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sing with gladness men of Old With The Guiding star behold as with joy they hail it light leading onward beaming bright so most gracious may we ever more be led to thee as with joyful steps they spad to that Holy anger bed there to bend the knee before him whom Heaven and Earth adore so may we with willing feet ever sing the mercy seed as they offered gifts most rare at the manger rud and so may we with holy Joy pure and free from sins Al all our Costless Treasures bring Christ to thee our heavenly King holy Jesus every day keep us in the narrow way and when Earthly things are past bring our Ransom Souls at last where they need no star to guide where no clouds thy Glory high thank you you may be seated scripture reading for our message today is Matthew Chapter 2 you may have picked up from that last hymn that uh we're probably going to have something to do with the Magi the wise men and that is true and we will come to that reading in Matthew 2 in just a moment but before we do would you go to Luke's gospel chapter 2 I want us to be sure we understand the setting the timing of this visit of the Magi and the reason for taking this little excursus and explaining that is uh we are in day seven of the 12 Days of Christmas and maybe you haven't really known about that tradition of the 12 Days of Christmas you may have thought about the 12 Days of Christmas was culminating last Monday on Christmas Day actually that was the first day of Christmas and the 12th day of Christmas is supposed to be the day that the wise men came to visit the stable visit the the the G Christ child but I want us to see in Luke Chapter 2 that you know the actual timing so Jesus was born on Christmas day let's say for the sake of argument December 25th we'll not argue that but anyway Jesus was born on Christmas day all right we get that in verse 21 of Luke 2 it says 8 days after he was born uh the the days were completed for the circumcision of the child they called his name Jesus all right so so Jesus is born on Christmas day eight days after his birth he's circumcised and he's given the name Jesus now the next verse in verse 22 it speaks of the days of her purification according to the law of Moses when those days were complete that was 33 days later so you have Christmas day eight days later is the naming of Jesus 33 days after that the P the days of purification for uh Mary this is a ritual purification it is prescribed in the Old Testament law uh she is to take uh her SA sacrifice to the temple in Jerusalem and that's that's what's going on here in verses 22 and following so this would be 41 days after the birth of Christ they go to the temple in Jerusalem they um offer the sacrifice for Mary's purification and it is there that uh Simeon and Anna meet the baby Jesus and then you come to verse 38 or verse verse 36-38 Anna says her thing and then in verse 39 it says so when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord they returned to Galilee to their own City Nazareth well when we go back to Matthew Chapter 2 uh we have this visit of the Magi and we wonder well where did that fit in because we know that when the Magi visited the Christ child he was in Bethlehem and he was in a house verse 39 of Luke 2 says they went back to the city of Nazareth actually the visit of the Magi occurs between verses 38 and 39 we don't know exactly when that was how long it was after the birth of Jesus but it was definitely after this visit to the temple and the ritual purification and you say well why didn't they why didn't they uh why why did they just go back to Bethlehem after that Temple purification thing well very simple matter of a distance it's only about five miles from Bethlehem to Jerusalem and back by the time she had to go for the purification thing they found a place to stay in a house they left the house they walked five miles for this uh offering of the sacrifice at the temple and they were able to walk back home would have been a Day's Journey a day's activity to go home the way to Nazareth would have been a multiple day Affair all right now with all that in mind let's go back to Matthew Chapter 2 and I want us to read about this visit of the Magi in verses 1 to2 says now after Jesus was born and Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king behold wise men came from the East to Jerusalem saying where is he who has been born King of the Jews for we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him when Herod the king heard this he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together he inquired of them where Christ was to be born so they said to him in Bethlehem of Judea for thus it is written by the prophet but you Bethlehem and the land of Judah are not the least among the rulers of Judah for out of you shall come a ruler who will Shepherd My People Israel well then Herod when he had secretly called the wise men determined from them what time the star appeared and he sent them to Bethlehem and he said go and search diligently for the young child and when you found him bring back word to me that I may come and worship him also when they heard the king they departed behold the star which they had seen in the East went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was when they saw the star they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy and when they had come into the house they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshiped him and when they had opened their Treasures they presented gifts to him gold frankincense and myrrh then being divinely warned in a dream that they should they should not return to Herod they departed for their own country another way let's have a brief word of prayer Our father I pray that from these uh wise men these Magi we would learn the wisdom of Christmas inspired worship we pray in Jesus name amen all right so this last Lord's day a week ago today we were anticipating the first day of Christmas and I'm sure that in some way or another on Christmas day you celebrated the birth of Jesus however you did that I trust you reflected on the fact on Christmas day that uh Christ was born