When Darkness Tried To Kill The Light | Pastor Terrence Mullings

Some of you are looking at that diagnosis from an earthly perspective, and God says, this will not end in death, because by my stripes, you are already healed. I took your sickness on the cross. I took your disease on the cross, and by my stripes, you are healed. Psalm 103 says, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not his benefits, who not only forgives my sins, but he heals. To give everyone a chance to pop their hand up, I wanna start with a little sermonic survey, and it's this. Hands up if you have a Christmas tree up at your house. Hands up if you have, wow, that's pretty. Hands up if you don't have a Christmas tree up at your house. Okay, don't know why? Maybe you're an Android user. Praise Jesus, you're still welcome here at History Makers Church. Here's my question. Do you know why we put up Christmas trees? You're gonna find out by the end of this message. Why do we put up Christmas trees? And as we dive into the Christmas story, we're gonna find out why. Why do we put that tree up in our house? Matthew chapter two, starting at verse one, says this. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea,

during the time of King Herod, magi from the east, they came to Jerusalem, and they asked this question. Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? You gotta shout back at me today. We saw his star. We saw his star when it rose, and we have come to worship him. Verse three says, when King Herod heard this, he was so disturbed, and all of Jerusalem was disturbed with him. Pause right there. Herod was so disturbed. He was thinking, what, there's a king with a star coming into Jerusalem, Roman territory that I occupy? He was so mad that there was someone who was greater than him apparently coming, and they followed the star, because even the celestial realm was giving testimony to the fact that Jesus is not just king, but he is king of kings. But my question is, why was Jerusalem also mad? Because it was occupied by Roman people who had come and conquered that territory, and Jerusalem was mad because they had lived under the rule of King Herod, who was a tyrant. He was such a tyrant. In fact, they knew that because a king was coming

that would possibly usurp him and take the throne, that he was mad. And they knew this about Herod. He was un poquito loco. No, un poquito mas loco, mucho loco. He was crazy. In fact, historians say this about King Herod, that when he died, watch this, when King Herod was about to die, he put out an edict because he knew that the whole city and the whole region hated him so much that no one would cry at his death. And so he put out this edict to kill all the poor people at the news of his death so they'd be crying and mourning in the streets because he knew they wouldn't cry for him. Thank goodness they didn't follow through on that, but this is the person that we're dealing with when it comes to Herod. Let's go to verse four. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and the teachers of the law, he asked them, where is the Messiah to be born? Because the Magi came and told him, there is a King, we followed his star. Tell me, in verse five says, in Bethlehem in Judea, they replied. For this is what the prophet has written. But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judea, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah.

No, no, you're a city that greatness is gonna rise out of, it was prophesied. For out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Verse seven says this. Then Herod called the Magi secretly and he found out from them the exact time that the star had appeared in the sky. Verse eight says, he then sent them to Bethlehem and said, go, I need you to go and search carefully for the child. And as soon as you find him, I need you to report back to me that I might go and worship him. I need to find this little baby so I can just give him a good cuddle and a good squeeze is what Herod was saying because he wasn't happy about this news. Verse nine says, after they heard the King, they went on their way and the star, someone say the star, that they had what? When it rose, it went ahead of them and it stopped over the place where the child was. I wanna slip into the scene a little bit and illustrate this because I can picture if they were following a star that it must have been darkness. And I can picture there was darkness and there were so many stars in the sky, stars here, stars to the right,

stars going up here, stars there, stars. How do you know which one of these stars that we're meant to follow? But the Bible says that they followed his star. There must have been something special about this star. In fact, if you know the story of, and the song, it says, we three kings of Orient are, we're bearing gifts. We've traveled from so far. We've gone over field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder's star. And as a star came to them, it said, oh star of wonder, let's sing it. We're of a wonder star. Come on, you can sing with me. Star with royal, star with royal beauty bright, westward leading, I'm following it. It's leading me somewhere and it's saying, guide me to thy perfect light. And the star came and we placed that star on the trees of our home to signify that God has sent the savior of the world. His name is Jesus Christ. Would you clap your hands and celebrate? Can we clap our hands and just thank our creative team? They're amazing. They're amazing. Lights can go up. In verse 10, it says this, that when they saw the, when they saw the what? The star, they were filled with joy. The magi, they saw the star.

