Why The Wise Men Traveled And We Won’t

A simple question can reorder a life: are you seeking Jesus, or just adding Him when it’s convenient? We trace the journey of the wise men in Matthew 2 and discover a challenging mirror for modern faith. These travelers likely came from the East shaped by Daniel’s legacy, recognized a sign, and crossed real danger to worship—not to get something, but to give themselves and honor the true King. Meanwhile, those closest to the promise barely looked up. That contrast says a lot about attention, desire, and what our habits preach to the watching world.

We unpack what worship truly means: not a song set, but a whole-life posture. Work, family, rest, decisions—all of it can exalt Christ or edge Him out. We talk about the ways we let weather, errands, and schedules outrank the gathering of the church, and how our quietism keeps hope hidden from neighbors who are anxious, overwhelmed, and hungry for good news. Romans 10 rings in our ears: how will they believe if they’ve never heard? Evangelism here looks like real hospitality and honest testimony—dinner tables, open ears, and a clear path to the King.

We also draw a line between happiness and joy. Happiness swings with circumstances; joy endures because it’s rooted in Jesus and His promises. Seeking Him often stirs resistance—distraction, fatigue, pushback—but that may be the clearest sign you’re finally aimed in the right direction. Expect friction. Seek with your whole heart. Reorder Sundays and weekdays alike around the worth of Christ. When someone bumps into your life looking for Him, let your rhythms and words point the way.

If this speaks to you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review so more seekers can find their way to the conversation.

Chapters

• 0:00 Are You Seeking Jesus?
• 3:20 Who Were The Wise Men?
• 7:50 Tradition, Daniel, And The Magi
• 12:10 Where Is He? A Silent Jerusalem
• 16:45 Holding Back The Good News
• 21:00 Worship Means Risk And Priority
• 26:00 Competing With Weather And Weekends
• 30:25 Seek First: No Rivals To Christ
• 34:30 Happiness Versus Joy
• 38:00 Seeking With All Your Heart

Transcript

Are You Seeking Jesus?

Josh 0:00

All right, well, good morning. I'm gonna start a little bit different today. Um, I'm gonna read this article that I got sent this week just because it goes with what I am preaching on. I got sent an article over this past week that said this, it's from churchleaders.com. It said five spiritual dangers of skipping church. And it said, I read recently that the Southern Baptist Convention has a total of 16 million members. However, on a typical Sunday, only about six million of those members attend their local church. Considering the importance and necessity of corporate worship for the Christian, this is very dis this is a very discouraging statistic. Not only is it disheartening, but it is also spiritually dangerous for those who profess Christ and regularly end up missing church. Now, I read that, and the whole article kept going on, and if you want, I'll send it to you. Just let me know after service. Um, but I read that because today we're jumping into the the wise men coming to visit Jesus. All right, and and understand with that, our big idea is this. Are you seeking Jesus? See what we're gonna see today is there's really two different types of people that we're going to see. We have the Israelites that are already in, not the Israelites, well, they are Israelites, but we have the people that are already in Bethlehem, and then we have these wise men that are coming from faraway lands from the east, and we're gonna see a very stark difference between these two people groups that we really need to challenge our hearts with and really ask ourselves: am I seeking Jesus or is Jesus just something I add on to my life? Am I worshiping Jesus, or am I kind of just going through the motions of the Christian life? Am I seeking Jesus or am I just playing a little church game? See, Jesus promises in Matthew 7, 7 that if we seek, we will find. The question is always going to jump down to, are we seeking though? So I'm gonna pray and then we're gonna jump into that. Father, thank you so much for your word. And I ask and I pray, God, that as we go through your word, it be your word. That Father, we are challenged and convicted, and through the power of your spirit, we are transformed to look more like your Son. That Father, you give us the courage and the boldness to do what has to be done. Father, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so Matthew 2, starting in verse 1, it says this. 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 saw his star when it rose, and we have come to worship him. Alright, so obviously the first thing we have to kick off with is who are the wise men? Now, most of us, if especially if you have a nativity scene in any way, shape, or form, right, you have these little figurines, and there's usually how many of them? Three. Because most of us think that there was three people. Why do we think that? The gold trains assumed where they brought three gifts. Now, the chances of in the first century just three people traveling around are slim to none. There would have probably been a convoy. And there would have probably been a convoy for multiple different reasons. Number one, it's not like today where, like, let's say after service today you had to go to Jacksonville. Jacksonville is a little bit ways away, right? But you can get there in an hour and a half. Like, it's not like super long. However, if you had to walk or, I don't know, take a camel, that same hour and a half trip is going to turn into multiple days. And that's really what was winding up happening. So, what would you need for that trip? We would need supplies, right? So it wasn't like they would just take these quick short trips, you know. Hey, we just got to run over to Orlando real quick and see, you know, Jesus who was born. Like these were journeys. These weren't just little trips, but in some versions of the Bible, like the New King James, for instance, it doesn't say wise men. It uses a different word. And that is the magi. Now, the magi are astronomers, right? They they look out to the stars, hence why they said we saw his star when it rose. And and it's actually where we get the word in our language for sounds like it. What would magic. Right? That's where we get this word because they would have dealt with a lot of that super hyper spiritual stuff. In fact, some people, some people even claim to know not only that there were three of them, but they know their names. Is anybody in here like, were you born, like raised in that? So most people say their names were Casper, Balthazar, and Melcoir. Now that's church tradition, and I will tell you right now, that didn't come along until like almost a thousand years after this event happened. And for some well-known people in the Bible, we really don't know much about them past what we've discussed. Now, one of the things we do know is that they came from the east. However, if you're looking at a map, right, and you look at where Judea and Bethlehem is, the east is a long way away. All right, so we don't know where from the east they came. Um, we just know that they came from the east and we know why they came, and this is the important part. Why would they make this trip?

