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in your Bibles to Matthew chapter two, Matthew chapter two, all right?

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And we're going to be still in our battle of belongs, but as you can see,

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it's Christmas edition, all right?

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So we're going to wrap up our series, and so far, what we've talked about

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over the last few weeks.

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We've talked about the battle of Jericho, we've talked about the battle of AI,

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we talked about Elisha and the invisible army, we talked about the sun standing still,

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we talked about Hezekai and Sennacherib, and then last week,

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we had the joy of hearing about Eihad, stabbing Eglon, that was fun.

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But all of this, what we want to make sure the point is not missed is that what we're

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re-emphasizing is the whole name of the series, it's that the battle belongs to the Lord.

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And as we wrap up this series, what we want to do is make it Christmas themed,

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and we have a treat, okay?

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As you might be able to tell, there's a few teenagers missing, they're right there.

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I know they can hear me, right?

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Can you hear me?

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Yeah, okay, Josh said yes, all right, they can hear me, all right?

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But they're in there, so get ready for them to randomly appear.

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I have an idea, which is a very scary thing for me to say, all right?

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But we're going to wrap this up and we're going to talk about this idea of a battle for Christmas

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and see once again that the battle belongs to the Lord.

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But first, I have a question, all right?

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Go ahead and hit me with it, Kevin.

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All right, what is your favorite Christmas special?

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All right, let me make sure I define this so we all know what we're talking about, okay?

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These are the things that I used to watch, all right?

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Like the claymation, like super, I don't want to say super old,

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that might be offensive, but to me, all right, it was older, all right?

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But it was like, then you would watch on cable at night.

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I remember it would be like at eight o'clock and there'd be an eight o'clock to eight

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thirties Christmas special and then there'd be another one and there'd be like two more

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and if I was really good and my mom wasn't mad at me that day because I didn't do anything dumb,

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I got to watch like more Christmas specials, it was great.

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But my question to you, okay, what is your favorite Christmas special to watch?

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Brother Dave, shout out.

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Ooh, ooh, ooh, specific, I like it, Miss Laurie.

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Charlie Brown Christmas, good.

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Miriam, it's one of a kind, good.

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All right, Eli, home alone, good, good, all right, Audrey.

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What was it?

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Holiday Inn, I haven't even heard of that one, is that a hallmark?

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Okay, that's good.

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What, have I not heard of it?

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I'm just uneducated.

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Oh man, okay, apparently most of you have watched the Sawers, all right, okay?

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I got a few up here, all right, hit me with the first one.

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All right, How the Grinch Still Christmas, classic, all right?

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I think it's like that's number two, the most watched Christmas special.

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I'll let you guess number one in just a second, all right?

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The next one for me, I think this is my favorite.

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The Little Drummer Boy, I don't know why, but it's why I was watched.

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And me and Anna watched it again, not too long ago.

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And it was like, it was really sad.

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Like, his parents died in like the first five minutes.

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It's really sad, but then it gets happier as it goes long.

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But I was like crying, watching Little Drummer Boy.

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It's like, man, all right, and then next one for me, okay?

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Has anyone heard of this?

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I feel like I'm the only one.

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All right, good, I got two, okay?

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I got three, four, okay, good.

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So what this story is about is, you know, like the song,

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all of the other reindeer, like Rudolph, all of the other reindeer.

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But this dog hears the song and he's like, they're talking about me,

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all of, and then he becomes a reindeer.

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My mom used to read the story and then it was like a Christmas special.

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It was great. You should look it up, watch it.

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It's really funny. It's heartwarming.

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I haven't seen that in like forever, man.

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All right, memories.

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Anyways, I'm just having nostalgia during a sermon.

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All right, and then before we go to the next one, okay?

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This is number one Christmas special, okay?

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All right, I'm going to count to three and you're going to yell your guess, okay?

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Ready? One, two, three.

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Merry Christmas!

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Right, that was good. That was good.

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You see, all right, here it is.

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Hit me with it.

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Charlie Brown Christmas, number one all the time.

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Most watched like consecutive years in a row.

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Like it's always number one.

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But you know what? We don't watch, you know, like we did this last year.

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We had Brother Dave. It was awesome.

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He came up here. He had a rocking chair and all the kids came and he read Luke 2.

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And like that's a heartwarming story, right?

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Now you gather around the fire and you like listen to these great stories.

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You watch these heartwarming specials.

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And it's like, it's supposed to leave you feeling good, heartwarming, like joyful, like happy, hopeful, right?

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The story we don't usually go to is like King Carrot.

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Because like, if you think about it, like King Carrot's in the story

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and he actually plays a pivotal role in the story.

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But it's not like happy.

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Like I was reading this like, oh, that really shows the joy of Christmas.

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There's this mean guy named Herod.

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And we're going to talk about how mean he was, right?

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And he wants to kill all the babies and he wants to kill Jesus.

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And that's not something like children gather around.

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Let me tell you about King Carrot.

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Like it doesn't usually work, right?

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But I want us to see that there's this battle that's happening during Christmas.

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Since the first Christmas.

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And there's this beautiful truth within this battle within the story of King Carrot that's even greater.

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There's meta-narrative of King Jesus.

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What we see is these contrasting characters playing.

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We see a battle.

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We see, in effect, what Herod is trying to do is cancel Christmas in the sense of that

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he wants to kill this Messiah.

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And what he does is he, we see this battle in life of there's the worldly with King Carrot,

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but then there's the King Jesus, the Godly, and there's this tension.

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These competing tensions have existed since the first Christmas, since the first Christmas.

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And there's this, even now today, there's still this battle for Christmas of the idea of

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there's the secularizing and there's the looking at it as a holy day.

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There's always this tension, is my point.

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Is that there's this battle that's going on.

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And there was then.

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Sometimes we just think of the hopeful aspects of Christmas as we should.

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But there's also this worldly aspect, this aspect where there's something fighting against Christmas.

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And we're specifically fighting against Messiah.

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There was this opponent there.

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There's this enemy in the Christmas story.

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And what I want us to see in our Christmas, specifically in our lives even more so,

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is that this Christmas season, this life we've been given, is that we should choose to make this holiday a truly holy day.

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And I think we can see this by looking at the story of King Carrot and contrasting it.

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Looking at it and comparing him to different characters of the story.

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And that's our main point for today.

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That every believer can choose to serve King Jesus by evaluating three sets of contrasting characters in the Christmas story.

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And that's just a fanciful way to say, we're going to take King Carrot, we're going to compare him to three different characters.

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And we're going to see how we don't, spoiler alert, want to be King Carrot.

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We want to see even more so, I want us to see the beauty of King Jesus and how we are to bow before him this Christmas.

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And we see this, we'll build up the context a little bit.

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Because we're in Matthew chapter two, but something happened before then, Matthew chapter one.

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And a lot of that was focusing on the genealogy.

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And then we have Joseph's dream and he's promised Emmanuel that God will be with us, that there will be a Messiah.

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And that Jesus will be born and that Jesus is born and the family stays in Bethlehem.

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They don't immediately leave Bethlehem. That's important to the story.

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Right now Joseph, Mary and Jesus, the Messiah are in Bethlehem.

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They've moved out of the stable and they found a house.

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We'll actually see that in the scriptures.

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And we pick up the narrative right after Jesus is born in Matthew chapter two.

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Alright, so Matthew chapter two looks like a verse one.

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It says, Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the King,

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behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.

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Alright, okay, here you go, you're up. This is your time to shine.

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Alright, wise men, come on, you got it, you got it. Go ahead.

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Okay, we got first wise men. Here he is.

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Look at him, look at the crowd. Look how beautiful you are. They go. Good.

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Alright, oh, they look good. You look good, really.

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Alright, okay, wise men, go down to there over there for me.

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Okay, alright, you can scoot down there.

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Okay, you got your gifts, you got your, what are you holding? What's in there?

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Okay, I don't know what that is. Alright, and then King Carod, you can come on out.

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There he is. There he is. Yes, sir.

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You see it right there, you're good. Can you see?

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No.

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Okay, alright, there you go. That works. That kind of fits King Carod.

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Alright, okay, so we got our two sets of characters so far.

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Okay, which ones?

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Alright, wise men, good. And then who?

