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Scripture reading this morning was from Matthew and chapter 2 and that is what we're going to look at this morning.  Let me start by asking you a question.  Do you know that there are three types of people in this world?  Huh, what are the three types you say?  Well, you can look at the three types in different ways.   I saw one which is this.  People who make things happen.  People who watch things happen and people who wonder what happened.  I'm not sure which category you are but there are also three types of people with regards to Jesus Christ.  In terms of their attitude and relationship with Jesus, there are three kinds of people.  In Matthew chapter 2 we see all these three kinds.

The first kind - is that which hate Jesus Christ.  There people today who hate Jesus Christ.  In those days there was King Herod, in Matthew 2.  He wanted to kill Jesus Christ and so later on, you will read how he enquired where and when Jesus is born and after knowing it, he would kill every male child below the age of two because he could not tolerate having another king who would oppose his kingship so there are people today who hate Jesus Christ.

Then there's the second type of people in this world and these are the people who cannot be bothered with Jesus Christ.  They say I don't care about Jesus Christ and this is again represented in Matthew 2 via the scribes and chief priests.  You see the scribes and chief priests when asked, “where is this King of the Jews born?”, they knew exactly where He is born. They knew that He will be born in Bethlehem but you know what, even though they know about it, they did not bother to do anything with it.  They did not bother to look for Jesus, they knew that this promised Saviour King will come but they did not do anything to draw near to this King.  You say Pastor, give them, cut them some slack, maybe they lived very, very far away and it's hard for them to come but you know where they were was Jerusalem, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and the distance between Jerusalem and Bethlehem is a mere eight kilometres. You could probably take a Grab car there and it's going to be cheap, no problem.  You can run there in half an hour but they did not do anything about it and this represents how there may be a bulk of people in the world who may know about Jesus, hear about Jesus, but really in their hearts cannot be bothered with Jesus and then….

There's a third kind of people who are not antagonistic towards Christ, they are not apathetic towards Christ but they will come to adore Christ and the wise men spoken of in Matthew 2 came to worship Jesus so these are the three kinds of people in the world - those who are antagonistic, those who are apathetic and those who would adore Christ so today we're just going to focus on the last type of people - those who have come to worship Jesus. So in our series in the book of Matthew, we began by looking at the Ancestry - the genealogy of Jesus Christ then we looked at His birth, His Arrival and His names and today we're going to look at the Adoration of the King.

It's a sermon that helps us understand what worship is all about and that's where I start.  This is the question - what exactly is worship?  If I were to ask you today what is worship?  How would you answer? I suppose, for many of us, we would think, worship is about singing.  For many of us, worship is about music.  After all, that is how many people refer to a worship before the sermon - eh, we need to worship first, then got sermon, that's how we think and even the team right up here, what do we call them, worship team, so, after some time we think worship equals singing or music and songs.

Now I certainly think worship can be in music.  Worship can be in songs.  Worship can be expressed by singing but I think worship is way bigger than music.  Worship is way bigger than singing.  Worship is way bigger than song.  In verse 11, we are told that the wise men came and worshipped Jesus. The word -worship in the English is the word - Proskuneo in the Greek and the word - Proskuneo is the most commonly used word for worship in the Bible so they came and Proskuneo Jesus.  You say what in the world is Proskuneo? Well, the word Proskuneo is a combination of two words - pro or pros and kuneo.  Pro or pros really means towards, kuneo means to kiss, so put them together, worship is to kiss towards so that's one idea you need to have, is to kiss towards.

