A Christmas Story (Pt 2) Series

Idea, to focus on 8 topics:

Uniqueness of each gospel

Key points of each gospel

Bio of the authors

The authors audience

Key figures

Intent of the authors focus

Prophecy

Places

We examined Matthew and Luke’s accounts, and discovered this:

Both gospels give a physical and angelic account of Christ’s birth.

Matthew gave an in-depth genealogy for his Jewish audience.

Matthew’s focal point of his gospel, was presenting a case for Christ the King.

Some events found only in Matthew:

Josephs dream

Visit of the wisemen

Escape to Egypt

Slaughter of the male children

We also looked at several passages in Matthew’s gospel that foretold the coming of the Messiah.

Today, we will look a bit more in-depth @ prophecy.

In Luke’s gospel we see that:

He is very concerned with giving an accurate and orderly account from eyewitness. Remember Luke was not an disciple of Jesus.

Only Matthew’s and John’s account were from a disciples viewpoint.

Luke’s gospel focused on Jesus as Savior.

He gave extension report of the important role the Holy Spirit held in Jesus’ birth.

Whereas Matthew traces Jesus’ ancestry back to David and Abraham, Luke traces Jesus’ ancestry back to Adam.

The unique accounts found only in Luke are as follows:

Only account of an angel appearing to Zacharias

Only account given of Jesus’ circumcision

Only gospel addresses an individual as his audience

Only account given of Jesus’ circumcision

Only gospel that gives account of Jesus’ ascension

Body

Today, we are going to take a look @ John’s account.

Whereas Matthew and Luke’s account gave details of the physical, Holy Spirit and angelic factors of Jesus’ birth, John’s gospel gives a powerful “argument” if you will, of the deity of Jesus.

Just a quick bio of John:

Everyone knows he was “the loved who Jesus loved”!

In all likelihood, his was the last gospel written.

Here are some distinct differences of John’s gospel:

Instead of the familiar parables, John has lengthy discourses.

The “I am” sayings are unique to John

John divides Jesus’ ministry into two parts:

His private ministry

His public ministry

We are going to be mostly in the 1st 5 verses of John chapter 1.

Today, we will look a bit more in-depth @ prophecy.

Stand with me as we honor God while reading His word.

John 1:1-5 read from my bible

Read John 1:1-5 then say:

Y’all heard me say this before, but I believe the bible is the unified story that leads to Jesus.

Today, I’d like to illustrate my point by doing three things:

Look @ OT prophecy that points to Jesus

Do a little bit of verse by verse breakdown of those 5 verses, along with one other verse,

With the desired result of seeing the birth story!

Let me re-read that passage:

John 1:1–5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

Let me begin with this:

Through this passage alone, I acknowledge the finiteness of my mind.

So, I’m not going to stand up here and pretend I have a 100% understanding of the infinity of Jesus.

I will say this, as Christians, this is a mighty powerful passage to stand on!

I read a few phrases this past week, that really caused me to ponder the concept:

The dateless past

Eternity past

My parents: You better straighten up, immediately, if not sooner!

Matthew 24:35 Jesus said “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away”

Even heaven and earth pass away, but NOTHING outlasts the Word of God.

Remember last week we examined Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing will be impossible.””

Jesus is saying in Matthew 24:35 that it is impossible for God’s word to pass away.

So if Jesus is the Word, guess what “It is impossible for Him to pass away.

Jesus is both- “in the beginning”, which is “the dateless past”, and the “the continuous future”.

The alpha and the omega.

Moving to verse 5:

John 1:5 “And the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

-ask others what does their bible say-

This is another of my power verses.

Let’s consider a little about light and darkness:

Early on, we are introduced to darkness:

Genesis 1:2 “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

This is the SECOND verse in the bible, y’all!

Genesis 1:3 “Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.”

-can I get an Amen?-

Now check this out church:

My bible heading says:

The ninth plague: Darkness

Exodus 10:21 “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and the land of Egypt will be covered with a darkness so thick you can feel it”