Isaiah 96 says, For unto us a child shall be born, to us a son
shall be given. I'm reading out the amplified
and we, you know, we say this often here, a child is born, but
a son is given. Notice a son is not born because
the son always existed, because the son is God himself, the Son
of God. So a child is born, a son is
given, and the government shall rest on his upon his shoulders.
And so Jesus Christ did not come to bring a religion called
Christianity, but came to bring the Kingdom back so that we
could function in that Kingdom. Hallelujah, it is a government.
Thank you Jesus, it's not a religion.
And so the government shall rest upon his shoulders.
The shoulders are located in the body.
Jesus is the head of the church, so his government is expressed
through his body, which is the church.
Glory to God. So we are the government of God,
Amen, because we are in a government and the government
shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called
wonderful counselor, mighty God, the everlasting Father, Prince
of Peace. Verse 7 says, and they'll be
shall be no end to the increase of his government.
His government's growing. I said it's growing.
There are more citizens being added to his government.
Hallelujah. Aren't you glad you are a
citizen of his government called the Kingdom of God?
So there'll be no end to the increase of His government or of
peace. He shall rule on the throne of
David and over His what Kingdom? To establish it, to uphold it
with justice and righteousness from that time forward and
forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will accomplishes. This is something that he will
accomplish. It will come to pass.
Say it to come to pass. Say it will come to pass and you
want to be in the Kingdom. You want to know that your first
citizenship rights or that of the Kingdom of heaven or really
the Kingdom of God, that citizenship is way more
important than the natural born citizenship of the passport you
hold today. Amen.
And so when you were born from above or born again, you became
a dual citizen. If you weren't one before, if
you were a dual citizen, you received a third one or fourth,
whatever it may be. And but that citizenship is
premier. It is the one that we are to
acknowledge first. All right.
And so this child was bringing a government, a government that
had global implications of global proportions.
This child, you know, if we don't watch out, we see this
child in a Manger. And it's been, you know, so
marketed and commercialized in the United States, so much so
that the very nativity is not even biblically accurate, right?
It just is easier to package it that way.
But yet because people aren't in the word, they assume that on
the day Jesus was born, not only was Joseph and Mary there with
some shepherds, but the three wise men showed up as well.
And we know when we read Scripture, three wise men were
not there the day he was born. That is not biblically accurate.
All right? And So what we do is we kind of
have commercialized, we've we've consolidated and we do not grasp
the full measure. So much so that we've
commercialized this nativity scene that we now have picked up
doctrine to say that Jesus was so poor that he was born in a
Manger. Again, that's not biblically
accurate, but it wasn't that Mary and Joseph were poor and
could not afford a hotel, is that there were no rooms for
them to be able to pay for because of a census that the
Roman government had done in the land.
That they were having to come back into a territory they did
not live in and they had to find a place to stay.
But there was such a crowd there.
By the time they arrived, there was no more room, so the only
place they could go was the Manger.
And are the, you know, the the stable because and they needed
to get there because Mary is her water has broken.
It's time to give birth and you can talk to any Mama.
When the water breaks, you better get back because
something's happening. Are you hearing me?
It reminds me of Reverend Marty Blackwelder, his wife.
Her water broke at the house. And so it took a little time for
the EMT. And the next thing you know, the
baby's coming. And he's on the phone and they
said, you know, Mr. Blackwelder, you're going to have to deliver
this baby. He said, no, no, no, I cannot do
this. He said, well, we're going to do
it because we're not there and the child is coming.
And so he delivered one of his own children at the house.
We understand there. You didn't have to have a
hospital back in the day, right? It's not technically required.
OK. Again, in our society, we think
if you're pregnant, you always have to have me at the hospital.
You know what? People were doing this without
doctors a long time ago. And, you know, some can do them
even still to this day. Some countries are still doing
it this way, people. All right, so this child's
coming and they're like, we just need to get her in a soft place
and the state. It's not about being broke.
It's not about Jesus's humble means of poverty is not act
biblically accurate. Jesus was not in a poor family,
was not in a broke family at all.
Hallelujah. So when we see the
commercialization of today, we really lose the scope.
And then when we don't realize that the Bible's about a king,
his Kingdom and his royal offspring, then we really lose
the significance of the child that was born.
Because the child that was born had a direct assignment.
And his direct assignment was a few things.
One, it was to destroy the works of the devil.
Hallelujah. It was to bring salvation or
redemption back to mankind in order to put him back in a place
that he was originally spoken to be in Hallelujah.
And so this child brings the government.
For God said in the beginning, let us make man in our image
according to our likeness, and let them rule or have dominion.
So Jesus coming as a child to bring a government is so that we
can be elevated back to the position of dominion and ruling
and reigning because Jesus is the king of who are those kings?
We are those kings. So let's look at this account
because we need to understand there's expectations of the wise
and this is applicable for us today.
And so let's pick up in Matthew chapter 2.
Now this is after Mary and Joseph have gone to Bethlehem in
order to have the baby. They're, they're still there,
but they're, well, I mean, they're, they went there, right?
And so this child was born there in this Manger in the stables.
The shepherds have already come and visited and have left.
They are no longer hanging out in the Manger.
All right. They are now located in a home.
And it says in Matthew 2, one through 7, I'm going to read out
the new Living translation. It says Jesus was born in
Bethlehem in Judea during the reign of King Herod, and about
some time about that time some wise men from eastern lands
arrived in Jerusalem asking where is the newborn king of the
Jews? We saw his star as he it rose,
and we have come to worship him. King Herod was deeply disturbed
when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem, and he
called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of
religious law and asked, Where is the Messiah supposed to be
born? In Bethlehem, in Judea?
They said, For this is what the prophet wrote.
