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Welcome to the live Big broadcast with Derek Greer. We believe this teaching from God's Word will empower you to live a full, impactful life in Christ. Let's dig in.

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Matthew 2:1. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, Jesus was born sometime between A.D. 6 and A.D. 4. Bethlehem existed about six miles outside of Jerusalem. A tiny little town with a population of only a few hundred people. But how many of you know the greatest oaks begin as a tiny acorn? Microsoft and Amazon all started in garages. Dell computers started in a dorm room. Walmart started in a tiny town in Arkansas. Grace Church started in a high school. Big things often begin in small places. And in the days of Herod the King, Jesus was not born in cushy modern times. He was born in very perilous and dangerous times. When Herod became king, he immediately drowned the legitimate high priest in a pool. Then right after that, he went and he murdered 46 members of the Sanhedrin and replaced them all with pawns. The impact of what Herod did when he became king lasted for over 30 years and was part of the reason why Jesus faced such religious corruption in his time of ministry. In the midst of those times, behold, the reason behold's there is because it's a tiny town, it's a dark period. But despite all of this, the light's about to shine. Wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. God always preserves a remnant. A remnant is an unlikely group of overcomers that God raises up just to confound the wise, saying, where is he who was born King of the Jews? So the first thing the wise men did is go to Jerusalem and visit Herod's palace. Herod's palace was bejeweled with four towers. Seven story towers at that on each corner, corner. His palace had a bathhouse, courtyards, a Roman theater, banquet rooms, extravagant living quarters for him and all of his visitors. And the magi thought surely if a king was going to show up, he'd show up in a place like that. Isaiah 55:8 says God speaking, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways, says the Lord. You see, when I read my Bible, Abraham was too old. Jacob was a liar. Joseph was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was afraid, Rahab a prostitute. David had an affair. Elijah got suicidal, Job went bankrupt. Jonah ran from God. The disciples fell asleep. Martha was worried all the doggone time. Timothy had an ulcer. But God chooses the foolish things of this world to confound the w. Don't give me too much Help. Because I'll get happy up in here. I'll get happy up in here. And he continues. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your what thoughts? I always end up in trouble when I think God should do as I think. Don't get me wrong, God helps me understand, but I usually don't really get it to after the fact. My mother used to say hindsight is 20 20. I didn't know what she was talking about till I live some life. But what I've learned is until I can connect the dots, all I can do is trust him. I've learned to trust him when I feel good, trust him when I don't trust him when things go my way. When things don't go my way. Faith is not always having the answers. It's knowing the one who does. Matthew 2:2 for we have seen his star in the east. That's why you're here today, because God showed you something and you showed up. Now these wise men were probable students of the writings of Daniel. If you remember, Daniel was appointed over the Magi or the wise men in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. And then later he served under the Persians. But centuries later, these magi's were still quite powerful. These men in particular, they specialized in math, astronomy, alchemy, medicine, prophecy, dream interpretation. These guys were actually considered the scientists of their time. But these men were not Jewish. These men were pagan. But I want you to notice God was willing to speak to them in a language they understood, and in this case, the stars. Oswald Chambers says God usually speaks to us in the language we know best, sometimes through our ears, but more often through our circumstances. For we have seen his star in the east and have come watch this to worship him. They traveled most likely from Baghdad or at least around that area to Jerusalem, over 900 miles following a star. But they didn't travel that far to play games. The Bible said they came to worship him. Are there any worshipers in the house today? How many folks have come here to worship the king, to grow in our God, to find shelter in a crazy world? When it comes to worship, as I proved today, God's not moved by the quality of your voice, only the condition of your heart. And if you would just praise him wherever you are, you will experience the presence of God in your midst. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled. Now, Herod was an extremely gifted man. He was a great architect and a great builder. Actually his form of architecture is called Herodian architecture because it was gorgeous and, and he was celebrated around the world for this ability. But history also tells us he was so paranoid that he killed his mother in law, then his brother in law, one of his wives and two of his sons. And just because you have a gift in one area, don't make you right in every other area. This man was such a mess that Augustus Caesar said, safer to be Herod's pigs than one of his sons. So this man was troubled in all Jerusalem with him because everyone knew how insecure the king was and they feared how he might respond. And insecurity can make monsters of the best of us. And when Herod had gathered all the chief priests and the scribes and the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. And we find out later he only wanted to kill the baby. You know, it's much easier pulling up a seedling than a