unknown 6:32

To see Jesus.

Tradition, Daniel, And The Magi

Josh 6:34

To worship. Like we know they came from the east, and we know they came to worship. Now, if we are to assume that they are the magi that we're seeing, then it is possible that this group of people came from Persia. And here's why I can put those two together and go, this is possible. And Daniel, chapter 2, verse 48. We see Daniel is in Babylon. We see he's in the king's court, he's in with Nebuchadnezzar. He's just like um, he's just interpreted the dream from Nebuchadnezzar. Now, mind you, and there's a whole other thing that goes with this, but this is the awesome part of that. He interpreted a dream that he didn't even know what the dream was. Like most of us, we have a dream, and we're like, oh, I had this crazy dream last night, and here's what happened, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then whoever's listening can go, oh, well, I think that means you weren't hugged enough as a child, and that's just repressed feelings. Um he interpreted a dream, and King Nebuchadnezzar didn't even tell him what the dream was. All right, so that's cool, right? So after he does this, he gets placed into this position of authority and power over all of the other magi, and it says this in Daniel 2.48. Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all of the wise men of Babylon. So these guys that are coming to see Jesus could very well be descendants of these people. And that would make sense because they're coming from a faraway country. And how would they have even known that a king was going to be born? These are not God-following people. Well, it would make sense if they spent that much time with Daniel, because Daniel is a prophet talking about the coming Messiah. In fact, Daniel gives a lot of prophecies that are really hard for us to understand in the 70 weeks and all of that. But if they were close to Daniel, they would have known that at some point the God of Israel has already promised to send this Messiah. And if that's the case, it would be easy to see how they knew, hey, there is a coming king that is going to be born, and that would have just been passed down from generation to generation to generation until they saw the sign. Now, all of that being said, as we move on to verse 2 here, that is who the Magi could have been. We're not 100% sure who the wise men were, though. But does that really matter to us? No, because the takeaway we're going to come from this is actually in verse 2. So when they show up, these people who have come from a far off land, they go around and they're asking, where is he who has been born the king of Jews? Now I want you to put yourself in their mind, right? They've just made this really, really long trip and they have to go around and ask, hey, where's this person that, where is he that was born the king of the Jews? Wouldn't you have, if you showed up and you knew in your mind, hey, this great king is about to be born, this great promised Messiah is coming into creation and you wanted to go to worship, wouldn't you expect to be able to show up and just go, oh, he's there he is? Like stop and think about it. Why did they have to go around and ask everybody where he is?

unknown 10:20

Nobody knows.

