Herod’s Warning: When Creativity Undermines the Gospel

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:17:57] My ship, my protector, that's my rock, that's my anchor, to rise, yeah, look on the, to hear, come on sing this out, and isn't he, we'll declare this, come on can I hear you sing it one more time, isn't he, sing it to him, isn't he, and the king, I want to celebrate that today, come on. Your own words right now, just offer up a prayer to God, in your own words, we're singing about to the king of kings, isn't he worthy,

[00:26:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:26:38] Recall back through the past week, through the past month, through 2025, something that you can just declare, God, I thank you that you are so worthy because of this.
[00:26:48] God, you were faithful through a diagnosis.
[00:26:51] God, you were faithful through a sickness.
[00:26:53] God, you're worthy for a birth of a new grandchild.
[00:26:57] God, this job, God, we prayed and you showed up.
[00:27:00] Just take 15 seconds in your own words and tell God how worthy he is for the specific situations, seasons, and relationships in your life.
[00:27:12] King of kings, Jesus, so worthy of our worship, would you meet with us here this morning?
[00:27:51] Would you speak to us?
[00:27:53] God, we come humbly.
[00:27:55] God, forgive us of our sins.
[00:27:57] Forgive us of our failures.
[00:27:58] Forgive us of our trespasses.
[00:28:01] Forgive us how we've hurt and done wrong when we know better, when we want to do what is right, God, but we choose sin, God, forgive us.
[00:28:13] Lord, fill us, use us, that we may bring honor and glory to your name.
[00:28:22] We pray for Pastor Brian as he speaks with us today, God, that you would fill him afresh and new.
[00:28:29] Work in us, work in us today.
[00:28:34] We thank you so much for this time of year.
[00:28:37] We pray all these things in Jesus' name.
[00:28:39] amen. Amen. Can you just turn to a neighbor and say, hey, welcome. We are so grateful that you are here with us this morning. Turn to that other neighbor. Say, hey, I don't want to forget about
[00:28:53] you. It's been a minute. We are so grateful that you would make the choice to be with us here on this Christmas Sunday morning. Everybody looking good in all their Christmas attire.
[00:29:09] just looking good looking good today will you join me we're gonna put Matthew chapter 2 up on the screen and we're gonna read a few verses to begin our service now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem
[00:29:22] 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 saw the star when it rose and have come
[00:29:36] to worship him.
[00:29:37] When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
[00:29:41] And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
[00:29:49] They told him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet, and you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler
[00:30:02] who will shepherd my people Israel.
[00:30:06] then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared and he sent them to Bethlehem saying go and search diligently for the child and when you found him bring me word that I may come
[00:30:22] and worship him after listening to the king they went on their way and behold the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly
[00:30:39] with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother. And they fell down and worshiped him, and they opened their treasures. They offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to
[00:30:56] their own country by another way. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, rise and take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain
[00:31:10] there until I tell you for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the
[00:31:20] death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt. I called my son. Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious and he
[00:31:34] sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all the region that were two years old and under, according to the time that they had ascertained from the wise men. This was to fulfill
[00:31:45] what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children she refused to be comforted because there were there are so there are no more but then Herod died behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt

[00:32:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:32:08] I guess you're wondering what I'm doing here my name is Herod yeah that Herod yeah I don't look

[00:33:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:33:40] like the historians tell you of the movies because when they bury you in all that stuff and you go to hell, it all burns off.
[00:33:52] You're left with rags and ratty hair and marks and scorched flesh.
[00:34:01] Not like I used to be.
[00:34:03] What do you care?
[00:34:04] You say my name is a curse.
[00:34:07] You whisper it in your Christmas plays.
[00:34:12] You rush through it to get to the angels and the shepherds. You villainize me. It's the caricature of your play. It's okay. Can't say I don't deserve it, but I can tell you this. Hell sure has a way of slowing a man down. Hell surely
[00:34:38] has a way of refocusing him. And I've been released for a moment or two, not for mercy, not for a redemption for warning i want to tell my story so that you can hear it to warn you
[00:35:05] to warn you so listen you say i was not born a king did you know that i wasn't i'm not even jewish well not fooled you i'm a eudaimidian an edomite i'm from that second born son out of the will of
[00:35:40] god that you like to forget ishmael yep i'm more arab than i am anything thus most of my life i have because of where i lived have been anxious and reaching and grasping at everything i could
[00:36:02] to prove myself so how did i become king you may ask my father was a brilliant man he was a advisor to Rome and to the Hasmonean dynasty. They were intrigued by him. He was an artisan
[00:36:23] in war and in control. And just like my father, I paid attention. I learned to lobby. I learned to argue. I learned to pay attention to things that mattered. And my good friend, Mark Antony
[00:36:39] and Octavian were impressed with me. So by the time I was 25, I was governor.
