1 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:06,240 Crossing Nation, it is so incredibly good to be with you. 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:08,400 I want to welcome you joining from all of our different 3 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:11,920 locations, those of you watching online and those of you who are 4 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:16,880 part of our inside family. Christmas is right around the 5 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,880 corner. There is still time to buy gifts 6 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:23,400 online and get them delivered to your house. 7 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:28,400 Men, order them soon. OK, now, if you have not yet 8 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,280 picked out your Christmas Eve service times, we're going to be 9 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:34,760 starting our Christmas Eve services on Thursday and taking 10 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:38,400 them all the way through Sunday. And if you are going, hey, which 11 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:40,920 one should I go to? You can go to 12 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,400 thecrossing.net/christmas. That's us. 13 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:48,000 And you can pick your campus, pick your service and pick a 14 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:52,000 couple people that you like and maybe one that you don't like to 15 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,240 bring with you. I have a special message of hope 16 00:00:56,560 --> 00:00:59,680 that I believe will be a blessing not just to you, but to 17 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:04,239 the people that you love. We are in the middle of a series 18 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:06,680 called In the Middle of the Mess. 19 00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:10,920 Week one I talked about in the middle of the Mess Joseph chose 20 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:13,920 to trust. Last week, Jerry was talking 21 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,800 about in the middle of the mess. Mary chose to rejoice. 22 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:22,200 Today I want to talk to you about In the Middle of the Mess 23 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:27,200 the Wise men chose to worship. I don't know if you know this, 24 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:32,640 but sometimes life doesn't go as planned. 25 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:35,840 Do I have a home team tonight? Anybody been there? 26 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:37,600 Some of you are like that's my week. 27 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:39,680 That my week did not go as planned. 28 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:45,640 In 2016, Jennifer and I and A group of our friends, we decided 29 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:49,440 to go on a trip to Riviera Maya to spend a week. 30 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:53,360 Part of that is because Jennifer and I cannot go somewhere by 31 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:57,920 ourselves, and that is because I am a Labrador retriever. 32 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:00,720 I need someone to throw a ball that I can go fetch. 33 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:05,200 I need someone to play with and she wants to lay by the beach 34 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:07,920 and read. And I'm like, you can lay 35 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:13,120 somewhere and read at home. Like, I don't understand why we 36 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:14,720 would do that. So I have to have some. 37 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:17,360 So we have to take friends. So that way I have someone to 38 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,800 hang out with. And can I just tell you this 39 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:26,120 trip was an absolute disaster. It begins by us going down to 40 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:30,120 Saint Louis because we have like a super early flight and the 41 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,320 pictures online for the place where we were going to stay 42 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:38,640 looked pretty fantastic. In fact, it was a really bargain 43 00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:42,920 price for such a nice hotel considering the pictures. 44 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,480 But when we got there, elevator didn't work. 45 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:50,800 Had to go upstairs. And then we had to step over 46 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:55,600 electrical cables that were and bare wires, duct tape, water 47 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:58,560 raining down from the ceiling buckets, only catching half the 48 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:00,800 water to a door that wouldn't lock. 49 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,840 A faucet that wouldn't turn on. It was one of those 50 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:06,200 environments. And, fellas, I don't know how 51 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:10,440 cool your wife is, but the wives on our trip said we're not 52 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:12,880 sleeping here. And the guys were kind of like, 53 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:17,200 I'll just lay on top of the bed. The sheets were stained. 54 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:19,800 We didn't even upload our bags. We were like this. 55 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:21,680 There's been murders here. We can't. 56 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:25,680 We can't. We don't want to be, you know we 57 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,240 can't do this. So we finally we, you know, we 58 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:30,840 just, I don't even know how. I don't even. 59 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:34,040 That part of the trip is a blur because all I know is we ended 60 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:38,960 up at the resort and we we got like the nice rooms and so 61 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:44,040 everybody got really nice robes. The problem is, I'm not a normal 62 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:48,880 sized human being and my robes stopped here. 63 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:54,280 So when everybody's getting ready to like go down in their 64 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:59,080 robes to like hang out by the pool, Nope, I'll just be me. 65 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:04,520 We did a Segway tour and I've never ridden A Segway neither 66 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:07,240 anybody else on our trip. And one of the guys, you've 67 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:09,560 actually met him before, Ryan Riggins, he's at the the Solomon 68 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:12,960 Foundation. He hopped on on his Segway and 69 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:15,320 they were doing like the training routine on how you're 70 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:19,720 supposed to navigate the Segway. And he did like 3 moves on his 71 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:24,000 Segway that looked like he was JB Maloney on riding at 8 72 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,840 seconds on a bull. And I don't know how his body 73 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:29,360 could go so far this way, so far that way. 74 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:36,640 And then he landed and Ben and I are on our Segways doing the did 75 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:40,880 we just watch our friend die? And when he got up we're like, 76 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,320 OK, so he can walk. We started laughing. 77 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:45,840 We laughed so hard, we were dangerous on our Segways. 78 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:49,600 Then we went to a really nice Italian restaurant on the 79 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:51,800 resort. And if you ever go with me, I 80 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:56,920 like a good Italian meal and I love bread with Parmesan cheese 81 00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:59,920 with the little oil. And if you take the oil, put it 82 00:04:59,920 --> 00:05:02,600 on a plate, put a little Parmesan cheese on it, stir it 83 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:04,280 all up real nice. It makes a nice little 84 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,960 cholesterol sauce and you dip your bread in it. 85 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:12,400 And they weren't bringing the bread around very fast. 86 00:05:13,280 --> 00:05:16,640 And I have been known at times to be impatient. 