The Joy of Having A King | Matthew 2:1-12 | Pastor Neil McClendon

Are you willing to surrender your life to King Jesus, or are you fighting to stay on the throne of your own heart? Discover the true joy of living under the loving, absolute authority of the King of Kings.

In this Advent sermon, Lead Pastor Neil McClendon preaches through Matthew 2:1–12, examining the arrival of the wise men from the East and the starkly different reactions to the news of Jesus's birth. Unpack why humanity naturally resists authority, explore the contrast between King Herod's insecure, self-preserving control and the magi's posture of humble worship, and learn how true worship extends beyond singing into physical posture, sacrificial giving, and radical obedience. Discover how God speaks to us in ways we can understand and invites us to find Him.

In this episode, we cover:

• The Cultural Myth of "No King": Confronting the spiritual lie that we never have to submit to an authority outside ourselves.
• Two Responses to the King: Why every heart either seeks to worship King Jesus or eliminate His rule to maintain self-sovereignty.
• Biblical Worship vs. Modern Sentiment: Understanding worship as prostrating our hearts, bodies, and lives before a superior authority rather than seeking emotional experiences.
• The Heart of King Herod: How insecurity, fear, and the desire for control drive destructive self-preservation.
• God Speaks Your Language & Wants to Be Found: How God reached Persian astrologers through the stars and continues to reveal Himself to seeking hearts today.
• Obedience as the Ultimate Expression of Worship: Recognizing that we naturally obey whatever holds the highest authority in our lives.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

And so this is what I mean when I say two responses. You want to worship him or you want to kill him. And the reason we want to kill him is because we want to sit on the throne of our lives. We want to be the king. Now that may be hard for some of you to get your head around because you think when Jesus comes again, it's going to be like this, there's going to be glowing candles and baby Jesus in the manger. And let me, I don't want to get all theological. Actually, I do. But let me just say this: the Jesus that came the first time is not the same Jesus that's coming back the second time. And stay with me. Not that they're different, but Jesus, in order to come to earth, he was fully God. He had to give up some of his glory to come to earth. Otherwise, you couldn't look upon him. It would kill you, okay?

SPEAKER_00 0:42

This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. For more information about Grand Parkway, visit our website at grandparkway.org.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Let's pray together. Well, we've come to do just that today, to rejoice on this third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of joy. We've come to rejoice over the fact that you came and you're going to come again. And we get to live in this deliberate tension between those two realities. And so Holy Spirit illuminate Scripture today so we get understanding for the living of these days. Not for the living of one day, but for the living of today. The truth is to be applied to today, to ourselves, the people around us. And so, Lord, we rejoice that you came. We also rejoice that you're going to come again. So this world is not all there is. So don't let us live like it. Think like it. Spend like it and be like it. Now, Holy Spirit, do whatever you got to do in us to get us, make us most consequential in this world and most ready for the next. We pray in Jesus' name. All God's people said Amen. Amen. You can have a seat. If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it, open up to Matthew chapter 2. If you don't have a Bible, uh it'll come up on the screen behind me. Uh, if you're our guest today, let me say thank you for being here. You're always welcome. Today's the third Sunday of Advent. You may be thinking, that's great. What is Advent? Advent is the four Sundays that lead up to Christmas, and each Sunday has a theme. Uh, the themes are hope, peace, joy, which is today, and next Sunday, love. Nothing's more joyful than a big old kid's choir. Amen? That'll wash the cynicism right off of you right there. Some of you need to not listen to talk radio or watch the news this week, just so you can hold on to what you just heard coming out of those little mouths, all right? Uh I want to talk to you this morning from Matthew chapter 2 about the joy of having a king. The joy of having a king. But before I read the biblical text, I just want to take you back a couple months. They had these things all over the world, not just in America, they were all over the world called No King's Rallies. Remember that? Big No King's rally. My favorite one was they had one outside the U.S. Embassy in London, England. People were holding up signs. We do not have a king, we do not want a king. Thank you. Somebody gets the geopolitical ramifications of that. It's England, bro. His name's Charles. He's your king, okay? But I digress. Uh but at one of the rallies here in America where we're