Transcript: Wisemen Still Seek Jesus: Pastor J's Sunday Sermon

Music Music Music Music Still seek him And this is really something special. You know, in this tumultuous 2020, I want to share something with you that is going to be something that is going to make Christmas 2020 something so special that is going to be something you'll never experience ever again in your life. Maybe some of you know about this, maybe some of you don't, but you're going to know about it by the end of the day. And that is this. Christmas 2020 is going to be something special because the two largest planets in our solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, are going to align on December 21st. Four days before Christmas. And they are going to create what is the astrological thing called the Christmas star. Oh, I tell you, this is beautiful. And you know the really interesting thing about this? This has not happened for 800 years. Tell me God's not about to do something. Tell me God's not about to do something in 2021. God is about to do something special. The Christmas star, that thing, Lord, lit the way, lit the heavens to the Messiah. And I'm telling you, in 2020, the end of 2020, God is lighting this way for something special in 2021. God is not done with this world yet. No, no, no. God is about to show up and do something special. Oh, I tell you, I'm so excited about it. And I tell you, many believe, many people, and I'm talking about people that are not even Christian people, believe that the two aligning planets was that star that shined the way to the Christ child. Now, interestingly enough, the Bible says in Psalms 19 and verse 1, it says, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. So, this is going to be a special year. This is a year to celebrate. In all the troubles that have gone on right now, in all the troubles that have gone on in 2020, it's not a time to lay down and quit and cry and moan and complain about all the troubles. No, now is the time to celebrate because there is about to be a miracle that is about to take place. God is about to show up and do something special. Just like he did back in that day when the star in Bethlehem shone away and the Christ child was born. God's about to shine the light for his church for another miracle. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I love it. Now, interestingly enough, a little background about the Christmas star. These two planets that aligned together and shone up in the sky. Something very interesting took place when that happened. This is a little history lesson, okay? I like to share history lessons, right? This is an interesting note that the Romans, who basically conquered the entire world, more or less, they felt they were the ones, right? the Romans, when they saw that star up in the heavens, they took it that that was their star. That it was something to say that this is about them. And they went even so far as to put the Christmas star on their coins with the image of Caesar Augustus as a way of saying this. is our Messiah. Well, that wasn't the Messiah. Oh, no, no. The Messiah was in a little manger in Bethlehem. The manger held all the little animals, but more importantly, on that precious night, it held the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Beautiful. Now when that Christmas star lit that sky Three wise men Not kings I don't know where we got three kings I don't know whoever came up with that idea It was not three kings, it was three wise men Three astrologers, people that studied the stars Because God in his word said The heavens declare the glory of God So that's why wise men were studying the stars as a way to see where God would send that precious child. Three men studied the stars, and when they found that star, they realized that it was much more than just an astrological event. It was a roadmap. It was a point. It was showing something. And it was showing that the prophecy that had been talked about for many generations was about to be fulfilled. And it had been fulfilled. In Micah 5, verse 2, it says, But thou Bethlehem, you great thou, though thou be little amongst the thousands in Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto me that that will be the ruler of Israel, whose going force has been from old, from everlasting. So these three astrologers not only studied the stars, but they studied the Holy Scriptures. And they combined those two things and they took their journey and they took them to the Christ child Now when we read it we got to understand their journey was a little bit longer than just boom to the manger It took a little longer. People say, well, you know, you see the nativity scene. You got the wise men, you got Mary and Joseph, you got the shepherds, you got all this going on in the nativity scene. People get it mixed up. They think, oh, well, then the wise men were there at the nativity. But that's not true. If you read the scripture, it wasn't the case. The only ones that were there to share that blessed miracle of Christmas was Mary and Joseph and the shepherds. That was it. Well, the animals. The animals were there, too. But that was the only ones. If you read the scripture, it says that the wise men came into the house. And they found the young child. Now a young child is not a baby. Think about it, it's true. A young child is not a baby. So Jesus was probably maybe 10, maybe 2, maybe 3 years old at that point. So their journey was a long one. But no, they didn't quit. They kept searching until they found him. Wise men still seek him. Wise women still seek him. Hallelujah. Alright, that's a long introduction. Now let's joke a little more. Jeremiah 29, starting in verse 12. Jeremiah 29 and verse 12. It says these words. The words of Jeremiah the prophet by God, he says, Then shall ye call upon me. I love that. Then shall ye call upon me. Matthew 11 and 28 tells us, Call unto me all thee that labor and are heavy laden, and what? I will give you rest. Hallelujah. That's right. You ever get weary? You ever get tired? You ever get to where you feel like, Well, Lord, I don't know if I can pick one foot up and put the other one down anymore. I don't know. I'm just getting tired. God is saying, come unto me, all ye that are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Hallelujah. I'm going to give you rest. The problem with most people, though, is this. Most people wait until it's too late. That's what they're doing. This world is waiting. They're waiting. Many people, you'll hear it. People will say it. they'll say, oh well, I'll come to God later. Later may not come. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow. I'm not guaranteed tomorrow. You're not guaranteed tomorrow. None of us are. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow. That's why we've got to make today count. That's why someone once said today, today, today, today is the day of salvation. It's not tomorrow. It's not next week. It's not next year. It's now. Right now. Right now is the day of salvation. It's not tomorrow. Because we may not have tomorrow. Only Hezekiah is guaranteed tomorrow. That was it. We're not guaranteed tomorrow. but this world is full of people that feel that well I'll accept Jesus on my death bed and then I'll get to heaven I often wonder if that actually will work just something I'm thinking about if you said in your whole life I'll wait till I get on my death bed to accept Jesus when you get to your death bed and you try to accept Jesus, is Jesus going to accept you? Because He knows all about us. And if we've had this in our mind all along, that, hey, I'm going to sin my whole life, and then when I come down to the end, but they don't accept God, that's not earnest, right? That's not an earnestness. That's not true repentance, in my opinion. So I kind of have a doubt that God would listen to that. That's me, but I'm just saying, I wonder. But we're living in a world of people that have that kind of mindset. Unbelievable. Then shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. I love the word hearken. Hearken is an interesting word. When you go to the original and you understand what it means in the original, it literally means that God bends over, cups his ear, and listens intently. I love it. I love it. Because when we come out of a sincerness of heart, God is going to listen. Hallelujah. I love that. I will hearken unto you. 1 John 5 and 14. There's a lot of verses today, but these are good verses. 1 John 5 and 14 says this. And this is the confidence that we have in Him. Then when we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. now people get this mixed up and they say oh well then that means we can't ask him we can't ask for our blessing we can't because it says according to his will well let's be honest here God doesn't want his creation to suffer so healing is not beyond the realm of possibilities God wants to bless his people so if it's a true blessing that you're looking for you or your family or whatever not a selfish thing you can't go to God and sit there and say Lord, I need a new Lamborghini. First off, you probably couldn't pay the taxes on it. You probably couldn't pay the insurance on it. So God knows you can't afford it. So there ain't no point in asking for it, right? But those are selfish ones, right? So God is not going to answer those type of requests. Now, if you have a need of a car or something like that, that you have a real need of a car, then God will supply that need. But he's not going to give you something that you can't afford. and you're not, that's not what God does. But God will, if we ask according to His will, the things that we need, the blessings that we need, what does it say? We can have what? Confidence. I love that word. Confidence. You can take it to the bank and the check won bounce Hallelujah I love it You can take it to the bank and the check ain gonna bounce We were watching Judge Judy one night right This is hilarious The dude had wrote a check, right? And the check bounced. Judge Judy kept saying, the check bounced! The check bounced! And finally the guy said, Miss Judge Judy, could you stop saying the check bounced? She said, what do you want me to say? The check bounced. I'm so thankful that when God blesses, when God gives me something, that check's not going to bounce. It's not going to bounce. Oh, it's there. If the blessing is there, it's there. It's mine. It's right there. I can bank on it. I can depend on it. I don't have to worry about it being taken away from me because God said I believe it. And that's what he said. Hallelujah. Oh, I tell you, I love it. I love it. Now, interestingly enough, he continues here and he says, And ye shall seek me and find me. Amen. Oh, I love that. I love that. Just like the three wise men saw the Messiah, as I said, wise men and wise women still seek him in this generation. why are we a generation that has not become a generation unto God because only wise men and wise women seek him and that is in the minority think about it look at this the Christ child was born who came to him shepherds at his birth and three wise men that's it it wasn't a whole majority of people very few came to see the Christ child Matthew 7, 7 and 8 it says ask and you will receive seek and you're going to find and what not and it's going to be open unto you hallelujah hallelujah for everyone I want you to get that word for everyone. It doesn't say certain people. So it doesn't matter what your background is. It doesn't matter what your bank account says. It doesn't matter anything about that type of stuff. It doesn't matter what you dress like, what you look like. It doesn't matter any of that type of stuff. It says for everyone that asketh, receiveth, and he that seeketh, findeth, and the knocketh shall be opened. Wise men, wise women still seek him. Hallelujah. I love this. He says, when ye shall search for me with what? All your heart. Or your whole heart. You can't do anything halfway. You can't do anything halfway. when I think about doing things halfway I think I'm a sports fan so I like to think about sports if a team is going to win a championship what do they got to go? they got to go all in coaches got to be all in players got to be all in if they're not all on the same page if they're not all in the same goal what's going to happen? they're going to fake and that's what happens with us if we do not see God if we don't go with our whole heart we're going to fail. We're going to fail. We're not going to find Him. We've got to seek Him. We've got to seek out the Lord with our whole heart. I love that. I love that. Because it's the same way for us on our journey to heaven. The only way we will find Him and know Him is to seek Him with every fiber of our being. anything else is just not going to cut it. And that's the point. We've got to think about it this way, that the journey of a wise man, as we said, was a, not an easy