Now, when they saw the star, did they look down or did they look up? They had to look up to see the star and they followed the star. Wise men, would you follow the star? Here's the star that it sits so high. And the Bible says they didn't just see the star, but they started to follow. Someone say follow. So they're following this star and they say they came from the East and the star was westward leading. Some say it was days. Some say it was weeks. Some historians say they followed this star for months. And the wise men came and the wise men brought gifts of gold and they brought gifts. And let's go to the next verse. It says, on coming to the house, they followed the star where little baby Jesus lay. They saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they did what? They bowed down and they worshiped him. Let's bow down. ♪ Cause here I am to worship ♪ And here I am to bow down ♪ And here I am to say that you're mine They bowed down and they worship because when you're in the presence of the King,

there's only one thing you can do. Do you know why we bow down? We bow down because bowing down is an act of submission. That I'm coming under the mission of the King. And they bowed down to say, I'm coming under your rule. I'm coming under your reign. I'm coming under your authority. And what that means for these men who bowed down to the King was this, that the King Jesus was now responsible as a King is for their welfare, for their provision, for their peace, for their protection. The King is now responsible because they have come under the mission of the King. And here's what we learned. I bow down to say, you're my God. Last week we learned this. When you make room for God, God will make room for your miracle. Can we thank the three wise men? You can take your seat. They came and they bowed down before God. And what they're saying is that you're responsible for my welfare. And here's my point in this moment. It's this, you gotta be very careful who you bow down to. Because when you bow down, you're coming under their mission. They're coming under their mission.

You see, when you bow before the enemy, when you bow before Jesus, he says that my mission is that you might have life and life more abundantly. But when you bow before any other idol, that's not Jesus, there is stealing, there is killing and there is destruction in your life. Come on, make some noise if you're only bound before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And the Bible says that they opened up their treasure chest and what was bought before this King Jesus was gold, was frankincense and there was myrrh. This is actually real frankincense. So beautiful. So he brought gold because gold is fitting for a king. That's what you bring to a king. It's rare. It's valuable. Frankincense was the offering that the priest used to give in the temple. And so day and night, night and daylight. So incense starts to rise. But my question is why myrrh? Why myrrh? So they opened up and they brought a gift to the King. You know, it's interesting. It was Jesus literal birthday. and the wise men were wise enough to bring gifts to the King. You know, this day and age, it's Jesus' birthday still, but we don't bring gifts to the King.

We bring gifts and we give it to each other, but what about gifts for the King? Can you imagine if it was your birthday and everyone came over to your house and left you in a corner and gave gifts to everyone else? Oh, but not the wise men because they were not unwise men, they were wise men. And this morning, I wanna speak to you from this thought, when darkness tried to kill the light. When darkness tried to kill the light, the wise men knew, and you can't say the next part of the title, you gotta sing it. They said, All hail King Jesus. Yeah, all hail King Jesus. The wise men knew what to do when darkness tried to extinguish the light. And my question to you this morning is, do you know what to do when darkness comes to extinguish your light? Because if you don't know what to do, your light will get extinguished. And it's not if darkness comes to try and extinguish your light, it is when. Because while we live on this earth, this fallen earth, darkness will come, and sometimes darkness comes with an unexpected diagnosis. There's a sickness, the doctors report that you weren't expecting.

It might be the loss of a loved one, it might be bills, a financial hit you didn't expect that was coming. And darkness might come to you in the form of anxiety. Darkness might come this Christmas feeling lonely and feeling alone. And my question to you is, what are you gonna do? Not if, but when darkness comes to try and extinguish your light. I got bad news and I got good news. Here's the bad news. If you don't know what to do, your light will get extinguished. Your light will get extinguished. But the good news here this morning is that there are three lessons that we can learn from the wise men. Three lessons from the wise men who actually stopped darkness. His name was the butcher of Bethlehem who tried to kill baby Jesus. Three lessons we learn from the wise men of how to stop darkness from killing the light in your world. And for those taking notes, and for those who wanna go to heaven, and let's write this down. Number one, number one, the wise men sought and followed, they sought the star.

The Bible says they saw the star. So we must seek until we see the star. We must seek until we see the star. Here's the good news. The star is very easy to find. If I get a little thing up here as well. The star is very easy to find. How did they know which star? Thank you so very much. It's hot up here under these lights. How did they know which star to follow? Well, let's slip back into the scene for a moment. The Bible says that the Magi followed the what? It's easy, followed the? Now, that means that the Magi knew something about the stars. You may not know this about the Magi, but the Magi were actually astronomers. Now, astronomers, they know the science of the stars. Different to astrologers who try and ascribe merely a meaning to the stars, they try to interpret the celestial. And so they sought in the stars the heavens were foretelling the birth of a child, the birth of a baby, a birth of the Messiah. This is what they saw in the stars. In Psalm 19 one, it says this, the heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaim his handiwork. You know, they had to look up.