like, no king, no king, somebody held up a sign and simply said this no crown, no throne, no king. And why and everybody, all the Antifa Trust Fund babies were rallying to that. And I just thought, this is great. But I'm gonna suggest to you this morning that this carries over from the political world into the spiritual world, and it manifests in the physical world. And you are taught, you listen to uh online and TV and media, you are taught, you're saturated, you were baptized in a culture that says you never have to submit to a king. And I'm gonna say to you this morning from God's word, that's a terrible idea. And I'm gonna say, and I'm not gonna apologize for it, you were created to know the king. And so I just want to read from Matthew chapter 2, starting in verse 1. The Bible says this, and after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And he ascent, and assembling all the chief priests of the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet, and you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him. After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. I want to talk to you about the joy of having a king. And basically, what it comes down to is there's two responses that you'll see in the text. And there's two responses that we have even to this day. These are the two response responses that were available to them at the s at the news that a king had been born. And these are the two responses that you and I have. The first response is easy to hear, and it's basically worship him. It's verse two, where the wise man who came from Persia said, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose, and we have come to worship him. Hopefully, you came to church today to worship him. Some of you are like, Well, my parents just put the light on, said, Get up, we're going to church. And so that's okay. I'm glad you're here. But I would submit to all of you. You were created by God to be in a relationship with God where your life and my life, basically, we could pick a lot of other words, but basically, our life is a statement about the fact that we worship him. Now, worship in the Bible is not like it is in America. Worship is not singing. Worship was what you do with your body. Matter of fact, the Bible was originally written in Greek, and the Greek word for worship here is proscanaeal, which we can easily see we get our English word prostrate from. And so my father-in-law, God rest his soul, confused the words prostrate and the word a prostate. And so he lived in Florida, and people in Florida were dying all the time from different forms of cancer, and he'd always say, Yeah, my friend Henry got that prostrate cancer. And I would try to, he was like 80 something years old. I was trying to correct him. Hey man, it's not that. And he goes, Well, yeah, that's what I said. He's got the prostrate cancer. And I said, Does he just go around kneeling down all the time? And he goes, Well, he's got it. And I was like, ah. And my wife is like, just leave him alone. He ain't never gonna get it right, okay? And so it was my personal joke that I enjoyed, didn't know what else in the room did. Because my wife would look at me like, keep going. Uh, what does it mean when he says worship him and and and and proscode? What does it mean? Here's what it means, okay? Uh, worship here in America is eroded into singing, uh, but biblically it refers to this kneeling or prostrating yourself to show homage to a being of superior rank. Kneeling, your posture is changing, kneeling or prostrating yourself, just getting down on your face, just to say, hey, I'm I'm showing homage to a being who has superior rank, who is over me. So at its core, biblically speaking, worship has always involved what we do with our bodies. And when you separate that, we make room for people to live lives that are consistently lives of consistent immorality while they hold to a favorite worship song. And so for many people, worship is the feeling I get when I sing the songs I like to sing. And if you think about it, in that little me lo, worship kind of becomes about us. This is what I like to feel, and so I need to sing this to feel this. And so, what I'm really worshiping is the feeling I get when I sing the songs I like to sing, and we're not worshiping God. And my concern is that that's more prevalent and prominent and popular than we would ever be willing to admit. But I just say this: one thing you will notice in the Bible, wherever worship is happening, people's posture is changing. Let me say it again. Wherever worship is happening, I don't mean they're singing, uh, but but but but when people are acknowledging the greatness of God, their posture is changing. No one's like, What's up, G? I'm good, you good? We tied, all right, let's go. No, there's a there's a sense of reverential awe, and it's like, ah, I'll just read to you. This is from Revelation chapter 4, starting in verse 9. He says, and whenever the living creature, now this is the picture around the throne of God in heaven. He says, and whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever. Whenever that happens, so 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne, and