Stars Wars

Matthew chapter 2, we'll read some verses, have you leave it open there. We'll spend most of the time, we'll refer to this second chapter, but we will have you go to a few other places tonight. Matthew chapter 2, now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying, where is he that is born king, king of the Jews for we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him.

When Herod the king had heard these things he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Tonight I want to use the Christmas story and I want to preach to you a message that I entitled tonight, Star Wars, Star Wars. Let's bow in our word of prayer.

Our father we do thank you for the authority that is given to us through the Word of God, hallelujah. We thank you that it is instruction in righteousness, it has everything tonight available to meet every need and we pray Lord tonight that you would anoint this thy servant, anoint thy people. We thank you already for what you've done in this meeting, but now Lord we give our attention as we minister from this sacred pulpit, from this sacred desk and your sacred Word.

God take it tonight, let it take root in hearts, let it change lives, do something in our hearts Lord here tonight. We'll thank you, we'll praise you for it in Jesus name, amen. Did you hear about the Star War that has been going on in a little Vermont town during this Christmas season? It seems that a woman, we might say after the order of Madeleine Murray O'Hare, a type like that, this woman has led a campaign in her town to remove a star from top of a Christmas tree out in front of the town hall or the municipal building and she wanted it removed and there's been other campaigns like this because she says it represents a Christian symbol, a religious symbol and so she started a one-woman campaign to remove that star.

Well she was not totally successful. I'm glad to say that the star still remains on top of a tree, but she did manage to get the town council to put up a silly sign beside it that says in effect religious symbols do not constitute the endorsement of a particular religion. Now you know that similar fights are being waged regarding these matters especially at Christmas time.

There's been an effort to remove manger scenes off of official property or to take away other Christian religious symbols especially at Christmas time and in fact in a high school in Massachusetts there was another battle going on because they will not let the young people in their assembly, they had a Christmas pageant or something they were presenting and they wouldn't let them, the principal would not let them sing any Christmas songs, any Christmas carols. They wanted to sing Silent Night or something like that and the principal wouldn't let them even in spite of the fact that three-quarters of the students signed a petition and said we want to sing it and these kind of battles are going. In fact you know that they've gone all the way to the Supreme Court.

Now the incident in Vermont might be called Star Wars. There is an effort nationwide to remove not just the symbols of Christianity from society but to remove the very content, the very teaching, the very moral principles of Christianity from our schools, from all of our institutions, from our courts, from our prisons and especially from any of the laws in our land. Now America may not have to worry as much about Russian missiles destroying us as we should worry about our own moral self-destruction.

There is a spiritual Star Wars taking place in the realm of the spirit world and it's being played out in the governing bodies of this nation. In our educational system it's being played out in town governments, in state governments, and in our Supreme Court and all across our land. Ephesians 6.12 talks about it and says for we wrestle not against bodies, excuse me, we wrestle not against enemies of flesh and blood but against the world rulers or master spirits of this present darkness against the evil arrayed against us in the heavenly warfare.

That my friend is the real Star Wars that's going on today. Now this Star Wars, Star Wars began years ago in Jerusalem as told in the familiar Christmas story. You see that woman in Vermont wanting to remove an innocent star from top of a tree is really part of a warfare began nearly 2,000 years ago when an unusual star appeared in the heavens.

