Transcription
500 years before the event ever occurred in the story of Matthew, chapter 2, Micah, in chapter 5, was prophesying this is going to happen. Micah, chapter 5, verses 2 and 4 says, “But you, Bethlehem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be the ruler over Israel; whose origins are from the old, from ancient times.” And here’s the promise that the Lord says, “He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.” And here’s the promise, “And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth, and he will be our peace. He will be our peace.”
You may be seated this morning. For a moment today, we heard the journey of the wise men; not only the journey of the wise men of distance, but also an expression of their hearts—expression of your hearts. Because what you do matters, not what you say; what you do matters. So as an expression of the heart that I’m talking about, of the Magi, you just heard the three different accounts that they came with gifts; they didn’t come empty-handed. And in the account of the Gospel of Matthew, we see the type, the type of the birth of Jesus in detail. As a matter of fact, when I started looking and preparing for this, Matthew chapter 2, I see three different expressions of worship, and one of these three are you. By the time you leave here today, you’re going to say, “Yeah, that’s me. I don’t want to be this one,” because your life and my life, as you heard the songs today, we were created to love Him; we were created to worship Him. [Applause]
I know it’s been a troubling year. I know it’s been somewhat a hectic year of wearing all sorts of masks and so forth, but no one can really stop Christmas from coming; no one can really stop your worship from happening, your expression. No one can stop that; no governor, no mayor, no president can stop you from opening up your mouth and worshipping God. And so this day, I have labeled these three worships three different names. Let me give it to you here, if you’re taking notes. The first one is called genuine worship. Genuine worship; those are the wise men, not the wise guys. The wise men. And then there’s number two, would be the superficial worship. Those would be the religious people; those are the people who’ve been in church too long, too long. And in their mind they say, “I got this down. I can close my eyes; I know how far I can raise my hand.” That you have it down to a science, but you really don’t worship; your expression is the same, yet the Bible tells me a lamentation: it’s new every day. And then the third worship out of Matthew chapter 2, I’m going to call it false worship. The Bible says that God is looking for people to worship Him in spirit and in what? Truth. And number three would be Herod. So let me explain all three of them to you today.
Number one, it’s the genuine worship; that’s got to be the Magi. And can I tell you here this morning, you guys are the Magi? You all left the comforts of your home; you left sister bed and brother pillow. You said, in the middle of a pandemic, you said to yourself, “I’m going to church, whether I wear two masks or three masks, it’ll make a difference; I’m going to church, and I’m going to find the…” Come on, somebody! I’ve come here to preach to you all. [Music] [Applause] The Magi, y’all, the Magi. These are educated people; these are not uneducated people. These are people who are astronomers; these are people who are well, uh, respected in their society. From Persia; they’re from Persia. People with money, with power and prestige, position. You get the idea; these are no jokers. These were men of influence; these are men who study the stars; these are men who study dreams. And on this particular day, there was a star. It wasn’t a “twinkle twinkle little star,” y’all, like you and I see in the frames in the picture of Christmas, like a little star that’s painting; it wasn’t like that. It was, in my opinion, it was like the glory of God; it was the glory of God. You know it, and I know it, as the Shekinah glory; it was the Shekinah glory. Because what makes you, y’all, what makes you get up from Persia and travel one year’s journey to a place and follow? But it would be the kind of glory, because when you seek the presence of God, it makes, it makes you do things that other people don’t want to do. [Applause]
