1 00:00:01,968 --> 00:00:02,569 Welcome. 2 00:00:02,569 --> 00:00:05,071 It's good to see you this morning. 3 00:00:05,071 --> 00:00:06,206 It's good to be here. 4 00:00:06,206 --> 00:00:08,208 It's good for us to be together. 5 00:00:08,208 --> 00:00:11,878 And it is a blessing to be a part of a praying church. 6 00:00:12,746 --> 00:00:16,182 And it's a blessing to be a part of a church that prays for its pastor. 7 00:00:16,182 --> 00:00:18,318 So thank you. 8 00:00:18,318 --> 00:00:19,252 I'll just say this. 9 00:00:19,252 --> 00:00:22,255 Things are things are improving, which is nice. 10 00:00:23,857 --> 00:00:26,192 But we're going to get right into the book of Matthew today. 11 00:00:26,192 --> 00:00:28,294 We're going to go to Matthew chapter two, 12 00:00:28,294 --> 00:00:31,564 and we're going to bypass the last part of Matthew chapter one. 13 00:00:32,165 --> 00:00:35,502 The last part of Matthew chapter one is really part of the Christmas story. 14 00:00:35,935 --> 00:00:37,404 And so we'll probably come back to it 15 00:00:37,404 --> 00:00:40,640 in about a month and a half or so month, a month and a half or so. 16 00:00:41,341 --> 00:00:44,110 But we're going to get to chapter two right now, 17 00:00:44,110 --> 00:00:46,980 which is not part of the Christmas story, though it's always been included 18 00:00:46,980 --> 00:00:47,847 as a Christmas story. 19 00:00:50,316 --> 00:00:53,319 God does not want to just be found at Christmas. 20 00:00:53,820 --> 00:00:56,222 He wants to be followed every day. 21 00:00:56,222 --> 00:01:00,693 And so we're going to look at this in the historical context of chapter two. 22 00:01:01,561 --> 00:01:04,531 And to set the stage, I want to, 23 00:01:04,798 --> 00:01:06,032 remind you the big idea. 24 00:01:06,032 --> 00:01:08,001 Here's the big idea for chapter two. 25 00:01:08,001 --> 00:01:11,037 Faith grows not in comfort, but in obedience. 26 00:01:11,971 --> 00:01:14,107 That's our faith grows. 27 00:01:14,107 --> 00:01:15,208 Faith grows in those times. 28 00:01:15,208 --> 00:01:17,844 Or obedient, even when it's uncomfortable. 29 00:01:17,844 --> 00:01:20,313 Which is the story of chapter two, 30 00:01:20,313 --> 00:01:23,049 obedience in Uncomfortability. 31 00:01:23,049 --> 00:01:26,052 And so as we go through this, just keep that in mind. 32 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:30,023 So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to go through kind of verse by verse, 33 00:01:30,023 --> 00:01:33,993 and we'll stop along the way and highlight some things from the different verses. 34 00:01:34,227 --> 00:01:36,563 So if you have a Bible and brought one with you. 35 00:01:36,563 --> 00:01:39,566 Get it out. Go to, Matthew chapter two. 36 00:01:39,699 --> 00:01:42,902 If it helps us on page 1060, in my Bible. 37 00:01:44,838 --> 00:01:47,540 But the stuff isn't going to be on the screen except the reference. 38 00:01:47,540 --> 00:01:51,144 So get on your smart device, actually bring a Bible with you and 39 00:01:51,444 --> 00:01:53,012 and go to Matthew chapter two. 40 00:01:53,012 --> 00:01:55,982 I'm just going to start read and then we'll stop along the way. 41 00:01:55,982 --> 00:01:57,884 Matthew chapter two, verse one. 42 00:01:57,884 --> 00:02:00,887 And after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. 43 00:02:01,154 --> 00:02:04,858 So, so this is after the Christmas after he was born 44 00:02:05,091 --> 00:02:08,361 in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king. 45 00:02:08,361 --> 00:02:11,364 Behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 46 00:02:11,531 --> 00:02:14,400 saying, where is he who has been born King of the Jews? 47 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,737 For we saw his star when it rose, and have come to worship him. 48 00:02:18,171 --> 00:02:21,174 So after he was born, 49 00:02:22,575 --> 00:02:25,345 these when Herod was the king. 50 00:02:25,345 --> 00:02:28,014 So this this isn't part of the activity thing. 51 00:02:28,014 --> 00:02:33,052 Although most of the nativity sets have these have these three wise men there. 52 00:02:33,052 --> 00:02:34,120 Right? 53 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:37,790 And there's actually even this song we three kings from Orient are. 54 00:02:38,091 --> 00:02:39,459 I don't know the rest. It's super old. 55 00:02:39,459 --> 00:02:40,460 Nobody really sings it anymore. 56 00:02:40,460 --> 00:02:45,231 But, so we have this idea of this, this kind of activity with these, 57 00:02:45,331 --> 00:02:49,869 with these wise oriental, you know, fellows there 58 00:02:50,036 --> 00:02:53,940 that is so far from the truth, so far from reality. 59 00:02:55,475 --> 00:02:58,411 After he was born, the Bible says, 60 00:02:58,411 --> 00:03:03,383 and it makes a point to say, in the days of Herod the king know this. 61 00:03:03,383 --> 00:03:08,288 This portion of Jesus's story is complex. 62 00:03:08,821 --> 00:03:12,592 It's, it's wrought with political implication. 63 00:03:14,227 --> 00:03:17,697 There is incredible, pain and, 64 00:03:18,231 --> 00:03:23,403 and, and confusion as a part of this, this part of Jesus's life 65 00:03:23,603 --> 00:03:27,240 and Mary and Joseph and and it starts 66 00:03:27,807 --> 00:03:30,810 it starts with the the recognition. 67 00:03:31,044 --> 00:03:34,881 These were the days when Herod the king was ruling. 68 00:03:35,281 --> 00:03:37,951 We need to understand who Herod the king was. 69 00:03:37,951 --> 00:03:40,086 Herod was a tyrant. 70 00:03:40,086 --> 00:03:41,988 He was on the throne. 71 00:03:41,988 --> 00:03:47,427 His he was he had this self-giving and proclaimed title as the king of the Jews. 72 00:03:48,161 --> 00:03:49,429 That's who we called himself. 73 00:03:49,429 --> 00:03:52,398 That's what he made everybody call him the King of the Jews. 74 00:03:52,398 --> 00:03:54,601 He was on the throne, through, 75 00:03:56,569 --> 00:03:57,070 murder. 76 00:03:57,070 --> 00:03:59,672 He killed two of his sons. 77 00:03:59,672 --> 00:04:00,840 At least two of his sons. 78 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:02,742 Who who could threaten the throne? 79 00:04:02,742 --> 00:04:05,745 He he murdered two his favorite wives. 80 00:04:07,647 --> 00:04:08,414 I know you married. 81 00:04:08,414 --> 00:04:11,618 Let your unfavorable wives live and kill the favorite ones. 82 00:04:11,618 --> 00:04:14,621 But you know who makes sense of this stuff? 83 00:04:15,755 --> 00:04:18,758 And and and he knew how despised 84 00:04:18,758 --> 00:04:22,528 he was by the people of Jerusalem in that area. 85 00:04:22,962 --> 00:04:25,965 So he made this this, this, this regal, 86 00:04:26,099 --> 00:04:29,102 this royal demand that at his death, 87 00:04:30,103 --> 00:04:34,841 all the nobility, Ariel would be arrested, imprisoned, and then, killed. 88 00:04:35,308 --> 00:04:38,311 So at least there would be mourning at his passing 89 00:04:38,845 --> 00:04:41,080 because he knew nobody would warn him. 90 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:42,949 And so he wanted people to mourn his passing. 91 00:04:42,949 --> 00:04:47,120 And so he said, when I die, arrest all the nobility, imprison them, 92 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:49,956 and then put him to death. He was. It was horrible. He was demonic. 93 00:04:51,291 --> 00:04:54,060 He was the one that if you know this story, 94 00:04:54,060 --> 00:04:57,697 you know, when these these little two year old baby boys were slaughtered. 95 00:04:57,697 --> 00:05:00,033 He's the one that ordered that. 96 00:05:00,033 --> 00:05:00,867 Interesting. 97 00:05:00,867 --> 00:05:04,504 His son, Herod Antipas would come to the throne after him. 98 00:05:05,505 --> 00:05:08,508 And he was the one who had John the Baptist beheaded. 99 00:05:08,641 --> 00:05:11,711 And so this family is just is just evil. 100 00:05:11,978 --> 00:05:14,113 They're just just demonic. 101 00:05:14,113 --> 00:05:18,851 And when I when you start looking in this stuff, there's almost a little warning. 102 00:05:19,018 --> 00:05:20,153 That's. Pay attention. 103 00:05:20,153 --> 00:05:23,156 There's almost little warning. Like, 104 00:05:23,289 --> 00:05:26,292 if you heard that said that the sins of the fathers passed on to the kids. 105 00:05:27,093 --> 00:05:30,396 You know, there's there's there's there's there's some truth. 106 00:05:30,396 --> 00:05:31,631 Like, we got to be careful. 107 00:05:31,631 --> 00:05:34,701 The standard we set and or the standard we allow or the, 108 00:05:34,767 --> 00:05:36,269 the model we set for our children. 109 00:05:36,269 --> 00:05:38,805 His son was just like him. Just horrible. 110 00:05:38,805 --> 00:05:41,574 And so this is the King Herod. 111 00:05:41,574 --> 00:05:44,477 And at this time, these wise men, the stone. 112 00:05:44,477 --> 00:05:47,480 Verse one, these wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. 113 00:05:47,714 --> 00:05:50,083 These wise men, we know another word 114 00:05:50,083 --> 00:05:53,086 for them, as the word starts with an M and ends with AGI. 115 00:05:53,152 --> 00:05:54,620 What's what's the word? 116 00:05:54,620 --> 00:05:54,887 Yeah. 117 00:05:54,887 --> 00:05:57,123 Major MAGA y is actually how it's pronounced. 