of the Wise - The King is Coming

Isaiah 96 says, For unto us a child shall be born, to us a son

shall be given. I'm reading out the amplified

and we, you know, we say this often here, a child is born, but

a son is given. Notice a son is not born because

the son always existed, because the son is God himself, the Son

of God. So a child is born, a son is

given, and the government shall rest on his upon his shoulders.

And so Jesus Christ did not come to bring a religion called

Christianity, but came to bring the Kingdom back so that we

could function in that Kingdom. Hallelujah, it is a government.

Thank you Jesus, it's not a religion.

And so the government shall rest upon his shoulders.

The shoulders are located in the body.

Jesus is the head of the church, so his government is expressed

through his body, which is the church.

Glory to God. So we are the government of God,

Amen, because we are in a government and the government

shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called

wonderful counselor, mighty God, the everlasting Father, Prince

of Peace. Verse 7 says, and they'll be

shall be no end to the increase of his government.

His government's growing. I said it's growing.

There are more citizens being added to his government.

Hallelujah. Aren't you glad you are a

citizen of his government called the Kingdom of God?

So there'll be no end to the increase of His government or of

peace. He shall rule on the throne of

David and over His what Kingdom? To establish it, to uphold it

with justice and righteousness from that time forward and

forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts

will accomplishes. This is something that he will

accomplish. It will come to pass.

Say it to come to pass. Say it will come to pass and you

want to be in the Kingdom. You want to know that your first

citizenship rights or that of the Kingdom of heaven or really

the Kingdom of God, that citizenship is way more

important than the natural born citizenship of the passport you

hold today. Amen.

And so when you were born from above or born again, you became

a dual citizen. If you weren't one before, if

you were a dual citizen, you received a third one or fourth,

whatever it may be. And but that citizenship is

premier. It is the one that we are to

acknowledge first. All right.

And so this child was bringing a government, a government that

had global implications of global proportions.

This child, you know, if we don't watch out, we see this

child in a Manger. And it's been, you know, so

marketed and commercialized in the United States, so much so

that the very nativity is not even biblically accurate, right?

It just is easier to package it that way.

But yet because people aren't in the word, they assume that on

the day Jesus was born, not only was Joseph and Mary there with

some shepherds, but the three wise men showed up as well.

And we know when we read Scripture, three wise men were

not there the day he was born. That is not biblically accurate.

All right? And So what we do is we kind of

have commercialized, we've we've consolidated and we do not grasp

the full measure. So much so that we've

commercialized this nativity scene that we now have picked up

doctrine to say that Jesus was so poor that he was born in a

Manger. Again, that's not biblically

accurate, but it wasn't that Mary and Joseph were poor and

could not afford a hotel, is that there were no rooms for

them to be able to pay for because of a census that the

Roman government had done in the land.

That they were having to come back into a territory they did

not live in and they had to find a place to stay.

But there was such a crowd there.

By the time they arrived, there was no more room, so the only

place they could go was the Manger.

And are the, you know, the the stable because and they needed

to get there because Mary is her water has broken.

It's time to give birth and you can talk to any Mama.

When the water breaks, you better get back because

something's happening. Are you hearing me?

It reminds me of Reverend Marty Blackwelder, his wife.

Her water broke at the house. And so it took a little time for

the EMT. And the next thing you know, the

baby's coming. And he's on the phone and they

said, you know, Mr. Blackwelder, you're going to have to deliver

this baby. He said, no, no, no, I cannot do

this. He said, well, we're going to do

it because we're not there and the child is coming.

And so he delivered one of his own children at the house.

We understand there. You didn't have to have a

hospital back in the day, right? It's not technically required.

OK. Again, in our society, we think

if you're pregnant, you always have to have me at the hospital.

You know what? People were doing this without

doctors a long time ago. And, you know, some can do them

even still to this day. Some countries are still doing

it this way, people. All right, so this child's

coming and they're like, we just need to get her in a soft place

and the state. It's not about being broke.

It's not about Jesus's humble means of poverty is not act

biblically accurate. Jesus was not in a poor family,

was not in a broke family at all.

Hallelujah. So when we see the

commercialization of today, we really lose the scope.

And then when we don't realize that the Bible's about a king,

his Kingdom and his royal offspring, then we really lose

the significance of the child that was born.

Because the child that was born had a direct assignment.

And his direct assignment was a few things.

One, it was to destroy the works of the devil.

Hallelujah. It was to bring salvation or

redemption back to mankind in order to put him back in a place

that he was originally spoken to be in Hallelujah.

And so this child brings the government.

For God said in the beginning, let us make man in our image

according to our likeness, and let them rule or have dominion.

So Jesus coming as a child to bring a government is so that we

can be elevated back to the position of dominion and ruling

and reigning because Jesus is the king of who are those kings?

We are those kings. So let's look at this account

because we need to understand there's expectations of the wise

and this is applicable for us today.

And so let's pick up in Matthew chapter 2.

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

Now this is after Mary and Joseph have gone to Bethlehem in

order to have the baby. They're, they're still there,

but they're, well, I mean, they're, they went there, right?

And so this child was born there in this Manger in the stables.

The shepherds have already come and visited and have left.

They are no longer hanging out in the Manger.

All right. They are now located in a home.

And it says in Matthew 2, one through 7, I'm going to read out

the new Living translation. It says Jesus was born in

Bethlehem in Judea during the reign of King Herod, and about

some time about that time some wise men from eastern lands

arrived in Jerusalem asking where is the newborn king of the

Jews? We saw his star as he it rose,

and we have come to worship him. King Herod was deeply disturbed

when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem, and he

called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of

religious law and asked, Where is the Messiah supposed to be

born? In Bethlehem, in Judea?

They said, For this is what the prophet wrote.

