December Mentor Monthly

December Focus: The Story of Christmas

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16

Over the next 4 weeks we will be going through the Birth of Jesus, which is the true reason for this wonderful Christmas season! Please feel free to use any resource you would like, to share the birth of Jesus. However, if you find yourself in uncharted waters, the Jesus Story Book Bible is always safe, and it is the one we will be referring to throughout the month.

Week One

Use the text below to explain the angel Gabriel coming to Mary to tell her that she was going to be the mother of Jesus.

There was a young girl who was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph.

One day an Angel of God named Gabriel appeared to Mary, he said that God was very pleased with her and wanted to use her in an amazing way. He told her that she would give birth to a baby boy and name him Jesus. Jesus is God’s own Son, He is the One, He is the Rescuer! Mary asked how this was possible? Gabriel responded that nothing is impossible for God!

Ask your mentee if there was ever a time that they thought that something could not be possible, but it happened. Share a story of your own!

Week Two

To continue from week one, recap with your mentee that an angel visited Mary and told her she was going to have a son named Jesus.

Now nine months later Mary and Joseph are traveling to Bethlehem but when they arrive, they found that all the inns were full and there was no place to sleep. They had to find a place to stay because Mary was going to give birth to Jesus soon. When they finally found a place to sleep, it was a stable. During the quiet night a baby was born, a wonderful gift to the world. Jesus, the King of the world, would not be born in a palace but instead a stinky, dirty barn. His name, Jesus, means “Emmanuel” – God with us.

Explain to your mentee the importance of Jesus being born in a stable and not a palace. Jesus came as a humble servant who came to serve and love people.

Week Three

To continue from week two, recap with your mentee the birth of Jesus.

When baby Jesus was born, God put a bright shining star in the sky to celebrate his birth. God was so happy that he sent angels to tell shepherds in a field. Shepherds? Yes, shepherds were the first to know that Jesus, the King was born! It was a very odd thing to happen because shepherds were looked down upon in these times. They were the lowest class of people. However, God thought that they were so important that he sent Angels to tell them of his sons’ birth. They immediately went to see Gods son.

Share with your mentee how much God loves them. He invited the dirtiest, lowest people to see his son, first. People who were very much overlooked. Explain to them that if they ever feel like an outcast, God has always used and will use those people who seem most unlikely to show his glory. He loves them immensely.

Week Four

Ask your mentee what they remember about last week’s story about the shepherds in the field.

Share that three wise men had been waiting for God to put a star in the sky to announce that King Jesus had been born. Seeing the star, they were overcome with joy and gathered very expensive gifts for the newborn King and set out to find Him. The wise men first went to Jerusalem naturally thinking that if a king was to be born, that is where it would be. But after not finding the king, they sought help from King Herod’s advisers. The advisers uncovered that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and King Herod instructed the wise men to stop back by on their way home to tell him where the baby was. King Herod’s intentions in asking this were not pure and he planned to kill the baby, not wanting anyone to take his throne.

Knowing this, the wise men took a different route back home, not telling King Herod where in Bethlehem the baby was. King Herod was furious and sought after the child, but God had already told Mary and Joseph to go into hiding until his rule was over. King Herod never found him.

Jesus was so important that a ruler of an entire nation spent his reign searching to kill him. He was going to be the Savior of the World and there were many obstacles that Jesus had to overcome, but the end of the story is that he did overcome. He died on a cross and rose three days later to save me and you from the evil in this world.