Skip to main content

The Christmas Story

Merry Christmas! Many of us know the Christmas story from Matthew and Luke. However, you might know it only from Christmas pageants, carols, and Christmas cards. (Most of them are only partly true.)

This Christmas season, read the Christmas story to your children from the Bible. You will find the story of the Wise Men and the Star in Matthew 1:18-2:23 and the story of the shepherds and the angel in Luke 2:1-39. There are also several other short accounts of this event in Colossians 1:13-20, Hebrews 1:1-4, Galatians 4:4-5, and Philippians 2:5-11.

Here is another account:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 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…He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 10-14)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ripe for Harvest: Prepared to Give an Answer

As you read through the book of Acts, look at every conversion, and see what happened right before it: what was said, who said it. The situations are the same today.     A long time ago, my duty in the Officer’s Christian Fellowship was the east coast of the United States. I went to an officer’s office at Fort Lee, VA, and stayed overnight, then I went on to Norfolk and Fort Bragg.    Forty years later, I was no longer on the staff of OCF, but I had to go to Denver. While I was in Denver, I checked in at the OCF offices. There was the same Air Force officer I had met in Fort Lee, retired now, a colonel. I had stayed in his house when he was a first lieutenant. He asked me, “Do you know what happened when you stayed overnight?” I said, “No, I just remember staying in your home.” He said, “You led the next-door neighbor to Christ.” I had no memory of it.    Ten years after that, I was speaking at a banquet at the Hotel Salisbury, and who was th...

Why Is Obedience So Hard?

There are several reasons why obedience seems hard. I will comment on some of them and then speak positively on how obedience is easy. We think: 1) Obedience is an infringement on freedom. Since we are free in Christ, and obedience is somehow contrary to that freedom, we conclude that obedience is not good. Yet we know it is good. Thus, we become confused about obedience and are not single-minded. 2) Obedience is works. We who have been justified by grace through faith are opposed to works; therefore, we are opposed to obedience. 3) We have tried to obey and have failed—frequently. Therefore, the only solution is to disobey and later confess to receive forgiveness. It is easier to be forgiven by grace than to obey by effort. 4) We confuse obedience to men with obedience to God. Although these are sometimes one and the same (see Romans 13, 1 Peter 2-3, Ephesians 5-6, Colossians 3, and Titus 2), sometimes they are not the same (see Colossians 2:20-23, Mark 7, 1 Timothy 4:1-5, a...

Christian Wives are Commanded to Respect their Husbands

In the last few weeks I have had separate conversations with three teenage boys, all of whom were raised in evangelical homes. During the conversations I asked each of them where they wanted to be in ten years, professionally, spiritually, and maritally. As I remember they all wanted to be in computers; they all wanted to be Godly and they all wanted to be married. Good answers. What kind of a woman did they want to marry? Each of them wanted to marry a woman who was more Godly than he was. Asked about how they planned to be Godly in ten years, I found none of them wanted to read the Bible, obey their parents and one of them was profane and it did not bother his conscience. I drew their attention that Christian wives are commanded to respect their husband. They also want to respect their husbands. That is also one of their considerations for a prospective husband. Normally they want to marry a man who is older, taller, smarter and if she is a Christian wants him to be Godlier than she...