We Have Come to worship...have You? — Shane Idleman

The title is, We Have Come to Worship. We have come to worship, have you? We have come to worship, have you? And we're gonna go off of the wise men, of course, and the shepherds who came to worship Jesus.

And the song we just sang, Noel, Noel, come and see what God has done. I looked up that word and whether it's French or Latin or the English version, they all kinda mean the same thing, a joyous celebration of a new birth.

The Glory of Christ’s Birth and the Call to Worship

Noel, Noel, come and see what God has done. And that's why many of us are here this morning. The problem is Christmas has become so commonplace that we don't realize how glorious and miraculous this season is.

Billions have never heard of the amazing story that we often take for granted. And that really, this time of year, I'm often reminded that we kinda take this for granted, don't we? But if you tell this story to someone who's never heard it, their eyes light up, they sometimes begin weeping and they wanna know more about this Jesus who was born to die, born for the sins of the world.

And of course, we find ourself in the book of Matthew again from last week, Matthew chapter two. If you have your Bibles, you can turn there. There's a Bible in front of you if you're in a pew. Matthew chapter two, we're gonna put it up on the screen.

Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, and we've been talking about the last few weeks, Jesus being born, the prophecies that were being fulfilled. And if you haven't, weren't here for those messages, make sure you get those CDs on your way out because the messages all kind of go together.

So now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem 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 have seen his star in the east and we have come to worship him.

And that's the title of the message. We have come to worship him. And it's really a time for self-reflection. Have all of us come to worship him? Well, not necessarily. There are many people searching for God.

There's some people that just lack fulfillment. Some people are spiritually dead or some of you are here because your family made you. Amen. Few of you here for that. Or it's what good people do. Don't good people go to church?

Or some people say, I made time this week. I kind of fit God into my schedule. But for some people, the reason why a majority of us are here like the wise men, we have come to worship God. And on this point, we have to remember that worship begins with a strong desire toward God.

If a person doesn't have a strong desire toward God, they can't worship, can they? There has to be a strong desire. Lord, I want to worship you. I want to come among God's people and I wanna worship you and remember the goodness and the grace of God.

Seeking God With a Desire to Worship

But I wanna encourage you this morning, if you don't have that strong desire, which I didn't in my 20s, I would run from God. I didn't want anything to do with God. You began singing these songs, I was checking out.

I was, oh, what's going on later today? I'm not gonna worship God. But once you, back to the question, if you don't have a strong desire this morning, pray for a strong desire. Pray and say, Lord, I want a strong desire to worship you.

God, if you're real, if you're there, I want to know you. I want to worship you and I believe in a God who still answers prayers, amen? I believe in a God, like, that's why I love that song. I still believe in the God who can raise people from the dead, I still believe in the God who can overcome giants and I know that, I believe in the same God who can break strongholds.

The same God today, yesterday, and forevermore is the same God we worship today. The Old Testament and the New Testament aren't different gods. It's God's history through the redemption of civilization to where we are today.

So we worship him with a desire. And then verse three, when Herod the king heard this, when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled in all of Jerusalem with him. That word troubled means anxious. There was stress.

There's, uh-oh, the king of the Jews is here in all of Jerusalem with him. But isn't this interesting? When we read that, we don't feel that way, do you? Some of you, maybe some of you do. But when I read that, where is King Jesus, all hail King Jesus, he's been born to save his people from their sins.

We rejoice in that, we wanna worship in that. But some people are troubled, are they not? Some people are anxious. Just walk down Hollywood, the Hollywood Strip, saying I love Jesus, and on the back say repent.

You watch how loved you will be if you make it out of there alive. They just hate the word Jesus. They wanna pray in our city council meetings. You can pray in any other name, but don't pray Jesus. Get the nativity scenes out of here, remove Christmas, remove the Ten Commandment monuments, get rid of God's word, get rid, we want, he troubles us.

And here's why, when people know him, they love him, they're saved, they're set free, they have to worship. But those who are worried about the judgment that is to come are anxious. They're troubled, they're troubled by what I'm saying.

And this is a hard calling that I have. Many of you don't know this, some of you do, but through the doors of this church over the last 10 years, we're celebrating 10 years this September, I can't even believe it, but we've had thousands of people come, thousands of people come.

And many do not want to hear a message that convicts. I like Jesus, the turn the other cheek Jesus. I like the nice Jesus, but when we preach the Jesus of the Bible, that he came as a lamb, but he's returning as a lion.