they worship him whose lives who lives forever and ever, and they cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy are you, O Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you are create, you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. I want you just to back up a little bit to verse 10. He says, The 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne. Here's here, that person seated on the throne is not you and it's not me. If you are still seated on the throne of your life, you are not a Christian. To be Christian is to submit to the Lordship of King Jesus, who was born a king, he wasn't elected, he cannot be voted out of office. Okay? And so he was born a king in Matthew 2 and at the last book of the Bible in Revelation chapter 4, he is still seated on the throne. You should ask yourself, don't ask other people because I probably lied to you. Ask yourself before you drift off to bed tonight. If you're 17 and you're like, nah, people get on my nerves. Ask yourself, who really sits on the throne of your life? Who's the ruling authority in your life? Because you've got one or two responses. This is the easy one. You either worship him, or secondly, you want to kill him. And you're like, oh, no way. It's Herod. Look at, I'll just start reading verse 3. Look how Herod responds. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Well, it's one thing for Herod. Why was Herod troubled? Because he heard that there'd be uh the king of the Jews had been bored, and he was the king. But think a little bit, why was all Jerusalem troubled with him? Because they knew what Herod was capable of. You say, I don't know what you mean. You have to do a little history, but you don't have to do it. I'll tell you, there's three things about Herod that you need to understand. Number one, he has no rightful claim to the throne. He knows it, everybody knows it. He's what's called an Adamean. He's not even a Jew. The Romans appointed him king because they knew he was a political suck-up and he liked having a title and power, and they said, This weasel will do whatever we want. So he has no rightful claim to the throne. Secondly, he used violence to stay on the throne, to stay in power. What do you mean? He killed his favorite wife and three of his sons. Yes. Yes. Now my wife said to me this week, she goes, Well, thanks for not killing me. I said, You're not my favorite. Now, a meal has not been cooked in my house in the past four days. And I just go back and enjoy that moment. There's a lot of things I say in my house that I think are really funny, but when they come out of my mouth, apparently they're not that funny. But anyway, yeah, and so here's the third thing. He would do anything. He would he would kill again to keep his throne. All right, I say it like this. He would do anything to stay in control. You mean what do you mean? Verse 7. He asks these wise men from Persia, hey, what time did this star, this star you guys saw, what time did it appear? He's not trying to figure out, hey, exactly where can I go worship? He's trying to determine his target audience because what time did it appear? What he's gonna do. You'll see next Sunday. Can't wait. Uh shave your legs and come back, ladies. What you're gonna see next week is he's saying, Hey, what time did it appear? Because he's trying to figure out the time window of all the infants I have to kill to make sure I kill the king. Now, by the way, let me say it again. He has no rightful claim to the throne, he uses violence to stay on the throne, and he'll do anything to stay on that throne. Remind you of anybody? That's you and me by nature. We want to stay on the throne of our life. It's my body. Who are you to tell me what to do? It's my money. Come on, man. Are you serious? Yes, this is why you have just two responses to the king. You want to worship him or you want to kill him. Now, some of you may be thinking, now, Pastor, we just had a kid's choir. Why do you have to be so negative? Let me tell you something. It's always been this way. You say, What do you mean? I'll just read to you from the Bible so you don't think I made it up. This is from Luke chapter 19. I'll start reading verse 11. Now, let me give you the context. What do you mean, context? Everything happens in a context. You ever watching a movie? You're about an hour into it, and somebody walks in the room and they start going, Who's that? What's that? What? You're like, hmm. They don't get the context, and they're messing everything up. Here's the context of what I'm about to read. This is one of the last parables that Jesus tells. He's trying to explain to people. He's fixing to enter in the last week of his life. And he's boiling it all down, summarizing it, putting a bow on it like calf rope. Hey, here's the thing you guys have to understand. Listen to these words with that context in mind. Luke 19, verse 11. It says, as they heard these things, uh, he proceeded to tell them a parable because he was near Jerusalem and because they supposed the kingdom of God was about to appear immediately. Translation, I'm getting close to the most religious city in the world, and these knuckleheads still don't get