[00:36:47] And after much lobbying, they made me king, king of the Jews, king of Judea.
[00:37:05] Rome made me king.
[00:37:11] Yeah, paper king, a paper king.
[00:37:19] Rome propped me up.
[00:37:22] Rome dressed me up, fed me up, lifted me up.
[00:37:28] And all they said was, keep the taxes flowing, the peace coming, and the people quiet.
[00:37:42] Oh, and I did.
[00:37:44] I found more ways than you could imagine to keep people quiet.
[00:37:49] You see, when you're a paper king, you can't wage wars.
[00:37:53] Now, I had my share.
[00:37:55] I had my share.
[00:37:57] I held off the Hasmoneans and the Parthians for almost three years.
[00:38:02] but you you can't wage war you have to have other ways to prove yourself indispensable and i can't tell you how much money i've sent to rome to politicians who couldn't think their way out of
[00:38:15] a wet paper bag much less hold an office in the greatest empire of the day so what i do i built I built, I rebuilt the temple.
[00:38:38] And I gotta be honest with you, I really, I really believed in what we were doing.
[00:38:45] I built such a grand temple that make this sanctuary look silly in its day.
[00:38:51] It was the attraction for all.
[00:38:54] It was the busiest place at this time of the year, the census and all that was going on.
[00:39:00] I built Herodium, my palace, my burial ground, my gardens.
[00:39:07] It's beautiful.
[00:39:08] Oh, I'd love for you to see Herodium.
[00:39:12] The remains that are still there are impressive.
[00:39:14] If your pastor would get off his tush and take you to the Holy Lands, you would see it.
[00:39:24] Always worried about your safety, your safety.
[00:39:27] I want you to see what I built.
[00:39:31] And you'll understand.
[00:39:35] I built what I consider to be one of the wonders of the world.
[00:39:39] Caesarea by the sea.
[00:39:41] I dug deep down into the coast of Caesarea with aqueducts forging water all around and into the city and dug deep enough to where ships could ferry there and port bringing travelers bringing tradesmen bringing money oh it still stands today except you see the ruins what you really want to
[00:40:07] see you, you got to dive deep to see my excellence and my skill. Then I built Masada. Oh, I know you've watched the History Channel, that high platform for an anxious king, impenetrable.
[00:40:29] I built it. I built all that because I'm brilliant and I'm effective and I was strategic.
[00:40:41] don't you dare think that productivity brings peace because an anxious king who always is trying to protect his throne never sleeps you see um throughout my kingship i was used to it i watched my father advise the romans i i watched how rebellions would come along there was always
[00:41:18] some zealot that was willing to sacrifice himself to overcome the responsibility of paying his taxes. You do the same thing. You look at your pay stubs, you check it out, you see what they take, you think you own your home, and yet you rent it from the local government.
[00:41:41] It's called taxes, people. And you're not the first to find and think of a way to overthrow them i'm used to stuff like that now there was a sound that came about that made my anxiety
[00:41:57] fever pinched it really did wasn't rebellion it wasn't a zealot it wasn't even wasn't an army it wasn't even rome it was a rumor of all things a child it's in my head i heard it in the streets my i could hear my servant speaking about it a child a child it was everywhere
[00:42:22] to be born. And I remember, I remember that night. I remember as my door opened and, and, well, my servants beckoned for me. Sire, wise men from the east seek audience with you, wise men. You call them magi. These are wealthy, wealthy men, scholars, historians,
[00:43:10] astrologers, at best, magicians. And they wanted me, to which I rose, and I met them.