And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judea, are not least among
the ruling cities of Judea, for a ruler shall come from you who
will be the shepherd of my people, Israel.
Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and
he learned from them the time when the star first appeared.
The first thing I want to do is bring your attention to verses 2
and verse 4 and verse 2. It it mentions that the wise men
said we have come or asked where is the newborn king of the Jew?
This word king is literally one who has absolute authority with
a particular in it within a particular area and is able to
convey this power and authority to a successor.
This is what King Herod heard when they said, where is the
newborn king of the Jews? That's what he heard.
Notice the wise men did not come and say where's the savior?
Now He is savior. Don't get me wrong, He is
savior. But they are looking for a
government. They're looking for government
and they're looking for one who has absolute rule, has absolute
rule, has absolute rule, and can transfer.
Come on in verse 4, Herod upon hearing about this one who would
rule in absolute power equates it with a term or a title that
is within their culture, the Jewish people.
And that is when he pulled in the teachers and the the
Pharisee scribes, you know, the religious leaders.
He said where does it it say the Messiah will be born?
So notice he heard that we want to know where the newborn king,
the one who has absolute power and will rule and reign, where
is he? And he said, well, that can only
be the Messiah. Are you hearing me?
So when we hear Messiah, we must hear in the same ears that King
Herod heard. Messiah is by the Greek called
the Anointed One. Now what does that even mean?
Well, this is what you did to kings.
When kings came into power, they would anoint them with oil
Hallelujah. We see this in the nation of
Israel itself that when they rejected God in first Samuel
chapter 8, they went to the prophet.
The nation said we want to see our own king like the other
nations and the prophets like you do not want to do this.
God is our king. He's our ruler.
He's the one who allow who overcomes our enemy.
You do not want a man, but they said no, we want a man.
So he goes into prayer talking to the Lord, the creator of
heaven and earth and they said, listen, they're wanting a man
king. I know this is strong and God
says to him in the 8th chapter of First Samuel to the prophet,
he said give the people what they want, for they've not
rejected you, but they've rejected me as their king.
So he gave them a man of their own design and of their own
imagination. That's why Saul was taller than
everyone else. He was bigger than everyone
else. He seemed he looked kingly, but
him coming alone wasn't good enough.
So the Lord said, put an anointing on him, because if he
rules without an anointing, he'll be no different than the
rest of the nations that I do not want you all to even be a
part of. I don't want you to look like.
So Samuel anointed him with oil, and the Spirit of the Lord came
upon Saul, and he began to prophecy like the prophets.
Are you hearing me? So when we talk about the
Messiah, they're talking about the one that is anointed by God,
the creator of heaven and earth. This is the one we're talking
about. And don't you know Jesus was
anointed? For Jesus said after he was
baptized in the Jordan of John, and he raised him up and the
heavens opened up and the Holy Spirit came upon him without
measure. And he said, the Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me.
Glory to God, so he is the Messiah, he is the king, the
ruler with absolute authority. This child is born, this sun is
given, and the Kingdom is back in the planet.
Hallelujah. And so we recognize then that
these wise men, which are honestly just astrologers, they
are astrologers. They study the stars, but these
are some people that are very educated in from the government
that they're coming from. They are men of renown, OK, they
are well respected, but yet they are studiers of star of stars
because of something spoken in their land 500 years ago.
So we have a group of people who have come into Jerusalem.
Now let me just go back and just give you a little quick little
point here. It says that in verse three that
Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this and so was
everyone else. One translation says they that
they were in fear and all of Jerusalem.
Now why would the whole city be afraid of three people?
Nowhere in scripture doesn't say there were only three wise men.
The only thing that Scripture says is it names three types of
gifts given frankincense, right, Myrrh and gold.
And I don't know why we think it came a little box.
In fact, there are some scholars of which Rick Renner, who was a
scholar, believes, especially if you receive his huge book that
he put out concerning the birth of Christ.
He goes into great detail how these individuals that were
coming from the East had such treasure with them because they
are giving to the king of kings. And there are scholars that that
if you study history, when you come before a king, you bring a
gift and they ranked kings. Some kings weren't as more
powerful. And how do you know how powerful
a king is really? It was demonstrated by their by
their robe, because their robe demonstrated their territory
because typically, traditionally speaking, that if a king went in
and conquered a land, they would take the robe off of the king
that they conquered and they would sow it into their train.
And so the longer their train it was, the more territories.
This is why the Bible says that when the Lord came into the
temple, his train filled the temple.
Whoa, glory to God. So when you are ranking kings,
you're bringing gifts based upon it.
And these wise men knew we are coming to the King of Kings.
We're coming to the one with absolute authority that the
throne that's going to be established forever and it'd
never have an end to it. We're coming to the government
that's taken over the planet. We're coming to bring our
allegiance to the one that we want to submit to for all
eternity. What kind of gift do you think
those people were bringing? Well, historians and scholars
alike believe unlike the United States version, they came with
an entourage. In fact, an army would have went
with them to protect that which they were bringing.
In fact, Rick Renner says that Joseph of Arimathea was actually
related to Jesus and the reason he was so wealthy is because he
became the caretaker of the wealth that came to Jesus When
the wise men showed up because Mary and Joseph had to flee all
of a sudden to Egypt because King Herod wanted to kill their
child and he became the caretaker of the estate.
The Bible is very clear about Joseph Arimathea, that he was an
extremely wealthy man. Hallelujah.
Are you hearing me? And so they were in an uproar
because this army comes up with a group of people that are
bearing gifts. They list the wealthiest or the
probably the most expensive, but many believe that they probably
brought fabrics and all kinds of other stuff to the king as well.
Now why are they coming? Why is a group of people showing
up well 500 years earlier in the land of Babylon?
