Promises Made Promises Kept : A Family Devotional for Christmas

by Marty Machowski, Phil Schorr (illustrator)

Marty Machowski’s Promises Made Promises Kept shows families how the birth and life of Jesus fulfilled God’s Old Testament promises of a Savior.

Start a new family tradition for the Christmas season by reading this “upside-down” book that includes fourteen Bible stories. Begin the week before Christmas with the first side, Promises Made which has seven stories that explore the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah. On Christmas Day, flip the book over and continue by reading Promises Kept with seven more stories that vividly illustrate how Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection and the beginning of the church fulfill God’s promises.

Machowski weaves the promises and fulfillments together into one harmonized story that will deepen the family’s faith in God’s power and control over all of history and their lives too. Each story also includes questions for the family to discuss together.
This beautiful hardback book, illustrated by Phil Schorr, will become a treasured family favorite to be used every Christmas season.
Designed for families to read one story each day for the week leading up to and the week following Christmas.
Targeted to families with preschool and grade school children but can be used in family devotions with teens as well.

Genres: Christmas, Devotional, Childrens, Nonfiction

64 pages, Hardcover

Published September 2, 2024

About the author

Marty Machowski is a Family Life Pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church, a Sovereign Grace Ministries church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, where he has served on the pastoral staff for more than twenty years. As leader of their children’s ministry, Promise Kingdom, he has worked for many years to develop curriculum and devotional material that connect church and home. His passion is equipping families to understand the Bible as one gospel story and help them share that with their children. He is the author of The Gospel Story for Kids series including Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God (OT); The Gospel Story Bible; and the Gospel Story Curriculum: Finding Jesus in the Old Testament and the forthcoming Old Story New (NT): Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God and Gospel Story Curriculum: Following Jesus in the New Testament. He and his wife Lois and their six children reside in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Laura Robinson (naptimereaders) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

I really enjoyed this book! It’s perfect for reading with kids at Christmas- you start it the week before Christmas and continue through the week after Christmas. It ties the life of Jesus into a format that’s great for ages 7 and up.

It’s more fact-based than fluffy, which I appreciated. It explains things like Passover and how Gentiles are welcomed into God’s kingdom, making big ideas easy to understand. Each chapter also includes questions and answers for family discussions.

One minor issue: the book says “Abraham believed God would raise Isaac from the dead,” which isn’t directly in the Bible, so I deducted half a star for that.

Other than that, I think this is an excellent book for families to enjoy together, especially around Christmas! Highly recommended

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea of this book, the illustrations and presentation are very well done, but it felt like the writing missed the mark. It was overly complex, weaving too many stories together at once, and didn't really feel like it was written with kids in mind. We struggled through this as a family (with kids 8, 6 and 4) and I found myself having to summarise things on the fly.

[Keri · Rating 4 out of 5]

We really enjoyed reading this together for Advent as a family! My bigger kids especially enjoyed answering and discussing the questions at the end of each story, and my littlest loved that every story was about Jesus!

I loved that it's only 14 stories (felt much more doable than 25+) and the length felt just right for the attention spans of my toddler through elementary kids. I also find the flip book style so fun!!

Some of it inevitably went over their heads, but I liked that each story gave the specific scripture it came from and often quoted long passages directly from it.

Great family Christmas read. Recommend for young families!

[Cover Lover Book Review]

“Promises Made Promises Kept” is the most unique and inventive Christmas devotional I’ve ever seen! This hardcover family devotional is an “upside-down” book that begins with Promises Made, and then you flip-it-over for the second part, Promises Kept.

With fourteen devotions, from The Promise of a Son to The Return of the King, this Christmas book of promises cultivates a joyous heart and keeps the true meaning of Christmas on our minds.

Each chapter contains four pages: a title page with suggested Scripture readings, a two-page devotion with 3-4 questions at the end, and a full-page illustration. This book offers a wonderful way to spend time with God and family, especially during advent.

First Line: God delivered His first Christmas promise very early in the creation story—right after Adam and Eve sinned.
Genre: Devotional, Family, Children
Author: Marty Machowski
Page Count: 64

#CoverLoverBookReview received a complimentary copy of this book.
Opinions are 100% mine.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the books that Marty Machowski creates that are geared towards Families and points them to Jesus! Mr. Machowski’s Christmas release for 2024 is Promises Made Promises Kept: A Family Devotional for Christmas. Joining forces once more with illustrator Phil Schorr, Mr. Machowski takes your family on a 14 Day journey from the Old Testament to the New Testament. 7 devotions center on promises made about Jesus in the Old Testament and 7 devotions center on the promises kept in the New Testament through Jesus. There are questions at the end of each devotion entry to help what was being read and the Meaning of Christmas stick!