Someone say, look up. In order to see what God has for your life, you need to look up. The moment they stopped looking up at the star and the moment they looked down and they went to Herod to ask Herod, do you know where this child was about to be born? Their life got off track because they started asking the locals for direction. I can tell you every time my life's gotten off track, it's because I stopped looking to the light and started looking to the locals. There are certain people in your life, there's certain friends, and there's certain people who aren't friends, they're frenemies. They don't have your best interest in heart and you need to shift and change your circle. Can I get a witness in here that you need the right circle in your life? And if you do have a group here at History Makers Church, people who encourage you, people who support you, would you make some noise in this place that you have the right people who speak off the light of Jesus, amen? So let's go back to Matthew 2 and see what happened. They should have looked up, but they looked to Herod and here's what happened in Matthew 2, verse 12. And having been warmed in a dream, they did not go back to Herod,

they returned to their country by another route. The wise men wised up again, even though they almost messed it up. And verse 16 says this, when Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was what? Furious, and he gave orders to kill. all the boys in Bethlehem that's where I get that thought that he was the butcher of Bethlehem and it's everyone in its vicinity he's on a killing spree I told you he was a tyrant and every child that was two years old and under in accordance with the time that he learned from the magi my question to Herod is why are you so mad? Herod who hurt you? I mean who hurts you Herod that you have to do that and I think it's for this reason because he's King Herod he is the leader of the Roman Empire of that region and what there is another king that has a star I don't have a star King Herod doesn't have a star and he's getting jealous and you've got to understand when the wise men came it wasn't like we tried to illustrate just then because there is no king that travels by himself he would have seen the caravans of people do you remember when the Queen of Sheba went to see Solomon he came with caravans so it wasn't just three lonely men that were coming into the city to worship the true king of kings no no they came with caravans and he saw the wealth and he saw the worship and that is what flipped his switch and triggered him someone say triggered why the star because the king of heaven was coming down here to earth you got to understand kings here on earth like King Herod are actually they're elected they're selected by the people someone say the people or there's a military coup where they elect themselves and they take it by force or there's jostling for power there's corruption maybe the king gets killed an inferior person rises up come on anyone from a nation like that that's happened like this is real and it still happens in this day and age and so in those days kings were elected and selected but who knows true kings from heaven aren't elected and selected by the people they're anointed and appointed by God he has a star because he was heaven-sent and can I tell you this morning when you change the way you look at things the things you look at change because the wise men were looking at the king from a heavenly perspective Herod was looking just from an earthly perspective and he almost missed it 12 spies were sent out to go into the promised line promised land 10 of them

looked at it from a earthly perspective and they saw giants two of them looked at it from a heavenly perspective and they saw large grapes and says these giants are too small for my great big god there is a promise and I want to tell you here today some of you are looking at your circumstances from the wrong perspective you are looking at your finances from the wrong perspective you got to understand when you take the little you have and you give it into the hands of the lord he can take a little and turn it into a lot it's called sowing and reaping some of you are looking at your kids and the situation you're in from an earthly perspective and God says you need to shift your perspective you need to look up and see what I see some of you are looking at that diagnosis from an earthly perspective and God says this will not end in death because by my stripes you are already healed I took your sickness on the cross I took your disease on the cross and by my stripes you are healed psalm 103 says bless the lord oh my soul and forget not his benefits who not only forgives my sins but he heals all my disease not some but all my disease you got to start looking up don't see the circumstances don't look at your future through earthly eyes look at it through heaven's eyes because God says for I know the plans I have for you says the lord in jeremiah 29 11 stop looking at yourself the way you see yourself I know you have made some mistakes but you are not a mistake God says about you I've removed your sin as far as the east is from the west that you are fearfully and wonderfully made stop looking at your family from an earthly perspective look at your family and know that God has redeemed them look at your family and know as for me and my house we will serve the lord stop looking at your diagnosis from your perspective God has a greater perspective and when you change the way you look at things the things you look at will make some noise if you believe that in this place here this morning you know what's so crazy is that the birth of Jesus was foretold the priests the scribes the Jewish people actually couldn't just read it only in the stars they read it in the book and you know there are so many things that the same Jesus that they knew was coming because Herod called the scribes and they said he's going to be born right there Herod was just too lazy to go because he was blinded by rage so Herod was blinded and he couldn't see the thing that was right in front of him you know the Jewish people couldn't see the one who was right in front of them he walked in their temple he walked in their streets they knew the exact exact location where Jesus was to be born, but he was blinded.

And I wonder how many of us are blinded to Jesus because let me give you seven things that will blind you when you see from an earthly perspective and not a heavenly perspective. Because number one, you got to see the star. Here's seven things that will stop you from seeing the star. Number one, it's religion. Oh, religion, you might think this is religion. No, religion is what we do to try and get to God. Relationship is what God has done to get to us by sending Jesus Christ, as Pastor Emma said at the start. You know, a lot of us lose Jesus in religious traditions. Number two, it's tradition, it's tradition. How he came was not what they expected. They thought he was gonna come in a castle, in a throne, with an army, but no, no, he came as this lowly child in a manger and so they missed it. Do you know Jesus' parents literally lost him at a religious tradition? I wonder how many of us are losing Jesus in our religious tradition. Number three, greed, what about greed? Herod was so desperate for power, so greedy for power. Maybe your ambition to climb the ladder of success is actually causing you to not see the star. So you're climbing the ladder of success and some of you are reaching the top, but you're gonna get to the top and go, oh, this was leaning on the wrong building.

