This sermon emphasizes the divinity of Jesus Christ, highlighting that while He became fully man, He remained fully God as prophesied in Scripture. It explores the visit of the wise men from the East, underscoring their divine guidance through a star to find and worship the newborn King. The lesson drawn is to stay focused on God's guidance and not make assumptions as we pursue His calling in our lives.

Okay, let's continue in Matthew chapter 1, reading in verse number 23. I'll back up to verse number 22. Now, all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, quote, behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us. So let's stop right there and make this point indelibly clear. Jesus Christ was a man, 100% man. He became a man, but he was no less God than he ever was in all of eternity. And Jesus was and is just as much God, every bit as much so as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. And if somebody is trying to tell you that Jesus is anything less than that, some folks who are knocking on doors are telling us that Jesus, oh yes, he was the son of God, but they're not about to give him a capital S to make him divine. He's something less than what the scripture says he is. He is God and it's so clear his name was called Emmanuel, God with us. And so this all happened during a dream that Joseph was having and he, he said, it says he awoke from a sleep. He did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and he took Mary as his wife, but he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son and he called his name Jesus. And so Mary was not a perpetual virgin as some teach and believe. Again, we have the Bible for it. I'll take the Bible over anybody else any day. Mary was a virgin only until she gave birth to Jesus. And it's very clear from scripture that Jesus had siblings, right? And when we come to that in scripture, we'll see that he had brothers and sisters by the same mother. Okay. Now, uh, we're segwaying into Matthew chapter two and we get now the story of the visit of the, the wise men from the East. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the days of Herod, the King Magi from the East arrived in Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born King of the saw his star in the East and have come to worship him. When Herod the King heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Now we don't know the identities of these guys. There's a lot of mythology, I guess you could call it around the Magi. We often say that there were three only because they, uh, the scripture records that them bringing three different kinds of gifts. Um, but there's no evidence that it was other than that, that it was just three. If they traveled a great distance from the East, they would have had to travel across deserts and so forth, um, perhaps for months and maybe even years to get to Jerusalem. And they were following a star, uh, must've been something extraordinary that caught their attention. And they had some kind of obviously, uh, some kind of divine insight, right? Because you see a star and you just don't, uh, you know, make the assumption, oh, well there must be a King being born somewhere. You know, all right. That wouldn't be something you just logically conclude. And so God must have spoken to them somehow. They knew that they were coming to see the King of the Jews and they said, we're coming to worship him. That was their intention. Well, you don't, you know, worship a King unless you believe that King is God, right? God is the only one worthy of worship. So these guys had some insight that goes beyond what, uh, is, you know, frankly said, but certainly is implied by what we read. And, uh, the star for them, uh, was in the East and, uh, it brought them to Jerusalem. We don't know, you know, if they saw the star for a little time and they could see that it was, you know, and they just, you know, aim their sights on it. But it would seem like, it seemed like the star had to be there for some time. And did it disappear when they got to closer to Jerusalem? Uh, you know, all these questions, we don't have the answers for these questions. Um, but they come to Jerusalem, they announced that they're looking for, um, the, the King of the Jews, uh, and they're coming to worship him. And then after talking with Herod about this and him consulting with, uh, the, the priests and the scribes and so forth, and they revealed to him that the scripture says that it's in Bethlehem that, uh, the Messiah would be born. Uh, then they turn and head towards Jerusalem, which is just about six miles or so South of Jerusalem. And it says that when they do that, and we'll read this in a moment, they rejoiced when they saw the star. Now I'm bringing all this up for a reason. You know, they, they, they had guidance from God. They had wonderful guidance from God. There's the star in the East. It brings them to Jerusalem, just six miles away from really where they ultimately want to be. They didn't want to come to Jerusalem. They wanted to go to where Jesus was. And they missed him by six miles. But the star, it doesn't seem like the star went away. Because they rejoiced when they saw the star as they head, you know, now South, no longer heading the direction they were heading. They're heading, they're not coming from the East. They're heading South and they're heading towards Jerusalem. So, so did the star disappear for a while? I don't know, but I'll say this much. I suspect that as they got closer and closer to Jerusalem, they just thought King of the Jews, star looks like it's over Jerusalem. Forget the star, full speed ahead to Jerusalem. And so they quit, they took their eyes off the star for a couple of nights maybe, and made an assumption that ultimately was wrong. And when they got their eyes back on the star, then their sights are set in the right place. I tend to think that the star, had they kept their eyes on it, would have led them right to Jesus, right from the start. And a lot of, would have been a lot of different consequences to that, of course. But in any case, what's the lesson for you and me? I think the lesson there is, if you get guidance from God, stay on track. Don't make any assumptions as you get closer and closer to where God's leading you. And I'm not just talking about geographically. I'm talking about what he's called you to do in ministry. We've all been, you know, called to serve God in various capacities. There's good works that God has prepared from the foundation of the world for us to walk in them. So, keep following the star that God has placed in your heart. Okay, see you next time.