[00:43:23] And they came before me. Their wealth was dripping off of them. They had jewels on their robes and on their crowns that made mine look comparable they had no reason to come see me they had no reason
[00:43:42] these foreigners to flatter me as a matter of fact they didn't even ask where is Herod king of the Jews no they stood in front of me and they said where is he born king of the Jews this isn't the
[00:43:59] first time I've had men of all kinds of wealth stand before me in most cases I would have said you're looking at him you're looking at the king of the jews what they said was different they used
[00:44:14] a word that hit me like a dagger born king of the jews not not crowned no no not appointed dead, born, and not born in my household, hit me like a dagger. Rumors around. One more thing to
[00:44:46] content with. You don't get it. How do you negotiate with a king who's born? You don't.
[00:45:02] You don't. And it was then that my anxiety went fever pitch. You don't know how bad anxiety can be until you fear losing your identity. All my life, all my kingship, I sought to legitimize it.
[00:45:31] I'd worked hard. I had built. I was smart. I paid attention. I lobbied. Do you know what it's like to sit in front of a man with piles of silver behind you, placating him when if you just had
[00:45:45] the single opportunity you had, you could do 10 times more than what he could. I married my first wife, Doris, my four-year-old son. I felt that would bring me happiness and they did. But then
[00:45:58] I saw that it would not allow me to have a full right as the king of the Jews. And so I sent them away. Who in the world sends their son away? But I did all for the opportunity to marry Hasmonean
[00:46:20] beauty, my beauty, Mary Emne. Oh, and I loved her. Oh, how I loved her. How I thought with her and the sons that she bore me, that it would give me all that I needed, all that I needed to be
[00:46:39] legitimate. And yet it wasn't enough. I remember the day that her brother, when he reached the age to serve in the in the temple of all places get this get this i paid the bill on the temple
[00:46:56] and they wouldn't allow me to worship fully there because i'm not fully jew talk about discouragement when you pay for the playground and they don't let you play in it so does everybody herald his name and how good he did and the populace got behind him because he was
[00:47:23] truly authentically Jew. I set up his murder in Herodium where my pools were so lavish I allowed the Roman soldiers to come in and play. And one day when they were roughhousing in the deep end
[00:47:39] of the pool, Mary M. Day's brother just happened to be drowned. I've done all that I can do to be legitimate. Don't you judge me. You're self-righteous. You know exactly how I feel.
[00:47:56] you just won't acknowledge it. You know what it's like to go to work. You know what it's like to go to school and study. You know what it's like to be on that ball team and you work and you work
[00:48:13] and you work, but there's somebody just a little bit ahead of you. You work and you work and you strive and you strive and you think I'm going to get ahead, but there's still somebody up over you
[00:48:26] dictating how much you can make and how much you can bring home. You work and you prove yourself.
[00:48:34] I'm legitimate. I want to be deniable. But the guy next to you gets the promo and they say, better look next time. Don't you judge me. You know what anxiety does. You know how it rots in
[00:48:47] you. You know, it makes you look at everything differently. It makes you run to your office, close your door and hide out. You know how it makes you look at yourself in the mirror and
[00:48:56] hate every part of you and begin the ritual of i wish i would i should have if i'd have only had this and you blame everybody don't you dare judge me you are me this is different prophecy has now
[00:49:17] entered the room prophecy i know the scriptures and i've got priests in my pocket that know them better than I do Micah the prophet Oh Bethlehem Ephrathah you who are too tiny to be even among the tribe of Judah for from you shall come a ruler of
[00:49:52] Israel from from David's lineage who is coming forth is from of old from ancient of days friends messiahs aren't rumored they're promised and if he's promised then all i got is borrowed borrowed you know when i lost it all do you do you know when i lost everything
[00:50:39] it wasn't when i sent the soldiers it wasn't when the children were screaming or the parents and their anguish because their babies drew no, no more breath. No, no, no, no, sir, no, ma'am.
[00:50:54] I lost way before then. I lost long time before then. You know when I lost? I lost when I made the decision that there's only room for one king, and that would be me. Oh, I beckoned the wise men
[00:51:19] secretly. Did you see that in the text? Did you see that in the story or did you glance over it hurrying, trying to get to the shepherds and the wise man? No, no, no. I called them secretly. I
[00:51:31] cleared my room. I didn't want anyone to hear this. I called them close to me. Why? Because fear and pride work together. Fear loves secrecy and pride hates witnesses. And the best of the acting I did,
[00:51:47] i went before them as though i were a penitent servant of the king of the mashiach the messiah i told them i said please go spare no time go go go go now and find him who is to be born
[00:52:01] king of the jews do it now and when you find him send word immediately that i may come and worship him the word of surrender while clutching the weapon of control do you know what i'm talking
[00:52:26] about. And so I ordered it. I ordered the slaughter. Your historians call it the slaughter of the innocent. And the wise men didn't return my anxiety, metastasized into rage, rage, panic.