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King Carod.

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Alright, good, you're with me.

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Alright, so we have the wise men, King Carod. Okay?

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We don't know a lot. Guys, you can sit down for the moment.

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I'm going to keep you up here for a second, but don't worry, I'll have you do stuff.

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Alright? Okay?

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You have a perfect example of what the wise men look like.

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And the wise men, as you can see, we're strange people.

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It's you guys, it's you. It's great.

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Okay, alright? The wise men, like, what's interesting is we don't know much about these wise men.

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There's not much known about them.

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And the scriptural word, the Greek word there, is that they're magi.

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And what we do know a little bit is that these magi, they specialized in like astrology.

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They would study the stars in some sense.

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And they would study dreams.

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They had kind of like this supernatural, this kind of like mystical vibe about them.

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And they're not that working donated, but that's what they were studying.

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And they also study the sacred scriptures, not just the Bible, not just scripture,

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not just the Torah, but they studied all sorts of different religions.

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They sought wisdom in enlightenment, hence, you know, the wise men.

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Because they're looking for wisdom.

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Like, they were not dummies. They were men of science.

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They dabbled in astrology, which we wouldn't agree with, right?

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But they did. Dabbled in astronomy.

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They were smart people. Act smart.

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There you go. That's good.

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Just laughs. That's good.

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Alright, good. They were men of high renown.

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They were highly respected.

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And like, when they came into town, it wasn't like this like really quiet thing.

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Like, it wasn't just three guys.

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First scripture doesn't say it's just three guys, right?

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It wasn't like a small thing. Like, they just said,

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hey, guys, we should just like hop on this camel

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and then we'll like go to Bethlehem and follow the star.

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And it was like, they had caravans.

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Like, they were like kings. They were like royalty.

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And people noticed when they came in.

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Like, think of like, if the president came in, like, people would know that.

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There'd be a commotion there. Everybody would be preparing for it, right?

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And that was what was happening. People knew these wise men were here.

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And what the wise men were doing is they were seeking the Messiah.

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Look like you're seeking. Go ahead.

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What you got?

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Good. This is so we can get better from here.

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All right, good. All right.

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So that's our first point.

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The wise men right after here is that the wise men were seeking the Messiah.

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And they say this in verse two. We see it.

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It says, saying, where is he that is born, king of the Jews?

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If we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him.

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And that word saying there is, is, is, is, the tense of it is that it's continual.

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They're literally going around asking anyone, hey, like,

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where's the baby? Like there's this baby.

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We know because we've seen the star. Where is it?

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We know the promised one is coming.

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And we kind of like, how did they know this?

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Well, they, they followed the star first, right?

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They saw the star. They were studying the skies.

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Like they knew the skies. That was literally their full-time job.

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So when they saw this star, they said, that star's, that star's not supposed to be there.

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We know the stars. And there's this different star.

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And what they also knew is they knew the scriptures.

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They knew about prophecy. And there's this, this awesome passage in numbers where,

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what they would have known in numbers 2417.

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It talks about, I'm glad I hit it up there for me, Kevin, if I have it.

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Sorry, sir. I know I'm going out of order, Kevin. You're amazing.

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I'm going out of order. All right. I shall see him, but not now.

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I shall behold him, but not nigh.

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There shall come a star out of Jacob and accept her shall rise out of Israel

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and shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Seth.

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All right. Now that's going all the way back to the Old Testament.

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And it's this, this prophecy, it's pointing to a star and this star

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that is going to come out of Jacob. It's pointing to something different.

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They would have known and looked this and registered, there's a star.

235
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We know about this prophecy and they connected together and they say,

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we need to follow this star, this promise of a Messiah.

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The wise men sought more wisdom. They sought the King of Kings.

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So they go and they chat with Herod. All right. Chat with Herod.

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You can't see anything, but go ahead and chat with Herod.

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Good. All right. I love it. All right.

241
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So what we got is now Herod sees these wise men and Herod is troubled.

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All right. Go ahead. Act troubled, Herod.

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He looks pensive. All right. He's troubled. All right.

244
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So he was troubled. We see this in Matthew 2, 3.

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When Herod the King got hurt, these things, he was troubled in all Jerusalem with them.

246
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And that word troubled there, that Herod was troubled by the Messiah,

247
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shows that he was fearful. He was anxious. He was restless.

248
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And then we got to ask ourselves, why was Herod so upset by this?

249
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Like these wise men come, right? They're asking Herod. Go ahead and ask again.

250
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All right. Now you're troubled.

251
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Yeah. I love it. That's probably what a troubled person would do.

252
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Talk a lie. All right. But he's troubled because Herod's saying,

253
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No, no, no. You're saying the king of the Jews is here. I'm the king of the Jews.

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I don't know what they're talking about. Like I'm the king of the Jews.

255
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I don't know who this Messiah is, but he's saying, no one's replacing me.

256
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You got to understand the background of Herod.

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Herod, I'm going to make you sound really bad right now. Okay.

258
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All right. You ready? You got this. All right.

259
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But he was called Herod the Great. He wasn't great at all.

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First, he was, he wasn't fully Jewish, right? But he was still king,

261
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which the Jews looked down upon. He was indominion.

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And what's the, I don't know what that meant, but I had to look it up.

263
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But what it means is he was at a synod of Esau, not of Jacob.

264
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So he wasn't fully Jewish. And Matthew's emphasizing there,

265
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this Herod had attention with the Jewish people. All right.

266
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Then also Herod, not being a great guy, he married like nine different times.

267
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And he always had this characteristic of just being super powerful

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and always wanting power and always lusting after it.

269
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He was also a very, very paranoid and jealous and prideful man.

270
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He held so tightly to the throne, hold really tightly to the throne.

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Good. All right. Good. All right.

272
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So he held really tightly to the throne and like any rumor, any threat,

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even an assumption of like threatening, he said, no, I'm going to kill you.

274
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Like his wife, it was rumored that his wife was plotting against him.

275
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He said, I'm not looking into it. Kill her.

276
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And then he did it to his mother-in-law.

277
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He did it to his brother-in-law. Then he did it to his sons.

278
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He heard this plot. He's like, my sons are plotting against me.

279
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Kill them. Like, I don't want them here.

280
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Like he was not afraid to kill people.

281
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And why? It's because he was so scared they were going to take his throne.

282
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And now Herod in his life at this time of the Messiah, he's old.

283
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And he's like, he thinks he has everything set up with his kingdom.

284
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He knows he's going to die, but he's like, but I am the king.

285
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And I'm basking in my glory.

286
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Basking your glory.

287
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Are you blinking? That's good. All right. You can't see.

288
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He's like, I am basking. All right.

289
00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:23,280
Well, we have Herod here. He's just a wicked man.

290
00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:26,280
I think I have a picture up there for me, Kevin. Let's see.

291
00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:28,280
All right. So that's Herod.

292
00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:31,280
And that's how he wanted himself, he perceived.

293
00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:34,280
But then I saw this other picture of like a Sunday school lesson

294
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of how they looked at Herod. And he's just like, like, that's Herod.

295
00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:39,280
All right. Like he doesn't look great. Right.

296
00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:42,280
And he wasn't like this guy is wicked.

297
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Yeah. All right.

298
00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:46,280
But he was a wicked guy.

299
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And he, and all what is interesting in the text is it says all of Jerusalem

300
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was troubled as well.

301
00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:53,280
And why are there troubles?

302
00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:56,280
It's like, man, if there's this new person like the kings,

303
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I'm going to start acting crazy. And he's done this already.

304
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He's going to do it again.

305
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And what the king does, what King Kara does is he gathers his chief priest

306
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and his scribes and he asks them a question.

307
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All right. Chief priest and scribes, you're up.

308
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They're whispering the free now.

309
00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:16,280
All right. Here they come. All right. All right. Okay. We got it.

310
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We got our chief priests and scribes. Okay.

311
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Look really like smart.

312
00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:22,280
That's good. All right. Good.

313
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Looking smart. You're looking smart. Don't worry. All right. Good.

314
00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:29,280
All right. So they all come together and Herod looks at them.

315
00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:31,280
All right. Herod, go and stand up for me. All right.

