Seeking the Savior

Children's Sermon: Seeking the Savior (Matthew 2:1-12)

(Make a simple map from your starting place to two other places in your room. This will be your “Seeking the Savior Map. Hide the star stickers somewhere in your room. Place a star sticker on your map for that place. Choose two other places where your map will take kids in your room. Then use symbols on your map to signify those two places, such as a book for a bookcase. After your map has three places on it, wad it up and unwad it to make it look more realistic.)

If we were planning to go visit someone in another town, we might first ask someone who knew how to get there to give us directions. They might give us some general directions and suggest the best roads to take. Another thing we might do is look at a map or use our GPS to show us exactly how to get where we want to go.

Today we have a map to help us seek or find something. (Show kids the map.) I have two things you need to do. #1: You will go with me to seek the star that is hiding in our room. And #2: Every time you hear me say the word “star,” raise your hands and say “Shine, shine, bright star.” Ready?

Let’s look at our map and go to the first place. Where do you think we go based on this first picture?

(Lead children to that area.) After Jesus was born, some wise men, also called Magi, saw a star (Pause for kids to say “Shine, shine, bright 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 (Pause for kids to say “Shine, shine, bright star.”) as it rose, and we have come to worship him."

(Have children look at the map and then go to the second area.) Herod heard about the Magi and their search for a king and he was deeply disturbed. So Herod called for a 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!"

(Have children look at the map and then go to the second area.) As you know, the wise men did not have a map to guide them to Bethlehem, but they had something even better — they had a star (Pause for kids to say “Shine, shine, bright star.”) to guide them. So the wise men followed information that the priests had given to Herod and the star (Pause for kids to say “Shine, shine, bright 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. (Matthew 2:1-12)

(Have children look at the map and then go to the third area to find the star. Give each child a star sticker when they find them.) 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. The Bible is the map and star (Pause for kids to respond say “Shine, shine, bright star.”) that will lead to Jesus. All of us can read it every day to make sure we are headed in the right direction to find Jesus!

Dear Jesus, we seek you today because we want to worship you and crown you as our King. Thank You for the Bible that leads us to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.