That he said, I've not come into the world to judge the world, I've come to save the world. But when he comes again, he's coming as a judge. See, we have the New Testament model of Jesus is turn the other cheek and preach repentance and lead people to the kingdom of God, but when Christ returns again, he will come with the armies of heaven, he will judge with righteous judgment.

People are offended, they are shocked. So here's my question, if he's a fable, if he's not true, why are you upset? If you tell me Mickey Mouse is coming to judge me, I forgot about it the moment you said it.

But there's something that agitates. Jesus, when you stand up for God's word, when you stand up for things that are right and righteous and godly, people get upset that you are mocked, you are ridiculed.

So that's what happened, the Herod heard, here comes King Jesus, and he's troubled with all of Jerusalem. Now this is what's interesting. This to me at least is interesting, as a student of love Old Testament theology, and the Jewish people were expecting their Messiah, so why would they be troubled?

Wouldn't they be excited? Isaiah wrote about the suffering servant. Micah said he will be born in Bethlehem of Judea. The prophets foretold of a soon coming king. But they were not ready for their Messiah.

They were troubled because they're not ready for him to meet their maker. So Herod, he heard this, he was troubled. And when he gathered all the, well let me tell you about Herod for a minute. He killed his wife, he killed I think two of his sons.

Anybody that was a threat to his throne, he would remove. And so here comes Jesus, King of the Jews, and he is very distressed, very anxious. So he gathered all the chief priests and the scribes. What he did, he gathered the Pharisees and the Sadducees and their religious leaders, the scribes of the day.

Who knew the Old Testament? They knew the Old Testament, the Tanakh or the Septuagint was in Greek. The Old Testament was written in Greek then. They knew, they knew. And so Herod sent for them, and he thought, I believe he thought he could stop the fulfillment of Scripture.

He thought he could stop, because when God says it, that's been set, the course of history has been set. You can't stop God any more than you can stop Niagara Falls. When God says, I'm going to do something, I'm going to make it alive and you shall not kill, I'm going to birth a nation, I'm gonna raise a king up, I'm gonna pull another king.

Who's gonna stop the plans of God? Who can stop God Almighty? I love that song. Who can stop God Almighty? But Herod thought he would stop the fulfillment of Scripture. Where's he to be born? When was he born?

And now I'll just go slaughter all the children, two and under. So the reason for the season why we're here is based on the question, who was Jesus? Is that not the big question? Who was Jesus? And you've heard me talk about C .S. Lewis before, how he said Jesus was either a lunatic, he was a liar, or he's the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Historical Reality and Identity of Jesus

And let me submit to you this morning that those are the only options. He was a good teacher. No, if that's all he was, he was not a good teacher. He was a liar and a fraud, if that's all he was. Because he said, kill this body, on the third day I will rise again, for I am God before Abraham was I am.

I am the Son of God, I am the fulfillment of Scripture. That's not a good teacher. Lunatic, liar, the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are the options. But there's a fourth option, did you know this? Here's what we hear often.

Well, it's a good legend. Well, I guess it could be, right? A legend, a myth, and I noticed this this week, I was shopping and I saw at the counter of the register, Time Magazine, guess what they're naming for the year?

The 100 most influential people who changed the world. And there's Jesus Christ on the cover. Wait a minute, hold on, a myth? You're gonna put a myth and a legend on the cover? On the cover of Time Magazine?

Because majority of people know, who've ever studied this, that Jesus Christ was a historical figure. Read Rome, historians from Rome, read historians from Jewish culture, Josephus, you can read early church fathers.

Of course, just people who did not believe, they say that Jesus was a man, many miracles were attested to him and he was crucified. So that's our challenge and that's what the challenge is for people.

And they say, but he stole, they stole his body. Okay, okay, he was here, he was real, but Shane, they took his body and got rid of it. The only problem with that is those who took his body were killed because of it.

They were killed because of a lie? In other words, let's say John, for example, or not John, he didn't die, he was in Revelation. But his disciples, if they stole the body and hid it, as soon as they were going to be killed, they would have confessed.

They said, no, no, hold on, it's all a lie. We made it up, you got us, don't kill me, please don't take my head off. But all of these people went to their death as martyrs because of the truth of the gospel that they believed Jesus, they saw him afterwards.

