Gateway Church's Podcast
Expectant Worship
We're going to begin a series tonight, probably through the month of December, since this is Christmas. Y'all see our Christmas decorations around? The month of Christmas? We're in the month of December, the month of celebrating Christmas Christ's birth. And I'm going to begin a series on what made the wise men wise? What made the wise men wise? And really, I'll answer it, but I'm going to go into every week, I'm going to talk about this, and that is worship. There was one reason that made them wise, and that is the reason they came. They came hundreds of miles, probably 300 miles to worship Jesus. The only reason they came, and I want to talk about worship. Now, I am grateful for Pastor Thomas and the worship team. I am extremely grateful for them. But God wants to take us as a church to a new level in worship. And He wants to take you as a Christian to a new level in worship. The level we are at right now will not be the same level where we will be when we're in heaven. I'm telling you, God wants us to understand about worship. You don't come for preaching. That's just part of it. I really believe that preaching is the icing on the cake, but the cake is Jesus. That's why we come to church. We come to church to meet with Jesus. And the preaching is just the icing on the cake. The best part is when we're worshiping and communing and fellowshiping and talking with and receiving from Him. So I really believe God wants us to take us to a new level. You don't realize how many problems that you have that could be solved from one meeting with Jesus. Just one meeting with Jesus. And during worship, Satan does everything in the world to distract you from having a meeting with Jesus. Because all you need is one word. That's it. You've had to happen to you before. You've been in a situation or contemplating making a move or doing something or doing a situation in your marriage. And in worship, God speaks one word, and that's what you needed. And with His spoken word is the power to fulfill it. So all you need is for Him to speak. He just needs one meeting with Him. So I want to stir it up in you for a greater level of worship, a greater understanding there of worship. Now, we're going to go through the Christmas story. So I want you to open your Bibles to Luke chapter 2 and Matthew chapter 2. And we're going to be talking about the wise men in Matthew 2. But before we can read Matthew 2, we're going to have to read Luke 2 first because we have to understand the chronology of the Christmas story. It is amazing to me that most believers, if I were to ask you, many of you here tonight, explain to me the chronological events of the birth of Jesus, about the shepherds, the wise men, all these things, tell me how this happened. What was the chronology of it? Most believers don't know. This is the pivotal event in our history as Christians, as followers of Christ. And we really don't know that much about it. And yet we've heard it preached to us for years. So I want to talk about that, all right? Before we get to the wise men, we've got to cover Luke 2. So that's where we're going to start, all right? Luke chapter 2 verse 1. And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while queerness was governing Syria. So all went to be registered. Everyone to his own city, Joseph, also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth. That's where they were living in Nazareth, Joseph and Mary. But they left Nazareth into Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David. To be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife who was with child. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling claws or clothes, some versions saying, we're going to talk about that because a lot of people don't even know what that was that they wrapped Jesus in. Wrapped him in swaddling claws and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night, and behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone all around them, the glory of God, just so bright. Think about how bright this glory was. And they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will lead to all people. And listen carefully what the angel said, for there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior. In other words, the Messiah, who is Christ the Lord, the anointed one, the Messiah. The Messiah has been born. Every Jew knew what he was talking about this angel when he said, there is born to you a Savior, the one you've been waiting for, the anointed one, Christ. That's what the Christ means, the anointed one, Christ the Lord. And this will be assigned to you, that this is a true prophecy is what he's saying. This will be assigned. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was, with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the hive, and on earth peace, goodwill toward man. And so it was when the angels had gone away that the shepherds said to one another, let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass which the Lord has made known to us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, that's important in just a moment. And the babe, notice every time Luke 2 refers to Jesus, it refers to him as a baby, a babe. They found the babe lying in a manger. Now when they'd seen him, they made widely known the saying, which was told them concerning this child. And all those who heard it, marveled at those things which were told to them by the shepherds, but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they'd heard and seen as it was told them. Now most stop here, but I want you to see the next two verses for the chronology of this. And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Now when the days of her referring to Mary, her purification according to the law of Moses were completed. And I'll tell you in a moment how many days that was. They brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. Now few things about Luke 2, some of these you've probably heard in the last few years, but many of these I grew up not knowing. For instance, what are swaddling cloths? Swaddling cloths are swaddling cloths. Simply the word swaddling means strips, strips of cloth. In other words, Mary and Joseph did not have any baby clothes, no blanket. They didn't even have a blanket. They traveled and they had maybe a blanket for themselves, but not a blanket for the baby. They didn't have a coat for the baby, no clothes to put a newborn baby, nothing to clean the baby with. And so they took either they had two blankets or three or whatever it was, they took one of the blankets, one of the pieces of clothing and tore it into strips of cloth. Just maybe four inch or six inch strips, just stripped it, and then they wrapped this baby, this newborn baby, in these strips of cloth. So the angel shed to the shepherds, the way you're going to know that this is a sign is that you're going to find a baby wrapped in strips, not in a blanket, but just in strips of cloth and lying in a manger. Now again, I grew up not knowing what a manger was. I thought that a manger was a stable. And so you're going to find this baby lying in a stable. It is true that he was born in a stable, but that's not what the word manger means. The word manger means feeding trough, feeding trough. In other words, that thing, when you see the manger, what we call the manger scene, which we could refer to it as the feeding trough scene, if we want to, you know, let's go see the feeding trough scene over it. So and so Baptist Church are doing a feeding trough scene, a manger scene, see most of us still think the manger was a stable. What you see the baby lying in, there was something they put hay in for the cows to eat out of it. And they probably might have had some hay still in it. And they after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph unbeknownst to them, what the angel had told the shepherds, they lay, they wrap him in these strips of cloth and they lie him or lay him in a manger, a feeding trough. And then when the angels get there, they see a baby wrapped in strips of cloth laying in a feeding trough. You follow me? So that was a sign, most of us have heard by now that there were more than three wise men. We always thought there were three wise men because the song says, we three kings. So if the song says it, must have been three kings. And there were three gifts named. There were more gifts than that. Matthew two tells us of more gifts. It says they opened their treasures. And when you notice that I'm getting ahead of myself, I'll preach on that in a few weeks, what the treasures were, but it names three gold, frankincense, and learn. I'm going to tell you what those three represent and why the Bible named those three. But they give them the gifts. And so that's why we think there were three history records. There were 14. I've heard some preacher say there was a hundred, some say two hundred. I personally think that's evangelistic of those pastors. But there were probably more than three less than two hundred will say, all right? The history tells us there were 14 wise men. So they're more wise men than just that. Now, they're in Bethlehem. Jesus is born eight days past. He circumcised. And then the days of her purification path, which according to the law was 40. So then after 40 days, they go to Jerusalem, then they come back to Bethlehem. And I'm going to show you that in a little while. And that's when the wise men show up. The wise men did not come to the stable. When you see a manger scene somewhere and it's got shepherds and maybe even a real life camel and a goat and a sheep and a cow and it's got three guys standing there supposed to be kings. That's not correct. The wise men did not come on the night of his birth. And I'll show that to you in just a moment. The wise men saw a star or we could say this. They called it a star, a bright light on the night he was born. And then the light went away and they're waiting for news about the Messiah, but they travel. Even if they left the night he was born, it would have taken them most believe somewhere around four to nine weeks to get there because it was 300 miles. So from where they came from, 300 miles they come. And they come to see Jesus. Now we're at Matthew chapter two, flip over there to Matthew two. Matthew chapter two verse one, Matthew two one. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, after, I just want you to notice the second word of this verse and somehow we didn't catch this after he was born, doesn't say during the birth of Christ, it doesn't say before he was born, it doesn't say, oh the night he was born, it says after, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea and it says Bethlehem of Judea because there's also a Bethlehem by the Sea of Galilee. So it's telling us this is Galilee would be like a region, Beth, Judea was a region. So it tells us Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. Notice they didn't come to Bethlehem. They came to Jerusalem and they said, where is he who has been born king of the Jews? Now that's a great question. I love that question because they didn't say was a king born. We think so, we saw some sign in the stars and we're kind of sure that a king was born. Listen, they traveled 300 miles because they were sure. And when they got there they didn't say is it possible that a king was born? They said, where is he who has been born king of the Jews? Where is he? They knew he was born. That's why they were wise. Where is he who have been born king of the Jews? So we've seen his star in the east and have come to one reason, worship him, only reason the king. When Herod the king heard this he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. And when he gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, in Bethlehem of Judea. For thus it is written by the prophet, but you Bethlehem in 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. Then Herod watched this when he had secretly called the wise men. He didn't have the chief priests and scribe. He called them secretly to tell him this because he had evil intentions. When he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And the word determined means, inquired exactly or inquired diligently. He wanted to know at the exact time that they saw the star. And we all know the story because he killed people, killed all the children, how old? There's the answer, two years old and under. And so it's very, that's very possible that the wise men don't show up until a year after he's born, maybe a year and a half even, because he finds out when they first saw the star. So when exactly did you see the star? And he sent in the Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the young child and when you have found him, notice by the way that Matthew refers to him as a young child. Not as a baby anymore. All right, so you just keep watching. Go search for the young child and when you have found him, bring back word to me that I might come and worship him also. By the way, is that what Herod wanted to do? What do you want to do? He wanted to kill him. Is that right? But I got a question for you. How come Herod didn't send some spies to follow the wise men so that as soon as they found Jesus they could kill him? Well, that's never even thought about it. That's the right answer. He didn't even think about it. You know why? Listen to me carefully because this is good news for us. Herod is able to protect his children and he is so able to protect his children that he can even keep it from entering the mind of your adversary, your enemy, or something to do, evil to you because if Herod had thought about it, he'd have done it because he got tricked. Remember? So he didn't even think about it. That's how great God is. All right. Then I may worship him also. When they heard the king, they departed and behold the star. Now this is amazing. We're going to talk about this in a minute. The star which they had seen in the east went before them till it came and stood over where the young child, not baby, was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they come into the house, into the what? Well that should say stable, shouldn't it? Hello? See, it's amazing how we read the Bible and not see these things. And when they come into the house, they saw the young child, not baby, with Mary, his mother and fell down and worshiped him. And when they had opened their treasures plural many times over, they presented gifts to him, here are some of the gifts they presented, gold, frankincense and murder, then being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way. Now the original word here for wise men, does anyone have an old King James version? Hardly anyone carries one anymore. But does anyone remember from growing up what the word was here for wise men? Magi, from which we get our word, magician. But it wasn't a bad word then. It did not, they didn't go into different cultic things. Some did, not these though. These were studiers of science. That's why they were called wise men or magi. They studied science and they studied astronomy, not astrology, but astronomy. And they studied medicine and they studied religion and they studied culture. And they were these wise men that were studying all these things and they come to worship. But what made these wise men wise? Because we've had lots of philosophers that weren't really wise. We've had lots of scientists that weren't wise. What made these wise? Why did the Bible call them wise men? I believe because it's worship. They came for one reason. They recognized the Savior of the world had been born. They recognized it. Now I'm going to talk about three types I think over the next few weeks of worship. What made the wise men wise? And the first one is expected worship. Expected worship. In other words, they expected something. Why would they travel 300 miles if they weren't expecting that they'd have an audience with a key? They got an audience with the King of kings because they expected one. And please hear me. I'm relating this to us. What do you expect when you come to church? Who do you expect to meet with? Do you meet with God or do you not meet with God because you don't expect to meet with God. They