87 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:20,880 And so I went over to where they had the bread and I started 88 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:25,560 cutting it up. Well, while I was cutting it up 89 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:28,960 I decided to be funny and I put, I put the little, the the wine 90 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:32,160 napkin, you know over your. So I look like I was official. 91 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:35,800 Well, people from the resort started coming up to me and 92 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:38,000 having me cut bread for them and put it on their plate. 93 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:42,840 Now let me ask you if you've been to a resort in the Riviera, 94 00:05:42,840 --> 00:05:46,520 Maya. Do I look like someone who works 95 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:50,880 there? Oh, yeah, The 66 white guy. 96 00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:55,280 He's one of our best employees. That was just a cutting away 97 00:05:55,280 --> 00:05:57,560 bread, like. All right, another loaf. 98 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,440 Hurry, purple boar. I just my our table's like, 99 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:03,880 where did Clayton go? Just over there, just dulling 100 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:05,520 knives. How many of you want? 101 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:08,600 All right, no. Anyhow, even though the trip was 102 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:12,320 an absolute mess, it ended up being an incredible experience. 103 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:16,400 In fact, I would tell you that our best memories of the trip 104 00:06:17,840 --> 00:06:21,840 were the messes and every single one of you. 105 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,560 You are going to have a mess at some point time in your life. 106 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:30,800 Some of you, maybe even most of you, are in a mess right now. 107 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:34,080 And I'll remind you of something I talked to you about in week 1. 108 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:39,280 The choices that we make in the middle of the mess can make all 109 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:41,920 the difference. How many of you in the middle of 110 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:44,520 a mess have written yourself a permission slip that you 111 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:48,320 probably shouldn't have written? OK, how many of you in the 112 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:50,720 middle of the mess have made a decision that you probably 113 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:54,520 shouldn't have made? What if instead of doing that, 114 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:59,680 we did something different? Let's talk about the wise men. 115 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:05,600 Matthew chapter two starts it off after Jesus was born in 116 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:09,720 Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod. 117 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:12,320 Pause. If you're reading through your 118 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:15,040 Bible, you're going to see the name Herod over and over and 119 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:17,720 over again. And you're like this guy's dead 120 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:19,720 and then he shows up someplace else in the book. 121 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:21,600 Let me unpack this a little bit for you. 122 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:24,000 So, Herod, this is Herod the Great. 123 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:28,400 He is the first of several Herod's mentioned in the New 124 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:31,840 Testament. In fact, there are 6 Herod's in 125 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:34,440 the New Testament. You're like, oh, that makes way 126 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:37,000 more sense. This Herod died, we get a new 127 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:38,600 one. In fact, Herod was like the 128 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,680 first George Foreman. You know how George Foreman. 129 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:44,880 He named all of his kids George Foreman. 130 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:47,840 Somebody asked him one time, why did you name your kids all 131 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:49,480 George Foreman? He goes, well, if you're going 132 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:52,440 to get hit in the head as many times as I have by Ali, Frazier 133 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:54,800 and Holyfield, you're not going to remember that many names. 134 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:59,280 OK, so Herod's like, hey, son, that's a great name. 135 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:01,560 You're Herod. And you, you're a Herod. 136 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:07,560 Herod was as bad of a man as you can find. 137 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:13,520 This Herod was as horrible of a human being as you could be. 138 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:19,920 You would be hard pressed to think of anybody in our recent 139 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:22,960 history who was as bad as this guy. 140 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:26,200 He had his wife's brother drowned. 141 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:30,400 He had his wife killed, along with her mother and two of his 142 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:34,360 own sons, five days before his death. 143 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:40,400 He had his a third son killed during the time when he was 144 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:44,560 getting ready to die. He had important and well liked 145 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:49,000 Jerusalem officials arrested and imprisoned. 146 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:53,840 The reason why he did this is he was convinced that when he died 147 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:58,360 nobody would mourn his death and he gave instructions that upon 148 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:01,960 his death that all of the well liked officials in Jerusalem 149 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:07,560 would be killed so that there would be mourning in Jerusalem 150 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:12,080 when he died. Bad dude. 151 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:16,080 After you're going to actually see at the end of the story how 152 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:18,520 bad of a duty was because you know what he actually does. 153 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:21,280 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the 154 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:23,160 time of King Herod, we got that one figured out. 155 00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:26,000 Magi from the east came to Jerusalem. 156 00:09:26,680 --> 00:09:28,040 Pause. Two things. 157 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:31,200 You should probably call him Magi instead of Magi, but I 158 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:33,520 learned it when I was a kid and I can't switch it around. 159 00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:36,920 So forgive me. OK, we don't know how many there 160 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:39,400 were. We say 3 because there were 161 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:42,160 three gifts that were given, but that's all we know. 162 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:43,200 There could have been a ton more. 163 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:44,640 We do know that they were from the East. 164 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:50,400 More than likely they were from a a priestly political class who 165 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:54,360 were known for their knowledge of science, agriculture, 166 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:57,680 mathematics, and history. In other words, these were 167 00:09:57,680 --> 00:10:04,400 incredibly accomplished dudes. These were the Elon Musk, Jeff 168 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:08,520 Bezos dudes of their day. OK, we don't know if they wrote 169 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:11,000 camels, but camels seem like a cool way to get around if you're 170 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:12,720 a smart dude. So maybe they wrote them. 171 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:17,960 They were the most powerful group of advisers in the in the 172 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:20,760 Medo Persian Empire and the Babylonian Empire. 