[00:52:54] Matthew says, and when he heard this, he was troubled. I wasn't troubled. I was terrified.
[00:53:01] Do you know how hard I've worked? You know what I've sacrificed? Now all to realize it was borrowed.
[00:53:08] now all to realize this isn't a rumor it's a promise yeah I did I ordered it I summoned my soldiers I told them to kill every child male under two years old and don't you dare think it
[00:53:24] was calculated don't dare waste that fear is not calculated fear does not aim it swings we didn't ask for names we didn't check genders we swung and we stabbed and all of Bethlehem wailed it wailed oh because there's only one king me don't you see it I mean surely by now you guys
[00:54:17] are smart enough you you can see it can't you I tried to kill the prophecy of God with a sword you can't stab the word of God and the will of God and that's where hell has perfect clarity
[00:54:50] some of you don't believe it exists I can tell you it does and in hell fire doesn't come first memory does fire comes later but memory is the first when you remember the moment where one
[00:55:18] act of obedience to God would have cost you control the reliving of the very second of just an ounce of humility in your soul and in your disposition would have saved your life and over
[00:55:40] I tell you I when I ordered the slaughter I thought it was I told myself it was for the best it's for stability it's for it's to keep things going it's to keep Rome out of here it's for the
[00:55:52] kingdom. And now I see it in perfect clarity. All I had to do was one thing, one and one thing only.
[00:56:07] There was no need for an army. There was no need for soldiers. There was no need for bloodshed.
[00:56:14] There's no need for children crying and parents in despair. There's only one thing that was needed is for a king to stand up and to step aside and let heaven sit where it belongs.
[00:56:52] And I wouldn't do it.
[00:56:55] I wouldn't yield control.
[00:57:01] And that was the tragedy of my life.
[00:57:08] Jesus didn't come to take my throne.
[00:57:11] He came to capture my heart.
[00:57:17] Jesus didn't come to take my crown.
[00:57:19] He came to capture my heart.
[00:57:22] And I missed it, I confused identity with authority and authority with identity.
[00:57:32] And so I worked harder, I killed more, I killed my wives.
[00:57:54] All I had to do was just get out of the way and I lost everything instead of, do you even know how I died?
[00:58:09] My body with kidney disease, reeked in pain, my skin sloughed off, I constantly itched, pain drove me insane my household turned on me my sons were afraid of me they never wanted to be with me and and rome mocked me mocked me augustus caesar said it would be safer to be a pig
[00:58:36] in herod's palace than to be one of his own children who says that that's the legacy of a man who won't surrender that's my tragedy i wouldn't surrender so what do you do except burn
[00:59:02] what do you do except hurt what do you do except replay every one of those memories in your mind what you could have done but it doesn't matter now you know I wasn't sentenced to hell
[00:59:27] because I was cruel you see that I wasn't sentenced to hell because I was cruel I was sentenced to hell because I was unwilling to surrender I was unwilling to bow I was unwilling to worship. I was unwilling to be obedient. I was, I was unwilling to do any of that
[01:00:05] all because I tried to kill a king and not just any king, a child, a child, a child who fled and his parents, uh, they, they trusted God more than they desired their own, uh, than their own safety.
[01:00:25] A child who returned and a child who grew and I died all because I tried to kill this child who then taught that he was the fulfillment of all prophecies.
[01:00:40] He was the bread of life, the well of living water.
[01:00:44] He was the great I am.
[01:00:46] He is the first and the last.
[01:00:48] He is the light of the world.
[01:00:50] He is the alpha and the omega.
[01:00:52] He is the king of kings, healed.
[01:01:00] and my children missed it because of the platform that I had set for them of ignoring him and trying to kill him.
[01:01:13] And I'm telling you, parents, you listen to me now.
[01:01:15] You can do all that you think you can do, but they will follow your example.
[01:01:22] And my example was to hate him and mine did as well.
[01:01:28] I was sent to hell because I wouldn't relinquish control and Rome killed him.
