The Star of The Story | Jentezen Franklin

0:00 Hello, this is Jensen Franklin, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast. Our goal is to provide you with biblically-based teachings that will challenge, inspire, and equip you to live for Jesus. If you haven't already, I'd love for you to go ahead and subscribe today to this podcast so you can get the latest updates from us and you don't ever have to miss a new message. Let's go right into the service. Record it at Free Chapel. I believe it's going to bless you today.

0:32 In the book of Matthew, chapter 2, I'll begin reading with verse 1. I want to read these. You say, well, I've heard this story. But I want you to notice and read it one more time. It's important. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea of the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came in Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled in Jerusalem with him. And when he gathered all the chief priests and the scribes of the people together, he inquired of them, Where is Christ to be born? And they said to him in Bethlehem of Judea, for it is written by the prophet, But you, Bethlehem, the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah. For out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel.

1:36 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem to go search carefully for the young child. And when you have found him, bring back word to me that I may come and worship him also. When they heard the king, they departed. Listen, and behold the star. There it is again. Keeps showing up. Which they had seen in the east went before them.

2:08 Till it came and stood over where the young child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. Notice this. That was outside. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshiped him. And when they opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

2:39 Then being divinely warned in a dream, they would not return to Herod. They departed to their own country another way. So I want to talk to you about this star. The star of the story is Jesus. It's not the star, but the star plays an important part in your life, whether you recognize it or not. I was thinking about it this week, this star, this miraculous star that began to shine at the perfect time of God on these men who were far from Jerusalem, far from God, far from any prophecies, knowing anything about who Messiah was, who was prophesied to come. They knew nothing. They were of other religions. They were into mysticism. They were into the reading of the stars and astrology and all kinds of gods in that area, the Hindus and all of that, even the Islamic faith. It all comes from that Persia area.

3:53 That's what they studied. That's what they gave themselves to. But God sent a star at Christmas, not just to reach the people in Bethlehem and Jerusalem and the house of Israel, the church as we would look at it. But he cared about the people way out there, lost, searching, not knowing who he was. and when I thought about that I think we all ought to be amazed that we're not here by accident that there are things that transpired in your life that brought you here even this morning that you never saw coming and had it been up to you to get here you wouldn't be where you are but you're here because God has led you many times in our life God was leading us and guiding us just like that star was leading them. And they didn't know where it was going, but there was an unseen hand. I'm trying to preach this morning that we serve a God who does not operate by good luck. He does not operate by a rabbit's foot hanging from your mirror. And that's what decides your fate. It didn't work for the rabbit. It won't work for you.

5:12 You need more than a psychic. You need more than a crystal ball. You need more than a tarot card. The God that we serve is not a happen chance. The God that we serve is not a four leaf clover kind of God. He has a direct specific plan. And whether you want to or not, he loves you so much that he will put guideposts in your life to get you where he wants you to go. God is in every detail of your life. I want to give you this scripture and I don't want you to ever look at it again. The same, the steps, Psalms 37 and 23, the steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord. He didn't just say the pathway, the general direction, the, the, the general vicinity of where God's the steps, every single step. When I lift up my foot and I put it up and I put it down Every single step is being led of the Lord. He directs us. He's into your life. He directs every single step. God wants to be in your life. And he is.

6:30 Even when you didn't know it, even when you weren't aware who he was, he was sending signs and stars to reach you. Let me give it to you another way. How specifically God knows who you are, where you are, and how much he tracks you. According to Luke chapter 12 and verse 7, the very hairs of our head are not counted. They are numbered. you have the average person has a hundred thousand when they're fully grown they have a hundred thousand hairs on their head a hundred thousand and what is amazing is those hairs on your head will stay from two to seven years the longest being seven years and then they fall out and new ones come in their place. If you're lucky, amen. If you got the right genes, but please understand that God doesn't just know and look at you and say, well, he's at 973,231 hairs on his head, but he has a system. God has a numerical system. According to this text, a chronological order for the hairs on your head that, that, that when you combed your hair to come to church, hairs 123,273 hairs, 193, they stayed in the hairbrush. God knows that God knows of the hairs that fell out of your hair when you were a baby and were in the quilt or they washed down the shower. He's tracking one that went down the sink this morning. He is aware. I'm not making this up. He is that aware of you. If he knows the very number of the hairs and when they fall out, he keeps them in chronological order so that it's the original and he's keeping up with all of it

8:35 as they are being replaced. And you wonder if he's going to make a way and you wonder if he knows where you are and you wonder if he knows what you're going through and you wonder if he understands what you're facing. If he knows the very number of your hairs on your head, he knows where you are and what you're facing.