Where Is He? A Silent Jerusalem

Holding Back The Good News

Worship Means Risk And Priority

Josh 10:21

Nobody knew. Most of the people in Jerusalem, although they've been waiting for this Messiah since King David, most of the people in Jerusalem are just going about their day-to-day lives. See, think about it. You ever been like driving down like the street, you're in your neighborhood or whatever, you're driving down the road, and you see like the giant water slide and the balloons hanging on the mailbox, and maybe a sign that says happy birthday, and then you see all of these cars lined up, and it's very easy for you at that point to go, hey, someone in that house is having a birthday. I mean, if you were strange, you could just pull in. No one would even know if you were on the guest list, right? Just crash little kids' birthdays all the time. No one's doing that. Okay. Just me. But see, that's what these wise men were expecting. They were expecting to show up in Jerusalem and see the house and see the waterslides and see all the camels lined up out front because everyone had come to worship the king who had been born. And unfortunately for us, if Jesus was born today, I think the same would be true of us. That as people were trying to come and find him, they would have to ask, where is he? Now, why do I come to that conclusion? Because, see, we as the church, we have this amazing news. That we who are dead in our trespasses and sin can be made alive again. That we who are far from God can be brought close again, that we who were once enemies of God can be made sons and daughters, that we who had a heart condition can have a heart transplant through the power of the Holy Spirit. And yet, what do we do with this information? Think about it. We keep it to ourselves. We have a whole world out here right now that is sitting here going crazy, that are sitting here going, there's no hope for the future, that are sitting here going, hey, the machines, I don't know if you guys know this or not, but are starting to rise up. Like there are people that are literally sitting here predicting within the next year that computers are going to be able to think for themselves and jobs are going to be displaced. There are people that are sitting here going, hey, you guys don't understand this. By 2029, the changes that are coming are going to make the Industrial Revolution look like child's play. There's a whole world out there that's scared, that's going through change, that's sitting here going, we don't understand what's going on, that is looking for the king, and we who have the information, what do we do with it? We keep it to ourselves. We show up on Sunday morning because that's the only time this information is pertinent to our lives. And that's just like I read in that article, if we show up on Sunday morning. See, think about it. Our coworkers who need to hear the gospel, we go, someone will tell them. I'm not going to, but someone will. Our neighbors who who just live this life of hopelessness and are sitting here going, things are never gonna get better, we smile and wave as we pull into our driveway. We're not gonna go over and actually talk to them, though. We're not gonna go over and go, hey, like, there's something I need to talk to you. Like, can you come over for dinner? Like, I'll cook for you. Just sit down, let's talk about how our day is. Let's let's open up conversation because we know that at some point we're gonna be able to tell you, hey, that king you're looking for, that hope you're looking for, here's where he is. He resides in me, and here's how he can reside in you. See, it's like the world is sitting here searching for the promised king, and we have all of this information, and we just hold on to it. Let me ask you, some of you are conspiracy theorists like myself. Some of us believe that they have the cure for cancer and they're just what? They're gonna hold on to it because the pharmaceutical companies make too much money, and they're not going to release this cure because then how are they gonna make money off of treatments? Now, whether or not that's true, I have no idea. Okay? You can believe whatever you want to believe when it comes to that. That being said, we do the same thing as Christians. We have the cure for the human condition, and what do we do with it? We just hold on to it. I don't need to tell people about Jesus. That's Josh's job. He's the one with the microphone, he's the one that stands up there, he's the one that went to school to learn how to do this. That's his job, he tells people. My job is to occasionally show up. Like, understand this. Like, when I first read this article, and the person that sent it to me had no idea what I was preaching on this week. And I went, you are talking about less than 50% of churchgoers will show up on any given Sunday. You guys have heard me say this over and over and over. There are over three billion professing Christians in the world. Now that's a bill, not mill. That's almost half the population of the world. What if we actually lived like that, though? Do you understand how different the world would look? But yet we don't. And just like the wise men are sitting here going, where is this king who has been born? This world that is crushing all around us is sitting here going, what hope do we have to hold on to? This is why in Romans 10, and we we looked at this when we went through Romans, Paul asked this question: How are they to believe in whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear if there's no one there to preach? Like we are the ones that are telling people no, they're not gonna believe. And here's how we do it I'm not even gonna preach to you about it. I'm not even gonna give you the opportunity to go, hey, no, I don't believe in this Jesus thing. Because I'm not even gonna say anything about it. I'm just gonna go about my life and I'm just going to hold all of this in, and I'm just going to sit here and go, I'm good. I got my ticket, I got made right. And just like everyone in Jerusalem, who knew there was a Messiah to be born, they had the same