Welcome to Pathway, and welcome to Christmas. As the song goes, "It's the most wonderful time of the year."

Even for friends who might not call themselves Christians, there's still something wonderful about Christmas.

I think there's a really deep reason for that.

The reason is that the human heart needs a little magic. We're on a quest for it.

Let me say it this way, because this is our theme for this whole month of December.

That's the quest. That's human nature. It's the human heart. I am saying we're built for this search.

We're built for it emotionally.
We're built for it psychologically.
We're built for it spiritually.

It is the search for ultimate meaning; and it is so strong that even when people don't want to hold onto God or Jesus, they still hold onto Christmas.

I want to show you that the best thing any of us can ever do in our lives is to once for all fully embrace Christmas in its original and fullest meaning... which we find in the Bible in places like this:

"Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.'
And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh" (Matthew 2:1-2, 11).

And I want to give you a little heads up. Because I'm not only going to preach and teach about Jesus. I'm actually going to ask you to make an important decision today.

That decision would be to have your very own "come to Jesus moment." I mean that literally. And I actually mean today. Because when a person has their own come to Jesus moment, for the first time, they have embraced Christmas in its fullest possible meaning. I'll explain as we go, and then I'd he honored to talk you through it.

Don't worry, it won't be weird, and I won't single you out. But that's where we're going.

If you had met Jesus during his life on earth, you would have been immediately attracted to him.

When people saw him, they flocked to him.

In the first chapter of the gospel of Mark, Jesus has gone to take a rest... and the disciples are looking for him. And they're looking for him because everyone is looking for him.

They actually say this...

"When they found him, they said to him, 'Everyone is looking for you'" (Mark 1:37).

The people were flocking to Jesus. At one point he had to push off shore in a boat just to make room to speak to them.

He wasn't a comedian. He wasn't a philosopher. He wasn't even a storyteller.

Why were they so drawn to him? What was his secret?

You'll read in Mark 1:28, "His fame spread throughout all the region."

In Mark 1:33, "All the city was gathered together at the door."

Then in verse 37, "Everybody is looking for you."

In Mark 2:2, "Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door."

Mark 3:7 says "a great multitude followed him."

Mark 3:20 says, "the multitude came together, so much that they could not even eat."

It just goes on and on.

The picture of you have of Jesus is one of extreme interest and attractiveness. Crowds and crowds were drawn to him.

Why?

We're told why, in the very first chapter of that gospel. Actually we're shown why... I'll come back to that.

The Gifts of the Magi
The Magi gave him three gifts on purpose. These were elite members of the ruling class. They were highly educated, multi-lingual, highly connected historians, theologians, and politicians — they were the best of the best — they were truly Wise... Men...

So, when they selected these gifts, and Scripture writes it down for all time, because there is meaning here.

This is what we have been looking at for this month of Christmas.

GOLD: The gold was a symbol of royalty. The King is born. He is not only king, but he is the King of kings... meaning that Jesus elevates you to be a king or queen before God. So the invitation remains, come to Jesus and get your crown worth wearing.

FRANKINCENSE: The frankincense symbolized priesthood. Jesus is the Great High priest. He builds a bridge between earth and heaven and walks you across it. He stands as mediator between you and the Father, and joins your hand to his forever. He restores the supernatural connection that was lost by sin, and adds the magic back into your life. So the invitation here is come to Jesus and find a miracle worth seeing.

MYRRH: And today I would like to meditate with you about the gift of myrrh. Myrrh was very expensive and highly treasured. It was a tree sap, dried, and crushed into powder. It has a very strong and sharp aroma.

But its main use had to do... wait for it... with death. In fact, myrrh shows up three times in the life of Jesus. And each one has to do with his sacrifice and death.