Daniel chapter 2 verses 37 to 45 is the interpretation of a dream
that he gave to King Nebuchadnezzar.
This is after the nation of Israel has been conquered by
Babylon, and Babylon has been able to conquer Israel because
Israel has been rebellious to God and time and time again He
has wanted them to serve Him. He has given them His Word for
them to serve Him. He's already promised to them
that if they obeyed His word, they would be blessed coming in
and blessed going out. They'd be the head, not the
tail. Their enemy would come before
them one way and flee before them seven ways.
However, if they did not obey, then these curses would come
upon them, and the curses came upon them.
And God is a God of His word. And so after much
long-suffering, after much mercy, after much patience, God
had to enact His word concerning disobedience to the nation of
Israel. And they were conquered by
Babylon. And so Daniel, who is one of the
young men from Israel that was captured and became one of the
wise people in the courts of King Nebuchadnezzar, he has a
dream and he needs it to be interpreted, but he will not
tell people the dream. And since the wise people at at
the hearing of this decree said give us the dream, he said, no,
you interpret it for me because I need to know that you know
what it is so that I can trust your interpretation.
They said, no king has ever asked this.
It's impossible. Only God could do this.
He says, then why do I need you? And so he issued A decree.
Unless someone can't do what I'm asking, then all the wise men
die. That includes Daniel and his
three friends that we know as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
OK. And so they come to Daniel to
seize him. And his friends, in order to be
executed, of which now Daniel says to the soldier, what's the
haste, What's going on? I wasn't there, can you tell me?
So he relays, he said, go tell the king, I'll bring the
interpretation. Now he said that by faith.
And he said that by faith, because he believed that the God
of covenant, the God of covenant would deliver his nation and him
in that nation. And so he appealed to God for
the dream and the interpretation of which God did so.
All right. And so here he is standing
before Nebuchadnezzar. He gives him the dream.
This is the interpretation starting in verse 37.
He said, O king, you are the king of kings.
Now this is of notice. It's a little K, not a capital
K. He is the King of kings of the
earth at that time. All right, He says, to whom the
God of heaven has given the Kingdom the power, the strength,
and the glory. In essence, He said.
He's saying because the Father had to step away from the nation
that he loves, that He wants to see blessed and wants them to
acknowledge them. But because they've gone after
other gods, he has to step back, and he's given you the ability
to overtake them. He goes on to say in verse 88,
And whomever the and whoever, the sons of men dwell, or the
beasts of the field or the birds of the sky, he has given them
into your hands and has called you to rule over them all.
You are the head of gold. After you though, there will
rise another Kingdom inferior to you, then another 1/3 Kingdom of
bronze which will rule over all the earth.
Then there will be a fourth Kingdom as strong as iron in so
much as iron crushes and shatters all things.
So like iron that breaks into pieces, it will crush and break
all these in pieces. So these are your succession of
kingdoms, not religions. We're talking about governments
here, all right. This is what he saw, Verse 41,
in that you saw the feet and toes partly of Potter's clay and
partly of iron. It will be a divided Kingdom,
and it will have, but it will have in it the toughness of iron
in so much as you saw the iron mix with comic clay.
Verse 42 As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly
of pottery, so some of the Kingdom will be strong, and part
of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron
mixed with common clay. They will combine with one
another in the seed of men, but they will not adhere to one
another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.
But verse 44, in those days, say in those days, in those days, in
the days of those kings, OK, the God of heaven will set up a
Kingdom which will never be destroyed, which will what?
Which will what never be destroyed.
And that Kingdom will not be left for another people.
It will crush and put it into all these kingdoms, but it
itself endures forever. It itself endure forever.
He goes on in so much as you saw that a stone was cut out of the
mountain without hands. Who is that stone?
Come on, who is that stone? Who is that stone made without
hands? Jesus Christ is a man without a
father in the earth. He was born of the Virgin Mary.
He was made without hands. The Holy Spirit came upon a
virgin and caused the child to be born.
The Son was placed within that skin suit.
And we see this rock, this cornerstone, right?
And that it is what cut out a mountain without hands, and it
crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, the gold.
Whatever Kingdom exists, his Kingdom reigns, says the great
God made known to the king of what will take place in the
future, so that the dream is true and its interpretation is
trustworthy. Hallelujah.
And this was spoken over 500 years ago.
It was so profound in the spirit that it impacted ungodly people,
pagans that worshipped other gods.
It was so impactful the legacy and lineage of Daniel's name,
the man of God who went through multiple administrations and
kingdoms. So powerful was this word that
it could not leave the oracles of their writings that 100 years
came and went and and astrologers are wise men
believed was longing for was looking for was looking for this
Kingdom that Daniel talked about.
But they lived and died and did not see it and passed it on to
the next generation. And the next generation picked
it up and began to look and was looking into the stars and
looking into the sky and was waiting for this moment of when
is this child going to show up. And they lived and they died,
and they passed it on to the next generation.
And then then a third, the 300 years, 400 years, 500 years.
Then all of a sudden, this same tradition of a belief that had
been written, these people look up and lo and behold, a night
came and the stars were alive and the Star of Bethlehem took
shape in the earth and they knew.
He is here, He's here, He's here.
That Kingdom has arrived. Oh my gosh, they have arrived.
So how can we learn these things from the wise?
How can we have into our today the expectation of the wise?
Well, the wise believe that the king will come according to what
is written and spoken concerning him.
Do you still believe that the king is coming?
Are you living every day? And let me say something, just
because people have believed that and have died does not mean
it's not true. And there is a generation that
will see the king coming in a cloud.
Hallelujah. What's that say in Hebrews
Chapter 11, verses 1 and 2? Now faith is the assurance of
things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
For by it men of old gained approval.
They believe God, it is written word, they believe God of the
things spoken through the prophets and the law.