and to many people that is the end of it that is the culmination that's that's the climax that's it you know there are radio stations for example that U play Christmas music and they begin the playing of Christmas music on Thanksgiving day and they play it until midnight on December 25th and then it's it that's it it's done and no more Christmas music but in reality Christmas is day one so I mentioned the 12 Days of Christmas incidentally you're familiar with that little Christmas song right on the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me da D and we might if if we're not aware of the history of that we might think that's just some little diddy that somebody wrote 75 years ago attached a tune to it and now it just gets worn out in the Christmas season we get tired of hearing that crazy thing sometime uh during the days leading up to Christmas it seems every newspaper has an article telling you how much the items and the 12 days of the gifts and the 12 days of Christmas are going to cost and so on and so forth but then then to most people the thinking is that Christmas day is the 12th day of Christmas the tradition of the 12 Days of Christmas actually goes back to the 500s so 1500 years ago the tradition started and it was designed to um it was designed to remember different aspects of the Christmas story so each of those gifts is uh figuratively symbolic of something else uh so just for example the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me who's the true love it is God who loved us and we therefore love him and what did he give a partridge in a peir tree what in the world could that be well the partridge in a peir tree is supposed to be uh symbolic of Jesus well that seems rather odd doesn't it how so well because the Partridge is the only animal the only bird that will die to protect its young and of course uh Jesus died to protect and to protect his children his young if you will so anyway you can find out the symbolism of all those things as you see fit but the point I'm wanting to get at is that Christmas day is just the starting point it's just the beginning and it is to lead us to something else The 12 Days of Christmas climaxes with the visit of the Magi and what do the Magi do what is the theme what is the emphasis of these 12 verses what you see recurring a word that you see recurring more than once is the word worship it is worship where is he that's been born King of the Jews we've seen his star in the east we have come to worship Him and when they finally arrive in the the house they bow down and they worship him on what basis Christmas Day the the worshiping that takes place here in this passage by these wise men is a Christmas inspired worship and it is that that I want us to be challenged to on the basis or by the example of these wise men and so from their example I see first of all the need to make a commit commitment to worship we need to make a commitment to worship this is found in these first couple of verses isn't it they have come a long way committing themselves to worship they say at the end of verse two we have come to worship him but it is a it is a a commitment if you'll notice that's motivated by Grace we have we have seen him his star and have come to worship it's it's it's motivated by Grace why are they there if you could interview them uh man on the street reporter if you will you interview these guys say why have you come here why are you here and they would answer you well we are here because we are recipients of God's grace back in our homeland off in the East God came to us we didn't we didn't go to him we didn't go to him looking for some timing of the birth of the king God came to us this was a this was an act of Grace on his part and in this grace of God he has revealed himself and his message to us we have seen his star in the east is a great deal of ink that can be spilled over consideration of what that star is and what it signified and so on and so forth and we don't need to go there there and take the time for that it's simply enough to know that God in his grace visited these men and gave them the clear understanding of what this star was communicating that the king of the Jews has been born and you are to go and worship him they're motivated by Grace I I wonder this morning as we have come here today together today why why are you here I mean really what what motivates you to gather together on the Lord's day at a worship service I would encourage you to stop and think about God's grace and let that be a motivation for gathering together with God's people youan why would you why would you take the better part of the whole day just to be in church so for example in a couple weeks we're start this uh afternoon service thing at 1:00 be over by 2 o'clock you say why in the world why in the world would you be what would motivate you to get up on Sunday morning A day that you could otherwise sleep in because you don't have to get up and go to work presumably what would motivate you to get up and get yourself ready get your family ready and come to church and be here in time to study the word together for 45 minutes or so and then worship together and then have lunch together and then have another service what would motivate you well I would suggest that most powerful motivation is realizing that you are a recipient of Grace and let that Grace motivate you to worship as it did with these men and that commitment that that commitment motivated by Grace notice is a commitment that deals with any challenges that would stand in the the way these men faced incredible hardships to be able to get from point A to point B to get from where they were in the East to where they are now in Jerusalem great deal of hardship this is a long journey it was a difficult Journey it was like you and I you know we hop in the car turn on the ignition pull out of the drive and we just drive you know nothing real Difficult about that no real hardship well yeah okay in January and February if we get a snowstorm on Sunday morning there may be a little bit of hardship involved in that got to be careful when we walk down the steps I get that but nothing like