it, okay? And so let me just try one more time to help them understand the big picture of the mission of God. He says, This here's the parable. A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then returned. And calling ten of his servants, he gave them Tim Minas. And he said, excuse me, he said to them, Engage in business until I come. But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him saying, We do not want this man to reign over us. See, we don't want to be reigned over. We got rights. You've listened to podcasts, personal empowerment, self-fulfillment, and other lies. But anyway, we do not want this man to reign over us. Verse 15, when he returned, having received the kingdom. Uh-oh. Look at me. He's gonna get his kingdom. It doesn't matter what you do, he's gonna come back with it. And the Bible just says, when he returned, having received his kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. Now, by the way, never apologize for being successful. God rewards people that are successful, he don't reward the fearful. He says this, the first came before him saying, Lord, your Mina has made ten minas more. And he said to him, Well done, good servant, because you've been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities. And the second came saying, Lord, your mina has made five minas. And he said to him, And you are to be over five cities. Then another came saying, Lord, here's your meena, which I kept laid away and a little doily that my grandma knitted on a Saturday, and this little handkerchief, because I was afraid of you because you're a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and you reap what you did not sow. Now, by the way, you are responsible for what you know about God. Here's what I mean. Look at the next verse, 22. Jesus said to him, I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant. You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit, and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank? Put it in a fidelity money market account so I can make 3.62%. Why did you not put money in the bank? And in my coming, I might have collected it with interest. And he said to those who stood by, take the Mina from this knucklehead and give it to the one who has ten minas. Jesus does not believe in fair, fun, positive soccer. No, everybody gets a trophy. If everyone gets the same reward, why be excellent? Jesus is not about socialism. This guy's got ten. Another guy got five. Why didn't Jesus go? You know what? It's not right. You have ten, he has five. I'm gonna give you one more, make six, and we'll close the gap on this guy. No, Jesus said, who's crushing it? You, I'm gonna trust you with more. You should ask yourself before you go to bed tonight, how much can God trust you with? Or you get successful and you just turn into a self-centered weasel, just a grease weasel, just me. Yeah, that's a gross phrase, isn't it? Someone over here who'll go and name is like Yeah. You know people that are like that, they get money and you can't stand them. They're like, oh man. Look at what Jesus says. Take the meaning from him and give it to the one who has ten meenas. And they said to him, Lord, he has ten meenas. I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given to him. But for the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. Merry Christmas. Look at me. Jesus says, I am summarizing my entire I'm going to Jerusalem where I'm gonna die on a cross for all these knuckleheads in the world. And I'm summarizing my entire life and ministry right here in this parable in Luke chapter 19. And so this is what I mean when I say two responses. You want to worship him or you want to kill him. And the reason we want to kill him is because we want to sit on the throne of our life. We want to be the king. Now that may be hard for some of you to get your head around because you think when Jesus comes again, it's gonna be like this, there's gonna be glowing candles and baby Jesus in the manger. And let me, I don't want to get all theological. Uh actually, I do. Uh, but let me just say this: the Jesus that came the first time is not the same Jesus that's coming back the second time. Stay with me. They're not that they're different, but Jesus, in order to come to earth, he was fully God, he had to give up some of his glory to come to earth. Otherwise, you couldn't look upon him, it would kill you, okay? Uh and so you say, Where do you get that? John 17, he's praying in the garden, his high priestly prayer, and he says this to his father. He said, Father, give me back the glory I had with you before the world began. And so when he comes a second time, he got all his glory and it's not gonna be good. The Bible gives us a little peek at what it's like. This is from Revelation chapter 19, and it says this in verse 15. He's describing what Jesus is gonna look like when he comes. It says, From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with a rod of iron, he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of the God the Almighty, and on his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus got a big full-length tattoo on his thigh. King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And