173 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:24,040 When you read about those in the Old Testament or in world 174 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:26,520 history, these guys were Ballers. 175 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:30,560 And it is from this term of these guys that we get the words 176 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:35,440 magic magician. These guys would show up and 177 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:40,960 things would change. Came to Jerusalem and they asked 178 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:45,080 where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? 179 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:49,800 We saw his star when it rose and we have come to worship him. 180 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:55,200 When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed and all of 181 00:10:55,200 --> 00:11:00,280 Jerusalem with him pause. We already have established that 182 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:05,560 Herod is crazy. These important officials, more 183 00:11:05,560 --> 00:11:09,400 than likely with a gigantic entourage to help them travel 184 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:14,280 from the east, show up, and they're asking where is the king 185 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:17,160 of the of the Jews? And this disturbed Herod. 186 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:20,280 Rightfully so. You see, Jerusalem was an 187 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:23,960 occupied country. They were occupied by the 188 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:26,240 Romans. Julius Caesar, who you've read 189 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:30,760 about in your history books, had placed Herod's father in charge 190 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:34,600 of Judea. And then Herod's dad put him in 191 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:37,320 charge of Galilee, the region where we're talking about. 192 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:42,320 Then Herod traveled all the way to Rome, and he was named, Check 193 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:48,400 this out, King of the Jews. This would be like somebody pick 194 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:50,400 your country, your foreign country that you don't like, 195 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:54,400 that country taking over the United States of America, and 196 00:11:54,400 --> 00:11:57,920 then a foreign person who's not an American being called 197 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:01,400 president of the United States. And we would all have a huge 198 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:04,760 problem with that, right? So in order to make things a 199 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:08,200 little bit more palatable to the Jewish people, he married a Jew. 200 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:11,640 So somebody comes here to the States and they marry an 201 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:13,720 American citizen. So that way they're trying to at 202 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:16,640 least make us feel like they're part of the American people. 203 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:23,320 And so now you have a cruel, bloodthirsty ruler being who 204 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:27,960 goes by king of the Jews, being asked by a bunch of influential 205 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:31,840 people in Jerusalem, Where is this king of the Jews that's 206 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:39,000 been born When he had called together all of the people's 207 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:42,000 chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the 208 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:47,040 Messiah was to be born. In Bethlehem, In Judea. 209 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:50,240 They replied, for this is what the prophet has written. 210 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:51,720 I'm going to pause for just a second. 211 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:54,880 Prophet is written as actually a big clue when you're reading 212 00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:59,000 this text because there are actually 4 geographical 213 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:03,880 prophecies fulfilled in just Matthew chapter 2. 214 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:06,840 If you go home and read it, you're going to see Bethlehem, 215 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:12,400 Egypt, Ramah, and Nazareth. The reason I'm telling you that 216 00:13:12,680 --> 00:13:16,920 is there are over 300, more than likely 330 depending on how you 217 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:24,120 count Old Testament prophecies about Jesus Christ, and Jesus 218 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:29,800 fulfilled everyone. This is like dude perfect on 219 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:34,040 steroids. This is not him making one trick 220 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:37,960 shot. This is him making 330 221 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:42,680 consecutive, more difficult, more challenging 1 trick shots 222 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:45,320 in a row. The reason I'm telling you that 223 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:49,240 is the arrival of Jesus Christ is no small thing. 224 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:53,040 The entire Old Testament. All of human history has been 225 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:55,720 prophesying and pointing to this moment. 226 00:13:56,520 --> 00:14:01,480 You those of you who claim to be a Christian, you have a reasoned 227 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:06,480 faith, not a blind faith. To those of you who maybe have 228 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:08,840 never started a relationship with Jesus Christ, I want you to 229 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:12,760 hear me say this. There are reasons to believe 230 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:15,920 that Jesus is who he says that he is. 231 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:21,960 He is a prophecy fulfiller. But you of Bethlehem, this is 232 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:24,880 one of the keys in the land of Judah, are by no means least 233 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:28,160 among the rulers of Judah. For out of you will come a ruler 234 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:30,880 who will shepherd my people Israel. 235 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:35,840 Let's keep going. When Herod called the Magi 236 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:40,640 secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had 237 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:44,560 appeared, he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and 238 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:48,920 search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report 239 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:53,440 to me so that I too may go and worship him. 240 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:58,680 So you are these magi, and you have a crazy, bloodthirsty king 241 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:02,520 telling you, come back and tell me what you learned so I can go 242 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:04,080 and worship him. Let's keep going. 243 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:07,440 After they had heard of the king, they went on their way, 244 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,440 and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until 245 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:13,200 it stopped over the pallets or the place where the child was. 246 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:16,400 Pause. I thought the star led him 247 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:18,760 basically all the way there. No, no, no. 248 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:22,600 Imagine these Magi. If they see this star, it leads 249 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:26,400 them to basically Jerusalem, and then it stops showing off. 250 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:32,520 Now we got to stop and ask for directions and then they get 251 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:37,400 directions and then the star reappears and takes them right 252 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:40,440 to the place where Jesus was. Let's keep reading. 