Matthew chapter Matthew 2 verse1 now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king behold wise men from the East came to 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 verse three when Herod the king heard this he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together he inquired of them where the Christ was to
Be born and then Herod when he had secretly called the wise men determined from them what time the star appeared and he sent them to Bethlehem and said go and 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 somebody say yeah right yeah right yeah Herod wasn’t up to no good amen verse 9 when they heard the king they departed and behold the star which they had seen in the East went before them till it came and it stood over where the young child was when they
Saw the star they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy and when they had come into the house they saw the young child with Mary his mother and they fell down and they worshiped him and when they had opened their Treasures they presented gifts to him of gold frankincense and myrr let’s pray
Together God in heaven we come to worship you we come to worship Jesus Is Something About the Name of Jesus and Jesus we acknowledge that you are the reason for this season we know that Christ is the reason for Christmas and so we celebrate you we look forward to
Continuing on this journey of getting to know you better in this season and why you decided to come near now we pray you would just cause our hearts to be attentive to be uh excited about receiving and growing and getting breakthrough and being nearer to You For
Your Glory we pray this in Jesus name amen amen amen you may be seated and so we’ve looked at the this whole series called God came near and the first thing we looked at was how God came near so that we could have a relationship with him somebody say
Relationship and we talked about the whole relationship thing has to do with Jesus touched the leper in order to heal and we talked about how God came near and that even though our sins repel most people he touched us in our sins he looked beyond our faults he saw our kns
And he touched us anyway where other people were running away from us because of our sin Jesus ran to us amen aren’t you glad about that and then on last Sunday we looked at God came near to make us Overcomers Pastor Judah gave that incredible message on The Sinner
Savior today is God came near to show us the way and I’ve titled this sermon Jesus made a way out of Norway amen I know we talk about that a lot but hey that’s just what began to flow as a theme from this passage as I looked at
It that Jesus made away out of no way and for some of us we don’t even need a sermon on this because our life is the sermon can I get an amen from somebody when you think about how you should have been dead and gone I should
Have been dead and gone you say Jesus made a way out of nowhere amen when you think about how I should have lost my mind all the stress and all the stuff I’ve been through but Jesus made a way out of no way when you think about all
The financial trouble and all the problems where I ought to be living under a bridge somewhere in the streets you have to say Jesus made a way out of nowhere thank you and uh this past week I was at Beachwood mall uh it was my birthday this past week and so my wife
Got me some nice boots and we didn’t pick them up on my birthday so I went a little later on in the week to pick them up we were still trying to make a decision if we really want so I went to get them and while I’m getting the
Booths and just enjoying this moment of continuing even the day after my birthday to enjoy my birthday the Lord spoke to me at Beachwood mall and said I don’t want you to leave this mall Kevin until you talk to a man about the goodness of the Lord and what he’s done
In your life okay I don’t know if that ever happens to you but God just kind of speaks and does something like that and so here I am now roaming through Beachwood mall trying to find somebody to share my testimony with and he said specifically I want you to share this
From one man to another man because our men need to be strengthened the word that Jesus gave me was Revelation 12 And1 it says we overcame the Devil by the blood of the lamb and by the word of Our Testimony and so the Lord said I
Want you to do more testifying of my goodness as you go into the new year and we’re going to start today and so I’m going through I got a chance to actually talk to two men I talked to one man as I was walking through then I made it to
The food court and this is where I really got a chance to share with a man because he had just sat down and I had him trapped you know because he can’t he can’t say he’s in a hurry you know and so I went up to him hey hey young man
Hey brother listen my name is Kevin and you know God just put on my heart I’m a man of Faith just to share the goodness of what God has done in my life as a man to make me strong to give me peace to see me through and so I commen to
Telling my whole little Story I mean I said it’s going to be brief and it was about 3 minutes I abbreviated talked about how when I was in my teens I was going that way little bit of drugs here a little bit of alcohol here a little
Bit of partying here all that kind of stuff but overall it was pulling me into darkness so I deal dealt with that whole issue then I talked about how God so loved the world I heard that message and age 19 gave my life to Jesus and blah
Blah blah blah blah sharing this with him and dude thanked me he dapped me up you know from eating his Chick-fil-A and everything he dapped me up and found out he was a Christian 28-year old young man ended up giving him uh information about Elevate at new Community Bible
Fellowship had him to download the app we had a great Fellowship great conversation but as I walked away from there I be because my testimony was fresh in my mind I just began to think about how if it were not for the grace of God where I would have
