Today’s passage: Luke 3:1-9

Helpful thoughts:

• John the Baptist was making straight what man had made crooked:
  • The Jews were not “good to go” with God simply because of their genetics.
  • Followers of God follow God.  Repentance was necessary.
  • God is just.  The children of Abraham by blood who are not the children of Abraham by faith will not escape judgment.

Questions to consider:

1. Why is repentance a necessary component of conversion?  What happens when a person is saved? (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:8-10)
2. In what way did John the Baptist “prepare the way of the Lord”?  What did John make straight?  What was becoming apparent through his teaching?
3. How might we fall into this same trap/false doctrine today?  How does anyone become a child of God?

Today’s passage: Luke 2:39-52

Helpful thoughts:

• Jesus, fully human, fulfilled all righteousness, even in the growing up years.  He was without sin.  He always did what was right in his childhood, teen years, as as an adult; He was perfect.
• This episode would have served as a reminder to Mary and Joseph (And to the reader), Jesus was not going to follow the path that other boys followed.  And, Joseph was not His father.  Jesus had come to do the will of His Father.
• Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God as a 12 year old boy didn’t get Him into much trouble with those who heard.  The same would not be true when we was an adult (Matthew 26:63-66).

Questions to consider:

1. How do you think Mary and Joseph felt when they realized Jesus wasn’t in their traveling party?  How would you have responded if you thought you had lost the Messiah?
2. How would things have been different in our youth if we had not sinned?  How would things be different today if we had never sinned in our youth?  How many reasons are there to fight for purity and righteousness?
3. What is the most significant reason to fight for purity?  Whose business are we to be about now as the children of God?  What has Christ done for us, on our behalf, concerning our sin?

Today’s passage: Luke 2:22-38

Helpful thoughts:

• Simeon and Anna are used by God to reaffirm and expound on truths concerning this baby boy.
• When faced with the truth of why the Messiah came and what He had come to do, many hearts would be exposed/revealed.
• Not only would Mary have to watch Jesus suffer and die on the cross, but she would also know, “It was my sin that held him there.”  It would certainly feel as though a sword had pierced through her very soul.

Questions to consider:

1. How many assurances have Joseph and Mary seen and heard?  What must this have done to encourage their hearts, while also giving them plenty to think about?
2. Why did many in Israel want the Messiah to come?  What was their opinion of the Gentiles?  What kind of “redemption” did they hope the Messiah was going to bring against the Gentiles? (Think: The period of the judges, their desire in 1 Samuel for a king “to fight our battles”…)
3. How are hearts revealed still today at the hearing of the good news/the gospel?  What must I believe about God and about myself before I can trust in Christ’s sacrifice on my behalf?

Today’s passage: Luke 2:8-21

Helpful thoughts:

• Who would receive this amazing news first?  The priests?  Dignitaries?  No… Shepherds.  Uneducated, undignified shepherds.
  • We are to show no partiality.  “Has God not chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom?” (James 2:1-13)
• This announcement was good news of great joy for ALL the people.
  • God shows no partiality. (Acts 10:34-43, Romans 2:11)
• The word evangelism means bringing good news!
• The Savior was born to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

Questions to consider:

1. What kinds of “partiality” does this passage destroy?  What kind of partiality are we more prone to practice today in our culture?
2. What was the “good news”?  Who had arrived?  What had he come to do?
3. Why should this good news fill us with great joy?  Why should you walk away from this devotional with great joy?

Today’s passage: Luke 2:1-7

Helpful thoughts:

• Merry Christmas!
• God sovereignly used the most powerful man in the world (And all those who were employed to carry out this decree) to fulfill His perfect plan.  (Micah 5:2, Proverbs 21:1)
• The God who spoke the universe into existence, was now a baby boy laying in an animal’s feeding trough. (Colossians 1:16, Philippians 2:1-11)

Questions to consider:

1. What would we have assumed the birth of the Messiah should look like?  How was this different?  In what ways would this birth story seem mundane or even sad/disappointing?
2. How would you feel if you had become responsible to raise God the Son?  To teach Him to walk, talk, work, etc.?
3. Why did God the Son take on flesh and dwell among us?

Today’s passage: Luke 1:57-80

Helpful thoughts:

• Zechariah and Elizabeth had to break social custom and risk disappointing their family to obey God.  The fear of man doesn’t always reside out there in the big world.  It can even dwell in our homes and in the church among well-meaning people who are doing things because, “That’s how we’ve always done it.”
• At the birth of his firstborn son, having been born by a miracle of God through his barren wife, just having received his voice back, Zechariah’s first words are about…Jesus.  Then, Zechariah gives an announcement of what John’s God-given role was to be.
• Why did John (And any of us) get to proclaim salvation through the forgiveness of sin?  Because of the tender mercies of our God! (Verses 77-78)

Questions to consider:

1. Are there any customs or habits that we might have (In the culture of our nation/region OR in the culture of our church) that are not wrong in and of themselves, but that prevent us from doing the things that God has commanded us to do?
2. Why was it right for Zechariah to speak first of the coming Messiah?  Why was John’s role as a forerunner and as a supporting act more significant than trying to be the star?  When do we find our greatest joy and reward, when we do for ourselves, or when we become servants to the God of the universe?
3. Have you become a recipient of the tender mercies of God?  Please check out this website to learn more!

 

Today’s passage: Luke 1:34-56

Helpful ideas:

• This birth was going to be miraculous.  The Son of God would not be the biological son of a man.
• It had been about four hundred years since God had spoken or worked in any way like this in Israel.  Gabriel told Mary of Elizabeth’s pregnancy to remind her, nothing will be impossible for God.  Miracles were happening.  God was on the move.
• The Spirit gave Elizabeth understanding.  The child in Mary’s womb was her Lord.
• Mary’s response was similar to the words used by Hannah in 1 Samuel 1.  They both called themselves the servants (“Bond slaves”) of the Lord. The main difference was, Hannah’s pregnancy would take away her felt shame in her barrenness.  Mary was about to receive a source of shame in the eyes of man (Being an unwed pregnant young woman).
  • By God’s grace, Mary’s great faith was displayed in her response to Elizabeth in verses 46-55.

Questions to consider:

1. How might God have used Elizabeth’s welcome to encourage Mary’s heart?  What would Mary have been concerned about as new people continued to discover her pregnancy?  What did Elizabeth’s Spirit-controlled words reinforce for her?  What could we learn from this?  How do our words of welcome (Think: Fruit of the Spirit) affect others?
2. When Mary said, “Let it be to me according to your word,” what did she willingly give of herself to do?  What trust did she need to put in her Lord?
3. How was this trust displayed in her response?  What did she believe was going to happen?  What did her faith and joy in God cause her to want to do (Verse 46)?  What has God promised us through Christ?  How does your trust in God give you reason to magnify the Lord?