1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,440 I want to share the Scripture in second Peter chapter one it says 2 00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:08,320 and so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do 3 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:11,840 well to heat as a light that shines in a dark place until the 4 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,440 day dawns in the morning star rises in your heart. 5 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:19,320 Knowing this that no prophecy of scripture is of any private 6 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:23,720 interpretation for prophecy never came by the will of man, 7 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:28,600 but holy men of God spoke as they were removed by the Holy 8 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:30,720 Spirit. I have over this scripture 9 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:32,759 prophecy. I'm going to call it now the 10 00:00:32,759 --> 00:00:36,040 inspired word because this is such an important thing for us 11 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:38,760 to understand. I love the Bible. 12 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:41,680 We should all love our Bible Bibles because the Bible says 13 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:44,840 that we should study the Bible and show ourself approved unto 14 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:48,000 God, a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed. 15 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:50,760 But we have to understand it's no ordinary book. 16 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:54,000 The purpose of the Bible is not to reach just our mind, although 17 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,320 that's a part of it for sure. But the Bible is a powerful and 18 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:02,680 in some ways mysterious book because it can come to us by 19 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:04,800 inspiration. What does that mean? 20 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:07,520 To inspire means to breathe life into something. 21 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:11,200 And God through his Holy Spirit, comes to each and every one of 22 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,600 us to breathe life into us. And concerning the Scriptures, 23 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:19,000 Jesus said my words are spirit and they are life. 24 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:23,200 So whenever we read the Bible or study the Bible, we should 25 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,400 always look for inspiration from God that the Holy Spirit would 26 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,520 come and breathe that upon us and make it alive to us. 27 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:33,520 And that's basically what the Bible says when it speaks about 28 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:37,200 prophecy. Prophecy is when someone has a 29 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:41,440 word from God and God breathes upon them and that word gives 30 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:44,680 life to other people. It's so important that we 31 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:48,680 understand what we call the prophetic word because God still 32 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:51,680 speaks today. But it was life changing for me 33 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,520 earlier in the year. I might even have been into last 34 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:57,160 year one day or when I was reading these scriptures and I 35 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:01,040 just never really thought of the Bible as being prophetic as well 36 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:03,480 as thinking about prophecy today. 37 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:07,360 But the Bible was prophecy that has been written down. 38 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:10,280 And because of that, we call it Scripture. 39 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:14,080 And through what's called in scripturization for a long term 40 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:18,040 there the Christian Church, and then going back into the Old 41 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,360 Testament, the Jewish people, there are certain prophetic 42 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:25,560 words that they said, no, this is God's word for us to become 43 00:02:25,640 --> 00:02:28,520 Scripture. And so it's powerful for us to 44 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:31,400 read scripture, but it's also important for us to know God 45 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:35,720 still speaks today, not on the level of scripture because 46 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:39,600 that's something different, but he does take scripture and 47 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:42,800 inspire it to us. So it becomes living to us. 48 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:45,080 And today I'm going to share with you some of the thoughts 49 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:47,760 I've been hearing the Holy Spirit speak to me lately. 50 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:50,680 Because as long as I've been reading the Bible, hearing the 51 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:54,640 stories of the Bible, I can still say that I can read the 52 00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:57,440 Bible and all of a sudden I can look at it and it'll come alive 53 00:02:57,440 --> 00:02:59,120 to me and God will speak something to me. 54 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:02,520 I'm like, wow, that's amazing. Either I haven't seen it that 55 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:05,720 way before or just all of a sudden God says, no, that's for 56 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:07,320 you, take it. It's my word. 57 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:11,520 So the Holy Spirit comes to inspire us by the Word of God, 58 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:16,000 and I love that it says. And holy men of God spoke as 59 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,400 they were moved by the Holy Spirit, because from the very 60 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:23,880 beginning of time, God's desire has always been to use people. 61 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:28,160 And that's very important for us to understand that he uses 62 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:31,040 people. And so the Bible was written by 63 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:34,280 men of God. They're called holy simply not 64 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:37,160 because in necessarily they were separate from other people, but 65 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,400 they obviously had a close relationship with God where they 66 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:44,280 would let God speak to them and inspire them to give a message 67 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,520 to somebody else. Now most religions of the world 68 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:50,400 have been given to one person. They'll claim an Angel came to 69 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,640 them or claim some revelation came to them and they'll come up 70 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:56,800 with a religion. But as Christians, we have the 71 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:00,280 Bible that was pretty well written over a 2000 year period 72 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:04,680 of time, and it was written by many different people, but every 73 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:07,400 one of them was inspired by the Holy Spirit. 74 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:11,960 God uses people, and that's so important for us to understand 75 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:14,080 because oftentimes as Christians, we're looking for 76 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:16,399 God to move outside of the human condition. 77 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,279 But God moves through the human condition and we have to 78 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:22,440 understand that God still speaks today. 