expected to meet with Him. They're watching this star. They see this star. And then they're waiting for news of the Messiah's birth. And they wait and they wait and it's very possible that they waited for months for news of the Messiah's birth. And finally, when no news came of where He had been born, they get on their camels and all. And they travel 300 miles. And the reason they went to Jerusalem is because it was the capital city. So they went to the capital city and they said, "Where is the King of the Jews?" We saw a star. We know He's been born. We don't know where He is though. And we've been waiting for Word and there's been no Word. So we want to know where is it? And they told Him where it was. They said in Bethlehem. And then Matthew 2, 11, look at this verse again. And when they'd come into the house, they saw the young child with his mother. Notice it doesn't say mother and father. It says when they came into the house. So we got to get the timeline here. Mary and Joseph come to Bethlehem that's completely full to be registered. There's no room at an end. There's no room to rent a room. So they're in a stable. Jesus is born in a stable. It's very possible there were more people in that stable. It's very possible that there were other family members of Joseph and Mary that went with them to be registered in the stable with them, or other families in the stable. We don't know. There could have been many families in many stables around Jerusalem, around Bethlehem that night. So they're there eight days later, certain size, then they go to Jerusalem 40 days later to dedicate Jesus to the Lord to sacrifice the sacrifice for them. So why are they still in Bethlehem? Well, let me show you a map. All right. Now, I don't know. I put this up before and I stand in the back and I couldn't hardly see it. So I see some of you already squinting too. So oh, I see it real well from here. In fact, put the pointer up there, right there is Nazareth. And then you see that? That city is Nazareth. That's where they live. They came 70 miles south to Bethlehem. There's Bethlehem. And then five miles north of that, north, it'd be up, that's Jerusalem, that's it. That's Jerusalem. All right. So Jerusalem is 65 miles south of Nazareth, Bethlehem is another five miles south, 70 miles from Nazareth. So they go to Bethlehem and the baby is born, but 40 days later, they've got to go five miles to Jerusalem. So you make the choice. Does David, does Joseph and Mary stay in Bethlehem for those 40 days with relatives? That's where they're from. That's their hometown. Do they stay there or do they travel 70 miles back to Nazareth for 40 days and then travel 65 miles back down to Jerusalem and 65 miles. So now remember, they didn't have Alexis. They didn't even have a Chevy. They traveled on donkey. They traveled. They walked. Mary traveled. Think about this. They traveled 70 miles right before the baby was born in the last month of her pregnancy. I think how hard that was on Joseph, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, traveling with a pregnant woman. I'm kidding. It's very hard. Don't marry to do that. Do you think Mary wanted to just turn around and go 70 miles back home after she plopped the baby out? Got the baby out. Okay. Let's go back home. So, you know, she said to Joseph, we ain't going nowhere, buddy, because we got to go to Jerusalem in 40 days. You go get out there and find some work here. And Joseph was a carpenter. So after everyone leaves and goes back to their city, they found the house. They rented a house in Bethlehem because they got to go to Jerusalem 40 days later. You understand? Joseph was a carpenter and he had family there. They got him a house. They had a swing set in the backyard for Jesus. And they had one of them, no Walmart pools, you know, and all. But of course, Jesus walking on the water, you can hear Joseph, you need to learn to swim. No, I really don't. Okay, just keep walking on the water, son, just don't let the kids see you, you know. So they got him a house now. And when the wise men come, he's a year to two years old. You follow me? And they come into the house and they see the young child with his mother, probably because his father was at work. And so they see the young child and they come and they worship. And then I believe that they lived in Bethlehem up that two years until after the wise men leave, the angel appears to Joseph in a dream, remember, and says, go to Egypt. And that's when Herod comes and kills all of the males in Judea, in Judea, the whole region, not just Bethlehem. He kills them all. And he kills them all. They go to Egypt. Then God appears to him in dreams as you can go back and safe now. And he goes back. And this is what it says. It says he would have dwelt in Judea. In other words, probably back in Bethlehem, but God warned him again and said, no, there's a new leader. You don't need to go there. He's just as bad as Herod. And so it says, so he returned to Nazareth. See, I think he just had a home there in Bethlehem. They rented a house. They started business, everything's going great. And Jesus is a year, year and a half, two years old, and the wise men show them. And here they come. Now, this is something amazing to me. These wise men were from Arabia. So what would their ethnicity be? Arabic, right? They're Arabic. And they come and worship Jesus. Listen, Matthew chapter one, which we didn't