It had never been seen before, it had never been seen again, but a star that caused no small stir in Jerusalem and as a result of some wise men following that star and what it represented the course of human history has been changed thank God. Note what it says that when Herod heard, when Herod the King heard it about these wise men who had followed this star he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and thus began the real Star Wars, a war that is going on yet today and more importantly a war that may be going on in some of your hearts right here tonight. We're going to look at this first of all in verse 1 we're going to look at the the Magi from the east who arrive in Jerusalem asking where is he that is born King of the Jews and I want to show you an encouraging word tonight because there's an encouraging word from every one of you tonight who is an Easterner and we're going to see what it means to be from the east because some of you tonight spiritually speaking are Easterners as is brought out in this story and we're going to talk about it and if you like the wise men will follow the star your life will never be the same again and the same thing that happened to these wise men we're going to see when you come down to the end of the story it says they went back home another way and tonight thank God you can go home another way as well we're going to look at that then secondly is Herod was troubled Herod's life was strangely interrupted strangely disturbed upon hearing the mere mention of another supposed King and thus the star of Bethlehem turned him into a raging madman and a child killer you talk about Star Wars it started a war in Herod we're going to talk about that war and then thirdly Herod calls for an emergency meeting of all the religious leaders to find out what they knew and in the end they too the religious community felt the effects of what God was doing in that manger in Bethlehem but they rejected it and it started a holy war and there is a holy war that's going on today in the body of Christ and we want to address ourself to that first of all the appearance of the star to the Magi represented the fulfillment of ancient biblical promises that said this they that sit in darkness shall see a great light the wise men represent all of those who are seekers after truth and who are willing to recognize the evident signs that point to the Messiah and to the Savior now these Eastern Magi were astrologers and in reality they would be equivalent in our day of as a scientist they were not just delving in the occult but really they were more scientific we could call them a scientist who evidently were searchers after truth and because they had a heart to find the truth because they wanted to find out the true meaning of life they wanted to find out what was truth what was reality they therefore had their attention in the right direction and when this star appeared they recognized that it was significant it was an extraordinary appearance in the heavens and because their hearts were in the right direction they followed it and they found truth and they found the Messiah now I believe that there are two classes of people as far as the sinner is concerned as far as the unconverted first of all there are those who do not want to know the truth they are rebels they are scoffers the Bible calls them fools worse it calls them reprobates and the Bible says if you brought back if you raised people from the dead if you raised back the prophets from the dead and you came to them they still would not believe it if if you put the star in front of them if you shone it brightly in front of they saw the proof of the evidence they would ignore it or they would deny it there are people who say don't confuse me with any facts my mind is already made up they intend to follow evil and they have no desire for any part of God and not a thing that you or anybody can do about it that's one class of sinner but there's another class of the unconverted they are true they are unbelievers they are doubters but they are what I call sincere doubters down deep inside they want to know what is the way what is the truth what is the life they're sort of like the disciples who said at one time I believe help my unbelief in other words I want to believe help me to believe you know when I think of people around the world that are unconverted lost sometimes I get discouraged and I wonder Lord how are they ever gonna know the truth why Lord are there so many that have not heard the gospel millions of Muslims the multitudes of Jews or you think of China or you think of other places where missionaries cannot go where the gospel the preaching of the gospel is scarce or non-existent but even in America people grow up totally ignorant of the gospel in spite of all the evangelism that goes on and I think about this sometime and I I get discouraged but on the other hand I am encouraged when I read the Christmas story because you see God broke into the world of those secular non-religious non-Jewish scientists and showed them a light and because they fathered it they found the source of that light which is Jesus Christ and I believe that if any man anywhere on the face of the earth wants to know the truth that somehow the light of gospel will break through and that person will come to the knowledge of the truth we ought to go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature and yet even where missionaries or Bibles do not go I believe that men can look from without themselves and they can look from within themselves and find a light that can lead them to salvation the Bible proves it turn with me to Psalms chapter 19 Psalms chapter 19 oh I'm blessed when I read this it says the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork day unto day utter of speech and night unto night showeth knowledge there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world to them hath he set a tabernacle in the Sun and by the way that verse forward says there is a line that's gone out you know what that line means it's a it's a line like a hook it's a line that goes out and it says if a man