79 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:26,600 God wants to speak to every single one of us in this day and 80 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:30,800 recognize how He uses us. Now, it's important to realize 81 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,240 that because when God speaks, often times when he speaks to 82 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:36,720 somebody, he'll use their life experiences. 83 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:41,240 He'll use what kind of a person they are as a part of how he 84 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,360 speaks to and through them for other people. 85 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:47,200 Now, I wanted to share that with you because today we're going to 86 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:51,400 be reading and talking about Matthew chapter 2 for the last 87 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:53,960 few weeks and talking about the Christmas season. 88 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:56,240 We've been sharing from the Gospel of Luke. 89 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:00,840 Now these are two different stories read by two different 90 00:05:00,840 --> 00:05:04,040 men. We receive them both as the word 91 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:06,760 of the Lord because they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. 92 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:09,720 But as you read it, you began to realize how that God used the 93 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:13,160 individual for the specific scripture that was given to 94 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:15,800 them. Luke was a physician. 95 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:20,120 He travelled with the apostle Paul, wrote the book of Acts and 96 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:23,600 also the book of Luke. He would not have been an 97 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,560 eyewitness of those events. He would have heard things from 98 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:31,160 other people, but the Holy Spirit would have inspired him 99 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:34,160 to write those things. Writing the book of Luke, we 100 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:37,600 notice he focuses on Mary, the mother of Jesus. 101 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:41,520 He tells the story about the virgin conception. 102 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:44,840 As a doctor, he would have certainly understood the details 103 00:05:44,840 --> 00:05:48,880 of that, and he also told about the story of the mother as she 104 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:53,560 had to travel as a pregnant woman, have birth in a barn, and 105 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:56,080 all the different aspects that would be a part of that. 106 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:58,880 He would have had insight into that because guess what? 107 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:04,240 He was a physician and he gave to us really the mother's point 108 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:05,960 of view. Now, what we're going to read 109 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:08,000 today is from the Gospel of Matthew. 110 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,320 Now, Matthew was a disciple of Jesus Christ. 111 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:14,320 He was a tax collector. As a tax collector in those 112 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,200 days, he would not have worked for the Jewish government if you 113 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:18,880 would, he would have worked for the Romans. 114 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:21,040 They were the ones who taxed the people. 115 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:25,040 So he was very aware of the pitilitical condition of the 116 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:28,200 country and the high iron care of the land. 117 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:32,440 And so when you read the Gospel account in Matthew, we get 118 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:34,960 insight into the king, the establishment. 119 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:37,800 Why? Because God used him in a 120 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:40,160 different fashion. But what I also want to point 121 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:43,880 out today, that from Matthew's perspective, we see the Father 122 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:47,720 perspective because the Father perspective becomes the major 123 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:52,200 part of that story. On Wednesday for, or excuse me, 124 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:55,280 yeah, it was Wednesday for the Christmas Eve service. 125 00:06:55,280 --> 00:06:57,360 I was sharing how that when I was a kid, I always wanted to 126 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,880 take care of animals. When my brother Matt was born, I 127 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:03,640 thought I'd take care of him. Well in time, whether it was 128 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,880 animals or people, I found out I wasn't much of a nurturer in the 129 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,760 long term. When Bonnie and I had our first 130 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:12,920 child, I thought was amazing. It was life changing. 131 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:17,640 I can't even express how awesome it was to have a child and to 132 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:21,280 see our children born. But in actual taking care of the 133 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,800 children, that was something that the nurturing part, I was 134 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:26,400 glad to hand that over to Bonnie. 135 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:29,480 Yesterday I saw my granddaughter and she's carrying around a baby 136 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:31,760 because the girls often times when they're little, they want 137 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:34,440 to take care of dolls and when they get older, they want to 138 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:37,480 take care of the baby. They have been given a nurturing 139 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:39,840 side. Now for the men, there's a 140 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:43,840 different aspect of how we work with the children and often 141 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:47,440 times we have to understand that's more in the section of 142 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:50,680 life where they need more protection or instruction. 143 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:54,280 In our children's department, we have the nursery and then we 144 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:57,720 have The Walking ones. I would say walking ones is when 145 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:02,440 they become real to me. You can actually do something 146 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:04,720 with them. You can see them play and when 147 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:07,120 they talk. I find that to be so incredible 148 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:08,800 to me. It's nothing like when your kids 149 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:12,200 first start talking and you're like amazed that came out of 150 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:14,600 that person. You know, it's just so strange 151 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:17,520 how it works. But that's why Matthew's story 152 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:20,080 is a little different, because this is the father's role. 153 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:23,600 It's important for us to see how these two things work together 154 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:27,320 for the purposes of God because in the earth God our Father 155 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:30,520 works, and then he also works through his church, which the 156 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:33,720 Bible says is the mother of us all in the family. 157 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:35,760 He gives mothers and he gives fathers. 