These wise men, who are educated, well-respected astronomers, they must have learned from under Daniel; I don’t know. They must have learned from Daniel when Daniel was in Babylon; they had to come from the school, and it might have been Daniel who told them about Micah, chapter five: “There will come a baby, and he will be born in Bethlehem.” And they have come to worship the person they saw; not an ordinary star, they saw the glory of God. And it’s the glory of God, y’all, that pulls us to worship Him. They’ve come with gifts in their hands from Persia; it was premeditated, y’all. That’s why I’ve been trying to teach you for the last 19 years that when you leave your house, you don’t make it up what you’re going to do, what you’re going to give to the Lord in the parking lot; no, you’re already thinking throughout the whole week, and you’re like, “When I get to church, I’m going to give my gift offering; I’m going to bless the Lord.” These people, they travel with their offering for a year; it was free. It’s not like they stopped at Bethlehem airport and picked up some key chains. [Music] No, they left their houses and they said, “This is going to be the finest gift for the King; the finest gift for the King.” Traveled over a year’s journey; people who study the stars and the dreams, they knew it was different, and they approached their approach; these, this, this worship of, of genuine worship, they’re approached, uh, Herod. Listen to me; genuine worship. Look at me; genuine worship; and those that are watching online, genuine worship requires a level of commitment that will often involve inconveniences. [Music] Can I say that again? Genuine worship, when you don’t care about a mask, when you don’t care about the traffic, when you don’t care if you got gas in your car… Well, you know, genuine worship requires a commitment like some of you are just crazy folks; you’re like, “I’m going to church; I’ll put a mask here, I put a mask here, I put a mask here; I don’t care, I’m going to church,” because you’re learning here this morning that genuine worship requires a commitment that offers involves inconveniences. And they come with three gifts. You learn today that gold, it reflects royalty, which is an expression of God, King. Frankincense for purity, which is an expression of a holy God. Look at me, church; He’s holy. It’s not like it’s not like He’s after holiness; He is holy. God is love; it’s not like He’s after love; He is love. You get the idea; so He’s a holy God, He’s God, King, and all of these gifts represents who He is. And myrrh for suffering is the expression of God, man. And so these three guys, they show up at the palace of Herod—I’m paraphrasing—they show up at pear at Herod’s palace and said, “We have come; we have come to worship the King; where is He at?” And Herod is thinking, “Papa, I am the King.” And they’re thinking, “You’re not the King; you’re not the guy; there’s another guy in your kingdom that has been born to be the King of the Jews. We have come,” the Magi says, “We have come to worship Him.” Can you imagine the day somebody shows up to your house and you’re the woman of the house and they said, “We, where’s the woman of the house?” And you’re like, “I am.” No, there’s another woman in here. Or if you’re the man of the house and there’s another man; you don’t like that idea. This is your castle; this is your kingdom. And Herod is like, “Oh, this isn’t going to happen.” So you know what Herod does? He calls his, he calls his, his, his Bible college students who are into scripture, who are into the book, the theologians; he calls them. He says, “Where is this child?” And immediately the Bible says, “They said Bethlehem.” You mean you don’t have to pray about this? You knew about this. If it was me, I’d be like, “You, Papa, you knew that this was going to happen.” They said Bethlehem. And you know what Bethlehem means? Baptism means house of bread; that’s what Bethlehem means. Bethel means Bethel means house; Bethlehem means house of bread. And Jesus would be born in the city which is the least of these. Today, Bethlehem is maybe 30,000 people; today, back in the days of Jesus, it’s probably like a thousand people. It’s the least of the cities, but Beto is used throughout the Bible. We see the word Bethel, which means house of God; beside, which means house of fish; Bethesda means house of mercy. And Jesus would be born in Bethlehem, house of bread, in the least cities. Watch this; in, in the insignificant city. Think about it for a moment; it’s the city of David; it’s the city where Ruth and Boaz were at, right? It was to be the city of Boaz or the city of David. The great-grandson of Ruth and Boaz was born in this city, Bethlehem. It was important because Joseph, Mary’s husband, had to go to Bethlehem because he’s from the lineage of David. I like this; watch this; watch this. God has a way of choosing people from obscure places; God has a way of choosing treasures from obscure places. He chose Moses from a basket; Elijah from a cave; Joseph from a prison; Jesus from Bethlehem.
