Category Archives: Christmas

During the Christmas season we celebrate the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, the Messiah, come to bring us salvation.

Prepare for the Holidays: Dealing with the Effects

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Happy Holidays - Dealing with the Effects

Effects of the Holidays on The Heart

How easy it is in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season to neglect or become distracted in our walk with the Lord. We can get so consumed with meal planning and preparation, decorating, parties, shopping, church activities, and the like that it preoccupies our thought life, builds anxieties within us, leads to stress, and pulls us from normal routines.

Prepare your heart. Before you get in the throes of it all, make a plan for how you will keep on track.  Commit now to keeping Him first, to making time for Him regardless of how busy you get.  Take time to read Matthew 6:33-34.  What will you do to nurture your walk with God?

Article:  So Much of … Everything but Jesus Over the Holidays

Prepare your people.  Hebrews 10:24 exhorts us to spur one another on to love and good deeds.  The holidays are no exception for exercising the “one another” passages of Scripture.  You could help by using a curriculum over the holidays intended to keep us focused.  Click on the titles below to read more about two published by Ministry Tools Resource Center for adult classes.

Curriculum:  Christmas Reminders
Curriculum:  May Jesus Help Our Christmas

Prepare your ministry efforts.  The holidays present unique windows of opportunity to impact people’s lives that you might not otherwise have. Consider ways you can make the most of these opportunities (Col. 4:5). Think of how to pull people’s thoughts about the holidays onto related truths from God’s Word in your preaching and teaching. You might focus on an upcoming holiday in your small groups or Bible classes distributing a discussion guide that makes that transition. Or, send home a guide for the entire church body to do on their own. The following resource can help you with that.

Resource:  Holiday Reflections Discipleship Guides

Prepare for the Effects on Church Life

Prepare yourself as a teacher or ministry leader.  Be ready for the effects of the holidays on people.  Remember that people need you to be there for them, not just physically but relationally as well.  During the holidays it is easy to get distracted and self-absorbed and neglect important relationships.  Remember the effects of holidays on attendance, giving, and other areas.  Be prepared for it but don’t get discouraged.  Make the most of the season.

Article:  Holidays and the Church
Worksheet:  Intruders in the Classroom: Holidays & Other Special Events

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After Christmas: Let’s Remember to Keep Singing

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Christmas-lights7Christmas-lights7We’ve sung the familiar Christmas carols at church, listened to holiday music playing in the stores and on the radio.   A new year begins and so the old songs are put aside until another Christmas comes along.

But, wasn’t it the hope of Christmas that gave us a reason to sing … that put a new song in our hearts and not just on our lips?

Enjoy Christmas Songs but Keep Singing, Singing that’s Ceaseless

People of the Old Testament times looked forward to the coming Messiah.  Though Jesus still hadn’t come, they still found plenty of reasons to sing.  The psalmist spoke of a new song because of all the marvelous deeds, goodness, and salvation of the Lord and so wrote of ceaseless praise.

“. . . that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” (Ps. 90:14)

We look back at His coming, what we call Christmas.  The theme of ceaseless singing continues.

“Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Eph. 5:19-20)

We read of angels singing in the end times about how the Lamb is worthy to exercise judgment (Rev. 5:9-14; 15:1-4).

Singing That is Comely

Singing is a means of praising God, of exalting Him, of expressing our joy and thanksgiving to Him. Because it points to the Lord, it is a beautiful thing.  — “How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise Him” (Ps. 147:1).

Though the calendar date is no longer Christmas, we still sing “Gloria, in Excelsis Deo” … Glory to God in the Highest!  Praising God through singing is not only becoming, it is beneficial.  It is good.

Do you need to continue with the Christmas carols to sing praise to Him?  Of course not.  But, let’s remember to keep singing about Him and not get caught up in the despair and hopelessness around us.  The Lord has come!  The Lord will come again!

This post forms the basis for one of the sessions in the Christmas Reminders Curriculum for adult classes.

