"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, 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." (Matthew 2: 1& 2)

These men saw a star and they realized that it was an indication showing them that Jesus was born. So they began to travel from East to West. It was not easy. They left their country in search of the Saviour. Many people say that Christianity is a Western religion; we have our own religion. But the wise men were prepared to go to any place in search of the Truth. Every wise man will travel to know the Truth.

All of us know that Jesus is the Saviour. But how many of us have travelled to see Him and seen Him and worshipped Him? Somebody told us and we believed that Jesus is the Saviour. But we never went into His presence. When you go into His presence, you are transformed. These wise men crossed rivers and mountains. They were rich. They could have sat at home in comfort.

Have you ever travelled to see Jesus? I travelled long distances as a young man to attend students’ meetings in order to worship Jesus. These wise men started. That means, they left their country and family and spent money also. Some say, "Can’t I find Jesus here?" Air is everywhere but we inflate the cycle tube and the football. We must go to a place where there is concentration of spiritual atmosphere.

The wise men travelled on camels. A camel crosses rivers quickly. It climbs the hills, balancing itself carefully on the plains. It walks steadily along the path. Mountains stand for pride. Sometimes we think it is unnecessary to pray; it is waste of time. But when we are sick we want God and His people. Even before such a situation comes upon us, we must pray well. Have you started your journey?

Many started their journey but did not find God easily. St. Augustine did not want to become godly too soon. He went on from sin to sin. He lived with a woman for sometime. His mother was praying for him. He left that first woman and found another woman. He used to say, "Not today, but tomorrow I will obey God." But a day came and he cried, "Not tomorrow Lord, but today, now itself, this very minute I want Thee."

Have you found Jesus? There are many valleys of despair. Many will discourage you: "Why so much faith—so much piety—so much prayer?" If anyone who wants to find Jesus does not find Him, he will go on seeking Him. Until he is sure that he is with Him and His true children he won’t be satisfied.

Can you tell when you met Jesus? Can you tell your children that you have met Him? When I sought Him, I found all the riches I need, in Him. I get all the joy in Him, and the health in Him. He forewarns me of my future. He can instruct me. From the time I met Him, He is keeping me. If I slip, I confess it. I find that He is always with me.

When these wise men reached Jerusalem, they enquired about the King. The Jews there were thinking of what to eat and what to put on. So they were surprised at the question of the wise men—"Where is the King?" Herod was a murderer. He killed his mother, wife, his two sons and the priest who was also his relative. Herod was perturbed. From Jerusalem nobody came to see the newborn child. The Jews knew that a Saviour would be born, yet they did not go with the wise men. So the wise men saw the star again and it led them to Bethlehem.

"We want to worship Him." That was the cry of these wise men. Your cry must be, ‘I don’t want food or rest; I want Jesus only.’ The wise men laboured and found Jesus. They praised Him. Life came into their hearts. It was a new grace.

One wise man brought gold and worshipped Jesus. Gold was not necessary for Mary’s adornment or store. But it was needed for them to journey to Egypt. Others brought other gifts. Let us also worship Him.

- Late Mr. N. Daniel

I recalled that my father once preached, buy the truth and sell it not. Sell the truth and buy the world is what some people's bible seems to teach them. But the bible teaches, "Buy the truth and sell it not; also wisdom and instruction and understanding." Proverbs 23:23. Now what do I notice? People will pay anything for what they really want. Don't you see that? When they really want to go to a football game, or some very prominent teams playing each other, they will go find some ticket somewhere. It is amazing how people work and live all through the year for that vacation time. I am going to get a week's vacation and I am going to the Bahamas. That is their dream all through the year. And so they gather up enough money, however large the sum might be, and they set off to come back tired and weary. So I have found that people will pay a price for something that they really want. Therefore, we had better ask ourselves what do we really want. Now, what is truth? There is no possession in this world which is not subject to some kind of decomposition or disintegration or devaluation. There is only one thing that stands secure, the truth of God.

