“Do You See What I See?” with Carrie Underwood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pGld28bJMw

“Oh Come All Ye Faithful/Hallelujah Chorus” with Mariah Carey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD9qcJfrHUs

“Celebrate the Wonder” with the Howard University Gospel Choir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RRucYZQjLI

“All in His Hands” with the Howard University Gospel Choir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cHsmaQ4jdU

“Joy” with the Georgia Mass Choir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2wCBAdT6FI

“What God Has for Me, It is For Me” with the Miami Mass Choir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNghv01-l38

“Jesus Saves” with Tasha Cobbs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3yoyaUj-Sg

“Put A Praise On It” with Tasha Cobbs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX0BJ7kgMfU

“Oh Come All Ye Faithful” with Kirk Franklin (Part 1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt260E7dRSw
(Part 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js0vFDU_sT0

“Christmas Worship Medley” with Israel and New Breed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ-AgAeVPGw

Oh Come All Ye Faithful” with Tasha Cobbs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIq0lo8bPWk

A Season of Faith, Joy, and Worship
Matthew 2:1-12; 2 Corinthians 5:7

	Praise the Lord!  I hope this Christmas season encourages us to keep moving in faith towards our callings. Others may not see our callings, and the places we are may not seem to affirm them. But God will mightily go before us and lead us. 
	1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 
	2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
	3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
	4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
	5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet.
	6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
	7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
	8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
	9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
	10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
	This Bible Study makes the simple observation that, in Jerusalem, the wise men, King Herod, and the people in Jerusalem could not see the star that initially lead them to Jesus. The wise men saw the star of the newborn King of the Jews in the east and came to worship him. But they did not see the star when they came to Jerusalem.
	How do we know this? King Herod inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared, Matthew 2. Then, when King Herod sent the wise men to Bethlehem, the star reappeared. 9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy, Matthew 2:9-10. Seeing the star again was a moment of exceeding great joy.
	The point is this. The way in which God first called us to something wonderful may not be readily apparent right now. Others may not be able to readily able to point to how God is guiding us. We may not be able to readily point out to others how God is guiding us so that they might support us. (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 2 Corinthians 5:7
	If others had seen the star in the east, why did King Herod ask so diligently about when the star appeared? If others in Jerusalem had seen the star, why didn’t they also follow it to Bethlehem? Bethlehem was and is all of 5.52 miles from Jerusalem. http://www.distancefromto.net/between/Jerusalem/Bethlehem
If King Herod and the people of Jerusalem had seen the star, they would have just walked over to Bethlehem with or before the wise men. 
	King Herod and all of Jerusalem were understandably troubled that there was born to Israel a new King of the Jews. They would have sought to destroy Jesus if they saw the star in Jerusalem and could follow it 5 miles to Bethlehem. Sometimes we walk by faith because other people would have sought and will seek to destroy the people of the ministry God is calling us to. If they could see our callings, too, the people we serve would be in great trouble. What sometimes looks like God abandoning us is God protecting us and others. 
	Sometimes we walk by faith so that God can show us more about what God is calling us to. If the star was always there for the wise men, they might have went straight to Bethlehem. But they would not have learned about Micah’s prophesies (Micah 5:2) that God would bring a great governor out of a small and forgotten town. And they would not have seen the oppression in Jerusalem that called for the birth of the King of the Jews. Sometimes God removes our sight of His calling so that we can see and learn more about the people we are called to. 
	 I think there is an awesome example of this in public affairs. The election of Barack Obama to the Presidency of the United States was a momentous occasion and a sign to African-Americans and the whole country that we all could thrive together. But it was exactly the fact that minorities could vote in high numbers to elect Barack Obama that Chief Justice John Roberts used as support in Shelby v. Holder in 2013 to say that there was no longer a strong enough reason to give Justice Department preclearance protection to citizens whose voting rights had been violated. The star that encouraged African-Americans was the same star that encouraged a Court to take away the voting rights of African-Americans. 
It is not nice that President Obama is leaving office and it is not nice that Hillary Clinton is not President to continue his legacy and it is not nice that someone will be president to reverse President Obama’s work. But it is nice that African-Americans, women, and other Americans are now walking by faith.  It is nice that we are walking by faith and seeing more of each other and seeing the lives we suffer, the lives the live, and the lives we dream of. 
	Ooohhh! I wish that the Jews in Jerusalem had seen the star that led the wise men to Jerusalem.  I wish the Jews in Jerusalem had seen the star and taken it as a firm sign that the world they lived in was about to be turned upside down.  I wish that the Jews in Jerusalem had seen the star, stopped King Herod from his reign, and turned to worship the King of the Jews. But there would have been no cross and no salvation to make us free. 
	Sometimes God also has us walk by faith until we see our stars again because God cares that much about us and wants to enjoy our exceeding great joy. Some stars are only for one of us at specific times. Your smile and your joy and your peace mean that much to God that God is working out this situation and that situation so that God goes before just you with that star. It is a walk of exceeding great joy to walk by faith. 
	Sometimes we walk by faith because God is preparing us to walk by faith at another level at another time. Because the wise men had walked by faith to find Jesus, the wise men were also able to trust God’s dream to walk by faith and not go back to King Herod. 11 [W]hen they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
	12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way, Matthew 2:11-12.
	There are times to walk in faith for each one of us. There will be times when our stars will reappear and go before us.  And there will be times when we see our stars and have exceeding great joy.  

Many blessings in this season of faith, joy, and worship,

Tobias Pinckney, Powered to Witness University, 12/11/16

© 2016 Tobias Pinckney