you find a seat, grab a hymnal. We'll go to song number 432 this evening. Thank you so
much. We just thank you for the birth of your son. Celebrate it tomorrow and tonight, Lord.
We just ask now that you fill this room with your spirit. Sing it unto you in Jesus' name
we pray. Our next song through our announcements this evening. Christmas to everyone that was
able to make it. Glad to have you and your family here. On the front we have all the
week. I encourage those that memorized that verse for the kiddos to say that to a non-family
member so you can receive your ice cream reward. On the inside we've got our service
times and our soul winning times. Also our regional soul winning times as well. Interested
in participating in any one of those just get in contact with the leader there and they'll
get you the information that you need for that. We have updated our year to date salvations
as of this afternoon so definitely doing a great job in soul winning this month and encourage
you guys to finish the month strong, finish the year strong. On the right hand side we
do have our list of expecting ladies. Continue to keep each one of those ladies in your prayers
and then some upcoming events tonight after the service directly after we're going to
have the candlelight singing and so I encourage you to stick around for that and pastor will
give us some instructions on that at that time. December 31st which will be next week
is the men's preaching and pizza. Any man that would like to prepare a five minute sermon
is able to do that. I encourage you guys to participate in that and enjoy some good fun
and fellowship. And then January 23rd through the 24th is going to be the till death marriage
workshop that Pastor Shelley and his wife are going to be hosting. And if you would
like to register for that you can sign up on steadfastvals.com and make sure that you
get registered if you haven't done that already. And then once you get registered you'll get
another email from us just to get a little bit more information so make sure that you
check your email and you get that information back to us as soon as possible as soon as
you're able. And then we're going to be doing a do-it-yourself mission strip to the Philippines.
A couple of us here in Steadfast are doing that on January 26th through February 4th.
If you're interested you can see me on that and I can get you the info that you need.
On the back we'll go through our prayer list. If you want to turn to the last page we'll
go through this quickly. We have the Carlson's continuing to pray for Ms. Tenneka's mother
and father and then also Brother Jared's job situation. We're continuing to pray for
the Scotts health, Brother Horace and Ms. Grace continue to pray for Brother Tony and
his health. Also Ms. Marinette's father continue to pray for him and then of course we're paying
for Brother Paul continue to pray for his recovery and then we have Brother Jeff Goodwin's
sister-in-law. She experienced a loss in her family so continue to pray for her and then
we're still praying for the Rose as well. Aaron Faithfulward Baptist Church lost of
their husband and Father Kevin and then we're still praying for Miss Lori's
brother as well just some health complications he's going through and
we're praying for the Warner family keep them in your prayers and we have
Brother Jameson's father and his health and also Brother Suvihail's mother and
her health. Brother Billy do you have a quick update for us I know your mom had
her good okay well do surgeries okay we'll definitely keep her in our
prayers and going through a difficult time there so make sure that you do
that and then also we have the Spurgeons Brother Jonathan he's needs prayer for
his a job opportunity he might have and then also the Canary family so with that
I'll say a quick word of prayer. Heavenly Father Lord thank you for your son Jesus
Christ Lord thank you for sending him to this earth and we just have this
opportunity this time of year to celebrate the birth of your son and and
really just salvation entering into this world so thankful for eternal life
through him. God I pray that you would be with each one of our family our church
family members and and friends Lord that are dealing with health complications
there's many people here on the list that we're praying for that are just
going through various difficulties with their health and God I pray that you
would give them the strength to get through those situations got to pray
that you would be with the doctors Lord give them wisdom to make good decisions
Lord and just pray that your will would be done and God we pray for you know all
the job opportunities that men in here that are striving to better themselves
or maybe trying to get in a better situation God pray that that would work
out to their benefit God I pray that you would continue to bless your children
here and continue to bless this church as we serve you we're thankful for all
that you do in Jesus name we pray amen all right we'll go to our next song all
right for our next song we're gonna go to our binders again black binders we're
gonna find holy holy holy holy holy Lord God Almighty sing that out together
tonight singing every offering place are being passed around go and open your
Bibles to the book of you chapter number two chapter number two as we read the
chapter the Bible says now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the
days of Herod the king behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem
saying where is he that is born king of the Jews for we have seen his star in
the east and are come to worship him when Herod the king had heard these
things he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and when he had gathered all
the chief priests and scribes of the people together he demanded of them
where Christ should be born and they said unto him in Bethlehem of Judea for
thus it is written by the prophet and thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art
not the least among the princes of Judah for out of these shall come a governor
that shall rule my people Israel then Herod when he had privily called the
wise men inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared and he sent
them to Bethlehem and said go and search diligently for the young child and when
he had found him bring me word again that I may come and worship him also
when they had heard the King they departed and lo the star which they saw
in the east went before them till it came and stood over where the young
child was when they saw the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy and
when they were coming to the house they saw the young child with Mary his mother
and fell down and worshiped him and when they had opened their treasures they
presented unto him gifts gold and frankincense and myrrh being warned of
God in a dream that they should not return to Herod they departed into their
own country another way and when they were departed behold the angel of the
Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying arise and take the young child
and his mother and flee into Egypt and be thou there until I bring thee word
for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him when he arose he took the
young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt and was there until
the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord
by the prophet saying out of Egypt have I called my son then Herod when he saw
that he was mocked of the wise men was exceeding wrath and sent forth and slew
all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coast thereof from two
years old and under according to the time which he had diligently inquired of
the wise men then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet
saying in Rama there was there heard a voice lamentation and weeping and great
mourning Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they
are not but when Herod was dead behold an angel of the Lord appeareth in a
dream to Joseph in Egypt saying arise and take the young child and his mother
and go into the land of Israel for they are dead which sought the young child's
life and he arose and took the young child and his mother and came into the
land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room
of his father Herod he was afraid to go thither. Notwithstanding being warned of
God in a dream he turned aside into the parts of Galilee and he came and dwelt
in a city called Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the
prophets he shall be called a Nazarene. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father thank
you for this day, thank you for Steadfast Baptist Church, thank you for
the birth of Jesus Christ and this time where we get to remember it and glorify
the Lord and all that he's done for us. Please bless Pastor Shelley now as he
preaches your word to us, please help us to be attentive. In Jesus name I pray amen.
