December 16th Family Christmas Questions / Advent Study
Here are the next questions for your family Christmas Study or Advent Study. They are followed by a creative idea on keeping Christ in your family Christmas. The answers to the questions appear at the end of this blog. One great benefit of doing this with your family is that it will become a tradition which transcends the Advent Season whereby you do a short daily Bible study as a family at every meal throughout the year. Answer each question True or False
According to the Bible… ( Last posted - 13th #s 25 – 29) 30) _____ The birth of John the Baptist holds a central position in the Christmas Revelation
31) _____ Because of their sharing the unique experiences of miraculous pregnancies, their respective son’s close ties in ministry and their own ties of family, Elizabeth and Mary shared and lifelong friendship resulting in Elizabeth being a great support and encouragement to Mary throughout her life.
32) _____The birth of Jesus came at an inopportune time. A better time would have been before or after the census, thus not requiring a trip the Bethlehem.
33) _____ Mary rode on a donkey to Bethlehem.
Keeping Christ In Christmas - Deployed Military and Recruiting stations One of the ways we keep Christ in Christmas is by bringing Christ, the good news of Christmas and the blessings of Christian love to those who serve in our military. We all remember our ministers as Christmas time but have you ever considered that fact that the young men and women who serve in the military are also the minsters of God? God the Holy Spirit teaches us in Romans 13:3-4 “For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.” God raises up men and women who “bear the sword” to protect us. During this time of year you have a wonderful opportunity of expressing thanks for this protections. This can be done in three ways. #1 – Deployed Military Ask around at church, at work and through your network till you come up with a few deployed service men or women. Next go the post office and pick up a “Flat Rate Box” (if you live in the US). You can put as much as you want in this box and it will go to any service man or woman in the world at a flat rate. Put in a New Testament, a good Christian book and then lots of candy and food items. Pray over it with your family and then send it off. #2 – Your local recruiting station Go put together a dozen or so candy canes with the “Tradition of the Candy Cane” attached. For this and other useful helps go to our website at http://gciweb.org/2011/07/holidays-resources/ Then drop by the Christian bookstore and pick up some inexpensive New Testaments and gospel tracts that center around Christmas. On your way to the station stop at Starbucks or any nice coffee shop and pick up a party tray of coffee. (Starbucks will fix this for you with all the condiments, etc.) and then add Christmas cookies. You and your children can make this or buy them on the way. When you arrive at the recruiting station thank each person individually and shake their hand. Give them their candy cane, their New Testament and tract. Place the coffee and cookies where than can be seen and then ask the recruiting officer if you can pray for them. Then go around and again shake their hands and thank them. #3 I have purchased Starbuck Gift Cards (I use the “thankyou”card). When I meet a military service man or woman in uniform I thank them for their service, give them a gift card which I keep in my wallet and offer to pray for them.
The Answers to today’s Advent Questions - 30. T - Luke 1:57 - 80 (The birth of John the Baptist holds a central position in the Christmas Revelation) The Christmas Revelation begins, not as is commonly presented on stage with the Angel’s appearance to Mary, but rather with Gabriel’s appearance to Zacharias in the temple (Luke 1:5 - 17). The birth of John the Baptist and subsequent Messianic prophecies hold a central position in the Christmas Revelation.
31. F - (Because of their sharing the unique experiences of miraculous pregnancies, their respective son’s close ties in ministry and their own ties of family, Elizabeth and Mary shared and lifelong friendship resulting in Elizabeth being a great support and encouragement to Mary throughout her life.) It may be surprising to learn that after the birth of John the Baptist, Elizabeth disappears from the Biblical narrative. Like most of the other participants of the historical events surrounding Jesus birth, she is never heard from again – Joseph, Mary and John the Baptist being the exceptions. (Those who are never heard from again include – Zacharias and Elizabeth, the shepherds, the wisemen, Simion, Anna and most notably, Joseph after the incident at the temple)
32. F – Luke 2:6; Galatians 4:4; Luke 2:4 – 6; Matthew 2:1 – 6 (The birth of Jesus came at an inopportune time. A better time would have been before or after the census, thus not requiring a trip the Bethlehem.) Although much is made of the bad timing of Jesus birth in terms of the census, the trip to Bethlehem, the crowded conditions, etc, etc, nothing could be further from the truth. In this aspect as in all aspects God reigned supreme, Jesus only did the will of the Father and events played out exactly as pre-ordained by God. Jesus came forth into the world when “the days were completed”; God the Holy Spirit reveals in Galatians 4:4 that this was in the “fullness of time”. It was not poor timing to travel to Bethlehem but rather the fulfillment of prophecy. Jesus often told His disciples when speaking of His coming crucifixion, “My hour is not yet come” (John 2:4). In His birth, His ministry, His crucifixion, His resurrection and His return, all things are as they should be, as foreordained by God, as fulfilled by prophecy. Things may seem to be out of control in the eyes of mere mortals when in fact God is in complete control and things are as exactly as they should be. This is an important lesson for modern day Christians. Just as we should see the circumstances and timing of the birth of Jesus through the lens of Scripture so we should see His return. Things are not out of control, Jesus is not “late” and He will come as he came at exactly the right time in the right circumstances.
33. F - Luke 2:4 & 5 (Mary rode on a donkey to Bethlehem.) In the historical revelation of Jesus’ birth, no mode of transportation is given in terms of Joseph and Mary’s trip to Bethlehem to register for taxes. It only states that they traveled to the city and that she gave birth there. “And Joseph also went up from Galilee... along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child.” If you have ever seen someone trying to ride a donkey, you would be very skeptical of a woman in the last days of pregnancy choosing this as a mode of transportation. The Bible does not say, but if we were to speculate, given Joseph’s profession as a carpenter, it is more plausible that he built a cart, filled it with hay and then either pulled it himself or used an ox or a donkey. This is far more believable than a woman, just days before giving birth, clip clopping along on the back of a donkey – especially given what we know about Joseph’s righteous character and sensitivity to Mary.