We Found It!!! Mt. 2:1-12 New Internationl Version (NIV)

We Found It!!!

Mt 2:1-12 NIV

 

Purpose:         To move to action to help others to experience Jesus Christ in their lives.  

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem

² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’^[b]”

⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.

⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.

¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Footnotes:

1. Matthew 2:1 Traditionally wise men
2. Matthew 2:6 Micah 5:2,4

This is the Word of God,

for the people of God.

Praise be to God.

Amen

We Found It!!!

Mt 2:1-12 NIV

 

Purpose:         To move to action to help others to experience Jesus Christ in their lives.  

 

Outline

I.       Introduction

II.      What are we looking for in our lives?

III.    Explanation of the text, Matthew 2: 1-12

IV.    Conclusion[s]

V.      Prayer

We Found It!!!

Mt 2:1-12 NIV

 

Purpose:         To move to action to help others to experience Jesus Christ in their lives.  

 

          Do you know what the word resolution mean? According to the dictionary, resolution means a decision, a promise, a pledge. Now, not because it is the end of the year, we have to make resolutions for our lives. We have to make resolutions for our lives because we have come so far in our faith that it is something that God is expected from each one of us. The kind of resolution that I am talking about is the resolution that it is going to help us and is going to help others. It is  worthy to do it because is going to help us to be better Christians and better human beings for our fellow men and women who are still wondering and looking for something that can give them safety, peace, and joy in their lives.

           Also, it is important to make resolutions because give us the idea and the directions of what God wants us to aim in our lives in order to have permanent fulfillment. Give us the knowledge of God's goals for our lives. Now, our challenge is to know how God is going to communicate these resolutions to us. Well, we have also to pay attention in something that we have to take it for grant it. Our personalities. God has given us a specific and unique personality to each one of us. That is why the Bible tells us that no one of us is the same. It seems that the understanding of personality in the Bible and in the common dictionary is the same,  the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive character. For example, when she comes to the room just brighten it.[1]

          So, God has given us specific personalities. Our personalities is one of the main tools that God is going to use to let us know how and where we can find resolutions. That is why is very important to know ourselves because it is one of the approaches that we can distinguish what is our wants and what is the voice of God in our lives.

          For example, took me a while to accept and to start understanding my personality and how God communicates to me through it, hyper, laud, and childish. I need to recognize also that God in His unlimited love and care has placed people in my life, who have been very wise and kind and they have helped me in the times when the lack of a relationship with Jesus and the ignorance of myself were an obstacle for keep me emotionally and spiritually growing. These people didn't know the influence and the impact that they had in my life.

          One of this persons was my father who knew me very well. He knew my personality and  how to help me to be a better me. Through challenges, my father knew that challenges works for me. If you tell me, No, Claudia, you cannot do such and such thing. . ." then you have my interest and I am going to prove you that I can do it, and do it well. [I prefer to die in the intent to excel than to conform and obey no sense]. So,  one of his continuous challenges was the question, "What are you looking for in life?" He knew that I didn't have an answer. I always answered him, "I don't know." Then my dad with all his love and interest for me, proceeded to tell me what I had to look for in my life. In this case and in those times, it was to finish my college education.

          Here, we have the magi who since very early in their lives knew their personalities. That is why they were trained scholars in the discipline of the starts. Sure enough, they had to have people around them, teachers and mentors, who helped them in the meanwhile they didn't know or they were confused about their personalities. With the reinforcement that the magi received, they were able and they were sure for what to search in life. The magi were looking for the King of the Jews. It was Jesus. The magi were Gentiles not Jews. They knew about the prophecy of the newborn King. Why do you think that it was possible for them who were Gentiles to know about a prophesy that it was Jewish? and to have such an interest in it. Pay attention that almost for sure and based on the historical evidence, the magi didn't believe in the God of the Jews. They had their own gods and  remember that they didn't have any technological tools as internet, where we can search important documents and information around the world.

          Here, it is when the faithfulness of our supreme and sovereign God takes place. God has been very clear with us, that when we honestly look for Him, He is going to let us find Him. The magi were honestly looking for the King of the Jews, the Special Baby that had to be born in Bethlehem. They recognized that this baby was special. It was something about this baby that really attracted them. In some sense, they needed to know this specific Baby. They were motivated through their personalities, through the study of the starts. Second, the magi were not alone, they had people who were reliable and responsible around them who helped them to find what they were looking for. People that in some way contributed in their personal experience with the King of the Jews, Jesus. And, of course, God sent the start which also was another tool to help them.

          But, we are going to focus in human experiences. We are not going to talk about the Start of Bethlehem. So, pay attention that human nature has been the same. We have not changed. Base on the magi resolution, they didn't hesitate when they discovered the clues on their studies to the point that they started a long journey. They knew that what they were looking for was worth of their time, of their effort, of their resources that is why they came with expensive gifts. When they arrived to their destination, they discovered the treasure of their lives. They had an encounter with Jesus! They found it!

          All of us have Jesus already in our hearts. All of us have found It!!!

But how many people do we know that they still searching for something in their lives. Honestly speaking, each one of us are here because someone has helped us to know and to understand our personalities. Someone has led us to have a personal experience with Jesus.  Now, we have come so far in our Christian journey, that we have the moral responsibility to help others who still searching for someone or something that is able to give them permanent joy, a complete and secure inner peace, and assurance of a good future.

          I Think that it will be a very Christian, compassionate, and humanitarian resolution for us this year, to lead people, to help them to have a personal experience with the living God, to help them to find the great discovery of their lives, the great treasure that is Jesus Christ.

         

Let us pray,

Dear god,

Thank You for the people in our lives that have invested the necessary effort to help us to know and to understand our personalities.

Mainly, thank You for Jesus Christ who always is going to be the main treasure that anyone can have.
Help us this year to help people to understand and to know their personalities and lead them to have a personal experience with the great and most amazing discovery of any person can even imagine, Jesus Christ.

In His name, we have prayed.

Amen.

         

---

[1]https://www.bing.com/search?q=meaning+of+personality&form=EDGNTC&qs=DA&cvid=f0f91053eea24eeb91adac44304b26ef&pq=meaning%20of%20personality (Accessed on 1.1.2016).