Dear Father in Heaven: I love You very, very much. Thanks for another day here on earth, and thanks for watching over us. Thanks for watching over families and friends, and thanks for dying so we might live. I pray today, Lord, that during this coming year I will fall deeper and deeper in love with You and work even harder for You each day in some way. Lord, speak to my heart and give me direction. Please be with all those who work to keep us safe. Lord, it seems that some people seem to hate those who work to keep us safe. It seems that people also hated and still hate You and You just want to save us. I sometimes find it hard to understand why people want to kill someone who loves them so much. I am so glad that I am saved, Lord, and I believe in a risen Savior who is alive. Thanks, Lord, for all You do for all of us. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, let me start by praying for you to have a blessed and happy New Year.
Dear Father in Heaven, please watch over all those who read and follow the Ministries of Carry The Light, and please bless them in all they do, not just for 2015 but until You call them home. Bless their every move, bless their families, bless them with a bounty that only You can provide. You see, Jesus, I love You and I love all those who support Carry The Light Ministries, regardless of which mission. Lord, please open doors for them so that they also might find great joy this year and more so as they reach out for You. May they all draw nearer to You in 2015. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, this will be the last message that comes under the name of The Big Trip. What subject is next? I do not know at this time. I am praying about it. Tomorrow Dolores will be 80 years old. She robbed the cradle when she got me. I tell people that when we went to her senior prom, I picked her up on my tricycle. The truth is we met in 1981. As you set forth in the New Year, please draw nearer to Jesus and work hard to bring others to Him. Each day we are one day nearer to His return. Are you ready for that? Okay, let me get to the message.
Thursday: January 1, 2015: The Big Trip (Day Seventeen)
Wise Men from the East
Matthew 2:1 - 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, 2 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."
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 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. 5 So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
6 '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.'"
7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 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."
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 stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 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 had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way. (NKJV, New King James Version)
King Herod really wanted to see Jesus dead. He was a murderer who had already murdered his wife, three sons, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, uncle, and many others. So we know he was a murderer and now he wanted to murder our Lord Jesus. I wanted to bring that out for two reasons.
First, to show you that right from the start, for Jesus, people wanted to kill him, and it seems so strange to me that people wanted to kill someone who loved them as much as Jesus did. King Herod hated Jesus and did not know anything about Him.
Second, it shows when we look forward to now, people who hate Jesus really know nothing about Him. People who do not believe in Jesus are intimidated by words on a wall, words like "In God We Trust," or "The Commandments." Some who hate Him do not even want to see a picture of Jesus. They do not want to see a manger on government property. And in some cases when they go to vote in churches they want the pictures of Christ removed. And believe it or not, some churches remove them.
Our scriptures tell us that Jesus is the same today as He was yesterday and He will be the same in the future. (Hebrews 13:8)
I also wanted to point out this special star that rose up over Jesus when He was born. We can see in the scripture that the Magi followed the star, which led them to Jesus. Look at this scripture of ours today.
Matthew 2:9 - 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 stood over where the young Child was.
One thing that King Herod did not figure on was that those kings, or magi, also called wise men, who took the gifts to Jesus, bowed down and worshiped Him. They were some of the very first to come to Jesus, along with the shepherds from the fields nearby. And we can see in the scriptures that the magi who delivered gifts to Jesus and bowed down and worshiped Him were warned in a dream to go back home by another route. Check it out:
Matthew 2:12 - Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.
I want to bring all this out for it is still the same. We who love and worship Jesus are threatened and many of our missionaries have been murdered by those who are afraid of Jesus. Speaking of missionaries, please keep Dan Stoner and his family in your prayers. The Stoners were home for awhile as Dan was very ill. But they are back on the mission trail and are now in West Africa.
This will wrap up the series on The Big Trip which was about the birth of Jesus, a man, the Son of God who was "Born to Die So We Might Live." I pray you enjoyed the trip but more so came nearer to Jesus by following it.
Now go forth and share your blessings. Love ya. Please pass on my love to others.
Pastor Dan
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