read, is the genealogy of Jesus. Matthew one proves that he is the Jewish Savior. But Matthew two proves that he is the Savior of the whole world. He is the Savior of all those who will search for him, whether they're Jews or not. These men weren't Jews. And they came and they worshiped Jesus, they're Arabic. Now, that kind of bothers me though, because I want you to notice the timeline again. Luke 2 17, we read this a moment ago, Luke 2 17 talking about the shepherd said, now when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying, which was told them concerning the child. Okay, so the shepherds are in Bethlehem, and they tell everybody the Christ is born. The Messiah is born, the one we've been waiting for, and all the Jews knew that the Bible said he'd be born in Bethlehem. And they all say, they go tell everybody, he's been born. Many days later, they take him to Jerusalem, and there's a prophet there that everyone in Israel respects named Simeon, who had been shown by God, he wouldn't die until he saw the Messiah. And Simeon says, this is the one, this is the Messiah. And he prophesies over, and it's confirmed by Anna, a prophetess that lives at the temple. Let's see, you know what bothers me about this, why didn't the Jews worship him? The shepherds told everyone about the visit, the angelic visit. Simeon and Anna confirm he's the Messiah, they don't do anything. These wise men travel 300 miles, and the Jews wouldn't go five miles to see Jesus. Something's wrong, see, it takes effort to worship. It took a lot of effort for the wise men, but it would have taken a little effort for the Jews. It takes effort for you to worship. You know why I don't think they worshiped? What do you think, well, why would they, well, we read it a moment ago, Matthew 2, 3, says Herod the king, when Herod heard this, he was troubled, listen to this, and all Jerusalem with him, why would all Jerusalem be troubled if their Messiah had been born? Because they were in bondage to the Romans. Their king had been born, and instead of worshiping him and embracing him, they were worried about those that they were, that what those would think that they were in bondage to. Simeon, think about it. Rather than worship God freely, I'm in bondage to pride, and I'm really worried about what pride thinks about my worship. I'm really worried about what these things that I'm in bondage to. Or just put it another way, I'm worried about what others think. The reason they didn't worship was because they were worried about what everyone would think around them if they worshiped the king. Do you ever fall prey to them? Do you ever not really worship God because somebody might think something about you? You know, when Pastor Thomas says, let's all lift our hands, what goes through your mind? I, you know, my wife's here, and I'm the big tough man, and I just, you know, I just did a little here, you know. I mean, I don't want to look stupid. Personally, you look more stupid like this. Now, listen, I've been through that. I'm over it. I don't care what you think anymore. I don't know if y'all know that. I don't care. When I'm up here worshiped, I really don't care whether you like it or not, because I'm not worshiping you. Well, I thought that was a great message last week. It's not about you, it's about him. What I have been through that I understand, I remember leaving a traditionally worshiping church and going to a more contemporary worshiping church, and I was in a really contemporary worshiping church. And I mean, they worship God, and I remember the first time my parents visited with me, came to church. Never had this experience, and you pray that prayer, oh God, please Lord, just this one Sunday. Don't let it be wild, please, please, please, please, God, oh God, please, don't let Thomas dance all over the state, please, please, don't let Robert kneel down, they won't understand that, they see the pastor kneeling. I remember, I remember, I mean I said, oh God, please, I only watched two ball games this week over the holidays, you know, I'll just be good, feel just, you know what happened, don't you? Oh man, we, and you know what, we sat right behind a Robix boy, you know, give or step not, you know, God dances like you, I mean, right behind him, I even settled another side of the sanctuary, he normally doesn't settle, he comes right over and sits right down in front of my mom. I've been there, I understand, but at some point you're going to have to get over it. At some point you're going to have to decide that the king is worth worshiping, no matter what anybody thinks. I can tell you a good way to do it if you bother it, if you think someone's watching or if you're watching somebody and you're getting distracted because you're behind a Robix boy or something, let me tell you how a good, good, this is good, it's a good little hint here, close your eyes and worship for an audience of one. I'm telling you, you say, well I don't know the words of song, it doesn't matter, close your eyes, just close your eyes and worship God in or His presence. It takes effort to worship, why were they watching for a star? They were Arabic. Why are they watching for a star? Are you ready for this? Their own prophet had prophesied it and it's in the Bible. There was a prophet in the Old Testament who wasn't a Jewish prophet but he had four prophecies that made it into the Bible. A king hired him to curse