Main idea: Seek Jesus Christ to Worship Him
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So if you're new with us, we are starting a new series. So this is a good, good week for you to be new. We're going to be doing a three week series through Matthew chapter two. And before we jump into Matthew two, we are in the middle of a long series in the life of Christ in our scripture readings on Sunday morning. So after Christmas, we go back to First Corinthians, but we're going to see Christ and then we're going to get the implications in Corinthians. I just I just want to say this, we we have good news, there's good news, we have a king and his name is Jesus. And I say that because there are all kinds of things that might distract you from that or make you go I don't know if that's really true. No, we have a king in his name is Jesus and that is the best news in the world. Please stand with me for the reading of God's Word. We're in Matthew chapter two. And I'm going to read one through five. And we're going to take this over three weeks, this this whole chapter, and we're gonna see the first people who really sought after Jesus in Matthew's Gospel, the wise men from the East. Now, 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 assembling all the chief priests and scribes, 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 are 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, this is the word of the Lord. God we do say thank you for giving us your word. You speak. And we have heard, you have been gracious you did not leave us in the dark. You did not leave us to guess what was true. But you have revealed to us in the Scriptures, the story of Christ, your Son, our Savior, and we would pray that you had by your Spirit give us attentiveness to all of the truths here that correct so much of the noise, the the misleading or misinformed truths that are in songs and in the various things that go along with Christmas time. So give us clear sight to help us be like the Wiseman who search for Jesus to worship Him. We asked us in Christ's name, Amen. You may be seated. Do you like a warm blanket? A cup of cocoa, and a crackling fire? And a good Christmas story? Do you like those? That's good. This is not one of those. This is not that story. Sorry to say Matthew two is far from that Jesus was born into a warzone for Jesus, there's no warm reception. He's not received into the palace. There's no generous and glad welcomed by the Bible experts. Know now there's indifference. There's deception, there's brutality, attempted murder, tragic civilian casualties. Herod responds, in an all out war on a little town of Bethlehem. No one, the end of this chapter is singing. How still we see the lie. Yet in every movement of Matthew chapter two, God conquers. We find out how Christ fulfills the Scriptures. And how, after the death of Herod, guess who's still the king. Jesus is still the king. Jesus was born into a warzone. He was he is and he will advance his kingdom at such good news. He doesn't come with military weapons or warfare. He wasn't even popular with kings or councils. He he wasn't popular with religious conservatives. He wasn't popular with liberal elites. But he was and is Savior of the world and rightful ruler of the nations. I find a great comfort in that I find a great comfort in that. He is on the throne in heaven. And this is the story of his birth. Here's the big idea this week. It's just falling right along with the wisemen. Seek Jesus Christ to worship Him. Seek Jesus Christ to worship Him, you're gonna see two seekers. Herod and the Wiseman. Two seekers seek Jesus Christ to worship him. Matthew constructs the story brilliantly. We get a detailed numerically perfect genealogy in chapter one, one through, or what is it one through 17 He is Jesus is the descendant of David, the descendant of Abraham. And both of those received covenant promises. Starting in 18th, we see that he is born of a virgin, and therefore truly the Son of God. The ancient world, had lots of stories of Gods consorting with women and producing demigods Hercules, and there's lots of those kinds of ancient stories. This isn't one of those stories. The Holy Spirit placed Jesus into the womb of Mary. Jesus was fully God, fully man, not half god and half man, but fully God and fully man, because he has come to save His people from their sins. And after his birth, the first thing Matthew wants to show us are true seekers. Who are the true seekers? Surprisingly, not the Jewish religious experts, people who got a vision of a supernatural star in the sky.