8:58 And every once in a while, you ought to pull one out. When you feel forsaken, When you feel like that God has forgotten about you, just pull one out and say, I need your attention right here. If you are who you say you are and you care about this hair, you know what I'm facing today. You know what I'm going through. You see what the enemy is trying to do to my family. But God, I'm in covenant with you. And you know our address and you know my name and you know I need a miracle. There you are worrying. And God says, why are you worrying? I know who you are. At the birth of Jesus, a star was placed in the sky. Not for kings, not for priests and Levites, not for Jews. But for those who were Gentiles, who were not of the household of faith, who were not of the right bloodline, who were not even in the right religion.

9:58 They were way out there. And God said, I care the story of Christmas is not just about the church people celebrating, but I see all the lost people out there sincerely searching and seeking for truth, reading the stars. And, you know, they weren't just like kind of flaky people. They were the most brilliant voices of that day. They studied astrology. They observed the sky. They predicted and could predict weather patterns and even cycles of things that men of science, even to this day, have taken some of the things that they discovered by studying the stars for generations. The Hindus, the ancient Greece. They all came from that background, the Islamic world, and the adoption of 19th century scientific methods can be traced back to some of the things that we're talking about.

11:03 It's really interesting that the Bible validates science. But without prophets, this is what got me. Without Bibles, without scrolls, without anything, these men were searching and God sent a star. and they said that star is different and it has to do with God and we want to search after it and find out who God is and where he is. Something made them move out and say, let's seek it. It was a Bible principle that no matter how far out somebody gets, if they will seek, they will find. If they will knock, God will open. If they will ask, they will receive.

12:00 I know today that a lot of you know people who are so far, even in your own family, way out there, way out there in some other religion. But I want you to know God does not wait until they get their act together. And he doesn't just care and say, I hope you find your way. He puts stars out there working saying, this is the way, this is the truth, this is the life. If you'll look back over your life this morning, I want a spirit of gratitude to come over you because I want you to see that it was his hand that was guiding you. It was his hand that was leading your family to this very place this morning. You would not be here had God not directed your path. They didn't know his name. They didn't know his prophecies. They didn't know Jehovah. They didn't know anything about him, but God could reach them and he can still reach your son, your daughter, your best friend, your atheist friend. It doesn't matter what they believe. May be in a false religion, may have gone into the occult. It doesn't matter if they start looking for God. He'll invade the world they're looking in. They were looking up at the sky and he said, I can go over into that religion and shine brighter than any of their idols, and I'll show you who I really am. I'm trying to behave, but I'm feeling my help right now.

13:24 God always responds to people who openly, honestly search for him. See, you've got to understand there are levels of faith. The lowest level of faith is I believe in God.

13:48 Because I meet a lot of people who say this to me. I believe in God, preacher. I believe in God. I believe in Jesus. But that's not enough. That's faith. But that's not. They do believe he was born of a virgin. They believe he died on the cross. But they have not accepted him. They have not been born again. Let me give you Bible proof of this. James 2 and verse 14. Devils believe and tremble.

14:17 So just having a faith of, I really don't care about, you know, God. except I do believe in him and I reverence him and I tremble. You know, I know he's God, but I just don't. That's just not. You see all these people out in the world like that. Well, I want to tell you that demons believe in tremble. That means just believing in God is not enough. If you could just believe in God and that be it and you kind of reverence God, then all the demons are saved. because they absolutely believe and they tremble at him. It's not enough. Faith has to go to the next level of hope and expectation. And when it's expectation, you begin to seek after the God that is being revealed to you. You do more than, yes, I believe that that happened, but you know, I'm going to keep my distance. But faith had, that's why James said in that same text, faith without works is dead. You have to start seeking. You have to start moving. You have to surrender your life to him. You have to accept him as your savior.

15:31 That's the level that these men begin to move in. They move from believing there is a God out there somewhere to there's a star that's leading us. And we're going to find this one true God that is out there somewhere. And I'm saying to you today that there's something missing deep on the inside of you. If Jesus is not Lord and savior of your life, there's something missing. And you, you've tried to drink to it. You've tried to get high to it. You've tried to sleep around to it. You've tried to earn it. You've tried to, if I get this, I get that, but still there's something missing. God always responds to people who search. Now watch stars are interesting because when God saw these people searching, he puts a star in heaven.

