Jesus preaches in his hometown of Nazareth, but the people reject him. They would rather kill Jesus than kill their religion. He teaches from 1 Kings 17 (Elijah and a pagan widow) and 2 Kings 5 (Elisha and Naaman the leper) to show that even religious people are as needy as the starving widow and that their sin is as horrific as leprosy. We see in this passage at least eight ways we could be compelled to reject Jesus: theology, control, greed, selfishness, familiarity, comfort, embarrassment, and religion.

Jesus was a world-class, Spirit-filled preacher of Scripture. At the beginning of his ministry, he traveled throughout the Galilean region, preaching in synagogues. When he preached in his hometown of Nazareth, he unrolled and read from the scroll of Isaiah; Jesus taught that he is the fulfillment of Scripture. He takes care of the poor, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed. Jesus is our riches, freedom, sight, and liberation.

Temptation is like bait on a hook. Satan will bait the hook with anything enticing enough to get you to bite, then he will reel you in to death. Jesus was tempted in every way by Satan, but never sinned. Jesus responded by quoting Scripture, that is, the sword of the Spirit, even after Satan tried to turn the sword against him. In light of Luke 4, Pastor Mark shares ten temptation truths to help us resist the bait: # Satan is a real Enemy; # Satan will H.I.T. you; # Jesus is your victorious Warrior-King; # The Holy Spirit is your power; # Biblical truth is your counterpunch; # Christ is your identity; # Escape is always possible; # Satan eventually taps out; # Repent whenever you tap out and fight another round; and # Life is a battle with many rounds.

In the final installment of the Vintage Jesus series, Pastor Mark Driscoll gives a Christmas Eve service on the historical significance of the birth of Jesus Christ and what kind of lasting change his birth has left on earth.

Jesus’ genealogy shows us that God works faithfully from one generation to the next. God redeems messed up families and raises up new patriarchs and matriarchs to create new family lines because of his covenantal faithfulness to and love for ill-deserving people. Four covenant heads are mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy from Luke: David, Abraham, Noah, and Adam. Each points to and foreshadows Jesus, but Jesus is greater than all four. If we are born again in Jesus, we are added to his family line as well.

Pastor Mark defines what worship is, what worship isn’t, and points out some of the false gods our culture encourages us to worship. He then goes on to explain what it means to worship through Jesus, worship like Jesus, and to just plain worship Jesus as our most worthy Savior.

Pastor Mark Driscoll examines the birth of Jesus from Luke 2 in light of four categories: the historical (what God said and did), the theological (what that means), the biographical (how that changes us), and the doxological (how we worship). He answers seven common questions about the incarnation of Jesus Christ (that is, when God became flesh and entered into human history) and shares how we can have comfort and encouragement because Jesus is like us, Jesus is unlike us, and he came to make us like him.

Besides Jesus, John the Baptizer was the greatest man to ever live. We can learn from seven aspects of his greatness—including that he was a Spirit-filled evangelist who humbly prepared the way for Jesus. He avoided adolescence and thus is a great example of what it means to be a real man. Real men are creators and cultivators, not childish consumers, cowards, or complainers.

Pastor Mark Driscoll examines Luke 2, one of the most familiar passages of Scripture, where an angel announces the birth of Jesus, “Christ the Lord,” to shepherds in a field. The angel reveals how we are to see Jesus. We are not to insert him into a false ideology, such as atheism, deism, pantheism or panentheism, or theism; these offer no hope, no good news, and no savior. Rather, we are to praise Jesus as the Savior, Christ the Lord—good news for all the people—like the angels, Mary, and the shepherds did.

In the sixth sermon in the Vintage Jesus series, Pastor Mark talks about what will happen to creation, Christians, and non-Christians upon Jesus’ return.