Stuffing

Dam breaking

Al did a great sermon out of the gate in the new year. I called it Let's get real. I don't know what his actual title was. It was good and challenging in what he said.
Everything he said I thought was good, however, the scripture he used seemed to say something else to me than what his focus was.

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

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.


What stood out to me was the part I put in bold. The Magi come looking for the star. On the way they probably pass other travelers and find out the big city is Jerusalem and the big power is Herod. They go to see him. As Al stressed in his sermon, Herod was a pretty godless dude. BUT he was the one who sent the Magi on the RIGHT path. God is in control. He can use who or what he wants. Herod was used as the focusing agent for God. The Magi needed a path to walk and Herod gave it to them. They didn't have the scriptures about Bethlehem. They needed to walk the path they did to get to where they needed to go.

Going into Rustle in the morning, I feel a need for focus. There is a song in my head since the new year and I feel that God is tying to tell me something through it, but I haven't reached out to what it is. I had a dream about words being chiseled in a broken window but I couldn't read what they were. I feel like I need just a slight adjustment of focus to see these things. Do you ever feel like that? Like you are close to focus but you know you are not there.
I see from the scripture that this focus could come from anywhere. Not to prejudge. God knows what he is doing.

At the end of the service, the spirit came in and dams were broken. A great way to end.

posted by Aphra @ 1/06/2013 03:36:00 PM