16:32 but stars are the light that you see in stars are measured in light years, which simply means the light that you are seeing when you see it with your naked eye, it has traveled for 4.2 years. It was first seen in heaven. It first exploded with light in heaven, but your eye cannot see it. It's so far out. And by the time a newborn star is seen, it has, it has taken 4.2 years to get to that point that your eyeball can see it. That's just a scientific fact, which means the direction that God was giving these men happened four years before the baby was born in Bethlehem. I want you to understand that before there was a miracle on earth, there was movement in heaven that God was establishing and directing and preparing things in heaven that would ultimately in the invisible that would be manifest on earth visibly. And by the time God put it out there, then they see it. And when they see it, they start moving. It thrills me to know that the star started shining four years before the wise men saw it. You're worried about your relatives because you don't see any of them getting saved and changing and you don't know what to do. But God says, I've already got things that you can't see on the move in the heavenlies. And when you begin to see me move, you just keep praying for them. You just keep calling on me. I'm directing them. And at the right moment, at the right time, when they think they're in charge of their life, I'll get their attention. In the

18:41 heavens, it starts in heaven and then it's released on earth. Whatever you loose in heaven through prayer, I'll loose on earth. Before Jesus was born, God was setting up the heavens before the manifestation on the earth happened. That's why we never stopped praying. Direction was already given before their eyes ever saw it. Provision was already given before Mary ever saw. God was over here and he's saying, now my baby over here and my family over here, in Bethlehem, they got raggedy clothes. They don't have any food. They don't have anything. They're going to run out of money. They're going to have to go to Egypt. They're going to have to hide for two years. Herod's going to try to kill their baby. So they're going to need some gold and they're going to need some frankincense. They're going to need some things. And I'm going to, so I'm going to move four years before it happens. I'm going to have these people move from the East all the way over here to the Middle East. And I will cause them to bring exactly what they need.

19:45 nothing you need has shocked God. He made a way before you ever got in it. Healing is already existing. Deliverance is already existing. Freedom from an addiction is already existing. All you gotta do is follow the star. Star, they get to Herod and they say, we ran into this star two years ago. And we've been traveling for two years and the natural gravitation of a star is to move in a certain direction. You have to understand that they were looking and they saw the star before they saw the baby. They were students of the sky.

20:42 Their religion was in the sky. See, some of you think God can't reach my loved one because they've gone after some strange religion. But that was their religion. And God invaded it. And what he showed them caused them to leave it and come after him. He can still do it. He's orchestrated and guided you right here. And if you think, can you imagine when they saw that star, they were so amazed that they followed that star. But if you think the star is something, wait till you meet the star maker. If you think the galaxies are something, wait till you meet the one who made the galaxies. I want you to see this.

21:35 I'm almost done, but hang in there. I'm amazed that God's been guiding our lives before we ever even got into whatever we're into. He was guiding our families. He's a good God. Knows the number of hairs. Ordering your steps. And here poor Mary is. She's in that messy manger. This is not what the angel told her nine months ago. He appeared in glory. He said, I've come from the presence of God. I am Gabriel. And you're going to have the son of God manifest through you. And in her mind, I know she did not think because they never planned to be in Bethlehem. She thought it would happen in Nazareth.

22:33 But there came Caesar's decree and taxation, and they had to do it in a time frame. It looks like God would get his act together and plan things a little bit better. Couldn't she have at least been five months pregnant when they had to take the trip? I mean, they didn't have a car. She's nine months pregnant. We put her on a donkey, but we're not told that it was a donkey that she rode on. I hope it was. I would think at nine months, it wasn't a Tennessee Walker. It wasn't a smooth ride, I guarantee you. It's like, God, couldn't you plan a little bit better? Why are you making it so hard on this family that's just simply obeying you? and she ends up and she's there. There's no room in the inn.

23:26 I mean, those people bother me too. How can, she's going to Bethlehem. That's her hometown. You know what they said. Now, they didn't have Google and all that back then, so they couldn't make reservations, but they're on their way and they're saying, well, we've got generations from there. Our family will be there and they'll take us in or they've got a little hotel there, But from all over the land because of taxation, everybody came. And it was like a Super Bowl occasion. There was nowhere. And there were people that they went to that said, we don't have room for you. That's Bethlehem people. That's church people. You know who those people are? The people that drive in the left lane kind of people. And they're 20 miles an hour under the speed limit kind of people. They're the kind of Christians that bother me.

24:20 And as soon as you get mad and try to go around them, not that I would ever do this, but as soon as you try to, where's this coming from? And you give your signal, they speed up a little bit so that you can't. That's the kind of people that would shut the door on a nine-month pregnant.

24:40 And they were church people. Bethlehem, the house of bread, church people. they had been through church hurt but they didn't abort the baby Some of you have been through church hurt and that's why you're not in church, but don't abort the baby because you've been hurt by the church. Just know that God's got a plan and if he has to, he'll go outside of that group to bless you. A huge out cave. She has nothing but rags to put on her baby.