Christmas thank you for being here this evening and normally we're going through
the book of Deuteronomy but this evening I just wanted to preach something more
in tune with the season so I wanted to go through the book of Matthew and just
look at Matthew chapter 2. Last Sunday we went through Luke chapter number 2
and Luke chapter 2 is more dealing with the actual birth of Jesus Christ in that
timeline. Matthew 2 is a little bit later but it's still in the spirit of
Christmas when we talk about the wise men coming and visiting the Lord Jesus
Christ as he was a young child here. Unfortunately the text doesn't say three
wise men but we can all make believe if we want okay but the Bible does say here
in verse 1 it says now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days
of hair of the king behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem and
I want to focus this evening on the wise men and just talk about wise men and
what chapter 2 kind of describes about these particular individuals you know I
think this is important just to note that notice they're from the east you
know it's not like God only cared about people in Israel in the Old Testament
obviously these men are wise men meaning I believe they have to be saved they
obviously serve God as a result of that they're seeking the Lord they don't even
necessarily live in Israel they're not part of the nation of Israel and so
there's always been people who were saved outside of the nation of Israel
even in the Old Testament and so you know it's kind of a picture too when you
think about it that the people that are most interested to seek the Lord Jesus
Christ aren't even the Jews themselves or aren't even that Israel we see the
Gentiles seeking unto the Lord Jesus Christ foreshadowing replacement theology
we're foreshadowing what's going to come that the Gentiles are going to be ones
that really seek the Lord and this is kind of a transition in history where
we're going from the physical nation of Israel to a spiritual nation of Israel
now these wise men in verse 2 it says saying where is he that is born King of
the Jews if we have seen a star in the east and are come to worship him so they
come to worship the Lord Jesus Christ I believe this in a literal sense the word
worship found in your Bible really just means to prostrate yourself or to kneel
down and that's what it means to worship it's to show honor and respect it's a
show that you're subservient to whomever you are worshiping and so we
should only worship the Lord Jesus Christ and so that's the only one we
should kneel for is God we shouldn't be kneeling for graven images we shouldn't
be kneeling for man we should be worshiping God only that's who we bow
the knee to and of course you know the the famous stories of Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego they're not gonna worship the graven image when the music sounds
meaning that they were standing on their feet you have the story of Mordecai in
the book of Esther he's not willing to kneel or to worship when Haman comes by
and boy it irritates the fire out of Haman yet you know Christians should
only be kneeling for and worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ and so this is showing
that even as a babe even as a baby it was God manifest in the flesh and that
they're coming to show this is the real king notice what they had said in verse
2 he's king of the Jews and it's even though it's not their ethnicity or it's
not their nation they still come and they say hey we want to worship the king
of the Jews because they recognize the king of kings and Lord of lords albeit
he is the king of the Jews they've seen his star in the east and they're coming
and they're seeking after him verse 3 when hair of the king had heard these
things he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and when he had gathered all
the chief priests and scribes of the people together he demanded of them
where Christ should be born and they said in them in Bethlehem of Judea for
thus it is written by the prophet and thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah are
not the least among the princes of Judah for out of thee shall come a governor
that shall rule my people Israel then Herod when he had privily called the
wise men inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared now think
about this you know at no point in the text does Herod even seem to be
incredulous to believing the Bible he's saying hey where does it say in the
Bible that Jesus is gonna be born and then he just takes it for granted and
notice he's tying this in with the star itself so it almost you know based on
the information given in the text he's not doubting the Bible he's not doubting
God he's not doubting any of these things because you know you could say
like oh it's just their fairy tales and I just want to learn about their
fairy tales but he's he's even a tying it and attaching this to the star when
did the star itself appear you know fairy tales don't make stars appear you
know that's real stuff going on why because it's the real God of the
universe and he's trying to get a timeline for himself not because he
actually wants to worship God but rather he's trying to figure out what's the
timeline that this guy has been born so I can kill him that's why he's asking
these particular questions notice that the Bible said that he was troubled you
know just because the Bible says that Jesus Christ coming is good news and
that it's good tidings to all men doesn't mean that everybody will receive
it as good news or like the good news or want the good news in fact he's
troubled by the good news he's troubled by the Lord Jesus Christ he doesn't like
the Lord Jesus Christ of course he's mostly threatened at his position being
taken or threatened right he wants to be king of this area and he wants to hold
on to it tightly he's worried that there could be an uprising if this special guy
becomes the king of the Jews and tries to take over so he wants to squash out
any kind of rebellion or uprising and that's why he wants to kill the Lord
Jesus Christ and this is his being privily you know trying to inquire of
them hey when did they really come in what is privily he's being sneaky he's
being crafty he's flattering them he's not being honest and how he actually
feels about the situation he's trying to figure out when did the star appear
verse 8 and he sent them to Bethlehem and said go and search diligently for the
young child and when you have found him bring me word again that I may come and
worship him also so he lies and says hey come back and tell me where he's at
exactly because I want to worship him King Herod's not gonna bow down and
kneel down to this baby he wants to kill the baby that's the whole point verse
9 when they had heard the king they departed and lo the star which they saw
knees went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was so
notice again this is the young child so it stands to reason there's been a period
of time from his birth until when the wise men actually are appearing says in
verse 10 and when they saw the star they rejoice with exceeding great joy and
when they were come into the house they saw the young child with Mary his mother
and fell down and worshiped him and when they had opened their treasures they
presented unto him gifts gold and frankincense and myrrh so notice the
Bible actually will define itself in verse number 11 it says fell down and
worshiped him so that's what it means to worship is to fall down is to
prostrate oneself and this is the reason why they have come is to prostrate
themselves humble themselves lower themselves and recognize this is God
recognize this is the Savior this is the Lord Jesus Christ and they open
treasure unto him gold and frankincense and myrrh very costly very expensive
gifts that they're giving to the Lord Jesus Christ as in verse 12 and being
warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod they departed
into their own country another way when they were departed behold the angel Lord
appeared appeared to Joseph in a dream saying arise and take the young child
and his mother and flee in Egypt and be thou there until I bring the word for
Herod will seek the young child to destroy him when he arose he took the
young child and his mother by night and departed in Egypt and was there until
the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord
by the prophets saying out of Egypt have I called my son verse 16 then Herod
when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men so it just kind of finished
that train of thought and then it's going back to the current event that
we've been describing the wise men come they worship they open their treasures
they're warned in a dream to leave and to not go back to Herod of course Joseph
and Mary are warned in a dream as well to flee into Egypt and so they flee into
Egypt just just in time before Herod recognizes or realize he's been mocked
of these wise men and he's gonna send out a decree to kill and slaughter all
the children to and under now it says here in verse number 16 again then
Herod when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men was exceeding wrath and
sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and all the coasts
