How The Bible Teaches Us To Celebrate Christmas

We celebrate Christmas because Jesus our Savior was born. We celebrate his birth because we know what his birth and death means for us. It means that we can have eternal life in heaven if we believe in him. The Bible gives us the reasons for our celebration, but it also tells us how to celebrate. We are to worship God and give to others.

After Jesus was born several different people wanted to see him. First an angel appeared to some nearby shepherds. The angel told them that the long awaited Savior had been born. They went to see Jesus and when they found him they told of everything the angel had told them. After they left they started worshipping God. We are to worship God in the same way, giving thanks to him for giving us a Savior.

Another group of people that went to see Jesus were the wise men. These wise men were from a far away land. They had seen a star arise and they wanted to worship this newborn king. They used this star as a guide to find Jesus. When they found him they also bowed in worship. These wise men also gave Jesus gifts. They gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (very expensive items for that time and region).

Christmas today is filled with people worshipping God and giving gifts because that is what the Bible tells us happened as a result of Jesus’s birth. We should all worship God and care for those around us because of what Jesus means to us.

Besides the story of his miraculous birth, we know strikingly little about Jesus’s childhood. This most likely means that he had a fairly normal one. He most likely played with his friends, went to school, and did chores around the house just like we do now. However, we do have one story from his childhood and that is also found in Luke 2.

When Jesus was 12 years old, his family traveled to Jerusalem for the annual Passover festival. After the festival was over and Mary and Joseph were traveling home they realized that Jesus had been left behind. They went back to Jerusalem and found him sitting with the teachers in the Temple. Jesus was astounding them with his understanding of the Bible and how wise he was at such a young age. It proves to us that we are never too young to learn and to grow.

The end of Luke says that Jesus continued to grow in many ways. Just like we grow in size, we also are to grow spiritually. The more we study and the more we spend time with God the more we will grow. That is what Jesus did. Jesus was just like us, but he grew in God and became the person we all know and love. It was through this growth that he gave his life for us. We are called to this same growth. This is what we have the opportunity to do day in and day out. The more we learn, the more we grow. And learning about God is the best thing to learn about.

Key Takeaways:

• Worship

• Give

• Grow

Parents, 3treesKIDS will be covering “Jesus is Born”, both in-person and online this week.

Be sure to check out their lesson at www.3trees.com/kids.

To find service times and locations, visit https://www.3trees.com/planyourvisit.

Jesus Is Born

Christmas is one of the most celebrated holidays in the world. On December 25th, friends and families gather together to open gifts and spend time together. Most people that celebrate Christmas know about its origins. Christmas was and is still a day that Christians celebrate Jesus being born into the world. In hectic and busy times during the holidays it is easy to lose sight of the meaning behind Christmas. So, we must ask ourselves why we are celebrating in the first place?

The meaning of Christmas goes much deeper and further back than the night Jesus was born. In the Old Testament, God’s people were struggling. Because of sin, there was a gap between people and God. This gap made it hard to connect with God, therefore, people continued to sin and turn away from God. However, God gave them a promise. Throughout the Old Testament, the promise of a Savior emerges time and time again. This Savior would be a person that could bridge the gap between people and God and allow for a new relationship to take place.

For years God’s people waited for this promise to be fulfilled. The New Testament picks up with this promise coming into fruition. Matthew 1-2, and Luke 1-2 tell the story of Jesus being born.

Here we see that God sent angels to visit Mary and Joseph (Jesus’s parents). Even though Mary and Joseph were not married yet, the angels told them that the Holy Spirit would conceive a baby in Mary’s womb and that baby would be Jesus, the long awaited Savior.

The Bible explains that Jesus was God’s son, even though he had human parents. Because the Holy Spirit put Jesus inside Mary’s womb it became clear that this child was special. Mary and Joseph were entrusted to raise and care for Jesus, but they knew that Jesus was God’s own son.

The backstory behind Jesus’s birth is very interesting, but the reason we still celebrate it is because of what it continues to do for us. A significant part of the promise of the Savior was for God to be with humanity. Jesus was with his father in heaven but came to the world so that he could relate to us. While Jesus was 100% God he was also 100% man. Jesus knew what it was like to laugh and have fun, he knew what it was like to have pain and to be sad. Jesus was God with us, he helped those around him to see God in new ways and to further their journey with him.

But the promise did not stop there. Jesus was killed on the cross, but arose three days later. This proved to people that he really was the Savior that the Old Testament talked about. It is through Jesus’s death and resurrection that we can be saved from our sins, be connected to God, and have eternal life.

We celebrate Christmas because Jesus became God with us and became our Savior.

Key Takeaways:

• Jesus is the promise of a Savior

• Jesus is God’s Son

• Jesus is God with Us

Parents, 3treesKIDS will be covering “Jesus is Born”, both in-person and online this week.

Be sure to check out their lesson at www.3trees.com/kids.

To find service times and locations, visit https://www.3trees.com/planyourvisit.

Christmas Part One: John the Baptist

John the Baptist Background:

• He was the son of Zachariah and Elizabeth

• The cousin of Jesus

• and born 6 months before Jesus

John was more than likely raised under the teachings of his father Zachariah. Zachariah was a priest, and John was being groomed for the priesthood. However, John would not end up being a priest. The Spirit of God led John into the wilderness where he would use him in a special way.

John lived off the land. The Bible says that he ate locust and wild honey and had clothes made from camel’s hair. John’s life was far from luxurious, and not what most people would have expected from him. But John used his knowledge of God that was passed down through his father to teach, preach, and lead people in the wilderness.

John gets the name “John the Baptist” because while he was in the wilderness he baptized many people. The theme of John’s message was repentance from sin, and getting baptized was a way to symbolize this turning away from sin.

People came from all over to hear John preach and to be baptized by him. John’s popularity grew and he gained several followers, but another theme of his message was that there was a man who would come after him that was more powerful than he was. And this message was fulfilled with Jesus.

Jesus came to John in the wilderness. Jesus was baptized by John (not because Jesus had sin, but as an example of what we should do). After this, John told his followers that he must decrease and Jesus must increase because he was going to be the savior.

John is known as a forerunner because he paved the way for people to see and accept Jesus as the Messiah.

John was eventually killed by King Herod, but not before Jesus’s ministry was able to take off and gain significant momentum. Jesus himself had many great things to say about John the Baptist. He went as far as to say that John was the greatest prophet and he fulfilled what Scripture lines out in the role of the forerunner.

Many people were expecting the prophet Elijah to return to usher in the Messiah, but John the Baptist filled this role, and according to Jesus, did it with excellence.

Ultimately, we learn from John that we are unworthy of Jesus. We don’t deserve a savior, but God has given us one anyway. And that is why we must decrease and Jesus must increase in our lives.

Key Takeaways:

• God uses all kinds of people

• Repent and be baptized

• We must decrease; He must increase

Parents, 3treesKIDS will also be covering Christmas Part One , both in-person and online this week.

Be sure to check out their lesson at www.3trees.com/kids.

To find service times and locations, visit https://www.3trees.com/planyourvisit.