I needed it to be westward leading. I needed it to be on this side. This is what God called me to do. What about pride, pride? Herod didn't want Jesus to be king over his life because Herod is the only king around here. What about jealousy? Someone say jealousy. You know, jealousy was Saul's suicide. He was so jealous of David. Look at them singing songs about David. Come on, David was a, you know, Saul was jealous that David was a rockstar. You'll get that tomorrow. Five stones, get it, rockstar. Saul's suicide that he was blinded by that and it ended up costing him the throne. Number six, what about fear, fear? He had fear that if there was another king, he would lose control and have to submit to come under the mission of another person. What about number seven, selfishness, selfishness that will lead to hatred. That he really was willing to kill and to slaughter all people just in case he would lose his privilege. You know, in now my land of birth in Australia, even right now, people are still killing people because of selfishness, that my way is the only way. And you've never had murders like that in Australia, but I tell you, when you get blinded,

you will end up submitting to the mission of the enemy to steal, kill and destroy. Herod's blindness, watch this, caused him to steal, to kill and destroy. Herod didn't want Jesus to be the king of his life, but before we pick up those stones and throw them at Herod, I wonder if there is a Herod in each and every one of us. I wonder if there's a little Herod in you and in I. And by that, here's what I mean, that Herod didn't want Jesus to be the king of his life. And I wonder how many of us don't want Jesus to be king. Oh, we're okay with Jesus being the savior of us, but we don't want Jesus to be the king of us. We're okay with Jesus being the savior of our life. Oh, but when Jesus is king, he'll tell you what to do. I wonder how many of us are so blinded. You know, I want to have the final authority in my life. Telling me it's my money, my alcohol, don't tell me not to drink, my social media. And we've got these idols, forgive who? You want me to forgive them? How dare you, king, try and tell me what to do? You don't know what they did to me. Take my money and give it to the church, my hard-earned money? And so we want to be the Lord over our life and we don't do what God has called us to do. Be careful in case there's a Herod that rises up inside of you. Oh, I love our church because there's such a generous church.

We're not the church who says, don't tell me what to do with my money. In fact, this week, not only did we do all those great things but we facilitated two people getting cars in our church, a single mom and another lady who got a car because of your generosity. Clap your hands in this place. That's what happens when we submit to Jesus. Just a reminder, pastor's car got written off so if the Lord speaks and praise the Lord. Do what with my body? You want me to serve others? Do what? You want me to have restrictions? No, it's my body. I will sleep with who I want, when I want. No, no, this is my body and my choice. Well, that could be the reason why you are riddled with so many illnesses, sickness and pain. You've got so many soul ties, so much emotional baggage. You could ground Delta and American Airlines. You've got to break those soul ties in Jesus' name and trust what God says about your life. When you choose to be Lord over your own life, you will actually lose. lose your life and others will lose their life too. In Matthew 16, it says this, verse 25. If you try to hang on to your life, you will, but if you give up your life for my sake, you will. Come on, we've got to get out of our own heads.

We've got to get out of our own will. And that's why Jesus said, not my will, but he came under submission to the father. He only did what he saw the father doing. Can I tell you, you got to reposition yourself to stop looking at your circumstances, lift your vision and learn from the wise men to look up. Someone say, look up. Look up. Practically, can I tell you how you can see the star and make 2026 the best year? Practically, keep looking at Jesus. I want to give you the one year challenge, one year challenge that every Sunday you can, keep coming back to church. That's how you see the star, look up, look up and see him, reposition yourself. Number two, you don't just see the star, you got to follow the star. Find yourself in a group. Come to find your people, not Herod's, but the right people. Destiny steps and get clarity on the gift. Destiny steps is where we help you discover your divine design. So the wise men knew the gift that they could bring to Jesus. Do you know your gift that you can bring to Jesus? And so next year, if you made a commitment to do that, you would discover this gift, and then you could find a team. And I promise you, if you do that,

2026 will be your best year. And every time someone asks you what time it is, well, you can tell them, I sowed some seed. And so what time is it? It's gonna be harvest time next year. I wanna tell you prophetically over your life, over your family, over your finances, the things you've been believing for, it ain't seed time just yet. Next year will be harvest time. Number one, they saw the star. Number two, they followed the star. They followed the star. They followed the star. No matter how far, no matter how hard it was. Can I tell you, it takes faith to follow. Let's write that down. It takes faith to, especially when you're not exactly sure the details of the journey. In fact, leaving Australia with hardly any money, just our home savings and no church and no people and no connections, it was hard, but following Jesus is gonna require faith. Someone say faith. And some of you have given up way too easily. Some of you are giving up way too easily. You know, one of my favorite verses, in fact, the verse that this church was built on during a 40-day fast, it's this one.

