One Christian Dad

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Advent: 2nd Sunday

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christmas

I have been writing an Advent family worship devotional for my family and number of people have requested that I post it on the blog.  I am aiming it at my 6 year old, so feel free to use them and tweak them as you see fit.  We are also planning on using an advent wreath, which we don’t have yet, but for now we have been simply lighting a candle.  Feel free to use this material, and please, if you do not yet have family worship, use this as a spring board to begin family worship with your family.  Family worship sets the tone for your home.

My prayer in posting these devotionals is that your family would be blessed this Christmas season.

Advent: 2nd Sunday

Scripture Reading:   Luke 2:1-7

Devotional:

If you are using an advent wreath, light the first candle:  This light represents the light of the hope that was promised to God’s people.  The hope of a saviour.

God told the prophets, like Isaiah, that he would send a saviour to make us right with Him again.  A saviour who would take us out of the darkness. That saviour has come and his name is Jesus.  We learned about the hope we have this past week.

Q.  The prophets in the Old Testament spoke about the Hope of a saviour to come.  We know that saviour is Jesus.  What does it mean that our hope is in Jesus?

The hope we have is not hope like a wish that might not come true, but our hope is in something that really is true.  Our hope is in the promises of God in Jesus Christ.  Jesus has paid for all our sins.  One day he will come back and we will be made perfect because of Jesus.  That is our hope.

If you are using an advent wreath light second candle: This candle represents Love.

God Shines with his love on Mary and Joseph as they travel to Bethlehem. In fact the Bible tells us that God is love.

Q. God is love, but did you know that because He is Love, He must also hate?  Do you know what it is that God hates?

God hates anything that is not holy or good.  God loves us, but hates our sin.  When we do bad things, we must be punished.  Just like when a child does something bad and her dad has to put her in time out.  But when we break God’s commandments we cannot pay for that punishment ourselves, because God requires that when we sin, someone must die.  God knew that we could not pay for our own sin. And since we do bad things every day and would have to die many times to pay for our sins.  So he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to pay for all the bad things we have done.  Jesus never sinned, so when died on the cross, he defeated sin and saved us.  The Bible tells us that there is no love greater than to die for your friend.  Jesus calls us his friends, if we obey him. Jesus died for us, even though we were still sinners.  This is the greatest love, and because of his love we can be called children of God.

(If lighting Candles: The light of the prophets reminds us of the HOPE that God gives us. That is why we light the first candle.  The second candle represents God’s love for us.) 

This Christmas we can look outside and see many lights on houses and trees, these are not what Christmas is really about.   When we look at these pretty lights we should remember the light of the hope we have in Jesus in and the light of God’s amazing love for us. As we look at the lights we are also reminded of God’s love for Joseph and Mary as they travelled to Bethlehem, where Jesus would be born.  This was a difficult journey and they needed God’s Love to get there safe.

Sing:  Hymn 20 & Oh little Town of Bethlehem

hymn 20

Prayer:  Ask for prayer requests from each person.  Specifically ask for a supplication for another person if they cannot think of anything.

Ideas to add to your prayer:

  • Praise God for his love, and the hope he gives us.
  • Confess that we are sinful people, sometimes we gossip and slander, Daily we sin against his commands and cannot pay our selves,
  • Thank God  for His amazing Love for sending his only begotten Son to die for us.
  • Thank God for sending the Holy Spirit to work faith in us, and to grow the fruit of  Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
  • Ask God help us live a life of thankfulness bearing true fruit in our lives;
  • Ask God to strengthen our faith and help us shine the light of His love to our neighbour not only at Christmas time but all the time.
  • Ask God to be with us as we go through our lives, we may not travel to Bethlehem but we still need his grace and love to watch over us.

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