this nothing like this oh we we have it so easy in comparison well they face these hardships and I would challenge us you know whatever we perceive as hardships that might that might stand in the way of going together to worship Our God that we face those hardships and accept whatever risks might be along the way as well these Magi they face the risks of Highwaymen Bandits that would would seek to plunder their Caravan of all their goods I'm sure that although it's not told us in the text that given given what they had and the nature of their trip and the length of their trip and the route that they had to take they would have had some guards with them but these were risks that they were willing to take why because they were motivated by God's grace to worship to worship this King that has been born they clearly prepared accordingly for this particular trip again given the nature of the journey the gifts and so forth they would have gone in a caravan with guards now let's stop and think about this by way of application if you will commit yourself to worshiping the Lord gathering with God's people to worship God you can count on it there will be some challenges that you face there will be some obstacles that will be thrown up in your way and because you are a human being just like I am those things can very easily become excuses have you noticed that in your own life how many times how many times have I used some perceived hardship some perceived challenge some difficulty I've looked at it and said oh I just don't I I I and I use it as an excuse well listen let's allow us ourselves to be motivated by God's grace to face the challenges that would the obstacles that would stand in the way of worshiping Our God and prepare accordingly to deal with those things and I just think about I think about how life can be on a Sunday morning especially if you have a family to prepare to get ready for church boy it can be pretty hectic can't it how many times do you find yourself scurrying around at the last minute to try to get everybody in the car and get to church on time and you you feel like you're frazzled by the time you open the door to come into the church well you know there's a lot of practical things that you can do to prepare ahead of time so that the Lord's Day morning is not quite so hectic and you can get things prepared ahead of time you can get meals planned you can get breakfast stuff ready you can get clothes out and all that kind of stuff you can do a lot of kind of practical things just to prepare to overcome the challenges of gathering with God's people but whatever the case it is clear that these individuals show to us the fact that worship needs to be a priority this commitment to worship has made worship a priority these guys are not dependent upon convenient circumstances they are not conditioned they their worshiping of this newborn king is not conditioned upon that which is comfortable or safe or easy they don't even allow their positions whatever they are back in the East to outrank this priority of worshiping this newborn king we're not told that they had family we're not told that they brought any family with them doesn't say anything about any additional people just says these wise men came did they have family they left behind so they could make this journey do they did they overcome the tug of relationships to make it this wasn't certainly a popular thing to do you don't find a great uh you don't find a great crowd of people a whole throng of people traveling from the East to come to Jerusalem to worship this King they they dealt with all of those things and they did not allow any of them to be of higher priority than this than this to worship to worship the king to worship him I wonder as we examine our own lives in comparison to these individuals I wonder what is it that takes priority in our lives that will keep us from God's house what becomes more important oh we're live in a world where there's all kinds of options don't don't we I mean there are endless there is a plethora of things most of you don't have young children in your home some of you do and and those of you who do you like to get your kids involved in things like sports and very extra various other extracurricular things and you and and you know you with children know full well that there are the options out there for getting your kids involved in sports things and team activities that would require you to miss church on Sunday for the sake of that athletic event is that really more important is it really more important say well my my child might be the next Michael Jordan or you know he might be the next Justin fields or I mean I I got to start them young really you really think it's more important you see we need to think these things through we need to ask ourselves you know we're at the we're at the beginning of a new year this is a time to do some evaluating this is a time to to think these things think about these things what are my priorities what is more important than anything else what do I what do I have to give up what should I incorporate what really are my priorities well think even of your participation in church if you if you're not uh of the habit of you know participating in the regular Services of the church and all of them and so forth perhaps it'd be a time this is a good time you look forward New Year's resolution New Year's goals whatever this would be a good time to stop and ask yourself what is one worship event that I'm not participating in that I could should add to our calendar what should we do what should we do get together with your spouse if you're married pray about that and put it down and make it a priority that's what these guys did that's what they did they saw the star they received God's grace and they said you know what there is a priority that we need to establish in our lives and not let anything stand in the way in his commentary uh expository thoughts on Matthew JC riyle asked us to consider the example of the Magi by asking ourselves a series of questions let me just share them with you he says where is our self-denial have we really died to self what pains do we