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Well, good morning. 
My name is Andrew Evans. 

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I'm one of the pastors here. 
And this morning I want to tell 

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you the story of three Kings. 
So before we get started, let me

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pray for us. 
Father, would you and your 

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Spirit meet with us here today? 
Would you open up your word so 

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that we might go even unto 
Bethlehem and meet the Savior? 

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I pray this in the name of 
Jesus, Amen. 

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Now tradition has it that there 
were 3 kings who went to 

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Jerusalem to meet Jesus, but we 
don't actually know how many 

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kings there were, right? 
We know that there were three 

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kinds of gifts. 
There were gold, frankincense, 

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and myrrh, right? 
And from that we kind of just as

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extrapolate there probably were 
three wise men. 3 magi, 3 kings 

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makes for a good scene on the 
lawn or on the Mantel place, 

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right? 
We actually don't know if they 

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were actually kings. 
In fact, odds are they probably 

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weren't kings. 
Greek here is magi probably 

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means something like sage 
astrologer. 

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These were very likely well 
studied men who watched the 

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stars for signs and were well 
versed in the Hebrew Scriptures.

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And yet there is a sense, and we
shouldn't miss this, there is a 

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sense in which they are kings. 
They are rulers of the domain 

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that God has placed in front of 
them. 

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They understand the stars and 
they can make decisive action in

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order to travel for weeks or 
months to go see a new baby. 

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They are the rulers of their own
lives, and so in that sense they

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are kings, and in that way they 
are very much like you and like 

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me. 
Maybe we, you know, can't take 

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off work from once on end to go 
travel to the Holy Land, as much

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as we might like to. 
But God has given us each 

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authority over the realms of our
lives to make decisions and to 

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influence affairs. 
We are each rulers in our own 

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small way. 
And so in this way these magi, 

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however many there are, are the 
first king that we meet in our 

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story. 
And as such they are inviting us

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to go with them to meet the 
other two kings. 

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The second king is Herod. 
He gets wind of these. 

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These foreign travellers. 
You can imagine them coming in 

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with, with great luxurious 
robes, maybe from Arabia or 

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Persia, walking into the into 
the city and asking where is 

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this new king? 
And he's, he hears this news. 

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It gets to him. 
It gets the wind of these new 

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travelers with this question and
he becomes alarmed. 

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There's a new king. 
I thought I was the king. 

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What's what does this mean? 
And so King Herod does what 

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kings and what politicians 
through the millennia have done 

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when they have encountered the 
Christ. 

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He schemes. 
Now, I learned at the concert 

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that was here on Thursday 
evening that over the course of 

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the 20th century, actually, 
several regimes banned the 

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reading of the Magnificat, 
Mary's song, which is the song 

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that she sings after she learns 
that she is going to give birth 

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to the Savior. 
She's singing the Christmas 

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story. 
And regimes in the 20th century 

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had actually banned reading this
story about this song about a a 

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new king who lifts up the lowly.
This is a tactic that Herod 

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likely would have approved of. 
Now, he doesn't ban talk of this

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new king, does he? 
But in short order, he will do 

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something even more brutal 
instead, right here, what does 

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he do? 
He deploys all of his guile and 

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his charm and even his deceit to
try to figure out what is going 

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on and to neutralize the threat.
So first he assembles the chief 

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priests and the scribes. 
These, these groups, probably 

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the Pharisees and Sadducees, 
Sadducees and Pharisees, 

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respectively, did not get along.
We know that. 

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But he flexes his political 
muscle, you know, plays both 

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sides and gets input from both 
sides. 

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And he's, he's got to figure 
out, you know, what's the, 

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what's the geographical extent 
of the problem we've got here? 

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Where is this Christ who 
everybody's expecting? 

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Where is he to be born? 
Then he summons the magi to 

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figure out what's the timeline 
that we're looking at here? 

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What's the when did this star 
arise? 

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And then he seeks to win the 
confidence of the magi. 

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Go find the boy, then come back 
and let me know so I can too can

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come and worship this new king. 
Herod was a rich and an 

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impressive king. 
He had a lot of political skill.

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He built a lot of things. 
We can still see them in Israel 

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today. 
And he's not above using pious 

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words to further his own 
political agenda. 