one. It was a long journey. The process was long. The journey was long. And no doubt, there were times that they got a little weary. no doubt in our journeys we get weary. But what does the Bible say? Don't be weary in well-doing, for in due season you will reap, if you faint not. If you don't give up, if you don't quit. And see, the wise men probably got very weary, got very tired, and they couldn't quit. They could have went back home, but they didn't. they kept pressing forward, they kept pressing forward, and they kept going, and they didn't give up, and they didn't quit, and what did they finally get? They got the Messiah that they were looking for. And we, God's people, the chosen people, the people that really want to see God, the ones that really want to see the blessing of God, these people, these wise men and women, if we are among the chosen that want to see God, and we don't give up and we don't quit no matter how tough it gets, we're going to see the blessing. We're going to see the anointing. We're going to see the blessing of God poured out upon His church. Oh, wow. I don't know about anybody else, but I have not quit. I'm not going to give up. It gets hard. Yes, some days it's harder than others. Some days you get up and it seems easy and you feel like you can conquer the world and then other days you roll out of bed and you think, I don't even think I can get my feet up off the floor this morning. But you know what? Those are the days we've got to pray God's blessing upon us and we've got to say, Lord, in my weakness you're made strong. So make me strong in your power. Not in mine, but in yours. Wise men and wise women still seek Him to this day. They don let the long journey and the hard road deter them from the ultimate goal of seeing the nail hands and feet of their Messiah And I ask you this this morning in conclusion and that is simply this Are you going to be one among the few that see the blessing of God? Are you going to be among the ones that seek Him with your whole heart? Are you going to be one among the ones that see the blessing of God poured out upon His church? God never said that he was going to have a house filled. He said he was going to have a chosen generation. And a chosen generation is not a multitude. It's a chosen few. Many are called. Few are chosen. We got a secret. And we seek Him with our whole heart. We're going to be one of those wise men and wise women. Just like those three wise men that saw the Lord. Let's bow our heads before the Lord this morning. As we focus on God this morning, we look deep down inside. And as you look deep down in your heart, I want you to examine your heart. And I want you to look deep down inside. And I want you to examine it. And I want you to be honest, not to me, but to God. Are you seeking God with every single fiber of your being? Or are there times that things get a little bit, you know, making you think, well, I want to do this. Or I'm like, well, this is more important than God. Well, you know, during the course of a day. Do we get distracted? do we get distracted? I think we all probably would say, sometimes I get distracted. I get distracted sometimes. I do. I get distracted sometimes. But I want to be one of the wise men. I want to be one of those wise people that seek the Lord and see Him. As you examine your life, will you be honest to God and say, God, sometimes I get distracted, but I don't want to get distracted. As 2020 closes and 2021 begins, I want to be one of the wise people that seek the Lord with my whole heart. Father God, bless me today. Will you be honest to God and raise up the hand and say, God, I want this blessing today. Oh, I'll tell you, that's beautiful. Everybody in this house, that's beautiful. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. If you were listening to the video or the audio version or the video version, raise up your hand this morning. if you want to see that blessing in your life. You want to be part of that chosen people. Father God, you saw the hands going up today. You saw people saying, I want to be part of this chosen generation. I want to be part of the people that see God. I want to be part of the ones that see the miracle, the blessing. Father God, right now, I pray right now you will open the window to heaven. You will pour down a blessing upon your people right now. Then Father God, those ones who raise them to hand, whether they raise them to hand here in this church or Whether they raised their hand while they were watching or listening to the message on the internet. Father God, I pray that you will bless them right now. Pour open the windows of heaven and pull that God of blessing on them. Father God, fill them to overflow like Pentecost piles. That, Father God, they will be blessed, be your mentor, and they will know beyond this. I don't know what it is now. That they will not give up. That they will not quit. That they will keep pressing on. And that they will see the blessing of God. Father God, help us not to get weary in well-doing. Father God, I ask not to give up, to not quit, but to keep pressing on. And Father God, when we see the blessing, may we lift our hands together in an anthem of praise. And say, God, we have been redeemed by you. And we will be able to share that blessing together. That soon, Father God, we will see the floodgates open up. And the windows of heaven open up. And we will see the blessing of God. I pray it right now in Jesus' name. Father God, I thank you for today. Father, help us to seek you every single day. Help us, Father God, not to get weary, but to seek you every day. Father God, I thank you for this message today. I thank you for each and every one that came out today. Father God, I pray that as we leave, you will not dismiss us, but Father God, you will go with us. That Father God, we will be together in heart and song together as a people praying for one another and blessing one another and being together even if it's virtually that we will be together blessing each other and encouraging one another. And then Father until we meet again when we can band together we can see you and bless you yet again on another Sunday morning Father God we pray that you will go with us and help us to seek you this week. Father, for all that you are, for all that you do, we thank you and we thank you for this blessing today. We praise you. In Jesus' mighty and matchless name, we say amen and amen. Thank you. Thank you. you