The resurrection took place, the thing that he prophesied about. And we have to remember a fable could not stand the test of time. If this was a fable, it would have never lasted. A legend could not change millions of lives.

How does Jesus change millions of lives if it's a lie? A myth could not overcome banishment, ridicule, and scorn. Do you know how many people have tried to stop, stop Christianity from Voltaire to Atheists to Agnostics?

They try to stop who Jesus Christ is. All religious, all religious leaders in the New Testament, from Rome to Nero to Diocletian, from Byzantine Empire to modern day tyrants have all tried to stop God.

It's happening right now in China, it's happening right now in the Middle East, it's happening right now in the Sudan, people are being persecuted. Why, if this is a fable, why are people dying for a fable?

Why are Muslims coming to Christ in huge numbers wanting to die for their faith? For a fable, for a myth? No, it's a power of God, it's a foolishness of the cross to those who are perishing, but it's to us who are being saved.

It's a wonderful, glorious, good news. That's what good news is. Noel, Noel, come and see what God has done. Noel, Noel, look at what God took me, a sinner saved by grace, pulled me up out of the gutter of despair, and he said, I will save you and redeem you.

You have to speak the truth that you've been set free if you have. Who's gonna argue against a changed life? But many people say, well, Shane, such and such are good people. Yeah, they're good people because they have to be.

Your religion says, okay, you have to be a good people. You have to be good, it's an outward change, it's an outward conformity. But Christianity is God redeeming man, filling man with the Holy Spirit, and you are changed from the inside out.

See, the heart's been changed. Those things I used to do, I don't wanna do. Those things that were evil and wicked that drew me, now are repulsive. See, there's a change, and it's exactly what the Bible talks about, a changed life, being born again.

New Birth, the Cross, and Humanity’s Need for Redemption

And that's what that really means, being born again, born of the Spirit of God. Nicodemus was a religious leader. He came to Jesus by night. They said, nobody could do good miracles, or nobody could do these types of miracles, unless God is with him.

And Jesus said, you have to be born again. You're a teacher of Israel, and you don't know this? Well, how can I go back into my mother's womb? No, you have to be born of the Spirit. Spiritual rebirth, the Spirit of man is dead through depravity and sin.

At the fall with Adam and Eve, we fell into sin. And how do you redeem that? How do you fix that disconnect from God? It's because of the cross of Calvary. It's amazing, this time of year, there's tremendous celebration, but there's also, if we remember why Jesus came, it is a stark reminder of our sinfulness and our need for him.

A baby that was born to die. Is that interesting? Mary, raising this child, born to die. And we talked about the lineage of Christ last week and different things, I don't want to get into that. But verse five, so they said to him, what did they say to him?

Well, Herod is asking, where is Jesus going to be born? In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet. Thus it is written by the prophet. Now, this prophet didn't write a dozen, 12, 15 years earlier, 100 years early.

He wrote 700 years earlier. The prophet Micah talking, speaking to a backslidden nation of Israel. He spoke and he said, but you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, out are not the least among the rulers of Judah.

In other words, you are least among all the tribes of Israel but out of you, out of you, I'm going to, what's it say here? Out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel. And what I love about this is God takes the least likely and he makes him the greatest name ever known.

God takes the, and that's a good lesson for you if you need encouragement this morning. God will often take the least likely. Don't you ever see people that you take the least likely and God raises them up and people say, how did that happen?

Because now I can't count on my PhD. I just have to count on the power of God in my life. How did, how did you, how did you do this? God, God gets, Noel, Noel, come and see what God has done. He has taken a broken, shattered life and out of the ashes, he has rebuilt that life and set that person back up so they can proclaim the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

Look at what God has done. So God takes the least likely. Listen guys, I'm not a motivational speaker. I'm not just making this up. I'm not acting. I'm not leaving here going, ha, didn't I get them wife?

I'm here because God has radically changed my life. I should have been dead 10 times over. I should not be preaching the good news of God. I should have blown my brains out but God reached down and saved a sinner from the pit of hell.

So when I sing amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I know exactly what he's talking about. The redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross that can only come from a changed life.

It's impossible otherwise. Thank you, Lord. I know I say this a lot, but I can't say it enough. What God has just done in my own life. He took just, I feel like a dumb country boy, barely graduated high school, 1 .8.

My mom, remember she's here. We had a speech tutor, a teacher on my S's and marriage or on therapy and dyslexia. Still can't spell well. I need three editors. And people say, how has God, do you know your church is known throughout the world?