118 00:05:58,391 --> 00:05:59,192 We get 119 00:05:59,192 --> 00:06:02,528 our word magistrate and magician from this word. 120 00:06:03,096 --> 00:06:05,565 So these guys played the role 121 00:06:05,565 --> 00:06:08,868 of little magicians, kind of the black arts and all that stuff. 122 00:06:09,135 --> 00:06:13,573 There were astronomers and astrologers, and they were the ones who had set up, 123 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:16,743 kings and kingdoms and magistrates. 124 00:06:16,743 --> 00:06:18,811 So they were very powerful people. 125 00:06:18,811 --> 00:06:20,413 They came from the East. 126 00:06:20,413 --> 00:06:23,416 Now, I want you to think of East as Iran and Iraq. 127 00:06:23,816 --> 00:06:26,819 So that's the way up kind of near Babylon. 128 00:06:27,019 --> 00:06:31,457 And they come down, travel down, and they're there for one purpose. 129 00:06:31,958 --> 00:06:34,961 They're there to set up a king, and everybody knows it. 130 00:06:35,094 --> 00:06:38,731 These guys had these huge, big canonical hats like Big Cone 131 00:06:38,731 --> 00:06:42,502 heads with big ear flaps, this royal robes. 132 00:06:42,635 --> 00:06:46,873 They were so ornately grotesque or grotesquely ornate. 133 00:06:48,007 --> 00:06:51,010 Just this huge pomp and circumstance around these guys. 134 00:06:51,444 --> 00:06:54,180 And they come from the East to Jerusalem saying, 135 00:06:54,180 --> 00:06:57,183 where is he who has been born king of the Jews 136 00:06:57,550 --> 00:07:01,087 for he saw his star when it rose, and have come to worship him. 137 00:07:03,156 --> 00:07:04,590 Notice their words? 138 00:07:04,590 --> 00:07:07,560 Where's the one where they say, 139 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:08,895 look at your Bibles. Don't look at me. 140 00:07:08,895 --> 00:07:10,129 Look at Bibles. 141 00:07:10,129 --> 00:07:12,298 Who was born King of the Jews? 142 00:07:12,298 --> 00:07:13,599 This is this is. 143 00:07:13,599 --> 00:07:16,602 This is treasonous for them right now. 144 00:07:16,736 --> 00:07:19,172 They're. They are the kingmakers. 145 00:07:19,172 --> 00:07:22,141 And they've come down from Iran, Iraq. 146 00:07:22,675 --> 00:07:25,678 And they said to King Herod, 147 00:07:26,279 --> 00:07:29,215 who is self proclaimed the king of the Jews. 148 00:07:29,215 --> 00:07:30,483 Their words are profound. 149 00:07:30,483 --> 00:07:33,453 Where's the one who's been born king? 150 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:36,989 See, Herod was set up as king and self-proclaimed king. 151 00:07:37,089 --> 00:07:41,294 They're saying there's one who was born a king and he's not you. 152 00:07:42,061 --> 00:07:43,196 And so just. 153 00:07:43,196 --> 00:07:45,798 I just want you to feel the tension. 154 00:07:45,798 --> 00:07:49,268 I want you to feel the tension and the conflict that's building right now. 155 00:07:50,403 --> 00:07:51,103 For we saw his 156 00:07:51,103 --> 00:07:54,106 star when it rose and have come to worship him. 157 00:07:54,106 --> 00:07:57,777 How did they know their Iran Iraq area up there? 158 00:07:57,810 --> 00:07:59,979 They're in the in the east. 159 00:07:59,979 --> 00:08:03,783 How did they know that there was the prophecy of a star 160 00:08:03,783 --> 00:08:06,786 that would indicate a king being born? 161 00:08:07,153 --> 00:08:08,588 They're not part of God's people. 162 00:08:08,588 --> 00:08:10,923 They're not part of the prophetic revelation. 163 00:08:10,923 --> 00:08:12,959 They're not part of the prophetic story. 164 00:08:12,959 --> 00:08:15,962 How do they know? 165 00:08:16,329 --> 00:08:17,597 Okay, let me tell you 166 00:08:17,597 --> 00:08:20,600 the way they the reason they knew is, 167 00:08:20,933 --> 00:08:24,036 is, during the Babylonian captivity. 168 00:08:24,303 --> 00:08:28,074 So way a long time in their past. 169 00:08:30,543 --> 00:08:32,478 Assyria in the north 170 00:08:32,478 --> 00:08:35,481 came down into the northern part of Israel, 171 00:08:35,581 --> 00:08:38,518 and and took captive a bunch of people back to Assyria. 172 00:08:38,518 --> 00:08:42,655 Later the Babylonians came down, took over down through Assyria 173 00:08:42,655 --> 00:08:46,092 and down into Israel, and took over the ten northern tribes 174 00:08:46,092 --> 00:08:49,128 and took them into Babylon, into captivity, into Babylon. 175 00:08:49,462 --> 00:08:53,733 During that process, a man named Daniel was one of the ones that was taken 176 00:08:53,733 --> 00:08:54,500 captive. 177 00:08:54,500 --> 00:08:57,870 And Daniel was a man of God, the prophet of God. 178 00:08:57,970 --> 00:08:59,338 That served multiple kingdoms. 179 00:08:59,338 --> 00:09:02,341 And Daniel was the one, while he was in captivity in Babylon, 180 00:09:02,642 --> 00:09:05,945 who prophesied of the coming Messiah, Daniel chapter nine. 181 00:09:06,412 --> 00:09:11,551 And so Daniel in Babylon had all of these prophecies about the one 182 00:09:11,551 --> 00:09:14,520 who would come, the king who would come, the Messiah who would come. 183 00:09:14,587 --> 00:09:17,557 And part of that prophecy was the prophecy 184 00:09:17,557 --> 00:09:20,993 that he would be born in Bethlehem in Judea. 185 00:09:21,861 --> 00:09:25,231 That's how they knew, because God had left 186 00:09:26,032 --> 00:09:29,035 in their possession blueprints of his plans. 187 00:09:29,802 --> 00:09:34,006 He told them, and these guys were the ones wise enough to pay attention. 188 00:09:34,006 --> 00:09:35,775 They were wise enough to keep our eyes open. 189 00:09:35,775 --> 00:09:39,512 They're wise enough to, to notice what was going on. 190 00:09:40,379 --> 00:09:45,318 God's own people who had the prophets, who had the word, were so dull, 191 00:09:45,451 --> 00:09:49,922 nonchalant, and lazy they had no idea what was happening in their midst 192 00:09:50,957 --> 00:09:51,457 because they were 193 00:09:51,457 --> 00:09:54,460 lazy and they were neglectful of his word. 194 00:09:54,961 --> 00:09:57,063 Those who are not God's people are paying attention. 195 00:09:57,063 --> 00:10:00,066 Just let that sink in for a minute. 196 00:10:01,834 --> 00:10:04,837 We have the blueprint of his plan. 197 00:10:05,371 --> 00:10:08,341 It's right here. 198 00:10:08,341 --> 00:10:11,310 All we're called to do is pay attention. 199 00:10:13,279 --> 00:10:16,282 No. What? 200 00:10:16,282 --> 00:10:19,118 His plans are. 201 00:10:19,118 --> 00:10:21,020 Be the ones who seek him. 202 00:10:21,020 --> 00:10:24,023 So they knew his star was coming, 203 00:10:24,190 --> 00:10:27,026 and they've come to worship this star. 204 00:10:27,026 --> 00:10:28,728 What was the star? 205 00:10:28,728 --> 00:10:30,296 Nobody knows what the star was. 206 00:10:30,296 --> 00:10:32,298 There's all kinds of speculation. 207 00:10:32,298 --> 00:10:32,632 When. 208 00:10:32,632 --> 00:10:35,935 When Saturn and Jupiter were kind of in alignment, they kind of formed 209 00:10:35,935 --> 00:10:39,639 this special little, you know, light kind of coalescence in the sky. 210 00:10:39,672 --> 00:10:40,473 Some people think 211 00:10:40,473 --> 00:10:46,112 some people think it was a, it was a like a comment that that can perpetually 212 00:10:47,079 --> 00:10:48,180 fell and burned. 213 00:10:48,180 --> 00:10:51,017 And I don't know how that would happen, but, 214 00:10:51,017 --> 00:10:52,685 nobody knows exactly what it was. 215 00:10:52,685 --> 00:10:55,488 A personally, I think it's what the buyer refers to 216 00:10:55,488 --> 00:10:58,524 as the Shekinah glory of God, his very presence. 217 00:10:58,824 --> 00:11:02,895 It's the same kind of glory that was over the tabernacles of the Tent of Meeting 218 00:11:03,062 --> 00:11:04,230 as it moved through the desert. 219 00:11:04,230 --> 00:11:07,233 40 years that led the people day and night. 220 00:11:07,466 --> 00:11:09,835 It's the kind of glory of God that says, here is my 221 00:11:09,835 --> 00:11:12,838 Messiah, here is the one. 222 00:11:12,905 --> 00:11:16,609 It was God's presence saying, this is where you are to be, where he is. 223 00:11:17,710 --> 00:11:19,845 And so that's what I think this is. 224 00:11:19,845 --> 00:11:20,780 It doesn't really matter. 225 00:11:20,780 --> 00:11:21,881 But that's that's the best. 226 00:11:21,881 --> 00:11:23,883 Like I can understand. 227 00:11:23,883 --> 00:11:24,950 And that makes sense to me. 228 00:11:24,950 --> 00:11:26,686 When Herod the king heard this, 229 00:11:26,686 --> 00:11:28,921 he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him, 230 00:11:28,921 --> 00:11:31,290 and assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, 231 00:11:31,290 --> 00:11:33,225 he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 232 00:11:33,225 --> 00:11:34,026 Verse five 233 00:11:34,026 --> 00:11:38,064 they told him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for it is written by the prophet, and you, 234 00:11:38,064 --> 00:11:42,101 O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. 235 00:11:42,101 --> 00:11:45,304 For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people. 236 00:11:45,304 --> 00:11:47,073 Israel is quoting Micah five two 237 00:11:48,374 --> 00:11:49,141 and so 238 00:11:49,141 --> 00:11:54,213 Herod gathers all of his own priests, the, the, the Hebrews around, 239 00:11:54,313 --> 00:11:57,483 and the Jews, and says, look, you scribes, you're supposed to know this stuff. 