And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judea, are not least among

the ruling cities of Judea, for a ruler shall come from you who

will be the shepherd of my people, Israel.

Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and

he learned from them the time when the star first appeared.

The first thing I want to do is bring your attention to verses 2

and verse 4 and verse 2. It it mentions that the wise men

said we have come or asked where is the newborn king of the Jew?

This word king is literally one who has absolute authority with

a particular in it within a particular area and is able to

convey this power and authority to a successor.

This is what King Herod heard when they said, where is the

newborn king of the Jews? That's what he heard.

Notice the wise men did not come and say where's the savior?

Now He is savior. Don't get me wrong, He is

savior. But they are looking for a

government. They're looking for government

and they're looking for one who has absolute rule, has absolute

rule, has absolute rule, and can transfer.

Come on in verse 4, Herod upon hearing about this one who would

rule in absolute power equates it with a term or a title that

is within their culture, the Jewish people.

And that is when he pulled in the teachers and the the

Pharisee scribes, you know, the religious leaders.

He said where does it it say the Messiah will be born?

So notice he heard that we want to know where the newborn king,

the one who has absolute power and will rule and reign, where

is he? And he said, well, that can only

be the Messiah. Are you hearing me?

So when we hear Messiah, we must hear in the same ears that King

Herod heard. Messiah is by the Greek called

the Anointed One. Now what does that even mean?

Well, this is what you did to kings.

When kings came into power, they would anoint them with oil

Hallelujah. We see this in the nation of

Israel itself that when they rejected God in first Samuel

1 Samuel 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8, they went to the prophet.

The nation said we want to see our own king like the other

nations and the prophets like you do not want to do this.

God is our king. He's our ruler.

He's the one who allow who overcomes our enemy.

You do not want a man, but they said no, we want a man.

So he goes into prayer talking to the Lord, the creator of

heaven and earth and they said, listen, they're wanting a man

king. I know this is strong and God

says to him in the 8th chapter of First Samuel to the prophet,

he said give the people what they want, for they've not

rejected you, but they've rejected me as their king.

So he gave them a man of their own design and of their own

imagination. That's why Saul was taller than

everyone else. He was bigger than everyone

else. He seemed he looked kingly, but

him coming alone wasn't good enough.

So the Lord said, put an anointing on him, because if he

rules without an anointing, he'll be no different than the

rest of the nations that I do not want you all to even be a

part of. I don't want you to look like.

So Samuel anointed him with oil, and the Spirit of the Lord came

upon Saul, and he began to prophecy like the prophets.

Are you hearing me? So when we talk about the

Messiah, they're talking about the one that is anointed by God,

the creator of heaven and earth. This is the one we're talking

about. And don't you know Jesus was

anointed? For Jesus said after he was

baptized in the Jordan of John, and he raised him up and the

heavens opened up and the Holy Spirit came upon him without

measure. And he said, the Spirit of the

Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me.

Glory to God, so he is the Messiah, he is the king, the

ruler with absolute authority. This child is born, this sun is

given, and the Kingdom is back in the planet.

Hallelujah. And so we recognize then that

these wise men, which are honestly just astrologers, they

are astrologers. They study the stars, but these

are some people that are very educated in from the government

that they're coming from. They are men of renown, OK, they

are well respected, but yet they are studiers of star of stars

because of something spoken in their land 500 years ago.

So we have a group of people who have come into Jerusalem.

Now let me just go back and just give you a little quick little

point here. It says that in verse three that

Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this and so was

everyone else. One translation says they that

they were in fear and all of Jerusalem.

Now why would the whole city be afraid of three people?

Nowhere in scripture doesn't say there were only three wise men.

The only thing that Scripture says is it names three types of

gifts given frankincense, right, Myrrh and gold.

And I don't know why we think it came a little box.

In fact, there are some scholars of which Rick Renner, who was a

scholar, believes, especially if you receive his huge book that

he put out concerning the birth of Christ.

He goes into great detail how these individuals that were

coming from the East had such treasure with them because they

are giving to the king of kings. And there are scholars that that

if you study history, when you come before a king, you bring a

gift and they ranked kings. Some kings weren't as more

powerful. And how do you know how powerful

a king is really? It was demonstrated by their by

their robe, because their robe demonstrated their territory

because typically, traditionally speaking, that if a king went in

and conquered a land, they would take the robe off of the king

that they conquered and they would sow it into their train.

And so the longer their train it was, the more territories.

This is why the Bible says that when the Lord came into the

temple, his train filled the temple.

Whoa, glory to God. So when you are ranking kings,

you're bringing gifts based upon it.

And these wise men knew we are coming to the King of Kings.

We're coming to the one with absolute authority that the

throne that's going to be established forever and it'd

never have an end to it. We're coming to the government

that's taken over the planet. We're coming to bring our

allegiance to the one that we want to submit to for all

eternity. What kind of gift do you think

those people were bringing? Well, historians and scholars

alike believe unlike the United States version, they came with

an entourage. In fact, an army would have went

with them to protect that which they were bringing.

In fact, Rick Renner says that Joseph of Arimathea was actually

related to Jesus and the reason he was so wealthy is because he

became the caretaker of the wealth that came to Jesus When

the wise men showed up because Mary and Joseph had to flee all

of a sudden to Egypt because King Herod wanted to kill their

child and he became the caretaker of the estate.

The Bible is very clear about Joseph Arimathea, that he was an

extremely wealthy man. Hallelujah.

Are you hearing me? And so they were in an uproar

because this army comes up with a group of people that are

bearing gifts. They list the wealthiest or the

probably the most expensive, but many believe that they probably

brought fabrics and all kinds of other stuff to the king as well.

Now why are they coming? Why is a group of people showing

up well 500 years earlier in the land of Babylon?

