THEY WILL SEE A GREAT LIGHT

SLIDE 1 “CHRISTMAS TIME BIBLE STUDY PHOTO SLIDE”

Words and set context for tonight’s study

Really amazing plan and detail God put into bringing and giving us Jesus

Really have to look at the nations scattered at Babylon then the Lord starting His chosen people the Jews

They themselves get corrupted by the other nations

All will need to be reconciled to God

SLIDE 2

Isaiah 8:11–12 (NLT)

11 The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said,

12 “Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do,

and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.

SLIDE 3

Isaiah 8:13–14 (NLT)

13 Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.

He is the one you should fear.

He is the one who should make you tremble.

14 He will keep you safe.

But to Israel and Judah

he will be a stone that makes people stumble,

a rock that makes them fall.

And for the people of Jerusalem

he will be a trap and a snare.

SLIDE 4

Isaiah 8:15–17 (NLT)

15 Many will stumble and fall,

never to rise again.

They will be snared and captured.”

16 Preserve the teaching of God;

entrust his instructions to those who follow me.

17 I will wait for the Lord,

who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob.

I will put my hope in him.

SLIDE 5

Isaiah 8:18 (NLT)

18 I and the children the Lord has given me serve as signs and warnings to Israel from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies who dwells in his Temple on Mount Zion.

SLIDE 6

Isaiah 8:19 (NLT)

19 Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?

SLIDE 7

Isaiah 8:20–21 (NLT)

20 Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. 21 They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven

SLIDE 8

Isaiah 8:22 (NLT)

22 and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.

SLIDE 9

Isaiah 9:1 (NLT)

1 Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory.

SLIDE 10 “MAP OF ISRAEL”

SLIDE 11

Isaiah 9:2–3 (NLT)

2  The people who walk in darkness

will see a great light.

For those who live in a land of deep darkness,

a light will shine.

3 You will enlarge the nation of Israel,

and its people will rejoice.

They will rejoice before you

as people rejoice at the harvest

and like warriors dividing the plunder.

SLIDE 12

Isaiah 9:4–5 (NLT)

4 For you will break the yoke of their slavery

and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders.

You will break the oppressor’s rod,

just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.

5 The boots of the warrior

and the uniforms bloodstained by war

will all be burned.

They will be fuel for the fire.

SLIDE 13

Isaiah 9:6 (NLT)

6 For a child is born to us,

a son is given to us.

The government will rest on his shoulders.

And he will be called:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

SLIDE 14

Isaiah 9:7 (NLT)

7 His government and its peace

will never end.

He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David

for all eternity.

The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies

will make this happen!

As we look in the New Testament the Lord connects all this so amazing.....again God’s detail

Setting now.......stories from the gospels MMLJ

Jesus born in Bethlehem, dedicated to the Lord by Simeon, later Jesus has wondered off from Joseph and Mary.....what had He been doing? John had been preaching baptism and repentance, Jesus has been tempted in the wilderness

SLIDE 15

Matthew 4:12–13 (NLT)

12 When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. 13 He went first to Nazareth, then left there and moved to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.

SLIDE 16 “MAP OF ISRAEL”

SLIDE 17

Matthew 4:15–16 (NLT)

15 “In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali,

beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River,

in Galilee where so many Gentiles live,

16 the people who sat in darkness

have seen a great light.

And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow,

a light has shined.”

SLIDE 18 ‘NATIVITY SCENE IMAGE SLIDE”

The setting and story of Luke chapter 4

The miracle of God’s love as so much of this Christmas story is a picture of “God so loved the world” as we see here with so much of all this starting at Sea of Galilee area

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