Level 1
Lesson 11: God's Gift of Love

Long ago in the quiet little town of Nazareth there lived a lovely young woman, Mary, and a strong carpenter, Joseph. Everyone in the village knew that Mary and Joseph loved each other. They were going to be married and have a home together.

Mary and Joseph loved God, too. They tried their best to live as God would want them to.

One day the governor sent a message to all the people in the land. “Everyone is to go to the place where his family lived,” was the message. “Each person must write his name in a big book there.” That was to help the governor to collect the taxes from the people.

“We must go to Bethlehem, Mary,” said Joseph. Bethlehem was where his family had lived. Mary and Joseph got ready for their trip.

They started down the road. Joseph walked beside the little donkey. One day they came to Bethlehem. Click-clack, click-clack sounded the hard hoofs of the little donkey as it walked slowly down the street.

Joseph led the little donkey straight to the inn. He knocked on the door. When the innkeeper opened the door, Joseph said, “We would like to stay here for the night.”

“I am sorry,” answered the innkeeper, “but the inn is already full of people.” Then he looked beyond Joseph to Mary who was still sitting on the little donkey’s back. He turned again to Joseph and said, “Near here is a stable built in the rocks, there you will find some clean hay out of which to make beds.”

That night a wonderful thing happened in the stable. A baby boy was born to Mary. It was the little Jesus.

On that quiet night long ago some shepherds were watching their sheep on the hills just outside the town of Bethlehem. It was dark. The sky was filled with bright stars.

Suddenly, a strange light shone all around the shepherds. An angel of God appeared and spoke to them. Of course the shepherds were afraid when they saw the bright light around them and heard the angel.

“Do not be afraid,” said the angel. “I bring you good news for all the people. There is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour.

"He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”

The shepherds looked up at the sky; it seemed to be filled with happy angels praising God.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men,” the angels sang. Then the angels went away.

“Let us go to Bethlehem.”

There they found the baby Jesus lying in a manger. They knelt down and worshipped him. They were very happy. Then they started back to the fields.

That was the way God chose to send His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world. Jesus was God’s gift of love. God sent Him into the world to bring people peace with God by dying on the cross for their sins.

The baby Jesus grew and grew, and finally He grew to be a man. Then Jesus went about the land teaching the people about God.