158 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,039 And certainly in this story we have to say the two aspects of 159 00:08:39,039 --> 00:08:42,840 how these things work together. Now having said that, I want to 160 00:08:42,919 --> 00:08:46,440 end the story in the book of Luke it says and one they had 161 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:49,320 performed everything according to the law of the Lord. 162 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:53,400 They returned on to to their own town of Nazareth. 163 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:57,400 So notice after Luke is finished, they're going back to 164 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,080 Nazareth, which is where the story picks up in Matthew 165 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:04,320 chapter 2 is then the child grew and became strong, filled with 166 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:07,240 wisdom and the favor of God was upon him. 167 00:09:07,560 --> 00:09:11,720 So how long would have it they would have been in Bethlehem as 168 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:14,360 we talked about the fact they went there because there was a 169 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:16,800 census. Everybody had to be registered 170 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:19,480 in their own country. Since Joseph and Mary of the 171 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:22,440 lineage of David, they had to go back to Bethlehem. 172 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:26,280 Now, when the child was born, and I'm sure their mind, it 173 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:28,320 wasn't the best time to go to Bethlehem. 174 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:31,080 The child, as we know, was born in a stable. 175 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:34,520 Now, according to the Jewish law, as we've rehearsed in one 176 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:38,480 of the messages, it's always necessary for the child to be 177 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:43,880 circumcised on the 8th day. Now when the Law of Moses came, 178 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:47,320 there also were laws of purification that he put upon 179 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:50,400 the people. And for a woman, after she had a 180 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:53,760 child, there was a time of purification, if you would, 181 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:56,560 before she could even leave the house. 182 00:09:56,560 --> 00:09:59,320 And so that's when the circumcision experience would 183 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:01,480 have happened. But after the baby was 184 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:06,280 circumcised, there was another 35 day period of purification 185 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:09,160 before they could have actually went to the temple. 186 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:13,560 And to have dedicated the child in the holy place of the temple, 187 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:16,240 because there were other purification rights that were 188 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:20,520 necessary in their mind to be ready to go to the very presence 189 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:23,960 of God at the temple. And so the dedication would have 190 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:27,440 taken place about 35 days after that. 191 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:32,360 So all told, they probably were in Bethlehem just a little bit 192 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:35,760 over a month, maybe two months. And then the story picks up in 193 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:39,520 the book of Matthew, chapter 2. Now, often times people don't 194 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:42,800 understand this because most of what we've learned about the 195 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,320 Bible story of the Nativity are the things that we've learned. 196 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:50,080 And plays that we had in Sunday school when I was a kid, they 197 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:53,120 actually had those kind of plays at the public schools. 198 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:55,760 And you'd go there and you'd have at Christmas, you always 199 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:58,760 had a Christmas concert, whether you were in church or in school 200 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:01,680 in those days. Easter, all these religious 201 00:11:01,680 --> 00:11:04,200 holidays that now have been kind of taken out of the public 202 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:06,200 school used to be all a part of it. 203 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:09,800 And so all of us have these mindsets about the stories. 204 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:13,120 And how many know if you're putting together a story of the 205 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,960 nativity on a stage, it had to kind of compress the story a 206 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:20,400 little bit, and that's what has happened overtime. 207 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:23,760 So because of that, oftentimes we don't really quite understand 208 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:28,240 the sequences of events that took place, but we need to go to 209 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:31,680 the scriptures and then we can find out what those things are. 210 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:34,360 Now, one of the reasons I want to share this today is because I 211 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:37,400 believe it's so important that we would understand that often 212 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:41,720 times we pick up traditions and concepts of the word of God 213 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,320 based on tradition or life experiences. 214 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:47,280 And sometimes a part of that inspiration is we have to go to 215 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:50,360 the scriptures and see something there and say, wait a minute, I 216 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:53,120 didn't read it like that before. Why did I think that way? 217 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,160 Well, it's because of our traditions, because of something 218 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:59,800 somebody's told us. But when God does something new 219 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:02,400 like he did when Jesus Christ came, just like I really believe 220 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:05,040 God's doing something new in the earth today, how do you know? 221 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:08,480 We have to be willing to lay aside our traditions and we have 222 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:12,640 to let God inspire us so that we can hear the word of God. 223 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:17,120 And so now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the 224 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:21,680 days of Herod the King, behold, wise men came from the east to 225 00:12:21,680 --> 00:12:25,320 Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the 226 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:28,160 Jews? For we saw his star when it 227 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:30,640 rose, and I've come to worship him. 228 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:34,720 Now again, in the Matthews story, I call it the after story 229 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:38,320 because we have to realize this is a different setting than the 230 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:42,360 time when they were in Bethlehem and they were there in the 231 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:45,440 stable and the things that were going on there. 232 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:48,600 As a matter of fact, they may not have saw the star that we 233 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:52,760 often like to put in our plays because it was at a different 234 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:54,640 story. It was a part of the after 235 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:58,280 story, if you would. And the wise men, as we call 236 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:03,240 them, we're not really known as wise men in that day, but if 237 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:06,880 they're the translation of the original word, it's Maggie. 