Daniel chapter 2 verses 37 to 45 is the interpretation of a dream

Daniel 2:37–45

that he gave to King Nebuchadnezzar.

This is after the nation of Israel has been conquered by

Babylon, and Babylon has been able to conquer Israel because

Israel has been rebellious to God and time and time again He

has wanted them to serve Him. He has given them His Word for

them to serve Him. He's already promised to them

that if they obeyed His word, they would be blessed coming in

and blessed going out. They'd be the head, not the

tail. Their enemy would come before

them one way and flee before them seven ways.

However, if they did not obey, then these curses would come

upon them, and the curses came upon them.

And God is a God of His word. And so after much

long-suffering, after much mercy, after much patience, God

had to enact His word concerning disobedience to the nation of

Israel. And they were conquered by

Babylon. And so Daniel, who is one of the

young men from Israel that was captured and became one of the

wise people in the courts of King Nebuchadnezzar, he has a

dream and he needs it to be interpreted, but he will not

tell people the dream. And since the wise people at at

the hearing of this decree said give us the dream, he said, no,

you interpret it for me because I need to know that you know

what it is so that I can trust your interpretation.

They said, no king has ever asked this.

It's impossible. Only God could do this.

He says, then why do I need you? And so he issued A decree.

Unless someone can't do what I'm asking, then all the wise men

die. That includes Daniel and his

three friends that we know as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

OK. And so they come to Daniel to

seize him. And his friends, in order to be

executed, of which now Daniel says to the soldier, what's the

haste, What's going on? I wasn't there, can you tell me?

So he relays, he said, go tell the king, I'll bring the

interpretation. Now he said that by faith.

And he said that by faith, because he believed that the God

of covenant, the God of covenant would deliver his nation and him

in that nation. And so he appealed to God for

the dream and the interpretation of which God did so.

All right. And so here he is standing

before Nebuchadnezzar. He gives him the dream.

This is the interpretation starting in verse 37.

He said, O king, you are the king of kings.

Now this is of notice. It's a little K, not a capital

K. He is the King of kings of the

earth at that time. All right, He says, to whom the

God of heaven has given the Kingdom the power, the strength,

and the glory. In essence, He said.

He's saying because the Father had to step away from the nation

that he loves, that He wants to see blessed and wants them to

acknowledge them. But because they've gone after

other gods, he has to step back, and he's given you the ability

to overtake them. He goes on to say in verse 88,

And whomever the and whoever, the sons of men dwell, or the

beasts of the field or the birds of the sky, he has given them

into your hands and has called you to rule over them all.

You are the head of gold. After you though, there will

rise another Kingdom inferior to you, then another 1/3 Kingdom of

bronze which will rule over all the earth.

Then there will be a fourth Kingdom as strong as iron in so

much as iron crushes and shatters all things.

So like iron that breaks into pieces, it will crush and break

all these in pieces. So these are your succession of

kingdoms, not religions. We're talking about governments

here, all right. This is what he saw, Verse 41,

in that you saw the feet and toes partly of Potter's clay and

partly of iron. It will be a divided Kingdom,

and it will have, but it will have in it the toughness of iron

in so much as you saw the iron mix with comic clay.

Verse 42 As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly

of pottery, so some of the Kingdom will be strong, and part

of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron

mixed with common clay. They will combine with one

another in the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one

another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.

But verse 44, in those days, say in those days, in those days, in

the days of those kings, OK, the God of heaven will set up a

Kingdom which will never be destroyed, which will what?

Which will what never be destroyed.

And that Kingdom will not be left for another people.

It will crush and put it into all these kingdoms, but it

itself endures forever. It itself endure forever.

He goes on in so much as you saw that a stone was cut out of the

mountain without hands. Who is that stone?

Come on, who is that stone? Who is that stone made without

hands? Jesus Christ is a man without a

father in the earth. He was born of the Virgin Mary.

He was made without hands. The Holy Spirit came upon a

virgin and caused the child to be born.

The Son was placed within that skin suit.

And we see this rock, this cornerstone, right?

And that it is what cut out a mountain without hands, and it

crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, the gold.

Whatever Kingdom exists, his Kingdom reigns, says the great

God made known to the king of what will take place in the

future, so that the dream is true and its interpretation is

trustworthy. Hallelujah.

And this was spoken over 500 years ago.

It was so profound in the spirit that it impacted ungodly people,

pagans that worshipped other gods.

It was so impactful the legacy and lineage of Daniel's name,

the man of God who went through multiple administrations and

kingdoms. So powerful was this word that

it could not leave the oracles of their writings that 100 years

came and went and and astrologers are wise men

believed was longing for was looking for was looking for this

Kingdom that Daniel talked about.

But they lived and died and did not see it and passed it on to

the next generation. And the next generation picked

it up and began to look and was looking into the stars and

looking into the sky and was waiting for this moment of when

is this child going to show up. And they lived and they died,

and they passed it on to the next generation.

And then then a third, the 300 years, 400 years, 500 years.

Then all of a sudden, this same tradition of a belief that had

been written, these people look up and lo and behold, a night

came and the stars were alive and the Star of Bethlehem took

shape in the earth and they knew.

He is here, He's here, He's here.

That Kingdom has arrived. Oh my gosh, they have arrived.

So how can we learn these things from the wise?

How can we have into our today the expectation of the wise?

Well, the wise believe that the king will come according to what

is written and spoken concerning him.

Do you still believe that the king is coming?

Are you living every day? And let me say something, just

because people have believed that and have died does not mean

it's not true. And there is a generation that

will see the king coming in a cloud.

Hallelujah. What's that say in Hebrews

Hebrews 11:1

Chapter 11, verses 1 and 2? Now faith is the assurance of

things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

For by it men of old gained approval.

They believe God, it is written word, they believe God of the

things spoken through the prophets and the law.