Number two, you think about superficial worship; it’s a religious leader. These are the people who, I said, they’re theologians. There’s something to say about those who are into scriptures. Look at me; there’s something to say about those who are into the Bible, but not into the Author. You may have my book; you may have my book, but it doesn’t mean you know me; you just have my book. Something to say about people who are into scriptures. And so when Herod turned around and he says to the theologians, he says, “Hey, what do you have to say about this?” And these people came with the book and they said, “Yes, in Bethlehem, Micah says it would come in back.” So it’s something to say about people who have the book and yet they have information and yet the information doesn’t move them to go worship. Are you with me? I mean, I mean, I mean, what’s the value of having a book if you’re not going to use it? What’s the value? You and I know that when you’re in trouble, you don’t need a law book; you need a lawyer. You and I know that when we’re sick, I don’t need a medical book; I need a, a doctor. And when I’m lost, when I’m lost, I don’t need a GPS; I need a Savior. And so you have people in the church who are superficial worshippers who come and really have no intentions of worshipping the King, because you leave the same way, the same route you came in. Because when you truly are a genuine worshiper, you go broke; you’re all in.
Number three; number three, look at this; watch this. Verse number three; it’s the false worshiper; it’s Herod. Some of you are like, “I don’t want to be him.” You and I know that when Herod said in verse 8 of Matthew chapter 2, Herod says to the badges, “Tell me where the baby’s at, so I can go and worship Him.” You lie; liar, liar, pants on fire. You know you don’t want to worship; you want to kill your competition. False worship; that people who come and have different arterial motive; are you with me? Herod was offended that these guys would travel a year plus with gifts to worship a King who would be born in his city, in his providence, and yet the religious people, look at me, are five miles away. Jerusalem from Bethlehem is five miles away, and they had the information, but they’re not willing to even travel five miles. Yet these guys, the wise men, are traveling over a year, y’all; a year in the Judean hills, a year in the desert, a year with sandstorms and desert pirates, risking their lives with their gifts on the camel, and they’re saying, “Nothing’s going to stop me; we’re going to find this baby; we’re going to find this King, and we’re going to present our gifts to Him, and we’re going to worship Him.” I think you guys are Magi; I think all of you all are Magi. And there’s some of you that are looking that are healthy and you’ve allowed the covet… Look at me; you think the devil cares if you got covey? He doesn’t care; he doesn’t even care if you lose your job; he doesn’t even care if your 401k plan goes broke. What he wants to steal is your worship. [Music] If I could just shut her up. [Music] If I can just shut him up, it’s all good; I’ve defeated him. But some of you all through 2020, you came through this worshipping; you’re like, “Hey, don’t make a difference; I’m going to continue to worship the Lord; I’m going to praise God,” because what you do matters.
Now I thought about not going too deep into this, but I need you to follow me; please follow me. You think Christmas started in Matthew chapter 2? I’m gonna tell you that it started in Genesis chapter 3. And follow me; when God created Adam and Eve, and He looked at the two, and He looked at the man, and He said to the man, “Subdue, multiply; this is all yours; conquer, have dominion; this is all yours, Adam. But this tree, don’t touch it, because the day you touch it…” Look at me; “the day you touch it, you will surely die.” And you already know that God is holy; that when God says something, He’s going to take it to the bank; He is not man that He shall lie; He’s a holy God. And when He says you’re going to die, you’re going to die. Follow me. So Adam, this is all yours; you and your wife have dominion over this; conquer this, but please don’t touch this tree, because the day you do, you’re gonna die. Good, good. The enemy, who is in the spirit, has now has to take a form in a physical form to order to deal with man. So he comes in a snake; not in the spirit form, he comes in a physical form, in the snake, and he deceives the woman; the woman, the man. Now there’s a disconnect. God comes to the garden and says, “Adam, where are you? Where are you?” Oh no, you did it; no, you did it. And He, God got it; it’s not like it’s like God didn’t know where He was at. Come on, guys; He just wanted to make sure that you knew where you were at. Look at you; you’re hiding; you’re hiding. Look at me; He says, “Okay.” And He looked at the serpent, “Okay, I will cause enmity between you