full grown oak. So that's why the Devil attacks you when you're young. And if he can't physically kill you or get you to kill yourself, he'll try to kill the right choices in your life. He'll try to destroy the right appetites in your life. He'll make sure you don't have the right associations in your life. You see, the Devil's not stupid, he's quite strategic. He wants to destroy you while you're young, so you can never really mature into a full grown threat. You'll see pictures in India of these massive, beautiful Indian elephants tied down to a simple peg in the ground. And you wonder how could this massive, powerful animal be held by a peg? Let me explain how it happened. It started when that, that, that elephant was young. You see, when the elephant was young, they tied him to a peg, but he didn't have the strength to break out. But what happened is over time, as he grew, he got conditioned in his mind and he thought that he couldn't do what actually he was able to do. What the Devil wants to do is build strongholds in your mind while you're young, so that when you get old you won't even try to break them, you'll just accept them. You'll go with culture and say, I'm this way and I'll always be this way. I can never be free from the because of what happened to me when I was a child. But God said, if any man in Christ, he's a new creation and the joy of the Lord is my strength. And said the Lord is the strength of My life. Greater is he that's in me, that's in the world. And there's a strength that comes to us in Christ. But we've been so conditioned when we were young that we no longer try to get free. So they said to him in Bethlehem of Judah. For it is written by the prophet, everything we need to know about how to find Jesus had already been written down for the magi and the wise men. And everything you need to know about how to find Jesus has been written down in this book. Skip to 7. Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star had appeared. What happened is they saw something in the sky around the time of Jesus birth, which was about two years prior. That's why the soldiers were ordered to kill all the babies under two years of age, because it was two years prior that they saw the sign in the heavens. But it was just a sign in the heavens. And they knew to come to Jerusalem because of Daniel and all the rest at verse eight. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go search carefully for the young child, and when you have found him, bring back word to me that I may watch this. Come and worship him also. How many of you know he was lying? Everybody talking about heaven ain't going. When they heard the king, they departed. And behold, the star which they had seen in the east went before them. You see, when they first saw the star in the heavens, it got them moving in the general direction. But then it appeared again, just like the children of Israel were led by a fire by night and cloud by day. But this is when the star got more specific. You know, faith is progressive. It's only after you take the first step that God shows you the next. So after they leave, the star they saw when they were in Babylon now starts to go before them till it came and stood over the young child. Now obviously this was a star that only they could see, otherwise Herod would have followed. Scholars and mathematicians, I don't know, but they say in order for a person to be able to follow a light or a star or any object to a specific home, it can't be more than a mile high. So if they're following a star and if it's super high, how would you really know the specific house? So again, this is something they saw and no one else saw till it came and stood over. Watch this where the young child was. Now this is the first challenge of leadership and leading. At first, only a few folks can see it with you, but the second Challenge is the problem with stars is we only see them when it's dark. And to truly lead, you gotta be in a dark place. And if leadership was easy, everybody would do it. Somebody said if you're not bleeding, you're not leading. And I'm not talking about leadership in the church, leadership in the government. I'm talking about leadership in your homes. Talk about leadership in the job, leadership with your children. Children. Leadership at school. When they saw the star. If you want to see something that few people see, you got to be willing to do what few people will do. And these men walked all these miles because they saw something. I know as we celebrate, and I'm going to be fast today, I'm almost done already. This is our first Christmas in this building. Get in it. And as I look around at your smiling and happy faces, I'm reminded that for over 20 years people told me grace would be more successful if you just stop teaching the Bible so much. People don't want all that. Just give them good musicians and we got them by God's grace. That's just a bonus. That's an extra. Hallelujah. They're incredible. Give them a few encouraging and massaging points. Let them shout over what they already know. But Pastor and I, we felt you were smarter than that. We felt you deserved more than that. I believe God's people were more sincere than that. So we followed a star that only a few people could see. At first we started from the bottom, but now we're here cuz we followed our star. And everybody may not get it, but if you follow the star that God has assigned you, in the end it will speak and not lie. And when they saw the star again, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And here's what I've learned in my life. There'll be moments you will not see the star or the vision as clearly as you did originally. But I can tell you, if you don't let the Herods discourage you, the clarity, the brightness and the joy will eventually reappear. Verse 11. And I'm going to finish on this verse. And when they had come into the what house? This is my