240 00:11:57,817 --> 00:11:59,852 Where's this one going to be born? 241 00:11:59,852 --> 00:12:03,055 And so they go back to you, look at the Old Testament scriptures 242 00:12:03,055 --> 00:12:04,156 and look at Micah five two 243 00:12:04,156 --> 00:12:07,159 and they say, this is what it says in Bethlehem, the land of Judah. 244 00:12:07,426 --> 00:12:09,729 From you will come a ruler of the shepherd, my people. 245 00:12:09,729 --> 00:12:12,364 So it's like, okay, now we know, 246 00:12:12,364 --> 00:12:13,466 now we know. 247 00:12:13,466 --> 00:12:16,469 And so in verse seven, 248 00:12:16,869 --> 00:12:19,872 then Herod, some of the wise men, these magi, 249 00:12:20,806 --> 00:12:24,610 secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared 250 00:12:24,877 --> 00:12:28,614 and sent them to Bethlehem, saying, go and search diligently for the child. 251 00:12:28,914 --> 00:12:33,052 And when you have found him, bring me word that I may to come and worship him. 252 00:12:33,052 --> 00:12:34,754 What a snake! 253 00:12:34,754 --> 00:12:36,422 It a snake. 254 00:12:36,422 --> 00:12:39,125 He just. He's horrible. He's horrible. 255 00:12:40,126 --> 00:12:40,926 You don't want to worship him? 256 00:12:40,926 --> 00:12:42,461 Wants to what? 257 00:12:42,461 --> 00:12:43,963 Let's kill him. 258 00:12:43,963 --> 00:12:46,398 He's threatened. 259 00:12:46,398 --> 00:12:47,032 He's threatened. 260 00:12:47,032 --> 00:12:49,535 And so there's. He's greatly trouble. 261 00:12:49,535 --> 00:12:50,836 Because he's threatened. 262 00:12:50,836 --> 00:12:53,839 He's threatened by the presence of Jesus. 263 00:12:57,309 --> 00:12:59,945 Verse nine, after listening to the king, they went on their way. 264 00:12:59,945 --> 00:13:03,249 And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them 265 00:13:03,249 --> 00:13:05,718 until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 266 00:13:05,718 --> 00:13:09,955 And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 267 00:13:10,990 --> 00:13:14,193 And going into the house they saw the child with Mary, his mother, 268 00:13:14,527 --> 00:13:15,895 and they fell down and worshiped him. 269 00:13:15,895 --> 00:13:16,962 Then opening their treasures, 270 00:13:16,962 --> 00:13:19,965 they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 271 00:13:20,866 --> 00:13:23,869 Let me stop right there. 272 00:13:26,438 --> 00:13:27,072 When? 273 00:13:27,072 --> 00:13:30,075 When these wisemen saw the star, 274 00:13:31,544 --> 00:13:34,413 the Bible says they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 275 00:13:34,413 --> 00:13:38,851 There were two extreme reactions to the presence of Jesus. 276 00:13:40,653 --> 00:13:41,520 The reaction 277 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:44,523 of the man who was threatened by Jesus 278 00:13:44,723 --> 00:13:45,124 was great. 279 00:13:45,124 --> 00:13:48,127 Troubled means distress and anxiety. 280 00:13:49,128 --> 00:13:52,665 The reaction of those who came to worship Jesus was great joy. 281 00:13:54,333 --> 00:13:57,303 And the same thing is going to happen to in your lives 282 00:13:57,603 --> 00:14:00,606 if we come to Christ, if we come to His Word, 283 00:14:00,606 --> 00:14:04,543 if we come to his presence with the expectation of worship, 284 00:14:05,211 --> 00:14:08,214 with the expectation of honoring it, there will be great joy. 285 00:14:09,381 --> 00:14:12,184 But if we come to, to to this time, 286 00:14:12,184 --> 00:14:15,321 to his word, to opportunities to worship with. 287 00:14:17,790 --> 00:14:20,793 With feelings of. 288 00:14:22,428 --> 00:14:24,730 Being troubled by him or what he might ask. 289 00:14:24,730 --> 00:14:27,333 What he might require 290 00:14:27,333 --> 00:14:30,502 was not sure on the front end how we would respond if we heard from him. 291 00:14:30,502 --> 00:14:33,505 Anyway. 292 00:14:33,572 --> 00:14:34,673 We'll be greatly troubled. 293 00:14:36,041 --> 00:14:36,475 And so it 294 00:14:36,475 --> 00:14:39,578 really is important the attitude with which we approach His Word. 295 00:14:39,578 --> 00:14:41,013 We approach times like this together. 296 00:14:41,013 --> 00:14:43,983 It's really important. 297 00:14:44,016 --> 00:14:46,452 If you come to times like this, 298 00:14:46,452 --> 00:14:50,489 with, with, with the leading attitude being, I'm 299 00:14:50,489 --> 00:14:54,293 going to worship, I'm going to listen, I'm going to sacrifice. 300 00:14:54,727 --> 00:14:58,464 I'm telling you, you'll be filled with great exceeding joy. 301 00:15:00,366 --> 00:15:03,369 But if you approach times like this one, I don't know if I believe this stuff. 302 00:15:03,369 --> 00:15:05,104 Anyway, I'll 303 00:15:05,104 --> 00:15:08,107 I mean, I'm willing to go this far for you, but I don't. 304 00:15:08,641 --> 00:15:11,610 They're just going to be sometimes troubling inside you. 305 00:15:12,811 --> 00:15:15,781 It's just. 306 00:15:15,948 --> 00:15:19,285 And so I just I want you to just be aware of the attitude, 307 00:15:19,285 --> 00:15:22,988 the which we come together with, at which we approach his word. 308 00:15:29,662 --> 00:15:31,330 And going into the house, you saw the child 309 00:15:31,330 --> 00:15:33,332 with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. 310 00:15:33,332 --> 00:15:36,168 And opening their treasures, they offered him golden things that summer. 311 00:15:36,168 --> 00:15:38,070 I want you to know something. Look. Look at what? 312 00:15:38,070 --> 00:15:40,005 Look at what this says in verse 11. 313 00:15:40,005 --> 00:15:41,874 Going into the house, they saw what 314 00:15:42,942 --> 00:15:44,343 child? 315 00:15:44,343 --> 00:15:45,878 Finish it out. 316 00:15:45,878 --> 00:15:46,679 Okay. Yeah. 317 00:15:46,679 --> 00:15:49,048 The child with Mary 318 00:15:49,048 --> 00:15:51,550 who comes first. 319 00:15:51,550 --> 00:15:54,586 Jesus. Why? 320 00:15:56,422 --> 00:15:59,425 Because it's his story, not hers. 321 00:15:59,925 --> 00:16:02,161 Jesus comes first 322 00:16:02,161 --> 00:16:03,662 to destroy, not hers. 323 00:16:03,662 --> 00:16:05,030 It's his story, not yours. 324 00:16:05,030 --> 00:16:06,932 It's his story, not mine. 325 00:16:06,932 --> 00:16:08,467 Jesus comes first. 326 00:16:08,467 --> 00:16:11,470 You're going to see this over and over and over in this chapter. 327 00:16:11,470 --> 00:16:13,005 And most time we just read stuff 328 00:16:13,005 --> 00:16:16,008 and we don't stop to like, this stuff isn't here by accident. 329 00:16:16,508 --> 00:16:19,311 And the words aren't in order by accident. 330 00:16:19,311 --> 00:16:23,916 God has, through the Holy Spirit, has penned this through human hands, 331 00:16:24,717 --> 00:16:27,820 but it's inspired by him and he's talking to us. 332 00:16:28,287 --> 00:16:30,122 Pay attention. Raising it. 333 00:16:30,122 --> 00:16:32,057 He comes first. 334 00:16:32,057 --> 00:16:34,293 The child with his mother, child with his mother, child 335 00:16:34,293 --> 00:16:35,561 with his mother, child with his mother. 336 00:16:35,561 --> 00:16:37,563 His story not hers. His story, not mine. 337 00:16:37,563 --> 00:16:38,597 His story, not yours. 338 00:16:40,666 --> 00:16:44,003 This why I titled this the series Your Kingdom now. 339 00:16:44,003 --> 00:16:45,170 Kingdom now. Why? 340 00:16:45,170 --> 00:16:48,173 Because it's about his kingdom. 341 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:49,541 When the disciples asked 342 00:16:49,541 --> 00:16:53,579 Jesus to teach them to pray, one of the things he taught 343 00:16:53,579 --> 00:16:56,715 them was your kingdom come, your will be done. 344 00:16:58,450 --> 00:17:02,621 And so we have to understand this, that it's his story first. 345 00:17:02,788 --> 00:17:05,791 He's first see, a lot of us 346 00:17:06,291 --> 00:17:10,929 and I understand we come to God because we need him to fix something 347 00:17:11,630 --> 00:17:14,633 that's great. 348 00:17:14,900 --> 00:17:17,903 But we have to understand 349 00:17:18,103 --> 00:17:20,072 that the invitation isn't 350 00:17:20,072 --> 00:17:22,808 to ask him to fix stuff. 351 00:17:22,808 --> 00:17:25,811 The command is to submit and follow. 352 00:17:28,180 --> 00:17:30,015 It's not this gentle invitation. 353 00:17:30,015 --> 00:17:33,018 Just invite me in. I'll help you out. 354 00:17:33,552 --> 00:17:36,555 It's a command to submit and to follow. 355 00:17:37,122 --> 00:17:41,593 And when we submit and follow, then God starts working things together. 356 00:17:43,362 --> 00:17:45,731 Because it's 357 00:17:45,731 --> 00:17:47,733 his story, 358 00:17:47,733 --> 00:17:50,736 not my story. 359 00:17:51,136 --> 00:17:52,771 Y'all understand this. 360 00:17:52,771 --> 00:17:54,940 He comes first. 361 00:17:54,940 --> 00:17:57,543 His kingdom comes first. 362 00:17:57,543 --> 00:17:59,812 His will comes first. 363 00:17:59,812 --> 00:18:02,014 His desires come first. 364 00:18:02,014 --> 00:18:05,017 His agenda comes first. 365 00:18:05,350 --> 00:18:07,719 But what if is not my agenda or my desire? 366 00:18:07,719 --> 00:18:10,722 What like, doesn't that matter? 367 00:18:12,891 --> 00:18:14,359 Well, it might, but it just matters. 