Verse 13 says all these died in faith, without receiving the

promises, but having seen them, and having welcomed them from a

distant, and having confessed that they were strangers and

exiles on the earth. For those who say such things,

make it clear that they were seeking a country of their own,

and indeed, if it had been thinking of that country which

they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.

But as it is, they desired a better country, that is, a

heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to

be called their God, for He had prepared a city for them.

Hallelujah, they never saw it. Verse 39 says, and all these,

having gained approval through their faith, did not receive

what was promised. They were believing the King's

coming, the King's coming, a child's going to be born, their

Messiah is going to be here, the King's going to come.

And they lived and died with this great expectation of faith

that the, the King of kings, the Lord of Lords, the Savior of our

lives, he's coming. And they lived and died in

faith. And because they lived and died

in faith, they gave them the right to be in paradise, to be

where the righteous dead live. And then the king came.

He was born, he was raised, He went to the cross, he went to

the grave. And all those that never saw his

coming were in that place called Paradise, and he led captivity

captive. Whoa, glory to God.

And they all came up out of the grave and ascended with Him into

the heavens and now are in the heavens as witnesses to us.

And don't you know, they're saying be a wise one and expect

his return, 'cause he's coming, He's coming again, He's coming

again. Well, I know Grandmama and great

grandma and great grandpa, they were believing that and they

came and went. Jesus didn't come, but I'm

telling you, there's a generation.

There's a generation. But if you're not keeping your

eyes up, if you're not keeping your eyes focused on the signs,

you're going to miss some things.

Are you hearing me? Which brings us to our next

point. The wise keep watch and are

waiting for the signs of his appearing.

You know, the Bible has all kinds of things about the return

of Christ, not only of the catching away of the church, but

of his second return where he'll put his foot down on a mount of

olives and he splits that thing wide open.

And man, he comes physically to rain on the earth for the first

thousand years of eternity. Are you hearing me?

But there's a day that will be caught up together with him in

the air, and you have to know the signs.

And if you're being wise like wise men, you can't be saying,

well, they've said that people came out.

They believe that. You know what?

I don't know if it's gonna, if that's where you're at, then

you're not looking. But a wise person's got

expectation. A wise person's always looking

to the sun. Look what it says.

In Luke chapter 21, verses 25 to 28, he said there'll be signs in

Luke 21:25–28

the sun and the moon and the stars on the earth, dismay among

nations in perplexity at the roaring of the Seas and the

waves. Men feigning from fear and the

expectation from things which are coming upon the world for

the powers of heaven will be shaken.

Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power

and great glory. But when these things begin to

take place, what's it say? Straighten up, lift up your

heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

Man, if here's never been a time, there is the time that

things are happening in the earth right now.

That the child that was born, that we are celebrating this

season is on the verge of hearing a trumpet and coming

back in a cloud. Whoa, Hallelujah, glory to God.

Is this the expectation of the wise?

You bet. The wise are hungry and thirst

and are like looking. It can be tomorrow, it can be in

my lifetime. It can happen.

Maybe I'll never put on death. Maybe I'll never see a grave.

Maybe I'm the one who's going to put on immortality in a moment,

in the twinkling of an eye, because all the signs are saying

it and I'm watching. That's what the wise do.

And that's what these wise men did.

They did not let the future generations of expectations that

did not see it come to fruition hamper their expectation.

They refused to be named among those who lacked faith.

They refused, as we could say it in modern day description, is

that their love did not wax cold.

They stayed confident and bold. The king is coming again and I'm

going to see the king. I'm going to see the king.

Well, the wise then also prepare to visit the king.

Man, are you in preparation? Well, what's it say concerning

that? Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 to

Hebrews 10:24–25

25. The amplified says it this way.

This is preparation for a visitation with the king, he

says. So let us consider thoughtfully

how we may encourage one another to love and to do good deeds,

not forsaking our meeting together as believers for

worship and instruction, as is the habit of some, but

encouraging one another. And all the more say all the

more and all the more faithfully as you see the day of Christ's

return approaching. Well, if you're a wise person,

you're looking at the signs. You're like, my gosh, man, I

believe what has been written about him.

I believe what has been spoken by the prophets.

I believe what Jesus said about himself.

I believe he's coming. And I have great expectation.

I'm watching the signs. I'm looking at the signs.

I'm seeing them and they're ever present.

And you know what? I need to be in preparation for

this visitation. I need to stay in preparation.

I am not forsaken. The assembly, another

translation says it this way. Very powerful.

Another translation says discover creative ways to

encourage others and to motivate them towards acts of compassion,

doing beautiful works as expressions of love.

Stop right there for a second. What does the Bible tell us?

The Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 2 that we are born

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

again, not of our own works, lest any man should boast, but

of the gift of God. It's a gift to us.

It's free to us. In the context it did, we did

not earn it, or could we do anything of our own personal

nature to be right with God? But Christ, while we were yet

sinners, died for us. And so by the grace of God

through faith, we become born again.

And that's verses 8-9 of Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

But there's a verse 10 and the reason says that we are born

again. The reason why this free gift

has been given to us, that we received the grace of God

through faith to become active in our lives so that we can

become children of God is so that we can be workmanship

created for good works. We are a demonstration of our

Father in heaven by our actions of how we live and navigate in

the earth. We are preparing for the visit

of the King by always hearing from the home country through

our assembling of ourselves together and all the more and

then encouraging. Why?

Because the Lord says times are going to get so tough that it

will discourage you to want to continue to walk in the

direction you are. But don't be those people.

Don't be ones that when the Lord comes back, will they find faith

or when the Lord comes back, many hearts will wax cold.

No, you want to be the one that's pressing, the one that's

wise, the one that's in preparation, the one that's

hearing. Because again, you can't even

know the signs if you're not hearing about the signs.