238 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:10,840 It's where we get the word magic or magicians, because in the 239 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:14,800 Eastern world that they were a part of, they were a part of 240 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:17,640 perhaps a religious group of people. 241 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:21,080 They were the experts at the time in some ways because they 242 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:24,200 believed that you could understand what was going on in 243 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:28,480 the world through astrology. We call it not astronomy, which 244 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:32,560 is science, but astrology. You might have noticed this in 245 00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:35,040 the newspapers when I was a kid. Most people don't read 246 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,440 newspapers anymore, but we would always go to the comics and 247 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:40,720 underneath the comics there was the horoscopes. 248 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:44,160 That's a part of astrology. And of course, as a Christian, 249 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:46,160 we were told don't look at the horoscopes. 250 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:48,600 You can look at the comics, but not the horoscope. 251 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:52,360 Anyway, that's what these guys would have been familiar with 252 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:55,040 because to them the stars said something. 253 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:58,680 Most of the earlier religions that were not Christian or 254 00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:01,520 Jewish in nature, they would have these pyramids and all 255 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,320 kinds of different things for the worship of the sun, worship 256 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:06,000 of the moon, worship of the stars. 257 00:14:06,560 --> 00:14:10,160 So they weren't just wise men. There were people who were wise 258 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:12,320 in the traditions of their country. 259 00:14:12,560 --> 00:14:15,280 They would have been looked at as experts for sure. 260 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:19,400 All we know is they come to Jerusalem and because of their 261 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:22,480 background, they think they know that the king is going to be 262 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:26,480 born in Jerusalem and it will be the king of the Jews and have, 263 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:30,040 you know, they were right there. And that's important to 264 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:34,040 understand because God often times uses people that we least 265 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:38,640 expect as a part of his process. So when you're a person wanting 266 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:41,760 to look for the purposes of God, you have to sometimes look 267 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:46,320 beyond your prejudices, beyond your perspective to understand, 268 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:48,760 well, God might be doing something bigger than you can 269 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:51,880 even fully understand. Now put up there the three wise 270 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:55,200 men because I want to emphasize the fact that, well, the Bible 271 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:57,080 doesn't say that there were three of them. 272 00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:00,160 If you look it up in research and say, well, why did they say 273 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:03,680 3 wise men? Well, it's because of the gifts, 274 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:06,640 gold, frankincense, and mirror. 3 gifts must have been three 275 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:08,400 people. So that's where they come up 276 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:11,920 with the three wise men. When I was in 7th grade, I was 277 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,520 singing a solo in one of those Christmas programs. 278 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:18,680 They had me sing the first verse of We 3 Kings. 279 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:23,600 Most of you know that we 3 kings of Orient are bearing gifts. 280 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:28,040 We travelled so far filled and fountain more mountain following 281 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,400 younger star. I used to have a good voice back 282 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:35,600 in the 7th grade. I was a mezzo soprano they 283 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:37,760 called it, which is a very high voice. 284 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:40,760 So for those of you who don't think my voice changed when I 285 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:43,480 got older, it actually did. It just didn't fall far enough. 286 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:47,040 Amen. But anyway, we sang about the 287 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:49,240 three wise men. That's a part of the song. 288 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:51,440 That's why we believe there were three, but the Bible doesn't say 289 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:53,960 there were three. Again, that's just a part of the 290 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:56,960 tradition. And we look at church traditions 291 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:00,280 going all the way back. They've actually given the three 292 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:02,280 wise men names. They've had songs, they have 293 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:03,960 stories. I mean, there's so much 294 00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:07,320 embellishment to the story and none of it come from the Bible. 295 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:09,600 Amen. That's just what we do as 296 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:11,320 people. That's why from time to time we 297 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:14,120 got to say, well, what embellishments have we added to 298 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:17,160 our religion? What embellishments have we 299 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:19,240 added to our relationship with God? 300 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:22,280 Because from time to time God wants to correct those things, 301 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:24,640 Amen. We need to be corrected. 302 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:28,240 When Herod the king heard that there was another king, he was 303 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:31,920 troubled, and all Jerusalem with him, and assembling all the 304 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:35,440 chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired to them 305 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:38,880 where the Christ was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of 306 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:41,200 Judea. For so it is written by the 307 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:46,160 prophet, And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Jewa, by are by no 308 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:48,200 means least among the rulers of Judah. 309 00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:52,200 For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people, 310 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:55,480 Israel. Now, Herod was called Herod the 311 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:57,880 Great in history. And the reason for that was he 312 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:00,200 was a man who built some awesome things. 