THE STAR

0:22 I've always loved stars. I think stars are some of the greatest icons out there. I mean, think about it. America's team has the star on the side of their helmet. I mean, can it get any better than that? We go to a restaurant. Oh, that's three stars. Maybe we take a cruise. Oh, that's five stars. And then in the military, we look, oh, that's a two-star general, five-star general. Stars. A lot of us like to follow movie stars, rock stars, sports stars, and more than would care to admit, actually want to become a star.

1:16 I mean, talk to a young person. What do you want to do? Well, I want to be famous. what they're saying is I want to be a star so stars are everywhere stars are ubiquitous and I I was thinking about the star when I was thinking about this this message because Christmas is about a star I would say the star is the star of Christmas with one caveat for a moment for a moment. What if we could follow the Christmas star? I mean, what if we could see the star in our minds and in our hearts? And what if we could sort of do what the wise men did years ago? What if we could put ourselves in their sandals, ride on their camels, packed their Louis Vuitton luggage as they made a 1,500-mile journey minimum.

2:22 I mean, that's a serious road trip. All the way to see the Christ child. It was about the star. The wise men followed the star, didn't they? Are you a star? You might be. or maybe you're not. Some people here are stars. If you are a follower of Christ, if you have allowed the geological plates of your life to shift, if you've been power washed by the blood of Jesus, if you bowed before him and received him, you, my friend, are a star. Isn't that cool? You didn't even know it. So you can leave this place going, I'm a star, I'm a star, I'm a star.

3:15 Others here, you're not a star yet. Yet. In other words, you would be considered a seeker. You're seeking. You're open. You're investigating the things of God. And we welcome seekers at Fellowship Church. Church should be a place where seekers seek. But not only do we have people who seek, who don't know the Lord yet, and once you know the Lord, you'll be a star, but I want to challenge you to follow the star God has put in your life to point you to Jesus. Because if you're truly seeking, God always has a star. He always has an earthbound travel guide pointing you to the person of Jesus, always. So once you become a Christian, you'll become a star.

4:12 So we have stars here. Are you with me? And then we have some who haven't been a star or you're not a star yet, but it's our prayer that you'll make that decision. Think in your life, because I hit on something very, very important. Think about your life. Those here who are Christians, think about that person that was a star in your life. Think about that person who was an earthbound travel guide. It could have been a father. It could have been a mother. It could have been a friend. It could have been someone at school. It could have been a situation. Maybe you got yourself in trouble, but there was a star that God placed in your path. Assign a name to that. And just take a second and thank God. Thank God for the stars in your life. Now, as I said earlier, if you're a believer, I am.

5:07 I've been a Christian for a long time. I'm a star, but that's great. to say that, but who am I impacting? Who am I influencing? Who am I pointing to the person of Jesus? Because the wise men, the magi, these people were Gentiles. They were not Jews. These people were the last people you would think that would be seeking, but they were. We're gonna find out the religious leaders, the people in Jerusalem, even Herod himself, those people should have been seeking, but they weren't. It's a paradox. So we have the magi seeing the star, responding to the star, following the star on that road trip that led to redemption.

6:08 how did they know to follow the star? That's a good question. As you read your history, you'll discover that the Jewish exile took place in Babylon, which is where they were from, hundreds of years before the star ever appeared. So these guys were familiar with the Old Testament scriptures and they knew something supernaturally celestial was gonna take place. and sure enough, boom, the star. But they didn't just go, okay, man, there's a star. There's a supernatural celestial phenomenon. Okay, no, no, no. They did something about it. And that's the beauty of God. We seek only because we've been sought. We don't just seek by ourselves.