Verse 13 says all these died in faith, without receiving the
promises, but having seen them, and having welcomed them from a
distant, and having confessed that they were strangers and
exiles on the earth. For those who say such things,
make it clear that they were seeking a country of their own,
and indeed, if it had been thinking of that country which
they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.
But as it is, they desired a better country, that is, a
heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to
be called their God, for He had prepared a city for them.
Hallelujah, they never saw it. Verse 39 says, and all these,
having gained approval through their faith, did not receive
what was promised. They were believing the King's
coming, the King's coming, a child's going to be born, their
Messiah is going to be here, the King's going to come.
And they lived and died with this great expectation of faith
that the, the King of kings, the Lord of Lords, the Savior of our
lives, he's coming. And they lived and died in
faith. And because they lived and died
in faith, they gave them the right to be in paradise, to be
where the righteous dead live. And then the king came.
He was born, he was raised, He went to the cross, he went to
the grave. And all those that never saw his
coming were in that place called Paradise, and he led captivity
captive. Whoa, glory to God.
And they all came up out of the grave and ascended with Him into
the heavens and now are in the heavens as witnesses to us.
And don't you know, they're saying be a wise one and expect
his return, 'cause he's coming, He's coming again, He's coming
again. Well, I know Grandmama and great
grandma and great grandpa, they were believing that and they
came and went. Jesus didn't come, but I'm
telling you, there's a generation.
There's a generation. But if you're not keeping your
eyes up, if you're not keeping your eyes focused on the signs,
you're going to miss some things.
Are you hearing me? Which brings us to our next
point. The wise keep watch and are
waiting for the signs of his appearing.
You know, the Bible has all kinds of things about the return
of Christ, not only of the catching away of the church, but
of his second return where he'll put his foot down on a mount of
olives and he splits that thing wide open.
And man, he comes physically to rain on the earth for the first
thousand years of eternity. Are you hearing me?
But there's a day that will be caught up together with him in
the air, and you have to know the signs.
And if you're being wise like wise men, you can't be saying,
well, they've said that people came out.
They believe that. You know what?
I don't know if it's gonna, if that's where you're at, then
you're not looking. But a wise person's got
expectation. A wise person's always looking
to the sun. Look what it says.
In Luke chapter 21, verses 25 to 28, he said there'll be signs in
the sun and the moon and the stars on the earth, dismay among
nations in perplexity at the roaring of the Seas and the
waves. Men feigning from fear and the
expectation from things which are coming upon the world for
the powers of heaven will be shaken.
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power
and great glory. But when these things begin to
take place, what's it say? Straighten up, lift up your
heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
Man, if here's never been a time, there is the time that
things are happening in the earth right now.
That the child that was born, that we are celebrating this
season is on the verge of hearing a trumpet and coming
back in a cloud. Whoa, Hallelujah, glory to God.
Is this the expectation of the wise?
You bet. The wise are hungry and thirst
and are like looking. It can be tomorrow, it can be in
my lifetime. It can happen.
Maybe I'll never put on death. Maybe I'll never see a grave.
Maybe I'm the one who's going to put on immortality in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, because all the signs are saying
it and I'm watching. That's what the wise do.
And that's what these wise men did.
They did not let the future generations of expectations that
did not see it come to fruition hamper their expectation.
They refused to be named among those who lacked faith.
They refused, as we could say it in modern day description, is
that their love did not wax cold.
They stayed confident and bold. The king is coming again and I'm
going to see the king. I'm going to see the king.
Well, the wise then also prepare to visit the king.
Man, are you in preparation? Well, what's it say concerning
that? Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 to
25. The amplified says it this way.
This is preparation for a visitation with the king, he
says. So let us consider thoughtfully
how we may encourage one another to love and to do good deeds,
not forsaking our meeting together as believers for
worship and instruction, as is the habit of some, but
encouraging one another. And all the more say all the
more and all the more faithfully as you see the day of Christ's
return approaching. Well, if you're a wise person,
you're looking at the signs. You're like, my gosh, man, I
believe what has been written about him.
I believe what has been spoken by the prophets.
I believe what Jesus said about himself.
I believe he's coming. And I have great expectation.
I'm watching the signs. I'm looking at the signs.
I'm seeing them and they're ever present.
And you know what? I need to be in preparation for
this visitation. I need to stay in preparation.
I am not forsaken. The assembly, another
translation says it this way. Very powerful.
Another translation says discover creative ways to
encourage others and to motivate them towards acts of compassion,
doing beautiful works as expressions of love.
Stop right there for a second. What does the Bible tell us?
The Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 2 that we are born
again, not of our own works, lest any man should boast, but
of the gift of God. It's a gift to us.
It's free to us. In the context it did, we did
not earn it, or could we do anything of our own personal
nature to be right with God? But Christ, while we were yet
sinners, died for us. And so by the grace of God
through faith, we become born again.
And that's verses 8-9 of Ephesians chapter 2.
But there's a verse 10 and the reason says that we are born
again. The reason why this free gift
has been given to us, that we received the grace of God
through faith to become active in our lives so that we can
become children of God is so that we can be workmanship
created for good works. We are a demonstration of our
Father in heaven by our actions of how we live and navigate in
the earth. We are preparing for the visit
of the King by always hearing from the home country through
our assembling of ourselves together and all the more and
then encouraging. Why?
Because the Lord says times are going to get so tough that it
will discourage you to want to continue to walk in the
direction you are. But don't be those people.
Don't be ones that when the Lord comes back, will they find faith
or when the Lord comes back, many hearts will wax cold.
No, you want to be the one that's pressing, the one that's
wise, the one that's in preparation, the one that's
hearing. Because again, you can't even
know the signs if you're not hearing about the signs.
Listen, the signs will take care of themselves.
