1. The Glory of Christmas John 1:14-18 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews, for we saw His star in the East And have come to worship Him”. Mathew 2:2 CHRISTMAS!!! What a special time for SOME of us…! What are some of your memories of a special Christmas. ? What makes Christmas Special?

2. The Glory of Christmas is GOD dwelling with his people… John 1:14-15 ‘The WORD became flesh and dwelt among us, and we observed His Glory as the one and only Son of the Father…..’

3. Now Yahweh descends upon His dwelling place, upon His tabernacle. The glory descends in such a way that not even Moses—who had gone into the cloud before, who had seen Yahweh’s glory—not even he could enter into the tent! What an amazing scene! This is God declaring: “I am with My people! I now dwell among them!” GOD came to the Tabernacle, and later to the Temple during Solomon’s Dedication in his full Shekinah Glory…..and the nation Israel observed his Glory….and then they drifted into total disobedience. JESUS came and dwelt among men in Faith, Hope and LOVE…. and Dwelt in the Heart of Man….!!

4. Questions: What is the difference between merely ‘visiting’ a place, and ‘taking up residence’ somewhere…? In what ways can we encourage those we have influence over to look to JESUS and not to us….?

5. The Glory of Christmas is God giving us grace and truth (John 1:16-17) “…for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ”

6. Through the incarnation, God the Son entered into our fallen world in order to place himself under the law of Moses (Galatians 4:4-5). He did this in order to meet God’s requirement for humanity. His perfect life was then the payment He submitted as a substitution for sinners on the cross (Mark 10:45). The evidence of His payment being accepted by God was his literal, physical and visible resurrection from the grave (Romans 4:24-25). Now, to those who by faith embrace his work, justification is granted by God himself (Rom. 5:1-5) and the rap sheet of our sins has been eternally wiped clean by the blood of Jesus (Eph. 1:7). We are for all eternity, in the eyes of God, seen as ‘not guilty’…!

7. The glory of Christmas is Jesus revealing GOD to us. John 1:18 ‘ In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with GOD, and the WORD was GOD..’ John 1:1 No one has ever seen GOD. The One and only son, the one who is at the Father’s side – He has revealed Him..

8. Question: How does Jesus Christ fulfill and challenge our expectations of what GOD is like? Humanity will be judged by how they respond to Jesus…! The ‘body of Christ’ must move into the communities GOD has placed us in to bear witness to how Christ has ‘taken up residence’ with us, He is present in our lives….and he reaches out with open arms to be in their lives also…! We GO and TELL and PRAY

9. Merry Christmas…. May You be richly blessed during this Holiday Season..! Behold the Lamb…that takes away the sins of the World….