313 00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:04,200 He literally built a whole city on the coast so that they could 314 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:07,200 take advantage of trade, so that everybody was benefiting from 315 00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:09,680 that city. He built a fortress called 316 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:14,640 Masada for his own protection. But even stands today as a place 317 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:18,200 you can go to say, wow, look at that thing built way up there in 318 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:20,720 the air, in the mountain top if you would. 319 00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:24,040 And it was an incredible thing. One of the things that he 320 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:26,440 rebuilt was the temple in Jerusalem. 321 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:28,840 He didn't do it because he was a religious man. 322 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:32,480 He did it because he wanted to impress other people. 323 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:35,520 So the temple that was rebuilt when the children of Israel came 324 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:39,280 back from Babylon really was kind of a simple structure. 325 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:42,320 They didn't have much money. Everything they did was by 326 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:45,600 faith. And So what he did is he rebuilt 327 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:48,920 the whole thing and build a awesome thing where people would 328 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:51,000 come to the city and say, wow, look at the temple. 329 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:54,760 There's even a story where Jesus and his disciples are going in 330 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:58,000 the temple, and they're all struck at what they see, and 331 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:01,480 what they see is happening in this awesome building. 332 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:04,240 If you go to Israel today, there's only one part of the 333 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:06,400 former temple there, the Western Wall. 334 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:09,160 Again, that wasn't part of the original temple. 335 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:13,080 That was one of the things that Herod the Great had built. 336 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:16,800 Now, he did these things because he wanted everybody to call him 337 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:19,520 Herod the Great. So I'm sure he was glad when 338 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:21,520 people start calling him Herod the Great. 339 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:25,320 But he was a very insecure person, doing everything he 340 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:30,280 could in order to impress people, but also doing some very 341 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:33,960 bad things, as we'll read here today, because he was so 342 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:37,440 insecure about his position back in the day. 343 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:41,720 Often times kings and families of royalty would intermarry with 344 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:43,600 each other. It's kind of like a contract to 345 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:46,840 kind of keep the royal stream going, if you would, in all the 346 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:50,360 different countries. Well, one time Herod had married 347 00:18:50,360 --> 00:18:52,160 a woman for that very same reason. 348 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:55,280 But he got the idea that his mother-in-law was going to try 349 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:57,600 to make that family the really family. 350 00:18:57,800 --> 00:18:59,640 So this is what a bad person he was. 351 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:02,560 He killed his mother-in-law, he killed his wife and he killed 352 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:05,720 his two sons. How we know that's an insecure, 353 00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:07,240 evil person. Amen. 354 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:10,560 So if you were compared to modern history, he would be a 355 00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:14,640 Hitler, he would be a Stalin, he would just not so great. 356 00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:18,240 He was quite evil. So call him here, the evil would 357 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:20,960 be good. And in this situation, when he 358 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:24,400 hears that the wise men are coming with this news, the 359 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:27,520 King's going to be born. He's going into defense mode 360 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:29,760 right away. He's ready to kill. 361 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:33,760 He's ready to destroy. He's ready to do anything evil 362 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:36,560 that's necessary. But he does it in such a nice 363 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:39,760 way. There's a king going to be born. 364 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:42,440 Tell me about it. When did it happen? 365 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:45,320 Where is it going to be? I mean, you know, he had his own 366 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:48,520 plan of action. But I wanted you to point to 367 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:52,920 note how that it wasn't just Herod who was fearful of the 368 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:56,840 things that were come. It said all of Jerusalem because 369 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:00,160 Jerusalem was the capital city. So where all the establishment 370 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:02,800 elites lived in the last election. 371 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:04,720 They used to talk about draining the swamp. 372 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:07,760 Well, every capital has a swamp. And when they drain them, they 373 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,640 start new ones all over again. Because capital cities are 374 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:14,240 filled with people who have positions and they want to 375 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:16,680 predict them. And unfortunately for the Jews, 376 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:19,240 it was all we also the religious system as well. 377 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:24,960 And remember those two forces aligned that 30 years later, 33 378 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:28,800 years later would consent to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. 379 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:33,400 And unfortunately, even religious people get concerned 380 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:35,680 when it feels like their positions are threatened. 381 00:20:36,120 --> 00:20:38,400 I remember growing up in a small church and they're always 382 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:40,520 talking about evangelism. We got to grow. 383 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:43,360 We got to reach people and so they do these different 384 00:20:43,360 --> 00:20:46,760 evangelistic campaigns. Sometime has special services. 385 00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:50,440 The problem came is when a new person did come and they 386 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:54,200 actually sit accidentally sit in the wrong person's seat. 387 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:57,800 How many know most of us have our own seat claimed on Sunday 388 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:01,440 morning. How many know if you came in and 389 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:03,600 somebody sit in your seat, you're not sure if you'd want 390 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:05,480 them to go to heaven or not. They're in your seat. 391 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:11,000 If they seem good and you're the worship leader, It's like, am I 392 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:12,440 threatened there? I'm threatened here. 393 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:16,280 And so oftentimes when personal interests become involved, 394 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:19,320 everybody changes. Unfortunately, that's the way it 395 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:22,320 was in Jerusalem. Everybody was out to find out 396 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:25,480 who this new king was, but nobody for the right reason. 