Sermon Tone Analysis

Announcements

Are there any announcements?

This Friday January 7 at 6:30pm we are having an Evening of Worship led out by Juan and Emily, please come and worship with us.

Patti Pointer is now teaching Sunday School.

Prayer is at 9:15am, study starts around 9:30am.

The Revelation Bible Study will start back up on Thursday January 13 at 6pm.

Introduction

Welcome to FCC where we worship God is Spirit and in Truth, one verse at a time, one verse at a time.

We have made it to 2022 and hopefully this is the year Jesus returns.

We have come as far as verse 7 of Matthew 2, therefore, let us open our Bibles up here:

Read Matthew 2:7-12

Prayer

Review

Last week we learned about the wise-men or the magi and in this we learned that there was both good and bad magi in the days of Jesus and it is clear that these were good wise-men seeking after the Lord.

We also learned that Herod had called all the chief priests and scribes, the religious leaders of the church together and he asked them where the Messiah was to be born and they replied to him part of Micah 5:2 in Bethlehem.

What was sad about Herod asking where the Messiah was to be born was that the chief priests and scribes knew and they just kept on doing what they always did and I would like to pick up here church.

They knew he would be born in Bethlehem, but they did not stop and go seek Him who was only 5-6 miles away.

They were in Jerusalem and Jesus the long awaited Messiah was in Bethlehem.

This is a picture church of what going though the motions, holding up our traditions and rituals week after week can do to us.

They knew where he was to be born, but they were not seeking.

If you knew Jesus was going to be born just 5-6 miles away, would you be making a trip to that place often?

Or would you just continue like nothing was going to happen?

The sad thing is that there are many today doing the same thing with the soon return of Jesus, they are going through the motions and their oil lamps are running dry because they are stuck in a religious trap.

Let’s quickly Read Matthew 25:1-13

Church, there were 10 virgins and only 5 were ready for the coming of the bridegroom!

Oil here represents the Holy Spirit, it also represents the oil in the menorah in the tabernacle of meeting when the priests would keep it burning and never let it go out.

Is your lamp burning continually?

Or have you hid it under bushel?

We also call the menorah the lamp stands mentioned in Revelation church:

I think it is important the understand that this is not John’s message to the church at Ephesus, but rather Jesus speaking to the church.

Take a look, the writing is in red!

The church has known for 2,000 years that Jesus is coming again, and yet many believers have become lethargic and drowsy.

laThey are no longer excited about the soon-coming of the Lord.

As a result, there is little effective witness given that the Lord is returning...

Are you excited about thew Lord’s return?

Or have you become lethargic and drowsy?

Church, when the bridegroom and bride appeared, half of the bridesmaids were unable to light their lamps because they had no oil.

“Our lamps are going out!” they cried.

The bridesmaids who had oil were able to light their lamps and keep them shining bright.

It was they who entered into the wedding feast and not the foolish girls who had no oil.

This suggests that not every professing Christian will enter heaven, for some really have not trusted Jesus Christ sincerely.

Without the Spirit of God and the Word of God, there can be no true salvation.

Bruised-rāṣaṣ- means to crush, to be crushed into pieces, oppressed, discouraged, to break and struggle

A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench: This is another reference to the gentle character of Jesus.

A reed is a fragile plant, yet if a reed is bruised, the Lord will handle it so gently that He will not break it.

And if flax, used for tinder to start a fire, does not flame but only smokes, He will not quench it into extinguishing.

Instead, the Servant will gently blow on the smoking flax, fanning it into flame again!

"We call ourselves Christians church, but if you are like me, sometimes you are desperately ashamed of how dimly your light burns.

There is far more smoke than fire: so little prayer, so little real testimony, so little time in the Word, so much depression and discouragement.

But the Lord says He will not extinguish the smoking flax."

Jesus sees the value in a bruised reed, even when no one else can.

He can make beautiful music come from a bruised reed, as He puts His strength in it!

Though a smoking flax - used for a wick on an oil lamp - is good for nothing, Jesus knows it is valuable for what it can be when it is refreshed with oil.

Many of us are like the bruised reed, and we need to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man (Ephesians 3:16).

Others are like the smoking flax, and can only burn brightly for the LORD again when we are drenched in oil, with a constant supply coming, as we are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Let us not be like the chief priests, the scribes, and the 5 virgins that ran out of oil church, but rather be like the wise men in this story, the 5 virgins whose oil lamps were full.

How many hours a week do you spend on useless things that do nothing but feed your flesh?

How many hours do you spend with Jesus?

Could you imagine if you decided this year, this day to spend more time with the Lord what could happen?

Note: he called them secretly and wanted to know what time the star appeared, but did not ask what the significance was.

It was enough for him to know only that the sign pointed to the birth of someone who could be a threat to his own power and position.

The time of the star’s appearance would indicate the age of the child who had been born.

Here we see that ignorance is not bliss, because this star would lead them to the Christ!

I think it is important for us to remember that Herod was troubled and he was troubled because he was living in a constant state of paranoia.

Paranoia is driven by fear and anxiety and we know as God’s people that he has given us a remedy or a prescription for it right here:

Herod’s goal here was to discover the age of the Child as verse 16 reveals, for he was fearing for the kingdom that he had built

So here we see Herod commission the wise men to go find the Child

Search- exetazo- to scour v., to examine carefully, to investigate, to inquire well.

— to search or seek out diligently and carefully.

Carefully-akribos-mindfully adv.

— in a careful and deliberate manner, accurately, precisely, exactness, and again diligently.

We see the same word here:

But notice he wanted them to bring back word, so he could go and worship him!

Herod did not want to worship the Messiah, but as we seen in verse 16 he wanted to kill him.

Is is clear when the wise men came into Jerusalem that they were asking if anyone had seen baby Jesus and they must have talked about the star in the East to the people and Herod clearly got wind of this and sadly God’s people were not the least bit excited:

Thought 1.

What a shock!

Some expect to find “the newborn king” in the lives of those who profess to be God’s people, and they are unable to find Him!

Too often they are forced to go elsewhere or some even give up on their search.

Thought 2. God used an evil man, Herod (without his knowing it), to help the wise men in their search.

Any person who seeks the newborn King will be led by God to Him—no matter who God has to use to help the seeker.

Are you searching carefully each day for this Child?

Are you worshipping him whole heartedly or is there something in your heart that is preventing you form doing this?

Herod was a wicked man searching for the Messiah, how much more should we?

I love this text!

They followed the instructions that Herod gave and we see here again, that God is using a wicked man to fulfill his plan.

Church, God is God and can use whatever means necessary to get our attention and direct our steps.

You can read in Numbers 22 about how God spoke through a donkey to Baalam as he was out of the will of God:

Beware, God might place a donkey in your life to get your attention or to keep you going the right direction church, like he did Balaam...

The minute that the y departed to find the Child, guess what church?

The Star appeared.

So, the wise men go to Bethlehem, but why doesn’t anyone else go as well?

If Messiah has been born, why aren’t the chief priests and the scribes going?

Bethlehem is only five or six miles away from Jerusalem.

One suggestion was that these wise men saw the Shekinah glory of God.

The Israelites were led for forty years through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

Could it have been something like this?

The Star lead them to the Lord!

Note: they are not in a stable, but rather a house.

When the wise men showed up, they didn’t go to a manger.