Been but the Lord made a away amen and here’s what I want you to take home today here’s what I want you to Brand deep into the fabric of your very hearts that there is nothing that can stop you from Drawing Near to the Lord
Amen if you really want to be close to the Lord amen there is nothing that can stop you if you you choose to say I want to know the Lord I want to get close to the Lord like never before I want to forget about the ways
Of this world and I want to completely immerse myself into the world of God and in his world there is nothing that can stop you from doing that because that’s where the Lord’s going to give you eternal life that’s where the Lord’s going to give you peace that’s where the
Lord’s going to give you purpose and if you really make that decision nothing can stop you from doing that listen God says in Jeremiah 29 that you will search for me and you will find me not you might find me but you will find me when you search for me what with all
Your heart and the key there is that we have to have that madeup mind that committed heart because that’s a promise from God he says you’ll search me and you will find me if you sech for me with all your heart and I’m glad because I be
Feeling like God I’m too weak sometimes it’s anybody can anybody relate to that but the Bible tells me that if I’m sincere teing hard regardless of how weak I may feel the Lord will make a way for me to come close to him for me to
Stay close to him he’ll hold on to me I’m glad because sometimes you know I realize God I’m not the smartest guy in the world I don’t always get things right I’m prone to make mistakes but God says if I have a sincere heart for him
He says he will make a way way beyond what I can do you know I’ve got to the point people be coming up to me now cuz I’ve been married yall for 36 years can you imagine hallelujah hallelujah and can I say happily married by the grace of God the girl not only
Loves me still but she likes me still my key works I sleep in the same bed with my wife y’all know y’all know I’m talking about something here but I’ve gotten to the point where people come up to me man you’ve been married a long
Time how do you do it I used to have all these answers when I was younger well you know it’s about communication you got to do this you got to make make sure you really studying the word together and all this stuff but I just reduceed
It to this by the grace of God man God’s been good man I’m not the smartest guy in the world but the Lord be making a way out of nowhere come on somebody give God some praise and so it doesn’t matter how far off you are the Lord says you can draw
Near to him it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been away from God it does not matter what you’ve gotten into God says I can take you wherever you are if you have a sincere heart and I can draw you near to me amen you may be far from the
God of the Bible you may be Muslim and I’ve seen this play out before because I’ve had to walk with some folks coming out of Islam coming into Christianity but you know even if you’re in another Faith Jesus will put a sign in your
Heart just like he put a sign in the sky for the Magi that will draw you to himself you may be morally inp compatible you may be on the far end of the spectrum of what God causes us to live morally and to be righteous you may
Listen you may be a male stripper I don’t know and I’m talking about something I’ve had to deal I’ve had to walk with somebody who was dealing with that amen but the Lord can make a way so that nothing will stop you from Drawing Near to him somebody better give God some
Praise somebody say there’s hope there’s Hope Oh there’s hope he says call on me in your time of need and I will hear and I will receive you and I will in no wise cast you out it does not matter what mess you’ve gotten into it does not
Matter what Darkness or bondage you’ve entangled yourself into Jesus will make a way for you to find your way to him and nothing can stop you as long as you have a sincere heart just like these Magi these wise men see the story of the Magi that we’re looking at here is all
About a c Church to find the Lord these three kings and by the way we don’t know if there were three the reason why Scholars say there was three was was because three gifts were given you know Mir frin sense and gold but there could have been a lot more in this whole
Entourage there could have been as many as 10 as many as 20 but most scholars believe there were three but these three kings go on a long journey to follow the Star of Bethlehem and to find Jesus the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord why
So that they can wor ship him they wanted to draw near to him even though they were not of Jewish descent they were probably from Babylon and they making their way because they have a sincere heart they’ve given been given a sign and they are seeking Jesus to worship Him and in
The process of them finding him it probably took them as much as two years and that’s another thing that a lot of people don’t realize they think they got there and you see the nativity scenes where the Magi are kneeling around and you got Jesus still in the in the uh
Cradle there like but Jesus may have been as much as two years old by the time they got there how do we know this because Herod later on says I want you to kill all male children two years or younger so this was a long journey that
They took but they didn’t give up they probably had to go through some pretty severe weather like sandstorms that happens a lot over in the Middle East but they did not give up and sometimes we can feel a prompting to get closer to the Lord but then when we start the
