The lesson on December 20, 2009 is the final lesson of the Characters of Christmas study and this lesson is entitled "The End of the Beginning". The scripture reading was in Matthew 1:18-25 KJV and this lesson covers the birth of Christ. "18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
The lesson on December 13, 2009 continued the study on the characters of Christmas. This lesson covers Luke 1:26-31KJV "26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
The lesson on December 6, 2009 started a series on the biblical characters involved in the Christmas story. The first individuals looked at are Zacharias and Elizabeth. The title of this lesson would be "The Beginning of the End" makes you stop and think: is there really an end? In Matthew 24:3-6 KJV the Lord is asked by his disciples... "3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
The Importance of the Name of God. Christmas is over but New Years is next. Do you want to make New Year’s resolutions? Go ahead and make them even though the prospects for 2009 don’t look good. America is in a recession and the economic outlook is poor. Things can really get bad. No matter how bad it gets, the worse of it all is taking your last breath without knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and believing on his name. What’s in a name?
Songs of Christmas. The lesson on December 21, 2008 was a lesson celebrating Christmas which is the traditional holiday commemorating the birth of Christ. (Here is a poem that explain way Jesus is better the Santa Claus). Does Christmas have you all stressed out, running around trying to get all your gifts prepared and wrapped to be opened? Are you in a hurry and don’t know what to do next? The traditions of Christmas shopping seam to make people all worked up, running around with busy work and sometimes having to wait.
The Name of God. In Psalms 103:1 (KJV) it says “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” There is something special about the name of God. When God decided to give man 10 commandments, when He got to the third one, He said not to take His name in vain. That’s how important God’s name is to Him.
The Providence of God. The lesson on December 7, 2008 covered a topic about the providence of God. Providence is made up of two words: “pro” meaning “before”, and “video” meaning “to see”. One of the attributes of God is being omniscient which is where he gets his providence but he still has given us free choice in the matter. If you looked up the definition of PROVIDENCE in the 1828 edition of Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, you would see this “The act of providing or preparing for future use...” God’s providence is simply broken down into these three: 1.
New Years Message - Our Hope - The lesson on December 31, 2006 brings a message of hope for New Years 2007. The lesson starts with a nostalgic look at the year of 2006. If you are honest with yourself, you would admit to feelings of regret for something you did or didn’t do. By reminiscing, you find yourself with a focus on the past and not the present. The past cannot be changed. A football coach once said “Well, yesterday is history, and tomorrow is a mystery, but today is in the present and that is what we are going to deal with”.
