Lessons

Christmas Story – Part 2. The lesson on December 24, 2006 continues the Christmas story with part two of the lesson given on the 17th. Derek McCammon tells us a story about how Read Luke 23:34 he saw a bumper sticker that said “Born okay… the first time!” Don’t they realize how perfect they aren’t! There has only been one person born okay the first time and that is Christ Jesus. Mankind does not get it. Jesus Christ was sent to die for you and me so we may be born again and receive the new man which is without sin. God took on the form of a man to redeem mankind. In Luke 23:35, we see others that don’t get it… “And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.” People who get it were Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men. Mary was told by an Angel that she was highly favored because God was with her. She was a woman of God. The shepherds got it. We see in Luke 2:15-17 “And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.” Mary showed she got it in Luke 2:19 because we are told she observed these things and pondered them in her heart. Now let’s talk about the babe in the manger. This was God! In Colossians 1:15-17 (KJV) it says ”Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” We see in John 1:1, 14 (KJV) “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” God chose to reveal Himself once and for all through Jesus. Jesus was God (Philippians 2:6). God left highest bliss to come in such a world as this! The wise men got it. We see back in Daniel 2:48; 4:9 that Daniel was given rule over the wise men in the east and had significant influence on them 600 years before the birth of Christ. The lesson ends with a letter from Charles Dickens that was sent to his children in 1849. The opening paragraph said “My dear children, I’m very anxious that you should know something about the history of Jesus Christ. For everybody ought to know about him. No one ever lived that was so good, and so kind, and so gentle, and so sorry, for all people who did wrong, or were in any way ill or miserable as he was…” Click here to listen now. You may also want to hear other lessons about Christmas.