After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:1-2

Dear Saintly Seed-Sowers,

EPIPHANY is Thursday, January 6th! Do you know that Epiphany is always 12 days after Christmas—January 6? Yes, the 12 days of Christmas!
Epiphany means “manifestation” and is the day that was set by the early church as the day God manifested Christ, the Savior, to the Gentiles–with the appearance of the wise-men in Bethlehem. There are 330 different prophecies of the coming of the Messiah in the Old Testament.  Matthew gives us four of them in chapter two of the book of Matthew alone.  Think of it for a minute; if you are a mathematician, what are the odds of four of the 330 prophecies being fulfilled by one person?  What are the odds of one person fulfilling all 330?  THIS is exactly what happens when Christ is born!

The story of the wise men visiting the Christ child is an intriguing one. I love the pic above! I added the 4 W’s and it helps me to remember what I have in common with these wise guys.

These wisemen waited, and when they saw the promise of the star fulfilled they went, they witnessed and worshiped. Can you comprehend this story?  This traveling caravan of wise-men and servants began a long trip to Israel simply because a particular star was in the sky, alerting them to the birth of the King of the Jews.  They traveled for several months before they finally met the Christ-child. I believe this is more than just a story to entertain us, it is a story to teach us about our own personal response to Christ, “the child born the king of the Jews.” First in the line-up of the W’s is WAIT.  Are you waiting? It’s okay.

What is so fascinating is the Greek wording in verse two, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”  The verb that is used to describe to action of the wisemen is a present active verb, which means that they never stopped asking the question. Can you imagine a caravan of travelers coming into your town and walking all around asking anyone and everyone they see —  “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?”  What a powerful witness!

I would ask you to take a few minutes today or this week to read the story found in Matthew 2:1-12.

Look at the action words —
they went — verse 9
they saw the star — verse 10
they were overjoyed — verse 10
they saw the child — verse 11
they bowed down and worship HIM — verse 11
they opened their treasure and presented him gifts — verse 11
they returned to their country by a different route — verse 12

Look at the characters in this story.  You have the wisemen or magi, King Herod, the chief priest and teachers of the law, all the people of Jerusalem who were asked one question — “Where is the ONE born KING of the Jews?” Of course, then you have Mary, Joseph and Jesus.  Have you ever thought about the responses of all these people?

So What?
Where are you in this story? Where are you in your journey to the King? Where are you as you follow the Star? Have you allowed the clouds of the past years overshadow the joy of Christ the King and Messiah being born a NEW for YOU!

The wise men WAITED, they WATCHED, they WENT, the WITNESSED and they WORSHIPED!  

How about you!?  I love when the OLD, OLD story become HIStory…which becomes our story, too. We can WAIT…and while we wait…we will WATCH…and when it’s time…we will GO…and we will WITNESS and. most importantly,, we will WORSHIP!

Have you given up on church during COVID? I beg you to straighten your crown (magi) and return to church…you may have gone a different way…it’s okay…we can WAIT together…we can GO together…we can WITNESS together and we WILL WORSHIP TOGETHER! And as we do, we can be GOD’S CHURCH together.

If you don’t have a church home, join us. If you do–return and practice these 4 W’s. God loves you, He really does. Let’s WORSHIP this newborn baby who has come to SAVE us.

Happy New Year!

Happy Epiphany! May Christ be manifested anew in you today and every day!

God loves you and do so do I,
Pastor Dave
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Copyright © 2018 THE SEED CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, All rights reserved. May you be blessed by God’s grace and love. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our weekly devotionals.   Our mailing address is: 6450 Emerald Street Alta Loma, California 91701   Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.