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If you're new with us, Matthew is going to push you to a decision. Will you be like the Weizmann? Will you be like Herod or the religious experts? truly seeking God to worship seeking God to destroy him? Or just indifferent? Yeah, I got all the scripture of the match. I don't even have all the facts yet. Matthew tells us very little of what they know. But they really come to worship. There are great responses to the truth of the birth of Jesus and their terrible responses. If you're familiar with this, with the stories, are they merely nostalgic? Or do they stir you to keep seeking Jesus to truly know Him and worship him? I mean, this this is the season where we are flooded with all kinds of music, we, we can walk through Safeway at 11 because we forgot something for a Christmas party and have to go bring it to the office and hear Oh, holy night. And then hear Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer. The next song
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you're gonna drive by a house and it's got this big blow up. Santa, a big blow up snowman, a big blow up, nut cracker person, dude. There's one of those on rock wood giant thing. And there's a major with all the people there. You know, it's part of the season man, which I liked the season. I liked the parties. But does all of this stir you to keep seeking Jesus to truly know Him and worship Him. This is what Matthew does right out of the gate right away, the first response is going to be a response that forces us to a decision. Even if you don't have it all together in your head about who Jesus is, are you going to truly seek Him so that you can worship Him? So we're going to take Matthew two and three parts of the next three weeks, we're going to look at the Weizmann coming to Jerusalem this week, the wisemen going to Bethlehem next week and then Herod's responses, where Jesus is going to have to flee the country to preserve his life. Joseph and Mary, you're gonna have to carry him out. This morning, we're gonna look at this part and three respond in three, three parts. Every good sermon has three parts and a poem at the end, and I've got one from Johnny Cash. Wait for it. Nothing else will be exciting in the sermon except that. All right, let's start. Let's just start with the great responses the great responses to the book With Jesus Christ, is it any wonder that Matthew is going to include the account of wise men as the as the first response to the arrival of Messiah? Is that really a surprise? You could show up at Hobby Lobby, and there's probably 10 varieties of the mom sign that says Wise men still seek Jesus. And that's a good one. You could buy that one. That's a good one. There's a lot of like, I heard the word was chunky this week, a lot of Chuki stuff. I don't know what it means, but it doesn't sound like it's pleasant in the throat. When the when the wise men are given revelation about messiahs birth, they make a significant effort to see him to worship Him. Verse One to One says this. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem. We are told for the first time in Matthew that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, and it's significant for several reasons. Great King David was born there. So it's called the city of David. God made one of the greatest covenant promises. After Abraham, and his promise, the next great one is David and the promise to him that he's going to have an heir to the throne of Israel forever. It's David city, for a second reason. The God who is his creator and sustainer of all the universe, was not born in a human capital. He was not born in a palace. He was not born with attendance. No, he was born in a little farm village, Bethlehem. Just it was the granary house of bread is its literal title, which meant that it was like a village to store grain. And the farmers and ranchers raised the wheat and the barley and the sheep of the area. Jesus didn't come to a palace, he came humbly in a humble little city. It's about five miles six miles from Jerusalem, to Bethlehem, you know, a hard walk two hours. It's not very far. And even though it's 1000 years, and even though David was born there, it's still very small. It was not a strategic location was a humble location. It was teeming with sheep raised for the sacrifices in the temple. Very likely Luke's account of the first people who get the revelation that the Messiah has been born the shepherds there, they're very likely tending sheep that are eventually going to be the sacrificial animals up in Jerusalem at Passover. From Luke's account we learned that this is Josephs ancestral village, Joseph is Jesus adopted earthly father, this is the line that runs in chapter one is from Josef's line who was a son of the king, or a descendant of David the king. It was during the days of Herod the Great, we're gonna give you a little history lesson. So you understand cuz here's this question, why is everybody troubled? Why is everybody troubled? Let's get a little backstory to see why this would be troubling to have these, these Magi calm it was the days of Herod the king. And this is the one in history that they call Herod the Great, there are a number of Herod's sons after him. This is Herod the Great, Herod the builder. And he wasn't Jewish, he was into men or from Edom. That's going to be significant in the prophecy. His father was a governor appointed by Rome 30 years before this, the Empire Parthia. So Rome, if we're