The Day after Christmas.
Entering
.
in.
Believers vs..
A
was born.
“In those days Caesur Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.” —Luke 2.1
No
, just
“His kingdom will never end.” —Luke 1.33
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship Him.’ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the messiah was to be born. ‘In Bethlehem in Judea,’ they replied, ‘for this is what the prophet has written: But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepher my people Israel’. Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem. ‘Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.’” —Matthew 2:1-8
“After they had heard the king, they went on their way and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” —Matthew 2.9-12
“When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.” —Matthew 2.16
Our
does not require us to look away from , , and .
Christos
The birth of Jesus introduces a
movement.
Χρίστος
Allegiance & Obedience
your gods, but Caesar.
Citizens in Antioch weren’t changing
; citizens in Antioch were changing .
Joint
of a .
“The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” —Acts 11.26c
The early Christians were persecuted not because of what Christians
, but because of whom they chose to .
Is Jesus
King?
“In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” —John 1.4-5