Israel, but instead of cursing him every time he opened his mouth, he blessed them. Remember his name? Bela and in his, by the way, his second prophecy was God is not a man that he should lie nor son of man that he should repent. I just quoted that scripture to you a few weeks ago. His third, I'm skipping up a few scriptures there, Doug, the Numbers 24. Look at this scripture prophecy, Numbers 24.17, this is what Baelin prophesied. Numbers 24.17, I see him but not now. Can we, we got it up there, bud? Just a few down? I want y'all to see this and I also don't remember the rest of it. I see him but not now. I behold him but not yet, something like that, a star shall come out of Jacob and a scepter out of Israel. Is that pretty close? You get your Bible, you got it there, Gary? Read it real loud. There it is, a star shall rise, a star is going to come up. And so these wise men, these Arabic men, there it is, Hallelujah. I see him but not now. Look at him as capitalized. I behold him but not near, a star shall come out of Jacob, a scepter shall rise out of Israel, a star. See, they were looking for the star. They were looking for the star because one of their ancestors had prophesied it about the coming Messiah and the Jews didn't recognize this prophecy but it's in the Bible. And it was a good prophecy. But one of the other things Balaam said was how can I curse whom God is blessed? He prophesied all about the blessings on Israel. So they're looking for the star. Now I want to just follow me for a moment over the star. That star they see on the night of his birth and then when they leave Jerusalem it says they saw the star again. Do you remember that? And it says it went before them. Now how can a star go before you? And then it came and stood over the house where the young child was. Now that's amazing. Have you ever seen a star from your car window when you're driving? Maybe it's out here, you can just drive for hours, you ever get any closer to it? Okay. I'm just going to tell you my theory. Do you remember on the night that Jesus was born? What was it that appeared to the angel, to the shepherds? Good. The angels. And it said when the angel appeared, what happened? The glory of the Lord shone around him. How bright do you think the glory of God is? And an angel? And then what showed up? A multitude of angels, right? I wonder how many angels attended Jesus' birth. I'm sorry Lord, I've got something else to do, I won't be able to be there. And they're all there. Do you think of all the angels show up, it might be a bright light? And then tell me how a star can go before you five miles and stand over a house. What an angel can. You're saying, you mean a God couldn't make a star? Oh yeah, God could. But I'm just saying, I think it was an angel that led him there. I'll tell you another thing that I think about it. Do you remember in the book of Revelation, it says when the dragon fell, it says a third of the stars fell with him. And I wonder what they actually were that fell. Angels, the Revelation told them stars. Well it's possible they did that bright light, it was a star. And they followed it all the way to Jesus. And when it says, when they saw the star, Matthew 2, 10, it says, when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. This is part of being an expected worshipper, is exceedingly great joy. Now I've got a question for you. What kind of joy do you come to church with? Do you come with just regular joy? Do you come with great joy? Do you come with exceedingly great joy? How about this? Do you come with some joy? Do you come with any joy? Do you come with no joy? Are you mad about having to come? Isn't it amazing that they had exceedingly great joy at the birth of Christ and at Christmas they were told by psychologists, psychiatrists and professional counselors that it's the time of the year when the most for the most depression? Is it possible, see joy is a product, joy is produced by something. Is it possible that great expectation produces great joy? Is it possible that if you're in depression or discouragement around Christmas time that you've got your expectations misplaced and is it possible that we could just set our focus on the same thing the wise men did and that was to worship God and we also could have exceedingly great joy. As a matter of fact, you could have exceedingly great joy every week when you come to church because you meet the king, you come to meet with the king, see children when they open their presents on Christmas morning if they get what they want have exceedingly great joy. But I think this is even more than that. I think this is like you ever seen those news clips of husbands or wives waiting for their spouses to come home from war and when their spouse steps out from that airplane, the joy, I think exceeding joy is produced by great expectation and the greater the expectation the greater joy it's very possible that some of you don't have great joy because you don't have great expectations when you come to worship. I think we should be expecting to meet the king, we should be expecting to have a meeting with Jesus that Jesus is going to show up and meet with us. How excited would you be if today if tomorrow you had a meeting with the president? You got to set up, now say I can use that illustration now, I had eight years there of no presidential illustrations, you know, but I'm sorry but we now have a good one. But if