scrolls and all of that as the Magi. In fact, I would argue that the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes had more information than the wise men did. And yet the wise men came from far off because they knew the Messiah had been born, and yet the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes were sitting here going, I mean, one day. One day the Messiah is gonna come. One day the Messiah is gonna throw off the power of Rome. And then when he shows up, what do they do? Oh, you're not him. No, there's no way. Rome is still controlling us, Rome is still oppressing us. You can't possibly be the Messiah. Because when Jesus showed up, he didn't show up the way they wanted him to show up. They went, No, you're supposed to make us the superpower of the world. And Jesus was sitting here going, guys, this world's on its way to hell. I didn't come for this world, I came for the next. I came to redeem my creation, to restore what sin had lost. And they went, well, we don't want that. Like, we want worldly things. And that's why when the wise men showed up, there was no fanfare. There was no house with the balloons and the water slide and all of that. Because the Messiah wasn't celebrated like that. And you mean to tell me in the world we live in right now that the same wouldn't be true of us. As the church. As the woman with the good news. 100% it would be. And I'm gonna show you why on the following verses. So the section that we're studying today, it ends with like this it says, the wise men are asking where the king is because they saw his star rise and are here to worship. These people came from a faraway place, and they only came for one reason. We want to worship. They weren't coming because they were like, hey, what can Jesus give me? They weren't showing up expecting this newborn king to be able to go, hey, thanks for showing up here, your marriage is restored. Thanks for showing up here, your finances will be blessed. Thanks for showing up here, that sickness will be dealt with. And although Jesus does do all Of that throughout his ministry, they only showed up for one reason and one reason only. I want to worship the king who was born. Now, that word worship, man, that's a that's a heavy word. And we really cheapen it. That's the reason why the people that come up and sing before and after service, we don't call them the worship team. We call them the praise team because we're singing praises. But here's what I want you to understand: everything we do is worship. Sitting here right now is worship as the word of God is being preached. Going to your job, if you have to work tomorrow, I know it's MLK Junior Day. But going to your job is a form of worship. Like raising your kids is a form of worship. Loving your spouse is a form of worship. Everything we do is worship. It's not worship music. It's more than just a song you sing. It is literally everything you do. And these wise men are risking a lot to come and worship. Because here's, and here's why we said that it wouldn't have been three. Because on that long trek to Bethlehem, there were people that would like literally hide on the sides of the roads and wait for people to come through and jump out and rob them. Like that was a big thing. The Wild West didn't invent that. Okay, so they're risking being robbed, they're risking being killed, they're risking everything because they're going to seek the king to worship. Is the same true for us? I'm gonna go with, no, it is not. Is our commitment to worship Jesus that strong? No, it's not. Because Jesus is an add-on to most of our lives. Like, if I have time, kind of thing. To give you the greatest example I could think of, and I racked my brain about this a lot this week. When we first planted, I talked to a lot of different pastors. All right, because we knew we were gonna be renting a facility from someone else, and so we were like trying to figure out hey, what would be the best time to have service? Because we knew we weren't gonna be able to have service on a Sunday morning. So I went, let's do Saturday night. And every single pastor I talked to went, that's a terrible idea. I went, why? Like it gives you all day Sunday to rest. And isn't that what the word tells us, right? Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest. I went, this is biblical. Like, why wouldn't we do this? And he went, because you do understand what everybody does on Saturdays, right? I went, no, what? Well, you have kids' games you go to, you have birthday parties you have, you have this, you you know, you're running errands. For a lot of people, it's that one day where they'll go get like their groceries and all of this, and you're competing with all of that. And I was like, what do you mean I'm competing with all of that? Like we're trying to worship Jesus. This isn't a competition. And I was like, okay, but what about Sunday? And they went, okay, here's the deal with Sunday, you ready? If your service is too early in the morning, you're not gonna get any of the younger people to show up. Why? Because we like to sleep in. I hate the morning. If your service is too late in the afternoon, well, then you're competing with the NFL and barbecues and all of that kind of stuff. So here's the deal like if you're gonna have service on Sunday morning, have it at like 9:32 a.m. because that's the sweet spot. So then how can we sit here and say that we are willing to sacrifice to worship Jesus when we have to compete with everything for our worship? Like Jesus is competing literally with everything else that could possibly go on in our lives to worship. And yet we don't see it that way. We see it as, well, you know, the weather's really nice out today. Like, do you know they have statistical information that will show us how many people will miss a Sunday service if it starts raining? Now I want you guys to wrap your heads around that because what state do we live in? Yep. Where every 15 minutes, especially during the spring and summer, the weather changes. It could be like hurricane force winds, and then 10 minutes later it's like freezing cold. Seriously.

