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Well, howdy. Well, I managed to pick a great time to lose my voice. There you go.

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That's what vacation always seems to do, right? It's wonderful and then somehow the last day or two

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you're just absolutely exhausted. And you know, I could spend my time going on and on about

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jacuzzi's and excursions and scoops and I mean, you know, snorkeling and you know, paddleboarding

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and getting a chance to eat all that you want and everything else, but I don't want to rub it in

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your faces. So I won't bring that up at all. But you know, with all of this is then being able to

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then pause and realize that after doing this for about a week is the funny part is then you also

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realize that you miss home. And that's the really strange part is that as much as you may be going

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on an adventure and seeing things and getting a chance to do things you don't normally do is there's

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always this part of you then as you're getting toward the end where you're thinking, yeah, this

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is great. I miss my bed. I miss I miss getting a chance to wake up and drink my normal coffee and

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get a chance to do my normal routines. And there's a part of you that says, am I really sure that I

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want to be here? And this was on my mind quite a bit as I was thinking about what was going on as

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the wise men were traveling to see the baby Jesus. Now I want to make sure that we do just a little

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bit of a recap of what we discussed in previous years. Who were the wise men exactly? So whenever

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we hear and we read about the, you know, like the different Christmas songs and everything for the

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season. And it says we three kings of Orient are, which apparently is completely and totally messed

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up altogether, which number one, I don't think we're supposed to say Orient. I think that that's a

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bit rude these days. But also, we don't actually know for sure where they were actually from. And

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if anything, they were probably from Babylon or Persia, you know, depending on what timeframe

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you're looking at for where they were at. We don't actually know for sure that they were kings. We

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know that they were wise men as the term Magi or Magoi in the Greek would let us to believe. And we

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don't necessarily know that there were three of them. So I'm very, very sorry. Your Advent Christmas

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songs are completely off. I have just ruined your childhood. So but with it though, is even trying to

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understand a bit about why did we even come up with those things in the first place? Well, see,

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it turns out that there were different passages that ended up giving us the reason to believe these

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particular ideas. So first of all, if you look at Isaiah 60 verse six, and it speaks and says,

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a multitude of camels shall cover you the young camels of Midian and Efa and all those from Sheba

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shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense and shall bring good news the praises of the Lord.

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That's the reason why we imagine them coming in on camels. But then also whenever we would think

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about, well, what about the idea of them being kings? Well, it says in Psalm 72 verses 10 through

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11, as we read earlier, may the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute, may the

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kings of Sheba and Sheba bring gifts, may all kings fall down before him and all nations serve him.

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So we have reason to think of that from this passage. However, notice that Tarshish though is

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from the west, not the east. So there's different reasons for why we might see it in this way. But

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also in looking at the idea of what a wise person was in those days is that the idea of the Magi,

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Magi gives us impression, this idea of someone who was studying the stars. Now back then,

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and we've mentioned this before, is that at that time, oftentimes people thought of astronomy and

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astrology as being overlapping. So they saw the science of seeing where the stars and the plants

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were aligning with the idea of destiny in the future. But one of the things that we pointed

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out and mentioned is that just because we may know that the stars can determine time doesn't mean

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that the stars themselves are the things choosing our future, which is something that we do want

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to make sure that we understand when we're looking at this. These were people who were not of a

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Jewish Hebrew background. They may have just been going off of the best of what they knew. Now,

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did they have the prophecies that God had revealed previously? Well, potentially. Is it possible that

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they had come from a land that Daniel had lived in previously, the area where he was exiled for

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Babylon? Had they been able to hear in Numbers 2417 that a star will come from Jacob and a

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receptor will arise from Israel? Were they able to know from Daniel 511 that Daniel, who had been

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their leader, was the one pointing to the Messiah who was to come? And were they looking to see that

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the King Star and the King Planet were aligning to create what we would know of as the Star of

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Bethlehem and following it to where Jesus was? Maybe. There's a lot that we do not know about

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these wise people. But the thing with it is we also know that in one way or another, there was

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enough that had proclaimed to them that there was a King to come and someone that they needed to go

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and to see and to worship. So with that, then we end up understanding that these people who had come

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in were looking for someone important. But was it important enough that they would be confident

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for four years of travel? What does it mean traveling more than four years? I can tell you,

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I probably could have made it to nine or ten days on a boat and after that, I think I would just

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stay on shore and be like, I'm walking home. I don't think that I could have made it for four years.