Listen, the signs will take care of themselves.

But if you're not participating, then you might not be

participating. Faith is a participation.

It's tangible. God knows if you're in faith or

not, and the knowledge of God isn't faith because the demons

know God and tremble, yet do not live by faith.

In fact, the bet the devil can quote scripture probably better

than most people in this room, but he can't live by that which

he quotes. So quoting Scripture does not

mean you have faith. Faith is tangible.

It's a substance. God knows when it's active, and

only you can activate it. He gives you His word, which

produces it, but you have to activate it.

All right, so wise men are prepared.

Let's go back to this verse here.

We're going to stir each other, encourage each other.

Listen, we got to be here in the house to hear from the home

country because the King's coming.

Verse 25 says it this way. This says this is not the time

to pull away and neglect meeting together as some have formed the

habit of doing, because we need each other.

In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to

encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day

dawning. I've said to our staff for

years, it's going to be more church and not less because I

believe that he could come in my lifetime.

And if I believe that, then I need opportunities for us to

meet a symbol to to navigate our lives, to receive instruction,

to know how to live godly in a wicked and perverse generation.

Oh, glory to God, we've been made righteous.

We've been sanctified in the Spirit, but we got to renew our

minds to walk this thing out. Hallelujah and wise the wise.

They prepare for the visit with the King.

Are you hearing me man? I think our modern day

Christianity is not ready for the King.

Now why do I say that? Because his own nation was not

prepared for they had missed that he would be the suffering

servant. Yet it was in the scripture.

All the while Paul articulate would articulate this so

eloquently, a study of the law. You would not know the law

better than Paul or Saul of Tarsus.

Yet when he was confronted with Jesus, all of a sudden he saw

the lamb that was slain. He saw the big picture that it

was beyond just his own nation. It opened up to the world that

this rock that would made without hand would crush the

foot of that idol and all those other governments.

And then it goes on and says it became a big mountain that went

over the whole planet. The Kingdom of God is a global

takeover that only those citizens will remain forever

with Him and His Kingdom. Amen.

The next thing that we can learn is that the wise seek the king.

It says in Matthew 633, it says but seek first His Kingdom and

His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

If we would just do that, then everything that the world or the

Gentiles are seeking after it just comes to us.

It shows up as a byproduct. The world has made it their

effort to obtain wealth, fame, notoriety, success.

Yet the Bible tells the wise those who are children, he said

just seek the Kingdom and and righteousness.

My way of doing things and everything else that everybody's

seeking and putting all their effort in.

It'll just come to you what you need so that you can accomplish

the assignment I have for you. I'll bring it to you.

No worries, no stress, just trust.

Just trust. Just trust.

If you're worrying, it's a trust problem because it's sure not a

God problem. Are you hearing me?

James 121 to 22 says it this way.

So get rid of all uncleanliness and all that remains of

wickedness and with a humble spirit receive the word of God,

which is implanted, actually rooted in your heart, which is

able to save your soul. Now you're born again, you've

been made righteous. Everything within you is there,

ready to be released if you will recognize what it is within your

mind, your soul realm, your emotions that are still tied to

this world. And you crucify, get rid of it,

pluck it out, have nothing else to do with it.

And you're empowered to do this because of the new spirit you

are. But it does not happen

automatically just because you're born again.

It happens with effort, study, intentionality, and it happens

by faith. Hallelujah.

And there's an expectation. But then verse 22 says, But

prove yourself doers of the word, actively and continually

obeying God's precept, and not merely listeners who hear the

word but fail to internalize its meaning, deluding yourself by

unsound reasoning contrary to the truth.

I put on my task to do a particular thing on a daily

basis and I found myself not doing the task, so I have to

delete it. The reason I have to delete it

is because if I will not do what I'm reminding myself to do, I

will condition myself to not do what I hear and read.

It is dangerous to assign yourself a task that you look at

daily and then don't do because you'll eventually apply it to

the word. Because for every task you don't

do that you put out there and that you say I'm going to do

this, then you don't do it and make an excuse.

You're going to do it with the word.

It's better for you to not have the goal than for you to have

the goal that you refuse to do Now.

I would say it's better to actually have the goal and do it

because then you have the confidence that I will do what

is said because in order to do it, it's discipline, it's

submitting. It is a it's the smallest form

of developing submission because if you can't submit to your own

tasks that you make up, then don't fool yourself, brothers

and sisters, that you going to follow God that you cannot see.

Amen. So again, the wise seek the

king. That means they're going to be

doers. You're seeking to find.

You're not seeking to seek. This is not a perpetual, you

know, looking for something that's not being found.

This is finding this is seek to find, not to open ask to

receive. Hallelujah.

It's amazing. Now in this passage that we've

read, first the first 7 verses of Matthew 2, we can also learn

this that is applicable for the wise today.

The wise share about the King's coming Mark 1615.

And then verse 20 it says, and he said to them, go in all the

world and preach the gospel to all creatures, it says, and they

went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked.

Verse 20, they went out and preached everywhere while the

Lord worked for them. He's not your slave.

Well, the Lord's going to do it. I'm not your slave, but I'll

work with you. See, we're Co laborers with

Christ. This is that word that everybody

hates called work. So then let's just say Co labor,

which is the same thing. You doing your part.

God does his part. God always does his part.

Are you doing your part? Because you do have a part and

it says and the Lord worked with them, and confirm the words by

the signs that followed. God worked the Kingdom through

them. You know what?

People were healed through the laying on of hands.

If they had not laid hands, some would have not been healed.

For the instruction was to lay hands on the sick and they

shall. Which means when laying on of

hands was required, then healing only came through the laying on

of hands. And it wasn't God's hand, it was

your hand. But it's not the power in your

hand, it's the power of God working through your hand

because he's working with you to demonstrate his Kingdom.

