Journey of Worship: The Magi and Herod's Contrast

"We thank you, Jesus, that on the cross, you took the blood of Jesus Christ, and you took the blood of Jesus Christ, and you took the blood of Jesus Christ, and you took our sin, and we received your righteousness so that when the Father sees us, he doesn't see our shame, our guilt, our regrets. He sees the righteousness of Christ." [00:39:48] (17 seconds)


"Father, as we look into your word today, we just ask that your word would be seed that is deposited into fertile soil, that Lord, our hearts would be ready to receive not only what you have to say to us, but how we can apply it to our life. Lord, we thank you for your word. We ask that you would lead us during this next few moments. In Jesus' name. Amen." [00:47:36] (19 seconds)


"The magi, or wise men, were highly educated and influential men who were known as astrologers, dream interpreters, kingmakers, and advisors. See, the magi were those that were known for charting the stars. They were known for ones to watch for signs on the stars. They were known to interpret the dreams of kings. They were kingmakers." [00:47:56] (25 seconds)


"And throughout history, again, we see that magi, we even see it in the word, the word of God, that magi advised kings in many ways and in many spiritual matters. They were known to be wise men. They were known to be people to give advice, to give kings guidance when they make decisions." [00:48:46] (20 seconds)


"And so I began, as I was studying for this message and learning about the magi, I was learning about the God of the Bible. And I was learning about the magi. I began to ask the question, like, if these guys, they, you know, they didn't believe and follow God, the God of the Bible, why would they come traveling for some of them, maybe up to a thousand miles for several months to see this new king, but not only to see this new king, but to worship this new king? Like, how did we get to that point?" [00:50:15] (27 seconds)


"Man, what an awesome testimony that even though Daniel was in captivity, I don't know about you guys, but sometimes when you go through hard situations, don't you just kind of want to dig a hole and just sit there and just be like, this is really hard. I don't like this. I don't want to do anything. Like, Daniel could have been like that, but he used his power to do this. And he used his influence, and he used the time where he was in captivity to influence and draw others to God." [00:59:09] (24 seconds)


"Now, with some of this background in mind about the Magi, let's go back to Matthew chapter 2. Now, I'm sorry for those of you that still have your manger scene up in your house. And my wife, you know, she usually sets up a manger scene, but I may ruin your manger scene today, so I apologize ahead of time. You may have to go take it back to the store and say, my manger scene is defected." [00:59:52] (24 seconds)


"See, he knew about this baby. He knew this baby was prophesied about. He knew this baby was meant to be a Messiah, a Savior, a King. And he could have used that opportunity to bow down and to worship. But instead, he has it. He has that desire for control and for power so much so that he kills all the babies two years and younger to not take any chance that Jesus could still be around." [01:06:05] (30 seconds)


"Your next point this morning is this. The arrival of King Jesus caused the Magi to be overjoyed as they fell on their faces to worship. Can you remember a time when you were overjoyed about something? I remember a couple years ago when the Cubs won the World Series, Pastor Day was overjoyed. He was overjoyed until the next season started, and I think they just went downhill from there." [01:07:12] (28 seconds)


"And then we see that these magi offered Jesus three gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And the gifts that were offered by the magi affirmed Jesus as king, priest, and sacrificial lamb. If you think about the gold today, gold was the most valued commodity in ancient times and still is today. Because of its rarity and value, it's commonly associated with nobility and with kingship." [01:08:22] (34 seconds)


"Now, as we close today, I want to reflect on this journey that the Magi took. This journey of worship. This was a journey of worship, church. They didn't just show up at the very end and decide, hmm, we're here. What do we do? Oh, let's worship. The entire journey was a journey of worship." [01:10:12] (22 seconds)