thereof from two years old and under according to the time which he had
diligently inquired of the wise men so we kind of finish our story here of the
wise men and I kind of wanted to point out four different things that I noticed
of these wise men when we went through the story and how we should also
follow in their footsteps we should be like the wise men number one is that they
they spend their lives seeking Jesus or they took the time in their life to seek
Jesus and that's an important thing that we should all do is that we should seek
Jesus and praise God we have a full house tonight on Christmas Eve you know
that's the real important essence of Christmas it's not the gifts you're
gonna get tomorrow it's the Lord Jesus Christ and seeking Him and in this story
the wise men are not receiving gifts but rather they're giving gifts the Bible
tells us that it's more blessed to give than to receive and so you know we
should be wise men we should be seeking Jesus Christ if we think about this to
seek Jesus Christ they had to be willing to travel and unfortunately for most
people throughout history seeking the Lord or seeking Jesus came at the cost
of travel it was not just in your backyard typically it was not
necessarily gonna be very close for you for in proximity and even if it was even
if you're Mary I mean she didn't have to travel for the Lord Jesus Christ he's
just there but you know what she had to travel to pay taxes she had to travel at
the very beginning of her pregnancy or some period in there not the beginning
I'm sorry the end which is the worst I mean can you can you imagine I mean I
always think about this poor Joseph you know that's what I always think like he
has he has to take his pregnant wife who's about to give birth across the
country and then he has to try and figure out a place to stay and can you
just imagine when he comes back and she's like oh did you get a nice sweet
for us ah so there's no room there's no room you know you're cheap no I'm just
kidding I don't think she said that she was nice about it right they have this
really wonderful barn for us you know over here to stay in like we're gonna
put the baby I don't know a manger you know just think about the logistics of
all this it was kind of crazy to think about what they had to do but again
that's one anecdote that's just them shepherds have to travel to go see the
Lord Jesus Christ born in the manger we have these wise men traveling really far
from the east most people throughout the nation of Israel would have to travel
for the Passover and would have to travel for the different feasts of the
Lord or if they wanted to seek the Lord at the temple they had to travel of
course if you lived not in the nation of Israel you'd have to travel even
greater distances to come and to seek the Lord to come into his temple
throughout history of the Old Testament you had to travel great distances in the
New Testament of course you have this exact same thing the Apostles traveling
all over the world the disciples are traveling all over the the place
typically whenever you see a church it's people coming from all over the city to
come to this one location for the church there's the one church and the whole
city is coming out or the whole city has to come to the synagogue travel is just
a part of seeking God but traveling is expensive traveling takes your time it
takes your effort it takes your energy it's difficult I can't imagine the
difficulty of traveling and they didn't have OnStar here they had you know the
star of Bethlehem they had it just like you know they don't have GPS they don't
have air conditioning they don't have any of these things they have to travel
these great distances and again that should just be an example unto us that
if they're willing to make such an effort to travel over the Lord Jesus
Christ that we should be willing to make similar efforts and travel and and seek
the Lord of course today the Lord Jesus Christ isn't physically on the earth when
we get that you know what what what are the two things that we should travel for
well number one is church and then number two is going out and preaching the
gospel the Bible is crystal clear that you're supposed to go you into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature and you know what travel has
never been easier than today and if these guys are willing to travel back
then then we should be willing to travel and go out into the highways into the
hedges travel into the ghettos of our city and of our town travel out into the
small towns of Texas travel across the country travel to Canada to Mexico to
the Philippines to the Caribbean to all the world and preaching the gospel to
every creature you know that's what we should be willing to do and you say well
that's gonna cost a lot of time yep that's gonna take a lot of effort
that's gonna take a lot of money that's gonna take a lot of energy let me just
tell you this traveling is is gonna suck the energy out of you it is
physically difficult to travel especially if you travel on the other
side of the world now I've never traveled I've only traveled the other
side of the world like one time and the one time I did it like going there was
no problem for me like I just I basically you just kind of like go on the
plane I slept wake up in the morning and I lost the day but I didn't realize it
and I just keep going and it was fun I didn't really have the jet lag that much
it wasn't that bad for me it seemed pretty pretty reasonable but I'm telling
you when I got back wow it was like a hammer it was just it was difficult when
I got back and I just felt tired like all the time just during the day I'm
tired and at night I'm tired and it was just it was a very draining experience
and look it is gonna be draining to travel great distances it's gonna be you
You know, exhausting physically, you know, being out of your element, happen to constantly
be aware of your surroundings and just all the different things that go with traveling.
I've been travel, I've traveled times where I get robbed or I get stolen from, you know,
that's a lot of energy.
It's, you know, it's so annoying to have something stolen from you, you know, IDs stolen from
you or your wallet or your money or, you know, when I was stolen from, it was in Sacra Ghetto,
I mean Sacramento, I'm sorry.
They like smashed the window of my rental car, so now you have to like go and like return
the car to the rental place and you have to like deal with all this stuff.
It's not fun.
You know, and of course back then it's not like there wasn't thieves and robbers.
Of course, the whole story about the good Samaritan is someone getting robbed on the
way, you know, wherever they're headed, you know, that's the reality of this world.
You could potentially be robbed, stolen from, ripped off.
When we're in the Bahamas, this guy shows up out of nowhere to help us park and he's
like, "Yeah, that'll be $20."
I'm thinking like, "This isn't legit," but I'm just like, "Whatever, just pay that man
his money," right?
And then just move on.
Because it's just like, at the end of the day, you know, I'm not trying to cause problems.
You go to Mexico, cops will just pull you over and they're like, you know, you've got
to pay them money for some transgression or some kind of error or something.
Do you have your registration?
In fact, it's kind of funny, like in America, you get pulled over, they never ask for your
registration.
I've never been asked for my registration.
You go to Mexico, they just try to find a reason to find you.
So it's like, you weren't speeding, you weren't doing anything wrong, so well, do you have
your registration?
You know, it's like, ah, I don't have my registration.
It's like $200 and we'll just, you know, look the other way.
It's like that, it's just highway robbery.
I mean, you go out and you travel, you're going to get stolen from, you're going to
get ripped off, you have people looking at you funny.
It's exhausting.
You're not sleeping in your bed.
You have to eat food that's foreign to you.
Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not.
Sometimes you get sick.
You know, they always say don't drink the water in some places and it's real, okay?
It's very, very real.
But again, even if it's not bad for them, just being out of your element is very difficult.
Why am I saying this?
Because you know what?
Seeking the Lord is not easy.
Seeking the Lord is difficult.
There's going to be, it's going to be a cost to seek the Lord.
There's going to be an element of having to put in some effort and some energy.
But you know what?
The wise man will seek God.
The wise man will seek the Lord.
The wise man will invest in the things of God and not just be selfish with his time,
selfish with his money, selfish with his energy.
I mean, why did God make you so strong?
Why did God give you so much energy?
Why did God give you that strong back and those strong legs and all the things that
you have?
What was it for?
Was it just to play sports?
Was it just to show off?
You know, God doesn't take pleasure in the legs of a man.
He's not sitting here and being very excited about the professional athlete scoring a touchdown.
You know what he likes?
He likes the guy taking his legs and traveling somewhere and preaching the gospel to somebody.
