Hi everyone and welcome to our Tuesday Podcast at STC. These daily Podcasts are a great way to build Godly Foundations in our lives as we look to follow Jesus every day.
We continue our reflections in Matthews gospel – I hope the Lord blessed you greatly as we read through the Jesus family tree yesterday! Today’s reading is Matthew 2:1-12, another familiar Christmas reading, and you can hear this read after the prayer. Our focus verse today is v1b and v2:
Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 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.”

REFLECTION:

I became a Christian at the age of 28. I had no church background, my family didn’t go to church and indeed I had absolutely no inclination at all to connect with the church. I lived on a large council estate (nowadays called social housing!) and the local church looked dark, dismal and very uninviting – definitely not for me. However, I always had a sense that there was ‘something else’ and as a boy I would often pray even though I had no idea of who or what I was praying to! I had so many questions but had no idea where to find the answers – maybe that rings bells for you in your life? Questions that need answers? Then read on …

I met a colleague at work who was a Christian; We became friends and things began to change. Roger and his wife Sue befriended Tricia and I and the rest as they say, is history. Tricia and I spent several years searching for that ‘something else’; we went with our friends to their church and heard the story of Jesus and we asked lots and lots of questions usually over food and a glass of wine – or maybe it was a glass of Ward’s beer in those days! They really were great days and we will always be eternally grateful to our dear friends for leading us to Jesus.

A good time to ask this question – who led you to Jesus? If they are still around, remember to thank them for their perseverance and to always thank God for such good and Godly friends. Here’s another question – who can you lead to Jesus? Pray for them today and don’t stop until the day they tell you they have decided to become a Christian. Persevere in prayer – it’s tough but it works! It was through asking the questions about life that both Tricia and I found the answers – it was in the searching that Jesus broke in.

I love today’s bible reading, another Christmas reading – the story of the wise men. Do find time to read the whole passage today, but let me focus on one phrase
Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 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.”

These wise men had travelled ‘from the east’ – a very long way. No motorways or trains in those days, just camels, donkeys and sore feet! Why? They asked ‘Where is the one…’

They were looking for that ‘something else’ in their lives and they found their answers in the small baby in the manger for when they saw him ‘they worshipped him’. Two thousand years later a young man called Mick off a council estate in Sheffield also found the answers to his questions about life in Jesus Christ. Do you have questions about life today? Always remember this truth, never be afraid to ask your questions because it’s through persevering with the questions that we eventually find the answers – it’s in the searching that we find Jesus. If you know someone who is searching let me encourage you to do two things; firstly, why not invite them to the Alpha course here at STC – it begins on the first Tuesday in October and runs for 9 weeks – details on our website. Or maybe you still have questions about life and faith – then why not come along to Alpha? Secondly, why not invite them along to one of our Sunday Gatherings at STC? They may well be waiting for you to ask and it may well be the beginning of their journey of faith with Jesus. Alpha and Sunday two great ways to meet with Jesus the one who is THE answer to all our questions!

PRAYER:

Lord, thank you that you are the answer to all our questions. You are Jesus the Lord and this day we worship you. Amen.

READING: Matthew 2:1-12

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 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.’

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 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. ‘In Bethlehem in Judea,’ they replied, ‘for this is what the prophet has written:

‘“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.”’

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

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. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.