looking at a big map, Rome had this place all the way up to the Great Britain and all the way to the edge right on the side of of Israel, and the next Empire over was Parthia. the Parthians had invaded. Young Herod has to escape to Egypt escaped to Rome. He convinced his Octavius Caesar Augustus to appoint him king, send him a military and Herod proves to be an able military general and leader and politician. He drives the Parthians. out he established his Roman rule, he takes over the priestly class. He's not Jewish, but he marries into a Jewish family he raises he bears a number of children. From Rome's perspective, he's able effective little rule worthless, but he gets the job done. He began a massive building campaign all over Israel and Palestine. The most notable is the building project for the Jewish temple, Jerusalem, where he has his palace. He served his own interests first Roman interests second, and he was masterfully and amply rewarded. But in this ruthlessness, he was known for suppressing Jewish uprisings. There were a lot of zealots SELL IT groups who saw Herod as part of the oppressive class, they saw the chief priests as part of the compromisers. And he brutally stamped out in a rebellion. Herod was so ruthless that he would not only if you if you were the organizer of a rebellion, he would kill you, your family and all of the friends of your family. Everybody knew to keep the peace with Herod was to keep quiet, keep your head low. He was so brutal that he had three of his own sons put to death and his Jewish wife Maryam they for suspected plots against him. They didn't love him. He was not a great father. He was a powerful father. So when the Weizmann entered Jerusalem, Harrods nearly 70 Paranoia plagued him. Fear of attack from Parthia was always on his mind Jewish uprising still brewed. He was not loved by the Jewish ruling class. He was feared and the ruling class and the people were eager for a way to depose him. Herod is the epitome of God's judgment on disobedient Israel, another foreign oppressor over Israel. Israel had still been by and large in disobedience to their covenant with him. Were not following his law. They were unoccupied people waiting a Messiah to liberate them. It says next, Wiseman came from the east to Jerusalem. Why has been came from the east the Greek word Maguey is often translated transliterated as Magi. So you've heard them called the Magi. It's, it's that transliteration. It literally means great ones. But though these were part of a different religious ruling class, there was a ruling class in the Parthian kingdom that was centered in Babylon that had its heritage back before the time of Daniel, but Daniel ended up becoming the lead appointee over this religious ruling class. You can look that up in Daniel.
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They were almost certainly Zoroastrian Zoroastrians were monotheists. Often very friendly with Jews, they often sought Jewish scriptures to understand but in their conception of God, there was one God and he had an arch enemy. And there was almost this dualistic balance between this arch enemy and their God. If you want to think of them think think of a religion more like with a personal God more like what you would get with the force. And Lucas lore Sayers so nice. He texted me in between Oh, so they're more like Jedi Jedi? No, I did not say they were like Jedi.
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But they were king makers. They were part of another Senate, which is really significant for them to do this. They they followed astrology which was a pseudo science, they looked at the stars and got omens from the movement of the planets. And they saw his star rise at his birth. Now we're gonna see this is a supernatural sign. This star is not a natural star. It's, it's, it's not the rising of a new planet or a new star or a comet, because it disappears and it will reappear next week when we look at the story. Remember, this shouldn't be a real surprise to Old Testament scholars God, God went before Israel and a pillar of cloud by night. God is known for showing supernatural light signs for people to follow him, but it was just revealed to them. Now if the religious scholars had checked into it, it would be significant because there is a promise of someone rising numbers 20 417 says a star so come out of Jacob, a scepter shall rise out of Israel. And that star is not referring to a literal star but a ruler. A scepter so rise out of Israel, it shall crushed the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Chef. Edom shall be dispossessed sear, and all his enemies shall be dispossessed Israel is doing valiantly. If they would have looked up that verse, it would have been even less welcome news to Herod. Because Herod was an Edomite. There's going to be a ruler who is going to rise who will crush Edom. That is a prophecy of Jesus. So here they come to Jerusalem, the capital city. Why Jerusalem? Well, it's the capital city, where would you expect the King of the Jews to be born right next to the temple where they worship Him. The temple is God's throne room on Earth. So they would expect to come to Jerusalem, the star had disappeared, they come and they start asking questions. Where is he who was born King of the Jews, we have come to worship him. So God in His mercy condescended to their astrology, and he gave them special revelation. Maybe perhaps they knew some scripture, Matthew doesn't really tell us. But it was plain