he's coming back with a big old can of booty trump, and he's gonna open it on everybody. Someone asked me recently in counseling, they just said, Hey man, he's super good. I really enjoy him. He's like, you know, I don't really believe uh what you believe, but I like you because you helped me. I said, Oh, so you're an atheist and you're selfish. I said, by the way, when you don't believe in God, your only recourse is to be damningly self-centered. And he said, I'm not sure I appreciate that. I didn't ask. Here's why. Who else is there to sit on the throne? You're the smartest person you know? You're the you're you're the best person you know, no one questions you. You just slowly slide into this thing, you become more into yourself and more people move away from you because they don't enjoy you. He goes, Well, I mean, let's just let's just suppose what you say is true. And I said, Yeah, let's just suppose. What happens to me if I never, ever, ever come to believe that? I said, You're gonna be slaughtered. By the way, I've got counseling appointments available this week. Only two or three. Hurry before they fill up, kids. And he looked at me, he said, What did you just say? I said, You are gonna be slaughtered. And I don't rejoice over that, okay? I'm just saying, you think you live your whole life thinking you're the king, and then the real king shows up? Not good for you, bro. And he said, Well, I went to church somewhere as a kid. They never told me that. I said, That's why you have such a low view of God and a high view of yourself. They told you a bunch of religious sentimental platitudes, and so you walked out and be like, Yeah, why believe in that God? He said, So I said, here's the thing. And I even referenced Revelation 19. It says he's gonna tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. There's only one Almighty, God the Almighty. There's of, of, of. What does that mean? It means there's a God, He has wrath, and there's an unimaginable fury to his wrath. And here's the great thing. I looked at the guy, I said, Look at me, look at me, don't miss this. I deserve that. I deserve that by nature, that wrath. He goes, Well, why didn't you? Why aren't you gonna get it? Because I put my faith in him a long time ago. I took my faith out of myself and put my faith in him. And so all that Jesus did on the cross, that gets credited to me is righteousness. And the same thing's available to you. And he's like, I've never heard these things in my life. And by the way, I wasn't mad at him, I felt sad. I was like, he goes, and I go to church, it may surprise you. I go to church a lot. I said, doesn't surprise me at all. There's a lot of people go to church, they don't know Jesus. It's kind of like a tradition, but but as far as having a king that rules over them that they worship, no. No, the chips are down. I'm betting on me. Now the text closes with two expressions of worship. If I just said worship him or kill him, because you want to be king, you'd go, Well, I don't want to kill Jesus. I don't know. But the text then lets off easy the text gives us two expressions of worship. The first is Sound in verse 9. Basically, it's a gift to him. Look what happens in verse 9. You still with me say amen. I didn't lose you back there, did I? Some of you like, uh, that was a little graphic. Uh verse 9. It's the Bible. I don't write it. Uh verse 9. After listening to the king, they went on their way, these wise men. And look at this. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. Now, check this thing out. When I said give to him, I want you to notice what this star has done. It says when it rose, it went before them, and then it came to rest. It's like a UFO. It's got forward and backwards propulsion. You know what's going on here? He taught the star of Bethlehem. There's a good chance it wasn't just a star like we think of a star, but a comet. You say, What do you mean? If you're a nerd like me and you like to read off the path, off the beaten path books, I recommend one to you. It's called The Great Christ Comet by Colin Nickel, N-I-C-H-O-L. Fascinating. He's a biblical scholar that got real into astronomy. And he did all this research, and it was great because he went to this place and these astronomers were like, We think what you're saying's right. And he said, it's right out of Matthew 2. And so I just brought, when I said it's a comment, I brought you a picture of what a comment looks like. Because a lot of people are like, how do you know? It's like God took his finger in the sky and went, hello, boys, right here. Right here. You ain't gotta look. It's right here over this one place. But here's what I want you to not miss, okay? When they saw the star, verse 10, they rejoiced with it rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. Who gets that excited over stars? Not me. Not me. I have a friend that lives out in the country. He goes, You want to come out here in the country where there's no street lights? We can lay on my flatbed trailer and look up in the sky, and you can see all the stars you can't see in the city. I'm like, hey, bro, two dudes don't lay on their back on a flatbed trailer