Now let me give you a shocker alright.  The word kuneo or kuon in it, by itself, is a word that nobody would ever guess.  It's a word that means dog - woa, woa, woa, literally dog!   Wa what do you mean this - kiss towards, what - like a dog.   It's a word that depicts a dog licking the feet of the master.  You know how it is right, your dogs come and lick, lick, lick - that's the word there – Proskuneo is to go down, face down, bow down to kiss the feet of someone who is greater than yourself so in the Bible, you read of the woman who is forgiven much of her sins, she would bow down and kiss the feet of Jesus, Proskuneo!  It's a posture of deep humility, reverence, awe, honour, that you recognise that you are low and He is high and so when we read about the wise men coming to Jesus, they worshipped Him, they Proskuneo before Him, they kiss towards Him, they bowed themselves down and showed reverence. So worship is more than singing.  Worship is a posture, it's a posture, you see that? It's a posture of your life so if I were to define worship today based on the word Proskuneo the most commonly used word, I will say, worship is to bow down to kiss the feet of someone greater than us, way greater than us and this is a posture of reverence, honour, submission and obedience. This is how Hebrews would say - that we are to offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe. Worship is a heart posture and attitude of reverence, awe and honour towards God so it's more than the way we sing.

I think it covers the whole range of living.  It, it, it involves how you, let's say, we are gathering today, Sunday morning to worship God.  I'm not asking you to take away the chairs and start to lie prostrate on the floor, no that's not what I'm saying, I'm saying it's a posture of the heart primarily but that posture of the heart is not only when the pastor preaches or when the pastor prays or when we sing.  I think it is even before that.

In Ecclesiastes, we read, guard your steps when you go to the house of God.  In others words, watch how you come to the house of God, look at the way you come - how are you prepared to come to God because many of us we come mindlessly or maybe in a very distracted way or maybe, we come come late.  I remember ah in the good old days, in Gospel Light, when we were worshipping from place to place, there are always two cards at the back, facing the congregation. How many of you, have seen those cards, I just want to see how many of you have been with us, from the good old days, how many wa, four of you, are you serious? That's and the rest, how many of you remember those cards, can I see again please, four, five, wow, six, aah you all are hiding there.  Uncle Jo…alright so these are the old-timers, ah…I guess 20 years back.

You remember what the cards are?  Wa, everybody only remembers the one - there are two cards but we only remember one, which says habitual lateness dishonours God.  What does it mean to honour God?   What it means I'm coming to a worship service early that I may prepare myself to meet with God, I mean, makes sense.  If you want to meet a boss - what do you do - when you meet your boss in the company, you go early right?  You won't dare to come late, right?   If you have a job interview, you go early right?  If you want to meet Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, you go early right?  I mean this is how it is but when we come, now, please don't get me wrong, I'm not - I was not standing at the door, taking attendance of who came earlier and who came late lah huh.  I mean I'm nobody, it doesn't matter but it is about your way of showing reverence to your God, who love you and gave His Son for you.  It's personal and by the way, it is all right that you are really caught up in an emergency and you couldn't make it on time. I mean that's no problem, the key word in that card is what - habitual.

It's Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, you time yourself “swee-swee” [hokkien: on the dot] 11:25 then I walk in and you're very happy with that because you say wa I don't have to sing ah, I can just come straight for the sermon.  Well then, I think I, I wonder why you would think this way. I was taking a Grab hitch this morning to church, to this place and er this driver decided to take up another, it's not supposed to I think, but anyway picked me up, said, do you mind, I said I have no choice right, so he went off and I saw on the screen a certain name and say hey, this name sounds familiar and the, the, destination is also 39 Punggol Field Walk.  It turned out to be one of our members here and she was coming to, of course, for worship and I asked her when she got on the car, why, why would you come so early. I mean I was….I, I took the ride at 730, should be arriving before eight, eh I mean her service does not start at, be, anywhere before nine so asked her why. She says I just want to be here early, I don't want to be late, I can, I can wait somewhere, I can read my book somewhere but I just want to come early.  I thought wow cool, so early? Yup early. Haha so, one hour early? Yup one hour early. Hearts prepared and yet we have people who love to cut in at the very last minute at 1125 - habitual lateness dishonours God.

I, I think this is how we worship God when we have this posture that He is great, I am His child, I'm His servant and I want to do all things to honour Him and to make Him look glorious. You know when the church gathers, we may just saunter in at our own pace and time, you know it doesn't reflect well on the God we worship really, I think and so I think this is, this is what it means to guard your steps watch how you approach but not just how you come and approach God and so on, I think it also matters how you engage in the worship service itself.