[01:01:35] unlike me he was willing to lay down his life and he wore no crown he he wore mocking he wore suffering he wore stripes he wore beatings and he wore thrones and no one was taken he wore thorns
[01:01:57] and no one was taking his throne but he willingly gave it and then he rose from the dead and I was afraid to lose my throne to a God man who was willing to die for me. And I see it now. And I
[01:02:23] see you just like me. I see you men stomping around your house, stomping around your workplace.
[01:02:37] Somebody around here better respect me. You sound just like me. Demanding respect. Hear me.
[01:02:46] worship the king of kings respect him and you'll be a respectable man i hear women oh i just don't feel safe i didn't need this i need that your anxiety rises you're just like me you wanted a
[01:03:02] promise and you wanted safety and you want everything to be organized so that you can settle your anxiety don't you dare judge me you won't surrender just like me i watch mamas and daddies build their life together to say let's give our baby the best opportunity they can let's
[01:03:25] send them here let's give them that let's do this and before you know it and all of your own insecurities and your own pride and your own willingness to want to be respected you walk
[01:03:35] your child right into the hands of satan i watch pastors and leaders and entrepreneurs students and adults all trying to influence we were all influencers i influenced with money i influenced with murder we just didn't have the technology you have but you are no different than
[01:03:58] me and i see you and many of you have been in this building for years and you say no no no we've come to worship but just like me you won't relinquish control of your life and i can tell you
[01:04:16] oh i can tell you jesus doesn't share thrones he occupies ones that are surrendered and that's why i'm here gosh if i could just go back to that night if i could just go back to the night that
[01:04:51] i heard them call my name sire wise men from the east beckon you i could just speak to that night again how I would do it all different the wise men would not have left without me I would not
[01:05:15] have sent my soldiers I would have sent myself and oh if I could go back and walk in the streets of Bethlehem and hear the cooing of babies like I hear it now all across this room instead of the
[01:05:34] shrills and sadness that I created I would find door by door I would knock on every door I would say king herod is here our hope is here and i would search every house until i came to the
[01:05:53] manger i would have sent myself and i would have knelt down and i would have looked at the child and i would have taken my crown off and i would have laid it at his feet and i would have spoken
[01:06:20] to him and i would have said rule me a dark mind shine a light on it your light hold my anxieties fill it with hope rule my heart that my decisions would not be in unrighteousness but they would be
[01:06:55] in your righteousness rule my soul that my life and everything that is given that i could give it to you and say borrowed as it may i will worship you i would have told him rule me please
[01:07:11] rule me but eternity doesn't issue revisits eternity does not issue do-overs eternity does not let you have another chance and that's why i'm here to warn you to warn you and what i missed don't you dare spend your life working for a throne that is not yours and don't you dare
[01:07:55] waste your life working for a throne to sit upon a throne that does not belong to you i hear i ask you to hear me step down and let jesus the king of kings reign in your mind reign in your heart
[01:08:18] and reign in your soul and do it soon if not now before fear writes your legacy i wonder how many of us are truly like herod every part of our life is really about serving ourselves
[01:09:15] worshiping ourselves and building up a kingdom that does not belong to us we we dress up the throne with scripture and we call it faith, but yet we will not relinquish control. We say, oh,
[01:09:38] I'll worship him, but we are still calling the shots in our life and we are wasting our lives.
[01:09:55] Christianity is not about trying harder to prove something to the king of kings.
[01:10:03] You can't prove anything to him. He already knows everything about you and me. And that's why Christianity is about surrendering to the king, to become his servant, to tell him you are king of kings and I'm not. That everything that I have is borrowed from you and everything you put in my
[01:10:32] hands is to be used to exalt you. That's a life worth living and that's a life that can only happen when Jesus sits on the throne of your heart. So I ask you today, who sits on the throne
[01:10:52] of your heart? Really? Maybe today you are visiting with us. Maybe someone invited you and you didn't even know what to expect, much less this. Have you ever given your life to Jesus? Maybe you're
[01:11:16] familiar to us, but you know, without a shadow of a doubt, as we did this monologue, God was speaking to you because in another time in another place, you would have looked just like Herod with hell
[01:11:33] waiting to receive you. This is your moment that God has ordained for the greatest Christmas present to ever enter your life. This is your moment to surrender your life to Christ and be born again. Jesus came as the fulfillment of prophecy. He lived sinlessly, experiencing all
[01:12:06] the pain that you experience, he died sacrificially that you could have your sins paid for. And he rose victoriously to give you eternal life, salvation, hope, love, mercy, and grace forever.