368 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:16,128 Secondarily, it's not. 369 00:18:16,128 --> 00:18:19,131 That doesn't matter, but it doesn't come first. 370 00:18:20,899 --> 00:18:23,902 The child and his mother. 371 00:18:23,936 --> 00:18:26,538 The child and you. 372 00:18:26,538 --> 00:18:29,541 The child and me. 373 00:18:29,575 --> 00:18:30,642 You got it. 374 00:18:30,642 --> 00:18:33,345 That's. 375 00:18:33,345 --> 00:18:33,879 What verse was. 376 00:18:33,879 --> 00:18:36,048 I don't even know. 377 00:18:36,048 --> 00:18:39,051 Well, thank you for paying attention. 378 00:18:39,751 --> 00:18:43,655 Oh, and they presented with gifts of, of, fell down worship. 379 00:18:43,755 --> 00:18:45,991 Okay. Yeah. 380 00:18:45,991 --> 00:18:47,926 And they fell down and worshiped him. 381 00:18:47,926 --> 00:18:50,762 Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold 382 00:18:50,762 --> 00:18:53,765 and frankincense and myrrh. 383 00:18:54,900 --> 00:18:55,901 I want you to notice 384 00:18:55,901 --> 00:19:00,873 something that they came to worship him, and a part of their worship was what 385 00:19:01,974 --> 00:19:04,977 giving you. 386 00:19:04,977 --> 00:19:07,980 We cannot biblically, 387 00:19:08,113 --> 00:19:11,116 rightfully, we cannot worship without sacrificing. 388 00:19:11,116 --> 00:19:14,119 We cannot worship without giving 389 00:19:14,353 --> 00:19:16,121 the two a go hand in hand. 390 00:19:16,121 --> 00:19:19,124 And giving is an act of worship. 391 00:19:19,992 --> 00:19:21,660 And so they offered him gold. Why? 392 00:19:21,660 --> 00:19:24,363 Gold valuable is valuable. 393 00:19:24,363 --> 00:19:25,931 Why else? 394 00:19:25,931 --> 00:19:27,833 Because he's a king. 395 00:19:27,833 --> 00:19:28,634 Remember what they said? 396 00:19:28,634 --> 00:19:29,134 They came to Earth. 397 00:19:29,134 --> 00:19:31,770 They said, where's the one? What? 398 00:19:31,770 --> 00:19:34,373 Born king? 399 00:19:34,373 --> 00:19:37,009 What do you give a king? 400 00:19:37,009 --> 00:19:40,312 You don't give him copper and silver, right? 401 00:19:41,213 --> 00:19:43,215 You give them gold. 402 00:19:43,215 --> 00:19:44,116 And so it's this. 403 00:19:44,116 --> 00:19:46,585 What they're saying is this is the one. 404 00:19:46,585 --> 00:19:49,054 And we're going to not just by our giving. 405 00:19:49,054 --> 00:19:51,323 That is the king. 406 00:19:51,323 --> 00:19:54,993 And we're not going to give the king what's left over of what I got. 407 00:19:55,894 --> 00:19:59,131 If he's the king, I'm gonna give him the best and the first or what I got. 408 00:19:59,598 --> 00:20:01,500 Right? Yeah. 409 00:20:01,500 --> 00:20:04,603 And not only that, but God in his providence 410 00:20:04,970 --> 00:20:07,973 is setting them up for what they don't know is coming. 411 00:20:08,307 --> 00:20:10,542 They're going to eventually have to flee to Egypt. 412 00:20:10,542 --> 00:20:13,545 And the gold that they're given, God is preparing them 413 00:20:13,712 --> 00:20:17,683 for the call that he's placed upon them, that they're not even aware of yet. 414 00:20:19,818 --> 00:20:23,422 He so good, so gold. 415 00:20:23,422 --> 00:20:25,524 And then frankincense. 416 00:20:25,524 --> 00:20:27,993 Frankincense was a was a resin, 417 00:20:27,993 --> 00:20:31,863 an aromatic that was used in worship to indicate divinity. 418 00:20:32,431 --> 00:20:35,400 And so what they're saying is this little baby 419 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:37,669 that well, he's not really a baby now. He's maybe two years old. 420 00:20:37,669 --> 00:20:40,772 This little toddler is is he is 421 00:20:40,772 --> 00:20:43,775 he's the king and he's divine. 422 00:20:43,875 --> 00:20:45,577 And then they give him myrrh. Why? 423 00:20:45,577 --> 00:20:48,580 Why is more important? 424 00:20:49,047 --> 00:20:51,416 When Jesus was buried, 425 00:20:51,416 --> 00:20:55,621 he was wrapped in about 100 pounds of myrrh and aloes. 426 00:20:56,521 --> 00:20:58,156 It was a burial. 427 00:20:58,156 --> 00:21:00,359 Part of the burial process. 428 00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:01,860 Now think for a moment. 429 00:21:01,860 --> 00:21:03,929 Mary and Joseph. 430 00:21:03,929 --> 00:21:06,932 They've been told they have their chosen ones 431 00:21:06,932 --> 00:21:10,068 to raise the Messiah of God. 432 00:21:11,470 --> 00:21:12,838 And these. 433 00:21:12,838 --> 00:21:15,607 These kingmakers show up with their big 434 00:21:15,607 --> 00:21:20,812 old pointy hats and they're, you know, all their arraignment 435 00:21:21,446 --> 00:21:25,984 as kingmakers and say, we're here to worship your child. 436 00:21:26,685 --> 00:21:27,586 Here's gold. 437 00:21:27,586 --> 00:21:30,589 He's a king, here's frankincense, 438 00:21:30,889 --> 00:21:33,892 he's divine, and here's here's myrrh. 439 00:21:33,992 --> 00:21:34,960 He's going to die. 440 00:21:36,962 --> 00:21:37,462 I mean, as a 441 00:21:37,462 --> 00:21:40,465 parent, how do you process this? 442 00:21:40,699 --> 00:21:43,702 Like, let's not take the humanity out of this story. 443 00:21:44,002 --> 00:21:48,206 You got to be thinking, Mary and Joseph are in in such wonderment 444 00:21:48,206 --> 00:21:51,710 and such amazement and but yet with such confusion, 445 00:21:52,878 --> 00:21:54,813 like God, you chose us to do this. 446 00:21:54,813 --> 00:21:56,048 That's amazing. 447 00:21:56,048 --> 00:21:59,851 And finally, the Messiah is here and he gets to be raised at our hands. 448 00:21:59,851 --> 00:22:00,719 Can you imagine the 449 00:22:00,719 --> 00:22:04,623 the the pressure that that Mary Joseph are under to do a good job? 450 00:22:04,723 --> 00:22:07,726 You know, it's like, holy moly. 451 00:22:09,728 --> 00:22:10,562 And then to have 452 00:22:10,562 --> 00:22:13,532 the realization that, okay, wait, 453 00:22:13,732 --> 00:22:16,735 I don't want to think about that was a part 454 00:22:17,102 --> 00:22:20,072 right? 455 00:22:24,943 --> 00:22:25,577 And being worn 456 00:22:25,577 --> 00:22:28,580 in a dream not to return to here, they departed to their own country. 457 00:22:28,980 --> 00:22:31,683 By another way, I want you to underline that. 458 00:22:31,683 --> 00:22:34,152 That by another way. And here's why. 459 00:22:38,190 --> 00:22:41,159 Because when we have these types 460 00:22:41,159 --> 00:22:44,930 of transformative interactions with Jesus, we don't leave 461 00:22:44,930 --> 00:22:47,933 the same way we came. 462 00:22:48,900 --> 00:22:51,870 We don't leave the same way we came. 463 00:22:52,471 --> 00:22:56,041 We leave a different way, a different way of living a different way 464 00:22:56,041 --> 00:23:00,045 a believe in a different way of trusting, a different way of sacrificing, 465 00:23:00,879 --> 00:23:03,882 a different way of faith 466 00:23:03,915 --> 00:23:06,918 and friends, this is what it is to be a disciple. 467 00:23:08,286 --> 00:23:11,289 This is exactly what it is to be a disciple. 468 00:23:11,990 --> 00:23:14,393 A disciple takes their next step. 469 00:23:14,393 --> 00:23:16,762 And here's the steps. This is really easy to understand. 470 00:23:16,762 --> 00:23:19,965 Like what my next step in discipleship is the first thing. 471 00:23:19,965 --> 00:23:22,200 And becoming a disciple is you belong. 472 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:26,938 You just decide to belong to the family of God by placing your faith in Jesus, 473 00:23:28,173 --> 00:23:31,143 accepting what Jesus did on the cross to forgive your sin 474 00:23:31,143 --> 00:23:33,912 so that there's a possibility of being made right with God. 475 00:23:33,912 --> 00:23:34,880 Is that too bright for you? 476 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:37,883 Somebody really? 477 00:23:38,717 --> 00:23:41,853 I don't know how you know awake you would be your in and check out 478 00:23:41,853 --> 00:23:44,856 it would be so he made it really bright to keep you awake. 479 00:23:45,490 --> 00:23:47,893 So the first idea is belonging. 480 00:23:47,893 --> 00:23:51,863 And then once you decide to belong you attach yourself to, to to 481 00:23:51,897 --> 00:23:53,532 to to the kingdom of God. 482 00:23:53,532 --> 00:23:56,535 You start to become someone you're not. 483 00:23:56,835 --> 00:23:59,838 You got there's got to be a change inside. 484 00:23:59,905 --> 00:24:03,341 There's got to be this existential transformation. 485 00:24:03,575 --> 00:24:07,913 I'm not who I was, I belong and then I become. 486 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:10,348 And it's a continual becoming. 487 00:24:10,348 --> 00:24:13,351 I'm never completely 488 00:24:13,552 --> 00:24:14,753 made new. 489 00:24:14,753 --> 00:24:15,120 Like it. 490 00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:18,190 Like there's still parts of me that, that, that, that, that God is 491 00:24:18,290 --> 00:24:19,491 regenerating in me. 492 00:24:20,492 --> 00:24:23,495 And it leads to this aspect of giving. 493 00:24:23,695 --> 00:24:27,899 Because when I belong to the kingdom of God and the community of God 494 00:24:27,899 --> 00:24:32,337 through the church, and I'm becoming I'm becoming a new person 495 00:24:32,971 --> 00:24:35,941 just like it did for the wise men, it results in giving. 