unknown 25:20

Like today?

Competing With Weather And Weekends

Josh 25:21

Look at this week, right? I mean, we're we're sitting here getting like warnings for snow two days ago, and then today it's or yesterday, I'm like in shorts and a t-shirt sweating. But yet there are statistics to show us that if the weather is too nice, people will choose to go do other things than come to service. If the weather is too bad, people will choose to stay home rather than risk it to come to service. Guys, think about that. Jesus has to compete with the weather. And yet we see these wise men who dropped everything to come worship the true king. They brought gifts with them, they left their lives because they knew who had been born. So when we look at the church, and I sit here and go, where is our commitment to King Jesus? Where is our like desire to worship because we know who had been born? Where is our desire to seek the king? Again, like in church planning, and and like I could do this all day long with all of the different like conferences and stuff I've gone to. You know, they've told, like, again, there's statistics that show all of this that for every railroad crossing, you are less likely to get people to show up to your service. Because you have to cross a railroad bridge. For every bridge that goes over water, you are 50% less likely to get those people to show up to service. Because you have to cross over a bridge. Guys, it's not like there's a troll living under the bridge, it's got, you know, jump up and you gotta solve the riddle. Although when you're going into Stanford, I do think there might be one over there because that bridge backs up, like either that or a toll. But but I sit here and go, like, where is our desire to sit here and go, hey, I'm gonna worship King Jesus? We sit here, and and again, I'm not talking to everyone. And let's be honest, most of the people I'm talking to aren't even here today. Why? I don't know. But that's what we see. These wise men didn't let everything get in between them and their worship of Jesus. These wise men didn't go, oh, it was a late Saturday night, I'm gonna go ahead and sleep in Sunday morning. And I'll tell you, like, there are times I've hated with a passionate JT got into like watching the UFC. Because there have been many, many Sunday mornings where I didn't get to go to bed until like 1:30, 2 o'clock in the morning because he's my son and I want to make sure I do stuff with him. So we stayed up to watch a fight. And then I'm showing up here at like 7, and I've got like five hours of sleep, and here's what I do. I go in the little back room back here and I pray. And I go, God, I know it was my fault. I get it. I was the one that chose not to go to bed. God, could you please just give me energy though? And then he's like, Josh, calm down. Go next door. You have these little green cans in the fridge that are liquid energy. And if you just drink one, your heart will start beating super fast. And you will have all the energy you need to worship me. And I go, you're right, God, thank you for answering my prayer with Mountain Dew. Because a late Saturday night shouldn't keep me from my worship on Sunday morning. The beach shouldn't keep me from my worship. And I will tell you right now, you'll be hard-pressed to find someone who loves water more than me. I will literally sit there and just stare at water for no reason whatsoever for hours and hours and hours of my time. I may not even be fishing. I may just be like looking at the water, knowing that there's fish in there.

unknown 29:09

And they're just not biting.

