This week our Explore the Bible study focuses on the worship of the King of Kings and Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. After His birth, wise men traveled to see this new King. We will examine the response of the wise men to His birth and the responses of others who heard of his birth. While the wise men sought the King to worship Him, not everyone wanted a king.

The same could be said of people in today's world. The responses described in Matthew 2:1-12 take place in today's world as well. Hopefully your response is similar to that of the wise men who believed everything about Jesus and willingly paid the cost to seek Him in order to worship and give their gifts to Him. They sought to honor Him as the King!

When Jesus the King arrived in human history, there were no parades nor great fanfare. He simply came as a baby. But His coming brought about the fulfillment of God's grand plan for man's salvation. Jesus, our Savior was born! Imagine being introduced to God's plan as Joseph was in Matthew 1:18-25. We know he struggled to understand what was happening to Mary and to their future as a married couple. After his conversation with the angel, he might have struggled trying to wrap his mind around everything the angel said; yet he chose to obey. This is the focus of our Explore the Bible study this week.

As you approach this study, keep in mind that we are in the season where everyone is fine with celebrating the “baby Jesus" but might not understand what His birth truly means. I saw a picture this week that might help put in perspective how people view Jesus beyond that image of a baby in a manger. The caption read, “People love the baby in the manger, but they hate the grown up who said, 'I am the way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me'" (John 14:6) – Mark Spence.

The fact is Jesus, the King of Kings, God’s only Son, arrived on the scene and was placed in that little feeding trough. Jesus’ conception was supernatural, and He entered this world both fully human and fully divine. Jesus was born as a baby from a human mother; thus He was human. He is not someone who is a lot like God, or someone who walked closely with God, but He was and is God Himself! While this might be hard to fully understand, we, like Joseph, have a choice to make with what we know about Jesus. We can respond in obedience or disobedience, even if things around us don’t make sense.

Why are we starting with Matthew 3 before focusing on chapters 1 and 2? Dwayne McCrary, Team Leader at LifeWay Christian Resources explains this approach in his post on the Explore the Bible blog. He explains that it was LifeWay's desire to "place the Christmas stories (chapters 1 and 2) as close to Christmas as possible in a way that made some sense." Placing John’s announcement as the first lesson and titling it "The Way Prepared" helps you connect John's arrival on the scene as a means of preparing the world for the mission and message Jesus came to deliver.

I believe they have done a very good job of helping us capture the picture of all that was taking place in these passages. By starting with chapter 3 we are able to connect the Christmas story with the larger context of God's grand plan which was in play all the way back in Genesis and even before time, as we know it, began.

I have provided additional references from Luke 5:1-17 to help you introduce your group to the full story of John the Baptist and added information that helps paint the picture of the times in which he and Jesus were born.

I have also provided quite a few discussion options that zero in on the message of repentance and what John describes as Jesus' purpose for coming - to provide salvation to those who repent, to gather those who believe in Him, and to sift out those who refuse to follow Him.

I pray you will have a great time discussing how John's message of repentance is expressed today.

What can we learn about obeying God and maintaining high standards when making decisions, from the servant's response to Abraham's directions as told in Genesis 24:1-61? We can learn from this Explore the Bible session that God provides if we remain faithful, follow His directions, and maintain high standards.

Many times, when we make decisions, we get ahead of God, or we modify God's standards in order to get what we want. We see a beautiful story of God's provision and blessings that come from following Him throughout all decision-making situations.

I have included a video clip that you can use to introduce the topic of following directions. I hope you enjoy the study and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Abraham trusted God in the midst of one of the greatest and most unimaginable tests of his life. Our Explore the Bible Study: The Faith Test focuses on this test. This is one of the most challenging passages to study, yet one of the most beautiful passages which ultimately points to the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God's Son for our sins.

God had made a covenant with Abraham and clarified and reminded him of that covenant multiple times. God promised to bless the nations through him. He patiently taught Abraham and Sarah about Himself and His ways even when they laughed at His plans. He extended grace when they took His plans into their own hands such as when Abraham produced a child with Sarah’s servant, Hagar. God gave them a child and Abraham could finally begin to see the fulfillment of God's promises. With the birth of Isaac, they could finally begin to enjoy the blessings of a young child and begin to witness the fulfillment of God’s promises. But now, God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son!

In spite of this, Abraham knew they would return together. He knew God would provide a lamb for the sacrifice. He held on to the promise that God would fulfill His promises to Abraham through Isaac. We even see in Hebrews 11:17-19 that Abraham believed God would keep His promise even if it meant that God would raise Isaac from the ashes.

As believers, we should expect that God will test our faith, and we should pray that we will respond correctly. A test of our faith is not really for God’s benefit, as He already knows our hearts, but for our own, so that we evaluate our own spiritual maturity and grow from the experience.