397 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:30,400 As the story continues, Herod summoned the wise men secretly, 398 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:34,640 and a certain from them what time the star had appeared. 399 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:37,360 He wanted to know everything, all the details, so he could 400 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:40,640 come up with his plan. And he sent them to Bethlehem, 401 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:44,040 saying, go and search diligently for the child. 402 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:48,560 And when you have found him, bring me word that I may come 403 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:51,160 and worship him. And I put over there the 404 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,840 intrigue of the thing. He wanted to know the timing 405 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:57,000 because he's kind of like, I got to know how old this kid is. 406 00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,320 That's why if you notice later on in the reading, he killed up 407 00:22:00,360 --> 00:22:04,160 to two year old because it wasn't an infant at this point. 408 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:07,280 It would have been a while. And so he need to know the 409 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,680 timing because when the time came, he had everybody killed 410 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:13,800 under 2 years of age because he wanted to make sure he had the 411 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:16,440 right timing. And again, I put up there, the 412 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:20,240 politics are involved because all he cared about is how he 413 00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:23,800 could put this system in place that would secure his role. 414 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:28,160 Again, can you see how God would have chosen a person who had 415 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:31,760 political experience, who was involved in that, to be able to 416 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:34,480 tell this story? There's a lot of people today 417 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:38,320 who flow in what we call the prophetic movement who could 418 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:41,360 learn a little bit from this story because often times people 419 00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:44,840 are prophesying about subjects they know nothing about and 420 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:48,400 they're not accurate simply because they don't have the 421 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:52,400 right information to discern even what God is speaking them 422 00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,120 for some from time to time. That's why it's very important 423 00:22:55,120 --> 00:22:58,360 for us to understand how there is a connection between the 424 00:22:58,360 --> 00:23:02,640 natural and the spiritual. Now the star returns. 425 00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:05,120 Excuse me, I missed the verse here. 426 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:10,160 When they heard the king, they departed and behold, the star, 427 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:12,520 which they had seen in East, went before them. 428 00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:15,160 OK, now keep in mind they've heard the king. 429 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:18,800 He's told them to go to Bethlehem and what happens to 430 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:21,400 them? The star which they had seen in 431 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:24,360 the East went before them. So they're not being guarded by 432 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:28,320 guided by the information, they're being guided by the star 433 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:32,240 till it came and stood over where the young child was. 434 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:36,800 When they saw the star, where it stopped, they rejoiced with 435 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:40,200 exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the 436 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:42,240 house, notice this not the stable. 437 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,600 When they came into the house, they saw the young child with 438 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:48,880 Mary, his mother, fell down and worshipped him. 439 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:52,560 And when they had open treasures, they presented gifts 440 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:56,640 to him, gold, frankincense and myrrh. 441 00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:00,760 And so this is very important because it seems like the star 442 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:03,320 had disappeared, because then it comes back and I'm like, wow, 443 00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:05,960 there's a star. And it gives them directions. 444 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,960 Again, very important because God's working in this situation 445 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,720 to make sure that Herod doesn't have enough information to get 446 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:16,520 involved in his purposes and his plan. 447 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:19,880 So when the star returns, it takes them to a house. 448 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,600 This house happens to be the house that Jesus Christ lived 449 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:26,000 in. And when they got there, they 450 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:28,880 had a pure motive. They really wanted to worship. 451 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,200 They had insight into this situation. 452 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:35,280 Lord only knows how, but God had called them to be a part of His 453 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:37,200 plan. And that's when they gave the 454 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:40,840 very precious gifts I put there the treasures. 455 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,520 Now, if you read the Bible story, gold, frankincense and 456 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:47,080 myrrh, everybody wants to have an opinion. 457 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,880 Well, why is it gold? Why is it frankincense? 458 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,640 Why is it incense? And, and the incense, of course, 459 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,160 they'll say is always a part of worship experiences. 460 00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:59,680 Gold represents royalty. And so they try to give a, a 461 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,400 mystical meaning to each and every one of the gifts. 462 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:07,640 I'd like to point out that it was a treasure, it was something 463 00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:11,960 very valuable because they're going to need some money for the 464 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:13,960 next phase of what God had for them. 465 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,320 That doesn't sound too spiritual, does it? 466 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:21,240 But always remember, God has a plan, and that plan will be 467 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:25,120 executed in His way. So they were divinely warned in 468 00:25:25,120 --> 00:25:27,640 a dream they should not return to Herod. 469 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:30,360 So what did they do? Well, they went back to their 470 00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:34,200 own country, because God spoke to them after that. 471 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:37,080 It says that when they had departed, an Angel of the Lord 472 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:41,360 appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, rise, take the child 473 00:25:41,360 --> 00:25:43,640 and his mother, and what? Flee to Egypt? 