Hebrews 12, two says this, looking on to, shout it out. We're looking on to Jesus. We're looking up on the Jesus who is a star of heaven. Eyes on him, eyes on his word every Sunday. Because if you don't keep your eyes on him, darkness will come. Because if you don't keep your eyes on him, darkness will extinguish your light because he's both the author and the... Author and finisher means that he's starting the journey and he is obligated to finish the journey. And the good news is if he's the author and finisher, he will walk with you in the middle of the journey as well. We just gotta stay close to be able to follow. We gotta know his voice. Don't give up. Some of you are about to give up and you're just about to get into your breakthrough. Some of you about to give up and you're gonna settle for someone who is less than God's best, look up again. God has more for you, don't give up. Because the Bible says that if you fix your eyes on Jesus, he's the author and the finisher. Who for the? For the what? For the joy set before him. I needed to tell you when you don't give up, it's not sadness that's in front of you.

It's not sickness that's in front of you. It's not shame that's in front of you. It's salvation, it's strength in the name of Jesus. This is where we get our joy from. Joy is coming, so don't give up. Oh, we must like Jesus continue endure the cross because he despised shame. Shame has had to take a seat in Jesus name. And Jesus has now sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. You can take up your cross and follow Jesus because on the other side of that cross is a crown waiting for you that declares that with Jesus as king of kings, that you are royalty. Come on, can the sons and daughters of God make some noise in this place? Oh, that's some of you. What about this side? Sons and daughters of God make some noise and shout Jesus in this place. Jesus. You got to fight the good fight of faith as it says in 1 Timothy 6.12. You know, we planted this church, I was 40 years old. That's not young. And some of us have given up too early when God says, if I start it, I'm gonna finish it. Some of you need, I'm declaring this, you need some follow through faith. You need some follow through.

You've started this thing, but you've given up. early and God says I need some follow through faith. All I need is a recipient who would say hey if God has brought us together, God will make sure that what God has brought together no man will put asunder. God has said if you two of you would touch and agree with it as anything let it be on earth because all I'm looking for is agreement says the Lord. It says in Psalm 119 thy word someone say his word is a lamp unto my feet and a his word created the world his word is more real than what you see so walking by faith is going to require that you understand his word. You know my wife Emma said something so spectacular while she was preaching at this conference a few weeks ago and she and she said this she said God speaks to us through scripture now that's not that profound it's true and I've said this is because his voice is found in a verse but then she went on to say this she said so if God speaks to us through scripture the more scripture you know the more vocabulary God has to speak to you so isn't it crazy some of us do not have the divine direction that we want because God hasn't got the vocabulary to speak to us because we don't know his word so I want to encourage you how you follow Jesus is to get your face out of the face book and into God's book and see what God has to speak to you do that 21 days of prayer and fasting Psalm 19 says the heavens declare the glory of the Lord and the skies proclaim the works of his hand so watch this astronomers look at the sides of the stars the magi were astronomers that's how they knew not how to just to see the star but how to how to follow follow the star that's point two for those taking notes and a real christians follow the star you know there are 12 constellations that govern the skies the star how many constellations there's 12 um and you know whether it was uh the god of aries and all through the centuries they've understood the stars how many months are there they're 12 months um shout out what month you were born all right so um you know the world talks about zodiac signs and talks about stars do you know that was originally God's idea and the world will take what's God's idea and twist it in fact do you know Leo speaks off what Leo is the the lion if you look in the stars you will see that the lion actually speaks of Jesus who is the lion of the tribe of Judah and when Jesus the lion roars darkness has to hide darkness has to shrink back when Leo the lion Jesus the lion roars in fact the lion is roaring because uh sons history makers sons right now we got our history makers sons conference that will be happening again come on man you better make some noise in this place i didn't hear you Daniel make some noise May 30th

history makers men's conference make sure you register your men because there is something that happens when men find their voice there was something that happened when scar tried to take out the light in Simba but something happened when Simba looked to the father and found his voice oh i'm preaching from the lion king you better believe it and you're gonna find your voice men because the victory is in your voice the victory is in your voice do you know um any do you know um any Virgos in the room Virgos in the room all right Virgos do you know Virgo if you understand the celestial ram speaks off the virgin Mary the virgin Mary who would be with seed the child uh October babies October all right uh i'm on October and i'm at the end of October and they tell me i don't read this stuff um but they tell me i'm a Scorpio you know what Scorpio means it's the sting of death the sting of death do you know it was 1980 1980 at the royal woman's hospital in Brisbane Australia i've never told this story um Jeremiah my son heard this for the first time and i think my daughter's ever heard this story but in 1980 October 29th my mother was in the hospital in Brisbane Australia and she almost died she almost died and i almost died because what they didn't realize they had the wrong due date and she was about three weeks overdue with me in fact in fact um i don't know the exact date how long she was overdue but when i came out i was so um they had this name for me the nurses and the doctors they called me the overcooked chook the overcooked chook because my skin was so dry i had um atopic dermatitis and it's interesting that 1980 October 29th the devil the sting of death came knocking at my door and the devil tried to destroy me in my mother's womb And isn't it interesting that God rescued me from the hands of the devourer? And so the Scorpio, when you think it's you, no, no, no, it's the king of heaven who will destroy the devourer, the one who's been destroying you. And I think what symphony and what beauty that God would rescue me. And then he would raise me up to be a rescuer, to come here to the United States. And one of the hallmarks of History Makers Church is that we draw people out of darkness. So the devil tried to keep me in the darkness and not let me come out into the light. And in History Makers Church, just this year, one of the hallmarks is we've drawn people out of darkness. And we have had over 1,000 people say yes to Jesus, drawn out of darkness and into his glorious light.