and the woman. The woman…” I will cause hostility; that’s what that means, enmity; it doesn’t mean enemy; it means hostility. “I will cause hostility between you and the woman, serpent. You’re so uneducated; you’re so dumb; you don’t think when I made Eve, I made her to have the capacity to have a child. And in her womb, ladies, you have the capacity to have a child in your womb, and your child’s blood will never touch your blood. Did you know that? I just found that out this week. I thought I shared the good news that when God created woman, He created her to have a child, and her blood would never touch the child’s blood because of the placenta. And God says, “You serpent, uneducated fool, don’t you think I have a plan? Someone has to die because I told Adam, ‘Someone will surely die.’ Someone has to die. Merry Christmas!” It’s essentially that God saying to Adam, “Merry Christmas, Adam; I have a plan; I have a plan.” Two thousand years later, thousands of years later, in Matthew chapter 2, in Bethlehem, the woman… That’s why it’s called a virgin birth; Mary’s blood never touched Jesus’s blood. Merry Christmas. He loved you so much that He told Adam, “Someone’s got to die; I gave you my word, but I love you so much that I can’t cause you to die; I’m going to send My Son to come in your place.” For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. Did you get it? Merry Christmas. He loves you so much that you are alive today; you’re breathing; I’m alive today and breathing. Listen to me; God spoke to the Magi in a dream; it was in a dream. God spoke to them in the star, but now He’s speaking to them in the dream, and what they know, and He warned them, “Don’t go back the same way.” And the Bible says, “And the Magi win a different route.” And my advice to you this morning and those that are watching across this nation, do not go back the same way you came in; do not leave here the same way you came in; hurt, broken, frustrated, angry; go for broke. The Bible says that the Magi—and you heard from one of the speakers—that the Magi came and they bow down and they open their treasures. Look at me; they open their treasures as to say, “We’re all in; we didn’t spend a year traveling in danger to play it safe, so we’re all in.” And the Bible says, “And they worship; they adore Him.” [Music] House of bread; angels; oh come let us come on the Lord. [Music] The Bible says that the Magi, they went through a different path, and I don’t know how it was, but just indulge me this morning as I closed that the three of them left on their camels and they were in a different route, and, and they, they were passing through the gas station; they’re like, “You got any money, bro?” He said, “Man, I went for broke; I got anything.” It was so awesome to see baby Jesus; it was so awesome to see the King. And they went to the gas station; they started telling people, and they started telling other folks, because that’s what the Gospel is; that’s Christmas; it’s about sharing the good news that God loves you, no matter what you’ve done, no matter what havoc you have created. He said in Genesis 3, “Merry Christmas, Adam; you’re not going to die, even though I told you someone’s going to die; it would be My Son.” That’s how much I love you; My Son will die for you. Whatever you had bowed in, every eyes closed… I don’t know how many of you hear the sound of my voice would say, “Pastor Choco, I need this Christmas message; I needed to hear this. I’ve come different routes, and I want to leave out of here this morning with the light of Jesus for me that I will have a new beginning. This Covid-19 has disrupted my faith; has caused me to wander; pray for me.” If that’s you, lift your hands; I want to pray for you. Hands are going up; hands are going up. He loves you; He loves you in your mess. He says, “Someone’s going to die, and Adam, it won’t be you; it would be My Son, who I love so much, but I love My creation; I’m gonna give you a way out; I’m gonna give you a way out.” And Christmas is about you receiving the gift and say, “God, I receive Your gift, Jesus, into My life; thank You, Lord; thank You.” And if you raise your hand, I want you just repeat this prayer with me: “Dear Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, we come before You; I come before You; I confess that I’m a sinner and I’m lost without You. On this day, I receive You as the Lord and the Savior of my soul, in Jesus’ name.” Now look at me; you have a responsibility when you leave out of here. My responsibility is to pass on this fire to my brother, and we’ve done that for many years; discipled him; his job is to pass on the light; your job is not to keep this light, but to pass it on. [Music] Pass it on; let people know that God loves them; let God, let people know that God loves them. [Music] That’s right; that’s right. [Music] Inside. [Music] I. [Music] Christ the Savior is born. [Music] Christ the same. [Music]