That's what God likes.
How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace is what the Bible says.
He doesn't say how beautiful is the touchdown.
How beautiful is the slam dunk contest?
How beautiful is the hole in one?
No, no, no.
You know what's beautiful?
The feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, that bring glad tidings of great joy.
That is what God takes pleasure in.
And let me tell you something, if you're going to be pleasing to God, you have to go.
You have to go somewhere and you have to seek the Lord and you have to do His will.
And you know, these wise men were willing to pack up and travel great distance just
to seek the Lord.
And you know, God didn't even necessarily tell them audibly or something.
We have no record of them knowing anything other than, "Hey, there's this star.
We know Jesus is coming.
We're going to just figure out a way to find him."
You know, I like this mentality of people just figuring out how to just serve God.
Because you know what?
That's how God did it.
God just gave us a book and just said, "Figure it out."
God's not going to show up tonight in your bedroom and whisper in your ear and say, "Hey,
get a red corvette."
That's not, that's not God.
God doesn't work that way.
Now, look, I'm not saying there hasn't been sometimes the Old Testament where God showed
up through dreams or through angels and different things like that, but, you know, I don't believe
your story.
Okay?
I'm just going to be honest with you.
If you want to add it to the end of the Bible, you know, because hey, anytime an angel shows
up and gives you the word of the Lord, it's supposed to be a new epistle added into scripture,
you know?
And I don't believe in that stuff.
I'm not a Pentecostal today and I don't believe that God is constantly talking to me that's
apart from the word of God.
Now, look, I do believe God's talking to me all the time.
It's in this book.
The Holy Ghost constantly reminds me of Scripture and brings Scripture into my remembrance and
you know what?
God will talk to you.
But God is so efficient, he already has all the things he wants to tell you.
He doesn't need to give you all of this mumbo jumbo that the Pentecostals constantly say.
And look, it's out there.
I grew up in that kind of a church and I was always confused growing up.
Growing up, the pastors would always get up and they would just say, "God told me this
and God told me that and the other night God just spoke to me and God was giving me all
this wisdom and God is giving me these words and God told me to go here and talk to this
person to do that."
And you know, sometimes it benefited.
I'm not going to lie because I remember me and my wife, we would go to church and sometimes
people would be like, "God told us to just give you $100."
And I was thinking like, "Okay."
And again, it's not like I'm special.
God didn't tell them to do that.
It's just how that works, okay?
And you're just kind of thinking like, "Alright, well, whatever."
I guess, and it happens to all kinds of people, right?
Sometimes you go and they're like, "Someone bought your coffee or something."
And look, I'm not against people being generous.
And look, I think the Bible does teach being generous as a general principle.
So if that's what they mean by God told them, hey, I'm for it.
But it's like these people think that like, God is constantly just whispering in their
ear or something.
Let me tell you something.
You have your own thoughts and then you have what the Bible says.
Whenever the Bible's ringing in your ears, that's the Holy Spirit trying to tell you
something.
Whenever you're just dreaming stuff up in your mind, that's you just dreaming stuff
up in your mind.
Now, I think God gave us intuition.
God gave us intuition.
We should use that and that's a gift.
If you have a funny feeling about someone, get away from them.
If God's trying to press something on your heart about helping somebody or your heart
of compassion is toward someone, you want to help someone, yeah, I think you should
honor that.
But you know what, don't tell me that God's telling you to buy a red Corvette or God told
me to walk over here.
That's not how God operates.
God gives you freedom.
God did not come, I do not believe God came down to these wise men and said, "Go to Bethlehem."
Because if we actually read the story, they didn't even know where they were going exactly.
They're just kind of following the star and then they're even asking, they're like trying
to figure out where is he at and whatever.
And then Herod's the one saying, "Go to Bethlehem."
Herod's the one that's kind of even pointing them in this direction.
You know what, sometimes when you're on the road, you got to ask for directions.
You got to ask different people, and you got to try and figure out where you're going.
We go on a lot of missions trips, and we don't always know where we're going.
We don't always know what the plan is.
We don't always know what's going to turn up, what's not going to turn up.
We don't know.
But you know what, we want to go where the Spirit blows.
And we want to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's prompting and allowing Him to guide us to
the places that we want to be out there.
There's so many times, if you go out so many a lot, you will get people saved in just some
of the funniest ways, where just the circumstances, someone asks you to come over here or stand
over there, you know, one door was closed and then you go in this other direction, you're
just thinking like, wow, this is kind of crazy.
One of the coolest salvations I ever had is probably one of the first ones that I remember
trying to do like one-on-one conversational soul winning.
And I've shared this story repeatedly, but I just love the story is that I really wanted
to get a soul winning Bible because I just felt like the one that I had wasn't the one
I wanted to use.
It was a big one, had a lot of commentary notes and stuff, and I just wanted like a
straight text Bible.
So I'm going to the bookstore.
I just memorized every verse I'm going to use in my gospel presentation.
And I'm like, all right, I'm going to get a Bible.
And then I'm going soul winning on Saturday.
And it's like my first time just go out by myself because I didn't have anybody in my
area to go.
So I'm really excited.
I show up.
I'm in the King James section.
It's at the very back in the corner of the bookstore, you know, with all the cobwebs
and stuff.
I'm dusting them around.
And this kid just comes out of nowhere and this kid, you can just kind of tell he's out
of place, okay, at the bookstore, especially looking for Bibles.
He looks like a thug.
I'll just be honest with you, all right?
And the guy's just kind of just staring like you can tell this guy has no idea what he's
doing.
I was just kind of comparing a few different versions while standing there, just kind of
noticing him.
And he like just looks, he picks up the biggest King James Bible on the shelf.
And I'm talking, I mean, I think he's like this big or something like this.
This is like one of these weird, huge commentaries.
And he's just kind of looking at him, thinking like, this guy doesn't know what the heck
he's doing.
And so I just kind of turned to him and I just said like, are you looking for a Bible?
And he's just like, yeah, I don't know what I'm doing.
And I was just like, it's obvious.
And I just said, well, you definitely want to get a King James.
I said, you know, maybe you should get like one of these other ones, one of the ones
I was looking at.
I was like, hey, this is a pretty good one.
And then I just said, you know what, I'm just going to ask him, I said, hey, more
important than like getting a Bible stuff, what about going to heaven?
And he's like, I really want to know, can you tell me how to get saved?
And he's like, I almost died in a car accident two weeks ago.
And I just felt like I need to seek God and figure out how to get saved.
And so, I mean, this guy doesn't even know what he just is like, I'm just going to go
to a Christian bookstore and just go look for a Bible and just happens to be in the perfect
place at the perfect time.
And I said, yeah, I can show you in the book I just handed you.
