Good morning boys and girls!
Did you have a good Christmas? Did you get lots of gifts?
Did any of you go on a trip over Christmas? How did you get there? Did you have to get directions? How did you get them? Did you ask someone? Did you go online and get directions? Did your parents use a GPS system or a map?
A long time ago there were some people who went on a journey. Can anyone guess who they were? They were the Three Wise Men. Let me tell you the story.
After Jesus was born, some wise men, also called Magi, saw a star in the sky which they believed announced the birth of a king. They traveled to Jerusalem and began to ask, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him."
Herod heard about the Magi and their search for a king and he was deeply disturbed. He called a meeting of the priests and teachers of religious law and asked, "Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?" The priests told Herod that the prophet Micah had written that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. So Herod called for private meeting with the wise men and said to them, "Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!"
The Wise Men didn’t have a map or the Internet or a GPS system. They had something even better to guide them. They had a star.
So the wise men followed information that the priests had given to Herod and the star that God had given to guide them and it led them right to Jesus. When they found him, they gave him gifts and bowed down and worshiped him.
Wise men, women, boys, and girls are still searching for Jesus. There are people who want to help -- people like pastors and Sunday School teachers. There is no map to help us find Jesus and there is no star to follow, but we do have the Bible. We can find the way to Jesus by reading God's Holy Word! The Bible is the map and star that will lead to Jesus. All of us should read it every day to make sure we are headed in the right direction!
Let’s close our eyes and bow out heads for a moment of prayer. Dear Jesus, we seek you today because we want to worship you and crown you as our King. We are thankful for pastors and Sunday School teachers who want to help us and we are thankful for the Bible which we have been given to lead us to you. Amen.