253 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:44,360 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed because they'd 254 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:46,840 lost it. It stopped shining on coming to 255 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:48,200 the house. Pause. 256 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:52,600 We know that some serious time has taken place since Jesus was 257 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:54,560 born. In this moment, he's no longer 258 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:59,240 in a stable in a Manger. He's now in a house somewhere 259 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:02,800 between 41 days and two years of ages where we find ourselves in 260 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,360 the life of Jesus. They're no longer in The Cave. 261 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:08,240 They're no longer in a Manger. The journey for the wise men 262 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:11,600 could have taken months. They were not in attendance on 263 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:14,040 the night of Jesus's birth. You don't have to throw them 264 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:15,440 away. You don't have to get rid of 265 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:16,800 them from your little nativity scene. 266 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:20,880 I'm just saying, like, put them in a different room. 267 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,760 OK, just to scale, put them in a different room. 268 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:26,960 Maybe the garage next to the Elf on the Shelf. 269 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:31,040 OK, now, the reason I'm telling you all this is already in the 270 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:32,960 text. You see three different 271 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:37,200 approaches to Jesus. Three different groups of people 272 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,080 have an opportunity to interact with Jesus, and they all take a 273 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:44,240 different approach. Herod was threatened, and so he 274 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:45,400 didn't want anything to do with him. 275 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:49,280 The chief priests and the teachers of the law pay little 276 00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:51,880 attention to him. They should have been looking 277 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:54,240 for this. They're religious people. 278 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:57,880 They were waiting for a Messiah. They could have been joining in 279 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:02,040 on the search, but they didn't. They should have been excited 280 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:06,560 about what was happening, but they weren't, because Jesus 281 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:10,040 didn't show up the way that they wanted him to show up. 282 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:13,680 They weren't interested in following and paying attention 283 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:16,480 to this Jesus. But the wise men, these 284 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:19,520 foreigners, these people who wouldn't have been included, 285 00:17:20,319 --> 00:17:24,240 keep pursuing Jesus and they end up worshipping him. 286 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:29,720 Now let's keep reading. They saw the child with his 287 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:32,720 mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. 288 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:33,800 We're going to come back to that. 289 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:37,880 Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of 290 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:43,520 gold, frankincense and myrrh. One time my parents had people 291 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:46,080 living in our house. I can't remember their names, 292 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:51,200 but they had a rule in their home that they only gave their 293 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:54,920 kids 3 gifts at Christmas because that's as many presents 294 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:57,200 as Jesus got. And their kids weren't better 295 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:01,080 than Jesus, which is cool for their stupid family. 296 00:18:01,360 --> 00:18:05,040 But that wasn't a rule that we had and it was our house. 297 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:09,840 But we got shortchanged that year because we had to play nice 298 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:14,880 to the weirdos. But parents, if you're on a 299 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:17,480 budget this year, you can at least play the you know well, 300 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:19,680 Jesus got. Now flip side, if I'd have been 301 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:22,320 a Bible scholar back then, but yeah, but those 3 gifts were 302 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:25,360 pretty impressive, weren't they? Yeah, dad, you'd only have to 303 00:18:25,360 --> 00:18:28,680 give me 3 gifts this year. But make the first one gold, 304 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:31,360 Paul. Are the girls like? 305 00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:32,400 Oh, I'm in. I'm in. 306 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:34,800 Diamond sounds great. Pay attention to this. 307 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:40,080 All three gifts were expensive. They were all of great value. 308 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:45,160 Lots that has been written about these particular gifts. 309 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:51,800 At the very least these expensive costly gifts paid for 310 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:56,360 the upcoming flight of them to leave where they were at and 311 00:18:56,360 --> 00:19:00,520 make their way to Egypt. You got to remember 2 weeks ago 312 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:04,920 when I was preaching to you, Joseph and Mary were poor and 313 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:07,680 now we're going to find out Herod's going to try to kill all 314 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:10,640 the people in Bethlehem, all the young boys in Bethlehem, and so 315 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:13,640 they're going to have to flee. How are these poor people going 316 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:17,000 to leave with no job, no decent means of transportation and make 317 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,200 a gigantic journey through treacherous areas? 318 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:24,800 And at just the right time, gifts of gold, frankincense and 319 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:28,240 myrrh arrive on the scene to provide for the journey. 320 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:31,240 That's at the very least, at the most. 321 00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:35,200 They had intense spiritual overtones. 322 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:39,160 Gold was the most valuable metal that is mentioned at All in all 323 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:42,520 of scripture. It was used to adorn temples and 324 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:46,200 palaces, and it was a gift that was given to kings. 325 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:50,680 Frankincense was used on special occasions, and it was used in 326 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:53,200 the temple specifically on the Day of Atonement. 