Merry Christmas! It is again that time of year when much of the world pauses in celebration of Christmas. But what does Christmas really mean to those who call upon the name of Jesus Christ.

In today's lesson, the Atlantic Gospel Chapel leadership team shares various thoughts on Christmas. These include:

1. The reason for the birth of Christ
2. The believer's "hope chest"
3. The Scriptural basis for the beloved Christmas hymn, "Joy to the World"

Thank you for listening to today's teaching. It is our prayer that as we contemplate the birth of our Lord and Savior that you will be blessed through what God's word says about "the Word become flesh."

In the classic Christmas movie, "A Christmas Story," young Ralph's one desire for Christmas is to receive a Red Rider BB Gun. But throughout the movie, the grownups, including the department store Santa, chastise him, "You'll shoot your eye out, kid!" Someone once likened sharing the Gospel with having a "Gospel gun." The problem is, we often get caught up in all the little details we fail to take the shot when it comes. Do we have the right ammunition? I don't know how to handle this "gun." Is my sight properly calibrated? I just don't know what to say.

In John 4, Jesus has a divinely appointed "chance" encounter with a Samaritan woman at the well. Through her exchange with Jesus, not only is her whole life exposed, but her falsely held theology is exposed as well. And yet, as we see, even with all her wrong ideas, she had one thing right, in John 4:25, "The woman said to Him, 'I know that Messiah is coming' (who is called Christ). 'When He comes, He will tell us all things.'” To which Jesus responds, "I who speak to you am He." And with just this single bullet in her "Gospel Gun," she leaves her waterpot at the well and hurriedly runs into the city, calling out to the men of the city, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” She took the shot. The question for believers today is, what keeps us from taking the shot? Join us as we examine this story of Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well as we consider what we need to share the Gospel; and the answer may surprise you.

Thank you for listening to today's lesson. We pray you will be encouraged through the teaching of God's Word to share the Gospel message with those around you.

In today's modern world, we don't really need to remember much. If we are trying to recall a certain fact, we turn to Google for the answer. Who needs to remember how to add or subtract when we have a calculator at our disposable, even as an app on our phones. Those in the ancient world did not have such luxuries, so their minds were often more attuned to remembering things than we might be today. Regardless, they still needed reminding.

In 2 Timothy 2:8, considered in the previous message, Paul wrote to Timothy, "Remember Jesus Christ..." Now in our passage this morning, his instruction to Timothy is to "Remind them of these things." So as we look at this, we're going to recognize that there's not much entirely new here, but the reality is the Bible often repeats itself because we need to have things repeated for us. We are very prone to forget, and therefore we need to continue to be reminded of the things which God has told us in Scriptures. Reminded, not just so that we can know or have an awareness of it, but so that we can seek to live by it.

Thank you for listening to today's message. We pray that as you listen to, and study, God's Word, that you will be encouraged by the Gospel to, "Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead," and that as we remember Him, we will live out our faith to bring honor and glory to Him.