And yeah, he was the easiest salvation I've ever had.
He started coming to church and great guy.
He didn't last.
But here's the thing.
He's still saved.
And you know what?
It was a blessing to me as a soul winner that God gave me arguably the easiest salvation
I've ever had in my entire life when I was just seeking to get someone saved.
Because look, when you're just seeking God's will, he just makes it happen.
You know, you go to the Christian bookstore and he'll just put someone in your lap to
get saved.
You know, hey, you want to get saved?
He'll just bring a soul winner, right, to just the same section of the bookstore for
you and he'll help you get saved.
You know, you just seek and ye shall find, is what the Bible says.
And you know what?
Wise men are going to just go out there and just try to get people saved.
And you say like, "Giving the gospel seems intimidating."
Okay, well just pray and ask God to give you some easy ones.
I know even after that, I started going to some trailer park right next to our church
to go soul winning.
And honestly, it's been some of the most receptive soul winning I've ever done in my life.
And I didn't have anything to compare it to at the time, but in hindsight, I can look
back and say like, oh wow, that was a great opportunity.
God gave me an opportunity to do a lot of really easy soul winning to kind of get my
feet wet.
You know, I think a lot of people, maybe some of their first missions trips have been to
the Bahamas.
Well, you got it easy, I'll tell you that, but you seek and you shall find.
You seek and God will just open doors for you and allow you to find the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hey, you want to know what God's word says?
He'll lead you to King James Bible.
Hey, you want to know what advice God has for you in your life?
Start reading the Bible and he'll start just telling you all kinds of things in the Bible.
But do not just sit in the bed at night and just think like, "Man, I'm just waiting for
God to audibly speak to me."
No, just read your Bible out loud.
And if you want it to be in audio, then just get scurvy to read it to you, okay?
That's about as close as you're going to get to God whispering in your ear.
But at the end of the day, you know, don't fall for this nonsensical stuff of just dreaming
up things and then blaming God for it.
Let's give accreditation to the Bible.
That's God's word.
We need to seek it.
But you know what?
Seeking God will cost you time.
It will cost you effort.
It will cost you energy.
It's going to be difficult.
This is what the Bible describes.
Go to Matthew six and look at verse 31, Matthew six and look at verse 31, therefore take no
thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we be clothed for after
all these things that the Gentiles seek for heavenly father knoweth that you have need
of all these things but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all
these things shall be added unto you you know as your life goal you should make church and
soul winning your priorities and let everything else be subservient to that you should seek
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness so not only just seeking God trying to be
righteous trying to do right what is righteousness doing right following God's will for your
life and then he'll give you all the other things that you need in your life you don't
want to get your priorities backwards you want to seek God first you want to put him
first in your life and then let everything else fall into place if you seek money first
you may get a different wife than if you seek God first because if you're seeking money
and you become rich you know I've always thought about this it's going to be harder to find
a godly woman by being really rich than it would be being poor because if you're really
rich how could you even know that that woman actually wants to be with you for the right
reason?
You know you might think like oh man I would love to be super rich but could you even believe
that any of your friends even are your friends anymore?
Just think about this for a half a second if you just got a hundred million dollars
how much how much of your family would want to see you all of a sudden?
How many cousins and uncles and old high school buddies and friends would just come out of
the woodwork?
Why?
Not because they want to be your friend they're not your friend because they just want to
get money from you.
How many people would come and lie to you and try to deceive you and take advantage
of you?
Could you really trust that whoever you marry wouldn't just divorce you and take half of
your money and that's the only reason they were showing interest in you in the first
place.
But what if you seek God first and you put him first, hey get married young and then
he can add wealth to you and then now you're good.
I'm just telling you sometimes when you get these priorities backwards God's got it right.
Seek him first and the things that he wants for you because he'll give it to you in the
right order.
He'll give it to you in the right priority structure and he won't add a bunch of sorrow
to it.
Now look if you already have a lot of money, sorry, give it to the poor and then start
over.
I don't know.
But I'm just saying like I would be nervous if I had to, you know, if I was like Elon
Musk or one of these guys was trying to seek for a wife it would be really difficult to
know if they were even sincere.
You know if you're ugly and broke and she's interested you've found a winner I'm just
telling you, okay.
She really, really likes you.
Some people think like being really tall and handsome is a blessing.
But then here's the question, does she really like you?
And I'm just saying, you know, being ugly has its benefits because you're not going
to have unwanted attention, you're not going to have people that are wasting your time
and if she's interested then she's really interested, okay.
So I'm just trying to help you out.
There's pros and cons to everything in life and some people they think oh I want to chase
all this.
God's like you don't even want all that.
Put me first, seek me first, you know just find the Lord and you know what he'll give
you all the things you need.
We need to put God first.
I want to go to a few more verses quickly.
Let's go to Luke chapter 17 for a moment, Luke chapter number 17.
Of course the Christmas season is a season of joy.
It's a time of happiness.
It's a time to share gifts and I like all that but and I'm not against that but you
know what our primary goal should be?
Seeking God and seeking the Lord Jesus Christ and trying to get right.
You know we're ending the year and about to start the new year and it should be a time
of reflection.
I think am I really seeking God in my life and this is a time if you feel like you're
not to hit that reset button and say you know what I'm going to start the new year seeking
Jesus Christ and making sure I'm putting him first and making him a priority and putting
that at my forefront.
Being like these wise men and seeking Jesus Christ you know at the time of Christmas we
should be re-evaluating our lives and thinking what are my priorities like, am I setting
goals to seek Jesus Christ in my life.
Luke 17 verse 33, "whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whosoever
shall lose his life shall preserve it."
Go if you would to John chapter 5, you should lose your life in the gospel and lose your
life in church.
Oh man you go to church three times a week, man how do you have time for anything else?
I don't.
Do you go soul winning all the time?
You take your vacation and you go on missions trips, well when are you going to have time
for anything else?
I don't.
But you know what?
By losing my life I end up finding it.
And if I try to hang on to my life, I'll end up losing it anyways.
So I might as well just give it to the Lord Jesus Christ because if I don't I'm going
to lose it anyways.
It is all vanity anyways.
I'm just going to put the Lord Jesus Christ first.