522 of those people have written down on a card and said, I have said yes to Jesus because Jesus will fight for you. You know, another hallmark of History Makers Church is that although the devil tried to take me out in my mother's womb, tried to kill me in the womb, watch this. God has so put his stamp over this church that there is something about this church where women come and men come who are barren and God breaks the barrenness, what the devil tried to steal, kill and destroy. And we got stories like Julie and Zay, who've been believing for a baby and never had a baby before, now pregnant with child. We got Jasmine and Leo right now, who just announced after years of trying for a baby, tears upon tears, sadness upon sadness. When the butcher of Bethlehem, when death came knocking at their door, there was one who rose up. His name is Jesus. He is the king of kings with all authority. And this is what our God does when you follow Jesus. All of the stars point to Jesus. Some of you are getting mad because I'm mentioning horoscopes in church, but you got to understand the stars, the Bible says, point to Jesus. Can I tell you, if I put a rainbow up at the front of this church, some of you would get mad, but the rainbow ain't the world's. The rainbow is Jesus. The rainbow is what God has promised to protect his people who would follow him. You got to redeem those things that the world is trying to take out of your hands. It all points to Jesus. The only way we get it wrong is when we take these stars and we make them point to us instead of point to the king of kings and Lord of lords. Some of you get mad online because I'm mentioning six, seven. Well, I'll tell you, unless your six finds seven, six, the number of men must find seven, the hand of God, because it's only seven that's going to get you to heaven.

Make some noise. We got to redeem these things from culture. This is God's. Follow Jesus. I'm not following man. I'm following Jesus. All hail King Jesus. I'm not a Scorpio because I'm strong to fight. No, I'm a Scorpio because the king of kings fights for me in Jesus' name. Let me tell you, as we start to come to a close, that there's a magnificent story in the Bible to help you follow Jesus called the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant. Anyone seen Raiders of the Ark? The Ark of the Covenant. Can we bring it out here? The Ark of the Covenant. Now, in this Ark of the Covenant, there were three things inside. Number one were the 10 Commandments, the 10 Commandments. Now the 10 Commandments also point to Jesus. Did you know that? What about this side? Did you guys know that? We actually did a whole series on it in 2024. I encourage you to watch it, that in this Ark of the Covenant were these 10 Commandments. And can I tell you, everything points to Jesus. You got to follow Jesus. You can see him everywhere. So when the people ask Jesus, there are 10 Commandments, there are about 300 plus laws. How do I know which ones to follow? And what's the law?

And Jesus says, the whole law is summed up in these two things, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Those two things. Watch this. Do you know the 10 Commandments? The first four actually speak about our relationship with God, loving God. The last six speak about our relationship with people, how to love people. And Jesus summed up those two things. So everything points to Jesus. The 10 Commandments were in there. Do you know what else was in the Ark of the Covenant? Manna, manna from heaven, bread from heaven, that this speaks about not the law of God, but the love of God to provide for his people when they were coming out of slavery from Egypt and going into the promised land, they had the manna as well. There was one more thing in the Ark of the Covenant, who knows what it is before they put it up? Aaron's rod. Aaron's rod. Aaron's rod. Yes, Aaron's rod was in there. Can we, let me tell you the story about Aaron's rod. This is about leadership. Let's bring it up here, PJ, if we can. We should do a whole series around the law, the love, and Aaron's rod is about leadership. Someone say leadership. This is one of our great leaders here at History Makers Church. Thank you, PJ. Love you. He's a legend, him and his wife lead some freedom groups, they serve in our baptism team,

give them a round of applause. So during my 40 day fast to plant this church, back in October and November of 2014, this is how God spoke to me, through this scripture about Aaron's rod. And it's found in Numbers 17, and this will help you, I'm going somewhere. It says, the Lord said to Moses, speak to the Israelites and get 12 staffs from them, one from each of the leaders of their ancestral tribe. And I need you to write their name on each of these staffs. So they would have got one from each tribe, how many tribes in Israel? 12, and they would write one leader from each of the tribes in there. And he says, place them in the tent of meeting in front of the ark of the covenant of law, where I will meet with you. So what this represents, watch this, is the presence of God. Now we haven't got a tent, so I'm gonna make this the presence of God. And so he said, the staff belonging to the man that I choose, when you put it in there, it will sprout. Someone say sprout. And I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites. And so there was this thing going on where the people were saying, well, Moses ain't the leader. Oh, well, Moses is the leader and Aaron is the priest.