that they knew God's King had been born and they have come to worship him. That word worship prasco means to bow down and reverence and honor and offer obesogens that is allegiance. They were ready to acknowledge him as Israel's next king is very significant. Yes, they were likely wealthy, they probably brought a military escort soldiers, probably discrete but soldiers nonetheless, we have no idea how many they brought three gifts. We have zero idea if it's three kings, two kings 20. kings from the east, we don't know. But they come, ready to worship. I find this so interesting. I don't know what has gotten your attention. To come this morning, to search for Christ. But this is a great response. This is a great response to the truth. Maybe you've been raised with scriptural teaching, here in the church, maybe a friend has invited you. Maybe you just looked us up online? Maybe you've been a Bible student for years. Are you ready to come to Jesus, and to bow before Him and worship Him? Offer your allegiance and obedience? This is a great response. It was costly for them. They journeyed who knows how long for how from how far and how long? Who knows what kind of conditions they needed to sleep in and find lodging every night. They were willing to take great risk. And they certainly had to know that there would be political turmoil, if they show up asking for a king. But they want to worship this newborn King. Is that your response? Are you ready to see him and to worship Him? To cut out the noise and to focus on Christ your king and offer him obedience in every area of your life? We have a great response. We have a terrible response. Number two, the terrible response to the birth of Jesus. It says when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, kind of at this point is you're hearing the history of going no da and all Jerusalem with him. Another no die. So Herod assembles all the chief priests and scribes of the people he acquired them where the Christ was to be born, because wealthy men from the East had shown up looking for a newborn king of the Jews. Well, Herod would naturally be troubled. What is this trouble mean this, this trouble the idea is, it's translated in other other passages as frightened, intimidated, stirred up terrified when it comes to a crowd causes an uproar disturbed. That's what's going on here. Because Herod, here's there's a rival King that's been born in the country. And these wise men from Parthia, the enemy empire that he worked hard, decades before to eradicate, we're here to acknowledge the king. They weren't happy with their own king. They heard good news of a king who was ready to lead and rule the world. Herod was very troubled At nearly 70, I am certain that he wants to go out protecting his legacy not wanting another rebellion to come up within his reign, and I am certain that he doesn't want to have Rome's disapproval. And so for a paranoid King willing to kill his own family, this is a significant threat. Why is all Israel troubled? Why is all city of Jerusalem trouble again not doesn't take much imagination. The priestly ruling class had managed a mutually beneficial relationship with Herod. They were wealthy and powerful because of it. And they now had rule over all of daily life, daily Jewish life. They feared Herod Herod having another paranoid cleansing river Herod didn't just punish his political enemies, but their family and their friends of the family. Of course, they were troubled. From a very worldly standpoint. And Herod knew enough of Jewish religion, that he feared that the Jews would think that this was their time for an uprising to follow their Christ, the wise men are searching for him. Now, here it is to the second inquiry, the assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people he inquired of them were the Christ was to be born. The chief priests, we're going to fast forward to the end of the Gospels there. They're the sagia C group. They're the religious party. They're theologically liberal, they're politically practical. And they have control of the temple. Therefore, they have control of the money because every time somebody brings a sacrifice, they bring a tax and they get to control the money and the sacrificial system, and they are wealthy and powerful. He goes to ask them, it says also the scribes of the people, these would have been the experts in the law, some Levites some Pharisees they would have been experts in the law. Notice what he says he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. This is a significant title, good if you're new to Christianity, what's the term Christ refer to the term fright Christ refers to God's long awaited promised King promised all the way back in Genesis of, of a descendant from Eve, who would be able to crush Satan's head and all of the enemies. prophecy after prophecy from this story of the Old Testament from Genesis on promises this Christ officially the title Christ comes from the time of David Anointed One God special promised King, and there was a expectation all around the ancient Near East all around this area. You can find it in the historians as far west as Rome and as far east as Babylon, that there is going to be a king who is going to rise up and rule all of the world.
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Where is the Christ to be born? Next week, you're going to see clearly that Harrods not seeking to worship Harrods, seeking to destroy the first terrible responses to Dr. Messiah out of his life.