John chapter 5, look at verse 39, "Search the scriptures for in them you think you have
eternal life and they are they which testify of me you will not come to me that you might
have life I received not honor from men but I know you they have not the love of God in
you I am come in my father's name and you receive me not if another should come in his
own name him you will receive how can you believe which receive honor one of another
and seek not the honor that cometh from God only you know what kind of honor are you even
seeking in your life today do you want the honor that comes from one another or do you
want the honor that comes from God because these wise men in no way in their lifetime
do we see any honor from men there's no one to say like wow y'all did a good job wow I'm
so glad you traveled this far oh wow you did this great journey only us looking you know
through the scripture can we look to these men and say wow what an awesome job that they
did but in their lives they're not getting glory and honor for this in fact Herod is
very mad if he's very wroth with these people for what they did you know if you do what's
right in this life often you're not going to get the praise or the glory for doing the
right thing if you seek to please God you're often not going to get any glory or praise
of men don't think that serving Jesus is going to win you any popularity contest it will
not and if you are seeking for glory from man you are not seeking the glory that comes
from God because these are incompatible it is incompatible if you're serving God right
people will not like you you won't be mister famous mister popularity which glory do you
want oh I want everybody to like me well then you're not going to be a good servant of the
Lord Jesus Christ for if I yet please man then I should not be the servant of our Lord
Jesus Christ I'm not going to be a good servant of the Lord Jesus Christ if I'm seeking to
please man look at chapter 7 verse 16 Jesus answered them and said my doctrine is not
mine but his that send me if any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine
whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself he that speaketh of himself seeketh
his own glory but he that seeketh his glory that sent him the same is true and no unrighteousness
is in him you know it seems like some people want the credit for their ideas they want
to say I'm a savant I'm a political savant but wait a minute the only good ideas are
actually in this book your wisdom will never surpass the wisdom of this book your doctrine
will never surpass the doctrine of this book and of those that have already gone before
you we've already established the found the foundational doctrines we already know the
fundamentals of the faith oh well I just want to get credit for coming up with some new
doctrine well it sounds like new heresy there's no new doctrines to discover yeah there may
be some nuggets in the text yeah there may be some cool ways to interpret things we may
see new ways to explain the same old truths but let me tell you something we already have
the doctrine established oh well then how are you going to stand out I'm not this is
what's going to stand out we should seek him we should seek his doctrine we should seek
his glory we should be seeking of him but many people they want what they want credit for
their own they're seeking their own glory look at all of my ideas look at what I said
they want to get praise and recognition for their mind for their wisdom not for the wisdom
that comes from this book oh you just repeat whatever the Bible says you're right oh you're
just trying to do whatever the Bible says yep oh you're just doing what your Sending
Pastor does you just you have the same doctrine as him you sound like him well praise God
because you know what I'm not trying to do something new here I'm just trying to do what
this says oh well you're not going to get really popular doing that well you know what
I don't need to be popular the wise men didn't get really popular from their little journey
to Bethlehem they didn't get any money they lost money they paid a bunch of money to travel
there and then they gave a bunch of gifts what are you doing in your life well how am
I going to get popular how am I going to get famous how am I going to get rich well you
know what stop worrying about those things and put God first seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness that's what the wise men do the wise men are spending not
looking to gain popularity and fame and glory of men go to Hebrews chapter 11 go one more
place here social media has poisoned the minds of the youth to seek for attention and I'm
not against social media and I use it because I think hey it's a great tool and we need
attention but you know what the attention needs to be on the things of God and on the
Lord Jesus Christ and yet so many people they just want and they crave attention and fame
more than ever before they've gotten a taste of it and it just it just causes people to
behave differently why do they behave differently because here's the thing if you act like the
Bible you won't be super popular you have to trim the message you have to kind of alter
who you are you have to put this facade out there and pretend like you're something that
you're not you can't say all the words that you want to say you can't say all the messages
need you need to say you can't call everybody out if you just want to maximize attention
and maximize people looking at you but either they the wise men weren't going around looking
for attention they were going to give their attention to jesus and because they gave their
attention to jesus we're reading about them there could argue that many people are more
famous than the wise men in their day but nobody knows about them and no one cares about
them and you know what there'll be many people that are famous on tiktok and on youtube and
instagram and in the annuals of history we will never know who they were nobody will care who
pootie pie is does anybody even know his real name felix what this guy does all right at least
somebody does all right it's already almost down to zero mr beast and again i i'm sure some people
might know his name but i'm just saying like even even many of these guys we don't even know their
names really we don't really care they're going to be forgotten no one no one's that interested
you know what who's going to shine for all of eternity is the christians that did great work
for the lord jesus christ they're going to shine brightly why because you want that glory that
glory lasts forever you don't want the 15 minutes of fame of this earth you want the glory that comes
from the lord jesus christ and from god that will never dim that will never fade that will last
forever you want the crown that comes from serving the lord jesus christ and often those are going
to be handed out to the people that we didn't even know we didn't even see it they were letting their
works be done in secret and it wasn't open and it wasn't manifest before the time they're going to
be greatly honored and praised before the lord jesus christ and you say yeah but i can't see that
how do i know it takes faith what does the bible say in hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 but without faith
it is impossible to please him free that come with the god must believe that he is and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him what does the bible say the bible says those who
diligently seek the lord jesus christ and they seek god by faith will be greatly rewarded by
him but you know what you won't see it because it's faith you won't realize it in this life
necessarily you won't get all this glory and attention you won't go out and get a bunch of
people saved in some third world country and then just skyrocket on tiktok nobody cares you know
we're working on a documentary a soul-winning documentary and i want to make it i want to
finish it but let me tell you something it's not going to be the most popular film we ever made
because you know what the world doesn't care the world just doesn't give a rip and i still want
to do it i'm still going to complete it because you know what i want to encourage people to
diligently seek the lord jesus christ and to gain great rewards for themselves in heaven to lay
up treasures for themselves in heaven where the moth and the rust does not corrupt and thieves
aren't going to break through and steal don't lay up all your treasure here on earth be like the
wise men and bring your treasure to the lord jesus christ and give him your treasure seek the lord
jesus christ go to john chapter four the the second thing that i'm going to mention is simple
we should have an attitude of worship towards him the wise men sought the lord jesus christ
but they sought to put him first and to worship him that's where their affection that's where
their money was you know where your treasure is there where your heart be also but when you
serve the lord jesus christ when you come to worship him he doesn't accept all worship
look what it says in john chapter 4 verse 21 woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall
neither in this mountain nor yet of Jerusalem worship the father ye worship you know not what