[01:12:33] He rose so that you would finally surrender your life and realize that life is not about building your own kingdom. Life is about being a part of his kingdom and pointing to the king. And if you've
[01:12:51] never done that, then today is the day God has designed for you to be born again, for you to get off the throne of your heart and let Jesus sit there. And the Bible says, whoever calls upon
[01:13:10] the name of the Lord will be saved. And if you've never given your life to Christ, then I want you to ask you, I want to ask you to borrow my words. There's nothing magical about this prayer, but
[01:13:24] something supernatural that when we call on the name of the Lord, he will hear us. He will graciously and merciful and lovingly forgive us. And he will become the savior of our lives.
[01:13:37] And you will be saved from sin, death, hell in the grave. Now, I don't know about you, but that's a, that's an extraordinary offer. That the only way that I can offer you that is because of the work that he did
[01:13:54] because he truly is King of Kings.
[01:13:58] So if you would bow your heads with me and if you don't know that you know that you know that you're right with God or you've never given your life to him and you'd feel the draw of the Holy Spirit,
[01:14:10] I want you to borrow my words.
[01:14:13] Would you borrow them and say, Jesus, I am a sinner.
[01:14:22] My sins separate me from you.
[01:14:27] I humble myself and I turn from my sins And I ask you to forgive me of all my sins.
[01:14:41] Come into my life and rescue me.
[01:14:47] Be my savior, be my Lord, be my king of kings.
[01:14:56] I will follow you.
[01:15:01] Now with every head bound, every eye closed, no one looking around.
[01:15:05] If you just borrowed my words as sincerely as you possibly could and just gave your life to Christ, in just a moment, I'm gonna count to three.
[01:15:18] And if you just borrowed my words as sincerely as you could, when I get to three, I want you to raise your hand just as high as you can.
[01:15:27] I want you to raise it in the announcement that you are forgiven.
[01:15:32] I want you to raise it in the announcement that you are loved.
[01:15:35] I want you to raise it in the announcement that you are a child of God now and that Jesus is your King of Kings.
[01:15:45] Lord Jesus, I trust you for this.
[01:15:47] Grant repentance of sin here today.
[01:15:50] When I count to three, would you raise your hand?
[01:15:51] You ready?
[01:15:52] Here we go.
[01:15:53] Lord Jesus, help us.
[01:15:54] One, two, three.
[01:15:59] Raise them and raise them high.
[01:16:01] There's one, there's two, three, four, five, six, seven in the balcony.
[01:16:11] Raise your hand and raise it high.
[01:16:13] Eight.
[01:16:15] I want you to keep your hand raised if your body will allow you.
[01:16:18] I have friends who are coming to you right now and they're gonna give you a gift.
[01:16:23] It's the greatest gift next to your salvation.
[01:16:28] I'm gonna let all my friends, we have one right here in the middle.
[01:16:32] We have one right here on the side.
[01:16:34] There's one in the front of the balcony I think's already received.
[01:16:38] Once you receive your gift, there are several over here.
[01:16:42] Once you receive your gift, you can lower your hand and then I want you to just make eye contact with me.
[01:16:48] just those of you who just gave your life to Christ.
[01:16:52] This is the most important decision in your life because this is where life begins.
[01:16:56] You walked into this room and maybe online right now, you just gave your life to Christ.
[01:17:01] And we celebrate you.
[01:17:03] And we want you to get in touch with us that we can help walk you through these next steps.
[01:17:08] But everything that you've ever done against the Lord has been washed away.
[01:17:13] All of your sins are forgiven.
[01:17:15] The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus has now come into your life and he has sealed you until the day that he returns.
[01:17:22] He will never lose you.
[01:17:24] He will never stop thinking about you.
[01:17:25] His banner over you is love.
[01:17:28] And the Bible says that the angels in heaven are rejoicing that you have just repented of your sins.
[01:17:36] Woo!
[01:17:37] They're throwing a party in God's name in honor of you because you belong to him.
[01:17:46] And all these people that you see around you are now your brothers and sisters in Christ.
