WEEK 1

Hope in the Promised King

  • Do you know someone who makes promises, so you’ll go along with what he or she wants? 
  • Has someone made a promise to you he could not keep or she never intended to keep? 
Promises made can become lies if the promiser doesn’t deliver.
In every generation, God’s word has focused human wishes for a better world on the God who promised to do good for his creatures. His people adjusted their lives to his promises. God’s people have counted on God to keep his promises, to come through for them.

Psalm 119:49 ESV
Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.

We have hoped in his word, which means we have hoped he will do what he promised. Do you know what God has promised to us? Scripture contains promises God has made, but they aren’t all grouped into one section of the Bible. They are sprinkled in stories, poems, speeches, and lists of commands. When we find a promise in Scripture, we should discuss it with one another and with God himself! Sometimes God promised to help on ordinary days. Other times, God promised to solve a problem once and for all. God’s grand promises shaped Israel’s hope for a better future. 

Isaiah 25:6–9 ESV
On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

Reflect and Respond

  • How does the story of Jesus bring the promised hope into the human experience
  • What promise in Isaiah 25 has Jesus already done? 
  • What can we expect him to do to complete our hope?

  • What can you do this week to help others live in anticipation of all of God’s promises?

Family Conversation Guide

  • Give everyone opportunity to answer these questions:

    • What is something you love that God made?

    • What is something you hope will happen in 2024?

  • Read Together as a Family:
    Micah 5:2, Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 7:14-15

  • Say
    We can have hope because God is faithful.

  • Pray for each other:
    God, help us to have hope that You are always at work—even if it’s a small amount. Thank You for the ways You have been faithful in the past. When we remember, it helps us have hope for both now and the future.

WEEK 2

A Promised Peace

Jesus is the Promised Peace of History

Isaiah 9:6
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Long before Jesus’ birth, the prophet Isaiah, under the leadership of the Spirit of God, prophesied there would be one who was coming that would, among other things, embody peace.  This was not just absence of war, but active promotion of justice and righteousness…and it will be continually increasing. “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace (Isa 9:7).” About seven hundred years later the angels announced the birth of Jesus with the words, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth Peace among men”.  Here the bible clearly identifies Jesus as this promised source of peace.

Jesus is the promised peace for today

Jesus walked the earth for 33 years embodying peace.  At one point he even speaks to the storm to be at peace.  Jesus in his farewell to his disciples said, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

This is a promised peace in the middle of life with all its difficulties.  No matter what came, Jesus embodied peace.  He promised that in Him, we could have that same peace in the middle of our own problems and difficulties.  He did not promise to take us out of the problems, but he did promise to be with us in them.  He did this by sending his Spirit to live within us.  As we yield to the Spirit of Peace within us, life’s trials, difficulties, and problems are accompanied by his presence which brings peace.Another way we can make this a reality in our lives is through thankful worship.  “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful (Colossians 3:15).”  A heart of gratitude, particularly in difficult times, helps to calm our hearts and usher in the peace of God.

Jesus promises peace for the future

John 14:1-3
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am

There is a day coming for the people of God when peace becomes a complete reality.  Heavenly peace, not peace in the middle of trials and difficulties, but peace in the absence of strife and difficulty.  Full, continual, glorious peace in the presence of Jesus.  

Putting it into Practice

  1. Are you trusting Jesus to bring peace in your life?
    Pray and ask Jesus to bring more peace to you and those you love, and also ask Jesus to free you to trust him completely.

  2. Are you yielding to the Holy Spirit to allow His peace to rule in your life?
    Pray and ask Jesus to help you let go of anything that gets in the way of you receiving this peace.

  3. Are you putting into practice thankfulness that helps to usher in peace?
    Stop for a minute and thank Jesus for His presence with you, and His presence in you, and that He will never abandon you.

Family Conversation Guide

  1. Give everyone opportunity to answer these questions:
    How do you think you would react if an angel suddenly appeared in front of you?
    Would you be scared? Maybe even surprised?

  2. Read Together as a Family:
    Luke 1:28-38

  3. Ask
    What kind of emotions do you think Mary had when she heard God’s plan from the angel?
    Do you think this is how Mary thought her life would go?

  4. Say
    Like Mary, we can have peace because God has a plan.
    God’s plans are always bigger and better than ours. It might not look like any plan you’d come up with on your own. But you can start, right now, asking God to show you the plans for your life.

  5. Pray for each other:
    Dear God, we know that in all things, You work for our good. Even though we don’t know what 2024 and beyond will bring, we know we can have peace because You have a plan for us. Help us to look to the future with excitement, joy, and peace, knowing that You have a plan better than anything we could imagine. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

Adapted from ©2023 Parent Cue. All Rights Reserved.

WEEK 3

Jesus as the Promised Joy

Isaiah 35:4-5
Say to those with fearful hearts, Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Long before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah spoke of him as one who would come and with Him would bring great joy.  The angels spoke to the shepherds “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy (Luke 2:10)” confirming that this child born in Bethlehem was indeed the promised one.