And you know in all history you will not find another who could say without fear of contradiction, "I am the truth." I have had in my audiences all kinds of people- people of so many religions, communists, infidels, atheists, mockers, and scorners. But no one has ever dared to challenge this irrevocable truth, "I am the way, the truth and the life." The Lord Jesus becomes greater and greater in value, whereas we are afraid that as soon as you bring your car out of a show room, it loses ten percent right there. But truth never loses its value. So you can see how deeply you are searching or treasuring the truth by what you are ready to spend for it. It is very simple. That is how we understand value. We seem to understand value only in terms of the dollar and that is all that speaks to some people. Let me ask some of you- how much are you willing to spend in dollars to get truth?

Today, we see a kind of gallery person, who talks about truth without ever being ready to spend a thing to acquire the truth. Now let me tell you, that is a false, perverted soul. When you talk about the truth, you do not dare talk about it as Pilate talked about the truth. Where did Pilate talk about truth? When he had Jesus Christ before him. If you turn to John 18, it is a very enigmatic situation. Actually a judge is there to investigate and discover the truth. What really happened? How did this crime occur? Was it a premeditated crime, or was it something done on the spot out of impulse? That is the purpose of a judge to discover the truth. And here we see Pilate saying unto Him in John 18:37-38, "Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all." Here was the one person of whom it might be said in all history of humanity, the one person who stands perfect, and that is our Lord Jesus, that He is indeed the Truth. And so Pilate has Jesus standing before him, and says, "What is truth?" Why is the judge there? To discover the truth, to stand by the truth, and not to stand by what the crowd says? Today all the truth that some people have discovered is what some philosophers say or some speakers say, or some authors say- that is all. Their search for truth has been so shallow, it has never brought them to Jesus. What a tragedy! What a travesty of a seeker! When I see people who say, "We are seeking the truth", I say, but what are you ready to sell out to get the truth? Are you ready to sell out the rubbish and clutter in your mind? Are you ready to become a childlike person? Are you ready to acknowledge the truth, to fall prostrate before the truth? Then you will have no difficulty discovering Jesus. But the point is when you have preconceived notions, borrowed ideas and second hand stuff from a variety of people, your mind is so cluttered that you can never come to the truth. That is why the bible says, "Ever learning, but never being able to come to the truth." This is the mark of the last days, a mark of people whose souls will be lost. Why? They are not ready to sell out.

Psalm 117, "O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD." There is one solid, monolithic thing that endures forever- the truth. All else passes away, but the truth of the Lord endureth forever. To heathen religions, truth is relative, they say. This can also be true, and that may also be true. It is amazing. A man who studies the bible and a man who knows the word of God will never say that. Truth cannot be truth when it is undefined. How can you look at the jellyfish and say, the jellyfish is just this exact length, and exact breadth, only. If you put it on the ground it will widen out. If you put it in a small test tube, you can have the jellyfish one meter long. So your truth is one meter long, and it can also be one centimeter flat. It can be anything.

I want to tell you that truth is intolerant, because truth is defined. If you are going to live by the Word and tolerate garbage, dung, filth, and the whole bunch of rubbish, then don't you ever say you are seeking the truth. Truth is defined. The distance between two cities is defined by the miles between two locations.

People do not want to know their heart. They like a kind of hairy-fairy speculation. When you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, He will show you your thoughts and your heart. "For the heart is desperately wicked, and deceitful above all things. Who can know it? For I the LORD searcheth the heart, and knows the thoughts." That's it. If you really want to know what you are, you need to go to the Cross. It is only at the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ that you know your true self. That is where I got to know for the first time that I was not a good fellow and how depraved and how abject was my sinful condition.