496 00:24:37,409 --> 00:24:39,144 There's my life I give. There's my time 497 00:24:39,144 --> 00:24:42,147 I give, there's my resources I give, there's my energy I give. 498 00:24:43,148 --> 00:24:44,916 You cannot separate giving 499 00:24:44,916 --> 00:24:47,953 from becoming as someone who belongs. 500 00:24:47,953 --> 00:24:49,321 The kingdom. 501 00:24:49,321 --> 00:24:51,990 And it results in going 502 00:24:51,990 --> 00:24:55,193 like we go then into the world and make disciples, 503 00:24:55,193 --> 00:24:58,196 which is what we're going to hear about the end of this book. 504 00:24:58,797 --> 00:25:01,800 We go then to those who don't know Jesus 505 00:25:02,100 --> 00:25:04,302 and invite them to the Christ to belong to the family. 506 00:25:04,302 --> 00:25:08,039 We've got to become someone new and invest their lives in giving and then go, 507 00:25:09,841 --> 00:25:10,876 can't you understand that? 508 00:25:10,876 --> 00:25:12,644 And this is exactly what the disciples did. 509 00:25:12,644 --> 00:25:15,814 And this is a great way for us to understand what's my next 510 00:25:15,814 --> 00:25:17,616 step as a disciple? 511 00:25:17,616 --> 00:25:20,252 Have I really belonged? 512 00:25:20,252 --> 00:25:21,920 Do I really belong to the family of God? 513 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:24,923 By placing my faith in Jesus and confessing him as my Savior? 514 00:25:25,724 --> 00:25:27,959 Am I becoming someone new? 515 00:25:27,959 --> 00:25:30,128 Am I same old person? I used to be a physical person. 516 00:25:30,128 --> 00:25:30,428 You used to be. 517 00:25:30,428 --> 00:25:33,431 You got to consider how you really belong to the family of God, 518 00:25:34,833 --> 00:25:36,601 and there has to resort to some level 519 00:25:36,601 --> 00:25:39,571 of giving continually, 520 00:25:39,604 --> 00:25:41,806 because it's an honor of this King who was divine, 521 00:25:41,806 --> 00:25:45,210 who died for us, and it result in us going to. 522 00:25:45,210 --> 00:25:48,413 Those around us who don't know him yet do understand the process. 523 00:25:49,014 --> 00:25:52,117 And so this is a great way to understand what your next step 524 00:25:53,051 --> 00:25:54,819 and this is where we see will get past that slide. 525 00:25:54,819 --> 00:25:56,421 So you don't have to look at that right anymore. 526 00:25:58,523 --> 00:26:00,058 Like verses 13 and following. 527 00:26:00,058 --> 00:26:01,927 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord 528 00:26:01,927 --> 00:26:04,262 appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, you know what? Let me just say this. 529 00:26:04,262 --> 00:26:08,867 I just noticed this in verse 13 when it says it every time. 530 00:26:08,867 --> 00:26:12,871 What God, an angel, appeared to Joseph in in kind of the 531 00:26:13,338 --> 00:26:17,075 this narrative, it all we do always appeared to Joseph in a dream. 532 00:26:17,976 --> 00:26:21,246 Everybody else the angel appeared to was in person. 533 00:26:21,913 --> 00:26:22,914 I don't know if you ever notice that. 534 00:26:22,914 --> 00:26:24,749 You go back and read yourself. 535 00:26:24,749 --> 00:26:26,918 But the angel appeared to Mary. Not in a dream. 536 00:26:26,918 --> 00:26:29,588 Just appear to Mary. Same thing. 537 00:26:29,588 --> 00:26:32,857 You know, all all through this whole the birth of John the Baptist 538 00:26:32,857 --> 00:26:37,729 and his parents, and Mary the angel appears to them with Joseph. 539 00:26:37,796 --> 00:26:39,264 The angel appears in a dream. 540 00:26:39,264 --> 00:26:41,333 You know, I, I don't either. 541 00:26:41,333 --> 00:26:42,901 It's just something I noticed. So, 542 00:26:45,270 --> 00:26:47,272 and, said, arise, take the. 543 00:26:47,272 --> 00:26:48,740 What? 544 00:26:48,740 --> 00:26:51,743 I'll finish it. 545 00:26:51,776 --> 00:26:53,445 Yeah. 546 00:26:53,445 --> 00:26:54,512 See? You see that? That. 547 00:26:54,512 --> 00:26:55,513 Take the child. His mother. 548 00:26:55,513 --> 00:26:56,147 There is. Why? 549 00:26:56,147 --> 00:26:59,351 Because it's his story, not her story. 550 00:26:59,684 --> 00:27:00,318 It's his story. 551 00:27:00,318 --> 00:27:02,687 Not my story or not your story, child. 552 00:27:02,687 --> 00:27:04,222 His mother. It's his story. 553 00:27:04,222 --> 00:27:06,124 And flee to Egypt to remain there until I tell you. 554 00:27:06,124 --> 00:27:08,893 For here it is about to search for the child to destroy him. 555 00:27:08,893 --> 00:27:10,528 And he rose and took the child. 556 00:27:10,528 --> 00:27:13,732 Let's say this child is mother. 557 00:27:13,765 --> 00:27:16,301 You see that? Yeah. Why? 558 00:27:16,301 --> 00:27:18,570 Because his story. Not her story, right? 559 00:27:18,570 --> 00:27:20,805 His story now. My story history, not your story. 560 00:27:20,805 --> 00:27:22,641 Take your this mother by night 561 00:27:22,641 --> 00:27:25,644 and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod, 562 00:27:26,511 --> 00:27:29,681 which was to fulfill what the Lord spoken by the prophet out of Egypt. 563 00:27:29,681 --> 00:27:30,415 I called my son. 564 00:27:34,052 --> 00:27:35,620 Take the child, his mother. 565 00:27:35,620 --> 00:27:37,122 Flee to Egypt. 566 00:27:37,122 --> 00:27:40,125 I remain there until I tell you. 567 00:27:40,392 --> 00:27:42,961 I want you to understand something 568 00:27:42,961 --> 00:27:45,964 that God guides those who are willing to move. 569 00:27:47,132 --> 00:27:50,835 If you're willing to be obedient, if you're willing to be, to move. 570 00:27:50,835 --> 00:27:54,406 When God says move, God will guide you every single step of the way. 571 00:27:55,273 --> 00:27:58,476 But I tell him, I used to tell my boys this all the time when they're growing up. 572 00:27:58,476 --> 00:28:01,479 I said, look, God can't even steer a parked car 573 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:03,181 if you're not willing to move. 574 00:28:03,181 --> 00:28:05,850 God isn't going to give you any direction. 575 00:28:05,850 --> 00:28:08,486 And for some people, you sit the thing. 576 00:28:08,486 --> 00:28:10,822 Well, you know, I don't even know what God wants for my life anyway. 577 00:28:10,822 --> 00:28:11,589 And I doubt if I do it. 578 00:28:11,589 --> 00:28:14,192 If you told me, well, guess what? He ain't going to tell you. 579 00:28:16,261 --> 00:28:18,396 I mean, he's not going to give you direction if you 580 00:28:18,396 --> 00:28:21,399 if he knows you're not going to follow it. 581 00:28:22,500 --> 00:28:24,135 Like, he'll guide you 582 00:28:24,135 --> 00:28:26,971 and he always guides those who are willing to move. 583 00:28:26,971 --> 00:28:29,908 But there has to be this act of submission 584 00:28:29,908 --> 00:28:32,911 on the front end. 585 00:28:33,378 --> 00:28:36,214 God, I want to know what you want for my life 586 00:28:36,214 --> 00:28:39,217 because I want to follow you. 587 00:28:39,951 --> 00:28:41,486 If we come to God, say, God, 588 00:28:41,486 --> 00:28:42,887 tell me what you want from my life, and I'll decide 589 00:28:42,887 --> 00:28:46,558 if I want to follow or not, because I'm like a man and I'm making sense. 590 00:28:56,234 --> 00:28:59,237 This is important. 591 00:28:59,270 --> 00:29:02,273 Faith moves before it understands. 592 00:29:03,274 --> 00:29:06,277 Faith moves before it understands. 593 00:29:06,978 --> 00:29:10,081 Every time Joseph obeyed, direction came. 594 00:29:12,617 --> 00:29:16,187 And faith will move before it understands 595 00:29:16,988 --> 00:29:21,760 anything about why or where or how. 596 00:29:24,662 --> 00:29:27,632 But think about Mary and Joseph. 597 00:29:28,633 --> 00:29:31,636 They don't know what's going on. Like 598 00:29:31,870 --> 00:29:35,907 we we're doing everything God asked us to do. 599 00:29:36,875 --> 00:29:39,878 We get to raise the Messiah. 600 00:29:41,045 --> 00:29:43,148 Everything should be up into the right. 601 00:29:43,148 --> 00:29:45,283 Right? 602 00:29:45,283 --> 00:29:46,851 I mean, you gotta think, 603 00:29:46,851 --> 00:29:50,121 I'm sure at some level, like, what could go wrong? 604 00:29:51,089 --> 00:29:53,591 We got God in a board 605 00:29:53,591 --> 00:29:56,795 that were raising what could ever go wrong. 606 00:29:57,762 --> 00:30:00,698 Let me ask you, what has gone right 607 00:30:00,698 --> 00:30:03,701 since Jesus showed up? 608 00:30:09,841 --> 00:30:10,742 Go to Egypt. 609 00:30:10,742 --> 00:30:13,745 Remain there because Herod is going to try to kill 610 00:30:15,213 --> 00:30:18,149 this little boy. 611 00:30:18,149 --> 00:30:20,118 And stay there 612 00:30:20,118 --> 00:30:23,121 as long as you have to. 613 00:30:32,063 --> 00:30:35,066 So God sends him to Egypt. 614 00:30:35,466 --> 00:30:38,369 They have no idea how long they'll be there. 615 00:30:38,369 --> 00:30:41,372 They don't understand what's going on. 616 00:30:42,073 --> 00:30:43,675 And God takes them 617 00:30:43,675 --> 00:30:46,411 and he hides them down in a distant land. 618 00:30:47,512 --> 00:30:49,080 Here's what I want you to understand. 619 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:51,349 Sometimes God hired you to protect you. 620 00:30:51,349 --> 00:30:54,352 Even if his protection feels like exile. 621 00:31:01,326 --> 00:31:02,193 Mary and Joseph 622 00:31:02,193 --> 00:31:05,296 ended up being in Egypt for probably three and a half, two, maybe four years. 