Journey it gets hard and we’re tempted to give up and sometimes adversity comes up and we get attacked on our journey where you’ve got thieves and they want to hurt you and steal from you but the Lord says don’t give up because whenever the Lord calls you to do something he
Also gives you the power to do it God never sets us up for failure am and you have to trust in him you have to trust in the Lord yes with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding anybody with me in all
Your ways not some of your ways all your ways acknowledge Him and what he’ll do he’ll direct he’ll direct your path anybody remember this uh this story about these boys over in Thailand the soccer team they got stuck in that cave a few years ago remember that I mean it
Was a big deal here these boys were soccer team they went inside between the ages of 11 and 16 went inside this cave and it’s monsoon season they’re deep into this cave and and one of these big rainstorms these downpours happen all of a sudden the place is filling up with
Water not to mention they’re lost on the inside and so it actually took nine days before the people outside found out where they were they were just reporting the missing so you know they’re in trouble and then they got to figure out how to get them out because none of
These boys can swim and so they’re deep in this cave lost is filled with water all these cracks and crevices and they’re trying to figure out how to get them out and so all these experts are coming together you saw this on the news you got people from all different
Countries including the United States people who are experts in scuba diving and and caves and all of this coming together and they finally figured out what they were going to do they came up with this brilliant plan to get them out even though it was extremely dangerous uh they decided to put the
Boys in scuba gear fully in scuba gear but then to heavily sedate them basically to knock them out where they’re unconscious basically gave them a cocktail similar to what you get when you go and have a major surgery in the hospital totally knocked them out because these boys could not swim and
They had to take them for such a long journey through these very narrow passageways they were afraid if they let them be awake they would Panic right cause themselves to drown die as well as those who were guiding them through all this to die so they totally knocked them
Out and then from there they just pulled them and guide them through took out hours each and every one of them through all these crevices and all these caves all of it underwater got every one of the boys out the amazing thing though is that every one of the boys slept through
The entire rescue I like that because it was like these scuba divers were saying we can get you out but you have to completely trust us and God says the same thing to us amen he says I can get you out but you have to completely trust me come on now
Matthew the Gospel of Matthew is the only gospel that talks about these three wise men Mark doesn’t talk about it Luke doesn’t talk about it John doesn’t talk about it and that’s because Matthew wrote his gospel primarily for Jews to read but he wanted the Jews who were
Reading it to understand that Jesus did not just come for the Jews and so he was careful to include this story of the Magi Jesus came for everybody right he came for those who are not even Jewish and so what Matthew is doing is he’s bringing attention to the fact that Jesus is
Calling people from Far places different cultures different philosophical worldviews different experiences different races of people and he’s saying he can make a way for anybody to come to him to have personal relationship with him to draw as near to him as your hard as sincere to do and
Experience him and sometimes we feel like we’ve gone too far and I can’t come to Jesus you know you may have gotten yourself into something and you said man I have been involved in some stuff or I grew up in a home where this kind of
Stuff and I’ve all kinds of things maybe I don’t know what type of things you’ve been exposed to I hear testimonies of people where they say that their parents exposed them to uh to thievery their parents exposed them to drugs their parents they say I first had my first
Drink of alcohol from my dad my dad gave me a drink and then as a result and all these different type of things that we are exposed to you may be saying Kevin I don’t think I can come near to the Lord because you don’t understand all the
Stuff that I’ve gone through I have gotten so far away from God I’ve done things I’ve I’ve done things and made commitments and I maybe I’ve I’ve um I’ve sold my soul to the devil people be selling their soul to the devil and that’s crazy but people be doing that
Because they think the devil’s going to make them rich and all of that let me tell you something Satan will give you a little bit of momentary pleasure so he can take your soul to Hell amen but did you know that even if you’ve sold your soul to the devil that
You can come to Jesus you say come on now see you got to understand the power of the blood you’ve got to understand the power of the cross that Jesus can heal us forgive us and Deliver Us from all of our sins all of our guilt guilt and shame amen there’s nothing that
Jesus can’t break off of you you say well what about the unpardonable sin isn’t there a sin that Jesus says that there’s no way to come back from that that unpardonable sin and you have to really study that very carefully is called the blaspheming of the Holy
Spirit and the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit if you look at the context when he talks about that they tell you what the blaspheming of the holy spirit is most of us have not blasphemed the Holy Spirit we’re not even sophisticated enough to know what to do to blaspheme
The Holy Spirit and by the way if you’re feel interested in knowing god that lets you know you haven’t blasphemed the holy spirit because when you blaspheme the Holy Spirit God hardens your heart you’re probably not going to be in church you one of those people saying
