O Come All Ye Faithful

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. Great. It's good to be here. It's good to have you here to celebrate the beginning of the year. Schools is back in session when? Tomorrow. Aren't you excited? I am. Yeah, I think it's going to be great. Get back to a normal schedule, whatever that means. Well, today we're going to be looking at this song, this Christmas carol, O Come All Ye Faithful, but prior to that, we're going to read from Matthew chapter 2. And you can follow along in the U version of the Bible. We actually have notes for this message that you can find if you search for it. And under events, you will find Thrive Community Church in the notes for it. We're in Matthew chapter 2 and the story of the Magi. Let's read. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled. And all Jerusalem with him and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it was written by the prophet. And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem saying, Go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him. After listening to the king, they went on their way and behold, the star they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then opening the treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. OK, Christmas carols, are they your favorites? I don't know. This one is one of my favorites. O come, all ye faithful. Let's just sing the first verse. We'll probably do a little more of it later, but let's sing this, OK? O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold Him, born the King of angels. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Now, originally this song was written in Latin. Did you know that? It's Adeste Fidelis. And it wasn't translated until about 1841 into English. And that's where we get the term, O come, all ye faithful. And that's where that song comes from. And it's been a hit ever since. And it keeps getting sung. I don't know if you've realized that, right? And I've sung it many times. And when I looked at the words again, I thought, wow, this could be pretty daunting, actually. Have you thought about that? O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. Because there are times during Christmas I don't feel faithful, joyful, or triumphant. How about you? And if this song is saying, you better be faithful, you better be joyful, and you better be triumphant. And that's when you can come. I don't know if anybody would show up. And I have a feeling some people see that's what churches basically push. You better do this, you better do that. You better feel this way, you better do this. It's a bunch of rules. You better be faithful, you better be joyful, you better be triumphant. Because that's what we're all about. And so they kind of say, forget it. Because reality is, we're not, right? We're not. And so many people just don't even show up because why bother if they're just pushing that at me when I know it's just not going to happen. You can kind of beat yourself up trying to be faithful, joyful, and triumphant. But I don't think this hymn, this carol, when it was written, was anything about that in particular. It was an invitation, not a command. And it was an invitation that when you worship this Christ child, this child, like these magi who came, you will become joyful and even faithful and triumphant. So we're going to look at this. And today we're going to learn, I think, from this carol and also from this text of Matthew 2, these three things. And that is, who is invited? And what brings joy? And how is one triumphant? Because I think it's a little different than the way most people think. Okay, first of all, who's invited? Now, what do you know about this whole story? Anybody want to give me a few clues as to what you have heard or know about this? How many were there? I know, we three kings of Orient are. Okay, that o...