But if you're not participating, then you might not be
participating. Faith is a participation.
It's tangible. God knows if you're in faith or
not, and the knowledge of God isn't faith because the demons
know God and tremble, yet do not live by faith.
In fact, the bet the devil can quote scripture probably better
than most people in this room, but he can't live by that which
he quotes. So quoting Scripture does not
mean you have faith. Faith is tangible.
It's a substance. God knows when it's active, and
only you can activate it. He gives you His word, which
produces it, but you have to activate it.
All right, so wise men are prepared.
Let's go back to this verse here.
We're going to stir each other, encourage each other.
Listen, we got to be here in the house to hear from the home
country because the King's coming.
Verse 25 says it this way. This says this is not the time
to pull away and neglect meeting together as some have formed the
habit of doing, because we need each other.
In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to
encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day
dawning. I've said to our staff for
years, it's going to be more church and not less because I
believe that he could come in my lifetime.
And if I believe that, then I need opportunities for us to
meet a symbol to to navigate our lives, to receive instruction,
to know how to live godly in a wicked and perverse generation.
Oh, glory to God, we've been made righteous.
We've been sanctified in the Spirit, but we got to renew our
minds to walk this thing out. Hallelujah and wise the wise.
They prepare for the visit with the King.
Are you hearing me man? I think our modern day
Christianity is not ready for the King.
Now why do I say that? Because his own nation was not
prepared for they had missed that he would be the suffering
servant. Yet it was in the scripture.
All the while Paul articulate would articulate this so
eloquently, a study of the law. You would not know the law
better than Paul or Saul of Tarsus.
Yet when he was confronted with Jesus, all of a sudden he saw
the lamb that was slain. He saw the big picture that it
was beyond just his own nation. It opened up to the world that
this rock that would made without hand would crush the
foot of that idol and all those other governments.
And then it goes on and says it became a big mountain that went
over the whole planet. The Kingdom of God is a global
takeover that only those citizens will remain forever
with Him and His Kingdom. Amen.
The next thing that we can learn is that the wise seek the king.
It says in Matthew 633, it says but seek first His Kingdom and
His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.
If we would just do that, then everything that the world or the
Gentiles are seeking after it just comes to us.
It shows up as a byproduct. The world has made it their
effort to obtain wealth, fame, notoriety, success.
Yet the Bible tells the wise those who are children, he said
just seek the Kingdom and and righteousness.
My way of doing things and everything else that everybody's
seeking and putting all their effort in.
It'll just come to you what you need so that you can accomplish
the assignment I have for you. I'll bring it to you.
No worries, no stress, just trust.
Just trust. Just trust.
If you're worrying, it's a trust problem because it's sure not a
God problem. Are you hearing me?
James 121 to 22 says it this way.
So get rid of all uncleanliness and all that remains of
wickedness and with a humble spirit receive the word of God,
which is implanted, actually rooted in your heart, which is
able to save your soul. Now you're born again, you've
been made righteous. Everything within you is there,
ready to be released if you will recognize what it is within your
mind, your soul realm, your emotions that are still tied to
this world. And you crucify, get rid of it,
pluck it out, have nothing else to do with it.
And you're empowered to do this because of the new spirit you
are. But it does not happen
automatically just because you're born again.
It happens with effort, study, intentionality, and it happens
by faith. Hallelujah.
And there's an expectation. But then verse 22 says, But
prove yourself doers of the word, actively and continually
obeying God's precept, and not merely listeners who hear the
word but fail to internalize its meaning, deluding yourself by
unsound reasoning contrary to the truth.
I put on my task to do a particular thing on a daily
basis and I found myself not doing the task, so I have to
delete it. The reason I have to delete it
is because if I will not do what I'm reminding myself to do, I
will condition myself to not do what I hear and read.
It is dangerous to assign yourself a task that you look at
daily and then don't do because you'll eventually apply it to
the word. Because for every task you don't
do that you put out there and that you say I'm going to do
this, then you don't do it and make an excuse.
You're going to do it with the word.
It's better for you to not have the goal than for you to have
the goal that you refuse to do Now.
I would say it's better to actually have the goal and do it
because then you have the confidence that I will do what
is said because in order to do it, it's discipline, it's
submitting. It is a it's the smallest form
of developing submission because if you can't submit to your own
tasks that you make up, then don't fool yourself, brothers
and sisters, that you going to follow God that you cannot see.
Amen. So again, the wise seek the
king. That means they're going to be
doers. You're seeking to find.
You're not seeking to seek. This is not a perpetual, you
know, looking for something that's not being found.
This is finding this is seek to find, not to open ask to
receive. Hallelujah.
It's amazing. Now in this passage that we've
read, first the first 7 verses of Matthew 2, we can also learn
this that is applicable for the wise today.
The wise share about the King's coming Mark 1615.
And then verse 20 it says, and he said to them, go in all the
world and preach the gospel to all creatures, it says, and they
went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked.
Verse 20, they went out and preached everywhere while the
Lord worked for them. He's not your slave.
Well, the Lord's going to do it. I'm not your slave, but I'll
work with you. See, we're Co laborers with
Christ. This is that word that everybody
hates called work. So then let's just say Co labor,
which is the same thing. You doing your part.
God does his part. God always does his part.
Are you doing your part? Because you do have a part and
it says and the Lord worked with them, and confirm the words by
the signs that followed. God worked the Kingdom through
them. You know what?
People were healed through the laying on of hands.
If they had not laid hands, some would have not been healed.
For the instruction was to lay hands on the sick and they
shall. Which means when laying on of
hands was required, then healing only came through the laying on
of hands. And it wasn't God's hand, it was
your hand. But it's not the power in your
hand, it's the power of God working through your hand
because he's working with you to demonstrate his Kingdom.