Thousands and thousands and thousands of listeners every week. Noel, Noel, come and see what God has done. That's it. That's it. I'm just the voice. There's other people that are feet. There are other people that are hands.

The heart of Christ, it's all one united effort. Look at what God has done. God's gonna say, I'm gonna take the least likely. That guy is the least likely to succeed. I'll tell you that right now. I should be digging ditches for the rest of my life.

He's, I'm gonna take the least likely. And when I put my spirit upon him and he, writing books, that's ridiculous. You should see my first book. You would laugh at it. You'd think a five-year-old wrote it.

And I'd give it to my mom for a year and just tore it apart and it's all good now because it's been edited, edited, edited, edited. But God takes the least likely. And he says, this is my showpiece. You are my workmanship, my poinima, my workmanship in Christ Jesus for good works.

So no matter, if you're sitting here going, God can't use me. I don't know anything. I don't have a degree in theology. He, I believe, I guarantee he's looking for those who do not have a degree in theology so they don't write, they don't put all their weight.

Look at my degree. I have a master's in divinity. I have a PhD in church history. Listen to me. You don't listen to anyone like that. You listen to somebody who's been touched by the living God, filled with the spirit of God who's changed their life.

That's who you look to. And when God exalts a man, he exalts a woman. You point people to the cross in Christ. If it wasn't for the grace of God, where would I be? Where would you be? So that should be encouragement.

No matter where you're at, you're just, maybe you're at home saying, I can't do anything for God. Yes, you can. If he gets a hold of you, I think he's looking for the least likely. I think he's looking.

Many churches, actually, when they fulfill board members or pastors, they're looking for those with a degree. That might be a great bonus, but I'm looking for those filled with the spirit of God. Those who God has touched.

So he takes the humble, he exalts them. He takes the broken and he rebuilds them. And then verse seven. Then Herod, when he had secretly called for the wise men, he determined from them what time the star appeared.

And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the young child. And when you have found him, when you have found him, bring back word to me that I can come and worship him too. Oh, no.

Herod’s Deception and the Necessity of Spiritual Discernment

He's a liar. And you have to remember this, the enemy always lies. If you're going in the wrong direction, the first step began with a lie, I guarantee it. The enemy always begins to, maybe he's lying to some of you this morning.

I don't know where you're at. I don't know where direction your marriage is going. I don't know if you've made some bad choices. I don't know where you're at, but I know it always begins with a lie, with a lie.

The enemy will begin to plant thoughts, the fiery darts. You ever get those fiery darts? He's telling young adults right now, don't do what that guy says, go have fun. Now when you get old, now when you get old, you can follow God.

Or he's telling those that are seeking, those that are searching, planting fiery darts. Oh, they don't know what they're talking about. The Bible's not real. They're foolishness, they're all fools. Just look at the direction of our nation.

That's a foolish direction. We've lost our moral compass. We're out of control because we've rejected God. So Herod said, let me worship him. And then verse nine, when they heard the king, they departed and behold, the star, which they had seen in the east, went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. Now sometimes the nativity scenes will say, will show the wise men and the little tiny baby Jesus a few days old or weeks old. Well, this could have been months and months by the time the wise men actually arrived.

The star pointed direction over the manger and the inn where there was no room. It really means the place that they were staying had no room. So there was a manger where the animals are at and they laid Jesus there.

So, but by this time, by this time, all we have is what scripture says. It says that they came and stood over where the child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly, exceedingly with great joy.

So the star pointed to the Savior. And I want to remind you this morning, God will always point you in the right direction if you're willing to follow. Did you catch that? Let's wake up from our slumber.

God will lead you in the right direction if you're willing to follow. It's called humility. God says, I resist the proud, but I'll give grace to the humble. I'll guide those who are humble and broken of spirit.

I will build them up, I will lift them, I will encourage them. But if you are proud, you're strong, you're arrogant, God says, thus sayeth the Lord, I will feed you in judgment. The Old Testament is full of that imagery of God saying, I will bring back what was driven away.

I will bind up the broken, I will strengthen the sick, but the fat, the proud, the arrogant, I will feed in judgment. Thus sayeth the Lord. There's something about humility that is a sweet-smelling aroma to Christ being humble and broken before him.