327 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:58,240 Frankincense was a gift that you gave to signify a deity to 328 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:02,480 worship a God. Myrrh was used as incense for 329 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:04,240 those of you who don't know what incense is. 330 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:10,280 You probably have an aunt or a stay at home mom who's selling 331 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:14,480 her essential oils. That's what it is. 332 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:16,480 And you don't have to raise your hand if you're one of those 333 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:17,960 people who's we can we can smell you. 334 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,840 We know you're here. We appreciate we appreciate your 335 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:25,200 lavender mint. And I'm I'm sure that the new 336 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:29,400 thing that your Aroma pusher is way better than the one you were 337 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:31,360 selling last year. We're happy for you. 338 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:34,440 We love it. So that's what myrrh was. 339 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:38,040 This is like the first essential oil salesperson and it was a 340 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:41,560 perfume that was used to cloak bad smells. 341 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:44,840 Sometimes you would put it on a lover's bed to make sure that 342 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:49,080 the room was set up just right, but it was also used when 343 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:53,440 somebody died and it was packed inside of the burial clothes to 344 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:55,840 keep away the smell of the decaying body. 345 00:20:56,080 --> 00:21:02,200 It signified humanity. Here baby Jesus is given 3 346 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:07,000 gifts, one for a king, one for a God, one for a human. 347 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:11,080 Taken together, these gifts could indeed signify Jesus's 348 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:14,440 kingship, his deity, and his eventual sacrifice and death on 349 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:17,560 a cross on your behalf and on mine. 350 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:22,400 Let's keep going in the text, and having been warned in a 351 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:27,000 dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country 352 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:29,440 by another route. We're going to circle back to by 353 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:31,320 another route. If I have enough time in the 354 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:39,200 sermon, take away number one. You can have everything, but you 355 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:41,920 have nothing if you don't have Jesus. 356 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:46,240 Here are wise men who, from the outside looking in, have 357 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:49,720 everything that you could want. They were more than likely rich, 358 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:54,360 well to do, highly respected, influential in their spheres of 359 00:21:54,360 --> 00:21:57,640 influence. There are big deals, but here 360 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:01,440 you find them chasing after Jesus. 361 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:03,560 They had everything from the outside. 362 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:05,800 But look what happens in Matthew chapter 16. 363 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:09,200 Then Jesus said to his disciples, whoever wants to be 364 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:12,720 my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and 365 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:15,480 follow me. For whoever wants to save their 366 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:19,160 life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will 367 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,000 find it. What good will it be for someone 368 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:26,080 to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 369 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:30,520 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 370 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:36,160 At the end of the day, it is not about what you have that 371 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:42,040 matters, it's about who has you. It's not about all the things 372 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:45,600 that you can accumulate into your hands, but whether or not 373 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:49,240 you will place your life in his hands. 374 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:54,480 Parents, we spend an awful lot of time, myself included, on 375 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:58,120 sports school, getting ready for college. 376 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:02,120 But hear me, if your child does not have a relationship with 377 00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:08,200 Jesus Christ, they have nothing. I would rather my kids be a high 378 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:11,920 school dropout and a follower of Jesus Christ. 379 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:15,400 I would rather have my kids get hit in the head every time 380 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,960 someone throws a ball at them and then have a relationship 381 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:21,520 with Jesus Christ. Parents of kids who are getting 382 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,560 ready to start your college visits, before you pick a 383 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:28,080 college, check out to make sure that they have a church and get 384 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:30,960 your kid plugged into that church before you sign up for 385 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:33,440 that college. Because if you don't pay close 386 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:36,600 attention in those first eight weeks of them being at school, 387 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:38,440 they will not get connected to a church. 388 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:41,800 They will fall away and a lot of your hard work will be lost. 389 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:46,080 Make sure between practices and dances and trips and vacations 390 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:48,880 that you are doing your part to make sure that your kids 391 00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:50,880 recognize their need for a Savior. 392 00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:54,480 Take away #2. In the middle of the mass, the 393 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:58,880 wise men chose to worship. They had orders from a dangerous 394 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:01,240 man. They had all the reason in the 395 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:05,880 world to be full of worry, to be anxious, to be nervous. 396 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:11,880 This guy kills people and they show up after Jesus anyway. 397 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:15,120 And when they get there, they do something really strange. 398 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:20,320 They worship him. Sometimes we come to church as a 399 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:24,000 way to kind of get away from the mess sometimes, and I love it 400 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:25,440 when they say it. I even agree when they say it. 401 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:28,360 Sometimes worship people say, hey, I I just want you guys to 402 00:24:28,360 --> 00:24:30,320 leave. Whatever you've had going on 403 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,920 this week, just leave it behind for a little bit and just come 404 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,800 in and get some rest at the feet of Jesus and you know, leave 405 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:40,680 your troubles behind for just a little bit and connect with your 406 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:42,720 Lord. We want. 407 00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:43,960 And that's what we want to do, isn't it? 408 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:47,560 We want to escape it. We want to escape the pain, 409 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:50,720 escape the trauma, escape the hurt, escape everything that's 410 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:52,280 going on. So we're just going to come to 411 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:54,280 church to escape it for a little bit. 412 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:56,760 And we get a little high and then we walk out and it's 413 00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:00,560 waiting for us in the car. Sometimes it walked with us to 414 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:02,640 the car. Don't. 415 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:06,880 Careful, no nudging. OK, here's what I want to say to 416 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:09,160 you. Maybe instead of leaving it 417 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:13,920 behind, what if you brought it with you and you worshipped him 418 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:19,480 anyway? I'm not as impressed with people 419 00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:22,440 who can worship God when everything's going right. 