Nope I ain’t got nothing to do with it and I don’t trust y’all I don’t like y’all I’m a skeptic there is no God that’s that’s normally when you find people who’ve done that but the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit has to do with the Pharisees who saw the Miracles
That Jesus was doing through the power of the Holy Spirit and they attributed to be El above they attributed to the devil remember they offended the Holy Spirit and Jesus Jesus said hey you know what they offended the work of the Holy Spirit and the reason why they
Blasphemed the holy spirit is because these were students of the word these were Pharisees Sadducees and scribes I’m going to have you up here in a minute I’m going to have you up here yes yes and and and and and they seeing God doing something out of
Righteousness out of life out of the Holy Spirit they attributed to the devil and remember what Jesus said he said Hey listen the devil does not fight against his own kingdom Jesus said I’m doing Deeds of righteousness I’m doing Deeds of light out of the power of the Holy
Spirit and you are attributing to the devil and darkness that is a blaspheming of the Holy Spirit I don’t know what you’ve been through I don’t know what bondage you’re entangled in right now but I want to say to you if you have a sincere heart to
Draw near to the Lord guess what the Lord can draw you near come on now he can do it won’t he do it I’m a living witness he brought me out he brought me out he brought me out I Just Want to Thank You Lord you know what Jude says I was
Memorizing the scripture with my wife Jude 124 and 25 and and as I was memorizing it’s it’s a doxology you you know and we say it a lot at the end of church services now to him who’s able to uh keep us and present us blameless before the
Lord but it hit me when God said he’s able to keep us and it says specifically he’s able to keep us from falling and I’m a living witness of that because I’m not the strongest person in the world but I’m amazed how God continues to hold
Me up and keep me and keep me going he will make a way come on somebody and so three teachings three teachings here very quickly that Jesus wants to give us today to let us know that you can draw near no matter how far you’ve gone the
Three teachings are he goes out of his way to speak to us he goes out of his way to reveal himself to us he goes out of his way to protect us can we talk about it let’s talk about it the first thing I want you to see when it comes to
God making a way for us is that God is always speaking God is always speaking in verse one of Matthew 2 it says that wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying where is he who has been born King of the Jews for we have seen watch this
Personal pronoun his star not a star his star in the east and have come to worship him this lets us know that this is a very personalized moment it’s not just scientists or naturalists looking up at a star or a planet they realize that God is speaking yes these were men
These Magi were both scientists and spiritual men and they kind of merged their disciplines together where they study science as well as they study things of the spirit these two disciplines were not in conflict with them and I don’t think they ought to be in Conflict today by the way and so as
They’re studying they saw this one bright star and so it wasn’t just a star but it was his star so much so that it called them to disrup their life see one of the ways you know that God is speaking to you you will disrupt your life you realize that when God speaks
Things can’t stay the same so now all of a sudden they’re packing their bags to start following a star they’re not even sure where it’s going to take them but they knew that God was speaking and I love this because God has a way of speaking to us and sometimes we try to
Make it seem like he’s the god who’s far away he’s the God who does not speak he’s The God Who is not interested in me he’s the man of stairs he’s the distance God but God is speaking all the time I believe to us here’s what the Bible says
In Psalm 145 and you may want to turn there if you can keep up with me Psalm 145 and: 18 says the Lord is near not far he’s near to all who call upon him to everyone who calls upon him in truth that’s sounds a lot like Jeremiah 29 you
Will search for me and find me when you search for me with all your heart Truth full truth when I’m coming to him in truth Lord I’m putting aside my preconceived notions about you I’m putting aside my own expectations I’m putting aside my past history of religion and I’m just coming seeking you
In truth and he says he will draw near to you God has always wanted to have a direct communication with us a real relationship with us and so he speaks to us some way or somehow the challenge is we don’t always listen amen amen and when he speaks we
Don’t speak back to him I used to have this car when we lived in Atlanta it was called a k car so I’m trying to dating myself as if I hadn’t already dated Myself by saying I’ve been married for 36 years right but this car would literally talk to
You and it wasn’t like some upscale up brand car it was a Chrysler it’s a little something we bought when we first got married it was used but one feature it had it would talk to you your fuel is low the car would tell you this you said
Sitting in the car it’ll just tell you this your door is a jar all this kind of it just talk to you and I remember whenever I have somebody in the car you know it was a raggedy car it was a hoopy car but they would be so impressed Kevin man your car
Talks but after a while you get so used to it you don’t hear it all right all right all right and I’d say oh man that’s right I don’t even hear it anymore I believe that’s how we treat God some God speaking all the time y’all I mean