You're casting out devils not at your name, but at his name.
And that's God working with you. But it's not God's vocal cords.
It's your vocal cords saying shut up and come out in the name
of Jesus, Amen. He's not coming in you and
speaking through you in His voice like demons do in humans.
He's working with you. He's allowing your voice to have
His authority. Hallelujah, glory to God now God
did it that way in that amazing but wise people they share about
the King's coming. Are you sharing about the King's
coming Now let's go back to Matthew chapter 2.
Let's go verses 8 through 10. So this is after they've come to
Herod they've told him they're looking for the king.
He says, where does the king come from?
Found outcomes back to him, meets with them Providence say
hey, go find him, and when you find him, come back and tell me.
So I'm worship him. We're going to see this in verse
8. So then he said, go to
Bethlehem, search carefully for the Child, and when you find
him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him
too. After this interview, the wise
men went their way and the star they had seen in the East guided
them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and
stopped over the place where the child was.
And when they saw the star, they were filled with joy.
What can we learn for today, being wise, is that the wise are
guided by the light. I said we are guided by the
light. And here's the thing, the lights
not in the world. The light that we are following
is not in the world, just as the light they were following were
not was not in the world. Psalms 100 and 19105 says this.
Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path.
Are you hearing me? This is why I do not care what
sector of society exists. Do not care.
I do not care of all their titles and their expertise Do
not care They do not have the final say on anything.
Which means when I go to a sector of society and hear their
report, it is always subject to the report of my father because
my pathway is not their report, it's his report.
Which means I have to have enough ability to hear by the
Spirit what the word is saying of how I should navigate.
I do not go to the financial sector of society, the banking
industry, business, for it to tell me how to prosper.
They do not have the final say. My King has the final say.
He is the lamp unto my feet, the light unto my path.
I've been rejected by financial institutions, yet God's plan
always produced what was necessary.
Are you hearing me? So they never have the final say
in my life. Education does not have the
final say in my life. It cannot say if you do not have
a degree you can't attain here. They don't have that because if
you follow the path of the Lord you, it could.
He can put you in places that even the educational
institutions would have to give you an honorary degree for the
wisdom that is upon your shoulders and on your mind.
They would have to recognize it. Are you hearing me?
The the medical field does not have the final say to my pathway
to healing does not have it. And I do not have to do their
course if they say this is the path, but my king says another
one. I'm following His because the
wise are not led by the words of men, but the Word of God.
It is the path that light. I cannot allow myself to be
constrained to what's being spoken in this realm.
I have to allow the light to penetrate me with His wisdom.
And the wise will do that because if the wise do it, they
will see the next step and they'll see the end.
This was so great about His word, just this one verse.
His word is a lamp into my feet. You know what the word's going
to do, give you this step. But you know what else did it
do? It'll be a light to your path
which will show you the end results.
Now you may not see the rest in between.
Again, it's called a light at the end of the tunnel.
It's down there and I can see it, but it's not shining so
bright that it's lighting everything else.
That's why His Word is this step.
And the and here's the thing. God's Word being a lamp means if
you don't take this step, the lamp can't illuminate.
And some of you aren't taking the first step.
You want 5 steps down. And the Lord's like, well, I
can't illuminate the next step 'cause you're not even doing the
first step. And if you don't do the first
step, you can't get the next step because eventually as that
lamp and you take steps closer to the light.
Well, guess what? The light as you get closer
penetrates more of that darkness, which means now it'll
show you the clear path that you'll just be walking in all
the way. You'll see the clear picture of
the rest of the way through. And many of us, we don't watch
out will allows allow ourselves not to be wise because we make a
demand like the whole thing. I want to see how it's done
before I even step out. In fact, do it first, then I'll
believe it. That's not faith.
Psalms 4330 send out your light and your truth.
Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy
hill and be your dwelling places.
So the light and truth let it lead you all right the next
thing we can learn from this passage of Scripture from 8 to
10 is the wise persevere to be in the presence of the king.
One translation says that when they arrived at the house and it
could be as we when we get to read it.
Yeah a little bit further. The next verse is going to tell
us that he was a child, not say he was a baby anymore.
And we know based upon Herod recognizing that they did not
come back to him, he issues a decree.
King Herod does kill every child to and under in Bethlehem.
I don't know which one it is that's the king that's
threatening my power, but killing kill them all and they
went through. That's why Joseph and Mary fled
to Egypt. So Jesus was not in a Manger
with wise men. He was walking at the time and
probably was toilet trained as well.
Could very well be. He was a very wise child.
He was like I'm not doing this again.
Praise God. Mary's like this is if all my
children turn out like him, this is going to be amazing.
Acts 1422 says this, strengthening the souls of the
disciples, encouraging them to continue in faith and saying
through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God.
Why the wise persevere to be in the presence of the King.
Our society has made everything so quick.
We label things now ADHD, attention deficit disorder.
We say people can't hold their attention.
And you know what? That's fine.
But you know what's even worse than all those is that a
believer cannot believe more than a couple of hours.
Now why do I say that some of them can't even believe an hour?
How do I know this is true? Because they cannot be in a
service longer than an hour. Come on, come on.
They're already bored. Don't want to hear anything else
from the preacher. They're ready to eat.
They're not hungry for the word of God, hungry for the presence
of God, hungry to be trained. They're like, OK, I did my due
dealings. I got to go.
Oh, your faith just stopped. Oh, OK.
I didn't realize you had 22nd faith.
And if you don't get in 20 seconds, then forget about it.
We'll go ahead and abandoned God.
We'll just go do it our own way. Yet the Bible says you got to
persevere. And these wise men held to a
word that they set out on the day he was born, loaded the
camels and took off nowhere in scripture.