You're casting out devils not at your name, but at his name.

And that's God working with you. But it's not God's vocal cords.

It's your vocal cords saying shut up and come out in the name

of Jesus, Amen. He's not coming in you and

speaking through you in His voice like demons do in humans.

He's working with you. He's allowing your voice to have

His authority. Hallelujah, glory to God now God

did it that way in that amazing but wise people they share about

the King's coming. Are you sharing about the King's

coming Now let's go back to Matthew chapter 2.

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

Let's go verses 8 through 10. So this is after they've come to

Herod they've told him they're looking for the king.

He says, where does the king come from?

Found outcomes back to him, meets with them Providence say

hey, go find him, and when you find him, come back and tell me.

So I'm worship him. We're going to see this in verse

8. So then he said, go to

Bethlehem, search carefully for the Child, and when you find

him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him

too. After this interview, the wise

men went their way and the star they had seen in the East guided

them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and

stopped over the place where the child was.

And when they saw the star, they were filled with joy.

What can we learn for today, being wise, is that the wise are

guided by the light. I said we are guided by the

light. And here's the thing, the lights

not in the world. The light that we are following

is not in the world, just as the light they were following were

not was not in the world. Psalms 100 and 19105 says this.

Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path.

Are you hearing me? This is why I do not care what

sector of society exists. Do not care.

I do not care of all their titles and their expertise Do

not care They do not have the final say on anything.

Which means when I go to a sector of society and hear their

report, it is always subject to the report of my father because

my pathway is not their report, it's his report.

Which means I have to have enough ability to hear by the

Spirit what the word is saying of how I should navigate.

I do not go to the financial sector of society, the banking

industry, business, for it to tell me how to prosper.

They do not have the final say. My King has the final say.

He is the lamp unto my feet, the light unto my path.

I've been rejected by financial institutions, yet God's plan

always produced what was necessary.

Are you hearing me? So they never have the final say

in my life. Education does not have the

final say in my life. It cannot say if you do not have

a degree you can't attain here. They don't have that because if

you follow the path of the Lord you, it could.

He can put you in places that even the educational

institutions would have to give you an honorary degree for the

wisdom that is upon your shoulders and on your mind.

They would have to recognize it. Are you hearing me?

The the medical field does not have the final say to my pathway

to healing does not have it. And I do not have to do their

course if they say this is the path, but my king says another

one. I'm following His because the

wise are not led by the words of men, but the Word of God.

It is the path that light. I cannot allow myself to be

constrained to what's being spoken in this realm.

I have to allow the light to penetrate me with His wisdom.

And the wise will do that because if the wise do it, they

will see the next step and they'll see the end.

This was so great about His word, just this one verse.

His word is a lamp into my feet. You know what the word's going

to do, give you this step. But you know what else did it

do? It'll be a light to your path

which will show you the end results.

Now you may not see the rest in between.

Again, it's called a light at the end of the tunnel.

It's down there and I can see it, but it's not shining so

bright that it's lighting everything else.

That's why His Word is this step.

And the and here's the thing. God's Word being a lamp means if

you don't take this step, the lamp can't illuminate.

And some of you aren't taking the first step.

You want 5 steps down. And the Lord's like, well, I

can't illuminate the next step 'cause you're not even doing the

first step. And if you don't do the first

step, you can't get the next step because eventually as that

lamp and you take steps closer to the light.

Well, guess what? The light as you get closer

penetrates more of that darkness, which means now it'll

show you the clear path that you'll just be walking in all

the way. You'll see the clear picture of

the rest of the way through. And many of us, we don't watch

out will allows allow ourselves not to be wise because we make a

demand like the whole thing. I want to see how it's done

before I even step out. In fact, do it first, then I'll

believe it. That's not faith.

Psalms 4330 send out your light and your truth.

Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy

hill and be your dwelling places.

So the light and truth let it lead you all right the next

thing we can learn from this passage of Scripture from 8 to

10 is the wise persevere to be in the presence of the king.

One translation says that when they arrived at the house and it

could be as we when we get to read it.

Yeah a little bit further. The next verse is going to tell

us that he was a child, not say he was a baby anymore.

And we know based upon Herod recognizing that they did not

come back to him, he issues a decree.

King Herod does kill every child to and under in Bethlehem.

I don't know which one it is that's the king that's

threatening my power, but killing kill them all and they

went through. That's why Joseph and Mary fled

to Egypt. So Jesus was not in a Manger

with wise men. He was walking at the time and

probably was toilet trained as well.

Could very well be. He was a very wise child.

He was like I'm not doing this again.

Praise God. Mary's like this is if all my

children turn out like him, this is going to be amazing.

Acts 1422 says this, strengthening the souls of the

disciples, encouraging them to continue in faith and saying

through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God.

Why the wise persevere to be in the presence of the King.

Our society has made everything so quick.

We label things now ADHD, attention deficit disorder.

We say people can't hold their attention.

And you know what? That's fine.

But you know what's even worse than all those is that a

believer cannot believe more than a couple of hours.

Now why do I say that some of them can't even believe an hour?

How do I know this is true? Because they cannot be in a

service longer than an hour. Come on, come on.

They're already bored. Don't want to hear anything else

from the preacher. They're ready to eat.

They're not hungry for the word of God, hungry for the presence

of God, hungry to be trained. They're like, OK, I did my due

dealings. I got to go.

Oh, your faith just stopped. Oh, OK.

I didn't realize you had 22nd faith.

And if you don't get in 20 seconds, then forget about it.

We'll go ahead and abandoned God.

We'll just go do it our own way. Yet the Bible says you got to

persevere. And these wise men held to a

word that they set out on the day he was born, loaded the

camels and took off nowhere in scripture.

In fact, there is more scripture to refute this fantasy idea that

they jumped on their camels and the skies were nice and sunny.

