Freedom for the Captives and the Oppressed

1
Freedom for the Captives and the Oppressed!

• The Meaning of Christmas 1

2
Christmas Advent

• What do we celebrate with the Christmas holiday,
  as Christians?
• Jesus birth - the Incarnation
• Incarnation means taking a physical body
• Advent means an arrival or coming
• We celebrate the beginning of Jesus incarnation
  His human ministry at Christmas.

3
Why Did Jesus Come?

• The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy
  the devils work.
• (1 John 38b, NIV)

4
In Context Verses 7-10

• Dear children, dont let anyone deceive you about
  this When people do what is right, it is because
  they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous.
  But when people keep on sinning, it shows they
  belong to the Devil, who has been sinning since
  the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy
  these works of the Devil.

5
In Context (con.)

• Those who have been born into Gods family do not
  sin, because Gods life is in them. So they
  cant keep on sinning, because they have been
  born of God. So now we can tell who are children
  of God and who are children of the Devil. Anyone
  who does not obey Gods commands and does not
  love other Christians does not belong to God.
• (1 John 37-10 NLT)

6
How Does Jesus Destroy the Devils Works? Luke
416-21
7
Luke 416-17

• When he came to the village of Nazareth, his
  boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue
  on the Sabbath and stood up to read the
  Scriptures. The scroll containing the messages
  of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him, and he
  unrolled the scroll to the place where it says

8
Luke 418-19

• The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has
  appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He
  has sent me to proclaim that captives will be
  released, that the blind will see, that the
  downtrodden will be freed from their
  oppressors, and that the time of the Lords favor
  has come.

9
Luke 420-21

• He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the
  attendant, and sat down. Everyone in the
  synagogue stared at him intently. Then he said
• This scripture has come true today before your
  very eyes.
• (NLT)

10
Two Themes For Today

• Freedom for the captives, the downtrodden freed
  from oppression
• Incarnation
• These two themes are like complementary voices in
  harmony that together make one song.

11
Jesus Incarnation

• Born Bethlehem, about 4 BC
• Began Ministry age 30, about AD 27
• Executed age 33, about AD 31
• Resurrected 3 days after crucifixion
• Ascended 40 days after resurrection

12
Three Questions

• Where is Jesus today?
• How can people see Him?
• What difference do the answers to the first two
  questions make to you and me?

13
1. Where Is Jesus Today?
14
Where Is Jesus Today?

• And be sure of this I am with you always, even
  to the end of the age.
• (Matthew 2818b)

15
With Jesus Disciples!

• I will not abandon you as orphans I will come
  to you. In just a little while, the world will
  not see me again, but you will. For I will live
  again, and you will, too. When I am raised to
  life again, you will know that I am in my Father,
  and you are in me, and I am in you.
• (John 1418-20)

16
Home. (Not Just a Visitor!)

• All those who love me will do what I say. My
  Father will love them, and we will come to them
  and live with them.
• (John 1423, NLT)
• If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My
  Father will love him, and we will come to him and
  make our home with him. (John 1423, NIV)

17
2. How Can People See Jesus Today?
18
Seeing Christ in One-ness

• I am praying not only for these disciples but
  also for all who will ever believe in me because
  of their testimony. My prayer for all of them is
  that they will be one, just as you and I are one,
  Fatherthat just as you are in me and I am in
  you, so they will be in us, and the world will
  believe you sent me.
• (John 1720-21 NLT)

19
Seeing Christ in Perfection

• I have given them the glory you gave me, so that
  they may be one, as we are I in them and you in
  me, all being perfected into one. Then the world
  will know that you sent me and will understand
  that you love them as much as you love me.
• (John 1722-23, NLT)

20
Like Jesus, Here and Now

• All who proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God
  have God living in them, and they live in God.
  We know how much God loves us, and we have put
  our trust in him.
• God is love, and all who live in love live in
  God, and God lives in them. And as we live in
  God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not
  be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face
  him with confidence because we are like Christ
  here in this world.
• (1 John 415-17 NLT)

21
3. What difference does knowing Jesus is with us,
and our calling to make Him visible to others
make to you and me?
22
Overcoming, Because of Him

• But you belong to God, my dear children. You have
  already won your fight with these false prophets,
  because the Spirit who lives in you is greater
  than the spirit who lives in the world.
• (1 John 44 NLT)

23
Whos In Control?

• But you are not controlled by your sinful
  nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you
  have the Spirit of God living in you. (And
  remember that those who do not have the Spirit of
  Christ living in them are not Christians at
  all.)
• (Romans 89)

24
Standing Strong

• But remember that the temptations that come into
  your life are no different from what others
  experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the
  temptation from becoming so strong that you cant
  stand up against it. When you are tempted, he
  will show you a way out so that you will not give
  in to it. (1 Corinthians 1013 NLT)

25
Joining the Two Themes

• Who we are and what we are is based on
  incarnation.
• The result of Christ in us and us in Him is
  freedom from the sin that controlled our lives
  before we began our new life in Him.

26
Doing Something About It
27
An Offering is Needed

• And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with
  you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a
  living and holy sacrificethe kind he will
  accept. When you think of what he has done for
  you, is this too much to ask? Dont copy the
  behavior and customs of this world, but let God
  transform you into a new person by changing the
  way you think.
• (Romans 121-2a, NLT)

28
Offering

• Undo the offerings (bondage) of the past
• Declare that we belong to God
• Stop copying what everyone else does
• Start learning Gods ways what we know and
  understand matters a great deal

29
Connections Matter

• Dont team up with those who are unbelievers.
  How can goodness be a partner with wickedness?
  How can light live with darkness? What harmony
  can there be between Christ and the Devil? How
  can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?
  And what union can there be between Gods temple
  and idols? For we are the temple of the living
  God. As God said
• I will live in them and walk among them. I will
  be their God, and they will be my people.
• (2 Corinthians 614-16, NLT)

30
Connections

• Consider carefully the relationships in your
  life.
• Do they honor God?
• Are we teaming up with those who follow some
  other god?
• How do we love non-Christians without being in
  relationships that pull us away from God?

31
Pauls Prayer (Ephesians 314-19)

• When I think of the wisdom and scope of Gods
  plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,
  the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
  I pray that from his glorious, unlimited
  resources he will give you mighty inner strength
  through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ
  will be more and more at home in your hearts as
  you trust in him. May your roots go down deep
  into the soil of Gods marvelous love. And may
  you have the power to understand, as all Gods
  people should, how wide, how long, how high, and
  how deep his love really is.

32
Pauls Prayer (con.)

• May you experience the love of Christ, though it
  is so great you will never fully understand it.
  Then you will be filled with the fullness of life
  and power that comes from God.
• Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work
  within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely
  more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. May
  he be given glory in the church and in Christ
  Jesus forever and ever through endless ages.
  Amen.
• (Ephesians 314-19 NLT)