316
00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:33,280
So Herod looks at them. All right.

317
00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:36,280
Demand to know where the Messiah is born. Go ahead. Be demanding.

318
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You got to be more demanding. Be mean. You're mean. You're evil. Be mean.

319
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There you go. That was more mean. All right.

320
00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:46,280
Be in fear. He's mean. That's good. Okay. Good.

321
00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:50,280
That was shocking. All right. But we'll take it. All right. Good. All right. Good.

322
00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:53,280
So Herod's looking at them and he's saying, hey, okay,

323
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you chief priests and scribes, like these were the smart people.

324
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These are the religious people.

325
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He's demanding, tell me where the Messiah is going to be born.

326
00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:03,280
And what they do, these chief priests and scribes, because you're smart, right?

327
00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:05,280
Right. Okay. Good. All right.

328
00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:08,280
In verse five, it says that they refer back to a prophecy.

329
00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:10,280
Look at me at verse six. All right. This is important.

330
00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:12,280
These chief priests and these scribes, they say,

331
00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:15,280
they refer back to this prophecy in verse six and says,

332
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And thou beth with him, and the land of Judah are not the least among the princes of Judah,

333
00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:23,280
for thou doth he shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel.

334
00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:26,280
And what that is perfectly referring back to you is, I want to show you,

335
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it's Micah five two, Micah five two.

336
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It says, but thou beth with him, Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,

337
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yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel,

338
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who's going forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

339
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And what they're saying is, hey, there's this prophecy.

340
00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:48,280
You ask, he's asking, where's the Messiah?

341
00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:51,280
They say, oh, we know that answer because we know scripture, Micah five two.

342
00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:54,280
He's in, where, where's he at? Where's he being born? Jesus.

343
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All right. Say with ompf.

344
00:16:56,280 --> 00:16:58,280
Yeah, that was good. Good. All right.

345
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So he's being born in Bethlehem, right?

346
00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:03,280
And they're looking back to this prophecy here.

347
00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:06,280
And then what he does, I'm getting myself talking too fast.

348
00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:10,280
All right. What Herod does, he says, hey, okay, there's this prophecy.

349
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Like, I know what's going on now. Hey, wise men, wise men, come here. Come here. Come here.

350
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All right. They go up to Herod.

351
00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:21,280
And what the wise men do is they're told by Herod, hey, all right, what I want you to do.

352
00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:26,280
Okay. He calls him back privately. He says, okay, verse seven, how long has this star been shining?

353
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Like, there's this star in the sky.

354
00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:31,280
Like, Herod's looking at the wise men. How long has this been going on?

355
00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:35,280
All right. And they answer and he's wondering, like, how long has my competition been here?

356
00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:38,280
So he says, okay, verse eight, here's what I want you to do. Okay.

357
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Wise men, I want you to go to Bethlehem and find this Messiah for me.

358
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All right, wise men, Bethlehem's right there. Okay. It's a long journey. All right.

359
00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:51,280
You're going to go off somewhere till we do. All right. Go to Bethlehem. Go ahead. Right there.

360
00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:55,280
Yeah, you got it. You got it. There you go. There's some wise men. Let me tell you. All right.

361
00:17:55,280 --> 00:18:00,280
Okay. Go ahead. They got it. All right. Okay. Give our wise men a round of applause.

362
00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:03,280
We'll let them sit down. All right. Y'all can be seated. You're good for a minute. All right.

363
00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:07,280
Okay. So what we got, let's set it up because I know I'm going fast. All right.

364
00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:11,280
What we have is that the wise men go to Bethlehem and Herod sends them there.

365
00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:15,280
And it makes me ask this question. Why didn't Herod go?

366
00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:19,280
Why didn't the chief priests and scribes go?

367
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And for Herod, I thought about it. I think the best answer is that there's some fearful cowardice there.

368
00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:28,280
I was reading a quote that tyrants like Herod are cowards at heart.

369
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They fear most. And they fear the people who are more powerful than them, who have more force greater than them.

370
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The thing that tyrants fear the most, the thing that Herod feared the most is a force that was greater than them.

371
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He's saying, like, there's this Messiah and I want to kill him, but I ain't no hero. I ain't no brave person.

372
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I'm going to send these wise men over there and see what they will find out.

373
00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:53,280
But then it still has this question of, okay, well, why didn't they go? Why didn't you go?

374
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Why didn't they go? Because think about this. Like, really put ourselves in this position.

375
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If I looked at you and truly said, all right, hey, the Messiah, the true Messiah, he's returned, right?

376
00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:09,280
I know it goes against a lot of things, but the Messiah's return, he's at Finley High School.

377
00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:13,280
You know what we should do? If the Messiah is truly here, if Jesus is here, you know what I'm going to do?

378
00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:16,280
I'm going to stop preaching. I'm going to get in my car and drive to Finley High School.

379
00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:22,280
I'm going to go see the Messiah. They are literally six miles away from Bethlehem and they don't go.

380
00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:26,280
And we have to ask this question, why? Why don't they go?

381
00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:29,280
Now, they might have been scared that Harry would have killed them. That's fair.

382
00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:34,280
But why didn't they actually get up? They've been waiting for this Messiah forever.

383
00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:37,280
And I think the best answer is there's this indifference there.

384
00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:42,280
We see this throughout the whole New Testament. The most religious are the most indifferent,

385
00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:45,280
the most passive, the most hypocritical. Yeah, they knew it all.

386
00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:51,280
But you know what they're thinking? Is if we go there and that Messiah comes, he's going to start changing things.

387
00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:55,280
I don't want him changing things. I have things the way I want them to be.

388
00:19:55,280 --> 00:20:00,280
And he doesn't, they don't want that. And to prove that, we look at the whole rest of Jesus' interactions.

389
00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:03,280
You know why they hated Jesus? He's trying to change things up and they're saying,

390
00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:07,280
no, stop this, Jesus, stop this Messiah. You're changing things.

391
00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:15,280
And this, this, this, I think it's interesting just how it's really easy to be indifferent.

392
00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:23,280
And sometimes in this Christmas season, like, we stop seeking Christmas more so we stop seeking the Messiah as the wise men did.

393
00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:27,280
And we start seeing as the same old, same old, and we become indifferent.

394
00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:34,280
I was thinking the other day, I was like, I've heard a lot of Christmas messages just in my lifetime and even this Christmas season.

395
00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:39,280
And like, I don't know if you've ever done this, okay? Maybe I'm the only bad person, or person thing that's not bad person.

396
00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:45,280
But like, when I hear another Christmas message, I'm like, all right, I've heard Luke 2 a lot.

397
00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:50,280
Like, we're doing another Luke 2 for Christmas. Whoo, yes, do it again. Now we're talking about the shepherds.

398
00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:56,280
Like, that's how I think. And is that wrong? No. What is wrong is that I'm making it the same old.

399
00:20:56,280 --> 00:21:01,280
I'm being indifferent and I'm no longer being amazed by the Messiah.

400
00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:05,280
I'm now just indifferent. I've heard it a ton. And I'm just like, oh, this is a nice happy thing.

401
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:09,280
Like, I'll hear the Christmas message one more time. But I don't let it affect my life.

402
00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:14,280
Every time I hear the Christmas message, I should leave more amazed than I was last time.

403
00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:19,280
Like, last Christmas was me and I was like, I had some sense of amazement.

404
00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:23,280
Now this Christmas, I should have even more amazement. And next year, I should have even more amazement

405
00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,280
because we're face to face again with how amazing the Messiah is.

406
00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:32,280
And that Jesus came down in a manger for us to then live a life perfectly and then die on the cross for us.

407
00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:37,280
That should amaze me. And I should not be indifferent by that.

408
00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:42,280
So now we have the wise men, verse 9 through 10. They agree and they follow the star.

409
00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:47,280
And they go to the child. They follow that star. They rejoice. They didn't stop seeking.

410
00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:52,280
And we see in verse 11, what they do is, we'll look at it together. Verse 11, it says,

411
00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:56,280
And when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary's mother.

412
00:21:56,280 --> 00:22:00,280
Remember, it says house, they're not in a stable anymore. This isn't on Christmas day.

413
00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:04,280
They saw the young child with Mary's mother and fell down and worshiped him.

