The Story of Christmas
was created especially
for
Jessica Ann Smith
at the age of
6
With love from
Mommy and Daddy
December 25, 2002
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Christmas is a
wonderful time of
year, isn't it,
Jessica? It is a time of
giving! Will you be
giving gifts to Amy
this Christmas? Maybe
you will even
leave
Fort Wayne this Christmas to
visit family or friends
in another town!
Jessica, do you know why we give
gifts at Christmas? It
is because God
gave us His very best
gift. The Bible
says that God loved us
so much that
He gave His only Son,
Jesus. When
we put our trust in
Jesus as our Savior,
the Bible says God
gives us the gift of
eternal life. That is
the best Christmas gift of all!
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Jessica, the story of Christmas is
really the story of the
birth of Jesus,
and what a wonderful
story it is!
We see angels,
shepherds, and
wise men! We see Mary
and Joseph,
and most important of
all, Baby Jesus
in the manger! This is
what we should
think about,
Jessica, when we hear
the word Christmas.
It all began when one
of God's
mighty angels, named
Gabriel, visited a
young woman in a town
called
Nazareth. The young
woman's name was Mary.
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God sent His angel
Gabriel to Mary
with a very important
message,
Jessica. Gabriel told Mary that she
was going to have a
baby! Confused
by this message, Mary
asked how this
could happen since she
wasn't married
yet. Gabriel said:
"The Holy Spirit will
come upon
you, and the power of
the Most High
will overshadow you;
therefore the
child to be born will
be holy; he will be
called Son of God"
(Luke 1:35).
Mary was amazed, but
said, "Here
am I, the servant of
the Lord; let it be
with me according to
your word" (Luke
1:38). Then the angel
left.
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Jessica, how would you feel if you
had a visit from
Gabriel as Mary did?
What if God sent an
angel to Fort
Wayne to give you a message?
God wasn't through
using His
angels though. Now
Joseph, the man
Mary was going to
marry, had to be
told. Joseph had found
out that Mary
was going to have a
baby. He
planned to break their
engagement secretly.
Just when he had
decided to do
this, an angel appeared
to him in a
dream. The angel had an
important
message for Joseph!
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Jessica, the angel of the Lord told Joseph:
"Joseph, son of David,
do not
be afraid to take Mary
as your
wife, for the child
conceived in her
is from the Holy
Spirit. She will
bear a son, and you are
to name
him Jesus, for He will
save his
people from their sins"
(Matthew
1:20b,21).
Mary's baby was to be
named
Jesus, which means "the
Lord
saves." God sent Jesus
to save
us!
Jessica, God sent Jesus to save you!
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Joseph and Mary are
good
examples for us,
Jessica! They
obeyed what God told
them to do.
They also obeyed the
laws of the land.
The Emperor Augustus
ordered
everyone to register
his or her name in
the towns where he or
she was born.
That law meant that
Joseph had to go
to Bethlehem. Joseph
and Mary went
on this long trip
together.
Page 15
Can you see them,
Jessica? There
is Mary riding on a
donkey! She must
have been so
uncomfortable, since
she was pregnant with
Baby Jesus.
There is Joseph walking
beside
her. He must have felt
sorry for Mary.
However, they both knew
that God
was pleased with their
obedience.
Jessica, they traveled mile after
mile. The roads were
dusty. Their
bodies ached, but they
traveled on to Bethlehem.
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The Bible says that all
of this took
place so that God's
Word could be
fulfilled. Hundreds of
years before,
Isaiah, the prophet
said:
"Look, the virgin shall
conceive
and bear a son, and
they shall name
him Emmanuel" (Matthew
1:23).
Jessica, do you know what the
name Emmanuel means?
It means "God with us."
Jesus is
God with you,
Jessica! He is God with
Amy too! Jesus was
God's way of
showing Himself to us
all!
Page 19
When they arrived,
there was no
place for them to stay,
so they stayed
in a stable where
animals were kept!
What a place for the
Son of God to be
born,
Jessica! Mary gave birth to Baby
Jesus.
She wrapped Him in
cloths and laid
Him in a manger.
Jessica, a manger
was a feed trough for
the animals.
Think of how that
stable looked
and smelled! There is
Baby Jesus
lying in the straw and
surrounded by
animals, and there are
Mary and Joseph.
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Now we know what
Christmas is
really all about, don't
we Jessica!
Christmas is about God
sending His
Son, Jesus, to be the
Savior of the world.
Christmas is about
God's coming to
be with us. Because
Jesus came,
Jessica, we can really know what God
is like. All that we
have to do is look at Jesus!
Jesus, the Son of God,
became a
human being so that we
could really
know God. He came to
show us
God's love. He came to
die on the cross for our sins.
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God must love us a lot,
Jessica.
Jesus wasn't born in a
nice, clean
place. He had animals
all around Him
instead of doctors and
nurses.
Nobody else knew what
was
happening. The Son of
God was
coming into the world,
Jessica! Only
Mary, Joseph, and the
animals were
there when Jesus was
born.
Soon, many others would
know.
God would send more
angels to
announce the birth of
Jesus.
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On the night that Jesus
was born,
some shepherds were
watching their
flock of sheep in the
fields. Suddenly,
Jessica, an angel of the Lord stood
before them. The glory
of the Lord
shone around them, and
they were really afraid.
But the angel said to
them, "Do not
be afraid; for see - I
am bringing you
good news of great joy
for all the
people: to you is born
this day in the
city of David a Savior,
who is the
Messiah, the Lord"
(Luke 2:10, 11).
The angel also gave
them a sign, Jessica.
Page 27
The angel told the
shepherds that
they would find Baby
Jesus wrapped in
cloths and lying in a
manger. That was the sign.
Then suddenly,
Jessica, there were
angels everywhere
praising God. The
shepherds were amazed!
After the
angels left, the
shepherds went quickly to Bethlehem.
There were Mary and
Joseph, and
there was Baby Jesus
wrapped in
cloths and lying in a
manger!
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