Advent Resources for You and Your Family

This Christmas I would love for you to behold the wonder and mystery of Christ’s love and work for you by coming into the world to save you from sin and death. The true meaning of Christmas is found in the person of Christ rather than in presents under the tree. We all know this to be true, but it can be hard to find tangible and practical ways to look beyond the presents to the Person. Using an Advent resource that can guide you and your family through the various passages and themes that make up the Christmas story of Christ come to save people from sin. To that end, I have curated a list of resources that you can use for this very purpose. Some of these are freely available online while you can purchase others from a bookstore or online store. For easy access to the links to all of these resources, go online to my blog at . I hope that these resources will be a blessing to you and that they will guide you in worshiping Christ this Christmas.

Free Online Resources

Good News of Great Joy and The Dawning of Indestructible Joy: 25 short devotionals from John Piper available to listen or read for free.
Family Advent Guide: A guide for families with young kids for an intentional way to capture their attention during Advent.
Advent Topic Lists
- Desiring God has tons of articles, stories, and sermons on the subject of Christ’s birth. https://bit.ly/DG-Christmas
- The Gospel Coalition has a similar round-up of articles, videos, and other resources for advent. https://bit.ly/TGC-Advent-topic

Books (available in print or eBook format)

Come Let Us Adore Him: Short daily readings to help you recapture the wonder and awe of Christ at Christmas.
The First Days of Jesus: A step-by-step journey through the Gospels’ birth narratives, clearing away common misconceptions, making messianic connections, and setting the stage for Jesus’s later life and ministry.
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: An anthology of Advent readings collected from the writings and sermons of 22 classic and contemporary theologians and Bible teachers. Readings from the likes of Whitefield, Luther, Spurgeon, and Augustine, and contemporary figures like Randy Alcorn, John MacArthur, Francis Schaeffer, and Joni Eareckson Tada.

For Teens

Hope is Coming: A 25 day Advent devotional designed for students to understand and apply the Christmas message.
Light in the Darkness: A great resource of pre-teens and middle schoolers who would enjoy an illustrated realization of the Christmas Story (graphic novel) using the unedited text of Luke 1-2.

For Kids

A Jesus Christmas: A family devotional aimed at helping you connect the whole redemptive story of Christ’s coming. Questions for discussion and space for journaling in the print format.
The Christmas Promise: A storybook retelling of the Christmas story showing how God kept His promise to send a new King. Especially good for toddlers and young kids.
The Donkey in the Living Room: This is an interactive way to progressively tell the Christmas story using your own nativity set. You will need to correct some of the common lore and tradition that surrounds the nativity.