we know what we worship for salvation is of the jews but the hour cometh and now is when the true
worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth for the father seeketh such to worship
him god is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth you can worship
jesus christ you can worship god and it's meaningless go to amos chapter five in the middle of your bible
amos chapter five what what do i mean by that there are millions if not the entire billion
catholics worshipping jesus christ on christmas eve and on christmas and let me tell you something
it is all in vain it is meaningless god is not pleased with it whatsoever because they are not
saved and because the way that they're doing it is not in truth they are bowing down before idols
it's a pagan false religion and it doesn't matter how beautiful their music sounds it doesn't matter
how beautiful their cathedrals are it doesn't matter that they're walking down and getting a
cracker shoved down their throat you know none of that is worshiping god in spirit and in truth
and it's meaningless to god yeah but you don't understand pastor celli the music is just so
beautiful i don't i don't care god doesn't care let me show you this look at amos chapter five
verse 21 i hate you know this is god speaking i hate i despise your feast days and i will not
smell in your solemn assemblies though you offer me burnt offerings in your meat offerings i will
not accept them neither will i regard the peace offerings of your fat beast take thou away from me
the noise of thy songs for i will not hear the melody of thy vials so this is like short for
like what we think of a violin the stringed instruments they are playing this beautiful
ornate music all these songs they're offering sacrifices under the lord they're offering
incense you go to the catholic church they have their incense offerings they have all their
beautiful music they have all the pipes but let me tell you something god hates it why because
they're not even saved number one number two because that place is a den of iniquity and it's
filled with all unrighteousness and pagan idolatry and let me tell you something god hates it you must
worship god in spirit and in truth you cannot just go to any church that you choose to worship god
you have to go to the church that god chooses that's following what the bible actually says
or it doesn't count you know everybody wants to be ecumenical today and sing kumbaya and just
let's just spin the dreidel let me tell you something god hates the dreidel and god hates
that religion of judaism and you know what i'm not going to hold hands with a jew and worship god
because they're an anti-christ you know god is not pleased with the christ rejecting jews of today
you must worship god in spirit and in truth all of the religious ceremonies all their little
hanukkah all the little dreidel spinning all of it is in vain and god hates it god hates all false
religion today he hates anything that the hindus are doing he hates anything that the muslims are
doing he hates anything that the catholics are doing today let me tell you something you have to
worship the lord jesus christ in spirit and in truth or it doesn't count he wants true worshipers
and you know the true worshipers came humbly to the lord jesus christ and knelt down and found
him in a humble abode and a humble house and that's where they worship him you know catholics will
constantly make fun of new testament christian buildings they'll like look at a barn dough like
ours or something they'll be like oh what an amazing religion it's like oh yeah jesus was
born in a manger buddy who are you mocking yeah he lived in a humble home and an impoverished
parents humble means just a carpenter's son let me tell you something jesus is often found in the
humble places of this earth not in the haughty prideful arrogant cathedrals of this world those
places are where satan abodes go to luke 21 go to luke 21 hey you want to be a wise man you need to
seek the lord jesus christ number two you need to worship him in spirit and in truth you need to go
to the right kind of church with the right bible a king james bible with the right salvation with
humility in your heart i mean they had to they had to bow down to a baby that's pretty humble and
you know what sometimes we have to humble ourselves to serve the lord jesus christ going to an orange
tan ugly building you don't have to come to this church to serve god you can go to other churches
i'm just saying coming to this church is pretty humble experience and to a humble city i mean in
the dallas ford area there's a lot of cities that are a lot nicer more money cleaner friendlier but
you know at the end of the day hey we're going to come to the humble cedar hill we're going to come
to the humble texas street i love texas street we're going to come to the orange construction
building where your cell phone doesn't work okay and you know we're going to open up the bible and
we're going to worship him in spirit and truth. Luke 21 and and look at verse number one now they
presented gifts and we should present gifts and offerings and sacrifices of the lord jesus christ
as well but look at luke 21 verse one he looked up and saw the rich men casting their gifts in the
treasury and he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites and he said of a
truth i say unto you that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all for all these have
their abundance cast in the offerings of god but she of her penury hath cast in all the living
that she had so you know when we read the story about the wise men they obviously came with lavish
expensive gifts gold frankincense and myrrh are not cheap they're they're highly expensive gifts
but what did the bible say that god saw rich people casting in their gifts they were probably
rich gifts they were probably big amounts of money but what did the bible say they were casting this
in of their abundance they just they just have extra money and they're just giving that this
woman gave way less the least amount of money possible virtually two pennies i mean what's two
pennies in today's economy people are saying like with five bucks you can't even buy anything at
five guys what can you get for two pennies but for this woman that's all she had she casted in
and what did jesus say hey i'm gonna honor her and she's gonna have more great rewards
than anybody else she is given more than they all she's cast in more than they all how's that
possible how did she cast in more because god is not measuring this the way we measure things
he's measuring by the heart and you know what she gave more of her heart than these other people
these men came and offered gifts in the lord jesus christ and you know what we should give our hearts
to the lord jesus christ and we should honor him even with our finances at times to show him
where our true heart is go to the proverbs chapter 14 and here's the last one i want to make
the wise men sought the lord jesus christ they worshiped the lord jesus christ they gave gifts
to the lord jesus christ and number four is they mock tarot and yes wise men can mock people now
you can look at this in two different ways elijah mocked the prophets of bail by openly and publicly
ridiculing them and i think that's a form of mocking that the bible brings up and is legitimate
sometimes we just need to make fun of false religion because it's stupid it needs to be paid
fun of but another way to mock false religion is to by ignore it by to just disregard it
disrespect it just turn the other way and just kind of have nothing to do with it and of course
we have discretion to tell us when which is appropriate but hey i don't have respect for
false religion it's like oh i get to say that about catholics it's christmas well you know what
i don't respect their false religion and if i love them i'll tell them that what they're doing is
wrong in vain and it's not helping them like the prophet amos did prophet amos is giving them god's
word and saying hey what you're doing is in vain so i'm just trying to be like amos and saying hey
what you're doing catholic is in vain what you're doing many christians today is in vain and at the
end of the day there's a lot of people that don't like the lord jesus christ and you need to stay
far away from them there are herds in this world that want nothing to do with jesus and you should
have nothing to do with them you should be careful about these people proverbs chapter 14 verse 7
says go from the presence of a foolish man when thou perceive us not in him the lips of knowledge
there are some people you should just avoid and stay away from and look i know the christmas
spirit we we want to be generous and kind and loving and compassionate and hey we should give
people the benefit of the doubt the bible says to go you in the whole world and preach the gospel
every creature but the bible does say when you run into somebody and they're saying stupid things
they're saying foolish things a man that is in heretic after the first and second ammunition
the bible says reject and they came under hatred they heard what he had to say and whenever seeking
god god's telling this is not the kind of person you should go back to this is not a kind of person
you shouldn't entangle yourself with this is not someone you should be around you need to go from