This is nepotism. And they're coming against Moses and Aaron. And so God says, I know what to do. God says, come here, come here. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something, let me tell you. God says, take 12 branches, let me sum it up, snap it off from the tree so there's no life and sustenance, and then write each person's name who you think should be priest. Spoke person, gather them all in a bundle and put them before me. So they got all the sticks and they put them where? In the ark of the, that's four, three, seven, 10, 11, 12. 10, 11, 12. Okay, they put it in the ark of the covenant and it says, leave them in there. So Moses and the Israelites, verse five, and their leaders gave the 12 stars, one for each leader from the tribe and Aaron's staff was among them. Place them in before the Lord, the ark of the covenant, and everyone say what happened next. Next verse, it says, the next day, the next day, Moses entered the tent and saw, and saw that all the rods came out and they looked just like they had when they went in, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, but there was one rod, watch this,

that came out different. This rod had sprouted, budded, blossomed, and it was starting to produce ripe almonds. And can I tell you, that's what happens when you find yourself in the presence of God here at History Makers Church. You will sprout, bud, blossom, produce ripe almonds. The way we say it like this on the screens is to see you holy, healthy, happy, and bringing. Oh, I wanna tell you what a great story that in just one day, a dead stick can start producing fruit that can only happen in the presence of God. But there is a greater reason why I tell you that because, don't put it up yet, but I told you in October, November, 2014, I went on a 40-day fast. And in that fast, I was asking God, one of these questions was, are you leading me like you led the Magi to leave my land to go to another land, to follow the star who's gonna heal, redeem, restore, make people holy, healthy, happy, bringing heaven to earth? And I remember asking God, and I'm praying, and here's the date, it was December 16th, 2014, 1123 a.m. I'm walking with my wife and her family up in Queensland because we're gonna say bye, and we thought we were leaving then, but it was obviously four years later. That's a whole nother story. And during the 40-day fast,

I'm walking after the 40-day fast, and I'm looking, and there's a whole garden place. We're walking through it, and there's trees, and the kids are playing, and I'm walking to this little place just to talk to God. And as I'm asking God, have you called me to lead this church? This is the picture of what I saw. Now, if you look at this picture, there is no other tree that has life coming from it in a place where life was not meant to be. And God said to me, remember Aaron's rod. Remember Aaron's rod. I've called you to be a leader. I've called you to be a leader. Why this story? Because I believe that this story in that picture is a snapshot of human history. In this world we live in, there have been, for eons, people questioning who is the leader, who is the spokesperson for God. And some people come and say, it's Muhammad, Allah, Allah Akbar. It's. It's Buddha, it's Confucius. And we have all these people who have placed themselves. And God says, it's very simple, very simple. All you have to do is take a rod, snap it off from a tree, place it in a box for three days.

And the one that rises out of that box after three days, you will know that this is the spokesperson for me. And I want to tell you, Buddha died. Confucius died. Muhammad, Allah, died. Jesus even died. But there is one who got back up. Come on, Phil, don't leave me out here. But there is one. Come on, Phil, fast, fast, fast. There is one who got up out of that box. He is not dead. He is alive. His name is Jesus. He's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Everything points back to Jesus. So number one, they saw the star. Number two, they followed the star. And number three, and finally I'll end here, they worshiped the star. ♪ Because here I am to worship ♪ ♪ Here I am to bow down ♪ ♪ Here I am to say, yeah, you're my God. ♪ So they came to worship him. And my question is, do you understand that what you worship, you become? The Israelites were coming out of Egypt. Moses goes up to the mountain to worship God. And the people start complaining. Well, Moses, where's he gone?

So they took their earrings. They took their big chains, their necklaces. They took the gold. They melted it and they made an idol called a golden calf. What you worship, you become, because what they were saying is that we are nothing but cattle to be herded by Pharaoh. So not only do I know who you are, but I know by how you worship, who you have believed and who you've submitted to. And so the Bible says, the wise men came and they took gold and they placed it at the feet of Jesus because a king is worthy of his worship. They came and they took frankincense and they put it here because the priest took the frankincense and it was a fragrant offering to heaven that shows that Jesus is not just the king, but Jesus is priest. In fact, the old song talks about this. It says that gold, when we talk about the three wise men, gold is royalty. Let's put it up there, the song. It says this, born a king in Bethlehem's plain, gold I bring to crown him again. Frankincense, the next one, speaks not of royalty, but his divinity.