I love Promises Made Promises Kept: A Family Devotional for Christmas by Marty Machowski! I love how engaging and flexible Promises Made Promises Kept is. I love that each devotion is short but packs important and powerful information into each entry. (This is also helpful if the reader starts the devotional later than intended.) I love the questions that are at the end of each entry (and that the answers are included). I love how each devotion delves into Promises God made to us and how it correlates and shows how it points to Jesus. I love how the devotions are easy to understand, without watering down it’s Message. Phil Schorr’s illustrations compliment Mr. Machowski’s writing well! I think Promises Made Promises Kept would be a wonderful devotional for Families to do during the Christmas season. It would also be a good resource for Churches to give to Families to help them start a Family Devotion time. (Also, if you already have Mr. Machowski’s Darkest Night Brightest Day: A Family Devotional for the Easter Season you need to have Promises Made Promises Kept: A Family Devotional for Christmas too!) I used Promises Made Promises Kept: A Family Devotional for Christmas as part of my own personal devotional time and it really Ministered to me during this Season. If you are looking for a great devotional that will help your family understand the True Meaning of Christmas, I highly recommend Promises Made Promises Kept: A Family Devotional for Christmas by Marty Machowski and illustrated by Phil Schorr!

Have you read Promises Made Promises Kept: A Family Devotional for Christmas? What did you think of the book?

I would like to thank New Growth Press for giving me a copy of Promises Made Promises Kept: A Family Devotional for Christmas to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is published by a Covenant Fellowship minister in Glen Mills, PA for over 30 years, who does a lot of family work. This very unique book is written to be done with your family. Starting Dec 18 and presenting one idea and theme each night, which is four pages, half of them are wonderful art work, the other are Bible verses, questions for family discussion and answers in small print. God fulfills all 7 of the promises through the life, ministry and death of Jesus, whose birth we celebrate on Christmas. 1. Promise of a son 2. Promise for the nations 3. Passover and the prophet 4. Revelation of a king 5. A servant to suffer 6. A shepherd from Bethlehem and 7. The greatest sign of all time.
Then early Christmas morning you turn over the book and place it on a white table cloth surrounded with treats and baked goods to celebrate Christmas. Now each evening of the family devotion of Promises Kept, you read one a night starting with 1. The waiting is over. 2. A blessing for the nations 3. Freedom for the captives 4. The good shepherd 5. Adam’s promise fulfilled 6. A Prophet like Moses and 7. The return of the king.

You are invited to be changed as each story with it’s scripture, art and telling complete with family discussion comes full circle to await the new advent –the return of King Jesus. It is not only very clever, it is accurate and presents the entire gospel and it’s promises. The art if very simple but very colorful to hold the attention of the youngest child. If it is used every Christmas you will find the questions and discussion will grow with your family.
It is a little late to order for using this Christmas but, it will make a great family gift to put away with the tree for next Christmas, and maybe give as gifts to other families near Thanksgiving so it can be planned for a enrich your family each year.

[Lori Hooten · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could serve many families well, cover all the basic stories you might associate with Christmas and pulling in some of the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus. It is a beautiful book, full of lovely illustrations. The hard-back book has a cloth feel to the maroon covering with golden details. It has a cut out on the front (both sides, since it is a flip over and read from the other side, too book) the peeks at the beautiful readings to come. If you are unfamiliar with the stories, it can be a nice introduction to them, thought I deeply wished we had the scripture references with the text of the reading. They are provided in a general sense at the start of each day's reading.

There is a lot of the phrasing that I did not care for and felt that it combined stories too much in some places to really get to the depth of the purpose of including that story. It felt forced and unfinished in many places since so much simplification happened in the retelling of the accounts.

Overall, I felt this was a nice book.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of review. All opinions are my own.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Promise Made and Promises Kept are two different devotional books. They are designed to be used in the week leading up to Christmas and the week following Christmas.
Each devotional includes recommended Scripture references, a devotional by Marty Machowski, an illustration and some discussion questions. The devotions are a little long for young children but would be appropriate for families with elementary or middle school-aged children. The questions will help “test” the children’s comprehension.
The illustrations are cartoon-like with sharp angles. Phil Schorr chose bright colors for the pictures which will appeal to children.
Parents and caregivers looking for a Christmas devotional will want to take a look at these two books of Family Devotionals for Christmas.
I received a complimentary combined copy of Promises Made Promises. This is my honest review.

[MaryLucille]

Beautiful cover design and unique layout. I love the idea of flipping the book to go form Promises Made to Promises Kept. I do suggest reading the Bible verses to understand the text and perhaps adding more to understand the connections on your own. (There is a typo; there is no Luke 28) I am glad that the author chose to show the connection of Old Testament prophecy with the birth of Jesus. Fulfilled prophecy is amazing and bolsters faith exponentially. God’s promises never fail!

[Cherish Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

(5☆ Would recommend & would read again)
Such a great book! I like how it breaks down to 7 days before Christmas and 7 days from Christmas on. It holds such a great message, but in bit-size pieces. It such a great book to do as a family with kiddos during Christmas. I also really liked the questions at the end of each day. It helps kids to better understand what was read.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book!

[Faith Mundle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it! It is wordy, but goes through the messianic prophecies very clearly. Beautiful pictures!