big point. This Christmas morning, they did not come to a mansion. They did not come to a palace with a bathhouse with four towers, courtyards, a Roman theater, banquet rooms. When they come to the simple house, they traveled 900 miles, only about 20 miles a day on camel. They slept in tents, dealt with the bugs and the insects to find only a toddler in a very ordinary house. But what I want to say to you too is if they would have arrived even earlier, it would have been worse. They would have found a babe, some say, in a cave, because that's where the shepherds often kept their flocks. Others say it was a stable. Others say it was the part of the house where livestock was kept. But the bottom line is, when they came to meet him, they probably would have been, if it would have been on that first day, quite disappointing, even worse than it was this day. But watch this. And when they came into the house. Have you ever followed your star? Followed something you believe God had shown you? But it led you to a stable, it led you to stink, it led you to less than conditions. I mean, you had high hopes at the wedding altar, high hopes when you wrote the business plan, high hopes when you got the. Oh, high hopes when you joined that particular ministry. But now you're up to your elbows in stable stink. But when they came into the house, they didn't despise the day of small beginnings. When they came into the house, they say, you know, that ain't good enough for me. I didn't come all that way for that. I ain't mess with that. I'm done. I'm out of here. I'm gone. No. When they came into their assignments, even though it didn't look the way they thought it should look, when they came into the house, they saw what the prophets have been speaking about for centuries. They saw the hope of humanity, but not in a place they thought they'd see it. Wise men and women, can you still see God in disappointing places? Pay attention to what I'm saying to you this morning. Can you still see God where you're disappointed? Your heart's been broken. Dear God, how did it end up like this? Can you still see God in that moment? They saw the young child with Mary, his mother. Watch this. These are rich, powerful men. Matt died and fell down. Are you so disappointed in what you discovered? What you found in God's house? Are you so focused on the disappointment you can't see the face of God? Despite their disappointment, they saw Jesus. And this Christmas 2022, may not have gone the way you wanted. People you love may have died. People you thought would be with you forever have walked away. Maybe you're dealing with things in your body and you thought that your Christian life would be different than it is. You thought you'd have more friends. Maybe you thought you'd be married by now. Maybe you thought you'd still be together. Can you still see the face of God in your situation. I just want to encourage you this morning to look for God in a place that might be disappointing, a place that might be less than then, a place you didn't really dream of or imagine. If you would just be faithful and look a little bit closer, you will see everything God wants you to see. It's just his ways and not our ways. And he hides the greatest things in mess. Somebody said, you know why the grass is greener on the other side? Because the people on the other side are up to their knees. And dung, okay? Dung is manure and fertilizer, okay? They saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshiped him. So here's my question. Can you still worship, though things have not gone as planned? Can you still bring God your frankincense, your myrrh, your gold? Can you still give him your best? For things have not gone as planned. You see, the wise men were wise because they understood that they were not dealing with the end of the story. It was just a beginning. The resurrection of Jesus informs me that no matter what happens on a Friday, if you hang on, you can get back up again. The resurrection of Mary's baby teaches us that if you hold on to faith, if you hold on to God, even though it doesn't look the way you thought it should look, even though it doesn't feel the way you thought it would feel, if you hang on to God, it will be okay in the end. And if it's not okay, it's not the end yet. If it's not okay yet, it must not be over yet. God still has a plan for your life. God still has a purpose and, and a vision and a dream that will be accomplished. The frustrating thing about God, it gets on my nerves. It does. It does. I'm still in process, too. God typically sends solutions in seed form. Jesus came as a baby, didn't look like much. I know the little green cards had the shining light on his face. He just looked like a baby in an ordinary house. But that's why God created seedtime and harvest to show us the way he thinks. Typically, our answer is is hidden in a seed. And it's hidden because it looks like work. And in order for Jesus to become the redeemer, Mary had to feed him, he had to grow. They had to train him how to be a carpenter. He went to school with the rest of the kids. At first, he didn't look like the answer. You're about to walk away from something because the way it looks. But what it is is in seed form you get the seed, but what happens to the seed in order for it to produce? It got to be buried. Pay attention to what I'm saying. It goes into a dark place where no one can see it, no one celebrates it, no one really knows it's even there. And eventually as it holds on, it beeps its little head out. But even that, it ain't all that yet. Many of us want full grown answers. But you don't understand. That's not how God works. You got to submit to the process and God has supplied the seed and the answer. You just mad at the form it's in. But you gotta work that form. You gotta water that form, you gotta pull the weeds away from that. You gotta work that soil to get the thing God has for you.