wants to know me all he has to do is look around himself even in creation and creation will tell him there's got to be an intelligence behind all of this and if that man wants to know God there is a line that's there something will hook him and that line will pull him in and that man can find God if he has a heart to know God then it goes on in verse 7 you see that in the first six verses it talks about this law that is without this evidence that is without but then it says there's an evidence within and it says the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise a simple the statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart the commandments of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes you see God put a moral law within a man God put a conscience within a man and if you will but listen to the voice of his conscience it will lead him to the laws of God and to the way of salvation there is a theologian that made this statement he said two things fill the mind with ever-increasing admiration and all the starry heavens above and the moral law within and God says that there is that law that's an operation and if man can just look about I think of a Carl Sagan tonight who has probed into this universe like probably no other man that there is and Carl Sagan is an unbelief if any man's gonna be held accountable before God a man who has seen all that and yet does not believe he doesn't believe because he does not want to believe he's blind to it but there is evidence that is about us in the universe and then our kids go to school and say that all it all happened because there was a swirling mass of energy floating around and it cooled over the millions of years and finally it became our globe our earth as it is and before it came into its final form a little piece of energy came off and it began to crawl on the ground and it began to then later years it began to develop arms and legs and then one day it got the hair on it and it was up in a tree somewhere and it fell down off a tree and was your grandfather somewhere and I want to tell you it takes a lot of faith to believe that they say we Christians commit intellectual suicide when we become a Christian listen you read some of that garbage I don't see how any man in his right mind can believe that here's what it says there is no speech or language where their voice is not heard God's crying out in the universe and says here I am and if a man has a heart to search after the meaning behind that he'll find God Romans 1 20 says for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and God and so that they are without excuse and so there is a moral there is a law without and there is a law within a man even our own conscience even our own inability to to live up to our own standards ought to show us ought to show us that we are sinners and that there's got to be someone who can lead us out of that condition I'll never forget one of the best pieces of theology I heard by a fellow one time on the streets I started to witness to him he said you don't have to say a word to me he said I believe in God and I began to probe because I said did you grow up in the church he said never went to church he said I never read my Bible or anything but he said I believe in God and I knew he wanted me to ask him why and I said well why do you believe in God he said look man I've had the devil in me so long I knew there had to be somebody else on the other side of the coin now listen that that gentleman had more theology more understanding than seminary teachers in seminary now I want you to see something else that's noteworthy in this story the fact that these wise men came from the east the star appeared in the east leading them to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem and then to Christ now the east in scripture is a type of a world more than that it represents the furthest place away from the presence of God that a man feels he can go to get away from God I mean if you're running from God if a man ran from God in early scriptures he went east now let me show it to you I'm going to prove it to you from the scriptures we'll just go to a few of them well first of all in the beginning when Adam and Eve when Adam first sinned he headed east and all who followed him in sin and away from God they also went east and in fact the further man went away from God the further east he went look at me and Genesis turn to Genesis and I don't have time to follow all of this but it's an interesting study and I discovered this and don't ask me how I discovered it it's just here in the Bible that's all Cain when Genesis 4 16 it says and Cain went out from the presence of the Lord now and when he went out from the presence of the Lord in the next verse you know what he did he built a city because you see basically the city was an effort to misery likes company and and sinners like to congregate in cities and therefore the city was built in order for man to soothe the effects of the fall but notice where the city was built in verse 16 and Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden the east of Eden okay go with me to another scripture Genesis let's flip over to Genesis 11 and verse 1 it says in the whole earth was of one language and of one speech and it came to pass as they journeyed from the east in fact the more accurate translation would say that they journeyed eastward and they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there and you know what happened when they dwelt there that's where they decided to erect their tower of Babel and where they began to defy God but it was east it was east what had happened now go one more verse of Scripture in Genesis 13 and 11 and you remember when Abraham and Lot separated Abraham gave Lot the choice and it's interesting where he chooses then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan and Lot journeyed east and they separated themselves the one from the other and of course in east is where Sodom and Gomorrah was as well now let me ask you the question tonight very seriously where are you living spiritually speaking are you moving eastward