God let me tell you some of the ways that God’s speaking if you take notes this may be a good place to take notes first of all God speaks through circumstances hey check yourself before you wreck yourself look at your circumstance you got to interpret your life through the lenses of God God’s
Trying to tell you something on when we take a snapshot of our lives right now and think about it globally everything that’s going on relationships finances Health all this type of stuff God’s messaging all over the place when we went through that Pand mic I hope you
Heard God because God was speaking very loud to all of us now you may have been saying different things to each of us but you got to know that God does not allow something as tsunami and cataclysmic as what we went through back in 2020 for it not to speak to
Us he speaks through our circumstances that’s right here’s another way that God speaks he speaks by his holy spirit the Bible says the holy spirit is a person third person of the Triune godhead and he literally will speak to us that’s right uh he will convince us the Bible
Says that wor convict us of sin righteousness and judgment talks about this over in John that word convince convict convict sounds like a better word because we know that’s kind of a a legal word conviction it really means it has the connotations of an attorney in a courtroom convincing a
Jury giving their final statement he’s convincing us and you can tell when the holy spirit’s trying to talk to you tell you hey don’t do that come out of that come closer to God and yet we can learn just like with the car just to not pay
Attention not only does he speak through our circumstances not only does he speak through the Holy Spirit but he speaks through our conscience this is part of our Humanity you can not even be saved and God can speak to you through your conscience because he made us with a
Mind emotion and a will and when we talked about we talked about this at another time the IMO day that God made us in his own image and part of what it means to make us in his own image is that we can understand more morality even if we’re not saved we can
Understand basic morality what’s right and what’s wrong we know what’s right what’s wrong there’s a universal morality what’s right what’s wrong you don’t take other people’s stuff you just know that’s not right you notice how it makes people feel when you take that stuff I don’t care where you are in the
World South America Africa United States it makes people angry doesn’t it let me move on okay he speaks to us through his word through the word of God and we have to be very careful that we don’t cherry-pick our way through his word he speaks through us through people through
Vessels God will send somebody your way to give you a message in a minute he’ll send somebody my way in in a in a minute to give us a message it’s not always a Preacher Man it’s not always some some Sunday school teacher either God will speak to you through your
Children I me I’ve been spending so much time with my grandbaby you know she’s only four but you know she’s funny man and so so we were putting together this tour it was kind of a difficult tour to put together and I had to take a break
From it and she wanted to keep doing it so she could play with the tour and she said poppy never give up never give up okay all right and you know what but God did a double on Tandra with that because I needed to hear that for some other stuff
I was going through in my life God speaking to me through my granddaughter and then that doesn’t even include Paw Patrol no job too big no pup too small you know what I’m saying that sounds like a lot like nothing’s too hard for God Amen I
Mean I just been spending way too much time with my granddaughter so y’all got to understand but God will speak to you through people he’ll speak to you and then here with the Magi and the star God will speak to you through nature some of the most profound experiences I’ve had
With God speaking to me have been when I’ve been on some special Retreat been able to spend time in nature reading my Bible praying just just cleaning out my mind from everything and uh listening to the voice of God you know what it says in Psalm 19
It says the heavens declare that’s a speaking word the heavens declare the glory of the Lord and then it goes on to say day after day they speak to us and night after night they reveal knowledge of God see this is why I don’t buy the atheist thing because if you don’t go
Any further than just looking at nature it’s hard to come now I can get it if you’re an agnostic and you say well I haven’t figured out who God is but to say there is no God after you watched the waterfall after you have um looked at a
Jellyfish the complexity of that thing the complexity of a human eye to be made as you looked at the stars and the galaxies you know there’s somebody who created all this this stuff just didn’t explode into starting and even it did explode it that wasn’t the starting
Point there’s too much oil order God will speak to us through nature I remember when God spoke to me about my calling and I remember very clearly where he officially spoke to me about my calling to be a pastor I was in a dorm room in Memphis Tennessee I had
Been saved for about two years and I was 20 years old and uh I remember God speaking to me I remember what I was reading in the word I remember all of that but I have to go back even further for my first calling my first calling
Was when I was n or 10 years old playing in the projects in Little Rock Arkansas and in a big field with a lot of other kids and after playing for a while I went over to the side just having a moment and I laid down and I
Looked up at the sun we do this all the time I do this all the time but this time as I was looking at the sun I felt like I had a premonition I felt like God was telling me hey you’re going to be a