take to benefit from the means of Grace what diligence do we show about following Christ what really does our religion cost us have we riy goes on to ask have we unconsciously slipped into a comfortable complacency taking no pains accepting no difficulty doing only the bare minimum to Sav our conscience talking ourselves into a narrow compartmentalized worship box these are important things for us to ponder the Magi serve to provide for us an example of committing ourselves to worship and in as we continue in this account of this Magi in their visit we see also that this commitment this commitment to worship compels us to ignore the anxiety of worship and what I'm talking about is what you see in verse three says when Herod the king heard this he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him there's a great deal of anxiety about this newborn king and this anxiety that could hinder worship and could stop us from worshiping can be expressed in a couple of different ways one is that that of Herod and the other is that of the jerusalemites oh you see herod's anxiety what's he so anxious about what's he so troubled about Herod realizes that worshiping Christ undermines my autonomy I mean after all Herod says I am ruthlessly determined to protect my position I don't want anybody usurping my position over me but look and I hope you understand this I'm sure you do to worship Christ demands that I be knocked off of my pedestal Christ is to be my Lord and my king oh Herod to is not only R ruthlessly determined to protect his position he is jealously guarding his power and authority he doesn't want anybody anybody encroaching on his power on his authority but look to worship Christ means I need to die to myself oh yes if you're not one who is really ready and willing to die to yourself and U um deny yourself because you got to have your autonomous POS position than the idea of worshiping Christ well my goodness that will fill you with anxiety well here's all the jerusalemites as well the Jews in Jerusalem they also are troubled they're also in great great deal of anxiety hearing about this King that is going to be worshiped why are they so upset why are they so filled with anxiety because they realize that worshiping Christ is going to undermine their comfort here's the deal the Jews in Jerusalem have have come to a a sort of a comfortable um coexistence with their Roman overlords with the Roman authorities with Herod and so on and so forth and as long as they don't upset Rome as long as they don't upset these Roman authorities then life can go on in this fairly comfortable existence but but you start talking about the king of the Jews and worshiping the king of the Jews well that is certainly going to upset the Roman authorities and therefore cause us no little grief and here has now come probably the third installment of the news that the king of the Jews has been born remember the night of Christ's birth the Shepherds came came to see him in the manger and they found him there just as the Angels had told him and they had seen this spectacular thing in the night sky and and and they they went to the manger and they found this baby just as it was said just as was told them and that he's the one who's to bring Salvation to us and so on and so forth and it says when they left the stable in Bethlehem they went and noised abroad that which had that which had occurred message had come to Jerusalem these Shepherds saw something incredible news the savior is born Messiah has come well they weren't the only ones as I mentioned earlier in Luke Chapter 2 Joseph and Mary went to the temple for her purification ritual and went there uh here's Simeon and Anna and they both recognized that this baby is our King he is our savior and no doubt word got around and now here come these travelers from another country Gentiles they're not even Jews and they're they're coming with the news that the King has been born they're coming to worship him oh boy what is Rome going to do with that what's Rome going to do to us oh look worshiping Christ can undermine your comfort it may arouse unpleasant opposition well I think in our current climate in our culture today to be a known committed worshipper of Christ can be an uncomfortable thing and I suggest not that I'm a prophet or the son of a prophet but I would suggest that there's great likelihood that in the years to come it's going to become more and more uncomfortable to be a faithful and true worshipper of Christ is that anxiety going to hinder me from worship oh we have to ignore the anxiety of worship and then we also furthermore just looking at this account from the Magi we need to we need to be sure that we overcome the opposition toward worship and opposition toward the worshiping of Jesus as the king can come from two two different forms and take two different forms one is a more passive kind of opposition this is represented in the part of the chief priests in the scribes it's the passive opposition of indifference of indifference here are these Chief priests and scribes they're called by uh Herod to come and and uh give some indication where is the king of the Jews supposed to be born they know they know the answer here are individuals who are men that held positions of Spiritual Authority And yet when they get the report the idea that the Messiah is born where is he to be born they give the answer but they don't really seem to do anything about it they seem to be rather indifferent to it all after all by the way the chief priests and scribes they held an even closer relationship to the Roman authorities the last thing they want to do is cross them so they're passive about it all in verses five and six they know the Bible they know the scriptures well they know the answer to the question but they do nothing about it regarding this JC riyle he mentioned this he said it is not always those get this now it is not always those who have the most religious privileges who give Christ the most honor did you hear that it is not always those who have the most religious privileges that give Christ the most honor you say yeah okay I heard that what about it all right think