away from God or are you following the star are you following truth and it's very important to that you understand that if you're in the eastern part if you're away from God that there is a promise for you there is something that encourages me I am blessed when I read it says and lo the star which they saw in the east went from them now to me that's an encouragement to that mother whose son is on the boat in the Mississippi I don't I don't know if he's going down the Mississippi or up the Mississippi but it sounds like he's going east to me he sounds like he's going away from God and and if you've got unsaved loved ones that are heading east away from God if you're heading that way then I want you to know here's a promise for you and lo the star which they saw in the east went before them and went unto them hallelujah Psalms 139 and 7 says where can I go from your spirit where can I flee from your presence if I go to the heavens you are there if I make my bed in the depths you are there let me tell you a friend I don't care how far east you go the star can always appear to you and say follow me and I'll lead you to the manger I'll lead you to the Christ child hallelujah the wise man had only the star to guide them we got the Sun to guide us now hallelujah John 8 12 says Jesus spoke to the people and said I am the light of the world whosoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life praise God we've been talking about the teams going out here witnessing in Times Square let me tell you about one night when the star appeared in the east in Times Square two years ago a man from the Middle East visiting America had gotten what's what's the word I want to say he was hungry to know the truth he he felt he was a Muslim Muslim and was disillusioned that's the word I'm searching for disillusioned with his own the religion of his upbringing and so when he came to America he wanted to find out about Christianity in his hotel room here in Times Square he picked up the Bible and started to read it but he didn't understand it and so he prayed he said God he said I want you to bring a Christian to me and I'm going to stand on such and such a corner at such and such a time and if you want me to know about Christianity if you want me to know about Jesus Christ then you bring a Christian along and have a Christian on the same corner well you see we have teams that come in especially during the summer sometimes you know 150 people that come in and work with us for a week or two weeks and we divide them up into teams of 10 or 12 people and we send some to Brooklyn some to Bronx some to Times Square some to Greenwich Village and so forth well that night we had a time assigned we had a team assigned to Times Square and not only were they assigned to Times Square but they were assigned from one specifically on a certain corner and two or three people were told now you be on this corner and others on this corner and of course guess what happened there was a team that was assigned to that corner and when that gentleman came out to low a star in the East appeared when somebody began to witness to him and he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior hallelujah there's a there's a young man tonight in a southern city who was the head of a ministry to troubled young people he's a product of the ministry of Teen Challenge but he was not saved at Teen Challenge he was saved before he came to us he was saved in prison but he was a young man who was an avid reader and had great hunger intellectually and spiritually and so when he was in prison he decided to make the best of his time and said I'm gonna find out the true what the true religion is and so he started to read and he read the Eastern religions and he read everything and it all disappointed him and finally somebody gave him a Bible started to read into the Old Testament couldn't understand it and so he would rip the pages and use them to make homemade cigarettes but then he finally came to the New Testament and he began to read it and as he began to read Matthew Mark and Luke he became he said to himself this man he was fascinated with a story of Jesus in reading the Gospels and you know what he said to himself he said either this man is a liar or he is a lunatic or he is the Son of God and he came to John and he started to read the book of John and guess what happened when he got into the book of John and lo a star shone in the east hallelujah the truth dawned the light came and God's for the the Word of God spoke to him and Jesus said I am the Son of God I am your Savior and the light came on in his prison cell and he accepted Jesus Christ and he had enough sense to know when he came out of prison that he needed to know more and so he had already heard about King John's and he came and that young man John Cove is a leader in Atlanta Georgia tonight has a ministry to troubled girls and to troubled young men lo the star appeared in the east to John Cove I was talking give me I'll give you one more illustration I was talking to a young fellow who told me that he came out of the drug scene and hippie scene of the 60s and 70s and he said I found the Lord I get I got saved and I I said well what did you get saved during the Jesus revival Jesus people revival going on because he told me he'd been on the west coast and he said no he said nobody came to me nobody came to me he said I was a loner and I was hiding out in the mountains I it was neither New Mexico I believe was a New Mexico he's hiding out but he said I had a hunger to know God and I asked God to reveal himself to me somehow someway show me the way and one day wherever he was staying he was going to leave for a while for a few days and he wanted to hide some of his valuables and so he started to dig a ditch to hide his things in the ditch and while he was digging into the ditch lo and behold if he didn't find a Bible buried somewhere way back in the wilderness or desert or wherever it was he finds a Bible and he begins to read it and as he begins to read it lo the star appeared in the east hallelujah and the light came on and he found Jesus Christ as his