In fact, it was so awesome that God brought a cloud to cover

them by day and a pillar of fire by night to carry them.

Nowhere does it say that He offered that.

In fact, more than likely they hit sandstorms.

They had issues, they had all kinds of probably challenges.

They may have even been attacked.

We just don't even have record of it because they had a group

with them to protect the treasure.

It could have been known, heard about that.

There's this entourage traveling in the desert going somewhere

and there's great wealth and riches.

Obviously, they're in an uproar because they've shown up now.

It could have been that there's been a testimony of something

heading in this direction. I mean, you understand, in the

last administration when people were leaving, you know, El

Salvador and Nicaragua and coming up, we would have cameras

watching a whole entourage of people coming to the border.

Do we think that they wouldn't have heard that there's somebody

coming their way yet? What we do if we don't watch

out, we want to God to believe. We want no issue, no challenge,

no suffering, no heartache, no issue.

Yet he says, man, in this Kingdom you're going to have

some tribulations. And if you're a wise person, you

persevere. You persevere first.

Peter, 412 and 13, says, Beloved, do not be surprised by

the fiery ordeals among you which come upon you for your

what? Testing.

As though some strange thing has happened to you.

Quit looking in the mirror and saying, why is this happening to

me? It's happening to everybody.

Quit getting online and looking for someone who's in your

problem. Everyone has had your problem.

Everyone has had your problem. You're a human being.

Welcome to the planet. And I don't have to get along

with you and tell you all the attacks.

I've had all this to identify with you.

The scripture already lets you know we are identifiable.

I want to talk about the I want to talk to the ones that don't

talk about it because that means they're putting their trust

somewhere. It says first thing. 13 But to

the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on,

keep on what? And I know it's hard to rejoice

when it's troubling. I get it.

You have a gamut of emotions. I get it.

And God has no problem with you talking to him about it.

But again, if you'll talk to him, then he'll give you the

word you need to overcome the reason believers do not

persevere or do not function wise.

You don't you want to be among the wise.

The wise said OK, I can pursue this is tough.

It seemed like it's never going. You just want to talk to the one

that gets you through. He is the author and finisher of

your faith. He'll take you through the

valley of the shadow of death. You can fear not.

What can man do to you? Greater is he that's in you than

he that's in the world. He will cause you to triumph in

all things, no matter what trial or tribulation comes.

You're overwhelmingly conquer. And I know you're not in the

finished picture yet, but know this, saith the Lord.

If you'll stay with him, he'll get you through and you don't

need to have somebody else's how or when.

You already know through a scripture a how and when has

happened and they conquered, You'll conquer too.

Stay with the Lord. Now, I'm not discrediting

testimonies. I'm not trying to say that.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong.

But if you are hungering to hear people feel like you feel so

that you cannot feel bad that you feel this way, you're not

looking for an answer. That's what you have to

safeguard yourself from because God can send people your way and

let me say if someone's coming your way and identifying with

your pain and troubles and sufferings, but it's not but are

not giving you biblical answers. Overcome and leave you with this

spirit in you that we got this I can win then quit talking to him

because the devil has sent them to keep you out of victory and

stay in your your your emotional pain.

Has anybody in here never had emotional pain.

Thank you. We've all gone through it but

the Kingdom of God man, we will conquer.

We win because he wins and I don't revel in the tribulation.

I go through it and it doesn't feel good when someone's like,

you got joy and you're like, no, but you know they're right and

you're like, I need to get some now.

Joy doesn't have to be laughing, but it does have to be a sense

that brings peace to it. You know that you have a kick in

your step about it. Your attitudes good it.

It'll become reflective when you're walking in joy and that

heaviness comes off. Cast your care on the Lord

before he cares for you. The wise persevere.

These guys persevere. They did not say, my gosh, man,

we've been away from our homeland for a year.

Where are we? And here's a they didn't even

know the town. It's not like they had GPS like

what we do. I'm going to Washington, DC, OK?

It's going to take me. They didn't have that.

They're like, that's it. Well, he's not here.

Let's go towards the light. They wake up and they go towards

the light the next day, there it is.

And they do it again and they do it again, not knowing an end.

They get a year in, they get it. I mean, many can't even get 30

days in. God call you to a seven day

fast. By the second day you're ready

to eat. Say Amen.

It's perseverance. And so they 30 days in, they're

90 days in. They're six months in, don't

know where they're going, but that light is still there and

they're so convinced that they're not going to let the

elements or anything deter them. I don't know how the bugs are

over there, but if they were coming through Florida, the

mosquitoes during the summer would have been like a reason to

want to go home. There's probably had scorpions,

all kind of stuff going on out there in the desert.

But they persevered and they finally got into the town that

they believe he must have been. And they're like, man, here we

go. Where's he at?

Because this light's brighter than it's ever been.

And then they find out it's in Bethlehem.

They're like, we finally know the city.

And then the light shows them again and stops over the house.

Now that's some serious GPS. I mean, you're not even

guessing. It illuminates.

That's what some of y'all see when you pass Bucky's on the

highway. It's a sign from heaven.

I don't know what it is about them.

Buck teeth. I used to do a little thing with

my children called Harry Buck Teefee, but I won't do it.

I'll save that for them. But I have a whole act and

everything. Matthew 2 verse 11 and 12 says,

Matthew 2:11

yes, we're reeling it in right now, reel it in.

And they entered the house and saw the child with his mother

Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him.

And then they opened their treasure chests, that's not 3

people, and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And when it was time to leave, they returned to their own

country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream

not to return to Herod the Wise. Bow down in worship to the king.

How does that apply to us today? Do you bow down in worship to

the king? You should physically bow down

every once in a while. You should.