623 00:31:06,631 --> 00:31:09,400 So look at what's happened. 624 00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:11,703 We're going to raise this little baby. 625 00:31:11,703 --> 00:31:14,672 We're going to raise this the one who is the Messiah. 626 00:31:15,306 --> 00:31:18,309 God's hand is all over this, 627 00:31:18,710 --> 00:31:20,812 but all of a sudden, 628 00:31:20,812 --> 00:31:23,815 King Herod is out to kill us. 629 00:31:24,382 --> 00:31:26,184 We have to leave our home. 630 00:31:26,184 --> 00:31:27,852 We have to leave our family. 631 00:31:27,852 --> 00:31:30,288 We leave everything familiar. 632 00:31:30,288 --> 00:31:34,525 We have to leave everything that we have in this world behind. 633 00:31:34,726 --> 00:31:37,729 Go to a foreign land. 634 00:31:37,762 --> 00:31:40,765 We don't know anybody. 635 00:31:40,899 --> 00:31:42,133 We don't know what we're going to do. 636 00:31:42,133 --> 00:31:45,236 There, and we're just going to be there 637 00:31:46,437 --> 00:31:49,440 in exile for who knows how long. 638 00:31:50,508 --> 00:31:52,510 What would you be thinking at this point if this were you? 639 00:31:52,510 --> 00:31:55,513 Like, you don't know the rest of the story, what would you be thinking? 640 00:31:55,813 --> 00:31:58,816 Why? Why? 641 00:31:59,550 --> 00:32:02,553 I don't know, I don't want to. 642 00:32:03,421 --> 00:32:04,088 Yeah. 643 00:32:04,088 --> 00:32:06,758 What else? 644 00:32:06,758 --> 00:32:09,761 How? How? 645 00:32:09,994 --> 00:32:11,462 I mean, what would we be thinking here? 646 00:32:11,462 --> 00:32:14,432 I how many of us would think God. 647 00:32:16,334 --> 00:32:19,370 I don't know if I can trust you. 648 00:32:19,370 --> 00:32:20,805 I don't know if you know what's going on. 649 00:32:20,805 --> 00:32:22,173 I don't know if you're still involved. 650 00:32:22,173 --> 00:32:24,442 Maybe we misread this whole thing. 651 00:32:24,442 --> 00:32:26,110 Maybe this has all been wrong. 652 00:32:26,110 --> 00:32:29,113 How many of us. 653 00:32:29,747 --> 00:32:31,516 Oh, at least there's four in this service. 654 00:32:31,516 --> 00:32:34,519 Or only two in the first service. 655 00:32:34,786 --> 00:32:37,188 Well, you you for the for the five of us. 656 00:32:37,188 --> 00:32:39,390 We're the only honest ones here. The rest of you, a bunch of liars. 657 00:32:40,391 --> 00:32:42,093 I mean, what does it take us right now 658 00:32:42,093 --> 00:32:46,531 to start doubting God's hand in his love and his provision and all that stuff? 659 00:32:46,597 --> 00:32:47,765 What to take now? 660 00:32:47,765 --> 00:32:50,768 A bad day. 661 00:32:53,071 --> 00:32:54,772 Oh, we get so thrown 662 00:32:54,772 --> 00:32:57,775 off the course so easily. 663 00:32:57,976 --> 00:32:59,510 And you got these two. 664 00:32:59,510 --> 00:33:02,513 Can you imagine what they're going through? 665 00:33:03,414 --> 00:33:05,283 They're just in exile. 666 00:33:05,283 --> 00:33:08,252 God, have you forgotten about us? 667 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:10,221 Like, the. 668 00:33:10,221 --> 00:33:13,591 Are the forces of evil greater than what you like it with? 669 00:33:13,891 --> 00:33:16,894 It makes no sense. 670 00:33:18,363 --> 00:33:21,232 Look, sometimes God hired you to protect you. 671 00:33:21,232 --> 00:33:24,902 Even when that protection feels like you've been exiled 672 00:33:26,404 --> 00:33:29,407 and are all alone. 673 00:33:31,876 --> 00:33:35,079 When God hides you, he's not punishing you. 674 00:33:35,980 --> 00:33:38,983 He's preserving you. 675 00:33:42,487 --> 00:33:44,455 Listen, don't curse your Egypt place. 676 00:33:44,455 --> 00:33:47,458 It may be the place of your protection. 677 00:33:47,558 --> 00:33:48,059 Some. 678 00:33:48,059 --> 00:33:51,095 Some of you may feel like you're in exile. 679 00:33:52,096 --> 00:33:54,399 Some of you single people might feel. 680 00:33:54,399 --> 00:33:57,402 Have you been exiled to the land of singleness? 681 00:33:57,902 --> 00:33:59,337 I don't know where my spouse is. 682 00:33:59,337 --> 00:34:01,372 I don't know if they're ever even out there. 683 00:34:01,372 --> 00:34:06,310 Maybe God has exiled me to singleness and celibacy for the rest of my life. 684 00:34:07,311 --> 00:34:09,547 You might feel that way, 685 00:34:09,547 --> 00:34:12,016 or it could be that God is protecting you 686 00:34:12,016 --> 00:34:15,019 some from really bad decisions. 687 00:34:15,720 --> 00:34:18,723 Do you understand? 688 00:34:20,725 --> 00:34:22,560 Some of you might be thinking, you know what? 689 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:25,797 God has exiled me to this job I can't stand. 690 00:34:25,797 --> 00:34:29,067 And and there's no you, no relief in sight. 691 00:34:29,067 --> 00:34:31,803 And I. 692 00:34:31,803 --> 00:34:34,772 God may just be protecting you 693 00:34:35,173 --> 00:34:36,507 from some really bad direction. 694 00:34:36,507 --> 00:34:38,709 I, I was just this this Friday, 695 00:34:38,709 --> 00:34:41,712 right before, kick off of our varsity football game. 696 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,916 I was talking to one of our coaches, and we were just talking about, 697 00:34:44,916 --> 00:34:47,919 you know, life out here in the ranchos and, and and, 698 00:34:48,319 --> 00:34:50,455 how blessed we are to be out here in this community. 699 00:34:50,455 --> 00:34:52,256 And and he was mentioning how, 700 00:34:53,357 --> 00:34:53,658 you know 701 00:34:53,658 --> 00:34:56,661 God, but he didn't say anything about God. 702 00:34:56,961 --> 00:34:59,697 He was just mentioned how things in the past weren't working out, 703 00:34:59,697 --> 00:35:01,833 and now they really worked out. 704 00:35:01,833 --> 00:35:04,836 And I think his words are, 705 00:35:04,969 --> 00:35:08,239 the, the stars just align and all the cards fell into place. 706 00:35:08,673 --> 00:35:10,708 And, you know, that was I think that was his words. 707 00:35:10,708 --> 00:35:13,711 And I looked at him, I just laughed, I said, Manny, funny. 708 00:35:14,011 --> 00:35:18,783 I said, I talk about that in my world as God's providence because of his grace. 709 00:35:19,617 --> 00:35:21,252 Oh, no. Yeah, no, I get all that. 710 00:35:21,252 --> 00:35:23,321 No that's fine. Yeah. No I agree, I agree. Yeah. 711 00:35:23,321 --> 00:35:24,722 That's that's that, that's it. Right. 712 00:35:24,722 --> 00:35:26,624 I know what you're saying. 713 00:35:26,624 --> 00:35:28,926 I mean yeah. 714 00:35:28,926 --> 00:35:30,761 And so we, I got to have a little talk there before 715 00:35:30,761 --> 00:35:34,165 kick kickoff about God's providence and his grace and 716 00:35:34,966 --> 00:35:38,636 and that sometimes when God exiles us, he's protecting us because. 717 00:35:41,072 --> 00:35:43,641 Because he has something better planned. 718 00:35:43,641 --> 00:35:45,676 And so, please, my friends, if you feel like you're 719 00:35:45,676 --> 00:35:48,679 in exile in Egypt 720 00:35:49,113 --> 00:35:51,482 and things are not going like you'd hoped right now, 721 00:35:51,482 --> 00:35:54,452 it may be God is saying, look, I'm protecting you. 722 00:35:55,620 --> 00:35:58,623 Don't curser Egypt. 723 00:35:58,623 --> 00:36:01,592 It's my protection. 724 00:36:02,994 --> 00:36:05,997 And so there they sit for maybe four years 725 00:36:06,964 --> 00:36:07,665 for 60. 726 00:36:07,665 --> 00:36:08,266 And then Herod, 727 00:36:08,266 --> 00:36:11,269 when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious. 728 00:36:11,269 --> 00:36:13,938 And he sent and he killed all the male children in Bethlehem. 729 00:36:13,938 --> 00:36:17,708 And in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time 730 00:36:17,708 --> 00:36:19,644 that had been ascertained from the wise men. 731 00:36:19,644 --> 00:36:22,647 Then was fulfilled what was spoken of by the prophet Jeremiah. 732 00:36:22,947 --> 00:36:25,950 A voice was heard in Rama, weeping and loud lamentation. 733 00:36:25,950 --> 00:36:27,451 Rachel weeping for her children. 734 00:36:27,451 --> 00:36:30,454 She refused to be comforted because they are no more. 735 00:36:32,023 --> 00:36:35,026 One of the saddest passages of scripture. 736 00:36:36,027 --> 00:36:38,963 There's no historical record of this account. 737 00:36:38,963 --> 00:36:41,666 There's nothing in the extra biblical record, historical record 738 00:36:41,666 --> 00:36:42,900 that this ever happened. 739 00:36:42,900 --> 00:36:45,303 All we have is a biblical account of that. 740 00:36:45,303 --> 00:36:48,472 But that doesn't cause me any consternation or doubt whatsoever 741 00:36:48,472 --> 00:36:49,407 for a couple reasons. 742 00:36:49,407 --> 00:36:51,242 One is this 743 00:36:51,242 --> 00:36:54,212 and light of all of Herod's atrocities against humanity, 744 00:36:54,312 --> 00:36:57,548 against his own family, against his own children, 745 00:36:58,382 --> 00:37:01,352 the death of a few kids wouldn't merit no in his life. 746 00:37:03,054 --> 00:37:04,455 I'm not saying it's not horrific and tragic. 747 00:37:04,455 --> 00:37:05,590 Please don't misunderstand. I'm saying. 