personal Savior you see my friend if you want to know the truth the truth will find you let me go deeper into this story secondly note the reaction of the star and what the star represented to Herod the star precipitated a tragic internal warfare within Herod Herod was sitting was a king sitting securely as a supreme ruler of his kingdom for 35 years when he is troubled by the birth of a little baby in the little town of Bethlehem in a stable he's troubled by the idea of a little innocent baby shakes him to his core but listen to me tonight Herod is a type of the person who thinks anyone who thinks he sits securely as the ruler of his own destiny only to find out that there is another ruler and authority that's calling him to an account the end of side one turn the tape over to side two is a troublemaker he is the disturber to anyone who was unwilling to accept Christ rulership over his life Herod hears talk of another king and it sends him into fear into jealousy into an internal warfare and then it breaks out into a bloodbath but can you imagine how he felt when these wise men came and they were men their dress as well as the treasure that they carried he knew that they were men of intelligence and when they asked about the star note what they I love the way they said it was not just a question it was a statement they said where is he that is born king of the Jews and they were not talking about Herod they were talking about another king and it shook him to the core and he fears a little baby will take away his power his authority his kingdom and listen to me Herod was troubled for the same reason that men are troubled today and sometimes bitter and angry at Christ often it's simply because they do not want Christ to intrude into their personal affairs he doesn't want them to intrude into their sins into their pleasures they're unwilling to surrender control and rulership of their lives they want to remain king and sovereign and master of their destiny and they know that if they open themselves to Jesus Christ that he has got to be king and sin has to go and self-rule has to go and unrighteousness has to go and in personal ambition has to go that's why the rich young ruler in Luke the 18th chapter that young new to her gospel yuppie was sorrowful when he went away because he was held to his riches and what Jesus was saying is that I want to be king of your life and he was not willing to let Jesus be king second Chronicles 20 and 6 says power and might are in your hand no one can withstand you Psalms 22 28 says for dominion belongs to the Lord listen to me listen to me carefully as long as you remain in ownership of your life and refuse to bow to the authority of God as revealed in his son Jesus Christ you will be the enemy of God and every sermon that you hear about Christ every witness of a Christian will disturb and make you miserable until you bow in repentance before Jesus Christ as Lord I had an unusual thing happen to me one time a young convert came to me young teen challenge convert came to me and he said brother down he said would you pray for me he said I I'm going through something he said I've accepted the Lord but he said I'm having a great doubt I'm having he said I get these flashes of doubt that come in my mind that say to me this is not real you're a phony the Bible's not true what you have experienced is not real and he thought something was wrong with him and I explained to him I said look that's very normal in a young Christian those flashes of doubt will come to you but I encouraged him I said with you get into the word and as you feed your faith your doubts and your fears will starve to death and those flashes will get weaker and weaker and the light will get stronger and stronger and I said don't worry about it everybody has flashes of doubt are many people when they're young some are stronger some are weaker some stay long some stay shorter but you know they're there and as he walked away I began I got so blessed I began to think about the poor atheist or agnostic or unbeliever who has flashes of faith now think about it now think about some man you know he's on top of the world he's king of the hill he's king of the world he's got it all together he's got all of his philosophy of life all worked out has nothing to do with Jesus Christ and all of a sudden you come along a witness to him and he gets a little flash of faith that says maybe they're right maybe God is real maybe Jesus is the Son of God maybe there is a heaven maybe there is a hell and it shakes up his world I said that one night to a lady and she said oh she said I can't wait she said I go to university and I there's a professor in my that I go to and he said she said I'm so intimidated by him I haven't witnessed to him because he just seems to such an exhaust agnostic and and he puts down Christians he said I can't she said I can't wait tomorrow to get to class and to give him a few flashes of faith that he's gonna have to deal with you see the star of Bethlehem represented representing the birth of Christ was a star war to Herod and it's to end and it will be to you tonight and to anybody who will not acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord does Jesus Christ rule supreme in your heart and in your life or are you disturbed by the message of his kingdom and of his righteousness and the message that's going forth from this pulpit you know sometimes people come to me and they say to me I'm confused about this or about that or I don't understand this and I don't understand that and sometimes they they just it's true that's that's the problem and it need they need to be addressed and they need some true be brought into some word some truth but sometimes I discern when people come to me and they say I'm confused that often that confusion is a cloak for rebellion against Christ demands or rule over their life and you see what happens is that God puts a finger on an area of their life that they're still in control of and sometimes confusion and the trouble that Jesus seems to be making for us is that we're sitting where he wants to sit we're in control of something