From Seed Comes a Star Sermon #974 December 2, 2012

December 2, 2012

Sermon #974

From a Seed Comes a Star

Introduction: Every life on earth starts as a seed.

 Genesis 1:11-12(NKJV) –  ¹¹Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. ¹²And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 4:25-26(NKJV) –  ²⁵And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” ²⁶And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.

All the grass of the field and the fruit of the tree started as a seed. All the children of Adam and Eve start as a seed.  The seed carries the DNA of what you will become!  

Psalm 139:13-17(NKJV) –  ¹³For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴ I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. ¹⁷ How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

ILL: In the seed God knew the color of your skin, hair, and eyes. He gave you abilities and talents to develop. He created you for a purpose!

1.  The Purpose of the seed. 

Genesis 22:15-19(NKJV) –  ¹⁵Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, ¹⁶and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—¹⁷blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. ¹⁸In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” ¹⁹So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

The seed of the earth - Israel

The stars of the heaven - the Church!

Daniel 12:1-3(NKJV) –  ¹“At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Everyone who is found written in the book. ²And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt. ³Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.

1.  What seeds turn into stars? 

ILL:  And those who turn many to righteousness

Matthew 5:14-16(NKJV) –  ¹⁴”You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

ILL: The little angel in the story The Visited Planet, asks the question, “Will the earth be fill with light like our heaven?” The older angel answers, “He left it in their hands.” 

ILL: Are you embarrassed to let people know that you are a Christian? How about at work - at the Christmas party? 

Romans 1:16-17(NKJV) –  ¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. ¹⁷For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” 

Daniel 12:3(TMSG - The Message) –  ³”Men and women who have lived wisely and well will shine brilliantly, like the cloudless, star-strewn night skies. And those who put others on the right path to life will glow like stars forever.” 

Satan wants to destroy the seed - if he destroys the seed he keeps the star from shining! 

Matthew 13:24-28(NKJV) –  ²⁴Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; ²⁵but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. ²⁶But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. ²⁷So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ ²⁸He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’

• Satan does not want you to know your identity.
• Satan does not want you to know that Jesus Christ is with you always.
• Satan does not want you to know that Jesus loves you and that you are written in Christ’s book of life. 
• Satan does not want you to grow. 
• Satan does not want your light to shine. 
• Satan wants to destroy the seed!
• Satan does not want you to be a witness!
• God wants the seed to become a star!

ILL: Satan wanted to destroy the seed - The Christ Child. 

Matthew 2:12-18(NKJV) –  ¹²Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way. ¹³Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” ¹⁴When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, ¹⁵and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

 ¹⁶Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. ¹⁷Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: ¹⁸ “A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more.”

ILL: Satan tried to destroy every seed from Abel to Christ trying to prevent the seed from germinating. 

ILL: While the seed had germinated in a stable in Bethlehem the star was already shinning in the night sky. 

1.  “Wise Men” will always follow a star 

Matthew 2:1-9(NKJV) –  ¹Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, ²saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” ³When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: 

⁶ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”  ⁷Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. ⁸And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” ⁹When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 

ILL: The Magi saw the light of the star two years before the Christ child was born.

ILL: The star light you see at night is not a star it is the witness that a star is there. The closest star group, other than the sun, is 40 trillion kilometers away, NASA’s New Horizons would take 65,000 years to reach it - yet men can see its light! - When was the star of Bethlehem created? In the beginning! 

Who is a star?

Acts 1:1-8(NKJV) –  ¹The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, ²until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, ³to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. ⁴And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; ⁵for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 

⁶Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. ⁸But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Conclusion: 

Let me ask you a question. Do you want to remain a seed covered with dirt or to become a star shining for His birth? Our destiny is to become like a star!