12-02-12 AM - The Greatest Gift of All pt 1

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GIVING-THE HEART OF CHRISTMAS                                          

John 1

1.GOD (1,3-5, 12) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-
Giving is His nature:  - Everything was made by Him (3)
- Life (4)
- Light; (4-5) Both physical and spiritual light.

2.INVITED
(12-13)  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
We have been invited to be children of God. We have been invited to be born of the Spirit.
John 3:3 “I tell you the truth no one can see the Kingdom of God unless He is born again”.

3.VERIFIED
 (19-20; 6-9 Isa. 40:3)  19Now this is the testimony of John,… 20 He confessed "I am not the Christ." 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
Isaiah 40:3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desertA highway for our God.            

4. EMANUEL
(14) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

As E. Stanley Jones writes: “Out of the Gospels arises the Gospel. Jesus is the Gospel — the Gospel lies in His Person. He did not come to bring the Good News — He was the Good News.”
“A great wind blew through the Bible and lo, it stood up a Man.”

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” John 1:14.
“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:6-8.
 “He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: crucifixion.”