474 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:47,360 Remain there until I tell you, For Herod is about to search for 475 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:50,800 the child, to destroy him. And he rose and took the child 476 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:54,960 and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained 477 00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:58,840 there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill again, 478 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:02,160 something we've constantly seen, a word that was spoken by the 479 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:06,480 prophet out of Egypt. I have called my son. 480 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:10,600 So he had to go to Egypt so that when it came time, God could 481 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:13,240 call him out. But I wanted to point out how it 482 00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:15,920 was an all expenses paid journey. 483 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,440 Joseph and Mary, there's no indication they were people of 484 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:24,400 money or wealth. And so they did a whole lot of 485 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:26,960 traveling in a very short period of time. 486 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:30,440 There wouldn't have been a planned account they had set 487 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:33,960 aside for traveling to Egypt. They would have had no idea they 488 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:36,160 were going to go to Egypt. And how, you know, if you go to 489 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:40,760 another country all together, a whole different civilization, in 490 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:43,320 reality, how many know you're not going to be able to get a 491 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,400 job right away, You're not going to be able to just fit in right 492 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,280 away. And so God had a provision for 493 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:51,480 them. I think this is so important to 494 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,480 understand because oftentimes we have surprises in life. 495 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:56,120 But I want you to know something. 496 00:26:56,320 --> 00:27:00,720 God is never surprised, Damian. And we have to always know at 497 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:06,560 all times that God, who is our God and our Father, is always at 498 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:10,200 work on our behalf. And we have to understand this 499 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:12,920 because we're living perilous times in a lot of ways. 500 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:15,600 There's a lot of tumultuous change going on. 501 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,600 There is a reordering of the world order. 502 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:21,680 There is a reordering that we're going to see of the economic 503 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:23,360 world. There's going to be a lot of 504 00:27:23,360 --> 00:27:25,440 things that are going to happen that are going to make people 505 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:28,120 wonder, what exactly am I going to do? 506 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:33,240 Well, trust in the Lord and lean not unto your own understanding. 507 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:36,120 Amen, Church. We need to be prepared as the 508 00:27:36,120 --> 00:27:39,280 people of God that no matter what comes our way, we're not 509 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,040 caught up in the intrigue of the moment. 510 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:46,280 Joseph and Mary, they could have heard about conspiracy theories. 511 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:49,480 Guess what, there was one. How many know God was over the 512 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:54,600 conspiracy theory? God is always God church. 513 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:57,520 And so we need to be careful about any kind of information 514 00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:00,920 that we listen to that's going to rob us of our peace, take 515 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:04,800 away our rest, because God has called us to a place of rest. 516 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:06,880 He's called us to a place of peace. 517 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:09,880 And you need to understand that Jesus Christ is the Prince of 518 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:12,760 Peace. And his story shows us how God 519 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:15,480 is able to do such awesome things. 520 00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:19,120 But Joseph, and this is where it's important, he had the 521 00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:22,640 father role because it would be him that would protect the 522 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:25,400 child. He was the one who would be 523 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:29,600 responsible for taking him to the land of Egypt, accepting the 524 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:34,480 responsibility, respect, very accepting all of the uncertainty 525 00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:39,200 that that situation would be protect, projecting upon the 526 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:44,040 family and all these things. But he had this confidence as 527 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:47,000 the father. And I really again want to 528 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:49,120 emphasize that God is our father. 529 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:53,760 And the same thing is happening that we have the church need to 530 00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:57,200 know that our God is with us every step of the way. 531 00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:01,880 And we have a father who can nurture, but he has a father who 532 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:05,000 can protect. And most importantly, we have to 533 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:09,240 understand, no matter what our world looks like, God has a 534 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:13,080 purpose, and we have to focus our purpose on Him. 535 00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:15,720 Amen, Church. Give him a praise on that. 536 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:21,840 I think that's good. Then Herod, when he saw that he 537 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:25,520 was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, sent 538 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,360 forth and put to death all the male children who were in 539 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:32,360 Bethlehem and in all his districts from 2 years old and 540 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:35,120 under, according to the time which he had determined from the 541 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:38,160 wise men. Then was fulfilled what was 542 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:41,880 spoken by Jeremiah the prophet saying, a voice was heard in 543 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:46,160 Rhema, lamentation, weeping, great morning, Rachel, weeping 544 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:50,120 for her children, refusing to be comforted because they are no 545 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:53,840 more. Even this unusual situation was 546 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:57,560 prophesied ahead of time. And we have to understand that's 547 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:01,480 just how wicked Herod was and how we know there are a lot of 548 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:05,640 wicked people in the earth. And oftentimes they can extend 549 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:09,720 their hand in ways that many times people become victims of. 550 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,600 But as Christians, we have to understand, just like in this 551 00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:17,920 particular story, our pain becomes travail because God says 552 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:21,880 to us, there's times when you go through pain, times you go 553 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:23,880 through what the Bible calls travail. 