420 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:26,960 It's probably easy to worship when you got a raise. 421 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,720 Man, you're so good. You're so faithful. 422 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:39,920 Woo Jarrah, right? But you you tell me, which is 423 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:43,760 more impactful. I didn't get a raise. 424 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:48,920 I lost my job. Can you still sing how good he 425 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,800 is? Can you still sing that he's a 426 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:55,200 provider? I'm more impressed with people 427 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:58,360 who can worship in the middle of the pain than I am with people 428 00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:00,400 who are worshipping without any pain. 429 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:04,440 That you take your mess and you bring it in and go. 430 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:09,440 This is where I'm at, and I'm choosing to worship you anyway. 431 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:12,280 It's one thing to worship God when you're on the mountaintop, 432 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:15,800 but it says something completely different about us when we can 433 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:19,080 worship him in the valley and the Christian life and life in 434 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,000 general. It's not mountaintop to 435 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,840 mountaintop. It is mountaintop, valley, 436 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:26,720 valley, valley, valley, valley, mountaintop. 437 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:31,000 And just so you know, the one who's on top of the mountain is 438 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,200 the same one who's in the valley. 439 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:36,800 If God's good all the time, that means that he's good when you're 440 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:40,560 going up the mountain and He's just as good when you're going 441 00:26:41,120 --> 00:26:44,080 down the mountain. And when you bring that kind of 442 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,280 mentality into your walk with the Lord. 443 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,400 When you bring that kind of mentality into your worship, it 444 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:53,120 doesn't matter what's going on. I am worshipping him. 445 00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:56,320 Take away #3. The wise men came prepared to 446 00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:59,040 worship. Worship should cost you 447 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,160 something. It was hard for me to worship 448 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:03,000 because my seat wasn't just right. 449 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:05,880 It was hard for me to worship because it was too loud. 450 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,320 It was hard for me to worship because I was sitting next to 451 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:10,720 someone stinky. It's hard for me to worship 452 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:13,920 because I had a long week. These people came in advance 453 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:17,640 prepared to worship. They prepared to encounter a 454 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:22,320 king, and the idea of worshipping a king and showing 455 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:27,120 up with nothing is foreign to biblical Christianity. 456 00:27:29,120 --> 00:27:34,760 When you are worshipping Jesus, he is the Lord of your life and 457 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:36,960 he is the Lord of everything in your life. 458 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:40,920 But functionally, he is only the Lord of the things that you have 459 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:43,720 placed in his hands. And there are things we will 460 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,160 place in his hands, like our sins. 461 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:50,160 There's things we'll place in his hands, like our messes. 462 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:52,520 And that's what we end up doing to Jesus. 463 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:55,680 We make him Lord of all the things we don't want, but we 464 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:57,720 don't make him Lord of all the things we do want. 465 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:01,160 Hey, Jesus, you're a great Lord over my messes, just not my 466 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:04,160 finances. I don't want my mess, but I do 467 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:06,200 want my money. Got you. 468 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:09,920 You're in charge. You're in control of all of my 469 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:12,200 failures. But I don't want you to 470 00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:16,600 necessarily touch my successes. What they're doing is they're 471 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:19,720 bringing costly things Wherever you placed your time, your 472 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:23,440 talents, your resources, what gift are you going to bring to 473 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:26,640 King Jesus? Oh, this might be my favorite 474 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:31,280 point of the sermon. This one, don't doubt What seeds 475 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:34,800 of faith you can plant in the middle of the mess. 476 00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:37,000 I'm going to go along, but I'm going to tell you a story. 477 00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:41,400 There is a strong possibility that the reason that these wise 478 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:45,280 men made a trip from the east all the way to Bethlehem is 479 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:49,000 because 400 years earlier there was a young man who was living 480 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,760 in Jerusalem who was taken captive to Babylon. 481 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:54,080 And that young man's name was Daniel. 482 00:28:55,640 --> 00:29:01,200 And he showed up in Babylon, and he was put through the wringer. 483 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:06,200 He had to take a strong stand to maintain his faith and his diet. 484 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:10,400 His comrades had to choose not to bow down to a false idol. 485 00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:13,880 He interpreted dreams at the threat of death. 486 00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:17,800 He was told it's illegal to pray, and he chose to pray three 487 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:20,880 times a day anyway. And because of that they put him 488 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:24,240 in the lion's den. But because he kept being 489 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:28,520 obedient to God and going from 1 mountaintop to into the valley, 490 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,560 and then God would save him and deliver him in and prop him up, 491 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:35,000 and then he'd be persecuted and put back down and go through a 492 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:37,200 hardship. And because he kept being 493 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:42,280 faithful to God, he was placed in charge of all of the wise men 494 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:50,320 in Babylon, and 400 years later, a group of wise men, more than 495 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:56,560 likely from the region where Babylon was, make a trip to see 496 00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:01,480 baby Jesus. Daniel's life was walking from 497 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:06,480 one mess into the next and choosing to follow God anyway. 