7:01 We don't have that kind of power or octane. God has already placed a star out there for us, friends. we either seek or not. Now there are some people here, you're just a seeker just to seek. You're intellectually intellectual, but you're an intellectual idiot because you never go anywhere. You never do anything. You just circle and doubt and question and question and doubt and doubt and question and question. Doubt and faith are on parallel tracks. Don't get me wrong. If you don't have any doubt, that means you don't have faith. But what I'm talking about is the serial seeker who just says, yeah, I'm just seeking. Really? That'd be like me going, you know, I have my pilot's license, and I'm just going to circle the airport. I'm not going to land. I'm just going to circle and circle and circle, and what's going to happen?

8:00 I'm going to crash and burn. Don't be that person. just simply say God I've been seeking to seek I want to take the next step in my journey with you I want to take steps like the wise men did so my prayer for many of you would be take the next step how do I do that start coming to fellowship church kick tires and test the waters seekers are welcome here doubters are welcome here people who have questions are welcome here Intellectuals are welcome here. And even people like myself have been to seminary, done doctrinal work. I'm welcome here. Everyone is welcome here. So we have seekers here. And also we have believers who were seekers. If you're a believer and not a seeker, you're stagnant. let's go back to the magi they're following the star and the star leads them to a town called Jerusalem obviously I mean if I'm the wise man I'm wealthy I'm smart I'm an ancient astronomer obviously I'm thinking okay that's where the king of the Jews is going to be born in a palace I mean wouldn't you think that well they show up and they roll into town and they ask a question that freaked everyone out.

9:24 A simple question. They said, where is he who was born king of the Jews? People began to lose it because Herod was the king and when Herod ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. The guy was a, we would call him today, a malignant narcissist. he was all about power gaining power and wielding power and and and taking people out who kind of angled toward his throne one day i mean he had his mother-in-law killed i know we'll be spending some time with our relatives over the next couple of days so don't judge, Herod. But he had her killed because he thought she wanted the throne. He had her brother killed. He had relatives killed. He had friends killed. And we're going to find out when he heard about Jesus, he massacred all baby boys, two years of age and under. On the other hand though, he was a philanthropist. He, he was a developer. He was a builder. So this guy was really jacked up King Herod. So when people roll into town and like, Hey, where's the King? He's like, what?

10:46 I'm the only King around here. Yeah. Um, the King and the Jews, the Magi said, so Herod calls in all the religious leaders from Jerusalem, read your Bible, Matthew chapter two, and they opened the scriptures, the Old Testament. And all of these prophecies pointed to where Jesus was to be born. Herod was like, Bethlehem, it's just a 5K away. So he kind of runs through the back channels and talks to the Magi and goes, hey guys, listen, you find Jesus. And when you find him, you tell me where he is. I'm gonna come and worship him. You got it? They were like, we're cool. Yeah. Then they spun on their heels. and as they were walking the 5K to Bethlehem, they were probably going, man, this dude is crazy. We're not telling him a thing.

11:39 Here's what's interesting about the star. As I said, you've got some wise men. Just some... Seekers. following the star. But here's what happened, and it makes this situation really interesting.

12:17 The star, you probably heard me say it, but you might not have thought about it. The star stopped over Jerusalem. It stopped. it forced them to have that meeting with Herod and the religious leaders to do what? To search the scripture. So the natural revelation, a theologian would say, is going to be the star, which led to a special revelation, which is scripture. We have the star pointing to the crib and the crib pointing to the cross and the cross pointing to the crown.

13:11 You see, if we just keep Jesus in the cradle, I mean, who's afraid of a baby? I mean, a baby's not offensive. That's why Easter, we don't have as many people that show up because, I mean, the cross, that's messy. That's horrendous. A sinless sacrifice, spilling his blood on a cross and then being buried and rising again. But Christmas is, you know, I mean, a baby. But see, Jesus crawled out of the crib, became a man, lived a sinless life, died a sacrificial death, rose again because of you and me. So when we see a star, and the star I want you to see is the one that I'm attempting to draw here. When you see a star,

14:05 I want you to think about the four points of a star. One. two, three, four. Points of a star. It kind of looks like a cross, doesn't it? What are the four points? Why did you mention the four points, Ed? Because a cross is a sign that announces redemption. That's what a star is. A star is a sign that announces redemption. It's a sign. The Bible says in the book of Luke chapter two, verse 12, this will be a sign unto you. The shepherds were told that.