554 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:27,240 And the reason it uses the word travail because that means to 555 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:32,160 labor, because God says whatever we go through, it can produce 556 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:37,560 something good as long as we keep our focus on the divine 557 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:40,200 purpose. And that's so important for us 558 00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:44,880 to understand because God has a purpose in all things, and when 559 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:49,120 we trust in Him and lean not into our own understanding, we 560 00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:52,000 can find out. He will direct our steps, He 561 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:57,040 will work on our behalf, and He will do what's necessary to get 562 00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:00,440 us through every situation. And that's so important for us 563 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:03,160 to know. When Herod was dead, behold, an 564 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:06,040 Angel of the Lord appeared in the dream to Joseph in Egypt 565 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:10,000 saying, arise, take the young child and his mother, go to the 566 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,520 land of Israel. For those who sought the young 567 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:16,200 child's life are dead. Then he arose, took the young 568 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:19,720 child and his mother and came into the land of Israel. 569 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:24,280 God sent the all clear sign because of course He was the 570 00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:29,120 Father and he had a work that he was seeking to accomplish and 571 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:31,480 now really he could take him to his forever home. 572 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:34,560 I'm calling it because that would be the area he would be 573 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:39,120 raised until the time that he would be at age 30, anointed of 574 00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:42,000 God for his eternal purpose in life. 575 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:45,320 But the thought I wanted to leave and summing up all of this 576 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:47,320 is from First Corinthians chapter 2. 577 00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:52,760 It says no temptation and that can mean trial, difficulty, 578 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:55,760 snare. Nothing has overtaken you. 579 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:59,640 That is not common to man, meaning that well when we go 580 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,320 through things, don't think well you're the only one suffering. 581 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:04,840 Suffering is pretty common out there in the world. 582 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:09,520 But always remember God is what? Read it with me. 583 00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:16,320 God is what? God is what and he will not let 584 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:21,680 you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the trial 585 00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:27,160 temptation, conflict will provide the way of escape that 586 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:32,120 you may be able to endure it. Notice beyond your ability. 587 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:35,120 And that's why I've emphasized how God uses people. 588 00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:39,000 Everything about this story was how God used people and 589 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:42,840 sometimes not the people you expect and sometimes people had 590 00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:46,320 evil means, but God used it to bring forth his eternal purpose. 591 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:50,200 But what God wants all of us to know is each and every one of us 592 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:54,880 has an ability because God formed us in him before the 593 00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:58,200 foundation of the world. He knows what we're able to do. 594 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:02,840 And he says, if you'll tune yourself in, just like Joseph 595 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:07,520 had to tune himself in, if you'll tune yourself in, God 596 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:11,960 will communicate with you. God will give it the means by 597 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:14,040 which you can get through the situation. 598 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:18,240 There might be some endurance necessary, but God says he will 599 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:24,040 do that for you because he is the God who's able to do all 600 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:25,680 things. Can we all bow our heads for 601 00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:28,480 just a moment, Church? I believe with everything 602 00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:30,960 within, we're moving into a new season in God. 603 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:36,320 I believe with all my heart that it's a season when God's saying 604 00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:39,520 to us that there's a different level of strength that we're 605 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:42,760 going to be able to walk in, a different level of wisdom we're 606 00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:46,520 going to be able to walk in that He has prepared you for this 607 00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:49,840 time. You have abilities you don't 608 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:53,480 know you have. You have a strength that only 609 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,840 God can give you, but God wants you to know. 610 00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:00,320 He's called you for such a time as this. 611 00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:09,080 This is your story. It's your life, and God is in it 612 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:15,440 and he has a plan of action. He has a purpose, and he wants 613 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:19,600 you to know today. So we think about the special 614 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:23,480 child, Jesus. Jesus says, well, you're my 615 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:30,080 special child. You belong to me, I have a plan 616 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:34,280 for your life. It will come to pass, but I'm 617 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:39,600 looking for you to give your ability, turn over your 618 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:46,719 controls, surrender yourself to Him, and see how God is able to 619 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:49,960 do something amazing in your life. 620 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:53,800 Father, I thank you today as I pray for every person here 621 00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:56,440 today. I know Lord, you're preparedness 622 00:34:56,440 --> 00:35:01,560 for a season of power, a season of great and good and awesome 623 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:04,400 things. So Father, by the power of the 624 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:07,760 name of Jesus, I just bless everyone here today. 625 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:12,600 And Father asked that we would walk in a fresh rest revelation 626 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:16,000 of all that you have for us. We ask it in Jesus mighty name. 627 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:19,880 This is Pastor Lorne Coverbius from Mount Zion Church. 628 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:22,880 We thank you for joining us today and invite you to connect 629 00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:26,480 with our church family by visiting mountzion.org and 630 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:29,120 following us on social media. God bless you.