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At Christmas, Let’s Remember the Most Indescribable Gift

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Christmas-lights6Many of us will both give and receive gifts at Christmas.  We will thank people for their gifts, explaining what their gifts mean to us.  We might show off the gifts sitting under the tree to people who come to visit during the holiday season.  We will possibly describe to long-distance friends or family what we were given, especially the gifts we most value.

Describing an Indescribable Gift

Gift-giving and receiving has long been a part of the Christmas tradition.  The very first Christmas gift, came in the form of a baby who was wrapped in swaddling clothes.  Try as we might to describe this gift, we will never fully be able to explain it.

This was a gift motivated by a love so wide, long, high, and deep that we will never fully understand, let alone describe, it. (Eph. 3:18)

This was a gift given once for all, a gift that keeps on giving and is for all who will receive it, difficult to understand and describe its all-sufficiency.  (Heb. 7:26-28; 10:10)

This was a gift given sacrificially for undeserving people, at a cost only One person could ever pay, something beyond our normal life experiences.  (Rom. 5:6-11)

This was a gift given without strings attached, a gift that can only be received through faith because it was given by grace, something our works-oriented brains have a difficult time wrapping around.  (Jn. 1:12-13; Eph. 2:8-9)

How do you respond to such an indescribable gift?  We can start with expressions of gratitude.  — Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (2 Cor. 9:15)

This post forms the basis for one of the sessions in the Christmas Reminders Curriculum for adult classes.

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At Christmas, Let’s Remember the Greatest Reason to Party

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Church Parties.   Work Parties.   Family Parties.

Christmas-celebrations

Christmas-celebration

Many of us will do a lot of celebrating over the holiday season.  We’ll sing Christmas songs together, eat too much food, give presents, etc.  Even if you don’t have money to buy expensive gifts and fancy foods, you have reason to celebrate.  It’s Christmas, the day we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus!  Without Christmas there would be no Easter.  Without Easter (the death and resurrection of Jesus to pay the price for our salvation), we would have no reason for rejoicing.  (1 Cor. 15:14-19)

Enjoy Christmas Parties But Remember the Greatest Reason to Party

Enjoy time with family and friends but remember the greatest reason to party.  You see, it isn’t what you have or what you’ve done that brings the greatest joy … not even ministry accomplishments.

Remember Jesus’ words to the disciples after a very successful ministry effort — “However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven”  (Lk. 10:20).  Belonging to Him is the greatest reason to party.

In addition to your own salvation through Jesus, seeing others come to be found in Him is cause for great rejoicing.

Jesus told parables of a lost sheep and a lost coin being found which He likened to the salvation of people, saying “there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Lk. 15:7, 10).  Angels in heaven understand the greatest reason to party.

The father in the parable of the lost son had a party when his son returned home.  His brother did not share the same sentiment.  The father defended his stance saying, “But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Lk. 15:32).

Christmas made it possible for our salvation and the salvation of the world.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. (1 Tim. 1:15)  He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.  (1 Jn. 2:2)

Are you compelled by the greatest reason to party?

This post forms the basis for one of the sessions in the Christmas Reminders Curriculum for adult classes.

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At Christmas, Let’s Remember What Most Needs to Be Adorned

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“Deck the Halls

  Christmas-Decorationswith boughs of holly.”

Many of us will deck the halls, trim the tree, and hang the stockings with care.  Most of us rarely think about the traditions or customs behind the various Christmas decorations.  We just feel more festive with lights, bells, candles, and evergreens.  There is something about decking the halls that draws us into the holiday.

Enjoy Christmas Decorations But Think About the Adornment of Your Own Life

Let’s take time to think about the adornment of our own lives as Christians.  When people look at us, do they see the light of Jesus?  Do our lives pull them in, giving them a sense of anticipation and hope … wanting to also experience the joy of the Lord?

Titus 2:9-10, speaking to slaves of that day, says:

Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.  —- Or, as the King James Version says, “that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.”

You might not be a slave, but many of you have jobs.  Do you highlight or underscore the doctrine of God by the way you act and react in the workplace?  Does being a Christian look honorable on you?  Does your life pull people in to the Gospel or repel them?