that he wants to be in control of and you see if you're going through a fiery trial it may be that God is trying to get your attention regarding a pocket of your life that you have not yet surrendered to him that he wants to rule and listen when Jesus is your troublemaker you better give in and give up because he always wins you can't fight City Hall when God's the mayor of the universe Job 9 12 says who can say to him what are you doing who can say to him what are you doing he knows what he's doing and you see once you start coming near to the Lord he's gonna start getting he's gonna start reaching out and grabbing a hold of some things in your life we had a dear sister my father father was a pastor we had a dear sister who understood that some of the principle that I'm talking about you she stood up one night during testimony me and she said oh she said I praise God you know she said I want to praise God for something I want to praise God that my husband is getting so miserable he's getting so ugly he's getting so hard to live with and all I praise God for it that woman what she was saying is she understood something about Holy Ghost conviction and here was a man she was what she was saying is my husband starting to get flashes of faith and God starting to move in on him and starting to want to take over his life and and right now Jesus appears to be a troublemaker to him but if you yield then Jesus will become something much different I want you to look at verse 7 and 8 because there's something else that I want you to see this is Matthew the second chapter go back to Matthew Herod is a type of Satan in this story and I want you to I want to read to you verse 7 and verse 8 it says then Herod when he had privately called the wise men inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared and he sent them to Bethlehem and said go and search diligently for the young child and when you have found him bring me word again that I may come and worship him also you know what this means to me that the devil does not mind you going to church he doesn't care if you sing he doesn't care if you worship he don't care if you listen to messages by the preacher he don't care if you go to the altar he don't care if you cry as long as you come back to him when it's all over with and tell him what because as long as he can get you to go back he will rob and he will steal that seed he will take it from you he will say to you listen you know you can't make it or we've said it from this pulpit every man sins a little bit he'll he'll rob you he'll say something to you and he'll rob you of that truth if you go back to him in the parable of a sower this person is described listen Matthew 13 19 you don't need to turn to it I read it when anyone hears this message about the kingdom and does not understand it does not understand its full implications the evil one comes and snatches it away snatches away what is sown in the heart but look at these look what these fellows did verse 12 look at verse 12 it says and being warned of God in the dream that they should not return to Herod they departed into their own country another way you see when you accept Jesus as both your personal Savior and the Lord over all that you own and all that you desire and all that you are you will never go back the same way from which you came nor to the same places nor to the same people hallelujah your walk and your talk and your thinking will be of another way now thirdly and I'm going to close with this the star leading to the Christ child also started another kind of war a holy war Herod calls for this emergency meeting of all the leaders of the religious community verse 4 look at verse 4 and when they had gathered all the chief priests when he had gathered all the chief priests and the scribes of the people he demanded of them where Christ should be born and you'll note that the very ones who should have known about the new move of God taking place are not able to recognize what the visitors from the east are privileged to to recognize and to know that the promise of to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob was being fulfilled in their backyard and they didn't know it and these priests did not have to deliberate long to answer the king's demand they knew the scripture it was prophesied in Micah the fifth chapter second verse they found the prophecy and they said it's right there it says Bethlehem though you be little among the thousands of towns in Judah yet out of you will come for me one who will be ruler of Israel but in spite of their knowledge of the prophets they are not among the remnant looking for the consolation of Israel and the coming of Jesus and the very ones that should have been glad to welcome the appearance of the star instead they also like Herod they are troubled too and it precipitated a holy war a holy war against the rulership of Jesus Christ now listen the scribes the chief priest and the scribes knew the scripture but they did not want to know Jesus the scriptures did not lead them to see Christ and I want you to know my friend that it's possible to be a student of the scriptures it's possible to be knowledgeable in the word and I want to tell you brother brother Victor can tell you we can tell you we've been in the Bible belt but it's not just in the Bible belt but that's probably where you see as much as anywhere the people that know the scripture but they do not have a relationship to Jesus Christ my son and daughter are back from Bible College for the holidays and they're in a good school and I thank the Lord for the school that they're in and they're getting a good Bible education there they're growing in the Lord but my son was talking to me the other day as we were riding in the car about how the fact that the study of the Bible even in Bible school today can interrupt your relationship with Jesus Christ that it's ironic that the very study of the Word of God drowns out having any time to be with the Lord and there doesn't seem to be a willingness even in our school to let God move and to go beyond just the pure study of or knowledge of the Word to be able