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I don't quite get it. Apparently some people, that's actually their retirement plan. Instead of

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living within retirement communities, apparently they really like the food. But with it though,

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is to be able to ask this question though, how is it that we maintain dedication as we're moving

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forward in the journey that we undertake? See, what was it for these wise men to be traveling

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along and they don't even know for sure how long it's going to take them in the first place? They

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see the star, they know they need to go, but they don't know how long it's going to take. Could you

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imagine what has been happening month after month after month and they're continuing to travel and

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they still have not gotten to where they're supposed to be going. Could you imagine the

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conversation between them? Are you sure we should still be going? Are we sure that this prophecy,

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are you sure that the heavens were pointing us in the right direction? Are we sure this is the

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place to go? How often is it easy for us to feel the same way as we are following after Christ?

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How often is it that we are trying to do what we know that God has called us to do and it is

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frustrating, tedious. We find ourselves sometimes having a more difficult time than others do,

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sometimes feel alone. We are trying our best to proclaim what God has wanted and then we see even

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other Christians ignoring the things that we see are obvious. And that was one of the things that

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had to have happened for them is that they needed to be of a similar mind. If you're going to be

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joining on a trip together, all of you have to be encouraging each other to be strong and courageous

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and to be able to say, I know this is hard. I know it is difficult, but we're supposed to keep

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following. And how many times for two years that they had to finally go and continue to say,

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we know what we were foretold and the star is still right there. And even to the point of knowing

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now how are we going to get back home. But even more than that is to realize how did they know

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what to do. You have to be traveling by night. You cannot be figuring out which direction the

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star is going, except at a time when the star is the brightest. And that's the thing is that

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oftentimes whenever we discover that we are in the darkness and we are wondering what it is we're

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supposed to be doing that is oftentimes when the light is the strongest and the brightest. And

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that's the thing for each of them was to stay focused on the light. How many other travelers

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were there to distract them? How many other circumstances might have been there during the

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day, during the times, whenever you can't see that star and yet to continue to stay focused on

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which direction to go. But even more so, how did they even know to follow in the first place?

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Because to see this alignment by itself has no significant meaning. How often is it that we are

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continuing to try to look around us and try to figure out the world based on our own understanding?

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We are trying to figure out what the best circumstances and the best decisions are to be

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made based off of what we think makes sense. But do we take the time to take what we're seeing and

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discern it through God's Word? Because the only way to understand what this meant was to have known

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what the Scriptures were saying. Are we in our world today just taking things and trying to make

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sense of them the best that we think? Or are we willing to take the time to take what we see and

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go back to God's Word and say, God, what did you want me to do with this? What would your son have

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said to do in response? What is your spirit leading us to? Not what do I think makes the most

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sense? What is it that your Word is telling me to do because of this? And I find that interesting

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because they were almost there. They were almost at Bethlehem. And then where did they go instead?

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See, that's the thing about this, though, is that we're supposed to follow the light, not following

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the power. See, that's the thing about this is that it's so interesting that as we were looking

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through at the different possibilities about what trip that they were making, and they end up,

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they probably went through Jericho, but there are some potential other routes that they could

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have taken. But the thing is, is that if you go through Jericho, going from there directly to

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Bethlehem does not require you to go through Jerusalem. The wise men assumed that the current

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power would be the one to provide their wisdom. They were almost there. How often is it that we

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get discouraged just before we get where God is wanting us to be? And the thing is, is that that

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doesn't mean that God is no longer able to speak to us or no longer able to do as well. But how

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often is it that we were just right there? And if we could have just held on a little bit longer,

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instead of going a direction that feels good or feels strong or feels vocal or powerful, is that

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instead, if we could have just stayed focused on what the light of God's wisdom truly is, is that

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he's more than willing to lead us himself. The thing is, is that they already had a direction to

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go. You know, sometimes you're just kind of like, could you just maybe read the room a little bit?

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Going up to Jerusalem, if they had just paused, they would have realized that King Herod wasn't

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actually a king. King Herod was not of the lineage of Judah, of David, of the kings of Judah of the

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past. They would have realized that Herod was a jealous and superstitious and frightened man.

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And if they had paused, wouldn't there have been an opportunity for God to reveal this is not where

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to go? We know that God was able to speak later. Wouldn't God have been able to point them already?