Let’s remember what most needs to be adorned this Christmas.  Let’s “make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.”  That Savior came to earth 2000 years ago.  Is it obvious by the way you celebrate Christmas?  Is it obvious by the way you live the rest of the year?

This post forms the basis for one of the sessions in the Christmas Reminders Curriculum for adult classes.

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Making Even Well-Known Truths Relevant

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If you want to connect with and motivate people, you must tap into their needs and what interests them.  A good starting point is to look at their age developmental characteristics.  You can make even well-known stories and truths relevant.

Example of How to Make Well-Known Truths Relevant Using the Christmas Story

Child Nativity Set
(Click to check out children’s nativities in our affiliate store.)

In adding nativity sets to the children’s ministry section on the Christmas Ministry Resources page from our affiliate stores, I found quite a variety — fabric, finger puppet, stickers, magnetic, puppet glove, plastic/PVC, soft and squeezable, vinyl clings, and wooden. I wanted to include nativities that could be used in children’s classes, or in the home, that would serve not just as touchable decorations but also visual aids or learning tools.

If I were to look for nativity sets for adults, I would add resin, glass, ceramic, metal, porcelain, along with possibly other kinds of materials.

Just like you will find some nativity sets constructed more suitably for toddlers, some for older children, and others for adults, so we must consider how to communicate in relevant ways to the different age levels.

Think about people’s developmental needs as we approach the holiday season.  How can you present this Jesus in the manger in ways that are relevant to them?

1)  Early Childhood:  They need a sense of security as they look to people to care for their needs while beginning to exert a degree of independence and initiative.

Present to them this Jesus who came to earth as a baby, loved by God, and who grew up gaining favor with God and man and  showed others love.  If they feel His unconditional love they will learn to open their hearts to Him.

2)  Grade School:  They need a sense of success or competence in this industrious age level marked by curiosity, skill development, and performance.

Present to them this Jesus who came to earth as a baby but who grew in wisdom and did many wonderful things, the best of which was salvation.  If they study His life through His Word, they will become equipped to do good in life, to reach their potential in Him through His power.

3)  Junior High:  They need a sense of stability in this period of uncertainty with all the changes going on within them.

Present to them this Jesus who came to earth through a most peculiar set of circumstances and was not always understood as He grew and did the Father’s will. He kept doing the Father’s will regardless of how hard it was and how He felt.  If they learn to trust Him, He will help them navigate this turbulent time.

4)  Senior High:  They need a sense of identity as they transition into adulthood.

Present to them this Jesus who came to earth as a little baby though fully aware He was God.  As He grew, He did not let ego or peer direct His decisions but the Father.  If they discover who they are in Him, they will come to realize that it isn’t about what others think of them but what God thinks.

5)  Young Adults:  They need a sense of belonging and intimacy as they build relationships and learn to cope in a big world.

Present to them this Jesus who came to earth because God so loved the world and wanted to reconcile people to Himself.  Jesus knew His purpose, sought to accomplish His goals, yet remembered the people around Him and built relationships with them.  If they keep a relationship with Him their top priority, others pursuits will fall into place.

6)  Middle Aged Adults:  They need a sense of purpose as they begin to wonder if their life is really making a difference.

Present to them this Jesus who came to earth, with humble beginnings in the manger but didn’t stay there.  Rather, He went on to make a difference.  If they line up with Him, they too will live abundant and productive lives to the very end.

7)  Senior Aged Adults:  They need a sense of satisfaction and contentment, of fulfillment, with their lives, that they are leaving a legacy.

Present to them this Jesus who came to this earth to make a difference and so for the joy set before Him endured the cross, did not revile when reviled, but rather offered love and forgiveness.  If they continue to walk in Him, they too will live a life of integrity that others can look to as a role model.  If they have failed to walk faithfully, they can receive grace and forgiveness even now with Jesus’ challenge to “Go and sin no more.”

You can run any truth through these age level needs to increase relevancy.  If you don’t think too much about the difference these factors play in your students’ understanding and motivation, perhaps the Age Level Characteristics Resource from Ministry Tools Resource Center would be useful to you.

Teacher Training Worksheet Based on this Article:  Make Truths Relevant

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