SermonStudio

I come from the East (points). You are probably not familiar with me or with my situation, but I do believe in your God, the God of the universe, the God who controls the heavens and who even has access to the minds of individuals. I am a wise man and astronomer (bows). I followed a new star and found my savior and king, Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem. My fellow scientists and I had been watching the night sky the way we always do. The position of the constellations and the birth of new stars fascinated us. It was our life. We were more concerned about observing the night sky and its activity than we were about the daytime sky. You would find this strange, I suppose, but that is our life. It became perfectly clear to us that we observed a new star, or star cluster. We watched and charted its progress with amazement. It was brilliant in its quality of luster, and it was moving faster than normal. It seemed to have a definite, predetermined course. More importantly, it commanded something inside me to follow it. Even though we were astronomers, we also believed in astrology. We believed that the birth of this star represented the birth of a new king or God.

My associates and I deliberated what to do about the phenomenon which faced us. The celestial body was moving fast, but we did not know where it was going. We had to decide what to do. For my part, I decided to follow it, and then so did some other members of my profession. We had to say good-bye to our families and explain that we did not know where we were going, or exactly why. For me personally, it was something inside me that I had to do with my life. And of course, I wanted to find the new king that the star represented. Everyone said we were wrong, irrational actually, to do this act. We left our jobs, and our safe homes, and our country. We faced a journey into the unknown. There was much criticism about what we were doing and how foolish we were to do it. But, I couldn't explain how I felt to anyone. I had to follow the star before it was too late. I felt that the king that it represented must be extremely important. The intensity of the star's brilliance and seeming power nagged at my consciousness night and day, and wouldn't leave me alone. We packed provisions for ourselves and also gifts that we thought would be appropriate for a king. Of course, we packed frankincense because in our country the growing and processing of this perfume was a major industry. It was an acceptable gift to someone of royalty. Our country exports much frankincense. We took myrrh balls and quantities of gold also to present to the king.

The journey was dangerous and we were not trained to defend ourselves against hordes of thieves that might attack us. We never knew what to expect. We studied the star's position every night and then we charted our course according to its position. We headed toward the country of Judea. These people have different customs than we do. Their language is different. We had to be careful as we slowly labored through the country because we didn't know how we would be treated as foreigners. Finally, we knew that our star was definitely over Jerusalem. We were pleased about this because King Herod's palace was directly under the star. We were sure he would know about this important matter and we decided to visit him. He listened to us but surprised us by saying that he didn't know anything about a new king being born. He was interested in our conversation about how we followed the newly born star, or star cluster, to Jerusalem, but he made no attempt to go out and find the star that we had so diligently become intimately acquainted with. He did not have the deep desire to know it as something supernaturally directed, as we did, and which we had risked our lives for. I did not understand this.

He wanted to know more about the birth of the new king, and we told him we would report back to him when we found him. We promised him and felt honored to have a conversation with him. We gave him our word and then we slowly left the palace. We were confused because we didn't know what to do. We were so sure that we had been in the right place when we went to visit King Herod, and we began to wonder if the entire trip had been a mistake. I began to feel sick inside myself because I had risked so much, had left so much, and had been so determined to follow what I thought had such importance. I wondered what to do. I wanted to do the right thing, but I didn't know what it was. At night, we watched our universe again as always. We realized that the star or bright celestial body had positioned itself over a tiny village near Jerusalem called Bethlehem and we went there. I didn't actually want to go there. It was just an unimportant village, and we were puzzled because it was no place for royalty. I wondered if it was just another stop for us, and another mistake. We were quite concerned because King Herod had absolutely no information for us at all about the new king, and we were so puzzled. We went to Bethlehem regardless and inquired locally about a new king being born. It was foolish to do this. It was only a small village. There were just local people about and I felt embarrassed. Our traveling companion, the star, was directly over a common house with just a young couple in it with a child. There had been people who mentioned that with the birth of this child the heavens opened up and angels of God had come out to speak to the shepherds. People said that the child was to be the Messiah, the eternal King of kings.

Hymn "Lead On, O King Eternal" (verses 1 and 2)

This is the king we had been waiting for. We met the parents and knelt down and worshiped Jesus. He is the King of all kings. He is King over the universe and everything between heaven and earth, between the visible and invisible realm in which we live. We knew when we saw him that our journey had ended. I felt overwhelmed with joy, humility, and wonder as Mary his mother explained that Jesus is God's son. He is divine. Right away I decided we had to return to King Herod and report the news about God's son. You can't imagine my excitement! I wanted to tell everyone the news! I couldn't understand why he didn't know about the child. I thought that Mary and Joseph should have gone to him right away. That night, in a definite and profound dream God told me that we should stay away from Herod. He was an evil man and we needed to return home by a different route. God talked to me inside my brain. It was so distinct that I couldn't do anything but obey. We left for home immediately knowing that we had an enemy who wanted to kill us.

I took a great and tremendous knowledge about God with me. He is a God who cares about me individually, and proves it. He saw us following the star which he created for the birth of his son and for us to study and follow by faith. He knew how we felt about the trip into the unknown. He was with us all the time! I brought this information and love back to my family in the east. I brought Christ and the gift of faith to my family. Of course, I continue to study the stars and the course of the universe. I haven't changed that. It has always been my pleasure. Now, however, I know who it is who controls the stars and the planets. I have met him. I have met the man of eternity. By following the star that begged at my heart and my consciousness, I found the God of the universe and I brought him to my family. Find the star from God in the universe called Jesus Christ and follow him at all costs, listen to God's voice of peace amid all the frantic noises of today and obey it, and make sure your family does also.