Читать книгу Nourishing Seeds of Faith - Virginia H. Loewen - Страница 10

Theme: God’s word continues to teach us.

Scripture: She (Mary) will give birth to a son. You (Joseph) will name the son Jesus. . . . All this happened to make clear the full meaning of what the Lord had said through the prophet. —Matthew 1:20b,22

Preparation: Read the prophecies of Jesus’ birth in Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 61:1–2; Micah 5:2; and the wise men’s visit in Matthew 2:1–12.

I already know that you like to hear stories. Does anyone like to read stories? Do you have a favorite story that you never get tired of?

There are stories in the Bible that you will hear many times. Can you think of a Bible story that you have heard more than once?

How do you feel when you hear a Bible story for the second or third time? Are you excited to say, “Oh, I know that story. I know what happened. I know how that story ends!” Or do you think Oh, no. Not that story again?

I discovered something about hearing and reading Bible stories. I found that I can learn something new and surprising about a story I thought I already knew.

You know the Bible story we always hear when we are getting ready for Christmas. What is the Christmas story about?

We find the story about Jesus being born in the part of the Bible we call the Gospel of Matthew. The very first page of this book is where the Christmas story begins. This story is one of the Bible stories that people know best.

Here are some things I didn’t know about the Christmas story when I was your age.

About 700 years before Jesus was born there lived a man named Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet. Do you know what a prophet is? A prophet is someone God gives messages to share. God gave Isaiah some very special news that he told all the people. He said that God’s Son would be born on earth.

Another prophet lived at about the same time as Isaiah, long, long before Jesus was born. His name was Micah. Micah’s message told where the one who would become the King of the Jews would be born. Do you know the name of the person we call the King of the Jews? (Jesus) Where was Jesus born? (in Bethlehem)

It was because teachers had read Micah’s message from God that the wise men knew exactly where to find the baby Jesus. The wise men had also discovered a new star in the sky. They believed that a new star was a sign that a great leader was going to be born. So they followed the star to find him and to give him gifts.

The story about Jesus being born is a story we need to hear over and over again. It is the beginning of the greatest story ever told. It should be at the center of our Christmas celebration. We can always learn something new from the Bible about it. I have learned that, long before Jesus was born, God had told certain messengers that the Son would be born on earth, where he would be born, and that he would become the King of the Jews. I hope you know more about Jesus now, too.

Let’s pray.

Dear God, thank you for Jesus. You sent him as a baby at just the right time. Help us to keep on learning new things from the Bible. Especially, help us learn more about Jesus. Amen.

Stretching Further: Read aloud Luke 4:14–21: Jesus reads the words of Isaiah in the synagogue. Talk about Isaiah’s words coming true.

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