In fact, there is more scripture to refute this fantasy idea that
they jumped on their camels and the skies were nice and sunny.
In fact, it was so awesome that God brought a cloud to cover
them by day and a pillar of fire by night to carry them.
Nowhere does it say that He offered that.
In fact, more than likely they hit sandstorms.
They had issues, they had all kinds of probably challenges.
They may have even been attacked.
We just don't even have record of it because they had a group
with them to protect the treasure.
It could have been known, heard about that.
There's this entourage traveling in the desert going somewhere
and there's great wealth and riches.
Obviously, they're in an uproar because they've shown up now.
It could have been that there's been a testimony of something
heading in this direction. I mean, you understand, in the
last administration when people were leaving, you know, El
Salvador and Nicaragua and coming up, we would have cameras
watching a whole entourage of people coming to the border.
Do we think that they wouldn't have heard that there's somebody
coming their way yet? What we do if we don't watch
out, we want to God to believe. We want no issue, no challenge,
no suffering, no heartache, no issue.
Yet he says, man, in this Kingdom you're going to have
some tribulations. And if you're a wise person, you
persevere. You persevere first.
Peter, 412 and 13, says, Beloved, do not be surprised by
the fiery ordeals among you which come upon you for your
what? Testing.
As though some strange thing has happened to you.
Quit looking in the mirror and saying, why is this happening to
me? It's happening to everybody.
Quit getting online and looking for someone who's in your
problem. Everyone has had your problem.
You're a human being.
Welcome to the planet. And I don't have to get along
with you and tell you all the attacks.
I've had all this to identify with you.
The scripture already lets you know we are identifiable.
I want to talk about the I want to talk to the ones that don't
talk about it because that means they're putting their trust
somewhere. It says first thing. 13 But to
the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on,
keep on what? And I know it's hard to rejoice
when it's troubling. I get it.
You have a gamut of emotions. I get it.
And God has no problem with you talking to him about it.
But again, if you'll talk to him, then he'll give you the
word you need to overcome the reason believers do not
persevere or do not function wise.
You don't you want to be among the wise.
The wise said OK, I can pursue this is tough.
It seemed like it's never going. You just want to talk to the one
that gets you through. He is the author and finisher of
your faith. He'll take you through the
valley of the shadow of death. You can fear not.
What can man do to you? Greater is he that's in you than
he that's in the world. He will cause you to triumph in
all things, no matter what trial or tribulation comes.
You're overwhelmingly conquer. And I know you're not in the
finished picture yet, but know this, saith the Lord.
If you'll stay with him, he'll get you through and you don't
need to have somebody else's how or when.
You already know through a scripture a how and when has
happened and they conquered, You'll conquer too.
Stay with the Lord. Now, I'm not discrediting
testimonies. I'm not trying to say that.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong.
But if you are hungering to hear people feel like you feel so
that you cannot feel bad that you feel this way, you're not
looking for an answer. That's what you have to
safeguard yourself from because God can send people your way and
let me say if someone's coming your way and identifying with
your pain and troubles and sufferings, but it's not but are
not giving you biblical answers. Overcome and leave you with this
spirit in you that we got this I can win then quit talking to him
because the devil has sent them to keep you out of victory and
stay in your your your emotional pain.
Has anybody in here never had emotional pain.
Thank you. We've all gone through it but
the Kingdom of God man, we will conquer.
We win because he wins and I don't revel in the tribulation.
I go through it and it doesn't feel good when someone's like,
you got joy and you're like, no, but you know they're right and
you're like, I need to get some now.
Joy doesn't have to be laughing, but it does have to be a sense
that brings peace to it. You know that you have a kick in
your step about it. Your attitudes good it.
It'll become reflective when you're walking in joy and that
heaviness comes off. Cast your care on the Lord
before he cares for you. The wise persevere.
These guys persevere. They did not say, my gosh, man,
we've been away from our homeland for a year.
Where are we? And here's a they didn't even
know the town. It's not like they had GPS like
what we do. I'm going to Washington, DC, OK?
It's going to take me. They didn't have that.
They're like, that's it. Well, he's not here.
Let's go towards the light. They wake up and they go towards
the light the next day, there it is.
And they do it again and they do it again, not knowing an end.
They get a year in, they get it. I mean, many can't even get 30
days in. God call you to a seven day
fast. By the second day you're ready
to eat. Say Amen.
It's perseverance. And so they 30 days in, they're
90 days in. They're six months in, don't
know where they're going, but that light is still there and
they're so convinced that they're not going to let the
elements or anything deter them. I don't know how the bugs are
over there, but if they were coming through Florida, the
mosquitoes during the summer would have been like a reason to
want to go home. There's probably had scorpions,
all kind of stuff going on out there in the desert.
But they persevered and they finally got into the town that
they believe he must have been. And they're like, man, here we
go. Where's he at?
Because this light's brighter than it's ever been.
And then they find out it's in Bethlehem.
They're like, we finally know the city.
And then the light shows them again and stops over the house.
Now that's some serious GPS. I mean, you're not even
guessing. It illuminates.
That's what some of y'all see when you pass Bucky's on the
highway. It's a sign from heaven.
I don't know what it is about them.
Buck teeth. I used to do a little thing with
my children called Harry Buck Teefee, but I won't do it.
I'll save that for them. But I have a whole act and
everything. Matthew 2 verse 11 and 12 says,
yes, we're reeling it in right now, reel it in.
And they entered the house and saw the child with his mother
Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him.
And then they opened their treasure chests, that's not 3
people, and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And when it was time to leave, they returned to their own
country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream
not to return to Herod the Wise. Bow down in worship to the king.
How does that apply to us today? Do you bow down in worship to
the king? You should physically bow down
every once in a while. You should.