25:21 A trough, a feeding trough where animal slobber is. It's gross. It's nasty. They've got to dip that out, clean it out, put some hay in there, put some dirty rags with manure stains and whatever a farmer has grease. Put that on the baby. and the Bible says this and she starts pondering. She starts, is this what the angel told me? What has happened? We went from Gloria nine months ago. I haven't heard from that angel as a matter of fact in nine months. Where is that angel when I need him? And she's sitting in a messy, filthy manger. Her precious baby is as precious as your baby. and is sitting in filth.

26:15 And she doesn't have the next meal. She has nothing. She thinks when she gets to Bethlehem after she endures a hundred mile trip. You know it's a hundred miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Did you know that? She had to travel a hundred miles. And most of it night, her water breaks in the process. And she's sitting there pondering. I didn't think my life would end up here in this mess. And if the story can't get any worse for her, angels are showing up outside in the fields. Hallelujah. Come on.

26:59 Showing up in shepherd's fields. I bring unto you great tidings, good news, and great joy for born unto you. But inside, it's dark. It's painful. It's tears. She's pondering in her mind. She's going through her checklist. The angel didn't say anything about a messy manger. The angel did not say anything about filthy clothes. I assumed that God would provide some clothes for this baby. The angel did not say anything about this mess. And then here comes the shepherds. They go running. They were in the same field. And they run from the field into the cave where she is. She's having her baby in a hole in the wall. It's a hewed out cave.

27:52 And in comes the shepherds. She said, when we were at the hospital, my daughter wouldn't even let me come in the room hardly. I had to not, I just want to say it like this. If I ever get sick and I have to go to the hospital, I do not want all of y'all to come. When you're sick, you don't feel like, come on, just very close people. Maybe somebody who can pray a powerful prayer real quick and then you get out. I don't want, I don't want no, I don't like to be around somebody if I don't feel good. And I don't know you like that. Come on. I mean, these, these shepherds are strangers. Come on, let's get real for a minute. They're strangers. They're coming in on her having her baby. They're strangers.

28:45 And I'll tell you what you don't like if you're sick either. Happy strangers. They're rejoicing. Read the story. Praise the Lord, brother. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Let's get up and get off of that sick bed. Hallelujah. You've had the Savior. Right here he is. I don't want that when I don't feel good. I need you to pray for me. but I like to be alone when I don't feel good. I mean, I don't want you to see me in a dress. I preach against that stuff. You got to pull it all together back here. Am I showing too much leg? I don't want any of that. Why didn't he send, think about this, watch this guiding hand of God. Why didn't he send the wise men with some gold so that they could help this pitiful little peasant family out a little bit? Because that's not what they needed.

29:43 What you need when you're in a messy manger and life isn't turning out like you thought it would, because seldom will God meet your expectations of how your life is going to go. But if you are there to give birth to His cause and His purpose, you can trust the unmet expectations of God in your life. He's still working. The star is still leading. Even when you go through seasons that break your heart, even when you go through seasons where you don't understand, even when you go through seasons where you don't feel like you're passing the test. Do you know they have in college something called the pass-fail classes? Do you understand what that means? Or maybe it's fail-pass. Which simply means this. When you're trying to get your major, all you got to do is get a certain amount of credits.

30:38 And there's some classes that you got to have for that major. But there's other ones that you want to take. and it really doesn't matter if you get an A, B, or C, or D because it doesn't affect your GPA. You just need the credit. So all you got to do is show up and keep showing up and keep showing up and just get enough to pass the test. Sometimes faith looks like that. Sometimes faith isn't having a grade test faith. Praise the Lord, brother. Nothing ever gets me down. Hallelujah to glory to God. Sometimes real faith is I'm barely making it. I'm a D minus. Back when I was in doubt, now they give everybody a passing grade, but back when I was in school, 70 was about as low as you could go. And if you got 69, you fail. But I would take a 70 minus.

31:39 I would take a D minus. Sometimes you just need to keep on keeping on. You just hold on. And in the messy manger, God didn't send wise men because gold doesn't do any good. When you're in that mess, there's some messes you need as shepherds. And what are shepherds? They're the right people who are so comfortable being where you are. They've been there. They were born there. They know everything there. They know how to use this. They know how to use that. And I'm going to tell you, one of the greatest blessings God will do in your life is he brings people into your messy manger situation. And they're there because God said it. This season in your life, you need this because we've been where you are. We know how he picked us out of addiction.