about it think about yourself think about your life think about your family think about your children and and be aware of the danger of familiarity and long-term familiarity here's my point often times the the relatively young convert who comes to faith in Christ as an adult will more earnestly Faithfully enthusiastic Ally honor Christ than the one who's grown up in a Christian home and had all the Privileges and the benefits of being in church from the time they were knee high to a Himel does that mean that you should not have your kids in church and teach them from the time they're knee high to a himle no not at all not at all but it is to it is to have a sensitivity to the idea that we can become so familiar that we become indifferent to the things of the Lord take them for granted and we we can relatively easy easily ignore the opportunities riyle also points out that there may be a knowledge of scripture in head while there is no Grace in the heart I've seen this from time to time through the course of the years of ministry or some people who have their head full of biblical truth but have no real love for the god of that truth the Christ of the gospel and God's people well there's one form of opposition it's a a passive form but then there's another active form of opposition and it is the opposition of hostility on the part of Herod in verses 7 and 8 now herod's hostility and you you recognize this as you know the story it's cloaked in deception it's cloaked in deception he finds out uh where Jesus is to be born then he ask the he asked the wise men when when did you see this star tell them couple years ago well couple years ago maybe I won't say any more about that but nevertheless he wants to know when was this star when did you see this star and then in verse 8 he says look go to Bethlehem find this baby and when you found him come and tell me cuz I want to come and worship him too well you know as well as I do that was just a bald face lie it was just it was just deception what what what what's really going on in his heart is he is hostile toward this newborn king and you know the rest of the story after what we read earlier that he's going to do everything he can to eliminate that King but his heart is decid is deceiving these Magi and his hostility in his heart it is determined it is fixed they don't see it right away that hostility is determined in time isn't it and I think we can understand the truth that uh a person's real attitude toward Christ how you really feel about Christ will eventually come out in word and deed yeah we can we can go through all the Motions to appease other people make other people happy keep other people at Bay so they don't press us too hard but deep down our attitude toward Christ and the things of God is really one of know it's even worse than indifference there's more of a hostility to it and you you can have the other soon as I as soon as I get a chance boy I'm going to going to be done with this nobody knows it heart is deceitful of all things it's desperately wicked it's very good at hiding for a while but eventually the Herod comes out the hostility of the Herod comes out well if we're going to follow this pattern and I suggest we should then we're going to commit ourselves to worship we're going to ignore we're going to ignore the anxiety that can be related to worship we're going to overcome the opposition of worship and then in verses 9-2 we're going to exhibit the joy of worship this is the this is really the the ultimate of this passage this is the climax of it this is the peak of it this is the Pinnacle of it the joy of worship is is this and and we want to ask ourselves does do this reflect my heart in worshiping God is it a heart of Joy joyful worship do I find joy in just the opportunity I I look at verse n where it says uh these Magi they heard the king and they departed and behold the star which they had seen in the East went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was here is the opport has now presented itself again they saw this star back in the East they got the message you need to go to you need to go find the king and worship him they head out somewhere along the way the star was no longer there again what was that star how did it communicate to them the message we don't have any definitive answers on that they used their logic and Common Sense Jerusalem the capital former for Palace of the king in times past this would be the place to find the king of the Jews that come to Jerusalem he's not there he's uh to be born in Bethlehem well they make their way south to Bethlehem just a few miles to go but now boom there's that star again and the star provides for them the opportunity to worship the one they've come to worship God in His Grace has once again provided the opportunity whatever this star was whatever its nature was there's one thing we can say absolutely for sure it was a miraculous grace of God given to these men it is of God's grace that this star reappeared and led them to the place where Jesus was now those who recognize the gracious provision of God providing opportunity for worship those who are devout will truly rejoice as in verse 10 when they saw the star they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy you could literally translate it this way they rejoiced with excessive almost violent Mega Joy you know when I read that and I I read the piling on of the adjectives to describe their Joy I was reminded of a video I saw not long ago of um a high school basketball game it's the end of the game uh one team is up by a point there is one second left on the clock or two seconds left on the clock the team that's up by a point just scored a basket so the other team gets the ball but they've got the full court to go they've got two seconds what can what in the world can you do in two seconds so the guy who's got to throw the ball in he takes the ball and he sees he sees an open man he sees one of his players he's open he throws the ball to his open player and I mean as soon as as soon as that other player T touches the ball the clock starts he's got two seconds what in the world can he do with two seconds