The reason why we have a tradition of bowing down in
prayer. It's really a government thing
and I and we don't know this. It's really that well, I well,
I, you know, they say, you know, I had my knees are worn out.
You know, that's like a sign of a golly.
And they're always talking about, you know, bowing down to
pray. Well, really it's because this
is a position you're in when you're before king.
We've made it a traditional position to talk to God, but
it's really a place of government respect and honor in
a Kingdom because he has the authority.
So you should periodically exercise why Isaiah?
What's Isaiah say? Isaiah chapter 45 or yes 23 says
this. I have sworn by my own name.
I've spoken the truth. I will never go back on my word.
Every knee will bend to me and every tongue will declare
allegiance to me. Look what else it says over in
the new covenant. Philippians 210 and 11 says so
that at the name of Jesus, how many knees come on how many
knees? Don't let your first be on that
day, because for many their first will be at the great white
throne, and they'll bow before the king, and he'll cast them
into the lake of fire, which is the second death.
Because every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on
earth and under the earth, under the earth that are in the grave.
They'll bow and they will confess You are Lord, you are
Lord, you are Lord, you are Lord, you are Lord.
And he'll say, depart from me, I'll never knew you.
And they'll confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, the glory of
the Father. So we need to bow down
physically, but we also need to bow spiritually.
We need to bow emotionally. We need to bow intellectually.
That is a act of submission. And worship him means whatever
you say that I will do, that I'll do, because the wise bow
down and worship the king. And we can still do that today.
The last point is this. The wise recognize the worth of
the king. This is it.
We're bringing it in. This is why we're celebrating
the season. A child is born, a son is given
and he's brought the Kingdom and the wise men have given us a
great illustration of who what we are to do in this life, in
this dispensation when encountering the king in our
expectations. This is the expectation of the
wise. We are to recognize the worth of
the king. Matthew 1314 to 4644 to 46 says
that the Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the
field which a man found and hid again from joy.
Over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field
again. The Kingdom of heaven is like a
merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding 1 Pearl of
great valley, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Matthew 1038 to 39. In the context of those parables
of the Kingdom of heaven, Matthew 103839 says, And he who
does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his
life for my sake will find it. The wise recognize the worth of
the King, the message of Jesus Christ.
It's not an escape theology. It's not do what you want to do,
get his forgiveness and go to heaven when you die.
It is complete and total lordship.
It's Lordship. A person marked with lordship to
Jesus doesn't have their own life anymore.
In our nation, there's a lot of redefining of terms and how you
can walk with the Lord. But I'm going to stay with
Scripture, and the Scripture tells me what a person who has
lordship looks like. Their life is not their own and
as long as you have a part of your own life that you want to
keep, then I questioned his Lordship in your life and can
rightly do that. I'm not judging you, but I sure
can't question your life because you're not lining up to what he
said. He said if I'm Lord, then you're
going to lose your life. You're not going to try to do
your own thing. You're not going to try to walk
your own way. You're not going to try to
pattern your life based upon what you want to do.
You're coming after me and me alone.
Now that doesn't mean you're called to ministry.
That just means you're doing life His way and you can do that
in every sector of society. Last scripture is this Matthew
chapter 16 verses 24 to 27. Then Jesus said to his
disciples, if anyone wishes to come after me, who's talking?
I'm not saying this. I'm not saying this, so please
take your task list off that you're not doing and try to
justify your lifestyle from this verse.
Let's do what it says. Jesus then said to his
disciples, are you his disciple? Because if you're a disciple,
then you're listening. But if you're, you know, a
person that just wants to be saved, then maybe you're not a
disciple. If anyone wishes to come after
me, which means it's on you because he came after you.
He's done his part. So if you wish to come after me,
he must deny himself. My wife and I, we've had this
conversation periodically. I say periodically, it's not all
the time, but periodically, through the trials and
tribulations of life, we have this conversation.
Is it worth it? Is it worth it when you feel the
burden of Paul? Have I labored in vain?
How can they act like that knowing what they know?
That's good, Paul said. Demas has deserted me, he said.
I stood trial all by myself. Paul looked at the elders, at
Ephesus and says, now I'm going to leave.
But I got people among you that's going to try to divide
the flock. Now we know that Paul was right
about these people, but the people running with those people
thought Paul was wrong. You know, like it's even worth
it. You just deny, deny, deny
without the word of my king. He must deny himself.
Take up his cross and follow me. What you're called to do, you
must be willing to do it. And that's all you're pursuing.
For whoever wishes to save his life.
We'll lose it every time. Ron.
My wife and I say let's just leave.
We'll go start somewhere else. We'll go do this.
It sounds good in theory, but we know a life lived outside the
will of God is hell. And we know this, that a life
lived outside the will of God initially looks like heaven.
Because the Scriptures already told me that Moses would not
enjoy the pleasures of sin, but rather the sufferings in order
to stay in the will of God, the pleasures of sin for a season.
Does the devil know how to prosper the believer?
You bet he does, right outside the will of God.
And you say, how do you? How do you know that He was
willing to give Jesus the kingdoms of the world to get out
of the will of God, make him the wealthiest human on the planet,
and all I had to do was bow down and worship, give him the
greatest position on the globe, I would surmise greater than
Solomon's, just to not do the will of the Father.
But what did Jesus say? It is written I deny myself.
I'm going to take up my cross and I'm just following him and
he knows The next time I see you, you're going to bruise me.
The next time I see you, it's going to hurt my skin, my flesh.
The next time I see you, you're going to be bruising my heel.
But after that, the next time you see me, I'm going to crush
your head. So I'm going into 2026 like I've
gone into every year. I deny myself, I take up my
cross and I follow Him. Let's be wise, let's learn a
lesson from the wise men, and let's only do the will of God.