Priest one day and that’s all I knew at the time cuz I was involed with Catholicism but it felt real and so then when I looked back when I accepted my call I thought about that I’ve never lost sight of that but God is able to
Speak to us through nature and I bet if I gave the microphone to y’all y’all have your own stories as well as to how God spoke to you but the key to God speaking to us is we have to have our hearts right our hearts have to be
Clean conditioned John 4 14 and 21 here’s what Jesus says I’m going to turn here and read this real quick John 14:21 Whoever has my Commandments and keeps them he is the one who loves me and notice we say we love the Lord we sing We love the Lord but Jesus says I
Measure that you love me by obeying me amen here’s the beauty and he who loves me Will Be Loved by my father and I will love him here’s the key word and manifest myself to him amen that word manifest is a loaded word but it basically means he will
Reveal more and more of himself so the key to us hearing more and more from God is obeying that which he’s already spoken to us that’s very important that our hearts are pure also God will speak to us when our hearts are passionate remember what we said that you will seek
Me and find me when you search for me with not some of your heart but all your heart and as you begin to look at Herod and the Magi and compare them with one another you see that herod’s heart was a lot different from the magi’s heart the
Magi received this word from the Lord Lord and they rejoiced the Bible says they began to travel they began to make effort to find and to worship the Christ the King Jesus but Herod heard it and he became jealous he became insecure he became angry he felt threatened so instead of wanting to
Worship he wanted to kill how God was speaking and so we have to watch our own hearts that God will speak to us but sometimes because we don’t like what God is saying we try to kill the voice of God we try to drown it out just like with
That car and God wants us to make sure that we continue to listen to his voice and as we begin to listen to his voice the the best way to do that is to make sure we don’t have any Idols as we move into this season of
Fasting in the new year God it’s so important that we search our hearts for idolatry idolatry is very subtle basically idolatry is anything that I argue for and believe in more than I believe in the Lord you know some of us man we will argue more hard with
Somebody about our political views than we will about the Bible wow about the goodness of God we just mute and quiet about God we have to watch the idols we have to watch okay so some of us I’m not picking on her but I’m just saying some of us will fight harder for
Beyonce come on than we will for God come on and by the way there’s a lot of Witchcraft that goes on that music amen I’m just saying somebody’s got to be strong enough to say it amen amen because the enemy is speaking to and he’s moving us away from God
Amen the key to getting Idols out is what the Magi did that’s right they worshiped they had the same agenda from the beginning to worship see worship is so important here’s my worship all of my worship receive my worship all of my worship as you begin let me tell you
Worship does a lot of things worship increases your respect or reverence for God worship increases your perspective of God God is already large God is already great God is already awesome better bigger than anything that that but but our hearts have to magnify the Lord and we do that through worship
Worship increases our faith in God worship increases our intimacy with God and so it’s so important that we are not just worshiping once a day or once a week or every once in a while but that we are worshiping continually the Bible says that we should worship continually rejoice in
The lord always I’ll say it again Rejoice because as we worship guess what Idols begin to fall off guess what we’re strengthening the Lord guess what we’re giving the strength to continue to draw near to God no matter what I’m going through God I’ve got trouble in my life
Lord my child is sick Lord someone just died I can’t fix this I’m hurting I don’t have the strength here’s my worship though I’m going to give you some worship and when you begin to Give Him worship he’s going to give you strength the Lord is the strength of my
Life come on now Whom Shall I Fear Whom Shall I be afraid of does anybody have worship for the thing you’re worried about you better begin to praise your way out of it so that you can get nearer to the living God worship is like a glue right it just
Keeps us drawing closer to God instead of drifting away from God when we truly learn to worship Jesus we get to experience all of his presence all of his peace all of his power when we learn to worship Jesus it causes bondage to come off yeah some of
Us we stuck in bondage we’re stuck in a tormenting mind depression Suicidal Thoughts anxiety because we think I’m going to praise him when I get out of it you got to start praising him now oh you got to praise him when it’s dark you got to praise him
You got to say devil you a lie I’m going to bless the Lord at all time I want to remind you that Paul and Silas were in bondage in Acts chapter 16 they were deep in a prison it was dark it was dank it was dirty it was muddy but they with
The chains on their hands lifted up their hands and I could hear the chains clanking it said at 12:00 late in the midnight hour they began to worship they didn’t wait for the get Deliverance before they started worshiping and as they began to worship guess what the
Chain set free the prison door came open they stepped out people started getting saved anybody needs somebody to get saved in your family you better start worshiping you better start worshiping else he’s never lost a battle so let me ask you something has been God has God been trying to speak to