So my dear friends, we come to a prayer which is very important. You see that prayer in Psalm 119:73, "Give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments." How important! King Solomon prayed in 1 Kings 3:7-9, " I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?" God loved that prayer. King Solomon, the wisest of men, had an answer to this prayer, as he had to judge God's people. He felt, where do I have the wisdom to discern the truth? There came two harlots of whom one had crushed her baby to death. After seeing that her baby was dead, she put that baby beside the other woman, and took the live child. And so they came and questioned King Solomon. To whom does the live baby belong? And the king had no problem at all, solving that problem. Here were two mothers saying, this is my baby. Is not that very simple? Get a knife, divide the child in half, give it to each one. And the true mother said, "No. Do not do that. Give it away to that woman. But do not kill my child." King Solomon said, "I do not have the wisdom to deal with it." The heart of man is so complex. Some of the situations we can produce can be so complex. We do not know each other. That is why great conflict comes when two people get married- two complex people living together under the same roof, without the unifying force of the Lord Jesus Christ, and without the humbleness to say, "Lord, teach us, and give us understanding." Every father or mother can say, "I do not know how to bring up these children." A father and a mother who does not have the understanding to say that they have no understanding are all at sea. Today life has become so insecure we simply do not know the future. I suppose this is quite a time when all the fortune-tellers can just multiply in number everywhere because people do not know what is going to happen. They feel so insecure at such a time. What is understanding? It is to put the reins of our life into the hands of Jesus and say, "Lord, you guide me. I do not know." If you are not prepared to say that, you have no understanding. There are some people who are afraid to ask God's will. Why? It may go counter to their wishes. Can you imagine such immaturity? They are afraid to ask God's will, simply because it may go against their wishes or their convenience. That means, they have no regard for the truth, or they have no desire to be really productive in their lives. They are just aimless, drifting kind of people. What a tragedy! 1 Kings 3:9,"Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad." Is there anybody who can bypass this prayer?

I am asking God for discernment. There are certain times when some people come to see me, I tell them I know why you have come to see me. The Lord has shown me what you have come to see me for. Yes, I need a discerning heart. How stupid is a man who leans on his own understanding! He is substituting his understanding for God's decision and choosing. Is there any way you can do that? You think my mind can display the mind of God? But, how many of us act on that premise? "Lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he shall direct your paths." See, we do not do that. We want some of our own ways. We like them so much. We are sold out to the idea that in this matter I must get my own way, whatever anybody thinks. Listen! You might get your own way, whatever anybody thinks. But if you include God in that "anybody", you are going to crash. You are going to have total wreckage. To many people, truth is relative.

I am so shocked how subtle people can be. I think besides the native depravity, your background also does play a part there. Some people come from a very calculating, suspicious background. That is a very unfortunate background from which to come, which makes one suspicious and snoopy. It is a horrible background when parents are full of fear, when no one is trusted in a family, and when there is continuous argument over trifling things. So you become a very shifty and subtle person. You play to this situation and that situation. That is a background that becomes your character. It is a blessing when the values of a Christian home are built on God's Word, such that a yes is yes, and no is no. "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile." And when we see a whole generation growing up in the midst of this spate of divorces, your heart ought to break. Can you imagine how twisted and warped the minds of these little children are going to be all through their lives, brought up in the midst of arguments, fighting, division, debate, anger, resentment, and bitterness. There is a whole background you give to your children, and they are going to be very shifty, calculating people.

Jacob is the typical case of a man to whom truth could be twisted and turned according to convenience. But what did he gain? He gained the loss of ten of his children, who became deceivers. "Okay, we will tell our dad, that some wild beast has slain our brother Joseph and we will present this coat which our father gave him, all bloodied. We will put some blood on it, and we will ask daddy, 'Is this your son's coat?' And he will surely recognize it." And here was Jacob mourning all through his many years while Joseph was over on the throne in Egypt. Here was a father who was mourning inconsolably over a death which did not take place. But who deceived him? His own children. Who gave them that nature? Himself. Who was responsible for his tears and his mourning? Himself. My dear friends, we are going to reap what we sow. You deal with truth as though it can be this, that, and the other thing. It can be Jesus. It can be somebody else. Well, you are going to reap your reward. Truth is not to be played with. Nobody can chip away truth- no one. "I am the truth", said Jesus. These are the incontrovertible words ringing through the ages, uncontested by anybody. But those that pervert,play, and quibble about the truth are going to earn for themselves enduring tears. Do not play with the truth. Buy the truth, and never sell the truth. It is a blood-bought commodity. The very life of our Lord Jesus Christ was given to uphold the truth. God is holy, and your sin has its penalty, and that penalty has to be paid. And without the payment for that penalty, there is no redemption. My dear friends, that truth stands incontrovertible, and that is the rock on which I stand. What is your rock? Where do you stand? I will sell out anything, everything for the truth. "Buy the truth and sell it not, and understanding, and wisdom."