in the dark. I ain't down with that. He goes, Yeah, but you see all these stars. No. Just to that the Bible says to avoid the very appearance of evil. I'm gonna take a zero, okay? But here's what I'm saying. When they they get they rejoice exceedingly with great joy. Why? Don't miss this. Look at me. Because they were astronomers, they interpreted the stars for other people, and they had seen from the stars, hey, something big happened. We think the Messiah. These people are from Persia, 550 miles away, as the crow flies. And it wasn't three of them with three little gifts, it was a caravan of people, so big, so obtrusive, that Herod got word that they were coming. And so they get there and they're like, oh my gosh, what what's the big thing about that? Two things I want you to see here. Number one, God comes to us in a language we understand. God comes to us in a language we understand. What do you mean? You're smart people. Ask yourself this question. Doesn't it make sense that God would use the stars to speak to men who study the stars? Here's what I want you to do. Look at me. We're almost done. You ready for that? Say amen. Don't be so excited about being done, people. Look at me. Before you go to bed tonight, I want you to pray. If you're here and you're like, I don't believe this. I'm too smart for this. I just I don't care. I'm gonna sit on my own throne. I want you to pray one prayer. Forget all this other stuff I've said. Just ask God, hey, would you speak to me in a language I understand? I don't care if you're 14, 17, 57, would you speak to me in a language I understand? Because I promise you He does. It was hard for me because I didn't go to church much as a kid, and the few times I did, I didn't understand a word they talked about. I was just, I would just leave and be like, okay. That's an hour of my life, I'll never get back. But anyway, God comes to us. Two things I want you to see about these wise men. They demonstrate that God comes to us in a language we understand. Secondly, God wants to be found. It's like, hello, boys, just this big glowing streak in the sky right here, just coming down over this one little house, right, right, right here. Here's the thing. He lights the way to himself with a comment. Now, by the way, I was meeting a friend of mine at the Papasitas over off 610 or whatever, like that way in Egypt. Um, and I'm sitting there and there's a wait. I'm like, ah, what a wait for Mexican food in Houston? Who'd have thought it? And so I'm there's like 25 minutes. I said, okay, I'm sitting there, and there's a good little conglomeration of people, and the guy starts chatting me up, and I'm like, hey, whoa, blah, blah, blah. And then he says, Hey, what do you do for a living? I'm a rocket scientist, can't you tell? Yeah, I'm not ashamed of being a pastor. I just just there's crazy people, and they all got a crazy question. And so, well, I wasn't on guard. I wasn't in the spirit. I just said, Oh, Pastor of Church over in Sugarland. He goes, Oh, you're a pastor? I got a question for you. In Revelation 12, when the dragon's ready to eat the baby that's being born, I'm like, ah, yeah, yeah, here we go. And he said, and it's true. If you read Revelation 12, it's got this, hey, there's a baby being born and the dragon's waiting to eat it. He goes, You think that is uh Babylon, or you think that's Russia, and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, really? I just want some chicken vegita nachos, that's all. With extra jalapeno. And I said, actually, Revelation 12 is a nativity scene. And all the people in the little area, one guy stood up, walked over, and said, What did you just say? He goes, Yeah, because I've read that part of the Bible, it doesn't make any sense. I said, Yeah, basically, when Jesus was born, there was a meteor shower because God wants everybody in the world to know that the Savior of the world has been born. And so Revelation 12 talks about with a tail knocking stars from the sky. It's not about global, geopolitical, Russia, Iran, United States, blah, blah, blah. One guy's like, you know, United States is not in the Bible. You know that? We don't have a future as a country. And I'm like, oh, hostess, please call my name. And the guy goes, What do you think about that? I said, Neither is pizza, but I'm gonna eat it. And about that time, he said, Neil, party two. I was like, oh, hell Mary, full of grace. Let's go. He goes, sir, thank you for that. I'm gonna have to research that. I said, research. Revelation 12, I know people, I said, it's it's just about the birth of Jesus. It's just about what Matthew 2 talks about. He said, Why is that a big thing? God wants to be found. I remember we had our first child. She's about three years old. Favorite game to play every day was hide and go seek. I worked from home at the time, okay? And so I don't have I don't have any, I don't do well at faking it. And so her favorite game, she'd say, Daddy, hide and count to 20. And so I'd sit on the couch with my hands on my face, 17, 18, 19, 20. Where now here I come. And I'd have to, or how's it that big, okay? And I would see her feet under the curtain right there in the living room. And she'd