Welcome To THE NUGGET Christmas Rush? Or Christmas Peace? December 24, 2020 "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation." (Luke 2:29-30 NIV) The stories recently in the media about the shoppers in parts of the United States going out at midnight to do their Christmas shopping, only to be disappointed because the parking lots were already full, ...Continue Reading

Welcome To THE ILLUSTRATOR Avoid These Three Traps When Facing Impossibilities... December 23, 2020 The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God. ~ Luke 1:34- ...Continue Reading

Welcome To THE NUGGET Jesus' Peace: The Gospel of ... PEACE! December 22, 2020 “Stand firm therefore…by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace…” (Eph. 6:14a,15 NET) A few years ago, a Christmas series on God’s Armour was featured in the Nugget, with one of the parts focusing on the idea of “fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace…” I don’ ...Continue Reading

Welcome To THE ILLUSTRATOR The Greatest Gift: Christmas With Students, Part 4 December 21, 2020 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. ~ John 3:16 NIV ~ It was my last year of teaching. Just a few days before Christmas break, one of my students, who we will call Sarah, came into my classroom early. ...Continue Reading

Welcome To THE ILLUSTRATOR Keep the Merry December 20, 2020 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV ~ "For our sake [God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV) For a few years, Ameri ...Continue Reading

Welcome To THE ILLUSTRATOR Whiskey for Christmas: Christmas With Students, Part 3 December 18, 2020 Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. ~ Matthew 7:1-2 NKJV ~ One thing I could count on with every class of students, no matter what grade I was teaching, was that I would r ...Continue Reading

Welcome To THE ILLUSTRATOR A Different Kind of Christmas December 16, 2020 She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them. ~ Luke 2:7 NLT ~ "She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging a ...Continue Reading

Welcome To THE ILLUSTRATOR A Project for Christmas: Christmas With Students, Part 2 December 14, 2020 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. ~ Matthew 1:21 NIV ~ Christmas is always a time of great excitement in the classroom. It is, in fact, hard to keep the minds of students on their lessons during the last two weeks leadin ...Continue Reading

Welcome To THE ILLUSTRATOR Every Little Bit Helps December 13, 2020 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 'Truly I tell you,' he said, 'this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.' ...Continue Reading

Welcome To THE ILLUSTRATOR Keeping Christ in Christmas: Christmas With Students, Part 1 December 11, 2020 ...Christ Jesus...being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death -- even death on a ...Continue Reading