So the star pointed to the Savior. God will always point you in the right direction. You need to know that this morning. Some of you need to be encouraged in your walk. But Shane, I don't see any fruit right now.

Just keep walking, just keep walking. Every time I plant a bush or a fruit tree, I never see any fruit for a year. But the seed's growing, it's maturing. God is working behind the scene. See, we want to microwave Christianity.

Push one minute, can I get five-minute worship? Can I get this guy Shane to shut up and get down to 15 minutes? I want to get out, I'm hungry. It's already, it's lunchtime. Microwave, microwave Christianity.

The Wise Men’s Worship: Expectation and Perseverance

I'm gonna get to that in a minute. And when they come to the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. They fell down and worshipped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

So actually, there wasn't three wise men in many of the nativity scenes. This is where they get the idea from frankincense and myrrh and gold and three gifts. But we don't know how many wise men there were.

But I want to rewind for a little bit back to where the shepherds came and visited Jesus in the manger. The shepherds were right there that night. They came, and it's interesting. They said they saw the baby, what, laying in, lying in swaddling cloth, in a swaddling cloth.

And I'm imagining those same shepherds, if they're tending sheep, many of the sheep that they're tending are for the sacrifice in the temple. And when a new lamb was born, they would wrap that lamb, guess what, in swaddling cloth.

They would wrap this little lamb in swaddling cloth to keep it free from blemishes, and it was just born. And so now we see the Savior, the King of the world, being born in a manger with swaddling cloth.

In the imagery we have of the Old Testament, for when the death angel passed over, the children of Israel, they said whoever puts the blood on it. If you put the blood of the animal sacrifice, the death angel will pass over.

And we see Christ as the foreshadowing of the Passover lamb. That's why he's called the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. The lamb that was slain in the Old Testament was a temporary recovering, looking for the fulfillment of Jesus Christ.

So here comes the lamb of God, the lamb of God coming and being put in swaddling cloth, the lamb, the final sacrifice. There's no need for other sacrifice. Once and for all, hell, death, grave, and sin have been conquered.

You don't need to keep putting the blood on it. When Jesus Christ said it is finished on the cross, he said to Telestai, it is finished. I have come what I came to do. And the nails, you remember, the nails didn't keep him on that cross.

Did the nails keep Christ on the cross? His love for humanity kept Christ on the cross. He said it is finished, it is done. That's why we are here. We are here to worship him, a baby born to die. It's a remarkable thing.

And they fell down and they worshiped him. The wise men worshiped him, the angel. Do you know anybody that truly comes in to contact with Jesus Christ, with God Almighty, will worship him? When the power and presence of God hits a place, let's say if Jesus were to walk in, am I gonna say, hey, how's it going, you wanna take over?

Is that, are you gonna just high five, do selfies? You'd fall down on your face before God. Anytime throughout the Bible, Isaiah said, well, I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people with unclean lips and he fell down in the holy presence of God.

Priests, prophets, and kings fell down in the holy presence of God. Even John in Revelation, he fell down as a dead man in the presence of Christ. There was something about him that was so powerful. Even, it was 300 plus trained men of war that went to go and get Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

They went to conquer and where's Jesus? This man who's causing all this trouble and he said, I am he. And they fell back, they drew back. There's something about the presence of God you can't ignore. You will not stay upright, you will stay down on your faith.

You will bow your knee to Jesus Christ in utter humility and desperation because why? Because God is holy. Have you ever stood before pure holy light? No, before pure holy God and you've seen that revelation.

You're not gonna just gaze and have a conversation. The only answer is to fall down and worship him. So the question I asked this morning is, I'll ask it to you as well. If you have not come to worship him, do you truly know him?

If you have not come to worship him, do you truly know him? Because people can walk through the doors, they can take a seat, they can hear a message like this, but all of that doesn't matter unless they truly know him.

This isn't about going through the motions, it's about knowing who Christ is. And worship is a gift, is it not? Worshiping God is a gift. Can you imagine not being able to worship God and having no emotions?

So you're just a robot, programmed? There's something about worship, it's a gift. So let me tell you what worship does according to the Bible. Worshiping God builds you up. Does anyone need to be built up?

Yes, in a society that is falling apart, in a society that is constantly anxious and fearful, worship builds you up. Worship also strengthens you. Worship edifies, worship sustains, worship defends, worship restores.