748 00:37:05,590 --> 00:37:07,024 I'm saying in light of everything else 749 00:37:07,024 --> 00:37:10,027 he's done against his own family, his own children, 750 00:37:10,261 --> 00:37:12,363 there wouldn't be record of his atrocity 751 00:37:12,363 --> 00:37:15,366 against other people's kids. 752 00:37:15,733 --> 00:37:18,736 Secondly. 753 00:37:20,037 --> 00:37:20,504 I want 754 00:37:20,504 --> 00:37:23,874 I just want to put it in in historical terms 755 00:37:23,874 --> 00:37:27,211 as far as numbers, probably we're talking 12 to 15 little boys. 756 00:37:28,212 --> 00:37:28,713 Okay. 757 00:37:28,713 --> 00:37:31,716 So it wasn't a it wasn't a big, 758 00:37:31,782 --> 00:37:35,453 you know, there wasn't a big area and the survivability rate 759 00:37:35,453 --> 00:37:36,320 was really low anyway. 760 00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:39,390 And so we're talking about very few not that it's not horrific and so on, 761 00:37:39,390 --> 00:37:42,393 I'm saying but I'm saying it wasn't this, 762 00:37:42,426 --> 00:37:45,329 you know. 763 00:37:45,329 --> 00:37:48,332 But I also want you to remember this, 764 00:37:50,268 --> 00:37:52,136 the fact that 765 00:37:52,136 --> 00:37:54,538 the murder of 15 766 00:37:54,538 --> 00:37:57,208 children wasn't of note should not be surprised, 767 00:37:57,208 --> 00:38:00,645 because every day, 2800 babies are killed in America. 768 00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:06,083 And that gets no press whatsoever. 769 00:38:06,317 --> 00:38:09,320 A million babies a year. 770 00:38:10,721 --> 00:38:13,724 And so, you know, how dare we be self-righteous 771 00:38:14,325 --> 00:38:16,994 and decry that 772 00:38:16,994 --> 00:38:19,597 the evil of one 773 00:38:19,597 --> 00:38:22,600 and not the evil of the other? 774 00:38:25,169 --> 00:38:26,370 I mean, think about Mary and Joseph. 775 00:38:26,370 --> 00:38:29,173 They had to trust God's sovereignty and providence the moment Jesus arrived. 776 00:38:30,308 --> 00:38:32,076 Imagine their questions. 777 00:38:32,076 --> 00:38:33,210 Why is this so hard? 778 00:38:33,210 --> 00:38:36,213 Why is this so dangerous? 779 00:38:36,347 --> 00:38:38,015 I thought if we were part of God's plan, 780 00:38:38,015 --> 00:38:41,018 everything would be all right and nothing's right 781 00:38:41,085 --> 00:38:43,154 here. Better. 782 00:38:43,154 --> 00:38:44,288 Ever been there? 783 00:38:44,288 --> 00:38:45,723 Yeah, 784 00:38:45,723 --> 00:38:48,726 yeah. 785 00:38:49,827 --> 00:38:51,762 I mean, think about what has gone right in their life 786 00:38:51,762 --> 00:38:54,765 since Jesus showed up. 787 00:38:58,602 --> 00:38:59,470 Jesus. 788 00:38:59,470 --> 00:39:02,373 Yeah. 789 00:39:02,373 --> 00:39:05,309 That nothing. 790 00:39:05,309 --> 00:39:07,244 I don't remember that. 791 00:39:07,244 --> 00:39:09,947 Because you and I will go through tough stuff. 792 00:39:09,947 --> 00:39:12,950 We'll go through times where we think, God, where are you now? 793 00:39:14,452 --> 00:39:15,453 You're supposed to be here. 794 00:39:15,453 --> 00:39:18,422 You're supposed to take care of things. 795 00:39:21,192 --> 00:39:22,626 Well, it's going to cause you to doubt. 796 00:39:22,626 --> 00:39:23,661 It's going to cause you to fear. 797 00:39:23,661 --> 00:39:26,664 It's going to cause you to run away. 798 00:39:31,402 --> 00:39:34,405 Don't. 799 00:39:37,108 --> 00:39:39,143 Whose story is this? 800 00:39:39,143 --> 00:39:41,278 It's his story 801 00:39:41,278 --> 00:39:43,981 to be a part of his story. 802 00:39:48,853 --> 00:39:49,120 But when 803 00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:52,890 Herod died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, in a dream to Joseph. 804 00:39:52,890 --> 00:39:56,460 See, there it is again in Egypt, saying, rise, take what 805 00:39:57,895 --> 00:39:59,230 child? Child's mother. 806 00:39:59,230 --> 00:39:59,663 There it is. 807 00:39:59,663 --> 00:40:02,233 Don't miss it, and go to the land of Israel. 808 00:40:02,233 --> 00:40:04,068 For those who sought that child's life are dead. 809 00:40:04,068 --> 00:40:06,337 Yeah. Finally, 810 00:40:06,337 --> 00:40:08,472 they been in Egypt for maybe four years. 811 00:40:08,472 --> 00:40:10,775 And finally the angel shows up in a dream. 812 00:40:10,775 --> 00:40:13,577 If I were Joseph, I'd be sleeping all day long. Like, where's the dream? 813 00:40:13,577 --> 00:40:15,212 Where's the dream? Where's the dream? 814 00:40:15,212 --> 00:40:17,882 Finally, after four years, the angel shows up again. 815 00:40:17,882 --> 00:40:21,118 Her dream says, hey, they everybody want to kill this little boy there. 816 00:40:21,352 --> 00:40:23,454 They're gone. They're dead. Gone. Back home. 817 00:40:23,454 --> 00:40:26,190 I bet Joseph, like Mary, packed the bags. 818 00:40:26,190 --> 00:40:29,160 Baby, we all just excited. 819 00:40:30,995 --> 00:40:33,998 And he rose and did what? 820 00:40:33,998 --> 00:40:35,332 Took the child? 821 00:40:35,332 --> 00:40:36,867 Yeah, it took Johnny's mother. Why? 822 00:40:36,867 --> 00:40:38,436 Because it's his story. 823 00:40:38,436 --> 00:40:41,272 Not her sister, not mine. His or not yours. Right. 824 00:40:41,272 --> 00:40:43,507 And went to the land of Israel. 825 00:40:43,507 --> 00:40:45,309 Everything's back in order now, right? 826 00:40:45,309 --> 00:40:46,710 Everything's good. 827 00:40:46,710 --> 00:40:49,113 But dadgum, it. 828 00:40:49,113 --> 00:40:51,115 When he heard that Achilleus was reigning 829 00:40:51,115 --> 00:40:54,452 over Judah in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. 830 00:40:54,652 --> 00:40:57,655 And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 831 00:40:57,955 --> 00:41:00,958 Well, just when it's getting better, it gets worse. 832 00:41:01,725 --> 00:41:02,993 Like we get to go home. 833 00:41:02,993 --> 00:41:07,898 And now Herod's son is on the throne, is going to do what dad was trying to do. 834 00:41:08,766 --> 00:41:11,769 But I want you to understand the implications. 835 00:41:11,969 --> 00:41:15,272 Look at how the how the street, when you heard that Achilleus was reigning 836 00:41:15,272 --> 00:41:20,578 over Judah, Judea, in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. 837 00:41:20,711 --> 00:41:23,714 And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 838 00:41:23,848 --> 00:41:27,151 It doesn't say he was afraid, so he went somewhere else. 839 00:41:27,852 --> 00:41:28,719 The implication is 840 00:41:28,719 --> 00:41:32,323 he was afraid, and he was still obedient until God said, go somewhere else. 841 00:41:32,790 --> 00:41:37,628 We got to understand this, that when we follow and things are going well 842 00:41:37,661 --> 00:41:41,832 and we want to bail and do something else, don't stay faithful 843 00:41:42,166 --> 00:41:44,602 until God says do something different. 844 00:41:44,602 --> 00:41:47,171 Even if it's scary, even it's confusing. 845 00:41:47,171 --> 00:41:49,607 Even if you don't understand, even as perilous. 846 00:41:49,607 --> 00:41:54,778 You stay obedient and stay faithful until God says, now do something different. 847 00:41:54,778 --> 00:41:55,312 You understand? 848 00:41:56,914 --> 00:41:59,917 Okay. 849 00:42:00,117 --> 00:42:01,652 And when he did, 850 00:42:01,652 --> 00:42:05,823 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken 851 00:42:05,823 --> 00:42:08,993 by the prophet might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene. 852 00:42:10,794 --> 00:42:13,130 So they go to Nazareth, 853 00:42:13,130 --> 00:42:17,167 they start in Bethlehem, Judea went down to Egypt, 854 00:42:17,601 --> 00:42:20,604 and now they go back down to Nazareth. 855 00:42:20,971 --> 00:42:23,908 Listen, some of God's greatest 856 00:42:23,908 --> 00:42:26,911 work is often begins in the least likely places. 857 00:42:27,444 --> 00:42:32,216 Little dirty Nazareth, little dirty village. 858 00:42:32,216 --> 00:42:33,050 Nobody. 859 00:42:33,050 --> 00:42:35,586 Nazareth was a great place to be from. 860 00:42:35,586 --> 00:42:38,589 And not to be in. 861 00:42:39,290 --> 00:42:42,293 But some of God's greatest works happens in those places 862 00:42:42,626 --> 00:42:45,596 where you'd rather not be in. 863 00:42:45,596 --> 00:42:47,097 I want you understand what God was doing. 864 00:42:47,097 --> 00:42:48,332 He sent. 865 00:42:48,332 --> 00:42:50,935 I'm going to exile you, and it's going to feel like you're forgotten about. 866 00:42:50,935 --> 00:42:52,102 You're not. I'm protecting you. 867 00:42:53,070 --> 00:42:56,073 And I'm going to send you to the Nazareth place, 868 00:42:56,340 --> 00:42:59,343 the lonely place, the forgotten place. 869 00:42:59,476 --> 00:43:01,879 I am in both of those. 870 00:43:01,879 --> 00:43:04,882 And both of those are part of my plan, 871 00:43:04,949 --> 00:43:07,952 because it's my story. 872 00:43:11,555 --> 00:43:13,691 Most here's here's the problem 873 00:43:13,691 --> 00:43:16,160 with a lot of Christians, a lot of church, a lot of pastors. 874 00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:19,563 Most reject the small because they want the to be magnified 875 00:43:19,563 --> 00:43:22,566 by the acknowledgment of the large. 876 00:43:22,633 --> 00:43:25,636 Don't chase the large, 877 00:43:25,736 --> 00:43:28,439 don't chase the crowds. 878 00:43:28,439 --> 00:43:30,708 Don't chase the opinions. 879 00:43:30,708 --> 00:43:32,109 Live in the small places. 