Seek First: No Rivals To Christ

Josh 29:10

Oh, they're always biting. If they ain't biting, Brian, that's a you problem. I go, I go, but see, this is the problem. Jesus shouldn't be competing with anything in our lives for our worship. Like when Jesus, and we'll get to Matthew 6 eventually next year. But when Jesus says, seek first the kingdom of God, here's what he's saying. Nothing else in your life should be as valuable as me. Well, what about my kids? Nothing else in your life should be as valuable as me. What about my happiness? Nothing else in your life should be as valuable as me. See, these wise men knew it. They knew that there was a king being born. They knew Jesus was exactly who he claimed to be. And see, and if we know that, then there is nothing that will stand in the way of our worship of him. The problem is, is we buy into the lie that there's something more important. We buy into the lie that there's something that's going to fulfill our soul more. We buy into the lie that if I can just get this idol, if I can just get this idol's attention, it will make me happier than Jesus will. And we buy into the lie that our happiness is going to be lasting. Think about it, your happiness is fleeting and can change in an instant. You could be going from having the best day ever to the worst day ever at any given time. One of the things you will hear in almost every single video you watch from Mission Sen Outdoors is this. This can go from the worst fishing trip ever to the best fishing trip ever with one fish. Think about it. I could be out there for hours and hours and hours and not get a bite. I could hook into a 40-inch redfish and all of a sudden this was the best trip I've ever been on. That's because that's how our happiness works. Your spouse may make you more happy than anything else on the planet today. And then the very next day, you were contemplating all those shows you watched that showed you how to hide the body.

unknown 31:34

Wives would not happen.

Josh 31:36

I'm not gonna lie, like Debbie watched a lot of them when we first got married, like to the point where I was nervous. Like, you know, you're writing like secret notes to people, like, hey, if I come up missing, it was Debbie. Snap, who said Snap? That that was the show. And I was like, whoa, why are we DVRing this? Like the best would have happened in Florida. Your kids. Your kids may make you more proud than anything else in the world today. But then tomorrow you're looking at them and you're like, are you sure you have my genetic code in you?

unknown 32:10

Go home.

Josh 32:16

This is this is why chasing your happiness is the worst, it's a fool's game. Because it's just so situational. These wise men weren't chasing their happiness to go worship the king who had been born. What they're doing is they're sitting here going, I know who this king is. And I am here to worship. I'm here to seek him. I'm here because I know he is the one that will fulfill my heart. He is the one that fills up the soul. He is the one that brings me eternal joy, not happiness. And joy is so much more important because joy is what keeps me going when my happiness fails. Joy doesn't mean that I'm always happy, but it means I always have the hope to be. Because I know eventually where I'm gonna be. Like one day this will all pass away. And you know where I will be? With my Lord. Think about that. We will hunger no more, we will thirst no more, nor will there be any crying anymore. And the one who is seated at the right hand of God said, Behold, I am making all things new. I don't know what kind of fish you can catch in the crystal sea. I'm assuming they're better than the fish I can catch in the septic tank laden mosquito lagoon. Like I want you to understand the red fish I'm catching now, scientists have started doing like research. They have like Lipitor and other heart medications like in their meat because leaky septic tanks have like flooded into the lagoon and people are just like flushing pills down the toilet. Yeah, that's why I don't eat fish, right? I'm not trying to take medicine. I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die the old-fashioned way.

unknown 34:13

That's right.