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The second response is indifference. Here comes the Messiah is going to create peace and, and bring an end to wickedness and oppression to provide forgiveness and restoration to God. And yet Herod's answer is not to be on good terms you would think of Herod was really powerful, really smart, he would want to be the first ally of the king of the nations. But he had too much personally to lose. He's got a legacy to lose. He's got all these building projects to lose. He would have to submit himself to another and put himself at odds with Rome. You think Herod knowing a miracle happened would rejoice the opportunity, you would think that the experts in the Scripture who know where he is supposed to be, would be overjoyed that the Messiah had been born
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no one wants to be an ally or a servant of the king. When you're obsessed with your own kingdom No one wants to be an ally, or a servant of the king when you're obsessed with your own kingdom. Because here's the deal, the coming of Christ means we have a King over every aspect of our lives. So, if you can no longer be master over your marriage, over your intimacy, over your finances or over your budget, Jesus might be a threat. If you can no longer be master over your career choices, over your wealth, Jesus might be a threat. If you can no longer be master over your own room or your own toys, kids, Jesus might be a threat, because the birth of Jesus means the king not only of Israel, but of the whole world here, and he is master over at all. And I want you to hear this. We're often blind to this fact. What we think we have mastery over what we think we have dominion over, actually has dominion over us. This paranoia of Herod had dominion over him, this trouble among the religious experts mastered them. They're great responses there are terrible responses. Which leads us to the immediate responses to the birth of Jesus coming from the Scripture. This is where it starts to come home to them and to us and what we need to do with what God said, the Bible experts do know where to find the answer. And it's, it's an answer that provides hope and it demands allegiance. They say this, this is verses five and six, they told him, quote, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it was written by the prophet, and you are 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.
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They know the religious experts, especially the scribes of the people say it's written by a prophet Matthew now is going to be careful throughout his gospel, to display plainly and openly that Jesus birth and then what we have in the New Testament, is the logical extension of the Old Testament. You don't have one kind of God in the Old Testament and another kind of God and the New Testament. What you have is one God who has been unfolding his plan, promising salvation, forgiveness, restoration, transformation of his people, in the face of a hostile world that's, that wants to do anything but follow him, that God will fulfill his plan. And over and over by the mouth of prophet after prophet prediction has been made. And Matthew, like Luke, like John And like Mark wants to show how the New Testament is the natural overflow of the Old Testament. The Prophet, the one who spoke from God whose words were right, written down, whose words are scripture, knows just where it is, these experts know, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Judah. This little out of the way place, here would come a ruler who would Shepherd His people Israel. The context of that prophecy is crucial. And here's what I want you to hear. As we start going through these, whenever a Bible writer like Matthew gives you a quote from a passage of the Old Testament, he's not doing something that you and I could not normally do with Old Testament Bible references. I was taught that in summer seminary, that the apostles because their apostles can do different things with the Scriptures than we can do. I don't think that's valid or right. I think what Matthew and all the writers are doing is taking those passages out of their context properly applying it and bringing it into the scene, which is very true here. In mica, Israel has been under discipline by God for their unfaithfulness, and they are going to be oppressed. They are oppressed there is a foreign ruler, there is someone from Edom causing them trouble. And so they're oppressed and they're suppressed, and God announces to them that one day there will be a restoration. If you look back at Micah, five, two through five, you can see how this shows up. And I have a pretty good view reason why the religious experts didn't write all of the verse. The last thing we want Herod to do is kill us. So we're gonna give you just enough. For Matthew For Matthews purposes, this is just enough Jesus has this is the one announced here's where he's going to be born. Here's back in Micah five two it says but you owe Bethlehem Africa are too little, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, like you're this little tiny town that's not very important. And and you're included in the tribes of Judah. From you shall come forth for me, one who is to be ruler in Israel, God's ruler is coming, who's coming forth is from old from Ancient of Days. This means that the ruler coming wasn't just old. He is from eternity. He is giving an announcement not just of something that was predicted from eternity, but one whose existence was from eternity. That existence can only be explained as God. God is sending God to come and liberate. Therefore He shall give them up until the time when he was in labor has given birth, the long time of Israel's exile, then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel and He shall stand and shepherd his flock and the strength of the Lord and the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall dwell secure. For now He shall be great, one of the ancient Near East. titles for a king, when you want to talk about his personal care and protective instinct was to call him a shepherd. Remember, shepherds have slings and stones, staff and spears, because there are lions and wild animals and wild dogs, and thieves always threatening the flock. Jesus is going to shepherd his people it will be in Might, and it will be with personal affection and care. And they shall dwell secure, for He shall be great to the ends of the earth, and He shall be their peace, the one who is going to come is going to be the protector, he is going to be the Reconciler he is going to be he is going to be their shepherd. The last line in this quote is from Ezekiel 3423 and 24. The references this, he will shepherd his people, Ezekiel 3423, again, 500 600 years before this, this is what's announced I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them and he shall feed them and be their shepherd and I the LORD will be their God and my servant David Shelby prince among them, I am the Lord. I have spoken the greater David the descendant of David has come. So Jesus is born into a warzone of oppression, of hostility toward God and he comes to bring peace. He brings a peace between God and His people between those who worship idols. And he cuts down those who remain stiff necked and stubborn, like Herod. In less than a year Herod will be dead.
