It’s been said on many a Christian Christmas card, “wise men still seek Jesus.” It is true. Which star will you choose to follow?
TRANSCRIPT
Please note: this transcript is auto-generated so forgive any (or many) errors 😲 – click the timestamps to play that section directly in the audio.
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So over the past week I’ve been reading the Synoptic Gospels, the early chapters of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, where we get the relation of Jesus birth and all of the different things that surrounded. That how the Holy Ghost chose to relate those to us in the word of God. And I was struck by the wise men. The Scriptures tell us in Matthew chapter 2, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born, King of the Jews? For we’ve seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.
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It’s been said on many a Christian Christmas card or a Christian meme. Wise men still seek Jesus, and it’s true man wisdom is found in Him. But in thinking about this and in thinking about kind of this unusual phenomena that took place that drew these men from far away to come and seek Jesus, I got to thinking about the stars in the sky and how in our day and I’m sure even back then. But how in our day and I’m talking in a kind of philosophical sense, how many stars there are in the sky that we can choose to follow?
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Some of the stars burned brightly for just a minute, just diverting our attention.
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Others really have established their influence in the dark skies, promising fulfilment and satisfaction. If only we will follow them. What star will you choose to follow? It’s something that we have to ask ourselves, I think on a regular basis because it’s very easy to get lost in the multitude of ideas and promises and all of the things that are thrust upon us. All of these bright, shiny things that call for our attention and pull on our seek to influence us in a particular direction.
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We have to be very set upon our goal. Just like these wise men, they say we have seen his star and we have come to worship him. They had to keep their eye on that one point of light in order to come to their destination. And their destination ultimately was to worship Jesus Christ with full abandonment to bring and lay their gifts before Him and see the gift that God had given to the world. But like I said, there are so many things that we can choose to follow.
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Fame, fortune, peace at all costs. There’s so much compromise now, so much political correctness, so many ways in which the world seeks to mould us into its own shape. So we fit in to its agenda, just all of the world’s ways and whims this latest thing and that latest thing pulling us in different directions. There’s an interesting scripture in Two Corinthians where we’re taught that Satan himself parades as an angel of light.
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2 Corinthians 11:14 says it’s no Marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Believe me, his brightness is dazzling. His schemes are so subtle that they’re actually often very difficult to discern. We see in the temptation in the wilderness how he would take Scripture as the basis of his temptations. It’s incredible how he tries to sow confusion and how he tries to take what is inherently beautiful and good and wonderful.
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And then just add his twist to it to divert us from the truth. He really as the God of this world. As the scripture describes him. He orchestrates the constellations in the lower heavens. I’m not talking about the physical stars.
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Don’t misunderstand me, but I’m talking about the starry world, this unreality that we presently live in, the culture that we inhabit. He orchestrates these constellations, lifting one and shaming another, giving passing trophies of this world to whomever he pleases again, just picking up from what we learn about this, the devil is looking at the temptation. A bit later on, Jesus is born. And then we find a great leap ahead into his later life. And in the temptation, the devil takes him up to a high mountain, shows him the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said to him, all this power I will give you and the glory of them, for that is delivered to me and to whomever I will.
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I can give it. If you will therefore worship me, all shall be thine. Here we see the Devil’s star. Here we see the Devil’s temptations. Follow me.
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Follow my glory. Look at the glories of the kingdoms that have been delivered to me. And I will give them to you. If you will worship me. Which star are we going to follow?
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Are we going to look? And we are going to see the star that leads us to Jesus so we can come and worship him, the King born, or are we going to follow all of these other stars? There are glories of this world, many of them each shining to draw mothlike victims to their doom. And then there is a glory that is not of this world. A star that leads us again and again to Jesus Christ.
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As for me in my house, oh, my father in heaven, I want to come. I want to seek out the King. And I want to worship Jesus. Which star will you follow? Well, thanks for listening.
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Hopefully, it’s been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website, davidleemartin.com. Have a great day.