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Leader: Provide extra time for this lesson, especially for question 2 as you recap this past year and question 9 as you plan for next year. 1. What challenge or blessing did you experience last week? 2. What was your biggest challenge and your biggest blessing of 2020? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Matthew 12:1-23 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Ask the third person to retell the story in one minute or less. 3. Would anyone else like to change or add to that retelling? 4. Let’s dig more deeply into the pa...

________ By Mark Scott One day in class at Denver Seminary, Haddon Robinson said, “Hope is the music of the future, and faith is the courage to dance to it now.” Humans, by nature, are creatures of hope. As we approach a new year, people hope that 2021 will be better than 2020. But hope is only as secure as the object in which it is placed. We hope that science can give us good vaccines for pandemics. We hope the political process can give us leaders who can right the wrongs of injustice. But are science and politics secure havens for our hope? Is there something better? Is there someone ...

This “Application” column goes with the ________ By David Faust While in Israel filming a documentary about the basics of the Christian faith, I visited Herodium, the palatial residence designed for King Herod’s protection and pleasure. By all accounts Herod was paranoid and cruel. He tortured and killed family members, servants, and bodyguards. Ironically, this ruthless ruler who destroyed so many lives was an innovative and prolific builder who oversaw the construction of enormous forts, palaces, water projects, and Jerusalem’s crown jewel, the Jewish temple. Herodium (also known a...

1. What challenge did you face last week? 2. In what way did you tell others about Jesus (“the Lord saves”) and Immanuel (“God is with us”) last week? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Matthew 2:1-15 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Ask the third person to retell the story as if sharing it with a group of adults and kids gathered in front of a fireplace. 3. The rest of you: What would you change or add to that retelling? 4. Let’s dig more deeply into the passage. • Discuss the five Ws from this narra...

________ By Mark Scott The Old Testament repeatedly says, “Someone is coming.” The end of the Bible says, “Someone is coming again.” And in between the beginning and end, the Bible says, “Someone came.” At its most basic level, Christmas is evidence God keeps his word. The Bible is a theology of promise. Even foreign dignitaries, indifferent religious leaders, and wicked kings learned that. Promised Star Matthew 2:1-2 After Matthew traced Jesus’ human roots (1:1-17) and divine roots (1:18-25), he told the story of the visit of the Magi, King Herod’s reaction to their visit, an...