414
00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:10,280
And when they had opened their treasures, they presented to him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

415
00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:15,280
And the wise men weren't there for the birth. It was like an 80-mile journey.

416
00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:21,280
Like it took some time. But when they got there, they arrived and they bowed down and gave gifts and worshiped.

417
00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:24,280
I love that. These wise men, like they're men of renown.

418
00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:30,280
They said, man, our wisdom is nothing compared to the wisdom of that baby, that king, the Messiah.

419
00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:36,280
And they sought the king. And Herod, and boy, Herod was jealous. Jealous?

420
00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:40,280
Jealous? Look really jealous. It's like, no, yes, I am in fact jealous.

421
00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:45,280
Right? Is that Herod is so mad about this.

422
00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:51,280
And he, he's, they actually, in verse 12, were not to go back to Herod because Herod has this whole plot.

423
00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:54,280
Like he is looking to kill the Messiah.

424
00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:56,280
And it kind of sees these two different approaches.

425
00:22:56,280 --> 00:23:03,280
We have the wise men who humbled themselves and sought king Jesus and Herod who did not humble himself and wanted to kill king Jesus.

426
00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:09,280
Herod was jealous and he was so insecure. I like resonate with, with Herod.

427
00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:15,280
What I've been learning, this is personal. He didn't ask for this, but I'll tell you anyways, is that I've been learning that I'm a really jealous person.

428
00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:20,280
Like really jealous. And how I know that is like, I'm always comparing myself to other people.

429
00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:25,280
Like, and that's what Herod's doing right now. He's comparing himself and he's like, this Messiah is better than me.

430
00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:27,280
He knows it. The whole world knows it.

431
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:35,280
But I do this as well. I compare myself with others. I compare my relationships, how I, how my relationship should be different, how I don't have a relationship, and that's not fair.

432
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:42,280
I, how, how my friendships, my jobs, my looks, my popularity, my family even, and I just start comparing different things.

433
00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:48,280
And I get jealous that they have what I don't have and I deserve what they have. And I get upset about it.

434
00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:55,280
And, and me personally, what, what I really get upset is anytime something new is introduced to my life, anytime something I feel, feel threatened.

435
00:23:55,280 --> 00:24:02,280
Because like, I don't like change because I like having control. And when change happens and I don't have control anymore, and that's exactly where Herod's at.

436
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:08,280
He's saying, thanks, stop changing because I can't control it anymore. And I want to kill it so that I can control.

437
00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:15,280
And I find myself there more than I like. And then I have actions that are fueled by my jealousy and they're foolish.

438
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:20,280
But the wise men, they weren't threatened by the Messiah, but humbled themselves.

439
00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:27,280
And sometimes we're just too busy like thanking and getting into our head and stressing and, and holding tight these different things.

440
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:31,280
What I need to do is seek Jesus and focus on Him.

441
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:37,280
So first we got the wise men and King Herod and then our scribes.

442
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:42,280
Alright scribes, I'm going to let you be free, okay? Okay, you're going to go be indifferently over there. Go be indifferent.

443
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:46,280
Alright? Okay, Herod, I still got you buddy. You're with me. Alright? Okay.

444
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:50,280
So now we got our next one. Yeah, give him a round of applause. There we go. Alright.

445
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:57,280
I'm excited for this next one. Alright, this will be fun. Alright. Okay, Joseph and Mary, you're up.

446
00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:02,280
Bring Jesus with you. Alright? Okay, got it. Oh, there's Joseph and there's Mary.

447
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:08,280
And they're dating in real life. It's so cute. That's so good. Alright, go ahead guys. You can stand right over there.

448
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:12,280
Okay, don't be near Herod. He wants to kill you. So don't go near him. Alright? There you go. Alright.

449
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:17,280
So we got Joseph, Mary, and then Jesus. Alright, you guys can be seated. You're good. Alright?

450
00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:25,280
So what we see is now that we had first contrasting wise men and Herod. Now we have, okay, Joseph and Herod.

451
00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:27,280
And we see this in verses 13 through 14.

452
00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:32,280
And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying,

453
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:38,280
Arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt and be there until I bring the word.

454
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:40,280
For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

455
00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:45,280
And when he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt.

456
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:47,280
Alright, so let's walk through what's happening.

457
00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:52,280
First we see in verse 13 that an angel comes and says, hey, go to Egypt, Joseph.

458
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:56,280
Alright, you're about to go to Egypt. You're ready. Alright, go to Egypt.

459
00:25:56,280 --> 00:26:01,280
And what I love that Joseph does is Joseph follows God's plan.

460
00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:04,280
I think about all that Joseph's gone through.

461
00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:08,280
Like, already he's been told that his wife has a kid or assumed to be wife has a kid.

462
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:10,280
Now he's like, it is the Messiah.

463
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:13,280
And now he's kind of like dealing with the thoughts of that.

464
00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:16,280
Now he's in Bethlehem and he's just kind of getting things settled.

465
00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:19,280
He's been given these gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

466
00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:20,280
And now he has gold in front of him.

467
00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:23,280
He's like, I never thought I would have gold. He's just a normal guy.

468
00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:29,280
And then now he's being told, alright, I want you to get up everything, leave Bethlehem and go to Egypt.

469
00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:32,280
And that would be really hard.

470
00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:35,280
Like, think of you, a lot of you are pretty firmly rooted here.

471
00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:37,280
And Joseph wasn't pretty firmly rooted in Bethlehem,

472
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:41,280
but like just being told to get up everything and move, we struggle with that.

473
00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:42,280
Like, I would.

474
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:46,280
But what happens is that Joseph gets this giant vision and he goes to Egypt.

475
00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:51,280
Alright, okay, you have to quietly try to make it to Egypt without Herod looking at you.

476
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:53,280
It's going to be easy because he's got a hat over his eyes, so you should be fine.

477
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:55,280
Alright, okay, ready? Go ahead, go to Egypt for me.

478
00:26:55,280 --> 00:27:01,280
Flee, look at them flee, look at them go.

479
00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:05,280
Did you make it? Are you alive? Is Jesus alive? It's good, okay?

480
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,280
She's like quiet, Miles, alright? Baby's sleeping, that was good.

481
00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:13,280
Alright, so what we have here is that Joseph obeyed and he goes to Egypt.

482
00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:16,280
We see this in verse 14, that he did it.

483
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:18,280
It said, and when he arose, he got up and did it.

484
00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,280
Look at verse 15 with me.

485
00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:27,280
And there was until the death of Herod that might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, out of Egypt, I have called my son.

486
00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:30,280
There's something even more spectacular going on here.

487
00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:34,280
Alright, suspense, I'll let these couple Joseph and Mary sit down.

488
00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:38,280
Alright, give them a round of applause, you do great.

489
00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:44,280
Alright, but as we look at verse 15, what happens is a whole prophecy is being fulfilled here.

490
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:49,280
Is that they go to Egypt and that wasn't just a coincidence, it says in verse 15, this is fulfilling prophecy.

491
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:55,280
So our question is, anytime we see that in the New Testament, we should be thinking, this is hermeneutics, this is Bible study.

492
00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:57,280
What prophecy is being fulfilled?

493
00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:00,280
And what we see is it's Hosea 11, chapter 11 verse 1.

494
00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:02,280
Let's look at it together.

495
00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:07,280
Hosea 11 verse 1, when Israel was a child, then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt.

496
00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:11,280
He was that same terminology, that out of Egypt.

497
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:19,280
It's saying that, hey, this is a prophecy that the Messiah will be taken to Egypt.

498
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:24,280
Right? Out of Israel, out of, when Israel was a child, I loved him and called my son out of Egypt.

499
00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:27,280
Saying, I've called my son to go to Egypt.

500
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:28,280
A prophecy has been fulfilled.

501
00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:32,280
Alright, okay, you look a little bored by the prophecy, so let me make this really clear.

502
00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:37,280
That was like a long time ago and then they said, hey, something's going to happen.

503
00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:41,280
And then, what's crazy is it did.

504
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:44,280
We hear prophecy all the time and we're like, that's cool.

505
00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:46,280
I'm glad that worked out that way.

506
00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:48,280
That's a cool coincidence, man.