The Bible tells us to draw near to listen.  In Ecclesiastes 5 in the house of God, you draw near to listen.  In other words, please don't space out.  Please don't go to, you, you know how it is when you all sing, we, we can see people go to, space out.  They are in twilight zone, der, der, der, der…..they are thinking about their own thing, they don't bother and I'm just sad because I, I think when we worship God, we, we are not just going through a motion.  It is not just singing song, you are singing to someone, you are singing about someone so, so please pay attention, I think that's proper.

I was told by someone who sat at the back and he says, he commented, I regularly see people playing with their phones during worship service.  Now some of you are busily taking notes, I think I understand la but some playing Candy Crush you know. As the song goes on, as the preacher goes on, you're just playing your games and you are spaced out.  I, I don't think that's what the Bible says.   J.I. Packer puts it clearly, learning from God is worship too, attention to His Word of instruction honours Him, inattention is an insult. I have two kids and one of the most frustrating thing both my wife and I experience is when we talk to them and they don't bother with us. Shawn, go and bathe.  Shawn, go and bathe.  Shawn, go and bathe.  You know why we have to repeat so many times - inattention and it's an insult, don't you think? And when we can't be bothered with God's Word, I say, hey, if you really have no bandwidth, you really don't feel like worshiping, I say just at home, forget it. Don't, don't play a game, I think it's, it's about preparing your heart to meet with a great and worthy God so if you're really here then let your heart be here – inattention is an insult, attention honours Him.

I think about a young man in this church, I've been a journeying with him for the past weeks and months, he has been going to church services for practically his whole life - young man like myself, right now about 40 or so I think and he said previously, he didn't know Christ, he was in church but he was not in Christ. Only recently, he has come to know Christ so he says previously in church when he attends service, he's just there but he's not really engaged in anything that goes on.  He says, if the pastor preaches something interesting, he listens and if he doesn't, he, he switches off and so more often than not, he's not listening- especially if I'm preaching. So he doesn't really listen but now that he has come to faith, he says, it's totally different.  He comes and this is what he prays- Lord make my mind ready and make my heart ready to receive your Word. I mean, nobody tells him to change but he change because his heart now fears God.   You see when you do not respect God's Word, I, I tell you something, I wonder seriously if you really are born again because the Bible tells us - there is no fear of God before their eyes, the unsaved do not fear God but when you are a converted person, if you have been born again, God gives you a new heart and this heart fears God, loves God and will want to treasure His Word. Well, true worship is reverence displayed in the way we approach God's house and the way we engage in Scripture and in the meditation of who He is and what He has done but just in case you think worship is just on Sunday, I want to say worship is way bigger than that, not just Sunday, not just singing and not just Sunday and what we do in these four walls or surrounded within these four walls but it goes beyond that.

The Bible tells us - fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man. You don't obey the commandments to get saved - that's clear!  We are not saved because of our obedience.  We are saved because of Jesus' obedience but a man who knows God, who, his heart is changed by God, fears God and wants to honour God, wants to live out godly lives and he will worship God by keeping his commandments. What I'm saying is that real worship is a lifestyle. If you may, it starts on Sunday and it flows into Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday - it is a lifestyle, it's not just a program you go to, it's not just an activity you are a part of on Sunday, it is the way you live, it's a posture. Ravi Zacharias says it - worship is a posture of life that takes as its primary purpose the understanding of what it really means to love and revere God. You know what does it mean to really love and revere God?  Some people think it's about feelings, it can, but I think I remember two verses, Ecclesiastes 12 that says, fear God and keep His commandments, alright and Jesus Himself says, who is it that loves me - how do you know if that person really loves me?  He that keeps My commandments. So what does it mean to worship God?  Living out a life of obedience, not to get myself saved but because I love God and I fear God.  Worship is a posture of life. So let me just wrap this up - what is worship?  It's not just singing, it's not just music, worship is to bow down to kiss the feet, to revere, to honour, to submit, to obey, it is not just Sunday morning, it is a lifestyle.

