Sermon Notes:

From Tony Robinson:

...focus less on us and more on God, which is to reclaim or rediscover, or discover for the first time, the language of praise and thanksgiving, which is to tell God's story boldly.

See the great sermon on this text by J. Barry Vaughn

In the Beginning was the Word

From Pilgrim Preaching

How about this for a way to understand the incarnation? God's premier child comes to bring his brothers and sisters to the home where we belong—or better, he comes to bring home to us. Late in his ministry, Jesus says, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them" (John 14:23). To make this home for all of us ("all of us" meaning Father, Son, Holy Spirit and humanity together—no wonder we need "many rooms" [John 14:1]), Jesus takes up residence in a few different rooms of his own: rooms—or space at least—in Bethlehem (Luke 2), Egypt (Matthew 2), Nazareth and various other points between Galilee and Jerusalem, ending up (again) without any room at all, crucified on a hill outside the holy city. All of it is to give us power to become children of God.