507
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:52,280
What this is saying is that this infallible word is actually true.

508
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:54,280
Not actually, it is true. It's so true.

509
00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:59,280
We see this, that the Old Testament is pointing to the New Testament and it's fulfilling it's saying,

510
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,280
hey, it's just not a coincidence that this Messiah has lived.

511
00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:08,280
This Messiah is here and he's for you and all of scripture's pointed to it and it's happening right before our eyes.

512
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:09,280
Alright, prophecy's exciting.

513
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:15,280
Okay, next thing, okay, what we see is that God takes care of Joseph and he obeys.

514
00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:20,280
I like thinking through Joseph like, Joseph could have thought one way of like, man, I gotta go to Egypt now?

515
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:23,280
Or he could be thinking, my God's taking care of me.

516
00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:24,280
I've been given dreams.

517
00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:25,280
There's a virgin birth.

518
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:26,280
The shepherds appeared.

519
00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:27,280
The wise men appeared.

520
00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:28,280
God's provided.

521
00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:31,280
Why would I not follow his plan?

522
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:36,280
And Joseph obeys because God's way is better.

523
00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:39,280
And we hear that and that's really good.

524
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:41,280
And we think, yeah, we should follow God's plan.

525
00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:44,280
What's amazing me is that God's given a plan for me a lot of times.

526
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:46,280
He's told me to get out of certain situations.

527
00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:48,280
He said, here's what I want you to do, Miles.

528
00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:50,280
I want you to talk to this person.

529
00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:51,280
I want you to be a blessing to this person.

530
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:54,280
I want you to fight against this and take precautions to move away from it.

531
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:56,280
I want you to make things right with this person.

532
00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,280
Miles, I want you, this is my plan for you.

533
00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:02,280
How do I know because he's told me in his word, this is what I want you to do.

534
00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:05,280
This is how I want you to obey.

535
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:06,280
And I don't do it.

536
00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:07,280
I make excuses.

537
00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:08,280
I don't do what Joseph did.

538
00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:11,280
And I say, Lord, that's a good plan and all.

539
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:12,280
I like the idea.

540
00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:13,280
I don't want to do it.

541
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:14,280
I don't want to do that.

542
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:15,280
Lord, I'm not going to do it.

543
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:17,280
And then I just obey.

544
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:20,280
What we see here is Joseph didn't have that attitude.

545
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:22,280
He said, my God's taking care of me.

546
00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:23,280
His plan's always been good.

547
00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:25,280
Why would I not trust him?

548
00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:28,280
Just imagine if Joseph didn't obey.

549
00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:31,280
Now, we know that wouldn't happen in the greater scheme of it.

550
00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:34,280
Like God has a providential plan through all of this.

551
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:37,280
But Joseph obeyed.

552
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:39,280
Now, Herod, he's the complete opposite of this.

553
00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:42,280
Herod is angered by God's plan.

554
00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:43,280
All right.

555
00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:44,280
We got you in trouble.

556
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:45,280
Look really mad, angry.

557
00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:46,280
Grab your sword.

558
00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:48,280
Stab something in the air.

559
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:49,280
Grab something.

560
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:50,280
Look upset.

561
00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:51,280
He just looks very pensive.

562
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:52,280
I love it.

563
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:53,280
All right.

564
00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:54,280
For Herod's been up here forever.

565
00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:55,280
All right.

566
00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:56,280
You got it, Herod.

567
00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:57,280
You're doing great.

568
00:30:57,280 --> 00:30:58,280
I'm going to plan for you at the end, though.

569
00:30:58,280 --> 00:30:59,280
Get ready.

570
00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:00,280
All right.

571
00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:01,280
I know that sounds scary.

572
00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:02,280
Don't worry.

573
00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:03,280
Let's see if he makes it.

574
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:04,280
You got it.

575
00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:05,280
Okay.

576
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:06,280
Herod's got it.

577
00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:07,280
Herod's got it.

578
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:08,280
He escaped.

579
00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:09,280
All right.

580
00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:10,280
Give Herod a round of applause.

581
00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:11,280
He's amazing.

582
00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:12,280
All right.

583
00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:13,280
What we see that Herod is, though, is that he's angered by God's plan.

584
00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:17,280
He didn't know much of it, but what he knew, he hated the plan.

585
00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:19,280
And he's mad because these wise men tricked him.

586
00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:21,280
We see this in verse 16.

587
00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:23,280
Let's look at it together.

588
00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:26,280
It says, then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, tricked of the wise

589
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:28,280
men, was exceeding Roth.

590
00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:29,280
He's mad.

591
00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:32,280
And he sent forth and he said, all right.

592
00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:34,280
These wise men, they can trick me.

593
00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:35,280
All right.

594
00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:36,280
Here's what I'm going to do.

595
00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:40,780
He slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and all the coasters of, from tears old and

596
00:31:40,780 --> 00:31:45,280
under, according to the time, which he had diligently inquired of the rising man.

597
00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:49,280
He becomes the butcher of Bethlehem, they call him.

598
00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:50,280
All right.

599
00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:51,280
Someone's called him.

600
00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:55,280
His command was to kill all the male children two years and younger.

601
00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:57,280
Now, this is bad, right?

602
00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:01,280
But probably in Bethlehem, about a town that size, there was probably only a statistic

603
00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:04,280
say about maybe 10 to 30 babies at that time.

604
00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:05,280
It wasn't a big town.

605
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:07,280
It's not even a big town today.

606
00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:08,280
About 2,000.

607
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:13,280
But 10 to 30 babies killed ruthlessly is too much.

608
00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:15,280
Like, imagine how gruesome this is.

609
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:19,280
Like, this is why we don't say it over a nice little warm fire, it's drinking hot cocoa.

610
00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:21,280
It's, that's awful.

611
00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:26,280
This man's jealousy and then anger because of his jealousy, he says, now I'm going to

612
00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:27,280
take action on it.

613
00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:28,780
I want you to kill all the babies.

614
00:32:28,780 --> 00:32:31,280
Walk in to their houses.

615
00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:32,780
Don't mind the mom that's screaming.

616
00:32:32,780 --> 00:32:35,280
Push aside the dad and kill the baby.

617
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:37,280
And it's like, wow.

618
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:39,280
And it was just second nature to him.

619
00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:42,280
Like, he's done this plenty of times, different people at different times.

620
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:44,280
And that's what sin does, man.

621
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:45,780
Like, they have that jealousy.

622
00:32:45,780 --> 00:32:47,280
That was like the cause of it.

623
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:48,280
Then he got anger.

624
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:54,280
That's how he started showing out and that anger manifested itself in this murder.

625
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:58,280
And what I noticed while studying Herod is just like throughout Herod's whole life

626
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:02,280
is that he didn't like anything to do with anything, holy, moral, definitely not anything

627
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:03,280
to do with God.

628
00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:09,280
And you just see like how Satan is using Herod actively at work to try to thwart this plan,

629
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:12,280
to try to deceive others, to try to destroy.

630
00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:16,280
Whether it be the wise man, whether it be the baby, whether it be Messiah, whether it be Joseph and Mary.

631
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:18,280
Man, Satan hates God's plan.

632
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:20,280
You know why? Because it's the best thing for us.

633
00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:23,280
And he wants everything possible before you think, no, do it this way.

634
00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:26,280
There's never been once when I've been in God's plan and been disappointed.

635
00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:29,280
But still, I question and say, well, what if this time is different?

636
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:30,280
You're asking me to do this thing now, God.

637
00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:32,280
But Satan's telling me to go this way.

638
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:34,280
Maybe I'll go that way.

639
00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:36,280
It's like, no, God's way is always good.

640
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:38,280
But Satan tries to get us to doubt.

641
00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:44,280
And man, sometimes I get mad because I get angered like Herod because I'm mad that God's plan

642
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:48,280
is not what I thought I was going to be doing or where I would be.

643
00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:53,280
And I'm upset because Herod is angered by God's plan here.

644
00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:57,280
And I get mad because God's telling me not to go there, not to do this, not to be with that person.

645
00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:00,280
And I'm thinking of any excuse not to do the thing God wants.

646
00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:05,280
Man, looking at Joseph, it shows that obedience to God is the best place to be.