14:56 God always places a sign in a seeker's life. DFW Airport has got to have the worst signage in the history of the world. Can I vent for a while? It's so bad. It's like, are you kidding me? I was picking Lisa up a couple nights ago at the airport and I got lost. I got lost again and I'm going, okay. And I'm talking to her now. She's landed and she can't even find the exit to get out on the street for me to pick her up. and she didn't know what terminal she was in. It was crazy, all this construction and stuff. So I'm just concentrating. And I'm thinking, who in the world designed this? You know, ah, you know? And I thought for a second, what if the wise men had had signage like we have at DFW? It's doubtful they would have ever found the Christ child.

15:52 And I wouldn't even be doing this sermon. I'd be talking about the shepherds. I would say, you know, there were some wise men, but they got lost and, you know. it's a sign that, Numbers 24, 17, a star will come out of Israel, Jacob. That announces, Luke chapter two, verses 10 and 11, I bring you good news that will cause great joy. People sometimes ask me, what's the Bible about? Very, very simple.

16:23 Bad news, worse news, good news, great news. That's the Bible. bad news it says that we have a problem sin i have a problem so do you worst news is because of my sin god's holy i'm not he's perfect i'm imperfect there's a cosmic chasm between myself and god well the bible doesn't stop there good news what's the good news what i'm talking about now the redemption the fact that jesus did what he did on the cross rose again just for you and me and the great news is we can make that choice. I cannot force you or coerce you to make this decision. It's up to you. Go back to our magi. The star was in the sky. They either received it or not. So remember, a star is a sign that announces what? Redemption. What's redemption? The price has been paid for our sins. Romans 3, 24, all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Redemption, redemption. Christ's redemptive work was sufficient for all of mankind, but it only can be applied to those of us who bow the knee and receive Christ.

17:47 The star. it's weird you know uh drawing while you're talking because i'm up here i'm going okay let me talk for a while then i look back and i go man i need to really work on that that doesn't look that good it's kind of like using different parts of your brain i guess Let's go. but these wise men were we're in the in the game. They were tenacious. They followed the Lord.

18:42 and God's always going to take us somewhere. somewhere amazing. Not always the places that we would choose if we're sitting on our throne like Herod, but you see, the wise men were different than Herod. Herod was all about keeping his power and wielding his power. They were about giving up control because they knew when you give up control, that's when you gain control. They knew that the throne of their lives was reserved for Jesus Christ our Lord.

19:34 A star is a sign that announces redemption. And the Bible tells us that when these people came into the house in Bethlehem. And Jesus was probably at that age of maybe, I don't know, most scholars feel at the time the wise men showed up, he was maybe six months to a year and a half. But when they showed up, they worshiped him. They bowed down and worshiped him. Then they gave gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold was a gift for a king. Frankincense was a gift for deity.

20:30 And myrrh was a gift for someone who's going to die. How powerful is that? but then we go to the phrase that pays last thing I want to deposit from the scriptures into your life the Bible says they worshipped him they gave their best to him Thank you. And then... they left by another route. I don't know if you heard me.

21:24 I'm quoting the Bible. After they worshiped, after they gave their best, they left by another route. You've not worshiped until you've left by another route. And it's my prayer, no matter where you find yourself in this seeking situation, I pray because of this service, you leave by another route. Would you pray with me? Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for these great services. I thank you for our awesome church, God, that you have built in our building. And I pray, God, how I pray, that the seekers here would continue to take those next steps.

22:26 And Father, if there's someone here and you've never invited Christ into your life, today can be that day. If you would just simply say, Jesus, I respond to you. I give my life to you. He'll come in and change you. As I said earlier, the tectonic plates of your life will change when Christ comes in.

22:50 So Lord Jesus, we thank you again for this time. We ask all these things in your name. Amen.