be giggling, shaking the whole curtain. And I'd go in the dining room, go, is Mass in the dining room, and she'd sling the curtain back, go, no, Daddy, I'm over here. And then pull the curtain back. I was like, I'd go, Oh, is Mass in the refrigerator? No, Daddy, I'm over here. And then she'd pull the curtain back. I'm like, I was like, how many? Oh, is Mass in the closet? No, Daddy, I'm over here. I just made a mental note because my wife had abandoned us to go do errands for three hours. Uh we got in bed that night, and I just looked at my wife and I said, Hey, can I share a concern? And she's like, Yeah. And I said, I think that kid of ours is gonna ride the short bus to school because she said, Well, why do you say that? I said, We're probably hide and go seek. And then my wife got this little music grin, and I'm like, Mm-hmm. Yeah. I'm not listening. I'm prepared for what I'm gonna say to you that's gonna rock your world. And I'm like, I mean, every time I told her, hey, you gotta hide. That's the thing, it's hide and go seek. You hide, I seek. You don't bark out signals about where you are. You don't send me a pen, beat, drop me a pen. Just, oh, okay, dad, every time. How many times? Seven times. I want bonus points for this. And then my wife just reached over and put a little patronizing hand on me and said, It may help you to know that her favorite part of the game is when you find her. And then I just melted in my bed. Because that little voice inside of me said, Hey, by the way, that's my favorite part of the game, too. He's not hiding. If you're here today and you're not a Christian, God's not mad at you, He's not hiding. You think He does something this incredible and then hides it from the world? He speaks a language you understand. Two things. This may be the only two things you should remember. He speaks a language that you understand, and he wants to be found by you. When I said there's two expressions of worship that said they give to him. Look at there. Yeah, verse 9. After listening to the king, they went on their way, and behold, the star they had seen when it went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. What they saw, excuse me, when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. Because God speaks, hey, we're astronomers. Maybe, maybe God speaks the language we understand. Verse 11, and going to the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. Because we anytime worship happens in the Bible, people's posture is changing. Circle the word then. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. He said, What is the deal? If you have a problem opening up your treasures and offering gifts to God, it's because you've never experienced this. And until you experience that, that's always going to be foreign. You're the guy going around, oh, the church never talks about money. Until you come to one that doesn't. And then you're like, Well, what do I do now? This throne's feeling a little big. Here's the second expression of worship. You obey him. Verse 12. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. You ever notice that nobody sings to Jesus in the Old Testament? Nobody does. And it's pretty much what we do. We think obedience is singing to Jesus and calling it worship. It's not. We can sing until we get the feeling we want, and we're just like, oh, yeah, now I can walk out and disobey the rest of the week and come back and sing about it. We're like jelly roll. We become millionaires telling the world I am not okay. I'm barely getting by. You look like you're doing pretty good to me, bro. You've lost like a middle school kid, and you're banking money right and left. That's that's American Christians. I'm not down on singing. I'm just saying, uh, it here's the thing: Jesus and his disciples, they sung a hymn together one occasion when they had Passover, but nobody comes up and sings to Jesus. Don't walk up to Jesus with a like a like a college worship leader. Hey, Jesus, I got a new Taylor guitar. You want me to sing you a song? No, no. See, we've substituted singing for obedience. I don't know what you mean. Ask yourself this question. If you didn't sing for a month, how would God know you loved him? If you didn't sing for a month, if you came to church in the month of January and we didn't sing a song, would you feel close to God? See, here's my concern. Singing is where we kind of make up for what we didn't do during the week. How we didn't obey. That's why some of the most popular worship songs you'll hear in America are all about God forgiving us yet again. Cleanse me and fill me and make me make we sing God a job description. And I just I'm all for singing. I love singing. I'm just saying it's it's it's it's not a substitute for obedience. And then the Bible says, being warned. Being and being warned in a dream not to return to Herod. Being warned refers to being divinely commanded. When you know it was God who spoke to you, it comes with a weight on it that no human being can match. So as a result, you fear God in a way. You you you do not, will not, and cannot fear anybody else. It's why the psalmist says in Psalm 27:1, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? I