498 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:11,520 However, his legacy is what caused the journey the wise men 499 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,640 took to Bethlehem. Listen to me. 500 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:19,520 And the gifts that they that they brought paid for a trip 501 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:23,040 that Joseph and Mary didn't have the funds to take and didn't 502 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:27,320 know that they were going to have to his faith may have given 503 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:30,520 the wise men the courage that they needed to take a stand 504 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:33,880 against Herod and not go back to him and tell them where they 505 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:38,000 found the Christ child and they spoke or they ran away so that 506 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:39,520 way they didn't have to face him. 507 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:41,720 Hear me. To those of you in a mess right 508 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:46,840 now. Somebody is watching you and 509 00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:52,760 they are taking notes. Someone is paying attention to 510 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:57,520 the story you are writing. They are seeing you go through a 511 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:01,800 hard time and they're paying attention to what kind of faith 512 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:05,040 you have. One time I was with a friend 513 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:07,480 named Jeff Nemco and he's way more charismatic than I am. 514 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:10,840 And somebody there's details about this that are tough for me 515 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:12,360 to remember. I just remember this one part 516 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:14,560 and we were praying either for me or we were praying for 517 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:15,920 somebody. And it was one of those, you 518 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:18,240 know how you have those people who pray for you and they just 519 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:19,640 pray that everything goes great for you. 520 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:21,680 God, I pray that they get healed tomorrow. 521 00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:23,960 I pray that when they go to the doctor, they don't find 522 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,080 anything. God, I pray that when they show 523 00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:28,680 up, everything goes right. I pray that the the boss doesn't 524 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:30,880 make it out of his house today. So that way everybody else gets 525 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:32,120 promoted. I, you know, they're just 526 00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:35,320 praying a prayer for you. And Jeff, like, did that part of 527 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:38,040 the prayer and then he didn't shut up and say Amen. 528 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:42,160 He said another part. And he basically said, and God, 529 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:45,960 if you want to make the road harder and higher, if you want 530 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:49,480 to make him suffer more, stop praying, stupid. 531 00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:51,960 We don't. Don't listen to this guy. 532 00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:56,200 Jeff goes, give him the strength to walk it. 533 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:06,960 There's someone watching you in your mess and it might just make 534 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:10,680 him go for a long trip to find Jesus. 535 00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:16,280 But my favorite part of this story is my final take away. 536 00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:22,120 They chose to worship him for who he is, not for what he had 537 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:34,290 done. Everybody say before, before 538 00:32:36,450 --> 00:32:41,570 they were worshipping Jesus. Before the feeding of the 5000 539 00:32:43,330 --> 00:32:47,170 they're worshipping Jesus. Before The Walking on water, 540 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:51,400 they were worshipping Jesus before the calming of the storm. 541 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:54,760 They were worshipping him before the miraculous catch, before the 542 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:58,280 raising of Lazarus, before the casting out of demons they were 543 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:00,520 worshipping, before he healed the paralyzed man. 544 00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:03,880 Before the Sermon on the mount, before the cross, before the 545 00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:06,280 resurrection, before the forgiveness of sins. 546 00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:09,760 They were worshipping him before because they weren't worshipping 547 00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:11,400 Jesus because of what he had done. 548 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:17,520 They were worshipping him because of who He is, and He is 549 00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:21,880 the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. 550 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:25,040 The Word made flesh, the only begotten. 551 00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:29,000 All things are from Him and through him and held together by 552 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:31,560 Him. He is the image of the invisible 553 00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:34,480 God. He is holy, and angels encircle 554 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:38,280 him and never stop declaring it. He wraps himself in light. 555 00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:42,360 He is light. He is who He is, and no one can 556 00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:45,800 take it away from Him. Sometimes we get so caught up in 557 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:49,560 our circumstances and our mess is that we forget who we're 558 00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:55,120 talking to. We're talking to King Jesus and 559 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,280 we keep trying to give God a last name. 560 00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:00,600 Dad, you can relate. I get called Daddy. 561 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:03,040 Can I? All the time, Like, can I? 562 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:06,360 Is my last name Anybody been there? 563 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:09,520 Hey, Dad, can I have my friends over? 564 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:12,280 Dad, can I get a phone when I'm 13? 565 00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:16,199 Dad, can I get we get a new game on the PS5 like that. 566 00:34:17,639 --> 00:34:20,679 My last name's Hensel, get a job. 567 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:28,760 And how many of us are prayer life, myself included. 568 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:32,560 This whole week was God, Kenya. God, would you? 569 00:34:34,199 --> 00:34:39,480 God, please. God doesn't have a last name. 570 00:34:41,199 --> 00:34:46,120 He is who he is and in the middle of the mess the wise men 571 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:49,520 chose to worship. And in the middle of your mess 572 00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:53,639 your marriage, your family challenges, your diagnosis, your 573 00:34:53,639 --> 00:34:56,800 parenting hardships, your financial pressure, your worry, 574 00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:59,720 your fear, your depression, your anxiety. 