Now then, let, you probably have this question, why worship, I mean, this is very demanding by the way, you say wa the Bible is, or God is so demanding, He, He is not just asking for my Sunday morning. He's saying in order to fear Him and love Him, it is about every day and every time and everywhere. I say yes, you are absolutely right but this is so demanding - why would anyone worship God this way, well let's learn from the wise men.

The wise men, well, I, I, I'm not really sure they look like this, er probably not but this is just a picture that may, I hope, convey to you the majesty, the dignity, the ah, the regard and respect they would have in their times and indeed scholars would tell us that they were very intelligent people. They were philosophers, astrologers, astronomers.  Er they would be er great scientists, they would be advisers to kingdoms, er the to, especially the Medo-Persian kingdom, they will be called the kingmakers because amongst themselves, they may decide on the next ruling king so these are people who are well-heeled, they are rich and famous and powerful, Medo-Persia was a great empire and so they would be used to people bowing to them right?  If you want to see the wise men, you probably have to go and “kowtow” [Cantonese: bow] before them but the amazing scene in Matthew 2 is that these people who are used to being bowed to, now come to Jesus to worship Jesus, to Proskuneo before Jesus, this is bizarre, I mean Jesus is probably just about two years old, why would great men from the East come and bow before a child?  Why, why travel so far, risk the danger, leave their home and family to come and bow before this child?

The reason why they worship, I believe is because they knew who they worship. They said, where is He who has been born King of the Jews and we are now come to worship Him. The King of the Jews - now I think they are not just saying He is an ordinary king. Why do I say that? Because during that time, Israel was a nation under subjugation they were paying taxes to Caesar. They were not their own, so even if you are the king of Israel, what's the big deal? Who cares?  You are not a free country anyway but I think the wise men knew something about Jesus - He is not just an ordinary king, like all the kings of the past,they knew this is the one who has been promised.  This is the King of the Jews probably the one that has been promised in David.  He will have an everlasting kingdom, probably they knew that this King will be the fulfilment of prophecy given to Abraham, in your descendants shall all nations be blessed. They probably knew that this is the one who is promised to crush the head of the sermon in, serpent in Genesis 3.  This is the promised Saviour King, God has prophesied of to Israel for thousands of years.  He's the one so we are now come to worship Him.

Let me give you supporting evidence further, if I can.  The wise men came with gifts.  They came with gold.  They came with frankincense, a substance that you will use to make incense to offer to deities. They came with myrrh, a kind of substance that you use to embalm dead bodies so they came with very strange gifts - gold, frankincense and myrrh. Someone said gold, Frankenstein and Smurf, no, no, no, no, no, not that, but gold, frankincense and myrrh but it is very strange for anyone to bring these gifts. If I were to be the one visiting a child, two years old or so, I will probably bring Mamy Poko diapers, Nan 2 milk powder and some soft toy - wouldn't you?  In fact, if I were to bring myrrh, when your child is born in KK Hospital, you'd probably slap my face, say why you bring this for the dead one ah, you curse my child ah, you get out! But that's what wise men brought because they were not bringing practical gifts, they were bringing spiritual, symbolically spiritual gifts. They were saying by their gifts that they recognise that this child that they are bowing before is not an ordinary child but that He is truly King and that He is not just King, He is God who is to be worshipped with frankincense and this King God will die for our sins.

Why did the wise men worship Jesus?  If I were to bring them before you and have an interview, I say, hey wise man A, why did you worship, wise man B, why did you worship? I think if we were to, able to do that, they would probably answer something along this line, I came to worship Jesus because I believe Jesus is God, born as man, who will die for our sins and be our King, that's why I came, that's why I left my family, I traveled thousands of miles, I risked my life, I may be waylaid and ambushed by bandits, robbers but it doesn't matter, I came, I would bow, I would give, I would show my reverence and honour because this is no ordinary child, this is the promised Messiah, the Christ, the Saviour who will save me from my sins, who would save the world from their from their sins and I am come to worship Him.