32:31 And if he could get me out of addiction, he can get you out of addiction. if he could get my family through it, if he could get you through a divorce, he can get, I've been there, I can get you out. That's what shepherd people say. And I'm done, but listen. The Bible said, and when they saw the star. not the baby not the fulfillment of the promise this is important when they saw the star they finally get to Jerusalem and the star appears and this time instead of going the natural gravitation from east to west is the direction travels the stars move look at me just a moment now they move from east to west the only problem Bethlehem is south of Jerusalem, which means the Bible said when they got to Jerusalem, the star lit up in Bethlehem. God supernaturally caused that star to go against its natural direction to be over Bethlehem. The closer you get to the fulfillment of the promise, the more the supernatural power of God begins to work in your life.

34:01 And this is what happened. And when they got to Bethlehem, remember Jesus is two years old now, and they were living in a house. And the scripture said, when they got to the house that the star was over, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. The word exceeding is the word from which we get extra. Right before you give birth to what God wants to do in his kingdom that you can help with, you need to get a spirit of expectation that begins to give an extra praise. An extra worship.

34:57 Exceedingly rejoice. Greatly. Exceedingly. I wish this Christmas Sunday morning we would give him an exceedingly great. Hadn't seen the baby yet. Hadn't smelled the bad diaper yet. Hadn't heard it cry yet. But I know I'm close to it. Does anybody feel like you're close to a miracle? Does anybody feel like that God can save your loved one, that he can turn their life around, that the star can reach them no matter how far the distance?

35:35 No matter how far the distance. And the scripture said that as they rejoiced greatly, they went into the house. And Mary was there, all due respect to Mary. But they did not fall down and worship them, meaning the baby and Mary. Mary, you're a member of the cast. you are not the star of the story. You are the one who gives birth and then you are to step into the shadows because when he arrives, he's the star. we don't worship them.

36:28 I honor her. I reverence her, but we don't bow down to her. We worship him and him alone. There's none like Jesus. There's none like Jesus. And they went home a different way, changed. And you know what I feel today? I want you to stand to your feet.

37:03 I want you to look at me just a moment. I want to close with this. Phil Driscoll is a Grammy award-winning Christian trumpet player, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He's still alive. And he told me the story of his salvation. I did a recording with him one time and we were sitting around and, and, and he, he said, you know, uh, I was so lost. I was a preacher's son, preacher's kid. He said, I went to Hollywood. I got with a rock band, played in Joe Cochran's band. he was began to deal in cocaine during the cocaine epidemic especially in Florida and he said I was making so much money playing music played on the Johnny Carson show solo California Dreaming just very famous very wealthy he said I had a Rolls Royce. I had the mansion. I had everything. He said, I was so empty. I was so lost. I was so ashamed. And he said, I went home for Christmas, a little country church that my dad had.

38:32 He said, I was sitting in the back of that church service. And he said, on Christmas Sunday, something got a hold of my heart. And I walked down the aisle and I fell down to my knees and I cried out to Jesus. And he saved me. And I said, I don't want the world. I'd rather have Jesus.

38:59 I'd rather have Jesus. And that man was gloriously saved on Christmas Sunday. and so I'm not going to give the devil a free pass on Christmas Sunday. I'm going to give an altar call on Christmas Sunday. I believe somebody your whole life, the star has been shining and he brought you right where you are. You're watching me. You don't know why you're watching me. You're listening to me and you don't know why you're listening to me. I know why God has planned and designed that you would get to this very moment. Oh, somebody shout like you believe that it doesn't matter how far out there they are, whatever you've been into.

39:48 The star is brighter, the star is greater. The star is Jesus. And I feel like we ought to just end with an extra praise, with an extra worship. With every head bowed and every eye closed, and you would say, Pastor Jensen, there is no doubt in my mind that you're preaching to me. I've been searching. I've been seeking. I need a change in my life. I want Jesus. I could be talking to a Phil Driscoll. I could be talking to somebody that God ordered your very steps to this very moment. This is your moment.

40:45 This is your star moment. And once Jesus is born, it's not about you. Your life is not about you, your family, me, me, me, I, I, I, everything's about me and what I'm going through. It's about him. What does he want to give birth through my life? Can I touch a generation like Mary? Can I touch the next generation? I really want to say thank you for joining us this week. If you haven't already, make sure you click on the subscription button and leave us a review. It helps this podcast reach even more people when you comment, when you give us your feedback. For more messages and inspirational materials, download the Jensen Franklin app. Or you can head over to jensenfranklin.org.

41:40 I want to thank all of you who give generously to help us produce weekly content like this to reach the world with the message of Jesus. God bless you and we'll see you next time.