met with a young man recently, he's 19 years old, and I said, Hey, tell me, tell me what makes you want to sit down in counseling. You don't even go to my church. He goes, Yeah, well, I'm uh basically my girlfriend won't obey me. I thought I misheard him. Daddy, if you're a 19-year-old boy, listen to me. Daddy's so jacked up, I wanted to slap the taste out of his mouth. I was like, What? Thank you, Jesus. This is my gift, this is the toy and my happy meal today. I said, excuse me? He said, Yeah, I mean, bro, I mean, she she just won't obey. I mean, we get in fights all the time. I told him, man, just listen to me. I said, You need to be single the rest of your life, man. He goes, What do you mean? I said, I've been married 32 years. I've never said to my wife, you just need to obey me. He goes, Well, I mean, I but here's my fantasy. I want to be a high school girl for six months. I'm gonna kill some of you high school boys. Just because you ask a girl out, you ain't gonna blame over her. And here's why. Look at me, we're almost done. You're like, how are you gonna land the plane from here? Like a gymnast. I'm about to stick the landing. Here's what it comes down to. Everyone in this room right now, you are obeying who you believe to be the biggest authority in your life. Here's the problem. For some of you, it's the person you date. That's why you'll violate your belief structure to stay in that relationship. I would be the girl in high school. I'm getting the PA. Microphone check. One, two, what is this? The five-foot assassin with the roughneck business. Uh, my name is Katrina, and I'll be here four years, and I won't have a boyfriend. I won't even go to prom because that's a waste of time and money, okay? So, you fools stop looking at me because I'm looking good, but I'm not interested. Good night now. Wouldn't you love to hear that announcement? I mean, I mean, you're at school, they're just droning on, you're on the p t yang, blah, blah, blah. And somebody just grabs it and says, I'm fabulous, I look good, I work out, and ain't none of you get none of this candy. Click. That's why I want to be a high school girl for six months. So I can write all the wrongs. Yes, here's the thing. Everyone of you in this room, you're you're right now, you're already doing it. You're obeying the biggest authority in your life. For some of you, it's who you date. For some of you, it's what you smoke. Pastor, we just had a kid's choir. Yeah. That's why you can't stop. That's the biggest authority. For some of you, it's Jim Beam. That's your biggest authority in your life. Yes, everybody. So I tell people in counseling, your problem is not a behavior problem. Your problem is an authority problem. You've given somebody, you let somebody or something else sit on the throne of your life and be the king. Be the biggest authority in your life. And look at me. These Persian wise men, these astrologers who come from afar with a caravan, okay? They get there, and Herod tells them, You go find him and come back and forth to me. And in a dream, God says, Hey, don't worry about Herod. You better worry about me. You want to see my tattoo? Let me yank my kilt up here, huh? King of kings, Lord of Lords. Any questions? And they're like, We're good, bro. We good. Look at me. Unless and until you learn to think about God that way, you'll never obey. You just won't. I'm not hating on you. Some of you, the biggest authority in your life is your cell phone. I left mine somewhere for a half a day the other day. And somebody goes, How'd you do? I did just fine. I had 17 text messages and nine voicemails when I got it back. So he said, Are you gonna call those people? Not now. I got things to do. Here's the thing everyone in this room, you are obeying the biggest authority in your life. That's not the issue. Look at me, we're done. The issue is who or what is it? Because there's two responses to the king. You want to worship him or you want to kill him. Because you want to be king. Let's pray together. If you're a guest, just relax. We like to teach the Bible, then we give you some soul space to think about it. We do nothing and think purposely about what we just heard. Some questions come up on the screen. That's for our consideration, contemplation. Don't try to write them down. You can take a picture with your phone if you want. But right now, just ask God, hey God, what have a name on it? What'd you say today that really was for me? And just think about it. In terms of God. God, we understand. It's not hard. It's not hard. We understand that we were created by you to trust you and to obey you. We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing. So hold your hands out. I'm gonna spit in your hair with a verse from that hymn. You ever had your hair spit in? If you did, you'd remember it, wouldn't you? Remember this. For we never can prove the delights of his love until all on the altar we lay. For the favor he shows and the joy he bestows is for those who will trust and obey. Depart now and trust the King and obey the King. In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen. Bless you.

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