Some of you then may ask, Pastor, how do these wise men know about this - I mean if a Jew were to mention this, you probably would not be surprised because they had the Bible and they studied the Bible and the prophets were telling them they knew that there will be this Saviour but from the East Medo-Persia, so far away they're Gentiles, how would they even know of this message?  How would they know that they were to prepare the gold and frankincense and myrrh, who told them? I don't know.  The Bible doesn't really tell us explicitly but I suppose and I think many commentators would say that - they knew about it, probably because Israel in time past or Judah in time past were captured and brought to Babylon and Babylon, subsequently taken over by the Medo-Persians.  Daniel you remember was the prime minister as it were for Babylon and also for Medo-Persia so the Jewish people were with the other nationalities in those days, Scripture somehow must have arrived at those places, people like Daniel must have taught about the prophecies in the Bible and I think that's how they had access to truth, they had access to the Word, they had access to the good news of the promised King. I say all that because I think the only way for us to have this belief, this confidence, this conviction that Jesus indeed is the Messiah is only through the Bible, through the Word of God and so people like John Stott would say - it is the Word of God which calls forth the worship of God. If you do not know the Bible, you cannot really worship God you know that because you have no knowledge of truth, understanding of God and His ways to really worship Him meaningfully so the wise men can only really worship because I believe they had access to teachings of Scripture and you will only really be able to worship meaningfully, if you know Scripture, if you know truth.  As Jesus would say, God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

The Bible is central in biblical worship, that's why we sing songs that must be scriptural. We have Scripture reading that you may see Scripture, read Scripture.  We teach the Bible here in Gospel Light, we go through the Bible because it is only when you see Scripture and understand Scripture that you understand God.  We are not here to dominate our preaching with topics.  We are here to share God through His Word.  The Bible is the self-revelation of God Himself.  A famous pastor today says the commonest mistake in worship today is for people to seek an experience and not God.  Think about it.  The commonest mistake in worship in churches today is for people to seek and experience and not God.  Have you heard of people who say this is – eh, I cannot worship in your church la, I ask him why, why cannot?  Your music too slow, your music too fast, I don't like your style. I don't like this kind of music and they say, I cannot worship - you know what that tells me?  Tells me that somehow, worship is now equated with music and music, if I may say, is more important than understanding God and knowing God.  It's very strange that we will make this an idol in our lives.

Now I'm not saying that as a church we are careless and we don't care about how songs, music, are to be used and executed. No and we must, all things decently in order for excellence that shows forth His glory but worship is not primarily about music, it's about the understanding and the knowledge of God and our response to God is right if our understanding of God is right in truth. So why do we worship?  It's about Him, it's about knowing Him who He is so let me say this again so that even when you sleep tonight, you'll recall these words - what is worship?  You see, got to repeat one, I know - what is worship?  Wow very good - to worship is to bow down to kiss His feet or the feet, to, to obey, to revere, to honour, to submit – good!

Why worship? Why would you worship? So that God will give you more stuff?  That's how people think right?  I, I come worship, I sing, sing, sing, I do a bit of things and after that God will bless me with my life.  No, no, no - we worship like the wise men worship because we have a deep abiding confidence Jesus is God who is born as man to die for our sins and be our King as revealed in the Bible, that's why we worship, that's why the centrality of the word in worship. But let me end lastly, how did they worship? So we looked at the meaning of worship, we looked at the motivation of worship, lastly the manner in which they worship. Now of course you can say, well Pastor, you already mentioned the manner they worship – reverence, that's true but there's something else, I want to highlight in chapter 2. The manner they worship is amazing. In verse 10, when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy, great verse, one short verse but it tells you, what is the dominant thought here - joy. That's right and it is not just joy, it is joy many times.  Matthew didn't say when they saw the star they rejoiced – full stop.   He said, not enough, I need to say some more - when they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly - full stop.   He said no, no, no, no, not good enough so when they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with joy, no, no, no, no, no, not good enough, I must say they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.  It's joy times four - joy, joy, joy, joy, joy!   It, but wa you know if I were, if I was one of the wise men, I, I think I might have walked like that….wa! the star is so far, I walked so far and so difficult I may complain, I thought but the Bible tells me they rejoiced.