Happiness Versus Joy

Seeking With All Your Heart

Josh 34:14

And I sit here and go, are we seeking Jesus? That might be extra blessing, Miss Holly. But I go, are we seeking Jesus? Let me ask you, if if if someone who is seeking Jesus bumped into you, would they find him? Like think about it. Would they even know, hey, they're a Christian? If they didn't check your Facebook account. Like if they only talked to you person to person, which I know is a crazy idea, but you know, some of us that were born in the 90s, you do remember what that was like, right? Like when you had to ride your bike to your friend's house and hang out, it wasn't just digital. I go, think about it. Would they see Jesus if they saw you? In Jeremiah 29, in verse 12, it's the ver the Bible says this. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. See, right after the prophet tells us God's plans for our future, plans to prosper and not to harm, it shows us that we are called to seek Jesus. Seeking takes work. Again, we I gave you this illustration a couple of weeks ago. When my kids were little and I was tired of like playing with them, we would play hide and seek. And I would just count down, I would just be like 10, 9, and they would run off. And when I knew they were no longer in the living room with me, I would just go back to watching TV. And sometimes that gave me like five minutes, sometimes it gave me like 20, sometimes they fell asleep in their hiding place, and I got a whole nap time to just sit and watch TV. You know why I never found them though? Because I wasn't seeking them. You know why some of you struggle to find Jesus? Because you're not seeking them. You're filling your head with podcasts and movies and TV and music that has nothing to do with Jesus, and you're hoping you're gonna find them there. How? See, it would be the equivalent of me playing hide and go seek in the house with the kids, but going to the neighbor's house to look for them. And they knew one of the rules was you weren't allowed to leave the house. So how would I ever possibly find them over there? They're not there. And that's how we live our lives. And then we go, I don't know where Jesus is. You know, I've been blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and he just never shows up. Well, are you seeking him with all your heart? Is all of the things coming in helping to grow you in him? Or are we just half-heartedly going through the motions, adding Jesus to our life? Are we the wise men who are sitting here going, hey, I saw his star rise. I want to go find and worship the king? Or are we the people in Jerusalem that the wise men are sitting here going, hey, um, this king that was born, where is he? I don't know. Go ask someone else. So as we close this morning, are you seeking Jesus? If you're not, why not? You're seeking something. Always. What is it that you're seeking? And if you are seeking Jesus, understand this. Why would the devil attack what he already owns? Here's what I mean. When you go looking for Jesus, when you go seeking Jesus, you become a threat to the enemy. Because now you have the ability to tell other people where the king was born and how to come worship. Understand when you start seeking, the devil may start fighting. And I sit here and go, that doesn't mean you're doing something wrong. That may mean you're doing exactly what God called you to do, and the devil is sitting here going, You're gonna take away from my kingdom. So just because you're seeking and things get harder, what is it that's getting in your way? Because maybe you are sitting here going, like, I really want to seek, I really want to seek, but every time, like, this happens and this happens and this happens. What is it that you need help to push through? What is it you need to call a brother or a sister up and go, hey, like, look, can we just have dinner? Because I've really been like hammered with this. I just need some encouragement. I just need someone to sit down and pray with me. I just need someone to sit here and go, hey, you got this. Just keep going. So, two questions, are you seeking? And if you are seeking, what is it that keeps hitting you? If you need to pray, if you need to talk, if you need any kind of heart work, you know I am always right over here after service. But we have to start seeking, and then we have to start showing because that's what we're called to. So, Father, I ask and I pray that if there is anyone in here today, Father, that you are sitting here going, Hey, stop sitting on the recliner watching TV and come find me. That Father, you just grab a hold of their heart, you just pulled their heart, you pulled Pull them to you, Father, and you sit here and go, come seek me. I promise if you seek me, you will find me. And Father, I ask and I pray that if that is them, that God, you allow them to seek and that you are found. Father, I ask and I pray that we just look to you first and foremost as an object of our worship. Father, everything else can be a distant second in our life. Understanding that when you are the object of our worship, everything else in our life becomes better. Father, I ask and I pray that if there is anyone in here today, Father, that just needs an encouragement, an uplifting, anything, that Father, by the power of your Spirit, you do that for them. Father, we pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.