647
00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:08,280
And Joseph is a model of respectful obedience.

648
00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:11,280
So what we have here are contrasting characters.

649
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:18,280
We have Joseph, he obeyed, he understood God knew best, but Herod raged and thought he knew best.

650
00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:20,280
Now, oh, this is when it gets good, all right?

651
00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:22,280
This is, I'm excited for this part.

652
00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:28,280
Now we see our final two contrasting characters, best part of the story, the happy part of the story,

653
00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:31,280
is we have King Jesus and King Carried.

654
00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:32,280
There's something to be noted here.

655
00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,280
That's capitalized, and that's not.

656
00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:40,280
We have a true king, and in King Carried, it's King Jesus.

657
00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:45,280
And what we see this is, we actually see a beautiful truth in something that Scripture shows as sad,

658
00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:47,280
but thinking through it, it actually is beautiful.

659
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:50,280
We see this in verses 17 through 18.

660
00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:52,280
It says to finish out this narrative,

661
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:56,280
then it was fulfilled, that which was spoken by Jeremy, the prophet, saying,

662
00:34:56,280 --> 00:35:03,280
in Ramah there was a voice heard, lamentation and weeping, and great morning, Rachel weeping for her children,

663
00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:07,280
and would not be comforted because they are not.

664
00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:11,280
That's not a verse you want to put above your dining room table.

665
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:15,280
It's not like an exciting, like, oh, wow, that's positive, the children are mourning.

666
00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:19,280
That's not exciting, but what is amazing is looking at this verse, actually understanding it,

667
00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:22,280
we see such hope, we see Jesus, the hope.

668
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:24,280
All right, water break.

669
00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:26,280
All right, we're good, okay?

670
00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:30,280
So we see in verse 17, it's saying, hey, yet again, another prophecy is fulfilled.

671
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:34,280
And remember what we've learned from last time is when we hear prophecy, we get excited.

672
00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:35,280
All right, look excited.

673
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:37,280
That was good, that was good, that's what I'm talking about.

674
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:38,280
All right, good.

675
00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:42,280
So verse 18, we got to understand this, we have to understand the historical background, okay?

676
00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:46,280
What it's saying is this referring all the way back to Genesis first,

677
00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:50,280
and it's going to Rachel, which was Jacob's wife, the favored one.

678
00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:57,280
Rachel's wife dies, or sorry, Jacob's wife, Rachel, dies at childbirth, giving birth to Benjamin.

679
00:35:57,280 --> 00:35:59,280
And there's this mourning that's happening.

680
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:03,280
Rachel's mourning that, she's happy Benjamin's here, but she's mourning because she's dying.

681
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:05,280
All right, now Jeremiah is quoting that.

682
00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:12,280
So we have Genesis here, okay, with Rachel and her, she's dying, but Benjamin's being born.

683
00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:14,280
Okay, then we have Benjamin, okay?

684
00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:16,280
Now Jeremiah quotes back to that to make a point, okay?

685
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:18,280
We have a lot of referring back to things here.

686
00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:22,280
We have Genesis, then Jeremiah refers back to that story, and here's what he says.

687
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:27,280
We see this in Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 15, go ahead and throw it out there.

688
00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:28,280
Oh, thank you, Kevin, you're amazing.

689
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:31,280
All right, it says, Thus saith the Lord, a voice was heard in Rama,

690
00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:33,280
lamentation and bitter weeping.

691
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:37,280
Rachel weeping for her children, fused to be comforted for her children because they were not.

692
00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:39,280
Very similar to what we just read.

693
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:41,280
Now the next verse is, Help us.

694
00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:43,280
Thus saith the Lord, refrain thy voice from weeping,

695
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:46,280
then eyes from tears, for thy work shall be rewarded.

696
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:49,280
Sayeth the Lord, and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

697
00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:53,280
There is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.

698
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:57,280
Okay, now if you're reading that, probably like, cool, that's cool.

699
00:36:57,280 --> 00:36:59,280
What? What does that mean?

700
00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:01,280
Like, how is that applicable? Here's what's awesome.

701
00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:04,280
It's that Jeremiah references back to Rachel's weeping.

702
00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:06,280
And he says, Man, we're weeping again.

703
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:09,280
Rachel was weeping, the children were weeping, the children of Israel,

704
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:11,280
they were upset because Rachel died.

705
00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:15,280
But Jeremiah says, Once again, we're weeping because in Jeremiah's time, they were in exile.

706
00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:17,280
They're about to be in exile.

707
00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:20,280
The empires were about to come in and take Israel captive.

708
00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:23,280
And that place Rama there, it was a place in the Benjamin tribe.

709
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:27,280
And what it's saying is that once again, man, Benjamin's evolved again,

710
00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:32,280
and now we're weeping and we're mourning because now these exiles are being conquered

711
00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:37,280
and people are coming in and taking the people out of their homes and placing them in captivity.

712
00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:41,280
And what they were placing them in is a place in Benjamin, Rama,

713
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:44,280
which is also called in modern day Bethlehem.

714
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:49,280
So what's happening here is saying this place of Bethlehem has always been this place of weeping.

715
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:52,280
When it was this Rachel's time period, there was weeping.

716
00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:55,280
And then in the exile with Jeremiah, there was weeping.

717
00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:58,280
And now in Bethlehem, once again, this scripture is saying,

718
00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:05,280
man, there's weeping because all these babies have died and Israel's crying out and pain and sadness.

719
00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:08,280
And like, that's not good. That's not happy.

720
00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:13,280
But what I love that Jeremiah says with this prophecy, stay with me, is he makes it hopeful.

721
00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,280
He says, refrain thy voice from weeping.

722
00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:20,280
I know you're weeping, verse 15, but refrain thyself from weeping.

723
00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:23,280
And that eyes from tears, because something's going to happen.

724
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,280
The Lord's coming back. You shall come back again from the land of enemy.

725
00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:28,280
You're not going to stay in captivity.

726
00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:33,280
There is hope in thine hands, sayeth the Lord, and thy children shall come again to their own border.

727
00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:37,280
What does that mean? What this means there's beautiful truth in a horrible circumstance,

728
00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:39,280
because all these babies were killed in Bethlehem.

729
00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:44,280
And it was at that time thought of as a place of burial because they're burying all their babies.

730
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:47,280
But how we think of it today is that's not what we're focused on.

731
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:52,280
We're not focused on it being a place of burial, but a birthplace because Jesus the Messiah was born.

732
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,280
And what he's done is he delivers us from that captivity.

733
00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:56,280
He delivers us from that weeping.

734
00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:59,280
He delivers us and restores us and gives us hope in thine end.

735
00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:05,280
This is a prophecy point to something even better, saying, Jesus has come during the weeping to give something better.

736
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:09,280
To give, as Luke 2.14 says, a time of peace on earth.

737
00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:16,280
And my point is, is that Herod, no matter what he tried to do, no matter how much mourning he tried to create,

738
00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:19,280
he couldn't stop the Messiah.

739
00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:24,280
And here's our point, is that King Jesus lives.

740
00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:27,280
And Herod couldn't stop it, Satan couldn't stop it.

741
00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:31,280
King Jesus lives and desires to bring life abundantly.

742
00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:33,280
John 10.10 says this, right?

743
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:35,280
Says it beautifully what Jesus has come to do.

744
00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:40,280
The thief, Herod, more so the kings of these world, these awful people,

745
00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:45,280
and even more specifically, saying what he's come to do is try to steal, to kill, to destroy.

746
00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:47,280
But I've come that they might have life.

747
00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:50,280
Jesus says they've come to destroy, Herod's destroying.

748
00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:52,280
He just killed a whole bunch of babies.

749
00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:55,280
But what's happening here is that I've come to bring you life.

750
00:39:55,280 --> 00:40:00,280
I've come to bring you life, and not just just life, but have it more abundantly.

751
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:07,280
It says this huge act of evil and death by Herod is not bigger than the life that Christ brings.

752
00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:10,280
King Jesus lives and gives hope.

753
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,280
You know what happened to Herod?

754
00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:16,280
Look at verse 19A for me, the first part of it.

755
00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:18,280
Just want to rewound a little part.

756
00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:21,280
But when Herod was dead, that's it.