880 00:43:32,109 --> 00:43:33,544 Live in the exile places. 881 00:43:33,544 --> 00:43:36,547 Because that's where God is and that's where he has you. 882 00:43:37,982 --> 00:43:39,917 And you'll not be left there. 883 00:43:39,917 --> 00:43:42,653 But you might be there. 884 00:43:42,653 --> 00:43:45,656 Just be obedient there. 885 00:43:47,758 --> 00:43:50,227 The point is this serve God 886 00:43:50,227 --> 00:43:53,664 faithfully where you are for asking, for you want to be. 887 00:43:55,933 --> 00:43:57,001 Serve God faithfully 888 00:43:57,001 --> 00:44:00,004 where you are before asking for where you want to be. 889 00:44:00,004 --> 00:44:03,007 Does it make sense? 890 00:44:05,342 --> 00:44:07,444 God's going to take some of you in here. 891 00:44:07,444 --> 00:44:10,447 Have some of you in in Egypt right now 892 00:44:11,548 --> 00:44:12,616 you feel like you're in exile. 893 00:44:12,616 --> 00:44:15,619 You feel like you're all on, like you're forgotten about. 894 00:44:17,221 --> 00:44:19,490 You're not 895 00:44:19,490 --> 00:44:19,923 alone. 896 00:44:19,923 --> 00:44:22,026 You're not forgotten about. 897 00:44:22,026 --> 00:44:25,029 You just may be there for your protection. 898 00:44:28,065 --> 00:44:28,832 Your exile 899 00:44:28,832 --> 00:44:31,802 place might be your protection place. 900 00:44:32,036 --> 00:44:34,838 And won't be that way forever. 901 00:44:34,838 --> 00:44:37,107 You'll be delivered. 902 00:44:37,107 --> 00:44:39,977 Some of you might be in the Nazareth place. 903 00:44:39,977 --> 00:44:41,512 That place? It's just. 904 00:44:41,512 --> 00:44:43,947 It's the place you never thought you'd be there. 905 00:44:43,947 --> 00:44:44,348 Where you had. 906 00:44:44,348 --> 00:44:47,351 Never where you'd hope to be. 907 00:44:48,018 --> 00:44:50,054 But as part of God's plan, 908 00:44:50,054 --> 00:44:53,023 you won't be there forever. 909 00:44:53,023 --> 00:44:54,158 No matter where you are. 910 00:44:55,159 --> 00:44:57,428 Be faithful where you are. 911 00:44:57,428 --> 00:45:00,431 You're obedient where you are before asking to be somewhere else. 912 00:45:01,231 --> 00:45:04,234 Does it make sense? 913 00:45:11,408 --> 00:45:14,411 Let's pray. 914 00:45:15,779 --> 00:45:16,113 Father. 915 00:45:16,113 --> 00:45:18,015 Thank you. 916 00:45:18,015 --> 00:45:19,817 Thank thank you, thank you 917 00:45:19,817 --> 00:45:22,820 that you have invited us to be a part of your story. 918 00:45:23,620 --> 00:45:26,190 Oh. Father. 919 00:45:26,190 --> 00:45:28,859 Forgive us. Forgive me for when I. 920 00:45:28,859 --> 00:45:31,862 When I arrogantly thought it was my story. 921 00:45:33,831 --> 00:45:36,834 When I wanted you to bend, 922 00:45:36,967 --> 00:45:37,835 bend reality. 923 00:45:37,835 --> 00:45:40,838 Bend your hand to my story. 924 00:45:41,472 --> 00:45:44,475 Rather than me bending to your story. 925 00:45:46,410 --> 00:45:48,712 Thank you, father, that when you take us 926 00:45:48,712 --> 00:45:52,082 to the Egypt places that their places of protection, 927 00:45:52,082 --> 00:45:55,085 I pray you to help us remember that and not revolt against it. 928 00:45:57,387 --> 00:45:58,355 Thank you that when you take us 929 00:45:58,355 --> 00:46:01,358 to the Nazareth places, 930 00:46:01,558 --> 00:46:04,561 that is, places of preparation. 931 00:46:07,197 --> 00:46:08,499 Father, I pray that wherever it is 932 00:46:08,499 --> 00:46:12,603 that you take us to Egypt's places, the Nazareth places, the Bethlehem places, 933 00:46:13,771 --> 00:46:14,104 that should 934 00:46:14,104 --> 00:46:17,107 help us be obedient in those places. 935 00:46:17,941 --> 00:46:18,776 It help. 936 00:46:18,776 --> 00:46:21,779 Help us remember it's your story and not our story. 937 00:46:24,748 --> 00:46:26,683 Father, I pray encouragement over this church. 938 00:46:26,683 --> 00:46:29,019 I pray encouragement over these people. 939 00:46:29,019 --> 00:46:31,188 I feel like 940 00:46:31,188 --> 00:46:33,924 like some of us have been in these places for 941 00:46:33,924 --> 00:46:36,894 for a long time, have and have wondered and questioned and 942 00:46:36,894 --> 00:46:40,664 and sometimes doubted your plan and your hand and your goodness. 943 00:46:40,664 --> 00:46:43,667 And rather than just submitting and trusting. 944 00:46:45,002 --> 00:46:47,070 And so, father, I pray for the hearts here 945 00:46:47,070 --> 00:46:50,040 that that are growing weary, 946 00:46:50,440 --> 00:46:52,509 the hearts and 947 00:46:52,509 --> 00:46:55,412 and lives it just feel like they're just wasting a little bit. 948 00:46:55,412 --> 00:46:56,914 Each day. 949 00:46:56,914 --> 00:46:59,149 I pray for a renewed strength and renewed energy 950 00:46:59,149 --> 00:47:02,152 and renewed trust and faith 951 00:47:02,553 --> 00:47:04,421 that our faith would grow by our obedience 952 00:47:05,656 --> 00:47:06,123 and that we'd 953 00:47:06,123 --> 00:47:09,126 obey even if we don't understand. 954 00:47:09,493 --> 00:47:10,694 Thank you for your protection. 955 00:47:10,694 --> 00:47:11,795 Thank you for your preparation. 956 00:47:11,795 --> 00:47:14,798 You were a good God and it is our honor and our privilege 957 00:47:15,766 --> 00:47:19,770 to belong to you and to become followers of you, 958 00:47:20,237 --> 00:47:23,240 to give ourselves and our resources, and to go 959 00:47:24,474 --> 00:47:27,444 and make sure those in our lives understand who you are as well. 960 00:47:27,444 --> 00:47:28,212 You're a good God. 961 00:47:28,212 --> 00:47:29,780 We love you. 962 00:47:29,780 --> 00:47:32,149 And your name I pray, Amen. Amen. 963 00:47:32,149 --> 00:47:35,853 Hey, listen, this week I want you to read chapter two 964 00:47:36,220 --> 00:47:37,788 and then chapter three, chapter three. 965 00:47:37,788 --> 00:47:41,859 We're going to get into John the Baptizer, and, 966 00:47:41,859 --> 00:47:46,964 and his role in the in, in Jesus coming to his public ministry. 967 00:47:46,964 --> 00:47:48,699 And then we'll get into the temptation of Jesus. 968 00:47:48,699 --> 00:47:50,400 It starts picking up some steam here. 969 00:47:50,400 --> 00:47:51,935 It's going to be a lot of fun. 970 00:47:51,935 --> 00:47:54,071 So read those to get ready. 971 00:47:54,071 --> 00:47:56,874 But also do this next Sunday 972 00:47:57,975 --> 00:48:01,011 three service eight, nine, 30 and 11 973 00:48:01,678 --> 00:48:04,681 okay, so here's what here's what's going to happen. 974 00:48:04,882 --> 00:48:07,417 You all you come to the 1030 service. 975 00:48:07,417 --> 00:48:08,418 Right. 976 00:48:08,418 --> 00:48:11,421 And so right, I mean, you know, you're here right? 977 00:48:14,124 --> 00:48:15,592 And so it's a natural 978 00:48:15,592 --> 00:48:18,662 just to kind of push that back half hour to the 11, 979 00:48:20,030 --> 00:48:21,765 you understand that? 980 00:48:21,765 --> 00:48:25,269 And so I told the first service we there wasn't people standing at the back. 981 00:48:25,269 --> 00:48:26,503 They got to choose. 982 00:48:26,503 --> 00:48:28,639 Now they're in the they're going to be in the middle. 983 00:48:28,639 --> 00:48:31,842 So they got to choose and clock or 11. 984 00:48:32,376 --> 00:48:35,579 So so if all I'm saying is 985 00:48:35,812 --> 00:48:39,449 it's going to be more natural for you to choose the 11, which is great. 986 00:48:40,017 --> 00:48:40,651 That's great. 987 00:48:40,651 --> 00:48:44,221 I know it feels late, but listen, you got to choose Egypt or Nazareth. 988 00:48:45,522 --> 00:48:47,991 That's just you got to choose one of them. 989 00:48:47,991 --> 00:48:51,528 And so you want to make a huge leap and go to Egypt. 990 00:48:51,528 --> 00:48:53,263 That's 8:00. 991 00:48:53,263 --> 00:48:55,899 You want to push back a little bit to Nazareth? 11. 992 00:48:55,899 --> 00:48:58,068 That's great, but choose well, listen, 993 00:48:58,068 --> 00:49:00,804 all the comfortable people are going to stay at the 931. 994 00:49:00,804 --> 00:49:03,740 They're a little bit more fragile, you know, they they can't 995 00:49:03,740 --> 00:49:06,510 they can't handle much movement or change in this world. 996 00:49:06,510 --> 00:49:09,513 So we'll we'll let them do that and they'll be okay. 997 00:49:09,746 --> 00:49:11,448 They'll grow a little bit and move to. 998 00:49:11,448 --> 00:49:13,417 But but you're going to choose okay. 999 00:49:13,417 --> 00:49:17,554 Now way big change Egypt or little change Nazareth. 1000 00:49:17,955 --> 00:49:20,157 But you you understand that okay. 1001 00:49:20,157 --> 00:49:21,892 It'd be great if you let us know a little bit 1002 00:49:21,892 --> 00:49:23,827 so we could help trying to get stuff ready. 1003 00:49:23,827 --> 00:49:27,097 But either way, you do that and invite some people with you 1004 00:49:27,297 --> 00:49:29,733 this next week to whatever. And here's another great thing. 1005 00:49:31,268 --> 00:49:34,271 Come to service and then serve a service. 1006 00:49:34,638 --> 00:49:37,240 Sit and serve or serve and sit in 1007 00:49:37,240 --> 00:49:40,377 stand will help get you plugged in if you want that, I love you. 1008 00:49:40,544 --> 00:49:42,279 I'm proud of you. 1009 00:49:42,279 --> 00:49:44,848 Thank you for going through God's Word together. 1010 00:49:44,848 --> 00:49:46,116 It's fun dealing. 1011 00:49:46,116 --> 00:49:49,086 You know, muchacho, and and.