Scripture Reading
[Jesus] replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward a welcome awakening. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again: Your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing. Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing. The people are… [resistant]! They stick their fingers in their ears so they won’t have to listen; They screw their eyes shut so they won’t have to look, so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face and let me heal them
Matthew 13:11 (The Message Bible)
Introductory Remarks:
All Secrets are hidden from you until you are ready to receive them. Readiness is a prerequisite for revelation.
Not every soul matures at the same time. Some are ready for the secret truth and others are ready for a story about the truth.
Major Points of the Lesson:
- Every Christmas story, theme and character reveals something to you, and about YOU. Are you ready to receive the hidden secret?
- You can enjoy the Christmas stories even though you acquire a deeper meaning and application of the stories to your life.
- Christmas:
- Occurs by an unpopular means – Mary is told the child is ‘of God’, not man.
Secret: ______________________________________________________________________________ - Offers lessons in Obedience – Joseph, in a dream, is told to wed his pregnant girlfriend and subsequently to leave Bethlehem and go to Nazareth in order to protect the baby Jesus.
Secret: ______________________________________________________________________________ - Reveals the Illuminating Power of the Holy Spirit to provide guidance in the darkest of hours – Wise Men follow a bright Star that stands in the midnight sky; and shepherds are called to Bethlehem by the illuminating presence of a heavenly host.
Secret: ______________________________________________________________________________ - Is For All – Wise Men, Shepherds and Herod are invited for Christmas.
Secret: ______________________________________________________________________________ - Happens in obscure places – An animal’s feeding trough hosts the Baby Jesus; a cave serves as the residence for Mary and Joseph instead of King Herod’s Royal Palace.
Secret: ____________________________________________________________________________ - Is about giving, sharing and generosity of the heart. The reason for the gift is just as important as the gift itself.
Secret: ____________________________________________________________________________
- Occurs by an unpopular means – Mary is told the child is ‘of God’, not man.