757
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:22,280
Herod died.

758
00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:23,280
Herod's gone.

759
00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:25,280
He's out of the story.

760
00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:26,280
And Herod died.

761
00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:28,280
All right, Herod, you got one last thing.

762
00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:29,280
Okay, make it good.

763
00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:30,280
You're going to die.

764
00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:32,280
All right, die for me.

765
00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:34,280
All right, slump in your seat a little bit more.

766
00:40:34,280 --> 00:40:35,280
There you go.

767
00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:37,280
He's like, dude, I can take a nap right now.

768
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:39,280
He just gave me permission to take a nap.

769
00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:40,280
All right, that's good.

770
00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:41,280
All right, good.

771
00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:42,280
Oh, now he's on the ground.

772
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:43,280
All right, he's dead.

773
00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:44,280
All right, let's see how long he stays like that.

774
00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:45,280
Good job, Herod.

775
00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:48,280
But my point is, is that Herod never won.

776
00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:51,280
Like in life, like, you know how Herod died?

777
00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:52,280
This is gross.

778
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:53,280
Like, don't look into it because it's gross.

779
00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:57,280
And I want to tell you all that, but he got like gangrene, and then like, he started dying

780
00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:02,280
and excruciating pain, and they looked at his brain afterwards, and they're like, oh,

781
00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:03,280
he's been eaten by maggots.

782
00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:05,280
Like his brain was eaten by maggots.

783
00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:07,280
That's why it's probably a little cuckoo.

784
00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:10,280
Like, and he faced some punishments on this earth.

785
00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:12,280
Like, he suffered.

786
00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:14,280
And this isn't the funny part at all.

787
00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:18,280
And then he's suffering now in hell.

788
00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:19,280
He's died.

789
00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:21,280
And this is not a happy thing.

790
00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:25,280
That man had no hope, even though the hope was right in front of him.

791
00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:26,280
Yet he missed it.

792
00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:31,280
Jesus was right there, six miles away, and he missed it.

793
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:37,280
And man, this story is covered in the sins of Herod, his jealousy, his deceit, his anger,

794
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:38,280
his pride.

795
00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:43,280
And you know, I was reading this, and I was like, I do those things.

796
00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:45,280
Now, I haven't killed a whole bunch of babies.

797
00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:46,280
Praise the Lord.

798
00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:48,280
But I've been jealous.

799
00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:49,280
I've lied.

800
00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:50,280
I've gotten angry.

801
00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:51,280
I've been prideful.

802
00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:54,280
I think I've done all four of those things, maybe even today.

803
00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:57,280
And I find myself acting a lot like Herod.

804
00:41:57,280 --> 00:42:02,280
But then what I remember is King Jesus who lives so that I don't have to die like Herod did.

805
00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:04,280
I don't have to have hopelessness like Herod did.

806
00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:10,280
There's this beautiful verse in Revelation that points to how Jesus, King Jesus, lives.

807
00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:12,280
Revelation chapter one, verse five.

808
00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:16,280
It says, I'll go ahead and throw it up there for me, Kevin, if I have it.

809
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:17,280
See, do I have it up there?

810
00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:18,280
No, all right, turn with me and your bobbins.

811
00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:19,280
I want you to see us.

812
00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:21,280
Revelation chapter one, verse five.

813
00:42:21,280 --> 00:42:23,280
All right, I don't want you to miss it.

814
00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:26,280
All right, Revelation chapter one, verse five.

815
00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:31,280
And it says, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten

816
00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:35,280
of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us, and washed

817
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:39,280
us from our sins, in his own blood.

818
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:42,280
What this is saying is Jesus Christ, who was a faithful witness, he was perfect.

819
00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:44,280
He was the first begotten of the dead.

820
00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:47,280
He was the one who raised from the dead, the first begotten son who rose again, and now

821
00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:50,280
is the prince of kings of this earth.

822
00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:56,280
That God, the God, the one who reigns the king Jesus, he loves us.

823
00:42:56,280 --> 00:43:01,280
That king who lives, the one king who lives and will not die, loved us, and washed us

824
00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:05,280
from our sins, in his own blood.

825
00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:08,280
Jesus loves us, and that love sets us free.

826
00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:12,280
And we can believe in that, and then follow him as he says, follow me.

827
00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:16,280
And what I love about the story is like even in the doom and gloom, the worst part of this,

828
00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:18,280
the Christmas narrative is beautiful.

829
00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:20,280
The worst part is this, king carried.

830
00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:26,280
This is an awful example, but it makes this beautiful contrast of showing who our true king is.

831
00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:31,280
And Gabriel promised this, that this king is going to reign forever.

832
00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:36,280
I serve a risen king who rules perfectly and eternally.

833
00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:40,280
You know this battle for Christmas, to wrap us up.

834
00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:44,280
Herod, I don't know if you got this or not, he lost.

835
00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:46,280
He's a loser, he lost.

836
00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:48,280
But Jesus won.

837
00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:50,280
Let's make it even more specific.

838
00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:54,280
Is that sin, Satan, the gates of hell they lost.

839
00:43:54,280 --> 00:44:00,280
Godliness, Jesus, his love, his sacrifice, the perfect prince of peace, he won.

840
00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:02,280
Our savior won.

841
00:44:02,280 --> 00:44:06,280
And we should rejoice.

842
00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:11,280
Our savior is alive and beat sin, beat the grave, beat death, won.

843
00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:16,280
And this Christmas, man, like, I don't know if you're in a battle.

844
00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:21,280
Quickly, I remember the worst Christmas I ever had.

845
00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:25,280
It was, I think it was senior year of college.

846
00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:28,280
And it was, we had like this long break because of COVID.

847
00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:32,280
So I was kind of sad, okay, because I just started dating my wife, Anna,

848
00:44:32,280 --> 00:44:34,280
and she had to go back to Tanzania during that time.

849
00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:37,280
So she went to Tanzania, she was halfway across the globe, I didn't get to see her.

850
00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:39,280
So I was already kind of like bummed out by that.

851
00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:42,280
Then I got home, and then I got news that this job, this, this,

852
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:45,280
children's pastor job I was working to do, it just kind of fell through.

853
00:44:45,280 --> 00:44:49,280
And like I've been preparing, preparing like my whole college career to go to this job.

854
00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:50,280
And it fell through.

855
00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:52,280
So now I'm bummed because I can't see my girlfriend.

856
00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:53,280
The job I've always wanted is gone.

857
00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:57,280
And then I got news when I got there, like, my mom's in the hospital.

858
00:44:57,280 --> 00:44:58,280
What do you mean my mom's in the hospital?

859
00:44:58,280 --> 00:45:00,280
And like that's, that's no small thing.

860
00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:05,280
Like she was like, I don't know if she was, I don't know, I don't want to make it wrong,

861
00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:07,280
but she was, it wasn't going well.

862
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:08,280
We'll put it that way.

863
00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:09,280
And I was scared.

864
00:45:09,280 --> 00:45:11,280
And I was like, okay, Lord, what are you doing?

865
00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:14,280
And then on top of that, I had my sister who, who has severe autism.

866
00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:18,280
She's one of the most amazing people on this earth, but now I'm taking care of her.

867
00:45:18,280 --> 00:45:19,280
I just got back from college.

868
00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:20,280
I don't know what I'm doing now.

869
00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:21,280
I'm taking care of her.

870
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:25,280
And now it's Christmas morning and I'm waking up and I'm like, my mom's not there.

871
00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:29,280
I do have my family that we're going to go to later, but now I got to be in charge of Christmas morning with my sister

872
00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:32,280
and trying to make it something awesome and wonderful.

873
00:45:32,280 --> 00:45:38,280
But we're both thinking about our mom is in the hospital and I'm thinking back to like my, my, my girlfriend's not there.

874
00:45:38,280 --> 00:45:41,280
And I, oh, she's like wanting to be there because I'm, I'm needing the support.

875
00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:42,280
I'm like, man, I wish she was here.

876
00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:45,280
And then I'm, I'm sad that my mom's about like, could be dying.

877
00:45:45,280 --> 00:45:47,280
I don't know what's happened, but she's not here with us.

