The New Testament begins with Christ's birth. The first four books are called the "Gospels" and follow Jesus' life. The Gospels parallel each other, and compliment each other. Kind of like reading four journalists writing about the same race. They all tell the same story, but each writer talked to different drivers and crews, saw the race from different places at the track, and writes in his own way.

This text is from the World English Bible, which is in today's English and easy to understand.

We hope you enjoy reading it and remember the "Reason for the Season"

Many generations before Christ was born, in several places in the Old Testament, Christ's birth was announced. Here is an example:

Isaiah 7:14

For this cause the Lord himself will give you a sign; a young woman is now with child, and she will give birth to a son, and she will give him the name Immanuel.

From Luke chapter 1

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin who was to be married to a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the name of the virgin was Mary.
And the angel came in to her and said, Peace be with you, to whom special grace has been given; the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at his words, and said to herself, What may be the purpose of these words? And the angel said to her, Have no fear, Mary, for you have God's approval. And see, you will give birth to a son, and his name will be Jesus. He will be great, and will be named the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God will give him the kingdom of David, his father: He will have rule over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, How may this be, because I have had no knowledge of a man? And the angel in answer said to her, The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will come to rest on you, and so that which will come to birth will be named holy, Son of God.

From Matthew chapter 1

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this way: when his mother Mary was going to be married to Joseph, before they came together the discovery was made that she was with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband, being an upright man, and not desiring to make her a public example, had a mind to put her away privately. But when he was giving thought to these things, an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, have no fear of taking Mary as your wife; because that which is in her body is of the Holy Spirit. And she will give birth to a son; and you will give him the name Jesus; for he will give his people salvation from their sins. Now all this took place so that the word of the Lord by the prophet might come true, See, the virgin will be with child, and will give birth to a son, and they will give him the name Immanuel, that is, God with us. And Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had said to him, and took her as his wife; And he had no connection with her till she had given birth to a son; and he gave him the name Jesus.

From Luke chapter 2

Now it came about in those days that an order went out from Caesar Augustus that there was to be a numbering of all the world. This was the first numbering, which was made when Quirinius was ruler of Syria. And all men went to be numbered, everyone to his town. And Joseph went up from Galilee, out of the town of Nazareth, into Judaea, to Beth-lehem, the town of David, because he was of the house and family of David, To be put on the list with Mary, his future wife, who was about to become a mother.
Luk 2:6  And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she had her first son; and folding him in linen, she put him to rest in the place where the cattle had their food, because there was no room for them in the house.

From John chapter 1

He was in the world, the world which came into being through him, but the world had no knowledge of him. He came to the things which were his and his people did not take him to their hearts. To all those who did so take him, however, he gave the right of becoming children of God--that is, to those who had faith in his name: Whose birth was from God and not from blood, or from an impulse of the flesh and man's desire. And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory--such glory as is given to an only son by his father--saw it to be true and full of grace.

Jesus Christ was born and lived as a regular man. He didn't command anyone to follow Him, to love Him. Having someone love and follow you because they are forced to doesn't mean anything. He wants us to follow Him and love Him because we WANT to. The choice is ours.

In future Bible studies, we will study the Easter story, how Christ was executed, even though he never committed a sin, and rose from death to pay for our sins.

We will also study what will happen when he comes back. Just as the Old Testament taught about the first coming of Jesus, the New Testament teaches us about his second coming.

If you do not know what will happen to you after you die, take a couple minutes to find out how, with God's Simple Plan of Salvation. Don't wait, tomorrow may be too late.