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But that's the thing about this is that because they were so insecure about just listening to what

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God had to say, and that they turned in a direction that they thought made the most sense, is that

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instead, how many children born over those two years had to suffer because they struggled just a bit

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with that faith. And that's the thing about this is that we are oftentimes looking for someone or

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something to somehow make sense of God's calling and God's direction for us, instead of just listening

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to his word ourselves. That's one of the things about this is that to be completely fair, I sometimes

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fear that this hour on a Sunday morning is the only time that you may be hearing God's word. As much

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as I do my best to read it and meditate on it and say what is worthwhile, I am still not the light.

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I am not God's word. This is why you are continually being encouraged to spend time with others in

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groups or in classes or one on one or especially directly to be in God's word yourself. Because

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each and everything that I say should always be taken back by you to God's word itself. Because

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he is the one to truly direct your paths. But even more than that is to realize that Christ is not

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just someone that belongs in this bubble that we have here in this building and among just these

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people. See that's something that we oftentimes forget is that we need to stop assuming that Christ

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is only ours. The thing is is that we in many ways have been brought up. How many of us in this

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place in this building were brought up with stories and little archbooks that discussed all the

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different things about Jesus and God and the Bible. I didn't even know that archbooks were Lutheran

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and I grew up outside of Lutheran Church. I'm like thank you Lutherans. This is awesome and honestly

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they were great. But the thing is how many people didn't grow up in that specific vein. Didn't have

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it continually handed to them. We're not baptized as children and continue to be brought up in the

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church. And yet we get upset when they first hear about God and Jesus and his spirit and they're

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still trying to unpack that. And we assume that they would have no interest in knowing who God is

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because if they did, wouldn't they be Christian already. But maybe they are on a path that takes

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time and they need people to walk alongside them and to encourage them to keep on that path. Because

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maybe they haven't gotten to the child yet. But that doesn't mean that they won't get there. But how

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oftentimes do we just give up. Well it didn't work out. I guess they're just not interested. But the

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thing is is that we do know that many people do think that there is such a thing as goodness and

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righteousness and wisdom in the world. So if we truly believe that Jesus embodies all of those,

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then why would we be afraid to trust that his word will lead them itself. And that if we just

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continue to proclaim what God has shown us, that God's spirit can do the work. See that's the thing.

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Is that not everybody has grown up in the same background, the same experiences, but that's

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okay. We can use their experiences to show them that Jesus is the one they've been waiting for.

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The hurt, the frustration, a world that is continually frustrated and angry with itself. And we

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know how much treachery and how much corruption and how much anger and warfare is around us. Just

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as God has proclaimed. And what kind of Messiah do we have? Do we have a Messiah that looks to harm

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others, to treat them with contempt for being different? Do we have a Jesus who wants nothing to

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do with anyone who hasn't already gotten their life together first? Or does he meet them first and

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then teach them out of grace and hope and love? Don't we think that the world around us would

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love to know that? And then maybe if we sat there and said, would you like to know? And they say,

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you know, I'm not interested. Is to say, I understand and still look for another opportunity again.

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Because that's a thing. Maybe we need to spend more time listening than we do speaking. The thing

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is, is that the story will lead people to see their need for a savior as they draw closer. The thing

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is, is that we as the Christian church, we spend a lot of time talking. We spend a lot of time

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saying what we think that everybody needs to hear from us. But maybe if we take the time to hear

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from them and understand why it is that they hurt, why it is that they're frustrated, why it is that

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they're scared, what it is that they keep wishing that they could see and know and hear from God,

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then maybe as we hear God's word more and more, we will realize that it speaks to all of those

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things. Is that if we are in this word and listening to what the people in our world are going through,

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we would be able to see how God's word speaks to them. Instead of thinking that our words and our

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ideas are the ones to dominate. See, the thing is, is that as we continue to draw closer to who God

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is, to hear his word and to keep walking closer, then we know the path to bring others along with

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us. So the truth is, is that I don't know where the wise men originally came from for sure. I don't

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know all the background. Were they pagan wise people using astrology to somehow try to figure out

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what was going to get them closer to God, maybe. But what I do know is that as they continued to

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follow the light of Christ, is that God brought them to know him in spirit and in truth. So maybe

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we as the people privileged to have started with knowing his word from the beginning. Maybe we

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could just be patient with people who didn't start there. And instead of spending so much time

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making sure that we have power and authority with our words, we could spend time letting God's

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word be the thing to lead and guide them closer to who God is. May God's word continue to lead

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and guide us. And may we share it with the world that needs to hear it, even as much as we do.

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Thanks be to God.