878
00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:50,280
And I'm trying to take videos on Christmas morning of us unwrapping the gifts.

879
00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:52,280
And I just feel like really alone.

880
00:45:52,280 --> 00:45:55,280
And I remember I was bummed out because now like my whole future is gone.

881
00:45:55,280 --> 00:46:00,280
And now I'm putting the what ifs of like, what if we break up and what if my mom dies and what if I lose this job?

882
00:46:00,280 --> 00:46:03,280
And what if I never get a job and what if I don't go into ministry?

883
00:46:03,280 --> 00:46:05,280
And it's just like, I was battling this Christmas.

884
00:46:05,280 --> 00:46:09,280
And I felt like I was left with nothing and I was mad.

885
00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:10,280
I was mad.

886
00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:14,280
I was like, haired and I was saying, God, that's unfair.

887
00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:15,280
It's Christmas.

888
00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:16,280
You got to be nice to me.

889
00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:17,280
It's Christmas.

890
00:46:17,280 --> 00:46:24,280
What was amazing is that I realized, man, it hit me.

891
00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:26,280
It hit me like halfway way too long.

892
00:46:26,280 --> 00:46:28,280
It didn't be way too long because I'm prideful, stubborn.

893
00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:32,280
But I realized like, man, Miles Christmas is not about your happiness.

894
00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:34,280
It's not about your possessions.

895
00:46:34,280 --> 00:46:36,280
It's not even necessarily about your family, although that's a part of it.

896
00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:37,280
It's not about me anything.

897
00:46:37,280 --> 00:46:39,280
It's not about me.

898
00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:42,280
It's about the Messiah and that he came to earth to die for me and rise again.

899
00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:44,280
And he's the true hope of the world.

900
00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:46,280
And that gives me joy.

901
00:46:46,280 --> 00:46:49,280
That gives me joy every day because joy to the world to save your reigns.

902
00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:55,280
And that's why I can face every single day, every single challenge, every single sin.

903
00:46:55,280 --> 00:47:00,280
Everything I'm going to face, I can because of my savior who came to this earth for me.

904
00:47:00,280 --> 00:47:02,280
And that gives me joy.

905
00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:07,280
And that's why we have to be careful not to make Christmas revolve around us because then we miss it.

906
00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:11,280
Like the best thing for us this Christmas is not to be me and not to be just about my family,

907
00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:13,280
although you should spend time with your family,

908
00:47:13,280 --> 00:47:18,280
but do that as you worship the Lord and say, wow, my Messiah who reigns came from me.

909
00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:23,280
I have joy no matter what's happening because to be honest with you, this Christmas you might be struggling.

910
00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:25,280
You might have family problems, friend problems.

911
00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:31,280
You might be missing someone this Christmas or they're gone or they're just not here this Christmas.

912
00:47:31,280 --> 00:47:33,280
And you're hurting.

913
00:47:33,280 --> 00:47:38,280
Well, I want to tell you that there's still joy for you because it comes not in your circumstances.

914
00:47:38,280 --> 00:47:42,280
It comes in your risen savior, your King who reigns.

915
00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:44,280
So my question to you, drop this up.

916
00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:48,280
It's how I respond to the Messiah.

917
00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:54,280
Is it going to be with hostility like Herod did and Herod hated Jesus just like the world hates Jesus.

918
00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:58,280
They want to reject him. They want to remove him.

919
00:47:58,280 --> 00:48:03,280
And maybe you're putting your guard up this Christmas because you don't hate Jesus, but you're just mad at God.

920
00:48:03,280 --> 00:48:07,280
You're mad at what he's done and mad at these circumstances he's put you in.

921
00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:13,280
And you're harboring pain and as we saw with Herod, that pain will destroy you.

922
00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:15,280
But he's come to give life.

923
00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:20,280
Maybe this Christmas you're like the scribes and you're just indifferent.

924
00:48:20,280 --> 00:48:22,280
You know, but you don't care.

925
00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:23,280
Sure, Jesus is a great guy.

926
00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:25,280
I was like, I got that.

927
00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:26,280
But has it changed your life?

928
00:48:26,280 --> 00:48:28,280
Like Jesus is more than a great guy.

929
00:48:28,280 --> 00:48:32,280
Jesus is the savior, the King who reigns and that should change your life.

930
00:48:32,280 --> 00:48:36,280
But sometimes we put that off and become indifferent because the sin I got is too good.

931
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:40,280
Man, it's just too much work to like think about Jesus and serve him.

932
00:48:40,280 --> 00:48:41,280
It's just not my personality.

933
00:48:41,280 --> 00:48:43,280
I'm not one of those like religious types.

934
00:48:43,280 --> 00:48:44,280
I just kind of come and then leave.

935
00:48:44,280 --> 00:48:47,280
Just too hard.

936
00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:49,280
I mean, some of us are still stuck in our ways for Christmas.

937
00:48:49,280 --> 00:48:51,280
Like we just done the same thing over and over again.

938
00:48:51,280 --> 00:48:55,280
Like when are we going to put Jesus at the center of our Christmas?

939
00:48:55,280 --> 00:48:57,280
And that's not me pointing fingers like you guys all need to do this.

940
00:48:57,280 --> 00:49:01,280
It's like when is Miles going to think about Jesus during Christmas?

941
00:49:01,280 --> 00:49:03,280
When am I going to make him the center?

942
00:49:03,280 --> 00:49:05,280
Because Christ is the Messiah.

943
00:49:05,280 --> 00:49:10,280
And the greatest detriment in the world is when we hear that and we don't get joy in our hearts.

944
00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:14,280
I should have joy every time I hear that Christ is the Messiah.

945
00:49:14,280 --> 00:49:17,280
Like that should make me go, yeah, he is, amen.

946
00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:20,280
Yeah, he's the Messiah.

947
00:49:20,280 --> 00:49:22,280
He takes care of us.

948
00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:27,280
So our response, my encouragement to you and teens, we literally just talked about it.

949
00:49:27,280 --> 00:49:30,280
And it's cool because it's just Bob points to it.

950
00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:32,280
Is your response should be worship?

951
00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:33,280
What did the wise men do?

952
00:49:33,280 --> 00:49:39,280
The wise men, there was wise men over there bowed before the babe.

953
00:49:39,280 --> 00:49:40,280
What did Joseph do?

954
00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:41,280
He was obedient.

955
00:49:41,280 --> 00:49:42,280
He obeyed.

956
00:49:42,280 --> 00:49:43,280
That's worship.

957
00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:45,280
He's saying, God, you're so amazing.

958
00:49:45,280 --> 00:49:51,280
I'm going to worship you by obeying because they understood our God, our King who lives, he's worthy of our worship.

959
00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:58,280
I mean, if you believe that Jesus is a son of God, the promised Messiah, the King of kings, the Savior who came to this earth.

960
00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:00,280
Like first, like he came to this earth.

961
00:50:00,280 --> 00:50:02,280
I would not have done that.

962
00:50:02,280 --> 00:50:08,280
I would have stayed in heaven, but he came down, down across, he rose again.

963
00:50:08,280 --> 00:50:10,280
And the third day and he sent it and he's coming again.

964
00:50:10,280 --> 00:50:13,280
I believe that then I should worship.

965
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:15,280
This Christmas is about God.

966
00:50:15,280 --> 00:50:17,280
All days are.

967
00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:22,280
So the question is, will you worship this Christmas?

968
00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:24,280
We say that I know a battle I have.

969
00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:28,280
I know battle is coming Christmas or otherwise, but the battle I know belongs to him.

970
00:50:28,280 --> 00:50:33,280
And my allegiance is to King Jesus and he is the one I serve.

971
00:50:33,280 --> 00:50:36,280
Let that be something that punctures your heart.

972
00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:44,280
You worship him and you sing as joy of the world says, joy to the world, the Savior rings, that men, their songs employ.

973
00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:50,280
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains, repeat the sounding joy.

974
00:50:50,280 --> 00:50:52,280
Repeat the sounding joy.

975
00:50:52,280 --> 00:50:55,280
Repeat, repeat sounding joy.

976
00:50:55,280 --> 00:50:57,280
May that be our hearts this Christmas.

977
00:50:57,280 --> 00:50:58,280
Let's bow our heads.