Real worship is about joy.  Some of you say wa Punggol so far.  Eh you try to walk from Medo-Persia to Jerusalem, you try.  They never complained, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.  Real worship is not drudgery when you have that conviction of who Jesus is.  It is a delight to sacrifice for Him. It is a delight to serve Him, makes your whole world change.  You know when I hear of people who are upset and they are angry when things are tough and, and, maybe inconvenient for them, I, I want to point them not to the fact that things are not, I won't tell you Punggol is not far.  Some of you stay in Jurong, Jurong West, Punggol very far, I say no la [local slang], not far la, no la, not far I keep saying that, than you say it's not real.  I want to tell you it's far, of course by Singapore standards, far la but overseas is very near but by Singapore standards, far, very far but I tell you, Jesus is far more worth it then you can imagine.  Why? Because He came from heaven to earth, laid aside His glory to die for your sins.  I think it's such a privilege for you to show He is worthy, every Lord's day, to worship Him with your life, your obedience, your service.  Brother it's far, but Jesus is worth it.  Wise men, very far but they will tell you it's worth it.  It's worth it all.

How do you give?  You know in this church, people always say, Pastor you always tell people don't have to give, don't have to give but it's true what…. Huh, I don't want a church that gives because Pastor is watching or the church committee is looking at your, your, the car you drive and ask you why you only give $10.  We don't have spycam to check your car or your house.  We don't bother with that, what's the point if you give grudgingly, what's the point?  I mean if I don't believe God then I got to squeeze every dollar out of everybody and that shows that my heart was never for God in the first place but if we believe God and God is the Provider, then my job here is not to squeeze money from the congregation but to point you to Jesus that you may worship Him with joy in your own style.

You know the Bible tells us, God loves a…. what…. cheerful… very good, what is the meaning of cheerful?   Aiya, Bee Hin you're always so fast, I want to …don't say yet huh.   He, he is in front, you can't hear him.  What is the meaning of cheerful?  Happy, yah la, I know, very good, but some more, ah this one not fair, because I said this before we came to Punggol, long time back, not long time, a few times, cheerful is the word - very good, Sheena, the one who always laughs, ah no no no… haha….  She's absolutely right, the word cheerful, is the Greek word – hilarios - from which we get the English word – hilarious – you know what is hilarious…. really, really, really happy.  God loves a hilarious giver.   Eh most of the time, I see reluctant givers leh [local slang]… aiya, Pastor talks about giving again… tsk… by the way, we hardly talk about giving in this church but how do you get to be a hilarious giver?  How do you get there?  I mean this is not something you make yourself.  It's something you want to do because you know and if you've this deep abiding confidence Jesus is your Saviour King so I think this is what worship is.  I, I, I pray your, your giving, your obedience, your ministry is soaked in joy.  You serve not because you are forced to, you have to, but because you really want to.   I pray for a church that could say with Nehemiah, the joy of the Lord is my strength. This is worship.

Just want to end with, oh, by the way about joy.  I just want to say one more thing about this.  You know it's very interesting that in this passage we see worship in both reverence and joy, you see that?  They worship in both reverence and joy. I say this is important because there are some people who think worship is only about reverence, you cannot be too happy so every time you come to church, you cannot show you're happy.  You sing happy songs also must ….joy to the world….. Why? Because I cannot appear too charismatic, I cannot appear too happy.  I cannot because people look at me and say I'm a compromiser.  Well okay but real worship is not just reverence, there is joy, of course, there can be another extreme where you think worship is all about being happy so you cannot really worship God when you're going through sorrows and pains or you can become flippant and overly casual, that is also not right but I think real worship is a happy balance of both reverence and rejoicing, reverential joy or joyful reverence whatever you want to call it.  The Bible tells us of a balanced worship.

Let me end with this last thought. The wise men came all the way from the East to worship Jesus because they were led by a star. I read of commentaries that try to explain a scientific phenomena for how the star can go to Jerusalem. I say, probably I won't buy any of that.   I would only say that, I think it is God who led the wise men to Jesus, that's the explanation I think from the Scriptures.