[01:17:50] you might have walked in here not having much of a family you got a big family now an eternal family but the bag that was given to you in it has three things number one's the bible
[01:18:02] god's word and it is a lamp into your feet and it is a light into your path and if you will hide his word in your heart you will not go back to old ways of living next to it is a new believer's
[01:18:15] guide and and i want you to follow it over the next couple weeks it will help answer some of the questions that maybe you have right now. And then there is a contact card in there
[01:18:26] and I'm begging you to fill this out. And before you leave today, no matter what door you go out of, there's a basket out there. I want you to drop it in as your contribution to this morning's
[01:18:39] service. And I want to take that information and then we're going to reach out to you and make sure you understand the decision that you've made and help you follow through in the next steps of obedience. You are our family. We don't want to leave you by yourself. And we
[01:18:55] celebrate God for rescuing people here today. Amen. But maybe here today you say, Brian, I am a believer, but I also kind of feel like Herod. I say I worship Jesus, but I won't relinquish
[01:19:13] control. I decorate my life up with scripture, but down inside I'm still fighting my anxiety.
[01:19:22] I'm still moving and shucking and driving to have it like I want to have it.
[01:19:28] And at many times, I'm even mad at God for why he didn't do it the way I wanted him to do it.
[01:19:33] Here's what I'm telling you.
[01:19:34] We're doing, friends.
[01:19:37] We're sitting in the middle of the throne that only belongs to Jesus.
[01:19:42] And he didn't share thrones.
[01:19:44] He occupies ones who are surrendered.
[01:19:48] And I wonder if you here today as a born-again believer would say, Pastor B, I need to surrender the throne of my heart refreshing. I need to step aside and let heaven sit where heaven belongs in my soul. If that's
[01:20:10] you today, maybe this would be your prayer. And I want you to pray it out loud with me.
[01:20:15] Jesus, come on church. Jesus, you are king. I am not. You are savior. I am not. You are Lord.
[01:20:27] I am not I step aside of the throne of my life and relinquish control to you forgive me Jesus don't let me waste my life building a throne that I have no business sitting upon
[01:20:53] take control of me renew my fellowship with you renew my sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and the desire to follow you in obedience.
[01:21:10] Jesus, you are my King of Kings.
[01:21:16] In Jesus' name we pray.
[01:21:18] And all God's people said.
[01:21:20] Can we celebrate our Lord this morning?
[01:21:23] Amen, amen.
[01:21:25] Praise God, praise God.
[01:21:28] Listen, church family, I hope you enjoyed this presentation of Herod.
[01:21:34] I appreciate you giving me freedom as your pastor to do things like this as follow the Lord so that hopefully we see Bible passages not so sanitized, but how we really are much different than the people in scripture.
[01:21:48] And the beauty of scripture is that God didn't come send his son to avoid sinners.
[01:21:53] He came to show us how he deals with sinners.
[01:21:56] None of us want to enter up into hell.
[01:21:59] I'm quite convinced that Herod didn't make it to heaven.
[01:22:06] Unless you and I not make that mistake.
[01:22:09] Let's spend this Christmas season bowing, not just at the manger, but at the cross and at the ultimate throne, which is his.
[01:22:21] I hope that you feel God speaking to you.
[01:22:25] I hope you've been able to experience the Lord today.
[01:22:28] I hope that that which we did today, you can take with you home now and you can take it to work tomorrow and into Christmas and that your heart would be settled to know that this ain't all about you.
[01:22:43] It's about Jesus.
[01:22:45] And let's figure out together as a church how we can make it more about him.
[01:22:50] I'd love to see you on Christmas Eve this Wednesday evening.
[01:22:52] We have three service, or excuse me, two services, a three o'clock and a five o'clock.
[01:22:58] You won't wanna miss what Gary and the crew has planned for us.
[01:23:04] We'll also share in the Lord's Supper in both services and you don't have to be a member of Beulah to share, but you must be born again. I want to encourage you to bring the kids, bring them in
[01:23:14] their pajamas. Many of you will leave immediately and go to family gatherings, but start with this family gathering because we want God's hand upon us. Listen, pray for me as I get all this super
[01:23:26] glue off my head. And I'll pray for you that the faith we have in Jesus will super glue us for the rest of our lives.
[01:23:41] I love you.
[01:23:43] Merry Christmas.
[01:23:45] Gary, would you send us out with Isn't He Worthy?
[01:23:49] Come on, church, let's stand and worship together.

[01:23:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:23:51] Isn't he worth it?