The reason why we have a tradition of bowing down in

prayer. It's really a government thing

and I and we don't know this. It's really that well, I well,

I, you know, they say, you know, I had my knees are worn out.

You know, that's like a sign of a golly.

And they're always talking about, you know, bowing down to

pray. Well, really it's because this

is a position you're in when you're before king.

We've made it a traditional position to talk to God, but

it's really a place of government respect and honor in

a Kingdom because he has the authority.

So you should periodically exercise why Isaiah?

What's Isaiah say? Isaiah chapter 45 or yes 23 says

Isaiah 45 · chapter mention

this. I have sworn by my own name.

I've spoken the truth. I will never go back on my word.

Every knee will bend to me and every tongue will declare

allegiance to me. Look what else it says over in

the new covenant. Philippians 210 and 11 says so

that at the name of Jesus, how many knees come on how many

knees? Don't let your first be on that

day, because for many their first will be at the great white

throne, and they'll bow before the king, and he'll cast them

into the lake of fire, which is the second death.

Because every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on

earth and under the earth, under the earth that are in the grave.

They'll bow and they will confess You are Lord, you are

Lord, you are Lord, you are Lord, you are Lord.

And he'll say, depart from me, I'll never knew you.

And they'll confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, the glory of

the Father. So we need to bow down

physically, but we also need to bow spiritually.

We need to bow emotionally. We need to bow intellectually.

That is a act of submission. And worship him means whatever

you say that I will do, that I'll do, because the wise bow

down and worship the king. And we can still do that today.

The last point is this. The wise recognize the worth of

the king. This is it.

We're bringing it in. This is why we're celebrating

the season. A child is born, a son is given

and he's brought the Kingdom and the wise men have given us a

great illustration of who what we are to do in this life, in

this dispensation when encountering the king in our

expectations. This is the expectation of the

wise. We are to recognize the worth of

the king. Matthew 1314 to 4644 to 46 says

that the Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the

field which a man found and hid again from joy.

Over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field

again. The Kingdom of heaven is like a

merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding 1 Pearl of

great valley, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Matthew 1038 to 39. In the context of those parables

of the Kingdom of heaven, Matthew 103839 says, And he who

does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his

life for my sake will find it. The wise recognize the worth of

the King, the message of Jesus Christ.

It's not an escape theology. It's not do what you want to do,

get his forgiveness and go to heaven when you die.

It is complete and total lordship.

It's Lordship. A person marked with lordship to

Jesus doesn't have their own life anymore.

In our nation, there's a lot of redefining of terms and how you

can walk with the Lord. But I'm going to stay with

Scripture, and the Scripture tells me what a person who has

lordship looks like. Their life is not their own and

as long as you have a part of your own life that you want to

keep, then I questioned his Lordship in your life and can

rightly do that. I'm not judging you, but I sure

can't question your life because you're not lining up to what he

said. He said if I'm Lord, then you're

going to lose your life. You're not going to try to do

your own thing. You're not going to try to walk

your own way. You're not going to try to

pattern your life based upon what you want to do.

You're coming after me and me alone.

Now that doesn't mean you're called to ministry.

That just means you're doing life His way and you can do that

in every sector of society. Last scripture is this Matthew

Matthew 16:24–27

chapter 16 verses 24 to 27. Then Jesus said to his

disciples, if anyone wishes to come after me, who's talking?

I'm not saying this. I'm not saying this, so please

take your task list off that you're not doing and try to

justify your lifestyle from this verse.

Let's do what it says. Jesus then said to his

disciples, are you his disciple? Because if you're a disciple,

then you're listening. But if you're, you know, a

person that just wants to be saved, then maybe you're not a

disciple. If anyone wishes to come after

me, which means it's on you because he came after you.

He's done his part. So if you wish to come after me,

he must deny himself. My wife and I, we've had this

conversation periodically. I say periodically, it's not all

the time, but periodically, through the trials and

tribulations of life, we have this conversation.

Is it worth it? Is it worth it when you feel the

burden of Paul? Have I labored in vain?

How can they act like that knowing what they know?

That's good, Paul said. Demas has deserted me, he said.

I stood trial all by myself. Paul looked at the elders, at

Ephesus and says, now I'm going to leave.

But I got people among you that's going to try to divide

the flock. Now we know that Paul was right

about these people, but the people running with those people

thought Paul was wrong. You know, like it's even worth

it. You just deny, deny, deny

without the word of my king. He must deny himself.

Take up his cross and follow me. What you're called to do, you

must be willing to do it. And that's all you're pursuing.

For whoever wishes to save his life.

We'll lose it every time. Ron.

My wife and I say let's just leave.

We'll go start somewhere else. We'll go do this.

It sounds good in theory, but we know a life lived outside the

will of God is hell. And we know this, that a life

lived outside the will of God initially looks like heaven.

Because the Scriptures already told me that Moses would not

enjoy the pleasures of sin, but rather the sufferings in order

to stay in the will of God, the pleasures of sin for a season.

Does the devil know how to prosper the believer?

You bet he does, right outside the will of God.

And you say, how do you? How do you know that He was

willing to give Jesus the kingdoms of the world to get out

of the will of God, make him the wealthiest human on the planet,

and all I had to do was bow down and worship, give him the

greatest position on the globe, I would surmise greater than

Solomon's, just to not do the will of the Father.

But what did Jesus say? It is written I deny myself.

I'm going to take up my cross and I'm just following him and

he knows The next time I see you, you're going to bruise me.

The next time I see you, it's going to hurt my skin, my flesh.

The next time I see you, you're going to be bruising my heel.

But after that, the next time you see me, I'm going to crush

your head. So I'm going into 2026 like I've

gone into every year. I deny myself, I take up my

cross and I follow Him. Let's be wise, let's learn a

lesson from the wise men, and let's only do the will of God.