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Herod only knew the peace that he could achieve through power and violence and political control. He can only he only knew the control of his fame. He only knew the control of his legacy and it was always fragile. Herod was going to attempt it, to keep his legacy to keep his place. But God was going to cut him down what is in your life that you live to control? What's in your life that you live to control? Friend I just said it controls you. It controls you. The best immediate response to the news is to bring everything in your life under the shepherd King and worship Him The best immediate response is to search out Jesus even more. The religious experts were not even willing to walk two hours, while the wise men were willing to travel, who knows how long spent who knows how much and stay who knows where the whole trip to take some risk under maniacal King Herod, you would think if it was their king, a few of them would say, well, that star these wise men, this is where you're supposed to be born, hey, let's grab a group and they would get a group in the middle of the night says I know inherit is going to do we know his reputation, we should set send a band of soldiers, we should send them down to Bethlehem, we should make search for the child and we should get him out and we should hide him and we should protect him. And we should set them up with all that he and his parents need and care for him. And what do they do? Nothing. They're either too afraid of Herot or they just don't care. They just don't care. That's a terrible response. What's a good response? If you're new to starting the Bible, it could look like reading, listening, studying. If you're familiar with the Bible, I think of of now to the passages about the resurrection of Christ, and the ascension of Christ. Basically four months worth of readings, if you as a family just started in Matthew, tomorrow, five days a week. And you just did five days a week of one chapter a day in a gospel and you went through all that you've finished all of the Gospels. By Easter. They're not that long. The wise men, the wise men, traveled all those weeks or months. To worship and know, this newborn king, you could do that. It looks like worshiping Him with your relationships submitting with your greatest conflicts to his kingship. You have a communication conflict, you have an intimacy conflict. You have some kind of marriage conflict, you have a sibling conflict. You have work ambitions, all of it surrender to the Lordship of Christ. He's the one who was on the throne. I'm going to surrender all of it and all of my will to him. He wants to raise me up for a short term team, my life's his I'll go he wants me to raise me up to support financially a short term team, the money is his let's get him to go might want you to move across town, he might want you to move to a less safe place. He might want you to start a new set of relationships. He might want you to speak up to people who are in different there's all kinds of things he might want you to sacrifice your selfishness in the relationships in your life. All of those are great responses to the king.
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But if you want to hold control, if you want to hold control the thing that you control will control you. I heard a great cover of the Johnny Cash song somebody said it out there. I heard you. There's Johnny Cash when I used to cut it down. Thanks for listening. Thank you. The great cover. The title songs, God's going to cut you down till that long tongue. I figured this guy could go right to hear it. Tell that long tongue liar till that Midnight Rider, the gambler the Rambler the back biter tell them that God's going to cut them down. You can run on for a long time you can run on for a long time you can run on for a long time. But sooner or later God will cut you down. You will die and you'll have to stand before him. But God sent Jesus so you don't have to be cut down. The kids just sing in their memory verse. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not be cut down, should not perish but have everlasting life. When we get to what the Weizmann do the end of next week. They're coming to worship God you That's my prayer for us. Father, thank you for what you have given in this precious story. How My heart soars, that you were willing to send your Son the Lord Jesus. Our hearts soar, that you are willing to be born in Bethlehem laid in a manger live among a people who rejected you, in a world of nations that rejected you to draw many to yourself by grace. And so now I pray that you would bring repentance and faith compel us to worship you. Christ's name we pray, amen.
Dr. Dan Jarms is teaching pastor and team leader at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at TMS Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, gardening, brick oven cooking.
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Main idea: Trust Christ who endured the most hateful outburst and humble childhood. ...