to have a heart relationship with Jesus Christ and I think that's sad you know this past summer I went to a minister's conference I spent about five days there six days there 10,000 ministers and their wives were at this conference and I went there were services morning to night and I heard great I heard some some very good preaching very good messages there is nothing that I heard from the pulpit that I could say was in error the doctrine was pure the doctrine was right there was even talk about the need for holiness and repentance and in fact in one of the business sessions a man wanted to pass a piece of legislation that required every section of the country where these churches were in every district that they have a call to repentance type of conference and of course you know that's something you can't legislate it doesn't happen by passing a law but at least that was their intention but as I moved along in the conference I said to myself something is wrong something is missing the words are right the preaching is right the theology is right and then one night I put my finger on it it just seemed to come to me in this way every time a speaker would come everybody would clap for the speaker every time the speaker would make a good point people would clap for his point every time he said something you know that blessed everybody everybody clapped when the musicians came and they sang their number which was professionally done everybody would clap their hands and I realized that there was more the clapping of the hand than there was a clapping of the heart and I said it's kind of symbolized what was going on all the words were right there was a knowledge of the scripture but what was missing was a heart for God what was missing I didn't see a hunger and thirst after God and I came away from that large conference I was saddened in my heart because of it you see the coming of Jesus started a holy war in the religious community and this is what it was and this is gets to the heart of what we're preaching from this pulpit Herod was troubled by Jesus because of the fear that another king was going to take his throne but the priests saw Jesus as a threat to their religious power and prestige and they did not want to accept a gospel that had as its requirements to obey the one who called himself governor and ruler in verse 6 it says for out of these shall come a governor and shall rule my people Israel and here is the same type is represented in these priests as was represented in Herod and unwillingness to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ I have found in working with troubled young people that when they come immediately and respond to to the gospel is that there is a willingness to respond to Jesus Christ as Savior especially they recognize that they're deep in sin and they want to get rid of the effects of their sin and they say oh Jesus save me save me be my Savior but then as the gospel goes forth they begin to understand that it's more than just accepting Jesus as your Savior but he wants to be the Lord of our lives and that's when many walk back and turn back and walk no more with him and two Saturday the Sunday nights ago I saw one of the young men who had sat where these young men sit here tonight he came in got saved went through our crisis center over in Brooklyn and then he moved on to the next step in his Christian experience and in the rehabilitation process and he'd moved on to another location and when I saw him to set a Sunday nights ago he was about three months in the Lord and I looked at that when I said how you doing and he said oh he said pray for me he said it's hard he said just about the time I get one area of my life turned over to the Lord all of a sudden something else pops up somewhere else and I see that I have another area that I haven't turned over to the Lord and he said he gets hard sometime but the smile on his face told me that he understood that Jesus is not only a Savior but his Lord and he was saying to me in his testimony yes I'm going all the way with the Lord pray with me that I'll be able to receive him as the Lord totally of my life let me give you the last verse of Scripture look at verse 11 I'm blessed by these wise men who understand the gospel more than the scribes and the Pharisees they understand it more than some of the preachers of today look what they did and when they came into the house they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down that's repentance and worshiped him that's acknowledging him that he is the king he was the king they acknowledge the fact that he was a king and then what did they do what did they do they opened oh my goodness they opened their treasures and they presented their gifts unto him they understood something about the Lord that Jesus wants us to give him everything it doesn't say they took it says they gave it didn't say that they came to him for some blessing they came and they gave what they had and surrendered it before him and they understood what God that's the gospel that's what God's doing today that's this I believe the central issue today in the church is that very thing is that Jesus is revealing himself today as Lord as governor as ruler as sovereign and the me gospel is going out the back door the me gospel is over with my friend you've heard it from this pulpit God's move is on hallelujah and the wise men knew it before the religious leaders who was the leader who said this there go my people I must catch them for I am their leader which means this is that I believe that the people of God have greater discernment than many of the leaders today and the wise men had greater discernment it's revealed in this verse they knew that when you come to the king of kings and the Lord of Lords you lay down the gold you lay down the frankincense you lay down the myrrh you give and you surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ shall we bow in a word of prayer hallelujah what your eyes have seen unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life but make them known to your sons and to your grandsons now listen to me God wants a king