Recap

• The miracle of the

>> God sent Jesus at the fullness of time
• The miracle of the

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>> In Jesus, God sent us a message that He loves us
• The miracle of the

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>> In the story of Jesus’ coming, God is revealing that the methods He uses to draw us to Himself and work in our lives doesn’t always fit our expectations. Sometimes it is confusing and even blows up our categories of understanding.
• Today, we want to finish out our series this Sunday before Christmas by looking at the miracle of the manger.

An invitation to

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Him (vv. 1-5)

• Christmas is about

being spoken. But not just any words. In John 1, we see that Christmas is about the eternal Word coming as a person.
• John 1:1-5 | 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
• By why the Word? Words are the foundation of communication and they lead to

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. Knowledge is the foundation of a relationship.
• The fact that God has spoken very specifically in the Word means that He wants you know Him. The Christmas story, in this sense, is not just a historical event to be celebrated, but the most defining event in human history. When that Word was spoken, it was from the mouth of a God who desires for us to engage with the truth about Him and find life.

An invitation to

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Him (vv. 12-13)

• The historian Christopher Dawson declared, “Christmas is the hinge upon which all human history turns.” And, Alexander McLaren asserted, “Christmas is the day that holds every other day together.”
• Isaiah 7:14 | Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. >> The prophet Isaiah is telling us that Christmas is a sign for us.
• The sign is that Jesus is Immanuel, which means “God

us.”” If the baby in the manger is truly God, then we can’t just sit idly by. God has chosen to intervene in the big story of history and the invitation is extended to us so that we see God is looking to intervene in our story as well.
• We all

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someone. But we were created to follow only one person – Jesus.

An invitation to

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Him (v. 14)

• John 1:14 | 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
• Christmas is an invitation to know Jesus, but not just to know about Him, but to follow the truth about Him, and experience the

of God in a life-altering way.
• Jesus came to reveal the glory of God. Glory is not something that you just know about. Glory is not something that you follow. It is something that you experience. The word literally means “

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”. There is a weightiness to the fact that Jesus has come.
• This is the beautiful paradox of the Christmas story. It’s not just another set of rules and laws that you are meant to abide by. It is a

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that you are meant to relate to.
• The weight of your

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is so big that it will crush you. The weight of the glory of Jesus Christ looks equally as big that it could crush you as well. But the glory of Jesus is that He has come to take the weight of your sin, guilt, and shame so that it doesn’t crush you. He comes to tell you the

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about yourself, that your sin has separated you from God your Father. But He also comes with

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to tell you that He will carry you and carry your burdens all the way to the grave.

The glory of the Christmas story is that we are not inviting Jesus into our lives; the glory is that He is inviting us into His life.