Matthew chapter 2, short scripture passage in our congregational reading this morning, but Matthew chapter 2, if you don't have a Bible, why not?

You can look to the person next to you or you can look to the screens this morning. I'll read the odd number verse. If you would read the even number verse and Psalm, or excuse me, in Matthew chapter 2.

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.

Shame the mercy of the Lord, and need the Jews, for we have seen this our peace and our worship.

Heavenly Father, we have come to worship Him. And Lord, we praise You that right now, how always awesome it is. It's not just that it's a daily affair, but we think of what is known as the Lord's Day Sunday today, all around the world.

The world messages this month, this week, next week, all gearing up to present to the world again.

That Christmas is Jesus Christ. It's not the food, it's not the gifts, it's not the parties, it's nothing of this world.

It's what you've done in bringing your world heaven down to us in Christ Jesus. So Lord, I pray Father, that for all who join us, but of course those who experience our fellowship here together as a church, that we would be on fire this Christmas season with the reality of Jesus Christ.

Who is, why he is, where he is, and how amazing your word tells us that he came, and he's coming again. Praise you Lord, we pray now in Jesus' name and all of God's people said, amen, you may be seated church.

Matthew chapter 2, we have come to worship him. We're looking at a message series between now and Christmas morning that we are simply calling it is Jesus.

It is Jesus. And as we think about that, the fact, and in your note taking, maybe you can draw these two into a conclusion.

And that is, just as an earthquake is felt hundreds of miles away, and I don't know how experienced you are as an earthquake connoisseur, but if you've been born and raised in California, we know earthquakes, and we know this about an earthquake.

And for those of you who are visiting, or you just moved here, wait, do people move here anymore? No, actually people are moving here, it's amazing. I think God for them.

But they've never experienced an earthquake, and then they tell me, oh I'd rather have a tornado any day.

Not me. Hurricane? It's fun, huh? People there in Florida, they're okay with the hurricane. People in Oklahoma, they're all right with the tornado.

But it's funny, they're not okay with an earthquake, but we're okay with an earthquake. And we've become so good at discerning an earthquake that you do know this, right?

There's a jolt of an earthquake, that means you're very close to the epicenter.

If you get punched and we've all had those, will they punch you? That means you're very close to where the earth moved.

But if it begins to roll, you know those? I bet, look, kind of like a Hawaiian thing, you know what I'm going on?

If it begins to roll, then you know that the earthquake is at a distance. It's hundreds of miles away.

When you consider Jesus Christ, and when we look at what we call Christmas, believe it or not, the birth of Jesus Christ is not the epicenter jolt of an earthquake.

It is found in Scripture as a rolling effect of the earthquake. And I mean by that of truth, God has delivered his punch of truth.

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