-Joshua Daniel

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this." -Isaiah 9:6,7

One Christmas an old cobbler sat in his little shop reading of the visit of the wise men to the Infant Jesus, and of the gifts they brought, and he said to himself: "If tomorrow were the first Christmas, and if Jesus were to be born in this town tonight, I know what I would give him!"

He rose and took from a shelf two little shoes of softest snow-white leather, with bright silver buckles: "I would give Him these, my finest work. How pleased His mother would be! But I’m a foolish old man," he thought smiling. "Master has no need for my poor gifts."

Replacing the shoes, he blew out the candle, and retired to rest. Hardly had he closed his eyes, it seemed, when he heard a Voice call his name. "Martin!" Intuitively, he felt aware of the identity of the Speaker, "Martin, you have longed to see Me. Tomorrow I shall pass by your window. If you see Me and bid Me enter, I shall be your guest and sit at your table."

He did not sleep that night for joy. Before it was yet dawn he arose and tidied up his little shop. Fresh sand he spread on the floor, and green bows of fir he wreathed along the rafters. On the table he placed a loaf of white bread, a jar of honey, a pitcher of milk, and over the fire he hung a pot of coffee. His simple preparations were complete.

When all was in readiness, he took up his vigil at the window. He was sure he would know the Master. As he watched the driving sleet and rain in the cold, deserted street, he thought of the joy that would be his when he sat down and broke bread with his Guest.

Presently he saw an old street sweeper pass by, blowing upon his thin, gnarled hands to warm them. "Poor fellow! He must be half frozen," thought Martin. Opening the door, he called out to him, "Come in, my friend, and warm, and drink a cup of hot coffee." No further urging was needed, and the man gratefully accepted the invitation.

An hour passed, and Martin next saw a poor, miserably clothed woman carrying a baby. She paused, wearily, to rest in the shelter of his doorway. Quickly he flung open the door, "Come in and warm, while you rest," he said to her. "You are not well?" he asked.

"I am going to the hospital. I hope they will take me in, and my baby," she explained. "My husband is at sea, and I am ill, without a soul to whom I can go."

"Poor child!" cried the old man. "You must eat something while you are warm. No? Let me give a cup of milk to the little one. Ah! What a bright, pretty little fellow he is! Why you have no shoes on him!"

"I have no shoes for him," sighed the mother.

"Then he shall have this lovely pair I finished yesterday." And Martin took down the soft, little, snow-white shoes he had looked at the evening before, and slipped them on the child’s feet. They fitted perfectly. And shortly the young mother went her way full of gratitude, and Martin went back to his post at the window.

Hour after hour went by, and many needy souls shared the meagre hospitality of the old cobbler, but the expected Guest did not appear.

At last, when night had fallen, Martin retired to his cot with a heavy heart. "It was only a dream," he sighed. "I did hope and believe, but He has not come."

Suddenly, so it seemed to his weary eyes, the room was flooded with a glorious light: and to the cobbler’s astonished vision there appeared before him, one by one, the poor street sweeper, the sick mother and her baby, and all the people whom he had aided during the day. Each one smiled at him and said: "Have you not seen me? Did I not sit at your table?"- and vanished.

Then softly out of the silence he heard again the gentle Voice, repeating the old familiar words: ‘Whoso shall receive one such little child in My name receiveth Me. For I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me in.’

"Verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me."

Dear readers, the Season gives us an opportunity to share with our less fortunate brethren, what God has blessed us with. One need not be rich and flushed with money- but let us try to share with others, what little we have.