the presence of this foolish man you need to reject this particular person and you know what
this is a hard message but even at the time of christmas there are some people in your lives
that you need to reject there are some people that you need to stay away from there are some
foolish people in your life that you just have to say you know what this person's not interested
in things of god they're going to try and destroy the things of god in my life and i need to just
i need to just keep them you know i just need to stay away from them go to proverbs 2 go to
proverbs chapter 2 if you want to be a wise man you can't be friends with everyone don't be a
bleeding heart man it just bothers the fire out of me to see people just falling all over themselves
to love heretics and enemies and blasphemers look if someone's openly blaspheming the lord
jesus christ you should just be done with them immediately i'm not going to fall over myself
to love on that person you know what i want to fall over myself to love the person that's coming
to church i want to fall over myself to love the widows in our church i want to fall over myself
to love the person in the ghetto that interested in the gospel not the black heber is there like
following me around screaming at me that he doesn't want whitey man's religion or something
okay at that point i'm like all right sure you don't like white people great bye okay or the
white cracked out meth head i don't want to be around him either let me tell you something
there's plenty of people that you recognize hey i don't want to be around this person and you get
away from them don't be a bleeding heart and just give all of your time effort energy and love to
the wrong people just give it to the right people what does the bible say in proverbs chapter 2 verse
11 discretion shall preserve thee understanding shall keep thee to deliver thee from the way of
the evil man from the man that speaketh foward things when someone is a foward person when
someone's an evil man you need to use the discretion to stay as far away from this possible
i want to go to one more place go to matthew chapter 5 go to matthew chapter 5 we'll finish
look our gospel is so important and the bible warns us that we should not allow it to be hid
we don't want to hide under a bushel we want to be the people that go we want to go to church
and we want to take the gospel out with us when we leave church and preach the gospel everybody
we want to be constantly seeking god and putting him first we want to come with a humble attitude
and we're here to worship him it's not about us we're not here to worship ourselves and our
own mind our own intellect and our own physical prowess and anything about us it's all about the
lord jesus christ here and we're here to bow the knee to him we are here to bow the knee to this
book and say this is who's in charge here in my life and in this church and we are here to bring
our gifts to the lord jesus christ i'm not here to get a handout i'm not here to get money i'm
here to bring of my substance and give unto the lord jesus christ and ultimately sometimes we just
need to mock false religion we need to mock the herds of this world whether that be through just
making fun of them or just simply rejecting them simply refusing to listen to them and staying far
away from them because if you don't well then we could be in trouble of not only putting a bushel
over our own light but someone else coming and snuffing out our light for us if we go and we
just give harriet all of our secrets and we just buddy up with harriet and we're just pals with
harriet well then what's harriet gonna do he's gonna be empowered to harm the things of god
that's why you stay away from those people that's why you don't give them a door into your life you
know not everybody likes this church i don't know if you know that not everybody likes the king james
bible not everybody likes salvation by faith not everybody likes soul winning not everybody likes
our doctrines not everybody likes the trinity that we have they want god to be an invisible floating
idea they don't want them to be three persons and let me tell you something heresy and levin will
destroy people's lives you need to just stay away from evil forward people that want to do this to
Stay away from the Herod's of this world.
Oh no, I wanna worship too.
Liar, flatterer, deceiver, privily trying to sneak in.
You know, there's some people
you just gotta reject in your life.
And you know, I know it's the Christmas season,
if you're tempted, let's just give all of the Herod's
of my life a second chance.
Keep the door shut, be a wise man.
We're seeking Jesus, we're not seeking Herod.
We're worshiping Jesus, we're not worshiping ourselves.
We're bringing our gifts to Jesus.
And sometimes you just need to mock the Herod's
in your life and have nothing to do with them.
What does the Bible say in Matthew chapter number five,
verse 13, "Ye are the salt of the earth,
but if the salt have lost its savor,
wherewith shall it be salted?
It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out
and to be trodden under foot of men."
You're supposed to be salty.
If you're just friends with everybody,
you're not salt anymore and you've lost your savor.
The salt's gonna irritate some people.
If you don't irritate anybody, you're a problem, okay?
You need to be irritable to some.
Says in verse 14, "Ye are the light of the world,
the city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
Neither men light a candle and put it under a bushel,
but on a candlestick and give it light
and to all that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men
that they may see your good works
and glorify your father, which is in heaven.
We are here to let our light shine bright
for the gospel sake and for our father's sake
and for his glory, not ours.
We're seeking God and his glory.
We're worshiping God and we're worshiping his glory.
We're giving gifts unto God and unto his glory.
And we're mocking those who despise the glory of God
and they despise the things of God.
We want nothing to do with those individuals.
We don't want to allow them to snuff out our candle.
We want to keep it bright.
You know, it's important to learn from these wise men
and follow in their example.
Hey, if God's warning you to stay away from people,
stay away from them, 'cause you know what?
If our gospel is hid, it's hid to them that are lost.
You know, we're gonna partake in a fun activity
of turn out the lights and passing out the candles.
But what's the point?
It's to picture how the gospel works.
You take one person with that light
and they can share it with another,
and then it starts spreading.
But here's the thing that's incredible.
It's really slow at first, but then over time,
it just starts catching speed.
It starts to multiply.
And let me tell you something, a church like ours,
it may be in slow start, but it's starting to multiply.
And the gospel works that we're doing
is starting to multiply.
And we need to be sure that we keep
these fundamentals straight in our hearts and our minds
because the power of multiplication is so big
that we don't want to get off of this train.
I mean, if you look at the salvation numbers
that we've had this year,
we're close to breaking like 14,000 for the year.
That's way more than we've ever had in any prior year.
Why? Because of the power of multiplication.
And as we keep investing in the things of God
and seeking God first,
he can multiply beyond what we can imagine.
That's why it's so important
that we're seeking him first, and we're worshiping him,
and we're giving our gifts unto him,
and we're mocking all of the herds of this world.
And if we keep that as our focus,
I think next year we're gonna do even better.
Why? Not for our glory,
but for the glory of our father, which is in heaven.
And you know what? He's a great God.
He deserves more glory, and he deserves more multiplication,
and he deserves more souls in heaven.
And that's why we wanna dedicate our lives
to seeking him, not ourselves.
Closing prayer.
Thank you heavenly father so much for this great story
of these humble men that were willing to seek after you,
that were willing to worship your son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, that gave gifts unto him,
and were brave enough to mock the leaders of their day
and the enemies of their day.
I pray that you give us the same wisdom as these wise men.
You help encourage us, and we thank you
for what you've already done for us.
I pray that we would make sure that we seek your glory,
and not the glory of men.
And I pray that you would keep everyone safe this evening,
that you give them a Merry Christmas,
that our hearts and minds would be thinking
about the things of Christ,
that we would enter into next year
to do a great work for you, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
So at this time, our musicians are just gonna play
just instrumentally, and we're gonna pass out our lights.
They can go ahead and start passing them out.
Once everyone has them passed out,
then we'll begin to sing Silent Night, Holy Night.
It's song 431, in your hymnals.
And we'll have the lights start up here,
and then it'll be passed down the aisles.
So make sure to share that light.
At this time, we're gonna dim our lights and we'll begin.