you had an excuse, if you hadn't appointed me with the president, how excited would you be? How hard would it be for you to sleep tonight? How would you prepare for your meeting? Here's a good one. How would you dress? If you had a meeting with the president and you say oh yeah but God doesn't look on the outward appearance, He looks at the heart, I'm glad you brought that up. So let me follow what you're saying here. Since God looks at the heart, then if I have a meeting with God, you're saying I should prepare my heart, is that what you're saying? Man, that's a good point y'all just made. In other words, when I come to church, I ought to be more prepared than if I had a meeting with the president, is that right? See this is what separates us from every organization in the world is the presence of God. Now, Doug, I want to go back and pick up those two scriptures that I left out. See if there's any way we can go back, Matthew 1820. Matthew 1820 says where two or three, you know the scripture, where two or three are gathered in my name, what? There I am in the midst. And then there's another scripture, X chapter 33 verse 15 and 16, X is 33, 15 says, Moses said if your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that your people have found grace in your side except you go with us? Now listen to this, so we shall be separate, your people and I from all the people who are upon the face of the earth, what makes us separate from all the groups of people that are on the face of the earth, the presence of God. That's the only thing that separates the church from every organization on this earth is the presence of God. We are no different when we meet together than the lion. The lion doesn't show up, the lion of the tribe with Judah or the colonist club or any other organization. What makes church different is Jesus shows up, you should come to church like you expect to meet Jesus and to have a meeting with Jesus and it's very possible if you're not having a meeting with them in worship, it's because you're not expecting a meeting with them. Okay, so if you had a meeting with the president, let's go down to the president analogy again. I have another question for you, if you had a meeting with the president tomorrow, would you be on time? Yeah, about three-fourths of you don't think that's very funny. Now listen to me for a minute, listen, you say, "Oh, he's just dropping up the inner time." No, just listen. I got the mic. Just listen for a minute. How important is it to you? Because if it's important, you can get there on time. You get to work on time, most of the time, get the kids to school on time. Any of the amazing churches, the only place we can't get there on time. You know why? Listen, I know you're going to get mad at me. I won't say I say it anyway, it's not important for you. Or we think that the most important part is the second part. And I'm telling you something, the most important part is the first part. Don't come casual to meet with the author. You ought to be here early praying. You say, "You know, I just got so many problems in my life. You know what you need? You need a meeting with Jesus. And we're arranging it for you to meet with Him every week, that you don't even care." I'm telling you, we've missed it, folks. Church is about meeting with Jesus. The reason the wise men got an audience with the king is because they expected one. It's very possible we don't even expect it. How much expectancy do you come to church with? How much excitement? Now, there really are two groups of worshipers in Matthew 2. They're the wise men and the priests. The wise men traveled 300 miles, the priests wouldn't travel 5 miles. Now, I have a question for you. Which one are you? How important is it to you to worship the king? How important is it to you that the savior of the world has been born? And we get to worship in memory. Why didn't the priests worship? Were they too smart? Were they too good? Did they not consider themselves in need of a savior? What were the reasons that the priests did not worship? That's a good question, isn't it? I have a better question for you. What are your reasons? What are your reasons not to worship the savior of the world? I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes. I want you to just do business with God right now. What kind of a worshiper are you on a scale of one to ten? I want you to think about it. What kind of a worshiper are you on a scale of one to ten? How much effort do you put into it? How much preparation? How much excitement? How much expectancy? How much anticipation? Now, if you're being honest with yourself and you say, "You know, I'm probably just about a three or four. I'm really not that good. Maybe I'm a five or six. Listen, I'm not here to condemn you, but we can make a decision to go to another level. We can decide I'm going to be a worshiper because he is worthy. I pray you do something in all of our hearts tonight. I pray you do something in my heart. Lord I pray no matter where each of us are tonight, you take us to a new level. Lord we want to tell you, you are worthy. You are worthy of all worship, and we are so grateful that the Savior of the world has been born. We are so grateful that our Savior has been born. I am so grateful that my Savior has been born. And Lord, I ask you to take all of us to a new level in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord. the Lord.