You Jesus through your circumstances by his Spirit through your conscience be careful about ignoring your conscience you can sear your conscious the Bible calls SE a r that’s a word that means to Brand whenever someone gets a brand you ever seen some frat guys say get a brand
When you get a brand that skin is dead you don’t want your conscience to become dead when you ignore God long enough all of a sudden your conscience is not God isn’t speaking but just like me in the car you don’t hear it anymore you can
See it so has God been trying to speak to somebody in their conscience men don’t be afraid of your conscience I think we men we have one gear of emotion if it’s not about anger we don’t know what to do with it but God’s trying to speak to you about loving better God’s
Trying to speak to you about kindness God’s trying to speak to you about Grace and you’re ignoring it and you’re going to sear your conscience and you’re going to look up and you’re going to be an angry man when you get in your 40s your 50s and your 60s you going you really
Going to only know one gear then oh I don’t know who I’m speaking to but I know I’m speaking so you don’t even have to say Amen just take it pray about it and let God work on it amen is God trying to speak to you through his word
Is God trying to speak to you through a human vessel that’s my first question the second question is is your heart like the Magi or use your heart like herods okay the hour is late so let me get on to this next point and get out of
Here real soon and so God makes a way because he’s always speaking to us the next thing I want you to see is that God is always revealing himself God not only speaks but he gives Revelation to who he actually is Jesus is the son of God
Jesus Is God come in the flesh Emmanuel God With Us unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder his name Shall be Called wonderful counselor the Mighty God got to deal with that that’s right
He reveals himself yes it does in verse 10 of Matthew 2 it says when they saw the star they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy when they had come into the house they saw the young child with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshiped him here’s my
Worship all of my worship receive my worship I will not be silent I will always worship you as long long as I am breathing I will always they fell down and worshiped him how did they know that Jesus was the Messiah how did they know that Jesus was
God and that he should be worshiped because God gives revelation of himself to us now whenever God gives revelation of himself the devil tries to distort it that’s right but these men were wise men notice they’re not called smart men that doesn’t doesn’t mean they aren’t smart
From a human standpoint from the world’s intelligent but that’s not a big deal to be smart from a human intell these were wise men meaning they primarily glean their knowledge not from science but from above from the throne room of God the Bible talks about in James chapter 3
That wisdom from God wisdom from above is first pure then Peaceable and gentle and willing to yield and full of mercy and good fruit it’s not just somebody who’s a to be smart and outwit you and use those for ill purposes wisdom is related to the character of God and not
Just Knowledge from God and it says this is what they were about these men were seeking to understand the mind of God the spirit of God the wisdom of God they were men who understood even though they may not have read it but they understood trust in the Lord with all your
Heart lean not on your own understanding and all your your ways acknowledge Him yes Lord and He will direct your path look at verse 12 it says then being divinely warn now these men are not Israelites they’re not of the lineage of Abraham Isaac and Jacob yet they’re
Receiving Revelation from God they are divinely warn you can’t you can’t misinterpret that it’s very clear in a dream they are receiving Revelation and what I mean by Revelation is when God begins to reveal himself to you Beyond human logic and the reasoning of man he reveals himself in various ways we know
The primary way is the word but he also reveals himself through dreams and Visions be very aware of the dreams that you’re having God will be speaking be very aware of your dreams you’re having because Satan will be attacking our sleep state is a state where there is the potential for
Spiritual warfare God wants to speak to you but the the devil wants to confuse you and some of us man we’re afraid to go to sleep at night because we’re so tormented in our sleep now my wife and I we developed this habit a long time ago we pray our way to
Sleep in the name of Jesus we do and we pray for specific things as we’re going to sleep we pray that God would bless us in our dreams God would speak to us God would give us fresh Vision Revelation for what he’s called us to do that that
God would give us understanding in our lives and give us insight to the people around us amen that God would heighten our peace that this that our sleep would be restorative that’s what we pray and we rebuke the devil and any demonic spirits from get into our and now May
Y’all may not have to do that but this is what we do because God wants to use your dreams for his glory god will speak to you the Lord is not far off he is near Jesus said I will manifest myself to you and Jesus says in John 14 I am
The way the truth and the life he’s not only the way but he shows us the way he says I am the way he not only makes a way and leads the way but he shows us the way he is the author and finisher of
Our faith so by looking to him one of the blessings of God Drawing Near Jesus coming is that he modeled to us how we should live that’s right he says follow me and follow my way so you can know how you’re supposed to spend your time living how you’re supposed to treat