575 00:34:59,920 --> 00:35:03,280 I want to encourage you to do the same that in the middle of 576 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:07,400 the mess you are pre deciding I'm going to worship and maybe 577 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:10,560 that's what we need to do. We need to step into the throne 578 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:15,480 room and see him for who he is and then we won't have to worry 579 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:19,920 as much about our message because if we saw God for who he 580 00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:25,000 is, we would say this. If he's for us who can be 581 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:27,040 against us? We're moving to a time of 582 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:34,840 decision so I didn't have time to get into it. 583 00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:36,400 So let's do it now. I'm going to re preach the 584 00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:44,560 sermon at the end it says the Wise Men took another route home 585 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:50,080 and I'm going to pull the text a little bit further than it's 586 00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:52,120 supposed to and I'm acknowledging it so you don't 587 00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:56,960 get to call me a heretic. But that's what they did. 588 00:35:56,960 --> 00:36:02,400 They physically took a different route home and I wonder 589 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:06,280 spiritually if there's some of you who need to take a different 590 00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:12,640 route home today. You've been navigating life all 591 00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:16,040 on your own. The roads that you have been 592 00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:21,720 walking, you've walked before. In fact, you never stop walking 593 00:36:21,720 --> 00:36:26,040 them. You've been walking the route 594 00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:30,520 of, hey, if I just get enough stuff, I'll finally be happy. 595 00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:33,440 How many of you have bought some more stuff this year? 596 00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:36,520 Nobody bought new stuff this year. 597 00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:39,240 This is the participation part of the message. 598 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:43,880 Like, no, Clayton, we are broke. Hey, we're not. 599 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:45,600 We weren't having on Christmas. This three is going to be a 600 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,360 stretch question. All the stuff you got. 601 00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:54,440 Are you that much happier? Are you laying in bed going now 602 00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:58,680 that I got these shoes? Woo, right. 603 00:36:59,920 --> 00:37:02,280 I always buy white tennis shoes because I'm dumb. 604 00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:04,440 Because you know what happens to white tennis shoes? 605 00:37:05,240 --> 00:37:07,320 They get dirty. Take them out-of-the-box. 606 00:37:07,720 --> 00:37:12,440 You're done, and you've been trying to fill the hole in your 607 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:17,160 heart with your stuff, and I'm guessing it hasn't worked. 608 00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:22,120 Some of you, you're trying to fill the hole in your heart with 609 00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:25,160 relationships, but yet you've found out. 610 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,160 You've looked in the mirror and realized that you're attracted 611 00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:32,600 to stupid people. Question. 612 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:36,760 How's that working? You've been running that route 613 00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:40,400 for a long time. Some of you, you're going, you 614 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:41,960 know what? I'm just going to be selfish. 615 00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:45,120 I I've been for everybody else for so long. 616 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:49,160 I'm just going to be for me. And I bet you're incredibly 617 00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:54,200 unhappy and lonely because selfish people don't win friends 618 00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:57,600 and influence. People question. 619 00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:01,160 You've tried that route. How's it working? 620 00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:05,080 Some of you, you feel this incredible weight and tension 621 00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:07,840 and pain in your life over the sins that you've carried. 622 00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:11,960 Your mind is a little bit turned spiritually and you're trying to 623 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:14,840 figure out how to pray enough and be good enough that you will 624 00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:17,600 finally get into heaven. And I got to ask you, how's that 625 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:26,000 route working? Maybe you came to church on one 626 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:31,680 Rd. but you would go home another route. 627 00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:37,560 Can I tell you about a route the early Christians were called 628 00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:43,120 members of the Way. Jesus is called the Way, the 629 00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:47,840 Truth, and the Life. It's a narrow road, and few find 630 00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:50,600 it, But those who do never regret it. 631 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:54,400 If you were here today and you have never started an intimate, 632 00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:58,000 personal relationship with Jesus Christ, can I encourage you to 633 00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:00,160 take a different route home today? 634 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:03,360 You've been to a lot of invitations at our church. 635 00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:06,240 It blows my mind how many people get baptized and have been 636 00:39:06,240 --> 00:39:09,920 coming here for a decade. Like, what are you doing during 637 00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:13,000 this part of the message? I'm tuning this guy out. 638 00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:15,160 I gave him 30. You took 35. 639 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:17,120 I'm done. I'm going to start the 640 00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:20,600 invitation first next week. Just do it on the front end when 641 00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:22,800 you're still paying attention. Question. 642 00:39:23,240 --> 00:39:25,360 You've been coming to church, you come to invitation time. 643 00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:29,720 You sit there, arms folded. What if during this invitation 644 00:39:29,720 --> 00:39:33,280 time, you tried a different route and he walked right over 645 00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:34,560 there by the Baptist? He said. 646 00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:37,440 I got to, I got to, I got to talk to somebody about how do I 647 00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:44,880 get this relationship with God figured out to those of you who 648 00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:50,440 are Christians. I want us to be worship anytime 649 00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:56,040 Christians worship in the mess kind of Christians, people who 650 00:39:56,240 --> 00:39:58,920 come to God and go. I'm worshipping you today. 651 00:39:59,240 --> 00:40:02,000 Not because of what you've delivered me from, not because 652 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,560 of what I'm going through, not because of any of that. 653 00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:09,520 I'm just worshipping you today because of who you are. 654 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:13,880 If they can worship him for who he is before the cross, we can 655 00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:17,520 certainly worship him for who he is after the cross. 656 00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:21,600 And there are people watching you right now, watching you 657 00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:25,280 walk, watching you work. Watching how you love and treat 658 00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:27,640 your family. How you navigate hardship, How 659 00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:30,160 you deal with pain, How you cope with loss. 660 00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:35,000 They're watching you, and I'm praying like Daniel. 661 00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:39,520 When they get done watching you, they go looking for what you 662 00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:42,520 have in Jesus. Would you stand with me? 663 00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:48,960 God, this church is nothing. I'm nothing. 664 00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:53,080 This sermon is nothing unless you're in it. 665 00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:58,800 And so, God, I'm begging you to be in this place right now to do 666 00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:04,040 a work that only you can do, in ways that only you can do it in 667 00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:06,120 your name, I pray. Amen.