and he's on this side of the midcourt line what in the world could he possibly do this is what he does he's he's there to get the ball he the ball is thrown to him he has the ball in his hands and he just goes boom over his head backwards and you watch that ball Arc through the air andom nothing but net and that team wins and you talk about crazy e those stands bleachers both sides just went nuts and of course the players the players and the the fans of the the the winning team they just they went nuts with exuberant Joy the others went nuts with just the incredulity of the play but the the the Joy on the part of the winning players and the fans from the winning team was get this it was excessive almost violent Mega Joy that's the picture that came to my mind I don't know that it was quite that exuberant but it was clearly true these Magi were filled with great joy at the opportunity to finally get to worship this King which leads me to ponder my own heart and examine my own heart what is my emotional response to the opportunity to gather together with God's people to go to church and worship God how do I really feel about it do I Rejoice at the opportunity well then there is joy of course also in verse 11 at the act of worship the act of worship when they had come into the house they saw the young child with Mary's mother and they fell down and they worshiped him in this act of worship notice how they joyfully present themselves to him they fell down this act expresses the posture the demeanor of worship it is humble they fell down and they worshiped him they presented to him their hearts as they worshiped in their worship they are articulating their Praise of him this is their view of this baby expressed in what they say in their worship and then they presented their gifts to him gold and frankincense and myrrh that hymn that we sang before earlier in the service talked about these three gifts the gold reflecting his uh his royalty the frankincense reflecting his deity the myrr reflecting his humanity and his uh that would be anointing his deceased body for burial these gifts sacrificial presented to the king were practical ways of displaying their honor In Worship the the display of personal sacrifice for the king that they are worshiping Al so we see the commitment to worship overcoming ignoring the anxiety of worship overcoming the opposition of worship expressing great joy in the act of worship then further I see in verse 11 this is all this is all an expression of Faith In Worship all that these Magi have done have been acts of faith and again I found I found Riley's description of this to be so helpful listen listen to what he says he says the wise men believed in Christ when they had never seen him but that was not all they believed him in him when the scribes and the Pharisees were unbelieving but that again was not all they believed him when they saw him a little infant on Mary's knees and they worshiped him as a king this was the crowning point of their faith they saw no miracles to convince them they heard no teaching to persu them they beheld no signs of divinity and greatness to overawe them they're in that they're in that house they're in that room they didn't see anything like this they saw nothing but a newborn infant helpless and weak and needing a mother's care like any one of ourselves and yet when they saw that infant they believed that they saw the divine Savior of the world and they fell down and they worshiped him this riy remarks is the kind of faith that God Delights to honor we see the proof of that at this very day wherever the Bible is read the conduct of these wise men is known and told as a memorial of them let us he exhorts us let us walk in the steps of their faith let us not be ashamed to believe in Jesus and to confess him though all around us remain careless and unbelieving have we not a thousandfold more evidences than the wise men had to make us believe that Jesus is the Christ Beyond doubt we have and yet where is our faith oh more where is our worship and even more where is our joy in that worship we we must Express faith in our worship and then finally verse 12 this whole scene ends with these men leaving but leaving again by divine revelation says being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod they departed for their own country another way we must as they did we must follow through with obedience from our worship it is perhaps hypocritical it is at least insincere to pretend to gather and worship God and leave with no intention of obeying God now here God once again graciously guides his people these wise men these Magi graciously guides them and true worshippers true worshippers OB obediently follow don't go back to Herod they departed another way well in some way or another hopefully last Monday you recognized the birth of Jesus his birth but let me ask you has God the sons humbling himself to be born of a woman to become man to die in your place and be Anointed with that myrr has that brought you to your knees in Humble faith has that has that compelled you as it did these Magi has that compelled you to worship Him Faithfully earnestly even sacrificially as your savior and your king so our father and our God I I pray to today that again as we reflect on the past and anticipate the future year that we would allow this example of the Magi to challenge us and get us to think about our hearts in worship our commitment to worship our faithfulness and our joy in worship our obedience from worship speak to us oh Lord In These Quiet Moments father if there's one here today who is not come to that place yet of faith in Christ seeing him that as he truly is not just a baby and a Manger but a savior on a cross who died for the sins of earing sinful people unworthy people such as I am such as we are I pray that to today that one would see the need of repenting turning from sin and calling out in faith to Christ to save him even today oh Lord so work in our hearts we pray it in jesus' name and for his sake amen you take your himels and turn to the first hymn In Your Himel hymn number one so him Rejoice the Lord is King let's stand shall We As we