People on this brief time that have 60 70 80 if the Lord is gracious years on this Earth before you go on and so through Jesus he teaches a husband how he’s supposed to treat his wife he teaches parents how they’re supposed to treat children he teaches us
How we’re supposed to treat our enemies how we supposed to love them how we supposed to show Grace and pray for those who spitefully try to hurt us amen he teaches us these things he shows us the way this is why it’s such a blessing
That the Lord came near one more here if you want to draw near to Jesus he will make a way out of no way by speaking to us by revealing himself here’s the last one by protecting God is protecting I want you to notice that it
Says in verse 13 that an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and brought protection he said to Joseph listen verse he says arise take the young child and his mother flee to Egypt stay there until I bring you word for Herod will sing will seek the young child to
Destroy him protection later on he gives Magi protection too they tells him to go back another way don’t go back to Herod and so it just comes back to this whole thing that God says he is a protector doesn’t matter where you are he will protect you
If you have a sincere heart to get to the place where he wants you to be now this is a critical time this is strategic listen to me you about to go into a new year uh some of the stuff that you’ve been carrying or dragging in this year don’t take it over
To January 1st find a way to untether from it okay and the Lord says the key to that is you have to draw near to me you say Lord I’ve got some troubles and some things in my life I can fix them I want to let them go I’ve got some mental
Illness issues I’ve got some depression the enemy has been making me try to give up on life in The Most Extreme Ways listen come to the Lord and worship Him here’s my worship all of my worship receive my worship I’m going to begin to praise you
Even with tears in my eyes even though my body does not feel it my soul does not feel it I’m going to begin to worship you by faith I’m going to take on the same attitude of the Magi I want to draw near to you to worship you you say I’ve got some
Difficulties in my marriage and I am ready to give up on this thing God says begin to praise me and another thing my wife and I do every day is we pray together and most days we get on our knees together and we worship together because when people say how did y’all
Make it this long is only by the grace of God and we have we have cultivated worship into the very culture of our family we’ve inculcated worship into the very DNA of who we are as the jameses why not because we’re trying to be overly righteous we need it here’s my worship
All of my worship receive my worship all of my worship because I will not be silent amen I will always worship you as long as I am breathing God I will always worship you because you have promised I could come to you no matter what mess
I’ve gotten into no matter how far away I am no matter how long I’ve been gone you said I can come to you dear God and you’re going to speak to me you’re going to reveal yourself to me and you’re going to protect me as long as I’m
Worshiping is anybody ready to worship your way into the new year come on now come on begin to give him praise I know it’s hard I know it’s real but praise Him Anyway job praised Him Anyway come on now Paul and Silas they praised him anyway you ought to give God some praise
Here’s my [Applause] worship so father we thank you as we bow before you that you sent your son God came near to make a way out of no way Hallelujah it doesn’t matter what nationality we come from what religion we come from what stronghold and bondage
We come from what attitudes we come from what sins we come from what perspectives we’ve come from we can take the journey just like the Magi it may take a minute it’s going to be hard but we’ve come to worship the Christ the one who gives us eternal life
Heads are bowed and eyes are closed if you’re here today you’ve never given your life to Jesus he’s called calling you as we’re on the precipice of closing out this year don’t go into the new year without Jesus in your heart in a real
Way it’s one thing to go to church and I commend you for that but it’s another thing to have Christ in your heart so don’t play with it he’s calling you he’s speaking yeah he’s speaking in your circumstance right now he’s speaking through a person a vessel right now you better listen to
Him don’t drown him out like I did my car he’s talking to you he loves you so much and that’s the crazy thing about it God loves you he has your well-being in mind in this life in the life to come it’s amazing how we resist God as if we think
We can manage Our Lives better than he can he is the one who created you he knows you from the crown of your head to the soul of your feet every skin cell in your body every hair on your head he loves you and he expressed that love in
The most extreme radical way by sending his beloved Son to die on the cross for you if you’re here today you want to give your life to Jesus would you pray this prayer say dear Jesus I want to give my life to you today say this to
Him Jesus thank you for dying on the cross for my sins yeah say that to him say in this moment I open my heart and I receive you into my heart as my Lord my new master and my savior say Jesus forgive me of my sins say that to to him come on
Now say in this moment as best I can I turn from my sins and I turn completely to you now say this to him because we got to keep it real but I’m going to need a little help Jesus yeah let him know I’m going
To need a little help to stay away from my sins but I thank you that now you’re living in me and Lord I am seeking you with all my heart you’ve said you’re near to those who call upon you in truth I’m calling upon you in truth and I’m
Asking you to save me say that save me save me now in Jesus name amen
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