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In other words, he's an awful 
lot like the kings of our own 

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day. 
There's a great tradition in 

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politics of using religion to 
Curry favor with the electorate,

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and King Herod, like many 
politicians today, has no real 

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interest in actually submitting 
to King Jesus. 

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He says the right things, but he
intends the opposite. 

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This new boy is a threat to his 
throne, and threats to the 

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throne must be neutralized. 
This is the second king, now, 

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the Magi. 
They meet King Herod. 

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They learn where the Savior is 
to be born. 

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They learn where to go, and then
they travel the six miles down 

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the road to Bethlehem. 
This is not where the powerful 

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come to play. 
This is not where the impressive

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buildings are. 
This is a little farming town. 

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There are sheep in the fields 
around it. 

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There are probably granaries 
around it. 

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Bethlehem literally means House 
of bread. 

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In other words, it's kind of 
like going from Washington, DC, 

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with its beautiful capital and 
White House and the amazing 

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buildings we have here, to a 
small farming community in rural

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Nebraska. 
Some of you might know that 

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well, but it's here. 
Not in the capital, not with all

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the impressive buildings. 
It's here where they meet the 

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king, the third king, the king 
who has been promised for 

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centuries, the king who comes 
not to tax, not to to to 

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oppress, but the king who comes 
to shepherd his people. 

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And what is so striking is that 
it's it's here, and only here 

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that they rejoice exceedingly 
with great joy. 

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Maybe they were awed in 
Jerusalem. 

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Maybe Herod wined and dined them
with the best that the 

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Mediterranean had to offer. 
But they didn't rejoice there 

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because there wasn't life there.
The true king wasn't in 

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Jerusalem, only a pretender to 
the throne was. 

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But it's in Bethlehem and a 
House of bread with sheep 

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bleeding in the distance, where 
they meet the true king. 

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A king who comes not with guile 
but with innocence. 

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A king who comes not with pomp 
but as a child. 

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A king who sits not on a throne 
but on his mother's knee. 

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A king who came ultimately not 
to tax, not to oppress, but to 

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serve and ultimately to die and 
to die actually with the same 

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words nailed over his head that 
the magi he here are saying 

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about him. 
Where is the king of the Jews? 

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He ended up on a cross. 
This is the king that they met. 

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This is the king whose advent 
brought them overwhelming joy. 

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And it's this king, this humble 
king in a backwater city in 

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rural Nebraska of of Israel with
no name parents. 

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This king is the king that they 
worship. 

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Herod might have been 
impressive, but he was a cruel 

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overlord. 
The kings of our day may be 

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impressive in their own way, 
rich and smart and charming, but

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my friends, they will ultimately
prove to be cruel overlords as 

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well. 
Worship them and you might get 

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some power in prestige, but you 
will find ultimately only death.

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But if you follow the Magi, 
follow him to Bethlehem, and 

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worship King Jesus, you will 
find more than you could ever 

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imagine. 
He came to give you everything, 

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all the way to the point of 
giving you his very life. 

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My friends, no king is more 
worthy of your worship. 

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No king is more worthy to fall 
down and worship. 

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Now the irony is here that 
Herod, when he lied to the 

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Magine about wanting to go 
worship him, Herod spoke better 

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than he knew. 
He said he would come and 

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worship the new King. 
He had no intention of doing 

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that. 
That's very clear, you see. 

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But he was right. 
He will bow before King Jesus. 

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All kings will bow before King 
Jesus. 

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You and I and every person in 
this room, every person in 

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history will acknowledge that 
Jesus Christ is Lord. 

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We will all bow down and worship
Him, and the only question is 

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whether we will do so like the 
Magi rejoicing with great joy, 

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or whether we will do so in fear
and dread. 

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My friends, this is the story of
the Three Kings. 

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We will all worship someone, 
whether ourselves or the Herod's

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of our world. 
And my friends, they are many or

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humble King Jesus. 
My friends, I implore you this 

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Christmas follow the Magi, 
worship King Jesus, find in him 

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the ultimate joy that only he 
can offer. 

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In the name of the Father and 
the Son of the Holy Spirit, 

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Amen.