And here's what we're saying when the praise rise, frankincense offer of I, incense owns a deity, the God is nigh. Day and night, night and day, let incense. Day and night, night and day. Hold it there. All hail king. So the third gift that they brought to worship God, it was not gold, it was not frankincense, it was, why myrrh? Let's pop it on the screen. Myrrh is mine. It's a bit of a perfume. It speaks of God's humanity. It breathes a life of gathering glue. It gathering glue. I wanna ask you, why myrrh? Because Jesus was not just a king. Jesus was not just worthy of our worship, but Jesus had to suffer and die so that we might live. It says in John 3, 16, God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him would not perish. This is the good news about Christmas, that under the tree are gifts. And I started this message by asking you,

why do we have a Christmas tree? Here's why we have a Christmas tree. Because 2000 years ago, on a tree, Jesus Christ died to give us the greatest gift that we could ever dream, think or imagine. On a tree 2000 years ago, on a cross. And here's what the Bible says about that tree. Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. And Jesus Christ hung on a tree to give us life and life more abundantly. You gotta understand life is eternal life where we get to heaven, pointing where Jesus the star is no longer on the cross, he sits above the cross. But He didn't just give us life, eternal life, He gave us abundant life. As we traverse moor and mountain, field and fountain, as we follow Jesus the star, He will give us life more abundantly. The reason why we have the Christmas tree, because it represents that Jesus died on the cross, on that tree, so that we could have gold. That is an eternity filled with so much pleasure and provision in heaven with Jesus, so that while we're here on earth, we have peace, we have peace, because the priest, who is the Prince of Peace has come. But we have this myrrh, a burial perfume,

to remind us of this gift this Christmas, that only a King can provide, bring peace, but only a King can pardon all that I've done wrong. And you might've come here today with some darkness riddled through your veins and through your blood, but there is one who comes and wants to bring a blood transfusion into your life. All the darkness, all the sin, all the mistakes, it will not extinguish you. There is a Saviour who paid the price on a cross 2000 years ago, and the cross is the great exchange. My weakness for His strength, my filthy rags for His salvation. And the Bible says, here's how we receive the gift of Jesus. It's as easy as A-B-C. A, we need to acknowledge that all of us have sinned and fallen short. B, you need to believe that the King of Kings is who He says He are, and not just see Him, not just follow Him, but bow down and worship Him. And how we do that is C, the Bible says you got to confess with your mouth. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. Can I tell you, hell is not a place where bad people go. Hell is a place where people go who choose to pay for their own sins. But why would you do that when on a cross, on a tree, 2000 years ago, Jesus already did that. I'm gonna invite you to pray a prayer to bow before the King of Kings, the Saviour of the world.

Don't let pride, don't let your insecurities blind you like Herod was blinded. Look up and see the star with every eye closed and every head bowed. How do I look up, Terrence, with my eyes closed and my head bowed is because you're looking with heavenly eyes. And so I'm gonna pray a prayer. If you'd like me to include you in this prayer of salvation, I'm gonna ask you right where you're sitting just to raise your hand. No one's looking around and just say, yep, I need this Jesus. Awesome, hands going up. One, two, three, four, five, six, oh wow, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, two hands there, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, a whole family, 26, 27. Come on, we can thank Jesus, 28, 29. Let's pray this prayer together. Every voice, let's say dear Jesus. Dear Jesus. Come on, every voice, one more time. Let's say dear God. Dear God. Thank you for sending Jesus. Thank you for sending Jesus. To savior off the world. To Savior of the world. Today,

Today, I welcome him, I welcome him, into my heart, into my heart. To forgive me, To forgive me, To heal me, To heal me, And restore me. And restore me. I repent, I repent, for going my own way. for going my own way. And today, And today, I see, I see, I follow, I follow, And I worship, And I worship, And welcome Jesus. And welcome Jesus. Into my heart. Into my heart. I am saved, in Jesus name. Amen.

And amen. And amen. Amen. Amen. Hey, heaven is celebrating and we are celebrating with you. And we want to walk this journey together. So if you prayed that prayer, or you just want to know more about Jesus, follow the prompts that are on the screen right now. We are so proud of you. And honestly, God's vision for you, is to see you live that better story. Epic and eternal. We say it like this, to see you holy, healthy, happy, and bring in heaven to earth. And if you're watching, and you want to help others find Jesus like that, you can partner with us. And together we can make that epic difference. Hey, giving details are coming up on the screen. And we just say, if God's blessed you, you can be a blessing to other people as well. And hey, if you're here in the South Florida area,

we'd love to see you in person. Check out the description below for times, and the location, where you can come to a service. We would love to see you soon. This is History Makers Church, where friends truly become family. See you soon. ♪