The Birth of Jesus

Notes

Verses

{But he replied, “I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other towns, too, because that is why I was sent. Luke 4:43 NLT}{But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.

Galatians 4:4-5 NLT}{Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. 1 Peter 3:18 NLT}{For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NLT}

Quotes

Ivan Illich : Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new powerful tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into our future so that we can take the next step… If you want to change a society, then you have to tell an alternative story. (Story Telling or Myth Making?); C.S. Lewis : Human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy. (Mere Christianity); Louie Giglio : Life is the tale of two stories – one finite and frail, the other eternal and enduring. The tiny one – the story of us – is brief as the blink of an eye. Yet somehow our infatuation with our own little story – and our determination to make it as big as we possibly can – blinds us to the massive God Story that surrounds us on every side. (i am not but i know I AM); Louie Giglio : We can choose to cling to starring roles in the little-bitty stories of us, or we can exchange our fleeting moment in the spotlight for a supporting role in the eternally beautiful epic that is the Story of God. (i am not but i know I AM); Tim Keller : The whole story of the world – and how we fit into it – is most clearly understood through a careful, direct look at the story of Jesus… how beautifully His life makes sense of ours.

(Kings Cross); Justin Buzzard : Jesus didn’t come with advice for us to absorb and follow; He came with news. It is news that brings joy. The Gospel is history-making, life-shaping, paradigm shattering news. It is news about something done in history that changes you, that changes everything, forever. Jesus does something so radical, so violent, so dramatic, and it seals this good news and makes a way for us to join the Big Story.

(The Big Story ); Michael Lawrence : The Bible as a whole is best understood as a single story. A story about a King, a kingdom, and the King’s relationship with His people. What we need to understand is that this narrative is intended by God to envelop us and redefine us. It provides us with a way of understanding reality that is different from the narratives that our fallen culture provides. The narrative of Scripture is not meant to be merely inspiring, so that we can cope with the difficult reality of our lives. No, the narrative of Scripture was inspired in order to let us know what reality really is. This story doesn’t just interpret us, it exercises authority over us. It’ not merely a descriptive account of reality. The narrative of Scripture has a normative, or authoritative, function in our lives. (Biblical Theology );