All right now, if we're honest, reading the Bible consistently can be a challenge, but it's never too late to start and we're in this together.

This is the Join the Journey podcast.

Thanks for joining and Merry Christmas.

I'm Lauren Atkinson on the Join the Journey staff team and today is Christmas Day. I hope that wherever you are

listening to this, you're getting to be surrounded by family and friends and celebrating the hope

that we have in Jesus Christ, the king who has come. The last 24 days, we have been reading

different passages about Advent, celebrating the story of Jesus

and preparing our hearts to remember and respond rightly to the true story of Christmas.

One of my favorite traditions in my family is every Christmas day, we always wake up,

and before we jump to go look at our stockings or open any presents, we

gather around and we read the Christmas story together. We get to center ourselves and our hearts

around the reason that we're even celebrating. And so I'm going to do just that, read the Christmas

story from Luke chapter 2. But before I do, I want to just take a moment to acknowledge the gift it is

that we even get to celebrate Christmas. We know the hope of the gospel message, that God became

flesh so that we could be with God. Jesus lived perfectly so that we could in Christ become the righteousness of Christ. Christ died for our

sin so that we could be forgiven and live with him in eternity and abundantly with him now.

So as I read these words that might seem familiar to you, let's just take a second to thank

God that we get to read this, believing that it's true,

and we get to experience the hope that it brings. So here's Luke 2, starting in verse 4.

And Joseph went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David,

which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,

to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time

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