Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Luke 1:26-33, 38; 2:1–21

Our true story comes from a part of the Bible called the Gospel of Luke. Luke loved Jesus and wanted others to know and love Jesus, too. And the word gospel means “good news!”

We begin with a girl named Mary. God gave Mary an important message by sending an angel! 


The angel gave Mary a VERY important message. Mary was surprised and a little afraid when she saw the angel. But the angel said, “Do not be afraid, Mary! God says you are going to have a baby and you will call Him Jesus.”


WOW! That IS a very important message! Mary was going to have a baby! And not just any baby. Mary was going to have Jesus! Jesus is special because Jesus is God’s Son! Hooray for Jesus!


Not long after that, Joseph and Mary had to travel to a town called Bethlehem.


 Did Mary and Joseph stay in a big fancy castle, or did they stay in a stable where animals live? Yes, Mary and Joseph stayed in a stable where animals live.


Because there were no rooms anywhere else. And that’s where Baby Jesus was born!


On the same day Jesus was born, there were shepherds out in a field taking care of their sheep.


While the shepherds were watching their sheep, God sent an angel to tell them that Jesus had been born.


At first, the shepherds were afraid, but the angel told them, “Don’t be afraid! God’s Son, Jesus, has been born!” Then the shepherds got excited. What did the shepherds do? The shepherds ran as fast as they could to find Baby Jesus! 


When the shepherds got to the stable, they saw Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus, just like the angel said they would.

And that is why we celebrate Christmas! Christmas is when God gave us Jesus. It’s Jesus’ birthday! Happy birthday, Jesus! Yay, Jesus! Woo-hoo! God loves us so much that God gave us Jesus! And Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus’ birthday! So, if anyone ever asks, “How do we know God loves us?”, all you have to say is “God gave us Jesus!”






Bible Paraphrase: God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son. —John 3:16, GNT

Text Truth: Happy Birthday, Jesus!



Family Devotional

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.
—Luke 2:21

In our Bible story, we heard the true story of Christmas about how God gave us Jesus and why Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus’ birthday. You see, God loves you and me so much that He gave us His one and only Son, Jesus. That’s A LOT of love!

God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son. —John 3:16, GNT

Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. So, with your family, take a piece of paper and make a birthday card for Jesus. Have each member of your family write on the paper “Happy Birthday, Jesus!” And have each family member write their name next to the birthday greeting they write.

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. In your own words, say, “Dear God, thank You for this special time called Christmas—a time for us to celebrate Jesus’ birthday! Help us remember that Christmas is about celebrating when You gave us Your only Son, Jesus. We love You, God. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

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Story illustrations are the copyright of Sweet Publishing and licensed by FreeBibleimages (http://freebibleimages.org) for free download under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 unported license.
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