All of that, worshiping God, it edifies, it builds up, it sustains, it restores. Did you know that worship defends you? Amen? What kind of enemy can be taken down by a song? But the Bible says that God inhabits the praises of his people, where there is worship on.

God begins to move in the hearts of men and women. But I want three lessons here to learn from the wise men, I'll close out. The wise men, number one, they came expecting God to move. They came expecting God to move.

Do you come to church expecting God to move? And that often fuels excitement and joy. When you're expecting something, aren't you joy-filled? Come on, you know when you file your IRS taxes and you're getting a return.

You're expecting something in the mail. You're going, oh look, oh it's not here. There's an expectation. There's a joy to go buy stuff we don't need. But how much more this joy come expecting, we come expecting God to move.

And I do, I try to every Sunday. I expect God to touch people in different ways. People might be healed during worship. People might be set free of addiction. People might be renewed in their thinking and have that passionate relationship with God again.

I love to see Christians come back home. I love to see the prodigal son come back home and people come next door and pray with us and say, Shane, God has set me free. I'm coming home, I'm filled again with God's spirit.

We come expecting God to move. This is not a social club, that's why I say that. This is a church of the living God that he built, he sustains, he calls us, he draws us, his truth goes out, the truth goes out and changes lives.

We come expecting, God, what are you going to say to me today? You know that's one of the best things you can say on your way here? Lord, what are you going to say to me today? I want to hear from you.

You're closed off, just kind of going through the motions. You know what, Sunday fits today. There's no football. See, it's kind of cold out, I can't take my boat, my jet skis, my this. Come on, I'm going to bring it home.

And if it fits, then we'll come and then we come and it's boring and dry and I'll just come again next month because you didn't come expecting God to move and to hear from God and to worship. And then number two, they searched.

They searched, oh heavens. The wise men did not find Jesus the next day or the next week. We don't know how long exactly, but we do know something interesting, that Herod ordered all males under the age of what? Two to be killed.

So when I tied in Luke's example of the swaddling cloth, the possibility here, the wise men came much later than that. They came searching and nothing could stop them. Nothing could stop them. Going through the desert, going through the dry heat, going through the sleepless nights sometimes or just, they were searching.

And let me just encourage you, if you truly want to find God, if you truly want to hear from God, if you truly want to know his will and be filled with the spirit of God, it does not come without a battle.

There is a fight. If you could see me right now, you'd see me in crutches and a head, neck brace and a back surgery and my arms limp and you get through life like this, you get through the battle because it's a battle to sustain that relationship.

It's a battle to fight on this side of Calvary and you have to search and you have to seek God with all your heart, with all your strength, with all your mind, with all your soul. Though I fall, I will get up again and I will fight again.

Though the enemy knock me down, I will get back up and I will finish strong because it's a fight. The worship, you have to search for it just like you search for a lost child. I've told you that before.

The word in the Hebrew there was finding something that's missing, like when Mary and Joseph lost Jesus. They lost Jesus for a few days. Woo-hoo, that was a close call. I love his response. I wish my kids would tell me this, Aaron.

If we can't find you and I find you, you say, I must be about my father's business. That's it, Jesus. Don't you know I must be about my father's business? But you guys, you have to search. You don't give up.

I've found in my own life, I look back and thank God I didn't give up because the miracle, the blessing was just beyond the struggle. That's why often I believe we are tempted, we are tested, the enemy comes against us to knock us off course.

He sees that blessing and he tries to get you away from that blessing, the abundant life, the healthy marriage, what God has for your ministry. The enemy is going to use discouragement. That's the only weapon he has against the believer.

Did you know that? Discouragement, defeat, and failure. That's where he wants you to live. And that's where most people live. That's why they don't do anything for God. Can we be honest for a minute here?

That's why most people, most Christians don't do much for God. They're living defeated. They're living defeated. Whether it's addiction they just caved into, whether it's sexual immorality, whether it's darkness, depression, whether it's watching and viewing and listening to all the wrong things, that kills you, that drains you spiritually.

Does it not? These horror movies that are coming out, I'll see a two minute trailer and I'll be shocked. Like that just knocked the Holy Spirit wind out of me. But yet they watch hours and hours and hours of darkness and depravity and lust.

And you'd be amazed at how many, what your kids see, they see 1 ,000 images a week of violence and sexual morality. And all these things are just being bombarded. The enemy wants to sidetrack you. He wants to discourage, because a discouraged Christian doesn't do anything.