Piper believes so - he said there is only one person in biblical thinking that can be behind that intentionality in the stars - God Himself.  It's God who is orchestrating the movement of the star, the, the, probably the first Star Trek. So the lesson is plain, God is guiding foreigners to Christ to worship Him. His aim is that the nations, all the nations will worship His Son, this is God's will for everybody in your office at work and in your neighbourhood and in your home as John 4:23 says - such the Father seeks to worship Him.

This morning I've a very simple clear task as to declare to you, it is God's will that you all will worship His Son.  Maybe you're here with us for the first time, you wonder what is Bible all about, what is church all about, I would say it is all about Jesus that He is God, come down as man, that He may go to the Cross died for your sins, save you from your sins, bring you back to God who made you that He may be your King, that's the message of the Bible, we can't do it, we can't save ourselves, Jesus did it all, this is the good news!   The Bible commands you to read repent of your sins and believe in this good news and that is God's will, this morning, for every single one of us.  If I may, I'm, I'm like a star this morning, I'm like a star that wants to lead you to Jesus Christ God's son.   I pray this morning, you'll repent and believe, but I also want to speak today to Gospel-Lighters, do you know that God has placed you to be stars because it is God's will for everybody in your office, in your home, in your neighbourhood to come to know Jesus and, and it is intentional that you are there.  God did not put you in this office, that school, at that neighbourhood by mistake, by chance, I think He has a purpose and plan to put you right where you are, would you be that star?

You know stars don't, as far as I know, they don't last forever. Some of them have a very short lifespan… shoot….that's all! Huh, you don't get to see them anymore and maybe your life, one life, 70, 80, 90 years …. shoot…. in the light of eternity, it is gone but would you be that star that will point people to Jesus. Maybe your wife, your husband, your parents, your children - would you be faithfully doing that?

I pray that you will be that star because God seeks that all nations to come to worship His Son. May we be a church that would be all about the Adoration of the King!

Let's bow for a word of prayer together. This morning, I just want to ask you a few questions that you may think through and respond to God in your time of prayer, right here, right now.  Here at Gospel Light, we focus on the Gospel.  It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes.  The word Gospel means the good news, the good news of Jesus Christ, who died and rose again to save you from your sins in order to reconcile sinful men like yourself to the Holy God.

My friends, this is the good news, Jesus paid it all on the Cross, would you today, humble yourself, repent and believe in this Saviour?  He wants you to believe.  Some of you may say, I'm too sinful, I'm too bad, no, God seeks such to worship Him.  The grace of God in Jesus Christ is great, far greater than all our sins.  He not only invites you, the Bible actually tells us, He commands you to repent and believe. If I may say, He wants you to believe today. Would you respond and believe and be saved?

This morning, I want to speak to Gospel-Lighters because maybe in the course of these few weeks and months you are so distracted by life, by money, by finances, by future, by jobs that you think life is all about making and eking out a living here.  I say you got to work, the Bible tells us so but more than what you have a mission and a purpose to shine as stars to guide men and women to worship the Son, to make disciples, would you faithfully do that?  Don't just pray about it, act on it.

Would you pray for someone today, would you say, Lord, I'm, I'm not skilled at sharing the Gospel then would you say, Lord, equip me and if there's an equipping opportunity, a training opportunity, I would readily go and be equipped and trained so that I can share the Gospel and be that star for others more effectively.  Would you take that initiative to greet, to befriend and to invite someone?  Hey you can be that star - God is intentional in using your life.  You know there are three responses in the world towards Jesus. I pray, I pray you will not be like Herod that hates Jesus, you will not be like those religious leaders who knew about things but cannot be bothered with Jesus but like the wise men, you will come and say, Lord, I go face down in worship, I go Proskuneo in worship, because You are worthy.  Let us with joy, serve Him, magnify Him, O let us all come adore Him.

Father we thank You this morning for Your Word. Bless each one that we would be a worshipful church or not one that just sings loudly but one that lives obediently, to glorify You that the world around us may see the greatness of God and the world around us, all nations will come and bow before Your Son. One day every knee shall bow and I pray, many will bow before that great and fearful day comes. Be with each one here, grant, dear God, in Your mercy, repentance and faith, in Jesus Christ, your Son we pray this in Jesus name, amen.
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