Jesus the Promised Joy for Today

John 7: 7-11
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
Today, we have to Holy Spirit with us (abiding in us) who gives us the joy of Jesus in our everyday life with its good times and difficult times.  Abiding in Jesus (allowing the Holy Spirit to empower our lives) we experience joy on a level that we cannot know without him and being thankful in all circumstances frees us to fully receive this joy.

Jesus the Promised Joy for the Future

Isaiah 35:10
Those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
For us, there is coming a day when we will experience complete and perfect joy in the presence of Jesus.  Meanwhile we experience this joy in prayer, in worship, in the love of families and friends, and in belonging to our community of believers.  This joy from the Holy Spirit is for those who have been redeemed (rescued) by the life and death of Jesus, for all those who belong to Jesus.

Putting it into practice

  • Are you experiencing Holy Spirit given joy in your life today?  
    Pray and ask Jesus for the fullness of this joy.
  • What areas of your life can you better yield to the Holy Spirit (Jesus’ abiding presence) that would allow more of his joy to flow into and through you? 
    Pray and ask Jesus to show you and your family how to yield.
  • How can your life with other believers be a better conduit of the Spirit of Joy for the fellowship we call Alsbury Baptist Church?  
    Pray and ask the Father God to lead you into the fullness of joy.

Family Conversation Guide

  • Give everyone opportunity to answer these questions:
    How do you think you would react if an angel suddenly appeared in front of you?Would you be scared? Maybe even surprised?
  • Read Together as a Family:
    Luke 1:28-38
  • Ask:
    What kind of emotions do you think Mary had when she heard God’s plan from the angel?Do you think this is how Mary thought her life would go?
  • Say:
    Like Mary, we can have peace because God has a plan.God’s plans are always bigger and better than ours. It might not look like any plan you’d come up with on your own. But you can start, right now, asking God to show you the plans for your life.
  • Pray for each other:
    Dear God, we know that in all things, You work for our good. Even though we don’t know what 2024 and beyond will bring, we know we can have peace because You have a plan for us. Help us to look to the future with excitement, joy, and peace, knowing that You have a plan better than anything we could imagine. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen
Adapted from ©2023 Parent Cue. All Rights Reserved.

WEEK 4

When we think about love, we have different points of reference. Loving tacos is not the same kind of love we have for our mom (unless she makes really good tacos). Hallmark movies depict a love vastly different from a real, committed love of a long-lasting relationship.
And then there’s the love of God.
  • It is a love marked by promises made and faithfully kept.
  • His love is constant and unwavering.
  • It is long-suffering and always kind.
  • God’s love is a love of radical action.

We see this throughout the Old Testament. God’s chosen people, the Israelites would experience great victories or periods of peace only to be followed by great lows or even captivity. They would then cry out to God in their despair for a rescue and he would take action.

Isaiah 43:15-20
I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator and King.I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea.I called forth the mighty army of Egypt with all its chariots and horses.I drew them beneath the waves, and they drowned, their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick.
But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.
For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?I will make a pathway through the wilderness.I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.The wild animals in the fields will thank me, the jackals and owls, too, for giving them water in the desert.Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland so my chosen people can be refreshed.

2000 years ago, His love did the most radical thing of all. His love came near to us through the birth of his son, Jesus. 

Matthew 1:21
As the angel told Joseph, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.
Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

God’s love was on full display when he sent not only a rescue, but a solution in Jesus, the Promised King. We experience his forgiveness, his grace, his redemption, his active and sacrificial love through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of his one and only son. 
If God’s love has changed you, you have the opportunity and responsibility to love and show others they are valued. 

1 John 4:9-12
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Journal, Pray, Act

  • Recall the times God took action in your life.
    Write it down and spend some time being grateful for what He has done
  • Maybe you are currently waiting for answers to prayer…How does it help to know God is faithful and good and His love is constant and unwavering?
    Spend some time resting in His presence. He is with you right now.
  • Who do you need to share God’s love with?
    Make a plan of action for this week.

Family Conversation Guide

  • Give everyone opportunity to answer these questions:
    If you had a big announcement, who would you tell first and why??
  • Read Together as a Family:
    Luke 2:8-18
  • Ask
    If you had been one of the shepherds, how would you have responded to an angel appearing out of nowhere”
    Why do you think God chose to announce Jesus’ birth to a bunch of shepherds living in a field nearby?
  • Say
    A Savior has been born to who? To you!
    Jesus didn’t come just for the rich or famous or popular or smart people. God sent Jesus to show that God’s love is for everyone.

  • Pray for each other:
    Dear God, thank You for loving us and that Your love isn’t JUST for me—it’s for everyone! We want all of our friends and family to know this. But, sometimes it can be kind of scary to try and speak up and tell people about You. Please give us the courage to share the great news that God’s love is for everyone! Bring people into our lives who need to hear the great news, and then help us be brave to share Your love with them! In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.