My response to Jesus determines my relationship with God!

Matthew 2:1-12 NLT
Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”

King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”

“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote: ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”

Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”

After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the East guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.

My response to Jesus determines my
relationship with God!

3 Potential Responses

Reject Him

John 10:10 NLT
The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

Ignore Him

Proverbs 16:25 NIV
There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.

John 14:6 NLT
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

Believe Him

Luke 7:20-22 NLT
John’s two disciples found Jesus and said to him, “John the Baptist sent us to ask, ‘Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?’” At that very time, Jesus cured many people of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he restored sight to many who were blind. Then he told John’s disciples, “Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”

Romans 10:9 NIV
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Herod did not see Christ’s birth as a blessing, rather he felt threatened. He believe that this Jesus had come to mess up his life, to judge him, to remove him.

Often a similar response today by people. They feel threatened by the fact that there is a God who is the final say in things. Sometimes it’s because we don’t understand. We think Jesus wants to suck all of the fun and the joy out of life, when in reality we’ve got that all backwards.

The religious people of the day didn’t feel like they really needed Jesus. They were convinced that they were good enough, that their spirituality their religious practice was enough to get into God’s good graces. So they just ignored him.

You see the reality is that you relationship with God cannot be made right by anything that you do, it can only be made right by accepting what Jesus did…

The Magi/Wisemen took their time. They did all of the research, they asked all of the questions, they searched all of the source material and they came to the conclusion that Jesus was exactly who he said he was. He was the Messiah, the one who God had sent to free people from sin and restore their relationship with God.

There are 61 detailed Old Testament prophecies regarding the birth of Jesus Christ. He of course had no way to manipulate them or make them happen. The statistical probability of anyone fulfilling just 8 of the 61 prophecies: 10 to the 21st power

The statistician whose work was authenticated by the American Scientific Association, gave this description of what that probability compares to: “First, blanket the entire Earth land mass with silver dollars 120 feet high. Second, specially mark one of those dollars and randomly bury it. Third, ask a person to travel the Earth and select the marked dollar, while blindfolded, from the trillions of other dollars.”¹

You see the Wisemen weren’t stupid, they were scientists, mathematicians, philosophers! These guys were the advisors to kings and empires, they didn’t just believe in Jesus because it felt good or because they needed some type of emotional crutch to get through life, they did the work and concluded Jesus is exactly who God says he is.

Jesus doesn’t ask you to leave your brains at the door, in fact the exact opposite is true, he says look deeper, examine the evidence. Even later in his life one of his friends, in fact his cousin, John the Baptist was a little unsure. So he sent two of his disciples to just straight up ask him.

You know the greatest evidence that Jesus is who he says he is, is sitting right around you. Look around at the people. In this room this morning are couples who’s marriages were in shambles or even over all together, but when they made Jesus their priority he healed their marriage.

There are people that were absolutely trapped by some type of addiction, alcohol, drugs, porn, gambling…but when they made Jesus first in their life he gave them the power to break free.

There are people sitting in your row who first showed up here in such a deep pit of depression and fear and a sense of overwhelming lostness, but when they believed that Jesus was the Messiah he opened their eyes to what they needed to do to experience life once again.

This place isn’t filled with a bunch of perfect people with pristine pasts, this place is filled with broken people with messed up pasts, filled with poor choices, who at some point in time simply believed in Jesus and began the journey of putting all the pieces back together.

Today, I’d like to invite you to begin that same journey, a journey of restoration, of hope, and of a certain and secure destiny.

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